Sports was the currency for one of my children. If missing practice and/or game was what it took to make him learn a life lesson, then that is what happened. Believe me, every single team, every single sport, in the whole wide world, will survive if one player misses....otherwise it wasn't much of a team sport to begin with. And if you, as a parent of another team member, want to speak to me about my parenting choices because it affected if the team won or not....well, just be prepared to walk away scathed.

I'd send an email to everyone in charge, outlining the #1-4 you mentioned here, and then I'd walk away, and consider that your children are better off not being in an environment where they have clearly labeled your son as a troublemaker, and have total disregard for his diagnosis.

I was just happy everyone was reunited...and they didn't prolong the whole "oops, we just missed 'em" scenario that's been going on last,season.

We have a Starbucks, relatively new, that is in a building that used to be a bank..a small bank. In the main room, there's a circle of 4 comfy chairs. But there are three other rooms (probably used to be offices for the bankers), that are all cozy, dimly lit if you want it to be, quiet, comfy chairs etc. And another room (probably an old conference room), with a big table/chairs....so still a conference room...but for anyone to use. Kinda loved it!

I read the book, the whole LONG book. I followed the plan pretty closely for six months.....and lost 8 lbs total. On one hand, the alot of it makes sense, avoiding bad carbs, eating healthy fats, and lots of yummy recipes out there on plan, especial desserts. On the other hand, it is complicated...what is an S, what is an E, etc etc. several ingredients that are hard to find and/or costly. Not required of course, but hard to follow plan without. After six months, a lot of time and $$$ invested, And very little weight lost, I decided I'm veering away. I lean more towards Paleo these days, which slot of the THM recipes are very similiar (switch Stevia to honey). I still use some of the THM recipes.

I mentioned her because you did, thereby implying you were comfortable discussing her situation and the outcome in a public forum. Perhaps, as it has become obvious you are quite the opposite, it would behoove you to not bring that up as a point in a discussion if you don't want the other side of the opinion to discuss it either. Again, my condolences. And by scientific proof, I will assume you mean the proof provided by the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies set up to make a huge profit on that "proof". Never mind that time and time again, it is later revealed that these companies failed to provide or choose to hide the negative aspects of their "cures". Seems like snake oil pushers with a government license. So yeah,that makes it better of course. And their medications sure seem to be the end-all, save-all for human diseases, so their scientific evidence, at least the part they share with us, is all that we should need. Except humans die everyday from various diseases, even after following modern medicine protocol. But we should still just follow that, and never think outuside the box, cuz that is bad!

I'm sorry to hear that, and my condolences. Though, since you've brought it up, I assume there were many "modern" medical applications given to her to combat the disease.......yet the disease won. So we should have no doubts in those treatments? Go along with what modern medicine tells us, even though it apparently didn't help? And we should not take a chance or risk to believe in other treatments, such as oils.....because what.....one might die from the disease??? I don't get how anyone puts their trust into modern medicine so unwaveringly, even though it doesn't always work, even though there are multiple stories of FDA bad judgement decisions, etc. Yet it's tom-foolery to believe that oils could do anything to help. ??

I don't get the vent. Your husband did want is common in real estate....paying the owner more, so they have more in their "pocket" to cover the closing costs. That's part of the negotiation process. The house sounds like it has the most potential for you. Why not put in a bit extra money and effort to get it? In this day and age, with the housing bubble popping a few years ago, many people are barely above water in their house mortgage...which means they won't walk away much profit, so often the ability to cover closing costs simply isnt' there. Paying more on your offer means they can pay closing costs. Very common real estate move.

