I've mostly not used a history curriculum. Sometimes I've done a "spine" that I read along with reading other history non-fiction and historical fiction. But that's a lot different than using a curriculum with a schedule and lots of bits and pieces. But I've been just as happy when I've picked out a series of non-fiction books that covered the topics/time period I want to study, and using historical fiction as well. I think it has been just fine! Without ever taking any tests, and with writing only a couple history-related essays or papers in middle school, my two older kids that went to public school felt very well prepared for their high school history classes, and thought their freshman world history class was a cinch because they were already familiar with a majority of the material.

My DD18 got super sick over break including a 102 fever and tested 2x (spread out over several days), both negative. This was after attending a big event. DH got sick after a work trip and wasn't super sick (more like a bad cold) but it went on for over a week, and he took I think 3 tests over a ten day period - all negative. I think there is just a lot "going around" that people used to just chalk up to cold and flu season. I know a few other people that have tested positive in recent months with at home tests, but I think we're just seeing more of other things and less COVID maybe?

My dyslexic DS11 is using bookshare with Dolphin EasyReader on his Kindle, and he decided he likes it better than the volunteer-read books in Learning Ally. He says that if he sets the speed at the right point, after a while he forgets it's a computer voice. I think it works way better in that app than just in their web interface (which I have played with just a bit to see if we could use it for a math textbook, and it was a bit wonky). Of course, that means the book you want needs to be in bookshare. We've tried a couple screen readers for the computer (mostly for PDFs) but at least the free or built in tools we tried weren't very easy to use.

I also think different LFLs have a different "vibe" - over the years I have only encountered one that had stamps indicating they came from such-and-such LFL, and most of the ones that I've watched seem to have mostly take one/give one vibes. A few seem to mostly have the same books, and I am not sure if it is because people take them and return, or because they just don't get a lot of use. In my old neighborhood in a large city, I found tons of interesting books in my block's LFL, and I specifically purchased quality used kids books to put in it in return. There was a ton of turn over in the box and the box had an involved owner. We had an interesting and eclectic neighborhood with a lot foot traffic, so I think that helped. I saw interesting books in other LFLs in the the neighborhood as well besides just the one on my block. In my new (smaller) city, I feel like I see less quality in general? But I may not be visiting the "right" ones. We have one in our cul de sac that gets almost no traffic, because it is in such a super out of the way spot. I have put a few interesting kids books in and they just sit there. I have peeked in a few in our neighborhood and they aren't terrible or empty, they are just more run of the mill - some trash/junk, some popular character kids books, a few that probably interest some people but aren't up my alley.

We've only ever seen doctors that are a part of a large clinic/practice (often the only option where we've lived) they usually had an office-wide policy of no more than two kids per appointment, and sometimes only one kid/appointment. Luckily for us when we've had strep we all equally tested positive at the walk in clinic, so we never ran into the issue of needing meds w/o the test result. I too prefer family practice to peds....My boys are seeing a ped right now due to availability at the clinic closest to us, but we had some super condescending ones when the kids were little, and our favorites have been family practice. When our current ped was out on medical leave the sub was sooo awful and kept making weird jokes that my kids felt awkward about. We put up with it to still be on the first ped's list when she came back.

Totally agreeing with you here. DD is required to take one math class for her degree program, and it could be College Algebra, Pre-Calc, or Calc. She is not into math at all (took Pre-Calc and then Stats in 11th and 12th grades), and decided on College Algebra since it was the easiest of the options! She said it was actually really similar to pre-calc she had in high school, but with less trig. If AP Pre-Calc had been an option for her, she definitely would have taken it, and then been able to skip the math class at University (assuming the exam went well). She used AP exam to get credit for the Stats requirement for her degree. It's not the right path for most STEM students, but plenty of other programs have minimal math requirements, and credit for Pre-Calc from an AP exam could be a great benefit if they aren't planning to take Calc.

My DD is going to school at the same place where DH and I went. We were surprised that the dorm rules have generally gotten more lax since we lived in the dorms! Any cooking appliances that don't have an open flame are allowed. No candles/incense of course either. There is a maximum size limit on fridges and microwaves, but it was pretty reasonable. No restrictions on what goes on the walls except no paint or wallpaper (do you suppose someone tried gluing wallpaper once, and that's why they mentioned it...lol). The main fire prevention rule I thought was interesting and different from back in the 90s is that no extension cords are allowed, only power strips with long cords. I think we got DD power strips 8ft and 6ft length cords.

A number of years ago we some funds that needed to be used for an educational purpose, and we invested in the large education set: https://www.amazon.com/Snap-Circuits-SC-750R-Electronics-Exploration/dp/B000IXMP6Q/ No regrets - we've gotten a ton of use out of it over the years and it has projects that can grow with more advanced students. I like that it comes in a sturdy case too. We had the very most basic set before this and the box was falling apart after a couple months.

