Saille
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Posts posted by Saille
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I prefer the second one. I tend to like warm colors, and the peony and chrysanthemum are just so beautifully rendered! Post pics if/when you do it!
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Bumping this thread to say that we're (finally) moving to Lafayette in two weeks. Everything I see about the community pleases me. We're very excited to get there and get settled. Hopefully I'll see some WTM'ers around! It seems like there are at least three in the area.
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I am waiting for ClassiQuest Earth Science & Astronomy.. I had hoped it would be ready now.. but it isn't.. since we have started our school year again.. I am just going to use something else.. but I'm bummed..
Ditto. It's driving me crazy. I'm waiting for BA, and planning to start Athenaze instead of waiting for Galore Park Greek or GfC 2. We would also really, really like to finish Ellen McHenry's Botany curriculum.
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OH MY GOSH. We were at WalMart getting bubble wrap today and I saw a toy clearance aisle in a weird place, but didn't stop to look. Maybe I should go back.
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Still paging through, but my issue wouldn't be the pink hair. My issue would be the fact that there's doubtless a dress code printed somewhere--quite probably in the front of a school-made student planner handed out in the fall. Why would you deliberately flout the dress code ON exam day? How is she taking the exam Monday if her hair is still pink? Either there's no policy in place, in which case the school was wrong, or this was a pretty stoopid time to do a makeover. So, I guess the real question is: Do you think mom will back you up next year if you make stepdd do work she doesn't want to do?
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We're in the midst of a move and it's messing up all my homeschool ordering...plus some of this we've already started. We've always been offset by about half a year with Language Arts, and we're headed that way with math, too.
Language Arts: Michael Clay Thompson, Voyage and Level 4, Time Trilogy, Jefferson's Truths, further assigned reading (I'll post a list when it's finished)
Math: AoPS Pre-Algebra
Latin: BBoLL2 (cont.)
Greek: Review Greek for Children, begin Athenaze
Spelling Workout
Copybook
History: Oxford World in Medieval Times (...and lots of civics, since it's an election year. Last time we went door to door and worked at the local headquarters for our candidate. Whatever your political leanings, I highly recommend it. My kids were fascinated by stuff they'd have found stultifying if it had been part of a formal curriculum.)
Science: Earth Science, though I'm still torn on curriculum. Classiquest if it comes out? We'll also continue with Lego Robotics.
We've not done much of The Snake and Fox, so we'll continue that.
Religion: Comparative world religions. This year, we've done a fair amount of Bible study and some Torah. Next, we'll do some Qur'an, more on Buddhism. And the Middle Ages year is when we really get going with UU History.
Part of me would LOVE to get back to Living Math, but I'm just not sure we can fit it in. If the library system in our new town is up to snuff, maybe.
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LOVE The Ordinary Princess.
Books my dd has loved lately include Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, and Kat, Incorrigible, by Stephanie Burgis. She'll probably read Neversink next.
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Ours is this - though it's more sf than she listed. It's such an unusual house that we have no idea when the right buyer will come along.
WOW! I love that!
I have been nervous about ours to the point of superstition, but hopefully I will be back tomorrow...
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Yup. It's the scene at the beginning, the school performance of Peter Pan.
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My dh is a journalist, so the one story I never have is when he's coming home/if he's really done working...which, most days, is the piece of news I'm most interested in!
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Do you have a Burger King? They have Morningstar Farms veggie burgers.
No, I have very few quick meals even as meat eaters. That is what fast food is for. :tongue_smilie::D
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She is, in a word, adorbz. That's the first thing I've read that made me wish I was going this year. (Although, I confess, I am more about the Chipotle than the Chik Fil A.)
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Sent a letter:
To Whom it May Concern,I'm writing to express my worry over what I see as a narrowing of the focus of the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention. In the past, I have come all the way from upstate New York to attend the Convention. Our family is relocating to Indiana, and you can imagine how excited we were to know we'd be so much closer.
Then I learned that Julie Bogart of Bravewriter has not been invited back this year. I was very sorry to hear it. I've attended her presentations and purchased CDs in previous years, and spent much time looking over her materials in the vendor hall. I homeschool three children, and my benchmark for curricular choice is excellence, which I define as a profound grasp of the material, and a talent for transmitting skill and passion for the subject to students. Curricula I define as excellent include Michael Clay Thompson's Language Arts curriculum, Catherine Drown's Lively Latin, Art of Problem Solving's math programs, and Susan Wise Bauer's Well-Trained Mind materials. When I attend a GHC Convention, I require intellectual breadth and depth if I'm going to be inspired and spend my money. The narrower your focus becomes, the less likely I am to attend, and the less likely I am to recommend your conventions to other homeschoolers.
