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Quiver0f10

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Posts posted by Quiver0f10

    Time Magazine on Prom-related Costs

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Our homeschool group has a winter and a spring formal. My 18 year old spent $35 for each gown at thrift stores. She does her own makeup and gets her hair done for $40. Our sons are going as her dates lol.. One we got pants for $5 at goodwill and a jacket for $20. He has a dress shirt, tie and dress shoes already. The other is borrowing a suit from his older brother. I can't imagine spending $1K on prom?

    On my way to pick up my son

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Just an update- we are driving downstate right now and my son will be released from court ordered bootcamp at 8am!

    Thanks to all for all your prayers and support over the last 296 days. We are all so happy to be putting this behind us and moving on.

    We are planning a weekend of eating and just hanging out at home.

     

     

    Jen

     

    yay! I am so happy for you all!

    Welp....this academic year really s*cked!!!

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    You know, this always happens to me!!! I hate it! I get a curriculum that NEEDS student pages etc. even though it is sold as complete...the company adds components that are really, REALLY needed...then they sell them and change the original manual so you can no longer use it!!!!

     

    It really gets my bloomers in a big fat twist!!!!!

    I understand. However, I don't think you need the student pages and could use just the guide, but the student pages make the curriculum more open and go, which is what I am needing right now.

    Welp....this academic year really s*cked!!!

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Biblioplan year 3? It is planned out, and covers history and lit. I personally think it lacks enough reading, so would add more books in, in a book basket format I guess. Not sure for science. sorry.

     

    I was going to suggest this. BP has history pages now, which include essay questions for the uppper levels. It has maps, timeline books, a weekly assignment schedule and it's all neatly laid out. I will be using this with my highschoolers along with Smarr lit. We are using CLE or TT for math. CLE for language. Science for the younger ones will be apologia with the student notebooks, which has a schedule and has everything all nice and neatly laid out. IEW for writing. We had a terrible year this year too so for next year I am looking for things that are all laid out and don't take a lot of planning on my part.

    ice cream cake???

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    My dd's favorite ice cream cake

     

    Crush a package of oreos. Place in bottom of pan.

    Top with softened ice cream of your choice.

    Place in freezer.

    When frozen add layer of whip cream.

    Put back in freezer.

    To serve, place pan in larger pan of warm water to soften edges. slice and serve

     

    We do this but put a layer of chocolate syrup after the ice cream,. Toss into the freezer for a bit, then a layer of wool whip. To make putting together the ice cream part easier, I buy the paper cartons of ice cream and peel it open so just the ice cream is showing and slice it into slabs with a sharp knife, then press into a 9X13.

    Large families on a budget-eating healthy?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    We found a whoelsale supplier of fruits and veggies. Each week we call up and place an order for a case of apples, case of oranges, case of bananas, tomatoes,potatoes,etc. We go pick up at their warehouse, and pay cash. The savings are wonderful! This is the place that supplies fruit and veggies to area resteraunts and small grocery stores.The owner said we are the only family that comes in to do this, I assume because most families wouldn't eat as much produce as we do. ;) We spend right around $100 per week on fruit and veggies, then spend about $100 at Sam's to finish off the groceries.Stir fried rice and veggies with egg(we have chickens) is a staple. Between meals the kids are free to eat as many fruit pieces as they want, as long as they finish it. Bagged shredded cheese is probably the most processed thing we eat.

    I would love to have a wholesale place like that! Jealous :-)

    Smarr writing lessons?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Hi Jean,

     

    I don't know if this will help or not, but we did use Smarr Medieval interwoven with 2 other lit programs when my son was in 10th grade (so about 5 years ago). At the time, I had planned to use the writing instruction in Smarr and started off with it. Basically it centers around writing an argumentative papers on a rhetorical issue in literature--the kind of paper the author assigns after each work of literature in the program. It also has a lot of grammar instruction and exercises.

     

    I thought the first part of the writing guide, introducing the structure of the essay and thesis statements, was reasonably good, and it was helpful to ds. He did a number of the assigned papers, but I did not critique them too heavily--he struggled with writing so I was just glad he was willing to try, and was glad for whatever he could get down on paper. We also used IEW's Teaching Writing with Structure and Style that year (their main seminar, which I had finally broken down and purchased) and that helped ds as well--though its focus was different.

