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8,451 ExcellentAbout AmandaVT
- Birthday 04/09/1977
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Female
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Vermont
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Working in public schools, cell phones are the bane of teachers' existence. Kids as young as 4th grade use them to text each other to meet in pre-determined spots to vape. Kids use Snapchat and TikTok to bully each other during the school day. Parents text their kids all day, disrupting class. They use them to cheat on tests. And this is all in schools where phones are required to be turned to silent and kept in backpacks. Kids hide them in hoodies and wear their earbuds under hoodies as well. Then they can watch YouTube all class. Lunches are much quieter now because kids are all staring at their phones (they are allowed to have them out during lunch). I get kids wanting to keep their phones on them to be able to reach a parent in case of an emergency, but it's frustrating, and in my opinion, causing harm to student learning.
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DS has done a lot of labs on the Labster website through his WTMA chem class. They're really well done labs and it looks like there's a home school option - $139 for the year. https://homeschoolbuyersclub.com/products/labster?variant=46655739330874
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School funding comes through property taxes here, and homeschoolers do not get any funding, so I would imagine the more people homeschool here, the bigger the benefit to public schools as they would have the same funding with fewer students. Districts are able to choose if they want to allow homeschoolers to attend for part-time classes or extracurricular activities. The district we live in is happy to let DS join for after-school theater club and would have no problem if he were to take a class or two at the high school.
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I've heard of it, but it's not what I thought it was. I've heard of a layered bean, salsa, guac, cheese, sour cream (and I'm forgetting a few layers!) version.
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Our district just made the call to dismiss after lunch and let all staff go home without taking personal time.
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We have become One Fresh Pillow converts. https://www.onefreshpillow.com/collections/products They'll also recycle your old pillows for you which is handy because I never know what to do with my pillows when I replace them. It looks like they're out of stock right now, but they regularly update!
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S/O: How old were you when you purchased your first house?
AmandaVT replied to DawnM's topic in The Chat Board
28, married, no baby yet. -
Exactly - our district has terrible reading (and math, for that matter) scores, and one of the schools has changed science and social studies to essentially ELA classes through the lens of science and social studies. So they read and write just about those subjects. It seems to be working out well so far based on the mid year benchmark assessments we're finishing up this week!
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For fun: how much of your college application essay(s) came true?
AmandaVT replied to SKL's topic in The Chat Board
I have no recollection of what I wrote in my application essays. I remember writing them, but I have completely forgotten content or even the questions! -
It's ridiculous - the middle schoolers all started waddling like penguins last year in an effort to keep their sneakers without creases. Then they'd change their sneakers for gym class or to go outside, so the new shoes wouldn't get dirty. I am super glad that wasn't a trend when I was young. Also glad DS doesn't care about having creaseless white sneakers!
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Yes - love it!
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Navy?
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S/o what did you eat when you were a child?
AmandaVT replied to Laura Corin's topic in The Chat Board
I remember my parents going out a lot. They went to friends' houses for murder mystery parties, out to dinner/movies, regular dinner parties, etc. My brother and I would be home with the babysitter a few times a month. We would go out as a family, too. Not quite weekly, maybe monthly? Dinner and a movie was a regular night out. The only times we were allowed fast food were at Burger King after the dentist's (30 min after when we were allowed to eat again). And McDonalds after doctor's appointments if we had to get a shot. To this day, I associate doctor/dentist appointments with getting a treat. Now I stop at Dunkin after dentist appointments for a cold brew! -
S/o what did you eat when you were a child?
AmandaVT replied to Laura Corin's topic in The Chat Board
11 in 88. Let me think. I have no memory of breakfast, but I would guess cereal or instant oatmeal (maple and brown sugar!) My mom only bought "boring" cereals - cheerios, rice krispies, crispix. Nothing with sugar. Lunch - by 11 I packed my own because my mom was a terrible lunch packer. (american cheese on wheat bread with mayo, mealy apple and a warm juicy juice box that invariably squished the sandwich). I went to a tiny grammar school so I would have made a sandwich, a juice box and that's probably it unless we had the "good" apples. After school snack - Kudos bars or dunkaroos or something like that. Dinner - ugh, we'd always have the box of frozen veg that would get microwaved. I hated the mixed veggies (still do). Then something like chicken and rice, pasta w/ meat sauce, that kind of thing. Steak and potato once a week. Sometimes casseroles or enchiladas. My mom and my aunt took an "ethnic" cooking class around this time, so she'd make things from that. Dessert - whatever the "in" cookie/ice cream was? My mom would get the snackwells when those were popular. I remember various frozen yogurts when that was in. If we ate our dumb microwaved veggies, we could eat dessert, so my brother and I got really good at hiding them. I'm betting there are still dried out lima beans in some of the plants in the dining room. We both love veggies as adults, just not microwaved frozen veggies. And I still won't touch lima beans or mixed veggies from a bag. -
That's so annoying. Our superintendent wears jeans half the time. Stitch Fix seems to have amazing powers to find pants that fit me. And they always have nice stretch and are comfy (and have pockets!) May be worth a shot?