I don't think you're saying anything wrong. She seems to be fishing for opposition so she can argue about it, as a way to distract herself from her own insecurity. It really sounds like she doesn't feel great about her choices because she is anxious, and if she can project that on you, then she can "blame" you for causing that feeling inside herself instead of blaming herself for her own choices. Like when I stub my toe and yell at the table for being in the wrong place, lol. She needs to not be so hard on herself, but that's not something you can fix. I think bending over backwards to never sound slightly critical doesn't do her any good either. She needs to deal with her own anxieties and insecurities without projecting onto others, and get comfortable with the knowledge she will make less-than-perfect choices because life is not always clear cut. My dd used to do a very similar thing when she was distraught - no matter what I said, I "just didn't understand." It was totally maddening and could take me from calm to #$^)@ in short order. There was no way to disengage because she would follow me and insist on re-explaining. It got better when her anxiety & depression got better. It wasn't my fault and it wasn't something I could change.

That's great progress! Did you take "before" pictures to see your progress? A lot of people say that's the best way to see your body's changes. I've been losing weight since Jan 1st, and while *I* can see the difference, my husband and kids can't. I was honestly a little sad, because I've lost 35 and that is a decent loss. I've only told a few local people that I am on WW; I haven't said anything on FB or made any kind of announcement. Then last weekend, I ran into a friend I hadn't seen since December. She did a double-take and asked if I'd lost a bunch of weight. You wanted to lose 80, right? So you are halfway to your goal! That is fantastic. I hope the second half goes as smoothly.

I never tried Freestyle, but I have been doing previous WW programs via iTrackBites. I did Points Plus for about 6 weeks, and have been doing Smart Points for about two months. Since Jan. 1st I have lost 32 pounds, and I'm really pleased! My weight loss has actually accelerated lately, and I think it's because I have been eating so many more veggies. WW gives me the structure I need to make healthy food choices and eat proper amounts. Dh has been more-or-less doing it along with me (exercising a lot more, but being less strict with measuring & tracking), and he has lost about 25 lbs. I just had blood drawn for a lipids panel, and I am curious to see how it looks. Unfortunately I don't have any "before" stats.

I loved Adventures in America! My son was way ahead of their suggested readers, so I used a lot of the Who Was books to supplement. AiA is a great spine; you really don't need it TOO comprehensive in first grade, and it's a good highlight reel of American History with stories that are more likely to be remembered.

We homeschool in Belgium. For us, the pros of sending them to a French-speaking school to learn the language & make friends did not outweigh the benefits of homeschooling. One big reason is that the language gain would be temporary. We will be here 3-5 years, which is enough time to become fluent, but I know they would just lose it when they stopped using it regularly. Another big reason is that I'm not trying to make them European. They are still American kids and we learn and explore Europe through our American perspective. We have done a good amount of traveling - to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, France, England, and Germany so far, and in a couple of days we are leaving for a 4-day trip to Normandy to see the Bayeux tapestry, a Joan of Arc museum, and Mont St. Michel, among other things. If they were in the local school, they would not be allowed to travel like that. And the final reason is that my kids love homeschooling, and it is a great fit for them. They make great progress and really appreciate the flexibility to learn at their own pace. My youngest is working on learning French. My oldest is very dyslexic and we finally gave up. It's not worth the time investment in his case. We are part of a small English-speaking community here, and have made connections through that. My kids have done theater and camps, as well as participated in a homeschool co-op. They are still very family-oriented, which is fine with me.

I'm another soup lover. I sautée a bunch of veggies, add 6 cups of broth, a cup of diced cooked chicken, and a half cup or so of wild rice mix. Cook 30 minutes. It makes a delicious chicken & rice soup (and the batch I made was 15 smart points for the whole batch! And it made five huge bowls.) Tonight I made the sausage kale skillet meal from Budget Bytes. My version was 23 smart points for 4 big servings. I don't do freestyle, but it would be less under that plan because of the chickpeas. The chicken rice soup would be less if you didn't count points on the chicken.

Vegemite is so good! Very savory, like French onion soup. I put a little on buttered toast and top with a fried egg. Marmite has a similar taste, but the consistency is like honey.

