Here numbers are definitely lower in districts with mask mandates, but they're much higher than they were last year (and much higher than the overall community numbers, which was never true in most counties with mask mandates last year). I would guess it's because we had higher community numbers to start with and relatively low vaccination rates, and they were already rising before school started and because even in districts with mask mandates precautions overall are much less stringent than in much of the country and much less stringent than last year.

yes, although I think Moderna and J&J are only a few weeks behind. Risk level of severe disease if you get sick might only be equivalent because of age (although I doubt there's much difference between an 18 year old high school senior and her 23 year old fresh out of college English teacher or whatever), but that's not what the category is based on. It seems silly that a high school kid who works part time at a doctor's office would be eligible but not a high schooler who "only" spends all day in a classroom with 30 other kids (when his teacher is eligible not because of age but because of being in precisely the same setting). But I guess this was also true in the spring, and I didn't really think about it much or hear anyone talk about it. You could really make even more of an argument for student eligibility since schooling is compulsory and employment isn't (I think we should be leaning into "schooling is compulsory" a lot more in the pursuit of making schools safer right now).

My husband got his because he has psoriasis and takes an immunosuppressive medication for it. It’s well controlled with the medication, and no one he works with or for would have any reason to know about it unless he tells them.

Can anyone ask if you’re REALLY immune compromised, though?

yeah. I'm giving it some thought. For myself and for my high school kids, who spend a fair amount of time in high risk settings (i.e. orchestras/wind ensembles) and then come home to hang out with my unvaccinated kid. My teacher husband already got one totally legitimately under the immunosuppressed label. Thanks, psoriasis!

Are we thinking that the criteria for boosters are going to be so broad that pretty much anyone who wants one will be able to get one? I mean, I can't see any reason why teachers would be eligible but not high school/college students for the same reasons, for example. They're in the same high risk setting for the same number of hours. I don't see any way they'll be able to verify when the categories are so vague.

Thank you! My husband went to Oberlin, and it made my oldest's short list (college, not con), so I'd love for someone to actually end up there 🙂 I realized I phrased that really unclearly--he's just applying to the Con, but the list of homeschool requirements for the Con doesn't even mention the optional academic paper or lab report like the college list does.

A group of parents just filed a lawsuit like this in my county. I...better not say anything else about that. Here's the flip side: https://www.npr.org/sections/back-to-school-live-updates/2021/08/24/1030632820/the-aclu-sues-south-carolina-over-its-school-mask-ban

After my very zen response earlier, I've been obsessing over this all day. I mean...I think my 10th grader would probably do very well in our local public school, which is supposed to have a great theater program. But what was I going to do? start him there in 9th grade LAST year, of all years? I just asked him, and he said, "I think I would be stressed out all the time if I were in school." Then I asked my 12th grader, who said, "I don't know because I've never been to school, but it doesn't SOUND like something I would like." He also said, "I feel like you ask me this all the time." 😂 I do need to revisit this next year with my 3rd grader, who will be essentially an only child in a couple of years when all his brothers are grown up. But sending him to school would very much interfere with my, "maybe DH could teach online for a year so we could take the RV to Alaska and all the Utah national parks" plan. So. I don't know. There's a lot of management of social life that comes along with homeschooling older kids in particular, and that's sort of exhausting. But I think I always get back to my earlier response, which is that there's good and bad either way. And I hope they remember the good at least a little more than the bad when they reflect back as adults. Their childhoods seem way more magical than MINE was when I think about them...but I don't get to decide in the end. Maybe the things that I thought it was important to give them won't be the things they wish they'd had. For me, I don't have any regrets. I'm where I want to be. (I do think about how I'm not setting myself up super well for divorce sometimes. But I don't anticipate that (BIG old knock wood)).

DS submitted two common apps today, so we finally got to see the confetti! I think that's new since my last go round? I only remember confetti with acceptances back then. (I just talked to my oldest, and he confirms the confetti is a new feature). So, yeah, things are moving along! He submitted Baldwin Wallace today, and then we realized that Oberlin doesn't require a separate college and conservatory app like we thought--so 1. he doesn't need any academic recommenders for Oberlin, which is nice, because we're a little thin on those around here, thanks largely to covid (still needs 2 music ones, which is not a problem at all) and 2. he submitted it today, too. There's still a bunch of extra music stuff that will have to be submitted through their portal, but Oberlin is far and away his first choice, so it's very nice to have the ball rolling there. Question: Oberlin wants an "academic portfolio" from homeschoolers which mostly sounds like the course descriptions I've already written...but it also says it should include "evidence of science laboratory experiences." Is it enough evidence that the course descriptions SAY he did labs (and that he has a 4 on AP Physics)? For the college (non-conservatory) app, they say the same thing, but then list separately that homeschoolers can also submit an optional academic paper and that that can be a lab report. So they don't seem to actually be asking for lab reports, right? This is perhaps another thing I'm overthinking. I remember that the "academic portfolio" description was a little different when my oldest applied there, but equally unclear, and when he asked for clarification they didn't seem to have anything in particular in mind or to care very much what he submitted. So he submitted several graded assignments and papers, but I strongly suspect no one actually looked at them carefully. How are things going for everyone else?

