Clarita
-
Posts
3,555 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Clarita
-
-
1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:
Lab tech was open around January but not now. Neither is great for future career development, but both would resolve whether he can handle a bunny suit and whether he wants to be in a fab or whether he wants to go into a completely different direction.
I actually got my specialty in IC design and fabrication for my BSEE. I've never worked in exactly that field. So, if he is sure about EE just not the exact specialty I don't think it maters so much for a bachelors. My first job I did power supply control systems (then got my MSEE in control theory and did a project in Micro Inverters); then changed jobs to work in electromagnetics. So don't stress too much about the specialty go with what looks interesting in class. Usually PhDs specialty are in the jobs they get, but I feel like the bachelors and masters are not always.
4 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:He knows he loves math, hates dealing with people, and is still trying careers on mentally.
Totally the reason I chose EE when I was 17 too. Those are great reasons. Although as an engineer you do at some point have to "deal with people", especially as you move up in rank.
-
I am super sensitive to the chemical sunscreen usually known as oxybenzone. I break out in hives if I use it on myself and if I use it on my kids and touch my skin after touching them I break out.
I use Coola sunscreen. The tinted one for my face and avoid the white-ness on my face. I use the mineral spray for body for me and the kids.
-
11 minutes ago, daijobu said:
If it makes you feel better, I'm terrible at reading. I'll scan word by word, line by line, page after page, but my brain is somewhere else entirely and I'll have no idea what I've read. I have no idea how I accomplish this.
This happens to me often. I would copy out documents/papers I read at work just so I make sure I read it. I don't say things like "Oh, I'm not a reading person, either. Don't worry it's fine." to kids learning to read.
-
1
-
-
My eldest did tee-ball in April and May. We started the season with coaches and other adults on the field must be masked but kids optional and ended the season with "everyone" masked at "all" times (snacks were available so people did not mask while drinking water or putting snacks in their mouths). I felt pretty safe, since baseball is not a high contact sport. I did like the everyone masked at all times ruling at the end, mostly because a few coaches from other teams were not good at masking.
I like to see a few more months of opening up with kids before I remove the mask requirement for my kids indoors, even though to be honest I think my family already caught COVID last March. (We were mild symptoms to asymptomatic.)
-
I had to return our AAR level 1 when I tried with my 4 year old. I see lots of people raving about AAR for their littles and we just couldn't. No matter how I divided up the lesson, split the fluency sheets into segments, use silly games with the fluency sheets (even more active and silly than suggested in the book) we couldn't do it. I saw my son's enjoyment and desire to learn to read plummet.
My eldest learn to hear the sounds in words using "sound games", for him that involved mostly me just telling him the initial sounds to words and pretending to sound out words as I went. For my youngest she actually likes flipping through mini booklets of sounds, and playing some actual games where we pick out things with the same sound or with different sounds. We tried AAR when my eldest can sound out phonetic words with only regular consonant sounds and short vowel sounds.
For my son I think fluency is tied too tightly with the reading lessons in AAR. So right now with my eldest we work on fluency separate from learning the phonics. He works on reading sentences, words, phrases either with action, objects or pictures. I teach him the phonics using TOPGTR, where we practice reading the words with the specific phonics lesson learned with a simple word match, word categorizing, and pointing out words during some of our together reading.
I'm not sure what we'll really do when we are ready to do spelling.
-
3 hours ago, HeartString said:
I know some of the problem in math is that so many homeschool moms are terrified of it. Of course most of the moms were once public school students who graduate unable to confidently teach first grade math, so I don’t think “we” should get all the blame for that. I’ll split that blame halfsies with the public school system, 🤪.
Personally, I think it would make a difference in the education system of the US if we didn't glorify "being terrified" of math. I hear people boast about their inability to do math all the time, and people who can't read well are shameful and hide this fact. Maybe as a people we should treat math and reading with the same respect.
::Getting off soap box::
-
4
-
5
-
-
23 hours ago, Hunter said:
I have come to hate all handwriting workbooks. I prefer to spend a lot of time with a student teaching clock face manuscript, so they are prepared to copy regular typed text, instead of a handwritten model page. Handwriting curriculum are cheap to create and lock people into more of their curricula. I feel trapped when a student cannot copy anything but handwritten models.
