We are enjoying The Art of Reading and The History of the United States (for that one we have only listened to the ones concerning the twentieth century). In general, neither ds or I are auditory learners. We would both rather read a book than listen to a lecture. But we’ve enjoyed both of these for the most part. And my middle son comes and listens as well, although he’s not required to. He says he finds it interesting.

Not obnoxious. I do that all the time. As long as it’s not something like a controlled substance or related to a very complicated diagnosis it’s fine. And even in those cases it’s doable, I just usually want records from the other doc to be able to document what we are doing and why. Allergy eye drops would be no problem.

We have a lot of color and get a lot of compliments. I think a lot of people are used to neutral and so are surprised by the color. We also have a fairly uncluttered house with lots of light. Our furniture is mostly white or black with lots of clean lines. I think that helps the color not feel like too much. Our living area is mostly a blue, fairly light. We have one super bright yellow wall that extends into the foyer and main living area. (We have a split foyer house and a large open area as the main upstairs.) Our bedroom is a pale green. Boys’ room is mostly blue with one red wall. When we moved in oldest wanted it all red but I convinced him to do just the one wall as I though all bright red would be too much. Daughter’s bedroom was just redone this summer, it is blue with pink and purple accents...all her choices. Kids’ bathroom is bright blue. Our downstairs family room is green. Guest room is blue, guest bathroom is yellow. Our kitchen is still the ugly beige color that the whole house was when we moved in seven years ago. (I’m not saying all beige is ugly, but this one was.) It really needs painting and we’ll likely do it this summer. I haven’t been able to decide what color, which is why it has been the last thing to be done. It has a weird brick wall and I’m not sure if we’ll paint it...probably. I don’t really like our kitchen but it’s all good quality so we don’t really want to spend money just to aesthetically change it. Like the cabinets are good quality wood, but not what I would choose. The counters are granite, but we don’t really like it. That kind of thing. When we paint the kitchen we might paint the main area again. It needs it. Not sure if we will do the same blue or go with a different color or something more neutral. I like the color but it’s also fun to change things up. I also do like white, and could see going that route.

Ds will be a 10th grader. To all of you planning 9th grade for the first time...it will be ok! I was stressed last year and feeling that it was so overwhelming. It’s definitely been a harder year as far as workload but also a really good year and in many ways a lot of fun. For 10th grade... AOPS Intermediate Algebra- he does it himself, not the class. Latin III- Most likely with Lukieon. He really likes Lukieon and Latin but needs to decide if he wants to continue to devote as much time to Latin as it requires. Beyond that, I’m not sure. I’m hoping our co-op will offer Advanced Chemistry. If it does he’ll probably take that. He likes Chem a lot this year. If not, I’ll probably have him do Biology. I would probably just have him do it at home with me since I can teach that. We’ve done English and History at home this year with a mix of Great Courses, reading and a couple of Bravewriter classes. That has worked well and we’ll likely do the same thing. I need to talk to him about what he wants to study. We’re doing 20th century history with an American focus this year and it’s been good. He did Computer Science with Edhesive and has really liked it. I think he’ll likely do the AP class next year as an elective. Other elective options might be a different math (AOPS Number Theory or a Statistics class). He did Spanish I this year because he is going to Chile for spring break and our co-op happened to offer it. He might do Spanish II next year if it’s offered, but not sure. I think he would really like music theory (he also plays piano) but not sure if he wants to do it. We don’t have to report things like PE or Health. He’s a competitive swimmer so exercise is covered. And he should finish his Eagle Scout sometime in the next year.

