ITA. I was very lucky that my parents did a good job teaching us to be financially literate. DH had zero instruction from his parents. They were so private about their money that they didn't even let each other know what they had. They divided all the bills; he paid some and she paid some. They never shared anything. Fortunately, DH and I were young when we met and he absorbed some things from my family. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from making some pretty major mistakes during the years when he had to handle the finances for our family because I was dealing with some post-partum issues. We are just now digging out from those mistakes since I have taken back the reigns. Our children will definitely have a solid financial education. We have already started it.

So we've discovered. :( We are moving ASAP. Unfortunately, that means a few more months. It can't be helped.

Third party is the adult child of the landlord, who has always lived in the property adjacent (with the landlord). OTOH, I am the adult child of the OTHER landlord, so this only really complicates things. Third party has NEVER paid rent to anyone. And now I'm giving away the details I originally tried to keep out. Oh well.

Fair enough. :D The original agreement was struck 8+ years ago. Use of the yard/driveway by the third party were not mentioned at that time. It never came up until a few months ago. Now third party seems to believe they are entitled to use it.

One of the landlords lives adjacent. The other does not.

Unfortunately, I'm not. But I did anyway. He's insisting it's not possible. I'm insisting he needs to find an alternative. I prefer not to involve the landlords, but I intend to win. :D

There is no lease. There will also be no going to court, as this is a family situation and not worth completely destroying the relationships (even if all the parties involved will probably be happy to keep things to small talk at Christmas when it's over). I was just curious.

I'm going to try to ask this question without giving too many details, so hopefully it makes sense. Legally, who has the right to use of the outdoor parts of a rental property -- the landlord, or the renter? For example, can the landlord allow a non-paying third party to drive/park in the driveway and yard of the property, thus restricting access for the paying renter? Or does the rent include use of both outdoor and indoor facilities included in the property?

Like many of you have noted, dh and I have had this conversation repeatedly. HOW ON EARTH do the people we know afford the things they have?? Until recently, I worked part-time, and dh earns a good living -- much more than many of our friends (most of whom somehow seem to be in public service, so we have a good idea of their general income). We rent my grandparents' home from my dad for peanuts. When we moved here, it was supposed to be a 3- to 5-year arrangement while we planned to build our new home; we'll have been here 9 in October and are crossing our fingers that we'll be able to build this fall. Meanwhile, my MIL has MASSIVE amounts of debt, with no plans to do anything about it. Her house is literally rotting away because she "doesn't have the money" to fix it. About 6 months ago, dh made an attempt to help her get her finances in order and discovered that she runs $500 in the red every, single month. She has a part-ownership in a vacation home and leases a new car every 24 months. Heaven only knows what she spends on cigarettes. We've had a major falling-out with her over her insistence on taking dd to Harry Potter at Universal Studios (I posted on thread on that awhile back). When we first discovered all this, we looked at each other and said, "WHO LIVES LIKE THIS???" Apparently everybody. Or a large proportion of the population, at least. We're starting to figure out that WE'RE the oddballs here. I think this is definitely true. When dh and I got married in 2000, we didn't have cell phones or even Internet -- but those things were not the necessities they seem to be now. We did pay for cable TV, which was a "need" my parents didn't have when they married in 1976. Every year, it seems the list of "needs" grows longer! We're so used to these things being available, we don't even think of them as the luxuries they really are. My sister got both her undergrad and JD degrees from state universities. She interned at an elite New York law firm after her 2L year, and turned down a job offer from that firm when she graduated -- in favor of one from an elite law firm in DC. She was accepted to law school at several fancy private institutions, but turned them all down because she couldn't justify the cost. She had a full ride scholarship to a well-respected state law school and took full advantage of it. Her smart decisions have paid for themselves several times over and have not jeopardized her career in the least!

This. I know that this is exactly what my mother would say about the loss of my sister. In fact, I have heard her say it on more than one occasion. There is a huge difference between expressing genuine, compassionate interest in the loved one and their loss, and the conversational equivalent of gawking. When my sister died, a "friend" of my parents' went on and on interrogating my mother with detailed questions about the night they learned about the accident. (Were you just SCREAMING??? :glare:) And this was less than 24 hours after her death. I could have strangled that woman.

When I was 16, my mom sent me to pick up my little sister and her friend from a birthday party. It was at one of those arcade places with all kinds of games, go-karts, bumper boats, etc. This one happened to be in a nearby city (where I'd rarely driven by myself) and located right off the interstate. In fact, you could see it from the highway, so I knew right where to go. Or so I thought. I could. not. figure out how the heck to get into the place! Every time I thought I had the turn right, I'd end up on the on-ramp headed back onto the interstate! I don't know how long I drove around in a circle (this was before cell phones, and I was too scared to stop for directions). Needless to say, by the time I finally made it to the party, my sister and her friend were the last guests left. And the friend's poor mom was beside herself when I finally dropped her off... All's well that ends well. :lol:

Me neither. If I knew my own child was unusually sensitive about these types of things, I would have attempted to change the subject or distract the child as soon as it turned iffy. But then, I have no qualms about telling my children to find something else to do if I need or want to talk to another adult.

