Gwen in VA
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Posts posted by Gwen in VA
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What are some good reaons for leaving a church?
What are some BAD reasns for leaving a church?
How do you decide when you should stay in a given church?
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I've been wrestling with this question myself, so I was very curious to see the answers.
I guess my reaction to all the answers is, 'This is SAD!"
When I was a kid in a small suburb, all kids biked everywhere. Over about age 10, we tried not to use parental transport -- we biked everywhere. I routinely biked to sailing lessons one I hit age 10, and they were about three miles away on the other side of town.
But my kids don't bike everywhere -- because of all the nutcases, as others have mentioned. We live in a safe town and the ride to the dowtown area/library couldn't be easier, but I only let the older (over 14) kids do it alone. (Younger kids have to stay in our neighborhood, which extends 1.5 miles from our house)
When my kids do bike somehwere, they really stand out -- others kids are NOT biking, which I feel makes it riskier for my kids. It's getting harder and harder to even find places to lock your bike up to!
I don't like making decisions out of fear, but I do want to be a good steward.....
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Have her start CAP as soon as possible.
1) There is a time-in-grade requirement for most of the promotions, so to advance to a high level takes a certain amount of time even for a VERY highly motivated cadet.
2) There are summer programs available that are really really neat. Some of them are QUITE competitive, so an interested cadet should have a number of promotions and be active in leadership at the squadron. That takes time!
3) The leadership opportunities available through CAP (at not only the squadron level but also the state and even the national level) are really rewarding and look great on transcripts. But again, it takes time to have the experiences to be considered for these slots.
CAP is a great organizationl.
~Gwen (mother of a cadet colonel, captain, and airman first class; and wife of a deputy commander for cadets)
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Wow! My ds1 did ground school and just listed it on activity list as an extracurricular!
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Winters -- almost everything we've tried
The Lively Art of Writing
Dolciani algebra 1 & 2
Jurgensen, Brown, and Jurgensen Geometry
Henle Latin
Losers --
Put That In Writing 2
The Thinking Toolbox (We loved Fallacy Detective, but....)
Wheelock's (sorry.world -- Wheelock's is just not us!)
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I would second the suggestion to pursue volunteering in a historical museum.
History is a great major in preparation for law school, but there are actually very few jobs that use a history degree for history. If your child has a leaning towards a specific career that would use history as training, that's great -- but if he wants to "do history" after college, he will probably end up either at a university or in the world of museums. Spending time in a museum would be helpful for many reasons, one of which would be exposure to a possible work environment.
Since we live in an area that has an ABUNDANCE of historical museums around, my kids have all done volunteered at several museums simultaneously. (Dd1 did over 1200 hours at historical museums during high school!) After volunteering for three years at one museum ds will be a paid costumed interpreter this summer, which is certainly a VERY cool job for a high schooler.
My kids have enjoyed interacting with ALL different kinds of people. They have learned the fine art of when to speak up, when to be authoritative, when to be submissive, how to entertain, etc. And they have also learned how to present history to sometimes uninterested people in ways that make the history interesting.
Dd volunteered at a museum where she was encouraged to write up a children's guide for a specific exhibit. It sounds SO easy and was SO challenging. She learned a LOT about history, about behind-the-scenes work creating exhibits and tours, and about museum work in general.
Probably the most important thing dd learned was that she does NOT want to work in museums! She is going into art conservation, but she wants to work as a researcher for a large foundation or even at a university, but she does not want to "do" exhibits or visitors.
All of the volunteer work obviously has the additional benefit of looking good on college applications. Museum people also wrote many college recommendations for dd.
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What do you think of the format of the new boards?
It was hard for me to get used to.
Good to "see" you!
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My mother, a high school English teacher for twenty years, considered Warriner's the best text series out there. As far as she was concerned, there was no reason to consider any other text!
When she retired and was clearing out her bookcases, I received several copies of different Warriner's texts and tests because, as she explained it to me, she wanted her grandchildren to have easy access to a good English textbook!
