I'm proud of myself for quitting a career I started to loathe, getting accepted into college (again, after 25 years) to major in a new career I think I'll love, getting a good job in that field so my foot is already in that door, and getting a 4.0 my first semester back in school. I'm also proud of my kids and especially my son, who I think actually really figured out what he wants his future career to be. This includes his going to college. I hope I inspired him with all the excitement I had in going back, lol.

I plan on doing Keto. High fat, moderate protein, low carb. I lost 20 lbs last year and quit when I plateaued. I'm trying it again with no processed food or excessive salt.

I'm in my late 40s and just went back to school, too. I quit a career I hated and got a new job in my new field (a step up from entry-level and about 35 hours a week). I go to school part-time (2 classes per semester) - I can still work and still get a financial aid loan. It might take a bit longer, but so what. I'll be in my early 50s when I'm done. Still have about 20 years left of working. Might as well love what I'm doing. I say go for it. Your partner should be working, too. And maybe you should go slowly so you can work - maybe something in your new field. Good luck.

Pigeons, sparrows, mourning doves, starlings, robins, cardinals, blue jays, crows, and the occasional red-tailed hawk.

My oldest commuted from home (she went to community college, then beauty school). My middle dormed near her dance conservatory - she would have commuted from home but she got a big scholarship, so it kind of offset the dorm cost. And living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan was awesome for her. My youngest also plans on staying local and will most likely commute from home.

OMG I want s'mores now

Salmon :ack2:

I did the ancestry.com DNA and I am 79% European (51% England and Scotland, 14% Ireland, 9% Portugal, 5% miscellaneous) and... EIGHTEEN PERCENT AFRICAN I know I had paternal relatives originally from England who ended up in the British West Indies (Jamaica) and one from the Dominican Republic. My ancestry Africa breakdown consisted of all West Africa (Senegal, Benin/Togo, & Mali mainly). I'm not in touch with my father's side of the family, but a few years ago my sister reached out to him, his son, and his sister - who wrote a family memoir dating back to the 1800s that confirmed our roots in England, Scotland, Portugal, Jamaica, and DR. And an interesting bit was that one of my Scottish relatives married a Cherokee woman in North Carolina in the 1700s (I even know her name!). So I'm a true all-American mutt.

Ds (newly 16), 10th grade Tue-Fri: a few hours of homeschooling on his own (Khan Academy, SAT prep stuff, and a bunch of 10th-12th grade books in all major subjects) Mon: a few hours of homeschooling with me (mostly math, science, history, and test prep) and/or some outing Mon, Wed, & Fri: Muay Thai boxing 75-minute classes Sat: 30-minute drum lesson No schoolwork on the weekends for us.

My 10th grader decided to go down a slightly different path than was originally planned. He will be doing 10th-12th grades over the next year and a half and finish by what would normally be the end of junior year. He will take the SAT, standardized CAT-E (as per NY regs), and TASC (NYs new GED) in the spring and early summer 2018 (thankfully he has an early birthday so he qualifies). So, his major subjects will mostly revolve around what is on those tests. In lieu of college, he plans on going to an intense coding "bootcamp", with plans to become a software developer/engineer. Here's what's on the agenda for the next 18 months (Topics were taken from the testing website. More than half of this list has already been covered and will just be reviewed): English (Literature & Composition): ​Comprehension • Analysis • Examining how and why details are used • Application • Transferring ideas from one context to another • Synthesis • Putting ideas together to understand a larger meaning. ​Literary nonfiction • History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical texts • Workplace and Community texts • Novel excerpts • Poetry • Drama excerpts. ​Organization • Ordering ideas, topic sentences, relevance, paragraphing • Sentence Structure • Run-ons, fragments, parallel structure • Usage • Subject-verb agreement, pronoun agreement, tense • ​Mechanics • Capitalization; punctuation (commas); spelling of homonyms, contractions, possessives. Contexts Math: ​Numbers and Quantity​, Algebra, ​Functions, ​Geometry, ​Statistics and Probability History: ​US History: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850–1877) • The Development of the Industrial United States (1870–1900) • Post-War United States (1945–1970s). ​World History: Age of Revolutions (1750–1914) • A Half-Century of Crisis and Achievement (1900–1945) • World History: The 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes. ​Civics and Government: U.S. Constitution: Embodies the Purpose, Values, and Principles of American Democracy • Civic Life, Politics, and Government • Role of the Citizen in American Democracy • Foundations of the American Political System. ​Geography: Places and Regions • Environment and Society • Human Systems and Societies ​Economics: Government and Economics • Macroeconomics • Basic Economics • Microeconomics Science: ​Physical Science: Matter and Its Interactions • Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions • Energy • Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer ​ Life Science: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes • Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics • Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits • Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity Earth and Space Science: Earth’s Place in the Universe • Earth’s Systems • Earth and Human Activity Plus, lots of computer stuff, drum and guitar lessons, and Muay Thai boxing and Brazilian JiuJitsu.

