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ChrisB

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Posts posted by ChrisB

    If you could take a vacation tour...

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    of any one specialty item, what would it be?

    For example, the cathedrals of Europe, the wines of France, bbq of the USA deep south, the Camino de Santiago (although would you call this a specialty tour-hiking day after day?)...

    Off the top of my head, a cheese tour of one area in France would be eclectic and interesting to me.  I feel a little funny saying it because I've never heard of anyone doing it, but it sounds tasty! 

    The savory snack thread had me thinking about cheese...lol

    Guidance for an impromptu homeschool mom?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Welcome! 

    My just-finished 5th-grader worked on Treasured Conversations for writing/grammar review, Spelling Power for spelling, reading classics at her leisure from our bookshelves (currently reading Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea--loves!), and Ellen McHenry's Carbon Chemistry&Elements this past year. 

    Our writing trajectory is Writing With Ease 1-3, MCT Island, Treasured Convo., more MCT and Killgallon, Writing With Skill 1-3 (7th-ish - 9th grades) + Kolbe Academy JH lit. (7th/8th), spelling from 3rd grade to JH.  If I were pushed to find a different writing program, I'd try Classical Academic Press first.

    We like to run through McHenry's science programs in those middle years.  She's engaging. 

    Interestingly, DD did a slime recipe from a science lab kit, and after having made so much on her own, she knew it was a bad recipe and why it failed.  I mean, she and DD14 have made copious amounts of their own slime and have become slime aficionados.🤓👩‍🔬  In all the "fun", they've learned quite a bit about the reaction of basic elements, what makes for a good feel/consistency. 

    DD16 loved A Wrinkle In Time at that age--she still loves sci-fi and futuristic books.  Lots of engaging books to choose from!

    There are many paths to the same destination.  GL!! 

    • Like 1

    If anyone in your home is working outside of the home what measures is the workplace taking?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    DD works at a local ice cream & market shop. She wears a mask. She washes her hands, puts on new gloves, scopes ice cream, sets on counter for customer to pick up, takes off gloves, does the cash register, washes hands & repeats the whole process.  Same procedure for other tasks too. The rest of the shop is a small grocer.  Social distancing, not more than 10 people in store at once, etc. 

    DH is non-essential and works in a white-collar office. Employees were encouraged to work from home as much as possible from mid-March on, guessing about 85% have chosen to do so most of the time. He goes to work and is the only person in his department in an isolated private office. His admin ass't (high risk) works from home, and they zoom once or twice a day to communicate. He wipes down door knobs and surfaces before work w/sanitation wipes. No mask, no gloves, yes hand sanitizer. Cleaning crew sanitizes all spaces daily. He does most of his meetings via phone or zoom, a few in the office but only those who are showing no signs of any illness. Some co-workers are wearing masks and gloves, and only some during face-to-face meetings.  No cases have been suspected or confirmed. I would suspect that since we have a smaller population and much distance between, DH's office naturally has virtual communication options/procedures in place, and it's working toward their advantage now.

    We live in an upper prairie state that has a low population and no shelter-at-home orders, yes social distancing & some self-isolating.  Our state continues to operate similar to the first guideline phase of states reopening. 

    This has nothing to do with covid19 but is very important to my life right now

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by ChrisB

    27 minutes ago, Momto6inIN said:

    I don't know anything about digestive enzymes. Are those like probiotics?

    Digestive enzymes help break down food while probiotics support overall health in the digestive tract.  Here's an article that explains the difference.  DD ate a ton, food and breastfeeding F/T, and was still failure-to-thrive w/me on a fairly restricted no-wheat/dairy diet.  Apparently she needed a digestive aid for her food.  Recommended by my health-nut mom, it was our last ditch effort before the dr. intervened, and it worked!!

