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Alice

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Everything posted by Alice

  1. Have your students who are interested in Math taken the SAT Subject Test? And is there any reason to take both Test 1 and Test 2?
  2. I agree that she should be seen ASAP and I would do an MRI. Your family doc can order an MRI. The sticking point around here is that it can be hard to get one quickly if the kid needs sedation. At your daughter’s age, she might need sedation just because it’s hard for that age to hold still for a long time and it’s scary. But even then we can usually call and push to get one done soon if we think it needs to be. A CT is a quicker option because no sedation but it is not 100% for tumors. You can miss posterior fossa tumors on a CT. So a CT can help, but an MRI is preferable. I agree that if you cannot get your doc to see you earlier and order a test, then going into the ER is an option. Even if you don’t get a test done then, often they will set you up with a follow up appointment with a neurologist and that might be quicker than you would get on your own. But really this is something your doctor should do for you...order the test and call a new neurologist to get you her in ASAP. I would say also that it most likely is NOT a tumor...and there are lots of other tests I can think of doing. But the most crucial thing to rule out would be tumor or something structural and I would do that before thinking about testing for things like PANDAS.
  3. :lol: I am seriously disappointed that I was a Biology major and never had a professor show that to us in class.
  4. Dh went to Yale and always says that he felt like he didn't work very hard once he got there. The attitude was sort of "if you are here, you deserve to be here." He worked really hard in high school but then felt like college was fairly easy. That was of course about 1000 years ago, so maybe it's changed. I do know he has a bunch of friends from college whose kids are there now and have said the same thing about it now. He did say that you do have to be comfortable being around people who are elite...both financially, socially, academically, etc. He was from Indiana and a first-generation Chinese-American. The socioeconomic differences were much more of an issue for him than academics. He is now the most "unconcerned with other people" person I've ever met. In the sense that he really does not compare himself to others ever. That might be partially from personality and partially from the trial by fire of being put in a situation where he either felt inferior or just decided it didn't matter.
  5. You can kind of do anything with chicken and the crockpot. Put chicken in, add some kind of sauce. Then make your sides separate. Budget Bytes has a good salsa verde chicken we make a lot. It’s basically chicken with a jar of salsa verde (and some other spices but those could probably be left off). You could use BBQ sauce or some other store bought sauce to make it super easy. One of my favorites is a curry with coconut milk. It’s basically chicken, coconut milk and spices or a good curry powder. Budget Bytes is probably my favorite recipe source, although she does also like one pot meals. But I find that her recipes are easy and almost uniformly good. I do meatloaf in the crockpot. I don’t have a specific recipe, but if you Google it you can find a bunch that are good. Meatballs are also good and can be used with pasta or for sandwiches. I make Lentil Tacos in the crockpot. It’s basically the filling and then you use it instead of meat in tacos.
  6. For our first we both made lists separately. Then we compared lists and crossed off the ones that were no’s (veto power). I crossed off a lot more because he put things like Bono. Then we looked at the names that were on both lists. There were only three names for boys that were on both lists, if I remember correctly. We talked about those and there was a clear favorite that we both agreed on. For the other two, I thought of the names but he liked them. I would say we named them together, although technically the suggestions were initially mine. We had kind of the opposite problem from a lot of people. Dh has a very uncommon name. Everyone would recognize it but no one has it anymore. He loves having an uncommon name so he really wanted the kid’s names to be similarly uncommon. We didn’t totally succeed at that, especially with our daughter. But it automatically ruled out a lot of names.
  7. We haven’t done that book but do use AOPS. We’ve done Pre-Algebra, Intro Algebra, Intro C&P and now are in Geometry. I don’t consider that I teach it at all. It seems designed to be self-taught and I think that’s why it works so well for the right kind of kid (not meaning a kid who is necessarily super smart but one who learns in a particular way). Ds does it all pretty much on his own. I check his work and then have him go back over problems he missed. If he can’t figure out why, I’ll get out the solutions guide and try and help him. If I can’t, I usually find that if I read him the first sentence or two of the solution he will realize how to do the rest. I then have him read the solutions guide himself to see how they did it. Almost always he figures it out with minimal assistance from me. I love AOPS and consider myself ok in Math. I did a lot of Math in school, but didn’t love it. I’ve developed more of an appreciation for hard Math doing Singapore and then AOPS with my kids. But I’d find it really hard to have a kid who did AOPS without a class who wasn’t a kid who did well self-teaching.
