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DoraBora

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Everything posted by DoraBora

  1. Fish tacos made with grilled talapia and steamed corn tortillas black beans (probably from a can at this point!) sauteed onions/bell peppers basmati rice pico de gallo guacamole (This was last night's plan, but pizza cravings intervened!)
  2. Have you looked at theviviennefiles.com? (I can't seem to make that a live link.) Janice (the blogger) has tons of ideas, and many of the them under "Common Wardrobe" likely include some things similar to what you already own. She also features a lot of "capsule" wardrobes, centered around a small number of pieces that are easily to pack. I like the idea of keeping it simple: a pair of dark slacks with a tunic-type top over it -- maybe a dark print. Consider adding a different blouse with a lightweight cardigan as a second day change-up. (Lands End Supima Cotton cardigans are on sale right now, and they have petite sizes.) You could jazz things up a bit with slightly fancier shoes/sandals if you want... I've heard good things about petites at Loft (which I think used to be Ann Taylor) and NY and Company. Anthropologie is rumored to have a dynamite petite section -- I'm tall so I've not looked -- and their clothing is very nice and unique. I only buy things on sale at that store! I want to add that theviviennefiles.com often (though not always) features some pretty expensive clothing. She is a fan of Hermes scarves... :001_smile: The capsules and such are a good starting point.
  3. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 Praying for your precious daughter and your family...
  4. Praying for someone else is a privilege. Praying for your daughter and your family right now...
  5. Wow! Thank you, Lori, for all of this wonderful information! The college board website how-to's are particularly helpful -- I had seen the "At a Glance" college profile before in posts on this website, but I didn't know where to find it! :001_smile: I have played around a bit with the net price calculators on a couple of college websites. Our EFC is depressingly high.,,
  6. Question about the bolded part of quote above... How exactly do you figure out where your particular student might be competitive for large merit awards?
  7. Because he was a veteran, my dad was eligible for VA Burial. He made arrangements in advance to have his ashes interred at the nearest National Cemetery. We had to wait three weeks for a military honors ceremony there, but we had already held a service in his memory at my parent's church. When my uncle died, my cousins held a simple memorial service at the family church. Six days later, they quietly interred his body at the same National Cemetery without further public ceremony. Anyway, Dad's burial, the marker, and perpetual care of his grave site were all covered by his VA benefits. I think my mom paid about $700 for cremation. Her spousal benefit will cover her burial alongside my dad one day. The VA also offers allowances to defray some costs of being buried at a private cemetery, though the eligibility requirements are stricter.
  8. When I enter the code for homeschooled students (per the CB website -- 970000), it populates a field that says my student is "Schooled at Home" in NY, NY. Is this because the College Board has its national headquarters there, or is that something that will mess up my daughter on test day? We don't live in NY... ( I may be overthinking... it happens. :huh:)
  9. Thank you to all who have posted your thoughts and advice. I am grateful for the shared wisdom... I didn't include information about the conflict my dd and I have had over the last several years. Our interactions have been stormy, but they are improving. Because of this, efforts I made to early on to help her plan a schedule of preparation for the SAT or ACT fell flat. She has been unwilling to work on test prep at all, and I think she feels that choice is coming back to haunt her. I don't remember who posted upthread that I need to let her make her own choices and quit planning for her (or words to that effect), I really am trying in my spectacularly flawed way to let her make her own choices. She is still growing up and is quite emotional. So, this past year, when I stepped back to let her make her own choices about school (stopped making suggestions on how she should study), her grades dropped -- problems with friends had upset her derailed her concentration. That's not the end of the world, and I told her so. I want her to make her own way, and I never TOLD her I thought anything was impossible. I was worried in my own head that it was too late at this point to try for partial scholarships. The whole point here is that my husband and I have saved and prepared to cover the rough COA for three years at a state university in Texas. She can look at any university in which she's interested, but we will only pay for three years of in-state. (We've saved for tuition with the Texas pre-paid tuition plan.) I'm also emotional about this because I want her to be happy and contented. If she feels hopeless, I don't know what to do to help her. She is a bright, talented girl who works hard when she is interested in something. I encourage her often and let her know I love her every day. I want her to fly... she just isn't showing me that she is able to do so just yet. I know I could arrange a study schedule for her and teach her to prioritize her time, but she won't appreciate that. She works part-time (only on Saturdays during the school year, because that's all she can handle; as many hours as they will give her during the summer). She is already signed up for six hours of dual credit in the fall, and she is actually excited about that. I am thankful! You have all given me much to think about. Thank you again for the wonderful ideas! ... and regentrude... you made me laugh. You mentioned the similar thread on the College Board subforum... I started it and promptly forgot I had done so! Holy cow! :lol:
