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We have three middle-aged dogs. Our one boy, CocoaRico, is aging prematurely, likely due to a chronic infection of two weight-bearing toes on his front paw. Our options with him are either to amputate those toes or to keep him on antibiotics for the rest of his life. On a good day, he will run and play (he loves to run and play with other dogs- social able to a fault) On a bad day he limps and avoids jumping and using his painful paw. Unfortunately, he only feels really good when on high doses of painkillers and antibiotics. This dog has a heart of gold. He patiently endures the bitchiness of his daughter and sister. He intuitively knows when Mummy has another migraine and kisses her in sympathy. He loves to cuddle up and watch TV with his people. A Vizsla, he loves to "stick" himself onto humans, even strangers. All while putting up with chronic pain. He is our Job. And when I am with him it makes me think of how patient and loving God is with me.

To complete an Ironman race, one must within a 17 hour period of time do the following: * Swim for 2.4 miles. * Ride a bicycle for 112 miles. * Run a 26.2 mile marathon. It can truly be said that only the strongest, most physically fit, men can successfully complete an Ironman race! On September 11, 2016, in Madison WI, a SDA finished an Ironman race in 12 hours, 33 minutes and 33 seconds! This was the first time that this person had ever attempted to do an Ironman Race. Oh, excuse me, I see that I have not named the individual who I am talking about: Laura (Johnston) Malcolm, a female. She has earned the title to being called: Ironman. NOTE: For more on this see: Focus: The Andrews University Magazine, Fall, 2016, Pages 14 & 15.

I love dogs. If I was on a deserted island and could choose a companion of either another person or a dog, I'd choose a dog. Dogs think their owners are the most spectacular, awesome, creatures on the face of the planet. Dogs don't judge. They aren't mean-spirited. They don't make fun of you. They aren't condescending and patronizing. They don't demean you. They love you no matter what. All in all, dogs are more "Christian" than people.

What you say is true. No matter what the name is, some people will like it and some people won't . . . and things will still continue on. However, the name does have a role in setting the tone of what happens here. A name like "AdventistsOnly.com" would sound exclusive and unwelcoming to some people while "AdventistsAreRight.com" would invite argumentation from some people. Businesses often do market research before settling on a name for a new product or business. I think that's what Stan kind of intended to do here. A name with "Friends" would sound less exclusive to me than "club" or "team" because being a friend doesn't require an invitation or an application as is often required before being accepted into a club or team.

