shinyhappypeople
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Posts posted by shinyhappypeople
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What's your goal? Do you want them to learn how to draw realistically (Drawing with Children) or just have a little fun while improving fine motor skills (Draw Write Now)? We'll be starting DWC as soon as I finish reading the book, and I'm hoping it works well for us. We'll see....
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I don't think it's unfair IF the teacher reminds the class that it's time to turn in homework. Just re-read the OP: why doesn't he keep his homework in a folder and carry it with him? As much as I strongly dislike much about the PS system, this expectation isn't unrealistic, IMO.
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That was my life up until about 6 weeks ago. I felt sad most of the time. I was drained and felt tired down to my bones. I could think of things to do but rarely had the energy to actually DO them. Emotionally, I felt like was walking in mud most of the time, just trudging along, kwim? Oh, and I was becoming super impatient and irritable with my girls. This had been my life for YEARS.
I started taking St. John's Wort on a whim and it has worked beautifully. Music sounds better, food tastes better, my house is cleaner, I have been getting more projects done and I'm a better mom (more patient, more in tune with them). I'm not hyper or manic at all, I just have normal energy and a generally more optimistic mood.
I've also heard that regular exercise and getting sunshine every day can also help manage depression, so I'm going to add those to my routine as well.
Hope this helps....
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Poor doggies. :( Dogs aren't people and they aren't meant to be stuck in people houses all day. Heck, even my KIDS aren't meant to be stuck inside all day, either! We want to adopt a dog as soon as our back yard fence is repaired, but there's NO WAY I'd force the poor dog to be cooped up all day inside except for a walk or potty break. Blech. That's just unkind to the dog. Oh, and we have a cat who spends most of her time outside. Horrors!
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Couldn't he just get the tattoo removed?
What a dumb policy. So sorry for your nephew. :(
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Think back on history and the huge divide between the wealthy and the abjectly poverty-stricken. I think there is a strong element of moral judgment of the "the poor are poor because they are morally lacking" in that type of attitude.
I was watching Oprah a week or so ago and her guests were people who had been laid off and were facing difficult times financially.
One guest was a woman in her 20s, recent college grad who had been laid off. Anyway, she talked about how horrified she was at the prospect of going down to the unemployment office and getting in line with "those people" (aka ignorant, lazy, poor people) But, when she actually got there, she was comforted by the fact that she saw many people who looked well-dressed and educated like her. Thank goodness for her she didn't have to be around "real" poor people. (we need a "that POV makes me want to retch" emoticon).
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Why is the line being drawn at access to health care? It doesn't make sense to me.
I think this is an excellent question. It makes no sense to me.
My SIL is *rabidly* opposed to health care reform and yet she sends her kids to public schools. Using my tax dollars, btw. I don't mind, because an educated work force is important to the (ahem) general welfare of our country. Just like a healthy population benefits us all.
Anyway, bureachrats (I can never spell that right) are a good, if annoying thing. It keeps people employed...That's funny :001_smile:
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Teaching to the test: My DD was in PS kindergarten last year. She went to one of those "good" (high scoring) schools. Those kids are PUSHED like you wouldn't believe all so that by the time they're in 2nd grade (first year of testing) they'll score high. The schools want to score well, but many do it at the expense of their students.
Examples of pushing: First week of KINDERGARTEN parents were sent notes that if their child didn't already know how to write their name and know all the letter names and sounds they were BEHIND and parents needed to help them catch up. By the spring these K'ers were expected to write five sentence stories and essays. By February they had to write and say numbers to 100. They were adding and subtracting in April. Basically they had to do 1st grade in kindergarten so that they'd be nearly a year ahead by the time they hit 2nd grade (testing year).
I'm not a fan of NCLB and national content standards, while surely well-intentioned, make me nervous.
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If you get the leap frog DVD's he'll have the letters and their sounds memorized by the end of the week:D
:iagree:
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I don't know anyone who does it, and I can't imagine doing it.
Several of the resources in that free curriculum list are just samples. One was even just a table of contents.
