Above The Rowan
-
Posts
507 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Above The Rowan
-
-
Oh gosh how sad - I have read her blog off and on.
I hope her babies have people around them to take care of them and help them heal.
:grouphug:
-
This is not an unpopular opinion but I love this thread and numerous times my kids have asked me why I'm giggling at my phone.
-
Possibly unpopular: S'mores are disgusting. Chocolate? Good. Graham crackers? Good. Marshmallows? Well, weird but okay. Put them all together and heat them? Gooey, sticky, nasty, disgusting.
Go 'Noles.
S'mores are gross. Marshmallows make me gag.
-
OK, I know this is probably an incredibly stupid question, but I'm really wondering about it.
Is the No Shoes Rule different in Toronto than it is in your part of Canada?
The reason I ask is because (and remember, I already admitted it was stupid,) there are a lot of Canada-based shows on HGTV and everyone always has their shoes on in the house.
Is the "no shoes" thing regional? I suspect it may be regional in the USA, too.
My guess for that scenario is its more aesthetically pleasing to see folks traipsing around a home with their shoes on. Finishes heir outfit.
I lived in Toronto area for quite some time and I think keeping shoes on is still NOT the norm.
-
Phoenix, just for an interesting perspective, you might go read (or download if necessary) The Right Side of Normal. I don't agree with everything she says, but it might give you a fascinating take on why he craves structure but is blossoming now, with more room to do what suits him.
Craving structure is typical of kids with EF (executive function) deficits, and being hyper-creative is typical of kids that are VSL/right-brain dominant/pick your label. It's sort of a trick to provide the structure they need to be comfortable while giving them the freedom to pursue the things they really engage with. It will be a journey for you. :)
I will check that out.
I am surprised though by how LITTLE he seems to be craving structure the way we had assumed he would.
Thanks for the recommendation - parenting Evan has been a journey from the get go lol. The typical was never for him - intense baby, intense toddler, absolutely the most empathic child I know, and a deep thinker so the typical answers you give to children are never adequate for him.
I can see that homeschooling will be the same with my kids - always interesting and never typical. It's exciting though!
-
It is cool to watch, though, huh?
If you have SOTW, I'd get the activity guide, into which you can dive as deeply as you want to (or not).
I'm also a huge fan of Dr. Nebel science for the same reason -- lot's of ways to branch and pursue and explore (although Nebel is definitely NOT a plug-n-play science curriculum, and does require teacher prep.).
DD is mathy, and we've stuck with the original Saxon editions with great success.
There are a gazillion cursive sources, but ZanerBloser has a freebie page generator we still use to practice. Free is good.
The good thing is, we haven't purchased anything yet. We just recently all came to a plan, and I'll be ordering some stuff to have here by the time we want to start when the holidays are over.
We're using Math Mammoth and it seems to be working well so far, but I find it dry and awkward to instruct. But the kids both seem to like it quite a bit.
I'll check out the other suggestions you gave.
And it is definitely cool to watch - he is like a version of himself that I have never been able to see before.
Back to WTM - - I think I like most the fact that at each stage, all the learning is interconnected. I can still follow that same model, and make all of our subjects intertwine when they can. His spelling and reading are something we need to work on, but otherwise I am sure we can find a way to make the classical model work for us in some ways.
-
Don't discount a period of time needed to de-school - that is, for kids to mentally transition from ps to hs. That took us maybe half or more of the first year (7 years ago). With primary grade kids, it can manifest in all different ways, but in general, if you get signals that it's too much too soon, throttle back and know that in the overall ebb and flow, you'll still get it all done...maybe not in order....and one year won't look like another....but that's ok, and also kinda the point.
I knew we'd need time to deschool, but how MUCH? I had completely underestimated.
I (and everyone around Evan) had pegged him as the kid who would freak out without the structure of school and expectations etc. And for a week or two after we pulled them, he did resist and was all sorts of angry about not doing anything. I at one point thought "this was a mistake, he needs school" but we stuck it out. Now, he's fully in deschool/detox mode. And the amazing things it has done for him has floored me. He is flourishing the more time that we put between he and school. His anxiety and stress level are almost non existent now, he's excited about finding new things to learn, he's ASKING to read better - he has things he wants to read on his own and can only read a portion of the text so he is motivated to get to a certain point.
