GAHHH!!! Don't tell. Please don't tell. It's not nice to call people names and I shouldn'ta said it. I sowwy. (To the OP - my name calling post, now edited away into the oblivion of cyberspace, did not call you or any other poster here a name. The namecalling was on ... someone else.)

:leaving:

I've got a really pretty schedule I drew up at the beginning of this school year. Colored it like a rainbow, wrote it in my prettiest handwriting. Worthless as the paper it's so fancily done on, though. Nothing ever takes exactly the time allotted, and I'm not about to say "STOP ALL THIS FUN LEARNING WE'RE DOING, the schedule says it's TIME FOR SOMETHING ELSE!" So.... :lurk5:

I do! I have the PDF saved in my documents. Now talk to me like I"m really stupid on the computer and tell me how I can get it to you. :)

Karen, I would like to throw into this discussion that the question you are posing ultimately goes back to, who is GOD? I hope and pray that you would turn to Scripture, in faith believing it to be His Word, and search diligently. I mean that with all my heart. Our words here are scribbles in the sand in comparison. God has been watered down in recent decades to a gray-bearded fellow in a robe, sitting in heaven wringing his hands wondering which of the humans down here will decide to follow him, because he loves all of us equally whether we know it or not. He just can't wait to see which brilliant marketing strategy will lure some more followers to his throne so he can give them the best life and make them prosper until they get their harps on a cloud. None of this is supportable by Scripture, though, so an earnest inquiry should discard such notions. The OT in particular reveals a God who insists on complete obedience, and who brings about (sometimes dire) consequences for disobedience. He insists on proper worship - not worship that the people find pleasing, but worship that God finds pleasing. To our postmodern culture, engrained in tolerance and all beliefs are valid and deconstructionism and shades of gray with black/white being only relative and circumstantial - to this kind of culture, such black-and-white insistence on obedience and the right way of doing worship sounds tyrannical. I don't think that way, though. It is enormously pleasing to me (and I see this through my eyes of motherhood) to have boundaries, definable rules, and clear expectations. It is apparent to all of us humans that unenforced boundaries become meaningless. God's expectation of His people Israel was that they remain unstained by the idol-worshipping pagan cultures around them - not intermarry, not adopt their gods or their worship, keep themselves pure and keep their worship pure. He at times ordered the destruction of certain idol-worshipping cultures who remained within the Promised Land in order to preserve this purity. Ultimately, the burden is upon the Israelites. God chose them from amongst all the nations. God told them in vivid detail what He expected. God told them the consequences for disobedience. They were not, however, transformed into obedient robots. They made choices. God acted as any just, righteous and fair judge should: He poured out the consequences even upon His own children, knowing that unenforced boundaries would turn into a flood of disobedience. There is so much to understanding the nature of God, and I am only a fraction of the way there. But while the unbelieving nations cry out "how can your god be so ruthless?" I can only say, "what kind of God would he be if He were not 100% righteous, 100% just, 100% demanding of our obedience and worship?" He'd be a pansy. A pretty little statue. His righteousness, His justice, His righteous anger, His mercy are evidenced over and over in the Bible. These characteristics of His, by the way, ultimately lead to Him pouring out His very self to be the propitiation; only One who is truly just, truly pure could be the sacrifice for all sin. These characteristics also lead me to believe that those who die in innocence (the unborn for example) will be judged with utter mercy and given a place in heaven. Don't take our words for it, though. Search the Scriptures.

My dd (10) is obsessed. She has read them all (many times over) and is anxiously awaiting the next in the series which comes out in Nov. My son (7) has now started reading them. Start calling your kids names like Cinderpelt or Cloudpaw or Snowkit. THey'll love it. *There is violence (the clans hunt prey and make attacks on other clans), some sad parts (deaths and illness), and it presents the differing religious beliefs of the clans as "all equally valid."

If it feels like overkill, then it probably is! For our first year of TOG (and we're only on our second right now so take all I say with a grain of salt), pragmatism was my guide. I started using 3-ring binders this year as I now have a much better feel for the flow of the program, how much we can do, and I also found out I do better when I plan a unit at a time. My kids are roughly 2nd and 4th grade (LG and LG/UG) and I don't have them create their schedules yet. Probably highly individual as to when a child can do so, but I'm thinking that is for UG and up. Get adventurous - the stuff my grammar-level kids can really recall and remember well are the things we DID. Salt maps, pyramids, mummies, making tunics, mapping China out of cookie dough - the "doing" really helps it sink in. Each week I try to cover the history objectives, geography objectives, Bible/church, and mix in as many projects as we can reasonably do. You don't have to reconstruct Notre Dame out of toothpicks - keep it simple and fun so they can accomplish. Hehe I don't know if that helped at all!!

My son age 7 is diagramming in FLL 3. He loves it, too.

babysitter reading tutor summer clerk at bank personal PT assistant to client with brain injury physical therapist classroom volunteer when kids were in public school Daisy, Brownie, now Junior troop co-leader (obviously last two aren't paid, but I consider it a responsibility just the same)

Bad stuff can happen anywhere. Keep your eyes open, listen to your instincts, teach your kids how to be safe, and don't live in fear; just be alert. A co-worker of mine back in Upland, Calif was running errands with her two kids. At one of their stops, her 9 year old daughter went to the restroom while Mom and other daughter gathered what they needed. When 9yo hadn't come out in a few minutes, Mom went in the restroom to find 9yo, pants down, in a stall staring in fear at the man who had followed her in and pushed her stall door open. Mom pinned the man in a choke hold against the wall while older daughter ran for help. They were in the public library. Doesn't mean all public libraries are unsafe. Does mean we need to be alert. Everywhere.

I think we could all learn how to write neatly holding the pencil in various ways, but the "right" grip is the one that lessens fatigue. My grandfather used to get after me for white-knuckling my pencil. He would say, hold it lightly - let the pencil do the work - if your nails are white, you're squeezing too hard. Not coincidentally, he had lovely, legible handwriting. My daughter went to ps for 3 years. She has a persistent thumb-wrap grip, and constantly complains that her arm and hand are "tired" of writing. I've gotten some good ideas from this thread - thanks, all.

I also use oneplace.com to download sermons. This is the page with the ministries; you can listen or download for later. I would recommend John MacArthur, J. Vernon McGee, Adrian Rogers, Alistair Begg, or R.C. Sproul.

My maiden name is Hofmann. 99.9% of the world spells it Hoffman, so I spent my unmarried life spelling my surname out loud. H O F as in Frank M A N N. At least my first name is easy. My sister's name is Jamie, and in the 60's and 70's that was pretty solidly a boy's name. She got put in boys' PE classes every year in junior high. No, not J A I M E, but J A M I E. I determined to give my kids names that weren't difficult to spell. But in this era of "make your name as funky as you can", even Erica and Zachary have to spell their names. I am tempted to have them use alternative spellings like Airykhah and Tsakkarrie just for kicks.

Wha't on ear'th is with the apos'tro'phes??? Is it meant to show a pause in the pronunciation?

It must be related to the way my children think talking downstairs is being obedient to a command for silence given upstairs, even though they've been told 2,647 times it's not. :D

:D That's it. Those of us who would be concerned must have the maturity of an 11 year old! Oh, to have the ripe fullness of wisdom of the Jedi, but alas. I still giggle at wind-breaking. I'm probably somewhere in the 9 or 10 year old category. To the OP - I'd say for the vast majority, "labial massage" and "innuendo" go hand-in-hand. Go talk to that youth pastor.

The language is appealing to those of us who are pro-life. :) The facts are supported. Can you point us to sources that show Obama to be other than 100% supportive of abortion throughout pregnancy and in the event of botched abortion/delivery prior to viability?

Who said that? The OP's question was about George's article. That's what I'm talking about too. If we only accept what the candidate himself says, then that goes for McCain too. OR we can rationally discuss what others say about the candidates, too.

Sorry - I quoted him earlier and forgot it was in a separate post. Professor Robert P. George of Princeton University, author of the Witherspoon Inst. article the OP referenced. Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He is a member of the President's Council on Bioethics and previously served on the United States Commission on Civil Rights. He sits on the editorial board of Public Discourse.

Perhaps to make/drive home the point that he is completely, totally opposed to it? ...as an Illinois state senator Obama opposed legislation to protect children who are born alive, either as a result of an abortionist's unsuccessful effort to kill them in the womb, or by the deliberate delivery of the baby prior to viability. ... The federal version of the bill passed unanimously in the United States Senate, winning the support of such ardent advocates of legal abortion as John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. But Barack Obama opposed it and worked to defeat it. For him, a child marked for abortion gets no protection-even ordinary medical or comfort care-even if she is born alive and entirely separated from her mother. ~George

THis is the FOCA act Obama has stated he will sign "first thing." FOCA Act He has promised that ''the first thing I'd do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act'' (known as FOCA). This proposed legislation would create a federally guaranteed ''fundamental right'' to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, including, as Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia has noted in a statement condemning the proposed Act, ''a right to abort a fully developed child in the final weeks for undefined 'health' reasons.'' In essence, FOCA would abolish virtually every existing state and federal limitation on abortion, including parental consent and notification laws for minors, state and federal funding restrictions on abortion, and conscience protections for pro-life citizens working in the health-care industry-protections against being forced to participate in the practice of abortion or else lose their jobs. The pro-abortion National Organization for Women has proclaimed with approval that FOCA would ''sweep away hundreds of anti-abortion laws [and] policies.'' ~ Professor Robert P. George of Princeton University "The fact is that Sen. Barack Obama has never voted to support any measure that would, in itself, lead to any reduction in the number of abortions performed. He also appears never to have failed to support any provision -- however radical -- that would expand access to abortion. He even opposes a ban on partial birth abortions."~ Al Mohler in this article.

Michelle, that just breaks my heart. When my grandmother died, my grandfather didn't even know how to make toast. They lived in a tiny town in rural Kansas with one restaurant, and after her death he went there nearly every day for lunch and dinner. If he didn't come, the restaurant would call him to make sure he was okay (he eventually learned how to heat up a Steak-Um). When my other grandfather died, my grandmother was fully able to cook, but was so grief-stricken we had to beg her to eat. She lost probably 1/4 of her body weight. When my dad died, all of us, mom and sis and me, couldn't even figure out how to tie our shoes, let alone remember to eat. We had so much food brought to us it was incredible, yet we had no appetites to eat it. There were enough visitors in the house, we at least had something to offer them. I think death leaves the survivors with the ultimate sense of powerlessness, and cooking food for the grieving is just something concrete to do for them.

My husband had a good friend in college named Jeff Daniels. There were so many Jeffs that this particular guy went by Ffej Sleinad. To this day, everyone from that group of friends still calls him Ffej. He signs his Christmas cards to us that way. :)

Emmy, I have both TOG and SOTW. Right now, with one LG and one on the cusp of LG/UG, I find SOTW to be more on their level as far as map work, activities and games. We pull reading from both TOG and SOTW, I use TOG's weekly literature worksheets, and TOG (for me as teacher) gives me the background learning I need to teach more thoroughly. SOTW has a richer "global" perspective (more on various world cultures/history) and TOG has a richer church perspective (far more Bible in year 1, more on church history/reformation). I think, if you are getting a lot out of SOTW + AG and reading, stick with it for the 4 year cycle. Consider TOG for UG/Dialectic/Rhetoric levels, and spread out the purchase of it over the next couple years. Get it in your hands and start working through it to familiarize yourself with the layout. But there is NO. WAY. to fully do both side-by-side, so don't expect that!!

Earl (dh's grandfather) Wiley (dh's uncle) Wally (dh's dad) Rufus any trendy my-son-is-a-bad-a** name like Ranger, Whip, Jock (oh wait that's the dog in Lady & the Tramp) any I-smoked-a-lot-of-weed, dude name like Dune, Astral, Zodiac, Aquarius there are some great names in the Bible: Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah, Hezekiah... Scooter Farkle Friends of ours named their son Arson as a deliberate homophone for "our son". Hubs and I have already named his siblings: Assault, Embezzle, Racket, Burgle...