Yes, often. And a lot of people vape. Vaping seems to be what the younger crowd is moving toward around here.

I think they are still pretty middle of the road. I can only compare to Singapore or Math Mammoth as I think those are the only other curricula I have taught 2nd and 3rd grade. Singapore is definitely more challenging than MWC and moves at a faster pace. MM seems like it coveres more topics than MWC, which is actually something I like about MWC, I think she hits fewer topics, but covers them in more depth. By the end of 2nd in MWC, we were solid on addition and subtraction, place value to the thousands, mental math for addition and subtraction, time to the minute, counting money. We had an introduction to fractions, arrays, skip counting patterns, geometry and measurement. 3rd grade so far has focused a lot on multiplication, more fraction work, more word problems. I know she is planning on teaching division and going into more depth on the concepts from 2nd. 2nd grade is just as hands on and parent intensive as first. I feel like the lessons are still pretty short though for 2nd, I think we averaged about 20 minutes per lesson. She has made some changes to make 3rd a little bit more independent and have fewer moving parts, but there is definitely still parent teaching time every lesson. We average about 15 minutes of parent directed time and about 15 minutes independent review time.

Welcome! I will start and hope that someone else with more information will chime in. I did not use the K or 1 levels of MWC, but I have pilot tested 2 and am currently testing 3 with my daughter. I am a big fan of Kate Snow's work. I first used her preschool curriculum, and later used her Facts That Stick books, which I love! From what I have seen of the K curriculum, it is very hands on and fun. She says herself that the MWC curriculum is "middle of the road" as far as difficulty level. From what I have read from those who use the K level, it's pretty gentle, a lot of kids breeze through it. I will say from using grades 2 and 3 that I feel like the curriculum does a very good job of building a solid foundation of number sense and mental math skills. I love that it is a 4 day a week curriculum with optional enrichment lessons. I love the picture books incorporated with the lessons. I love that there is constant review so that topics are not forgotten. There is a Facebook group called math with confidence community if you want to check it out.

They don't put out a lot of light, they do flicker, I think they look ok. They are real wax, they get a little dusty, I just use a cloth to wipe them out once in a while. I do add greenery or christmas bulbs or other holiday decor to dress it up. These are the candles I have: Vinkor Flameless Candles Battery Operated Candles 4" 5" 6" 7" 8" 9" Set of 9 Ivory Real Wax Pillar LED Candles with 10-Key Remote and Cycling 24 Hours Timer https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07D266SGW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apan_glt_fabc_ZKD57HWAFRN5QQEEBZKH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

We have had this candle holder thing for years, I think it came from Costco. Last year I bought these battery operated candles and I do enjoy turning them on in the winter.

No, my dress was at my parents' house which burned down in a wildfire about a year after we were married. When my mom called me and told me the house had burned, the first thing she said was that my wedding dress was lost in the fire. I didn't care in the least, but I felt bad that my mom felt so bad about it. Honestly, it has saved me from having to move it, store it, or figure out what to do with it.

@Sarah0000 they are available on Singapore's website under supplementary math: https://shop.singaporemath.com/index.php/product/process-skills-level-5/

I personally think skipping the textbook review is fine, the workbook reviews are generally lengthy and offer a solid review and show any weak points. Just a heads up for Dimensions 7, if I remember correctly, they move to more copying of problems than working in a workbook format.

Daily. I received two "potential exposure" emails this week from DD's high school, but I think they send it to everyone in the school because there are only 3 positive cases in her school of over 2000 kids. Some of the elementary schools are at about 15 cases though.

DD told me today that one of her teachers is home for 10 days being quarantined. Our district is doing rapid testing for those exposed, so either she tested positive or refused to test, not sure which. I believe our governor announced today that teachers either must be vaccinated or test 2x per week. DD said at least 2 kids have tested positive (today was day 3 of school), I just imagine this being such a logistical nightmare for the entire school year.

My two older kids started on Monday, we are in California. The COVID numbers are going up, but so far at least, the schools have been pretty strict about masking. It is required indoors, but optional outdoors, however, I have seen everyone wearing masks even outdoors. My kids are both vaccinated, so I am not super concerned. I know they could still get COVID, but we don't have any health concerns at home, and everyone who is old enough in my home is vaccinated. Oldest DD told me that most of the members of the football team have been quarantined either due to a positive COVID test or exposure, so I do wonder how disrupted the school year will be. Our schools have been closed since March of 2020, and I feel the benefit of them being in school in person far outweigh the risks (for our family).

