I start Monday. I am hoping the class goes well, but I really don’t know. I have the book and the necessary workbook. I think this is the worst Japanese textbook I have ever seen. I have others if I need them, but this one is horrible. I hope the class is more useful. It has been a busy week here. My daughter left for college Thursday, her classes start Monday too. And my son left for college this morning, his classes start on Thursday. Lots of busy getting things set up.

At 15 I didn’t want to be noticed by anyone either. I lived in Los Angeles and walked to and from the high school. The catcalls and were already a problem in jeans and a t shirt. My mother hounded me for the entirety of my high school years for not wearing the right clothes and not wearing the right make up. She wanted me to look attractive. I wanted nothing to do with that. I felt it was dangerous. She didn’t think the construction workers that made the comments were a problem because “At least they were saying nice things”. She didn’t understand that they made me feel threatened and unsafe. I still wear jeans and t shirts most of the time because I still remember the fear. I graduated from high school in 1989.

Three. One pair of hiking boots that she wears almost all the time, one pair of sandals, and one pair of dress shoes. My son is taking two pair. One pair of sneakers and a pair of sandals. Those are all the shoes he owns. We had to buy him long pants because he didn’t have any because stubborn teenage boy in California.

You get to set the rules if you file the private school affadavit. You decide on what testing or no testing is necessary for your school. You decide which classes are needed to graduate and which are not. It is totally up to you. (I graduated my middle child after he had an associates degree because I decided it was silly not to. He still has not completed four years of English or four years of history/social studies. He has a whole lot of math and science. He never took the SAT but did take the ACT. That is the best part of filing the psa. I get to make the rules.)

My son liked this one. It Has space pirates! Lots of discussion about family and what that means. To the best of my remembering there is nothing objectionable. https://www.amazon.com/Jupiter-Pirates-Hunt-Hydra-ebook/dp/B00DB3680Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1534566299&sr=8-2&keywords=Space+pirates+Jason And I liked this one. It has portals that allow almost instant transport between locations. It deals with belonging and the family one chooses too. https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Girl-Book-ebook/dp/B00C4B2LN2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534566421&sr=8-1&keywords=earth+girl+janet+edwards

My husband suggested this book. It is a reprint of one he read a very long time ago. https://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Autumn-Twilight-Dragonlance-Chronicles/dp/0786915749/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1534475030&sr=8-2&keywords=dragonlance+trilogy+weis+Hickman

Last year my husband flew out with my daughter in the morning and flew home later the same day. Her school was about three hours from the airport. It was a long day and a lot of driving for him. I stayed home with the other kids. Middle child was attending community college classes and couldn’t have traveled to drop her off anyway. This year my daughter is flying alone and my husband is flying with the middle child to his school spending one night and flying home. I am again staying home because plane tickets are expensive and someone needs to be home with the 14 year old. I guess we are strange, but this is what happens when the student is going to school a significant distance from home. (California to Flagstaff, Arizona for one and California to near Albany, New York for the other.)

Make own breakfast. (Toast or open a container of yogurt or similar) Entertain self for half an hour or more. (So I could deal with a sibling) Put on shoes, hat, jacket, with minimal help. (I lived in warm places so no need for snow gear) Turn on the tv and get to suitable programming (this was putting in a dvd or tape when mine were little, but the theory is still there) Put plate, cup, etc. in the dishwasher ( Mostly they could do this earlier, but...) My kids were super ahead of the game in the academic stuff but often way behind in physical skills. None of them tied shoes before eight years old. Swinging alone on a swing was more like nine or so. Swimming was a long term project. One read chapter books before they were potty trained (at four years old). My list reflects the stuff I was seriously working on with my six year old little people.

My son is signed up for this class but apparently they might have to cancel it because there are not enough students. It is the first time it has been offered so I don’t know what it’s like, but he has enjoyed other classes he has taken at athena’s. https://athenasacademy.com/courses/financial-literacy-the-ultimate-toolbox-for-your-young-adult-fall-2018/ If you are interested please look. Jennefer

Final update on the airplane adventure: I woke up to a series of messages this morning. The last one saying that they were safely at my sister in law’s home in Springfield. They successfully got on a very early flight into Hartford and the flight went smoothly. Other than being very very tired they are fine. Older son will get to orientation tomorrow morning. Thank you for being around and telling me the stories of your airplane adventures. Hopefully the trip home Saturday will be uneventful and boring!

Not getting to Albany tonight after all. They only booked my husband and not my son on the 11:00 flight. The plane is now full and has 20+ people on standby by. They spend the night in Baltimore and go to Hartford in the morning. This is the third? Fourth? Time that my husband has made hotel and car reservations today. He is writing a letter to the airline complaining about this latest mixup. He doesn’t think it will change anything, but it will make him feel better.

They are in Baltimore and have seats on the 11:00 pm flight tonight. It looks like they will get to Albany around midnight tonight! This has certainly been a crazy long day. That is super late but it will only feel like about 9:00 because of the time change. I am happy for them. (And me too)

I tried to do this. My older son has an October birthday. So in some places he would be a high school senior this year. I tried to keep him involved with classes at his level and still be at home. I registered him for the local community college when he was almost 15 because he needed outside teachers and he wanted in person classes. He loved it. But he was with people who were moving on to four year schools after completing their two years. He went to the counseling office and found out exactly what he needed to do to get an associates degreee. Then he did it. I would have had him wait a year and take more different classes. He didn’t want to. I suppose I could have told him that I wouldn’t pay for any other school but he had taken most of the classes that he wanted to take. He wanted things that are only offered at a four year school. Higher math and more computer classes being the biggest issue. Officially I didn’t give him a high school diploma until after he had an associates degree. I was holding out for the four English classes and the history/social studies classes that he didn’t take enough of. I decided it was silly to withhold his high school diploma when he had proof that somewhere along the way he figured out that material. Sometimes I am forced to realize that it isn’t my life it is his and he is ready to move on. So whatever you decide to do know that your child may have other plans. (He is heading to Student Orientation today. He is entering a four year school as a junior majoring in Computer Science. He is seventeen. There was no pushing on my end. I just didn’t hold him back.)

