It seems unreasonable from an employee perspective, but reasonable from risk management perspective. A few specific thoughts: If you're using your personal vehicle on company time, I can see where inspections and insurance proofs would be requested. They likely have a policy regarding at what point you're on the clock and off that is specified, with regard to workman's comp insurance (or whatever it's called for you). For instance, you're driving to work in the morning and have an accident or driving between clients or driving home from a client and have an accident. Do you use the company's insurance policy or your own? If they are essentially insuring your vehicle, they probably feel like they have a right to an inspection as well as proof of insurance. The medical seems like too much for the position you'd have. Maybe it is a company-wide onboarding process for everyone they that are too lazy to modify when unnecessary. Some companies want this info so they can badger you in to better health so they pay lower insurance premiums. Sometimes the reasons are more altruistic. Who knows? They are probably contracted with specific providers they've vetted and won't accept an exam from someone else. Either way, this is a good barometer of the company culture.

8th grade plans for 2021-22: Jacob's algebra Self-paced Dive Science Integrated Chemistry/Physics. I'm trying very hard to drum up a group of kids who want to meet at my house for labs. TOG Yr 2 for history (with brother) Creative Writing with Blue Tent. She really wanted to do this. I hope it's worth the money. Any reviews? Literature class with another hs mom - moves way too fast and my kid ends up having to use audio books and not doing a lot of the assignments. This year, it has become more like a book club/social time, but dd is extremely extroverted and wants to continue. Art of Argument - we'll take the whole year to slowly go through the book and add in expository writing assignments. ASL with a local co-op. Low key, low demand, high interest, lots of fun. I'm lobbying for a foreign language, but she's not cooperative. I'm not sure if it's worth it this year. I'd also love to do Mapping the World with Art. I've always wanted to, and this will probably be my last chance.

I have some anecdotes to share: These people live in a tourist area with millions of domestic and international tourists in a normal year and close-ish to a tech-city with a lot of international travel for work. In December 2019, there were many sick people as is typical in Decembers. A few interesting data points: A doc for a friend thought she had in in Feb 2020. He did a phone consult with the friend almost daily while she convalesced at home 4 weeks. She didn't have a +test. Covid wasn't officially in her area and she really didn't have any known contact with anyone who had covid, but doc was 99% sure she had it. She is still struggling with what her doc thinks is long covid. One 17 yr old brought home a sickness to her family in December that was pretty rough (that is not unusual by itself). The entire family got sick (5 kids at home, all kids sick, some worse than others). The mom (autoimmune disorder) was the worst off, nearly dying. No covid test. Mom donated blood a few months later and had antibodies. I know that doesn't prove anything, but it's interesting.

Have you tried Blue Tent? They have a semester long creative writing course.

Thank you for thinking of us. I finally have an update.

Matchbreaker on PureFlix

A family member of mine always had horrible foot odor. My dad was sure it was because of their diet. He would say, "What you eat comes out your feet!" My friend and I still say this when someone's feet smell bad and we both find it hilarious.

I think this is absolutely what my sister is doing. I think deep down she knows it's not helpful and it's not kind. But at the same time, she's clearly not ready to face the pain. She & I have talked about the fact that she is hiding from her pain and that she's doing things to distract herself from what is truly going on. I think that's all she can manage at present. She knows I'll be available when she's ready to be together with us again. But she also knows we are going to live the days we still have.

There is so much great advice and wisdom here. I'm so thankful. I'm really sorry that so many of you know what this is like for us, but hearing everyone's perspective is incredibly helpful and will move me towards healing and will allow me to understand better what's going on with my sister. My sister is in grief counseling. I sincerely think she's doing her best to figure out her new life. She & I have had conversations about how hard it is for her to be around my dd, and I'm willing to give my sister space and 'cover' for her temporarily while everything still feels so raw. I wouldn't say to dd that her aunt doesn't want her around. I would plan something fun for dd to do so she'd be too busy to attend the weekend. Dd does know that her aunt is grieving and has been behaving differently in general. I think this is ok in the short term. This year, the birthday celebration will be different. That much is clear to me now. I'll go ahead with my plan to do something separate with my mom and dd. And my mom and sister can do something together. Hopefully, these things will get easier as we figure out where my niece still fits in the family. I think we will need to figure that out one day at a time. @BaseballandHockey Thank you for sharing, especially. You've been on my mind (even though I don't know you!). @LinRTX (hugs) I thought my sister would behave the way you did. Hopefully she will get there. I think she's just stuck in the mire and muck of death and not looking around to see everyone else (including herself) who is still alive. I don't judge her for that at all. But I respect the way you didn't do that.

This is such a great example of the detective work that goes into figuring these things out. Once, after much time and consternation we stumbled upon the knowledge that it was ds's shampoo that was causing reactions. There is a lot of great advice here already. Because you mentioned she's always been a reluctant eater and the diary isn't giving you any leads, it's probably time for a GI visit. I'm sorry she's suffering. I hope you can figure it out quickly and that you all get some relief.

