KJB
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Posts posted by KJB
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but honestly, I know I should get rid of them.
I've been thinking a big "I'm going to college" bonfire where we burn them might be fun. Of course, I'm moving the daggum things all over the planet, so they may bite the dust before the kids get to that point.
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I wish I could go to your club and he could buy me a beer! :D
(Or is it just that way at the promotion celebrations I've been to? I always thought other people should be buying you a drink!)
Anyway, HUGE congrats! What a terrific accomplishment! Take some leave and reward yourselves!
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The little cutie in my avatar is my fifth baby just born at the end of July. My fourth baby was 9 lbs 5 oz and the weight of each of my children had been greater than the last until she was born. (She was 8 lbs 10 oz, btw, and they overestimated her weight based on ultrasound to be just over 10 lbs!!)
So...my recent OB, a german doc who is the Chief of OB where I delivered, told me that recent studies show that babies DO NOT gain weight after the 40th week of pregnancy. In other words, people having babies induced so the baby won't be too big when they are overdue are worrying needlessly.
According to him, your baby isn't going to get any bigger after that last week so if you can hang in there, you might as well!
Also, I've found labor better when I've let Mother Nature decide when my baby is to appear. Inductions can be rough and unnecessary intervention is usually best avoided, imho.
Either way, best of luck!! Your sweetie will be here soon!
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Why do you have to limit your trip to one country? For similar money, you could cruise the Mediterranean and visit lots of places. Plus, you'd have lots of your problems (place to say, transportation, meals, suggested hot spots to visit) taken care of for you.
Also, remember countries in Europe are small. You can cover a lot of territory in 10 days.
I live in Germany, and this is MHO!
(Oh, and if you twisted my arm and made me pick, I love France! But in your situation, I'd do a cruise!!)
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Here goes:
Mexican Wedding Cakes
Cherry Drops
Sugar Cookie Santas
Cornflake wreaths
Fudge
Soft Cocoa Cookies
Peppermint Bark
Gingerbread boys and girls
Brandy Snaps
And an assortment of breads (pumpkin, banana nut, poppyseed, sometimes cherry nut)
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One thing I think might help is if you have an obvious cool alternative to game systems/computer games. Something like a pool table, ping-pong, basketball hoop, soccer net set-up, swimming pool, etc. might work to make your place fun without compromising your electronic game rules. That coupled with good snacks, of course.:D
We also have a 9 year old son. It makes me nuts when all the neighbor kids go to someone's house and just stand and watch one or two kids play those games. So far, we have no gaming system. We really don't intend to ever get one, either. My son and daughter play Nancy Drew mystery games with their Dad and that's about it as far as video games. I know we're the odd ones out, though, and I feel for my son. I really don't want to have to cave and enter the video game system world so I'm going with ping-pong and we'll see how that plays (pun intended) out.:lol:
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is keep their toys out of reach in a closet. Then we had a library like system where they'd check a toy out for awhile. When they were finished, they'd return it, neatly packaged, and check it in and I'd reshelve. They were only allowed one toy at a time and couldn't have another until the first was put back up.
It worked beautifully to keep our toys neat. Since there were two children, they were able to check out two toys together (like all the dinosaurs and all the farm animals to make a super zoo or whatever). Once in awhile, I'd allow them to have an additional toy if they were playing creatively but they'd have to make sure and clean up to keep the privilege.
I wouldn't be too sure that your dds know or understand exactly how to keep their toys neat. It seems obvious to an adult, but children don't see things quite like we do. It sounds like you'd all benefit from a system where *you* as an adult are involved in the routine pick-up (like I was with the library system) so that the problem is never allowed to escalate.
(Oh, and I wouldn't feel bad either. It's easy to get frustrated and pull the rug out from under them. It's a wake up call for them that Mom's human and can only. take. so. much. LOL!)
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Thanks so much to everyone. If you have any more thoughts, please share. I'm going to look into all your ideas and see what will work best. I'm just so excited to have choices!
