Wow! I think this is the first time I've been accused of a personal attack. Maybe? Maybe I've just forgotten. I'm just chatting here. You said, "the most dangerous men are also the ones who act the least dangerous" which sets up a patently untrue equivalency.

I thought reading this thread that maybe people should watch less Criminal Minds. Then someone mentioned it. lol

I didn't say that serial killers did not seem nice and approachable, but read your what you actually said. Being nice does not mean someone is bad.

Decent men are far more common than dangerous men. If you are going to assume "the ones to fear", you should assume a grizzly. This is *exactly* the uneven assumptions I was talking about. And your last sentence is nuts. Absolutely nuts. The men in my family do not act dangerous. That doesn't make them dangerous.

I find it interesting that people are wanting to assume black bear and also assume a dangerous man.

When I was driving home from college for a weekend visit, the timing belt in my car broke. I walked to the nearest office and asked to use the phone. My parents were outside, burning the grass, I think. They had finally gotten an answering machine, but who knew how long it would take for them to get the message and come for me? I called my boyfriend (dh now) but he was out. I left a message. The office was closing. The business owner, a middle aged man, came and sat in my car with me. He used his cell phone to call AAA. He told me I would "be his daughter" so I didn't have to pay for a tow truck. He called to find a garage that was still open and was willing to take my care. Maybe we sat in his car for awhile then? I don't remember. I do remember that he stayed with me until dh came. It was at least an hour. It may have been closer to two. I also remember he got an irate call from his wife who was p!ssed he was staying to help me and missing a kid's recital. I also remember I felt very safe with him. I was definitely safer with him than alone an hour and a half from my parents' house. He was kindness personified. I never saw him again, but I still appreciate what he did for me. My husband, my dad, my grandfathers, my uncles, my brother, my BILs, my cousins, my nephews, my sons...all of them would be helpful to a girl in the woods. Well, maybe not the little guys. lol They would need help. None of them would hurt her. Men are demonized in this culture.

This thread made me think of this (bad quality) video of my youngest. She had been so cute. When I started videoing, I was disappointed she had stopped being so cute. Now, I am glad I have even this. I'll delete in just a bit.

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We do quote movies. But my kids seem to be able to find a quote from Studio C for almost any occasion. I've considered having a Studio C day where they are only allowed to talk in Studio C quotes.

Nothing interesting. I have a small cellphone purse. I clip my keys to the outside, slip my phone into the outside pocket, and carry some change, cash if I have any, one credit card, a HSA card, my DL, and (soon) a zoo pass in the zipped pocket. If I was better arranging my life, I would have two Ibuprofren in a small baggie, a nail clippers, and a few tissues in the body as well.

With a parent he could help during that time and grandparents right next door, I don't see why not. Most kids would be fine at 12 even without that support.

I don't know, but I am very sure that many of my son's cc classmates cheat. He was way behind with technology when he started cc classes kind of last minute. Long story. But I helped him a lot the first weeks. I had to show him how to find what was due, how to submit things, how to access the textbooks, everything. He had trouble getting some of the art history powerpoint stuff to play. Anyhow. I saw how the material was presented. I saw the amount of detail that was covered on the tests. Ds17 also told me the test questions he remembered. Because it was open book, the teacher asked minute details instead of the most important information. I saw, while helping Ds17 submit discussion posts and respond to others, the incredibly bad writing and shallow understanding of the majority of his classmates. Ds17 is not a great student. He describes himself as a dummy. He struggles with writing. But his writing was better than most of what I saw. I'd say he was in the top 15% on the discussion points. He probably averaged C's on the quizzes (after taking notes on the material presented) and he was the worst in the class. Almost everyone else got A's on the quizzes. There is no way they could have found all those details in 20-40 hours of youtube videos and 2-4 chapters covered per test in the half hour they were given for the tests. No way. And based on what I saw, they weren't top students that would remember all of those details off the top of their heads either.

We did an extra senior year for my Ds19 for a couple of reasons. He was young for grade, not too young but young in a world of red shirted kids. His August birthday would have had him starting college juuust after turning 18. He has ADHD and executive function issues. I decided 19 wasn't too old to start college and gave him the choice. Also, he was able to work and save up some money for college that year which paid half of this year (we paid the other half) and a little toward next year. Enough that he may be able to pay his half with money earned this summer. He would not have been happy to just do another year at home, so he did mostly dual enrollment his last year. He had a few DE classes his junior year, too, so he started his freshman year with 27 credits, not far behind where he would have been. He often questioned/regretted that extra year while he was living it, but last week he told me how glad he was. It has turned out well for him so far, especially socially. Communal living isn't his favorite thing, but the extra year to mature helped.

I haven't spent much time thinking about next year yet. Dd14 is a good student but reads very slowly, so she doesn't have a lot of time for extras. Things I am pretty sure about: Science: Berean Builders Biology Math: Jacobs Geometry (I may do this 3 days per week and Foerster's Algebra II 2 days per week. I don't like the big gap between Algebra I and II. But Dd14 likes the satisfaction of finishing a curriculum each year enough that using multiple resources might not be worth it. ) Bible: The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study Book 4 Things that I want her to do that aren't planned yet: History and literature from 1776-1900. Spanish Things that I would consider valuable to her future that I would facilitate if she is interested (I am very open to recommendations on ways to study these topics!): Accounting Photography or video editing Public Speaking The bolded give her 5.5 credits. She will also be given some type of entrepreneurial credit for either helping plan or start (depending on when we get it off the ground) a family business, because she will spend a lot of time on it. Once she picks her elective, that will bring her to 7.5 credits which will be plenty for her. For extracurriculars, she will hopefully find a good youth group. We haven't found a church in our new city yet. She'll also do TKD competitively this year which involves a lot of time on the road. She would also like to find a choir/show choir/drama club.

I'm not sure what exactly you got from my post (online communication is so hard!). He spoke about not making friends with regret, so it isn't a matter of validating his control. I just want him to have buddies. I don't care if they are under 18. Community college was one of the places I thought he might meet friends, but I am also hopeful for homeschool, neighborhood, or church friends. Just someone. By "his adult life", I meant that he is planning on starting a business soon. And he is currently spending two days per week, at least, in our previous town. He drives up when he has the time and inclination.