Something similar happened to my dd at a recent church retreat--it was lemonade from a can and she was the only one drinking it. She was supposed to drink it and then be the first to crush the can (Chug and Crush was the name of the game). She said that she almost threw up and that she learned NOT to volunteer for things. Totally unrelated to that I had to attend mandatory risk management training at the university where I teach. This game was given as an example of illegal hazing in the state of Texas. We were told that in Texas it is illegal to have someone do this, illegal to be the person doing it, and illegal to particpate by watching--even if it is only water because kids have died doing it with water. I approached our youth ministry staff (as well as other parents from the group) and we found out that this is an extremely popular game--naming all types of famous campus ministries and camps that use this game. We had to repeatedly explain why this was NOT ok and bring in the director of the youth ministry. The parents have made it clear that this should not happen with our kids again. But, I am surprised at apparently how widespread this is.

My father specialized in food safety. He was one of those people who went around and inspected restaurants, grocery stores, etc. (and we NEVER ate out as a child). He said to NEVER use a sponge in the sink--you might as well clean your sink with a dead chicken. He said that they are almost impossible to clean; you must use boiling water, bleach, etc. He said that doing things like putting them in the dishwasher to clean them could make them even worse--they stay damp enough and warm enough to be perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

When my dd was younger she would where striped shirt and striped paints, flowered shirt with flowered pants, etc. I would sugget that she might consider making a different choice that matched better. She would say, "But they match--they are both stripes." :001_smile: I realized that I had to be clearer about societal perceptions of what "match" meant.

If you think that the eardrum is ruptured I would contact the doctor to see if any prescribed antibiotics should be continued. My dd has had this happen a couple of times and there are some drops our doctor said should not be used if the eardrum has ruptured.

My dd sucked her thum until 12 when the orthodontist put an appliance in her mouth in preparation for braces. She has braces coming off in a month, so we will see what happens then. In third grade her teacher encouraged us to get her to stop (she was sucking her thumb at school when she did silent reading). We talked to her about being teased at school and her response was "I don't care. It is so ME!" (she has never lacked self confidence either) She was our calm child who slept well, etc. Our ds did not suck his thumb and has always been fussy. When they were younger and he would get fussy she would look at him and say "Why don't you just suck your thumb and be quiet?" (Often at those times I would wish that he would do the same!)

I would want to know more about why they were "bored." My dc have recently been complaining about being "bored" at church. When we asked more in-depth questions about it they are bored with the silly, meaningless games. They are complaining that they are hearing the same lessons they heard when they were in pre-school and elementary school with no more depth than before. They want something more serious and more meaningful.

We have only cruised once--on Carnival last March during spring break. We were pleasantly surprised at how wonderful the environment was. There was one time that we felt that some college aged students down the hall were getting rowdy--one call and there were NO more problems. We were very pleased with the way the situation was handled. Now my husband, who was against the first trip, only wants to consider Carnival if we cruise again. We went from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West and the Bahamas. We would hesitate on going to any Mexico destinations at this point.

My aunt just retired from many years of teaching in ps. She found that the increasing pressure to "teach the test" was reducing how much she was teaching. In her state, like many states, the test is a MINIMUM level test--but her teaching performance is based on whether EVERY student passes this minimum level. Her evaluation is better if every student in the class passes this minimum level exam than if she has one student not meet the hurdle but every other student in the class performing several grades above grade level. She said, for example, if she had everyone in the class where they could add and subract fractions (which was on the test) she would not move on to multiplying and dividing fractions (which was not on the test) because if that new information confused ONE student in the class it would reflect negatively on her (ignoring that everyone may be learning MUCH more). She said that she felt that after the test was over she could finally "teach". Unfortunately, she said that many of the other teachers in the school did nothing for the rest of the year because "it wouldn't count."

