@Terabith I read it...I'm not scared per se. Concerned that we are taking precautions. Pretty much glad I made the trip back to see family a month ago. We never stopped masking and taking precautions either. Making changes while keeping an eye on the risks based on the size of the group. I keep going back to this to help me. My decisions are a bit different for my vax'd son and my unvax'd daughter. There are some global areas added to this now. https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/

This is a cost no one has really been talking about...how many children have lost their parent/primary caregiver. The disproportionate impact on families of color...and the long term impact for this children's futures. https://www.yahoo.com/gma/nearly-120-000-children-us-100606407.html

In my zip code: Of the total population, about 77.3% have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and about 60.4% (30,165 people) have been fully vaccinated.Of the population over 12, 99.1% have gotten at least one dose and 77.5% have been fully vaccinated. There are places I avoid going in my county. I hate to say it but homeschooling circles have a much more concentrated population of unvaccinated and anti-mask. 3.3 million people live in my county.

on the topic of Indian curries...these all work. try this one https://twosleevers.com/chicken-tikka-masala/ or this one https://theprimaldesire.com/pressure-cooker-butter-chicken/?fbclid=IwAR0Fj5rNJ7lc3gN8d38KwbCyP4lkFxKOvrn5BO4jIfuURYWnhTuoP5O3l5E https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-butter-chicken/ be sure to temper your yogurt before adding it otherwise it will curdle.

I just saw this article about the long covid studies... A new study led by researchers at University College London is presenting the largest investigation into the symptoms of long COVID conducted to date. The research surveyed nearly 4,000 long COVID subjects spanning 56 countries. Only 6.8 percent of the entire cohort had completely recovered and were symptom-free by the time the study was completed. The vast majority of long COVID patients surveyed (89.1 percent) reported exercise or stress as the primary trigger for symptom relapses, and almost half of the cohort were working less than they were pre-illness. The article later says that they estimate there are 2 million long covid patients in the UK currently. It made me think about the implications of that across the world and the immense burden of this. https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/new-study-long-covid-symptoms-coronavirus/

I hear you on that. As a fellow Christian, I am praying for you AND for myself. Regarding the latter, I really hear you. I left the leadership of my Christian homeschooling support group. I never thought in a million years I would do that. I am praying through and seeing this as a major time of refinement in the Church as a whole. You aren't alone. I was sobered and also encouraged when I listened to several interviews here so that I could better understand what was happening.

@kbutton Be kind to yourself. Doing what you are talking about takes bravery, courage, and being true and honoring yourself. You did something that INTJs rarely do. That took a lot of vulnerability which is not something INTJs will do. I don't believe there is anything wrong with you. People have a lot of reasons for talking you out of doing something which have nothing to do with you and often have something to do with them. I wouldn't worry about a lot of people really knowing you. At least for me, very few people really know me, and that's ok. A lot of people think they know me, but that's a different story. I just did remove myself from a community recently when it became clear a situation that I was in had become toxic. This was a situation that was years in the making, but things came to a head this last year. So, please don't think other people don't have relational things to deal with as well. Everyone does. You're human. No one is exempt unless you are a total loner/off the grid. I empathize with you about the pain of the cost. It's a cost that my children are having to pay as well. ETA: I'm not sure I'm going to say this right...when you say you don't think you have enough life experience...these sorts of things are exactly where we get life experience from. There's something here that you are learning and growing from, and I hope that you can someday see that as a positive. Hang in there...

So, when I think about the personality type you are describing, I really could not think about anyone I have in my circle that is like that. That being said INTJs in general do not need to have many friends. So, I know that I must intuitively avoid people who I do not feel would add value (i.e. reciprocal make each other better). I also know that I naturally avoid high maintenance, energy drain, drama type people. I've long since reached the point in my life when making a relationship tolerable is not a worthwhile use of my energy and effort. I have to say that as an INTJ, reliability and trustworthiness are deal breakers for me in relationships. It's a high value to me that my word is my bond. So I look for that in others who are in my close circle. I will not be unfriendly to people, but I won't necessarily allow them to have close relationship to me. Now, I looked this up about INTJ relationships and compatibility... Apparently, this is a challenging opposite. https://www.truity.com/personality-type/INTJ/relationships ETA: FWIW, INTJ is the rarest of personality types among women. 0.8%.

