I'm headed outside, but I'll come back to this post in a couple hours when I can give you a detailed answer.

I would let it go. It's a good reminder to all of us that some of the interactions that we think we are observing, aren't real.

Do you need an MRI for any reason, those are pricy.

My husband has sleep apnea and extremely large tonsils. He would have the tonsils removed and a sleep study.

What's the deal? I thought the spam was usually posted overnight.

Ours isn't open for regular appointments evenings and weekends, you have to go through the on call nurse, but I've never had trouble getting my kids in when needed even at weird times. They do have later appointments for parents who work and do Saturday clinics for flu shots or athletic physicals a few times a year.

You mean it's possible for a kid to stop talking?

There are a couple recent audiobook threads on the General Ed board you may want to read. Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is REALLY good. I would not recommend it if you have very sensitive children, but I really enjoyed it. It's one of those books that I think would be better as an audiobook than a read aloud.

I think a GP would recognize it.

I think there are advantages to either type of practice. On the one hand the pediatrician is more up to date on current standards and less usual illnesses. They staff are better equipped to know how to interact with children and at my pediatric clinic, the exam rooms are big enough to accommodate me and my kids. I really like that if my pediatrician isn't available, another one usually can still see my children the same day. They are open every single day except Christmas (but they do rounds at the hospital on Christmas Day). I think the right family doctor could be just as good. For right now I'm very happy with my pediatrician, if she retires, I'll likely switch my kids to the family practice where I go. I see a fabulous nurse practitioner, but she doesn't work full time and I don't think the two doctors in her practice are as good with young kids. With a different family practitioner I used to see, it was difficult to get same day appointments. My friend who took her children there sometimes had to wait two to three days to get her children seen. It would bother me if I had a young child with a high fever or something that didn't really require an ER visit but I was referred there anyway.

Our pediatricians office doesn't charge if you request a note during a regular check up. They have a generic camp and sports form in with the paperwork The official policy is that they charge $25 for notes such as what you mentioned, however I was not charged the couple of times I needed one.

Yay!

I'm very much a "do the next thing" planner. At the most I sit down on Sunday and plan what I would like to cover the following week. When I was starting out, I started with one subject at a time then added another a week or so later. It worked well for me and my children. We loosely follow 6 weeks of school then a week off. It isn't always exactly 6 weeks, my kids have holiday birthdays so we may go 5 or 7 weeks if their birthday falls close to a scheduled break. Good luck! I think just wrapping my mind around what our day was going to look like was very difficult. Edited to fix grammar.

My husband has anchored shelves and a dresser using an L shaped metal bracket from the hardware store. I'd go to a hardware store and ask what is available.

My brother was in two casts for a summer from a roller blading accident. One cast was up to his shoulder and the other to his elbow, they didn't have waterproof casts at that time. I don't remember how he handled it. I do not recommend sticking a metal coat hanger into the cast to scratch dry skin, he really scratched up his arms.

I read these to my 8 year old this summer: Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes (the audiobook is fabulous!) Where the Red Fern Grows We listened/read many of the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary but he thinks they are too girlish. He has enjoyed Henry Huggins in the past though.

I'm very sorry! We had a dog that we knew had something wrong, but the vet didn't find it immediately. She had a very aggressive throat cancer which I discovered when my husband was out of town. There wasn't anything that could be done for her, but I couldn't bare for her to be put down with my husband away. The vet gave her pain meds and I spent two days spoiling her until my husband got home. She was in too much pain to eat regular food, so I gave her all the marshmallows she could handle, I took her to her favorite creek and park. It made me feel better that I did all I could to make her last days happy.

Many music shops will rent instruments. We rented a guitar for $8 per month. We weren't sure if our kids would stick with it, they did, so we ended up buying it from the music shop at a reduced price.

They make light up shoes in adult sizes! Who knew?

Could one of your kids have accidentally ordered it through your husband's Amazon account? I guess if it's a good book, use it. If not pass it along or sell it for the one you really want.

I grew up in SD and loved watching the storms roll in. You can see them forming when they are still miles away.

I joke that I'm retired. In reality I'm a homeschooling mom.

Taxes then mortgage.

Thanks for posting this, my homeschool mentor of sorts gave me similar advice when I was starting out. However it is sometimes difficult to explain my lack of desire to participate in a co-op to well meaning family or friends who don't understand homeschooling. This helps me better articulate my thoughts. I'm confident in my decision but I do want to help educate others on homeschooling. I would love to find a social or support group for me and my kids though. I know I could start one, but I really dislike organizing things for other people.

Poor Kansas! We drove through on the way to CO once and I never thought we would get to the mountains! The sunflower fields are beautiful but I wanted to see mountains. I will say that my cousin got married in Lawrence, KS and we had the best weekend with family there. We drove north to south through KS many times when I was a kid and I have seen some of the most spectacular thunder storms. It is a different kind of beauty than in other states for certain.