sewingmama
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Posts posted by sewingmama
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Not necessarily - I have tons of sinus issues too and my teeth often hurt a ton. I bought some sensitive teeth toothpaste and haven't had a problem since. Make sure you buy a really good one though...the cheaper ones don't work as well.
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Again, what a pain. Korean school uniforms are super cute. I know you aren't in Korea, but they should just do those instead. Lol!!! :D
LOL ...those are actually adult " costume" uniforms worn by K pop girl groups or advertising girls who pass out flyers for new restuarants....the " schoolgirl look" which is super popular.
The actual uniforms the kids wear are way more modest and less fashionable...they would get kicked out of school if they wore those. lol
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We have a cat that is a biter...he bites someone several times a day... often draws blood (but we still love him). Of all the bites we have never had any issues. Thankfully we dont have to worry about rabies in Australia though.
Our cat was a stray in the begining and has had no vaccinations. ...still no issues. I've had cats all my life and never thought worrying about their bites was a 'thing' although I can see the potential for infection I guess.
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This is so true... kids learn these by modelling ...not by explicit teaching...but it's still being taught.There is a fundamental, scientific flaw in the unschooling argument that because children learn to walk and talk without instruction, they can learn anything that way. Walking and talking are skills that are, as neurologists say, "hard wired" in the human brain. Humans, as a species, have been bipedal for about 6 million years. We have been talking for somewhere around 100,000 years. These functions are something humans have evolved to do and involve certain specific areas of the brain. So, barring some specific damage, most of us will, in fact, learn to walk and talk simply by immersion
I am heavily involved in special needs international adoption community. Children who are left in their cribs all day with little social interaction do not just teach themselves these skills. It is not uncommon for a family to bring a child older then 3 home who cannot talk, talks very little, or cannot walk. After being home and having people interact and encourage them to talk they do start to progress and learn but they often need some type of intervention...because once you miss the 'window' it is very tough for them to learn speech or to walk on their own. If you never speak to your child they will not learn to talk on their own...learning by immersion is still teaching.
My son ' taught himself to read at 4' and I didn't give him a single lesson. However at the same time I was giving his sister intense reading lessons while he played in the same room. So did he teach himself...or was he taught by default of being exposed. If he hadn't heard me teaching his sister...would he have learnt himself without ' lessons'.
Children can learn on their own...but they need lots of exposure to new things. I cant imagine a child locked in a room on their own would teach themselves much of anything.
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I would love to unschool my kids because they all loathe direct instruction from me but it really wouldn't work well for us. My DD needs explicit instruction in everything. She doesn't have any diagnosed special needs but you know how some kids are just "off" ..well that's how she is and has always been. She never learnt to talk until she had speech therapy and then made rapid progress. She would never have learnt to read without explicit, mind numbing lessons day after day but then once she got it she took off rapidly. There is no way she would learn math naturally... she doesn't make leaps..she learns by tiny step by step by step ( love CLE). I think she has dysgraphia...so writing is something she has to be trained in step by step as well. She does learn and pick things up but she is just not a self learner.
My DS1 is gifted and picks things up in the blink of an eye and makes the leaps and teaches himself a lot of things like how to read...he just gets everything. But he is not a self starter. It doesnt matter how much he is interested in something...I literally have to notice his interests myself and then basically put it into his hands before he will do anything about it. It's just the way he is with everything...not an initiator.
My DS2 I am still not sure what to do about him...he loathes school work..loathes it.. He is smart and picks things up on his own and if he is interested in something will harrass me for days till I get things going for him...but his fine motor skills are off ...he is 6 and can't draw beyond a scribble, can't write any letters, can't even hold a pencil properly yet. He avoids these tasks because he doesn't like " schoolwork" so I have to intentionally insist or he won't get any practice. Plus he is stubborn as all get out...he is only interested in what he is interested in...which means if he is on a Batman kick it's nothing but Batman for months. Right now he is on a Kitty jibe and will ONLY read books about kitties etc etc ( or Batman..he always has time for Batman). He is also screen addicted...he wants to do nothing but play the Wii or the Ipad all day and night long ( which I don't let him) but it is all he can think about.
