AHASRADA
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Posts posted by AHASRADA
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I have been renting a Medela Symphony pump since my dd was 3 weeks old. In my state, Medicaid will cover the rental for the first 3 months.
This is considered the "Cadillac" of pumps, so if your friend can rent one, that would be the best solution. Believe me, when a mother has the stress of a new baby, and extenuating circumstances that necessitate pumping, the last thing she needs is a pump that is difficult to work with.
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Personally, I know what it is, but cannot remember where I first heard the name, when or where I learned it. It's one of those things I just know, and in that situation, I tend to assume that it is common knowledge.
That said, we all have gaps in our education, things that we "should" know that we just never came across. I never studied world history in school, and only became familiar with the full scope of European history (not only the World Wars) in college because I was a romance language major. The rest of world history? Thanks SOTW ;).
Another beauty of homeschooling: filling in the gaps in our own education while learning alongside our dc!
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I not longer have my Saxon 3 stuff, so I can't answer your question on a specific lesson, but yes, it is best if you have the meeting book. That is where you practice the calendar, temperature and skip counting. Of course, you could skip that part of the lesson, but it was very valuable for my dc.
I don't think the meeting book has shapes to be cut out; those should be in the workbook. There are no instructions in the meeting book, it is more of a math journal for the student. Any instructions for the lesson you are on should be in the teacher's manual.
HTH,
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Dh and ds will be there. The rest of us will be sleeping ;). Personally, I really didn't see the point, especially since ds has soccer camp at 9am the next AM :tongue_smilie:, but ds has always wanted to see a midnight premiere, and it's the last one, and dh was (delusionally, in my opinion) willing to go, so there you have it.
BTW, dd and grandma will go to the Sat. matinee, so she doesn't miss the movie or a good night's sleep. Smart girl.
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I haven't read all the posts, but in my opinion, both dad and step-mom should be excluded from family occasions, based on their adulterous, home-wrecking behavior. If she was simply the step-mom, that would be a totally different situation. However, since this is the woman who broke up the family, the granddaughter, and anyone else for that matter, has every right to expect that the woman not be welcome in family members' homes.
Grandma should have defended her granddaughter and uninvited both her son and his new wife if he insisted on bringing her along.
My $0.02.
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I'm late to this thread but yes, my ds 14 will be a 9th grader next year, with all the customary accompanying anxiety.
This year kind of fell apart due to our new baby, and I am realizing that online and/or correspondence courses will be our best route to ensure his HS career doesn't get derailed due to my lack of time. He is a wonderful kid whose thought processes, strengths and interests are similar to my own, making it a joy to work with him, but I have to devote the majority of the time I have to my dd with LDs.
I'm in the process of trying to balance my desire to ensure he has the best education to help him succeed in college and be well-rounded, with the realization that my time with him is short and making time for the non-academic benefits of homeschooling as well.
Best wishes to everyone for a great high school experience!
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My ds's belt tests are $50, and I am assuming the black belt test would be much more expensive. What I find strange, as the others mentioned, is that the teacher claimed not to know ahead of time. I suspect he never had a student make it to that level before, but it was very irresponsible of him not to look into it and get all the facts (including price!) in advance.
...After 3.5 years it was worth it....Wow! 3.5 years sounds awfully fast for a black belt! My son's dojo takes about a year for the lower belts (yellow, orange), and 1.5 years to get to purple. However, the instructor doesn't differentiate based on age. He has the same requirements for children as adults in order to earn a belt, so it likely takes longer for young people. I'm just hoping he gets there at some point and yes, it will be a major accomplishment!
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Personally, I tend to enjoy the "modern" versions, if they are done creatively, humorously and still impart a moral.
I have a version of the 3 Little Pigs where a frustrated wolf, unable to blow down the brick house, wanders off to sulk, happens across a county fair, and discovers that he can do something positive with his wind-blowing talent: blowing up balloons, to the delight of the local children!
True, that's not necessarily the only version I would want my kids to know, but I found it kind of fun, and enjoyed having two positive messages (use your talents for good, not evil) in addition to the lesson learned by the pigs.
