working out for Disney

[Sans Souci]

It looks delicious!! And good for you getting the rest you needed. How moist is the banana bread? I usually prefer zucchini bread because it's not as dry or dense as banana bread, but this doesn't look dry.

It wasn't dry at all. I think because it's made with mashed bananas, almond butter and coconut oil, it's very moist. I ate way too much of it yesterday, but I hadn't been eating much the past few days because I just felt unwell. I did get a lot of help from my son, too.

Here is the recipe. You could sub out coconut oil for another neutral oil. I have seen people use butter, too.

Edited to add--she uses cardamom, I used pumpkin pie spice, but cinnamon would work, too.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

Checking in with a lower body strength workout. I think I have turned the corner on my sinus infection. Yesterday was dry and not humid at all, so the really helped me. I am back to my baseline sinus annoyance. I am supposed to call my doctor tomorrow to see if he can fit me in for a telehealth appointment. I am going to ask him if there is something I can take for that. I have non stop post nasal drip.

My husband booked a hotel room for the last weekend in January in Anaheim. Neither of us have been to DLR. He was originally looking at going to WDW for a long weekend on the same dates, out of curiosity, he looked at the cost to go to Anaheim. It's actually cheaper to fly to CA and go to DLR than it is to go to WDW. I am not crazy about the length of the flights for a 3 day weekend trip, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. With covid, I don't even know if it will happen.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The flight back was interesting. We got boarding group B 13 and 14 on Southwest. We thought we'd be able to sit together, in the past we have without issue. I tried three times to get two seats together, only to be told the seats were being saved. After the third time of being told no, I snapped at the woman, "You can't save five seats on a 737 for your family. You either all pay for the Early Bird or you all board at the same time." We got seats together at the last row. Other people were struggling to find seats and the FA in the aft saw this and asked us which group we were. I told her and I told her people are saving seats for family members and she said, "No, no. They can't be doing that on this flight." So, she got on the PA and told people to stop saving seats. I have never seen so much seat saving before on SWA. In 15+ years I've been flying SWA, this is the worst I've seen it.

OMG! This has happened to us a number of times on SWA. This is part of why I dislike flying with them. I now always buy into early bird, which cuts the savings with flying them and still doesn't guarantee me group A. I can't tell you how many times we've been on flights where they've had to beg people to stop saving seats.

Sorry about your CC, but at least you caught it quickly.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Happy Monday

Today is a rest day, but I've been staying on top of my workouts. I'm not really feeling the results anymore, so I'm going to need to change something up. I just haven't figured out what that is. We're so busy that a working it in when you can approach seems like it would be a step backwards. I've been getting up around 6am to get the kids to school each day, doing at least half of my workout before work and half of my workout during lunch. I've been trying to add in some intermittent fasting with it too, using a 16/8 approach. I just feel like it's all a big rut for me right now, but it may be more of what's going on in life and not the workouts that is causing that, and it's obviously no secret that we're insanely busy.

Last week, we had to go into overdrive with some grade issues with the kids. The younger one saved hers, but the older one still has a little ways to go...and we may wind up adding tutoring into the mix for her. As all of this was winding down, other stuff ramped up. On Thursday, one kid had a volleyball match while the other had a trio of choir concerts. Friday was the start of a volleyball tournament that continued into Saturday. Sunday was a round robin for softball and then the older one had some stuff with friends, one of which became a fiasco because this one girl's grandma is a mess. Grandma has custody, but it's always a disaster if she gets involved and has any responsibilities in anything. To top it off, that kiddo started feeling sick last night and woke up with a 102 degree fever today. She's fully vaccinated, but I still had to get her tested for Covid during my workday. Thankfully, she's negative, but I just need a break.

Speaking of, if my husband completely forgot that we went to Disney in February, does that mean we can go again and try and have a more memorable trip?

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Speaking of, if my husband completely forgot that we went to Disney in February, does that mean we can go again and try and have a more memorable trip?

Yes! That is exactly what that means! HAHAH! Sorry the kiddo is sick, hope she feels better.

 

[Songbird76]

Happy Monday

Today is a rest day, but I've been staying on top of my workouts. I'm not really feeling the results anymore, so I'm going to need to change something up. I just haven't figured out what that is. We're so busy that a working it in when you can approach seems like it would be a step backwards. I've been getting up around 6am to get the kids to school each day, doing at least half of my workout before work and half of my workout during lunch. I've been trying to add in some intermittent fasting with it too, using a 16/8 approach. I just feel like it's all a big rut for me right now, but it may be more of what's going on in life and not the workouts that is causing that, and it's obviously no secret that we're insanely busy.

