My 18-year-old son was exposed by a coworker who was asymptomatic but tested positive four weeks ago. It took a while to get an appointment to be tested, but he's been waiting about 2 1/2 weeks for test results, and has heard nothing. It's beyond frustrating.

My daughter's studio (part of a larger drama/acting/art school) started summer dance classes last week, then just shut down again for the remainder of the summer after a dance student started showing symptoms after a confirmed exposure. They haven't decided what to do about fall classes yet, except for definitely cancelling at least one major show.

We started early, but all of the school info rolled over in August. DS's demographic info stayed in his application. As far as I can remember, the general essay questions stayed the same, so if your DS wants to start working on the essays over the summer, as long as he saves them in a Word document, that would give him a head start. Anything school-specific, including school-specific essays, will NOT save when they update the app on August 1. My DS was SO glad that he finished all of his applications in August, before his school semester began, while many of his friends were still cramming to get theirs finished by the November 1 deadlines.

https://www.thesupplyfinder.com/ is a website I recently discovered that provides up-to-the-minute reports of where you can purchase hard-to-find supplies. We have had no problems finding kleenex, hand soap, or Lysol liquid this week at our regular grocery store. I was able to order TP and paper towels online at Walmart. Sams had cases of napkins last week. If we absolutely run out of TP, we have enough napkins to use for a while (although they aren't flushable, but I'd prefer them to cloth). This whole experience has made me so much more empathetic to people who live with food and supply shortages all the time.

We are currently looking at adding a dog to our family, who would be primarily our almost 18-year-old's responsibility (with full understanding that it's a FAMILY dog, so I'm ultimately responsible). This ^^^^^ is exactly what we've been doing. We are waiting to hear back from our local lab rescue group right now about a dog we may foster-to-adopt. She needs to be spayed, and with the COVID19 situation, all "elective" pet surgeries are on hold, so she can't be officially adopted until she's spayed. But she fits our criteria, so I'm hoping that it works out, and fostering her may be the only option to getting her in the next few months. She has not been listed on the rescue group's website yet, and if we end up keeping her, she never will. When the adoption counselor called to interview me, she mentioned this dog as a possibility. I think the best course of action is to find a reputable rescue group, submit an application, and stay in frequent contact with them. They can let you know when new dogs come in. If you have a physical shelter anywhere nearby, the advice to go first thing in the morning is also wise - my DS's cross country team volunteers during school breaks to run their high-energy dogs, and the more desirable breeds typically get adopted VERY quickly, before they ever make it to the webpage of adoptable dogs.

Florida - all public schools closed until March 30. Many start Spring Break on Monday, so it's just one extra week beyond Spring Break. Florida State universities moving to online instruction until at least April 5. State colleges (not sure if it's all or just some) using online instruction until March 30.

We haven't sent our kids to school, but did consider it at one point with one child, then decided against it (their choice). One thing to consider is if switching will affect local scholarships down the road. I live in Florida, where high school students are eligible for the Bright Futures scholarship from the state. Students in a public or private school must be enrolled in that school (or can switch from public-to-public) for all of 11th AND 12th grades. Sending a child to school in 11th grade, then pulling them to homeschool in 12th grade, disqualifies them from this scholarship. Homeschooled students are eligible, but must be enrolled with their county for 11th and 12th grades as well. Before making a decision, I would research what similar situations may apply to your location. I would also make sure that credits earned in 9th grade will transfer to the school you are considering, and how they handle that transfer.

My kids have used passports when they've taken the SAT, PSAT, and ACT prior to being old enough for a learner's permit or driver's license. The passport was accepted with no issues whatsoever. The passports do not have an address. I do think it makes sense to update your DS's information with the College Board so that when they send his SAT scores, they match the name that will be on his college applications. I don't think it would be an issue for test day - they just want to make sure that the name & picture of the person registered for the test is the same person who shows up for the test - but with colleges receiving tens of thousands of applications, I'd want to make sure that every detail of their SAT account matches their application data.

Congratulations - USMA is awesome. We have a friend who is finishing his plebe year there, and that's a huge honor. Congratulations - does your DD know where she wants to go? Congratulations - FSU is where my DS is leaning right now. My DH and all of his family went to FSU, and my in-laws used to live in Tallahassee before they passed away a few years ago, so FSU is a very strong pull for DS's loyalty. He has also applied to the Honors College.

