Not here. I’m vaccinated but my kids aren’t. We are not masking. Our governor has removed all mandates. I’m with you on the disgusting kid masks. My 5 year old would get the nasty spit spot right away.

I saw the “competition and training” mention. I certainly haven’t heard of anything along these lines from the numerous kids I’ve known with COVID.

This is in reference to competitive athletes though, not just your average kid. Remember the kids who die of an undiagnosed heart defect while playing sports. That of course is extremely rare.

What country? Curious. There are no guarantees about anything, I realize that. I personally know many people who have had it at this point, who have my same demographics, and are completely fine. I’m not saying I’ll never take it, but I’m waiting and seeing.

I have no risk factors. Zero. Neither do my children. Covid in all likelihood would not pose an emergency for us, so I don’t see the point in taking a vaccine that has emergency approval. If I had risk factors, I would take it. We are moving on with our lives and thankful for good health.

I would go back to the basics. Simple lines, circles, whatever. Strive to get him to put pencil to paper to do something, even one line, nicely. Then be done. Meanwhile get him doing all the fun fine motor stuff other people mentioned in play. It also helped mine to write on dry erase boards, sidewalk chalk, etc versus pencil and paper. Eventually he will move to paper. But it doesn’t have to be a workbook when he is 5.

Gently, she is a baby. Please just stop counting anything at all for a bit. If she is not interested, drop it. In a few days or weeks you will probably see that she starts talking about counting and trying to count things again. But like others said, use real objects in a natural context, and say, count the forks for dinner and then move on with life. She will get it when she is ready, and it’s totally normal to find counting confusing at 3. It will be okay. Also rattling off 1-10 just means she can recite 1-10 like she can recite a song. It will come, I promise. (Mom of 3 and I recall going through something similar with my oldest ones).

I am still not 100% certain I am homeschooling mine for K. I used to be 100% certain he was going to school, but now with all the COVID rules I just don’t know. My biggest deal breaker right now is that I would not be allowed inside the school at all, even to walk him in for the first few days. I’ve already homeschooled two, now in 6th (homeschool) and 9th (private school for first time). So I can’t see dropping my baby off at the door with strangers. I have obviously done this twice before. Luke is a pretty well-rounded kid and will be 6 in October so school stuff will be easier than if he was a young one. We are working on AAR and Singapore Earlybird kindergarten. He’s writing letters fairly well. I went in Gung-ho with my bigger kids but I’m more relaxed with him. We will get the three Rs done and the rest will be gravy 🙂 Im also doing all the fun art projects I couldn’t do with my big kids much because dealing with the crazy mess of two young kids and art projects burned me out quickly (plus they got art at coop). He does too, but he’s not too wild and really has good fine motor skills, an artistic bent, and a 6th grade sister to help keep the crazy down or at least not encourage it!

So true. Covid went through my husband’s office. People were hospitalized. The elderly father of one person died. But people still go to work. They did work from home for a bit after that. But staying home is not an option. My oldest goes to private high school and they have been open face to face five days since August and it’s been just fine. They follow the CDC rules to the letter, even when it has meant she can’t wear a coat because she can’t have a locker because of congregating by the lockers and they have to stand outside for carpool even when it’s 39 and raining. (had some discussion with the principal on that one!) It’s her first year in “school” after homeschooling and I did call the school and state that if I was going to need to homeschool I would, but I wasn’t paying tuition for Zoom classes. This may be why private schools have figured out how to open in person.

Yes. My husband sees that at work. They will settle because it’s cheaper than the attorney fees and publicity.

Pretty sure my 5 year old knows not to put glue in his hair. I mean seriously people.

Thanks for this. I’ve already homeschooled K twice (6th and 9th grade girls; still homeschooling the 6th grader but 9th grader is in private high school)and I planned for my son (6 next October) to go to public school, but COVID happened. Right now, besides the masks and social distancing and all that for little ones which I don’t like but could maybe tolerate, parents aren’t allowed inside the school and I would have to drop off my baby at the door and hand him over to strangers. He’s attended preschool and he does fine with drop off, eventually, but there is a period where I need to walk him in and sit with him for a few days. I can’t imagine peeling him out of the carseat and directing hiM to a teacher who can’t even give him a reassuring hug. So I may be homeschooling depending on the rules and how they change by the fall. I’m mostly reading this thread. Although I was totally gung ho on K with my olders and probably did way too much, I’m mainly going to want to get him reading, writing, and doing some math. Not sure what I’m using but thanks for the ideas.

