..

..

..

..

..

..

..

So do they really kill fire ants??? My LA relatives tell me there's nothing that will kill those nasty little varmints. And I hear the fire ants are making their way up to VA, which is bad news for me because we already have ants swarming at different spots in our house during certain times of the year. Fire ants would just be that much worse. I'd love to be ready for'em, grits in hand!

..

You may be able to find grits in a natural food store/coop. That's where I get mine, even though they're available in Wal Mart. The grits in the nat. store are much more like a grain. And less like "grainy snot", as TXMomof4 called them. My dh, however, loves his "grainy snot" Jim Dandy white grits from Wal Mart. :D

I remembered a few other things and then I'll stop. :) The silver dollars our gf used to give us when it was time to travel back to SC. The kind with the lady with the flowing dress and hair. But of course we always spent them. The cigar boxes he gave us to store our treasures in. Drive-ins. Where we used to play in the playground below the giant screen ... in our pajamas ... until the movie started. Halloween. My all-time favorite holiday, for a few reasons. We got to stay up past bedtime; go outside at night (rare for us); all the candy we could eat; and, best of all, my father always took us around to trick-or-treat. My father came from a generation of men who thought their biggest contribution to rearing their dc was their paycheck. So it was wonderful to see all the dads on that one magical night and listen to dad conversations vs the mom conversations I heard the other 364 days of the year. And, finally, snow. Snow in the South is magical. Not like up North where it's viewed as "being dumped on", to quote a native NH girl. Everything comes to a complete and utter standstill for that one magical day (or 2 if you're lucky). No school, no traffic, nothing. Most of the businesses were even closed. And, speaking of snow, I have more photos. This is the snowfal we had yesterday, which is almost all gone today. Kind of like manna from heaven to us. The End.

..

Oh yeah. TV. We had a black and white as long as I was home. I think I was grown and gone before they got a color set. I remember waking up and going in to find my mother watching Twilight Zone or Outer Limits or Peyton Place or Raw Hide or Bonanza or Marcus Welby MD. She watched TV, knitted, and read books while watching TV and waiting for my father to get home when he worked swing shift. And Adams Family and Get Smart. I loved Adams Family. We were allowed to watch more TV in the summer, so we saw reruns. And every afternoon between 4:45 and 5pm we had to get off the subdivision streets because all the dads were coming home from DuPont (in carpools). That was our 'rush hour'. :)

Well, you could ship some over my way. :) I'd love to see them around here. But, then, I've never actually lived where mountain lions lived. (lived in town in ID) I guess I'd carry that gun and hope my reflexes were faster than the cat's. :blink:

..

..

No, I don't think that's too young. It really depends on what you think he can handle. You may be able to go a little faster with the easier stuff. We use Henle at this point; but if you go with something like that, be sure to go slow enough, making sure he has all the memory work down pat before going on to the next lesson. It may feel like he's creeping, but backtracking (not the same as reviewing) is very frustrating to most dc. All 5 of our hs'ed dc can attest to that. :tongue_smilie:

I began WTM when ds's were 14 and 16. The hardest part (besides overcoming my own angst:001_smile:) was overcoming that initial resistance to the increased workload and difficulty. Be prepared for that. As far as curr., I began them where they were at. For example, they had never had Latin or Logic, so I started them with the easy stuff. For Grammar, I ordered a couple levels and orally quizzed them to decide which level to start them on. I chose the levels where they missed about 50% of the questions. I did go ahead and start them on the GB's. In hindsight, however, I would have had them do the Logic stage history alongside the GB's. This gives them the 'flow' of history which they may not realize from reading the GB's alone. I also had them read the Grammar/Logic stage version of a GB before reading the GB itself. This seemed to help. I would also have gone ahead with the rhetoric science like we did, adding in a lot of the Logic stage ideas. In other words, go back and read through both the Logic and Rhetoric sections and try to estimate what your dc can handle. Then, combine where needed. By far, though, the hardest part was realizing that if I really wanted to give them the kind of education I wanted to give them, it would mean hs'ing them past the traditional 18yo deadline, considering their ages at the start. You might consider something like that somewhere down the road, depending on your goals for him.

