Hi Terri (Lucy's mom here! Didn't know you were expecting - so awesome! Don't think Amy has mentioned it in any letters) I will second the Dangerous Book for Boys, and the spy kit. A friend of mine also got her boys a wood burning kit. Something like this. Hours of fun!! :D

I pulled my dd from ps in January to begin hs'ing, so she still has a lot of ps friends and is in Girl Scouts with them, etc. The "mean-girl" behavior is so prevalent that I am considering pulling her from activities with these girls. Of course I would rather that she be "the salt and the light" with these girlst, but she's only 8, and very sensitive at that, and expecting that of her is too much. I think this is more prevalent with ps kids because they are around eachother day in and day out, with opportunities daily to "test" their power among other girls. To test the dividing of some kids against another. Whereas my dd sees her hs'd friends once a week and they are so glad to see eachother that this behavior doesn't come up. I also think the age differences in hs groups helps. All her ps friends are exactly the same age, where as she plays so great with older and younger in the hs group. I can't put my finger on why this helps, but I can see it as a factor. But, certainly not ALL ps kids act that way, we have some very dear girls in our circle that we love. And I don't want to be one of those hs'ers afraid of ps kids - you know the type that scurries from the park when school lets out. ;)

When things are going bad like that I tend to think it's Satan attacking me, not God hating me. Like the Bad Guy knows I'm weak, and fragile, and have a tendency to spiral into negativity, so when stuff starts to pile in... he attacks! Just don't give him the satisfaction. Like the pp said, cancel PE, find someone else to ferry a kid or two, or skip it today, to try to take one or two things of your plate. If possible, take a nap for one hour, just one, this afternoon. I guarantee you will feel better and better able to make that long drive. :grouphug:

I'm sorry but...:ack2: I guess I've never had farm fresh eggs because the very thought of leaving them out...Oh. no. I'm a bit of an egg snob and can taste the difference in grocery brand and Eggland's Best. I bet fresh from the farm would be divine! (from the fridge):tongue_smilie:

Are there some specific areas that you can tell from the testing are lacking? Could you take a semester to work on those and try again? It's got to be disheartening. One of my biggest fears actually. I often quip off a quote I read here (or somewhere) once "After all, I'm preparing my kids for Heaven, not for Harvard", but the reality is that I do want my kids to go to college if they choose to, and I hope I am preparing them adequately for it. :grouphug:

I could have multi-quoted more - especially the one about how most other forum have software that stinks. And I do love having avatars. That's how I remember people! I wish my HoD board had them. I'm just a visual person. For me, I am so brand new to hs'ing that I need experienced hsers around me. I have some IRL, but not this many, and not this experienced. Also, still making myself aware of the different choices. Until you start doing it you don't really know, imo. I think I'm more of a CM person, but the more I read of WTM, the more I like and want to mix the two. So if I do that, can I stay? ;):tongue_smilie:

DELETE! I just read my recipe and the pp's and they are the same! Doh! Mine was from the folks at Bacardi. Sooooooooooo, goood!!!

I'm so sorry! My children would be devastated if something like that happened to our dog. I hope your neighbor takes appropriate action with their dog, but that doesn't help you. :grouphug::grouphug:

Maybe I'll be the one dissenter who says, go ahead and try. Like you said, it's lonely to have no friends where you are. She could use one, and so can you. I bet the blow up was something you both can let go as the past. Certainly you can stop by at some point, bring some cookies like someone suggested, and just see how it goes. I just think we can all use some loving kindness, some forgiveness, in this world. As for the gossiping, I find that it's only a problem when I participate. IOW, if I change the subject or don't agree with what's being said, the gossiper has not found an agreeable audience and it dies down. Trust me, that is so hard to do! It's like complaining. If no one agrees with you or chimes in, it's not finding a receptive audience and loses it's charm. Like ignoring your kids whining. I think women are gossips mostly when they are insecure about themselves and need to tear down (or focus on) something else. If you keep the conversation to kids, parenting, gardening, decorating, cooking, the million other things women have in common, I bet you can rebuild that friendship - if it's worth it to you.

This is law-suit territory IMO. I would be absolutely OUTRAGED! :angry::angry: I think it's great that the kid had the presence of mind to be cool and get off the bus and call. I'm afraid my dd would have had a panic attack! I do not understand why on earth this driver would do this. :confused: If the child had a note that said she is to be taken to her school, what's the issue? At least get her to the school at then notify someone there that you have brought her there and let them straighten it out, don't put her off the bus in a strange part of town. I just can't imagine what would be going through his/her mind!

We took over 400 pics on our trip to Mexico last year and we just had several memory cards for it. You can get them in 2 and 4 gig, and when you fill them up, you just pop in a new one. Then put them in a VERY safe place or even mail them home to yourself. I just got a new camera today and dh got me a 4gig card for it and said it was about $15. It will hold hundreds of pics. I personally wouldn't want to haul around a laptop, but that's just me. I like to travel light. Also, in most other countries it'll be easy to find an internet cafe or something like it where you can use a computer to update via email. The one we used in Mexico was 5 pesos for several minutes and I used a yahoo email account I had set up. Oh, I also used that account to scan in our passports so I could access them if anything happens, but I'm sure you already know all that!

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Well, we know the bible tells us not to commit adultery, that is to cheat on your spouse. I think that is entering in to an emotional, lustful, or otherwise intimate relationship with another person who is not your spouse. We also know that Matt 5:28 says that whoever looks upon another with lust has committed adultery already in his heart. What would constitute adultery, or cheating, in my marriage would be the intimate relationship part, and certainly sex, with someone else. I would not leave my husband for looking lustfully at another woman, but I would expect him to not continue in that line of behavior and clear it up with God. Is this what you're asking?

