NeuroTypical

Yes. Of course, you need a support system. And of course it's not something to do alone. We're not too many years away from finding a non-us way to continue teaching math, for example. The purpose of educating kids, is to create capable, mature, moral, well-adjusted adults who are willing and able to pursue their own happiness and contribute positively to their communities and relationships, and unleash them. It is the parents responsibility and duty, regardless of what parts of it they outsource to someone else. Yep - here you go: You do need hubby to agree and be supportive. You do not need your friends or neighbors or extended family to agree. Our relations all think we're nuts.

Well, those are more appropriately thought of as the two extremes of a wide range of styles and methods. And you get to pick where on the range you want to appear. And you can change if you like. Children start 'learning' in the womb. Playing with babies is teaching them, as is laughing with toddlers and telling stories, coloring, scribbling, playing in the mud, making macaroni pictures, etc, etc. If you are asking when do you start sitting them down with pencil and paper, well, that depends on your children, their attention spans, and what's on the paper. Maybe what you're asking, is when do you start taking attendance and tracking progress and whatnot? For pre-K kids, we basically grabbed our kiddo's yearly doctor checkup list, as it was looking for ability to form words and tell colors and whatnot. Nothing formal - but looking for indications that something was delayed or missing. We've always done some sort of homeschooling co-op, and we've tried three. Last and this year, the kids do one day of co-op, and one day of public school offered as a homeschool outreach thing. They won't learn to write 1d/wk, but this is how they get their state requirements like history, art, social studies, etc. It all depends on what is available in your area. Here in homeschool-friendly Colorado, they're everywhere. In my opinion, in far, far superior ways to how they're addressed in public school. Our high-functioning CP kid gets weekly one-on-one PT through a team of highly-trained specialists funded by our medical insurance. Placing her in school, she'd have PT done through the couple of people the district hired to cover six schools, who have never heard the term "benign congenital hypotonia" before in their lives. You will learn how to make a 401 plan or an IEP plan, which basically is an agreement on how the school will navigate through the paradoxical and occasionally nonbeneficial morass of federal and state laws, and what they will and won't do for your kids.This is not a slam on public schools. This is a reality of what schools can accomplish with available funding and within government rules. The folks on the special ed team in my district are wonderful dedicated people who manage to wring miracles out of the situation they are in. It's just that mom and the team of docs at peds rehab are better at it In homeschooling, you are Mom. That means you learn diagnoses, learn what it all means, learn what works or doesn't for you and your kiddo, and you put the treatment into play. You will learn to argue with doctors, and your doctors will learn to respect and trust your opinion. You don't have to learn it all tomorrow - you learn over years as you go - and that's ok. It depends on how structured you decide to be. There are families that use alarms and stopwatches and whatnot, who do daily prayer at 7:55AM, then online stuff until 8:45, then 15 minutes of play time, etc. Our family does it this way: "I'll make lunch after your math is done." "You can go knock on the (homeschooling neighbor's) door after you do your reading." "No evening Netflix shows until your daily stuff is done." "You can play on mom's ipod after dad grades your math test and goes over it with you." I was been completely against this style when I first heard about it. But now it's what works for wife and kids, and me too. Your results will vary, and change over time. One word of advice, new homeschooling mommies can burn out and get destroyed if they decide to live and die by a timetable. Whatever program you implement needs to have plenty of slack in it for sickness, family emergencies, traffic jams, surprise sleep-over opportunities, etc. The monthly and yearly goals are more important than the weekly and daily goals. Socialization is important. Friends and playdates are important. But don't discount socialization with random people you meet during the day. Yearly child checkups for early years. There are tons of developmental calendars and whatnot available. During regular K-12 school years, your public school probably has state or federal grade-by-grade milestones published on a website somewhere. The Well-Trained Mind has everything laid out year-by-year. And every year, we deviate from it a little more, and that's fine.Again, you pick it up over time. You don't need to know it tomorrow. Here's how to know if you'll succeed at homeschooling:* Do you like spending lots and lots of time, every day, with your kids? With very few breaks? Do you have sufficient energy levels to do this? * Can you endure repetition? * Can you see the world through your kid's eyes, and alter your method appropriately? * Can you learn new things just seconds before teaching them? * Does someone have the patience in your family to keep records and attendance and make and track goals? Then you'll do fine.

