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Gwenny

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Posts posted by Gwenny

  1. I'm currently giving my Kindergarten son the CAT5 complete battery level 10 test and it seems too hard for his grade.  I've used the CAT test for both of my older children from K-8 grades and always found the test very easy.  There are sections of this test that my youngest is finding very difficult to answer.  At the end of K, he reads CVC words and some 4 letter words well, but the test words are quite a bit more difficult.  He is unable to read words on this test like please, people, white, picture, afraid, would.  It also asks the child to read senteces like, "Mother Bear is waiting for Baby Bear."  Do these seem difficult, or have 6 year olds become much smarter in the 10 years that I last administered this test?

  2. I just ordered the Key to Algebra series for my daughter but have yet to receive it.  She's a 9th grader in public school this year and is not doing well at all in algebra and I'm hoping this will help her.  They have no text book, only handouts, and that method is not working for her.  She has a strong foundation in math and used many years of CLE, but as soon as a problem has a letter in it, she assumes she can't solve it. 

     

    - How long does it take to get through the series, assuming it's worked on daily (including weekends)?  I'd really love for her to get ahead of where they are teaching in school so that what the teacher goes over is just review or more in depth on a topic she at least has some familiarity with.  She does not seem to grasp ANY of the math when it is gone over in class.  Only when she comes home and then works on it with me does she seem to understand it at all.  It's almost like she wasn't even in class.  I think she figures it's too hard, and just zones out.  

     

    - Can they be used out of order?  I have a college Algebra book that I'm using to catch myself up on Algebra, but her teacher seems to have a very scattered approach to what topics he teaches.  One week they are doing what I'd expect for the beginning of algebra, and the next they are on topics not touched on until the end of the book I'm using.  Right now they are doing radicals and it looks like that isn't until a later Key to Algebra book.  Can I skip around, or they build on one another?

     

    I'm hoping she'll want to homeschool again next year, because I feel like I still am.

     

     

  3. When you recieve a birth announcement, do you feel like you have to send a gift?  Does it appear that your fishing for presents when sending one?  I'm due in a couple of weeks and thought it might be nice to send out announcements.  Especially since we moved a couple years ago and friends and family are further away.  I don't need any baby presents and I don't want to look greedy by sending them out. 

     

    I loving receiving birth announcements, but I recently heard that some find them tacky.  I've not received many myself, but I've never sent a gift as a result.  Mostly because I attended the shower as well and thought it redundant to give another.

  4.  

    (I secretly hope that the children who were easy sleepers end up having some much worse difficulty as teenagers. OK, very misanthropic of me, I confess lots of sleep jealousy. As I type this, DD5 just woke up...)

    Ah, this has been my fervent hope as well!  Every time I see a baby sitting in a stroller or car seat looking around, babbling, and happy, I get jealous.  Mine never babbled or cooed.  I adore my kids, but they were the most contrary infants. 

     

    I keep hearing about these rock and plays.  Maybe I'll start with that and save the crib for later if the baby seems to be transferrable.  I did have luck getting my first two transferred to a swing once nursed, shushed, and swaddled.

    • Like 1
  5. I need some crib alternative ideas.  I'm on my third baby, due in Oct., and I can't decide whether or not to buy a crib.  With my first two, I rarely used the crib.  I have no clue how people get a baby in the crib without them waking up and crying.  After trying hundreds of times with the two of them, I think it's safe to say I lack this skill.  What I did for them, was put the crib mattress on the floor next to my queen mattress that was also on the floor.  Then I could nurse the baby to sleep and slide away (usually).  This time around, however, I don't want to sleep on the floor. 

     

    Maybe I just had bad luck with the first two and this one will sleep in the crib?  I've considered attaching the crib like a side-car.  But with the crib attached to the left side of the bed, what do I do when she nurses on my other side?  I could put a bed rail up on the other side, but that doesn't seem the safest with a young baby.  I'm all for co-sleeping, but I worry about baby sleeping in the bed when I'm not in there.  How do co-sleepers handle naps?  What if he wakes without me hearing and crawls or rolls over the edge?

     

    I know this all seems stupid coming from someone expecting their 3rd baby, but I really don't know how to get a baby to sleep.  The ONLY way I ever got my first two to sleep was by nursing or bouncing on the birthing ball.  They NEVER feel asleep on their own and spent the first year of life crying unless they were nursing.  I have the babies that are never content and nobody ever asks to hold. 

     

    Maybe I ought to be asking for book recommendations instead?  Any books on how to transfer sleeping babies to cribs?  Or how to get an awake baby to fall asleep in a crib?  I won't let the baby cry, so don't recommend any that suggest it.  I already read The Happiest Baby on the Block and it's the only way I survived the first year.