Or the couple getting married could get time off only at a particular time, or the venue had limited availability, etc. I guess I'll chime in that I could see the wedding thing also, but I would also not "Expect" that my college age kid would necessarily come if there was a family wedding during the semester. I would leave the decision up to the individual kid and have no expectation that would choose to miss classes. I don't have much of an expectation that my college age DD will be around for any events that happen during the school year, and maybe not even on break. We will try to schedule a family vacation when she is available, but we know and she knows that it might not work out depending on what her summer plans end up being for possible summer class/internship/study abroad, etc. I do, however, talk to her a lot about what classes she is taking, how they are going, how work is going, etc. But not because I want to have "control" or anything. It's more that we are close and I want to know what's going on in her life, and she seems to want to tell me. I called my mom every week too when I was in college. I can't remember if we talked about my classes or what we talked about, but it seems normal to me to talk with a college age dc about their lives.

My DD did it in 7th grade, but with a co-op. It was a pretty good fit for her, especially because it was her first real "textbook" science. Oldest DS did it in 8th, and while he also had not done another textbook science before this, it was really too easy for him, and he didn't learn much new. He was also supposed to do it as a co op class, but a last minute schedule conflict came up and it was easier to just stick with it at home than find something else. I think it's a pretty decent program, especially for a kid that needs to learn some middle school level basics. 7th was a sweet spot for us I guess.

One semester in my DD has thrived pretty much right from the start...It was definitely different from my experience, where I thrived fairly quickly socially but took a whole year to find my stride academically (I needed to change my major). I think for her it is a bit of a "Goldilocks" combination of factors with a social group she found right away with a campus ministry she joined, first semester classes that were not too hard but just hard enough to need to grow in study/time management skills, a decent roommate/dorm situation, a campus job she really likes. Any one of those things not going well could have made the semester miserable. She has always been a relatively independent kid, so I figured she would find her way in college pretty well. The only minor crisis was the day she thought her bike got stolen. After reassuring her we could help her replace the bike if needed and talking her through where she might have parked her bike near the dorm, she finally checked and realized she had locked up her bike in a totally different part of the dorm complex from where she usually left it. 😄 I was so happy for her that it was still there. I am not expecting to be so fortunate with my subsequent kids. I think each of the boys give me reason to doubt it will all go so smoothly for them! To the OPs question, I think if I had a kid who was struggling in a major way, I would encourage them to finish the semester unless it was a true mental health crisis. Then look into more affordable places to transfer to (living at home, cheapest in-state/public options, etc) and encourage this route rather than stick it out with a sport that wasn't working out...same for a scholarship tied to a major the kid ends up hating, or whatever. I lost a scholarship when I changed majors, but luckily it was only a fairly small amount per year, so my parents were able to make up the difference. Had that not been the case I think I would have had to look at transferring to an in-state school or some other cheaper solution.

Haven't seen actual shortages here in my Midwest small city, but prices have been around the $5 range. That's the price at Aldi and at a gas station that always used to have cheap eggs. A regional chain was about $5.50. I bought for $4 at Target yesterday and was surprised at that "deal".

I've used All Through the Ages quite a bit, but I definitely think of it as primarily a book list. I'm comfortable putting together my own reading schedules, so I find it to be a great tool for finding books that fit each time period we want to study.

I couldn't quite match my situation to the poll. We always have Netflix, prime, and Disney+. We've done short stints with other services like Paramount when there was a show we wanted. In the recent past we had cable because it was bundled with the internet, and we did YouTubeTV for about a year after we switched internet peoviders. But we realized that we only used Cable/YouTube TV for a couple of sports. We then re-hooked-up an over the air antenna for certain local market sports and subscribed to F1 TV to get our race car fix. 😁

My least shelved was a book we read for school... "Causes and Consequences of the Great Depression". Only 4 people shelved it! I don't shelve every single school book I read aloud for school, but I do most of the ones that aren't textbooks. After reading in A History of US vol. 9 about the great depression, DS11 specifically asked to learn more about its causes, and this was a book I found at the library that I thought would be at an understandable level.

My mom did this for me with the ring from her marriage with my dad (they divorced when I was a toddler). It was a total surprise when she gave it to me for my college graduation. I had no idea she had even kept that ring! It is "flattened" and is almost a heart shape but not quite.

I generally prefer self checkout. I feel like it's pretty fast. Like others have said, Aldi is the exception since the checkers are lightning fast. My only complaint is that sometimes produce is a pain. Like I type in sweet potato (no sticker on it with a numerical code) and I'm so perplexed when nothing comes up. I had to call for assistance and the clerk told me it only comes up as "yam" in their system. Ok, fine, I guess I was having a mind blank but it would not be hard to have all terms in there. Another time there were two brands of bananas as different prices...I could only get the self checkout to ring up the more expensive variety even though it was supposed to be the cheaper brand. But small complaints, really. I'd much rather self checkout than have to answer the clerks questions about what I'm making with these things, or to wait in a super long line because they are understaffed.

