Yet for some, the outside accountability of DE courses is exactly what they need to do well. If I had waited to put my dd in, she'd be 30 before she set foot into a classroom. DE is what helped her realize the importance of those things far more than mom consequences ever did. Her son has already pulled Bs in DE classes.

((Katie)) Aside from major tantrums/anger, my oldest was very much like this throughout high school. Every year my husband had to talk me out of putting her back into public school. I let her slide through so many subjects because fighting about it wasn't accomplishing anything but stress and depression. Shifting to outside classes, then full DE classes her senior year helped SO much. She's doing worlds better in college. I'll be honest...she has several grades on her transcript for classes that never got finished. She learned enough to move on to the next thing, or handle herself in a college level class. She never finished Algebra II. (I'm not sure we even got through half the book). But she knew enough math to make it through Statistics at college. (then had a party because she never had to math again) Most of our smaller "required" courses were handled through lots of conversations or Crash Course videos. (health, econ, etc.) She's doing fine now in college classes. Our slacking didn't hurt her. She picked up enough on her own to make it.

Nope. No particular reason other than it just never occurred to me to do so. I'm not a super late-night snacker and I sure don't have anyone that is going to bring me food/coffee in the morning. I've only been sick enough to stay in bed maybe twice in my life, and then I was far too gone to want to eat.

I think Granny probably made the poor-man version..lol. She had a lot of kids to feed and not much $$ to do it with. It is still pretty darn good though.

Hamburger Gravy over toast = S.O.S. ( s_____ on a shingle ) It was a staple meal for my Granny.

If you don't feel dizzy or short of breath, and have no pain, then I would attempt diet changes. Caffeine can be a factor. So can dehydration, vitamin deficiencies and stress. I have mitral valve prolapse (mild) and have a benign irregular heart rate because of it. I also have periods of racing/fluttering. I've found that being sick, stressed, or dehydrated are the worst aggravators of it. If you do get it checked out, they can usually do a quick EKG to rule out the worst kind of arrhythmia. ETA: Hormone shifts are another contributor.

No advice, but I had to jump on the gravy train..lol. My favorite thing ever? Creamed corn over biscuits. Better than gravy any day. It is either very regional or just my family! lol. And sugar in grits was totally a thing for us growing up. Sugar and butter...mmm.

Not quite there yet, but our adult children are welcome to live here as long as they need to, with the expectation that they will contribute to the household in some way. It is a hard world to get started in these days. I don't foresee paying for a mortgage/rent for them, or other large expenses. We would be wiling to help out where we could if it were an emergency, or truly a need. My oldest still lives at home while going to college, and has no plans to move out any time soon. (although she may change her mind once her boyfriend graduates CC this fall and moves away to attend another college). We do require her to pay for her own gas, clothes, and incidentals.

Nope. Grades are strictly between the school and the student, unless specifically documented otherwise. I know at our school, we'd get in deep trouble if we allowed someone other than the student access to grades/transcript without a written request. It didn't matter who paid the bills.

At 9:30AM I was chatting with my girls about their plans for the day, and doing laundry. Dh is in his office working. This is normal during the summer. During the school year, two of us would be in class, one would be at co-op.

Our current dentist said that the latest studies/line of thought were that removal wasn't nearly as needed as once thought. They are now leaning towards a wait and see approach. This shift was just in the past couple of years. My oldest had hers out, but they were obviously going to cause problems. (tiny mouth, already pushing on nerves).

Lol! It has its perks, but as I sat here tonight and waited for my teen twins to return home from their first night time drive alone, the drawbacks were rearing their head. They made it home safely though, and I'm back to thinking it is a perk.

Just like toddlers. Except they cost WAY more, and have the ability to leave the house without you.

Noooo. It wouldn't end well...lol.

We have one of the nubby ones outside our door. It hurts to stand on bare foot, but it does catch a lot of debris. I also have a softer, fabric based on inside to catch the smaller stuff like sand and dirt.

I just found this handy post: http://eartheasy.com/raised-beds-soil-depth-requirements.html although I have grown tomatoes successfully in less than 24" of soil depth.

It think they are around 18-24 inches wide...I used two bags of soil for those two pots, one other, and still had about 1/3 of one bag left. Get a potting soil that has moisture control...it will help keep it from drying out as easily. I would have the soil at least 18" deep for the tomatoes....it might be better to the the cucumbers in the bags and get deeper pots for the tomatoes.

I have zinnias planted in it. They just haven't come up very high yet. This is from two summers ago.

See the two large pots kind of in the middle? I just planted a tomato plant in each of them. They'll get cages in a few days, before the plants get very big.

The tomatoes should be fine in the bags with potting soil. One per bag, as they can get pretty big. The cucumber plants will climb/sprawl and would probably do better in a large pot. It doesn't have to be super deep, but fairly wide. The cucumbers can also climb if they have something to climb on. Also, your tomatoes will need some sort of support...a tomato cage, stakes, etc.

I can see taking that stance when dealing with a brick and mortar school. There are things that can happen between the completion of classes and the graduation ceremony that can cause the school to withhold the diploma. Not saying this would be your case AT ALL, but behavior problems, owed money, unexpected information about a test, grade miscommunication have all lead to a school withholding graduation. From that standpoint, it would be kind of like counting your chickens before they've hatched. It is rare that it happens, but it has happened.

No, I don't spend time and money on extras that they don't really care enough about to do without nagging. I figure that they will develop their own interests without me pushing. So far, I've been right. We've started and dropped a lot of things because I do enough nagging for chores and school without torturing us both with something that isn't needed. The kids still seem pretty well rounded.

I work part-time and go to college full time, and started when my youngest girls were in the second half of their sophomore year. However, they are VERY independent workers. Half the reason I decided to go back when I did was because I was sitting at home bored to death because they didn't need me at all. I still keep tabs occasionally on what they are doing. We also outsource some classes (co-op and DE). Also, dh works from home, so there is someone here. He doesn't do anything school related with them, and many days they don't even see each other because he's in his office all day. But his being here may be a little motivating to not goof off too much? IMO, it will be much easier if your kids are pretty independent.

I've always gotten a quick response via email, and they have been helpful over the phone. I got an email this weekend about the pre-order :) The timing couldn't have been better for us. Last kid doing their senior year math class. We've been used to the self-grading programs, and I was dreading moving to the old version for this last book.

By far, the easiest, no pain way to cook chicken is to throw a couple of breasts in some broth with some veggies and salt/herbs and boil it. After it is cooked through, pull it out, dice it and use it for pasta, soup, whatever. You don't have to pound it, flip it, grill it, rub it down...etc. It will take on as much flavor as you put into the broth. ETA: If you do it with bone in chicken pieces, you get an awesome stock for soups.