Meriwether
-
Posts
4,323 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Meriwether
-
-
8 hours ago, Momto6inIN said:
Prefacing this by saying I am not slamming people who choose differently than I do. We all find fulfillment for our families in different ways. You do you, and I sincerely hope you rock it!
Now for my unpopular opinion: EC's for children under age about 10 are more about what parents want than about what kids need and most kids are in waaaaay too many. Their purpose should be exposure and physical movement, both of which can be done at home and/or recreationally. The purpose should not be "what can get us to the next level". There are a few exceptions/child prodigies but those are few and far between and chances are very high that your kid - as well as my kid and probably all the kids we both personally know - are not one of them.
So, with that in mind - we did what seemed doable for me as a mom and what didn't wreck the family schedule/routine as a whole.
Having large amounts of unstructured time and figuring out worthwhile things to do with it on their own is one of the joys of childhood!
Edited because pronouns/antecedents are important
4 hours ago, Momto6inIN said:Totally agree. Quality family time is exponentially more important and valuable than any EC.
Philosophically I mostly agree with you. Lol
And yet here we are. I do feel like family time is different for homeschoolers, especially since my kids do their main activity with their dad. The part I disagree with a bit is that kids can definitely be the ones to push for activities before age 10. My 8 year old would really love to be doing "real" ballet and gymnastics as well as TKD (real meaning full programs that are both bigger time and money commitments than what she does) if we would let her. -
We are spending roughly the same, but we would be spending less if not for two things - an expensive vehicle repair and extra travel for a sport.
I have been more careful on weekly expenses, I'm not spending much on curriculum, and we've made some big cuts on things we've done for years.
-
6 hours from my sister, 8-10 times per year
20+ hours from my brother, almost never for reasons influenced by life circumstances and not affection
-
My oldest is almost 20 and a sophomore in college. I regret the missed opportunities we had for her main extracurricular. I regret it enough that we are all in for the younger kids. I typed up a lot of details that no one wants to know lol, but I mean it when I said all in. We pay our bills (that I try to keep low) and tithe and everything else is fair game for the kids to do their activities. Yeah, we are activity poor right now and it takes a huge amount of time, but no more regrets. I'll get back to reading and buy myself some decent clothes when the kids are grown. That will be all too soon.
-
8
-
-
My kids have done the Foerster Alg. II/Trig and Precalc books. I like the presentation of the trig information better in the Precalc book.
-
He would probably say he didn't want to study anything. I tried to describe him recently to someone else and failed horribly. I could make so many contradictory statements about him and be entirely truthful. For example, I could say he is lazy. He doesn't like getting up in the morning and tries to put as little effort into his schoolwork as I'll let him get away with. But, also, he will do any task I ask him to, has a reputation at work of being a good worker, and works really hard in training. Oh, he also volunteers at AWANA and does really well with that. Everyone he works with loves him.
He enjoys the Old Western Culture videos a lot. He likes the Traditional Logic enough to do TL II. He enjoys reading, but the OWC reading has been a bit of a slog. He really enjoyed The Brendan Voyage, which I got him to read while reading about St. Brendan this year. His history will likely be good (by good I mean anything from interesting, to informative, to fun) books specifically chosen for him by me.
Outside of school he is a martial artist. He is very good has thought about running a dojo someday. He teaches private lessons as a side job a couple hours a week and helps coach the team sparring events. He enjoys that. He also likes other sports, but he doesn't have time to play on official teams. He just plays with friends. He likes video games but doesn't spend a lot of time playing. I don't think he'd like me making school out of those interests. Other than that, not much. He has never had deep interests in things like the other kids. Growing up, he always echoed his older brother's requests for Christmas gifts and then never played with most of the stuff.-
1
-
-
I'm not sure what next year is going to look like. It will depend on several factors. Ds16 is not my most academic child, nor does he see the point in learning most things. I want next year to be solid academically while meeting him where he is but also fun for him. Some of the things I am thinking about:
Math: last two thirds of Foerster's PreCalc book, plus test prep
Science: Berean Builders Physics
Literature: OWC Early Moderns, all of the videos and about 1/2 - 3/4 of the reading
Logic: Traditional Logic II
History: American History up to the late 1800's
Bible: The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study New Testament
Other possibilties:
Government
Spanish III
Film-
2
-
-
I video as much of the kids' sports things as possible. Their father also competes and judges during their competitions and can only watch them a tiny fraction of the time even though they are in the same building together. Sometimes he is in the ring right next to them and cannot watch them. I would not be happy if I was asked to not video them so he can watch them. I also fairly regularly video other people's kids when they can't be there and always appreciate video of one of my kids if two are competing at the same time. I would not knowingly share a video publicly that would be problematic for others.
