Yes, the homework assigned didn't help him learn. He really like the tutor (tried to get the same one each time) but the homework didn't help him learn the Spanish. I know lots of people here love Homeschool Spanish Academy and I wish my son had loved it (it's cheaper) and been able to learn the Spanish but unfortunately not. That is why there is a wide variety of curriculum, as people learn differently!

My DD tried using Shormann Algebra 2 and made it through maybe 1 chapter before we switched to a different curriculum. I'm not so sure it's the kid that's the issue. 🙂 Knowing what I know now about math curriculum and my kids, I should have put her in the self-paced Mr. D Math.

DS is doing Spanish 1 online with Kolbe Academy and loves it. This is the 3rd option for online Spanish that we've tried including Homeschool Spanish Academy, and the first one that clicked and is working for DS. It's not cheap, but it's less expensive than OSU. About $860 + a new family fee from what I can tell (not including text). They are accredited but also progressing towards regional accreditation (a good thing). https://kolbe.org/courses/online/courses/high-school/online-foreign-language-courses/wcf-09span1/

Spanish 1 online with Kolbe Academy has been great this year, using Avancemos. The teacher is new but great-- my son's favorite Spanish teacher so far. The Spanish 1 class meets once/week but there is an optional second meeting on a different day where one just practices the Spanish learned thus far in that class.

It is expensive, but considering how much rides on being able to write well in high school and college, and the essays to get into college, it's worth it. I read on this forum that if you can swing doing just a year for a 9th grader, it really helps in high school. It is my opinion that if one can only swing paying for 1 semester (fall semester is best if just doing one) that it is very worth it. If you can find a good curriculum that is writing intensive you could potentially do a homeschool course and see if there are online tutors in your price range that could grade essays and a research essay paper and give feedback for a set price. What worked wonders for my son is the intensive part of doing a lot of writing and getting quick feedback and doing multiple drafts. He can write a lot more quickly than at the beginning of the semester.

The state flagship of Florida used to require 2 validations per core subject except for English -- however -- this changed as of summer '20. Instead, they now state that they prefer homeschoolers take regionally accredited classes. When asked if we could submit CLEP /AP passing scores the answer was we can and those will go in the app file, but they prefer regionally accredited classes. To me this indicates that regular homeschoolers are at a major disadvantage unless they have very superior SAT/ACT test scores. State flagship is a top 10 public university.

I don't know what to tell you other than my son has the same problem. My solution a few years ago was to make him learn how to type and he uses Word and spell checks, and then I look over his papers for spelling errors. He did do Spelling workbooks every year but he was good at finding patterns and doing them with little thought, and I've come to accept he isn't that great a speller. Some people aren't and at least we have spell check! I will say that he has gotten much better at editing his work thanks to the high output of writing he's had to do this year.

@Roadrunner Yes, I live in Florida and that is what the state flagship used to require. DD fulfilled those requirements and was accepted there. I still have their PDF of the old requirements for homeschoolers. Now their preference is for homeschoolers to take regionally accredited classes and submit the transcript for those with their app. They no longer require validations of core courses, Admissions told me. I asked about CLEP and similar tests and from the response we can submit those and they'll be added to the app file, but they prefer regionally accredited classes. It definitely seems strange, almost to discourage regular homeschoolers.

While a lot of universities will likely continue accepting AP exam credit as "validation" of homeschool transcripts, our state flagship will not now -- unless the AP class taken is regionally accredited.

AP seemed to kill my DD's interest in the subject and she said the AP classes she did had more busy work than her dual enrollment classes. What about taking regionally accredited classes for foreign language? TPS, FLVS, and I am sure there are others you could look into. I can't recall what year your kids are in, but I have heard of some kids doing FLVS Spanish 1 & 2 in less than the 2 years they are normally done, as they had already taken "unaccredited" Spanish. I know FLVS offers other foreign languages. My DD took 2 years of a foreign language via TPS (only classes she took at TPS) and then I called & paid to get their regionally accredited transcript sent to the university to be put in her application file --the process was pretty easy.

