I pretty much deleted myself - deleted my name, stopped posting and I'll probably eventually delete my account, but I'm still reading on here once in a while and saw your thread. No, it's not you! lol. I've been on this forum for about 12 years now and I was a pretty active poster. Without saying too much, let me say that I miss the friendliness and positivity. I also miss hearing from some of the older posters and diversity of opinions/posts.

So, kind of an update to my OP. Wow, dd's college is organized! I'm impressed! They have advisors online answering questions. They're prerecording lectures already....they have Biology lab kits that they're creating/putting together for the students. DD goes to campus the week before, picks up her lab kit for the semester and then does the labs at home, takes pictures and turns in her lab reports. She added an Entomology class, but they gave a special exception for that class - it's actually going to held on campus (I think in the greenhouses). Entomology will be just as cool as sailing - lol. I felt like this was going to be a disaster, but dd's college seems to be really on top of it!! I'm impressed with how they're handling it and how well organized they are (maybe it's easier, since they are a smaller college).

Everyone in the whole world is running out and getting tested right now. DD18 had several cases at work recently and they had a very hard time getting a spot to get tested. It took the employees a couple of days to actually get appointments.

Oh, Good Lord! Nevermind.

I'm not posting this to minimize your feelings, but I'm trying to make you feel better. We've been exposed to it at least 5 times through dh and dd18's workplaces (they worked throughout this entire pandemic). We currently know 9 people who just had it in the last 2-3 weeks. And they are all fine. It was basically a cold for them and they got over it quickly. Don't panic!! The first time we were exposed to it, I had such severe anxiety that I was having panic attacks every evening for about 4 days in a row. So, yes, I know how scary it is. When we were exposed the first time, 3 of us ended up getting sick and searching for information online left me angry and frustrated. There is a ton of sensationalism out there about it. Look on the CDC website, because they have more balanced info/advice. They have some articles on what the symptoms are, etc. I can NOT afford to panic with 7 people in this house. Clean your house - wipe down surfaces, bathrooms, keyboards, phones, iPads, doorknobs, light switches, etc. Every time we were exposed to it, I went around and did that twice a day for several days. My teens would eventually start rolling their eyes, but hey....it's important. The last time dd18 was exposed by 2 people in the workplace on the same weekend, I ran out to CVS and bought Airborne. It was expensive. I think I blew 75 bucks on supplements in CVS that afternoon. She never got sick. We are all on vitamins/supplements (from the FIRST time we were exposed). Airborne if exposed, multivitamin, vitamin D and vitamin C. That's what we've been taking. I heard Zinc is really good, too. Make sure it's a GOOD multivitamin. Edited to add: I just remembered another thing we did when dd18 had cases at work. As soon as she came home, we had her immediately change clothes and we threw those clothes right in the washer. Just in case...(I know I sound paranoid) You GOT this!!!

No, not in the upper levels, either.

Yes. DD12 uses Dimensions, but she's in the upper levels. My husband was originally an engineering major and has excellent math skills. Even HE couldn't answer some of the Challenge Problems. Sometimes, I can't answer them without using algebra.

Oh, whew! My teenagers would be in trouble! Lol.

Oh, no... Over the spring semester, dd18's college kept their online meeting times at the same time they were originally scheduled to meet in-person. I'm assuming this semester is the same. What a headache!!

We did them full-time for years! Sometimes I put them together myself...sometimes I bought stuff...sometimes I used free unit studies that I found online.

That's absolutely terrible. You have to make an appointment to use the bathroom? There are several threads on the college sub-forum about our kids' colleges and what's happening in the fall. I have a long thread where I whine about our college (which now I'm thankful after reading your post!). Lol.

Sue Elvis? She has a blog and there are interviews of her online on various websites. Her kids sound incredible. https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com I've always been fascinated with unschooling and I suspect our family would've done wonderfully with it. I just could never find anyone else who unschools, etc...no online support of any kind...so we never made the leap. I also could not get past the how to do transcripts/high school credits thing in my mind (if you're an unschooler). There was another unschooling family that sounded incredible - and she had a blog. Her kids ended up going to college and one became an attorney....anyway, she took her blog down after they graduated. ☹️ I thought about unschooling ds5 this fall, but unschooling during a pandemic would be hard, I think.

I don't know how much info I really want to post on here, but, yes, we have been exposed so many times now that I can't remember - maybe 6 times (starting in March)? We currently know 5-6 people who either just had it (in the past couple of weeks) or currently have it (and yes, they were tested). Everyone we know who's had it said it was mild. About 3-4 days and then it went away. I am 99% sure at this point that our entire family is just immune to it. I posted about this a few months ago, but we were exposed to it in March/April (? can't remember now) at dh's work. The other person that shares his office came to work with it, even though they suspected they had it. We got sick about 4 days later. Me, dd18 and dd15 were mildly sick for a few days and then it just went away. Every time we were exposed has been at a workplace (either dh's or dd18's). People keep going to work when they're sick.

Good thing you registered for the training! Extra money is always good, too! I'm not looking forward to the headache of dd18 telling me "I can't log on"...."I can't hear the teacher"......"the internet isn't working right"......ugh. I feel for you trying to teach classes online with these kids!

Oh, I didn't see that. I'm going to look at the local news this afternoon (after all my cooking - sigh). I agree with you on the 180. My kids are all homeschooled, but I listen to our school district superintendent's updates and he said on Wednesday "be prepared".... Yeah, I think they're not going back, which is really sad. My neighbors' 8 kids - who do not speak English at home and have no books in their house - will not have been in a school for SIX months. The older ones (about 12-13) just started going to school for the first time about 3 years ago. They will never catch up. ☹️ And they have a 5 year old boy (same age as ours) - there's no way he's going to be able to do Kindergarten online when the parents don't even speak English. What a mess, guys!!

