I am looking at buying a fancy new inkjet. From everything I can estimate, buying the high yield cartridges for it, in a two pack, my copies would cost .04 each before the paper is added in. I would love to know what you are using!!! :bigear:

Maybe in 20 years I can say that! :lol: After we've been at it a while I'll probably just say that it works really well for us and we enjoy it, but I'm just getting my feet wet and I expect I'll be getting these questions from friends until compulsory school age.

I don't give one rat's patoot what any other parent does with their kids. Like, at ALL. But the previous poster who said that parents get defensive because they feel you are doing something for your kids that they aren't, or maybe they realize that even a "good" district has problems. That's why they push so much about it. Since my kid is young I haven't had encounters with strangers. And my goal with my friends is to set them at ease and make sure they know I'm not judging them - or their schools. Usually I say something like, "I really have issues with standardized testing and the way it's taken over." So far problem solved. I haven't met anyone yet who doesn't have a problem with test prep taking over the school. If they mentioned private I would say it's an option, but it would require massive lifestyle changes and I'm not keen to do that if homeschooling works for us. There are a million other reasons too, but that's a biggie and people seem to take it as less of an attack on them, their kids, or their kids' schools.

YES. And also for chocolate, as cliche as that is. I notice it especially when I am cutting out refined sugars - I'm going along just fine and then *wham.* ALl of a sudden I must eat ALL chocolate things. All of them.

I think I might spend an 2 hours a week on Pintrest? For me it organizes the unit studies I am planning for DD. I have a bunch of mommy friends who are starting to homeschool or are afterschooling and have asked to see my ideas. It's the friendliest format to do that.

I'm not sure if it's a classic. It's definitely considered literature and at least down here everyone has to read it in middle school.

My father talks about growing up and how he hated reading and his mom threw her hands up in the air as she told the specialist - "The only thing he'll read is comic books!" The specialist's response? "Then buy him comic books. Buy him all the comic books he can read!" My mom was a 3rd grade teacher, and I know her response would be similar. But yeah, I'm imagining the synopsis for Romeo and Juliet: Teens conduct love affair behind the backs of their parents. Die in bizarre double suicide. Lord of the Flies? I don't know, but it would include the nasty pig scene. That remains the MOST disturbing book I have ever read in my life.

Our favorite three. DH's football, my starry night, and Elizabeth's "girl." If you're well versed in toddler art, you can see the head, two eyes, smile, hair, arms, legs, and shoes. Yes, his legs grow out of his eyeballs, but we love him anyway.

We are doing Before Five in a Row. It has one bible verse per book covered, but super easy to ignore and it doesn't creep into the rest of the activities. I am alternating BFIAR with self-designed unit studies. Right now - weather. There is SO much out there if she's willing to Google. I'm also looking to add the pre-k handwriting without tears because my DD loves that kind of stuff. Also Starfall. My daughter and her bff could not be more opposite in temperament or behavior, though they are both bright and love to learn and something about starfall - simple as it is - enchants them both. Well worth the $30 a year.

I'd be very angry. They'd already given you the green light. Unless they found out the child had LIED about his spanish grade or something I can not see cancelling. That's nuts.

PPD is an acronym for "postage paid domestic," I've never had anyone from outside the US try to purchase from me (on other boards) without inquiring about the true shipping cost. It's assumed you'll be paying more. I hope that she PMs you back and you can reach a happy medium!

Adele - Someone like you Savage Garden - two beds and a coffee machine - SO SAD and so beautiful Ft. Minor - Where'd you go? Blue October - Razorblade - I love/hate this song SO much.

I will always buy at a local brick and mortar if the price is the same or even fairly close. Sometimes I will make a point to buy there anyway just as thanks for having something I can TOUCH before I buy. But We simply can not afford to do that all the time and Amazon gets the vaaaast majority of my $$$. I have never considered the difference between buying from a publisher vs. Amazon. They have never been similarly priced with shipping factored in.

Over my life I have paid thousands and thousands to libraries. My books just never ended up turned back in, and so I paid the replacement value for them. 6-12 grade, every 6 weeks saw me dutifully trudging to the library to pay my hold so I could get my report card (I escaped 1-5 grade because mom was a teacher in the school and knew when I had overdue books.) Same deal every semester in college to register. Except college library books are waaaay more expensive to replace. My highest there was probably close to $500. So then I didn't use a library for like 12 years. We started preschooling two weeks ago and now I have a library card again. God save us all. I am hoping that being so close to the library + needing to go frequently for new books will help keep me in line. Because at the rate I am already checking stuff out, there is no way I can afford my usual fines. And my problem is severe ADD. Severe. And being the most forgetful person in the world, which may or may not be related. I lose EVERYTHING. I forget conversations I had a week ago. It's nuts.

That's hilarious! Yes, of course. I actually went two full weeks past my due date. I did things EVERY DAY. It was the only way to keep from going insane. You think people give you looks when you them you are due that week? Try telling them you were due two weeks ago. It was worth it just for that! But yes, I went several places shopping on the day I went into labor at 42 weeks. My BFF was shopping in Costco in early labor at 40+3.

Me! I think most of the philosophies have some things right and some things wrong.

He's a civil engineer. Right now he's in school for his master's. He won't need it for another 10+ years but I told him it was now or never. I didn't care if he wanted one or not but if he did - it had to be now. It doesn't exactly get easier to go back to school the more kids you have and the more activities they are engaged in!

Yeah, look at the source. :glare: I am a better mother than wife. Because mothering comes SO MUCH easier to me than the wifey stuff. It comes more naturally to me and I am better at it than anything else I have ever done. But that doesn't mean I am not a good wife. I am a great wife. I have a really great marriage. And we do do date nights, PDA, etc. YES we have a kid in our bed, but in our house, beds are pretty much only for sleeping, so that has never factored in. Kid in bed=more sleep and everyone is happier for that.