-
3
-
-
I buy triblend t-shirts from Shirt Space. I put designs on some for the kids and get Dh's white undershirts while I'm ordering.
-
1
-
-
Things I've recently sent home with a family: lasagna, chili, chicken tortilla soup, meatballs, and chicken pot pie.
-
That is wonderfully generous, but perhaps you might keep one or two in case a grandchild would be interested.
-
3 hours ago, kbutton said:
Her name is incredibly familiar, but I can't figure out what books I might have read of hers.
The name looked familiar. My brother got one of her books - Safe as the Grave - from a teacher when we were in elementary school. I read it and liked it. When I was an adult, I bought a copy for my kids.
-
1
-
-
Four of the six marriages in my family and Dh's are couples who "dated" before high school. They didn't date at that age, of course, but called each other boyfriend/girlfriend. They all dated through high school. Three of the kids broke up for varying lengths of time in high school or college, but still ended up together. The idea that young relationships can lead to marriage is obvious to me.
-
2
-
-
I'm going to delete these off later today, but perhaps you can see my youngest's old uniform (hand-me-down light uniform) and new one (heavyweight we bought her when she had some accomplishments to put on the back).
Deleted for privacy reasons since you saw them.-
1
-
-
We have to buy specific ones, so I've never looked online. Generally speaking, though, the heavyweight are a lot nicer and have a much nicer snap.
-
2
-
-
My mom came to visit for two weeks when each of my kids were born and also for my sister's kids (even the two my sister had in Spain - 13 total babies). She hemorrhaged at two weeks after I was born, so she didn't want us to drive or sweep the floor which were two of the very specific things her doctor told her not to do. She also cleaned and cooked and watched the older kids. She is the easiest person to have around. After my third, timing worked better for my dad to bring her up (6 hours away) on the weekend, so we invited my MIL to come for the first 3 days. We aren't close, but she was fine. It wasn't like having my mom, but she also cooked, cleaned, and watched the older kids. I think she liked being asked, and it worked out fine. My mom did not go to my brother's for two weeks when my niece was born, because my SIL would not have been comfortable with it. They did go out to visit (12+ hours) for a couple of days in the first 2 months when my brother was off work. I plan on offering to come for each of my grandkids but won't be upset if some families prefer I don't.
-
1
-
-
It is my favorite math book of any publisher or grade I've used. For my last three kids, I have used it when they were 12. Well, Dd13 just turned 13, but she is also almost finished. The boys did a 2nd year of Algebra with Foerster's, and I am planning on Dd13 following that pattern. They wouldn't need to, but I can only go so far with math and they've plenty of time.
Most (maybe all?) lessons start with a real world application, the instruction is clear and comprehensive without being too wordy, and the problem sets are well designed to further a student's understanding.
-
1
-
-
Oh, I had a conversation with my older son (18) this evening. He is trying to break into the MTG pro tournament, whatever that is officially called. He is a very good player, especially in draft formats. I have been rooting for him, but not too much. Lol He is too young to get a hotel himself, so if he won a qualifier it would be another expensive trip. He has almost won a qualifying tournament already twice this year. He was asking me if he made it to the championship match at an upcoming tournament if he should make a deal to split with the other competitor - one person taking the invitation and the other the money prize (+/-$500). I told him no deals. If he won the invitation he'd need the +/-$300 for first place, too, to put toward the trip. He asked around and found out that Dallas is a likely destination for the tournament. Dallas is in driving distance and he has a cousin who lives there with whom he could stay. So I'm tentatively taking that off my list of things I may have to come up with money to pay for.
-
3
-
-
13 hours ago, EmilyGF said:
We are now referring to our car as our "crunch-mobile", since it was hit into another car by a hit-and-run driver while sitting in the mechanic's parking lot. We'll find out Tuesday evening how extensive the damage is and decide whether to repair it or look for another car. I'm so thankful for our friends. We've had people offer us uses of their cars until we get things figured out. We will decide Tuesday whether to take someone up on the offer.
