kokotg
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Posts posted by kokotg
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Since all the other grades have one...who wants to talk seniors?
This will be my 3rd senior (then I get a long break since the last one will just be 5th grade next year). He'll be applying to colleges, but we're still trying to figure out what that will look like...he might mostly do a bunch of small LACs, or he might want a music dual degree (with...something), so we might have auditions in our future...or he might do ED at Vanderbilt where his brother is and see what happens. Anyway, here's what we're looking at so far:
AP Literature (at home): I'm excited about this; it's my 3rd time through it, but this is my most likely to be an English major kid, so we can get especially ambitious and interesting with it.
AP Calc AB (at home): DH is a calculus teacher, so this is his territory.
Physics at home school coop: really hope this one actually happens, because I don't have much of a physics/science back up plan.
Spanish (dual enrollment): he's doing 3rd semester Spanish right now (after doing through Spanish 3 with assorted online providers), so he'll do at least one more semester of this, and then we'll reevaluate and see how much having another semester would help with college requirements.
Economics: we'll do this at home--something light and box check-y
French horn and piano lessons, assorted youth orchestras--music is very much his primary EC
Beyond that things are still up in the air. I'm eyeing an extra, low pressure lit class at our homeschool co-op and/or a global civics class. I keep thinking of adding another AP at home (maybe European history? art history?), but that would probably be overkill and I'd regret it. He'll likely do 2-4 more dual enrollment classes; we'll see what sounds interesting when registration opens up. He's taking sociology right now; if he likes that a lot he could do another one. Or some other social science or history. There are lit classes he can take if he gets a 5 on AP lang this spring. They have an interesting sounding "Peace studies" program that he might like. Or I might push for him to double up on math and take Stats so as to be a better citizen of the world, but that might make him sad.
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3 hours ago, Quarter Note said:
One of my current reads right now is The Scarlet Letter. Without meaning to sound high-brow or pretentious, I really, truly love this book. It's my third time through it. The language is so beautiful, and Hawthorne is such a master of symbolism. Just a few days ago I noticed something in a scene that struck me at a suck-in-your-breath level of surprise.
I'm not sure I can say that I love Scarlet Letter, but I have come to appreciate it a lot more as an adult reading it with my high school kids. I love the scene with the A in the sky and what Hawthorne does with the idea of symbols and their shifting meanings there.
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On 1/8/2023 at 1:36 AM, busymama7 said:
But I came on here to say what I had just finished. The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede. I listened to the audio. It is about the planes that were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland on Sept 11. It was, even after over 20 years, difficult to listen to descriptions of the day and people's reactions to the news and the shock etc. But I am super glad that I read it. It was a powerful story of kindness and the goodness of the human experience even in the midst of such horror. It is one I can see myself listening to (or reading) again. I was so sad that it was over. Absolutely read or listen to it if it sounds at all like something you would like.
ah, yes--I've heard about that one! I should put it on my Newfoundland reading list!
I'm doing AP Lang with my 11th grader this year, and we have a loose travel writing theme this semester; we just started listening to Tony Horwitz's Confederates in the Attic. I'm also listening to Anne Tyler's newest, French Braid. I will always read anything Anne Tyler.
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American lit I've done recently with my kids:
Scarlet Letter
Bartleby the Scrivener
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Cathedral
Great Gatsby
Pym
A Narrative of the Life of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
Why I Live at the PO
Pale Horse, Pale Rider
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Song of Soloman
Invisible Man
Beloved
The Sound and the Fury
...no one has much cared for Scarlet Letter, but I've had them read it anyway because it pairs well with early American history and because I've come to find it more interesting than I used to (I'm particularly intrigued by symbolism in it--it's sort of useful for high schoolers because Hawthorne whacks you over the head with his symbols but then the book also has some surprisingly intriguing things to say about the whole concept of symbols).
All of my kids love Gatsby for whatever reason--something I didn't accomplish until I was much older, but I guess I've managed to pass on my enthusiasm. Bartleby is always a hit (and rich yet approachable). Arthur Gordon Pym is Poe's only novel, and it's pretty deeply flawed in all sorts of ways, but also fascinating, and my kids still talk about it a ton. Pym is a modern satire of it, and they pair well, though probably better for college students, really.
Pale Horse, Pale Rider is a short novel (or maybe more of a long short story) by Katherine Anne Porter that I've always loved. It's one of the few fictional works about the 1918 flu pandemic, which makes it a good one for these troubled times.
I really wanted The Sound and the Fury to go over well, but it was a little much for the 2 kids I did it with. I'm still contemplating trying to get through Absalom, Absalom with my upcoming senior, though, because I have a hard time relegating Faulkner to short stories.
