SW in IL
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Posts posted by SW in IL
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I'm getting married next summer. It'll be marriage #3 for me (#1 for my fiance). My future MIL is talking about throwing me a bridal shower. My future SILs say no way... I had my chance the first time I was married.
What is proper?
If it matters, my "bridal shower" consisted of my first huband's sisters and their mom - that's it... 3 people. They refused to invite any of my friends or any of my family. My friends and my family didn't throw me one because they assumed that they just weren't invited to the shower.
Thanks,
Sue
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I didn't have a baby shower for any of my kids. My relatives attitude was that a friend should throw me one. My friends felt it was up to relatives. I even begged a couple of people (friends and relatives) to throw one for my baby.
Maybe it's a similar situation for her?
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My ex-husband's niece is just finishing up the classes she needs to get her RN. She went to school part time at their local community college and took a few classes she needed at another state school.
I looked into it here (for her) - same state but I'm near Chicago and she's in the middle of no where a few hundred miles away - and the community college here offers a full program for nursing... Both LPN and RN (along with RN specialties). She got full financial aid for either school but chose that one since it's near where her family lives.
HTH,
Sue
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My son and a friend's granddaughter are definitely a few grade levels behind. Not for a lack of trying on my or my friend's part. I've realized lately that my son is following his own path despite (or maybe because of) my attempts to homeschool him. My friend's granddaughter has learning disabilities and was picked on so badly in PS that her mom took her out and expected her (at age 7 or 8) to homeschool herself. Luckily for her, Grandma stepped in but she's behind due to her disabilities.
On the other side of the equation is another friend who was homeschooled and is now pleasantly surprising his college professors. He got a scholarship that covered his tuition and fees based on his ACT score. And my friend's other granddaughter who homeschooled for a few years before asking to back to PS and is now a straight-A student (she entered as a freshman in high school ahead of her peers).
So, 2 good examples of homeschooling and 2 not so good. It depends on the family, the child, and the resources. Same as success in pretty much anything.
Sue
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Laptop, hands down.
We bought a netbook thinking it would work for occasional web surfing and word processing. It was a waste of a couple of hundred dollars. Most of the time it doesn't pick up the wifi signals (at places like the library) and when it does, it tends to lose the connection. The word processing program that came with it (a version made for netbooks) runs out of memory after you type a couple of pages. And the battery lasts maybe half an hour.
We then forked out about $400 for a laptop (plus another $200 for the extended warranty). It was the best money we could have spent. DS uses it for everything from playing games to Internet research. Currently a friend is using it for college - great for lugging around to class and doing his homework when everyone else wants on the main computer. I watched a few movies on it last week. We get at least 2-3 hours of use between charges, depending on what we're doing (4 hours if surfing the net; 2-3 if using it to watch a movie).
You never know how your computing needs will change but a good (even if inexpensive) laptop will adapt to your needs in ways that a netbook cannot.
Sue
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Never. A podiatrist my mom was seeing once told me that buying 2nd hand shoes is really bad for your feet, and especially for children's feet. When you wear shoes, they sort of "mold" to your feet and it can cause problems wearing shoes that have high/low spots that don't match up to yours.
:iagree:
I was told the same thing when my oldest was an infant and again when my son was diagnosed was about 5. Our peditrician said that many things like Athletes Foot and toenail fungus are easily transmitted by wearing other people's socks and shoes. I also won't buy used underwear or socks.
Sue
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DS has been homeschooled since Kindergarten except for 3 months when he went to public school for 8th grade. At first, he was one of those kids you brag about. He would pull out the books and beg me to read more history or literature. He'd pull out the math books and manipulatives and ask to do extra lessons. I actually thought that not only could I do this, but that it would be fun and easy.
Due to life circumstances (separation/divorce, unemployment, several moves, disability/illness/death), he began to refuse to do school work when he was about 10. I pushed, I promised, I prodded. Nothing worked. So, we put DS in public school (age 14, 8th grade) where he learned that he didn't have to do anything. Seriously. Literally. He missed (or was sent home) close to 1/3 of the school days. He was never tested. He was put in remedial reading (when he was already reading/comprehending on a high school/college level) but regular math (when he was several grade levels behind). He learned that if he said he didn't understand something, the teachers wouldn't make him do it. And then they graduated him (figuring he'd be the high school's problem).
DS is now 16 (17 in less than a month) and several years behind in school. He has no motivation to do anything and my mom (with whom we live) lets him get away with sitting around the house all day -- playing on the computer and watching tv.