     

    I did not like the grammar instruction in the Smarr writing guide at all. Ds had done Abeka grammar from 4th grade through the end of their program, and it was excellent--Smarr's does not compare. So ds skipped all that--he was already great at grammar.

     

    Anyway, as we went on through Smarr's literature program, I became increasingly concerned over the author's grammar and usage in the literture lessons (and the writing lessons too). It just grated on me, and I found numerous instances of grammatical errors and things that were just plain poorly written. So.... I really lost confidence in the author's writing program--did not want my ds learning to write the way the author did, and I jumped ship about a third of the way in. From that point we focussed more on the IEW. Perhaps others saw it through and had a better experience, I don't know.

     

    I'd suggest going ahead and using Smarr's writing program--or parts of it, but keep an eye out for what it's teaching your dc. Look more at some of his advice that's specific about writing about a rhetorical issue, and organization, but then have some other better resources on hand for writing instruction to use as well. The Lively Art of Writing (which I used later with dd--who did not do Smarr) is a very good and inexpensive resource for argumentative essays--one idea would be to use that and apply the lessons to the Smarr literature at hand (instead of having to write about the topics the book suggests--which we found hard to relate to.)

     

    If you're looking for your writing program to cover more than argumentative essays, then you'll definitely need to find other resources for the types of writing you want to cover.

     

    Hope this helps!

    Thank you! This was very helpful!

    What are you using with your second grader?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I do not have nearly the experience that you do but it looks like your 2nd grader is your baby. Is that right? Even with only three kids, I notice that my baby wants/craves more (to be like/keep up with older siblings?) and, no matter what he does, it somehow seems light because it is naturally lighter than what everyone else is doing. The more I wrap him into what my older two are doing and the more I adapt to allow him to fully participate in the bigger projects/subjects (writing workshop with IEW, nature study notebook, coming up with his own science inquiries instead of mostly tagging along, giving him equal turns narrating group read-alouds, etc.), the more engaged he seems to be. We are also working on giving him some things that are all his own (separate/different chores, drum lessons vs guitar/piano, his own personalized reading lists, etc.).

     

    I don't know, just my thoughts on my own youngest. DH worries about our youngest DS feeling forgotten or like a tag-along (although I do not think he is at all). Maybe that is part of what feels lighter? That the baby is doing what everyone else already has, so it feels...ho-hum? Maybe just add a zap, a fun extra.

    Yes, he is my baby and I think you nailed my issue perfectly LOL! Thank you!

    What are you using with your second grader?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Thank you all. My second grader is doing: Saxon Math, LOE Penmanship, Barton's Reading & Spelling, SOTW, Apologia Science and VP Bible. For fall I have planned the same except adding WWE/FLL, Apologia Who is God and we will be using BP/MOH instead of SOTW. It just doesn't feel like enough even though this is what my other second graders have done?

    side effects from doxycycline?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    My 14yo and 17yo have been on doxycycline for 1.5 weeks now for acne.

     

    It has done wonders for my 17yo already. She has had NO negative effects and her face has almost completely cleared up.

     

    My 14yo has had a lot of problems though. She has been sick since the 4th day. There have been no positive effects at all. She has nausea that comes and goes, feels generally "off", has had dry mouth/throat, ... She hasn't felt truly sick - more like the way she feels right before coming down with an awful illness. There hasn't been any fever. At this point, she wants to just stop the doxycycline and see if the dermatologist has something else she can recommend.

     

    Did any of your kids (or you) have this sort of problem with doxycycline? My dh has been on a much lower dose of it for years because of rosacea. He had the same kinds of problems with it right at first.

     

    My 24 yo has a lot of those symptoms when she takes docy.

    Organic is it worth it?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I am trying to feed my family healthier and would love to do all organic, but there is no way we could afford it. My aim is real food, which is what we pretty much do already, but we have been slowly adding in junk which is gone as of today. I do buy eggs from a friends farm and organic apples/oranges, grains and bulk items through Azure, but that is about it. Is it really worth it to buy more organic items? Ideally I'd love to do more fruits and veggies but if I try to do organic there is no way that is going to happen. Same with milk and chicken. How do I find balance?

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