December was not my first choice, but it's the way it worked out. It's always difficult to fit in an anniversary celebration with everything else going on. I wanted April, but we were both in college and April just wasn't gonna happen.

When my kids were younger and there were times that the frustration and impatience would build, I would ask myself what I would do in the situation if someone whose respect I valued was listening in. If other people were around listening to me, I knew that I'd keep my cool and respond graciously. If I could do it in public, I should be able to do it in private as well. Not very noble, but it worked for me.

My five adopted children (teens) think that line is hilarious. No offense taken.

Definitely switch to septic safe toilet paper. I have a garbage disposal, but use it sparingly. Mostly just for scraps of food that are left on plates after a meal. I either compost other food scraps or put them in the garbage.

Thanks for the suggestions. No offense taken. 🙂 She is moving through the second half of Algebra I with confidence now, which suggests to me that it's more an issue of her brain being ready for the concepts rather than a math disability. My current plan is to finish the algebra this semester, do one semester of geometry and then a full year of Algebra II. In her senior year, she'd take the remedial math at the college she'll be attending through their early college program. Maybe I shouldn't assume that she'll need it before she's even taken the SAT, but I'm basing my assumptions on the performance of her multiple older siblings. Some of them needed the remedial class, but breezed through it. One of them was allowed to take college algebra in his junior year even though he didn't score well enough in the PSAT to merit it. He aced it. My opinion of the SAT is that it only measures how well you take the SAT, and doesn't necessarily have any bearing on your academic performance in college.

I'm considering having dd 15 take a one semester geometry course. She struggles with math, so we're re-doing some of Algebra I right now to solidify some of that for her. It would work out well for our time frame for her to do just a one semester geometry course. After that, I'd plan on her doing a full year of Algebra II and then taking a remedial math class at our local college. I am confident that she will need the remedial class because she's not likely to score well enough on the SAT for college entrance. Can anyone recommend a geometry course that we could accomplish in one semester?

Praying.

Educate me, please. My PCP is recommending this for my 16 yo dd before she goes to college. She is likely to not live on campus if she goes to college, but will commute. She's my 9th child and none of the others have had the vaccination. I'm not anti-vax, but I am cautious about vaccines. Anyone have info/opinions? Google isn't terribly helpful.

We've moved quite a bit and I always enjoyed the adventure of it -- new places, new people, new challenges. I got to a point though, where I just wanted to put down roots and stay where we were. All those familiar things you mentioned -- they're nice. Unless your dh is really unhappy and really needs this change, I'd stay where you are.

Well, I am old-fashioned. We have teen events at our house often and I have a general rule of 'no cell phone use'. I don't make them park their phones anywhere because I'd always want my kids to have access to their phone to call me if an uncomfortable situation arose at someone's house, but my principle is 'be with the people you're with'. In other words, be present. My guess would be that the 'no cell phone at the wedding' rule was there to address that situation more than to address the sharing of photos on social media. We had a group of exchange students over for dinner and most of them were glued to their phones the entire time and had no ability to make conversation. (They were all fluent in English.) To me, that's as rude as picking your nose at the dinner table. And, I'd feel the same way about people being on their phones at my wedding.

I had chicken pox as a child, long, long, long before the vaccine came out. 🙂 I did end up getting shingles in my 50's. I had planned to get the vaccine when I was 60. I did get the antiviral as soon as I realized that it was shingles. It was a stressful time in my life and I do think that contributed to my getting it. I've heard of teens and 20' somethings getting shingles actually more often than older adults getting it.

Nope, don't know.

No. Our closest relatives are 1,000 miles away, although we have some adult children living closer. They have jobs though, so couldn't really be available to help.

I am sure that September was chosen because there was a good deal on the cruise, and I have no problem with everyone else going. No one else homeschools and they never have, so they don't understand that when my kids have sports practice, I'm the one who has to drive them. Their kids got picked up by a bus to go to school. They went directly from school to practices. They probably had friends or neighbors who lived nearby who went to the same school who could drop them off at home. They just don't get it that all of this falls on me. They don't get it that the closest homeschooler lives 15 minutes away from me and doesn't necessarily participate in the same things that my kids do. They also don't get it that I'd have kids all by themselves at home for 7 days. That's a long time for my kids to be alone. They don't get it that my kids need me to be here to homeschool them. They don't get it that I have responsibilities to teach co-op classes and to get my kids to those classes. Ugh. I am frustrated that no one makes an effort to understand what I do. Probably that's the underlying thing -- when we see our families, NO ONE ever asks me about homeschooling or shows any interest in anything that I do. Mostly this just rolls off of me, but not today. Alright, I'm going to be done complaining now. 🙂 Thanks for listening.

