The Teaching Company does have great courses.

I'm going to get one too. Ebooks are critically necessary since I live overseas. As soon as I can figure out where they are sold in Chengdu, I'll have one. I'm going to go online now to look.

Young Earth is the concept that the Earth is 6000 or so years old because, allegedly, that's what the Bible claims when you add up the 'begats'. It in no way, no how jives with science. It rejects science andscience rejects it. I's the science equivelent of covinering your ears and endlessly repeating "La! La! La! I'm not listening!" Athough I'm sure others here disagree.

Too bad they lost, kinda dampens the fun of opening day. I look forward to seeing how the new players contribute. In other news, looks like the Wings are ready to claim the President's Cup again and the Pistons are in a great position for the NBA playoffs as well.

So you wear the ring all the time and it serves as a permanent reminder - especially for if you're feeling frisky or feeling pressured, to resist. Thanks.

You're still a step ahead of me in understanding. Can somebody explain a purity ring? Thx.

:iagree: Although we're only at one, I also want a large family, I love children. Seven would suit me well but I suspect we won't get there as "four and we'll see" is all I can get my dw to commit to. The thing is that I can afford a large family on my income. Or at least I beleive I can. I think when folks can't afford a large family, it's irresponsible to have so many kids and then ask the government to pay for them. But you know what, the family here seems to agree, the dh is working like carzy to support his family and the OP doesn't want the goverment assistance. And I respect that. But it looks like the plan didn't work. What I would recommend isto go ahead and take the assistance, you need it, it's designed for people like you. I don't think anyone would blame you. What happens though is when people are on public assistance, and continue to have kids, that's the point when most other taxpayers get really upset and the negative gossip starts.

This just disgusts me. I know there's a lot of strong Christians here and I'm having a really hard time writing this in a way that doesn't offend, but there's a lesson here. I'm sure these parents are distraught and devastated by what happened but the cold hard truth is that it was their negligence that killed their daughter. So I really hope that when you have a sick child, you put as much faith in the medical community as you do in God. If God's going to heal your child, probably the best vehicle to use is your doctor. I mean, nobody here, woulddo this... I hate to sound like I would assume that. I just.... really can't understand people of strong faith sometimes.

Hmmm .... unfortunatly, like many blogsites, yours has been blocked by the Chinese government. :( Thanks for the thought, I saved your address.

Teaching and HSing is my obsession and passion. Teaching is also my career, I'm highly in demand English teacher with a good reputation (which sounds more impressive than it actually is, I believe anybody with a pulse and a passport can do what I do). Since I can earn twice as much as my dw in half the hours, the teaching aspects fall to her and she has no experience teaching. Her English skills are acceptable for daily use in a family, but her vocabulary is limited and her grammar has tons of mistakes. Things aren't static though, I've every confidence that my wife can improve her English alongside her children and can pickup a talent for this along the way. She's a very capable woman; quite amazing actually. I'll of course play a big role in things as well, make sure everything goes smoothly.

My dw is quite brilliant and capable businesswoman but gave up a promising career to get married and take care of our daughter, agreed to HS, agreed to have a mid-large family. She transitioned into being a SAHM semlessly after working 70 hour weeks for eight years. And she's amazing at mothering, she's totally in tune to the needs and wants of the baby. I've never heard of or witnessed a more happy, content, non-fussy easy to take care of baby than my daughter. She also takes great care of me, puts up with me, pushes and encourages me just enough. She's calm, sane, logical, emotionally stable, responsible, super-capable. I don't recall her ever making a mistake. She's the first one all her circle of friends goes to for advice or for support. We *almost* never argue. I completly trust her judgment, respect her greatly, and have every confidence she'll be a great HS mom. She's my best friend and I love her greatly.

I'm so deep in the dark on curiculum. Everything I know is what comments I read from others, I've never had a chance yet to browse through anything. I wasn't a parent the last time I was in the US. I'll try to get a better handle on it next time I'm home.

What I miss most is books. I can find toys, clothes, most anything else, but books are the big void in my life. Classic books (pre-1922) can be found online free since their copyright has expired. I'd focus on books after that. Really, I'm allowed to take 100 lbs of luggage on each trip back from the US... 95 pounds of that is books.

