Same here.

My mom has IC, and she learned this week that there is a shortage of Elmiron, the only drug that is FDA approved for the treatment of this condition. According to the manufacturer's website, there were some quality control issues with recent batches of the product, and those were pulled from the market. The resulting shortage is expected to last for several months. My mom is on a fixed income, and currently pays $70 for a 90 day supply of Elmiron through a mail order pharmaceutical supplier. She has found a pharmacy that, for now, at least, has the medication in stock, but it would cost her about $450 for a 90 day supply! If you take Elmiron, have you experienced a similar problem in getting the medication?

When EK was that age, we got her a Virgin Mobile phone. We paid $15 for the phone at Circuit City. There was no contract, and at that time, we paid $20 every 3 months to add minutes to her account. I think phone calls were 18 cents per minute, and texts were 5 cents each. She had the phone for a couple of years, and it was perfect for making a few calls a month and texting her friends occasionally. We allowed her to have the phone as a trial run to see if she could be responsible with it. She proved herself, and after a year or two, we added her to our family plan on Verizon.

I saw the movie with my husband way back then (we were in our 20s), and I don't even remember the gold bikini. Dh might have, but if he did, he didn't say so. Many years later, we watched the movie again with our dc. EK was about 13, and ER was about 17, and neither of them seemed fazed by the bikini.

:bigear: I'm having the same kinds of issues with my rising 7th grader, and I'm open to suggestions too. My job would be MUCH easier if this were my own child, but instead, she is the child of a friend, and I only have her 5 hours per day, 4 days per week , August through May. She reads at least a full grade level below where she should be, and a lot of the reason for that is that she doesn't like to read, so she doesn't. Her parents work during the day, so when she's not in school, she stays home alone, where she listens to music, plays on the computer, texts her friends, talks on the phone, etc.--but she does almost NO reading all day. She constantly complains that she is bored, but she is very resistant to any of my suggestions that she read to alleviate boredom. In fact, the more I suggest it, the more resistant she becomes. Here are some things I am trying or at least considering (but I'm still open to suggestions): 1. I gave her a summer reading assignment. She is required to read 10 books while we are out of school for the summer; I specified 6 books, and then gave her a list of books to choose from for the remaining 4. Many of the books I suggested are well below her grade level, but probably right on her reading level. (It's SO hard to find materials on her reading level that actually match her interest level!) She will grumble about the reading, her mom says, but insists that she will get it done. We'll see: so far, she has finished only 2 books, and we've been out of school for 5 weeks, with 7 more weeks to go. I feel that by now, she should have read at least 4 books. <sigh> She has been very obstinate with me about the reading, and then she asked me what happens if she doesn't finish the assigned books. I told her, "You'll get zeroes." Grades are a big motivator for her, although I don't usually give grades in anything except math and spelling until 8th or 9th grade. 2. For the upcoming school year, we are going to have 20-30 minutes per day of DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) or USSR (Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading). With this technique, EVERYONE, including the teacher and all the students, sets aside all work for a designated period of time and does nothing but read silently to themselves. This is not academic reading, but pleasure reading, and she will get to choose the books she reads (approved by me, of course). I will also assign her a certain amount of reading to do on her own at home. The mom is REALLY good about making sure her daughter does the assignments I send home, so I fully expect that she will get it done. 3. I am giving serious consideration to revamping her curriculum for the upcoming year so that almost everything she does is geared toward improving her reading skills. I've found some great-looking materials at Rainbow Resource that combine social studies and reading comprehension, and I'm looking for something that does the same with science. I feel compelled to help her raise her reading skills before high school two years from now.

I absolutely LOVE BJU math for K through 6th. It is mastery, not spiral, and worked very well for my dc. It's colorful and thorough without being overwhelming, and my dc always scored in the 95th-99th percentile on standardized math tests.

I'm so sorry.

Thank you SO much!

Kids will bring a sack lunch, there is no charge for the room, and the going rate of $15-$20 is for individual tutoring. I need to go and add this to my original post: I taught algebra for this same group of 4 kids from November through May (meeting twice per week, 1.5 hours per session--so 3 hours per week) and I charged $90 per month per student.

HOPE requirements have changed drastically this year. The new requirements are to take effect July 1. In order to be eligible for the HOPE scholarship, a rising freshman must be a Georgia resident on the date of high school graduation , so the date of your move could affect HOPE eligibility for your child who will graduate in 2012. Until three years ago, a homeschooled student could only receive the HOPE Scholarship retroactively if he had at least a 3.0 GPA after attempting 30 hours in college. Now, he may receive HOPE as a freshman if he scores in the 85th percentile on the SAT or ACT. Until this year, students simply had to graduate with a 3.0 GPA and maintain a 3.0 in college in order to receive a HOPE award covering the full cost of tuition to one of Georgia's public institutions, some fees, and up to $150 per semester for books. Students attending private institutions received an amount determined annually by the legislature (my ds attends a private college in Georgia, and this past year, he received $3500--$1750 per semester) to use toward tuition, fees, and books. Under the guidelines that take effect next week, students can receive the full award (pays 100% of tuition to one of Georgia's public institutions, but does not pay anything for fees or books) if they graduate from high school with at least a 3.7 GPA, and they must score at least 1200 on the math & reading portions of the SAT (or 26 on the ACT). They must maintain at least a 3.3 in college in order to keep the scholarship. There is a lesser award (90% of tuition) for those who graduate from high school with at least a 3.0, but less than 3.7. These are only a few of the many changes. You can read more atthis website, which explains the new requirements for those who plan to attend public institutions in Georgia, and this website, which is for those who plan to attend private institutions in Georgia.

