I am an infrequent visitor to the boards these days. My youngest is finishing high school this spring and he attended a brick and mortal school-not my choice, but in fact it was a great fit for him and has worked out well. FYI he attended a Bard High School Early College and if you have any interest in learning about the Bard schools, please PM me. I am a huge fan! My purpose in writing this post is to find out how you all have handled the books, papers, and ephemera you have left, when you are finished home schooling. I freely admit to being, not a packrat exactly, but too sentimental for my own good about the books we read together, the papers with scrawled first sentences, etc. I have a vague idea of culling a few representative pages from each stage, with each kid, and parting with the rest, which honestly is mostly trash at this point. Please tell me how you've handled this stage.

Hi everyone-flash from the past here. I have not been around much this year; my youngest finished homeschooling when he went to high school almost 4 years ago. He attended a Bard Early College high school that was just opening in my city, and it has been a great fit for him. Anyway, just popping in to say he was accepted ED to Williams in December. Yay for early decision!!! It made our Christmas and New Year's holidays much nicer and I strongly recommend it! I see that someone else on the boards, Alewife, has a child accepted at Williams and I'm wondering if your child is actually going to attend. Get in touch Alewife and let me know. Many congratulations to all who've gotten acceptances and huge scholarships!! I see also that there are acceptances at both University of Rochester and UMBC, where my other kids attended. PLEASE feel free to get in touch if you want info about either of these schools.

Hi everyone, I used to be more of a regular on the boards when I was still home schooling, but my youngest went to high school, older kids in college or graduated. So I am DONE home schooling. I'm posting (also posting on the HS writing board) for a friend who helped start an online writing tutoring and grading service. It's something I wish had been available to me when I was teaching older kids to write, because it's not one of my own strong areas. Here is a summary with a link: If your child (or YOU!) needs help with writing, please have a look at my new website, www.WriteOnWithDave.com . I have become partners with an English teacher at a community college, and we can help with any writing needs – for children or adults! We specialize in: college application essays writing assignments for kids from 5th to 12th grade essay-writing for college students cover letters grievance letters toasts or other public speeches any occasion where words need to go on paper! Essays and other submissions will be returned (within 24-48 hours) with extensive notes about strengths and trouble-spots. If desired, we can provide an estimated letter grade that the student would receive in a conventional classroom. Package deals are available for families, or students who write a lot of papers. Our services can be accessed via email, and 1:1 Skype lessons are also available. Www.WriteOnWithDave.com

I got a large, deep stainless steel sink when we redid our kitchen and I LOVE it so much. Turkey roasting pan can be easily washed, washing large bags of greens is easy, I fill it with soapy water to mop the floor. Sprayer also, which I did not have before, is wonderful. I don't know how I lived without my big big sink.

Thank you for including me in this invite! I am literally waiting in an airport, about to fly to Dublin for our 25th anniversary trip. I will look at the dates and respond when I am back in the USA!

One example that comes to mind regarding this topic: acquaintance takes to FB to brag endlessly about her son's admission to a top college. As in, it's the main subject of, or mentioned in, more than 10 postings over the course of a few months. When said kid flunks out after one year, and drops out of college altogether, there is no mention of it at all on FB. Or in RL for that matter. That's the kind of selective news sharing that I often see on FB, and take with a grain of salt.

Update: there is a Librivox app! It allows both listening over the internet and downloading (which I would need in order to listen during a long flight, right?). I am experimenting with it right now.

I had forgotten Librivox. I find the disclaimers at the beginning of each section annoying...but that is minor. Thank you! Will check Librivox.

I've done a few minutes research on Amazon and my 2 local libraries. I'm hoping to obtain, probably by purchasing, an audiobook of unabridged reading of Plutarch's Greek and Roman Lives. Can anyone recommend a good version? Or better even, a version to avoid? I know, I should try Audible. Maybe this will be the occasion for me to finally spring for it.

DS #1 entered college as a possible physics or engineering major-graduated with a major in math, minor in German. Wishes he had completed minor, or a second major, in computer science! DD just finished freshman year as a chemical engineer, which was first talked of junior year in HS and she seems committed now. DS age 15, hs sophomore, not clear. Like finance, drama, computer science, biology. We'll see.

Did you hear about the Dalai Lama getting a tooth pulled without anesthetic? He wanted to transcend dental medication. My daughter even remembered to say this at the oral surgeon's office the other day after getting wisdom teeth extracted.

Wonderful ideas! Very timely! We read Animal Farm years ago and have been discussing it a lot lately. But I will give Being There a look. Thank you.

That's the second time I've heard of Little Brother in 2 days! I will be getting it! LOTR-tried and failed, maybe 3-4 years ago. I wonder if I should try again? What do you think? Short stories-check. I think that's a great idea and we've read Poe so it makes sense to start there.

There's a big difference between encouraging\modeling civil political discussion in class (and where better to learn about civility!), and declaring that one side is wrong. It's just not OK. Think about the favor you are doing for students whose parents do not know about the classroom environment, or believe they are not is a position to speak up because their kid is still in the class.