  8. I have a blog that is fairly inactive. I used to post more photos when the kids were younger. In general on the blog I was careful about the stories I told and the photos I posted. I tried to be conscious about how the kids might feel about what I wrote or said. So something general was fine...but not specifics and I was careful not to complain about kids. I mostly wrote about books so it wasn’t a big issue. As the kids got older I posted less photos. I have Instagram now. My oldest hates having his photo taken so I am careful about not posting photos of him that show his face. I post occasional photos of the other two who are the kind of kids that would probably become kid YouTubers if I would let them. I still try and be careful about what I post as far as not posting anything that would embarrass them. I didn’t vote on the poll as I didn’t really feel like any of the choices apply. I would say “Yes, but I try and be cautious of what they want and are ok with.†I’m not that worried about safety for what I post. But I do want to make sure I don’t post things that they don’t want posted.
  9. Not really a foodie book, but one I enjoyed before our trip to Paris two years ago was The Only Street in Paris by Elaine Sciolino. I didn’t love The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie when I read it. Flavia was too quirky for me or something. But then I tried again a few years later with the next books in the series and really liked them. Sometime it’s just right book, wrong time. I think the title comes from a quote..."Unless some sweetness at the bottom lie, who cares for all the crinkling of the pie.†The book says it’s by William King from "The Art of Cookeryâ€, written in 1709. I think it’s saying that it doesn’t matter how something looks on the outside, it’s what’s inside that matters. I went away this weekend to a hotel alone for my annual birthday “reading retreatâ€. I read three books and caught up on my stack of New Yorkers. I finished Pachinko by MIn Jin Lee. I also read Augustown by Kei Miller. The interesting thing about reading them both was that they both underlined to me how much of the world I am ignorant of. Pachinko is all about Koreans living in Japan. I had no idea of the attitude of the Japanese towards Koreans in their country or the complexities of those relationships. And Augustown was a similar experience. I also read The Screwtape Letters, which I am having my son read for school. Last week I also read The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright for my daughter’s book club. It’s one of my favorites from childhood so was a super fun re-read. Up next....Admissions by Henry Marsh (British neurosurgeon). I also was given Kristen Hannah’s new book The Great Alone for my birthday so that’s on the stack as well as Rethinking School. And I just remembered after reading this thread that my book club meets Friday night and we’re reading A Portrait of a Lady. It’s a fairly recent re-read for me so I think I’ll likely just skim it since I have so many other things I want to read.
  10. Swim team is pretty much our summer. Dd will also do dive team. Our pool has a fun water-polo team which the boys did last year and loved. Ds wants to work for the first time at the pool this summer and also hope to help coach (he’s been volunteering over the winter and really likes it). Oldest will go to NAYLE which is a Boy Scout leadership thing. Other two will go to camp for a week. Daughter will do a very cheap fun ballet camp that is run by high school girls that are friends of ours. We don't do a lot of school but they will all do a little math, music practice and read a lot.
  11. The things that have led to the best relationships for my kids are things where they are working on some kind of shared project together in a group. Having the project or planned activity helped give the group focus and also led to commitment in terms of getting together. It also seems to be best if it’s something that is year-long rather than seasonal. Odyssey of the Mind was fabulous for my boys. We did it for several years with the same team and it gave them a once a week meeting time. They also had free time with that so had time to just hang out. Scouts has also served the same purpose, to some degree. It’s been really good for my oldest. Partially that is because some of the same kids from our OM team and co-op are in the Scout troop so he already had those relationships and then adding Scouts in just gave them extra time together. My middle son enjoys Scouts but it’s been harder for him to form relationships with kids his own age there. He does hang out with his brothers’ friends and is slowly forming a few other friendships. At our co-op, the kids involved in drama and speech seem to bond in the same way. They are working on something together and then have fun while they do it. I ended up starting a book club for my daughter because she needed more social time with her friends. That has also been really great.
