In my experience, they want less state control and less oversight of homeschooling. I have yet to see them working for stricter requirements for homeschoolers. When they do argue for more legislation, it is in order to protect rights so that it is less likely that legislation requiring more oversight will be passed. Case in point - the Parental Rights amendment.

Sorry, typo. Stay out as MUCH as possible.

I am sorry but I don't understand how they could "take over" the discussion with legislators. They may step in and have a lot of sway because they are an established organization with experience in lobbying, but that doesn't stop everyone else from calling their representatives and letting their voice be heard as well. I say this as someone who has more than once gone before city councils and other legislative bodies and provided testimony on various issues solely as a concerned citizen.

Whether or not something should be legislated or turned into public policy is an opinion and a viewpoint. Personally, I think the government should stay out of things as little as possible. But some people think government is what we should turn to to "fix" everything. Differing viewpoints...

I don't think that is necessarily so. I think that many Christian homeschoolers homeschool for RELIGIOUS reasons rather than for other reasons such as quality of education or whatever, which may give that impression. This was a recent insight for me when I heard someone speak on reasons for homeschooling, and it revolved around religious reasons and the ideas and attitudes that were taught in public school (vs say, ps kids not being able to read...aka quality of education). We are Christian, but we homeschool because we think we can give my kids a better quality education than they would get in the big machine of public school. I think many secular homeschoolers have similar reasons that have nothing to do with religion.

I understand why people actively fight against HSLDA. I'm just saying, not everyone is in that camp. I have yet to see an issue anywhere in real life where one side thinks how they see something is the way it should be and that other viewpoints are not valid and thus should not be voiced. Democrats would love it if Republicans had to shut up, just as Republicans would like to not have to listen to Democrats. That's what I mean by "it's a free country."

HSLDA does take up issues that are peripheral to homeschooling, but those issues could be seen as possible infringements on homeschooling. Not all homeschoolers are liberals. Not all homeschoolers are conservatives. But there are homeschoolers who have similar views to that of HSLDA and support them. No single organization is going to please everybody. If they didn't take up some of these peripheral issues, there would be those who would accuse them of not going far enough in defense of the rights of homeschoolers. If the organization fits you and your viewpoints, support it. If not, find another that is a better fit or just don't worry about it. We are members of HSLDA in part because we have a crazy family member who might cause a problem, but we also feel good about supporting the causes HSLDA supports. We are glad that there is an organization like HSLDA that takes on these issues that are important to us. We don't think that the other side in some of these issues should be the only side allowed to voice its point of view. We also don't expect everyone to want to join HSLDA. It's a free country, people.

My rule of thumb with banks: the more they advertise, the more they are 'out-to-get-you' with fees to pay for that advertising. Go with a local bank or credit union that doesn't have advertisements plastered everywhere and you'll be fine.

You have a great goal - what you need is to break it down into pieces you can actually work on. Are you not getting started at a decent hour now? Why not? Ask yourself what went wrong every time you don't achieve your goal and come up with one thing you can do differently that would make it easier to achieve your goal. That's where the rubber hits the road.

It's just different rules and you have to learn how to eat a bit differently. I lost weight on the old plan, my dh is losing weight on the new. Both of us have been successful. I haven't lost weight on the new, but I haven't seemed to be able to lose weight since I've been nursing part-time (I quit losing on the old plan when my little one started solids and switching to the new plan didn't make any difference). I would try eating more things like yogurt (which didn't change in points) rather than carbs (like your muffin). You just have to play the game differently.

At the beginning of the year, I map out my curriculum in a 36-week schedule. Then each month we have to complete 3 weeks of school. Rarely do we do school five days a week. We have two days where we spend half the day in town, but we could do a full day of school on those days if we have to. I know how many days each "week" of school takes me, and right now we have 3 days of school left for September. My parents are here through the end of the week so next week we'll have to get 3 days of school done next week in order to finish. I work from home so whether or not we do school depends on my work load at the moment as well as energy level. At the beginning of the week I can tell you what I WANT to get done for the week, but that doesn't mean we'll accomplish it. Flexibility is a big deal to me - I don't know how people do school every week for 9 months of the year. I would burn out so fast it wouldn't even be funny. Then again, I fix my family food three times a day every day so I guess one might just get used to it.

