Yes. Perhaps these girls have the position that one can be gay AND Christian and would like to see an organization they love be more inclusive.

As I stated in the other thread, I have deep issues with AHG policy. However, I would have a BIG problem with several aspects of this situation. The age range is far too wide and that alone would prevent me from leaving my kid at this camp unless there were multiple adults in the cabin at all times. Two years is about the most ages should span in a camp large enough to accommodate it. If not large enough, background-checked adults should be supervising at ALL times. I also feel campers with a history of inappropriate behavior and the other items you listed should not necessarily be banned from the camp but should be very closely supervised and certainly not housed in a room with other children years younger than her with no adults supervising. The trouble with this type of thing is that often "documented history" does not mean "guilty." And there are plenty of kids under the radar who could/would harm other campers. Any camp that plans to stay open would best make sure campers are well supervised at all times.

I wouldn't think anything of it. At all. I probably would not even notice. Of course, I would never EVER be at such a camp...unless I was an undercover reporter or something. So, I think you really only want responses from people who agree with the exclusionary practices of AHG.

This surprises me. We have traveled all over the country, including during moves, with a bursting car parked in every sort of environment and have never had a break in. We do not tend to stay in very nice hotels and we are suckers for hole-in-the-wall eateries in the worst parts of cities. We just returned from a two week trip under similar circumstances with a non-working car door lock....so essentially our car was left unlocked in many different places overnight or during evening meals. Granted, we take purses, electronics, and instruments inside, but there was plenty of valuable stuff left, some in plain sight, without incident. I would not recommend this particular scenario (this is often unplanned on our part) but the fact is, most of the things we have in our car might be plenty valuable but aren't something thieves are interested in as they are difficult to move on the stolen market. I will caution about the Yakima boxes. We have one and use it almost daily. They are great. But we only put valueless stuff in it and ALWAYS leave it unlocked. While I know literally no one that has had their actual car broken into, there is something about those opaque boxes that seem to be irresistible. Within the last year, we have two friends who have had their broken into where the thieves broke the box latches by prying it open (making it useless). In one case the box was empty and the car was parked in hotel valet parking! The other case had valueless items inside that the thieves did not take. But both cases resulted in a bit of a mess because the boxes were too broken to shut so had to be removed and disposed of. For the people who actually had stuff in it, they did not have room in the car for the items that had been in the box. They had to toss items to be able to continue their trip. We have had evidence that someone has perused through our box when it was parked overnight. Somehow they were not interested in our dirty laundry or ancient tents.......

It depends on the context. Sometimes it is, "I'm sorry that you have to hear this," or, "I'm sorry to have to tell you this." Usually within the context of bad news. That is how I most often hear to used. "I'm sorry but your pet iguana will need that surgery after all." "I'm sorry but I lost your favorite pot holder." Etc......

Thanks!

Thanks everyone!

I hear you. I had four hours to pound one out earlier this week. The hardest part for me is getting started. You could try what I did. I started with writing the whole letter in my own stream-of-consciousness words. Slang, swear words, improper sentences, and all. Just got it all down as quickly as possible. This allowed me to get past the starting part and able to jot it down without being slowed by polishing. Then I took a break and came back an hour later to tackle each paragraph one by one and put my thoughts into proper sentences, purging stuff I decided I didn't need. Then I checked against the job description to tailor some areas to include the correct "buzz words." Most people would do this in outline form first, but for some reason, having it in letter form makes the task seem more "complete" in my mind and less of a mental block. Then I sent it to a few trusted people for edits and suggestions.

