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Trilliums

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Everything posted by Trilliums

  1. I really don't know anymore. I think I have blocked out a lot of my kids' behaviors from when they were younger. Surely they were perfect angels! But about your son being so silly and thinking he is being funny--I'd talk to him about this, in an open, informative way, not in a chiding, you are doing things so terribly wrong way. I do think by age ten kids should be able to regulate their actions depending on the situation. You could even set aside specific "be silly" times. Show when and where it is appropriate. Get him to start thinking too about YOUR stress level. I'd also talk a lot about how the way he reacts to treats in the house actually makes you less likely to get treats because you just don't want to deal with that. I think I harped on my kids about household harmony a lot. Items or activities that resulted in a decrease of harmony were going to be dropped. Honestly though, I think my kids were pretty easy and not big boundary pushers but we still had our moments. :grouphug:
  2. How about AOPS counting or number theory books? I wish DS had done these (mostly because he is interested in computer science) and we have talked recently about him still working through them.
  3. Did your student have any income taken into account for last year's Efc?
  4. We are in a similar situation with my niece. I used a free two month trail from ALEKS. This has been a great assessment tool as well as a way to fill in gaps in her knowledge. She started with prealgebra and has worked on it pretty much daily. It leads the students through skills but also gives them some flexibility in choosing what to do. It does not explain new concepts very well at all though. Instead you get examples but no info on the why behind it. Today she started on Saxon Alg. I thought she needed a spiral method because she forgets quickly without review. I have read here that Saxon is not a good choice for struggling math students, so we will see how it goes. She liked the videos for Saxon on the virtual himeschool group. I purchased the textbook used on amazon and it also has the dive cd. Not sure it will still work but I plan on trying . For LA we are using WWS. I am doing a condensed version of getting through WWS 1-3 in one year based on the schede used in the WTM academy catch up rhetoric class. This has turned out to be very good for her. The assignments are low stress and she can do them successfully, so it has boosted her confidence. Also, I found she struggled with summarizing anything, from movies to life events. I hope learning the basics of narrations is helping her in her broader life skills. She also participates in a monthly lit group and has free reading assignments. She only reads if given an assignment. We plan on starting grammar soon. BTW--you can see samples of all the WWS online. For science we are using Bozeman Science videos online along with some from ck-12. For History we have been focusing on us history and we loosely use a documentary on US Presidents as a guide. BTW--we still are not her legal guardians either and as such cannot get her on our insurance. I was able to get Medicaid for her. But, the Dr's office would not process payment to Medicaid until permission forms were signed by her current legal guardian. Good luck!!
  5. I might.  I am not familiar with Halo, but our kids watched us/family/friend play other games which might have been similar.  It depends on the kids too.  Some kids are more likely to incorporate images seen into their play/interactions with others.  My kids have never been into FPS type games though.  If they constantly wanted to play these kinds of games, I would feel differently.  My kids are now older teens and I have no concerns.  They are both have gentle personalities despite video game playing.  My older son (high school senior) has enjoyed a variety of video games but now hardly plays any because he is too busy.  My other son is a junior and just started a Minecraft club.  Older teens do still enjoy Minecraft; in fact the games younger kids play on are probably design by teens and/or adults.  I think it is a great hobby and I don't think he is addicted.  He will stop playing for extended periods of time then gets back into it usually when he thinks of a new creation to try in game.  Plus he engages in plenty of other activities.  Sorry to see this deteriorate into a blame game.  If your answer is "no", do you really need to add in an insult?  Â
  6. Sorry this is causing problems for you. I think airlines in general have cut down on offering unaccompanied minor flights. We had to use this service recently and our options were very limited due to the no transfer policy. Maybe it is partially a staffing issue, although I am sure liability plays a big role. Overall though, I wouldn't expect an airline to let an 11 yo fly without some kind of assistance. This does not surprise me at all. ETA: Maybe the issue of flight delays or cancellations factors in as well. What would an 11 yo do if their connection was cancelled?
