$99 on the Instant Pot pressure cooker 7 in 1 right now. I first learned about this appliance on this list and I've had it for a few months. We LOVE it.

We used an inexpensive disk like you can find on Amazon but we found a weighted lap blanket was even more helpful. If you do even the most basic sewing they are really easy to make. Here are instructions: http://diagnosissoup.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-make-weighted-lap-pad.html I'm sure there are also many people selling them on Etsy.

It sounds like you are a contestant on a new impossible cooking competition show on the Food Network. It is like Chopped but a lot more difficult.

If you've not already done so I'd say start with a single practice test at home. For the practice test use "real" paper and pencil printed materials from the SAT. For that sample test for a most younger students I'd say do a couple of sections back to back in a day. Read over the instructions because once they've read them on a test at home they won't have to think about them in a test day. Use a timer. When those sections are done, immediately move on to something else, preferably something fun outside involving activity - swings, taking dogs for a walk, etc. Don't spend time noodling over questions, reflecting, or looking at scores at that point. That can help keep anxiety down because it isn't giving their body time to be stuck in any worry spot. Once you've got all the sample sections done look at the score and see where she is relative to the needed number for the particular program she's working on. After the single sample test we realized a couple of grammar things we needed to review. We reviewed them without dwelling on their connection to the test and left it there because we didn't want to create any worry over it. We also live in an area with few talent search testers so we got plenty of experience here being the youngest tester in the room. It was never a problem or anything negative. Somebody will probably say "You must be really smart".... and that's not the only time they'll hear that in life for sure!

This is a question that is really hard to give a general answer to because so many individual factors come into play. Relevant considerations for me would include: Overall academic strengths - Is the student a fast learner or tend to take more time to master concepts? Academic background - Have they been in a lot of structured situations before like community college or is this one of the first graded experiences? Organizational skills - Am I confident they are ready to "hit the ground running" or will it take some time to learn study and time management skills? Other obligations - How busy will the student be? Will the student be working, playing a sport, family responsibilities, involved in a lot of activities? Overall maturity - Is the student focused or will they be likely to be distracted with fun stuff, partying, etc.? Challenges - Does the student have any learning disabilities or health concerns? Scholarship - Does the student have a merit scholarship that requires a certain GPA to maintain?

It is normal. Really normal. She's not far enough into her major or her career development to really know and that's okay. Try this link: http://uncw.edu/career/WhatCanIDoWithaMajorIn.htmlShe can search by major and then see some of the potential career options. She can then research those careers here. https://www.onetonline.org/ There are many great careers that begin with a major in social sciences. I also agree with the suggestion to use the career services office on campus. You are already paying for it so it is a good idea to take advantage of what is offered. She might be a student who would benefit from an internship earlier in college rather than later.

I'm wondering if it might help to back up the conversation and try to develop a ranking system for the importance of different considerations. So, a list of stuff like diet politics religion emotional support in overcoming loss of parents arts education shared hobbies fun family culture open mindedness nice house Perhaps if forced to rank order these considerations it would reveal what is most important. For me personally even though I am a person who has some deeply held convictions issues like food and politics, I don't need to control that from the grave. For me the most overwhelming and important consideration would be if caregivers are going to provide an emotionally safe and supportive environment needed for kids coping with grief. If you aren't kind and loving and prepared to sacrifice to help kids through this trauma, it doesn't matter that you eat organic food, own a boat, or voted for the same person I did.

Perhaps there is additional information not in the article that would make this story make more sense. Right now I'm unclear why he was unable to do what many in their 20s do and that's work hard at a job they don't love while they pay the bills and continue to work on their dreams/hobbies/art part time. Just a few statistics to put this article into a broader context. About 65% of students who attend college take out student loans. The average debt for undergraduate is just under $30,000. That's what student can take out in federal loans. That's not an insignificant sum, but it is the amount of money many people pay for a car. Young people in their 20s who don't have kids and don't have a lavish lifestyle can live on the cheap, work hard, and pay down that debt fast. When we read these crazy stories in the media about people buried under a $100,000 in debt that is most often people who have taken on atypical and huge sums of private debt from banks. That's often to support a choice in college that did not make sense in the first place. Far too often families say "oh, we'll just figure it out a year at a time." Please don't do this! Add up the full cost of education. Don't just assume it will take four years, look at graduation rates. Then add up the amount of debt and use a loan calculator to figure out what your payments will be. If it is too much money. STOP. Make a difference choice. That choice might be community college, it might be a "lesser" name college or university, it might be taking a gap year and starting over focusing on colleges that make better financial sense.

