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Kay in Cal

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Posts posted by Kay in Cal

  1. We go to every one... I've gotten some great Usborne books for curriculum, as well as plenty of great fiction reading for the kids and for dh and myself (we both enjoy fantasy lit).

     

    My one caveat--do NOT go on the weekend. We made the mistake of going on a Saturday one time. It took us over two hours to check out--every teacher in the known universe was there. Weekdays are so much simpler!

  2. and I happen to be a United Methodist minister. I find that a lot of our visitors and new members are couples where one grew up Catholic and the other grew up either mainstream Protestant, Jewish, or areligious. Some of my best church leaders were once self-described agnostics. I describe myself politically as "very liberal", but the congregation that I serve consists of persons from across the political spectrum--though probably more liberal than not (however, we are in Los Angeles, you know).

     

    Methodist basics: The Trinity (God, Christ, Spirit); four sources of authority (scripture, experience, tradition and reason combine to teach us about God and the world--as opposed to "sola scriptura" denominations); tolerance; social justice.

     

    In practice, the UM church tends to be more liberal in the west and urban areas, more conservative in the south and and rural areas. Individual churches have individual personalities. IE, we reflect the population of the US quite nicely. If you are curious or have any questions, feel free to pm or email me.

  3. Lol! I love this stuff--how people can have such different reactions to the same material. I so much prefer the new versions! The old "sports" theme is really a drag for me and my non-sports oriented family. If that's your thing, I think you'll love it. The lists (I'm pretty sure) are the same.

     

    We used the old version for A, new for B, old for C (it was cheaper and at our local store) and are just about to start the new version of D with my older ds.

  4. I wouldn't say that we are "very art oriented", but I do supplement AP a bit by looking at additional pictures. For example, when we talked about landscapes, I pulled out several art books (nothing special, just books we already have like "A Child's Book of Art" and some other art catalog type books) and we looked at some additional landscapes. For me, just ONE example of a particular genre isn't enough to really give the feel for why it is distinctive, and it's simple enough to look at a few more. If you don't already have any art books in your personal collection, you could simply check out a couple survey-type art books from the library for additional visual examples.

     

    In years past we've used the Mike Venezia artist series to survey artists chronologically, and I do love those books!

  5. Do you have a weekly or daily schedule format that you use? I have a friend who is just considering homeschooling, and she is very interested in seeing how people schedule their weeks/days/years. I've linked our weekly schedule below (though it doesn't seem to look so good in this format... anyone know a better place to host it?)

     

    Thanks so much!

     

     

    http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddqb9mzf_03qv9gc&hl=en

  6. I really loved the movie! We went to see it back in January as a trade with my dh--I wanted to see Atonement, dh wanted to see Juno, so we saw both. I had been afraid that I would find it upsetting either one way or the other--either they would be too blase about her pregnancy and treat teen motherhood in a cavalier fashion, or it would be "preachy" and have a finger-wagging quality that would make the movie unenjoyable. In the end, I though the writer did such a fine job of walking that line between a serious situation and a "flippant" teenage girl making tough decisions.

     

    I thought it was pretty spot on to many of the teens that I have been in ministry with over the past couple of decades--although Juno was better spoken and "cooler" than the average teen girl. And the high school situation portrayed in the movie didn't seem that strange to me... pretty close to what I found 20 years ago in high school, at a "good" "upper middle class" public high school in Colorado. I'm kind of intrigued that so many posters feel the social situation in the movie was so surprisingly awful...

     

    We also got the soundtrack by the Moldy Peaches, we liked it so much!

  7. Having a great time here at the trade show. I'm really excited about all the games that are educational! Actually, thinking about setting up a web site with educational games by category... my list keeps on growing! We have bags and bags of "swag"--freebies given by companies and manufacturers. Of course, my boys were most happy about all the free Pokemon stuff (pencils, stickers, beachballs, etc). But only grownups on the show floor!

     

    I'll post later with some suggested games by category if folks are interested. One great new vocabulary/word game--"You've Been Sentenced"--the mechanic is kind of like Apples to Apples, but building sentences for a score. Ody-see also looks good--geography game out of Australia with a large fully-detailed 3-D map board.

     

    We took our oldest (ds6) to see Mystere by Cirque du Soleil last night with moderate success--I think he enjoyed it, but drove us crazy squirming and kicking etc. That boy cannot sit still!!

  8. Try asking around doulas/midwives if they know anyone who is especially "good" at this.

     

    I have a friend who was in a similar situation. Her doctor tried to flip the baby from the outside--no luck. Her doula knew of a doctor (ob) who had a rep as being good at this. Called, got an appointment just to flip the baby. It took him only a few minutes to manipulate the baby into the proper position. Guess it just takes someone with experience and the proper "touch"!