Even knowing where the good free stuff is, I'd at least need to have notebooks and pencils, and pencil sharpeners, for my kids. Crayons and glue and scissors would be a stretch. Don't think it's impossible to not have enough money for a little plastic pair of scissors. My upstairs tenant pays all of her bills when her one source of income comes in, then she's completely, one hundred percent broke for the rest of the month. Furthermore, when you're poor, transportation is usually an issue. Unless you live next door to the library, you're paying for gas or the bus.
Taking for granted all those things a middle class person does, you could homeschool for "free," because you'd have a reliable car and the ability to buy pencils, notebooks, and replace the pencil sharpener when it breaks.
But a truly poor person probably couldn't do it, not someone living in poverty, not someone who needed it to be 100% and actually free, someone who couldn't handle the two and five dollar expenses here and there.
Although, if school supply stimulus grants become common practice, there might be a way.
When I think "free," I think of costs for things specific to homeschooling above and beyond the very basic stuff like pencils and crayons that 99% of parents buy (or already own) anyway.
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Again, I'm making some assumptions, but....I have a REAL issue with the elitist attitude some seem to have towards those with lower formal educations and poor financial situations. Some of the brightest, most capable people I've known have had times at the poverty level. Some of them dropped out of high school or didn't go to college. College or income doesn't make one more capable of homeschooling!
Yup, and just because I have a degree doesn't mean I remember anything from 4th grade math. :lol:
I just checked and we're $450 below poverty level for a family of 4 (DH is furloughed from the evil railroad). Thank goodness our mortgage is cheap. Still, we manage just fine (HOW? Looking at the numbers I have NO idea).
This is getting OT (sorry)... OP: if your friend has normal intelligence and is committed to HSing, I think she should GO FOR IT!
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Barring any serious learning barriers on her part, I don't see why she couldn't homeschool. Let her learn along with her kids in areas that she might struggle in. She could study for her GED while she learns along with her children.
Would you be willing to let her use your computer and printer to print out MEP's free math curriculum for her kids? If your printer isn't an ink hog, it could be such a blessing to her. Everything else can be done with library books. Like an earlier poster mentioned, get the "What Your ____ Needs to Know" from the library, add in free MEP and a ton of library books and she's set.
FWIW, a dear friend dropped out of high school when she was 17. She is very, very bright, but school bored the daylights out of her. Drop out does not necessarily mean untintelligent. Another thing to keep in mind, is that I have a BA in English. I took an elementary math placement test recently and, well, let's just say that I'm going to have to relearn/review some forms of fractions, square roots and a few other topics that I rarely (if ever) have need of in my everyday life.
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I'm not in the Bay Area anymore, so I can't help you with where to live. But, homeschooling in California is easy. Either (a) register your home as a private school (takes about 10 minutes to fill out the form online and you're done) or (b) go through one of the publicly-funded homeschool charters.
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He told me a little about the coach and said she's trying to work out how she approaches her students. :confused: Anyhoo, the good news is, we won't have her for a regular coach this time around, and that's fine with me!
OK, that makes sense, I guess. I think your friendly feedback will be useful to the assistant. I agree that the biggest thing was that the coach didn't respect your DD's boundary. I'm glad it all worked out.
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Am I the only one who sees mops and thinks Mothers of Preschoolers?
Haha, that's what I thought when I saw the subject.
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Also...I have an almost 4yo ds who for weeks, as we have been gathering other curriculum and supplies, has been begging to "do school". I have a couple things for him (coloring, cutting/paste, numbers) but I'm wondering if he would enjoy the CLE Beginner's Activity Set..? There aren't any examples and the used bookstore here doesn't have any of these so I have no idea what the activities are like. I'm thinking that maybe it would be something he could do to learn (duh..lol) but also just feel included in school time.
TIA!
You can see samples at the Rod and Staff Books site. HTH. :)
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Hey Coach. I know you mean well and are doing so in jest, but can you please stop tugging on Sally's pig tails? She really doesn't like it and it distracts her from her bars routine.
