Actually, that is similar to the laws in the classroom in the state I lived in, but the regulations were different off campus. We could not leave campus with any children unless there were two staff members or a staff member and parent chaperone. My understanding on this issue was they were at a public park, which would be off campus from the daycare.

I feel ya! We aren't veg and we don't have food allergies, but we buy almost no convenience foods beyond dry pasta and tortillas. For years it was out of necessity, now we have more discretionary income so it's harder not to give in to convenience. I also work (from home) and homeschool. I've found a few things that help prevent burnout. I menu plan a week at a time. I do the bulk of my cooking for the week on Sunday. We spend about a couple of hours doing chores on Sunday morning. My husband does laundry and mucks out the duck pens, the kids clean the house, and I do the food prep. Since we are all doing weekly chores at the same time it just seems easier to stay motivated to get it done. Most weeks I make yogurt, turn leftover yogurt into ricotta cheese, make and freeze rolls or breadsticks, precook meat/veggies for quick meals during the week, and make up the weekly lunches for the freezer. Everyone is on their own for breakfast, which usually is oatmeal, eggs, toast or yogurt and fruit. Snacks are raw fruits and veggies or leftovers. Lunches are whatever I make on Sunday (usually wraps or burritos) plus raw fruit or veg. I only plan one or two intensive cooking meal each week. Other than that I stick to crockpot stuff or quick prep stuff, like quesadillas or spaghetti. My basic rule is dinner can't take more than 30 minutes, preferably less. I also double casseroles so I can freeze one for those nights when nothing in the world can induce me to cook. Even so, some days we still end up at a restaurant or scavenging around the fridge because mom just doesn't feel like cooking.

Only a few things in childhood can't be accomplished as an adult. I mean, you aren't likely to become an Olympic gymnast at the age of 35! Most things can be mastered and excelled at even if you never did it as a child. A ton of famous musician's picked up their instrument as teens or young adults and scouting has awards for adult volunteers that are just as distinguished as the Eagle award is for youth. (In fact, as a scout leader I spend most of my time drawing boundaries for the boys with their parents. Parents are not supposed to push the boys too much to earn Eagle, it is supposed to be the boy who motivates himself. Grr, I wish parents had to read the leadership material....:glare:) I guess my point is, we all end up with some regrets. My job isn't to protect my kids from regrets, but give them the tools to turn regrets into a positive. Bummed at 25 because you dropped out of youth soccer at 8? Great! Solve that regret by joining an adult league or coaching a youth team! Now, I don't let my kids quit easily. We limit the extracurriculars they belong to. If they sign up for something they have to finish at least one season or one year. I think a kid can develop regrets for the things he did do just as much as the things he didn't, especially if he was forced to do something that took time away from something he enjoyed more.

You did the right thing. I probably would have called 911 myself! A broken arm isn't likely to kill anyone, but shock can. IMHO, the daycare worker was very poorly trained. I'm sure it varies by state, but when I worked at preschool we had to call 911 first, then we reported it to the director who would contact the parents. Accidents that happened in our care were paid for by our liability insurance, so the parents wouldn't have been responsible for the bill anyway. I figure that's likely the case in most states. I'm also shocked that only one worker was in charge of that many kids for an outing/field trip!

You can make your own. I saw a similar contraption cobbled together at a copy shop, so we tried it at home and it works. Take two cheap rulers and one cheap regular stapler (from the dollar store). Make sure it is a stapler you can separate the top and bottom. Set the rulers on top of each other and tape one end together with packing tape. Tape the top part of the stapler to the top ruler and the bottom part of the stapler to the bottom ruler. The hardest part is lining up the top and bottom of the stapler correctly. This took me a couple of tries. It works well enough for stapling booklets together that I print out for lessons. Another tip I saw on a craft site: Open up a regular stapler. Place a pink eraser beneath the paper where you want the staple to go. Staple through the paper and into the eraser. Flip the paper over and pull off the eraser. Bend the staple legs down with your fingers.

