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Happygrl

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Everything posted by Happygrl

  1. Soccer season is starting and I'm one of those terrible parents who reads during soccer practices. :coolgleamA: Other than opening all the pages before I leave home or copying/pasting them into a file, is there any better way to save threads to read offline?
  2. Looks good! It appears to be geared more towards younger elementary. Is that correct?
  3. I wouldn't do it. You never know what may change. Even though its working for your first child now, you may hit a wall with it where it stops working. I tend towards cautiosness with buying very far out, though. I hate knowing that if I don't end up using something, I'm going to waste half of the money when i go to resell it.
  4. In the This American Life episodes I linked, there is section that talks about implicit bias training. The specific program discussed in it has been used by just 75 departments across the country. There are other similar programs but it isn't standard. If you listen to that section/read the transcript (or read other articles out there about the results in the LVPD after going through it), they did see improvements. I don't know what other PDs have used it, so I can't recommend any other departments to read but I'd guess you can find others with a bit of googling.
  5. This American Life recently did a really interesting 2-part show on cops, racism & perception. In Part 1, they focus on the Milwaukee Police Department, including talking to cops. Part 2 had a story about the Las Vegas PD and the dramatic results they had when they made steps for improvement.
  6. I love, love, love the Singapore approach to math. Its been a great fit for my DD (we use a combination of it & Math Mammoth). The way it presents is a good fit for my son, as well...but he hates a mastery approach. I've tried skipping around the books, trying to create my own spiral but its not working. We are using mostly MEP right now but I'm wondering if there might be something better for next year.
  7. Thanks! But I'm only seeing US geography with those....is the rest of North America combined in them, too?
  8. I'd like my 10yo to spend the fall semester on North American geography (North & South American would be fine, too). But I am having no luck finding anything, outside of an Evan Moor book. I'd really prefer to buy something that is already put together. Anyone know of any geography curriculum on North America?
  9. I did think of one tip--don't get a house with electrical heating!!! We are renting a house w/electrical heat and the bill is ridiculous. And, truly, winters aren't usually that bad. We do tend to limit goings out in the winter/try to schedule most things on 1-2 days. But unless you are going to be out every day for long periods of time, its not so bad during the winter. Do be prepared (we keep an extra blanket or two, a small shovel & snowbrush in the cars) and do have good clothing (I rarely had snow boots growing up but a good fleece jacket, hats & gloves are fine for going in & out of buildings). But its truly not horrible. I think our average temperature this winter was low 40s. March is always a guess--last Monday it was in the 70s and we were outside all afternoon, today soccer was cancelled because of sleet!
  10. I'm in Indy (just south of it, technically). Not sure what advice to give as we grew up here (though just moved back from west Texas last year). Last winter was one of the snowiest but this winter has been really pretty nice. The kids just wore fleece jackets most of the winter. We only had a couple snowfalls that were more than a dusting (and not many more that were even a dusting). Even last year, though, we rarely wore more than a good fleece jacket + hat + gloves (maybe a scarf) when we were out running errands. The only times my kids wore their winter coats (we got Lands' End ones that have the adjustable sleeve-length) were when they were playing outside or otherwise outside for any length of time (Christmas at the Zoo, Christmas lights lighting downtown, etc.). Hope you like it here! I didn't appreciate the area when I was growing up but its been really good to be back.
  11. When its at someone's house, my experience is generally that they provide the main dish and others bring sides, accompaniments (like buns or toppings), salad, appetizers, etc. If I were going to a potluck where nothing was specified as to what I should bring and I didn't want to ask the host if she was providing the main dish, I'd probably bring an appetizer that was on the heartier side (like meatballs) in case the host wasn't doing the main dish.
  12. I came across this old thread about horse unit when I was searching the boards tonight. Don't know if it would be helpful but thought I'd pass it along.
