I've used motivated mom's for years. Not everything always gets done because our busy schedule but it all repeats often enough that even if it gets skipped, nothing gets really out of hand. I use the paper schedule, not the app as I tend to draw arrows or assign jobs to various kids

My best drivers are the ones who hung out the most at my dad's farm. He would do the same thing . . . I think some of my kids were behind the wheel of his pickup truck in the fields by the age of 11 or 12. That's how I learned to drive. Another thing we have finally figured out, is that my dad also has a golf cart that they wheel around the farm. My kids who have driven that a lot are better instinctual drivers. Even our riding mower helps - LOL! I think it gives them a better sense, earlier of how motor vehicles behave.

We start out in our neighborhood and then eventually get to highway and city driving. My kids play sports in a city about 30 minutes away from our house so once they can do the highway driving they get a lot of practice just in our normal routine. None have gone for their license until they were eighteen mostly because I don't want to pay insurance rates for teenage boys. Be sure they usually get their permits by sixteen they end up with a lot of driving time before the license. Now I'll tell you about my current 18yods who got his permit at 16 but about two weeks later declared that I "yelled" at him when he was driving in a parking lot. (He was cutting across parking spots in a mostly empty lot and I told him to stop so I could give him some instruction about staying in your lane even in a parking lot). He decided at that point that he wouldn't drive with me any more so he is now 18 with no permit, license or driving experience. About two weeks before his 18th birthday he casually mentioned that he was excited that he would be able to get his license on his birthday! -lol! I explained that he could do what he wanted regarding that but that I didn't allow drivers with no experience to drive my cars. Not sure what his plan is now -lol!

Have you checked your libraries. Ohio has a program that is supplying libraries with Covid tests that are distributed free for the asking. At least I thought it was a state program - maybe I'm mistaken and it is at the county level? Our family has taken advantage of this several times.

I saw this at the same moment my kids used Alexa to play a Christmas song. They had been begging all day and I finally relented and told them they could have one a day until Thanksgiving. They all laughed when I showed them this.

I would call our county health department and ask.

I never heard it until my kids started playing the game "Among Us".

I just read an article that reported that only one third of Russia's population has been fully vaccinated. https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/world/europe/russia-virus-vaccine.amp.html?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16347392449167&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2021%2F10%2F18%2Fworld%2Feurope%2Frussia-virus-vaccine.html

I don't remember any effects from last year. My younger 4 all got the flu shot the same day last year and I don't remember any of them complaining. Unless she wakes up this morning not feeling well, I think we'll go get the second Pfizer this morning. Thanks!

What are you hearing about the current recommendations? What does the "Hive" think about the timing of these two vaccines? My 12yodd had her first Covid vaccine on September 3. We are in the middle of her volleyball season so I've been trying to time the second shot when there is a gap between games so about the time an appropriate gap happened toward the end of September, we had a non-Covid virus run through the house and I didn't want her to have the vaccine when she wasn't feeling her best already. She received the flu vaccine yesterday morning at her pediatrician's and I just found out that we have a gap of 5 days now before the next volleyball game so I could take her this morning for her Covid vaccine and she would have ample time to recover before the next volleyball game. I know that the health department is saying you can get both shots on the same day even but I'm trying to figure out whether that would be the best timing or if I should wait another week before I have her take the second Covid vaccine. In general, we try to spread vaccines out to give our bodies a better chance to respond well. I'm just not sure if that is necessary in this case or not?

Lol! It was a total necessity! I can't remember the errand but it absolutely had to be done and there was no where else to put it. These days I'm an expert at finding pull-through spots when I'm in the van.

One day in a very small town near me, I had to parallel park our 12 passenger van. It took me a bit and only happened because there was little traffic and nice big spots but I had 5 people watching and congratulate me. Never have had to do it again 😂

Very interesting. I use ellipses quite frequently but I never thought about why. It's probably a pause, maybe more to convey I'm stopping to think, like it would be in a verbal conversation. I will have to watch that pattern. I was having a text conversation with someone about 25 years younger than I recently and she responded rather abruptly to one of my texts which ended the conversation. I thought it was weird but then read that using periods at the end of a text was more significant than just the end of a sentence and realized my style of texting probably led her to believe I was being impatient and wanted the conversation to end. Fascinating stuff!

We didn't really pick our names. My oldest granddaughter left the first sound off of some words so we now "Yamma" and "Yampa". Her sisters picked it up and now that's how we refer to ourselves to themso I'm sure it is permanent 😁.

And as soon as that news popped up on the local news I went to order Tp from Sam's Club and they were already out locally. I ordered online - says it will ship tomorrow.

I tried that . . I'll be Beethoven didn't work 🤣🤣

Thanks for asking 🙂. I didn't get it either 🤣

I've had some luck with www.homeschoolclassifieds.com

What is the deal with this? I've been selling used for years and years and this year it seems every buyer wants me to explain in extreme detail about each curriculum item, if I liked it, would it work for such and such a kid, and by the way, have you ever used this or this and then after soooo many questions I get the "nevermind" response.

My Driver's Ed teacher (back in the dark ages) told us that we should drive barefooted because it was safer than driving with heels or sandals

Our local district just announced that they are closing down today and tomorrow. With the holiday on Monday, that gives five days with no school to may e break the Covid cycle and then they are mandating masks for two weeks. A larger school in our area announced virtual learning for the next two weeks. So far the small school we play sports at it is doing ok with their anti-mask policy. Rumor is that one of the varsity volleyball girls has Covid but she hasn't been at any games or practices since school started last week so I'm assuming she was sick prior to that. My 12yo can get her first vaccine shot tomorrow! Yay! She is playing volleyball so I feel like we are in a race between Delta and her birthday but we didn't have the heart to pull her off the team.

So happy for you. I'm waiting impatiently on my 24 year old ds. He's the only one eligible in our family who hasn't had the vaccine. I really don't know why. . . I'm afraid to ask because he does have a church family that has a large, vocal anti-vaccine component.

This is almost exactly what I said when in a similar situation.

I told this story on another thread but my 11yodd told a group of ladies at church yesterday that she wanted to get the vaccine on the day she turns 12 which is early next month. One lady clucked her tongue and informed my dd (and of course, me) that her son is not getting his kids vaccinated. The conversation then turned to masking, etc. which she obviously disapproved of with a lot of sighing and lots of "its so hard to know what to believe". Then she said, "I just want this to be over". Of course, she's ignoring or not realizing that the only way for 'this to be over' is to stop the virus from spreading and she's unwilling to mask or do any social distancing. I'm fairly sure she was vaccinated but she says that only old people need to be vaccinated. My dh works at a Christian college who has decided to take no Covid precautions this year. As part of their first week of school, they usually gather all freshman into a very small area on campus and take an aerial picture. Last year that didn't happen, but this year . . . the picture is all over facebook. I knew in my head they were not taking precautions but that picture was just an amazing disregard for what is happening. Over 1000 young people, shoulder to shoulder, face to face, no masks in sight. We're expecting the semester to be a disaster. They have taken down their Covid dashboard that they had last year, so we won't be able to track what is going on as directly as last year. But at church and out and about, I'm the one getting the rolled eyes because I'm wearing a mask. It is hard to understand.

I love the 'grandpa keeper' idea. That's great! We used to do something similar until I got very worried about the elders running and falling. We used a kickball and a plastic bat so it was a cross between the two sports.