They're close enough that I don't think I'd use the two names with sisters, but I don't think that you'll get too much confusion. I knew a Geneva growing up.

Yes, having grown up with a made-up name that I constantly had to spell out (and people will misspell even if I spell it for them), I tried to spare my children that ... for the boys, it worked (William -- Will and Andrew - Drew), the girls still have minor problems ... older dd's name has two standard spellings (Teresa/Theresa), and younger dd is Eleanor, but she gets all sorts of variations, even on the shortened form -- Ellie.

My family and my family of origin have pretty similar dynamics, I think. But I grew up in a situation out of step with the norm for my generation, and since I've kind of kept that out of touch thing going, I can't be sure, but I'm guessing that we're still not 'normal'. In spite of moving around a lot, I think that both situations have been pretty stable in that there's a routine, a solid two parent front where the kids can never get away with playing one against the other. In both situations, respect is both given to and expected of children. In both cases, the kids are expected to act as part of a team to take care of the household. Like I say, all I can really compare is my family of origin with my own family, and in most categories, the situations are similar. What's going on in the rest of the world, I'm not always sure of.

The Explore is normed for eighth graders and is usually the best test to get good information on advanced children at least through fifth or sixth grade. I'd save the SAT and ACT (which are normed for 11th/12th graders) until 6th/7th. This is usually what most talent searches recommend, as well.

I live in the middle of Texas. I think it's a 5-6 hour drive to get out of state in the closest direction(s). I went to DC and to CO/NM in May, and haven't left the state since myself. I've sent my kids out of state -- they just got back from TN/NC/SC 2 weeks ago, but plane tickets weren't in the budget for me to go too.

If they want to, they should be able to. I've bought several houses that the elderly residents before us had died in, and it didn't bother me. That being said, dying can be a messy business, there is usually extra equipment, etc. involved with hospice care, and having all of that there while the family is working on grieving ... I personally might choose to stay in the hospital or a hospice facility to spare my family that. My grandfather and my great aunt must have had similar thoughts. Both were told that they were being discharged to hospice and died in the hospital the night before. I'm also pretty sure that my grandfather also chose to go before my grandmother got back to the hospital. He knew that she wouldn't handle it well. My dad was with him, so he wasn't alone, but dad said that it looked like he'd decided it was time and went very quickly.

I probably won't. My older two went to school for 3rd and 4th -- second will likely go back for 9th-12th. My third COULD homeschool all the way through, but is interested in a local charter school. He might not like it, though -- he's my most likely K-12 homeschool candidate. Youngest may go to school as early as next year, and I'm not sure if she'll ever come back home or not. She wouldn't do well once the others are gone, and our financial plan has me working when she's high school aged, so she'll likely go out to high school.

Ours is kind of a combo of a certain age and when they ask. They have to be able to completely take care of them, even when first done ... our older dd was 8 or 9. Younger dd may be older than that. There's also a 6 month cooling off/waiting period, since it is something permanent, and we want to make sure it's not just because they want it right now. FWIW, we'd probably also let our boys pierce their ears, though neither have any inclination to do so.

They're all different, so the only way you're going to get an accurate answer is to ask the particular public and private schools your child may attend. Some public schools don't allow any homeschool credits, some require testing, some are more accommodating. I would guess that private schools would be much the same way, except they may have more flexibility while public schools usually have some kind of local law that they have to use as a guideline.

Supposedly $300 in sales per boy, no donation equivalent. They sat out in 100+ degree temps for 3 show and sell shifts and only brought in $300 total (people were interested in going from air conditioning to air conditioning, not stopping for anything by then -- we were over a month into the heat wave which ended at almost 80 days in a row over 100). We're not going to get another $300 in family sales, and won't go door to door either (we have a few neighbors who asked). It is what it is. We'll probably put all of the take order sales on the Boy Scout, since the Cub Scout pack doesn't need the money and ours is leaving halfway through the year anyway. I've recently backed out and left all things Boy Scouts to dh. The popcorn lady/troop committee chair and I are seeing things very differently and there's also enough for me to focus on with the girls' stuff.

With my boys, it was pretty normal -- between weeks 6 and 8 to week 11 or 12 or so. With the girls, it started in week 3 (before I knew), and lasted until week 21-22.

No, dh didn't ask for my hand. My dad would have found it 'quaint' and probably chuckled at him a bit. My dad also didn't walk me down the aisle. For one, there wasn't really an aisle, secondly, my mom had a lot more to do with raising me (my dad was active duty surface Navy, gone for at least half of my childhood) ... but when we rehearsed with both of them, mom and I both felt like it was a scene out of The Wizard of Oz. So our processional into the church was Bridesmaid-Groomsman, Bm-Gm, Maid of Honor-Best Man, M-i-l-F-i-l, Mom-Dad, ME-Dh, Priest-My Great Uncle (Methodist Bishop, grandfather-figure ...we're both Catholic, Catholic mass, but he did the nuptual blessing). It worked for us.

I'd probably lean toward doing consumer math now, then pick up with Algebra II and then Precalc to keep the momentum going from one to the other.

Officially? No. By the time I graduated, I think we were technically a smoke-free campus. In practice, I'm sure there were certain students and faculty that used the fine arts period mid-morning for just that. When I went to ps summer school between junior and senior years, they DID have a smoke break. Turns out I was probably one of the only non-smokers in the group, but I guess I got my share second-hand. The irony was I was there to take health/PE (kept moving back between two states with different graduation requirements). It WAS weird to be near the top of the class in PE though. I never had had that experience before.

This. I didn't know that it had meat when I took it, but I would still eat it, and pick up another day of abstinence later (probably Sunday, since that's usually when the good stuff was planned, so it would be a good penance). It's not an absolute NEVER eat meat (like pork for a Jewish person or coffee or alcohol for an LDS person), which would be something different. This is how I was brought up ... you do your best to avoid meat on Fridays, and if you slip, you try again another day.

One Fish Two Fish

With my natural spellers, I don't use a program. They test once a year, and if they're above 'grade level', they can opt out. I just correct their spelling in their writing. My one who really has to work on spelling uses Spelling Power. She's about 2 years behind grade level (about 2 years ahead in most other areas, go figure).

Yep, it sounds like she may be getting to a point where Fred's Fractions would be fun for her. Agreeing that it's less frustrating if the long division is strong, but I remember thinking that that was fun, too, at that point. Part of the fun for her will be that the main character is roughly her age.

HEY -- where's my 'Other'?!?!?!?!!?:glare:

And what happened to Other 5? that would be my REAL answer.

More other is always better.

My actual town is probably 80,000 ... part of an area that has probably more than 1 million but less than 2 million.

Other. :lurk5: ;)

This.

Nope haven't been to Africa. I live in Texas right now.