kubiac
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Posts posted by kubiac
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My kid won't read anything but Magic Tree House books. Not the worst fate in the world, but I think I'm going to try to bribe him to tackle this list to some extent. He's very stubborn and I think it will give him a feeling of agency:
https://juliestroebelbarichello.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/reading-challenge.pdf
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Just wanted to hijack this thread to say thanks generally for SOTW. My older boy loves it and demands it on every car trip. I can't imagine he's following it all, but he's made a huge number of connections to names and places he encounters elsewhere. My little guy even asks for it sometimes, which I just know is because he loves the sound of Jim Weiss' voice. It's good stuff. Thanks to SWB, Weiss and all at the Press.
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Yes! It's quite easy, it just takes time and a little bit of luck. I am not an expert, but my best advice is wait a week at least before you bake with it. It has to go through some cycles to mature. It'll have a couple of days where it smells like a baby's diaper, but it gets past that and starts smelling delicious.
VERY BEST ADVICE ON THIS, IMHO:
http://zerowastechef.com/2015/02/10/happy-birthday-eleanor-how-to-make-a-sourdough-starter/
I really like having this skill. It means I won't have to rely on store-bought yeast to leaven bread if hard times ever come. That said, I am actually quite allergic to wheat, and it ended up being a lot of effort for baking bread that I can't even eat and my husband would frankly prefer to buy from the store. :)
P.S. Sourdough English muffins ARE THE BEST THING EVAR. Except maybe DELICIOUS SOURDOUGH PANCAKES. Have fun!!
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The Little House on the Prairie Cookbook from the 1970s is really illuminating. The author did a great job reconstructing recipes and then converting them to modern cooking methods and measurements, but what was striking was that several recipes were introduced with something like, "This recipe will pretty much ONLY taste edible if you are starving to death on the prairie in the middle of a blizzard."
My take on Charles is that he lacked stick-to-itive-ness. A man with a different character could have probably settled his family long before they got to DeSmet but he seems like faced with struggle he ran for it to the next available setting. He was satisfied to live in the most marginal of conditions (under a wagon next to a malarial swamp, sod house, etc.) but it just seems selfish to expose your very small children to that. He may have been a hard worker, but he seems to have lacked the capacity for the settling part of settling down. He didn't want to compromise his dreams, so everybody had to come with him.
I've read a handful of other prairie memoirs (some novelized) and rarely do they depict such itinerant migrants. Sure they left the known and traveled out to the some unknown quarter of the frontier, but then they filed for their homestead, built the house and worked the land for next 50+ years with an eye to long-term prosperity.
Honestly, the tree-stump-dotted wilds of Wisconsin seemed plenty wild.
Related Q: What was Caroline Ingalls' deal? Why was she so harsh to Laura?
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I've seen them at $9/doz at farmer's markets here in Southern California.
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It's an economic thing. Or a perceived economic thing. People don't feel safe raising a family on only one income.
Observation: Here in California, I have observed that the women most likely to be SAHMs are the wives of technology guys. I see two causes for this: (1) Tech guys have virtually guaranteed jobs and high incomes for as long as they choose to work in that field, so it's possible for the family to survive long-term on one salary. (2) Tech is so all-consuming that the family decision re work-life balance is simply that one partner will work and the other will take care of the home, rather than both of them trying to do some work and some childraising/housework.
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Semi-surprise third pregnancy and after two bouncing baby boys, it's gonna be a little girl!
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You need to input it into a genealogy program. It's not a quick project. Once you have it in a computer program, you can export it in GEDCOM format and upload to the LDS database or Rootsweb/Ancestry.
If you use Macintosh computers, I recommend the Reunion program from LeisterPro. It's very well-designed and can support you through the process.
Good luck!
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I live in SoCal so we just drive down to Disneyland sometimes, which I now realize is a tiny adorable provincial fairground compared to Walt Disney World. Wow!!!
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Yes, he is very much still around. He still has the radio show and his own books, but he is now working to develop a stable of "Ramsey personalities" and a live event circuit that doesn't depend exclusively on his personal cult of personality.
