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Alexigail

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Posts posted by Alexigail

    Half-ing the food on your plate

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I recently lost 25 lbs and a big part of my strategy is eating half of what I want and then waiting 10 minutes to see if I'm still hungry. I hardly ever am. I'm tracking wright watchers points, and this had really helped me to understand how much I need to eat rather than how much I want. I still eat small portions of stuff I really like.

    If you had 1-2 months to prep for Homeschool...

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Ok so first of all let me say that I'm not naturally organized and I really have to work at it.  I've tried several kinds of planning from flying by the seat of my pants to planning every subject in an electronic program.  The file folders are the best thing I've found for me.  

    Essentially, I have a little file holder with section for each child.  In that section is a folder for each week I want to teach.  I don't put dates on them, just a number, so this week I'll be starting week 5.  For things I can plan ahead of time (WWE, SOTW, FLL, OPGTR), I gather what I need for that week and put it in the folder.  This means I print the worksheets I want and tear things out of the workbooks all at once and put them in the corresponding folder.  Workboxes seem say too complicated for me, so I got each of my kids one of these:

    https://www.amazon.com/Five-Star-Stay-Put-Pocket-72113/dp/B003O3IUT8

     

    Each week I pull from my file folders and put everything they will need into their fivestar folders- math worksheets, handwriting pages, maps, index cards etc.  Then I print out an assignment sheet for each day and put it in the little pocket in the back of the folder we teach 4 days a week so here's an example of an assignment sheet I made:

     

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yhuDWTUVoqIAf8OPJ5wQJ3maLDmSFG9Ae9UIyW_bTrE/edit?usp=sharing

     

    So in his folder that week he had the workseets etc that corresponded with those assignments

     

    (Every week I just use the same template and type whatever we're doing that week.)

     

    When I pulled my son out of school, I only had a weekend so I only planned for one week of school.  As I've had time, I've slowly built up my planning.  I really only plan one month or one unit at a time, but since so much of my programs folllow a four day a week schedule, I only have to plan for math, history and science.  One reason I used this system is that I can plan a week or a month out and still stay on track. 

    The reason we number the weeks is so that if we need time off we can do that without getting "behind".  I just move from week 4 to week 5 whenever we're ready rather than on a specific date.  Writing, Math and reading always get done.  Science, history, and grammar are more flexible so if I don't finish an activity I either carry it over or I skip it if it's an "extra" type thing.  

     

    My kids each have a shelf and every week I put the books they'll need for the week, including novels and library books, on the shelf without any extras.  This saves a TON of time and I no longer here "MOM WHERE'S MY MATH BOOK??"  17 times a day.  (Yay!)

     

    Now that I'm a little caught up, here's how planning goes for me:

    -Grammar, writing, reading - already planned, just do the next lesson, 4 lessons per week:

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JZ5LRVHz6gdiSEWSe_l8ymVNTYc07dzHnqqmRIzlb8U/edit?usp=sharing

     

    Science, my kids are doing a nature study together so here's the plan for that:

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yAfRq-CqLnBKbbGlNoSAp5YBgm9DCKl3fl7cG0q65tU/edit?usp=sharing

     

    As you can see, I only have a few weeks planned, but I don't like to plan the whole year because I never know when the kids will decide that mice, or geese or whatever are just the bees knees and they want to spend two weeks on them.  

     

    History:  Right now we're studying Ancient Egypt.  My son is crazy about Egypt so we're spending a long time on it.  Other things we only do a week or two:

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cK1Xy4RArCTiZ6IpykqFrh0g19cjGcd_0-O2gxrbjEY/edit?usp=sharing

    Again, I make an outline and go through and plan more thoroughly as I can

     

    So I hope that helps.  Mine is a system of organized chaos, but it works for me.  I like to be as flexible as possible while still getting things done.  

