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Stellalarella

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Posts posted by Stellalarella

  1. I don't feel like I need to provide a solution to a young woman who is demanding sani products for all for free because she is afraid she might at some point in the future accidentally be found without sanitary products and feels like it is her right to have them. 

     

    I feel like that woman needs counseling at most and at best she should be politely ignored.  Let us all forgive her for such asinine statements and hope that as the years go by she will mature into a woman who can take care of herself and her family. 

     

    When asked by someone who was in need of tampons (either because of poverty or because they really were having an emergency) I gave them tampons.  Just like any of you would.

     

     

     

     

    • Like 8
  2. I've used W&R this year.  We are getting writing instruction done.  I like the content.

     

    I evaluate curriculum based on how clear it is, does it accomplish what I intend to teach, and the big plus comes if it makes me a better teacher.

     

    If it accomplishes those three things AND the children don't cry, cry, cry over it, it's a win.

     

    W&R books 1-2 are a win for us.

     

    • Like 2
  3. After giving birth to my fourth child, I asked for tylenol.  It was the weekend.  I was told that they were out at the nurses station because the nurses had used it all for themselves and they couldn't get more because it was the weekend.  

     

    All that to say, that when there is a supply of something, people take it thoughtlessly.  That's what people do.  It's free, it must be for me.

    • Like 3
  4. You all need to go and read the students' letter.  In the letter, they call the things they are asking for "demands."  

     

     "The following pages detail our collective Demands, as well as Demands specific to each of our Centers and demographics. It is important to note that these are Demands, not simply requests or suggestions. These represent thoughtful, meaningful reforms that are necessary in order to affirm the expectation of safety and real life equity. Should these demands not be met or properly negotiated to our standards, we will mobilize our students.Additionally, we will inform prospective students, faculty, staff, as well as previous faculty and staff, alumni, and anyone else who will listen of the problematic climate that is perpetuated on this campus. We hope that the University of Arizona initiates an institutional sense of urgency in terms of the effort the university puts forth to remedy the issues highlighted by these Demands."

     

    Tampons are the easiest and cheapest things they are demanding.

     

    Perhaps some boardies may be happy to know that one of the demands is also lactation rooms.  

     

     

    • Like 1
  5. I read the article.  

     

    If someone was making the argument saying, "Look, students here are struggling to make ends meet and providing tampons will not cost us a lot of money but can help a definite number of these students," that seems fine.

     

    I'm honestly struggling with the whole, "it's a right," thing.  

     

    I went to a state park yesterday.  Some of the bathrooms had toilet paper.  Some didn't.  Honest to betsy, I didn't feel like I had a right to toilet paper.  I didn't even feel like I had the right to demand a kleenex from the pack-everything-extra friend who accompanied  me.  However, I was glad she kindly shared a kleenex and some handwipes (since there was no sink), but good gosh.  

     

    If Walmart runs out of toilet paper in their fabulous public restrooms, do I have some kind of right to raise hell about it?  How is that going to work?  Dear Customer Service Employee, you are violating my RIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Give me some of that John Wayne toilet paper! (Rough and Tough and won't take any crap off ya) and a Great Value Tampon while you are at it!!!!!!!!!!  Because it's my rights!  

     

    No one does that.  

    • Like 13
  6. I probably would have agreed that providing tampons for free should not be done, but when I hear Sparkly Unicorn's story, I am tempted to rethink.  I've read a lot of her posts on the boards over the years and when someone who usually writes in a very even tempered way suddenly expresses great emotion about a personal life story, it's time to sit up and pay attention.

     

    I've had a person stop at my house and ask for help.  I asked the lady what she wanted, and she said she wanted tampons.  I gave her mine and we drove to the grocery store and got some other things.

     

    I haven't panicked over needing tampons lately, but I keenly remember being sent home a note from school for my kids where they were supposed to merely bring $5 to school--and feeling the panic wash over me.  

     

    It's really hard to help people understand the panic feeling that comes when you are trying to run things by pennies and dollars.  

    • Like 10
  7. When our school room was our dining room, I kept our larger flat items stored behind furniture--the large magnetic white board

    for instance.  I also purchased a big laminated map that could be folded up.

     

    I found a book shelf with a glass door that allowed me storage, but didn't make things look cluttered.  We kept the globe on top of it and I thought it looked nice. We also turned an old tv cabinet into school storage.

     

    The main thing you need to decide is if you want to see your school stuff or not.  I didn't want to see it when our school room was our dining room.  When we turned a bedroom into a school room, it started to look like a school room--white boards, chalk boards, maps, handwriting posters, open bookshelves, etc.

     

    Here are some pictures from days of old...

    post-15929-13535086778749_thumb.jpg
    post-15929-13535086778126_thumb.jpg
     
    And here is now
    post-15929-0-40243100-1458146240_thumb.jpgpost-15929-0-44795000-1458146255_thumb.jpg
     
    I just want to stress that we have been homeschooling for years now, I have six kids, and i did not run out and buy all this stuff on one day.  It has been slowly gathered and all of the furnishings have been second hand or repurposed.  

     

    • Like 2
  8. It's a weirdly complex deal. I agree.

     

    Basically it's this...

