:iagree:Completely! I had a terrible experience in high school and I can't stand the thought of subjecting my children to that. People are always surprised though, especially other homeschoolers:001_huh:. They just thing the "opportunities" offered in the ps system are too great to pass up, not to mention having a "real school" on their transcript for college. Maybe they will change their tune when the time comes.

So, it sounds like if you think you've been having some thyroid issues, but thyroid is checked and seeminly normal, maybe D would help? Do I need to go back to my doc or can I start taking a supplement myself? If so, is there a brand to try?

Can you just get them some living books about the time period for each of their reading levels and have them do that on their own? They can use library books for now while you work on the house and then transition to a few that you buy for the actual move. Mine are 4th and pre-k, so my little guy still needs me for everything, but my older can do most everything on her own. We are planning a move soon too, and I am going to plan to scale back and get her working independently on most everything for this short time when I am needed elsewhere. Good luck in your move!

Seeing Voddie's name in the same thread as "Yay, Rob Bell!" is strange to me. They couldn't be more different. And even Bell puts himself in the emergent camp, so I would guess that looking for other emergent resources would yield the results you are looking for. Not a fan personally. At. All.:glare:

:lurk5: I don't have any answers for you. My dd is 9 and has developed a stutter over the last few years. So now it's weird that she's an older kid who has not yet been seen by a speech therapist. But we keep thinking that if we give it time, it'll get better. I am assuming you would tell me to get her in and get her evaluated pronto! I hope you get some answers. I assume you have googled about orthodontia causing speech problems? :grouphug:

Yeah, a pp was right that GS only get $.35 per box. What was frustrating last year was that they came out with a crummy low-fat kind that we ordered not knowing it would be crummy, then they wouldn't let us return it. We had to use donation money to pay for those and then donated the paid for cases to Operation Cookie for the troops. The troops (meaning soldiers overseas) really like Thin Mints and peanut butter, but what could we do. Something that was VERY helpful for us was to have a jar, we used a plasic bear shaped jar from animal crackers, and asked people for spare change when they couldn't buy cookies. We'd kind of rattle it at them as they walked by and it was irresitable!!! You would be AMAZED how quickly that adds up. Pure profit into the troop's account!

Wow, that trans fat is very, very high. And the popcorn is so expensive too. One time I was able to buy it because they took it out of the boxes and wrapped it into $3 and $5 packs instead of $8 or $9 per box. I would love to support Boy Scouts but they have to get realistic in these times! We sell Girl Scout cookies and do our best. We often come up short on the sales goals, but it's tough out there!!! Good luck to your den!

I agree. A couple of big 'ol chickens all roasted in the oven would be so good with that salad, and you should be able to cook them low and slow enough to take a big chunk of the afternoon so you are free for your services. I'd go super easy on the side too. Just cause roasting potatoes makes my kitchen SO HOT, and you really need to pull them out and serve them right away. I might consider doing a pretty twice baked potato that you can even do earlier in the day and warm as the chicken is finishing. One time I saw a recipe (in Southern Living so I KNOW it was good!:tongue_smilie:) Where you bake potatoes, scoop out the guts and mix with cheese and herbs, like you would a twice baked, but instead of refilling the shells, they loaded those yummy mashed potatoes into red pepper shells and baked them. It was SO pretty and so easy. I am going to do it for a holiday meal this year. Let me know if you want more details.

In Texas we close with a title company who can help go over the HUD Settlement Statement. Where is the realtor? If they can't get an adequate response as to what the discrepancy is and why they didn't know about it until the closing table, I would call a real estate attorney. You can often get one to just look over the settlement docs for a small fee (under $500) that will save thousands. Realtors are not authorized to offer any kind of legal advice, but an experienced one should be working on their behalf to look over those docs and report anything that looks bogus in the taxes, or insurance, etc. Good luck to them!

:iagree: I also have 2 that I can't ever use because the few recipes I've tried are kind of bleh. We make beans pretty often. 16oz of pinto beans washed and soaked covered in water overnight. Drain in the morning and throw them in your crock pot with a large "box" of chicken broth, a bunch of ham or even a section of smoked sausage cut up (I don't know, maybe 6 oz or something - I don't measure), 1 1/2 Tbsp of cumin, a diced onion and a large can of either RoTel or diced tomatoes. It's very soupy and I serve over rice or as a soup with cornbread on the side. Talk about cheap! And it freezes beautifully so if you don't want to have them 2 nights in a row, freeze it for later.

I am appalled by this story. Who doesn't have nekkid baby pics??? I have them of both my kids at the same age just when the started pulling up to the edge of the bathtub about to get in. Those chubby thighs are the bestest! I have one of my dd on a blanket at about 9 mo, outside in the sprinkler. She's about as round as she was tall and it's so precious to me - capturing that moment in her development when every chubby roll was so, so precious. :001_huh: I even have one of my friends dd and mine (abt 18 mo in age apart) nekkid in the tub with bubbles all over them! Oh. my. I am so sorry for those parents. I hope they win their case and it will help stop a bit of the fearmongering.

I'm not so bright, so it took me a minute to see where it is. At the above link, if you click on the subject, say math, then on the level you might be interested in, then on the level, you will see to the right all the individual light units lined up like 301,302,303, etc. Right below you will see a tiny little word "sample" and the acrobat logo. Click on that and you will download 3 or so pages of each light unit.

Donna, put me square in the "corny" camp too. We make up silly songs, we dance around the house, we act out plays and skits, we perform shows. *shrug* My ds LOVES the silly songs and fingerplays and they are helping him remember the material. I spent a lot of time in my dd's preschool and kinder classed back in ps and they sang TONS of songs and made up rhymes to go with them. Maybe it's just me, but I am not so ready to leave behind my ds's childishness at 5! There is plenty of time for serious academic rigor later, right now I am helping him discover his love of learning and if it's "corny" for me, so be it.

