My dad used to have to fill out "equal opportunity" forms at his office once a year to be sure that they weren't discriminating or something (how you can tell that by the racial makeup of an office I haven't quite figured out but I digress). Every year he used to fill it out with the words "Not allowed to look". Every year the uppy-ups in main office would call and give him grief and he'd calmly remind them that in hiring he is not supposed to look at whether they are white, black or purple, so how is he supposed to know it later to count for their form". Every year they send someone else out to count how many purple people there are in his office. Just because someone is of Hispanic, Latin or Spanish descent doesn't mean they need bilingual ballots.

I thought I was the only "bad" person to do this, lol. If you ever forget your card....just ask for another application to not fill out.

And what's with the letter I got from the census today telling me that I should be receiving my census form in the mail in the next several weeks? Can we say double the paper, envelopes and postage cost. Umm, I think when the real form gets here I'll notice it just like I noticed your reminder. Duh.

:iagree: I'm sure that it is initially a period of adjustment, but they have a new life in their care, and hopefully they will see that it is a wonderful joy! As for "imposing"....since the father said his concern is having to see others' initial reaction, and you've already shown your initial reaction.....I would push just a tiny bit to make sure that they do not hide away, that they do not feel they should be ashamed of something. Yes, it's disappointing not to have had the perfect birth, or a perfect child, but they have a beautiful baby that they get to raise and love.....they need to be shown that it is a WONDERFUL THING. And perhaps with several other children at home, they need to find that wonder before they get home so that they do not project negatives reactions to their impressionable children. If they are religious, remind them that God has given them THIS child for a purpose...not as a punishment. They have been chosen to raise a very special child. If you are having trouble with the birth of this child being good news and something to be celebrated, then you may want to wait to spend a lot of time with this family until you can come to terms with the truth that any birth is a celebration and can celebrate with and for them. My congratulations to them for the birth of their baby!

but isn't that the thing about mediocre standards.....it's a minimum. Homeschoolers rarely accept the minimum....so if we were held to just this low of a standard doesn't mean that we have to stop there. I would hope that the states that already have higher standards would simply keep them.....but those states for which these mediocre standards are an upgrade will have to reach at least that minimum. Considering that I live in Arizona where the schools are worthless, I'm guessing they may have to struggle to come up to these standards.....I downloaded the Arizona standards and hope to find a couple hours this weekend to compare what Arizona already requires with what this new standard would require. I'm hoping for the sake of the children in schools around us that it will be an improvement! Don't take this to say that I would welcome or even agree with the government getting into the homeschool community......but if this will mean that public schools will improve, I'm all for that. I have no intention of ever sending my kids to public school (we've already taken out life insurance on me adequate enough to hire tutors to continue with my plans should I die) but I am saddened by what I see the children around us calling "school is hard". I still am of the opinion that until the government has taken care of it's own house so to speak, it needs to stay out of mine. When/if public schools start offering a curriculum as rigorous as the homeschool world offers, then they can look to see that hs'ers are pulling their weight....but until then, I will continue to fight to keep them out of my life.

How many of you have looked through the core standards and realized that your family already does all that, and more? So far, by their standards every one of my children are above the grade level based on their age. And much of their literary suggestions have already been read by our family, or are on the master list already....the ones that are not are mostly because we deemed them unnecessary or inappropriate for our family, there were only 4 titles we'd not heard of that we added to our list. Makes you wonder if perhaps those who have created these "standards" might be reading some homeschool boards to find out what we're already doing, lol. Ok, probably not, but it does feel to me that if this is an upgrade for the public schools, that we hs'ers were doing better all along. Makes me wonder what was being taught in some states before.

