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happypamama

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Everything posted by happypamama

  1. This, and what so many others have said as well. Who determines? Is a white flour, white sugar muffin really that much better than a coke? I have a friend who compared the nutritional content of ice cream and yogurt (not frozen) when her kid was little. Similar sugar profiles, and the yogurt really did not have much, if any, more protein. But one is a socially acceptable breakfast food and the other is not. I don't think prohibiting minors from buying "junk" foods is really the thing. And in some instances, I would rather my kid be able to purchase what they need, or even what they want. What if my active, healthy kid wanted a coke and a chocolate bar on their way home from practice? Maybe that was the only "junk" food they'd eaten all week, and maybe I'd okayed it. It's silly to police food.
  2. My homeschooled young adult lives at home, but she texts me all the time when she's not at home. Sometimes she just texts me cute selfies because she likes her makeup that day. Sometimes she wants to complain about something and knows I'll be sympathetic. Sometimes she had a good, fun, or new experience and wants to share with me. Sometimes she needs help navigating something. Sometimes she has a funny meme to share with me because we have similar senses of humor. When she's not at work, she does hang out with her friends, but she and I also just hang out after all the boys are in bed sometimes. I will take it all! I would fully expect that if she were at college, especially in the first few weeks, she would text or call me a lot, even if "just" to share her experiences, and I would be all about it. My other homeschooled young adult who also lives at home texts me some. More often if he needs something, less often just to chat, but occasionally just to say hi. I probably would not expect to hear from him as often as I do his sister if he were at college, though he would if he needed anything -- but I also expect he would have a lower threshold for needing something than his sister, if that makes sense. I think some of it is generation and some of it is personality. Is your young adult needing some scaffolding and reassuring in handling grown-up situations, perhaps? Does she "just" want to tell her favorite people about all the cool stuff she's experiencing? I would consider "too much" to be if she was not making friends or doing things with other students or expressing extreme homesickness to the point where she was anxiously counting the days until break or was showing signs of depression/anxiety like isolating in her room or not going to meals/classes. But just to talk and seek advice? I think that will drop off when she is ready.
  3. I do have hobbies I enjoy, but when I have free time, it usually goes to my volunteer gig as a patient educator for families affected by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy because it is a cause that is near and dear to my own heart. I do get enormous satisfaction from helping to make things a little easier for other parents. So maybe you should find a cause or charity that is important to you and volunteer with it! Can you help other homeschool families by teaching classes or other support? And for me, if someone asked for gift ideas, I'd suggest donations to my favorite charities like the one I volunteer for, our local library, our local NICU, or local food bank. Or I would ask for experiences like really fancy restaurants, because my husband and I do enjoy trying local higher end restaurants a few times a year and would do so more often if they weren't so expensive.
  4. I generally like to cover health topics organically, just as the need arises, but we have also found a few materials here and there that help cover things that we hadn't hit. I found an elementary/middle school workbook that covered some concepts like understanding a medicine label, and we used a few of those in different years. They made really quick and easy things to tuck in our portfolios in case anyone else ever complains. We live in a high regulation state, and we also have to teach fire safety, so that hits health as well. Last year, I found a page for our 14 year old that talked about avoiding burn situations while babysitting, and I thought it was pretty good, a lot of common sense info. I did find this worktext online, and I will be assigning it to 14 year old this year. It should take him no more than about 15 minutes once a week and will hit topics like sugar, sleep, drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. Yes, we talk about those things, but hitting from another angle that is not a parent might be good too. https://www.ck12.org/book/teen-health-literacy/
  5. Censor is a strong word. If a child were asking about a book, I would discuss with them my concerns. It has not really been an issue. There are some books I have purposely not suggested for various reasons, but if kids found them themselves, eh, okay. I'm sure there are a few I'd veto completely. Probably would not be thrilled and would quite possibly veto a young teen reading Clan of the Cave Bear, for instance. I will not require certain books. "The Giver" made me feel ill when I read it as an older teen/young adult (I don't remember), and I determined then that I would never require it for my kids. (Years later, I understand why. My children lost a very real baby sibling that they all met and touched. They don't need to read "The Giver" as kids if they aren't asking to.)
