domestic_engineer
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Posts posted by domestic_engineer
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Yes! This year I made "appointments" with each kid on our electronic calendar instead of just keeping the information in a spreadsheet. Lo, and behold, my whole day is blocked off with school. Come winter time, I'll be doing school for more hours than the sun will be in the sky. 😬
But it definitely gives me a visual reminder of why dinner is running late or why the house is a mess or why I *have* to outsource class XYZ so that I can work with a younger who needs the one-on-one time.
The further I go along, the more I really admire the moms who homeschool "large" families.
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43 minutes ago, marbel said:
The bolded is a recipe we use a lot, from Damn Delicious. (That is one of the first sites I go to for inspiration; we have liked or loved every recipe we have tried.)
I am sure it's not a great substitute for gojuchang, but we use Sriracha when it's called for. It's good enough, if not perfect and authentic. 🙂
if you use Siracha, then throw in a bag of Cole slaw mix in for 5 minutes and you'll get crack slaw, which is also super yummy! you get your veggies too!
ETA: Damn Delicious is a great site, I agree!
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2 minutes ago, Bagels McGruffikin said:
@domestic_engineer I do, but I can’t remember where I found it, it’s been too many years. Let me link a similar one:
https://dailycookingquest.com/indian-keema-ground-beef-curry.html
Like this, but I usually add in 1/2 tsp cinnamon too, and toss in extra tomatoes and peas to stretch it further. It’s amenable to a bag of frozen spinach hidden in it as well, super flexible!
Thanks!!! After clicking on your link, I realized that one of my mom's homemade creations is similar to this .... but much simpler. haha. Like making taco meat but with Curry powder instead of the taco seasoning. We also throw in some peas and sometimes, diced potatoes, to stretch it. We serve it inside a pita pocket. It's also always a winner too, especially when I remember to salt the thing. 😄
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- Hamburger Soup or Minestrone
- Sloppy joes
- Crack Slaw
- korean style beef (although you may not have gojuchang on hand for this recipe, although this recipe may work)
3 minutes ago, Bagels McGruffikin said:Chili, beef stroganoff, taco meat, spaghetti, shepherds pie, keema, etc?
Keema is seriously always a hit, either over potatoes or rice.
I just googled to see what keema is, and it looks delicious! Do you have a preferred recipe for making it?
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At what point do you turn the spell checker “on” for your kids’ school assignments? I’m curious about your answers for both neurotypical kids and those with learning challenges.
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You can use a crockpot to be frugal .... to make broth, to cook dried beans (without an overnight soak) to freeze for future use, to make bean soups.
You can use a crockpot for convenience.... a turkey breast in the crockpot for a holiday feast is sooooooo easy and frees up oven space.
you don’t always have to prep in the morning. Some recipes only take the afternoon to cook so one could start it at lunch time. I often pick recipes based on cook time and when I’m available to prep the ingredients. Generally you can change the cook time by a factor of two (or 1/2) if you use the other heat setting. Also, If you prep ahead of time, you don’t have to put the liner in the fridge; just put the ingredients in a ziploc bag or other manageable container the night before. Then in the morning, dump the contents in the crockpot.
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I would go .... in fact we just started going, every Monday morning within the first hour of them being open (and similarly ours is closed on Sunday). The kids have to generate a list At home of what books they want and the call numbers, so there’s no using the computer at the library. They can browse for a few minutes too. But no extraneous time spent in the library. We are in and out in 15-30 minutes.
I think the kids appreciate the anticipation, the routine, and the normalcy of weekly visits Additionally, in a time when so much has been taken away from them, it’s a way for them to have a bit of control and freedom when they choose and browse books for themselves.
Yes, there is risk, but it’s about as small as I can get it ... Everyone in the building is masked, physical barriers are between us and the circulation librarian, duration is short, small number of patrons that we could run into (and if we stay in the kids department, we have yet to see anyone - including the librarian!), hands are sanitized ASAP, and we aren’t in a hotspot.
so - I vote go! I think the rewards (joy and books) outweigh the risk, which is being mitigated.
ETA: you might check to see what your library’s book-quarantining policy is. Ours lets the returned books sit in the book drop for 3 days before anyone touches it. So I feel comfortable with the kids pulling them off the shelf and reading it on the way home. (But I also believe contact transmission Is not as big of a deal as once thought).
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The newer editions have color pictures whereas the older ones, iirc, have black and white pictures.
