Tea. (-:

This sounds weird but ashes will sometimes remove things like that. I'd sure prefer them over Magic Eraser. Ouch. Or just let it wear off and be glad they didn't operate on the wrong hand! The Magic Eraser might work on the crock pot, though. (-: Just wash very well afterwards. Those things are toxic.

I wonder what would happen if I used regular Splenda instead of brown sugar? Yes, I know Splenda may be bad for me and I rarely use it, but I can't use sugar. In fact I'm am supposed to use even artificial sweeteners very little. But oatmeal without sweetener is blah. Although I sure prefer brown sugar with oatmeal, when I make it, I normally use Stevia. It has a bit of an odd taste, though, and I don't think I'd want to bake with it, even if you can. I have baked with regular Splenda upon occasion and sometimes it worked fairly well and sometimes, it was a failure. Does any one know how it would do in this or have other advice?

Your story reminds me of when my oldest child (who is probably quite a lot older than you now) was a baby and we went to a free Well Baby Clinic for their check up. Now, I am a lily white redhead, but I was only 18 with a baby. Using a voice like some people use on children, the nurse kept asking me things like, "What do you feed him?" I was nursing, actually, but this was 1970 and that wasn't common (in fact, an amazed doctor at the hospital, when I explained that I was nursing said, "Oh, wonderful! It's great to know someone knows what they're for!") But, anyway, besides nursing, at about 3 months, I started giving him other things, too, because it was 1970 and I thought I had to." So, I answered, "Uh, breast milk, baby food, and juice." "Wonderful, sweetie," she says with sugary condescension. "But tell me a little more, won't you? What kinds of baby food?" "Well, you know, vegetable, fruit, oatmeal, chicken." I didn't dare tell her I was grinding and pureeing it myself. "Oh, good for you! You should be so proud" she says, as if I'm a 3-yr-old who just managed to count to 10. "And tell me, sweetie, you don't let him go for long in a wet or nasty diaper, do you?" Argh! I was so offended. I felt like she thought I was some kind of idiot just because I was young and without money (I was using the well baby clinic and not a pediatrician). And I stayed offended until I went to nursing school and learned that many people, white, black, brown, poor, middle class, rich, etc. are really clueless about things you wouldn't expect them to be. And although I always tried to be less condescending, I did learn to ask tactful questions and/or give extra info to everyone because their children's health was my job and I never knew for sure whether they knew what I thought everyone should know. Maybe your librarian was this lady's daughter? LOL

I have lupus related arthritis and more recently, osteoarthritis, too. I've tried just about everything, alternative and traditional. I agree that yoga or some kind of stretching program is great although I'd include a couple of cautions: If you have any arthritis anywhere already, do the modified asana for that area and don't do yoga-robics and 2)Don't expect instant relief; it WILL HELP over time. If you are against yoga, any exercise program that emphasizes slow movement and breathing would be helpful. Heat - most things I read say that saunas are better than hot tubs but I hate saunas and love my jacuzzi. It was expensive, but the best investment for health, aside from good food, I've ever made. I get in every single morning (and sometimes at night) except in when it's been 115 during the day (I live in AZ) - then I just take a bath. I don't have a jetted tub, only the outdoor kind which I can enjoy with DH. It helps his aches and pains, too and it is a great opportunity to enjoy being together. I was formally on antibiotic therapy for lupus (Doxy and/or Minocen) and I agree, it helped the arthritis (and butterfly face rash) but I had to stop due to repeated problems with yeast. I've tried herbs, acupuncture, homeopathy, diet (like giving up nightshade plants, and other inflammation producing foods)etc. None of those things even touched it. It is possible that some of them would help a person with fewer problems, but they didn't help me. I finally gave in and sometimes take Celebrex, which doesn't bother my stomach like everything else, including most herbs. My doctor would like for me to take it all the time and it does work better that way. But it has side affects, too, of course. Warning re: NSAIDS, like aspirin and ibuprofen - they will really mess up your stomach and esophagus. Drink lots of water (like 16 oz) as you take them. I took Ibuprofin for years due to endometriosis and then took it for lupus pain and now I have to take Nexium due to acid reflux and esophogeal scarring (yes, I tried natural cures for that, too). NSAIDS are horrible, horrible for you. Sometimes they are necessary but do try to avoid as much as possible. Tylenol is not as effective because it is not an anti-inflammatory, just a pain/fever reducer and it is worse on the liver. Sometimes, a doctor will give ]steroid injections to the affected area 2-3 times/year. This is usually pretty effective for pain but 1)over time, it will speed up joint deterioration and 2)sometimes allow small amounts of steroids into the blood stream. If there is anything worse for the body than NSAIDS, it steroids. Finally, my sister had arthritis in her knee and thought she would need surgery. They injected something into her knee - and I can't recall the name of it - but it was basically, fake synovial fluid. It has worked wonderfully for her. I think it only works with knees and shoulders. It is very expensive, though, and not all insurances cover it. It is also fairly new and probably doesn't have any long term effects established. And fwiw, most recent studies have not shown that glucosamine chondroitin helps with pain although it might possibly help avoid further deterioration of osteoarthritis. It's debatable. Of course, it can't hurt, but when trying to treat chronic pain, supplements start getting expensive. So choose carefully.

