I've kind of had my head in the sand recently between Covid19 making nothing seem real and an issue with my niece, I've kind of lost Sept. If my daughter only applies to 2-3 schools, do we have to do the Common App or can we just send whatever the schools want directly to them?

Surgery on Monday. This is all happening so fast, but it will be good to have it over and done.

I didn't get all subjects for all kids done this week, but we did okay all things considered. We finished everything, I think, except group subjects with the boys: two days worth of discussions, one writing block, an English lesson, and a logic lesson. But we had dental appointments that took all morning one day, Wednesday I wasn't in the mood for discussions (waiting for a call about my niece), and Thursday I was. so. A reaction to the stress I think. My niece should be okay. The doctor thinks it is not malignant and that it can be resected safely. I'm still emotional, but we do anticipate a good outcome at this point.

Update on my niece: She had multiple MRI's and a consultation with the neurosurgeon. He doesn't think it is cancer and it is treatable. It will cause some brain damage, but he said he can enter at a certain spot (my sister couldn't remember the name) and the damage would be minimal and wouldn't affect her in day to day life. I may still get her the flannel sheets, but she will hopefully be back in the swing of things before cold weather hits.

I didn't realize we had dental appointments today. They had contacted Dh with the reminder. With 6 people, it takes all morning. I think the younger 3 got school done anyhow (or will finish easily tomorrow), but the older two had to work in the afternoon. They'll finish over the weekend unless things are disrupted by my niece's test results- in which case I won't care an iota about what school got done.

I'm sorry. I remember seeing something on Facebook about wearing a light bucket on your head for Parkinson's. I only noticed it because my BIL's father has Parkinson's. I have no idea how effective, if at all it is.

I have never participated in one of these threads, but this seems like a good week to start. We had two really successful weeks of school followed by a weak week - planned as far as helping my dad put new windows in his house but not planned as far as the discovery of my niece's brain mass/tumor. This week we should find out more, so I want to have a really good plan for school in case I end up traveling again. I am going to fill out the lesson plans tonight and make a shopping list for tomorrow. I have breakfast planned for tomorrow, but I need to pick another read aloud for the little girls.

I went with one of the Opal House sets in percale. If it looks like recovery/treatment will take longer than one surgery, I will also get a set of flannel, possibly from the Vermont Country Store. I also got a new mattress pad. Thank you everyone for the suggestions.

I am so sorry that your husband has a brain infection. I saw a comment you made on a technology thread, but I don't remember the details. Is the infection the source of his trouble or a side effect?

Thank you for praying. My niece is handling this exceptionally well, mostly because she has faith that God is in control. (I do not want to debate God with anyone in this thread. We know she could die from this, but we take great comfort from our faith.)

In retrospect, we are sure she has had symptoms for about 4 years and the mass has calcification. I don't have a Costco where I live, but my Dad has a membership, so I can look online.

Thank you. I will look at mattress pads, too. They live in an area that can get cold, but not very before November. We hope and pray she'll be recovering well by then. We know very little about it yet and the doctor said "it could be anything". But we do know it is slow growing and the location at least doesn't eliminate the possibility that it is between the skull and brain and not really into brain tissue. We have no guarantees at this point, but at least the little we know doesn't eliminate the possibility of it being benign.

We had a pretty devastating week. My just turned 18 year old niece had a seizure. At the hospital they found a large mass/tumor on her brain. Her parents brought her home, and she will have more testing next week. But, regardless of what the test shows, she will need surgery. While they were gone, I got her room ready for her (a brother had moved in). She could use new sheets, especially since she will be in bed a lot over the next couple of months. Her parents can easily afford new sheets for her, but they will obviously be thinking about bigger issues. And I'd like to do something, even a very small something, to make her more comfortable. So I am looking for recommendations for a comfortable, high-quality, washable (there might be more seizures with blood?) sheet set. I am willing to spend more than I typically would on sheets, but I would put more emphasis on comfort and durability than fanciness.

What I appreciate most about TTC is that it allows for a "no one right answer" approach. I plan on using the method with my little girls and picture books this year.