I'm sure that my mil is just completely clueless about this, but she shouldn't be; and my sil (who is likely helping her with this) shouldn't be either. A month ago there was a family event and we couldn't go to that one either. A sil planned it, but it was more about what worked for her children and their families than it was about extended family. Absolutely fine. No hurt feelings whatsoever. It was clear that she had to make the plans centered around what worked best for them. But, my mil mentioned it when she issued the invitation. She talked about what a lovely time that was and how she'd like to be able to do that again in a year. Oh. Did you notice that we couldn't come? That we said that we'd love to, but that September just can't work for us? No. Sigh.

I looked at the itinerary, which was probably a mistake. It's a 7 night cruise, so including travel there and back, (opposite coast for us) it will be at least a ten day commitment from us. Ummm, who's going to stay with my kids and drive them to their activities; not to mention the commitment that dh and I have to our students who are paying us for their education.

My mil just sent us an invitation for a cruise. We would need to pay our airfare, but she plans to cover the cost of the cruise. We need to sign up within the week to get the best price. She emphasized how important this was to her and how much she wants everyone to be able to come. Lovely and generous of her -- we'd love to go, we'd enjoy spending time with dh's siblings. Here's the thing: she chose a week in September. Dh and I are both educators. We simply can't just take off an entire week of school. With school just getting started and the activities that our kids are involved with then, it's almost the busiest time of the year for us. My dh and I are by far the youngest, so everyone else is retired and can go whenever. We are also the only ones with children still at home. I don't expect them to center their plans around us, but if they'd like to include us, it would have been nice to ask when we had fall break and try to make the plans around that. Long ago, my extended family would occasionally take a trip together as well. They would stay in expensive hotels and eat out for every meal. We were struggling financially and couldn't pull that off, so we couldn't go. I am content with my life and happy in what I do, but something like this makes me feel sad and left out. It makes me feel like our families don't understand our lives or just don't care.

Our dog was a rescue and had fleas when we brought him home. We tried everything!! Nothing worked long-term, until we did the Seresto collar. It's not cheap, but neither is trying all the stuff that doesn't actually work.

I'm no help, but I do have a story -- my nephew married a Canadian right after college graduation. She was in the states for college. They had not finished all the immigration paperwork in time and when they tried to come back into the states after their honeymoon, she was detained at the border. She had to go back home to live with her parents while he stayed in the states at his job. It took about a year. Yikes! I had no idea it would be such a big deal. I hope it goes better for your daughter. 🙂

This is what I'm thinking. If you're not reporting this as taxable income, you're committing tax fraud and so is the employer. That would be enough of a reason to quit. I would also suggest though, that you give a 2-4 week notice so that they have time to make other arrangements. Sorry this is stressful.

I think you're being wise and not overprotective. I would not even allow a young teen to be at someone else's house unsupervised or poorly supervised. You can try to prevent, but you cannot undo something once it has happened. And, even the "best" kids do/say/watch stupid or harmful things.

I use moth traps in my pantry and change them out about every six months. I grow all of our broccoli and have tried various methods to keep the cabbage moths from laying their eggs there. I still check and double check and triple check. Because.... bleh! Here's a link: https://www.organiclesson.com/get-rid-of-cabbage-worms/

I was in my fifties when I grew my bangs out. The growing out part drove me mad, but now that it's over, I don't think I'd ever go back to bangs. For me, they were just too much work. I could get by with combing the rest of my hair and tucking it behind my ears when I didn't want to fuss with it. The bangs? They just didn't always behave. Without bangs, I can go six months between haircuts if I want to. The bangs needed more maintenance.

It's not that I agree that you're "out of your mind" to consider it -- more like, I wouldn't feel entirely comfortable. Even though I consider my teens to be mature and level-headed, they have surprised me at times with being, uh.... not mature and level-headed. I figure that the years that our kids need us at home are relatively short and my dh and I will have plenty of time when they're grown to do our own thing.

Did you want something specifically related to marriage? If not, I'd recommend New Morning Mercies, by Paul David Tripp.