SUCH a contrast for us between touring CSU Fullerton and asking about their art dept. (student was clueless, art dept. secretary gave us a form & nothing more, have to do general ed first anyway, so see us your sophomore year) and touring a private art school -- look around the buildings, look at and discuss portfolio, talk about specific majors, etc. Also a large difference in price tags, of course, altho' not so drastic if you're coming from out of state. DD's school was a small (but probably well supported) not-for-profit and there was a pretty huge difference between their tuition and that of the big-name art school in the state.

I live in NorCal and the high school my teen would be bussed to charges $250/semester for bus pickup and delivery. Sigh. It's about 1/4 mile walk to the public bus stop and a lot of families prefer that option as they can buy monthly passes....but for us that wouldn't pay unless student was riding twice/day every day. Son took the bus home (dropped off by dad) and bought a pass with a set # of rides instead. As I recall, that was about $30/30 rides. I think that a one bedroom apartment for a year lease with the resolve to look at other options then, once things are more stable, might be the most reasonable option. I would rather pinch the pennies by cramming than be caught out by an emergencies. JMHO. And Sacramento is expanding, but way cheaper than where we live right now....they take bids on rooms for rent here.

My dd got a scholarship for her portfolio -- $5500/year, and they gave it to her for her extra semester, too. We had 3 kids @ home when she went to school, so she got a CalGrant, too. They host the National Portfolio Day in San Diego. I don't know about merit scholarship other than by portfolio evaluation -- dd had a B average and an low-average SAT, but that didn't seem to be a big consideration. She loved the school -- it backs up to a conservancy and they had their science classes there, town is very artsy with galleries and plein air paintings, etc.

We counted stable time as PE time for my oldest. Grooming & washing & scooping and dumping poo is WORK. Riding is work. And yes, PE includes instructional time. You could also include reading on horsemanship, especially if she wrote summaries of what she learned. JMHO.

Both Cal Polys (SLO and Pomona) are tough to get into, focus a lot on engineering stuff but definitely offer other majors. We have a friend who taught @ Pomona in Industrial Sciences. My oldest attended Laguna College of Art and Design (So Cal, near beach), a fairly affordable, small non-profit art school (400 students). Loved the price, good quality preparation but not much choice of teachers in a particular area. We also toured Otis (near LAX), more expensive and much more urban, and Pasadena (gold standard of art schools) which was not worth twice the price, KWIM? For your artsy student check out the colleges listed at National Portfolio Day, which is held all over the country yearly but at least once in SoCal and once in NorCal each year. My 2nd just graduated from Sonoma State University, part of the CSU system, north of San Francisco. He transferred there from our local CC and finished in 2 years. They do have a mandatory gender studies and internship requirement to graduate. He said the classes were challenging but easier than the CC. (Is that because the CC prepared him well? I think so.) His choice of college was based on proximity -- he knew the $ value of living @ home and keeping his excellent p/t job, LOL.

My dd had hers long for years and even then if she brushed it we had frizz hair. Her auntie, who has curly hair, also recommended Diva products, as well as (spelling?) Oui Dat....found online. Minimal shampooing, dry by squeezing only and she recommended an old t-shirt, hair pick rather than brush. Two years later (now), dd cut her own hair from waist to above shoulders and discovered that a half pony tail works to keep it out of her face. It is so much easier and cute as can be. PS -- Tried to put in photos but non-tech savvy me can't figure out how.

May God give all of you the strength and peace you need for recovery and healing.

One large church near us has dealt with this problem......by having a basket of disposable ear plugs in the lobby. Clearlly they're not interested in having that conversation. I always sit in the back. Sigh. And pine for piano and hymns or even non-instrumental singing. Alas.

Hymns in worship.....I wish; maybe twice/year where we attend now, but my kids connect in the youth group and dh has made more friendships than I have (which is the norm, for us), so I go and listen and sit and pray when the chorus repetition gets too much for me. LOL We attend a non-denominational christian church, which (luckily for me) tends arminian but doesn't make a big deal out of it.

I will be 64 when youngest graduates high school. Right now I'm doing data entry part time from home, and tho' it doesn't pay well it fits with what we need right now. I have no desire to go back to my high stress Before-Kids career (technical editting) so I am looking for volunteer possibilities that will work with part-time income while youngest dd is in college. And then, we will be done and looking for an inexpensive, pleasant place to retire.

Praying for a great surgery outcome and effective physical therapy. My oldest had a similar accident, altho' instead of hitting concrete it was the horse who stepped on her arm. She is doing great now, but the PT lasted 3-4 months. Glad she'll have the summer to recover.

Somebody isn't fully informed. I've had kids attend CC in high school, although they were limited to 2 classes for dual enrollment, signed off by their "counselor" (me) and had last priority for enrollment; they also had to take the Compass test, which all incoming CC students must take. I've also had a kid take the CHSPE and use that as his high school diploma @ 16, attended CC (after taking the Compass placement test) and had to pay tuition. His CHSPE functions as his high school diploma. He got an AA and transferred to a CSU college. I've known kids admitted directly to the UC and CSU systems with home-issued high school diplomas. But at least one CC in orange county is notorious for misstating requirements and making it difficult for homeschoolers to attend. Some, however, are GREAT to work with. YMMV

I'd find out how much the repair cost. We moved into a house w/water in the door and we're never going back. We also have tile in the kitchen, which is a good thing as the kids and the dog are both messy w/their water. So we'd have drips even w/o the water in the door of the refer.

