I went to an elementary school that had regular eye tests and my sight issues weren't picked up until I was in university. The school ones had focused on seeing the board and I was/am very long sighted. I can see details in the wall across the room but put paper in front of me without my glasses and it is a struggle - my eyes get tired really quick, and things blur and it's hard to focus on words or images when I'm just trying to get them clear. I would stop reading rather quickly or change the font sizes as I went along on computers (and end up trouble for messing with them). When I first got them properly tested as an adult in Uni, the optician asked if I realized that when she handed me the test page I automatically held it out as far as I could. I had no idea I did that. My eyes aren't off by much, 3.25-3.75 - I can use off the shelf reading glass in a pinch - but it's had such a big effect for me having properly glasses. I hope they do the same for yours :)

As someone who was raised in a Christian church (with close relatives as ministers/missionaries) and then spent a large amount of time and energy in Judaism, I think a major problem from the Christian point of view of understanding the Torah part is that it wasn't originally written to be read alone even by those who consider it divinely inspired/written - the written text went alongside an oral tradition but that tradition was separated from the Christian church early on by the European church fathers who destroyed it wholesale because of its origins (but not the older written parts which to me is odd). There are multiple times in the texts where it says 'as you've been taught' or something similar but the bit that was meant to be taught isn't anywhere in the written text (how to kosherly slaughter an animal and where and how to circumcise are two examples) because they were part of the oral tradition that was passed down (and then written in past down due to the Roman Empire as the Midrash and Talmud and other writings). Even if one considers it divinely written, that part was divinely written alongside an oral tradition that Christians have been separated from because of one group of powerful people were enabled to destroy that link and I think that is a big part of where some weirdness comes in - its like getting only half a story and trying to make it make sense. Also, wrestling with the text has always been a thing in book-based religions from the get go and there are long histories in all faiths of people trying to discuss that weirdness. Personally I could never stomach the Psalms about praying for the babies of enemies to be dashed against the rocks or women being taken from other nations getting a time period to mourn their past and then must convert or die, or kids being mauled to death by a bear for mocking a bald prophet or a good deity walking along, talking to the devil, making bets on mortal Job which always sounded more like a Greek myth to me. Kinda hard to even like a deity like that which many have wrestled with as well. I went my separate ways from it a couple years ago after years deeply personally and professionally involved with it, I felt like I was making excuses for it more than wrestling with it and some of it was an excuse too far after all that time.

I don't shave - in fact with 3 adults in this house, none of us shave really so if any of my kids wanted to they'd need to ask us to buy them...maybe I should make a little kit? I only shaved when I was a teen because my mother would call me a cactus otherwise...I find it itches too much for me to keep letting it regrow. I bought my very interested in her body 8 year old a body books that covers shaving in a very 'some do this, some do that, here is how to do it if you want to' sort of way. She asked a bit ago if she'd need to shave when she's older because of what she read and I said only if she wanted to like if her hair bothered her. Then we discussed the hair on my legs and underarms and arms, what the hair was like there, how we're a mixed family so the hair levels in it vary a lot (and how even on my legs it varies a lot as they're patchy with some long "Sasquatch" patches and others very fine thin black hairs) and everyone views their hair differently. When she's a bit older we may discuss media literacy, how these things are portrayed and the history of it socially because I am a dork who loves that sort of thing :lol:

Interesting thoughts. I agree more maths related to percentages and taxes than I was raised with would be useful. We've been wrestling with this lately as A-8's way of learning has moved us from MEP maths which UK based to US Mammoth Maths and as we went through reviews we ended up flummoxed in units in ways I hadn't foreseen. Even though the customary/imperial units are related, they aren't the same. A UK gallon isn't the same as a US gallon, they have a different amounts of fluid oz, UK doesn't use cups at all which I somehow hadn't realized in 12 years living here and was surprised when my British partner mentioned he only used them in adulthood to translate US recipes. Coming from the US I knew them all but ended up down a rabbit trail of my own trying to explain the differences to my kids (apparently it has to do with changes in the definition of a gallon that happened a few times and the weight of wine and water). Discussing how things became standardized and moving between them (a lot of Brits I know don't have an understanding of how metric compares to UK imperial and ask for things in 'old money'), would be a useful modern maths.

We're finishing the last bits of the 2014-2015 stuff this Saturday (we're a Tuesday-Saturday lessons family) after a rough year and weird weather made it better to press through, next week is off for everyone for two birthdays (mine is on the Monday) and likely won't be fully back until after the September birthday. I'm feeling a bit behind now :lol: :willy_nilly: Hope you all have a good first week.

My girls did that to a chair in their room (plus filled the hole with a bunch of stuff) when M was 4 and A was 6ish. It was the chair A had been born on so I was a bit heartbroke at the sight of it. My partner helped them clear the whole thing our of toys, watch him fix the springs they had forced out of position to do that and other repair work. After a long discussion it was left with the promise that if anything else happened to that chair then they wouldn't have any chairs in their room for a while. It's not the same but its better than I thought it would be when I first saw it.

