Only because our government subsidizes corn (which ties in to much of the previous discussion). And, we get what we pay for long term in terms of our health and related health costs.

Yes, I would say it's at least 25% here in SE Wisconsin, if not higher. I think the dramatic increase in obesity is due to people eating "highly-processed, edible food-like products" rather than real food combined with the total lack of bodily exercise. It really is simple physics. If your calorie intake is greater than your calorie output, your body stores the extra calories as fat. If your calorie intake is less than your calorie output, you will lose weight.

{gasp} What's the purpose of Latin? You ask this on a Classical homeschooling board?!?!!? Hee-hee. Just kidding. Here are a few starter articles: Why Study Latin? Why Latin Again? An Apology for Latin and Math HTH! :-)

I believe that it's standard. It applies mostly to books under $10.00. I bought lots of our books from Half Price Books along with Amazon. There were only a couple that I could only buy from the bookshelf store, but this was for UG and D.

Oh, how wonderful for Ree! You know, the first person I thought of to play her was Reese Witherspoon?!?!?! How funny! MM is harder to pick, though. We need a studly, manly-man .... not too effeminate (John Krasinski) , nor too burly (Russell Crowe). Hmmmmnnn.....

Is this true? Could you provide a source for this? I've never heard this before. I purposefully choose books for my phonics level readers that do not contain extra stimuli. I want them sounding out the words phonetically, and not guessing what the words are based on other information on the page.

We love The Complete Writer here. I would check out the online samples for the workbooks to see where you think she would best fit. Workbook level one: http://www.scribd.com/doc/14293076/The-Complete-Writer-Writing-With-Ease-Workbook-Level-1 Workbook level two: http://www.scribd.com/doc/14293693/The-Complete-Writer-Writing-With-Ease-Workbook-Level-2

They called me first thing in the am and I had to be at the diabetes educator's office within 48 hours, so I would assume, too, that your numbers came back fine. I'm so happy for you! Yes, I'm trying to look at it all positively. Life could always be worse! :-) Congratulations, Dawn! You don't have much farther to go!

We received ds's results today (Jan. 23 test), so everyone else should be receiving theirs very shortly, too! :)

My appt. today actually went pretty okay. I have to check my blood sugars 4X a day (ack!), but the process of checking it was much, much easier than I expected. I thought it would hurt, but it didn't hurt a bit. I'm limited to 45 carbs a meal, plus two snacks a day of 20 carbs each. This was also better than I expected. I did Atkins in the past where you were limited to 25 carbs A DAY. I was expecting to have to go back to that type of diet, so I can definitely live with 175 carbs a day. :-) I also have to walk 30 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week. He said that my numbers aren't horribly awful and he expects that I should be fine once I have the baby. 50% of women who have gd go on to develop type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years. He said that the biggest thing to do is lose the weight after the baby and maintain a healthy diet with moderate exercise. Have you found out your results yet?

Yes! WI girl here. Spring is just mean in March!!!

Eek! I'm a scheduler and an over-achiever who thrives on structure, but I would never recommend Abeka and/or BJU to a newbie! They are quite teacher-intensive and require a lot of prep-work and classroom time. I would give them The Well-Trained Mind. It's what convinced me 1) that I could homeschool and 2) that I could give my children a wonderful education doing so. That said, if the person wanted everything ready to go in a box, I would recommend Sonlight.

I love, love, love Sayers. :-) I thought the Nine Tailors was one of her tougher books, and wouldn't begin there. I'd probably read the Lord Peter Wimsey stories in this order to begin with: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club Strong Poison Have His Carcase Murder Must Advertise The Nine Tailors Gaudy Night Busman's Honeymoon My favorite of those are the Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Novels ... Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, and Busman's Honeymoon, but starting with the Bellona Club will give you a feel for Peter before he meets Harriet. My favorite book of all is Gaudy Night. :-D I also found Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine and Are Women Human? extremely thought provoking.

My 3-hour test came back high. I have to meet with the diabetic educator on Wednesday and the endocrinologist April 7th. No more sugar for me. :tongue_smilie: FWIW, the lab would not let me walk between blood draws. The protocol for the test requires that you must remain seated between draws.

I'll bring a book or two, too. That's a great way to look at it. Much better than focusing on the fasting and being chained to a chair in the lab reception area for hours and hours. :D We're having ~another~ boy, LOL. I was really hoping for a girl, but alas! It wasn't meant to be for me. :-)

Thanks for posting this. I failed my test this week and am going back on Saturday for the three hour test. I am not looking forward to it at all. :tongue_smilie:

:iagree: My boys LOVE Justin and the experiments! Books that my science-loving boys loved at that age were: Let's Read and Find Out Science 1 and Let's Read and Find Out Science 2 books. Jim Arnosky's "Crinkleroot" books (my library had most of these!) Rod and Staff's "God is Good" series Edited to add: Oh, and Home Science Tools has some fabulous toys and kits, too!

Heh. heh. heh. Asta sounds like a John Birch Society member. Let me go look outside my window for the flying pigs. :lol: ITA with your post, btw. :)

That-ta girl! :)

I saw this on the Saxon website and thought of you: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Homeschool Value Bundles: Houghton Mifflin Science (Grades 1-6) Holt Science and Technology (Grades 6-8) High School Science (Grades 9-12) Just FYI for those who in recent threads said they couldn't find secular textbooks with a corresponding teacher manual.

Ours isn't up there, but it would be Sonlight Science, hands-down!!! We've tried: WTM way -- didn't get done. I just couldn't keep all of the balls in the air, and science was the first to go when I tried doing it on my own. Apologia Astronomy -- meh. We got sick of doing the same subject over a long period of time. I LOVE the elementary level books as books for the kids to read on their own though. My boys have read the Astronomy and Swimming Creatures ones on their own for fun. Bob Jones -- Blech, blech, blech. When we tried this (Science 2, I think), each lesson took more teacher prep work and hands-on classroom time than all of my subjects combined! LOL! Considering God's Creation - Tried and hated. We're not "crafty" people though, so YMMV. NOEO Science -- I would classify this as Sonlight Lite. Basically is a reading list of books with little actual explanation. We liked it ok the year we did it. Science actually got done, which was a major step for us, so I have to give it credit for that! Rod and Staff Science -- I actually liked these text books. My kids learned a lot and enjoyed it. We wanted a more intensive science program, though. If $$ was tight, I would consider going back to these again & supplementing with library books.

I haven't read any of his religious books, so I can't comment on that, but when you actually read Babywise, it's very different from what is portrayed by many people on the internet. It worked awesomely for me and my three boys ... all of whom I breastfed exclusively for the first year. They are all happy and healthy. :-)

We (dh & I) have seen these and <3 Joel Salatin. I know the boys saw parts of The Future of Food, but not the rest. I should see about checking them out from the library for them. I just had to share ... I can't believe how much this book has affected my son! He asked the other day if he could write a letter to the President about this, LOL! He has never written to any politician ever before (nor have I encouraged or even suggested it). After three rough drafts his first political letter ever is in the mail to President Obama, and it's about genetically modified foods of all the things in the world. It was a nice lesson on how to write a formal letter. ;-) Happy Belated Birthday, Colleen.

The Keys do NOT have white sand beaches. The beaches in the keys are very rough. He'll be very disappointed if this is one of his "must haves". I don't have a suggestion for you, but wanted to point this out.

I haven't listened to it yet (I've been listening to other lectures), but I recently downloaded Teaching Students to Work Independently, a lecture by SWB. There is a corresponding workshop handout here: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/teaching-students-to-work-independently/ HTH! ~Heather