I didn't read the thread you are referring to but when we were younger and building our first house, we kind of ran out of money towards the end. Rather than going into debt for flooring, I just stained and varnished the subfloor. Basically no cost since I had lots of stain left over from previous projects and didn't care about the finish color. I just poured everything I had together and used that. I lived with that for years. Loved it actually. It didn't show dirt. Was easy to clean. Just sweep and sometimes wash up with soap and water. Very carefree too since I didn't worry about scratches etc. Weird thing was that not many people noticed our unique floor and if they did they thought it was kind of cool. We finally got around to putting in real flooring just in time to sell the place. 😀

I had a friend in the same situation...raised in a solid Christian home, father was a pastor....when he got married he really started struggling with what he believed. Two books that he read during that time that really helped were: I Don't Have enough Faith to be an Athiest. (my favorite) https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Have-Enough-Faith-Atheist/dp/1581345615 and Letters from a Skeptic https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Skeptic-Wrestles-Questions-Christianity/dp/1434799808 I've read both. Very solid and also very well written. Maybe better for adults???

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NOT FAIR!!! My children would turn green with envy. It would be a very long drive for us, so I am trying to figure out if it is worth it. I'm thinking it could be a really neat birthday experience for my oldest son. If it works out. That's one of the big questions I had. I guess I couldn't believe that it would be free and thought I must be missing something. Thanks for the link. I had seen it but didn't see anything about the cost other than the shuttle fee. I also really wish I could talk to someone who has been there. If we do go are we just going to be one of tens of thousands way up on some bleachers barely able to see or would we maybe, just maybe be able to interact with the players. Maybe get an autograph or something like that. If so, it would be more than worth it. I guess what I am saying is that I don't want to make a huge deal, raise a ton of expectations, drive 8 hours and then have a disappointing experience. Thanks everyone.

Hey, thanks for replying. I found an online contact form to email them questions directly. I might do that. It would be pretty awesome to have them be right in our hometown, but as it is we would have to drive 8 hours. :driving: Maybe it is a crazy idea. :blush:

So my kiddos have gotten into football big time this past year. We don't have a team of our own so we latched onto the Seahawks as "our" team. I would love to be able to take them to a game next year, but I think it would cost too much for your family. I read online about a training camp that is open to fans and thought how cool that would be. But I can't find much about it on the internet. Only that it's very limited, you have to reserve tickets which sell out insanely fast, and that there is an $8 shuttle fee. Does anyone know more about this? What is the cost of the ticket? Is it worth going? Has anyone here ever done this or know more about it? Thanks for any additional information. :001_smile:

Good morning OneStep, Thanks for responding. I guess I am really discouraged right now. Only testing he has has so far is with the school which doesn't necessarily test for dyslexia just a reading disability. They did send us to an optometrist to check for developmental vision issues. That came back good. Maybe we did go too fast although at the time it didn't seem like it. I hate to think that we need to go back and do a ton of review. Honestly, I have thought about it, but I don't know if that's the answer. He struggles a lot with inserting letters that aren't there. Like picking up letters from the next word and plopping them into the word he is trying to read. Once it's in his head, it's impossible to get out unless we go back to tapping and saying each letter. Marking up the passage seems to help some with this - maybe because of highlighting syllables in different colors? I really don't know where to go from here. Definitely open to testing, but what kind?

So my DS is 11 and a half. We have been working on Barton's for 3 years. We are about half-way through level 5. In one way he is doing very well - he is understanding and retaining rules - sometimes better than I do. :laugh: But when it comes to actually reading he has a really hard time unless he pre-marks the passage. He will go through and identify units, split words into syllables so he knows whether a vowel will be open or closed, etc. Once he has done all that, then he has no problem reading the passage. But the whole process is very laborious and he doesn't seem to be getting any more automatic. I'm thinking there is no way this child will ever learn to enjoy reading if it's that much work. I am very loosely working with our school. Basically all they want from me is a yearly evaluation to see if his words per minute are getting any better. The special ed teacher is very sweet. We had a long talk a month or so ago and although she was initially encouraging with Barton, she feels like at this point (age wise and time wise) if a child has not learned to read with a phonetic program (like Barton's), she would change methods and switch to a sight reading method. She recommended a computer program called "Read Naturally" which has a passage at a certain grade level. Child does a cold reading. Then the program reads him the passage slowly 3X with the words being highlighted as he reads along. After the 3 readings, he tests again to see how much he has improved. She gave us a copy of the program. I was intrigued enough (and maybe discouraged enough with Barton's) to try it. Son tested at grade 2 level with a cold reading of 40 or 50 wpm which then jumped to 80 to 100 after the 3 readings. DS really likes it. He is actually reading for the first time in his life. And interesting stories at that. I wonder though about the benefits of such an approach, though. It seems contrary to everything I've learned with Barton's. Any advice?

I was also going to recommend The Dyslexic Advantage. Awesome, awesome book. Very encouraging. Before reading The Dyslexic Advantage I saw my son's struggles as a disability....now I see it as a unique, amazing challenge. Welcome and good luck.

Maize, so glad for you and for her! :hurray:

I print out a book every year through a service like shutterfly. I used to do the editing of it but my dd16 has recently taken over this job. Bless her. I hated doing it but loved the results.

