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Everything posted by lewelma
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If you have international travel planned soon. . ..
lewelma replied to plansrme's topic in The Chat Board
I'm curious because the managed facilities in both Australia and NZ are full, so citizens are stranded overseas. Much more in Australia because they have 4 times the population we do and the same number of beds in the facilities. -
Home-School OR Public School Discussion
lewelma replied to HomeSchool44's topic in General Education Discussion Board
School socialization gets vicious in middle school and high school. I would homeschool my kids just to get them out of that environment even if I was not a great teacher. I tutor a lot of teenagers and it is not pretty what they go through. The peer pressure and bulling can be both overt and subtle, but it is never good for kids. And I would say that many, perhaps around 20%, are actually badly damaged by the experience. So when people ask me about socialization, I often just keep my mouth shut because I have no desire to try to match socialization of school, I am running from it. People are so indoctrinated into the benefits of school socialization, they can't step out of their box to see that there is another way. Not an equal way, but a better way. -
Home-School OR Public School Discussion
lewelma replied to HomeSchool44's topic in General Education Discussion Board
It depends on how long you have been homeschooling for. It is the most common question people ask when they first meet you, and after a number of years it gets pretty tiring. People have been indoctrinated to believe that schools socialize kids and that socialization is the top priority. No one ever asks about how I educate, or how much my kids learn. -
If you have international travel planned soon. . ..
lewelma replied to plansrme's topic in The Chat Board
We worked hard to minimize it going back to the USA. No one will have it on the 12 hour Air New Zealand flight to LA. Then he has to sit outside for 9 hours for his very long layover. Then he flies in the middle of the night to Boston -- midnight to 7am, direct. So really only 5 hours of exposure. He has is N95 + goggles and won't be eating. Crossing fingers for a healthy start to the term in Feb. How many countries have required stay in managed quarantined facilities - is it just NZ and Australia? What about Taiwan and South Korea? -
If you have international travel planned soon. . ..
lewelma replied to plansrme's topic in The Chat Board
My ds got home to NZ 2 hours ago. He completed a 14 day stay in a military run quarantine facility in a different city. The biggest problem NZ citizens are having flying home is that they have to book to get a spot in quarantine, and the facilities are full up for months in advance. We just got in early back when the booking system was first set up, so got him a space. I'm not sure at this point he will be able to return here again once he goes back to university mid February. -
He got his second negative covid test yesterday (day 12) which means the will release him tomorrow!
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These are projects my younger boy did when he was 2-3 years older than your boys, but at the same level Half courses (4.5 months): Organic Chemistry Development Economics Demography of NZ Impact of colonialism in Africa He has also done 4 week long projects on: City planning Leadership Hydroelectric power Economic and environmental impact of dairying in NZ Economics of hotel occupancy Resource consent process for large projects Fuel efficiency in cars Chemistry of soaps and detergents Chemistry of microplastics Spectroscopy Fracking Hope that gives you some ideas! Quite a different list than Lori's 🙂
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I wash my hands every time I come back home. I wash my phone with soap a couple times a week. I scan the covid tracer app at every store even though we have no covid here because Ashley Bloomfield asked us to and he is my hero. My older boy is currently sitting in a military run quarantine facility for 14 days before being released.
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Home-School OR Public School Discussion
lewelma replied to HomeSchool44's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Not really in response to you NaN, more to help OP.....The key for us was to find a social activity that met each week that had a similar set of kids, and to make sure that they were generally just for play and not an organized activity (art class, museum visit, swimming class, etc). This allowed my ds to make friends within about 3 months, as long as the weekly activity was for about 3 hours. Problem is that not all localities have these kinds of activities, so sometimes you have to make them yourselves, and not all homeschool mums have the time nor the energy to do it. In my experience, about 10% of homeschoolers that have posted on this board over the years *really* struggle to find social outlets for their kids, and another 20% find it to be a chore and somewhat difficult. The remaining 70% are like me, too many options available, so we have to forgo things that look fun because we actually have to get some work done. -
Three sleeps left until my older ds is allowed to leave quarantine in an Auckland hotel! I can't wait to see him! Way back in the beginning of this thread I was trying so desperately to get him back before all the airports closed in March. This time will take 15 days rather than 24 hours for him to travel here.