I will have a 7th grader next year. He’s my least schoolish kid. He’s super creative and fun but hates school. So I’m never exactly sure what we are doing. Mostly I try and encourage him to learn but not kill his spirit. I joke that he’s like a skittish wild animal when it comes to school...I cautiously approach but if he gets the idea that something is “learning†he runs away. Math- Not sure. He’ll finish Singapore sometime in the next year. His brother uses AOPS but I don’t think it’s a good fit for this kid. He doesn’t like Math so even though I think he could do it he won’t want to spend that kind of time. I’m thinking about Jousting Armadillos or something similar as a Pre-Algebra kind of program. LA- We started using Bravewriter this year and we’ll likely continue with that kind of approach. He did NaNoWriMo this year and did a great story that he’s still working on illustrating and we’ll publish for him as a Blurb book. Writing is one thing he does like so I mostly try to encourage his interest. He’s done a book club at our co-op the past two years but I think he wants to not do it next year. So we’ll do more literary discussion here, but mostly conversational. History- I think I want to do ancients with his sister and he’ll probably join us. Science- This is the big not sure area. I want to do more with him, but not sure what we’ll do. He’s doing Greek this year by choice. If he wants to continue he can. And he’s doing ASL at co-op. He really likes that so I think he’ll keep up with it.

Two of my kids have done dissections with me at that age and thought it was cool. I think if she is interested it’s fine and not age inappropriate. At that age it’s kind of the same as being interested in dead bugs you find outside. I wouldn’t force a 7 yr old but I wouldn’t stop a kid who wants to do it simply due to age.

This is the best quote ever. I just did ours. Waiting to file while dh checks one thing with his employer. We’re getting a very nice fat refund so I wanted to do it early. I was waiting for two forms and just got them today so was able to finish it all up.

My oldest is a 9th grader. Homeschooling high school is hard. Fun and rewarding, but hard. I wouldn’t try to do it with a kid who didn’t want to homeschool. It sounds like he has good reasons for wanting to try public school.

The kissing on the lips doesn’t bother me. The “coercion†thing is really hard to know. We would joke around about something like that in my house but the kids would know it’s not really obligatory. There aren’t any repercussions if they don’t do it. Like,I might joke that they can have dessert if they give me a hug. But they know that it just means I like hugs from them. If they choose not to hug me, it’s fine. My oldest has never been very physically affectionate so I don’t joke with him in the same way (and didn’t when he was younger). On the other hand, my own mother demands hugs and kisses and gets upset if she doesn’t get them and it really bugs me. Mostly, because there are repercussions...mainly she gets hurt and upset and it becomes a big deal. So I can see both ways and I think people tend to interpret it based on their own experiences. It’s hard to know what it’s like in anyone’s house (Tom Brady included) based on one snapshot in time. I feel more sorry for the kid just being in the spotlight.

We are also using Edhesive. Ds is in the Intro class and really likes it. I think he will do the AP class next year. The self-paced nature has worked for us as it’s been nice to have the flexibility to do more or less each week depending on his workload in other classes. But since I can see exactly where he is in the modules I can easily make sure he is keeping up.

We use Tracfone for Dh and for our oldest. Oldest has an old iPhone of ours. I used to have it so the Internet was just turned off through parental restrictions. You would need a password to turn it back on. I recently turned it back on because he has legitimate reasons to use Internet when he is out. I have parental restrictions on it still for what can be accessed. With that he cannot erase his history. Ever now and then I scroll through for accountability.

