I could have written much of your post. I am brand new to homeschooling (came home from PS in December), and I have 3 children that I'm schooling. Two of the three have issues that affect their learning. We don't know WHAT those issues are - we are still in the stage where we try to identify them. After that, we will try to deal with them. Like you, my youngest (8.5) struggles with reading/math. It is so frustrating for us both. I am starting to suspect that he may be dyslexic. Right now we are waiting on our vision screening appointment to see if his eyes work well together (I am almost 100% certain that they do not.) We will likely need to do therapy for that, then I guess we will be looking at dyslexia testing if we still see some of the same problems I see now. This morning he read "lid" as "ball". He read "hat" as "the". He reverses d/b/g/q/p all. the. time. He tends to use 2/5 interchangeablly and, strangely, 4/5 appear to be interchaneable to him :confused: We've also struggled with 3 being written as E. He dropped through every hole and crack in the school system despite my being very proactive about holding him back until he was "more ready" for a classroom and asking about testing/accomodations/etc.. My oldest is not as severe. I suspect that he is ADD, he's fairly inattentive and scattered. He is also (and I know this sounds sooo bad coming from his mother) lazy with a capital L. I know that he struggles, but I think he tends to use as an excuse. He is also being tested for vision problems, I do not think he is the slightest bit dyselxic (although I guess anything is possible.) I feel like DD gets less of my attention than she deserves, simply because I have to spend so much time focusing on the boys. She also tends to proclaim things too hard, and she will drag out her lessons with whining forever. For-EV-er LOL I think that is just seeing her brothers struggle and she either thinks it's a good cop out, uses it as an attention getter, or genuinely thinks if the older one can't do it it must be too hard for her to figure out. Some days I'm :banghead::cursing::ack2::crying: all at once. All that to say I can offer no advice, sadly. But I can commiserate! I'm pm'ing you my email - feel free to mail me anytime to vent, I know how much that helps me! It is even MORE help to vent to someone who "gets" it, I don't have much of that IRL. Most people I know locally have either gifted children or kids who seem to float along getting good grades without much real effort on the parent's part. I hated venting to them, I would tell them about my first grader not reading 3 letter words and they would say "Oh, I know. DC made a "B" yesterday. A "B"!! We've grounded her until next report card. She knows better." Sigh. I remind myself of that when I think homeschooling is about to get the better of me.

I have never, ever heard of that. What a bummer. Now, we will have to check ours when we buy it.

Ha ha, that was great! We didn't have many of those - I didn't know about the Octopus, Witche's Hat, Rocket, or Swinging Gate before reading that post. I do remember a gigantic jungle gym (the big square) at our local park, teeter totters and the "Death Duck" type animals on our school playground. I remember people rocking so violently on the spring animals that they would almost hit the ground LOL And, oh, the metal slides! Scorching your butt off.....sigh. We had one wavy one, and a twisty one at school. When I was in kindergarten, they installed "the worm". It was a long, wavy ladder that was horizontal. That was his body, crawling, and you could climb all over it. He had a huge, HUGE head with big eyes and antennae. I will never forget, the very first day we had it installed, my Kindy teacher's nephew fell off the head and broke his arm. He spent a part of the day sacked out on a nap mat behind her desk, waiting on his dad to come get him and go to the dr. Most of our old school equipment has been dismantled and replaced by the plastic "fun" centers like at the top of that page. I have to agree, they may be more safe, but they are NOT more fun.

Sorry you didn't like the 80's. It is my fave decade so far, though, so I'm loving it! :D I was totally into the crimped hair, mall bangs, day-glo colors, splatter/puffy paint, all the toys LOL My DD is enjoying the resurrection of the 80's now, like me, it is totally up her alley. We have bought quite a few 80's-riffic (I just coined that - anyone can feel free to use it ha ha) tops! I have a good friend (who is the same age as me - 34) and she is dismayed, like you. I don't get it - that was our CHILDHOOD? Apparently, she was tortured then by the bright colors and styles of clothes. I'd love to see her old pictures to see what she wore :confused: Yes! Me, too! I'm an 80's junkie. I have a bunch of the shows on DVDs, and tons of music from that decade on my iPod. I fondly remember my bottle of Electric Youth perfume ;) I have bought DD a bunch of neon tops and outfits, now if I could just find a few things for myself!