I listen to his daily podcast while doing chores and I find it a great antidote to self-pity and self-indulgence generally.
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If I was going there with a 12yo and 18yo, I would 100 percent do Phantom Ranch, the campground at the bottom of the canyon that "can only be reached by mule, on foot or by rafting the Colorado River."
http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/lodging/phantom-ranch/
We visited Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff and enjoyed it very much. Take sunscreen and hats as it is at very high elevation. And bug spray.
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http://www.duggarfamily.com/2016/1/a-statement-from-anna-duggar
Anna statement from January:
“Many have asked how I am doing. So many have asked that its actually humbling and touching. 2015 was the most difficult year of my life. Yet, amazingly I’ve found that in my own life crisis God has drawn near to me ("He’s near to the brokenhearted†Psalms 34:18) and my faith has been more precious to me than ever before. Just recently I visited Josh. It was an important step on a long difficult road. I want to thank all of you for your prayers and your messages of hope. I can never express how your kindness and prayers have brought encouragement when I needed it most—outpacing the grief and discouragement at every turn. I trust that God will continue to show His love and tenderness toward us and bring beauty from ashes—somehow—as only He can do. Please continue to pray for me, Josh and our children.â€
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* Batteries Not Included
* Ghostbusters
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I used to work at E! (Don't judge.) so I felt obligated to compile this research.
EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF KRIS JENNER'S KIDS
* Kim K. went to Buckley School, which is one of the fancier private schools in L.A., and then to Marymount, a fancy girls Catholic school in West L.A., but no college that I can find
* Kourtney K. went to Marymount, graduated from U of Arizona.
* Khloe K. went to Marymount, but no college that I can find.
* Rob K. went to Buckley School and graduated with a business degree from USC.
* Kendall J. attended Sierra Canyon School in the Valley and then homeschooled, no college yet/so far.
* Kylie J. attended Sierra Canyon School in the Valley and then homeschooled via Laurel Springs, no college yet/so far.
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I would argue for giving your kids as broad an education as you dare.
We went to United Methodist Church preschool until I was in about mid-elementary school. Everything I know about Christianity came from the leaflets they handed out there, and a copy of the Macmillan Bible Stories for Children book that we had in the house. I did get a Bible from the church and I kept it for years, but I was never able to get much past Genesis.
After we stopped going to church, my religious education screeched to a halt until I took a public school Comparative Religions class in 11th grade.
As such, because my religious education was so abbreviated, I was bewildered by many of the crucial religious references in later reading. "Who the heck are Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? What exactly happened with Job and his trials and what is the message of that story? The Sermon on the Mount is what now?" I was genuinely and totally clueless about a lot of the finer points of Judeo-Christian belief systems, and it had an impact on my ability to do literary analysis and think critically about certain books.
It's just a vast cultural gap that left me having to do a lot of catch-up research in order to understand modern literature and even politics. I realize this is the opposite of what you concerns you, OP, but just be aware the choice to exclude things will have future consequences, some intended, some perhaps not.
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Bumping this thread to report that I cracked and we started SOTW4. So far zero problems. I would argue that the only issue is that it's Real History which can be...stiff. But kiddo keeps asking for it and today he interrupted to say, "I was rooting for Ethiopia to win! I wanted them to win and then did!" I hadn't even been paying attention so I hope I am quoting that right and I just did the Mom grunt of agreement.
Thanks for all your feedback, guys. This forum is so valuable.
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The Fluent Reader by Rasinski recommends reading poetry aloud, particularly by the method (a) you read it to them, (b) you read it aloud SIMULTANEOUSLY, © she reads it aloud alone.
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DS5 will continue at his Montessori school for at least 1st grade. At some point between 1st and 5th we will need to plan for transition to another situation, likely either another independent school or homeschool.
Our Montessori school doesn't have grades and the transcripts are narrative and developmental. They assess annually with the Stanford achievement test, but that's it for assessments.
In talking to other moms who have left our school, I have realized I need to make some external record of his academic progress.