Yeah, dead link:

I still think my dark side of the force is more seductive and powerful. Johnny Lingo is about how to navigate through your mysogynistic culture and end up as king of the mysogynists. Jaguar infant starvation skyrocketed ever since Dora the Explorer and her evil brother Diego embarked on their misguided efforts to keep the jaguar from it's food supply, just because the prey was 'cute'. Most teenage slasher flicks out there, are little more than advertisements for responsible concealed-carry. Trey Parker and Matt Stone couldn't have done a better job on Saturday's Warrior for depicting fringe unsound myth and emotional wishful-thinking as doctrinal truth. Join us.

Oh yeah - I forgot that one. Thanks for reminding me.And I'll add beefche's reason to my list too. "You should marry the person best-suited to help you force undesirable elements in your community to shut up". Bini - you want I should mail you our registration packet? We have t-shirts, ya know...

Do you have kids? If no, my only advice is to not have any until you and your wife make it through the other side of this thing you've brought into the marriage. If yes, I guess my advice would be not to have any more, until the family emerges on the other side of this thing.

Heh. Lots of people love to hate Johnny Lingo, and criticize it by identifying messages some folk might get from it, that are not the intended messages. Like "you are worthless unless a man likes you". Or "you can trick ugly people into thinking they are beautiful by lying to them about their worth". Or "Your sense of self-worth should always be dependent on what others think about you". These people are the Keepers of the Sarcastic Teenage Mindset. I, at 42 years of age, am one of their revered elders. I hold the rank of Grand Poobah - because although I have not actually seen Johnny Lingo, I can quote from the script like a master. I also specialize at yelling stuff at random tv shows. My kids are learning to tolerate me.

Hi Dahlia, The jedi mind trick is a direct, personal witness from the Holy Ghost that God is who He says He is, and our church and scriptures are what they say they are. In short, the thing that works, is coming to a testimony that God says so, and although I don't necessarily get why, I believe Him. You could challenge him to give it a try. If he wants to understand, he might want to try going a month walking in the footsteps of a clean and sober mormon. Walking around, praying for guidance, doing service, going to church, submitting his will to God's, not drinking - just to see for himself what everyone is all so excited about. Just trying on the shoes to see if they are comfortable. I mean, he can always go back to it later if nothing works, right? Since he's not addicted, it shouldn't be a big deal, right? It's not like he'll ever really get a good answer by just asking people...

My wife has a very simple path through such obstacles. In her words: "I trust God to act like God, and man to act like man." She does not place human words or opinions or talks or expositions on scripture or church policy or individual behavior on the same level as scripture or revealed truth. She expects man to be what man is - fallible, error-prone, weak, biased, agenda driven, colored by current cultural understanding, usually trying to be good, sometimes trying to be evil. Here's an example. She is on antidepressants. We have a new 1st counselor in the Bishopric who recently preaced a little outdated ignorant bullcrap over the pulpit about the role of mind-altering medication in a righteous mormon's life. She's heard it so often over the years she doesn't even react to it any more. And since she figures man's existence involves a little ignorant foolishness every now and then, she didn't even bother getting hurt by his words, or fret about whether to sustain him the next chance she gets. She raises her arm to the square all the time for all sorts of fallible, error-prone, sinful people. She's such a person herself. If she's going to have a problem with this guy, consistentcy dictates she have equal problems with everyone including herself, because we're all in the same situation. And she's got better things to do than carry the burden of being offended by all the dumb things people have said to or about her for decades. I have a similar phrase which helps me figure out where my loyalty lies: "The only good reason to be a Mormon, is you believe God wants you to be one." Except after drinking the dregs of church criticism, the only thing I really have a problem with these days is I hate ties.

