My understanding is that his strabismus is due to eye strain. During exe exams, when he focuses, he has no issues. But his eyes fatigue quickly. We had hoped the glasses would be enough to reduce strain/fatigue, but they have not helped enough to eliminate the problem.

I appreciate your comments. Obviously tone and sarcasm doesn't come across online, I DO think he looks adorable, but I also thought my two youngest looked adorable when born with congenital clubfeet, but they both received very intensive treatment for their feet for years because obviously medical conditions needs to be treated... He's being seen at an excellent eye clinic. He has not lost binocular vision and his "weak eye" is still very strong. While strabismus can cause lazy eye and eventual vision loss, it doesn't always, and his hasn't, which is why he is older and still being treated with fairly conservative measures.

Gave me goosebumps and tears. Amazing, rallying, no-nonsense speech!

So my little guy has the most wonky cross eyes ever. It's adorable and everything, but he probably won't want to look like a little loony bird forever. His eye specialist has him in glasses and 3 hours of patching for his weaker eye, but luckily both his eyes work well and he has overall good vision, so we are not in danger of losing sight form a lazy eye. Both his eyes just seem to wander around. His follow-up from 3 months patching was cancelled due to CV19, but he's rescheduled for June. It seems like surgery is probably the next step. Anyone been through it with their kid or another loved one? What can we expect? He's 5.

Not at all, haven't personally tried it, but I'm sure it's good. It was just in the context of not needing to spend money if willing and able to teach the class yourself.

Coursera is a great idea!

You might try getting a subscription to Great Courses Online, I think it's $10 a month right now... and test out their algebra course. I think it is similar to what you are describing. But honestly... save the money. I call my oldest my "experimental child" because he has the misfortune of testing all of my newfangled parenting and schooling ideas. I do regularly offer him frank and sincere apologies for bad decisions on my part. I think it's important to apologize. LOL Luckily he's a pretty good sport. 🤣 And because he's homeschooled and hasn't had the innocence kicked out of him, a few stickers on his math pages for good effort still go a long way.

Tried a new route today on my run in the hopes of avoiding any crowding along the lake. I found a wonderful trail along a river with lots of potential for lengthening the route. Happy Easter, everyone!

I spent the week perfecting my at-home take out falafel recipe. For the falafels: https://minimalistbaker.com/easy-vegan-falafel/ I'm making them from dried/soaked/instapotted chickpeas In a pocket bread of some kind, spread some hummus. Add lettuce, thinly sliced red onion, cucumber slices, bell pepper slices, and falafel balls. Squirt some sriracha in there if you like spicy. Add a dollop of plain yogurt or soy yogurt for fully vegan. So good. I've basically been living off this.

Happy to help, though I can't exactly answer your question, either! 😆 We simply bought the text and solutions for Pre Algebra, and now for algebra. I have a stem degree and am comfortable with higher level math. The book is absolutely excellent. I was not sure how it would go over, as it is VERY intimidating on first look. The book format is about 8.5x11 in or so, like a sheet of paper, and every page is an absolute wall of text. I had my son read the introduction note to students, and then we took a deep breath and plunged in. There were a few frustrating lessons and a tiny bit of tears, but by the end of PA, he was self-teaching form the text and only asking me for help occasionally. For the algebra book, he is now asking for help for maybe 20% of questions. He does the problems one day- works through them, then reads the solutions. He then does the exercises the following day, working through them, then we check his answers together with the solutions manual. Reviews typically take 2-3 days, as many of them are quite long. We have been skipping the challenge problems as he isn't self-motivated to do them and they could easily double the time we spend on each chapter. We went into AOPS Pre-A after finishing Singapore Math 5 and then me doing a few explanations/reviews on negative numbers and exponents.

Ok, so thinking outside the box here... give the old elliptical a new look with a can of hot pink spray paint and some sparkly handlebar tape from a (online) bike store. I had a visceral rage response reading that your kid can't walk in her own neighborhood without risk of being teased. I know that's just the reality of special needs but UGH. People. I'm sorry you can't get the poodle yet. Sounds like a great long-term plan though.

