kubiac

November 30, 2014

Yes. Every Kumon thread on the Internet includes a single-post poster who shills for Beestar. Grrr...

November 29, 2014

Curious George Learns the Alphabet, because it teaches both upper and lower case (on opposite pages, but separately) and because the author uses visual "mnemonics" to help describe how the letters look and what's distinct about that shape as opposed to the other 51 letter shapes.

I find that many alphabet books are really just vocabulary books or art books with the abecedary as the hook, but that aren't particularly useful for teaching letters! That said, the most beautiful vocabulary-art style book we have is Bruno Munari's ABC. It's just lovely and flows perfectly.

When you're ready to teach letter sounds (either before or after letter names, depending on your approach), there's a book I found through the hive called Abadaba Alphabet. It comes with a CD (wherein the book is read aloud by Jim Weiss) and it is full of ridiculous earworm rhymes that teach the letter sounds. But really you could/should just use the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD for that.

November 29, 2014

I used this coupon to finally buy the third edition of WTM. :) I've had a used copy of the first edition forever, but I figured I should get up-to-date if we're really going to do this thing!

November 22, 2014

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg is terrific. Great as an audiobook.

November 19, 2014

The Happy Hollisters series?

November 18, 2014

Just as a former dramatic teenager, I'd say it's the mood disorder or general adolescent sturm and drang talking, not any actual legitimate issue with writing.

November 16, 2014

Stage your home for living. Start by permanently removing a third of your stuff.

http://www.becomingminimalist.com/stage-your-home-for-living/

Do a trash audit if you really want to get a sense of how much waste passes through your life. Fighting waste DOES save money, because it's a mindset change and you streamline and you smarten up. ;)

https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/street/refuse/recycle/home-waste-audit.cfm

Try a no-spend week to remind yourself how much stuff you already have. We get blind to stuff we see every day ("I have no clothes!" "We're out of food!") and a no-spend week really brings things into focus.

http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2014/10/4-life-lessons-learned-from-30-days-without-spending-money/

ALSO:

* If someone is giving you a free lunch, the real product is YOU. Be careful what you accept that's "free."

* CONTROVERSIAL: Coupons are a trick.

* Stay out of the stores. Stay out of the malls. Cancel the catalogs. Unsubscribe from the mailing lists. Just TURN OFF the commercial broadcasts in your life.

* When you buy something new, the price you pay is probably 1/3 marketing costs, 1/3 packaging and transport, 1/3 actual value. Refuse to pay for marketing and packaging.

* Buy used and save the difference.

* Don't buy depreciating assets. I'm not talking about oil wells and REITs level assets. Every possession in your life is on your family's balance sheet. When you die and someone has to get rid of your stuff, will anyone want any of it? Or is it all just garbage that hasn't been thrown away yet?

* If you read no other "frugal" literature, read The Millionaire Next Door by Tom Stanley.

November 16, 2014

We have a Fit. It's so zippy! Lots of trunk room. Low to the ground. Overall, we have been very happy with it as a commuter car.

November 16, 2014

Fool-proof:

http://www.amazon.com/Euro-Cuisine-YM80-Yogurt-Maker/dp/B000EX16RY

November 15, 2014

There is also a PreK/K board in the K-8 forum where parents of young learners can discuss developmentally appropriate techniques. Come on by, we talk about early reading all the time. ðŸ˜„

November 14, 2014

I know NOTHING but my semi-sister-in-law volunteers as a CASA. It's Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for children, and it seems like that program is a middle ground between fostering/adoption and nothing?

Maybe see if it exists in your area?

November 13, 2014

We got married in S.B. That whole stretch of the coast north of L.A. (Oxnard, Ventura, Ojai, Carpinteria) is heaven.

No help on people, but maybe do a field trip here if you can:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/karpeles-manuscript-library-museum-santa-barbara

November 11, 2014

Can't wait for this to come out. We are downsizing Christmas a little this year, so viewing this as a family is going to be one of our big family holiday events!

Rachel and Two Little Hand have helped me raise my kids, I swear.

(BTW, if you haven't seen it yet, their new Treeschoolers series is also terrific!)

November 11, 2014

You can get an adult flu shot at many pharmacies and it is usually covered by insurance.