I never refrigerate vegemite, but the commercial stuff may have preservatives. Peanut butter consistency is correct though. I would let it come to room temp before you serve it (and warn people to use only a very thin smear on buttered bread!).

We did our own plans, using Airbnbs in three places. We spent a few days in Punta Uva on the Caribbean coast, which was lovely. We went into a nearby town and booked a river tour from a local company. We visited a "jaguar rescue" which had no jaguars, but had plenty of other interesting animals. Then we went to La Fortuna and stayed in an apartment instead of a resort. We did a zip line activity through a resort, and by doing that we got bracelets that gave us access to their tiny zoo and huge water park. Hot pools, cold pools, water slides, fountains, everything. We had a blast, and signed up for a horseback activity the next day so we could spend another day at the resort. We also went to the Don Oliveros chocolate farm tour which was amazing!! Then we drove into San Jose, which did have terrifying traffic. We returned the rental car and just walked everywhere from our city bnb. We visisted some museums and went to a huge market where dh loved bargaining and I hated it, lol.

My kids have always responded well to a shower. Well, sometimes they needed a lot of encouragement to agree to the shower, but the shower has always helped "reset" their brain and give them a fresh start.

Audible told me that they determine your country by your billing address (hence why I can use the US Audible site, since my billing address is an APO). I would delete your CC info and resubmit it- just to see if that works.

I am finishing up our last two Hello Fresh meals and won't be getting any more. They just don't fit into our healthy eating plan. So now I have to go back to meal planning. So far I have planned: Hello Fresh hake & couscous Hello Fresh sweet potato soup Beefy American Goulash White bean chicken chili Chicken noodle soup Taco salads (either beef or lentils) Tuna pasta casserole

Lots of places in England are starting to ban the sale of energy drinks to people under 16. Sainsbury's ban begins March 1. https://www.google.be/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/money/5385489/sainsburys-becomes-latest-supermarket-giant-to-ban-sale-of-energy-drinks-to-under-16s/amp/

Not for my teens. It's the epitome of fake food. If they are low on energy, I want them to address nutrition and sleep, not just pound a can of junk. Energy drinks make me think of Brawndo. We just got back from London. There are several grocery chains that are voluntarily starting to ban the sale of energy drinks to people under 16. Good for them!

I have come full-circle with grammar lessons. I used to think it was very important. What I've actually seen between my three kids is that the two who internalized grammar from reading don't need a program to teach them how to use proper grammar. It's basically memorizing terms and diagramming sentences for fun, but doesn't change their actual writing skill because they already know how to write correctly. My child who has a language-based LD and does not internalize grammar from reading is kind of hopeless. No matter how much grammar we've done, he stinks at subject-verb agreement, sticking to one tense, and a million other things that grammar programs address. It's not that he hasn't been taught, it just doesn't stick. I'm not quite giving up, but I don't have any illusion that doing yet another grammar program with him will improve his writing. We focus on editing his work and I try to be understanding that he just has no internal sense of what is right. I hope he is a late bloomer, and it will get easier for him to learn it as he gets older.

Is 2-3 weeks very short term? The point is to get them out of crisis and to the point they are safe to go home and follow up with outpatient treatment. If you are talking about long-term residential programs, then yes, I don't think those are at hospitals very often anymore. We have a family friend whose son was unable to be safe at home, and they found a place halfway across the country for him to live. It was a therapeutic residential program, and I believe he was there for about a year. He is now back home and doing well. Given how far they had to travel, I assume those programs are rare (but so needed!).

Hm, I think inpatient hospital programs are not unusual. The ones I have seen are voluntary only, but they are located in a main hospital. There is an emphasis on medication management/mood stabilization and also individual and group therapy, including art therapy, animal therapy, etc.