Great topic. Putting some thought into this and thinking about a bit of training can open up some good options. I agree any office skills or computer skills can be helpful. Soccer refereeing can pay well. I've also seen students who are interested in pursuing careers in nursing or medicine, work to get their EMT certification right after high school. There can be a little investment in time and money in that training but it can really pay off in a job that pays more than the average student job. Here are a few more ideas.

Eight SAT II or APs is as unreasonable as a homeschool policy gets. That's way beyond the expectations of the most selective colleges in the country. Mercer admits about 2/3 of students who apply so this is a quite an excessive expectation for homeschoolers.

An Ott lite and reading classes made a huge difference for me with embroidery. I use a much stronger magnification glasses for needlework than I use for reading. Ott lites are also available at Amazon for anyone who isn't close to a Michael's or Joann's. Also, if cross stich is feeling frustratingly small but you enjoy needlework maybe try crewel embroidery. I find it is much more forgiving and less eye strain.

Many great choices there and there should be good odds for merit aid. Depending on his interests, political and religious persuasion maybe add Oglethorpe and Hendrix.

Great topic. It is important that students understand that there are some significant scholarship opportunities tied to National Merit. The initial qualification for these awards is the PSAT taken in the fall of junior year. Sometimes families look at the size of the awards from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation itself and assume that it isn't worth a lot. This is a mistake. Some employers give scholarships based on National Merit standing and also some colleges have tied very large scholarships - full tuition and full rides - to National Merit. Yes, this is just the top 1% of students in each state that will qualify, but the reality is that homeschoolers who haven't done a lot of standardized testing sometimes don't have a good sense where they stand with testing. It is worth taking a sample test sophomore year to get an idea if you might be in the ballpark for these awards and if your student might be able to earn strong SAT or ACT scores with some practice and prep. There are quite a few top homeschool graduates who go to college on scholarships that were initially tied to National Merit. So, if you have a strong student take the time to investigate this option and see if it might be helpful for your child.

A few thoughts that might help... If the cost of college is a concern it may important to know that LIM meets on average 33% of financial need of families. This is very, very low. I would also suggest looking at graduation rates. Four year graduation rate is 40%. The six year graduation rate is 46%. That would be a be a big concern for me. Finally for any school in NYC you want to look at availability of housing. Check if there is guaranteed campus housing for first year students and for upperclassmen. Off campus housing can make it more difficult to gauge costs.

It is certainly the reality of the person you spoke with and he's not the only one in vet medicine who feels that way. I would not jump from that story to generalize though that college is without value or the road to debt for all students. The research is pretty clear and consistent in finding that higher education is a good investment and that on average college graduates have much higher lifetime earnings than high school graduates. Of course some fields pay much better than others. As a counterpoint to this story, I personally know quite a few young people who have done very well with higher education including many who went to college on full merit scholarships and graduated with no debt. Some went directly into careers and others to graduate school. As others have said professional school (law, medicine, vet medicine) tends to be very expensive. In many fields graduate students receive free tuition and a modest living stipend that allows them to live like students so taking out debt is not the norm.

Also, before you get too far into prep if you have not already done so you may want to check and make sure there are available seats in your area. In some areas there are such limited test dates that they fill up quickly.

Of course she knows best about what her schedule is like and if she is overextended. Would it be possible for her to talk to the current student president to find out more about the time commitment? Sometimes stuff that sounds like a big deal or a lot of time turns out to actually be really manageable. One opportunity tends to lead to another. It would be impossible to quantify how this leadership position might pay off in future scholarships, but generally it is a positive thing for students to add leadership to their resume. It depends on the student's field, but it can help a student demonstrate involvement and this may improve their odds of getting an internship or a first job someday. I know when I interviewed for my first job out of college, experience in campus organizations was helpful as a way to demonstrate responsibility and familiarity with some stuff like marketing and organizing meetings. Also, I would expect that the professor who wants her to take the position may be a good source of recommendations.

Also, she may want to check with her college. Some schools pay the fee for their students. That was the case at my son's school when he joined.

Congrats to your daughter. Yes, it is worth joining. There are lots of bogus honor societies out there, but this is a real and respected honor that people list on their resumes into adulthood.

