Jump to content

Menu

carrie_irene

Members
  • Posts

    139
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by carrie_irene

  1. I found that adding a little bit of extra gluten - called high gluten flour, or just gluten - or even a little extra yeast helped alot when I went 100% WW. HTH!
  2. My DH is now gluten free and I am nearly gluten free. WE are working on moving the kids that way. I used to grind my own WW flour, and rarely used white. I also used WW for sauces and gravies. I even made baked goods for others using wheat! If I didn't tell them, they didn't mind! =) Now I am relearning how to make breads, cakes, etc gluten free! In fact right now I have bread "rising" using a mixture of sorghum, millet, buckwheat, coconut, and potato starch. I found that if I kept white flour and now gluten flours, in the house, I would use them.....and it just made things harder, so if they aren't around, we won't use them!
  3. This is HILARIOUS. Seriously.....I can see one of my kids saying something like this! And this thread rocks. I haven't had so much fun reading a thread in some time! I seem to prefer more teA than DH these days. Poor guy has to take some medications that seem to impact his desire for teA. We are both getting tired of it! :) But...I manage to convince him a few times a week that he does like teA! Heehee
  4. I had the same question when I started looking into AAS. Most people said it would make life waaaaay easier. There are some ideas out there on how to make it work with one, so I got just one to start with. After getting things all set up this last week, I ordered another student pack. :tongue_smilie: I cannot even fathom trying to juggle between two kids and one pack. The way it is set up will be sooooo easy to keep track of each kiddos progress. Granted, we are JUST getting started, but I totally would get another one if at all possible!! HTH!
  5. Thanks! Definitely found more food for thought here!
  6. Probably dumb, but....:001_huh: What is the difference between the standards edition and the US edition? Pluses and minuses of each? I used it very little with DS this year along with Saxon1 and want to implement both next year. We are nearly done with 1A. (I ended up with the US edition). He is VERY mathy (gets it from me and DH both), so I really want both approaches. He loves them both and would do math all day. I will do 1B over summer and start level 2 in the fall. So US or Standard?? Thanks!:bigear:
  7. Thanks, Gals for sharing! I didn't get a chance to check back after I posted. I am going to give it a go this morning and see what they know. And we will go from there. Thanks again!
  8. I am sure this has been asked, but I am gearing up to hopefully start AAS with my DS5 and DD4 (almost 6 and 5). My DS is reading really well, but I don't want to skip Level 1. DD is also reading fairly well. While they know all the basic sounds the letters make, they may not be able to rattle of all three sounds that /a/ makes, for example. Can we move on the Step 2 before they are all totally mastered, or do we wait? I know that the cards get moved into the review pile, but I don't want to teach ALL the sounds ALL the vowels make the first day...that be confusing. But do we linger on Step 1?? :confused: OK...did I ramble enough to confuse everybody now? :001_huh:
  9. :grouphug: This is a tough decision...and ultimately only one you and DH can make. There are so many things to consider and it is not a black and white simple answer. That said....here is my experience: Ds1 - hospital birth/no meds (by choice). My OB decided that this weekend was a good one to get married, so I got a LOUSY on call dr. who made me fel horrible for interrupting her game of golf - no joke. Nurses forced me into an internal monitor on my baby's head ... not because of any concern, they were just getting tired of readjusting the monitor on my belly as I tried to labor on my back. The Dr. pushed me into an epis., made me feel incompetent and left a bad taste in my mouth. oh...and they gave ME two rounds of drugs....without telling me what it was or why. Dd2 - hospital birth/no meds, but with my wonderful OB:001_wub:. I about walked out of triage when the nurses told me there was no way I could manage a drug free birth with the way I was screaming/crying about the "necessary" IV. They put it in wrong. I still have nerve damage in my hand 4 years later. But I loved my dr., so it was ok. Dd3 - same as above. But getting tired of unnecessary interventions. Really tired. Ds 4 - Homebirth. I looked into a birthing center and I DID NOT click with the midwives running it. I cannot stress how important it is to click with your midwife. Do you have the same expectations? Does she read your stress level well? What is her experience with complicated births? With this kiddo, my water broke at 6am. Slightly green, midwife came and checked, said we were ok. monitored me off and on. No contractions. But because of my water being broken, I had 24 hours to be in active labor before she had to take me to the hospital. At 8pm, she had to take herbs to jumpstart my contractions. It worked. My darling 10.5 pound son was out at 1:45 am. Had it been a hospital birth, they would have c-sec'ed me at 6 am....because of the little bit of green (which was because he was 12 freakin' days late!:glare:). But because I had an attentive midwife, who monitored me, and the baby, I was able to have him vaginally. It was a really hard decision for me to have a homebirth. Everyone felt compelled to give me their horror stories and it made me feel like maybe I was a bad mom for considering it. But in the end, much like homeschooling, you have to PRAY, and then go with your gut, constantly reevaluating to make sure it still makes sense. Wow. That got long. Sorry. I hope you come to a decision that you have peace about. I know it is hard. And either way - it doesn't mean you are a bad mom. ;)
  10. :iagree: We are finishing up Saxon 1.....and we do not use the Meeting Book either, but still do the meeting. The TM is a necessity though. Especially since the concept you just taught may not actually show up in the workbook lesson THAT day.
  11. I would also thrown in there as a resource: http://www.tnars.net/ My daddy, Bill Bauerle, teaches at and helps oversee this free, reformed seminary. They are gaining more and more recognition for their courses. If you are interested in learning more, he is always happy to talk to people about these things that he holds so dear. :D
