Thanks, we'll need it for good merit aid! I've done that in the end paragraph: " In summary, Sarah would make an outstanding addition to the university community, both academically and socially. Her enthusiasm for academics and social justice is contagious, and she can bring a unique voice to the community."

OK, I've changed the intro from "recommending" language to this and will include it with the package: "As a homeschooler, I have functioned as both lead instructor and guidance counselor, overseeing Sarah’s education from kindergarten on, and so have had the pleasure of watching her grow into a confident, intelligent, and articulate young woman with a passion for learning and enriching her community through active involvement. I am writing to give you a bit more of an insight into how that plays out day-to-day."

I talked about most of this in the school profile, as I included a short history of our homeschooling with educational goals, a bit about why we chose DE over AP, and limitations on extracurricular opportunities, along with educational partners, community info, graduation requirements, grading scale, etc. In the counselor letter I talked about enthusiasm and work ethic for academics, preference for working behind the scenes rather than in the spotlight, lifelong volunteering in multiple ways, examples of maturity and support of peers, and interest in diversity and social justice. I used concrete examples to "show, don't tell" as much as possible and tried to give an idea of her in the community across her various activities and across time. Maybe if I just refer to it in the cover letter as a counselor letter rather than recommendation and take the recommending line out of the beginning it would be a better fit?

Appalachian and Roanoke do, but she had already done the Appalachian one before she decided to consider Roanoke, so there seems little point in doing the common app now.

I've put together the transcript, school profile, and a counselor letter for my daughter's applications, but am not sure if I should include the letter in all the applications. She's applying to seven schools, and has two other recommenders available-- her history professor and the religious education director at church, with the sensei at the dojo (who has known her for 10 years) as a third if needed. There is a possibility she could ask one of her other community college professors for a recommendation as well, probably the English professor who had her for the two intro writing courses last year. Lenoir Rhyne does not require recommendations for admission and is unclear on the website about whether they are needed for scholarships. Catawba recommends one from core teacher or counselor for admission, for homeschoolers says "teacher, tutor, or community member." UNC-Wilmington is unclear, but their section for counselors seems to indicate that one is expected. UNC-Greensboro says letters of recommendation are encouraged--"Anything that aids in determining a student's probability of success at UNCG is always worth including in the application." UNC-Charlotte says essays and letters of recommendation are not required for admission. They do require nomination from a teacher/professor for their top scholarship and her history professor is doing that. Emails are then sent to recommenders, which won't include me. Their other big scholarship needs two academic recommendations. Appalachian State doesn't require letters of recommendation for admission, but they do want a resume and personal statement from homeschoolers. Scholarship application requires two letters of recommendation, but we won't know if there are specific sources requested until they open the application for her (admissions material sent in already). Roanoke recommends one letter of recommendation. So, would you send the counselor letter of recommendation to any or all, or wait to see if the school requests it?

I was in a triple room in college. One roommate and I shared the same name, the other had the same name as my sister. It made things interesting when I brought them home for the weekend. :)

I'm working on the counselor letter, school profile, etc for my daughter. Only one of the schools uses the Common App, so she will just be doing the individual school apps for all of them and I'll be mailing in my packet. I'm thinking trying for a letterhead is more than I am interested in trying at this point, but I do have a question about how to include the identifying info. On the counselor letter, I have it in a subject line, and there are two full pages, with page numbers at the bottom. Is preferred format on both sides of one sheet or on two separate sheets? If one, do I need to include the identifying info again, which means I will have to take out some of the info I've included?

