kirstenhill
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Posts posted by kirstenhill
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No zombies here either...since I knew it was coming, it was much less "exciting" than the time the emergency alert went off at 11:30 pm or so...and in finding my phone it was giving me a Tsunami warning...and I live about 1000+ miles from any ocean. 🤪
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18 hours ago, Roadrunner said:
I don’t know much about Harvey Mudd other than they have extensive general education requirements, so that leaves not a lot of flexibility in course selection. They have a super ugly campus, which for us was an instant no, and they have way too many boys applying, also making competition much tougher for boys. Otherwise it’s an amazing program from what I have heard.
I honestly think CCS math program is a dream come true. Amazing advisor who cares for students and takes them out for lunch. Small core classes designed for advanced kids with problem sets any math kid would love (hours to ponder a problem I was told), kids who have background from various math circles, research from the start, ability to take grad classes as a freshman if you wish. I mean for a kid dedicated for math, I could not think of a better place. The advisor really hand picks the kids (so a faculty gets to decide who to admit). There is a separate app with essays that are relevant for the course of study. Only for math. Other CC programs only ask for recommendations I think. As you can tell, that was the hardest program to decline for my boy. I still think it would have been a better place for my kid.
Their CCS physics advisor is also ❤️. He is one of the coaches for US physics Olympiad team.That place is a gem.
I just looked up that CCS program in math...sounds so amazing. I know my DS16 would love it, but it would probably be a long shot for him to be accepted for sure (not to mention affording it!). He has already said he thinks CA is a bit too far from home for him. Makes me wonder if any other schools have anything similar!
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Out of my four kids, three need/needed braces badly (the other could maybe have used them for minor cosmetic reasons, but with three other kids needing them we didn't want to invest just for small changes for him). I feel like two phase treatment is really becoming what most orthos recommend these days. By waiting, we avoided the two phases with the older two, but on the other hand both the older two had to get 2 permanent teeth removed to make space in their small mouths to deal with their overjet - the very same thing I had to have done when I was their age. With the youngest, we did agree to an expander - but he has both the overjet and the crossbite (I could clearly see it on the xrays and model) and the ortho hopes that by starting with the expander we should be able to avoid pulling the permanent teeth like we did for the other two . His could have been a two phase but technically is a one phase as he should be just ready to go into regular braces when he is done expanding.
One thing I have learned is that different Orthos definitely have different treatment ideas, so I highly recommend people get more than one opinion/treatment plan/quote before starting. Then especially if different treatment plans are suggested, ask pointed questions about why one plan would be preferred over another. We did that especially with kid #2 with two orthos that had very different ideas on what to do. I chose the one I felt more confident in his reasoning and I felt was more upfront with me (it also happened to be cheaper and closer, which was a bonus). We didn't get two quotes with #3 since I really trusted the ortho we picked for #2 (kid #1 with braces started when we lived in a different city so we had different options) and #2 and #3 are overlapping, so it was in our best interest to stick with the same office since they can try and time the two boys appointments together.-
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I focus on freezing proteins or other meal components, like others have mentioned. I probably wouldn't do it for something where the meat is going to be front and center, but when it is going to be a component of a casserole, tacos, sauce, etc it doesn't seem to matter very much if there is a bit of dryness when it is thawed. If anything, my ground beef though is sometimes still a bit greasy after it's thawed, depending on exactly how well I drained it in the first place.
Years ago I used to use a big stock pot on the stove with a couple cups of water added to cook maybe 8lbs or so of ground beef at a time. Now I use my instant pot and can cook maybe 5lbs at a time. If I have more I just do a couple batches. I use a gadget that looks a little bit like a stick with a pinwheel on the end to break up the ground beef in the instant pot before I drain it.
I do shredded chicken breasts also - I just use very basic seasonings (salt/pepper/garlic) because I want to be able to use it in a variety of dishes).
Sometimes I've done shredded pork or shredded beef ahead also, but only if I have found a whole bunch on sale and need to use it. That I am more likely to just cook as a meal, and use the leftovers the same week in another recipe (aka - shredded pork for sandwiches, followed by shredded pork that is served in tacos or an Asian dish with rice or shredded beef and using some for tacos and some for beef stroganoff.I do black beans that I cook in my instant pot and freeze some for later to use with tacos, in soups, or for things like black bean burgers.
I used to do peppers and onions, pre sliced for fajitas or chopped for other meals and then frozen, but I got out of the habit. I am faster now than I used to be at chopping so I don't spend as much time doing it.
