A friend of mine posted a link to something Tim Wise wrote on FB: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152869410530969&id=140254320968&fref=nf&pnref=story

My mom always arranged for me to get a written note every day at camp. It really helped, even if it was just three sentences. My daughter is going to Girl Scout camp for six days. I am planning to slip a present into her duffel just before we leave, and send daily notes. (I will either mail them early or drop off a packet at check-in.)

Now I feel silly for answering the "why is this different from Caitlyn Jenner" question as if it were asked out of genuine curiosity.

I like our barred crate because it collapses easily for packing in the car. (Moxie's seat belted for car travel.) Most dogs enjoy having a den. We have our crate in a companionable spot (in the corner of the kitchen, behind the table), and Moxie will go in there and curl up while we're doing school. She really appreciates having a spot that she can go to where overly loving kids know they're not allowed to approach or touch her. And it's nice, when she goes to the dog sitter while we're on vacation, to have a familiar-smelling spot of her own.

There are sound biological and psychological reasons to believe that gender is a fundamental aspect of the way we understand ourselves and identify ourselves as human beings. Because so much of that happens in the brain, it is meaningful to say that someone can "be" the gender their brain tells them they are, even in the absence of gonadal confirmation. Race, on the other hand, is a social construct. Racial identity is a fundamental part of our self-concept if we're living in a multiracial society in which race matters (and all of us are), but it's easy to imagine situations in which race would not figure into someone's self-concept at all. Taking a historical view, we see that "races" are created and disappear (there used to be plenty of official scientific documents which referenced "the Italian race," for example) and that they change in definition (for example, the "one drop" rule of African-American heritage). It is much, much harder to imagine situations in which someone might never think twice about whether they are male or female, or situations in which certain genders are recognized for a while and then aren't recognized anymore. Race just isn't a biological thing the way gender is. My problem is not that she identifies with African-American culture. It's that she systematically presented herself as a person who should be paid special attention and given special credence because of her "race." She didn't just live a quiet, ordinary life somewhere as a black person. She spoke out about African-Americans as an insider expert. She called attention to the "hate crimes" she supposedly suffered. And her takeover of the spotlight lessened the opportunity for real African-American women's experiences to be heard.

Because ALL OF US belong to the CROWN CORPORATION.

Hoo boy. Followed a link on the BLH facebook page to this piece of rampant paranoid delusion. https://kateofgaia.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/birth-certificate-explained.jpg

I think many homeschoolers are proud of their stance that "I do what's right for my family, period." On a basic level, that's why most of us homeschool. Taken further, it can turn into "...and the heck with anyone else, particularly the needs of some group or the dictates of some social convention. We don't play by those rules! We're independent!"

I haven't visited their FB page in a while. Wow. Their supporters are... Wow. Everything critics say about the Naughlers is wrong. Everything. There are people vigorously arguing that the Naughlers aren't spending any of the GoFundMe money on the hotel room. It's all coming out of Nicole's business - you know, the one that opened a couple of weeks ago after a $20K loan she's supposed to pay back. WHAT DO YOU MEAN that's implausible?! If you know what you're doing, it is ENTIRELY possible for a small business to grow to the point of funding hotel-and-restaurant living after two weeks. HOW CAN YOU SAY IT ISN'T. I get why Nicole and Joe are so embedded in their counterfactual beliefs. I don't get why other people are similarly invested.

I am also grateful that this thread was started, because I had no idea that having a class policy that cell phones go in a basket would be in the slightest bit controversial. Now I know. I'm teaching sex ed at our homeschool center in the spring term, and I will put that policy on the list of things to discuss at the parent orientation. (Just to repeat myself, in case it's necessary: I would have no problem with, for example, LucyStoner's kid keeping his phone on silent in his bag so that he could leave the room and text his mom if need be. My problem is that most of the teens I know are digital natives whose phones are constantly in and out of their hands for social media, photos, etc., and I suspect that violations of a no-phones policy would even happen inadvertently sometimes. And also, as I said before, it's a privacy thing.)

Corraleno, I have really been appreciating your commentary on this topic. Thank you.

We're a one-car family, so I get up in the mornings and drive my husband to work. Usually, while I'm gone the kids get up and settle on the couch with their electronic devices. I come home around 7:45 and drink a gigantic mug of tea while staring at my own computer. Once I've finished my tea, I get in the shower and send the kids to get dressed. Then they eat their breakfast while I read aloud to start the "morning time" portion of our school day. If someone is sleeping in, I wake them up when I head for the shower.

I love the mental image of all of these nice, respectable homeschooling moms typing the word "dicks" into their browsers to see what comes up. (Unintentional pun, but I'm leaving it there. :tongue_smilie: ) I Googled it. The web results were all appropriate, with huge prominent links to the sporting goods store in the first results. The images results... not so safe. No actual porn (on the first page), but lots of tasteless memes and cartoon drawings.

When I teach middle school sex education, I pass around a basket for people to put their phones in. My phone is the first one to go into the basket. It's a trust issue - I want kids to be able to participate in exercises and discussions without worrying that someone is going to be snapping pictures or texting about them. We talk about it in the first class so the kids understand why we do this. That said, if a kid's phone is on silent and stays put away in a bag, it will never be an issue. I'm fine with a child who has medical or mental health issues keeping their phone and excusing themselves to go out in the hall and call/text mom. But if I see your phone, it goes in the basket. Period.