  12. Thanks, Ladies, for your input. I was kinda leaning towards doing level 1, but sometimes it seems that once they have the hang of something, going back and taking a different spin on things can be confusing. But I think doing level 1 will set us up to be that much more successful through the whole program. Thanks again!
  13. I just got my AAS 1 set. Totally excited. :lol: And I know it is a perfect fit for Dd who is 5 in July. It will dovetail nicely with where she is at in her phonics/reading instruction without too much reviewing. She is just beginning the /sh/ and /th/ blends. My question is my Ds, who is 6 in May. He is reading well. He knows all the phonograms from AAS 1 and nearly all the shaded ones too (assuming those are level 2?). Anyway, to do level 1 would be some serious review. Can/should I start with level 2? Or is level 1 important to get the "system" down? He seems to be a pretty decent speller (hard to tell at 5 years old), so I hate to "bore" him with needless review, but I will totally gun through level 1 with him if that makes the program more successful. Thanks!:bigear:
  14. :iagree: I ended up with a back injury a little over a year ago because I was REALLY keen on getting my pre-baby belly back. I didn't take the time to strengthen my back, just went for flat abs. Now I am nursing my back, and regained my muffin top in the mean time. Once my back it strong again, I can start to slowly work on my front. But I will it do it right this time! Please be sure to keep the back strong too!!;)
  15. Well written, Amie! I also agree with your later post that the OP was not intending for the poll to be mean in nature. And I do appreciate the patience that most people here have with the countless questions us newbies have! ;) I know plenty of people IRL that are quick to offer advice on that which they know nothing about. I try and take it all in anyway, discarding the junk yet percieving what is offered from a fresh pair of eyes. :)
  16. I guess this is our 1st official year of hs'ing. My son is in K. It took me a long time to come out of lurking. The amount of experience on this board is a wealth of information. And while I myself am a homeschool graduate, much has changed out there. Not to mention it may be a just a little different homeschooling kids rather than BEING homeschooled. :tongue_smilie: I do have to say, though, that posts like this deflate me. I am opinionated. Honestly, I have to be. I have people questioning my decision right and left right now and I have no "proof in the pudding" so to speak, yet. I can't point to my adjusted, educated children and say, "See. It's ok." So I have to have that gut conviction that it is the right thing, and that I CAN do it (because honestly, there are still days when I cry about if I can! And that coming from someone who TAUGHT for a living before having kids!) All that to say, please be gentle with those of us who are just starting out. I am sure we can seem naive. We are.
  17. Merry, thank you for taking the time to explain this. It helped! I have one set on the way. I think once I get my hands on it and can look at it, that will help. Chances are, I will get a duplicate set. With 4 kids, and starting with the oldest 2, they will get used!
  18. I have a feeling that my ds may be a natural speller. I was. So those "memorize ten words a week" programs worked really well for me when I was homeschooled. But I am a bit hesitant to determine already that he is a natural speller. I know sometimes I have my mommy goggles on when it comes to how brilliant he is! ;);) I think that's why I want to try AAS now. I think it will cement spelling concepts as he is still developing all the reading concepts. But your daughter is enjoying it? That's good! I hope my ds will enjoy it too!
  19. So all you AAS users out there have me pretty much sold. I am 99% sure that we will do AAS next year (trying to convince myself to wait until then!:tongue_smilie:). I will be using it with both my son, who will be 6 in the summer (but has been doing 1st grade spelling this year) and my daughter, who will be 5 in the summer. She is reading pretty well for her age, but has done no spelling. We have been working through OPGTR and PP. So here is my question: Do I need 2 materials packets? I foresee my ds flying through level one as he already knows most of the phonograms, and dd moving through not as quickly. So I don't see it being something they will physically DO TOGETHER for very long. So can I get away with one student material packet? It could get costly pretty quick considering ds will fly through the first level! ;) Thoughts?
  20. We are doing Saxon 1 as well. At first, I did not like the "double plus one" approach, but my son got it after a couple days of coaching and helping him recognize which problems that worked on. I also want him to see 9+8 as 10+7, as a former math teacher, I want their minds to be able to approach it in many ways. So I am hoping to eventually get BOTH concepts in his head! =) But....the -2 was dumb. I agree. We scrapped that and just went with how he was already processing it....I think he visualizes the number line...and we all had less frustration. I agree with PP, that you have to take what is good and change what doesn't work. ANY program will require that. There is no such thing as THE PERFECT PROGRAM, because every child will process it differently. What I do appreciate about Saxon is the drill. My 5 year old son has far more comfort with basic math facts than the majority of my 6th graders in ps had. No kidding. Because my son has learned if he just memorizes the dumb facts, he gets done quicker. =)
  21. B. Less fake food. the liquor can be a fake food, it truly depends on each company what they are calling "chocolate liquor". Adding milk solids is never a great thing...usually containing oxidized cholesterol. So all else being equal, I would go for B. But really....right now, chocolate sounds about perfect in any way it might come! =)
  22. Me too! Me too! If I lean *just so*, I can see the mail box from my dining room window. And I have found myself leaning *just so* quite a bit the last few weeks! DH and I are on the hunt for ToG books...doing it as used as possible, so we have lots of little and some not so little orders out. Thriftbooks.com is fun because they typically send out each book on its own...so the expectation lasts that much longer!
  23. We are homeschooling newbies in Ahwatukee! Cindy...I love your quote...one of my favs from Mr. Baucham!
×
×
  • Create New...