Game Stop is having a b1g1 deal on their collectibles, http://www.gamestop.com/browse?nav=16k-3-B1G1ClearCollAug17,28-xu0&utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=deeplink&cid=afl_10000087&affID=77777&sourceID=.7WaaTN6umc-E1mAkCVuxeTVtPb0UtVWEQ --stocking stuffers? Beautycon (a quarterly beauty subscription box that has ended service) has a few of their past boxes at 75% off with the code FLASH, making them $8.75 each for boxes with $100+ worth of beauty products. I bought all four to use as a celebration for my daughter when she finishes all her college applications. She loves beauty products and loves watching Youtube videos of unboxings, especially by Tati, so it should be fun for her. The Beautycon site is excruciatingly and frustratingly slow, but it did work for me in the end. http://www.usgwp.com/?s=beautycon is the post about it with a description of what's in the available boxes. She'll keep what she thinks will be interesting and the rest will go into our donation box for the shelter for homeless LGBTQ+ youth. I subscribe to the blog above (usgwp.com) to get info about gifts with purchase and other alerts on beauty products, since my 17 yo is makeup-mad. Recently I've scored a free sample of an Urban Decay mascara (no purchase required), and some very high-end samples from both Saks and Nordstroms that came with any purchase. This time I got a sample YSL mascara, sample card of MAC lipsticks, and a sample of Dior lip products with a $2.99 Honest Company hand sanitizer purchase (free shipping). Recently, I bought a $3 eye pencil sharpener and got a Laura Mercier sample and two others that I don't remember. I'm gathering this sort of thing with the idea of putting together a beauty advent calendar for her or just using them as stocking stuffers. :) We also get a ton of free spices and herbs from Penzey's penzeys.com. Sign up for their email list and they send lots of coupons for free 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup glass jars of various things, sometimes no purchase required, sometimes a $5 purchase. You also get notifications when they release new gift boxes, which they offer for a greatly reduced price for a short period. This summer I got their American Heart and Soul box as gifts for our Girl Scout leaders and church Director of Religious Education ($15 rather than $34.95), for example. Right now we're collecting the freebies to put together as basket in our church fundraising auction. This week we were able to get 1/2 cup jars of Bangkok Spice (no purchase required, $7.95 value) and Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle ($5 purchase required, $9.95 value) when we bought the dried shallots we needed anyway. This is easiest if you have a store nearby, as you have to spend $29.95 to get free shipping.

It was because of the fuel situation after Katrina with Rita on the way in and the threat of more damage. The entire region was affected by the fuel shortages from Katrina. My husband had to travel to Atlanta during that period and it was touch and go as to whether he could find gas on the way through SC and into GA. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/23/AR2005092301717.html

I'd love to have an electric vehicle or even a hybrid, but a new (or rather, a "new-to-us" used) car isn't an option any time soon. <sigh>

We're in NC, and the prices have jumped at least 40 cents a gallon from a day or so ago. We got caught up in a shortage a few years ago when the pipeline was down. We were on the way home from the beach and didn't know about the shortages nearer to home, and went at least an hour on a major highway with tons of stations but no gas anywhere to be found, so we're rather gun-shy. I like the term "fuel emergency status." We're doing the same thing, sticking close to home. I will drive my daughter to and from school tomorrow (half-hour roundtrip), but we won't be doing the hour and a half roundtrip to aikido tonight, tomorrow, or Saturday. We may or may not make the hour roundtrip to church on Sunday, depending on the status. Luckily, my husband can work from home tomorrow (his boss is in TX and very understanding), since his commute can be an hour each way. Even with relatively fuel-efficient cars, that takes a toll.

The Homeschool Room, two locations on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC. All consignment. http://thehomeschoolroom.net/The_Homeschool_Room/Welcome.html I'm jealous of those near a Half Price Books! We have really liked those when we travel. For used books, we like to hit Edward McKay in Greensboro, NC, and Mr. K's when we're in Asheville. I've found good books for homeschooling at both. There's also a used bookstore called Fifth Street Books in a little town called Mebane (Meh-ben) outside Burlington, NC that has kid's books for 35 cents periodically and gives a homeschool discount other days (but not a really great selection of other types of books). https://www.facebook.com/fifthstreetbooks/

I hope not. She had them put on Thursday and it's now Saturday afternoon. Even with ibuprofen, she's still finding chewing painful and her teeth are in general very sore. Wax is helping with soreness in her cheek from the hooks and one bracket that the ortho said would get better as the teeth moved. Her biggest complaint is from where they built up her bite a bit. I imagine it takes a bit more for those muscles to adjust. If it's still a problem on Monday, I'll call the ortho's office.

