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Code Lyoko

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Posts posted by Code Lyoko

  1. Not Mrs. Twain but I will respond in case I might be able to help a tad.

     

    Are you thinking you would like to rotate R&S Climbing to Good English with Fix-It Grammar?  What would be your goals?  Are you looking to sometimes do something less intense, that only covers grammar and a bit of vocabulary periodically instead of a full scale program for English?  Or do you feel your students are needing a bit more grammar practice/experience?  Or ...?  Knowing your overall goals may help people respond more effectively.

     

    Fix-It does not cover reading comprehension or phonics or composition.  It strictly covers grammar, in a very gentle scaffolded way, plus it includes some dictionary work for increasing vocabulary comprehension.  You could easily add in penmanship with the copywork.

     

    Fix-It is only :15 minutes a day, 4 days a week.  Very short lessons, almost no prep at all needed once the notebooks are set up, and you only need to buy the TM.  If you buy the TM you have access to the Student Book in electronic format for free and can print as many pages as needed for your family.  100% money back guarantee if it doesn't work out for you, by the way.

     

    I would not completely replace R&S English with Fix-It since R&S covers areas that Fix-It does not, but I guess you could rotate them, or replace the grammar portion of R&S with Fix-It if you were able to do some tweaking/adjusting.  

  2. I know a lot of people feel that since they don't have a lot of stuff, or their families get along really well, or they don't really care what happens to their stuff after they die, that a will isn't really necessary.  Even if someone chooses to get a will, they may just slap something together on the fly.

     

     The thing is, though, there doesn't have to be any contention or a lot of money/property involved, for things to get very complex very quickly.  A well written will can help prevent the person trying to settle the estate from spending countless hours over months or even years trying to straighten out issues that could so easily have been dealt with if a few specific words had been included in the will (or actually having a will in the first place, which many people don't).  The will has many functions but one is to make things smoother and less troublesome for the person settling the estate, not just to prevent contentious relationships from getting out of hand once someone passes, but to make the process smoother and make certain there are no legal or financial snafus.  There doesn't have to be any contention at all for issues to arise.  And the will also hopefully keeps the IRS and lawyers from walking away with the bulk of whatever you own.

     

    I don't want whoever ends up dealing with my estate to be stuck trying to clean up my mess because I failed to take care of things while I was still alive.

     

    That being said, there are many instances where people really don't need a lawyer, the estate settlement goes glass smooth, and there are no issues to deal with.  Since I don't have a crystal ball, I would rather air on the side of caution, especially since I have kids involved.

    • Like 2
  3. I think this is kind of normal for a lot of teens.  I know this is frustrating.   :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

     

    Honestly, it sounds like he is working very hard in a lot of things.  He may NEED, for his own mental well being, to have something that he can just "get done" instead of having to put 110% into all the time.  We can't always put our all into every single thing we do or people can eventually burn out.  I think balance and prioritizing would be a more important message here.  

     

    Could you talk to him about balance and priorities?  Not tell him but ask him what his real priorities are, both short and long term?  And how well balanced he thinks things are right now?  And what schools may not be affordable any more without the merit aid?  Just get a dialogue going without putting in direct feedback from you right now.  Get him thinking without feeling judged or pressured.

     

     

    • Like 7
  4. I agree 100% that a cooperative, supportive approach is going to yield the best results.

     

    Some subsets of homeschoolers are so antagonistic themselves towards anything related to the government that a cooperative approach is not really possible, but those subsets are the most likely to go underground and do their own thing regardless of regulations anyway. They are fortunately a minority in most places.

     

    A bigger issue in my experience is antagonism towards homeschoolers on the part of official folks, especially many associated with public school administration. It seems to me that if the welfare of homeschooled children is a priority then support and encouragement from the public education sector is more likely to contribute to that goal than disdain or antagonism.

    I agree.

     

    And the last would be a serious concern for me, too.  Here, homeschooling is not common, is not seen as a positive choice, and is frequently greeted with at least suspicion, sometimes open hostility.  Even family are still not really on board with my choice to homeschool the kids after some real struggles in brick and mortar.  Heck, even the choice to put a child in private school can be greeted with hostility here.  Local officials would almost certainly not be friendly towards homeschoolers and might very well be looking for any excuse to force children into the public school system, whether it would be a good fit or not.

    • Like 1
  5. I'm not on board for requiring of homeschool parents anything that isn't required of school parents.

