I appreciate your candor. It is not easy being able to see right through the rose colored glasses in order to call it as you saw it. I happen to share a different political and theological standpoint from you but that said we have had similar disappointments . St John's much??! We covered their dead white male curricula years ago and are certainly not paying for our daughter to learn the same thing again. But our friends, many of whom are among its graduates, sang its praises endlessly. You have to call it as you see it. Your goal is to find the best place for your young adult and Hillsdale did not fit. Thank you for sharing your experience here.

He needs to be hydrated. Take him in and if it must be IV fluids so be it. You know your child never be afraid of calling horsefeathers on an MD. He/she is not the final arbiter. Hydration is paramount.

You have to add File powder for authentic flavor. It is sassafrass leaf. There is no substitute. If you can find it look up Justin Wilson's old PBS show that is the real deal. He was a wild one.

Your SED rate is low. You are doing the right thing to see the Rheumatologist as the MD is not communicating with you well. Naproxen can cause upper GI bleeds. Don't ask. It happened to me and I had to drink a lidocaine cocktail to stop the spasms. I hope your appt turns out to be an abundance of caution there are many, many mothers here with autoimmune disorders. Best of luck to you.

Thank you for this post. I do not think most people understand that if the SED rate in blood is high that it can kill them.

I would say that phrase is not part of my faith tradition, could you share with me what you mean by that phrase? Pleasant and honest. And they can articulate exactly what they seek to know by the question.

I absolutely adore you. Mama, you are a blessing to the board.

So this ignores the government programs such as Head Start...this whole link indicates that all of your conclusions are debatable. http://www.advocacyoncall.org/education/early_intervention/ http://www.princeton.edu/~jcurrie/publications/Early_childhood_intervention.pdf

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/public_health/138423739.html You are all fairly youthful so it might be earlier than when you were aware of it but for decades the establishment blamed emotionally distant mothers for autism. How cruel and heartbreaking that old habits die hard. Ignorance and misogyny rule the day. I assure you that if studies showed that slim, fit mothers had a statistically significant higher rate of autism in their children that study would never see the light of day. I encourage every person to examine the ways in which this is so. The insurance industry has a lobby ,heavy people tend to cost health insurance companies a small fortune so lay blame where it serves to alienate, isolate and blame the poor and unattractive or vulnerable. Some jackass MD BLAMED my nearly bleeding to death twice from menses that were out of control on my weight when I was 16. I weighed 160 and am 5'7". Chubby but not obese and I exercised constantly. Finally my father, also an MD ,decided that enough was enough and took me to a female gyno-endocrinologist. Thyroid and bc pills gave me my life back. As a lawyer I think it is paramount to always ask who benefits from x or y being accepted as truth. It is the most accurate bs detector and has not failed me yet.

Faith, I hate to say it but your candor and frustration make mine lighter. A shared burden is lighter. Thank you for your response and I hope that our young people finally get more counselors just like you!!! I am delighted that you might have found a place for your son to take the AP exams. It is astounding what we do because there is no one to do it for us eh?? Best of luck and I will share when the SAT situation develops as my daughter is going to sign up for it in Nebraska. I will however raise all manner of heck to make sure every child who wants to sit for it has a place to take it. That is not equal access for every student and it bothers me deeply. Thanks for commiserating.

Drive. I am not kidding. It would be a great way to go through the painted desert in New Mexico, The Badlands, IOWA( the best state for sweet corn and progressives in the midwest), you could go through the mountains , and then head north. We did this with my parents and they tried to give us away in Missouri outside Bridal Cave. Other than that little episode it was a heck of a trip and in a 1976 woody wagon with lots of Benadryl(Dad was an MD he knew how to travel with kids) it remains my fondest memory. Even when they tried to get another family to take us after my sister threw up strawberry soda and a turkey sandwich outside Bridal Cave. You need to do this Bill. It is crazy fun and you just have not lived until you have driven for days with a small child. It is kind of like diving off the high board nekkid, or eating alligator...it is a misery that no one should be exempt from. BTW the high board dive is a stinger or so I am told...:lol::auto:

In our city of 65,000 there is not one high school that offers the SAT. We have had our daughter take the PSAT exams for practice and hit the magic mark. We are forced to drive over an hour away to get her to a SAT exam yet they offer the ACT at every high school in our city. We are in flyover country. My number one task as soon as she is done with the SAT in June is to go after the superintendent who has so little regard for the talent pool here that she will not make the effort to designate one school in our city for SAT examinations. If you have the facility ok'd for the PSAT then the SAT is a matter of paperwork. I loathe bureaucrats and look forward to showing this one how one achieves excellence and it is not by lowering grade standards or hiding behind the old we only offer the ACT as that is the better test blah, blah , blah. She built a huge middle school and promoted its importance to the community based on her assertion that it will eventually be an IB school. So what? That is irrelevant to this community and matters not a whit to college admissions committees. My cousin sits on the committee at Stanford where she is also an instructor and I am assured that IB designation means nothing. The SAT and Subject tests are where they look for shining scores from students. There are no SAT subject tests in our city either so we have to jump through hoops to find those. I have taught three AP exams and paid proctors to administer the exams as the courses were not offered in our city anywhere. If I were as lazy and incompetent I am reasonably certain that the bar association would take my license to practice law and I would lose the right to educate my child in Iowa. Sadly those standards do not apply to the guidance counselors who are nothing less than useless nor to the superintendent. I anticipate much exuse making and doublespeak(edubabble) when I finally can get a meeting scheduled with her. Fortunately the largest newspaper in the state has a few friends of mine on staff who are eager to expose this person for her many failures and utter lack of honesty with the public. Game on. :lol: She picked the wrong home educator to lie to and patronize with her assertion that no competitive schools need either the SAT or subject tests. I guess she never was asked to apply to Brown or Columbia based on her test scores. I am looking forward to serving her a plate of humble pie . Rant over . Thank you for reading this far. I will keep the board abreast of any developments if there is interest.