Anyway...I am envious of people who say there kids pursue their interests. Mine do...if it's Shopkins or Skylanders or whatever the toy of the month is lol.
I have to teach my kids explicitly..unschooling doesnt work for them. We do short lessons in the morning and they usually have free time all afternoon...most of which is spent playing outside or playing inside...no persuing academic interests at all. My kids all love to read and yet they won't even do that unless I tell them its specific reading time and turn on the timer...they are too active and run around the house every minute of free time they get.
Don't feel bad if you can't unschool your child...some children really do need explicit instruction to learn things. I may have to unschool my 6 yo by default like Rosie mentioned because he has so little interest in any type of me teaching him. He has wanted to be a fireman since he was 2 and still does so maybe he'll turn out ok without going to Uni in the end. lol.
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Hits
Nothing ...according to my kids who hate everything..... however things that have worked the best include
CLE Math
Build Your Library
Misses
My kids hate every thing no matter what it is ... so everything I guess lol
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Well before we can help them we have to let them in first ...which is unlikely in Australia.
The Prime Ministers comment..."See I was right when I said turn back the boats and show no mercy" translation...thank goodness we don't have dead children washing up on our beaches or I would have to do something about it
The Public... we are full..we have taken in enough refugees and we certainly don't want any more terrorists/ Muslims
The Newspaper Columinists...yes that little boy dying was sad but it was his Dads fault ...he wasn't really a refugee ..they were safe in Turkey so they had no right to leave...
No right to leave...the family had been living in a tent in a dirt floor camp waiting for something to be done so they can get on with their lives. The father was not allowed to work as he had no work visa, the kids were not allowed to go to school as they were not citizens. After two years of sitting around in a tent waiting for something to happen he had every right to try and leave to make a better life for his family. What are they supposed to do...wait around like cattle until " someone gives them appropriate visas" or the Turkish government decides to accept all 1.2 million of them as citizens ( unlikely) or wait till someone stops the war in their country ( again unlikely).
These people have been waiting long enough. Yes they threw food rations and water back at Red Cross and demanded entry to Austria...I would two after years of living in a tent and belonging nowhere with nothing being done for me. They want real solutions...not temporary handouts.
I really drives me crazy when people say they are safe in Turkey and they should stay there. They have a right to work and educate their kids and not live in a tent on Red Cross handouts. They have waited and no one was helping them ...now they are trying to help themselves.
Turkey has done their fair share. Lebanon is also taking in Palestinians as well as Syrians. A large majority of the refugees are actually Afghani's not Syrians... but the Media has chosen to focus on only one group. 1300 Syrians died in a nerve gas attack a few weeks ago....more then half were children... why should they stay.... and why should they stay in Turkey for endless years displaced and not able to move on with their lives.
I can't see why they can't get temporary visas at least to work and go to school and get on with their lives.. until it is safe to go back. Their visas could be renewed yearly or something... until it is safe to return home.
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It's my Ds's birthday on that day. Danged if I am going to tell him to pick another day to celebrate because of some terrorist actions...they don't get to control my plans like that.
I keep the tv off on that day...it's my sons day to celebrate not mourn.
Of course I am in Australia so there is not a lot of memorialising going on ( some, not a lot).
But even if I had relatives who died I would still celebrate...I can't imagine any of his family thinking he should give up his birthday to remember their death...they wouldn't want that..they would want him to be happy and have a nice childhood with good memories of his birthday.
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We use MBTP and all three of my kids detest writing....it still works. It is very adjustable..if you find the writing overwhelming you can do some activities orally.
If you want to try it just buy one unit... and see how it goes. I use the online version and pick and choose the units as I go...then I'm not commited to the whole expensive program in one swoop.
Find a unit you think your DD would like and try it out.
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Do you have him narrate to you? How is his " writing" if you ask him to tell you a story orally?
My DD has dysgraphia and writes a lot like that. If you ask her to compose something orally she does really well but when she has to write it it all becomes a jumbled mess.
Also, if your DS cannot spell he will use really simple words because he cannot spell bigger ones.
I would probably not say dyslexia with that sample unless his reading is also troublesome. I would probably lean towards disgraphia.
