My all time tear jerker book is "Just In Case You Ever Wonder" by Max Lucado. I am such a cry baby! Even if I watch TV and someone is crying, I start to cry too. My dd looks at me and says "Oh Mom!". My dad is pretty emotional too; he was over at our home watching a sad movie. My dd saw him crying and looked very puzzled. She pulled me aside and said "Mom, I didn't know men could cry". Ah, the innocence of children.

As you may have noticed earlier I am hard core Environmental field. The money is so good there. I would suggest looking into a 2 year environmental degree of some sort. Industrial hygiene is a great field (basically you tell your company what chemicals are safe and what do to if they are not...like what protective gear to wear or how to remediate a harmful substance, etc.). At my college they had a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering which was a lot less intensive than the other engineering programs. Surveying or CAD drawing would also be a good skill set to have and would allow him to get hired after only a 2 year degree.

My dh and I grew up in the Beaumont area.

I look forward to the day, when I too, will be crowned in glory!

I have a chemical engineering degree and my dh has a civil engineering degree. I worked as a ChemE for the chemical industry and went into the Environmental side. It has high dollar pay and is not economy driven. I would ask my dc where do they see themselves at the end of their educational road. What do they want to accomplish? I was a physics fanatic, but we did not have a Engineering Physics program. I would really stick to one of the main Engineering degrees, once he gets hired into a company he can specialize. If he really likes physics, maybe Mechanical Engineering would be the way to go.

I have a chemical engineering degree and my dh has a civil engineering degree. A little backgroud: We married at 19, unexpectedly got pregnant 6 months after we were married and we both still graduated on time with our dd being 18 months old. An engineering degree is definately hard work! The choice you would have to make is which field of engineering to get into. Chemical engineering has a very wide realm of possibilities and pays the highest starting out. As a ChemE you can work in the agricultural, chemical, food, pharmicuticals, refining, and more. I started out from college in the mid 50's, but the kicker is that I went into Environmental (laws and regulations for the air, water, and waste from the chemical plants). I quit after 5 years to stay home with my dc's and was making 6 figures at the time. My dh on the other hand, started out making in the low 40's. As a Civil Engineer you are almost required to get your Professional Engineering license (PE) and once you get that (after 4 years of having your degree and passing 2 tests), your salary ceiling opens up alot more than for a ChemE. My dh is currently the boss in a branch office and could potentially work for himself, although is still is not making as much as I did before I quit. Of all the fields to go into, I highly recommened Civil because the course material is much easier and it is much easier to get on as an intern and learn how to design like someone else mentioned. Currently my dh has a guy working for him that is going to school part time and working full-time. The guy is a CAD drawer and makes $35k. I would push very hard for him to get into the Environmental field, no matter which degree he decides on. All business that make products require environmental staff and no matter how the economy is doing, environmental staff are still required to make the required monthly, quarterly, yearly reports to the state and federal agencies. Plus, the money is VERY good. I hired the dh of a friend who was working at Home Depot and my company was paying for his tuiton to get his civil engineering degree once we saw how promising he was. They also were very flexible to work around his school hours. I have so much more to say on this subject, but am afriad I will bore everyone to tears. Please pm me is you need to talk more, I know this is such a hard decision to make!!

I do not have an older boy, but I understand the bullying. I was a very bullied child all through catholic school...I think it was the fact that I was very quiet and always had my nose stuck in a book. Anyways, I did defend myself once and was never messed with by the same girl again. From experience, if you continue to allow your son to be bullied, it can cause emotional damage. I would definately exchange the co-op for another extracurricular type activty. We put my dd(7) is karate, which she loves. Also, things such as shooting sports (through 4-H) or archery are a great way for kids to interact.

My dd is almost 8, so she should be able to control her volume by now, especially after she has heard me say "not so loud please" a million times. Only recently has she learned to whisper and she only does that in church. She is very very outgoing, and frankly, I think she scares kids sometimes with her volume. I have considered having her tested for ADD, maybe I should go ahead and get it done. Oh, she did have a hearing test for Kindergarten and passed with flying colors, but recently I have had to repeat myself to her 2-3 times before she understands me. Maybe I should have her hearing tested again.

