shawthorne44
-
Posts
5,728 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by shawthorne44
-
-
I was thinking about the original post in this thread. I would have been extremely uncomfortable discussing explicit sex in a classroom or group setting. I can not think of any good coming from it.
-
reading the previous post reminded me of what I would do for college reform. Make community colleges free, but no Financial Aid to 4-year colleges until the last two years of college. All the kids that party their way through their freshman year on my dime peeve me.
-
I remember reading my parent's Joy of Sex book in maybe 4th grade. I actually think it was a pretty good idea. Nothing titillating, but lots of facts. Maybe it was another similar book. In 9th or 10th grade I innocently bought a book at a gas station because I needed one for reading time in a particular class, and I'd forgotten my book. It was basically porn with a romance cover. I hadn't liked the teacher for the class, and she would have gone ballistic, so that made it fun. I think the only one that really shocked me was Fanny May read in my 30's. I'd bought a CD of "The 500 best books" on e-book. So, they were all older, copyright-free books. A large part of the shock was that I was expecting something more like Pride and Predice than letters to Penthouse.
-
You might also look into ABCMouse or Starfall. The best part of Starfall (in my opinion) is the free part with the letters. ABCMouse has a variety. I think with the codes you can get about 2 months of Reading Eggs for free.
You could try a bunch of the free trials, and then see which one she asks for you've tried them all.
Although 3 hours of computer time is a lot. You could also have one of the free printable preschool curriculum off the internet.
-
I think one problem with the suggestion of parents having direct control/input into schools is that parents come and parents go. The admin will just have to treat each suggestion by the parents as new and innovative. Assign a committee to it, and delay until those parents are gone because their kids have moved on to the next level. Any parent with enough kids to stick around would be labeled a troublemaker. For the last 10-ish years that my dad worked, he had what we called Musical Managers. None lasted longer than 1.5 years. None was around for long enough to have any impact. Dad just did his thing, kept his nose clean and nodded his head when his boss talked about long-term changes. I can totally see admin doing the same thing.
Although with vouchers, the parents have control, but it is indirect. Parents will naturally group by what they want in a school and they will send their kids to that school.
I would love to see tracking, and more of it than when I was a kid. I remember the middle of 3rd grade when we moved to Texas. I literally did not learn anything for the rest of elementary, except for the dictionary pronunciation guide. When they tested me I bombed that because I'd never been taught that, so they put me with the buzzards. Then they would not consider moving me. Tracking should be more like the English soccer leagues. Some students moving up and some moving down every summer.
I also don't like the idea that teachers can do whatever they want. I would be OK with lots of freedom as long as certain things are being taught. My entire grammar education was 1) early elementary nouns, verbs etc. 2) Diagramming in 10th grade which was very helpful 3) reading Strunk and White on my own in college. I remember once in late high school asking a friend of mine in the honors English track on the a/an rule.
Speaking of which, the History textbooks should be taught completely even if they have to make them smaller. I understand that there will be knowledge gaps. But pre-programming large gaps into education is just nuts. -
I think this is the basis of my problem with the book. It is taken from a previous thread which itself was quoting what Morrison was trying to do.
"Morrison was trying to relieve readers of the shock of such a deed early so that they could see beauty under the surface. She wasn't trying to justify anything, merely to allow readers to look at what happens in a different way, to get them to realize that it isn't so simple as they would like to think. The world isn't black and white as many would like to think."
I would not have had a problem with the book if it was from the perspective of the child. With all the horror left in. Some things are black and white. Evil exists. Period. Some things ARE simple. Some acts don't deserve compassion. Some people deserve to die. I don't want to see life from the perspective of a sick-o. I don't want my DD seeing life from the perspective of a sick-o.
-
What do we do? Own too many. Probably not the answer you were hoping for. We have the picture books from my childhood, Sonlight's P3/4 and P4/5. Many garage sale books. The quantity of garage sale books is partly do to the fact that I shop with DD which means I usually can't leisurely look at them all, so I'll say "how much for this milk crate of books?" The answer is usually $5. I love a sale. We also bought a bunch at the Friends of the library sale. During the year I buy the big nice hardcover books for $0.75, and once a year $10 buys anything you can fit in a brown grocery stack. I've only sought out two books in particular. Madeleine because the collection version was hard to read, and Boynton's Belly Button book because my DH requested it. We also use the library. DD picks out books that have a lot of pink in the cover.
-
As another fast reader, I don't think it has ever harmed me. I remember the only time I had trouble were in College Lit. class I missed some of the who said "blah-blah" questions. Even then, I did so good in the class my prof. gave me an incomplete in the class. I was confused. But, before I could go to her office I ran into her at the grocery store. She was a little embarrassed and then she said that the incomplete bubble was the beyond the bubble for A and that I deserved better than a A. Pretty good for a Physics major.
