My3Boys
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Thank you, everyone. I know their family is feeling your prayers.
Even sadder, the day before this happened there were 5 kids killed in a car accident on their way home from school in a county west of hear, about an hour and a half away. That's 8 kids in 24 hours, both accidents due to an inexperienced driver losing control of the car.
I make sure I say "I love you" to ds17 every morning when he leaves for school. He only has a five-minute drive, but, well, you just never know.
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http://www.wgal.com/news/29935832/detail.html
This is such a tragedy. A family in our school goes to church with this family and knows them.
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Our house in TN suffered hail damage last April (?) from a bad storm that blew through the area. Our insurance company paid to replace the whole roof and a number of other things.
Whether or not the shingles were defective shouldn't matter IMHO. That might not even be the case. I would contact your insurance company and ask them to send someone out to asses the damage and leave it at that. If there was widespread damage in the area, they are less likely to hassle you on details and more likely to just settle and get it over with. In our case, our area was declared a disaster zone or something and the county got federal money, which is why I suspect the insurance company was so generous. They probably benefited somehow. :glare:
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As someone who was raised in a home with an emotionally unstable parent who later became mentally unstable as well, I can tell you life is a living h*ll for those kids. They need to be removed from the home, and as quickly as possible. They can never live a normal life with her. When they get into their teens, they will never be able to socialize like normal teenagers. They will never be able to have friends over or go on a date. Their father needs to be made to take responsibility. He may be trying, but in some states it's next to impossible to take custodial rights away from a mother, even if she is as disturbed as your neighbor is. You and the other neighbors taking action and documenting everything could help the dad get total custody of the kids and have some stability in their lives. Of course, I don't know the situation with the father and am making an assumption that life with him has got to be better than the situation they are in now.
My mother thought the FBI was after her, was telling people I was in on it, and some other things went on I would rather not relive by talking about it. She started hanging out with a bad crowd, and I was afraid she would try to kidnap one of my kids. When we tried to get her help, we were told that no one could be committed against their will unless they were proven to be a danger to themselves or others. They also told us there were two reasons for this. Apparently there was a time when it was very easy to have someone "put away" and families were having parents and grandparents sent to mental institutions for almost no reason at all in order to get their money/property. The other reason was a few decades ago, the ACLU filed a lawsuit demanding that the mental hospitals release anyone who wasn't classified as dangerous. The problem with that was that many mentally ill people are ticking time bombs. All it takes it more more trigger, no matter how small, and you have the shooting in a restaurant or an entire family is murdered in their sleep. It didn't help those that were released either. Most of them were/are incapable of caring for themselves and ended up homeless. In fact, the rate of homelessness skyrocketed after the ACLU won and they were all released.
You don't know what this woman is capable of. Her anger alone may allow her to get to the point where she retaliates in violence. That anger may be caused by something she just dreams up in her mind and thinks is real. It's better for all involved if she gets the help she needs, and that won't happen unless she is forced into it.
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Don't forget to figure in dorm and meal plan expenses. Also don't forget to figure in fees and expenses related to their major.
When my middle ds went to our state university, his dorm/meal costs equaled half of his tuition! And he was in-state.
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We did this for grades 5-8. They were supposed to add on a grade every year too, but decided to stop at 8th for a few years because they didn't think they were ready to do high school.
We went 3 half-days a week the first year and a half (this was due to issues with meeting locations) and then went to 3 full days. It worked well for us. It was like having the best of both worlds of Christian school and homeschool, and of course tuition was much lower than it would have been if we had been in CS full time. You are also more in tune to what's going on academically because of the home days. I think you will also find the parents work more closely together and communicate with each other more than in a "regular" school situation.
You do have less control than when you are homeschooling full time, but you have more control than if you are in CS full time. We had a excellent curriculum and because there were only 12 kids in ds's class they got lots of personal attention from the teachers. There were also many opportunities for parent involvement at the school, especially in the classroom.
I envy you! I miss those days. We had the combined advantages of school and homeschool and we had a lot of fun (and, oh yeah, he learned a lot too!)
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It absolutely works. As someone else said, both spouses have to be on board and you have to be committed and willing to make some tough choices. It is so worth it, though. I wish this had been around when dh and I were first married.
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Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease. My rectal bleeding was already diagnosed by a sigmoidoscopy in 2006. (I have bad henorrhoids)I have had rectal bleeding(intermittent, like MAYBE once every 3 or 6 months, bright red in toilet or on TP). But because it has been 5 years, now have IDA, the GI Dr thinks it would be best just to double check.
I am still scared they are going to tell me I have colon cancer, even though they say someone at 43 the chances are very slim. I hope so.