  10. Thank you. I didn't make this clear... She hasn't really worked toward gaining admission to a four year school. When she started some SAT prep sophomore year, she gave up before she started. She said, "I'm never going to earn a scholarship!" She is regretting that decision now, and I guess I just thought it was too late for her to even try at this point. She's taken the PSAT twice, but hasn't actually attempted the SAT. It does seem that our state universities don't offer a lot of scholarships, but she might try for a smaller, private school...
  11. Hello all: My husband and I decided several years back that we could pay for three years of living-out-of-town university for each of our children. We told them this, and let them both know that we would be happy to help them work toward earning scholarships if they wanted to go away for freshman year. Otherwise, we plan for them begin their studies at our local community college. (We are fortunate to have easy access to two different community college districts, each of which has an excellent transfer agreement with all of our state's public universities.) My dd will be a senior this fall, and she has begun to express that she's feeling blue about "everyone" else going away for freshman year. In theory, I think our plan is smart (for us), but in practice, it is painful to listen as she describes how left out of the excitement she feels. I guess I feel a bit worse because she thinks she missed out so much in high school because we wouldn't send her to ps. In truth, our area has a million opportunities for homeschoolers, most of which she has been unwilling to pursue. I wish I could think of a way to make our plan more interesting, but I can't. It is sort of uninspiring to start at cc and transfer to university... at least as compared to the paths of many of her friends. Has anyone dealt with his/her children having such feelings? Does you have any words of encouragement I can offer to my dd? Thank you in advance... Dora
  12. I wonder whether anyone has an idea to make attending community college for the first year more appealing. It has been our plan for the last four or five years for each of our two children to attend community college for at least one year before transferring to university. We told both of them that we will support them in seeking scholarship money to pay for freshman year at a four year school if they wanted to go away for four years. I think this plan makes sense -- in fact there are times when I look at current tuition/room and board rates and wish that we had offered only two years at university. :huh: Anyway, my dd, who will be a senior next year, has begun to express her lack of contentment with this plan. Our church's Senior Recognition Sunday likely exacerbated her worry. She sees "everyone" going away to school straight out of high school, and she feels left out. I hate this for her because I know she is young and fitting in can seem very important. Have any of you found a way to put a positive spin on such a plan? Currently, the only thing I can think of at this moment is that it will be a huge money saver... which is understandably not terribly important to a seventeen year old. Thank you. Dora
  13. Here is another free option. You could just complete a few weeks worth, or a month, or whatever... I'd probably skip the novels she's chosen and focus on poetry or short stories. https://allinonehighschool.com/literature-and-composition/ I second the idea about watching the movie versions of the books he has read. That can be particularly appealing at this time of year when we are all getting tired(!). You can discuss the differences between the book and film versions and discuss literary terms as you go along. By the way, The Hiding Place was also made into a movie. I couldn't find it on netflix or at the library, but it is on youtube (starring Julie Harris, made in 1975). Hang in there... it's almost summertime! :laugh:
  14. Well, I don't have a sample letter, but it seems to me that she could simply write about the points you made in your post above. She probably wouldn't want to mention taking an extra year to mature(maybe not?) -- that is a clear benefit of a gap year -- but I would think she should mention her plans and the things she would like to do with her time. It's impressive to me that a bright, busy, energetic young person wishes to seize the marvelous opportunity to live and work overseas for a year before continuing her formal studies. Her goals and plans speak for themselves. I assume that she will seek God's direction for her life during this time off from school, and I think she could share that in her letter, too. What I don't know is how it works when a student defers admission. If she believes she will attend this school following her year off, that's great. What happens if she defers admission and then changes her mind later? I'm sure it happens sometimes... I just don't know about any consequences. Anyway, I think her plans sound wonderful, and you are just terrific in thinking ahead and trying to keep doors open for her. :001_smile:
  15. I don't know about Abeka, but Notgrass will have it all right there for you to use. Do keep in mind the Notgrass is decidedly Christian, though if Abeka is your alternative choice, you are probably fine with that! :laugh: If you are only looking for history, you can skip the Biblical application lessons (the final/fifth lesson of each unit), the memory verses and Biblical Worldview readings, and the assigned novels and biographies. I hope you will take a look at the worldview/Scriptural lessons, though, because I think they are marvelous, and not to be missed... Exploring World History is the textbook's title. It is divided into two separate books, each with 400-plus pages, There is also a supplementary book called In Their Words which contains source documents, poetry, short stories, etc., offered to enrich the text. The Student Review book has questions over each lesson and the assigned supplementary readings, commentary on the optional assigned Bible readings, and notes and commentary and some light literary analysis on the novels and biographies the author chose for the English credit portion of the curriculum. The textbook set and source document book cost about $100 brand new, and the review pack (with the question/commentary book, pre-printed quizzes and tests, and the answer key for everything) costs about $15. All in all, Notgrass world history is approachable and interesting. Students can complete the work independently, but there are great opportunities for discussions about what he has read and studied. I love this curriculum! I hope this is helpful to you... db
  16. How exciting! :hurray: Congratulations to your daughter! My own daughter will take MUS Pre-calculus at our co-op next year... thank you for sharing this!
  17. Notgrass' Exploring World History... Christian perspective. A broad sweep (not in depth), but the extra readings with source documents, poetry, hymns and folk songs, etc., flesh out the information in the textbook. Thirty units (thirty weeks) of five lessons each. Four of those lessons are about history, fifth lesson is Biblical application/worldview related. (The unit on WWI and WWII is followed by a lesson on the Scriptural view of peace.) You could skip the fifth lesson each week if needed. Each unit is followed by a short quiz over the history material, and each fifth unit is followed by a test. There are also Bible tests and "English" tests over the novels and biographies recommended in the text, but you don't have to do those. I used to want something more rigorous for my kids, but they complete the lessons independently and they've learned a lot. We have enjoyed Notgrass. :001_smile:
  18. Thank you all! I will print out the responses and think on them. :001_smile:
  19. We have a sentence with which we are struggling: Mr. Scott, our science teacher, is popular with all students, eighth graders particularly. What is the "eighth graders particularly"? As a phrase, does it modify something? I am drawing a blank! Thank you in advance, Dora :seeya:
  20. Hi there: I haven't read the earlier post to which you refer, but I would like to say that Notgrass can be very easy to "get done". Your son can simply read the text and supplemental book on his own, answer the assigned questions and turn them in. The answer key will make it easy for you to grade. The short quizzes following each unit are usually multiple choice or true/false... very easy to grade. In the newer editions, at least, he can choose from three "projects" for each unit. One of the choices is a paper - 300 to 500 words - on a topic given in the book. The other two might be art or cooking projects. You could skip the projects altogether or require the paper each time and find a simple rubric to use for grading. I like Notgrass. I think the author has a balanced approach to history... I think I recall that you object to BJU because of the anti-Catholic feel. I don't sense that in this text at all. The Notgrass Student Review book (which is part of the curriculum package) contains brief overviews about the assigned literature, along with a few questions about each book. This might be enough for your purposes. Alternatively, you could likely find little quizzes online for each of the books that would be easy and "objective" to grade. (I know EXACTLY what you mean, here, btw, and I feel your pain.) I would probably do that, and skip evaluating books for which I couldn't find an quick and easy quiz. Have you looked at allinonehighschool.com? It's the so-called "Easy Peasy" curriculum. She has a physics curriculum posted. It's based on Georgia Virtual Learning's course and is self-graded (if you think that would work). She also has a few literature courses for high school. The British Literature in particular looks good, and all of her curriculum is free. I would post the link, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to do that. I hope this is helpful. :001_smile: Dora
  21. This publishing house looks promising: http://www.behrmanhouse.com/ Also, there are a couple of ladies on the Simply Charlotte Mason forum who have engaged in discussions about scheduling Jewish Education. Hope this helps... Dora :001_smile:
  22. Do you live in an urban/suburban area? If so, you might consider Craigslist. It's like an ongoing garage sale. :001_smile: If you do this, I would recommend setting a certain day and time (perhaps once or twice a week?) and meeting buyers in a public location (McDonald's parking lot or wherever there are lots of people around...) to swap your stuff for cash.
