Garcia and Kevin broke up after he proposed. She wanted to continue as they had been, he wanted more. Strauss has only been out in the field three times now. She usually just screws up the team from her desk. Last time, she made a mess of a contentious questioning session while she was under the influence, Morgan called her on it, and She went to rehab rather than lose her job. I'm sure they were all glad to not having her putting bureaucracy ahead of their methods, but she was always slated to return. It would be nice, though, if she actually learned what they do.

8 for all three, though it's been more like 8:30-9:00 lately because lax practice doesn't end until 7:30. They're usually up, reading in bed, until 9 or 9:30, though.

I'm a long time bread baker, turned GF baker over the past year or so. Here are some tips I've gleaned/worked out: As stated before, GF baked goods have some kind of added stretchy component - xanthan gum, guar gum, egg whites. GF dough is more like loose cookie dough than bread dough. It also gets looser the more it's mixed. When I make baguettes, I am smearing the dough into the pan in a loaf shape. You will often see recipes that instruct you to pipe the dough. That's because it's like buttercream when it's done mixing. You almost can't overwork GF batters and doughs, except maybe beating air into them. Overworking dough with gluten makes it tough. Since there's no gluten, well... I thoroughly mix my biscuits with no I'll results. Yeast is not an issue. I make lovely breadsticks, pizza, and baguettes with plenty of rise.

Um... :confused: My second graders know what a camel is. And they've known what a camel is since... I dunno. They were preschoolers? I would ask how one could go through life and not pick that up, but I am also the same person who has been banned from watching quiz shows after practically losing my mind several years ago while watching an adult request to phone a friend because he could pick the multiple choice answer completing "Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the ____". So my sense of normal knowledge may be skewed.

My 7s and 11 will still watch Curious George, Word Girl, Cyberchase, and the Kratts. They will tune in to Magic Schoolbus on Qubo. I'm not a fan of Electric Company these days - too Disneyesque snarky - but all of them love getting the original, 1970s, DVDs from Netflix. It was clever then. (Though we did have to have some discussion the Morgan Freeman is not a skinny guy with an afro anymore, lol) They don't watch much at all but, when they do, they either choose those younger "classics" or things like Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) or Masterpice Mystery (Poirot or Miss Marple). My children are weird. :)

<nodding> Yes, please. Some of the email addresses provided on employment applications are enough to make you cringe.

I won't lie: I write on the (stainless) refrigerator doors with overhead markers. Then, we just clean it off.

We have a larger staff, but our schedules are worked out by our availability. Some have set days/times, some of us send a monthly calendar of availability (I do b/c my husband works every 4 days and I don't work when he does). Once the scheduling is done, we all shuffle things around amongst ourselves if we need a sub. We're a pretty self-regulating group, though.

Mine, too. We almost exclusively use the kitchen (back) door, so it's either on that doorknob, on a chair at the counter, or on the floor next to the door. It's more a bag than a purse. My proper purse is a wristlet with my keys attached. The bag holds that and the rest of my nonsense as I go around from work to home to other activities.

I'm only ever "behind" in curriculum purchasing if a kid has finished something and I don't have the next one coming. We school year-round, though, so our purchases trickle in through the year.

Assuming you're in the central area, I know Tuesdi has worked out a relationship with a special needs group to provide umbrella services as part of their gathering, as well. That may or may not be something you have interest in, but I thought I'd mention it. :)

Yep. That would be our (pagan) executive director. My website (eastern shore) is less, erm, "decorative". :lol: I really encourage people to figure out what feels right for them. It's important to find a good fit so you can get on with your educational life. MD Homeschool Review is SEP, right? They're relatively new on the umbrella scene, so I don't know too much about them. (it's not much of a question that comes up over here, anyway.)

If you're thinking of MPNL, we're not so much earth-based as inclusive. On our executive board, we're pagan, Catholic, fundamentalist/other conservative Christian, agnostic... ;) Our membership, I think, includes people from all faith (or non) backgrounds. (I think because we simply don't ask, so unless it comes up in conversation, I wouldn't know.) I agree that MD is pretty easy. Most people who contact me share your thoughts about just not wanting to feel like they're spending so much time on documentation.