Funny video of a guy singing to his wife about why soulmates don't really exist:

Gift registries are a blessing for well-meaning introverts like me. For whatever reason, we ended up having like three wedding showers, and one or two showers for each kid. People I hardly knew gave us stuff. I have a lifelong debt here that I can't repay. I don't care who invites, or how well I know them. If they've got an online registry, I'm usually good for some kitchen or bath gadget. I try to go with stuff that I'd like to have but wouldn't buy for myself, something which will still be useful 5 years later. The free gift card will say something like "Congratulations and best wishes from the [LM's]." I didn't know half the people who gave us gifts, I'm not really invested in the recipients knowing me either.

It can be. How long have you been married? How is your communication? Do you think she honestly doesn't value or respect you, or does she just not show it enough?What is normal, is husband and wife really do love each other, but somehow they are "missing" the right ways to show the appreciation/love/respect/acceptance/support/whatever the other spouse needs. What is also normal, is there are some underlying issues that need to be addressed and resolved before a spouse can really feel all that stuff, but nobody in the marriage knows how to do this. Heh - also normal, is a spouse gets hurt when the other spouse honestly isn't trying to be hurtful. Figuring out how to avoid this is very helpful. Lots of things could be happening. Required reading for both spouses is the "5 Love Languages" book. Have you both read it?

Hi Lappy - welcome! I go to church with a Jewish guy who converted to mormonism. He is a fascinating guy - one of the best Old Testament gospel doctrine teachers I've ever seen. He threw a passover feast for our ward one year, explaining the OT roots of many of the traditions of Christianity.

Sorry, could you clarify what it is you're wondering?

Picture one of your grown, married children coming to you one day and telling you the same story. You think about your grandkids, and what would be best for them.What would your advice be to your child?

Shut it down? You mean, like forcing silence on someone? Infringing on their right to free speech? Taking away their right to say things because we don't like what they have to say?Whether "we" can or not, we shouldn't. Censorship in public areas is not good. Not sure which "we" you are talking about, but all the "we" groups that I'm a part of, like freedom of public speech more than we like silencing the opposition. Websites like you went to, get to be there, and post what they want, just like lds.net gets to be here and post what we want. People are free to look at every side of something, and make their choice. These folks' actions are between them, their priesthood leaders, and the Lord. The Church doesn't really go in much for public repudiation of it's members. Church discipline is carried out by the member's priesthood leader, not handed down from above. And don't be too quick on a rush to assume their leaders aren't aware of their online activities. Maybe they are, maybe they're not.

Do you have children?

Deseret Book is selling hard, soft, CD, and ebook editions here listed as printed March 2004. I don't know if that's the latest or not.

Is anyone else out there just not too impressed with the phrase "modest is hottest" in the first place? I mean as a slogan for our young women...

Howdy, Interesting link. It's not the book I was talking about, but it seems to be on the same subject.

Heh - I was in a very similar situation. Except it was her brother, brother's fiance, and fiance's kid from a prior marriage. They were fun people with some struggles too. Word to the wise - if you go through with the agreement, have VERY clear expectations about the move-out date. Make an actual date. Make VERY sure that your husband fully supports the date. Have the date be a frequent topic of conversation. ("So, it's two months 'til Nov 1 - since it looks like you won't be leaving on your mission until January, how goes the apartment search?") We all hope you won't have this problem. Surely, BiL just needs a month or two to get out the door on his mission, or out the door into his life. But you MUST consider the very real possibility that a month or two might become three or six. And to keep you from killing your husband, you and he need to be on the same page about what the two of you will do if the date starts slipping. If you end up budging on the date, even once, then it's no longer a short-term thing. It will quickly become a "we have a live-in babysitter" thing. If you and hubby are unwilling or unable to look up homeless shelters, then no, your "a) mission b) baby" thing is unrealistic wishful thinking. This may be a slight exaggeration, but if you let it, this date will move and slip until your unborn child gets married and moves out. This date will slip until your grandchildren sell the house after your funeral. This date will slip until a constable comes and physically removes BiL from the property so the new owners can take posession. Don't doubt me.