IT can ABSOLUTELY fix this remotely, in a matter of seconds. Someone needs to pick up the phone. NOW.

DS has really enjoyed the Progressive Phonics readers. They're popcorn style, so I read the regular type and he reads the big, colored words. Most of the stories are short and funny. I've had a hard time finding beginning readers at the library that aren't whole language-based. PP fits fairly well with OPG; in fact, he's moving faster in PP and we're going back and filling in the gaps using OPG as more of a supplement.

The Hobbit

Kate Snow once recommended John Van de Walle's Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally to me, and I have found it quite helpful. Math is by far my hardest subject to teach. It's a textbook, so newer editions are pricey, but I have the 6th ed. (her suggestion) and it is reasonably priced used on Amazon.

Those videos are great -- thanks! Definitely going with some c-rods. Math is not my strong suit, and I find it much more difficult to teach the very basic concepts than the more advanced ones, for some reason. I think that between those and the things we have on hand or can make/be creative with we will be in good shape. I'm getting excited now! I've already looked at some Singapore resources to beef up CLE's word problem issue, although I think we're a year away from those, at least. Hadn't come across the FAN series though. Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks, everyone. I really like the look of the Saxon sets -- and surprisingly we actually have some of those things already (anybody else have so much stuff in their house they forget it's there??? sheesh!). Much of the rest I think I could make or get similar from the Dollar Tree. So maybe I can diy my own set and only need to buy one or two things! :hurray: Loooove the ideas for different kinds of fun counters -- thank you, Chris!! Anybody have a good resource for learning to teach with c-rods? What's the difference between c-rods and a base-10 set?

We're going to be using CLE math with ds starting with K, but I would like to supplement with hands-on activities and manipulatives for at least the first couple of years. What have been your favorites? Is there a nice, reasonably priced set with a variety of materials out there? I know RS and MUS, among others, use lots of manipulatives, but I think CLE is a better fit for ds overall and I'm not sure if those materials are easily used outside their respective programs. (And by the time we purchase them, it seems like we'd just as well get the whole thing anyway!)

Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food has good info (and good recipes!).

It was the solutions manual I've been seeing, not the teacher's manual, my mistake. Am I understanding correctly that the SM is the only way to have the answers to all the problems in the book? I'm mostly considering the DVD's because I'm concerned about my own ability to remember/relearn and teach the material. I'm still debating whether we can make it through at least pre-algebra with just my knowledge and the book. DD is bright and learns math easily, but I'm nervous! Does anyone use the homeschool packet? Is there something that makes it worthwhile?

I think I wouldn't pay $400 for the chance to develop those skills, which, as you said, can be encouraged and developed at home -- and which will probably develop somewhat naturally as he matures. I would let him go with the older group.

CLE math has worked great for dd, but we're going to make the transition to Saxon next year as she prepares to move into more advanced math. I'm overwhelmed looking at the options, though -- especially since I'm hoping to buy used. What do we need to be successful with Algebra 1/2? Teacher's manual, homeschool packet, CD's? Is one particular edition better than the others?

Yes, I spent the afternoon googling "how to mount a butterfly." I'm hoping it blows over before it comes to that, but if he stays this sad, I won't be able to stand it! Surely if it lasts a year we can part with it at some point...

On Wednesday, a butterfly landed on ds5's Cozy Coupe and refused to move. It rode into the garage at clean-up time, much to ds's delight. He named it "Petty" and claimed it for his own. He went back and forth all afternoon and evening, checking on this butterfly, talking to it, making up all kinds of conversations they'd had. I tried to explain gently that Petty probably wouldn't stay, and that he needed to go back to his home in the wild, but the next morning, it was still there. Well, ds was overjoyed. He went back and forth again all morning. He was so sweet -- he never touched it, just talked to it and checked to see if it was ok. And then, when I was cleaning up from lunch, he came inside bawling, "Petty flew away!" It was horrible. I went outside so he could show me, and it got worse. Petty wasn't gone -- at least not the way ds had thought. The poor thing was lying dead on the ground. I have never seen ds so upset. He cried for more than an hour. It broke my heart. We put Petty in a glass jar, and ds carried it around all afternoon. Last night, he laid the jar on a pillow and covered it with a blanket. Today it's gone with him everywhere (he holds the jar and pets it), and when dh suggested we give Petty a proper burial, ds became hysterical. I'm not sure how long a dead butterfly lasts in a jar, but I guess we're about to find out. So, yeah. Getting ridiculously attached to an insect. That's a crazy thing my kid did.