Definitely a cultural thing. I've heard that Americans call hamburgers, sandwiches. We don't (in Australia). It's 2 pieces of bread with something between it, preferably vegemite (and while I've heard open sandwiches exist, I've never seen one).

We are having a community Halloween event on for the first time ever (except that time I invited a bunch of kids around pre-covid and half the school turned up). We didn't grow up with Halloween in Australia so it's been one of those things that the community has slowly accepted (along with decorating houses for Christmas!) I really hope the weather settles down and we have a fun evening. The whole community is struggling at the moment with losses (well known local worker died yesterday) and with a few serious local controversies which have split friendships, along with severe anxiety as we head into bushfire season. We need something positive!

Yes, and if so, head to the hospital. With the spot I thought of meningococcal disease although I think it's less common in grown adults.

Can he touch his head to his chest, ie doesn't have a stiff neck?

I am not sure whether this is the same thing, but years ago when we were hiring a speech pathologist for our team, we asked them to work with a child while we observed - it would've been 10 mins at the most. We just wanted to see them in action with a child. I can't see how 4-5 hours working can be classed as an interview, though. (NB, the person we hired was great in the 10m interview - but long term was a big mistake. I have done quite a few interviews and they really don't weed out the dodgy ones!)

We have a tiny house so what's in the kitchen goes everywhere. I don't ever fry with canola oil because of the smell (olive oil is fine). We do open up all the doors and windows to try to keep the place aerated!

An interesting read- looks as though once it started to hit sales, she's changed it up a bit, but her curriculum is still not ideal and yet of course she's flogging it to make money. Ugh.

Anyone able to gift this article? Looks like it's about one of the whole word people admitting that phonics is important . . . Lucy Calkins Retreats on Phonics in Fight Over Reading Curriculum - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Oh, that's hysterical. And sad.

Similar to Australia. I will say there are some child protection reasons for following up on the missing school thing - one school I taught at, children would be taken without notice to their home country (usually Lebanon) for months at a time. They would miss out on half the school year, then come back and be way behind. And of course, if a child just stops coming to school, that's a child protection issue too - what's happened? The other way Australia is different from the USA though is 'high school graduation'. I actually don't know all the ins and outs but you don't have to 'pass' I am pretty sure. Equally, there's no real certificate at the end that means anything at all. I would say a full half of the boys in my town would leave school early to start an apprenticeship in a trade, and that's probably respected more than finishing high school, which is seen as pretty pointless unless you are going to university. And it's not uncommon to work for a bit (so much work around esp in retail/hospitality) and then a year or two later decide on a trade or university course. You get youth allowance from the government if you're studying full time or you're in a full time apprenticeship (and above 18 - under that, you can get it if your parents can't support you). If you don't study full time, you don't get it.

I can never get icing (frosting) right. It just tastes like butter or margarine with some sugar. I would have said meringue, but I actually cooked a pavlova after - surprise surprise - following the recipe properly! That was exciting. What can't you get right?

I heard that QLD cases had doubled in the last 2 weeks. Anecdotally hearing of more cases locally, just as end of year parties are starting. I have one tomorrow, really hope it's 100% outdoors.

The Guardian still has 16, I assume things are still chaos and things unclear. Looks like he's still at large. It's so terrible, frightening and disheartening. I'm so sorry.

Thank goodness we don't have the fines in Australia - as you can imagine, it's far more punitive to the poor than the rich. We do have 'home-school liaison officers' and I have known some of them and they've been brilliant. One used to turn up each morning to someone's house to get the kid dressed and on the bus because the mother with a mental illness couldn't manage it. Of course there are probably terrible ones too. But the real issue is not enough. They should hire so many more to help out. I know of so many families who can't get their kids to school and they're just abandoned when they really need options.

That sound like my experience. I loved the first chapter, thought it was so funny. And there is some fantastic writing. But I think I missed so much and I don't know if I would read it again. It would've been a good one to do at university - not high school, I agree. We did Catch-22 in high school with a poor teacher and basically didn't get much out of it - it was only when I read King Lear later on that I picked up the allusions.