My age? Not really. The passing of time and sometimes feeling like it's going too fast/I'm not making the most of things/and so on that age and time markers sometimes brings on. Yes. Very much - I have a major mortality issues at times to the point that I have a 'big'-0 birthday coming up soon and my partner asked me how he can help with things. I don't feel bad about my age but thoughts of how I spent/spend my time gets to me sometimes.

I second idnib if you mean the movie and would point more towards videos and links like Joanne put up if you mean discussing it as a topic. It's a rather complicated topic even for adults to get their head around and that's before we throw in alternative interpretations of what happened (as the people that were studied were of the same demographic, it is arguable that the actions cannot be said to be human nature as a whole but the socialization of society of that demographic and the results of that socialization when pushed is one among many alternative interpretations). Personally, I wouldn't go into it with a 13 year old even if they can handle heavy materials, I can't think of a good reason to do so and so many not to do so.

I think the What Fifth Graders want to know about sex and puberty found in the OP's link which has a lot of questions from kids that age and I think having resources and ideas of how you want to answer them if they come up is good. I keep a big folder in my bookmarks of 'relationship and sex education' so I can get better words and ideas if my own fail me. The other, The Eight Most Important Things to Tell your 10 year old about sex , I think is generally okay (I think I would make consent and range on things more explicit) and a good jumping off point for parents wanting food for thought on what to cover. Every child and family is different obviously. For me, it's very different for different kids. My 8 year old (A-8) got a body knowledge book for their birthday and is very interested and clued up physically on puberty and body changes and babies and things for their age - almost textbook they ask, we answer. My 10 year old (O-10) on the other hand has no interest at all and never asks anything about that unless someone else says or implies that they should. During my last pregnancy, A-8 eagerly asked about everything and O-10 would literally run out of the room when I tried to answer. We've discussed with O-10 how babies are made but if you ask (which I did while reading this thread) the answer is 'stardust' because of the dozens of astronomy documentaries. This is the child who didn't ask why until 6 years old (and even then mostly to complain about things like why are those lights so bright) so such things are in generally trickier and I still trying to figure out...

We only had a tiny patch of grass in the back when we moved it and very happily removed it. Each year we've dug out and added to the soils in part of our back garden (whose soil was mostly rock), then planted a native wild plant mix, then watered once as recommended and then not really touched it even when in one of the driest parts of the UK. It's been a great minimum fuss grass alternative (bonuses in that we grabbed a mix recommended for encouraging wildlife) and grows far better here than any of the plants we've tried before. Most people around me no longer have lawns and even some of the community green spaces have become allotments and forest regeneration areas which surprises a lot of people when we're in a city. I find it sad that so many HOA make such a big deal of lawns to the point of even banning growing foods (though I know many try to sneak around it by planting decorative variants of vegetables and fruits but its always risky).

Yes. Even over 12 years since I left home, I still get nightmares, I still sometimes stare at the light around a door at night like I've done for as long as I can remember thinking this would be the night, and still sometimes get surprised that I survived and lived to have a partner and kid and everything. I've moved over 3000 miles and an ocean away and I'm still scared of them showing up (especially as my father said while I was still in high school that if I left his church that they would support his "right" to take any kids I had) to the point we happily live on a major road 3/4 surrounded by businesses because we know there are 4+ cameras that cover our house as well as being quite convenient to have in walking distance. A while back my eldest in his sleep got his leg caught between his bed and the wall and he called out for us, we helped (he's on a top bunk so it was a team effort), and afterwards I was crying because I still clearly remember being 7 and laying with my leg caught between my big wood bed and the wall and not making a sound all night and being in agony but waking my parents up to help seemed like a more painful option. I still have issues from spending so long like that in survival mode and on edge that I cannot give my kids the ideal that I would like, but at least there was that to remind me how different they are living to how I did...

Malorie Blackman has several books and multiple series that yours may like. My 8 year old loves the Betsey Biggalow series and Girl Wonder series.

