Oikos Triple Zero Strawberry Greek yogurt. He successfully secured four servings today so that plus the one in there will get us through the week. Next weekend will again be yogurt quest.

I think I'm just grumpy! No one is actually complaining. They are all too nice for that. I think I have always just managed the meals and now I am tired. So they still look to me to let them know what is happening for dinner or what is available for lunch. If I'm not making something I'll tell them what is in the freezer that they can help themselves to, etc. But I'm just tired of it. The pandemic is just making us weird. Dh is getting weird about food and I'm getting weird about grocery shopping. Dh really can't win. I don't want him looking to me to guide his meals but I would get mad at him if he ate something I was planning to use for another meal. So he'll ask...but then I'm mad I'm having to discuss food again! LOL. And in his mind when he runs out to the store to get whatever is missing he is solving the problem himself. He just isn't solving it the way I want it solved, darn it! One thing we have always done to keep expenses in check is for me to plan meals carefully and use up leftovers and we only get takeout or eat out for a special occasion. So it really is every single meal that is being managed and on a budget. I think this has made it harder and having some room in the budget to grab takeout a couple times a week or to let some leftovers go unused without feeling guilty for wasting food would help tremendously. We could do that. It would be money well spent at this point I think. My poor family really doesn't know why they are annoying me so much. It's just that I'm grumpy enough that them needing to eat anyting at all is pretty annoying!! LOL. We really need to get out of the house and change things up a little.

In our situation, which involved both a cc and a four year university, we relied heavily on recommendations from other homeschoolers and online reviews at Rate My Professor. I also started out erring on the side of taking easier courses rather than what would be most rigorous. I think I only one time signed a kid up for a class without having at least a good number of positive online reviews and that was because the kid really needed the particular class and we were ready to roll the dice. College grades are forever and attitudes of teenagers can be a little fragile. While I generally pushed my kids and challenged them and had no trouble with them feeling some stress or discomfort in life, first de experiences were ones I chose to be gentle. Foreign languages are good if you can't do them at home but I would be familiar with the reputation of the professor. The comp 101/102 series was one our dc were all ready for as juniors and is likely to transfer. Again, we researched the teachers first.

A couple months ago I said I was going on strike but I didn’t stick to it. I really want to make everyone else responsible one night a week at least. My 18 yo, who is a fantastic kid, does like to feign helplessness in the kitchen. I told him I didn’t care what it was. He could make Hot Pockets. If he shopped, put them in the oven, and then cleaned the pan I would be content! Lol. My 12 yo dd actually does some cooking and is really good about taking care of herself and dh can too. I certainly am not cooking for everyone every night. But I do make sure there are groceries and something for them to cook that is easy and they like. It’s the planning any shopping and discussing what is available or what I am cooking. Just so much fuss over food with everyone here all the time! Grr.

This is actually a great idea. I’m not positive how the rest of her workload is going to shake out so I was already thinking of waiting to add it. Might be good to let her get in a groove and get going in math before adding it in. And if she is struggling we will know not to add it at all.

I feel like this is the kind of thing that is all over the place and we have always read books above and below grade level with success and interest. So, in my mind it is a very broad and imperfect thing to try to peg a grade level on a novel. That said, I have a list of books I'm trying to quickly determine a grade level for (reading level more so than interest level I guess). Is there a favorite website to go to plug in the name of a novel and get a reliable grade level or range? This is for a strong reader so ratings on the ambitious side are ok. Thanks!

Hmm...if it is a reason to get out of the house and not that he will not be able to function with the wrong cheese it is way less annoying!

