At age 18 or 20 I would've been very uncomfortable in a nighttime-crowd-unfamiliar area like that, so I can understand why some parents might be concerned.

I have a major complaint with how most homeschool programs and classical education books approach geography. Knowing where places are on a map isn't equivalent to knowing geography. This is a misinterpretation of the discipline of geography and geographic work. Believing that geography = maps is what seems to keep so many students away from studying geography in university, and I have found that once students do take a geography class, they find that it is a truly interesting and holistic subject. Geography is a study of the relationships between places and people, and the study of spatial patterns on the Earth. Geographers study everything from how blind people navigate down a city street, to where hospitals should be located to best serve a population, to how the local environment impacts diarrhea rates in Bangladesh. Geography has been neatly defined as the study of human-environment interactions. The best way to learn where countries are on the world map is to learn about them and develop relationships in your head. Rote memorization of maps is certainly possible, and filling in blank maps over and over and over again is one way to do that memorizing. But those arbitrary patterns can be forgotten quickly without constant review. I've found that students who know something about the lay of the land, the history, and the people in different parts of the world have a much better and more permanent handle on where things are. Pakistan and India are fighting over the state of Kashmir? They must border each other then. Germany invaded Poland? These two countries are probably close to each other. There is a big mountain range that runs down the east side of South America? How can we use that information to understand other traits of the physical and human environments in South America and to help us remember which nations are the mountain nations on this continent?

Thank-you!

I have avoided blogging because I do think it's just putting too much information out there in the big wide world. I'd be worried about what it might lead to--stalkers or other weird stuff. I know that it isn't very hard to figure out the names/locations/details of the people whose blogs I read . . . and if I had ill intentions, I'm pretty sure I could find most of them. That said, I know nothing bad ever really happens to the bloggers I know. So perhaps there isn't much evidence to support my fear!

Totally agree. I wanted to be all anti-consumerism, but I've failed miserably. I like toys, and now that I have a small child, I have a good excuse to buy them! I think I'm addicted to the Thomas Wooden Railway engines. :blushing: When my daughter was smaller, it was easier to resist, because I was in school and then unemployed. I had no money. Now I have a good job, and can afford to buy things, and I find it really hard to stop myself.

I just read on Wikipedia that flashing lights during the birth scene have triggered seizures in some people. So there's an excuse not to go!

Yes, I think it certainly is possible. I find all the different programs, particularly for language arts, very exciting. :001_smile: "OH! Look at this!! Now, this is PERFECT!!!" I spend a lot of time mulling over science and math programs too. And recently I've become fascinated with Oak Meadow Kindergarten, when I know I don't really need it at all. I read some very good advice in another thread: never buy any program more than a month in advance of when you intend to use it, because you will change your mind a dozen times in the meantime. I've followed that rule when facing several purchase urges. I have a list of "ultimate goals" for each subject, and when I start to feel seduced by a certain program, I go back and look at those goals. Is this new program going to help me to reach those goals? Will it do it any better than something else cheaper, or any better than my own self-built program? Or will it re-orient my plans and lead me off into terrain that doesn't support my goals at all?

My mother is alright with it and understands my motivation for homeschooling; my father thinks homeschooling is a bit abnormal and maybe not the best idea. My extended family thinks it is an abysmal idea, doomed to failure, and sure to destroy my daughter. I have 3 cousins who are high school teachers, and they take homeschooling as a personal insult. Years ago, one of them said, "Don't EVER homeschool. Just don't do it. End of discussion." That set the tone. I think my homebirth brought everyone into touch with my propensity for "strange" behaviour, but it was just one brief event, and it turned out well, so no one could say much. Homeschooling is a much longer journey. :D

About $15.

My parents and grandparents always used margarine, because it's less expensive, and I have followed their lead. I only buy butter to make certain special things, like sugar cookies and shortbread. I don't use margarine as a spread, and I don't put it on bread or vegetables or anything else, so it's pretty much only for baking. The things I bake aren't particularly healthy anyway, what with the refined sugar and the bleached flour, so I don't worry too much about the "dangers" of the margarine I'm throwing in. :D

Yes, perfectionism is very normal in gifted children. The professor who oversaw my PhD Presidential Fellowship once commented that a tremendous number of the students who receive these highly selective fellowships seem to develop psychological problems that inhibit or prevent the completion of their degrees. When you are capable of something close to academic perfection, that capability can become a significant part (or the sum total) of your self worth. That can result in an unrelenting internal pressure to BE PERFECT. When you're not perfect, it's crushing, and continuing on seems pointless. And it might be easier just to avoid that task entirely in the future, rather than countenancing failure again. Perfectionism can facilitate the production of great works, but it can also become a hurdle. (And there's my life story in a nutshell ) I agree with previous posters that participating in other activities (that you might not be so great at) can be an important part of avoiding the pitfalls of perfectionism. Even if you do turn out to be really great at the other activity, at least you will have some other place to invest some of your self worth. :D

My reasons for homeschooling: 1. The schools in my area are not as good as when I went. I see weaker language skills (and even more squandered time), and want something better for my daughter. 2. Socialization in schools is frequently unpleasant and definitely unlike anything else I've encountered in the "real world." As teacher and homeschooling advocate John Holt said in Teach Your Own: "If there were no other reason for wanting to keep kids out of school, the social life would be reason enough." In fact, many of the ideas you would find in the books of John Holt and John Taylor Gatto lie at the foundation of my decision to homeschool. 3. I want my daughter to learn things that I didn't learn in school: more history, better literature, composers and artists, logic, and the geography and Latin that I love. 4. I want more flexibility. I want my daughter to have more time to explore her own interests, rather than sitting in a classroom waiting--waiting for other students to get finished, waiting for the teacher to get on with it, waiting for something she's interested in, waiting for the bell to ring. I want her to be able to speed through things she's great at and work more slowly through things she doesn't understand. And I want to be free to take a day--say, a Wednesday--and do something unrelated to school without my daughter having to worry about what she may have missed. 5. Homeschooling can be so much fun! It's creative and productive and a great experience to share with a child. Why would I want to forgo such a fabulous opportunity to interact with my daughter? 6. Why NOT homeschool? Why should sending children to public school be the default position? For most of human history, most children haven't gone to school.

Sounds like certain people in my family . . . when it happens in my family, remarks like this are definitely supposed to be (covert?) judgment of ME, not judgment of the child. Saying something directly to my daughter would just be done to make ME feel far worse (and I guess the collateral damage is worth it for the insulter). Think about something else, do something else, ignore the mean email. As my grandmother would have said--Don't let her get your goat!

Hemorrhoids and Philippines -- those double letters!

This composition sounds quite good--your daughter's writing style is certainly superior to that of many university students! (I've been marking papers tonight, so I have material for direct comparison. :001_smile:) Something simple and mechanical: it is best to avoid contractions in formal/academic writing. Also, writing out ordinal numbers is usually preferred--first and second, rather than 1st and 2nd. What did Abigail Adams do that was so remarkable? What was all the hard work at the White House? Why was she so amazing? The content of this composition doesn't make it clear to me why I should be impressed with Adams. I feel like the claims haven't been fully supported.