We have books of Christmas/Solstice/Winter short stories, songs, poems, and verses. They work well for short reflections, especially when paired with lighting candles. Would something like Earth Bound: Daily Meditations for All Seasons work? If not, maybe something similar? From Amazon: Earth Bound is a daybook of 365 meditations culled from the worlds of spirituality and science, philosophy and art. These daily musings remind us of both the responsibility and the humanity we share on Earth and within the embrace of the cosmos.

Winter is dark and the return of the sun and light on the solstice is worth anticipating.

:001_wub: (A real life example of the nuances of finding a good fit! A math program that has at least a minimally acceptable frequency of afternoon tea times... :laugh: )

:laugh: :grouphug:

Great idea! I need to get more candles as well. Hope you feel better soon!

Absolutely. It's tricky because for privacy reasons some of us don't want to give too much info, but then it makes comments/decisions look a bit off or downright absurd. It's human nature to try to fill in the details we don't know -- presuming this or that and ending up with a picture in our minds which is far different from reality. Such is the internet...

Thank you!

I'm presuming there is no glorification of suicide in the book, correct? It can be a tricky balance. From the reviews I've read, there is not, but I'm curious to know your thoughts.

Taking your advice and adding it my list cart right now.

On the other hand...some schools praise, praise, praise and shine, shine, shine. The parent must then counteract all that brightness with stormy clouds and drizzle... (I'm referring to high schools that give almost all A's and focus on a narrow vision of self-esteem above all else. Obviously not all schools are like this.)

3 ladybugs, how are you liking your holiday bends? I took advantage of recent sales and bought a few, even though I wasn't planning to. I'm hoping to try the first today. I'm still trying to decide if I like the blends or making my own, which is what I've done for years. (This if my first diffuser, though, and I wanted to try the ready-made blends.)

Wonderful news! :grouphug:

I can soooo relate to this. My teen and I actually talked about it recently. We both expressed how necessary it was, but also how difficult. If only life were all sunshine and rainbows... There are many times my teen curses the rain and later begrudgingly thanks me (in that special way teens have ;) ) for teaching her to always carry an umbrella. My deepest hope is that the umbrella stands up to the tests of time...

That may well be true. It's just the first time I had encountered it. When we considered brick-and-mortar schools for high schools, it was the only one on our list that had a full class period for study hall. We didn't look at a large number of schools, though, so it's quite possible many of them have some period of time each for for what you describe. Thanks for pointing that out! Most of the other ones we considered had 7 actual classes with an 8th class optional (or strongly suggested) at 6am or during lunch. The private school with a study hall really stood out.

Before one of our moves in the last few years, we gave away several of our DVDs, thinking we could just watch them on Amazon Prime or elsewhere. Big mistake. Some are only available on DVD. We had just presumed everything would be easy to find in a few years. We were wrong.

Thanks!

I've always considered myself the rain on my child's parade. I am a firm believer in what Marva Collins wrote: "The castle leaks." You are not perfect. The world is not perfect. Life requires hard work. Obviously this is no guarantee of anything. My point is that I have never felt it was my job to say the above things to my child. My worry is more the opposite: I want to be the rain -- not a tsunami...

I recently discovered that one of the highly regarded private schools in my area requires a study hall. I've been impressed by their overall philosophy. Many students can pay full freight to top schools and will be aiming high. They still have a study hall. The school is well-established, not new and untested. I do agree that study hall is probably rare at high levels, though.

It may come down to the definition of peers and fit. I consider peers to be not only the same intellectual ballpark, but there *must* be kindred spirits as well. That's trickier than just looking at scores. Fit, in my definition, includes school size -- both campus and student body. By the numbers above, very few schools fit the small category. To get a high number of intellectual peers at a small school, more selective colleges are probably a better bet. In regards to kindred spirits... it may mean there needs to be something else about the school that would attract students with certain personalities or interests. That *something* may be at a large state school or it may be at a more selective one. Perhaps for many/most students, the idea of kindred spirits is foreign. People = guaranteed friends. For other students the equation looks much different.

Yes, it absolutely makes sense. It also explains the disconnect I was sensing. I've been reading so much on this topic lately, I might have gotten confused about what started the thread or which thread I was on. Who knows... ;) Anyway, thanks for reminding me! We are making lists and spreadsheets with school and campus information for at least 1 or 2 schools in each level from tippy top to community college. The goal is to have solid options at each level. If she doesn't get admitted to tippy top (which she's not sure she even wants to apply to, even though she has the scores), then at least she'll have a solid plan for the next level. No acceptances there? No problem, we've got a school or two picked out from the next level down and the next and the next. Even with high test scores, etc., we are taking nothing for granted. There are solid options at every level. Our dilemma is definitely not Is anything other than Ivy/Elite worth considering? Not by a long shot. We're wondering things like Is a tier 3 school with a brand new, up-and-coming program in a chosen major with amazing opportunities a better choice than a significantly higher ranked school that's more expensive, but still affordable, but has no special program in her major? My teen has mentors that are attending or have graduated from various schools -- including tippy top. She rarely hears the advice to automatically go to the most selective. Usually the conversations are much more nuanced than that.

This means I *did* fail. :sad: Maybe I'll try again another day. For whatever reason, I'm not coming across clearly. Maybe less selective to you is much higher than what less selective means to me. I'm guessing that's what it is... Perhaps clarifying what less selective means to you might be useful.

Which is why I said... go where the odds are greatest, wherever that may be for a given student. Regarding honors programs... sometimes those aren't good fits because they have extra requirements that are meaningless to the student and a waste of time. Or myriad other reasons. I really tried to be broad in my statements because there are endless possibilities of what makes a school or peers *right*. Apparently I failed miserably. :glare:

Just to be clear about what I actually said... I said nothing of elite -- whatever that means. The definition varies. Go where the odds are greatest, wherever that may be for a given student. In regards to honors programs... There are students who transfer from schools because they didn't feel they had true peers -- even in the honors program. Keep in mind that honors program admission criteria varies from college to college. An honors program will not offer a large enough pool of true peers for every student. I didn't say for any student or even for the average high performing student. I said for every student. There's a difference.

dp

These were my thoughts as well.