I like it, but I wouldn't send it to my relatives who think there's a war on Christmas. I'd never hear the end of it. :laugh:

The gal in the first article needs some new friends. Yeesh. Someone confides about a diagnosis and the “friend†denies it and calls her lazy? There’s a saying about that.

I think it depends on the field and on your advisor. I know several people who had children while completing a Ph.D. and they were able to schedule their time to have a parent always home with the kids. Some advisors are taskmasters tho, and make their students work hours and hours on research unrelated to their dissertation. Will you have a teaching or research assistantship?

Green? Ok. Fuzzy? Not ok.

How is this helpful? It's a list of "may a, b, or c" and includes every possibility of how somebody might be? According to this, everyone is autistic. May be introverted or can be extroverted. May have dropped out of high school. Or may have an advanced degree. Maybe started and went back later. Interested in things. Collects things. And then it got to "may have psychic abilities" and I have trouble taking any of it seriously at all. lol SaveSave

We considered some of these names for our dd, and did end up naming her a lovely old lady name. Now, a few years later, we are meeting little (oldladyname)s everywhere. :D Guess we’re not as original as we thought.

I learned seven. I never considered it a particularly religious song, though--about as religious as the Amsterdam song. It uses familiar Biblical characters, but doesn't really try to teach a historical or moral lesson, or serve as a worship song.

I should keep some of these responses in a notebook, to refer to when I get that question. I usually start listing each thing we use, with a little info about it, and then realize a few minutes in that the person I’m talking with has completely zoned out. :D

Is it time to buy Old Glory Robot Insurance?

I haven't started it yet, but will be using it with my 1st grader after he has his basic +/- facts down. I kind of wonder if the AOPS authors see level 2 as a ramp-up into the challenge of 3--a bridge between whatever traditional program is used for K/1 and the more interesting work in level 3.

I like it sauteed in olive oil, with olives, peppers, garlic, and a few almonds thrown in. Maybe some cheese on top if I feel like it. It’s a perfect lunch for me.

The more I think about this, the more I like it. The cushions on our current couches are usually in the form of a cabin, a pirate ship, a spaceship, etc. Maybe I should just embrace the madness and buy a couple of these.

DH and I will be eating ice cream and watching ST tonight. :)

Oh, my kids would love it. We need to replace a couch...this might be the way to go.

Like this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GlkoQ4bUE5k :)

Not really on topic, but this thread makes me remember when one of DS's friends was over for a play date. He saw a wedding pic of DH and me and said, "Huh, P, your dad looks exactly the same, but your mom looks really different." :lol: Fortunately, DH doesn't notice as much as a random neighbor kid.

Not having to write papers for a composition class probably earns the instructor many good reviews. :lol:

I would start a music store that specialized in folk instruments, with an attached coffee shop with space for small concerts, jams, and Irish/old-time/bluegrass sessions. There would also be space for lessons.

Huh. I don't wonder about looks or sound. I just startled myself by imagining Sadie with an Australian accent. :lol: I look like a female version of Karl Rove. Now you know why my avatar is a local landmark. :laugh:

It's hard to say. Is the minimum standard based on work put in, or on results? My family, and most of the homeschoolers in our chosen hs community, are dealing with multiple diagnoses and LDs, and the results don't necessarily reflect the amount of educating that is happening. OTOH, there are local hs'sers who follow a particular philosophy of not forcing a kids to do anything they don't want to do. If they don't want to read, they don't have to learn--they'll pick it up eventually, and it will magically click. In their eyes, I'm some sort of obnoxious tiger mother for making my dyslexic kiddo decode lists of words if he doesn't feel like it. Overall, though, I think that most local hs'ers are doing a great job. The main hs group in our county is full of rigorous hs families who educate their kids broadly while following their interests. I think I'm in the same state as the OP. :)

Yes, we always use the front door. Some day I will get off my butt and clean out the garage, then I will park there and use the garage door. Until then...

Are the haunted houses actually scary, or do they seek to startle the participants? I think it would have to be startling, rather than scary, since everything is manufactured. I like being scared, but dislike being startled. Maybe I need to tour a real haunted house. :)

My dh and I talked about this recently. I expect that I would be the one to care for elderly relatives. My parents are set to age in place and would probably only need care if they were very ill. My fil might need care eventually. The family member I am most concerned about is my aunt who has no children and little savings. I haven't talked with her about it, but in the back of my mind I expect that she might live with us some day.

In the process of reading the affixes and phonograms he reads the word. It’s still a very quick movement of the cursor. If he has trouble he says the pieces slowly, then puts the word together. We have used several different readers, including Bob books, some Scholastic sets, High Noon decodable readers, etc. At this point he choses his free-reading books. Sometimes we buddy read, or I read a page then he reads it to work on fluency.

I use the cursor for every word. The only time I don’t use it is when ds is reading the Mark stories, because those are supposed to be a reward for all of the drilling. For everything else I just take a quick look at the line so I know what the words are and can uncover one phonogram (or affix) at a time. It still goes quickly. I don’t know that an onlooker would even notice that the cursor is not revealing one letter at a time but jumping a bit to uncover phonograms and affixes, but it does help ds a lot.