My DD was 16 when we moved from a big city to a rural, small town. She was not homeschooled. There were goods and bads to the move, but overall for her it was a good move. She was always a little bit “different” for lack of a better word. (She was diagnosed as having autism as an adult). While she did not make any close friend at school, the kids did go out of their way to include her, and I think she had a much better high school experience because of that. As an adult, she is able to be much more independent here that she would be back in our “big city”. I think she will probably stay living in this town most of her life. On the other hand, my DS was 9 when we moved and did not have such a good experience with his class. After 2 years of the local public school, he did online school for 5 years until he was able to drive himself to a hybrid school over an hour away. Then Covid hit his senior year. He is officially moving out this week to share a house with some friend from his high school. I do not expect him to ver live in this town again (maybe temporarily, but he has plan should this move not work out). When I look back at our choice to move, I do feel conflicted that the move was a good thing for DD but not for DS. I would never have guess that it would have turned out that way. I do think this would be a difficult place for homeschooler to break into. The school is the community. The very few families who do or have homeschooled have all attended the local public school at one time.

I use mostly the blue two-sided sponges. (Supposedly non-scratch) I run them through the dishwasher with the dishes. Then I have some heavier scrubbers for when needed. I don’t have scrub daddy sponges, but I do have an Angry Mama microwave cleaner that started with a family joke and makes me smile when I use her.

I grew up in a small town in West Virginia that was not bad to get around without a car as long as you lived in town. My best friend in middle school family did not own a car. I do remember her mom using the taxi service in the early 80’s for trips to the grocery store. They even lived around the block from the laundry mat, so doing laundry wasn’t horrible. As young teens we could walk all over the main part of town. Everything was within about a 5 mile radius. There was some public transportation to get to further out parts of town, but it was limited. Now, Houston is/was one of the most pedestrian unfriendly cities. Public transportation is only convenient in specific locations as would be biking to work or school. However, being car less is much more doable with the advent of Uber. I do know a single guy that lives in the far northwest of the Houston area and uses Uber for everything including getting to work downtown. He spends a lot on Uber, but he figured out that it was still cheaper that owning a car. I think that would be much harder if he had a family. I live in a rural small town now. There is little traffic except for the one main road in and out of time. During the warmer months, kids are walking and biking all over. It has a small family grocery store and a dollar store, a coffee shop, a couple of restaurants, and even a medical clinic. It would be easy to get by without a car for a time. I’ve done that myself when cars were in the shop, but there are times when a vehicle is absolutely necessary for services in neighboring towns. I do think it is a good place for those with some family support to live mostly independently such as the elderly who cannot drive much(or wouldn’t be able to be driving in a bigger city) or people with some disabilities that make driving difficult. There is no public transportation or Uber here at all.

Thank you! I was embarrassed to say this when the other posts seemed so down. This was not a symptom I was expecting based on what I hear from most other women.

No problems with ATT/FirstNet here yet, but I live about as far away from a big city as is possible in the US. I just called my DH to check. Some of his co workers had heard about the problem but haven’t experienced anything yet. He did say that he saw an ATT truck heading toward one of the towers. Also, that may explain why my DS text are coming through iMessage on my iPad faster that the phone. Usually it is opposite.

Yeah, it is all about choices, but it sure is annoying when other people make comments about your own family choices whether it is about spending or other things. When my DD (soon to be 29) was a baby my MIL used to make comments about how good it was that my SIL stayed home with her child and golden grandchild did not have to go today care and instead went to some posh mothers-day-out program 2 or 3 days a week. One day I got fed up and agreed with her that it was nice for SIL and golden grandchild that BIL made such good money that they could afford a house, 2 cars, a stay at home mom, and mothers-day-out. Unfortunately her own son as a rookie policeman did not make that much money, and if I did not use the college education that I paid for and work as a teacher, we would have to move into the income based apartments down the street, have one car that we shared, and would not be able to put DD in a pre-school of any kind. My MIL never said anything about our financial choices again.

As a former 4th grade math teacher, I think that the area model works well for students (and parents) who do not understand why the traditional algorithm works. I never had a student who could not eventually transistion from area models to the standard algorithm, and seems to have a higher initial success rate over students who just memorize what I called a “recipe” and then struggle to remember where to put seeming random zeros (I know they are not random, but those students do not) and what to carry when. I never forced students who were successful with the traditional method to use area models outside of the initial introduction. While some parents balked at first, most were fine with it when I could verbalize why I felt area models were beneficial, and I included what Wendy mentioned above about the same method being used when multiplying polynomials.

