meganrussell
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Posts posted by meganrussell
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For the weddings we've been to in churches, the receptions were usually in a different locations. Alcohol was only at the reception, not the service, unless they had communion as part of their service (I've only seen that twice in my life). I wouldn't say the focus of the reception was food but that food was served as part of the reception. The focus was on spending time with the new couple, families and friends.
Funny, all the weddings I've been to had the reception AT the church! It's crazy how things differently according to tradition and expectations.
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Yes! My son, who will be 7 this month, had also struggled. He can decide, but struggles with putting words into sentences. He's also choppy, great for a few words, messing up on the next few.
We took a four week break (hope to start back next week), and he is reading everything!! Road signs, menus, book titles... He is doing so well, I'm excited to see how he does when we pick up his phonics book. I told my husband I think a break is what he needed!
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This is a fascinating thread to me. I'm from rural northeast Louisiana, and I've never NEVER been to a wedding with a sit down meal. For the dress rehearsal, the wedding party and close family are served a meal - sometimes catered (usually BBQ), sometimes a potluck style. After the service, there is cake, punch, and snack-foods - nuts, cookies, dips, crackers, maybe sandwiches, meatballs, lil smokies. There's sometimes music, sometimes dancing, and the bride and groom always leave for their honeymoon several hours after wedding service. There is never alcohol or a bar, as most people marry in a church. This must be a regional difference, because I've been to many weddings in my area, and they are NOT focused on food, decor, expensive things, but rather on the couple marrying and the friends, family, and good time their having.
My daughter is 14, but has already "planned" her wedding. Thankfully, it sounds like she wants a simple, inexpensive wedding with a fun party afterwards. No alcohol, because we don't drink. So I'm hoping a couple thousand or less, and then we will gift her and her husband with money we didn't spend on a wedding.
And for what it's worth, I do not think spending huge amounts of money on a wedding is wise at all. Think of where that money could go - down payment on a house, new furniture, pay down debt. My husband and I went to the JOP and do t regret a minute of it.
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No one cares about cheap goodie bags. Print a 5x7 of the group pciture for each boy ($0.50 max) and you are good.
This. I HATE goody bags. I like to buy inexpensive books or coloring books in leui of goody bags for birthday parties. Goody bags are a waste of money and usually get trashed quickly. The picture of the team is a GREAT idea.
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I may be the oddball out (and I actually usually am, haha), but I've never liked being expected to pay for a party or contribute to a coach gift.
Personally, a picnic would have been good. Each family bring food for your family, kids play, and all is fun.
If I feel compelled to give the coach a gift, I would do so on my own. I've helped coach before and never expected or even wanted a gift. I did it for my kids and for fun. Usually, the gifts are not even something I would want.
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Here is my review on WIR - http://myfullhandsandheart.blogspot.com/2016/04/writers-in-residence-tos-review.html
Hope it helps!
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I need to try these! I'm not overweight, but I'm not thinking, either. I love skirts, and sometimes I don't wear them if I'll be walking a lot (the zoo, the mall, etc) especially in hot weather (we live in Louisiana). Good price and I'm sure they're comfortable!
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We love it at our house. My daughter and son used it in 7th and 5th grades. I am using Readers in Residence now with my 4th grader. It's very similar so I know we will love it too. Also, it's $57 on Christianbook.com.
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My youngest will be 5 in July, but he is very immature for his age. His older brothers and​ sisters have babied him! (I guess I have, too.)
We started My Father's World Kindergarten and love it. He doesn't understand the blending yet, but that's fine with me. There's not much math in it, so I'll be using some games and worksheets, too.
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I ordered the generic, and it didn't print very well. It was a blue color instead of black. It also didn't last long. I ordered from eBay, and it has me nervous to order generic again, even though it's much cheaper and I print a ton.
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I love Adrian Rodgers, David Jeremiah, and Charles Stanley - the oldie but goodies in my opinion. Adrian Rodgers has a wonderful voice and I love his sermons.
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I homeschool my five kids, ages 14, 11, 9, 6 and 4. I know ZERO homeschool moms with kids older than 8. And I don't see her because we don't live anywhere close to each other. We met several years ago and keep in touch, but... It is so hard not having anyone to discuss homeschooling with other than my husband. It is so hard not to have anyone to talk about summer reading lists for an upcoming high schooler or what middle school math is best... I guess I'm feeling lonely and out of sorts now. I wondered if any of you have this problem and what you do about it.
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I spend the summer reviewing and selecting resources. I form a general sequence for the yr and general objectives for each sequence. Then I only plan approx 6-8 detailed weeks' worth of lesson plans.
At the end of every set of detailed plans, I take a week off of school. During that week I plan out the next set of approx 6-8 weeks. I have found over time that 6-8 weeks is a good length of time for detailing out lessons while still allowing for adjustments without majorly upsetting our daily plans. I can tweak within that set of plans and still have my foundational framework. I have to have detailed daily plans b/c without them too much "life" interferes with what needs to be accomplished. Plans keep me accountable to me.
