Nothing seasonal I can think of, but if Dunkin ever brought back their strawberry cheesecake cronut, I would be in trouble.

For photos that are already printed and in albums, I switched to photo boxes. I think it is an Iris box and it has small plastic files in a larger briefcase style box. For newer photos, I am making Shutterfly albums. I am a few years behind in that, but SF stores indefinitely and could even automatically create an album for me if I wished.

Percussion, rebounding, epsom baths, plenty of fluids and decongestant to thin it and move it out.

Oh no, definitely 9-12 for this. He did A.H. in 3rd and now in 7th but plans to do a year in HS as well.

Thanks again. We have accidentally discovered we like to cobble together history and reading/lit. As he works through history, I pull titles from the history book recommendations, from Sonlight lists, from IEW lists, etc. Sometimes I just add books I liked or that I expect he would enjoy. He much prefers nonfiction and historical fiction to any other genres, so it has been a natural fit. Book ideas for either year of history are welcome!

Thanks. I think he is pretty strong in that area, but ACT/SAT prep book on the side might be a good idea. Thank you. I have no memories of high school English or ENC 1101/1102 except reading The Metamorphosis and Portrait of Dorian Gray. I don't remember anything else I did. Thank you Lori! This is the kind of list I was attempting to create in my head. I appreciate you being so thorough in your examples. This is how I was leaning as well, and it is the reason I didn't mention history in my original post. He needs a year each world and American, and I was looking to integrate them somehow. We have done the same thing for a few years now.

We always do electric toothbrushes.

Okay, so the mechanics of English are practiced and proven through the writing and don't need to be a separate chunk of the course? This sounds great.

I've looked through the motherload pages and can't really find what I need, which is what constitutes a college-bound HS English/lit course. My tentative plans for my older boy basically end with middle school. He is already earning HS math credit, and electives and sciences are straight forward. I just don't know what to to for English. By HS, he will have completed Rod and Staff English through level 8, several Progeny Press lit guides, some IEW writing programs, other creative writing, and some Easy Grammar just for good measure. I like RS English but think I want to switch it up after 8th. I also envision him doing DE for English in 11 and 12, so I really just need two good years. Can anyone offer ideas based on this? I appreciate your shared thoughts.

Masterbooks will have additional 25% off site wide on Cyber Monday.

Hit enter too soon. All of that to say this: People have left jobs. Many of those jobs have responded by raising wages significantly to widely accepted fair and competitive rates. People are still not taking the jobs. That is what I and many around me are seeing.

I had to wait to reply to this because something about the wording made me think I misrepresented my thoughts? To be clear, I think the current minimum wage is atrocious. I am not valuing or devaluing any human because of their age or sex or any other factor. The point I probably did not make clearly is that I do think young people (let's say teens living at home up through new college grads) have an idea that they need a certain rate of pay. But need is relative. Who do we collectively think is best suited for working for $11/hr part time? A young person who doesn't have a ton of bills. Someone who doesn't have but needs work experience. Someone who just wants to earn a little extra cash for something coming up. Fair and competitive is also hard to define and varies by location. I have a friend who is a single mom working full time for under $13/h. She doesn't get benefits or child support. She doesn't have debt. She has considered all year looking for another job because she could get $18/h making burritos down the road. She stayed because her job is in a convenient location, has a generous leave policy when things come up with the kids, she is good at her work, and she loves her boss and coworkers. Her wage isn't competitive but to her it is fair.

So with the current unemployment level, business owners and managers in all sorts of places saying they can't get or keep help, and the whole other side of people saying they won't work under xyz conditions, it's still an imaginary problem? Many people in this thread are acknowledging there is a lack of workers, whatever the reasons. No, that is often not the case. If you have read all my posts, I have mentioned several people who won't get or keep jobs, and several employers who are offering very high/competitive compensation and not getting bites. Places with impeccable reputations. It's something of a small town; when I say I know my people, neighborhood, local businesses, I do. With few exceptions, the trend is that they younger they are, the less likely they are to be working despite increased wages and signs in every window.

I don't live in a metro and never have. I'd estimate half of the people I know who have or had upwards mobility and/or lateral moves for greater incentive in career paths are not college educated. They also aren't all boomers. Maybe those types of jobs don't exist in every city, but they exist. I agree we don't need 24 hour access to goods. We opt out of Amazon and streaming services etc. But unless I missed it, no one in this thread is saying the grocery store should close at 8. They are saying they need more money, nicer bosses, or atleast a sweet spot where the money makes it easier to put up with the jerks. As for grocers, the ones here primarily stock overnight. Someone I know well had to do the overnight stocking and went in when the store closed. Sure, everyone theoretically could cook at home, but given the popularity of food delivery services, McD is going to open at 6:30 because there is a demand from the same people who refuse to work there.

Would you please clarify what you think is one small issue I am focusing on? I can name half a dozen places within 10 miles of me (some mentioned in a prior reply) that are full-time, with benefits immediately or within 3 months, room for advancement, and competitive wages that don't get a bite. They don't all havr crappy management. It's not just people flaking out; they aren't even trying. I'd be interested to look up the stats on new vs old chains today because I have seen a lot of places close but only 1 Popeyes open around here. I thought I read we were back to 2008 level store closures. Do you have any resources on that?