I'll try and post a pic of the finished product. Maybe not until spring, but slow and steady and all of that has become my theme....(0;
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Thank you so much. I've never heard of Bristol board before which illustrates (no pun intended) how little I know about art materials! For anyone interested, I found this info about Bristol board:
http://www.dickblick.com/categories/artboards/#moreinfo
Thank you again, Karin!
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You're the one with the small children. They should travel and you should hostess if you all want to be together. There's no way I'd spend a total of four hours in the car on a holiday with a young family. The focus should be on what's easiest for the people with little ones.
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about something....
People might not "love to learn" about everything, but most everybody loves to learn about things that intrigue them or skills they find helpful to them in their lives. I am frequently befuddled about this notion that we must teach/inspire/ignite flames/excite children about learning. Humans want to learn. We just don't all want to learn about the same things.
I don't think we need to worry about encouraging a love of learning. I think being interested in the world is intrinsic to human nature. I think, as home schoolers, we need to focus on teaching our children how to solve the problems or answer the questions that they come up with during their lives. It's not that people don't love to find the answers but rather they are too lazy or ill-equipped to pursue them.
And, in this teaching of people to find answers to their questions, we must instill work-ethic, perseverance, and knowledge about methods to find answers. Teaching methods to solve problems (research, scientific method, organizing information, etc....) doesn't have to delight the student in order for the student to learn to love to problem solve. The delight comes from finding the solution.
Thomas Edison said it best, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." The inspiration is the posing of a question and the perspiration is the work required in finding the answer. Anyone/everyone can be inspired with the question, it's the perspiration part where people fall down.
You're not failing at teaching love of learning just because your child doesn't want to learn their times tables or whatever mundane topic you choose. IMHO, you're failing if you don't insist that your child work hard in spite of the perspiration. All people "love to learn" the answers, but not all people love/are willing/able to do the work required in finding them.
Just my 2.5 cents.
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Thanks for posting! :)
My kids would love to be involved in something like this! Good luck to your children!
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I'm planning on drawing/painting a mural for my son. I'm looking for something specific and I can't find it and am tired of looking.
I draw well but I've never ever ever painted or drawn "for real" on anything besides a wall or paper.
I want to end up with a piece of art we can take with us when we move. I'd like it to be roughly 24" by 36" but possibly smaller.
Can anyone suggest upon what I should draw/paint? Should I try canvas or a specific type of paper or ????? What kind of paint/markers/pencils should I use for vibrant colors that are easy to mix and will be forgiving for a novice? Does that question even make sense?
And where do I buy whatever I should use? Crayola and whatever Dick Blick might carry (oh, and Rainbow Resource, of course) are the extent of my art store depth of awareness. I need to be able to order online whatever I should use since I live out of the US.
I've painted murals on my kids' walls before, but the space and the paint I used was very forgiving and I was able to fix goofs pretty easily. For the wall, I've drawn with pencil lightly and then filled in with acrylic paint for smaller spaces or wall paint for larger coverage.
Again, the ONLY skill I have is an ability to draw well. I've played with watercolors (Crayola) and kids' washable paints but never any artist quality medium. I know very little about creating a piece of art I can frame and keep. Help!
Thanks for any direction or pointing me to a resource that might guide me!
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We made these last year and they turned out pretty nice for paper ornaments.
http://www.emmanuelbooks.com/product_detail.cfm?ID=1546
I should add that we don't use these on our tree. We hang them on a Jesse Tree ornament stand bought from the company that sells these kits. They certainly aren't professional looking (obviously) but we used oil pastels and they were vibrant and cute when finished.
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The nice thing about a cruise is that it's "all included". Also, someone else does the "driving" and you get to visit a number of different locations while someone else does the transporting. The ships usually sail at night and are in different ports during the day so you can get out and explore. Then you have a nice home base back at the ship. It's a good way to see a number of places without having to do a lot of leg work and you know how much it's all going to cost up front.
