Eilonwy
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Posts posted by Eilonwy
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22 hours ago, Farrar said:
But surely you do some reading as part of your regular homeschooling during the day, yes? You don't mean to say that these five books are the only books in any context that she is exposed to for a full year? She must to her own pleasure reading? Or have to read textbooks for school for other subjects?
Yes, she reads other things every day- many books she chooses, and textbooks, and she hears other books I read to her siblings. The one I read to her are often books that are more challenging than she would choose to read on her own, though, and are my deliberate contribution to the homeschooling effort. My partner is the main homeschool parent, while I am off at work most weekdays.
22 hours ago, Farrar said:I think you're possibly at that transition point. It's hard to believe, but your 8th grader is going to be as different in three or four years as she was in fourth grade from her kindergarten self. That's the level of maturity jump you're going to see in some form. She will be a legal adult at the end of this high school journey.
Yes, I’m trying to get my head around that! It’s not something that I have a good feel for yet, since she’s my oldest.
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On 5/9/2022 at 9:23 PM, Lori D. said:
For ethnic diversity, esp. if willing to do that during the day time and so you might have the ability to handle harder topics, check out @Farrar's book lists for her Global Perspectives Studies core 1 (Africa & Asia) and core 2 (Europe).
Thanks, there are some really good ideas here too! My book philosophy in general is that there are always more fascinating books to read, and it’s not about finishing a list.
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On 5/9/2022 at 12:08 PM, Farrar said:
I don't know how you could possibly do just five novels for a period that huge. It's too big. But I'm not sure what your whole long term plan is.
It’s certainly not enough books to represent the whole time period. I figure we can finish about 5 books in a year, but we have three more years (maybe?) which will probably also be mostly more recent books. We read together every night, so if we were done all 5 before the end of the year, I’d just pick a new one and keep going.
23 hours ago, Lori D. said:I really like Farrar's thought here, which leads me to suggest: why not have 2 reading sessions? During the day/school hours, read/discuss works with "harder" topics which would allow you to read more contemporary lit., and more diverse lit. And then wind down at night with those lighter, funny, fantasy, etc. lit. works before going to sleep?
This is a good idea. My first reaction is that I fear the daytime reading would be the thing that didn’t get done, due to our schedule, while the bedtime reading has pretty much happened for the past 10 years and will keep going for a while longer. And it might, but she also might lose interest in read-alouds.
With that in mind, I think I do need to broaden things out, both in terms of not being too focused on “happy”, and also to realize that as she gets older, this needs to supplement other work on literature rather than being the work on literature (even if we’re reading Goethe’s Faust or something similarly challenging). -
On 5/9/2022 at 8:15 AM, HomeAgain said:
…I'd also suggest The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. It is a biography of a woman with nine kids in the 1950s. She turned to contesting to supplement her family income and the book is packed full of her wordplay, poetry, and stories about how she found her writing support group.
I am interested in this, because my daughter loves writing and writes every day for fun. Thanks, I will look this up!
On 5/9/2022 at 5:19 PM, Emerald Stoker said:Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories was very popular here, but might well be too young for her. It could be worth a try if you are reading together with your younger ones some evening. (I think I remember that you have some elementary age children, but I could be mixed up!)
Thanks for this suggestion, as well as the other ones you listed. I do have two elementary age kids too, and my oldest listens to their stories too so she would hear it either way. I like the idea of a biography, and I had thought of I Am Malala as a possibility. Either of the Obama’s’ books is another good idea (I’m also Canadian).
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3 hours ago, Farrar said:
But also, if Oliver Twist was too depressing (it's a funny book with a happy ending! and yeah, some big sad parts and a lot of poverty, but still) then that's going to be super limited. I do think you can focus on happy books. But... I would also personally not be comfortable only reading happy books for a high schooler. There are too many important books and topics out there that aren't happy. I think it obscures too much about the world that's a key part of a high schooler's education.
This is a question that I’m thinking about. There aren’t mental health issues at play for my daughter (thanks, @Lori D., for considering this), it’s mainly that we’re reading right before bedtime, and for me, that the times are so dark in general that I don’t want to load on more. For Oliver Twist, there was child abuse, anti-semitism, then more child abuse (which we both read and discussed) then I read ahead to Nancy’s murder, and I couldn’t bring myself to keep going. Dickens’ appropriately named Hard Times is lighter. I’m not trying to avoid all books with difficulties, but I do want to avoid despair.
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14 hours ago, Emerald Stoker said:
We didn't do depressing, either. What kinds of books does she love? Funny, fantasy, love stories, adventures?
She really likes fantasy and adventure stories, though probably Pride & Prejudice was the favourite from our last-year list, which is neither. Thanks for all these ideas! Many of them I am not very familiar with so I will look them up.
12 hours ago, Lori D. said:Another thought is that this would be the perfect age/stage for short stories and meaty YA books on current big topics or by authors from other nations/ethnicities for discussion.
