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enviromommy

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Everything posted by enviromommy

  1. I usually make Marie Oser's "Enlightened Thanksgiving Roast" with stuffing: http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/thanksgiving_marie_print.htm I also serve the NY Times Well Thanksgiving Curried Lentil, Squash and Apple Stew. This one is very blood-sugar friendly: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/01/health/20111101_vegetarian_thanksgiving.html?_r=0#Curried_Lentil,_Squash_and_Apple_Stew I also usually make roasted brussel sprouts, potatoes, green salad, etc.
  2. Ok, so I know you said nothing too extreme, but simply cannot fail to jump in here and recommend "The End of Diabetes" by Joel Fuhrman (the "Eat to Live" guy). I am vegan as well, and I've had gestational diabetes five times. His eating plan is "extreme" from some perspectives, but also delicious and incredible. You don't have to commit to it, just get it from the library and read the book.
  3. A little outdated at this point (just a little), but two books by Alan Dershowitz: The Case for Israel and The Case for Peace. Edited to add: Also The Missing Peace, by Dennis Ross (the former U.S. head negotiator for the peace process). A much longer, harder read, but very thorough.
  4. Have decided, after a long silence, to rejoin the conversations here at WTM.

  5. I remember my secondary school very clearly, and I can tell you what we did. Seventh grade was paragraphs with topic sentences. In eighth grade, we built up to a five paragraph essay. At the end of the year, we had a big project that was a joint assignment between the science department and the English department in which we had to write a five-paragraph essay on a biology topic. (Mine was on the kidneys, and I still remember my excitement when the teacher wrote on the top of the paper, "You sure know your nephrons!") We worked on the five-paragraph essay format throughout 9th grade. By the end of that year, we could really write one in our sleep - an introductory paragraph with the thesis statement at the end, three body paragraphs with topic sentences and a concluding paragraph. In 10th, they pulled that all apart and had us write creatively and break all the rules. In 11th they integrated the two approaches and introduced longer papers. More of that in 12th. It was an excellent writing program and I found writing in college to be no jump at all. It was a very smooth transition. I wish everyone could have an education like that.
  6. That's exactly what I was about to say. My 6 year old grabs paper from the paper pile and folds it into all kinds of things, cuts it up into shapes that he wants for his arts and crafts, and then leaves all of it EVERYWHERE. Bits of paper on the floor, folded "things" (I don't know what they are supposed to be") on tables and desks. Empty Scotch tape (don't get me started on Scotch tape!). Pencils. Pen caps. Twisted paper clips. Buttons. Coins. Etc. I feel so much happier and calmer when my house is in order, but the kids just aren't on board.
  7. Ok, I'm going to have to come out of my long, long lurkdom to say that I literally am on the point of tears of relief reading this and learning that my kids are not the only ones. I've been feeling so down on myself that I can't seem to keep a house nice the way "other people" do. We never have working games and toys, things are all over the house, and sometimes it just seems so hopeless I want to give up and move. (I actually said to DH tonight that I'd like to take a match to the house and start over, and he said "Fine, as long as you make sure we get the insurance for it." LOL) To make things worse, we're trying to sell our house, so I have to have it ready for people to come through, and I'm so humiliated because no matter what I do it often looks horrible. I clean the school room, and 5 minutes later there are little scraps of paper everywhere. Why do they use SO MUCH PAPER? So no, your kids are not the only ones.
  8. Yay! I'm so proud of you! I can supply 6 little clients (unless it's a problem that you already know them). I can also supply one anxious mother if you decide to branch out....
  9. Best wishes for your pregnancy! I don't post here much, but I wanted to jump in to answer this. I have nursed partway or all the way through all of my pregnancies (except the first, of course). There are absolutely no ill effects for the baby, it's simply a myth. Very late in pregnancy, it can cause contractions or put you into labor if you are ready to go anyway, but early in the pregnancy there is no effect on the baby at all. About m/c, I wanted to mention that I had a late (16 weeks) m/c between my 4th and 5th babies (NOT caused by the nursing). I was still nursing my 4th, and when I m/c, I was so grateful that I hadn't weaned #4, because it was comforting to still have my "baby". Right now I am tandem nursing #5 and #6.