Alright, here are my inner most thoughts...beware! I have been struggling with the want of having a large family and the logistics of getting everything done and everyone to still feel like I have time to spend with them. I really would like some advice from moms of 4 or more kids. I have 3 kids, ages 7,3,2 respectively. I think having a 4.5 year gap between my oldest and the two little ones makes a difference from those who have kids at a fairly constant gap rate. I constantly think about expanding my family and I don't want to have too large of an age gap between kids, but what works best? I finally feel like they are getting old enough for us to all participate in school projects and nature walks, etc. and am afraid to lose that freedom. My biggest fear deals with having a newborn and still being able to do homeschool like I want, such as field trips and daily lessons in general. I don't do well on little to no sleep and I am so afraid that my other children will feel neglected. So, how do you handle having so many little ones around and still be able to homeschool your school age child? What tips or tricks do you use? Thanks for listening to me rant...I can't wait to hear your thoughts! Heather

My parents have always advocated that my family stock up. I always thought of my mom as a little paranoid, until this year. With the economy changing and all the natural disasters close to here, I have finally taken the plunge and stocked up on salt, sugar, canned goods, rice, dried beans, oatmeal, paper goods, etc. I do feel soooooo mcuh better now. I know that if my dh loses his job we can at least eat.

Yes, we have a very loud child in our home. She is loud when she talks normally, even louder when she gets excited, and I am tired of telling her to lower her voice 50 times a day. I don't think she can help it, my husband's sister (25 years old) is the exact same way. I don't think it is fair to punish her, but I am sooooo tired of asking her to lower her voice. She has been like this from birth, but my other two children are not loud. As a side note, I am wondering if she has ADD (probably not ADHD since she can sit still for lessons) and maybe ADD and being loud are related?. Any ideas or suggestions?? Oh, I forgot to mention that she naturally wakes up around 7am every morning and talks very loudly to my husband and unfortunatley wakes up every one in the house.

Located in Canyon Lake (North of San Antonio).

:seeya:Heeeeeelllllllllloooooooo to my fellow ChemE's. My oldest is only in 1st grade right now, but I am soooooo craving the math and science I can hardly help myself. Can't wait till we get to more in-depth material!

Not to sounds mean or insensitive, but a muzzle would work. It would allow the dogs to have fun on their leashes and keep you out of hot water should they bite someone. I worked for a Vet clinic in college and we always required certain animals to wear muzzles. The dogs can be trained to like them if you begin with a few minutes each day and move up the wearing time until they are completely comfortable with wearing one. You could remove the muzzles for eating and drinking at the park when you are in a secured location. Just a suggestion...and they are not painful as some people might be led to believe.

There are color differences on the map...one indicates confirmed cases, and the other is suspected cases, that haven't been confirmed yet. If you zoom in and run your cursor over the colored dot thingy it pops up a note about each case.

Google maps has a swine flu tracking program...pretty cool! http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&z=5

You got me thinking, I did a search for him in our area and did find an ER Doctor with the same last name: Dr. Marcus Gitterle MD Emergency Medicine Physician - New Braunfels, Texas Physician Addresses 600 N Union Ave Christus Santa Rosa Hospital

Started new post (my info was long): Swine Flue info...from the CDC I live very close to an infected area and this comes from a doctor attending the CDC and Health Department meetings.