:iagree: It's nice, to the point and assumes no ill-will on the part of the coach.
I can't imagine why the coach would pull her ponytails in the first place. I try to imagine ANY of the coaches at the gym my girls go to doing that and... nope. Wouldn't happen. It strikes me as really weird. Kind of dangerous, too. Do you really want a gymnast distracted and annoyed while she works out? That's just asking for an injury.
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So much excellent food for thought. Thank you! I hadn't even thought about how DD1's behavior might be affecting DD2. ugh. :( The thought of that makes my heart hurt.
And all this has gotten me thinking. I want to be KIND to DD1 (which is a good thing), but is it kind to allow her to develop the habit of interrupting, showing off and disobeying mama? (no, no and NO) All of these behaviors will come back to haunt her if I don't nip them in the bud right now.
I thought I was being kind to her, but ended up being unkind to both DDs. I know they're not scarred for life or anything like that, but wow. I need to adjust my thinking. What does it really mean to be kind to my children?
Parenting is hard. (yeah, I know, big revelation :tongue_smilie:)
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:hurray:Whoo-hoo! I hope you have a fun and productive year!
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My sweeties are 15 mo. apart. Older DD has 1 year of PS under her belt and is very bright. I teach younger DD phonics and math separately. It's all stuff that's super easy for older DD1, so she sits down with us and starts answering the questions for DD2. This is not cool. I've told her as nicely as I can that I'm proud of how much she knows, but now it's DD2's turn to learn these things so *don't answer.* Doesn't work.
I think she hates that DD2 is getting individual attention from me. I've tried have her working on her own stuff, nope. She abandons it to come sit with us. I actually don't mind her sitting there if she'd just keep her trap shut and quit giving away the answers. grrrr.
Please help, mamas. I'm pretty sure that from DD1's view it's not a desire to disobey, but is an "I love being with mommy and I really, really want to help" issue and I don't want to discourage either of those desires (in general). But, I also need her to can it sometimes. I feel like I'm walking a fine line.
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Cindy, I like your outline. I'm teaching a K'er and 1st grader this year and "financial crunch" definitely describes us, too :)
We're using MEP for math. It's free :cheers2: and supposed to be very, very good. I like what I see so far. I'm doing Year 1 with my younger DD. She likes math and I think she'll enjoy it.
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I'm thinking about using one. It was VERY helpful to DD in ps Kindergarten. Maybe you could color code? E.g.: words on the blue cards are for the 6th grader, pink cards are for the 1st grader, etc.? I'm interested to read the replies...
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My mom was a public health nurse in Boston in the late 1950's through the late 1960's and this was a regular part of her job. She enjoyed it---never had the "out to get you" mentality. She just made sure the new mom was okay, the baby was okay, and would answer any questions the family might have. It wasn't negative at all. I think there are several states that still pay for visits from nurses for every newborn/new mom.
Astrid
I was so clueless and overwhelmed when I brought DD home. I would have loved something like this.
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Spanish! We started last spring when DDs were 4 and 5 (so, pre-k and k).
Very Smart, Hates Everything
in Accelerated Learner Board
Posted
5 yo DD learns everything (so far) quickly and easily. She's particularly good at math. And yet, if I even mention math the first words out of her mouth are "I hate math!!!" She can't articulate *why* she hates it, she just does. Same with reading, even though she's darn good at that, too.
She went to a "good" (high scoring) PS kindergarten where they pushed the kids pretty hard. Kindergarten is the new first grade. :( I do know that there was a long stretch of time when she was really bored because she was forced to review (over and over and over) concepts that she caught onto the first or second time around. Now, she doesn't want to learn anything anymore :( Basically, if it was shoved down her throat last year, she hates it this year.
The exception is science. She still LOVES science. Coincidentally (?) that's the subject that they spent relatively little time on, and what they did do was actually geared for K'ers (butterfly life cycle, for ex.)
How do I help her find her love of learning again? She's smart but she's also only 5. I want to inspire and challenge her in a way that respects both her intellect and her emotional development.