I actually have seen that scenario several times. I know people who have had very positive experience in both outpatient and inpatient programs, and voluntarily joined each because they believed it would be helpful. There are numerous celebrities (Selena Gomez, Salma Hayek, Demi Lovato, Lily Allen, Russel Brand, etc.) who have spoken openly about their need to be hospitalized to attend to their mental illness. The stigma is lessening a bit, and more people are understanding that mental illness doesn't mean crazy or dangerous, but an imbalance that can be treated. Holy cow - look at this list of celebrities with bipolar disorder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_bipolar_disorder

I'm sorry - that is tough. My husband was in the Army National Guard for 16 years, then switched over to the Reserves when we moved to Europe (where there are no NG units). In the ARNG, it wasn't too tough to balance civilian life with his drills, schools, and deployments - they are required to hold your job for you. Three years ago he started working for the DoD as a civilian, and that is even easier. I mean, they simply have to find someone to fill in for him when he has to leave. He has had a tough time making his drill dates since we moved because his Reserve unit is a few hours' drive away and he's been on several work-related trips. He is hoping to get a spot in a Reserve unit much closer. I would just be very surprised if his civilian job kicked you guys out of housing while your dh is deployed. Wouldn't he still be technically employed by them, just on leave? Wouldn't he still qualify for housing? I would think they would accept your rent (via housing allowance) so you could stay put and your dh could jump right back into his job. I would triple-check that. ETA: my husband says your husband should appeal it. He's never seen a unit that doesn't let someone out of a deployment due to financial hardship. He suggests going to JAG if he needs to escalate it. DH also said he could look at going into the guard, or take a 1-year sabbatical.

I just signed both my boys up! When they first started JAM, I think the courses were like +$100 each! This is much more affordable.

The deal with media mail is that it gets sent to NJ, and then when they have enough cargo, they put it on a SLOW BOAT to Europe. It sometimes takes 10 weeks for me to get something shipped media mail. I always pay RR the $7 fee for priority shipping. I ordered something from RR on 2/1 and received it a couple days ago. I don't order from Amazon 3rd party sellers unless I don't need it for a few months. ETA: it was similar when I lived in Alaska - media mail could take 7-8 weeks. Ugh. I quit ordering from Better World Books for that reason.

I use Just For Kids stannous fluoride gel on my own teeth because I am more prone to cavities than I used to be. You just have to be careful not to swallow it. This might help turn things around for your kids, or at least the weak spots that aren't too far gone. 3M ESPE 12107G Just For Kids 0.4% Stannous Fluoride Brush On Gel Refill, Grape Flavor, 4.3 oz. Bottle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K5HV1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ny1GAb55HHZ5F

Quick, take a photo!!

Some interesting watching: Baltimore Food Ecology Documentary CLF teamed up with the Video and Film Arts Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) to produce BFED: Baltimore Food Ecology Documentary film in 2010, which explore important issues in our food system. It provides an in-depth look at the Baltimore food system. It tells this story through the eyes of numerous players, including a food warehouse worker, a grocery store owner, a local food historian, and activists trying to improve access to food in their schools and communities. Nine MICA students spent a school year working with their professor, Hugh Pocock, on BFED. CLF's staff provided technical support to the students, helping them refine their research goals and identify key informants to interview. The students' journey through their local food system -- where supermarkets are scarce and diet-related diseases common -- was an investigation of why the food system comes up short for many city residents. In the end, they find hope for a brighter food future in some unexpected places. Food Frontiers The film showcases six projects from around the United States that are increasing access to healthy food and goes beyond the problem statement of food insecurity, i.e., poor access to healthy, affordable food. Instead, the film examines projects that are having success. Traveling across the country, the filmmakers documented diverse efforts to improve access—from a pioneering program in California that connects local produce to schoolchildren to a social enterprise grocery store run by students in Nebraska to a Virginia pediatrician who supplements her practice with cooking classes.

I am going to be teaching a nutrition course that goes into great detail of the food supply, food safety, farmworkers' rights, sustainable agriculture, etc. I am using Teaching the Food System from Farm to Fork which is published by Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. I have scheduled in a documentary for pretty much every lesson. We're going to follow it up with a real cooking course that teaches the teens how to make healthy, yummy meals with fresh ingredients using Clueless in the Kitchen: Cooking for Beginners. I love this cookbook because the recipes aren't overly fancy and they use lots of fresh produce. We will also be going over meal planning and how to analyze recipes for their nutrition information - the kids will even track their nutrition info through an app. My goal is to give teens the info and skills they need to make good choices!