I sometimes do also make a meatloaf and freeze it raw, or ham balls (like traditional meatballs, but with ham/ground pork). Sometimes it is nice to have those ready to thaw for a day and then bake. I've also done lasagna rolls in the freezer (thaws faster than a traditional lasagna), enchiladas, a chili bake casserole, and even a ham/potato casserole that has cheese and sour cream in it...you wouldn't think it would work, but surprisingly it does even with the sour cream. I don't do the full meals/casseroles very often, but a little over a year ago when my oldest DD19 babysat her younger brothers for a few days, I made her casseroles to take out of the freezer so she wouldn't have to do as much cooking while we were gone. -
I think if I were in your shoes I would check out Pinwheels from Rooted in Language as well as EBLI.
https://www.rootedinlanguage.com/pinwheels-program
I have not used either of these, but people in the dyslexia groups I am in really like these, especially people that want to go in a different direction from Barton. Not having used them, I don't know if they are a great fit for ADHD kids, but they might be worth your further research.
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On 9/23/2023 at 2:01 PM, Nm. said:
Are any of the comics inappropriate? Why were they removed?
Another reason (besides MB being weird as was already suggested) is copyright/licensing issues. When MB bought the rights to the text, the licensing agreement for those illustrations would not have been automatically included - it would have to be renegotiated and paid for separately. My guess is MB either didn't want to bother, or didn't want to pay what the owner of the rights to the comics wanted to charge.
It's the same reason why reprinted books that are still in copyright sometimes don't include the original illustrations. The illustration rights are separate, and sometimes the cost to reprint the illustrations (in terms of licensing fees) is more than the new publisher wants to pay, or sometimes the illustrator refuses to give permission for the reprint or can't be reached.
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Asian restaurants (Chinese buffet, etc) are often open on Christmas day.
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I'll agree with the others that the writing seems a bit light. Even my more writing-averse kids were picking up steam in terms of quantity of writing by 6th grade. My current 6th grader is dyslexic/dysgraphic so is behind in that area, but we are giving it greater focus this year, even if it is mainly at the sentence and short paragraph level.
I'll also give my 2cents that nature lore seems a bit light for 6th grade. I think of nature lore as being fun stories for early elementary? (Maybe I'm not picturing exactly the same thing here? We read books like the Burgess Bird Book and Hexapod Stories and the like in early to mid elementary). In keeping with the Charlotte Mason approach you could, as you finish or get to a good stopping point, move on to maybe an interesting science non-fiction book on a topic he is interested in? I like some of the options at Sabbath Mood homeschool: https://sabbathmoodhomeschool.com/ - You could keep the nature lore for the youngers, and have him read on his own something that might be more engaging for him at his level. Or maybe add in some science audiobooks at his level during car rides, and the youngers might pick up something from it too.
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28 minutes ago, SKL said:
Again, I've never given birth, but it all sounds so stressful with the modern practice of discharging so soon after birth. It seems you barely have time to catch a breath even if there are no visitors other than the husband.
I was glad I wasn't rushed out too fast with my first birth - breastfeeding was difficult and DD had trouble latching properly. I needed help and support from the nurses and lactation consultant.
But with my other three I couldn't wait to leave. I knew what I was doing, and just wanted to be home and comfortable. I didn't have any C-sections though! We asked to leave ASAP with #'s 2-4. (Compounding my desire to leave early with #2 was that my room was super hot and the hospital staff couldn't do anything about it. It was unseasonably warm in the upper midwest in March, and apparently the whole old building was set to a "heat" setting that couldn't be fully adjusted in each room. It was miserable.).
I welcomed lots of visitors with my first because I was in the hospital longer and we lived closer to DH's family at the time. We had no visitors other than my mom with the other three - again, partly because I was there a much shorter time but also because we then lived closer to my family, which has a much different dynamic. I had short times (a couple hours) where I was alone in the room with the baby, and I would have loved visitors as I hated being alone with no one to talk to. At the time I thought there really wasn't anyone who would be willing to come (other than when my mom brought younger sibs to see new baby). In retrospect maybe I could have asked a friend to come, even though the fact that my friends were mostly other moms with young kids made me hold back from asking because I thought they would be too busy.
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6 hours ago, DaileyLeaf said:
Jacobs does not cover a few concepts that are a part of grade 6 & 7 curriculum. You would need to review/teach unit rates, inequalities, ratios, geometry and others if your child will have to take any state testing in the next year. Otherwise, the first half of Jacobs seems to me to be a repeat of math mammoth 7 and other prealgebra programs. The substantial part of algebra with new concepts doesn't begin until chapter 9. I wish my daughter had started it in 7th and taken it slowly through 8th. My next child is going to start Jacobs sooner but incorporate plenty of review.
