Mom2pandc
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Posts posted by Mom2pandc
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I'm so tired. I helped DS9 do a thorough cleaning on Monday, and today DD6 and I did a cleaning on her room. Everything from toys, to craft stuff, to clothes were gone through. I'm so tired and my back hurts from sitting on hard wood floors for hours. But I feel good and so do they that its cleaned and organized with room for new things from Christmas. I got into a snit Sunday and tore into the storage area of our basement which was stacked with stuff. I made a big dent in that, but feel obligated to finish that and do the upstairs bathroom since its the last room on the top floor that isn't organized. But the closet in there is so BIG.
Okay, whine over, I'm going to clean some more :(
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I love my front loaders. They are stacked and then I put a huge L-shaped counter in the room for folding. I do wish the washer was a little higher since I'm 5'9", but its not that big of a deal. They clean far better than my old top loader did, and dries sooooo much faster. At the very least I would get a high efficiency top loader that spins them out.
But I love the counter to fold everything on as it comes out if the dryer. I don't think I could give that up :)
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I had one put in after my dd6 was born. After almost 4 years I realized the side effects had grown over the years. I suffered from post partum depression, but now wonder if it was Mirena. I got worsening depression to the point I didn't even want to exist anymore. My skin got horrible cystic acne that by the time I got it out my face would get big bloody bulges around my chin every month. I gained a lot of weight that I'm still struggling to get rid of after a year without Mirena.
I would never go back to one. No periods aren't worth it. Even though I thought that was great at the time! I read that the defects get worse overtime for some and I definately experienced that. The mood swings were so bad I couldn't stand myself. I do feel much more calm and balanced now with no changes other than the Mirena. Now if only my weight would get back to normal :(
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I use the series with my 6 and 9 year old as a fun supplement to math mammoth. I read two chapters out loud twice a week. So usually 4 chapters a week. They each have a composition book to write their answers in at the end of each chapter. It's quite fun and my 9 year old who is very strong in math doesn't mind doing it alongside his sister. We are almost through cats now and are still having a good time with it.
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The first Christmas my husband and I were married, we were building our house entirely by ourselves. We were living with no walls and subfloor. Our tree made us feel almost normal. Until it came crashing down THREE times!! Nearly all of our ornaments broke, even the Disney ones we got on our honeymoon :(. I am so Nervous buying any ornaments that may break.
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I've been making changes since we started in June it seems like. We changed math from mcruffy 1 and teaching textbooks 4 to Math Mammoth after to co-op discounted price was so low. They are both happier with those. My ds9 is almost finished with LoE and will be moving to easy grammar and wordly wise, plus maybe something else not sure, but it seems like something is missing. I just started writing with ease a couple weeks ago. That appears to be going well. Especially for ds9 who hates the physical act of writing.
I felt it was important to do an overview of US history this year since that was high on our list of reasons to pull them from PS and start homeschooling. I used The Story of the USA books (1-3) and we are already half way through book 2. I may start looking at world history, not sure what yet, but it will definately start before the end of our school year.
Both kids dd6 and ds9 flew through US geography. I was surprised how much dd picked up since I was just pulling her along for the ride. She whips through a map puzzle and is quite good at the online games I use. I'm just going to beef up on the capitals and maybe abbreviations and then start looking at world geography probably after the first of the year.
I am shocked at how fast things are evolving for us, but feel fortunate we are finding so many things we like!
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We bought the download for my 1st and 3rd graders. I have an ink jet printer that uses ink more like a laser jet (1500 or so black white per cartridge). I print them, laminate card stock for the covers and use a bind-it all (I wanted it for scrapbooking but actually got it since we were homeschooling hehe). A binder would work equally as well. I print duplex (except one unfortunate paper hogging time) and while I do print in color, I print just the pages I think we need. If I see a chapter or section we are already strong on, I don't print it.
I think I will save far more than I would if I bought the books.
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We bought the download for my 1st and 3rd graders. I have an ink jet printer that uses ink more like a laser jet (1500 or so black white per cartridge). I print them, laminate card stock for the covers and use a bind-it all (I wanted it for scrapbooking but actually got it since we were homeschooling hehe). A binder would work equally as well. I print duplex (except one unfortunate paper hogging time) and while I do print in color, I print just the pages I think we need. If I see a chapter or section we are already strong on, I don't print it.
I think I will save far more than I would if I bought the books.
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I have a gymnast daughter, but for right now her eyes are fine :)
I do however have a football playing and wrestling son who needed glasses at 8. (He's 9 now). After laying down $ for glasses, I looked at the recspecs for sports. They were very expensive and daily contacts were far cheaper for no more than what he'd wear them. I also have seen other kids always having issues with their sports glasses getting off center while playing, needing constant adjusting, etc. they also didn't look very wrestling friendly, which my son needed to see to know what the ref was signaling.
