My dd recently got published at http://yareview.net. It is a nice little site that promotes young writers. She also just searches for cheap contests and things to submit to just for the experience and possibly to win a contest for resume/application bullets and maybe for some money to put away for college. Another thing to look at is compiling a book of poetry and get it printed just for himself or possibly to give out to family as gifts, etc. My dd is working on one, and we are exploring the idea of having it published as an e book on iBooks or something similar and then learning all of the aspects of book publishing and promotion through social media, etc. If he is at all interested in pursuing writing in some way, going through this process might be a really fun project!

Just an FYI... you have always been able to form your own "Church school" in Alabama. The new law just added a part that made that fact more explicit. You can join a church cover school that has no SoF (most church cover school require a fee even if they don't do anything except fax one piece of paper for you - however some have a variety of services and programs), or you can simply make up your own church school name and send the form in on your own. You do need to keep attendance either way, but everything else is completely up to you. The state has no legal standing when it comes to the definition of "church." A church can be a religious establishment or simply something you do or are in your own home. We are not a religious family, so we have our own "Church School" and have never had any problems in Alabama.

Sounds like a fun and interesting idea! Another idea on the volunteering side would be to help out with costuming at a local children's theater or something similar. They can usually use the help, and many times there is a parent or another adult volunteer who is fairly experienced who could be a good mentor on the sewing/costuming side.

I would just like to also suggest schools like Texas A&M. You have to be in the Corps of Cadets to be in the Marching Band. The band is terrific, and the Corps is huge with great tradition at the school. Almost every male in my family going back 3 generations has graduated from TAMU through the corps and many have been in the band. All of them have absolutely loved it, and still go back to all of the reunions and things. All have served successfully in the Army as officers in many different fields (engineering, aviation, communications, etc.) TAMU has a really great engineering dept. Ok, off the soapbox... :) I just think that it might be a great alternative for your son!

We are getting ready to put the house up fairly soon as well. I am not looking forward to it, but we are getting to be pros at having the house ready to show at a moments notice. Just hoping that we sell it fast!!

I'd like to echo the sentiment about everything having its place (including cabinets, drawers, and closets!) Another thing that saves us is since we are military and move around so often, we MAKE ourselves purge every two years or so. We go through EVERYTHING and get rid of stuff we've accumulated. Plus, we try to keep all items to a minimum in the first place. DD has a wonderful older friend that gives her garbage bags full of clothing almost every season (they are clothes shoppers - and we really aren't). She only has a small closet space and a small dresser, so she must get rid of things that she never wears, are torn/stained/too small before she brings those new clothes into her room. Goodwill must love us! I also agree with those that said that things are clean and put away before bed. This makes my next day so much easier. The kids must help/do chores! Ours help out quite a bit, but we try to make it fun with music or something. Plus, we are all working together, so they are not just doing it alone. It is hard sometimes to keep the place up, winter especially, when the kids are inside so often. They have very few toys (they just don't play with them enough to be worth it). But they do have bins of legos, nerf guns, and cars. These get put away in a designated bin in their room when they are done playing. Otherwise they are reading and playing games (chess, board games - now on the IPad :) - - instead of millions of the boxed kind). Also, DVDs and video games are in CD binders - there are no DVD boxes laying around anywhere. Dh has indulged my book hoard by building some very lovely bookshelves in strategic places throughout the house so that every book has a place, homeschooling stuff has a place, and it all stays clean and organized looking at all times. *Thanks for all of the other ideas! I'm always looking for more ways to keep up with everything!

Ds10 has been lucky enough to go to work with Dh every so often this spring. He gets to sit Dad's office to do his work and talk shop (video games....:glare:) with the guys all day. Plus, he has been allowed to sit in on some of the pilot briefs and classes that the aviators have to give to the troop. It is very exciting for him, and he is learning a lot about what Dad does at work. I know not everyone can do this, but maybe it is something that can be arranged (even with a family friend or something). It is such a great change of pace for the school week! It seems like parents used to have "bring your kid to work" days a lot when we were young... whatever happened to that?

Love it! I have gotten tons of great ideas for homeschooling, plus a lot of great recipes to try. I'm Luna72.

We have made a bunch of the recipes, and I can't wait until spring/summer to try some of the gardening ideas. Plus I feel like I am actually re-learning how to put a darn outfit together after years of military uniforms and maternity/breastfeeding clothing... :glare: Here's me - luna72

My Morning Mate and everything else from Teavana We received the Gift Tea Set for Christmas last year and were hooked :)

We don't leave them on, and neither do most of our neighbors. We are in a rural area, and everyone knows each other and looks after each other's places. We feel pretty safe most of the time. But I usually leave the doggy door unlocked because the Rottweiler and the Rottie mix like to roam the property periodically at night, and I deal with the sporadic barking at deer, etc. in exchange for the protection. Before we had the dogs, a drunk man (who had run his car off the road near our house in the middle of a winter storm at night) actually walked right into our basement/garage door at the same time that dh was going down to lock up and set up the wood stove for the night. He handled it well, and managed to get the guy out of the house, car out of the ditch, and family notified....but had it been me (especially if dh was deployed), I would have freaked out! - - Thus the free range dogs.....:D

I think Sign of the Beaver would make a great movie. And, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children would be great as well... and I read somewhere that the movie rights have been bought, so we'll see if it ever comes about.

:iagree:

Our house burned down when I was in High School. The insurance company jumped in right away and took care of almost all of the necessities (USAA - btw - wonderful!). The neighbors were equally wonderful - even though the entire house was totaled... there were still places with only minor smoke/water damage. Some people got together and tried to salvage pictures and things that had been tucked away. The parents and girls on my soccer team somehow managed to replace my uniforms, many of my trophies, and a bunch of my t-shirts and such and also donated clothes, etc. for me. Some of the neighbors got together and cleaned clothes, linens, etc. that were not totally destroyed (some were restored and a couple ladies even made a quilt out of my old t-shirts which was very nice!). Other people found where we were staying, and brought food like condiments, etc. or casseroles. The neighbors also helped to sort of police the place afterwards because I guess it is fun for random people to go picking through the wreckage...:glare: Plus, this was like the 5th house in the neighborhood to catch fire and people were starting to think there might be an arsonist going around, so they began to watch out for each other as well. It kind of brought our neighborhood together in a good way.:D Anyway, I am sure there were many other things that people did for us. They were all so very supportive! - I just was all consumed in my teenage drama angst to notice a lot that went on.

At this age it might be hard to move him up to play simply because of size and physical issues; however, that does not let the coach off the hook. There is absolutely no reason why this kid can't be moved to defense and learn some valuable skills like reading offenses, tackling, and understanding the mind of linebacker or what have you. They could even decide to work on their throwing game and teach the kid to block. In the end, he would still benefit greatly from his playing time, and set him up nicely for the future. Sitting him on the bench for 3/4 of the game may dampen his love of the game as well as his motivation to learn and get even better. In my experience with kids like this, the high school coaches will even have a sit down with the 6th grade coach and "suggest" that this kid learn all aspects of the game making him an even better prospect for them in the end. Sounds like the coach was just being infantile, and enjoyed running up the score.