I'm 46 yo and have been married 25 years. In that time I have been the primary grocery shopper/meal planner/etc. For a time this was for a family of six...we are now down to four people living here full time. (dh, ds 18, dd 12, and me). So everyone is old enough to take care of themselves. Just venting but... Grocery shopping is making me resentful. I buy food. They eat it. I have to buy food again. There is always both nothing to eat and no where to put the groceries I buy. I grocery shop online. I ask for three days for input on the grocery list and requests. I tell everyone to request meals they can make themselves if I am not cooking for the family. I just picked up $350 worth of groceries and crammed them into my pantry/fridge/freezer. It wasn't easy to make everything fit. Why is that? If my fridge and pantry are that full, how is there nothing to eat? If I bought the wrong food, how come no one can tell me what it is they want? How can there be both nothing to eat and nowhere to put the groceries and no suggestions for what I should be buying differently? I am at the point where I could eat a pb and j sandwich for lunch and dinner for weeks just not to deal with grocery management. And on the pandemic is making us weird- dh is working from home full time which is no doubt a big part of the issue. He has become increasingly particular about food. I feel like dh (perhaps all of us) have become alot less flexible since we are home and not flexing to participate in life with other people. Dh has one brand and flavor of yogurt he eats every day at 10:00 am. He did not do this when he was working out of the home. He somehow got through the work day without his 10:00 exact brand/flavor yogurt. He also would take a sandwich to work or grab lunch out sometimes with co-workers. I know for a fact he would eat wherever co-workers wanted to eat even if it didn't fit his mood. I know that if he went to the work cafeteria and they were out of whatever he usually got he would find something else and go about his day. Yet, here at home, it seems he needs to have a hot meal for lunch (sandwiches not cutting it anymore), and he needs to eat whatever he is craving. There isn't much of just making do with what is available and it is making me crazy. Now, dh is not being a jerk to me about this. When we don't have what he wants he goes out to the store and gets it. He doesn't blame me. Yet, it is still making me crazy that I spend three days making a grocery order, unload and cram stuff into every crevice of storage, and then he heads back out in search of his missing items. They didn't have his yogurt today. So he is out running around town getting his yogurt. I know that shouldn't bug me but there are four other kinds of yogurt in the fridge. LOL. And he is getting Worchestershire sauce because I forgot that and if he has to cook a burger without Worchestershire sauce he might die. Also in search of the exact cheese he needs if he eats a sandwich. I'm telling you- if he was in a restaurant or they had catering at work he would eat a sandwich with whatever cheese it had on it. He is not picky at all out of the house. I know everyone being home all the time is a big part of it. And general mid life grouchiness I suppose, Did I mention dh is now going to work from home permanently??? Anyways- this is just a vent. I'm just so sick of grocery shopping. It feels like such a thankless task and I just never want to get groceries again. So, I realize that is not exactly rational. And my husband is driving me insane. I also realize I shouldn't be mad at him when he goes and gets what he needs. It isn't like he is expecting me to cater to him. Ugh. I really want to just go buy myself food and make myself food and let everyone else figure it out. But that really won't work because whatever they bought would annoy me too! And they would spend too much money. And dh would probably have to go out to the store five times to get everything he needs.

No experience but my dd who will be in 8th grade is registered for French 1 with Sally Barstow in the Fall. I am excited she was able to get into the class and am happy to see the good reviews here.

I do understand how something so very simple becomes complicated. We only see MIL once every few years now but when she would visit for a week at a time every single meal was difficult in some way. Three times a day every day there was some issue/conflict/drama surrounding a meal. We haven't seen her now for maybe three years (she was planning a visit before pandemic and there are other reasons visits are limited that I won't get into here). When she feels safe to travel again and comes here I will be filled with dread about how to handle food. It sounds ridiculous. It IS ridiculous. But, OP, I can see how this stuff develops and causes issues and it seems so dumb to anyone whose family is normal about it.

My dad is only 73 and lives alone and still works, etc. and I still usually offer or ask what I can bring. Now, that is a bit of a dance because depending on mood it may offend him that I am acting like he can't provide lunch. So I play it by ear but usually ask to be sure and show respect and that I don't take for granted that he will provide for my family. But he nearly always says he will get it. He might order pizzas delivered, pick up bbq, get sandwich fixings and chips or cook a nice steak dinner. I never know but I do always offer to bring something or even if I can stop at the store on the way to pick up anything he needs. At those ages I would absolutley be offering to bring something. I have good friends who are older (husband is 80, wife is 75). Her grandkids and kids stop in and she cooks for them and then is absolutely exhausted. She takes care of everything and then is laid up on the couch the rest of the night. She wanted to take a meal to a friend at church who had had surgery and I ended up helping her because she was so overwhelmed by doing the components of a full meal for someone else. She is healthy, and very active, kind of hyper even, but the shopping, unloading groceries, fixing a meal, cleaning up absolutely exhausts her. Then that upsets her husband. If her kids or grandkids called and said they were coming she would offer to cook but if they just called and said they were bringing something she would LOVE it. I know because when that happens she tells me over and over how great it was. I think the process can just get hard physically for some older people or even mentally planning out what needs to be done. I know I sometimes get overwhelmed by meal planning these days and I'm only 46! LOL. If I was in that position I would just call and say I'm bringing it. However, I am aware that personal dymamics vary. My dad, even at 88, might get offended.