This thread is reminding me of all the many different ways I can regret homeschooling. I don't think I do or will, but who knows? I can think of downsides to homeschooling, certainly, for both myself and my kids...but then when I imagine the alternate universe where we didn't homeschool, I can see lots of downsides there, too. Social stuff for the kids is probably my biggest area of concern. But my oldest who I worried about this the most with seems to be making plenty of friends and having a good time in college (and is doing very well academically, too), so that eases my worries some. And I know plenty of people who've pulled their kids out of school because of social stuff, so. For me...I can't really think of what else I'd be doing that I'd like more. There are things I might like just as much. Being home gives me flexibility to try out stuff I like doing without the pressure to make money on them (blogging, freelance writing, etc), and then I happen to make some (not much) money from them now, which is nice. We also timed our 4th pretty nicely so that DH will be on the verge of retirement when he graduates, so I'm hoping to move right from homeschooling to lots of travel and visiting extended family. We'll see. I don't tend to do regret very well. Which can be good or bad--like you need to be able to recognize mistakes to do better in the future, so I do try to be cognizant of that and watch out for blind spots. But in general my attitude is that I've made the best decisions I could at the time, that there are pros and cons and gray areas everywhere, and that I stay open to changing course if something's not working.

Interesting/maybe reassuring wrt waning immunity that the percent of cases that are in unvaccinated people isn't increasing since they started keeping track nearly 2 months ago.

Israel isn’t really that close to 100% vaccinated; it’s more like 80% of eligible people, or 60something percent of the total population

I feel like there's been sort of a shift in how schools talk about this over the past few years....it used to be that everyone wanted to be cagey about ED giving an advantage, but now some will just flat out push ED by telling you you have a much better chance of getting in that way. Vassar is one place I can remember specifically where we were told that. My oldest didn't do ED mostly because of financial aid concerns and, in fact, there was something like a $10-15,000/year difference in his best and worst FA offers even among schools that all meet demonstrated need (interestingly, Vassar was one of the worst). Current senior is applying to music schools, so ED isn't really a thing for the most part. I'm not sure what the next kid will do; if he has one reach-y dream school we might let him go for it (particularly if it's one we've seen a FA package for before, from one of his brothers).

I had a line at the top of mine that said all classes were taught by me except where otherwise noted.

A lot has changed because of covid. Of the schools my son is applying to this year, I know that Oberlin, Bard, and Vanderbilt are all test optional for everyone, including homeschoolers. There's only one he's applying to (out of 6) that's test optional for most but not for homeschoolers. The other two require scores from everyone. So that's a small sample size, of course, but definitely plenty of schools out there that have extended test optional to homeschoolers.

DS finished his common app last night and was already to submit it for his first common app school when he encountered a dreaded secret supplemental. It popped up when he selected music as his major...it's all about his background and experiences in music and career goals and whatnot--stuff that I'm sure he'll have to write for other music school apps as well, but it was sort of a bummer not to be able to get this one submitted. I looked at all the audition dates last night, and it's going to be a busy winter....assuming he gets past the prescreens for the schools that have them (for 3 of his 6, he has to submit a video first and then they tell him whether they want him to come audition in person). Otherwise it might be a really sad winter instead. Oh, and we go visit the state school that's he's applied to next week; he'll meet with the clarinet prof and sit in on a wind symphony rehearsal (he met her before in 10th grade and has been in occasional e-mail contact with her since then).

17 and 15 year olds here--neither had any reaction other than a sore arm.

WTM Academy has 2 day a week live classes (3 if you do a lab, too)....but all already started for the year now.

We toured this summer; it seems like a great place! No immediate decision for the conservatory, sadly 😞

They are; same requirements for homeschoolers as for other applicants (at least for next fall)!

Thanks, everyone--I suspect I'm overthinking this. The only school where his first SAT score isn't at least in the median 50 percent range is Vanderbilt. I guess that's a related question...Vanderbilt is still test optional for 2022, so can he submit an application without any score but then submit one later if his new score/superscore gets him into their range (which practice tests suggest it likely will)? Probably that's a question for Vanderbilt admissions specifically... At some places he can't even look at the music applications until the common app is submitted, and, of course, he can't request recommendations from his music teachers until he has access to those apps, so it's probably not worth putting them off for too long.

He doesn't want dual degree; Bard requires it for conservatory students, so he'd do a dual degree there, but he's not planning on it anywhere else. But his first SAT is totally fine for Bard (which really seems to deemphasize test scores anyway).

There's not anywhere he can apply EA....there's one school where he can audition earlier if he gets the app in by November 1, which would probably be nice so he'd have one decision early. Early action and early decision are rare for music schools because they usually have all the audition dates in January or February, so they can't give you a decision before that (he has one that does offer early decision, but it's not his first choice, so he won't do it). I guess I'm just paranoid about the lower SAT score being their first impression of him, but it's probably just that--paranoia.

His first application is submitted! It's his only non-common app school, and it was pretty basic. It's a state university that he's applying to for the music program; the school itself should be an automatic acceptance (and then he has to audition for music). He still needs to have a transcript from his DE school and his SAT scores sent to them (there doesn't seem to be any way to self-report SAT scores). I'm finally finished with the counselor letter, so I need to get that uploaded and revise the school report I wrote for my oldest. Oh! and his common app essay is finished! I found him a tutor on outschool to help, so I was totally uninvolved (which was lovely). It still needs editing/polishing, but it's mostly finished. I'm scared to look and find out what supplementals he'll have to do.