I haven't done that since I was pregnant with my first, 17 years ago. And for me, it was their Lemon Pastry Cremes - yumm!! I would stop at the grocery store on the way home from work...couldn't resist buying from those cute girls scouts out front...and then by the time I got home, the whole box was gone. At least the boxes keep getting smaller...console yourself with that thought. I mean, it was only a couple of ounces, right? ;)

I'm sorry this is happening to you. One thing to keep in mind while you're trying to think good thoughts about how this is turning out... is that as a tenant, she has some rights to control your access to the property, and your contractors' access. She could have made it really hard for you to get the work done. At a minimum, she could have requested 24 hour notice every time someone came over. If you really want the rent and/or want her out, I think you can give her a 72-hour notice to vacate because of non-payment of rent. You can probably find out how to do this by searching the web. Good luck.

That's very kind of you! We have moved frequently and have run into problems with not knowing kids well enough to have a birthday party. Last time, one of my kids hadn't formed any friendships yet, but I went ahead and invited the 4 kids from our new homeschool group who were closest in age. All of them declined to attend. :( I cried buckets over that one, but the birthday child took it in stride.

I am always in the "Yes, I'd eat it" camp...but then, I've never ever had food poisoning! I wonder if my opinion would change if I had?

I don't think she'll need ID. Even my 16yo, who looks older than 16, says "I'm 16" when they ask for ID through security, and they wave her through.

I've done some internet searches but mostly seem to come up with paid advertisements. I don't want a list of programs which have paid to be included in that list! Can anybody suggest ways to find top schools that are independently rated?

That's not reasonable. We travel a lot, and we know other people who do, also. And it would be extremely difficult to plan any kind of special trip with only 1 week notice, or even 2.

Don't forget to ask your dad to book it as early in the day as possible as someone already mentioned, in case the first flight is delayed. And give her a cell phone, some $$$, and, if possible, a credit or debit card to travel with. My kids flew by themselves on a direct flight when they were 12 and 15 (we didn't pay extra for the unaccompanied service, because: it was a direct flight, they have traveled a lot, and they were traveling together). Now they are 14 and 16, and I'd be willing to send them somewhere on a connecting flight. But not without a phone, cash, and credit card! Oh, you are also allowed to escort your dd past security to wait with her at the gate until her plane leaves. You have to check her in with a real person at the ticketing desk (not at the automatic kiosk) and explain that she is 15, etc. Your parents should also be able to go past security to meet her at her gate, but I'm sorry, I don't remember the procedure for how they get authorized to do that. I *think* when I checked my kids in, that they put a note in the record with my parents' names on it. So then my parents went to the ticketing desk at the arrival airport with my kids' record locator in hand, and they were given passes to go through security. But my memory on that is a little fuzzy, so you'll want to call whatever airline she ends up on, and ask them.

I don't like VFCR or the Vocabulary for High School, etc. series. We've tried both. Doing vocabulary from a workbook seems very artificial, and hasn't been helpful in our home. We use the suggestion from Hewitt Homeschooling to keep a vocabulary notebook in jr high/high school. Either the student can come up with the words from their literature reading, or the parent can do it. I've found it's pretty easy to skim their reading and pick out words that they don't know. Then I either highlight them, or jot them down. (If you are using Hewitt's Lightning Literature program, they have some vocabulary lists from the reading already done). Sometimes there aren't very many unfamiliar words; other times there are too many. If my 10th grader had had to define all the unfamiliar words in The Scarlet Letter, she'd never have finished the book! So in that case, I chose the words she was most likely to encounter in later readings. The student enters the word in a notebook, usually with the sentence context around it. Then he looks it up in the dictionary and writes the definition. We go over the words together. I've never come up with a quiz or test process, but I think I will for my younger student. We try to go back through the notebook occasionally for review. I sometimes choose a word that my student has forgotten as a "word of the day" and write it on the board.

My dc have used IEW techniques since the primary years. This gave them a foundation for organizing their thinking, using word/sentence variety, etc. For 8th-10th grade, my oldest used Lightning Literature's writing assignments. They have a good variety. I referred to the writing handbooks WriteSource and WriteSource 2000 when I needed help in how to structure the assignments. She is a natural writer so it was fairly easy for me to evaluate her writing. We also did The Lively Art of Writing for a writing unit in 10th grade, which was really helpful. (she is now in an outside English class so I don't assign her anything for 11th grade writing) My 8th grade ds needs a little more guidance. I have a coach for him from WriteGuide. It's helpful to have someone else helping him structure and revise his assignments, so I plan to keep using WriteGuide as long as we can. But I do plan to use many of the same assignments from Lightning Literature through high school, and also have him do The Lively Art of Writing eventually.

I'm not a math teacher geek :), but I still like having extra texts around. Just in case. My ds is currently using Lial's Intro Algebra, but I also use Dolciani's occasionally for additional explanation or practice for him, or to help me understand it better. I would keep one of the Larson's sets just in case.

Are the new (version 3) levels of Rosetta Stone really equivalent to a year of high school credit each? My 8th grader is moving very quickly through the lessons by spending about 30 min/day on it. He seems to be able to use it; occasionally we'll be chatting about something and he'll blurt out a sentence in German on that topic. I'm just finding it hard to believe that when he's done with level 5 he'll be ready for an AP test, which is what you'd be ready for after 5 years of high school German starting in 8th grade. Maybe I'm skeptical after years of reading that it's not a complete program. I just searched and found many threads saying that version 3 is much more complete.

