This was pretty much my journey too.

Raised in a tiny (as in a few thousand worldwide) Christian sect, but have been an atheist since adulthood. The one benefit of the upbringing was the expectation of being a conscientious objector in any war, with a history of conscientious objector ancestors. I feel like having a pacifist worldview is pretty rare and lets you look at things from outside the majority culture. I would not be surprised if the sect disappeared within a generation or two, it's shrinking rapidly, having both the hypocrisy of most organisations (eg, don't drink, but half of them are drunks), along with a real old-fashioned structure.

Yes, I wondered if it was one of those books people related to in that way, recognising both places and situations. I think an Australian equivalent might be The Harp in the South by Ruth Park (set in the 30s) which is again not a kids book, I read it as an older teen, but is set firmly in Sydney and is just a brilliant depiction of poverty and family (and also sexual assault, if I remember rightly). Some people feel like that about Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, which is set in Perth (opposite side to the country to Sydney). I personally felt like Cloudstreet was a poor rip-off of The Harp in the South, but then I'm not from Perth!

I don't really get the deep love of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", maybe it's an American thing? It was kind of interesting but nothing super special. Definitely not a book for kids, with the sexual assault etc. I am definitely a fan of Wind in the Willow, but it is sexist I agree. My boy loves Mr Toad though. Loved Sarah Plain and Tall, but it's not really a kids book in some ways. I read most of that author's work as an adult and loved it but the kids weren't fans. I think Charlotte's Web is a book of great literary merit - re-reading it as an adult is an incredible experience. The kids liked that one too (movies were awful though). I like the Hobbit, but Lord of the Rings is a hard one. Love the films, though!

I read P D James' Death Comes to Pemberley on recommendation - not really my sort of thing at all, and the 'trying to copy Jane Austen but badly' set my teeth on edge. But, my friend loved it, so? Read a newer Peter Wollenben book my Dad lent me, he thought it was a bit poorly written, and so do I, haha, but had some interesting moments. It reads like a radio show, rambling, and then he mentioned he does a radio show, so that makes sense. Really enjoying, hugely, the audiobook we're listening to as a family, by Margaret Lowman, The Abornaut. Highly recommended (so far - it's 14 hrs!) Read Ilona Andrew's latest urban fantasy and enjoyed it. Nice escapist fair. Read a romance by Ali Hazelwood called The Love Hypothesis, again escapist and fun, but then funnily enough she was all over twitter in some drama and I don't think I'll be able to read her stuff again (she hasn't done anything wrong, just too overanalysed now).

Just saw that the Argentina outbreak is Legionella:

Yeah, I think I've said before that it hasn't been homeschooling that scuttled my career so much, but having kids and living rural (and not having extended family support for childcare). Basically I think we've had this conversation before about women, children, and the workforce. It's a story about about women supporting everyone else, and it's like the little red hen story, except at the end everyone else gets the bread. Yes. I wish I could say 'just move to that new state and wait for DH to follow you' but I know I couldn't do that either. Hugs, because it's an incredibly frustrating situation you're in.

I can't imagine not being involved in my kids' education - but then, I'm a teacher. Both kids were reading before school, and they were afterschooling a lot of stuff before covid lockdowns started us homeschooling in 2020. I really enjoyed the first lockdown, the second was not as fun, but both were better than juggling school and afterschool. Now we're homeschooling officially, and I love the fact my kids can translate Latin and memorise poetry, and they don't have to waste their time on worksheets. I'd say they get less physical activity at home though (they were doing sport/physical ed. at least twice a week at school, plus outdoor games each day at recess and lunch). I'm struggling to provide covid-safe alternatives at the moment, esp as 2022 is officially the wettest year in living memory in our part of the world.

Couldn't see it your link - and did you forget to link 2nd article? Good point about data reporting. Someone should write an article compiling all the examples (I remember one from a US state where they changed one of the axes in only one graph or something?)

Just noticed they've revamped our state's covid counter, mapping each postcode in different colours. Used to be 0-50 cases, then upwards to 1000 cases, in black. Now 0-500 is the lowest, upwards to 20,000 in red. As you might imagine, the majority of postcodes don't even have 20,000 people in population, so few areas would ever reach red. Talk about minimising. Some new research about nasal vaccines:

Not in the exact same situation but totally get it, I've written posts before mourning my career (and me not working has meant my husband's work has just gone gangbusters. When we met, I was making twice what he was.) I last worked in my field in 2019, the year my youngest began school, but then covid and now we're homeschooling and I can't see putting them back in for quite a few years, due to covid. It sucks, I get it.

