'Ten states -- Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas and Wyoming -- specifically bar concealed-weapon permit owners from carrying their weapons into a church or other house of worship. South Carolina prohibits guns in a "church or other established religious sanctuary" unless permission is obtained from the appropriate church official or governing body. In Utah, people who get licenses to carry concealed weapons can carry them in a church unless a "No Guns" notice is posted at the door or the church registers with the state as a no-guns site. Virginia prohibits taking a firearm to a place of worship "without good and sufficient reason." ' from http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11319&Itemid=53 This information is from 2010, so it may not be up-to-date. I am wondering if OP is from Virginia and hte "good and sufficient reason" has come up.

We pulled ds out suddenly when he had a month left in fifth grade. We knew that the rest of the school year would have been worthless except for a few field trips and the "graduation" ceremony for everyone at the end of the fifth grade. He was sad to miss some of those field trip activities so we made sure to do some special field trip activities. We underestimated how much recuperation time he needed from the situation he had been in at school. We didn't have any game plan when we pulled him out. We are lucky to live in an unregulated state, but we did have concerns that the school district would send a truant officer just to make life difficult for us. So, I did keep a running sheet of all of our schoolwork, but nothing very formal. Walking the dog was PE, playing a game of scrabble was language arts, watching a documentary was history, etc. DS did a lot of reading and we found some math worksheets, logice puzzles, and other activities on the Web. We didn't have a formal curriculum. To some degree we used the time to discover what our son was most interested in learning and to late him regain his love for learning.

DD doesn't had a TV in her room and has never really asked for one. DS does have a small TV (which is not connected to the cable) for watching videos. DS has always had difficulty sleeping; we found that certain movies helped him turn his mind off and go to sleep. So, everyone in the house is sleeping better now that he has this TV. Also, he is taking a "history of film" class and he can watch his assigned films on his TV.

Have you checked to make sure that he isn't using a soured towel to dry?

In my opinion, letting the kids now is good, but at this age the PARENTS need to know. These types of situations lead to the possibility of parents thinking there child is one place, involved in a wholesome activity, when the kids could easily take off and go somewhere else without the parents' knowledge.

I live in San Antonio and I was not aware that there is such an ordinance. I know that there has been increasing regulation on providing homemade food (not prepared in a licensed kitchen) and increased limits on places in which panhandling is allowed. Since I saw your post, I have been researching trying to see exactly what the ordinance is and I can't find it, so if you have any specific information, I would like to see it. (Also if you wouldn't mind telling me what part of San Antonio this happened in, I am curious.) Our church does a number of things for the homeless, and I haven't heard this specific ordinance mentioned. In fact, we recently made up bags of food and other items to hand out to the homeless and none of the attorneys in the group said anything about it.

I would try to avoid packing jeans and other denim items. In addition to being heavy and bulky to pack, they are difficult to wash and dry on the road.

This is what we experienced when my dd was in ps for middle school. On one hand the students were "pushed" to take algebra early and to have huge assignments over summer break. At first glance it appeared rigorous. But, when you really got down to it, nothing was happening in the classroom. Repeatedly, dd came home and reported how she watched Little Mermaid in math class or Beauty and the Beast in science class.

I would carry plastic cups with lids, even for the older ones, to put their beverages in on the plane. Those little plastic cups, crowded seat back trays, and a little turbulence can be a recipe for something spilled on everyone. Some packets of instant oatmeal are easy to pack and you can always get some hot water if you are looking for a backup in case your kids don't like the airplane food. When mine were younger, sticker books from the dollar store would keep them busy for a while. If I was hoping they would sleep, I would bring pajamas for them to change in to.

http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=688 Here is a link to an article by Edgar Browning, one of the leading economists in the area of public finance which might help her get started.

In Texas, public school students have to have a 1/2 credit in "speech." So, you could list this simply as "speech" credit. These classes tend to focus more on public speaking and business communications. I know of some private high schools that will count certain speech courses as a fine arts credit--especially if there is more drama/theater in the course material. Depending on how the course is structured, you may be able to do credit for a particular topic which the debate portion is centered on. If there is a particular topic that will be thoroughly analyzed throughout the year, such as tax policy, you could do an economics credit.

I find the easiest way to think about this as: How much worth do you have? The amount of money in your pocket minus how much you owe to someone. If you have $5 in your pocket and owe someone $3 you have only $2 left. If you have $5 in your pocket and someone owes you $3 (you owe $-3) you really have: $5 - (-$3) = $8

Each school has its own requirements regarding what it will accept. The fourth year sounds a little late to be transferring rather than graduating. Is there more to the story? I know of a student (at a private TX school) whose parents showed up at graduate after paying tuition for four years to find out that their child had only completed enough classes to barely be a sophomore. The child registered for classes and then would drop almost everything. The parents never looked at grades and assumed that everything was on track.

