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yoyoma

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Everything posted by yoyoma

  1. I have to second so many of the recommendations here. Many that I listen to and was nodding. Many I look forward to checking out. One I didn't see mentioned that jumps through jazz/folk/pop in one fell swoop is Andrew Bird His music changes by album though...if you don't like one try another. He likes to experiment :-)
  2. We were willing to drive a lot (30-40 min). One was for an unusual sport, and one was for better dance than available at the time. We were mainly driving my eldest with the other two as passengers, and their academics were all very solid so we had time to spare in our week. A few things made it work for us--a few things others have already mentioned, but I'll just put here in one place: --audiobooks for drive (I actually have very fond memories of us galloping through a few books together) --having library and/or grocery shopping at destination--two birds with one stone --coffee shop to have school at with sibling (lot of bonding with younger one here, working on spelling and writing together) --younger took taekwondo close to the dance studio, and I was able to make the schedules work --utlizing back of car as picnic or nap area I know several families at our current dance that now do the travel we once did in reverse, and I see them utilizing a lot of the same things (back of car, coffee shop). It was actually nice to get out of the house, and we had many interesting conversations during car time, that I'm not sure we'd have otherwise. Just don't let them be "chauffeured" while tuned into their phone/earphones. That'd be a drag :-/ While dance moved closer (10 minutes away now), I still drive youngest to swim 2x a week, and violin 1x a week, both 20 minutes away--not as crazy as we once were, which I appreciate--but for us it was totally worth the quality of lessons and bonding.
  3. So much feeling this. Especially after spending last two weeks scanning old copywork and drawings...I feel like I've just time-warped from their age 8 to college. Very strong emotions. I take comfort that I am more confident in graduating the next two, and will stress less now that I've "done one," and maybe enjoy the ride more.
  4. Make sure you download the errata. I was working on the first few chapters for myself, and was hitting my head against the wall going "this can't be right." Sure enough, in my version there are errors. (And if anyone can explain to me why poeta is po-e-ta and not poe-ta (isn't oe a digraph?) I'd appreciate it. Thanks!) ETA: figured it out. Missed the long e mark on poeta, so it is not a digraph. Got it.
  5. My daughter took a state end-of-course test after finishing TT2. After the test, she was regretful enough that she asked me to write to someone we knew coordinating the testing, to make sure they updated. We wrote, "If you have any families doing TTAlg2, I highly recommend they make sure they are doing the NEW 2.0 version, or to exchange their old for the new by the end of the year. The additional topics that she had difficulty in the testing were Functions and Logarithms which are now an additional chapter, and Absolute Value which was an "Additional Topic" which now has its own chapter. Looks like they have closed up some gaps." Don't know if that is any help to you, as it has to do with aligning to state standardized tests, but thought I'd share.
  6. I'm really enjoying reading the Illustrated Guide to Home Experiments. Thanks to all on here that suggested it. I've figured out where our chem lab area (and biology lab next year) is going to be--and dh is going to construct a table just to fit the area (it already has shelving). I had an idea in my sleep, of "liquid nailing" (or attaching in a similar fashion), a dog crate liner to the top of the table/workbench. It is black composite plastic, has a textured bottom, and a lip...we use one on the floor in our bunny area to help control her mess a little bit...it looks like this. I can verify that ammonia etches it (bad bunny!), but that it is rugged. Being a chem newbie, does this sound a like a good, or bad idea as a working surface? Thanks for any input. yoyoma
  7. I thought I'd give you all another update. I had a great conversation with my wonderful neighbor, who happens to be a senior hazmat inspector in the fire department. He allayed any fears I had left. I will be sure to remember him as a resource as well. Now, I'm actually looking forward to this. :thumbup:
  8. Thank you everyone for your comments of clarity and sanity. I feel much less sensationlist today...all the prevailing voices have relieved the note of hysteria I had previously. I'll be looking into the Teresa Bondora e-book, and I was actually scheduling in the MIT videos for my dd, so thanks for mentioning those! I take from this a healthy respect for the need for lab safety and good lab skills, but not the overwhelming fear that those cannot be taught at home. The negativity is dissipating. (thanks all!) :thumbup1: The absolute positive I take from this experience, is in my preparing materials, I will make sure dd preps for college-readiness, not just getting through a hs requirement.