I agree that it could be a die off reaction. My three children and I have been taking CO for around a month or a bit longer. Two of the three kids have started complaining of tummy aches (not bathroom related, just a mild cramp) shortly after ingesting it. I'm pretty sure that they have yeast in their systems. I say this because *I* was toxic with yeast before taking it and noticed some stomach issues. My youngest can even have rather offensive smelling symptoms ;) from it, but I truly believe it is a die off reaction for him. Like you, the benefits from the CO are too great for us to walk away completely. I'm re-evaluating the best way to get it into them. I wonder if night-time might be better, my kids and I tend to be IBS-like and have weak tummies in the A.M. anyway. FWIW, I'd eat it "plain" before I put it in fudge. Having toxic amounts of yeast that caused hallucinations, severe intestinal cramping/distress, vomiting, fatigue, etc... It will be a cold day in Hades before we consume fudge (or similar) again :D

I would LOVE a picture! Right now we use a five shelf pressboard bookcase by our main door. Everyone has a shelf. I can't stand the thought of a shoe basket, don't shoes get dirty and/or scruffy looking if not stores sitting on their soles? Or without other shoes squishing them? Me too! This is the main reason I don't do shoes in the house, super easy upkeep on the floor is a nice bonus ;) I credit our shoeless home for a large portion of reducing illness in our family. Especially when the kids were still in ps.

I read. You know, books that I want to read. I read them silently as a bonus, no reading aloud required (whew!) I also love to walk with my iPod when it's nice enough. I love to drive, alone, with the music turned up. Those give me time to think. I'm a research junky. I plan out vacations, unit studies,day trips, holidays to the nth degree. I know that wouldnt be some folks cup of tea, but I thrive on it. If I'm really lucky, I travel :) I love to visit new places and dig into their local offerings. Drop me in a big city and I'll have googled local attractions and be at a museum, observatory, zoo or the like before you can blink.

Nothing to add, really, but I agree with Elizabeth. If it works, do it! I find any kind of background music horridly distracting, but indispensable for driving or excercise :) I can see my younger DS, though, responding to it as your child does. Hmmm, maybe I should break out a good quiet music station on pandora.

Thanks. I haven't given up, it'll take more than this. It's just been a 24 hr period that "makes you go hmmmm." lol As much of a headache as yesterday was, I'm glad I called and found all that out. Can you imagine the disaster it could have been on down the line?

So after my fabulous phone convo with the therapist at the VT clinic, and scheduling (and waiting for) the appt.......it has been a 2 day downhill spiral. Yesterday, I called our insurance to make SURE that we didn't need a separate card for vision dental. It's new, same company I had through my work but a different branch/state as it's through DH's work. With my old insurance vision/dr/rx was one card and dental was another. Anyway, come to find out our insurance was ALL messed up. Let's see - DS8, the one who is in such need of the VT eval, wasn't even ON our policy. AT. ALL. We only get one card, with only the name of the person carrying the policy on it. That was the same as my old insurance, except with mine I also got a handbook and statement of benefits listing all the people on the policy. Not so with DH's. Of course, I burst into tears upon finding that tidbit out. I'm sure the poor CS girl wished she had called in sick for the day. She backtracked for me and found that he wasn't even turned in with our paperwork. Now I was bawling and livid. Somehow, I had the wits to ask her to double check everyone else. Well, the other kids were fine, but MY information was a wreck. She had me born a year late, my ssn was literally 123-45-6789.....seriously?? Then she dropped another bomb. The woman who works for DH's HR company had also not turned in my old insurance...so the adults on the policy, DH and I, weren't considered fully covered until 2013!! I had to conference call my old insurance with the new to prove that I had it, so they could start an appeal to waive the pre-existing fee for me and DH (thank goodness they don't do pre-existing for kids so if it couldn't have been waived at least the kids would have been okay....well, the ones ON the policy :glare:) I literally spent HOURS on the phone with the HR rep, the new insurance, the old insurance...finally, though, we did get him added (I was prepared to make a 9 hour drive and get in the face of the HR rep who messed this up, had we not got it straightened out.) So, I go to bed thinking "Thank Heavens, that is worked out. Now we can go to our eval tomorrow." At 7:15 this morning the phone rings. It is the dr's office. Two of her kids have flu and she is cancelling. Okay, I know it makes me a <bad word> but I wanted to scream "WHY ME?!!?" Once I got over my disappointment, and had a cup of tea, I told myself that the poor dr had two SICK kids, and one more that might fall ill, not to mention herself. Then I had a panic attack, they had rescheduled the kids for tomorrow. Thanks, I don't want to be ugly but I don't want traveling flu germs. Sigh. So I called back and pushed it back until next Wednesday. I'm starting to wonder if this is supposed to be telling me something LOL :001_huh: The only GOOD news out of the whole ordeal was that the insurance confirmed that IF the diagnosis is for a medical issue we won't pay one red cent out of pocket. No copay, no deductible, no out of pocket, and NO limit to the benefits so no cap on therapy. I am clinging to that info like a life preserver, it's all that's keeping me going. How sad is that? On top of that, DH was no help. I called him in tears after I got off the phone with the insurance the first time, and he told me he "shot an email" to the home office. I was like "WTHeck?" So I had to call his home office, get the phone number for the outsourced HR department, make that call....and has the NERVE to send me a text last night asking if it was all cleared up and "How come we always have to deal with stuff like this?" WE?!? Was he in my back pocket as I dealt with it all, plus kids, and totally abandoned school? All I can tell him is, it's a good thing you are 9 hours away, babe. He would have been very sorry had he been in arms reach. And, yes, I totally see the irony in my feelings over the cancelled dr's appt and his text last night..... but I still want to smack him :lol:

Yes, it's been horrendous here. We've had a hard time getting to bed on time, then it's hard to get up, then because we got up later and felt sluggish all day...it's hard to go to bed that night :glare: Yesterday was absolutely awful. I felt like I had been hit by a semi-truck. I think it was the combination of the time change and a super dreary day (we had beautiful weather for nearly a week, then...THUD...it was like January again. ICK.)

What should I be looking for/expecting/asking? I've talked to one of the doctor's assistants and discussed the concerns I have with two of my children. She sort of gave me a list of how they do things "We will perform tests w,x, and y. We may, based on results of those tests, perform test z. That test might be later. We will recommend therapies, if needed, to help with the issues found in testing." I'm just wondering if there is anything *I* need to bring up at the screening. Do I need to bring samples of schoolwork, so she could see the youngests issues with handwriting? We've already discussed insurance and payment/cost factors. Will I find anything out the day of, or is it like a NP appt, where you wait a week or two to get a write up. If they should happen to decide that day that the kids need the therapy - and assuming I have the option of morning/evening and beginning or ending of week.... - when do you recommend the therapy be scheduled to best maximize it's results *and* maybe make your child more receptive/productive during sessions? Or does it matter at all :D We take Fridays off right now, but our appt is Wednesday this week, so we are schooling M/T and Th/F this week. I'm thinking that, given the 2 hour round trip to the town where VT is located, and the fact that it could be 2 hours of therapy (an hour per boy) once there, and the possibility that they may be worn out following therapy...should I try for an afternoon and do light school that morning? Or would that just be trying too hard? And, what do your kids do following VT? Are they cranky? Hyper? I had youngest working on a hidden picture from Highlights Jr today. He did pretty well, but I had to tell thim the area of the picture to search for the object. Still, after about half done, he complained that his eyes hurt. I would imagine that therapy would be that kind of strain x1000 or so...can I expect him to have migraines (he had them alot during Public School, but has only had 2 since coming home to HS)? I know all kids are different/have different problems/respond to therapy differently...but what other general knowledge can you share?

:bigear: I'm all ears, too. We aren't international, but I searched the Philadelphia Free Library - how does one get audio books from them? Do they have a special section of ones you can download (I'm assuming?) I saw some there that would be worth the out of state membership for me, as the library we patronize doesn't have much my kids would enjoy... Ah, never mind. Never underestimate Google! I found their Terms of Use, and it said this: How do I access your free audiobooks? Find our collection of audiobooks by clicking Advanced Search on the left side of any page. On the left, you'll see a menu with "Downloadable Audiobooks." Please be aware that this service will not work on Apple computers or iPods.

DD will be 10 in July. Her interests include: Reading - loves mysteries (Nancy Drew/American Girl mystery books), Poison Apple books, and other short chapter books. Sports - She cheers, we just finished basketball, and are about to start soccer. Playing with dolls - American Girl/Bitty Baby, Monster High/Barbies Theatre - she is doing her first bout with children's community theatre and loving it. Drawing/Taking pictures Doesn't watch tons of TV, but loves Dr Who and H2O. She's beginning to get into the mermaid thing. Warning - her handwriting can be atrocious. It may be that we send some letters typed, or it may be that some handwritten ones won't look terribly neat. Perhaps regular letters will give some practice in that department :) We are in TN, but would love a pen pal from anywhere. We aren't particular!

