Saying he will start formal school in kindergarten isn't lying unless you don't plan to start formal schooling in kindergarten. Formal schooling, in homeschool circles, just refers to when you plan to start reporting if you have a reporting requirement or if you don't have one, it's when you start doing typical school subjects like reading writing and arithmetic in a formal manner with curriculum or a formal plan of how you are going to present those subjects. Nothing more. It has nothing to do with sending a child to public school, private school, brick-and-mortar-school, institutionalized school or whatever other phrase you use to talk about not homeschooling your child. So saying he will start formal schooling when he is ready or when he is kindergarten age is not lying at all. Whether the other person understands what formal schooling means is neither here nor there. As far as I know there is no way to sugar coat a strong opinion that most people will be offended by. You either have to embrace your strong opinion and not care what others think about going full bitch on someone when you think they are wrong or just do you and reserve your judgements for the sake of your reputation or your family's reputation and the reputation of homeschoolers as a whole. There is no middle ground if you have a strong, polarizing opinion and you believe everyone else's choices are just wrong. Just know that you will burn bridges if you look to pick a fight every time some one asks an innocent question. Even with other homeschoolers. If you are ok with that, then you do you.

We regularly have fiesta blend (cheddar colby and pepper jack blend), american slices, shredded parmesan (none of us like the powdery crumbed parmesan), velveeta if you count that as cheese lol, and I just threw out a half used bag of mozzerella yesterday that had taken on a funky smell so I sadly tossed it. Oh and Provolone slices for cheesesteaks. Thought of one more, ds and dh like string cheese for snacks so we often have those too.

Ok, but how did you teach your child(ren) about multiplication as scaling and avoid the words "repeated addition". I've got a fuzzy idea in my head of how it could be done but I'm really curious to hear from someone who has actually done it. I think the idea is fascinating and a good one but I've never seen this kind of teaching in action so I'm really curious how you have done it. So instead of answering the question, "How would you teach a hypothetical child?", could you answer "How did you teach multiplication to your children as scaling and at about what age were they when you did this?"

When my adult children were kids, we had a no pet policy. Or rather I had a no pet policy. Now-ex brought home a potential pet several times trying to force me into changing my mind since it was already in the house but I didn't want a pet to take care of nor would I stand by and watch it be neglected by now-ex and the kids who were too young to have full responsibility for a pet. Anyways, as for pros... definitely less stressful deciding to go on vacation or move or even just leave for the day without pets in the picture. No pet hair or accidents to clean up. I could sell homeschool curriculum and advertise that it came from a pet free home which just meant that even those with severe allergies could buy from me and know that it is unlikely to cause a reaction in their home. I'll add more if I think of it but that's all I can think of for now.

Again, I think this is a useful tool for those of us who have obsessive and intrusive thoughts. If you are able to use your emotions constructively and creatively, that is wonderful. But some people, especially those with deep emotional trauma, internalize things to the point that they are causing self harm with their emotions. Their emotions become so big that, without realizing it until it is too late, it fully consumes them. We are blinded by our big emotions because they have become so big that reality is lost. In these cases, it sometimes helps to be reminded that we are not our emotions and we can control them with constant practice.

I think both can be correct but for different situations. Processing your emotions as described above is a good thing. Continuing to process the same emotions over and over again obsessively until you are paralyzed by it, not so much. I have experienced severe emotional trauma in my past. I know that sometimes I can be obsessive with trying to process and re-process my emotions. But I know I can spin myself into a panic attack or deep depression that way so I have to tell myself, "No, you are not allow to process or reprocess that right now." Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but I don't believe it to be bad to tell myself no when I'm leading myself onto a path of self harm by torturing myself with my own emotions. I am by no means an expert and I'm still learning how to claw my way out of my emotionally traumatic past but I don't think these two methods of dealing with emotions, processing and self limiting, are opposites and mutually exclusive. I think they are tools in a tool belt for dealing with emotions and each has situations where they are useful and situations where using the other tool would be better.

My second youngest son only presents with a low grade fever when he has raging strep throat. He doesn't act sick or look sick, he just feels really warm and his eyes might look a little glassy from time to time while he has it. All my other kids get the normal sore throat, can't swallow, only want soft foods but not this little guy. He acts completely normal. I thought my kid was the only one that presented weird with illness. Not much help but at least you know your kid isn't the only one maybe? Hope she is feeling better soon.