     

    The Writer's Jungle is a book about the philosophy of how to teach the BW way. It has ideas of how to structure your year and exercises and assignments, but it's not really a curriculum. It's a book for you.

     

    The class Kidswrite Basic is supposed to do the same job as the book - teach you to teach the BW way but by coaching you to teach your kid. The other classes are similar, though some of them are laid out a little differently (or so I hear).

     

    Then there's the mechanics and literature supplements. These are - in order of ascending difficulty - the Quiver, the Arrow, the Pouch, and the Boomerang. The Quiver and Pouch are sort of in between levels - simplified versions of the product above them. These are copywork/dictation and literature. They're meant to be done once or twice a week, with the book being read or read aloud consistently over the course of a month.

     

    Finally, there's the project books. These are - again, in order of ascending level - Jot It Down, Partnership Writing, Faltering Ownership, and (sort of) Help for High School. These contain a writing project per month and instructions on how to do it. The project is supposed to take one or two days a week.

     

    For newbies to the BW way, the best thing to do is read her blog, watch her scopes, subscribe to her daily email thing. If you like it and want more, if you're a big picture thinker and like to read about that yourself, then get The Writer's Jungle. If you're a nuts and bolts practical person, get the project book that's at the right level for you kid. Those products (Jot It Down, Partnership Writing and Faltering Ownership) have nice opening sections that explain the BW lifestyle for that age. They have loose schedules to follow. They have specific instructions of projects to do.

    Your explanation should go on her website.

     

    • Like 2
  9. I've been using MUS with kids for 7 years with 6 kids.  I feel like it has a lot of review.  We've used it from Alpha to Algebra 2.  I also throw in other math books for fun.

     

    There is one area that I supplement with some Math Mammoth, but overall, I feel like MUS has been a good.

     

    I think it's good to sit down and ask oneself if switching to a different style of curriculum is going to really be the thing that will help a kid remember certain algorithms or certain skills like telling time.

     

    I wish I had a dollar for every time I've explained area and perimeter.  

     

    It's not the scope and sequence of a  math program that makes the kids go blank.  It's not the teacher.  Really.  

     

    I don't know why a kid can do something over and over again and then just....forget.  but they just do!!!!!!!!!!  

     

    Because I've seen this in 6 kids, and I know how extensively we work on some topics, I don't think it is a matter of poor curriculum fit or poor teaching or poor commitment to review.

     

    A math program does not teach your kids math, you do.  So when you are the teacher you are always going to have to adjust or redo your teaching as you go along.  

     

    A curriculum can lay out a scope and sequence, it can depend more heavily on "conceptual" style or more heavily on learning the algorithm.  

     

    A program that spirals like Saxon or CLE has advantages in that the kids revisit topics super frequently, so you don't have to insist on mastery.  However, sometimes kids start turning off their desire to learn it because they think--"oh, it's that again. Didn't I already do that?"  

     

    The awesome thing about homeschooling is that it is easy to switch to another program, so I'm not telling people that you have to pick one and stay with it forever, I'm just saying that sometimes we switch without really understanding what we are giving up, or what we are going to change to.

     

    Quite frankly the number one reason why I would consider ditching MUS is that the prices keep going up and that has nothing to do with scope, sequence, or method.

     

  10. Thank you!!!!!! These might work.

     

     

    I'm glad!  

     

    So, because my husband is very short with a very short inseam, what I've found is that if I would shorten his pants they would still never look good on him because the proportions of the hips-knees would be off.  Once we were able to find pants with short inseams and designed with better proportions for short guys, he looked so much better.

     

    Particularly for a professional cause, I think that anything that can be done to get that guy proportional pants is going to help him look better--and that can make a difference in confidence for a person.

     

    At any rate, it's been a positive thing for my guy.

     

    And can I just tell you how lovely it was to get a suit for him that actually looked good?

     

    The Haband jeans were so great for my FIL. 

    • Like 1
  11.  

     

    I just sent that Peter Manning link to my DH, who is 5'8" but very slight in build.  He might finally be able to buy a pair of chinos that fit!

     

     

    Yes.  The slim fit chinos, especially.  Their clothes are expensive but DH has been wearing them for over a year and all the clothes hold up really well.  It's good quality.

     

    I don't find their waist measurements accurate--it's really vanity sizing.  I order a waist size down for my guy.

    • Like 2
  12. The Inferno is the first of the three parts.  Dante starts out in hell, goes through purgatory and then heaven.

     

    It's a mid-life crisis story, of sorts.

     

    I wouldn't have your kids read it until you've studied it a bit.    You may decide that you want to go ahead and give them an introduction, or wait till high school.

    • Like 1
  13. Thank you both for the help.  I have some older MM I can print out, but it was the busyness of it that I was trying to avoid for this one particular kiddo.  I had totally forgotten about the math generator.  I will also look into Math in Focus and Rod and Staff.  

     

    Thank you both for taking your time to answer.  Very much appreciated.

  14. I need a simple workbook format for a student I am helping tutor.  Open design, not too many problems to work per lesson.  

     

    Basically I am looking for something like the layout and simplicity of Math U See, but much more affordable.  Their workbook price is now $40 plus $10 for not-fast shipping.  

     

     

    Thank you

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