It's 9am. The coach has called and already offered ds a roster slot. We'll still be at tryouts tonight, dh and I, to discuss contracts. Because, crap, now contracts are a thing.

You are NOT allowed to have an opinion that goes against emergency protocol and puts students at risk because you WANT them to waste time looking for a phone in a backpack. This is not an opinion, it is a foolhardy decision that will kill people. Figure this out.

Please stop guessing. It's detrimental.

Kids today do not have that luxury of time. You taught. You know what it would look like for 19 students to all try to grab their phones at the same time before evacuating. It's not going to happen. They don't have that time to waste and get around bodies that are still bent over or kneeling on the floor. Think back to what you were taught about evacuations and expectations. It is a 'now' thing, not a 'when we are ready' thing.

No, they would not. I'm not trying to pick on you, but if you find one instance of an evacuation or school shooting where children were with their backpacks the whole time, it would be an anomaly. When my kid's school had a fire, he had his phone and no backpack because they're required to leave them there. When they had a lockdown/evacuation, he had no backpack. They're required to leave them there. Bags in a shooter evacuation are a good way to get your child thrown to the ground or considered a potential shooter and attacked. As a teacher, I would have expected you to understand emergency protocol and acknowledge that these restrictions exist for their own reasons. To gloss over them and pretend they don't exist is foolish and a good way to put kids in more danger.

Good morning! I forgot today was pi day! I think I'll put a shepherd's pie on the menu for dinner. It's one of those meals that everyone loves. dump run grocery store laundry 10,000 steps violin work out make early dinner send ds14 off to third night of tryouts The kid came home smiling last night. He was more relaxed overall and felt he did well enough. Plus, about a quarter of the kids have already dropped for various reasons. DH said the hockey mom talk in the bleachers was full of words like "shell shocked" and "insane" to describe the experience of the first round. The rec kids were not comfortable with the pace of the work at all. I get it. One of the teams ds played on before makes it a point to never give their kids full ice access during practice, doing 1/3 or 1/2 at most. It means the kids from there are skilled in close work, but have no stamina and lose speed over the year.

Spent a lovely morning shopping with dh and making plans for the next few days. I also got in a 4 mile walk and 20 minutes of yoga, among other things. DS came home from school (half day) and took a nap in his hammock. He woke up in much better spirits and enthusiastic about tonight's tryout. DH, meanwhile has gotten a taste of what my usual week is like. I wake up around 5 and crash at 10:30. DS does similar, but I wake him at 6. I make sure he has a base diet that gets in the carbs/protein proportions he needs at the right times, so there's a lot of meal fixing. (I don't care what he eats beyond the minimum). DH has had to be at work early this week and then has taken ds around and the man is EXHAUSTED. He is beginning to understand why I am reluctant to stay up until he gets home from work.

My oldest did MUS pre-A as a main, and AoPS' Alcumus on the side. It worked out well for him - getting the easy 'meat' of a lesson, then hitting the material on speed with Alcumus. When he got something wrong the program would work it out and then give him a similar problem. He continued using Alcumus when he slid into AoPS Intro to Algebra. Because you already have both MUS and AoPS Pre-A, I don't think you should switch again. It might be more in your interest to use Alcumus as a way to feel out how he's doing with the AoPS material and give him feedback on the way he's solving the problems.

Good morning! I've got a lovely do-nothing day today. 🙂 House is clean Laundry is done Dinner is leftovers Dh is taking ds to second day of tryouts. On my plate: 10,000 steps violin That's all. Poor ds last night. The child does not have naturally great motor skills, so he has worked VERY hard at skating and stick handling. He left last night feeling like the worst of the worst on the ice. DH assures me (and ds) that it was far from the truth, but I know how it can feel when you see a few who are amazing. Out of the 40, it will be interesting to see how many stick it out all three nights. It's both a test of endurance and skill for them all.

The policy at my son's school is no phones on the body. I head this off at the beginning and agree that ds should never have his phone out during class, but I need it on his body in case of a shooting. I need to know if my kid is lying in a hallway or evacuated. I need him to be able to contact me. It's come in handy twice already during school emergencies, and the teachers are great about letting students text parents updates when they have been evacuated. Kids need limits on phones. They absolutely do. I have ds's set up so he can't access apps during the school day without permission. He can use text, call, and camera features, and two others approved for classroom use. I totally support his teachers removing it if he breaks the classroom contract. But the limits need to be balanced with the needs of the students for any policy to work well.

@SKL, that's even worse, imo. It's not like she was talking with her friends, but now her kid has watched everyone gossip with her about his relationship. Ew. Poor kid.

I got in a 3 mile walk and helped ds set up his hammock. He's so thrilled to finally have his own (and the good weather to use it since it's been in his closet since Christmas!) Sauce is simmering. Nobody can tell that there's nearly a full amount of your daily veg in there. 🤣 My family doesn't complain when it's something like stir fry or a curry, where vegetables are supposed to be, but I have been informed that lasagna is meat sauce, cheese, and noodles. Nothing else. Okaaayyy. Kitchen is clean. Lemon bars are cooling. I have a feeling that dh will come home exhausted and it'll fall on me to take ds to tryouts tonight. We'll see how that goes.