Last week, we had to go into overdrive with some grade issues with the kids. The younger one saved hers, but the older one still has a little ways to go...and we may wind up adding tutoring into the mix for her. As all of this was winding down, other stuff ramped up. On Thursday, one kid had a volleyball match while the other had a trio of choir concerts. Friday was the start of a volleyball tournament that continued into Saturday. Sunday was a round robin for softball and then the older one had some stuff with friends, one of which became a fiasco because this one girl's grandma is a mess. Grandma has custody, but it's always a disaster if she gets involved and has any responsibilities in anything. To top it off, that kiddo started feeling sick last night and woke up with a 102 degree fever today. She's fully vaccinated, but I still had to get her tested for Covid during my workday. Thankfully, she's negative, but I just need a break.

Speaking of, if my husband completely forgot that we went to Disney in February, does that mean we can go again and try and have a more memorable trip?

What subject is she having problems with? Do they have a tutoring program through the school? E's school is going to be doing that this year and she gets to be a tutor. She's not sure for which classes yet, but she could do Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English...those are her strongest subjects.


I think another Disney trip is mandatory. If he can't even remember going, a refresher is necessary.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

What subject is she having problems with? Do they have a tutoring program through the school? E's school is going to be doing that this year and she gets to be a tutor. She's not sure for which classes yet, but she could do Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English...those are her strongest subjects.


I think another Disney trip is mandatory. If he can't even remember going, a refresher is necessary.

Her biggest issue right now is Algebra II. Algebra I was a breeze and Pre-Algebra was pretty good for her as well. I hate how most US school districts separate I and II with a year of geometry. Just when you really get the hang of things, let's throw in an entirely different kind of math. Trig and Calculus flow pretty well off of Algebra II, but I felt so little benefit from having geometry in the mix. I know she's not the only one having issues. The teacher keeps having these tough love conversations with all of them about how college level classes are more of a challenge and I've seen a lot of parents asking on social media for tutor recommendations. The school tutoring here changes in high school. While it's offered all the time in middle school, high school has very specific rules of when you qualify for it and how much you can get. Ultimately, it's not much and most people are forced to hire a private tutor. It also doesn't help how the classes are designed. Where I grew up, there were levels 1-4 offered for all of the core subjects. Level 1 was honors, but only some level 1s were available with Advanced Placement designations. i.e. it was a college level course in high school. In her school and the rest of the schools in the area, you're either AP or on level. So, anyone taking AP in anything is taking a college level course for which they can opt in to take the AP exam for college credits at the end of the year. I could switch her to on-level, but with only two level options in these districts, on-level tends to be all of the bad kids. Chemistry and English don't seem to be too much of an issue, but the amount of material being covered in her World History class is reminiscent of an upper classmen college class. She aces the unit quizzes, but when it comes to tests covering hundreds of pages of historical data, it's a struggle.

It came up because we're looking at a couple of Universal days after our cruise in July, but when I said I may get Epcot tickets for our first day, since we should be arriving in Orlando midday, he started talking like we hadn't been to Disney in a while. He completely forgot the 2021 trip and thought Dec 2017 was the last time we'd been.

 

[Sans Souci]

OMG! This has happened to us a number of times on SWA. This is part of why I dislike flying with them. I now always buy into early bird, which cuts the savings with flying them and still doesn't guarantee me group A. I can't tell you how many times we've been on flights where they've had to beg people to stop saving seats.

Sorry about your CC, but at least you caught it quickly.

That's what kills me about Early Bird! I've seen people who have paid for it and they are B. Also, I think you lose it if you change flights. I watch the flights and I rebook when the cost comes down. Pre-covid, I had an AP and I would go down for quick WDW trips with friends, so I would always use the credit.

It's ridiculous. I would have thought two people, B 13 and 14, would have been able to sit together. It was mostly single seats when we boarded. I didn't think I would need to buy Early Bird check in for two people, in low B. I am honestly a non confrontational person, but when I politely told the last and third woman we'd like to sit in the middle and window seats and she said, "I am saving these these two seats and the row behind me for my grandchildren." I lost it. Two rows is unacceptable. Her "grandchildren" were all in their early-mid 20s. When I got back, I googled around and I was shocked to find that it is OK to save seats on Southwest. It shouldn't be allowed on full/oversold flights.

Going forward, I won't be flying them to MCO, unless I am alone. I don't care where I sit when I am alone.

