If this happens to be the friend of your daughter's that the two of you are, if I recall correctly with, living with, I would really try hard to be the bigger person and let it go. It would certainly annoy me deeply, but is it worth being right if it causes fights with roommates?

I can easily imagine a situation in which, in the course of roughhousing, a perfectly upright fellow (or lady) accidentally touched a child in an inappropriate place and then didn't know what to do. Would pointing it out and apologizing freak the kid out? I can't imagine an upright person being told by the child "you touched my privates" and that person not apologizing, explaining it was an accident, and talking to the child's parents to let them know what happened.

euros! Check out the general area where he'll be and see if there's a rail pass or museum pass that would be appealing and make financial sense. And I second the idea of a camera.

When you are dealing with an active or high metabolism person, erase the complaint of "empty calories" from your worries. Yes it is better to get nutrition from nutrition AND calorie dense foods, but if she eats calorie dense foods at school and nutrition dense foods at home, accept that as an ok baseline and then slowly work towards replacing super junky choices with healthier, still caloric, choices. We can't live like that as we age, but in college I accidentally dropped 10 lbs in a month by getting rid of all empty calories. I realized that at that time for me, my version of eating healthy was not to follow standard guidelines but to eat a variety of healthy things and then whatever else sated my hunger.

How old are they? 14? Yes 40? Other issues probably at play.

I'd consider 2 lofted twins if you aren't likely to replace them during their teen years. Twin over twin works, but the "college look" might be better for them five years down the line and I doubt they'd complain now.

Are the ceilings high enough that you could do a queen size loft for yourself in the living room? Put the sofa underneath. We stayed in an apartment with that arrangement for two weeks, and the height served to give our sleeping area some privacy.

Y'all are fantastic! There is so much out there that it really helps to narrow down the field like this. Looking at reviews, I love these ideas and will pass them along, as well as any others people want to share.

Good to hear. I was thinking that would be very good, especially in this situation. From what I understand, that one explains things well, using the "new/conceptual" methods but helping parents understand those methods. (One of her kids, in particular, has done great with conceptual math in school)

A good friend is starting to homeschool next year and we've been chatting about what she wants, but the advice I can give as the mother of preschoolers is pretty limited. I'm hoping for some help from btdt folks who can help narrow down the choices that are out there. Here's the basic situation: Mother of four kids from preschool to upper elementary. Both parents are smart and intellectually curious but with little formal education. Mother is excited but pretty nervous. Father is completely supportive. They don't want the problems that held them back in public school to affect their kids. The children are bright and no one has exhibited learning problems, but there is a hereditary risk of dyslexia that they are keeping an eye out for. They aren't sure of kids' learning styles or anything like that, which is one of the reasons they are really looking forward to homeschooling and getting to know their kids even better. Eventually the mother would love to make her own curriculum, tailored to the kids, but doesn't feel ready to do that yet. She is fine with pulling together different things for each subject so isn't really looking for "school in a box" Do you have any ideas of curriculum for the first year that will be likely to be easy enough to implement that it can build her confidence. Bonus points for things that, as you use them, teach you to teach (like how I think FLL kind of teaches how to do narrations, memorization, etc). Inexpensive is also a major plus. (I will give additional details if needed, but I have a policy to not tell other people's stories. I'm not her only source for ideas on this, but we have always talked about education stuff and I don't want to accidentally recommend something that is ridiculously complicated and makes her feel defeated.)

I also suggest looking at any museums or zoos in the area. That may not be possible where you are, but here they allow volunteers in the youth programs from 13 up. Some of my friends volunteered at the art museum. I think they led tours on occasion and helped with their children's outreach program, doing arts and crafts with kids. If there isn't that, would it be possible for her to work/volunteer at a local day care? I don't know logistically how easy that would be, but there are all different kinds, so even if the big, official one won't allow her due to age, there may be some grandmother watching a number of kids in her home who would love to have a teenager come in and do art activities with the kids once or twice a week.

Maybe look for a drop leaf table. I love them! I like your idea of a small dining table and a couple of chairs, but if some puzzles are larger than others, being able to pull up a leaf may be nice.

I personally would say something like "oh, my husband was infantry in Iraq, but he wanted Afghanistan instead. What was your MOS?" I wouldn't want to sound like what I was asking was code for "did you shoot someone," but if I'm talking to a soldier (or airman, marine, etc) I want to give them a chance to brag on themselves or their unit, if they are so inclined.

It sounds like the woman was having a rough adjustment period. I hope I would have followed up with an apology for offending and an offer to go to coffee so she could tell me what it is really like and get to vent a bit, but I probably would have stood in awkward silence. My husband is National Guard, formerly active duty who served two tours. He hasn't been deployed except for lots of one month here and there stuff, but I hate when people do the "thank you for your service" thing. It feels so rote. I won't yell at you, I'll just smile and move on, but I really don't like it and neither does he. He almost never gets thanked for his everyday work as a police officer, which is a job he likes less, gets paid less for, and is about equally dangerous, as well as being more helpful to the people who thank him for his military service. I know there are tons of bad cops but there are also tons of bad soldiers. That was just the rant I think when people thank me for my husband's military service. Good to get off my chest, and I'm sure others enjoy being thanked. It certainly isn't rude to do so, but try to say it in a personal sounding way. Another thing to chat with with a recently returned vet is his military job. It may not be the most exciting topic of conversation, but most soldiers I talk to enjoy letting you know whether they were infantry, intelligence, logistics, etc.

I'm pretty sure that seeing someone shooting up at the bus stop will be more of a deterrent than a gateway. This is coming from my prior experience as a teen rather than as a parent (at age three we've just touched on that alcohol is only for grownups, that grownups have to be careful not to drink too much, and that some grownups shouldn't drink and others just choose not to), but I think that the fact that I saw the dark side of drugs in my neighborhood long before I saw any glitzy party recreational drug atmosphere. It was partly personality, but having seen the dark side made the party side seem like a pathetic veneer.

Please let us know how it goes. We're strongly considering an immersion school when my 3 year old gets to Kindergarten age, so this time next year we'll have to decide (if we get selected). I'll be very interested in hearing your experiences.

I would avoid it with all my might. My FIL did it from the time dh was about 10 and was terrible. He listened to lots of Great Courses and such but had very limited time with kids and struggled to not be irritable during family time because he was always exhausted and stressed.

As a different kind of challenge, I recommend Pale Fire by Nabokov. It's nothing like Lolita. It sets itself up as a poem and then literary criticism of that poem, but it is actually a really funny novel. The challenge and fun comes from the way it plays with the concept of what a novel is while poking fun at self-importance and the literary world. I would have thought it would be terrible, but it is an enjoyable read. I don't recall any sex in it. At least, right after reading it I gave it to my 14 year old brother, and I wouldn't have given him anything explicit. He loved it. He's always preferred non-fiction to fiction, but this one was listed as one of his favorite books for a long time. I did warn him not to read other novels by the same author, or at least to read a review before he did so.

One of my best friends is from there, and I'm not far off so I know a little. I'll be frank with my observations. If you are white and at least nominally protestant (id expect you would need to be more than nominal for TFC), you won't notice much bigotry despite a hispanic name. There are plenty of people around there who are reasonable, and those are the folks I would expect you'd be drawn to. If you are of a different race, some people might not like your dh holding a position of respect like a prof. The reasonable people would still be fine, but the obnoxious minority would be vocal from time to time. And if your family is black-white mixed race, I would stay away. That seems to stir up more anger than anything but atheism or communism. My friend had a great childhood there with dedicated teachers and decent educational opportunities, like quiz bowl and hosting a radio show. She also didn't realize that any Jewish people live in America until late college. There aren't loads of jobs in the area, but she had no problem finding pt work in hs or over summers in college. She's living there no but looking for somewhere with more opportunities. COL will be cheap there. I would not try to live somewhere else and commute in as anywhere in commuting distance is not going to be much better in regards to small town mentality. just be prepared to look around at a lot of small towns to find the one or two neat things going on in each. As long as the culture of TFC is okay with you (look at their rules! I think they've loosened up in recent years) I would live on campus, at least at first. It's beautiful and the neighbors would be more likely to be educated.

Weird! It worked this time for me, but I've gone several times in the last couple of days, and it only worked one of th ose times. I have it bookmarked, so I wasn't mistyping. Hopefully, all's well that ends well.

Does anyone know what has happened to this website? When I try to go there, the website is down as though the hosting hasn't been paid (If that's the right terminology). It's such a kind thing the author has been doing, and it seemed she had plans to add more books. Some of her release dates had been extended with the explanation that a family member was having medical issues. I'm bummed if the site is now gone for good (though I have saved most of what was there), but I'm also concerned for the author.

I believe my children are a blessing, not because they bring delight to my days, though they often do, but because even when they are being, well, not delights to say it mildly, they bring good into my life. There are time when I want to avoid being in the same room as them, but in those times I am learning about love and self sacrifice as never before. I've grown a lot thanks to these blessings. Plus I love them dearly, even when in my mind I'm imagining being in a cartoon land where I could roll them into a ball, bounce them a few times, and they would be unharmed but learn from the experience.

I have friends homeschooling in a place where that is very unusual, and they find being able to say "we are using an American curriculum to prepare our kids for American University" works very well to avoid social awkwardness. People understand and accept that. I can't speak on the legality, sorry.

I don't have source recommendations right now, but a search term that might help you find an explanation of Genesis that combines a high view of scripture and no difficulty with science is "literary framework." Basically looks at the literary elements of Genesis to show how theological meaning is communicated. I know that's disjointed and confusing, but it is too late at night for me to edit.

This has been an interesting conversation for me to read. When I read what someone has done, be it parenting, homeschooling, or whatnot, my default assumption is that this person is just sharing their experience or thoughts that I can take or leave. Only if they make a big point of claiming expertise or use specifically "this will work for everyone" language do I think they are considering themselves experts. From what has been written here, it sounds like some others read advice as dogmatic unless it is carefully couched in caveats like "but that's just what worked for me." Of course, I do like it when people tell me what they based their ideas off of, whether that be from a single book, extensive research, personal experience as a learner or as a teacher, or from careful observation of others. I'll take the advice differently depending on what it is based on as well as how true it rings. As I've been studying so that I can be prepared if we decide to homeschool my now-preschoolers, I've been very glad to hear all sorts of advice and stories. Even when someone says "homeschooling is the worst thing you can do to your children" I listen, asking follow up questions. I may disagree with their conclusion, but usually they have very real experiences that led them to that conclusion, and I can learn something from that. I can also see that it will be very different when I'm more "in the trenches" and don't have time to sift through the wheat and chaff. ETA: I'm one of those moms who believes my children are precocious and gifted and I'm starting the three year old learning to read and do math. This is largely through play, baking, reading storybooks, and the like, but the kid also loves worksheets (and happened to ask for one just now). I'm glad I know fully well that if she stops liking it I can dial things way back. But if you tell me that a child's work is play, be prepared for me to mostly smile and nod, because that's what my kids are doing, even if their play looks a little different than what you expect.