Personally and professionally, 'severe' revisions in the way historical evidence is looked at is both a usual, expected ongoing part of any historical scholarship and also required as part of encouraging historical literacy while we live in societies where the representations and connections made to our view of the evidence of the past creates continues to support oppressive systems and dehumanizes so many people. As the orthodox/classic view of historical evidence was made and is sustained with a bias towards those in power which created it, severe revisions considering others points of view is both needed and viewed as a compliment by many of the people I've worked with. As the original post was concerned with the presentation of American Indigenous peoples and multiple people throughout the thread treat the hundreds of peoples under that banner as a monolith, the poor representation of the histories and the damage purposefully created images and stereotypes of them being "wild" to dehumanize and make legitimate violence against them which have become seen as normal and typical rather than part of wider systems. The idea of wild indigenous people still causes harm, we can see that in the statistics of missing and murdered indigenous people, particularly women, and the numbers of indigenous children forced to live in nonindigenous homes regardless of protective laws already in place, lands being taken and either held for ransom or sold (US government forced Lakota and Ojibwe to raise about a billion I think to prevent the selling and paving over of sacred lands and it recent passed as a tack on on a needed military bill sold national park land important to Apaches to a British mining company) the continued images and lack of clear modern representation that are seen as normal are still harmful and worth questioning. Though I'm not sure which of the bits are revisional or severe. Even very mainstream University backed places like World History for Us All discusses the trade routes and foods and empires and large populations and cities in the Americas pre-Europeans and the other bits have been in academic and popular writings for some time... So, which parts of my ramble do you find not well ground is evidence? Cause I rambled a lot and while I have far too many books and folders and files listing evidence (what happens when one marries a former archaeological scientist who hoards everything plus my desire to categorize all the data I find), you'll likely find it faster through google scholar and such as I am not very board reliable, but I can give you a start where to look if anyone wants grounding in these often overlooked historical areas. For amount of American Indigenous nations, about 500 American Indigenous nations is a conservative estimate that has been around for decades, both the National Geographic and independent researchers believe the number to be more likely over 600. They made some lovely maps a few years back. There were obviously many large cities and empires pre-Europeans which goes against the wild mythos and would obviously create trade routes. The purposeful cultivation of foods has a long history of academic study since European colonizers arrived and there are literally giant tomes on how Andeans indigenous people had created over 3000 types of potatoes and how these various types ended up vital to many countries around the world due to the varieties fitting in to so many low soil quality areas - potatoes literally changed the world and there are books on the social importance of the potato. Then we get into corn and squash and tomatoes and the modern Western diet is pretty reliant on foods originally cultivated by American Indigenous peoples. It is a well supported view I think that creations or technologies based on food or nature is often overlooked even when as manmade as what we often think of as technology or inventions. Cultivating land has writings in both indigenous traditions and from settlers for quite sometime. The hindsight amusement reading some settlers writing lyrically about how clear the forests were and how they were finding rows and rows and fruits and squash as if they were there naturally has been shown in many in journals and books and stuff. Land shaping is seen in multiple American Indigenous cultures - it's how modern researcher have marked out likely trade routes. There are clear land markerers of the Mississippian cultures that reach near beyond Mexico up the Mississippi river and along the rivers that connect and even up into Canada as well as the typically seen findings of trade goods similar to how modern researchers found South Asian goods and Egyptian materials in Viking gravesites (and surviving Viking graffiti in now Istanbul). The same methods and evidence types for Afroeurasian trade routes like the Silk Road are used for Americas. There was also the various empires throughout the America over time that created routes as well much as empires elsewhere did as I previously said. Soil improvement has been of particular interest of those studying indigenous peoples near the Amazon and around sites we know American Indigenous nations previously lived in Central and South America. There has been traditional discussion of it for some time and there are large soil samples academics have taken recently that we have that give strong evidence that that soil was managed over time. It's this incredible fertile dark soil that shows clear signs of management but still has such enriched qualities compared to other local soils that do not show sign of management and we have no idea how this could happen as typical farming practices obviously do not do this. There are some American Indigenous groups that have close farming practices but nothing like these soil samples and traditional discussion suggest is possible. Similar instances have been found in northern Africa with local people using traditional practices to help stop the spread of desertification - they have many things that work though we're not exactly sure how yet, but we no longer have those specific groups for the Americas (unless one take the view that some of the no-contact nations of the Amazon may descend from those fleeing colonization from Aztecs and/or Europeans but as we have no contact for very good reasons there isn't good evidence for it other than the signs that parts of the Amazon may have been partially maintained for human needs prior to European colonizers arrival). It is likely the least well grounded but still has evidence worth discussing, I think. There quite a bit of well written and researched on all of these topics, they just don't tend to make it into history books. It's hard enough just getting the empires that interacting with European ground included without everything else and before. As for the medicines and book burning, the Maya Codices are the likely strongest evidence - strong evidence for libraries but only 3-4 copied books remain (all named after European cities). There is also contemporary writing of doctors going to train. The finding, copying useful information, and destruction of "heretical" books was a common European colonizing practice throughout the Americas, Africa, and Asia there is plenty of evidence for that. We're quite lucky places like the University of Timbuktu survived as well as they did. And cowboys, there's tons of contemporary writings and photos for that and general media literacy and media history shows whitewashing these things is commonly done to gain funding and ratings which continues to this day. On Truman and the atomic bomb, there is strong evidence Japan surrendered to the US repeatedly; it's in the US's own documentations that the US refused because it was not unconditional - Japan didn't want the US touching the emperor or imperial family. Japan also surrendered to Russia who kinda pushed it off as the US's job while amassing an army against Japan, and the Vatican has also released that Japan tried to surrender to them. Writings released by the US shows Truman was concerned that previous bombings on Japan would mean that the atomic bomb would not have as much impact on the Russians. The honor stereotype is pretty much how the US got away with Japanese internment as well as the atomic bombings, it's further evidence of how damaging and how much those in power will use those stereotypes to create and maintain situations. If my writings on Roma, Sinte, and oppression of groups under that term are not well grounded, well, that was the name given to them to force them to move centuries ago, the name which they were murdered in in the Holocaust, and the name in which current legislation is using to refuse citizenship, education, housing, and other basic rights and human needs. The wanderlust stereotype continues to harm them because those in power use it to other and criminalize those of that ethnicity. That is not likely it though. As I said at the beginning of this ramble, I have piles and files of this stuff (that I should probably finish organizing and put together one day) but you're better off with a good academic search engine. Hopefully bits of what I said will help anyone who wants to research any of this further. There was nothing I said that hasn't been out there academically and beyond for years as part of history research and conversations and evidence so you'll likely find stuff far better worded and detailed than I can do. The ongoing conversation with the evidence that history is and the our views of the systems that create and present them and seeing how often history is used as facts to create images to maintain systems, continuing to revise those lenses and conversations is part of historical literacy Personally and professionally, 'severe' revisions in the way historical evidence is looked at is both a usual, expected ongoing part of any historical scholarship and