I have tried many things and this is the bane of my existence, so you are not alone. What finally did work was to say they had to make room for toys from Santa Claus. "I don't know how Santa's going to even fit that in here, kids. You don't have any space. He might even just take some stuff away. I mean look at this place." I swear, my daughter dumped all her beloved dollies all at once and said, "I want a new bike." :lol: So, that could work. I also think culling the toy population, anything without a face, while they are out could work, but in my house I face consequences. They remember.

I answered, sure, if it's free. I'm assuming it's like the cop talk or the nurse talk. I mean cops and nurses aren't looking at the best of humanity all day either! But they usually can manage to make it nice. If the kids wanted to go, I'd let them, sure.

What a nightmare. I am sorry.

What an awful allergy! Garlic is in everything! And they don't think to label it, either. "Spices"

I need a location. Business casual in New York is one thing, another in Florida, yet another in LA and still another in Seattle--not to mention, Minneapolis. Yes, it's academia, but location makes a difference.

If I was not given information about risks, I might consider it. Or I might sue on behalf of a relative who was obviously incapable of making those decisions or comprehending a risk statement, if I felt they'd been unduly pressured to have something of a cosmetic surgery. I wouldn't say never. But I think this is a common risk for some eye surgeries, so provided they followed procedure and your mother at least appeared to be able to make decisions, no, I would not. I am, however, very sorry she's facing this ordeal. :( It always seems like the risks are small until it happens to you. I hope she finds something that works to resolve her issues.

As if you couldn't just buy a fountain pen??? Anyway, most people learned to write cursive with graphite or lead. I call bull about the demise of cursive--I think it's the keyboard--but I do agree that fountain pens are lovely.

Yes. You're right. She is also batshit crazy.

"Addiction is a state characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite adverse consequences. It can be thought of as a disease or biological process leading to such behaviors." I am addicted to caffeine and alcohol. Just because you can stop any time doesn't mean you're not addicted. Addiction is something else. True, there are good things about caffeine and alcohol if you drink them in moderation in the healthiest forms, but overall, drinking less of both would probably be good for me. I'm cutting both for lent and I don't drink alcohol some times, but most nights I think, wow, I need to relax. I think I'll have a glass of wine. I would be lying to myself if I thought, "That's not addiction." It's addiction. I still don't drink when I'm on business trips to dry countries, or during certain times of year. I don't worry about that. But I'm addicted. I was addicted to nicotine, read Allen Carr's Easy Way to Quit Smoking and I quit in a day. But my brain still tells me: nicotine was really nice at helping focus. And it was. It actually was. Nicotine is actually a really effective treatment for ADHD in some cases. It's actually really nice. But I quit because it's extremely addictive and I didn't want my kids growing up around that. But what does it feel like? I'm still addicted though I don't smoke. It feels like--you know how sometimes you're next to your little one and you just have to hug them? Like that. Except that it's not a hug. It's something that fools the brain into thinking you're getting something as wonderful as a hug when you're not. You're just getting something that pokes your brain in the right way. Wine is more like a hug. Coffee is like exercise. Cigarettes are like magic, pure magic. Like a magic purple cloud that makes you able to do the whole math test without blinking. Marijuana... that's like flying, at least the kind that I like. Some say that drugs don't work, that they just make you think they're working. Maybe that's true for some people. But for me, they work. It takes self-restraint to say, "No, even if reality is less fun, being a member of the community is more important than happiness, and also drugs are super expensive and prevent me from working (since I can't legally smoke at work in most of the US), so I will soon devolve into a life of crime." But I am a prime drug user candidate. Food doesn't do it for me. Hugs don't do it for me. Music and sex almost get me there. Drugs? They make me feel like other people appear to feel all the time. Happy. Alert. Complete. I don't mind not being happy, alert, and complete but sometimes it's frustrating when society expects you to be happy. I'm kind of an existentialist so happiness, well... I dunno, I'm reading a book on the genocide of my people, what can I say? Wine helps. I can feel happy without thinking happy thoughts, because there are no happy thoughts for me that overcome the things I think of... when you see homeless, drug recovery, every day, when you come back from the crapulous of the world, when your father has cancer, how can you feel happy? But it never ends, the problems of the world. I'm a brown woman working in the public sector. My happiness comes from serving others. And drugs. Drugs make reality go away. It's wonderful. (Except not in the long run.) Has my brain been altered? Probably, but that's not it. I was born thinking about the problems of the world, I guess. I was never able to totally forget my problems except when skiing but I don't live in Siberia, so oh well. It's not like drugs made me need them to be happy. I wasn't happy before either. Is it too hard? No. I quit smoking no problem and I quit alcohol every so often for my liver and I have quit coffee three times in ten years for what is technically longer than the physical addiction period. I just happen to know that there was never a time when I felt 100% okay and focused and happy and drugs make my moods more like other people's. It's not like if I quit I'd be normal. The whole reason I drink coffee is that I wasn't focused enough! I drink wine because I wasn't relaxed enough (and yes, I've done yoga, I've done meditation). The drugs work. They worked from day one. I remember the first time for each drug, legal, that I tried, thinking, "Oh, yep. I get it." I never realized how screwed up I was by society's standards until I met my current partner. He's so normal. He doesn't need drugs. He is what a person is supposed to be. He's a white guy. We have the same SAT scores and the same ability at many games that we've both played since childhood, but he's normal. He's happy.