Momofmany100 did bring it to the Scoutmaster's attention... It doesn't seem to be about dropping the ball, it seems to be about innapropriate stuff happening on church sponsored scouting activities, and nobody wants to own up and do anything about it.

Here - print this out: Then take it to the bishop. "Excuse me, bishop? Do you see that label in the lower-left corner? The one that says M - Mature - for ages 17+? I already approached the scout master, and defended this game by saying "there are other games available to play". Can you tell me why my 13 yr old boy is being exposed to this game at a church-sponsored scouting function?" Then get a clear, appropriate answer out of him. If you don't get one, approach the Stake President, and add the Bishop's response to what you tell him.

Yeah, people need to do some reading up on what a martyr is and isn't. Some critics of Joseph Smith say he couldn't be a martyr because he defended himself, or wasn't killed standing peacefully in prayer, or that he was killed for reasons other than claiming to be Christ's disciple. Fox's book of martyrs has interesting entries: Hermenigildus defended himself, and fled: "Hermenigildus, a Gothic prince, was the eldest son of Leovigildus, a king of the Goths, in Spain. This prince, who was originally an Arian, became a convert to the orthodox faith, by means of his wife Ingonda. When the king heard that his son had changed his religious sentiments, he stripped him of the command at Seville, where he was governor, and threatened to put him to death unless he renounced the faith he had newly embraced. The prince, in order to prevent the execution of his father's menaces, began to put himself into a posture of defence; and many of the orthodox persuasion in Spain declared for him. The king, exasperated at this act of rebellion, began to punish all the orthodox Christians who could be seized by his troops, and thus a very severe persecution commenced: he likewise marched against his son at the head of a very powerful army. The prince took refuge in Seville, from which he fled, and was at length besieged and taken at Asieta. Loaded with chains, he was sent to Seville, and at the feast of Easter refusing to receive the Eucharist from an Arian bishop, the enraged king ordered his guards to cut the prince to pieces, which they punctually performed, April 13, A.D. 586." An unnamed Christian was martyred because he destroyed a published edict: "Diocletian and Galerius, who, not contented with burning the books, had the church levelled with the ground. This was followed by a severe edict, commanding the destruction of all other Christian churches and books; and an order soon succeeded, to render Christians of all denomination outlaws. The publication of this edict occasioned an immediate martyrdom, for a bold Christian not only tore it down from the place to which it was affixed, but execrated the name of the emperor for his injustice. A provocation like this was sufficient to call down pagan vengeance upon his head; he was accordingly seized, severely tortured, and then burned alive." The Earl of Toulouse is considered a martyr, even though he fought back militarily, and even recanted: "The brave earl defended Toulouse and other places with the most heroic bravery and various success against the pope's legates and Simon, earl of Montfort, a bigoted Catholic nobleman. Unable to subdue the earl of Toulouse openly, the king of France, and the queen mother, and three archbishops raised another formidable army, and had the art to persuade the earl of Toulouse to come to a conference, when he was treacherously seized upon, made a prisoner, forced to appear barefooted and bareheaded before his enemies, and compelled to subscribe an abject recantation. This was followed by a severe persecution against the Albigenses; and express orders that the laity should not be permitted to read the sacred Scriptures."

Oh don't get me wrong, I love dehydrated eggs. They're part of our food storage. Refried beans, dehydrated eggs and cheese, and some few remaining jars of cannery salsa, and tortillas made from stored flour, and you got yourself a good food storage meal.