Also -- I think the newest edition has an additional book to cover the most recent time period.
if audiobooks are utilized in your family, you may want to match up the physical edition with the version read on Audible, which I assume is the newest edition.
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In this thread, @wendyroointroduced us to Tanton's Middle School math courses on Edfinity. I was wondering ... has anyone had taken the courses over the summer? And would you share your experiences with the classes, please?
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I would argue that you do NOT have to catch your older up on the first 2-3 time periods. And in fact, I would suggest that you start them both on Ancients, assuming you're going to keep them both in the same era. If it's too easy for your 4th grader, there's always lots to supplement or research. (I like the idea of SOTW1 as the main program with OUP's Ancient History as a supplement, if you need it.) But the main reason for advancing your 4th grader 😉 in my mind, is that the topics covered in the Modern Era are tricky to teach to a 1st grader. And if you're using SOTW, book 4 is really aimed towards older kids.
But also ... remember you don't have to start with Ancients. You can jump into whatever era you want; it's ok!!
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maybe check out how smallpdf.com splits PDFs? I've never used the website for that purpose.
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When you import the file into notability, you can select which pages you want to make your new note. (Choose file, "create new note", on the next screen there should be a '"Pages" option, on the next screen you choose which page(s) to import.)
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I have never used Mr. Q science, but ...... you can split PDFs into smaller PDFs. Smallpdf.com claims to do this. I've used them for other pdf--related jobs without any issues but never splitting.
ETA: But now that I found his website, maybe we need it for this year ......... 😜
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2 hours ago, Melody1 said:
Also, I have been looking at Killgallon's materials. I am thinking that Sentence Composing for Middle School and/or Paragraphs for Middle School might be appropriate to help my son. I have no experience with these and don't know anyone who does. I can't fully tell if they are just copy work, or also cover all of the concepts of great sentence and paragraph composition as well. Any thoughts?
Depending on how voracious of a reader your son is, you might consider using Killgallon's books of the same title but at the elementary level. To have Killgallon pull a sentence from a book he's already read might be more exciting/meaningful than a book he hasn't read yet ... at least that's the way it is in our household.
Killgallon is not copywork; it pulls examples of great sentences/paragraphs from modern-day literature. The student will study it (how it's organized) to see what makes it great (this is where the teacher/parent is needed). Then the student uses that excellent sentence/paragraph as a model to create a sentence/paragraph of his own. It's like after studying this "master example" the student will have a skeleton from which he can use to hang his own ideas upon.
The Killgallon's website doesn't seem to be working, but the one page that is working right now (here) gives a little insight into how the books operate (if you're short on time skip ahead to the near bottom before the blue text and read to the end.)
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1 minute ago, square_25 said:
Is it possible he's actually having trouble with the math?
or just need at-the-elbow attention ... which, because of the size of your family, might require it being done on Monday? If it's just the need-mom-right-beside--me factor, maybe just plan on less independent work during the week and spread it out to include doing it on Monday. This would avoid the punishment aspect and hopefully develop a good mindset about math ... but you know your kiddo and why he needs Monday math.
Also - if it's the 10 yr old, it could be puberty brain starting to kick in ..... (did I mention *eye roll* about puberty brain?!?!)
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I hesitate to chime in as I certainly don't have it "all together" or have homeschool graduates that demonstrate that my ideas are valid, but perhaps my comments can be taken as a fellow traveller ....
First, you said :
On 8/14/2020 at 5:34 AM, alexandramarie said:I give a lot of credit to you for doing your own thing. I have always wanted to, but I feel it would be easier just to follow what someone else has planned.
I think the bolded may be how you're feeling (perhaps some insecurity?), but it isn't necessarily the truth of what would happen. I think trying to follow someone else's plan is one of the hardest things to do .... IMO, that's why virtual, crisis schooling was so hard for parents last spring. They were working someone else's plan (the teacher's) without being allowed input as to what would work best for their situation and the kid in front of them.
