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nevergiveup

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Everything posted by nevergiveup

  1. Almost everything formal has been tabled. We are going to be tearing down part of our house and the kids, my husband, and I are doing all the work. So, instead of book learning, they are learning wiring, plumbing, concrete work, and carpentry, since we had to run new elec., water, and sewer lines and are going to be building parts ourselves. They have also operated a jack hammer and backhoe. My older son had a flower business over the summer which meant working all day Friday and selling on Saturday morning. Thankfully, that has just ended since he is also going to fix the exhaust leak on our truck and replace the universal joint on his truck. I believe both kids are going to help a farmer friend harvest this fall, too. Still, they are keeping up with their math, reading classic novels, and we are reading some history every day. All the other great subjects I have planned will be worked in whenever there is time.
  2. Dogs and cats are outside animals here. Sure, cats have nasty little feet from the litter box...but what about both animals' hind ends? They sit on those things, after all, and I've seen some pretty disgusting stuff come out of them. Disclaimer: I did grow up in a house that allowed cats and dogs inside--we even had 2 goats, a raccoon, guinea pigs, and hamsters living inside at various points. So, I have had experience with indoor animals.
  3. The original poster wanted to know if diagramming was a necessary skill and I posted an opinion. I debated for a long time whether or not to teach my kids diagramming: I read countless websites and talked to teachers and other parents. I finally read a book called, Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog, written by Kitty Burns Florey, and that is what finally decided it for me. Ms. Florey is a writer and she loves diagramming. However, she does not believe it made her a good writer and the people she interviewed for the book did not believe it made for good writing--maybe accurate writing, but not necessarily good writing. She quotes Gene Moutoux, who must be a diagramming afficionado from what I understand: "Meaning does not spring magically from a diagram." He also says that we diagram according to our understanding of what the sentence is about and "someone understanding a particular sentence differently would necessarily diagram it differently." She cites diagramming's usefulness for the CIA's computer spyware as well as in courts of law. Neither of my kids are likely be computer specialists or lawyers. I can barely keep them in the house as it is so we needed to focus on other tactics. For those of you who love diagramming, Mr. Moutoux has a website you might find useful: http://www.geocites.com/gene_moutoux.
  4. Being a good diagrammer of sentences does not make a good writer. Sometimes good writing does not fit easily into a diagram. I would not want to diagram this: "She affronted, inscrutably, under stress, all the public concussions and ordeals; and yet, with that slim mystifying grace of her appearance, which defied you to say if she were a fair young woman who looked older through trouble, or a fine smooth older one who looked young through successful indifference with her precious reference, above all, to memories and histories into which he could enter, she was as exquisite for him as some pale pressed flower (a rarity to begin with), and, failing other sweetness, she was a sufficient reward for his effort." Henry James I doubt Mr. James diagrammed it when he wrote it.
  5. We don't diagram because I don't think it necessarily makes for a better writer. Ungrammatical sentences can be diagrammed and the more complex a sentence gets, the more convoluted the diagram.
  6. From what I understand (I am not an accountant) if your daughter has a business she still owes self employment tax on anything earned over $400. Self employment tax is independent of income tax. Kudos to your daughter for being so forward thinking regarding investing!
  7. Nope--I don't think he is too young to learn about business and taxes, either. It has been a real education for all of us. But he is selling flowers at a farmers' market, not running a corporation, and it shouldn't require the services of an accountant IMHO.
  8. Danestress-- I guess both seem wrong. He is just a kid with ambition trying to make some money. The forms are so complex: trying to wade through all the instructions took more hours than I want to remember. Then, having to pay a tax when earnings are soooo far below the poverty level--how does anyone running their own business for a living and not making much, survive?
  9. Yeah--any kid with a lemonade stand who is in it to make money is considered to have a "business" whereby anything earned over $400 is subject to this self employment tax. My son sold over 750 bouquets (I helped make the bouquets and sell them but he did all the rest) and grossed almost $3900. He had a lot of expenses he took off but, if he had no expenses to claim, he would have had to pay over $550 in self employment tax. Still seems wrong to me...