 

[Sans Souci]

Happy Monday

Today is a rest day, but I've been staying on top of my workouts. I'm not really feeling the results anymore, so I'm going to need to change something up. I just haven't figured out what that is. We're so busy that a working it in when you can approach seems like it would be a step backwards. I've been getting up around 6am to get the kids to school each day, doing at least half of my workout before work and half of my workout during lunch. I've been trying to add in some intermittent fasting with it too, using a 16/8 approach. I just feel like it's all a big rut for me right now, but it may be more of what's going on in life and not the workouts that is causing that, and it's obviously no secret that we're insanely busy.

Last week, we had to go into overdrive with some grade issues with the kids. The younger one saved hers, but the older one still has a little ways to go...and we may wind up adding tutoring into the mix for her. As all of this was winding down, other stuff ramped up. On Thursday, one kid had a volleyball match while the other had a trio of choir concerts. Friday was the start of a volleyball tournament that continued into Saturday. Sunday was a round robin for softball and then the older one had some stuff with friends, one of which became a fiasco because this one girl's grandma is a mess. Grandma has custody, but it's always a disaster if she gets involved and has any responsibilities in anything. To top it off, that kiddo started feeling sick last night and woke up with a 102 degree fever today. She's fully vaccinated, but I still had to get her tested for Covid during my workday. Thankfully, she's negative, but I just need a break.

Speaking of, if my husband completely forgot that we went to Disney in February, does that mean we can go again and try and have a more memorable trip?

Ooof, I hope your daughter is feeling better. Fevers suck.

My son does IF here and there. He wouldn't eat his first meal until noon. On Sundays, my husband used to make bacon and I'd feel a bit sorry for my son having to smell bacon wafting throughout the house. But it was only once a week.

Book that Disney trip! I had a great trip the last time, but I am reticent to go back with this Genie+ nonsense.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I am in with an upper body workout. I tried to get a Telehealth appointment with my doctor. I was told to call at 8 to book a 2 PM appointment. I was told he was not available until Oct. 30, so I saw someone else. He prescribed me some steroids, told me to keep using my neti pot if I feel I need it and suggested that I have a deviated septum. So, perhaps this was the final nudge I needed to see an ENT.

I was a bit nervous when I first starting having symptoms, b/c I was thought if I had covid, my son could get really sick. My husband looked all over the place for a Binax Now test, every store is out. So, my husband booked a covid test for me. He made the appointment last Friday and today was the earliest I could get in. I really don't feel like I need it. Besides, I have been home for 10 days now and my son is fine. He is still pushing me to take the appointment. He had his test yesterday, because he was supposed to go to NYC for work. He needed to cancel his hotel room by tonight if he wasn't going, but his boss canceled this big meeting they were going to have. He has freaking allergies. But he keeps putting an oximeter on his finger, taking his temp and wearing a mask around our son. Good grief.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

That's what kills me about Early Bird! I've seen people who have paid for it and they are B. Also, I think you lose it if you change flights. I watch the flights and I rebook when the cost comes down. Pre-covid, I had an AP and I would go down for quick WDW trips with friends, so I would always use the credit.

It's ridiculous. I would have thought two people, B 13 and 14, would have been able to sit together. It was mostly single seats when we boarded. I didn't think I would need to buy Early Bird check in for two people, in low B. I am honestly a non confrontational person, but when I politely told the last and third woman we'd like to sit in the middle and window seats and she said, "I am saving these these two seats and the row behind me for my grandchildren." I lost it. Two rows is unacceptable. Her "grandchildren" were all in their early-mid 20s. When I got back, I googled around and I was shocked to find that it is OK to save seats on Southwest. It shouldn't be allowed on full/oversold flights.

Going forward, I won't be flying them to MCO, unless I am alone. I don't care where I sit when I am alone.

You do lose it if you have to change your flights. We were in a bad car accident on the way to the airport one time. We weren't able to make our original flight, but were able to pull enough together to stick with the trip and just take a later flight. The early bird I paid for did not carry to our new flight. My husband was limping a bit from the accident, so they told us to "use that as an excuse so he can pre-board" and then see if he can save seats without having anyone call him out for it. So, they don't allow it, yet they advised us to do this.

I think it was when we were flying back from Branson, MO, the FAs were having to demand that people move and not save seats as some people who were currently boarded were trying to sit with their kids. So, they were trying to hold seats for people in boarding group C vs. allow a mom to sit with her two preschool aged kids. Ultimately, it's why I prefer the airlines that offer assigned seating.

Funny you say that...I have a friend that loves SWA, but he always flies alone. The solo traveler never has to deal with this.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Ooof, I hope your daughter is feeling better. Fevers suck.

