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Everything posted by AmandaVT
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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?
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I like YouTube TV too. No Lifetime, but three different Hallmark channels! I also like that we can add on the sports package during football season and cancel it easily when that's over. You can make any account changes you need online. One of the things that annoyed me about cable was that I'd have to call any time I wanted to make any changes to the account. You can stream on multiple TVs. I think RedZone limits to three screens, but I haven't noticed an issue with multiple screens aside from that. And you don't have to be at home to watch. If, I happened to be in a different state and logged in there, I wouldn't get blocked for not being on my home network like some services do.
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I just want to chime in to thank everyone for their YNAB tips and youtube suggestions. I tried it a couple of years ago and it was tricky, but I love the idea of it and I have friends that love it. We need something and I'm going to try it again! Thank you!
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I've had great luck with Duluth. They run slightly big, so I usually buy one size down and that seems to work well.
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Favorite order for feeding/rehydrating someone with an upset stomach?
AmandaVT replied to Terabith's topic in The Chat Board
DS just got over a really nasty stomach bug. Water with lots of crushed ice, ginger ale/sprite, and lemon-lime Gatorade was all he could handle for a few days. Plain baked potato with a little bit of butter and herbamare and saltines were what he was able to keep down next. I hope you don't get what he had - he was DOWN for almost 5 days. We had to call the on-call pedi twice, and thankfully eventually got some Zofran into him, which helped a lot. -
ASD, internet addiction, and PS-issued Chromebook
AmandaVT replied to Quarter Note's topic in The Chat Board
I'm a special educator and agree with this. Also, in my state (and I'm guessing others?), an ASD diagnosis is a path to more services, especially adult services. Respite, job training and support, etc. The team has to look through the lens of "which disability is limiting access to the general education curriculum and causing the behavior." In this case, ASD seems like "what came first." Our school psych does a nice job guiding the Eval team (which ALWAYS includes the parents) in making the decision as a team and explaining things to the team. If your meeting focused on accommodation and not services, I'm guessing you had a 504 meeting, not an IEP meeting. So formally requesting an IEP evaluation would be a good next step. -
ASD, internet addiction, and PS-issued Chromebook
AmandaVT replied to Quarter Note's topic in The Chat Board
Has he had an eval? There are legal time limits in place for a school team to move on an IEP. If you request a meeting to discuss an IEP, the team has 15 days to set it up. Then, they have 60 days to complete an evaluation for special education and hold the eligibility meeting. This link is VT-specific, but much of the info should still be relevant. -
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Flurries today in central VT - the ground is bare still but the air looks pretty!
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