BUT... DS has decided that he wants to go for his GED. He's working through a Pre-GED book that I bought him and will start GED classes next month. I've talked to the high school/college that offers the classes and found out that they have several students like DS in their classes.... those who are smart but unmotivated. Some, like DS, were homeschooled; others dropped out of public or private schools. And about half of the people taking the GED classes are young (under 20).
I still feel like a failure as far as homeschooling goes but I'm also beginning to accept DS for who he is. His path is not the one I envisioned for him, nor is it the one I would have chosen for him (or pushed him down). But maybe, just maybe, it's the right one for him.
Right now, we're both coming up upon junctions in our lives. I have to trust in God to lead us down the paths he has laid out for us.
Sue
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My son (age 16) and I are visiting friends and relatives and we're both miserable. I'm allergic to animal dander and pollen. DS is probably allergic to the same. The relatives we're staying with have an indoor dog (border collie) and several outdoor cats. The friends we visit with often have 2 indoor dogs and also several outdoor cats. And the other relative has 4 cats. We also spend a good part of each day out doing stuff -- in and around cows, horses and various other animals. Add to that the pollen and life is fun but very uncomfortable.
Both my doctor and DS's doctor suggested that the best thing we can do is to try to sleep away from the animals and use OTC allergy meds. So, we're living on Benadryl but it leaves us both sleepy and out of it. We had tried another OTC product some years ago, one that claimed it didn't make you drowsy, but it didn't help as much as the Benadryl does (I think it was Claratin but it might have been something else). Avoiding the "offenders" isn't really an option. We'll be here for another week (have already been here for a few weeks) and then we'll be back in October for a few weeks.
Anyone have any suggestions? Is there an OTC med that works well but doesn't leave you drowsy? Any herbal/alternative ideas?
Thanks,
Sue
p.s. While I'm here I don't have access to email so please either respond to this thread or PM me. Thank you.
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There's no husband in the picture (he walked out on us years ago), just me, my mom and my son.
We eat dinner together every night. 6 nights/week, I cook dinner; one night a week we eat out. We take turns picking the restaurant.
Unfortunately, all too often the TV is blaring or DS is texting or listening to his iPod. Not the nice, tranquil family sitting around the table that I had envisioned. But, at least we are all there together.
Sue
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Tornadoes are common further out from the city, but nothing much here where we are (about 20 miles north/northwest of downtown Chicago). But, we do have the occasional blizzard.
I spend a lot of time with friends in Arkansas, but I try not to go during tornado series. They got hit a couple of years ago... Took the steeple off of a church less than half a mile from their house. I think I was more scared than they were and I was in Illinois at the time! And now they're getting earthquakes due to drilling for natural gas in the area.
But yeah, pretty much everywhere has some risk of weather-related problems/natural disasters (or sometimes man-made as in the case of the earthquakes). As someone said, it's a matter of what bothers you the least and then taking whatever steps/precautions you can and being prepared in case it does happen.
Sue
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He had to get down on one knee... Romantic, old-fashioned. And, since he couldn't afford an engagement ring, he instead gave me an old ring (it's the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings) that had special meaning for him. I knew the history of the ring and it thrilled me that he was trusting me with his ring and his heart. It was just the two of us, enjoying watching The Lord of the Rings on DVD (I think Return of the King), when he went into the kitchen to get a snack and instead came out with the ring hidden behind his back.
It's all in the meaning.
Sue
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It's financially not an option for us. We're lucky if we manage to buy 2-3 organic items (read snacks) per month. But just the other day we bought a package of Oscar Mayer brand Angus hot dogs with No Nitrates or Nitrites Added. That's our dinner tonight (along with prepackaged salad which I'm sure isn't very healthy but it was on sale for 49 cents).
And now to read this thread... Sigh. I wish I heard about this a week earlier because I would have gone with our beloved brand of hot dogs (Vienna Pure Beef) which actually costs a bit less than these Oscar Mayer ones.
Even when we try to do what's right/healthy for ourselves and our families the FDA and the food manufacturers undermine our efforts (not to mention overpricing everything they can label organic).
Sue
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Last week my mom bought a canister of store brand "Dried Plums" "Pitted Prunes." Every night she's sat watching the late show on tv and ate exactly 5 prunes. Last night, however, she bit into the prune only to bite into a pit. It tore up her gum and today we took her to the dentist to make sure there was no damage to the dental work she's undergoing (luckily, there was no damage and her gum is pretty much healed up). The dentist was kind enough not to charge for an office visit.
Would you do anything from this point on? And, if so, what?