I live in Germany now and we will be cruising at least once this year in addition to lots of other small trips. We've traveled a lot in the last year and France has been my absolute favorite place to visit, fwiw.
Have fun!
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1. Have a scavenger hunt using words they know and/or can sound out leading them from clue to clue. "Find blue coat on bed" leads to a clue that might say "Look in pocket of red pants" and the clues finally lead to a small treat.
2. Play M&M draw. Child flips words that are upside down on table. Every time he reads one, he adds an M&M to his pile. Every mistake and he gives you the M&M.
3. Play "word jail" where you put a favorite toy or stuffed guy in pretend prison. He must read five words without mistake/hesitation in a row in order to release your prisoner.
4. Pay him one dollar for every sight word list he completes with a bonus 5 bucks when he knows them all. This motivated my older son to learn them at the speed of light.:D
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They are well-done, quick, easy, painless and have taught my children a lot.
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I'm not sure where you were headed with those fruit baskets so this might not be what you're after but see if this might help:
1. We define LCM as the lowest quantity that is a multiple of two or more given quantities.
2. Draw a Venn Diagram and in circle one put all the prime number factors for the first number and in circle two put all the prime number factors for the second number. Place all prime number factors each number share in the middle where the two circles overlap.
By drawing the Venn diagram, you can visually see that the shared prime number factors need be written only once where the circles overlap.
For example: Fine the LCM of 10 and 15
2 5 3
Imagine two overlapping circles with the 5 in the part that overlaps. So, the 5 is shared by both numbers and is in the middle where the two circles are joined. The circle with the 2 represents 2 x 5 and the circle with the 3 represents 5 x 3. This is hard to explain without being able to draw circles so bear with me.
You can then multiply the three factors and get 30 which is the LCM.
You don't write the 5 twice because it is shared as a factor by both numbers.
The Venn diagram helps illustrate this pretty well.
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"catch up" too often causing dd's high school experience to be less than ideal. I want a rich deep education for my daughter and I'm pretty sure achieving that goal is beyond what I'm able to provide and is going to take outsourcing.
DD is 12 and we just work at her level. I initially began thinking about ACT/SAT testing to get a real feel for where we are in terms of grade level. From there, I began to think about high school plans which led to my posts.
It takes me a year after we move to feel kind of settled anywhere. It takes me that long to find out where the local grocery stores are and when I can get my car worked on. Now, I am going to need to find resources outside our home for my dd in potentially 4 different locations.
As I posted before, I'd thought for a long time that we'd plod along until dd was high school age and then enroll her in an excellent high school. I went to a really good high school and I know regardless of classes we've done at home, she could find challenge and reward at an excellent high school. I really didn't want to do high school myself.
Then, because I realized we'd have to move at least once during her high school years, I began to think we'd just do community college when we got to the point that I didn't feel I could meet her needs adequately. Now I know we'll be moving every year for at least three and possibly more years after next year and both of my possible plans are turned upside down. It's hard enough to find a new piano teacher when we move let alone find resources for an excellent high school experience.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and help. It's just frustrating to not be able to have a plan.
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I am sure I'll be back with more questions as I sort out a plan for next year and beyond.
I appreciate the suggestions and book recommendations. We're going to pursue SAT/ACT testing for certain and I think we'll plan to begin high school officially in the fall. Continuity of education is a huge reason we started home schooling originally and I agree with everyone who pointed to that as an advantage. I always thought (dreamed, hoped, prayed) we'd be done moving by the time dd was old enough for high school, but to keep life interesting, we will be moving much more in the years to come.
We may pursue the Talent Search programs, but we're overseas now and I'm not sure if it's worth the effort given that dd has almost outgrown their usefulness. Especially, now that I know she can take the ACT/SAT without their endorsement. We may end up at Johns Hopkins for a year in another two years, so I may look into their program since we might be living there. (Unless she drums up some major scholarship $$ to an ivy league school or some such, we have already bought her a prepaid Florida tuition education. I think she'll be headed to a university in Florida unless she wants to foot the bill herself.)
