Jamee
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Posts posted by Jamee
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You're kidding! I have a friend who said the same thing, but I didn't believe her. I mean, how can you tell if the information is factual? :confused:
It allows you to guess really well.:D But depending on the credibility of the author, some is very accurate. I too learned a lot of my history from good historical fiction.
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What about giving each of them a fresh $100 bill and a promise to drive them to the Apple store. Or $150 in fresh $50s if you're being more generous. Then they can decide if they want an older 8 gb, to kick in more money for the 32 gb or to make do until the prices come down again.
You might point our that the price points for iPods do seem to have stability, but the capability you get for the price changes. So $150 in a year might get them a lot more iPod.
:iagree:DS wants a touch too. We told him he had to buy it himself, so he has asked the grandparents for gift cards, and we'll most likely be doing the same. He's been trying to save too. If you can't afford it and are feeling guilty, I'd just give a nice gift card for them to put towards the touch or whatever else they want. If they want it THAT badly, they'll save.
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Last Christmas, he The Mysterious Benedict Society for Christmas. He loved it. So, I bought him the second one and he loved that, too. Then I bought him the third. Then I found another series I thought he would like...and he did. All of a sudden he couldn't stop reading. He reads during all of his meals (except dinner), he sets his alarm for 6:30 every morning so that he can read before he gets out of bed, he reads at night and he reads every chance he can get.
This is how it happened for us too, and about the same age too. I got the Percy Jackson series for DS for Christmas last year and MADE him read the first one, before the movie came out. Although he enjoyed reading, he only read bits here and there of non-fiction. He recluctantly started PJ, and took awhile to get into it, once he started he couldn't stop! We had finally found something that sparked his interest. I'm glad I got all the books at once, for it went from one to the other. He now takes his books with him everywhere and reads all the time. He's had to read some books he hasn't liked, but we basically said that's life and he needed to get used to it. But most of the time, mom is right about her book suggestions for him.:D
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Yesterday I was on the phone with the supervisor of the local personal property office trying to explain to him that we really in fact did actually have thousands of books that fell into military professional gear because of the areas that my husband works with. I always find it so amazing that there is no problem thinking of a specially fitted flight helmet as pro gear, or musical instruments as pro gear for a member of one of the Navy bands, or of medical or legal books for a military doctor or lawyer. But as soon as a more general military officer starts to amass a library of much beyone the Navy reading list and Fleet Tactics you get weird looks.
I've had packers threaten to quit over how many books they were having to pack. I've had moving inspectors tell me that they'd never seen so many books in their entire military and civilian career scheduling moves. It gets so tiring to seem like a freak because we think that the world of literature and non-ficiton writing has some purpose beyond the NY Times best seller list.
Anyway, I'll be ordering Hill's book and probably clipping Kimball's essay for future encouragement. If you can get ahold of the 20 Sep edition of National Review, you should look up the review (pg 50). And it encourages me to pull out my copy of Pilgrim's Progress and start tackling the Well Educated Mind reading list again.
I want to thank you for making me feel better about all my books.:D We are currently waiting for the arrival of the majority of them to come out of storage--they were packed up four years ago. When we put the request in this summer, it was listed as boxes like 18-45 or whatever. They sent box 18 and box 45.:001_huh: We only received about 10 of the 40+ boxes requested. Only ONE box of actual books. I am now nervous for I have NO recollection of just what books will be coming and where they'll be going. I have already warned the boys that there may not be a Christmas tree this year. I wonder how much furniture we'll have to leave behind so as to not exceed the weight limit when we move.:lol:
Good luck with the pack out. I have found Asian movers to be pretty good. I do not envy the unpacking though.
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We are about half-way through SOTW1 and when we hit the beginnings of the Roman Empire, I'm going to follow more of the Logic stage history with DS. I just got his notebook put together and he's already been doing some outlining. I have the Usborne Encyclopedia already and just picked up Kingfisher to see how it compares. Should be interesting! I think I'll still keep with SOTW for the "story" aspect, he really enjoys reading those and occassionaly will ready the chapters to his brother too. I also plan on keeping with the map work from the activity guides as well.
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I read the Red Queen this summer and really enjoyed it. Yes, White Queen came out first. They're essentially the same story told from two different points of view. It's rather interesting when you go and read the other since you have these notions in your head already as to who these characters are, but they're portrayed so differently.
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If you want a closer look, three of the TOPS units were created together with NASA, and are available for free download (I'm guessing since taxpayers' $$ went into the project) at the NASA website (scroll down).
Thanks so much for the links! DH is a math teacher and those were the books I was wanting to get him! Good to see my university mentioned too.:D Go SSU!
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I got accepted to a top univeristy, but after HS graduation, my parents informed me I would not be going. I still have regrets and what-ifs, but it also means I most likely wouldn't have met my husband, so it worked out.