You say in your guidelines that you "disavow groupthink", that you "welcome diversity of opinion", and that:
"Our speakers are invited guests and are free to present their subject matter as clearly and cogently as they are able. In so doing, they may offer opinion, philosophy or conviction that differs greatly from that of another."
However, you appear to be limiting your pool of speakers quite a bit, if Julie Bogart is on the chopping block. The more you do this, the less intellectual discourse will actually occur.
When I consider fuel prices, it is certainly more cost-effective to mail-order my curricula than to drive to Cincinnati and purchase them there. I go to the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention to learn new things, and to be inspired. A narrow focus is unlikely draw me, or many of my friends, to your event.
Sincerely,
Sarah Cannon.
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kokotg, I have got my fingers so crossed over here...I can't tell you how hard I'm hoping.
PrincessMommy, my parents sold their home recently to the same sort of buyer. My mom said it was sort of a headache (they wanted mold inspections, though the house is in Irvine, which is basically desert), but they *did* buy it, and the reduction in stress once it's SOLD is worth it, she says.
House selling wishes for everyone here!
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Thanks, Barbara. You're absolutely right. Trig, no Calc.
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My whole house is packed...that's part of my problem. I have a dearth of craft materials. I looked at cardstock today, but think it's not sturdy enough. The Michael's offered to cut down matting material for me, though. Or, I found these:
http://www.mybinding.com/.sc/ms/dd/ee/60437/GBC-ECO-Friendly-Brown-Recycled-Paper-Covers-20pk-25824
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Hakim's Story of Science? We like that if so, but I didn't know about any workbooks for it. What are the Johns Hopkins workbooks? Link?
And what is "OUP" and what is The Story of Life?
So sorry! I just saw this.
Somebody posted the link to the Story of Science workbook already. OUP is Oxford University Press. I use their World in Ancient Times series with my logic-stage student. The Story of Life...wow, did I type that? I meant The Way Life Works. It is a science book by Mahlon Hoagland.
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We have a showing on Tuesday, and another Open House next Saturday.
I emailed the realtor last night to discuss price drops, and enumerated in my email how many and which houses were for sale in our school district, in our price range (there are four, including ours, listed between 100-120K). She just emailed me a link to search results for the local realtor's association listing *in the village*, which is not the sum total of the school district. She included all listings, which meant several were 30-40K above our price range. Sigh. Why are we having two conversations? Why is she sending me things I told her I already know? How many of these emails do I have to be gracious about before I can elicit the information I actually need?
ETA that the site she sent me the information from is the same one I used. It's publicly accessible, see...sigh. Never mind. I'm just really tired of people who only moderately know how to use the internets assuming I do not know how to use them when I'm telling them that I'm using them...
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Another thought--the ACT has no penalty for guessing, plus the writing section is optional. It might be a better choice for a middle schooler. The SAT's writing section is required and it comes first--it wipes out a lot of kids...
The ACT has Calculus and Trig on it. The SAT only goes through Geometry. Although there are only four passages on the reading section, I find them excruciating. I think the SAT's passage-based reading questions are often more straightforward. I joke that the ACT is Windows, and the SAT is Mac.
If you were going to do the SAT early, I'd do prep. The questions, as well as the skills tested, are very formulaic. You know what you're getting, whether the questions are in order of difficulty on that particular section, etc.. You could get Kaplan books and go through them yourself, or you might have a program in your area. (I really do love our test prep program. I work for a national tutoring franchise. Am happy to drop the name to anyone who wants to pm me.) Homeschooled students who've had grammar all along and have practice writing five-paragraph argumentative essays should be fine on the Grammar once they're familiar with the question types, and once they learn to identify the error BEFORE looking at the answer choices. There may be a gap on the vocabulary (words like abstemious, garrulous, phlegmatic, etc.) and on some of the math skills. That's important to keep in mind when you look at the scores. I'm rambling, but there's an impatient kid behind me waiting to read Aristotle Leads the Way together. :D Will be back.
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I tutor for the SAT, and there's an uptick in families sending 7th/8th graders for tutoring. The advantages appear to be:
1. Some summer-type gifted programs accept SAT scores as a measure of eligibility.
2. It gives a student plenty of time to get comfortable with the test before it's time to think about things like National Merit Scholarships.
