Logan Guleff's mom used to post here. He's a former Masterchef Junior winner and pretty well known in culinary circles. (He was in my mythology club at the time his season was airing, which was pretty cool...)

I have a former student who got her BS in music therapy and her M. Ed in Special education. She's working at a school as a special Ed teacher and lives with her grandfather to save money and because it's good for him to have someone else around. She got good scholarships and grants, so she's not in significant debt. Her father considers her college education a "waste" because she's "not making enough to be an independent adult". Another student of mine graduates this year. Accepted to every school he applied to, pretty big merit grants from two, possibly more once he finishes music dept auditions. Wants to major in music Ed and political science, maybe economics. His dad is trying to talk him into "do something that pays", or just skipping college entirely and "don't waste time and money". I'll be the first to admit that being a music teacher,or a teacher in general, or a music therapist isn't the highest paying job out there. But these are both kids who are passionate about music and about sharing that love with other people. They both have their own sets of special needs and have found music to be a bridge and something that helps them. They want to use that with others. They're both smart kids. They both applied to schools where they had a good chance of getting a lot of merit aid. And while teaching in the public schools isn't the best paying job, it is generally a stable job with benefits. The second, I suspect, has a good chance of going to grad school or maybe law school. And, to be blunt-one is an adult, the other will be in three weeks. Even if getting a BS in music/Music Ed/therapy is a mistake, it's their mistake to make.

It's supposed to go live Sunday. I'll post a link. I was able to mention WTM and thus forum as a resource.

Waiting to record with the podcaster....scary....

M got into Lindenwood, with a merit scholarship. I think we have a winner 🙂

M and C are doing a 2 day a week tutorial/UMS, because all the adults who are actively involved are working and it's a lot easier for us to provide homework support/supervision than to create whole classes. And they both want time with other teens. We had a nice, regular social schedule, but having a year of all our groups not happening broke those connections, and while the families with younger kids are doing field trips and have a co-op again, that never came back for teens. FWIW, enrollment for single online classes for enrichment seems to be down across the board.

I have dyspraxia and struggle with combination locks because even a small instability or tremor invalidates the whole process. Basically everyone close to me in the hall knew my combination and would open it for me, and in the band room, I knew where the master key was kept and would use that to open my locker. I requested a keyed locker on every IEP meeting I was allowed to attend, and never got one because "we have to be able to open them all" There are reasons other than laziness that a kid would choose not to use a locker. If my classmates hadn't been willing to support me when my school didn't, I would have been carrying everything with me, or maybe just using my band locker (since the band director WAS willing to let me use a key).

two of my friends teach high school at a school which has a "phones (and other personal belongings) need to be kept in lockers" policy. Bags aren't allowed, students are supposed to have their school Chromebook, which has their books on it and maybe a binder that holds loose papers and a few pens/pencils and that's it. A few weeks ago, there was a bomb threat. The school was evaculated, and, eventually, the call was made to bus kids to a different location and dismiss from there. Most of the kids not only didn't have phones, but many didn't have car keys, ID, or money, either, and most were NOT dressed to stand around outside in cold weather-even if they had a coat, or a hoodie or something like that, it was in their locker. And since many parents have their phones at work set to let calls from the school or from their child ring,but others go to silent, teachers letting kids call parents from their personal cell phones didn't work for many, either. Many parents had no clue what was going on or where their kids were until it percolated through the rumor mill and they looked online. It was a complete mess, and, as my friend said, would have been far less of one if the kids had been allowed to carry a purse or backpack.

I won't take phones away, because in an emergency, I want kids to have them, and it hasn't really been an issue. But, a caveat here-my classroom has lousy phone coverage, so unless you log into the wifi, you're probably going to end up getting your texts after you go outside or upstairs anyway. I sometimes find it frustrating that M (17, graduating in about 2 months, turns 18 next month) has all these rules against phone use at the 2 day a week UMS and still needs an adult's signature for evwrything...but somehow, is magically supposed to be able to be a competent adult next fall living away from home.

https://athenasacademy.com/all-courses/ For those who are interested. There are a lot of new classes starting.

Neo seems to be enjoying Spring Break...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/375296795475?itmmeta=01HRK8VGP846SP9Y3AGK4BM64T&hash=item57616ea353:g:Up8AAOSwj9Nl6R2T This is pretty close to mine. I have senior pictures in it with a lace parasol 🙂

Your kids already have this,but get passports. It's much easier to do that when still at home and all the paperwork is there than when kid is in a dorm a couple of states away. At least at L's school, you have to apply for summer abroad/semester abroad about a year in advance and need a copy of the passport to do so.

Since Spring break is next week, I figured Sid needed to do something. My plan is to swap out for all animal books 🙂

Since I'm not teaching today due to laryngitis, I've been playing with staging, mostly using stuff I did for the "haunted basement" last Fall. I need to make outfits for my critters (and M is working on some doll repaint creepy doll employees), but I'm enjoying the way it's coming up.

"flower" boxes

Added display shelves. The "dolls" are croc charms.

The one in Jefferson City, MO.

I'll be down to just partially homeschooling one Bonus kid next year, since M graduates in May! C-grade 10. We'll probably do two tutorial days and one day a week with me.I'm trying to convince him to do the homeschool band program to hopefully get more teen contact. We did finally get the IEA/ABLE so we'll have those funds to use for outside classes Plan- American Literature/History (probably at the tutorial) Geometry (with me). Chemistry (Outschool/home labs) Spanish (Tutorial) ACT Prep Learning to drive Swim team Working at the pool Piano, Accordion, possibly the bagpipes (we discovered through one of my parents that the police department has a pipe band that will provide instruments and training-they play in parades and for funerals). He'll probably take over M's role as my TA for my homeschool classes. My personal goal is to start transitioning him to DE in 11th. I think the standard of teaching is higher at the local CC and supports for students with disabilities are better. But at least right now, the tutorial is where he has time with other teens. M-starting college in Poly Sci/Music Ed. L-finishing college inBio/Psych. Planning to go to grad school, but considering doing TFA or another teaching cert program first (mostly due to not wanting to leave the Atlanta area yet,but also to get synchronized on age on entering a grad program) , Teaching at Athena's Me-continuing to teach for the community center. I'll also be teaching a class at Athena's (basically an expanded version of my workshop), and I'm doing another homeschool workshop for parents this summer.

I've also found with M that an HLA transcript is accepted to apply test optional, but "homeschoolers" have to provide scores. Which can make a difference.

M got into Lincoln, with some merit aid! I truly think they'd believed no one wanted them, which is why they didn't even start applying until a few weeks ago. Hoping that others will follow shortly-and that maybe they'll be motivated to do some scholarship apps!

They did a culture. We have two fpuntains for our cats.

My sweet Scooter is on his third round of antibiotics for a recurrent or just won't leave UTI. He had a PU due to crystals a bit under 2 years ago, so his urinary tract is shorter and more open than the typical male cats'. Is there anything that works in cats like cranberry does in humans, to help make him more resistant?. Poor guy....

FWIW, I went to college with two state level winners in big scholarship competitions, and both said it was an expense at the local level, but once they won there, the community supported the costs for state and national. At the time, they both won enough to pay for school, and felt it was well worth the effort.