Wasn't entirely sure what you wanted, so I stayed with traditional lighter classics (similar to what you listed you've covered) for each decade of your 1850 to present time period...Thanks for your detailed list! I picked mostly classics rather than obscure books from the first time period, but they ended up being entirely British writers (some deliberately female) so I do want to branch out more than this, in particular, people from different ethnicities and regions. Do you have any particular favourites of YA books on current big topics or by non-white writers?
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10 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (there is talk of condoms and a girl's first time, but I think it's appropriate for 14)
I remember reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and really enjoying it at some point as a teenager.
Thanks, these are great suggestions. I’m open to all genres. We have read Peter Pan but none of the others.
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I’m coming to the end of my selection of novels from 1700 to around 1850 to read aloud with my 13 year old and so I need to come up with a new plan for next year. My partner has suggested 1850 to present, which is pretty broad, and so I’m trying to come up with around 5 books that are age appropriate and ideally not too dark because we read them right before bed, as well as being well worth reading, and common cultural references. They can be a stretch in terms of writing style because I read them to her. I’m finding this age kind of challenging because we’re moving out of children’s books but many adult books and high school typical books are dark and hopeless, and I’m not sure whether to just go with this anyway if it’s some kind of developmental need or seek out cheerier books. I didn’t personally enjoy or feel like I gained much from the required books from high school English except the Shakespeare plays.
Over the last year we read Lorna Doone, Pride and Prejudice, half of Oliver Twist (too depressing), Gulliver’s Travels, and we are nearing the end of Jane Eyre.
Do any of you have suggestions for not-to be missed books since 1850, that would work well with a 14 year old? This could include non-fiction too. Do I need to include depressing books with hopeless endings? Thanks so much!
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20 hours ago, Ordinary Shoes said:
Podcast recommendation.
No name or link shows for me, @Ordinary Shoes
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2 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:
I looked on the map and I’m trying to work out where they’re trying to get people out to? It looks like Mariupol is right on the Russian border and many other the cities close by are already taken or disputed?
I read yesterday that there were plans to get them initially to the city of Zaporizhzhia and from there, to the western part of the country. I don’t know if the same corridor is to be used today.
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5 hours ago, Kanin said:
I've got some tea tree around here somewhere. We did try it for athlete's foot once and it wasn't super effective, but we've never stuck with it long term.
I learned from experience that tea tree oil can give you bad rashes if you become sensitized to it, so if it seems to be making things worse then it’s best to stop.
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Missed you too, hope the trip back goes smoothly!
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Yes, we got both of them (10 and 7) vaccinated within the first two weeks it was available. Their second dose isn’t due quite yet but they’ll get that too as soon as it comes up. One kid was a bit off for a day and they both had sore arms, but no serious reactions.
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I haven’t been diagnosed with anything, but at times during the night I just have to move my legs. This makes it really hard to sleep because I can’t lay still. During my last pregnancy, the doctor recommended supplemental magnesium for this and I still use it when it flares up, like last night. If I take magnesium regularly, it mostly prevents it, and if it happens, taking one in the middle of the night will often make it ease. I didn’t know restless legs was also associated with iron deficiency, though. Caffeine makes it worse, as does being over-tired.
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We’ve been playing Sushi Go Party, Photosynthesis, Calico, Wingspan, and Voyages. I think Sushi Go and Voyages are the kids’ favourites.
We didn’t play Everdell over the holidays, but I do really enjoy it. I find it more relaxed than Agricola, and also very whimsical.
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4 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:
Seeing reports that some train services etc in the UK are being reduced?
Not in UK, but our local transit bus services are being reduced due to staff either ill or isolating. This started within about 2 weeks of initial Omicron spread, and is getting worse going forward.
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23 hours ago, ktgrok said:
Well, we are testing the wastewater here in Orlando (well, orange county to be exact) and finding almost all Omicron. They are saying that samples show almost 100% Omicron here, in wastewater. So...either it just likes us more or?
In you area it probably is almost all Omicron, but in the areas that were getting an upswing of Delta in November then it wouldn’t have been such a high proportion, especially if they didn’t have early Omicron case exposure. Orlando would get way more visitors than many other places. I think the wastewater testing is a really good way to monitor what’s going on.
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2 hours ago, wathe said:
Ontario's curve has not slowed down, I 'm afraid: 1453 two weeks ago, 4383 two days ago, 5790 yesterday, 9591 today. Percent positivity is at an all time hight of 18.7%. Was 10% 2 days ago, and 5% two weeks ago.
Quebec is a similar story, but even worse per capita.
I’m sorry to hear that! I’m also not sure that ours won’t take a sudden swing up, with kind of a step-wise growth pattern that happened last week. Our numbers for today haven’t been released yet. I sincerely hope that Ontario’s and Quebec’s growth rates will slow.
