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Colleen in NS

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Everything posted by Colleen in NS

  1. We're safe. Whole province was hit pretty hard, as well as PEI and NB and now moving to Nfld. Power out all over the province. I'm at one place that has power, to access wifi. Yes, hurricanes definitely come to Maritime Canada, with regularity!!!!! Most of the time, it's post-tropical by the time it gets here, but not this time.
  2. Thank you. It's now upgraded to Cat 2. I can't believe we still have power here. (much of NS doesn't, and Halifax is already a mess - we're 20 min. outside)
  3. Yep, it's here now, Category 1 or 2 in Nova Scotia. Wish us luck as it makes landfall here. We are smack in the middle of the path. I was super stressed yesterday remembering what Hurricane Juan was like here in 2003. Power has blinked, probably will lose it soon.
  4. Ha, I think anyone would get hung up on Don Quixote when trying to learn the process! I get that it's the first book on the novel list, but I gave up on it and tried the process with some shorter books. I was better able to learn the process and then apply it to longer books after some practice. There are also the WTM book logic stage lit. analysis questions you could use, too.
  5. The Well-Educated Mind by our forum hostess: https://welltrainedmind.com/p/the-well-educated-expanded-edition/#product-description
  6. This is such a relief of a feeling, isn't it!! RootAnn, thank you for maintaining the list. I have to say that we don't actually know if dd will attend any post-secondary this coming fall. She now says she is not going to university this coming year, which is fine (long private story I don't want to outline here). But I wanted to add that last acceptance to our list, for the sake of future homeschoolers who may wonder what schools have accepted homeschoolers. Thank you! Keep me posted on your news!
  7. Two more acceptances for my girl - BA program at Mount Saint Vincent University, and Child/Youth program at Nova Scotia Community College. (OP, the "Saint" in Saint Mary's University is spelled out at that school) . (and "thanks" for keeping track of this list!) Yay, to all this year's WTKids!
  8. Thank you! Thank you, Kathy! For everything. I'm going to message you sometime and catch you up.
  9. @8FillTheHeart Thank you! I think of you, too. I still read here occasionally, see your posts, and wonder how you and your family are. Five grandchildren - wow!! Congratulations to you, too! I've been in touch here and there with Jane over the past few years. You, Jane, Nan in Mass, and Kathy in Richmond are my biggest mentors here. I appreciate you all so much! Thank you, and you're welcome! I used to do that, too. I was in awe of and terrified of the high school board; now here on the college board, I'm just tired, lol. (not from the board; just from life) Seriously, though, I read the high school boards all the time when my kids were little and growing older - I learned so much and gradually dared to approach the moms I admired to ask for advice. I love this place. Enjoy your reading thoroughly.
  10. DD just received her first acceptance yesterday, unexpectedly! I called this school last week to ask the assistant registrar some questions (I had talked with him three years ago when ds was going through the application season, and he wasn't very encouraging about admitting homeschoolers [but then admitted ds with scholarships]). I was a bit nervous about talking with him again, but the woman who answered the phone said he was on his way out. She told him why I was calling and next thing I knew, she was saying, "He wants to meet with you and your daughter an hour before our Open House next week - can you come?" Um, yes, please! Students can put their applications in at the Open house and get fee waivers. I figured this was progress, that he asked to meet us. We brought her application for a BA program and supporting documents and my questions, and sat down with him in his office and had a very pleasant conversation. He asked dd all about herself and her goals and interests, and commented that basically she seems quite confident and mature. The long and the short of it is that despite some worries we had about one SAT score (she took the regular one and some subject test ones - the only way I had to validate grades), and him being concerned about it, too (but also talking about the nature of those tests and me agreeing - it is not common for Canadian students to take them); he suddenly reached across the table to shake dd's hand and said, "I'm going to admit you to the BA program - congratulations!" We were both in shock! And then he looked directly at me and said, "You've done an excellent job." I couldn't believe it. Then he started filling out some form to admit her, and said that he'd send out her acceptance letter next week. We thanked him for everything and left his office to join the gathering Open House crowd (which felt weird because all these other students and parents were on pins and needles waiting for it to start and would be waiting a few hours to find out decisions that would be handed out at the end of the day, and I was trying not to yell and scream, "My baby got her first acceptance!!"). About an hour later while we were wandering around some services displays, I spotted him roaming through the room. He saw me and said, "Where is your daughter?" I called to her, and he went over and handed her her acceptance letter and package - he didn't even wait, and he sought her out. I'm so happy for my girl - she hasn't had the easiest time over the past few years (which is why I haven't participated in these forums nearly as much as I used to). But her face yesterday when he told her was priceless. All through her schooling, she has insisted she was not going to attend university, which was fine with us. I did want her to get some kind of post-secondary education, so we checked into all sorts of other options that she was interested in. In fact, she is waiting for another decision from our community college (not the same as the ones in the States). But her other applications will go to three more universities. In the past year, she has received positive input from some healthy people in her life about some things they can see her doing in university, and she seems to have embraced it. I think it blew her away to actually have that validation yesterday; that a university thinks she can step up to the challenge. I had to come back here and tell you guys. I "only" have two kids, and these forums have been INVALUABLE to me over many years. This high-school-diploma-only Mom started off thinking homeschooling sounded like a fun idea, and then quickly realized I had no idea what to do after I taught them to read. Enter TWTM book and then discovering these forums. And now we are almost done - it is so hard to believe. I am so proud of my kids. Info. for the list: Saint Mary's University, DD18, Bachelor of Arts program And congratulations to all the others who have posted on this thread so far - what an intense journey this is!
  11. I loved reading your entire post - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! As to what I quoted - WOW! My son sometimes wishes he had applied there for math - he may apply there for grad school. But now, isn't it all a relief to know you didn't mess up?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
  12. I just did this a few weeks ago! Happy 50th to us! :D It was fun - I did pretty much what you are thinking - invited around nine friends I really wanted to celebrate with. I planned food a few months in advance, and made all of us a nice dinner. Two different kinds of spaghetti sauce, noodles, two kinds of cake, ice cream. All homemade (except the noodles. Which I had planned to make, until two hours before start time I had to tell myself there just was no time left, lol - ran to store and bought noodles). A friend volunteered to bring Caesar salad (which I was going to make, but she insisted), and a couple others brought wine. I wondered all the same things you did, and then I decided to do exactly what I wanted to do. All the people I invited were thrilled, and they all told me afterwards that they had fun (we ate, and then sat and talked for hours). If you think you'll be sad without marking this huge milestone, then you should just go for it. My party made me realize how blessed I am to have the caring friends I have.
  13. Ooooooohhhh, I signed in specifically to recommend this book! I'm from Maine, and my third grade teacher read this to our class back in the 70's - it was a gripping story! OP, if you like discount/bargain/surplus shopping, you MUST check out Mardens! http://www.mardens.com/ My favourite location is in Sanford; about a half hour south of Portland. And if you are in Maine over a weekend, the yard sales are epic.
  14. Congratulations - those are great schools!!!! My son was encouraged to apply to U of W for math; but like you, we encouraged him to stay local (I think it's more common in Canada to do this). Which school did she choose? I have a friend who is a prof at Wilfred Laurier.
  15. Yes. And that student has just finished his first year of university, with excellent grades, doing a BSc on full scholarship. My daughter is still home-educated for high school, with no outsourcing of academic subjects. I'm not opposed to outsourcing; it's just that we've never been able to afford it. So I buckled down and learned how to do it via the WTM book and these forums over the past thirteen years or so. I *almost* enrolled my daughter in high school this past year, and then almost put her into a couple of classes at the high school; for a number of reasons. But in the end, she decided she had her best chances at what she wants to do during and after high school if we continued the high school plan from home.
  16. The bolded: YES!!!!!!!!! And my son has very dry wit that people don't always see right away!! I know; I can't believe I'm almost done homeschooling, either. Dd aims to finish by her 18th birthday, which is in Oct. of what would be her Grade 12 year, so we are on an accelerated schedule. She was pretty insistent about it, so I worked out a plan and she is following it. About a year and a half to go! I almost don't know what to do with myself, because I don't really *feel* like a "real" homeschooler anymore, lol. I'm between identities right now, lol. I will try to stop in more often, because I see that many of my "colleagues," though finishing or finished, are still around here.
  17. Excellent advice and reasoning. I have had to do this a few times in recent years, to health professionals. One of them even actively tried to talk my child into enrolling in public school. Thankfully, our doctor (who knows us well) actually told me that my child was better off continuing to be homeschooled. THAT really bolstered my courage. And my child ended up deciding that continuing to homeschool was best. OP, if you are convinced that homeschooling is what is best for your child, then just smile and ignore the comments.
  18. I can't say I'm providing a specific FOCUSED homeschool experience, but I can say that by the time both of my kids reached high school, they were ready to study the academic parts efficiently. This left each of them more time to pursue their other interests. I credit this to all I've learned from the WTM book and these forums. I do have a very arts/volunteer-focused high school daughter who is homeschooling. Since she was 14, she has taken on a TON of volunteer experiences in our community (and I will always be grateful to Jane in NC who used to tell boardies to find local experiences for our kids and not worry that we can't get them into all sorts of traditional classes and activities due to lack of money and transportation). For my daughter, I have a bare-bones but very appropriate university-prep program going on for her, even though she won't be attending university (at least not right after high school - she might change her mind, and she will have the transcript, references, and SAT scores to support any future endeavor she might want). I require a thorough study of math (Algebra I and II, Geometry - 1960s Dolciani), English (grammar review, rhetoric study and practice, weekly composition writing across the curriculum, historical literature - all WTM-adapted style) every year, world history ancient to modern throughout high school years (using many WTM study techniques), and basic sciences such as physics, chemistry, and biology (using many WTM study techniques). It sounds like a lot, and the course descriptions I wrote up make it sound like a lot; but I am finding that because of all the techniques I've had her (and my son) learn over the years, she just learns this stuff more efficiently now. Will she remember every single detail of all the content study she does? No. But she will know how to take in knowledge and process it from here on out, and she will have a decent exposure to many ideas. (same with my son, who is thriving in his BSc studies at university) All this to say that she has maybe twenty hours per week solely focused on my requirements for her transcript. (and this is my child who has fought against having to "study things I'll never use!!" - but the girl can study, absorb, think, and put that thinking out on paper pretty coherently - still working on that, but practice is going well) The rest of her time is taken up with all the things she loves to do, such as drawing, volunteering at church KD lunch program for local high schoolers/two years at local recreation centre helping with programs for kids/occasional childcare program at a church/I can't remember what else because she does so much random volunteering, visiting with lots of different friends, getting paid for occasional babysitting plus occasional running of sound systems at local church funerals, working at her new part-time job, etc. She does devote a lot of time, too, to her drawing (she is amazing at portrait drawing - all self-taught) and other artistic endeavors such as unique clothing and makeup and room design. My point is that if you can work it so that high school requirements can be efficiently studied, your student can have all kinds of time to focus on whatever. I hope this helps! P.S. A year-round schedule helps us, too, like another poster mentioned.
  19. Lisa, I read this awhile ago and never got back around to replying. I think we've talked in the past about our sons having some commonalities? Anyway, it has been interesting watching him this first year of university. He did quickly make friends within a small circle on campus, due to having participated in a small mentoring program for first-year science students. I was SO glad for that program - he made friends with others who "got" him and were like him - his mathy brain, his funny personality, his bluntness, his love of Star Trek. However, sometimes it got him into hot water, and then a few times his friends would tell him he didn't know how to socialize because of being homeschooled. GRRR!!! But they are just as blunt and weird, from what I've heard; which is why they all clicked together! A few times, when telling me these stories, he has seemed almost embarrassed - even implying sometimes that he believed them (about the socialization part). But I asked him a few times, "Well, do you wish you had gone to public school? Public high school?" And he always thought about it and concluded, "no."
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