And a boy can experience sexual abuse without being violently rape. I don't want to get graphic here, but there are many acts without consent that can be perpetrated by someone who dominates the child.

You might simply say you are homeschooling for secular reasons and looking for others doing the same.

It is simply 40% of the people on this board who responded to the poll. I don't know how that ratio works with the general public, but I cannot say that I am surprised in a higher percentage of childhood abused suffered by homeschooling parents, if this is a good sampling of homeschooling parents. I would say that it is rather common for those of us who suffered bad childhoods to make it our focus to give our children good ones. However, my husband had a good childhood and he was even more for homeschooling than I was years ago before we had our child. If we look at this strictly as an argument in logic, I think you are confusing consensual sexual activities with abuse. Not all sexual abuse is considered rape, but rape would be sexual abuse. It does not matter if or when the boy has had consensual sex, in this case, only if he has every been sexually abused and I think that number is too low, but probably accurate with how many actually admit to having been abused.

Thank you! Yes, I do. I use high quality FDA approved paints made for painting on skin.

My daughter was a little annoyed. Again this year, even though it was raining and we had lights off and drapes shut, both supervised and unsupervised groups of children stomped onto our porch, rang and knocked several times while our dog went crazy before they finally gave up and ran in the rain to next house. :001_rolleyes: I just don't get it! On the lighter side, my daughter often goes out, even to church services, dressed up her own way with her face painted, so we have fun with this dress up stuff any day we want to. :001_tt2:

:iagree: My daughter is learning signing, French (modern), Classical Latin, Koine Greek, and is itching to go for Spanish now too. The only problem I have is time to fit them all in. She does not get confused between them, but I think languages are kind of her thing. I think younger children get languages because they have been in the process of learning that any item can have several names or descriptions. For instance, I can sign "chair" and point to the chair I mean, but when I refer to which chair in speaking, I might say "recliner" or "rocker." Learning several ways to describe an item is what they are constantly doing in the grammar years.

All of the above. What I thank my Lord for the most is that I did not have my own child until I was 40 years old. That I not only was guided in my healing process but determined not to continue the cycle of either the abuser or victim mentality. What I love the most--it is a bittersweet feeling that overwhelms when I think about it--is seeing my daughter flourish in the childhood I wish I could have had. On the other hand--this may surprise you all--I would not change a thing about my childhood. I don't believe in looking back and wishing to change things, but in looking forward from where I am now. It was a challenge to heal from it all, absolutely, but I learned at times it is an amazing thing to forgive the unforgivable and to love the unlovable. I have learned that what I harbor against someone, even in secret, can hurt me far more anything they actually can do to me. Over the years, I have met many people, some with bad childhoods and some with good ones, some younger and some much older, who have never learned the ability to truly forgive. I feel far more sympathy for those who are stuck in states of hatred and unhappiness blaming other people for who and what they are rather than taking responsibility for themselves and forgiving others--it is like self-abuse, really.

:001_huh: My question would be what abortion doctor is going to say no to performing an abortion based on the number of previous abortions? The number alone makes it obvious that she was quite serious about having each and every one of them.

On one side, many Christians seem to go with their church or most of the members in their churches: if they do it, then there most not be anything wrong with it. On the other, to some Christians is definitive matter of Biblical Law not to do it. I think the part that concerns me the most about whether or not fellow Christians celebrate Halloween is that they rarely have earnestly sought the Lord Himself on the issue and wait for a clear answer. Who has fasted, prayed, and waited on the Lord to give His approval? As I see it, putting aside the origins of Halloween and even my beliefs, because Christianity has adopted so many pagan traditions, Halloween is not the kind of holiday I want encourage because of what it is today in the way that we celebrate it here in the U.S. It is not a tribute to anything worthwhile. It flaunts mischief and even evil. It is not an honorable holiday--again, as it is celebrated by the majority of people today.

"Beg" simply can mean "to ask for." Now when I give a gift, I go to the person or send it out to the person. When people, mostly strangers, come to my door asking for something they want from me, that is begging or threatening "trick or treat." Either way...:sad:

Every state has child protection services with anonymous reporting in place. I suggest that these services be used when necessary, but more importantly, I believe that we need accountability of these services because the greatest problem lies in their inconsistency.

Therein lies the problem! Having been one of the abused, we did see doctors, but had they interrogated families as they do now, I most likely would not have had any medical help at all.

I just used small but equal portions of flour and water and added more each day for several days. This was one of the resources I used: http://www.prismnet.com/~sjohn/sour.htm, I never used commercial yeast, and I learned that making a starter does not work in just a few days. Here is a excerpt from my blog on my attempts in making the starter: I began by making my own starter from scratch, but I got impatient and was fooled by the bubbles produced in just a few days--I since learned that those bubbles were not coming from the wild yeast I was trying to cultivate, but from a harmless bacteria that would die back in a few more days as the yeast began to take off. Needless to say, my bread dough did not rise, so I began all over again making a new starter. I gave it a couple of weeks that time and it worked. Patience is key.