January 2017 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter The Signs of the Times newsletter is a collection of stories and quotes from past issues ofSigns and These Times. *************************** One night while preaching in Chicago, a minister gave out an invitation for sinners to come to Christ. Among others a certain man arose and said: “Let me tell you how I came to accept Christ tonight. I have been a churchgoer all my life, but I went only to criticize. When men got up in meeting to speak, I noted carefully what they said, and then all the week I would watch them to see if their life came up to their profession. I came to where I said that all Christians were hypocrites. My heart became as hard as stone. “Some time ago I was taken sick, and the doctors said that I might die. I was not afraid to die, for my heart had become so hardened by criticism that death had no terrors for me. But one day a retired minister came and asked if he might not pray with me. I told him he might; and as he knelt to pray, I watched him out of the corner of my eye. As he prayed, his voice trembled and I saw a tear roll down his cheek. Then I said to myself, ‘Here is a man who is real! He is a stranger to me, yet he is weeping over my sins and my lost condition.’ A sense of my own meanness came over me, and the love of a God I had so mistreated broke my heart. That is why I came to this meeting.” This man accepted Jesus as His Saviour, and took Christ, not man, as his example.—By Sherman A. Nagel, Signs of the Times, November 13, 1923. Quote: “Many suppose that sin is imponderable; but it is heavy enough to crush a world.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, August 16, 1877. *************************** Don't miss the ­­­­­­­­February 2017 issue of Signs of the Times: To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or CLICK to order online. *************************** Nero lived covetously. History relates that he wore a crown valued at $500,000; he had his mules shod with silver; he fished with golden fishhooks; he traveled with one thousand carriages, and he never wore the same garment twice. Ruling Rome, he was dissatisfied, and he is perhaps best known for his act of fiddling while the city burned. He died, and terminated an inglorious career. Paul, beaten with many stripes, scarred by stones and rods, imprisoned and suffering loss of all earthly things, lived victoriously as Christ’s steward. He enjoyed God’s peace, was wondrously satisfied in Christ, and looked forward to eternal riches. Many dogs are named Nero; millions of aspiring sons are named Paul.—Unknown,These Times, June 1966. Quote: “The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.”—Selected, These Times, June 1966. *************************** NEW from Pacific Press—Getting to Know the Holy Spirit by Ron E. M. Clouzet. Do you long to understand and experience more of the Holy Spirit’s transformative work in your life? Are you afraid of hindering the Spirit, or do you have questions about what it means to pray in the Spirit? Find the answers in this book! The Holy Spirit provides profound theological, historical, linguistic, biblical insights that will deepen your understanding of the nature and work of the Holy Spirit. Written in a readable style, it will allow concepts and personal implications to sink deeper. A thoughtful reading will further your understanding of the Spirit and His work more than anything you may have read to date. Getting to Know the Holy Spirit is the companion book for the Adult Bible Study Guides for the first quarter of 2017. CLICK to read the first chapter of this book online FREE! Order ONLINE or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955. *************************** He was dirty and poorly dressed, and he smelled even worse than he looked as he slouched in the doorway of the little shop in a badly lit part of Sydney, Australia. I wondered briefly whether it was even safe to brush past him and enter, but I needed a train ticket, and the shop was the only place to get one. I had landed at the Sydney airport an hour or two earlier with several hours to wait until my connecting flight, so I decided to take the train downtown and have dinner. I had plenty of time. The ticket downtown was only AU$6, and for some reason I bought a one-way ticket, thinking, I’ll just get another one when I come back. I hadn’t counted on the downtown station being renovated or that by the time I finished dinner and needed to return all the ticket booths would be closed for the night and inaccessible behind construction barricades. A sign said, “Tickets can be obtained at the 24-hour market across the street.” Having no choice, I made my way past the man sitting in the doorway. He was clearly homeless with his several layers of ragged, tattered, dirty clothing; long, unwashed hair; and a duffle bag. Avoiding eye contact and holding my breath against the smell, I pushed past him and entered the shop. I asked the young man behind the counter for a one-way ticket back to the airport. “That will be twenty dollars,” he replied, “No,” I told him, “I just need a one-way back to the airport. It’s six dollars.” “The only thing I can sell you is a twenty-dollar train pass,” he insisted, with a “take-it-or-leave-it” tone in his voice. The homeless man in the doorway had been taking all this in. He walked over and began emptying the contents of his duffle bag on the counter. “I’ve got a pass in here somewhere,” he announced. “You can have it; I think it still has a few dollars left on it.” The counter started filling up with the kind of stuff you might expect him to be carrying around—a pair of socks, a shirt or two, a comb, and a partially used bar of soap. (From the smell of things he hadn’t used the soap in a while!) Then he pulled out an overstuffed file folder—the expanding kind. As he pulled items from the file, I soon realized that here in that duffle bag were all his earthly belongings. The file disgorged his birth certificate, baby pictures, notes on scraps of paper, important-looking documents with seals and signatures on them. “Here it is!” he said triumphantly at last, digging down into the file folder and holding up the train pass. He handed it to the young man behind the counter saying, “Check it out and see what’s left on it.” The shopkeeper did so and announced that the total was $7.40, which was enough to get me back to the airport. Then he gave it back to the owner. “Here,” the homeless man said as he handed it to me. I pulled out my wallet to pay him for it. “No, man! It’s a gift,” he insisted, “from me to you.” Somehow he didn’t look the same as he had a few minutes earlier. Oh, he was still dirty and smelly and his clothes hadn’t improved. He hadn’t changed, but my perception of him had changed—dramatically. On the train ride back to the airport, I kept hearing him say, “It’s a gift—from me to you.” And I kept hearing something else—a Bible text: “The Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, NKJV).—By Dale Galusha and B. Russell Holt, Signs of the Times, December 2016. Quote: “John lost his head by a sword because Herod had lost his by a woman.”—Bible Reader, Signs of the Times, March 8, 1899. *************************** Please include in your church newsletter: A new year brings new opportunities to share your faith. Why not use Signs of the Times® to help your friends and neighbors find hope and meaning? Each monthly issue takes on a broken world and directs hearts to Jesus for relevant answers. The result is changed lives! Send a subscription today. Go to www.AdventistBookCenter.com or phone 1-800-545-2449 *************************** On another occasion a little woman, whose scant raiment and pinched features showed that she was very poor and had to struggle for a living, got in to see the president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, after having waited for several days to see him. In his characteristic, friendly way President Lincoln greeted her, “Well, my good woman, what can I do for you?” She answered, “My only boy is a soldier. His regiment was near enough to my house for him to take a day and run over and see me. He was arrested as a deserter when he reentered the lines, and condemned to be shot. He is to be executed tomorrow.” Lincoln quickly arose from his chair. He left many senators, congressmen, and generals waiting to see him, and taking the little mother by the hand, hastened with her to the office of the Secretary of War. She did not know where the boy’s regiment was stationed, nor where the execution was to take place. Stanton, who had become disgusted with the president’s big-heartedness, begged Lincoln to forget the matter and let the rules of the army be enforced. But the president’s big heart wouldn’t allow him to do it. He couldn’t bear to see a boy shot just for running away for a day to see the best friend any boy ever has—his mother. In very certain tones Lincoln replied, “I will not be balked in this. Send this message to every headquarters, every fort, and every camp in the United States, ‘Let no military execution take place until further orders from me. A. Lincoln.’” Another mother’s heart was gladdened; another life was spared. And Lincoln went to bed that night happier for having been a blessing.—By Archa O. Dart, Our Times, March 1950. Quote: “Joys are our wings; sorrows are our spurs.”—By Jean Paul Richter, Signs of the Times, January 26, 1915. *************************** New Adventist eBooks being added frequently. CLICK to see the wide variety. *************************** Dr. A. J. Gordon was asked to visit a young man who was dying. On seeing the young man, Dr. Gordon came right to the point and said: “My dear friend, I see that you are very ill. Are you prepared for what may be before you?” “Oh, if I only were!” he replied, with a look of blended despair and pleading. “If I could be spared two or three weeks I believe I might be prepared. But the doctor tells me I can live only a few hours.” He then caught hold of the minister’s hand and held it as a drowning man might cling to a life belt. “Three weeks?” asked the minister. “Why do you want three weeks?” The young man said he needed time to review his life and become deeply convicted of sin. “Three weeks in order to be saved!” exclaimed the minister. “Let me tell you how you may be saved in three minutes!” He then read from his Bible, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12. “But how can I take Him?” exclaimed the young man. The Bible answer was then read: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9. “Now,” said the minister, “if you want to be saved, just accept Jesus as your Saviour and tell Him that you do so.” Kneeling by the side of the dying man, he urged him to repeat the simple prayer of acceptance: “Lord Jesus, I come to Thee. I am a sinner, Thou art the Saviour. I take Thee now to be my Saviour. I trust Thee, I receive Thee. I put my soul in Thy hands.” That was all. When the minister called later in the day, the lady of the house said, “Oh, if you could have heard him talk after you left! He called us all in and said, ‘Isn’t it wonderful? That minister showed me how I could be saved in three minutes!’ Such a triumphant death I never witnessed before.”—By John W. Halliday, Present Truth, 1952. Quote: “You may juggle human laws, you may fool with human courts, but there is a judgment to come, and from it there is no appeal.”—By Orin Philip Gifford, Signs of the Times, July 1989. *************************** Today as I look through the Bible, I find there are many parts of our body which should be devoted to service for God. Here are some of the texts: Psalm 119:11—“my heart” Isaiah 51:11—“my head” Psalm 119:18—“my eyes” Psalm 78:1—“my ears” Malachi 2:6—“my mouth” Psalm 119:171, 172—“my lips” Ecclesiastes 9:10—“my hands” Proverbs 4:26—“my feet”—By Caris Lauda, Our Times, August 1950. *************************** Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others.

