WTMindy
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Posts posted by WTMindy
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We are sure hoping to get to adopt these little guys, but we are early in the process and you just never know. The birth parents have significant obstacles to overcome to get them back, but as everyone knows, you just never know what will happen.
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Did I get your attention? I haven't been here hardly at all this year, but we got licenced as foster parents with the state and all of a sudden I have twin boys living in my home. Actually, tomorrow we'll have twins. Right now we just have one of them. The other will be released from the hospital tomorrow.
I think one of the best things about starting over is that my kids won't be too old for Susan's writing curriculum this time around!! :001_smile:
Even though I haven't been here much this year, I just wanted to share our news here with you all. And now rather than logic questions I'll be frantically asking mother-of-twins questions. :-)
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Edited. I mis-read your question.
The answer could be the square root of (17 to the second power), which is the same thing as the square root of 289. But, if the book said that the answer was the square root of 17 (with no power) it is incorrect.
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I love the name Levi and I don't associate it with the jeans.
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Julie and Julia....
I did NOT like this book either!!!
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I like them and even enjoying the annual laughing at "that one" letter that is just OVER THE TOP with bragging. However, I do prefer shorter rather than longer-too much over one page and I start to lose a little interest. :-)
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My son has a habit of doing this too. There is nothing that makes me crazier than this. I do a few things. One thing is too remind him that going slower will not mean he will be doing less, it just means that it will take us longer. I try REALLY REALLY hard not to let it get me mad because I know that is the reaction he is going for. I also tell him that I am obviously not explaining it very well, so he's going to have to do it with Dad tonight. (And Daddy is not NEARLY as patient as I am, so this often motivates him to shape up.) And, a couple weeks ago during a PMS fit I burst into tears and said that I was failing him as a teacher. This made him feel so bad that he was a new boy for several weeks! :-) LOL I didn't do it to manipulate, but I'll have to remember to keep that one in my toolbelt. :-) He is still telling me I'm not failing him as a teacher (which is sweet!)
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My personal opinion is that it should be explained in authentic mathematical terms. It is as simple as explaining that equations must remain balanced and that if you perform an operation on one side of an equation, it must also be performed on the other side or you have altered the numerical value of only one side. My kids learn that concept as early as 3rd grade. I believe that a high school algebra program should be able to request that a problem is solved according to mathematical terms, not lingo.
I share that personal opinion with you. And, I must start by saying that I don't know what text you are referring to, and I don't even really know the context of the quote!! But, does that stop me from offering my opinion? Apparently not! :-)
I also agree that it is as simple as balancing an equation and if you perform an operation on one side, you must do that to the other side. But, where I might use the word "undo" is to help them visualize *WHICH* operation to perform. For example in x+2=5 you are adding the 2, so you will have to "undo" the addition by subtracting. If you are multiplying 3x=9, you have to "undo" the multiplication by dividing. I always use the technical terms with my students as well, but sometimes a more common word sticks the idea better to their brains. So, I use both.
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So, are you saying that if you come in to a 4 year college with a calculus credit on your transcript from a cc, they won't let you re-take calculus at their school? I guess I would be more likely to have the college accept what I had done and then petition them to retake any classes that I felt I needed. I did not realize that if you come in as a junior you are not allowed to take Freshman classes. That doesn't really make sense to me since I came into college as a sophomore with AP credits and I took typically freshman classes.
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I am a math teacher and I use ALEKS quite a bit with some of the students in my co-op class so I am pretty familiar with the program. In my opinion, it is NOT a complete stand-alone program. It is a GREAT supplement and review tool and it is good at filling in gaps, but there is just not enough critical thinking involved to be a stand-alone program.
The thing I like about it:
1. If they don't master a concept it comes back to "haunt" them again.
2. Completing a pie (or slice) is a good motivator to students.
3. It is student lead, so they seem to enjoy the choice that they have.
The things I don't like about it:
1. There are no (or next to no) critical thinking problems. All the problems are done exactly the same way, so a kid can memorize how to do a certain kind of problem that they give, but have NO understanding of why they are doing what they are doing and if a problem were given that was different than the way ALEKS words it, the student wouldn't know how to do the problem. For example, ALEKS teaches how to add, divide, multiply, and subtract fractions, but never gives them word problems where they have to decide which operations they should use.
2. There is only one mode of explanation, so if a kid doesn't get the written explanation, there is no other resources to get more help.
3. It can be (depending on how the child procedes) be choppy-one topic today and a totally unrelated one the next day.
Now, I have some students who do only ALEKS because they refuse to do any other math, and my opinion is that doing ALEKS alone is better than NOT doing math at all. :-) However, if they were my kids, I would definitely substitute with critical thinking/story problem books of some kind.
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I'm a little confused. Why would you not want to transfer the credits? You can still give her 4 years of college, right? It would just give her more freedom in what she takes. She might not have to take English 101 because she already took it. Instead, she could take British Lit or some other more fun higher level course. It would also give her more freedom to take electives in her schedule. Maybe I'm missing something. :-)
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First I try hard not to set my kids up to lie because I know that defensive temptation to get out of trouble because I do it to at times (or want to). So, I wouldn't say, "Are you sneaking that candy?" I would say, "Put the candy away. You know you aren't supposed to have candy before dinner." Kids are a long-term project! Some need more refining than others. My 11yods is that way. I feel like there is ALWAYS something we are discussing, working on, etc. A couple of things I try and do is to give him lots of hugs and tell him that I'm crazy about him. Make sure he knows that.