I think the biggest advantage to top universities would be the alumni associations and connections you receive by being a "grad." DH went to a top univiersity and the connections he has available to him are huge, although that has never been a priority of his. It's more important though that one goes to a college that is going to meet your needs. I believe it'd make more sense to go to a smaller, lesser-known school that specializes in what you want to do, over someplace huge where you'll just be lost in the crowd. Of course, scholarships could be very persuasive too.
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We are also very much involved in scouts and I'm just about burnt out with that. I've been a leader and on the board for the past three years now. I help out with the school when I can too.
Last year, DS volunteered to help with the art program that was done at the elementary school. Our friends were volunteering so the kids would have an art program and it was a good fit for him. I've been trying to think of something he can do this year as well, but not much yet.
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I love designing blogs and have really taken to customization. Do you have photo editing software? the first thing you need to do is crop your photo so that fits in the space provided for your header. 9" x 3" seems to give a good size. If you get curious, you can also go into the advanced design section of your blog and see if you can find the sizes there, they'll be done in pixels.
Here are a couple blogs I've done:
http://yokosukahomeschooling.blogspot.com/
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Absolutely you need to study formal grammar, even if you write grammatically correctly intuitively - it's impossible to talk about something if you have no vocabulary for it. I've been teaching a bunch of kids Spanish, and it's been difficult with one kid whose English grammar is "intuitive" but looks at me blankly when we talk about definite articles and participles. It's so much easier to talk about a subject when things have names.
My understanding of grammar really didn't take off until I started studying a foreign language. It was like getting a fresh start and with specific words for specific usages, it just started making more sense. . .so that's what an indirect object is!
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Kid has spent half of his life out of the US. We have no "home" to return to, no centralized "family base" to visit. So, like someone else mentioned, we tend just to not visit. It is all kind of overwhelmingly "big" anyway. We don't currently live in a "Wal-martized" world, so the largeness of America is amplified the few times we do go back there.
This is not to say we don't like the US - not at all - just that it is always a HUGE culture shock, and one that kid never quite got over the last time we went back for a chunk of time. He has a "foreign" mindset, having spent his formative years abroad, and does not see the world the way his US cousins et al do.
One thing we are planning is to buy a chunk of land in the US for an "ancestral home". We want kid to have a place in the world that he can go back to, no matter what. He has never had that. And, unless he signs on with a foreign firm, it is not like he can stay abroad - he has only a US passport.
This sounds a lot like us to an extent. My youngest knows Asia much better than he does the US and has lived longer out here than in the US. He consideres Korea to be "home." My oldest has more memories of life in America, but is getting to the point where he'll almost have lived longer outside the US than in and we have no plans of going back any time soon. Even when we lived in the US, the 6 years we were there, we moved four times so we don't even really have someplace there to call "home." Sure there are the places our family lives, but neither is a place that we want to live.
The kids have adapted very well and look forward to whatever the next adventure brings us. We hope to be in Japan a few more years before moving to Europe, we'll see. I also agree that the reverse culture shock is much more shocking. On our trip home this summer, we were all shocked at how large everything was, how fast everything moved. Places we had been looking forward to seeing weren't as great as we remembered.
I'm glad my kids are growing up internationally though. This hit home the first time DS and I were home for a summer, two years ago. We were eating in Jack in the Box in the middle of my small, hometown and he mentioned that it was a shame that this was all some people knew and had no desire to see more. We had taken my sister to visit a college in Los Angeles, and DS loved it. He wasn't phased at all by the traffic, people, etc yet it scared my sister to death!:001_huh: She never left home, just three hours away.
I find it all fascinating and I'm curious how my kids will look back on their youth. What they're going to do about college, etc. I'm not too worried though, it will all work out in the end.
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Because it's better than not learning any grammar at all.:tongue_smilie: They just don't seem to teach it in the schools the way I learned it and I've been having a heck of a time the past year trying to teach it to DS. It's been awful and from what I've heard from DH, a middle school teacher, it's not any better at that level. I may not have appreciated all my grammar instruction at the time, but I sure appreciate it now--and when I was in college and able to write papers for my professors while many classmates weren't doing too well.
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My LOF books arrived yesterday, the first two, and I spent a couple hours enjoying the reading. I'm really hoping they hit with DS who admits to not liking math, but loves to read and has a similiar sense of humour as well. One thing that I liked was all the footnotes as well, LOVED the subjunctive clause explanation.:D(oh gosh, now I'm wondering if I'm using the correct word, was or were!!!) I think this is going to be a fun series. DH is wanting to look through them to see if there are stories he can use in class, or possibly just keep the books in class for the kids to read on their free time. I've been seriously thinking of getting the calculus edition to see if I can finally get that to sink in--took me way too many semesters to get through that dang class.:tongue_smilie:
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I just looked up this thread due to the other post you made. Gosh, this hurts ME to read. I am SO SORRY you had to hear something like this. I see your pictures on here and you have always stood out as a truly natural and beautiful woman. Maybe your dh is in his mid-life crisis. :( :grouphug:
I am among the ranks of women here whose husband was shocked by what your dh said to you. It is not that he can't FEEL this way, I guess, but more than he felt he needed to hurt you so much by saying it! Goodness.