  10. Thank you for the responses! I like the "certain time of day" and "say it three times" suggestions a lot. As far as summer camp is concerned, the French schools aren't getting out until July 5 and we leave July 17, so there isn't much time for that. I could see if there is a one week camp of some kind that they could do, I'll have to look into that.
  11. Hi - I haven't posted here in a long time, don't know if anyone will remember me. I have 6 kids (had 5 kids the last time I posted) and I started speaking only French (OPOL) with my fifth child when he was born. (I am not French, but speak at a near-native level and with no American accent.) Child number 5 is now almost 3 years old, and it's going pretty well. I still speak exclusively in French to him and he understands me and includes French in his responses, but there is definitely more English coming out of his mouth than French. He'll say things like, "I gonna go au parc with you?" Or "I'm ici !" I hope that when we start homeschooling in French that he will start using more French. I've started my three month-old the same way; I never speak anything but French to him. We are in France right now for 3 months (about 5 weeks left) and my focus now is on getting the rest of the kids speaking French, as well as showing my son who does understand French that there is a reason to speak it - there are people other than Mommy who speak French! But since the family environment is mostly English and the kids are with me all the time rather than in school here (which I would have loved to do but three months is too short to enroll in school), the non French -speaking ones aren't learning all that much. My question is this: has anyone managed to suddenly switch to a different language with older kids who do not yet speak that language? I feel that the only way for them to really learn to speak might be for me to announce that I am going to speak nothing but French to them and they will gradually figure it out. But I must admit it's pretty painful to speak to your 13, 11, 8, and 5 year-olds and have them stare blankly at you, followed by a game of charades. Can something like that work or is it totally impossible? I was thinking maybe it would help if my husband and I spoke only French to each other (at least in front of the kids) so that they will hear it more. DH speaks some French, I guess I would say he is proficient rather than fluent, and he has a strange accent and makes mistakes (which I have a hard time not correcting). He is willing to do this, but it feels so artificial. The plan had previously been to teach them all French as a foreign language using text books, but it keeps not happening so I started thinking about doing it this way. I'm kicking myself for not speaking French with all of the kids from the start. I have no idea why I suddenly had the energy to start doing this with my fifth child when I had never managed it before, but BOY do I wish I had always done this. So does anyone have any good stories about switching to a different language with older kids and having it work? Thanks in advance! Jennifer
  12. I don't have an answer, but will be watching this thread. I started working as a freelance translator a year ago, and recently at an industry conference several speakers recommended a list of marketing steps to take, including having a good profile on LinkedIn. I was also wondering what exactly it would accomplish.
  13. Had to jump in (back from lurkdom) to say you are not alone. We recently bought new living room couches, light color, all our friends said we were crazy. And guess what? With FIVE minutes of delivery, before we had a change to Scotch guard or cover them or whatever, I left the room briefly, the kids all trooped in and started playing. One had blue chalk on his fingertips. Another had leftover spaghetti sauce on his clothes. I have rarely been so upset. We specifically bought these couches because our old ones were ruined. We managed to get most of the marks out (the blue from the chalk is still there, but lighter), and ever since then, the couches have been covered in bed sheets. Looks terrible, and I don't know what do do. We end up not using the room, which is dumb, but I don't want stains all over and I can't keep track of the state of cleanliness of five, going on six, kids, plus one dog, while homeschooling and working from home! Just. Can't. Do it. So I, for one, would definitely consider the product in the link! It would sure beat bedroom sheets.