After my DS11 finished AOPS Pre-Algebra late last winter, I decided to go with Jacobs next for Algebra, to slow down a bit, and not spend as much time on math (which he loves, but he is dyslexic and we really need to be putting lots of effort into reading and writing). I totally agree with this that the first half of the Jacobs book was all review. We got through that before the end of last school year, and we are just starting with the "new" material now. I really like it a lot. It's my first time working through an algebra text with one of my kids. My oldest took algebra at school, and my next two worked through the AOPS intro to Algebra book on their own and I just checked their work or answered occasional questions. I like that Jacobs is pretty clear and not overwhelming. I'm using an older copy of the textbook with the masterbooks answer key and that has worked just fine. I think there was one problem that was changed enough that the answer key didn't make sense, but I've only found the one so far.
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2 hours ago, EKS said:
The point is that you can't just assume that any undergraduate mathematics program is going to be of a certain quality. And you can't necessarily use course descriptions, syllabuses, or textbook lists to help you figure out which programs are rigorous.
Tangent to the original topic, but if you can't use those items you listed to find out the rigor of an undergrad math program, what do you think you can use to learn something about the rigor as a prospective student? (Asking for the benefit of my DS16 who is planning to major in math and wants a rigorous program).
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5 hours ago, Porridge said:
I don’t know if this book will help (we just put it on hold at our local library), but it looks good.
I've listened to it! Highly recommend it. I really, really wish I could have read it when I took calc. I never understood the "why" of any of it, and this book explains it really well.
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Because the wording is so similar between multiple people (I've seen that exact wording before too, from multiple identities), I've assumed it is one of those scams where there are people in India or someplace who are paid to get unsuspecting people to become Facebook friends with the fake profile, at which point they try some angle to scam for money - a sob story or something like that.
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I find it can be happy medium for scheduling to request an appointment or lesson time that is at the beginning or end of our homeschool day, but is still when public school kids are in school. For example, an 8:30 orthodontist appointment is done before we normally start school at 9am (typical ortho appointments - an adjustment that takes 10 minutes, vs. a special appointment that takes a couple hours), but the school day has already started for public school kids. Same thing for a 3pm music lesson. We are pretty much always done with our homeschool day at that time, but public school kids can't get to a lesson any earlier than 3:30pm. I think the thing I most try to avoid, even for something like Dr. appointment, is the smack dab middle of the morning. That disrupts the most. Even an appointment right after lunch would mean you can have a really focused morning of school, followed by just needing to skip one or two subjects that you might normally get done in the afternoon.
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We've had trips (usually retreats) where students have to leave phones at home or with a leader, but not for regular youth group meetings.
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At least according to the college board website, it should still be possible to take it another school: https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt/taking-the-test/away-students - maybe that school just had a policy change about allowing outside students?
In our district, sign up is open for students until 9/29, so my guess is that it's not too late to sign up, at least some places. -
My DS has a busy season where activities overlap, and this year the job overlaps too.
So right now, that means school 8-3:30, a sport 4:30-6:30 or 7pm 3x per week, One day a week college Calc class, 4:15-6:15. 2 days per week academic extracurricular that is supposed to be 6-7:30, but he is going late because of sport/class. 2x per month Friday night church activity. One work shift either Friday night or Saturday night. We are just about to start 5 weeks in a row of sports tournaments (early morning to mid afternoon Sundays- we normally have church but he skips for this short season of competition), then overlapping with that he will start competitions for his academic extra curricular, on Saturdays (overlaps competitions for the sport for 3 weeks).
It is A LOT...but the crazy really only lasts about six weeks. His job is seasonal and ends mid October, as does the sport season (he only does the one sport per year). He picks up a couple of other academic extra curriculars that are each 1x per week (but after school, ending at 5) that don't have many competitions. All three of my kids who are still at home are in the fall sport together, so our family is on the sport crazy train for a couple months (eating dinner late, traveling to the competitions together) but it is a family affair...LOL.
He is a very driven kid, so wants to be busy and is disciplined to do his homework and somehow manages to sleep 9 hrs a night. I'm glad the job will be over though by mid October, because somehow that one extra thing makes it feel crazier than last year, when he had all the same things except the job.
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I'd ask if the instructor has a document with their policies. If the instructor has been teaching a while, they probably do. If not, I would want to know up front all the details about payment (weekly, monthly, etc), flexibility with schedule changes or missing lessons due to travel, etc, snow day or other inclement weather policies (if applicable), if there is any expectation of performing in a recital or if this is an opportunity that is even available.
I've had three kids who have taken guitar lessons (one still taking them). For guitar specifically, you may want to know if they are teaching tab reading exclusively, or if they will also teach music reading. That may or may not matter to you one way or another, but I wanted my kids to learn both methods (since learning to read music is transferable to other instruments if the student ever decides they prefer something else). Two of my kids had teachers that taught both, while with the third (at a different studio), I had to specifically ask the teacher to work with that DS on music reading.
