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EliseMcKenna

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Everything posted by EliseMcKenna

  1. I got an email from Audible about a two for one sale. I’m looking at Hatchet and Walk Two Moons (narrated by Hope Davis, who I love). I think they may both be too much for my crew right now, but 12-13 would be perfect.
  2. @JennyD Can you please expand on the above? As a family beginning the conversion process, this is what I am struggling with the most. Feel free to message me privately, too. Thank you!
  3. Oh! I almost forgot that we just finished the entire Henry Huggins collection. We all laughed out loud, which I really was not expecting. My daughters are 11, 9, and 7. We got the series from Audible, and all but one of the books is read by Neil Patrick Harris. His version of Ramona’s voice still has us in stitches as we try to imitate it. Matilda, read by Kate Winslet, is another one I would say should not be missed on audio.
  4. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series! The audio is SO GOOD, we not only reference elements of the stories all the time, but we’re planning to listen to the entire series again. RIP the hugely talented Katherine Kellgren. What a loss.
  5. @teachermom2834 Thank you, again. Everything you said makes perfect sense. Starting in the fall, we have the opportunity for the oldest to attend a forest school program one day a week with middle-school kids, separate from her sisters. I'm hoping that the day the younger two are at their forest school experience, dd11 and I can get some of that quality one-on-one time that you mentioned. 💛
  6. Juggling everything, and everyone, has always been one of my main concerns with a program like MP. *sigh* What did you use with your older kids, and how do you think it compares with MP?
  7. Thanks for sharing your experience @teachermom2834. I hope my daughter likes them as well as yours. Do you order an entire MP core then?
  8. Thank you both for confirming what I was thinking! I was surprised when she specifically mentioned the guides . . . they're certainly not my cup of tea. *Maybe* we'll try just one instead of the whole set. They look eye-wateringly boring to me, but she seems to think she wants to do more than just read.
  9. She saw the literature study guides in the MP catalog and claims she’d like to try some. Are the ones from MP your favorites? Or are there others that are more engaging for this age?
  10. I totally agree. But an accompanying sense of prestige might prompt some people to want a professional degree along with high pay. I know a couple who totally fit that description. My impression is that their titles are every bit as important to them as their salaries. I wonder about the importance of prestige to the author of this book. He does say that a trade school would have been acceptable, if any of the children had selected that route, because that would have led to a paying profession. So was it the familiar route that led all the children to the same outcomes? General expectations within the family? Or was it more sinister than that? Would the kids feel like outcasts as the only mechanic in a family of advanced degrees? By the way, we live in Lake Stevens. Hi!
  11. And yet . . . as someone who did the things you described, except I didn't make it to the Louvre until my 30's, I do sometimes feel behind now. I had my first child at age 38. My husband and I often talk about how we can "catch up" for retirement. We live comfortably, but we're also in an expensive part of the country, and our retirement funds need to reflect that. My husband supports us, but he didn't graduate with an undergrad business degree until he turned 30. There are drawbacks to both ways of doing things. I'm not going to push my daughters to marry and start a family, but I will also be able to advise them of the pitfalls of waiting longer than average . . . I've been very, very lucky with my fertility. My sister hasn't been. Maybe early college/careers in high-paying fields DO make sense for women who think they may want a family someday?
  12. You all have made great points. Lots to think about. Although, just for the record, I wasn't considering this path for my children. Heck, we don't even start formal schooling until age 7, so we're waaaaay behind the early-college curve already. I will say that what this book made me consider, however, is that my expectations might be too low for my kids. I think I err too far on the side of "keeping the peace," when really, they are plenty bright enough to take on more challenging work. Anyway, I also found it very interesting that this is the father's bio on his Amazon page: :huh: "After working in electronics for about twenty years, Lawrence quit his job and attended Arizona State University (ASU) law school to become an attorney. He now works as a solo practitioner in intellectual property law and specializes in patent prosecution and infringement opinions."
  13. I'm not defending the authors' stance, but here is what they say on this topic: "We had a back-and-forth conversation with each child about her or his undergraduate major and possible graduate studies. We steered the children toward degrees that suited their strengths and interests and that also would likely lead to successful employment. As we worked with them, we specifically identified and steered them away from fields where, in our experience, it was more difficult to find employment. For example, Ben initially wanted to study math and become a mathematics professor. We told him that an undergraduate degree in mathematics was likely not a wise idea because, if for some reason he could not continue on to graduate school, his career options might be limited. In Lydia's case, she had an interest in history and, in particular, the study of governance and war. Despite her affinity for historical studies, we were prepared to forbid her from majoring in history because we had personally known several people with history degrees who were not able to find employment that paid well. Fortunately, the issue never arose because she was more interested in math and science."