Now, he's asking to start certain things: he wants to read, write, we talked about using cursive instead of printing and he's on board and thinks he would love that. He wants to start "doing science" and "doing more math" (he's a VERY mathy kid).
In the new year, we're planning to start adding more structure, but we will still take it in small steps. We all need a bit more structure, and both kids are asking for it (I have been focusing on Evan, my oldest, but Abby is still here and is BEGGING for more work).
I also want to say that I LOVE this board. I have gotten so much good info in here to think about and chew on, so thanks so much everyone :)
-
Welcome!
I am going to suggest you might also post on the learning challenges board.
My thoughts/advice (I have a student who also develops un-evenly and has special challenges):
If you suspect dyslexia, you take a dyslexia friendly approach. I think LOE is dyslexia friendly, right? Then you go at the pace of your student. Throw out the time tables. You can't rush development. Given the unschooling approach surrounding you, this will hopefully be easier than it might be otherwise. I hope. There really isn't any other option anyway. Start where they are and focus on building a strong foundation and tailoring approaches to their needs. Take the time it takes. I do school year round, with breaks for vacations and similar. This helps me not to stress about where we are or how long it is taking.
Side note: I'd make sure the the science and history are enjoyable experiences. You are likely going to find that other academic areas will be struggles at times. It helps to have "school work" that brings consistent enjoyment to balance. At least that has been my experience.
If you continue to struggle/begin to suspect more, consider testing. Information is almost always a good thing.
Yes I believe LoE is dyslexia friendly.
I spoke quite a bit with the woman who creates LoE and it just seems perfect for him. I suspect dyslexia but at a minimum he has similar language struggles so that's what we will work on. Testing is in the back of my mind but I want to see first if it was simply a matter of the public school not being the right learning style for him. We had him screened for ASD and got the results when he was 5 that he was not on the spectrum but they had said for some other issues to revisit it as he gets older. Some of his quirks he has outgrown and some have stuck around.
We are also planning to school year round :)
Thanks everyone. I wish we could just fit ourselves neatly into the WTM timeline as it just looks like how I want to teach them. But we are where we are and this is where we have to start from.
For all subjects Evan has been an active part if the selection of curriculum so while we may not be unschoolers, I like to think of us as democratic homeschoolers. I'm honest with them both about what i think they can do, what I feel they should do and then they get a say in how we go about it.
I will finish reading WTM and see how much we are able to implement. Or at a minimum it will be another resource that I am able to draw some inspiration from.
-
What are you trying to catch up on? Your children are young and need a solid foundation. Start where they are and move at their pace. You want them to enjoy learning (the appeal of unschooling) My dc loved SOTW and the activity guide. Enjoy!
Mostly his language. In a nutshell, he is almost 8 and can hardly read. Cannot spell, his handwriting is truly like its own language. At their PS, there was no phonetics in their LA program - just sight words and memorization. And he shows some classic signs of dyslexia. Also as a preschooler was in intensive speech therapy to get him to age level before he started school. So we're facing a few hurdles. I am confident we will catch him up, he's really eager to do it (after we deschooled the negative associations with language out of him a little). It just makes it weird for me to look at the schedule that is laid out in WTM and figure out where we fit into it.
When I see the basic "layout" in WTM, for his age, I think "yeah no. he's nowhere near that".
-
Ooookay.
So I pulled my two kids out of public school in the third week of September, and we have been in the "deschool and detox" phase.
I had initially just assumed that I would 'unschool' as some of our most beloved friends are unschoolers of various degrees, our closest friends are quite on the radical end of the spectrum. It just felt like that was where I would naturally go.
However, it's not where I'm finding myself headed. So when I started to realize that the kids AND myself were all wanting some structure, we started looking more into curricula etc.
Anyhoots, long story short (there's a lot more I could ramble on about but that's the basic background) - I decided that I would read WTM. I had been lurky lurking on here since September pretty much, and what I was getting as far as the general idea behind classical education just seemed to be connecting with me. So I borrowed a copy from a friend, and am making my way through it. I had to stop though, part way through the section on the Grammar Stage (which is where both of my littles fall right now).