This is a HUGE step for me becaue I have health anxiety, so if I can do this, anyone can.
They mentioned somethng about Propynol(SP?) and Darvocet to put in my IV?
Now, if only my DH can get me to the car and to the hospital!!:lol:
Thank you and :grouphug:
It's propofol. You will love it. It's like taking a really good sleeping pill. They give you a little bit and ask you if you feel sleepy, then the next thing you know you are in recovery. You are awake within minutes and while you cannot drive, you are able to move and talk and, most importantly of all, eat!
When I had mine done, they told me that they have people ask them all the time if it comes in pill form they can take at home! That's how good you feel when you wake up.
I stressed big time over the anaesthesia(sp?) because I had never had it before (had epidurals for my c-sects). I imagined all kinds of problems and side effects. Next time, no fear.
Now if only they would do something about that awful stuff they make you drink. I did add Sprite and lots of ice to my solution or there would have been no way it was going down and staying there. You can also use Crystal Light or Gatorade, but nothing pink or red. Stick with stuff like lemonade/limeade for flavors.
Good luck! I'll bet that after it's done you will feel silly for being so afraid!
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If they are available to individuals, I would check into a health savings account. It is basically a high deductible catastrophic coverage type deal, but the premiums are much lower, and you can use the difference to pay for the standard stuff, like vaccinations, etc. In our plan, they pay for things like mammograms and vaccinations outright. Our premiums were slashed almost in half when dh's company switched from a traditional plan to HSAs.
This is the way health insurance used to work. It was meant only to cover the big stuff and you were responsible for everything else. That may be the direction we are heading back to.
Another good thing about HSAs is they save money because it makes you think twice about going to the dr, which prevents overuse of the system, and it encourages you to shop around for the best deal, which encourages competition and lowers prices for everyone.
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For those of you who have taught or have had your dc taught Greek, especially those who are in hs or college, have they ever found it useful?
My ds has to take it to graduate, even though he has taken 5 years of Latin (which we strongly agree with) and will have 2 years of Spanish when he graduates. I personally think that unless someone is planning on studying theology or just wants to learn for their own enjoyment, it's not really necessary. Because this school requires 2 years of it, he is having to cram it in this summer and his senior year.
Is my thinking wrong on this?
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I am happy to live in America, happy to be an American, proud of those that serve and protect, and wish everyone a happy, patriotic day.
:iagree:
Happy Independence Day!
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Ds16 is a sr in the fall too. I can't really comment on your situation because we have taken a very different path, but maybe it will give you some ideas.
Ds started his jr year, as a dual enrolled student. He has been taking classes at the community college and will have his AA 3 months after his high school diploma (if he can get the right combo of classes when he needs them).
Ds will graduate high school at 17yo. He will start his jr year in college, at barely 18yo. He will graduate with a BS at 19 (right before he is 20yo-late summer bday). We don't know where he will go from there but when I really started putting this all on paper and thinking to the future, one thing became very, very clear. While a narrow education will get you places faster, you still will still arrive in a pack of other students applying for jobs/scholarships/internships etc.
Ds is hard working and very bright. BUt he is not a genius, overtly gifted, or well connected. He will will work and earn everything he gets in life. Sooooo...... What good is it to have a degree soooo young? What will he have to offer an employer, when he is at least 2 years younger that other college grads? What will make him stand out when it is time to apply for jobs? What will make him unique and an asset to a company? What will make someone say "We want you!"
Due to this, ds has decided to get his AA at a community college, and then take at least one gap year. He is undecided as to what he is going to do, but it will be designed with the intention to 'broaden' his education. To make him unique. To offer something different on his resume other than the narrowly focused education path he has been on thus far.
Right now, we are heavy into discussions about this gap year. He is considering studying abroad one year, as a college student, in his chosen field to solidify his working foreign language skills...concentrating his efforts into classes in his chosen field or similar that are not offered here. ie ds is a chemistry major but his also interested in biology, so he may go off to study the ecology of the rain forest in Mexico or Oceanography in another country. He is also interested in mission work, so if he does this, he will also connect with the local population and mission field to offer support. He has 3 years of Spanish language but he would love to gain a workable use of the language. It make the most sense to send him somewhere that will get him both.
He also may decide to stay home, volunteer as an ESL tutor and take more classes at the CC outside of his field. Engineering, Computer programming and other classes have been mentioned. Cooking classes, auto mechanics and woodworking are other possibilities, just to gain more skills that will expand his personal life outside of work.
He is considering spending a year enrolled at a Bible college. He has a profound faith for his age and would love to spend time studying his faith at a deeper level.
He is considering volunteering at a company that could be a potential future employer. Living at home makes it possible for him to take no wage, and just gain experience and perspective.
We have many, many ideas like this one that have valid options available.
He may take more than a year off. We have told him that as long as he is working on something to expand himself, he can stay at home. He can not stay home and play video games. LOL
I just say all of this to say.....Think outside of the school you are in. What is the value of more high school classes to him? As adults, do you look back to your high school years and think about how they enriched you life.....or do you look back to life experiences and college? If he isn't an ideal high school candidate for the program right now, what will more of the same education do for him? What can he do outside of high school to become either a stronger candidate or just a stronger person in general?
You present a lot of good options to consider. In fact, the headmaster did mention that if he went a second year, his schedule would allow for him to take a class at the local Bible college, which allows students from our school to take one class there free of charge.
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:iagree:How do you know they won't already consider him a good candidate? Could it actually look BAD that it took him five years to graduate, somehow?
You know, I didn't think about that!
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Some things to think about:
1) Is the headmaster making these recommendations based on what that particular college is looking for in a student? Is the headmaster even familiar with that college? Has your son visited the college and talked to anyone in the engineering department?
2) How is re-enrollment looking for your son's private school? How big is the class behind your son (the one he would graduate with if he did a 5th year)? This information impacts the bottom line, as does the fact that a high-donor family may be graduating their last student. The headmaster has all of this information in his head when he is talking to you & it does impact what they say.
3) The information that you gave on the AP Physics is confusing to me. There are three AP Physics exams and each has it's own course description and exam. Students make take all or just one of the AP exams. AP course grades and AP exam scores aren't tied together. He should get a course grade based on his completion of assignments, quizzes, tests, etc. but that grade is not connected to his AP exam score. The AP exam score is generated only by taking the AP exam. There is no pre-requisite to take an AP course before you take an AP exam, nor is there any requirement to take an AP exam just because you have taken an AP course (school policies may vary on that last one). Additionally, a good grade in an AP course is not always a good predictor of a good score on an AP exam. I am also not at all sure what certificate the headmaster is referring to, however. Is that something that the school issues? There is no mention of an AP certificate on The College Board website that I can find. I really think that the headmaster may be making more of this than he needs to. The information on the AP Physics courses and exams is here.
4) An additional year of rhetoric and an additional year of history will not do anything to make your son more attractive to an engineering school. I would not base a decision on this at all.
4) Is your son absolutely sold that an additional year in high school is what he wants to do? If not, I wouldn't force it on him as long as he meets the graduation requirements of the school. If he doesn't buy in, you could be wasting your money and his time. There are other things that can be done during a gap year, if he is interested in that. Additionally, he could attend community college for a year or two before applying to his first choice school - success in that environment would also make him attractive to the school and the co-op program.
Just some things to think about.
Thank you! You make several good points and there is lots of food for thought there also. I agree with your point about rhetoric and omnibus. We have not ruled out a year at community college either. We have some good options around here for that.
I was unclear on the AP Physics stuff too. The way is was explained to us is that he couldn't take the exam and receive the certificate unless he completed both years of the course. I'm not sure if this is a school rule or not, and after reading your post, I think another meeting with the headmaster is in order for clarification. This is important, since math and science are critical to his major.
I understand what you are saying about why the headmaster might be wanting him on for another year. There is a high donor family graduating a student with my ds. I'm not sure if he is their youngest though. That's an interesting thought. The headmaster has not really been pushing one way or the other, though. He's just been giving us options, but still, it's something to consider.
My ds has not visited the college yet but has talked to some graduates. The headmaster has actually been pushing his college, which is odd because it's not known for it's engineering dept.
Thanks for all the food for thought!
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I do not think I will get a SS check (I am also in my 50's). The thing that bothers me about it is that it was MY money, that I earned, that was forcefully withheld from me in order to "help" me through forced savings. Now, if I had been told that it was a necessary tax that had to be taken out of my earnings, I would not feel this way. But when you work a long time and pay into something all those years and are always told that this is your savings for retirement (I know we need more than that, of course, but still), I can easily see how folks resent being told on the back end, "Oops, your money's gone...." If I had been forced to put my money into a simple interest bearing account, I would have more at retirement then I'll ever get out of the SSI system.
And the thing that really chaps me about all this is that Congress has their own private retirement system, separate from SSI, that of course if fully functional....
They are exempt from the new healthcare bill too.
I think the people that vote these programs in should have to live with them just like the rest of us (except for those who have been granted waivers, of course :glare:).
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I don't have an answer for you, but I wanted to comment that this is the kind of question I might ask you because you have 2 kids who have experienced college already!