Arg - tons of inaccurate and misleading statements. The part that got me most is that the volunteer's "tenure" as an alumni interviewer "gatekeeper" was her description of the one lower income candidate she ever interviewed. The student has lower scores and "when I asked him questions—about school, sports, family, TV, whatever—his answers lasted barely five seconds. When I asked him why he wanted to go to Harvard, he shrugged and said, "Dunno." Yet she feels compelled to be charitable in her recommendation but he still doesn't get in. So, therefore she concludes the system is a sham. As an alumni interviewer she's not seeing what the full range of candidates look like nor does she get a good overall sense of the applicant pool. Alumni interviewers are assigned by region. So, if she lives in a rich area and she's interviewing exclusively rich candidates that hardly seems surprising. It doesn't mean that all successful applicants to Harvard are the same. Just in the very little slice of the homeschooling world we have a diverse group lower and mid income students who ARE competitive candidates for top schools. They have the test scores. They have the accomplishments. And, they can certainly answer more than "dunno" to every question. If somebody's answer to every question is "dunno" they don't belong at Harvard. About 30% of Harvard's students are below the $80,000 threshold, meaning they pay next to nothing for the education. Yes, millionaires are way overrepresented and that's part of why families up to $200,000 in income can still often get financial aid. The fact that she assumes lower income candidates can't articulately answer interview questions based on the ONE student she met in this category is incredibly insulting.

I wanted to echo the suggestion that it the job of a citizen to provide information and the job of the police to decide what to do with it. I had a situation a couple of months ago where I observed something in a parking lot that set off my creep-o-meter. I started to talk myself out of concern, but I just had such a bad gut feeling that I decided to trust it. I called the nonemergency police number and started with a "this is probably nothing and I didn't know if I should call..." The operator quickly reassured me I did the right thing to call. She dispatched immediately. Turns out they'd had other reports and this is somebody they were looking for.

Knowing they will never change and never see the other side can be really helpful information to keep in mind. If they were simply negative initially but could be persuaded to see a situation from another perspective there would be hope that being patient or participating in the conversation would lead to change. Instead, you can identify conversation will never serve that purpose. One strategy that has worked well for me with some people with similar personalities is to just treat it like an odd quirk that I respond to with humor or by being over the top gushy positive. It can be disarming when you don't really engage with it by trying to change their point of view or by acting like it is getting to you. So, in other words kind of pretend like they are drunk or they are an angry toddler that you can only take so seriously.

Interesting. Here's the three things I wondered about when reading your post... 1. Do they ever change their mind about anything later? So, are they a negative first responder, but with more evidence the opinion will soften? 2. If you pick something to discuss that really is clearly positive or neutral with all people (like the sunny weather or the deliciousness of the coffee cake) will they find something negative to say or will they find a way to work in that they disagree with you? 3. How do they respond if you disagree? Do you feel like you have to just stop talking or the criticism won't stop?

If the only goal is solely for information purposes such as educational planning, that can be accomplished with a practice test at home. It should be free or close to it and it means there's no need to negotiate any hassles with registration or potential anxiety associated with being with older kids and so forth. There are specific purposes that prompt some families to test a younger child including: qualifying scores for support through Davidson Young Scholars, desire to participate in Study of Exceptional Talent, participating in certain camp programs, having formal scores for advocacy within school, or need for tests for college classes. So, my main suggestion would be to nail down the purpose of testing first. If it informational stick with a sample test at home. If it is for possible qualification for particular programs, try a sample test at home and see if it is the ballpark where it is worth pursuing formal testing. If your student wants to participate in the Talent Search awards they typically need to register through Talent Search rather than directly through the SAT or ACT. If they just want the scores and don't care about Talent Search, you can register directly through the ACT or SAT, but for the SAT it will need to be by phone or by mail. If your child is sensitive or feels uncomfortable in some situations, it may be good to ask other parents about the test sites in your area. Odd as it may sound, for our younger student we opted for a college test site instead of a high school because it just happens to be a more efficient lower hassle test site and we weren't trying to time it to be at the same time as other younger testers.

Phi Theta Kappa is a real and respected honorary society for two year college students. I advise students who are eligible join this honorary. Some colleges base their transfer scholarships on PTK. National Society of Collegiate Scholars is considered a non-selective money making thing and most people don't find it it be worthwhile.