I would hire a Registered Dietician. First I would talk with them privately and let them know your concerns....be sure that they are neither pro nor anti vegetarian, so that both you and your daughter can trust them. Then have them meet with both you and your daughter and talk about the importance of getting enough protein, calcium etc. The dietican should be able to guide your daughter through the requirements that she needs in order to stay healthy and continue this very important growth period in her young life. The dietican should be able to provide not just lists of foods but recipes and other information about proper nutrition that will meet both your needs and your daughters. And I'd make it clear to my daughter that I'll support her desire to not eat meat so long as she takes responsibility to ensure that she is getting all the nutrients that she should. 10 may be a bit young for that much responsibility, but I would put it on her anyway (knowing that I can and will step in as necessary, but you may be amazed at what she can do IF she is truly committed to this way of life and it's not solely a control mom issue, lol). I've watched many young ladies go through horrific eating disorders, some to the point of serious health threats, so I would be extremely reluctant to make food such a big issue with my daughter that her strong willed tendencies could move perhaps a simple desire to not eat meat into some head strong "me vs them" episode that can quickly spiral out of control. By putting the tools in her hand through the dietician and the responsibility for it as well, hopefully it won't turn into a major issue. It's also high time she learns to cook (10 is a perfect age) so that some of the burden of HER choice in lifestyle goes on her shoulders. Hey, we homeschool, everything is educational. Again the dietician should be able to provide many recipes and food choices, and there are also many vegetarian cookbooks that are simply that....recipes and not long discussion books about the whys and wherefores of this choice. I have several vegetarian cookbooks, not because I don't eat meat, but because they have wonderful ways to fix healthy meals and side dishes for those times we want to cut back on meat....and the do not preach the lifestyle, they simply present the food preparation and recipes. A trip to a good bookstore (like Barnes and Noble or Borders) or perhaps even your local library would afford you the chance to leaf through them first and avoid the lectures. Here are a few you may want to review: Quick Fix Vegetarian by Robin Roberston ( I also have her vegetarian slow cooker book but can't lay hands on it for exact title) Student's Vegtarian Cookbook by Carol Raymond The Everything Vegetarian Cookbook (from the same people who do all the other Everything book series). There is also a series of books about the Moosehead Restaurant that I have...might be old enough to be out of date ....but I also can't find those right this minute to find the author or to look through to see if they lecture.

I would call the police now....what he's doing is fraud. The police (and your insurance company) should be able to compare any damage to his vehicle with the damage on your vehicle and forensically determine if the two vehicles touched. He can then be charged with fraud, which is a lot more serious than having his insurance rates go up for causing an accident. You have evidence that you could not have obtained without having been with him, including his insurance number....that's not something that can be obtained other than him handing it to you. I'd also contact an attorney to send him a well worded letter detailing the seriousness of his fraudulent behavior....hopefully he'll save everyone the hassle and come clean, otherwise his costs will be quite high because fraud also means that he'll have to pay ALL reasonable attorney fees, investigative costs, court fees, and on and on. Courts don't tolerate fraud well. Of course, neither do insurance companies and he'd like lose his insurance on top of everything else.

After looking at a million (ok, maybe only 1/2 million) brand new developments and realizing that though they are shiny and new they are CHEAPLY built....and also visiting friends who bought one of those shiny new homes a few short years ago and the CHEAP is showing as VERY cheap now in the form of cracked walls, uneven floors, unsquare, kitchen and bath cabinets that are wiggling and a little pulled from the ceiling, roofs and pipes that leak after just a few years and on and on. All little things, but the maintenance to keep up with these little things adds up fast. So when we'd had enough of the rented country living, we bought a house built in 1969....the main portion of this part of town wasn't finished until the mid-1970s. The house is solid. You can't hear the outside traffic/neighbor noise like you can at my friends' homes. The walls are thick inside as well, so children in the bedroom next to the master aren't bothered, lol. My DH can watch TV in the living room and although our bedroom door faces towards the living room I can't hear it with my door closed (except for the war movies explosions on occasion, lol). When the wind blows wicked our friends complain about worrying they were the three little pigs waiting for it to blow in.....we sometimes have storms pass us and don't even realize it. There is a LOT to be said about location. We tried the "country" living where we were 20 minutes to anything more than a corner market. The library was 50 minutes away. I love to drive and have no trouble traveling to something we want to do/see. But I do NOT want to have to drive a long distance just to get to the library, grocery, bank, and post office. Being near your HS group means they would be willing to come over for a playdate....living further away they just won't find the time to come out to you, so you end up either lonely, or always being the one to do the playdate driving. Think of not only the wear and tear on your vehicle, the cost of gas, but the wear and tear on your schedule. While we made use of those long drives listening to stories on audio, it really wrecks havoc with a schedule when a trip to the parkday with your group becomes all day out because you have to do every errand possible that same day. We got home exhausted and cranky (the kids AND me). And of course, dinner was thrown together because I forgot to start something in the crock pot, lol. I miss the acreage and room for the kids to run, but I do not miss the long drive to everything and I love having a houseful of hs friends because we're just around the corner from the park where we meet. Rainy or high heat days are automatically at my house now. We are so close to the park that the kids have all that space (which someone else waters and mows) to run and play...I just bring along papers to grade or my laptop to talk to you guys, lol. Most times they're perfectly happy running in our 20x20 yard. Consider also the commute of your DH. When we lived in the country his 8-10 work day was 10-12 hours away from home. Now it's 20 minutes for him to commute in rush hour traffic....sadly not enough to come home for lunch, but close enough for US to occasionally invade his office for lunch. Reversing the wear and tear on HIM was enough to make me know our choice to move closer to town was the right one. We chose an older house because it was what we could afford here in town.....we bought a fixer upper.....but it mostly paint and flooring so it probably would have happened if we'd bought a newer home, though maybe not as urgently or quickly, lol. You will get used to the space you have...if it's thousands of extra square feet, you'll accumulate "things" to fill it....if it's smaller you'll keep only the truly important things. And you'll be happy because you are near those you care about, you can easily get where you want to go, and if the price was right, you'll have the money needed to add on to that house when those extra babies come along....if you really find you need it.