Second, you also wrote:
14 hours ago, alexandramarie said:Thank you for this; you are right. I know the things I don't want; I am not sold on a classical writing program, I do not want my kids memorizing facts without their informing ideas. I want an education based around living books and for my kids to to be able to narrate, discuss, and notebook after reading those books. We do enjoy Latin and I do see the benefit of it. Where we just moved there are a lot Spanish people, so I do see the benefit in learning spanish for conversational purposes, we are doing this as a family. I want good relationships with my children, and right now I feel that going from thing to thing is effecting the atmosphere of our home. What draws me to the Latin Cenetered curriculum is the simplicity of it ( drew also suggests an hour a day of family reading and then working kids up to an hour a day of independent reading.) I love the hoffman academy. We love poetry, art, and music as a family. I do not like the Charlotte Mason way of teaching my kids to read, but prefer phonics ( I actually like 1st start reading). I enjoy talking about scripture each morning and singing a hymn as a family ( although my older two just started clocking out of hymn singing). My kids LOVE nature, it is actually my goal to get them outside two hours a day. With LCC I would not do study guides. I like the rainbow curriculum because I like the idea of tutoring my kids each day in reading and math and then giving them individual book baskets and me possibly picking some read alouds. I guess I don't know what I want. I want children that love Jesus and others and value relationships. I want children that have read deeply and been shaped by what they have read. I want children that can express their ideas well. I love that my daughter loves sewing and can play the piano by ear and has made a quilt by the age of 8.5. I love that my son catches every animal and bug he can get his hands on. I love that my oldest son was reading the Golden Bible to my two year old today and explaining to him about what Jesus did on the cross. I have read the Latin Centered Curriculum many times, I have read Charlotte Masons volume 1 and 6 at least twice a piece. I listen to Charlotte Mason Podcasts, Sally Clarksons Podcasts, and follow Mom Delights. So I guess I have so many messages I constantly doubt what I am doing. Above all I want peace and the fragrance of Christ to reign in our home.....
This is a great description of what you want, what you've imagined as a result of listening to all the different podcasts and books you've digested!!! To be blunt, I'd say turn off all the podcasts, stop reading the how--to books, and just make YOUR own plan of how YOU want YOUR school to look like in order to accomplish the goals that YOU want from this season of life. Just like Pinterest and HGTV can make you dissatisfied with your dwellings, so can podcasts affect your homeschool life.
Remember that there WILL be holes in your kiddos' education, and that's OK. It's not possible to teach them everything while they are with us, but we CAN help them develop a lifelong curiosity.
Thirdly, on a more practical note:
18 minutes ago, Little Green Leaves said:One thing I've found is that you don't have to do everything all the time. Even activities which you do on a short-term basis can have a positive impact on your kids and your family.
For example, I'm always kicking myself for not having my kids memorize poetry. Last year we got on a streak of working on that every morning, and it was a lot of fun. Then other things got in the way, and we stopped. I went back to kicking myself for not doing it, and I spent a lot of energy trying to create schedules which I did not follow.
Then recently I realized that both kids had actually gotten a lot out of the time we spent memorizing poems. They remember the poems we looked at, and they have nice memories of it. The same goes for some of the "picture studies" we did while following Ambleside. So, even though I haven't been consistent with it, it still had an impact.
I had always figured that consistency was the most important thing in schooling, but lately I'm thinking that it's not as simple as that. Maybe it's okay if some of the "extras" are happening just once in a while. For me, that idea is really liberating
What about talking a broader view of your scheduling? What about scheduling your feast per term rather than per day? So for term 1, do poetry every day; for term 2, instead of poetry, do picture study every day; for term 3, do composer study ... every day. Likewise apply this to your read alouds: for term 1, do nature lore & XYZ every day; for term 2, do ABC & DEF every day. This still provides the necessary consistency, but without having as many "balls to juggle". Also the kids don't have to retain for a week what last happened in "Our Island Story" etc.
I think that having a family schedule/routine that becomes engrained in the KIDS' head is necessary for peace, or at least MY peace--of--mind. The kids should know *on-their-own* what comes next in the day without me telling them. And, ideally, if it is simple enough that my kids can keep it in their heads, then I should be able to keep the routine in my head (and not need a checklist). Granted, it may take until end-of--term for *me* because I keep losing bits of my mind with each placenta that gets expelled, but you get the idea ...... (And note that I say this assuming a non-puberty affected brain *eye roll* *eye roll* *eye roll*)
I think you've got a wonderful idea in your mind of what you want to achieve, and you've even got enough experience to know what tools/curriculum to use for your family. You just need to silence the outside voices and just do it ... make it your own!!! You don't want to get to the end of the homeschool journey and have regret for at least *trying* to go-on--your-own. What's the worse that could happen? Go on your own and keep it simple. (You can always add more things/complexity later. :D). You can do this!
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Does anyone have any experience with online timeline creators? If so, can you please share your experience?
