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a27mom

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    Female
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    Cornfields of IL

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  • Location
    IL
  1. I live near normal. There was so much sweet corn this year, people couldn't give it away. ( we had 4 different acquaintances asking us to please take some to freeze) We never buy it, it is like zucchini, people are desperate to get rid of it, but hate to just throw it out. (We stopped planting it because we get so much given to us anyway.) But We don't eat sweet corn as a meal. (Might eat it by itself at a fair or festival though) We eat it at a lot of at meals in the summer, but my farmer husband needs something else too. Seems like we go for a few weeks eating fresh corn and fresh green beans and then we get so tired of them. Maybe that's why it isn't a meal. The first couple batches are great, but you know your going to get tired of it soon.
  2. In elementary k-6 we were read to fairly regularly. In jr high I can not remember being read to. In high school my English teachers read aloud regularly. Funny I never though about it, but in elementary and high school I was in the same school district in upstate NY. In jr high we were temporarily living in California. I really don't recall being read to there.
  3. I just spent time working through MEP planning, here is how I do it: (Please note, My kids are mathy, and I am good at math) I have a spiral notebook, and open my computer to the lesson plans and the worksheets. I read through the lesson plan, and look over the exercises and choose what i want to do. In my notebook I write something like: Day 5 Lesson 6 Activity #1 - need number cards Wrksht 6 - #1-3 Activity 7 - use whiteboard Wrksht 6 - # 4 use whiteboard When we do the lesson I pop the lesson plan up on my iPad, make sure I have the materials I noted in my notebook, and cross out activities as we finish each one. Sometimes I will just do the one day, sometimes I will move into the next day. Occasionally I will do less than "1" day, depending on how dd responds to the lesson. I do skip some of the activities and occasionally some of the exercises. I also tend to do my own thing for the measurement lessons, though I do make sure the concepts of the lesson are covered. I do about 2 wks at a time. That way I know what I need to focus on or skip since the program is spiral. I usually do the review worksheet in conjunction with the lesson before, or save them for sometime when we don't have time for much formal school, (Saturday, field trip days etc...). I only print the worksheets I need for the next few weeks, We don't do all the worksheets, though I do do most of them. MEP has been a great program for my very mathy daughter who struggles with output (4 exercises seem much more manageable to her than pages of equations). It is also nice that it is "free".
  4. Public school is pricey here. It is $90 just the base registration fee for K-5. That doesn't include book rental, workbook cost (they can charge you cost and shipping for workbooks), activity fees, required school supplies, and "optional" things like pictures, yearbook etc... My friend just told me this morning it was $300 to register her son for middle school. Extracurricular also have special fees. Granted for many people this is cheaper than child care. But I do feel like I can spend a bit on homeschool curriculum, since I am "saving" $180 minimum by not sending my kids to ps.
  5. I let my 2 y/o out in our backyard alone. I did look out the window at her every few minutes though. She was certainly allowed to play out there when she was 3. Now at 5 and 7 they can go anywhere on our property. I do look out the window occasionally, but not because I am particularly concerned. I live in a semi-rural area, no fence. My daughters are pretty obedient and cautious though.
  6. I'll b 53. I imagine I will work more, I work part time now. I may go to graduate school - only because I would really like to get involved in geriatric research. or I may get more highly involved in some volunteer opportunities. Or I may have some totally different ideas, maybe I will farm with my husband. It is a long way off yet :)
  7. I have found the discussion in this thread fascinating in all it's twists and turns. I think what makes me really appreciate this board, comes down to the above quote. We feel normal here. Not because we are the same, our experiences, challenges, gifts, and kids can often be drastically different. But because here it is just fine to be drastically different. There is commonality in uniqueness. I have one child who isn't particularly "accelerated" but makes unconventional leaps and connections. This board has been so helpful with creative approaches and making it feel normal, or doable anyway. My other child is "accelerated" and has focused passions. So, I find this board both calming and inspiring. In general I don't feel the need to define my kids' giftedness to be here. And I don't think we all have to be here for the same reason. So I do find it very welcoming here. :)
  8. I picked the day after Labor Day, but it was actually always the Wednesday after Labor Day, and still is in my old school district (upstate NY). Here it is Late August, and has been that way since my dh went to school
  9. I was rather shocked at how sex negative the woman was. Really making a big deal about a 3 y/o not touching herself in the living room. I always just said "don't put your hands in your pants in front of other people". I never had a fuss about the kids touching themselves at home. I am not sex positive. I am sex neutral. Sex can be a good thing or bad thing depending on context. I am willing to say to my 5 y/o I will explain that when your older, usually it is just a matter of not going into detail. Clouds are made of drops of water, she doesn't need the molecular structure of H2O yet. Same thing with sex, it doesn't have to be some big deal thing where I am scared I'll ruin her if I don't over share. Actually I do teach my children words like nose and neck. I have not yet specified nares, cervical vertebrae, upper trapezius etc... Vagina is very inaccurate word to teach a girl regarding masturbation, vulva is more accurate, but not helpful for communicating, as many don't immediately understand it, privates is a much better communication tool. Why is not teaching a child anatomical language early on shameful. I don't insist they say fecal matter or urine when they use the bathroom either. But that's isn't shameful? Fwiw I use perineum with my girls, because it is more accurate for the entire area. But they still say "front butt" :)
  10. We have a huge variety. But primarily corn and soybeans. Our county is king for agriculture in IL. The other large commercial crops: Pumpkins (IL is the biggest pumpkin producer in the US) Wheat Dairy Hogs Also on a smaller scale: Cattle Chickens Sheep/goats Local vegetable and fruit farms. Maple syrup farm A little bit of everything- except those that require year round warmth. Oh and other large commercial harvest: Wind At least 60 turbines visible from my window.
