Congratulations!

I am still friends with my fellow co-op moms nearly 5 years after leaving homeschooling. We talk almost daily. With that said, I do think the experience was probably most valuable for. . .me. 🤣. It scratched my class-creation and teaching itch. It gave me real friends. However, my older children are still friends with their co op buddies to this day, post-high school. My littles have been in public school so that has taken the place of their co op friends, but they still remember them, for sure. Co op was an integral part of what we did as homeschoolers socially. I gave up other things in order to be able to do it. Given your circumstances, I might be tempted to wait out the possibility of doing things with her friends, but I think I'd only give it a limited amount of time to see if that will work. I will say that one of my most challenging periods of homeschooling was when my older kids were getting to the point that they needed peer interaction. I felt like that need trumped all others and I went all out to meet it. It is also what led us to give school a shot, honestly.

I think in our area most gig workers depend on social media and word of mouth for advertising. We hire a lot of such people for programs, and I have often lamented the fact that FB, which I use very little, is the only way to contact these people. I will also say that most of these are side gigs, too, so probably something they're not depending on for livelihood. I have wondered about the whole insurance/liability thing, but not too much since their work is literally for only an hour or two at a time, and our expectation is that parents mind their own children at events. (A false assumption, I realize, but nevertheless, we do try to operate with that understanding, at least.)

I just finished The Only One Left by Riley Sager. It's something of a thriller--not my normal genre. It's a very suspenseful, twisty ride, so it did help me out of a reading slump. I will say it requires a goodly amount of willful suspension of disbelief, but if you like stories that have no loose ends dangling at the end, this one might be for you.

Quoting myself to add: this was actually two people--an adult woman and her father--for a library event. However, I THINK the daughter just came along to help and the cost would've been the same. They did a great job and it seemed like a bargain! Now that I think about it, they were there for 2 hours, I think, so it was about $100/hr.

I believe the going rate in my area is $200 for about an hour.

I'd be mostly annoyed at the time the zoom is scheduled. But I'm in all kinds of group text threads with people I don't know due to kids' activities, etc. I don't think much about it.

I hope you'll share them in the crafting thread!

I think we just notched the wide trim as necessary in a previous house.

@Kareni I love your bookmarks!

Thanks for sharing, @Corraleno. I wish I understood the poem more. What I know is that it feels very poignant.

Definitely adding to my list!

I say the earlier you go to the meeting, the better. My dh just retired (to work elsewhere!) months shy of year 25 in education, and we met with a retirement rep in-person the year before. It was very helpful and helped him be decisive when he did decide to do it.

My mom used to volunteer for MoW with her church. IMHO the food isn't very good--bland and even worse than hospital food. (I suppose this may vary by location?). In our area we have several caterers that offer fresh meals daily that can be ordered ahead and picked up. One of the meals feeds my family of 6 with some left over (usually just a little, but some). Thus, it would be enough for several meals for two elderly adults. The food is usually what people would cook themselves if they had time to--things like meatloaf and casseroles and so on. I wonder if they have anything like that locally that could be delivered?

I didn't even know this was a thing! I've been pumping gas for 30+ years, though to be fair my dh did pump it for me most of the time for the first couple of decades of our marriage. (Changing schedules made this hard for the past 4-5 years).

My dh drove our girls and one of their friends round trip about 9 hours to Atlanta to see her. He set up shop next to the venue to get some work done. They drove all night because one girl had to work the next day. Yes, he wins Father of the Year.

American here so nothing's free (🤣), but my mom got a set at Costco that were less expensive than elsewhere. I am glad yours are working well for you. @Laura Corin!

Hear, hear.

No. I've lost interest in it and moved on to other hobbies. I still have just a small portion of things from those days I kept for school use or other crafting needs. It has been easier to let go of the guilt over time especially because my older kids never look at their albums.

I can totally relate to being down over scrapbooking. My first two kids have volumes of their first years of life. My third child has very brief baby album. My baby has a Shutterfly book of his birth and first few days of life. That's it.

I'll play--haven't in a while. church ✅ shopping ✅ Cook lunch ✅ eat with family ✅ clean kitchen✅ nap and/or read✅ Cross stitch✅ make sure stuff is ready to go for week declutter something follow kids' lead for some together time this evening--swim, movie, game? off to finish kitchen!

Children's librarian here. I do three story times a week during the school year. Ideally, the librarian will have built a relationship with the child and caregiver so that names can be used for engagement, etc. I try to step back and let parents parent, but I have found that some assume a level of "control" akin to what would expect in school, which is not the nature of my program. In other words, some parents look at it as a childcare situation, which it most definitely is not. I try to make it clear that parents should be completely at liberty to wrangle and/or remove rowdy or rambly children from the area, but this is certainly hit or miss at best. I have had several children turn the volume up on my speaker while we're singing (& while mom was oblivious to Little Junior's actual whereabouts apparently), and one little three year old actually threw the kid-friendly circular cushions we have for the participants to sit on, all while all the other children *were* engaged, after literally rambling all over the story time area and repeatedly removing my props from my baskets and boards. I will step in finally, but really, I work hard at my story time and hope the caregivers will, too. (Professional library literature and training leans more toward literacy learning for the family rather than just a performance by the librarian. Caregivers are supposed to be participators, too!) Just wanted to offer my in-the-trenches thoughts, but of course, YMMV.

My oldest child started working at Chick Fil A at age 16 and did so until after high school graduation. It was an over all good experience and I would say they accommodated kids' schedules as much as possible, as long as the kid let them know in adequate time. My second oldest worked a local bbq joint briefly, a local cafe/catering place for longer, and for the park and Rec as a concession worker seasonally. I think they were all accommodating. Chick Fil A definitely offered the most hours, though that might've been the kid's willingness to work them as much as anything. That child has since moved to Publix which has been a great move and also quite accommodating for a college schedule. My younger child moved on being a docent at a local historic home but is starting college next week. The job is more of less seasonal, too, so will only offer hours on the weekends. Both of my older children have greatly benefited from working. I can't think of a single negative for them.

Off topic, sort of, but---is there a worse book for this than The Remains of the Day?

The library where I work hasn't been open on Saturdays since the 2020 shutdowN, but we are trying to open again for half days on Saturdays. We do have extended hours two evenings a week, but I feel strongly that we should also be open on Saturdays.