     

    If I'm not required to take my schooled daughter to the doctor's once a year, there is no way in this world I will comply with being forced to take my homeschooled ds once a year.

     

    I take my ds to the doctor when he is sick. End of. 

     

    There are costs I am willing to pay to theoretically root out abusive homeschoolers (I see no evidence the theory works, but whatever, I comply) but this isn't one of them. 

    I agree with the bolded absolutely.  However, here parents ARE required to have a physical exam of their children by a physician every year before their child can start public school and AFAIK all local private schools require the same.  Frequently it is also required that they have had that yearly wellness exam to start any kind of public sports and many privately supported sports activities, too.  Whether that is truly necessary or not, they are required to do so.

  6. Another suggestion:  Do all of these jobs yourself first, and TIME yourself.  Now plan to probably double or possibly triple that time for the teenager to complete those tasks until they are used to your preferences and where everything is and until they perfect their techniques, especially if some of these tasks they have never done before even in their own home.  From that estimate determine how many hours you would need them to be at your home and whether you need to cut some of those tasks from their list if it will not be cost effective.

    • Like 3
  7. The agency chose to book it like this on their own. I do not know if they would have allowed my husband to book the flights on his own.

    So the company that wants to interview your husband booked the flight through a travel agency but made an error?  And the agency is dealing with your husband directly, not through the company that asked them to make the booking?

     

    If the company that is doing the interview booked the flight, and the agency they hired made the mistake, why isn't the company dealing with the agency?

     

     

    ETA:  Or am I totally misunderstanding?

     

    FWIW, a lot of companies reimburse afterwards instead of paying up front.  That isn't necessarily a red flag.  The issue with the travel agency is a separate issue from whether this company is worth the effort to interview with.

     

    COL is definitely something to consider.

    • Like 5
  8. I guess it depends on the long-term relationship you are hoping to have. It sounds like she is in a transitionary phase. Does keeping the stuff or not really have to be decided immediately? I sense from your posts that you don't like a lot about the way your dd lives or thinks, but she is who she is. You can either work with her and help her to constructively grow and mature or not. KWIM?

     

    She's probably never going to do things the way you would because you are a different person. I would encourage you to really, sincerely study what it is like to live with OCD and anxiety. You can't control how she manages her life, you can only control how you respond. But you should carefully consider the consequences of your response. 

     

    My parents' home was always my home. They kept many of my belongings until my DH and I moved into a house large enough to hold them. In fact, some of my belongings are still in the attic of my childhood home. Deciding whether you will allow her to keep her things at your home should be a decision based on whether you have the room and are wiling; you shouldn't make the decision based on whether you think her belonging are well packed or worth keeping. That takes it to a level of judgment that expects her to be someone she's not. 

     

    I agree.  

    • Like 1
  9. My parents kept my room for me but only because it was actually an enclosed balcony on the second floor and neither of them used the upstairs much.  They also stored my stuff and I really appreciated it.  I didn't expect them to, though.  They just didn't plan to use that balcony/room for anything so they had no problem with me leaving my stuff there.

     

    If they had needed the space I would NOT have expected them to keep my room indefinitely.  As for my stuff, I think I would have been hurt if they had tossed it or given me an ultimatum on when to have it removed since my living arrangements after I moved out were not stable for quite a while and I was living light.  However, I think it is absolutely reasonable to ask a child to cull down their things to a reasonable amount that you can store, or suggest they rent a storage unit to put their things in.  Or if you have the yard space then maybe they could buy a small storage unit and keep it in your backyard.  Cheaper than paying for off site storage if she needs to store stuff long term.

     

    I think a lot of kids (even adult ones) sometimes do want to feel like they still have a connection to home and that they weren't just tenants, that a part of them still belongs there and that they are still welcome, still a part of things, even if they move out.  At least I felt that way.  I needed to know that no matter how far away I moved or how long it was until I saw them again, I still belonged, that my childhood mementos were not just a waste of space or that my family was relieved to see me go so they could have their room "back".  

    • Like 3
  10. Gah!!!!  I just bought and ate some this weekend and this morning.  Mine is definitely on the list of possibly affected products.  I am so sad.  I haven't had humus in months.  It tasted so good.  I know they say they haven't found any issues with the finished product but since they are asking that all potentially affected products be thrown away I guess I will.  

     

    Thanks for posting...

  11. Agree with FaithManor see if you can find an expat site.

     

    For real estate, maybe this would help.