In our office we ask kids to put on gowns for well-checks (not for every visit). Depending on the clothing, I find it much less invasive to have them in a gown when I examine them then to have to try to work around clothing. Things we look for could be harder to see in clothing: full skin check, scoliosis, alignment of legs (knock-knees vs. bowlegs). In the winter it can be hard even to listen to heart and lunch and examine the abdomen effectively in clothing. A kid in Tshirt and shorts is easy. A girl in skin-tight jeggings and multiple layers of tops is difficult and can feel more invasive. We examine the genitals at every well-check. For girls it can be hands-off and really just a quick visual glance. For boys we would want to check their testicles. In girls I’m mostly looking for premature puberty or normal development. In boys we are looking for undescended testicles and hernias. I explain what I am going to do to and ask their permission. I explain that we do this to check their whole body for health and that’s it’s ok if their Mom or Dad has said it’s ok but not otherwise. I think it’s important to treat kids with respect. We have kids refuse the gown or refuse the exam. They have that right and it’s fine. I usually explain to them why we think it’s important but that they do have the right to say no. We just do the rest of the exam. We also make it matter of fact which I think is important. I think it’s important that kids feel comfortable with their doctor. I know that people have had horrible experiences with doctors but I also think it’s true that their are good doctors out there. I find that it’s much much harder to see a kid for an exam when there is a problem when they are not used to coming to the doctor. The trust and relationship aren’t there. I also find that it’s much easier for a teen who has a problem that needs a more private exam to trust us to do that if they have had something like that kind of exam before and it was done in a respectful, matter of fact, way. And yes, we see teens who need exams (potential STD, the teen is concerned about the way their genitals look). I think this issue is somewhat similar to the perennial “why do physicals for kids†thread that comes up. Yes, most kids are healthy and we find nothing on physicals. But we do find things and sometimes serious things. That includes things that we wouldn’t have found without a genital exam or without being able to see the full skin easily. And that includes issues that parents were unaware of. I have found boys with undescended testicles that the parents were not aware of, that includes older boys. I had a boy I diagnosed with a serious platelet disorder due to huge bruises on his hip (I would never have seen it if he hadn’t been in a gown). His Mom mentioned in passing that he “bruised easily†so she was aware but thought it was just him. In our practice we had a child who was diagnosed with a serious immune disease that was able to be treated due to the genital exam (palpation of the inguinal lymph nodes was the reason). And another child who was diagnosed as being genetically male although being phenotypically female due to the genital exam. i think a guideline for kids (and adults) with doctors is: *You always have the right to say no to any part of an exam. If a doctor makes you feel bad about that or tries to make you do something, leave and get a new doctor. *You have the right to have a chaperone...I think for kids it should be mandatory for the exam. For older teens/adults who are comfortable with their doctor and choose to be alone I think that’s ok, but it really should be the teens choice and not the doctor making them be alone.

No, although I kind of said it that way in my post, I realize now. Off-label means that there hasn’t been testing done that the FDA can put certain indications on a label. So, if a drug hasn’t been tested in 6 month olds, it would be off-label to use it. One implication of this is that pharmaceutical reps cannot market drugs in a way that is off-label. This has been a big problem in pediatrics. Most of the time, the meds we use have a long history of clinical experience which back up use even if it’s off-label. For example, Ampicillin is technically still off-label in pediatrics I believe. But it is used all the time and has been used for decades. It’s just that at this point no company is going to spend the time and money to do a study saying that it is ok to use and to get it on the label. Off-label might mean that a med has been tested in kids above a certain age but if we are using it in a kid under a certain age it is considered off-label. A great example of that is sunscreen. It is not generally tested under 6 months. There are two lass passed in 1997 and then reauthorized in 2007 and 2017 that have helped with this. One requires companies to test in pediatrics in certain circumstances and the other offers incentives for companies that do test in pediatrics. But some reports I have read say that up to 50% of meds used as outpatients are off-label and up to 80% used in hospitals. That may sound scary but the meds used are often ones that are life-saving (for example dopamine is off-label in peds but used all the time in critically ill infants and children). So....it’s a complicated topic and a bit off topic from the OP. Bottom line....testing in pediatrics is complicated for many reasons.

That’s a complicated question and I couldn’t answer with a simple yes or a no. I think it could be ethical but would depend on a lot of factors. For example, what phase of trial is this. Perhaps it’s a vaccine that has been tested in adults fairly thoroughly but needs testing in children for things like dosing (do you need two or three doses for fully immunity). That would be very different than a trial where the vaccine is very early in testing and they are looking at safety. Age of children would also be a factor. Testing in infants would be ethically very different than testing in adolescents or even school-age children.