We're praying for a miracle for a friend of ours right now. He has stage 4 metastatic melanoma. Unfortunately things are taking a turn for the worse and he is having to discontinue treatments. They are homeschoolers, parents of 4 and another on the way. He's 36. My heart is breaking for them and I pray daily for them in the hopes that it's God's will for them to receive a miracle.

My 8 yo dd found the Target receipts on the side of the fridge and figured out about Santa. So I told her the truth. She wasn't disappointed at all and kinda felt like she was "in" on the big secret. I did share about the sweetness of the story of St. Nicholas, etc. And then when I was done and she was moving on I said "Oh, by the way, you know the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, not so real either". She was like "oh, man!" I intended to keep up the charade for her little brother, who is 4, but to be honest when he was asking me with his huge brown eyes to describe in detail the giant bunny, with a bow tie and a vest on (no pants?) who would come in the house and leave candy...I just could not do it. So I told him it was pretend. I would like to keep up the myth of the tooth fairy because he hasn't even lost his first tooth yet! And of course Santa for a good while longer. As far as the "other" talks go... I got the girl book "Care and Keeping of You" to work on the talks about changes. And I'm going to get the series "God's Design for Sex" that I have looked at and find appropriate. My dd is very modest and probably a tad naive, especially compared to PS kids, and I'm okay with that. My goal is to have her hear this stuff from us first though, so she can discern fact from fiction. So I better get on it!

I've always wanted one. I guess I'm too chicken, or conservative, or self-consious. I mean, it always seems like you need a really rockin' bod for a nice one. Where on earth would I put one? On my fat legs, or fat arms, or fat butt? :lol: I can't think of one toned spot to put one on. Blech.:001_rolleyes: But I have seen some GORGEOUS ones. I once had a client that had a stunning sleeve of waves and beach and sky, and I think there were fish or something. The colors were fantastic, a true work of art. I asked him how come I see so many that are that greenish-gray color and he explained a little about caring for them, and the inks, etc. But he keeps his colors vibrant by having it touched up from time to time.

I try really hard not to make it about me or expect anything. Of course my kids are excited, but as for *me* I want to keep the focus on my mom and MIL. They have both already lost their mothers and I know they are thinking about them on this day, as it should be. I just wish I was with my mom on some holidays. She's several states away and I miss her so much most holidays. It's just too expensive to see each other very often. And I have the added guilt and shame of letting this weekend kind of sneak up on me (no excuse!) and didn't get her gift or card in the mail on time. I hate when I do that!!!!!!:glare:

:iagree: Paul Washer is excellent. We also enjoy sermons by Alistair Begg - he's Scottish and fun to listen to his accent. But very grounded in scripture. As for books and radio, we have been enjoying the ministry of Ray Comfort, Todd Freil, and Kirk Cameron at Wretched Radio.

Um...isn't Sonlight considered CM?

OH. MY. GOODNESS. :ohmy: I might not have been so composed. DH and I have a funny pact (not serious;)) that we are allowed to leave eachother for our celeb crush if they would have us. Jonathan Frakes is one, and Alec Baldwin another, but that's for another thread. :001_tt1: Verizon has a phone that is a flip phone but the top is clear, so you flip it open just like a communicator. He's such a dork that if it made that little chirpy sound, he would have totally bought it! :001_rolleyes:

Taking the path down "prosperity road" is a dangerous one, IMO. He seems to not know anything about scripture or theology, as seen here in a Larry King interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfwYU2pmWYQ He just wants to preach a very "feel good" message and people are eating it up. Liz, I'm surprised you haven't heard of him. He recently sold out Yankee Stadium faster than the Rolling Stones! I personally can't stand the guy.

Having a dumbo moment...what is IEW again?

DH and I are HUGE Trekkies. He was mostly of the original series and I love, love, love Next Gen. I still have a huge crush on Jonathan Frakes. :tongue_smilie::001_wub: We've liked all the series, esp Next Gen, Voyager and I liked Enterprise a lot. DS9 was pretty good. Unfortunately I cannot be in the official Trekkie fan base because I find the original series completely cornball and unwatchable. No flames, it's just me. My husband even shuns me some because of this flaw of mine. For those of you who have seen it: if my almost 5 yo is a big time Indiana Jones fan and has seen all of those (except the ripping out of the heart scene in # 2) and has also seen all the Star Wars (except the final one, er...#3 because of some of the really dark Darth Vader stuff) do you think this new Trek would be okay for him? Aliens too scary? I will go check, but is it R or PG-13?

:001_huh::lol::lol: We've flown twice in the last 7 months, and I had each kid pack what they wanted. My dd brought her mp3 player and books, ds brought coloring books, a puzzle, a magna doodle, etc. Lots of snacks and things they can chew on, like gum or Skittles, does help. My dd is pretty sensitive to the air pressure and complains about her ears, so I tried the earplugs called "earplanes" and they didn' work at all for her. If you have any that get motion sick I'd recommend Dramamine too. It helps and also makes them a tad drowsy. My ds slept most of the last couple of flights. Don't pack drinks, you can't take them anyways. I did pack their portable cups (like sippee cups but with straws) and once inside the terminal at the gate I filled them with water. But the flight has plenty of juice and sodas too. Have fun!!!

Done!