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Sammish

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Everything posted by Sammish

  1. I can not hear the name Regina without immediately thinking of Regina Phalange.
  2. Now I'm confused. TheWikipedia page linked earlier says he is predicting either "six more weeks of winter-like weather," or an "early spring." And farther down in the page it has a chart of his predictions, along with "Impartial estimates place the groundhog's accuracy between 35% and 40%." So that seems to be saying that he is predicting two different things, right? And the history page of Punxsutawney Phil says, "If, according to German lore, the hedgehog saw his shadow on Candlemas Day there would be a “Second Winter” or 6 more weeks of bad weather. " Also no mention of a joke? (I have now officially spent more time thinking about groundhogs today then in my entire previous life 😄)
  3. DS12 will be 13 in a two months, and his brain fog is driving us both crazy. In math, in particular, he can't remember how to do things he used to have down (which is know is common after summer vacation), but more worryingly, he is having a hard time re-learning those things. Basic logic just seems to be eluding him. He's a kid who's always been pretty mathy, and picks things up quickly. The past year or so not as much, but this year... I was trying to remind him how to find the area of a complex figure (break it down into things you know how to find the area of, then add those areas together). This was something he had down last year, but couldn't remember at all. So I backed up and broke it down into individual skills. I've now had to back up to the point where I'm asking him "if the whole line is 8m long, and this piece of it is 3m, how long is the other piece of the line?" And despite going over this repeatedly, from a variety of angles, for the past two days, it still seems a mystery to him. (This is just one example.) And it's frustrating both of us! He told me today that he feels like he's going backwards. Secretly, I agree with him 😟. (It's not that he's not trying - he is! And is frustrated with himself! But the connections just aren't being made.) It's not just math - in science I was repeating the same thing to him over and over again, but he couldn't seem to remember it. I wrote it down, pointed it out to him, but he still couldn't seem to figure it out. However! He loves chess, and is doing just fine at that. Taking classes, doing well, plays it a ton in his free time. So not all brain function has ceased. 😏 We just started week 4, and it's not gotten better. He's eating and sleeping fine. He doesn't appear to be currently growing (at least, not currently eating us out of house and home). He does recover well - is upset for a while, but later on is okay. I'm just not sure what to do. Any advice?
  4. I went looking for this (because I thought it might be useful for DS). Are you by chance thinking of the Buddhist Jataka tales? Because I found this, but couldn't find a Hindu version. (Which, btw, thank you, I'm totally going to use when we study Buddhism!)
  5. We're doing world religion this year, too! I'm going to have DS read Ramayana: Divine Loophole. I pre-read it this summer, and really enjoyed it (and loved the illustration style).
  6. I'm using this book with my son this year, and I really like it. A good overview of the five biggest religions, their backstory, what their followers believe, etc. Highly recommend. Along with it I got a children's bible, and I'll have him read the various stories mentioned in the Comparative book. I also picked up some picture books about Muhammed and Buddha (both by Demi), Ramadan, and Passover. You might also check out Cultural Literacy for Religion: Everything the Well-Educated Person Should Know from The Great Courses. (I really wanted to use it, but DS doesn't like videos 😕)
  7. We used EIW 6 last year, and while it didn't work for us as a writing program, the first half does cover grammar, and that went well for us. I didn't add spelling, because DS is a pretty natural speller (although we have used Sequential Spelling in the past, and liked that).
  8. When I was pregnant with DS, my first ultrasound showed me having a ovarian cyst. After it was removed, it was declared a "mature cystic teratoma." Mine had to be removed because it twisted, and was incredibly painful. (Painful enough that they did surgery on my ovary to remove it at the end of my first trimester.) But I got the impression that that wasn't always the case, and often they can just hang out and are fine, and maybe go away on their own? Mine was just special and demanded attention. 😕 So, to answer your questions: they can be fine, but they can cause pain if they twist. The pain is a shooting pain in the stomach, and is hard to mistake. I believe they can remove them laparoscopically. They removed mine through the abdomen, with a incision in my stomach from my belly button down, because mine was so large they couldn't do that. (Again: special :/) Before mine was removed, I was told it could cause scarring on the ovary, or I might lose an ovary altogether. Thankfully, neither of those things happened (and DS was fine!).
  9. I just ran across this post, and it really resonated with me: Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule. On a school day, days where we have something planned (even if it's much later in the day) feel so different from days where we don't. Days with no appointments/activities/whatever feel so much more open, and like we can really take our time on things. We can have that on tangentially-related discussion, we can follow that rabbit trail, we can tackle that science experiment. Even if there's plenty of time for it anyway, having something planned for later just feels like it looms over the rest of the day (even when it's something we love and look forward to!). I guess we're "making" an education? A learning experience? Anyone else feel this way?
  10. I only have one kid, but he's used Math on the Level since kindergarten. We're going to finish it up early this year (7th grade), and it's going to be very weird to use something else going forward!