My ds has been accepted at all of the schools he applied to that have released admission decisions. He was admitted to UF yesterday (and was excited that he could try to "crash the server" with all of the tens of thousands of students all trying to log in at the same time to see their decisions). Right now he is trying to decide between FSU (waiting on Honors College/Presidential Scholarship decision, but admitted to the university with the Freshman Scholarship), Eckerd College (Presidential Scholarship), and USF (Director's Award). He's strongly leaning toward majoring in Environmental Science with a pre-law track, and possibly getting into Environmental Law. Embry-Riddle is an outlier at the moment but still in his top 4 schools - they offered him a Presidential Scholarship for their Spaceflight Operations program. He has also been admitted to Liberty, Colorado State, Miami, and UF. He has also applied to Harvard and Duke, but they haven't released admission decisions yet, and unless they come out with some really impressive merit aid, the likelihood that he'd go there is very low.

I'm in grad school for a M.A.T. degree in Science Education. At my school (University of South Florida), a student whose undergraduate GPA isn't above a 3.0 can take three specific courses from the program and be accepted into the program with a 3.0 GPA in those courses. Prospective students take the General Knowledge Test from the Florida Department of Teacher Certification Exams rather than the GRE. The math on the GKT was basic algebra, geometry, and statistics. I was expecting it to be more difficult.

I am in grad school working on a M.A.T. in Science Education and have spent time observing several middle and high school classes recently. One high school chemistry teacher I spoke with told me that her students won't read assignments when they are assigned from the textbook, but they WILL watch a 5 or 10-minute YouTube video. She creates a worksheet for each unit with QR codes for videos that she has vetted covering each major topic, then assigns the videos as homework rather than anything out of the textbook. I can totally see the necessity for computer graded and multiple-choice tests. I am currently teaching classes in Biology and Chemistry at a local homeschool co-op, and I spent at least 2-3 hours each week grading tests, lab reports, and homework. I have 33 students. I couldn't possibly spend that much time per student on grading if I had 600 students. There are ways to write multiple-choice tests that require higher level thinking, but it takes a lot of work and thought. I would wager that the "tricky" MC questions are this instructor's attempt at writing test questions that include some computation, application, or analysis.

After much thought and prayer, my son decided not to pursue service academy admissions, but thanks for mentioning us.

My oldest changed his mind completely about his college trajectory between his junior and senior years, so only applying to one school would not be my preference. Even now, he's a senior and has been accepted to 5 schools, still waiting on several others to release decisions. His top 3 choices are 2 in-state schools and one in-state private school that has a VERY different focus from the others. His choice of potential majors has waffled even during his senior year, so we wanted him to have options for any of his potential choices (when he does finally figure out what he wants to do).

This is what my course descriptions look like. We don't have any public school courses, but for DE courses, I just copied the course description from the college website. Pre-Calculus Algebra (MAC 1140) – Taken at St. Petersburg College, Spring 2019 Professor: William A. Hemme 3 college credits, 1 high school Math credit Curriculum: Precalculus: Enhanced with Graphing Utilities and Online access, by Sullivan and Sullivan Topics: This course is intended for students whose major requires the completion of some or all of the calculus sequence. Major topics include: polynomial, rational and other algebraic functions, their properties and graphs; polynomial and rational inequalities; exponential and logarithmic functions, their properties and graphs; piecewise-defined functions; conic sections; matrices and determinants; sequences and series; mathematical induction; binomial theorem and applications.

Dual enrollment courses ARE included on the SSAR. Sorry I just now saw your post!

I am SOOOO glad I made my DS do the large majority of work for his college apps in July/August. He is completely finished with all of them, and has been accepted at 3 schools so far (one with a Presidential scholarship offer). I begged my DH to do the FAFSA, and he did that last week when he had a day off from work. We have our Florida Financial Aid app done, Bright Futures service hours verified, SAT/ACT scores sent, DE transcripts sent. I HOPE all we have left to do is to sit back and wait for letters of acceptance and financial aid packages.

I had a cat who lived with hyperthyroidism for many years (at least 6 or 7) after being diagnosed. As long as you keep up the meds and she is otherwise healthy, Posie could live happily for many years. She is beautiful!

I'm in Florida too, and my kids will be doing DE at two different state colleges. My DS has been at St. Pete College since spring 2018, and I don't remember them even asking for a transcript. They may have asked for one just to verify that his high school GPA was sufficient. I'm currently looking at HCC's requirements, since SPC no longer allows out of county students and we live in Hillsborough County. This is what they require: My experience with DE has been that every college has different rules about what they require, but I've never heard anyone ask for high school course numbers. DS has just finished his applications to universities for fall 2020, and none of the 9 schools he's applying to (including 5 in Florida) asked for course numbers.