No luck going to Hartford, but they are back in the air headed to Baltimore. And there are empty seats on the Albany bound plane in the morning. I think my husband is trying to get them out tonight, but it isn’t looking likely. Right now I am just glad that my husband along on this trip. I don’t know how well my son would be doing. In addition to all this drama he sometimes gets motion sick, even in planes.

Thanks for the commiseration. They are in Raliegh Durham for a while. There are lots of people there. It looks like lots of plane were diverted from Baltimore. They are off the plane and able to use real toilets! My husband is trying to see if they can go from Raliegh to Hartford, nearer to Albany and where his sister lives. It is about three hours from where they really need to go, but at this point they will take it.

And they are on the ground at Raleigh Durham for fuel. This is not Albany or Baltimore! This is going to be a long day.

My husband and middle son are flying today. Older son has student orientation at hiis college on Friday. Last time they did this trip they ended up with a weather delay in Denver that caused them to miss the last flight into Albany. They were stuck in Denver overnight and missed one of the college tours they were supposed to go in. They left early this morning on a 6:40 am flight to Baltimore with a connecting flight into Albany. They made sure to have additional flights later in the day in case of problems. As of right now Baltimore is closed to inbound air traffic because of a lightening strike and the huge storm. Their flight to Albany is cancelled because of the storm and so are the later ones. I am beginning to wonder if this trip is somehow jinxed. Older son adamantly wanted an adult to fly with him. We catered to his wish because of the disaster last time. This time isn’t helping his confidence any. Although he is getting lots of practice in dealing with cancelled and delayed airplane flights.

Me! I am taking a single class this fall. It has been a very long time since I was in a classroom but my kids are getting older and I have more time to study the things I missed before. Right now, the plan is to take Japanese 1 in the fall and then Japanese 2 in the spring. I am cautiously optimistic that I am going to enjoy myself. I need to get out and meet some new people and this is my plan.

Antihistamines. Benadryl should stop the itch, but it may make you sleepy. Claritin might not be as effective, but won’t make you sleepy.

Actually I changed my mind. My Pokémon Go Code is 7820 2773 3023. I am AnotherCrazyMom. I can always have more friends in my life.

Can I send you a pm? I am reluctant to post the friend code on a public forum. I am AnotherCrazyMom.

Wanikani is the best at really learning kanji. The first three levels are free but then it costs money. I like it because it really does work and it uses spaced repetition.

My daughter is retaking calculus 2 this summer after not getting the grade she needed last semester. She had her first class yesterday. The classes are 3 hours and 20 minutes long for four days a week. The teacher is doing a homework question session then a lecture, then a twenty minute break, another lecture and then more problem solving time. She has about three hours or so of problems to do a day and a test every week according to the syllabus. It is super duper fast, but she needs to take the class to keep in sequence for the rest of her subjects. I hope she survives the rate of math. At least it is the only subject she has.

Update: He is doing okay this morning. His face still looks awful and he now has a black eye in addition to all the scratches. Other than being tired and feeling achy, he doing alright. No pukey feeling, no dizziness, no balance issues, he just looks like he slid down the bike trail on his face. He does not want to be seen by anyone or go outside. I think I am going to let him. I would hate the stares and looks too.

How do you decide if something is emergency room worthy or urgent care worthy? My boys, aged 17 and 14, decided to go to lunch this afternoon. They were riding their bikes, both wearing helmets!, on a bike path to the local strip mall that happens to contain an In-n-Out when my younger child lost control of his bike and crashed. Absolutely no cars involved, just asphalt bike trail. He scraped his face, his arms, and his knees. Older son sends me a text message that explains the situation and the fact they are beginning to walk back home. At this point I did not know how bad the situation was. Then I get a message from older son that younger one is asking the same questions over and over and is apparently seeing strange colors. He asks if he should call 911. I tell him to call me. We talk briefly. I talk to younger son. He doesn’t ask the same questions to me. We decide that I will walk to where they are and make a decision when I get there. Ten minutes later I meet up with them. Younger son is bloody from his forehead to his chin. His glasses are scratched. The bike’s front tire does not spin. He is talking to older child and me but definitely needs to see a medical pro. Today. After a little more time, my husband and the car arrive and we head to the freeway. I make the executive decision to go to the er instead of urgent care. I am worried that he has truly bonked his head and the urgent care would send him to the er anyway. The folks at the er are super nice. He triages very quickly. All that blood and his somewhat confused state move him right along. He gets a ct scan that rules out a concussion and a broken nose. The braces are really hard on the inside of his mouth but the teeth are all wear they need to be. Woot! Ultimately he is bandaged up, told to rest, and we are given a list of things to be concerned if they happen. He is doing much better now. He got a nap and some food and both helped. He is taking a shower and then going to bed again. I will check on him again in the morning. I am confident I made the right decision this time, but what is the line? How do you tell when a situation is er time or urgent care time or worse 911 time?