     

     

    • Like 1

    Staying off FB

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I've been off since June. I was going to check in once the election was over but now I'm staying off indefinitely. My mood and outlook are significantly better when I don't sign in. Relationships too.

    • Like 2

    How do you teach history in first grade?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I'm doing Ancient History Portfolio Junior from Homeschool Journey.  I love these- they go by civilization rather than chronologically.  There are parent instructions in the book including recommended readings from SOTW.  It's just not realistic to do all of SOTW with our schedule but my kids really enjoy the portfolio and still read quite a bit of it.  

     

    http://www.homeschooljourney.com/ajContents2.html

    Alcohol and literature?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     I'm looking for opinions/thoughts  on something.  This is not a JAWM by any means, just something I'm thinking about as I choose literature for my 7 and 9 year olds.  

    I really don't like censorship and I think in general kids can handle tough subjects if we discuss them properly (e.g. minorities in the Little House series), but there's a theme in literature that just bothers me and that is the "drunk" character who's played off as funny.  I've noticed this in a lot of western type stories, the most recent was the Indian in the Cupboard.  It's in movies too- like Pete's Dragon (the 70's version). I used to watch that a lot as a kid and re-watched it recently.  I was surprised at how funny the drinking was played off and how central it was to the plot.  

    I'm not against alcohol use in literature, even kids literature, but I'm struggling to explain why it's considered funny or that alcoholism is often portrayed as an oOK thing to ridicule.  Has anyone else run into this, and if so, how do you address it?  I find myself cringing when this comes up and not sure how to explain it.

     

    I should add that my kids do have alcoholic relatives and, at least in the case of my 9 year old, I've explained about the disease and how it works in an age- appropriate way.  I may be more sensitive about this than others, but it is relevant to our situation and something they would notice without me pointing it out. Thanks!

    looking for bra alternative

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    A couple of thoughts:

     

    There are lots of "pressure" shirts that are designed for people with sensory issues. They aren't necessarily tight but thy are snug. I wonder if something like that under her shirt would provide some support.

    Just an example:

    https://t.store.schoolspecialty.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?minisite=10206&item=312653&gclid=Cj0KEQjwp4fABRCer93Klpaki94BEiQAsXJMGj7Y4KrJUa7SdwxisSm8gzOU7B5OOqFWraEZtDgUxk4aAk0l8P8HAQ&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

     

    I just switched to the comfort flex bra from Hanes and I love it. I have similar issues with shoulder pain and lymph problems. This bra provides minimal support but still gives the "wearing a bra" look. I'm on the larger side but I can still wear it.

    http://www.hanes.com/shop/hanes/women/bras/comfortflex-fit/hanes-smooth-bra-hu04

     

    Finally, there are modesty undershirts she could try:

    https://www.halftee.com/

    Going Minimalist is hard, but I need to!

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I love the book "It's all too Much".  It helped me a lot with decluttering. 

    The main thing I like to do instead of saying "I'm going to get rid of X amount of stuff" I say "I'm going to keep X amount of whatever item".  So for instance coats and jackets.  Everyone can have one heavy coat, one light jacket, one hoodie and one dressy coat.  I picked the best of each and got rid of the rest.  Setting limits helps me not feel overwhelmed with how much I need to throw out.  

    • Like 3

    Help for sore losers?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I'm looking for resources to help my son.  He's 7 and HATES to lose. Has anyone dealt with this?  My 9 year old would really like to play board games with him but it's always a disaster.  I'm going to start focusing on it this week and try to work on being a good sport etc.  I'd love to hear about any resources you've used or things you've tried.  

    I should mention that he's on the autism spectrum which does come into play, but I think he'd respond well to correction.  I'm just pointing out that it's not a discipline issue, per say.  It's more of a developmental thing.  His maturity is more like a 5 or 6 year old, but this problem is holding him back socially and I've had to intervene a lot more than I'd like when he plays with friends.  I'd like to address it as more of a character/skill building thing and maybe incorporate it into our school day.  Thanks!

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