I am on the board of a local youth activity that does "require" parent volunteer points. There are always the parents that don't volunteer at all and we do not kick those kids out. Then there are the parents that do WAY more than their fair share and we sit on pins and needles worried they will get burned out and quit. Whatever the case, the list above is great. But. It takes MORE volunteers to do the things on the list! We are currently trying to do some of those things and finding the people to do THOSE things is just another drain on an already overtaxed system. Almost every family involved is 2+ income, multiple child or single parent juggling jobs and multiple kids. I honestly have no idea how we get the volunteer hours we have as it is. It gets worse every year. I am honestly counting the days until my kid ages out because I seriously fear that the volunteer scaffolding holding this whole organization up is about to crumble. Fluff, SNACKS, rules about how many adults, etc.... all contribute to the problem in addition to people having to work more and jobs being more demanding. Some we can control but most we cannot. For those wanting to be able to pay our of volunteering or just not volunteer....how do you think programs should be run (extenuating circumstances aside)? Who should do it? I'm with you. I am terrible at working with kids that are not my own. I do not enjoy it and I am not good at it. I make a beeline for any admin task available. But the fact is, if I want my kid to be able to do these things, someone has to do the work. Why should I expect other people to do more than me?

Late to the game as we were traveling. Dd got a 4 on the AP Latin exam and is elated. It was her first AP exam and she is on the young side.

Whoa. It was a serious question. I think you took my comment as combative rather than surprised. I live in a very small and politically conservative town with very few shopping choices so when organic everything became available here I figured it was pretty much the last frontier when it came to availability (aside from urban food deserts....which is a whole other issue). I never stated that it was not expensive, that you should buy organic, that you should go out of your way to find organic, or that your "flipping cake" would poison me. Sheesh. I simply wanted to know if actual availability (regardless of cost) was still a big hurdle in most US areas.

Where in the world do you live that any of this stuff is difficult to find? I get that the cost is higher and that is reason enough to choose to not buy organic. But I live in the middle of nowhere.....as in four hours from the closest Whole Foods....and all of this stuff is readily available. I am one who buys mostly organic and I purchase almost all groceries at a small co-op. However, my local small regional chain grocery carries all of the above items, including spelt and rye, in organic versions. To answer the OP's question, I would not think much of it at all except to take note of it should I be in a position of feeding that person. I think it is entirely possible for someone to react to something commonly used in conventional farming practices. I would also think it is unlikely to be all conventional foods but more likely an unidentified source. if the reaction is bad enough, it might be easier to eat all organic. It could also be all in the person's head. But I cannot see the value in trying to make that judgment unless the person was potentially harming themselves with the practice and I was close enough to feel compelled to discuss it.

I have visited the area many times over my lifetime and the time we went to LBJ Ranch when I was a teen still sticks out as a very fond memory. Schlitterbahn is also a lot of fun:)

I would still try emailing about the price increase if you had planned to register before the price bump. It's worth a shot....

Same happened here. I had a "quote" via email so they honored the old price. Phew.

Oh no! Please update if anyone hears anything!

To get my budget down to that number, we would not be able to use the CSA or other shares we have. They all cost a great deal more than what I could get in the bargain bins of our grocery stores. We would seriously have to eat rice, dry beans, pasta, and cabbage for at least half of our meals to make that number work. We would have to rely heavily on home-canned applesauce that I make from free roadside apples. That kind of thing. Even the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pears, and plums I pick at U-pick places for cheap and freeze/can would break this budget without even accounting for labor. I do garden for cheap so we would get some variety in the summer and I might be able to put up the extras but by November, we would be eating cabbage and applesauce every day.

My family of three BIG eaters could survive on $70 a week with a great deal of planning and prep time. It would be healthy too but very boring.....a lot of dry beans and brown rice with very little variety in vegetables and no fruit at all except what I can put up in season. The blogger's menu would never ever fly in my family. Way too many cheap carbs and sugar. I live in a low COL area but the food costs are significantly higher than average due to geography and climate. All three of us eat more (I'd say double) than most people and my teen athlete can consume a frightening amount of food. We are vegetarian and I garden, put up food, have CSA, milk, and egg shares, and buy in bulk. At least three meals a week, and often more, are whole grain and legume based (AKA rice-and-beans). I buy 90% organic, primarily from a co-op, and do not have access to any kind of discount or large box grocery. Most foods are made from scratch including bread, yogurt, salad dressings, and fermented foods. We eat out 1-2 times per week and that is not factored into our grocery budget. Our spending is about $250 a week. I could take $100 off immediately by removing coffee, cheeses, fruit, some fancier veggies, crackers, corn chips, and olive oil off of the weekly grocery list. We have done this when money was tight. Luckily garden season is around the corner because money is tight right now and I do love my fancy cheese and coffee! From a philosophical standpoint, food is the most scared item in our budget. I would rather save in just about any other way, including a smaller house, than slash the food budget to the point of misery, hunger, or malnourishment (all of which the blogger's menu would result in with my family). In the long run, this is one area where "pay now or pay later" is the most true.