I'm shocked that it doesn't - or doesn't everywhere, I guess, because this is something that would be governed by state laws. For contrast, every time I see a new child client I inform the parents that I will be keeping the child's records until he or she is 21 years old. That's because children have a three-year window, beginning on their 18th birthday, to sue me for malpractice related to services I provided during their childhood. If you can sue the psychologist who did your IQ test 13 years before, why can't you prosecute someone who committed a crime against you? I am pretty sure that in this case the statute of limitations only applied because Josh was also a minor at the time of the abuse, though, right? I can't imagine that a fully grown adult could abuse a child and be free from prosecution if he could keep the child silent for three years.

Alex really enjoyed the overall experience of taking the AMC-8, so I strongly recommend it if you can get a seat. (I didn't know it was hard to get seats some places - we just blithely signed up.) We set a score goal because she's struggled a lot with perfectionism and I wanted to set a realistic bar. That was very effective at the time - she was proud to exceed her goal and score in the top half of the distribution of 8th graders. I think this award ceremony was the first time it occurred to her that there were kids quite close to her age who outclassed her by that much. Next year, in 5th grade, she wants to achieve Merit Roll, which will mean a score of about 15/25. I think that's realistically within her grasp.

Yes, exactly! And my standard is also warped, because I tend to think things like, "Well, she's pretty smart, but she's not like dmmetler's kid." :tongue_smilie: Although no one ever used this term when I was younger, I was technically PG. (I didn't realize it until I found out that my GRE scores qualify me for the "Triple Nine" society.) I grew up in a small, relatively poor city where I was definitely the weird fish in the pond. From the earliest age that I can remember, I was hyper-aware of myself as smart enough to be really, really different. I now believe that was unhealthy and distorting to my self-image, so I've welcomed being able to put Alex in a class size of one. But maybe I've overdone it?

Well, true, although we know that to a substantial degree ability is malleable, and that expertise is predicted by intelligent practice. You're right that I can't know whether those boys really do put in more work at math than my daughter does, but I can be certain that if she chose to put in more effort and time than she does, her scores would be considerably higher than they are right now. Right now I require that she put in about as much time on math as a "normal" 4th grader, which is 45-60 minutes per weekday. I wanted her to know that she has the potential to really excel as a mathlete if she puts more time into it. I'm not going to make her do it, but if her goal is to be getting perfect scores on the AMC-8, etc., an increased time commitment will probably be necessary.

Last night was the annual awards ceremony for the large math program Alex has taken part in. It's mostly aimed at older kids - MathCOUNTS age and up - but they have some classes for G&T 5th-6th graders and, this year, there was a math club for 3rd-4th grade that Alex was in. She got to pick up her Math Kangaroo national prize. She got a Commendation B certificate and patch for MOEMS and recognition from the coach for doing reasonably well on the AMC-8 for a fourth grader. I was pleased on her behalf. Meanwhile, there was a 5th grader there who got a medal for a perfect score all year in MOEMS and a perfect score on the 7th grade Math Kangaroo, plus high honors on the AMC-8 and AMC-10, etc. etc. Another fifth grader in a similar position although not quite as dramatic. Middle school kids who did well in the AIME. A high school girl who medaled in the Chemistry and Physics Olympiads and performed well on the Math Olympiad, who is on her way to MIT next year and received an impressive gold cup as a program "Award of Excellence." On the one hand, Alex was inspired by the older girl and is committed to carrying on with math competitions. On the other hand, in the car on the way home, she said thoughtfully, "You know, Mom, I think I'm okay with just being mediocre in math." :001_rolleyes: On the one hand, I'm thrilled that homeschooling means she can proceed at her own pace and not be weirded out by how different she is from other kids. I'm beyond thrilled that she'll have this program to challenge and inspire her as she gets older. But I'm a little flummoxed about how to respond to her self-assessment that she's "mediocre in math." She's not top-of-the-top, but i don't think she realizes how unusual it is for a ten-year-old to be doing algebra, or competing in the AMC-8 at all. I talked to her a little bit about what normally constitutes "4th grade math," and also speculated about how much time and effort those two super-mathy 5th graders probably put into math every day, but I'm curious about how you all handle comparisons.

When I do psych evals, I give kids a pencil without an eraser and tell them (depending on the test) either to cross out mistakes and move on, or not to correct mistakes. It's very useful to me to see what kinds of mistakes kids make and how they handle them. I've also had to work with my own perfectionist kid about not getting hung up on erasing. When she erases a mistake in math, she loses the thread of the problem because she's focusing her attention on getting every last trace of pencil mark. Erasing during a writing assignment can lead to paralysis as she focuses on getting a particular word right rather than expanding on ideas. That said, however, I think the child psychologist in the article is whackadoo.

My kids like: Adventure Time Phineas and Ferb Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Bill Nye the Science Guy Wild Kratts Slugterra Johnny Test

There's a workbook? We had the student text and the answer book, but the problems were intended to be copied into a notebook.

Naughler supporters drinking game: take a drink every time someone mentions "obese kids playing video games." On second thought? Don't. I don't want the entire Hive to die from alcohol poisoning.

From one of their FB supporters: "They get federal money for each adoption so they take as many kids as they can. The better they're raised, they more they want them. Which would you be more likely to adopt? The child who was well raised and healthy or the crack baby who is going to require lots of medical help and therapy?" Now there's a perfect conspiracy theory. Your kids were taken by CPS? That PROVES you were doing an excellent job of parenting!

My kindergartener has been feeling a little sad that his sister placed and he didn't. It boosted him up tremendously to know that he was 17th in the state, especially compared to FIRST GRADERS. :tongue_smilie: Overall, I think it was a huge learning experience for him and I'm proud that he was willing to go sit in a college lecture hall with 150 kids and some strange adults, and without his Mom, and take a hard test. That's a big deal for a newly-6-year-old!