I am all for women getting an education beyond high school. All I ever wanted to be was a wife and mother, but I didn't marry until I was 28, and we didn't begin a family until I was 30. Then my dh lost his job and I was the only one supporting us for several months. How thankful I was then that I had a degree, even a master's, and was able to find a job in a place/career field I liked while my dh was able to focus on finding a new job. My income was enough to pay the rent and provide insurance for us. I often compared myself to a friend in a similar situation at the time. She didn't have a degree and could only find minimum wage jobs or waitress positions with no benefits. Now I am home full time and haven't worked in several years but I have a certain peace knowing I could work and be paid fairly well if I needed to. I chose college (well, my parents said I was going to college instead of anything else if I wanted them to help pay), but I am not opposed to any kind of education that would make a woman better prepared to support herself and her family should the need arise. Or even work part time if needed. As the economy worsens, it may take everyone in the family working hard to bring in enough income to survive on.

I called HSLDA about this situation this last fall. I am in a different state though. My son is just not progressing and I needed to repeat much of the last grade level. Their repsonse for me was to just put the grade I want on the intent forms, turn it in, and don't worry about it. As the primary educator for my child, I know best what level he is and that honestly putting the grade level is what I should do. When I turned it in, no one said anything about the grade level. Months later no one has said anything either.

I am coming to this discussion late so forgive me if I repeat something. My mother is bipolar, as is my brother. My brother has also recently been diagnosed with Aspergers (he is in his 30s). Without medication, my brother will spend a fortune and has been bankrupt twice. When he isn't on his medications, he will stalk people and will become violent and angry mid sentence. You just don't know what he will do next. He will go days without sleep, binge eat, and more. The Aspergers makes the entire situation much worse. When he is on medication, he is this kind, friendly person that everyone adores. Because he had his finances in such a disasterous state, my parents allowed him to move into a garage apartment on their property under the condition he remain on medication. He was fine for awhile then it all became a nightmare again. Finally they found a doctor who changed the types of medications he was on and he is back on the good side. For now. I always wonder when the next episode will begin. My mom has never been medicated. She refuses. My entire life has been with her working like the energizer bunny on high speed for several days, then her crashing into a deep depression for several days. The depressions are so bad that she will refuse to come out of her room. She becomes paranoid and bitter. Then, like a light switch has been turned, she is happy and will then start a shopping spree spending sometimes thousands of dollars - just because she wants to. And that is when the lies and manipulations begins. If the depression lasts too long, my dad will take her out shopping to help bounce her out of it. She has had some health issues in the last 4 years, including a minor stroke, that have just made it all worse. When we have spoken to her physicians, they go to her and do nothing because she always either denies the behavior or refuses medication. And there is nothing we can do about it. I struggle with depression some, but I refuse to let it control me like it has in the past. I have been on medications occassionally when I can't change it myself. I work very hard to recognize when it is over taking me and I have found that most of the time I can take the edge out by eating super healthy, exercising, and just working on changing my focus. Making sure I am hormonally balanced also makes a difference. I will say though that how I deal with it has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. Some of my more negative behaviors in the past were learned behaviors, from watching my mom and brother handle themselves. Nothing changed until I sought out help for myself and worked hard at what I was told I needed to do. I look at my mom and think about how rich her life could be if she would allow herself to go to counseling and take appropriate medications. But since she refuses, there is nothing I can do but sit and watch. Would I allow her to live with me? Most of the time, no. It is hard enough just living in the same town with her. I have to have very strong boundaries as it is to protect my children from her roller coaster emotions (and those of my brother). My dh and I have discussed what we will do with my brother when my parents die, and we are at a complete loss right now. :grouphug: to everyone else that is struggling with this.

I bought WP Animal Worlds for my son. He wasn't interested in the books. I tried to do the schedule vertically instead of horizontally, and sometimes it still didn't make sense. First I was frustrated that the books were crammed in a box that was poorly sealed. If it had not been for plastic straps around the box, they would have been lost because every seam had broken. The ony thing holding the box together were those straps. Books were hanging out the sides. The books were not wrapped or protected in any way. Considering I had just spent $400 on them, I was miffed that the packaging was not any better than that. Some of the books were ok, but right after I bought the set, WP started changing books due to parental complaints about some of them being "too scary and harsh" for young readers. I honestly think some of the changes were made quickly to appease people. The books they replaced then had complaints. So they considered changing them again. Meanwhile I tried to order additional products from them twice more. Each time they lost my order. The charges didn't appear on my card, and the box never arrived, and they had no proof that I ever called. And I actually taked to Karen or her dh each time. I decided that if customer service was so poor that they couldn't keep up with my order, then it was a sign I didn't need to order from them. So, I have taken my business elsewhere and am not even tempted at this point. I also have all those books on my shelf not used. It was a total waste for us.

wow, thank you! That is just what I was looking for as well. I appreciate the question, and the incerdible answers. :D

First, hugs to the OP. My son has recently gone thru something similar (a friend said he was "boring" and left him out of a party because of that). I don't have any answers. We are just taking it day by day here. I also don't think I could allow the sister to stay at my home either. That just would be too painful for my son and be a reminder the entire time she was left out. Goodness, if I was the mom of that girl, I wouldn't have the guts to send her to your house (but then I wouldn't leave out your son either...)

When I copy a recipe, I keep the reference information on the card so I can always give credit for it later if someone asks. As long as I use the recipe for personal purposes and am not selling it or misrepresenting it, I don't see it as any different than copying a passage for a research paper. Besides, I simply don't have room for dozens of cookbooks that I only keep for a few recipes each. I also usually copy cross stitch patterns. I use the copy as my write on, keeping track of what I have done page. By the time I am finished with it, I have to throw it away.