We were in a similar situation with our son last year. We had decided to remove him and homeschool, but there was a big field trip that he had been looking forward to the next week; he missed a few days because of being sick; he had makeup work to do and had "projects" he was starting that he knew he wouldn't complete--some even included "groups" and he felt like he would be letting the group down when he knew he would be leaving. We finally decided the field trip was not worth staying in the school for another week. Our son was disappointed that he missed the field trip, but we took our own homeschool field trip instead. I would NOT say anything to the teacher ahead of time unless you are on very good terms with the teacher and totally trust how she handles things in the classroom. (In our situation, we did not, and we did not want anything being said to our son or to the class while we were there.)

For kindergarten, a big question that I would have is "how much playtime/recreational time do they have?" Some of the ps in our area recently cut out any recess time for kindergarten; five year olds go to school from 7:45am until 2:45 pm with no recess--the extra time is being spent on "academics"--so that they will be ready for the state mandated test in THIRD grade. (Yes, the kindergarteners are being prepared for a test three years down the road.)

I have found many errors in the Mark Twain Diagramming Sentences book, so I would avoid it. Also, there are many places in which a sentence has parts to be diagrammed (such as a prepositional phrase) but the examples of how to diagram it appear LATER in the book. I have found the Rod and Staff products much better.

If you will be in San Antonio in early February, the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo can be interesting to attend. The Toyota Tundra plant offers free tours on Mondays-Fridays. Reservations are required, but they can be made on their website. If you are driving from Austin to San Antonio the LBJ Ranch is an interesting place to stop. A national park and a state park are adjacent to each other. Tours are offered of the Johnson Ranch on the national park side. There is an old Texas homestead on the state park side which has farm animals and workers in period clothing doing daily farm chores. There are grills, picnic tables, etc. for cookouts. It appeals to a wide range of ages and interests.

In San Antonio: The Witte Museum--free on Tuesdays after 3:00 and the San Antonio Museum of Art--free on Tuesdays after 4:00 if you happen to be here on a Tuesday. In addition to the Alamo the other missions along the mission trail, such as San Jose and Concepcion, are interesting and free.

We just refinanced through Wells Fargo and were very pleased. We had tried USAA and had nothing but trouble. I got the feeling that USAA didn't really want to make mortgage loans.

Your classmates said FOOD??? I am an economics professor and never get that kind of answer from students.

I have always been terrified of dogs. A couple of years ago I had allergy testing done--guess what I am highly allergic to-DOGS.

My dd(14) played the piano during elementary school. She went to ps in middle school and wanted to be in the band. She played the flute (and the saxophone one year in the jazz band). She enjoyed the flute so much that she gave up piano lessons and opted for additional private flute lessons. The private high school she wanted to attend didn't have band. Since that was a major drawback for her, we told her we would continue private flute lessons. However, she has chosen to back to piano lessons. For a Christmas present she asked to add guitar lessons. She seems to be musically inclined and enjoy learning a lot of different instruments. In many ways learning the flute increased her interest and piano and vice versa. While she has focused on lessons on one instrument at a time, she enjoys spending time to playing and experimenting with the other instrument. I'm not musically inclined at all, and I don't know what a music teacher's opinion would be, but in my dd's case playing multiple instruments has deepened her interest in music and her ability to enjoy music.

Thanks for the suggestions! It doesn't seem to be a problem of not enough sleep--it doesn't matter how much he gets it just takes him a long time to get started. The comments about being in a "fog" in the morning seem to describe the situation. I think we will try the morning shower (which hasn't been the most pleasant sounding solution to an 11-yr old boy) and if that doesn't do the trick we will see about having some bloodwork done. This is the first year of homeschooling--he has never been easy to get up, but I didn't realize how bad it was once he did get up. Now, talking to him, I think he found some ways to doze through the morning in ps and was bright enough to still get by.