It seems like lifetime ago because this kid is about to turn 23 yo- so no idea what has changed in that time. So FWIW- my oldest did AP Government with Thinkwell as a 9th grader and took the exam and got a 3. Now, I understand a 3 is not that impressive but this kid is not a good test taker. He actually got an A in Maya Inspektor's PAH AP English class, got a nice LOR from her and still didn't even manage a 3 on that exam. So, my kid who was not nearly as academic as you describe your ds to be, did AP Governement with Thinkwell as a 9th grader and passed the exam. We didn't do anything extra and I don't even recall helping him prep at all. So, based on my experience with that one kid and class (8 or 9 years ago) I would say you could self study for that exam and do pretty well without a ton of work. We gave up on APs for this kid but he was very successful in college and has a great job now. In case anyone else reading this thread needs encouragement. 🙂

The only one we have used is Dr Dray for First and Second Form. He is an enthusiastic thumbs up for being fun and engaging and making Latin enjoyable. He is smart and funny and kind. The jury is out on retention and how well my dd has learned this year’s material. That’s on dd, too, as she has six classes and Latin does not get the daily work it needs but I think the quizzes and grading are set up for her to get by with decent grades while still not fully getting it. We’ve kind of dropped the ball on that as she is going to a cottage school next year and might be in second form again. If not, we had already decided to do an intensive review over the summer. There are other names that get mentioned for Latin but I don’t have personal experience. There is a FB group that people discuss teachers sometimes and you could ask there. Also maybe try asking on the K-8 curriculum board.

We’ve only been through this once so far. It was not a huge deal but he was in pain and had to rest and I kept him up on ibuprofen or whatever else he was given. I’m just posting to mention something in case it applies- this Ds and I both have trouble coming out of anesthesia. It takes longer than they say it will and we get sick (vomiting). So, if that is an issue you might have don’t forget about it. Ds got sick on his way home from the appointment and in hindsight we should have been ready for that and had a garbage bag and paper towels or something in the car. We’ve both only had anesthesia a couple times and we forget until it happens 🙁

Yes! Still great to be chosen even though she wants to live at home 🙂

Not @TheAttachedMamabut what I have seen is a slip in quality of teachers. Over the spring and summer 2020, it seemed they added alot of class sections to meet demand and not all of the teachers have panned out to have delivered the same quality of instruction and communication people had come to expect from MPOA. It did not happen to us but many parents reported teacher assignments changed last minute and teachers stepping down during the school year. While these situations do come up and are sometimes unavoidable, it seemed to happen much more frequently than before or what would be expected. Registration for 2020-2021 posted much later than usual, and when it was posted many class times are still left TBA, and there has not been good communication. The rolled out a new registration page/website design the same day registration went live and there were just alot of problems. I'm seeing on FB people having trouble with the applications to the diploma program and left not knowing how to proceed with registering for classes that are rapidly filling. There might be good explanations for these things and many of these issues might not be that out of the ordinary for some places, but in the past the administration and communication from MPOA was excellent. Their customer service has always been top notch and registration was always early (and for us painless). Emails and phone calls were always answered quickly and cheefully. In fact, the couple times in the past years that I have had to email the director with a question he usually called me right away instead of email to make sure we solved the issue. Now, phone calls and emails are going unanswered. It may seem like a bigger deal than it actually is partly because MPOA had always been so on the ball before and the change is so dramatic. But there has been a palpable change. My dd had five classes from MPOA this year and she has had a fantastic experience. I still am very fond of MPOA. I registered her early and got the teachers I wanted for her and none of them changed. There have been more tech problems this year but nothing insurmountable and I don't know if they were the fault of MPOA or not. I will say, though, that I have never before seen the number of complaints about MPOA that I have seen on the FB group this year. I am changing directions for next year so the registration rollout didn't impact me but I know I would have gone nuts if I was trying to make a schedule and figure out what my dd would be doing next year. There is a new director and I do not have enough experience to know his competence or to what degree he would work to solve any issues. However, I have seen enough to say that his communication style is not doing him any favors. He could calm some of the distressed parents with some communciation but he really seems to not see the urgency of it. I guess it seems some of his answers to questions on the forums and requests for info are a little tone deaf maybe? I don't know. I have really fond feelings for MPOA and I really hope they work out their issues. I don't know what is going on behind the scenes but it is something. I hope they work it out. I could fullheartedly endorse so many instructors there and my dd just loves her classes and has learned and grown so much. So, if we were doing online classes next year I probably would have hung in there and tried to ride it out. They have built up alot of capital for me. But I would be apprehensive about new teachers and probably very stressed by registration. I really hate to run MPOA down like that. 😞 It was such a high quality experience, for us, in the past and even this year. Now I'll let @TheAttachedMamaanswer the question. She has more relevant and current experience, I think.

