Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

Grover

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,698

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Grover

    Any negatives to living in Australia or New Zealand?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     That doesn't sound right. But it was 20 years ago and I haven't thought of that story in forever. His middle name is Wallis, I'm assuming after his mother. Is there a Wallis Department store- or one that used to be called that? For some reason I remember the money was all from her family.......but my memory is rusty two decades later. 

     

     

    I just tried and googled him and holy crap, he has a coat of arms and is something in the Grand Priory of New Zealand, whatever that is. Says he's 6th gen New Zealander and I guess someone in the family was PM.....Google is impressive. He has a very common name in NZ apparently, but thanks to his zillion and one degrees he has behind his name (as well as the same email address as when I was his student) I picked him out fast because he always makes sure those degrees are listed! But I can't find anything on the department store thing. 

     

    ETA: This would've been in the late 50's or early 60's, because he was a kid in the story. His first degree is from the late 70's. I'm not sure if it was still in existence by the time I met him in the late 90's. He was a young boy during the department store scandal story. 

    woolworths?  I went too far upmarket with Ballantyne :-)... I don't know what Maceys is.

    Farmers would be the other one, but I'm going to go Woolworths.

    • Like 1

    Any negatives to living in Australia or New Zealand?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Well displace would be a foreigner so I figured it was a valid perspective :)  When I watched rugby it seemed very much like there was not much stoppage of play and much less structure as far as who had the ball, where they lined up, etc.  More like soccer or hockey in terms of play, but with the physicality of football (of course without pads, which just looks insane).

    well stoppage of play would break up the flow :-)  I promise there are rules.  I don't know what they are, but they exist :-)

     

    They are also pretty into sailing in NZ.  Or yachting, whatever you call it.

    Pretty much and Auckland thing though.  We do like our water though.

     

    I saw John Key at an airport and he waved to me.  (well, to DH).

    DD toddled in front of a man in an airport once and fell over.  He scooped her up, gave her a hug and handed her back to me.  Yep, 'twas Mr Key, on his own, catching a plane home. 

     

    • Like 2

    Any negatives to living in Australia or New Zealand?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     

     

    Rugby is like football without rules.

    noooo, football has too many rules.. and too much padding.

     

    Cricket is like baseball but all messed up.

    ok, you've got me there.  Although a sport that stops for the teams to have lunch and dinner together, and serves morning / afternoon tea can't be too bad?

     

    Netball is like basketball, and only women play it (as far as I could tell), but you don't dribble - you just throw the ball to each other from stationary points until you get it in the net, which is not very high.  It's weird.

    you forgot that in many cases it's played outdoors, in short skirts in WINTER, usually on concrete courts.  No backboard either. 

     

     

    • Like 2

    Any negatives to living in Australia or New Zealand?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    On the awareness of European identity, I had to chuckle because it made me think of my grad school advisor. He was from New Zealand- apparently a well to do family there. They owned what I was told, was the equivalent of Macy's department store is here. I wish I could remember the name

     

      :)

    Ballantyne?

     

    Yeah, don't sit on the desk.  Or the pillows. 

    • Like 2

    Any negatives to living in Australia or New Zealand?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Their sense of New Zealand-ness seemed less pronounced than our sense of American-ness.  There was no Revolutionary War.  There was no Civil War to cement that they were on the right side of Right (although they are very consciously part of the West and of the British Empire).  Their flag is a rehash of Australia's, which is not a bad thing but pisses some of them off.  I think patriotism in the US is something we take for granted.  They are patriotic but nothing like what we have here.

     

    you clearly didn't go to an All Blacks game. 

    chicken is expensive and lamb is cheap.  If you like lamb this is great; if you like chicken not so much.

    chicken has got cheaper lately :-)

     

    NZ is small.  Some people hate that and some like it.  There's a REALLY good chance someone who knows someone who knows you is not too far awy at any given moment. 

     

    I have never had fried lettuce in a hamburger.

     

    Earthquakes suck.  Christchurch is recovering, but you'll still see half of us tense up at a loud truck.

     

    International shipping sucks immensely

     

    Tall poppy crushing is a national passtime

     

    The "big OE" (overseas experience) is a rite of passage.  Most of us come back though.  Flights are expensive.

     

    Whittakers chocolate = big plus

     

    Kai moana (sea food) is readily available because you are never more than an hour or so from a beach.

     

    Nothing is very far away from anything else.  "Rush hour" is laughable by most other country's standards.

     

    Sport's pretty popular here, especially in schools.  Better to be the start full back than the chemistry wiz in most cases.  Learn your rugby teams and you'll be right.

    I'm told we're a cultural wasteland by a US immigrant who was NOT staying more than 6 months, and is still here 5 years later.  We grow on you :-)  I think she's a bit rough on us on the arts front.

     

    We don't do central heating, or insulation like you might be used to.  Cold?  Stick on another jersey.  I say this as a kiwi sitting in my lounge watching a movie with my family - I have a blanket, so does one child, the other one is in his dressing gown (over clothes) and the husband has jersey and slippers on.  It's not coled enough to light the fire, honest. 

     

    Our politics are different to yours. 

    As are our views on guns.

     

    We don't have snakes.  No snakes.  None.  Not even in the zoo.  No animals in our forests can kill you.  Well, a kakapo might steal your windscreen wipers, causing you to drive off a mountain. 

     

    We're a pretty accepting bunch... except when we're not.  I hear both from US friends. 

     

    We are small  Very small.  that's good and bad.

    • Like 5

    Memorable threads of yore.

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    k cups

     

    38carrots's house

     

    stroller barger

     

    the troll with the mansion was right when I was new here I think

     

    the escaped / missing snake still sticks in my mind.  I think the ownder had to carry the chihuahua until it was found.  Snake free country here... mind blown.

     

    a couple of sad ones or ones where the poster was in a difficult situation spring to mind too, but hopefully they've been dealt with or moved on from by now so I won't drag them up again.

    • Like 1

    Moby Dick for a 4th grader?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    my DD has fallen in love with Moby Dick after reading a graphic novel version a few years ago.  Since then she has read several abridged version and recently sat down to the full text. She made it, but I think only because she knew and loved the story so much.  I notice she has gone back to the abridged versions, and her beloved graphic novel since.  I'm sure she didn't get even half of what's in there out of it, but there's nothing in there I'm concerned about her reading. 

    • Like 1

    Anyone done ICAS testing as homeschoolers?

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    from their Ts and Cs which you can only see once you are registered and can log in (sigh).  I assume it's the same for Aus.

     

    20.2 Registered home-schooled students are not eligible for medals unless they are supervised by a teacher registered in New Zealand. The registered teacher must provide and return the required current year ICAS Home School Invigilator statutory declaration with the home schooled students’ completed Answer Sheets or Answer Booklets in a sealed envelope.

     

     

    NZ people

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    I'd always thought prealg looked more like year 9 and some of year 10 maths - but I don't know for sure, that was just my "feeling" looking at them, and it's hard to compare the two because we don't do the separation of the strands like the US does, so some stuff we cover much earlier, and other stuff we cover later.  Can you just pretest him on what you want to use and go from there?  During our (mercifully brief) time at school I sent DS (year 4 by age) to his year 5 class with Algebra 1 for some no instruction needed review during class maths time and they threw up their hands in despair and said we can't teach him maths and don't think any primary school could... that was a little depressing, lol!

    Anyone done ICAS testing as homeschoolers?

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    I host our local homeschool community for ICAS - I invite entries and then supervise them in my home (I'm  registered teacher).  I have to have my own kids do them under someone else's supervision for their scores to be counted though, which WAS fine, because another homeschool mum was also a registered teacher so we supervised together and she did my kids and I did hers.  Unfortunately she has moved on and no other homeschooling parents have answered my plea, so this year I will be supervising other people's children while they do it, and sending my own kids to a school with their papers to do theirs (the school is where a friend works, so they're good with that).  It's worth it for us to do the supervision properly though, because both kids have won multiple medals so far, and I'd hate for them to have them invalidated  because the supervision wasn't done properly. 

     

    Both of mine do them a year ahead of their level if they were at school - DD because she is on the cut off anyway, and going younger doesn't make sense for her and DS because I entered him for the experience a year too young, intending to do that level again "properly" the next year but he medalled, so we couldn't really repeat!  It's not even remotely close to the level either of them are actually working at, but there is still enough to challenge them, and it's GREAT for showing them that "check your work" isn't just something I say because I feel like it, lol!  Silly mistakes have cost DS at least two medals, possibly another one or two - and I'm talking mistakes he recognised as soon as he looked at the paper. 

    • Like 2
×
×
  • Create New...