I can say I was actually college age and I felt a slight disconnect at times just because I happened to be 17 and most the students were 18. Also, I had not had my first kiss till community college (I just hadn't gone on dates in high school) whereas you know, lots of my peers were sexually active. I didn't have my first job until after I think a couple of semesters of community college, either. Many were juggling school and jobs and it was like, "you haven't had a job yet?" It was all fairly minor, but it would be amplified for a student much younger. She would maybe sit alone in the cafeteria (or whatever space they have to eat), etc. She would technically be too young for her own credit card. She could pay for things, don't get me wrong. Just thinking of the little ways in which there'd be such a social gap.

Also, I might sound overprotective here but I would be concerned about the social aspect of it. Will she stay on campus to eat? Will she feel out of place? If the students have to do work with a partner will anyone want the middle school age partner? And then there's the random talking the college kids do. Will I want her around for their jokes and stories about what they did over the weekend?

I would think a college level foreign language course would be overwhelming to a middle schooler. I took Spanish 1-3 in high school and 1-3 in CC. My final semester the teacher was speaking just in Spanish and I was lost half the time. But YMMV

My first thought, "where are the stair rails? I'd need stair rails." Just makes me nervous thinking about using those stairs! lol Then I find a set of rails and there's a random dresser there. What? It's like nothing is enclosed. Open floor plan overkill. Yeah pic 33 stuck out like a sore thumb to me, too. That looked more calm to me than the other pics.

We did ask ds his thoughts, but I feel like dh would have vetoed the go to public school choice had he said that. We tried private and around the time you could withdraw your child without paying full tuition we asked if he wanted to stay or come home. He'd been complaining about school a lot. Ultimately he decided to stay. His feelings on school were wishy washy the rest of the year. We told him he would not return to the private school due to cost this year (other reasons too but don't know how much we elaborated) and he was pretty much ok with that. At that time dh and I could have been swayed either way because on the one hand, it would save us money to withdraw him, but on the other hand we felt like he should finish off the year there and also give the new teacher a chance (they finally got a real teacher after months of a long term sub). Later I asked him if he had a choice would he pick homeschool or public. We have not heard many great things about the public school, but I think a lot of it is feedback from people that have never used it. He said he was too shy and felt more comfortable staying home where he could ask me questions. He was always so timid about asking questions in class and lots of things seemed to get lost. Literally and figuratively. He was terrible at keeping up with papers, verbal reminders, his lunch box, etc. He was kinda negative about recess, too. If he lost recess (due to the teacher keeping the kids in the room for behavior or make up work) he'd complain sometimes, but if he got recess he'd say he didn't really like it. He didn't fit in well, wasn't great at sports, etc. I know the public school has more support for children that struggle with organization and stuff. I talked about it when I toured the school. I also wondered if he'd be ahead or behind or what. I know the curriculum there is different than what he's done. I know a couple of years ago more than half the kids failed a reading test to move onto the next grade so that concerned me. I have come to find out since then, though, that a large number of students that failed had vision problems. The local optometrist told us that. That's a long winded answer for your question, but basically we do consider ds' feelings on the matter. Dh said ultimately he wants ds to be happy, so I suppose if ds begged to go to public school we would maybe consider it with the caveat that we could pull him back out if it wasn't a good fit? I really don't know, though. We're just taking things year by year or day by day? lol I don't know how much influence ds will have on our final decision but we'd hear him out and factor in his opinion for sure.

I meant that if you could find something with shorter hours like those you'd find in a school, you may be able to get FT status, but see your kids more than 9-5 jobs (or at least be home earlier in the afternoon). And I said maybe not consider yourself main breadwinner (if you both worked then you'd have less pressure to earn big $) because school jobs notoriously don't pay a whole lot. I could be off in my thinking. I interviewed for an assistant teacher job this summer and their hours were like 6:45-3 or something like that but I do think some are more like 7:30-3. The pay was ridiculously low, though. Of course that was a job for someone without a teaching certificate so that's to be expected.

I don't know how much those things pay but I would definitely keep in mind that paid vehicles doesn't mean you wouldn't need to get a new one or have some major expense later. So in other words, I agree with removing childcare from the list. Wouldn't pay much. For the in home health stuff, yes, it can require physical work. My mom has a homecare person come twice a week for a few hours to give my dad a break. She requires people to lift her. She is physically very weak and has had trouble gaining weight (has Parkinson's). I do not know what they pay, but the cost of having them is not cheap. I might consider not taking on main breadwinner status in lieu of working school hours or such if that's doable.

I lose appt. cards or forget to write things down sometimes or misplace items. I currently do not know where my mini planner is. It has two appointments in it. I usually put appointments in two locations, but I took down the hall calendar for something and now it's not written down there. I don't usually miss appointments, but I have screwed up before. The worst for me is Monday appointments because some places do not call and remind you on Friday. Dh told me to download an app. We're trying to share our calendars again. But the password he gave me didn't work. Once I get that set up I will start putting appointments in the phone as well as another location. I'm pretty sure one time I missed an appointment and the office called me because it was so unlike me to just not show up. It was probably the ob/gyn office and I don't remember if it was during a pregnancy or not.

Maybe you need a new meet up spot? Like meet up at a park with your coffees that you purchased on the way? Shopping center?

Can you tell her you just ate? Dd is my food pusher lol. I'll make food for her she doesn't eat or she'll constantly ask for something to eat and next thing I know I'm eating with her or finishing her food. :closedeyes:

Maybe a bilingual parent will join. My friend taught Spanish one time at the co-op (she's bilingual). Now that I think about it, some of our classes do have a supply fee (like I think they had a fee for Spanish books the year she taught). Ds' classes this year have a fee. I don't even know if they found someone that knows American Sign Language (they were looking for someone a few weeks ago), but they are offering it as a class and ds is signed up. Classes here are taught by parents and only meet twice a month. I have no idea how they decided which classes to offer. I wasn't involved last year. Some of the classes didn't even have teachers (which seemed a bit backwards to me). Once they got the rest of the volunteers then they opened up sign up for children of volunteers. Then the next day? to everyone else.