I leave my 9 and almost 12 year olds home alone regularly, and sometimes in charge of their 2 year old brother. I let them wander stores unattended. (not the 2 year old). I was shopping for a sewing machine the other day, for example, and my 9 year old (only her) was bored. I told her she could wander around the store but not go outside. She did fine. I did not have concerns about her destroying or breaking anything, and I trusted that if anything bad happened, someone would scream. To avoid alarming her, I told her that the rule was that she could not go outside the store.

Absolutely. I've been leaving mine alone (in small restaurants in small town) since they were about 5 or 6. A ten year old, anywhere. I leave them with the instructions to not go outside. If anyone tries to make them go outside, scream. ETA I don't worry about abductions because that's extremely rare. But just in case, I give contingency plans.

Yes, this. And I have also said it about people with drug addiction, or homelessness, or other disaster: But for the grace of God go I. I don't know why I wasn't born into poverty or to a drug addicted mom, or into terrible circumstances. I don't deserve God's grace. For some reason I was born into a healthy family. But for the grace of God go I into drug addiction or crime or poverty and homelessness. It's really saying you identify with those folks and recognize that if not for the grace of God you might be in the same space. It's recognizing the fact that you aren't in your present situation because of something you did. I guess those who aren't religious might say "But for the good decisions of my ancestors, or my decisions (if you were raised in a terrible situation but escaped) go I.

Maybe you could call your police friend and have them on standby (but not visible) when it he finds out they are gone and becomes "irate." Maybe he will commit a crime in the process and go to jail.

I'm interested in hearing reviews too.

In the dark ages before any internet, call waiting, or caller Id, I had friends whose parents wouldn't drive them places. Wouldn't and/ or couldn't. Rural area, one car, mom didn't drive. Kids rode the school bus. They were limited. As a teen I drove them.

A friend is a police detective and he was sharing with me, in a five minute conversation, so just skimming the surface, some of the apps and things criminals use (not special criminal ones, just ones people use to hide from someone.). He works in some sort of tech where he gets info from criminals phones. He says his daughter is getting a jitterbug phone when she gets old enough. Says they still make them! So it's not just paranoid parents making this decision. He also worked in crimes against children before his current job.

I'm pretty sure it's similar in the US. Mandatory reporting applies to the vulnerable, like the elderly and children. I worked as a social worker and do not ever recall requirements to report on able bodied adults. Taking away the free choice of adults who are making decisions, even if they are ill advised, is a slippery slope to taking away many freedoms. Can you imagine going to the doctor for help and the doctor deciding that he or she has to report what happened as a crime? That's a good way to keep people away from medical care.

Hugs to you. I have had pregnancy, toddlers, homeschooling, and DH with a back problem, but not all at once. I vote to hire or trade help of any sort. I know you aren't looking to send kids to school, but could you send the little ones to preschool? I homeschool but I have and do send the under 4 crowd to preschool. ETA assuming your signature is correct, you don't have any preschool candidates. But something has to give in your life. Don't know how functional your Dh is, if he's just off work and in the bed for the interim, or if he's going to work and trying, but you need help somewhere. Even if he's bedridden he can at least sit in the recliner and bark orders and grade papers for you. He can do plenty of school related things in the evening while you physically bathe kids and put them to bed.

There are a large number of elderly people and non elderly people with chronic pain who can't take any NSAIDS because of being on Coumadin or other blood thinners. So if Tylenol doesn't do it, they are out of options besides opioids.

I agree with the previous posters, sorry! The good news is that broccoli plants are in the stores now and you can start over!

I am starting over due to moving. I'm on a larger scale than you are, but here's what I'm doing: nothing invasive or poorly behaved. Weed management strategies, in that I'm going to let the chickens till the ground and be vigilant about stale seed beds before I plant. Perfect soil preparation. Planting fewer things. There is more I'm sure.

Where do you live, as PP asked too? That's makes a huge difference. I think in some places you can throw in some apple trees and they will be fine. I live in the southeastern US, and all fruit trees besides maybe mulberries are very difficult. However, blackberries do well with very little maintenance, as do blueberries. Strawberries require frequent planting, but they are happy. Watermelons and cantaloupes grow with no trouble at all, as do muscadine, but not grapes.