I haven't read these in many years, but here are a few others I remember being spooky: "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs "The Open Window" by Saki "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe “Young Goodman Brown” by Hawthorne

The Murders on the Rue Morgue, Masque of the Red Death, Edgar Allen Poe maybe Nathaniel Hawthorne? possibly Hound of the Baskervilles? ETA: actually, this is a full novel. I hoped it was a novella.

PSA I was able to revise our FAFSA today. So relieved.

One more recommendation, if your local state park has a BioBlitz, those are great. Definitely make an effort to be there. They haven't had one here in years but when they did, there was programming all weekend and free camping. One cool thing they did was shock the fish in the lake so they could do a census of species. It was definitely not something we could have done ourselves.

It is hard because I have been pushing for my son to do this. He has put in reviews on ratemyprofessor but I think that when he declines this university's offer of admission he should be very honest about the fact that it has a lot to do with the course quality. Unfortunately, either because of quick growth or other reasons, many of the classes at this university are offered only as asynchronous. That was the nail in the coffin for us, because this semester's classes (of which some are sophomore level in the major) have largely been awful.

well, my oldest has taken a bunch of asynchronous online classes at our local university, and unfortunately, at least a few of them have been like that. So I don't know that it is a community college thing.

@Slache PM-ing you my google drive link. Syllabus from the co-op class is attached. Nature Study Syllabus rev 040815.docx

I taught a junior high level class but you could certainly make it high school level. When I was in high school I took a course called Field Biology and Ecology. In my high school course we covered: tree identification using leaves tree identification using dichotomous keys Tree identification from buds/branches in winter wild edibles wildlife of ponds--fish, frogs, etc. amphibians of our area reptiles of our area macroinvertebrates bird silhouettes bird songs dyeing using wild materials (we used pokeberries) animal tracks and scat prairie life Insects--identification and an insect collection Presentation about something related to the natural world ----- I added for my class: vernal pools and nighttime salamander migration raptors/birds of prey bird eggs and birds nests bird feathers owl pellet dissection Dissect a hornet's nest (this was too cool--call your local exterminators and see if they can get you one) Some suggestions: Find a fish and wildlife book as a spine I found the Handbook of Nature Study helpful for developing questions for observations like when I assigned them to observe birds or squirrels See if your local Department of Natural Resources has state specific wildlife booklets. Ohio has some very nice field guides specific to our state. Ask about programs at the nearest nature center. The nature center at our state park did a program for us on wild edibles and the importance of prairies.

I was in Costco once and heard a man say to his wife, "we need to get some dog cheese" and I laughed because I knew exactly what cheese they meant. 😃

Yeah, it is clearer with things like carrots. 1 cup carrots, chopped means 1 cup chopped carrots, not pack the cup with whole carrots, then chop. That's why I get confused. 🤷‍♀️

I have never been able to figure this out. I set up a poll. ETA: I always chop first. But I doubt.

I think I know what webinar you mean. I am upset for you because it was not cheap, and it sounds like the presenter didn't fulfill what he/she promised.

Another FAFSA error. 😲 🤬😭😬 Official announcement: https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2024-03-29/potential-issue-alert-reports-concerning-tax-data-and-2024-25-fafsa-form-updated-april-1-2024 Article: https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/01/politics/fafsa-problem-financial-aid-award?cid=ios_app&fbclid=IwAR02DuiLsDbmNMvEdqk_nD0LnVUScpWxXfbC-pGlI_mP5lg5gj9-o_KeRaY_aem_AfA-n4J4aZnrNtszqEcMDq67zUpbV8zNoFUDX-j3ITR1Z1HYGzvviQPjJCmcF_fIkAoGWGNjnOEKF0eeOk9SwJp- The Department of Education has found another problem impacting some college financial aid forms that could further delay students’ aid awards, leaving them in limbo as they decide where to enroll next year. The problem involves tax data transferred from the Internal Revenue Service and impacts “fewer than 20%” – or potentially about 1 million – of the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) forms previously submitted by students and families this year, the department said Saturday. It’s possible that colleges received inaccurate information about some families’ finances after those applicants submitted the FAFSA to the Department of Education.

I did!! I got rid of mine only a few years ago. I'm kind of sad about it now. 😃

Happy Easter!!

Between my two kids they have taken all four of the high school full year classes. 😃 Thomas Banks is a good teacher too--less lively, but still a very good teacher. His classes tend to be much smaller. He might only have 15 but Angelina could have 60 in her class.

It's really light. I have a dyslexic kid and he easily gets the reading done. The classes are lecture style. She does respond to comments and questions. Both of my kids have taken the Early Modern class and I watched all the lectures when my oldest took it. I learned a ton.

oh my gosh! The old shoe scent ones! Why did we like that??

I can almost smell them just looking at the pictures!

When your dog eats food left on the ground during a walk, is that street food? 🤣

Does the course need to be college level? Could you use something by CompuScholar?

So we checked and my son hasn't received any notification within FAFSA or via email that he was impacted by them not considering student assets. I don't know how we are supposed to know if we were or not. I emailed the FA department at his 1st choice school. This whole thing is a nightmare.

True. I am only assuming we were impacted because we received our SAI and a few days later they notified that they made the mistake with student assets. We have not received any notification either way (I need to ask my son though).

Originally they said that we would be able to make revisions in late March. Now they are saying mid-April. I just don't know what to think anymore. I think I will reach out to the financial aid folks at the university and see what we can do. My son is among those whose FAFSA was processed without his assets being counted.

They caught it before all the FAFSAs were processed.