The article is trying to blame the crappy school system, but it's flawed. It claims that screens aren't the reason, but The problems with reading are not new. However, the cause for the lack of reading is newer than the issues with the education system. The literacy issues in this country have literally been going on all around the country and for many decades. However the article fails to address that the current generation of Children and youth are doing a lot less of everything for pleasure due to excessive screen use. They play with toys less. Why? Well, you can watch toys be played with online. You can admire toys online. You can play virtual versions of toys virtually online. They play outside less. Why?You can play with people your "friends" from around the world online via a screen. It's "safer" than going outside! They play sports less. Why? Well, you can play e-Sports and besides, they are physically weaker, fatter and sicker than any generation (though I blame both the extremely corrupt Food Industry and clueless and willfully ignorant parents who don't give a damn) before them and its so much harder to over come that than it is to login to another round of NBA2K! They date less. Why? You can have a cyber girlfriend and watch all the porn you want online, via a screen. The physical, biological drive to go out and build up/and sustain a relationship with a real life person is significantly reduced when you can self gratify via a screen with minimal fuss and for the cost of a kleenex you're satisfied. Then, when you're ready, just log on and get off again. They drive less. Why? Because they can use a screen to avoid physically doing most things and get the gratification of "being with people" from snuggling up with a screen. They socialize less. Why? Because they interact with and interface with their "peers and friends" throuhg the internet. So many people don't even know their "friends" in real life any more. They interact with objects, places and people less. Why? Because they either avoid, conduct or substitute these interactions through a screen. When so much of your world is interfaced through a screen, why wouldn't the literacy portion of your life be conducted largely through a screen as well? Also, all this talk of reading online, yeah, that's going continue to decrease as well. The modern internet is largely video and image based these days and much of it can be navigated by voice and autocomplete and highly accurate suggestions so using the internet/screens doesn't require literacy to navigate. It's more like having a crystal ball or magic mirror than anything else. Even sites that are textbased can be read by TextToSpeech Interfaces and extensions. Here is the article: [Removed by moderator as a probably breach of copyright]

So, it's back to the grind in a few days. Spanish Our family goal in Spanish is to grou-read two novels before New Years. Las Cronicas del Narnia La Ladrona del Libros (with Audiobook Support) will be after that. They're doing a Computer Repair course in Spanish so that'll helpfully boost that niche vocabulary. Japanese They're going to be reading a couple of short novels in Japanese so we'll see how that goes. They've made a huge push on literacy these last two years and have really made it their priority to be able to read and write in Japanese. German Pal decided that he's dropping German. He told me that he thinks we should've been more intense with German, because it gets really discouraging to stay at the same level for a long time. I have to agree with him. The "light dabbling" stuff doesn't work for us. It's All In or nothing gets accomplished. To invest time and energy but to accomplish nothing is demoralizing and wasteful. I'm going to take a break from German myself, but plan to return to German later.

There's nothing wrong with mountains or lakes. There are certainly plenty of them in this country. Do the kids have a particular attraction that they'd like to see? You can search "Things to do in _____ City for a day" and look up what folks living in that town would do for a Staycation, go to a different city and do that. You can also generate a list of places to visit within your own state and the nearest neighboring states, then decide which would make the funnest use of your time and money.

I'm not familiar with Reasoning and Reading Chess then Chess Puzzles Eye Spy Books Spot the Difference Books Jigsaw Puzzles Mazes 3D Puzzles Lego Bricks + a book of building ideas suitable to the bricks that he has

Take a great shower and then sleep for as long as possible. Cue up an audiobook so that if you wake up before you're ready, you can have a good book read to you as you concentrate on going back to sleep.

"So what?" Slide Shows may be her life right now, but she's only able to sit around obsessing about slide shows and dogs because parents works to keep the internet and electricity on and her comfortable enough that she can sit around fussing about a dog slide show instead of wondering where her next meal will come from or if she'll be able to learn to read and write before she's grown. At 11 years old, the kid was being a drama queen. Her brattitude was unfounded. It's natural to be disappointed that a parent is busy and it was kind of you to apologize, but I wouldn't make a habit of it because you hadn't done anything wrong or hurtful. Don't teach your kids to grovel and apologize just because someone is noisy about being offended even though they're unfounded. I don't know what Wild and Free Homeschoolers are and I have the goodsense to not muck around on social media so I won't be finding out anytime soon. Delete your social media accounts and block them on your WiFi router to kick the habit. You'll be happier and more grounded once you get that nonsense out of your system.

I know what I'm planning to use for Amiga so outside of those materials. However I made The Boys go through the books and sort them accordingly: Personally want to hold on to This small amount of books are kept simply because The Boys want them for whatever reasons. These are kept on a shelf for them to access any time and are to be taken when The Boys move out. Good enough to be resold These books are offered for sell. We advertise locally to people, schools and groups in the area. Then we let you fill a bag with books for $X. Or box them and sell a box of themed books for $Y. Good enough to give away as gifts These books are given to someone who might appreciate them. For every gift giving occasion, I give a book. Donate I had them stack the Donate books up in stacks by the door and load some in a laundry basket. Whenever we go into town, we dropped off a load of books. Whenever the basket is empty, it comes in the house to be filled up and put back into the car. We are on track to have only what we need for Amiga by the end of the year.