What is the difference between a handwritten model page vs. a typed text page? (that makes it so a student can't copy anything but handwritten models)
Right now I handwrite letters for my son to copy when he wants to do handwriting stuff. Does this mean I should incorporate typed things to copy as well as my handwritten stuff?
-
2 hours ago, goldenecho said:
But since Covid...oh man, every other question on homeschooling groups is about "what's an online program that my (insert elementary grade here) child can do by herself without much supervision."
During COVID I also started seeing more "mom-bloggers" even "homeschool mom bloggers" talk about how to educate your children at home, while having a fulltime career, while keeping your house clean, while enjoying life, etc. I think parents who decided to homeschool because of COVID bought into that possibility.
3 hours ago, goldenecho said:Not that online can't work for some (though I doubt it works for many kindergarteners...at least not as more than a supplement to offline work).
I have seen it work for some people, but usually the kids would do well academically pretty much no matter what they were given. Plus it wasn't 100% online only either, the kids would get tutoring if need be and access to in-person classes via community college or paid group classes depending on age.
-
2
-
-
I have the Scooba and it's not as clean as you getting on your hands and knees or using one of those rotating hand held mops. I think it works better if you vacuum ahead of time (unknown if that's because I have little ones). But, I love it. It works best to help with maintenance rather than doing the deep clean.
-
1
-
-
3 hours ago, goldenecho said:
I'm sure those books each have merit (and I do remember liking "Red Fern"), but it was just overkill...literally. I can see where in a farming culture that would be a "coming of age" moment for a lot of kids, or even for anyone who has pets and one day has to put them to sleep for merciful reasons. But still, one book like that is plenty.
Maybe it would be helpful to show other types of "coming of age" stories. The "coming of age" story that resonated with me was "Memoirs of a Geisha". That book was not the story of my life, but realizing those realities of the world was when I "came of age". However, I could see why our public school wouldn't put that in their curriculum.
There are still other books where having a close relative/friend die, doing a particular job, war, financial ruin, moving, etc. were the "coming of age" moments.
-
1
-
-
5 hours ago, Arcadia said:
My husband’s pay went up by 1.6 times (before bonuses) and his Ph.D. was what helped land him the H1B visa and we received our green cards very fast.
If you have immigration status to contend with or wouldn't be able to land a job anyways, those would be other considerations. It's always going to be hard to compare what might have been had this or that been done differently. I just felt I got more out of my Master's (education-wise) while I was working than I would have otherwise.
As to improvement in my financial situation (::shrug::), since the market went sour months after my graduation and we were in the "great recession" afterwards my salary was stagnant for a few years. I was working for a start-up at the time, so the company "paid" me in stock options to make up for not giving me pay on-time and not giving me raises; that was great later. At the company that I started with bonuses based on patents and occasionally overall company bonuses (which were based by salary). I guess also I do not feel in my area people who have the highest degrees get the most money, it seemed people were paid by rank which was achieved either by work experience, schooling or charisma.
So, perhaps I am tainted by having graduated so close to a bad economic time.
-
1
-
-
I have 2 friends who have had to do speech therapy for their young children. At your child's 3 year old appointment with the pediatrician mention it as a concern if the doctor doesn't, Then you'll get set up with speech therapy there; it may be considered a special education thing so it could be free. They will access what the problem is (whether there is a physical problem or just the kid needs a little nudge).
Education through play: At 2.5 the most important things they need to learn is how to take care of themselves, and interact with the world. So step back and give them time to do things all by themselves. In the morning, just say to them "Time to put on your clothes." Then, take a step back and wait for them to give you the confused look before intervening with "Do you need help?" Walk slowly through the steps, giving the time for your child to attempt, to show they can already do it, or to ask you for help. Toddlers find doing everyday routine things by themselves to be pretty fun.