+1 for Analytical Grammar. Also, I like Jensen's Grammar and/or Jensen's Writing. You can look at samples on Rainbow Resource. I've also used Rod & Staff year 5 or 6 as a foundation before entering our public high school English class. Rod & Staff has a remedial grammar course, as well. Milestone Books has samples online.

I needed that reminder. Thanks.

I just wanted to quote this...this is exactly what I'm afraid of. It's so unfair for me to still have my sweet daughter but my sister doesn't have hers, and I can see how this will be a thousand stabs in all our hearts for ever. Especially as my dd gets closer to and then passes age 19. They are (were) the only two girls for that generation in our family. The rest are boys. I am so thankful to still have my dd. I can see how survivor's guilt is a thing. I 'm so thankful to have my girl still with me. But it's hard to allow that thankfulness when I know my sister is suffering so much.

Thank you so much, everyone, for the kind words and condolences. Those kinds of acts of compassion have been healing. Instead of quoting all the things, I'll try to sum up. My sister is in counseling, and is doing her best to process her grief. I've had open and honest conversations with her and our mom about how her stance on this makes me feel. I haven't told dd that auntie feels this way, but we have talked about how grief has made auntie need to make different social choices to keep herself from being overwhelmed by her pain. DD seems to be ok with that, and does understand that it's just hard for auntie. I really appreciate the thoughtful words you guys shared. The whole situation is super sad. My niece was one of those really sweet young women who was far too alive and lively to die. Seven months out, I feel like the shock is just starting to wear off. I'll realize I can't text her or our private jokes are lost now forever. I'll hear a song while I'm shopping and start sobbing in the store. I'll hug my dd and notice her body is warm and alive...things I never used to notice and totally took for granted. I said that to say I want to be compassionate, since as sad as I am, I can only imagine my sister's sadness. My sister will talk and text with her her dd's friends. She'll talk and text with my dd. For her own reasons (that I don't know), she's drawing the line at being together. I think my best course of action is to tell my mom & sister to have their own celebration and to then have another celebration with my dd and mom. Again, thanks for talking this out with me. I'm very sorry for the losses represented here. It's a challenging thing to carry.

Update: Again, a very sincere thank you to everyone who chimed in and shared their experience, wisdom, and encouragement. This is such a painful thing to talk about, and I appreciate the support here. While I was still deciding what to do, my sister called and told me my dd was invited, and we went to my sister's for the weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday. There was a sadness that hung on all of us, except my dd. She was oblivious, and had a great time mostly because my sister spoiled her. We ate food from restaurants, ate my mom's favorite desserts, tried to do some crafting, tried to talk and laugh, but mostly we all sort of sat around, trying to appear busy. I guess I'm glad we got the 'first' time over with. I'm not sure if it was too soon. My sister was pleasant and upbeat (for my dd's sake, I think). My dd reminded me of my niece all weekend, so I'm sure she had the same effect on my sister. The way she talks and looks and the things she cares about...it was just like my niece was there in a way. That's not something I was attuned to before my sister brought it up. I'm not sure if that made it worse or better. I called my sister while driving home after we left and she was sobbing. This new reality is so awful. I know the grief will become tolerable. At least I hope it will? Thank you all again! Old post: First of all, my family is typically great. There's minimal drama. We cope well with each others' quirks and generally have good relationships. No one is perfect, but we really are 'there' for each other and have each others' backs. Having said that... My niece died tragically and unexpectedly at age 19 in May (not covid-related.) My sister still wants me to exclude my daughter (age 12) from family events because it's too painful for her to be around my dd (she reminds her of the daughter she lost-they look alike). We aren't doing much because of covid, but we do make the effort to see each other infrequently as safely as possible. On one hand, my sister is experiencing the worst pain any parent can. I can't begin to imagine how deep and profound her grief is. My own grief is overwhelming. I don't have any expectations for when or how my sister should/could heal from this. I want to be respectful and not cause her more suffering. On the other hand, it's getting obvious to my dd that anything that includes her auntie (they are close, text regularly, talk sometimes) doesn't include her. The event causing me to be upset: It's my mom's bday and a weekend together is planned. This would typically be mom, sister, me, niece, my dd (that is, all of the females in the family). This time, my dd isn't invited because it's too sad for my sister to have her there. We are all quite careful regarding covid and will also self-quarrantine for 14 days prior. We will be at sister's house, eat in, spend time playing games, watching movies, crafting, etc. Baggage/background that's making it harder for me: my sister is domineering and really has to run/control everything. Generally, it's not a big deal to me and I don't mind allowing that to happen. She has anxiety and it's ok with me for her to have things to control. Typically I have healthy boundaries with her need to control and she respects them. We can't agree this time. This is, of course, a huge painful issue unlike anything we've had to work through before. It's an option to for me to say I won't go if my dd isn't invited. But I don't know if it's worth it. My mom would prefer to celebrate with both of her daughters, not one. My mom would also like my dd to attend, but my mom's generally pretty passive and she won't be the one to insist on anything. I think it's wrong for my sister to determine my dd can't attend our mom's birthday weekend. But, am I being unreasonable? (also, my kids have a lot of school work to do today on the computer. We have one PC, so I won't be able to respond back until later.)

