Exactly. And the lies that the products are so expensive because of their "superior quality." And in the next social media post they are bragging about their $6000 monthly check. Are they not seeing the irony there? And I'm shocked that some of you don't know anyone into MLM sales. I have dozens on my FB feed. I do hide them if it gets excessive; sad because sometimes I do really want to keep up with them and see family pics. I also will check someone's profile if they friend me and I don't know them IRL anymore just to make sure they aren't affiliated with an MLM.

I chose "other" because I'm not sure there is a way to really know. I am in a large group/coop and all the families seem to be doing their best to provide a good education. Most home schooled high schoolers I know are college bound and are taking advantage of online and on campus concurrent enrollment classes. The parents take schooling seriously for both boys AND girls. On the other hand, the types of ultra conservative parents who don't believe in girls attending college are also not likely to be participating in large support groups or coop classes. So if they are out there I haven't met them. I can only remember one family who really didn't seem to be meeting even basic standards. They used the Bible for every subject and nothing else. We lost touch with them years ago but I've wondered how the kids are doing now.

Our golden retriever does this too. I've been giving him some Benadryl every day and soaking his paws at night in Betadine. The website I found said to use just enough to Betadine to turn the water the color of tea. It is kind of a pain but when I'm doing it consistently it really helps.

I'm watching it my college-aged daughter, who has already seen it and read the book. She said exactly what you did--that it doesn't talk enough about the mental health aspect of it. My take (after watching through episode 5, I believe) is "where are the parents?" These kids are dealing with really heavy stuff with no adult help. So sad. And yes, unfortunately, my dd says that its pretty realistic with many, many of the kids she knows.. :(

I finally kicked a decades-long daily cola habit with iced tea. Started with pretty sweet and gradually decreased the sugar until now I just drink it barely sweet. I know water is better but I feel much, much better without the soda. And now when I do have a Coke it seems SO syrupy sweet. Now I'm trying to up my water intake and cut back on the tea. It's a process. ;)

This. My son got an Xbox One for Christmas last year and sold his 360. Then he realized some of his favorite games were not backward compatible yet. They are slowly adding more games to the list, but he ended up saving up for a refurbished 360. He prefers the picture quality of the Xbox One but still plays the 360 quite a bit. So check the list of games available on the Xbox One before deciding.

Agreeing with this. I especially can't imagine asking someone who doesn't even have a dog themselves. You should definitely not feel bad about saying no.

YES! I love Mondays for that very reason. I thought I was the only one.

We spend about $30/mo on food for a 70 lb golden. Maybe another $15 or so on supplements (GlycoFlex and fish oil for joints). We have a local pet store that does vaccination clinics so that helps a lot with routine vet visits, although we do have a regular vet for illness. Probably $40-50/year for routine shots and heartworm test. Wish we had started pet insurance when he was a puppy but we didn't. Also there is heartworm and flea/tick preventative which is $55 every quarter. We paid $50 for puppy kindergarten and $75 for basic obedience classes. Haven't gone further than that, although I would like to. And then there is grooming--about $45 every quarter and we bathe at home in between. We pay around $150 every summer to board him. Next summer I am hoping he will be at the point we can just have someone come over a few times a day to feed him and check on him. Wow as I type all this out, I realize he is pretty expensive. Good thing we love him so much. ;) ETA: We get the GlycoFlex and fish oil from Amazon. MUCH cheaper than buying it from the vet or pet store.

Amen. I will never forget my grandmother telling me the story of being awakened from sleep when she was 7 to say goodbye to her baby sister who was dying of diphtheria. Many other families she knew also lost children to this disease. I can't help but wonder what she (and others of her generation) would think of the anti vax movement.

I just bought this one a month or so ago. I looked at the Dyson but just couldn't bring myself to spend that much $$ on a vacuum cleaner. So far I am very impressed with how well it cleans. Apparently my old vacuum was leaving a LOT behind. And we have a golden retriever so it is used almost daily. We will see how well it holds up in in the long run, I guess!

Oh I definitely believe you but . . . wow. Maybe I have run across them too and it just hasn't come up in casual conversation.

Yeah. That would boggle my mind too . . .

