Yes, I found out about the professionals after we went through lice hell. Thing is, we paid more on so many bottles of useless Nix and stuff that the professional would have been cheaper. There are also Rx treatments that are far more effective than Nix. You can ask your pediatrician about them if this continues to be an issue, but be sure to check your insurance coverage first.

I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad. I'm glad that so many of you were able to be there with him when he passed. Lots of hugs and prayers.

The worse time it took probably 3-4 months. We ended up shaving some heads (boys), cutting some hair short, and retreating and combing a lot. Fairytales comb, a similar Fairytales like mousse stuff…. I bought readers so that I could magnify what I was seeing and used a headlamp. It was total pain.

We've seen this happen with unpaid internships, though. The problem is that unpaid internships have become the norm, which means that people who need a paid internship in order to survive, have another obstacle to overcome.

Praying for you Jean. :grouphug:

We've bought LL Bean and Land's End backpacks. Honestly, my kids have destroyed both after one year. I tried to get the LL Bean backpack straps repaired, but they said they didn't repair them. They did offer to replace it, but it seemed ridiculous to replace an entire backpack over a strap that should be an easy fix.

I don't do well with preplanned meals. What does work well for me, though, is doing meal planning myself. So, make a list of your family's favorites. If you want to try new things, pick one night per week for that. PaleoMom type sites are usually more family friendly. :) Then just make a schedule and rotate your meals. If you're talented, you can do batch cooking and stuff. You can also assign certain days for certain things... so Mondays is always cauliflower rice type creations Tuesday is zucchini "pasta" or spaghetti squash in some sort of creation Wednesdays is something ground beef Thursdays is something chicken related….maybe almond flour coconut breaded chicken tenders Friday is Paleo Pizza night Etc.

There have been some studies done where they look at various populations (such as the Amish, Kenyans, and others) and have determined that roughly 10,000 steps is a basic cut off for an active life, which they've said has a decrease in cancer. Here's one: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21858689 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21798044 This looks at children and adults http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21798014

I can't think of when I've actually come across one that affected me. OK, there was a protest (not really a picket line) in front of a women's health clinic near a grocery store that I went to. I just walked around them. BUT, in general, I would respect the workers and their right to picket unless I knew that they were basically paid protestors or some such thing. I don't think many of my generation really appreciate all that unions helped accomplish in this country. We take that for granted. Yet, I grew up in a suburb of Detroit and I saw how union power can be abused as well. It's really a balance. Management can be abusive and greedy as can unions.

I remember having to use WIC checks and being ashamed at first. My DH was mortified that we needed them, but on his salary as a fellow (they make less than residents in some specialties), we had no choice. Back in NY State, they were checks. Big pieces of paper which the cashier would have to check each item off of, then you'd sign, and then they'd ring up the next set of items. There was no easy ATM to swipe. You held up the line. Everybody knew. They made such a gigantic difference in our ability to not go deeply into debt. I was so grateful for every single thing we were given from the whole wheat tortillas to the cheese. We learned to use the tofu. We were happy to have Kix and Corn Flakes. The best part was the summer when we got I want to say $12 each month to use at the farmer's market. The one thing that was weird, though, was that if I wanted to buy milk, I'd also have to buy bread and say juice. I couldn't leave off anything not he list. Also, sometimes I'd be given really weird quantities, like 1 gallon, 1 quart, and 1 pint of milk. I've heard some people I know that are against food stamps say that they think they should be more like WIC, in dictating what one can buy must be healthy. I'm not sure if that's the answer for all of the allotment, but perhaps if a portion of it was limited to healthful staples, those against food stamps wouldn't worry as much?

Most garage sales I've attended have used the circle stickers. Some do it via color codes…so yellow means $1….green means $0.50 or whatever. I would think that blue painters tape (kind of like masking tape) would work well also, and be easier to remove.

Just wanted to add, that they may deny you on the first appeal. Keep appealing. Squeaky wheel and all.

