Since Lucy Stoner brought up skinheads, I couldn't help myself for saying this. I used to hang out with self-proclaimed skinheads, but they weren't the neo-nazi kind. There are a few types of skinheads. One of my friends identified as a SHARP (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice). Others I knew identified as Trads (Traditional, also not racist). My avatar and signature actually reflect some of the music culture (boots and oi music). But it's in no way meant to reflect a racist image. Many skinheads are very misunderstood. Some people read into the color of shoelaces to identify racist skins (white laces = white power, etc.). Those are not always accurate, but just something some people think about. I was heavy into the punk and goth scenes and I did worry sometimes people would misunderstand my attire, etc.

This may be a gray area as it depends on the intent of the person asking but sometimes, "where are you from? No, where you are really from?" can be a form of sizing someone up and forming a prejudice opinion. Honestly, you may not see it in a blatant way in your average day to day interactions vs. in subtle ways. Like, once I went to a church prayer group and one of the hosts told a story of when she was younger what they would call people of a certain race. Her husband looked really embarrassed and metaphorically my jaw dropped if not literally. Because I am part Mexican, but also part white, many people assume I am not a minority (I can pass for just white) and feel more free to express certain opinions in front of me. Whether or not I'm a minority is really irrelevant, but you know that's how a lot of people are. You really see people's true colors more in private. One of my first exposures to this was when I was around some girls that took the word "rebel" to have a racial context and asked who else was a rebel by a show of hands. I watched these girls raise hands around me in disbelief. I just sat there. This was in jr. high. The rebel was a university mascot in our state and it really made me wonder the connection or if these girls just invented their own term/definition. Since then the mascot has been replaced. As an adult I was actually taken aside by a white male coworker to tell me some of the history of the rebel mascot and how it might have been based on a particular blind black gentleman (perhaps why the Rebel had a cane). He showed me in a book. I didn't know if this was supposed to be a good or bad thing and he didn't pull my black co-worker aside to tell her, but I wasn't sure if that was because he was afraid he would offend her or because I just interacted with him more at work than her. I've also seen it expressed in other ways like... someone acts fine with different races until the topic of marriage or dating comes up. Then all of a sudden it's, "I don't believe in mixed marriages." I heard white people and one black coworker agree to this as they expressed their disapproval of a black husband/Asian wife couple. Another black co-worker and I shared our disappointment/offense in their outlook.

For some reason I thought 8" was what my dad recommended, but I'm not sure that's right. We own a thick spring coiled one so it doesn't lose it's shape fast. Ours is used as a couch or bed for guests. It's just on a futon frame. My parents have a different style futon and theirs is also used as a couch, so on a futon frame. I'm not much help lol.

Does anyone else worry that one day you know, Amazon streaming won't exist or Amazon prime won't exist or whatever? Those digital movies we buy are ours in a small sense. Is there really any stopping someone from walking off with them down the line? Like a website shutting down.

I read the posts here a couple times and I think they are confusing. Only Minniewannabe could probably clear this up. She used the word "only" which is what made it sound like not teaching other views at all. But then she also went on to say teaching why other ideals don't fit in their family. So it sounds like she's introducing other views. The whole post confused me, personally. Perhaps Farrar and I had the same confusion. I can see how Farrar's posts may have sounded harsh as in, "that's what's wrong with some homeschoolers" and thus, ugly or condescending. I don't think Farrar saw it that way, though.

I think the problem with the hard candy for me is that I might open the box in front of my children and if they see the candy and I say "no" and remove it, then I'm the bad guy. This has happened many times, like in a bank or somewhere, someone gives my child candy. I either awkwardly refuse it or shove it in my purse for "later" and hope to get rid of it. Currently we have a battle ground with the Halloween candy LOL. I keep insisting ds eat certain things out of sight from his toddler sister. Last night dh and dd were gone for a while so we were able to eat suckers without any guilt lol. Dollar stores sometimes do sell Crayola brand :) I agree, I prefer that over other brands.

Guys, GG on Black Friday!!

Ahh, I see. I hadn't thought about it in those terms. Wait, do you mean school buses in general or busing from further distances? Because I do realize that different neighborhoods are assigned to different public schools within the same city and I can see how that could create its own segregation. Just not sure if I follow you on the bus thing. I vaguely remember talking about busing issues in another thread.

That might have been a general comment. I don't think that necessarily means the mom is aware the girl could be at your home when you are not home. That is where a lot of the concern for me would be. If my family was on vacation for a week I would hate to think that the parents didn't know their daughter was hanging out at in an isolated yard all week. They may or may not notice your comings/goings so may not be aware when you are not home or even out of town.

What do you mean? In subtle ways or what?

Common? I'm not totally buying that. Maybe common among her school mates, but overall? I admit I'm out of touch, but that's just really, really, hard to believe. Seems like something you might just say so your mom doesn't think about it too much. If I was your dd I wouldn't have wanted to help the guy at all. I would have felt super uncomfortable running into a classmate in VS lol.

We have a bunch of DVDs but in the past year or so we have not bought physical copies. So we have a mixture of online movies and offline. Right now my problem is I want to watch movies we own, but they are not organized (some are but many are not) or MIA. We actually own a player that houses like 500 but we fear it scratches movies. Some have been scratched. When we had that up and running we could easily sort through them and tell the machine to load the right disc. The problem with online movies is when the internet is down you can't watch them.