Just to be clear, she is the one who copied from another more successful author. She was only 19 and a student when her book was published though so I kind of blame the editors more than her - I think as you get older you're more aware of the line between 'homage' and 'rip off'. There's more discussion on Reddit, but none I've seen in mainstream media.

oh my what a sweet photo. congratulations - she is perfect.

just to keep this off topic, lol, none of the lesbian couples with kids that I know adopted them - well, it's really hard to adopt in Australia anyway. They all had kids by getting sperm from someone, either a gay couple who also wanted kids (so they carried a child for the gay couple as well) or someone else they knew. It doesn't have to cost anything, unless you do it officially through an IVF clinic.

Grr, we invited one kid over for a playdate, seemed fine, then halfway thru started sniffling and coughing . . . now I hear others in family sick . . . why do people do this? Can't you just say, "we'll do it another time, we're not quite 100%''? Ugh!

Haven't read Yellowface, but if (as it appears from reviews) it's about an author stealing from another author, well, that is ironic. Much, much of her first book (The Poppy Wars) is a blatant rip-off of the Kingkiller chronicles. She isn't the first author to do this, though. If you read widely, you will notice a lot of stuff ripped off without acknowledgment. A book by Jostein Gaarder takes a major side plot from short story by Rabi Tagore, unacknowledged. Even a picture book by Julia Donaldson is a Jewish folk tale, unacknowledged. I think you can get away with folk tales, arguing that people 'should know them' like fairy tales, but other writers' original works, hmm, no. If you google, it is something that happens more often than you'd think - and I think a lot of authors get away with it. What I've been reading: Lavender's Blue (and the other two in the series) by Jennifer Cruisie and Bob Mayer. A fun, modern, thriller/romance in a small American town. The Benevolent Society of Ill-mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman. Regency-era adventure romance, reads like a set of short stories because that's how it started, but enjoyable. The History of Bees by Maja Lunde. A book with 3 voices, a history, a modern, and a sci-fi, all about bees. Didn't really work for me. She did her research but doesn't really know it like someone who really knows it, if you get me. We have also been listening to Tuck Everlasting, which I had read a few times previously and enjoyed. Man, it's a different experience listening to it with 2 tweens who feel it is incredibly problematic! Very dated, of course, but yeah - a few really problematic things going on there. Great for conversation and the language, of course, is amazing. I just can't imagine a modern children's book opening with that level of description.

Friend of mine is on 4th round of Covid. She's just developed some very scary symptoms which point towards auto-immune disease. She's 5 years younger than me (and healthy weight etc) . . . my other friend, 10 years younger than me, has ended up with a permanent vertigo condition (can't remember what it is called) after her 2nd round of Covid. It is scary the sheer variety of awful post-covid condition there are. I have to try to stay vigilent as we head towards December, 4 party invites already - luckily I think it will be all outdoors with very little rain ahead in the next few months.

My 2 kids have never tested positive. My parents have never had it. I do know a number of people locally who haven't had it. Basically those who have had kids in school or who are people who go to parties are the ones I know who have had it.

I bought these (off ebay, a lot cheaper than this site) in different 'animals' for a bunch of kids - should be a laugh on xmas day. Eat Your Feet Handmade Socks - Crestado

I will add, people who start an argument and then when you engage with evidence, start going, haha, you're so triggered by this, I knew I could set you off, can't cope with hearing anything that disagrees . . . in other words deflecting so they don't have to provide evidence back. So now it's pretend I don't hear and ignore (which of course gets the response of 'can't argue with that, huh?)

If I remember correctly, you're Brisbane area? Tourism would be the answer there. Make a list of all the tourist activities nearby and give them a call. Work out what you could cope with (for example, I couldn't cope with indoor extreme noise like Timezone; others might struggle with outdoor heat). A non-tourist option might be working with say parcel sorting for Australia Post - would be quiet, air-conditioned, and multi-cultural staff to practice talking with?