My best friend and her brother were always given a clothing budget from the time they were in high school. It was enough for the basics, but beyond that, they had to use their own money. I actually think that's a good idea to help kids learn to budget. My parents bought pretty much everything through college.

Looks wonderful. I hope you have a great year! :)

I've lusted over the Sonlight booklists (other than the missionary stuff)…and the thought of a giant box of books arriving is so appealing. BUT, I tried Sonlight K many many moons ago, and reading two pages from one book, and four pages from another, just doesn't work for our family. I did find schedules on Sonlight Secular Homeschool groups that eliminated that, though, for K. I am torn. I have gone to the Sonlight site for recommendations for books…and many of them are spot-on. So I do think I should support a secular alternative of theirs. BUT, I find the world-view of the Sonlight curriculum has changed a bunch over the past few years, and not in a good way. I realize that this is part of the John/Sarita? issues…but I'm not sure I want to support that in any way. I'm torn.

Will pray for him.

When I used to do a lot of art, I preferred Prismacolor. I also really liked the Aquarelles by Faber-Castell (you can add water). Art stores are dangerous dangerous places for me… even clicking on the Dick Blick website can cause all these random things to jump into my cart. ;) I also suggest trying oil pastels. They are very fun to draw with. Don't forget nice paper. Right now, you can get sketch books with decent paper at Wal-Mart and Target because of back-to-school. Honestly, for me, it would depend on the age…artistic interest….as well as ability to take care of good materials. If I had doubts, I'd just pick up a nice 12 pack of Crayolas.

I have no experience with it, but according to this…. The Original Super Glue-All beats Elmers. http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/home-improvement/maintenance-repairs/best-glue-10000001683150/index.html I think I've seen that brand at Dollar Tree. Might/might not be less expensive. I've bought Target brand, and it was fine.

I read the article and really enjoyed it. It seems that our country is also missing the public lessons aspect… but knowing the US, they would be used to criticize rather than help teachers, which would ruin the point. It's sad that so many of the wonderful ideas that the Japanese and Chinese use came from the U.S., but we still teach the same way. So…how can homeschoolers access master teachers, so to speak? Who are the "masters' who you turn to?

Happy Eid…Eid Sayeed To the non Muslims reading this thread, I encourage you to treat yourself today in the spirit of Interfaith relations. Go on, stop for a cupcake or a piece of baklava…or splurge on some nice organic fruit. Your Muslim friends want you to. :)

As somebody who does not dance, I'd probably enjoy games more, but no…I haven't been to any weddings with them other than the garter stuff.

I need to go shopping and buy Eid gifts…and then wrap them. I also need to go shopping for food and special desserts for Eid. Most likely I will be going out tomorrow night after the kids are asleep or at least watching a movie on TV.

My undergrad is in International Finance. I never worked in international finance, but did use my general BBA to get a job in marketing…and then go to grad school (business) and that was very necessary for jobs following graduation. Could I have majored in something else in undergrad? Sure, but when I graduated, it was a tough job market…and would have probably been much harder to get the entry level jobs I did without the business degree. I later went from global marketing to competitive intelligence…and there are people w/a bunch of different backgrounds in that field. MBAs are the norm, but you'll also find PhDs in various disciplines, market research folks, and stat folks as well.

Of course, it's not unique to Ivy League colleges nor does it encompass 100% of the students. But, in general, when you've gotten into an Ivy…there's an additional level of pressure not to fail. It's one thing to not do well or flunk out of State U., it's far another thing to flunk out of Columbia… not only regarding what many would see as lost opportunity, but also tuition. Remember, this article is talking about Upper Middle Class kids…so it's not like they're receiving a lot of aid or anything, unless they have a large family. It could easily run $75k or more per year.

This was put out by the American Friend's Service Committee, a Quaker org. I don't know if it will help anybody or not: http://afsc.org/gaza And yes, this link is probably considered bias. It's called Humanize Palestine…and they show you the name/stories of some of the people killed. I think it's around 850 now…roughly 70% are civilians according to the UN and others (so 595 people…think two jumbo jets going down.) http://humanizepalestine.com