Also, you are saying some of it as they are doing it. So, it'd be they say something mean to you or are saying mean things about another person to you and you say right then in the middle of the conversation "Are you trying to be hurtful or helpful?" or "That's not a very nice thing to say. (or that's uncalled for)." They can back track and rephrase their statement to be more appropriate and you can just let them do so. Hopefully at the very least they'll realize you want no part of their cattiness. As to the mean things they say to you, give a canned response like "That's not a very nice thing to say" or "Are you trying to be hurtful or helpful?". Then give yourself some strategies so you can be a wall to them. For me, it's worked well for me to feel pity for them on the inside while I'm being polite on the outside. I just think how sad their lives must be that in order for them to have self confidence they have to put someone else down. While I repeat to myself "I'm good enough that I can make sure everyone can be their best and I will still be worth it."

I use Chicago because I have the book. I haven't had good luck with citation generators... mostly by the time I entered in all the information I basically wrote the citation already. A lot of word processing software will alphabetize/organize the works cited bibliography page for you, so I also often use that while writing. From there I check for each place I'm submitting to how they want their format and "program" (no go into the code but just using the software's forms) my word processor to do it. It's a lot of work up front but also made my job easier later because a paper I wrote might be submitted to several magazine/journal/presentation so in the long run it saved me time. (If she's just a student and is not going to submit her papers to several publications then it's not worth the work.)

I think it's subjective. If I'm reading it for real estate or vacationing purposes I'd look at a map and judge for myself. Some of the real estate listing are just crazy in what they decide they'll list as "walking distance" or "driving distance". There are a lot of "minutes to the beach" for homes 2+ hours driving away from the beach.

Mostly, I had a lot of friends move away either during or immediately after COVID. I haven't lost them we just don't hang out as often or do what we used to do anymore. There were some friends that we didn't see for a long time during and post COVID. Recently, though, we started getting back together. This had to do with the COVID risks. So there is hope yet for your friends to come around. I think with some the routine just has to get established again.

I really like the All About Reading story books. You can buy them separately front he curriculum. I like them because they include different genres and my kids really enjoy them. There is some mischief sometimes similar to regular kid series at the bookstore.

I really like the newer playgrounds. The all ability playgrounds are such a nice concept and I don't know if it was intentional but making a slide big enough for a wheel chair also is great for when kids want to climb up the slide because now there is room. Then some of the newer playgrounds (that aren't all abilities) the structures are much more open ended, where the play structure is built so there isn't one way to climb (climb outside, inside whatever). The ziplines are fun even for adults as are the ropes obstacle course play structure. We have a lot of playground options nearby. I think there was a time where safer = more boring but I think we are moving beyond that. At some point people did realize we can have both safe and fun. Oh yes we have https://notawastedword.com/adventure-playground/ nearby. Children can borrow saws, nails, hammers, paint and other tools to add to the playground as they so choose.

I hadn't even thought about it. Yes in a lot of corporations receiving cash gifts from vendors is a big no no. It has to do with bribery, and/or are taxable, and/or perhaps some other legal issues aside from bribery (collusion?). In the corporate setting it is company to company dependent and often companies will have specific rules regarding gifts from vendors (often it gets applied to your client/customers too depending on the company). Even non-monetary gifts have rules. Looking it up, you do have to be careful about giving cash gifts to teachers, apparently it isn't allowed across the board (based on school and/or state). There is also a limit to "making it rain" because it will become a taxable event.

It can suck it up if it's on top of it, and the suction hole is not the entire bottom of the vacuum robot - the front (the direction that the robot faces when it goes forward) is a bumpy sensor. It'll nudge up against your dog or "see" (depending on the robot vac) that your dog is there and avoid the dog. If you have clutter on your floor (even if it doesn't "see" it), it will gently bump up against your clutter and turn to move in a different direction. I can put an empty plastic trash can to block this vent I have in the kitchen and the trash can moves maybe a half inch.

I don't think you need to worry about your dog. The robot vacuum isn't very fast, so the dog needs to barely saunter away. The vacuum will gently bump into him or some new ones seem to be able to see him and avoid him. Also the robot vacuum doesn't have as much suction the upright vacuum, so it won't vacuum the dog in anyway just a gentle nudge and roll away.

I have one of those propane pole things. I got it for free 10 years ago. I haven't used it ever. For us it's because there's plenty of time when the weather is warm to be outside. I know other people use their heat patio heaters more often near me, but the way my patio is it's either just too cold to be out there or it's fine without the heater.

My old scooba was Scooby. I got a new one on black Friday we haven't named it yet, I feel like we need to see it in action to know its name.

Yoga pants are yogurt pants. DD seriously thought yoga pants were called yogurt pants, to the point that whenever she was eating yogurt she needed to wear her yogurt pants. Balloons are bilooloolooloons depending on how excited DS was there would be more or less 'loo's.

How is that book?

The way it's presented does come off a bit rude and I come from a cash giving culture. To me it's the middle part where she defines all the gifts she doesn't want in the middle. I've been OK with people saying "No presents please, but if you must cash preferred." (Or some people might state certain gift cards that they prefer.) I think the middle part with the I don't like XYZ makes it distasteful, kind of like calling out the parents who gave XYZ to you in the past.

Generally I go with not level 3 and above. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html/ Unless I know what the level 3 entails for that country and there is compelling reason to take the risk. Level 4 starts to get iffy for me. Yes I would suggest you follow your own country's precautions. (The one linked is for the US.)

Nachos with tater tots as chips are delicious. I've had them, they weren't called totchos though just you could select tater tots or chips in your nacho dish.

Is Wild and Free a co-op or a support group? I thought it was more of a park day/field trip thing. I didn't think there were actual classes involved.

No it really isn't. I've just got that statement for everything from doing math, to speaking to a man, to reading, to not drinking coffee, not just parenting things.

email but some people do prefer text. No one wants another app but the baseball team app that I have will ping my phone to remind me of events and their details. Most people hate having to get a new app but also they don't read/pay attention to stuff so... It's the timing that matters for reading. What works best is way in advance, then follow up with a week before the event.

I don't see it as admiration but a simple statement of fact that they couldn't do that. I get those same comments when I was working about my job. I've had a handful of people who made that comment about my homeschooling to make me feel defensive. There have been more people who've said that to me as a statement of fact.

I know some educational philosophies (Montessori and Charlotte Mason are the two that I've seen) talk about telling young children stories and having conversations about the stories afterwards to build memory skills. Conversations that are open ended to allow them to form their own connections to things they know. I don't know that there are studies saying this is a great method or not, but it's easy to make age-appropriate (through content chosen and because you would just move at the pace of the child. It does go a long with some of the principles the book Talent is Overrated, it's an activity in focused listening (absorbing information), synthesizing the information and recall. I believe Montessori and Waldorf philosophies also add in activities where children are read/recited/told stories specifically without pictures or other visual aid.

This is why I don’t take littles to funerals. Where I am there is no getting away from seeing the dead body. The casket is open the whole service, or sometimes closed during the preaching but open before and after. It’s visible from everywhere in the chapel. I've been invited to all sorts of different funerals. I never know what the casket situation is going to be. As I do for every situation, I just make sure that my kids have an out if they feel uncomfortable. Open casket feels like I'm invading someone's privacy... Unrelated to funerals my kids have seen a dead body before.

I took my 2 year old and baby to their great grandmother's funeral. 1) The whole family was going so they would be there anyways and 2) it was important to me for them to know of her existence. They never had the chance to meet her before this because she had become ill shortly after DS was born and didn't want us visiting because she wasn't 100%. I wouldn't have them view the body at that age and I wouldn't know at what age a body viewing would be appropriate because that practice is not my cup of tea. I guess that would be when I felt they have the maturity and knowledge to consent to that. We had an "exit strategy" in place in case either child became disruptive or needed to not be there (if they become uncomfortable with what's going on). I had attended funerals as a child, growing up no one in my family ever thought about not bringing children to things. We just made sure there was a responsible person for every child that we didn't want to leave alone if they needed to leave the space. The experience with my kids was overwhelmingly positive. We did have to leave the service at one point because it's long for a 2 year old to sit. Other people who were at the funeral were glad the children were there because it was good to see "new life". For my 2 year old it ended up being one of the steps in his journey to understanding the difference between death and just moving far away. Not everyone needs that but DS did. It also is not the only way he could have taken that journey but it happened to work out for us.

Some people overshare and like to talk. Just don't tell her anything you wouldn't want the whole world to know.

I can't see us joining a co-op where I have to teach during the time. For us we found a homeschool charter school that has an in-person day where paid staff and people who volunteer teach the kids for half a day. It still uses up one school day out of our week, but it gives my students a chance to have fun and collaborate with others and interact with an adult with different interests than mine. So I decided I didn't need a co-op. If I didn't have this I would agree with @8filltheheart I would just sign my kids up for extra-curricular activities, where I'm guaranteed an instructor who has passion and expertise on the topic. Even if their teaching isn't the best or better than mine, at least I get a break.