Encourage me to do anything with education. School, in general came easy for me. I scored well on the ACT (didn't realize how well until years later realizing wow, I did good on that!). There was never any talk about college, about career, about the future for me. When I ended up,going to college, it was because I brought the financial aid papers to them. (Before the days of online FAFSA). I asked them to take me to the fall open house at the college. I went and signed up for the classes, I went an bought books. I had to live at home because I didn't quite figure out how to pay or get into campus housing. I ended up at the local college, even though I truly desired to go away, another state, because I didn't quite know how I'd get to another state for school, with the cost, the transport, etc. and frankly I waffled a lot in college in and out of enrollment, etc as it was pretty much all up to me, including paying for it (even though I couldn't qualify for pell grant type of aid based on my parents income). I just had no guidance there, and frankly no a lot in other parts of life....there was never this thing where they found things or brought things to me that might help me, might be of interest to me, might help my future. The one thing I distinctly remember my father advising me "the post office is hiring, you should apply, good pay, and you could buy a little house here in a few years"......when I wanted nothing more to get out of that small town, that boring Midwestern state. I often think of what path, career wise, I could have taken, with just a bit of guidance and push from parents. Because at 17, coming from a small farming town, I had no idea what was out there in the world. So on a good note, I am the complete flip side of that for my children. I research all kinds of opportunities for them, give the, all kinds of options, try to open the whole world to them, make sure they have opportunities and guidance to get where they want to get.

Be Our Guest books up 180'days out (dining reservations can be made as far out as 180 days). Once you book your dates, mark your calendar for 180 days, and be on the phone that morning at 7a.m. To have even a slim change to get Be Our Guest. Even then, try a date towards the end of your trip, if you are booked for a Disney Resort. Resorts guests get the perk of booking 180 days plus 10. Meaning a non-resort guest can call today to book March 19th. Then call tomorrow to book March 20th. Then call the next day to book March 21st....day by day. A Disney resort guest call call on the 180 day (for the date they are checking in), so today for March 19th...and then book the next 10 days (the perk being you can book all of your dining in one call). Point is...so let's say you called today to book Be Our Guest for March 19th....called right at 7am when phones open...only to find out be Our a Guest is already completely booked for March 19th...how could that be possible???? Because it's already been booked by those Disney guests for the last 10 days! Cinderella's Royal Table and Chef Mickey's is very similiar in terms of popularity.

DS11 was diagnosed with convergence issues a few months ago. He's been going to therapy once a week since then, but our budget is just done, done, DONE....just can not squeeze anymore blood out of it....not if we want to have electricity and running water, and a wee bit of food on the table...just can't do it. Honestly, we were using the funds in our FSA, so it didn't directly affect our budget, and those funds are now used up, and now it WILL affect our budget to continue therapy. I was only able to be in the room once during his therapy, and that was during the initial testing. I saw the types of things he had to do, but most of it was looking through binocular type lenses at cards. Since then, he's told me some things he's done, like play board games where he has to move things (I'm thinking like Rush Hour)...build blocks to match a card, play games on the computer. Has anyone tried to replicate Vision Therapy at home? I know it wouldnt' be as great as doing it the office, but perhaps something is better than nothing, until our budget allows us to get him back in for therapy.

So you just described my oldest child when in a group of people he doesn't know. He "seems" uninterested in other kids, because he's so reserved he is nervous/scared/doesn't know how to get involved, he wouldn't involve himself for fear of being rejected, he wouldn't choose to speak to anyone, he would chose to even sit alone, away from the group. You judged him as sad. You don't know him. He's not sad, he's reserved aka shy. That's different then quiet. And he's none of these things at home, or in groups he feels very comfortable in. He'll mature out if this to a certain extent, already has from what he used to be.....but your judgement doesn't help him or me! I already know all if this about him, and I'm already am keenly aware of how uncomfortable he is, and how others will judge him because he seems so stand-off-ish. I already feel bad about it, for him, and we have always worked on it, discussed it, tried to help....but it's just part of his personality....and it's not about being sad. The judgement based in a one time meeting is incorrect. Spend more time, actually get to know them, then decide.

One can easily do Seaworld in one day...do it all. It's not Disney, by any means, in terms of all there is to do.

Nothing mentioned by CLE, but as others have said, we use MUS blocks if needed. Recently sold those, so sometimes we use Legos !