  9. I can see where one might see think that is what she was trying to say. That is possibly my fragmented description of the story. Her point, really, was that she was concerned I could not equip my daughter well enough to be as prepared as necessary for the college level. The story she told was not really to illustrate the lab skill point, but rather the competitiveness and environment in that lab.
  10. Got it. Makes so much sense. Cut and pasted it and put in my "remember this" files. Might cross-stitch it into a wall hanging. Critical thinking skills. Solid algebra skills. Study skills. Problem solving. Those are things I understand. Super to know that her dd's bad experience is counterbalanced by positive experiences of others. The universe seems a little better in balance now. I'm actually looking forward to the UPS truck pulling up with the used books I ordered.
  11. Coming down off the roof now...chocolate in hand... Love the voices of reason here...thank you.
  12. Julie of KY, I just ordered that book yesterday...I'm glad for the confirmation that I'm in the right direction for resources (thanks to threads on this forum). My daughter is math/biology-inclined at this moment, hence why we're trying to do chemistry (so she can get deeper into biology the year after). All Bruins reading, it was not my intent to UCLA bash--this just happened to be the setting that could have happened anywhere with high stress/volatile individual. I meant to highlight my insecurities at preparing my daughter, rather than highlight the school. Photogal, I'm glad that wasn't your experience. I asked someone in person today, and they agreed with the sexism, so I'm grateful to hear your take on it. JHSchool, I did need to hear about the extremity from others, so thank you. She was so passionate about it. I wish I'd brought my knitting today instead of the chem book. I know this is an exceptional case--it just hit me at a particularly strong moment of self-doubt--making it doubly potent. Calming down...but not going to plan chem for a couple days... yoyoma
  13. I am in full-on panic. Had a very intense discussion with my dental hygienist, a retired peridontal surgeon's assistant... I had a chem book in my hands while waiting. She knows we homeschool, and has been very supportive. Her daughter has recently graduated UCLA in biochem, and I think she is a UCLA grad as well (for frame of reference). She was immediately concerned that we were even contemplating chemistry at home. She said that NO WAY could labs be done at home. I nodded, gave sheepish homeschool explanations, that well no, we wouldn't be doing the dangerous ones...and probably mostly conceptual anyway.... And she turned very dramatic and serious.... She said, "You don't understand....if she doesn't have top notch lab skills she will get EATEN ALIVE in college. Chemistry is sexist...the professors are sexist...it is a man's world there, and she needs all the experience she can get, under the hood, using the protocols, or they will absolutely chase her out as fast as they can." I nodded, wide-eyed, and scrambled for my defense, which is "well, if she really has an aptitude and interest for it, she might repeat it in a community college class...." That satisfied her, and calmed her down.... ...but then she started giving me details of when her daughter was at UCLA, and was in the lab and there was a horrific stabbing betweeen lab partners (a male stabbing his female lab partner in the neck) and the stabber's roommate took her daughter aside and said "I understand why he did it," like it was warning. When she started telling me about it, I thought she was talking in metaphors...like back stabbing...not an actual murderous intent...when it dawned on me halfway through the conversation that this really happened, and that it was over LAB SKILLS?! So on the drive home, I am freaked thinking of all the plans I had so naively made, when I thought we could do this at home and still have a top-notch education...and when I got home I googled the incident (don't read it...I just put the link to validate it)...but then I started thinking with some perspective...clearly this is not an ordinary experience....not a common college incident... ...but then in the googling I read about a current case (from the same lab!) with a professor responsible for a lab student's death, and in his defense he says "...it seems evident, based on mistakes investigators tell us were made that day, I underestimated her understanding of the care necessary when working with such materials..." So I had talked myself out of freakout, and now I'm freaked out. I had been enjoying textbook chemistry discussions, and gathering materials, and even just paid for the Thinkwell course. Second thoughts galore. I am not equipped for this! :eek:
  14. Okay, so tinkering to spread out social studies...and after talking with DD...she would like to do AP gov in 11th. She doesn't consider it "history" per se, and she so I guess it is digestable for her LOL That makes me feel better time-wise. Especially when she displays enthusiasm for it. Wonder if that is a summer thing though :laugh: Just don't want to load too much on a heavy junior year...better to have pain now.