My KA stand mixer is in the cabinet that is level with the countertop so I can just slide it out when I need it and slide it back when I'm done. It slides pretty easily on my smooth countertops. I've considered putting felt feet on it to make it even easier but then it might dance around while it mixes so I haven't tried it. Coincidentally, my KA lives next to my bread machine in the same cabinet. I prefer my bread machine for making dough. With my KA, I have to stand there and keep an eye on it so it doesn't over mix or over knead. With my bread machine, I put all the ingredients in, set it to "Dough Cycle" and walk away. It will let me know when it is done with the first rise. I love both my KA and my bread machine, though if I had to give something up, it would probably be the bread machine but I would fight tooth and nail to try and find a way to keep both. If you don't have counter space to give up, what about dedicating a lower cabinet? You could install a stand mixer lift to make it easier to access.

Netflix is free with our cellphone plan. Amazon Prime Video is part of our prime package or we probably wouldn't have it. We have Noggin, PBSKids and Cartoon Network addons to Prime Video which we also probably wouldn't have if Prime Video didn't come with Prime. Probably going to drop Noggin soon as ds is slowly watching those shows less and less. We recently did a trial of Disney+ and found we all watch it quite a bit. It is charged to our cell phone bill so I think it is an extra $6 or $8 a month, I can't remember offhand, on our bill. Altogether it is less than $25 a month, which is less than any cable plan around here (cable internet isn't an option around here) and we only pay for content we actually watch.

I used to wear makeup a lot but now, I don't even own any makeup. It just seems like too much of a hassle to put it on and sensory issues have always caused me to smear it and get it every where. I like getting my toe nails painted but not my finger nails. I used to dye my own hair constantly but as I've gotten older, I've let go of that too. Now I only dye it when I feel like it which is less and less. My mom despised makeup and seemed to hate that I enjoyed wearing it when I was younger. I'm sure that plays into my opinion in its own way. I do like perfume and body spray though. I'm very picky about it due to sensory issues again but I do wear some kind of perfume or body spray everyday because I like it.

I've had gas stoves, plain electric stoves and smooth top. In order of easiest to clean, I like the smooth top, then gas, the plain electric. I usually didn't have a choice as to what kind of cook top/stove the houses we lived in had. In this house I had a choice so we got a glass top (which by the way, I use my favorite cast iron skillet on everyday without any issues). My second choice would have been gas, probably propane. I do have a single propane burner that is rated to be used indoors (but it still recommends to ventilate well). We use it in case of a power outage and to protect my glass top for canning. I can also use it when I'm grilling outside so I don't have to run back and forth between the grill and the kitchen to watch something on the stove. One of my favorite features of the gas stoves I've had is the ability to take the grates off and put them in the dishwasher and wipe the stove itself down easily. That's why it wins out over a plain electric coil burner stove for me.

This little hand truck has to be one of the best investments we've ever made. It comes in handy so often I don't know how I lived so long without it. We have a hand me down treadmill that was given to us. It's in our bedroom, still broken waiting for dh to fix it, and covered with clutter, sigh. Yes we did use the hand truck to bring it in.

When we had a yard to mow, I bought myself a brand new lawn mower as a gift to myself. We had the money at the time, it was on sale, the old mower was making life difficult when I cut the grass so I treated myself to a new lawn mower. It wasn't that I liked mowing the lawn particularly but it was important to me that it was cut and neat at the time. So I was usually the one doing it. We also don't celebrate mother's day (or father's day or many other holidays) in our house and if the grass needed mowing on the second Sunday in May then it would get cut on the second Sunday in May. I would be surprised, confused and frankly, a little defensive, if someone told me I shouldn't be doing what needs doing just because it is a holiday. As a side note, my first husband never did anything for me for Mother's day for the 13 years we were married because "you are not my mother". I begged to differ as he was in many ways a bigger child than his own children but that's a whole 'nother post. Yes it does have a very small part to do with the reason we, my current husband and I, don't celebrate mother's day or father's day at all anymore. It is just another day for us with same chores and responsibilities that come with any other day.

Different for each kid. I still can't eat powdered sugar donuts. I've been averse to those since oldest ds's pregnancy. He turned 22 yesterday....

Our trash is taken out by hand. They don't provide trash containers so our "trash can" is an IBC container (looks most like the middle top one in the picture) that the top has been cut back to make a lid. No way two guys could lift that heavy thing. They take the bags out and toss them in the truck. They wear thick leather gloves. They won't take anything that isn't bagged. Large items have to be taken to their facility and it costs 5 cents per pound to dispose of it there.

I'm very intentional with my babies to hand them things in the center and let them grab with whatever hand they choose. My two lefties both grabbed things with their left more often than their right from infancy. I still waited until they were 3 or 4 before declaring handedness though. All 4 of my other kids and parents are right handed. I taught myself to write with my left hand so I could teach handwriting to my lefties. They learned to cut with righty as well as lefty scissors.