I was waiting for the watch...cuz I'm in the market for a Fitbit and wanted to see what comparable features the Watch would offer. For the price, it doesn't matter though...Fitbit it is! I don't wear watches....cant imagine it offers anything more than an iPhone does. People, including me, are already so tied to their iPhones....I certainly don't want to have to WEAR it! I might go for the iPhone 6. I like the screen being a bit bigger. Right now I have the iPhone 4s....it is functioning fine, and I gave my upgrade to my son last year...so I'm on year 3 with this phone. But it's my turn to have the upgrade (I'm going to use his), so maybe that will be my Christmas present! Then he can get my iPhone 4s (cuz my upgrade that I gave him...he got the iPhone 5c...stolen two months later!! Now he's using an old iPhone 3...wow, what a clunker!)

Thank you for all the info on your experience....I will head over to that recommended forum as well!

How do you know that the vision therapy helped or that it was just a matter of your child's body/brain maturing into the situation and fixing itself? I've always operated with the thought that DS11 was dyslexic...he showed many of the signs when I'd go to the various websites to research it. He was a preemie, 29 weeker, so delays in various forms have always been part of "his thing". Mostly physical delays, late roller, late crawler, late walker, speech therapy, cognitive therapy....all of these things were in the baby/toddler years, and he seemd to balance out by 5-ish....pretty much as expected. BUT then as we started the education process, it was quite obvious that he was a different kind of learner...and as he got older and I did more research, dyslexia become the answer. I never bothered to have him tested, because our plan is to always homeschool him, so no need for a official diagnosis at this point in our lives. But the a miracle happened....just as he's always done...life clicked for him at his pace...by 10 1/2 he suddenly began reading for real! Within a few months, he had gone to Level 1 Readers to asking for, and reading The Hobbit. Read Harry Potter books in a few weeks (I know some will read these in a few days...but for him to finish a 700+ book in a few weeks...amazing!!) Now, at this point, he's a full on official reader. It clicked for him. So the point of this: Last month, I was taking DS8 to Speech Therapy...it's in a office that offers different therapies, and as I sat there, a therapist came out and was talking to another parent about the child's vision therapy (I know, from reading here, that vision issues can often seem likes signs of dyslexia...vision issues that an eye glass Dr won't see, but one has to go to a special Vision Therapy Dr...so this was always in the back of my mind for my son..but I also knew it was very expensive). I chatted with the Vision Therapist about my son and long story short, he came in for testing and of course they see an issue. They said he has "Convergence"...where the eyes are not focusing on the same spot/thing...so then one eye (right eye for him) basically just stops "working", almost like that's a blind spot....and the left eye does all the work. It's not something one could see happening by looking at him...not like he's going cross-eyed or anything...something that is happening behind the scenes. I was in the room when they did the testing...and I could see what he was looking at...but don't know what answers he was "supposed" to give in terms of getting it right or wrong. He's going once a week for vision therapy. It's very expensive, $100 a week! OUCH! That's not even private therapy as often there will be other children in the room doing various forms of vision therapy (computer stuff here, game on the table over here, etc). They've given me a plan of 27 lessons, and they should be able to fix this. I've been thinking...how do I even know if this is an real issue...if they are fixing it...if this is some sort of scam? He doesn't necessarily know to verbalize if there is an issue, or if the issue is fixed, because apparently IF this is the issue, it's always been happening and he doesn't know any differently. So at this point, I have to believe them that there is an issue, that they are fixing it, and that the fix is done in 27 lessons. It's not something my son can confirm, it's not something that I can see or confirm. I mean, what if this is just another thing that his brain will click on it's own, when it's ready. Frankly for the homework they send home, I'm almost thinking this is something we could work on at home....granted I wouldn't know if the issue is fixed...but then again...I'm only taking their word that this issue is real, and/or fixed. So Vision therapy...if your child went through this...could you or your child actually confirm, without a doubt, that 1. there was an issue, and 2. the therapy solved the issue?

