May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii. We just got back from a park downtown where we viewed the entries in the lei contest, listened to music and watched some hula. The boys wore last years kukui nut birthday leis and new straw lei that I'd made a few months ago and saved for them. They got so many compliments on the straw lei. They were just beaming. And I'll confess to being pretty flattered too.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I love all the cool ideas. I went ahead and added a few of them to the blog post. The allowance program did have some restrictions on buying equipment. Oddly, they will pay for rental of a microscope, but not purchase, even though rental looks like it would actually cost them more. (But the restrictions in the program didn't always rest firmly in logic.)

In Germany, we had to pay for any plastic bags we got (we usually had to bag our own stuff too, but that's a different conversation). We had collapsable boxes that we could put our stuff into. Made it easy to store them and easy to transfer them to the car.

I was once in a situation where an employer gave us an educational allowance. One of our friends is now in a similar situation. On my blog I'm trying to brainstorm some of the cooler things that I got and that she might want to consider. I'd love to get some other opinions too. I'm sure I've left off some great ideas.

I was once in a situation where an employer gave us an educational allowance. One of our friends is now in a similar situation. On my blog I'm trying to brainstorm some of the cooler things that I got and that she might want to consider. I'd love to get some other opinions too. I'm sure I've left off some great ideas.

Similarly, I considered not taking employment security payments when I got out of the military. Then I realized that this had been deducted from my pay (or paid by my employer, I forget which) during my entire working career. And I wasn't going to come close to getting all of the deduction/employer contribution back even at the top rate of employment security. At that point, I had no problem with cashing the checks and using them for college tuition payments. I think that the stimulus checks were a silly way to try to stir up the economy. But declining the money isn't going to fund any federal programs that I'm particularly fond of. I can use it to good use. I am, however, going to try to spend in a way that keeps the bulk of the money in the US a little longer (ie, not spending it on foreign made electronics or toys). I'm thinking that little Waldorf dolls made in the US or a couple pieces of local art or donating to some local good purposes is a goal for part of the money.

I have not given neg rep but I sure thought about it with one person. Not only did I frequently disagree with her frequent authoritatively pronounced statements, but I thought she was a poster who was frequently very abusive and caustic toward others while also being quick to take offense. I decided not to give negative rep points, but ended up just putting her on my ignore list. I just checked and couldn't find her listed as a member anymore (but I'm not sure what incident might have prompted her leaving or being removed). FWIW, if I were going to leave negative rep, I might do it without signing it. If there were a person that I thought was really in need of being flagged as unreliable (ie making untrue or really inflammatory statements), a troll or otherwise actively involved in undermining the board community I might add my neg rep as a warning to others. But those being my hypothetical criteria, I don't think I would want to hand such a person another target. However, the fact that I haven't found a situation that warrants neg rep yet probably means that I won't need to explore that possibility.

I just wanted to say that this strikes me as very wise. I think it is very easy for coop attendance to become a validation for some of the parents. I like the other families in my support group. But my goals and schedules just don't mesh with the goals of the group "enrichment activities" that they set up. However, I volunteered to help teach a dissections class that my kids weren't even taking just because it sounded so cool. I brought my microscope and helped kids cut stuff and handle gooey insides and had a blast.

Of course you can require her to wear her seat belt. I think you can also be a good model for her on how to be a responsible driver. She's only a year or so away from that and within a few years, she's going to be faced with deciding if she rides with drivers who are reckless or not (drinking, speeding, cell phone while driving ect). Who knows, you could save her life in the future by giving her a lesson that it's not that hard to require safety when driving.

Jo, This is a totally for real emotion. When I came off active duty in the military, one of the things I really missed was getting awards and annual evaluations. That was some nice ego stroking. I think it is totally valid for you to give your parents and in-laws opportunities to give your kids accolades. That doesn't mean that you have to dress the kindergarteners up in graduation robes and a mortar board. But of course you can tell your family that you kid has reached some milestone and could they write them a note. We tend to do school all year so we celebrate reaching the end of books (math, reading, Latin, whatever) with little parties. Give your family the chance to celebrate this too. And I bet some of this is reacting to being on the most remote island archipeligo in the world. It is easy to be envious of the sibs who are near enough to you family to do stuff on a casual basis.

We really like Zoobooks and Zootles. Calliope is good (from Cobblestone publisher). We've also gotten Popular Mechanics and Popular Science.

I love your blog. Sometimes it is hard to keep it up, especially when you're tired or busy. But you've got a nice mix of recipes, family and Hawaiiana. How about some book reviews of your favorite Hawaiiana books? (Some of our favorites are by Tammy Yee, who even came to talk to our homeschool book). Or travel with kids reviews of some of the tourist spots you've visited. A blog doesn't have to be a burden.

