Eat it yourself? When my kids were younger that is what I did--I would wait to eat until they were finished and polish off their scraps. Worked well especially with home made cake. Who throws away home made cake? Hey, I'm not proud...

Kroger's version of Nutella (called Hazelnut spread), does not have high fructose corn syrup in.

Thanks! I just saw your thread after I posted this. Sorry for the duplicate.

The first one: "Nothing like spending the day with extended family to make me appreciate..." Followed by: "Yelling" :lol:

You should determine if they are paper wasps, mud daubers, or hornets first. Paper wasps build an open faced papery nest. Generally there are more than one working on a nest. Once you knock them down, you could spray with a pyrethroid and that might deter them from building nests. You have to retreat periodically. Mud daubers are pretty interesting--they are solitary insects that build a nest out of mud. They paralyze spiders and pack their mud chambers with them before laying an egg and sealing it up. Same procedure--knock down the nest and spray with pyrethroid. Hornets are generally cavity nesters and will be entering into your siding or some crack in your walls or foundation. Put some Sevin dust in front of their entrance so they have to walk through it. Do this at night so you don't get stung.

Pray for rain.

My husband never read a novel in his spare time, only read novels when he had to in school, still does not read novels in his spare time has 4 degrees including his Ph.D. so that is not a good assumption.

I love my little town because they have a locally owned bank that was willing to give us a home equity loan based on a drive by appraisal. The small IGA here hires teens to work every summer and has the best meat. We have a great library that is entirely run by volunteers.

Only one bookeshelf full here and that mostly contains technical books from high school and college. I do have a couple of totes full of classics but I am the only one picking them up on my own. My kids, two boys, only read during school hours (for the most part). They do not watch much TV nor do they play video games or spend much time on the computer. They are never bored. They spend most of their time outdoors working (their choice--I would like to see them read more). When/if they do read on their own, it is something technical like a service manual or something.

I, too, agree with getting blood work and a sleep study done first. That said, I have a son who gets sleepy doing any sort of academic work--reading, writing, or math. He is dyslexic and from what I have read, dyslexics do not have specialized areas of their brains dedicated to certain processes. For example, during brain scans, non dyslexics' brains will light up in a certain area while they are reading. Dyslexics' brains will light up all over, showing that they are less efficient at reading and it, I believe, requires more energy. My son has had sleep studies done, a sleep deprived EKG, and blood work, all of which have come back normal. We eat little to no high fructose corn syrup, few processed foods, lots of high quality protein. He gets lots of physical exercise. He is 15 now and in the adolescent pattern where he stays up later and wants to sleep in later. Because he needs to get up with the rest of us, he is getting 9 hours of sleep at night, which is not enough for him, so he still requires a nap. He still gets sleepy when he is sitting and working on academics. I, too, have tried making him do jumping jacks, running around the property, drinking more water, having some caffeine, eating a piece of fruit or some protein, but none of that has helped. He gets the most benefit from short sessions, and a catnap. I can't say that the apple has fallen too far from the tree, though, because I never could pull an all-nighter during college, either, and will get sleepy when studying something that, to me, is boring.

Our peaches are ripe as are the zucchini and yellow squash. Tomatoes have not come on yet, nor have the green beans or beets due to a late, wet spring. Summer can't be over before I get tomatoes!! I am not finished painting the outside of the house, and at the rate I am going, I will need 3 more months at least. So, NO! I am not sick of summer yet (even though the heat and humidity are getting old). Too much to do and too many good things yet to eat!

Homeschool Buyers Co-op has an online deal going on now for Plato learning online for K-12. It sounds like it could be a complete program for $299. You can have as many kids use it as you want for that price--they just can't be all logged on at the same time. We used a Plato product once and my kids liked it.

Here is some of what my oldest son has done for money: Farm labor--piece work. Picked tomatoes for a friend--started when he was 9. He got $3 per basket and earned a lot over the years. Farmer's markets--he grew and sold cut flowers at a farmer's market. He started his business when he was 14 and did it for 2 years. Grossed almost $4000 the first year. Collecting scrap metal--just took a load in for $100. General labor--mowing yards, pounding stakes, baling hay, mechanical work. He will do most any physical labor because he really likes to work. He once welded a few things for someone for a little money. How about cleaning out garages, or cleaning out gutters, or any other labor for neighbors who just might need an extra hand?

