I love that it's just like, "oh, yeah, your dog is 10% wolf. NBD."

I just finished (the audiobook of) Anne Tyler's French Braid, which I liked a lot. I kind of divide Anne Tyler into very good and merely pleasant...the last one I read was The Clock Dance, which I'd put in the pleasant category; this one felt more like Tyler at her strongest, with a lot of subtly fascinating observations about family and women and aging and marriage...all her usual stuff, but she somehow has new things to say over and over again. Then I spend a lot of time in bed today with a sore back on doctor's orders, so I started and finished The End of the World House yesterday and today. I enjoyed it; speculative fiction with a multiverse thing going on. Definitely flawed and a bit of a mess at times, but a fun read and well-written (perhaps clashes with "a bit of a mess." The plotting was a bit of a mess, and there were some things that bothered me, but the prose was lovely). Also listening to Mike Schur's Good Place-adjacent How to Be Perfect. It's a crash course in moral philosophy sort of thing. Sometimes books like that--serious books by entertainment people--seem to be trying way too hard to be both meaningful and funny...but Schur might be nailing it (it's early days yet)...perhaps because he's a writer and not an actor. I tried to read a Nick Offerman book awhile back and just couldn't do it, even though I very much like Nick Offerman in other settings.

I have that one on my library wish list!

Re: UGA. I hate that UGA comes across as so homeschool-unfriendly. The reality is that there are more hoops to jump through than there should be, but it's definitely possible to get in as a homeschooler, particularly if you plan in advance, which you're doing. My oldest was admitted early action and auto-admitted to the honors program 4 years ago (he went elsewhere; he also wanted a smaller school). But it is a tough admit for anyone these days, homeschooled or not, so it's certainly good to look at other options. The only other school we have experience with is Kennesaw; I have three who are doing or have done DE there, and my husband got his masters in math education there a few years back. So, re: teaching. My husband is a high school teacher. He has a math (not education) degree and did web development for a few years before he started teaching. For him it was not a problem at all that he had a subject degree and not education (he did a program his first year teaching designed to give him his teaching certificate while he was working with a provisional certificate)...but he's a math teacher, which is generally going to be in higher demand than English or history. I mean, right NOW all teachers are in high demand, but I don't know what things will look like in a few years. I would talk to some people who know more about what hiring looks like in those subject areas and see. That said, if the issue is hireability if he burns out on teaching (and I definitely agree that's something to consider), I don't know how much more valuable an English or history degree would be for career changing than an education one (speaking as an English major). Honestly, though, I'm a fan of doing what you love in college and trusting that it will work out. But I understand the drawbacks of that approach (speaking as the mother of a clarinet performance major; we'll see what I say in a few years!) One thought is that it's usually a good idea to get a masters before you start teaching; my husband did it while he was teaching and we had 3 young kids, and it was a tough year and a half. If you can get it and start out at the higher salary and not need to worry about it while you're working, that's idea. So maybe a BA in English or history and then a masters in education? Again, my only experience is with math, so YMMV.

oh great. I not only have one, the coating is chipping off my paddle attachment. I just did some reading about it, and kitchen aid's non-denial denial is not super reassuring.

I see a lot of kids, both homeschooled and in public school, take more, but FWIW, my husband is a high school teacher so I can say that 6 is still the standard at a lot of highly rated high schools around me (Atlanta metro area). The school he's at now is a charter school with an extra period, so 7 is the norm, but at his old school right down the street (same county) it was 6, and plenty of kids go to selective colleges from there. That said, the ability to add in more to suit your kid's interests and goals pretty easily is one of the benefits of homeschooling.