Have you tried searching the Scholastic "]BookWizard? You can search by grade level and then topic and genre. I think it's very cool and have used it to find books that look interesting and can then check other sites for reviews to double check certain content. HTH!:D

I'm completely ready to get rid of it, but I can watch most shows I want on Netflix or computer. DH loves his NFL and we can't get that without cable/dish. I am hoping that after this season he will agree to get rid of it.

I have a great MIL too. We're close, and she has always been very supportive of whatever decisions dh and I make. He's an only child, so she pretty much embraced me as a daughter! :D We are even closer now that she needs me so much for their physical care. She credits me for saving FIL's life after a long illness. We took them in for a while, then moved them to our area and I fed him and cared for him, that's all. But of course a big deal to them. Their health is declining rapidly and we are planning a "meeting" for this weekend to discuss the possibility of them moving in with us. :001_huh: I'm not sure I am ready for this new "season".

Deep. DEEP in the midst of this right now. Our situation is with DH's parents as his dad specifically is going down hill fast. They are retired school teachers living on a fixed income and can't afford nursing home or assisted living care. We are thinking of having them move in with us, but need to research before we even bring up the subject. We are in the midst of (hopefully) renegotiating our mortgage and so the financial aspects are complicated. I do know that a friend of mine just lost her mother and it was said that it would have been great if she had been on the mother's bank account so that the bank could release the funds, to pay for expenses surrounding her death. But as soon as the bank was presented with the death certificate they froze the assets to await probate, which can take a while. I'd start googling. I remember a while ago finding an attorney who had a bunch of information on his website. I think I googled "texas elder estate planning" or something like that. :grouphug: As you go through this.

LOVE these! Too bad they are so expensive! Maybe I can get one and then another one later. Very cool, thanks for sharing!

I'll second Shakespeare In Love. :001_wub: I love Chicago too. I'm a sucker for Hugh Grant (*swoon*), Colin Firth, Johnny Depp, Ralph Fiennes, Russell Crowe. Have you seen The English Patient? Even The Mask of Zorro was so great with Antonio Banderas. He was SO sexy in that movie, but it was fun too. I'm a sucker for big costume movies. My idea of a perfect weekend is a bunch of those on DVD, cold and rainy outside, and no one to bug me! :D Movies like Elizabeth, all the Austen stuff, Gladiator.

Have you tried the Sneaky Chef? I used to be against trying to "hide" veggies in my kids food - they should learn to eat it!:glare: But now that they are 9 and 5 and still not eating them, well, I'm sneaky now! I've tried her lasagne and meatloaf and several other recipes and they are good, homemade and nutritious.

We're in the midst of this ourselves although our issues at current church are not as serious. For us, those kinds of doctrinal issues are a deal-breaker. I was just listening to an AWESOME sermon today from John MacArthur about being keenly aware of false teaching and getting away from it as fast as you can. For us acting like the Trinity is an "optional" belief is not acceptable. I agree to pray for your minister and those involved, and allow the leadership some time to resolve it. But ultimately you have a good head on your shoulders and God has equipped you and your husband with scripture to guide you. Most of all use your powers of discernment!!! Good luck to you. This can be a difficult and heartwrenching road!:grouphug:

Gosh, you guys are sure sweet and encouraging.:crying: I am on my way and will certainly stop to pray and ask for God's grace, and His favor over my words. Thanks for the encouragement!:grouphug: Donna, still praying for you, are you well?

Yeah, I know it means to share my story. I guess I'm just self conscious because it's not much of a "grand story" I'm a little put out that this friend said "I was going to share mine but I ran out of time to prepare" so she called me! I have had a bad day, and feel like lately everyone takes and takes and takes from me, so I guess it was a bad time for her to ask one more thing from me. I do need to be careful to not let Satan in to ruin my attitude towards this study and what I can gain from it. I'm just in a funk that's all. And, typical of me (the pleaser) I should have said "no"...but I didn't.

This is probably a dumb question. I have been a Christian for many years, so it seems I should know this... I have been asked to share my testimony tonight at the first meeting of a bible study. We are pretty new friends, and one woman I don't know. The bible study starts in an hour and a half and I was just asked this. I guess I am feeling self-conscious because I am not sure what to say. The friend that asked me to share is one of those who believes God is just moving and alive in her life even in the smallest things - meatloaf or chicken for dinner? I am not like that. I mean, I seek God's direction through prayer, and seek Godly counsel for major decisions, and certainly I can see how He has worked some things out for good that at the time seemed devastating. Is that what I share? A couple women that will be there are the type that if they see 2 or three motorcycles in one day, that must be God telling them to buy a Harley.:001_huh::lol: I also have very, very few memories of my childhood, I am just not a good long term memory person. I do remember, that I was saved at age 12, and my dad was too at the same time, and we were baptized on the same Sunday. Beyond that there is not seemingly much to share. No fireworks, no great turnaround from drug addiction or something. I guess it always seems that when someone shares a testimony they have this great story of their salvation from the pits of despair. I have been blessed with a regular ol' life it seems. What to do I say?:001_huh:

Ditto here. L.O.V.E. it. And I used Singapore and R&S but have recently moved into CLE Math and now I don't like R&S anymore and am ordering CLE Lang Arts. (Anything else I can copy from you Rebecca?:tongue_smilie:) But those are plug ins to HoD anyways. We are doing Preparing Hearts this year and it's a world history overview. So far I love the resources and the amount of independence it offers. Good luck!