We haven’t done the diploma program but I have had two kids take a total of almost 20 classes from MPOA so I am familiar with the situation. I looked at the diploma program and saw no advantage for our family. It is accredited by the association of Latin schools or something which I believe is also part of the Memoria Press organization. If someone wanted to be a stickler about accreditation I don’t think they would be impressed but that is all just my feeling on it. For us, the diploma program would put more requirements on us but wouldn’t yield a benefit. I don’t need record keeping or academic advising. I wanted to retain the freedom to pick and choose classes from a variety of sources and not commit to five classes a year from there. My dc so far have done de senior year and would not have wanted 5 online classes. If they had, we would have signed up and taken them independently. Of course, you can always drop out of the program if your needs change. It isn’t an ironclad commitment. I would rather retain control of all things for our homeschool and how transcripts are structured, what classes are taken, etc. than hand that over. There were also some testing requirements that I didn’t want to have to meet. One is the PSAT which is difficult to schedule where I live and not of interest to me unless I have a student with National Merit potential. So far I haven’t had that. Another requirement is (or was) taking an AP exam. I didn’t want to agree to that or fool with that if it didn’t suit our goals. I like MPOA a lot but they have really had a rough year. They have had obvious growing pains and administrative changes and it has frustrated families that have been with the school for years. Hopefully that will all shake out but at this moment I wouldn’t be comfortable recommending putting all the eggs in the MPOA basket. As far as colleges go, I am firmly convinced accreditation doesn’t matter. As far as returning to high school, maybe, but I don’t know if MP accreditation would pass muster if an administrator didn’t want to take transcripts at face value.

He always had an A in any of these online classes that we combined so I just gave him an A for the whole thing 🙂 If I was trying to use a number grade I guess I would have figured a system to be more precise (but I probably would have still eyeballed it and given a grade that seemed appropriate). But I’m just throwing my opinion out there. My kids did not apply to super competitive colleges and their situations with grades and test scores were very straight forward. I kept the transcripts simple and that suited our purposes. I also don’t overthink grades too much. I have seen what passes for honors coursework and high grades in our local schools and I don’t fret that I am going too easy on my kids. I graded my oldest child more harshly and then saw that just about every average kid I knew graduating from the local schools had a 4.0 and a very low ACT score. If my child does multiple courses and I add to it for one simple credit, it is probably safe to expect he is working to an A standard or I would require rewrites and extra credit to get him there. Off the main topic but my thinking on grades- my current senior has a 4.0 and has earned every point of it. He is a fantastic student with high test scores to back it up. My older kids had a smattering of Bs on their transcripts. They went on to take over 30 hours each of de at a local university and never scored below an A. When they applied to colleges, they applied places where a weighted GPA went into the calculation for automatic scholarships. Some of the schools required a 4.0 or 3.8 to be considered. If my dc did not have those weighted de grades to bring their GPAs up to the minimum they would not have been able to get scholarships where they went even thought their test scores got them there. So, while I am not advocating falsifying grades in any way, I do try to encourage parents giving homeschool grades not to be overly harsh on grading. It puts them out of step with most public school students who have copious extra credit opportunities and it is possible to grade them out of a scholarship they would otherwise qualify for. That’s just my BTDT advice on grading. I don’t want my 32 ACT kid to miss a scholarship because of an A- I gave him in theology freshman year. That scenario could have played out here and it would have been a mistake on my end.

