merry gardens
-
Posts
2,499 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by merry gardens
-
-
Oh, and I would expect this to take longer for a six year old. I don't think any of mine were that far along in Barton at six.
-
2
-
-
I use little tricks like using a louder voice and suddenly holding my hands up by my face everytime I say "Watch out!"
It uses the element of surprise. If the child forgets, I might once again say, "Watch out!" ( Hands out again.) Or maybe I'll just say ," Remember to ... (then put my hands out, no words)" and the child may say, "Watch out" because the hand motion triggers those words in their mind. Lots and lots of repetition.
-
If it's inflamed and painful, try giving her some ibuprofen to help bring down the swelling. Also, to bring down the swelling you can try a small piece of ice wrapped in a paper towel. Acne represents inflammation, and treating it like inflammation helps prevent some of the damage that a large, inflamed pimple can cause.
-
-
Ug! Not even two days into the month and I already spent a boatload of money for the upcoming homeschool year!
Four are signed up for lessons, two signed up for co-op, and two for on-line classes. We have most of our books already which helps to keep the cost down, but I bought a few consumable workbooks and two new textbooks (most on sale and all with reduced/free shipping promotions.)
Our homeschool costs for homeschooling six are still all significantly cheaper than it would cost to send one to a brick and mortar private school, but yikes! It all still adds up.
-
1
-
-
I know the topic of racism in vintage history books has been brought up and I've read both sides of the argument - just read and discuss or don't read at all. Up until this point I didn't have a stance on either side of the argument. I've never considered using a vintage history book until now. Looking for US History reading books I found a book titled "Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans" . I downloaded the book and the first page really turned me off. It gave the impression, to me, that he was saying thank goodness the white people came to save those poor Indians. I had two thoughts, one was that a stance like that has of course been proven false and the other was maybe books like this is what caused people to see slavery as ok. If racism is subtly woven throughout all that you read or hear then you will grown up thinking it's ok. Even if the superior attitude is subtle it's still there. As far as discussions, are the children older that these books are normally read to? I've also heard people say you don't want to erase history and pretend like this wasn't a part of the past because it was. Just looking for more opinions and thoughts on this.
Here's a different perspective:
"Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound that SAVED a wretch like me!" (from the American Christian Hymn, "Amazing Grace")
Words like "saved" from a Christian perspective have theological meaning. Jesus saves! Missionaries spread the gospel message, which is a message of salvation.
You mentioned slavery; from a Christian worldview, sin enslaves us, and Jesus sets us free. I don't know if you are Christian or not, and I don't know what particular old history book you read that inspired you to start this thread. I know what books I read, and the old history books I read often come from a Christian perspective. Desire to spread the gospel is generally motivated by love of God and love for people. Excluding someone from hearing Christ' message of salvation simply because they are of another race would be racist. Christians believe all humans are in need of salvation and Jesus came to save us.
-
I'm having a hard time deciding between Barton or Wilson for dyslexia remediation. This would be for my 2nd grader, and possibly my K'er too. My concern with Barton is the cost. I can buy the whole Wilson program for less than the price of 2 Barton levels. I know I could resell Barton levels but I'm looking at potentially having multiple kids with dylsexia to teach (2 and very possibly the 3rd of my school-age with dyslexia, 3 YO just diagnosed with speech issues so thinking he's likely to be dyslexic also). Idk how much sense it would make to have to keep selling and re-buying the same levels for subsequent kids, and it would cost a small fortune to keep all the levels. Barton does seem like it might be a little easier to use, though I know someone who is certified in Wilson who could help me with it if I had trouble.
While we look at buying these programs for our children, we also buy them for ourselves. We, as the teachers and tutors, need to be comfortable with whatever program we use. So you will need to be comfortable with whatever you use, and by comfort I mean that in terms of cost and time and teaching and outcome, etc.
Barton's tutor training provided a great deal of comfort for me, and that tutor training is incorporated into the price. To compare prices, Wilson training can cost $599 for a three day training session, and a three day training workshop for Lindamood Bell LiPS is $879, and Seeing Stars two day training is $679. With Barton, the training came right in the package so I didn't have travel anywhere to get trained and it was available right when I wanted it. Barton's training comes bit-by-bit, providing me with what I needed to get through the level, rather than all at once.
