As I understand it, the OP asked about a SoF and she was told that there wasn't one. Apparently, the group is more "closed" to non-Christians than she was originally led to believe. There are different types of Christian homeschool groups out there. There's one in our area that is VERY restricted...you have to have a recommendation / reference from your pastor to even get into the group. The membership application is 5 pages long. The group I belong to is Christian, and their meetings are held in a church, however, they don't exclude anyone, no matter their faith. There's a brief prayer to open the meetings -- basically bless our families, thanking God for their ability to homeschool, keep us safe, etc., etc., -- and there's no SoF to sign. And it's never been a problem. I just can't believe that Christ would exclude *children* from anything -- and that's what I don't understand! This is a child we're talking about.

I'm so sorry to hear this!!!!! My thoughts will be with his family!! How tragic!! :grouphug:

My kids do math first because it's their favorite subject (well, my oldest wouldn't say that, but the other three would!) Then we do language arts, then art, history, and science, in that order.

I may have answered my own question! :) According to the Washington Post, the candidates on the Virginia ballot are Obama, McCain, Ralph Nader (I didn't know he was still running!), and Bob Barr Is this information correct? (I'm google challenged!)

IS Ron Paul going to be on the ballot? I mean, can he be, if he's still registered as a Republican? :confused: How can you find out who's going to be on a ballot in one particular state? (Someone mentioned him not being on the Texas ballot and I'm wondering about Virginia? I see ALOT of Ron Paul signs in my area!)

Another member of the "Calvinist/Dark Side" here, Mommaduck! Maybe we should have code names ;)

I'm so sorry!!!!! Please give your dd a :grouphug: from my family!!!! And the Ghandi quote is very telling, isn't it? I have a good friend who lives in Maryland and she has a bumper sticker on her car that reads: "I love Jesus -- it's his followers that I can't stand". What a terrible, terrible thing for them to do!!! Makes me wonder if that's why they're homeschooling....to shield their children from people who aren't like them. I feel sorry for their children. They'll have to grow up one day and go to work in the "real world", where there are Muslims and Hindi and Pagans and Athiests and Agnostics and Jews (I could go on and on and on) and they're not going to have a clue how to show respect to anyone who isn't like them. Just sad, sad, sad. :(

My 17yo has had a cellphone since she was 14. That's when she started babysitting (not only for us, but for other families) and I wanted her to be able to reach us (or 911!) if she needed to do so. She also started taking classes at the community college at 15 and I wanted her to be able to call us if her class ended early and we needed to pick her up early, etc. Now that she's driving, a cellphone is a necessity, as we live in the boonies and if her car broke down, or if she was driving at night, I would want her to be able to call us. My daughter doesn't 'text', so we don't have that feature, but most teens live by it. And she can't use it while driving -- our state just made that against the law for teens. Now our oldest son is 14...and we haven't bought him a cellphone because he doesn't really "go" anywhere. If he's playing sports, his dad is with him and he doesn't really "hang out" (he's an introvert, what can I say?) When he starts driving, or if he starts taking classes or going to sporting events without us being there, then he'll need one. We don't give out cellphones without there being a legitimate reason to have them.

$1000 a month is very high!!! I thought my SIL's taxes were bad!! She lives in Loudoun County, Virginia, which is a "suburb" of Washington DC and her real estate taxes are nearly $8000 a year and I thought I'd choke when I heard that!

I used to buy mine at Motherhood Maternity. Do you have one of those stores near you? (They're in most shopping malls) They hold up much better than the ones at Target or Wal-Mart! I also had good luck with the ones at Sears or JC Penney. But...I haven't had to buy a nursing bra in years, so I hope they still carry them at the stores I listed! :)

Awwww!! Priceless!! My 17yo is a better teacher than I am!!! She often helps to teach her younger siblings, so it just gets better as the years go by!! :)

ROTFLOL!!!!!! BUT....can he see Russia from his house? :lol:

I agree with the allergies assessment!!! I would highly recommend taking your child to an allergist for allergy testing! My 8yo son also has had his tonsils and adenoids removed -- the surgeon at the time said my son's adenoids were the size of Cleveland ;) He turned out to be allergic to soy, eggs, wheat, rice, cats, all trees, and mold. We completely avoided all of the foods for a year and he can now eat wheat and rice. He still cannot tolerate eggs or soy. The BEST thing we did, however, was remove the carpet from his bedroom. We installed a cheap - but nice looking! - laminate flooring we picked up on sale at Home Depot and installed in one weekend. He hasn't had a problem with snoring or coughing (which he did alot of, too) since we did that. We're now installing hardwood flooring on the main level of our house, too, because we've been so happy with how well it helped him. (We've completed the family room and dining room so far and everyone's breathing better!) Hope this helps!

Every once in awhile my boys watch it. They like the ones that are stories about "regular hauntings", as opposed to the ones about demon possession. Those are often too scary for them.

Another Dove vote here!! That's my *favorite* chocolate!!! It melts in your mouth! Yummmm..... :drool:

I was going to post this with the one below about the economy, but I didn't want to post a political comment among those who don't wish to discuss politics, so I started a new one! There's an article on Yahoo about the economy and the remarks from the candidates on the campaign trail today. The first two paragraphs were interesting: .......... The candidates split Monday on the strength of the U.S. financial system, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) declaring in Florida that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" and the Obama campaign mocking the remark as out of touch with reality. Sen Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the Demcorats' vice-presidential nominee, said in St. Clair Shore, Mich: "I could walk from here to Lansing, and I wouldn’t run into a single person who thought our economy was doing well, unless I ran into John McCain." .......... Here's a link to the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/13448 Thoughts?

I was also raised with "Yes, Sir" / "No, Sir" and my children use it at Tae Kwon Do where it's absolutely required!!! It can be the nicest "yes" in the world, but if there isn't a "Sir" or "Ma'am" after it, you're doing push-ups! ;) At home, I'm happy with "Yes, Mom" or "Yes, Dad" -- they usually say "Ma'am" or "Sir", because they use it all the time at TKD.

My boys love The Weather Channel, The History Channel, and C-SPAN....so mine are channel recommendations vs show recommendations. :)

Absolutely!!! Especially for my 14yo and 6yo, who have special needs. School has too many distractions and the day is wayyyyyy too long for their attention spans. For my 17yo and 8yo, who are very bright, there are so many other options out there, when you have the flexibility of homeschooling to work with. My oldest has been at the community college since she was 15. My 8yo is working on a 5th to 6th grade level and I intend to send him to the community college also, when he's around 15 or so. There are no gifted programs here at the local high school. The bright students are sent to a governor's school, by bus, and it's a 45 minute trip each way. The community college is a much better option, at least for our family.

Wow!!! Did you tell him off for me, too?? :D If you did, thanks in advance!! :lol:

My youngest loves vanilla rice milk!!! It's her favorite -- especially on cereal.

Not me, but my husband has an excellent example!! He refused to eat pancakes! He said he hated pancakes .. pancakes were terrible, etc. I remember when we went to visit my parents for the first time (my parents owned, and ran, their own restaurant, so they were both excellent chefs) and I had to talk him into trying pancakes and .. he loved them!! He still eats them at least once a week, 20 years later!! He said he was surprised to find that pancakes aren't hard as rocks and shaped like hockey pucks (ala "His Mom's Pancakes") ;)

Nothing makes me crack up more than, "I can see Russia from my house!" :smilielol5:

YouTube's been yanking them off all morning. I did find a copy on another website: http://www.videosift.com/video/Sarah-Palin-Hillary-Clinton-Skit-on-SNL

Here's a new link (the other one was removed by the user)