  7. As a parent of aspies and probably married to an aspie, it really isn't that simple. We have tried. Maybe OPs son is also on the spectrum. For us, I think homeschooling helped my kids develop better social skills. When very young my son asked, "Why don't people say what the really mean?" and being in a class room full of people was far too frustrating as he tried to sort out all this incoming information that others seemed to handle with ease. They do not have an easy time making friends, but they at least feel comfortable with themselves and their abilities. I am not sure they would have the capabilities they have it they had been in ps all along. Also, there are just some people who are blamers. My sibling recently wrote to me that our parents' divorce (over 40 years ago!) ruined her life. She has always been one to place blame on others. You can call it a character flaw and try to blame poor parenting or what have you, but I really think it is a genetic or epigenetic phenomenon. I do think we can consciously work to overcome these types of predispositions though. OP< I do hope it is a phase. I have had friends whose kids have gone onto college and the college students have complains to the parents about having been overly sheltered. I think there may be an issue of some young adults finding they are a bit out of the loop on certain commonly known cultural/social things.
  8. Hmm, should we start placing bets for when he notices? I am thinking if he hasn't noticed by now, he won't notice until you mention it or he washes the bedding. Does it have ample padding so that you cannot feel the wiring inside?
  9. Neither of us expects intimacy on certain (special) days. Honestly, I think I'd be a bit put off by having expectations up on me like that.
  10. We have had to look into more phone controls since my niece came to live with us. We use Verizon and you can lock phone usage during specified times. We also shut down wi fi during certain times ( late at night for us). I am a proponent of kids learning to self limit usage but I know there are some situations where they really need that outside enforcement. You could also get her a phone charging dock and leave it in a place you can easily see. The phone would have to be left on the charging dock while doing school work, helping out around house, etc.
  11. I am laughing even though I haven't even read it. Not sure I am up to it. I am supposed to be paying bills.
  12. Reading the replies has been helpful. Thanks so much everyone. Her face was pale and clenched in pain plus she was near falling when getting up. Mostly she has stayed in bed, clenched in a ball. I do think there is something going on beyond normal cramps. I do think taking pain killer/ ibuprofen before onset is crucial. I know even for milder cramps that is key for me to having a lower pain period. We will try to get more specific help from the doctor about treatments available.
  13. OH! Are there new emoticons? I have recently seen a big ear and that zombie is new to me too.
  14. I think most colleges have regional reps who are at least somewhat familiar with the public and private schools in their area. When they look at student achievements, they are able to gauge them against other students in the same or similar schools. They just do not have the same basis for comparison when it comes to homeschoolers though. They want to get an idea of how the student has taken advantage of options offered to them. Asking "why" is a starting point for the conversation about your student's educational experience. I found the question made writing the homeschool profile portion of the common application somewhat easier as I had specific direction.
  15. Any advice on helping a teen deal with severe menstrual cramping? She started on bc pills last month for cramping but this month they are even worse. I called the doctor but probably won't hear back from them until tomorrow. Is it likely that trying different brands/active ingredients is needed to find one that works? New territory for me! She was on bc pills previously for cramping, before living with us, but went off them for a while. At first her cramping wasn't that bad, but each subsequent month it has grown worse. The ones she took before are not available in this country.
  16. Just be sure to serve it with baby carrots. We all know baby carrots posses magical nutritious powers!
  17. Wait, a seller rejected a full price offer? Were there bidding wars taking place? DH is in the middle of selling houses as part of his recently deceased dad's estate. He received an offer and there was not time limit on it, which surprised us. It took 3 days to counter offer (there are other trustees to the estate and getting any kind of consensus is a long drawn out affair). If there had been a 24 hour turn around time though, I bet the trustees would not have delayed! Good luck OP!
