amsunshine
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Everything posted by amsunshine
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Khan SAT Practice Test
amsunshine replied to goldberry's topic in High School and Self-Education Board
Couldn't agree more! Barrons does have a reputation for being harder than the actual tests. Congrats to your DS on the AP Comp Sci!! -
I recommend you go to an allergist to get a scratch test for metal allergies. For the longest time, my dd was having trouble with her earrings and the dermatologist swore up and down it was nickel allergy. I kept buying her good quality 14K gold earrings. Finally, when nothing seemed to be working, I took her to an allergist. Turns out, she is allergic to gold. :confused1: I regretted not taking her to the allergist in the first place.
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Khan SAT Practice Test
amsunshine replied to goldberry's topic in High School and Self-Education Board
I'm not sure the curve was harsher on the actual test. My older dd missed 2 on the Khan Academy math practice test and Khan scored it as a 780, so that seems consistent with missing 1 for a 790. What I meant was that the overall composite score might be off by 20-40 points (based on my not so scientific observation of what was reported here). That still seems to be fairly close to the mark, in any case, so it speaks well for Khan. On the other hand, I told my girls they definitely shouldn't get too over-confident based on the score of a single practice test. When they take the test "for real" in high school, they will have to put in more time to prep. -
Khan SAT Practice Test
amsunshine replied to goldberry's topic in High School and Self-Education Board
It seems, based on our very limited sample of people here, that the Khan practice tests might overestimate one's actual composite score by 20-40 points. -
I guess I'm going by my own experience! At my dds' prepro school, Ballet 1 was offered twice per week, with Ballet 2 three times per week, and so on. The age guidelines offered by Ballet Talk for Dancers also provide a useful gauge. It's possible a school might put an older beginner, such as a 10 year old in Ballet 2, just so he/she gets more of what is needed at that age. Another good reason to try both schools and talk to the director!
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Yes, try both! Without knowing anything more, though, I'm wondering why Ballet 1 is only offered once per week at Academy 1? Maybe for pre-ballet, once per week is appropriate, but for ballet 1, once per week seems like the bare minimum. For your 10 year old, especially, it would be nice to have at least twice per week, maybe moving up to 3 times per week by the end of the year. Academy 2 seems to offer a more desirable pre-professional schedule, especially for your kids' ages. But, again, I know nothing more about these schools other than the schedules you describe. As an aside, I'm not sure that NASD accreditation is a big deal. Also, I highly recommend that you join the Ballet Talk for Dancers forum. Lots of knowledgeable folks there, and information about age appropriate training guidelines. HTH.
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Retaking SAT for a low math score?
amsunshine replied to Bettyk's topic in High School and Self-Education Board
Yes, I would have her do some intensive studying, either with a tutor or through some other prep program you choose, and retake. -
Los Altos School District and Khan Academy
amsunshine replied to ...................'s topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
We looked into Khan when I wanted to find a good, online review program for math. My dds used both Khan and ALEKS for a short time, and both greatly preferred ALEKS to Khan. That said, I personally wouldn't use either program as a spine for many reasons already mentioned -- just as a supplement for review. But, imperfect as it is, if Khan is actually improving learning outcomes for some -- especially in underperforming districts -- more power to them! -
another police shooting - a therapist helping a man with autism
amsunshine replied to hornblower's topic in The Chat Board
I can't even.... :crying: -
Khan SAT Practice Test
amsunshine replied to goldberry's topic in High School and Self-Education Board
Excellent score for your ds, Arcadia! My Dd13 only took the first khan practice test, too. On the June SAT, her actual score was 20 points higher on math, but 50 points lower on reading/writing (so her total score was only 30 points less than the practice test score). Very happy with her score, though, overall. When she took the khan practice test, I thought it was odd that her R/W score was higher than math as math is her thing. The actual scores verified that. Not sure why the practice test was off, but it wasn't too far off the mark. Eta: I compared dd's scores more closely. She got 2 more math questions correct on the actual test than the practice and she missed 3 more on the R/W. So the khan scoring is fairly accurate. I would assume the more practice tests one does, the more accurate the correlation with actual scores. I believe a 5th practice test will be released this summer. -
Is this for someone who was not yet 13? If so, you should be able to call tomorrow and get the score over the phone, if you get someone who's nice. We were able to do that when my dd was 12. Otherwise, the scores are mailed out.
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Why not do both? For example, do Jacobs Geometry this year, which has Algebra review in it. Next year, start Saxon Algebra 2 and continue from there? Your ds will fly through the Geometry topics or let you know he's already covered such and such in Jacobs, so he can move on to the next chapter in Saxon. I do think Saxon is flexible enough to do that, given there is so much cumulative review in the problem sets. For a kid who loves Geometry, he might just want to do the lessons/problems in Saxon to tackle things from a slightly different perspective -- nothing wrong with that. Just a suggestion....