Living overseas makes it a challenge to get cool free stuff. so I'm always on the lookout ofr cool things online. :bigear: I gave you rep and am also bumping this to the top from page five for others who may have otherwise missed it to see. :001_smile:

:iagree: I was just going to post this- he'll probably come around by himself when he discovers what the nightmare/joke the US public school system.Regarding HSing, he knows less about it than Sgt Shultz knew about Hogan's antics. Tell him to open his eyes. Also point out how it's quite rude to come into somebody's house and criticize them. If that doesn't work, bring in the big guns. Invite him to watch Peter Lorre movies with you and drop disparaging comments about Nazis all the time. ;)

Posting with all the nice and polite women around here, you've no idea some of the things that go on on the internet. It's full of bullies, trolls and internet tough guys who feel empowered by the anonymity the internet provides. I've spent the past ten years posting at an (almost) unmoderated football. A lot of internet tough guys and trolls hang out there. It's really lowbrow and we're not very polite to each other, but it has it's moments of great laughs. This post stuck out because of how well articulated the insult was. Most of these neanderthals, couldn't write like this. Sometimes they perform what's called a 'jihad'. A bunch get together and register at an unsuspecting board and wreck havoc with their bad behavior and bawdy jokes until the moderators ban them all. They did this at PETA once, also a site for women's hair care products. What goes around comes around; we've had our board jihaded on us. Somebody was complaining about the pizza place he goes to require a thumbprint when he paid with a check and the thread turned into bashing rude service sector employees. Turns out that somebody at a service sector board called "CustomersSuck" took offense and we were flooded with new posters raising a ruckus. Another time -an we never leaerned where these guys came from but they were retaliating against some gay bashing in a thread at our site - a bunch of folks, all registered with user names from kids' TV shows, gay celebrities, and boy bands came in and did the same thing. The whole page one of our site was full of weird homo-erotic thread titles. :auto: Trolls...

Well this is positive news since the absolute worst scenario is for the ruling to stand, so now that they're rehearing the case, we're back to where we were a month ago. As I've stated all along, I've got no sympathy for these parents. This is about abuse, not us. Unfortuantly, since they're claiming rights as homeschoolers to justify what they're doing, they're dragging all of us down with them. This is the last family I want as the public face of HSing. :glare:

Evolutionary science explains a phenomenon, it doesn't and shouldn't be used to justify irresponsibly personal behavior.

Exhibit B

Exhibit A

It was a crappy job where I spent three years working constant overtime and being treated poorly, not to mention at one point as putting my life on the line, to go to college. The Army offers the GI Bill as an enducment to get people to do this. It's the most successful, most well designed, most popular program the government ever canme up with and has full support from the population at large as well as politicians of all stripes. "Taxpayers pay" implies I sat on a couch watching TV and eating hohos leeching off the system waiting for a monthly check from the government to come in. Work>>>> whine about entitlements IMO one is an honorable pull yourself-up-by-the-bootstrap method, the other one is not. And I'm more than a little offended at the jab.

College made me a better person. It gave me a wealth of knowledge, experience, a greater understanding of who I am and how the world works. It also gave me a career. I love education, I love learning, speaking knowledgably on a vast array of topics.. You could say I'm addicted to education. I look forward to going over all these things again with my children. I'm a lifelong learner, I read, and I hope to instill that into my kids. Education enriches and broadens your mind and gives life color and meaning. Even without the career or moneymaking aspect, although that's a factor, it's the journey itself that's s big a reward as the destination. For me college was a lot of fun. The world is just too big, too interesting, and too much fun to go through life in a shell- uninformed and uneducated.

In China we have massive amounts of cheap Lego knockoffs. I can't speak to the quality yet.

Well I've just read the entire thread from 1-7 and was in total disagreement with almost all of you all until I got here to the end and I'm so happy to be posting with my page seven collegues. You can be 100% certain that Team Volty will be guided gently, lovingly but firmly into the very best, most academically rigorous curiculum we can design for each individual child. This has always been important to me, even in chosing their mother, I was looking for the most brilliant, gifted woman I could find so as to have good genes to pass on. We're going to desgn a K-12 curriculum that respects litearture, history, math, arts, science, the humanities, philosophy, as well as practical things like fixing a bicycle/car, cooking, and balancing a checkbook. I want their educational experience to be rich and diverse and world class. I'm fully commited to excellence. Everything will be about college prep, we'll try to accomplish ipmressive goals, feats, and activities with our college resumes in mind. My children, especially my girls, will be taught to be strong and independant critical thinkers. It's the most sacred, absolute vow and commitment that I make on behalf of my children that they be as well educated and well prepared as students at the most exclusive prep schools by the time they enter college. Granted, life may throw me a curve ball. Maybe I come across as obsessive. But if I have my way "not entering college" will never be discussed as an option. We'll always talk college in a way that assumes getting a scholarship into a prestigeous one is their future goal. You all can make the decisions that you want to but as for Team Volty, we don't intend to go to all this time and trouble to HS my family just to spit out kids with the same life/career path as ordinary public school students.