http://www.sciencealert.com/it-s-official-a-brand-new-human-organ-has-been-classified It's official: A brand-new human organ has been classified Your body now has an extra organ. FIONA MACDONALD 3 JAN 2017 Researchers have classified a brand-new organ inside our bodies, one that's been hiding in plain sight in our digestive system this whole time. Although we now know about the structure of this new organ, its function is still poorly understood, and studying it could be the key to better understanding and treatment of abdominal and digestive disease. Known as the mesentery, the new organ is found in our digestive systems, and was long thought to be made up of fragmented, separate structures. But recent research has shown that it's actually one, continuous organ. The evidence for the organ's reclassification is now published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. "In the paper, which has been peer reviewed and assessed, we are now saying we have an organ in the body which hasn’t been acknowledged as such to date," said J Calvin Coffey, a researcher from the University Hospital Limerick in Ireland, who first discovered that the mesentery was an organ. "The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incorrect. This organ is far from fragmented and complex. It is simply one continuous structure." Thanks to the new research, as of last year, medical students started being taught that the mesentery is a distinct organ. The world's best-known series of medical textbooks, Gray's Anatomy, has even been updated to include the new definition. So what is the mesentery? It's a double fold of peritoneum - the lining of the abdominal cavity - that attaches our intestine to the wall of our abdomen, and keeps everything locked in place. One of the earliest descriptions of the mesentery was made by Leonardo da Vinci, and for centuries it was generally ignored as a type of insignificant attachment. Over the past century, doctors who studied the mesentery assumed it was a fragmented structure made of separate sections, which made it pretty unimportant. But in 2012, Coffey and his colleagues showed through detailed microscopic examinations that the mesentery is actually a continuous structure. Over the past four years, they've gathered further evidence that the mesentery should actually be classified as its own distinct organ, and the latest paper makes it official. You can see the new organ illustrated below: And while that doesn't change the structure that's been inside our bodies all along, with the reclassification comes a whole new field of medical science that could improve our health outcomes. "When we approach it like every other organ… we can categorise abdominal disease in terms of this organ," said Coffey. That means that medical students and researchers will now investigate what role - if any - the mesentery might play on abdominal diseases, and that understanding will hopefully lead to better outcomes for patients. "Now we have established anatomy and the structure. The next step is the function. If you understand the function you can identify abnormal function, and then you have disease. Put them all together and you have the field of mesenteric science … the basis for a whole new area of science," said Coffey. "This is relevant universally as it affects all of us." It just goes to show that no matter how advanced science becomes, there's always more to learn and discover, even within our own bodies. The research has been published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

