How many hours do you have to put in a week? I usually try to squeeze things in around school -- in the afternoons during our quiet time, after the kids are in bed in the evening, or on the weekends when dh is home. Sometimes other things (like housework) suffer. Sometimes dd and dh (and, to a lesser extent, ds) have to step up and help out more. But, I'm not working anywhere close to full-time. I'm not sure I could even fathom doing that. Actually, I'm sure I couldn't!

Couldn't. Care. Less. I was surprised to see on Facebook how many local churches are hosting viewings of the debate.

What kind of skin care routine would you recommend for an 8yo? DD has recently started getting blackheads on/around her nose and on her chin. She washes her face in the mornings with plain water and at night with a mild Neutrogena bar. I was afraid of getting anything too strong; I didn't want to dry out her skin (it does not seem oily at all, and she's still young -- or maybe I'm just in denial about how close we're getting to puberty). But this does not seem to be working. What should I try?

Praying for all of you... :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I want to like this 1,000 times. :hurray:

True. And this makes sense for middle school and up, or maybe even upper elementary. But when we're talking about 5 year olds, it's a little different. My experience growing up was much like yours: Dad gave us lunch money every morning (as we got older, we got enough cash to cover the week; we were never on an account system). We got enough for a plate lunch. No extras were sold in the cafeteria, but you could get an ice cream in the afternoons for $.35. If we wanted ice cream, we had to ask for ice cream money. Usually the answer was no, but occasionally it was yes. No money, no ice cream. Now, all of these extras are available to kindergarteners, and as far as they are concerned, no money ever changes hands. They type in their magic account number, and they can take whatever they want. The school's not going to stop them; it makes money off the extras. Your parents and mine could control what we were able to buy by the amount of cash they handed us. But as parents, dh and I had no way of limiting what dd bought on any given day. It's hard to teach money management to a 5yo who doesn't ever see any actual money, KWIM?

It was $2.50 as well for dd's school (in NC) last year. But I understood the article to state that the actual cost of producing the meal was closer to $3.00+. They are blaming this on nutrition standards and the cost of healthy foods, as well as saying that's why they have to sell all the junky a la carte items, like french fries, in order to make up the difference. But at dd's school, I don't see what was so healthy about even a lot of the plate lunches. They served a "taco stick" (basically a prepackaged burrito kind of thing that was microwaved and handed to the kid still in the plastic bag) at least every other week. Many of the other meals were of similar quality. And french fries were still on the menu, not just available a la carte.

This is very similar to the way our district handles overdue accounts, and I think it's very reasonable. The difference I see in this situation, however, is that the children were served lunches that were then taken away and thrown in the trash. Either way, the district was going to have to eat the cost of that food. I would think most reasonable adults should have been able to come to the conclusion that allowing the children to eat the lunches rather than pitching them would be the sensible thing to do under the circumstances. In the end, it actually cost the district more because they threw out the lunches and then provided different food as an alternative meal. Yes, the parents were at fault for not paying, but the school was also at fault for serving a full lunch to a child with an overdue account.

Agree. I was SHOCKED the first time I entered the school cafeteria and saw what they were offering. Of course, that was after they sent home the list of things I *could* and *couldn't* send my kid to eat for snack, or for class parties. So I guess it's okay when they're making money off of it, but not okay when I buy it for my own kid? (Not that I ever sent candy bars for snack!!)

We never had this problem when dd was in ps, but the potential for it always worried me. When I was in elementary school, they offered a plate lunch, and that was it. We did have the choice of a couple of entrees, maybe a choice of sides, and a chef's salad was always an option. But there was no a la carte selection. By high school, we had extra choices, but not in elementary. But dd's school ALWAYS had three entree choices, at least 6-8 side choices, a salad or pb&j plate if they didn't like anything else offered, AND a vast array of "extras" that any kid could buy. And not healthy stuff, either. Ice cream, chips, you name it. They were not allowed to bring cash to pay with; they were required to use their debit account. So there was no way for me to control the amount of money dd had to spend on a daily basis. Then her kindergarten teacher informed us that they were prohibited by district policy from intervening in the kids' food choices. So there was my just-barely-5yo, with more or less unlimited funds and a pile of junk food that was hers for the taking, and nobody to provide any guidance to help her make a wise choice. She was literally a kid in a candy store. We had a looooong talk with her about our expectations, but if the teacher hadn't told me that, I wouldn't have even known it was an issue until it was too late. In some instances, they may bring it on themselves. According to this story, only one attempt was even made to contact the parents. It's completely conceivable that they didn't know the account was empty. Our district does allow a negative balance to a certain point and then provides a pb&j. I don't know how they go about collecting funds that aren't paid. I do know that we left a balance in dd's account when we pulled her out of school last year and nobody's come rushing to give us our money. :D Their negative-balance reminder strategy was usually to tell the kid first and (when the kid inevitably forgot to relay the message) follow up with a robo-call in a few days.