     

    Thanks!

  6. I too have a sleepwalker that had opened the door in a hotel room and started walking down the hall.  He's also opened the front door of house and walked out.  The simplest thing we found was to install a simple hook and eye bolt high up on the door.  The type that you have to slide a little metal piece over before lifting the hook (sorry I'm not describing it well).  It's tricky even for adults and there's no way my son could open it. 

     

    We have found the sleepwalking to be much less frequent as he has gotten older and going to bed with an empty bladder seems to help a great deal in his case.

  7. I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old and am expecting a new baby.  After talking to another mother today at the park with kids a similar age, and hearing how terrible it was to have a new baby, I need to hear some good things about starting back over with another baby at this point. 

     

    When I was expecting my first two kids, I heard mostly positive comments.  Now that I'm old (38) and have much older kids, I hear so much negative!  Everyone feels the need to share the horrible things that happened to their friends and relatives when they had kids at my age.  You'd think I was nearly in the grave. 

     

    Here I was thinking it would be great to have a little one again, and everyone keeps trying to burst my bubble.  Surely it can't be all bad?

  8. I am right there with you!  There are things in my son's 2nd and 3rd grade math that have been new to me!  I don't know what I was doing during 12 + years of math education, but I obviously wasn't paying attention.  I didn't even have my math facts memorized until I had to drill my dd on them.  Like you, I'd be embarrassed and try to hide my inability to do simple mental calculations.

     

    I always do math lessons with my kids because a lot of it, I'm learning, too.  If I sent them off to do it alone, I would get left behind.  When my dd started 3rd grade, I used Strayer-Upton for her.  I was sick of feeling stupid and having her come up with the answers faster than me, so I went ahead and worked through the book myself at night.  Being an adult, I was able to finish up the book fairly quickly, and have learned more than I ever learned in school.  When we reached the second Strayer-Upton book, I again started to work through it, but didn't finish it.  I regretted that and am now working through it and then plan on starting the third book.  Next, I have an algebra book on deck that I am quickly running out of time to finish before she gets there.

     

    I really love the Strayer-Upton books because they are 3 compact and inexpensive little books that cover all you need to know about arithmetic.  It focuses quite a bit on mental math, and I no longer feel like a fool figuring out a tip, or how best to divide a group of kids into groups. 

    • Like 2
  9. Is it possible to sprain your ankle after a fall, walk on it with little to no pain for several hours, and then have it begin hurting?  At noon, I looked out the window and saw chicken feathers strewn across the yard.  Knowing a chicken was at risk or dead, I rushed outside in slippers, slipping down the deck stairs.  I got right up and began inspecting the yard.  Finding no sign of the chicken, I searched the woods, feed the chickens, cleaned the coop, and took the compost out with no problems.  One toe on the other foot did hurt and is bruised, but I still walked easily on it.  In an attempt to cheer my son up (it was his chicken), I took the kids out shopping to 2 stores.  After the drive home (25min), my ankle had stiffened up.  By dinner time it hurt pretty bad, but I could walk on it.  Now I can't put weight on it all.  I don't understand, it's barely swollen with no bruising.

     

    Can a sprained ankle do that?

  10. Here is the grading scale from our local high school.

     

     

     

    Letter Grade: A+     Numerical Equivalent: 100-97     GPA Equivalent: 4.3

     

    Letter Grade: A       Numerical Equivalent:  96-93      GPA Equivalent: 4.0

     

    Letter Grade: A-      Numerical Equivalent:  92-90      GPA Equivalent: 3.7

     

    Letter Grade: B+     Numerical Equivalent:  89-87      GPA Equivalent: 3.3

     

    Letter Grade: B       Numerical Equivalent:  86-83      GPA Equivalent: 3.0

     

    Letter Grade: B-      Numerical Equivalent:  82-80      GPA Equivalent: 2.7

     

    Letter Grade: C+     Numerical Equivalent:  79-77      GPA Equivalent: 2.3

     

    Letter Grade: C       Numerical Equivalent:  76-73      GPA Equivalent: 2.0

     

    Letter Grade: C-      Numerical Equivalent:  72-70      GPA Equivalent: 1.7

     

    Letter Grade: D+     Numerical Equivalent:  69-67      GPA Equivalent: 1.3

     

    Letter Grade: D       Numerical Equivalent:  66-63      GPA Equivalent: 1.0

     

    Letter Grade: D-      Numerical Equivalent:  62-60      GPA Equivalent: 0.7

     

    Letter Grade: F       Numerical Equivalent:   59-0        GPA Equivalent: 0

    Now that's just confusing!  I think our high school may have something similar, though.  It's nice that it differentiates between a high A and low A, but the 4.3 thing is a little odd.  Back in the old days, we only could get greater than 4.0 on honors or AP classes.  It doesn't seem right to be getting 4.3 for PE or typing.