I don't know if you know these things about her family because you have spoken to the parents or because it's all word of mouth from the girl. Like the online classes or the fact that the mom can't drive. I think it's time to meet the mom if you haven't. But it's tough to say what to do about the girl being in your yard. Maybe the mom doesn't notice the girl leave the house and is oblivious that she's in your yard when you are not home. The mom may or may not care that much (as in, be concerned) but she probably ought to know that her daughter is playing in your yard as opposed to say, getting the mail or doing whatever she may be telling her mom (or mom is guessing). If the girl were to be gone too long or get hurt, the mom needs to know that she's in your hard. If the mom sent her husband to look for their daughter and your car was not there they might not think to look in your yard for their missing daughter. Just a thought that crossed my mind.

We own the plain set of Legos. I found them for an affordable price on Walmart.com one year. My nephew is a Lego genius or something. Every year he gets Lego sets and assembles them right away. A couple of years ago his wish list included Hobbit/Lord of the Rings. I got him a Hobbit set that year. Last year I got him this: https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Hobbit-Unexpected-Journey-3920/dp/B0081RM5JS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478969748&sr=8-1&keywords=Hobbit+lego+game. I don't think he was as excited about that one, but I thought it looked neat because it was a game. I got it when it was like $20. These prices right now on Amazon are nuts. If price was no concern I'd say add LOTR and Harry Potter to your list of themes. I do think Star Wars is going to be one of the biggest hits this year, though. As for the mini figs, I say buy with caution. I spent like $7 to get Gandolf but my nephew doesn't know that. All he knows is there was no set with it or a very small one. Not much bang for your buck there. Plug in some sets on camelcamelcamel to track prices and see the norm.

I learned this one year when ds got a little motorcycle from a dollar store and it broke the same day (I think we had put it in his Easter basket). Funny, though, the little bunny on a bike from the dollar store that was pulling a plastic egg with jelly beans lasted for years lol. I definitely think twice when I look at items there now.

Hmm does this answer your question? It says the hard candy is ok in 2016, but not in 2017: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/what-goes-in-my-shoebox-suggestions/

Without having any context, I would think there is a reason for it. Choking hazard, attracting ants or creatures, allergies?

I know some last a long time, but aren't comfortable. For me the element of comfort is a huge part of the decision. I don't want to hurt myself opening a can just because I know it can do the job. Maybe I'm just fragile lol.

I don't really see talking about segregation, for example, as "teaching opposing ideals." You are teaching that segregation existed and discussing how it affected people. So unless you just don't want your kids to know it existed or you're uncomfortable with the exercise where kids think about being in the shoes of a student that was segregated, I don't get the opposition. This is what I'm trying to understand from Minniewannabe. Or maybe she was talking about something else entirely.

I don't know how long this has been bothering you, but it sounds like years or at least since he got the phone. I think if his dad is going to address some of the issue then do it asap. I'm wondering if it has ever been addressed. I am also wondering what the pp said... how does his dad feel? Does it not affect him because he isn't home when this happens maybe? I know you sound a little nervous to address him by yelling to get out or whatever, but gently knocking on the door and saying, "hey, can you wrap it up soon because I need the shower" seems fair.

We have bought a couple on Amazon. While both were good, one was ideal because the handle didn't separate. I have bought this for my grandmother and she asked about it for someone else. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004OCMM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Maybe she's viewing it as a stubbornness/behavior issue rather than a processing type thing. I actually went and googled slow processing because aside from "sensory processing" and "auditory processing" I hadn't heard of a term like this. It appears they may be a little different? Or overlap? I need to read more. But it gave me some food for thought.

I don't know how to say this but your posts (to me) read a little bit intimidating. Maybe he is scared to tell you what he wants or how he feels so he just avoids the confrontation by hiding in the bathroom for privacy. Maybe he takes most phone calls outside of the home. Who knows. Maybe he doesn't watch tv around others because he doesn't want to get judged for his taste in shows? I hope you talk about this, but maybe open the discussion with an open-ended question. (I read the other comment and I think that's why the word intimidating came to mind but yeah basically what they said)

Both the males (child and adult) here take forever in the bathroom. What makes this so difficult for me is there is only one bathroom in the house. It's possible some of your teen's issue is health-related. I know there are some reasons my guys take longer sometimes, but other times I just wonder if their normal is just another normal. Consider probiotics? That helps ds. There is a meme out there that jokes that women have birthed babies faster than some men exit the restroom. Dh sent it to me and we had a good laugh. You like to always watch tv in front of everyone? Talk on the phone in front of everyone? Go outside all times of year to get privacy? It's starting to get cold outside. Maybe going to the poolside is not ideal. When I was a teen one parent prohibited MTV so we'd watch it in another room. Maybe he's watching something on Netflix you don't approve of. Or maybe he just prefers to watch tv alone.

Good for your dd. Sorry you are in such a tough place. I think you'll have to decide what they will approve and whether or not you can stick it out under those expectations. If not, what happens? They lose the class or what? I believe in sticking things out that I have committed to, but if they're making your job impossible then I could understand bowing out as well. I don't know if you can all come to a compromise or not. For what it's worth I was thinking about this thread today and how I would be happy to have my child in your class. I don't think that segregation is totally a thing of the past, as the private schools here were started as segregation schools and there are lingering signs of black vs. white. I am very saddened to say that dh heard a story of a student on campus say a really awful slur the other day to or in earshot of a group of students of another race. I couldn't believe it. At least the students know they can come to him with things like that. He said if it had happened in his presence he would have lectured and fined the student.