I am definitely more conservative than my parents were. My parents were hippies. Mom was a Beatle-chasing, pot smoking, still-mad-she-couldn't-go-to-Woodstock-since-she-was-8-months-preg-with-me, party at our house every weekend, very laid back with us type of mom. I was never home and always had the latest curfew of all my friends since I was 6. Nothing was ever researched - just done because everyone else did it like that. I figured everything out myself. I raised my kids subconsciously (maybe consciously) doing almost everything my parents didn't.

Tons of non-white homeschoolers here in NYC. All races, all religions. It's great.

We live in a big city and love it. Homeschooling has been amazing - the field trips alone have been such a huge part of my kids' education. Even now, my 15 y/o ds can take the bus and subway anywhere, do our restaurant adventure, and take so many co-op homeschool classes in Manhattan (plus he's going to Comic Con tomorrow and Gotham was filming literally right outside his job last week). My oldest dd is a hairdresser who just worked NY Fashion Week, and my youngest dd is working with a big choreographer, assisting, doing video projects with him, and getting a good amount of dance and acting jobs. I don't see this kind of stuff happening anywhere else.

Middle school teacher :blink:

I found this on religioustolerance.com. I don't think the website has ties to any particular religion. It states who founded each of these religions/denominations and when. Bowing out of this conversation now... Listed below are the founder, starting date and starting location of a number of Christian faith groups and traditions. They are organized in chronological order. In some cases, the data is under dispute. Faith Group or tradition Founder Date (CE) Location Roman Catholic Jesus, Peter 1 Circa 30 1 Judea Orthodox churches Jesus, Peter 2 Circa 30 2 Judea Lutheranism Martin Luther 1517 Germany Swiss Reformed Church Zwingli 1523 Switzerland Mennonites No single founder 1525 Switzerland Anglican Communion King Henry 8 1534 England Calvinism John Calvin 1536 Switzerland Presbyterianism John Knox 1560 Scotland Baptist Churches John Smyth 1605 Holland Dutch Reformed Michaelis Jones 1628 Netherlands Amish Jakob Ammann 1693 Switzerland Methodism John Wesley 1739 England Quakers George Fox 1647 England Moravians Count Zinendorf 1727 Germany Congregationalism John & Charles Wesley 1744 England Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg 1747 Sweden Brethren John Darby 1828 England Latter-day Saints Joseph Smith 1830 NY, USA Seventh Day Adventists Ellen White 1860 NH, USA Salvation Army William Booth 1865 England Jehovah's Witnesses Charles Russell 1870 PA, USA Christian Science Mary Baker Eddy 1879 Pleasant View, NH USA Pentecostalism Charles Parham 1900 CA, USA Worldwide Church of God Herbert W. Armstrong 1933/1947 OR, USA Unification Church Sun Myung Moon 1954 South Korea

Robin, Hufflepuff

My dd(20) homeschooled from 3rd to 8th grade and chose to attend high school. Her dream was to get into a performing arts high school for dance. She got into LaGuardia High School (the Fame school) and it was a wonderful experience. She adjusted fine and got good grades even though we unschooled just about the whole time. She took the subway there and back no problem. She made a ton of friends, too. She had 3 hours of academic classes, lunch, and then 3 hours of dance classes. She would have preferred less academics, lol, but over all, she is glad she went.

1 Garnier BB Cream 2. L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara 3. Boomstick Trio I cannot live without these.

