Ooohhhh, I like that -" what do you think will happen next "

Where do you guys get discussion questions for books your kids read? We just finished Harriet the Spy and evidently I am not good at promoting a good discussion Help!!

Not sure if I am "allowed" to post this here, but we finished Harriet the Spy last week. Oh boy did that bring a lot of conversations about people and feelings and "white" lies. And I am 99% sure that I am the only one - but I really REALLY didn't like Harriet. Like if I had a daughter, I would NOT want my daughter to be friends with her....

oh, that's embarrassing. why did I think they were by the same author???

Oh my goodness, I started this book a month ago and still on chapter 4. I also have his The lost city of monkey God - will you be reading that one?

Since I know it will take me awhile to finish the other two books I am reading, I needed a quick read so Run Away by Harlan Coben was just right. I will say, after spending decades reading mysteries, I pretty much can figure things out half way through, so that's a bit un-fun

One word - responsibility. the more I interact with people in all kinds of scenarios and situations, the more I see it completely missing. It seems that blaming others and trying to "fix everyone else" and coming up with excuses has become the motto of today. Whether it's jobs or parenting or simple interactions in a grocery store - people don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. Don't try to fix the world, take responsibility for yourself

So I just wanted to comment on that statement alone.... I think it's a mistake to think that borrowing in itself is not a good financial idea. I know some people who borrow for EVERYTHING, invest their own cash and are doing remarkably well. Yes, "you" have to have the risk tolerance to be able to do it, but even with the basic mutual funds historically it has been show to have a profit. Using other's people money is how many wealthy people get even wealthier.

I've long believed that if my kids were going to our town public school, there would not be enough money in our budget for my bail! Sooooo many things irritate me about what happens in our elementary school. And I know about most of it bc it's all posted on our town's FB page

So, in defense to the original poster (not that you needed it, but...) Before I had kids, i knew NOTHING about "kids activities" costs, I mean NO KNOWLEDGE at all. Also, I do our budget on an annual basis and I always look at all our spending that way. So if I know that for the year, for three kids we can afford X amount and I know average price for X activity, I could decide if they are doing it or not. Since none of my kids are future Baryshnikovs or Ya-Ya Ma or Cal Ripkens, knowing the average pre/kid activities would have been super helpful to me at the beginning bc decision for allowing them to do it would be at least 50% financial.

OK, so I posted this question bc a lot of times I find that my way of thinking and my logic are quite different than most and there have been times when I simply didn't consider various alternatives. And I do like to hear other views. I tried to think of this in terms of "schools do it" and "scouts do it" but it just seems / feels very differently to me. I view ability to homeschool as a privilege not a right and I think the ability to finance it should be on the parents or caregivers, so I find this very tacky. But I started second guessing myself when I was seeing that it was equated to fundraising for schools, etc

I don't know.....to me selling is different than fundraising. Like if her DD made some kiddy jewelry and sold it, that would be different.

Yep, just asking for money, saying "schools do it, why can't homeschoolers do it". I think her DD was going to do a readthon and you basically were paying for her to read.....

I saw a "fundraising" on FB a few days ago from a homeschooling mom who was raising money for her kids' activities - co-op, curriculum, etc. This is not the first time I am seeing such fundraisers. Have you seen something like this and what are your opinions?

So....bc budget things are my bread and butter and bc I track every penny we spend by 100000s of categories so I can tell you the exact numbers: Our lowest year was $606 for all three kids (well, 2 bc youngest was an infant) and our highest was $4081 for all three kids. My rules have always been: 1. We can afford it - meaning, I don't have to cut out anything else (including my Panera habit) 2. I never offer or suggest any activities to them - they have to want to and they have to ask.