FWIW getting two vaccinations at one appointment is considered totally normal for us. The nurses just use different arms (or different fleshy baby thighs) for the diff shots.

We fell behind on one kid just out of sheer laziness. (He'd been to the pediatrician a bunch of times, but we hadn't gotten a proper checkup in almost 2 years. Oops!) Doc gave us choice on what to get, discussed and decided measles and whooping cough were the priorities because of the multiple outbreaks in our state.

November 8, 2014

I would like to steer my kids into investing in real estate. Barring that:

* Computers/software/programming/coding/tech project management

* Medical jobs where the primary work is with other doctors, rather than public-facing, i.e. radiology or pathology

* Opthamology!

* Science expertise that could be leveraged into consultancy work with larger organizations: geology, chemistry

I will also steer them away from what I consider to be the "pyramid-scheme" jobs, meaning jobs where there is a vast underclass of poorly paid, grossly overworked young people doing scut work for a decade or more in hopes that they will at some point magically make it big and start pulling six or seven figures. Very few actually make it, and in the meantime, much financial traction is lost, and it is virtually impossible to keep up the pace in later years as family responsibilities accumulate. I see this "pyramid scheme" at work in many "liberal arts" fields, creative industries of all kinds, and marketing/sales/PR/advertising. The short-term glamour is a bad long-term deal.

That said, I would like to see my kids develop some expertise in both sales and team leadership, regardless of what speciality or industry they join otherwise. So many fields really require "marketing of self" as much as they require hard expertise.

November 6, 2014

Earlier this year, I created an article about the Let's Read and Find Out Science series for Wikipedia that includes a list of current and past titles in the series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s-Read-and-Find-Out_Science

I *THINK* the title list is complete, but every so often I'll find another obscure title from the 1970s. Note that I haven't added stages and summaries and complete pub info yet for many of these titles. (Feel free to pitch in if you speak Wikimarkup language, LOL!)

Just eyeballing it, I'd say about 15 to 25 percent of total titles are now out-of-print, stuff like Opossum by Kazue Mizumura or Seymour Simon's computer titles from the mid-1980s.

Buying bulk lots on eBay is probably the best way to acquire a big batch quickly, but you will end up with duplicates. They are very easy to find used, and in-print are sold new at Borders in the children's science section.

November 6, 2014

It's a picture book, but it's great and bananas are crucial to the action:

http://www.amazon.com/Id-Really-Like-Eat-Child/dp/0307930084

I'd Really Like to Eat a Child by Sylviane Donnio

November 5, 2014

I have been very impressed with the quality of School Sparks:

http://www.schoolsparks.com/kindergarten-worksheets

November 3, 2014

I'm going with four other girls to see Mockingjay. We have four husbands, three jobs, four-and-a-half kids, seven cats, one dog and four chickens between us, and heck if seeing a movie based on a YA book makes us immature!

November 1, 2014

Yeah, that's pretty much where I'm at. That's why I started this thread. :) My son is perfectly happy playing in dirt in the yard. He loves to walk/run up and down the trails. But that's about it.

Of course, they pick up sticks and rocks, etc. I have a ziplock bag they put it in. But I thought I was missing something. And sure enough got some good responses. :)

I also went on the website of the nearby national park and it had some good information. Unfortunately, no ranger tours. :(

Look for a Junior Ranger program for that National Park. Not every single park has one, but it's like a little activity book specific to the park. If your kid completes it (by visiting and studying the park), he/she gets sworn in as a Junior Ranger and gets a badge.

November 1, 2014

Do you borrow from library or buy (new or 2nd hand)?

Mostly, I buy used so I can buy volume* and so if the kids trash a book (actually extremely rare around here), it's not the end of the world. I want these books to be USED.**

DS4 often asks if a book belongs to us or the library because our used purchases are often "ex-lib" and so still have the same cards and pockets as an official "real" library book that's still in circulation. We buy used to new at a ratio of about 10:1. If I am going to buy a new picture book, I think of it as an investment piece, and I select carefully before acquiring a new hardback with dustjackets, etc. A new book is generally $17 around here, OR I can buy 17+ used books for the same amount.

