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JessMcG

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Everything posted by JessMcG

  1. My 8 yo ds struggles with spelling. I would love to be pointed towards the spelling game apps that you have found helpful. Thanks a bunch!
  2. The sympto-thermal method of birth control will not work for you.
  3. My spelling challenged child is only 8, so I'm not close to giving up yet. Is your dd dyslexic? I suspect that is the cause of my ds's troubles.
  4. Thank you again, ladies, for helping to think this through. It seems many of you are bothered about my dd being required to produce something. I must not have made myself clear. I am in no way forcing her to write reviews or journal, heck, I haven't even made her do a book report yet. Those were just suggestions to her, to allow her to extend her fiction reading time beyond the 3-4 hours a day of free reading that she already schedules in. As for Project Time, she is allowed to pick ANYTHING to work on, it doesn't have to be artsy. But she has since discovered that she likes to draw and paint. I might admire her work, which can be quite creative, but I don't demand a certain amount of finished product. Thank you ElizaGrace for the links. I will check those out. As for voracious, unlimited fiction reading, one of my hesitations is that it leaves little time to let what is being read sink in. Like I said, I was a voracious fiction reader as a child and remained a fly-by, "surface" reader into my 30s. Well, I did think about things more as I grew up, but I was always on the hunt for the next story. While reading a book, I would think, "Man! This is great! There is SO much to this story, I need to read it again." But at the end of each book, there was always another one calling my attention. So I am considering/on the hunt for ways to help dd learn to read a little deeper. But, as has been pointed out to me, she is only 10. You all have helped me to remember that (even though she's MY oldest) 10 is still very young. ps- Letting her turn her own lights out has been an experiment. I went into it knowing that it could become an issue. So far, so good. We may have to reconsider in the fall.
  5. Ha, ha Hunter! Thank you for sticking up for me! I knew when I posted this question originally that I was jumping into the fire. But I also expected to be able to find some diamonds in the rough. Which I did. Yours among them. I'm glad you brought up the historical aspect of this question. I was hoping someone would provide detail on that.
  6. Thank you ladies! You have given me food for thought. I do look back on my own childhood in which I spent much of my time buried in a book with mixed emotions. I agree that there is a lot to be learned from fiction, beyond just being treated to a good story. But everything in moderation, you know? I really didn't learn to produce anything in my childhood years. I had an artistic bent, but never did anything to develop it. I would much rather have been entertained by a book. No time for any artistic development now! She is allowed to read unlimited nonfiction during the day. And she probably reads a good 2 hours in her bed. So that's 3 hours of fiction reading a day. I have basically replaced the extra afternoon time she would normally spend reading (around 1 or 2 hours) with Project Time. During that time, all my kids who aren't napping are free to work on whatever they want, as long as they are producing something (there's a lot of painting, coloring, drawing, movie producing, and paper airplane making going on over here!). Either that, or they can go outside to play. As far as reading being an escape...DH and I have considered that and I keep it in the back of my mind. But I honestly don't think that's the main issue here, at least not in a dark way. Of course it is easier to sit back and read a story then it is to do work (for us literary types anyway). So I guess that counts as an escape. I do like the idea of ME being a more active participant in what she is reading by having more discussions about her books. I have really let that slide and it could be such a fun way for us to bond. I should go back through the Well Educated Mind. And I will look into the Junior Great Books program (I remember doing that in my own elementary years!). Any other suggestions for helpful resources for me would be much appreciated!
  7. My dd10 is a big fiction reader. She'll pick reading over almost anything and could spend hours reading fiction everyday. I was like this as a child and I have a few concerns. I want her to learn what she enjoys producing and become skilled at it. How is that supposed to happen when she spends all her free time consuming other people's stories? Also, big stretches of reading during the day seem to make her more sullen and unwilling to engage with other family members. So a couple of months ago, I instituted fiction reading limits to one hour during the day and unlimited from bedtime to when she decides to turn the lights out. I explained my reasoning to her, and although she wasn't thrilled, she's accepted the limits without much of a fight. I did tell her that if she was more active with her reading....writing reviews, memorizing favorite passages, or keeping a reading journal, etc...that she could read more. But she has been unwilling to do that so far. So what do you guys think? Is there something I'm missing here by not letting dd read fiction nonstop? Has anyone dealt with a child like this before? And how did you handle it?