I think humans who want to control the people in a public area are the jerks. If you go to a public beach, be sure there will be humans doing something you don't agree with or like. Playing music should honestly be the least of your worries. The fact that one would be so irate about it...to stew on it, to come home and presumably get cleaned up from the day at the beach, and still be stewing enough to come to a forum to complain about it....that's a tendency of a grumpy jerk if I've heard of one. Or worse yet...to sit at the beach and go online to complain about it....that's jerky. If you want to control every human around you, best to live in a closet where you are the only human you have to worry about. I'm the jerk over there playing the guitar thinking you are a jerk for sitting at the beach throwing out the evil eye to me.

Word on hour street is that a new model of Fitbit is going to be released in October....I want one NOW but I'm making myself wait to see what the new option is!

While not a huge fan, I did catch her reality show with her daughter here and there, and the family bond and love was apparent. I do feel horrible for her daughter and grandson, on whom Joan doted, for such a sudden loss. It must be heart breaking for them.

It's important to note it is FEDERAL law that requires public schools to offer the same therapy services they offer their own students, to all children, homeschooled or private school. That is not a state law. Now schools can skirt around it be claiming child doesn't qualify, or no funds available, etc...but it is a federal law.

In my state, charter schools are public schools, though not governed by the local school district though still have to follow state educational rules/laws, ie testing, number of school days etc. Most are actual brick-n-mortar schools, while we do have those virtual schools as well, ie K12 and Connections Academy...though none are related to actual homeschoolers in terms of giving curriculum or funds to us. Students, public and homeschool, here can dual enroll, though the state does not fund it. One would pay for the class like any other college student. Public schools do offer services, per federal law. My own son went to once a week speech therapy at the local elementary school, as a homeschooler. It was a waste of time, but nevertheless, it was offered, and free. Recently per state law, homeschoolers can participate in extracurricular activities as their zoned public school. (As a matter of fact, that same law gives the same right to charter school students if their charter school does not offer that extracurricular).

Also, I've had several people tell me (we are just 4 months into lesson so I'm far from an expert)..and I don't think I've seen it mentioned yet....but if your child is used to practicing on a cheaper keyboard, where the keys are not weighted...when they go to actually use a real piano...they will struggle because they are not use to the difference in weight of the keys. A digital piano, where the keys are weighted the same as a real piano, eliminates that issue. A piano teacher told me she can ALWAYS tell at recitals which child had a non-weighted keyboard at home, by the way they struggle.

Been here for four years, it's managed by a property manager....I think the owner lives out of state. Pros: We literally never see or hear from anyone. Not once have we had a inspection or property check (at least not inside). I've not actually seen the property manager since the day we signed the lease four years ago. Any business is via phone or mail. We enjoy the feeling of not being hovered over (we are generally good tenants,,and maintain the house like it is our own.) Any issues or repairs have been dealt with within 24 hours, by hired professionals. Con: We don't feel maintenance is what it should be. I kinda think that a house should be having regular maintenance just like one would do if they lived there themselves. For example, there is a quite a bit of mildew/mold on parts of the outside (not alarming, par for the course here in the South), but a good owner would pressure wash that at least yearly. All of our neighbors do. Not on this house though. Don't think maintenance on the exterior is tenants job. We also have a clogged gutter, on the 2nd story. When we reported it, PM said it was our responsibility...checked the lease and sure enough it is. But come on, what renter has a ladder to reach the 2nd story??? We feel that is general upkeep,of the exterior again. So it remains clogged, and the outcome of that will end up,being a repair at some point on the owner. But overall, we pay the rent, live peacefully and appreciate being left alone.

Can I just add that I had no idea social groups were even that active!!!!!! Huh, who knew! I've been here for years...I think I may even be in a social group or two...they never seemed to do anything, I don't think I've clicked on them in months. Who knew members were actively using them?!?!!!