What would I do? Nothing. What's done is done and it is not worth getting my panties in a wad over a pile of dog sh*t. At least she tried to be courteous and cleaned up after her dog. That's more than a lot of people do. She probably has no idea that anyone would be upset by it or, hopefully, she wouldn't have done it. I've lived lots of places, including overseas. The trash is taken out of the cans by hand a lot more places that I've lived than places that had touchless trash pick up. I think the best place for trash pickup was overseas. We didn't have to tote it to the curb. They came up to the house and took anything that was in the screened trash area for our unit but would knock on the door if they thought something was put there by mistake. It was awesome not having to make a mad dash for the curb when we saw the garbage truck coming. I do remember that we had to write, in Katakana, the words "sharp" or "dangerous" on any bags that contained broken glass or sharp items of any kind.

It's definitely a bramble of some type. I'm leaning toward blackberry as it looks like the wild blackberry we have around here.

Just another chiming in that the system is indeed quite broken. So broken it is ridiculous. To the point that I still stand by what I've said for years now, family court is no place for children. Sometimes I know it is unavoidable, like it was in my case. And it just sucks for everyone involved. I'm sorry you have to walk this path OP.

Obligatory Other The rule in our house is 13 years old for a phone that has the ability to make and receive calls and texts. However, ds(7) has a "phone" that was my old phone before we got new ones. It is a smart phone and we mostly use it on long car trips and errand days so he has games and videos to keep himself occupied. He gets 1 hour of phone time per day after school. The phone has no ability to make or receive calls or texts and I control when it is allowed to connect to the internet via tethering when I need to load a new game, download a movie or show or install an update on his phone. He is only allowed to play games that have an offline play option. He is my youngest child but the only child to have any kind of phone that is "his" before the age of 13. Same as the other kids, he won't get a fully functional phone until he is 13.

Yup mashed potatoes freeze and reheat fine. Dh loves mashed potato bowls. Some kind of gravy, even just some dairy free country gravy would be good.

Use a vegetable she does like/can tolerate in place of the beans cut roughly the same size as a bean. My dh prefers chili without beans so that is another option for her. I know she doesn't care for Mexican but what about taco rice? You could season the meat any way she prefers and put non dairy cheese and after it is heated she could add lettuce, tomato, sour cream/low fat plain yogurt or whatever she likes. I actually prefer shredded fresh spinach on tacos instead of lettuce. Another way to reheat rice in the microwave so that the rice and anything in it is moist is to add a tablespoon or so of water before you heat it. Dh thought reheated leftover rice was disgusting until I showed him how I reheat rice. Keeps it nice and moist and it doesn't get gummy. I was also going to suggest fried rice as someone else suggested. What about risotto style rice? It would be great with whatever her favorite veggie is and maybe some grilled or sauteed chicken. You can make a simple risotto on the stove or in the oven and it does freeze fine. I know risotto usually calls for Arborio rice but you can use plain long grain or Jasmine rice. I've used both long grain and Jasmine rice to make risotto and it comes out fine.

Not cold enough here for dedicated winter boots. I don't own dress boots. I guess technically my garden shoes that I wear to garden and take care of animals on our property would qualify as work boots/shoes. I have one pair of tennis shoes, no separate walking shoes. No flats because I haven't had to wear any in a long long time. I can't wear heels due to back and joint problems. I prefer slipper socks so no slippers that qualify as shoes really. I have one pair of flip flop style leather sandals. Dh literally has to force me to go shoe shopping for myself. I hate shoe shopping for anyone but especially for myself. Even as a teenager I was very minimalistic when it came to shoes. I will wear a pair of shoes until they literally fall apart. My sister however makes up for my lack of shoes tenfold. She has always needed a different pair of shoes for every occasion.

Our library still allows checkouts, you just can't go in and peruse the shelves at your leisure. They started "no contact check outs". You can request the books online and then designate a pick up time. Call and let them know you are there and they come out and leave your books on a table for you to pick up after the librarian goes back inside. You can return books to the outdoor book drop or you can choose to hang on to them until the library reopens. All fines are suspended until 2 weeks after they reopen. It might be worth seeing if the library is completely closed or if they are doing a different type of check out procedure.

There is a passage that drains your tear duct into your nose. My younger dd had to have surgery as a toddler to open hers because it was completely sealed shut and caused her eye to drain profusely. It's also why most people get a runny nose when they cry really hard. It sounds perfectly logical to me that watery eyes would cause a runny nose.