It's also possible that there is nothing wrong with him and he just hasn't had enough practice.
You should have him evaluated in any case as it isn't third grade writing and he will struggle in class.
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We are.. My chosen history program flopped so I tried BYL since I already had it. We are using 1st grade because we started out doing ancients and my kids seem to like the books so far.
I am just gathering together the things I need for the Kindergarten level for my youngest. He needs something lighter then what I originally planned.
I will probably do 2nd grade next year.
It was not my first choice to start with but it's been the only thing that is working and getting done so I'm happy with that.
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Sounds like my Ds1 at that age. Turns out he was gifted and really needed to start school. He has a sister 15 months older then him and I just started teaching them together. Now at almost 8 he is still working in the same grade level as she is in everything.
Some kids just don't like toys. My DS only plays with them if his siblings are. He follows them around (mostly DD) and happily does whatever she is doing. He does have an imagination but it only seems to work when playing with someone else...on his own it turns off lol.
On the rare occaision he is home without siblings he reads, plays video games, watches tv or follows me around.
Maybe you could start teaching him to read. My DS taught himself at 4. Try out giving him some academic time. Giving more toys to a child who doesnt play with them will never hold their interest for long. My DS liked new toys for about 30 mins then never played with them again. He just isn't a toy kid which makes birthdays hard. Duplo and Lego have been about the only winners here for toys that hold interest.
Good luck.
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My boys had this problem of only following the directions....until they watched the Lego Movie lol. Then it finally clicked for them they could build other things besides those in the instructions.
My 7 yo is a perfectionist ...he still prefers to build the set once and then put it up and admire his work and go beserk if anyone pulls it apart lol
My 6 yo is the creative one...he builds following the directions, then takes it apart and rebuilds it ..repeat about 10 times and then when the instructions are all tattered and ripped he throws all the Legos into his big box and starts building his own creations.
I think following the directions is a good thing in learning step by step processes and my boys certainly love to build things that are more complicated then what they can do on their own but it's good to branch out too.
I don't think I've ever heard of Lego becoming unchallenging...when I opened your post I thought it would be about a teen who is outgrowing them...but then my DH still plays Lego...so there's that lol
My DD generally builds the sets as instructed and then plays with them but I think the girl sets are more difficult to create with. For her birthday she asked me to get just a box of bricks with no theme...and she plays with those creatively. For some kids it's just hard to get out of the theme mindset.... maybe buy your son a generic box of Lego with no instructions and see how he goes. All my kids have been begging for those generic boxes lately. The themed sets seem to restrict their thinking that it could be anything else.
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I was just thinking about this the other day. It seems more and more children are being tried as adults. I can understand it if the kid was maybe 16-17 but under 14 is pushing it.
I was reading a story yesterday about parents that had killed their 4 month old baby. My eyes nearly fell out of my head when I realised the mother of the baby was NINE. The father who was an adult was sent to prison for many years but the mother was let off with a two year good behaviour bond. My own daughter is nine...she can barely make herself a sandwich let alone care for a baby. Who the heck let her keep the baby in the first place or decide it was alright for her to be living with an "adult" partner. He wasn't even charged for offences relating to the mother. Apparently child services removed the nine year old from her parents care when she turned up at the hospital to give birth BUT they let her go home with the father and the baby...the father was over 21??????
Turned out it was the father beating the baby and the nine year old who was too afraid to do anything about it.
I just can't comprehend what is going on these days...kids are not adults why are they being treated as such.
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Thank you. My kids love Physics and Chemistry but it has been impossible to find something I like for their age. I'm in love with this. Thank you again
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cough...cough... I'm an Australian who has three kids who can't swim. It happens when they have non-swimming parents who hate the beach and pool and therefore the kids are slightly water phobic with getting it in the faces. DD who is 9 just learned to put her face in the water so I might get her lessons in summer IF DH gets a job since he's unemployed right now. DS1 is still horribly water phobic and DS2 would probably be fine but in our area he wasn't old enough for lessons till he turned 5. Plus we lived in Alice Springs..not a lot of water there. Swimming lessons are expensive no matter where you live..we just could never afford them since our kids don't go to school and get the free ones ( although I got them when I was a kid and they never taught me to swim...I still sucked at it).