Good morning! I'm making lasagna today. It's one of those meals that will keep me in and out of the kitchen for the next few hours. coffee take ds to school violin work out make the pasta dough make lemon squares for after dinner start on the sauce. The tomatoes simmer and break down for about two hours. hide the vegetables: finely grate the zucchini, chop the spinach, mince the mushrooms to augment the meat sauce put it all together help ds with his homework vacuum rugs wash the bath mats clean the kitchen work on a puzzle? Maybe have second dinner ready when ds comes home from tryouts.

There are some people in life where you either choose to watch the show and bring your own popcorn, or you choose to participate in the circus. I wouldn't rush into the ring here. Don't respond, don't do anything. Just roll your eyes and watch the vaguebooking happen.

One of his skills coaches suggested it. DS works with former NHL players (there's a lot of them here!) and he plays rec. He remarked that having him go without the team jersey/socks would have him judged more on merit than on preconceived notions. I think ds will still be left wanting after this, and I'm okay with that. I really don't want the full jump into tournament hockey. At least it's not Juniors. DS's friend is on a feeder team for that and it's $12K a year. I figure if we're spending $12K on something to get our kid into college, it had better be tuition, not teen sports. Grocery shopping done. We are having spinach tortellini with pesto and fresh bread for a simple meal. Tomorrow will be a 5lb lasagna. 7,500 steps down.

Good morning! Yesterday was absolutely beautiful. Today is a drop of 20 degrees. C'est la vie, no? coffee wash sheets change over dishwasher take kid to school work out violin grocery shop for something for dinner. Last night I pulled off a miracle meal of too little chicken for 5 people but ended up with leftovers - just enough for lunches. Tonight? No clue pick up a few things for vacation/birthdays tidy the main living areas clean the shower drain (yuck!) make sure ds has both a white and a black jersey for this week. We don't let our kid wear identifying info at tryouts. There will probably be a few other things here and there. I'm hoping to get in my 10,000 steps without going outside much today. Will it work? Who knows, but I'm at 1,500 already.

I'll give a pass to the little one's hand. Children are weird, and I can take a picture of my fingers right now looking like that. But Charlotte's hand....and the gap between her arm and body showing...more than Kate's sleeve? That's weird, man.

I half agree with you. I know that the women who are on camera making it a point to talk this way, they either let their speech training lapse part of the way due to trying to convey a feeling of outrage or they have been caught on camera speaking in a much different manner. It's not an IF when we talk about these characteristics and specific women. So I think we really need to drop the IF and focus on the WHEN they are taught to speak this way it is unfortunate and is being used as a mask in one way or another.

Kids learning to cook is no joke, y'all. I really hope our neighbor's open house wasn't too disturbed by our fire alarms going off. There's a reason ds14 is only allowed to use the stove when there's an adult home. All is good, just the many alarms in this house testing their new batteries and a definite sear on the ground beef.

Good morning! I'm pushing ds to do all the homework he left until today: A research paper on Roman roads, building a Roman road, iReadys, and science test prep. Yesterday's game was a 4 hour commitment, but he had plenty of time beforehand. Oy. coffee workout violin 10,000 steps fold yesterday's laundry get the things dh forgot at the grocery store yesterday nag ds14 about his work dinner: the spicy stir fry vacuum the main rooms My neighbor's house went up for sale so I took a peek at the pictures. It's identical to how ours would have been before the original owners added on. I got a few ideas for redecorating here and how to deal with the awful colored tile in the bathrooms (one is pink, one is blue). They went for a Nantucket look with the wainscotting and beachy vibe. It really makes it seem like a tile purposefully chosen and not discount clearance sale. 😆Probably when older ds moves out I'll tackle that bathroom first, and then the second one. I've already repainted the walls from the awful peach they matched with it to a mellow white.

Knives Out and Glass Onion are top of our list. Enola Holmes is second. DS has feels uncomfortable watching movies/shows that can be graphic or dive into seedy situations, so Monk, Psych, and a few other are often out unless we know what the episode is about. You may want to pre-screen, but Now You See Me hit a target sweet spot here. Mystery, but a magic thriller as well.

It's such a repressive technique to hide true feelings that it comes off as frightening to me. Those sort of people are never to be trusted because it's the epitome of "keep sweet" and "bless your heart" all rolled into one. They're often the ones who have a public persona, and then a very different private one. I can't help thinking of Dolores Umbridge when it comes to this. Evil, packaged nicely.

Whatever it is, may it be mercifully quick and hands plentifully washed. We jut went through similar here. It's not pleasant at all.

My 14yo and I just had this conversation. 🤣 We were listening to the radio and Matchbox Twenty came on. He'd never heard it. "Is this, like, old music?" "Dude. It's from 1997." "So 30 years ago? Yeah. That's old." My mind did a double-take. I told him it was 10 years ago, don't care what he thinks. His math is wrong. All wrong. 1980? 20 years ago. 1993? 11 years ago. 🤣🤣🤣

What's funny is that the one thing that draws parents to it is also the one thing that makes it difficult for kids: the pages are so busy with art that the easily distracted are not focused on the actual lesson. I think it's a trash program with horrendous science and washed out literature, but I seem to be in the minority. It's pretty and people like it because it's pretty. And there are free units, so free, pretty...it makes them feel good about doing school.