Thank you, thank you, thank you all for the information! You all are making me even more excited. I've been to Maui twice and loved it, but wanted to someday visit the other islands. Well, my brother and I have been talking about a sibling trip for a couple years now and it looks like it will be a reality in June. More than one post has mentioned sea turtles and I think I look forward to those the most. I am absolutely smitten with them and love seeing them in their natural habitat. I am afraid I won't have enough time to see and do all I want, so I will reread these posts carefully and make a sort of plan. And, Creekland, my library has Hawaii Revealed, so I will read that, too. Thanks again!

My brother and I will be going to the Big Island in June. Yippee! I've been checking out some things online, but thought I'd ask for some BTDT advice. I think we like to do the same things (hike), so what were your favorite things to do? We will stay in Kona 3 days and Hilo 3 days. Also, any advice on where to stay? I'd like a condo so I can make food (I have celiac). I don't care about fancy at all and prefer to be close to the ocean. I would love all your BTDT advice! Thank you!

We have laminate and I love it. We went with it because it was so much less expensive. Hard wood was out of the budget. We've had ours over 10 years and it looks exactly the same today as it did when installed. Except for that dent in the floor where my Kitchenaid kneaded itself off the counter and plunged to the floor. Oops! Our fridge and dishwasher have leaked all over on multiple occasions and it was never a problem. We have had dogs in the house the entire time and you can never tell, except for the muddy paw prints they sometimes bring in, but that is easy to fix. I damp mop it with vinegar and water and it's looks like new. Our installer said that if you do damage a piece, it is easy to pop out and replace, just make sure to order some extra. With real wood, you often have to redo the entire floor. I would do laminate again and use the money I saved to do something fun. :)

Your house is beautiful!

Fortunately, no. Me, on the other hand...I always take her shopping with me, because I value her opinion. She helps me keep that balance between not looking like a teeny bopper and not looking like an old lady. (I'm 48, she's 18.) Funny story, we were walking into the grocery store the other day and she said with disdain, "We are wearing the same jeans. I'm wearing mom jeans." Ha ha ha! (I don't wear "mom jeans." She was just being funny. We did have the same jeans on, though.)

Hugs Kinsa.

Hugs Rosie. I've been told that my dyslexic daughter justs needs more motivation, that I probably gave all my attention to my older sons and that's why my girl struggles with reading, and a bunch of other crap. One person asked why I didn't just give her a pill for her dyslexia. ??? If only they knew how hard she and I have both worked.

So what if they are taking their kid to Disney?

Things like this make me SO thankful for the public high school my sons went to. My kids were excused if I called the school and said they wouldn't be there. End of story. I took my middle son out of school for 6 days during his senior year to go on a trip to Hawaii. I did go in to the school and talk to the principal, who was awesome, to let him know well in advance. He was 100% in favor of us taking our son out. My son got all his work done in advance of going and still managed to graduate at the top of his class. Every time I've read posts on this board about public school issues, I want to go kiss the teachers and admins of our local high school. Ours was a very good experience. Night Elf, I'm excited for your daughter!

Thank you so much! I didn't see this when I posted my last post on this thread; we must have been posting at the same time. While I have your attention, I want to say a BIG thank you to you,Lori. I have gleaned so much info from your posts in the past, even though I rarely post here. While searching this forum, I have gained so much knowledge that you have shared. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to post all that you do!

I appreciate this info too. When my son, who went to public high school, took a year of Spanish 3, it was considered the equivalent of the semester of Spanish 101 at the community college. When he began at the cc after high school graduation, he began with Spanish 102. From this, I am assuming my state will allow counting one semester of cc work as one credit of high school work, but I will check into this further. After I posted this I saw the pinned thread started by Lori D. with an absolute WEALTH of info related to this topic. I am reading that thread. Thank you, Lori D! I should have looked before posting. :)

Thank you! Each semester her class is 4 credits, so I will give her 1 high school credit for each.

My daughter is taking American Sign Language at the local community college this year. I have read that a semester college class is the equivalent to a year of high school. She will have completed two semesters of ASL by the end of this school year. Can I actually give her 1 credit for each class? Or should I stick with one credit total for the entire year? Thank you!

I don't know what the other thread is, but what you say here sounds pretty reasonable and true to me.

Thank you for all your answers!

I have been trying to spend less time on the internet, but I just can't get some of my questions answered anywhere but here. :) I was talking to someone whose kids are in public high school and she said they don't use math textbooks anymore. My two oldest both went to the local public high school, graduating in 2010 and 2013, and they both used math textbooks all four years. I have of course used them for homeschooling. So do schools really not use them anymore? How is math done, especially at the high school level? How do the classroom teachers on the board feel about this? TIA for your answers!

My oldest also used our reading as the reason for his first tattoo. It's a medieval looking design, and he told me that it reminded him of me and the books about medieval times I read to him and his siblings. Nice sentiment, but I'm not quite sure I'm buying it. My boys did love the medieval time period and I still have some homemade medieval weapons out on my garage. :) (My sons are 21 and almost 24.)

Don't you love it when they acknowledge that you did something right? :)

and I wanted to share. We were in the library and she said, "You always read the best books to us when we were younger." She is 18 and my youngest. Made my day. And I have to say thanks, again, to the Hive, because I got many, many book suggestions here. :) Happy New Year!

I did my final Christmas "shopping" this week. We paid for my son's car repairs. (His car broke down when he was on his way home for Thanksgiving.) It was a spendy gift, but I am so very thankful we can help our kids. Quill, I want to thank you for starting this back in January, as it definitely has made me think before purchases. Not just at how much I'm spending, because sometimes a large purchase is necessary or good, but to ask "why" and to think about whether or not an item is even worth bringing into my home. I have also eliminated some waste, fewer coffees out in disposable cups, way fewer paper towels used (I cut up a couple old towels and we use those for kitchen spills. I only allow paper towel use for pet puke clean up. :) ), and much less plastic wrap use. This coming year I want to try to reduce the amount of trash we go through and learn about composting. And now I have mindfully decided to take a little internet break. I will miss this weekly thread as I have really looked forward to it. You have been a delightful hostess, Quill. :) Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Exactly this! Do not put anything on the internet, whether in a password protected account or not, that you wouldn't want anyone else to see. It's not a good idea to expect others on the internet to protect your privacy. That is why I have private conversations in person, not via FB chat, not via email.

I agree and this is what I have done. My kids are 23, 20, and 18.

I agree with this suggestion to get a gym membership for a month and try out different machines. Different people like different machines. Any machine you don't like will end up not getting used. I also suggest putting whatever you get in front of the TV or making sure you can read while exercising or listen to something while exercising. Sitting in one place is boring. Following through on exercise will be more successful if you have something to ease the boredom. At least in my experience. Best of luck picking the right machine for you!

All of your ponderings are why I don't think people should be allowed to open carry. I didn't even know open carry was a thing until relatively recently, in spite of growing up in a house where guns were present because my dad is an avid hunter. I actually had to Google to see if my state is an open carry state. It is. Almost everyone I know has guns, because they are hunters, and my state is mostly conservative, but I have never seen anyone carrying around a gun in public, with the exceptions of police officers. For this I am very thankful. A couple of FB people (not close friends, just people I know) were advocating open carry into places like Starbucks a few months ago. I unfriended them. I don't want that kind of craziness on my FB feed. I do NOT understand why anyone thinks it's a good idea to carry a rifle around in public. I've probably already mentioned that though. :)

I have gone to funerals of people I barely even knew or didn't know at all. I do it for the family members I do know as a way to say, " I am so sorry for your loss."