I don't think you need to remind someone of something they did wrong over and over again, but in order to reconcile, you can't just act like the elephant isn't in the room. Reconciliation is the reinstatement of a relationship; once a relationship has been reinstated, the thing that divided it at once point shouldn't need to be rehashed once it has been dealt with during the reconciliation. If my child did something wrong, they would be corrected on the spot, an apology would be made, and it would not be brought up again except by them if they wanted to further discuss the experience. I would deal with the bad behavior and then move one. What you're saying is that you don't deal with the bad behavior - you just move on. If the behavior isn't bad enough that you don't want to be around your siblings, that's fine. I think perhaps what you're dealing with is on a completely different scale than what is being discussed here. There are some behaviors that can be overlooked (the is true in every relationship - no one is perfect) and other behaviors that are so destructive that they must be addressed if a healthy relationship is to exist. Knowing the difference between the two is the key.

I've found this thread quite comforting. My MIL would be the "sister" everyone is talking about in this conversation. We got along very well until DH and I had children. Ever since then, she has viewed every choice that we have made that is different than the parenting choices she made as a direct judgement on how she raised my husband and his brother. That attitude has be the cause of many such explosions we've dealt with over the years. When she lived here, I made it a point to let her see our oldest (only child at the time) weekly. But then she started lecturing me whenever I came to pick him up and then she did it to my husband, and we didn't speak to her for quite some time. Then she moved out of state and comes to visit once or twice a year. The first visit, she stayed with us. When I was a kid, our grandparents stayed with us, sometimes for two or three months (we lived in FL and they'd come from SD during the cold months) so I was accustomed to dealing with people who did things differently and acting graciously about it (aka say nothing unless it is REALLY important). MIL did two things that I did say something about: She took a pan out of a 400-degree oven and set it on my 1950 countertop (which is NOT heat resistant) and I simply moved it instantly to a heat-safe surface. Then she was handwashing dishes in the sink with dry dishwasher granules and I suggested she use dish soap instead....at which point she stormed out of the room and said I "thought she did everything wrong" and told my husband and his brother (who had both witnessed the whole thing) all the horrible things she had ever thought about me and refused to speak to me and went home a couple days early. Next time we saw her, she acted as though nothing had happened. The next time she came, she stayed with BIL whose GF was pregnant with his child and was verbally abusive toward both of them, trying with all her might to break up their relationship. She was not successful. A few months later, she asked my DH why BIL wasn't answering his [cell] phone when she called. Duh! Eventually he spoke to her again. Last time she came, she stayed with us again. Again, I was very gracious, did everything I could to make her feel welcome, though I did set the boundary of needing to know when she was coming and what part of that time she intended to stay with us (since I homeschool and work from home - I had worked hard to open our schedule while she had visited the last time, but out of the week she spent in our state, she spent a mere 2 hours at our house and I didn't appreciate bending over backwards to get school and work done so we could spend time with her only to not see her hardly at all). The visit seemed to go well, though she launched into me at the end about whether or not our oldest (age 7 at the time) would be homeschooled during high school because she was afraid he would not have good social skills if he didn't go to high school. Well, about a week later, my DH was at a baseball game with our two boys (ages 7 and 4 at the time) and she called and spent an hour and 20 minutes telling him everything we're doing wrong, all the way back to the things she'd lectured us about when I'd let her watch our oldest when he was just a