I use it in smoothies. For my smoothie, I just drop a dollop in the blender. For the kids, I set a dollop in a bowl then set the bowl in a pan of hot water to melt it. It seems to blend with less "chunking" that way. I also spread it on toast then cover with a thin layer of butter for the kids, if I ate toast I'd just do the coconut oil sans butter for myself. I also use it in a pan as "grease" when frying eggs or cooking scrambled eggs. Oh, I put it on their waffles in the same manner as toast. Lastly, we have it in our hot tea sometimes. It does create a "slick" on top of your tea but even my picky kids haven't complained. You don't notice it as you drink, it's just when you look at it. I also started using it for washing my face/moisturizer and it's FAB.

My personal favorite foot softner is a walk on the beach ;) Of course, I live no where near a beach so I go a long time between those particular pedicures. The pumice stones or foot files help some.

Ebay? I've found a few on there that went (factoring in shipping) in the $60-75 range. Some for even less. I agree, I would post on Craigslist as a wanted ad. That would be much faster than waiting on one to appear, and someone might see it and have one they'd be happy to give up but just hadn't thought of doing so.

Man, I wish Minnesota wasn't so far from Tennessee. My almost 10 year old loves her cat and AG dolls. She loves to cook, but we don't do that often enough with her. She isn't an only, but she's our only girl so many times she might as well be. She constantly complains that her little brother wants her to play HIS games/ideas but doesn't reciprocate with her dolls :D I suppose I'm a "bad mom" in that I am not into entertaining my kids. She is the one who does the best at finding herself something to do. She will: *Play with her AG stuff or Monster High/Barbies *Read - right now, either American Girl or Poison Apple Books when she picks for herself. *Sings and makes up dance steps to go with the songs. *She loves to take pictures of her dolls, but she dropped my camera and broke it :glare: *She will put together Legos. I need to get out the Harry Potter bus that she and DH bought at Christmas. *Draw or paint *She has attempted Duct Tape crafts. So far they haven't been very good, but I'm sure she will get better with practice. I am trying to keep mine away from screens for the most part, too. DD does really well with this, she never was a huge TV kid and almost never played video games. The little she does watch is usually H2O (mermaids) and Horseland, a cartoon we found on Netflix that has some positive messages about responsibility and such. She likes Wizards of Waverly Place, but I try to keep that to a few sparse episodes because I find the kids annoying/disrespectful.

I'm using an LLBean tote like that for our library books, I think ours is a large. I LOVE it, but we have between 20-30 books at a time and it's like carrying a load of bricks. Like the PP, I can only suggest the little crates on wheels. I know a good friend of mine and her kids are book-aholics and that's what she uses. It may be time for me to break down and get one.

Thank you, Ellie. I have limited screens in general for everyone, not just him. I can see it making a large improvement in their attitude towards each other. It wasn't just him that needed less screen time, but he was probably the one who had/has the most problem dealing with the reduction. I'll continue to read aloud, maybe he will come back around to that. For one thing, I don't think he "sees' the picture in his mind. I have asked DD if she does (she enjoys reading) and she says yes. I always "see/hear" the book in my head as I'm reading. I don't really even notice the words at all once I'm into the book......I think he is so used to being spoon fed graphics and characters and such that he can't drum them up on his own. I have noticed a big difference in the manga books. In fact, I quite dislike them because of the differences LOL It makes me feel motion sick to try to read a story "backwards". I have wondered if he does have eye issues, or some kind of processing issue, if reading manga somehow is easier for him because it's backwards (and reading the "regular' way is hard, because it's opposite?) I'm sure I'm reaching there, but I'd love to find someone to ask. This gives me hope, but also shows me what a long road this may be *sigh* I'm trying to back off, it isn't my strong suit. My personality is the take charge and fix it kind. I'm also an organizer and planner. I tend to grab the reigns well before I realize that I've taken the lead.... If that would work, I would do it. The thing is that I would have to bring the xbox out and hook it up for each reward. If it is already out, he drifts to it like pulled by a magnet. He is on it the minute his eyes open, I swear sometimes he is plugged in before he even wakes up. It was, honestly, as bad as the addictions to cocaine and alcohol that I've seen on intervention shows (and taking it away LOOKED like those shows. Wild, violent mood swings - one minute bargaining, one minute pleading, the next throwing something... we are only just seeing that tone down.) He also can't do moderation, it is ALL he thinks or talks about. We couldn't have conversations about anything except the game and what the people on LIVE were doing in the game. Even during school, he would zone out and start talking about it. I just felt it had gone far past something to pass the time and had become the center of his life. Thanks for the ideas and comments, keep 'em coming. If it was just that he wasn't a reader, I guess I could live with that. Understand it? No. Live with it? I suppose. LOL But it's that he WILL read what I consider outright junk/borderline worrisome things (Naruto) but then refuses to even give anything else a chance. He did ask about some Dr. Who books, we watch that as a family, and I found some on Amazon so I may order a couple and see if he likes them. I have this feeling that if I could find a storyline that interested him, he would begin to enjoy reading. I know that there are some things I CANNOT manage to slog through. DH reads those Vince Flynn/military-esque books. He kept trying to get me to read one and I would read one paragraph over and over wondering, when done, what the heck it had said. My heart just wasn't in it. I get THAT feeling, and I'm willing to help him find something he DOES love.......it's just that he won't even attempt anything. It would help if he had an interest, any interest, besides gaming, but alas, as yet we haven't found anything that grips him. Working on it, but not there yet....