Yep, I've been 'otherwise occupied' for the past two years. I am slowly adjusting back to normal society. Not sure that CA qualifies to that label, though Graeme

Gregory, I refused to sign the consent form for automatically taking tithe out of my salary when I worked for the church in one conference. I was the only conference employee in that status, with all others in compliance--largely because I insisted in sometimes heavy conversation on the topic with the conference president until finally I had secured my liberty, an act of bravery seldom seen in opposing a superior for that region. Even then, my liberty came with certain conditions to which I gave oral consent. I am aware of this still being true today in certain places. As such, it is still true of the "church" which is a worldwide organization, not merely a North American one. I attempted to follow the church's wisdom in signing the MOU as a representative of another ministry, only to have the whole thing backfire. In the end, the policy was pushed, virtually forced, division-wide. All of the big players among the independent ministries have signed. Where I am, we did not end up doing so. After some research, I discovered Ellen White wrote strongly against signing such agreements. Although, since we did not sign, we have received no support from the church, God supplied our lack. Adventist schools in my part of the world that are operated by lay members have resorted to either removing "Adventist" from their names or shortening it to "Advent." However, there are other groups, not Adventists, who use the term "Advent" as well, thus creating confusion. It is no longer possible to be certain if a school is operated by Adventists around here judging by its name. This is unfortunate, and creates inefficiencies and even pitfalls for newcomers to the area. Wanderer has no idea what he speaks of regarding my experience, and would be wise to remain silent on it. He is in error to say the church has not, by these policies, hindered my work. One of the church policies regarding employment prevented me from distributing Christian books--which I had felt God calling me to do. The church does many things well. It also makes mistakes, and should not be seen as inerrant. It is our duty to speak up about the wrongs we encounter, and to sigh and cry for the abominations in the church. To remain silent and consenting is to (sinfully) agree with the wrong. I have spoken up to the leaders in each place I have been regarding some of these things. My voice may not have effected changes, but the decisions of the leadership were then their own responsibility, and not mine. To me, personally, learning of the merger of the publishing houses was the greatest blow this past year. That was a sin. Ellen White wrote very specifically about that, and the leaders who made the decision were aware of her comments! As such, I find the church to have egregiously gone contrary to a "thus saith the LORD." Our publishing houses are in danger of being closed up all around the world. This topic is about changes we would like to see in the church. If all were well, there would be no need of making any such.