toddler to things she'd seen on her last visit. For instance, our youngest was about 18 months old at the time and when MIL was visiting she and I had taken the kids to the children's museum SPECIFICALLY because I couldn't take the children myself since the toddler would get involved in one thing and not want to leave while the boys would want to go through the entire museum. MIL is a fabulous grandmother - the children love her dearly - and the children's museum was the type of activity that she's just great at. So she took the boys and I stayed with the toddler. The toddler spent the entire time at the same display we were at when MIL and the boys left us, very near to the entrance of the museum. Well, one of MIL's accusations was that I had "abandoned her" at the children's museum, which obviously was completely untrue. She accused us of not having enough money to buy groceries because I have a DSLR camera (a basic model that is a number of years old, BTW) - again, completely untrue. Supposedly she had discussed all of her concerns with BIL and even FIL (her ex-husband) and claimed that they agreed with her (we think they actually just listened to her and by doing that she thinks they "agree" with her). You have to know that MIL moved out-of-state because she couldn't find a job where we live so she went to live with her sister, where she found a job but does not make enough money to live in her own place. In other words, the woman doesn't even sleep in her own bed or eat off her own dishes. Yet we, who own our house, and DH, who has had a stable job ever since I've known him, are these terrible failures. I mean, who is she to talk? This last explosion happened back in early May and it is now late September. She and dh are big football fans and in the past has called and acted like nothing happened once football season started because she wanted to talk football with dh. We have not heard a word from her since the explosion in May, and dh has no intentions of ever speaking to her again. Now that we've been through this, I think the reason why FIL/MIL got divorced is because MIL focused on the bad things FIL and his family did and complained to her sister all the time about it, and her sister (whose husband made lots of money, unlike my FIL) finally told her to just get a divorce. I think MIL took little things over the years, blew them completely out of context into huge wrongs when she reported to her sister when they talked (very regularly, I am told). Knowing the other side of the family, they may not be perfect, but they're fairly normal people who don't really ruffle feathers as a general rule. MIL couldn't get along with her in-laws or her husband, she has had times when she had broken relationships with each of her sons, she didn't get along with BIL's first wife at all, and there have even been times when she hasn't gotten along with her sister (who she now lives with), so it's quite a pattern of behavior. At this point DH doesn't care if he ever speaks to her again. She's made it so he feels uncomfortable seeing his brother or his father because he is afraid they might subconsciously believe the lies she's told them about him. His dad hasn't said anything about it (again, that side of the family just doesn't ruffle feathers). BIL didn't defend DH (we just close the conversation when she tries to tell us about things he does that she doesn't agree with, but he apparently doesn't have the wisdom or the balls to do that on our behalf), and though he claims he doesn't think we're doing anything wrong, there is no reason to believe he thinks we are doing anything right. His only child is 6 months old so he has very little experience as a parent, much less experience in others criticizing how you choose to parent, so I am able to write off BIL's behavior as someone who is simply clueless. But still, DH doesn't feel comfortable being around any of his family anymore, all due to his mother and her explosions, which is sad. So I certainly empathize with all of the sisters who have been discussed in this thread. My heart goes out to each and every poster. It is not easy having someone treat you like that. You simply cannot allow people to treat you like that, and if that means cutting off the relationship, then that's how it has to be. Better no relationship at all than a sour relationship. And thank you all so much for sharing. It's so comforting to know we are not alone.