My son does IF here and there. He wouldn't eat his first meal until noon. On Sundays, my husband used to make bacon and I'd feel a bit sorry for my son having to smell bacon wafting throughout the house. But it was only once a week.

Book that Disney trip! I had a great trip the last time, but I am reticent to go back with this Genie+ nonsense.

I really hope she kicks the fever part today. She woke up with a fever again this morning. It wasn't as high, but I still can't send her to school like this.

It comes pretty naturally to me. I've never been a huge fan of breakfast or lunch, and I usually ate when I got home from school or work. I just have my days where stress eating dominates.

This whole Genie thing is part of why I'm not sold on popping in for half a day. I still have time, but it makes everything seem less appealing.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

So I'm joining the sinus infection club with @Sans Souci

I went into urgent care to get a Covid test because I'm going to a concert on Friday. They took my temperature and I had a fever and when they examined me, they were like, uh, you have a major sinus infection. It's going into my lungs so they put me on an antibiotic. Fun. All I wanted was the dang covid test. Although I was feeling run down, so maybe that's why.

 

[Songbird76]

Her biggest issue right now is Algebra II. Algebra I was a breeze and Pre-Algebra was pretty good for her as well. I hate how most US school districts separate I and II with a year of geometry. Just when you really get the hang of things, let's throw in an entirely different kind of math. Trig and Calculus flow pretty well off of Algebra II, but I felt so little benefit from having geometry in the mix. I know she's not the only one having issues. The teacher keeps having these tough love conversations with all of them about how college level classes are more of a challenge and I've seen a lot of parents asking on social media for tutor recommendations. The school tutoring here changes in high school. While it's offered all the time in middle school, high school has very specific rules of when you qualify for it and how much you can get. Ultimately, it's not much and most people are forced to hire a private tutor. It also doesn't help how the classes are designed. Where I grew up, there were levels 1-4 offered for all of the core subjects. Level 1 was honors, but only some level 1s were available with Advanced Placement designations. i.e. it was a college level course in high school. In her school and the rest of the schools in the area, you're either AP or on level. So, anyone taking AP in anything is taking a college level course for which they can opt in to take the AP exam for college credits at the end of the year. I could switch her to on-level, but with only two level options in these districts, on-level tends to be all of the bad kids. Chemistry and English don't seem to be too much of an issue, but the amount of material being covered in her World History class is reminiscent of an upper classmen college class. She aces the unit quizzes, but when it comes to tests covering hundreds of pages of historical data, it's a struggle.

It came up because we're looking at a couple of Universal days after our cruise in July, but when I said I may get Epcot tickets for our first day, since we should be arriving in Orlando midday, he started talking like we hadn't been to Disney in a while. He completely forgot the 2021 trip and thought Dec 2017 was the last time we'd been.

Yeah, I don't understand why Algebra I and II aren't right after each other....we had that, too, when I was in school. I was in the Advanced math program in which we took each math class a year early, so I got Algebra I in 8th grade, Geometry in 9th, Algebra II in 10th, Trig in 11th, and Calc senior year. It really doesn't make sense to split them up. But I loved Geometry....it made so much sense to me and I did really well with it.
Our school offered a free tutoring program. The top 4 seniors were paid to sit in the library 3 nights a week for anyone to come in for help. Each night was designated for a specific subject...Math, English, or Science, but you could get help with any subject any night, just kids who were failing a subject HAD to come on that subject night. It usually wasn't really that busy. It was mostly the kids who HAD to be there, but I did go as a junior for math a lot. My brother was a tutor and I struggled a bit with math because I had a teacher who would get distracted and go off on tangents and start telling jokes instead of explaining the material. The other kids would actually TRY to get him off-subject so they didn't have to listen to instructions about math, but that meant that I didn't learn how to do it either, so I had to go get help from the tutors. My senior year, I was one of the tutors. But it was free to all students and anyone could come. I'm not sure how E's school is going to set it up, just that kids who do well can sign up to be tutors and kids who need help will sign up to be tutored and they'll be assigned to one of the tutors for that subject and the school will pay the tutors so the kids don't have to pay for a tutor. Math is weird here, though...it's just...Math. It's all jumbled together. There's no class for Algebra or Geometry or whatever. It's just all included in Math. And what profile you choose determines which math you take. So you choose a "profile" halfway through your high school experience. E has chosen the "nerd" profile: NT (nature and technology). She has to take the most difficult Math. If you take something like EM (Economics and Social studies) you can take Math A, and if you take CM (Culture and Social Studies) you can take Math C, which is the easiest....which doesn't make sense that B is the hardest and C is the easiest, but whatever. And NG (Nature and Health) can choose whether they want to do Math A or B. A's school only offers EM and NG...we only found that out about a week ago, and we're going to see if we can work something out for him to do NT because the only difference is that NT requires Physics and Math B, and DOESN'T require Biology, where NG doesn't require Physics but DOES require Biology, which A HATES, and they only offer Math A and A is really bored with math if it's too easy, so he needs math B. So we're looking into that for next year. But anyway, it's just kind of strange that they don't break math up into specific types. I'm sorry your schools don't offer a good tutoring program. Is there someone you know who could tutor her? E tutored a neighbor girl a few years ago in English. The mother always heard me speaking English to my kids and asked if I would tutor her daughter. The daughter looked SO embarrassed, so I suggested E do it because they were the same age and then it would be more like just friends doing homework together and it wouldn't seem so intimidating. E said this girl's English material was SOOOOO easy, compared to what she was doing. The girl was doing a level lower than E, and E is in the Dual immersion class, so they got really intensive material. But the girl had been borderline pass or fail and ended up with a B once E started tutoring her, so it worked out fine to have just another student helping her with the basics. Maybe that's all K needs? Just someone to help with the foundation? I can imagine private tutors are REALLY expensive. The only problem with another student doing it is working around school schedules and activities, but it might be something to look into.