  15. I hadn't realized that--my DD has already expressed that we've been "doing history all along" so I was going to try to hurry it out of the way (9th and 10th) so she could concentrate on her first loves, math and science. Really 4 years, not 4 semesters? (Thinking back to some of the college requirements I've been looking at...) I will have to think on this--definitely food for thought. Is it that the college requirements listed on their sites are not actually what they "generally like to see?" I feel like I need a secret handshake now, then! My mind is reeling about what other things I may have mis-judged! :eek:
  16. Yes, she did those in 7th/8th. She is enjoying dipping into the AoPS books right now, so I'm not sure what she will settle on, but I think she will be doing precalc, with maybe the number theory books for enjoyment. Good question though!
  17. Background: DD15 is an independent learner, motivated by standardized tests, math-oriented, and wants a biology/science-y career. She also is a dancer in a pre-professional ballet program. She had chronic pain last year so she will be the first to admit she really kind of cut corners considering the kind of colleges she has her eye on. She feels the pain is not going to be an issue this year (it was scoliosis-related)--and she wants me to throw "the works" at her this next year. Money *is* an issue, so not many outsourced classes (ballet costs a small fortune, and she has siblings). What she did in 9th ================== English (writing and grammar) - Windows on the World, How to Read a Book Ancient Literature (Gilgamesh, Iliad, Odyssey) Geometry - Teaching Textbooks Biology - Holt World History with SAT II Subject Test (620) - Spielvogel and things, and Barron's prep book Dance She is miffed about the SATII score, but she learned a huge lesson about cramming everything into a few weeks instead of covering it through the year (she self-prepped). I think she wants to take the US History SATII or AP test just as a personal challenge to prove to herself that she can prepare better. With all the above in mind, this is how the year seems to be shaping (with curric chosen)... ================== 10th ================== English (writing and grammar) (writing papers with EIL below, Strunk&White, and other bits and bobs) American Literature - Excellence in Literature, American Lit unit (the honors reading list) Precalculus - AoPS books (to be determined...she is starting the books this summer) Chemistry - Thinkwell (so she can start and stop as needed for performance schedules) US History - considering merylvdm's plan...got the resources checked out from the library now US Government - would like to try AP test on this, but may not be realistic...no curric chosen yet Dance (10+ hours week +rehearsals) Latin I - hoping to use previously purchased materials...foreign language is hardest for DD The plan was after trying on for size in the fall, I would look at her progress/aptitude and motivation, and then decide if we will test prep for AP or SATII tests. If so, I would adjust as necessary and get test prep materials--otherwise just carry on. But now that it is all written down in one place, this looks like soooooo much! Granted English and Lit are pretty much combined... and US History and US Government could work in concert... math is her favorite, latin is for fun at this point, and chemistry could be smooth sailing (but could be a drag over shards of glass). Part of me thinks, too, that it looks like a lot for a PS student with loads of homework, but maybe not so much for a motivated homeschooler. Am I naive? Any thoughts? Just to finish things out, here would be a possible skeleton for the remaining years (trying to time AP Bio/Calc for junior year). ================== 11th ================== English/Lit Calculus AP Bio Latin II Computer Science/Econ Dance ================== 12th ================== English/Lit AP Statistics Physics Latin III Dance Any thoughts appreciated. My brain is numb. But it could be the a/c that has frozen my ear as I cuddle next to it. :huh:
  18. We are a secular family, and were very comfortable using the program. The intro has some decidedly "shepherd-like" tone...I thought that otherwise the material was quite secular (I think they were the same stories that I studied in an advanced English course). I whited out with white-out a few sentences that I felt detracted from the teaching message (definitely in the intro, which you can skip, and maybe one or two in the actual lessons). There are a couple lessons on biblical allusions that we completed (we might have skipped one), but not many after that intial lesson. If you have ever altered a curriculum to suit a secular (or other) viewpoint, I think you would find this easy to use. It really is worth trying. A very nice selection, and straighforward way of introducing analysis in bites that make sense and don't bore. My second and third dc will be using it (after trying it on the first) :-)
