:grouphug:

Unless there is something odd in the ingredients, I don't know what would cause them not to form peaks. Sorry the cookies are not working out :( Is there anything unusual in the mix? I have done it with sugar and a bit of salt.

We have bought, sold, and given away so much stuff on Craigslist in the last year! It has been great! Free stuff goes so fast. DH has picked up all of his garden supplies for free from Craigslist - good dirt and compost, woos for raised beds, hay and rocks for the pathways...

What kind of bowl are you using? I find eggs and whipping cream do best in a cold metal bowl. Plastic does not work well at all, ceramic or glass is okay, but metal holds the cold and helps form peaks faster. Also, make sure you use the highest setting on your mixer.

I posted an add on Craigslist 30 minutes ago; I put two bags of toys, a box of shoes, and a bag of clothes on the curb and it is gone! We did this with our garage sale left overs a few months ago. It is so much easier than going to Goodwill or Salvation Army. Plus, at least last time we know that the people who took the free stuff REALLY needed it. I am going to continue getting rid of things this way until my house is in order. If it has not home, it goes on the curb! We decided no more garage sales after the last one! It was a pain in the rear and we did not make enough money to make it worth our time.

Send him to get a package of ham steaks or a spiral ham if you want it for a big group. He waited, he goes shopping!

It seems like too good a deal, even if you are new. I would up it at least $50. You want a little padding in there in case your ingredients are more expensive, or if you need more than you calculated.

I would highly suggest your DD take some business classes and look into a Rhee Gold Seminar, or at least network with some dance studio owners around the country. Dance.net has some amazing studio owners on the board. They have great business sense and understand that a dance teacher and studio owner needs to make a living and the know how to do it with quality instruction without charging an arm and a leg, but by knowing what your time and service is worth.

My son is 6 and pretty far ahead in math. We started LofF this year. It is very easy, but he finds it very entertaining and has picked up a few fun facts and had a little review of some basic concepts. We have been slow going with it and are midway through Butterflies. We would have read all four that I purchased in a week if DS had his way!

Our high school did Advanced Mathematical Functions. I don't know exactly what it was...can you do a personal finance or business math class? Trigonometry. Or a college algebra text?

I have lower or similar class fees compared to most studios in my area. I have mid range costume fees and fairly low ticket fees (we get an extremely good deal on our theatre). But, we have very reasonable rent on our facility. We try our best to run the studio as a business, therefore we do not have any parents working our desk. We do have parent volunteers and students who assist in classes to offset some of their tuition. Every class gets the same level of instruction whether they take 1 or 10 classes a week. No matter what the attitude of the teacher - a dance studio is a business. You don't expect your housekeeper to LOVE cleaning your house and therefor charge you less. Same with the person who mows your lawn. The attitude that because you teach dance/art/theatre/music you must do it because you love it and be willing to make money is not fair to those who do it. Do you really think it is fair that your child's dance teacher do all that work for other people and not get paid a reasonable wage for it? You obviously don't because you choose not to teach. Yes, there are studio owners who are in it for money. You can tell because they have nothing but trophies around their studio and they charge higher fees and justify them by their winnings. We go to competition, we win, but I don't charge more because of that. I do charge enough to make pay my expenses and myself. I don't expect to become a millionaire off of my studio, but I work hard and expect to make enough to live comfortably. I do have a husband who works another job and that has allowed us to grow our business without pulling living money out of it for several years. In that sense - yes for 4 years I did it simply because I love it. Sorry to hijack the thread. I will take my business discussion back to the studio owner forum I frequent. I hope everyone's recital performances go well in the next few months.

Jelly Bellies!! But only from a store where I can mix my own bag...I don't want any nasty buttered popcorn in my bag!! There are a few other flavors that I really cannot stand :) But I do love black jelly beans!

My son is almost 7 and finally has loose teeth (3 or 4 of them - he is going to have the biggest hole in the front of his mouth:D), but he has been reading fluently for nearly 2 years....I do find the hairly armpit comment very funny even though it is not a solid rule. If it came from the author of LofF, I think it may be a joke. He has an odd sense of humor (one that my son totally gets!)

We are actually less likely to go to church on Christmas and Easter. We do celebrate Christmas with gifts and all that, but my kids (at least my 6 year old) understand what the holiday means (my 4 year old really just grasped the concept of God and Jesus;)). But I dislike being crowded in church and fighting for a parking spot because people choose to go two days a year.

I own a studio because I love my students and I love the art of dance. But, I cannot spend the time my students deserve or pull of a good recital without making money. I cannot have a second job and pull off owning a studio. A dance studio is a business. A lot of dancers don't understand this until they are deep in a financial hole. Dance teachers can rarely get full time jobs at any one studio and it is hard to get 40 hours a week when you have to teach between school and bedtime. Plus, it is hard work. It is very physically and mentally demanding. Most teachers max out at 4 hours per night. Any more than that and the level of instruction drops drastically. So they make a high hourly rate, or at least they should.

The recital fee will cover the rental of the theatre, any staff that must be paid to use the facility, probably a program, and all of the other expenses associated with doing a performance of any kind. People really don't understand how expensive it is to put on that recital. That being said; they should have told you of a recital fee at the begining of the year. We do not charge a recital fee, we charge for tickets to the recital. Your monthly tuition pays for regular expenses: rent, utilities, teacher salaries, desk staff, office and classroom supplies - daily cost of doing business. And yes, hopefully the owner makes a little money. Remember, this is business. The teachers and owners do this to make a living. It is not a hobby for most people. I may only teach for 14 hours a week, but running a dance/theatre academy is a full time job. The costume fee pays for the costume. Whether they are ordered through a catalog or made, they are not cheap. It can actually be more expensive to make your own costumes. Costume companies get discounts for buying fabric in bulk. Again, yes, there is an upcharge on most costumes. But - I spend at least 80 hours (probably more) on costume orders. Kids must be measured, sized assigned, orders compiled, orders called, faxed, or done online (just placing the order can take hours!). Then we must follow up with the companies, double check order confirmations, sort and label costumes when they come in and then discipline. I have 150 dance students and about 450 costumes to deal with. I will assume that the second theatre company is non-profit. They get funding from somewhere. There are all kinds of grants for non-profit organizations offering art instruction. This allows them to charge less (although some still charge more than we do for our classes and tickets). That is the benefit of being non-profit. But, it leaves the directors subject to a board of directors and sometimes, not always, leads to inconsistency in leadership and instruction. I would pay for my child to do the recital. It is not fair to the rest of the group to pull your child out this late in the game. It could mess up choreography and staging. Sorry this got so long. I just get lots of these complaints about dance and theatre being expensive. That is the nature of the game. If you can find someplace cheap that provides good consistent training, switch; but not until next year.

We did three days a week in the fall. We were on track to finish it in one school year. I have had to completely revamp our schedule for the spring and we took a two month break from history. Here is what we did: Day one: read first part of chapter or all of short chapter; discussed and did the narration questions; did color pages and maps while listening to story Day two: read the second part of the chapter or started a second chapter; discussed and did narration questions; did color pages and maps while listening to story Day three: Did test (as a worksheet together) and the lap book page for chapters finished in the week. Usually this was just one chapter unless we did two short (one section chapters) We generally spent 30 minutes the first two days, listened to the story 2-3 times on the CD, and one hour on the last day. Sometimes the lap book took longer. I think you could easily do it two days a week if you were spending an hour each day.

We are unable to evaluate his mental readiness, knowing his age and what he has successfully completed helps to evaluate without meeting him. I would say, if he has mastered pre-algebra concepts from some of the links provided, and can pass a placement test into algebra he is probably ready for the material. However, what is his attention span like. I know that some of the CWP problems take a while to do, we are currently using level 2 and they take a few steps; but Algebra and Geometry problems can take a lot longer. I remember two page proofs from Geometry. Can he handle problems that take longer? You may have to move a lot slower if his focus is not there. Try it, but if he spends 15 minutes solving each problem I would assign a few problems a day and let it take more than a year to complete a book.

:iagree:We tried stickers, candy, toys, potty parties, big girl panties...everything we could think of! She was just not interested. It disrupts their playtime to try every 30-60 minutes. She did not like that. She also has a bladder of steel :glare: She will go all night, and at least 2 hours some mornings before she goes - and she drinks pretty steadily all day. Her need to go so little made it harder to catch her when she did really need to go. She got sick of playtime being interrupted before we had one success. We waited 6 months and tried again with great success. I filled her with sugary drinks that would go through her quickly ;) Normally my kids get milk and water at home and juice and maybe a sprite when we are out. I let her have all the Capri Suns and Sprite she wanted for a weekend.

I would Ise TWRTR and do the Spelling rule notebook. Then, have him create a list of frequently misspelled words in his writting and figure put which rule they go under. Have you studied any Latin and Greek roots? I would do that as well. Between the notebook and root words he should get a better understanding of how spelling works. I have a lways been bad at spelling, but I am learning the spelling rules as I teach my son, and my spelling is improving.

I would say it is just a cold, especially with no fever or a very low grade fever. A cold is viral, so they would not give you anything. If it was bacterial, you would generally have a fever. Take a decongestant and enjoy your weekend.

I read about every Homeschool philosophy before I started homeschooling my son. I read general comparison books and hated classical, and school at home; I could not imagine unschooling; I enjoyed the look of Charlotte Mason, so I picked up books just on Charlotte Mason. I wanted to do that! I did okay in Kindergarten. We did a lot of reading, short lessons, and as much as I could; but I realized I was not doing what I wanted. But what i was doing worked. I started reading again. This time I read TWTM and decided that is what I wanted to do. I realized I had a somewhat classical education. Now, I do a.little classical, with short lessons, and actually a little unschooling. They way we do school changes as my son's needs change. I now know I don't have to he stuck with one philosophy. I can pull from different philosophies and do what works. It is good to understand the philosophies and experiment with the styles, but be flexible.

I just use the activity guide color sheets and maps. He colors while the Cds play, thenwe do the test like a worksheets. We do it together. He retains a lot, but we listen to the cd many ties.

I always have to give a different address. For some reason, no matter what I do, PayPal keeps my parents address in their system. If I change it, it reverts back. I do always send a pm about the address. I have also had PayPal mess up that address in an online purchase. I would suggest always confirming the address before shipping.

I want my kids to have a very in-depth study of US history. We will do SOTW first through fourth grade, then we will repeat with him reading it on his own amd adding the Kingfisher Encyclopedia in fifth and sixth grades. Since we will have been through it once I figure double time with mainly reading and discussing we can get through it faster. In 7th grade we will do The Story of US for US History, 8th grade will be civic and stayed history. Then we will be back to a final four year cycle with more in depth material and literature selections.