Do you have the time/energy to work out with her? It may help if she isn't alone, but I also understand that working out is personal, and I definitely use my workouts as DOWN TIME away form my kids. So I get it if you just need her to have her thing and give you a break for a bit. If you can exercise with her, maybe changing up the schedule to early morning walks outside is safe in your area? I think you know best what piece of equipment she needs, if any. Treadmills and bicycles and rowing machines are all great and there isn't one that is superior to the other. The one that gets used is the best one. If tv will motivate her to stay on, then choose whatever thing fits best in the space you need it to fit. Depending on how you do things in your home, maybe you can make certain activities contingent on exercise, such as: you get 1hr tv time free, but after that, you must be walking/pedaling to keep watching. I also like your idea of earning music. Maybe a subscription to Spotify could be earned and maintained through exercise. And this is probably not a great idea, but you never know: Invest that $500 in setting up for a dog, and make sure that dog gets plenty of walks.

Thank you for the update. Poor little guy!!! And poor you!!!

I think Regentrude is absolutely right- don't try to self-treat severe depression or anxiety... seek help. For people that are dealing with, for lack of a better way of expressing it, punctual or unusual (for them) anxiety or depression due to the current situation, I think there is a lot to be learned in the book Go Wild by John Ratey, which is focused on the biochemical response in our brain to various lifestyle changes, such as time out-of-doors in sunlight, exercise, sleep hygiene, etc. I think using this book to "tune up" our accumulated bad or less-than-ideal habits can serve two purposes: one, the new habits are helpful to improved brain function and two, having a focus and a project is helpful in and of itself to combatting the current atmosphere of anxiety from not having a clear idea of what the future holds or when.

Absolutely. Health cannot be compressed into one number on a scale. Maybe there is some way to re-invigorate her step counting. I know there is a mystery type audiobook associated with steps taken (you get a new chapter after x number of steps) called The Walk. I don't know if if would be developmentally appropriate for your daughter. Pokemon Go might be an option if you are allowed to walk outside. Overall, giving yourself *credit* is really important to motivation, and even as an adult, I got great motivation out of Xing off days on a calendar when I was active, or coloring in a square on a paper activity tracker, or setting goals that would trigger a reward like buying a new pair of exercise shorts or shoes. Would any of those types of visuals or goal-reward systems help her?

Given this, I would wonder about spending part of the money on a nice sports watch, such as a Fitbit or another activity tracker, that will allow her to join various groups who compete for x number of steps per day, x number of minutes "active time" (these ones are heart rate based), x number miles... there are lots of choices for the fitness watches. You may be able to find or form a group for special needs teens, or just create a group with a few willing family members. I just read online about people recording number of floors climbed in order to eventually "climb Mount Everest" without leaving the house. Maybe it would be better to approach it from a motivation perspective rather than a particular piece of equipment. Having said that, anything that is distracting- audiobooks, tv, etc, will help her put in more time. But motivation is key. I'm a huge believer in exercise at any weight. Exercise offers unique health benefits unrelated to weight loss. Unfortunately, exercise is incredibly inefficient for weight loss. But healthy habits tend to snowball, so exercise improving mood, cardiovascular health, etc, can lead to better decisions in the kitchen, which is what counts for weight loss.

I'm so sorry. I'm glad you were there to instantly take control and give comfort to your kiddo. I will pray for a safe and speedy recovery with minimal scarring and no long-lasting effects.