I've also noticed two styles of teachers for guitar...some will want the student to either be working through a method book or they will have some sort of progression of skills they are working with the student on. Other teachers (once the student knows the basics) will just ask the student "what songs do you want to learn" and if the student doesn't know, they will just suggest a song. Probably there is some reasoning behind what songs are suggested, but it always seems a bit random to me. My kids like the style where they can just come in with any idea of a song and the teacher will help them learn it. As the parent paying for the lessons, I am not always as big of a fan of that style because it can be harder to detect the progress you are getting from the lessons you are paying for!-
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I checked just now in an "incognito" tab in Chrome on my android phone, and I was able to see a couple pages without logging in - but I went directly from a Google search for "[business name, city] Facebook". There was a sort of annoying box at the bottom that I had to scroll past to see the posts, but I could still see them. Maybe some pages are locking down their privacy settings so you can't do that? Groups definitely can, and some groups I've joined have gone from public to members only recently in terms of post privacy.
I know a lot of people who join Facebook with an "extra" email address and not put their full name or a picture. So maybe first name and middle name instead of first and last. Lock all the privacy settings down. Then you don't have to accept any friend requests - just follow pages you want to see. You would still see random stuff on your feed (ads, pages Facebook thinks you might like) but it won't be from friends and it's easier to get to pages you want to see.
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2 hours ago, Ting Tang said:
Where there is a will, there is a way. I chuckle at my niece visiting prospective colleges two years before she even plans to go. They have oodles of money, and all she wants to do is go out of state because she doesn't want to live in Illinois. She's gone from wanting to go to Florida to touring schools in Wisconsin. I'm not sure why Illinois is so terrible compared to those two states. She couldn't even articulate what kind of state she hoped to live in or why. I reminded her Wisconsin is cold in the winter, haha! We won't be spending money on tours because Little Johnny just wants to live someplace else for no reason, lol.
I'm not sure if the chuckle is because it's two years ahead or because she isn't sure why she likes a particular school...but as the parent of one student who already is at college and another who now (at "two years ahead") is a junior we are scheduling tours with, I'm glad to be starting junior year with tours, because it is so much less rushed. DD had to do all her tours her senior year because campuses were still not doing tours due to covid her junior year. It felt very pressed to even see three schools that were 3-5 hrs away, while also thinking about applications and scholarships. It's much more relaxed to spread it out over a year+. I'm not talking about flying across the country to take tours on a whim, but I guess for our family I'm happy to take DS on a day trip 3 hrs away or even an overnight trip a bit further away (we will try and stay with friends or family when possible to make it more economical) and see some campuses. Wisconsin is pretty close to IL, so it's not like your niece has to travel far to check it out. I think in some ways when you have a student who isn't sure what they might like, starting out by taking a couple tours "just because" can be a good way to start thinking about it. It doesn't have to cost very much money (maybe just gas and lunch).
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I have a high school student who is often on the verge of being over scheduled. He can handle quite a bit though, and DH and I both did a lot in high school, so I definitely let him try and just try and talk him through options at various times.
Last spring he had a full load of classes at school (no open hour) plus an evening college level math class, plus a couple extra curricular activities. I asked him about his plans to fit it all in before he added the extra class, and he had reasonable ideas of how to make it work, and he did it and still great grades.
This fall he has to work at least one shift per week at his job (that he worked more hours at all summer) in order to be eligible for re hire next year. This is on top of a bunch of other activities, though he did decide to keep an open hour at school this time! 😁. I try to make it clear what family or church obligations I "require" of him, and let him sort out everything else. I remind him that he can decide to skip a night of practice, skip a "fun" church activity, etc, if he needs to study, for example.
I might be more apt to step in and be a bit more directive if he was making really poor choices with his priorities (choosing clubs/teams/work to the significant detriment of grades, for example). But he himself finds grades to be his highest priority, so he will always choose that over fun or activities if it really comes down to it.
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I hated the times when I was alone in a hospital room after having a baby (I mean, the baby was there, but not much for conversation. ;-)). DH would usually be there, but of course sometimes had to leave to shower or take care of things with older kids after the first. So I think if I was in the hospital for a long period of time, I would want someone there most of the time...but maybe just one person at a time would be fine. Of course, recovering from having a baby is different from having a serious illness or injury, so it's a bit hard to say if I would feel the same way.
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I'd advise the teen to look for a different job. My teens have once in a while had to miss an activity b/c of work, but s job that won't accommodate a regular activity or a reasonable amount of family travel would be a no-go for us.
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I'd be apt to ride it out, but talk to DS about it. If you have time you need him to fill productively, maybe there's a deep cleaning project he could do? I know I don't wash things like window sills and baseboards nearly as often as it could be done. I've taught all my kids including DS11 to clean bathrooms, stove, and microwave.
Emergency Broadcast System today
in The Chat Board
Posted
We decided that my phone had wishful thinking and thought it was on vacation in California or Hawaii or something. 😁