Here is my confusion:
I have a 7.5 yr old son who is frighteningly behind on all things language related, for a whole host of reasons. But the point here is that he is NOT anywhere near 2nd grade level (which is the grade I pulled him out of). I have a 5 year old daughter who is bright and eager and I was just presuming she woudl sit in when she can on our history, science, etc and I will be starting her language arts program soon also.
I have decided we will purchase Logic Of English - it seems to be what (after months of looking) will work best for his particular needs and struggles are in language. We will also begin my youngest on that as well quite soon I would think.
So... where do I start with them as far as implementing the WTM "philosophy"?
We are planning to use:
LoE for language arts
MM for math (already purchased, seems to be going well)
SOTW Vol 1 for history
RSO Level 1 for science
I love the basic idea behind classical education but now as far as what to start with and when, and keeping in mind our "catching up" that needs to be done? Where do I go? How can I work both my kids into a classical model while taking their wonky struggles into account?
Or does it matter really? I may "want" to do this the classical way, but maybe we can't start there - maybe we need to catch up and then reassess? Maybe we should just work on what we want to and to hell with whether it's classical or not?
I hate when I read something new, something that gets me SO excited, and then I'm like "but where does this fit in to my ACTUAL life?" I was truly inspired by what I've read so far. I was loaned a few of the "unschooling manuals" by my friends when I first pulled the kids - and all the way through them I kept "rebutting" them to my DH as I was reading. But WTM just made sense for me and for my kids and it's exciting. I just have no idea how to start it or make it work for us.
I need a classical education coach.
And I LOVE you if you have made it to the end of this rambly mess of words. If you can help, or offer anything at all, I'm forever grateful :)
Thanks!
-
You are me several years ago. I have a "challenging" child and I bowed to her insistent laser-directed pressure to attend "the best" classical high school - ostensibly to study a particular subject in which she excels.
It was our worst decision as parents, and interestingly, now, after several years, this child agrees, and says HER kids will be home schooled.
The environment is much, much, MUCH worse than you think. The social values and activities today will truly shock you today. The indoctrination into the world's values that occurred to her there has yet to be entirely rooted out. There is sexual activity in upper ELEMENTARY school today. My kids' encounters with the crowd in both schooling and sports activities have absolutely shocked me and I'm old...it is hard to shock me.
Oh, and academically...she topped out of what they could offer while still a Freshman, remaining the top student in every class, including classes with seniors. In "the best" school, no less. She could have remained there and been the top student ever - but we got her out, and later than we should have. It took a long time to return to some kind of normalcy.
Run, and don't look back, is my advice from my experience. You DO know best and you cannot undo damage that may be done to your child in that environment.
The problem is the relationship and your conflicting ways of dealing with each other NOT THE SCHOOLING LOCATION.
That problem will still have to be resolved in your own lives as she grows up.
Just my two cents, as a Christian parent. Others may disagree, if they have different values.
I agree.
I actually don't think that sending her to school is going to rectify any issue you guys are having in your relationship.
I think it may seem to make life easier but as a parent who just took her kids OUT of a public school system - it may actually make your life harder. You will be tied down to their schedule, their needs, and their policies.
I just don't think it would be a first step in dealing with this issue. And don't think it should ever be used as a "hands up I give up and throwing in the towel" solution.
Just my two cents.
-
I like junk food too! It just doesn't like me. :(
Agreed. Small "dogs" do not qualify as dogs! And Johnny Depp is creepy & ugly. I've never understood the attraction.
I happen to have couple four-legged toddlers. One even calls me "Mom". That is exactly what it sounds like when she meows to me!
I had the exact same thought when I posted about heels. I didn't want to offend. :)
I have never heard of anyone NOT like Grease 2! Are they insane?! My sister, cousins and I watched it SEVERAL times a day one summer. We'd get up, watch it, go do kid things, come in for lunch, watch it, go do kid things, reenact scenes, practice the songs and dance moves, eat supper, then watch it twice before going to bed!!
Ummm, not necessarily all of Canada - I wear shoes in the house in Canada, too. My parent's house is like Grand Central station with visitors most days - at the door people are welcomed in and told not to worry about their shoes if they'd rather keep them on. My mom also happens to be a neat freak and it doesn't bother her, unless they're muddy :). And, as a general rule, the worst thing for making carpets nasty is walking in bare feet on them. The oils from your skin is what causes the dirt to stick. My great aunt (in Canada - Edmonton) MADE us keep shoes on in her house because her carpet was snow white. It's easier to clean loose dirt than oil.
