Today we drove about an hour to go to Sam's club.  As a first timer, I wasn't sure what to expect.  I now know there are pros and cons to this endevor.

Pros: Big sizes of many things that we will use.  We might have saved about $100.

Cons: Limited (extremely) selection.  Many things were not different than regular wal-mart price.  Great deal of the selection geared to a high calorie, high fat, high carb diet.  Few organic choices.  No low fat tub butter or sour cream. 

Items that were good deal for us: Fish sticks, bags of shredded cheese, alfredo sauce, diaper wipes, hand soap, chicken bullion cubes, coffee, trash bags, foil sheets, flavored yogurts, laundry detergent and mac and cheese  Not sure about tp and paper towels as I haven't tried these brands before.

Items I noticed that were available at WM for same price: Dog and cat food, sour cream, milk, bread, baked goods, most produce and meat.  Many wm "great value" items I buy were not at sam's club.  (Cheese crackers, oats)  Nor was there any giant tubs of peanut butter.

My local grocer - J & J Foods, has better quality meat and great specials every week - I wouldn't consider buying meat from anywhere else.  Their produce is better too - more of it is locally grown.

I hate shopping. 

I've been searching for them since we left Denver in 1997.  I had Presbyterian (OPC) friends there that homeschooled.  Some of them moved to Idaho.  We moved to Mississippi.  To a town that thought homeschooling surely must be criminal - who in their right mind would want their kids with them the WHOLE day? 

Then we moved to Georgia.  Here it seems all Presbyterian Churches must also have a school.   So I'm always the only on in any Presbyterian Church that homeschools.  I have unyeilding opinions about "school", when done by the state or a church.   I went to a Catholic school for 3 years.  It was the same thing as public school with a religion class thrown in.  I couldn't keep up with the studies, and they didn't have a "slow" kids class (I was probably ADD), so they just passed me on through anyway.  They didn't have money for electives, so we didn't have them.  But we did go to mass once a week in the mornings,   I had to do summer school (4 hr days) every year too - which consisted of reading stories on a cardstock pages and answering multiple choice questions.  How was that supposed to catch me up on what I could't keep up with?

Really, I've visited the Christian schools, and they are all built on the premise of herding the kids from one pen to another, and teaching in a detestable way  (they can't help it, teachers are trained to do that!)  I was so burned out and exhaused by the time I was 14 that I spent the next year and a half ditching school and going to my friends house to sleep and watch tv all day (the house was close to the school!)  When I got 16 and was ready to learn, I discovered high schools weren't teaching anything - they were just trying to manage the kids.  My hs counselor actually recommended I drop out and go to the local community college.  So I did.

That was in Littleton, Colo at Arapahoe High School, 1986.  The next school over is called Columbine (we all know the fruit that one produced).

I am not an unschooler.  I am a literature based hs'er.  When I want to learn something I read a book or go to the 'net.  I don't look for a textbook (though the apologia ones are way cool, and some abeka ones are good too)    I have a wide variety of learners in my house, and they're all amazing.  It'd be a shame for them to have their time and childhood wasted being herded from one class to another.    The whole model and precept of it is wrong.

Yes, it works for college, but notice when we did college it was usually for 3 hours three times a week and maybe 5 hours the other two days?  Not 8am-3:30 or longer?  And for 12 weeks per semester.   Moderation.  In all things.  Plus, I want to spend my kids lives with them.

So I don't think christian schools are ok.  The kids being around that many other kids - most of the time they'll all tune to the lowest denominator in the group and follow.  The model is wrong.  Keep your kids home.  They will learn more digging up the yard than in class.  They will have less temptations (lead us not into)...how can one know what they want to do with life when we spend it in cages?  No wonder people have midlife crisis - sooner or later one's spirit has to break out! 

Anyway, I'm in the South, and I just want to know - WHERE ARE THE PRESBYTERIANS (PCA) (not USA) THAT HOMESCHOOL?!!!

Thankyou for telling me if you know.  Please pray that the South in this country would catch the homeschooling wave - the South is always that last to catch the "trends" in this country. 

Hello!   I was raised in Littleton, Colorado from ‘70 to 80. Then we moved to Slidell, LA where I went to St. Margaret Mary, then Slidell Jr. High. In ‘84 we moved back to Littleton, and I wend to an alternative high school for a while before dropping out to college.

After 3 semesters there I joined the Navy Reserves and went to basic training in Orlando, FL in ‘89 (company K108) After training for Torpedoman’s mate, I returned to Colorado and college. I earned an A.A.S degree in Electronics Technology. I worked from ‘91 to ‘94 at I.H.S in Colorado.

I met and married my husband in ‘93. He’s an exceptional man - creative, brilliant, and a gentleman too! We have 7 (yes, seven) beautiful kids ranging in age from 14 down to 2. We’ve lived in Colo and Mississippi , and now we live in the Georgia mountains. It’s a great area - I don’t want to live anywhere else but the southern mountains.  We homeschool and work from home.  Our home business is www.confederatereprint.com  (southern history)and www.crownrights.com.  (reformed theology)  Visit us sometime!