[How much time for Read Alouds in K?]

I think my kids got hooked on audio books on a road trip. Junie B books have a very annoying voice (lol), but they are very popular in the 4-6 year old set. Also Beverly Cleary, Magic Tree House, Clementine, etc.

 

I do have an 11 year old that stopped listening as soon as he couild read. He actually hates audio now. But my 7 and 9 (both dyslexic, for full disclosure) love them. My 5 year old non-dyslexic likes them, too.

 

Read Aloud Revival has a lot of good read aloud tips. I read picture books story lady style, a page, then showing the pictures. They get used to that.

[2nd grader struggling with reading]

We use library books for audio. We have read through most of their audio collection, so I just joined the next county over. :) We do have audible, too, but I like free better.

 

OhE, how does the library of Congress work? It looked like it was for blind or physical impairments. Will they do consider" just dyslexia?

[Would you tell the store manager if this happened?]

It baffles people at my local grocery stores, too.

[Where do the 40 something's go to church?]

So, for us, it's always been a lack of people our age. We are 42 and 45. In our 20s, there were tokns of teens and 30+s. In our 30s, we saw single/college age grow, as well as the 40s. And now. There *are* 40s, but they are overwhelmingly professional Christians--very few ordinary church attendees.

 

Maybe it's the churches we have been part of. We started southern Baptist, went Vineyard, then to a vijneyard that converted to Anglican, held our breath for a year at a charismatic megachurch, and now a megachurch that pretends to be nondenominational but is basically southern Baptist.

 

We live in a (left leaning) part of town where evangelical is almost a dirty word, though. All of my church friends are frokm different parts of town.

[Where do the 40 something's go to church?]

Around here, they are very underrepresented.

 

We go to an evangelical megachurch, but not a huge one. A couple of thousand on Sunday in 3 services. Very few 40 somethings though tons of early to mid 30s. Tons.

[Monogram - should I or shouldn’t I?]

I didn't realize this was a somewhat regional thing. I do not see monograms at all in Oregon. We're not a dressy, formal kind of place. Would you monogram Columbia or Nike gear? Probably not.

Yes, yes you would. ;)

 

I am actually not a big monogram person, because I am cheap, and it's $$, but I like it. Nike fleece/sportswear pull overs, welcome mats, wreaths for the door, socks for little girls, water bottles...you name it

[How much time for Read Alouds in K?]

We use Five in a Row, so we do read something every day for a week. But we read aloud for fun 1-2 hours a day. My kids also do audio books 1 hour per day.

 

For mine, it's the one thing they will all sit and settle for. I don't regret the time I have devoted to reading over the years. Mine are 5, 7, 9, and 11, though the 11 year old is in school and doesn't get as much read aloud time.

[talk to me about running shoes]

I like my Brooks, and my dh likes his Hokas. We are bigger people, and we need the support.

 

My light, fit 11 year old that runs likes Nikes best

[Monogram - should I or shouldn’t I?]

It might be regional. I have family living near St. Simon's in Georgia and I swear she spends more on monogramming than I spend on groceries. And it's not just her...it's all over down there.

I was about to say...maybe you don't live in Georgia. :D

[Monogram - should I or shouldn’t I?]

i'm a no-monogram, no name-on-the-back kind of person just because eventually the item will be given away and I don't want to do that with my name on it.

I actually buy things for my kids with the right monogram on them (there are fb groups). You can also remove a monogram pretty easily. I will buy stuff at the thrift store with monogram all the time.

[Household Dynamic with Multiple SPD kids]

You are describing my household of 4. The youngest, who is 5, is not like the others in a dramatic fashion. But the older 3 boys? They are 11, 9, and 7. You have described our life so much.

[wait and see approach to ear infection]

I usually wait and see. Our docs have been doing that for a few years.

 

I have one child that mildly complains of ear pain, then it gets acute quickly. That happened one time with him in the night, and we did comfort measures and put him to bed. A few hours later, he woke with a cry, and it began to ooze out of his ear. His eardrum had perforated. That's like worst case scenario, and the doc was all, welll.....no big deal. He has not shown adverse affects from that.

[What are good toys for a child that doesn't seem to like toys?]

My oldest did not and does not play with toys (he is 11). He consistently likes sports equip.ent. He has had brief periods of liking puzzles (from flat to marble runs to perplexus...all sorts of puzzles). He also likes matchbox cars and legos, but both for much briefer time periods than other kids.

[Aldi]

I am slowly coming to the realization that I am very picky about my ingredients. I didn't think I was until reading some threads like this. The best chocolate chips are Hershey's special dark in our taste tests, so that's what I buy. I'm a King Arthur flour fan, so that's what I buy. I want cane sugar. I want cheap cheese that tastes good (i.e. not Aldi), DH has his favorite brand of almond milk and says that Aldis is only an okay substitute. I buy chicken from a farmer and beef from my dad, local milk and cage free eggs at Kroger (never seen them at Aldi). DH has his favorite toilet paper. Things I like at Aldi are the little jars of "European" jam, the 4 head box of lettuce, the organic whole milk yogurt, the nuts, and that white chocolate coconut bar; the Never Any cold cuts and frozen fish fillets are decent. The single serve whole milk yogurts, the goldfish knock offs, the chocolate animal cookies and the tortellini were downright nasty.