I find Barton quite easy as the tutor. Teaching a child who has dyslexia to read can be difficult enough, and Barton makes that difficult task easier for me. I've looked at Wilson and find it a bit dizzying to see all their materials-- I wouldn't know where to begin! I'm sure that those who use Wilson figure it out, but I feel overwhelmed just looking at it. Personally, I prefer Barton--at least I do at this point in my life.
How comfortable are you in trying Wilson without having their training? Do you have an idea of what you'd buy and where you'd start? If it's not that much money, you might try it and see how it goes, but realize that without training it might be a more frustrating experience for you, your child and the certified Wilson tutor whom you plan to turn to for support if you get into trouble. Knowing what I know now about dyslexia, I'd suggest you start with some training. Barton includes convenient tutor training within the price. After level 4, if cost is still a factor, then look back into Wilson. Sometimes people switch from one program to the other, and many times tutors are trained in multiple methods. Whichever program you decide to use, I believe you will be at a better place to teach a child with dyslexia once you have had some training.
-
Today I will give an example... We did some school this morning and...She did better until we got to some math facts and she started whining and getting silly. I ignored it and said I would work with her and we would use some manipulatives. She did better and held it together better.....
Using the manipulatives was a good call when she whined and got silly after you'd said she'd be doing math facts next. Extreme silliness can sometimes indicate you are asking a child to do something she finds difficult. (Think of the "class clown"-- a child with a sense of humor may use it cover-up a learning disability because children usually prefer that others think they are silly or funny rather than struggling with the basics.) Autism or not, math facts can be quite hard for some children. Manipulatives can help to show and teach math facts, making those math facts easier to comprehend.
Anyway, that's how I handle silliness in a young child when we're working on school. Silliness serves as a "caution sign" to alert me to the possibility that the child may be struggling with the task and concepts. There may be other causes, but that's the first thing I suspect.
-
This. If a food can cause a person to die then it should be banned.
Most foods can cause allergic reactions in someone. Very, very few foods are universally non-allergenic. I have a friend who has a child with a wheat allergy. It's a true allergy, (not gluten intolerance), and the daughter can go into life-threatening reactions from exposure to wheat. She even needs to be careful of airborne exposure to wheat.
The family homeschools.
-
1
-
-
Right now I need to get some feedback on his propensity to write out his words/phrases/sentences upside down, backwards, in odd orders, some words flipped, some words written backwards while others are written in a diagonal or upside down, etc. I think he does it because he is bored. He is capable of writing the words from left to right and with the correct orientation. He just would rather spend an extra 3-4 minutes writing everything in some odd way. He has to have something to keep his mind occupied and his mind is always on the move. Doing this keeps him focused for a bit longer and he finds it fun to be challenged to come up with additional weird ways of writing but is this going to come back and bite us both in the butt later?
...
His hand writing is legible but it is slow, the letters are large and look closer to that of a kindergartner in formation. Spacing and consistent sizing has always been a bit of a problem. Hmmm. I wonder if one reason he likes to write the letters upside down or reversed or in a weird script or whatever is because he is really embarrassed about his handwriting (which he is).
I'd be concerned with his writing. I wouldn't assume he's just doing that because he's bored or inventive or whatever, because smart dyslexic kids are really good at masking their difficulties. Even if it is simply an expression of his creativity, the more he practices "odd writing" the more automatic it becomes. He's reinforcing flipping words, upside-down writing and backwards words. Those are hard habits to break!
If he wants to be "creative", put limitations on what creativity you will accept. For instance, if he wanted to write all the letters in the words in colors to correspond with the Barton tiles, it would take longer but reinforce what he's learned. If he wanted to write all sight words in cursive but print all the others, that's fine. You could provide different writing materials and let him choose, offering interesting choices like sidewalk chalk on the driveway, salt boxes or something similar (we use corn meal in a pan--it fits only one word), sand at a park or beach, white board with markers, magnetic drawing boards, feather pens with homemade ink written on parchment or grocery bags torn to look like a pirate map, plus the basic paper and pencil or pen. There are all kinds of ways to allow him to write creatively while also using proper writing techniques. Creativity is fine but improper techniques aren't.
If you suspect it may be he's having problems with the actual act of writing, have you tried using a white board with markers with him? That has less "drag" so it's often easier. I found a tray that held our tiles that he could write on like a white board and my son would pick the color he wanted to use. Every once in a while, I'd buy some type of gimmicky toy for writing to keep it interesting.
-
1
-
-
What I'd do would depend on which parent I was.
