I don't feel like I need to provide a solution to a young woman who is demanding sani products for all for free because she is afraid she might at some point in the future accidentally be found without sanitary products and feels like it is her right to have them. I feel like that woman needs counseling at most and at best she should be politely ignored. Let us all forgive her for such asinine statements and hope that as the years go by she will mature into a woman who can take care of herself and her family. When asked by someone who was in need of tampons (either because of poverty or because they really were having an emergency) I gave them tampons. Just like any of you would.

I've used W&R this year. We are getting writing instruction done. I like the content. I evaluate curriculum based on how clear it is, does it accomplish what I intend to teach, and the big plus comes if it makes me a better teacher. If it accomplishes those three things AND the children don't cry, cry, cry over it, it's a win. W&R books 1-2 are a win for us.

After giving birth to my fourth child, I asked for tylenol. It was the weekend. I was told that they were out at the nurses station because the nurses had used it all for themselves and they couldn't get more because it was the weekend. All that to say, that when there is a supply of something, people take it thoughtlessly. That's what people do. It's free, it must be for me.

You all need to go and read the students' letter. In the letter, they call the things they are asking for "demands." "The following pages detail our collective Demands, as well as Demands specific to each of our Centers and demographics. It is important to note that these are Demands, not simply requests or suggestions. These represent thoughtful, meaningful reforms that are necessary in order to affirm the expectation of safety and real life equity. Should these demands not be met or properly negotiated to our standards, we will mobilize our students.Additionally, we will inform prospective students, faculty, staff, as well as previous faculty and staff, alumni, and anyone else who will listen of the problematic climate that is perpetuated on this campus. We hope that the University of Arizona initiates an institutional sense of urgency in terms of the effort the university puts forth to remedy the issues highlighted by these Demands." Tampons are the easiest and cheapest things they are demanding. Perhaps some boardies may be happy to know that one of the demands is also lactation rooms.

I read the article. If someone was making the argument saying, "Look, students here are struggling to make ends meet and providing tampons will not cost us a lot of money but can help a definite number of these students," that seems fine. I'm honestly struggling with the whole, "it's a right," thing. I went to a state park yesterday. Some of the bathrooms had toilet paper. Some didn't. Honest to betsy, I didn't feel like I had a right to toilet paper. I didn't even feel like I had the right to demand a kleenex from the pack-everything-extra friend who accompanied me. However, I was glad she kindly shared a kleenex and some handwipes (since there was no sink), but good gosh. If Walmart runs out of toilet paper in their fabulous public restrooms, do I have some kind of right to raise hell about it? How is that going to work? Dear Customer Service Employee, you are violating my RIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Give me some of that John Wayne toilet paper! (Rough and Tough and won't take any crap off ya) and a Great Value Tampon while you are at it!!!!!!!!!! Because it's my rights! No one does that.

I probably would have agreed that providing tampons for free should not be done, but when I hear Sparkly Unicorn's story, I am tempted to rethink. I've read a lot of her posts on the boards over the years and when someone who usually writes in a very even tempered way suddenly expresses great emotion about a personal life story, it's time to sit up and pay attention. I've had a person stop at my house and ask for help. I asked the lady what she wanted, and she said she wanted tampons. I gave her mine and we drove to the grocery store and got some other things. I haven't panicked over needing tampons lately, but I keenly remember being sent home a note from school for my kids where they were supposed to merely bring $5 to school--and feeling the panic wash over me. It's really hard to help people understand the panic feeling that comes when you are trying to run things by pennies and dollars.

When our school room was our dining room, I kept our larger flat items stored behind furniture--the large magnetic white board for instance. I also purchased a big laminated map that could be folded up. I found a book shelf with a glass door that allowed me storage, but didn't make things look cluttered. We kept the globe on top of it and I thought it looked nice. We also turned an old tv cabinet into school storage. The main thing you need to decide is if you want to see your school stuff or not. I didn't want to see it when our school room was our dining room. When we turned a bedroom into a school room, it started to look like a school room--white boards, chalk boards, maps, handwriting posters, open bookshelves, etc. Here are some pictures from days of old... And here is now I just want to stress that we have been homeschooling for years now, I have six kids, and i did not run out and buy all this stuff on one day. It has been slowly gathered and all of the furnishings have been second hand or repurposed.

Your explanation should go on her website.

