There are sooo many to blame for this mess! There was an article in the Washington Post about this awhile back. Some mortgage broker gave a $500,000 mortgage to someone who made $35,000 a year working at McDonalds. :glare: Here's a link to the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/14/AR2008061401479_pf.html

19.. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That? :smilielol5:

I remember that, too!!! We were living less than 10 miles from the Patuxent Naval Air Station at the time and we always had planes flying over our house. It was SOOOO quiet for days afterward and I remember that feeling of dread whenever we heard the military jets and then, later, when commercial planes started flying again.

It's really dark and raining heavily here now (we're outside Fredericksburg). The satellite internet has conked out, but we still have power!! Wow, dial up is slow!! :lol: But..so far, it's not too windy. That'll help keep the electricity going! We were supposed to go to my SIL's house, but we called them and told them we weren't going out in this weather.

I was homeschooling my two oldest (then 10 and 7) and 5 months pregnant with our youngest child. My then 2 year old was watching "Mr. Rogers" so I had no clue what was going on. My husband is a goverment contractor and he'd just left one of the military bases in the area (we lived in Maryland at the time) when the 2nd plane hit the tower. Not long after that, they closed the base, so he wouldn't have been able to leave if he hadn't left when he did. I remember looking out the front window and I saw him running into the house and I wondered why he was running. When he told me what happened, I couldn't believe it. I didn't believe it until we put the news channel on. I was a LaLeche League Leader at the time and it was the day of our group's Walk for Breastfeeding and I was rushing to finish school so I could go. I ended up having to call my co-leader to cancel the walk (it took a long time to get through because all the phone lines were down in the Washington area). I had to break the news to her because she didn't know about it either. (That was why my husband hadn't called to tell me -- he couldn't get the call to go through). It was a sad, sad day. I no longer homeschool on 9/11. To me, it's a day of reflection and respect.

Awesome!!!! :party: I'm glad to hear it's going well!!!

That's what I do. My kids have a daily assignment list. It doesn't matter to me when they do it, or what order it's done in, as long as it's all completed by dinnertime -- I check it then, or my husband does, depending on who's cooking :D (I sit down and work one-on-one with my 6 year old though, of course)

Here are our winners: English: Learning Language Arts Through Literature (14yo, 8yo) Natural Speller (14yo, 8yo) Pathway Readers and Workbooks (6yo) Math: Teaching Textbooks (8yo) Christian Light Education (14yo) Life of Fred (17yo) Lial's College Algebra (17yo) Abeka (6yo) History: Trail Guide to US Geography (14yo, 8yo) Sonlight (6yo, 8yo, 14yo) Science: Sonlight (8yo, 14yo) BJU (6yo) Art: How Great Thou Art (8yo) Visual Manna (17yo, 14yo) Abeka (6yo) Here's our "we dumped it" list: Rod & Staff English Story of the World Apologia Science May I add that another winner is having my 17yo take classes at the community college? :D :lol:

It's a little windy and raining here (I'm outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia) I got up early to get some time on the internet in case we lose power! But we have the generator ready to go, just in case!

I would highly recommend Pathway Readers. I also like suggesting them because they're inexpensive. My 14yo loved them when he was younger and I'm using them now with my 6yo (both have autism, btw). They're black and white books and they use a combination of phonics and whole language. "See Peter. Peter has a cat. The cat is red." There are workbooks that go with each reader, including some that are designed to be used before you start the first reader. Before We Read and Helping Yourself go through the individual letters and letter sounds. Here's a link, so you can have a price list and a list of the books: http://www.anabaptistbooks.com/ Click on "Books and Music" and then you'll see Pathway Readers listed on the left-hand side under "top selling choices". But you can purchase the entire 1st grade set, including all the readers, all the workbooks, and a set of flashcards for the words used for $30.00. I highly recommend them!

