That's fantastic news! Congratulations to your dd.

We're having quiche, waffles or pancakes (haven't decided between chocolate waffles or sweet potato pancakes), sausage, bacon, chesse grits and probably a fruit salad (cantaloupe, honey dew, grapes, strawberries).

This was her first semester as a dual enrolled student (she's a junior this year) and she had three finals. She made A's in all 3 classes (Precalculus, Chem I, and Am. History). Yippee!

Congratulations on the graduation and good luck for the upcoming nuptials. Will they both go to grad school or do they have jobs lined up? Enquiring minds want to know.:001_smile:

at a granite store, ask to see their "graveyard." That's where they keep the leftover pieces/disgards from other projects. Depending on the size of the slab to begin with, there can be some sizable pieces leftover. (Little known fact here: When you order granite, you're actually paying for the entire slab, whether you use the whole thing or not.) They will not show you the graveyard unless you ask to see it. The store we used had their graveyard in the shop area and we had to don earplugs to get a look. We were able to find slabs the right size/coloration for the remainder of our house when we built it. I'm talking laundry room, kids bathrooms, our bathroom, guest bathroom, and pantry. I ended up paying less for granite that I would have formica for all of those rooms.

That's fantastic news!

I ended up paying less for my soapstone. My builder ended up giving me a refund for the kitchen countertop allotment (he had allotted for granite). Now, I had to wrest control of this from my builder; do my own research/shopping, get my own samples, talk to the company who would accept delivery and make the cuts, etc. The builder tried everything trying to talk me out of it. He even tried the "it'll be more expensive" routine with me. My research proved otherwise.

Thank you. :iagree: Even if this study was a scientific experiment and its conclusions were different than the other established studies....well, one dress does not a wardrobe make.

is give my children their schedule on Monday. It includes all the work they have to accomplish in the week by subject. They are allowed to do the work in any order they choose (with the exception of their scheduled online classes, of course) as long as by Friday afternoon it's all accomplished. Consequences come into play if the work is not done. I haven't had to implement said consequences in a long time. At the middle school age my dc were able to work longer days M-Th to finish their work and have Fridays off most of the time. At the high school level, the amount/level of difficulty of work has increased (of course) and that really isn't possible anymore. I keep a notebook with a syllabus for each subject (not including online subjects - those they manage themselves) that I use to pull their assignments from on a weekly basis, but I don't consider that written in stone. I try to keep the weekly stuff flexible as long as the end goal is met. For example, I know with math that I want my ds to finish his textbook by a certain date. At the beginning of the school year I take that information and I work backwards to form a rough schedule. Excel spreadsheets are my buddies here. It makes my life a lot easier. Edited: I should have included that this year my dd is a junior in high school and attending the local CC as a dual enrolled student. I give her a blank schedule every week and she fills it out with her classes/study schedule. Her only classes outside the CC are online classes. She is completely responsible for her own schedule this year. I did this purposely because I want her to be able to manage her courses when she goes off to college. This is a learned skill, IMHO, and there's already so much more adjusting she'll be doing when she gets there; now there's one less thing she'll have to learn. Oh, and a bragging note here. Dd made all A's in her three classes at the CC (Precalc, Chem I, and Am. History I). Yippee!

I insisted on it when we built this house (had granite in the last house - waaay too much trouble). I've been using it for over 3 years now. I absolutely love it! You can use absolutely anything to clean it (bleach, ammonia based products, pure HCL if you wanted). You can put hot items directly from the oven onto it. I also had my sink (a farmer's kitchen style sink with an apron) done out of the same material and I love, love, love it. Wouldn't trade my choice for anything. The only thing I was impatient about was the patina. It darkens over time naurally, but I didn't want to wait so I sped the process up by applying mineral oil to the countertop once a week (apply it with a cloth, let it soak in, then wipe off the excess). Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

After our first JW visit, I got a sign that reads "No Trespassing: Violators will be shot; Survivors will be shot again." Oh, and a VERY big dog. Haven't had a uninvited visitor since then (3 years and counting).

That's fantastic news! Congratulations to your daughter for some obvious hard work in high school.

I bought the leather cover that flips open from the bottom and forms a stand (sort of like an easel). I love that I can read a book while eating or drinking coffee. It's so easy. It's also a great protection for the screen since I tend to stuff it in my purse when I go places. It's great to pull out when you're waiting in checkout lines, doctor appointments, etc.

me, too.:iagree:

Our black cats are Spooky and Nala. Our black horses are Midnight and Moose.