My neighbor is our eye doctor, so I asked him without too much fear of being laughed at for thinking an 8 year old could handle them. :). He said the youngest he had done was 9 or 10, but if I wanted to try, he would be fine with that. We did try two different kinds since he didn't like the first trial pair how they fit. But that being said, he loves them for sport. We got him daily lenses, while a little more expensive, we've had a 90 day supply and are only half way through it after half a wrestling season and a whole football season. A couple days a week doesn't add up quite so fast and he doesn't wear them at wrestling practice, only tournaments. They are also less hassle for care and cleaning. If he loses one during the game, no big deal.
I did put them in for him at first, but he has successfully gotten them in himself a few times (his fingers aren't very long and flexible so he has issues getting his hand turned the right way, but he hasn't had much practice either).
Hope that helps some!
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I'd be torn on the laptop and a tablet. My kids are 9 and 6, and we got them each an HP laptop this past year. I'll explain my reasons and maybe that'll help you with your decision
First, the kids each had hand me down PC computers that are energy hogs and weren't working well and they took up a lot of room. Therefore, to play games or Internet games, they wanted to use my PC. I did that, until we got a virus from somewhere and nearly lost everything on our computer. We have a small business and everything is on that computer. Could have been very detrimental if not for online backup.
We then debated, tablet or laptop. My kids both are fans of club penguin. It uses flash player. You can't do flash player on an iPad. I love my iPad and feel its a great all around easy to use tablet. But they wouldn't be able to do many internet based games that don't have an app.
So we decided to get them HP laptops. I got a decent price with quite a few free upgrades that were included at the time. I paid a bit more for them to have a blue and a purple laptop so there is no confusion on whose is whose.
They use them quite a bit, but I've never really had to limit any screen time since they get bored with electronics easily. They play games, watch videos, etc. They don't use it for book reading as we are frequent library users.
I hope that helps some with your decision. I felt funny buying the, when my kids were so young, but for their uses, they should last quite some time.
Good luck
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Do you have an IKEA nearby? I love their rugs. Very reasonably priced and lots of options. I've also had luck at big lots if you have one, it's hit or miss, but the price is right if you find one that you like.
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I don't have a picture, but most of our art supplies (basic stuff: markers, crayons, colored pencils, glue sticks, scissors) I put in appropriate sized mason jars, then I put all of the jars into a nice basket with handles I got at hobby lobby. There is enough room for me to put the pads of marker and paint paper as well as water colors and oil pastel packages. Then it all slides into the secretary desk cupboard. Keeps it neat and easy to pull out the whole basket or just a jar. I love mason jars :)
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I'm kind of split on this. DS had some in his chin and as they took the stitches out, the cut started opening back up :eek: although they just fixed it back up with steri-strips.
Ironically my daughter cut her chin in basically the same place and when I took her in to get them removed she had a scab covering one of the stitches. My doctor looked at me and said, just try to snip it in a couple days, call if you have a problem. Lol. I did it and it was easy as pie and saved me from a return trip.
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I'm using logic of English with dd6 and ds9. Based on the young age of my first grader, and the 3rd grader's complete aversion to the physical act of writing, I simply make accommodations to reduce the amount of writing. It may be doing smaller pieces per day, doing only a few of the dictation/composition activities, using a white board instead of the workbook (for some reason they adore the white board), using phonogram letter tiles to do the spelling words with instead of writing them, etc.
I really like how logic of English works, but I'd also be inclined to try to make some changes in how you use it instead of paying for another curriculum which is similar in many aspects.
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It's more of a language arts program in my opinion. It utilizes phonics and spelling rules to learn to read and spell. It also incorporates a grammar which gets more in depth each lesson. The workbook has pages for dictation, copywork, and vocabulary development as well.
I'm using it with a first grader and a third grader for different reasons. My first grader has improved leaps and bounds on reading and her spelling/grammar is coming along nicely. My third grader is learning the most from the spelling rules and a ton from the grammar.
I do a lesson a week with the first grader and a lesson every two or three days with my third grader.
We are new to homeschooling, but I love logic of English. It's a big win in our home.
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We are dealing with it for MM 3 this week. We are new to homeschooling. And I do not think my son has learned a thing through the teaching. Rather he's picked up things on his own and through games amazingly well. The school kept testing him at a fourth grade level in second grade.
Only problem, there are some holes. Multiplication and some division, he's awesome. Clocks....sigh....not so much.
I think after almost an hour of working on it today, he has it mastered. The smile today was far better than the tears yesterday. But he had to look at as fractions for the quarters and half of a clock and I divided the clock down the middle for after and "until" instead of "till".
All in all, I'd say skip the book work now, move on, and use it in day to day things. By next year, it should be easier.
Good luck!
