Yes, I have read it and it is heart-breaking. I see no reason not to believe her. However, there are a billion Muslims in the world and I'm sure that they have very diverse experiences; I would not assume that every Muslim woman undergoes such awful things.

I did a couple of Pooh-themed cross-stitch projects and they were torturous, because of the wide expanses of one color at a time. Something with more color variation is more interesting. I would not want to do Eeyore, but I'm currently working on this pattern and having a lot of fun with it. (I'm halfway down, to the beehives.) I also find that cross-stitching on a deadline is not always very fun. It's much more enjoyable when you can pick it up as relaxation instead of a job that must be finished.

Switching dorm rooms is a good idea. Also, I would double check that claim about domestic violence victims in AZ having to go to jail as well--that sounds like total BS. I don't know what to do about the immediate problem of the stalker guy living on campus.

I got one for me and one for my mom!

My husband thinks its a fruit basket.

I wish! I would hereby like to register my request for a West Coast version. You can come and stay at my house! :D

Libraries do clean their books every so often. We have a Friends volunteer who spends a few hours a week doing it, and I remember when I was a young teen the Teen Reading Club did a project to clean the picture books. Does that help? :001_smile:

Uncle Maddy, so we're out of luck there. But there might be something in another line?

Yay!

I finished Warriors of God, about the Third Crusade. Whew! It was really good. I tried Caesar's Gallic Wars next but you know what, it is BORING. Troop movements are not that exciting, so I only made it to p. 18. I'll read the recommended kids' version in the fall when we do ancients. Now I'm reading some other good stuff and I'm going to try Hobbes' Leviathan for my brain. I started it last night, and the whole first section is on Man and quite skimmable if what you're after is the politics part. So I'm going to cheat.

Oh, I know--I love David Tennant so and I'm so sad he left (and I felt the same about Eccleston). BUT I saw the first episode a few days ago and it really was great. I think I'm going to like this new Doctor a lot. (My heart is still David Tennant's though.)

The only thing that has ever worked for me and my painful hiccups is to drink a glass of water while plugging my nose and ears. It is possible to do this by yourself if you use your thumbs for your ears, index fingers for nose, and the other fingers to hold the glass.

I'm going to go all John Taylor Gatto on this one. It doesn't sound like people in the club are finding their precious adult chatting time impinged on, since they are mostly older folks. In fact, they mostly enjoy having the child around, miss him when he's not there, and the point of the club is to encourage young gardeners. I cannot see any reason for a responsible child to be un-invited and think it's a great opportunity for adults to share and the kid to learn. I'm very curious to find out how the call to the director turns out.

Now I wanna know what the question is!

I know that you guys will be fighting the same battle again soon. But I'm glad this round went to you. :) Yes, it varies by state. I live in California, and the legal situation is kind of fuzzy and we want to keep it that way. There are 3 ways to homeschool legally here: have a teacher's credential yourself, hire a tutor, or the real option: register as a private school. You just fill out a form online saying you're a private school and that's it. Since private schools aren't subject to testing, credentials or anything, you aren't either. California has also started public-school options for people wanting to homeschool. You can often do independent study through your district or the county office of education; programs vary widely. There are charter schools that offer homeschooling with greater or lesser degrees of oversight and/or funding. When we went broke last year, we joined a charter school that gives us funding for materials but mostly leaves us alone. I never thought I'd do it, but we were in desperate straits and it's worked well for us (to my surprise). Before that we were independent.

My husband had the open classroom thing in 1st grade. 3 classes--90 kids!--with 3 teachers. He says it was very very noisy, and everyone got sick a lot. My elem. school built a whole new jr. high with 'pods' that had 4 connected classrooms and a central place for the teacher to work. I shudder to think what it must have been like, but pretty soon they built walls. Amazingly, open classrooms are STILL being promoted as the wave of the future in some places. One of my favorite education bloggers said this a while back:

I would say that's completely normal and appropriate, and if you squish it you'll be doing her a disservice. By 11, you ought to be able to explain to her why you have a particular rule and be willing to discuss whether that rule might need to be tweaked a little. That doesn't mean you give up parental authority or let her run rough-shod over you, but it does mean she should get a voice. The way we do it--in order to avoid endless wrangling--is that if I ask a child to do something, I am happy to explain why or discuss it, but they have to be doing it first, showing some willingness to cooperate. We can't stop and have a detailed discussion every time I ask someone to take out the trash, that's ridiculous. You WANT your kid to think about how systems work and question them. That has to extend into your own familial system too. It's a hassle, but cutting her off will not help.

Well, I don't wear them at night, but otherwise yes, I wear one all day.

Here's the thing. When I was 16 I knew a girl my own age who had never worn a bra, and who was well-endowed. It was not pretty. She was already sagging badly--I have nursed two babies and I'm 36 (and a D cup) and I don't look like that yet. Good support is important for us larger girls. I'm just sayin'.

Check it out, the English government has dropped legislation about home education from the Children, School, and Families bill. A short blog comment is here. This is great news! And I have to say, I'm quite surprised; I thought UK home educators would lose this fight. So, [baldrick voice]hooray![/baldrick] I'm off to have a celebratory turnip. :D

I agree; it seemed like he was so involved with the class that his family hardly ever saw him. IIRC he did say about halfway through that he had to learn to cut back and not get so involved, for his own good and for the kids--but even then I thought his family couldn't be getting much.

That sounds good to me! My kids are taking the STAR next week for the first time and I'm a little nervous! They've never been in a testing environment and don't quite know what to expect, though I think they'll do fine.

I have no allergies to plants, but I'd be inclined to either cut off the stamens or get rid of the flowers and choose something else. People are more important than having the 'right' flowers. But maybe I'm missing something about the theological importance of Easter lilies?

Now there's a reason to start our account back up again!

I'd ask to come see it in person.