amsunshine
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Posts posted by amsunshine
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I'm just wondering at what point y'all (boardies, not just you in particular) decide you don't mind paying for it. Like, you mention the practice tests - did you say "hey, it looks like my kid scores above the median on the practice test, let's take a stab at the real thing", or...? Also, what if a kid is way stronger in math or verbal than in the other one?
I think you will just know, because you know your kids best.
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Okay, maybe 'ready' isn't the right word, but if I were to have my kids take the SAT now they probably would end up with 200s on each section, which would be a waste of time/money/etc and possibly demotivating for them. In other words, even though there may not be a point where someone is 'ready' to take the SAT, my kids are currently clearly NOT ready.
Yes, 1st or 3rd grade would likely not be a good time to start out with the SAT. I think 12 or 13 is the typical age to think about whether your kids are ready for it. My dds were both accelerated in their math and reading, and they had already done well on things like the AMC8 and Math Kangaroo, so the SAT didn't seem so crazy by the time they were 12/13. I had them take practice tests, and they scored fairly well, so we decided to sign them up. We didn't participate in a talent search, because it was less expensive to sign up on our own.
All scores from 8th grade and below are purged from the system, so there's no worry about your child's score from those grades staying on their permanent record. It's nice to have a baseline, and an idea of what areas need improvement.
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But I also think $5 for a Starbucks coffee is crazy. Once her spending money depleted rapidly from buying them herself she (and her friends) have been VERY MUCH OK with unlimited homemade iced coffees with flavored creamers. I did buy a cute cup with a straw and lid so she can take them on the go.
I totally agree! I don't see the point, and don't really like Starbucks. But this is the social thing my dds and their friends seem to love doing right now, so once a week with a gift card or two has worked pretty well. My dds have even figured out how to get "special" pricing and such, so they are figuring out how to make the cards last longer. I kind of like how they do that.
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I have pretty much let my kids spend their money on whatever they want, and I don't really remember them wanting something that would be too dangerous or inappropriate in some other way. Frivolous toys when they were younger, yes, but so far nothing other than that. These days, they like to buy clothes and books with any spending money they have. They might also buy a fun lipgloss or nailpolish, but not often as I usually get them makeup items they need. As gifts, lately they ask for Starbucks gift cards for when they walk to Starbucks with their friends after dance class. I've advised them about how those gift cards last longer if they get smaller sized drinks, but it's really up to them what they choose to order each time. They typically go with the smaller drink sizes because they prefer their gift cards to last as long as possible, lol.
eta: Now that I think about it, if my girls had wanted to spend all their money on candy or junk food, I probably would have steered them away from that. But plenty of treats are available at home, so I don't recall that ever coming up. I would have no objection to them using their spending money to go out for ice cream or frozen yogurt or something like that, though.
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I broke contact with my mother almost 18 years ago. At that point, I asked my priest about that scripture. Both my mother and I were members of his congregation so he was not speaking in a vacuum.
He told me I was the hero of the story because actually being the one to break the cycle is MUCH harder than to just follow along behaving the way you were brought up to behave in a dysfunctional family.
He told me that if I were to stalk her, try to damage her other relationships, try to get my siblings or her siblings to break contact with her, try to get her fired or evicted, all of those things would be dishonoring.
Saying, "I choose to raise my children in an evironment where people behave and speak respectfully." Was not dishonoring it all, but would ultimately bless her in the end.
Take it with a pound of salt, but it is one man's interpretation of that scripture.
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this. These are such wise words.
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Difficult to say, but the nice thing is you have both textbooks for Saxon, so starting her in 6/5 seems reasonable. You can always move her up if she starts to complain 6/5 is too easy.