  19. I have VERY strong feelings regarding this. My daughter has been involved in gymnastics and in dance, and while enjoying them, was not exceptionally NATIONALLY talented (as were her teammates in our competitive area). My daughter decided to concentrate on ballet at age 11. She joined a pre-professional school. They were welcoming to her, even though we made it clear that we were not in pursuit of a professional career for her. As the school director said, "if she love to dance, what better use of her time, than the best training she can get?" So A)we were in a supportive place, and B)she had honed in on the activity that motivated her. It is a definite two-edged sword. It has been difficult to watch the "grooming" of others as they are promoted at younger ages at astoundingly fast rates, given parts for their resume, have private and partnering lessons, and listen to the talk of nationally recognized intensives, while she attends her school's own intensive (character building, to be sure). But she has a very close group of friends that support her, and she is appreciated by the teachers as a hard worker, and leader by example. And of course, the time commitment has been huge, as she takes on the hours of the pre-professional dancers, but her organization skills and time management have matched the need. So addressing your concerns in bold...my answer is ABSOLUTELY. She is "just okay" (of course, the best on the stage to me!).....and in the end, it has definitely been a good experience, and she plans to continue through the end of high school, even though it means dancing six days a week plus rehearsals on top of a challenging school workload. I find that her determination even more admirable (15yo) because she can see so clearly now what is involved in a career in dance, and that there are others better suited. She has no delusions of a career. But she loves what she does, has good friends there, and is supported by the faculty. We would do it again (with those factors) in a heartbeat. I feel I have to add a caveat though--we had a fallback activity in another form of less competitive dance in case things went badly at ballet. I always had a plan in case she decided to "retire" that would support her decision to stop and still allow her to dance. Just a thought. I don't know if this helped...I just wanted to let you know that we've BTDT, and decided to ride the train. (FWIW, we've done the opposite with DS12. He was on a non-competitive YMCA swim team, and asked for more training, so we've just joined club swimming. He will have the same opportunity to continue with the club, or if we're not having fun anymore, go back to the Y. But again...HE is interested, and THEY are supportive.)
  20. Another vote for the battery-powered sonicare. We use rechargeable batteries, and have new heads sent on subscribe and save on Amazon. We had a corded one, but it only lasted a year. We have been several years with the battery-powered ones. I put a thin piece of fancy colored duct tape around the housing for the batteries on the bottom (around the seal) just to ensure there is no moisture that can get in (a cause of some negative reviews on Amazon). I just change the tape when I change the batteries (every 2 weeks or so?).
  21. I'm replying without reading all the way through, so forgive me if these are repeats. I caution against buying too much...in the name of buying all things educational/school-related, after 10+ years I am drowning in school materials and impulse purchases... I stay away from back to school sales. Okay, I didn't at first, but now I do. It probably depends on the store, but I have found that the cheaper crayons/pencils/pens/notebooks that I purchase then are the ones that go unused. YMMV, of course. Our must haves: -A scanner -A good b&w and color printer -Library card at library that will collect holds and does ILL well -Garage sale stickers (I tape these to the bottom of the spines of books--sorry purists--to organize them. I also put initials with a checkmark for each child on the top of the spine so that I don't try to make a child read a book multiple times when they've geez, already read that one, Mom, you keep asking me about it) -Baskets...piles of books that are used day after day can be put in a basket, and still look attractive and be accessible -A timer (I have one from Amazon that is like a dice cube that I love, but doesn't have 15 minutes argh) -If they are using a computer, REALLY good headphones (comfortable and quiet) -A good geometry set (ruler, compass, protractor) -A variety of weights of paper/cardstock, and large ream of printer paper (you can print any