I grew up in Virginia Beach!!!!! I lived there from the time I was a year old until I was 25!! I miss it ... but whenever I go back, I can't BELIEVE how much it's grown!!! I'll be driving around and I'll recognize a street name, but not a single building on it! (We go to Va Beach every year for my son's baseball tournament)

Me!!!!!! I'm the exact same way!! Heck, I don't even OWN makeup! Now, my daughters... I have no idea how it happened, but they love to dress up!! My oldest never leaves the house without makeup and jewelry -- and she never used to care about it until she started taking classes at the community college last year. And seeing her big sister wear it has made my youngest like it, too. Well, the extent of her "makeup" is fruit-flavored lipgloss, but she LOVES wearing jewelry.

12 hours!! :) So we always celebrate together! Hey, how many 40-somethings can say they get to have a Spongebob Squarepants birthday cake?? :lol:

For me, it depends on 'how bad is bad' .. if that makes sense! If the curriculum is just sort of ... ehhh... then I usually stick with it through the school year and vow to purchase something else next year!! And I try to figure out *why* the choice was 'ehhh' so I don't make the same mistake with something else! If I do find something else and it isn't going to cost an arm and a leg, then I'll often switch before the end of the school year -- so cost is important! If a curriculum is overwhelming in the sense that it's too time-consuming, then I usually will modify it -- sometimes quite a bit! -- rather than tossing it. Now...if one of my children is really miserable (as my 14yo, who has special needs, was this year when he was trying to use the 9th grade curriculum that my oldest daughter used) -- where they're in tears and genuinely overwhelmed --- which is different from a 'Do I really hafta do this?' generic whine --- then I give it about a week or two! (My son was soooo happy when I dropped everything for him and started over with a new curriculum two weeks into the school year)

:D And my youngest son will be 9 tomorrow -- best present I ever got! :001_wub:

I must have missed this the first time: "It scares me how much liberty and freedom we might stand to lose." How many freedoms and liberties have we lost since the Patriot Act came into play? Since we started "the war on terror"? And we're to have four more years of it? Not to mention alienating Iran, North Korea, Russia, Afghanistan, and Venezuela -- one country SpyCar left off from his awesome list:D And....as Obama pointed out last night in the debate, McCain wants to tax employers for medical coverage in order to implement *his* plan -- many employers will then drop insurance coverage for their employees, or at the very least, they'll surely increase what you're paying out of your pocket for it.

:hurray: I had forgotten that point!!

I wholeheartedly agree with you there!!!! And I'd rather have a president willing to sit down and talk to those leaders rather than, as Obama put it last night, threaten them that they'll do what we want or else.

What about single mothers? I believe the latest data shows that there are at least 10 million of them in the US (I personally believe the number is much, much higher than that). They don't have the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom. They don't get to have a choice. And 55% of moms are working moms. Not out funding the yacht or the vacation home -- working to put food on the table.

:iagree: That's how I first heard of Obama ... from reading his books. Extremely well-written and thought-provoking ... and no speech writers needed.

:hurray:

She really enjoyed the academic aspect of it! A great deal of professor / student interaction and they really have some terrific programs (being a public honors college helps with that!) Very quiet campus -- although they had a bomb scare in the middle of our visit and we were all told to leave .. that was a bummer, but it was a nice campus!

Congratulations!!!!!! :party: How sweet!!!!! I love her name!

I support them wholeheartedly. If you don't want to send your children, then don't. If you can afford to send your kids to an expensive preschool / Montessori school / Waldorf school, then go for it. If you want to keep your children home during the preschool years, then go for that, too! It's all about choice. Low income families ... working families ... they don't have a choice. At least one that isn't going to cost them a fortune. If you want folks to be educated, then you have to fund education. Period. And I'd rather see a 2 year old in preschool than parked in front of the TV eating Cheetos for 7 hours a day. As I stated in the other post, my youngest daughter has autism. She was able to attend a special education preschool due to a government-funded grant (we live in a rural area and our school system couldn't afford to do it otherwise). My daughter started the program at 3 years of age, unable to put 2 words together - literally. She's now speaking in full, grammatically correct, sentences. She receives free speech and occupational therapy sessions twice a week through the public school system, even though she's homeschooled, because she's still "on the books" because of being in that grant program. Our health insurance wouldn't pay for therapy, and to pay for our ourselves through private therapists would cost us $125 a week - at least. As long as individuals are allowed to say, "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm going to put my child in a homeschool / private school / parochial school setting," and that's a-okay with the government, then I'm all for funding any education programs.

That was awesome!!! And one of my favorite Coldplay songs!!! :thumbup:

Not every family can afford to homeschool and not every family can afford to have one spouse at home. I think it's a terrific idea. My youngest daughter has autism and went to an early childhood special education program for two years and improved tremendously!! So I'm not about to criticize a program that's put into place to help working and / or struggling families where both spouses have to work or they don't have the $$$ for preschool.

Ohhhh!!!! Where are my rep points??? You've made my day!!! :D :thumbup:

I'm homeschooling a 14yo with high functioning autism. He's always been homeschooled, save for a few months in 1st grade (that were a disaster). He's working on a 7th grade level, for the most part, which is on track for him. I tried to use a modified 9th grade curriculum this year and he was too overwhelmed. So we've scaled back and he's very pleased. He's doing Sonlight Core 4 with his younger brother, but the read alouds are his readers, if that makes sense -- and it makes the core more challenging. He's also reading all of the history portions on his own as well. They're also using the Trail Guide to US Geography together and my son LOVES this curriculum! He loves maps and memorizing things, such as states, capitals, presidents, lakes, rivers, etc. I'm sort of "winging it" for English. I'm having him write book reports and papers on what he's reading, and then using those to look for grammar and spelling corrections, encourage good handwriting, etc., because language arts is his real weak area and I haven't found an English program that I like. So I'm sort of making up my own Learning Language Arts Through Literature approach. He's happy with it so far! He's using Christian Light Education 7 for math and he loves the workbook format. Black and white pages. No distractions. Just math. For science, he's using Sonlight Science 5 along with his younger brother because SL Science 5 covers human anatomy and, since he's also going through puberty and feeling rather unsure about it, the 'facts of life' book(s) are terrific! (And he doesn't feel alone with his brother along for the proverbial ride) The only outside class he's involved in is an art co-op with our local homeschool group. He loves art so it's a favorite event for him. He plays baseball (Little League Challengers) and basketball (Special Olympics) and he really, really enjoys it!!

Anyone remember Rick Flair? :leaving:

Oh no!! I hadn't heard this. So sad!! I had quite the crush on him during my highschool days.

I agree!!!! Isn't this the stuff we're avoiding by homeschooling our kids so they don't have to go through the same torture???

I was referring to the impression given by his body language during the debate (although I know it's not proper debate forum to look at the other person now) I was trying to view it from the eyes of the average American .. who doesn't seem to be as up on politics as the fine ladies of this forum. :D And Lieberman is a touchy subject.. at least in the eyes of some Democrats, who are none to happy with his appearing at the RNC as a key speaker, when, not too long ago, he was running as the Democratic VP. ;)

Awwww!!! Absolutely precious!!! :)

:iagree:

I noticed that, too!!!! ;)