 

[Songbird76]

You do lose it if you have to change your flights. We were in a bad car accident on the way to the airport one time. We weren't able to make our original flight, but were able to pull enough together to stick with the trip and just take a later flight. The early bird I paid for did not carry to our new flight. My husband was limping a bit from the accident, so they told us to "use that as an excuse so he can pre-board" and then see if he can save seats without having anyone call him out for it. So, they don't allow it, yet they advised us to do this.

I think it was when we were flying back from Branson, MO, the FAs were having to demand that people move and not save seats as some people who were currently boarded were trying to sit with their kids. So, they were trying to hold seats for people in boarding group C vs. allow a mom to sit with her two preschool aged kids. Ultimately, it's why I prefer the airlines that offer assigned seating.

Funny you say that...I have a friend that loves SWA, but he always flies alone. The solo traveler never has to deal with this.

The airlines are actually not allowed to do that. In 2016, a law was passed that mandates airlines to have any child under 16 sit with a parent or guardian, as in next to, not in front of or behind, or with seats between. The only reason they can get away with it is that the specifics haven't been written up, so airlines don't always voluntarily follow the rules. But technically, if a mom says she needs to be with her children, they can't leave the ground until those children are seated next to her. If they have to move people around, they are supposed to do that, but most FAs try to do it on a voluntary basis by asking who is willing to switch seats. But if you know about the law, you CAN just tell the FA that you know about it, and hopefully they will be good about it, but without a consequence, it's hard to enforce it. We ran into problems when my dad died and we had to book last minute flights to Denver. We didn't pay extra for choosing seats because we knew they weren't allowed to charge extra to have our kids sit with us, but when we got to the airport, they didn't put us together. No one wanted to switch because a bunch of people had paid extra to choose their seats and didn't want to move. The FAs COULD have forced them to move and just refunded the money they had paid for seat selection, but they didn't want to do that. It took them quite a while before they found a couple of kind souls....part of the problem was that they didn't tell the people they were asking to switch that it was so parents could sit with their young children. I think MOST people, if you tell them "You can either switch seats, or you can take care of this woman's autistic 8 year old for the whole flight." they will switch. But just saying "Who wants to give up their seat for this other person?" most people are going to say "Um no.....why should I?" But in the case of minor children, it's a requirement that they sit with their parents, so FAs should step in in that case and require people who saved seats to give them up. A 20 something grandchild does not NEED to sit by grandma the way a 2 year old NEEDs to sit with mom. The problem is that airlines don't advertise the fact that they are legally obligated to seat children with their parents, and unless people know about it, they can't get the airlines to comply.

 

[Songbird76]

I really hope she kicks the fever part today. She woke up with a fever again this morning. It wasn't as high, but I still can't send her to school like this.

It comes pretty naturally to me. I've never been a huge fan of breakfast or lunch, and I usually ate when I got home from school or work. I just have my days where stress eating dominates.

This whole Genie thing is part of why I'm not sold on popping in for half a day. I still have time, but it makes everything seem less appealing.