If the peace symbol meant anything other than peace, that wasn't known by those who wore it in the 60's therefore, imho, it is irrelevant. I researched it in the early 70's when people started cIaiming it was an upside down cross. I pretty much decided to put it a a category just a little bit more plausible than claims that lizard people rule the world. /-: In 1969-1971, I worked for a Quaker organization. The main goal of the organization was to help guys who were against the Viet Nam war to find ways to legally avoid the draft. We also had a book store that sold books about why one might be against war in general or the Viet Nam war in particular. Both kinds of men walked through our doors (which had a peace symbol on it). I never bombed a college campus or army recruitment center. I never went to Hanoi in order to aid and abet the enemy. I never disrespected men who served in the military. My father was a POW of the Japanese during WWII and suffered horribly so you can bet I wasn't spitting on any returning soldiers. I WAS against the war in Viet Nam. I did sometimes wear a peace symbol. I bought my granddaughter a shirt with little peace symbols on it not long ago. Heck, my father was against the war in Viet Nam as were tens of thousands of non-hippie Americans before the thing ended. He always thought he fought and suffered so that all Americans could hold opinions, whether he agreed with them or not. Wear the peace symbol. If we were now in the middle of WWII and ifmy father was languishing in a POW camp, I'd still be for peace. I mean, who isn't for peace? Only psychopaths, I suspect! The rest of us just disagree sometimes on how to bring it about and then, some will get carried away with overstatements and conspiracy theories while defending their positions.

No, but I sure wish there had been one for teaching precalc. I will not attempt calc.

I'm sorry I was confusing. I meant they could be educated about their own point of view and not about the points of views of others and therefore, mistakenly assume theirs was the Christian point of view. And anyone can be guilty of this. I didn't mean to particularly criticize Reformed people. Actually I respect them greatly. I just get a little wacko (-: on the subject of understanding other theological points of view - probably because I didn't for so long.

I meant they could be educated about their own point of view and not about the points of views of others and therefore, mistakenly assume theirs was the Christian point of view. And anyone can be guilty of this. I didn't mean to particularly criticize them. Honest! I, too, use resources from many traditions and gain from them all. I just think it is good to recognize what tradition they are because otherwise, you will eventually experience inconsistency or paradigm clash. Let me give a short example: I said I am neo-anabaptist. As such, my view of the place of government in society is very different than the average Reformed view. Therefore, Reformed people will come to conclusions that I no longer accept. Vice versa, I will arrive at conclusions that they will think are very strange - perhaps, in some sense, UnChristian. Like, I am not a complete pacifist but because of our view of government and violence, the thought of going to West Point never occurred to my children. A patriotic Reformed person might think it his responsibility to do so. To understand each other (and respect the position of each other), it is better to understand the entire underpinnings of a religion that views its country as a "Light on a Hill - Reformed - and a neo-anabaptist, who is suspicious of any and all power structures in this world.

As for high school, it takes a textbook quite a while to pass through the hoops and be accepted so I seriously doubt it. Ditto for university texts; at every level, I think it would depend upon the individual teacher/professor to add things. An exception might be if a state has added it to its guidelines. Also, it seems to me (I could be wrong) that most Americans, including teachers and profs, are still caught up in economics as a kind of ideology that they are interested in defending at the expense of learning anything.

I've been wondering - and this makes me wonder more - if I can come to love it late? No disrespect to God/Ausgustine intended.