It depends. Since the official definition requires a downturn for two quarters, it often gets called a recession as it ends or even is beginning to turn back up. (One magazine commented that experts had predicted 10 of the last 4 recessions.) On the other hand, there are industrial, regional or other specific downturns, like in housing prices. If there is an area where one industry dominates, a big change in that industry will drag down lots of other families. This might not meet the criteria to be a national recession. If you are relying on expanding housing values to finance something (like college tuition) or are living in an area where a lost job isn't easily replaced, then it probably doesn't matter to you if there is a recession. I like to remember, though that many countries would love to have our problems. Germany has had several months of growth and has improved its unemployment rate to 8.4%. In the former East German states it runs around 14%. By comparison, Pennsylvania (since it has been in the news lately) is at about 5%. Detroit which is loosing population like crazy has a 7.7%. Here in Hawaii, there is incredibly low unemployment. However, housing prices have gone through the roof in the last several years, traffic is horrible (commutes well over an hour from work concentrations to housing concentrations), consumer goods are very expensive ($5 gallon of milk) and many local families feel forced to move to the mainland in order to live somewhere affordable with work. So in which of these places is there a recession? Where the unemployment is high? Where housing prices decline? Where unemployment is low but wages don't go far? Where there are lots of big employers going bankrupt? Some combination of all of these and more? I think it's hard to pin down a recession. Magazines don't get sold on good news and few tune into a broadcast that tells them how great they've got it.

Don't forget May Day is Lei Day. The extra days off always catch me by surprise. But then, so does spring break.

I think I'm more conservative on this issue than many others. I don't use names, don't use photos with recognizable people, don't state what dh does or where he works, don't say when we're going to be on vacation or when dh is away. Is there a clear and present danger of someone using my blog to find a way to hurt me or my family? Probably not. But I am amazed by the way discrete pieces of information can be brought together now. Try running some adult family names through a site like zoominfo.com You might be surprised. And once the information is out there, it is out there forever. This came up on the old board once with a member who is also an author. I was able to dig up info on her, her husband (including employer), their church and I think also her in-laws and only spent about an hour on it. I also know that a friend of ours recognized a post I made here and then surprised me with reading my blog. From her it was a delightful surprise. I might not be so delighted with others who put together that info. Also, there is the issue that dh is military and my "opinions may not reflect that of the management." So I try to keep those worlds a bit more distinct.

Hmm, I love the Austen book Persuassion. The town of Lyme figures prominently, as does Bath. Dorothy Sayers' Peter Whimsey books are great. One of the later books, Gaudy Night is set almost entirely in Oxford. Strong Poison revolves around a trial, so you could visit the court area around London (is the Old Bailey still there?) What about Sherlock Holmes? Could you visit the area where The Hound of the Baskervilles was set?

Why not twins so everyone is happy?

We are starting to learn Japanese at our house, although we're very much in the starting phase. Here are some of the things we've found: Japanese for Dummies Beginner's Japanese (I think this was from the Teach Yourself line) Teach Me Japanese (there is also a Teach Me More Japanese, these are songs in both Japanese and English, stuff like Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes) We have also been dabbling with The Japanese Page (This has a lot of user created content which might not be appropriate for an unsupervised kid)

A lot of libraries carry these. You should try to check them out before buying. They are very well done, but target a business traveler. I'm not sure how interesting they would be for the average young student. Granted that there is a large ethnic Japanese population here and a lot of business contacts, but I was still impressed by the amount of language instruction material available from the local library.

Our family also loves the Poppleton series by Rylant. They are just silly. He might also like CDR Toad by Jane Yolen.

There is a scene along these lines in The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig, which is one of my favorite books. Don't know if this is the book you read though.

I get notices via email. Try signing up online for a catalog so that you get their announcments of sales. I get one or two emails a week. Most I ignore but there were a lot of free shipping deals before Christmas. They have one running right now, but the free shipping may be based on how recently you've ordered. Also, Land's End is one of the Box Tops for Education retailers. So I go through boxtops4education.com to get to Land's End and a percentage of everything I spend goes to my homeschool group.

Is there a young man with the last name Castro? His mom is a long time friend of my mom's. Folks from the church have been getting together to have American Idol viewing parties. OK, I had to go look up the show. I guess it is Jason Castro. Is he still on?

What about something like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or Old MacDonald? I'm pretty sure that Old MacDonald is on Sandra Boynton's Grunt CD. From Wikipedia: A Latin translation appears in Mary Mapes Dodge's When life is young (1894): Mica, mica, parva stella, Miror quaenam sis tam bella. Super terra in caelo, Alba gemma splendido. Mica, mica, parva stella, Miror quaenam sis tam bella.

Unit studies for all the cool places we've lived. I thought I was going to pull together an project for the Pearl Harbor attacks that brought together all the historic sites here, but time is already getting away from me.