I'm a Brownie leader and was a Daisy leader last year. We just told the moms last year that if anyone had a problem saying God or praying before snack, etc., to let us know. Nobody said anything so we don't make an issue out of it. I've never received anything saying that we're supposed to teach any specific agenda. At one Service Unit meeting we discussed the whole "Happy, Healthy, Hot" thing that was an issue last year, but they made it clear that that was a WAGS brochure, not Girl Scouts, and was at an international conference in Europe somewhere. I would never discuss something like that as a leader--I'd step down and remove my daughter from GS if they tried to make me. We pretty much do our own thing as it is, because of other issues from troops in our immediate area. I think each troop will be different, depending on the leader, though.

The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch is fantastic.

I studied in France for a year and there would be ! marks after numbers. I don't quite remember what it meant, but something along the lines of the ! meaning to include all the preceding numbers. So 5! would mean 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. So I guess the value would be 5+4+3+2+1. It was a shortcut to writing it out. I've never seen it in any math book here, though, so it could mean something completely different. Plus, that was quite a few years ago and my memory isn't what it used to be! Who knew math was done differently in different countries? They also used open-ended parentheses, like (5+1(. What is that??? I didn't do well in math over there :tongue_smilie:

I lived in France for a year as an exchange student and lost weight, even though almost every meal was followed by dessert and cheese and they used rich, thick sauces on so much. I think the differences were what have already been mentioned: I walked everywhere, every day, portion sizes were much smaller, the food was fresher (no processed foods at all). Meal times were family times meant to be slow and enjoyed. A large celebration would take all night--we'd eat a course, then dance for an hour, eat another course, dance again, etc. We would have a snack after school ( I attended a high school) but it would be fruit or a small portion of cheese. Then we'd go outside and walk to a park or just walk around town. The only thing to drink was water with meals, milk with breakfast, and coffee whenever you wanted it. (The younger kids had hot chocolate with breakfast). We had dessert, but it was a small portion--not the huge pieces of cake or pie that we expect here when we dine out. I guess all these little changes add up. Of course, my metabolism was amazing back then, too!! I miss being 18...:)

If my Service Unit head person is telling me that we cannot make a donation, who could I contact to find out if it's true or not? We do clean up the building, donate toilet paper and paper towels and try to encourage our troop to support the church's fundraising efforts for their mission trips but we'd love to make a small donation as well. Any ideas who I could contact?

We wanted to donate money to the church where we hold our meetings because they don't charge us anything for heat, electricity, etc. We were told that the GS are not allowed to make a flat donation to any organization/charity. This was last year. It's very frustrating.

This is awful...rats. Fortunately, not in the house. All over our property, though. Mostly in outer garages. We've been treating them for 4 years--since we moved in. Our neighbor has a pigeon coop that he NEVER cleans. The township is no help b/c it's a small town and they see it as a "neighbor issue" that they don't get involved in. All we can do is keep paying out $40/month pest-control company fee and do what we can to keep them away. We've cemented many areas and have traps everywhere we can. We've thought about moving but can't right now. It's very frustrating.

I lead a Brownie troop (all 2nd grade, 7-8 years old). We make ornaments and/or small gifts for patients at a local nursing home and then spend an afternoon singing carols and handing out our hand made gifts. I'm looking for something different (and cheap!) to make this year. Any ideas? :bigear:

We use our dining room table, which is not ideal but works. We have bookshelves in our adjoining living room. It's messy but, again, it works. We are going to build a wall of built in book shelves using pre-made kitchen cabinets on the bottom. Eventually. :tongue_smilie:One thing I bought that I love is from Ikea. It's a six drawer mini filing cabinet that I divided up into all the subjects and put all of their books/materials that we are currently using in their own drawer. I need to get another one the next time I go to Ikea, but I think you an order them online as well.

We're either supposed to get 6-10" or 10-15". It was supposed to start at 2 am but just started about an hour ago, around 8:30. They're expected a lot of downed power lines because there are so many trees that are still full of leaves. We have a maple that hasn't even started to change colors yet. This is all after 2 major floods a month ago where people had their houses condemned and our neighbors had 8 feet of water in their basements. I'm not looking forward to the winter!!

Can you respond with, "Oh my oven and stovetop are going to be completely full. I don't think there will be an empty area to cook and prepare in the kitchen, so please bring the potatoes ready to serve." :iagree: Maybe you could say that you're trying some new recipes this year and your oven/stove/prep area will be full.

Ours just kind of curled up and dried out and won't stick to anything. I'm not sure what we did wrong since it was such a simple project. Good luck!

How did it turn out?? Ours are kind of ... gross. Am I missing something?

