At minimum I would let the mom know "your son had a rough day at school" and let her talk to him to find out more.

I don't have resource ideas, but for political cooking maybe look at what different governments/programs want you to eat and why. The effect of the farm bill. What would be different about our diet if the government changed which crops it subsidizes? A lot has been written, but I don't know what would be public domain. All government publications are, I think

Thanks for this! I'm looking for The Private Eye now, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like when I find it. Is it by Kerry Ruef?

Thank you for all the suggestions. I now have some books to be on the lookout for and a reminder to choose some poems and Bible passages to learn. She has always loved maps. Actually "map" was one of her favorite words. When she was not-yet-two, she loved looking at globes as well as maps of the world and our area. We were amazed, though, when we were watching Curious George together one day and he was looking at a subway map, which didn't resemble any of the other kinds of maps she'd seen. Before the show explained what it was, she pointed and yelled "map!" in delight. I think we'll start working on mapping our neighborhood and seeing how far she takes that. I also remembered that we meant to start drawing lessons. My general idea is to have some structure in place for skill-type things (large and fine motor, reading, math, drawing, music, foreign language) and follow her lead on content-type things. Of course I'd incorporate the skills in with what she's interested in as much as possible. Meanwhile, my two-year-old has started to pretend to sound out words thanks to watching his sister do so.

My daughter is three and a half and very bright (no way to know how so at this point). From September to December we were in France and had her in French preschool, but now we're back in the States and not planning on enrolling her anywhere at this point, though we'll consider Kindergarten in a couple of years and re-evaluate as need be. She did really well with French immersion and has a fantastic accent, so we plan to keep that up as much as possible using French children's songs, reading books, watching movies, etc, but we know it will likely atrophy. Right now, though, it's clear that without the exhaustion that comes from 6 hours of immersion in a foreign language, she is ready to learn lots and I want to have plenty on hand and at the top of my mind. We've just started Progressive Phonics and she's doing really well in the Alphabetti books, able to sound out the red words and blend. She enjoys the worksheets as well since they have mazes and let her practice cutting and pasting. I printed off some of MEP year 1. I looked at reception level, but she's had that stuff down for over a year. I may use it some for my two-year old's language development, but it wouldn't interest her. The first part of year one is right at her level, but it seems to ramp up significantly, so it may get put on hold. We have Kitchen Table Math, so we'll keep playing some games inspired by that. I guess I'm looking for ideas of other things to do. We do lots of reading aloud and are planning on including more chapter book read alouds. We read lots about science, anatomy in particular. She has a toy keyboard and a xylophone, so if she gets interested I'll show her some basic music reading. She has a scooter that she's gotten better at but still needs more practice, and we may get her a balance bike at some point, especially if there's one that will convert to a normal bike. I guess I'm looking for any other ideas as I bounce around my thoughts for her. Two year old brother will be tagging along with most everything. They are best buddies and he learns a lot from her. She is very level-headed and trustworthy (when not needing a nap or a snack) and loves to make her own pbj, for example. They are fantastic at independent play, especially my daughter. Since she was a young two, she could entertain herself for an hour or so with just a doll or flower or bit of cloth. She's very verbal and friendly. If she feels frustrated by something we are doing, she's able to talk through with me either "I'm tired of this. Let's come back to this later" or "This is tough, can you help me?" or even "I don't want to do this" and I'm fine with all those responses to anything academic. (Toothbrushing, etc is a different story) She has probably at least eight hours of unstructured time each day, playing indoors and out, so two worksheets, some extra snuggling up and reading, and some playing math games won't interfere in the least with "play is the real business of childhood" type play. Basically, if you have any ideas for neat things to get or do, I'd love to hear them. If you have suggestions for pitfalls to avoid, I welcome those as well. I'd love to be able to bounce this off of real-life friends but don't want to contribute to mommy-wars and I suspect that if any in my circle of acquaintances had kids working at a similar level at this age, they are keeping quiet for the same reason. My close friends either have even younger children or children who aren't quite ready for this kind of thing yet.

In Atl, you can go to "Your DeKalb Farmer's Market" for a great selection of organic loose leaf tea at great prices.

FYI.in case you want to make some clothes or something. In my area, Joannes and Hancocks both run their patterns for sale for about a dollar or two pretty often. I'm a learner, too, and I like to get patterns when they are on that sale and just learn as I go. Youtube helps a ton when I get stuck or don't understand the instructions. Starting out, make sure you get patterns that say easy or simple on them. Also know the measurements of the person you are sewing for. My size number in patterns is more than twice my size number off the rack, which is weird.

Just had a thought. Would it work in your family culture to make a treasure hunt for your kids this year? Like, in their stockings they find the first clue and their presents are else where? That way you surprise them without buying new presents. My dh's family used to do stuff like that. One clue was usually a puzzle they had to put together and the clue was on the back.

In your case, call and cancel (or text and cancel). I doubt seeing you that upset will help your dh feel good over the holidays.

Clearly just my opinion, but if I thought my husband invited them out of guilt, I would uninvite politely (dh didn't know, but we have plans that night already.). If he really wants them, though, i'd make the plan something like: inlaws arrive at five, dh entertains them while kids and I finish cooking/hide in the kitchen eating chocolate, dinner at 6, church service/ice skating at 7 with you and the kids. Dh can stay with his folks a bit if he wishes or go with you. He texts you an all clear when they are gone. The hour of dinner time is your present to dh and after Christmas you discuss how this is never to happen again. That might not work for you, in which case stick with the prior plans idea, even if the extent of those plans is "to not spend time with inlaws."

An area for water, like a drain in the floor and non slip flooring. For a water table when they are little, then maybe it could be an easy to clean messy art/science place when they are bigger. So far my kids have loved the water table from age six months to three years and can play for an hour at least with no momma needed.

I agree with others. No specific memory, but I read it as a rather prudish middle schooler and enjoyed it.

"That's one, one bat, mhahahaha" -said in your best "the Count" from Sesame Street voice.

What would he fall for? Can you respond with something that does sound like you are halfway considering some aspect of what he said? Something like "So, what do you want me to do, leave my religion and help you hunt terrorists? You know I can't leave my family." or anything that could help you gauge his level of commitment to action?

Is it possible to find out from him if he has a plan to take action? LIke text him back saying something like "you've given me a lot to think about. Do you know when all this is going to go down? How much time do I have to think this through?" If he has no timeline, maybe he is all talk. But if he does, you probably should do as previous posters suggested and give a tip to the local police to do a welfare check on him, if nothing else.

I haven't got experience with this, so ignore me if what Isay sounds off, but in your shoes id be treating him like a toddler with a knife. Id speak or text calmly and be as deceitful as necessary to gain his trust and let me get help for him and whoever else might get hurt by the "knife"

Maybe text him with something like "wow, that's intense! Do you take info like that to the police, the FBI, or what?"

About ASL, many people are unaware that American Sign Language has its own grammar distinct from English grammar. If you include learning that, It is a fascinating "foreign" language. Without the grammar you are just learning vocab which can be interesting and useful, but probably not what one would consider a real language study. Then again, many elementary students only study vocab of whatever language they are learning.

I get that micraggression is a specific technical term, but I think this thread has been focusing on individual conversations, which is what I was talking about here.

I think when we have these discussions we sometimes forget that in every conversation there are at least two people who are responsible for their own actions. If person A says something unintentionally offensive to person B, yes person B will ideally realize the intent was good and respond with good humor in a way that let's person A know that they should probably not say that again. Person A should, as soon as they realize that their words did or reasonably could cause harm or offense, apologize and do better when they know better. But if person B has had a bad day or has heard that offensive thing too many times to be gracious this time, person A should still act as I described above. And if person A is a jerk who will never change, person B should still act gracious, correcting if desired, and let it roll off their back, for the sake of their own well being. If my kid is getting offended too much, I'm going to talk to him about person B's responsibility, but if my kid is speaking thoughtlessly, we are going to chat about person A.

Those who know more please let me know if I'm off the mark, but I think the following example might be relatable to some here. In many places the dominant culture has certain ideas about how many children is "normal" and what spacing between kids is "appropriate." I have kids 17 months apart, and that is too close by some standards. Many people ask me "Oh, how old are they?" which is a run of the mill, common question to make small talk with a mom. Frequently, though, this is the first and only question I get from people at the store, at the park, in the post office, etc and the subtext of "how close are they" is often clear from tone of voice and the follow-up comment or lack thereof. It does get old. Each individual asking is, in their own mind, just being friendly and making conversation, so I just smile and answer, but by all happening to choose the same question, they reinforce that I am "other" in a way. I am in a position to choose not to take offense, but if I am visiting a church and that is the first question out of many people's mouths, its a good indicator we will not fit in well there. I am thankful this is a minor issue for me, and the result of a choice I made. I can go hang out with similar friends and feel normal. But I can imagine that if I were the only one in my town of a given race and the first question I was asked everywhere I went was "where are you from?"I would feel very other and wouldn't find it easy to find similar friends to feel normal around. Besides, we don't want to make people feel like they are only normal around "their own kind" do we? Even before hearing this term, my rule of thumb for small talk is to ask myself "what question has this person heard a million times?" Then I don't lead with that question. I may get to it later if the chit chat turns into a conversation, but by that point enough verbal and nonverbal cues have passed between me and the other person that it can be taken as I intend and be part of conversation instead of coming out as subtle exclusion.

The jokey answer comes from when I was a public schooled teen and a quiver-full family attended our church for some time. The kids wore matching clothes and called it their school uniform. (Think weird sailor-suits on a group of 2-12 year olds). Looking back, their mom probably got cloth whole sale and made the clothes to economize and the uniform idea made it more appealing to the kids, but I'm very glad that was not my first exposure to homeschooling. The more serious is to be careful what your kids repeat to others. A friend of mine doesn't mean to knock on those who public school, but her little ones say things like " I know that because I'm homeschooled. Too bad you were public schooled," to adult Sunday School teachers and the like. They are under 8, so no one expects perfect social skills, but it does sour the name of homeschooler somewhat.

Maybe try looking at Costco vs Sams to make it comparing apples and apples.

I'll work on thinking of a term- that no one will use but me! I love your use of the neologism "neologize." It made me laugh.

As a white Southerner from a large, diverse city, I didn't know until college in a small town that watermelon and fried chicken were a stereotypically black food. I had just thought they were stereotypically Southern. Actually learned a lot of microaggressions there, though I didn't know what to call them. One day I was riding with some friends in a small city and was puzzled to hear the doors suddenly lock. I asked why, and my friend responded that he was watching out for that sketchy looking guy we just passed. I had to laugh "you mean that elderly man in a bow tie!?" They didn't notice the bow tie, just the skin color. Is there any other term besides microaggression for this? A term that could be more gently used to help people see when they are being unintentionally harmful in their speech or action?