ANYWAY, to try to wrap things, up, what I'd pick would probably depend on whether I was coordinating lit with American history or not. If so, I'd keep in Scarlet Letter, definitely do Huck Finn (which I gather has fallen out of favor in high school lit classes and probably for good reasons, but if you can do it well and dive into criticism and outside resources and neither demonize nor valorize Twain (or Huck) it's a great read), Bartleby, Pale Horse Pale Rider, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Gatsby, one of those two Toni Morrisons (I think Beloved it probably the stronger novel, but Song of Solomon is somewhat lighter and more hopeful), and then something contemporary based on student interest. And tons of poetry, heavy on modernism, because that's just what I always end up doing.
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My in-laws paid for most of the expenses when we traveled with them for a long time...until we were well into our 30s at least, but then it's stopped at some point over the last decade and now we split accommodation and activity costs (or get our own place more typically) and pay our own way to get wherever we're going (usually they'll pay for most meals out, but we'll offer to pay for one now and then). In this case, they have significantly more money than we do and paying for us was not a hardship. I'm not sure what made them decide it was time to change things up; it's totally fine, but it did make it a little hard to budget for travel during the transitional period when we weren't sure what to expect (direct conversation would have helped, but this family's not big on that); they're very financially generous in other ways. My oldest is 21 now and a semester away from graduating from college...I don't foresee that we'll stop paying for his expenses for vacations any time soon (if he's willing to vacation with us, I'm happy to pay if we can), but it may depend on relative income levels, etc. Anyway, in the hypothetical situation, I would expect to just pay the cost myself if it were my own adult kid...and to pay the extra cost ourselves if it were my husband and I joining my in-laws. So I guess I get the worst of both worlds at this particular stage of life!
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I wouldn't be able to stay upright with a TSH that high. The range varies by lab, but I just checked and the lab my doctor uses has 4.5 as the upper end of the range, so it definitely wouldn't be weird to medicate for 4.79
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I didn't quite make my 50 books goal last year (I did 45), so I...made it 52 for this year. We'll see! Anyway, first up is Theatre of Fish: Travels Through Newfoundland ...because we have a Newfoundland trip planned this summer, and I got it for Christmas (my last book last year was The Shipping News, which I'd read before a very long time ago but didn't remember much of at all. I also count books I read with my almost 10 year old; we're in the middle of The Greenglass House right now.
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My NP would definitely treat for that (I try to keep mine under 2)...I've always just done levothyroxine and been fine on it. I've been to endocrinologists a couple of times, but they've found me utterly uninteresting so I just see my regular general practice NP mostly and get labs done twice a year.
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I didn't do pluses or minuses, either (largely because neither our local school district nor the college where mine have done DE does. Also it's easier), and it hasn't been an issue.
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20 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:
Well, one mystery solved. The mailman was just here and I managed to grab the box and speak to him. I asked if there were two regular postal workers on this route because sometimes packages are left in the box down by the road and other times by the door.
He said no, it’s just him, but he loves my dogs and gives them treats, so if he can see that they’re outside he’ll come up to the house to play with them for a minute and give them snacks.
My dogs very much love snacks.But now I wonder if they believe he’s leaving them a snack present in the packages.
I asked him to please leave the packages in the box but he’s welcome to come up to the house to give the dogs their pets and treats(he drives a small pickup so I don’t mind that up by the house). This doesn’t solve the UPS or FedEx truck issue, but most of our packages come USPS from amazon.
This is probably the most adorable explanation for your problem I could have hoped for.
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whoa. I guess it's time to lay off the Lily's! Now I'm wondering about my cocoa powder, too....I've been making a protein shake with spinach and cocoa powder every day lately...apparently all my efforts to be healthy are doomed to backfire.
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I could be off, but I don't think four letters are expected at any college, even very selective ones. I think it's more that they allow up to 4 for students who feel like they have an extra recommender or two that they really want to include...but two is pretty standard for selective colleges. I definitely wouldn't include any "extra" unless they'll be super strong (i.e. just as strong as the required recommendations). At any rate, both my kids got into selective schools with the minimum required recommendations.
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no...we've never wrapped...not stocking stuff nor non-stocking presents from Santa. I was startled when my Dad married my stepmother and she wrapped stuff in stockings.
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1 hour ago, pinball said:
Bumping this for you!
looked at your blog…it’s awesome.
Thank you!
I see that I'm getting a good many views but no replies, which I gather means that no one knows anything about ACNES syndrome, but that, like me, when they see a thread about some obscure health concern they need to click on it so they can read and find out if they think they have it, too 😂
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I've had weird, persistent but fairly mild pain/discomfort in my upper right abdomen (it alternates between burning pain just to the right of and above my belly button and just vague discomfort on the right side) for over a month now. Normal labs and a negative H pylori test at my PCP, so now I have a GI appointment in a week. PCP thought maybe either ulcer or gallbladder, but...neagive h pylori and she said it's a little low for my gallbladder. But of course I cannot stop googling in the meantime. Came across "anterior cutaneous nerve entrapment syndrome" last night, and it sounds...like me! Particularly being able to pinpoint one spot with a single finger. That's what I DID when I saw my NP a few weeks ago, without being asked. Everything I read about it says it's very common but underdiagnosed, and that people tend to go through a lot of unnecessary tests before they figure it out. So that sounds fun. Anyway, anyone have experience with it?
