I agree that if the doctor isn't worried, then I would try not to, either. While I don't know about the weight issue, my ds, now 13years, never crawled. He rolled from one place to the other, then around 13+ months, he pulled himself up and started 'walking', using the couch to hang on to. It was several more weeks before he would let go of the couch to venture to the coffee table. As an aside, my ds, while never crawling, also didn't speak much until he was nearly three...now THAT worried us! I kept asking the doctor if it was "normal" for an almost three year old to speak only 4 or 5 words. Looking back, we think he just did things in his own time...the rolling got him where he wanted to go, and he was able to make himself understood by pointing, so why 'waste' energy talking? That's what we think, anyway... There is such a wide spectrum of "normal", that when the wee ones are outside the core of normal, we tend to worry (right or not, we're moms/loved ones). It's so hard to wait, and not imagine the worst. If the doctor seems OK with it, then waiting is what you'll have to do. If things don't improve and you are still worried, then there is nothing wrong with a second opinion either, even if it just eases your mind. :001_smile: (the other) Heather in Al

send it back, but in my experience, it wouldn't be worth it, so he/she probably wouldn't bother UNLESS he/she was new and didn't know that it's OK to let it go through. It's especially unlikely to be pulled and returned if it's in a batch of checks that came from a business. It's pretty much assumed that the store clerks & whoever balances the day's receipts checks that stuff, so it just gets a cursory once-over when being run through the machines. That happens more often than you think. I think the oddest thing I saw when processing checks was a check for $.50 that had bounced twice (written for a candy bar, according to the MEMO line!)....that was $16.50 a pop that we charged (way back in the dinosaur age!), and probably $30 a pop from the store. I remember we all hoped it was a good chocolate fix for that account owner! :tongue_smilie: (the other) Heather in Al

I have used a book (or internet explanation) that was different from the book my ds used, and different from the way I tried to explain the problem. I found that different explanations often help. FWIW, I never did figure out why my ds didn't "get" the problem, either, but once he did understand it, with the help of a different text, it "stuck". Good luck! (the other) Heather in Al

..we accepted checks with the previous year on them until late Feb. and sometimes through March. It was easy to tell from the check numbers of previously cleared checks in a person's account if the date was just accidental or "stale". FWIW, most stores will try to pass the check through and let the bank handle it, and most banks have automated check processing systems that most errors such as incorrect dates, no signatures, and sometimes even incorrect amounts will go through. The person entering the amount of the check is typing so fast that it's nearly impossible to notice everything on every check. I used to have to process several hundred checks each hour, so there is little time to check everything. Scary, eh? So...that's my long way of saying it will probably go through just fine. :001_smile: (the other) Heather in Al

...and I have had allergy shots for the last five years to "cope" with the allergies. I agree with Caroline4kids (I'm waving at you, can you see me? :seeya:) that the Native Americans didn't settle here for long. My allergist told me he has heard they called it many variations: The Valley of Sickness, The Valley of Death, The Valley of Lung Sickness, etc. It's all the same thing to us sufferers! Allergies aside, however, it's a GREAT place to live, as it's so close to other cities...4 hours to Atlanta, 6 hours to the beach, 2 hours to either Nashville or Birmingham, 3 1/2 to Gatlinburg, Tn, 11 to Disney. Sigh. We're in SUCH a good location, it's made us want to stay despite the horrible allergies. I've been here over 23 years now, and I can't think of anywhere else I'd want to live. Everywhere else seems so far away from other places! Where do I *not* want to live? Farther south (the heat here is PLENTY for me!), in Tornado Alley (we get plenty of those already), Alaska, or too close to any large city. I'll take Huntsville(Madison County) with it's 500,000 residents any day over a mil+!! I don't like too many people or too many cars! :tongue_smilie: (the other) Heather in Al

and it works well. We keep the "themed" pieces together in a gallon zipper bag (Star Wars with Star Wars, etc), and the non-themed pieces in a bin. We tried sorting by color, but that led to LOTS of complaining when pick up time came around. I really like the idea of dumping the pieces on a sheet or something.... I'm going to have the kids do that. :001_smile: (the other) Heather in Al

