Send 2 swimsuits if possible, that way if one is wet/drying they have a spare. Also, my son takes a mini fan each year. The cabins are hot/stuffy, and the 'white noise' helps him sleep. If your camp allows mail/care packages, mail one the day before he leaves, that way they'll get it midweek when homesickness seems to hit hardest.

She is undecided as of this point. One week she wants to be a lab assistant, the next a pastry chef.... :rolleyes:

I would not call the schools super competitive- just average. (UW Oshkosh,Stevens Point, Green Bay, etc) If she were thinking of Madison or Milwaukee, it would be a different story...but those three are just middle of the road. My gut also says to have her stick it out one more year - but my dilemma is that if she starts to hate Spanish enough I could see her just eeking by, (and dragging down her gpa in the process.) :glare: If she switched, she might be more enthused about it - but I know there is no guarantee on that either.

My daughter, (a rising junior,) is wrapping up Spanish 2, but she just is not thrilled about taking any more Spanish. She would, however, like to try either German or Latin. Would it be acceptable for her to switch at this point? Most of the colleges (state schools) she is thinking of appying to list their requirements as "2 years of a foreign language - 3 is preferred" Since she would meet the minimum do you think it would be okay for her to switch, or should I try to persuade her to stick it out one more year?

Unless your sneaky child knows how to connect to the neighbor's unsecured wi-fi. (Found out the hard way about that one) :P

Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum (Pacworks) offers a one year world history course. You can use their traditional textbooks, or they also offer online as an ala cart class from their virtual academy. https://pacworks.biz/store/social-studies/world-geography/world-geography/prod_276.html http://paradigmvirtualacademy.com/courses.php#.U4_AoXbb5GY

My crazy neighbor sneaks into my flower garden and plants things w/o my knowledge or permission. At first I thought it was nice, but as I got to know her better I really think it's her passive-aggressive way of telling me that I am not a very good gardener. :p It drives me nuts because the things she plants are usually perennials that have a way of taking over. We've gotten phlox, irises and this year....tulips. I've ripped a bunch out, but there's always more appearing. Our running joke is "I wonder how the garden will look this year?" Crazy!

If you have any tea tree oil that also works to help get rid of warts.

Bats - flappy, swooping, creepy, rabies-infested rodents with wings (and yes, I know they aren't really rodents...but in my mind they are just flying mice with fangs and rabies.) If one ever gets in my house...I'm moving.

"Sleeping Beauty" and "The Selfish Giant."

Mine wasn't great, but it couldn't be helped ( DH and DD both came down with the stomach flu) :(

Yeah, our Kia is a 2003, so hopefully they have made many improvements on the newer models.

Thank you everyone for the replies - I think we are going to do a lot more researching and test driving before we make a decision. About our Kia Sedona, it has 'nickle and dimed' us to death : rotors, tie rods, endless fluid leaks, expensive tires, it's rusting horribly, the sliding doors barely work in the winter ( and we live in WI, so winter is LONG), and the day after we brought it home, the battery died and we had to have it towed back to the dealer (and we've had to buy 2 more since then.) It's just been a money pit. Plus there is almost NO room for cargo in the back.

Contact Amazon - the cord becoming loose at the charger is actually a common problem with Kindles, and they gave me a complete replacement even after my warranty was up.

We need a new van to fit our family of 6. I want something with a comfortable ride, ample storage and decent gas mileage - and preferably lower miles. Honda and Toyota are most likely out of our budget, what else is out there? (We currenly have a Kia Sedona and I do NOT want another Kia) I'm typically not a fan of Chrysler vehicles, however we looked at a 2013 Town and Country today that seemed very nice. Any pros/cons or reviews from people here who own a T&C?

I am so sorry for your devastating loss. My prayers are with your family.

The one that gets me steamed: "Well, it's okay for you to homeschool because you were a teacher so I know you'll do a good job....but I think it's crazy that 'non-qualified' parents attempt it." (FTR I remind them that I taught Pre-K and kindergarten - which is way different than teaching biology and algebra...and yet we're managing just fine) ;)

Dog = Sam Cats = Lucy & Max Beta fish = Steve (a.k.a. Captain America) Gecko = Loki Hamster = Rachel

We know this situation all too well, as my 14 yr old DS is 5'5" and just hit 80 lbs. (He was 65lbs up until last year, and diagnosed failure to thrive) We had him tested for food allergies and found out he was allergic to a ton of foods. Once we eliminated those from his diet, his gut started to heal, and he began growing again. You might want to check with a doc about possible food allergies/intolerance.

Totally feel your pain. Our neighbor's dog does it, too. AND I have been yelled at by the UPS guy because the dog was roaming around in my yard and barked at him. >:(

Do you have a Red Cross near you? I am including things like CPR and first aid training as part of our high school health. I have also heard of people lumping it together with PE and/or Home Ec and calling it 'Health, Fitness & Nutrition' on their transcripts.

We got a Maytag. I believe it's this model http://www.sears.com/maytag-21.9-cu-ft-single-door-bottom-freezer/p-04606751000P?sid=IDx01192011x000001&kpid=04606751000&kispla=04606751000P There are some things I really like about it so far (The fridge portion is HUGE and well organized, it has a lot of compartments on the door for condiments, the produce drawers are much bigger than our old fridge) but some other things I cant tell if they are true negatives, or if I am just having a hard time getting used to them because they are so different than our old freezer-on-top model. (The front outer portion is smooth, not textured like our old fridge, and so it really shows fingerprints/dirt/scratches, the freezer is hard to open - you really have to pull hard, the wire baskets in the freezer seem small and don't hold as much as our old freezer, the ice maker is slower, and the shelves on the door are too small to hold a carton of eggs, and something I didn't even think about in the showroom...my younger kids can't reach the top shelves.) I think once we've had it a while longer I'll get used to it - but right now I'm sort of still missing our old one. (I loved that fridge - but it was old enough to legally drink...so it was past time to upgrade) ;)

Yes - we just got a new fridge, and it was a very tedious process looking for the new one. The new one arrived last week, and it has been an adjustment. I am not really thrilled about the freezer on the bottom - and especially the wire baskets. They seem so cheap. But I admit it is nice to have the fridge at eye level.

Christian Light (CLE) has a high school textbook based elective in Horticulture that looks like it covers much of what you are looking for. http://www.clp.org/store/by_course/116 * Note - you can get the textbook for a little bit cheaper on Amazon though. ;)

My son has been horrible about his rubber bands and headgear - but his ortho and I both agree he doesn't get his braces off until his teeth are fixed. (He's in his 3rd year of treatment) :P He has just started being more compliant, because he finally gets that we're not joking. In hindsight, I wish we had waited until he was older to start treatment (he was 11 when he got them on.) He didn't want them in the first place, and he just wasn't mature enough to handle it in a responsible way.