We live in a suburban neighborhood with houses selling that are similar to ours. Zillow values our house about 50K higher than Realtor.com and from what I've seen, Zillow's estimate is much closer to what selling prices are around me right now.

I buy swimsuits for the kids from Costco each year, if you get them when they first show up they are around $12 for Speedo brand. I like to buy our dairy products there: milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, heavy cream. Bread is a good price. Snack items for the kids: granola bars, fruit snacks, crackers, etc.

We bought a memory foam mattress from Costco a couple months ago, we are happy with it. https://www.costco.com/comfort-tech-10"-serene-foam-mattress.product.100424711.html

I have experienced this too. It's hard to find a good, trustworthy dentist! I took one of my kids to a pediatric dentist when she was 3 after she fell and damaged a tooth. After the initial damage was corrected, he wanted to see her every 6 months. So I took her in and he told me she had 8 cavities he wanted to treat. I said no, waited 6 more months and took her to our family dentist who told me she had no cavities. When I told him what the other dentist said he told me that she probably had spots on her teeth that might become cavities, but he didn't like to treat baby teeth unless they were causing pain or bad enough that they would become painful before they would fall out on their own. She ended up needing 1 filling a couple years ago and has 1 tooth they are watching, but are pretty sure she will loose soon. All that to say, I think some dentists want to fix everything, whether due to greed or just wanting perfection, while others seem to take a more wait and see approach. I prefer the latter. I love our dentist, but he is older and will probably retire soon. I dread looking for a new one.

I don't know if this will work for you, but the only thing that has helped me to sleep well for in the last 10 years or so is to get up by 6 am and go for at least a 5 mile walk. Every day. I was doing really well with this until it got too hot last summer, then school started again and I fell out of my routine, but when I was consistent I at least slept soundly every night.

Yes to all of this.

Giving the specific details of how, why, and for how long, you use the poker chips. I think from your past posts about poker chips, I had always assumed they had denominations on them, and I thought, ok, I'm doing that already. I use base 10 blocks, or Singapore's place value disks or whatever, but by explaining that the chips have no significance until you tell the students their value, that to me is what is different from what I am doing. I see that you are not saying one must use poker chips, but I do find it helpful to list one specific tool and how you have successfully used it. I guess the one other thing I would want to know is how or when you transition from chips to numbers. In other words, do you tell the kids that these chips in front of you have a value of 524 at some point? Do they figure it out themselves? Or is it from day 1? Sorry, I feel like neither my question or response is very clear.

Ok, this is helpful. Thank you.

I don't understand this, can you give an example? Thank you for taking the time to explain.

Your blog post says: "So what can we do? We can present them with tools that let them explore the immediate consequences of the mental model itself." What does that look like exactly? What tools are you presenting? I know in past posts you have discussed using poker chips. Is this the only manipulative you use? How does that look exactly? Do you use them for building numbers? So do you have a child make the number 5,784 with poker chips and then... ? Do you use anything besides poker chips? Am I completely off base in thinking that you are even referring to using some sort of manipulative to teach? It is interesting because my DD who is my strongest math student really does seem able to visualize a lot of math, which gives her a deeper understanding of what is happening and allows her to solve problems in creative, yet accurate, ways. Using a 10-frame was a big help for her as well as base 10 blocks. However, despite using the same methods for my younger DD, she does not seem to visualize as easily. The tools are all available to her, but it doesn't seem to "click" the same way. I just put it down to different brains working differently, but maybe I am simply presenting the material incorrectly.

I went to the grocery store just a few days after our mask mandate was lifted for vaccinated people. I saw only one person without a mask in the busy store (so probably 99% were masking). However, I saw several with their mask under their nose, I found that really odd. Why wear it at all if you're going to wear it wrong?

I saw a show or YouTube video where they used a rolling wire shelf in a deep, but narrow closet like you have to make it more functional. It could be rolled out to access the items as needed. You'd obviously have to measure, but maybe something like this:

I agree!

You might look at Kate Snow's Math With Confidence. The program is fully scripted and a mix of mastery teaching with spiral review built in. The lessons are hands-on and playful, the workbook is colorful, and the lessons are short. I believe you can find a sample of unit 1 for grade 1 on The Well Trained Mind website.