I had lived in Texas for three years as a graduate student (with a research assistant position which granted in-state tuition); I then (without leaving the state) got a full-time job in Texas, bought a house in Texas, had a Texas driver's license, had a car registered in the state of Texas, had voted in Texas for three years, and served jury duty, but I did not qualify for in-state residency tuition rates. A neighbor had graduated from a Texas high school, voted in Texas, and had a Texas Driver's License but he lived on a oil rig in the Gulf for a couple of years after his parents both died. When he was home he was staying with relatives or in a hotel. He decided to go to college and did not qualify for Texas in-state tuition (or any other state) So the rules can be tricky and vary by state.

These numbers vary greatly on demographics. The average for a male with a college dgree is $57.714 and for women the average is only $39,263.

This depends on state employment laws. In Texas you can be let go for any reason, unless it is a reason protected by law such as race, gender, etc. In other words, if the boss doesn't like the color socks you wear you can be terminated. A reason doesn't even have to be supplied.

I am also an introvert and need time alone at home. When my kids were very small, one had health issues and my husband had major back surgery; for months I did not have one minute in which I was in my home alone. It drove me crazy! Friends would say, "Get a babysitter and go to lunch..." etc. But, that was not the same. I wanted to be home alone. Three things that I found that helped somewhat: 1. A long shower--I seemed at least somewhat alone. 2. A drive in the car--at least no one else was with me. 3. Going grocery shopping when I didn't have to rush and when the store was relatively quiet. Also, I tend to be a night owl, so I would enjoy any time at night after everyone else was asleep (but others in my house are night owls also).

Our youngest was probably eight when he saw it. Yes, there is some violence, but it isn't just random violence for entertainment purposes. I also find the violence very different than most movies because it shows the power in not returning violence for violence. It is a long movie, so, the real issue for us was keeping our dc interested in such a long movie. Overall, it is a great movie.

We had talked about suicide with our children in a number of different situations. It has come up in history lessons and current event discussions. DH volunteered on a suicide hotline before dc were born, and he has shared some of that experience with them. In the past month, however, it has really hit home as a dear friend and neighbor committeed suicide. She had a 12-year old daughter to whom she was extremely devoted. Even with all of dh's training in suicide prevention he saw absolutely no signs of this coming. My kids are devastated and trying to make sense out of it. Three days later a girl in our neighborhood who was a year older than my dd committed suicide. I am glad that we had had so many conversations before, but everyone is still in shock.

I just received a brochure from a local high school teacher about a special clinic for students. It reads: Dead Line is Friday! February 23. :confused:

I had this happen when DS was born, but we were on the SAME insurance policy! It took months of my explaining that it was impossible for us to be at two different hospitals. When DD was born the insurance company tried to claim that she wasn't my daughter and it took over a year to get that one straightened out.

The charger on most computers will be dual/voltage. Check to make sure, but if that is the case, you only need an adapter to make the plug fit in the prongs. Apple sells a special adapter to change out the plug on its chargers to fit European sockets, but you can just use an adapter with the entire plug you usually use. It is likely that you would need a converter as well as an adapter for an alarm clock. I would suggest just setting an alarm on his phone rather than taking an alarm clock. If an alarm clock was absolutely necessary, I would purchase a small battery operated alarm clock--it will be lighter and easier to pack (and probably cheaper) than purchasing a converter just for an alarm clock.

I don't even like being invited to a tupperware "party." I don't feel like I am a guest at a party when the purpose is to sell me something. I did get an invitation to a birthday party for a woman who is turning 54. I got to the bottom of the invitation and the invitation read that I was to bring a birthday gift--a $54 contribution to her upcoming political campaign.

We remodeled a couple of years ago, and my first impulse was to go with a goose neck like the first. In fact, that was almost that the store carried. We were living in a rental short-term and I was so glad that it had one in it, because I realized I hated it. I was concerned about the sprayer pullout not retracting properly, but that wasn't the problem. I found that it always seemd that my hands were going under the water flow. I found it very awkward. I thought I would like it to fill pots, but it just never seemed to be in the right place.

Flying internationally, I would check a bag. The only time you will have to "hassle" with it is at your final destination, which is better than carrying it around on several flights. Also, you may have to go through multiple scanning of any carry-on if you are connecting to an international flight. The less you have as a carry-on, the less trouble that is.