     

    It's all becoming clear now how so many kids graduate with such high GPA's.  I was thinking maybe there was just an increased focus on academics.  But it looks like changes in grading may have more to do with it. 

     

    On television you often see funny clips where they interview students at some well-known schools, and the kids don't know who the vice-president is or some other basic facts.  Now I'm catching on.

    • Like 2
  11. Looking at my high school transcript from 1995, this was the grading scale:

     

    A= 95-100

    B= 87-94

    C= 78-86

    D= 70-77

    F= below 70

     

    Now, schools here use this:

     

    A= 90-100

    B= 80-89

    C= 70-79

    D= 60-69

    F= below 60

     

    I've been using the one on top all these years for my kids.  It could explain why my kids don't make A's.  Well, that and the fact that they hate school :).

     

    Is this relaxed grading scale now common across the nation?  I've wondered how so many kids now have straight A's.  In my high school, only 2-4 students made straight A's each semester out of a class of 400.  Looking at the high school in my county, there must be at least 50 with straight A's.

    • Like 1
  12. I was hoping for a unanimous decision one way or the other!  It seems part of the problem is that they are not complete sentences. 

     

    How about if it were stated, "Here is a picture of Mary and I at last night's opera."  I'd use "me".

     

    Also, "The other kids can't make it.  It will just be Mary and I."  Again, I'd use "me". This is the one that trips me up most.  I can imagine my mother saying "I" and she knew grammar well.

    • Like 1
  13. When labeling a picture (usually on Facebook), "Mary and I at the opera". 

     

    When signing up for an event, "Just Mary and I".

     

    I think this is wrong, but I see it so often I now doubt myself.  Especially since it's from people with far more degrees than I have.  I'd use me for both of them, but then again I've only made it into R&S 6.

     

    Is it that I've seen it wrong so many times that the right way sounds wrong?

     

     

  14. You're all going to hate me for this, but ...

     

    STEM/STEAM everything. 

     

    EVERY enrichment class does not need to be STEM related!  And not only that, they are almost always heavy on the engineering.  I have kids that don't care a fig about technology, engineering, or mathematics and I'm sick of everyone trying to force all children into STEM this and that. 

     

    Go ahead and hate me now.

    • Like 35
  15. I'm sure this has been asked many times over, but what are the essential skills that should be in place before starting high school?  My dd is only in 7th, but high school is getting closer, and I'm starting to worry more and more about it. 

     

    My dd has expressed an interest in taking a couple of classes at the high school (foreign language, lab sciences) and I want to be sure she can keep up.  With the exception of the end of year test (CAT), she has never really taken tests.  Despite doing well on this every year, she has EXTREME test anxiety and ends in tears every single year.  I'd love any ideas on test preparation or dealing with test anxiety. 

     

    Writing is my other major concern.  She did WWE 1-4 followed by R&S 5-6 (still finishing 6).  While writing comes naturally to her, she's never written a report or essay in her life.  I think she did 1 book report.  Assuming I have her use the skills introduced in R&S across history and science, will the composition lessons in R&S 6-8 be enough to get her up to speed?  Until now, we've done tons of reading, but I have required very little output from her.  I know in school, a good deal of written work is required.   

     

    What about study skills?  I've seen the Great Courses' How to be a Super Star Student (I think that's the title) mentioned on here.  Is that worth working on?  Should it be started in 8th or beginning of 9th?  Does it cover note taking?  That's yet another thing she's never done.  So is studying for that matter.  It sounds silly, but I don't know how to teach studying. 

     

    For science in particular, what should we be working on?  We read interesting science books, do experiments every week, and write a "what we did" page and leave it at that.  Once again, lots of reading and experimenting, but little written down.

     

    The more I type, the more I realize I've failed to teach her.  It probably sounds like we've done nothing all these years, but I promise we have.  She has read tons of books on many different topics.  I hope that counts for something:)

    • Like 1
  16. Katilac, I believe she is referring to R&S grammar, not math.  In my opinion, R&S grammar is very thorough, so I can see doing a level or more behind.  Most of R&S 6 is completely new to me.

     

    My problem is that I'm also using R&S for the writing.  I don't really mind her being behind in the grammar portion of the text, but I do mind her being behind in the writing portion.  I've plotted out the lessons, and I have figured that if we do a lesson each school day, we should be back on track by 9th grade. 

     

    By skipping quizzes and tests, we should also get caught back up in CLE math by 9th grade as well.  When we get to CLE 800, we'll decide whether or not she needs to complete that level, or perhaps do it in a condensed fashion to start algebra before 9th.

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