If I was the burned-out parent, I'd assume my husband was also feeling burnt out. I'd look for ways to get over burn-out, perhaps restructuring activities and various things around the home.
If I was the non-burned out parent, I'd overcompensate in my parenting to give my husband a break and I'd try to be gentle with him. And I'd look at restructuring actvities and things around the home to simplify life.
I seriously believe that our society makes family life extremely difficult. Parents often over-commit their children into activities and schedules that make life crazy and unenjoyable.
-
7
-
-
Praying.
-
Hold off for now. Especially if your child has vowel confusion, hold off.
Most books for new readers introduce all the vowel sounds, all at once. Long vowels, short vowels, r-controled vowels, vowels with w, etc. Barton cuts back to introduce the struggling reader one vowel at a time, working with short vowels extensively before introducing the rest. The order is nothing like you'd find in most "beginning readers".
-
3
-
-
Thank you everyone!
:grouphug:
I'm feeling a bit better today. We've got several things going on right now and last night I started playing the self-blame game.
All of the comments were quite helpful. I really appreciate each of you taking the time to comment. I thought about deleting this thread right after I posted it, but I'm glad I didn't. You ladies are a great support system! Thank you!!!
-
2
-
-
I would share my chocolate with you if I could.
-
How do you deal with misplaced guilt?
Those nagging fears you did...too much...or...too little for your child... or simultaneously too much and too little.
The fears you should have done something differently...That you should have noticed what was going on, known what it was, and gotten an evaluation with the exactly the right professional to "fix" things?
The nagging doubts that you should have sent your child to school...or to a different school...or continued homeschooling instead of sending him to school...or used a different homeschool program or style?
The assumption that somehow, some way, you could have made things better/easier/different? When the reality is, you probably did far more than most parents would have done in similar situations and life's just simply imperfect and unfair?
How do you deal with it?
-
2
-
-
That article was fascinating.
-
Here is what I did. When my oldest went to meet with the scoutmaster about his initial write up, I went and sat in on it. I wanted to know exactly what was being asked. I don't care how "boy lead" it is, boys are intimidated by adults who tell them their idea is WRONG. You have ever right to talk to the SM yourself, or make an appointment with the 3 of you.
Thanks for writing that. :)
I'm trying hard to make sure this is a "boy lead" project, so I didn't sit in on the meetings my son has had with various people about his proposed eagle project(s). That was a mistake. My husband or I should have gone in to all of them and listened. Now I wish I'd heard what my son said and what the SM told my son. When ds came out of his meeting with the scout master, I asked him if he got the paper signed, he said no. I asked why not and it was clear my son didn't know why, except that the scout master wanted something more, but he didn't know what. So I went in and spoke to the SM to find out. I just felt like I was hitting a brick wall. It wasn't just the fund raising that was beyond what the boy scouts want--it was the amount of leadership he was expecting too. (BSA says must lead at least 2 other boys.) I raised pointed out the BSA requirements, but I got the distinct impression that if I kept pushing it would raise red flags with this SM to question if it was even a "boy lead" project.
However this turns out, it is definitely proving to be a learning experience for my son.
-
1
-
-
"Fundraising for an Eagle Scout service project shall not be required of any candidate. Whether or not fundraising takes place is the Scout’s decision based on the needs of his project. The BSA prefers, in fact, that Scouts choose projects that can be done at little or no cost."
http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/GuideToAdvancement/EagleScoutRank.aspx
Your son should thoroughly read that page before meeting with anyone.
THANK YOU!!! Thank you so much! :)
I knew we'd read that somewhere, but we've read so much about eagle projects lately I wasn't sure where.
-
Is he not meeting with someone from District? We had a district rep that worked on those details more so than the scoutmaster.
No, he hasn't yet met with anyone from our district. There's a spot on the form for scoutmaster signature and my son thinks he needs the parent committee and the scoutmaster to approve the project before it goes to district.
Thanks BlsdMama for starting this thread! Eagle projects have been on my mind lately. After pondering FC's comments earlier, I suspect that my son's scoutmaster sees fundraising as one more way to demonstrate leadership, so that may be why the scoutmaster wants to see my son do some kind of fundraiser.
-
If you decide on a daybed, look at a daybed with a pop-up trundle. Some trundles just pull out to floor level and some pop-up to the height of the daybed.
