matoad: my parents let me shift from the passenger seat all the time...probably why I am such a good driver with a standard! but we didn't have a push button ignition...we had an old VW square back that could be started with the tiniest of pushes from behind. DigitS: My finger print, of course!! Not a worry these days with all that digital technology around. And T.V.! Yeah, we had a tiny box of black and white with "13" channels only not all the channels were there. We only got to watch a very small amount: Star Trek, and any of the programs on PBS, like Nova, In Search Of, that yoga guy, I forget his name, and Sesame Street. I used to get pissy when my mom was watching ... was it Dick Cavet or Merv Griffin? Either way, one of those was on at the same time as Felix the cat...so sad. Funny, I haven't had a T.V. in about ten years but I netflix (on my computer) all the old Star Treks and also that Star Trek Deep Space 9! My brother and I stayed with our grandparents every weekend and they would take us to garage sales. My gram never paid more than a nickel or, sometimes--rarely, a dime for stuff. That is when she would remind me that movies used to cost a nickel. When the prices rose and she could only get away with paying a quarter at rummage sales, she decided they were too pricey! We went to the drug store for ice cream. While gram bought prescriptions, grampa would buy us ice cream for a few cents. Gosh, I think it was 25 cents a cone, for three scoops?? It was cheap. Grampa always got strawberry, I got chocolate and I don't remember what my brother got. My bro and I used to make model cars, rockets and monsters, like Lon Chaney as this or that monster. We would blow up the models with firecrackers and then display them on our shelves. I saw lots of the models we had, un-blown up, on eBay for a zillion dollars. Oops! We had our friends over yesterday (oooh, that is so in the past) and I used the relish tray that I found in grannies attic. It was brand new and pink speckle from...gee, must have been the late fifties. The box it was in was disintegrating, falling apart. In junior high school, I wore clothes from grannies closet, I would fix them up so they would fit as gram was a pretty big gal. All the kids were curious as to why I had such neat clothes. gosh, I loved reading what everyone wrote! J.

I homeschooled my son from 6th grade through graduation. We associated with a school in Michigan called Clonlara, so he does have an "official" diploma. We started out with textbooks... but ended up unschooling. I took him out of school because he was being bullied and not doing well academically. After I took him out I realized the situation at school was MUCH WORSE than I had even thought... and was sorry he had been subjected to it for so long. I was a very active proponent of public schooling before that time... on the PTA board year after year... and a volunteer at the various schools my children attended. I tried to resolve the problems through official channels before I decided to homeschool him. I was originally a mom who was horrified at the thought of homeschooling and having the kids around all day! Now I think back and wonder how I blindly sent them all off, starting at the age of 5 - to a place so institutionalized. My two daughters went all the way through public school, and did wonderfully. One is a National Merit commended scholar, and the other is a National Merit scholar. Both my girls wish now that they had been homeschooled and feel, that although there were some good points associated with regular school, that the benefits don't necessarily outweigh the bad points. The discussion of homeschooling versus government schooling versus private schooling, etc., is huge... and endless. You can see it just in the discussion here. http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/ has some very interesting, and VERY controversial views on the subject. You can read his book online. If you homeschool - you will have to be a lot thicker skinned than if you continue to use regular schools. People are rarely hesitant to let you know exactly what they think about your choice... and while a lot of feedback is positive... some is vitriolic. If you homeschool... the responsibility for any successes or failures lie with you. You mentioned that you would not be homeschooling for religious reasons. In my area (and from talking to people online for many years... it seems this is mostly true countrywide) a lot of homeschooling is from a Christian perspective. Many groups require a "statement of faith" before you can join in their activities. The laws vary widely state by state. Some states laws make it simple... some are very restricting. In many areas there are lots of opportunities for activities outside of school. My son was active in Civil Air Patrol, a church youth group, and a blacksmithing group (where he was by far the youngest member for a while!) He took music lessons and hung out with his peers in the neighborhood. As a young adult (now 19) he is glad he homeschooled but feels he did miss out on a bit by doing so. No solution is perfect! I tend to overdo everything I do... so I went crazy investigating homeschooling. I bought too many books in my quest for what would interest my son. Our family tends to buy too many books, anyway (my oldest is now a librarian) so it wasn't just a homeschooling thing. I agonized over all the different methods of homeschooling... what if I did it wrong? I no longer agonize over methods. Kids learn. Period. They learn. Did anyone teach you to walk or speak? No... because "kids learn" Do what feels right to you and don't worry about what other people say (easier to say than implement!) Diane in FL

I forgot to say that I graduated in 1980. I think I paid the couple hundred dollars myself. I was working at the time. One of my best friends who graduated in VA went with her class to Cancun, Mexico. She graduated 2 years after me and her parents paid thousands for her to go! Now kids go to Europe and Aruba. They also have more elborate proms, only a few "rich" kids had limos back when I was in high school. Now everyone gets one. I'm dreading the day when Lauren starts going to proms. I've already told her she'll be wearing the same dress to all of them or we'll be buying them used and cheap. And no limo.

Well, we'll have to wait until next week to try it. There were only 5 of us today total, and we went out to eat at a local café that has some of the best food in town :). I had my usual burger and fries ('tis a weakness) and some lemonade. It was delicious. Brad AKA Moonwolf