The best ones I've had over the years have come from grocery stores - nice heavy-duty cloth. All our grocery stores have gone to that thin, synthetic stuff though. It 'frizzes' and picks up every cat hair it touches. :glare: So I went looking for better ones. I found canvas bags for $7 each at our local natural foods coop store. But the best deal was at Wal Mart. At the end of the summer, I got 'beach bags' made of semi-waterproof material, nice long over-the-shoulder handles, places for cell phone and water bottle, deep ... for $5 each. I loaded up while they were getting rid of them. Not much help for you now, but something to keep in mind for next year.

..

Here's a link to one (substitute sorghum flour). There are probably others on this site. HTH http://www.fatfree.com/recipes/pies/apple-pie-oatmeal-cookie-crust

And here's the rest (I hope). MATERIALS 1. Index card boxes A. Technical voc B. Men, places, theories 2. Daily notebook A. Memory work (chemical tables, etc.) B. Sketches C. Outlines D. Insight notes (theories) E. Concept summaries F. Summaries (of section) G. Text notes H. Timeline(s) - discoveries, events, births, deaths, etc. I. Context pages J. Extracurricular research topic summaries K. Cultured consequences estimates L. Scientific method (experimentation … ‘results’) 3. Periodical notebook A. 1. History/bio works 2, Whole sci/branch summaries 3. Origin & end - research papers 4. Human endeavors summaries 5. Idea-evolution summaries 6. Technology-development summaries & effects 7. Scientific interrelationship studies B. Original text - summary info: see ‘Original Texts’, Periodically, III 1. Context pages 2. Notes 3. Compositions C. Outside research (reports) 1. Discussion of ideas with others 2. Videos, tapes, CD’s, internet 3. Field trips, trips out into our forests, etc, stream, rocks, plants 4. Extra activities’ summaries SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1. Observation - must be objective and unbiased 2. Propasal of question or problem - must apply to the observation and be testable 3. Hypothesis - an educated guess that attempts to answer the question or solve the problem 4. Experimentation - (either a or b) In the control treatment all conditions are strictly regulated. In the experimental treatment all but one condition (the variable) is regulated. a. control treatment b. experimental treatment 5. Theory - a hypothesis having a certain degree of probability 6. Natural law - a theory shown to be valid on a universal scale Excellent article on the “experimental method†in the brown encyclopedia. (1940's Encyclopedia Britannica)