I don't know if the information is really accurate, but on www.zillow.com you can plug in almost any address in the US and it will give you an estimate of the value. It seemed rather high for my home given the asking price for two homes for sale in the neighborhood, but those two homes are bank owned so that makes a difference maybe? You could also contact a realtor and ask them for an estimate based on the homes sold in your area. I would get several estimates and then use the lowest on the application if they're going to use it to penalize you for actually having equity in this market. While I understand their reasons, equity means very little right now because banks aren't loaning much right now, especially on equity in falling markets. At least here in our state.

Honestly....I do MUCH better when the crisis in my life is major stuff. It just somehow seems easier to take action towards big stuff....especially when it's major and you can't just shrug and say "maybe later". My best advice for this small stuff....pick ONE. Don't try to take them all on at once, they attack and you can't get up, lol. So choose one thing that you CAN do something about. In the above list, I'd make it the house....because once that is better some of the other things become easier.........schooling in a messy house doesn't work for me.....plus a neat house is easier to invite people from the new church over to begin the process of making new friends....ones who are mature enough to be able to see that you have to do what is right for you even if they don't want you to leave. So....pick a room, and make that your "must do" project for the week. Set a timer for an hour and get to it. When the timer goes off you can decide to keep going if you're in the mood, and if you're not, then you can swipe your hands together and say "there...I worked for an hour, I accomplished a lot, and I AM DONE for the day". Tomorrow and all subsequent days repeat as necessary. When the house is done, work on school stuff: I know that many people start to panic when life forces them to take some time off from school, or the kids start falling behind, but you need to remember that you homeschool....there is no right or wrong way to do it. Ok, so he can't write very well for maybe the rest of the year....that does NOT mean he can't learn. His finger is in a splint, not his brain. Or, maybe this is the time for him to learn to be ambidextrous (able to write with both hands). When that exhausts his other hand, lol....let him do his work orally....if you don't have time right then to listen to his work, let him record it and you can listen to it and "grade" his "paper" later, just like you would if it were written down. Spend this time concentrating heavier on the things he CAN do....maybe go heavier into Literature right now, picking some of the books you want him to read in the next year or two and doing them now. If he's not a strong reader so that could be hard for him to do for long stretches, consider audio books. Most of the great books (even the good books) come in unabridged audio and get him the in hand book to follow along. Stop the CD every other chapter and make him read a few pages aloud for the practice....he will very likely get much better and quickly, when he has a professional reading along with him. He'll learn pronunciation and diction and you'll be amazed how his reading starts to mimic the audio. If he's good at reading, add in some of the comprehension guides to the books he's reading...yes, many of them require writing paragraphs, but let him dictate them (if he has a sibling that needs some typing practice......) or give you his answer orally. This type of discussion is easy for you to do with him while you go about other household duties...fold laundry and talk....dust/pickup/wipe down various rooms while talking....his legs still work, lol. For math....let him try doing the problems in his head and giving you the answer orally, otherwise, have him dictate what he needs to do to solve the problem while you write them out....a whiteboard is fun for this because you erase the previous problem and he has to start his instructions to you all over again....put the 2 above the 5, bring the 1 down below the 5, draw a line and subtraction the 4 from the 5 to get 1, bring down the .....you get the idea. Talking through this detailed really helped my kids cement it in their head. And never underestimate the value of watching truly educational videos on TV....check your library they likely have a ton of them, otherwise, consider a subscription to that discoveryeducation.com. I've heard marvelous things about them, but our library still has videos left for us to view, lol. We also listen/watch the college series from The Teaching Company (plug that into your library search as either keyword or publisher). Their basic math series is well worth buying if your library doesn't have it! We learned a lot of history and art through these....yes sometimes they go over the kids' heads, but they quickly come back down to their level and the professors are definitely not the boring ones I remember from college....these folks are animated and passionate about their subject. And most of all, remember that this is ONE season of your son's education....if you need to go slower, go slower, if you need time off take it.....when his finger and your heart are better than you can push a little more if you feel you're behind....but I'll guess that you'll find you catch up quickly once your head is in the right place for it. Remember, public schoolers take almost half the year off (180 days of school out of 365 days a year). Ok, wow, this got long (yeah, so what's new for me, lol). Take baby steps to get your life back on course, and "don't sweat the small stuff". After your house and your son are back on track, you'll be amazed at how your attitude also improves, and that should make finding TRUE friends who will support you even in the decisions they disagree with or that aren't good for THEM, but are for you.....that clean house and happy son will help!

Fried Ice Cream for dessert!

Staying on site means that all the resorts are clean and safe. THe differences are in pricing and to a small extent the size of the rooms, and of course the higher priced hotels have a bit more luxurious amenities. But even the "value" hotels (All Stars and Pop Century) are clean, safe and wonderful! The monorail only travels from Grand Floridian, The Poly and Contempory to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT (all three of these hotels are considered "deluxe" both in amentities and price). Any other hotel you'll have to take a Disney bus (safe and clean) to the parks....and to get to the other two parks (Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios) as well as Downtown Disney you'll also need to take a bus even from the deluxe monorail hotels. A close by hotel is Beach Club or Yacht Club....you can actually walk to EPCOT or take a short, but fun, boat ride to the International Entrance of EPCOT (near World Showcase and the "countries" portion of EPCOT). To get to any of the other parks you take a bus. Another hotel close to EPCOT would be Port Orleans (my personal favorite....a moderate as far as price and amenities). Again, buses will take you there as although it is basically across the street it's a long walk through the parking lot to get to the entrance, not recommended. Since your main criteria was safe and clean....I'd recommend staying onsite. While there are many wonderful places to stay offsite (and we've stayed at many that I'd be happy to recommend if you do want to stay offsite), there are also some that would not fit your criteria....plus because Disneyworld is isolated from "off site" you'll need a vehicle to get to any of the parks as the Disney buses don't go offsite, and there is no public transportation into the parks. A wonderful place to get totally overwhelmed with all that is Disney is http://www.disboards.com. There are threads with photos of nearly every inch of each of the hotels so that you can see the amenties of each, and that they're all clean and tidy. You can literally read through the posts and learn everything there is to know...or can you simply post questions and get answers just to those questions. A place to do research where there are pages and pages of details about hotels, dining, parks, rides, and everything else is http://www.allears.net Those are probably the two sites that I use the most....and we've been to Disney dozens of times, usually for 3+ weeks at a stretch. Disneyholic doesn't even begin to describe our family, lol. EDITED TO ADD: Just to give you an idea of the distances....it's about 6 miles between parking lots at EPCOT and Magic Kingdom.