Its funny because just before the 2012 elections we heard just about the same thing. That Obama was gonna call martial law than also, but that didn't happen. Now we hear the same thing again!!

Those were some pretty goofy people, and yet 1000's of the gullible followed them.

Just because some will weave events in life into more sinister things or fullfilment to prophecies is not unusual or unheard of. Anything can be woven together but that does not mean it has validity. That is what conspiracies are made of. Some things are just what they are, a part of life. What do Obama conspiracies, or for that fact any other, have to do with 3 Angels message being alive or dead? Been an SDA all my life, predictions have come and gone, many, many times. Perhaps we are looking at the wrong things/conclusions? Instead of always looking for new interpretations, new theories, perhaps what God wanted was for people to be ready at any time and live their lives in accordance with the way He treated us and others.

Actually, it does. There is no one correct answer to my question. The chicken is simply on the other side of the road for whatever reason. The question is not how it got there, just that it is there and why. It just is! Such is the same with much of life. My reply was to the observation about the pres being on vacation and when he would return. What did that all mean? Well, it just might be that.....or it might mean that....etc....etc. A vacation is a vacation! determinismnounPhilosophy the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will.There seems to be a lot of the above going on in the discussion.

Mario-One, you have made a comment that I believes deserves a response as I have some agreement with it as well as some disagreement. In order to attempt to be clear in my response, I will number your statements and follow each by my response which I will place in brackets along with my initials in an attempt to be clear as what you wrote and what is my response: 1) There is Working Policy for misconduct by a pastor ( L-60 section 10 ) and another policy for misconduct by Administrative officer (President, Secretary, Treasurer) ( L-60 section 15) which could be improved but the problem is that they are ignored. [I am going to assume that you referenced that NAD Working Policy and not the GC Working Policy. It should be noted that, as L-60-15 states, the provisions of L-60-20 and L-60-25 apply, which you did not cite. L-60-20 defines the boundaries that apply as: Moral Fall, Apostasy, Dissidence, Embezzlement/Theft, Other Reasons. It appears to me that you suggest that the "Other Reasons" category is the one that applies in this case--GM.] 2) I have seen a pastor with 52 accusations of misconduct transferred to another church ( and this was after he physically assaulted a member and stole his property; same pastor gave false report to police and tried to have a member arrested for trespassing when he attended worship service). These 52 accusations were not from one person, it was from a dozen concerned members, and when the conference failed to discipline this pastor, many of the grieved members left the church. [You have listed three (3) specific criminal offenses--assault, theft & false police report. Conviction on any of these offenses would clearly fall under the "Other Reasons" category of L-60-20. But, it would require a criminal conviction to properly discipline the pastor. Were criminal charges made? Did the police charge the pastor with making a false report. NOTE: In order to be so charged it would have to be proven that the pastor knew that the report was false. Absent that knowledge, a conviction would be unlikely. If the pastor was not charged with assault, why? If not charged with theft, why? I will suggest that if the pastor was not charged, it was probably due to the belief of the authorities that a conviction could not be obtained. The process of discipline should be fair to all parties. Absent criminal convictions on the three crimes that you allege the pastor committed, it would be very hard for the church to administer any serious discipline. Yes, it could potentially be possible for the Church to administer some sort of minor discipline. But, how would you know whether or not such had been done? It is highly likely that you would not know. As to members leaving the church, was that the local congregation or the denomination? If the local congregation, it may (?) very well have been the right thing to do. Yes, either would be sad--GM.] 3) I have seen Conference administrators ignore the church manual and authorize a pastor to call the police to arrest two Adventist ladies if they attended church, this is not the way to deal with grievances. The conference leaders used their position to prevent an investigation into their conduct. [On the contrary, calling the police was exactly the thing to do. The word "arrest" had a specific meaning in criminal law. I am uncertain as to whether you are using that work in its formal meaning. If you are formally using it, you are telling us that the "Adventist Ladies" were considered potentially intending to violate an order by a judge and/or commit other criminal conduct that could result in criminal charges. You may have been using word in a less than formal sense. If so, removing the women from church property does not constitute arrest in a formal sense. Regardless of what you may think, the pastor, does have the right to direct the police to remove a person form the property. As a congregational pastor I have been in a situation where I directed the local elders to, under carefully defined situations, to ask the police to remove a person from services on a Sabbath morning. Fortunately, they did not have to do so. But, such may be required in order to provide for either the safety of members or for their freedom to worship. As to you allegation that the Conference prevented investigation of the pastor, I can clearly say that the Conference did not have the power to prevent police from doing a criminal investigation of some of what you allege. To attempt to prevent police investigation of those aspects could have had the potential of Conference Officials being charged with a crime--GM.] 4) These two ladies stopped attending church because the Union and the NAD would not do their duty which is clearly written in church policy. So I do think changing the policies will help as much as enforcing them as they are written. [You have failed to document that the Church failed in its duty and/or failed to follow policy. However, I do agree that such failure has happened in the past. I do agree that there are issues that need to be addressed. In any case, your case is sad--GM]