I look at the Brave Writer website and get really, really confused. I don't think I'm stupid, but I've been on it 4 times recently and just can't figure out what the deal is, why it costs so much, what to use for whom, etc. I'm in the same boat as the OP. We're finishing book 2 of Writing and Rhetoric this week and I need something for the rest of the year.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/588290-history-textbook-after-sotw/

I've been using MUS with kids for 7 years with 6 kids. I feel like it has a lot of review. We've used it from Alpha to Algebra 2. I also throw in other math books for fun. There is one area that I supplement with some Math Mammoth, but overall, I feel like MUS has been a good. I think it's good to sit down and ask oneself if switching to a different style of curriculum is going to really be the thing that will help a kid remember certain algorithms or certain skills like telling time. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've explained area and perimeter. It's not the scope and sequence of a math program that makes the kids go blank. It's not the teacher. Really. I don't know why a kid can do something over and over again and then just....forget. but they just do!!!!!!!!!! Because I've seen this in 6 kids, and I know how extensively we work on some topics, I don't think it is a matter of poor curriculum fit or poor teaching or poor commitment to review. A math program does not teach your kids math, you do. So when you are the teacher you are always going to have to adjust or redo your teaching as you go along. A curriculum can lay out a scope and sequence, it can depend more heavily on "conceptual" style or more heavily on learning the algorithm. A program that spirals like Saxon or CLE has advantages in that the kids revisit topics super frequently, so you don't have to insist on mastery. However, sometimes kids start turning off their desire to learn it because they think--"oh, it's that again. Didn't I already do that?" The awesome thing about homeschooling is that it is easy to switch to another program, so I'm not telling people that you have to pick one and stay with it forever, I'm just saying that sometimes we switch without really understanding what we are giving up, or what we are going to change to. Quite frankly the number one reason why I would consider ditching MUS is that the prices keep going up and that has nothing to do with scope, sequence, or method.

It was a generalization for rhetorical effect.

here's the deal about education--all one district or one state has to say to their constituents is, "Hey,SmartBrain Town is doing it. We better get on board too so we aren't left behind by the travails of the 21st century economy!!!!!!" And boom. It's done.

I'm glad! So, because my husband is very short with a very short inseam, what I've found is that if I would shorten his pants they would still never look good on him because the proportions of the hips-knees would be off. Once we were able to find pants with short inseams and designed with better proportions for short guys, he looked so much better. Particularly for a professional cause, I think that anything that can be done to get that guy proportional pants is going to help him look better--and that can make a difference in confidence for a person. At any rate, it's been a positive thing for my guy. And can I just tell you how lovely it was to get a suit for him that actually looked good? The Haband jeans were so great for my FIL.

You should email them and ask for the actual waist measurement on the pants you want to order for your guy

Yes. The slim fit chinos, especially. Their clothes are expensive but DH has been wearing them for over a year and all the clothes hold up really well. It's good quality. I don't find their waist measurements accurate--it's really vanity sizing. I order a waist size down for my guy.

http://haband.blair.com/p/men/pants-shorts/dress/executive-division174-stretch-gabardine-slacks/pc/3470/c/3471/sc/3475/79836.uts?store=18&count=500&q2=3471~Pants+%26+Shorts&q1=3470~Men&intl=n&q=*&q3=3475~Dress&sc=N&x2=c.t2&x3=c.t3&x1=c.t1 Very short inseams are available.

DH is 5'2". I get his clothes from Peter Manning, which specializes in clothes for guys 5'2" to 5'8". Peter Manning clothes look great on my husband. I purchased pants for my FIL who was shrinking down past 5'2", but who had a larger waist, from Haband. The pants from Haband were very ideal for him. We never had to hem them.

Somebody with some grit needs to steal some joy from the emo testers.

The Inferno is the first of the three parts. Dante starts out in hell, goes through purgatory and then heaven. It's a mid-life crisis story, of sorts. I wouldn't have your kids read it until you've studied it a bit. You may decide that you want to go ahead and give them an introduction, or wait till high school.

I don't know what to recommend for your students, but I know what helped me and made me excited to share it with my 8th grader and 10th grader. Firstly, this video lecture from Hillsdale: http://online.hillsdale.edu/course/books101/part09/week-9/lecture And Rod Dreher's book, "How Dante Can Save Your Life."

It's bad for kids, but what will it also do to their teachers--the women and men that have to look into the eyes of 8 year olds and run them through a test to determine if the teachers made "grit" bloom in the kids. Poisonous.

Thank you both for the help. I have some older MM I can print out, but it was the busyness of it that I was trying to avoid for this one particular kiddo. I had totally forgotten about the math generator. I will also look into Math in Focus and Rod and Staff. Thank you both for taking your time to answer. Very much appreciated.

general topics for a 4th grader--multiplication, division, fractions, basic geometry

I need a simple workbook format for a student I am helping tutor. Open design, not too many problems to work per lesson. Basically I am looking for something like the layout and simplicity of Math U See, but much more affordable. Their workbook price is now $40 plus $10 for not-fast shipping. Thank you