My dh is a ps high school teacher, yet knows very little about what we do here at home. Every year he takes a day off and we spend 2 days at our local homeschooling conference and he does help me a lot in picking out materials/curricula for the following year. Beyond that, if I have to go out for a day or an evening I will leave him "homework" to get done, but that's it. I do wish he would help me more but I understand why he doesn't. He's just exhausted by the time he comes home and usually has a couple hours of work to do in the evening yet. It used to bother me more, and if I'm having a bad day it still does, but I understand it now and don't push him for more help. It does bother me when he asks "so why aren't you using ____ yet? Are you doing enough ___?" Once I explained how I feel he stopped asking, but I also understand that it's out of concern for our dd and not a criticism of what I'm doing. It took us some time to each get to this point, though.

A friend of DH's in high school was going around school telling everyone she had a venereal disease. She had a viral disease (infection).

We live in Pennsylvania and are required to give our kids standardized tests in grades 3, 5, & 8. What happens if they don't do well on them? Can they force us to send our kids to PS? My dd is only in 2nd grade so I don't need to worry about it yet, but I'm wondering if I should pay closer attention to what they're doing in PS at this level.

We work at a residential educational facility on the weekends. This weekend we took the kids we work with to an Awana group for the first time. (Sorry--they are 7th & 8th grade girls). The leader asked the group when they thought the Bible was written. A few were yelling out random answers and then one girl flipped to the front of the book, found the copyright date, and yelled out "1973!" Her English teacher should be proud--at least she knew where to look! It made dh & I laugh after what had been a stressful weekend.

I was going to ask this question yesterday. My dd is 7 and we're starting Latin this year and I'm not sure which to use. Latin isn't taught in our school so even if she goes to ps later it won't be an issue. what are some other considerations?

I was an exchange student with Rotary, but I went to France. As for picking where I went, I wanted to go to Paris but my parents did not want that. My dad was in charge of inbound students at that point and made sure that someone put a post-it on my application that said to place me as far away from Paris as possible. I ended up in Southern France and I loved it. A small city is, in my opinion, so much more "real" culture than a more touristy spot. Rotary was great, too, by the way. I stayed with 3 families and I'm still close to 2 of them. I had friends in college who stayed in the Basque region of Spain and they loved it there.

Is it the one where they put you in a big tub of water? My mom had that done a few times about a decade or so ago--I don't think it was any big deal, pain wise. She's pretty tough--she usually passes them at home without even taking a Tylenol, so she has a pretty high pain tolerance. I'm sure you'll be fine!!

I've read that you can freeze them whole and then wrap them in foil and throw them in a campfire. I wonder if you can do that and throw them in the oven. I've heard that they come out very fluffy that way.

DH and I are planning on having another baby, hopefully next summer. Our youngest will be 5. For ds we mainly used things we already had, buying new little things like burp cloths, wash cloths, etc. With so much space between #2 & #3, we don't have a whole lot left. We gave most of it away to various people and got very little of it back. Including all of my maternity clothes. What do I do? Is it rude, 3 years later, to ask someone for my stuff back? I don't want to put them in an awkward position of having to tell me that they no longer have it, but at the same time, I never said that it was ok for them to pass it on/throw it out/sell it. Also, are there any items that you buy new for each child? Onesies, etc.?

That is such a fabulous idea. I've been looking for something cheap and effective, and I think this is it! Thanks for sharing!

It's an adorable house and they certainly made it work for them. There are areas of the country, though, ( I live in one) where you can still find very cheap housing. There is a house for sale now in our town for $14000. No-I didn't forget a zero--14K. It's a row house on a busy street with a very small yard, but still. It's perfect for a couple or a young family. We're off the beaten path a little, but only about 1.5 hours from Philadelphia, maybe 2.5-3 from NYC, so it's not in the middle of nowhere.

So we have the same problem with neighborhood kids but with a few twists: 1) Most of them aren't friends with my kids, who are young (7&4). They're just random kids I've never seen who show up every (yes, every) time my kids are playing outside. Why? That's #2 2)Our neighborhood is not affluent. Lots of kids have little parental support/guidance/money and even less supervision. So everyone over the age of 4 (yup, 3 or 4) is allowed to roam the town without parents. My kids are not allowed to leave our yard. I feel horrible for these kids and want to help them but if I fed them all I'd be broke. Plus, I don't know any of their parents and I don't know of allergies, etc. I'd be afraid to give someone something and have them be allergic to it. So our general rule is no snacks unless we've invited them over and we know them. 3)Many of them exhibit behaviors that we don't allow. Today a kid almost spit on my son's head. I'm constantly babysitting these kids. How do I nicely tell them that they can't always play here? I don't want to be rude and some of them could really use a positive environment. I want to help them, but I also don't feel that it's my job to babysit them all summer. Our daughter doesn't understand why she can't roam around like the other kids. Sorry for rambling. I'm just really frustrated, especially after tonight. My husband says that they're just kids and that that kid has probably never been told not to spit. But ON someone??? And how do I nicely tell them that we're not giving out snacks? I plan on putting out a pitcher of water, but no kool aid or juice. Does this sound too harsh?