Yes, I did. My dd was about 5.5 months old and still exclusively bf when we found out #3 was pending arrival. I knew it could happen, I just didn't realize it would happen to me lol It is interesting that a few pp mentioned decreased feedings and less night feedings as bringing back fertility at a faster rate. Dd was my "easy" baby. She started sleeping though the night really early. I hadn't considered how that might have affected our outcome.

I was reading the thread about the 4.5 year old who isn't into reading. Most of the advice was to back off, that she was young. Well, what if your reluctant/resistant reader was NOT all that young? Mine is almost 13 :glare: Background: We just came out of PS this past December. This child has REALLY struggled with math, but seemed to do fine with reading. In fact, I had him tested at the end of last year and his language/reading skills were grades mid 7-9th grades (at the end of his sixth grade year.) He has always done well on reading comprehension tests, as well. We did NOT read much at home during PS.... after a full day of school, then hours of homework - much of it struggling through pages of math which made him tired and cranky - we just didn't fit it in. As a young child he was soo creative and soo interested in things. He was heavily into imaginative play and loved learning about dinosaurs. All that started getting stamped out in PS. His first grade teacher even told me, "I know you think he's smart because he knows big words and can name all these animals by their correct names but he's not. He is slow with board work and he just WON'T TRY during math." You could see him, year by year shutting down and being less inclined to "do" things. It hasn't helped that our area is heavily athletic, all his friends were super jocks. DS just *wasn't*. We tried it all through elementary school, but by 5th grade I let him drop it - these kids were mini NFL/MLB players. Their dads were all mega involved and DH was always gone, it seemed we couldn't find any way to fit into that mold. Anyway, that has zip to do with reading except that he eventually got hooked on video games/anime cartoons. I mean HOOKED. Since homeschooling, I have noticed just how much. A couple of weeks ago I pulled the XBOX indefinitely and have put strict limits on week time tv. At first it was awful. AWFUL. He cried, he said he wished he were dead, he threatened to never leave his bed. Little by little, though, we are getting past that. He is now back to enjoying some time outside. We bought a skateboard and he is practicing those skills. Still, though, he won't read......anything. Well, anything except Pokemon and Naruto comics :001_huh: He did pick up a Spiderwick book, on his own, got halfway through and declared "I just lost interest." Ok. Well, I have given tons of suggestions. I have tried things that are waaay easy for him, thinking that it might be a vision problem (we go next week to be screened for vision therapy - he DOES cover one eye while doing schoolwork...) I got books with few words, large print...nothing "interests" him. I've suggested books with people, animals, fiction, non fiction....nope. And it isn't just that he politely turns it down. He gives me this.......dull look. It is this absolutely blank, bored expression and in a dead voice says "No. I hate this." I am :banghead: I even got some graphic comics of Warriors. He said they looked "stupid". I showed him a graphic novel of Artemis Fowl. He told me it might be okay but the drawings were "strange" and turned him off it. Huh? He thinks those look strange but the Naruto comics DON'T?? It looked like very similar artistry to me? The most recent line he gave me was "I'm not LIKE the rest of the family. I hate reading." Can this be some sort of weird tween rebellion? My mother reads, I read, DH reads, DD reads. My eight year old who struggles with all academics is enjoying being read to. Even my stepson has grown to be a fairly heavy reader. Is this some sort of black sheep thing? He does use that as his constant excuse. It's always "I'm stupid. Everyone else is smart." said with the same blank look as when he turns down a book (this is in response to EVERYTHING that might be an alternative to video games - not JUST reading.) That has just worn thin with me. I get that he may have felt bad about his struggles in school........but to just want to plug in 24/7? The day that I finally had it and yanked the XBOX I had conducted an experiment where I didn't say a word about his playing and waited to see how long he would go before getting off. SEVEN HOURS. So now I'm trying to decide. Is he refusing to read because the actual ACT of reading is difficult for him due to his eyes (if that's the case then why can he read 4 fairly thick Naruto/Pokemon comics in a day, but turns down any other book....graphic novel or otherwise?) Is it the last hold that screen addiction has on him? Is it some form of ADD? My husband says he, himself, is ADD and he finds he has to work to stay "with" a book many times unless it is heavily action packed/adrenaline inducing. Have we just not found the RIGHT genre? Is this some hormonal thing that is going to spread to every facet of our lives and cause him to turn away from everything we value/do/enjoy in our family? Do I push this? Do I give up? My DH says not to make him read - I really have a hard time with that. I wonder if, at this point, it isn't a case of needing to do it for a while until it clicks that "Oh, hey, this is kind of nice." Like a kid needing to try a food a few times before realizing they like it. FWIW, he does his reading that I assign for school without complaint. I do try to fit in some decent literature in that. I also do a read aloud. He was all about our last read aloud, but since taking the XBOX away he lies face down and acts like he's being tortured during read aloud time now. I wanted the kids to do some reading before bed, to help them settle down (screens/toys rev them up) and it's torture for ME. I have to literally set a page amount vs a time limit as he will sit and stare at one page for 30 minutes. I know it sounds horrid but I'm really started to get disgusted with him and think this is less of a just needing confidence issue and more of an attitude problem. Has anyone BTDT and come out the other side?

