Was it someone here? Why do we need the PSA?

Yes, it should be fine. October is a slower month there. We went in March, another slow month and didn't book our hotel until about 2 weeks before (though we've been to Orlando several times and we know were we will and won't stay). I will say that the Univerisal Hotels were actually sold out already...we kinda wanted to splurge and stay there for easier access to the parks. But there are ALWAYS hotels,available in Orlando. And tickets, we bought ours online the night we go there....of,course,I had looked online prior so I knew cost, specials, etc

They all sleep in the same "bunk"....yet there are 12 kids...and very recent ones.....so are the parents having "relations" right there in that same sleeping space...and isnt that some form of abuse to the children? Exposing them to that act? I mean, not to be gross....but we live in 2 story, 4 bedroom house, and DH and I still have trouble finding alone time, lol. Where do two adults, with a dozen children, living in a three walled shanty, all sleeping in the same bunk....make all of those children???

Honestly, I doubt that any 12-15 year who is "doing anything to be popular" actually realizes what they are doing. I mean, this isn't Diary of A Wimpy Kid we are talking about. It's real life, with young humans who are struggling to figure who they are. So yes, there are some that will be comfortable "letting their freak flag fly". There are some that are popular just because they are...whether it's based on financial status, or their looks or the fact that they really are just nice people (yes, popular people can actually be just nice people that alot of other people like because they are....nice!)....they just kinda of ended up in the popular crowd...and I've read many articles saying those popular kids really weren't any more comfortable in their skin than most other kids that age. Point is...if there is a young teen who is making a very concentrated effort to do anything to be popular...they probably don't even really realize it. It's not like they woke up and decided that is how their day is going to be. More likely, it's because they have low self esteem, and do what they do because they don't know any way to be themselves...and really don't even know who "themselves" are. They may not even realize how much effort they are putting in to be liked..and how they are not being true to themselves. I just don't think most 12-15 year olds are that introspective yet.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I see BF has a new Modern History out. The thing is I actually planned on using BF last year...collected all the books used, got the guide,,and when I started planning, and REALLY looking at the guide....they moved way too fast. The primary Am history went from Leif the Lucky all the way to Abraham Lincoln, and not enough meat in between. I ended up selling the guide and veering to SCM. So maybe this new program is better....but who can tell because the online samples are very limited. I kinda had to move on just cuz they dont share enough info to make a choice. Truthquest is an option....I hadn't looked at them recently. BYL....I have looked at it...something steered me away...can't remember at the moment what that was....will go back and look again!

Do you mean EarthFare? They have weekly sales that are awesome! Grassfed, hormone free ground sirloin was on sale for $4.98 a lb last week. I can't even get regular cheap hamburger at any store for that price. Week before, antibiotic-free chicken breast was $3.98 a lb....big plump, pretty chicken. Brown eggs are cheap, $2.97 a dozen. Other than that, I just kinda like shopping there. We have a Whole Foods and Trader Joes here too. I like Earthfare for the meat, and the ambiance. I like TJ's for their prices on everything else. I avoid WF. And I go to the regular store to fill in the gaps.