Since all the other grades have one...who wants to talk seniors? This will be my 3rd senior (then I get a long break since the last one will just be 5th grade next year). He'll be applying to colleges, but we're still trying to figure out what that will look like...he might mostly do a bunch of small LACs, or he might want a music dual degree (with...something), so we might have auditions in our future...or he might do ED at Vanderbilt where his brother is and see what happens. Anyway, here's what we're looking at so far: AP Literature (at home): I'm excited about this; it's my 3rd time through it, but this is my most likely to be an English major kid, so we can get especially ambitious and interesting with it. AP Calc AB (at home): DH is a calculus teacher, so this is his territory. Physics at home school coop: really hope this one actually happens, because I don't have much of a physics/science back up plan. Spanish (dual enrollment): he's doing 3rd semester Spanish right now (after doing through Spanish 3 with assorted online providers), so he'll do at least one more semester of this, and then we'll reevaluate and see how much having another semester would help with college requirements. Economics: we'll do this at home--something light and box check-y French horn and piano lessons, assorted youth orchestras--music is very much his primary EC Beyond that things are still up in the air. I'm eyeing an extra, low pressure lit class at our homeschool co-op and/or a global civics class. I keep thinking of adding another AP at home (maybe European history? art history?), but that would probably be overkill and I'd regret it. He'll likely do 2-4 more dual enrollment classes; we'll see what sounds interesting when registration opens up. He's taking sociology right now; if he likes that a lot he could do another one. Or some other social science or history. There are lit classes he can take if he gets a 5 on AP lang this spring. They have an interesting sounding "Peace studies" program that he might like. Or I might push for him to double up on math and take Stats so as to be a better citizen of the world, but that might make him sad.

I'm not sure I can say that I love Scarlet Letter, but I have come to appreciate it a lot more as an adult reading it with my high school kids. I love the scene with the A in the sky and what Hawthorne does with the idea of symbols and their shifting meanings there.

ah, yes--I've heard about that one! I should put it on my Newfoundland reading list! I'm doing AP Lang with my 11th grader this year, and we have a loose travel writing theme this semester; we just started listening to Tony Horwitz's Confederates in the Attic. I'm also listening to Anne Tyler's newest, French Braid. I will always read anything Anne Tyler.

American lit I've done recently with my kids: Scarlet Letter Bartleby the Scrivener Their Eyes Were Watching God Cathedral Great Gatsby Pym A Narrative of the Life of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Why I Live at the PO Pale Horse, Pale Rider Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Song of Soloman Invisible Man Beloved The Sound and the Fury ...no one has much cared for Scarlet Letter, but I've had them read it anyway because it pairs well with early American history and because I've come to find it more interesting than I used to (I'm particularly intrigued by symbolism in it--it's sort of useful for high schoolers because Hawthorne whacks you over the head with his symbols but then the book also has some surprisingly intriguing things to say about the whole concept of symbols). All of my kids love Gatsby for whatever reason--something I didn't accomplish until I was much older, but I guess I've managed to pass on my enthusiasm. Bartleby is always a hit (and rich yet approachable). Arthur Gordon Pym is Poe's only novel, and it's pretty deeply flawed in all sorts of ways, but also fascinating, and my kids still talk about it a ton. Pym is a modern satire of it, and they pair well, though probably better for college students, really. Pale Horse, Pale Rider is a short novel (or maybe more of a long short story) by Katherine Anne Porter that I've always loved. It's one of the few fictional works about the 1918 flu pandemic, which makes it a good one for these troubled times. I really wanted The Sound and the Fury to go over well, but it was a little much for the 2 kids I did it with. I'm still contemplating trying to get through Absalom, Absalom with my upcoming senior, though, because I have a hard time relegating Faulkner to short stories. ANYWAY, to try to wrap things, up, what I'd pick would probably depend on whether I was coordinating lit with American history or not. If so, I'd keep in Scarlet Letter, definitely do Huck Finn (which I gather has fallen out of favor in high school lit classes and probably for good reasons, but if you can do it well and dive into criticism and outside resources and neither demonize nor valorize Twain (or Huck) it's a great read), Bartleby, Pale Horse Pale Rider, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Gatsby, one of those two Toni Morrisons (I think Beloved it probably the stronger novel, but Song of Solomon is somewhat lighter and more hopeful), and then something contemporary based on student interest. And tons of poetry, heavy on modernism, because that's just what I always end up doing.

My in-laws paid for most of the expenses when we traveled with them for a long time...until we were well into our 30s at least, but then it's stopped at some point over the last decade and now we split accommodation and activity costs (or get our own place more typically) and pay our own way to get wherever we're going (usually they'll pay for most meals out, but we'll offer to pay for one now and then). In this case, they have significantly more money than we do and paying for us was not a hardship. I'm not sure what made them decide it was time to change things up; it's totally fine, but it did make it a little hard to budget for travel during the transitional period when we weren't sure what to expect (direct conversation would have helped, but this family's not big on that); they're very financially generous in other ways. My oldest is 21 now and a semester away from graduating from college...I don't foresee that we'll stop paying for his expenses for vacations any time soon (if he's willing to vacation with us, I'm happy to pay if we can), but it may depend on relative income levels, etc. Anyway, in the hypothetical situation, I would expect to just pay the cost myself if it were my own adult kid...and to pay the extra cost ourselves if it were my husband and I joining my in-laws. So I guess I get the worst of both worlds at this particular stage of life!