This is very similar to my black bean recipe from dry beans. I pre-soak the beans, cook them in water, then basically add the ingredients in this recipe, though I've only ever used lime, the orange juice sounds intriguing. Also, instead of chili powder, I use 1-2 chilis from a can of chipotle chilis in adobo. I place the rest of the can of chilis into a plastic ziplock and freeze it flat, then I just break off chunks directly from the freezer and chop them still frozen for future beans. ......... For chickpeas, I like: hummus falafel "Butter chicken" this recipe but entirely vegan by subbing chickpeas for the chicken and coconut milk (shelf stable!) for the cream. Roasted chickpeas with various seasonings, to be used as salad toppings. For pintos, I like refried beans. To be honest, I cheat and buy a can of store-made refried, then I just use an immersion blender to add a couple can's worth of pintos. Add a big scoop of salsa, and there you go. Sometimes, I'll add additional lentils to give the refried a more meaty texture. For lentils, I just cook them and add them to salads. My dd and I now use red beans or lentils instead of taco meat. Just cooked beans and some taco seasoning. The rest of the family still prefers ground beef.

Still running. I know I need to diversify, so maybe that should be my goal for next week. Today a heron randomly shambled unhurriedly across my path at quite a distance from the lakefront. I got the giggles thinking of all the "nature is healing herself" memes over in the covid meme thread to see a heron just wandering around the empty university parking lot. 🤣 I'm pretty sure that undoes at least 7 bad lucks form various black cats crossing my path.

Remember your body shifting from not pregnant to pregnant is exercise in and of itself. Even when you're doing "nothing," you are doing a great deal.

Can you tell me what types of programs the kids write during the AOPS class? Games or... ? My son has done a lot of scratch programming and done a number of python youtube tutorials, indulging a tetris game, but he doesn't understand every line of code, some of it is copy-pasted.

Id' like to slightly change how I phrased something above: It's not eating meat that causes pandemics, it's being in close contact with animals, and the animals being in close contact with other animals, that allows pandemic-level animal to human pathogens to spread on a global scale.

This is an excellent talk on the origin of pandemics, by a doctor I really like. It was done well before covid19 came into being. It's absolutely worth watching, and his basic premise is that the huge uptick in meat consumption thanks to large-scale animal feeding operations is responsible for pandemic illnesses. So for your original question, I am more apt to describe climate change and pandemic diseases as being correlated to various modern living practices, rather than one causing the other.

Can't go wrong with Let's Read and Find Out! LOVE that series.