  6. We read lots of books, some nature study (we like NaturExplorers from Our Journey Westward, and they have other nature studies too, live videos). We've liked Ellen McHenry as well. I'm trying some of these with my 5th and 7th graders next year. They picked Oceans, but we have Birds on deck too. https://www.funschooling.com/ Also, we are trying some of these. I'm pretty impressed with all the ways you can experiment, and they have good directions (at least from what I have seen, haven't tried a lot yet), plus some interesting STEM cases: https://gizmos.explorelearning.com/
  7. Your husband is right. An old house is nice in some ways but also definitely the not fun version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie sometimes. 🙂
  8. Hi, it's me, I have a 200 year old farmhouse, really. I also have a husband who literally remodels old houses for a living. . . It's a challenge sometimes to have modern needs balance with respect to the house, for sure. We try for timeless sorts of colors and approaches more than trendy, but we also don't really go for beige everywhere. Sometimes we have to compromise -- I definitely prefer my modern stove and bathrooms to the originals! It would not be easy to sell my house. It sat empty for a year before I bought it. Even aside from cosmetics it still needs, it's a bit of a strange house. But for the right family, a family with children and hobbies, it would be right -- custom built ins all over (including my custom sewing/craft space), lots of room for books and games and places for kids to do things, a (still in progress) goodbye room to make getting kids out of the house easier, and so on. And a gorgeous piece of land with a stunning view. I roll my eyes at HGTV when it's on in waiting rooms. But, it doesn't seem like most of them really have the needs I do either, so I'm sure there is some aspect that I just don't get.
  9. Photo four, I think it is, with the metal shelves -- that is a great spot for tall upper cabinets that go to the ceiling and a countertop with cabinets or big drawers underneath.
  10. Thisssssss. I live in an 1830s farmhouse with some odd rooms. Living here for a while before deciding how to use them was really helpful. For instance, the front half of our first floor has three rooms (the back half is kitchen/dining/bath/laundry), none of which have a clear purpose. One is large and takes up the east half of the front, and the other two are smaller and comprise the west half. It took a while to decide whether the larger room should be a large -- but kind of awkward for flow -- living room, or if one of the smaller rooms should be a living room in a den style. Should one of the larger rooms be a schoolroom and later office, or should a smaller one? What we ended up settling on is what developed after a few years when we knew what we wished we had. So I wouldn't furnish it in any particular way yet.
  11. We have always liked demonstrations of historic crafts and jobs, especially if they are happy to explain things to kids. The kids have also enjoyed things that talk about clothing, food, music/dance, schoolwork, etc. Never hurts to have a little hands-on when possible -- try a writing slate, play an historic game, try on clothes, etc. The trick if you want families with children, I think, is to have interpreters who know they are speaking to children and who want to speak to children. That's going to mean things like stopping to ask if they have questions, making a point to show and explain more than you would for adults, short speeches. . . We've taken young kids to Williamsburg a few times, and they loved it. My then 7-year-old daughter (who had dictated to me exactly how I needed to make authentic clothing for herself and her 4yo brother -- which, yes, I did do) made three trips in two days to the milliner's shop to discuss the finer points of historic clothing with the interpreters there. They were amazingly patient and also really happy to tell her what they knew, being neither over her head nor patronizing, and they fueled that interest of hers so that it has not waned even at 21. If there is anything a little scary or gory, some kids will really go for that. You might specify the content a bit so parents can make decisions. We toured a local historic tavern a few years ago, and they showed us the room where they hid slaves on the Underground Railroad, and that is a part of the tour that really made an impression on the kids. Gosh, this is bringing back soooooo many memories. . . I can't really think of historic sites that have NOT been hits, but we also don't tend to gravitate toward things geared more towards adults than kids. I think specifying content is important, maybe age range, but not necessarily. "This is a 20-minute presentation that will have hands-on examples for kids to touch" or "This is a one-hour guided tour and may not be suitable for young children" -- that sort of thing would be really helpful to me to know. I agree that scavenger hunts have not really been a big draw for us, although a one-page paper with some pics of the site and a bit of info would be lovely to put in our portfolios!
  12. We used these this year and liked them a lot, for mixed ages -- 4, 9, 11, 14, and me. Cheap plastic palettes worked well. PHOENIX Watercolor Paint Set 24x12ml / 0.4 Fl Oz Tubes Non-toxic Water Color Paints Great Value Painting Art Supplies for Adults, Kids, Artists & Beginners https://a.co/d/dYPLwzO
  13. Nanny -- have done that in the past, would do again High risk OB nurse -- would strongly consider but it would require sacrifices with my family that we are not interested in making Children's librarian, maybe Patient advocate -- I do a version of this as a volunteer, and I do love helping patients by explaining and helping them talk to their doctors I always thought it might be fun to be a restaurant reviewer too.