I'm in the no limits camp. We have never given our kids time limits on TV, computer, gaming, or any other gadgets (I did monitor certain content, though). Self-regulation happened naturally over time and there has never been an issue. My girls are happy, productive adults who probably spend less than 5% of their days on the computer or watching tv. Ds (15) is on the computer often, but I see it as only beneficial (for so many evident reasons). He also gets his schoolwork done, does the dishes and cleans his room, takes care of his 3 bearded dragons, chameleon, and ball python, goes to Muay Thai classes, and just landed his first job!! (3 days a week/7am-3pm doing grunt work for a precious metal refinery. He sets his alarm and gets up at 6am no problem). I think if it gets to a point where the kids want to do absolutely nothing else, then it's a problem. But if their schoolwork and chores get done, then I say leave them to it.

I was in my living room in Queens, NY playing with 6-month old ds. Dh called me around 9am from his brand new job in Manhattan (he had just started the day before after a long layoff) to turn on the TV. He worked down the block from the UN and his boss let everyone go home within the hour. He walked all the way home from Manhattan (about 7 miles), over the 59th Street Bridge, with thousands of other people. At around 10:30am I got a phone call from the girls' school to come pick them up. Waiting for them outside, I saw several F-15 planes fly over us, but no other planes at all. We live less than a mile from LaGuardia Airport, so that was odd. It was the weirdest, scariest day I'd ever experienced. My sister catered a breakfast in one of the conference rooms there that morning - around 7am. She was home before the first plane hit. We lost a few friends. I worked in the World Trade Center in the summer and fall of 1991. I remember loving it down there. It's a gorgeous historic area and I was always in awe of the twin towers. I still cry every year. This picture is from Gothamist, but we get to see this very emotional and beautiful light tribute every year.

I didn't read all the responses, but I would totally pick him up for the 6 weeks. I work 40 hrs a week (9:45am to 6:45pm, Tuesday-Saturday). I drive dh to the subway every weekday and drive oldest dd to work 2-3x a week (20 minutes away) before I get to work. 3 nights a week right after work I pick ds up from his Muay Thai class. And during youngest dd's last college semester when she didn't dorm, I drove into Manhattan at 11pm 4 nights a week to drive her home. We'd get home by midnight and I had to be up by 7. (one night a week I splurged $20 for her to take an Uber home). I really don't mind and it's great chat time with the kids. I think you should do it. If for no other reason than peace of mind.

I went back to work at age 36 after being a SAHM for 12 years. The cable company needed part-time customer service reps. I got 6 weeks of paid training and worked evenings and weekends from 6pm-10pm. Dh got home from his job at 5:30pm so it was perfect - and a 10-minute drive from home. I put together a resume using online examples - stressing my awesome organizational, multi-tasking, and computer skills I attained by running a home and raising 3 kids :p. It worked. And 10 years later, I'm still there. I just went full-time last fall. We get all cable channels, the fastest internet, and home phone completely free, too. It's still really fun and the money is fantastic. You never know. This might be exactly what you're looking for.

I'm in New York City and we rent. Our monthly rates are: Electricity: $400 (summer), $200 (winter) Gas: $16 Cell phones: $350 (5-phone family plan, unlimited everything + insurance) Cable/Internet/House Phone: $20 (every channel + 300mbps internet - I work for the cable company ;) ) We don't pay for water or trash.

I work 5 days a week, so I'm out of the house from 9am to 7:15pm from Tuesday to Saturday. Before work I make my bed, put away the dishes, and get a laundry bag ready for when I get home. After work I put on that laundry, eat dinner while doing math and science with ds (dh gets home before me and cooks), hang/dry the laundry, wash the dishes, clean the counters and stove, sweep and swiffer the kitchen floor, do a quick bleachy bathroom wipe-down, and bring out any garbage and recyclables. I shower at night and clean the tub sometimes while in there. On my days off I dust, windex, change sheets, and sweep/mop the rest of the house. Once a month I pick one room and deep clean for a few hours. It doesn't always go so smoothly, but it works nicely when it does.

One member of our choir is a Eucharistic minister. Right after we sing the Lamb of God she goes to up to the altar, receives, and then brings up a ciborium of hosts to give out to the choir. Then walks back to the altar with it. The church is huge and and she walks down from the choir loft, along the side-aisles and gets to the altar right before the "Lord I am not worthy..." and returns during the Communion hymn, She's ok with missing that hymn. We, the choir, are singing and receiving almost at the same time, but it works out fairly well.