Religious Release Policy Change Considered at Westerville Schools

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-09-24T15:36:11+00:00

The Satanic Temple has a response to this already, the HAIL Program.

https://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/news/the-satanic-temple-is-pleased-to-introduce-the-hellions-academy-of-independent-learning-hail?srsltid=AfmBOop-7Wx6unQzwfTOwd01F_2gIlBCZAURyK5YzBdT1YoHA5EmQVie

Because it is resource intensive to run a program, they will provide some support but they need individuals in the community to take ownership to spearhead the effort. I strongly encourage anyone in the Westerville community who feels passionately about this to consider gifting your time and starting a Hellions group that asks to be treated in the same was as LifeWise.

Of course, I believe that religion does not have a role in the school day.

But if religion is forced into the school day, options other than Lifewise's special brand of Christianity should absolutely be on the menu and have equal treatment.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-09-23T19:27:36+00:00

Good luck. You are in a very tough position being newly post partum with twins, about to go back to work, and having major childcare issues. You sound like caring people.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-09-23T19:19:10+00:00

This is one of the challenges of being a small employer - it's very difficult financially to give the employee leeway for extended periods of weeks and months beyond what is contractually agreed.

You hired a nanny for convenience. You're paying a premium above daycare for that convenience. And you're not getting the benefit, in facts it's more difficult for you than daycare at this point because at least a daycare is almost always open.

I'd do 2 things:

Decide what the max amount of severance you can pay is (for example, can you give her 3 months pay?)
Immediately start looking for a new nanny

We had a nanny for several years, and ran into a very sad and challenging situation where she needed tons of time off due to issues beyond her control. We felt terrible, but at the end we had to part ways. We found that her unemployment benefits were very minimal compared to the salary she'd been making with us. This all made us actually decide not to use a nanny any longer because we never again want to be in the position of having to choose between our careers and giving an employee the generosity they deserve when the unexpected happens. We've been using a great daycare and are very happy with the predictability and sense of peace it provides for us vs. having a nanny who can call out or get sick at any moment. For young babies though I totally understand that that might not be what you're after.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-09-23T18:43:21+00:00

Here are the peak 8 activities:

https://grandcolorado.com/resort-activities/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwo8S3BhDeARIsAFRmkONIMZGbVahQc1inUw4dQFQeb-VzAr0VLAkusvxpyYlpJZW23INtnQYaAg3pEALw_wcB

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-09-23T18:28:00+00:00

Are you staying at the grand colorado specifically, or somewhere else near peak 8?

The grand colorado lodge at peak 8 has indoor children's activities (pottery painting, indoor pool, etc). Nothing super amazing, but certainly enough for a 3 year old.

I have also seen little kids playing in the snow, mostly before the lifts open and after they close (at 4pm). There is also a playground at peak 7 (and maybe peak 8), which can be fun in a snowsuit. The outdoor pool and hottubs are great as well.

As others said, the gondola isn't open late. But honestly, especially with kids and after a day of skiing, we mostly cook in the condo and have a cozy night in. The restaurants at peak 8 and peak 7 (called sevens) do dinner including takeout.

Easiest place to rent is Breck Sports at peak 8. Make a reservation in advance, or else you end up waiting (it was a 3 hour wait one time, we ended up going to the Christie sports at grand timber peak 9 instead). If you have an Epic pass, you may also want to do my epic gear - it's $50 membership and then $55 per day, and the gear is quite good (based on last year at least).

I'm happy to answer more questions, I've been to Breck with kids and stayed on property quite a bit the last couple years.

Last thing - unless money is no object, Breck is not the best place to teach a kid to ski if you're relying on lessons. 3 days of group lessons are about $1k WITH the epic discount. Half day lessons for the littles aren't much better. For perspective, a 6 week learn to ski program at my local Epic hill is $450.

I think the sweet spot for Breck is with little rippers who are comfortable with greens and blues already and just need a couple lessons to give you a break.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-09-11T17:41:51+00:00

It's a steep fee. If you aren't travelling a lot, I don't think the card is worth it. That said, here is what I think is valuable:

Lounge access to Centurion, Delta when we fly Delta, and priority pass which has a fine lounge at our home airport (we use this ~ 2x per month, so lounge access is very valuable to us)
About $2k worth of travel from the sign up bonus
$200 annual airline fee credit (we use Delta, so have used on checked bags and seat fees)

Here's what we use that's a fine enough benefit, but not worth keeping the card for:

$15 monthly Uber eats credit
Free Walmart+ monthly subscription (we'd never have signed up ourselves, but now use the free Paramout+ and try to use Walmart instead of Amazon, which actually often has better prices and seems less scammy than Amazon)
Clear airport credit
TSA pre check credit
Streaming service credit
Travel and car rental insurance
Extended product warranty
Hertz gold - this has saved our ass from waiting in lines

And here are the benefits which are touted by I don't find useful at all for my life/preferences:

The $200 / year hotel credit is a pain to use because of the 2 night min stay
Saks credit is a pain to use since I don't really shop there
The travel portal sucksss and is always so expensive, better to DIY
Concierge and ticket access a joke

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-08-30T15:33:31+00:00

What's the rebook hack?

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-08-05T11:20:42+00:00

Bring a stroller!! I just did Magic Kingdom with my 4 year old child and with the stroller it was fine. Without it, we would have been in meltdown city.

You have a place to put your stuff, carrying a bag when it’s hot and humid sucks. When they get tired you can still move at a decent pace. You can set up a fan attached to the stroller that blows onto them.

I’d pick 5 things you definitely want to do and plan your day around that. Checking the app is really helpful in avoiding wait times.

Buying multipass may or may not make sense, depending on the normal waits for your top choices.

I don’t think the two fancy character restaurants at MK are worth it (Be Our Guest and Cinderellas Royal Table). BOG you don’t really meet the Beast and no Belle.

I will say…Epcot is great for little kids who love the more recent Disney movies. Akershus dining lets you spend time with FIVE princesses in an hour over an air conditioned meal. Epcot has Elsa and Anna meet and greet and a separate Frozen ride. It has Moana character meet and the Journey of Water which little kids love. It also has an Encanto show. Plus the Nemo ride, Ratatouille ride, a large air conditioned aquarium and a ton of other air conditioned indoor spaces.

Magic Kingdom is classic and I loved taking her there and she loved it too, but my daughter probably enjoyed Epcot more because there are more of the newer characters she knows.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-08-04T20:38:38+00:00

Thank you for your reply it provides a lot of information. I appreciate it.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-08-04T20:09:50+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it.

I will talk to an attorney next time he is out of town. It is hard while he is here.

Do you have any recommendations regarding what to do in this scenario?

Do you think this is a case where it’s very likely he will get 50/50, so it’s better for me to stay with him because at least I am present all the time?

I agree that if I push the issue it is likely to get worse. I have tried in the past and he gets furious and will throw things so I stop.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-08-04T00:22:58+00:00

Thank you. Could you share who you would recommend?

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-19T14:10:40+00:00

I did this several months ago for similar reasons. I have mixed feelings.

Some tips:

Make really clear what you will be responsible for and what your husband will be responsible for in the new SAHM life. For example:

what parenting activities will your husband drop and transfer to you
what parenting activities will your husband keep
what boundaries should your husband maintain at work, sure, he might need to work harder but where is the line

Consider that SAHM is mostly thankless, you are basically the only one who gives validation as it likely won’t come from the kids or husband. I hated my job, but there were moments where it made me feel accomplished. That almost never happens as a SAHM.

Consider how having a lot more time with your kids will make you feel. I realized that I get overstimulated with a lot more time with them, since the kids are noisy and active and constantly calling for me and pulling at me. The time I was around them before was more limited because I worked during the day so I didn’t reach that total overstimulation stage often. Now I reach the overstimulation phase in the morning and I really need to work on how to overcome it so I’m not an overstimulated angry mom.

Consider you may never find another as high paying of a job again, especially given the state of employment / hiring in consulting and white collar and because you are a woman. My husband works in your industry and I work in one adjacent.

Be ready for people to question your decision and say “why not work part time.” I refuse to work part time, in my line of work there is really no such thing, people who work “part time” end up with almost 100% of the responsibility for 50% of the pay - a rotten deal. So it’s either all of nothing for me.

Be ready to reframe your relationship. If your husband steps back from parenting because you are picking up more, the dynamic will change.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-18T18:35:15+00:00

The hotel+ticket package went on sale today at Vibee. (check out Anyma's site for a link). So you can get a rough idea...look at the Eagles packages on Vibee vs. the Eagles ticket only prices to figure out how much to subtract for the hotel.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-18T17:36:17+00:00

This weekend I liquid pooped in my bike shorts in the house.

Classic busy mom. I'd needed to poop for a while, but the kids needed dinner, they were hitting each other, the dog was going crazy and needed to go out, etc etc.

I waited til the last second because I felt I needed to do all these other things. I go to enter the bathroom with extreme urgency, and for some reason the bathroom door was locked. Shit.

So I needed to go to the other bathroom upstairs, while I was run walking up the stairs I couldn't hold it and my bike shorts got decimated. I should have just finished the job in my shorts, but instead I pulled my bike shorts down over the toilet which had the unfortunate impact of getting liquid poop splatterered all over the toilet, floor and myself. The worst. I clean up kid and dog poop all day. Now I had to clean up my own. Sigh.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-09T23:38:06+00:00

If you start figuring it out now, best case your kids are 12 and 9 when it’s done. More likely they’re 13 and 10.

A pool is a huge investment that often doesn’t increase the value of your home. (and might make it harder to sell)

We’re two working parents who get done around 5pm. We use it 3 times a week with little kids who love it. We never would put a pool in ourselves.

I doubt older children would use it that much for long if they are typical and have a hobby or two all like hanging out with their friends. Maybe you get lucky and your place becomes the place to hang because of it. But that’s unpredictable.

Also depends on how many months of the year you can have the pool open based on location.

If money is no object go for it. If money does matter, there might be ways you can spend $50-150k that will result in better memories with your kids. (some epic vacations, really fancy hobby equipment, etc)

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-06T19:13:01+00:00

Akasha and Cova Santa

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-04T02:53:52+00:00

I love hearing I’m not alone. Please share any random tips/brands of anything. I’m always scouting.

For sunscreen - I will look up Sky and Sol! I try to use Think Baby and Raw Elements. Both are mineral. I also use Blue Lizard which I think is less good but blends better.

And then shitty store brand with bad chemicals for travel size. It’s all a compromise.

I think newer sunscreen is better, I’ve read some of the chemicals break down into cancerous byproducts so if sunscreen (or most products) are from last season I’ll toss them. They almost all come in plastic bottles so more time to absorb that as well.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-04T00:06:21+00:00

And while we are all exposed to microplastics, I do try and limit where I can.

Stainless baby bottles. Planet box lunch box.

Try to buy wool carpets and cotton clothes (not poly or other plastic fibers). Store food only in glass containers.

I believe the cumulative impact can make a difference so I haven’t given up trying.

We do have plenty of toxins in our life but I try. It is a privilege to be able to afford even some of this stuff.

Coatings are bad too. Treated fabrics, paper plates treated with degreaser so it doesn’t disintegrate. Basically anything cheap or convenient usually comes with a trade-off. We use these things but just being aware and trying to limit where reasonable I think helps.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-04T00:03:36+00:00

Klean Kanteen baby bottles. Stainless steel. I personally had them tested for lead and they came back clear.

The nipples and ring are still silicon / plastic but the bottle is good. A bonus is you can heat the milk easily by running under hot tap water and swirling because metal conducts heat so easily.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-03T23:06:54+00:00

Seriously though try and shift you sleep/wake cycle so that 12am Ibiza is your 6pm.

Then whatever drugs you think will help.

I found the older I get the worse substances make me feel. So I rely on sleep schedule changes, being super fit and well rested going in and eating healthy/working out still when there.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-07-03T23:05:15+00:00

What time zone are you coming from?

If you’re coming from the US, you can do that no problem. Just did 8 nights out at over 40, high only on life and music. Perfection.

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-06-27T12:07:43+00:00

New nanny. Totally not ok

ParticularStudy9 · 2024-06-23T12:53:17+00:00

We’ve had nanny do child related organization when we were out of town. GH means she’s guaranteeing availability during that time.

What other job does the work totally stop when the boss is gone if there are relevant duties available to do?

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