Winterdance by Gary Paulsen

We're using Foerster and the Math Without Border DVDs. We're all happy with it.

The mental preparation and actual event are the worst for me. Afterwards, I usually have a great sense of relief. It does depend on the situation. There are groups, like my book club, that I get together with that I don't find stressful or exhausting.

Never have been, have no desire to be in one. I tend to be anti-social though.

I'm confused. They say this but then this So I'm wondering if they mean sub-zero, or sub-freezing. Has anybody tried this? How cold was it? Did it work?

Just to be clear- dh and I both have licenses to practice (human) medicine. I only practice on my family nowadays, though. ;) I wouldn't let anyone with a needle near me or my family unless they had appropriate training.

I've stitched up dh and we've both stitched up the kids several times- but we have the appropriate supplies at home. I wouldn't attempt to stitch up the animals, mostly because I'd be worried about being bit. And our vet isn't expensive.

There's a trick, sort of. At least you can make it much easier.

Stir fry Pasta Chili, stew or soup Big salad with cheese and crackers and good bread Burritos, tacos or enchiladas These are my main categories. Using different ingredients, I can come up with lots of variations for each.

I just thought of another absolute must-read: Winterdance, by Gary Paulsen. This book made me laugh so hard I cried.

My escapist authors: Jonathan Kellerman Elizabeth George Margaret Maron Nevada Barr Dorothy Cannell Patricia Cornwell (the older stuff) Janet Evanovich Laura Lippman Ruth Rendell John Sandford (but may be too gory for you) Alexander McCall Smith (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, and Isabel Dalhousie stories)

I vividly remember one little girl telling me she just wanted something of her own to love. I suggested adopting a pet, and in all seriousness she told me that what she really wanted was a puppy, but foster children weren't allowed to have pets, so she was going to try to have a baby instead. We had a long conversation about it, and I suggested some alternatives, but I never saw her again and don't know what happened. It was very sad.

I worked at a Planned Parenthood 18 years ago and it was happening then. Not frequently, but I did run across it. All of the girls were coming from a very unstable family situation- most were in some sort of foster care.

DDR.

A few years ago, after a particularly profligate Christmas, I got disgusted with the overindulgence and wastefulness. Ever since, we've done one large family present (last year it was a foosball table) and 3 presents for each child. Usually one of those presents is something substantial (ipod, phone, etc.) and the other 2 are smaller- books, clothing, or a game. They each get plenty of stocking stuffers too. It still feels like too much at times. The grandparents and an uncle still get the kids several gifts each, so they have plenty of things to open on Christmas morning. I give mil a gift card to a clothing store she likes, and dh gives his dad some sort of tool. Otherwise, we don't buy for any extended family. I'm not a big gift giver, and don't especially enjoy receiving gifts. I already have everything I want and need, and anything else is just clutter. My dad and his wife feel the same way- they are very well off and if they don't already have it, it's because they don't want it. I used to feel bad when they said they didn't want gifts, but now that I am in that position I finally understand. More stuff is just a burden to me at this point.

My oldest will go to high school next year for 9th grade. She had planned to dual enroll, taking math at home. Now we are reconsidering and she may go to ps full time. I really don't like what the ps uses for Geometry, and am thinking about starting it now, so that she would be finished with it and ready to start Algebra 2 next year. She's currently about halfway through Foerster's Algebra 1. I'm planning to use Jacob's and I'm not finding anything in the first half of the book that looks like it would require algebra beyond what she's already done. Anyone?

This is exactly how I felt when I first read that piece.

I agree with you about the time-wasting exercises. However, I believe long division and uncommon denominators are not included purposefully, because the program creators believe them to be unnecessary. I had a conversation with a math education professor, and he scoffed at those things, saying they are a waste of time because they can easily be done with a calculator. Suffice it to say, we do not agree on that point.

I read both Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, and don't remember which sex scenes were in which book. There is definitely more than one. IIRC, there are more in the second book than the first. I loved these books, and highly recommend them. I do agree that some of the violent sex scenes were important for character development. I just think it was overdone.

The violent sex was the only thing I didn't like about these books. I was just commenting to my husband that it was too bad there was so much gratuitous sex, because they would otherwise be great books for my teens.

This is what my district used and it is why we started homeschooling.

If you are interested in the issue of divorce and religion, there is interesting information here.

Go to Edit--> Settings-->IM Logging, and check the boxes for Log IMs and Log chats. That should send everything to a file.

I agree, but to be fair, they probably had no idea that was under there. He probably thought there were just a few bees.

Is this a particularly difficult chapter, or is it all downhill from here? My girls had been sailing along through Foerster Algebra 1. Until we hit chapter 6. They seemed to be following along okay, but it wasn't coming as easily to them. They were doing fairly well on the problem sets, but they both bombed the test. We took an extra week to review the chapter, and they retook the test, bombing it again. Did anyone else find this chapter to be particularly hard, or is it just us? Is this a turning point? Do the chapters continue to be more difficult?