Not really related to the original question, but I say this opportunity today and thought of this thread. @Sabine https://nmyrm.nmsu.edu/?fbclid=IwAR3RiR5nQ6ygPwAtIxujbA3fxZDKgJM19SshAFEsglq1FJNDi0VcnZW8oZg_aem_AXoNWVup50CNt79wbH8Pk48aXZ69wYTtT0wnO1mjXHEo4k3MrdJkk2hB8NKB21xUD38 It is a summer Youth Ranch Management camp.

I did the refugee support thing when we were moving and donated a whole house of furniture. The guy who came to pick it up was very pleased at the condition of what I donated. He said that usually what they get is maybe one step above going to the dumpster. He came back three different times and filled his large van each trip, and said the stuff would be divided up to help several families.

Have you or your DS looked into degrees related to ranch work. I live in the southwest around lots of big ranches, and there are college programs for ranch management, animal science, environmental science, even blacksmithing and gun smithing, and probably stuff I don’t know about. While I think “forcing” a young adult to go to college is a waste of time, money, and stress, There may be programs outside of your local area that are more meaningful for him.

My mom made it regularly for holidays when I was a kid. I’ve made it a couple of times for my family, but it makes such a large amount that my little family can’t eat it all. My mom’s did not have boiled eggs or tomato in it. It was similar to this https://www.mymilitarysavings.com/recipes/salads/seven-layer-salad Years ago,I found the exact recipe on the Kraft foods website, but that company and website has gone through many changes over the years, and I can’t find it now.

I find it really easy to fall down the rabbit hole of prepping anxiety, and sometimes I have to make an effort not to do that. I try to keep things multipurpose such as Camping supplies that can be used in emergencies, shelf stable foods that are part of the regular pantry, wood stoves that are our primary source of heat, etc. Because we live in a fire prone area and have had to evacuate on short notice, I do keep a couple of totes of food and kitchen supplies ready to go, and other empty totes ready to pack quickly. My plan for this summer is to improve my rain water collection that I use for watering my gardens. I currently have a bunch of plastic buckets and old recycling bins. I want to get some metal watering troughs that will be more permanent and not blow all around the yard when empty. That water could be used for flushing toilets if needed or even treated for drinking. I would love to have a freeze dryer so that I could rely less of our freezer to store meat, but I can’t justify the price. It would really just be an expensive toy.

I always just juice them and freeze the juice. I’ve never tried freezing them whole or in wedges.

Unfortunately that is the way it works some places. One school I worked for gave every teacher a bonus based on specific school wide goals. Then to encourage teacher retention, the more years a teacher worked there, the more bonus that person received, but it was not dependent on grade level or subject taught. That seemed to be the most equitable bonus program. Other districts and schools had a plan similar to what you described. Teachers in tested subjects got a larger percentage of bonus than teachers in non-tested subjects or grade levels. other districts include teacher attendance in requirements for bonuses. That penalized teachers with younger kids who got sick more often. Instead of bonuses, I would much rather see increased salaries for all school employees and/or extra stipends for teachers in hard to fill areas.

Sounds like he should probably contact his embassy/consulate to find out what he needs to return to his home country. I assume he already has a passport from his home country that was used when he entered the US. He would also need to contact them to find out how to obtain passports for his children as citizens of that country.

Not giving a type 1 diabetic insulin is flat out child abuse, and I would report them in a heartbeat. Spanking the child for that reason is another red flag with me for possible child abuse. Some places there is no oversight for homeschooling, so the parents are within their legal rights. Other states would consider that neglect. It depends on where they live. Bringing a gun into someone else’s home when asked not to do so would get that person banned from my house. The rest of the things I would just refuse to discuss with them at all. If they chose to try to have such discussions, I would remove myself from that location. There is a guy I watch on YouTube who would say that “they” are the ones choosing to not be in a relationship with you if you have asked them not to do xyz and they continue to do those things. He would say you will have to morn the loss of those relationships just as if the person had died, but he would also say to choose guilt over resentment every time.