-
I think there are two issues here - The scout master and the deadline. As a committee chair I worked hard to make the process positive for everyone, but honestly, the 17.9s can be frustrating. Many (not all, but the vast majority) waited and waited, despite encouragement to get going on the project/merit badges/etc and then their deadline becomes the troop's emergency. Because they are 17.9 doesn't mean the process or requirements change. I tell the guys to budget at least 4-5 months for the process, and that's best case. There is research, pricing out the project, photographs, work lists, scout master approval, bringing the idea to the committee, any revamps (we've yet to have a boy not need one), another committee meeting, council approval, fundraising, setting a date, getting participants, weather delays, execution, wrap up, final signatures, etc. It's a fairly arduous process and not one that can be done correctly in a month.
But, for you guys, with that scout master, today, I'd contact the troop committee chair and get a meeting scheduled for your son. He can present to the whole Committee, get feedback, and get moving. It sounds like the scout master is new and unreasonable. The scout should not be unduly delayed. Now, an unscheduled committee meeting is unreasonable (unless your committee doesn't meet with regularity anyway) but he should be able to get someone to help him. Have him start sending email. Copy you guys and the committee chair. From your details, he needs to shake the trees. Loudly. And fairly quickly.
ETA- And hopefully this is helpful... Projects for us that didn't get approved were because the scope was too huge, or, the scope was too small to provide meaningful leadership opportunities. Building 25 picnic tables in your garage for a park seems like a great idea, but if the scout does all the work they're not leading anyone. That project would not get approved locally. If the scout plans a major construction job, and all the kids in the troop are 13 (and thus can't help because they can't use power tools), and their plan is to only use troop labor, well, they'll get mentored on the problems and sent back to rework the idea. It's not the project scope as much as the opportunity to plan, schedule, financially manage, and complete a project through leading people.
Thank you so very much!!!! That was quite helpful!
fyi, this is my son's second project. He met with another beneficiary recommended by someone in the troop to ask what that organization wanted, planned a project (complete with designs and pricing of materials) sent them back to the beneficiary and then waited...and waited...and asked...and waited. One month later, he was told they decided they wanted something else, and then they gave him a list of things that likely cannot be done by the deadline due to the time it takes for approval plus weather. So...he found another beneficiary. They had a couple projects they wanted done and he choose the project that sounded most like other eagle projects because he wanted something that would get approved quickly. The scoutmaster's response took his momentum and energy away, and he's trying to recover it.
He has contacted the person in charge of arranging the parent meeting. It might take a couple of weeks to get scheduled and in the mean time, he's going to try to meet with the scoutmaster again. Hopefully it will all work out. My son is certainly going to have to learn how to lobby for himself to get this through.
-
2
-
-
Ug.
My son planned to self-fund a project that looks like other eagle projects done in boy scout magazines and even the form itself. My son has a job and family members have already offered donations for a modest priced eagle project, so this shouldn't be a big deal. EXCEPT his scout master wouldn't sign off on that or the rest of his project. :smash:
I'm beyond frustrated. My son doesn't know what his scout master wants, and reading about other eagle projects doesn't help because this new scoutmaster seems to think that what the boy scout organization holds out as samples and requirements just simply isn't enough. The beneficiary was happy with the proposal and I expect that our district would be, but the scoutmaster wants MORE! Bigger! BETTER! (from a boy who is close to his 18th birthday.)
I'm not sure if there's ever going to be an eagle project from this kids. Time is ticking away. Tick, tick, tick.
-
Rudeness sometimes indicates there's more going on besides simply lack of manners. I don't know the full situation on that plane, but it sounds like all parties involved were rude, intolerant and unsympathetic towards the others. At some point, rude, intolerant and unsympathetic behavior towards others contributes to the diagnosing of a medical or psychiatric illness/disorder. An adult in-law of mine with autism spectrum disorder has been known to have meltdowns of his own. He's not particularly tolerant of even normal kid noises and a changes to his routine brings him particular challenges. (He nearly have meltdown at the airport when security confiscated his toothpaste.) Was that family observing and experiencing someone else's meltdown in response to their daughter's meltdown on top of the normal stress that travel poses to some people? Would the mom who blames the passenger who got angry at her child feel more sympathy toward the other passenger if she discovered that the other passenger also had some type of diagnosis that explains rude behavior?
-
2
-
Does anyone else find movies very unsatisfying?
in The Chat Board
Posted
Often, yes. I've taken to preferring to watch a TV series (that I've carefully screened and found adequate) over movies because I'm tired of being disappointed with movies.