However I do agree with you... I never let my kids join things where I know they need to be able to swim...that's nuts..whatever their age.
As an Australian, I can't even comprehend a high schooler not being able to swim. It just.... doesn't happen here, at least not where I live. Ever. Kids in public school take compulsory swimming lessons two terms a year. Homeschool kids usually have access to a pool or dam or something and we have homeschool swimming classes in some areas catering to the kids who dont do it through their school.
When my swim class at public school was scheduled for the middle of the day and I couldn't attend (I have albinism and sunscreen only helped so much) they wouldnt even let me back out, they just put me in with the first graders lesson first thing in the morning.
How are children going to high school not learning a very basic, vital skill like swimming?
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I'm in love and will never change.
It took my math phobic, cried every lesson and retained nothing , two grades behind child and in 6 months had her at grade level and scoring 96% on the National Math test without a single meltdown because her confidence has soared.
It's awesome and I can't find a single fault with it for me.
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I'm pretty sure homeschooling rules only apply to those on permanent visas
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Oh my heck people...do you actually pay for these yourselves? How do you afford it?
In Australia an Epi Pen costs $6. That is what my brother pays for my neices.
My albutoral inhaler costs me $8 ..for a twin pack...so $4 each.
I would be spewing if I had to pay so much each month for insurance and then pay such high costs for medication.
Flip...why aren't more of you running over the border to buy your meds?
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We use it and like it. My DD is dyslexic and with adjustments is able to use it just fine. It can be writing intense but I usually limit it to two writing activities per day and do the rest orally.
We have used 4-5, 5-7, 6-8, and now 7-9.
I think it covers the material well. My kids still remember things they did years ago.
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In Australia. Tons of American stuff. Tons of British stuff and quite a lot of Australian stuff. Those would be the top 3.
When I lived in Korea they had lots of American stuff that was subtitled...not dubbed.
Australian shows are usually high quality...as are the British shows. American shows are what they are LOL ( not as realist as other countries). We get some Canadian shows. A couple shows from New Zealand ...mostly reality tv type stuff.
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There is one in my city! He was even selling corn fungus at one point. The sad thing for me is he has to use tinned cactus because he can't get anything decent locally.
I'm having trouble imagining a world where cheddar was hard to find. Cheddar is the boring, cheap cheese for everyone civilised enough discount plastic cheese as food.
But thats because you live in Victoria.... in Adelaide Mexican is hard to find.
I always laugh when Americans complain about cheese being white. I've travelled many places and no where but the US and Canada do they have orange cheese. Seriously, When I first saw it I had to ask DH why they would add food colouring to cheese. So nasty.
If I was in Germany I wouldn't be missing anything...and ..pretzels...really...you can't get pretzels in Germany? Not even at one of the many specialty pretzel shops they have there that only sell 100 varieties of..you know...pretzels? lol
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When I start feeling jealous I look at the people who have less then I do.
I might not own my own home but I don't live on the streets.
My kids might not have expensive outside activities but they are not in foster care.
We might not be able to take vacations but we have enough money for our needs.
Truely there are so many people doing worse then me I have no right to complain. Taking a browse on go fund me and seeing all the really terrible things that happen to people always makes feel grateful again.
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I actually live in South Australia....about 1 hour drive from the CBD. Adelaide is far cheaper then Sydney. My DH works close to home so we don't commute. Living within half hour drive of any capital city in Australia is becoming impossible these days unless you earn very good money. A more typical commute would be 1-2 hours for those earning a more average income.
Don't be discouraged though...Sadie might be able to help you make it work lol
Australian History? Other history? Something like Galore Park History for Common Entrance?
in Logic Stage & Middle Grade Challenges
Posted
Try http://www.readyed.net/product-category/products/humanities-social-science/history/ It has Australian History in downloadable PDF textbooks that they teach in the schools here. I use them and they work fine.
Another book I highly recommend is one that I just used for my University course but it would be fine for an advanced reader to pick through - First Australians by Perkins and Langton or as an alternative Aboriginal Australia by Richard Broome
There is also
History of Australia: understanding what makes Australia the place it is today / by Lindsay Marsh.
and