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On the laundry putting away, that is not even the main chore. BUT, what happens is, I constantly get "I have no shorts" and "I have no shirts" and "you need to buy me more shorts" and then attempts to sit around the house all day in PJs (the older one) or just undies (the younger one). I do not expect them to fold shorts. I do expect shorts to make it to the shorts drawer. The way it looks right now is a handful of stuff shoved in to one drawer, and a handful in another drawer, and found two drawers of papers and junk and the rest tossed in the back of the closet. This was from the 14.5 yr old. And he wants me to buy him new clothes claiming he has none? So I dig these clothes out and find half of them belong to his siblings. Why did he put them in there? They were in his basket so they ended up in the drawers. He did not even glance at what he was putting in there, and he has not been in the drawers to dig out clothes for himself. He seems to think he is Howard Hughes based on his day to day wardrobe. But, he has plenty of time for hours of computer work. Cannot figure out how to even glance at what he is shoving in the drawers to make sure it is his, or to get his own clothes out later, but can figure out tons of stuff on the computer.
So, I think this is when you just let them wear whatever they want and let them know in no uncertain terms that you are not willing to buy them new clothes because they have enough. They are responsible for making sure the clothes they have are laundered and put away such that they are able to locate items of clothing when they need it. If they can't find anything other than underwear - they are to stay in their room(s) (if you are not comfortable with them in other areas of the house). If all they can find is underwear and pajamas, you are not willing to drive them to their respective activities, etc. My guess is they will figure out very quickly how to do their laundry and put it away.
This is a phase, mama -- I think all teens go through this to some degree. Stick to your guns - you can do this. Practice calmly saying "I love you, but I'm not willing to....(fill in the blank) if your chores are not done". You have three other youngers to look after -- you don't have time to deal with these teenaged shenanigans. It will take time to train them, but it will happen if they see you are loving but firm!
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Just had to say the dog in your profile pic is so gorgeous!!!
Thank you -- that was when she was just a babe. :001_wub:
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I have some teenage boys. They have a code that I finally cracked. Any objection they present ("I don't know how," "I'll do it after ...," "I didn't hear you ask me," "I thought you were asking someone else," "Huh?" or flat out ignoring the request) really means I DON'T WANT TO AND I DON'T SEE THE POINT OF [it].
Which, fine, okay. You don't have to want to nor do you need to see the point of it. That describes a good half of my responsibilities as a mother and as a homeschooler! And yet stupid, mundane, seemingly pointless things still need to get done. So buck up, boys.
What has helped us is to have an equivalent in THEIR world - for most of my boys that is sports, but some also do scouts and one has done a co-op. They've all been in a group situation where someone didn't pull his or her weight. They've all been in a class, camp out or travel tournament with someone who is a slob or smelly. For awhile, my third son was that smelly kid LOL despite my best efforts and weak gag reflex assuring him (it took social pressure). So even if they still think chores are stupid, boring, pointless, or worse - FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO DO - they know really and truly that life doesn't function that way. For me this didn't result in insta-cooperation, but it did re-frame things in their minds which helped overall. Is there a parallel in your kids' lives you can draw them to?
What else has helped is for me to present two options, and I'm 100% serious about enforcing them (which is why it's effective). I can do everything around the house by myself, but that leaves no time to chauffeur, to homeschool, or to do the extras I do. Or we can do the many hands makes light work thing and still maintain life as they know it. This was effective because of their extracurricular activities, and become MORE effective as they got older. Why? Because as they each got to driving age, I'd make them chauffeur younger siblings so I'd have time to do ALL THE CHORES myself. It became more desirable to load the dishes while I ran Younger Sib to lacrosse than to take Younger Sib to lacrosse and waste 90 minutes waiting for it to end - missing some social opportunities and even some extracurricular activities of their own.
I'm of the passive-aggressive mindset that if you don't know how to do basic common sense actions, you must need extra practice at exercising your common sense. You really "don't know how to" put TP under the sink? Great, that saves me six hours a week of sitting at your baseball practice because surely you can't be quick enough to play the game. Although it's also worth evaluating if you have such specific standards that they've adopted a "why bother?" attitude knowing they'll be corrected or told they're doing it wrong. That's my natural personality so I've had to learn to let little things go - how the TP is stacked, how the towels are folded, etc. Easy to say, harder to do!
Preach it, sister!
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I do think the chores OP has outlined for her boys are quite reasonable for their ages. They may need more things such as mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, etc. These are things one would hope they would continue to do into adulthood, and as husbands. Not sure about the asking to be excused from the table part, but assuming they are just leaving without a word to anyone, and without clearing their dishes, that's just rude. If an adult did that, it would be perceived as rude and they need to know that.
