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MorganClassicalPrep

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Posts posted by MorganClassicalPrep

  1. Godparents are different from guardians. Godparents are supposed to be there and help in a child's spiritual upbringing. Sort of like an assistant coach to mom and dad. My daughter's godparents are my best friend and her husband/DD's biological uncle, who share *very* similar views on religion with me.

     

    DD's godparents are also the people I've chosen as her guardians should somethings happen to me. This isn't always how it is though.

    They are very close to DD, although even if they weren't her godparents they would still be just as close to her.

  2. I really do wonder how much of this attitude is cultural. My ex boss and his wife (from France) had a baby at the same time I had our twins. They toted that baby everywhere they went; upscale restaurants, bars in the evening to watch music, flights back to France, etc. They thought I was...odd...because the very thought of taking my new babies out to dinner made me lose my appetite. I was a little envious, honestly, that they were able to go out to dinner, sip some wine and not need a baby sitter. The only thing I can think of is that it never occurred to them not to do this, that it would be a hindrance to anyone, whereas I was a bundle of nerves when I had to bring both of mine to the store for butter, because if they started crying and I couldn't console them for whatever reason, I knew I would abandon my groceries and get out of the store.

     

    If it is a cultural thing, I must be in the wrong culture!! :D I took (and still take!) DD everywhere with me. Stores, restaurants, movies(child appropriate of course), Church, school events, meeting with professors...

    Then again, I am a single mom. If I don't take her, I'm not going. She has also always been a pretty well behaved child. In 4.5 years I have dealt with (public!) temper tantrums and such only a handful of times.

     

    (And... I only had one! lol. I'm not sure I'd have been as brave with two. :tongue_smilie:)

  3. DD is 4.5, and we are calling this year kindergarten, even though some of her work is 1st grade. So next year she'll be starting 1st grade at 5.5. (January birthday)

     

    I think it is hard to make generalizations about children. Some children don't need (and aren't interested in!) things like formal math study, grammar, spelling, etc. Other children are ready and eager to do formal studies. I don't necessarily think either way is wrong. As far as retaining things, I think as long as the child continues to use it, they will hold on to it. But I'd never study grammar for a year and think I was done. It is an ongoing thing.

  4. We use BOB Books, Nora Gaydos books, Starfall, Reading Eggs and Progressive Phonics.

     

    Approaching it from so many different areas really works for us, plus DD enjoys feeling like she is really reading with the BOB books and Nora Gaydos books.

     

    OH, and we are starting AAS soon. DD loves to spell words, which is why I started looking for a spelling program, and I like that AAS seems to help with reading also.

  5. I just wanted to add to my opinion.

     

    For those with children that have special needs, it is different. I tend to give the benefit of the doubt when I'm out in public, but honestly a lot of times you can just tell when a child is flat out misbehaving (the ones that are running around the restaurant, speaking back to the parents, etc.) This is completely different than an autistic child who is given the wrong food or gets overwhelmed by the noise and has a meltdown.

    And you can often tell the difference in the parents. The ones who would geniuinely like to help their children and know there is nothing to be done, and the ones who are annoyed with the interruptions and just want to talk to the other people at the table/on the cell phone/concentrate on their food.

  6. Seems like cheap publicity to me. I hardly think it's necessary to have a policy against screaming kids. Regardless of a restaurants policy, most parents don't tolerate screaming kids anyway. 99% of the time, they do something to quiet the child, even if that means leaving the restaurant.

     

    Really? Can I move to where you live?? :D

     

    Ugh. I can hardly go anywhere without screaming, nasty, angry little people. I'm sorry but... a little parenting will go a long way. I don't, and have never, made excuses for my DD just because she's a child. She is expected to act right in public. Period. I'd never sit in a restaurant and let my child cry, I can eat at home. No, parents don't have a right to go out to eat if they are disrupting everyone else. Everyone else didn't have a child...

    I get so annoyed with the "Stop crying or we're leaving" The crying continues and... no leaving! Well, of course those threats mean nothing, the child has learned that they mean nothing!

     

    Lol. Boy do I sound harsh! It really is frustrating though, when you FINALLY get a dinner out with a friend, with no children, and get seated by 2-3 children who are flopping around at the table, screaming, screeching, screaming, stinking, throwing, kicking, etc.

