Well, we owned a VW station wagon until I was 5 or 6, but not a bus. I owned a VW bus as an adult.

From an utterly apolitical standpoint... http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/monday-december-14th-admiral-ackbar-cruz

I think Rey bears way too much resemblance to Leia and Padme to not be related in some way. They do that stuff on purpose. I got spoilered about Han Solo literally an hour before seeing the movie last night. That was a little frustrating. I agree with you about the energy. But the history makes me feel that they wouldn't hesitate to go there. It would be about as surprising as incest in a V.C. Andrews book.

Mentally or physically? No one got stung (yet. I'm still having to swat one every so often). I realized what was happening fairly quickly, and they were still pretty slow and sleepy, so "streaming out" meant lots of them crawling out of the log in a short time, not massive swarms flying around. But the kids and I may all have nightmares.

That does it. We're not moving to Arizona. I just had to deal with a piece of firewood that apparently had a wasp nest in it. When we brought it in the warm house, all the wasps woke up and started streaming out. It was like a horror movie. Can't deal with the image of scorpions so close on top of that.

You should also be able to buy just the code directly from the publisher. I'm sure it's slightly more expensive for the code itself than buying it bundled, but less than the total bundle if the used book is inexpensive enough. I treated it as an overall numbers game. For an individual class, I might end up spending more buying used and then finding I had to buy the new version or something. But, in the big picture, that meant spending a few dollars more than I would have on one class, while saving hundreds on all the other classes.

Hmm. That part apparently didn't register with me, and I read those books from a parent-prereading perspective. But it reflects the overall problem with her books in terms of younger readers - the stories mature with the characters. The earlier books are just fine for younger kids, but then they'll want to read them all. Nononono! There's a reason that no one recommended reading the Beka Cooper series first! Everything you mention is a problem with this series in general. While the world itself is familiar, it takes place hundreds of years before the events of the other books, as well as focusing on a totally different subculture. Everyone is a little lost.

On the silver lining side, the day is warm enough that it's totally possible to line-dry 8 loads of laundry.

I'm sorry. I've had all 4 within three days, with 2 of them actively vomiting today. I'm just sitting here hoping it hits me today so that I can be all better before I have to work on Friday. Thankfully, this particular one seems unusually short-lived, even moreso than a typical GI bug.

Now I feel the need to clarify my comments. I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with Tamora Pierce's books being my kids' first literary exposure to sex. Her depictions of sexual relationships generally are positive, consensual, and non-coercive (and safe, though it's an apparently foolproof magical contraceptive charm, so not totally realistic). When less-than-healthy behaviors are presented, it's clear that this is the case. (Daine/Numair age difference aside. I don't think the relationship itself is unhealthy in context - she'd been living as an adult for quite a while before they got romantically involved. But I can see how it could give the wrong idea.) My literary introduction to sex was descriptions of sexual abuse, I suppose because that's ok to put in books aimed at kids because it's a teaching thing and not something that's likely to make them want to run out and have sex. Back when Twilight was the big thing, it was the most popular book among 3rd graders, both boys and girls, including Breaking Dawn. That's certainly not what I want my kids imprinting on, even if it was within the context of marriage. I'd just rather wait until puberty hits to get them going on the books with more adult themes, and I recognize that a lot of people on the board are a lot more conservative than I am, and unappreciative if they were recommended as great for kids without warning about sexual content.

I found a chronology, though it's way too cluttered to follow easily. Protector of the Small and The Immortals (which I was calling Wild Magic) take place during roughly the same timeframe, with the events in the Trickster series happening a few years later.

That was our experience, too - the kids preferred the other tutorials. Hard to compete with bigger budgets and branded characters. It wasn't something that spurred any sort of long-term interest (yet), but I was impressed with how it taught.

If you're comfortable with mild sexual content, I'd start with the Alanna books. If not, the Protector of the Small and Wild Magic series would both be good starting points (I started with the Wild Magic books, back when the Alanna books and Wild Magic were all that existed). The Trickster books are on about the same level as the Alanna books. I can't quite see them as being a starting point, but I'm biased since they didn't exist when I started reading the series (I actually have the same problem with Protector of the Small, but have come to accept it as the best entry point for younger readers). Beka Cooper is much more on the Young Adult end of the spectrum. I've also had a very hard time getting into it. But I agree with Tanaqui that, overall, it doesn't matter which series you start with. Each series can be read as a standalone.

Because a mandatory draft and voluntary enlistment are very different things. Like I said in another post, I'm basing this on current posted policies and historical precedence, not random speculation.

Draft runs by different rules than voluntary military service. Hardship deferment because of the needs of dependents has both historical precedence and support in current law.

They have hardship deferments. I don't know how hard it is to qualify for this, but I'd imagine being a single parent or remaining undrafted parent would qualify.

It's a curriculum jointly created by the Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ. The UU version is non-sectarian (I wouldn't call it purely secular, as it does encourage exploration of an individual's religious/spiritual beliefs related to sexuality), the UCC version includes a liberal Christian element, and there is apparently also a variation without any religious/spiritual aspect, so the secularity would depend on who is presenting it. It is a sex-positive program that takes an affirming and inclusive attitude towards subjects such as alternative sexualities/genders. It encourages physically and emotionally healthy decision making and self-respect. I am told that it encourages abstinence outside of healthy committed mature relationships, but not abstinence-only or abstinence-until-marriage. It is very thorough, and fairly graphic, but tastefully so. They should have a parent information meeting that will give you a good overview of what exactly is involved. If you missed it, the instructors would probably be willing to talk to you individually. I would totally send my kids (and only haven't yet because we live quite a distance from the nearest UU church), and encourage it for anyone wanting a sex-positive comprehensive sex-ed curriculum for their kids, as I think it's a subject that's often very difficult for parents to comfortably teach. But I recognize that a lot of board members would consider it incompatible with their beliefs. I know we have a trained OWL instructor on the board. Hopefully she'll chime in.

I had much better luck with buy-back prices on Amazon than through the school. Obviously not as much as selling the books directly, but extremely low hassle.

3 of my 4 were within an ounce of 6lb10z, which was also my birthweight (and neither DH nor I is a particularly small person). The fourth was smaller (I suspect due to a knot in the cord). I worked through two pregnancies, didn't work through two of them. Homeschooled during two of them. Varying diets, lifestyles, starting weights, pregnancy weight gain, and levels of exercise during pregnancy, all of them natural onset of labor... and they all ended up exactly the same (except one).

Yes, I should have said this. I don't recall mature content in the series I mentioned, but it may not be clear that other series set in the same world (and, in the case of the Circle books, specifically following the same characters) do have more mature content, nor is it necessarily obvious from the book descriptions. And I have run into problems with my oldest wanting to read the other series after reading the tamer ones.

Some of Tamora Pierce's series might be good. The Immortals, Protector of the Small, and Circle of Magic are appropriate for her age. Some of the other series are more mature. But you might want to try one and see - the violence and danger could be a bit much.

Mash and freeze, either as guacamole or plain.

I'd be interested in joining.

No idea whatsoever. I remember not liking her name, and giving her a different one, but I can't remember either the name she came with or the one I gave her. My mom made me one. I think I would have liked her just fine, except the feet ended up looking like hands. I was kind of a brat about it, but I was like 5. I got the real one the next Christmas, when they weren't as popular.

I agree. I have the full set, and still think about getting the condensed version instead. Maybe I'll sell the full set and get the condensed instead. They've been more expensive than I was interested in paying when I looked in the past, but now it looks like I can probably cover the cost of the concise edition by selling the full set.