-
I love the ones from Costco. The big clear ones with the lid on hinges. I think it is important to be able to always more more of exactly the same. That way they stack without a problem.
We switched from a tank to a tankless water heater. I was able to put 8 of those tubs where the tank had been. So, wonderful. I put rarely used stuff in there.
-
We haven't bought it yet, but I've been eying that type of hardwood floor floor with the epoxy in it. Commercial grade. The house quantities seem reasonably priced. The engineer in me thinks it is cool. They basically suck all the sap and moister out of the wood, replace it with epoxy and then bake.
I would think that in California you could go to Mexico and get whatever you need.
-
I read the title and thought that the professor was complaining about narration and diagramming. So I had to read to see what possible complaint there could be. Good to see it was the opposite.
-
Keep in mind that my knee jerk answer/reaction was "Why?"
Evil_mommy would probably assign the first book in some of those series and then have the next in the series sitting around innocently.
Also, you have I, Robot and the Foundation trilogy on two different lines. The robot series and the foundation series actually became one long series. At the end of his life, Asimov wrote a suggested reading order list that was basically chrological for the stories not as they were written. I regret reading the foundation series before the robot series.
Also, Audible's Ender's Game series is my absolute favorite audio book. The narrator changes according to whose perspective in the story.
-
Speaking of Amazon Prime, I don't have it but the free Super Saver Shipping seems to ship as if I did.
They use the 2-day tape on the box, and I've always gotten it within two days. I guess so many people have prime, it isn't worth using the other tape. Then the shippers give it priority because of the tape.
I am cheap enough, that I can be patient if the shipping is free, so it amuses me when it gets to me fast.
I also suspect my city has a larger than normal percentage of people that frequently order from Amazon and have prime.
-
I think the free portion of Starfall is by far the best part.
-
Interesting! I wonder how all these different structures came into being.
Our town has recently changed from "junior high" (7-8) to "middle school" (5-8).
I know in our area it is to socially protect the 9th graders from the seniors. I was glad of it. High school kids are so predatory.
9th grade still goes on your high school transcript.
I've heard of some movement some places to have 9th grade as it's own school. I haven't paid attention since P.S. is not an option for us.
-
I was actually just reminded of something I realized in college. There is continuum from theoretical math to repairing things. I noticed that each of the majors I was interested in had an applied and a theoretical side. In math, some people would make up some rules and then see what the results were. They were what I call theoretical math. Then there were the people that only cared about real-world math. Those people were basically the same as the theoretical physics people. Then you had your applied physics, which was the same stuff as research engineering. Then regular engineering, then people who can repair things. It is just a matter of how much math vs. how much ... practical.
So, back to the original post about kids playing with legos maybe not necessarily being good engineers. It could be that they might find happiness somewhere on the continuum, but who knows where. My husband is probably the biggest Lego nut that doesn't make money from it. He started when his mother made his brother give DH the brother's legos and he didn't stop until we had DD and they were a choking hazard. He is waaaayyyyy on the theoretical physics side of things.
-
I am surprised no one has mentioned potassium. That is what takes care of it for me. I used to really struggle to get in enough, because there is only so many bananas a person can eat. Then I noticed that the Emergen-C packets have 6% of RDA for potassium. Plus it is a multi-vitamin. I don't take them everyday. But, when my legs start to get a little twitchy I will take two packets.
It takes a few hours to work, so if I wait too long stretching my Achilles tendon helps some. It is like a calf stretch but you bend your knee too.
-
I installed IKEA kitchen cabinets myself. In fact, while I was getting my Masters I needed a job for spare money and an IKEA opened in town. I applied and I was only interested in Kitchens because I loved them so much. I think that they are far easier to install than other cabinets.
For the upper cabinets they have this really cool hanging bar. It is metal and your job is to securely attach it to your wall and have it be level and as long as the upper cabinets. After that it is just a matter of hanging the cabinets on the bar. You can even hang them someplace convenient for you to attach and then slide them into position.
This differs slightly from the photo directions (because it is more detailed.
- Put the boxes together
- Install the door hardware to the box. For the one that is farther away attach it tightly and as in the middle as you can eyeball. For the other hardware attach it with wiggle room.
- Once the boxes are hung you will be putting bolts between the boxes to secure them together. For this you will need one hole to be drilled through on both sides. You want this to be a hole that you won't want to hang a shelf on. I liked the hole that is just above the bottom. Drill through this hole before hanging the boxes.
- Attach the hanging bar.
- Hang the boxes and bolt them together as you go.
- Start putting your stuff in the cabinet starting from the bottom (most used)
- When the bottom shelf is full install a shelf a little above that. (I bought extra shelves. It maximizes the use of your space). For example, I have a "baking cabinet" that has four shelves installed in it.
