It would be interesting to see how many of those 30K deaths were purely accidental and how many were in the commissioning of a crime, an intentional suicide, and/or when not in possession of the permit owner (stolen). I suspect relatively few of those 30K deaths are purely accidental while the gun is not in the hands of a criminal.

I am very much on the pro-gay-marriage side, but the bolded is my stance, as well.

Since no one has answered either of your posts, I'll take a stab at the answer: Catholic hospitals can currently put restrictions on which procedures they will do and what policies they follow, based on their religious interpretation. When they merge with other hospitals (which happens a lot in small towns in order to prevent both hospitals from financially failing and closing), they usually keep those restrictions in place, which means a small town with (now) only 1 Catholic hospital does not have any abortion or birth control services, for example. Likewise, they can make rules that only admit spouses and biological/adopted children to ICU's, for example. I think that is how that reference came about to the law affecting hospitals. I don't know if that's a valid conclusion or not, I'm just explaining what I think the reference to hospitals was.

What about a calligraphy set? I got DD one for her birthday and she is loving it.

I plan to buy a non-religious, run-of-the-mill lab manual and pick and choose what exercises I want to do. I'll peruse the materials necessary and purchase from Home Science Training Tools or some other such company. I am considering Pendarvis and Crawley "Exploring Biology". I've taught out of that book before, it has clear explanations, the materials are generally simple and easy to access, and there are tons of labs to choose from (you wouldn't want to try them all, there are too many for one year).

I was a Tip and Mitten learner myself.

Do you have a large animal vet close by who can make a call?

Wow, a tie at this point! I checked sweet, because although that's not my preference exactly and all the time, it comes closest to what I prefer.

I was actually thinking of other circumstances where it wouldn't be so cut and dried to leave it blank when I asked that question (employment, for example). Or in those circumstances where some doctor office demanded it to render services. )

Can we use this EIN number in lieu of social security numbers on these routine forms? If so, is the office required to take it as an alternative to the social security number? I didn't know ordinary people could get those numbers; I thought they were short for Employer Identification Number and you had to employ someone to use them.

OK, I understand now. I just thought that your primary consideration was keeping guns out of your home and not prosecution after the fact, so I was trying to offer suggestions for doing that given your state's laws. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

To the bolded: I guess you can make your wishes known by asking at the door? I understand that your guests don't have to tell anyone they are carrying, but does that mean you can't ask? Like I said, most people (certainly your friendly acquaintances, no?) would respect your wishes. And why would posting a sign be more effective in preventing access to your home than asking at the door directly (where you can also read body language response to your request and then use that to gauge whether someone might have a gun they aren't admitting to)? The only advantage a sign has over you asking is that you can have the party arrested for trespassing, after the fact (which, if the person is dishonest, doesn't prevent access at all). But would you do that to a friend or a short-term visitor from say, your child's playgroup? If that type relationship exists between you and a friend, where they won't respect your property and you would have them arrested for trespassing, it's time to find new friends and acquaintances. I guess I just see more advantages and less disadvantages to asking rather than hanging a sign, although I hope you believe me when I say I really don't care which option you go for and don't really have a dog in this hunt. How am I supposed to preemptively make my wishes that people not carry guns on my property? The law says they don't have to tell anyone. Am I supposed to ask everyone at the door? If I hang a sign, not only are they trespassing, but now they're in violation of the CC law. The state CC law offers no penalty for carrying where told not to without the presence of a clear sign at the entrance of the property. As for the criminal element being deterred by the possibility of me owning a gun...that's hilarious. Like I said, we'll agree to disagree.

You don't have a right to eject anyone from your property, for any reason, at any time you wish? What state do you live in? Because in here in Virginia, I am not required to host anyone I don't want to host in my house. If I was of your opinion about guns, I would ask the question of the visitor, and if the party refused to answer or said they had a gun I'd tell them to leave. They could lie about having the gun, of course, but anyone who is that disrespectful of your property is not likely to obey a sign either. One thing to keep in mind is that you may think that you have personal defense sans gun, but the criminal element is not likely to look on that the same way. I agreed with Farrar on the bolded about having the right to not have guns on her property, so I'm not sure why that's an issue in this post.