    • Like 1

    This has nothing to do with covid19 but is very important to my life right now

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Several of mine were terrible sleepers.  By the last one, I tried a digestive enzyme because she had some failure to thrive issues.  Within 2 weeks of mixing the powder with her baby food, not only did she start gaining good weight, but her sleeping regulated to normal.  Wished I knew this for my olders because I'm convinced it would've helped their sleeping, too.  I'm just throwing this out there as something to consider regarding sleep issues.

    • Like 1

    Mystery Book Suggestions, Please

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Again, thanks for these ideas!  She told me she's read And Then There Were None and Sweetness, liking the former more than the latter. 

    She likes spy/CIA type of books so Mrs. Pollifax may interest her.  A few bad words aren't as big of a deal as romantic scenes.  I think Louise Penny novels might be an option, too.   

    Nancy Drew is too young for this class, unless I'm thinking of a different series than the traditional Nancy Drew.

    Reality is that she may bring a book to her teacher, and it be rejected because we're not sure how strict she is with the mystery label.

    Mystery Book Suggestions, Please

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    DD15 needs to pick a mystery book for her high school lit. class.  She'd like a clean, shorter, page-turner.  You're a great group to ask!  Ideas?

    One idea I had was The Man Who Was Thursday, but maybe it's not quite a mystery and more of a suspenseful thriller.  What do you think?

    Sending kids to school

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    3 hours ago, stacyh270 said:

    Your son sounds like my 16yo son who is in 10th grade this year.  I am 80% sure he will be going to public school next year.  He's my firstborn and is incredibly strong-willed.  To be honest, homeschooling has always been a battle with him (we started when he was in 5th grade).  As much as I love him, am prepared to fight FOR him, and would like to him to be able to fully utilize his time for DE classes and/or classes that actually interest him for 11th and 12th grades, I am ready to push him out the door.  He may not get the best education at the local PS (we have no private schools locally), but there are some DE opportunities in English and Math.  

    The bolded above was also our experience.

    • Like 1

    Sending kids to school

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by ChrisB

    On 2/26/2020 at 2:14 PM, Sneezyone said:

    We sent DD at the end of 8th/beginning of 9th b/c she's a super social kid who was chaffing at the bit at home. At that point, she'd be part of the regular course selection process and not not left with crappy HS classes. She's seriously thriving. She is actively reaching out to teachers when she sees a problem with her grades, studying (unprompted), taking advantage of the many opportunities her school offers, and earning great grades. She has friends, gets invited to (chaperoned) parties, etc. This is my bright but scattered child with reading difficulties. It was the right call for her. She was 100% ready and I knew it.

    This is our experience, too, except she's not completely scattered, maybe a bit brain-dead sometimes...lol

    On 2/28/2020 at 7:28 PM, RubyPenn said:

    Right, this is a bit of a concern, but he does like to do well for others.  He takes an online writing course and makes sure he submits papers on time, and he is always checking for new grades.  I think he's just too comfortable at home. 

    This was our experience, too.

    On 2/28/2020 at 9:45 PM, RubyPenn said:

    I would like to do that, but he really doesn't like online classes, so a full schedule of them isn't a good option.  Plus, the temptation to switch screens and get off task is too strong, even though I've blocked all the websites he likes to visit.   I catch him emailing friends when he should be working.  The battles are never ending.

    Switching screens and getting off task was a constant struggle, but it doesn't go away when they go to school.

    On 2/29/2020 at 9:53 AM, RubyPenn said:

    ...My kid is very competitive and we are hoping that if he is in a school environment,  the competitiveness will kick in there as well.  I read in the book, Boys Adrift,  how many boys thrive in a competitive environment, especially the alpha males like my son.  The most ideal environment for him would be an all boys school, but that isn't a possibility for us.

    Competition has been very valuable for DD as a motivator.  She's found how she "places" in the intelligence pecking-order.  It's been eye-opening to her.

    We sent DD15 to a college-prep, private, Catholic school this year for her Sophomore year and feel like it was the best decision for us/her.  She is an independent, bright, driven, excelling student that thrives at anything outside of the house--appearances matter to her. 