My dh and I pay off our credit cards every month. We earn some great rewards by using them. For example, my main cc gives me back 6% on gas, grocery, and drug store purchases. I spend about $800/mo on those purchases alone, so that's about a $50/month bonus just because I used a cc instead of cash. I understand not wanting to go into debt. But in my view, it seems that if you pay off the bill when it comes every month, incurring no interest, you haven't gone into debt. Any more than incurring a utility bill debt by using electricity or water all month long, and then paying that bill when it comes in. Or am I missing a principle that's at stake?

The non-branded cards can only be used as a debit card, so you have to know the PIN to use it. This might not be the case with some online payments. But it's definitely true in person; you wouldn't be able to steal someone's debit card and go shopping at Kohl's without knowing the PIN, for example. But you could do that with a Visa debit card, especially since relatively few merchants require any form of ID, signature verification, or zip verification.

You are going to dump USAA for a 1-2% increase? If you are...remember when you are comparing with other companies, that USAA sends back part of your premium. I don't know if the amount varies by state, but for the last few years we've gotten back 5-8%.

Clark Howard talks about this on his radio show. I have heard him berate callers (in his nice, friendly, way of course) who carry a visa or mastercard branded debit card. The risks for fraud on a Visa/MC are too high, and if your card is stolen, or the number gets compromised, or you have a dispute, you are risking your entire bank account. After I'd heard him say this enough times, I called my bank and asked them to send us non-branded debit cards which they quickly did.

Dang it. Some of you have scared me! It IS the worst headache I've ever had, but it doesn't seem to meet the traditional migraine symptoms. I finally took 2 fioricet - my bottle says take 1 or 2, but I've never needed more than one for anything - it's acetaminophen + caffeine + a barbiturate. The 2 tablets helped, but I still can't lean forward even slightly without getting a lot of pain when I straighten up. It's like my brain isn't coming up as fast as my head. Hard to describe. I guess I won't give it till Friday - I will call the doctor tomorrow if it's not better. A couple of you have mentioned a hot bath, so I will go run one of those now.

I frequently have mild tension headaches which respond to any of the following treatments: ibuprofen, sleep, coffee, or an adult beverage. Since I woke up yesterday, I've had a headache that's gotten progressively worse despite trying ibuprofen, sleep, caffeine, flexeril, and fioricet. (I decided to skip trying a drink last night - I was just not up for that and didn't think it would help!) It's not completely debilitating like I've heard migraines can be, but it's interfering with my daily routine yesterday and today. I can't bend over or move my head without extra pain. I have had some chills despite putting the thermostat about 2 degrees warmer than usual. (no fever, so I've ruled out meningitis!) I don't want to see the doctor unless it gets worse or lasts until Friday...so just wondering if this *could* be a migraine. I don't have light sensitivity; just motion sensitivity.

California charter schools only enroll students in the county in which they are chartered, and counties which adjoin that county. They are limited by law as to the number of students they can enroll outside the home county - but even within those limits, they can only be students from the adjoining counties. We have been part of 3 CA charter schools over our homeschooling years, and all have had that requirement. You can usually see the enrollment eligibility info on the schools' websites. California tax dollars pay for the schools. And I think the reason for the county restrictions is the oversight required for charter schools.

In addition to all the great places already mentioned, don't miss Mystic Seaport. We went when my kids were 8 and 5, and they loved it.

We did Paris with a 7-yr old. He liked the Eiffel Tower, Napoleon's Tomb, and Les Invalides (war museum). But he's a boy. He didn't care about the Louvre or the Orsay - I'm not sure any 7yo would. The Seine Riverboat was fun. Of course you have to see Notre Dame, but we liked St Chapelle better. If you can do any trips outside Paris, I second the recommendation for Mont St. Michelle. Very cool even for young kids.

I would guess the dog does NOT bark when it's inside. If your houses are so close together, you would be able to hear a little yipper dog barking, even with the windows closed. (at least when the AC has cycled off). I know from experience, and our houses aren't that close together...

Shooting Games

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Misery loves company. :) A couple of people mentioned shorter cycles, so I guess I mis-spoke on that one. My LG doesn't have a *normal* cycle shorter than 53 minutes. I guess a "light" cycle might be shorter but I've never had the opportunity to try one, since, as I mentioned, the washer doesn't get my clothes as clean as our top loader used to. So I am using normal to heavy cycles on clothes I used to use light to normal cycles on. It's only 4 months old. :(

Our laws in California are fundamentally unfair. They provide for illegal immigrants who attended high school in CA (at least 2 years, I think) to get in-state tuition at state colleges (CC, UC-system, and CSU-system). This is a huge break for them, and a huge burden for California taxpayers as the cost of providing the education is not covered by these low tuition payments. It is also specifically unfair to 2 groups: 1. US citizens from other states must pay out-of-state tuition. They want to be in California legally, but must pay a higher price than those who are here illegally. 2. LEGAL immigrants are not eligible, which is mind-boggling to me. We are friends with a Canadian family who is here legally. Their son was a LEGAL resident of California during his high school years. Yet, when they went to enroll in the CC, armed with the info I had passed along to her about the in-state tuition for immigrants, they discovered he was not eligible because he was here on a certain type of visa. I don't know what the solution is to the illegal immigrant problem. But for starters, they should not receive benefits that specifically exclude legal residents.