I used to tutor art to gifted elementary aged children, not that I am expert, but I would say that your child has real talent! My daughter is quite talented and draws every day also, but I purposely chose not to begin any formal art instruction at the age of seven. Your child may be different, but for my child being instructed would have robbed her of the love to draw. My daughter was asked to draw the program covers for a coffee shop piano recital when she was seven and people told me how impressed they were, but I really did not help her much at all. I basically give her a few pointers on a picture now and then, and let it go at that because she likes to let her "imagination spread out," as she puts it. This is to say that she does not like the confines of instruction or much guidance. On the other hand, she may not need that much, I once explain to her about perspective by fitting things between the finger and thumb in front of the eye and moving closer or farther away from them. I did not show her this in a drawing at all. She played around with that idea for a few days and the next thing I knew many of her drawings in the following months had larger people and objects in the foreground and smaller in the background. She is now 8½ and she is starting to shift her focus a bit and is more interested in using shapes and shading. What I am saying is that seven is pretty early to start formal instruction so take your cues from her just to be sure she retains her love for art so it is a bit challenging with learning new things, but does not become hard work or deadlines. Much will depend on the type of class you can get her into. Any artsy stuff will broaden her, but if your purpose is to develop her talent, she is a bit beyond the typical crafty stuff.

I am sticking with Singapore, but I like what I see with Math Mammoth too. I am not sure I would use Singapore alone though because so far I have used Singapore as the spine with Miquon.

I regularly make sourdough bread, which is very similar. I feed mine about every 8 to 10 days when I am making a fresh loaf of bread and I do not even add milk and sugar, just a cup of flour and a cup of water. It has been living for about two years, when I began my own starter, without a problem.

Yes, it is possible and I have known a few, but it is rare, unfortunately. Most of the ones who made real changes had a spiritual experience of some sort or realized how much they were hurting the other person and genuinely repented. Some went to prison, and seem to alter their behavior for a time, probably so as not to be caught again, but later slipped into at least some of the same habits. Basically, as with anything else, only the ones who want to change make the effort to do so.

Two words come to mind: Sentence diagramming. Start with just one noun and one verb. Cat naps. noun|verb = Cat|naps One resource I like: The First Whole Book of Diagrams Elementary Diagramming Worktext by Mary Daly There are also other resources online.

:iagree:

Now in defense of some of the vans loads, I used to live in a small town and the children from farms in the country came into town, so I am not against that (even though I don't celebrate it), but then the community was so small that everybody knew everybody, so to speak. What I was describing is very different--mostly older children and teenagers out as a group with no parents or just one adult that does not seem to care how the kids race to each house disrespectfully of tromping through gardens, and jumping onto and off porches.

This is a really great poem! It speaks to me...:blush:

Have you looked up these pronunciations in a dictionary? Every one of them I have shows "ə." However, some dictionaires show both pronunciations for the word "item" and that would depend on how you personally pronounce it. Schwa = a reduced vowel in an unstressed syllable. The word "button" would sound odd, overly formal or mechanical, if we said the last syllable, "ton," the same way as the word "ton." If "tem" was a word, you would say it a bit differently than you do when it is the unstressed syllable in "item." It is the same with pencil: "Your pencil (pencəl) needs to be sharpened." When we say these words slowly, perhaps it seems that the vowel is given more emphasis, but when spoken in a sentence the vowel in syllable without the accent usually has the schwa sound. My point was the child may know how the word is normally spoken and has associated the schwa sound with an "i."

This is the mindset that I do not understand. It is unneighborly of me to let all those little children down because their families got them all hyped up about going house to house in the dark in costumes to threaten each of their neighbors with "Trick or treat!" even if they have no intention of following up with mischief (but if they don't get their treat some think they have the right to do mischief) or at least beg for candy from people their parents do not even say hello to out on the street. I give out cookies and banana bread and other items through the year to my close neighbors. I face paint (for free) the children of our neighborhood every now and then. If a neighbor asks to borrow an egg or our ladder, I readily give it. I just don't celebrate this particular holiday for many reasons. I did not even like it as a child when my mother made me go out doing it. One town I lived in banned trick or treating for two years because of how many children ended up in ER from the "tricks" within their "treats." It all seems so innocence, even secular, to most people, including many of my fellow Christians, who have chosen to see it as just a fun dress up and candy holiday; I am not condemning their customs or beliefs. Yet, there is no one holiday like Halloween, when scary, evil, and occult attributes are celebrated, or at least imitated, so openly and widely and for that reason I just cannot see Jesus celebrating this holiday as it is done here and now. Other holidays have become less important. Halloween is the exception. It has become more important. ~ Howard Davidowitz I find this quote quite sadly true because most, not all, holidays are about honoring something worth our remembering.

You are kidding, right? Let me say what I think is really rude. Children will be knocking on our door begging for treats who will not even say hello to you any other time you see them. They come up tramping through my garden, even though we leave our porch lights off and close the drapes. Even though we have never given out candy since we have lived here (12 years), they still stomp (no kidding) on our porch to knock as the dog barks wildly and ring the doorbell repeatedly. Little eyes try looking into the windows, as if this yearly ritual gives them the right to invade your privacy (which is why we now close the drapes), and we try to ignore them hoping that they will not be the type of children to do tricks, as some do. We do not answer the door because once the door opens, there is a deluge of children thinking you gave some candy away even as the other children walk away saying we are not giving candy. There is no other time we will see most of these children. Some are even dropped off in our neighborhood by van loads and do not even live here. They run quickly through the neighborhood and then pile into the van to go to the next one. Every child gets more candy than he should eat in a year! I know. I sound like the Halloween Scrooge, but this holiday seems to flourish with rudeness. It is unbelievable that people are actually expected to hide out in their own homes or go away from their homes to avoid it.

Again, I was abused as a child. I totally get the difference between a spanking, even with a plastic spoon, and an out of control beating or other inappropriate hitting. Let's stick with the OP, shall we?