  12. We just talked about it as a family. It’s stuff we talk about anyway but we made a point of doing it at a dedicated time to check off that box.
  13. It’s a bad year. We are seeing 10-12 cases a day of flu (test positive) in our office. I don’t know our exact numbers in past years but it’s definitely more than usual. We’re also seeing other respiratory viruses as well but the kids with the flu are by far sicker. It’s fairly easy for us to guess who will test positive just by looking at them when they come in. We are seeing about 75% Influenza A and 25% Influenza B. The people with B are not nearly as sick. The kids with A are miserable. We have had a handful of patients hospitalized but all have been mostly for observation and have recovered, thankfully.
  14. We are enjoying The Art of Reading and The History of the United States (for that one we have only listened to the ones concerning the twentieth century). In general, neither ds or I are auditory learners. We would both rather read a book than listen to a lecture. But we’ve enjoyed both of these for the most part. And my middle son comes and listens as well, although he’s not required to. He says he finds it interesting.
  15. Not obnoxious. I do that all the time. As long as it’s not something like a controlled substance or related to a very complicated diagnosis it’s fine. And even in those cases it’s doable, I just usually want records from the other doc to be able to document what we are doing and why. Allergy eye drops would be no problem.
  16. We have a lot of color and get a lot of compliments. I think a lot of people are used to neutral and so are surprised by the color. We also have a fairly uncluttered house with lots of light. Our furniture is mostly white or black with lots of clean lines. I think that helps the color not feel like too much. Our living area is mostly a blue, fairly light. We have one super bright yellow wall that extends into the foyer and main living area. (We have a split foyer house and a large open area as the main upstairs.) Our bedroom is a pale green. Boys’ room is mostly blue with one red wall. When we moved in oldest wanted it all red but I convinced him to do just the one wall as I though all bright red would be too much. Daughter’s bedroom was just redone this summer, it is blue with pink and purple accents...all her choices. Kids’ bathroom is bright blue. Our downstairs family room is green. Guest room is blue, guest bathroom is yellow. Our kitchen is still the ugly beige color that the whole house was when we moved in seven years ago. (I’m not saying all beige is ugly, but this one was.) It really needs painting and we’ll likely do it this summer. I haven’t been able to decide what color, which is why it has been the last thing to be done. It has a weird brick wall and I’m not sure if we’ll paint it...probably. I don’t really like our kitchen but it’s all good quality so we don’t really want to spend money just to aesthetically change it. Like the cabinets are good quality wood, but not what I would choose. The counters are granite, but we don’t really like it. That kind of thing. When we paint the kitchen we might paint the main area again. It needs it. Not sure if we will do the same blue or go with a different color or something more neutral. I like the color but it’s also fun to change things up. I also do like white, and could see going that route.
  17. Ds will be a 10th grader. To all of you planning 9th grade for the first time...it will be ok! I was stressed last year and feeling that it was so overwhelming. It’s definitely been a harder year as far as workload but also a really good year and in many ways a lot of fun. For 10th grade... AOPS Intermediate Algebra- he does it himself, not the class. Latin III- Most likely with Lukieon. He really likes Lukieon and Latin but needs to decide if he wants to continue to devote as much time to Latin as it requires. Beyond that, I’m not sure. I’m hoping our co-op will offer Advanced Chemistry. If it does he’ll probably take that. He likes Chem a lot this year. If not, I’ll probably have him do Biology. I would probably just have him do it at home with me since I can teach that. We’ve done English and History at home this year with a mix of Great Courses, reading and a couple of Bravewriter classes. That has worked well and we’ll likely do the same thing. I need to talk to him about what he wants to study. We’re doing 20th century history with an American focus this year and it’s been good. He did Computer Science with Edhesive and has really liked it. I think he’ll likely do the AP class next year as an elective. Other elective options might be a different math (AOPS Number Theory or a Statistics class). He did Spanish I this year because he is going to Chile for spring break and our co-op happened to offer it. He might do Spanish II next year if it’s offered, but not sure. I think he would really like music theory (he also plays piano) but not sure if he wants to do it. We don’t have to report things like PE or Health. He’s a competitive swimmer so exercise is covered. And he should finish his Eagle Scout sometime in the next year.