"The party to whom you are speaking" in my best Phone Lady voice. If you're too young to understand the reference: http://lily.tomlin.iwarp.com/

This seems to be "normal" for upper elementary and older kids....they say they'll come but something "better" comes up or they forget (don't they teach kids in public school how to use a calendar???). We've given up even inviting the few PS friends we do have......and we typically are on the phone calling the day or two before for the homeschool kids. This year I'll have my 2nd teenager, and we've all decided to skip the "friends" party and just go do a big thing as a family. Thank heavens we've homeschooled their whole life so the kids are all much closer than I or my DH ever were with our siblings so it's not a big deal that birthday is family. I'm so sorry that your son was hurt, though. That is so very sad. Please tell him that my family wishes him a wonderful 'last year before teenagerdom'!!!!!!!! And hey, next year, invite some WTMers....we seem to know the importance of RSVP and then showing up! :grouphug:

While I like your idea of a "sleep under" that ends just short of overnight and the time can be adjusted for the age of the child...........I have to say that the above part I quoted doesn't make sense to me. It's the same problem I have of not understand the logic of having a midnight curfew for your teenage daughter on a date "so nothing happens". If "something" were going to happen it will happen when there is opportunity, not based on what time the clock says. If Dad is evil, he'll just get it done before your 9:30 pickup...if the teens plan to do something they'll just have to start early and be done by midnight. Just saying.....don't lull yourself into thinking "nothing will happen" based on the clock.

How about honestly telling the dad....I didn't know you very well when you were married to Mom, and I'm not comfortable with my dd having a sleepover at the home of someone I don't know well. Doesn't accuse him of anything....and it's the truth and applies to other families that you don't know well. Then...I'd invite him over for a BBQ to start the process of getting to know him. Perhaps then the other 10% of worry will fade away....or you'll get to know him well enough to tell him of your true worries.

Anyone else find these really, really funny. The spelling and grammar errors make many of them difficult to read, but they think they've done great on their publik skool edycation.

And the law can be changed to make the release sooner...or later. And some of those hackers in past census have turned out to be the census themselves.

But, with all due respect....I'm not willing to give out my personal information so that you can learn about your ancestors. In 80 years my ancestors will just have to look elsewhere, I guess. That's just not even close to being on my radar of life. And I don't say that because it's not interesting to me....my FIL has spent his entire retirement delving into the family tree.....but it hasn't exactly made a difference in our life. And I love history, lol.

It's not the snacking that is making kids fat....it's the CHOICE of snacks. I have a lot of healthy snacks ready to go in the fridge...and the kids are welcome to take it when they're hungry. No permission required....but the snacks available are all truly healthy. Check labels of supposed healthy snacks, because most of them aren't as healthy as you'd think!. In fact....to be honest, if there is a label for you to check....it's probably not the best choice you can make anyway. And, I know of where I speak.....I was one of those obese people, until I lost a lot of the weight because my choice was lose the weight and be healthy and around to homeschool my grandkids....or keep on the course I was on and very likely not even be around to graduate my own kids and never MEET my grandkids. My current weight loss is over 120 pounds....and ideally, I have about 20 more I'd like to lose, though admittedly I'm less motivated for that last 20 now because the change has been....well, life changing. A lot of families spout off the "convenience" factor about snacking.....the packaging wins over healthier choices. Hogwash. How much work is there in having a crisper full of fresh fruit? Ok, cutting the veggies ahead of time so the kids can just grab and go does take about 5 minutes a day....but I do it while the kids are getting their school books ready, reading our daily quote and history tidbit out loud. Or while they're fixing breakfast, including mine. The fruit....grab it and go though. And, since the average family probably likes the apple over the asparagus....it's more likely something they'll eat. But slowly, you can change your, and your kids, likes. If you don't have the twinkies and cookies and soda in the house, they won't eat them. And if they're truly hungry for a snack, they'll find something from the healthy foods you do have in the house. Grumbling and complaining burn calories, so I say let them go for it, lol. Eventually they'll see that their choice is take the healthy food, or leave it. Even kids without weight problems need to be careful about the junk food they are eating....some kids (and adults) have a high metabolism or are active enough that they burn the calories from junk food....but ya know what.....try healthy foods for a month and see if you don't find that your body responds better to that good stuff then it does to that junk. It's amazing to watch the skinny kid realize how much better they feel when their body is fueled correctly, then when it's full of cloggy sugars, even when they aren't overweight. The grumbling from this kid was FIERCE because THEY didn't need to lose weight. In fact when our family underwent this dramatic change this child was actually technically underweight and hated it....worried that healthy would mean more weight loss and looking even more "skin and bones". In fact, this child gained weight....because her body was finally getting the nutrition it needed. She "filled out" but never has gotten overweight...still in the low end of the scale, but at least she's ON the scale now and no one makes rude comments about the boney-ness of her legs and arms. And the increase in her motivation and energy...well, lets just say sometimes Dad and I think we should give her some twinkies to slow her down, lol. Oops, got on that high horse again...but articles like this make me nuts. It will NEVER be about how much or how many times a day we eat...it will always be about the food choices that we make. You cannot get fat (or stay fat) eating truly healthy foods (ok, unless you have a serious medical condition, which is a whole different problem and not a fair comparison). The problem is that manufacturers have done such a good marketing that people truly believe that some of this junk is healthy......because the packaging says so. And, no, I'm not taking about having to become vegetarian......our family stills eats plenty of meat, poultry and fish. But our trashcan has very very very little packaging in it. We don't even fill the smallest trash can that the city provides....and yet we have neighbors who fill the largest trash, the recycling bins, and usually have an extra 30gal bag plunked down beside all this on trash day. For us, it's not about "going green" though it's been pointed out that it's a nice side effect....it's about eating as naturally as possible. We took OUT cabinets in the kitchen that were supposed to be "pantry" and put in another refrigerator instead, lol. Oops, high horse again....climbing down gingerly. Last word: read the nutrition labels not the packaging.