     

    http://www.home.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KEQiA08rBBRDUn4qproqwzYMBEiQAqpzns629PjrCc5KMKu2vZ9KVVCIMox-qE6MaUPXjvtm69Y4aAgqY8P8HAQ

     

    FWIW, I would not move to another country until I had visited at least once with the express purpose of getting a feel for how it would be to live there.  Vacationing is one thing.  Living can be a HUGE adjustment, even when moving to a country where the language is mostly the same and the culture doesn't seem that different compared to other countries.  Do you adapt well to other cultures?  For Scotland in particular are you o.k. with lots of gray skies?  The culture is different, too.  If you are super outgoing and expect to make friends right away you may be disappointed.  

     
  12. www.rocketlawyer.com

     

    This website has temporary guardianship papers ror each state. A place to begin would be to have the mother fill one out and them pay to have it filed. You could, if necessary, offer her a one time gift of a hundred dollars to cover her expenses which would be going to the site you pick to get the fax, fill it out, fax it back to you, and take to the clerk of the family court. (You can google the exact location for filing in her state.)

     

    It is actually very, very easy. When we had guardianship of my niece, my brother filled one out, and we paid a family lawyer to file it for us. $100 is all he charged for that. Wr had sole rights to our niece for a 12 month period.

     

    Temporary guardianships are perfectly acceptable transfers of custody. We had zero issues, no doctor, school, or legal authority.ever questioned it. I did keep a copy of the form with me just in case I ever needed it.

     

    I would try going this route with the mom. Cheap. Legal. However it will not change his CS order which must be treated separately. Since you would need the mom to be willing to renew it once before dsd turns 18, and with a druggie everything is about the money, I would simply pay he CS until the child turns 18 or graduates high school whichever is designated in the CS order. It isn't fair, but fair and family court/custody battles never are.

    Love this and OP I would try for something like this very, very soon, before something happens that might cause the mom to change her mind regarding her verbal consent.

  13. Ugh! This is all worst case scenario. HIGHLY unlikely to actually happen.

     

    The mother would have to complain to someone.

    Or the aunt would have to complain.

     

    And then both of them would have to explain why they are so against the girl going to live with her father, where she wants to be, when neither one of them were equipped to properly care for her.

     

    And again.....the aunt let her go see her father. She had to know this was a possibility.

     

    Well, the aunt isn't actually an aunt, either.  Not a blood relative.  Just someone the mom knows.

     

    OP, since the mom has now actually given verbal consent, is there any way your DH could get her to put something in writing?  Even though you can't hire a lawyer, could your DH at least have some sort of legal document written up you could fax her to some local place where she could go in and sign and have it faxed back?  If she wants to continue to receive cs even though she is not actually the one that has been raising the girl in recent times (and still getting cs even if the girl is living with her father is apparently why she agreed to allow the girl to continue to stay with you and your DH) perhaps if you pressed just a tad harder you could get something more solid in place legally without hiring a lawyer.  

     

    As for the power of attorney for the fake aunt, maybe that could be rescinded. 

     

    What you need is time.  Time for the girl to stay with you and your DH until she is sure that is where she wants to live, time for her to get old enough that none of this matters, time to establish that the mom knows she is living there and has not fought the arrangement, time hopefully to get the mom to sign some sort of legal document saying she is o.k. with this (not just her verbal consent), etc.  All of that will look better with a court than the current situation.  

     

    And do everything on your end to make certain she is getting an education so the courts can't come down on your DH for a lack of education.

    • Like 2
  14. :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

     

    I have to agree with up thread, you really cannot stop this so try to focus on what you can do to help her follow this course of action in the most positive way she can manage.  She is an adult dealing with a lot of mental health issues and is not ready right now to receive any helpful suggestions going against her current course of action apparently.  You almost certainly cannot rationalize with her.  

     

    As for the contract, if someone could convince her to do as mentioned up thread and submit her notice on Monday, explaining she is moving out of state, that may mitigate issues later.  If she could stay until Christmas holidays that would also help.  And not sign a new contract until the old one has been officially terminated.  

     

    But I would also look on this as maybe helping her.  I know that sounds crazy.  What she is planning doesn't sound terribly thought out or rational at all.  However, she is probably choosing this path because she (as you have said yourself) is very unhappy in her job and missing being in school and is desperate to change the path she is on but may not be able to think through another course of action.  Therefore, she is grasping at this straw to save herself.