Here's a summary we all came up with last year. Periodically, I gather us all together to discuss what's working, what more is needed, etc. It keeps us accountable, I find. Anyway, 26yos wrote up his own summary of what we decided for science (obviously, most of the process is from WTM). Kind of a 'hindsight' thing; yet he still does most of this. The rest do some version of this. (It was too long for one reply, so I'll have to finish it in a second reply.) DAILY 1. Text (principles), 4 days/week A. Review memory/voc B. Read section, take notes & personal notes (see ch.26 WEM) C. Extract voc, memory, timeline info, & sketch (index box, notebook: put men, places, theories, etc., into box ‘timeline’ too?) D. Make outlines (strip charisma/pictures) E. Quickly research interesting/unclear topics - take notes & place w/B’s notes (1-page concept summaries) F. Write 1. Summary composition (~2 pages) at end of …? 2. Context pages (of ideas/authors … like hist. context pages?) G. Choose specific topic, research & summarize H. discuss (cultural consequences of) ideas I. Notebook as set up in WTM: 1. Experiments 2. Sketches 3. Reports 4. Dates 5. Memory Work 6. Extra Activities 2. Scientific Method (experiment) A. Observation B. Inquiry - question/problem identified; investigate principles at work or possibly involved C. Hypothesize solution/result D. Do experiment E. Report clear description of phenomenon (precise & rigid) … careful recordkeeping F. Draw sketches G. Construct theory of explanation; extend theory into general natural law H. How to record experiments (as set up in WTM): 1. What question am I trying to answer? (state the question) 2. What could the answer be? (form a hypothesis) 3. How will I test this answer? (the steps of the experiment) 4. What result did I get? 5. Does this agree with the answer I thought I would get? If not, what answer should I give instead? PERIODICALLY (projects) 1. Extensive study (history) A. Be regularly tracing the history of sciences (encyclo., secondary histories, etc.) B. Investigate origins & ends of entire fields (motives, inspiration) - why did they even arise? Why in ‘waves’? C. Research the lives & contemporary history of scientists and their theories - (bio) outlines/research D. Note especially the human endeavor wrapped up in sciences (bio’s) E. Do more extensive investigation of evolutions of specific ideas (4-6 wks.) F. Trace the development of certain technologies, specify their effects on societies (religion, philo., politics …& what they are, or were designed to do) G. Research the relationships between sciences 2. Timelines A. Of scientists B. Of creation of major ideas/theories 3. Original texts (primary sources …3-4 per yr, ~2wks per bk) A. Read & apply “Daily†instructions (context page, timeline, read, write) B. As is fit, either summarize the text, exegete it, summarize only major sections … C. Extract direct quotes into a ‘Quote Book’ D. Timetables of History has very thorough lists, dates, and all 4. Discussion (of ideas) A. Discuss the theories or summarize 5. Outside research A. Videos, tapes, CD’s, internet B. Field trips GENERALLY 1. Exercise research muscle A. learn to use libraries, internet B. Find & use multiple textbooks C. Encyclopedias 2. Master technical aspects A. Technical principles, modes & methods · what is and isn’t done …. Convention B. Technical voc’s & communication strata 3. Exercise A. Forceful, fluent self-expression B. Sharp inquiry into nature of ‘fact’ & origins thereof; general inquisition C. Careful observation & study D. Careful partition of theory & fact E. Concentrate on the use of logical processes - cause/effect, deduction, induction F. Active reading G. Exploration, absorption, & memorization H. Careful outlining - conclusion at hand, supporting facts beneath I. Clashing of opposing theories/textbooks (Major skills = reading, writing, observing, experimenting, researching, …)

