In July my 23yodd's scheduled for a trip to Italy. Does anyone know of a few good online sources where she could learn the basics of the Italian language? To date she's only been listening to an Italian radio station online. She could really use something online to help her learn the basics of speaking and understanding the spoken language. Dd's fluent in French but hasn't studied other romance languages. She's in college full-time and works part-time so this has to be something she can fit in her schedule and work on in her leisure time between now and July. Care to share any links?

When my college kids were younger we always got free end rolls from our local newspaper. Each end roll would last forever, in fact, I still have a roll. We use it now for gift wrap with pretty ribbon.

It really depends on which colleges you apply to and also on where you live. I'm in MI. When my 2 girls applied to colleges the schools only asked to see their transcript. One dd took ACT so they also asked for ACT score. Other dd who is LD didn't take ACT or SAT. We only showed her high school transcript and put her straight into community college while finishing high school. She's developing a paper trail while in CC so next year when she begins at the university for her 3rd and 4th years she'll only need to show her CC transcript. For high school we never used an accredited program and nobody asked to see high school test scores or work.

We're going to a baby shower in a couple weeks. It's for the pregnant daughter of a gal I know from church but I don't know her daughter all that well because she's been living out of town. They've asked each guest to bring a children's book with an inscription written inside the front cover. What would you write for an inscription if you didn't know the mom that well? The book is Jan Brett's _The Mitten_ . It was one of my girls favorite book when they were little. Soooo, what would you write? Thanks.

Tess, I've already read many amazon reviews on all her books. Just wanted to get opinions here. Surely someone here has a great Mexican cookbook which they just love and recommend to everyone??? Do tell!

Anyone familiar with most of Kennedy's Mexican cookbooks? I'm wanting to purchase one of her books and can't decide between two of them. Please help me make a choice. I understand most of her recipes are time-consuming and I "get that" with Mexican cooking but my time is limited. If one of these books has more recipes which are quicker to prepare than the other, I want the quickie book;) . Also, if there is a difference with availability of odd ingredients, I'd prefer the book which will allow me to find the ingredients. These are the two books I'm considering: My Mexico, published in 1998, ISBN: 0609602470 I read somewhere that this book has her memoir in it??? and The Essential Cuisines of Mexico (P), her latest book published in Oct 2009, ISBN: 030758772X It seems that Kennedy is the guru of Mexican cooking. If you know of a better Mexican cookbook, I'm open to suggestions but please tell me why your suggestion is better. Thank you...

Youngest dd is a 2nd yr CC student struggling with learning disabilities, type 1 diabetes and Bipolar Disorder. The other is a college junior. Now that we're through homeschooling at least for the most part, I have a huge amount of books to unload. Once I get time to sort and set aside all the books we don't want to keep I'll probably ask local homeschool friends to take what they want and whatever's left, I'll donate to the Homeschool Building here in our city. I could use the money but I don't have the time or the desire to try and sell all this stuff. At least this way I'll know that it's all going to others who can use it.

I believe that "Jean in Wisc" has used it some for high school. Don't know if she's been posting lately but you can probably contact her through her blog: http://www.shadesofwhite.typepad.com/

That was my 19yodd when she was that age. We didn't know it then but after several wrong diagnoses, just last year at age 18 we finally had her properly diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.

This is not what you asked but--- I knew an older lady who did the reverse mortgage thing. The house was totally destroyed by flood/hurricane and then the bank, who owned the house, tried to stick her with the value of the house before it was destroyed. You have to be very careful with reverse mortgages.

Hi Nadia, If your son is lonely and shy I would try to find activity with other kids his age IRL rather than on the computer. Learning to make good friends is a skill that can be quite challenging for a shy, quiet kid. My oldest was that way for years and it was hard for her too. What about a book club with other boys his age at your local Barnes & Noble? Or snowboarding where ever young boys snowboard, Boy Scouts, volunteer work. I know you have a large family so I'm trying to think of activities with other kids that don't cost much but my mind is drawing a blank. Maybe someone else can come up with ideas. If money's not an issue you could look to all sorts of activities like skiing, basketball, fencing, hiking club, rock climbing group. Do your local colleges have classes for young kids his age? They do here. Is he at all into arts or crafts? Maybe a class at Hobby Lobby or Michael's? Does he like to dance? Maybe Irish tap dancing?

OK, I have to ask--- Those of you who say "get the big one".... do you have a large family? We are a small family of four and will probably only use this once every 1-2 weeks.

Thank you, Parrothead. Any others care to cast their vote?

For a family of four who do *occasional* deep frying for fish, chicken and the like, which of these would you choose? Also, our counter space is very limited... small kitchen... but I'm wanting the fryer which will best do the job. Presto 05466 ProFry Stainless-Steel Dual-Basket Immersion-Element 12-Cup Deep Fryer, $64 Presto 05420 FryDaddy Electric Deep Fryer, $24 FryDaddy holds 4 cups of oil. Please don't recommend a highly more expensive brand. Can't afford it. Thanks..

Thank you for your reply, Suzanne. I just began researching this so I'm not sure what I will find. I don't want the cheapie junkie ones for kids. This will be for adults to use.

Where would you go to compare karaoke machines and to purchase one? What would be a good price range for a decent one, not the cheapest piece of trash, but not the top of the line? Maybe something in the middle range? And this would only be for adults to use. Thanks..

