Above The Rowan
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Posts posted by Above The Rowan
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I have read the portion that is age appropriate for my two kids, a couple of times. I find myself moving away from TWTM style homeschooling so I'm not sure how much I will reference it from here out.
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If you've been HSing for less than 2 years, how is/did your year going/go? It has been amazing. I'd always wanted to hs, but they ended up in the public school system while I figured out how to make it work as a single parent etc. So getting to finally do this has truly been amazing.
What was your biggest accomplishment? Letting go of my Type-A control freak tendencies - that was not easy, but it was definitely necessary.
What are you looking for next time? I am going to keep working with my oldest at his reading/spelling/writing, and I'm hoping to move into a more lit-based type of homeschool.
What are you going to change up for next time? If it's dry, boring, and makes me want to tear my eyeballs out it probably makes the kids feel the same way. Less drill and kill, and more reading-based learning. We're about to start adding in Beast Academy and start being more intentional with our Brave Writer work.
What are you going to continue doing the same? We love Math Mammoth, and Logic of English and we will continue on with those.
What was the most drastic change you've witnessed in your kids? My oldest makes me teary-eyed at least once a day. He was so anxious about anything language-related when he came out of PS, that I thought for sure he'd never read or write. But he loves it now, and BEGS me to add more (I know, right?!) So seeing him lose the anxiety and fear, and become a really diligent student who loves learning has been beyond amazing for me.
Also, just how much deeper our connections to each other are now, has been pretty cool to see. As a single mama, I had to make a lot of choices I didn't want to make but I had to make, and it felt like we were all just surviving the days. Now I feel such a cool relationship re-building between the three of us - that alone makes all the troubles of hs'ing worth it. My kids are really affectionate again, and I feel like the trust is rebuilding between us all really quickly (they've had to deal with a lot at their young ages, it's nice to finally see them relaxing and being kids).
What was most surprising to you, the parent? How easy it's been, and yet how truly terrifying it can be - all at the same time.
If this is your 2nd year HS, how did it go compared to the first? Not applicable :)
I pulled my kids from 2nd Grade and Senior Kindergarten in late September. It really has been the one parenting decision I've made that I know deep in my heart that it's the best for my kids. I've made some monumentally stupid decisions as a mom in the last few years, but this is one that was perfectly right.
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Does anyone else ever think of The Handmaid's Tale when things such as Phillips and Gothard come up?
Yup.
We read this in senior high English class and I have read it probably a dozen times since then. I love this book. Margaret Atwood is one of my favourite authors.
And everytime I read a discussion on here about patriarchal issues, this book pops up in my head.
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Stereotypes tend to come from somewhere.
My ex husband was very much the "stereotype" and is why he is now my ex. He was absent as a husband and as a father and I got tired of doing everything alone AND being unhappy on top of that. So I asked for a divorce.
I don't find this stereotype funny on sitcoms and movies anymore and find it insulting and degrading to men. It's not cute or funny when men are uninterested in family life. And it's unfair to the men out there who do value their families and wouldn't dream of behaving like this "stereotypes". My partner now does not have to be asked, cajoled, or even hinted at - he is a wonderful father for my kids, he is an amazing partner to me and a great friend.
He has said often when we watch tv together or comedy movies, how annoying it is to see these male characters.
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The ability to read music.
Reading/writing clearly and fluently.
Scientific literacy.
Critical thinking skills
Canadian history and politics will be absolutely non-negotiable as they get older. Particularly as pertains to First Nations peoples. This is something that is sorely lacking in our ps system and one of many reasons I pulled my kids from school.
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Surprise visits from good friends.
I'm currently laid up in bed because of a herniated disc in my lower lumbar, and after a week of this now I was on the brink of a total meltdown.
My good friend and her kids (they are hs'ers also) showed up with coffee, timbits (donut hole type donuts from Tim Hortons).
Her son brought his laptop so he and my son played minecraft together while her daughter and mine ran off chattering about my little ponies and monster high. I got to visit with a dear friend and it all made me feel SO happy to have such a great distraction from what was starting out to be a truly horrible day.
Good friends make everything better.
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I'm Canadian so it may be not available in the US.
You can always find a good herbal/natural remedy store and talk to someone there. That's basically what I did.
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I used Johnson B12 supplements. I don't have the bottle on hand, but will try to find the info for you later.
I took 1000mcg a day for 3 months initially. I have unfortunately been slacking on taking them lately. I ran out some time ago and keep forgetting to pick up a new bottle.
I also upped the B12 rich foods into diet and tried to cut out artificial crap.
Most days now my symptoms are non existent but once in a while they flare up again and I will have tingling body parts lol.
I'm on my phone but can answer more later :)
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Oh and ER can also at least start the process of making a diagnosis and rule out anything emergent - if you are concerned about MS the only way to definitively diagnose it is with an MRI and an ER doc could possibly start that referral process, no? I got my MRI referral within days when I went to the ER about my tingly sensations.
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Is going to a walk in clinic an option? (I'm in Ontario so I'm not totally familiar with your health system.) at least they would be able to order some bloodwork and such while you are waiting to see your primary physician?
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I am so sorry for your loss.
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LOE for my struggling 8 yr old was a godsend. We used the Foundations program for him and Denise Eide helped me make the decision so if you like it and not sure how to choose between the two curricula, send an email through their website and the customer service is amazing.