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My son is going as Charlie brown. At first I didn't think he'd go for it because we tease him and call him chuck since he runs after a football throw with his arms out and head up to the sky (hes actually a really good football player). But he kind of giggled when I suggested it, then got indignant that I was teasing him, but when I told him he has the perfect big round head for me to shave his head and paint the curl on his forehead, make the shirt and be done, he agreed. Lol
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I have a 1st and 3rd grader too. I use this lapbook (free!)
http://marinecorpsnomads.com/2009/02/united-states-lapbook.html
I also found a state workbook in the target dollar spot back in August.
We just recently started using this online software for review (great to be able to select a region instead off all 50 at once)
http://sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm
Hope this helps!
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I completely understand your position, and you have a right to be upset :grouphug:
However, I would look at their relationship with your neice differently. Your sister doesn't sound like she's a very good parent. She acts as though your neice is a burden, and gets rid of her every chance she can. It sounds as though your parents have stepped in to try to make your neice feel wanted by someone. Now, that can be construed as enabling your sister to be a poor mother, but denying your neices needs and desire to feel loved, isn't going to make your sister a better person.
I'd go easy on them that the neice is always around...if however, they always were buying things and spoiling your neice AND your sister was an actively involved normal person, at would be a different story. I think there is a lesson there for your kids that some kids dont have opportunities or caring and involved parents, therefore the grandparents are overcompensating/trying to make up for her mother.
I would try to schedule time where you can get the kids there, even if it's all of you as a family, if that's how you feel.
I on the other hand, have very uninvolved in laws, and I try to keep it that way, since they tend to go overboard and smother all of us if I make the effort. A little is not enough for them.
Good luck and deep breaths.
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I have an 8 year old son (3rd grade)who dislikes the physical act of writing. I sincerely believe he just needs more practice so he doesn't choke the pencil/pen. However copywork is boring torture for him. He does very well with grammar (we are using logic of English at an accelerated pace right now and I have easy grammar 4 to use when we finish LOE around thanksgiving.
I'm looking for a writing program that guides a student into writing well. Grammar and punctuation aren't an issue since he does those well. Most of the programs I've looked at appear to focus on the grammar by mimicking it in well written sentences (copy/dictation)
Is there something out there that teaches how to write well thought out, original pieces? Such as using graphic organizers or outlining, researching and brainstorming ideas, stretching sentences to be rich and meaningful?
Thanks in advance!
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Honestly I wouldn't pick a diet. I'd start by making small changes. It sounds like if you are restricted, you're going to feel overwhelmed. Start small. In the evenings replace the snack with some fruit or veggies. And then work towards eliminating it all together. (this is a hard one for me too). For drinks during the day, drink water or flavored water. Eventually work on cutting out the diet coke. It's a habit that needs to be replaced with another habit.
After you get these things in place, start working on portion size and making better choices with your meals.
I use myfitnesspal to track calories and was blown away how many calories I consumed when I thought it wasn't that bad of a day.
As you do the above changes, try to get some more exercise in. Taking the kids for a walk, playing tag with them, whatever! (another struggle for me personally...never enough time!)
Don't think of it as a diet. Think of it as a lifestyle change to improve your health.
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Ok this is totally disgusting and inappropriate but:
but don't watch it with littles around. My kids t hought it was hilarious.....not sure what that says about me LOL
I nearly died. Seriously. Tears running down my face. This sums up my day. As they were spraying the cat my dog was laying down barking at the air between his ears. I've had a terrible Monday too. After my breakdown, the kids straightened up. The biggest meltdown came with an attempted bike ride. No air in tires, my air pump is missing, daughter refuses to ride without training wheels at 6 (she can do a cartwheel on a freaking four inch wide balance beam!), and the training wheels were loose and moving around. If I don't get some exercise I'm going to explode (more ways than one according to my scale).
So all in all :grouphug: :grouphug:
Hope your day and mine are better tomorrow!
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I needed this post today. I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I was doing a popcorn experiment today trying to see how many kernels out of 10 popped within 20 seconds of the first pop. I ended up with a ball of fire in the popcorn popper when the oil caught fire. Needless to say I threw the popper on the deck because it smelled awful, it's now blackened and I owe my husband a new one. I looked at the kids and said, that's how to start oil on fire....science is over. :tongue_smilie:
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HSBC offered both of the plus and basic at a discount in July? I think. It was about $70 cheaper if I'm not mistaken.
I am holding off for now, but I. The future if I have difficulty finding resources, it's in my mind for a possible resource
Classics Removed from PS Curriculum
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I wasn't a huge fan of classics when I was in high school. I loved to read, but I don't remember loving a single book that I read in school. However,
"Suggested non-fiction texts include Recommended Levels of Insulation by the the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Invasive Plant Inventory, by California's Invasive Plant Council."
Are you kidding me? Invasive plant control and insulation levels? Can we get anymore dry? This is by far the strangest thing about common core I've ever heard. One more reason I will probably homeschool through high school. We were kicking it around to let them return to public school then if they wanted to play sports or have a larger varity of classes. (Small town without many co op type options...but a couple dual-credit college opportunities)