Oh interesting. So there's no chance it's a kind of environmental Legionnaire's disease?

New Argentina case, sounds like from another hospital.

I Can Jump Puddles by Alan Marshall, whose life was similar to my dad's, who also had polio. Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park, a book every kid used to do at school, set in Sydney (we just visited a few places from the book a month ago). I haven't done Seven Little Australians, I just remember how sad it is, I'll have to think about it. I did set a simple book by Hesba Brinsmead, but probably her stuff, though old, isn't seen as a classic, not famous enough! But she wrote well about different Australian landscapes.

I don't have much knowledge of The Hulk at all, but I'm enjoying this short series. Episodes are probably a little too short (20mins?) It seems to have one thing to say (women are treated differently than men in most situations), but that's a good thing to say. Noticing a diverse cast, too. This isn't a gripping series, nor one that I can watch as a family (kids not the least bit interested), but it's entertaining and positive, I think.

I don't read aloud to my kids much nowadays, except for poetry. For longer texts, I buy audiobooks on CD, and play them in the car. The kids can then play them on their own CD players in their rooms. Moomintrolls was a surprising hit. I'd highly recommend Charlotte's Web as it is simply great literature. I'd read it as a kid, but listening to it as an adult . . . it's ahead of anything else I've read. A lot of stuff will be cultural, so there's a few classic Australian stories I've made them listen to. Being familiar with them is important, I think. Other books aren't so important in terms of broader conversations. So not being aware of Harry Potter would really leave you out of understanding a lot of discussions and jokes. But other books aren't such a big deal.

Yes I think the Naplan post lockdown showed higher results, if I remember correctly. It's been downhill since then due to the disturbed classes meaning a lot of kids aren't getting consistent teaching. I wish someone would do an investigation and see whether there's some class/wealth thing going on, as my friend in a wealthy Sydney suburb has basically had no disruptions, whereas some schools in the western suburbs have had major issues - I wonder whether it's about relief teachers being available or richer schools having more funds for relief teachers?

Man, just came in here to post about the Argentina pneumonia. This really is persuading me that we're the test universe for all the weirdness.

Yep. You could see it was being put out in the media as a done deal even bfore the meeting, so something is going on. So dodgy. While I doubt most people are isolating for 7 days anyway, it's bad as it forces people back to workplaces thereby increasing the spread. The major local spread I mentioned earlier has gone even further, so many people affected by it (incl people who didn't attend, of course). And my poor little nephew who got covid from his dad a month or so ago has been really sick with something, ended up in hospital, they say probably an infection. I'm so worried it's MISC-C.

Hair ties on each corner, or you can buy clips (I bought some off ebay). Mine always get bunched up, drives me nuts. My husband and I have a different duvet each though, different sleep styles.

I'm not in the USA so can't help directly, but I sometimes found that the classroom teachers felt like they didn't have responsibility for the 'special needs' kids in their class, and so didn't put the effort in for them. I always wanted them to feel like they (the classroom teacher) 'owned' the kids, not me, the person who popped in once a week. Once the classroom teacher DID feel like the kid was theirs, everything was better. So in short. too much hand-holding can be bad for the classroom teacher.

Gave my 11 yr old some Latin to translate. Translates it, then says, oh yeah, this is the story about the sculptor who asked Aphrodite to turn the statue into a woman. And then it inspired a play, right? Me - astonished - how did you know that? Her - you took us to the play, remember? I took her to a kids ballet production of Coppelia when she was like 6? (Yes, I was thinking of My Fair Lady/Pygmalion, but Coppelia works too).

Wow, how weird! I have had a similar thing happen - I just got a 3rd phonecall about my daughter starting the local high scchool next year. I explained once again that she's homeschooled, she's registered, I'd filled in the paperwork. Lady looks in her notes, oh yes, that is what's written down. But if I can email them one more time . . .

I'm wondering whether another consequence of covid will be increased class sizes in schools because a) they just can't get the teachers for more classes, and b) admin will argue half the kids are off sick each day anyway, so it's technically not a class size increase?

If your child is already a voracious reader, who already consumes a lot of history, science, geography etc, who spends time on hobbies which develop some kind of skill (drawing, writing, craft, business), and does sport or fitness anyway; then the main thing I'd 'require' would be maths. That's the only thing they're likely to miss that they really need to build up bit by bit. If your child is a reluctant reader, whose hobby is watching other people play computer games on youtube, and who has no curiosity about anything else - then I'd be reluctant not to 'require' a broader education.