  10. Nope--I even called the IRS to find out. The self employment tax goes towards Social Security, medicare, whatever, and they reason that if they were working for someone else, that employer would have to withhold it so even though he is a minor and a dependent, he has to start paying into the system.
  11. I think the government may have quashed any desire my son might have had to go into business for himself. Last summer, he wanted to earn money but was too young to be hired for a "real" job, so a friend suggested he grow and sell cut flowers for a farmers' market since the previous flower vendor quit. He was 14 when he started the business and had just turned 15 when the first market opened. Fast forward to this year and doing his taxes. He never earned enough to have to pay an income tax, but, since this was a "business" anything earned over $400 is subject to self-employment tax of 15%. So, he had to pay that in addition to filling out: 1040 long form Schedule SE Schedule F form 4562 standard deduction worksheet section 179 state income taxes state personal property taxes form 103 and 104 plus calculating and submitting sales tax monthly Quite a lot for a kid who just wanted to earn some money! What do you think?
  12. Yep. Wanted to and have snapped. My son temporarily forgot how to add today and he is almost 14. He is dyslexic and has attention problems and from what I read about it all, this is very common. Sometimes there are certain times of the day that his brain is just not functioning properly. It is very frustrating, but in his case, I know it is in there somewhere. So, no real advice here, just know that what you are experiencing is not at all uncommon.
  13. We tried it several years ago. We purchased the system to use at home. My son was probably in 3rd or 4th grade. He never used it long enough to see any benefits--my son is the type that falls asleep if he has to sit and concentrate on something that is boring and that is exactly what happened during a lot of the exercises, since the student has to sit and just concentrate on the screen. That said, I thought it was interesting and would probably help someone with more motivation to succeed.
  14. There is one website that I frequently recommend that discusses all issues associated with using medication: http://millermom.proboards.com. There is a large section devoted to herbal remedies, also. The ladies there do not judge--they just report studies, research, and personal experiences. They have numerous articles dealing with the subject and are also very, very helpful.
  15. It is a good idea to have a doctor teach boys how to do a testicular self exam starting at age 15 since testicular cancer is more common than one would like to think. Also it is a good idea to have skin cancer checks--my sons have large moles we like to keep an eye on. Nevergiveup
  16. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, was a great book.
  17. I may be in the minority but the argument that TT is too slow or not rigorous enough does not hold water for me. My oldest son started off in TT's Algebra 1. Yes, we found it to be somewhat repetitious of what he had done in public school 7th grade math. So what? He did 2 lessons a day and got through in half the time. He also did all the tests at the end of the course (instead of after each section) and did not score lower than 95% on any of them. I guess it shows that he learned it well enough. A friend of ours, who has a child in a rigorous public school, did well in her accelerated math class and scored well on her tests, and yet had to relearn it in order to help her younger brother with his math because she didn't retain it well enough. Why is there such a huge push to compete with public schools and try to duplicate what they are teaching? Whatever program you choose--the child is going to learn more if THEY LIKE doing it. My son likes TT and that is fine by me.
  18. You can also use white whole wheat flour which is 100% whole grain. It has a finer texture and holds together better when sliced.
  19. I am in Indiana, too, and am not going to worry about credits. Indiana does not, from my understanding, have any requirements or restrictions on homeschoolers, nor can they dictate curricula. As long as you are keeping track of the courses your kids are doing and maybe the scope, and you are the one providing them with their diploma, why are you worried about assigning credits? I'm not very far into this, myself, so let me know if I am missing something.
  20. Medicating is a huge decision and I doubt that anyone takes it lightly. A great website where parents discuss the different medications is http://millermom.proboards107.com They are a wealth of information and are very knowledgeable and compassionate. Some things that are usually recommended before starting medication are getting a complete physical evaluation and having the child tested for learning disabilities. Many many learning disabilities mimic ADHD or are comorbid with ADHD. Many many really intelligent kids have learning disabilites also. Check out the website, they are really great people there with the same issues.