I'm feeling a little less nerve wracked by reading all of your posts. Thanks very much to everyone for taking the time to offer suggestions!
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Thanks for the link and idea. My plan is slowly coming together. I do have another question. How many years can you "do" high school?
My dd is ready for high school level work and next year I would like to start her in high school level classes. She is furthest behind in math, but even there she'll start Algebra maybe as early as this spring. She's about half way through her Pre Algebra book now. She is really working about two years ahead across the board. I see no reason not to let her start high school officially. The "problem" is that I wonder if you can count classes on a high school transcript before you are high school age. In other words, can you be in high school, and collecting credits towards the high school transcript, for more than 4 years? I'm wondering if the last two years of possibly a 6 year "high school" course of study, she could just be collecting college credit through AP classes/exams through something like the website you provided or cc if we're living somewhere where that is an option.
Thank you all for helping me think this through.
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When my kids start to learn multiplication, I have them fill out a multiplication table every single day. After they fill it out, we do their actual lesson.
If they don't remember a fact, I don't mind them looking at the chart they just finished. I find that after filling out the chart for awhile, they just know them. Then we drop the chart, and move on to speed drills in all four operations. Sometimes we do flash cards and sometimes written speed drill worksheets.
I remember in third grade having to memorize the table and recite it to my teacher. I've never forgotten a fact since. I've taken that memory as an inspiration to get my kids to memorize the table at about the time they hit third grade math.
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You answered a question I've wondered. I didn't know if a child could be penalized by taking the test multiple times. I'm assuming at no point will the younger student scores be used or averaged.
You know, it's interesting, because it seems like early admission testing gives kids (who are already smart since they're being allowed to test) an advantage over bright kids who don't qualify to take the test as a youngster. I wonder why this is allowed.
Thanks again, Jackie! I think we're going to try to test next year.
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I recall that your Dad is retired from the service. If I remember correctly, his rank is high enough that I'm assuming your family wouldn't have been able to escape the moves in the name of a child finishing school one place or another.
Did you move around through high school as a child? Did you have to change high schools once or more? And, if so, how did those moves impact your college application process and your overall high school experience?
I'm just dreading trying to find adequate resources to get my daughter an excellent education through high school while relocating every year. It's already exhausting to have to find a new piano teacher every time we move and up until now we've only had to move every three years. Now, I'm looking at finding new extra curricular opportunities, music teachers, community colleges, etc. every year when she's in high school. And it's not like she's my only child (she's the eldest of our 5), plus my dh's career is going to demand more of me in the coming years (sounds crazy but it's true).
It almost makes early university sound good but I have a host of reasons I'd prefer not to travel that path. If for no other reason, we may live some interesting places with great travel/experience opportunities. I'd hate for dd to miss out. Plus, I don't know if she'd be mature enough to handle being away just yet. I don't think *I'm* mature enough to handle her being away, if nothing else.
Oh well. Thanks for letting me complain and thanks for your help.
Kate
The Ban
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted · Edited by KJB
'Zactly.
As much as people might prefer to believe that this board is about them and their right to interact freely, the truth is this board is a marketing tool for Peace Hill Press and SWB's books. And, it is a win-win for the business of SWB who gets to keep us a captive audience *and* those of us who both love PHP/SWB and discussion with people interested in classical education.
This board is not a place where controversy should be welcome because it reflects upon our hostess who depends (a tiny bit) on this board to attract/solidify new customers so PHP can continue publishing wonderful books. The board promotes product loyalty. Controversy ain't good for business folks.
And, I want that fourth grade Writing With Ease workbook published soon. No more controversy. Buy more books. Behave and Buy. The End.
(And, I should add, I LOVE to debate and nothing I read bothered me a tiny bit. But my feathers aren't easily ruffled and I've learned the hard way that I'm not in the majority in this respect. Sigh....)