That said, I do think your family needs to regroup and rethink how you interact. How does your husband stand on these issues?
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OP: are there things that you are doing for the boys, ie., driving them to their sports practice or other "out of the house" activities? If so, those are things to think about mom "going on strike" with. For example, if chores aren't done, they don't get driven to the activity. We always try to emphasize, with our new teens, that our family is a team and it takes teamwork to keep our family running and happy. That means their age-appropriate chores need to be done, or the "dance taxi" in our house is out of service (the reason being mom has to do their chores in addition to her own). We are also listening to the 7 habits of highly effective families together and it makes sense in terms of making sure we make deposits in each others' "emotional bank accounts". When we support each other by pitching in, our accounts are all full. When a family member refuses to pitch in, the accounts of the other members get close to being overdrawn. Does this make sense?
We even joke about it sometimes, to lighten up the situation, and sometimes speak melodramatically about how the other person has just made a withdrawal from our emotional bank account, humph! It always seems to help to laugh a little, too.
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Good luck on test day for your son and all other takers :)
My kid's score was higher than I expected for finishing in 2hrs this morning all four sections of the Khan practice test. When I review the questions, he had 7 wrong for reading and 7 wrong for writing so I felt the the english score was too high given 14 questions wrong.
The math score is closer to what I would expect with 5 questions wrong for calculator section.
ETA:
I'm still waiting for the admission ticket by mail since he is under 13. I'll try to remember to update when this "saga" is over.
That's interesting that your ds finished so quickly. My dd finished it quickly, too, which surprised me. It made me a little skeptical about whether the Khan practice is truly representative of the actual test. Also, her score was rather high, I thought, for a 13 year old -- so it makes me wonder. Oh well, we are just doing this for exposure before high school, so we shall see.... Good luck to all!
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My laptop did the upgrade sans consent last week. Grr. I'm having weird issues with my mouse and cursor ever since, but don't know if it is related....
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But this doesn't really tell you if you are in the gap, does it? I calculated our EFC and then came here to ask questions and was told that with that EFC, colleges were not likely to meet need. So, if I hadn't asked here, I wouldn't have had any way of knowing that. I would have thought my EFC was the max I would have to pay. I'm still not sure what the point is in calculating the EFC, since it sounds like it is meaningless.
Usually, the Net Price Calculators for individual colleges will give you an idea of what you are in for. Being in the "gap" means no grants, low amount of estimated loans and the rest EFC. (As they call it on college confidential: "every freaking cent")
eta: Some NPCs are really cute and tell you how much in parent loans the student qualifies for.
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I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with Common Core. It's the implementation that can be a problem.
Regardless, your ds is young. Get the latest copy of the Well Trained Mind, find a comfy spot and start reading. Consider the listed options for second grade -- you may tweak things along the way, but you will get a solid start with homeschooling.
Good luck to you!
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Late to the party, but this is our favorite Nutcracker dvd.
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It's so unpredictable though.
Sometimes a college really wants a student for some reason, and offers more merit scholarship money than you might expect. You really can't tell how much it's going to cost a student to go to a particular college until you are finished negotiating with them, and it can be difficult to do that and walk away if you or your child gets emotionally invested in the college during the process.
This is true, but generally speaking, the individual college websites will outline the amounts of merit aid each college offers. So, one can at least narrow down one's search by eliminating the colleges that don't offer the level of merit aid needed.
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Yikes! That doesn't sound good.
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I think CR does an "ok" job of evaluating most products. Usually, for washing machines, their top rated machines are out of our price range. However, our first washer was one of CR's budget buys, and it never failed us in the 15 years we had it. It was still going strong when we upgraded to a Samsung front loader a few years back to take advantage of the awesome rebates available. The Samsung was a similar model to one of the CR's budget picks, but not the exact one. We initially purchased the exact model CR recommended -- didn't like it -- and exchanged it for the one we have now. The one CR recommended did not have an on-board heater, so the so-called "hot" wash was still technically a "cold" wash. This is not something CR cares about. Their ratings are heavily based on energy savings. I'm all for energy savings, but when I need a hot wash, I want a true hot wash. The next model up had an on-board heater, and is the model we have now. It is not one of fancy top Samsung models, but we have been very happy with it.