I think I must be in the minority. I'm actually really looking forward to Genie+. I like that we'll get information about attractions and backgrounds, and I LOVE that I won't have to fight to get fastpasses so many days in advance! It will put back some of the spontaneity back into touring the parks. I hated trying to puzzle out fastpass times, and sometimes that required backtracking across the park because you couldn't book 2 fastpasses in the same 1 hour window....but like, Soarin' and Living with the Land, if you book a fastpass for one, you can't book a fastpass for the other for a whole hour. So you're stuck sitting there for however long until the next window opens. OR you have to do one at the very end of the window and the next at the very beginning of its window. It was just too much microplanning. I want to know my ADRs, and have my must-dos, but I don't want to have to schedule every little thing months in advance. Overall, I think Genie+ will be a perfect system for my family. I get that people don't want to pay for something that used to be free, but I don't think $15 is too bad for how much the system will be improved. That was the thing people always complained about, was having to make FP selections so far in advance and if you didn't stay on property, you were basically locked out of any of the fastpasses for the best attractions. People wanted to go back to the way FPs used to with the paper tickets and the kiosks, except now it will be digital, so you don't have to run all over the park to get the paper pass. I think it sounds really nice. And apparently, if you don't pay for Genie+ in advance, you can just pay for one day the day of any time you do want to use it. So if you don't want to use it every day of your trip, you don't have to pay for it for every day. Just decide in the morning that you want to use it that day, pay for that day, and that's it. Then if you want to use it again 3 days later, you get up on that day and pay for it and that's it. You only pay for the days you use it, that way, so it doesn't have to drive the price up so much.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Yeah, I don't understand why Algebra I and II aren't right after each other....we had that, too, when I was in school. I was in the Advanced math program in which we took each math class a year early, so I got Algebra I in 8th grade, Geometry in 9th, Algebra II in 10th, Trig in 11th, and Calc senior year. It really doesn't make sense to split them up. But I loved Geometry....it made so much sense to me and I did really well with it.
Our school offered a free tutoring program. The top 4 seniors were paid to sit in the library 3 nights a week for anyone to come in for help. Each night was designated for a specific subject...Math, English, or Science, but you could get help with any subject any night, just kids who were failing a subject HAD to come on that subject night. It usually wasn't really that busy. It was mostly the kids who HAD to be there, but I did go as a junior for math a lot. My brother was a tutor and I struggled a bit with math because I had a teacher who would get distracted and go off on tangents and start telling jokes instead of explaining the material. The other kids would actually TRY to get him off-subject so they didn't have to listen to instructions about math, but that meant that I didn't learn how to do it either, so I had to go get help from the tutors. My senior year, I was one of the tutors. But it was free to all students and anyone could come. I'm not sure how E's school is going to set it up, just that kids who do well can sign up to be tutors and kids who need help will sign up to be tutored and they'll be assigned to one of the tutors for that subject and the school will pay the tutors so the kids don't have to pay for a tutor. Math is weird here, though...it's just...Math. It's all jumbled together. There's no class for Algebra or Geometry or whatever. It's just all included in Math. And what profile you choose determines which math you take. So you choose a "profile" halfway through your high school experience. E has chosen the "nerd" profile: NT (nature and technology). She has to take the most difficult Math. If you take something like EM (Economics and Social studies) you can take Math A, and if you take CM (Culture and Social Studies) you can take Math C, which is the easiest....which doesn't make sense that B is the hardest and C is the easiest, but whatever. And NG (Nature and Health) can choose whether they want to do Math A or B. A's school only offers EM and NG...we only found that out about a week ago, and we're going to see if we can work something out for him to do NT because the only difference is that NT requires Physics and Math B, and DOESN'T require Biology, where NG doesn't require Physics but DOES require Biology, which A HATES, and they only offer Math A and A is really bored with math if it's too easy, so he needs math B. So we're looking into that for next year. But anyway, it's just kind of strange that they don't break math up into specific types. I'm sorry your schools don't offer a good tutoring program. Is there someone you know who could tutor her? E tutored a neighbor girl a few years ago in English. The mother always heard me speaking English to my kids and asked if I would tutor her daughter. The daughter looked SO embarrassed, so I suggested E do it because they were the same age and then it would be more like just friends doing homework together and it wouldn't seem so intimidating. E said this girl's English material was SOOOOO easy, compared to what she was doing. The girl was doing a level lower than E, and E is in the Dual immersion class, so they got really intensive material. But the girl had been borderline pass or fail and ended up with a B once E started tutoring her, so it worked out fine to have just another student helping her with the basics. Maybe that's all K needs? Just someone to help with the foundation? I can imagine private tutors are REALLY expensive. The only problem with another student doing it is working around school schedules and activities, but it might be something to look into.