I live very close to an infected area and my homeschool group here is sending out info. Here is an excerpt: Friends, this is from an ER doctor in New Braunfels, sent to me by Mark Lundy. It is more comprehensive than other things I've see. -- J___ Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:55:31 -0500 Subject: Flu Update from Dr. Gitterle After I returned from a public health meeting yesterday with community leaders and school officials in Comal County, Heather suggested I send an update to everyone, because what we are hearing privately from the CDC and Health Department is so different from what you are hearing in the media. Some of you know some or maybe all of this, but I will just list what facts I know. - The virus is infectious for about 2 days prior to symptom onset - Virus sheds more than 7 days after symptom onset (possibly as long as 9 days) (this is unusual) - Since it is such a novel (new) virus, there is no "herd immunity," so the "attack rate" is very high. This is the percentage of people who come down with a virus if exposed. Almost everyone who is exposed to this virus will become infected, though not all will be symptomatc. That is much higher than seasonal flu, which averages 10-15%. The "clinical attack rate" may be around 40-50%. This is the number of people who show symptoms. This is a huge number. It is hard to convey the seriousness of this. - The virulence (deadliness) of this virus is as bad here as in Mexico, and there are folks on ventilators here in the US, right now. This has not been in the media, but a 23 month old near here is fighting for his life, and a pregnant woman just south of San Antonio is fighting for her life. In Mexico, these folks might have died already, but here in the US, folks are getting Tamiflu or Relenza quickly, and we have ready access to ventilators. What this means is that within a couple of weeks, regional hospitals will likely become overwhelmed. - Some of the kids with positive cases in Comal County had more than 70 contacts before diagnosis. - There are 10-25 times more actual cases (not "possible" cases -- actual), than what is being reported in the media. The way they fudge on reporting this is that it takes 3 days to get the confirmatory nod from the CDC on a given viral culture, but based on epidemiological grounds, we know that there are more than 10 cases for each "confirmed" case right now. - During the night, we crossed the threshold for the definition of a WHO, Phase 6 global pandemic. This has not happened in any of our lifetimes so far. We are in uncharted territory. - I expect President Obama will declare an emergency sometime in the next 72-96 hours. This may not happen, but if it doesn't, I will be surprised. When this happens, all public gathering will be cancelled for 10 days. - I suggest all of us avoid public gatherings. Outdoor activities are not as likely to lead to infection. It is contained areas and close contact that are the biggest risk. - Tamiflu is running out. There is a national stockpile, but it will have to be carefully managed, as it is not enough to treat the likely number of infections when this is full-blown. I don't think there is a big supply of Relenza, but I do not know those numbers. If I had to choose, I would take Relenza, as I think it gets more drug to the affected tissue than Tamiflu. - You should avoid going to the ER if you think you have been exposed or are symptomatic. ER's south of here are becoming overwhelmed -- and I mean that -- already. It is coming in waves, but the waves are getting bigger. - It appears that this flu produces a distinctive "hoarseness" in many victims. The symptoms, in general, match other flu's; namely, sore throat, body aches, headache, cough, and fever. Some have all these symptoms, while others may have only one or two. - N-Acetyl-Cysteine -- a nutritional supplement available at the health food store or Wimberley Pharmacy, has been shown to prevent or lessen the severity of influenza. I suggest 1200mg, twice a day for adults, and 600mg twice a day in kids over 12. It would be hard to get kids under 12 to take it, but you could try opening the capsules and putting it on yogurt. For 40 pounds and up, 300-600 mg twice a day, for less than 40 pounds, half that. - Oscillococinum, a homeopathic remedy, has been vindicated as quite effective in a large clinical trial in Europe, with an H1N1 variant. You can buy this at Hill Country Natural Foods, or the Wimberley Pharmacy.

Thanks!! This helps a ton...I am new to homeschooling and wasn't quite sure where to look. I went through all the links you posted and will definately be able to use some of the info. Yeah!

Thanks so much for all the info. I will be using the Standards Edition also which makes finding the HIG's used alot harder. I think I will buy one and see if it's helpful, then I can buy the rest.

I will be using Singapore Math for the first time this Fall. My dd will be in 2nd grade, and I have decided to buy the 1B extra practice (to get warmed up), 2A tb and wb, and 2B tb and wb. My main question is do I need to buy the HIG's for 2A and 2B?? I have a Chemical Engineering degree and L-O-V-E math. Is the HIG just providing help to those who aren't as in love with math as I am or does it actually give you lesson plans, etc. Let me know what you think! Thanks, Heather

We will be using Abeka's "Our America" for Second grade. Are there any activities, supplements, etc. that have been put together for this. I know I can pick a person/place and do all the research myself, but would MUCH rather use something that has already been done. Any suggestions??

My computer can't access the abbreviation link page...what is SOTW and MOH?