I would not "sue." I would file a claim with the business owner's insurance.

But then you have to add the extra 48 that can fit sideways in the extra 1/2 inch of length. S it should be 816 altogether.

I don't know...I could see banning prom as a logical consequence. "Obviously you are unable to recognize and abstain from sexually inappropriate / vulgar behavior. Therefore, you cannot be trusted at prom." Suspensions were definitely warranted.

I think it sounds like a wonderful idea and I hope you come back and tell us how it goes!

Interesting. Of all the library policies listed here, this is the only one I find completely unreasonable. I have never heard of a library working this way! The book drop is always checked first thing in the morning (often before the library opens) and any books returned while the library was closed are checked in as returned the previous open day. So if the library is closed on weekends, books found in the drop Monday morning are counted as being returned Friday. If I returned a book Friday after closing and was charged 3 days fine because the library didn't open until Monday, I would refuse to pay it.

I would start with Mandarin. By the time high school rolls around, he may have lost the ability to hear tone. Learning a tonal language as a young child is a HUGE asset when it comes to being able to learn others later.

I am not a fan of the "curriculum" or his system, but I am speaking up because you keep saying this and it is simply not true. His website is very clear that for the first year of school children should be taught (not figure out for themselves, but be taught by a parent or older sibling) how to read using phonics, and they should be taught the concepts behind addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and helped to memorize the math facts. Once they are reading fluently and have all the math facts memorized, then they should start with Saxon 5/4 and the Robinson curriculum. I don't think his method is good, I don't like how he neglects humanities, and I don't even care for his book list, but your repeated statements that he expects children to teach themselves to read are completely false.

Meh. Doesn't sound like the mom is doing anything wrong. She just filed a complaint with the school. I have to admit I was very uncomfortable the first time I read Anne Frank as a teenager - precisely because of those portions -, and I would want my DDs to be at least 13 or so before reading it, maybe older if they had not gone through puberty yet themselves. My DS I'm not sure about. There are other great books about that time period that I might assign instead in Jr High. I wouldn't complain if a teacher had my kids read it as long as they were at least 7th grade, though.

Just curious...why were they in trouble? Isn't the point of learning martial arts to be able to use it to protect yourself and others? You said they didn't hurt him, just held him down until he stopped trying to go after your nephew, right? Anyway, none of my business and i understand if you dont want to answer, I'm just curious because I think I wouldn't want to discourage my kids from defending themselves or anyone else who is being attacked.

Is this the nearly-15 DS in your siggy? At that age I can't imagine not allowing it. I would want to have access to the group and the computer would still be in the living room, but I think he is old enough to handle himself online. ETA: Just re-read and realized you were wondering about younger children being allowed to participate. My oldest is 7 and I would subscribe her for daily emails rather than letting her go online. Her emails come to my inbox and I always read them before she does.

I would try cooking them with bottled water. If that makes a difference, you'll know it's the water.

Slight rabbit trail... Why, oh WHY is Citizen Kane considered such a great movie? It is so boring! Is it significant for some other reason?

I actually agree with Apologia that many teachings of the LDS church are incompatible with what I believe to be core tenets of the Christian faith. If they had said "we mistakenly misrepresented the LDS church by using inaccurate sources. However, we still believe Mormon beliefs are not compatible with orthodox Christianity, and this is why..." I could have respected that. What they did instead really bothers me (and has anyone noticed that comments are turned off? Surprise, surprise)

I find it interesting that they apologized for the "long list of references/footnotes" being confusing/overwhelming (or something to that effect), but did not address the comments stating that many of their cited sources are in fact NOT official LDS statements and do not represent current teaching of the LDS church.

Religion aside, I would not hire her if I smelled smoke. I wouldn't want my kids to have to put up with the smell. I personally wouldn't mind a non-religious or atheist teacher for grammar and writing; but if the co-op had a statement of faith that members had to sign, I think it would be silly to hire a teacher that couldn't honestly sign it.

"Genocide" is a fairly well-known word. Maybe the Nazi genocide of the Jews/Romani/others would be a good way to refer to it. I remember being very upset as a kid when the homosexual community appropriated the word "gay." I liked the word, and I resented not being able to use it for its original meaning anymore. But I don't put the word in quotes and talk about "gay" people, because I know that would be very offensive since it implies that somehow I don't think they are actually gay. It does not imply that I just don't appreciate that particular word being used to describe them. So in the interest of good communication and a desire not to cause unnecessary offense, I don't do that. I also don't go around telling people that I am feeling gay today. Insisting that a word has retained a meaning that the rest of the English speaking world no longer associates with that word only serves to confuse.

Yes, the most used alternate word is Shoah which comes from the Hebrew for "catastrophe." However, holocaust (not capitalized) has been used to refer to any mass slaughter since the 1830s and specifically the Nazis' extermination of Jewish people since the 1960s. The root comes from the Greek words meaning "whole/entire" and "burnt" and was originally used in the Bible as the term for burnt offerings. However, to insist that the meaning has not changed over the last 200 years IMO verges on ridiculous.

I would actually argue that "burnt offering (to God)" is the etymology of the word, not its literal meaning.

Have you considered changing the way you indicate that now that it has been mentioned more than once how it comes across (that maybe you don't believe it actually happened)? Maybe an asterisk with a note at the bottom would be a better idea.

Yes, but IMO there is a difference between grabbing a snack when dinner is over and the table is cleared, and bringing your snack back to the table where other people are still eating dinner. The first is fine, but the second is awkward at best, and outright rude at worst.

I think as a guest in someone else's home it would be extremely rude to help yourself to any food that wasn't obviously intended to be served. If the chips had been served as appetizers and were still out "on the counter" because of that, I think it would be fine to help yourself during dinner. If, however, the chips were "on the counter" because that is where they are stored (i.e. they had not been served), it would not be acceptable to open them and bring them to the table to eat. I think some of the differing opinions hinge on the "on the counter" phrase. Some people serve dinner from the counter, so they are assuming that chips being on the counter means they were with the other dishes that had been served. To those people, helping yourself to chips would be just like going back for seconds of any other part of the dinner. Others who place serving dishes on the table think that "on the counter" means put away, not served, not intended to be part of dinner. Since the chips were actually on the fridge in their storage place, I vote rude. But I think it wouldn't be rude (as a member of the family, not a guest) to ASK "mom, I'm still a little hungry but don't really feel like more dinner. Do you mind if I grab some chips?"

Except he's not. Because he's Canadian. But I think sometimes Americans don't know that.

Grienke is an idiot, and that is all I have to say about that.

As long as you aren't using quotations from the book, can they really ask that of you? Competition doesn't violate copyright, does it? Or were they just asking you as a favor and not implying that you were required to comply?

Quite simply, many of them didn't! Lots of people died. Do we really think that was better?