I'm thinking of some specific people on my feed whose posts on social justice issue seem more like trend-following. The only time you ever heard them speak out about it is when it's prominent in the news. They come across as consumers of social justice media rather than participants in social justice. These are not people who ever speak up when someone near them behaves egregiously. They look the other way and pretend it's not happening, but then go on social media to lecture and scold about how "We need to do better!" Sounds good, when would you like to start? As for people making assumptions about me because I do not post about social justice issues on facebook, well, all I can say is that if someone really does not know my stance on a given issue, then either they don't know me very well (and need to exit my feed), or I've been living my life entirely wrong. Social media does not represent the vast majority of my life.

The doctor usually says what the primary cause of death is and then lists contributing factors. So it would probably be listed as a MI and the primary reason (the immediate thing that killed the person), with contributing factors of influenza, obesity, and drug side effects.

This is the path we have taken. My son is 11 and finishing 5th grade. We have not spent much time on writing; hardly any, in fact. We've covered grammar, poetry, some Shakespeare, lots of audiobooks and read alouds. We have had some discussion on why a particular piece of writing is really good, but I have not required him to write any more than what a workbook might require for an answer. We started homeschooling in part because I knew that if we stayed, I would spend 13 years fighting with my son to get him to align with the vision of the school. Either that, or fighting with the school to get them to change their vision enough to align with my son. Both paths seemed exhausting and detrimental to our family life and his education, so we took him home and made a vow that home education would not be a battle. Writing would have been a battle if I had pushed it, so I made the decision to set it aside until he was more mature and had something he wanted to say. I am not going to spend my time fighting with him to make him write on topics he couldn't care less about when instead, we can spend that time learning about all sorts of other interesting things. I can't claim that I have always been so calm about this decision. Sometimes I panic and think "I must make him write! He's behind his peers in writing, I have to fix this!". So then I panic-buy some writing curriculum and try to push him through it, and it always results in frustration and tears. I put the curriculum away, and harmony returns to the household. He'll write when he wants to OR when he realizes he needs to (because he wants to go to college or apply for a job and realizes he really needs to improve the skill if he wants to go further). Writing isn't the only way to learn how to organize thoughts and information. Coding and math are also great ways to develop this skill. Ironically, I am having trouble getting my words out right now on this topic! I feel like everything I wrote is just blah blah blah. I blame the allergy meds. 🙂

I've been seeing this theme pop up on my feed, too. It's all a lot of virtue signaling, because none of these people are backing up their posts with any kind of action. It costs them nothing to make big statements about the police or Black Lives Matter. Precious few of these folks are actually going to change anything about how they live their life. It feels like when people do charity walks where the purpose is to "raise awareness" and not "raise funds to support treatment" for a disease. Nothing is actually getting accomplished, but people sure do feel good about themselves after they've completed the walk.

But have you ever felt compelled to make racist, sexist, or homophobic statements when you are upset? Before social media, were you likely to think hateful things about minorities or different ethnic groups, but just keep those thoughts to yourself? Because if that is true, then the issue isn't social media.

I read a similar article about cases in Italy. The Italian doctors were saying that the cases they saw were not nearly as severe as they were at the start of the outbreak. It kind of makes sense, though. The more lethal strains of a virus will die out because it kills off too many hosts before it can spread further. What you are left with is a less lethal version that doesn't kill off as many hosts.

The Carol Burnett Show is on Amazon Prime! ❤️

Absolutely.

Yes, there have been a lot of hard days lately. I've been feeling very weary of it all, too. I hope this day allowed your nerves to heal a little. ❤️

It really was. Everyone had a sort of sweaty, unwashed look about them. Blech.

I would not want anything to do with that, and would discretely try to alert whomever is "in charge" that you received this letter. This sounds dangerous.

I remain faceless. 🐔🐔🐔

Yeah, I'm not feeling the sweeping generalizations of "ABC needs to end, full stop!" That's one of the problems with a pandemic. It's heckin' inconvenient.

Oh how weird! I've had the theme song from Welcome Back, Kotter stuck in my head for days!