I heard it was on a scouting mission for the flock... Why it was spotted as it crossed the road remains a mystery, though Colonel Sanders thinks perhaps the endless search for the secret 11 herbs and spices caused panic in said chicken, whereupon it lost focus of the mission.

I believe that if the Church fails to make certain changes that need to be made, in a time when they could be made, God will intervene in a manner to bring them about that will not be easy and fun. Having said the above, I believe: That the change most needed is to make the local congregation the primary focus of mission and ministry and that all other "higher" organizations should have as their mission and ministry that of helping the local congregation to identify their needs and to equip them for meeting those needs. That present focus of the Church, as I see it in practice today, is for each "higher" level of organization to bring all "lower" levels of organization into line so that all march in "lock step." As I come from a military background, let me illustrate from that background. Believe it or not. There is a science to the study of military operations and combat. Dependent upon their rank and position, all U.S. military officers are trained in the science of such. As part of their training, U.S. military officers are trained as to how a presumed enemy force is going to operate. The result is that during the so-called "cold-war" in any given situation the U.S. forces would be able to accurately predict how the Soviet forces would operate. This was because Soviet forces operated in strict accord with their doctrine. They did not deviate. The U.S. military also has clearly stated doctrine. That doctrine is under constant evaluation and changes as circumstances change. U.S. military forces are trained in that doctrine. But, on all levels, U.S. Commanders are expected to do what is needed to accomplish the mission. When it comes to a 4-star, that officer has total ability to disregard doctrine and to accomplish the mission in any manner that the 4-star choses. If a 4l-star issues an order that violates doctrine and policy, that order is put into effect. The classic case of this is our invasion of Iraq. The 4-star in charge was so successful, in part, due to the fact that the 4-star deployed U.S. forces in manner that was not in accord with the doctrine. I could give you other examples of such. W hen such happens, the President can remove the 4-star and such has been done. But, while the 4-star is in the position the 4-star can do what ever the 4-star thinks should be done. We need to put the local congregation into the 1st place. It should be the highest level of organization, not the General Conference.

I have never posted here before but this spoke to me. I have a child in grade 12 and one in grade 7. When my grade 12 child entered high school we had to make a decision should she go to public school or away to boarding academy. My husband and I felt neither were a good fit for our daughter and yet I didn't feel comfortable taking on homeschooling. We did however find a wonderful option that has worked out splendidly for her and now my son. It is called PACeS. Prairie Adventist Christian eSchool. It is an accredited SDA school that is online and teacher driven. Online live classes with their teachers. It is like being at a regular Adventist school you just don't sit in a school room. So both my children are at home doing school which also allows me to monitor them but eliminates a lot of the teaching and preparing work. If we travel we still have school as long as there is internet. Students are enrolled in this school from all over the Canada, US and the Caribbean. My daughter started it in grade 9 and she is graduating 12 this year. My son started in grade 5 and now is grade 7. This school has prepared her well for university next year. We have been very pleased with the curriculum, teachers and fellow students in this school.