Off the top of my head, I know I can keep a list of books he's read independently and a list of educational field trips we take as a family (Junior Ranger programs at National Parks, etc.)
We are also a Kumon family, so I will have those records as well.
QUESTIONS:
- Is there a book or website that has good information on "homeschool" transcripts?
- Are there any things that you have included on your transcripts that were particularly appreciated by school admissions directors, academic counselors, future teachers, etc.?
- Are there any private tests/assessments/evaluations you recommend to determine if your child is "on track"? We'll probably eventually consult with an educational psychologist about what she recommends, but curious if there's something you wish you'd done more or earlier.
Thanks in advance for any advice you may have!
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There is a pair of fraternal twins at our school who are very different. One is likely gifted or highly gifted, and one is probably somewhat delayed socially, emotionally and intellectually. ANYWAY, they were in public school initially but it was a disaster for the one with challenges and the mom wanted to keep them together so she pulled them both.
Long story short, they are in a Montessori program where they can both work at their own pace on self-selected work. It seems to be working quite well. If there are Montessori schools in your neighborhood, they might be worth a look. But if you are going to homeschool, no worries, just meet each kid where they are and remember that fair does not mean equal. They don't have to be doing the same thing.
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FWIW, I live in Southern California and in our broader social circle church attendance is the exception rather than the rule. If I stretch my brain I can think of maybe two church-going families, and one family that runs a Hillel so they probably regularly do services, but that's about it.
I wouldn't think twice about organizing a Sunday morning birthday party. I have no point other than that regional differences are alive and well in America.
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(Hugs)
I think people have mentioned 8th grade being an easier time to jump in than 9th.
My brother returned to public school in eighth grade after spending all his previous years in intensive private-school remediation for severe dyslexia. The plan was actually to have him repeat that year (which I think he did although it's hard to recall), and it worked out terrifically for him. He got to work the kinks out, he got to get a little taller, and he ended up doing well enough to get into UCLA in his field of interest.
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At this point in my life preferred zoos are very small with very few showy animals. All I want is a modest exhibit of a few reptiles and birds and small rodent-size mammals, and maybe a churro stand for when I need a snack.
"Charismatic megafauna" belong in the wild, where they can act out natural behaviors. My heart hurts for anything that might appear to have a personality, i.e. any primate and most social mammals, plus corvids, psittacines, etc. If I want to see an elephant, I can watch an Attenborough documentary or fly to Africa myself.
We have a modest wildlife rescue facility near us that offers short guided tours in exchange for a donation. They educate little kids about the environment and wildlife conservation, and provide a retirement home for abandoned macaws (they pull their feathers out in anguish when they lose their human parents), illegally imported alligators and so forth. There's another one up in the hills that is generally inaccessible but that houses larger mammals like mountain lions who are too injured or human-socialized to be released into the wild. I like wildlife rescue centers. These days, I feel very uncomfortable at traditional zoos.
The worst zoo I've ever visited was the Siegfried & Roy "zoo" in Las Vegas. I should have known better but we were looking for something to do with kids and grands. It was like being on the Island of Doctor Moreau. All those poor mutated animals in sad little enclosures with plastic grass, for no other reason than some ludicrous performance! I felt sick to my stomach being there.
Reading a book like Next of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees by Roger Fouts has really made me question our assumed superiority over the animal kingdom. We treated animals as objects before we knew better, but scientific research illustrating the intelligence of animals has made it increasingly clear to me that we may have done a grave disservice to the souls of the non-human.
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Mystie Winkler for sure.
Read-Aloud Revival podcast episode with Cindy Rollins might be good.
TV show recommendation: Underground (WGN)
in The Chat Board
Posted · Edited by kubiac
If you or your teenage children are remotely interested in American history, you guys might like a new show called Underground. Based on the pilot it appears to be a pretty smart show about how seven enslaved African Americans attempt an escape north to freedom on the Underground Railroad circa 1857.
If you are a cord cutter, the pilot is available for free online at the WGN website, on iTunes, Crackle, et al.
http://www.wgnamerica.com/series/underground
Here is the series trailer/preview:
Cheers.