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What several admissions counselors stressed at various open houses that we attended was, despite rumors to the contrary, that they are NOT looking for the ultimate well-rounded student!
Colleges want the ultimate well-rounded student body, which will be made up of star tennis players, excellent oboe players, charismatic student government leaders, geeky scientist types, budding playwrights, passionate political junkies, etc.
So don't try to force-fit your child into the "well-rounded" mold; instead, let your child pursue and develop his singular interests and passions. Letting him develop his skills and passions will be good for him no matter what happens in the admissions process, and is likely to cause a college to say, "We need a kid like THAT at our school!"
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It always amazes me how different states are in their desire to help homeschoolers.
When we lived in Massachusetts, ds1 participated in an Odyssey of the Mind team and a play, both through the school system. The school superintendent knew my kids personally and genuinely seemed to care how they fared.
Then we moved to Virginia, where I had to threaten (with HSLDA's help) to sue the school district just so they would offer ds1 an AP exam! Ds1 took two AP exams this year and all went uneventfully, but we were quite nervous about the process.
Some school systems want to help hs'ers, and some don't. I am SO glad you live in a town where the school system is supportive, Nan.
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read....Read...READ...READ...
Seriously, reading is the BEST way to improve vocabulary.
Do lots of read aloud with them, even if they are of high school age. Have them read books (both fiction and nonfiction), leave magazines around, discuss the op/ed page of the dily paper.
If they claim that the books are boring, ask for recommendations of interesting books. If that fails, require them to read the books anyway!
read....Read...READ...READ...
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Well, my dh is among the missing too, though for a different reason.
Dh went up to NJ (6 hour drive) so ds2 could participate in a kite competition. His car died while he was up there, and needs $2000 worth of repairs! :glare: So he is stuck up there until at least tomorrow night waiting for Fed Ex to deliver the parts tomorrow and then get the car repaired.
So he will use one of his vacation days mooching rides in NJ to get his car repaired.....he has used 8 days on college-related stuff this year. Somehow his vacation is disappearing at a rapid rate, and the days he has used are not exactly for the "fun" things we think of when we think of vacation!
So ds1 and dd2 are just doing schoolwork today!
So yes, there are a few of us who are treating today as a "normal" day.
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You can do either.
If the volunteer work fits neatly into a relevant course, I might count it as part of the course. For example, if you are doing a course on zoology and needed 30 more hours to make up a credit, I might put the volunteer work done at the zoo as part of the course, but otherwise I would tend to put volunteer work under "extracurricular."
We figured that since my kids had plenty of coursework on their transcripts already, we would put it under extracurricular.
Colleges like to see plenty of outside involvement, and listing volunteer work under coursework mimimizes your child's outside commitments.
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I have found that 1) I'm not her motivator. 2) She doesn't like to be taught by me any longer. 3) When I'm her cheerleader rather than her teacher/boss all the time, we get along better. Now we're on the same side working toward a common goal instead of her working for me 24/7. Latin was a high school credit for her. If I had to 'nag' her, I just said, "Hey, it counts now."
Laura, You have stated your three points so well! I agree completely with all of them.
My son, now 18 and off to college in the fall, laugh together about how hard his early high school years were. He and I were at loggerheads so much of the time! But online classes changed that -- I could be his mother instead of his taskmaster -- and our relationship improved dramatically.
My ds loves me in the cheerleader role, and when we are on the same side working toward a common goal (as you say) our relationship is SO good.
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http://homeschoolmath.blogspot.com/
For all calculus-lovers, follow the link to the youtube video "I Will Derive".
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I have had three children crash and burn on Wheelocks. (My older two are good students -- they just found Wheelocks VERY difficult, even after several years of other Latin 1 material.) my first required individual tutoring to get through Wheelocks, my second dropped Latin and did greek instead, and my third went on a sit-down strike until I promised him Henle instead.
We love the order and methodology of Henle. My third child (who crashed and TOTALLY burned on Wheelocks) sort of enjoys Henle, and my fourth is flourishing with it.