I also think this move of the College Board discontinuing SAT Subject tests is outrageous. It makes things so much harder for homeschoolers. I contacted our flagship university, which had until recently a reasonable requirement of homeschoolers -- 2 validations per core subject. For example, my DD now at university showed validations mainly with CLEP passing scores but some dual enrollment (total 40 college credits). Now, the Admissions office says they prefer to see regionally accredited courses from homeschoolers when they apply, over a CLEP transcript. So, one can still take & show CLEP test scores to show mastery of a subject, but that seems to now be considered second tier to regionally accredited courses at our flagship. This muddies the water for my youngest, now in 9th grade. My hunch is that if test scores are really good, and some dual enrollment successfully done, and CLEP tests successfully passed, and the essay is great, a homeschooler applying to the state flagship would be competitive to get in, but who knows. I'm going to contact some other universities about this and see if they have updated their homeschool applicant requirements but not put them on their sites. I know when my daughter was applying to Univ. of Texas at Austin, they didn't have much information on their site about what homeschool applicants should do to apply if they had taken CLEP tests etc. I called and the admissions officer was very excited to hear that I could get DD's CLEP transcript sent along with dual enrollment transcripts from two universities. So, it doesn't hurt to do some homework and call if nothing is listed on the university's site about homeschool applicant requirements. And yes, she was accepted to UT Austin -- and disappointed when we told her the out of state cost was too much for her to attend.

For feel good with almost no gore: When Calls the Heart (many seasons) and Anne with an E — those two would be great for someone feeling under the weather. And Virgin River had an interesting storyline (I think it’s based on a novel). Hell on Wheels has some violence (which I fast forwarded through) and is definitely R rated for other reasons, so you could save that for when you’re feeling better. It’s a great show though. Same w/ The Witcher and Turn. Northern Rescue has a pretty good storyline but I like to watch shows w/ more than one season when I’m not feeling well, so you could wait on that one.

When Calls the Heart, Anne with an E, New Girl, Virgin River, Hell on Wheels, Longmire, Turn, The Witcher, Northern Rescue. Feel better soon!

There are medical exceptions for a mask mandate, so even though we see a small percentage of people masking in our area which mandates a mask, some people medically can’t wear a mask. Also, with the past (and continuing) protests there were some people not wearing masks while protesting....so while peaceful protests are allowed and while some people medically can’t wear masks, what should be done about the people protesting who could wear masks but didn’t? I don’t think masks are 100% protection against the pandemic (LOL) so even people wearing masks attending protests in close proximity were possibly exposed to/spreading COVID-19.

I don’t know if the lines are still as long, but some people were waiting in line all day to get tested. How long could I wait in line if I had to wait when it’s hot out even though I have A/C in my car? Not all day, I know that. As far as false test results for corona, my DH’s hygienist told him that she took her kids to get tested for COVID-19, but after a few hours of waiting her kids couldn’t take the wait any longer. They left, and a week or so later she was contacted and told her kids tested positive for COVID-19 when they actually had never gotten tested. And because their names are in the system as being positive for COVID-19, she couldn’t send them to summer camp— the camp could see their “positive” corona test!

Those are definitely not stupid questions! My oldest didn’t take a CLEP test until the summer after she completed her sophomore year in high school. She could have done one at the end of her 9th grade year; she knew the U.S. Government material having taken that class at home, and could have passed the American Government CLEP test, but I didn’t know about CLEP at that point. Really, if a student is a good test taker and wants to take a CLEP test, I would go for it. However, make sure the colleges your student is thinking about attending will accept the CLEP credit. The Literature CLEP isn’t accepted at the colleges my oldest applied to, and she didn’t take that one, but there are two different Composition CLEP tests, and the one that the public universities accepted that she applied to was called College Composition With Essay (not the Modular one). As far as CLEP test prep materials, I got the REA test prep book for each subject my DD took and depending on the subject got other materials or whatever she used for homeschool for that subject was enough with the REA book. I’ll look back at what she used and post. Before she took the first CLEP test, all I had was her results from the CAT standardized test which she had taken annually for years, and those results were always pretty good. I knew from her study habits that she was a good test taker, so that played a role in my decision to have her take CLEP tests (...multiple choice for CLEP except for Composition one which is multiple choice and 2 timed essays). There is an initial test in the REA books which is an assessment of weaknesses and strengths in the subject; she would do that after studying. A couple months before the CLEP test appointment she would take the practice test in the REA book and see from her score what she needed to review. The only REA practice tests that don’t seem very accurate are the CLEP math tests and the Spanish one. The others, if you scored a 60 or above on the REA practice test you were pretty safe to pass (you need a 50 to pass unless the college mandates a higher score for that CLEP test).

One of my nephews has autism and is in the special needs class at his local public school. What are single parents doing in this pandemic? I mean, the public school is offering the hybrid option of go to physical school 3 days/ week and remote school rest of the time, or for special needs kids, they can go in person 5 days/ week, or they can choose the all online public school option. The problem is, my brother isn’t comfortable sending his autistic son to the public school with the pandemic going on still. I know many parents are in the same boat as far as comfort level sending their kid(s) to a physical school. The remote learning the public school had for my brother’s son was terrible. I don’t know much about my autistic nephew’s skill level, but he is technically going into 8th grade and can barely write a paragraph but is good at math. But when I say good at math, my brother said he is definitely not ready for pre-algebra. Does anyone have curriculum suggestions for a kid with autism going into 8th grade? And, for those who are working remotely (at least for right now) like my brother, how doable is it to either homeschool an autistic kid or have him help his son as needed with the remote public schooling?