kind of lined paper you need) Things that are useful: -A globe -Prismacolor colored pencils and the prismacolor sharpener you can buy (love it) -Box watercolors -Different glues...a variety seems to help when your standby glue just doesn't seem to cut it -Handheld hole punch -Tape dispenser and a couple varieties of tape (scotch, masking, and duct) -Proclick binding machine -Snacks/foods prepared beforehand (freezer?) so that studying isn't derailed constantly by "but I'm hungry" and a lunch mealplan so you don't lose momentum in the day (we have a weekly repeating menu) -Rolling scrapbook bags (each dc has one that their "current" books and work go into. They can roll into different rooms, or even throw in the back of the car, and school goes "with them") -Post-its...use on front of books to assign chapters, use as bookmarks, memorize concepts etc -Favorite brands of products that they love and stick to and restock as needed. When you are low, re-order. Stick to the brand, and you won't sit down with substandard tools because they "were there." Our favorites are ticonderoga pencils, papermate clear tip mechanical pencils, and sharpie gel highlighters (they don't soak through paper), and paper mate comfortmate ultra retractable ballpoint pens. Oh, and pentel hi-polymer block erasers (they don't leave eraser dust everywhere). Things we DIDN'T need but bought (I'm not sure I would replace them) -laminator (really could have used contact paper) -3 ring binders (they are too big and clumsy for our needs...we use smaller swing-arm clamp binders) -3 hole punch (see above) -comb binding machine...mine collects dust and mocks me. I'm much happier with the proclick binding machine mentioned above -magazine subscriptions -notecards (DD15 is only NOW using them...after they have littered the house for a very long time) -a balance for manipulatives (was big, and was a concept they got in a day) -a big box of chemistry equipment, and a microscope. We WILL need it this year, but I bought it far in advance of when we will actually USE it. The kids also have: -a simple laptop or netbook with internet connection...they get this when they are 12 I'm running out of time--we have to run to swim and dance...aack...will have to stop here!! Cheers! ETA: I previewed this instead of posting, and ran out the door (forehead slap). Then, I read the thread while waiting for the kids, and realized that I have repeated what many have said. Hopefully there is a little bit new, or it helps prioritize by echoing others' necessities.
  22. My dd15 went into her notes to verify that she got it correct (we had some errors that were TT's fault, so we were verifying this problem wasn't one of them)... She says that it is substituting, and here is her explanation. In step 2, angle ZOY + angle ZOX = angle ZOX in step 5, you are substituting angle ZOX for angle ZOY plus angle YOX Hope that helps. For future reference, she found an error on the test: Chapter 12 Test, Problem 6 Answer sheet says "chord" Answer disk for the test says "secant line" Their answer: "Your daughter is correct, that is an error in the answer key. The CD is correct, the answer to problem 6 should be “secant line.†Our apologies for the mistake." I have a list of errata from February of this year (dated October 2012) that they sent with the reply. If there is an appropriate place to share that, I can do so, or pm me.
  23. Where were ya'all, Dicentra and 8FillTheHeart, when I had this conversation (College Board, "AP" name, etc etc) a couple years ago? I remember the glazed look on my DH's eyes very well, and I ended up talking to myself to work it all out.... Oh, ya'all were here...and I was not... so glad to be here now!! And I really hope I don't come across as someone that hasn't done their homework, but rides on the research and work of others...but boy is it nice to have a sounding board here of intelligent, well-informed, experienced, hs'ers. one grateful yoyoma
  24. Ahhhhh, I getcha now. :thumbup1: That ChemAdvantage looks fabulous--thanks for mentioning it (I missed that one when reading the chem threads--maybe because it had a chem 1 requirement). Unfortunately it doesn't meet our needs of stopping and starting our schedule for dance season--(sigh). (Yes, I have dreams where SWB whispers in my ear with words that stuck from wtm my first read-through years ago--to limit extracurriculars :smilielol5:--yeah, ain't happening here)
  25. I have not looked into any tuition programs. If there is a large advantage to doing that? She got a 61 on the math portion of the PSAT in 8th grade, which looks like it meets some sort of CTY qualification, but I don't know what that advantage is. If you can clarify, it is something I could consider. I am all about learning new things.
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