My daughter just got braces a couple of days ago and I'm about at my wit's end with finding food she is willing to eat. I never had them, so this is new territory for us. She had to have four teeth pulled at the beginning of the week and the braces are making her teeth in general sore. They put bite extensions on her back molars because her upper teeth were hitting one of her lower brackets, and it's making it hard to chew anything because it hurts. Another recent issue that compounds this is that we believe her digestive issues may be caused by uncooked dairy, so we are avoiding cheese, milk, etc unless they are thoroughly cooked into something. I bought soft bread for sandwiches, but she found even pretty moist sliced chicken too hard to chew today (making it into a chicken salad is out because she won't eat mayo). I'm expecting the soreness to get better after a few days as the muscles adjust to the new situation, but that it will recur as the braces are tightened. Currently, applesauce, soft canned fruit, pancakes, soup, and non-dairy ice cream are working, but that's not a long-term solution, and generally not as easy to grab quickly (other than pancakes). I need to find something protein-based that can be easily and quickly grabbed in the morning, as she has an early class 4 days a week, but often finds eating early nauseates her, particularly eggs. She also is rarely willing to eat beef or pork. Help?? I know I have a tendency to focus only on what can't be eaten when starting some new food regimen and this is basically two new ones almost at once, so I am guessing I'm overthinking this. What can I do to make the pancakes more protein-packed? Would smooth peanut butter be okay cooked into things? I am concerned it's too sticky for just plain use due to the braces.

I'd be happy to just have accurate info on the materials required in time to have them for the first class without having to overbuy. To me that seems reasonable for a gen ed intro level course that is presumably pretty standardized across the college, particularly dual enrollment at the community college. I wish we could have contacted profs about codes, but the names and contact info were not always provided in advance.

We stood outside the dentist's office with the dentist and staff, all of us with glasses, since my daughter had an appt about 20 min after we hit our max (98%).

Way, way too much since the now 17 yo rediscovered makeup around the beginning of the year! :laugh: I fully admit to overindulging her in this area. We also try to hit the ELF seasonal online sales (where things can be had for less than a dollar) to put together a donation to the local program for LGBTQ youth. Relatively little for my husband and myself.

I have an only, homeschooled from age 4 and now in her senior year! She attended preschool from age 2-4 (2 half days at 2, 3 at 3, 4 at 4). The best thing we did was to join an inclusive homeschool group right at the start, when she was 4.5 yo. This group provided a pretty consistent group of kids that she's grown up with, and is still friends with many, though of course some have moved on to something else or moved away. Initially, the biggest thing was the weekly park day where we would stay for hours. As time went on, the parents in the group arranged field trips, co-op classes, a Girl Scout troop, FIRST Lego League robotics team, spelling bee, Science Olympiad teams, holiday parties, a yearly awards ceremony, yearbook, and other various things. It has been her main social outlet. In addition to the homeschool group, I took her to homeschool days at museums and historic sites, activities/classes at the library, the nature center, and rec center. We started with some outsourced classes in middle school and she is now in her second year of full time dual enrollment at the community college. She did gymnastics at Little Gym for a couple of years and along with my husband has been taking aikido since she was 6. That started at once a week and grew to several days a week as a teen. Her best friend is the public-schooled daughter of the sensei. We've been involved with the UU church her entire life, but her best friends have come from other activities. We moved to a neighborhood with a lot of kids when she was five, but she has never really connected with any of them. Looking back, I worked way too hard to keep her constantly busy in preschool and early elementary. I was convinced if I didn't take her to every single opportunity I heard about I would totally ruin her life! My husband finally had to tell me she didn't need to have every possible educational experience before she turned 6. :)

