Clarita
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Posts posted by Clarita
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9 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:
Depending how firm your "no" is on Singapore, you might try the Primary Mathematics US edition?
I used Dimensions before and switched to Earlybird which is the Kindergarten level of Primary Mathethmatics. Primary Mathematics is much easier to use than Dimensions. Dimensions was more classroom oriented, so it was a lot of prep heavy activities for the units so you can set up learning stations and group activities for your class (which is overkill for homeschool).
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I've had a lot of success just mixing water with my cats' regular cat food. I didn't even bother gradually doing it (oops). One day it was pate the next day soup. My cat who likes wet food gobbled it up as if nothing changed. My cat who prefers dry food licked up all the water/gravy and goes back to her dry food.
Cat fountains have been hit or miss with my cats. Some like them, some avoid them, so I would just get one to start with.
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I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry your efforts and care aren't appreciated.
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Technically, DS5 will be entering Kindergarten next year, he was in K4 this year, DD3 will be 4 and she would like "school work" to make her feel special.
I don't have DS5 plans solid yet. So I guess here are some plans and some thoughts.
Reading: Continue AAR. AAR is working for us in terms of building fluency and I don't think it'd be a good idea to skip on ahead. I have my probably overthinking it thoughts, which is that DS5 is able to decipher phonetically or by roots/patterns way past where we are in AAR). The other day reading a completely new book he sounded out h-ou-s stared at the 'e' for a while and decided he probably didn't need to say that because h-ou-s is a word already (we are only on AAR level 1 beginning blends and ending blends). I'm nervous about him going down the road guessing and just memorizing words, but I don't know how to keep that from happening.
Spelling: I think he's too young to push official spelling, but IDK see reading.
Writing: He's not ahead in this department so we will do HWOT along with "writing"/scribing/narrating activities through science/history/social studies to show him writing is a good skill to have. Maybe get more puzzle books and stuff to work on the fine motor muscles.
Math: We'll chug along with Singapore Math (level 1). We are really happy with it.
Science: We are going to try Science Connection Inquiry. We have a subscription to Discovery Education and Generation Genius through our homeschool charter school so we'll supplement with that.
History: Continue with Notgrass Star Spangled Story, but just the reading not the work. I just make up my own activities based on the unit we read.
We'll do read aloud and stuff but I don't really plan that ahead of time.
I think our big question is how best to approach Language Arts.
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I can teach my own kids. With other people's kids well I'm pretty good at teaching professionals and toddlers. I know I can't stand teaching preK through college based on my tutoring and helping my peers experience.
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In my no experience what-so-ever opinion I'd seriously consider putting the kids on the floor. Place a rug (Amazon.com: Elite Montessori Accessories Rug Children Playing Mat Classroom Working Rug - Small : Home & Kitchen) for the kids to work on.
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I second Vet. Cats are hardwired to hide pain/illness; anytime a cat is acting more lethargic weird (suddenly slower, or less active) see a vet.
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Real estate is crazy expensive in my area as usual. I agree with @Bootsie. The author is ignoring some things such as some people do want rentals (and not just AirBNBs). AirBNB are usually only affordable for short vacation period of times not for months or years. (I know that changed a little bit in the pandemic because hotels and the like have been hit hard by the pandemic.)
I do know people who have the means to purchase houses but choose to rent for the flexibility and they don't have to do house maintenance.
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24 minutes ago, Garga said:
Why do I feel like I don’t own my own life? Does everyone feel this way? Are we all waiting for our lives to begin? Is it simple selfishness, and I just want to do what I want to do without having to think about anyone else? Or maybe a lot of wives/mothers feel this way?
You do own your life. I mean I'll think and say things like when this then I'll do this, but mostly that pertains to seasons of my life versus actual life things that I want and haven't accomplished. So, just start your life and let everyone else figure out how they will deal with it. You and your family will figure it out together.
My mom is my inspiration for this when she got her BA in Accounting when I was 11, started when I was 8 I believe. Life would have been easier for all of us had she continued to be a stay at home mom, but we figured it out. If I could go back I would still tell her to do it.
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2 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:
We are!! In SF.
Lucky you it's been super pleasant over here. You should visit Muir woods or some of the redwood forests. There's actually creeks and streams, which is not always the case.
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If you are making that much smoothie seriously consider the Vitamix. You can try and get it used/refurbished/on sale. Save up and get it. I don't make many smoothies but there is a serious difference between the Vitamix and the other whatever blenders I've used in the past.
1) It's makes quick work of most smoothies so even if you have to do more than one batch it's not a lot of time. There is a noticeable difference in texture.
2) Cleaning is I put a cup of water or soapy water and run it again. Then I take it to the sink and rinse it out and clean the cap.
We liked it so much we even got the Vitamix immersion blender. I would also highly recommend that.
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1 minute ago, Frances said:
So saying they would train you just makes sense.
Well I mean I did not have the right major and emphasis for that job; it was not an underestimation of my abilities and we both knew that.
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I worked in a male dominated industry. I have been recruited before by a company just on the basis of being female. Like after hearing about the job I said "I'm not really a good candidate for that" and the response was "Would you still be interested though, we'll train you." So, yes companies are fretting about recruiting women. I'm not sure how far people want companies to go to make sure their workforce is diverse enough.
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Yes I think I'm pretty good at it. What I am horrible at is the opposite, which is to have people take me seriously; I need a "resting asshole face".
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9 hours ago, KrisTom said:
My daughter walks away a lot, which is terrible, but her first grade workload is so light, it doesn't bug me yet.
