I asked a similar question and was pointed to this Coursera chemistry course.

Wow, that is such a crazy story. I continue to be grateful that we weren't home while the fire was raging so there was no dramatic exit. And also grateful that we came home after it burned itself out, since if we had come home in the middle of it the fire marshal said we could have easily caused a backdraft and blown ourselves up. I also had to chuckle at the liquified meat story. We had that happen to us as well. We thought a wild animal had crawled in and died (I guess it did, in a way). DH has a terrible gag reflex so I was the one in my undies emptying the freezer's drain pain while he circled around me spraying me w/febreeze. Anyway, back to the fire. We were told that they try to get you into comparable housing, so don't feel like you have to settle for the first place you find. We also weren't in a rush to replace anything other than bare minimum clothing (like 4 outfits apiece) until we were back in the house, partially because we didn't know what all they would be able to salvage, but also because we didn't want to mess with having to move everything multiple times. We also asked for an extension on repurchasing things because reconstruction took so long. Our insurance was also willing to work with us when it was time to repurchase. For instance, the amount for 'toys' just went into a bucket and we could repurchase anything that fit into that category within reason. It didn't have to be a one-to-one trade. That's how the kids ended up with lego mindstorms. As weird if it sounds, be grateful if they total it. I wished many, many times that they had just totaled our house. The reconstruction is long, time-consuming, and just flat out annoying. Don't be afraid to say that you still smell smoke. Make sure they do it right. We pestered them until they ended up replacing all of the attic insulation and some other things that weren't on the original list. Our fire wasn't psychologically challenging for us, but that's probably because we had just gone through something that put everything in perspective. Everyone was safe, insurance was paying for everything, there was no trauma in escaping a fire...it was very easy to just power through. Not that that's how anyone else reacts. But it was how it was for us. We did end up with a very different perspective regarding material possessions. I can't believe how much crap we have! Our house fire began when halogen track lighting ignited the fort made out of packing boxes. Needless to say, we didn't include halogen lights when we rebuilt.

We had an almost complete loss three years ago...three days after we moved in...the week before Christmas. We have insurance through USAA and have nothing but good things to say about them making an awful process survivable. I do NOT have nice things to say about our contractor. Feel free to ask any questions.

As Nebraska is one of two states that handles its electoral votes differently, I am very motivated to vote. I definitely feel that my voice will be heard as I live in the one swing district. Really, if we're going to stick with the electoral college this is a much more equitable way to do it. Winner of the popular vote gets the state's two 'Senate' votes, and the winner of each district gets vote allocated to that district. Deciding who to vote for is fairly obvious for me. Evaluating the platforms, issues, history, and personality leaves me with only one choice. I may not be in love with the choice, but I never really have been in love with any candidate in any election.

I'd be on the fence about including a study skills credit. Even so, the 'college prep' track at my high school had a required class entitled "College Lit and Study Skills" that focused on note-taking skills, programmed vocabulary (word roots, prefixes, etc), researching colleges, practicing filling out college applications, and writing application essays, as well as some literary analysis instruction. It was a weird class that seemed to incorporate a lot of skills that they wanted to make sure everyone got, but that didn't really have a home in any other mandatory class.

Oh, I feel for you. After ten years of passable to mediocre haircuts I finally found a hairdresser. I'll second the male hairdresser recommendation. Not only is the cut fantastic, but he spends the whole time chatting about my hair and what I want to do with it. I have no idea about any of his family members, his most recent vacation, or his pain in the butt neighbors. In other words, no small talk! An introverts dream!

Around here, baseball is roughly divided into house league/rec ball through the various suburban organizations (play other teams within the organization, 1-2 tournaments, pretty low key), and then select/travel ball (though how much travel the teams do really depends on each team's competitive level). A/AA teams rarely travel, play other teams at that division and the number of tournaments really just depends on how much money the teams have to spend. AAA ball tends to travel more and often will play almost exclusively tournaments. Major teams almost exclusively travel to national ranked tournaments. My son has now had 4 years of select ball at the AAA level. It's time consuming, but we enjoy it as a family. The tag-a-long kids have all learned to bring entertainment but are also really good at finding new friends amongst the other tag-a-longs. My husband keeps book for the team, so I am in charge of getting the other three to whatever activities they have going on. (Game Changer is a life saver for 'watching' games when you can't be there.) Around here at least, coaches flat out tell incoming freshman that they don't have a chance of making the high school team if they aren't playing AAA/Major ball by the time they are 14.

How recent was your move to CO and are you in the mountains? It can take a long time to adjust to the change in elevation and it does absolutely effect babies' growth as well. Less oxygen and all that.

For those of you who have used OSU, did you feel that you needed to add anything to it? Was it weak in any areas? Also, about how many hours a week did it take for you child to complete the assignments? We've struck out in various methods (Rosetta Stone, horrible CC professor), but have a child who is always excited about German when he returns from his language camp. I want to make sure we actually have something stick this time 'round since it's 9th grade and it counts. TIA!

My guess, based on the fact that the parents stopped reading the book because of the offensive language, is that they would not be comfortable with their child reading it at any age, including as an adult.

The parents issue with the language isn't that it's too easy or too advanced, but too offensive. Too many 'bad' words. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Yep, it seems to be just the language. They were hoping that Number the Stars or The Boy In the Striped Pajamas would be a good alternate. I'll just let you enjoy the thought of those being taught in AP class.

You are all summarizing my conflicting thoughts very well. Before knowing the specifics, I was hoping that the teacher might be a little more accommodating than was reported. But then it was revealed that it was The Book Thief and that the main problem was the language. And then that it was for an AP Lit class. I also couldn't wrap my head around a 9th grader in AP Lit, nor that The Book Thief was considered a worthy work to include. The local thread has since devolved into questioning why it's acceptable for college level texts to have 'offensive' language. (Not sure what exactly they're considering offensive.)

There's a bit of a debate on our local hs board about how a high school teacher is unwilling to consider alternative reading assignments and I wanted to see what the hive thinks. Should a teacher be willing to offer an alternate reading assignment to those who are opposed to the original book due to language or content? I have no way of knowing how integral the book is to the lesson plan. Would it matter if the book was an integral part or just additional reading? Would it matter if it was an AP level class? How much should the teacher go out of his/her way to accommodate a conscientious objector? (FWIW, the book was The Book Thief and the class is AP Lit. The child is in 9th grade. The teacher is reported to have basically said suck it up, buttercup. That's how real life is.)

I've only been really, truly freaked once in my life. I was treating ds3 (the slowest, pickiest eater in the universe) to a meal at Dairy Queen after a dr appt. We had been there a while and I got up to get a napkin, just on the other side of our booth. A man in a construction safety vest came up to me and told me that another man had been eyeing ds 'like he was a piece of meat' and he offered to walk us to our car. I said we were fine and sat back down. He was not happy I turned down his offer of help. I sat there freaking. I hadn't noticed anything weird from this second man. Was my sensor off? Was he out to get ds? Was the first man just an overracting good samaritan or was he the one out to get us? I ran through all of my options while ds took forever to finish his food. Eventually both men in question left the restaurant. I weighed my options. It was the middle of the day. I could clearly see my car, roughly 10 feet from the door, and there weren't any cars anywhere near it. I considered calling dh but didn't. Even so, I hustled ds out to the car, threw him in the driver's seat, then locked the doors and buckled him up from inside the car. My heart still races whenever I think about it. I often wished I could see the script for that day and see what really was going on.