We're in a suburban neighborhood in the Piedmont area of NC, backing onto a small river. I don't know a lot about different varieties, but I can identify and have seen turkey vultures, hawks (red-tailed, I think), owls, robins, cardinals, mourning doves, goldfinches, bluebirds, hummingbirds, mockingbirds, blue heron, starlings, crows, and generic little brown birds. :) Once in a while I'll hear a woodpecker and I've seen a wild turkey once in the 11 years we've been here. Other than that, we have deer, possums, raccoons, coyote, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, and foxes. I think we have ravens at the school not too far away (or really, really big crows). I used to see blue jays as a child but now I see bluebirds instead, don't know why. We often get seagulls in the parking lots of the shopping centers although we're several hours from the coast, and a lot of Canada geese.

I stopped by a local thrift store today and ended up finding some nice towels for a total of about $4. After I checked out, the clerk put my towels in a tote bag rather than a plastic bag. I thought, "Great, it's a nice-sized attractive tote bag and I don't have more plastic to bring in the house--win,"and went on my way. At home, my daughter was looking at the tote bag and said, "Did you know this is a Vera Bradley?" I'm only marginally familiar with the brand since the fabric bags are not my style at all and this was not the typical all-over colorful sort of pattern I had seen, so we looked it up. It's a black and white Vera Bradley laser-cut tote in faux leather, looks like the pattern is Fanfare. Black body, white panel, black large stylized flower shape. It appears to have retailed for $88 according to one site and the same thing is selling in the $50-70 range used! Not bad for something free to hold my used towels. :) I guess it can go with my $3 Kate Spade purse I got a few years ago from the Salvation Army, which I bought having no idea it was designer. I just needed a black purse for a funeral.

Not only will the bookstore not buy them back at the end of the semester as used, they won't accept them as a return if the shrinkwrap has been opened, so the student dare not open the book prior to the first day of class when they can find out if they will indeed need the book or won't be dropping the class for some reason. Often looseleaf texts are custom-done for the particular college, raising the price. They cannot be rented. Both of the looseleaf books my daughter had to buy this semester also had required online codes, which is another issue. They cannot realistically be resold for reuse, as has been pointed out, so require new resources to produce and are less environmentally friendly. Our book costs this semester: English ---renting used ---$30 World civ ---renting used ----$16 Am govt ---- looseleaf with code, new --- $ 154 -- no other format option available at all Statistics ----looseleaf with code, new --- $189

My daughter's list is standing at 4 in-state state schools and 3 privates, none in the very highly selective category. She's in the top 10% or so for test scores at all of them, so I don't have concerns that she'll likely get in, the big question is merit aid. She says she would be happy to be at any of them, but I have my doubts about one of the privates, so we'll have to see how things shake out. In her case the saftey/match/reach comes in terms of cost. Her ultimate safety is to live at home and continue at the community college where she is in dual enrollment then transfer to the local state university (which is one of the four on her list). Unfortunately, only one uses the Common App, which makes it much less common. :) She's going to do the individual school app for that one as well. Luckily she's already sent both her ACT scores to two of them, back when she tested (the other free slots sent them to schools she's since crossed off the list). She's at least started on two of the applications.

We have two of these this semester---Am govt ($154) and stats ($212). By contrast, we can rent used books for Am lit ($30) and world civ ($16). At least the college bookstore pricematched Amazon on the rentals and the stats book (which brought it down to $189). Definitely a racket!

Flu shot every year, tetanus/Tdap as recommended, had an MMR booster in my 20s, plan to get the shingles one once the new one from GSK comes out this fall, as it is supposed to be much more effective. I had chicken pox twice as a kid and have no interest in dealing with shingles! I need to check about the pneumonia one, as I can't remember for sure whether I've had it yet.

If the schools don't use the Common App, do you just mail them the counselor letter and school profile?