That said, your child sounds like he has had enough Latin to be able to move quickly enough to go with Wheelocks.
Best wishes, whatever you decide!
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Dd didn't do the NLE -- due to my own laziness. :D
She took the Latin SAT-II because most of the colleges she applied to required three SAT-II's from all students, and since she was a homeschooler we wanted to do the overkill thing. (Hey, she gots LOTS of generous merit aid offers, so in our case overkill was a good thing.....)
She took the Latin AP exam. Her 5 got her out of the foreign language requirement at her college, which is a HUGE blessing.
I know I should have my younger ones do the NLE, but I just can't get psyched.....
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It's not like he will bump into a native speaker somewhere! :D
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I want to vote, but somehow my answer doesn't fit into the above categories.
My early teens mostly have their routines put together. They are not perfect -- we tell them when to get up, they need some reminding, but we are pretty happy with how much they do on their own.
But then my older teens lose the "routine thing" completely. Basically, weird schedule-breakers come along -- like taking 3 AP courses in the same year or having a summer job or taking care of a neighbor's dog -- and the schedule mentality just disappears.
I actually find that kids over about 16 are LESS help around the house -- they have busier and more unpredictable schedules. We approve of and want them to pursue their extracurricular obligations, but somehow between academics and extracurriculars, the late teen years are not good ones for household chores in our house.
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What a neat story! Thanks for sharing that -- your dd must be so thrilled!
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Here's mine --
My son will be doing--
Writing -- The Lively Art of Writing
Literature -- "England in Literature" (text) + some Progeny Press study guides
Geometry (Jurgensen, Brown, and Jurgensen)
Latin -- Latin 2 (Regina Coeli)
History -- TruthQuest, lots of primary source documents, Spielvogel's Western Civ
Science -- Biology:Visualizing Life (Holt)
Computer Programming -- C++ (Potter's School)
Logic 2 (Memoria Press)
and, of course, Civil Air Patrol and LOTS of stunt kiting!
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Yes, Laura, you are totally correct -- a parent CAN administer the Stanford if there are two other kids present. I forgot that exception!
As a Stanford test coordinator, I never allow parents to proctor their kids' classes/grades, so I forgot that yes, under that circumstance it is legit.
Sorry for not being clear!
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Thank you all so much for your prayers.
This has been difficult, but God is good and I have learned so much about what an organized, put-together daughter I have!
She is in the Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps (junior division for the moment), and of course during performances there isn't time for testing or snacking. She has studied how much her blood sugar drops, exactly what her target blood sugar should be before a performance, and even how much a certain # of carbs raises her blood sugar. (Did I say she is organized?) I am so proud and impressed and THANKFUL that she is so responsible. :001_smile:
The hardest moment has been when her older sister came home from college for a week. Watching dd1 for the first time watch dd2 giver herself a shot was something -- the pain in dd1's face was awful.
God has blessed us beyond imagining through this -- great doctors, people who reached out to us who I barely knew, and so much love.
Thank you all for your prayers and your support. :)
If you were looking to buy a house in a coastal area
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I think it depends a LOT on the local geography.
I grew up on the coast in Massachusetts. The coast was ALL rocks -- no erosion problems there! :) But the "normal" tides ran five feet or more, and so storm surges could run a LOT more than that. Nobody (and I mean nobody) built within a few feet of high tide.
We now live in Tidewater Virginia, where "normal" tides run only a foot or two. When we kayak, we fequently pass by houses that (in my New England eyes) look like they are built at sea level -- because I am used to houses being significantly higher. But to my amazement these houses do NOT flood regularly!
Even if global warming does happen, and even if the sea does rise by 50 cm, most houses would not be immediately affected by the 50 cm -- it's the storms that would cause the damage.
Questions I would think about --
What direction do the storms come from? How protected is that direction?
What is the normal tide run? How high are typical storm surges?
What is the land like (silt, rock, sand)?
What erosion issues does the area have?