The only course numbers I included on DS's transcript have been the college courses he's taken through dual enrollment. He is applying to 9 universities, has already been accepted at one, and his transcript has been officially accepted already by about half. I haven't seen high school course numbers requested anywhere. If your kids are just starting high school, one thing I would recommend you do now is to start compiling a document with course descriptions. It's MUCH easier to pull together as you go rather than waiting until the start of the senior year. If I am using a curriculum or outside class, I just copy their course description, list all curricula and resources used, list how grading was calculated (ex: 45% tests, 45% lab reports, 10% homework; etc.), and how much credit was given. We have had a couple of schools ask for this type of document, which I just printed and mailed with the transcript.

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions. I live in Tampa and both of my kids are in high school. DS has taken 2 AP courses and lots of DE courses. He'll graduate from high school with 48 DE credits, but many kids graduate from high school and get their A.A. at the same time. Both of my kids have taken the PSAT as well. You will need to establish residency for some of what you want to do. I recommend that you contact FPEA, the statewide homeschool association, and ask your specific questions, because I don't want to guess. (fpea.com) I would be careful about residency if establishing residency in FL would jeopardize your home state residency for college admissions. For AP courses, there's FLVS (online virtual school, flvs.net) or other online providers. DS took AP Environmental Science and AP Language & Comp from Pennsylvania Homeschoolers online, and took the AP exams at a local private school (who were very welcoming). You can also take AP exams at local public schools, but they are required to hold seats for FLVS students and don't always have seats available for homeschooled students who took an AP course from somewhere other than FLVS. DS has taken the PSAT at a private school and our local zoned public school. DD has only taken it once at the public school. There were no issues getting that set up. I just called the guidance office at our local public high school and had them reserve a seat. DE is typically allowed only at the state college in the county in which you reside. It's easy to DE if you are registered as a homeschooler with your county vs. enrolled in an umbrella school. DE is free with free textbooks for homeschooled students. Umbrella schools must have an articulation agreement with the state college and there's no guarantee of free tuition or free books. I recommend the following Facebook groups: [statewide] FLVS Homeschooling Parents (FLEX), Florida Homeschoolers Dual Enrolled, Florida Homeschooling for College Credit. [If you are moving specifically to the Tampa area] Dual Enroll Homeschool Community Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Homeschool Families, and Tampa Homeschoolers.

My DS has already received his first acceptance, from Liberty University. They apparently have rolling admissions and notified him of his acceptance really quickly. He's got one other application fully complete (U. of South Florida), and expects to hear from them pretty early when they start announcing admissions on October 1. He qualifies for an in-state scholarship (Bright Futures) and his grades & test scores qualify him for a significant amount of scholarship money from USF, so we'll see how that shakes out. His other schools all use the Common App, and he's trying to finish that up today, before his dual enrollment classes begin on Monday. So he's not "one and done" but it's nice to be (very nearly) finished with the applications and have one acceptance already in hand.

One tip that helped me was to alternate sweet and savory drinks on your "clear liquids the day before" diet. I got really shaky and lightheaded when I went too long without drinking something, so I'd slowly sip a Sprite or Gatorade, then slowly sip some broth, alternating sweet/savory and hot/cold, and I felt great doing it that way. Both of my colonoscopies have felt like the BEST nap I've had in a long time, then I've come home and slept for another several hours. The prep is only bad for a few hours, then it's over.

Following, because my 17-year-old has announced that he seems to be swinging toward law and politics and away from engineering as a future career interest. I'll be looking around for the same.

I was the one who started the post quoted upthread from 2013 asking about advice for getting a MS puppy, so I'll chime in here... The good: Our MS is now 6 years old and she is an absolutely fabulous dog for our family. She can walk 2-3 miles easily, has gone for (short) runs with my DS who is a cross country runner, and follows me around the house wherever I go. She is very affectionate with our family and loves other dogs. She is my baby! The bad: Unfortunately, there's quite a bit.... She barks a lot. She barks when a package is dropped on our front porch, when the doorbell rings, when anyone knocks, or when anyone is in our yard. Yes, she's protective, but this has been one thing we haven't been able to train out. She has very sensitive skin with environmental allergies and licks a lot. She had a bladder stone several years ago which required surgery. She has eaten more inappropriate things than I can count. Legos, crayons, kleenex, string, kitty litter, cat droppings, sticks, toys, cotton balls, the list could go on and on. She swallowed some string (see above) which got caught in her intestine and needed surgery about a year ago. This past year, she has developed pancreatitis which necessitated switching her from the (expensive prescription) bladder stone kibble to another (expensive prescription) super-low-fat kibble. She's had 4 flare-ups of pancreatitis since September. Bottom line is that I absolutely love this dog, but the vet bills have cost us more than a very nice car.