I'm INTJ. I'm not sure exactly what you are asking...but I think that I don't have ISFPs who have a big role in my life. What you described above would really cause me to have unhealthy relationship because it would push a lot of buttons in me, and I have boundaries around doing that. It's not that I would have no relationship (sometimes you don't have a choice), but I would be very deliberate my limits and interactions.

Regarding outdoor event...there was this article documenting an outdoor wedding in Texas. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/07/12/outdoor-wedding-6-fully-vaccinated-infected-with-covid-19-delta-variant/?sh=6bce51fa6c49

are the covers removeable? Is it worth looking at replacement cushion covers?

It never left for the record.

There is a fairly new curriculum out from Shepherd Science aimed at middle school level/introductory high school course. However, I can't speak to what it looks like. I've only done the original life science course. It may be suitable for you in the future as it had an accompanying video course. https://scienceshepherd.com/collections/chemistry

I'm just passing this along in case any of you are interested. I have no affiliation with them. Our family was doing Phil's Homeschool Chess Club, but that has been dormant for more than a couple of years. If you are looking for a good online chess club, I am really pleased with Chess Clubhouse. Lots of variety of classes which are aimed at kids who are already familiar with chess and a really great "master" track for stronger chess students. This has been a bright spot to discover during this past year. I really like the flexibility of picking what works for our schedule. You can try it for free for 10 days. I suggest you sign up the day before a tournament so that you can take advantage of playing twice in a tournament during the free trial. The company behind this is local to our area in SD, and they pivoted away from their afterschool program to develop a robust chess program. https://www.chessclubhouse.com/

Me too! I just reordered and got their new ear saver 2-in-1 lanyards for everyone as well.

Instead of Apologia General Science, look at Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics. I used this and thought it was was written to a grade 4-7 level.

Real Science 4 kids would definitely work. It says 5-8 book is really more like a 3-6 IMO. Basher Books about period table and chemistry are perfect as well. This science app bundle from Theodore Grey (the books are amazing as well) https://apps.apple.com/us/app-bundle/the-science-bundle/id1414203267

In CA, there was plenty of masking still happening where I was in the Bay Area. In the SoCal area, less and less masking unless you stick to where there's a decent sized Asian population. Asian establishments and stores have lots of masking going on. I just reordered Happy Masks and got the 2-in-1 ear saving lanyards for easy on and off. I'm just waiting for the anti-masking population here to lose their minds when they realize that masking will be required for schools.

Do you mean one box per student? So that they have enough to do the at home investigations as well?

I was planning to get the ones in stock at Rainbow Resources. I will let you know though.

I'm planning to teach Patty Paper Geometry for as a co-op class this year. Can anyone tell me how much patty paper I need per student? TIA!

There are a couple of lectures on Wondrium (used to be Great Courses Plus) about cyrptocurrency. I know I sound like Warren Buffet on this...cryptocurrency has no inherent intrinsic value. It's highly speculative in nature and very volatile to serve as a currency. I think about this like gambling and resembles a Ponzi scheme in many ways.

I'm so sorry. If you are in the US and because this is an involuntary termination, right now you will have premiums 100% covered for a period of time under the American Rescue Plan because of Covid. I think it is for 6 months. The details are here. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/EBSA/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/cobra-premium-assistance-under-arp.pdf

have you checked the pricing for the generic at Costco or Walmart? You don't have to be a member to use Costco pharmacy. Or from a mail order pharmacy?

Yes, I only have used power washer, push brooms or blowers on the deck.