[Hi Nan. Someone recently asked me something about math. This is part of the pm which I sent to them. It mostly describes how I tried to raise the bar in math a little for our dd's a while back. I realize R&S isn't exactly high school level, but it's the process which really helped our math. I finally decided there isn't one perfect math curr. out there; so it was up to me (& dh) to take what was available and do what we could to make it into what we wanted. This is a brief description of what we came up with. It's been working very well for us.:) Kathy] So I would sit at the table with 1-3 kids and their whiteboards. I let them decide how much they wanted to do at a time. Some said stop after 30 min. Some did a lesson or more at a sitting, forgetting about the time, going as fast or as slow as they wanted. I also let them decide whether to do the oral drill from the teacher's books first, or the lesson and then the drill, or etc. They liked this flexibility and I think they began to actually enjoy math at this point (even though all we were doing was pretty much arithmetic ;) (Some were also finishing up Saxon 87 by doing the lessons and giving them to me to check. If they couldn't get a problem, dh or I or one of their brothers would help them. That was the end of Saxon for dd's.) Back at the table with R&S ... I set up the teacher's books on bookstands in front of me while they worked with their student books and whiteboards. This way I could do more than one dd at a time. If I was quizzing one, the other was doing her lesson and keeping a list of her answers in a corner of her white board. When I finished quizzing the one, I would check the other's answers by having her quickly call them out to me. If they hit something they couldn't figure out, they would try it again. If they still couldn't get it after a couple of tries, I would try different things. (Be creative and vary your approach.) If it was a word problem, I would ask them to read it aloud. (Math requires a different kind of reading than things like history and lit. It's slower and more deliberate.) Frequently, it would happen that they had been reading too fast and had misread some small detail; so they would say something like, "Ooooh! I thought it said ____, instead of ____!" Problem solved. If this didn't work, however, I would begin reading it aloud, slowly. Sometimes they would catch the error this way. If these things failed, I would start asking them questions or giving them clues. Sometimes they just weren't familiar with the terminology. And if all this failed, I would take my own little whiteboard and slowly narrate the solution as I worked the problem while they watched. Or I would tell them the answer and ask them to figure out how the book came up with it (work backwards). It even happened that sometimes I couldn't figure out how the book came up with the answer; so I would tell them the answer and say, "How in the world did they get that??", and ask dc to explain it to me. That worked well, too. If it was a simple calculation like 'convert this to that', I would have them do the problem on their board and go through each step with them to find the error. This helped pinpoint consistent errors like forgetting to invert the fraction when dividing by a fraction, so that I could watch for those errors in all their work. Another thing we did involved the problems which were things I was sure they knew pretty good. Here I would ask them to do a few of the hardest ones for the exact answers, and then tell them to estimate the answers for the rest. When they were comfortable with estimating, I increased the difficulty by telling them to estimate as quickly as they could. For example, there are tons of percent problems asking them what percent of this number is that number. Or how much is this percent of this number. I would tell them to go down the column as fast as they could, estimating answers aloud while I called out the exact answer immediately after they called out their estimate. I was surprised to find that some enjoyed this and others were very uncomfortable with it; but they all had to do it. So every week they are assigned 1-2 Russian problems and some algebra from the Allen book. We gather on Friday afternoons for a couple of hours to check all this. First, they pass around their answers for the Russian problems to see how others worked on them. They discuss them as they do this. Then, I pass out the answers (we own a copier) and they discuss it some more. Then, I give them the next problem (or 2-3 if they’re easy) for the next week. Next, we go on to check the algebra. This is fairly easy for them (they're older and have done several logic books), so we only put the problems they've missed on the big whiteboard. More discussion follows. (They all make their own flash cards for algebra and drill on their own time.) To summarize all this, I basically changed how we do and think about math (& logic) in some of the following ways (think ‘discussion and group’): - Stopped sending them off to their rooms and had them sit at the table with me (& sibs) where I could check each problem as they did it … while they still remembered their thought processes. This was also great because if they didn’t understand my explanation, then their sisters could often explain it in a way they could understand. - Began group math times. Here they could compare and discuss the problems. Often they would get into discussions about how the various authors of all the books they have done were presenting the same material in totally different ways. This was very helpful in a zillion ways, some unrelated to math specifically. - Ditched pencil and paper for individual whiteboards until we got to Allen’s Algebra and they began having assignments. Also ditched stopwatches, though some decided to time themselves on R&S drills, just for fun. - Increased time for math. It just needed to be done. We had been spending less time on math than we had on any other subject. - Told them to make drill tools like flash cards, memory sheets, and summary sheets in math just like they had always done in all their other subjects. They drill on their own time because they’re older now. If they were young, I would drill them to make sure they were getting it. - Realized (& explained to them) that it takes a different kind of reading in math (& logic). Told them to slow down and read very deliberately and stop trying to do it like they do history or GB’s (fast and skimming). - Put more emphasis on logic. Increased the time and informed them we would be doing much more than WTM required. We are currently spending every morning from 8-10 finishing up the Suppes’ “First Course in Mathematical Logic†book. Then, we’ll continue on down the list. They’ve also completed the Nance books, TL books, and a few other odds and ends. - Ditched the time limits for finishing a book. Told them to master the material and forget about deadlines, because we have a looong way to go yet in math. Best to make sure they master the early stuff so as to avoid having to backtrack. I can tell how well they’re doing this by listening to the group discussions and other things. - Used one base book with the goal of completing it and added in problems from a variety of other authors here and there; so they realize that different authors present the exact same material in different ways; but there is always a basic body of knowledge. I told them to look for that because there is no perfect curriculum/book for math or logic. A combination works best (for us). - Required them to read at least one history of math book at some point. Also, at some point they will all have to read bio’s of math/logic/science peoples. Some of them already do this, but I made it mandatory. It gives them the big picture and helps them realize that math is a work in progress – just like everything else. It also helps understand how math developed ... someone does a bunch of thinking to come up with the theories; usually, at a later time, someone else takes these theories and applies them to the real world; someone else comes up with more theories which build on the original (or corrects them); someone else discovers how to apply the theories; and on and on it goes.

..