I've never studied this either, so I'm probably expressing myself in a clumsy way, but.. I don't know if I would call it misogyny, if we're talking about all the guilty posts from white women on facebook. It just reads as a lot of virtue signaling to me. I see a lot of people trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the Amy Cooper's and bad cops of the world, and it comes across as a fear-based response. Like "Oh, I'm one of the good guys! Don't direct your anger my way, you beautiful, noble black Americans! Because see I posted a black square on Tuesday and wrote a tearful post about how *I* need to do better". But they aren't actually going to do anything, except emote at their friends on facebook and maybe get some gumbo from the black-owned food truck in town, (while posting a selfie of them buying the gumbo, of course). I could do with 100% less of that sort of "activism".

I'd forgotten about her until you mentioned her name, but yes, I remember now. When the recent issue with Amy Cooper calling the cops on Christian Cooper came up, my mind went to Emmett Till. There's been a long, long pattern of white women blaming black men to deflect attention from their own bad behavior.

I actually want to hear everything you have to say about this strategy because it is similar in a lot of ways to how I teach my son. Well, minus the snakes (hilarious!)

I mean, he's not wrong. And there's not a single upper middle class white lady that I know who doesn't understand, deep down, that all they have to do is pick up the phone and say "There's a black man bothering me and I am afraid", and she will be protected and believed. There's always someone who'll say "Oh, but *I* would never do that! Not all white women!", and maybe that's true. Maybe you, personally, would not make that threat. But you could do it, and you'd probably never be called out for it, either. (*It's a general "You", not directed toward a specific person)

I'm sure the doctor knows the relevant stats. I suspect they get better results with scare tactics than trusting people to evaluate the data themselves, (current pandemic is an example of that). So it sounds like the rationale for early vs late is a patient compliance issue, and not something like "the immune system has a better response if we give the shots early vs late". I hear what you are saying about not delaying to early adulthood. That is partially my concern with the vaccine. At one point I was told that the effectiveness was only known to be about 10 years long. Maybe that has changed? But that really concerned me because if I got him the shots at age 11, that means they'd be losing effectiveness right when he's more likely to be sexually active and also when I can't insist he gets a vaccine. So maybe waiting until 13 or 14 would be better, because it would carry him until 23 or 24? If I've given the impression that I'm anti-vaxx or trying to be difficult, I apologize. I really do want to understand the right time to give this vaccine series for this child because I want him to be protected. When I try to ask these questions of doctors or nurses, they get really defensive and I don't feel like I'm getting my questions answered. I get why they may feel defensive...but I still need to have my questions answered, even if it really annoys them!

Leggings, tank top, and a t shirt over it when I am staying at my dad's house.

I read something recently where Italian doctors felt that the version of the virus they see now is less "potent" than earlier versions. This would be a very good thing if it turned out to be true. https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-losing-potency-top-italian-184358113.html

This is exactly the reason I have gotten from the doctors and nurses at the pediatrician. "Children are having sex at younger ages and they won't tell you they are doing it". I understand the value of getting it before they are sexually active. What I need to know is what is the improved value in getting this shot for a non-active 11 year old vs a non-active 12 or 13 year old.

Ok, but I KNOW that my 11 year old is not having sex. This child does not go anywhere without me, lol. Even if he had the desire, he has zero opportunity to fool around. And there's that whole pandemic thing right now, so we're not socializing with other people right now. We are a pro-vaccine family, but so far the only reason I've been given for why my 11 year old should get this shot right now is that other kids are sexually active and lying about it by 11, and I'm lying to myself if I don't think my kid is doing this, too. That feels like a weird reason.

Ice cream maker!

I've got loads of opinions on various homeschool topics. Stuff like "Most Secular Science Programs are Dull and Uninspiring" and "Maybe the 5-Paragraph Essay is a Waste of Time" and "It's totally fine to skip dissection labs if your child has no interest in a scientific field". I'd be more than happy to pontificate on those ideas, but I suspect that a lot of people with kids older than mine will roll their eyes and mutter "Newbie" under their breath. And maybe I am an idiot newbie, lol. I'm homeschooling an only child. I've only been at this for 6 or 7 years. I have no proof of concept yet. My entire "methodology" in teaching this child is based on him and his interests and strengths. It isn't based on an over-arching philosophy of education. I've read only a few books on pedagogy and set them aside because they didn't resonate with me.