Jump to content

Menu

mamaof2andtwins

Members
  • Posts

    980
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by mamaof2andtwins

  1. I have been working out 5 days a week since June with no gym membership. I started out just walking and strength training using a plan that I set up using Sparkpeople that a pp mentioned. Now, I use Leslie Sansone DVDs 5 days per week. I have 3 different DVDs. I get a much better workout using the DVDs and the weight has been seriously dropping. Jennie
  2. Notgrass World History this year (10th grade). Last year we used Hisotry Odyssey, but I prefer more of a textbook for high school. We use the quiz book with it. This past week was our first week with it, and it went well. Jennie
  3. I have used very little of the CLE spelling. We started in the older grades (5th and up) and in those grades the spelling is mostly thematic. I have two natural spellers and two who struggle. I would agree that it would be okay for the natural spellers, but in my opinion, they will get more out of AAS than CLE. At least that is the route we have gone. If you have a struggling speller, CLE will not fit the bill in my experience. Jennie
  4. I voted other... We use History Odyssey for the 8th and 5th graders. My high schooler will be using Notgrass World History. Jennie
  5. For what it's worth, we use CLE reading, and I do not hold their convictions about non-resistance. It has not been a problem for us. Jennie
  6. I freeze them flat on a metal jelly roll pan, and then put them in a freezer bag when frozen. I do not wash first. Jennie
  7. We have the 180 day requirement in our state as well. I usually do about 40 weeks. Jennie
  8. This web site was very helpful to us when we first got our mice. The Fun Mouse Jennie
  9. I feel like I can chime in on this one. We have had up to 8 mice at one time. This was not our plan, but it happened. Here are somethings that I have learned from our experience. Female mice do better with 2 other female mice for companionship. Pet stores do not always do a good job separating their females from their males at the right point in time. We bought a pregnant female, but didn't know it until 2 weeks later. Pregnant females tend to be a little aggressive. Many, if not most, pet store mice carry a disease called micoplasmia (sp?). It is a respiratory disease like pneumonia. I did not know this before we bought out mice. Five out of 8 of our mice died from this. This was very sad for my dd. One mice died from tumors and the other just died suddenly. I am not sure why. We didn't even have the 3 original pet store mice for over a year. The first one died 8 months after we got her. She was the mother of the babies. We expected more life span. We still have one little guy. He is almost 2 years old. He is one of the babies from the litter. He is great and shows no signs of respiratory problems. Yes, mice can be stinky especially when you have 8 in 4 cages in one room. However, I do not notice the stinkiness as much with one mouse. His tank is cleaned about once a week and that is plenty. Boys tend to be a little stinkier than the girls. All in all, I would get a mouse again. If I were to do it over, I would get ONE MALE. It is easy to take care of. There are no surprise babies. One male mouse could very happily live in a 10 gallon aquarium with a screened lid. Our guy lives in a 5 gallon critter keeper, but that is because he has always lived there. He has never tried to chew his way out of the top, but I know some do. So, I would go with the 10 gallon aquarium with the screen to and clips to keep it securely closed. I hope that helps some. Jennie
  10. We lease our horse. My dd rides, so I am a horse momma. The horse my dd rides is a 19 yo Arab mare named Serene Amira. She has done 2 4H shows this year with another 2-3 coming up plus the county fair. We will probably discontinue our lease in the fall for a few months until more money comes in. I have hockey bills due for the other kids in the fall. I am hoping we can pick up again with the lease after Christmas. You can see some pics in my profile. ETA: I just added pictures of Natalie's last horse show to my blog. Jennie
  11. The cost of shipping has gone up. In addition if you are paying through PayPal there is now that additional cost (2.9% plus $.30) to calculate. I calculate it all out when I am listing something for sale. I weigh the merchandise minus a box, add the shipping cost, and the PayPal fee. If something is ppd. you can figure that roughly $5.00 of that price is shipping/fees especially on heavier books or materials in binders. Jennie
  12. I find Crayola very hard to sharpen well. When I found Prang, I was hooked for every day use. Even my kids who have Primsacolors use Prang more often. Jennie
  13. My children would love for me to accidentally come home with a new kitten. They look on line all the time. Our cat would like a buddy. Jennie
  14. Lisa, I am sure every family is different, but my 15 yo is part of youth group at church. He plays hockey almost year round, and we are part of a homeschool gym and swim group. This seems to keep him very busy. Jennie
  15. I truly agree with this assessment. In this day, men are not out hunting our food, protecting our property, etc. so these video games seem to fill that void. My son is 15. He has really gotten into games in the past year although he has played plenty in the past. My husband is almost 50, and he has enjoyed video games for most of our marriage. Some of these games I would rather not have around. My son and husband play one game that is rate M. I don't care for it. I try to not have my littler girls around when they are playing. Other than that, most of the games they play are car racing games. Ultimately, my goal is to teach self control. I ask my son to spend equal time playing and doing other things like reading and drawing. So, far he seems to get this. Jennie
  16. I haven't seen the newer versions. However, my children did just fine on the first edition twice. Jennie
  17. Farm Town is great fun. I was printing off a pdf this morning while I was playing with no trouble. I am sorry it took you so long to get something done. Happy planting. Jennie
  18. I leaned how to write a lesson plan, create objectives, and design a pretty bulletin board. I learned how to use manipulatives, create folder games, and read I'll Love You Forever to a bunch of children (and undergaduates). I learned how to obsess over paperwork and a passionate desire to complete a whole textbook. I did learn some good things while I was actually in the classroom student teaching, but I have had to unlearn a lot. Plus I never learned the most important joy of just letting kids learn. That came later with my own children. Don't sweat it. You aren't missing anything. Jennie
  19. Well, I guess my first question would be what you asked yourself. Why do you need to switch from what you are using? I did use the placement tests for my twin daughters at the end of their 3rd grade year for both math and language arts. One dd placed into 300 level and the other into 200 level. Notice I did not call them 3rd grade and 2nd grade. This makes a difference when dealing with children who might have some issue about this. I can usually just get away with explaining that different programs teach differently, and in this program you are working at the right level for you regardless of the number on the front of the book. Anyway, I started my dd who placed in the 200 level in LU 202. We skipped 201 which would be a review book anyway and just began with the program. She finished her 4th grade year by completing LU 305. In my experience the placement test is fairly accurate for placement. My oldest dd placed in the 500 level even though she was entering 7th grade and completing the 6th grade book of R&S. As for the LA, both my girls placed in the 300 level book going into 4th grade. After going through LU 301 it was very clear that one of the girls would struggle with the 300 level, so I dropped her back down to the 200 level, and that is what she did as a 4th grader. I know different people have different experiences, but this is what we found. Best wishes, Jennie
  20. Our state convention only has a teen track (13 and up). I am not sure if I would take advantage of something like that with little ones. Jennie
  21. We are about to start our second year homeschooling high school with our oldest. So, far so good. Jennie
  22. My understanding, from the research that I did before we bought ours 6 months ago, the newer ones have a better cooling system in them. However, only time will tell if that is true. Jennie
×
×
  • Create New...