  18. I will have a 7th grader next year. He’s my least schoolish kid. He’s super creative and fun but hates school. So I’m never exactly sure what we are doing. Mostly I try and encourage him to learn but not kill his spirit. I joke that he’s like a skittish wild animal when it comes to school...I cautiously approach but if he gets the idea that something is “learning†he runs away. Math- Not sure. He’ll finish Singapore sometime in the next year. His brother uses AOPS but I don’t think it’s a good fit for this kid. He doesn’t like Math so even though I think he could do it he won’t want to spend that kind of time. I’m thinking about Jousting Armadillos or something similar as a Pre-Algebra kind of program. LA- We started using Bravewriter this year and we’ll likely continue with that kind of approach. He did NaNoWriMo this year and did a great story that he’s still working on illustrating and we’ll publish for him as a Blurb book. Writing is one thing he does like so I mostly try to encourage his interest. He’s done a book club at our co-op the past two years but I think he wants to not do it next year. So we’ll do more literary discussion here, but mostly conversational. History- I think I want to do ancients with his sister and he’ll probably join us. Science- This is the big not sure area. I want to do more with him, but not sure what we’ll do. He’s doing Greek this year by choice. If he wants to continue he can. And he’s doing ASL at co-op. He really likes that so I think he’ll keep up with it.
  19. Two of my kids have done dissections with me at that age and thought it was cool. I think if she is interested it’s fine and not age inappropriate. At that age it’s kind of the same as being interested in dead bugs you find outside. I wouldn’t force a 7 yr old but I wouldn’t stop a kid who wants to do it simply due to age.
  20. This is the best quote ever. I just did ours. Waiting to file while dh checks one thing with his employer. We’re getting a very nice fat refund so I wanted to do it early. I was waiting for two forms and just got them today so was able to finish it all up.
  21. My oldest is a 9th grader. Homeschooling high school is hard. Fun and rewarding, but hard. I wouldn’t try to do it with a kid who didn’t want to homeschool. It sounds like he has good reasons for wanting to try public school.
  22. The kissing on the lips doesn’t bother me. The “coercion†thing is really hard to know. We would joke around about something like that in my house but the kids would know it’s not really obligatory. There aren’t any repercussions if they don’t do it. Like,I might joke that they can have dessert if they give me a hug. But they know that it just means I like hugs from them. If they choose not to hug me, it’s fine. My oldest has never been very physically affectionate so I don’t joke with him in the same way (and didn’t when he was younger). On the other hand, my own mother demands hugs and kisses and gets upset if she doesn’t get them and it really bugs me. Mostly, because there are repercussions...mainly she gets hurt and upset and it becomes a big deal. So I can see both ways and I think people tend to interpret it based on their own experiences. It’s hard to know what it’s like in anyone’s house (Tom Brady included) based on one snapshot in time. I feel more sorry for the kid just being in the spotlight.
  23. We are also using Edhesive. Ds is in the Intro class and really likes it. I think he will do the AP class next year. The self-paced nature has worked for us as it’s been nice to have the flexibility to do more or less each week depending on his workload in other classes. But since I can see exactly where he is in the modules I can easily make sure he is keeping up.
  24. We use Tracfone for Dh and for our oldest. Oldest has an old iPhone of ours. I used to have it so the Internet was just turned off through parental restrictions. You would need a password to turn it back on. I recently turned it back on because he has legitimate reasons to use Internet when he is out. I have parental restrictions on it still for what can be accessed. With that he cannot erase his history. Ever now and then I scroll through for accountability.
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