:iagree: :iagree: A few years ago, my MIL paid me $5 per pair to hem several pairs of pants for her, some lined and some unlined. I was going to do it for free, but she insisted on paying me. I think I did 11 pairs!

:iagree: There's a locally owned shop here in my small town where the guy works on vacuums and sewing machines. He's been in business for many years, and does great work. He does sell used machines and a few new models that he recommends. I bought a new Singer free arm portable sewing machine there for about $200 about 15-20 years ago, and it's been great. I've only had it in the shop once (cost about $70 to have it cleaned and oiled and to fix whatever minor thing was wrong with it--can't even remember now what that was).

This is what I was going to suggest too.

I understand that Roku is a device that enables streaming to your television. I think I understand that certain channels are available, including Netflix, Hulu, and others. First question: Does this include network programming (CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, CNN, etc.) and/or premium programming (HBO, Starz, etc.) or only certain programs from those networks/premium channels? I know you have to subscribe to Netflix in order to stream movies and other programs from them. Second question: Assuming that you have to pay for a subscription to each channel, how much would I be paying for each of them? Are any channels available for free? Third question: Are there package deals available, such as the bundles that DirecTV offers its customers (Family Pack, Starz Package, etc.)? I think I (vaguely) remember hearing something about saving programs in a playlist on the Roku. Fourth question: Does that mean that the Roku acts like a DVR so that you can download movies or programs and save them to watch later? If so, how many hours of programming can the Roku save? Final question: What other features are there that I don't know enough to ask about?

I haven't read the other replies, but dh said he saw on the news a few months back that with the rate increases, Netflix is actually trying to discourage people from using the DVD option, and would prefer that people use the streaming option only. Word was (and apparently it's true) that Netflix will be phasing out the DVD's in favor of offering streaming only--meaning that evenutally, you will only be able to get streaming, and DVD's won't be available at all.

Anyone else care to chime in?

My first reaction was that the boy should be brought home immediately. However, I think OLG is spot on with her recommendation to let it play out. The OP has said in another post that her friends are willing to keep the boy with them, and I think that is probably a good idea. I agree with Joanne that the OP's friends may be able to get the boy's attention although the parents have been unable to do so. The OP has acknowledged that her dc respond well to the parents in the other family: The problems within the OP's home run much deeper than a rebellious teenager: I believe that like the OP herself, her son is crying out for help. He's just doing it an a different way. :iagree: What the parents have been doing--taking away privileges, etc--is NOT working. :iagree: Counseling is in order for the entire family.

bump

:iagree: There was a scandal in my county (in central GA) a few years ago, and I know teachers who lost their jobs as a result.

:lol: I'm definitely a child of the 60s!

Dh used to work from home, but we have found that all of us are more productive if he goes to the office instead. If he's home, since he's doing something different from what we're doing, we distract each other.

This sounds EXACTLY like my brother (who is in his late twenties, but is much, much better than he was a few years ago). He handles it very well most of the time, but he does tend to have a lot of difficulty when he is under stress. His doctor prescribed medication, but my brother didn't like the side effects, so he stopped taking it. He also has Crohn's Disease, and refuses to take medication for that either, other than an acid controller/reducer that he says helps.

I'm wondering if the DVD is really necessary. I'll be using the program with a 7th grader who is working 1-2 years below grade level.

This sounds a bit similar to where my student is right now. For 4th & 5th grades, she attended a Christian school that uses ABeka exclusively. She came to me for 6th grade, but I didn't think she was ready for R&S 6, so we did R&S 5. She did fine with it, but it's just overwhelming for both of us--time consuming and intensive. I've actually been considering doing R&S and EG in alternating years: last year was R&S, next year would be EG, then the next year R&S, and so on. She did learn to diagram, and is actually pretty good at it. I don't think it was the key to grammar like I hoped it would be.

Yes, I've already bought Writing Strands Level 3. :)

Dh needs a website for his ministry, and he has offered EK (rising 11th grader) the opportunity to build and maintain one for him. I would like to make this part of her educational program so that she can receive academic credit for it. What books, software, or other resources would you recommend for something like this? She already uses Photoshop Elements 9 for picture editing, which she has done extensively.

I've looked into AG, and although I liked it fairly well, it is way, way out of my price range. The mom is expecting to pay $150-$200 total for all books for ALL subjects.

Specifically, the student I have in mind is my rising 7th grader family friend, and she is working behind grade level in all language arts areas. We used R&S 5 this past school year, and she absolutely HATED it. I've already bought Easy Grammar, but I have to wonder whether it will work for her. I've read several posts here on the WTM boards where people say it just didn't work for them because their dc simply did not retain the information: they still have difficulty identifying parts of speech and how the sentence parts work together in sentences. Yes, writing and speech should be grammatically correct, and that is important, but my student doesn't have a good grasp of either parts of speech or sentence parts, and her writing is terrible, so I have to cover BOTH of those areas with her.

We've used R&S, and I love that it is so thorough! But my kids hate it for that very reason. We've used EG also, and while I love that it's easy to implement and is not nearly as time-consuming as R&S (even when we do much of it orally and only do evens/odds, etc.), I fear that retention may suffer. So, what is there for grammar (for grades 5-8) that is somewhere between R&S and EG?

The home remedy that we use around here is to make a paste of meat tenderizer and water--only a tablespoon or so of meat tenderizer (the plain kind), mixed with just enough water to make a paste. (Some people use vinegar instead of water, but I haven't tried that.) Apply the paste to the sting(s) and let it dry. Reapply as needed.

If you were from the Deep South, you would have no trouble pronouncing all of the above names differently. :lol:

I have a similar situation. I offered Algebra 1 as a co-op class this past school year, and once we got going, I realized that NONE of my students had any idea about how to manipulate fractions or decimals. I had to put Algebra on hold in order to teach them fractions and decimals. I used BJU Math 5 and Math 6 workbook pages (Spread Your Wings and Spring Into Action) and it really helped.

:iagree: I've thought exactly the same thing.

:iagree: I've done the same thing! :tongue_smilie:

We know people, including family, who think that a yearly vacation is just how things are done. They go to the beach or to the mountains for at least a week every summer. My family, on the other hand, very, very rarely takes a vacation. Even when we have taken a real vacation, it's never been more than 2 or 3 days/nights away, and we have to watch every penny. We can't afford to eat out more than a couple of times, so we try to get accomodations that include a kitchenette--which means that we have to cook and clean up, just like we do at home. :-/ I wanted to take the kids to Disney when they were little, but that trip has never materialized. I still dream of going, though, and maybe someday we will. :001_smile: We've traveled a pretty good bit because of dh's vocation (he's a minister/writer and has often been invited to travel to speak at churches a few hours' drive from home). We would sometimes be guests in the home of one of the church members, which was awkward at times because for up a week, we would be living with a family we didn't know. Sometimes, the church we were visiting would book a hotel for us, but usually only one room for our whole family. The kids thought that anytime we went somewhere that required a hotel stay it was a vacation--especially if the hotel had a pool! But to dh & me, it was not a vacation at all; there were expectations of our family, including visiting in the homes of people in the church community and then getting dressed up for church services every evening for up to a week. We've also been on mission trips with church groups, but those don't count as vacations either because the purpose is to do a lot of hard work, and there's little to no time to relax. We enjoyed going anyway, and at least we did get to go places that we wouldn't have gotten to visit otherwise.