The Great Recession? Which caused a bunch of older people to return to college (or go for the first time) because if they were unemployed anyway, they might as well finish a degree or get a second degree for a more employable field or w/e. It could even have made normal college-age students be more cynical towards certain statements about the economy or public policy or w/e. (or, of course any of the other possible reasons that have been mentioned in this thread)

Except that in NYS, you can't just do w/e you want, even as a homeschooler. I'm not there yet, but iirc, at the higher grade levels you have to teach certain subjects for specific numbers of hours per subject, covering specific things (even now, I have to cover specific stuff like "fire safety"). Btw, not saying that homeschoolers in NY aren't homeschoolers... just that the lines of "well, the parent decides graduation criteria etc" get blurred in a high regulation state.

Or, you can look up some places near where you're planning to buy on zillow or w/e - they list lot sizes (sometimes only acreage, sometimes actual dimensions). So, I was right - the house we're currently renting sits on a 30x125 lot.

When we lived in a small town, our lot was about 110 wide by 325 deep. Which was very wide (especially since the house was 1180 sq ft spread out over two stories).

Not suburban, but 30ft. Basically, the width of the house (which is longer and taller than it's wide) + just enough space for a trashcan and the ability to walk past the trashcan on one side - on the other side, there is zero space. Btw, that means it's really narrow. (and, no driveway) As for perspective, you could go to town and look around and measure (like, maybe measure how many paces, and see how long your paces are). Or, look at Google maps on the maximum zoom in (which is how I came up with 30ft - it looked more like 25 on Google, but it's got to be 30 - we're renting, so I never really got lot size dimensions for this place).

Anybody doing college in Germany? Yes: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1264/umfrage/anzahl-der-studenten-nach-hochschulart/ ETA: hm, earlier it didn't put an ad right over the bar graph. Oh well, some of the numbers are still visible in the text on the right.

Which might be another reason why the group project I mentioned in a PP worked - iirc it was a required class, and there was no in-person option, so there was no self-selection bias (other than that it only had people going for their MLS or a bachelor's degree in information science (which is NOT a popular major)).

I've actually seen it work out well at least once. BUT, most of the people in the class were grad students (it was Statistical Methods in Library Science or something along those lines, a 4xxx/5xxx level course), and I think I may have been the only person in my particular group who was undergrad. But, we managed to agree on what to do, took turns going to the public library to count the number of patrons in a certain area at randomly selected times, and we got the results processed - everybody was involved, not to the level of perfection, but it was probably the best functioning group project I've been in. I think most of the other groups in that class did okay too... but, I do get that a class where the vast majority are grad students is not comparable to a CC class.

The Freakonomics movie (I think Netflix still has it) has some about paying high school students for grades. Long story short: it works, if the incentive is big enough and seems attainable to the student (if the student thinks there's no way they can get it, then they're obviously not going to try, no matter how big the incentive is). Also, if you only incentivize getting a C, then the student has no reason to try to get a B. And if you give a bigger incentive for getting a B, then you'd want to make sure that you're not incentivizing the kid to get a B in one thing and an F in something else instead of two Cs. So, anyway, it's complicated. I'm a little unclear on how this came up though - if my kid refused to do work an then told me that he'll only do it if I pay him, I'd be very uninclined to pay. Maybe that's irrational, but while I'm not against paying kids to do stuff, I don't want to be blackmailed into paying. Which is why I hadn't commented on it before you asked about it more in #41. And yes, it can reduce intrinsic motivation... if there is intrinsic motivation. Which there apparently isn't, so, that's not really a concern, imo.

Thanks. I could do it myself, or have my mom do it too. Or, just play it as written... it'd just require me to go slower for a while, but it's not like I *can't* do it. I was just surprised by how many of the pieces were written with 4+ flats (or sharps).

I'm sure they would've happily fixed it for you if they were quacks - fixing stuff is how they make money, telling you it's fine is how they don't make money (I'm not saying it can't happen that they'll miss something that should be fixed, but between you and the OP, that's 3 different mechanics claiming it's nothing). But anyway... yes, it sounds like it's time for drastic action. Whether that's spending big money to fix the van, or buying something new/gently used, is none of my business, but I wouldn't leave the situation as-is.

Yes, they look very neat. The kids however don't seem to be there yet with folding, but they should be able to make stuff like this (I guess they're snowflakes, not stars... oh well): http://www.engagedinart.com/artclasses/countdown-to-christmas-crafts-fun-art-projects/paper-snowflakes/

DW put her spiky tires on her bicycle, and is going to the store to buy stuff for chili. :)

Hm, maybe we could make a paper garland.

I wish I knew where my origami paper is so I could have the kids cut stars (folding a couple of times, then cutting out pieces). I *could* use regular paper too, but you'd kind of want the paper to be square, and trying to cut normal printer paper to be square is, uh, not that fun. I *know* I have origami paper somewhere.

Finally pulled out the watercolor crayons for the kids. They work pretty well, and the kids had fun with them. Oh, and I set up the xmas tree. Turns out its lights are broken, and the branches are not getting better with time either, of course. So, at the moment it's kind of sad looking, with just three ornaments in it (Roman soldier, Viking ship, and a buffalo) and no working lights (it's a small tree, but still).

I prefer stuff with one or two sharps... Fis Cis or something.

Oh, and of course the violin being 1/4 size isn't helping anything either. Broccoli's violin teacher was amazed I was able to play on it at all.

Are we posting wish lists?

Most of the songs in that Lindsey Stirling book have like four flats. I had to count it out looking at them to even figure out what the 4th one was. Bes Es As Des. At least the Pokémon theme that I bought it four isn't that bad... but ugh... maybe I should've bought something else (I've also been able to make the Star Wars theme sound vaguely like the Star Wars theme, but I've only watched like half a Star Wars movie or something, so I'm not too familiar with that one). (it's not just the excessive flats... the notes aren't all that easy otherwise either)

But how does it make you edgy?

Unless you have a darn good reason to think the kid is on drugs, I wouldn't, since accusing them of being on drugs can backfire... the teen might think that if everybody thinks he's on drugs anyway, he might as well be on drugs. That's what happened to DW (obviously, it was a stupid choice, but I'm just saying - before she was accused of being on drugs, she wasn't using... she started after her therapist told her parents that she thought she was on drugs).

What does that mean? (I mean, how does that make you edgy? I know what ... is)

Happy birthday EP! :party:

You typed this while sitting on your fingers!? Wow, good job!