We figured we'd need a shed for lawn mowers and garden things. The kids' bikes should fit in the extra depth. Most of the rest of the things in our current garage can go in the attic (Christmas decorations and the like) or in the larger pantry we will have. My biggest worry is just getting in and out of vehicles, so as long as that's good I think we can make it work.

Thank you so much for measuring, Heather! Those are similar dimensions to what we'll be looking at, and your vehicles are comparable in size to ours. I also realized that our sedan almost never has anyone needing to get in on the passenger side, so if we parked it pretty close to the right wall that would allow more door opening space between vehicles and on the van's driver's side. I would have to have realistic storage expectations, but the depth would allow some of that along the back wall.

Hmm. Parking in the driveway regularly isn't going to be an option because I teach violin lessons, and my students will need to park there. It'll be a double garage door, but I need to ask about the width.

We're looking at a house that I really love, but the garage is much smaller than what we're used to (we live near enough to a lake that a lot of people have garages that will fit boats, and we ended up with one of those). The new garage would be 19'7" wide by 23'6" deep, and we would be parking our Honda Odyssey and our Toyota Corolla in there together. Can anyone speak to how well a van and a sedan will fit in this size garage? How frustrating is it going to be to park, to get in and out of vehicles, etc?

The Tea Collection has its $15 and under sale going.

I started putting "privilege" in quotes because I agree, by the time everyone has those advantages, privilege is no longer the right word. Maybe it would have been more precise for me to have said that the negative thing is the disparity, not the decent treatment and lack of systemic obstacles. The term "white privilege" seems to cast both sides of that in a negative light. I'm splitting hairs and that's probably frustrating. I'm sorry. I do feel that these nuances are at the heart of why the term tends to be more inflammatory than others. I'm really sorry about your dishwasher. :(

Being treated respectfully and not having to overcome senseless obstacles on account of your race (or anything else) is a positive thing. It's the way everyone should be treated. The thing that is negative is the mistreatment, the systemic injustice. The term "white privilege" throws into confusion what we are even objecting to. It's the difference between saying that white people don't deserve to be treated decently, and saying that everyone deserves these things we are calling "privileges." Obviously the latter is what we all really want, but the term "white privilege" almost seems to disparage the decent treatment of whites. I feel like we can do better with our word choice, and make it clear that we are advocating "privilege" for all.

Oh, I agree; it's a perfectly accurate term. Just maybe not so effective. The point is to have a productive dialog, not to be technically correct. So connotation matters, even if the term doesn't carry that connotation for people on one side of the dialog. The problem I see with the term is that it suggests that one person's advantages are standing in the way of other people having the same advantages. (That's a connotation thing, so while the term doesn't technically mean that, it carries with it unspoken meaning that muddies the discussion.) In reality, what is standing in the way is things like mistreatment and injustice and lack of understanding. I feel like this is where the focus ought to be. To be fair, I think "lack of understanding" is what people are trying to get at with the term "white privilege," but if you can get to that point of understanding more effectively without the term, why is the term a hill to die on?

I think you don't worry about the subset of people who aren't going to "get it" whatever you call it. But maybe it's worth listening to the input of several of us -- right here on this board! ;) -- who say we agree with the concept but feel like the terminology misses the mark.

I kind of agree. Ultimately I would prefer a term that suggests that a "privileged" experience -- where whatever vehicle you're driving, you have a safe and convenient lane to ride in -- that should be the default. To me "white privilege" suggests that the problem is that white people have things too good... when in reality the problem is that having it that good isn't universal. It's also hard to do anything about it when you're just looking at it from a privilege perspective. I'd rather talk about concrete injustices and what we can do to combat those. To me that seems much more actionable than the concept of privilege. Even the term "check your privilege" could be replaced by "put yourself in someone else's shoes" and would, I think, get across the idea people are going for much more effectively. Which is why analogy is such a useful tool for communicating these ideas. I think really the biggest hurdle is getting to the point where we understand each other's experiences.

Cheddar Corn Chowder French Provencal Soup (I use an Amerca's Test Kitchen recipe that isn't online... but whatever recipe you go with, the pistou is what makes it!) Broccoli Cheese (can't find the recipe mine is based off of) Russian Mushroom and Potato Soup Cauliflower Soup

Oh, absolutely. I am a frequent abandoner of projects myself. ;-) With a motivated gifted child I feel like it's easier to allow projects to be abandoned, because that comes after some meaningful learning has happened. With my oldest, though, those learning experiences won't ever actually happen without someone keeping her on task. I'm glad to hear that some amount of keeping them on task is "allowed" in PBH. I'm starting to think we could be at least as successful with that kind of project as we have been with scouting badges. Next year might look different than I had planned! I love the idea of the kanban board! I have been using tear-off strips like people post when they're looking for a roommate, for long-term school tasks and scouting badges. It has worked pretty well, but its real weakness is that it doesn't have a way to keep something "in-progress." Kanban boards should solve that, while also feeding my sticky note addiction. lol