DS(11) is very slow to wake up. He wakes up, dresses, eats breakfast, and we try to begin school. Next thing I know he is drifting off to sleep. It doesn't matter how early he goes to bed or how late he sleeps. I have tried doing the things that are most engaging for him first thing to help him wake up, but his favorite activities are logic and critical thinking puzzles--these aren't very active and he starts nodding off. When we try what he consider more mundane tasks such as working math problems, he isn't as mentally engaged and drifts off. I can't seem to get the right balance of engaging enough both mentally and physically. I would be tempted to just do school work later in the day, but he wants to be on the same schedule as DD(14) who is in private school. He also wants to be finished when his other friends are home from school or in time for afternoon activities such as baseball and music. He is frustrated, also. I have asked him for his suggestions of what would help him to get going in the mornings and we have tried his suggestions such as PE first thing, a block of free time before school, and they haven't seemed to help. Any suggestions?

It will vary by university, but the most common requirement is that accounting majors have two college math courses: an algebra based course and a business calculus course. A student who did well in high school algebra 2 and high school calculus will probably find these courses easy. Sometimes there is even the possibility to test out of these courses at the college level. In addition, a statistics course will be required. This is often taught within the business school as a "business statistics" course. As far as the actual practice of accounting, a strong algebra background is the most important math skills.

We have found Austria to be a wonderful place to visit. You can rent a vacation apartment at very reasonable rates, especially in the villages. Our favorite place is the Innsbruck area; renting a car or taking the train/public transportation are both good choices from there. We have spent a month there a few summers ago (rented an apartment for about $1000) and never went more than an hour away, and still did not get to do all of the family activities we would like to do. Within a couple of hours you can visit Munich, northern Italy, Salzburg, and Bavaria. Day trips to Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and even Venice are possible. The scenery is beautiful, it is very clean, there are many family activities, and it tends to be much cheaper than Switzerland. We do our own planning. The local tourist bureaus (run by the cities, villages, or other government entities) have websites which list local apartments, hotels, etc. to rent.

Churches in our area tend to cancel Sunday School and other church activities because of the "holidays". For example, our church did not have Sunday School last week (12/26) or today (1/2) and reduced the number of worship services held. I find this practice very different than when I was growing up. Growing up, I experienced the "holidays" as "Holy Days" which were about experiencing God. My childhood church had the attitude that people were more likely to be seeking during these time periods. I am wondering if this is a local practice or if this is common practice across the country. Does your church reduce its worship services and other activities for religious holidays? (Christmas, Easter, etc.) What about other holidays? (MLK weekend, Columbus Day, Memorial Day, etc.)

Some have posted that if you are focused on who is giving you communion rather than God you probably shouldn't be taking communion. While this is true, it is the church's responsibility to draw attention to God, not to the individual giving communion. I find it difficult to believe that having a communion server dressed in a Santa costume helps the congregation focus on God.

Approaching the other parents is somewhat tricky, because some parent either knowingly allowed their child to bring this present OR is so disengaged from their child that they didn't know what the child was doing. Also, the mother of one of the boys using the foul language is on the staff of the church. We do plan on speaking to the minister after the holidays. From the youth director we are getting "these boys don't know the difference between school and church so they behave the same." Since I don't find this behavior appropriate for a school environment either, I see why my dd asked to go to a different school and why my ds is being homeschooled.

My dd (14) attends an all-girls Catholic high school where she is expected to act like a young lady and be treated like a young lady. My daughter has experienced several things out our church that I find inappropriate. She has heard high school boys screaming the "f" word. This weekend she attended a youth Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange; the gift she received was a pair of used men's boxers and a bra--I view this as a totally inappropriate gift for a 14-year old girl to receive at a party for boys and girls. I have raised these issues with the youth director and basically got "don't be surprised" and teach your daughter not to be surprised when things like this happen. He went on about how he wouldn't apologize for the students who were attending because they needed grace extended to them. (At no point has he made any statement to the group about the inappropriateness or addressed my daughter's discomfort witht he situations.) My stance is that if I take my 14-year old daughter needs to be nurtured at church. She needs to be supported in standing up and saying this is NOT the way to talk/act anywhere, but it is definitely NOT OK in God's house. I would like any input or suggestions others might have.