I'm helping in two classes this year. We don't get paid, but my perk is that dd can go into a toddler room during class. Otherwise the room is not available to her. Also, we got the email first for co-op sign up. Had we not, I don't know if ds would have made it into one of his classes. It was filling up fast.

Yeah. This is something I wish I had known when I was younger. I was going through life not eating enough protein imo. Now I am more conscious of it. Like if I eat pancakes I would like to pair it with an egg or bacon or something. I used to eat cereal for breakfast all the time and now I will sometimes eat "lunch" for breakfast to get protein.

We own this. Purchased on another site but don't see it on the site. I don't love it as a couch because the way our frame is, it doesn't lay at a 90 angle. But it's very plush and we got it for similar reasons. We have had guests sleep on it. They seemed happy with it. I have sat on much thinner ones before. This one comes to your door in a box vacuum sealed. You open it and it grows lol. At least, when we ordered ours. https://jet.com/product/detail/ede37d0ab9af414eac37c9ae9aa034bf?jcmp=pla:ggl:NJ_dur_Gen_Furniture_a1:Furniture_Mattresses_Box_Springs_Futon_Mattresses_a1:na:PLA_785111644_40612356946_pla-307114847991:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15&pid=kenshoo_int&c=785111644&is_retargeting=true&clickid=0000a9a9-9fff-434a-8796-f802285c63b1 But we got it with the intention of replacing our old queen. I had a queen futon frame already. Normally futons come in full size.

I did the Staples rebate last year, but this year the out of pocket expense seemed higher. I don't know if I was looking at the exact same box, but last time I think I literally spent about $5 when it was all said and done. I still have paper left over so I'm not in dire need.

:( I don't know if your area participates in the apps like ibotta, either.

I hear you. I am trying to do more couponing. I'm actually looking at coupon organizing sheets.

Library - I reserve books online, but ds might browse a bit. We don't go to the public library that often. He has books here he has not read. That reminds me I placed a hold on a book. Grocery store - dh usually does the shopping. He says I slow him down :lol: We live 30-45 min. from the main stores we shop at. If I go and dd isn't fussing or isn't with me, I slow down a bit and scan some shopkick items or browse clearance. My speed has a lot to do with whether or not I know where the items are. I take forever inside Kroger. I don't shop there often enough. I know my nearest WM like the back of my hand, but Sam's Club... eh not as much. Dh usually does the Sam's Club shopping. I can't give a precise answer, but just know that time flies when I'm in the store it seems.

Same, as far as 8th not 7th for math here. But you don't have to be advanced here to count an 8th grade math as Pre-Alg. counts now. It's more so to help the kids meet their math requirements that aren't ready for certain math (I guess trig. and so forth?). I didn't take my math in the typical order of my peers. My friend said she was skipping pre-alg. because of her grades in the 7th grade math class so I asked about it, too. Then we went straight to Alg. in 8th. I am thinking I must have not taken math one grade level in high school because I couldn't come up with 4 math classes I took in high school (geometry, alg. II, trig.). Maybe I forgot something. I didn't take calculus.

I'm trying to get the direct link, but someone posted a screen shot of the rule. It said that if taken in 8th grade that Pre-algebra, Transition to Algebra, and Algebra count starting with 8th graders in 2004-2005 for our state. It said something about a 2 yr drafting course as well.

I recently heard about counting a math here for a high school math (I don't think this was just for homeschoolers). So, if the kid took a certain algebra class (I think pre-algebra is the one they were mainly referring to) in like 8th grade it counted as a math for high school graduation requirements. Too many kids I guess weren't meeting the requirements or prepared for certain upper level maths? That is just what I was reading on one of our facebook pages, so I don't know first hand.

Our formica countertops have stains that will probably never come out. I think one is from tea. I don't like how a "clean" countertop here looks dirty. And the wood under is rotted and falling apart. I don't know if we can get the stuff replaced. But if your formica is holding up well, that's cool.

See this confuses me. For the dermatologist to tell me that and me to wonder from that point forward, "okay if it's not that then what is it?" Who diagnosed your family's as eczema? Dh has eczema. Ds had eczema. Though I don't think either had that confirmed by a dermatologist. I do believe theirs really is/was eczema. Ds had the symmetrical stuff. Both feet, both legs. Dh has it on his face and has tried umpteen creams. Dh and I both have psoriasis. Mine was diagnosed by a dermatologist (different dermatologist). Don't know if dh's was actually confirmed by a dr. I tried the steroid cream on dd but I didn't like it exposed (for the cream to rub off on other things or her to touch it) so I tried covering with band-aids. She had a bad reaction to the band-aids. I tried doing it at night with her wearing long sleeves, but most of the time she doesn't want to wear a long shirt to bed. Then I tried sensitive band-aids but they fell off so easily. She still has the tiny raised bumps on her arm, but supposedly they aren't contagious so I'm hoping to try applying cream again when it's cooler and she can cover her arm with a sleeve. We initially went to the dr to outrule ring worm as the pediatrician was stumped as were we.

I think a two tone cabinet layout could potentially be a turn off to buyers as well. (top cabinets one color, bottom another). Could you just paint walls instead of picking colored cabinets?

I guess I'd ask myself if it could be changed easily. No, not neutral. Pretty, but not neutral. And of course even if you pick something deemed neutral, it may not appeal to the buyer. You could pick light wood and they prefer dark. You could pick white paint and they prefer natural wood.