:iagree: I love their music. And yes, I love cleaning to it....everything you do feels epic with that playing in the background. I'm not sure about the name though. I changed it to Two Steps from Life on my Ipod. That way I won't have my children looking at my sideways, wondering what kind of music their sweet Christian mom is into. :tongue_smilie:

We love spaghetti squash at our house and only ever make it one way. Bake it, hollow it out. Then layer the spaghetti with tomato sauce, basil, oregano (whatever pizza seasonings you like), raw bacon and mozarella cheese. As the bacon cooks it flavors the spaghetti. Add the mozarella cheese at the end so that the bacon can crisp. Not sure what the calorie intake would be, but I make this a lot when we go low carb.

Very true. I found that out the hard way. :cursing:

Thanks everybody for the responses. That gives me a very good idea of how to advise her. I am wishing that she should just go with Barton's....her son sounds like very much like my own and I know that mine needed the highest level of intervention available. :tongue_smilie: Cost is definitely factoring into the decision making process, which is unfortunate.

I have a friend whose son is dyslexic. She home schools. I have been trying to sell her on Barton's - I use it with mine and know what a good solid program it is. She just asked me today about a program called Logics of English - Foundations. What I thought of it. I have never heard of it, but I did some quick research and it looks solid enough. Not Barton's level solid, but still... Anyone have any experience with it that they could share with me? Yeah or Nay? Thanks

:iagree: :iagree: Exactly. When I am having a rough day or when someone disappoints me or people become "too much" for me, I turn to my dog (and horse).

Alley, I agree with you and maybe that was a poor choice of words. I have looked at the statistics and I think for every time you get pulled over drunk, you have on average driven under the influence something like 60? 80? times. Anyways, it's a lot Definitely not something I discount or take lightly.

Hi, OP here. Just quick answering since you have all been so kind. Talked to pastor - Definitely cautioned that she shouldn't be there on her own. Although he didn't think there was any danger. More "safe, rather than sorry." Either a helper or an adult to go along and hang out. So far, I have gone with and helped her clean. Guy has been around. Apparently he has use of the kitchen, so if we are there close to a meal time, he will sometimes come in and get groceries from the fridge or make himself a cup of coffee or whatever. He doesn't hang around and visit. He is doing very well, much better the last few weeks. Not drinking as much. Has a part time job with one of the men at church. Seems to be pulling his life together. I'm hopeful for him. He seems to be making friends. I'm still not sure why he was acting so out of place with my daughter. If he just didn't know better or what. So, going forward - friendly, but cautious. Thanks again to everyone.

He is an awesome accountant. We have used him for years to do our very complicated S corporation and also our Schedule C/Personal Tax Return. I am leaning towards that he misunderstood me or that I misunderstood him. Hopefully. Although I clearly remember him saying something to the affect that if a person made $40K, he is going to be taxed on $40K, even though he has to take that $40K and repay a loan. Schedule C sole proprietorship so profit just flows onto the personal return as income. I am leaving for church so don't have the time right now but I want to study the example lovelearnandlive posted with the numbers that fit my scenario. Also, the question was kind of hypothetical. The numbers aren't quite real....but enough so that by exaggerating them I could get a clearer picture of what exactly is going on. Kid is aware that business taxes are paid quarterly. Thanks everyone.

Maize, that's exactly how I would have understood it as well. I asked our accountant.....he said profit of 40k....maybe he misunderstood? or maybe I said it wrong? ETA - He's the one that brought up the balance sheet and talked about the worth of the company which kind of made sense when I was talking with him, but as soon as I hung up, I couldn't make it make sense anymore.

SO, I am feeling very confused and a bit dumb. I thought I knew my way around a tax return and now I am finding myself stumped. (Kind of) a hypothetical situation: Say someone borrows 40K to start a business. They invest the 40K in inventory which they sell off throughout the year. To make things simple lets say that at the end of the year, they have made enough money after expenses to pay back the 40K. Let's further say that they have no inventory left and that they made no additional money....living mostly off of savings from previous years. (All this is kind of half way true) At the end of the year aren't they worse off than when they started? Because, even though they were able to pay the 40 back, they would still have to pay taxes, right? I am aware that there are 2 sides to a company....the profit and loss and balance sheet and that the business is worth more at the end of the year than at the beginning. (At the beginning it would have been worth -$40K and at the end of the year it would be worth -0-.) Real life though, it doesn't seem right. So, what was the point?? I don't know what taxes would be on a profit of $40K, but for a single guy, I am sure it would be substantial. What am I missing?

Renting. That's an intriguing idea and one I wouldn't have thought of. I'm going to run that past my husband and see what he thinks. Seriously, it would make much better sense than buying an expensive suv or crossover that we would only use occasionally. I asked him tonight about just going with a van...so cheap and practical. He thought I was crazy to even suggest it. Said he wouldn't be caught dead driving one. LOL, I thought I was the reason that we never would have bought a van in the past. He said no, I was just his excuse. :lol:

We still drive a crazy number of miles. We owned the Passat 2 and half years and put 97,000 miles on it. So fuel mileage is very important to me. Which is why we bought the Passat in the first place. :001_smile:

Yeah, I am pretty sure we are going to do the buyback. I guess my bigger question was what to replace it with. Something that would fit our now-too-big family or something with equally awesome fuel mileage or maybe with $20,000 we could get both? Obviously we would have to go with older, higher mileage, but I don't think that would matter to me.