I'm O-. I definitely need meat, and I don't do well with grains. Both dh and ds are O+.

I'm a big ol' liberal politically, but I do agree with the majority of what Amy wrote above (the driver's license law is already bad enough). I also live in Georgia, and I'm a former public school teacher. I agree with this as well.

This looks very interesting. Thanks so much!

These look great! Thanks, everyone!

You can see part of First Course in Mathematical Logic on Google books. You have to scroll up the page because this link takes you to the bottom of the page.

I'm #7 of 7. Dh is the youngest of two on his mother's side and the oldest of two on his father's side.

Thanks! I'm definitely an organ donor, and I'm not opposed to donating my body to science.

Yeah, I told someone recently that I had a lot in common with Jehovah's Witnesses. She knows that I'm an atheist, so she incredulously asked, "Really? What?" I said, "Well, they think I'll just rot in the ground after I die, and I believe the same thing."

First and foremost, we homeschool for academic reasons. I am a certified teacher, and at various times I taught math, language arts, social studies, and science in middle school and math in high school. I didn't like what I saw, and I saw that it was only getting worse, not improving. I don't like the methods used now, especially in math and grammar (I'm "old school"), and I don't like "teaching to the test." Health was another consideration. Ds has multiple food allergies, including some that are life-threatening; he has had serious reactions from contact. Also, he has chemical sensitivities and gets sick and wild-acting when he is exposed to fragrances. In addition to this, he has sensory issues, and especially in the earlier years, he was quite hyperactive. We never felt a need to get a diagnosis, and we were able to control this a lot with a special diet. We knew that it wouldn't be so easy in school, though. Flexibility was important as well. Since ds was so hyperactive, it was important that we break the day up instead of trying to do everything at once. Also, he had some motor skills delays, so while he was ahead academically, his handwriting was another story. By homeschooling, we were able to take handwriting slowly while continuing to keep him on track academically. Social issues are another plus for homeschooling here. The "cool" people here hate school, and I don't want ds exposed to that. Ds loves to learn, and I want that to continue. As a couple of others have pointed out, religious reasons are a bonus. I live in the Bible Belt where many schools don't adhere to separation of church and state. It can be really tough for an atheist in school here.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm saying that many churches, in their advertising and promotion of VBS, emphasize the fun to make kids want to attend, and they conveniently leave out the part where they'll be pressuring the kids to get "saved." Many parents who don't attend church themselves but don't have a problem with their kids singing Jesus/God songs, learning some basic Bible scriptures, reading some children's Bible stories, and having a lot of fun with arts and crafts are deceived into believing that the kids will have fun and only learn the good, "fun" things about God; they have no idea that their kids will face such pressure.

LOL. If I were just leaving them on the shelf to look pretty, then that might work; but since ds and I will be using these books for school in the upcoming year, and I'm allergic to mold (and I think ds is as well), it might not work out so well. :tongue_smilie:

Kalah, baking soda is on my list to try. Do you know what kind of charcoal to use and where to buy it? Findley, I'm also allergic to vinegar :o, but I could probably get dh to do it for me. How would you use it?

It's cute. :) eta: I like Sadie Elise but not Elise Sadie.

Perhaps this message should be sent to the churches that advertise it as such.

But sadly, mine had to suffer the ill effects of vaccines (fortunately, he didn't die) before we knew that he was one who shouldn't be vaccinated.

I'm not talking about masking the smell. I'm extremely sensitive to chemicals, so using fragrances isn't an option (I'm also allergic to mold :rolleyes:). I want something that will basically kill the mold spores that cause the odor. The books are outside in the sun right now, and I have a few other ideas I am going to try, but I was hoping that some of you might have some suggestions.

I went to 4-H camp there in 1979. :)

Then by all means, do so. It would be easy enough for you to make changes in your life so that you could become poor enough to qualify for such aid. It's not so easy for a poor person to rise above being on the level to qualify.

I was also going to recommend Carlos at Emory. I haven't checked this year, but I know they did this last year. (This is in my neck of the woods. LOL) Cartersville also has some other excellent museums but not for ancient history.

When I read this, chills went down me because it brought back my own memories. I alluded to this in an earlier post. When I was 13, my sister was killed in a car accident. I won't get into all the details of what my mother experienced after that, but she and I stayed with my brother and sister-in-law for a little while after this happened. While I was staying there, a former teacher of mine (this was a small town) invited me to revival at her church. In my area it was "cool" to be Southern Baptist (Mama is JW), so I wanted to go. Mama didn't want me to go, but she didn't fight me on it because she was already dealing with so much. Well, one night after revival I was the target. A group of adult women surrounded me, and one, whose voice I can still hear as clearly as if it had happened yesterday said, "You don't want to be like your sister and die without being saved!" The others joined in, so I was terrified. The next night I made the motions and walked forward during the altar call. I kept expecting to feel something, but I never did; that scared me as well. Even this wasn't good enough for these people, though. They then pushed me to get baptized, and I was scared not to do it. They, along with my sister-in-law, figured out how to get me a change of clothes for the baptism so that my mama wouldn't find out that I had been baptized. They knew Mama. They knew she was mentally ill, and they knew she was a Jehovah's Witness. They also absolutely knew that she wouldn't approve of my being baptized, but since they were helping me to be "saved," they saw what they were doing as okay.

Actually Jehovah's Witnesses do believe in hell. They just believe that hell is the grave. With JWs there are three options: to go to heaven (only 144,000 will do this), to live on a perfect earth, or to stay in your "grave" forever. The first two options—mainly the middle one—are the incentive for people who are creeped out by being dead forever and just rotting away. Oh, and let's not forget the fear tactics associated with Armageddon that JWs push.

Dh misses the museums, operas, and other such things, but he said that you couldn't pay him enough to raise a kid there. Then again, he grew up in South Bronx. LOL (His mother still lives in the Bronx, and his brother lives in Queens.)

I agree, but I know far, far more people who vaccinate blindly and are "scared into" doing so than the other way around.

While I agree that parents should know a church's doctrine before allowing their children to attend VBS there, it's not always so simple. Churches around here (mostly Southern Baptist) encourage kids to go to VBS, and they talk about how much fun they'll have. The kids then beg their parents to go, and their parents, though not overly religious, believe in God and imagine their kids singing a few "Jesus Loves Me"–type songs and then playing games and doing arts and crafts. I truly see some churches as being deceitful in the way they encourage kids to attend VBS.