also required as part of encouraging historical literacy while we live in societies where the representations and connections made to our view of the evidence of the past creates continues to support oppressive systems and dehumanizes so many people. As the orthodox/classic view of historical evidence was made and is sustained with a bias towards those in power which created it, severe revisions considering others points of view is both needed and viewed as a compliment by many of the people I've worked with. As the original post was concerned with the presentation of American Indigenous peoples and multiple people throughout the thread treat the hundreds of peoples under that banner as a monolith, the poor representation of the histories and the damage purposefully created images and stereotypes of them being "wild" to dehumanize and make legitimate violence against them which have become seen as normal and typical rather than part of wider systems. The idea of wild indigenous people still causes harm, we can see that in the statistics of missing and murdered indigenous people, particularly women, and the numbers of indigenous children forced to live in nonindigenous homes regardless of protective laws already in place, lands being taken and either held for ransom or sold (US government forced Lakota and Ojibwe to raise about a billion I think to prevent the selling and paving over of sacred lands and it recent passed as a tack on on a needed military bill sold national park land important to Apaches to a British mining company) the continued images and lack of clear modern representation that are seen as normal are still harmful and worth questioning. Though I'm not sure which of the bits are revisional or severe. Even very mainstream University backed places like World History for Us All discusses the trade routes and foods and empires and large populations and cities in the Americas pre-Europeans and the other bits have been in academic and popular writings for some time... So, which parts of my ramble do you find not well ground is evidence? Cause I rambled a lot and while I have far too many books and folders and files listing evidence (what happens when one marries a former archaeological scientist who hoards everything plus my desire to categorize all the data I find), you'll likely find it faster through google scholar and such as I am not very board reliable, but I can give you a start where to look if anyone wants grounding in these often overlooked historical areas. For amount of American Indigenous nations, about 500 American Indigenous nations is a conservative estimate that has been around for decades, both the National Geographic and independent researchers believe the number to be more likely over 600. They made some lovely maps a few years back. There were obviously many large cities and empires pre-Europeans which goes against the wild mythos and would obviously create trade routes. The purposeful cultivation of foods has a long history of academic study since European colonizers arrived and there are literally giant tomes on how Andeans indigenous people had created over 3000 types of potatoes and how these various types ended up vital to many countries around the world due to the varieties fitting in to so many low soil quality areas - potatoes literally changed the world and there are books on the social importance of the potato. Then we get into corn and squash and tomatoes and the modern Western diet is pretty reliant on foods originally cultivated by American Indigenous peoples. It is a well supported view I think that creations or technologies based on food or nature is often overlooked even when as manmade as what we often think of as technology or inventions. Cultivating land has writings in both indigenous traditions and from settlers for quite sometime. The hindsight amusement reading some settlers writing lyrically about how clear the forests were and how they were finding rows and rows and fruits and squash as if they were there naturally has been shown in many in journals and books and stuff. Land shaping is seen in multiple American Indigenous cultures - it's how modern researcher have marked out likely trade routes. There are clear land markerers of the Mississippian cultures that reach near beyond Mexico up the Mississippi river and along the rivers that connect and even up into Canada as well as the typically seen findings of trade goods similar to how modern researchers found South Asian goods and Egyptian materials in Viking gravesites (and surviving Viking graffiti in now Istanbul). The same methods and evidence types for Afroeurasian trade routes like the Silk Road are used for Americas. There was also the various empires throughout the America over time that created routes as well much as empires elsewhere did as I previously said. Soil improvement has been of particular interest of those studying indigenous peoples near the Amazon and around sites we know American Indigenous nations previously lived in Central and South America. There has been traditional discussion of it for some time and there are large soil samples academics have taken recently that we have that give strong evidence that that soil was managed over time. It's this incredible fertile dark soil that shows clear signs of management but still has such enriched qualities compared to other local soils that do not show sign of management and we have no idea how this could happen as typical farming practices obviously do not do this. There are some American Indigenous groups that have close farming practices but nothing like these soil samples and traditional discussion suggest is possible. Similar instances have been found in northern Africa with local people using traditional practices to help stop the spread of desertification - they have many things that work though we're not exactly sure how yet, but we no longer have those specific groups for the Americas (unless one take the view that some of the no-contact nations of the Amazon may descend from those fleeing colonization from Aztecs and/or Europeans but as we have no contact for very good reasons there isn't good evidence for it other than the signs that parts of the Amazon may have been partially maintained for human needs prior to European colonizers arrival). It is likely the least well grounded but still has evidence worth discussing, I think. There quite a bit of well written and researched on all of these topics, they just don't tend to make it into history books. It's hard enough just getting the empires that interacting with European ground included without everything else and before. As for the medicines and book burning, the Maya Codices are the likely strongest evidence - strong evidence for libraries but only 3-4 copied books remain (all named after European cities). There is also contemporary writing of doctors going to train. The finding, copying useful information, and destruction of "heretical" books was a common European colonizing practice throughout the Americas, Africa, and Asia there is plenty of evidence for that. We're quite lucky places like the University of Timbuktu survived as well as they did. And cowboys, there's tons of contemporary writings and photos for that and general media literacy and media history shows whitewashing these things is commonly done to gain funding and ratings which continues to this day. On Truman and the atomic bomb, there is strong evidence Japan surrendered to the US repeatedly; it's in the US's own documentations that the US refused because it was not unconditional - Japan didn't want the US touching the emperor or imperial family. Japan also surrendered to Russia who kinda pushed it off as the US's job while amassing an army against Japan, and the Vatican has also released that Japan tried to surrender to them. Writings released by the US shows Truman was concerned that previous bombings on Japan would mean that the atomic bomb would not have as much impact on the Russians. The honor stereotype is pretty much how the US got away with Japanese internment as well as the atomic bombings, it's further evidence of how damaging and how much those in power will use those stereotypes to create and maintain situations. If my writings on Roma, Sinte, and oppression of groups under that term are not well grounded, well, that was the name given to them to force them to move centuries ago, the name which they were murdered in in the Holocaust, and the name in which current legislation is using to refuse citizenship, education, housing, and other basic rights and human needs. The wanderlust stereotype continues to harm them because those in power use it to other and criminalize those of that ethnicity. That is not likely it though. As I said at the beginning of this ramble, I have piles and files of this stuff (that I should probably finish organizing and put together one day) but you're better off with a good academic search engine. Hopefully bits of what I said will help anyone who wants to research any of this further. There was nothing I said that hasn't been out there academically and beyond for years as part of history research and conversations and evidence so you'll likely find stuff far better worded and detailed than I can do. The ongoing conversation with the evidence that history is and the our views of the systems that create and present them and seeing how often history is used as facts to create images to maintain systems, continuing to revise those lenses and conversations is part of historical literacy Personally and professionally, 'severe' revisions in the way historical evidence is looked at is both a usual, expected ongoing part of any historical scholarship and also required as part of encouraging historical literacy while we live in societies where the representations and connections made to our view of the evidence of the past