Visual Studio isn't tracking changes, or checking out files from source control as I edit them

I am new to TFS. At my job I mapped the TFS projects to local directories, performed a get, and everything works as I expected. When I edit files on my local copy, source control automatically checks them out for editing and tracks the files with pending changes via the pending changes window. Then I just check them in throughout the day using that window.

However, at home this doesn't appear to be happening. I have access to source control and using source control explorer, have mapped the projects to local directories. This appeared to work fine. However, when I open the projects and open files, changes I make are not automatically checking out files. In fact, visual studio isn't even changing their read-only status until I try to save my changes; at that point it warns me that the file is read-only and asks if I would like it to try to overwrite the permissions and save. I do and it works fine. But again, no changes register in the pending changes window. I'm kind of lost. The only source control experience I really have is subversion and the visual studio AnkhSVN plugin.

I've even opened my solution by double-clicking the solution file that is in source control explorer. You would think it would be fully-aware that the solution I'm opening should be tracked by source control.

Edit

Since people seem to be questioning my use of the phrase "at home", let me clarify. There are no problems with the network. I am on a VPN. I can browse source control just fine. I have since reinstalled everything for various reasons. All went well. I'm just having an issue with Visual Studio not tracking changes to files and allowing them to be committed back to source control. So to sum it up:

How could Visual Studio stop tracking changes after being mapped correctly, and allowing me to get latest? I can update from source control, I just can't commit. Pending changes window is empty even after making changes.

Right-click on your solution node and go down to "Go online". For various reasons visual studio can mark your solution as tracked by source control, but "offline". It is still tracking changes behind the scenes waiting for you to go online again. After doing this my pending changes window populated and all is normal. I figured it was a simple setting somewhere.

I found an interesting setting under File > Source Control > Advanced > Change Source Control.

If I bind the solution and project to my source control server (unbind first if it's already bound), then suddenly it works! Saving a file automatically checks out the file and tracks changes.

Edit: this seems like a bug in Visual Studio. If this workaround helps you, it would be awesome if you create a new issue at https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com with your Visual Studio version info, so that the dev team can fix this!

Go into source control bindings (File->Source Control->Change Source Control) - you may notice only the project is bound - not the solution. Select the solution, click Bind.

I've just found how to fix this when you are already online (there is no "Go online" option visible). Actually, there ARE pending changes listed but they are hidden below the huge "Comment" section. To view them increase hight of the "Pending Changes" tab and decrease hight of the "Comment" section: you'll see the list of pending changes that was hidden by poorly scaled VS :)