Thanks so much-this was so helpful! The only courses I had on the transcript for spring were things we thought she’d be continuing. We’ve since changed it to be a credit and a half less-she’s not finishing the Pre-Calc she started (half credit) because she’s well beyond the high school math she needed, and the Pre-Calc was mostly trig and doesn’t seem like anything she’ll need for nursing. She will need to take ONE math elective for nursing, but it’s basically a first year Algebra course. That seems more helpful for nursing than the Pre-Calc was! It would probably be easy for her, I would think. The other credit she wont’ be taking is a 200 level Lit class that was the only other English elective she needs for her nursing degree. She’d have time to take it there, so why stress now about it. Also she already took Bio/Chem/Physics, and this year is taking a full-year online pre-Anatomy and Physiology course, to help her the first year with A+P, which we heard is a weed-out course. She’s enjoying it and doing well. So good to know about the provisions. I didn’t read anything about that in the acceptances, but I’ll double check with her. Also, she finished some of her first year courses online-English 101 and 102, etc., so that would free her up to take a pre-req math or something in college if she absolutely had to. I didn’t know about these things you’ve mentioned on here-it’s really a huge help and I appreciate it! Please let me know if there is anything else I might be missing!!!! I’m leaning toward having the light semester for spring, but that would leave her with only finishing the science course (1 credit), a Medical Terminology course (.5 credit), and Phys Ed. It just seems so light! She will be working more, plus she does a puppet ministry at church she wants to spend time on, and works with the middle school girls group at church-just some things like that she would like to give time to, plus her own healing. ANNNND she hasn’t learned to drive yet due to time constraints and we need to get that going in the next couple months! I’m 100% for easing up, but I just don’t want to regret it after because the colleges are upset at the light semester!

How would we find out if acceptance is contingent? We wouldn’t want to ask the college and call attention to it. I do think most places ask for a final “official†transcript, right? So they’ll definitely see that she had a light semester :(

She’s already accepted at the colleges she wants (Liberty, Cedarville, Houghton, Roberts Wesleyan). She’s been invited to their Honors programs, which she isn’t planning on doing (it’s for nursing so she doesn’t need the extra stress of Honors work). She had a 4.0 for high school and 1390 SAT, so she’s worked really hard. We don’t have financial packages from the colleges yet and we DO need financial aid and scholarships-as much as possible since we have nothing to put toward her college. She’s been suffering pretty serious anxiety and it would probably really help her to have an easy semester while she’s regaining her footing mentally/emotionally. She also wants to work more hours to get some money toward books and other things she’ll need. Would it affect anything with the colleges and especially with financial aid if she just takes maybe two courses second semester senior year? She already finished everything she needs for high school, and has several credits from college courses (online and local) as well. Thanks so much!

Thanks so much, everyone! The scholarship would be nice but sounds like it isn’t worth it.

Dd could be accepted into Cedarville, Liberty, and Roberts Wesleyan in their Honors programs for nursing (GPA 4.0 and 1390 SAT). Besides the scholarship money, it just seems crazy to apply for Honors and have her do all that extra work (senior thesis, more difficult classes, etc.) when she’ll get a good job anyway with her regular BSN. It’s not like a business or law degree where Honors would make a difference to job hunting. I should mention this is a girl who pushes herself to the point of anxiety and we’d rather have her have a more “relaxed†college experience (nursing degree is tough enough already!) instead of having to constantly perform at a high honors level. Thanks-this is our first in college so we have no clue!

Thanks, everyone, for the ideas and please keep them coming!

I’m pretty active, so asking for Under Armour compression sleeves so far. Just got an iPad for my birthday and got a case and keyboard already. Trying to think of other ideas-I’d love to hear what everyone else is asking for! Cool kitchen gadgets? Favorite “toys� Very very grateful for all that I do have!

Trying to determine if I should waste my time on these or not.... Thanks!

Thanks, feeling better about it! I will attempt it tomorrow.....

I am deer in the headlights, burying head in sand w/ college stuff for dd who is a senior in high school. She started filling out applications this week. I know I need to get on this stuff but I'm overwhelmed beyond belief about all this-too intimidated to even start. I need to start w/ FAFSA since dd is saying she needs it done to get an application in by this Sunday (!) Is it a big deal or something I can crank out in a couple hours? I keep hearing what a nightmare it is to fill out and I'm freaked out! (a side question: the FAFSA just came out Oct 1, right? Why do places need it already by this weekend? She said it's to avoid application fees by getting apps in early?) Then maybe do her transcript? I tried to look at the sticky Lori put up, but it's making me way more overwhelmed. I need to find a way to keep it simple! It shouldn't be that bad-she knows she wants to go to Liberty Uni, and her grades and SAT scores are enough to get in and also for honors level there. We are applying at three others though to see what packages they give. FINANCIAL AID is key and we need a GREAT package-we have nothing to contribute toward college due to being on one small income plus debt. Thanks for any help! I'm also hoping any answers to this thread will help others in the same boat right now!

Oh, Susan, I like the idea of a permanent larger "steeping" bottle to draw from and keep a smaller bottle in the baking cupboard for use. That would solve the good point that Danae brought up too.

I've never made it before and want to try, since the pure vanilla is so $$ to buy anyway. Just read that there is a huge shortage of vanilla beans in Madagascar-grrrrr! We want it to be as cheap as we can-very tight budget. Do you find it's more economical in the long run to make it? Do you find it works just fine to "top off" your vanilla w/ more vodka instead of making a bunch of it all at once? I thought we'd make 8 ounces and then just "top off". (For reference-We use it for baking and went through 16 ounces of McCormick in about a year and a half or more.) Recipes say 3-5 beans for 8 oz vodka. Can we get away with 3 beans? I googled it and read Madagascar beans are the best. Can someone point me to the CHEAPEST reputable source please? Or would we be just fine with Bourbon beans if they're cheaper? Any other tips appreciated! thanks so much!

