Rockhopper
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Posts posted by Rockhopper
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---comment about the PSAT posted on the wrong thread, sorry! ---
Nonetheless,
So glad he's home safely!
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This is an incredible price... But I liked being able to print in color if I so choose. So I'd have to keep my inkjet too. Hmmm. Something to think about.
I do this -- I have my workhorse b&w laser and then I keep an inkjet beside it. The Brother laser actually has a really small footprint and is lightweight, so it's not a big deal to me. I like having the inkjet for the color option, and copying, and the occasional photo.
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Florida Keys?
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Just here to agree, although mine is a slightly different model. But such a *huge* bargain over the years in printing costs, and agreeing on the non-OEM toner too.
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Take a look at Orion's 4.5" and 6" Dobsonians, and read some reviews on them. I suggested them in this thread a while ago, which had some other recommendations too.
(We have the 6" StarBlast.)
Oh, Orion often has sales on *their* website, but not third-party sellers like Amazon.
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The kids' area at the American Indian museum. It has the advantage of being pretty close to air and space. Also, very near it is the Botanic Garden (not Smithsonian, it's a function of the Capitol) which my kids love. The have a nice Jr Botanist program.
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Agreeing with Spelling Workout. Simple, effective, teaches and reinforces phonics rules (although I HAVE to actually point this part out -- it's a sidebar my kiddo would totally ignore left to her own devices!), and has enough practice to make it work but not be tediously repetitive.
I *love* AAS but it is teacher-driven and I found it rarely got done...
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Thanks again everyone! Storygirl, your advice was helpful. I guess I am struggling because I am having trouble determining what my long term goal should be. I don't have enough experience to know what is important to do right now. That is why I started this thread.
What would Susan Wise Bauer tell me to do? :) Her book seems to talk around both sides of this issue.
On one hand, the WTM really seems to be centered around a 3 time cycle through history. Right?
On the other hand, her book repeatedly says that if you are interested in a particular time period that it is OK to hang out and "dive deep" and enjoy your time. Right? (She says that in the intro to SOTW and in the AG and in many of her audio lectures).
I was sort of hoping I would start this thread and you ladies would say something like, "Its OK Cathy. Don't freak out. Everything will be OK. They are learning to love history and that is enough." (Because if you know me at all....I tend to freak out and stress easily! Saying the words, "BEHIND" is enough to send me in a panic.) BUT--at the same time, if I am doing my children a disservice, I want you to be honest with me and tell me.
The ONLY thing I know in my heart is that I need to make the "3 Rs" of primary concern right now. (Math, Reading, and Writing.) Especially since I have children who are dyslexic. Anyone who has a dyslexic child can attest that they have to work extra hard in these subjects to make progress.
But I don't have any 'instincts' coming through in the history and science area. :)
Truthfully, I think you're only "hearing" the voice(s) you feel is telling you you're not doing enough. Reading through the thread as an outsider to your concern, there were plenty of posters saying, "you're doing fine," "it's plenty," "don't worry," "my goal for the early years is exposure and fun," etc...
IMO there's not much you can and can not do with regard to history with 7 and 8 year olds that will really, truly totally screw them up and ruin their college aspirations.
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What about a gift certificate for a photo book (Shutterfly, etc.)?
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We do Morning Office (Bible readings and prayers from the Book of Common Prayer), and we call it that even if we don't get to it until the afternoon! :-)
What's working really well for us right now is that we listen to it streaming on my laptop while we eat breakfast and I drink coffee. No one talks until it's done, except to do the responses or communal parts, or at least that's the goal. I do usually stop the recording after the Scripture readings to talk a bit about them, or before them if we're starting a new book, to give context. We usually keep another screen up with the Scripture readings or open up a print Bible to follow. And we add our own prayer time at the end.
My oldest often falls asleep (or appears to), my middle zones out, and my youngest attempts chaos, but honestly that's not much different than when I read everything myself. This way, though, it's (relatively) peaceful for me and I can listen instead of reading.
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I forgot about PaintTool SAI. We paid for that some time ago. It is apparently a program that is *widely* used. Still waiting for Lunch so I can ask DD about which program(s) she uses with her Wacom.
Follow on: DD came in here and I asked her which program(s) she uses with her Wacom Bamboo. In addition to PaintTool SAI, the Japanese program mentioned upthread, she also uses the AutoDesk Sketchbook program that came with the Wacom Bamboo. However, she said the free version of AutoDesk Sketchbook is a reduced version. Mostly, she uses PaintTool SAI.
Yes, my dd really likes the functionality of PaintTool SAI. Apparently it uses layers like Photoshop does, and has a lot of really nice blending options. And ways to draw hair/fur. (She draws cats. A lot.) And it's only about a $40 one-time purchase, depending on the yen exchange rate.
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That looks really good!
Along related lines, there are some interesting "MathArt" classes on CurrClik - usually mini-classes of about 4 sessions, I think.
And during the year that my son did MathCounts, Vi Hart's youtube videos were a staple in our house. Lots of fun!
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My dd started with Microsoft Paint and really learned a lot figuring out how to do things (the hard way) there. She now primarily draws using PaintTool SAI, a Japanese product. I'd prefer to switch her to Photoshop as it's the industry standard but I can't justify paying for the CC subscription.
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Disclaimer: I don't know anything about your job or your boss. Disregard as needed! :-)
How many days a week are you there?
If money is no object, I'd find one of those dinner prep places, like Dinners Done Right or Dream Dinners. Buy 12 or so of the pre-prepared meals. While you're there, thaw and crock-pot/bake a couple each week. Leave one for that night's dinner, then cool and fridge them so he can easily re-heat in the microwave.
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The Christmas we visited my brother and his family in Anchorage was awesome -- we were on our third winter in the Seattle area and the brightness of the daytime hours in Anchorage was a great boon to our spirits! The days are shorter, true -- but during the daytime hours it was sunny, with all the sunlight reflecting off the snow too. Our experience may not have been typical but it was memorable. It really made me much less scared about ever living in Alaska.
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I have enjoyed the Plant Therapy set I bought.
I too would love a good diffuser, and am looking for one I can purchase without going through a MLM company.
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A Town Like Alice immediately came to mind. It's sweeping, inspiring, classic. Good and evil, romance. It's set in Malayasia in WWII and Australia post-war. I know I read it first as a teen, and don't remember anything particularly objectionable. Difficult, though, with the description of Japanese treatment of POWs.
On a related note, Unbroken, although it's more specifically one man's story.
What a good question to pose! I'll be gathering notes from this list.
My ds recommends Swords for Hire, not as "literature" but as a really fun quest story. (I think the grade range is listed for 5th to 8th, but he says it would be a fun read for any age.)
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I didn't know about it until your post, but I'm looking at it (pretty seriously) right now.
So I'm all ears.
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There was a TEDx talk recently about Spencerian handwriting. The young speaker was effusive over it. His artwork is beautiful. He made me want to follow our Getty Dubay plan with some Spencerian.
Found it!
Have you seen this video featuring Jake Weidmann? It's wonderful to watch!
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I love the idea of scarves, but as a busty gal, I feel like I need less bulk in my top half.
I normally have absolutely no fashion advice ever for anyone. I mean, laughable to think of me discussing fashion. But I do have a suggestion here (just keep in mind that it might be a horrible one, lol!): I've ventured into the world of infinity scarves by borrowing my tween daughter's. Usually from Justice, or the teen section of Kohl's or Target.
The scarves in the girls' section seem to usually be about half the width of the ones in the women's section. A little shorter too, maybe?
They don't look too small on me; they just look less TOO. Too much, too overwhelming, too there.
I'm medium height, medium build so YMMV, but just wanted to throw it out there!
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Thank you!
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There are some great things for teenage homeschoolers!
I'm a part of a group called Culture at Home. It's for AA homeschoolers in the DC area. We are not AA but have been welcomed and man, they have some great things going on. For instance, there's a high-school writing class that will meet weekly at the National Museum of African Art, focusing on writing research papers.
We are also a part of a weekly American Girl book and field trip club -- we read an American Girl book weekly (going through them chronologically -- this year is the 20th century dolls), and then do a weekly field trip related to the history. It's aimed at 8-12 year old girls but as it's a homeschool group we always have older and younger sibs along, who get to visit the museums and listen in on the docent-led tours if they wish. We did 30 Thursday field trips with the group last year -- ranging from The French Embassy (studying the French influence on American culture with the Cecile and Marie-Grace dolls), to the African American Civil War Museum (Addy) and the Botanic Gardens (herbal medicines/Josefina).
There are some internships available at the museums. The popular museums are probably full but some of the off-the-beaten path probably still have slots.
You can look online at museum calendars (I'd especially recommend the American Art and National Portrait) to see what daytime tours and classes they offer.
The Natural History museum does/did some Friday science classes for homeschoolers.
The Newseum offers classes too I think.
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I don't know if they fold *that* small, but the IKEA Frost drying racks won rave reviews from a (non-endorsed, non-compensated) blogger I follow.
A (PSAT) Comedy of Errors, aka
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
a colossal homeschool mom fail.
Between a family emergency, and a family vacation, and not hearing back much from the local high school, the PSAT had kind of retreated to the back reaches of my brain.
But it popped up on my calendar as we traversed our way home down the Eastern seaboard Sunday.
So I started talking to ds about it, and googling info about the new test format, etc. "Not a big deal for you, just a chance to practice and see how you do." (It's his first year taking it.) "No penalty for guessing, so answer all the questions." That kind of thing.
So we wake up this morning (hours earlier than normal because the high school here starts at 7:00 a.m. and test began at 7:15). As I was waiting for the coffee, I was running through the list of important information and had this momentary panic: what if he doesn't remember his address?! (Don't judge: we move a lot and he doesn't engage in a lot of personal correspondence, you know? And did I mention I was still waiting on the coffee?) So I get the helpful mom idea to write it on his calculator (where his name is already printed).
Then I feed the boy, drop him at the school, pick him up forever later and all is good. Get him to his cross-country race, drive home and walk in the door.
And he mentions that he wrote down "123" for our street number. I stare dumbfounded. Because, you know (and *actually* he knows) that "2301" is our street number. "That's not our address, " I say.
"I know, but it's what you wrote on my calculator so I thought it was what you wanted me to use."
Yep, in my pre-coffee haze, I wrote the street number from the house we lived in when he was THREE.
BUT WAIT!!!!!
The story gets EVEN better!
We sit down to dinner, and he starts telling us how hard the math sections were. Which kind of surprises me, because he's my math boy.
He tells me one of the problems and I start to write it down to solve it. He says, "but you can't use paper."
Staring dumbfounded again.
"What?"
"They didn't give us any scratch paper."
"What about your test booklet?!"
"I didn't know I could write in it."
Yes, seriously. Somehow I had missed conveying this. Somehow he'd missed noticing the other students, you know, writing. (Actually this isn't surprising. It's not the kind of thing on his radar.) Somehow he'd failed to connect the fact that he went into the test with TWO PENCILS to the fact that he could USE THOSE PENCILS.
So he did the entire math part of the test in his head.
And I'm beating mine against the door right about now.
The End. True Story.