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EmilyGF

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Posts posted by EmilyGF

    Taking our first official college tour - recommendations?

    in The College Board

    Posted

    7 hours ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

    It's good to realize that tours can vary a lot in quality. My son's fiancee was a guide at Stanford. She had to pass a knowledge test that required studying for and had to do observed tours before she led solo.

    I noticed this year that several colleges had freshman tour guides. I'm dubious that someone in their second semester has enough insight into student outcomes, though they might have a fresher sense of what orientation and onboarding is like.

    If you get a dud guide (or even just one you didn't connect with) ask admissions for more ways to connect with students. The majority of colleges are seeking students to enroll and want to share what they think they do well with prospective students. 

    I'm curious how your CWRU tour was. That was one were I thought the guide needed more experience with the college. 

    Amen to that! The reason DH was so skeptical is that he's a prof at one of the most bookish universities in the country and he heard a guide say, "The Law library is the only library on campus with books." Nope, DH was on the library committee and his university has over 11 million volumes ON CAMPUS. He also noticed the guides skewed frat-ish, despite the university having few frats.

    Now, for CWRU: we loved it! First there was a presentation by a masters student who also had done undergrad at Case (Bio Engineering) for about 45 minutes and then an hour+ long tour by an upperclassman. For the presentation there were about 25 students (plus their families). Afterwards, the students were assigned to a guide whose major sort of overlapped with theirs, probably a benefit of the pre-registration requirement.

    The clear focus of the presentation was "smart students come here to learn and get equipped with what they need to succeed." The emphasis was on working hard, curiosity, and research. We asked a lot of engineering and nursing related questions, and I think the guide couldn't answer one out of 20+.

    However, she didn't make anything up, she just said she didn't know much about it. I asked if there was a silkscreening machine students could use, and she said she didn't know, but that there was an embroidery machine students could use in the maker lab. She really played up the "we're all nerds here" aspect. For instance, she pointed to the gym and told us about the PE requirement, but did not take us inside the gym and explained ways people could avoid having to go in, for instance, by taking CPR instead of a gym class.

    Our guide has transferred in after doing her first year at an unnamed liberal arts college, and she talked about what she appreciated about CWRU compared to it. She never demeaned her old school, but emphasized what she enjoyed about a science/engineering focused school. She also had a few stock phrases, and all seven of us were saying "Amazing!" and "Free food!" for the next three days, LOL. We enjoyed seeing the library with its computer vending machine.

    Finally, DS17 is majorly into music and loved that the college abuts the Symphony hall! There is a beautiful running trail downhill from campus, and it is about 3 miles to great Lake Erie birding. DH really loved it.

    I could go on and on. Let me know if you have other questions.

    Emily

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 2

    What to do with curriculum and books if you don't feel like trying to sell it?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I am just recycling or tossing some curriculum. It has been through 5 children and the author has significantly revised and improved the edition we have.

    Someone handed down to us a curriculum with tape cassettes. I enjoyed looking through the booklets, but I am throwing it away. Years ago I bought a tape player for something and found that it broke easily. It isn't worth it.

    Emily

    • Like 2

    My mom wants good mystery books

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I've been on a mystery kick this fall.

    Rabbi Small - a series of mysteries with a Reform Jewish Rabbi written in the 1960s. Interesting insights into the 1960s and Jewish/Catholic life (the town has a Catholic chief of police that the Rabbi befriends).

    The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz - contemporary murder mystery series set in England by one of the writers of Foyle's War. It is written in a way that you can't tell where reality ends and fiction begins, which I found pretty neat. This was a fun meta-read, with the author reflecting on the writing process as a character within the book.

    I also enjoyed the Tony Hillerman books, but only in moderation.

    Emily

     

    • Like 1

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~ December 2022 Frugalistas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I'm not feeling that frugal this month, but I *do* have about 20 lbs of random lentils from the Indian grocery store that I need to cook through. My goal is to make a dish with weird lentils at least once a week.

    We're planning to buy DD14 a violin "for Christmas", so that's a big expense. DS17 is continuing college applications, which is also expensive. DS10 is experiencing some health problems which will get expensive if we can't figure them out through the normal doctor. Sigh.

    When I started working last year, I wasn't getting any benefits, but I decided to max out my IRA. I planned to do so year-round, even though I had the summer off. Due to some HR issues, I didn't get rehired 9/1 as planned but 11/16. Argh. Anyways, I kept up the IRA contributions and am glad to now be getting paychecks to fill that hole!

    Emily

    • Like 1

    Resume for homeschool moms

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by EmilyGF

    8 hours ago, learners4life said:

    Hi Emily, What an awesome job you have! Thank you for your example. Was that the entirety of what you wrote about homeschool? I'm wondering whether you had a lot of other employment history or even a teaching credential?