I showed this to my DH as well and "shocked" isn't quite strong enough to describe his reaction. I then showed him your blog with your picture. He wondered what the heck your husband was thinking. (We both have curly hair. After having kids, my hair has never been the same and I have to keep it a lot shorter than I'd like. Your hair is GORGEOUS!!!!! I'm very jealous.) Anyway, I hope this can be worked out however you manage. :grouphug:
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I agree with those who said it a tool and meets the need for those of us who don't have other resources. DS wanted to start learning Italian in second grade--he was born there and figures he NEEDS to know the language:D I knew of NO other resources that could help him, I don't speak Italian. He took a couple years off and has started again. This summer while in the states, I looked high and low for a text or another resource to help, but no luck. Language study in the US at lower levels is practically unheard of, let alone for something other than Spanish or French--found plenty of extras for those. I remember how impressed and amazed I was when my German cousin came to visit. She spoke fantastic English, also knew French and I believe her classical language was Greek. All in the same time that I was only able to take four years of German at most--which is not even offered at my high school any more. Needless to say, DS is still working through RS. He may not be getting as good as Italian education, but at least if he ever does get formal instruction he'll have a bit of an advantage. (He did learn something since when he went back to PS in third and started Spanish instruction, he kept speaking Italian.)
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Lot's of great memories here. Forgot about the leaning, Some Kind of Wonderful is a favorite of mine too. My favorite romantic movie is Love Actually, there are too many scenes to count in that one, but some favorites include the lake scene with Colin, Hugh tracking down Natalie, when, oh shoot can't remember the name of the actor or chacter--the caroling scene with the posters.:D
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I do recommend fully planning it out in advance. I don't think it is possible to "wing" a timeline.
Thanks for the tips. This was my fear too, I just wasn't sure where the direction was going to take me. Now, how to actually plan it out? off to check the links!
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My ds read the McCaughrean book in logic stage and heartily recommended it.
:iagree:Mine did too.
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I've never done a timeline before on such a grand scale as a cycle of history and I'm completely over whelmed by all that's out there. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I also don't want to make this so complicated it never gets done--let alone started.
What would be the easiest way to create a decent timeline? Particularly one arranged by regions/continents?
Oh decisions, decisions.:confused:
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Audio books or music. My boys always pack one little back pack of the stuff they want and play along the way. They LOVED their magnetic tangram books on the first half of our summer road trip. Drawing was a big hit too, not sure if you have to worry about crayons melting, bit it's something to consider. Books. Good luck and have fun!
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Reading this, it doesn't sound like a ban at all. It sounds like if they want to have toys, it has to be a more nutritionally complete meal so that the toys aren't enticing kids to buy complete junk.
Though I have to say, I personally would prefer McDonald's never offered another toy again. Little plastic pieces of junk... environmentally, we could do so much better. So I guess I'm one of those people that would be in the 'down with the toys' camp.
:iagree:My kids have been known to just give the toys back or not accept them at all if it's something they're not interested in--which is quite often since they're not into the whole Japanese anime/Pokemon thing and that seems to be the most common out here.
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It is ideal to have a 5th grader in Homer A, but honestly none of my kids have made the ideal. :D
With a 5th grader you would want to start with Aesop A or B. In order to skip to B you would want them to have a solid foundation with quotes, sentence type, capitalization rules, nouns, pronouns, verbs, helping verbs, subject, predicate and how to look up words in a dictionary. B will quickly review them and move on to new material.
To explain which texts you need let me give you some history.
Originally there was only the Core book, which is like WWE hardback. It explains why and gives you examples, but it is up to you to implement it. If you plan to choose your own models then all you need is the core.
Their #1 fan, Kathy, came along and wrote the TM and student texts to make the program easier to use. It still requires you read the Core to understand what needs to be done, but it chooses models and lays out the work that needs to be done. The student text has the model nicely spaced for marking of grammar work, it has forms for parsing work, vocab work and such. The teachers manual outlines the week, suggests vocab words, and has the answers to the main grammar work. There is suggested review work that they won't include answers for. Only the student workbook is consumable.
Heather
thank you very much. that helps a lot is makes more sense than what I had read.
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I started outlining last year, but didn't do it the WTM way. I have since fixed that and we've moved to doing one level outlines as recommended for fifth grade. I do wonder if that's really enough though in some cases. Summarizing has its issues, so we're working on that too. I think for me, I just need to be more consistent with him.
Knitters, noob here with a question
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Is it a tube scarf of some kind? Are you knitting length wise rather than width and dealing with a TON of stitches? I knit on cicular needles all the time because I find them easier to use. When I put my project down, I'm not going to worry about dropping stitches since I just slide everything to the middle. As a new knitter, check out ravelry.com FANTASTIC site!