Sue
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I'm helping a friend's son with the whole college process. He graduated (homeschool) in 2009 but was unable to to attend college (due to family issues) until now. He's been accepted to 2 colleges... The local community college where he's already been given an "award" that covers tuition and fees based on his ACT score (27 composite). In order to attend, he still needs financial help with books and expenses (such as getting his car running and then gas and insurance since the CC is 45 miles from home). The other college is a culinary school that costs upwards of $7k per semester for tuition alone. He was awarded a Merit Scholarship of $5k/year split evenly between 3 semesters. The EFC on the FAFSA is undoable (is that a word?) for them - dad's hours were cut in half in an effort to keep the plant open and mom got laid off is is now working 10 hours/week for less pay. The CC is pushing him to accept and has given him an April 15th deadline, but the culinary school doesn't even start the financial aid process for the fall semester (which, btw, starts in October) until at least April.
His goal is to get a Bachelor's in Culinary Arts so he'd much prefer to go to the culinary school for all four years, but due to their financial situation, he may have to attend the CC for the first 2 years and then (hopefully) transfer to the culinary school.
We're researching scholarships but since we started so late he's not sure if he'll be awarded anything. He's eligible for a Pell Grant and has applied for his state's "Academic Challenge" scholarship. He's not willing to take out a student loan (his sister took one out and has been in default for years because she can't find a job that pays enough to cover even her basic espenses) and his parents are unwilling to get one of those PLUS loans. It's going to have to be scholarships/grants/work-study for him.
Are we going about the process all wrong? Does he need to decide where he's going before he applies for aid? But what if he doesn't get enough aid to go where he wants to go? Then what? What are we missing here?
Thanks so much,
Sue
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I've been divorced from "J" for 14 years. As part of the divorce agreement, he was supposed to pay off certain credit cards. For the past several years, I've been getting phone calls from a debt collection agency. I've spoken to them and explained that "J" was supposed to pay that debt. Apparently "J" filed for bankruptcy so now they're going after me for the debt (according to them it doesn't matter who is ordered to pay off a debt in the event that the parties divorce - they are allowed to collect on the debt from either/both parties).
This collection agency is calling me, on my cell phone, 6 to 8 times per day... Mornings as early as 7 or 8 am and weekends included. Speaking to them only seems to encourage them to call more often. I can't afford to be paying for minutes on my cell phone only to have them harass me (when I told them that, they told me they'll stop calling when I satisfy my obligation to them). And I don't feel as though I should have to pay a debt that "J" agreed to and had been ordered to pay.
What can I do?
Thanks,
Sue
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And my other question for the night...
I bought a great Economics book (actually 2 books... the student text and the TM) from another homeschooler that's a high school level text. But, when I was researching subjects for DS, I found a good Consumer Ed book (haven't bought it but have it in my amazon cart). Do people do both Consumer Ed and Economics? What are the differences between the two? Is it worthwhile to do both or is there a lot of overlap between the subjects?
And, finally, if I remember right, Consumer Ed is considered to be social studies... What about Economics?
Thanks,
Sue
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DS is actually using a junior high level course/program for this... At least I think it's more of junior high course. We're using American Government: A Complete Coursebook from Great Source.
Is there a course from The Teaching Company that would go well with a high school level U.S. Government course? I'd like to add in something to make it more of a high school level course, but since he's really liking the American Government book, I don't want to switch to a high school U.S. Government text.
Thanks,
Sue
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He does kind of type (or is it keyboard now a days?) but his grammar and spelling even make that hard to decipher. And it's not that he doesn't know how to spell the words... he just rushes to get it out. So maybe it's not spelling as much as typographical errors. Same with the grammar. But you'd think that when I ask him to at least read something before he shows it to me (so as to correct the most glaring errors) you'd think I was asking him to eat frog spawn! Writing is one thing we're going to be working on this year (IEW). I try to keep the writing assignments to the bare minimum for now... In his American Government course, there's at least one writing assignment per chapter... I figure that I'll have him complete maybe one assignment per month.
I like your idea about the lesson planning and I'm going to switch to doing it that way. I'll use one sheet (or whatever we need) per subject and just write out the assignments there. When he completes the (undated) assignment, we'll just check it off and go to the next one. I'm still going to set weekly goals (usually one chapter per week since he's using textbooks for most subjects) and see how it goes that way.
Right now, he doesn't really have a male figure in his life. Sigh. Anything else I try saying just comes out as a pity party so I'll just leave it at that. He does have one person ("D" - friend of the family) who will work with him on school work and who does push him to get his work done and all that, but he lives too far away to be a regular influence. I'm always amazed at how much more DS gets done when we visit them for a few weeks.