I tried IM a year and a half ago for awhile but had to quit before my son reached the optimal timing goals (IM provider had a personal conflicts and could not continue). At the time, I thought he was able to read and write for longer periods of time, although he didn't maintain that and I think it is because he hadn't done IM long enough to maintain timing improvements. When he started IM he was off the charts bad. The provider recommended we do The Listening Program so we purchased the CDs and he went through them twice. I hoped it would help his speech, but it did not (he lacks clarity). My son is now 15 and we are giving IM another try with a different provider. He has only had 5 sessions so far so it is too early to tell if there will be a difference, but his timing is steadily improving so we'll see.

Could be hormonal imbalance. I was a bear to be around at that age and I am sure that is what is was for me. You could try supplimenting with fish oil, chasteberry, vitamine D3. Couldn't hurt, might help. Depression sometimes manifests itself as anger, also.

I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but it is easy and it came from a Mexican friend of my sister's. Chicken Tortillas with Flauta Filling Cooked chicken, cut up oregano chili powder chopped garlic cumin vinegar chicken broth Put cut up cooked chicken in a skillet and add spices to taste. Moisten with the vinegar and chicken broth. Wrap in flour tortillas, fry in oil. Serve with sour cream, cheese, lettuce, etc. I don't usually fry them; just wrap and eat.

When my guys were little we had a conversation about athletic supporters. Soon afterward, they both came out of the bathroom with Dixie cups in the front of their underwear for protection. I had to explain that athletic supporters weren't THAT sort of cup.

That's a tough question without knowing your son personally. My older son, who is turning 17, has had a paying job for a friend since he was 9, but he was physically more developed than other kids his age. He had to pick tomatoes and pound tomato stakes for her by age 13--in fact he earned enough money to buy himself a tractor at that age. He also had to mow and trim the yard, cut up wood, till the garden and help with planting, hoeing, and harvesting it. As he got older he took over maintenance of the vehicles, mowers and tractors. He will have a full time job this summer and will come home and work some more on his own projects, plus help us work on our house on the weekends. The kid loves to do physical labor. My younger son, who is turning 15, is not nearly as inclined and I am lucky to get him to mow the whole yard on his own, although he is an excellent helper--he just has a hard time working on his own. So, abilities vary quite a bit and it would be hard to say what your son would be capable of doing.

From the letter: "The Arlington Confederate Monument is a denial of the wrong committed against African Americans by slave owners, Confederates, and neo-Confederates, through the monument’s denial of slavery as the cause of secession and its holding up of Confederates as heroes." The 45+ scholars actually said that the monument stands for the legitimacy of secession, opposition to Reconstruciton, and glorifies the principles of Confederacy, along with promoting white supremacy. It also sounds like the 9 history professors, 4 assistant history professors, and 2 associate professors of history who signed the letter believe that slavery was the cause of secession and that the Confederates should not be considered heroes.

...from Kenneth M. Stampp [historian], The Imperiled Union p 198 Most historians... now see no compelling reason why the divergent economies of the North and South should have led to disunion and civil war; rather, they find stronger practical reasons why the sections, whose economies neatly complemented one another, should have found it advantageous to remain united. Beard oversimplified the controversies relating to federal economic policy, for neither section unanimously supported or opposed measures such as the protective tariff, appropriations for internal improvements, or the creation of a national banking system.... During the 1850s, Federal economic policy gave no substantial cause for southern disaffection, for policy was largely determined by pro-Southern Congresses and administrations. Finally, the characteristic posture of the conservative northeastern business community was far from anti-Southern. Most merchants, bankers, and manufacturers were outspoken in their hostility to antislavery agitation and eager for sectional compromise in order to maintain their profitable business connections with the South. The conclusion seems inescapable that if economic differences, real though they were, had been all that troubled relations between North and South, there would be no substantial basis for the idea of an irrepressible conflict.

The fact that one of the signers of the letter is James McPherson, History Professor, Princeton University, lends it some credibility, I would think. I didn't care much about this subject either, until I started looking into it and then found it fascinating. My little attempt at gaining a Better Trained Mind.

Then what would you say was the most compelling reason?

Please see the letter to President Obama on the HNN website dated May 18, 2009 signed by 45+ scholars imploring him not to put a wreath on the Arlington Confederate Monument. Certainly not all of them are ignorami.

I don't consider it a joke. I ask because I had read about some historians, who study this sort of thing, stating that the states' seccession was an act of treason and therefore Confederate soldiers should not be honored. I am no historian and did not know that this was even being debated.

The United Daughters of the Confederate are having an Iron Cross ceremony for a Confederate soldier buried near here. Do you think Confederate soldiers should be honored?