I'm not really a co-op fan, at least, not the kind you are talking about. We tried it with my youngest son. I ended up doing more work (between the co-op teaching and the homework that wasn't fitted to him) and it took away precious time. I do like short-term co-ops where parents take turns teaching short term projects/topics that they are really interested in and I absolutely like for my kids to have opportunities for being with others. I just do not find co-ops to be worth the time and effort (or money, in many cases). I could teach my children just as well in every topic before high school and in most high school topics. There is math and science when they get older - but there are good home curriculums even for those (or the community college). We did do debate with both of my sons, but it was more like a club with some instruction and practice than a co-op. Just my opinion. I know others disagree and that is fine!

Wanted to add that the annotation chapters in Windows to the World from IEW have been marvelous for us. My fd is a good reader (technically) and she could define pretty much every literary device but she'd never really carried on a conversation with a story/characters/authors which meant she was only understanding the bare bones of a book or story unless I explained other things . As for literary devices, she could define but not always identify them. The annotation has been wonderful - we have annotated The Most Dangerous Game, two O. Henry stories, the poem in the book and the article by Adler, How to Mark a Book. First, we both read and annotated separately. Then we read the story together and shared our annotations, then repeated this once. I'm amazed at how this has helped her understand how to read books in a bigger way. I have never annotated very much myself and thought I didn't need to. It is true that I can pick up and remember a lot of things without it but I'm amazed at the new things I got out of it, esp. The Most Dangerous Game, which I never really liked before. It has not just been good for literary analysis, it is good for teaching remedial thinking skills. Also, having now finished (a little late) the Lial pre-Calc from last year, I got Life of Fred for review and fun (she is planning to take Calc at CC this spring). I should explain that I myself have not studied trig or had any calc, so she went through Lial pretty much on her own - she did ask DH, who was a math major, for help a couple of times). A couple of chapters were a struggle but she did prevail and pass the tests. But LoF has been quite a hit. It explains things differently and she feels she has a deeper understanding already (and so far, she has only gone through a couple of sections that she had had problems with in Lial). For example, she likes for everything in math (and life) to be predictable and hated that Lial taught her to make what she considered guesses (educated guesses, but they didn't explain it well) to finally arrive at a solution in adverse fxs etc. LoF compared it to verbal ladder games and she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! It's like a word ladder!" and excitedly completed the LoF problems in that section. She also likes the practical applications and is planning to read all of Fred's story (well, the parts contained in this book) starting tomorrow for a thorough review.

In the late 1800's, Robert Louis Stevenson, and lost of sea tales including Defoe (already a century old); also, Robert Burns, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and, in the home of the rich and educated, the classics from ancient times through the Enlightenment. Also, cheap pocket novels became available then. In American, they often featured adventures in the old west. People also subscribed to many magazines then, with short stories by Horatio Alger and others. I'm like a previous poster - when I think of 100 years ago, I think late 19th century. But then, I was born mid-20th. How time flies when as you get older!

<<I've been mulling this distinction over myself.>> There is a very large distinction. Anabaptist, Catholic, EO, so-called Armenian and free church ideas are very different from one another! In some areas, you might find more agreement between an Armenian point of view and EO point of view and it other areas, the EO will more closely resemble the RC or Reformed or whatever. In the US, many people have melting pot religion going and people hold a mish-mash of conflicting theologies. People in Reformed churches, where lay people tend to be more educated on their tradition, people tend to not notice the bias because for them, Reformed = Protestant. In fact, I read a post on this site where someone said as much. I used to be Reformed and had that tendency as well (I'm now more neo-Anabaptist). Reformed theology has grown much over the last few years and is the basis of many homeschool curriculums. I consider anyone who believes the fundamentals of Christianity my brother or sister, but not knowing the differences in traditions and theological frameworks will make for confusion in your life and that of your children's. At least that's my opinion. I wouldn't consider my children (or myself) well educated unless they knew the differences.

