For something you are requesting, I think by the end of the next business day is reasonable. Since you requested over a week ago and also over 24 hours ago, I would keep calling and leaving a message each day stating on each message you atleast need a call back to acknowledge that someone isn't dropping the ball on your request.

The good swim lessons here are $25 per 40 minute group class. So $250 for a 10 week weekly session with no sibling discount. We were taking money out of our savings to pay for them for both kids. However, the kids don't get much opportunity to put the lessons into practice since we don't live in a neighborhood with a pool. The summer camp they go to has a swallow pool, plus they play instead of swim anyway. The local Y makes them wear a life jacket unless I stay in arm's reach, so they can't practice there well....and the area pools are either too wild at free swim or too expensive. We dropped swim lessons until we figure out a solution to get them to practice b/n sessions.

These are my thoughts exactly. If some people who live in town offer a home, restaurant invitation, or gathering place for the grieving family to come to after the service it is fine (as long as the immediate family is up for a visit with others after the funeral visitation and funeral service). But, planning a funeral for a loved one in itself is difficult...I would also not expect the immediate grieving family to plan a social gathering in addition to the visitation and service. That's even if the family is local. I always expect others who attend the funeral to cater to the family, not the family cater to those who come to express condolences. Knowing that none of the family lives there, the friends should understand about not being invited somewhere after the service. I don't even think an explanation for not having a reception is necessary unless the family wants to have an explanation. IMHO, either the friends in town should plan it if they think to do so (understand if they don't think about it, especially since many are elderly) or the in law that mentioned it in the 1st place should plan it (provided that in law is attending, not immediate family, and is able to do so). ETA: I too am sorry for your loss.

I would gently ask the children of the deceased if a gathering after the service is something they would like to have offered before planning it. It may be that with the planning of the funeral, the longer trip, visitation prior to the service, and the funeral they are not up for gathering with the friends in town after the service is finished. If they would like a gathering, usually here only the family members and closest friends come. it's mainly something a group, such as a church, offer to minister to the family that day. As an aside: Last week I planned a post funeral meal for a church member. The SIL said 10-15 people at the most would attend, so I planned for 25 just in case. Turned out almost everybody came from the funeral... About 35. Everyone ate, but less than I would have liked. So try to be clear on a rough estimate of how many will be invited (the family only or all the friends as well.)

How much is a fair price to pay a professional for cleaning the vent if it goes through a long pipe? The kit linked to above looked great, but we don't have a shop vac and our pipe is long (maybe 15 or more feet with atleast one angle). I know we can do the cleaning from one side, then the other, but I am afraid of not getting all the lint, as we have never had the pipe cleaned. I don't think our parents ever did this as maintenence either. Our well used old dryer has been slowly dying over the past couple years. Today it just died. It may be a simple fix, but we are ready to replace it. I thought about this thread and checked the vent pipe at the outside of our house. It is loaded with lint! No telling what I will find when we unhook the dryer from the vent duct hook up site tomorrow! Dh and I are not good homeowners. We thought we were fine just emptying our tiny vent trap on the actual dryer machine after every load. After considering this thread, we have declared not to get a new dryer until after vent pipe is cleared of lint. Thank you OP for this timely thread. Replacing the dryer plus possibly paying for someone to clean the pipe isn't an expense I am looking forward to. Atleast I can have more peace of mind once it does get cleaned AND my kids will get their 1st ever fieldtrip to the laundrymat next week while we wait on the cleaning.

Dh just upgraded from a 96 Toyota 4Runner with 220000+ miles to an 04 4runner with 130000+ miles. The 96 4Runner mostly needed routine maintenance with a few unexpected repairs here and there. It did start burning more oil the past year he had it, and he expected it to need a replacement engine soon had he kept it. The 04 4Runner seems good as new to us. We hope to keep it 200000+ miles and hand it over to one of our kids in 10 years. The Pontiac and Buick I drove way back when, before dh came on the scene, both needed too many repairs at around 100,000 miles. Dh had a hard time convincing me a used 100,000+ mile well maintained Toyota or Honda was a better deal than a 50,000 mile cheaper car. I now have an 06 Toyota Highlander with 150000+ miles that drives great. The former owner was meticulous about maintaining it well. We hope this vehicle also lasts long enough to get passed down to one of our kids in 10 years. I'll bump this thread in 8-10 years if it actually happens. One thing to consider on mileage is highway vs. in town driving. I understand a mostly highway driven vehicle lasts longer. I am far from expert in knowing if that is true.