     

    Anyhow, you might try calling some folks and asking if they know anyone. Or, if you live in So Cal...?

  9. For a couple of vacation days--going to a board game trade show, tickets to Mystere for dh and I and oldest ds, but best of all--three days in a hotel!!! Yeah! (Can you tell I'm a fan of maid service?) I've got one full day of child care too, with an old friends/church member/childcare provider who moved there several years back, so we'll have one day kid-free.

     

    Any other family friendly Vegas suggestions, particularly something special for the 4 year old who is too squirmy yet for Cirque du Soleil?

     

    Have fun, I'm going to try to stay off the boards as much as I can (though I need to take my computer for work, so I'll poke my head in), and enjoy your week!

  10. We moved to a king last year... best thing ever! Before we had kids a queen was fine, but with two littles who want to jump in too it was way too crowded.

     

    My dh also has some sleep issues (severe restless leg syndrome) and the king sized bed makes all the difference for me. I can lay kind of diagonally if needed--I like to touch, but I want my legs out of the impact zone. Last time we visited my mom (who has queen--or maybe full?) in her guest room I actually moved to the floor in the middle of the night. It was better than the constant kicks!

  11. "I think a culture can be measured in part by the quality of their education system. I believe that if you want strong communities building strong schools is vital to growth and progress. "

     

    I so agree, Kelli! I love homeschooling, and can't imagine that anything else would work for my particular kiddos, but I also consider myself a supporter of public schooling. Doesn't mean I always like them, but I would hope for them to acheive excellence. All kids, even those with less dedicated or able or interested parents, deserve a chance to succeed.

     

    I'd rep you, Kelli, but apparently I've repped you too recently!

  12. Depending on your church structure, there are also administrative issues that go into using a "worship team" model. I'm the pastor of a small, traditional mainline church that currently has on staff--myself, a music director, and a secretary. In a traditional model, the music director and I design worship together each week--I pick scripture, hymns, prayers, etc, she picks the music. Now THAT is really elitist, when you think about it! Other people might make suggestions, but hands on it's left to the pastor to make all decisions.

     

    In a true worship team format a variety of people come together to plan and create the worship experience. It isn't just what you see on Sunday (or Wednesday, or whenever), it's about a group of people who are committed to designing and implementing excellence in worship. You may SEE the singers each week, but there is much more that goes into worship than that. Even at my small church we have visual arts experts (who create beautiful altar decorations), dancers, drama team, musicians (singers and instrumentalists), etc, etc... In my opinion, the idea of having a team design worship is to allow the community to authentically express thier relationship with God and Jesus. Not just 1 person (the pastor) or two or three paid staffers, or even a whole choir! A true worship team should be open to anyone who is called to worship leadership--that's not everybody, but it may be quite a few people in quite a few different roles.

     

    That's really the opposite of elitist--now all can use their gifts and graces as they are called to do so.

  13. I have 144 emails in my inbox. I delete regularly, some spam, but mostly business and things that "have to be dealt with" at some point. I get about 20-30 emails a day, about half of which are quickly deletable, the rest are church related. I don't do "fun forwards" (of quizzes/prayers/kitten pictures/dancing angels/political commentary/etc), though I have at least 20 parishoners who send me things like that on a regular basis.

  14. OK, there is a park near my home that has been closed for over a month now. We used to walk over to this park once or twice a week, and have school on the lawn there. I live only a few hundred yards from the entrance to the park. I discovered that the park was closed for environmental testing... and just decided to google the report:

     

     

    http://www.laparks.org/pdf/ChatsworthSoFacts.pdf

     

     

    So if you look at the site map, we have sat many times right in the middle of the old shooting range area. We've even dug in the dirt (doing science and nature observation) in the area of highest lead contamination. I'm freaking out here! We've gone to this park for five years, my boys have been super exposed there... they've gone under that brige in the culvert many times (another place marked with high lead content). Now I'm feeling horribly guilty for exposing my sons to the park--, and also wondering--have they been affected by lead exposure? From what I can tell, it seems like lead makes it's way out of the body over time, so is there a way if they can determine past exposure? What if they've had lead in their systems since they were toddlers? Ugh ugh ugh.... mommy freak out time.

     

    Someone give me some perspective, or advice, or something... anyone have any experience with this?

  15. We were in the same year, but had never run into each other (different majors and activities) until our Junior year--unusual at our small school. I was over at a good friend's house one day working on a Russian project, and noticed a Dragon magazine in her room. I had played D&D all through junior and high school, and asked her if she gamed... she said yes, invited me to come to her Sunday gaming group, and that's how I met Doug. Yep. I married my Dungeon Master.

     

    There is no geekier way to meet a future spouse.

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