For the top question, if you were asking about cheese/PB&J for kids who had zero balance…as far as I know, there was not a high percentage on free/reduced lunch. I think it was under 50%. But yes, for the programs that will cover all kids, it's being covered by the federal gov't. I think; 'To participate, a certain percentage of students in a district must qualify for free meals. That threshold — in light of the absence of student applications for free meals — is developed through a complex formula that includes such factors as the percentage of families in a community who receive food stamps." This article also looks good http://www.huffingtonpost.com/regina-weiss/should-school-lunch-be-fr_b_791425.html "Some of the most telling comments in Free for All come from food service personnel, the people most directly responsible for serving up lunch in the roughly 94,000 schools nationwide that participate in the National School Lunch Program. Consider this. The bill Congress passed yesterday will provide 6 cents more per meal for school lunches nationwide. This is considered a victory by anti-hunger and child nutrition advocates, not least because it is the first non-inflation-adjustment increase provided for school meals in three decades. However, when Poppendieck asked food service providers whether, given a choice, they would prefer a 50 cent increase per meal to do their jobs or the ability to provide free meals to every child without any increase, they unanimously chose the latter. "In part this is a matter of principle [for the service providers]," she writes, "but they also anticipated enormous savings from removing the burden of determining eligibility, certifying, verifying and counting and claiming." Government studies have concluded that hundreds of millions of dollars would be saved by eliminating the administrative burden of keeping track of which children are eligible for free and reduced price meals. However, Poppendieck is careful to point out that these savings alone would not pay for the costs of providing free meals to all school children. She does, however, propose a menu of reasonable and pragmatic avenues to pay for such a program."

Here's an example of a major school district which is providing free lunches to all students. http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/09/02/boston-public-schools-will-offer-free-lunches-all-students/2aaUy5sxJjIak9ndGDHxkJ/story.html

Where we've lived, kids are usually given a cheese sandwich or PB&J if they have no funds (or negative funds). They do not go hungry. I seem to remember reading that some school districts were moving to a give everybody free lunch approach, to avoid this. I actually think that's a better idea. Perhaps with more kids in the system, quality will improve.

Haven't been there in years, but we always loved the chocolate fondue for dessert. :) As for main course, I seem to remember going for a traditional cheese fondue and salad.

If you've bought Math-U-See, give it a try. You may love it. :) Honestly, I've used many different curricula that I've loved. We started with Right Start Level A and B, which was wonderful..but a lot of work on my part. Still it was a great fit for my son who didn't like writing at the time. My youngest two have used Saxon K-3 in school, and they really work well with a spiral approach. It's a bit repetitive, but that works for some kids. We tried Math-in-Focus, which is Singapore, and my DD loves it…but I really think you need to start the approach early. It's been tough for my eldest to get "bar models" not having done them before. I love Math Mammoth, and keep coming back to it. It works for us. It's easy and self-explanatory. Oh…and my eldest two have both loved Beast Academy as a supplement for 3rd grade.

In the original BBC program (which you can sometimes find online, and is also sometimes shown on PBS), Michael Mosley's insulin usage improved. That was part of his motives for trying it as he has a family history of diabetes. So, based on that, I would assume this could help. Another thing to try is simply walking 30 minutes after dinner. Doing that has been shown to improve fasting blood glucose…which should translate into a modest improvement in HbA1c. :)

On a side note, it is Sunnah (practice/tradition of the Prophet Muhammad) to fast on Mondays and Thursdays, so many Muslims do that. Now, with a Muslim fast there is no food or drink from sunrise to sunset…but still, similar idea. :)

I usually buy my husky boys' pants at Lands End because for $5 they hem! :)

DS1 is using BraveWriter. Right now, we're doing partnership writing. Sometimes I just have him dictate to me and I write. Other times, we write together. It seems to help. We started the actual assignment partnership writing this month. You can download a sample at her website. Honestly, I don't think it's horrible. First off, find things to praise about it, so she doesn't get discouraged. Then correct the punctuation (perhaps together?) and have her rewrite. You could also ask some more leading questions to help her develop it a bit more. It's a process. Encourage her, help her, and she'll get better. Sometimes I have to remind myself that my son has many many years to master XYZ (whatever he's having trouble with). If he doesn't get it today, it really isn't the end of the world. (Although sometimes I feel like it is.)

I didn't see it, but there's a lot going on so I just glanced, but there are some blog sites that deal with this. One is called No Longer Quivering. For some reason, I can't find the blog right now, but found their board http://nolongerquivering.proboards.com There's also some stories of homeschoolers raised in the movement (and other philosophies as well), called Homeschool Anonymous. http://homeschoolersanonymous.wordpress.com

When I first fasted, I would do a soft boiled egg with a few Kashi crackers for breakfast or a cup of hot chocolate made with low fat milk, 1/2 can of a low cal soup for lunch, and then some sort of low-cal frozen dinner for dinner. This seemed to make me steadily hungry. I found that I was much happier saving my 500 calories for dinner…either eating whatever I fixed for the family, or something else like a big bowl of bean soup and maybe some fruit or something. I drink lots of lemon water during the day.

I never have…but I went on to grad school, so maybe that plays a part? When I applied for admissions for a post-bac program (pre grad school), they wanted a copy of my college transcript.

In my experience, Weight Watchers worked easier for me, although in theory, it should be more difficult. The points formula (although I'm not sure of the latest incarnation) takes into account fiber, fat, and calories--in a way that gives you fewer points for more fiber so that you're choosing more filling foods. With the latest version (or last year's), all fruit and veg are "free". I remember reading a study of one of the liquid diets (well one that combined shakes with one lean/green meal), and they found letting people consumer 5 servings of fruits/veg in addition, made it easier to stick to. What was interesting was that another article said that making that unlimited, resulted in even better weight loss. Perhaps WW is going off of those studies?

