I'm so very sorry. :grouphug: Wishing you strength for the days ahead...

Oh wow, I'm so sorry. Thank you for the update, and best wishes for a quick recovery for everyone!!

Okay, it makes me feel better that most of us missed Tony Blair. I really didn't think that looked like him! Other than that, I got them all. I'm pretty good with faces but better with names. DH is great with faces but terrible with names. Between the two of us, we can usually figure out who's in the movie, LOL!!

Holy moly. I'm glad you got your police chief friend involved. Unbelievable. We also live next door to some people who are very... ahem... particular about their yard. But truly, if anything were actually growing and thriving in our yard, they would give thanks instead of pulling it out by the roots!! :lol: I'm with you, trying to get things improved and attempting to educate myself on plants. But it's a gradual process. Sorry you're dealing with this, and I hope it doesn't escalate further. Definitely keep an eye on him!!

:iagree: It doesn't matter how the dog actually acts with you. It's the perception. Our dog doesn't look very threatening, but he is big with a very deep bark, and it's unnerving to people who don't know him. He's a sweetie, but he would protect us without hesitation if necessary. (Although, I do wish he'd quit being so unfriendly to the UPS guy. Seriously, it's like his mortal enemy or something... and I do adore the UPS guy because he brings me Amazon packages and other goodies. :D ) OP, I am so sorry you're dealing with this. I would be freaked out as well, and it would make my Mama Bear come out pretty fiercely. It sounds like yours is out too, and that you're doing all you reasonably can to keep your boys safe. Best wishes to your family.

What an awesome response... Kudos to that guy.

Just wondering what everyone has planned for teacher/parent reading over the summer related to education?? I have "How to Teach Your Child Shakespeare" and thought I might give that a whirl. I'd also like to choose and pre-read some economics books to brush up on the topic, as I think we're going to cover it. What's on your reading list?

Hi ladies! I kind of bypassed this thread for a while... I've skimmed the posts but reading has taken a backseat for a while. I just finished reading the Hunger Games trilogy... thought the first book was great, the second and third were fairly good. We finished up school on Friday, so I'm stocked up on brain candy for a while, and I'll be reading some cozy mysteries next. :) As of right now I'm at 24 books for the year.

Rosie, I love the picture of your little guy. He looks and sounds like he was delightfully full of spunkiness!! The apple tree sounds like a lovely tribute. Continuing to wish comfort for you and your little girl.

Susan, have you seen John Tiners books? Here's a link to a list, there is an astronomy title as well as "Exploring Planrt Earth." I'm not overly familiar of these but have flipped through a couple and I own a PDF or two. :) http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=John+toner+exploring&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCG&nav_search=1&cms=1

Oh, Katie. :grouphug: I'm so sorry for what you're all going through. Those women are despicable. I'm glad your SIL and your niece and nephew have you to lean on, but no one should ever have to live that hell.

Oh yes. Our standard poodle sleeps with us most nights. He's a big lug, like a giant floppy teddy bear, and is so lovely to cuddle with in the winter! We used to have a lab and a beagle that slept with us, but they were banished to their own beds before DS was born. Then we realized it was nice to not have all that hair on the bed. :) The giant puffball mentioned above luckily does not shed!

Okay, all of that info does help. Thank you!! :)

Oh man. Must. Not. Google. (We'll see if I listen to myself.) Good grief, I'm missing a lot of Hive goodies!!! :willy_nilly: Faith, between your description of that school, and the people you know who leave their kids letters for their wedding night ( :cursing: ).... my head is about to explode. Then I'll be right there with SadieMarie, trying to teach with no head and whatnot... :crying:

Derek, thanks for the thoughts. It's good to hear how challenging you find TC. DS is definitely ready for that kind of reasoning... in fact, he could do most of the sample problems without any trouble, so I was hoping it went much further beyond that! Okay, just went and dug up the S&S... thanks to you posting it in another thread, LOL. It does look very complete! I think you're right that he just might not enjoy the text for AoPS, but I could definitely see using the videos along with a program like TC. For TC, did your son watch every video? Is that video lesson the only place instruction is given? I may need to play with the demo a bit more, because I feel like I'm missing part of how it works!!

No. But that doesn't mean her story is disproven, either. It just means there are conflicting stories. This is one of those situations where we'll probably never know the whole truth of what happened. Maybe she did have an agenda and riled the whole thing up... maybe she was completely innocent and these adults all had it in for her. If I were a betting woman, I'd say somewhere in the middle. That said... it's still an example of the idea that if a woman shows any skin at all, she's inciting a riot in the brains of everyone out there. And that idea, while pervasive in certain cultures, just isn't so. I don't see anyone here saying that we should encourage teen girls to "let it all hang out" (whether they're from a trailer park or not, mind you)... just that we want them to not be ashamed simply because they have body parts that some people deem evil.

Okay, so though I'm still not 100% sure we'll be at home again next year, I've started trying to narrow down prealgebra options. I waded through the prealgebra "fence straddlers" thread. :svengo: I've been looking at mainly the following: Saxon, Tablet Class, AoPS. Yes, I know they're all quite different from one another! Saxon appeals because it's tried and true, and my son LOVES Hake Grammar so he would enjoy the "get 'er done" style but I know it would be thorough. We'd supplement with LOF and Khan/Aops videos, I'm sure. AoPS is obviously appealing for many reasons... we loved the videos by RR, and it would certainly challenge him.... however, I really don't know that he will want to wrestle through the whole curriculum and the "discovery" process. (See "get 'er done" comment above, LOL.) Tablet Class looks intriguing, and it's been getting rave reviews around here. It looks thorough, and the price is right. However... DS was not crazy about it, and I have concerns/questions. The TC videos seem to move at a pretty slow pace. They're thorough, but DS is impatient with them. He says the guy "drones" on about the topic. (Of course, I made the mistake of showing him the AoPS videos with RR right after, LOL. Those he loved!) And, from the samples in the demo, it doesn't appear to go very deep. However, from comments here on the boards, I know some people whose opinions I highly respect seem to think otherwise. :) So, are the TC prealgebra samples representative? Are those the early lessons? Does it go a lot deeper? Am I missing something? And, DS wants to know if the videos get more entertaining... :coolgleamA: Thoughts appreciated!!

It does help. It's sometimes hard to tell from the samples. I've followed enough of your plans that I trust your judgment here, LOL! ;)

Can I chime in here? I've been looking at these, and Rose, I was curious about the part I quoted. Was your advice to skip the first two books specific to Pen?? Would you say the same for most logic age students who have some writing experience? I do think the first book or two look pretty simple for DS, but I didn't know if you could just jump in anywhere...

Notgrass history?? www.notgrass.com

Chris, that is truly wonderful!! :grouphug:

Yes. What she said. You're entitled to cry, scream, throw something, or worse. You are a lovely woman whom I've enjoyed getting to know. And my heart breaks for you. :grouphug:

Dear Lord, have mercy. I hadn't been on the chat board all day and just saw Rosie's thread. Rosie, I am so terribly sorry. I can only imagine how little that means but please know we'd all love to be there and hold your hand if we could. :grouphug: Tell your precious little girl that we live in the middle of the U.S., in a red brick house with white trim.

I haven't, but I'll bump the post because I was wondering about these classes too... I thought the Latin Kickstart they're offering this summer looked interesting!

Okay, thanks... I will take a look again!! :)