Several years ago I had a Time Life set of CDs with music from the 20s to about 1950. I have since given it to my MIL and can't remember the exact name. It had lots of popular music from each time frame in all areas - country, jazz, pop etc. I would highly recommend it, if you can find it.

I used MUS with my son and while we loved it, only addition grew to be very boring. I started supplementing with other books until I finally decided that MUS just was not working. We switched to Rod and Staff and he has been loving it. The only part he doesn't like is the monochromatic pages. The amount of variety is just right and he is really learning. I still drill facts with flash cards and extra work just to make sure he learns them though.

I was surprised as well, so I looked it up. If you go to the TT website and look at the table of contents, division in that book starts about lesson 63. Double digit multiplication is around lesson 25. So, it is in the text but they have not reached it yet.

WhenI was in public school I did preAlgebra in 6th grade then went on to Algebra I in 7th. Since Algebra I is considered a high school subject, you can count it as such no matter which grade it is completed in. (That sounds confusing-I mean to say you can give high school credit for it even though the child is not technically in high school because Algebra I is considered to be high school math).

I am so sorry your dh lost his job. I kow personally how stressful that can be. First, what worked for us was for my dh to make finding a job his "new" job. He devoted many hours a day to finding a job - reading want ads, sending resumes, making calls, following up, going to interviews. Because he did it that way, I didn't have to do much more than take large envelopes to the post office and mail them or buying ink for the printer on the way home from co-op. When money got low, I took in babysitting so I could still homeschool because homeschooling is our priority. I know panic has set in but you need to remember that panic solves nothing. Your daughter has been neglected in a way (while not intentionally, you have at least neglected her educational needs) and probably has some resentment. Now, feeling your panic, she is afraid. She may need some help moving beyond the fear and upset she is feeling. And, like others have said, the best way to do that is to spend time with her. As far as her curriculum, she is at a level where she is still learning basics and building on basics. Lots of very new material is being introduced in most subjects. This means that lots of teacher time is usually necessary. If you are serious about catching her up, you will have to invest time with/in her. There is really no easy way to get around this. If you cannot invest a few hours a day in her education (like 2-3 a day minimum), then you need to look at other options like letting her go to public school or trying to find a private school she can attend on scholarship until you have time to teach her again.

I tried to use the K version with my son and it was a nightmare. The readers are so stilted that he couldn't follow then even if he decoded them. I spent a lot of time trying to explain what he had just read. Sometimes it was difficult to know what the book was really about. He would almost cry when I pulled them out. And you have to work thru something like 50 leasons (10 weeks) before any reading can begin. I found the songs to be fast and hard to follow if we listened to them from the CD. The very elaborate drawings in the workbook were sometimes confusing, in part because they were more like 19th century drawings and unlike what he would see today. Lovely, yes, but when the alligator has a long curly tail my son thought it was a dragon. Some drawings were confusing - a boy and a dog were supposed to be for the word "pet". Then there was the time a bird for B and a peacock for P were on the same page. I was drawn in by the beautiful artwork. I love art and wanted to share that with my son. However, much of the art in this was usually just a soomed in part of a larger piece - I spent a lot of time trying to find the entire picture for ds to see.

allrecipes.com has great recipes for fried plantains. They look like bananas but aren't. And after they are fried, yum!

If you really want to do the Pizza Hut Program, they also offer a preK program as well. It is similar to the regular one, just different enrollment times and can include books you read aloud. It is called the Book It Beginners Program. http://www.bookitprogram.com/enrollment/

My dad considered becoming a Mason. My uncle was one until he died. My dad was a Christian and said the reason he decided to not join was after being asked to call other men titles such as "Worshipful Master". He believes that the Bible clearly teaches we are not to worship anyone other than God the father, and Christ. The verse of not serving 2 masters also came to mind. He felt that by calling other men master and considering them "worshipful" was in direct violation of scriptures. Since he has to answer to God, he abandonded membership in the Masons. He also said that while some men there were "spiritual" many of the ones he met were very down on organized religion and actively tried to convince him to leave church memberships behind him. My uncle was a Christian, but one that felt under the grace of God anything is permissable. He used his Mason connections as social connections though.

I also say go to a bike shop. If you are looking at a Schwinn, the prices will not be much different. We have found bike shops to be very valuable. They care about helping you maintain your bike, they can answer questions, and usually are easy to work with. Another positive is that many of their bikes are lighter weight which makes for easier handling and riding. I looked at a cruiser bike and decided it wasn't for me. It doesn't change gears and I live in a hilly area. Changing gears can mean a great ride, or a bad workout. Also, they are made for very smooth riding surfaces. If your roads are not very smooth, you will want a bike with better suspension and handling. Cruisers are not trail hardy at all. The tires won't have the tread you need for off roading, nor will they be wide enough. I also want to say buy a bike rack from the bike store. We were going to buy one online from WalMart or Target and then started reading reviews. They were horrible! For the same proce as WalMart we bought a very strong, sturdy rack that is all metal and that we love. Yes, it is heavy to put on (we now have a trailer hitch rack), but our bikes are very secure and the bike shop helped us assemple it for free. They showed us accessories that we had never heard of but have made our life much easier (like the bar for girls bikes that makes it easier to put them on the rack). Before this we had one that strapped to the back of the car/van and it was always a worry. The straps would loosen, the bikes would rub the paint on the van... Edited to add: a bike shop practically requires you to ride the bike before buying. And, yes they do have some bikes that are insanely expensive. But ours also sells used bikes for uber cheap that are in like new condition.

Phoenix, AZ is on my do not live there list. We went in the summer one year to visit friends on the way to Flagstaff. Loved Flagstaff! But Phoenix was 120 in the shade and I felt like a turkey in the oven. When my friends started talking about summer habits of shopping and living before daylight then staying in all day, I knew I wasn't a vampire LOL.