Because you typically use the library, you could focus on choosing books for home that are special in some way. Maybe buy one nice book instead of three that could be gotten at the library. Maybe concentrate the money on beautiful editions or series of books that would be reread often or a binding set that appeals to you. So, Robert Ingpen books. Or the Junior Illistrated Classics (I think that is the series I am thinking about). Or whatever illustrator/genre would interest you. Or nice hardcover/nicer paperback sets of Lord of the Rings, Shakespeare, Harry Potter, or whatever your kids would be interested in reading multiple times. Maybe the flexibound classics? They look nice on the shelf. Or you could go the opposite way and get multiple cheap copies of books for the kids to annotate, since they cannot write in library books.

I attended a Mennonite church until I was almost 10, and we moved to a location that did not have a Mennonite community. One side of my family is Mennonite. The other was Amish. My grandparents on that side left the Amish church after they were married and joined the Mennonite church. That grandmother is 96 now and her mind isn't as sharp as it used to be, but she used to enjoy Amish fiction sometimes. Fiction being the operative word. 🤣 It is really hard for even well-meaning outsiders to understand a fairly closed culture. And not every outsider is well-meaning. Take anything you read with a hefty dose of salt.

Today I saw someone disavow Blossom and Root because it wasn't secular enough - not a moderator so it wasn't anything official. It is things like that that give it such a strong vibe. I am not a secular homeschooler, but I enjoy some of the interesting posts. I know secular homeschoolers who have left the group because they thought it was getting crazy, though.

We also have a small refrigerator built into an impossibly small space. I don't think it will last the 15 years it will need to until we are done with college, so we'll have to replace it at some point. Dh wants an ice maker in the worst way. LOL I'll have to try to dissuade him. We'll have to get a small, ugly refrigerator; I don't want to waste space on ice. We currently have four trays in the freezer. It works.

Dd17 worked/volunteered about 15 hours per week. It was a lot, but mostly because it was small chunks do lots of driving time. All 3 of her jobs have been affected by Covid. She'll work about 10 hours this week. Hopefully that will turn into something closer to 15 soon. Ds16 just recently started working. He is thrilled. He has wanted a job forever. But with Dd working, I asked him to wait until we had a 3rd vehicle. Then Covid delayed us from looking. He is scheduled for 23 hours this week (but three of the hours will be partials). We'll see how he does. He is really excited to be earning money, but he is also my slowest worker in school. He is committed to making it work, so I will do what I can to help him.

I've "kicked out" my 13 year old son. He is very 13. Nobody was angry. Nobody was in danger. But the noises that child can make. Once, maybe twice, I had him get out before we were all the way home. I told him if he couldn't be quiet, he obviously could use some exercise. The time I remember actually dropping him off he made it home before I did, so it was close enough for him to run faster than I was going down the last street in our remote, very safe development. In anger in an unsafe area or at night is so completely not okay.

whisper: Fun.

I was reading to the girls when the wind picked up. We stopped to watch the trees bending. We were either on the edge of the storm or it hadn't picked up speed yet, because it was just an extra windy bit of rain on our side of the state. I heard today that Cedar Rapids already has 1000 condemned homes from the storm.

My husband used to occasionally mention my homeschool spending. The last time he did, I compared it to the TKD spending. He hasn't brought it up in the last 5 years. LOL In case anyone gets the wrong idea, I believe couples should more or less agree about budgets. And I don't spend more than we can afford. I spend about the equivalent of TKD classes for Dh and the kids. I don't spend the equivalent of the tournaments. Or the uniforms. Or the testing. Or the gear. Or the gas money. Etc.

Someone on Facebook shared a link to this picture. I feel like I am missing something. Masks mostly help others, not the wearers, so how is it okay to blow air out through an instrument?

I have experienced this. I have decided I can care about the people in my life that do this, but I cannot invest much in them right now. It is a stressful time, and I need to focus on positive experiences. But, for me, I try to keep love and good will at the forefront of my thoughts even if I have taken a step back from our relationship for a time.