Another one is ask your child open ended questions (meaning no right or wrong answer and you aren't going to provide an answer). Whatever your child responds with is going to be met with acknowledgement and interest from you (right, wrong or down-right silly react as if you are talking to a peer). If your child does not respond or stares at you blankly say "Hmm" ponderously and move on with your day. I think it shows children that you are interested in what they have to say and gives them reason to say things. As your child gets older and responds this is also where they learn to formulate and communicate their own thoughts.
Also start doing independent play (if you haven't already).
As for academic skills , you can start doing "sound games" google that phrase you'll get tons of age appropriate activities - this is what I used to begin teaching my kids to read. For math/counting start asking your child how many of something they want and giving them the exact number they ask for. Once your child has mastered these basics you'll have a better clue as to how they like to learn.
My favorite book on toddlers is The Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies. A great book on preschool math is Kate Snow's Preschool Math at Home.
(As a note my educational experience is only with my two kids.)
-
What about all the FREE curriculum? It wasn't until I discovered this board that I even knew about these COMPLETE and FREE reading, math, and spelling curriculum. Don Potter has some good stuff, absolutely on par with the paid stuff just with less bells and whistles. Lack of pictures, no pre-made box and flash cards, but with solid information and scope.
-
4
-
-
22 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:
Electives/specializations are slightly different between the two---one has an optics lab and the other has a different cool area of specialty. Both are appealing to him.
Honestly in this case I would go with whichever specialization he's willing to do. Like look through the classes and see the job opportunities available to those specializations and would you want to go for those careers (does that job only need a BS or is MS necessary; what do you actually do for a job in that field sit and type at a computer, do you design actual things, do you do more like bunny suit lab work or electrical circuits lab work, is it more research type work...). Studying in the specialty might give you a leg up in getting a job, but also I never had a job doing what my specialty in college was as an EE.
The other important thing I would look at is how long it would actually take me to graduate from either program. What are the requirements to graduate? How many of those classes are covered by community college and which ones you are going to have to take again (even though you already took them)? How often do they offer those classes? Essentially, fill out your class schedule until graduation and see how long it would take, look at current-2 year old class schedules. Look at how often the classes that you want are offered.
My only other piece of advice is once you graduate with a BSEE get a job. After you start working then go back for your Masters or Ph.D or whatever. 1) A lot of companies will pay for your masters (no strings attached afterwards) and 2) you will know better what jobs and specialties you actually like.
-
1
-
1
-
-
On 5/31/2021 at 1:39 PM, Xahm said:
There's tons of great advice on this board, given out for free by people willing to listen carefully and answer thoughtfully, and that is precious. How can we bring that into "real life" in our face-to-face interactions? If you do, what do you do? How do you approach it?
Anytime a mom talks about struggling with something with her kids or feeling inadequate as a mom, I with a "hug" and an empathetic word. Then I ask if they want advice or just want to lament. (I think we come to these boards seeking advice so, it's different than in real life where someone may just want to talk and not get any advice.) If they say that they do want a solution then I tell them what I do with my kids (if pertinent) and mention some other ways people have approached their problem as well. Then if possible give them actual physical help, if I have left over material they can borrow or an easier/cheaper method of doing something, or showing them exactly how to do something.
Sometimes I have to do a this is how I did/do it, but I don't think this will work for you exactly because you have a different situation. That's OK (super important to say). For you a method like … may suit you better. Because I just love researching things, sometimes for super close friends and family I'll do the research for them and summarize. I also understand for some the research can be disheartening because some authors/bloggers/ information dispensers sound very only my way works and you are screwed if you didn't start off doing everything my way.
-
7
-
-
My old self would have been "How could anyone have miss such an egregious error!" That is until I gave birth to my 2nd child. The hospital overcharged my by around $2000; I had no idea this happened for almost a year. This was because the hospital was trying some new payment plan things and "estimated" the amount it would cost you to give birth and charged me that when I arrived at the hospital to give birth. Since we decided to do the unthinkable put our children on my husbands insurance as oppose to mine (I worked fulltime before I gave birth to my second so my husband and I were on separate health insurance), the hospital's billing department did not know how to bill the correct insurance. This means I got stacks of bills mailed to me that I needed to fill out and tell them the "correct" insurance to claim. So, I definitely read every statement sent to me and then some. During my husbands next FSA enrollment period we were trying to see how much money we spent on healthcare I could not make the numbers from the health insurance match up with the numbers from the hospital. I called the hospital to clarify things, after combing over the charges with billing department did I realize the $2000 overpayment I made to the hospital.