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Thanks for the suggestions. I have both the Lindamood Bell and SuperDuper catalogs, but as Tina said, I have no idea which items would be helpful to her. I can guess based on my experience working with her, but that could waste a lot of time and $$.
So, it seems like, based on everyone's input, that I should probably go ahead and have her evaluated, in order to know which type of interventions would be the most helpful?
Thanks again!
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My dd11 is severely dyslexic. We have been using an OG approach for reading, which has helped tremendously. We also went through psychoeducational testing (at our expense) to confirm my personal informal diagnosis. It was reassuring to have our suspicions confirmed, but it didn't change my educational approach, since I was already making accommodations for her.
However, I feel that there is still more there than just dyslexia. Most dyslexics have no comprehension problems when read to or using books on tape. My dd does not easily comprehend what I read to her, unless I consistently stop after every paragraph or page and explain in simpler terms until she understands. She is bored with movies containing a lot of dialogue, which often needs explaining as well (receptive lang. issue). She also has difficulty retaining and retrieving terms and names for people and things (expressive lang.)
So, I am wondering, what do I do for this? I am looking into further testing, but if my concerns will simply be confirmed, I would rather put my $$ into curriculum etc.
Everyone knows about OG for dyslexia, but what can I do to help her understand complex text and conversations, and to remember terms and names? I am becoming more concerned about this as she enters the middle grades. At some point she will have to read (or at least listen on tape) to textbooks, etc., and she will be at a huge disadvantage, not understanding the content, and certainly not retaining any terms.
Help!! ;)
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I buy gas with a debit card in Canada, but a credit card in the US, so I can't compare apples to apples. However, all of the gas stations I have used in Canada, when you swipe your debit card, a message comes up on the screen asking "Approve for $100?" If you accept, it will hold $100 on your card, to make sure you have the $$ before you fill up.
I always answer "No", and am given the option to choose the amount to be approved. I choose the amount I actually want to fill up with, say, $20 or $30. Then, when filling my tank, the nozzle automatically shuts off when I reach the amount I asked to be approved for.
This option may not be available at the station you used, but it's something to watch for.
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Hi Cleo,
Great to see you made it down there. Hope you and Gym Girl have a great time. Let me know if you think it would be a worthwhile historical/educational trip for us to make in the future. Looking forward to hearing all about it when you get back!
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My mom made mine, and it still hangs in the closet of my old room at my parents' house. Honestly, I have no idea what I might do with it in the future, never thought to ask my dd if she would want to wear it. But, we are sentimental people, and although I don't have a strong desire to keep it, it seems strange to think of getting rid of it, since it isn't taking up valuable storage space or anything.
At the time of our wedding, my mom used some extra cloth from my dress to make a throw pillow as a keepsake for MIL, since she couldn't be at the wedding. I have no idea if she still has it.
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We have always taken the minimal deductions, in order to receive a large refund at the end of the year. We use it for overseas travel to visit family, as well as unexpected bills and large purchases like a car or appliances.
It is highly unlikely that we would manage to save that amount of money if we received it in dh's paycheck throughout the year, so for us, it is a way of "forced savings". We learn to live within the means of the paycheck he receives, and get a "surprise" windfall at the end of the year.
It works best for us.
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I would prefer to tell the school counselor, as anonymously as possible. ie: "I have heard that she has been texting teenaged boys and contacting them on facebook, and based on the purported content of the texts and her facebook page, I am concerned for her well-being."
As others have said, her parents could become quite defensive if you approached them, and could easily turn the tables and accuse your son of making the first move, and get him in a load of trouble.
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I agree that it is important to create memories, either as a family or with a circle of friends (or both), but none of these have to necessarily revolve around school.
You have positive memories of experiences from school, which is great for you, but so many of us don't. It is not the simple fact of attending or not attending school that makes great memories; it is the experiences and the people you share them with that create the memories.
