There are also inspiring threads on College Confidential. Search for the "homeschool acceptances" threads. I've found 2008, 2010, and 2011 there.

Thanks. We've been having phone/DSL troubles here due to heavy rains in Southern California where my parents live. I'm going to give them a call today.

I guess I'm going to try and find a new Dish remote. I only see them online but we can make do with the one we have right now until it comes in the mail. Or... Are there good nationwide (or Southern Cal, where I'm visiting) chains for this type of thing? I only know of Best Buy and I don't like it but I could do it. I remember Good Guys but it looks like they are out of business. I don't really buy consumer electronics except Apple stuff and I go to the Apple store for that or through my friend who works there. We don't own a TV so I'm really out of the loop here. Thanks for the advice so far...

If people are losing weight due to the economy I think it would be due to more exercise than less food. I agree with the sentiments expressed above about cheap calories. I suppose it is possible people might be walking more to save gas $ or might spend the afternoon playing frisbee at the park instead of taking the family to a movie. Maybe someone's car died and they take the bus and have a 15-minute walk from the bus stop to their destination. Camping vacations (with associated hiking and calorie burning) are generally cheaper than hotel/restaurant trips.

Hi all, I'm visiting my (super non-technical) parents over the holidays and their TV remote died. I'm not familiar with TV set up in general and especially Dish TV. So I went to Radio Shack and got a universal remote. I found all the codes except for the Toshiba TV one (20 yo TV) but the autoscan found that one. On their dead remote they were able to control the TV channels in "TV" mode, which was convenient because they just left it in TV mode all the time and used the remote to turn the TV on and off, to change the channels, to mute, and to change the volume. With the new remote they have to be in TV mode to turn the TV on and off, to mute, and to change the volume. But they have to move to SAT (satellite mode) to change the channel. So a typical interaction goes like this: TV button for TV mode Power on SAT button for satellite mode Change to desired channel TV button for TV mode Lower volume SAT button for satellite mode Change to new channel TV button for TV mode Power off In other words, they have to switch between TV mode for all non-channel functionality and SAT mode in order to change channels. Does this seem normal? Why didn't they have to do this on their 10-year old remote but they need to for a much newer one? Is it because the dead remote was Dish Network brand and it somehow understood that channel changing went to the Dish box even though the remote was in TV mode? Or have I done something wrong? Help! The above sequence is hypothetical only. I actuality they forget to change between mode and do things like accidentally turn off the satellite box, etc and it's becoming painful to be tech support for this. Plus I'd love to avoid a trip to the electronics store 4 days before Christmas. TIA!

I'm in! :grouphug:

I belong on this thread... I have the Liping Ma book sitting on my shelf and have been meaning to read it. I'm out of town for the holidays but this thread reminded me to get around to reading it, so thanks! I'm gifted in math and I worry I don't make a good teacher because math comes naturally to me in a way that's hard to explain to others. It's fine for 1st grade where we are now, but I worry about later years so I'd like guidance on how to talk about math topics. We're using Singapore here, btw. I also have BFSU on my shelf. I've read through it but haven't done any of the lessons because DH's way of being involved is "Science Saturdays". I love the book and am glad the next volume is out now too.

:eek:

One time I went to my friend's housewarming party. Her fiance at the time was a successful lawyer and a lot of people from his firm came by and they mostly brought bottles of wine as gifts. At the end of the party I was helping them clean up, saw all the bottles of wine stashed under the stairs and told him, "You know you're getting old when you have more alcohol at the end of the party than at the beginning." :tongue_smilie:

This, exactly. I do my shopping w/o my kiddos usually. I enjoy the time alone and I like to take my time and check out the new items on the shelves and such. I don't mind waiting for others while they block the aisle or whatever. I don't believe I am being passive aggressive at all and I hope I'm not perceived that way. I'm just enjoying some mommy time while getting a necessary chore done. The virtue of patience is now labeled as passive aggressive? Good grief....

Just to add to my suggestions... Getting rid of clothing really helps. We live in a moderate climate so we don't have the same needs as those who live in colder places but DH, DS and I have about 4 pairs of pants and 6 shirts (3 short sleeve, 3 long) each. We each have 2 sweaters and a coat. 6 pairs of socks and 7 pairs of underwear for each of us. We also each have one nice outfit for occasions. DD is potty training and is a messy toddler so she has more clothing than the rest of us. All our clothing (minus DH's suit and the coats) could be washed in 3 loads. It cuts way down on Mt. Washmore and on clutter around the house and especially in the bedrooms. Try thinking about what clothes the family actually needs, rather than what you have. And if you buy a new thing, choose one of the old versions to be donated.

First, I had to declutter a lot in order to get my house more under control. And it's still messy, but it's about 1-2 hours away from clean. If the stuff isn't in the house it can't be spread around to make a mess. We got rid of about 50% of our stuff over the last year. For part of it we hired a local college student to help out by watching the kids, taking stuff to donation drop-offs, etc. We didn't get much school done during those times but the rest of the time we had became increasingly efficient. We have a 2-story house and I instituted a rule that we don't go upstairs during the day except quiet time. Upstairs has nothing of interest, just beds, furniture, and clothes. No books, no entertainment, no toys, nada. In the morning we (sometimes) make our beds, get dressed, brush out teeth and hair, and then head down. We come back up for the toddler's naptime and my son has quiet time while I get her down (30 minutes). After that we go back down. So in this way 50% of the house is completely unused during the day, and there's nothing of interest at all up there. It really helps keep it clean. As for our downstairs, it's messy, but 1-2 hours of work will fix that. I clean Sunday mornings, some Wednesday mornings, and every Friday afternoon. Other than those times I only do dishes (actually usually DH), cook, and run a few loads of laundry.

Quoting myself as I now feel guilty after discovering part of the problem is that my 2yo is getting not one but two molars right now. Gee, do you think that had anything to do with the problems? :001_rolleyes:

Well today is going much better. So first day back=much difficulty second day back=easier, but only did 2/3 of what we wanted and we started late third day back=back to normal Hope everyone else is getting back in the groove as well.

Yesterday we got through most of what we wanted but it was a huge pain. Today I decided not to start until the toddler's nap and I just let them play in the morning. That's worked well. Tomorrow I'll try the usual schedule. This is my first year and I didn't realize how much impact it would have to take a week off. :glare: I'm not taking the planned 2 weeks at Christmas. I think I'll do 1/2 days or something.

It's so sweet she doesn't though. :) My parents also have some stuff from first grade projects (mother's day plate, etc) displayed in their hutch. I'm almost 40. :D

:lol: When DS first saw a commercial (he was 5?) he came running to me and told me we had to replace our detergent with Oxi-something because it cleans waaayyyyy better! And we had to do it right away!

Volume 2 is out and available here, if that helps. http://www.outskirtspress.com/store.php (Type Nebel in the search box.) Should be available elsewhere soon if you can't find it other places.

When I was young my parents used to watch the CBS evening news with Walter Cronkite. Along the way I somehow assumed that Walter Cronkite was God, coming on the TV every night to report what had happened that day in the world. (It made sense, right? How would we know all that stuff from really far away places? Right? Right?:tongue_smilie:) I was under this impression for quite awhile before I innocently said something and my parents were laughing till they cried.

:grouphug:

I don't think I'm addicted but I do want to spend less time on the computer. I just read about Freedom in the NY Times magazine yesterday (the Nora Ephron interview--she uses it.) http://macfreedom.com/ (Also for Windows, despite the URL.) It seems you enter the length of time you want to be off the Internet and it locks you out for that time for up to 8 hours. I could see people using this to lock themselves out until lunch or after instruction time or whatever. I'm thinking of downloading the trial. HTH.

I would be thrilled if my kids did something like this, even if I didn't like the colors or they did a messy job. I would feel good about their hearts and that would matter more than material things. My parents wore some ugly clothes, used chenille-wrapped hangers, put ugly decorative items on display, ate some terrible meals, and had a ridiculous looking garden for years because they accepted with love the offerings my brother and I had to give. And when our friends helped us in these endeavors they were happy for them too.

Mystic River. Very sad and haunting, for me at least.

We're TV free here. The kids also don't get any computer screen time at home. When we visit my parents they watch some TV and play some games on the computer, but that's an annual thing. They do get sucked in then, and I think it's a combination of novelty and boredom. I noticed DH got a programming book for kids from the library so I think we're going to have a discussion soon though. :001_huh: ETA: I wonder how much has to do with the ages of the kids. Our kids are only 6 and 2 so no screen time feels more reasonable to me than it would at 10 or 12. I'm sure at certain ages they would be emailing/texting/watching documentaries/writing papers etc. Right now they would just play games. Wondering about the ages of the kids of the other "no screen time" folks...

Yeah, I guess that's the plan. Everyone was complaining about the scanners so much they found something even more egregious and suddenly the scanners are preferable. Ugh.