  21. My son has all these problems and here are some of the things we do that help: We use yellow note book paper and turn it on its side to write problems--the lines make columns so it is easier to keep numbers lined up. I have him See it, Touch it, Say it, and then Do it--he will read a + sign as a X sign or read a number like 43 as 34 so by touching it he is directing his eyes where they need to be and by saying it, he can "hear" if it is right. Invariably, if he does not say it out loud, he will get it wrong. Plus, this involves different senses and that makes it more multisensory. For subtraction, he would subtract in the wrong order, whatever number was smaller from whatever number was bigger regardless of their order, so again, he has to touch the number and say it and see if he can count down to the number underneath it. If he can, then he knows he can subtract, if not, he knows he has to borrow. Ex: 9 - 3: He would say 9 8 7 6 5 4 3, and since he can count down to 3 he knows he can subtract. It helps keep him oriented in the right way since he has to count from the top number to the bottom. We also use the Box Method for multiplying--I mentioned it in another post--it is nice because he does all the multiplication first and then all the adding and does not have to switch back and forth between. He can't add numbers in his head and keep track of them so when adding columns of big numbers, he uses a slash mark for anything over 10 and writes the ones digit next to it adding from there. Hard to explain, but this way he doesn't have to keep track of large numbers: he counts the tally marks and that is the number that gets carried to the next column. If anyone is interested, I can try to explain it further--I don't know what the method is called but it is really easy and I use it too. We really struggled a long time until finding these methods which have helped a lot.
  22. The Box Method is sort of hard to explain--the easiest thing to do would be to Google it. A rough idea: if you have 32 X 14, you draw a square that is two columns across and two rows down, so that you will have a box with 4 cells in it. Then you draw diagonal lines in each cell from the top right corner of the cell to the bottom left corner. You put the digits 3 and 2 across the outside top of the box and the numbers 1 and 4 on the right hand side, lining them up one digit per cell. (Like I said it is sort of hard to explain but there are good visuals on the Internet). Anyway, you end up doing all the multiplication before you have to do any adding. My son struggled and struggled with multiple digit multiplication until we found this method since there is no switching back and forth with multiplication and addition and no columns to keep lined up. He also had trouble adding long columns of numbers and we now use a different method for that: any time you add single digits where the sum goes over 10, you cross the digit (the cross mark stands for 10) and write the ones digit next to it and start adding again with the ones digit just written. This way you are only having to keep track of addition into the teens. When you are done adding the column, you count up your cross marks and carry that number to the next column. Once again, easier to do than to explain. Ex: 32 19 47 99 OK, I can't superimpose a cross mark, but 9 + 2 is 11, so you put a cross mark / over the 9 to stand for the ten and you write a 1 next to it. Next you add the 1 and 7 to get 8, then 8 + 9 is 17 so you put another cross over the last 9 to stand for ten and write 7 beneath the answer line. Count your cross marks, there are two, and carry a 2 to the next column, adding it the same way. Hope this helps (although I can understand if it doesn't!)
  23. My son has dyscalcula and was terrible at keeping things lined up, switching between multiplying and adding (for the carrying), carrying to the wrong column, you name it. So, we switched to the box method and it has been much easier for him since all the multiplication is done then all the adding and there is no issue with keeping things lined up.
  24. Both of my sons are using Teaching Textbooks. I don't care what terminology they use as long as the kids can remember it and apply it. However, if they had trouble, I never felt that I had to use the same terminology as Teaching Textboods--teaching the concept is what is important, so I would explain what the goal is and another way to do it. I have always stressed to my kids that there is more than one way to do the problems and do what works. My older son did Algebra 1 entirely on his own, and while some of the techniques were not what I was taught, he liked them and understood them. TT's Math 7 does talk about Least Common Denominators and Greatest Common Factors, by the way. The workbooks have a Table of Contents, so it is easy for me to find the lessons.
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