:iagree: This has been my experience, also. :iagree: Out there in the "real world," taking sick days for one's period is not encouraged ... at least back in the days I was working for money, that was the case. Sure, you might not have been as productive on one of those days, but you were expected to work regardless. And if your career is at home ... do the babies and young children give you a day off for those days :lol: ... girls need to learn that concept eventually ... Sympathies, Karen

I have the same notion. My son has been pursuing fencing for a year now. He got into it incidentally ... I made him take a 6-week course for "phys. ed." Turns out he has a gift for the sport ... who woulda thunk ... if we hadn't moved here, where there is an accessible fencing studio, no one would ever have considered it ... The international governing body is called FIE. We call it Fencing Is Expensive. We are blessed that a fencing studio with former-Olympian coaches is 30 min drive away, and we are blessed that the amount of money required is not an obstacle for us, currently. But if either of those two factors were different, ds would not be fencing. When ds gets a little deeper into it, he will need to start travelling to major tournaments ... I mean literally flying from one end of the country to the other ... that will be big decision time for us, whether to invest the $$$ AND the parental escort time required for him to advance in the sport ... something no one has ever done in either of our extended families. Who would thunk ... being non-sporty parents from non-sporty families, we are a bit nonplussed about it all. Oh, gee, and what if dd finds a special talent that requires beaucoup bucks, too .... And we only have the two ... my heart goes out to large families that just wouldn't be able to swing it. Karen

Not a direct answer to your question, but we have been there ... I wonder whether he has an inaccurate idea of what biology is in this day and age ... and the reason I say that is because my own mathy ds had just this attitude ... and I had a serious misconception about what's involved in biology studies in our time. My ds loves physics and chemistry, but was having a real attitude problem about studying biology. DH and I stood firm that we require him to know a basic level of how life on earth works, and we were concerned about college admissions ... we did not want to allow an opportunity for a question in this area (choose your battles kind of thing, ya know) ... so ds is taking AP biology at the local ps this year. The kicker: to date, all the biology course has been doing is chemistry. Yes, in this day and age, biology is really what might be called biochemistry. So far, there have been no dissections, no study of organ systems, etc. It has all been the detailed chemistry of living organisms. So my anti-biology ds is now liking biology quite a bit. He is still looking forward to taking "real" chemistry and physics, but he is enjoying the biology class he just knew he was going to hate. FWIW, karen

Well, I lost most of last week ... for no reason I can discern ... ... but am back at it this week. That's okay ... what's the refrain of that Christian pop song -- we fall down, we get up ... ... so today I did the linen closet, which is quite a big deal to me :) Just get back up and take one more step ...

We assume our kids will go to 4-year college ... so I began with a survey of admissions requirements at a variety of colleges ... they are pretty similar, in the end. Then I looked at our state's requirements for a diploma ... this gave me ideas for several "life skills" areas I wanted my kids to have at least an overview of ... e.g. personal finance. Then I sat down with each kid and talked about all these requirements, what their goals are (if any) for the near future (e.g. personal interests) and for their future lives (i.e. career), and how to get from here-and-now to those goals, assuming college is part of that path. Now, if the kids had non-traditional goals or goals that I'm just not familiar with at all ... say art school :) ... that would look different, I'm sure .... HTH, Karen

I have never heard this and I would like to know more ... what exactly do you take and in what form? And what other approaches or forms did you find less helpful? Would you be willing to suggest a starting point for me to try? Etc. :) :bigear: Karen

:grouphug: Count me in with this problem. It can be hard because so many people just don't get that it is a functional problem, not just wimpiness or whatnot. I drive at night only to take my kids to activities where I am familiar with the area. DH often helps by taking the nighttime leg of trips, while I do the daytime driving. If I have to go somewhere new after dark, I will often prepare by finding the place ahead of time during the daytime, to familiarize myself with the area. I have given up on church-related activities ... e.g. the women's group ... because they meet only at night. I just can't bring myself to do the extra nighttime driving that would be needed for me to participate in those things. Once my kids are launched, I plan not to drive at night any more. Sympathies, Karen