Just one of the things that has been annoying me since this pandemic came on the scene is how much contradictory information we, the public, have gotten. Is there asymptomatic spread or is it that COVID-19 is airborne, which 239 researchers recently published an article on? I'm not going to claim that there definitely isn't asymptomatic spread but an awful lot of different claims have been walked back due to what almost seems like some kind of pressure. Fauci saying masks were not needed by the general public initially...now we are being told differently. And hey, we are wearing masks when we do go out, which isn't often. I looked at the Chinese study about asymptomatic spread in an elevator, and the first thing I wondered is how do the researchers know every person who has been in that elevator and that someone wasn't missed that actually was symptomatic? How do they know for sure that the patient they say is asymptomatic is truly asymptomatic? Some symptoms cannot be seen. From all the information the public has been getting that seems to change too frequently, I'm getting a bit jaded.

CLEP tests, run by the College Board, are not nearly as well known as AP exams. But at some public and private universities, passing one or more CLEP tests can get you college credit. I forget now where I first read about CLEP tests a few years ago, but my now freshman in college has 43 college credits (30 credits from CLEP; 13 from DE). All the credits were accepted by her college. Some colleges / universities don't accept many CLEP credits while others accept a lot. Sometimes if you ask the admissions department they will tell you they accept a CLEP test (passing score) in place of an SAT subject test that is sometimes required for homeschool applicants. Last year when she was applying to colleges, we had CB send her CLEP transcript to a few colleges like you would the SAT subject test score. Right now, because of the pandemic, some testing centers are not open, and those that are open have limited availability. But usually, getting an appointment for a CLEP test is easy. Hope this helps someone!

One of my mom's friends said this same thing happened to her about going for a COVID-19 test and leaving and not getting tested because the line was too long...and then getting told her test came back positive.

Oops -- What I meant to put after reading that whole long CDC article is the super spreader reported cold-like symptoms starting March 7. Three days later that person attended the choir practice on March 10 and didn't realize he/she had COVID-19. No choir member was sick on March 3. CDC concluded the person who had cold-like symptoms starting on March 7 was the index patient. Possibly that person was pre-symptomatic on March 3, but the CDC report doesn't say (that I could find, could be wrong!). From what I can tell reading the CDC report (under Investigation and Findings subhead) and the discussion about odds, the March 10 choir practice was the super spreader event.

Well, after the CDC investigated, it looks like from their report that one person who had cold-like symptoms attended the choir you're talking about in Skagit County, WA on March 7 and seems like that person was the super spreader. So, not an asymptomatic person. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm

Did anyone see or post this article (posted July 9) about 239 researchers claiming "there's significant evidence the coronavirus can persist in the air"..... https://www.cnet.com/news/coronavirus-airborne-spread-who-calls-for-more-evidence-about-covid-19-transmission/

I am looking at the CDC website re: asymptomatic people, and the problem with facts on asymptomatic people is more time and study is needed for facts about if/how much asymptomatic people transmit. As CDC states, asymptomatic people are not routinely tested. From CDC's recently updated site: "The relative infectiousness of asymptomatic cases to symptomatic cases remains highly uncertain as asymptomatic cases are difficult to identify and transmission is difficult to observe and quantify. The estimates for relative infectiousness are assumptions based on studies of viral shedding dynamics." On a different part of the CDC site, there is a Q&A: When is someone infectious? The onset and duration of viral shedding and the period of infectiousness for COVID-19 are not yet known. It is possible that SARS-CoV-2 RNA may be detectable in the upper or lower respiratory tract for weeks after illness onset, similar to infections with MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. However, detection of viral RNA does not necessarily mean that infectious virus is present. There are reports of asymptomatic infections (detection of virus with no development of symptoms) and pre-symptomatic infections (detection of virus prior to development of symptoms) with SARS-CoV-2, but their role in transmission is not yet known. Based on existing literature, the incubation period (the time from exposure to development of symptoms) of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses (e.g. MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV) ranges from 2–14 days.

Thanks so much for helping me get rid of the yellow Help button!!! My eyes really disliked that yellow button. Agree re: supplements. I'm taking B12 and vitamin C. I've got some of what you mentioned on hand if we need it (NAC, magnesium, K, zinc).