creates continues to support oppressive systems and dehumanizes so many people. As the orthodox/classic view of historical evidence was made and is sustained with a bias towards those in power which created it, severe revisions considering others points of view is both needed and viewed as a compliment by many of the people I've worked with. As the original post was concerned with the presentation of American Indigenous peoples and multiple people throughout the thread treat the hundreds of peoples under that banner as a monolith, the poor representation of the histories and the damage purposefully created images and stereotypes of them being "wild" to dehumanize and make legitimate violence against them which have become seen as normal and typical rather than part of wider systems. The idea of wild indigenous people still causes harm, we can see that in the statistics of missing and murdered indigenous people, particularly women, and the numbers of indigenous children forced to live in nonindigenous homes regardless of protective laws already in place, lands being taken and either held for ransom or sold (US government forced Lakota and Ojibwe to raise about a billion I think to prevent the selling and paving over of sacred lands and it recent passed as a tack on on a needed military bill sold national park land important to Apaches to a British mining company) the continued images and lack of clear modern representation that are seen as normal are still harmful and worth questioning. Though I'm not sure which of the bits are revisional or severe. Even very mainstream University backed places like World History for Us All discusses the trade routes and foods and empires and large populations and cities in the Americas pre-Europeans and the other bits have been in academic and popular writings for some time... So, which parts of my ramble do you find not well ground is evidence? Cause I rambled a lot and while I have far too many books and folders and files listing evidence (what happens when one marries a former archaeological scientist who hoards everything plus my desire to categorize all the data I find), you'll likely find it faster through google scholar and such as I am not very board reliable, but I can give you a start where to look if anyone wants grounding in these often overlooked historical areas. For amount of American Indigenous nations, about 500 American Indigenous nations is a conservative estimate that has been around for decades, both the National Geographic and independent researchers believe the number to be more likely over 600. They made some lovely maps a few years back. There were obviously many large cities and empires pre-Europeans which goes against the wild mythos and would obviously create trade routes. The purposeful cultivation of foods has a long history of academic study since European colonizers arrived and there are literally giant tomes on how Andeans indigenous people had created over 3000 types of potatoes and how these various types ended up vital to many countries around the world due to the varieties fitting in to so many low soil quality areas - potatoes literally changed the world and there are books on the social importance of the potato. Then we get into corn and squash and tomatoes and the modern Western diet is pretty reliant on foods originally cultivated by American Indigenous peoples. It is a well supported view I think that creations or technologies based on food or nature is often overlooked even when as manmade as what we often think of as technology or inventions. Cultivating land has writings in both indigenous traditions and from settlers for quite sometime. The hindsight amusement reading some settlers writing lyrically about how clear the forests were and how they were finding rows and rows and fruits and squash as if they were there naturally has been shown in many in journals and books and stuff. Land shaping is seen in multiple American Indigenous cultures - it's how modern researcher have marked out likely trade routes. There are clear land markerers of the Mississippian cultures that reach near beyond Mexico up the Mississippi river and along the rivers that connect and even up into Canada as well as the typically seen findings of trade goods similar to how modern researchers found South Asian goods and Egyptian materials in Viking gravesites (and surviving Viking graffiti in now Istanbul). The same methods and evidence types for Afroeurasian trade routes like the Silk Road are used for Americas. There was also the various empires throughout the America over time that created routes as well much as empires elsewhere did as I previously said. Soil improvement has been of particular interest of those studying indigenous peoples near the Amazon and around sites we know American Indigenous nations previously lived in Central and South America. There has been traditional discussion of it for some time and there are large soil samples academics have taken recently that we have that give strong evidence that that soil was managed over time. It's this incredible fertile dark soil that shows clear signs of management but still has such enriched qualities compared to other local soils that do not show sign of management and we have no idea how this could happen as typical farming practices obviously do not do this. There are some American Indigenous groups that have close farming practices but nothing like these soil samples and traditional discussion suggest is possible. Similar instances have been found in northern Africa with local people using traditional practices to help stop the spread of desertification - they have many things that work though we're not exactly sure how yet, but we no longer have those specific groups for the Americas (unless one take the view that some of the no-contact nations of the Amazon may descend from those fleeing colonization from Aztecs and/or Europeans but as we have no contact for very good reasons there isn't good evidence for it other than the signs that parts of the Amazon may have been partially maintained for human needs prior to European colonizers arrival). It is likely the least well grounded but still has evidence worth discussing, I think. There quite a bit of well written and researched on all of these topics, they just don't tend to make it into history books. It's hard enough just getting the empires that interacting with European ground included without everything else and before. As for the medicines and book burning, the Maya Codices are the likely strongest evidence - strong evidence for libraries but only 3-4 copied books remain (all named after European cities). There is also contemporary writing of doctors going to train. The finding, copying useful information, and destruction of "heretical" books was a common European colonizing practice throughout the Americas, Africa, and Asia there is plenty of evidence for that. We're quite lucky places like the University of Timbuktu survived as well as they did. And cowboys, there's tons of contemporary writings and photos for that and general media literacy and media history shows whitewashing these things is commonly done to gain funding and ratings which continues to this day. On Truman and the atomic bomb, there is strong evidence Japan surrendered to the US repeatedly; it's in the US's own documentations that the US refused because it was not unconditional - Japan didn't want the US touching the emperor or imperial family. Japan also surrendered to Russia who kinda pushed it off as the US's job while amassing an army against Japan, and the Vatican has also released that Japan tried to surrender to them. Writings released by the US shows Truman was concerned that previous bombings on Japan would mean that the atomic bomb would not have as much impact on the Russians. The honor stereotype is pretty much how the US got away with Japanese internment as well as the atomic bombings, it's further evidence of how damaging and how much those in power will use those stereotypes to create and maintain situations. If my writings on Roma, Sinte, and oppression of groups under that term are not well grounded, well, that was the name given to them to force them to move centuries ago, the name which they were murdered in in the Holocaust, and the name in which current legislation is using to refuse citizenship, education, housing, and other basic rights and human needs. The wanderlust stereotype continues to harm them because those in power use it to other and criminalize those of that ethnicity. The ongoing conversation with the evidence that history is and always has been. is also a conversation with how we see images and how those images and phrases socially impact us and those around us. And "Wild Indians" with a mash of elements from various nations that many of these have shows for me that we socially still value those images over people and people get hurt by it by being the main if only image people see. Images and representation affect us both how we see ourselves and how we see others and I'd rather not support anything that makes people one dimensional tropes - especially ones that currently and have such a long history of causing harm. As I said at the beginning of this ramble, I have piles and files of this stuff (that I should probably finish organizing and put together one day) but you're better off with a good academic search engine. Hopefully bits of what I said will help anyone who wants to research any of this further. There was nothing I said that hasn't been out there academically and beyond for years with evidence being questioned and put under the microscope for years. With many headlines in the last few weeks on how history textbooks around the world that are edited for political reasons, further exploration of history and images of history beyond that has become all the more important.