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Solo Stove Mesa tiny tabletop fire pit. We have an RV, but he doesn't want to haul a full size solo stove around with us. This one seems like a good compromise and also overpriced enough that we wouldn't buy it except as a splurge for a gift.
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We do Victor Hi Pro Plus (from Chewy)...it's well reviewed on dog food advisor, high protein but not grain free (I don't really know what to make of the controversy over grain-free food, so that seems like a decent compromise), not crazy expensive, and our dogs seem to do well on it (it's advertised as "for active dogs" but my dogs are not especially active and they stay nice and slim on it...even the beagle!)
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Flaky professors are just a part of college life (as are professors with excellent intentions who are overworked and can't get to everything they want to). I wouldn't worry about a B (here DE grades are weighted like AP grades, so a B would count as an A on the transcript anyway), and I also wouldn't assume it will end up a B yet. My kids' experiences with a lot of their DE and college classes is that if they're struggling usually most other students are, too, and professors very often find ways to help students improve grades as the end of the semester gets close (particularly the students who are clearly making a good effort).
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Having read about what happens to returns much of the time, I wouldn't try too hard to return them. In my experience, it's often pretty much impossible to get things straightened out in such cases anyway; the system just isn't set up to handle it. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/30/business/online-shopping-returns-liquidators/index.html
Quote“Easily, 25% of all these returns get destroyed,” said Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis and founder of RetailGeek.com, a retail industry blog. “And destroyed in the best case means recycled, but often means ending up in a landfill or literally burned.”
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3 minutes ago, EKS said:
However, I would caution him that getting a math degree probably isn't what he thinks it is having only experienced high school math in that after a certain point a big part of it is writing proofs and not actually solving equations. In fact, these days, the vast majority of the stuff you spend so many years learning how to do in high school and early college can be easily done on a pocket calculator.
One thing my kid did almost by accident that was helpful was take a proof based discrete math class dual enrollment in high school. He had time to do a couple of DE math classes post BC calculus, and wanted a break from calculus itself, so ended up doing linear algebra and then the discrete class just because it sounded interesting to him instead of doing multivariable calc, which would be the more typical sequence. So he had some experience with higher level, not just computational, math before he started college, which helped clarify things for him, I think, by giving him a taste of what being a math major would be like (as opposed to a major that involves a lot of math, like physics or chemistry or comp sci or whatever).
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My son is a senior math major right now...he was never interested in engineering, either, and has always liked the pure math side of things. Until this year I think he always assumed he'd be going to grad school for a math phD, and he did All the Things you're supposed to do for that track (studied math in Budapest for a semester, took the right classes, did a teaching assistant job for a semester, and then did an REU (research experience for undergrads) last summer (and is about to present a paper that came out of that at a conference). But this year he's feeling burned out on that side of things (bad timing, since he signed up to do an honors project in addition to his regular final project for his major), and is now planning to look for a job or internship for next year instead and then reevaluate grad school after working some. He has a data science minor as well, with a concentration in GIS (he's taken stats, comp sci, and GIS based geography classes to get the data science minor), and I think that's where he's going to mostly be looking at jobs; it seems like data science is big right now. I could definitely see him liking a GIS job a lot and maybe going to grad school for that (geography, GIS, urban planning possibly?) instead of math. But we'll see. So. Not sure how helpful that is, since things are still up in the air for him...but just throwing it out there as an experience of a mathy kid who didn't want engineering.
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I had nothing but a sore arm (got it at the same time as the flu shot)...I had mild fatigue with the others, so I guess less of a reaction with this one...but I didn't have serious side effects with any of them. Same for my husband and all of my kids except one who said he felt cruddy the next day (after not having much reaction to any of the others); he's the only one of us who has had covid (but it was back in January)--not sure if that's the difference or not.
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Mine aren't particularly fashion conscious, but they all wear canvas Vans or converse. This might be because I just buy them whatever I wore in the 90s, though.
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Their Eyes Were Watching God was the first thing that came to mind when you said dialect. Although I think it's pretty frequently assigned in high schools, so she might have already read it.
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How many classes at a time?
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
I see a lot of kids, both homeschooled and in public school, take more, but FWIW, my husband is a high school teacher so I can say that 6 is still the standard at a lot of highly rated high schools around me (Atlanta metro area). The school he's at now is a charter school with an extra period, so 7 is the norm, but at his old school right down the street (same county) it was 6, and plenty of kids go to selective colleges from there. That said, the ability to add in more to suit your kid's interests and goals pretty easily is one of the benefits of homeschooling.