I'd choose The Pearl. I read it in high school (9th or 10th grade) and I actually enjoyed it.

Here are the details: 4 students 4 hours per day for 5 days (each day: 1st 2-hour session--lunch break--2nd 2-hour session) meet in the conference room at dh's office, which is about 10 minutes from my home In my area, the going rate for experienced tutors averages $15-20 per hour (if that makes a difference). ETA: I taught algebra for this same group of 4 kids from November through May (meeting twice per week, 1.5 hours per session--so 3 hours per week) and I charged $90 per month per student. I'm thinking $50 per student for a one-week class that meets 4 hours per day for 5 days. What do you think?

For me, #1 wouldn't even be a consideration. 1. It's a rental. That alone would make me cross it off my list. 2. It's in a neighborhood, which, to me, means not enough privacy. Privacy was at the tip-top of our wishlist when we were looking to buy a house. 3. It's run-down, which tells me that the landlord is probably not going to be doing much for you when there's a problem. My FIL owns rental property, and I can tell you that he is constantly working on his houses, keeping them functional and well-maintained, even though they are all small, older houses in a "less desirable" part of town. But he keeps them clean, freshly painted, and updated, so most of his renters have been with him for several years. As for #2, it sounds perfect: 1. You described it as an "awesome home". You are already emotionally invested in this house. :) 2. It is a purchase, which means you would own your home and would not have to depend on a landlord who doesn't keep up the property and who might evict you at the end of your lease. If you own, you're there as long as you choose, and you coan fix up the house the way YOU want it. 3. It is secluded, which would be the biggest selling point if I were the buyer. Is there any acreage? If so, that would be more points in its favor. 4. "No crime or danger"--you could feel secure on this property. 5. A 25 minute commute is not bad at all! It's a wonderful trade-off for the privacy and the fact that you love the house. We live about 20 minutes from town on 10.25 wooded acres with a pond and a 2500 sq. ft. house that needs repairs but is secluded and private--not visible from the road nor from any of the neighbors' houses. We have lived here for 19 years, and it is great!

Dh's favorite Father's Day gift was a handwritten letter he got from EK, who has been away on a mission trip for more than a week now. Before she left, she wrote dh a very sweet happy Father's Day letter. In it, she listed several ways that her daddy has been there for her all her life, and she thanked him for being a great father and Godly example for her. She sealed the letter in an envelope and hid it beneath a teddy bear that she keeps on her bed. This morning, very early, EK texted dh to tell him where to find the letter. He says he will keep that letter all of his days. :) ETA: He also had a long nap, and a Wii golf game with ER and me.

As a religion major in college, I studied the basic beliefs of various world religions, and I've also studied them again with my children. Most of my study has been of the comparative religion sort: how various religions, sects, and belief systems differ from (and within) mainstream Christianity. I know that there are multiple branches/sects of Buddhism. I'm familiar with The Noble Eight-Fold Path, the Four Noble Truths, and The Middle Way. I've briefly studied the life of Siddhartha Gautama and some of the basic concepts of Buddhism: karma, rebirth, and enlightenment/nirvana. There you have it, and it's really not much. :)

I'm not sure what others' response will be, but as a long-time TRISMS user myself, i would say pick and choose. IMO, there is no way you could reasonably expect a kid to get all those assignments done. About IEW, this is what I found at the TRISMS website: "The IEW Teaching Writing Structure and Style program is completely covered in each volume of TRISMS. That is, each unit of the IEW program teaches new style and structure concepts and TRISMS follows those nine units with assignments throughout the curriculum. References are given to which DVD to view and which part of the syllabus to use in order to prepare for the assignment."

I got mine today too! :)

He's adorable!

Unless my child was achy or uncomfortable, I wouldn't give any medicine. My pediatrician always said not to treat a fever until it was at least 101 degrees. He said to give Acetaminophen for fever 101-102.9 and give Ibuprofen for fever 103 or greater. A fever can spike pretty quickly, so I would check it at least every couple of hours throughout the night. (Gotta love those thermometers that read the temp quickly so you can check it without waking the child!) I don't think I'd be too concerned about the tick. We live in a rural area with a large population of deer and other wildlife. We find ticks on ourselves all the time--I just found one on my leg last week--so I'm not easily alarmed when it comes to ticks.

Nope, you're not the only one! I love to chat with my dc and also my nieces and nephews on Facebook. :)

This is what I was taught when I was learning phonics back in the late 1960s: "The vowels are A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y & W".

Same here.

When I sell items, I generally figure the PayPal fees into my asking price, or ask the buyer to include an extra $x.xx to cover PayPal fees. I usually say I'll accept PayPal OR a money order. I figure there's not much difference in the amount of PayPal fees I aske them to include and the cost of purchasing a money order at the post office.

I used to get tired of it too. Here in GA, it's also too hot to enjoy doing anything outdoors except swimming, and we don't have a pool (but if we could afford one, we would!). EK remarked to me a few days ago that she thinks we should have school during the summer and winter when it's either too hot or too cold to go anywhere, and take off spring and fall when the weather's nice. I think she might just have something there. I wonder if anyone here actually does this? Anyone care to comment?

:iagree: This is pretty much what I've begun to think too.