So, I think CR ratings are helpful but are still just a starting point for evaluating products. I find that I may personally place more or less importance on things CR seems to value.
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We are in the proverbial gap, like many others. We've already started discussing this with dds and how it impacts their college/university choices. We are fortunate to live in a city with a well-respected UC and a good CSU. The CSU offers full merit scholarships to local students with certain stats, so my dds know what to work toward in hs in terms of grades and test scores. We've also discussed the availability of automatic full scholarships (at various other schools around the country) for students with certain high stats, as well, so they know these are options, too.
Our goal is to have them graduate from college debt free, and to make sure they understand now what they will need to do to accomplish that. It's easy to get starry eyed about this college or that university, but for many like us, it's not practical to have our kids apply to schools that don't offer significant merit aid.
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Sorry-- didn't say that well. U brand is thinner than other Kotex brands. My daughter also prefers them over Tampax. She doesn't want to use OB brand.
My dds (both dancers and swimmers) prefer the U by Kotex as well. They haven't tried OB, but have tried other brands/types and do not like them.
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Well, just to let everyone know, my dd13 took her first practice with Khan last weekend, and will take the June 4th SAT. I will post when we get her scores this summer and compare them to the Khan practice scores. Hope it will help someone!
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I recently started a thread on this topic, but nobody answered. :nopity:
Here were some of my ideas (from that post):
(Independent reading)
Various Jeeves and Wooster books
In the Shadow of Man (Goodall) (she loves animals...will likely major in biology in college)
The Beekeeper's Apprentice (King)
Hope Was Here (Bauer)
Timeline (Crichton) (she's already read Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park -- loved them)
A Walk to Remember (Sparks)
???
I can't decide on a read aloud, though. Here are a couple ideas:
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Great Gatsby
The Pearl
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (ok, not technically a classic, but fun, right?)
So what are you planning? I'd love to hear....
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In response to why someone might think the "STEM" label is gimmicky, given what I've seen of public magnet schools (even "STEM" magnets) in our area, that are purported to be highly regarded schools, the STEM portion of the curriculum leaves much to be desired. Much of the "STEM" refers to smartboards in the classroom and tablets or laptops for the kids. These schools don't make quality choices for math curriculum -- they just use the same old stuff that the district uses. They are lucky to get science more than once a week, if that. Just not my idea of a "STEM" focus. There might be some wonderful magnet schools out there that implement STEM in a great way. I just haven't seen it, even in schools that parents in my district rave about.
Further, this is a new school with no track record. Who knows how it will turn out.
That said, again, I think it would be foolish to spend thousands of dollars for kindergarten at a private school when college costs are astronomical.
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June SAT takers
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted · Edited by amsunshinetemp
My dd had assigned seating too. I must have missed that on the admission ticket, but it was fine. My only concern was that dd would be seated somewhere she could see the clock in the room, and she was.
She said she finished every section early and even had time to re-check most of her answers. But then she said she only skimmed the first passage initially, and the second time she went back, she re-read it carefully and found she had to change some of her answers. :glare: Good learning experience. She also said she expected it to be harder than the practice test she took on Khan, but she didn't feel that it was.
The only slightly strange thing that happened to her was that she was not placed in the correct room alphabetically. When she checked in to what appeared to be the correct room, they told her that they did not have her name on their list and she had to go back to the front of the school and talk to Mr. So and So who was apparently in charge. She did and found he had grouped her, and all the other kids who were 8th grade and under, in the room with the high school kids at the end of the alphabet (My dds last name does not fall at the end of the alphabet). Weird. I have no idea why this was done -- when my older dd took it in 6th grade, they didn't do this. It didn't seem to serve any purpose other than to make her feel stressed out right at the beginning of the day because she thought there was a big problem when the correct room didn't have her name, and then she thought she might be late getting to the room where she was assigned. Maybe they thought the younger kids would feel better grouped together? But there were only 3 of them in a room full of about 30 kids. Goofy.
All worked out fine in the end.