So sorry. Will your insurance cover a hit-and-run?
-
1
-
-
With the one glaring exception of the engine replacement, the month went fairly well. We would have been able to pay for the Memphis trip and TKD camp without using bonus money (Dh's bonus is what usually pays for TKD travel). With no TKD travel or other big planned expenses, I'm hoping to resave closer to $2000 than $1000 of the money spent on the engine, plus set aside some money for a few other things the engine money was supposed to pay for, which means February is going to be very thin.
-
3
-
-
Rest of the week:
~$130 gas
$6 postage
$30 medication
$40 birthday party stuff
$157 makeup for birthday gift
$10 milk
We are finishing the week at about $600. Ideally I'd like to keep household and gas spending under $500/week in order to resave the money spent on the vehicle. We'll see how that goes on a non-birthday week.
-
3
-
-
3 hours ago, mommyoffive said:
So cheap. We never had dance that cheap unless at Coop. However our park and rec was usually $30 ish for about that length. I had no clue where our ballet budget would balloon to when we started. However a year ago we switched to a much cheaper school. But now the kids go away to ballet intensives in the summer. I just try not to think of how much $ gets spent on ballet each year. 🙂
It is a very laid back class. A fellow homeschool mom who did ballet teaches it at a local church. There is no overhead. No costumes. It won't lead to real proficiency; it is just for fun. Well, I thought it might benefit Dd8's TKD forms because of the gross motor control, but, perhaps ironically, the TKD seems to have helped ballet. Dd8 picks the movements up a bit easier than some of the other kids. Anyhow, we couldn't do a second expensive activity, so everything else the kids do has to be cheap.
-
1
-
-
Monday:
Gas $37.10
Groceries $106.xx I was only going to get a few things, but ended up taking advantage of a few opportunities. Cauliflower was 50c a head, so I got several. I'll roast two today. Multicolor 3 packs of peppers were $2.70. Spiral hams were 50% off, so I got two. I'll make a ham dinner Thursday night and use left over ham for ham and cheese chowder on Friday. It will be my daughter's 13th birthday and she requested it. I told her I'd have to see what the ham and cheese situations were. Ham products have been high and cheese has often been missing. There was cheese, higher priced than normal but available, so I got enough for a few meals.
Activities: $40 for choir I got cash yesterday, but it will pay out today. I will need to spend $15 for homeschool ballet on Friday. It is $15/8 weeks so I honestly barely count it as an expense.
Other than that, Dh will need gas at some point and possibly either or both Ds18 and Dd19, too. Dd13 will get makeup for her birthday (no idea what this will run but I am mentally prepared for $150-200, and she's asked for ice cream so we'll pick up some Culver's pints for about $20. And right now that looks like our week.
-
3
-
-
7 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:
I’m so sorry! Beyond the expense, I hope it isn’t too hard. I had to get a new engine while car stuff was really crazy, and it took AGES! (And a whole lot of money.)
My husband and I each have a different vehicle to drive. We used the Expedition for church on Sundays (We can use my parents' van for that since we have it. We could not get a car rental. After trying for hours we asked my parents to bring us a vehicle. They drove two vehicles two and a half hours so we could take one home. Their other vehicles are farm vehicles, so my sister is lending them a car until we bring their van back which won't be until the Beast is fixed. I love my family so much. I told Dad how much I appreciated it and he said, "You'd do it for me." And I would, of course. It would be so much harder to get through these little bumps without family.) and traveling. We won't need it until the beginning of March. I think the engine is supposed to come in the first or second week of February.
-
7
-
Sports/extracurriculars in the early years
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted · Edited by Meriwether
You might not become an intense sports family, but, alternatively, you might. Both dance and gymnastics both have a way of becoming bigger commitments as time goes on. I never thought our lives would become heavily invested in an activity. My family does TKD, and I remember when my husband and I wondered why people would go to a tournament one hour away. 🤣🤣 On four of the five weekends before Easter, my family competed in Dallas, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Lincoln. My 16 year old also traveled to Fargo for a special training seminar the other of those five weekends. We started with going to one class per week in four 8 week sessions per year thirteen years ago.