I wouldn't be able to stay upright with a TSH that high. The range varies by lab, but I just checked and the lab my doctor uses has 4.5 as the upper end of the range, so it definitely wouldn't be weird to medicate for 4.79

I didn't quite make my 50 books goal last year (I did 45), so I...made it 52 for this year. We'll see! Anyway, first up is Theatre of Fish: Travels Through Newfoundland ...because we have a Newfoundland trip planned this summer, and I got it for Christmas (my last book last year was The Shipping News, which I'd read before a very long time ago but didn't remember much of at all. I also count books I read with my almost 10 year old; we're in the middle of The Greenglass House right now.

My NP would definitely treat for that (I try to keep mine under 2)...I've always just done levothyroxine and been fine on it. I've been to endocrinologists a couple of times, but they've found me utterly uninteresting so I just see my regular general practice NP mostly and get labs done twice a year.

I didn't do pluses or minuses, either (largely because neither our local school district nor the college where mine have done DE does. Also it's easier), and it hasn't been an issue.

This is probably the most adorable explanation for your problem I could have hoped for.

whoa. I guess it's time to lay off the Lily's! Now I'm wondering about my cocoa powder, too....I've been making a protein shake with spinach and cocoa powder every day lately...apparently all my efforts to be healthy are doomed to backfire.

I could be off, but I don't think four letters are expected at any college, even very selective ones. I think it's more that they allow up to 4 for students who feel like they have an extra recommender or two that they really want to include...but two is pretty standard for selective colleges. I definitely wouldn't include any "extra" unless they'll be super strong (i.e. just as strong as the required recommendations). At any rate, both my kids got into selective schools with the minimum required recommendations.

no...we've never wrapped...not stocking stuff nor non-stocking presents from Santa. I was startled when my Dad married my stepmother and she wrapped stuff in stockings.

Thank you! I see that I'm getting a good many views but no replies, which I gather means that no one knows anything about ACNES syndrome, but that, like me, when they see a thread about some obscure health concern they need to click on it so they can read and find out if they think they have it, too 😂

I've had weird, persistent but fairly mild pain/discomfort in my upper right abdomen (it alternates between burning pain just to the right of and above my belly button and just vague discomfort on the right side) for over a month now. Normal labs and a negative H pylori test at my PCP, so now I have a GI appointment in a week. PCP thought maybe either ulcer or gallbladder, but...neagive h pylori and she said it's a little low for my gallbladder. But of course I cannot stop googling in the meantime. Came across "anterior cutaneous nerve entrapment syndrome" last night, and it sounds...like me! Particularly being able to pinpoint one spot with a single finger. That's what I DID when I saw my NP a few weeks ago, without being asked. Everything I read about it says it's very common but underdiagnosed, and that people tend to go through a lot of unnecessary tests before they figure it out. So that sounds fun. Anyway, anyone have experience with it?

Solo Stove Mesa tiny tabletop fire pit. We have an RV, but he doesn't want to haul a full size solo stove around with us. This one seems like a good compromise and also overpriced enough that we wouldn't buy it except as a splurge for a gift.

We do Victor Hi Pro Plus (from Chewy)...it's well reviewed on dog food advisor, high protein but not grain free (I don't really know what to make of the controversy over grain-free food, so that seems like a decent compromise), not crazy expensive, and our dogs seem to do well on it (it's advertised as "for active dogs" but my dogs are not especially active and they stay nice and slim on it...even the beagle!)

Flaky professors are just a part of college life (as are professors with excellent intentions who are overworked and can't get to everything they want to). I wouldn't worry about a B (here DE grades are weighted like AP grades, so a B would count as an A on the transcript anyway), and I also wouldn't assume it will end up a B yet. My kids' experiences with a lot of their DE and college classes is that if they're struggling usually most other students are, too, and professors very often find ways to help students improve grades as the end of the semester gets close (particularly the students who are clearly making a good effort).

Having read about what happens to returns much of the time, I wouldn't try too hard to return them. In my experience, it's often pretty much impossible to get things straightened out in such cases anyway; the system just isn't set up to handle it. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/30/business/online-shopping-returns-liquidators/index.html