Nm

I have these books downloaded onto my tablet from a year ago. For curiousity I just went to the website and the homepage along with the book I viewed was in English (Intermediate book 1). What language are you viewing yours in? It would be great to have these books in Spanish, lol. Are you sure you are on the official site or a site by a similiar name?

OT, but here's a vent along those lines... Are you saying that you have an aversion to monthly fundraisers where children are forced to sale overpriced wrapping paper and cheap cookie dough for the schools? And the pizza parties they talk up to the students who go out and sale atleast $50 in overpriced junk? Then the kids come home and cry because they won't get to attend the pizza party because they only sold $30 worth of stuff, and the parents don't want to buy another $20 worth of cookie dough to make up the difference? (I told ds when he was heartbroken about this in ps K that he could have 2 pizzas to himself for $20 I would save by not buying the stuff.) Or the coupon books that cost way too much money to get 1/2 price at all these overpriced restaurants and entertainment venues? Or the school fundraising at $5 a scoop/cone ice cream places that the principal announces at the end of the school day, " tell your family to go to IceCream Joe's tonight so our school can make 10% of the proceeds spent." Then little Billy gets excited at school pick up because surely mom will want to go (since the principal told the kids their parents should take them there in an exciting way), and mom doesn't have $20 to splurge on one IceCream cone each for a family of 4 just because it's Tuesday night and there's nothing to celebrate! Wow, just the above in K was enough reason to homeschool. Although, it's far from the only reason we homeschool. Sorry for veering off the thread topic, but couldn't resist the opportunity to let that frustration out, lol.

"I'm starving".....can't stand the phrase! I correct dh and dc if they say it. They have never missed a meal unless sick or not hungry at meal time. If dh or dc have to wait more than an hour or two late for a meal (which is rare) they get annoyed. I get annoyed at them in return for not being okay with a food delay when food is in such abundance in our everyday lives. Dh has stopped complaining about a rare meal delay after my lecturing about it since he now agrees with my point. People actually do starve in real life! We are so spoiled (and blessed) to never have experienced true food deprivation. I also don't like, "are you okay?" in situations where someone is obviously not okay (be it emotional or physical).

I care ;)

I agree with this, I was actually an OB nurse at a different hospital a few years prior to this delivery. I had never heard of the pretzel position prior to my own labor experience. I had the best L&D nurse in the world who said she thought it helps in some cases. But typically what was described as the standard "labor didn't progress after Pitocin which max rate so off to the C-section suite is sadly the more common scenario. The OB that delivered my son also did high forceps instead of letting me push much at all....ONLY because he was very skilled in forceps delivery and he suspected the baby's heart rate would drop with too much pushing. He didn't want me to end up with an emergency C-section. He knew I wanted the lowest intervention birth possible and that unfortunately wasn't happening. A different doctor in the practice told me she wouldn't have tried the high forceps delivery, but would have likely suggested a C section vs. me pushing if she was on call, but she agreed that my particular OB had the best skills in forceps delivery within the hospital. I am thankful that the C section was saved as a last resort in my case, but agree elsewhere a doctor may not have tried repositioning for optimal labor and a risky forceps delivery. Also, they gave me a day and half for the Pitocin to get me from 1 to 10 cm as long as the baby tolerated the labor, and a more typical OB would have declared a C section necessary after 8-12 hours of trial induction.