FWIW, I just ran across an interesting discussion that reminded me of this thread. Do introverts fit in at church? It discusses how some Christians confuse spirituality with sociability. I thought it might relate to the OP's question here. Karen

The Mad Scientists' Club If this is the series I'm thinking, it was a hit here. I don't think we've read the others. Karen

I chose Other, as neither of us wears a watch these days. And back in the day ... before cell phones ... we wore watches and always removed them before bedtime. Karen

Well, I didn't love any of them. Didn't see the Tebow ad, though I'm predisposed to like it without even seeing it :) But I will tell you what ad made me angry. There was an ad for a hybrid car ... I don't even remember the brand ... featuring the "Green Police" who were harassing people for using incandescent light bulbs, having a heated pool, etc ... everyone in the room said it did not make them want to buy that car; rather, it made them hate environmentalists and government control-freaks. Not quite what the ad-men were after, I think.

I don't think so :( If you go to "Help Center" and look at the Quick Help list, there is an entry toward the bottom of that list "A requestor says there is a problem with a CD I sent." I found it describes the damage policy pretty clearly. I'm paranoid, so I always listen to a CD before marking it received. I have had to clean CDs before they play well -- I use eyeglass cleaner and one of those special eyeglass cleaning cloths and wipe gently in a circle around the disc. Some of them arrive with more fingerprints than a police station. Maybe that might help? Sympathies, Karen

Our town does not have a library, so I pay $80 a year for a card in the neighboring county's county-wide library system. We drive 30 min one-way, once a week. Karen

It's kind of a long story. DH was adamantly opposed to the home schooling I proposed when our kids were little -- I think primarily because he feared it would cause additional tension within the family -- being "stuck" with each other all day and all. We compromised by sending them to a well-regarded Catholic school. By the time our older child was in 4th grade at that school, the school was no longer a good thing. That child suffered intellectual and social starvation that year; the younger child was being breezed through without really understanding what was being taught. When we tried to work with the teachers to provide solutions, the teachers were not open to anything that would mean additional effort on their parts. Because of these issues, by the summer following that school year, DH's attitude had shifted sufficiently for him to agree to try home schooling for one year and then re-evaluate. By Christmas of the trial year, having observed how things were going (especially the LOWER level of tension within the family) he told me that we would be home schooling clear through. I guess his favorite aspect of home schooling is that the kids really are learning, and learning at their ability levels. And, as bad a day as we can have sometimes, the tension level really is lower now than it was when the kids were in an institutional school. Until just recently, DH did absolutely nothing and showed no interest in the actual school work. It was my job, not his. Recently, our dd13 began having trouble with her math ... due entirely to a bad attitude ... so DH has taken over her math instruction for the time being. DD can do everything in her lessons, and she WILL do it for DH, but not for me right now ... :001_rolleyes: DH is happy to share his love of math with her. As I said above, once DH observed that the kids were learning, and the family relationships were actually improved over the previous norm, he has been on board. I guess that's his proof. Karen

:iagree: My ds is taking AP Biology at our public school. So far, it is really what I would call biochemistry. I guess that's the way it's taught these days ... but I'm a fossil, so I didn't know that. We're lucky ds is a science lover, as he already studied the fundamentals of chemistry, so was ready for the chemistry concepts that are pretty much assumed in the course (there was only a brief one-chapter overview of chemistry early in the course). For my dd, two years younger, who is not a science lover, we will be looking at chemistry before biology. Physics will have to wait due to the math connection. But biology will be at least second, rather than first, so dd can know the chemistry. That's the plan today, anyhow :) Karen

Yah, that's it. They go from utter beginners all the way up through ... wherever the students get to by age 18 or whatever their cutoff age is. National website: http://www.nfmc-music.org/

