No correlation here. Dh and I are overweight, debt free, and have a relatively uncluttered house.

We are in TX, so we don't really have anything PROVING we are homeschoolers. So is she out of luck?

A teacher's ID you created or do you teach at a school?

I have a friend that wants to purchase the educational version of CS5. She homeschools, but doesn't belong to any HS groups or organization. She tried to order through the Academic Superstore, but they said she didn't have enough curriculum reciepts to prove she was a homeschooler. Are there any more homeschool friendly places to order from?

We do, but it's less planned, and usually follows whatever pops into our heads that day. Often it's frivolous pop culture stuff. Seriously, my kids are clueless about a lot of main stream culture things such as music and movies. (like having no idea who BB King was...gasp!) I joked with my DD14 that she needed a pop culture course before she graduated, so she wouldn't feel like she came from another planet. (for what it's worth, her seclusion from the world is self-imposed. She's stuck in 80's soft rock and anime movies) Sometimes it's the most disgusting things they can come up with, or it might be something we saw on the news that day.

It really intimidated me at first too. We moved from a VERY small town in TN to Fort Worth a little over a year ago. It is a learning curve, but I love it here now!

Also, something to keep in mind while you are looking, as I didn't realize this before we moved here. DFW is actually 3 large cities. There are Dallas (huge), Fort Worth, (really big) and then Arlington (large) is sandwiched in between. It can take well over an hour in light traffic to drive from one side of the DFW area to the other. Light traffic only happens early Sunday morning..lol. So while you might find some great things in Dallas, if you live in Fort Worth it won't be practical to drive there.

Again, it's really going to depend on where you end up. Here in Fort Worth, my dds take piano for $15/lesson and that's a fairly cheap rate. For homeschoolers specifically there is TAFA http://tafaclasses.com/ but there are a blue billion other dance studios here. You can also take music lessons at the Seminary.

If you move to South Fort Worth, we have a great group here :) We aren't publically listed, but if you are interested, PM me.

Yep, joining the party here too....my dd had a broken ankle for 2 days before I took her to the doc...I sent her to school too. Who knew that it could be broken and not swell? I think we've all done/will do something similiar.

Wow...I'm so disgusted by what you heard. I'm not black, but one of my very close, homeschooling friends is. I HOPE that she never feels that way around our HS group or our family. We love her and her family dearly. I do know that she feels somewhat ostricized from her own family because she homeschools, and that she hasn't really ran across many other black homeschoolers. It has to be so tough... ETA: I hope you can find some families that race isn't an issue with. My friend...her kids and mine are SO comfortable around each other. They have talked about the differences in their skin color and hair, but it's been honest curiosity on both sides. (like the day my dd and her son were experimenting to see if dark skin or light skin felt hotter in the sun) My friend and I also complain about our hair woes to each other...different problems, but kind of fun to talk about.

My dd broke the exact same bone when she was 8. She's 14, and it still bothers her occasionally. I think ankles are REALLY hard to heal completely, and it takes a long time.

My oldest dd and my dh have one. Everynight before bed, she'll linger around where ever he's at until he says "Sleep tight, don't let the (insert long, crazy, made up monster name here) bite." It started when he traveled a lot for work, and he would always tell her that on the phone, or give one to me to tell her at bed time. She's 14 and STILL waits for her imaginary monster each night.

I grew up in Portland. Homeschooling was unheard of then in that area, so I have no idea how it is there now. When I was growing up it wasn't the best place...you were either a have or a have not...no in betweens. However, it has grown A LOT since I was a kid. If you lived out in the country (which there is a lot of) then it's not bad. Look at the Robertson County area, around Orlinda. I attended East Robertson School in 8th and 9th grade, and the community there was MUCH better than Portland. There are a ton of small churches in the area, but you may find you have a hard time fitting in if you weren't born there. If you want to try a Baptist church, I have family that could help you out in the fitting in part. :D

I have a hard time too....but FYI, Target has some really long ones for sale right now. I bought one yesterday :)

Home was the more dangerous place for me than anywhere I roamed to. We were kind of kicked out of the house during daylight hours as a kid. I roamed MILES from home (we lived way out in the boonies) and nothing bad ever happened. The worst was probably when I was visiting my dad in town and got flashed by a pervert standing in his window.

Texas! The DFW area has tons of homeschool activities as well. And the regulations couldn't be easier...as there are none really.

I'm Christian. What do you perceive the soul to be? I perceive it to be the essense of who we are. It's what makes us human. How did the soul come into being? God created us and gave us our souls. How do you believe the soul functions? I believe it is tied to our earthly body until that body dies. The soul, however, is eternal and will continue to exist past the death of our flesh. (where it continues to exist is dependent upon your acceptence or rejection of God and Christ) I believe the soul operates as our will, our desires, our personalities, and our sense of morality. It is the part of us that was created in God's image.

If you love the house and property, and have no forseen medical issues with climbing stairs, go for it! We had to comprimise a bit with our current house and I'm so glad we did. We didn't want a 2 story at all because of my dh's knee problems. But we ended up buying a 2 story that has two bedrooms up and 2 down. We love this house! Also, even though people like having a laundry on the 2nd floor, I have always preferred it on the 1st. Having a washer hose bust is a nightmare on a 2nd floor.

In Kentucky, those floors will be FREEZING cold in the winter unless you have the radiant floor heat. I too would take hardwood over tile, especially anywhere that had cold winters. It IS easy to clean though and I would take just about anything over carpet :D

Very cool. We've only recently figured this one out on my dh's side of the family. And on my side they've said we had "Black Dutch" which can often be confused with Melungeon. We're both from the Appalachian area, so it makes sense :)

Our family tree is so mixed up, that if we REALLY wanted to pick a race we couldn't. My kids are all blond/blue eyed, but they have Melungeon tribe ancestory on one, perhaps both sides. There are German, Dutch, Cherokee, Irish, black and more in our family. We have a huge range of looks in our family as well. My dad and uncle look rather hispanic, my uncle on the other side is red headed/Irish looking. I kind of giggle every time I check Caucasian on any form.

Missed this the first time through...I totally agree. I hate when people insist they are NOT racist (like some of my extended family) yet will not willingly interact with ANYONE outside their race. Drives me batty. I grew up in and lived in predominately white, small southern towns most of my life. We've moved here where it's so diverse, and I love it! But it's taking me so much time to feel comfortable. Not because I don't like being friends with other races, but because I have zero experience and I'm constantly afraid I'll say something ignorant. (I'm getting much, much better about this by the way, and in no way have I let it stop me from reaching out to be friends with people) One of the families that we've become closest to here is black. It has been such a relief to me that I can be myself around them and they still like me :tongue_smilie:I wouldn't trade their friendship for anything.

A spin off question: Is it offensive to refer to a mixed race person as mixed? My dh seems to think it is, but I'm :confused: (we have several friends at church in mixed race marriages with mixed race kids) I'm too chicken to ask them.

Following the rules strictly: Lady Germaine Cuda-Byron's Chapel Cemetary Bending a little I could go with: Lady Germaine Winifred-Byron ..... which sounds SOO much better.