I need help with science texts, but first some background.... We live in Australia, where school children do a combined science topic until the final two years of high school, at that point if they wish to continue with science they will specialise in generally in either Physics, Chemistry, Biology but occasionally in marine or environmental science. My DS is in 9th grade. We covered Science haphazardly at elementary level, with varying science units in areas of biology, earth and chemistry, and a full year of marine biology. But no kind of comprehensive cover of everything. Then for the last few years, haphazard doesn't even begin to explain it, although he did year 7 science at school. I had planned to do 4 years of Science, Earth Science this year, followed by biology, physics and chemistry. But now he is talking about going back to school for Gr11-12 which means I think perhaps I should be aiming at a generalist science with the basics of most topics over the next 2 years and I'm looking for suggested texts for this at high school level (not college entry level) with an assumed prior knowledge that is pretty basic. Your help in suggesting something would be much appreciated. I did wonder about wandering down to the local teacher supply store and seeing what the local texts etc look like with a view to perhaps using one of them.

I have one Science Explorer book: Weather and Climate. If I find it a winner for DD (5th) I'll just buy the whole Earth Science text. Have people found the Reading guide a worthwhile addition to the book? TIA

Can I piggy bag on this and ask if people have used the TM and/or student pages and if they feel either or both are worthwhile?

Meat. Sausages, bacon, mince, chicken. Quinoa porridge.

IF you get to it quick enough, which most people don't do. The melanoma death rate is high and it's often a very quick progression from diagnosis to death. I can't believe that anyone would question the link between sun and skin cancer actually. Yes, it comes from over exposure and getting crispy, rather than from sensible exposure (as others have said ESSENTIAL for health) but the connection is there. Personally I'm equally wary about sunscreen, and the chemicals it contains. So I refuse to slather myself or my kids in it unless absolutely necessary. My solution is to not use it, stay out of the sun at peak UV times (in Aussie this is a big deal, the UV is really strong here!) and use sunscreen when we will have to be in the sun for long periods. I always wear SPF 15 moisturiser on my face, to prevent aging but I generally get a bit of a tan due to gradual sun exposure. So in your situation, I'd allow yourself to get some sun, but not too much and embrace your paleness, because it IS beautiful.

:iagree: Another vote for GF. I had 13 years of really quite debilitating stomach issues, particularly bloating that made me curl up on a foetal position it hurt so bad. Doctors dismissed it at IBS, I stopped eating gluten, the stomach issues went away, and so did a whole host of other issues that I hadn't related to the gut issues. If I have even a little gluten, the issues are all back again, they start about 2-3 days after ingestion and go on for 2-4 weeks. I don't know if I have coeliac disease, the doctors think I might do but I refuse to eat gluten again to get tested. Even if you were tested negative for CD, it's worth trying GF.

Fisher Paykel. Mines an 8.5kg which is the 2nd biggest, I don't know how they quantify that in the US with imperial measurements. Before this one we had a 5.5kg which we had for 15 years, and only got rid of it because we moved countries. Before that, my Mum had a FP for as many years again.

Fisher Paykel is a New Zealand brand that has been around for eons, they have been in Australia for many years, but I think that they have only moved into the US market in the last 10 years or so, the dishdrawer was what propelled them into the US market. We are on our 2nd FP top loader, we only got rid of the first one because we were moving countries and they were cheaper here, plus our family had grown and we wanted a bigger one, it was still going strong after 15 years. The new one is 6 years old and has never missed a beat.

The vinegar will eat the skin too, but it's not that bad. I had them all around every finger nail when I was in my teens. After many dry ice treatments that hurt so bad I had to have days off school, but didn't fix them, my Mum took me to a dermatologist. The ones further from my nail he injected under, the warts died from underneath and fell off, brilliant! The ones too close for that, I got some very powerful acid type stuff to put on them, all my skin in that area got wrinkly and nasty, but it fixed the warts and did not scar the skin.

*gasp* Surely not! I think the point is that we don't have taxes that differ based on where in Australia we live, state or city. The taxes are across the board for every citizen. Not much use for those stuck in the US though eh.

I let my vegetable garden grow wild this year, I never got around to tending it. It is giving us buckets of tomatoes each day, there are at least 20 pumpkins growing, multiple varieties of herbs as well as various other random edible things and lots of flowers. Are there weeds, sure but they are not taking over. Leaving it to find it's own way has been remarkably successful. What a sad view of humanity. I believe pretty much the exact opposite, people are good, people are noble, people are kind hearted, people are good intentioned. Are there exceptions to this? Sure. But I'm not going to approach the world as if everyone were the exceptions.

We have a boxer, she is 11 months old. She is just the most adorable dog on the planet, gentle and loving with the kids, loyal, funny, playful, full of energy. We play fetch with her a lot, although often she turns it into a game of "get it off me if you can" LOL funny girl. I haven't got her to swim, but she will wade in the water at the beach if the water is warm. She is reasonably obedient and getting better all the time as we work with her. We've never had a dog before, I chose a boxer because of the fact that they were described as good family dogs, great with kids and loads of fun. DH wanted a cocker spaniel, I went online and looked at YouTube videos of both breeds, boxers are hilarious, cockers looked cute but kinda dull. But the #1 reason that I choose a boxer was that every single person who I met who had had one would get another boxer if they got another dog. I did not find the same with most other breeds. It took a long time though, from deciding on the breed to actually finding a dog was about 4 months because I was really careful about finding a dog from a good breeder who cares about the breed and isn't just in it for the money, it took a while as there are plenty of dodgy breeders and puppy farms out there. In Australia ear cropping and tail docking are banned, so her ears and tail are intact. That tail can wag her whole body when she is happy! She has been hard work, no doubt about it, she is full of energy and needs a firm hand but it's definitely worth it. She was a bit nippy with the kids at first, but we worked really hard on making that unacceptable and she stopped pretty quick. She really doesn't like heat, once it gets over about 30C/86F, she tends to lay on the floor all day, goes off her food and pants. We keep her wiped with damp cloths and give her lots of water. She jumps up at visitors which is doing my head in, but we will get there with that one too. Our family is unanimous that she was a great choice.

No school taxes in Australia, or New Zealand for that matter ;)

I felt a bit the same when I came across a paleo list of foods that described sugary drinks as not OK, and artificial sweetners as preferred! Gimme a break!!

Mostly yes, but in some places there are a lot of bull ants, so then we wear shoes because those suckers HURT.