That is what I stated in my paragraph.

I disagree. The fundamental freedom you are referring to is the freedom to practice one's religion without government interference; in other words, no State Religion. I think there's a big difference. The "Wall of Separation between Church and State" is a false dichotomy (and not in the Constitution). One cannot check their worldview system at the door. Atheism is a belief. It is the belief that Christianity is wrong. It is the belief that the Bible is not the standard. It is the belief that Islam is wrong and the Koran is not the standard. etc. At the very least, it is the belief that these things are wrong for the person choosing Atheism, even if they are fine with others choosing them. And the atheist is going to live by those beliefs and not let those with differing beliefs infringe upon them. How all this pushing and shoving is supposed to play out I confess I don't know.

:svengo: I can only imagine.

Yep. I vote for now, too. I think it'll just take a wee bit of correction before he begins to catch on.

Thanks. I don't really need the red food coloring, but I did wonder if I could use strawberry extract. I might try that. It doesn't really have to be pink, it just needs to have the flavoring throughout rather than plain yogurt with fruit chunks.

I've been fooling around with trying to make homemade yogurt and I've hit a wall. I need to make homemade yogurt turn out like Yoplait's Creamy Strawberry Yogurt. No Greek-style stuff for my brood. No plain yogurt. No fruit on the bottom stuff. They want all the yogurt pink and flavored throughout with no fruit chunks and they don't want Stoneyfield Farm thickness, they want Yoplait creaminess. I have looked and looked at recipes and I don't see any that would make yogurt like what I'm looking for. Do you have any ideas? I was thinking of trying to add strawberry gelatin to a regular, plain yogurt recipe and seeing if that works. What do you think? Thanks for the help.

It was reported here, on Tuesday, that two schools in the area (not my district, but close) have a significant number of students out due to flulike symptoms. One decided to just take the rest of the week off. And the vaccine is still yet not readily available. I've decided to go ahead and vaccinate us, but now I'm thinking it will all be over by the time the vaccine is readily available.

Yes! They will! Just keep doing what you're doing and they will make the connection. Honest. You know they've hit that lightbulb moment when they start asking you to tell them what something 'really' says. I don't know if you want any suggestions, but if you do, here a couple of things I've done to help this process: 1) During reading instruction time, words must be read as written. No substituting or deleting. I let him read it wrong and see if he self-corrects by the end of the sentence. If he does not, I reread the sentence up to the mistake and make him re-sound-out the word, helping him if needed. 2) I often read a sentence back, even if read totally correctly, to help my son construct meaning from what he just sounded out. 3) When he doesn't actually read what's there, and it can at all be turned into something funny, I make it funny. It makes for a nice lighthearted reinforcement of the idea that you have to read what is actually written. In my experience, students continue to substitute and delete words well into second grade level reading.

Amen Amen Amen Amen! Humbling myself, speaking what I did wrong, and asking for forgiveness is what God has shown me he wants me to do when I blow it with my kids. And boy has it ever worked. Their hearts are softened. Our relationship is restored. Afterward I have more authority with them than ever, because they trust me more than ever. I have shown that I have their best interests at heart. I have shown them that I am aware of my imperfection. And I have pointed the way once again to God who is perfectly trustworthy. I wish I could say I rose up to meet the rest of your list, but I don't. So I'm not super-qualified to offer advice. But, I just had to second this item. I've seen it bear much fruit in our lives. Ok, now I'll lurk for more great ideas. :lurk5:

I remember being quite shocked when I actually read Mary Poppins. It is much different than the movie. And I didn't care for it at all in the end. It's not whimsically imaginative. It's trying to say something - and I don't think I quite liked what it was saying. But, I also am not sure I ever figured it out.

Hey, guys, I tried to pop over and read the definition and I can't find it. When I searched for Well Trained Mind I got two very flattering definitions. Welll Trained Mind When I searched for Well Trained Mind Forums it said it hadn't been defined yet. Did they change it already???? ETA: Scratch that. I found it. You have to search for Well-Trained Mind Forums. Greeeaaat search feature. Like leaving out one hyphen should mean I get absolutely no results :rolleyes:

Since I was also having trouble accessing another site, I thought it was my 'puter. But the error messages were different, and it did look to me (after the fourth or fifth try) like the site here was down. The other site I'm having a problem with I think is blocked by my virus software.