Below, I am pasting a list that I saved from another discussion on the board. It is a list of literary elements with a linked short story or poem to illustrate the element. I think it would be pretty easy to simply work through the list with students, having students title a notebook page with the element, look up its definition in the dictionary or Norton's Essential Literary Terms, then read the short story, highlight relevant passages, copy some onto the notebook page, etc. My heartfelt thanks to the boardie who compiled this, I wish I could remember who it was! FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE 1. DENOTATION / CONNOTATION poems: - Autumn Within by Longfellow - The Rainy Day by Longfellow - Home by Edgar A. Guest short stories: - Something by Hans Christian Andersen - [Mrs. Slifer's Website: Denotation/Connotation lesson on The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne] _______ 2. HYPERBOLE short stories: - Johnny Appleseed - Pecos Bill Rides a Tornado retold by S.E. Scholosser - The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain - Birth of Paul Bunyan retold - [American Folklore: Tall Tales] articles: - Flying Fish and other Dave Barry articles _______ 3. IDIOM short stories: - A Story Without an End by Mark Twain resources: - Free Dictionary: online idioms resource - [short story for practice in finding idioms: English Idioms Daily Blog: "Eager Beavers and Mr. Oldkool"] _______ 4. IMAGERY poems: - The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore - a nature poem (example: The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy) paintings: - use a painting to describe/show imagery short stories: - [The Golden Key by George MacDonald] - [bright Hub Education: short stories for teaching imagery in: - The Scarlet Ibis (James Hurst) - Catch the Moon (Judith Ortiz Cofer) - A Child's Christmas in Wales (Dylan Thomas) - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (James Thurber)] _______ 5. METAPHOR / SIMILE poems: - Taking Leave of a Friend by Li Po - Jazz Fantasia by Carl Sandburg - She Sweeps With Many-Colored Brooms by Emily Dickinson - A Forest Hymn by William Cullen Bryant - Song of the Sky Loom (a Tewa traditional poem) - Thirty-Five by Sarah Josepha Hale short stories: - Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald _______ 6. OXYMORON / PARADOX the excerpts in the workbook will be sufficient for our study resources (oxymoron): - [Thought Co.: "100 Awfully Good Examples of Oxymorons"] short stories (paradox): - [The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson] - [a detective/mystery short story from G.K. Chesterton's collection The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond] _______ 7. PERSONIFICATION poems: - The Grass So Little Has To Do by Emily Dickinson short stories: - The Mice in Council by Aesop - Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne - [There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury] _______ 8. SYMBOL resources: - Rose Symbolism (Wikipedia) poems: - Mending Wall by Robert Frost short stories: - Beauty and the Beast - [A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner] - [Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe - [The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne] - [A White Heron by Sara Orne Jewett] - [A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell] ______________________ FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE 9. ALLITERATION poems: - [Bright Hub Education lesson plan on alliteration in the poems: - The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe - Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Clooney the Clown by Shel Silverstein - Much Madness Is Divinest Sense by Emily Dickinson - Birches by Robert Frost - Death Be Not Proud by John Donne] short stories: - [Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien] epic: - [Beowulf, Seamus Heaney translation -- listen to excerpts read by Heaney] _______ 10. ASSONANCE / CONSONANCE poems: - The Bells by Edgar Allen Poe - The Hayloft by Robert Louis Stevenson - I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing by Walt Whitman - The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes - The Arsenal at Springfield by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson - Ode on the Confederate Dead by Henry Timrod - Beat! Beat! Drums by Walt Whitman - There is a Solitude of Space by Emily Dickinson - Hampton Beach by John Greenleaf Whittier - The First Snowfall by James Russell Lowell - The Marshes of Glynn by Sidney Lanier - War is Kind by Stephen Crane - Upon the Burning of Our House by Anne Bradstreet - Preface to God's Determinations by Edward Taylor short stories: - The Outcast of Poker Flats by Bret Harte _______ 11. FORM (POETIC FORMS) - [K12 Open Ed: Types of Poetry] - haiku poems by Matsuo Basho - cinquains explained - limericks by Edward Lear - Skeltonic verse - catalog poetry - picture poems - free verse -- [Literary Devices: Free Verse/] _______ 12. ONOMATOPOEIA poems: - The Princess by Lord Alfred Tennyson - Lepanto by G.K. Chesterton - The Congo by Vachel Lindsay - The Sound of the Sea by William Wadsworth Longfellow - Canto First by Percy Shelley Bysshe _______ 13. PARALLELISM poems: Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll short stories: [short story: "In Another Country" by Ernest Hemingway] plays/novels: [John of Gaunt's Act 2 Scene 1 speech from Shakespeare's Richard II: "This royal throne of kings"] [opening paragraph of Dickens' Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"] _______ 14. REPETITION / REFRAIN poems: - Do Not Weep Maiden, for War is Kind by Stephen Crane - Good Night Irene by Joseph Anderson - [Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas] - [The Bells by Edgar Allen Poe] short stories: - The Open Boat by Stephen Crane - [fairy tales in which actions/choices are repeated three times] _______ 15. RHYME poems: - The Duel by Eugene Field - The Blessed Damozel by Dante Rossetti - An Alphabet of Famous Goops by Gelett Burgess _______ 16. RHYTHM poems: - Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant - Sea Fever by John Masefield - Recessional by Rudyard Kipling - There Is No Frigate Like a Book by Emily Dickinson - Preludes by T.S. Eliot - Song of the Redwood Tree by Walt Whitman _______ 17. RUN-ON / END-STOPPED LINES poems: - The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Lift Every Voice and Sing by James Weldon Johnson _______ 18. STANZA poems: - Trees by Joyce Kilmer - Be Strong by Maltbie Davenport Babcock - My Kate by Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Ode to the West Wind by Percy Shelley ______________________ LITERARY TECHNIQUES 19. ALLUSION the excerpts in the workbook will be sufficient for our study resources: [Your Dictionary: Examples of Allusion] short stories: - [The Luck of Roaring Camp by Bret Harte] novels: [Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is chock-full of allusions] _______ 20. CHARACTERS / CHARACTERIZATION the excerpts in the workbook will be sufficient for our study _______ 21. CONFLICT the excerpts in the workbook will be sufficient for our study short stories: - [character vs. character = Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling ] - [character vs. character = The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell] - [character vs. nature = To Build a Fire by Jack London] - [character vs. supernatural = The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs] - [character vs. society = Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut] - [character vs. fate = Greek myths] - [character vs. technology = The Legend of John Henry - [character vs. self (internal conflict) = Initiation by Sylvia Plath plays: - [character vs. self (internal conflict) = Hamlet by Shakespeare] - [character vs. fate = Macbeth by Shakespeare] - [character vs. fate = Oedipus Rex by Sophocles] novels: - [character vs. society = To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee] _______ 22. DIALECT poems/songs: - A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns - On Top of Spaghetti novels: - [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain] - [All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot] _______ 23. DIALOGUE poems: - At Last by James Whitcomb Riley short stories: - A Telephonic Conversation by Mark Twain _______ 24. FLASHBACK the excerpts in the workbook will be sufficient for our study - [several of the Arabian Night tales: The Three Apples; Sinbad the Sailor; The City of Brass] _______ 25. FORESHADOWING short stories: - Beauty and the Beast - Little Red Riding Hood - Goldilocks and The Three Bears - The Three Little Pigs - Cinderella - [The Lottery by Shirley Jackson] - [A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury] - [All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury] _______ 26. GENRE the excerpts in the workbook will be sufficient for our study _______ 27. IRONY the excerpts in the workbook will be sufficient for our study short stories: [The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry] [Desiree's Baby, by Kate Chopin] [The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant] [The Open Window by Saki] _______ 28. LOCAL COLOR short stories: - [A Day in the Country by Anton Chekov] - [The Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle] - [The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane] - [The Luck of Roaring Camp by Bret Harte] - [The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving] novels: - [A Day of Pleasure by Isaac Singer] - [My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell] _______ 29. MOOD / TONE poems: - The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe short stories: - [Christmas Every Day by William Dean Howells] _______ 30. MORAL / THEME short stories: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Aesop _______ 31. NARRATOR/ POINT OF VIEW the excerpts in the workbook will be sufficient for our study _______ 32. PLOT short stories: - The Lady, or the Tiger? by Frank Stockton - The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell - [Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling] _______ 33. POETIC LICENSE poems: - Mannahatta by Walt Whitman - poems by e.e. cummings - [Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll] _______ 34. PUN poems: - Hymn to God the Father by John Donne literature: - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll] _______ 35. RHETORICAL QUESTION the excerpts in the workbook will be sufficient for our study - [Literary Devices.net: Rhetorical Question: examples from literature] - [Literary Devices.com: Rhetorical Question: examples from literature] _______ 36. SATIRE / PARODY / FARCE poems/songs: - L'Art by Ezra Pound - Jurassic Park by Weird Al [parody of Jimmy Webb's song MacArthur Park] TV: - [satire/parody = Bullwinkle: Fractured Fairytales] literature: - [satire = Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift] - [satire = A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift] - [farce = The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde] - [farce = The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare] _______ 37. STORY WITHIN A STORY short stories: - The Storyteller by Saki - The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain - A Story Without an End by Mark Twain _______ 38. STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS poems: - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot short stories: - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce _______ 39. SURPRISE ENDING short stories: - The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant - The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry - Hearts and Hands by O. Henry - An Inhabitant of Carcosa by Ambrose Bierce - The Third Level and The Face in the Photo by Jack Finney - [The Catbird Seat -- James Thurber] _______ 40. SUSPENSE short stories: - The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacob - Moxon's Master by Ambrose Bierce - [The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell] - [The Signalman by Charles Dickens] - [most stories by Edgar Allen Poe]