Circle Time

This would be for a 4th grader and 7th grader, both boys. I follow the CM theory...with freedom to tweak. We used SOTW for Ancients and Middle Ages. I used SCM this year for Early American History. I tweaked it, in that we did not do the World History part at all...I wanted to really focus on just American History in elementary (first time my youngest, 3rd grade, has been through American History). I also added alot more books, and slowed down. SCM might spend one-two chapters on important events/people,and move right along. I would stop, and spend a good week or two on events that I thought were important. So we spent a week on Jamestown, almost 3 weeks on the Revolutionary War (touched on several different important people, read several books, watched videos), a week on George Washington, a week on Ben Franklin, and now spending 2 weeks on Lewis and Clark (reading Seaman's book as a read-aloud is taking a bit longer than I had planned). So I used SCM as a loose "plan", adding to it when I felt the need. So we will be ready for Modern History this fall. Basically Civil War and forward. I don't mind touching lightly on the World Wars and even Vietnam, and of course more recent events as well. Obviously some topics are a bit too heavy for this age, but we can touch base on it...leaving the heavy information for high school. I expect to add a bit of world history in, as that would be a given to understand the World Wars. For some reason, when I looked over the SCM Modern American History, it's not doing it for me. I think it will be almost TOO much tweaking. Why buy it if I'm gonna change it THAT much. Please don't mention AO..just cuz I mentioned CM...I don't like AO. I actually looked at Sonlight, though I'm not a huge supporter of the company overall....the Core E, I think, (or is it Core D?) covers the time I want to cover, and has some good book choices. I looked at SOTW Vol 4...it's too much World History for my plans....I will probably use it and just listen to the chapters that are American History focused. I don't think MFW has a year that covers just American History...at least not at this level...we used Adventures way back when my upcoming 7th grader was a 2nd grader...loved it then...but I don't want to have to pay for all that comes with MFW...I'm simply looking for history. WinterPromise......hmmm...I always hear how "disjointed" their programs are. And of course, the bad customer service. Their stuff is so pretty in the catalog...just not sure it's for me. I'm a tweaker by nature...no fear to add more, take away, etc...but then I don't want to spend $500 just to tweak a bunch, and skip even more. Hate that they never come out to conventions to be seen in person! I looked at GuestHollow's plans. So far, she's the winner. But she's gone ALOT in there...and not sure I agree with some of her spine choices...the Joy Hakim books...and it requires like 5 of them or something. The Abraham Lincoln book...while I've not really looked much into it...I had the feeling this was more of a high-school level read. So while this plan is free...the book choices of just spines....that suddenly makes the cost jump up a bit or switch them out to something else. Biblioplan. No. Just no. thanks. So thus far...I've got a few things that I like about different programs....making me think that I just pull from here and there and make my own thing. I *think* I can do that...but I much prefer to have a "base" to work from..and tweak that. What else? No textbook stuff...BJU, Abeka..no. What else am I missing? A curriculum that plans good books...read-alouds, and self reads. Possibly notebooking. Maybe a bit of creative projects. Don't want workbooks, or worksheets, or tests.

Hated it. Day 1-4 topics are just bits and pieces pulled from Usborne Science Encyclopedia, and other Usborne books. I kinda hate Usborne books anyway...busy pages, only tidbits of info. Just didnt' seem to be enough meat to really retain anything. Yes, my boys could do the worksheets...but that's cuz we had JUST talked about it...the information wasn't every really presented in a way that made Science interesting or FUN, or "tell me more!". And then Day 5 is the experiment day...and it has NOTHING to do with what you studied Day 1-4. And those videos....I don't get why they get such rave reviews.....how boring to sit there and watch some goofy guy do experiments. My boys complained whenever I put it on.

I've been a den leader twice, and yes it's a lot of work behind the scenes. You have to plan the meeting, gather supplies, and often run the whole meeting with little help from by-standing parents. and then there is after the meeting...you keep track of badges scouts earn....you are the middle man between the pack and the den...so you have to communicate pack info to the den, even if the pack does it too. Often the den leader collects forms,,payments the pack needs. And don't forget all parents are coming to you with questions and concerns cuz they see you as their main contact person. There are monthly meetings for all leaders in the pack...kinda important to go to as a leader so you know what is going on behind the scenes in the pack. And at those meeting, you get wrangled into to helping with things on the pack level....cuz it's almost always the leaders who are doing everything behind the scenes....most parents just show up with no idea what leaders did in prep work. So yes, being a den leader is so much more work that what you see at the hour long den meeting.

We wanted to go...we were in Georgetown for dinner, and saw the long line..about two blocks long. Thought we'd walk back after dinner, maybe the line would be shorter....it wasn't. It's on our must-do list for our next DC visit!

I have a homeschooling friend, six children, and after her last, she developed congestive heart failure. It was a few months after delivery that she was diagnosed after having some odd post-natal symptoms. It's a life long, and life-threatening thing...she goes in for checkups regularly and was told not to have any more children. Apparently there's a whole group of women out there that develop this...I forget the actual official name for it. She recently lost an online friend from some online support group...a mother who developed this...and later died due to it. It's rare but it's real.

