It's tough! On one side of the family, everyone is pro-vax and boosted if possible. We're still planning to gather. My own immediate family is fully vaxed and the most high-risk child got his second vaccination a couple of weeks ago so hopefully his immune system will be in good shape. On the other side, two relatives are very anti-vax, anti-mask, etc and yet want US to test before visiting. I think that's probably a good idea but I'd also like them to test since they are not particularly careful. I am concerned about exposing them but at this point, they have made a very firm choice not to be vaxed and they very much want us to visit, so what can you do?

I was called for jury duty once and sat in the courthouse basement waiting for hours to be called to a case but was dismissed without serving.

I use Henna Color Labs, and the lightest color they offer is ginger blonde. The ginger blonde is a perfect match for my natural color. I wonder if you might need something lighter, however, and in that case, maybe henna wouldn't work after all.

I'm so sorry for your loss. All boostered up here!

I use henna, as I'm not a fan of the chemicals used in most hair dyes. It's kind of a hassle and I don't particularly like doing it, but it does cover up the grays very well!

Yes, absolutely, Sonlight tends to be very much discussion-led. I haven't done this particular core but that is what I have seen in other levels. If you are planning to use their language arts, you might need to make some tweaks to accommodate a younger child.

Sonlight's age range for core J is 13-15 years, or grades 8-10. Unless your kids are very advanced and avid readers, I would be cautious about taking this route. I love Sonlight but none of my 6th graders would have done well with core J. I might have used it for my oldest in 8th grade, as he was interested in this sort of thing, but he ended up going to school that year. As for whether or not it's enough science, that's debatable. My philosophy on science is to be fairly casual, hands-on and interest-led through middle school. I have two high schoolers now and that's served them pretty well, so I plan on continuing that with my current 6th grader as she has a passion for animals.

My 9 yo has had both doses and had no reaction to either.

Some of the American Girl movies are on Amazon Prime. She sounds like the perfect age for them!

She is completely out of line and sounds mentally unbalanced and extremely entitled and self-absorbed. I'm sorry that you have to deal with this on top of everything else you've had on your plate.

I'd think a playground ball would work well.

I had Pfizer originally and the Pfizer booster last Wednesday. Thursday, I felt fatigued and chilled. Not quite as bad as with the second dose, but still not normal. I wear a Garmin smartwatch and some of the data points it tracks were elevated -- namely, resting heart rate. My Garmin watch also measures something called Body Battery which is based on heart rate variability and that measure has been low for the last 2 days. I ran a few miles Friday and was slower than usual. Today, Saturday, I feel pretty much back to normal.

I believe we're in the same state and it is bad ... I know so many people with Covid right now - kids, adults, etc. Hopefully the booster I just got will help, and my youngest son's first dose of the vaccine will keep him safe because he is at high risk for complications. An extended family member, fully-vaccinated but older with some co-morbidities, is currently hospitalized with Covid/suspected blood clot and is not doing well at all. He has been shuffled from one hospital to another as his condition worsens. I also know friends of friends who are younger (30s-50s) and are having a pretty tough time of it, including a 50 yo who is in the hospital on a vent. I just cancelled a minor surgery for myself and it sounds like I made the right call ...

((((HUGS)))) I have a child who had a congenital heart defect and had surgery to repair it at about 18 months. He also had several other more complex surgeries on other parts of his body so I get how tough it can be. In our case, it was easier in some ways because he was younger and didn't realize what was going on. Praying all goes well for you!

No, but our church has pew Bibles and I have one on my phone.

I just got back. I'd scheduled two different appointments for next week but then at the last minute lucked into an opening later this evening at an elementary school 10 minutes away. It was super easy -- easy to schedule, uncrowded, no wait. I went a little early and we were on our way home by the time of our original appointment. DS is developmentally delayed -- 9 years old, but more like 2-3 developmentally. He knew what was going on and resisted, but once the shot was in his thigh he was fine.

I scheduled my medically fragile child with our pediatrician next Monday but was also able to find open spots at a state vaccine site as well. So happy about this!

Gerber Puffs? Cheerios? Small crackers like Cheez-its?

Check out Sarah Mackenzie at the Read Aloud Revival. She has all kinds of booklists, as well as a podcast on various topics that might be a good fit for this particular topic.

My older kids are night owls and they go to bed after me so no. 🙂 I probably did when they were preschool-early elementary age. I do check on my youngest sometimes -- he is 9 but developmentally more like 2-3.

I have 2 high schoolers right now. DS16 is a pretty serious athlete and also has a job one evening during the week and Saturdays during the day as well as an active social life. He is not as serious about his academics although he has As and Bs. He tends to be most of his homework after 8 pm regardless of his schedule because that's when he's most awake. 🙂 DS14 just started high school after being homeschooled since 1st grade. He also played soccer for the school team. He is more introverted than DD16 and also more serious about his academics. He had little trouble getting his schoolwork done in the evenings except for one time when he was out sick with a cold for three days and got behind. We had him miss one game to catch up. My kids have no interest in competitive universities and they will likely to go to one of a few liberal arts universities in our city.

I have a Fitbit Inspire and a Garmin Forerunner 45s. The Inspire is a few years old but its sleep tracking is better than the Garmin. The Garmin is an entry-level running smartwatch that has a ton of fun features including this Body Battery feature that measures heart rate variability and stress to let you know how "charged" you are for activity, etc. It doesn't measure oxygen or temperature. I believe the new Fitbit Sense does, but it doesn't have the greatest reviews. I hope to upgrade to a higher-end Garmin in a year or two that does have those features.

I certainly didn't mean to offend or to be dismissive. I'm not super regular here so I wasn't aware of your situation. My intent was more to point out that it wasn't the vaccine that failed, but that he had an underlying condition that affected his ability to fight Covid. I myself have an immune-deficient, medically complex little boy who is too young to be vaccinated at the moment and so we've been very careful all along, vaccinating the rest of us and not wanting to see him end up fighting for his life on a ventilator again. I understand your fear and concern, now that I know your mom's situation.

It is a very sad thing and certainly tragic, but he was also in his 80s and had a type of blood cancer that impacted his immune system. 😞

He also had multiple myeloma which most certainly affected his ability to fight off infection. 😞