  11. This is really helpful. Thanks for posting! I remember being surprised when my oldest started K, realizing that "duh" she is probably gifted like I am. The problem I have discovered is that she IS probably gifted, but NOT like I am. Math is the trickiest part for me right now. She is much better at seeing and getting numbers than I am. (I am a theoretical concepts person, who my family jokes can't count) Multiple concepts is frustrating for dd1, because at this young age she gets it the way she sees it, and the other ways confuse her. This post has really opened up my mind to considering using or supplementing with "sub-par" options, that might help. :) Because really, an option is not sub-par if it is what works for your kid!
  12. Great update. I love hearing about your daughters adventures. Definitely think you should get the moms together :). What a great opportunity to connect with people with whom you have a unique commonality.
  13. This is how I see people confusing true "giftedness", based on the measurable definition, with the idea of "rewarded". If you are a good student you earn a spot in the gifted program. The program is like a "gift" in itself. I was in 2 different gifted programs as a kid. Interestingly the one in the middle/lower middle class area was for kids who actually "tested" as gifted (HG + kids tended to like it more than bright of MG kids). People didn't "try" to get their kids in the program, there was actually a little bit of stigma to it. In the upper middle class area the gifted program was more about being a good student (even though they considered their testing stricter and made me retest for it, many kids "studied" for the IQ test.). Bright or moderately gifted high achieving types did best, and high achieving parents pushed for it. In general I found my lower and middle/middle class friends and neighbors to be much less threatened" by my giftedness, than those in the upper middle class area. Although our gifted program did not use the termed "gifted". So we didn't have to deal w/ that terminology
  14. I always wonder if it sounded different when they coined the term way back when. I occasionally try to explain to people that there is an actually "measurable" definition, from way back when, when "gifted" is used in the context of intellectual ability. I have always personally seen the term "gifted" as appropriately humble. I am not good at this intellectual stuff because I did something to deserve or earn it, it is a "gift". As a parent it feels humble too. My four year old figured out how to read, not because I was a better parent than others, but because she is intellectually gifted. Unfortunately society doesn't view "gifted" that way. I think society often confuses the term "gift" with "reward". And thus people miss the nuance of the term "gifted". We know that giftedness is both positive and negative, so it is hardly a reward. but people outside the gifted world tend to see it as a positive reward that we didn't deserve more than them. If I use gifted at all I always try to add "academically" or "intellectually" to it. I also try to point out things like other kids being socially gifted, mechanically gifted, athletically gifted, etc... But sometimes it is a lot of work to so carefully speak. I often call my youngest daughter "precocious". I find that people don't understand the term well enough react positively or negatively. Since she is 5 it seems to work, but I think precocious will cease to be a useful term as she gets older. For myself, on the rare occasions it comes up, I will say "my IQ is very high so my brain works differently". And if conversation appropriate I will point out some of the drawbacks to being "really smart". Still I don't think any term would really be better in the long run. Anything that would indicate you or your kids might be beneficially different or have something that "they" don't will be a threat to some people, no matter what we call it.
  15. I am in a similar position. I have one natural reader and one not natural reader. I am thinking about some. Silent reading time as a break. I am trying to think of it as "silent book time" though. My not-natural reader wouldn't have to read, she just would have to look at books. Which as she is getting better tends to involve some reading. But I am hoping to keep her loving books by giving her time with no pressure to read the words right. Of course I have no idea how well this will actually work, since I haven't implemented it yet ;)
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