Oh, I agree completely with you about the level of pathogens. However, my kids would disagree completely about 5 shots not being a lot. Their father has a phobia of needles. While my kids aren't quite phobic, they have more than the normal level of dislike for needles and shots. Pegasus

Can anyone recommend a brand and store to buy real old-fashioned index cards? The last couple of times that I have bought them, they've been index card size but just regular paper. I want card stock. Pegasus

There seems to be some confusion about the Roth IRA. The money is not tied up. The owner can withdraw the contributions (not the earnings) at any time without penalty. The penalties hit if the earnings are withdrawn early. Pegasus *not an authorized financial advisor*

Establishing residency for in-state tuition varies widely by SCHOOL. It may not be enough to follow the STATE'S residency requirements. Just wanted to throw that out there as a caution. If it were easy to establish residency for in-state tuition, almost no one would be paying out-of-state tuition. Pegasus

I'm sorry but I just had to laugh. My eldest is just starting high school so I recently started writing up course descriptions for things she is working on now. I enjoyed the process but I only did about 6. I can see where doing so many at one time would be arduous. I hope to write several a year as we go. Pegasus Edited to add: Google is your friend. You don't have to come up with everything from scratch. Find a few general course descriptions and tweak them to fit.

Yep, they both already had the chicken pox shot. This was for a booster as they determined that the single shot in early childhood did not provide lasting immunity. They also had all the other recommended vaccines as infants and young children so while I don't specifically remember them getting Hep A, I think they did. We are in Tennessee. . .but we do eat out a lot. . .but we didn't mention that while at the doctor's! Pegasus

I'm generally pro-vaccine but even I was stunned when a trip to the pediatrician today generated a recommendation for 5 different shots for DD11 and DD14. I was expecting a recommendation for Tdap, MCV4, and HPV. I was not expecting additional recommendations for Hep A and chicken pox booster. I was really thrown by the Hep A recommendation. I stated that I thought it was only recommended for particular high risk groups and the nurse said that it had changed in the last couple of years. Hmmmm. . .it's still on the CDC recommendation chart only for high risk folks and even the description handed to me by the nurse listed the high risk factors for those who should receive the shot. So much for the "lots of shots" visits being for babies and toddlers. Pegasus

Last time I had my eyes checked for a new glasses prescription, the doctor gave me a hard sell for having my eyes dilated. She saw nothing worrying in the regular exam; she just said that dilation allowed her to do a more thorough exam. It would add significantly to the cost of the exam so I passed. How often is dilation recommended if there are no indications that something is wrong? Pegasus

Thanks for the article, Perry. It answered a lot of questions that I had and gives me confidence that we are making the right decision. Pegasus

Thank you, everyone. It's good to hear that it is not unusual for dancers to continue ballet while forgoing pointe. As an aside, this same DD has turned done invitations to try out for this dance studio's competition team. While she really enjoys her classes and the annual recital, she doesn't want dance to consume all her time. Pegasus

DD11 has been taking dance lessons for the past 4 years (ballet, tap, jazz, and modern). This is an activity that she pursues for enjoyment and exercise, not pre-professionally. She was invited to take a pre-pointe class this past year and declined. She's just not interested in pointe. So, my question is, can she continue taking regular ballet lessons and just never do pointe? Or, at some point, do they assume anyone continuing in ballet will progress to pointe? I know that I should address this question to her dance director but I thought I'd get opinions/experience here first. :D Thank you, Pegasus

Keep in mind that Sequential Spelling often works when other programs don't seem to "take". It emphasizes spelling patterns rather than following spelling rules. You could easily go through a couple of the books at the same time, since your students are older, and it would still just take about 10 minutes a day. No memorizing rules and exceptions or lists of words. Pegasus

We are planning to use MUS through precalculus (DD is about to start Algebra II). It is our primary math program. We also supplement (Singapore's Challenging Word Problems in the early years, later Lial's textbooks, and recently, Life of Fred). I'm thrilled with MUS. My DDs may very well be headed for technical studies at the college level, I need to guarantee that they will be well prepared. My current plan is to use MUS through precalc and then have DD take precalc again at the community college her senior year. For us, there is no rush to complete calculus in high school and I think taking precalculus twice from two very different programs can only be a good thing. Pegasus