Well, if we perpetuate the idea that college is a path to a successful career and good money, then the reverse is true. A job for unskilled labor is not going to pay the same. If you can get $22 to bag groceries or do dental assessments, why waste your time and money in school? Let's not pretend bad bosses and work environments don't exist at every pay level. Besides that, there is obviously more finacial need and pressure on a single mom or someone with a dependent with chronic illness than there is on a kid living at home. It has nothing to do with someone's worth, and I didn't say it did. I am not angry that a 14 year old can work for $10 keeping books at the shop down the road when he previously made $0. I'm not angry if he spends every penny of it on video games. I hope he learned how to be a good employee while doing it. We have a group of people who aren't working. It may be financial or ideological or any other reason, but if it's being noticed en masse, it's because it's happening en masse. Wages are way up here, in most sectors. I haven't known anyone who wanted a job who couldn't get one immediately. I have known of several to flake out, not show for an interview, or ghost in week 2. It takes a certain point of privilege to feel unaffected by the massive decline in work sentiment, because like it or not, people showing up is the way we are fed and sheltered in this society.

People are getting flakier overall. I think diminished personal interaction in favor of online social interaction is one component, but not the whole picture. I think it's reasonable to assume most of the kids who spent the last 2 years sleeping in class or not logging in to online classes are also not out job-hunting. Makes me think of the thread where we discussed schools passing everyone even if they never do an assignment. It you get a 60 for putting your name on the paper, there is little incentive to do the work. If mom and dad let you live off of them until you are 26, there is little incentive to do the work. Somehow this thread makes it seem like every fast food place or grocery store is a hell hole with pervy bosses, and $15 isn't enough for a 17 year old who has no real bills.

Absolutely there is a cult of workaholics and hustle culture is unhealthy. But the swing away from it seems to be that work is something to choose or leave. The truth is, if you want to eat and have a place to sleep, someone has to choose to work. Seems like some are still defining their self-worth through paid labor, as long as it the pay or labor they like. There is something wrong with the mindset or motivation if you won't accept a job in your niche field for a year after graduation because starting pay as a novice is $5 less than you were sold in school.

My husband's company has given out turkeys every year so I am hoping they do the same this year. My parents are coming down now and we are hosting.

I didn't read all responses. I am in my 30s, first in the family to college, worked 3 part-time jobs and lived alone in a bad apartment while carrying a full course load and graduating with nearly a 4.0. My husband is a few years older, lived at home, and worked on a farm while at Uni. We know what it's like to work, to be broke, to balance all the plates. It has only been the last few years we have been shocked at the decline in readiness to work, reliability, and customer service, even as wages increase. We are "elder millenials" who know people our age who just say 'screw it' and walk off jobs because they had an irate boss or customer. They live large and have debt and no safety net. Those younger than us are generally worse off. We have a few church friends whose 20 somethings have a new job every 5-6 weeks, or who have no desire to work and live off mom and pops. A handful of them could go to college but chose not to, and a few dropped out. My husband's company can't get applicants to a few positions well over $20/hr plus benefits. My brother, early 20s, has cut ties with friends because he has stuck his neck out and referred people to jobs that pay upwards of $30/hr, and they can't be bothered to show up the interview, or they work for 1 week then disappear. My nephew is 19 and working at a restaurant chain here and says they hire an entire crew every 7-10 days, and he makes over $18/hr plus tips to make assembly line meals. The local pizza place is hiring a new slew of HS kids every month for $15/hr. A friend owns a niche business that requires specific schooling and licensure and cannot find a full team because guys out of HS are going to the classes for 6 months and told they should get $60k and full benefits starting, while he is starting people at $22-23/hr with opportunity for benefits after a brief trial period. When they hear his rate, they just choose not to work at all. He has canvassed the country and young, single guys say it's not worth their time. These aren't highly educated professionals with families to feed. I know there are kids who work and those who don't. I know there are businesses that are fair and those that aren't. I think there is a false dichotomy in capitalism is evil VS young people are lazy. It's a bit of both. But the trending attitude is that if a job isn't perfect, it isn't worth doing. If it isn't emotionally fulfilling or mentally stimulating, leave it. If it isn't paying what your college professor said you'd get doing it, skip it. I'm not advocating for every college student to shut up and flip burgers. However, I do think there has been an ideological shift in the last generation that work has to be meaningful but also high-paying, and we aren't seeing that fleshed out in application for a multitude of reasons. I don't know what happened between my cohort of "I'll take care of myself" to my brother's group of "someone else can do it". I am only a decade removed.

Aww, I missed my class tonight on world ballet day! I had a terrible headache and knew I wouldn't be able to push through. I started an adult ballet class after what was nearly a decades-long break, technically decades plural if we discount the year in college and go back to childhood. It is harder and easier than I anticipated. I have retained a lot of flexibility and mucle memory but find it difficult to memorize routines quickly and some terms are fuzzy. I am also weigh 50% more than I did last time I danced. 😕 I do enjoy it and it is a great workout.

I have had a garden for years and the last good one was 2019. I forget how many tomato seeds I planted to get about 4 to grow and only one to bear fruit. Same with peppers. Carrots are okay and potatoes were a mixed bag. I had multiple packages of heirloom seeds from reputable suppliers that did zilch and were a total loss. I haven't put anything in for fall despite our mild winter because I am tired of the effort with no payoff. One bean plant isn't going to supplement a meal here. As for shops, pasta is GONE everywhere. Coffee is way up. Milk is crazy, even though we barely use a half gallon a week. I have noticed several packaged foods on shelves with very near best by dates... as in, 2 weeks away.

Well there is avian flu and exhorbitant feed cost to consider. Even with a few birds I let roam and feed scraps and treats to in addition to commerical feed, my cost has more than doubled.

We use and love Rod and Staff English. I have one in 7 and have used it since 2. It does build, it is thorough, it can be done largely but not entirely orally. My preferred method for written work after years using it is to buy the worksheets and only have him do written assignments on the days he doesn't have a worksheet. Next year I will have one in 2 and one in 8. Edited to add: the composition is okay. I added IEW this year for a little more instruction.

I got gas for 3.08 at Sams on Sat. Near my home it was 3.35. Today all I see is 3.59.