The big box grocery store I usually shop at has the hydrogenated stuff, which I don't want. I had to find a neighborhood grocery store (independent) and they had it in a tub which is not hydrogenized. As for whether it is pasture raised, I was just happy to find non-hydrogenated. Sometimes you gotta do the best you can do.

I had eczema on my hands really bad. None of the prescriptions even phased it. Then I started taking acidophilus supplements daily and it has essentially disappeared. Sometimes I get a little irritation where my hand rests on my computer, but it is not even 5% of what it once was. Acidophilus is found in yogurt so theoretically eating yogurt daily might help, but I haven't tried that. DS had it on his knees when he was crawling, but it cleared up once he started walking.

At what age did your children no longer need you to stand over them and tell them task by task what to do in order to clean up a room they had trashed? My boys (8 and 5) can get it out, but they can't figure out how to put it away. I'm usually in a different part of the house with the toddler, so it's not like I can stand down there for 15 minutes while they clean things up. The house always has to be tidy before meals, but even that doesn't motivate them. What part of put-it-back-where-you-found-it do they not understand?

If I had the money, absolutely. I have a Bosch and love it.

I grew up in Florida, and when I was in the 9th grade, I got fat. I was overweight (but not obese) for many years. I would lose 10 pounds here or there, but my weight never fell into the "normal" category. Last summer (2010) I lost 50 pounds and am now well within the "normal" range. Over the past year I have kept most of it off, and I am still within the "normal" range. I have been living in Nebraska since 2000. Last winter, for the first time in my life, I was cold all winter and could not get warm. I had Raynaud's syndrome (white fingers when cold) and spent hundreds of dollars visiting various doctors to confirm the diagnosis and make sure that it wasn't a symptom of anything else. So now it is fall again, and I am cold. My thermostat says it is 72 degrees in my house. I am wearing jeans, socks and shoes, a long sleeve shirt, and a fleece cardigan (buttoned up all the way). I am huddled on the couch, afraid to get up because I will get more cold (getting up and moving around always makes me cold again). This was the story of my life last winter. We normally run our heat on 68 in the winter, so this is only going to get worse. I can only drink so many cups of hot tea. We have an electric blanket on our bed which I run all night, but that doesn't help during the day. I don't want to wear so many clothes that I can hardly move. It's currently 49 and we're supposed to have a high of 59 today, but I know that if I go out to get the mail - with my heavy winter coat and wool liner zipped into it - I will be freezing cold for at least an hour. With Reynauds, my fingers are almost always tingling. Sometimes they are white for over an hour (if I change clothes, or go get the mail, or get up from the couch for that matter). I don't want to do anything with my hands because they just don't feel right (so I don't want to work which involves typing, knit, or do anything that requires use of my hands). I have this problem only occasionally in the summer when I go somewhere where the AC is too cold. Otherwise, if my body temperature is okay, my hands are okay too. For those of you whose weight is in the normal range (because I never had this problem at all when I was overweight all those years), how on earth do you stay warm during the winter? What do you set your thermostat at without breaking the bank? What do you wear? Enlighten me please, as I do not want to freeze to death through another winter.

I use cloth. I used to have painful cramps every month, sometimes so bad I would throw up. After about 3 months of using cloth (3 cycles), I no longer have cramps. I just use premie prefolds which are about $1 or so each if you buy them by the dozen. I fold them in thirds on lighter days, in fourths on heavier days, and use two (one folded each way) on heavy nights. Right now I just wash them with the diapers, but once we're done with diapers, I'll wash them once a day. Hydrogen peroxide keeps the stains away. Easy peasy.

Or he could be like some people and clean the place out. My BIL went through a foreclosure (due in part to divorce) and we got a new stove out of the deal just for helping him. Between him and his ex-wife, they stripped the place. What they didn't give to people who helped them out, they sold on craigslist and such. Quite the operation...

Maybe let her choose more of her curriculum? If you chose your classes and your parents didn't know what you did until they saw your grades, maybe she's ready to choose her curriculum. Maybe she would pick out things that she is interested in and excited about doing. You could name the courses she needs to take (math, science, English, and so many electives) and she could fill in the blanks and pick which literature she wants to study, which math curriculum/class she wants to do, which science she wants to study (and the curriculum), etc. I know there are self-directed students over on the HS/Self-Education board. You just need to oversee and approve of what she does and make sure she's staying on track with the plan you approved. Just a thought...

I had to stop nursing mid-pregnancy with one of mine because it hurt to nurse. I just told him "na-na is broken" (his word for nursing was na-na). Otherwise I'm sure he would have kept going strong.

I do jeans - flattering ones with flared legs - and plain ladies t-shirts. The t-shirts I get from Ann Taylor Loft (for town) and from Target (at home). I'm not into flip-flops. I wear my Birks - sandals in summer and clogs with handknit socks in the winter. I wear a simple pair of earrings, and basic makeup (foundation, blush, eye color, eyeliner and mascara). In the winter I wear handknit sweaters over my t-shirts. Boring, but simple.

We drive a half hour each way every week to go to a big library. I run errands along with our trip to the library, but still, we do drive that far. If I had to drive an hour, I probably wouldn't go EVERY week but rather once a month or something. Our library lets us keep books for three weeks and renew once, so I would time my trips to correspond to that (so every three weeks, maybe). We have an average of 75-90 books checked out at any given point, so to me it would definitely be worth it. When my kids are older and could read a lot of classic books on a kindle, I might not be so inclined. We check out a lot of picture books, but a lot of books for the SOTW as well.

I thought that the peace-loving UK had police officers who do not carry guns (they're so much better than us Americans because they have a NON-VIOLENT society)...so how is it that the guy got shot by a police officer? What am I missing?