I actually never knew that some people wrapped stocking stuffers! To me the stocking IS the wrapping, just like a gift bag would be if you like bags and tissue paper. Once or twice I've put a layer of tissue paper over the top of the stocking if things are peeking out. We do a traditional "stocking photo" every year with kids holding their stockings so it's nice to still have a slight bit of anticipation and not be able to visibly see the top items during the photo.

I don't think it's a thing at all where we are. DD turned 16 in Spring 2020 so she got no celebration with friends at all, unfortunately. But I don't think she would have had any desire to have any kind of party other than what she typically did with friends as a teen - hanging out with a few friends, eating, doing crafts or watching movies together, etc.

It seems like a lose/lose situation. ☹️ She thinks it's rude to tell you what she really wants, but then throws away or doesn't use (clearly doesn't want) things she did receive. It's like the only way for you to "win" this game is for you to be a mind reader or come up with something that even she doesn't know she wants. You might luck out with things people suggest here, but if even her DH doesn't know what she really wants, it seems like maybe she doesn't want anything (except maybe money, though it seems like you are saying she would be offended if you did give her cash).

Maybe I missed it in a previous post, but is there a reason you couldn't ask her? Even if you don't ask anyone else? I usually surprise my kids with a lot of their gifts, but now that DD18 is at college, I asked her she wanted to be surprised (and risk me getting it wrong) or give me a list, even for stocking stuffers. She said she wanted to give me a specific list. You could let her know you will spend $X, and would she prefer to be surprised, to give you a list, or to receive cash/gift card. It's not insulting if it's what she wants! And if it is insulting to others that she gets to receive a gift card when everyone else gets physical presents, then it may be time to rethink your gifting plans in general. My mom and MIL always ask if we want cash or to give them a specific list of things we want, and I appreciate that. Sometimes I would rather have the cash to put toward an experience or a larger expense, sometimes it is nice to have someone "treat" me to a fancy kitchen item I wouldn't buy myself or something like that.

My husband has taken to watching lots of chess strategy videos on YouTube to keep up with DS11. They are neck-in-neck in their improvement, but this is with DS11 not studying at all. He is just naturally improving as he gets older while DH has to really work at it! DH always beat him when DS was younger, then DS11 surged ahead and won most of the time. It's fun to watch, but I don't really play at all...I just have a basic understanding of the rules.

In level 1 (with the revised edition) there was one time I wished I had the manual to have the answer key. In a sentence where not every word was supposed to receive a mark, I was slightly unclear once which word to mark. My DS picked a word to mark that I did not think was correct, but he didn't like my logic and was disappointed that we couldn't double check. In level two I have consulted the answer key maybe 3 times in the first half of the book. It's always obvious when every word is to be marked and sometimes less obvious when not. For example, in a clause, "which he usually wore outdoors" the word "outdoors" was not meant to be marked. I was pretty sure it was being used as an adverb, but DS was convinced it was a noun. It was unmarked in the answer key , so I was able to say more confidently that it was a type of adverb we hadn't learned yet. I haven't used the TM for anything else. If you have a kid who will confidently believe you about why their answer is incorrect, then you might not need it. 😂. I do wish in the teacher manual they would list for my benefit what those unmarked words would be if we did label them, just to confirm my thoughts!

In our previous neighborhood, when only oldest DD was a young teen, all my kids had close neighborhood friends and it was basically an open door policy with all the friends all the time unless I specifically asked them to not let their friends in (because we had an out of town guest or someone was sick or we were about to leave or whatever). All the kids were well trained not to stay for a meal unless asked to stay ... 😁 After we moved it took a long time before my kids had closer friends, and except for youngest who now has a neighbor friend, my kids rarely have friends to the house - they see their friends other places. I would be totally fine with older two bringing a friend home unannounced. DS13 it might give me more pause because if he didn't ask first he might not realize there would be intervals where I would be gone driving a sibling somewhere or running an errand, and at his age (and especially because his friends tend to be a bit younger) I think the parents would expect adult supervision. Luckily his friends live across town so it's unlikely they would show up without parent coordination.

We open windows at night in hot weather unless it is raining or rain is in the forecast and we're not sure we'll wake up to close windows when it begins raining. However we always have the rain fly on the top of the tent (except for one time camping in a desert) because even a short unexpected rainstorm could make things extremely unpleasant inside a tent and we don't want to be trying to get the fly over the tent in the middle of the night. We have a large family size tent so it's several minutes of work to put the fly on and secure it in the dark. We are most often camping in the Midwest so a stray rainstorm is possible most any time.