I'm sure if you stepped back and looked at your positive school experience objectively, you will see that it was all about the relationships, and not the school-specific activities per se. If the friendship dynamic hadn't been there, the experience wouldn't have been so memorable, and vice versa. This is the case for so many bullied kids, those who don't fit in, introverts, etc., who would describe the activities you mentioned (prom, pep rallies) as more of a nightmare to be repressed than a pleasant cherished memory.
Yes, as a homeschooling parent you have to make an effort to create these experiences for your kids, since they are not pre-packaged for them in a school environment. However, you are in the best position, knowing your children, their friends, their interests, their sensibilities, to guide them to activities and situations that are most likely to create life-long positive memories for them.
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2nding everything already mentioned here. We love the simplicity, the thoroughness, and the wholesome, old-fashioned drawings.
I use R&S with my dyslexic dd, who needs an enormous amount of repetition to retain concepts, particularly labels (verb, adjective, etc.) and very simple explanations. She is very successful with R&S, and particularly enjoys the diagramming.
I thought I would address the religious content, though, since this could turn off some secular families. While it is true that several of the practice sentences contain strong Christian content, there are also plenty that don't (I'd say the religious content represents about 1/3 of the book). We do most of the exercises orally, but each lesson contains both oral and written lessons, meaning there are double exercises covering the same content for each lesson. Therefore, even though we skip the majority of the exercises with Christian references, there are still plenty of others in order to drive the points home.
All that said, if you have looked inside some R&S books and have a great aversion to them, maybe they just aren't right for your family. Don't just take our word for it! Every textbook, even a great one, isn't right for every student and/or teacher! Before deciding, though, I would recommend looking through the online samples very thoroughly to make sure.
HTH,
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Our interests, personalities, temperaments, learning styles, strengths, weaknesses and approach to life are almost as opposite as can be.
When we aren't driving each other nuts, we complement each other fabulously (OK, the more I think about it, these two phenomena typically occur simultaneously--getting on our last nerve, while complementing one another).
The glue that holds us together is our agreement on faith, values, priorities, and life goals for ourselves and our children.
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My husband recently told me a similar, but worse, story about a friend of his.
He contested a ticket carrying large fines and several points. He pleaded his case to an official worker in the appropriate department, who agreed to reduce the fines and cut the number of points in half. All he had to do was show up in court and have it signed off by the judge.
This was a huge relief, as he expects to be laid off soon and hoped to begin training as a truck driver. He could not get the job with the original number of points the ticket would have posted to his license.
So what did he do? He completely forgot the court date. The consequence? Full fine, full number of points, no chance at the job.
Yes, you are not the only one, and yes, there is always someone worse off.
HTH,
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I currently have bins with size small, med. and lg. clothes in them, organized by size (unfortunately, the xlg. sizes are in my closet and drawers):tongue_smilie:.
These are all clothes that have fit me in the past, that I still like, and hope will someday fit me again.
I lost about 50 lbs. 6 years ago, and I bought a lot of size small clothes, since I was so excited to fit that size for the first time in my life.
At that time, I did get rid of a lot of my "too big" clothes, mostly tired and worn items I didn't want anyway. I did keep items that I really loved, thinking I would pass them along to a friend or family member who could enjoy and care for them well.
Unfortunately, I slowly gained the weight back, and was relieved to have some of those old favorite items in other sizes. It is very humiliating to have to go out and buy bigger clothes, not to mention hard on the budget.
I understand the theory that, if you throw out your "fat" clothes, you are less likely to gain the weight back. However, I believe losing and gaining weight is a very complex and psychological phenomenon that is not likely to be determined by whether or not you will have clothes to fit your new body.
All this to say, I agree with the posters who tell you to keep your favorite items, the ones that are least likely to go out of style, and put them in a bin in a storage area, out of sight out of mind. Hopefully, you will never need them, but they will be there if you do, saving you from adding the insult of having to spend money on fat clothes, to the injury of regaining the weight (which, of course, will never happen! :lol:
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It seems like I'm the only one here who would love a detailed list of what to get a birthday child. So many children I know have EVERYTHING and I detest spending ages picking out a gift only to be told "Oh I already have one of those". I also hate wasting money buying something they don't need.