So now I've changed my mind. The whole insurance hospital billing things is so intentionally convoluted that even hospital billing staff is confused by it. I can definitely see someone (even though they are keeping on top of things) to miss a weird billing.
-
2
-
-
I think for me the things I want to intentionally expose my kids to are different life experiences, the good and the bad. I want them to be kind to people around them but also know the world has bad things/evil in it.
I would like to expose my kids to meeting the needs of others in an informal way. Not just officially volunteering but just seeing a need and meeting it.
My kids will at some point before their teens go on an international flight, because my family lives in Hong Kong. They will enjoy a variety of food because their parents LOVE food and a privilege of where we live. (small brag, my 3 year old LOVES Sashimi she's my super adventurous eater. She asks what something is while shoveling it into her mouth and will continue to try a few more bites after telling me it's "yucks".)
-
2
-
-
On 6/1/2021 at 8:46 AM, Spryte said:
Another streamlining thing here, that I didn’t list above, is cleaning help.
YES! I am not ashamed to admit it.
In terms of streamlining cooking, I make a lot of fresh food and cook them. I streamline this process via Alice Water's method. I keep a stocked pantry (favorite seasonings, carb staples (rice, pasta, etc.), other necessities(butter, flour, corn starch...)). Then I just learn techniques instead of recipes for my food. Like I learn the technique to make asian brown sauce to which I can add a little bit more sugar or honey and orange to make orange sauce. A basic balsalmic, oil, emulsifier to make any kind of salad dressing just add one fun ingredient like strawberry. I learn to make a rue which lets me make cream of anything - just add "anything" into the mix.
Making sandwiches for a family is hard. Throwing a bunch of stuff in a wok/cast iron/enameled cast iron/pyrex/sheet pan with oil and seasoning is where I'm at.
-
4
-
-
On 2/7/2021 at 8:13 PM, ElizaG said:
It wasn’t the instructional method itself that was the problem. We weren’t even doing much of that from ages 1-3. It’s just that there wasn’t much advice in Montessori sources about discipline in the early years, or at least none that made sense to me. At the time, I read everything I could find, both from MM and various AMI-trained infant/toddler specialists.
I find this to be an issue as well. Most Montessori educators like the positive discipline approach (which if you read all the stuff it is all over the place sometimes). I think pure Montessori does have Grace and Courtesy lessons. This is where you give specific lessons to show a child exactly how to behave in different scenarios. Although any talks I've heard on the subject of actual discipline involved very little quotes from Dr. Montessori herself.
Grace and Courtesy lessons are not as "advertised" when you google Montessori because well it doesn't involve anything but an adult and a child.
-
On 3/13/2021 at 3:09 PM, cintinative said:
One of the negative reviews was that the book did not talk about looking at four year graduation rates. The reviewer said something about issues with scheduling and other factors leading to students being in college longer than four years.
More important than asking how many students graduated in 4 years is why they can't. Typically this is a question you can casually ask during your tour of the university. For example, when I toured UC Santa Barbara they actually guaranteed a 4 year graduation for electrical engineering (if you never fail a class, "follow" their schedule, don't change major, etc.). To do ensure this, they make sure their electrical engineering students can get into every class that they need when they need it with priority registration and class offerings (even if you are the only student who needs that course - my smallest class had 3 people in it). On the flip side when I toured UC Davis, the tour guide made a comment that it is super difficult to graduate in 4 years and most people graduate in 5 or 6 because certain classes were only offered once a year or once every 2 years so if your timing wasn't right it'd be a 5 year graduation.
Not that you can ever know the future, but graduating in 4 years for me meant having a job out of college vs. not. I graduated June 2006 and the housing bust hindered employment after that. It worked out really well for me.
