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chiguirre

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Everything posted by chiguirre

  1. I've been here for more than 20 years. My dd graduated in 2021 and I really just checked the Chat Board for a couple of years. Now I'm afterschooling my nephew and I'm back to the curriculum boards. They're still an excellent resource.
  2. Dating your son would seem to be the least of this girl's issues with her parents. I can see why she had to get out ASAP. All you can do is smile and pass the bean dip with her parents. If I was in your shoes, I would try to develop a warm relationship with the girl not just as her bf's mom but as a trusted adult who she can turn to when she needs help adulting.
  3. See if your dds can CLEP out of any classes. That can save a lot of time and money. Modern States has free prep materials and will give you a voucher to cover the cost of the test. Home - Modern States
  4. I agree that you don't need to spend a lot of time on literary analysis in elementary school. What I have found very useful in literature guides is the comprehension questions that can be used as writing practice. They're an excellent way to practice writing more complex sentences than you would get from writing prompts that are based on a child's own experiences. They're less intimidating than coming up with something to say on your own if you have a reluctant writer. They can fall back on rephrasing the text, sort of like the progym, but in smaller doses. I've been using MP's lit guides and comprehension questions I got on Teachers Pay Teachers and both have been very helpful in improving my nephew's English writing skills. Every learner is different and some kids would much rather use creative writing prompts, but for some kids comprehension questions are an excellent way to practice written responses.
  5. It helps because I'm paying them half as much for effectively the same product. I know that the store brands are mostly made by big companies, but so far they haven't increased the prices nearly as much as their name brands. Probably because Walmart, Kroger, HEB, etc. have more bargaining power to curb the greedflation increases than individual consumers.
  6. Yes!!! I won't buy your overpriced soda and cereal. Put it on sale BOGO or I'll buy the store brand. Often enough, it turns out the store brand is better and I won't switch back. So next quarter you can explain to shareholders why your year on year sales are down. The short sightedness is breathtaking. They'll tick off their customers to the point where people will find an acceptable substitute and never come back.
  7. One of my brothers-in-law is a leap baby. He always has a huge party when he gets a real birthday.
  8. MPOA's online classes don't strictly follow their materials, particularly for literature. My dd did their whole high school program and liked some classes, hated some classes and found some classes just okay. Much like any other high school. I wouldn't recommend using the whole curriculum from PK to 12 without any other materials. It would get so monotonous, but there are pieces that are very good depending on your student's tastes and your teaching style. I personally think Henle is the best Latin program for high school. Dd took some classes that used Wheelock and Latin Alive and was very happy to go back to Henle. The Caesar and Cicero years include a lot of reading with supporting grammar instruction which is an excellent blend. I thought the Classical Composition materials were a bit weird, but dd liked them and is a strong writer. She got high As in both her required college comp classes and passed the Technical Writing DSST test for college credit with minimal prep, so they did work for her. I'm currently using the literature guides to afterschool my nephew. They serve their purpose admirably since I need them to introduce vocabulary and give me a list of reading comprehension questions so he can practice writing response sentences. They're much better than regular readers and workbooks. OTOH, I didn't even try their grammar memorization because both dn and I prefer written work. Instead, I use the even drier Climbing to Good English. They're black and white and look like they were written on a typewriter circa 1950, but they are hands down the best English grammar I've found. They're sort of like Warriner's Grammar and Composition for elementary students in a workbook format. I'm not averse to dry materials, but there is a limit to how much dryness anyone can tolerate. It's important to balance out the workbooks with interesting content in other subjects, especially history and science. Those aren't areas where MP shines.
  9. I don't think you can go wrong with La Pata Pita. It's a classic. Amazon.com: La pata pita (Spanish Edition): 9781941802601: Hilda Perera, Lectorum Piblications, Mana Fraga, Mana Fraga: Books
  10. I felt safe in the French Quarter on a Friday night but I was with dh and both sons. It's jam-packed with people and reasonably well lit. If you follow basic safety precautions, you should be fine (and feel fine, it's really not scary.)
  11. chiguirre

    .