I am Metis. I would not wear nor let my own kids wear anything like that. It has nothing to do with 'being offended', it has to do with whether I want to support that kind of message. I would never want to support an image that dehumanizes and stereotypes people into a 1D image or treats us like a costume. Their intent or whatever they imagine doesn't matter, it isn't in a bubble, it's part of a wider system. There are over 500 American Indigenous nations, more prior to the colonial genocides. The idea that they all lived or live one way that would be considered 'wild' is part of stereotypes that are still harmful. That idea is still used to break treaties, take indigenous lands, is still used as an excuse to kill, rape, take indigenous children and put them in non indigenous homes at the highest rate ever (including the boarding school years), to refuse utilities, and to erase their history. It's used as an excuse for missing and murdered Indigenous women to 'not be high on the radar' of governments when Indigenous nations, people, and human rights organization question policies. I mean, the vast majority of current popular foods and plants were purposefully cultivated in the Americas prior to European colonizers arrival. Corn, tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins alone changed the world. That food is living American Indigenous technology - much of which was sadly lost to book burnings and genocide . It was very popular to record maps and medical information - Europeans sent doctors to learn from several Indigenous nations - and then burn the books and call them wild heretics while using their medicine to save European lives. We still cannot repeat many farming practices that actually improved soils even when we still have some of that soil. So many writings on how easy it was to travel through and how the forests were filled with food as if it just naturally came like that when actually it was purposeful cultivation. There were massive trade routes throughout the Americas prior to European colonizers and...the idea that American Indigenous people were/are wild erases a lot of history and causes harm. It boggles my mind that this idea is still so popular but that is what happens when other people control our images and history. Stereotypes thehurt - the common one about Japanese honor has been used to excuse the atomic bombs and still retold to this day when Japan actually surrendered repeatedly - to the US, to Russia, even to the Vatican because the US refused and ignored them ignored and documentation shows it was more about scaring off the Russians than ending the war swiftly. The ones about "gypsys" as free spiriting erases the history of Roma and Sinte and the others labelled by others by that slur of being enslaved, pushed off land, murdered, and still being refused utilities, citizenship, and having their homes forcibly removed because of their ethnicity. This erasure still hurts and turning into cute clothing wear and quotes feeds into that erasure and harm which I would not want to support. And most actual cowboys were Indigenous and Black people (hence cowBOYs - nonwhite men demotion to boys is a common tactic to make them seem less than) which is why they had a 'wild' reputation. Even when most TV and stuff whitewashes them and erases their history, the stereotype are still there.

