I am born and raised in GA. My grandparents, and for many years, my cousins did not have A/C. We just got used to it. Flashforward several decades. We bought an old southern house built in the teens with no A/C. Those houses are built to withstand heat and it is fine until it gets above 90 and then it is just miserable. We lived one year without A/C and it was a scorching summer. The upstairs..used to be attic..is where the kids bedrooms are. That summer they had to come sleep in the living room the entire month of August. If it weren't modern times with crazy people we would have all slept on the porch. Deee in Oz..my husband is from Oz .. from a cooler region so no A/C is fine, but his parents have moved to Queensland and quite far up. When we go there at Christmas time and the only A/C is in the master suite it is pretty miserable. I usually end up sleeping on the floor to get cool. I have no idea why they live up there, sure wish they would move back to southern Aus.

I'm just getting back to reading WTM forums so I may have missed a thread about 8th grade science. I am trying to sort out what to do for 8th grade science for my oldest. I basically need to know if Physical Science is now the typical course for 8th graders planning to go to college. (in GA if that makes a difference..this child says she wants to attend UGA, but we that of course may change in time). She will most likely not major in anything related to science or math.

We live in my hometown now, in GA. We met in Europe and lived there several years. He's from Australia. We have been here for 15 years now. I guess we just have a different vibe to us. I know that it is wierd for people sometimes. It is also wierd for us. We are not going to "fit in" ever. Mostly it is with ideals and values. We live a very traditional life and quite a bit of that includes some so called conservative values, but then we swing around and have quite a few so called liberal values too. It's just how those ideas are "packaged" in different countries. We've lived in several countries so we kind of don't fit in any particular "package". I think that is the hardest thing. We are Christians, but not always conservative and in the south this might make people nervous. In Australia it's the Christian part that makes them nervous. It just depends where you are and that is what is like being on a raft in the sea..not just for us and our children but for those around us as well. It is hard for people to relate when they can't make sweeping assumptions. People are not sure what we think.

Reading the 4th one right now!!! Delicious!

I like them alot. My kids went in elementary, but they are so close in age that we decided to just do our own thing so we could combine several subjects and reduce time spent. I plan to send them back starting in 8th/9th grade.

I think 7 is reasonable to still be in a car seat. My kids rode in them up till their 8th birthday. As long as the seat belt came below their neck. Boosters don't really do more than that anyway. I'm very small and I have trouble with seat belts not being low enough. Having said that I come from a small family, and I would have still been in a car seat at the beginning of 8th grade by some of these standards. There is no way in he!! I would have submitted myself to riding in a carseat at 13 years old. I'm actually wondering if there is a strong industry lobby for these companies so they can make more money???

Thanks for posting that link! That's my mom to T!

I went to school in the 70's and learned cursive first. I still prefer cursive. I find print causes my hand muslces to get all tired and it takes longer. My cursive developed over time to a mature handwriting. I remember playing around with my writing style in 7th grade. My dh grew up in Australia and he learned basically the same handwriting I did with only one quirk which I'm not sure is him or the way he was taught. He insist that the lower case m has four humps and not 3 the way I learned. We both want the kids to learn it for practicle reasons and they enjoy it very much. It takes 10-15 min tops and we do it 4 days/week. I write everything in cursive, so they have had to learn to read from very early on. We have used A Reason for Handwriting and Handwriting without Tears. We feel like it is needed. It's like memorizing your spouses phone number instead of using speed dial from the get go, or always using a calculator instead of memorizing basic math facts, or using spell check instead of learning to spell. We don't really need any of those things anymore, it can all be done by computer.

We like to have people over all the time. Usually for dinner and usually with other families. We have big gathering (20+ people) 2-3 times a year.

We like First Form. I'm doing it with my 11 and 9 year olds. They are doing great! It's very straightforward. We like it alot and will continue with the Form series.

I have been to Ft. Walton Beach a few times, but more times to other places close by. Ft. Walton is nice. I like Destin much better. The beaches are much better in Destin to me and all the little beach towns from Destin to Panama City are my favorite. Anything along scenic 98 and definetly 30A. I love being down there! I wish we could go more often. I would just take school with us!