Used books online are more expensive than used children's books in the wild: Amazon used titles often cost about $4 (.01 for a book in many cases, and $3.99 shipping), but you can even do better than that if you look out for a Better World Books sale. They regularly do clearances where you can get $2.50ish a book. Sometimes eBay lots will go even lower than that. Set up an email alert on eBay for specific titles and authors you'd like to have in your collection and start watching the market for those materials. http://www.booksalefinder.com/ is an extremely useful site for any parent looking to build a home library.

As we move into easy readers and read-aloud chapter books, I am less concerned with the book as art itself, and generally prefer to borrow from the library or grab cheap paperbacks if I'm going to buy at all. That said, I still won't pass up a first edition of The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles at a library book sale for $1.

Approximately how many does your toddler own?

We have thousands of children's books, almost all acquired in the last 4.5 years since DS1 was born.

Approximately how many do you take out from the library on your toddlers behalf?

We only withdraw about 2-5 library books a week, on average. Baby is so swamped with books at home that I don't bother getting fresh stock at the library for him, but I do check out new materials for the older child, mostly because I am curious about books I've seen recommended online and want to see them for myself!

How do you keep library books separate from personal books?

Library books live on a dedicated shelf in our "family launching pad" low table by the front door. When we're done with a read-aloud session they go straight back to the library shelf. (Also, library books are easy to spot in a pile because they are almost always wrapped in those Brodart dustjacket covers that eventually get dingy from wear. When we adopt ex-lib books, I usually remove the old Brodarts and replace with shiny fresh ones--oh yes, I cover my book covers! #crazy)

Where do you store both types of books?

* Library books are on the library shelf by the front door

* Home books:

* 3 bookshelves for the general collection

* 1 smaller shelf for the smaller board books aimed at the 0-3 market

* Dedicated bins for folk-fairy-tale collections, Mother Goose, poetry collections and pop-up books.

* One high shelf for me to store upcoming read-aloud novels and story collections

* Additional storage in the garage contains the hoard of books for future use and books that are on an out-cycle of rotation

If your child owns (a lot of) books, then how do you decide what to rotate?

* We regularly deaccession duplicates, rejects and extras to local Little Free Libraries, nearby preschools and friends.

* We don't rotate per se, but low shelves are a free-for-all. The kids can help themselves to any of those books at any time. Fancier books go on higher shelves and I select them for read-alouds as the situation warrants. When I say "should we read?" the toddler careens over to his favorite shelf hollering "Ree, ree! Boh, boh! Ree, ree!" I notice that he has an easier time pulling down hardbacks with his chubby little ham hands; he has a hard time picking out individual titles from a shelf of crammed-together paperbacks. He still doesn't care what the book is or what it says, but he is learning to turn pages and discuss pictures he finds intriguing.

* We have a smallish house so I'm limited to the three big shelves for our main everyday collection. Sometimes when I notice a shelf is languishing for attention, I'll swap it out for a fresh batch of material from the garage. For example, I might put away the Little Golden Books for a while in exchange for a batch of Parents' Magazine Press titles.

Is there any way to clean board books?

Very easy to clean any book with a glossy cover or glossy dustjacket, especially board books. I use 409 (pick something less harsh if you prefer) and paper towel. Sticker residue can be removed with Goo Gone, Goof Off or rubbing alcohol. The only "unrecoverable error" we really face with books is massive water damage. It just warps the book and usually ruins the pages. We let the kids use board books very heavily, but I usually don't toss them until the mud and food slime is so thick it can't be scraped off or until multiple pages are unreadable because they've been catastrophically torn.

* working with a theory of muchness and some strewing ideology here.

** "It is important that children come to regard books as 'user-friendly,' as tools to be used, rather than venerable artifacts. Hard use, not reverence, should be encouraged." --Homeschooling for Excellence, Micki Colfax

October 31, 2014

I went to the Los Angeles premiere. It reminded me (in a good way) of an extended episode of the Frontline series on PBS. Very fine documentary production, good storytelling, obviously drawing on a vast and deep pool of interviews and experience. It left me with an overall positive impression of the subtitle of the film: "learning outside the classroom." It didn't attempt to consider every element of every aspect of every style of homeschooling, but it was still highly informative without getting bogged down in excessive detail. I look forward to purchasing the DVD, which I hope will have extended interviews with some of the subjects of the film.