A new one from my dd16 is drip for fashion, mostly shoes. Tea is definitely gossip around here.

@Lori D.you are amazing! It seems to me that zombie threads are sometimes brought to life by bots and machine learning programs. We're a pretty non-nefarious target, but they need to practice and who knows how the specific titles get chosen - Christmas cookies? Really? https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/6/18655212/reddit-ai-bots-gpt2-openai-text-artificial-intelligence-subreddit This is from an article on towardsdatascience.com: Bots are computer programs posing as people. They can amplify the effect of trolls by engaging or liking their content en masse, or by posting their own content in an automated fashion. They will get more sophisticated and harder to detect in the future. Bots can now create entire paragraphs of text in response to text posts or comments.

We have lots of smaller fairs in different towns, though some are pretty big. We go every year, it's a real end-of-summer ritual. We're planning not to go this year for covid, but the (adult) kids want to make our own in the yard. There will be stuffed animal prizes and blooming onions!

So...what does it mean? Not mooning?

These thoughts are so super helpful, thank you all. So true, especially since that is her fiery nature - if it's not coming from her, it's not happening! Great ideas, her weekly planner is currently a pad of paper but she loves good design and organizing everything so I think she'd like an official organizer. I think this is on the mark. She does well with structure and flounders with its lack, but the structure has to be hers or it doesn't work.

Dd16 is starting a jam-packed 11th grade and has developed a time management problem with chatting on a discord group with friends and pinterest. She is a lively extravert, and I'm happy for her to have had a safe way to socialize during the pandemic, but I can see it has interfered with her self-chosen projects this summer. Can anyone share what ideas or rules you and your dc have used to balance non-school related internet use and homeschool? She will have two online classes this year plus is a TA for another, so will need free access to the internet. I'm looking for suggestions that have created ease rather than conflict! 4th child, 1st time dealing with this. Sigh. Thank you in advance. Harpy

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, MA. It has an unusual term system - very short intensive terms, same classes every day for 7 weeks then a break. This is perfect for some kids and overwhelming for others. Very project-oriented.

Echoing @Tap: mountains of burritos, acres of cheese, rivers of salsa fed my boys through their growing times.

Two weeks ago: two hot coffees, about 10 oz each, 3 iced coffees. Now, after a mild tummy bug: 1 10 oz cup per day. I never thought I'd whittle down but here I am!

Unsure why this reply just showed up for me, but this sounds divine. I'm going to suggest this for a night but not actually call it tech free, just, you know, camping...where there's no cell service...

Laughing out loud at 5 in the morning, thank you for a great start to this day.

Not evil, just smart. Agree with the emergency button recommendation upthread, but sometimes my mom won't wear hers if she's just going out in the yard or in the house. And sure enough, a few weeks ago she fell while pruning something in the yard, impaled herself on a sharp branch, and didn't have her button on. Hollering to the neighbors didn't help so she figured out how to dis-impale herself and crawled out and back into the house. We were all pretty cranky she didn't have the button with her.

Oh my, it sounds delightful. I haven't had a massage for years. I'm going for it! Maybe we'll do an early hike with donuts (thanks for the consensus, previous posters) then go.

She would like a massage! So I will look into the covid-conscious massage therapists here.

Our family used to have a transitional week of doing fun stuff that also included gathering up/boxing/labelling/deep storage of the past year and setting up desks and school supply purchase. I know others do special dinners or trips. I want to do something fun for dd16 for these last two years but a lot of traditions that we did with the older kids have fallen away with just one. What has your family done to mark the not-back-to-school transition?

Following this. My older three I did by year, but like @lewelmaI also allowed extended time and put the credit in the year where it fit best. I've been considering doing one by subject for last dd. This is really interesting. Older dd went super deep in music, to the point where it felt important to use the year format to try to show she really did "normal" high school stuff too! A line from an early unschooling publication has always stuck with me: "the world rewards specialists more than it rewards generalists." This would also suggest that transcript by subject would highlight spiky kids better.

I definitely just read this as you found so many baby goats and wondered how the OP would put them to use...insomnia has its amusements!

A debrief seems like it might help you process your trauma. They may not be at all apologetic or even acknowledge that it was traumatic, but it seems like a good first step for you thinking through and creating a future plan for yourself. There are lots of resources for planning end of life care. I do not personally agree with the death-with-dignity aka physician-assisted suicide, but I have known several people who have consciously chosen to end their eating and were well-supported by hospice for pain meds and hydration relief.

Gently, it sounds like maybe your husband is not fully on board with your clear need for boundaries with your mom. Maybe he's just reacting with how he thinks good husbands respond when a family is facing a death. I hope he can give you the support you need.

Ha! Other way 'round for me.

And yes, you'd be hoping that your friend whose hubby is a volunteer firefighter and listens to the scanner all day will let slip the deets. Disclaimer: I am not on any social media, but if I have a need-to-know I call my kids who can immediately tell me what's happening, why it's happening, and who is onsite currently. Lack of social media does not mean lack of interest! Ashamed of my bad self.

Around here it would be posting "can anyone go turn off my crockpot?"

Sister curmudgeon here. I'm guessing they're really asking for the back story: was someone smoking and fell asleep? Was the kid playing with matches? Will they lose everything or just the garage? Gossip is the soiled but serviceable grease that lubricates the cogs of small town existence. Maybe facebook and nextdoor make every town a small one.

I never knew there were kids' books about homeschooling!

My kids all said office hours with the professors are what gave them the best handle on classes, and were also the place to drill down into the feedback.