I love this idea. Plan six weeks at a time, take a week off and plan the next six weeks. A great way to prevent burn out, too! I am going to start doing this.
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I haven't used the geometry, but we tried algebra 1 with the DVDs. The videos were long and boring, and the lessons were long and hard. I'm talking 2 hours + a day. Way too long. We dropped it.
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I always try to think what would *I* pay for it? If I paid $40 for a book, and it is in good condition, I would sell for $20. I would go down based on condition. I always try to sell things cheap because I know how it blesses me to find something I need for a good price. This is just me though!
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MyY kids each have their own box with pencils, scissors, glue stick and crayons or colored pencils (depending on age). I also keep communal boxes of glue sticks, scissors, markers, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, etc. I find it easy for each child to grab their box when it's time for school.
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We love BJU, but the year we tried their full curriculum was misery.
What we kept:
Math
Science
English (not early-years spelling/reading and not literature, just grammar and writing)
We ditched everything else. I already knew that the amount of busy-work was high, due to previous experience with BJU, but I was enticed by the "good deal" too. You aren't alone!
What we usually ditch in the subjects that we kept:
- Chapter 1 and whatever the last chapter is (these are generally review or poorly covered)
- All chapter reviews and cumulative reviews unless the child is struggling
- About half of all the daily work in Math - I sit beside them and allow them to move on when they demonstrate that they understand the concept
- Any science pages that don't directly relate to experiments/projects
- Most grammar assignments after 5th grade
BJU is amazing, but it is designed to "fill hours." You don't need to fill any time, so don't feel bound by their structure. Pick the pieces that work for you, and don't feel bad about throwing away all those un-used worktext pages. It really is okay.
Thank you for this. I think doing this will work.
The chapter review and cumulative reviews seem so superfluous to me. The questions don't even make sense sometimes. I don't like the tests, either. I may can have my kids use notebooking instead of the question and answer type activities.
I agree that it is designed to fill hours. Some of it is incredibly long!
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I wish I had listened to advice I heard that said, "Do not do all 6 subjects with BJU DVDs or you will suffer burn-out!" I wanted to get 'a bargain' so I used nearly all 6 (maybe I didn't do their Bible, but I even tried slipping in Spanish instead) during the logic stage. My oldest would use it first and then we would keep all the DVDs for an extra year for my dd to use (for about $350 more). So our two dc was more like $1350 instead of $2000, but I know where you are. I would find a pile of unused Reading and/or English worksheets under one dc's bed and I was so overwhelmed with grading all the busywork that I didn't even notice for a month!
Eventually, I quit their history and did a history that brought our family back together in reading books and watching videos from the same time period (we used MFW). And we dropped Reading/Literature and just combined with the books from the same historical time period. It went much better.
What I would do is drop maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the workload and finish out the year happier. You could either switch out 2 or 3 complete subjects and do something non-DVD style for those subjects for the rest of the year...or do fewer subjects in a block style method.
I wouldn't necessarily give up on BJU DVDs altogether (they can be wonderful in small, single-subject doses). We are doing just BJU Biology DVDs this year with both dc doing the same course and me watching most lectures with them and handing out quizzes from a point of knowing what is going on and it is working out beautifully. Everyone is happy!
If you want cheaper prices, buy BJU Distance Learning Online in December for their $99 deals.
Best wishes to you...the end of the year is in sight as spring quickly approaches (although you wouldn't know it with the blizzard conditions we have outside our window at the moment!!!)
Brenda
This was so helpful to me. I think we are going to go back to literature based history, and combine the two in life science. I'll also watch the lectures with them so I can know what's going on. We will skip most of the busy work, and since I'll be in on the lessons, I'll have a better understanding of what they're learning and what their mastery should be. This is excellent advice.
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Sounds good to me. I was going to say that it would make it much easier if you could combine both kids into the same science. I can tell you that BJU Physical Science is MUCH harder than Apologia Physical Science (which is 1/2 Earth Science). I wouldn't feel at all bad about having them both do Life Science for the rest of your year. And doing something different for history sounds fantastic, too, as it will shorten all that time sitting in front of videos.
The physical science in BJ is so advanced and difficult, and her career goals are not science related at all (cosmetology). I was trying to read her lessons and answer the questions, and it was tough for me. Like, I had to look in the teachers guide for the answer. It's ridiculous.
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My only advice would be not to throwthe baby out with the bath water. You picked BJU for a reason, and reworking two kid's curriculum mid year is a lot. It's then restarting them, more interaction for you, and still managing little ones. I'd keep as much as you can and combine them as much as you can.
Yes, you are so right! Reworking their curriculum is not ideal, but being miserable isn't good either. I picked BJ because I didn't think I had the time or desire to "teach" them anymore, because I wanted to concentrate on my three youngers ones, and because I was so afraid they would be missing out on some important educational concept. But BJ is so not what I expected it to be. Especially since we are using all subjects. I wish I wouldn't have ordered it at all, but there's nothing I can do now.
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Thanks for all of the replies so far! I do feel a little better.