     

     Well, I can understand her perspective regarding teaching.  I admire teachers a lot because their job is NOT easy.  Teaching in the public school system is a hard job.  It is a lot of work, a lot of pressure, and not a lot of down time.  Even when you aren't teaching there are lesson plans and papers to grade and parent conferences to schedule and a zillion other things.  When you are working you are having to juggle administrative issues, kids having a bad day, bullies, kids falling behind, kids needing more challenge, academic material that needs tweaking, parents upset about something, administrators upset about something, plus of course squeezing in teaching the actual lessons and so on and so forth.  It is a LOT of hard, exhausting work, and at the end of the day you have to go home and prep for the next day.  When you are a rookie you don't have a lot of systems in place yet for how to streamline things and how to cope with the stress.  Quite a few teachers quit the profession within the first few years.  

     

    A ton of my relatives are teachers, including my mother and grandmother.  Also my SIL.  Depression, anxiety and even suicide rates have increased locally for teachers.  The first years are usually the hardest.  With your daughter's current mental health issues teaching may be a lousy choice for career, at least right now.  Maybe, just maybe, this will be a way for her to find another, potentially more suitable, career path.  Doesn't mean she isn't making a mistake.  Since she is an adult, as you said, you cannot stop her.  But just possibly in the long run this will work out better for her career wise.  Maybe this will help her to find something that she really loves, something to anchor to and keep her going.

     

    :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:   Being a parent is hard.  Hang in there.

    • Like 1
  15. I don't react well to this video. It makes the woman seem like an idiot because 'the real problem' is made visually obvious to the viewers as well as being obvious to the man. The woman is cast as the only one who doesn't know the source of her emotional issue.

     

    This causes the video to communicate that the woman's strategy (wanting to have a supportive conversation entirely focused on her experience of what is going on) is entirely foolish. She is additionally shown to be foolish in her strong desire to ignore and deny 'real solutions' from the man to solve her 'actual problem' (the nail). She is 'wrong about what's wrong' and he is 'right'. Her insistence that 'it's not about the nail' is made to seem ridiculous.

     

    That's a terrible message made palatable by humour. The truth is that the woman's strategy (a specific kind of conversation) is a powerful strategy that overcomes lots of situations -- and not just for women. No, it doesn't remove nails from one's head, but it is a deceptively simple strategy that any willing person can help others employ. Seriously: it's one of those things that sounds stupid but works wonderfully.

     

    Because it's simple, and easily made fun of, many people already wonder, 'What good is that going to do?' Most people feel foolish asking for it, and ridiculous when they try to insist it's the right strategy and they want their partner to stay with them.

     

    So. Very much not my favourite video.

     

     

     

    Yes, it is about validation but the way the video is presented, while funny, is kind of insulting.  I agree with Bolt.  I do get the point.  I really do.  And I think the video makes a very good point.  But it does also make the woman look stupid for not just dealing with the elephant in the room.  I have a very odd feeling when watching this video.

    • Like 4
  16. I agree that a lawyer would be the best route but since you feel that is not an option, is the aunt currently demanding she come home?  Has the mother demanded that she return to the aunt?  Or did the aunt expect her to come home and the daughter is refusing?  Is she enrolled in school or are you homeschooling her currently?  What are the legal custody arrangements between Mom and your DH?

     

    If the aunt is willing to let her stay with you, dad has the legal right to see his daughter and the mom hasn't actually said anything, and the daughter is getting a legal education of some kind while living with you, maybe just doing a bit more investigation and getting more documentation in place proving that Mom is not actually taking care of her daughter before activating any agencies might be more prudent?

    • Like 2
  17. The point, it seems to me, is that until someone is ready to deal with the "nail", trying to make them deal with the "nail" is probably counterproductive and even harmful depending on the circumstances.  What they may need far more is someone to just listen while they process through and try to come to a point where they can deal with the "nail" themselves.  They need to feel that no matter what is happening they are still loved and supported.  They don't want it solved for them.  They don't need it flung back in their faces.  They want the emotional support in general so they can find a way to face it and solve it themselves.  And that can take time.

     

    For problem solvers that is a very painful thing to try and do.  It isn't logical and it drives them nuts.  For the person with the nail, it can be even worse.  I have been on both ends.  Nails on a chalkboard times 400 from either perspective.   :lol:

    • Like 3
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