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Home-School OR Public School Discussion
lewelma replied to HomeSchool44's topic in General Education Discussion Board
When we went into a 7 week super strict lockdown and during that time both of my boys kept up with their friend groups via zoom. My younger boy's D&D night and drama club were also done online. But because we are in New Zealand, we have not had covid here since May, so all of his activities have been back to normal for many months. Something I think you are missing is that social interaction gained through school is not the same as social interaction typical to homeschoolers. School kids are age segregated and homeschoolers are not. My younger boy's swimming has a 30 minute lesson and then 1.5 hours playing in the pool. One of his favorite friends is 6 (he is 17) and he also has quite a few 10-12 year old friends there. My older boy was in a community martial arts class where he was the only child. He socialized with people age 18 to 80. What is great about socializing with multiple ages is that kids learn from the older kids/adults but also act as role models for the younger kids. In general, homeschoolers who choose to find social outlet for their kids (which is most homeschoolers) have kids who are better socialized than school kids because their children don't face strong peer pressure because same aged peers are not their focus. This is a more nuanced question for your academic research. What is the impact of multi aged peer groups on homeschoolers vs same aged peer groups of school children? Socialization is different for homeschoolers, not lesser. -
Home-School OR Public School Discussion
lewelma replied to HomeSchool44's topic in General Education Discussion Board
I thought the same. But gave an honest answer. I guess we wait and see the OP's response. -
Tests (competitive and standardized)
lewelma replied to lulalu's topic in General Education Discussion Board
primary school: No standardized tests or competitive tests. Grade 1 - 8 secondary school: standardized tests: older boy SAT, SAT2 math and physics. Competitive tests: 20 math olympiads over 4 years (BMO, BMO2, AMO, APMO, IMO). Younger boy, none. We have high school national exams here. So each of my boys have done 20 national assessments/exams in their high school career that earn them a diploma. Older boy did this over 3 years, younger boy got it done in 1 year. -
Home-School OR Public School Discussion
lewelma replied to HomeSchool44's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Homeschoolers get the social interaction that they seek. If you stay at home all day every day, your kids will only have siblings as friends. If you go to only homeschool activities, your kids will only have homeschool friends. If you also do community activities, they will also have community friends. Check out my siggy to see what my younger boy has decided to do every week. Other more introverted kids would desire less. Homeschooling allows you to tailor your interaction level to your own desires. -
We studied National Geographic and New Zealand Geographic articles for an hour a day for a month. After studying about 10, we picked the one he liked the best and focused on it. We scanned it, enlarged it, printed it, and cut up all the paragraphs. Then we studied the purpose, tone, style of each paragraph. We used multicoloured pens for the different things we were looking for. How was it cohesive? That was purple. What was the purpose of each bit of dialogue? That was red. How was description used from the point of rhetoric? That was green. How do you keep to a thesis when you never clearly state it? How does each paragraph build your point in a subtle way? That was blue We worked and worked and worked to learn the form. Then we traveled to the Mackenzie Basin and visited all sorts of out of the way places, took photos, hypothesized, observed, talked, and just had a ton of fun. When we came home, he wrote it. His overarching goal was to leave people with a sense of hope. That was a tricky one for an environmental piece! He also focused on multiple perspectives because it was written for a geography magazine -- so environmentalists, farmers, tourists. What made it particularly clever was his overarching yet subtle metaphor that he wove throughout the essay. He also interwove his own personal experience in the region with the history to create a wonderfully well rounded essay.