Great, but how sad that this is such an exception to most schools. :(

Thanks for the heads-up. He's a really good reader, and has recently become interested in the whole series because of the Lego game. :001_rolleyes: Up until now, he's been majorly into anything dragon-themed.

Merci, that was my guess, but wanted to make sure. :)

Which book would you recommend to read first for a 10 year old boy? Thanks :)

I had to be rehydrated…and I think I was there about six hours. My guess is they would have kept me longer had I not felt better.

Thanks. I contacted them for their online one, as it is proctored over the phone. They said it wouldn't count, however, as there is no FL-licensed teacher involved.

I tried it about a year ago after seeing the BBC program. It was 1000x easier for me to stick to, but I didn't lose any weight. Granted, I only stuck to it for two weeks…but I'm big enough that two weeks on any diet should lead to weight loss. I read that some people need to do the true alternate-day fasting (basically Varady's research)…but I'm not so sure I could manage that long-term. I might try to do 3 days per week. I did find I did best waiting for dinner. Eating a small breakfast and small lunch seemed to make me hungrier. :)

More on Dylan's accusations that were not in the OP article... http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/culturebox/2014/01/did_woody_allen_molest_his_adopted_daughter_22_years_ago_reviewing_the_evidence.html "...Farrow found out about the affair when Allen left pornographic photographs of Soon-Yi on his mantel in January 1992—eight months before Dylan made her allegations. By Orth’s account, Allen was already in therapy for “inappropriate behavior†with Dylan before the revelation of the affair. And in their May 1994 decision, the judges of the New York appellate court held that, with regard to the events of Aug. 4, 1992, “the testimony given at trial by the individuals caring for the children that day, the videotape of Dylan made by Ms. Farrow the following day and the accounts of Dylan's behavior toward Mr. Allen both before and after the alleged instance of abuse, suggest that the abuse did occur.†Although “the evidence in support of the allegations remains inconclusive,†the court stated, “our review of the record militates against a finding that Ms. Farrow fabricated the allegations without any basis.â€"

The overall rate of false child abuse allegations is extremely low…less than 10%. Coming forward is never easy. Maintaining that story up until adulthood, where it would be far easier to change, is not easy. Because of that, I err on believing the victim. Not being believed is usually a far bigger problem than being believed. And yes, Allen's relationship with Soon-Yi shows issues with boundaries and what is appropriate, which to me gives Dylan's accusations more credibility. However, if we eliminate the abuse of Dylan, and assume that was false, the relationship with Soon-Yi was still 100% wrong. It doesn't matter if he and Mia had separate apartments (which they did during their entire relationship). You don't date your partners young daughter. At minimum, you break up with your partner, wait some time, and then, if you absolutely can't help yourself, have a relationship. There was a giant power difference between the two. He was 56. She was 21. He was a world famous, Oscar-winning director. She was a college kid.

Not to be a bummer, but…you may think people have a choice, but working in domestic violence, they don't always. That's a myth. It's a blame the victim, mentality. Most dangerous time for a woman is when she leaves. We lose over four women per day, every day, to domestic violence homicide. (Used to be only three, numbers are up.) I know women who can't leave abusive relationships because their husbands would take the kids out of the country, and as the State Dept. says, "we have no exit controls." Not all countries are participants in the Hague Convention. (NOte; I'm not saying the Allen is abusive…but the whole… "people always have a choice" thing is a lie." I was a major Woody Allen fan. But I can't support him at all anymore, nor watch his work.

I'm more skeptical. Soon-Yi has very little choice but to stay with him. Unfortunately, she chose him over her family, her reputation, everything. Her father (Andre Previn) disowned her. She now has two kids with him. She's seen what Woody's friends have done to Mia…and Soon-Yi doesn't have the benefit of being an actress, or coming from a Hollywood family. She's stuck…until he moves on, or dies.

I'm adopted, so that clouds my view of Woody Allen's relationship with Soon-Yi, regardless of the fact that he and Mia were not married. It is still sick and wrong. Being adopted does not make me and my brother less siblings. He was father to some of her siblings. That is wrong. No grey area. Plus, his abuse of Dylan comes into play. Did you read the Vanity Fair article on it? She still sounds quite a lot like a survivor…and does not deny what her father did. I believe children who said they were abused…. and she still maintains that story as an adult. So, there's more than just the Soon-Yi thing. http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2013/10/mia-farrow-children-family-scandal "Orth speaks to Farrow’s children, including Dylan, who now has another name and who discusses what she remembers about Allen and how his behavior has tormented her. She refuses ever to say his name. She calls her fears “crippling†and says, “I’m scared of him, his image.†Dylan tells Orth, “I have never been asked to testify. If I could talk to the seven-year-old Dylan, I would tell her to be brave, to testify.†According to Dylan, “There’s a lot I don’t remember, but what happened in the attic I remember. I remember what I was wearing and what I wasn’t wearing.†She tells Orth, “The things making me uncomfortable were making me think I was a bad kid, because I didn’t want to do what my elder told me to do.†The attic, she says, pushed her over the edge. “I was cracking. I had to say something. I was seven. I was doing it because I was scared. I wanted it to stop.†For all she knew, she tells Orth, “this was how fathers treated their daughters. This was normal interaction, and I was not normal for feeling uncomfortable about it.†As for the OP's article, honestly, it sounds like a guy defending his friend. I think no more of Woody Allen after reading it, but far less of the author who wrote it.