Mexican. I have all sorts of toppings (think shredded cheese, guac, salsa, etc) with rice and beans and chicken that can be pre shredded in the crockpot warming. I offer corn and wheat tortillas. This way, everyone makes what they want, everything can be done ahead of time, and it takes care of gluten allergies if needed. It's my go to for large amounts of people. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I liked the "Hey girl" postings with the actor whose name I can't remember right now. "Hey girl" with multiple reasons of how homeschooling oddities are actually sexy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not the same age, but I have a 12 year old like that. Doesn't really care if he has close friends. He goes to a one day a week enrichment day at a charter school and seems to have other boys who really like him (I've met them), yet when I suggest he get together with them, he's not interested. The only time I've seen him get really animated and chatty with someone outside our family is when I introduced him to a friend of mine who has a tech business. They rebuilt a computer together. For the first time in his life, I had hope that he would actually learn how to make it in this world. That someday, he would find people with similar interests and actually like to interact with others. Also, his dream job is to run a company in the Amazon that's run entirely by robots. That way, he doesn't have to deal with people.

We had this issue a couple of years ago. We went on state sponsored medicaid because we all qualified when we tried to sign up for Obama care through our state exchange. Somehow, just dh and myself also got signed up for BC/BS and that was a much bigger pain to get off of. The state sponsored low income medical insurance was very easy to get off of when dh got a job with benefits. The BC/BS we mysteriously got signed onto through the exchange was several phone calls to BC/BS, several overdue notices, and a few calls to our assigned financial social worker handling the medicaid system. It took months to cancel a policy that we never needed nor signed up for. Go with low income insurance.

I'm only sending Christmas cards to my family. I am buying teacher Christmas gift cards, but I only have one child in school and it's his last year (special ed). Christmas cards stress my husband out each year because he wants to "do it himself" for people he knows and doesn't have the time.

Three Dobermans across the street who always bark when they're outside. Early morning and late night really bug me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My ds did Northstar in junior high. I was less than impressed. It doesn't seem like a high school program to me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just bought my mil a very nice paring knife. She was always complaining about how all of her paring knives are dull. My mom likes to do puzzles and this one gave her a good challenge and she thought all the different shapes of the pieces was really fun .http://www.libertypuzzles.com

I have gotten so many great downloads in the past with this deal. It's well worth it if you use or are thinking of using their products. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I hadn't seen my younger sister when she was pregnant so all I have are mental images of before baby and after birth. Her hips changed. She lost that hip no kids woman look and gained a more rounded mom look even though her weight wasn't much different. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We outsource writing to Pottersschool.org. I can get my children to a certain level and then I need to have someone else give them input. It's worked great so far!

She does like reading about science. Mostly animals right now. She does like doing hands on stuff, but I really hate it with a passion mostly because there's a good chance they (the experiments) won't work. We sat down and requested a lot of animal books on animals that she wants to learn about. I guess I'll just make sure she reads about animals and do mystery science as we've been doing it. She enjoys that also. I just am so much better when I have a set plan in place. Too bad someone hasn't made a youtube science schedule with books.

I have my daughter doing the mystery science free trial also. She wants to do the science experiments with it. Today we tried one. Total flop. Maybe I just give up and let her just watch the science experiment portion also.

I need something where my daughter can read the books, do a worksheet or something like that and is experiment light. I am beyond frustrated with homeschool science experiments. They seem to work 1/2 the time and most of the time are just frustrating and irritating. She does well if she's on her own reading something. I keep thinking, "We'll just go to the library and gets books of interest!", but due to a lot of factors, we never get to the library. It's a time and energy thing along with hauling a child in a wheelchair around. I have Apologia which I think is too advanced for a third grader to read on her own. I have thought about BJU press, but many people say that it's dependent upon the teacher manual to teach and enhance the lessons. Any suggestions?

Not as weird as some of the others, but we were in the basement of a house and went to turn on the light in one of the rooms. Animal planet started playing on the tv and the room walls were covered from top to bottom, side to side with animal pictures. Ultimately, my very allergic to cats husband started having an allergic reaction while in the house so it was definitely a no go. Apparently, they loved animals there.

I always assume there may be hidden disabilities. That's why I asked if this man intended to get out of his car. We have a real problem with people picking up their typical child using the handicapped parking spaces as a way to avoid long car lines. They will sit in their cars in the spots waiting for their typical children. We know because the special ed teachers have gotten after drivers for this very reason. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My beef is handicapped parking. At my son's school, there are handicapped parking spaces in the back and all the special needs parents with the placards park there so they can load their wheelchair bound/ autistic (run into traffic)/ blind children into their cars safely. There was a parent I didn't recognize with the placard. I asked him if he was picking up a special needs child. "No" Was he getting out of his car? "No". I tried explaining how these parking spaces need to be for the actual use of handicapped people getting into and out of their cars. His response? "I have a right to be here." Sure- take advantage of a situation...next time I see him, I'm going to tell the feisty special ed teacher to yell at him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Shattuck-St. Mary's is in a slightly run down small town in Minnesota (we used to live in the town closest to it). If I was a really wealthy person who could afford anything, that would definitely be on the bottom. There's nothing really special about it (unless you skate) and the town around it does feel a little run down. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

School choice. Attach money to children instead of money to schools. It would take awhile, but eventually I believe that there would be a variety of good schools children could attend. If it's a poor performing school, the students wouldn't come and the school would have to close down or change. You watch documentaries such as "Waiting for Superman" and think that if those lottery systems where available to more children, education in those areas would change. Around where I live, charter schools are popping up all over because the ones that are available have waiting lists into the hundreds sometimes. The charter schools are varied also - early college high schools, STEM focused schools, classical schools, high schools that focus on learning a job skill such as welding, construction, etc, and Charlotte Mason inspired schools. If you want traditional public school, you have that option also. School choice puts education into the parent's hands again which is where it should be. And yes, I know not all parents will take advantage of these opportunities, but I do think a lot would.

My DH got a pretty nice bike for $60 off of Craig's list. I think you could probably find close to what you're looking for a lot cheaper. When money is tight, you need to concentrate on basics--food and housing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My oldest has a chromosome problem. We never did any blood tests because we would have had him either way. This was 18 years ago and they did miss a significant heart problem that while life threatening, was not life threatening immediately. We had had a bunch of ultrasounds also because they were following a supposed kidney/bladder issue. He did not wind up with a kidney/ bladder issue. He had trouble breathing at birth, was given oxygen, and then rushed to the children's hospital. I'm pretty sure ultrasound has advanced since that time. While I know the reasons people have home births, my experience makes me nervous about people who have them.

This is why I have a giant Costco box of brownie mix so that ds can make his own "stuff" last minute. The very thing you mentioned was happening way too often. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I can eat sugar and other carbs (rice, oats, etc) just fine. I haven't figured out if it is a wheat thing specifically or gluten in general. I can also eat wheat in moderation such as a small serving of sweet and sour chicken from the chinese restaurant, but really will feel it if I eat a couple of slices of pizza.

This is my PSA for those who are having muscle pain/ inflammation/ and spasms. For 15 years, I have been dealing with muscle spasms and inflammation in my lower back and hips. I have been to numerous chiropractors and physical therapists. It has been so bad at times that I could not walk without severe pain. About two years ago, I went gluten free for thyroid issues. I wasn't totally consistent since it didn't seem to affect me - or so I thought. I wouldn't have a lot of gluten, just every once in a while. Then I went to my mom's for 5 days. She made me my favorite cinnamon rolls (gluten), we went to my favorite restaurant- Panera (gluten), and I ate whatever she was cooking (basically more gluten). By about 3 days in, I was in such severe back pain. I couldn't even lay down to get comfortable. Then, coming home again, I went back to my gluten free diet. The pain disappeared. Now, I am aware that every time I eat gluten in a decent amount (two pieces of pizza will do it), I will get my muscle pain again. My frustration that I don't want others to have to endure is this. I lived for over 15 years with pain all due to gluten. Apparently, gluten can cause muscle inflammation. I told this to a friend who on the whole 30 diet realized his chest pain due to muscle inflammations in his chest muscles (which he thought was a heart attack 2-3 times) went away on his whole 30 diet. Apparently, that was his connection also. Gluten causing him muscle inflammation in his chest. So now when I hear of someone in pain from unexplained muscle inflammation, I tell them what I have told you.

I have been racking my brain of how to get ds to interact with other people better and to find something he loves to do. I got him together with my friend who owns a server for companies and has been building computers since he was a homeschooler of 8 years old. My ds LOVED it. He was interacting with my friend more than I've ever seen him do with someone he doesn't know well and his face was shining with pure joy. So, they repaired our broken tower and ds learned a little on how a computer works. My friend (he's in his mid 30s) enjoyed it also. My friend is not a programmer and my ds has no interest either. So, the big question is, where can we go from here? What else can they do together?