My OB doctor suspected posterior position during my 1st induced labor (didn't check by US or palpating, just thought so from my back labor, the length of labor, and maybe feeling the fontanels on the baby's head when the baby's head moved down some late in labor). The OB had me lay in a position called pretzel position. I layed partially on my stomach with a pillow toward the side and bent one leg up (I guess I was supposed to resemble a pretzel in some way?????). After about an hour in that position, I heard a huge amount of static on the baby monitor machine like tHe earth was moving inside me <<<exaggeration>>>. I couldn't feel much because they had given me extra epidural medicine. When the baby was born, he was born facing down. I suspect he flipped while when I heard all the movement on the monitor. But we don't know that for sure. I do think if the baby was posterior prior to doing the pretzel position, the OB saved me from a C-section from having me try that position. I had very low amniotic fluid and a stressful labor. I am convinced my baby couldn't had handled the extra long pushing stage that usually happens with a 1st pregnancy posterior birth.

I think educational neglect can be vague to define. By 1st world standards post 1900 it *might* mean failure to teach the 3Rs to the degree they are routinely taught within a given age range (a bare minimum standard might be: children should be reading to some degree past early readers, doing basic multiplication and division, and able to write a few sentences by the end of 4th grade/able to take a basic bubble filled multiple choice test, read a book, and write a book report by the end of 8th grade). However, ancient people groups survived just fine without educational standards and pen/paper education. In pioneer times, some boys sometimes got a bare minimum education in the 3Rs, while learning survival skills for tough times when farms didn't produce crops and winters were harsh with minimal shelter and heat (thinking Little House books....cheesy example, I admit). While I am all for top notch education in the 3Rs, I feel we are severely lacking in teaching our children to survive life circumstances if all our modern conveniences were stripped away (thinking famine, natural disaster, war, etc....). A primitive life style tribal group can look into our educated society and consider us neglectful for not training our children to survive off the land. It is common to feed our children mostly junk foods as a society (junk foods being a loose term with different definitions among various people, I admittedly do not feed my dc the best foods all the time). It isn't consider neglect to only feed a child fast food or junk foods even though those children grow up sick. They have a poorer quality of life because at some point they have heart problems, strokes, diabetes, or major colon issues long term. However, it is considered neglect to not teach school by 1st world standards post 1900. It isn't considered neglect to not make children exercise and do enough chores for physical strength if a child had to do hard manual labor to survive (again, admitting that I don't challenge my dc in physical strengthening as I should). It isn't considered neglect to allow our children do nothing but watch TV or play video games all day when not in school, yet doing so can limit future adult opportunities and drive for those children to be actual productive adults someday. Then there are some people out there that should not reproduce due to lack of proper parenting ability, yet we can't define or regulate who should and shouldn't be allowed to have children. I guess what I am saying is neglect is subjective depending on whose looking in. Being fed, clothed, sheltered, and loved (free of physical or emotional abuse) is the only standard I can think of that is a *must* regulation by outsiders for all humans across the board that would ever be practical to regulate. I would LOVE for education by my higher standards to be a must, but proper education is such a gray area depending on what society and time period in which one exists. Sorry for the babbling and lack of clarity. It is late. And I don't have time to edit.

Maybe because it's "old school" ;) I have enjoyed reading it, as I myself lean towards old school homeschool with the exception of youtube, Wikipedia, and advice forums being my educational lifelines.

Thanks for clarifying my error. I hadn't read about the shipping on the website, but called them to ask about shipping rates recently before I ordered a few things from them. They told me on the phone the shipping was 11% unless I ordered the larger amount to bring it to 10%. My order was just a tad over the $45, I didn't know it was a flat rate of under $45. I'll keep that in mind as I was thinking of ordering just a couple small things from them for next school year.

No advice, but I would be inclined to listen to the rheumatologist over the general practioner in this situation for now. The rheumatologist sees a huge percentage of autoimmune patients, whereas the general MD doesn't see autoimmune patients day in and day out for the bulk of the day. Although, it is possible the the general MD is more up-to-date and thoroughly educated on how live vaccines affect people with suppressed immune systems. If you don't know this is the case, I would hold off and if possible see if you can get a different expert opinion. It really puts you in a tough spot to have one MD telling you if you don't get the vaccine you may get really sick and another MD tell you if you do get the vaccine you may get really sick, then leave it up to you to decide which opinion you want to go with. It would be nice if both MDs did more research on your behalf, seeing there are opposite medical opinions on the matter.