I just called what my kids took "English 9" or "English 10" and rolled comp and lit and whatever other English we did into that. It's one reason why I went with the generic "English 10" instead of a more detailed course title. My ds took composition and lit classes at MPOA that didn't line up exactly into a theme and then I would give him random books to read or he might take a light co-op course. I did not end up doing course descriptions for him but if I did I would have rolled all that in and detailed it in the course descriptions.

I haven’t read all the replies but I had a kid like that. From about age 5 to 12 he was wild, out of control, obnoxious, etc. It was such a hard time. He was always getting in so much trouble in any activity (co-op classes, church classes, etc) that I ended up removing him either because it was clear the teacher was unwilling to deal with him or because I just could not handle another phone call or report about something my child had done. The implications and straight out accusations about my unfit parenting were pretty traumatic too. This kid is 18 now and getting ready to graduate high school. I just today broke down crying reading a letter of recommendation that was written about him that focused primarily on his character and how well loved he is by his peers. I wish I had the secret recipe for you. I will throw out some things that worked for us. - I stopped putting him in activities/classes with a potential for conflict. I told him “Listen, your behavior is not allowing you to do these things. I love you and I am never giving up on you but it isn’t fair to anyone else to have to deal with it. It isn’t fair to the teachers or classmates or your siblings who get brushback from it. So...it’s you and me hanging out while everyone else goes to co-op (or wherever)” Then I engaged with him and paid full attention to him. It was a “your behavior is not okay and I’m not going to pretend it is. But I love you and let’s go to the park.” - I made sure to defend him when warranted in conflicts with siblings and outside the house if there were other people involved. Once a kid becomes the “bad kid” they get blamed for everything and it can spiral. I kept a close watch and intervened when he was behaving poorly and defended him when he was falsely accused or getting picked on. I let him see I hadn’t given up on him and I wouldn’t let him get blamed for everything. - I definitely tried to catch him being good if at all possible. But it was honest. He was too smart for false praise. - when he would get in trouble there would be consequences but it always wrapped up with “I am not giving up on you.” -lastly, and it could be the biggest factor and I’ll never know, is that we had to move. A fresh start in a new town worked wonders. Not saying you should up and move but maybe some dramatic change of routine or setting could make a difference. Hugs to you, OP, and anyone else dealing with this. I remember how awful it was on a daily basis. I’d just be going about my day and I’d get a phone call from someone telling me something my kid had done. I got dressed down in Chik Fil A one day by a woman who said “mothers like you are what is wrong with this world”. 🙁 If you knew this kid now, you would never know what we went through with him. It makes for funny stories now because it is so outlandish for anyone that has known him as a teen to believe he got kicked out of Sunday school when he was 8. And take care of yourself, OP. It was a really hard time for me and I didn’t really feel like I had much support. Because my kid was so unlikeable and because society tends to assume it is the mom’s fault. Those people that were kind to my child and me during that time are saints to me.

I would not hesitate to call that Spanish 3 unless there is some way of required reporting that was going to come up as an issue. When I first started homeschooling high school I had a terrible time getting my mind around the fact that a kid could take two years of a foreign language at home and then enroll in an introductory de course and have it be a third credit of foreign language. Where I live that is routinely done and doesn't cause any problems at all. It might not impress an admissions counselor at a highly competitive college but neither would a regular old three years of a foreign language either, really. I'd consider the scenario you describe to be three years of foreign language study for sure.

Oh I like this idea.

My dh had it done a few months ago at urgent care and insurance paid for it. Most places around here that do blood donations are testing for antibodies for free. So donating blood is one way.

I know a highly educated health care worker who got tested for and has antibodies even though she never experienced a single symptom and worked in close proximity with patients the entire pandemic. She will eventually get the vaccine but for now is sitting it out letting people more in need get the shot ahead of her. I suspect she would share her situation with anyone who truly had a reason to need to know but she isn’t advertising it. But she isn’t really disclosing her reasoning and her whole story to anyone that asks. So in addition to the many reasons people may have for refusing the vaccine, some people may just not to tell everyone all the reasons. I’m kind of an open book to a fault but I know many people who value privacy and don’t want to tell anyone anything. Obviously employers are going to have different standards but I know a lot of people not interested in sharing their status in casual conversation or to a reporter who might ask. People are complicated.

Yeah that is probably more than I’m looking for. I don’t want it to become a second job and I do stay pretty aware of our credit score. I’m not looking to get a bunch of new cards or transfer balances around or anything. But thanks!