These are very helpful descriptions of what both of you have done. But how do you ensure that during project time they are working on their project, without prodding? Or how do you ensure that the project ever gets done, without prodding? That's the part I don't get. With my daughter, it seems like nothing gets done without prodding. Even in her free play, she doesn't necessarily stick to a game to the end, or to writing a story to the end, etc. Not that I have expectations for her in those cases, but it shows me that being completely hands-off with academics is not likely to produce satisfactory learning. As an example... this daughter has been working on scouting badges this year. She chooses what she wants to earn, but the scouting handbook defines what requirements the output must meet. At the mid-year ceremony she was terribly discouraged getting only one badge, so I started to set aside time regularly for badge work. Even though she has chosen what she wants to do, she takes almost zero initiative, and she needs frequent reminding to make sure she is indeed working on badges during badge time ... but in this case I have felt more free to prod because I'm not trying to meet some PBH ideal. :D

This is going to be OT/PBH-related, but... I'm the sister. :D The part about my kids never taking the initiative was right. But I didn't do any of the work for them, and I didn't prod a bit -- I put out materials and offered support getting resources, just like the book said. I took notes on what my school-aged child was interested in. But... it didn't seem like it ever turned into much of a learning experience. My daughter expressed interest in cooking, but all she wanted to do was actually cook (fair enough!) -- but the thing was, she couldn't cook independently, so that was going to mean I needed to be constantly engaged in every moment of her project, and I had two other kids needing attention. To satisfy state laws given this reality, she needed some of her project work to happen outside of the kitchen. I put together a project space in the living room, but all that ever happened there was the kids gluing hair and faces on recyclables using the various other materials I gave them. They loved it, but it was lightweight school at best, and anyway we barely had room for the project things; the house was getting messy with nothing to show for it. I guess I just couldn't figure out how to ensure that learning was happen without forcing it on her. Since then I have found that my kids, at least at this age, are much more engaged and excited about learning when I provide more direction and structure. We talk about what they're interested in, or we agree on a topic to study together, and I take some time to find videos or books or hands-on activities to help them learn. I come up with research questions (and sometimes they come up with their own), and they look for the answers online or in our encyclopedias. That's not PBH, but it's what works for us. And I almost feel like with young kids, they don't know the questions to ask until they start to be exposed to the kinds of things that are out there to learn. I would still love to find a way to make PBH work. I feel like my kids would need to catch a vision for what they could do with it, and they would really take off. Quite possibly my middle child would run with it more than my oldest did. It's probably something we will come back to as they all get older.

I don't do a lot of binge watching, but there are some shows I have watched more than once: Gilmore Girls Firefly Netflix Daredevil Season 1 If we're counting miniseries: BBC North and South BBC Wives and Daughters BBC Pride and Prejudice In progress the second time: Sherlock When Calls the Heart I could watch Galavant and Series of Unfortunate Events and The Crown and Daredevil Season 2 and IT Crowd again if I ran out of other things to watch.

I think there are places in industry where companies need engineers to develop creative solutions to new problems, aside from long-term research. My guess is, as I think someone suggested above, that a graduate degree of some kind would be his ticket to be involved in a project like that. I like my husband's combination of math major + practical major (CS in his case) + math masters. Seems to communicate that he has practical skills ("Hire me!") but that he's capable of solving your hardest problems, so don't waste him on something just anyone could do. The advantage of research is probably that it would give him a more stimulating environment in terms of his co-workers, and that the work would be consistently challenging. It's one thing to be the one guy they can hand the hard problems to when they happen to have them, and the rest of the time you're doing mundane work; it's another to be working somewhere that exists exclusively to solve hard problems, and the problems you work on as a team are so hard none of you could solve them on your own. I'm guessing the latter is less common in industry (outside of research). My husband's work (at a tech company, not research) is somewhere in between, I think. But it's possible that with the right company he could still get that ideal of an intellectually stimulating team environment. FWIW, my experience at a for-profit research organization, doing computer science work, was that the challenge was inconsistent (either too easy or too hard). My husband's work isn't consistently difficult either, but the challenges seem to be more satisfying to him. Idk. We're different people. But I guess all I'm saying is don't write off industry. With an advanced degree, he'll have both options.

My husband has undergraduate degrees in math and computer science, and a Masters in math. He now works for a software company, where he enjoys being the person they trust with the problems no one else can solve. He was in a PhD program aiming for a career as a researching math professor, but the babies came, and that slowed down his progress, and we couldn't afford to keep him in school for the extra year I think he would have needed. I think on some level he still identifies as a math person, even if he's not a mathematician by profession. When the subject of math comes up, I can tell he misses working directly with it, but at the same time this has been a satisfying career for him. I would say that in general, a person who is gifted in math is going to be more satisfied by a career that involves solving challenging problems rather than a career that looks math-y but just involves repeated calculations (some financial careers) or even teaching math. Math research seems like the best of both worlds, but typically that comes with the stress of applying for grants and/or needing to achieve tenure. I don't know how old your son is, but if he's still young I wouldn't expect him to have the maturity to make that kind of a career decision now. I will say that as the wife of someone with a strong math bent, I'm thankful my husband ended up with a less stressful career. But obviously your son will need to weigh the stress against other things, and he may decide it's worth it. Not trying to discourage that at all, only to make you aware that there is something pretty significant to be weighed there.

