Spaceballs Rat Race

I think the only way this might be legit would be if you also registered and followed all laws about private schools, including fire inspections, kitchens, etc.

I think you already have your answer, and maybe just want confirmation. Let's put it this way...if he weren't already signed up, would you pay to sign him up for something he doesn't enjoy and leaves him sleep deprived? Especially since he's happy at home with you?

Here's a link to my new blog. I plan to review one paleo recipe a week for a year to help me get out of a cooking rut. DiscoverPaleo

My 5 year son, husband, and I like Stack the States and Stack the Countries for the iPhone.

My DH and I are like that, too. We need lots of one-on-one time with other people to feel like we are friends. Being around people in a group activity doesn't mean much, by itself, to us.

http://www.kayak.com

Do the mold stains come out? We used to use clear vinyl liners, but they were even more of a problem. We switched to cloth so we could wash them. Maybe we need to try more expensive vinyl liners?

I was talking with a neighbor last night. She mentioned her 6 year old's problem with dark circles under her eyes. She was wondering about allergies, but I asked if they go away when the girl gets more sleep. She said they get much better. The daughter sleeps from 9pm-7:30 am, or less. I don't think 10.5 hours is enough for most 6 year olds. My son, who is a year younger, sleeps about 11-12 hours. He needs 12 consistently or his behavior becomes terrible. It seems very unrealistic for a family to get their kids to bed every night by 7:30pm. It would make any evening activities impossible and eliminate much chance to see any parents that work during the day. In order for them to get enough sleep, she'd see them for about one hour in the morning and three hours after school before bed, during which they'd be doing homework, eating dinner, and taking a bath. No wonder she's thought about homeschooling, just so she could see her kids more.

We use a cloth shower curtain liner on the inside of the tub and a nice looking shower curtain on the outside. The liners keep getting moldy and the mold doesn't seem to wash out. What can we do? This liner only made it 6 weeks. We need something that doesn't get mold stains on it easily. ETA: We always leave the fan on in the bathroom during a shower and for about 10-20 minutes after.

This forum is my main support group. I know many homeschoolers in real life, but they tend to be too busy, legalistic, not academic enough for my taste, or some combination of the above. ETA: I can still be friends with the above. We just don't talk academics much.

Let me add that I personally know women of the above viewpoint. One had been ill for 2-3 years after having one of her kids. She was having to use a wheelchair to go shopping even. When she (of course) became pregant again, while not using contraception, she emailed me and wanted to know why God would choose for her to have a baby now. I was very tempted to say something like, "What do you expect? Babies tend to happen unless you try to prevent them. That's how God set up the system."

One of the previous posters wanted to know why some people don't believe overpopulation is ever possible. Here is one reason. I want to preface this by saying that only a tiny position of Christians believe this. Some Christians (whom I would call Quiverfull) believe no baby is concieved without God's direct participation. While they might not realize it, the logical extention of this belief is that every time any couple has a chance of conceiving, God is deciding which sperm and which egg will meet up. As in, "Nope, that sperm would result in a boy, and they need to have a girl, so I'll have that one get stuck in cervical mucous." Or "Her health is bad and she shouldn't have another baby now, so even though they mate like rabbits, none of the sperm will make it for the next year." People of this belief don't think having a functioning reproductive system is enough to conceive. Hence, they think that every baby ever born was specially chosen by God to be created, and therefore could never result in overpopulation. Please note, as a non-Catholic, this doesn't seem to be the Catholic view. I'm thinking of the extreme QF types (like Nancy Cambell) that think even if a woman has cancer, she is sinning to use contraception because God is supposed to be the one to decide every time if the woman will conceive. In their mind, there is no such thing as a woman becoming pregnant because the reproductive system works properly as a system God set up.

As far as the stereotype of large American families as being irresponsible, I have a suggestion about where the stereotype may come from. I suspect your average American has had more exposure (in real life, movies, or TV) to families that are large because of people's irresponsibility, rather than because they were planned that way. (I'm talking about current times, not 60 years ago when families were generally bigger.) When I say this, I'm thinking of women who start having babies in middle or high school and wind up with kids by many different men. Most people consider this behavior reckless. If you've met many women like this, or seen it on TV enough, it's probably harder to imagine a couple getting married, staying married, choosing a large family, and then not letting those kids grow up into thugs.

We bought a 1999 Volvo S70 in 2008. In the 3 1/2 years we've owned it, it has had something wrong with the engine for all but two weeks! This is despite $5500 in repairs. It again needs $1000+ in work, so we are getting rid of it. The parts cost more than other brands we've owned. We've spent more fixing this car than our previous 2-3 junky cars combined. Now I know why Volvos are so safe...it can't get in an accident when it's rarely in driveable condition! Anyway, obviously ours is a lemon, but the part costs alone have persuaded us to never buy another one. Our mechanic said that a certain repair that is $200 for most cars is $1000 for Volvos because no other company makes Volvo parts. You don't get a choice about buying brand name or generic parts.

Volvo parts are very expensive. I will post more about our bad experience later, but for now, I would say no, since the parts cost so much compared to most car brands.

What I want to know about is the 25% of people that took the poll that "don't believe in overpopulation." Does that mean they think it could never, ever become a problem? That even if we had 100 billion people, there would be enough food and resources for people to live better than just a subsistence level? We would never run out of fresh water (already becoming a problem is parts of the US)?

It took me about 10-12 hours to make the three. The red one took the longest because it was the biggest and because I was still trying to understand all the directions. There are a few steps that weren't as clear as they could be. The total cost (bought everything at JoAnn) was about $50. It could've been less, but I would up buying too much extra fabric. I could probably make them again for $40-50. You'll want a hot glue gun to glue the features on. I used up all my time sewing, so we didn't carve pumpkins or do anything else. I don't really like sewing, but I am very happy with how these turned out. I'll be excited to make something new next year.

Here's a photo of the three Angry Birds costumes I made using the tutorial I linked to in my first post. The red one is adult sized, the black is about a size 5, and the yellow one is a size 2T.

I see that many people are unhappy with their science programs, so I thought maybe that the programs were skipping topics completely, or perhaps not going into nearly as much depth as a k-3 student could understand. I have really only used library books so far, so I wondered what people were most disappointed about.

I'm curious what K-3 science topics tend to be skipped in curricula you wish were covered. We're just starting out with science here, so I'm wondering what areas publishers seem to overlook.

It was about the same price for us to buy a used iPhone as a used iPod Touch last fall. I like the phone (don't have phone service) better because it has a camera and a speaker. If I forget headphones, I can still listen to my podcasts.

Get your vitamin D level tested. Peppers are a great source of vitamin C, without the sugar content of fruit. Limit or eliminate sugar for the winter.

I agree that you may be able to help women more as a natural minded L&D nurse than as a midwife. This country needs more of both. Your job sounds like it gives you the flexible hours you need to both have a career you like and spend lots of time with your family. Also, your hours are much more predictable than a home birth midwife's are. Perhaps you could get some training as a doula or shadow a midwife for a few births, to learn other ways to help your patients, without chanbing careers? Also, I used a TENS unit for both of my labors and they cut the pain down about 30% without drugs. Google them. I used the Elle, which I had imported from the UK. I have loaned it out many times. This is something perhaps your patients would like to know about.

Oops, the total was $31.45. Grr! I worked so hard to try to stay in the budget.