I'm not so quick to call this full blown OCD or recommending medication for newly surfaced problem. If she has had other OCD issues in the past, then perhaps. I came home from girl scout camp when I was 7 with lice. I was so squeamish I started picking at the slightest bump on my head, convinced it was more lice. After a few weeks, I was doing it without realizing it because it had become habit. My head was bleeding! My mom simply had me wear a ponytail and a baseball hat for two or three weeks and the problem was solved, I never picked at my head again.

For the tomatoes, pull up the whole plant by the root and hang it upside down in a dark room. They'll ripen in a week or two and still have the vine ripened flavor. If the first freeze isn't upon you yet, pinch off any flowers and pull off the smallest tomatoes. This forces the remaining tomatoes to ripen quickly. Root pruning sometimes works, but sometimes the whole plant keels over and you end up with nothing. I'm in WA and we had a much hotter summer than usual, I don't know if that's the case where you are. Tomatoes and peppers often stop ripening on the plant when temperatures are above 85 -90 F. Once daytime temperatures drop below that, tomatoes usually start to ripen within a week or two but peppers can take a month to turn fully red.

Most ebooks, especially those on Kindle, aren't being produced by professionals. Kindle and other ebook platforms are the new vanity publishers. There are some diamonds, some diamonds in the rough and some absolute dreck. I know in the Amazon ebook circles in one of my writers' groups, those that find a modicum of success publishing usually begin hiring editors for their future books. In my experience, all my professional clients still use copy editors, or expect their writers to turn in flawless copy (and pay extra for it, too). I can't speak for print newspapers. I write content for a couple of online incarnations of print news and journals, and those have to pass before a copy editor and a fact checker before being published. I know the jobs are out there, just not how many or how well they pay. I bet there is a way to really market the service and cash in though, especially with the surge in online self publishing, if you can just reach those that need the service!

I'm a fulltime writer, and I know a few of the sites I used to break into web content writing had copy editing jobs, too. It's been a few years since I've used these sites (I have my own client base now), so you may need to check them out. They were all completely legit when I used them. textbroker.com elance.com odesk.com Another option is to offer the service to college students. I remember it was a much sought after service back in my college days! Good luck!

I just ordered the Kindle version of the Make book. Going to look through it this weekend to see if it's something he and his dad or I are up to tackling in the next week or two!

Thank you for the ideas so far! I hadn't thought about ham radio. He knows an older gentleman in his astronomy club that is a ham operator, I may approach him. I'm pretty sure he could handle a soldering iron, his fine motor skills are excellent -- much more advanced than his 12 y.o. brothers even! He's been wielding a glue gun and power tools on his own (with supervision) for at least a year now. It's my mom fear of being able to monitor for safety and aid him when necessary in something I am clueless about that makes me hesitate about advancing to that step.

My gifted 7 y.o. is obsessed with learning to wire. He loves his snap circuits, but he wants to do 'real' wiring. I bought him a small kit at the hobby store that walks him through the basics of wires. The issue he is having with these kits is they walk you through a few projects but they don't explain the science behind it, to use his words. He understands what a circuit is, but he wants details on how each piece affects the circuit. His main goal is to come up with his own project, walk into a hardware store and get the pieces, then build it himself. DH and I have no knowledge of this subject and we can't think of anyone in our social circle that does, either. He really needs a mentor, but at 7 is too young for the clubs and programs that could help him gain this knowledge in our area. So the question, finally :001_smile: Does anyone know of any affordable online or video type courses that are simple enough for a beginner to learn the basics? I honestly have no clue where to start. He absorbs this stuff like a sponge so I'm not too worried about him understanding it, but at his age I need to understand it at least a little for safety reasons! Thanks in advance!

Sounds like a scam. Personally, I refuse to deal with anyone whom isn't local. It's just not worth the risk. Plus the use of "couriers" is usually a major scam tipoff. You would likely end up with a fake check several hundred or thousand over what you are charging, then the buyer will say they made a mistake and could you wire back the extra money to them, please. Then the check would bounce within a few days.

Try sewing.org It has simple projects as well as a ton of beginner how-to stuff, most with pictures or diagrams.