  14. I went laptop several years ago and have never looked back. I love being able to work in the schoolroom during the day and in my room in the evening. I'm an Android person so no need for Apple; Windows works fine for me. I'm using Google docs for word processing and lists and such a lot now, which has the added bonus that I can access them on my phone and tablet too. Currently, all my PDFs are stored on a folder on my laptop, and I think on Dropbox, but I do need to rearrange them a bit. I'm cheap so I tend to buy used. My current laptop is a Dell "workstation." It is larger and heavier than my kids' smaller laptops but works well for what I need it to do. It does have a SSD in addition to an HDD. I do occasionally play games on it but not the super graphics heavy stuff like my kids do on their PCs.
  15. Was just coming to suggest that! Add tortilla chips or cornbread, a bunch of fixings, maybe baked potatoes or salad greens if someone is really inclined, and done. Also, happy birthday!
  16. The Very Hungry Caterpillar -- I adore (and Carle's works in general). Having loved it when I worked in daycare, I purchased it when my oldest was a baby. After losing DS#5 at three weeks old, packing our well-worn copy of Caterpillar in my hospital bag and reading it to DS#6 as his first bedtime story, the day he was born, was a very precious healing moment. I adore The Little Princess too. And Little House on the Prairie. And Betsy-Tacy. And All-of-a-Kind Family. And Little Women, Meg being my favorite. And Winnie the Pooh. (I read the first chapter of Winnie the Pooh to DS#5 the night before he died, because I wanted him to have something that all of the other kids had loved. Gotta read it to DS#6 soon if I can manage.) I read The Wind in the Willows to my boys this year. They looooooved it. I. . . tolerated it, lol. To be fair, they love love love Redwall too, so animals having adventures sat pretty well with them. It's not an easy book to read out loud. My kids got me to read and enjoy Redwall, The Chronicles of Prydain, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson too. Book I truly cannot stand: The Giver. I will never require my kids to read it. The scene where Jonas watches the release of the infant made me feel ill as a teen, and it's making me feel ill just thinking about it now. Maybe it hits too close? Maybe God was making sure I wouldn't insist on it for my kids because it would hit too close for them too? It's just that one; I thought Number the Stars was lovely, and I was a big fan of Anastasia Krupnik as a tween. Honorable mention for no thanks: The Lottery.
  17. So, I had never read Catcher in the Rye; somehow, my many advanced English classes skipped that particular one. I read it recently when my teenage son was reading it. He liked it. I am not sure I would have related well to Holden and liked the book, had I read it as a teenager. He isn't someone I can relate well to at all; I was a rule-following, non-rebellious teen, and I just think I would not have gotten it at all. But somehow I (even though my own teen boys are rule-following, non-rebellious teens) felt differently, viewing it from the lens of a parent. I felt sad for him too.
  18. I would get something like Joy of Cooking or Betty Crocker's all purpose basic cookbook (whatever it is called) and have her work through it, one unit at a time. Skip things that really don't work for your family. If you come across a term that you don't know, if it isn't explained in the unit, then you can google it. My 9 and 11yo boys want to learn to cook. The 11yo currently has a Skillshare trial, so he can follow videos and directions from there; he's been into baking, but it might also have some cooking classes that you could try. They give a free one month trial. Other than that, I am thinking we will simply work our way through Joy of Cooking, one chapter at a time, picking what looks interesting.
  19. It varies at our house. Sometimes at bedtime, sometimes during a meal, sometimes sitting on the couch, sometimes around the table, sometimes outside while they swing on the tire swing, sometimes with them playing quietly on the floor or drawing a picture. Group Work is a big part of our school day, in which we do reading aloud of literature and other subjects like history, poetry, and science. A lot depends on how cooperative Mr. Four is being that day; some days he is happy to play quietly and not interrupt, and some days he wants everyone's attention and does not want to be quiet, so things vary. My boys (9 and 11) listen to tons of audio books as well, in their free time.
  20. Right about where I am and have been for seventeen years, central PA. We get to live rurally but not super isolated. Everything is reasonably close but without being too close to a city. Top notch healthcare, with easy access to even higher level care if need be. Cost of living is reasonable (my comparisons are being just outside of DC, Boston, and Philadelphia, though). Weather is moderate, generally neither New England cold/snowy nor southern hot. People are pretty friendly. It's harder, on paper, to homeschool, but in reality, it's really not at all hard, even to unschool, and there's a lot of homeschool support. The state currently runs a little more blue (though specific areas skew more red) but is not extreme. And it's gorgeous here. At the end of the day, I can look in any direction and see something beautiful.
  21. You probably already know this, but Gray has a couple of sequels to Elements. We have been working through the Molecules one, and my kids really enjoy it.
  22. I like fairly spicy food, and I have never avoided any food while breastfeeding, with no problems in any of my six breastfed babies.
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