How does your son feel about it?
Well, he's not too keen on the idea of course, but is willing to consider it.
I should also mention that going a second year will mean he doesn't have to take Greek I this summer. The classical school he went to before didn't teach it in middle school like his current school did (they require 2 years of it to graduate) so he is having to play catch-up. If I had known he would end up at this school I would have had him take it the 2 years he did online.
Our other two never wanted to do anything other than go to the state universities so this wasn't an issue with them. This is the first time we've had to deal with private colleges.
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As it stands now, ds17 will graduate next year. He wants to major in engineering in college (just like Dad) and his school of choice is private and expensive. They do have a work cooperative program for their engineering majors that ends up paying most of their tuition. The only way he could go to this school is if he was chosen for that program.
The headmaster at his school wants us to consider sending him an extra year. The thinking is it would increase his chances of getting accepted and getting into the work cooperative. Next year he is taking calculus-based physics. The problem is it is really a 2-year program and you don't get the AP certificate unless you complete both years. He will get credit for the one year he takes it, just not the certificate.
The other advantage is he will get the whole year of Omnibus VI (this year he took a combination of V and VI and next year will take V only; don't ask me to explain the reasoning behind this because I don't get it either). He will also have time to take Rhetoric again, only in a live classroom setting. He took it online with VP Scholars in which rhetoric is taught more as theory than actual interaction with the class, if that makes sense. The headmaster says it is a totally different experience.
I guess I am also thinking one more year to mature before college wouldn't hurt either.
Sorry to go so long. I would appreciate any and all thoughts/insights, especially if you have had one go through this process of state school vs private.
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I used to work for an actuarial firm that dealt with retirement plans exclusively. One of the actuaries I worked with said that you would cry if you saw how much more you would have at retirement if you had been allowed to invest for yourself the money that was taken out of your paycheck for SS. He said the average person would have 3-5 times more every month than they will with SS.
Plus, you could leave the balance of your account to your children when you pass on. The only way SS pays to family is to surviving spouses or minor children.
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Thank you everyone. I appreciate the recommendations and will look into them. :)
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I understand. I only ask since you brought up cashing out your retirement accounts. My opinion on that is predicated upon your answers to those questions. :)
There has been talk at the federal level of nationalizing 401(k)s. If our retirement accounts are seized and we cannot cash them out in an emergency, what else can we do other than having savings accounts, assuming a desperate government doesn't seize them too? I don't foresee that happening, but if things get bad enough, who knows what will happen?
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Ds17 has been bugging us to go camping on or near the beach. I've been checking online but our experience with searching for campgrounds has taught us that personal recommendations are the way to go.
Anyone here have any suggestions? We are in S/Central PA and would be open to MD or NJ. We have a popup camper with air.
Thanks!
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We have been talking about this a lot lately. We are preparing not only for a possible collapse, but also to just simply live on less if the current mindset of the government doesn't change and we are taxed into oblivion. In that case, we are planning on dh retiring early or cutting back his hours, since it won't be worth it for him to work the 50 or 60 hours per week he currently puts in.
We are already used to living on one income and we are already pretty frugal people. Neither of us was raised with much money but were raised with a strong work ethic, and we know how to survive in tough times without relying on the government. We value freedom over guaranteed financial security.
I would say the priorities for us are to get out of debt, have some money set aside, and secure our food supply by gardening, etc. We will get by with one car if necessary. No cable, internet, etc., again if necessary. Our goal is to be able to live on half of dh's income.
If there is a collapse, then there are other measures we would take, many of which have been mentioned here. Becoming as self-sufficient as possible and protecting our property from the inevitable lawlessness that will follow would be priorities.
However, we are really, really hoping this country comes back to its senses and starts dealing with reality before that happens!
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Can you do a s/o of your own thread? Anyway, I didn't want this to get buried so I thought I would post this separately.
For any of you who are interested, there is an article re: poverty and minorities (although it could be applied in a more general way) that I found interesting. It is based on a book that is either recently or soon to be released. I would be interested in hearing everyone's opinion on it.
http://nation.foxnews.com/government-aid/2011/06/02/stossel-government-aid-helping-or-hurting-blacks
The author, Walter Williams, is an economist (and is also African American) from George Mason University.
I am hoping for a calm, reasonable, productive debate on this. It is an important issue that impacts all of us in one way or another.
Ds17 has been studying economics so we are into this big time right now.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/13618342
NY is apparently looking to disallow the use of food stamps to purchase soda. What do you think?
How to cut brownies...
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I use a pizza wheel sprayed with a little PAM first, although I have used it without the PAM and it seems to work fine.