Interesting. I've never met a Christian who believed that.

I am just getting going with Plan to Eat and don't have a ton of recipes yet, but if anyone wants to friend me my username is HSMom2HS. I am really liking this so far! Just need to get more recipes added.

I am so sorry. That sounds heartbreaking. Please don't beat yourself up, though; it really sounds like you have exhausted every possibility. Like someone else said, most people would've given up by now. No one wants to make this choice but sometimes it really is best for all concerned. ((hugs))

((Hugs)) So sorry about your mother. I lost my dad almost exactly a year ago and it's hard to lose a parent. I have no idea why people behave like that, but I have seen it too. So crazy. Maybe it's just their way of dealing with the grief??!?

Side note: My dd loved the Bullfinch book too! That one really surprised me. I am concerned about some of the reading for my ds though--that is a great idea to have him read through the Percy Jackson books. I may get him started on those this summer and see how he likes them.

We've done two years of MFW High school. Crystal's experience sounds similar to mine, except she is further along in the journey. My dd did very well with the reading/writing in AHL and WHL but I'm thinking I may have to tweak a bit for ds as he is not as strong in writing skills (will be 8th grade next year). AHL was a pretty big jump from what we had done the year before (MFW RtR) but it was doable and she rose to the challenge. She was pretty strong in writing paragraphs and had no trouble transitioning into AHL writing. She did not love every book (understatement, LOL--she hated the Iliad!). Then again, she enjoyed some more than she thought she would. I did leave out Cat of Bubastes and had her read Mara, Daughter of the Nile instead. I think she enjoyed WHL this year more than AHL, although she is glad to be finished with Notgrass. She was not a huge fan of the writing style in that book. I plan to have her finish out the next two years of high school with MFW. DS will start the cycle year after next. I may tweak here and there for him, but even with that it is SO nice having everything planned out for me so I don't have to reinvent the wheel every year. I feel like having that schedule keeps us moving forward and accomplishing so much more than we would just by winging it.

I agree. It always bothered me that all their reviews were so glowing. Never a review with even a hint of negativity. Really?? Also disliked that they seemed to support the Pearls *shudder*. I did use to enjoy Jen Ig's writing, though. I remember being disappointed when she left and wondered what had happened. I always figured it had something to do with their support of the Pearls. This is so much worse. :(

http://forgetmenotsafety.wix.com/forgetmenot I agree that this can happen to anyone.

The Panera in our area recently opened a drive-thru. But I agree, never really thought of Panera as fast food . . .

Yes, you can buy the Advantage for large dogs on Amazon and then divide it up for the cats. MUCH cheaper this way. Here is something I copied/pasted that has all the info: The drug in Advantage II for Dogs and Advantage II for Cats is exactly the same drugs (Imidacloprid and Pyriproxyfen) at the exact same concentrations. If you buy this "Large Dog" package, you get four 4ml tubes. If you then empty those into a vial or vials, you can use a syringe (without needle) to apply the right dosage to your dogs AND cats. In fact, if your cats are under 10 pounds, you can get 10 cat doses out of each of these vials. That's a real bargain! I am a former Vet Tech and can assure you I have been doing this for years (with Advantage first, and now Advantage II) with ZERO problems. Use the following chart and you will be fine. Cats up to 9 pounds - 0.4ml Cats 10+ pounds - 0.8ml Dogs 11-20 pounds - 1.0ml Dogs 21-55 pounds - 2.5ml Dogs 55+ pounds - 4.0ml HTH!

Yes, it does. Thank you! Hmmm. I just really need to think about this. I do hate giving up the lesson plan being done for me . .

Thanks Crystal for your thoughts. The Worldview class is full year. It is pretty in depth, using many of the same books MFW will be using as well as some additional literature. I really think my dd would benefit from the weekly discussion time rather than just doing it at home. Government would be something I would have to do on my own her senior year, unless there was a coop option for it. I did a search on this board and saw where you didn't really care for the literature analysis in US1. Would you mind elaborating a little on that? I would hate to go to all the trouble of scheduling it out myself and then not like the lit analysis part (which is the whole point, lol). Hmmm. Maybe I could just have her read through some of the books.