I did SOTW4 with my 4th grade boy this year. It went great, partially because he is very interested in history and military things. But we just read through it and didn't sanitize anything (there was nothing particularly explicit). It gave us TONS to discuss. He is starting to understand the themes that you just can't escape if you study history--generally speaking, humans seek power, try to sieze power whenever possible, and try to do whatever it takes to keep it. When you oppress people, they eventually come to the point where they won't take it anymore. When people are oppressed, though, they are vulnerable to politicians who promise them anything. To me, it was a great opportunity to discuss that nothing is new under the sun, that humans easily let their egos get out of control, and to try to reap the multitude of life lessons in this. But what is even better is in some of the additional reading you can do. Reading, for example, The Hiding Place, can show what is happening beneath the surface of these epic power struggles, which is that beauty, compassion, and kindness are quietly being practiced. The history of the ugly behavior of humankind is obvious, but it is great to be able to point out some of the beautiful and courageous stories that exist in spite of our blemished past.

I realized at some point mid-college that I wanted to major in English, but I knew I didn't want to teach. Someone suggested editing/publishing to me as a career, and I knew that was perfect for me. While trying to find an in-house publishing job, I rustled up free-lance jobs to get some hands-on experience. I literally went through the phone book and called every publishing house in town to see if I could be added to their pool of freelance editors. A few of them had mercy on me. Started me out proofreading. I built up from there. Eventually they were willing to try me on copyediting. I was able to work in-house as managing editor a few times, and that of course gave me a bigger picture of the whole process. By then, I was ready for substantive editing. ETA: Obviously, you can edit for publishers that are not in your town. I just happen to live in a town full of publishing houses.

thanks for answering this, WTMCassandra. Clearly, I haven't been on the boards in the last few days. :blushing:

I didn't have maternity insurance with my dd. We explained the situation to our doctor, and he gave us a discount and divided the payments over the pregnancy so we would pay a little each visit. It wasn't so bad that way. I was fortunate not to have any complications. I believe the hospital also gave us a discount since we were paying cash.

nearly 10 years ago when I did freelance editing full-time, this is what I charged: $10-12/hour for proofreading $15-20 for copyediting $20-25 for substantive editing haven't done it since, but those were fairly standard rates for someone with experience.

I recommend looking into a couple of therapies. One is EMDR and can really help with anxiety and is particularly helpful for PTSD. (I personally experienced something as traumatic that doesn't look traumatic "on paper". She may have had an early stressful experience that has affected how she experiences other things.). Relief can be quick with this. Another thing that can help is neurofeedback (different from biofeedback). You can learn more about it at http://www.eeginfo.com/. It "retrains" your out-of-control brain waves (in her case, related to anxiety) and gets them back in normal parameters. I have done both of these processes over a period of about 6 months and have had fantastic results. Both can be done on children. Wishing her the best.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: so very sorry. so sad.

Log Cabin Pancake House, Pancake Pantry, The Peddler (steak house--a bit pricey), Wild Plum Tea Room. In Pigeon Forge there is the Old Mill Pottery House Cafe and Grill (not to be confused with the Old Mill Restaurant). But nearly everywhere you go, the food is overpriced. Of course in Gatlinburg you can wander up the main road and find ginormous corn dogs, sausage and peppers on rolls, some delicious fresh lemonade, and other junk food wonders. Kilwin's ice cream is in both Gatlinburg and PF (happens to be my favorite ice cream!). You can surely find some BBQ places. That's all I can think of for now...I did actually see a Cuban restaurant in PF in the spring. Couldn't believe it. :)

I'm pretty sure it was the Iran Hostage Crisis.

insist on switching to all whole grains for any carbs you have in the house. it's not as easy to eat as much of those, meanwhile it should have a slower release in their systems. in other words, don't bring refined carbs into the house, bc they WILL be eaten. cut down the portions, and make the veggies, fruits, and protein the stars of the show in a meal. make sure the snacks you offer are of the veggie, fruit, or dairy variety OR whole-grain carbs. one thing we did was to not let ourselves eat any sweet treats unless we made them from scratch. we could ensure more quality ingredients that way, and it made us really have to decide how bad we wanted the treats. hope that helps!

Thanks...I'll look it up!

Yes, I have seen this and wondered how good it is.

We did Grammar Island last year, my son did quite well with it (3rd grade). Now that he will be in 4th grade, I just assumed we would go straight into Grammar Town, but the more closely I looked at it, the more I realized that he isn't ready for paragraphs writing just yet. I feel that he didn't have enough sentence-writing practice with Sentence Island. Anybody know of a program we can use to strengthen his sentence-writing skills?

J Crew has several dresses on sale (don't know if you can get what you want in your price range.) Other than that I would look at Macy's online (probably my first choice--usually have a ton of choices and price points, not to mention sales and coupons) , Loft (a wrap dress like this--sleeveless or short-sleeve--would probably look great on your figure), or Banana Republic. Good luck!