I don't get it. An 11yo doesn't understand that when you're on the phone for work, you're not available for all the basic "look at me, mom!" type stuff? How is this your fault?

Yes, handwriting is important in my experience and opinion. It's a hill I will die on when my kids are young. But I'm direct about it Explain that their writing is terrible and it's time to fix it and that it's important that they know how to write neatly with fluency. 1) Give them an ink pen. 2) Teach how to form letters stroke-by-stroke and make them practice well for several minutes, multiple times throughout the day. 3) Teach them to proof read as they write and how to neatly strike through something and keep moving. After a month or more, however long it takes for them to have good exposure to the basics, and can write neatly we get to the point that any time that they produce work that is subpar, simply tear it up and require it be redone on their time. With older kids, there's nothing to it but to teach them better, make sure that they're getting sufficient and intelligently designed practice to set a new baseline for them. Then hold them accountable to produce up to a certain standard. Rinse and repeat.

My state doesn't require anything in particular of home schoolers for High School graduation so I've taken that as a license to pretty much do as a I please educationally. If your child is aiming for college, then check with the colleges that they're interested in and see what they want incoming students to have.

The Boys fill out their own paper work and set their own appointments. Mostly because I'm too lazy to gather documents and fill out long drawn out forms (or maybe the forms are now shorter, IDK, I'm not that interested) and partly because they need to learn how to gather their documents and fill out long drawn out forms and check them for accuracy without me being involved. For appointments/dates they have to check with me and then update the family calendar and still tell me about it a couple of times. They aren't allowed to set appointments the week of without making sure that we know when/where and how much.

Oh dang, I didn't see this sooner. See the above reply 😛

Nah, The Boys (I think) were closer to 2.5 or maybe even 3 when I started working regularly with them and they're Irish Twins, so it's harder for me to "pinpoint" an exact age without actually looking back at some records that I don't have handy. Irregardless, Amiga's being raised a bit differently than Buddy and Pal in a couple of ways. But mostly: I have no nifty acronym for a Preschool 😐 . So ya'know there's that insurmountable barrier.

Oh. Don't ask me how or why, because I could not tell you but I misread and misinterpreted the question about preschool as "When do Gil's (kids) start preschool" as a way of asking "when are you enrolling her into a preschool"

Putting her in Preschool would be a waste of money since currently our work schedules are such that one of us is able to always be home with her.

Honestly, OP, just tell people to F@ck off and keep it moving. Y'all are either close enough that your telling to them to F-off is something they'll brush off and keep moving, or being told to F-off is so off-putting for them that they actually do F-off. Either way you'll feel better having spoken your mind.

I suspect that you have not fully grasped the concept of saving the money! Don't buy anything extra until it's demonstrated that what you have can not be used to meet your childs needs. Just use the materials you have and if you need something else a bit of online research on teaching xyz-skill will help fill in the gaps.

You can google "Patient Dumping" and watch dozens of videos on YouTube of Patient Dumping.

The very title of this thread is confusing to me because in my country, someone can always be discharged from the hospital. Hospitals will put you out on the street if you don't have transportation or someone to take out. I personally know 2 people who went to the ER for help, and insisted that they were sick and begged for help but were turned away/sent home. They went home and died--one within hours, the other the next day at work.

Me? I would save my money. I always prioritized finances and then my needs as a teacher over whatever was going on in the workbook/worksheet. If I got it for free--we used it. If I got it for only a few dollars--we used it. In my experience teaching my own children and tutoring students it's the teaching (as in the words you speak to the student, the manipulatives/models that you use, the energy and attending that you, the living-breathing adult put in) that matters, not so much not the worksheets in the book. The foundation that's laid in K-3rd grade absolutely matters--so lay a good one. But please know that you can lay a great foundation regardless of which worksheets you give your child.

When my last kid launches, I'm going to get more active in the world of endurance sports.

LOL, @Terabith I was single, not gay! A few years ago, there was a woman who was crazy enough to actually marry me. I don't know if she'd make the same mistake twice, but it's too late now, lol. And in defense of the 2 year old, she is only 2-years-old. She's kinda new around these parts.

Drugs and alcohol. Any Restricted Foods that need to be accommodated. I have a list of foods that can not be brought into my home under any circumstances and I mean that. Space to store, prep and cook various foods/beverages. Noise levels and times for noise. Wifi Usage and times for Internet. Illnesses and how you want them handled. Pets or Animals of any kind. Bathing and laundry facilities and usage. His Guests and the logistics of when where who and how many. Parking. Storage of items.

Without clicking on the link and at the risk of sounding like a pompous-ass: "Yes. Yes, they are."

Ooh, that's pretty impressive. @Ausmumof3 Congrats! This week I...sewed my 2 year old a stuffed toy from scratch.