  11. I'm doing something very similar for my rising 7th grader this year. I have the added requirement of nothing too depressing (because the last two years of American history just about did us in!). I also kind of felt that we'd read enough books about America over the years. So I'm going to have him read "Williwaw" by Tom Bodet (about a couple of kids living in Alaska), and together we'll read "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech (road trip across the middle of America, includes Native American).
  12. A useful website for vetting future books and movies: Does the Dog Die. It's crowd sourced, and has a ton of categories, including the one in the title.
  13. Yes! This is what I read! Thank you 🙂
  14. I became aware of this show after reading an article (or maybe a Twitter thread?) about it written by someone who lived it (s/he was a child at the time). They were incredibly impressed with how accurate it was. It reminded them off things they're forgotten (including something about white school uniforms, and going to school on Saturdays). They really liked it. (Of course I can't find the source now.)
  15. Hits: Evan Moore Daily Science - we've tried so many science curricula over the years, and this was by far our most successful year. It got done every day, DS retained things he had learned, and he didn't complain bitterly about doing it. IEW SWI - this one was actually a miss last year, but we tried something else this year (see "misses"), then went back to IEW (moving from A to B) and now it's a hit. Who knew? Math on the Level - we've been using this since kindergarten, and we'll be finishing it up early next year (only a few concepts left to cover). This has been the one constant in our homeschool since the beginning, and I'll miss it! Misses: EIW 6th grade - the grammar portion was fine, but once we got to the writing, there were so many tears. Having to come up with his own thing to write about (even given a topic), and then being told to edit it to make it sound better, without a lot of direction... It made me realize that IEW really was the right method for this child, and so we went back to it! A hit and a miss: A History of US - *I* learned a lot from it, and often shared tidbits with my husband in the evening. Plus, it really helped my Jeopardy game 😄 But DS nicknamed it "People are Terrible," and we both had a hard time reading about all the ways people have been awful to each other, day after day. (It quickly became our tradition that after reading our history chapter together, we'd spend ten minutes looking at cute animals on Instagram, by way of palate cleanser.)
  16. I'm in CT (New Haven area), and there are lots of homeschoolers, and plenty of activities. And New England is a great place to be if you're learning American history. Plus we're close to both Boston and NYC. But... given the choice, I might choose NC. CT is an expensive state to live in, NC has better weather, and the Connecticut itself isn't doing well, financially. (Overall, I love where we live, and the people around us! But I'm not blind to the issues our state has.)
  17. I had what was probably Lyme last year (my test came back negative, but my symptoms matched pretty much exactly, the test can take a while to come up positive if you catch it early, and the antibiotics made it go away). I have stevia in my tea every morning, but still got sick. 🤷‍♀️ I don't think it tastes exactly like sugar - it has a anise-y aftertaste, like black licorice. But I love black licorice, so I'm okay with it!
  18. We have a Deebot, not a Roomba, but ours is named Dorkbot. Can you tell what DS's favorite word was? 🙄😆
  19. It looks like my library has a 2 per month limit. Looks like it's time to finally get DS his own library card! ?
  20. Great courses on Hoopla? That just opened a whole new world for me! And also, apparently the Roku has a Hoopla app. I'm so excited! (Sorry for the threadjack, Roadrunner, I just got really excited about this!)
  21. If it makes you feel any better, I was the kid in AP Calculus, counting on my fingers during exams. Didn't hurt me any! It wasn't until I as an adult (really, when teaching DS) that I got good at "combining 10s" in my head and doing mental math at all. (Mostly because he's really good at it, and I was trying to keep up ?)
  22. I saw sharks and kittens while I was there. I think online I also saw sloths (which would have been a hard choice if I'd seen it in person!).
  23. Just as I was lamenting how boring binders are, I turned around at Staples yesterday and found this awesome binder with LLAMAS on it - I was so excited! (They also had ones with kittens and sharks.) I also bought the matching llama dividers. It's sitting on my kitchen table right now, and I smile every time I see it. ☺️
  24. For my rising 6th grader, I'm planning on using as science read-alouds: The Forest Unseen (recommended in another thread here) The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind A Dog in the Cave: The Wolves Who Made Us Human I also considered "The Skull in the Rock: How a Scientist, a Boy, and Google Earth Opened a New Window on Human Origins," but I don't think we'll have time.
  25. I love knitting socks - they're my favorite on-the-go project. I would say that for your first pair, you get a simple pattern, and knit them one at a time. (I feel like knitting two at a time just adds an element of complexity you don't need while you're first figuring out how everything goes together. JMO :)) Pick whichever method of knitting in the round you're most comfortable with - I used to do all of mine on double pointed needles, but have recently changed my knitting style, and now find two circulars more comfortable. But it doesn't really matter! This looks like a nice, simple pattern with lots of pictures and instructions for a first-timer. Once you've got the basics down, you can branch out to try other variations, like two-at-a-time. My personal favorite is toe-up (this is a great explanation of the method I use) and a Fish Lips Kiss heel (funny name, but great fit :)). Go slow, look up YouTube videos if you get stuck, and just follow the directions. They're not actually that difficult, just different. Good luck!
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