3. It gives parents a chance to identify and fill in gaps, and to set expectations AFA what their student should be learning in HS in order to do well on the SAT.
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I have lucked into a Circa punch, and picked up some Arc rings at Staples tonight. The only thing I don't love is the poly covers. We buy recycled paper, and for my own writing, I usually buy those brown, sugarcane-based notebooks Staples sells. I would love to find an equivalent that would work for disc-based notebook system covers. Barring that, I'd at least like a good hack so I don't have to order pricey covers. Any ideas? Websites I should check out?
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So, yesterday morning at ten, I sent the following email to the realtor:
I'm just checking in. I see where you changed the description on ***** to:LOVELY 4BD/1BA HOME ON 3 ACRES WITH WELL ESTABLISHED GARDENS INCLUDING PERENNIAL HERBS & FLOWERS/FRUIT TREES & BERRY BUSHES. A POULTRY BARN W/ BUILT-IN NESTING BOXES/PERCHES & PENS. COUNTRY LIVING AT ITS BEST JUST MINUTES FROM THE CITY. SELLER'S ARE RELOCATING & MOTIVATED TO MAKE THIS YOUR NEW HOME.
However, although I've waited 36 hours, both to give you time to make the changes and to allow 24 hours for the site to post them, as of 10:00 a.m. on the 10th, the two-car garage is still not mentioned on the description or in the provided field. Please make this change and email me to let me know it's been done. Also, please remove the apostrophe from "Seller's".
She called me an hour or so later *freaking out*. I mean, interrupting me to the point that I had to say, "Listen. LISTEN! I am not comfortable with the way you are interrupting me. I need you to listen until I'm finished speaking." :eek:
I think her default WRT criticism is defensiveness. And I am thoroughly irritated, b/c she asked me again if I was sure I was on the right website. And started to tell me that she put it in, and if it wasn't showing, there was nothing she could do. Um, no. I told her she needed to log out of the system and go look at it as a customer. I cleared my cookies and cache (my idea). Still not showing. "So, I said, "It is clearly (the other web host's) problem. They need to fix it. One of us needs to call them." I think that may be what finally settled it down, b/c I'm sure there was very little doubt in her mind that I'd do it. So, she called them, and they fixed it, but at this point I'll be sitting down with the broker if there's any further problem. I've had enough. Act like a professional if you want to keep my business. And quit killing kittens.
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Oh, also! Grass is growing in my forest! I didn't quite believe it would actually happen, but we got the super shade mix, and it's coming in really well. The soil was pretty incredible out there, when we started digging into it, between the chicken poop and all the leaves composting over the years :). It's kind of hilarious to look out there, though....there's our fence, with our grass seedlings and pine strawed sections (where it was way too rooty for grass) inside and then nothing but super dense woods right on the other side of the fence....like we're just barely holding back the wilderness with our fence.
Well, w00t! I'm glad that's going well! And the kitchen looks amazing.
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PrincessMommy, thank you!
hkchik, it's so good to hear about someone getting a house under contract. I am going to hold on to the hope your success makes me feel!
kokotg, *I* want the kitchen you're describing! I'm drooling!
Realized yesterday that our local realtors' association listing had a blank field for "garage". I'm SO annoyed. The realtor's website is correct...but a lot of transfers would go to the association first. The realtor emailed and said, "If this is stress b/c you haven't had much activity this week, it's a holiday" and "I guarantee you haven't lost a sale over this", both of which felt condescending and struck me as a lot of horse hocky. I told her flat out that I'd never have called on a house with no garage listed (there's no photo of one in the listing). It hasn't been 24 hours yet, but the listing isn't fixed. She's got until tomorrow morning for the changes to post, then I'm most likely going to phone the broker.
House selling commiseration thread
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Well, so it took me a couple of days! :D
Our house has sold. We're slated to close in a couple of weeks, and all the inspections are done, including an FHA appraisal. There's one bit of work we still have to have done, but it's not a biggie.
We also FOUND a house in Indiana, which is thrilling to me. Just finishing up inspections now, but b/c NY is SO SLOW to close, if all goes well we'll take possession of the new house a week after we close on our old one.
I didn't want to post until I knew all the contingencies were out of the way. Like I said, I've been feeling very superstitious about it! We've been separated from dh for almost five months...we miss him! I can't wait to have this transition done.
How's everybody else?