All three of my boys have went through speech therapy at one point. Oldest when he was five and his K5 teacher recommended we look into it. In my mind, it was just a cute little kid thing. Took about six months and he was good with R and W sounds. Once a week...we didn't do much at home. Second child was a preemie...so had a lot of different therapies as a toddler and young child. He went through speech for about a year from age 4-5. I don't remember doing much at home with it. I'd sit outside the curtained room so I could hear what was being done. It was a lot of play, and talking during...like therapist leading with words he had to repeat. Now my youngest...wasn't until age 8 he started. I guess I was waiting for him to grow out of it....and just never did, so I realized he was at an age where we really needed to get help.....people couldn't understand him and he was starting to get frustrated and self-conscious. We started via the school district....free services, hour long group class at the school once a week....total waste of time. 6 kids, all different speech issues, for one hour, means one kid gets about 5 minutes total of direct therapy. We left that and went to a private practice, been there for about a year now. 45 minutes once a week, private session. They play board games that the therapist has somehow incorporated speech...like he has to say a word on his turn, etc. We have homework....lists of words that have sounds he struggles with he has to read aloud...make videos on iPad of him reading...blowing bubbles (he's been diagnosed as having a weak tongue muscle so bubble blowing helps...I never would have known it was a weak tongue issue without the diagnosis).......chewing a baby tether thing. So we have homework everyday at this age. The therapist likes to remind me "45 minutes once a week isn't going to solve this....we really need to work at home"...grrrr, yeah I get it! Some weeks are better than others...life is like that. Anyway, at your child's age, I'd guess it's going to be like an hour of play time with a purpose, and your child will enjoy it not even knowing there is "work" happening.

I don't like that everyone else can read the conversation. I mean, I get anyone can come HERE and read these conversations but we have some anonymity due to our "names" so I know none IRL friends and family come here to read it. On FB, all your, my, his, hers, their FB friends can see and follow the conversation, and I feel like it's a big show for everyone, and we don't even know who's watching. I have some nosy family members and though they don't talk directly to me on FB much, they like to see who's talking to who and what they are saying. (I know this from random comments the family members have made...things they could only have known by reading conversations that they were not involved in). So there's that, added to the fact there are really dumb humans who just can't have adult discussions, and potentially differing opinions without getting mad, ugly, and angry, resulting in harsh conversations....again that "show" aspect.

I've found TripAdvisor to be a great help in picking a hotel close to a particular attraction. As far as Charlotte, the Discovery Place is the hands-on science Musuem. Quite nice!

You just described me...40's and dry skin...to the point of flakes in some areas. I quite Bare Minerals several years ago as I felt the powders just highlighted my wrinkles. I've tried several things, and spent a lot of time in Sephora getting suggestions from the sales girl. Then I went to the BM store, and I bought the exact products OP listed, after getting my face done there. Been using it for about a month, and love it! I now have a bit of a dewy look which is what I wanted...but I can add powder (I have a setting powder from Tarte already so I just use that), if I want to minimize the "dew". I use the Rescue Remedy morning and night. I don't feel or look "dry" anymore and totally back in love with BM products. They have a 30 day return wimdow full refund...Sephora does too....wouldn't hurt to try it!

Without going into nitty-gritty details, suppose one was fired from a job....assume it wasn't for something TRULY horrible, as nothing was stolen, no one was hurt, job performance was on par....fired for an obscure company policy that is being interpreted by a person in management who never really like you to begin with........and still under review if you will even get fired....but let's say it happens. So now you search for jobs. What if they ask why you left your last job? Saying "I was fired" just seems so cut-n-dry, and a sure way to be politely shown the door as they crumple your resume into the trash. Is there a more PC way of saying the same thing, something nicer, but isn't lying? The company itself will only share dates of employment and yes/no eligible for re-hire. Obviously, saying "I was fired" and then going into the twisted story of "why" isn't good in an interview either....saying your supervisor had it out for you, while maybe true, sounds kinda crazy if one doesn't know the full story. So a statement that implies firing but doesn't use the word, maybe? Suggestions?

Never bring him back....make afternoon appointments, and not going to drive BACK to school only to come back in another hour or so to pick him up again.

Well, even the gHC vendor hall was mediocre, at least at the SC location, and yes, most vendors were speakers. For goodness sake, The Flylady was both a vendor and a speaker. And that one lady....can't remember her name...she has three names...motivational homeschooling mom, sells books....anyhoo...speaker and a vendor. So then you do the major vendors, Sonlight (speaker), BJU, ABeka (speaker) Big Idea Press (speaker), IEW(speaker), Veritas Press (speaker), Classical Academic a Press (speaker), Memoria Press (speaker), Jay Wile (speaker), Apologia (speaker)and in the Rainbow Resource, and the Millers Pads and Papers... And there is a big chunk of the vendor hall. Throw in a few local vendors, a few smaller vendors, SEVERal online curriculum "schools", a handful of colleges, and that's that. Seriously look at the GHC website and compare the speaker to the vendors and notice most are the same.