The Troubles are far from over in my little corner of the world. When dh and his friends went to Ulster for golf I am sad to say that it was not safe for them. Not even marginally so. This was a decade ago. I love the films you mentioned but would also suggest The Wind That Shakes the Barley. This thread is depressing not due to subject matter but the observation that few people are aware of the blood spilled in Ireland and the horrific experiences both sides of the conflict suffered.

Obviously written by a poorly educated homeschooler who knows nothing about statistics, random sampling, variables and logic. Sorry but she proves the point by her abysmal attempt to paint all home educators and all christian homeschoolers with the same brush. Quiverfull is fringe and then some.

Thank you. It is true that there are many non compliant families in the system in my state and I too grow tired of having my daughter "tested," by well meaning professionals who have only witnessed the failures. They are not shortcomings but epic faiilures who should not have had children much less tried to educate them. I am all for yearly standardized testing. Not repeated throughout the year as it is a waste of time but once a year is perfectly reasonable. Now who oversees the testing , what tests are used and how is progress measured are all crucial issues that reasonable minds can debate for days.

Oh Mrs Mungo I am so sorry to hear this news...I will keep you in my thoughts.

The thread and attached article are political as heck. I thought there was a rule somewhere about that.

Innoculate?? I like that word and think I know what you mean. I have attempted to discuss and model non-catastrophic thought patterns and a longitudinal view of life ever since my child's uncle completed death by suicide when she was three. I really do think that it is something akin to avoiding other genetic diseases. Education, modeling and vigilance in the form of knowing when an issue deserves attention, acting from a place of freedom and not living in fear of being disliked. :lol: Those who know me either love me or loathe me and I am fine with it. I could not care less. The need to be liked and the approval seeking, validation from others as the sole measure of one's worth are sure paths to the road of depression. Genetics play a role but when we know the name of the death genes they are not frightening, once we name it, we know it and can act longitudinally rather than short term panic reactions to disappointment, rejection and cruelty. One thing that has always really chapped my ass about suicide is the self soothing people engage in that" it could not have been prevented." Absolute utter hogwash. Involvement, innoculation, observation and caring firm guidance to assure compliance with meds if needed can make all the difference. Of course making sure the insurance companies are not practicing medicine and determining the length of hospital stays would save millions of lives but that is a whole other discussion.

The definition and what elements need be present inorder to sustain a murder charge differ by state. In Alabama here is the distinction summed up quite well. Murder Charges in Alabama Under Alabama state law, murder is the intentional taking of a life or causing a death through gross recklessness. You can also be charged with murder if you're accused of causing a death while committing certain violent crimes, including arson that causes the death of a public safety official. The only exception is when the murder was committed in the heat of passion, which is most likely to be charged as manslaughter. Manslaughter is a less serious form of murder. It's most likely to be charged when the murder was committed in the heat of passion and before the accused had time to calm down. It can also be charged when the accused behaved recklessly (very carelessly), but not with extreme indifference to human life. Manslaughter is a Class B felony carrying up to 20 years in prison. Criminally negligent homicide is charged when the accused was "criminally negligent." Negligence is unreasonable carelessness; a failure to act to stop a death, for example, may be considered criminally negligent. Criminally negligent homicide is a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to a year in prison, but can also be charged for DUI homicide, in which case it's a Class C felony carrying up to 10 years in prison. It is gross recklessness to have a child or anyone who is not a marathon runner run for three hours. They should be charged with murder.

I hve been thinking of you and hope you get answers. I have been down that road and it is not easy. Suffice it to say that I trust no one but myself. PM for details if you need more info. I am glad the test is over it is really icky.

Enter the witness protection program. You have witnessed your in laws and want to be as far from them as possible. :lol: Yuck. Move to the North Pole and change your name.

It is on your list because you want to make Ina Garten's Lemon Tart. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-curd-tart-recipe/index.html That sounds only slightly obscene. :)

Wear something comfortable. Loose. These are not terribly painful tests but are really high ick factor. I am sorry that you have to go through this and hope that you get definitive answers.

Yep. We have a large community here. Dh says if he were ever to become observant he would like to hang with them due to the gangsta hats. :lol: That said, in all seriousness, they have been wonderful to the local Russian community here in ways that the reform have not...With regard to spirit and letter of the law particularly. The Lubavitchers behave in a loving gentle manner and make no overt attempt to convert those raised as atheists. The reform are" once a years" who felt good about themselves for throwing a crumb to those from behind the gates of November. I know far more than I will ever say. That should speak volumes to those that know me here.

Edible Landscaper right here.... :lol: