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lollie010

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Everything posted by lollie010

  1. After waiting for his sister at ballet since he was a few weeks old, my baseball and soccer star, expressed that he really wanted to try ballet. It's a wonderful classical school and the director placed him in ballet 2 so that she could teach him and he can be a mouse in the Nutcracker. He is so thrilled and I'm excited for him. He knows he's going to be the only boy and that some kids may pick on him, but he doesn't care. I have a hunch he might be pretty good at it eventually. I am open to any advice or been there done that stories! He's pretty cute in black ballet slippers with his skinny, white legs. :)
  2. I guess I will chime in, even if it does reveal quite a bit. But, I am a reformed liar. :001_smile: Some of my earliest memories in childhood are of telling lies to classmates. Looking back I don't think I was mean spirited, I just really liked the time and attention that came my way if my life story was way more exciting than my reality. There were some pretty significant hurts that I was dealing with and it was just easier that way. I wanted to be someone different than I was so I just made it up. I think it was in my blood as a few of my family members were and continue to be pathological in their lies. I am not sure where I would have fallen, but the pattern of lying continued for me into early adulthood. I lied for attention, I lied to get out of trouble, I lied when I was bored and needed a good story to tell. I lied about significant things and insignificant things. I thought I was good at it and most of the time I thought I was smart enough to straighten out any situation with the right lie. Maybe it was a form of control. I am not really sure. The year that I turned 21, I stood telling a made up tail to a brilliant professor and I saw in his eyes for the first time that someone knew I was lying. I am sure others before him had know that I was lying, but he was the first one that I could tell knew. He had a look of disgust on his face. I was so embarrassed that someone I respected knew. I could have stood there in front of him and continued to talk myself out of the situation, but I walked out. That night I made the decision to cease the craziness. I would not lie any longer. While I was thinking through this change that night, I had to come to terms with how I would deal with lies from the past if they came up. I decided that if I was asked about a particular issue that was based on a previous lie, I would just clear the air no matter how embarrassing. And I did. That was it. That was the end of lying and exaggerating. I moved forward in honesty. I admit that I was kind of boring for a while. I had always been a good story teller and missed having the chance to take center stage. But, overtime, real and interesting experiences came into my life and I had a new round of actual stories to tell. I still have a lot of stories swarming around in my head. I write it down now and think it may make a good book someday, for a different main character. :)
  3. We are doing the Medeival guide--intermediate. It is exactly what we needed this year. The books are just wonderful. I don't enjoy long stretches of read alouds because I have younger kiddos that distract. The BF readings have been just about right for us time wise. There is a lot of good stuff in the guides but we haven't had a chance to get to much of it. The reading and an occassional website are all that we've needed so far. I could not have made the schedule myself so I still feel the guide was worth the cost. I was a sonlight failure, but this fits us.
  4. Thanks so much Splash. That is very encouraging. I have been freaking out a little, which I tend to do at times. :) It was just so much more than I expected and it seemed to appear overnight. ETA: any techniques for encouraging them to quit?
  5. Well, I don't know how I missed this for so long. My 2yo is a thumb sucker and it showed in her front teeth. We had the little joke going around about my husband getting a second job to cover the orthodontic care in the future. She had her first dental appointment about 6 months ago and the hygeinist commented about our little thumb sucker. A few nights ago I was brushing her teeth and realized that it may not be so simple. I don't know the correct terms, but the top of her mouth (4 teeth in the center) is distended at least 3/4 in to 1 in. over the bottom. So when she bites down naturally there is a significant gap between the top and bottom. It looks much more significant than I originally thought. It's more like a deformity of the jaw. And now that I discovered it, I can hear how it effects her speech and see it in her facial structure. I will head to the dentist with her, but I'm wondering now what to expect. I don't know if speech thereapy would be helpful in a situation like this. Or how soon we could begin addressing the issue. Do any if you have any experience? Does that sound like normal thumb sucker stuff? Thanks.
  6. My olders aren't doing things exactly like its laid out in WTM, but we do have a pretty deep classical thing going on. It takes time, energy and focus for us all. Last year for my K'er we started MP, the full k curriculum just as written (except I added a Singapore math lesson about 4 days a week). It was perfect for us. It didn't disrupt the flow of our day. He just plugged right in. Most of the assignments were 10-15 minutes and I would do a little session with him and then he would either take a break or listen in with the older kids. I had the assurance that he was making progress on his own material, with little time commitment, but he was also getting a lot out of his siblings lessons. This year we are doing 1st and its going well. That's my experience :)
  7. I am finally at my computer and can multiquote. Some of my responses are in blue. We LOVE these books. I have had the kids do two pages twice a week and plan to take two years to get through each level. It's funny how people are wired differently. Sometimes the big kids and I are scratching our heads and the 1st grader will chime in with the perfect answer. The big kids have fun trying to compete to see who gets to sit next to the 1st grader while doing the lesson. :laugh: Thank you so much for this. It gives me a doable outline. :thumbup: Thank you so much for the insight. I appreciate everyone's ideas. This gives me a lot to think about as we move forward.
  8. This really sounds like a breath of fresh air. I bet you would get their vote. :)
  9. Thanks Ellie. Can we discuss just a little more. They have been through barton and much of logic of English. They are finally reading grade level books, just a little slower than I think they should be. Their comprehension is good. We all worked REALLY hard to get to that point. They have done ALOT of phonogram work over the years. And their spelling is very much phonetic. When they misspell something I can always pick out the phonograms and think "hmmm. That was a good idea." Lol. My hope was that as they are finally reading on grade level and writing more they would gain some spelling confidence. I decided to use Phonetic Zoo just to keep them practicing and it's independent. We still analyze words daily using the methods of Reading Lessons from Literature (I think that is the name of it :) ) If they ask me how to spell a word we go to the whiteboard and break it apart. Considering where we are and what we have done in the past do you think it would be worthwhile to do Spalding? Do you think they would feel like they are going backwards? Thank you so much for your insight. :)
  10. That sounds like a great plan. We wouldn't lose anything that we love. And during the time we are doing our grammar focus, I could give them a few of the writing assignments from our Beautiful Feet history guide. We have been skipping them because of all the writing they already have. Thank you.
  11. I appreciate all of the suggestions ! It gives me a lot to think about. They are making such great progress this year that I do not want to overwhelm them. Right now it just seems like I'm shoving page after page at them. Poor things. :) Hopefully, I can decide on something this week.
  12. Thanks everyone--we've been at church all morning and are now heading out to soccer, but I can't wait to get home and dig into all if the thoughtful suggestions.
  13. I'm jut rambling, but if anyone has any direction I am all ears. We really like what we are doing but it's just ALOT of stuff. And it seems like it's not very efficient. But, maybe that's ok. I can't decide if I need to tweek, consolidate, add something cohesive or just be content that in time it will be fine. My learners are bright, but dyslexic. They have great vocabulary skills and verbal expression. They love audiobooks and read alouds. They struggle with reading, spelling and writing, but they do it. We are using: Latin for Children (covers a lot of grammar but not systematically) Phonetic Zoo for spelling Intermediate Language Lessons (3/4 of the lessons don't seem necessary because we have copy work and dictation and memory work in other areas) Writing and Rhetoric (has copy work, dictation, some parts of speech and creative writing) They use literature guides from memoria Press and veritas press for 4 or 5 books a year. Otherwise they can read what they want as long as they are making progress on a book. They use the Reading and reasoning books which cover analogies, reasoning skills, sentence and paragraph structure. I have some of the editor in chief stuff but we don't get to it. They do well with what we have but it takes a long time and most tasks require my assistance and presence. The problem is that our grammar exposure is too disjointed for their learning styles, but I don't have more time to give it without cutting something out. They have time to do something independently if I could find something that pulls all this mess together and doesn't take long. I've been looking at CLE, maybe a grade down, so that it would be more independent for them. Or maybe I should just keep on going with what we have and it will all get covered eventually. I definitely want to ditch Intermediate Language Lessons. Any ideas?
  14. For three straight summers my daughter had similar reactions to her new bathing suit for the year. Now she washes her suit in hot water 5 or 6 times before wearing or she uses regular clothes. She reacts to shin guards for soccer the same way. as soon as she puts them on her whole leg swells. She also has pressure hives, so if a pair of socks are too tight or if she puts a hair band around her wrist her feet or hands will turn red, swell and itch like crazy. It's pretty pitiful. Her allergist said they don't really test for stuff like that except latex. So diagnosed her with chronic idiopathic urticaria and suggest a daily Claritan and occasional steroid.
  15. We made it through. We went outside under a beautiful oak tree and painted little cardboard boxes and wrote notes and drew pictures to put in our boxes. They spend 40 minutes working on the boxes and talking. Then everyone went to the playground and hung upside down on the swings. Week 1 down.
  16. Deleted triple post
  17. I team teach a group of girls (1st-6th) grade at church. The co-teacher who we are all very close to, passed away suddenly this weekend. The funeral is not until this weekend. This is a huge loss for me and the girls. We have our first class since her passing tonight. I'm not ready to teach or do much of anything. Any ideas on how to spend some time with the girls to process this all without a big lesson or high prep craft. They probably won't have a lot to say so I need something planned. I'm nervous about facing the girls. :(
  18. I team teach a group of girls (1st-6th) grade at church. The co-teacher who we are all very close to, passed away suddenly on Saturday. This is a huge loss for me and the girls. We have our first class since her passing tonight. I'm not ready to teach or do much of anything. Any ideas on how to spend some time with the girls to process this all without a big lesson or high prep craft. They probably won't have a lot to say so I need something planned. I'm nervous about facing the girls. :(
  19. He's good now but it was scary for a while. We have a really good allergist and a plan. The plan worked. Doctor thinks it must be almond contamination.
  20. We bought them for my daughter who has Celiac. We were so excited to find something that my Celiac daughter and my nut allergic son could eat for breakfast. The joy was short lived as my son ate a few and immediately his throat started closing at the same time my daughter got a crushing headache and ran to the bathroom. He went into anaphylaxis. So Cheerios are off of our trusted list.
  21. Thanks. We will check that angle. I know she had all her vitamin levels checked but I'm not sure of the results of Vit K.
  22. Thanks for the link. We have someone In our family with TN. They are both miserable but a different kind of misery. :)
  23. Thanks for the info. She has been to a pain clinic but did not find a med that brought relief. We will look at the teaching hospital a few hours north of us.
  24. She hasn't seen a rheum in many years. She was diagnosed with fibro a few decades ago. We will definitely follow up on that.
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