He needs to understand that these things happen and move on to Plan B. Colleges have a number of reasons for rejecting applicants. My oldest had her heart set on Hillsdale. They offered her a decent scholarship but she would have been living on campus. She couldn't afford to pay room and board and the scholarship wouldn't have covered it so she had to turn them down. She went with her second choice and we see that it's been a very good fit for her. We may not see it right away but sometimes there is a good reason when things don't go our way.

That depends on how sneaky your child may be. I know someone with an 18yods who was only exhibiting excellent behavior for many, many years. Then all of a sudden they began suspecting something odd, checked his history and discovered gross porn use. When they confronted the son he admitted to viewing internet porn for the last ten years. The parents never had a clue. If you ever catch one of your kids with regular porn use, you will quickly begin believing in that level of control. Trust me, my friends wish they had years ago.

For those of you who say your college kids do more writing than what my dd shared-- Keep in mind that most college professors seem to prefer less writing of excellent quality over more writing which is mediocre to poor. That's what my dd sees in her TA work. And her school doesn't have a high percentage of ex-homeschool students so her findings may be way off from how homeschoolers are performing in college. She's always telling me how much time she puts into retraining freshmen in their writing skills so that they will have a chance at succeeding in their classes. Of the freshmen she helps, most of them are in Honors Program and yet... they've entered the program with less than stellar writing skills. That's all she's saying here and I'll quote here again part of what she shared.

This is just a "heads up" for something I posted down below in the thread entitled: "Amount/type of writing each week for your 9th/10th grader?" My oldest dd, who is a junior in college and working as a TA in the Honors Program at her school, emailed me some info that a few of you may find helpful for determining what to cover in high school to prep your kids for college writing. I thought I would pass it along. Hope it helps a bit. Here's the link in case it gets lost in the shuffle: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139251 . You just have to scroll down and you'll see what my dd sent me.

My two kids are in college. Since one of my main goals with high school writing was to prepare my kids for college writing. I thought I would run this by my oldest dd, a college junior. This is what she had to say: Good Lord, Momma! You want me to dig up my college freshman writing assignments? If a description from memory suffices, then... French - no real writing assignments. Maybe 1 paragraph descriptions of myself, my friends, my house, etc. (in French, obviously). Biology - no papers, just filling out lab forms. History - multiple little reading responses. I recall a 1-page minimum. It was just to make sure we kept up with the reading; they weren't even graded. Dr. ------ just counted them as participation points. Spreadsheets - no papers. Art Appreciation - three 2-3 page papers responding to specific pieces of art at different venues; basically a free-write on how we felt about what we saw. American Government and Politics - little outlines to show we were reading and three 2-3ish page media analysis papers (very light research: just comparing different media outlets) Intro Psychology - one 3-4 page paper that was drawn strictly from the text (no research; just regurgitation) Intro to Information Lit - no papers. This was the class that prepared you to write research papers (see below). Algebra - no papers World's Living Religions - one 10-page, research-intensive paper. NOTE: This is typically a junior/senior class. Molly suggested I take it because she felt I was ready for it writing-wise. To sum it up, for first year, 100-level courses, the writing was not at all intensive and barely research-based. They were mostly designed to make sure we were working and start getting us used to writing papers. Second year jumped into research, sooooo... Based on my personal experience as a student and a TA, there are two essential components of preparation for college writing • Familiarization o Know HOW to research. This is strictly mechanics. Know how to pick a topic, formulate an outline, find academic sources, when/how to cite sources. o Know the college's resources. If this isn't covered in a tour/general education requirement class, go to the library and ask a librarian to show you what options you have for research: databases, full-text online journals, microforms, bounds, periodicals, books, interlibrary loans, etc. This will be how you find information for a paper. NOTE: Ask a librarian, not a circulation assistant. Circ assistants won't know/remember everything. o Know what's academic! Most professors do not consider encyclopedic entries as scholarly, nor things from publications like TIME / Newsweek. o Know when to cite. Actually, my advice is to cite the bejeebers out of papers: professors have become sharks about plagarism and if you're not extreeeemely careful, you could wind up in the dean's office looking at suspension/expulsion. • Organization o Know how to organize your research process, your information, and your paper. This is CRUCIAL. I can't tell you how many papers I've seen (from peers and mentorees) that ramble all over the place: they start a thought, leave it, and sometimes come back to poke at it once more towards the end of a paper. It makes for very incoherent reading. Come up with a system that keeps you organized and on target once you start your paper. That's my two cents worth.

If you're just looking for a great conservative college which does not accept gov't funding, Hillsdale is one of the best in the country, hands down. Academically, Hope does not really compare at all to Hillsdale. Again, you may have to lean towards state schools for the best research programs but call the colleges in question to get your questions answered.

If he wants to do medical research, check out Univ of MI. My dd tells me that they have excellent medical programs. She thought their Ann Arbor campus heads up their medical research but she's not sure. Contact UofM and ask them. A state college might be your best bet for the field he wants to study.

Calvin College is HUGE compared to Hope. If your child prefers smaller colleges have her focus on Hope or Hillsdale.

Good advice. I'm curious too. What is more important than her taking ACT in December? If you truly think she can do much better I'd clear the schedule for that Dec testing date. My dd did a 29 first time which would have given her decent scholarship but then her second time she scored a 30 and ended up with 3/4 scholarship at a private school. Every point can make a difference although I do know that a 25 is still above the national average.