Oh my. Where is that? Is it in the Netherlands? I will be in the Netherlands in May, possibly for the last time (sob). Maybe I could work out a night there :) One of the most beautiful bookstores I ever saw was in Masstricht; it is in a former church. Do you know of it? Boekhandel Dominicanen. Here is an article in English about it: http://architizer.com/blog/sacred-bookstore/

Thanks!

When I look at a particular high school on the AP Ledger, I see a table with school year (columns) and AP subject (rows). The fields contain either a 1,2, or -- What do the 1s, 2s, and dashes signify?

I am planning to do Chapters 1 through 12, thus stopping at the trigonometry chapters. But since we are doing it right now, I can't promise that this is good enough. I guess I will know by this time next year.

:grouphug: on Great Girl leaving. My DS22 year old is applying to grad school, but we are in a reverse situation. He has been in a different country from us since he started college in 2013. Now that we are back in the states he is on a different continent. But if he gets into his first choice grad school, he will be living with us for at least a year. Which would be weirdly wonderful.

So... DS received a response from his coordinator indicating that to submit for the Bronze Medal while in possession of a Bronze Certificate requires a two-day, one-night trip. BUT it was explained that this would bring him to completing 3 days plus one overnight. Which kind of makes sense. It isn't really skipping anything. He will have completed three days and one overnight. Still leaves the question that if you submit FIRST at the Bronze medal, what do you have to do. Because one overnight really equals two days plus one overnight. Clear as mud? If this applies to you, please ask your coordinator for advice. Or call the main office. -- Meanwhile, he has heard back from two out of the three places he has a volunteer interest in. Whew. By February, he should be able to get Voluntary Service hours again. I am relieved :)

Thanks. I wasn't really worried about the end being inappropriate. Just feeling pathetic that I can hardly remember the book I assigned. He is on October, so I will hurry up and skim through from October to the end.

And this is why I don't like to pre-read for my 10th grader: I assigned Like Water for Chocolate for World Lit, and I had read it last spring. When somebody here (I think Lady Florida?) said that she liked the book until the last chapter, I realized that I drew a complete blank about the ending. Truth be told, I only vaguely remember the book at this point. Ugh. I need to go reread the last bit before he does so I can discuss it with him. At this point, I am far better off just being one chapter ahead of his school reading.

I'm 2/3 finished with Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America by Bruce Barcott. My favorite chapter so far is "How We Got Here," which traces the history of legislation in the USA. If the author would have stuck to writing about policy and science, I would be liking the book better. Whenever he gets personal, he annoys me. He too often make statements about "my generation" that just don't ring true for me at all, and he is only two years younger than me. And there are too many pop culture references that have nothing to do with what he is trying to say. Written in 2015, it is already somewhat out of date. But in spite of my gripes, I have learned quite a bit. I am reading this for a nonfiction book club. It's a new club at the indie bookstore, and I am new in town. So I have never met any of the people. It could be an interesting discussion! Also plugging along with: The Arabian Nights (Husain Haddawy version) The Prince, Machiavelli

Happy, that sounds super. Is that non-ACA insurance? DS's bday isn't until October so as long as we can ignore the Jan 31 deadline, seems that we have not ostriched too long, which is a big relief.

OK, I just found this on the HHS.gov website, and it tells me that turning 26 qualifies as one of those life events for special enrollment. https://www.hhs.gov/blog/2014/10/turning-26-start-birthday-shopping-health-insurance-now.html The article is from 2014; I hope it is still accurate. It points out that you can start your application 60 days before your birthday, and not to wait until just before your birthday.

Thank, Carol. Can you clarify this? Are you saying ask our current insurance company for help transitioning him to a different insurance? Or for transitioning him to ACA? We have had the same insurance for decades, which is why I know so precious little about what to do. I guess I could ask the benefits person at the company who to talk to at the insurance company.

I will probably wait until G RR Martin finishes the books to read them, and by then it will have been a looong time since I read the first. One of my other favorite TV shows was Dexter, and again I tried the book after being a fan of the series. Didn't like the book at all! I nearly always like book in book vs. movie, but I am two for two TV for book vs. series, lol.

Our oldest son is on our health insurance, but he turns 26 in the fall. I am trying to figure out if he has to do anything before January 31. I think he would fall under the special enrollment period, but I admit to being distressingly ignorant about how the ACA works. And with all the possibilities for change on the horizon, I am tempted to be an ostrich but I won't. Anyone know how it works to transition from parental insurance to ACA once you age out of the parental?

Hi. Game of Thrones is a funny thing, I think. I am a big fan of the show, and I thought for sure that I would like the books. I read the first one after Season One, but it just didn't feel worth continuing. But now, after thoroughly enjoying this most recent TV season, I am thinking about giving the books another go.

I think my son will have to do a summer week somewhere if he wants to get all the volunteer hours done.

We used Jacob's 2nd edition, and we really liked it. Now we are back in Foerster for Alg 2. So far so good!

I think you will be OK. Based on my five years of living in Europe with a food allergy and dairy intolerance, I can say that EU food labels seem to note allergens. Of course, you have to know what to look for and not all packages have an English ingredients list. Restaurants can be a bit of a minefield if you want to eat outside of your absolutely-safe list of foods, but they're a pain at home too, right?

Well, I am feeling like quite the slacker for posting that my son is in 10th grade and is not-quite-eligible for the Bronze Medal. And he started in May of 8th grade. But them's the facts. Here is a good reference point for deadlines: http://congressionalaward.org/gold2017deadlines/ Looks like record books should be submitted should be submitted by Feb 1 for a June gold medal ceremony.

Interesting.DS just shifted coordinators (we moved to a different region), and will be sending his new coordinator an email soon. I will report back. That does change my thought process. He is pretty close to the Bronze Medal right now, and an overnight vs. two dailies + overnight moves the finish line quite a bit.

I defer the decision on when to read Beast and the Blonde to somebody else. Now or later is fine with me.

Thanks for the illumination, and I will reiterate that I have no knowledge base of Russian translators to draw from. I had long ago learned my lesson to research the translator (looking at you, Charles Archer) so I did agonize over it look into it before I bought. I read more than one review that noted that while Pevear/Volokhonsky are typically awesome, Dr. Z does not get the raves. Here is a link to the Guardian review and The Independent https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/nov/06/doctor-zhivago-boris-pasternak-translation http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/doctor-zhivago-by-boris-pasternak-trans-richard-pevear-and-larissa-volokhonsky-2171911.html So I went with the older one. Well, I'll let you know what I think!

When my son was volunteering weekly at a nonprofit, he kept a small notebook that he got initialed each time. It just noted the date and the number of hours. This made it easy to fill in the official form when it was time for that. Also, maybe the person signing off on the validation form is not the same person your kid sees each time. We thought the informal log would make it easy for someone to feel comfortable signing off that the kid was there for X hours over a (possibly long) stretch of time.

I just ordered my copy, and it will be here Saturday so I can start anytime :) This is the sort of book that I would want to spread out. But two chapters per week looks doable. It appears to be out of print, but there are plenty of reasonably priced used copies on amazon.

I would be up for that! I still have to pick books for the Into the Woods challenge, and that looks like a good one for #10.