She's a therapy dog AND a service dog? Or just a therapy dog? If she has not been trained to help YOU with a disability of some sort, then she is not a service dog.

Thank you very much!

These were my thoughts as well. At 15, I think she's plenty old enough to make the decision to accept salvation through Christ. Her level of understanding of exactly what that means could and should be helped by speaking to a pastor, but other than repentence from sin and acceptance of Christ, there are no prerequisites for Christianity.

One more question...how big of a set do you recommend? Thanks for your help!

I am watching more of your videos, and I am starting to freak out. I will be homeschooling my will-be 6th grader, 3rd grader, and K'er next year (for the first time). I have already purchased Horizons to use for our math curriculum. Is there a way to incorporate this type of teaching with Horizons? Or do I need to get Miquon instead?

Thank you for the videos! And I have to say, your girls are just precious. What bright, confident, and intelligent young ladies!

When a child is grounded from the tv, how do you manage the situation when other family members want to watch tv? I haven't used the tv as punishment much, simply for this reason. Is the grounded child just required to stay in another room or play outside away from the rest of the family? Is it enough for them to be in another room, but where they can still hear the tv? Or do you require them to be far enough away or somewhere with a door shut where they can't listen either?

:lol::lol::lol: I haven't made it past this post yet, but this one has me cracking up. It is soooo true for me too! I almost spit my coffee on the monitor (twice!) when I read this one. Thanks for the flashback and the laugh! :001_smile:

I'm sorry I don't have any advice for you, but I wanted to thank you for posting this. I am looking forward to seeing what others say. I have been wanting to start a prayer journal for a while now, but I don't really know what to do with it.

:iagree:

When we got our snake, I asked the breeder what to do if it ever got out. He said if it got out, it would be a miracle if we ever saw it again. So since our corn snake snake got out two weeks ago today, I haven't been holding out much hope of finding it. Baiting hasn't helped so far. But seeing that others on here have lost snakes and found them again, I am a little hopeful again. Please keep us posted on whether you find your snake! (I read that corn snakes can survive without food for up to a year, but I'm not sure if that applies to the little ones or just full grown adults.) Good luck!

We'll be using Apologia Zoology next year for our first year of homeschooling, so I'm sorry I can't give you any first hand experience. However, when I called them to ask about their books, they recommend doing the first lesson of the first book as a prerequisite to teach the child the basics of animal classification/taxonomy before starting on the 2nd or 3rd books. Luckily, the complete first lesson is provided as sample pages on their website. So if you do want to use the 3rd zoology book, you can just use the website to cover the classification information beforehand.

This is sooo reassuring to me! Music to my ears, really! My now-2nd grader is the main reason we will be homeschooling next year, and daily battles with him over homework or make-up work that he refused to do in class during school hours are the norm. I keep praying that the flexibility of homeschooling (catering to his learning style and interests as much as possible, working at his pace, not requiring busy work, etc.) will help make learning tolerable for him, if not fun. I am afraid that this won't be the case though, but your post gives me hope!

I keep telling myself that, but a big part of me is still worried about making sure that my kids won't be "missing out" on anything they would/could be getting from regular school. And even though I know I shouldn't be worried about what others think, I am a little afraid of not having a "good enough" answer when someone asks me, "Well, what about [insert random subject/regular school activity]?" Our neighborhood Y does not offer any homeschool programs as far as I can tell, although they do have lots of youth programs in general (fitness classes, health classes, etc.), but I know there is a Y about 30-45 minutes away that offers homeschool electives (PE, drama, etc.). We are planning on joining a local homeschool group or two as well, so I'm hoping they will have PE-type activities. I know they have regular park days. I really appreciate all the affirmation and suggestions. It's a relief to know I don't have to organize/plan a dedicated PE class every week.

I will have to keep an eye out for this one. I can't find samples of the pages online. Maybe the local homeschool store will have it. If not, maybe Barnes & Noble can order it? Thanks!

Yay! I am very relieved! I was afraid what I wanted to do wouldn't count, because it's stuff that non-homeschooled kids do as well, in addition to their PE class at school. Thank you for your input, everyone! If anyone else has ideas or suggestions for PE that we could use in the future as well, I'm :bigear:.

Hello all, I am looking forward to starting our first year of homeschooling in the fall, but I have yet another question. Would organized activities through the YMCA (in addition to daily, unorganized, outdoor playtime) suffice for PE? I'm thinking of letting each child choose their own activity (sports, martial arts, swimming, dance, or gymnastics). Based on their interests, they could stick with one all year, if possible (MA, dance, gymnastics), or change it up every quarter or so. From what I can tell, the Y activities meet one to three times a week, depending on what it is. What are your thoughts?

Personally, I would wait until your current dog is at least a year old, preferably two, before getting another dog. That gives you plenty of time to bond with and really train your current dog before bringing a new, untrained dog into the mix. A group puppy class followed by a group obedience class (or two) will do wonders to help you prevent any potential problems (socialization issues, food/toy possessiveness, etc.). At five months old, your dog has not yet hit the "adolescent" stage. From about 7-9 months of age, most puppies go through a period where they seem to have forgotten everything they already knew. If I am remembering correctly, more dogs are rehomed at this age than any other specific age--they are almost as big as a full grown dog and not as cute as a little puppy anymore, so it becomes much harder to tolerate their puppy behavior. And even though your current puppy has been reliably housetrained for a few weeks, if you bring a new puppy into the house who is not reliable, I am willing to bet that as soon as the new puppy has an accident or two (and thereby leaving the smell of urine in the house) your current dog will regress and begin having accidents too. Good luck with whatever you decide!

This brought tears to my eyes. Thank you!

:iagree:

I just have one question: Where are the pictures of the guys in kilts??? I keep hearing people talk about them, but I haven't seen them yet. I think it's only fair that I see the pictures before I comment on my perception of a double standard.:D

:iagree:

Not to hijack the thread, but we're going to be using Apologia Zoology next year for our first year homeschooling. We are science nuts in our house, so I know everyone would love being able to disect something together. Can someone please tell me how you go about getting the materials and specimens to do so?

On the left hand side of the home page, there is a list of links with "sublinks". Scroll down and click on the "Shop Our Resource Center" link. (It's under the "Shop the Mystery of History Online Store" heading.) The "Shop Our Resource Center" link (http://astore.amazon.com/mohshop-20) will bring up a new page with a new list of links on the left hand side. There you can click on what Volume and what quarter you are interested in.

I am planning on using MOH Vol 1 next year for our first year homeschooling. I'm pretty sure there is more to it than just this, but if you go to the MOH website (http://www.themysteryofhistory.info/) and click on the Shop our Resource Center link, it pulls up a new list of links on the left hand side of the page. You can click on which year and which quarter you want (Volume 1, Quarter 1), and it will pull up books and DVD's that relate to the topics discussed. I'm sure you could find some, if not all, of these at the library. Hopefully others who have experience with MOH will chime in as well. I'm :bigear: too!