Too cute! Heck, I was impressed when my youngest son made this ever so astute observation last night while reading Wodney Wat's Wobot... "Who was that guy in Dr. Who?" We had just finished watching Dr. Who. Me: "Dr. Who?" DS: "No, the OTHER guy. The one WITH him." Me: "Roary?" DS: "Yeah! Whoa-wee (he has trouble with his "r's" too!) He has TWO "aw's" in his name!" :lol: Hmmm...now you have me craving POPcorn :lurk5:

Thank you, I've enjoyed reading about the different 4H experiences. It sounds like many people's children are not doing just *one* project (as I did ONLY dogs...) that sounds encouraging. I don't know that my kids would/will enjoy being tied to one subject just because that is what they picked at 10 (or later for DS.) I chose Dogs in middle school because we had dogs - no chickens or horses for me then, either, sigh LOL - but then wasn't really interested in it by Jr High. I was told by our agent, now retired so I don't really know the new agents standing on this, that it would be a waste for me to pick up another project. It didn't sound like they did projects like cameras, sewing, etc as a group but they very well might. I guess we'll just have to wait until next month to see what goes on at the local meeting. I think it would be wonderful if they did.

It is hurting us hugely. Is that a word? LOL My DH works/lives in IL (as he can't do his kind of work in our area), we live in TN because this is where my family is, this is where the kids started school. Our goal is to move to be with DH at some point but we have to sell our house, plus DH's work puts him in areas for anywhere from 6-18 months which would mean moving OFTEN... Anyway, part of the lure of homeschool was the ability to travel more frequently to be with DH. Well, it is about $100 to fill my Expedition up (but that gets us just over 1/2 way to Chicago) making it $200 one way... Cheaper than flying us all but still a headache when you add up round trip (plus food, we did pack picnic last time and that cut out a lot of spending...) Oh, we also live in a rural area. We have....drumroll please....a Walmart! If I want a big library, actual grocery store/variety of foods, clothing stores....then I must travel at least 30 min. The shopping/amenities get better the further away from us you get, so 1 hr away is even better, 2 hours is the optimal area. I hate, HATE, being here >:(