    For her, outside classes always took precedence over anything I would do with her at home, in our case these were her core classes, math, english/lit, history, and we constantly fought about the work.  For the preservation of our relationship, she went to school.
     
    She desires to make school her responsibility and not mine, and we want to encourage her natural tendency to accept maturity/responsibility, not holding her back.  If she wanted to stay home, we would've made that work, too.
     
    It's been good for her social life, too.  There aren't many homeschoolers we know in the area that are her age so going to a b&m school opened up more opportunities for friendships.  It's not a panacea, but it's better.
     
    The fall semester was a steep learning curve for her, but she's found her groove this semester and is doing well.  She had to drop down mid-fall semester from one advanced class to a regular (with upper classmen-so somewhere btwn her grade level and the advanced class...weird, but it works) section in math since we didn't know where to place her, but otherwise, she's been placed well.  It's a bigger school so it can accommodate several types of classes and activities.
     
    I really had to die-to-self when she went to school because I felt my pride was on the line and I had to get over myself...lol  Most of the educational decisions were taken out of my hands that I've controlled for her whole educational life and all my failings as a homeschool educator would be obvious--move along, there's nothing to see here...lol  I mean, I've been all-in since before kindergarten!  Considering my homeschooling outlook of life and education, conforming to institutional living was a big change for me.  I've had to accept (-ish, still trying, btw) of the strict schedules, expectations, mindless following, restrictive imagination, busy work in order to gain her educational success and maintain a good relationship with her.  It's a trade-off.
     
    During DD's Freshman year, she had 4 classes w/me, 1 online through the state, 1 at this Catholic HS, 4 through an educational co-op.  One reason we never chose the all outside or online classes route is that it felt like there was no cohesion of schedule or curriculum integration.  I did the best I could trying to tie it together but felt she was being pulled in too many directions, and I didn't want to do it all at home.
     
    We plan on sending our four other children their Sophomore year to this school since it's been an overall positive experience for us.  We are choosing Sophomore instead of Freshman year because I feel kids mature quite a bit between their Freshman and Sophomore and hope to avoid that additional emotional angst and pressure.  They can also do more classes at home their Freshman year and transfer in more than a typical Freshman can, setting them up to have room to take more alternative classes than the basic trajectory.  Our kids are social, neuro-typical, and have no LDs as far as I know so it makes the transition easier.
     
    One last thing, we had DD shadow a friend in advanced classes last year to see what a school day might look for her.  I wanted them to seem as hard as possible so she didn't think school would be a walk-in-the-park.  Even with all my planning, it was the easiest school day her friend had had in a long time...some things you just can't control...lol  If nothing else, shadowing gave her confidence to know how a typical school day is actually organized and run since all she'd ever seen of school was neighborhood kids getting on the bus and what's on TV.
     
    And I agree w/AA & klmama, every kid's different and no one way to go about this.  For me, sometimes the hardest thing about homeschooling isn't the work but the attitudes.  Here we are trying to educate critical thinkers who want to "argue" about everything, and it can be draining for me.
     
    GL in your decision! 
    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    Book ideas for HS Book Report

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    That sound super interesting!  Hope the teacher gives him a pass.

    Ruminating now, speaking of Russian lit., I read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment in high school.  Some of the guys thought it was awesome, but I thought it was one of the most depressing things ever--murder and the mental anguish that comes with it...  Wonder what I'd think now...

    And another, speaking of depressing, interesting, and Russian, I read a short story, Ward No. 6 by Anton Checkhov, a few years back that I really enjoyed while most others didn't.  In its depression, it made me chuckle about how we are all one step away from Ward No. 6, either true insanity or what others perceive as insanity...good times! <insert the old running crazy emoji>  Very thought provoking.

    Quick Grammar Help, Please

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    What if the sentence is lengthened to:  The parents named the child Tom, an old family name.

    'an old family name' would be an appositive.  Would Tom also be an appositive?

    The longer sentence is included in a section about appositives in DD's book.

    One of her classmates insists it acts as an adjective, diagrammed with a backslash after child and before Tom.

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