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Math--what have you used, what are you using now...
amsunshine replied to mamamoose's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
My dds are rising 8th and 9th graders. We've used: Singapore Standards K-6: We used this with the excellent HIGs, the Intensive Practice books and the CWP books. I loved the logical progression of topics and how they built on one another for elementary. I also appreciated the IP and CWP for challenging my dds and helping them think outside the box. The IP books are especially good for kids who love math puzzles. I liked the activities outlined in the HIGs for concrete presentation of topics and feel the whole series gave my dds a very strong foundation in arithmetic. Singapore Discovering Maths/Dimensions Maths: We used the first 3 levels of this series. Loved how elegant the presentation of topics was in this series. Excellent problem sets. AoPS Pre-Algebra, Intro to Algebra, and Intro to Counting and Probability: We used these texts as supplementation. My dds preferred the PreA text to the Intro texts, but we've often brought out each of the books to do a chapter or two here and there. Excellent, challenging problem sets. I personally don't like that this series is not integrated, the way Singapore is, so I wouldn't use it exclusively. But that's just a personal preference, ymmv. AoPS is a high quality series -- especially good for kids interested in competition math. Saxon Algebra 2 and Advanced Maths: This is what we used this past year. We don't like these quite as much as Singapore, but Singapore became difficult to source through our charter, and I wanted a good, integrated math curriculum as an alternative. Saxon is not colorful, and it's fairly dry, but it's solid, and I do like its constant, built-in review. My dds have done very, very well with it. -
Yikes! $575 per month for only 8 hours per week? :blink: We pay approximately 25% less than that at a ballet school with an attached professional company for 15 instructional hours per week, not including rehearsals. I thought that was expensive....
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My older Dd is 14 and has taken ballet since she was 4. She started at a more recreational ballet school but by the time she was 8, we moved her to a serious preprofessional school. We have no idea if she will dance professionally. It is a beautiful art form that has become my dds passion. She knows the importance of education because very few make it in the ballet world. However, ballet quickly becomes a very expensive endeavor once a student is en pointe. We decided that if we were going to pay for ballet, we'd rather pay for quality training to avoid future injuries and the like. Also, we really dislike watching bad ballet. We felt that anything worth doing, including ballet, is worth doing right. There is absolutely nothing wrong with recreational ballet - but you should decide if that is what you want. And make sure that if recreational dance is what you want for your dc, don't allow them to be put en pointe. Pointe work should only be done with proper training, progressing for a certain number of years, at a preprofessional ballet school.
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We used the CA Standards eddition 1-6, and felt it was excellent. I liked the HIGs and also the progression of topics. Alongside, we used the Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems workbooks -- also excellent.
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ISO Young Adult books for 13 year old girl
amsunshine replied to tammyw's topic in General Education Discussion Board
I agree with most of the recommendations above (including the avoidance of most Greene books for now). However, I disagree about The Selection series. It's certainly not classic lit, but for a fun teen read, I think the series is fine. Although there is romance, there is no sex. Strong language is kept to a minimum. The female protagonists in the novels are positive role models, to boot. -
The poor people of Nice! :crying:
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s/o teaching kids to speak up (airplane assault on girl)
amsunshine replied to marbel's topic in The Chat Board
I did read that book, and I talk to my girls about trusting their instincts. Good advice! -
S/o (sort of) Pet Ownership is Becoming Elitist.
amsunshine replied to Ginevra's topic in The Chat Board
Both our dogs have been from shelters. The first from the Humane Society and our current dog through our local Helen Woodward shelter. We only paid the adoption fees and vet fees for spaying when we adopted them. We get the best food we can afford for our dogs, but we don't go crazy. But no other bells or whistles. She's our dog and we love her to pieces, but we definitely don't do all the extra frou frou things available today for dogs. I do have to say it does bother me when I see pets who are neglected or mistreated, but I don't consider the lack of doggie daycare mistreatment. I know some people who have a dog that is morbidly obese. It makes me a little sad to see him. These people buy him the cheapest grocery store dog food they can find and he gets almost unlimited access to it. I don't think it makes me elitest to feel sad about that dog. I think, even if you don't have a big budget for pets, you can use good judgment in what/how you feed them and still stay within a budget. They are our fellow creatures, even if not human. -
s/o teaching kids to speak up (airplane assault on girl)
amsunshine replied to marbel's topic in The Chat Board
Speaking of books on self-defense, can anyone recommend some good ones? I enrolled my dds in a Tae Kwon Do/self-defense class when they were much younger, and it was very good. However, although we still discuss the topic, we haven't really done anything in depth lately. I would love some book suggestions, and may also look into another self-defense course for them. -
ISO Young Adult books for 13 year old girl
amsunshine replied to tammyw's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Here are a few my dds ages 13 and 14 have recently enjoyed that I can recall offhand: Uglies (series) The Ability The Selection (series) A Great and Terrible Beauty I'd Tell you I Love You But I'd Have to Kill You (series) None of these are great literary works, but just fun independent reading. My older Dd just read The Fault in Our Stars as well and loved it. -
From the stories about this case, it sounds as if the girl was in the window seat and the perpetrator was in the middle seat. Does this mean there was an empty aisle seat, I wonder? Just thinking out loud here, but it seems to me that it might be a good idea to generally seat UMs in aisle seats, so there is a better chance of being seen and observed by those around them, including flight attendants. Being hidden in a window seat with a larger adult blocking the view might not be the best place to seat them. I always advise my daughters to take aisle seats, or I personally buy them an aisle seat if they fly as UMs, but only because I'd rather have it be easier for them to get in and out of their seat to go to the restroom. This case gives me an additional reason to put them in an aisle seat, I think.
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Not sure. However, I'm guessing that there is some express or implied duty of care here, particularly in light of the fact they charge $300 round trip. It will be interesting to see how the case unfolds, or if it settles out of court.