  7. You DID NOT FAIL!! :tongue_smilie:

     

    Behind is a relative term. Behind, what exactly? I like to remember that there will always be children ahead of my DD, and there will also always be children behind her. Besides, as they get older they pick things up quicker, so she'll naturally accelerate.

     

    If you are really concerned about it, just always do math. Even on breaks/summer vacation, keep doing math. Not everyday mind you, but try and do it at least a couple days a week from here until you feel like she has "caught up".

  8. I think from the homeschooling programs out there, a child can be more than prepared to start in an advanced level of college language. My 4.5 year old daughter already knows almost everything I learned last semester in French. (Well, the vocab, the grammar is still a little above her head of course!)

     

    I think that a person could become fairly fluent in reading and writing a language just by book learning. This could even be accomplished on your own with enough diligence. However, having a real conversation with a foreign speaker is much, much different. I have trouble understanding my French professor when she is speaking at full speed, even though she is mostly using phrases and such that I already know! The only way to become truly proficient in conversation is to practice with native/near native speakers. No professional teacher needed, just someone to practice your skills with.

     

    And fluency and being successful in a language course are completely different animals alltogether!

  9. No experience yet, but I'm hoping I've chosen the right career path for me! :D

    I'm in school for history, hoping to be a college professor. It offers a little more flexibility than a 9-5 job. I have one professor who lives 4 hours away 4 days a week and teaches her classes the other 3. I have previously had professors who teach a class on campus and 2-3 online. There is a lot of work that can be done from home, and there are part time opportunities.

     

    (Ok... I *really* want to be an author, but I need something that actually makes money while I'm trying to get published! lol)

  10. I was in school. I would have been.... 11th grade? Yeah. I was actually in Latin class. They brought TVs into the classroom after the first plane hit and we watched as the second plane hit and then heard about the Pentagon. I lived in Charles County MD at the time, so EVERYONE knew someone who worked at the Pentagon. That day, we had a substitute teacher whose husband worked there. She left the classroom in tears and I jumped on the computer because my boyfriend at the time was working in DC and I was worried about him.

     

    I didn't hear from him until late that night when he showed up on my doorstep.

     

    It was horrible. There were a number of people from my town killed in the Pentagon, including a young man who was very well-known and well-liked. There was a run in his name for a number of years to raise money for ... something? It might even still go on, but I'm not there anymore.

  11. Well, I don't know how well it would work but when DD is old enough, I plan on teaching a French literature course. It sounds like your daughter is fairly fluent, does she really need something to teach her French?

    Do you speak/read any French? What I'm envisioning for my daughter at that age is reading novels in French, writing some papers in French, finding some people to talk to, etc. Just everyday things to keep up the fluency (and continue to learn new vocabulary) as opposed to actually learning it as a language.

  12. I was in high school in the 90's. It was "keyboarding". :tongue_smilie:

     

    It was a 1/2 credit class that pretty much everyone took.

     

    I was in high school in the 2000's..it was keyboarding then also.

     

    I took it. It was a full credit course, and wasn't required. It was one of a number of options for electives. It was quite possibly the most useless class I have ever taken. Then again, I was already typing about 100 wpm, and there were kids in the class who had almost no experience on computers!

  13. I guess you could call me rebellious. I am definitely not conventional. I've lived an alternative lifestyle for a significant portion of my life. I've done drugs, drank way to much, stayed out way to late, and credit getting pregnant at 19 with saving my life. I have tattoos, dyed hair, piercings. I am not heterosexual.

     

    On the flip side.... DD and I dress fairly modestly, attend Church, we homeschool (Is that rebellious? It is, but in another sense it is somewhat a conventional, traditional type of thing to do. Not what you would expect from a young single mother, that's for sure.) I work hard at school and get a 4.0- in the honors program.

     

    I avoid labels like the plague. They never seem to fit quite right!

  14. I think it depends on what you want to do after college, what your major is, and what schools you are deciding between.

     

    I'd never pick a school just because it was Ivy League if it didn't fit all my other criteria. Then again, I'm applying for graduate schools in about a year and will be applying to mostly top 10/top 15 schools for my field. But I've been told by my professors that going to a top school does matter when I enter the workforce, and the top schools offer more money.

     

    Some schools are particularly well-known for a certain field. In that case, it may make sense to go to that school, even if it is more expensive. But I don't think anyone can make huge generalizations about all Ivy League schools/all state schools, etc.

  15. You are my Sunshine. (my only sunshine... you make me happy... when skies are gray... :D Now it is playing in repeat in my head!)