- Install the doors. This is when only completely securing one of the hardwares will come in handy. The one will make your doors be installed at basically the same height. But, leaving the others loose allow them to wiggle into a matching position.
- screw down the other door hardwares.
Another advantage to installing the kitchen myself is that I was never without a kitchen. I have a galley kitchen so left and right sides and upper and lower. I did one section at a time and I was able to put most of the things I pulled out of the cabinets onto the kitchen table.
We gutted an old house and are remodeling it. We paid cash for this house, so we aren't exactly liquid at the moment. We plan on installing the boxes and drawer fronts (which are required for function) and then buying the doors in a few months.
-
Engineers are a diverse lot. Some are amazingly detail-oriented; some are big-picture people.
Give your kid the best education you can. Expose him to all kinds of things. He'll figure out his direction over time! He needs a strong math background, but that is the only "need" of future STEM majors in high school.
(My dd1 is now getting her Ph.D. in engineering. She applied to college as a history major, despite my husband's lament that her going into history was depriving the world of a great engineer. She had her epiphany when she was 20! Kids have a way of sorting all this out, with or despite our best efforts!)
That was sort of me. My parents wanted me to study engineering, and I rebelled and got a Physics degree. Although to be honest I kept drifting more and more into the Applied side of things during college. Then I got an engineering job and Masters in Engineering.
-
I will second the problem solving part. I see it as puzzles.
Speaking of puzzles, I've never met a good engineer who didn't vastly prefer logic puzzles over crossword puzzles.
-
I really liked the Michel Thomas CD's. Interesting history on the guy that is worth reading. I bought the CD's cheap online, but I'd checked them out from the library first. He will relate German to English and give you a rule, and then have you guess the German. For example, in CD1 he explains that many consonants shift. The English T because a German S. Then he says that German verbs have 'en at the end. So, what is the German word for Eat? ... Essen.
I am a complete and total dunce when it comes to languages. I am a very smart person, but in languages I learned humility. I think that area of the brain is dead, or being used for something else. The CD's were able to teach me. I also have no ear for nuances in pronunciation. But, I had to deliberately insert an American accent into my German, otherwise the Germans would spout a slew of fast German at me thinking I might understand it. Made me feel a bit like a liar when they did that. I worked in the U.S. for a German company and spent a few weeks a year there. I needed about the first 5 CD's to grasp enough German to function away from work. I still hate languages so I dropped it when I got Good Enough. One thing interesting was that I mixed the languages when I was traumatized by a car accident. I never would have thought I'd know enough of another language to mix them.
-
If families don't even bother to apply in the first place, they will never know what financial aid they might receive.
I am selfishly happy that many don't bother. It means more money for those that do.
-
My personal opinion is that it is kids that have difficulty learning in the normal way. But that learn well and quickly and beyond when either left to their own devices or merely exposed to the what needs to be learned. I would tie Bright to academic achievement, but not gifted. I am in Mensa, and in causal conversations with fellow members about half were labeled dim or put in the slow classes at some point during school. (One of my motivators for homeschooling) In fact, I thought it was interesting that the youngest Mensan ever admitted (it was a year-ish ago) was IQ tested because the doctor kept calling her slow and delayed.
-
When it comes time for that, I plan on getting that CD for making your own worksheets. StartWrite (?)
I really like the idea of her dictating what she wants to write, then it turning into a worksheet. My parents are waiting with bated breath for their first letter.
Anyone move from urban to rural and NOT regret it?
in The Chat Board
Posted
I will be following this thread. We will be soon making a similar move. I have always lived in a suburb. One-way streets, and strangers sharing my walls freak me out a bit. But, until recently I never considered rural. I work in what I what I sometimes call NorthEast Civilization (i.e. heavily developed). We bought a house 25 minutes east in a town of 3000. We will have one acre on Main Street.
I am really excited about the move. My husband gutted the house and is remodeling it on weekends. We love the house and the elbow room. People seem nice, the area has a good Feel. My one worry is social. My mother has always bad-mouthed small towns. Mom and Dad eloped over the objection of both sets of parents and when Dad was drafted Mom lived with Dad's parents in their small town. Everyone was QUITE certain that mom was pregnant at the wedding (eloped=pregnant), and she got a lot of significant looks at her belly and the cold shoulder. When I was 9 at a funeral I had some of them insisted I was older than I really was, or that I was lieing about being an only child. Even decades later my aunt got a call from someone in the town saying that I'd gotten divorced. Aunt said No I hadn't. Busy-body said "She is probably too ashamed to tell you" Aunt said, "But I would know if she was married" (This was pre-DH) Turns out it was my Grandmother's Sister's Grandson, and they were from the accepted branch of the family. My main social concern is to find some good friends from the start as armour in case of gossip. And a nice church. My denomination isn't there.