It sounds like the same math progression my school used as well as the kids' current school district. I think my brain must be wired like K's because Geometry made no sense to me.

That would be nice if we had some kind of tutoring like that. We had absolutely nothing in my high school, which is crazy considering we were ranked as one of the best schools in the nation while I was in attendance. The middle schools here are very liberal with the tutoring offered. Nearly every single middle school teacher offers tutoring before and after school. They have set days, but most show up early and stay late every single day just to cover the kids that may have more going on. They even let them work on previously graded work, including tests, to help them bring up their grades. They can't get maximum points initially allowed, but it could help a kid with a 45 hit 75. The high school is very different. They offer tutoring from the teachers during lunch, but they have a very specific list of what you can go in for with tutoring, and you're limited to one test redo per semester.

I've seen some of the work from the on-level courses and I know it would be too easy for her. So, I really want to keep her in AP. She has no problem talking to others, so she spoke to her teacher to try and come up with a plan, but outside of that, she has a friend who is doing much better in Algebra II who is at least walking her through some of it for now. My friend's son (he's 25) does math tutoring on the side. He works for a high school in another district in this capacity, so I was hoping he could be my first real resource if needed. Unfortunately, K is giving me this whole "no male tutors" business. I gave her a hard deadline for me to see some improvement. If we're not getting anywhere by that point...we start looking into tutoring. The question seems to come up a lot and I have a growing list of local options. So, we'll see.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The airlines are actually not allowed to do that. In 2016, a law was passed that mandates airlines to have any child under 16 sit with a parent or guardian, as in next to, not in front of or behind, or with seats between. The only reason they can get away with it is that the specifics haven't been written up, so airlines don't always voluntarily follow the rules. But technically, if a mom says she needs to be with her children, they can't leave the ground until those children are seated next to her. If they have to move people around, they are supposed to do that, but most FAs try to do it on a voluntary basis by asking who is willing to switch seats. But if you know about the law, you CAN just tell the FA that you know about it, and hopefully they will be good about it, but without a consequence, it's hard to enforce it. We ran into problems when my dad died and we had to book last minute flights to Denver. We didn't pay extra for choosing seats because we knew they weren't allowed to charge extra to have our kids sit with us, but when we got to the airport, they didn't put us together. No one wanted to switch because a bunch of people had paid extra to choose their seats and didn't want to move. The FAs COULD have forced them to move and just refunded the money they had paid for seat selection, but they didn't want to do that. It took them quite a while before they found a couple of kind souls....part of the problem was that they didn't tell the people they were asking to switch that it was so parents could sit with their young children. I think MOST people, if you tell them "You can either switch seats, or you can take care of this woman's autistic 8 year old for the whole flight." they will switch. But just saying "Who wants to give up their seat for this other person?" most people are going to say "Um no.....why should I?" But in the case of minor children, it's a requirement that they sit with their parents, so FAs should step in in that case and require people who saved seats to give them up. A 20 something grandchild does not NEED to sit by grandma the way a 2 year old NEEDs to sit with mom. The problem is that airlines don't advertise the fact that they are legally obligated to seat children with their parents, and unless people know about it, they can't get the airlines to comply.

The Branson incident occurred in 2014 and the FL accident trip was in 2013, so that all predates the law. I can't recall what all was involved, but when we flew in and out of Billings on American back in 2018, I know I paid extra for certain things on the flights. I believe it was because one upgrade was tied to another. Like if you wanted to be in a better boarding group to ensure you get space in the overhead compartment, you also had to pay to pick your seats. I swear, they nickel and dime any way they can. The girls are old enough now that I wouldn't mind if they were seated away from us, but I'd still want the closer in the event of an emergency.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Her biggest issue right now is Algebra II. Algebra I was a breeze and Pre-Algebra was pretty good for her as well. I hate how most US school districts separate I and II with a year of geometry. Just when you really get the hang of things, let's throw in an entirely different kind of math. Trig and Calculus flow pretty well off of Algebra II, but I felt so little benefit from having geometry in the mix. I know she's not the only one having issues. The teacher keeps having these tough love conversations with all of them about how college level classes are more of a challenge and I've seen a lot of parents asking on social media for tutor recommendations. The school tutoring here changes in high school. While it's offered all the time in middle school, high school has very specific rules of when you qualify for it and how much you can get. Ultimately, it's not much and most people are forced to hire a private tutor. It also doesn't help how the classes are designed. Where I grew up, there were levels 1-4 offered for all of the core subjects. Level 1 was honors, but only some level 1s were available with Advanced Placement designations. i.e. it was a college level course in high school. In her school and the rest of the schools in the area, you're either AP or on level. So, anyone taking AP in anything is taking a college level course for which they can opt in to take the AP exam for college credits at the end of the year. I could switch her to on-level, but with only two level options in these districts, on-level tends to be all of the bad kids. Chemistry and English don't seem to be too much of an issue, but the amount of material being covered in her World History class is reminiscent of an upper classmen college class. She aces the unit quizzes, but when it comes to tests covering hundreds of pages of historical data, it's a struggle.