Thank you, Lanny. I honestly did not realize this. For some reason, I thought people were generally switching to tablets. I figured it could be generally turned into a laptop type thing by adding a wireless keyboard, but I can see what you're saying. I need to look into it more.

I'd love to have more options (imac, etc.) but price is a primary consideration! So it looks like I'm limited to ipad, ipad pro, etc.

Unfortunately, most of the other products are out of our price range. Great idea though to look at the Apple Store (we do have one). I still would love to hear more opinions too!

See, I didn't even know that about the flash drives! Anything else like that it would be important to know? Also, can we write with stylus on regular ipad (I think so??), and if so, how do you like it? Is there lots of lag time, etc?

Trying to decide if it's worth the price to get the pro over the regular ipad--I'm used to an older pc laptop that has a 14" screen, so I'm worried about going all the way down to 9.7 inch on the ipad. But the ipad pro 10.5 inch doesn't seem a whole lot bigger for double the price! Price is definitely a consideration, but if the pro is super worth it, I'd spring for it. Is the regular ipad screen large enough if I'm used to the 14"? Especially with eyes getting older-lol! I do like the feature that you can write on the ipad pro with the Apple Pencil, but again, buying the Pencil is an added expense. Plus I don't need to draw or paint or whatever with it-mainly just take notes. Is there a way to reliably write (like with a stylus or something?) right on the ipad rather than get the ipad pro? I'm used to pen and paper :glare: I am also used to touch typing on a keyboard, so I assume I'd have to buy an external keyboard. Any tips for this? Would any Bluetooth keyboard be just as good as the Apple Smart Keyboard? I'm not fancy :) Any other considerations? I'd be using the ipad or ipad pro as a replacement for my old pc laptop. I am loving my iphone which I just got in December (updated finally from a Tracfone!) so I do want an Apple product. I'm a long-time homeschool mom almost at the end of my homeschooling, but I teach part-time in a private school so I do use my computer quite a bit for that, and for general personal use. I'm not majorly tech savvy. Thanks for any help!

I'm looking at their Advanced Biology for dd17. But I'd love reviews or opinions from anyone who has used any of their classes! And would you recommend live or recorded classes? THANK YOU!!!

Dd17 is ending her junior year, has a 4.0 GPA for home and homeschool co-op and a couple certified college classes at co-op. She wants to go into nursing at a conservative Christian school; Liberty U is her top choice by far. We need all the financial aid we can get-zero money for college. With her grades and SAT, looks like from Liberty's online chart, she'd get $6000 academic aid. To get into their top tier academic aid, she'd need 60 more points on SAT to get just $500 more aid. That doesn't seem very worth it for her to spend allllll summer studying for SAT! Especially since she got 1290 on PSAT (720 English/570 math) and worked SUPER hard in the next months to improve score (she studied a LOT, daily, and did a TON of practice tests), getting a 1390 on SAT in May (720 English/670 math). Math is her weakest subject by far and I don't think she can score a whole lot higher, and obviously she can't even get much higher on English. I think she's probably FINE for Liberty w/ this score, but I want to make sure if something changes and she decides on a different college, she'd likely be ok with this score. (Note: dh doesn't make a ton of money so we hope to get fairly decent need based aid). I'm just a little nervous about saying, ok, you don't need to take the SAT again! She's fine either way-will do what she needs to do- and asked me to check on here with you all. I just can't imagine any reason for her to spend her whole summer studying for what would likely be a very tiny improvement in score. Even with superscoring, I don't think it would be a big help. Am I missing anything? This is my oldest child so I'm new at this-any advice appreciated!!!

Thanks! Good luck to everyone!

We're getting anxious to see her scores!

Thanks so much for sharing! I still am wondering about the crematorium disposing of ashes-there must be people that would want that done! I do think it's a gift to the loved ones to make things clear, if possible, so they're not wondering or trying to figure it out while grieving.

Dh and I are having so much fun googling all these awesome recommendations-thank you SO MUCH! I am laughing because SANIBEL ISLAND is where we had our one and only honeymoon vacation!!! We adore it there. Our family vacations growing up were always to there-my grandparents "discovered" Sanibel in the early 60s, before the Causeway was even built! To my grandpa's dying day, his greatest regret was not buying LOTS of land on Sanibel back then! ETA: Sanibel is not very cheap though! (Off season it's not too terrible.)

Thanks, Alessandra! I was just coming back to ask more details about Nassau :)

****ETA-I forgot to add-we'd like LONG beaches to walk. I think in some places you can only walk the little bit of beach that's allotted for your hotel. Thanks so far! We are in upstate NY. We could drive to an east coast beach up here, but would like something more special for the anniversary, plus dh's back is bad, so unfortunately that means flying, even if it means flying rather than driving somewhere like Outer Banks. Cruises are out due to a vertigo condition. We'd want to do early August due to the commotion at end of August w/ school starting (we homeschool one, one in private school, and I teach part-time so it's a juggling issue!) We have no passports, not international. Florida would be ok, but Caribbean/Mexico seems more special somehow. Our budget is........."it's all going on credit" because we're dying for a vacation due to many life circumstances right now. We've put it off SO long because of never having any money, and we just need to go before we go insane. Needless to say, we want to keep it cheap. We're fine with eating meals in. What about a Caribbean or Mexico all-inclusive? We're open to ideas!