  18. Son applied to 8 schools, 5 of them we did not visit. They are just too far away. He did visit his current #1 choice, but it is an easy drive (honestly part of the reason it is his top choice!). We will try to visit his 2nd, 3rd, etc, pick schools (if he is accepted) on accepted student days. But, he is taking two classes at the university and I am not sure the scheduling will work out. He has two schools he feels comfortable attending even if he cannot visit though. I know I read many posts, especially on college confidential, about students visiting prospective schools. That just is not us! None of us like to travel honestly and admittance seems like such a long shot for many of the schools. Son evaluated schools mostly by course offerings and descriptions of the department online.
  19. I would go over the pros and cons of each option, including the huge benefits that go with a cost free education. If all the options were truly affordable and we felt each one was a good fit for my kids, I would then pretty much let them decide. if they picked the full ride option, we would let them use money in their college funds for other purposes. With our current plans, if DS gets into a private, meets need school, his college fund does not have enough in it but we will cover the rest using current income (will involve belt tightening for sure, but based of EFC calculators, we *think* it will be affordable). Son has a full ride scholarship at a regional school that never would have been on his radar but he happened to win this award. Honestly the school just does not offer enough in his desired major for him to go there, so I am not encouraging him to go there. He also is likely to be able to attend our state flagship at no cost (already has 8.5k and other applications in for dept awards). This is definitely not his top choice and there are distinct aspects of the school he dislikes. He would, however, still attend this school and may do so eventually. He is still waiting for decisions on all his other schools (no ED applications here!).
  20. I am looking for short literature selections for my niece, a 10th grader. She is bilingual but has lived in Germany most of her life and attended German schools. She does not like to read in English and is reluctant to start any long novel in English. So far she has read Animal Farm, the graphic novels Persepolis 1 & 2, and some sort stories (we started homeschooling in December). She likes historic fiction by CJ Sansom (has read them in German and brought them with her) but she doesn't want me to get any of the sequels she hasn't read yet in English. For history we are trying to get American History completed, since this is a state graduation requirement. I know we do not have to, but I like adhering to their guidelines. Any short lit suggestions?
  21. :iagree: When my son was in grade 8 I didn't think he would ever survive a math class. He was strongly motivated by online classes in science. This kid now loves math and is quite advanced (DE at the U in math classes this year) and self driven in that area. He still does not like middle school math though.
  22. I think 'doing enough' isn't really conveyed by a list of curriculum. I understand your concerns though. I used to think my homeschooling was defined by the materials used. As a homeschooling mom I worried so much about providing the right opportunities for my kids and having an appropriate list of programs to use helped reassure me that I was doing everything right. Now my kids are older teens and I have definitely moved away from that. :) Do you talk to your kids and engage them in conversations? Do you listen to them? Do you ask them questions and delve into the answers? Do you get involved in projects and ask for their help and help them in their own projects? I think that goes a long way towards 'doing enough'.
  23. My kids learned math facts quite late, as in teen years, and they learned them through use. My kids are gifted with LDs. Early math was horrible for them as long as I stuck to computation. I finally gave up on computation and focused on conceptual progress instead. I realize my kids may be outliers, but so many teens seem to have this math phobia, I do wonder if it is due to an over emphasis on computation at an early age. Long division was difficult, but we pretty much skipped it! Once they learned the concept, I didn't see a real reason to continue making them do it. I have to admit here that my kids did not complete a math curriculum prior to grades 7 and 8. We did, however, talk a lot about math and delve into all kinds of subjects, often inspired by living math. Older son ( high school senior) just finished 2 sophomore level math classes at the university where he received As. Not learning math facts did not hold him back, in fact I feel pretty strongly that not getting stuck on computation allowed him to flourish in math. If he had undergone a typical math education, I suspect he would consider himself a math failure. When i withdrew him from grade 1 he already proclaimed to hate math. Not saying this is the best route for ALL kids. How in the world could one possibly know that? But, I am so happy we took the route we did.
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