  13. Oh, interesting thread! And good inspiration as I think I'm going ot design our science next year. We have done cycles of physics, chemistry, biology, so I'd like to do some kind of topical studies next year. But I have no idea what topics to choose! I think I want to do astronomy & botany....but I'd love some ideas, if anyone has any, on other science areas their kids enjoy digging into. History will be a combination of SOTW & mom-made. We are splitting books 3 & 4 up over three years so I can add some filler, particularly for American history. I haven't thought much on it yet, though.
  14. I'll take another look at Apples & Pears again. I've looked at it before but couldn't really figure it out. I just downloaded the .pdf from their website so I can read it again.
  15. I need spelling help for my 10yo. We have used AAS for several years now (almost finished with book 4). She does well with it. As we are doing lessons, she remembers the rules we've learned, can do the dictations sentences well, etc. The problem comes when we are doing assignments outside of AAS--she can't seem to make the leap to applying those rules appropriately, using them for new words, etc. without me helping her through. If I prompt her along, she can often do it but if she's doing it on her own (like with a placement test I was just giving her for Phonetics Zoo), she can't (doesn't?). I don't know if I should do a curriculum switch, add another curriculum in conjunction with AAS or what. She comes from a long line of terrible spellers, so I know spelling is likely just never going to be a strong subject for her. Just when I feel like her spelling is getting stronger, something happens where it is apparent that, despite making progress, its still going to be a long road for her. And then I'm left feeling really discouraged.
  16. I was looking for one for a friend last year. She loved mine but isn't Christian, either. She was looking at the Erin Condren teacher planner and the Plum Paper (on Etsy) one but I don't remember which one she chose. They are both smaller than the Well-Planned Day, though, and those were drawbacks for her because she has four kids. I have 3 and some days I wish for more space, too.
  17. Thanks! I'll take a look at all these suggestions over the weekend.
  18. I was going to ask about the song. Do you have the CD that has all the sections on it? The song has helped my older two to learn the books well. If you don't have the CD, the song can be bought on Amazon (and iTunes, I assume) for $1. If you haven't tried the song, I'd try that and see how he does. If he still isn't catching on, I'd lay off for a month or two of it and then revisit it again, continuing to play the song every so often.
  19. We are beginning a six-week study of the Revolution War era using SOTW as our spine. I've gathered up a good amount of books to use but I haven't gathered many other resources. I have the Liberty Kids DVDs, a few websites (Colonial Willamsburg, for example), a few paintings, and a few YouTube videos. But I'd love to know what other non-book resources WTMers have found enjoyable for this time period!
  20. Somewhere I saw a free recipe book that uses mainly WIC foods for the basis. I don't recall actually looking at it but I saw several people comment that it was good. You might try googling for that.
  21. I can't think of any big place where my thinking has changed dramatically. I was raised in a church-going, politically moderate, non-spanking family...and I'm still all of those. I didn't know many homeschoolers growing up and didn't really understand it until I had my own kids but I didn't have anything against it. The difference is, though, that I've come to own each of those things for myself. I've wrestled with my faith and came back to it, I really dug into political topics to examine why I believe what I do and came out still in that camp (though a little further left). And so on. So, no, I haven't had any dramatic position changes but I've come to own them, rather than just carry on doing what I was raised doing.
  22. I'm fairly new to OneNote, so I don't have a solid system yet. So far I have notebooks for each of our together work (history, science, Bible) as well as grade level ones for independent work. In my history one, I have tabs across the top for general notes (things I read about and want to categorize later, project ideas, etc.), a tab for people to study that aren't in the curriculum but I want to include, books to read (ideas I get but haven't put into their place yet) and other media (again, ideas I get but haven't categorized yet). Then on the right I have pages for each week. I include what pages we'll read from SOTW, what other books I'll use, videos & movies, etc. Having the tabs across the top allows me to easily access & categorize no matter which page from the right I'm utilizing.
  23. Can I ask where? I'm considering doing an online class with my daughter next year and I'm just starting to research them. I've already looked at Landry & Potters but I'd like to get a feel for more places.
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