This is what happened to dd18. And they dropped/changed half the teachers she specifically enrolled for. She was upset, because she really liked those teachers. Several weeks ago, we were told by our governor that "everyone will be going to school in the fall." Do you guys remember that announcement? lol. And I know he was talking about the public schools....but if the public schools are allowed to go back, I'm assuming it's ok for the college students to go back. But, now I'm thinking none of the colleges will go back and neither will the public schools. ☹️ Not blaming anyone, but what a difference a few weeks makes. I'm upset that she won't go on campus this fall, but I am also a little relieved. We know 6 people with covid right now, so it's going around this area.

Yes, I always keep a transcript "in progress" throughout high school. I also keep records of every book they read, all curriculum we use, any sports, any sports records they break, awards, volunteer work, activities. It's basically all in one file. The problem I was having was the darn formatting on Word! I felt like I couldn't cram all of the information in there and if I pressed the wrong button, everything just moved around and it was frustrating moving it all back....I was using a really tiny font to try to fit everything on there. Anyway, yeah, I was ripping my hair out. No, fasttranscripts just has one format. It's by school year. I wish it had different options. Maybe there's another one out there that does. The funny thing was - after all that agonizing over everything - dd18 handed her transcripts to the admissions office and they pulled them out of the envelope, glanced at them for a second and just threw them in a drawer. 😂 I was like "but...but...don't you want to sit there and admire them for a moment????!"

She's going to a community college in north Texas. Which I felt kinda bad about at first, but now - after this 2020 experience - whew! I am so glad we did. 😂 She's working towards a BSN, so we were originally trying to keep her student debt as low as possible (nurses aren't millionaires). Also, she didn't want to go away to college....she still lives at home with us.

OK...it's getting weirder. We started periodically checking her course list. The teachers' names are disappearing from the courses. One of the courses was replaced by another teacher and a bunch of others are blank. She is mad, because some of the sections she chose because of the teacher. She had two of the teachers last semester and wanted to continue with the same teachers this semester. She added Photography I. *shrug* What a mess...

In a sudden fit of hysteria....after spending months agonizing over dd18's transcripts last year, I bought a subscription to Fasttranscripts.com. It was 5 bucks. I plugged everything in, saved it and printed 3 gazillion copies. Done! 😂 I'm doing that again in December with ds17.

Yep, we are not fans of Zoom classes. I was saying in another thread - I think we're just going to lay low this year. We can do ballet and outside sports, but I'm not registering them for enrichment classes that will probably end up on Zoom. This really isn't going to be an impressive year for my high schooler's college applications, that's for sure. My teens work once a week at an equestrian therapy center and that place will never reopen after this. It's been closed since February. It's terrible. The best thing we did this year....we bought season passes to a water park. All 5 of my kids (even our adult kid - lol) have been going once a week and are in love with that place!

Yep, that was me about two weeks ago. UGH!!! I finally figured things out for next year and got a ton of planning done. And I decided, with all the uncertainty surrounding COVID, that we're just going to lay low this year. The kids are still doing ballet, football and track. But, we're not going to be doing any enrichment classes, no theater, etc. (which dd15 is going to kill me). This just isn't the year for that.

Well, I bought a planner!! That should help! It's that A Simple Plan planner. Lol. I do need a simple plan. 😂 I think I have figured out what we're doing. I am going to use the Five in a Row I already have with ds5. I am most likely just going to buy all the books at the beginning of the semester. I priced them out and it was a little over $100. I have to buy Phonics Pathways (I loaned out my OPGTR to the neighbor) and math and that's it. So, probably $150 for ds5 (which is more than I usually spend on a 5 year-old, but it'll be ok). I'm going to try my box idea with dd12 and dd15. So, every day, we are going to do Math, German/Latin, Grammar and Writing. After that, they can dig into the boxes and read whatever they want. DD12 is going to have Sonlight core J in her box + that Applied Engineering curriculum from MB + an electricity experiment kit from HST + model rockets. DD15 is going to have Sonlight core 300 in her box + Apologia Biology + living science books. I'm done with the SL Instructor Guides. Every time I use SL, I only use the IG for about 6 weeks and then I just toss it aside. I don't like any of their writing and their schedule moves way too fast. I mostly follow TWTM for writing. I now immediately cull about 1/3 of the SL books when we use a core. Charlotte Mason would've lost her mind if she saw how fast kids read through those books in SL. (And I agree! lol) Anyway, I FEEL better!! 😀 I hope everyone else's planning goes well!

Yeah, biology online would be a mess for dd18. ☹️ English and Philosophy (I think) would be great classes to take online! DD18 is probably going to drop Sailing and add a literature class. We talked about it last night. English is definitely her strong suit. I hope you guys get to have in-person classes!

I got a reply from Masterbooks. I looked at the samples again and I'm buying it. It looks very interesting. Studying different animal anatomies and how those are used to invent things is just really interesting. My 12 year-old seemed excited. Here's what they said: Thanks for reaching out to us! Applied Engineering is a biomimicry course. Students study how God's Creation has influenced science and discoveries. The hands on demonstrations begin about half way through the course (Day 107) and coordinate with the text Made in Heaven. The applied learning activities include demonstrations such as..."Cleaning Like a Lotus Leaf""Robosquids and Jet Propulsion""Mathematics, Sunflowers, and Catching Some Rays"Applied Engineering is a very popular course 🙂