I can't say enough about the LOE program or Ms. Eide.
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I have been tested for ms with similar symptoms. Turns out I had extremely low B12 levels. You can buy b12 OTC and its safe to take up to 1000mcg a day. I now have long term neuro issues that they think is due to undetected low B12 and my symptoms are exactly the same as ms. It's worth bringing up to your physician. In the meantime til your appt you can try taking a supplement to see if the symptoms subside. Mine started to go away within a week or two.
We are still doing some neuro screening and watching the symptoms but they have ruled out ms for now.
(Oh and aside, anxiety can present with tingling scalp and limbs so make sure you aren't over worrying or causing further anxiety as they can make the symptoms appear worse)
Good luck and take care of yourself.
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That's a bit out of control.
The middle school here has an eighth grade dance. That's it. Kids dress up a little.
Yeah when I graduated 8th grade we had a dressy dance. Now it's definitely out of control.
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8th grade graduation is a thing?
It's a huge thing up here. Girls graduating 8th grade have more formal gowns than I did at my senior prom. Limos, elaborate dances, it's nuts here.
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Aside from the curric itself, the customer service has been top notch. When I was deciding between Essentials and Foundatuons for my older struggling reader (we decided to place him in foundations and let him move quickly through it) - Denise Eide herself spent days emailing back and forth with me to make my decision and she has been a constant source of support and encouragement as we worked through the curric.
That support and customer service was invaluable to me.
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I think it will vary depending on your own body, but as a general rule in my house it's: real food, locally sourced as much as possible, in season, limited pre packaged anything. Balanced - all in moderation.
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LOE changed my son's life. I swoon over this curric all the time. This program reached him in a way I never thought possible. He went from havin screaming panic attacks at the mere SUGGESTION to read or write a letter to his dad (he lives 8 hrs away) - to now begging for more books and reading in bed with a flashlight for half am hour or more each evening.
For both of my kids LOE has been the best purchase I have made in my homeschool.
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Dang this quote thing is tricky on my phone. Lol
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[quote name="67_others" post="5640262" timestamp="
Unschoolers have cooties. :p It is a very convenient, and seemingly unshakable, belief.
Yes naturally all unschoolers are heathen feral children with cooties. Or so I hear.
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Personally, in this thread, I am not speaking about unschooling as an *educational* paradigm. I've met some AWESOME unschoolers.
I am speaking of the often correlated unparenting/ncp parenting. In my opinion, based on research of parenting, that approach is not evidence based. That said, it's difficult to research ncp specifically. It reminds me of Alfie Kohn (whose work I do not like, but his Punished By Rewards was tolerable). He positions his stuff on the lack of effectiveness of the reward punishment model but research on rewards without punishment is nearly non existent.
In any case, I am biased towards the research that supports authoritative parenting with the best outcome, authoritarian the next best and permissive last. And, no, I won't discuss how ncp is not permissive or not on the continuum at all. Discussions with ncp types are weird and not in a good way.
If you won't discuss it, then why are you....discussing it? *shrug*
You clearly are a proponent of authoritative parenting and make that point clear yet you "refuse to engage or discuss". Weird.
I don't parent based on evidence or science and find it cold that people would choose their parenting style by scientific evidence. But I won't discuss my reasons for that.
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We can all find anecdotal evidence of this or that result of any number of schooling/parenting styles. Like IME, anecdotally speaking, the absolute WORST behaved children in my homeschooling circle come from the "rigorous" schoolers. Their kids are almost intolerably rude, sneaky, and conniving and I don't trust their kids around mine alone. But I don't colour the whole classical education philosophy based on the experience I have had with a handful of its (less than exemplary) followers.I believe it. I know someone with a similar "parenting" philosophy and similar results. Her kids were two of the worst-behaved children I have ever met. Last i heard, she was "unschooling" them, because it was not possible to non-coercively "interest" them in any learning. I never attend any activity knowing they will be there! I don't travel in her circle any more, so I can't tell you how they are turning out.
I have not met unschoolers around here that fit the descriptions I have read on this thread.
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I think sacrifice is a strange word. I have times when I put my kids and partner first and I have times when I do what i need/want to do. I don't really need to sacrifice anything, I'm as important a part of my family as my kids/partner are.
If I'm not here, the house definitely doesn't fall apart. He can clean and cook and parent when I can't, and the kids can pick up too. And I say this from my bed where I am stuck for probably another week with a herniated disc and have been for close to a week already. Things have kept together just fine without me :)
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My 5 yr old practically runs screaming when I pull out SOTW. My 8 yr old and I use it as a read aloud and pair it with funny/gross stuff from HH and talk about it a lot. That's as far as we go with it.
However, my daughter who cries when I say "time for history" - we were at a bday party recently for one of her little homeschool friends. All the kids at this particular party were at some stage or another in SOTW. What do I overhear as I walk through a room? MY daughter at 5 yrs old talking with a 9-10 yr old boy about ancient Mesopotamia. All the kids were planning to go play outside and were "playing history". And this kid of mine, seeing how much she had retained without even LIKING the book, sealed the deal for me. We still only plan to use it as quick read stories but the pegs are already proving to be in place :)
Favorite brand of coffee
in The Chat Board
Posted
We have a local roastery/cafe and the coffee is amazing. I'm not sure if Kicking Horse brand is available in the US since its roasted in Ontario but that's my grocery store pick if I can't get to the local place.