  23. Hello all: I have a daughter who is in ninth grade. We had a difficult summer, relationship-wise, and are still in a bit of conflict over, well, a lot of things. I have been homeschooling her since third grade and everything has gone pretty well (I thought) up to this last six months or so. Anyway, she doesn’t really want to discuss literature or anything with me (though we do some discussion anyway – I persist a bit), so she does quite a lot of her school on her own. I check her work, talk to her some about the things she is supposed to be learning, and make suggestions in a way that I hope won’t rile her. She takes a writing class and a world geography class outside the home, and she wants to take more. That was not my original plan for her, and I don’t think it’s best, but I am willing to bend to her wishes so long as she keeps up with the workload. I have adjusted her curriculum a bit with her input, and her workload to fit the way that works best for her and our family. I don’t have that option on the outsourced classes, obviously, but that is fine because she needs to learn to work on someone else’s schedule. I am discouraged because I had hoped for so much more – probably after reading too many homeschooling blogs! I am trying to adjust my expectations and let go of those hopes I had, but now our school day feels reduced to a list of “stuff to do†that doesn’t seem like authentic learning. I’m wondering whether anyone else feels that schoolwork is sort of “disjointed†from the rest of your life... something their students just “do†so they can get on with the day. Thank you, Dora
  24. I have a son who is in 6th grade. He loves math and wants to be an engineer (right now, anyway…). He is just about to finish Singapore Primary (6B) and MUS Pre-Algebra. MUS is very easy for him, and he has also flown through Singapore. I want to challenge him, but he may not be as advanced as I think, and I don’t want to overwhelm him. I feel shaky about making this choice because I think I made a mistake with his sister, who used the same curriculums when she was younger. Following MUS Pre-Algebra and Singapore 6B, I placed her in Foerster’s Algebra using the Math Without Borders companion DVD. It didn’t go well. In fact, it was a beating. I am not terribly strong in math, but my husband is an Electrical Engineer, so I had a little help when he was not traveling on business. We had to work through almost every exercise several times and she was still making B’s and C’s, so I switched to Videotext. It has worked well for her, but I feel badly about the whole thing because I think I messed her up. Anyway, I don’t want to make a similar mistake with my son by placing him in a curriculum that’s too hard for him, but I want him to be well prepared for engineering school if that’s what he still wants. If he could still love math when it's all said and done, that would be a bonus. I have been looking at Art of Problem Solving. Does anyone know how long most of the courses in AoPS take for reasonably strong math students? Do each of them take one year? If so, how do most users plug in the Number Theory and Counting and Probability curriculums? Are those “extras†(nice, but not really necessary for high school)? Do students work on those while also completing another course (Geometry or Pre-Calculus)? How do you know what to work on and what to leave out? Is there any way to know in advance if I am on the wrong track? Thank you for any insight you are willing to share…
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