You betcha it is! He just needed to run his own show and he has done it well. On to the challenge of a "real job" at the end of summer.

Inflatable mattresses are what we use when we have guests. I slept on one for a whole summer after we had given away our furniture prior to moving and our house didn't sell as quickly as hoped. You can inflate/deflate each day if need be, flip a single switch. Or put a dome tent or your popup trailer in the back yard. We've done that as guests and it was nice because there was separate space for us. May this time together be a blessing and may you all pull together to make it work.

graduated yesterday, magna cum laude. He has always been the "bump that sticks up" kid in our family, the one I butt heads with. At 16, unhappy over our move, lonely, utterly unco-operative, I had him take the high school exit exam and start attending community college - where he got his AA and a certificate, with a 3.78 gpa (including some online classes that helped him discover how NOT to study) and moved on to the state university in our now. Now he has a newly minted BA in Communications and will spend the summer working full-time in the redwood canopy as a zipline tour guide before deciding on his post-college job. Setting him free was the most difficult and the best thing I ever did for our relationship and for his education. Putting on the burgers for a small celebration of a large milestone.

Documented volunteer service makes a great first resume. I wouldn't have thought of this, but my older kids were in 4H and as part of their record books had to document service hours every year. Then we found that 4H was a reporting organization for the presidential service awards (as is scouts, key club in public schools, etc.), so in high school we sent their hours in that way as well. Let me tell you, presidential service awards are a very nice thing to put on college applications and on even p/t college job applications and are a great thing to talk about at interviews. Think of volunteer service as unpaid job experience....especially if done consistently and on a schedule. That may help you and your kid feel better about reporting it.

I'm sorry your student is struggling. I just wanted to say that the disability services @ the community college where my middle dd attends have been wonderfully helpful. She doesn't have an "official diagnosis" of a learning disability but they are willing to test her for it, free. She does have migraines, and that's been enough to get separate quiet rooms for tests, even one of those recording pens. She spends lots of time at the tutorial center and has gotten help with both math and english. I know her issues probably aren't the same as your son's, but I have definitely found the disability folks to be great. Does your son have a mentor outside the family he would be willing to meet with weekly? Just discussing his week's assignments and study plan could possibly help a lot.

Ahhhhh, I get the sound of relief as the pudding proves itself. I have one always-homeschooled-to-community-college graduating this month also. Rejoice, rejoice!

AAA was a lifesaver for our oldest her first semester. We got premier service because she had a 45 mi commute and we were 9 hr. away. She got to know the tow truck drivers, unfortunately, as her car coughed its way to the junkyard. We've kept AAA until our kids are on their own and out of college, part of supporting them and their aging vehicles. Lots of places give AAA discounts, but you have to ask.

We toured CIA's west coast farm-to-table/2-year program school last week in St. Helena, CA. They recommend at least a year's experience in a kitchen -- even bussing or dishwashing -- to have a clear idea of the pace and type of work before starting @ their school. I think they quoted $20K/year, including room & board; students typically live together as they have an unusual schedule depending on their specialty (baking/pastry are at work by 3 or 4 am, etc.). So $40K for the 2-year program and $80K for the 4-year program, which is based in Hyde Park, upstate NY. They have a restaurant and cafe on campus, run by students, as well as weekly cooking demonstrations open to the public (for a fee, of course). They poo-poohed our local CC's culinary arts program, even tho' it's part of the same foodie, farm-to-table ethos....but that would be considerably less expense for tuition; housing in our area is pretty expensive, even in student apts. I have no idea if/how a school like CIA would transfer credits from other less prestigious institutions.

No, but I want to!

On a lighter note, have you seen the movie "Doris" with Sally Fields as an elderly hoarder? Her family make her see a counselor and she throws a screaming fit the first time they try to take anything out of the house. But she grows into letting go. My mom was an executive secretary. When she moved into assisted living, we furnished 3 houses with her accumulation of office supplies--collected after their last major crosos-country move. My brother in law says, to this day, "The best thing you can do for your kids is get rid of your OWN stuff." Speaking of potlatches, after my dad passed my mom invited all his friends to come to the house and take a book or 10. It was a great way to pass on his legacy, which he'd not had the cognitive facility to enjoy for many years. We did the same thing with my mom's bird sculptures collection. I will note that since I have one brother who lives overseas and who came back to the states for 6-8 mo every few years, she still had boxes and boxes of *his* stuff that had moved cross country with them several times. So not all of the junk was hers.

Ellie, yes, I guess I could, but it's the academy day venue that my dd wants and needs. Next year I'll be teaching through them (high school english/logic), so we're committed for the first year of high school. After that, who knows. I think they charge a *lot* and have extra hoops I don't necessarily want or need, but for now it suits. We shall see in a year or so.

I agree with asking the school directly. I will tell you that I have never had a charter (we've been in 4 over the years) offer me forms to have alternative curriculum materials approved. And I have never had them consider a home-written syllabus and mom-selected text as meeting A-G requirements. Definitely something to ask about!!