:smilielol5:

Awesome!!! :party: My 14yo did a full round, 10-week sessions, of vision therapy last summer and it helped him tremendously!! It's just incredible!!! :thumbup:

You go, girl!!! Tell it like it is!!! :iagree:

How could I have forgotten NPR! I like that ALOT!! And my kids have learned to like it!!! Especially my 14yo who loves politics!! We'll be in the driveway and he'll tell me, "Wait, Mom. Don't turn off the car! I'm still listening to this!" :)

I'm not a big fan of desks. I like everyone sitting around the table. So I voted for a child-size table for now (you could always put it somewhere else when they outgrow it or sell it to someone who needs it) and a big table when they're older. I use my dining room table for schoolwork. It's a large pine antique table, so it can take alot of punishment. And, if company's coming, I just throw a tablecloth over it and viola!! no crayon marks anywhere! :D

Yep!!! We have a branch of the Potomac in our backyard. I doubt we'll get much flooding, but we lose power here at the drop of a hat! So we have propane to cook on the grill, gas for the generator, and a well-stocked pantry. So we're set. Keep us posted!!! Btw....I love OC!! My in-laws had a condo on 50th Street for years. Many happy memories!!!

My biggest gripe about the mainstream media is that everything is so short!! How can you form an opinion when it's only given 2-3 minutes of coverage? I can't tell you how many times I've turned on one of the big 3 TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) because I hear that they're covering a certain topic, only to find that the segment could be measured in seconds. It's like watching Sesame Street. It drives me crazy. I guess that's the attention span of the average adult viewer. CNN is just as guilty -- not to mention that trying to read the ticker on the bottom of the screen makes my eyes hurt. That's why I watched both conventions on C-Span...so I could form my own opinion without Wolf Blitzer's input. I MUCH prefer newspapers...but they're a dying breed, unfortunately.

Oooo!! :hurray: I would love to hear your ideas and a potential platform!!! I hearby nominate Mrs. Mungo to be the new Secretary of Education! (Campaign buttons and bumperstickers will soon be available in the lobby) :D

Awesome list, Mrs. Mungo!!!! :hurray:

I list my name and address, my children's names and birthdates, and their grade levels. Then I'll list something like: English - Smarr's Introduction to Literature Math - Teaching Textbooks Algebra I etc. etc. etc. for each of my children. I've never had a problem and this is our 4th year homeschooling in Virginia (we homeschooled in Maryland for nearly 10 years prior to this..and that state was harder, because they had curriculum reviews twice a year where they actually looked at your curriculum to see that it was completed and covered the same topics that are covered in the public schools)

Like it or not, it's women like Gloria Steinem, and others like her, that have enabled a woman (in this case Sarah Palin) to be on the ticket as a Vice Presidental candidate in the first place. Gloria Steinem is a pioneer and, for that, she should at least be respected.

Thanks for posting this!!! And, Mom to Aly, I completely agree with you!!!! I was sooo hoping for Hillary...even as VP! I still haven't gotten over it yet. Therefore, I haven't jumped on the Obama bandwagon. I still want to see some debates. Memorized, written down beforehand, speeches don't do anything for me. I want to see them "think on their feet", as it were.

Thanks for the heads-up!! We have a branch of the Potomac River in our backyard. Time to make sure the generator's hooked up! Must go to the grocery store, too!!! AHHHHH!!!!! :willy_nilly:

That's an interesting question!! I mean, most Latin Americans for example, at least the ones that I've met, are very pro-family, very pro-life, and Christian. You would think that the Republican platform would appeal to them --- but...then there's the immigration issue, and most Republicans are anti-immigration. That one issue alone probably drives them toward the Democratic party in droves.

The one thing that I have found so telling, just by all the camera shots of the RNC delegates this week, is how white they all are!!! America is changing. America is a diverse nation, made up of people from all walks of life and all nationalities. If you compare the crowds at both conventions, it's blatantly clear that the Republican party needs to change if they're going to keep up with a changing America. The party of old white men isn't going to cut it. The latest projections (I believe) estimate that the white majority will be a minority by 2030. (Jeffrey Toobin, on CNN, is the only one that I've heard comment on this at all, and that was on Tuesday night)