It came up because we're looking at a couple of Universal days after our cruise in July, but when I said I may get Epcot tickets for our first day, since we should be arriving in Orlando midday, he started talking like we hadn't been to Disney in a while. He completely forgot the 2021 trip and thought Dec 2017 was the last time we'd been.

They did Algebra I and II in a row when I was in school and then a year of geometry, then moved onto trig. Made more sense that way given how the SATs are. Geometry they have to cover because it's on the SATs, but it should be after Algebra. And sorry, but your daughter's teacher sounds like a tool. The difference in college from what your daughter's teacher is saying is that there's more resources in college for those classes. Professors have office hours, there's on campus tutoring for free...your daughter's teacher is ridiculous by pulling the "well, college will be tough too" mentality. That's just an excuse for being a bad teacher. And the other difference is that college professors want their students to be successful so they do what they can to make that happen. This teacher just doesn't seem to care.

Hated AP World. It was my first AP class and it made me crazy. In my school district, they had Standard, Honors, GT (gifted and talented), and AP. After Junior year, GT dropped off for most classes and you either took AP or Honors, and most kids took honors. We'll, Sophomore year they had both AP and GT World History, and I had the brilliant idea of taking AP world. It was a really, really terrible idea. I should have just waited and taken AP US history the next year, but it was a competitive school and peer pressure stuck me in there. I ended up with a 4 on the AP exam, but still.

By the way, have her keep up with those AP exams. None of them were as bad as world (I took five of them; none of them science so I can't speak for that) but I ended up with the President's Scholarship to my school, which was the highest you could get minus a free ride, and I ended up graduating a semester early; probably could have done two semesters early if I really had timed it right (although looking back, I really needed that last semester there). Saved a ton of money and I went to private college instead of a state school.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I think I must be in the minority. I'm actually really looking forward to Genie+. I like that we'll get information about attractions and backgrounds, and I LOVE that I won't have to fight to get fastpasses so many days in advance! It will put back some of the spontaneity back into touring the parks. I hated trying to puzzle out fastpass times, and sometimes that required backtracking across the park because you couldn't book 2 fastpasses in the same 1 hour window....but like, Soarin' and Living with the Land, if you book a fastpass for one, you can't book a fastpass for the other for a whole hour. So you're stuck sitting there for however long until the next window opens. OR you have to do one at the very end of the window and the next at the very beginning of its window. It was just too much microplanning. I want to know my ADRs, and have my must-dos, but I don't want to have to schedule every little thing months in advance. Overall, I think Genie+ will be a perfect system for my family. I get that people don't want to pay for something that used to be free, but I don't think $15 is too bad for how much the system will be improved. That was the thing people always complained about, was having to make FP selections so far in advance and if you didn't stay on property, you were basically locked out of any of the fastpasses for the best attractions. People wanted to go back to the way FPs used to with the paper tickets and the kiosks, except now it will be digital, so you don't have to run all over the park to get the paper pass. I think it sounds really nice. And apparently, if you don't pay for Genie+ in advance, you can just pay for one day the day of any time you do want to use it. So if you don't want to use it every day of your trip, you don't have to pay for it for every day. Just decide in the morning that you want to use it that day, pay for that day, and that's it. Then if you want to use it again 3 days later, you get up on that day and pay for it and that's it. You only pay for the days you use it, that way, so it doesn't have to drive the price up so much.

There are pros to Genie+, but I generally don't love having to pay for something that was previously free and I really don't like the added charge if you want to ride a high demand attraction. I did prefer the original legacy fastpass over fastpass+, but we learned how to make both of them work to our advantage. What I'm waiting to see is how many people actually buy into Genie+ and how this could impact lines, because we won't know the real value until that happens. I've been to theme parks like Six Flags, where it seemed like very few people bought into their fast pass-like charged add on. So, those that did really did see a true advantage when they went to attractions. On the flipside, I remember being at Universal in CA a while back and it seemed like everyone bought in, making it no great advantage with lines. I guess if we add a day at Disney, I could always drop the extra $30 and get it for the kids, but then how much more is Ratatouille going to cost? IDK...just not loving the idea.