We're far better now than we've ever been, though not sure if we count as ahead, we've begun thriving these last few years. For us, it's been more about community and cooperative living than anything else. Yes, marrying a like-minded and caring partner, monitoring our expenses and automating our savings and bills, maximizing what is available to us, finding and figuring out the local charity and secondhand shops for when we are need or regular buying things, mending and gaining better home skills, and watching local shop deals has played a big role but what has pushed us into into thriving in the last few years has been connecting with people and our community. We run twice weekly community events in our home mainly for our fellow local disabled people and that along with keeping connected with community events means we can pass on to others and others can pass on to us and we can create low cost accessible community for us and our kids. Most of what we have, particularly furniture and shiny stuff, is pass along padded with a few secondhand shop buys (this is the first year we've bought new white goods). Being open and in a generous community has done more for us than most typical financial advice, particularly as disabled low income household. The number one thing that allows us to thrive as we do now, financially and personally, is our friend-lodger. We were burnt bad old housemates which took us a while to recover from financially but we opened our home and back room to someone we'd known for a while who needed a place and about 4 years later now we're just part of each others lives. Over times, our lives have integrated more into cooperative living - he had a job that was hurting him, I helped him get a closer better for him job but it was less hours/pay, we reduced his rent (now at paying one bill plus a bit into our savings each month) in exchange for him driving my partner to and from work and our kids to Badgers and Cadets weekly in term time so our transport costs have dropped like a rock (neither my partner nor I drive so it was buses which was getting steep with 3 over 5) so mutually beneficial. We also have an extra pair of hands in times of need like recently when my partner had to run up north with hours notice due his brother who is terminally ill taking a bad turn, friend-lodger helped with the kids and with dinner. Also quite handy having a babysitter who lives in the backroom who pays us :laugh: . Having him has done more for us, personally as well as financially, than anything we could have done ourselves and cooperative living with him and our wider community has as well.