...and so far, so good. My dd, 11, has it in the mode where it directs her, and ds, 13, has it in self-guided mode. Neither child is impressed with the oral parts....they often want you to repeat a sentence without knowing what it means, AND the sentences are usually long. In addition, I have heard them speak, and it sounds fine to me...my goal is to have them understood...speaking like a native would be gravy. I've had 4 years of French, and most of the time, I can't even say the sentences the program throws out, as they are very fast and tricky. So....they skip the oral part for now. They both just LOVE the crossword puzzles, though! They use a French/English dictionary to help out, as the program doesn't define a lot of things, and my son is impressed that he can now read some French....solely because of this program. They each go about 30 min 3 x a week, but we're about to ramp it up a bit, due to an upcoming vacation to France in May. Oh, one more thing about the oral part of the program.....my hubby, who is from France, doesn't care for the oral part, either, as it won't recognize his speech. We think it's because A) it's "only" a computer program, and B) because language sounds are regional. Look here at the states, for instance....people from the south pronounce things differently from those in the midwest, and those in the northeast, etc. Would this stop me from buying the program? Nope. Overall we are very impressed with it (yes, even dh!), and the oral parts, when presented one or two words at a time is quite effective. :001_smile: HTH, (the other) Heather in Al

While I'm still not positive which way I'll go, I definitely have more of a sense of 'what is what' now. I happened across a study guide (vol II) to the 5th edition of Western Civ for $4 at a Homeschool Used Bookstore, so I grabbed it, then literally hours later I found the 5th Edition Comprehensive Western Civ (hardback, and looked NEW) at a thrift store for $.50!! So, I guess I'm "being lead" to go in that direction at some point in time. I'll have to hunt down the first volume of the study guide now, so I'll have the set. As for the World History I'm wanting to cover, I still haven't decided between Human Odyssey or the one with Duiker. Wish I had someplace to go where I could leaf through the books. I guess I'll just search out each series on line and see which is the easiest/cheapest to find. My ds seems to have a photographic memory, because he reads something once, and it's there (I'm SO jealous of that!), so I'm not worried about difficulty level, but I'd like to use whatever I get for my dd, too, and she's like me...we'll read something, be able to talk about it for a while, then it's gone.... poor kid! Thanks again for all the help! (the other) Heather in Al

I'm so happy for you!! The feeling of a missing pet is awful. It's been about five years since Whiskers went missing for those five days, and we all still remember it like it was yesterday! I'm glad that Meow-Meow is home safe and sound!!:party: (the other) Heather in Al

I, personally, wouldn't bother with the unfinished furniture places unless I had to. I bought my daughter's bed at one years ago, and found them to be very expensive, even though I finished the piece myself. I had success ordering my curios from JC Penny's catalog (check online for current selection, as their catalogs are teeny these days), and from online furniture sites. Ashley furniture and Haverty's furniture are other stores with nice stuff, but seem to be pretty pricey. You can search their sites, and if you find something you like, try searching out the manufacturer for other sites with the same stuff....furniture prices vary wildly on websites! This company (Home Decorators) shipped fast, packaged my item well, and I received my order quickly. http://www.homedecorators.com/Furniture/ If you Google "corner curio cabinet", you'll get tons of hits, and if you know what type of finish you want (i.e. oak, walnut), add that to your search for fewer hits. Good luck in your search!! (the other) Heather in Al

we suspected he was still in the neighborhood trapped in someone's garage or shed. So what we did was make our flyers and put them in mailboxes (a no-no, I know, but our mailman didn't mind). We included "missing cat", a description (we didn't have a current photo that was good, but that would have helped), a very bold "children's pet--kids are sad" phrase, a phone number, and "reward" (but not the amount). He was just a tabby, but he was worth a reward to us...we figured the kids in the area would look for him if they thought money was to be had. Since he was prone to getting stuck in places, we also added that he might be in a crawl space, garage or shed, along with the day he vanished, in the hopes that people would double check if they had any of those places open at that time. I don't know if that helped, but two days later, he came home, smelling like mildew and looking wild (he was AWOL for more than 5 days!), so we think he actually WAS in someone's shed and that they checked when they found the flyer. I really hope you find your cat. That was a horrible 5 days for us. It was several years ago, but the memory of that time is still fresh. (the other) Heather in Al