Me, too! And I'm surrounded by farmers. No overalls here. Now, camo coveralls? Everywhere!

In MD we have no attendance requirement, no testing requirement, and are reviewed twice a year by either the county reviewer or the umbrella school we enroll with. County reviews are portfolio reviews, with samples of work and resource lists. Umbrellas are church organizations (by law) and set their own review standards. Either mechanism is reviewing parents, not children. Here is the actual law. I run an umbrella, so I have it pretty easy ;). Friends who review with their counties get a letter in the fall and spring to make an appointment with the reviewer, meet them at the library or somewhere with a binder of work samples and a materials list, talk about what they've been doing, and go home. The worst thing that can happen in a review (provided you show up and are relatively conscientious, and actually educating your child) is that the reviewer would like to see more documentation next time. The caveats I listed are because they will definitely schedule a mid-year review with someone who doesn't seem to be educating their children - single sample in each subject, no resources listed, not able to discuss education in their house convincingly, that sort of thing. Lots of people get a ding somewhere on their review, usually for documentation of things like PE. They're just asked to provide more/better documentation at the next review. I don't know of anyone who has ever been observed providing instruction (that weird clause in the law), but I assume that would happen if a parent provides really substandard documentation several times, as an attempt to ascertain that instruction is, in fact, going on, before the superintendent takes action. Umbrellas vary in their requirements. Some want to approve your curriculum, some have peer review, etc. In ours, we have a face to face (no materials, just discussion) review on field trips, then parents send in a paper summary of what they covered in each subject area and a materials list at the end of the year.

I make ours, using the recipe Amy Karol has on the Angry Chicken blog, though I substitute coconut oil for the Shea butter because it's what I have on hand. I imagine the addition of sage essential oil would help with actual sweating (though I'm of the camp that we're supposed to sweat, so...). My husband uses it and has had no issues on a 24hr shift. We're in MD, too. If you want something premade, I also like the Burt's Bees herbal spray (which does have sage and decreases sweating a bit).

Cursive, evidently. :glare: Otherwise, I think they'd probably learn all the same things (academic and non) just by virtue of living in our house with us.

This. And especially this. I'm fine with the idea that there are simply shows that have adult viewers in mind. But the shows being made for kids? Completely obnoxious. Luckily, we got rid of cable a few years ago, so their channel selections are limited. They still don't have unfettered access to the tv, though, because their behavior suffers when they have too much passive, brain sucking time. They have freer range on Netflix, when they're allowed to watch. They pick things like the Addams Family, The Munsters, Dennis the Menace, etc.

Never heard of it, either. Grew up in Maine.

I have gmail and am very impressed with what the spam filter strains out. I don't have ads in my email window. My 11 y.o. has an email address that's a sub-address of mine. I have her stuff go to a folder, so it's not in my inbox but we can see when she has a message.

Aw. Sweet kids! Feel better!

:iagree: I hate those mosquito tones. They feel like they're originating inside my head. :ack2: One of the biggest benefits of getting a new TV (that I just thought of because of this thread) is that I can't hear it when it's on. It used to drive me crazy. (not actual show sound, the CRT whine. ) I'm 41.

I use it in the rinse for white laundry sometimes. It doesn't whiten so much as offset yellowing. I'm not sure about "good price". It's cheap. I think the price tag on mine (which I've had for a few years) is $1.69.

At 39, I felt exactly how you described. I got up sore and tired, pushed myself through as long as I could before lying down - like slogging through jello all day - napped, dragged myself through supper and went back to bed. My joints hurt. I felt like I was 110. I found a doctor who was willing to look beyond my TSH and try me on a trial of thyroid, since I had pretty classic symptoms of hypothyroidism in addition to the chronic fatigue, and I cut out gluten per his suggestion - again, anti-gluten antibodies in the "normal" range, but his feeling is that non-sensitive people shouldn't have any at all, so... At 41, I feel better - more energy, fewer aches and pains, better mental focus, not freezing to death all time - than I have in easily a decade. And living a normal life is fabulous.

I'm also pretty sure that, among the "are you a criminal" and "are you over 18" check boxes, there is also one asking if you are legally eligible to work in the US. The background check permission form and/or I-9 would then support that.