I work with a student who was like this but she has gotten better over the years. I would not avoid correction words.It sounds like you are very gentle with your words anyway. As far as school work goes I just let her get teary. I have the attitude with her that it is fine to cry if she needs to, but I don’t make a big deal. I just had her the tissue box and wait it out. I also would remind her that she isn’t supposed to know everything at school already. If she knew it all, then I wouldn’t need to be her teacher. Making mistakes and taking correction is part of life. My thought is that avoiding that just because the child is uncomfortable isn’t going to help in the long run. It will just get worse if it isn’t dealt with now.

I buy Hanes brand socks. However they don’t have extra fabric in the heal or toe and don’t have the arch support. They do come in a variety of heights from very low cut to mid-calf. I get them at Walmart in big bags. They last along time even with frequent wearing and washing, but they are cheap enough that i don’t care when I have to throw some away. I don’t bleach them though. The part I like best is that each different style (height) has a different color of the word “Hanes” on the bottom, so I could get each member of the family their own set of socks, wash them all together, and then sort them quickly and easily. I still have nightmares about the “sock box” from when I was a kid and trying to match socks from six different people at one time.

It is terrifying.

That sounds like a very complicated situation. I don’t have any idea how to convince a guy to do what needs to be done to take care of and protect his kids after his death. If he has a will, or doesn’t have a will, his estate will have to go through probate. That is not a quick process even with an uncomplicated estate. It is likely that the youngest child will be 18 by the time the estate is settled and any money inherited, so the mom couldn’t take the money unless the kid gives it to her.

I just happen to watch a video on YouTube last night which was made of police body camera of an arrest. When the suspect was handcuffed but wasn’t being cooperative with the search of their person, the officers did what is described in the original post. Put a hand on the back of the neck and pushed the person down towards the car hood bending at the waist. Once the person stopped struggling, the person was permitted to stand fully for the rest of the search. While I know that police do need techniques such as these, that is definitely a restraint procedure and doesn’t belong in the classroom.

Nope, the safety of other people on the road and pedestrians far outweighed my parents desire to drive. Of all the things that I felt guilty about, preventing an unsafe person from driving does not cause me any guilt. I flat out told my mother that if I ever found out that she attempted to drive again that I would call the police and I would contact the state board to get her license suspended. (Long story but she had major vision issues) Then I explained what she would have to do to get it reinstated. She stopped threatening to drive. The state where my parents lived does have additional steps for renewing a drivers license at age 80. Both had to stop driving several years before 80.

Yep, that is the way the system works. The house will need to be sold and the money used to pay for AL. Once she is low on funds, then she can apply for benefits. Or you go the trust route. One lawyer I consulted said that about $100,000 of assets per person could be put in the trust and still qualify for benefits. Until then, the elderly person has to “spend down” assets to qualify for medical. And, the spend down has to be done carefully or other problems get created. Assets have to be sold at or near market value not given away to family members.

People can say what they plan to do regarding driving at a certain age or stage, but when dementia sets in, those plans go out the window. My father decided to give up driving all on his own when he was 78 after getting lost in a familiar are one time. Less than 2 years later, the keys and the car had to be hidden from him or he would try to drive. I think it is great for people to plan ahead, but I don’t think any document will make a difference in a person with dementia.

Medicaid does not pay for assisted living for seniors. It only covers skilled nursing, but it will cover medical care while living in AL or the home which could possibly include some home health services. Aid and Attendance can be used for assisted living. My mom had too much savings to qualify for Aid and Attendance, but I did talk someone about Veteran’s benefits. What I remember is that the Veterans benefits allow a higher level of assets than Medicaid, and they somehow deduct the cost of current AL or NH which allows for a slightly higher level of assets I think. My MIL did get both Aid and Attendance and Medicaid when she was in NH and ran out of money. The trick was that her monthly SS and the AA put her just over the limit for Medicaid. A trust had to be created (I forget the name of it). Her monthly payments went into the trust to be used for her expenses. Medicaid paid for the NH at the same time. When she died, any money left in the account then goes back to Medicaid xcept that for MIL once her final bills were paid there was only about $50 left for the government to take back. There is a way to get Medicaid without selling her house, but then once she dies, Medicaid takes the house. So either way, there is nothing to leave to any survivors.