We may do it for financial reasons, if for no other. I realize many people are hoping for scholarships to tier 1 schools, but we are not even attempting this. Our fd has been through too much and we need time without excess pressure for her to become skilled in areas that others have already matured in. We are still educating her well and planning for college, but our aims are not quite as high. So, although I love this board, I have to sometimes tell myself, "I have a different child and different goals than some of these moms and I need to remember that. Re: the OP, though, Berkeley may not be "Ivy League" but it is considered a very, very good school, especially in certain areas and much more than adequate in any area. Just because a school is a state school, does not necessarily make it bad. One does not automatically get into Berkeley because they live in CA. They "might" automatically get into the University of California at Podunk City (forgive me if there really is a Podunk City, lol). There are some situations where a tier 1 school really really matters - where your starting pay and chance for advancement to the top is more. I'd certainly rather have an engineering degree from MIT than from the University of New Mexico; I'd rather have a law degree from Harvard than the U of CO. But in some cases, it doesn't matter as much. And in other cases, it is where you went to graduate school that matters. Many community colleges have agreements with the state-funded colleges and sometimes, with other schools as well. Our county community college system is the largest in the country and my fd will have no trouble transferring to the U of AZ or ASU. Either of these schools are quite adequate for what she currently thinks she wants to major in or for any other area of study she has considered. But checking out whether the community college has agreements with other schools is well worth the effort. When my youngest son was college age, the community college in the area we then lived was not high calibre at all and even the better same state schools there did not accept every credit. He ended up going to a school out of state anyway for all four years. I think there is a tendency of a few people on this board to be disdainful toward anything the absolute best. I understand that. I wanted the best education possible for my sons and for my fd - but the best education possible really does look different for different people.

It is to everyone's advantage that we have an educated populace - even if the education isn't the greatest (such as in some public schools). That is why in almost every instance, single people, childless couples and empty nest people are required to pay school taxes. That is an acceptable tax for me - although I can't say that I'm in agreement with everything public schools do. I lived in a developing country where school was supposedly compulsory, but where many had only finished 2nd grade (and older people were sometimes illiterate). Believe me, it is worth some taxes to see that everyone has the basics of an education.

It is to everyone's advantage that we have an educated populace - even if the education isn't the greatest (such as in some public schools). That is why in almost every instance, single people, childless couples and empty nest people are required to pay school taxes. That is an acceptable tax for me - although I can't say that I'm in agreement with everything public schools do. I lived in a developing country where school was supposedly compulsory, but where many had only finished 2nd grade (and older people were sometimes illiterate). Believe me, it is worth some taxes to see that everyone has the basics of an education.

It is to everyone's advantage that we have an educated populace - even if the education isn't the greatest (such as in some public schools). That is why in almost every instance, single people, childless couples and empty nest people are required to pay school taxes. That is an acceptable tax for me - although I can't say that I'm in agreement with everything public schools do. I lived in a developing country where school was supposedly compulsory, but where many had only finished 2nd grade (and older people were sometimes illiterate). Believe me, it is worth some taxes to see that everyone has the basics of an education.

I don't know anything about MFW and how long that takes but I will say high school is not like grade school - in grade school and to some extent, middle school, my children were definitely able to spend fewer hours than public schools and still get just as much of an education (more, I think, because even when not "doing school," we were learning). In high school, it was not so much that way. High school subjects introduce many new concepts quickly that must build on previously learned concepts. It requires more thinking and more writing. Just one problem in pre-calc can require 2 or 3 pages of calculations and the time needed (even with a scientific calculator). I think a comparison is arithmetic. No matter how smart your children are, when they are small, you usually will spend nearly the same amount of time doing arithmetic as public school children (although I always thought Saxon overdid it and didn't use it for that reason and others). High school is like having math 6X a day. I don't think working that hard/long every day limits my dfd's ability to engage in more extra-curricular subjects. She has the energy, especially if it is something she enjoys. I think the only thing that limits her from doing more is ME -- I don't have the energy, lol. I am only homeschooling her, but I am 61. I imagine if you are homeschooling more than one, you are as tired as me at the end of the day. BTW, It takes us more than 3 days a week to do Spectrum, but admittedly, dfd is slow (she is smart and has no problem with it- she is just slow moving in everything). Still, only on lab days do we sometimes spend more than an hour. I just wanted an adequate chemistry program, not a challenging one, because we had other things to work on (her being a foster and having to deal with her past). Spectrum looks like less partly because the book looks smaller - but there is also a lot of instruction in the lab manual and some in the teacher's guide.