There likely isn't one perfect way and we never set regular time for just doing times tables - and my 10 and 8 year old both know and can use them far better than me most days. What I did was we have a big flip chart with all the multiplications up to 12 and their maths exercise book has a time table on the front. We would go through their normal maths books and if they didn't know one or they got it wrong, they would read out the related charts then return to what they were doing. At first we did that with the flip chart as it lists all the tables separately, now they use their exercise books which just has a little 12x12 one if they flub (A-8 has had to the 11 and 12 one a couple time in the last few months). We also use Math Trainer when we're light times - 3 5mins go on various things to get an overview of where they are at worked well for me and they love it.

Lots of good tips here already. I recommend looking at Look We're Learning which is a blog written by an ADHD mother about her and her ADHD kids home as it has a lot of tips and ideas that might be useful for you and child. Her brain breaks have been very useful here.

We have a small narrow entrance that leads to a narrow wonky hallway that has a small L corner near the staircase. We used to line them down this hall, but we now use a small triangular bookcase in the L corner. It's close enough to the door and main living areas to be useful without them being in the way or in sight of the door. We use the bottom 2 shelves to pile all the shoes and the top shelf has a vase of wooden flowers to brighten up the area along with sprays and bits. The only shoes not regularly there are my eldest's formal shoes for SJA cadets that are kept with the clothes/uniforms. This along with a few sets of hooks at various places and heights along it has become the best way for us to organize that sort of stuff here.

Bree Newsome has a long history of activism, I would not be surprised if it were planned as Crimson Wife said, especially with the person who helped her with her climbing gear (as SproutMamaK said, James Ian Dyson who spotted for her was also arrested and can be seen in videos and photos at the bottom with a hard hat and hi-vis) and cameras on hand from beginning to end. It was lovely hearing her, I hope we can hear more from her later.

I don't think any single act of civil disobedience is meant to bring about sudden permanent change. It's the continuing message, continuing standing up that creates that. Any single act can be said to be silly or unimportant without the rest. It's why I get frustrated when people act like Rosa Parks's one act changed everything when she was a professional activist who was re-enacting previous events and then helped push forward the bus boycott (with replacement services) for over a year. One thing can be seen as trivial, but it's part of a wider whole of people who are fighting the systems. Governing authorities are all about maintaining status quo and order. We need more than that to bring real change to the system. That flag was hung there in 1961, as the civil rights movement began gaining momentum as a symbol to the populace. This can be symbol as well for more to come. The fact the state made a black worker put the thing back up says gives us quite a message as well, I think.

We wrestled with this a lot when we last did our wills, because we had originally asked BIL (BIL, my partner's brother, seemed very excited and honoured by it which my partner expected but I was surprised by as they do not have kids) but in the 10 years since we asked he's gone through multiple rounds with different cancers and is now terminally ill. My family all live overseas -- and only my grandfather, an uncle, aunt, and other distance relative have even met my kids, and my in-laws, well, that's just not going to work as much as they like the kids...in small amounts. So we got advice as will laws differ so greatly from place to place and we structured our will so that the person we named would be the one in charge of the kid's saving funds and finances and could choose another caring guardian for the kids if they found another more suitable or the kids were old enough to have input. So we named my partner's sister who is level headed, good with money, and open minded even if she isn't particularly interested in a sudden large brood years after her one left the nest. Personally, I'd like the caring to go to our lodger-friend, they love him, he's great with them, very patient and would give them some stability, but it would depend on who was in the best situation when the worst (hopefully doesn't) happen.

Thank you for posting this.

The like button. If there is a post I like and want to save for later, I like it and then I can find it in my profile under likes --> given. Saves me tons of time trying to search (as going through google sometimes sets off my virus/malware protector for some strange reason when it doesn't if I go through likes/the general website). If there was lots, I'd save it to me favourites.

Maybe not what you are looking for but for Math Mammoth, one can buy the books printed from lulu.com. I've liked the quality of other books I've bought though them and am considering doing this this year.

Advanced Code Workbook from OnTrack Reading specifically works on multisyllable words. Also the higher level/advanced reading instruction I See Sam readers are excellent ways to help reinforce advanced phonics code.