I've been reading old threads on Spielvogel's books, and have gotten thoroughly confused as to which way I should go. I'm looking for World History for a rising 9th grader who LOVES history. We are planning on two full years of World History. Should I go with Western Civ (and supplement), Human Odyssey, or World History with both Spielvogel and Duiker as authors? Opinions please! TIA, (the other) Heather in Al

... might be an option. I'm in north Alabama, and we drove to Disney a few weeks ago *ON* Thanksgiving. We went down to B'ham and over to Atlanta, then all the way into Orlando. Pretty much all that was open were Waffle Houses and Cracker Barrels until we hit Gainesville, where it seemed that all food joints along the interstate were open. I agree that you should call ahead and see if a particular location will be open. We also had lots of snacks on hand in case our Thanksgiving "dinner" turned out to be granola bars and gummy bears. :tongue_smilie: Good luck! (the other) Heather in Al

My kids are 13 and 11, and my son (13) HATES to write. His situation sounds like yours. He was also in PS and what little writing they did wasn't graded/corrected (the teacher was told it hurt their self-confidence, so everything had a "good effort" on it). We tried other popular programs (book-oriented) and he just didn't click with them. Then I tried IEW. I started with the B set (without the teacher helps), and after the first two lessons, both my kids' writing had improved. We did one lesson each week, completing 10 of the 15 lessons before stopping to work on other assignments. We are picking it back up when we begin again in Jan. I am VERY impressed with IEW. The method really gets the kids to think about how they say things. For instance, there is a "banned word list", so they are encouraged to find other ways to say what they want like "nervously replied" instead of "said", or "quickly rushed" instead of "ran". Again...I'm quite impressed. HTH, (the other) Heather in Al

...for all the info. I now have a much better understand of how the online schools work. I had not heard of some of the ones mentioned, so I'll take a look at those, as well. Hopefully, I'll find something that will work for us. I think deciding will be the hardest thing though! Thanks again! (the other) Heather in Al

Now that I've gotten my feet wet asking about testing centers, I thought of another one that I've not seen addressed. Of the online schools most often mentioned here, how do they work? Are they power point, live, combination? I can't seem to find that info. My son would be bored to tears just watching a class on power point, and would love something live, and with interaction. Does Potter's School fit that bill? How about Keystone? K12? SO? Any others? Also, when do these schools begin registration? I looked at Potter's and Keystone, but did not find that info, either. I'm thinking of having him take a class online next year for grade 9, but I first need to find one that fits our needs. Once I've done that I need to figure out the registration dates! Thanks in advance for any insight! (the other) Heather in Al

Thanks for all the help. It sounds like it will be a tough go for me. By no means is there a small hsing population here, but the local schools are unwilling to assist. My cover isn't any help---despite having a good relationship with the local schools, they can't get any of the public or private schools to bend on the issue of testing. I guess I'll just start calling (do I try to get to a counselor?) and see if I have any luck. As of last May, no public or private schools would help, so I'm not hopeful. Gwen, do you think the HSLDA would be of assistance to me? I'd be willing to try, if that's the route I'll have to take. Heather, how funny about the user ID...it wasn't taken when I registered, so I thought I was safe! :001_smile: Thanks again for all the help! Heather

Hi everyone! While I've been lurking (and learning!) for around 6 months or so, this is my first post. I haven't seen my question addressed before, so please forgive me if this is a repeat. Where do your dc take the standardized tests? The public and private schools in my area are very anti-homeschooling, and won't administer the tests. I think the local university will administer the SAT/ACT, but what do I do about the PSAT, AP, and SAT subject tests? Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Heather