I'm laughing to myself here and I hope someone else can see the humor in this. The general concensus on this board seems to be that we don't like the Gosselins because they are "too real", ie. we see them argue, we see Mom not being patient with kids and spouse, etc. and we don't like the Duggars because they are not real enough - Mom is too patient, they are too religious, the kids just can't be that good all the time, etc. I do enjoy watching both shows. I'll admit that Mrs. Gosselin would never be a role-model for me as a parent because of her sharp tongue towards her husband but it's probably my favorite of the two shows. Just had to share the contrast I was seeing from recent threads.

We're excited about this, too! Our church isn't large enough to handle the local contest but we found a church in the next town over that welcomed us to participate there. I need to remember to go and complete our registration process. Several of my kids are going to participate (some not so excited as others - LOL). I'm hoping it's a really positive experience for our whole family.

Lots of support in the DVD's and in the teacher's manual. By using this, I've learned how to teach my kids many concepts that I truly did not understand until we hit them in this curriculum.

I think it depends on your piano - I had an old upright and paid a guy several hundred dollars to come in and put new - I don't know what they are called - covers for lack of a better word on the piano keys. I watched him do it and couldn't believe that I paid him that much to basically glue plastic covers on my piano keys. Then, they started popping off - we just used Elmer's Carpenter Glue (the base of my keys were wood - I don't know if all are) and were very careful not to let it drip or ooze out at all and they stayed on! I have to emphasize that this wasn't a state-of-the-art piano or anything - just an old upright that we bought for $500. If I had a new baby grand, believe me, no one but a professional would have been anywhere near it with a bottle of glue :)

I don't know the answer either, but I'm wondering of it's just a regular molt? I've never had my chickens lose feather until baldness results but from reading about molting I had expected some bare patches. Do the feathers grow back or do they stay naked once they lose them? Could they be rubbing their "chins" on something like their water bowl or feeder or nesting boxes? Or maybe they are pecking at each other? Could it be lice? (I don't know if that can cause baldness but I know that chicken pens can get infested by them). We have all kinds of weird things going on with our little flock and I tend to ignore them unless they seem really sick. We have one chicken that seems to have a limp now but still gets around just fine so I'm guessing it's just old age - my kids wanted me to butcher it but I asked them how they would like that kind of treatment if they just twisted their ankle!?! (LOL) I know this was probably no help at all - I just can't resist posting about chickens :)

If I was answering this post yesterday, I would have gone out of my way to praise our postman, however, today, when I went out to our mailbox there was a notice of undeliverable certified mail that I had to be home to sign - ummm - I was home all day and my daughter watched the mail come and drive off - no attempt was made to try to get my signature! I'm trying to convince myself that this was not our normal mailman and have scheduled redelivery for tomorrow BUT if it happens tomorrow I WILL be throwing a fit. Normally, our postman will enter our driveway with a package, give a friendly honk and either I or one of the kids walk out to the truck before he can get out or he brings it (with the rest of our mail) right to the door for us. I've never had any complaints until today. He's actually carried heavy boxes into the house for me when I'm in my frequent pregnant conditions :) Hope you get it straightened out soon.

I've been ordering from Rainbow from years and have never seen any coupon codes/discount codes other than their free shipping for more than $150. I'm not saying it's never happened but I'd be surprised if I had missed it. I think that they do not offer coupons, etc. because all of their items are already discounted. Hopefully someone will chime in to correct me if I've misled you.

:iagree:

It sounds to me like part of the problem is that the term "Christian" is too non-specific. Maybe we should start having homeschool groups labeled more specifically so that they can choose whom is represented at their activities without the controversy. For instance, if this was the Catholic Homeschoolers of Colorado, no one would think twice about them excluding Abeka or Bob Jones from their fair. Maybe new groups should be formed so that no one is offended, we could have the Seven-Day Creationists Christian Homeschool Group of Colorado and the Old-Earth Christian Homeschool Group of Colorado. I still stick by my original statement, that if an organization has a set of beliefs by which they operate, and a company does not agree with those beliefs, it is up to them whether they include certain companies or not. I also want to point out that the article only presented one-side, Sonlight's. I have used Sonlight in the past and we enjoyed the materials but John Holzman is VERY outspoken about this issue and the issue is presented in every I.G. that I have. Yes, you can ignore it (which I've done) but it's still there and I would say it's very agressively presented in that he doesn't just say, "This is what I believe" and go on, he defends his position for pages and pages.

So, are you saying that organizations aren't allowed to have rules/standards as to who participates in their activities? That seems a dangerous road to go down. . . . There are many places that people can see Sonlight - other curriculum fairs, their extensive website, etc. It's not like access is being truly denied access to information about a curriculum.

Right now I'm on a lot trying to keep track of my daughter who is traveling in Asia, but she returns next week and I'm sure my usage will dramatically decrease. It was fun as first, but after a while I realized that I really don't need to know the daily activities of most of my acquaintances.

I've been doing MM for about two weeks and really like the routine but suddenly realized last night that I hadn't mopped the floors in my bathrooms for the whole two weeks (merrily following my schedule) and realized that there isn't a time slot for that!?! Anyway, I'm adding it unto the day I clean the toilets and that will be fine but I was laughing at myself for missing such an obvious thing just because it wasn't specifically on my list (or maybe it is and I missed it!). Anyway - my house is looking much more presentable since I started using this calendar.

When my sixth child was just six weeks old, he had thrush and I used the genetian violet stuff on him and then had him out at a store. A very concerned lady stopped me and pointed out that my baby's lips were blue and "shouldn't he see a dr. for his difficulties in breathing?" I tried not to laugh as I explained what the blue was but she just looked at me like I had sprouted two heads and walked away. Oh, the memories . . .

As you can see, I've a whole house full of boys. I've never had much trouble with this issue with my oldest but my second son has had trouble with this for a few years. What I've found works, is that I give him a schedule of what is expected to be done but I try to remember to refer to the author of the curriculum as giving the schedule of what should be done. For instance, we use MUS, so we always refer to Mr. Demme as the math teacher and I verbally refer to Mr. Demme when talking about math. Another thing that has helped that if a bad attitude crops up during the day, a general rule is always followed. If you don't want to do your schoolwork, go to your bed and stay there either until you're ready to work or until Daddy arrives home (the minimum time spent in their bed is an hour) - then you can finish the work scheduled for the day. Granted, my kids basically have no entertainment factors in their rooms - so there is no TV, or computer and when this discipline is in effect they are not even allowed to have a book with them. My husband is very good about checking on how the day went and following up with the boys if there was a problem. I've never used a written report but I can see how a quick checklist could be valuable if there is a problem with attitude. Maybe just a list with checkmarks that is done at the end of the day and one of the boxes could include that there was a problem but child repented and improved attitude. That way you and your husband would give him a chance to make a mistake, repent and go on with the day without having it hanging over his head the whole time. The checkmarks wouldn't take much time out of the day. This is getting long and I don't know how old your son(s) is but I just remembered that when my kids were probably less than 10, they used to earn pennies for each subject they completed without a fuss. Then once a month, we would go to Chucky Cheese and for every five pennies they had - they got a token for a game. It really worked well for a period of time, gave them motivation. Your kids may be too old for that but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Just so you have a choice :) Here's my family's favorite rolls, often requested for church and family gatherings. Butter Crescents: The recipe has small, medium and large sizes - I'll just give you the large but if you need the smaller increments, let me know. This is from the Bread Machine III Cookbook. 1 cup milk 8 tbs. butter 2 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 4 cups all-purpose flour (sometimes I do substitute my ground whole wheat for about half of the flour) 2 tsp. yeast Filling: 2 TBS. melted Butter Put all the ingredients (except filling) in the bread machine on the dough cycle. When the dough cycle is done, divide the dough into two sections. Roll each section into a circle. Brush with melted butter and cut the circles into 8 "pie-piece" shaped wedges. Roll each piece, starting from the thick end, into the center, forming a crescent shape. Brush top with any remaining butter. Placed on greased baking sheet, cover and let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake in 325 degree oven for about twenty minutes or until golden brown. I hope your rolls turn out great!

I've used http://www.annualcreditreport.com before. I know I didn't have to sign up for anything at that site.

Thank you Kimm!

Kimm - Could you post the information on the book you used for geometry proof? I've been looking for something like this to supplement MUS Geometry. Thanks

It might be missing the flavor but I "think" all that will happen is it won't be that creamy caramel color - it'll probably be darker. . . . it seems like I've done this before without disaster.

:iagree:

We had something really good the other day - try searching on cooks.com for Chicken Stroganoff. You put six chicken breasts in the crock pot with a package of dry italian seasoning. When they are done you add a can of cream of chicken soup and cream cheese. It was really good served over rice.

Thanks for posting your routine Angela - I'm printing it out - I hope you don't mind. One question: How many words do you put on the list for the week? Thanks

Another vote for Growing With Grammar - my sixth grader who always hated grammar loves this program.

I don't know if this will help or not but here it what I'm doing this year with my second grader. I started out the year with him using Spelling Power but the word lists in Spelling Power got too complicated, too quickly for him. The lists in Spelling Plus move much slower so I've developed the following method: I do a list in Spelling Plus using Spelling Power methods. I dictate the word, he spells it, we check it and if he misspells it, it goes on his study list. I never let him get more than 3 words to study per day and we never do more than six a day even if he gets them all right. The misspelled words get studied using Spelling Power's ten-step process. We continue each day, reviewing old words and adding new words until we make it through all the words on the list. (I also add a twist in that each word that he misspells gets tested one week after he correctly spells it for me so that I can make sure it's in long term memory). After we complete a list, I go to the dictation resource book and we start doing four sentences a day from that list's sentences. This, once again, reinforces the spelling from the current list and also reviews previous words. He is really doing well with this (we're on list 7 right now) and I can see great improvement in his spelling confidence.' HTH

This doesn't fit in at all with the other suggestions - but my 16 yods (and the rest of us) have spent the past couple of weeks watching The Cosby Show on DVD and my ds just laughs and laughs at the situations the teens get into. I'd forgotten how much "teenage" stuff was in that show and how squeaky clean it really is.