Most of my changes are gradual transitions -- either things we have already started to implement, or things that we won't begin right away. 1. Switching to BA after we finish our current Singapore book 2. Scheduling -- checklist instead of a block schedule for me, and a student planner for Savannah's reading assignments 3. Fewer worksheets. (We have been doing math, handwriting/copywork, and a rotating schedule of Red Hot Root Words, Mad Libs, Perplexors, Primarily Logic, and KISS Grammar. It has been doable but has taken away from other things I want to focus on.) 4. Scheduling in our AO free reads. They don't get done otherwise. 5. Regular reading lessons with Cheyenne. I had been considering starting Indie on first grade mid-year, but he doesn't seem to be ready for that kind of structure yet. So we wait. :-) I'm also hoping to use some lessons/ideas from Notice and Note for literature discussion, but I am still reading and really don't know what I expect that change to look like.

They're definitely delicious on their own. If you have more than you want to eat plain, I can recommend homemade Lara bars or these cream cheese and pecan stuffed dates.

I'm loving... Mystery Science homegrown geography study where we focus on a different country every few months Singapore Math There isn't really anything I'm hating, but I'm having a kind of paradigm shift towards more multisensory history and geography and am trying to figure out what good things to let go of to make room for more of that.

At my house, every bedroom has two hampers, so dirty clothes are separated into lights and darks right away. (Except my 5yo boy who has a room to himself and whose clothes are almost all dark, so it isn't worth a separate basket.) I only wash the clothes for my own bedroom. My 5yo does his own laundry, and my 8yo does hers and her 3yo sister's. I let the kids use laundry pods so they won't make a mess with the detergent. Every bedroom has a clean laundry basket... which unfortunately is usually full of clean but unfolded laundry. Clothing is rarely put away unless I do it... but at least everyone has clean clothes!

You've gotten some good ideas, but I will add that listening to songs sung in the language could help. If I were you, I would search for lists of good German modern or folk music, and then look for them on Spotify. Music listening is nice when you don't have a lot of spare time, because it is something that can be done in the background during another activity. For the benefit of anyone reading this thread who has younger children, I can recommend these traditional German children's songs.

My kids -- 3rd grade, Kindergarten, preschool -- all love it. All three are eager to answer questions every time the video pauses for discussion. I love it, because it is a lot more open-and-go than BFSU, but still has the kids tackling questions that get them thinking. The preschooler doesn't seem to understand the lessons, she is just getting exposure and feeling included. But I can manage her while the lesson is going on because I'm not actively teaching. The K'er is getting a good amount out of the lessons even though some of the lessons we are doing are for older kids. He doesn't get it at a third-grade level, but I think his knowledge is now beyond a Kindergarten level when it comes to, say, volcanoes. The activities we have done are not busy-work. They are all guided exploration that help the kids answer the lesson's mystery themselves. I have found them to be well-thought-out and engaging. Sometimes they can be rather messy, but again, I personally find it to be easier to deal with because I'm not also teaching the lesson. The activities aren't necessarily experiments, though -- so far we have done volcanoes/rocks/erosion and weather, and with those lessons there have been data recording activities, brainstorming activities, and phenomenon-simulating activities. I thought the brainstorming activity was especially cool because it got at the engineering side of science. Doug, the narrator, is enthusiastic about science -- in an authentic way, like my friends at engineering school were when they got started on their topics of interest -- and I think the kids pick up on that. I miss BFSU. It's a great program, maybe more comprehensive. (Hard to say because I am comparing a couple months of Mystery Science to three years of BFSU.) I might come back to it to reinforce topics that we want to explore further. But Mystery Science is considerably more user-friendly and scales up a lot better for multiple kids, while still engaging the kids in real scientific thinking. I think we will probably pay for it next year.

Rice cooker - Either I'm really good at making rice come out right every time, or I'm not as picky about it having a very specific texture. But a pot and a measuring cup turns out great rice for me, and it's really not much work. Food processor, pressure cooker, stand mixer, conventional blender I guess I understand why people might love them, but in the end I just don't see how they could be worth the space they take up. And all but the stand mixer seem like they would be a pain to wash. Keurig - I use it at my in-laws' house, and I admit they're convenient, but you can't make the coffee (or tea) strong enough for me. It comes out tasting like water. I love my programmable electric kettle + Aeropress method. Quick and delicious, and easy enough for me. I do have and love: -Crock pot -Programmable electric kettle -Bread machine -Grain mill -Mandolin slicer (but I admit it's a pain to wash) -Immersion blender -Tortilla press (non-electric) -Dishwasher, microwave I'm on the fence about my toaster oven. I put it in storage recently to save counter space, and I admit I miss it. Now I can't make cheese toast without firing up the oven, and that just doesn't seem worth it. Anyway, I think I like having the counterspace a tiny bit better... but I still miss my cheese toast.

Leather because of the lovely smell. (But it's not worth the extra money to me. We ended up with a used van with leather because we got a great deal on a private sale.)