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I'm really worried about Christmas and COVID. Updated.
lewelma replied to historically accurate's topic in The Chat Board
Fair. I just know that my 85 year old dad is peeing in a cup and my 82 year old mom is squatting in the woods when they drive 4 hours to their condo. The indignity is horrible. I just don't know what to say. -
I'm really worried about Christmas and COVID. Updated.
lewelma replied to historically accurate's topic in The Chat Board
Ah, good solution. If I was as worried as the OP, I would not want my MIL in my house. -
I'm really worried about Christmas and COVID. Updated.
lewelma replied to historically accurate's topic in The Chat Board
I'd do the garage. Pretend it is like decorating the old ugly hall at your high school for the prom. Get wall coverings, streamers, balloons, bright lights, heaters, etc. Completely air it out after you finish decorating and before she comes over so all the air is fresh. I would suggest she does not go in your house, and honestly I would suggest Depends so she does not have to use a bathroom. If you guys are harboring it, its in the air in your house. -
Sorry for the suspense! DS won the 2020 national teen creative-writing competition, and his essay will be published this month with the other award winning short stories, poems, and essays. My ds has dysgraphia and was still learning how to write The Cat in the Hat at the age of 12. This is why it is a big deal and means so much to him.
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5th escape of Covid from Quarantine into the community here today. This time it was an AirNZ flight attendant. 1st escape caused the 3-week Auckland strict lockdown within 5 hours of the positive test, which then started the once a week testing of all quarantine workers. Next 3 covid escapes were caught within the week and were all MIQ workers -- all contact traced and isolated, with covid eliminated from the community again. 2 of these came from surface contamination (trash can lid and elevator button). One of these caused a 'work from home' day in Auckland, and a lockdown of an apartment building for 3 days. This most recent one seems well under control and although the flight attendant visited stores, there has been no community transmission yet. Officials seem to learn from their mistakes here, and are getting better and better. I think having the facilities under military management was a very good idea. The Defense Force is great at operational control. As for escapees of people - we are up to 13 (with one family of 5, so only 8 independent escapees). They call them abscondees here because they keep saying that these facilities are hotels not prisons. The most impressive abscondee was someone who tied sheets together and escaped out a 4th floor window, wandered around Auckland in the middle of the night, and then came back in the morning. I'm glad Australia is moving covid positive people to a different facility. We have done this from the beginning and it seems to have worked. We have had no cases of residential transmission out of 70K returnees. The transmission has been with quarantine workers not residents - 3 nurses, 2 quarantine workers, and a Defense Force worker. Now an AirNZ flight attendent - but they got it from the foreign country stop they think - will know more tomorrow when the genome testing comes back.
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He has to do 14 days minimum, and then must be 48 hours with no symptoms and return a negative test in order to leave. So it really depends. Transmission within the facility, however, has been limited to 3 nurses, one Defense Force person, and 2 maintenance people. I don't remember any transmission between residents in the past 6 months. So the latest he could get it would be on the airplane and he is still likely to be out in 14 days. Basically, the less strict facility contains 1-2% of people with unknown covid for the first 3 days until the first test is done and they move people to the stricter facility. Then the covid numbers in the less strict facility would be very very low for days 4-14. The strict facility has 100% covid positive people so is really locked down.
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Thanks guys for all your concern. He will be in quarantine for the last 2 weeks of classes, so he will be crazy busy. And thank goodness for modern communications. Although he can only physically see the nurse every day, he will be able to see the rest of us through his phone/computer. Definitely a tradeoff for the 70,000 returnees, but a clear choice for the other 5 million of us. We are currently averaging around 1-2% of returnees testing positive.
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I think what is hard about this is the forced component. He will be under both police and military guard, so he can't change his mind. Once he is in, he is in for 14 days. And if he ends up testing positive for Covid and is moved to the stricter facility, he is not allowed outside of his room ever - not for exercise and not for fresh air.
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Thanks for that! He and his flat mates are very very careful and have been self isolating in a pod of 5 for the past 3 months.
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He has a direct flight across the country and has an N95 mask and goggles, so hoping he doesn't get it!