Thanks for the ideas... I'm off to organize some lesson plans!
Sue
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DS is 15 and just starting to do high school level work. We're ramping up to start our school year and I'm already kind of stuck.
I would love to give my son his American Government textbook, and just tell him to read the chapter, answer the questions at the end of the chapter... Maybe have him write a short paper or two... Give him a test (like a midterm and then final exam) and be done with it. DS just looks at me like I'm crazy when I mention that plan.
DS wants me to print out/write out the questions for him (his penmanship is horrid) and then just have him fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, I did this for a while with several things as we were borrowing books and thus he couldn't write in them... And since his penmanship is so bad, anything he writes is illegible (to him and to me). I tried making him redo assignments but all that happened was that he flat out refused to do the work. Nothing could get him to redo it. I threatened to fail him... He didn't care. I grounded him... He didn't care. That's a big part of why he's so far behind now (he'll be 16 in a few short weeks).
DS also wants assignments written out for him with daily instructions... For example: Monday: Read chapter 1 in such and such and complete questions 1-10 on the worksheet. Tuesday: Review chapter 1.... Friday: Quiz on Chapters 1 and 2. The problem we ran into last year when I did that was that if he didn't manage to finish the work for one day, it would never get done. He took "Monday September 7th" to mean that if the work wasn't done on Monday, it needn't be done at all. But then, of course, he couldn't do Tuesday's work since it built off Monday's missed assignments.
We got him a planner (billed as being for middle school) that has the blank areas for assignments broken down by day and subject. I thought about sitting down with him every day and writing down (or having him write) the days assignments, but he says he wants at least a few weeks at a time so he can see what he has to have done. He likes the idea of the planner, but I hate the thought of having to write out every little bit of school I want him to do (and then not having him actually do it).
How can I get him to be more independent? Any ideas for lesson plans/planning/planners? Anything that will help me not pull out my hair every time I hear the word school?
Thanks,
Sue
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I am setting up a new eBay account to be used primarily for selling my father's books (he was a book collector). I'm an experienced eBay seller but it's been over 3 years since I was actively selling anything on eBay. Seeing as I'm feeling a bit out of touch, maybe those of you who have more recent experience can help me get up and running.
Should I state anything anywhere about being an experienced eBay seller? I have almost 1000 feedback on my old eBay account but my ex claimed the account when we got divorced. I'm not sure if I should say anything about that account (which is still in good standing). My latest feedback as a seller was in 2007 (though apparently my ex used the account to buy a couple of things in 2009). How would I go about saying that, if you think I should?
Return policies... I never had to have one before but now eBay makes you state what your return policy is. And a couple of friends who sell on eBay say that they state they take returns but have never actually been asked to have an item returned to them. I mail pretty much everything with Delivery Confirmation but I have 2 negative feedbacks from people who claimed their items were lost in the mail (1 showed that the item was delivered, the other didn't). I'm kind of scared that if I state I take returns, people will claim they never received their items just to get their money back (has happened to me several times on Amazon). Plus I don't want to refund money just because the buyer changed his/her mind (again, I've had this happen on Amazon... buyer watches the dvd then claims the disc was bad). I'm not sure about items lost or damaged during shipping (again, experience here though that was on eBay - Can 2 boxes (box within a box) have no damage to them but the inside item get broken when it's a virtually unbreakable (flexible plastic) toy?
Any thoughts? Any advice?
Thanks,
Sue
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More as a buyer than as a seller. Like the book that was stated to be in "Like New" condition and was colored on almost every page (seller refused to refund; negative feedback left). Or like the DVD I never received nor did I receive a refund (negative feedback left). Or the guy who bought a DVD from me, said it was defective, I refunded his $ plus extra to have it shipped back to me (It was new so I planned to return it), he never returned it and I saw him post it on Amazon saying it was new and unwatched - I emailed amazon, he told them he mailed it back to me and that he bought and was reselling a different dvd of the same movie. Possible, but I doubt it. He went to way too much trouble trying to convince me that it was defective.
And I think I'm going to scream the next time someone tells me that something "sells" on amazon for $50+. I keep hearing that comment from people I talk to. For the most part, they mean that a copy of the book (DVD, whatever) is listed for that much. Heck, I can list my old tattered copy of TWTM, complete with writing, highlighting, etc. (not that I would, that's still one of my main resources) for $500 but no one is going to buy it.
I do try to leave feedback for the people I buy from. I may skip it as far as the mega-sellers go unless there's a problem. But even if there is a problem, if it's solved to my satisfaction, I'll leave glowing feedback.