Other than other options mentioned here's another idea..... Use it as the bottom or top crust in a baked Mexican casserole. If it is in a tube, slice it thin and spread into a thin layer on top and/or bottom of the casserole filling. If it is the kind you prepare yourself, let it cool till solid, then mold into into a crust layer. It has the conistency and taste of tamales' outer corn breading wrap when baked this way. Another idea is warm it and use it instead of pasta in a spaghetti dish.

editing this out because I had JAWM when nearly 1/2 the USPS staff at our zip code's office in the city didn't show up to work after most ice melted and the rest of the city got back underway (except schools whose busses can't travel in any inclement weather). I apologize if I hurt anyone's feelings. I was just aggravated because the roads everyone else went to work in our area. I totally do not think anyone need to be out on dangerous roads, I was just taken aback by the high percentage that didn't show after the weather improved and AT OUR LOCAL OFFICE ONLY (except for rural roads, the rest of the city got mail...but 1/2 our zip didn't and even people commented on a local group site how odd it was for the one day when the weather was better)as this has never happened before in even worse weather (when in those times I was shocked the mail did come). Again, I apologize for complaining. I have let it go, and thank you for the insights and other perspectives below. Truly, it's a 1sst world problem and I am sorry.

The shipping is 11% of the order no matter how few or many LU you buy. (If you spend over a certain larger amount it only goes down a few percent).

My son went to ps K at 5 and thrived. I felt sorry for the kids who weren't quite ready for 120 sight words. I did a relaxed K with dd at 5, with some formal math, writing, and reading/phonics. Looking back I would have waited until 6.5 (just recently) to start any formal work with the 3 R's (would had snuck those things in with everyday life like I did before age 5). It was a struggle to get her through basic adding and reading until a few months ago. But now she is thriving with reading and starting to understand math concepts better. What is only taking a few minutes to to teach her in the 3rs now, took weeks for her to grasp a year ago.

Wow, I wonder how much it will cost to insure the book? Our house is worth in the neighborhood of the book price!

Just for encouragement, both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington Carver got very late starts (atleast 10 or into their early teens if I remember correctly) in their education. That's even later than what the Moore's known for The Better Late Than Early educational approach recommend (age 8ish maybe). They turned out to be tremendously brilliant and successful. Do Not.....I repeat......Do Not, load them up with extra work this school year to try to catch up with those that started with the WTM method. There are gaps with any education, I am certain your dc have picked up things in other areas of life and education the past years that WTM doesn't cover. They will be fine if you slowly switch out your current methods and materials with WTM ones over the next year. They won't be behind.

I'm having my 8yo do oral narration to some of his readings. He started oral narration at age 6.5. A few weeks ago I started correcting some of his narrations (things like starting each sentence with "and then um" and "the guy told the other guy about" etc....). The next step is for me to write down some of his oral narrations and have him review it. From there I plan to walk him through paragraph and sentence formation, punctuation marks, spelling, and grammar using his narrations. Hopefully, this will ease into his forming his own written narrations over the next 1-2 years. He does occassional have a simple writing assignment from an extracurricular class like "write about your favorite sport" , "tell me about yourself and your family", or "write about what you know about the Civil War." For just the mechanics of writing, I am having him go through a beginning cursive Copywork book, I make sure his writing from his other subjects (like math worksheets and spelling dictation) is neat, and when I am right beside him try to pay attention that he is using the correct posture/grip/letter formation.

Another vote for letting him write answers in colored pencils, decorate the borders, or draw pics in the extra space. Or maybe get some colorful stickers and either you or him put some stickers on the pages. I like CLE almost as much as MEP even though their approach is different.