Google points me to timetoast.com, sutori, tiki-toki, smart draw, and time.graphics. Are there others?
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You want a doctor from this list: https://www.covd.org/
An annual appointment will check for near/far sightedness for sure. Few doctors may screen for developmental vision problems (convergence, tracking, depth perception are the big items), but like hearing and vision screenings at the pediatrician's office, they can miss some less obvious cases. The COVD doctor can run a more in-depth test/evaluation that takes, in my experience, around an hour and should provide you with a written report soon afterwards.
Insurance *is* hesitant to cover vision therapy, but a doctor in VT may be able to provide guidance in getting the most from an insurance company.
Our COVD doctor will screen for tracking by moving a ball/point left-and-right, figure-8 and watching how well the eyeballs follow the ball. Then she asks questions of the patient while the patient continues to track the motion of the ball. For convergence, she screens by having the patient focus on a point, then bringing the point closer and closer towards the patient's nose. She again observes how well the eyeballs follow the point. And for depth perception, she screens using a special pair of glasses and a special page and asks the patient to tell her which item pops up out of the page.
From your description, I'd guess he has convergence issues more than tracking issues. (Not that I'm diagnosing, but rather just giving you fodder for your google researching.)
Best of luck to you. I hope you find a doctor close by.
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- Smarter every day (Variety of science topics)
- townsends (life in the 1800s)
- Jonathon Bird’s Blue World
- korean Englishman (edutainment but one learns a lot about South Korea)
- Dan and Joel (short documentaries on everyday/often overlooked people of South Korea)
- Artrageous with Nate
- the Great War
- Skype a Scientist
- see if your state historical society, DNR, or PBS station has made any videos
- tv shows on you tube: Sister Wendy’s Art series and Stitch in Time (historical clothing), Rick Steve’s travel videos
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Killgallon’s Sentence Composing for _________
or any prepared copywork book.
Could you, on-the-fly, pick out a sentence from your daily read aloud and analyze that?
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It depends on what level you're talking about. Upper levels, probably ok to forego the whiteboard. Lower levels - possible but it'd be a pain to arrange them in alphabetical order every time.
It also depends on your kid. Some kids need to see the alphabet in order to internalize it.
I have done both storage solutions --- at home, I keep them on a magnetic whiteboard; when I've tutored, I store them in a container. I do get frustrated with the container-arrangement because I don't take the time to put the alphabet in order and then I can never find what I need fast enough.
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2 hours ago, Bagels McGruffikin said:
You might be surprised just how little many veteran educators here on this board actually checked in to what was going on in the local school. That is part of the frustrating disconnect with this new batch, I think. None of us really know how to provide advice for a situation that holds different goals than the one we are in, especially when we are asked for program or method recommendations - the homeschool curriculum providers don’t design those with a random year off from public school and part time working parent in mind. It’s just different.
4 hours ago, Emily in Indiana said:Square_25, that makes perfect sense and I'm glad it was successful for your kiddo. Again, what I'm saying is if you will only be homeschooling for one year, you should UNDERSTAND and CONSIDER what the school is teaching before making a decision, NOT that you have to do what they do.
I think both of you ladies are correct. Long-haul homeschoolers have a different “problem statement” than crisis-homeschoolers. Therefore it makes sense that each of your solutions to educating your child for the 2020-2021 school year will be different.
Long-haulers ought to admit their ignorance on how to educate a child to keep pace with the local schools, acknowledge the weaknesses of their curriculum, and stop promoting their solutions to crisis schoolers. And crisis schoolers need to understand that there is a difference between the two situations ... and it might be that there won’t be many mentors, they’ll have to do their own research, and they’ll have to forge their own path forward.
Even before the pandemic, I sensed a lot of frustration from veterans at people relying on crowdsourced answers to educate their kids rather than defining their problem and researching their own solution to their unique situation. And to add fuel to this irritation, I think many members of this board are super-duper researchers and problem solvers. So to see people not thinking for themselves is like nails on a chalkboard.
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You could always post an ISO (In search of) ad here and on homeschoolclassifieds.com to help you find the books.
Also check archive.org if you're ok with electronic copies of books.
I really like thriftbooks.com for used books. Powells.com always has superb quality for used books. And bookfinder.com may make your searching a little easier.
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What to do with hamburger for supper?
in The Chat Board
Posted
... or unstuffed peppers 'cuz some of us may be lazy and have aging peppers. 🙄 (I omit the cheese and the baking from the linked recipe.)