  14. Yes - personally I think that at any level, 3 days per week is the very, very minimum to even maintain, let alone improve. Intermediate to intermediate-advanced should be 4 days per week. By the time I was in high school it was 6 days a week, and in the summer, a training program that had 3-4 classes per day, 5 days a week. And even then, some of the kids were taking outside classes on the weekends.
  15. I'm not a ballet mother, but I was a ballet dancer (professional level) myself once upon a time and long ago. I never knew any serious dancers who did barre work at home (and there weren't DVDs in those days). In my opinion, you should always be working under the eye of a teacher who can correct things immediately. As you get more advanced, you take more classes per week, but at-home work was never part of it. You can stretch at home as much as you want, but I wouldn't do actual dancing.
  16. Coming out of lurkdom to chuckle about this post in particular being "resurrected."
  17. Part of the problem here is how you define "an 8th grade education" or "a high school education". What used to be called having "only an 8th grade education" was MUCH more rigorous than what is now taught in most high schools. I remember recently seeing a document that showed what was included in an 8th grade education about 100 years ago - was it on this board? I can't remember. Similarly, I think a truly excellent high school education, resulting in good thinking skills and writing skills, ability to read sophisticated material, do math through at least Algebra 2, scientific literacy, and including a solid foundation in American history and government, would be sufficient for good citizenship and ability to function in most workplaces. Today's high schools are not doing that, and a 2-year college program becomes necessary to remediate the reading, writing and arithmetic problems created earlier. As I result, I'm not sure how to vote!
  18. Before we home schooled, I worked as a corporate attorney. I love the work, but it was making me miserable to be away from the kids so many hours a day. Even on a reduced schedule, when there was deal heating up, I had no choice but to stay late, even all night if necessary. The kids would call and beg me to come home. So I quit a little over three years ago. About 6 months ago, I started working freelance from home as a French to English legal translator. It's been perfect for me because I did French and US law school and worked as a lawyer in France, so this is exactly what I know best. And I love that I can work from home and homeschool. On the other hand, I'm pretty exhausted all the time, because I often end up working at night and not getting very much sleep. I have a hard time saying no to jobs even if I know it's going to end up meaning staying up all night. And our homeschooling has been less successful than it was before I started doing this. So this year I'm aiming to find a better balance so I still get the benefit of working some, but life is a little less stressful. I work because the money helps provide the kids with extra curricular activities, travel, etc., because it improves my self-esteem to be contributing financially, makes me feel less vulnerable in case anything were to happen that could require me to work, and because I enjoy it.
  19. Yes! I just received it, and I got 2 copies of the cahier d'activités instead of one of those and one textbook. Fortunately, I need 2 of the cahiers d'activités anyway, I just wanted to make sure I liked it before buying the rest. Now off to buy the textbook from another vendor. Oh, and by the way, the Guide Pédagogique is FABULOUS. Walks you through the lesson. You do have to speak fluent French to teach from it, though.
  20. I don't know, but I just ordered it for my 7 and 5 year olds, so I should find out soon! I'm so excited. We had l'Art de Dire, but I truly hated it. I thought it was so boring and not at all pretty to look at. They are both reading fluently in English, but I actually think it might be a plus not to be reading fluently in English yet, it gives the languages more of a chance to be on an equal footing, KWIM?
  21. I think it's definitely killing something. (See attached picture, taken from my car at a red light today.)
  22. I agree. I find it extremely easy. On the other hand, I would find cooking meat to be extremely intimidating.
  23. Black bean soup can be done in 10 minutes. Or tortilla soup. Here's one I do when I have no time at all: Put in a pot: - 3 cans black beans, rinsed - one can of diced tomatoes or 1 jar of mild salsa - 1 can of corn - veg. broth from a carton Heat it up. When you ladle out the soup, put little pieces of whole wheat tortilla and cut up avocado in the bottom of the bowl. Literally a 10-minute vegan dinner. And healthy, as long as you get low-sodium versions of the canned foods.
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