 

I think I'm a food snob. [emoji15]

 

 

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Everyone has their favorite brands. I didn't used to like Also cheese, but now I prefer it (it changed). I hate Kraft, though, and the only other brand I like is Kroger.

 

I only like Dukes mayo, but my Aldi carries that, because everyone does.

 

I don't eat Aldi tortillas. BleCH. I eat El Milagro.

 

White Lily flour.

 

We don't eat choc chips but like once a year, so I don't care. We all have our stuff, though.

 

And there is plenty at Aldi that I *do* like to make it worthwhime to me. I am far from a one stop person, which makes a difference, too.

[Would you eat this??]

Eat them. That was an old timey breakfast--sweet potatoes in the fire before bed, eat cold in the am.

[ELAP for health insurance?]

Is anyone here covered by an ELAP?  Dh's employer is offering two plans next year---our current high deductible with a pretty substantive increase in premiums or this new, ELAP, plan.  

 

From what I can tell, it just seems to be self-insurance, with an overlying company that agrees to argue and negotiate for the best prices that they can get.  This doesn't sound that great to me?  But the premiums are more in line with what we are paying now.  

 

I don't know anyone IRL that has gone to this type of plan, but dh's company is older and not very profitable, and they have always been ahead of the curve on cutting costs for healthcare.  We went to high deductible in 2008, for instance, years before that was common in employer sponsored insurance.  

 

I'm concerned that this plan will be a paperwork nightmare if we really need it in case of severe illness.  But maybe I am overthinking it.  Just looking to see if anyone has experience.

[If I ate at a food truck for the first time and liked it...]

Coffee shop, library, fabric store (shhh...i almost love the browsing and dreaming more than the making).

 

I also like cooking classes. It is easy to be fully immersed iinto that and you feel forced to engage and turn off your brain for other thoughts, which is good for me.

[What would you do for this child? ESL and learning to read xpost]

My older two kids went to a school that was half refugee/half American born. All refugee and immigrant kids got ESL the first year, regardless of where they were. They could then graduate out, but some kept it every day through 5th grade.

 

The kids that started K with no English were usually fluent conversafionally by Christmas, but the expectations for reading was very low until 2nd or 3rd grade.

 

FYI...this sweet school was so wonderful in a social justice context, horrible academically for early detection of dyslexia in an American born child with high literacy exposure, as you can imagine. Made me question full inclusion of kids with wildly different needs

[Which calorie count should I use?]

I would say 90.  They make their grits with water.  I love them, too!  They have really good grits, as does Krystal (so random).

[Favorite meal to take to help families]

Tacos.  Fruit.  Dessert.  

[When do I start to panic?]

We lost power for 25 hours this summer in the hurricane. The freezer was very full--I packed it full of ice everywhere--but everything was fine. The pint of ice cream was a bit soft, and we used it as an excuse to eat it. :)

[s/o Were you young when you decided you wanted to be a SAHM (if you're a SAHM)]

I have a masters degree, and if anything, it gave me confidence to stay home. Of course I could learn this new way of life. No one (as in zero, not one single person) has ever questioned if I am smart enough to homeschool little kids. Of course I am.

 

I found the idea of classical education when I was 12 or 13, from reading the books of a family I babysat for. They were "crazy" homeschoolers in the mid-80s. Those books introduced me to the idea of education for the sake of a well rounded person, not for a career. It would be decades before that idea fleshed itself out in my life, but I can see the beginnings of it in those home school books. I am thankful for that. I think that made it a lot easier to not think of my degrees as wasted.

[Extended Family and Kid Birthday Parties]

I have been to parties like that! I like them, but then I like escaping to my quiet house afterwards.

[s/o If you're not homeschooling but are a SAHW/M, what are your days like?]

I could be the next HowJendoesit!

[s/o Were you young when you decided you wanted to be a SAHM (if you're a SAHM)]

My mom was/is a philosophical SAHM/homemaker, and I was raised that that was the right thing to do and the best thing for kids.

 

I always wanted to be a midwife, and I knew that I wanted to work part time once I had kids. I did always plan to homeschool if they wanted to (but I couldn't imagine that they wouldn't want to), and I planned to stop working when they hit school age.

 

I stopped working when my oldest was born. My oldest went to school at his very adamant request for K-1, then again 4+ (he's in 5th), though I could see him coming home again for 7-8. My others are homeschooled.

 

I have since learned that there are a lot of gray areas, and people should be SAHM if they want to be...I no longer think it's the best thing for all children and all mothers.