I do agree with you on this; you should be able to prevent someone from bringing the gun onto your property. But I wouldn't be hanging a sign advertising that you don't allow guns in your home, because that would just advertise to criminals that you have no personal defense. So, one is left with asking each visitor whether or not they have a gun on them. If I owned a gun and was asked, I would not being it on the property, for exactly the reason you mention. I just wouldn't have thought to ask permission first, because I look at it as an extension of the person.

Well, my choices might be different from yours, if your kids are younger. My DS is 10 1/2 and DD is 13, For DS, we don't actually discuss literature in any formal way; we read and enjoy, and discuss informally. That will change once he hits middle school. For DD, I actually struggle with which literature guides to buy, and draw sources from a few places. I like Royal Fireworks Press' literature guides - they are much more in-depth than others I have seen. Some I have found for free online (Tom Sawyer, The Bronze Bow, Lord of the Rings). When I can't find something free online, I'll generally turn to Sparks notes, but they are considered high school level and wouldn't work for elementary or young middle schoolers, I don't think. ETA: I will say I think MP poetry guides are excellent; completely different from the literature guides because they ask thoughtful questions about the poem (in addition to the usual dull vocab and parrot-back type questions).

I don't own a gun, but if I did and the gun was on my person, I would never think it necessary to offer that I had it. I don't advertise what legal meds I have in my purse, either. I don't quiz anybody coming into my house about it, either, because AFAIK, most of my gun-toting friends obey the law and would be legally carrying. So in that case, I consider it part of their person and none of my business what they legally have on them. I look at it as similar to carrying prescription medication in their purse; that could also be found by a child, but I wouldn't ask them to leave their meds home.

This was my backup plan, but instead, I left it blank and no one hassled me about it. I sometimes wonder if these forms are just stock forms they use that include any possible piece of info anyone might ever need, whether they are going to use it or not.

I found the MP literature guides (we tried the 5th and 6th grade ones) dry as dust. The questions in the MP literature guides asked basic, parrot-back and recall type questions, and there was little deeper discussion of the literature at all. I was sorely disappointed, and somewhat surprised, because I absolutely love MP other products.

I have not done LFC, but DD has used MP products for over 2 years now and just finished First Form Latin. First Form has been an excellent program and has really drilled home the grammar. I highly recommend MP products because they are very thorough and incremental, and if your DS struggles with grammar now, he'll know it when he's finished with MP Latin programs. If you are hesitant to throw him to the grammar wolves, start out a little below level (we started out with Latina Christiana) and gradually work up to First Form.

We used a separate writing program for DD when while using History Odyssey. HO does have some writing, but I do not think it is extensive or enough to qualify as a writing "program".

We get fully dressed in the morning each day, before we start our activities or school. If we don't, our whole collective attitude is somewhat slackerish and we don't get as much work done. Not we are dressed, we are also ready to go somewhere at a moments notice, if the spirit moves us.

OK, I was going to keep it blank so I guess that's what I will do. I hope they don't give me a hassle about it; I'm not in a hassle-fighting frame of mind.

So....I guard our social security numbers like a junkyard dog. I understand why an orthodontist wants the parents social security numbers, in order to chase them down for payment. However, DD will be seeing an ortho tomorrow for her first appointment and they want her social security number also. Since she will not be responsible for payment because she is a minor, is there another reason they need that number? I don't plan to give it out because I don't see a need for them to have it. If they need it for identification, can I ask for an alternate way to identify her? What reasons would they have for requesting DD's social security number?

I don't think helping out around the house is off limits; but running a huge portion of the house should be unacceptable. it seems asking kids to do a few things (like bathe a younger, or take out the garbage, or mop the floors, etcc) is not excessive. If your kids complain about the amount of work, then I think it's worth taking a second look at what they are asked to do.

I have two kids and I think my personal limit would be 3 (with no special issues). But how many kids a person could homeschool well would depend upon the homeschool parent, their curricula, the special needs status of the kids, the age of the kids, the ability to work independently, the enthusiasm of the kids, the outside commitments, and oh, my, so many factors.