    OP, how much do you have to be involved in the relationship between your sons and your dh? Do you have to enforce contact legally? Are they old enough to call him/receive calls on their own and hang up when they want to? I think you should disengage as much as possible. IIRC, they're in high school and really old enough to decide if they want to go to church or not on their own. Trying to force them will absolutely backfire. That's also true of a relationship with their dad. You can't force them to do that. If they want to cuss him out or freeze him out, he'll have to work through that on his end. You can't fix it. All you can do is be a safe harbor from the storm. Hugs.
  12. Wowzers is right! You've had a truly awful time of it. I hope it gets better from now on. You certainly deserve an easy stretch. Sending Geezle to public school was hard and his meltdowns were monumental, but it was the right decision and worked out for the best in the end. Can you sue the electric blanket maker? That's one hell of a defective product. Maybe there's a class action brewing?
  13. I agree with Eos and I have a suggestion about how to approach composition with your 11th grader. I'd have them study for and take the CLEP Composition test. A good place to start is at Modern States: College Composition - Modern States There are also good resources listed at Free Clep Prep: College Composition CLEP Study Guide - Free-Clep-Prep.com For 12th grade or as an alternative to the CLEP if you need one, you can use the Technical Writing DSST. They also offer a Public Speaking test which might be a good choice. Technical Writing DSST Study Guide - Free-Clep-Prep.com Principles of Public Speaking DSST Study Guide - Free-Clep-Prep.com Some universities will give credit for these exams, some won't. My dd got credit for her upper level professional writing required course with the Technical Writing DSST at the University of Florida. Even if your chosen U doesn't accept the credit, it's a flexible way for a homeschooler to demonstrate subject mastery without spending a lot of money. Modern States' courses are free and they offer vouchers to take the CLEP. Once your 11th grader sees a relatively straight forward path to fulfilling this requirement, they may find it easier to buckle down and get it done. In any case, you can step back and point to an objective outside standard that they must meet and not have to be the Mean Mom who's requiring something they hate.
  14. IMHO, no, but I prefer to avoid roads that go through towns with stoplights and changing speed limits. It is more picturesque.
  15. I-10 through Baton Rouge is a traffic nightmare as you approach the Mississippi River bridge. I'd just keep on driving until you get to Lafayette and avoid getting off and on in that mess.
  16. I agree with everyone above. I've discovered jeggings, what a marvel. I buy them a size too big so they're not really leggings but more like super comfortable, stretchy jeans that don't need to be broken in. They look okay to me and that's all that matters! I'm still not through perimenopause, but I can glimpse that golden land of no more pads in the near future. Fingers crossed. The financial security to not give a fig (thanks, @regentrude) about dh's job. If he has a bad year and gets early retired, it's okay. And I'd like to add: Senior Discounts!!! I was actually psyched to turn 55.
  17. A lot of schools ask for a resume. U of Florida asks for a resume for freshman applicants, but not transfers. Go figure!
  18. OP, it may have nothing at all to do with your dh. The company might be in financial difficulty and needs to reduce payroll. They'll use any excuse to not set off alarm bells or mass layoff notification laws.
  19. How many couples getting married today don't have dishes, kitchenware and linens? Plus, these items are just not very expensive unless you're opting for high-end brands. Most young people just starting out are probably fine with Rachel Ray instead of Le Creuset. That's not going to make much of a gift registry list if each guest wants to give $100-200. I bought dd a set of cookware, dishes, kitchen gadgets and tea towels for $300 during Amazon's Black Friday sale since she'll be moving into her first apartment soon. (They all got to her FPO on time too, yea Amazon!) I got good deals, but these items are just not as expensive now as they were 30 years ago relative to other purchases like education, housing and travel.
  20. Lecka brought up a lot of good points. My Navy dd is stationed OCONUS so we've dealt with some of this stuff. The most important thing is that they try to get their paperwork in for colocation before they get their first duty stations assigned, otherwise they might end up on different continents. There's a lot of red tape to get colocated, so be prepared for a lot of running around to get things sorted out. Sending things to an FPO costs the same as the US rate BUT it takes a long time. My dd's Christmas chocolate that I sent before Thanksgiving arrived for Easter last year. I could follow the tracking to see it go to Bahrain, back to Chicago, to Italy, back to Chicago before it finally got to dd in San Francisco. Amazon ships most items to an FPO, so that might be a way to go with their registry. I'd encourage people to give them cash or Amazon gift cards if they really don't want to do cash. Good luck to the newlyweds. Dd has enjoyed her time OCONUS. I hope they do too.
  21. I agree. I'd also like to point out that the military rates or MOSes that lead to high-paying contractor gigs afterwards also require long schools with fairly high failure rates. If you fail out, you are sent needs of the ______ to a job without good career prospects post-military. If you hate school, you may not enjoy learning to be an IT or an electronics tech or a mechanic in the armed forces either.
  22. OP, if your young adult is considering the military, they should look at mass communications fields. All of the services have people who take pictures, write up articles about people winning awards or doing community service, handling social media, etc. Another possibility is the chaplain's aides who help organize religious observances, provide community support, handle admin/decoration/set-up/take-down for events, etc.
  23. Not if you use the brighter or darker colors.
  24. At my nephew's school they require parents to SIGN the weekly homework. They lose points if it's not signed. Even if you want to try to encourage independence, it's impossible. Since we're afterschooling, I'm the one who checks the homework and signs. The instructions are written to the parents, not the kids. This would be okay if it were K, but it's third grade. DN can read the instructions on his own, but he realizes they're not written for him. I do try to assign him chunks and then correct them with him if he makes any mistake or doesn't follow the Circle/Underline/Box key words stuff This is a whole other issue, they spend more time marking up a problem than they do solving it. The actual arithmetic involved is ridiculously easy because they place so much emphasis on the analysis of the question. It's math taught as a reading exercise.
  25. Check out Lands End's Winter sale. I got myself a ladies XL puffer jacket for $40 and one for Geezle (a boy's Husky XXL that will fit him at 5'11, 150 lbs) for $23. They have parkas and colder weather gear too at clearance prices. On a different note, I used to use Waldorfy playsilks to wrap presents. I'd use a hair tie to gather the edges and then put a ribbon around it. This works particularly well for plush toys, dolls, clothes or other non-boxed items.
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