I feel your pain,
Sue
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We’re pretty fed up with Comcast, at least for cable TV. Their most recent series of “upgrades†went contrary to what they told us a couple of months ago… You see, my mom does not want a digital box hooked to her TV. My mom has had a TV with a remote control for at least 25 years and has yet to figure out how to do basic things with it. She still turns the TV on and off at the TV, most of the times she changes the channel using the buttons on the TV. Every time she goes to use my TV (with the cable box attached), I get told that there’s something wrong with the TV… because she changed channels on the TV instead of the cable box. Anyway, Comcast said that they weren’t going to require cable boxes for their basic cable service but that they were encouraging everyone to upgrade to their new Xfinity service. When it went into practice, everyone was automatically switched to Xfinity and now my mom only gets a handful of channels on her non-boxed TV... And now Comcast is talking about downgrading their basic services to "provide more options" for HDTVs.
My mom is talking about buying a new TV, thinking that will make her TV magically get the channels she wants (she only watches a handful of channels – the local networks, PBS, The Weather Channel, CLTV and sometimes one of the news channels – DS will occasionally watch Discovery, A&E, Animal Planet, The History Channel, etc. on her TV).
So, now I’m turning to y’all… Is there a cable/satellite/dish TV provider that does not require a cable box to be attached to the TV in order to get the “basic†level channels? Am I right in that if you buy a digital TV, you still have to hook up the cable box to it? What about a HDTV?
Any advice?
Thanks,
Sue
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I just borrowed the Life of Fred: Fractions from the library and I read through it in 2 nights. I'm wondering if it might give my son the boost he needs to get back into working on math...
DS is 15 but is behind in math and English (writing not reading). We were supposed to use this summer to get him caught up and working on high school level material but instead he ended up spending quite a bit of time at his dad's and now we have out-of-state guests... and between that and everything else that went on this summer, very little work got done.
We left off at fractions back in June. My son watched The Teaching Company Basic Math lesson on fractions (the first one that introduces fractions) and was supposed to do Key To Fractions, Book 1 but lost the book (he claims to have completed the book but can't produce it). When we were working on fractions, he seemed to grasp the concepts but we only really went as far as things like what fractions are, how to turn them into mixed numbers, reducing fractions, etc. We touched briefly on adding and subtracting fractions but that was more to satisfy his curiosity (he was trying to figure out how to add something like 1/5 and 3/8).
The plan had been to restart our fractions unit and then go on to Decimals, Percents, etc., using both The Teaching Company Basic Math and the Key To... series books. I'm wondering if using LOF might ease him back into fractions.
But how to use it? One lesson per day? I really don't think he needs roughtly 1-1/2 months to go through the LOF book and then still do Key To Fractions. On the other hand, I don't want to rush him just to finish the book. Really, though, we need to get the basics done before he can go on to Pre-Algebra, Algebra and Geometry.
Any ideas? And are the other LOF books similar?
Thanks,
Sue
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I have to help my mom pick out and buy a brand new car. She is a firm believer in Consumers Reports magazine and made a list of 10 possible cars. From there, we narrowed it down to 6 and now down to 3. It's probably going to be a 2010 Nissan Sentra.
Once you figure out what car you want, how do you figure out pricing for negotiation and/or what dealer to pick? She'll be paying cash with 2 trade-ins.
We've visited 2 Nissan dealers and definitely prefer one over the other, but there are several nearby Nissan dealers we haven't visited yet (one just a few blocks from our house). Our county has high sales tax, so we were visiting dealers in the next county over where the sales tax is a bit lower.
What else is there to take into consideration when buying a new car? I've always ended up buying used clunkers for myself so this is a totally unfamiliar area.
Thanks,
Sue
Green Lantern watch? Nintendo DS game for a 6yo?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I'm trying to help my future MIL with her Christmas shopping but we're both stumped on 2 items...
5 year old (boy) wants a Green Lantern watch (like a friend of his has). The friend's watch is obviously one made for kids. Green plastic band, clasp closure (very important to the 5yo), digital display. The friend's mom picked it up at a garage sale and so we have no idea where to buy one. I've looked on eBay and on Amazon. MIL has looked at K-Mart, Wal-Mart and a few other stores. Any ideas where we/she can find any Green Lantern watch suitable for a 5yo.
6 year old boy wants a "new game" for his Nintendo DS (not the new 3D one). MIL wants something educational but fun... Emphasis both on educational and fun. So far, we can only find games that are too basic (learning letters, numbers, colors, shapes) or that are too hard for him. He reads on about a 2nd grade level and likes most typical boy stuff.
Thanks for any help/ideas you can give us.
Sue