I guess, I should keep this in line with the thread, rather than debating, so this is my unpopular opinion:
Bare feet (due to the oils in your skin) is worse for your carpet/flooring than shoes. I do not force people to take shoes off, OR leave them on. I don't care. I'd prefer that you keep them on if you have stinky feet, because I have a bionic nose!
Interesting :) I hadn't heard of it being that way anywhere else. If I'm in flip flops and just Scooting to grab something in my friends house or kitchen for a drink or what have you, friends and family will often say "oh don't worry about your shoes".
I really may try this and be like "just starting a new regional trend, relax" haha
-
As a shoes-inside person... we do take them off upon entering if they are snowy, muddy, or otherwise particularly messy. For us, this is a relatively small portion of the year. In some areas, it isn't really an issue at all.
It is winter in my area from October to June some years. But still... I guess like some people think it's in poor taste to ask a guest to remove their footwear I think it's poor taste to just leave your shoes on.
-
The shoes in the home thing confuses me. If your shoes are snowy and wet how do you avoid getting someone's floors wet and dirty? I have hardwood floors and I don't really want to follow someone with a towel wiping...
That's my curiosity also.
It just seems so disrespectful to me for people o go tromping around someone's home in messy boots, scuffy dress shoes, squeaky sneakers, mud sand salt snow YUCK! My OCD is freaking out right now thinking about cleaning that.
-
Just don't be on of those people who makes guests take shoes off at the door. I can't stand that! (Unless the host is Asian culturally). Because that's always the house I go to when I am wearing socks with a hole, or on a day I feel smelly.
But that's the thing - where I come from, you just DON'T leave your shoes on. The expectation is that people leave their shoes at the door on the shoe mat, and you wander about in your socks. It wouldn't occur to anyone coming in to a home in my neck of the woods that it would ever be okay to leave their shoes on lol.
Bizarre to me.
-
- I really don't understand why people completely shave their privates...Shaving your bikini line is one thing, but total hair removal or creating that line of hair in the middle makes no sense to me...Adults have hair and kids don't...I don't understand why people want to look like children...Or why a man would want you to look like that...
- I think it is silly when people say, "Well that is true for you"...Truth is not like beauty - it is not up to the beholder...Either something is true or it is not...Matters of opinion cannot be spoken of like fact, so someone's opinion cannot be truth, but actual facts will always be true whether we like it or not...
That is all I can think of right now :) ...Let the judging begin!
Oh these two!! "To Each Their Own" is a crock. Sometimes there IS right and wrong, and sometimes not everyone's opinions are right. Truth is truth, not always up for interpretation.
And people who want to look prepubescent kinda freak me out a little. *yuck*
-
This thread only had 13 pages when last I visited it.
I have still a couple pages to catch up on but after seeing a few posts about wearing shoes in the house I have one last "unpopular opinion".
People who wear their shoes around in their house are oddball. I cannot IMAGINE someone walking into my house and just "not" taking their shoes off.
Maybe they aren't odd, but you cannot live in a gross slushy wintry hell for 9 months of the year, because I do and if people didn't take their messy disgusting shoes off I would be cleaning and vacuuming relentlessly!
I always thought not taking your shoes off was just something people did on tv - like hanging up the phone without saying goodbye or otherwise ending a conversation. When I first found out that shoes were worn in real people's homes I was floored! lol
I should try walking into my Mom's house and sauntering through the place with my shoes still on. She would have a stroke on the spot lol.
Amercanisms vs Canadianisms always make my head spin. So alike, and yet so very very different.
-
Haven't read the other replies yet, but I chose "other".
Honestly motherhood of ANY flavour is as easy or hard as you make it.
Are there bumps in the road? Sure.
But agonizing and putting pressure on ourselves and each other to be perfect and flawless, is what causes motherhood to be so hard.
Seriously, love your kids and do your best and be a thoughtful parent, and you will do fine.
If you overthink and overanalyze every moment and every decision - then you don't have a chance to enjoy the moments for what they are.
I'm not blissed out.
Some days I f'ing HATE being a Mom, but those are days when I'm not letting myself be a PERSON also (no metime makes me a monster). So I go out, remember who I am, and then I'm a much happier mama.