Funny, I thought, it's too bad this wasn't me. I'd have gone on for a talk with the teacher and the principal and straightened this policy out once and for all. We public school and I don't mind participating in stuff like this. In fact I do it all the time!

I'd call them back. The squeaky wheel and all.

Every day is no bra day at my house. Screw that. I don't even like camisoles.

Martha Stewart has an amazing but extremely time-consuming baked mac and cheese. Otherwise what I'm really making is an Alfredo pasta...

Cod is not the only fish that has worms in it, is the problem.

I drive past homeless encampments daily so I need to make sure this kid does not need a sandwich at least. Please let us know what we can do.

Dear me, Ellie. How is the half-sister? This poor kid.

Lip bum is hilarious. We pronounce it "balm" rhymes with calm and palm so I don't get the error but what a silly thing to call it. Does she not know what a bum is? That's what I find surprising.

Ugh. Marney. "So that's a yes for Friday, no for Saturday. Got it. I'll get all the responses together when I can and let you know. Cheers!" I would not even respond to what's the deal. Wth.

I'm so sorry.

Math books can be bought for a fraction of the price just a year later because the problem sets get old. Rent then buy used. So. Much. Cheaper. Even for math. And for computer science, lol. We can't pay people to haul off cause textbooks from long ago. In a hilarious turn of events, the textbooks that were cheapest to begin with--my classics and philosophy books--are now the highest price at any garage sale. VINDICATION!

I work in higher Ed, have a HS student, my partner is a college student, and I finished my third degree about two years ago. I'll answer for all of us. ;) Programming scripts, including for applied math, essays, and presentations are uploaded. Weekly quizzes online for qualitative work sometimes, tests in class. Math homework is on paper and graded by hand. Proofs were graded line by line, by hand. Stats homework was turned in weekly, graded by hand. Code for plots and tables was printed out and graded by hand. One instructor required paper and pencil hand coding on exams, another did not. I would have loved to be in regentrude's class. That sounds fun.

I think there is a difference between 100-level + math, which is technically "college level", and the math required to get a degree. By "college level math" I mean math at 100-level and above. However in our state I'm pretty sure you need calculus (AP or completed at An accredited CC or university) or something like what Corraleno described to get a BA. This is to allow for English or fine arts majors. We do not use the term remedial on acknowledgment of the fact that some students are not RE mediating, but getting the material for the first time. Basic skills would be pre-HS, then pre-college, then college. The point is to describe where the math is on the continuum, NOT where the person is because life paths are non-linear and we don't want to label people. We feel okay labeling the math sequence.

I don't think "bonehead math" is actually the commonly used term. We have students from all over and all backgrounds and we use the term basic math, pre-college math, and then college-level math. That said, I agree with you on one thing, that "college-level math" is in fact algebra. You cannot get an associate transfer degree with only algebra here--you must get to pre-calc I believe--but you can get your college-level math for a workforce / technical degree using a path through statistics. Algebra is "college-level math" in the sense that it counts towards college credits earned, whearas pre-college math does not count towards a degree. So yeah, it's college-level math but it's not enough to graduate with a bachelor's degree. For the bachelor's you would need up through calc OR I believe something like three straight quarters plus symbolic reasoning. It's changed but you get the idea. I am offended by the term bonehead, but that's not what I'm asking you to consider. I'm asking you to think of those students here who will struggle through basic and pre-college and finally college-level math even with an excellent homeschool education, and think of how their parents would feel knowing that they just barely passed these math courses. At our college, while the material isn't rocket science, the testing of those skills is rigorous, and some people do take it twice. They aren't the most numerically-minded in the world but they aren't boneheads. Many of them are quite brilliant seamstresses, airline mechanics, chefs, and so on. Some of them will get their bachelors' and even masters' degrees, in fact--perhaps not in computer science, but certainly in other rigorous fields. There's no bonehead English, no bonehead math, and no bonehead science in my book. There are courses for those at the beginning and then courses for those who've already completed some of the journey.

I swear to god what. is. wrong. with. men. sometimes. I'm the least empathetic woman I know and even I wouldn't say that.

That is very tough to watch. :( I am not opposed to holding back for K if the child is not ready but this sounds like something different.