So are you saying that videos you purchased had some guy's birthday party on it or something? I'm not sure I understand your post...what was on the tapes if it wasn't the labeled movie?

If anyone does choose to answer the "extra" questions, be ABSOLUTELY sure that you are giving your answers to a REAL cenus employee. Our local news reports that there are people with badges that are not actual cenus employees going door to door. Considering that you can see a copy of the "real" badges online, it doesn't take a genuis to realize that with a color copier and a laminator bogus copies are easy to come by. AND...think about this....what time do you leave for work, and how long does it take you to get home. So....your house is empty at starting at 8am, and it takes you 30 minutes to get home....so a thief now knows he has from 8am to 5:30 to get his moving van full of your stuff! And if you're thinking "well I homeschool, so my commute is 1 minute from the bedroom to the classroom".....think about the fact that if you answer this question for your husband instead....that thief may THINK the house is empty. I am also one of those that intend to provide how many people live in my home. Period. And I will ONLY do that on the official form that is mailed to my home. Come to my door asking questions you won't even get that answer....and since I'll have mailed back my form, they're not entitled to the answer at my door.

HSLDA has been doing that for years! I personally believe it's a major part of the reason that there are so many homeschool-haters....because HSLDA's agenda represents a lot of what isn't liked about homeschooling.....and yet the majority of homeschoolers do not share the same agenda. But...we also don't have the money and clout behind us for OUR voice to be heard. This latest action ratchets that up a notch.

I think you're doing a great job...answer her questions as they come up. When your FIL does die, explain that you are all sad and will miss him, but if she expresses worry about HER daddy dying....the same answer you gave about his mommy would be appropriate. Daddy doesn't plan to die for a long long time.....Grandpa was 80, that's really old and he had such a wonderful life...let's go look at pictures of Grandpa and all he did in his life. Obviously, none of know if we're really going to be around for a "long long time"...but worrying a child over that isn't going to help their understanding of death or time. Give her the information she's requesting but don't go overboard...she doesn't need it until she asks about it. Reminds me of that funny story about "Bobby" who came running in from playing outside and asked "Mommy where did I come from". Mommy take a deep breath and launches into a full explanation of "the birds and the bees", even bringing out picture books that she'd gotten just for this occasion. Finally, she winds down, beams at Bobby and asks him if he has any questions about their talk. Bobby, looking a little bewildered, says "I don't think so Mom....Johnny just told me that he was from Ohio".