Did you shop around for a mortgage? Today DH and I took a step, which was hard to do, of going into a bank to see the mortgage guy. After intro chit-chat, he told us interest rates, told us what a payment would look like for a certain dollar amount (we had told him what we had in mind). So then I said "you haven't pulled credit yet, don't you need to do that to see if we can get that?" (I know, cuz he hadn't asked for SsN or any other identifiers). He said he would do that now, he did, and he says we shouldn't have any problem getting $X amount approved. Several minutes of chit chat and he's still acting like it's all good. Um, okay, but don't you need to look at our credit report, and see if there are any issues on it, that would cause strife for getting approved? (Like at that point he looked at credit score and income only). He did, does some math, and then says we could probably only get X amount of money due to debt to income (student loans which are currently deferred still count). ,which was MUCH smaller than the original amount, and not going to work for us at all. The thing is, we had a pretty accurate idea of the credit score, knew what issues our report has on it, been working at cleaning it up, knew what our best options for loans are...so we weren't walking in clueless. We kind felt like if we hadn't led him into probing deeper, we may have walked out of there feeling like we had gotten pre-approval for exactly what we wanted....when in fact, it was just the opposite. We know we are borderline...it's going to take a bit of creativeness/leniency....had some past credit,issues 5-6 years ago during a time of unemployment...fixed a lot,of it but there's a bit still left....credit score makes it, barely but it does, income is fine...but overall we look mediocre on our credit report. So we knew it wouldn't be as easy as this guy acted like it was at first. We also learned they use Quicken Loans for their FHA loans.....DH jokes on the way home that according to Quickens commercial we could have applied and done all that at home, in our underwear, lol. So question is, should we shop around and try a different place,for a mortgage?

Thank you for the links, I will take a look! Your nephew will love that Hobbit Book. It really is a beautiful book, a treasure piece!

I meant the time out of our week for the lessons themselves. 2 boys, at 30 minutes each, plus the drive time there and home. It's 2 hours of our day. Of course daily practice is a must, I get that, and we do that. I had the "every other week" lesson in the back of my mind as well...something I might discuss with our teacher too.

My boys have been taking piano lessons for about six months. While I want to continue, I don't want to continue the monthly expense, or the time from our day for the lessons. I will if I HAVE too...but I'd prefer not. Are there any reliable online or dvd based lessons that actually teach piano well? I have some musical background, played clarinet for 7 years through school. It's been years, but I have the jist of the music stuff, and have been following along with my son's lessons, so I'm up to speed on what they know now. And the books we use offer instruction as well (Faber). So between all of this, I think I could keep them moving along for beginners, and perhaps go back into lessons with a teacher in a year or so...when our budget isnt' quite as tight....if I had some help with at home lessons. Any recommendations for online/dvd based piano lessons that are decent...not too adult-oriented, but not too babyish?

FPEA in Orlando, usually Memorial Day weekend

DS11 has asked for The Lord of the Rings books...I want this to be a Christmas gift. Keeping in mind, he's a late bloomer for reading...really didn't start reading till about this time last year (age 10)...but since then has soared. He's read all the Harry Potter Books in the last year, and now he's into Percy Jackson,along with various other books in between. He also read The Hobbit. I found this beautiful version of The Hobbit at the library. Hardcover, pretty illustrations, and best of all, larger font (he needs the larger font on these type of wordy books). Here is the book we had for The Hobbit: http://www.amazon.com/Hobbit-J-R-Tolkien-ebook/dp/B00BVT56GC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416372052&sr=8-2&keywords=the+hobbit I'm looking for something similiar for LOTR. I want these to be books that he treasures, keeps on his shelf, and grows into adult hood with. Hardcover and bigger font are necessary...illustrations don't have to be though. I don't want a softcover, cheap paper, tiny font version. There's a ton of version on Amazon, but it's just so hard to tell online if it's going to be what I need. Any recommendations of a version that you have? thxs