Call the doctor or the hospital ER or your advice care nurse - someone. There are so many possible explanations...and courses of action. The best thing to do would be to consult a medical professional. Now. It is potentially serious.

Isn't that the truth! Thanks for this encouragement. I needed it today. We would have a much more peaceful household if it wasn't for one particular child - whom I love dearly with all my heart forever and ever amen. And I was just wondering to dh yesterday about whether it was ever going to get any better. I try so hard, but man alive, you would not believe...oh, maybe you would. To the OP - I have thought a lot about the ambiance in my home over the years. Sometimes I focus on it quite a lot. And I've come to realize that there's a lot to it. One of the biggest factors is dh. What he likes, wants, and needs determine a lot; his interests have just as much weight as mine do. For instance, he's just not a table-game guy. So my rosy scenario of a nightly family game is just going to end in frustration for everyone. There are other things too. And I've learned that he has his own brand of family togetherness that always involves a boat, or some woods, or some money. Since I make sure everyone is fed and safe, we manage to make great family memories his way too.

Do you have your privacy setting such that you aren't seen on the members list? That was my first thought.

Wow. So homeschooled children don't even make up one percent of the population? I didn't expect the numbers to be that low.

In many, many ways. I'm not sure I'm even cognizant of them all jcooperetc, I love your sig line! In that spirit I'm just going to sum up as best I can. My education was always very important to my mother. Not that she necessarily approached everything in the right way. But, in the end I knew education=important. I always assumed I would be attending college (until I hit that mid-highschool stage when I realized I had lots of options). I definitely carry the 'education=important' philosophy with me. I absolutely feel that with hard work I can provide a superior education to ps. As a child growing up in ps, I felt the lack of ability of the ps to uphold high moral standards. I do not hate ps. I would use one if I had too. But I get immense satisfaction from knowing that my child doesn't have to know too much too soon. So my social and academic experiences in public school influenced my decision to homeschool.

This year my husband graciously went to the Cabela's website and printed out five things of various prices that he would like to receive as gifts. *big sigh of relief* I'm not terrible at picking stuff out for the man. But it is nice to know what he really, truly will get excited over. Also, secretly, I've been buying him those dumb "as seen on tv" products that are showing up in the checkout aisles. It's a little bit of a private joke. I cannot wait until he opens up the ShamWow on Christmas day. :lol: I am going to get the biggest eyeroll ever. And I'm gonna die laughing.

Oh, I know! Isn't that a hoot? You gotta admire the daughter's tenacity and the mother's wisdom.

Ok, I thought about it. When I'm bored I remedy it with one of the following things, each with it's own level of success: baking eating blogs and these boards getting out of the house - immediately! Sudoku a long movie, or two a book I would love to alleviate my boredom with a project, like cleaning out a closet. But the baby is not old enough yet. I would be stuck mid-project with a huge mess and no time to finish it.

I remember being taught this in school - and later figuring out on my own that there were appropriate times in reading to say /thuh/ and other times to say /thee/. As far as the pronunciations in OPGTR, I've had to modify a handful of them. I'm not to lesson 188 yet, but reading what you wrote made me laugh really hard. My grandmother, from the east coast, would have called it a 'farest'. I, from the west coast (sorta) have only ever called it a 'forest'. We totally ditched the /hw/ sound. No one - no one - I know actually pronounces any /hw/ words with an /hw/. When is /wen/ with a nice, hard /w/. I was afraid if he went around sounding hoity-toity with a /hw/ he might get decked. I recently had a time with the oo sound. Some of the supposedly long-oo sounds were words we pronounce with a short-oo, and vice-versa. (It's a rooooof!) There were maybe two others I read and went "Whaaaa???". I just let them slide. It's not as if he won't get a good grounding in phonics just because I taught a few minor pronunciations differently.

I was not. going. to. watch. this. show. I wasn't. I knew it would be a thing like LOST. And I wasn't interested in being sucked in. I avoided LOST pandemonium by not having a TV when it started. But. But. But. I did watch. And it's got me hooked thus far. tsk, tsk, tsk! I don't know I'm gonna do with myself.

Wow, a lot of activity while I was away today. Thanks to the Mods for the hard work.

I'll be praying for him, and all of you, Joanne. *virtual get well card*

It's over!! And it's all just begun... :grouphug: