Posts by Daniel Reed68

Lawrence Torres56 said:If you ask me, I honestly think there's actually a tiny fraction of parents (on both sides of the aisle, really) who genuinely give a damn about the other kids while their own are taken care of; most people are just being stubborn and using these kinds of debates as an emotional vent to blow off steam...😁

Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong, but I seriously don't get why anyone has such a massive issue with religious ed classes, having a chaplain on campus, or school-based theology... provided it isn't some forced imposition of a specific ideology, right? What's the actual problem? Is it not the hypocrisy of parents who dutifully sign their kids up for religion class one minute, then turn around and claim they only did it so their kids wouldn't be wandering aimlessly through the hallways the next?🤦

At my local public school—and based on what I hear from friends who work in the field, like one psychologist and one teacher I know—everyone would find things so much easier if they could just form one single group consisting solely of students who aren't attending religious studies. But no matter how hard they try, or how much they reach out to parents to explain the logistics, they just can't pull it off year after year... out of a freshman class of maybe 80 to 100 students, the school can almost never scrape together that minimum requirement of, say, 14 students needed to form a standalone elective class... so, does it even make sense to treat religious education as this huge, controversial flashpoint when it's mostly just a logistical headache?

I'm with you on that...

It also drives me crazy when parents have their kids eat lunch at 1:00 PM because of whatever scheduling reason exists, and then they don't even bother asking what their kids are doing between 1:15 and 2:00 PM when class starts—yet they make such a huge fuss over a gap in the schedule caused by religion class. For instance, I personally wonder why they have two hours of religion class instead of just one, like music class. Why not take that extra hour and use it for PE? We're constantly hearing about how the nation is becoming overweight. And frankly, it bugs me that religion class is so dry and boring. Why wasn't it designed to actually spark interest or reflect the values it's supposed to teach? The kids who skip religion class aren't outcasts or weirdos; quite the opposite. In our class, everyone is actually jealous of the first girl who opts out, because she gets to hang out in the library with the teacher while the rest of them are stuck in a snooze-fest.

blond lady said:thanks, you gave me a really helpful perspective

About half the class is going to a meeting with the teacher next week to try and address the poor grades and the general lack of knowledge in the room... we aren't sure yet if we should invite the school counselor (we don't have a principal assigned yet).

We really want the teacher to take some accountability here too...

I don't know much about how the other classes are doing or what their grades look like, but usually, they'll claim their standards are high and they demand a lot... but from what I can see, the kids just don't know the material. They aren't grasping the lessons; either the explanations are poor or they're just way too superficial. To me, it’s simply not right or acceptable for second graders in elementary school to be getting D's or F's in math and science.

Up until now, I've always worked hard alongside my child and assumed a C was her actual level of understanding, so I thought I needed to lower my expectations. But now it turns out that roughly 50% to 70% of the students in the class have those same low grades...

It makes me terrified for the upper grades. If this is what happens in the lower grades despite all the effort and work, what is going to happen later? What kind of high school will they even be able to get into? It sounds wonderful when people say their C's are like A's in other schools, but if my kid ends up in some bottom-tier high school because of this, what good does it do us?

Since we've already established—our kids are all in the same boat...
It isn't quite accurate to say their C's would be A's elsewhere. Sure, they demand a lot from the kids—they do—but other schools demand a lot, too.
I think you might be overstating the situation with the science and math grades a bit, and you missed one crucial detail: those grades dropped after the break, and the science test was actually announced before the break—so they had three full weeks to prepare. I'll be the first to admit I let my kid slack off over the holidays and wasn't persistent enough about reviewing during that last week of vacation.
And those grades aren't as "demoralizing" as you make them sound—my kid got a D on the science test and a C in math 😵. I knew she wouldn't get better than a C in science because when we were reviewing before the test, I saw her time-telling skills were shaky, and there just wasn't enough time left to fix it. As for math, she usually gets great grades, and when I asked why she got a C, she told me, and I quote: "My brain engines just wouldn't start." 🤣 Those three weeks of doing nothing were enough to let the brain get rusty, and as a parent, I have to take my share of the blame for the lack of practice. Let's be real, the science unit was on telling time, where kids have to learn to read an analog clock. With smartphones and digital displays everywhere, it's genuinely hard for kids to learn how to read a clock with hands, and we had to reinforce that at home because having science twice a week isn't enough to truly master it. Speaking of which—you might not believe me, but I overheard some high schoolers talking on the bus the other day (they were specifically talking about reading analog clocks) and one kid said that in his class, maybe a FEW people actually know how to do it, while everyone else is clueless... high school 🤔—it was honestly a shock.
Anyway, regarding my second grader, it's not like he's studying for hours every day. He finishes his homework, reviews a little bit of what they did in the previous lesson, and that's it. All told, it takes him an hour at most. I know I have a bright kid, but I also know his flaws and how impulsive he can be, so even though he understands the material perfectly, he sometimes doesn't pull an A on a test.
It isn’t really that black and white. The curriculum just keeps getting more intense with every generation. I have an older daughter in high school, and looking at my younger one in second grade, the workload is already significantly heavier than what my oldest dealt with back in the day. Of course, you can't blame the teacher for that; she’s just trying to hit all the required benchmarks and get the best results possible. That’s why I actually don't mind those frequent math dictations. They aren't always about a single grade—she’ll collect about ten of them before they ever impact her report card average—but if they help kids master mental addition and subtraction through practice, it makes learning their multiplication tables a whole lot easier down the road.

Kate Morgan14 said:I'm pretty sure our kids are stuck in the same class.🙂

🤣 it seems that way to me, too.

At Stenjevec Elementary School, they only offer after-school care for first graders. They’ve been talking about expanding the building for nearly a decade now, but honestly, it feels like nothing ever actually happens.

At our local elementary school, after-school programs are only available for first graders. Honestly, I’m thrilled they aren't an option for the older kids, and I know I'm not the only parent feeling this way. Staying at school all day is just exhausting for the little ones, but for us parents, having that extra flexibility is easily the most convenient and budget-friendly setup we could ask for. My oldest daughter didn't need after-school care back then because I was home with her younger brother, but watching my son now, I realize how much easier it is for him not to be stuck in a classroom all afternoon. It makes me think those programs are often more of a necessary evil than a benefit. Luckily, I have my mom living right downstairs, so she handles things while we're out, but looking around, most families seem to manage just fine on their own. Some pay for private daycare near the school (around $267 a month), some let the kids hang out at home, and others rely on neighbors or college students to help out.

Alright, I’m jumping into this conversation feeling a bit like I just landed from Mars, so please bear with me if I sound a little scattered.
I’d love to get my son into music school, but honestly, my husband and I are completely clueless when it comes to anything musical. We have no idea if he actually has an ear for it, though quite a few people on my husband's side of the family are gifted, so maybe those genes decided to show up in our kid. That said, I’ve always felt you don't necessarily need to be a virtuoso to enjoy making music—having at least a decent sense of pitch should be enough. So, why am I pushing for this? Well, my son is incredibly bright, articulate, and full of energy. He’s definitely left-brained, which comes with its own set of hurdles, specifically regarding short-term memory and focus. From what I’ve been reading, tons of parents of neurodivergent kids swear by how much music school helps their children develop, so we want to give it a shot. I’m just stuck on how to figure out what would actually suit him. Someone mentioned preparatory ear training classes... has anyone here had experience with those? Or would it be smarter to just sign him up for a casual local course? He’s obsessed with the guitar. We have my husband’s old acoustic sitting around—a gift from his parents back in the day—and while he says he'd like to play that, he’s a huge rock fan, so he's already dreaming about an electric 😁. He’s 8 years old and heading into second grade this fall.

John Clark6 said:Well, the whole thing was kicked off because you weren't meeting your payment obligations... though, you can certainly argue to have those costs reduced based on how much you won in the dispute... for instance, if the Visa balance was $667 and $1,000.00 was written off, you might end up only owing 50% of the legal fees.

If that’s what you're referring to—I saw that, but we're already talking about an actual court proceeding now, not just a seizure proposal.
I'm wondering if there's a specific legal term or something for this situation. A long time ago, we filed an objection regarding part of the bill being past the statute of limitations, but we never heard back—no response, no court summons, nothing. I really don't want us getting hit with all these extra costs after a hundred years of waiting...

Hey there,

We just got hit with a collection notice from the municipal waste management service. Here’s the deal: more than half of the bill they're trying to collect is actually past the statute of limitations. I’m planning to file an objection regarding those outdated charges while paying off the valid ones, but I'm stuck on how the added fees work. They’ve tacked on $100 in extra costs. If I file an objection, does the whole thing get tossed, or am I still on the hook for those fees—or maybe just a portion of them? The predictable costs come out to $296... does that mean those are definitely going to be charged if they move forward with forced collection?

Since we’re all feeling the squeeze this year, I decided to do a little lurking... just to see what people are actually saying and what kind of demands parents are making during these times.
Basically, my takeaway is that the worse the economy gets, the more materialistic and ungrateful we become as a country. When wages are bottoming out and some people aren't even pulling a paycheck, asking for a high-end laptop or an iPhone is honestly embarrassing. It isn't the kids' fault—it's definitely on the parents. My daughter's future godmother wouldn't dream of ordering something like that because she knows I'd give her a serious piece of my mind (figuratively speaking, of course 😁).
I actually set a limit for the godparents so they wouldn't spend more than $333. And honestly, even that feels like too much since I originally suggested something closer to $233, yet they ended up spending $1,000. At the end of the day, the godmother is going to be part of her life forever, and the most important thing is that the two of them share a bond—the gifts have always been secondary to us. She has never missed a birthday, and she's always showered my girl with love... sometimes the gift was big, sometimes it was just a tiny trinket, but what mattered was the look of pure joy on my child's face whenever her godmother called or dropped by (they truly adore each other):klap:

Douglas Nguyen30 said:So, here's the deal: the invoice was issued on September 5th, but it lists a shipping note dated August 22nd. I called the IRS, and I'm getting mixed signals—one advisor says the sales tax belongs in August, while another insists it goes in September! They say to use the mid-market rate based on the invoice date, but now I'm just completely lost...🤷 😕

Determining when the Sales Tax Liability arisesV-a

- The obligation to account for sales tax occurs at the moment of the "taxable event."
- A taxable event and the resulting tax liability occur:
when goods are delivered or services are rendered.
Additionally, if the delivery has already happened but no invoice has been issued yet, the tax liability is triggered the moment that taxable event actually took place.

In short, your sales tax liability belongs in August. However, you calculate the actual invoice amount using the mid-market exchange rate from the Federal Reserve on the day the invoice is officially issued.

p.s.
Regarding the legal deadline for issuing invoices—for deliveries made to a taxpayer in a different fiscal period (the acquirer)—the invoice must be issued no later than the 15th day of the month following the month in which the taxable event occurred.

Douglas Nguyen30 said:Hi everyone!
🙂I have a quick question regarding some paperwork. I acquired assets from the USA back on August 25th. I have the delivery note, but I just received the invoice today, September 5th. Interestingly, the invoice lists the delivery note number and the original date of August 25th.
Which exchange rate should I be using, and which month's VAT filing does this fall under—August or September? 🙂
Should I reach out to the vendor to confirm which month they plan to record this in their books?

Thanks so much in advance! 🙂

From what I understand, you typically use the mid-market exchange rate on the actual date the invoice was issued.

Personally, I’d record this in August. My guess is the vendor will book it in August too, since that’s when the invoice was officially generated.

Hey everyone,

I’ve got a bit of a dilemma 😕here.
Basically, my company sells wine, and we have a client looking for a very specific vintage from an old archive. The problem is, we don't actually have enough in our commercial stock to fulfill the order. However, the owner of the company happens to have this exact wine sitting in his private collection at home. I'm stuck on how to handle this properly from an accounting standpoint—specifically, how to execute a buyback from him so everything stays above board. My instinct is that we need a formal purchase agreement between the owner and the business since we're buying from an individual. But what comes after that? Does sales tax need to be factored into that contract, and how do I actually log this into our inventory system if there isn't a standard commercial invoice involved?

My second concern is whether this is even legal to do. I’m not sure if we can even put this wine up for sale once we've bought it, given that it hasn't gone through the usual regulatory labeling and certification processes required for our standard inventory.

Hi there,

I’m picking up an acquisition from the USA later this month, but we have to deal with excise taxes on certain goods. I read somewhere that those excise taxes actually get rolled into the base amount when calculating the sales tax at the time of purchase. If anyone out there knows the specifics of how that works, I’d really appreciate some help.