It's not hard, it's not easy. It just is.
-
I just spent far too long reading this entire thread! Mine would be:
I think "national pride" regardless of where you live is just plain weird.
I don't think Canada lives up to its hype anymore and while I don't get the national pride thing, sometimes being Canadian is downright embarrassing and wish I could move out of North America altogether.
I think people over think parenting far too much. If my kids reach adulthood in mostly one piece, and with manners and a reasonable amount of emotional intelligence then I have done my job.
Schools suck but so do some homeschoolers.
I think most North American popular music is horribly written and boring and hate myself everytime I belt out a song on the radio when I'm driving.
Correlated to that last one - my kids know the lyrics to a LOT o metal songs and my son hates country music and I feel deeply proud of both of those things.
I drive a pickup truck and hate hybrids and some days I want to drive over my hubby's civic.
I love chocolate and Pinterest and often contradict a lot of my own unpopular opinions.
-
Back bacon, whoopie pies, Tim's coffee, President's Choice Candy Cane Ice Cream, Laura Secord chocolates. poutine, beaver tails, cabbage rolls, pierogies, salt and vinegar everything, interesting flavors of potato chips, nanaimo bars, little tarts...
You can also try putting milk in a ziplock bag and cut a tiny corner and try pouring it on your cereal.
I am typically a lurker-type, but this made me LOL for real.
I live in Ontario, was born on the prairies and raised in a ridiculously small village in Newfoundland.
Meat pie is amazing, my Mom makes the best and she refuses to give me her recipe no matter how hard I beg.
I always love conversations with American friends about the things they don't have there.
I remember once telling my American gf that I went to Dairy Queen and had a Smarties Blizzard and I thought she was going to toss her cookies. Only after a really long and strange conversation did we realize we were talking about two very different things.
I only eat poutine from quebec, and it has to be the right sauce on it or else it's just... cheese, fries and gravy.
We've had some oddball things in my life in Newfoundland - cod tongues, salted fish, fish and brewis.
Moose meat and caribou meat are my two favourite "canadian" foods, along with good bannock from a First Nations reserve nearby where I live.
-
It may be staring me straight in the face, but is there a way to change our Timezone on here? My posts that I posted yesterday evening say 3am, so I can only assume it's a setting on here that I can hopefully change?
Thanks much!
-
I haven't read any of WTM, yet, and would be one of those who have no notion of who the Baur's are ;P. I do own a copy which I bought at a homeschooling convention recently for a dollar. It's in my pile of books to read before the year ends. Although I'm intrigued by Classical Education my husband is against using it as the basis of our homeschool. He attended private schools that were Classically based and loathed it, particularly the many years of Latin. Of course he turned out brilliant and very successful so there must be something to it!!
I stumbled in here recently because every single time I googled a homeschooling question I was being directed to threads here. It seems like an excellent source for homeschooling information and as a newbie with preschoolers I need lots of help!
This is how I have found this. I lurk (a LOT) but it seemed like every time I googled for reviews on curricula or styles or methods, the first handful of search results led me to this forum. So I figured I'd sign up an account in case I ever just wanted to direct a question. I get a lot from reading through threads, and searching for answers to my eleventy billion questions I have as I fumble my way through my first weeks/months as a homeschooler. This forum, along with one or two others, have been a big help in me slowly getting my crap in line and figuring out how to 'do' this homeschooling thing. :)
-
Maybe it's because I'm in Canada and our spellings and pronunciations tend to align more with the British, but I have always heard t and said it with the long i.
-
Not from my recollection. It is quite close to the
movie, and there isn't anything questionable in the movie either. I loved that story when I was a kid.
Bah humbug! These are a few of our least fav things!
in The Chat Board
Posted
Elf on the Shelf.
Xmas cards. Seriously, I can't think of a bigger waste of paper than holiday cards.
I dread the "undecorating". Putting the tree up is fun and festive and allows my OCD to be a positive - its always beautiful and we drink cocoa and watch holiday movies. And the taking down part - I could cry thinking about it. So tedious and I'm usually so OVER xmas by then.
I hate stepping anywhere near a mall, department store, or costco for weeks before and weeks after. I feel homicidal.
There are more. I may add to this later as things pop up that make me go "F OFF!!"