I have learned not to touch vaccine related threads with a 10 foot pole. But I’ll just say that this is a huge problem in pediatrics. Both the ethics of how to test in children in a way that is truly consensual and the fact that so many drugs are not tested in children because of ethical concerns and because many parents obviously won’t do it. So we are often using medications “off-label†and we figure out the issues as they get used. Maybe that makes sense, but it has it’s own set of problems. And I hope that the next time someone posts a vaccine thread and someone responds “I won’t give that vaccine because it wasn’t adequately tested†that people will remember this thread and think about the irony.

No. Kate DiCamillo as an author is kind of hit or miss for me. I loved Because of Winn Dixie, liked Despereaux, disliked Edward Tulane and couldn’t finish Flora and Ulysses.

I just got one for Christmas and have only used it once so mostly I’m just following for advice also. I made risotto last night and that was really good. I used a recipe I found online. Super easy.

Of she wants to read it, I’d let her. If she was asking to stop, I’d let her. We just did this one for my daughter’s (same age, 3rd grade) book club. We had a fantastic discussion afterwards. So I’d also talk to her and discuss with her.

I do them a lot. The Washington Post Daily Crosswords are online. I am a subscriber though, not sure if you have to be to access them. There is also a great NY Times Crossword app. The app is free but you have to pay to get the current puzzles but they have a free mini daily one every day that is fun to try to race to see how fast you can do it. There are also a bunch of free ones you can do. We do them a lot when traveling or in the car. My oldest in particular loves them.

Vaccine effectiveness as I understand it is a somewhat like a measure of relative risk. It tells you how much getting the vaccine decreases your risk of getting the flu. The formula is: VE = #affected unvaccinated people - #affected vaccinated people x 100 #affected unvaccinated people So if 100 unvaccinated people get the flu you would expect 90 vaccinated people to get it. There is only a 10% decrease in infection rate. Bottom line: it’s not a very good match this year. Even getting the shot there is a good chance of getting the flu. But, there are many studies that show decreased morbidity with the shot even if you contract disease. That includes rate of death (especially in kids... healthy kids who got the shot vs. not getting the shot were 65% less likely to die), rate of hospitalization, rate of pneumonia. As for the “single best thing you can doâ€....I think that is an accurate statement. Handwashing is fantastic and definitely good. However, flu is spread by droplets. It can spread up to 3-6 feet away when someone coughs or sneezes. So, yes, if you wear a mask everywhere during flu season it might be helpful (although it can still spread if droplets get in your eyes). But wearing a mask everywhere is not realisticatlly something people will do. You can avoid sick people and wash hands. And you should still do those things. But the single thing you can do to prevent the flu is get a flu shot.

All the hospitals here are limiting visitors, especially on L&D and postpartum wards. I would say no visitors other than family. And fyi, here during flu season they don’t allow kids even if they are siblings.

My son has broken both arms. The first time was his non-dominant hand and it was during the school year but he was only 5. The second time he was older (8) and it was his dominant arm and a much worse break (both bones, displaced and had to be set under anesthesia, in a soft cast for weeks as wasn’t stable enough to change it). It was luckily (or unluckily depending) during the summer. With the first one he was able to use it pretty normally within a week. He even played Tball with it. It would have been fine for him to write with it if it had been his dominant hand. The second one was much worse and he really didn’t feel great for a few weeks, until he got the hard cast on. I would not have made him try to write and would have just done school orally. :grouphug:

New fever, vomiting and stomachache after a respiratory virus are all signs of pneumonia. That is particularly likely and worrisome if it was influenza. Definitely take her on somewhere today. (I’m a pediatrician.)

NO. My Mom also saved all mine and my hair from haircuts. She still has them so I’ll have to deal with that one day. I find it really weird and kind of creepy.

At least one theater here has them and they are super cheap. They call it the wake-up matinee. A bunch of theaters also have a cry-baby matinee which is adult movies but you can bring a baby or kid. It’s designed for parents at home. Those are usualy in the mornings.