We've taken sciences, CADD, history, English with TPS. In general, the quality of the class depends on the instructor. Some teachers (especially writing in our experience) have been outstanding with high standards and great communication. Overall, I think it's not as difficult of a school as MPOA, Veritas Press, Wilson Hill. This is a good thing for my family. Workload was typically 2-3 hours per week outside of class for most classes. The science courses have been ok, but not difficult. One year I had two sons taking biology from two different course providers because of scheduling issues. The TPS biology was much easier. Both boys got Bs, and we all marveled at the difference in what their Bs represented. The integrated humanities courses we tried weren't all that integrated, but it's been a while. I would email the instructors and ask for reading lists before registering to make sure the humanities are truly integrated. With TPS, there is no video interaction during class. This may be a good thing for some. For my kids, it caused them to have an even harder time paying attention. My kids stink at paying attention to a 90 minute presentation, even though the teachers did interact with the students throughout. This year we tried a different online school, and the teachers and students are on camera the entire time. This has helped with their focus during class time. My kids also have a hard time with classes only meeting once a week for 90 minutes. They learn better with shorter, more frequent classes.

Oh, bummer. I hoped it was just us.

We did govt and economics last year. Government is okay for the right kind of student. It's the kind of class I would've enjoyed as a high school student because there are projects, it's self-paced, and there is an emphasis on out-of-the-box output ideas. However, my son did not like it. You get your weekly list of assignments on Monday. They are all due Friday. Things I liked (YMMV, of course) Asynchronous, but still accountable I didn't have to plan the assignments Interesting and varied assignments (sometimes): watch a video, play a game, draw a poster (this happened often), etc. Price of class + no super long list of expensive books to buy on top of tuition Things I didn't like: ZERO help from teachers or teaching assistants. Once, I worked for hours with ds trying to find the answers to some questions for a weekly assignment. Neither of us could figure it out, so I asked ds to email the teaching assistant for help. The much delayed TA's response: Google is your friend. Somewhat inconsistent on grading (I had two kids go through both courses, and their grades were not consistent for the work being done) Rarely, the assignments would be posted too late to complete them. This was frustrating, but their grades were bad anyway, so it didn't matter. Communication in general from our TA was slow and not helpful. Grading was slow. Work could be redone for full credit within a certain time period, but the graded work wasn't returned in time to be redone. (If ds had done his best work in the first place, this wouldn't have been a problem.) All in all, it's ok, I guess. I mentally put the class into the category I have labeled as Rigorous Busywork. There was a lot to do every week. I think it would be a good fit for the organized, motivated student. My sons really didn't get much out of it. It wasn't a good fit for us. My other boys won't take it, but it might be a good fit for my daughter when the time comes and if there aren't better alternatives.

Just...wow! This is the stuff my fantasies consist of. (HA!) I'm curious to know what line of work you're in, if you're willing to share. It sounds like the perfect career. A very small rural community typically limits higher income careers. I'm also in the midlife pivot and have started working again, but it's been a long, hard uphill slog with multiple stepping-stone jobs that will hopefully lead back into where I was 20-ish years ago. I'm in a very small rural community and for me that has meant low income potential, very few employment opportunities, bad schools (still compelled to homeschool), kid activities require traveling to other cities (huge time commitment from a driving parent), etc.

Apples to Apples is a fun game. Dutch Blitz is our family favorite.

Yes, of course. I'm not an ogre, I promise. (not saying you are saying I am!) I don't say, "I told you so," to my kids. I'm sorry for your losses. We are dealing with something quite different. I was trying to be funny because I use humor to cope with a house full of teenagers who are sure they are right and mom is wrong 100% of the time. Incidentally, I understand that the best outcome would actually be if the glasses worked for him, not if I was proved right.

In my opinion, this would be the best possible outcome! I'd be right and he'd have to face that....something that's hard for him at this age. 😄

Right? It's usually the kid's choice (within reason) to spend his/her money on what he/she chooses. I'd feel so bad for him, though, if he buys them and they don't work.

I totally missed this info on their website. This might be the deciding factor.

At his last eye appointment, my son was confirmed to be 80%-90% colorblind. The eye doc said EnChroma glasses wouldn't be much help for him, but may help him distinguish borders between colors. Unfortunately, my son is insisting (INSISTING) the glasses would help him see color because he sees advertisements saying so. Son really wants to buy these glasses for himself. If they don't work, he says he can just 'sell them on ebay or something.' I already told him I wouldn't buy them for him because of what the doc said. They are really expensive, IMO! He is relentless about getting some glasses. The eye doc says son is pretty far over on the spectrum and the glasses wouldn't be much help. Son thinks the doc doesn't know what he's talking about because he's getting solicitations saying the glasses work (son has hardcore teen brain). I told son I'd do some research to find out if there was something the doc wasn't aware of that would help. I'm finding that the doc was probably right, and that the glasses aren't going to help son actually see colors. Are there glasses that actually help someone who is significantly colorblind see color?