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23 hours ago, wathe said:
I think it's that we've stressed our testing capacity. Here. last week, we could get an appointment for an PCR test on the same day. Now the next available appointment is in 5 days.
Our testing capacity is stressed, but appointments are only about 2 days out, if you have symptoms. Asymptomatic PCR tests aren’t available at all. Here, I think the stress to testing doesn’t explain the whole change in the curve since our positive test rate is still only 6% or so (though I’m not sure, and there could be a pattern resulting from the transmission time where it hovers around one rate for a few days, then sharply increases for a few days, since all the cases started from one superspeader event only a few weeks ago- if this is the case, the daily case rate will rise steeply in the next 2-3 days). It’s likely that behaviour changes are also helping to flatten the curve somewhat. Looking at the graphs, though, the curve still looks shockingly vertical, so I suppose it’s really lowering the slope by just a few degrees. Almost every province in Canada now has the characteristic vertical line.
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31 minutes ago, Wheres Toto said:
I was wondering if those huge numbers in UK and Canada were results from those who show up at testing centers/doctor's offices/hospitals, or if people who do rapid tests would also be in those numbers. If not, YIKES.
In my part of Canada, the high numbers don’t include rapid test results, only if people then followed up with a PCR test as required and that was positive. That may change next week as our testing prioritization to high risk people takes effect.
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13 hours ago, wathe said:
The situation is exploding in Quebec.
6300 cases today, in a population of 8.6 million. (by my math that's 732 per million per day,
In Ontario the rate of rise of new cases appears to have decreased, and it has in NS too, which could be a good thing if it’s true, from people really limiting contacts. A lot of social things got cancelled last week, and even more this week. It’s possible that Public Health actions can control the spread in a meaningful way, and that makes me a bit more hopeful than I was.
It could also be resulting from limited testing capacity, though, and that we just can’t see the new cases.-
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12 hours ago, wathe said:
Hospital staff sick calls for covid and manadatory quarantine are rising. How we are going to keep the place staffed is a legitimate concern.
Testing systems are strained - long wait-times, lengthening TAT, cannot keep centres adequately staffed..
Rapid tests are not easily available. There are some free tests being distributed at pop-up sites. People line up for hours, and supply runs out within 30 min.
It’s looking like this where I am too. I’m currently quarantining after close contact at work last Friday. I was notified on Monday, booked PCR test immediately, the closest is Thursday, and I’ll get results after Christmas. But as of next week, I wouldn’t be eligible for a PCR test at all, since I am not in health care, or certain higher risk groups. Everyone else will get rapid tests only. They are not being handed out to people anymore but will be saved for testing everyone with symptoms/exposure who is not eligible for PCR. I fully support prioritizing the testing, but I so wish they didn’t have to! That’s how strained our testing capacity is. Public health also announced rising hospitalization and health care & emergency services worker shortages due to illness and quarantine.
One good think is that numbers are rising slower, but I wonder if some of that is related to testing capacity? Some of it likely is also related to people responding and reducing contacts, though. People are pretty community-minded here, and try to protect their neighbours.
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2 hours ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:
Do you do the 12 days of Christmas or all your traditions afterward? Any stories that will help me normalize it a little for the kids?
Yes, we do this every year. We decorate the tree on Christmas Eve, and then we have Christmas stories (a book we always use) every evening at bedtime for the 12 days of Christmas, starting on Christmas Day. My time off is mainly after Christmas. Are your kids into historical stuff so that they could go for a Shakespearean Christmas schedule or something like that?
I hope that you and your family have a very cozy and restful 12 days of Christmas!-
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17 hours ago, wathe said:
The problem isn't going to be severity. It's going to be volume. Our case curve is vertical. We had 1476 cases int he province last Sunday. Today we have 4177. Testing capacity is strained (and wasn't last week), so the the true number is likely higher.
17 hours ago, wathe said:Also, another key difference is that it's spiking everywhere at once.
In past waves, we were able to cope by transferring patients out to areas that were relatively spared. My own hospital took 200 such transfers. Saskatchewan transferred patients to Ontario during their fall wave.
This strategy won't work if the whole country is hit at the same time. Which is happening.
I’m in the same country, but a completely different part. Local numbers went from around 100 early last week to over 400 by the end of the week, so the same kind of gain, proportionally. I’m very concerned about overwhelm due to numbers.
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Book suggestions for Gr. 9 Literature
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
Thanks, she might really like Dracula- she has some vampires in the story she’s currently writing. I think that gradually she’ll be more comfortable with more difficult concepts and so will I in discussing them with her.
I’m encouraged that you have kept read aloud going- I hope she’ll still be up for it for a few more years!
I’m open to trying a different Dickens-not right away because we need a change in style, but maybe the year after. Maybe it was the combo of the more challenging language (so often meaning the opposite of what he literally says) and the challenging topics including violence to kids that made it not work well. Thanks for your other suggestions too. I want to raise awareness without inspiring hopelessness.