Post your local Craigslist or local sales site ISO runners, tablecloths, and other items you need. I have a family member in the wedding business and he reports seeing the very same centerpieces and other items at multiple weddings throughout any given summer. Christmas string lights are very popular decor here and those seem to make the rounds over and over. It's possible that someone (or someones) local have an earlier summer wedding with similar taste. Keep in mind that you can also sell your reusables after the wedding. On the port-o-john, insist that the provider also have an outside hand washing station (if you don't go with the full bathroom option). Hand sanitizer is not enough! Especially if food will be buffet style! That said, all bets are off these days. There is no such thing as "cheap." Do what you can afford and don't worry one little bit. We had friends with a very tight budget that had a late evening wedding (after dinner) with elegant champagne toast, cake, dancing, and cash bar in their back yard (with those Craigslist lights all over the place). The whole thing cost less that $2K and seemed very luxurious.

To be fair, we have had some very very terrible experiences but our home airport TSA people are awesome and friendly. I have never seen an agent or traveler get out of sorts going through it. Now customs agents.....that's a whole new can of terrible. Whew! We have never had a good experience. Detroit was the worst I have ever seen. Agents yelling at and shoving elderly people who don't speak English. Welcome to the USA.

We used it in late 7th and 8th grade. I spread the three-book series out over 4 years (5th-8th) but we also only scheduled it for 4 days per week. The amount of time spent for each lesson varied so much that I cannot really say there was a good average. We aimed to spend roughly one hour per day. This sometimes meant more than one lesson in a day and more often meant more than one day on a single lesson. We had more schedule flexibility at that time so if dd was really into it, I could allow up to 90 minutes and on the flip side, on time-crunch days with a tight schedule we would sometimes move on if a lesson only took 30 minutes. Had dd been in 9th grade and we hit it 5 days a week, I think it would be very doable with one hour per day on a 36 week school year. If you are lagging behind, there are a few weeks (IIRC) that could be skipped to catch up.

Yep. This is how my local district is avoiding the homeschool issue.

Our last flight TSA check involved huge drama over a tube of chapstick 14yo dd had forgotten was in her bag. I thought at one point that they were going to arrest her.

You may want to take this with a grain of salt as I am currently wallowing in the last frustrating weeks of 9th grade but if you and your child are on the fence, better to try school than to push forward. My own dd was on the fence and was OK going either way. I leaned more towards wanting to keep her home. Now we pretty much have to stick with it all the way through. I am prepared and equipped to handle this but dd's desire to go to school increased significantly over the year. She wants to be with her friends (we have no homeschool community here, we only know one other high school aged kid at home). She wants to go to dances and pep rallies and all that other stuff that seems so awesome in books and movies. She wants to do school sports. And we are hitting a lot of teen-and-mom issues that is making our days frustrating. If I could go back one year, I think I would have enrolled her in the local school. I think the chances are high that she would have come home after one year (I would have required her to stick it out for the full year) but at least she would have seen the other side of the fence so I didn't have to listen to her go on and on about how much better her friends have it in school. I too would have felt compelled to work full time but I have a job that is flexible that way so I could go back to part-time if she did indeed decide to come home.

Good luck. We are in the same boat. There are no private schools within a two hour radius and all public schools will not allow dd to take the PSAT. There is no reason stated, just that they will not help homeschoolers. The hoops we jumped through to find a place for dd to take her first (and apparently last) AP exam was ridiculous. Dd is not going to take the PSAT. I give up.