     

    Yes, that's all I wrote about our homeschool homeschool. I had been part of a coop and am attaching what I wrote below. I also had been volunteering (albeit only for a few months) as a teacher with a community organization and included that.

    The Co-op lines:

    CITY Co-Op, CITY, STATE — Teacher, Coordinator

    SEPTEMBER 2017- JUNE 2020

    Worked with a team to coordinate homeschool classes for multiple families. Designed and taught classes in conceptual physics, classic history, and literature to high schoolers.

    • Like 2

    Resume for homeschool moms

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by EmilyGF

    Here's what I wrote (with a few redactions). I was applying for a job coordinating college students implementing a multi-site tutoring study within the public school system. (I got the job.)

    ETA: our city requires kids to test into high schools, so where a kid goes to high school reflects their level of academic preparation.

    Homeschool, CITY NAME—Lead

    AUGUST 2010 - Present

    Researched, designed, and implemented a complete curriculum for four children, two through 8th grade; both graduates are in a top-3 CITY high school and are 2-3 years advanced in math. Presented the roles of teacher and student at a national conference.

    • Like 5

    Dr. Hive - sleepy 10-year-old UPDATE Feb 2023

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by EmilyGF

    Alright, if everyone says it is puberty/post-viral, I'll relax. 

    This boy physically is very different from his older siblings (stocky, extremely tall vs. medium tall, incredibly thin) so maybe the physical change just looks different for him, too.

    ETA: Not trying to minimize post-viral stuff, just recognizing that it takes time and rest, not intensive doctor's visits and medication.

    Emily

    • Like 1

    Dr. Hive - sleepy 10-year-old UPDATE Feb 2023

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    24 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

    Did they test Vitamin B and D?

    I was sure youngest DS had a thyroid issue but it turned out his Vitamin B had tanked and it was rough (took us a while to figure it out). 

    I will look into B and D. We have not yet.

    @KatyI hope this is puberty, but I don't remember the other big kids crashing like this. He either goes to bed before the 6-year-old or naps every day.

    Emily

    Dr. Hive - sleepy 10-year-old UPDATE Feb 2023

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by EmilyGF

    Hi all,

    I'm trying to figure out what is going on with DS10. Please don't quote as I will delete later.

    For the last month (since being sick for 6 days at the beginning of November), he's been sleeping 1+ hour extra per day and wakes up tired. He got sick for another three days (high fever, came down with Tylenol) over Thanksgiving. The first illness may have been COVID but was not tested, the second illness tested negative. Other siblings had short illnesses of 1-3 days.

    Before getting sick, he was sleeping about 20 min more per day, enough that I was sort of noticing it, but not quite sure.

    Tests so far have all been normal: thyroid, complete blood count (normal), iron and iron binding, ferritin, c-reactive protein. We have a sleep study scheduled for January.

    Any ideas of what to look for or push for? He's eating normal, has no complaints of aching or stomach pains, runs around when not tired, works hard around the house.

    Thanks for any help. 
     

    UPDATE Feb 2023: he got diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and got tonsils and adenoids removed yesterday.

    Emily

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

    Anybody else panicking?

    in The College Board

    Posted

    DS17 applied to college in the UK and has an online interview for Cambridge this Friday morning. He's reading various books on issues in Comp Sci and doing two mock technical Comp Sci interviews to prepare, so he asked for a reprieve on writing new application essays until after the interview. 🙂

    Emily

    • Like 13

    stockings...question

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    24 minutes ago, kfeusse said:

    I have been doing that every year....as well as those little boxes of fun cereal.....so yeah....I was mostly trying to decide about the keepsake part of my question. 

     

    Love the idea of fun cereal boxes.

    My dad still uses the stocking his mother made for him as a child (felt, with felt scenes and bells sewn on). I have a similar one, which I still use.

    Emily

    Stocking stuffers that are actually affordable

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I always put a container of Pringles in every stocking. Not incredibly healthy, but it is inexpensive and takes up a lot of space. Also, it is the only time of the year my kids have their own container of Pringles. 

    I encourage each person (my husband loves this) to put their name on the lid of the Pringles after Christmas and most of them try to make it last at least a week.

    Emily

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

    Best Thanksgiving cheats

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    One year, I had everyone say what their favorite item was and we crossed everything else off the list. Maybe if there is overlap this could help? We all ate way too much of our favorites, but no one felt obligated to eat pearl onions or green bean casserole anymore. 

    Also, have you looked into one of those turkey cookers? My dad found it made cooking the turkey so much easier and hands off, while freeing up the oven for other things.

    Stuffing is one of our favorite things. We have a batch in the oven and a batch in the crock pot every year!

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1
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