I can't remember who, but someone on this board has "A kitten dies every time someone uses an apostrophe to pluralize" (Or something close to that) in their signature line. This quote pretty much sums up my feelings on the whole "apostrophe s" problem. I guess I just never found it difficult to understand so it drives me crazy to see it used incorrectly everywhere. Signs, billboards, fliers....... Now, every time one of my children sees it used incorrectly, they'll say "Look, Mom, a kitten just died on that sign." Jeannie

My dad and stepmother are for it. My stepmother's reaction surprised me, actually. When I told her, she said "I think that's great! If I had kids these days, I'd homeschool them, too!" Shocked me. My FIL isn't really for it (I don't think) but he never says anything. I just get the feeling he thinks it's weird. But at least he never says anything negative about it to us so it's cool. All of my friends have been supportive except for one. I have learned not to expect support from her and to avoid discussions of schools and schoolwork. Things are better that way. Many of my friends homeschool and we've made some great friends with the homeschool groups in our area. I feel really blessed to have the support that I do. And, of course, DH is totally for it and doesn't care how much I spend. And I don't even overspend or switch curriculum all the time! I could be spending so much more........hmmmm...... Jeannie

There's a really great patriotic song by a newer country singer named Eric Dodge. It's called "I Pledge" and it is a very stirring song. I believe he gave it away to folks in the military when it first came out. Not sure. It's late and I can't remember. If you just type in Eric Dodge, you can find lots on him and the song. Good luck. jeannie

We bought a brush at the store that I think was actually meant for a cat. It works great for the piggies, though. It's small and the bristles have little rubber tips on them. My daughter's ECE teacher used a little baby brush on the class piggie. It worked pretty well, too. Ours don't really have toys. They have each other, and that's all they really want. Jeannie

LOL Would you care for a waffer theen mint? (sorry, that's my best accent/typing) Jeannie

My first thought was that I am not for changing the name of the church. It is what it is. My second thought is that if that were the case, my family would still be looking for a church home. We attend a church that is an "offshoot" of the local First Baptist Church, where I have refused to attend because of some bad childhood experiences there. The church we attend is called The Simple Church. The name was chosen because they want church to be simple, so to speak. Nobody cares what you drive, what your clothes look like, where you come from. They care about ministering to your needs, the needs of the community, and bringing people closer to the Lord. I think the one theme I have heard most at this church is "Find a place where you can serve, and serve." This is the first church I have been to in the 40 years of my life where I felt close to God immediately and comfortable in my own skin. So, after saying all that, I can't really say it's a bad thing to take the denomination name out of a church name. I guess I'll never be too old to change my mind. Jeannie

I have two words for you......caller i.d. It's a beautiful thing. I honestly think we only keep our home phone so the telesellers have a number to call. LOL I don't answer anything that says "no name" or "sales dept." Or anything else I don't recognize. I've also learned to be really rude to these folks and tell them every single time they call that I want to be removed from their calling lists. That is, I tell them when I feel like answering. Usually, I ignore them. Good luck! Jeannie p.s. That would creep me out as well. You are smart for listening to that warning bell ringing in your head.

We use the Furminator also for our two Corgis. It is fantastic! When we use it regularly, it really, really cuts down on the hair around the house. Jeannie

My daughter's best friend (11 and homeschooled) announced last week in a conversation that monkeys DON'T have teeth. And was amazed when it was proved that monkeys do, in fact, have teeth. Fortunately, this child has an extraordinary ability to laugh at herself. Jeannie

:lol: I hate to admit it but I'm a sucker for a pun! My kids think I'm weird, but they laugh at my jokes anyway! Jeannie

I live right outside of Shreveport and if there's one thing I know, it's hot, humid weather! It is possible to cool your apartment. We had this problem in the old complex we lived in a while back. One problem, the a/c units were just as old as the apartments (built in the '50s). Two, we lived above some old people who never, ever turned on their air. And, as we all know, heat rises. I would venture to say that if the apartment folks were willing (and I bet they're not), they could check for poorly sealed doors and windows and correct the leaks. Then they could put in a unit that's actually the right size for the space it is required to cool (it sounds like what you have is not the right size at all). You shouldn't be fighting that whole "you can't cool the apartment more than 20 degrees yada yada yada stuff till August. Definitely not all summer. It gets hotter and more humid here than it does in D/FW. We lived in Allen for a year and it was nowhere near as bad as it is here. I think you should be getting more from your a/c unit. And from your apartment complex. Ok, rant is over. I think that the free apartment sounds great, except we lived in one of those "free but really small" apartment situations. It was much worse than we thought it would be and it got more and more miserable as the time went by. It was very hard on our children. And it was just impossible to keep the place cleaned up because a few things out of place made it look like we'd just had a wild party. Good luck whatever you decide! Jeannie

Bump :lurk5:Would love to hear any info on this myself! Jeannie

We're using All American History Vol 1. We only started it about a month ago, but I have found it to be interesting, well written, and easy to use. My daughter seems to be enjoying it. I wish that I'd known about it sooner so we could have just started off the year with it instead of my trying to invent my own American History study guides from a textbook. Anyway, I plan to use Vol 2 next year. BTW, my dd is in 7th this year. I also have a second grader, and I have not tried to use it for her also. Instead, I am just going to save it till she's in about 5th or 6th and then use it for her studies. Jeannie

The book lists are separated by grade categories. There is a K-4 list, a 5-8 list and a 9 and up list. Examples from Unit 1..... K-4 Viking Invader by Paul Dowswell Around the World in a Hundred Years: From Henry the Navigator to Magellan by Jean Fritz Leif the Lucky and Columbus D'Aulaire And a few more 5-8 The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French The Viking Raiders by Anne Civardi Marco Polo: A Journey through China by Fiona MacDonald there are also some History Pockets recommended as well as several other books 9 and up Great American Statesmen adn Heroes by Catherine Millard The Travels of Marco Polo The Journals of Captain Cook Treasure Island Robinson Crusoe and more I don't want to infringe on any copyrights by listing all the resources so I hope this gives you some idea. :) If you want to know anything else, let me know. For what it's worth, the teacher's guide is very helpful to me. Jeannie

You should really think about pacing yourself. That's entirely too much excitement for one day! :tongue_smilie: Jeannie

Yes, there are book lists. I just checked. We just started this about a month ago. I like it and my daughter seems to be enjoying it. At any rate, she likes it better than she liked my home made study guides (which took me hours each week to write). Jeannie

Hy husband was a lot like yours when he quit. He had tried numerous times and numerous ways. His record was about six hours. LOL And he was Horrible to live with for those six hours. One day, May 16, 2005, he just knew that it was time. He finally wanted it badly enough. And he put his cigarettes down for good. The first year was tough, but now he doesn't get cravings at all. Good luck to you and your hubby! It is so hard to quit but so worth it. Jeannie

That's awesome! Goodwill is like a big treasure hunt, isn't it? Sometimes you don't find anything. Sometimes you find gold! Jeannie

This is me......not caring about the Super Bowl. Still not caring! :tongue_smilie: Now, if it were hockey................ Jeannie

I admire and respect the Duggars. That being said, I've watched about five minutes of one of their shows. I don't like reality tv. I don't watch their show for the same reason that I don't watch COPS, or Survivor, or Super Nanny, or American Idol (anymore. I'm a reformed Idol watcher). I feel like I'm standing outside someone's house peeking in the window. It's a bit creepy. Plus, I can see all the dysfunctional (Hold your tomatoes!I do not think the Duggars are dysfunctional) weirdos I want at Wal Mart. I have found that watching negativity on television starts to affect me in some very bad ways. I don't think I'm going to see negativity on the Duggars, but I don't want to wade through it to find out. Jeannie

I have the most easily side tracked child in the world. She's had guinea pigs for three years and I still have to remind her about four or five times a day to feed them. LOL I would suggest that you will probably have to go with Hobbes when you send him to do something to ensure that he is beginning the task that you have set for him. If you can get him into the habit of beginning immediately, he will have a much better chance of finishing the job. That is what I have to do with my daughter. She isn't being disobedient, she just gets sidetracked. If she doesn't do what she's told immediately, there's at least a 75% chance I'm going to have to remind her. She has to work hard at focusing. I can't really get too mad at her, she inherited this trait from me. :) I'll bet he's really creative, isn't he? My daughter certainly is. Good luck! jeannie

My friend has one she bought from Calvert. I think it's called Staircase of Time or something like that. It's one normal sized poster and shows time as stair steps instead of having one long continuous time line that takes up your entire wall. J

One of my daughter's classes did a tour of a shoe repair shop. I didn't even know we had one and it was two blocks from my house. :) It was very interesting. Lots of machines and loud banging noises. The kids loved it. The repairman explained about different shoes being made of different animal skins and repaired a shoe while they watched. This was a class of twenty four year olds and they were fascinated. We also went to a store that sold Native American style items and was owned by a wonder NA man who told them stories and wore his full regalia. They were captivated while he told stories. It takes a lot to captivate twenty four year olds for more than a minute or two! We really enjoyed it. Jeannie

I can't see any way it would be unethical unless you lied or seriously exaggerated your circumstances. If you were honest and said, " We want to pay this bill off but it's more than we can comfortably afford. We are trying to avoid any possibility of being unable to pay due to the country's economic straits. Would it be possible to reduce this if we could pay the reduced amount in cash?" Something to that effect. I figure it can't hurt to throw in something about the economy....LOL What I do think is unethical is a hospital charging you $25 for a Tylenol because they're trying to make up for all the folks who aren't paying their bill. Good luck! J

Wow, Kelli. That's all I can say. That, and that I am not surprised having come to a similar opinion years ago regarding the Pearls. But, Wow! I will be praying for you and for the child whose heart you feel you lost. Please never give up on that child. Children always need their parents even when they're sure they don't. :grouphug: Jeannie