  14. If you have Kindle unlimited, you can read it for free. I think it totally makes sense to do the cc enrollment in HS. We have that option here, and I'd like my kids to take advantage of it. The majors had to be ones that could provide income as a stand-alone degree. But I got the impression that meant an above-average income in a field with plentiful opportunities. Every child went to community college in Mesa, then on to ASU. My understanding is that they were still at home through that time. They gave the example of how nerve-wracking it was to send their 17-year old across the country to study at Johns Hopkins.
  15. I just watched the Today show segment. So fascinating! But they seem to give their kids a lot more choice than the family in "Unapologetic Homeschoolers." (Although maybe both families would disagree with that statement.)
  16. Maybe someone from AZ can chime in. The kids ALL started at community college in Mesa, AZ, then continued at ASU. The oldest went on to medical school, next oldest completed a master's degree in bioengineering at Johns Hopkins University at age 19, and now is in his fifth year of a PhD program at MIT. Third and fourth children, medical school. Fifth is in a PhD program in electrical engineering at MIT. Sixth is studying chemical engineering and plans to study medicine.
  17. The tone is like that through the entire book, IMO. Even in the children's writing. Slightly off-putting, I agree. Good points!
  18. Ha! Yes, it's a burning desire! I could only read so much of it aloud to my husband last night to get his opinion. And like I said, some of it does make sense, and I can totally understand where they're coming from. I think I've just spent so long focused on things like reading the classics and learning Latin that their math-heavy, job-driven approach is completely foreign to me. But intriguing.
  19. Here is a quote from the book: "One comment we hear a lot when people learn about our children's educational attainments is that they must be geniuses. We feel our children are accomplished not because they are geniuses but because their environment prepared them to learn and to do well and because we provided the opportunities for them to maximize their potential . . . We have seen so many families that have had uneven results with their children. Our children's consistency in attaining high goals confirms our belief that their educational environment made all the difference." As for your #2, I personally don't have an answer. My oldest is 10, so that's partly why I'm wondering how this all actually works for the rest of us.
  20. I need to discuss the ideas in the book "Unapologetic Homeschoolers: University Graduates by Nineteen." In a nutshell, the authors have sent six children to universities, and the children have then opted for graduate work in fields like emergency medicine, math, and engineering. All of their undergraduate degrees started at age 14, and those were required to meet two criteria: 1. The child must be able to support himself with only that undergraduate degree (hence, a degree in history would have been forbidden, according to the authors), and 2. The chosen undergraduate degree must not hinder their ability to move forward in post-graduate work. There is truly SO MUCH to unpack in this book. I just started it yesterday, and I am still trying to wrap my head around it all. It's like the antithesis of what I've been doing, not to mention what is the standard advice in many homeschooling circles now (relax, have fun, let the children study their own interests, etc.). The thing is, I was ready to dismiss it all as ludicrous until I read the accounts written by the children themselves at the end of the book. They all rave about the advantages these methods provided them. But . . . are they secretly all in counseling trying to understand their parents' motivations??? I'd love to discuss. https://www.amazon.com/Unapologetic-Homeschoolers-University-Graduates-Nineteen-ebook/dp/B00T44V3RW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516992306&sr=8-1&keywords=unapologetic+homeschoolers
  21. Yes, looking further at the Reading, I would say you're right.
  22. We really, really like The Reading Lesson. It's so much more straightforward than OPGTR, IMO. Every time I looked at that book (tried with a copy from the library several times), it made my eyes cross. TRL is just simple and effective.
  23. Thanks, insertcreativenamehere. :laugh: My middle daughter will be doing AAR 1 soon. Should I hold off on any CLE LA for her? Or go ahead and start Grade 2? Also, I don't necessarily see any writing in the LA. Is that correct? Judging by your siggie, I am guessing the W&R Fable might be a good supplement for my 9-year old?
  24. I have heard so much praise for CLE math that I finally went and looked at it. (I have been avoiding it because we prefer secular resources.) However, now I've spent all morning on their site, and so much of it is appealing to me! Maybe because I'm ancient? ;-) The LA makes total straight-forward sense to me, which is possibly just because it is quite similar to the way "we used to do things." Anyway, in addition to the math, what other products of theirs do you use, love, and recommend? Thank you!
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