Unfortunately, I have worse stories. I don't think they intend to harm, but they are so stubbornly set within their mindset (When I was young there weren't allergies or seatbelts, so these kids don't need any!" that it does have dangerous consequences. Cutting them off isn't an option, so I just watch like a freaking hawk now and avoid the situations unless I have no other choice. ETA: If you do a search on here, you'll see this is hardly the only time this has happened to anyone. There are many worse stories that allergy moms can tell you.

I'm not sure mine counts. It only went up to 4th grade because after that they shipped everyone to the nearest town with higher grades. They just didn't have the funding, space, or teachers for over that. Our school had one class per grade and no doors-all open to the middle which was the "library". I LOVED it. It really felt like a community, and personal. I would consider allowing my kids to go to that school if we lived there still. Um, I was an outsider from the "big city"-literally, but everyone thought that was very cool and they were very accepting. I don't recall any bullies at that school (unlike my next school), and everyone got along pretty well. There were certainly no sports outside of PE, but most were farm kids who didn't have time, anyway.

Yup. It'll definitely work. Tell him just to restart afterwards if it runs slow. Macs are pretty low maintenance.

My kids use it on a 3GB iMac and it works fine, but you definitely have to restart after Minecraft-a CPU hog.

I have a 2013 MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch witha 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 and 8GB memory. Intel Iris 1536 MB. But our 2008 iMac works great, too. I've heard better things about the Pro than Air, but so long as you have enough memory, the Air should be fine for him.

It's a college, and I have no idea. Many of the teachers do the same thing. I have never once heard about it being an issue. When I went to University, some professors gave us their phone numbers or we would meet outside of class hours in places around town for projects. It's technically outside of office and classroom hours and really no different than one on one in person communication. Before this we would have students drop by our house to ask about assignments (It's a small town and everyone seems to know where we live), so I'm obviously a bigger fan of phone/text. ;) He got the idea about the messaging system from someone in administration, I think, too. http://facdevblog.niu.edu/textmessaging http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/your-use-social-media-ferpa-compliant

You can get an education discount which gets you a bit more bang for your buck. :) Minecraft works great on Macs and my kids have a bunch of mods.

Thank goodness, yes. One of my children had a very severe milk allergy. It was a bit traumatizing for me to be on such constant alert. But when she was about 3, it went away. We went to the allergist again, and it was such a relief. She still had allergy issues that we're still figuring out (long story) that have evolved into a profound autoimmune issue. My 4th child had a peanut and cashew allergy. Not anaphalaxis, but well, think Poltergeist from both ends plus a horrid rash. She asked to go to "school" but the public school here would not accomodate. We have friends whose son has a severe nut allergy and they told him to suck it up, too. They wouldn't even do a nut-free table or put an alert that no outside food was to be given to the child because the teachers often gave out candy in class (I was a student assistant in K and 3rd grade classes for my college courses, so I saw this in person). So I had to tell her no. The fabulous Catholic School is entirely nut free but we couldn't afford it. Her latest full allergy panel showed the peanut issues are gone, so thank goodness for allergy changes. Nut allergies are terrifying to deal with. People are rude and passive aggressive. We had relatives that would sneak her a Reese's because they thought we were lying, even. You'd think they would have learned from that one, but nope, it wasn't the last time. Premade Peanut butter and jelly was the go-to lunch if you were on free lunch or you forgot yours. I ate that one a lot. I went to school with a girl who had peanut anaphylaxis. During college she worked at a restaurant that was peanut free (italian place) and she because a Speech Language Pathologist, so she worked at a nut free medical center. :)

I am so sorry. There is no excuse for this. I would alert her parents and cut off all friendship with this girl. I have known people like that and there is no way I'd let my children around them ever again.

Dh does chemistry and a lot of it is in picture messages. They'll send pictures of their work that they're having problems with and he'll explain it. IDK, it seems to work well for them! There's also an app (or website? I'll ask) that he uses so it doesn't give out personal numbers but sends the messages to all of the numbers. Of course, dh just sends his personal number, too, and it's never ever been a problem as far as security or pranks. It does get REALLY annoying to have students text him 50 times a day when we're on vacation or it's a holiday, though. A lot of his students keep in touch after the semester and he gives out recommendations and advising for programs. But it's not a huge school. That might be a bigger issue at a large university.

:iagree: As for being kid-centric, well, I'd really prefer that over the latch-key unparenting a lot of us were raised in. :/ My life is kidcentric because I have kids. But that doesn't mean that I make them think the world actually revolves around them. That's confusing, I know. But it's a choice. I chose to lose my career to be with my kids. I chose to live off of one income. I choose to spend many nights at ball fields, waiting rooms, and singing kids to sleep. And I also choose for my kids to become healthy adults or else what was the point of all of that? Every generation has unique challenges. Dh and I were basically unparented and have purposefully chosen to live a life centered on our kids. That sounds very codependent, but it's not in reality. Coffee has yet to kick in. :P If you look at the trend in the last 150 years or so with generations and major events (war, etc.) you can see this shifting back and forth. Women entering the workforce in WWII, the movement towards the Cleavers, then a return of female autonomy and reentering the workforce. A backlash against strict societal rules and then people trying to find center again. Really, it's fascinating. I keep asking you to marry me, but when will you say yes? Of course, I'm terrified of Australian wildlife, so maybe we can agree on New Zealand? Exactly. My kids have learned the "obey!" tone in me pretty quickly. Most NT kids learn those tones and expressions really quickly. It's kind of funny hearing my teen get her own very serious voice when she helps watch the kids. They've learned hers, too, and will obey immediately when they hear it. But like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, it can only be used for life and death matters. I've had to practice this recently with my 4 yo who does not seem to get road safety. I would never want my kids to thoughtlessly obey my every word. It's important for them to think for themselves and still understand danger signs. Trust is vital in the parenting relationship. And yes, I take my kids on rather dangerous hiking trails from infancy, as well. I've climbed ladders near waterfalls with babies on my back, pushed little butts up ravines, swung on vines, but we start small and teach them safety young. I have never once had a problem with a safety issue or punishment in these situations because they are taught young to listen to me and to respect nature's dangers. Respect. Trust. Not punishment or external rewards.