I don't know that there are major benefits to one over the other. I know that you can't refinish laminate like you can hardwood planks. So if it is damaged or you want a change, you have to rip it up and start over. On the other hand, solid wood planks will expand and contract over time. You might look into engineered hardwoods. They're solid wood all the way through, but the wood has been sliced into thin layers and put back together with the grains in alternating directions. They don't expand and contract like planks but can be refinished a limited number of times. The price is somewhere in between laminate and planks, or at least it was when we put them in our last house several years ago.

I agree. Unfortunately, it seems we are moving in the opposite direction, at least here in NC. The ability to provide a customized education is the primary reason we homeschool. I hate it for all these kids, though. The amount of stress it's causing is ridiculous. As a pp said, this would be much easier to remedy if kids could be separated according to their current stage and abilities. I personally would rather see that become the societal norm (with no stigma attached) than retention. Here are some links, for anyone who's interested: Sample portfolio reading passage Portfolio implementation guide Again, not every district is requiring every student to complete the portfolio, but some are, it appears, as a precaution against having 50% or more of their third-graders in summer school. According to the above, the administration of the portfolio assessments is required to take place in the classroom by the primary teacher.

My understanding (and we are homeschoolers, so I do not have first-hand experience with this, other than the meeting we attended at the end of last year -- 2nd grade -- which outlined the new standards) is that all of the testing is indeed being done by the classroom teacher. A lot of the complaints are about the time being taken away from other classroom instruction. Up to 50 hours when all is said and done, apparently. Some districts are giving parents the option of opting out of the portfolio (i.e., extra tests) in hopes that their child will pass the end-of-grade test and be promoted. Some districts are just requiring the portfolio across the board -- probably as a pp said, to avoid the expense of a massive summer program. I am unclear at this point what our district's strategy in particular is. IF the child fails the EOG and a subsequent re-test, the only option is the summer "boot camp." However, I understand there to be an additional test at the end of the summer camp which must be passed for promotion. There is some kind of odd arrangement for the child who completes both portfolio and summer camp but still fails the test wherein s/he is promoted to a 3rd/4th combo program that covers some 4th grade material but is listed in the system as retained to the 3rd grade. It's all very complicated. And ultimately, it all hinges on the test. I understand there to be some exceptions granted for ESL and other students on a very limited basis. I have heard rumors of a student with autism who reads well below grade level who is being required to complete the portfolio. The 45 percent failure rate last year was under standards and a test that had been overhauled to conform to Common Core. I have no clue what the pass/fail rate was prior to that. It seems to me that perhaps that should have been taken into consideration before we freaked out and made all these requirements. I am all for higher literacy and limiting social promotion; I'm just not sure this is the way to go about it.

The parents of dd's former ps peers are up in arms over North Carolina's new reading standards for third grade: www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/01/28/4647169/legislators-hear-complaints-about.html#.Uuliq7S8nl_ I guess we're lucky we got out just in time... :001_huh:

I had preterm labor starting at 28 weeks with both and was more than halfway dilated both times before the real event. With ds, I was at 6cm at my 36-week check-up. I lived 45 minutes from the hospital where my doctor had admitting privileges and was terrified that I was going to have him in the car. My OB attempted an amniocentesis that morning but wasn't able to get a pocket of fluid big enough and was afraid of hitting the baby. (I wouldn't wish that experience on my worst enemy.) He couldn't run the requisite lung maturity tests, and although he called in every favor he had, the hospital refused to admit me for induction. He sent me home on strict bed rest, with orders to proceed to the nearest emergency room (NOT the women's hospital) if my water broke. By some miracle, ds stayed put for another week, and when I went in for my next check-up, bags packed per doc's orders, he more or less lied and told the hospital he was sending over a patient in labor. Which was true enough, I suppose, given how far I was dilated. When the L&D nurse hooked me up to the monitor, she was like, "You're not contracting very much to be do far along." I said, "Oh? Hm, I don't know..." Then the midwife came and broke my water, and an hour later the L&D nurse still hadn't materialized. I told dh he'd better locate her on the double or be prepared to catch. She was visibly peeved when she came in and said, "Honey, this usually takes awhile." As if I hadn't done it before. :cursing: But when she checked me, she didn't waste any time paging the OB. He literally walked in the door three minutes later, sat down, and out popped ds.

If I promise to completely ignore you the whole time, can I come with??? :laugh:

Congratulations! LOVED your piece. They were right -- a definite must-read!

:lol: I have NO IDEA what any of that means... but "worst waste of time ever" pretty much sums it up!

DD -- born at 36 weeks -- 7lbs, 2 oz DS -- born at 37 weeks -- 6lbs, 4 oz

This was another issue for us. DD's public school had an awards ceremony every quarter. For K-2, they only presented three awards: perfect attendance, citizenship, and the "PAW" award (which was basically an effort.most improved kind of thing designed to motivate kids who struggled but tried hard). DD sometimes got perfect attendance, but she occasionally missed a day when she had a cold, etc. and then that was out. She did receive citizenship once, but that one was only given to one child in each class. She never received the PAW award, because school came easily to her and she always got high marks; it's hard to earn "most improved" when you start at the top of your class. The one kid in her class all three years who was a MAJOR discipline problem got an award every. single. time. because he was at school every day, sick or not. The awards they did offer didn't bother me so much as they ones they didn't. I think good citizenship and effort are fine things to honor (though I did think recognizing perfect attendance quarterly was a bit much). But there was ZERO recognition for academic achievement of any kind, even at the end of the year. It was disheartening to watch the kid who couldn't go an hour without getting in trouble be rewarded every time while those who worked hard to learn and earned good grades sat there with nothing. That same kid NEVER would have been given a basketball trophy just for showing up at practice while the championship team was sent home empty-handed.

This sounds fantastic! I am sure it's something my ds would LOVE in a year or two. Not being "outdoors-y" myself, we don't spend enough time outside. How did you find something like this? Are you in the US? ETA: Feel free to pm me, didn't mean to derail the thread...

For me, the short answer is: I homeschool because I'm a control freak. I wasn't ecstatic about the education dd was getting in public school. But I think she would have been fine in the end. Not challenged up to her full potential, but fine. But I hated all the stupid stuff that went along with school. Like the day dd brought me a math worksheet and said it was *my* homework and the teacher said I *had* to do it. It really did have a note to that effect on it. I wrote on the top "I already passed the second grade" and sent it back. Still haven't figured out what the point of that exercise was. (For all you former and current teachers, I promise that's the only time I got snarky. I tried hard to be a good ps parent.) Or the time I brought word search puzzles as an activity for a class party and the teacher said, "Oh, well, these are okay since it's a party, but the district doesn't let us do word searches anymore." Come again? The way they were teaching math really got under my skin. That was my biggest academic beef. When I finally got fed up watching dd draw out 47 little circles or lines or whatever, I sat down and taught her the traditional algorithm in about 3 minutes. I get that some kids need that visual representation to understand the concept, and I'm totally fine with teaching that in the beginning, or using it with a child who's struggling. But two years of little circles was enough. When a kid in the classroom across the hall brought a pistol to school (twice, and after bringing a knife before that) and the district neglected to inform even the parents in that class, we were done.

DD has been obsessed with cooking shows -- any cooking show -- since she was about 3. She wants to be a pastry chef. I can't wait for all my free fancy desserts! Of course, she also loves Spongebob and Sam & Cat (ugh -- does that one girl REALLY talk that way???), so she's not too far out of touch with her peers...

I agree. Offering to help her with hostessing duties so she can focus on her customers would be a great way to show her your support without having to make a purchase. I think honesty is the best policy here.

It'll be legen... wait for it... DARY!