     

    I have sung it to DD since I was pregnant with her. I even have a sun tattooed on my back with DD's name inside it, because she is my sunshine after many stormy skies.

     

    Other than that.. wow. I could never narrow it down. I love music. All types, but almost always for the lyrics more so than the beat. I'm constantly listening to my ipod. And you can ALWAYS tell what mood I'm in by the music I listen to!

     

    (Saving this thread so I can look up all the songs listed within it! lol)

  16. (Disclaimer... my daughter is only 4, so much younger)

     

    In regards to the handwriting, I agree with the other posters that I'd get an evaluation, just to rule out any possibly causes/sometimes the experts have tips and tricks we don't think of. Would he like having a penpal? It would be a way to encourage the practice. My DD has a penpal (just received her first letter!! :D) and is very excited to write back. We also make cards for friends and family, and I'll write out what she wants to say and have her copy it. In the same vein, she will often ask me to write something for her, and I'll do it. I guess what I'm getting at here is, is there something he'd be interested in doing as copywork?

    I decided to skip a formal handwriting program and go with just copywork. DD is fairly competent at copying the letters when she has them in front of her, and sees it as a fun activity as opposed to work.

     

    In regards to the writing... if you feel he needs to do a writing/grammar program could he do the actual work on the computer? Or could he dictate to you? I'm not sure it would work with a writing program, but for math this year I am doing all the writing for DD, so she can focus on the work and not struggling to form the letters correctly.

     

    Good luck!

  17. Can I say it now?

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    Congratulations!! You are going to be the (hopefully proud!) grandmother of a beautiful little baby in a few months.

     

    I know, I know... Not an ideal time, not the ideal situation... but sometimes God doesn't always wait until we are ready. Sometimes He makes his plans and we just have to deal with them!

    :grouphug: I was 19 and pregnant, and in a much worse situation than your DD. Things have turned out very well for MY DD and I, as I hope they will for your family.

  18. Another vote for absolutely everything I've ever bought. (Um... which is only this year's curriculum... :lol:)

     

    But probably I am MOST excited about:

    Galloping the Globe, because we both really love learning about other cultures/peoples.

    Intro to Science - Elemental Science, because we really haven't done any science yet, and I think DD will love it. Plus the program seems to be laid out in a way that will make it easy for me to ACTUALLY do science!

    L'art de Dire, because DD LOVES learning French, and I think she'll move much faster without me to slow her down.

    and the American history program I am putting together myself, but I guess that doesn't count, since it's not really a curriculum (yet..lol)

  19. We did school over the summer and are currently breaking.

     

    We will officially be starting kindergarten probably Oct 4th. Waiting for a few last items, then I'll take some time to get everything organized, read through, learn about what's expected of me, get books from the library, etc.

    But I'm considering everything we did over the summer as part of this school year so we can end in May/June. :D

  20. I don't know about fun.... I try to keep things interesting, but I don't necessarily think that is the same as fun.

     

    There are some things that need to be learned, and there's no getting around it. Phonics practice isn't always fun, and let's face it, it isn't always interesting either... but you have to learn to read. And even more, DD WANTS to learn to read, she just doesn't always want to do the work to get there.

  21. Well, my plan is to do French, German, Latin, Greek and another modern. In that order.

     

    French first because I wanted to start with a modern language. It is easier to pick up the accent and such as a child, and accent doesn't matter in Latin or ancient Greek. French is also the one I know most and am able to help with. We started this at just turned 4.

     

    German next, again with the modern before dead language. I am also studying German and will be able to help her by the time she starts. We will start this around, 6 or 7, depending on how strong her French is.

     

    Latin next, to get a good foundation. We'll start around 8 or 9. I want DD to be solid in Latin, not just passable, so we are starting early enough to ensure that.

     

    Greek next. Probably Koine, maybe Ancient, still undecided. We'll start this around 11 or 12. Hopefully by this point we will have been able to drop French as an official language study and just use it to keep up the skills, so it'll be 3 languages.

     

    Then sometime in high school, hopefully by her soph. year, I'd like DD to pick another modern language for a couple years. Hopefully by then we will have enough German to drop it as a language study and just read/speak to keep it up.

     

    I chose French and German because those are the two languages I will be able to help her with. I considered Spanish, because I do have some background in it, but I'm much more fluent in the other two, and I'm continuing my study of them.

     

    Have you asked the children which language they'd like to study?

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