I agree that tracking an adult is intrusive, but if my dh wanted to track me (and I ENABLED that function on my cell phone for him to do so), I would be fine with it. I have nothing to hide. He already knows where I go everyday, even with him being out of town most of the time. For my children, however, I have the responsibility of knowing where they are at all times. For someone under 18, there's no privacy. They do not live in a democracy at my house, they live in a benevolent dictatorship. I monitor the internet and where they go on the internet, why would I not be concerned about where they go IRL? When they go out, I ask the standard "who, what, where, when, why, how" type questions every parent should ask before their children go out. Having a 16 yo dd out and about, and dating means I pay more attention to what she's doing, not less. It's not an issue of trust, but more one of safety. However, I'm not one of those naive parents who has their head in the sand saying "not my little angel" when it comes to teenagers. Teenagers make bad judgment calls sometimes, their reasoning skills aren't fully developed until somewhere around the age of 21. It's my job as a parent to protect them and raise them until they leave home and, hopefully, know enough about safety at that point to follow basic rules (such as don't walk alone on campus at night; always let someone know where you're going to be and what time to expect you, etc.) There's also other conveniences with tracking. One day my 16 yo dd was lost. She pulled into a parking lot and called me. I located her on the map and then gave her turn by turn directions on how to get to the store she was trying to locate. Also, as I mentioned in my post below, we have a good amount of acreage and when dc are out riding (horses, atv's, dirt bikes) I have the peace of mind of knowing if they are late coming back I can find them quickly. Those minutes could save their lives if they had an accident. If my dh thought I was sneaking around and going somewhere I shouldn't and wanted to track me, if it gave him peace of mind I would say sure, no problem. I have nothing to hide nor do I try to do so in my marriage. Now, if I were, say Tiger Woods or John Edwards.....:lol:

to keep track of my 16 yo dd who's attending a local CC this year. I don't actively spy on her, but I do have, for example, her school tagged. I know when she arrives and leaves (I get a text message). I think of it as a safety measure for now. She's a new driver; there's a lot of construction on the road between our house and the CC. If I don't get a message after I know she should have arrived at school, then I go online and look at where she is, just to make sure there hasn't been an accident. Also, we have a lot of property and I can locate her on the property if I need to find her (we can't always hear phones ringing over the sounds of tractors and toys (ATV's or motorcycles). I will do this with my son as well when he begins driving. I would never do this to my dh without his knowledge and permission. Even if I wanted to track someone that didn't want to be tracked, they could (at least with Verizon) deny the request on their phone permanently. When we set this up for dd's phone we had to literally program her phone to accept the queries. For a minor child, I have no problem using this. When my dd leaves home to go to college I certainly won't use it except perhaps to track her progress when she's coming home for breaks :) (not that I'm going to be anxious to see her - well, yes, I will). Same for ds.

Dd, a junior, scored a 203; 66, 69, 68 (97th percentile). Happy with her scores, though she missed the NMSC by 11 points. Ds took it for the first time as a freshman. Scores reflect room for improvement, definitely, especially in CR, but I was relatively pleased with his math score (50; 72nd percentile as compared to sophomores - not freshmen). But, he has two years for improvment overall. We'll get there.

Getting older beats the alternative.

I love my Kindle, too. I really like having books at hand and I can choose what book I want to read when I want to read it. It's almost like walking around with a bookstore in my purse. I see someone reading a book that looks interesting and I can pull up the description on my Kindle, buy it if I choose, and have it in less than a minute. I used to travel with a backpack stuffed with books on vacation; now, I just bring my Kindle. When I bought my Kindle, I also purchased a leather cover to protect it that, when folded back, configures into a book stand. I can enjoy my cup of coffee or a snack or whatever while reading hands free wherever it suits me.

is available memory. Audiobooks take a lot more memory than songs.

Dd completed one assignment in each per day. I treated the subjects the same as, say, history and biology; no difference, two separate subjects. Dd was able to complete TT Geometry about a month or so before Algebra 2, and it took about 8 months for her to get through Algebra 2. She took the normal load of subjects that year (literature, writing, AP science, history, etc.) and had no problem. I do think, however, it's student dependent. My dd is very driven and was able to handle this load without any problem. My ds could not handle this load and we ended up dropping Algebra 2 until this year. My advice is be flexible and find out what works best for your dc.

My dd took an AP class in the 8th grade. It definitely went onto her high school transcript. It's ridiculous to think she'll earn college credit for the course, but not high school credit? The same thing for her Algebra 2 course that she took. The CC she's now attending was quite happy with my transcript which dilenated courses by subject area, not year. As we schooled year round up until this year, it would make no sense for us to have subjects grouped by traditional school years. As one subject was finished, the next was started, no matter what time of year it was or how long it took to finish the subject (as long as the subject covered at least the same amount of material in a year long high school course). You'll find many ways to do your dc's transcripts from people on this board. Choose the one that makes the most sense for your family. As always, just my $.02.

First, tell you ds that your home is not a democracy; it's a benevolent dictatorship until he turns 18 and leaves home. He can either have a FB account agreeing to the rules you have established or he won't have one. Period. You tell him you don't care what other parents are doing/not doing with their children; that has no bearing on how you parent. My 16 yo dd has an FB account and I have total access to it. Some of her former friends from a neighborhood we lived in have friended her and their language has been atrocious on FB (lots of four letter words and conversations about drinking and such). I can't imagine letting any 16 yo have an unsupervised account. Just my $.02.