We also discuss both his strenths and his weaknesses with him. "The fact that you like to save things is a great characteristic and it will help you provide for your family some day, but the downside of that same character trait is that you tend to be a bit selfish. What kinds of things can you do to work on that?"
But, I do know the feeling of looking at your kid and seeing all the rough edges that need some sanding. But it seems like just when I feel a bit hopeless, he does something wonderful that gives me a glimpse of the awesome man he will become some day. I know that because he is SO much like his dad (for better and worse) and I know what an amazing man/husband/father his dad is, and it gives me hope. :-)
Sorry, I kinda rambled.
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Ditto. We went more often when they were younger to get shots and chekcs, but they just don't need it every year now.
We don't go every year, but do see our doctor when we are concerned about a problem.My younger son has recently developed migraines, and he's been thoroughly checked over in the past year.
My older son was in for a sports physical a couple of years ago.
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In the summer I take a week (or two) and go through EVERY room in the house and clean EVERYTHING and that is ALL I do that week! I move things, I go through drawers, I clean shelves, I throw stuff away, etc. Anything that can be cleaned gets cleaned in a pretty systematic (room by room) way. I LOVE throwing stuff away and organizing, by the way. :-) Because we do TOG I think of our school year in 9 week chunks, so I broke the house into 9 zones. Each week I only focus on that one room. I don't do as in-depth as I do in the summer, but I make sure that room looks good. It doesn't take that long to fix up one room when it has been deep cleaned a few weeks before.
In terms of the weekly/daily stuff the kids have their chore list and I have mine and we take and hour (or two) on the weekend to all do our chores together.
Believe it or not, it is not in my nature to have a spotless house. However, dh really loves a clean home and so I have developed this system as a way of keeping the place looking great for him and for all of us.
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We are probably more protective as parents than most of our friends (Christian) and we wouldn't do that. If we didn't trust the kids we wouldn't have them overnight nor would either of us go and hang out with the kids for long periods of time.
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This might not be a popular opinion, but I trashed everything. I didn't want to keep anything that would cause my children to look at me in a different light if I were to die. I'm not saying that I'm not honest with them about who I am, mistakes I've made, or anything like that because I think that is important. But, I don't see any value in them discovering things that will tarnish their memory of me when I'm gone.
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Part of the math assignment is correcting the ones they got wrong. Which means I have to be very faithful in grading the papers right there on the spot so they know what they have done wrong. If it is a sloppy mistake I tell them so (but I don't tell them what they did) and they have to redo the whole problem. If it is something they don't understand, we go over it together.
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I think K12 would be a good idea because of the built-in support that it would offer. From my understanding of K12, it is a fairly conservative program (correct me if I'm wrong) and it would be so much better to have someone else provide the structure since it won't come naturally to Mom. Then, if there are issues with what they are teaching she can deal with those individually.
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We also used it for a science lesson one year, helping to explain how to classify things. The kingdoms were chocolate, non-chocolate, etc.... It was a great exercise because it highlights the difficulties in classifying things that have similar characteristics to other things.
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That seriously bugged me, but I didn't want to be accused of "bashing" that program. ;)
I wouldn't consider that a mathematical term, but it is a concept that I teach my math students to help them know why you subtract 5 from both sides of an equation or divide both sides by 3 when you are solving for x. So, I don't think it is out of the realm of reasonable in a math book if the presentation has been made as to WHY you are undoing something. Of course, I didn't read the original thread.
In my opinion, as a math teacher, I would agree that MUS is not a rigorous program, however the one thing it has going for it, is that it is very accessible to homeschooling families. For students who struggle in math and parents who struggle teaching it, it is filling a niche that was missing. They have made it a bit stronger by adding in the honors materials into each lesson. I'm glad they did this.
My daughter is using NEM 2 right now, and I think that this is a RIGOROUS program. It has LOTS of problems (we don't do them all), very high level thinking problems (which is part of what defines rigor to me), and good sound mathematical teaching. However, I have many students (I teach at a homeschool co-op) that would absolutely fail if I gave them that book and asked them to complete assignments. So, I use MUS with my co-op kids and NEM with my own kids. This is the first year I am only using one curriculum, we have always used two.
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Crissy, more things will freeze than you think. I would find out her favorite meals and split them up into meal size portions and freeze those. The things that have been mentioned are all good, but you can adapt their favorites also. I also saw a show where they made food packets for things that didn't freeze well where at the beginning of the week they prepped all the food (chopped what needed to be chopped and measured into bags that are easily cleaned up, etc)
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The ones that lead to arguments. :-)
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Another vote for Postitive Action! What I love about the program is that it is both academic and devotional. It teaches concepts/stories and it also has a focus on application, which trys to take the kids from head knowledge to heart knowledge and then action. My 7th grader is using Wise Up and my 5th grader is using the 4th grade book because I gave him the choice of the topics in 4th/5th/6th grade. I really love the Wise Up book.
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I can comment on TOG because this is our 3rd year using it. The Bible itself is part of the text books in year 1 because it is when the history was happening (Ancients). The Bible is not used as a text in years 2-4 because it all happened during the Ancients. However, every lesson has Biblical worldview built in. Every topic is looked through the lens of Biblical principles. Verses are weaved throughout the history questions and the teacher's notes, helping to make connections with our history and God's ultimate plan.
Feel free to ask more questions if you have them.
I have babies now....
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Ironically, they will fit perfectly into the classical rotation of our family. Right after dd finishes the rhetoric cycle the babies will be the right age to start all over again. That means (Lord willing, of course) I will be going through the entire 4 year cycle 6 times. (24 years!!) I will really know my history by then. ;)