I was part of a study while living in another country that used ozone therapy along with long-term low doses of sulfa drugs to treat autoimmune disease and fibro. Although done by scientists and doctors, it wasn't a double blind test and didn't pretend to be, and I don't know if it has been repeated, so scientists would never consider it definitive. I do know that the O3 treatments made me feel well right afterwards. In fact, I felt much better during the duration of the test plus I had fewer lupus symptoms and better bloodwork results. The problem is, I don't know how much was due to the O3 and how much to the Minocen (a sulfa drug) and how much was dumb luck (considering the ebb and flow of most chronic diseases). Their theory was that many times, people who have autoimmune diseases - RA in particular - as well as some cases of fibro, CFS, and a Lime-like disease (although Lime was not present in the part of the world, there were similar bugs the bites of which seemed to cause similar symptoms.) Instead, they believed symptoms were from micoplasms, which are small anaerobic bacteria. These anaerobic organisms do hide outside of the bloodstream (they do not like its oxygenating abilities) and often are not discovered as a result (we normally use blood samples to test for infection). Increasing O2 as much as you can helps to kill them off. The sulfas helped, too. At least, that was the theory. Others say that sulfas have a anti-inflammatory affect and that people are mistaking this for getting better. And diseases like lupus are very inflammatory in nature, but I still question how my blood work got so much better the entire time .. better than when on some of the things they normally give. Here in the US, it is very hard to get a doctor (except in the case of Lime) to give you long term sulfa and I do understand why. But I've often considered driving across the border and getting a supply in Mexico (that used to be legal, I guess it still is) and trying it again, along with lots of probiotics. And I have considered some of the Ozone treatments popping up.

xx

Oh, I like this thread. I had a good hand can opener (I don't know what kind) that I used for years. Then it got lost in a move. I decided to try an electric one because I have arthritis in my hands and I thought it might be easier. But I have arthritis in my shoulders, too, so it wasn't plus it broke right away. DH brought home a much higher priced electric one, though, so i was ready to try it again. It broke after a few weeks. Then I got one that looked like the one I'd lost in the move but it also soon broke. Finally, I went into my storage shed and found the kitchen stuff I'd brought from my mom's house when she died. I"m using the hand can opener I grew up with (we're talking old - I'm 61 and it is probably the same age. What do you think? They don't make them like they used to??? However, it is just a metal thingy which really hurts my hand to turn. So I will try one I found here.

I would first realize that all children will not turn out the same no matter who their teachers are. I would also recognize that parents, society and government are all responsible for the mess. I must say, I'm impressed with the charter schools in my state (AZ). I would like to see every state have them. Finally, although I love to learn and teach and in some ways, I wish the following was different, but I think we should recognize that not everyone is going to need everything we currently try to teach him/her in high school but if you teach enough of the right things, they will be able to acquire other things if their circumstances change. The early homeschoolers had it right about one thing - teach a child very few things but teach him/her how to learn. If you know how to learn, and are half-way intelligent, you can teach yourself the next level up in math in a very short time should you develop an interest or teach yourself art history in a couple of weeks. I know. I dropped out of an inner-city school after my freshman year (it was 1968 and I'd been turning on, tuning in for a year and decided to drop out. /-: Stupid, I know, but I was one of those disadvantaged kids they talk about). Anyway, in 9th grade, I didn't take Algebra so I had only 8th grade math). I didn't take any science in 8th or 9th, so I only had 7th grade general science). The only courses I ever paid attention to were social studies and music, to be honest. But my mother had taught me to learn because she loved literature and poetry and I learned them and how to learn them from her when I was younger. So, when 2 years later, after my father's death, I decided I to stop being a hippie and become a nurse, I got myself a book to review math, took and GED, and passed it (I was always a good reader - I guessed right on a lot of science and GEDS were easier then than now). Then I got another book to teach me algebra on my own and got into nursing school on the strength of a special test the teacher was willing to give me. I graduated, second in my class (it would have been first except i had missed quite a bit due to a hospitalization). Then I became a Christian and decided I wanted to be a missionary. I had never learned a language, though, so I started learning Spanish and also, went to Bible college and went to be a missionary. I've done all I wanted - plus taught two kids, going on three, though high school. The two who are graduated scored very well in ACT tests (didn't do SAT where we lived) and attended college. Though, for all practical purposes, their teacher only finished 9th grade. Which convinces me you really need to teach kids these things: how to read, how to write, how to research, how to do basic math and how to dream. When they get a dream, they will take what you've taught and run. Admittedly, my husband was a math and physics major and held my had a lot the first time around.

In comparing with Lial's Precalc, I thought Khan missed a few things. What is there is really good, though.