While I can certainly understand the "etiquette" concern, and that in theory, gifts should not be expected and appreciated no matter what is received, the practicality of modern living wins out in my book.
Of course a birthday party guest is going to bring a gift. The recipient does not want to receive a duplicate item, or something they don't like/want, and the giver does not want to spend money on something the birthday child does not need or want.
There is also such a wide variation in belief systems, parenting philosophies and lifestyles, it is easy to offend or inadvertently gift an item that the parent would prefer never to be brought into his/her home (and it's not easy getting rind of an "offensive" gift once the child has received it :tongue_smilie:.
On the occasion of each of my dd's friends' birthdays, I receive an email from the mom, listing the types of gifts her child would like. This is greatly appreciated by all of us moms, since it saves us the agony of trying to figure out what to give, and ensures the child will truly enjoy and make use of the gift.
Yes, it may seem a bit tacky to request specific gifts. However, when a standard of etiquette makes a situation difficult and uncomfortable for everyone involved (not having any idea what to buy/receiving unwanted gifts), it's time to let it go and get practical!
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I think the other 3 siblings should graciously chip in $1,000 each (or the greatest amount financially feasible). They each got their 3K they were promised, and have grown up and moved on.
This would be a way of thanking their parents for their financial backing when the children needed it and the parents were in a position to offer the help by in turn helping their parents to avoid further debt in their time of need, while providing their youngest sibling with the same "leg up" they received.
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I voted other. Both my father and BIL have SUVs. We tend to still call them "cars" as in, "Can I ride in Grampa's car?" "Is your brother taking his car?"
I guess we use the word "car" to mean "vehicle" in our family. No, they aren't trucks, but somehow referring to them on a regular basis as SUVs would be akin to calling Kleenex "facial tissue", and toilet paper "bathroom tissue". Yes, that's what they are, but nobody (at least not that I know) call them that in daily conversation.
The men in the family, though, while still not using the term SUV to describe their vehicles, typically call them by their model name. "Let's take the Cherokee" or "Who wants to ride in the Pilot?"
So, I guess I'm voting for either car or Durango ;).
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It was very helpful/eye-opening to see the "factual" breakdown of who is middle-class nationally.
On a more subjective/emotional level, I would personally define as follows:
working poor: barely making it, a paycheck or two away from homelessness, relying on community services and food pantries to make ends meet
lower-middle class: struggling but generally successful in keeping their heads above water, possibly relying on credit cards to cover bills, must budget tightly and while meeting most of their basic needs have little to no discretionary income
middle-class: reasonably stable, can fairly comfortably cover their basic bills, although they may struggle to pay unexpected/extra expenses such as home or car repairs, have a modest amount of discretionary income but must ration this spending carefully
upper-middle class: can cover all basic bills, budgeted "extras" as well as unexpected expenses. Have a comfortable amount of discretionary income allowing them to budget more broadly and spend a bit more freely
upper class: stable, all basic needs, unexpected expenses, extras and reasonable wants are covered (the extent of these "wants" depends on the level of upper class)
Help!
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
1. Explode the Code Series
Wonderful and inexpensive. I used these more for spelling and reading. It is more for practice than actual instruction, but it is fun and works well. There is a "pre-explode" program, called "Get Ready", "Get Set" and "Go" for the Code, which introduces the basic letter sounds, if you need that. There is also Explode the Code online, if your child prefers interactive computer instruction.
2. Phonics Pathways
Great, no frills, clear and concise phonics program. Black and white, no graphics, just a simple incremental presentation of phonics. No written exercises, only reading.
3. Ordinary Parents Guide
Similar to Phonics Pathways, but scripted, and with quite small print. Also only reading, no written exercises. Did not have enough practice/review for us.
(Did not use the other programs)
May I also suggest using www.starfall.com It's free, colorful, interactive, and fun!
If your child seems to need additional practice with whichever program you choose, there are the Merrill Readers, which are phonics-controlled.
HTH,