I tried to do preschool (because I seriously did not know what schooling should even look like when I started) I heard this a lot that students should sit still for the duration of the lessons sort of thing. Just so you know not all education experts agree on this. Pediatricians generally say kids are able to intently focus for their age in minutes, anything outside of that they may be doing work but they are not obtaining new knowledge.
(Take with a grain of salt because my kids are younger) I do let them walk away from their work. My limits for when they leave are they inform me they need a break, we agree on the amount of time (in activity or minute(s)), and I tell them a minimum goal I want accomplished for the day and what I wish would get done. I recently started to give my kids the option of proving they already know the material and I can scrap the entire lesson for the day. They are also not allowed to do anything that would distract anyone who is still "working".
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5 hours ago, Baseballandhockey said:
But there is a difference between telling your kid “protect yourself because someone might make a false allegation” and “protect yourself because your aunt might make a false allegation”. The latter was not fun.
Honestly, I highly doubt your son doesn't already know this. In my experience (as the child in the difficult talk situation), it'll be liberating for the two of you to bring it out to the open. As much as my mom was to protect me about the ugliness of the world, I too was trying to protect her from knowing her little girl's innocence was already gone.
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2 hours ago, KrisTom said:
But then I wonder if a different approach would make it more desirable for them to tune in.
The Brave Learner book really helped me with this question. I started this year super overwhelmed, I have an education coordinator through my charter homeschool thing and she just started me on one subject, then two subjects, and slowly build up to all the subjects that we are doing now. It helped me to see how my kids learn, how many times a week I want to even do any given topic, when do we want to "do" school (somehow handwriting and science happen so much better for us in the afternoon - morning it's pulling teeth, afternoon it's I planned a fun activity).
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My kindergartener has really liked the Notgrass Star Spangled Story. It's textbook-y with lots of pictures. I just read and look at the pictures with him doing a unit a week. I look at the hands-on activity the book has for suggestions on what fun thing we can do, or I've come up with stuff myself. Our family needs some sort of jumping off point, just coming up with topics doesn't work for us.
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On 1/24/2022 at 8:54 PM, Lovinglife123 said:
My son really liked Ghengis Khan and the mongol horde.
He might like the Genghis series by Conn Iggulden.
I do remember liking Dragon's Gate but can't for the life of me actually remember the story.
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I think I've had bad cherished and good cherished.
I've had boys/men in my life who put me on this pedestal where I didn't belong. Saying things like "If you were my wife you would never have to lift a finger I would give you everything, blah blah blah." Showers of flowers, jewelry, heart shaped chocolates. On the other hand they also made sure to know where I was and what I was doing all the time "So they could pick me up and escort me to all the places." Ultimately they usually ended up in a place where I 'm not sure they actually like me as much as they liked some fantasy idea of me.
I ended up marrying my husband who cherishes me but also expects me to pull my own weight. Yes he tucks me in at night, gives me a big hug when he knows I've done something out of my comfort zone, showers me with ice-cream, but he also thinks I'm capable of pulling my own weight and actually contributing to the world. When he introduces me, the first thing he tells people about why his wife is so wonderful is because she is brilliant and capable. I'm so lucky to have him.
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3 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:
I am realizing that I can no longer even offer my talks with a focus on a "good college" admission's goal. I am recognizing that my talk needs to be dumbed down to nothing more than DE/co-op/online boxes checked for the local CC or local U. My talk, when I originally started offering it, was geared toward competitive admissions and competitive scholarships.
That's a real bummer because I would love that talk. (in a few years of course, my eldest is in K) I have found very few in-person homeschool parents that have the same goal of giving their kids a more elevated education than a public school can offer.
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The ones I enjoyed as a 14 year old
Memoirs of a Geisha (it's graphic though has mature content even though the girl in the story for a while is a teen), but one of the few "coming of age" stories I really like.
Amy Tan books are more about China and for example the daughters in Joy Luck Club are really my mom's generation. I read it as a teen and it gave me perspective on my mom and her mom's relationship.
Studio Ghibli cartoons are really good too. If you are studying WW2 (I don't know if it's appropriate for 10 year old), but Grave of the Fireflies is a very good one. It's about the final months of WW2 in Japan through the eyes of a teen and his kid sister. (Yes it's absolutely heartbreaking and you may need more than one box of tissues.) Sprited Away, Castle in the Sky and Totoro are totally OK for 10 year old.
Sorry my high recommendations are so depressing.
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2 hours ago, KrisTom said:
I was glad to read they mention comprehension because that is another worry--the ability to read words develops, but he still isn't sure about what he just read.
My son is on level 1, but I let or encourage him look back at the story to answer comprehension questions. I think some of this seems easy to us because we've been doing it for decades, we forget kids are just starting and it's challenging work for them.
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This is interesting. I've never thought because I am capable of homeschooling my kids that I don't need someone with a fancy credential or expertise.
In terms of feeling like our way is better or the best kind of thinking, our family doesn't shy away from looking at the pros and cons. We have friends who are private, public, and home school. I don't think they would be doing better by their kids if they homeschooled them. Personally, I feel it's more helpful to people considering homeschool to know what resources, help and options there are in the homeschool world than to categorically say "You can do it!" This might be an unpopular opinion, but I don't think everyone can or should homeschool.
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Okay, I'm honestly stumped about where I am in math skills
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I did higher math and I did higher math for work. I still would sometimes get out actual physical objects like a 5 year old to do problems. GEt some poker chips, unifix cubes, coins, or fruit. Pick a color for kings, a color for princesses and a color for castles. (You can choose smaller numbers to start but try and make each number unique). See how the kings, castles and princesses actually work.
Then take the next step and think of (from those physical objects) the equation to solve the problem.