  8. This is why I like FB. TO ME, the positives outweigh the negatives. I have made in-real-life connections that never would have happened without FB. I'm an introverted SAHM that loves the fact that I can "put myself out there" on my time, in my house. I can socialize (sure it's not really face to face, but it's something- better or worse I have still to decide) and take a break whenever I need to. Basically, I enjoy the human contact.
  9. We had an awesome day, glad you asked. ;) DH was home and offered to watch the kids from 9-5 so I could have some free time. I opted to bring DD10 along. We went hiking, browsed Barnes & Noble, ate pizza and frozen yogurt, shopped for craft supplies, visited an elderly relative in the hospital, and went to my favorite tea store. But that is a rare event. I really wanted to answer this question because homeschooling has gotten so much better since I've made THE CHANGE. You will see what I'm referring to in my signature. More specifically, around Thanksgiving I dropped around 50% of our curriculum. Since then, our school days have been good days with very few exceptions.
  10. One place I like to look for used books is Homeschoolclassifieds.com But that's only for books that aren't available at the library. DD is a voracious reader, so I let the library maintain whatever books they will.
  11. You could try tea? I had the opposite "sign" thing happen to me. After giving up coffee for a number of weeks, dh and I were capping off a date at a locally owned bakery. He ordered a large expresso drink. I decided to bow to temptation and split it with him. As I brought the bowl sized cup to my lips, my wrist slipped and I spilled my half of the drink on my white shirt. Just 20 minutes before I had to go pick up my kids from the church's "Kid's Night"! I took that as a sign that coffee is not for me. Not sure how long that will last though...I was just contemplating getting a breve tomorrow. ;)
  12. Yes! First time ever here in my early 30s. I have seemingly given up on fiction and becoming evermore picky with my nonfiction. I've come to a point in my life where I want to be doing my OWN things instead of spending so much time reading about others.
  13. I just wanted to see if there's anything new that's great out there. Or any old favorites I've missed in the past. Our most used apps are: Evernote Allrecipes Fertility Friend BrainPop Monkey Preschool Lunchbox UNO a random checkers app
  14. Can anyone give me a quick run down on the difference? I've used 1-3 of the old books with dd but I couldn't find a copy for level 4. How do the new books compare?
  15. :bigear: Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me out. :D
  16. DD9 is doing VP's Self Paced Online History (2nd course), it doesn't correspond with Cycle 1 History but it does go into depth for each of the VP timeline cards (over all five courses). Science is yet to be determined. It might not even exist. :lol: Though it seems like we are doing school all day, we have a hard time fitting formal science in.
  17. I was totally prejudiced about going Greek in college. I was not interested at all. Looking back, I really wish I had given it a chance...at least seen what the different sororities had to offer.
  18. I love Reading Eggs for my 4 year old. Thanks for the heads-up!
  19. When I say immature, I don't mean goofy in the acceptable sense. He lacks social skills that kids his age seem to have. Yup, my son resembles your nephew. Thanks for your advice.
  20. Thanks! I am alright with his academics. I guess I'm really wondering if there is something I can do to help him with his social graces.
  21. Who wants to tell me the story of their K-1-2 grade boys who were immature? My own 6 (7 in June) son is somewhat immature academically (a grade behind in reading and LA but about on level in math). My big concern is his lack of social skills. He doesn't have any friends (not because he doesn't want them). I hate to say it, but basically it's because he can be annoying and just generally, well...immature. I've always thought that he's just one of those boys that's going to take awhile to figure things out socially, but that it will come. And that is still my gut feeling. The problem is that he is starting to get sad that he doesn't have any friends. Has anyone been in this situation with their sons? How did things turn out as they got older?
  22. And/or what are your favorite books written by women? I'd appreciate fiction or nonfiction recommendations. I'm looking for a few books to have around after the baby is born (and my parents take the older kids to their house for a week). Thanks!
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