-
2
-
-
On 5/29/2021 at 3:06 AM, LauraClark said:
I have to sit there and watch my smart kids answer so many questions wrong because they slightly misread something.
As a smart child who misread tests a lot (99% because I just wanted to get things over with) I wish my PS teachers in K-12 made a bigger deal out of it instead of coddling me. It was a huge learning curve for me when I started working after college, because a little misread number is the difference between going home at 7pm vs. 11pm.
Although I'm not so sure when is an appropriate time to push doing things carefully and under a time-constraint.
Obviously K-12 was a long time ago for me and all I remember of state testing and stuff was that it was mostly a joke and I would get > 95th percentile on topics I never officially learned.
-
24 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:
What is TK?
Extra kindergarten for kids born between Sept. - Dec.
-
1
-
-
17 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:
I'm pretty unimpressed when I look at the homeschooled kids we know. Most of these kids aren't doing much academics. And honestly, I don't think we did that great of a job either.
What do you think the problem was? This fall my eldest will start TK. We are super early in the journey and I am homeschooling for academic reasons. (Public school in our area is not good. We do have the option of private school, but it would be nice to save that money for something more fun.)
-
3 hours ago, StrugglingDad said:
My question is whether there is any structured maths program that you would recommend for an advanced, but still very young learner?
For this age group I've found Montessori to work really well for this age group. For 3-6 maths it can cover through multiplication and division, fractions. I also think it's easy enough to cover algebra thought processes with the same materials. The downside is it's not really structured in terms of having a book that you can go through. You can purchase or find "albums" with descriptions of the activities and sequences, but you'll have to piece together the actual lessons for your child. I like it because the activities don't require language skills just exploration of the child.
I do struggle with not having a clear check box sequence using the Montessori method. So, I add a textbook style math program to it. The textbook math program is below level, meaning the concepts are things my son may already understand. I do a quick blurb based on the "teaching" portion of the book. Then we do very few practice problems (almost like a just for fun). This is also where we practice the "language" part of math; the writing and reading of problems (the reading refers to being able to "read" a math equation if word problem then I read it or just do it in real life).
It is such a blessing to have a child where basic concepts come so easily. Another thing I've found is this is a great chance to take the math concepts slowly and really explore the topic. So aside from understanding the basic concept and just being able to do the math problem, we'll explore different ways of doing the same math concept. We work on memorization of math facts to be able to do problems quickly.
"Laying Down the Rails" any opinions?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I have it too. Mine is pretty pristine. If you really want it I can give it to you for the cost of shipping.
I like the premise of the whole thing in theory. Focusing on a good habit for a while, really study it and talk about it. I tried it with my kids (2 and infant at the time, mostly with my eldest). In practice, I think that method is more complicated than it needs to be. It sounds daunting now but once you start it's pretty easy to wing it. In depth review follows.
The biggest benefit to the book is that it gives you the stories, poetry, literature, and Bible verses to use for each habit. The Bible verses, this is a personal thing as I don't want my kids to view the Bible as just some book of rules for them to abide by. I would rather them view it as mainly a book about God. So, I didn't quite find a use for that part of it. The other stories and literature, well it felt more natural to me to just do our regular read alouds and talk about good or bad behavior/habits from those than the literature in the book.
Then after doing "Obedience" and "Attentiveness" I found that I could just do it myself and have it be more meaningful for my kids than to follow the book. I just pick one habit to focus on and within that habit I pick one specific "goal" I want them to achieve (maybe you could do more than one with older kids). For example "cleanliness" I may focus on putting their shoes, jackets and bag in a particular area. First I take a look at how we were going to achieve the actual task. In terms of this example I would have to make sure there is a spot for them to put it the stuff. I look through their story books and see if there is a character who either is a good or bad example of this and make a note to read that story. If I come across examples while we do read aloud for fun or "school" I also point out the habit (good or bad) we may discuss it if it seems to flow. I will do a specific "lesson" where I show them the goal we are getting to and specifically what to do. (Show them where to put their shoes and stuff). We do mock runs of the habit with our own persons, so we are clear what is expected. Lots of praise during this time whenever they do the habit.