Festival is big here, in the sense of lots of participants, but they offer a pretty small menu of events. I grew up doing it, so when dd wanted to learn piano, I linked up with a teacher through NFMC. DD's first teacher had her students do 5-7 events every year. It was an awful lot ... especially since almost all events are done on the same day in that area. When we moved here and found the dates were spread out, I didn't like it ... thought it would be such a pain, all the extra driving, etc. But after experiencing it for a couple years, I now like this system a lot better :) Best wishes to your girls :) Karen

I have no qualifications for saying this, but I put them in the Jr. High category. Karen

or their pocketbook

:iagree: You nailed it. I'm usually a "my country, right or wrong" kind of American patriot, but this incident has me cringing and wanting to apologize for America. I see a lot of a peculiarly American kind of arrogance in this group -- which you described perfectly ... or maybe it's just in the leader and the rest of the bunch are twits, dunno. <shudder>

Do you mean NFMC? Those dates vary by area and different regions offer different events. Dd13 is prepping for piano solo, hymns, and concerto, to be performed on various dates in Feb-Mar. They already did duets last Nov. Theory, sight-reading, composition, and other events are not offered in our area :( Before we moved here, she did seven events each year ... all except composition on the same date -- ack-stress! The year we moved, we delayed our move for 2 weeks so she could do the Festival before the move, so I know what you mean about school, music, and moving :) Karen

:grouphug: Some days, the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that if they were in an institutional school, it would be even worse -- some different issues, some similar issues, but all worse. I know that's true because it was when they were in school in the early years. :grouphug: Karen

Nope and never will. Our computers (two) are in a publicly-accessible area, so there is no hiding anything. OTOH, I don't actively monitor what the kids do on the computer ... I know they play a couple of online games (which I also play) and they have an online class ... but we have spent a lot of time talking about internet safety and dangers and so far I feel they are trustworthy. Maybe too much so, as it is a struggle sometimes when I tell my ds14 to google a topic for a paper or whatnot -- he doesn't want to google anything. Maybe he encountered something nasty at some point (?), but he's not saying .... As for TV, we have raised them on restricted TV. They only watch classic movies when we have family movie nights or Mythbusters or sports (when dh is watching some sporting thing). I used to follow a couple of TV series, and they stayed out of the room for that time. As a family, we just don't engage with TV popular culture. Karen

No. We are not in a position to use it constructively ... e.g. for entrance to a special school or program or whatnot. Given that, it would make no difference in our lives ... e.g. my ds is accelerated in his math studies, and he doesn't need to know a number to succeed in what he is studying. Gee that was awkward, hope it makes sense. Also, it's a lot of money to spend in any case. I would want a concrete return on that investment. Regarding learning styles and whatnot, I feel I have a good handle on that just using my own observations and life experience/wisdom. I could be entirely deluded about that, of course :) I know my own IQ and it has been a burden to me. I alternately think "why am I not using my potential" and "everyone else is a ditz." It is not conducive to spiritual growth. :tongue_smilie: But I am not anti-IQ. If there were a constructive use for the information (for our family), I would use it constructively.

:grouphug: I'm not in a position to answer your questions directly, but I'll sympathize with you. I was once told that I wasn't a good Christian because I am not a morning person -- in other words, I'm not cheerful and bright-eyed, etc. until I've been up for awhile (and preferably had something to eat). You can imagine how that made me respect that person and her faith ... not. From the information you've given, I think you've hit the nail on the head. This person who judged you and advised you of your particular sinfulness is criticizing the way God -- in his infinite knowledge, goodness, and justice -- with premeditation wired you from birth. See the prophet Jeremiah -- "before you were in the womb, I called you ...." I agree with Christy B's comment that "letting other people manipulate you" or just doing things because you're concerned about what other people will think is REALLY what "fear of man" is about. That's what drives all those insane teenage clique behaviors, just for an example. This woman who judged you is implying that you need to "fear" her .... in doing so, she is putting herself in God's place. Ponder that awhile, and ... well ... you'll see the contradiction and absurdity of it. :grouphug: I know you can't just tell her to buzz off, though I'd want to do just that in your position. Prayers, Karen