We school year round, and they just started BJ in November. We are only 1/3 of the way finished.
The physical science my 9th grader is taking is HARD. I think I may combine her with her 7th grade brother in life science, which is the only class I really like. She would do well and be challenged, and she's never had life science this in depth.
The writing and grammar is almost over as it's only 90 days worth and then 90 days of literature, and I thought about skipping it (it's very thorough, too much so I my opinion) and moving on to the literature.
I found a free American history program for high school and think I may modify it with living books and some mapping for them to do together.
I also have an awesome book on church history that I wished I could use with them ... I may make a course for their Bible lesson. The Bible in BJ is dry.
What does that sound like?
What do you think?
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I have 5 children, but only my older 2 are using Bob Jones DVD program this year. They are in 7th and 9th grade, and I bought the entire 6-subject curriculum with DVD instruction for both of them (over $2000). They just completed Day 64 out 180 days.
I am unhappy. They are unhappy.
The DVDs are not very engaging to watch for one. The textbooks, workbooks, and activity books are very long-winded, boring, and (in my opinion) too full of information. I feel very disconnected from them, because I am not involved in their school days. I check their work, grade their tests, and help them study some, and from the work I've seen, I don't know how they haven't pulled their hair out yet. It's a ridiculous amount of busy work, and it seems more geared toward a classroom than a homeschool. We've already dropped the math for both of them and switched to the Key to ... series. This made a tremendous difference in their days knocking off about an hour of work for them (and I make them work for at 30 minutes in math).
I chose BJ because I felt like they needed something totally independent. I felt like I needed to concentrate on my younger 3 children (and I still feel like this). I thought the BJ would challenge them in a good way, but instead it's making us miserable. They do the work, but there's no creativity or fun in it. They have never been unhappy schooling before, and I don't know how much they're actually learning.
I know they don't like it. We've always schooled in a fairly Charlotte Mason way and this is so opposite everything we've ever done. I want to quit and switch them to something different SO BADLY. I feel I am doing them a disservice by making them do this school every day. There is no joy in their learning. We are so used to reading together, learning together, and doing together. I have three younger children, who are each doing their own thing (a 4th grader, a 1st grader using MFW, and a K'er using MFW), so I am pretty busy, but I still feel like I need to make some changes. I think my husband will die if I quit using the BJ because it was expensive and I did just spend almost $1000 on the younger 3 kid's curriculum.
What should I do? Am I silly for feeling this way? What do you do for middle/high school CM way? Is there anything free or nearly free I could use? Any advice?? Please??
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Instead of spreading some things out over just two or three days/week, why don't you assign her everything every day? Is she doing quality work, or just rushing through it? If she is rushing, you can work with her on quality vs. quantity. You can add some interesting history projects that go along with your history curriculum. (The book maybe has ideas -- I'm thinking kind of creative projects: keeping a fictional journal from someone who lives during that time, or a fictional newspaper from that time; designing a "travel" poster that advertises a place/time in history; creating maps and timelines; building a model of the type of home people lived in during the time you are studying; cooking food they may have eaten, etc.).
You can add an art curriculum.
If math is too easy, maybe bump her up a grade, or do every other question but cover two chapters at a time so you are moving more quickly through the book and hopefully into more challenging stuff. You can also add to her writing, if you think she's ready for me. If it asks for one paragraph, have her do two.
Maybe she is ready for more challenging literature, beyond grade-level.
Honestly, if everything she is doing is too easy but still worth covering, I'd probably double the work (for example, do two chapters/day instead of one) or even skip unnecessary chapters in some subjects to get her through it quickly, and start picking out different curriculum that is more challenging.
It could be that 1.5 hours is still good quality work for her, but I'd worry about my kids becoming bored for the remainder of the day and their time becoming less productive.
She does her work well, and doesn't rush through it. Her history and science have activities scheduled. Next week, we will be making and baking fossils, dissecting fruit to examine the seeds, and writing a report on an Ice Age animal. The main thing I'm worried about is the language arts being enough.
Do you dress like a Mom?
in The Chat Board
Posted · Edited by meganrussell
This is kind of a weird question, I guess. And I'm sure everyone has their own definition of what a Mom dresses like! But I am curious as to your age and the type of clothes of you wear.
I just turned 32 in April, and I look young. I mean, YOUNG. My 14 year old daughter looks older than me! Plus, she's 5'5" and I'm 5'2". Anyway, I still shop in the Juniors/teen section of the most stores (JC Penney, Dillard's, Target, etc). Sometimes, I feel like I should start dressing "my age", whatever that means! Like, today, I'm wearing a pair of olive green Old Navy Chino shorts (3.5" inseam) and a maroon flowy top that was from the junior section of JC Penney and Birkenstocks. I could seriously pass as a teenager but I don't WANT to.
My mom was always stylish and beautiful, but she dressed like a MOM, kwim? We could have never shared a closet, like my daughter and I could (we don't, she's thinner than I am, but we could style-wise).
I guess I'm just wondering what's the norm, and what are you wearing today?