I think the notion that there was a time when everyone had beautiful handwriting is a myth. We recently visited a museum where they had lots of original handwritten documents from the early 1900's. There were a few examples of beautiful writing but the majority were terrible, very difficult to read. The museum also had typed "translations" to accompany the letters and even they had to leave some blanks where they couldn't read what was written! Pegasus

Yep! I've never made it from scratch but I'd be willing to try. Do you have a favorite recipe? Pegasus

DD put off reading book 7 for almost two years after it came out. She loves the rest of the series, although she thought books 5 and 6 were a bit harder to get through. When I finally asked her why she wasn't reading book 7, she said that no one else would die until she read it. She did finally read it recently, at age 14. Pegasus

Do you mix in water, milk, both, or other? I've always used milk to make it creamier but wondered how often people just use water. Is it still good? Pegasus

Can your DH teach my kids to drive? We weren't even successful in teaching bicycle riding. :lol: Pegasus

I'd call the 12th grade course Chemistry and go back and re-name the first course something else (Chemistry Concepts, Foundational Chemistry, etc.) Pegasus

We tried Wordsmith next, which was a mistake. It was like going backwards after Jump In. We then moved to EPS Writing Skills Book 3 and are about to start Jensen's Format Writing. Wordsmith Craftsman is in the queue after Jensen's. Pegasus

Yes, it happened to me but also to most of the fair skinned women that I know about my age. Is it about losing the fat layer under the skin so the blood shows through easier? Is it something else? Pegasus

Wow! I really appreciate all the varied responses. To answer a few questions and to clarify, we are still in East Tennessee and it is usually local folks who comment on the "British" accent. Both DDs were in speech therapy when they were around 3/4 and completed their treatment plan. Their hearing has always been found to be excellent. I've been trying to listen very carefully and they sure seem to be saying /r/. Of course, as someone commented, it can be hard for a parent to hear a problem as they are so used to their child's speech patterns. The only word that I can really tell that sounds "off" is when DD14 says "bird." It sounds almost like "bored" but not quite. So, I'm not denying that there could be some leftover speech issues. I am also sometimes told that they sound "like adults" so I think that does lend credence to a wider vocabulary. Perhaps it is a combination of things. I found the comments about similarities between accents very interesting. I met a woman from South Africa the last time I was in Disney World and I immediately guessed that she was British from her accent. She corrected me but she sure sounded British to me! Pegasus

It is important to understand how social security works. It's been pretty well covered here but you should also know that if either spouse dies, the other spouse will continue to receive the higher of their two checks, but not the value of both. Also, once you've been married for 10 years, it doesn't matter if you are no longer married when you reach retirement age. A person who has not remarried can still claim SS based on their ex-spouse's benefits. This does NOT reduce the benefits of the previous wage-earner, by the way. People often think that their ex-spouse is "stealing" some of their benefits. I'm careful to use gender neutral language because it does work both ways and in our family, I'm the wage earner and DH is the stay at home parent. Yes, the benefits may change by the time any of us reach retirement age, however, I do believe that we will receive benefits. We may get them later and in reduced amounts, but I don't think it will disappear anytime soon. So, with that in mind, I hope you all also know that a spouse who doesn't work can still fund an IRA or Roth IRA in their own name, as long as their spouse earns more than they are contributing to their IRAs (in total). So, if your DH is earning more than $10,000 dollars a year, you can fund his IRA $5,000 and your IRA $5,000. I think it is important for non-working spouses to have some retirement funds in their own name. We fund ours equally. Pegasus

DD14 and DD11 were both born and raised in East Tennessee. They've been asked many times by folks who have just met them if they were British because of the way they talk. I usually just laugh it off but it is happening more often recently. Just today, after overhearing my DDs chattering in a near-by restaurant booth, a woman gushed "Where are you from? I just love their accents." Ummm. . .we're from here. I did ask where she would have guessed we were from but she said she had no idea but repeated that she loved their accent. So, if folks continued to think your DC were from another country, would you seek a speech evaluation? Pegasus

I've been researching ACT prep recently and ran across some advice on the College Confidential board that makes a lot of sense to me. Simply have the student take the practice tests, one section at a time, and let them take as much time as they need. Then, have them go through the solutions, every single one of them, regardless of whether they got the answer right or wrong. By reading every solution, they start to get a feel for what the tests are really asking. Pegasus