Yes. A food budget of $400 dollars a month for a family of four is roughly equivalent to $1.10 per person per meal. Even eating off the dollar menu at a fast food place is going to cost the equivalent of multiple meals. Eating somewhere halfway decent (say in the $7/plate range) is going to eat up several days worth of food budget for one meal.

I'm really conflicted about this. I am in favor of teens being able to obtain medical help when they don't feel able to include their parents. I am in favor of kids having a chance to talk to the doctor without a parent present. Some kids have legitimate reason to fear their parent's involvement, especially in things related to sexuality and mental health. Some kids are just shy about their bodies, and may hide concerns if a parent is present (eg. child with a yeast infection). But completely disallowing access to all medical records seems to be taking it a bit far.

This is true. Just saying that it is definitely not unique to BJU and may be more of a laissez faire attitude than official condonement. I'm trying to give the benefit of the doubt.

Anyone else click on this hoping it was a thread *for* homeschooling cheapskates, not denigrating them? :) I could say a lot more, but I'd basically be repeating what everyone else already said.

I've seen that type of thing at liberal public universities. I wouldn't assume it is university-condoned. (Example: https://daviswiki.org/Preachers_with_Signs)

IMO, if you're eating out often enough that it makes a significant dent in your grocery budget, you have to count at least some of the cost in your food budget. At the very least, figure out the average cost for a homecooked meal and include that amount in the food budget, then put the rest of the cost in the entertainment budget.

One week in Boston ...makes a hard man humble?

Charge HR largely because I have personal reasons for wanting to track my heart rate. I like that it detects sleep automatically (though imperfectly) because I always forgot to turn sleep mode on with my old fitbit. I also like that it doubles as a watch because kept trying to look at the time when I had a Flex, and I like the watch-style clasp better. You can change the step goal to whatever is most motivating for you. Some study found that a minimum of 10,000 was ideal for health, so that's where that number came from, but if it's so high (or low) that it's a meaningless goal for you, it's fine to reset it to something that is more obtainable.

Our library runs a little used bookstore that is partially discards, partially donations.

Chapstick. I have not voluntarily been without some for any length of time since my mom gave me a tube when I was 11 or so and my lips were irritated.

Infection is at least as likely to mess with blood sugar levels and thyroid values as antibiotics. If you're worried about it, I'd definitely delay the labs over delaying treatment, since delaying treatment could also affect the labs. ETA: Acute infection or antibiotic use might change your blood glucose levels at the time of the draw, but they're not going to change your A1c, So I wouldn't worry about it too much. A provider should not be making clinical decisions based on an isolated blood glucose level taken when there's a known infection happening.

When I was TTC, I discovered this was true for me, too. I'd totally lose my appetite the day before my period was due and be convinced that it was morning sickness and this was the month. Nope. Progesterone, which is responsible for morning sickness, rises after ovulation regardless of whether you're pregnant or not, which is why there's a a lot of overlap between PMS symptoms and early pregnancy symptoms. But I suppose that doesn't help the OP much.

Actually, I was lying here. Around that time, my family used to watch Are You Being Served? (British comedy) together. Most of it totally went over my brother and my heads. There was one character who constantly talked about her cat, using the former common name that starts with a P and now has other meanings. My dad had to explain what it meant to stop me from calling our cats p*ssy all the time. So I would probably have got it if I'd ever listened closely enough to catch that line.

No, the target audience for American Pie would have been preteens at the time OPP was popular (and therefore presumably not the target audience for that song). References to "another name for a kitty cat" likely wouldn't have made sense to many of them. Me included.

I remember the song, but never listened closely enough to catch anything beyond the "Down with OPP? Yeah, you know me" part. Also, anyone who was the target audience for American Pie was young enough at the time it came out that the implications would have likely flown right over their heads.

I am now the dork wearing two fitness bands on my wrist. We got an Amiigo off of ebay because it really seems like the best option for DH. But I decided I want to try it first. Just for a few days. Really. I'll write a bit more about it in a few days. It doesn't have a lot of immediately available data, so I'm not sure what I think of it yet.

I was the target audience, too. The first came out the year after I graduated from high school. DH and I saw the third in the theater on our wedding night. We're so totally classy that way. We've never gotten around to seeing the fourth, though. We should probably do that one of these days.

It is not the most meaty program. It is engaging, with some truly excellent, clear explanations of difficult concepts (at least Chemistry does - I haven't looked as much at the others). Seriously, when I found it, I wished that I'd read Level 1 along with my college chemistry class. That was enough for me to overlook my irritation at the use of "4" in place of "for". It has some subtle Intelligent Design language that is a problem for many people. I think the subtlety is even more problem than if it were more blatant, because it encourages thinking from that standpoint without the opportunity to examine it critically. Not a dealbreaker for me, but it might be for some people. My kids worked up a level - my then 4 year old understood the elementary level. My 7 year old understood middle school, with occasional detours up into the high school level when he wanted more depth. They are bright, but not profoundly gifted or anything.

It rings a vague memory from some sort of schoolyard game/story, but I couldn't tell you anything beyond that. Ghost story maybe?

Accidentally stumbled across (it was in with some music I got for DD, and I added it to my playlist thinking it was a different song) hours before the Oscars speech saying basically the exact same thing.

I think each baby should be celebrated, I don't think people should have to hoard their baby stuff until well past menopause just in case they have an unanticipated baby, and there are more items these days that are disposable or have a limited lifespan for safety reasons. And a subsequent child could easily be more difficult for a family financially than the first. I don't think every baby needs a ton of brand new stuff, either. But I think passing on every single baby thing as soon as you're done with it (except perhaps the things of highest sentimental value) and having a hand-me-down shower if a new baby comes along is an a fabulous idea. (Which isn't to say that having a non-hand-me-down shower is wrong, either)

Murder history wouldn't be inherently off-putting, but definitely would be if it was high-profile and the house attracted macabre tourists.

I wasn't familiar with AO's high school level program, so I just went and looked at it. Given that the suggestion is "Apologia [...] or other science program" along with living books, I think it's just fine, given that "other science program" can be as rigorous as you desire. No one is suggesting that doing nature study and a few living books is adequate. I think the AO approach is fine for younger grades, though science-oriented kids might want more. (That said, we threw any science that came from a religious viewpoint out the window, and are otherwise nowhere near strict adherents to AO, so I'm probably not the right person to answer.)

Integrate pictures of you and your kids homeschooling into the display - make it absolutely clear at a glance that you are actually someone who understands homeschooling and is sympathetic with it, not a run of the mill psychologist attempting to reach out to a different market (or worse, someone attempting to interfere with homeschooling under the guise of helping).

Yes, though I don't exactly recollect how I knew about it. I vaguely recall it being brought up as something I could do, and being somewhat interested in the idea, but turned off by the uniform. So, the answer to the second question is no. (But I ended up being a nurse, anyways. Probably wouldn't have if they still required dresses.) Now that I think about it, I did end up being a hospital volunteer in adulthood. Not sure how I forgot about that, except that it was totally different from what candy stripers do and we didn't have a uniform