1. Tell children to use program 2. Sit down and drink coffee while reading on Kindle In other words, I'm not really worried about it. ;) In today's world, there's plenty of typing, they'll figure it out.

:iagree: That said, my kids don't really like them and prefer books like The Penderwicks which still have some sibling rivalry. My kids never really got into the Beverly Cleary books.

I used to work in the hospital, so I probably would. But it depends on how much of a stranger and how clean the sheets are.

At least for iPhones, you can use texting on your computer and iPhone/iPad. So i can answer texts (and phone calls) from my Macbook or iPad if my phone is dead or I can't find it (as usual). This is so convenient. So you can paste in pictures, websites, lots of information, and yes type what looks like entire books. A lot of people use systems like this not just from Apple as a main source of communication. It also means that I can seamlessly move from one to another if my service (home or wireless) goes out. Something like 85% of teens use smart phones and even my relatives who will rant against the perils of modern technology have a smart phone they use as much as my college age brothers. So typing is a bit easier on them, especially with the larger phone sizes. There is also speech to text. I can not tell you how many long rambling texts I get from my Mom every day since she knows how to use this function! :lol: Really? LOL It's just not the most common form of electronic conversation anymore. Heck, even a decade ago people moved more towards IM'ing. Especially when many people have email accounts overrun by spam, messaging is much more convenient. I have nothing to wade through and I can access it anywhere. BTW, I am ages behind in communication and social media. I attempted to be the last human hold out against texting until I realized how much easier it is to communicate without five kids running around me interrupting, and service outages in our rural area. Such a relief. But the first time I got a Snapchat from my brother I had to use Google and the wisdom of much younger folks to figure it out. Then promptly delete the app because it was too confusing for me. :p

Seriously. The younger generations primarily use texting and other social media. And I didn't say nobody, I said fewer and fewer. ;) I like how you throw "empolyed people" in there. Believe it or not, I have worked paying jobs and none of them required email. Some did require you to join their intranet or online system, though. Dh is a professor and only gets private official correspondence via email. Everything else is an intranet alert/message/front page, phone call, or flyer. Most people really do send longer messages by text. I get texts that can go on for pages-it's very common. I'm glad email works for you and in your field, but the simple fact is that not everyone uses it that way anymore. Some articles on it that aren't just my personal experience and my dh's experience teaching high school/college: http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/teens-fact-sheet/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/10/teens-email-use-study_n_1268470.html http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-use-tech-like-a-teenager-1402434802 Texting: http://www.edudemic.com/7-ways-texting-advantage-classroom/ http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-03-04/facebook-twitter-social-media-classroom/53358382/1

I saw two openings this year in his field and both paid very very poorly.

People wouldn't consider that hot??? Put it this way-if I couldn't sit in my car without a/c waiting for my husband to get milk without feeling like death, then it is hot. That is hot. Could I go swimming without shivering when I step out? Then yes, that is hot. Oppressively hot with the humidity. I've lived in the East, Midwest, and Southeast and I still consider that YES very hot.

Well, fewer and fewer people use email nowadays. I know I check mine less than once a week. In dh's classes almost nobody uses email so they've started using text systems for alerts and reminders. It's just the way things are moving. FWIW, iPhones have customizations so you can allow texts or calls only from certain people between certain hours. I keep that on for mine to only allow people I know will be emergency calls at night (like my mom who is an early bird). After that it's on Do Not Disturb for everyone else.

:iagree: And in some rural areas, it's more dependable than calls. A text can ping out in a much broader range, like say at a friend's house in the country, or driving rural roads (or even highways!!) in many areas in the Midwest, at least.

I rarely text late at night/early morning and usually only to my fellow night owls. However, I assume it's like email or a FB message and it will be silenced during night time hours. I'm more annoyed by calls during the wee hours because to me that says EMERGENCY since everyone knows I hate talking on the phone. :lol:

I would so buy this. Yes, please. :D Yes! Especially for Visual Spacial Kids and secular homeschoolers. They are colorful, funny, but very thorough and impressive. Can we add Apples & Pears by Prometheus Press for Spelling? Notably for kids with dyslexia, but slow learners, as well. I know on the Special Needs forum it's been a Godsend for many of us. All About Spelling, as well!!

I'd say not even for public school teachers. There's a lot of grading and prep outside of the classroom that takes up nights and weekends. As for college instructors, I'd say University professors definitely no if you do research. Then there are committees, advising, office hours, and clubs for cc and university teachers. For cc teachers? Maybe. BUT many colleges & universities are trying to hire mostly adjuncts that are paid very poorly and have no benefits at most places, so keep that in mind. It could change in the next 6+ years, but I'm a big fan of the back up plan after our experiences.

Can I join half-way through? I have to pay to drive to a job interview 12 hours away next week, but otherwise we're hoping to move, so no spending besides the musts.

We are pretty much in the same boat. Dh is both overeducated and undereducated for his field. People want to pay less for people with a BS or the jobs he wants (teaching, mostly) require a PhD. So he's stuck in the middle. He wants to teach, not do research and write grant proposals, and we can't afford more higher ed, so we are stuck in the middle. Plus his field (STEM, even) is really oversaturated right now. It's a tough position to be in. I would leave the advanced degree off the application of write a cover letter addressing his degrees and hopes for how he'd fit into the position. Best of luck.