Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

Noreen Claire

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,753

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Noreen Claire

    What to do with a half gallon of heavy whipping cream?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    53 minutes ago, skimomma said:

    Just make like normal?  Do you keep them on the parchment or can they be tossed in a bag once frozen?  Any thawing tips?

    This is the most appealing because 2 out of 3 of us are sensitive to dairy so we really can't eat creamy soups or ice cream.  But the occasional dallop of whipped cream on pie is usually a risk worth taking.

    https://tidbits-marci.com/easy-frozen-whipped-cream-dollops/

    • Like 2

    Online grocery order FAILS

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I shop at one of the larger supermarket chains in the area, and they have an app that I had been using for years to do clip-less coupons in-store. When I started to order for delivery last spring, I found that the app had stored every single item I had purchased EVER, and I could search through my purchase history for reordering. That is awesome! Makes it so easy to reorder.

    For substitutions, they have a button that you can click to accept/deny substitutions ahead of time, and they tell you exactly what the offered sub is for each item. They will sub things like two 4-packs of burgers for the 8-pack (at the cheaper price) if they need to (this happened last week).

    The only mistakes that I've had in the past year were: once, I got a zucchini instead of a cucumber (I let it go) and, a few weeks ago, I got the regular-sized package of sausages instead of the  family-sized pack. I sent a note through the app, and they refunded the purchase price entirely.

    I paid $30 for a 6-month delivery pass that gets me free delivery on T/W/Th each week. I have them delivered each Wednesday morning, before breakfast. It will also get the packing fee waived if a put in an order for pickup any day. I have used that a few times.

    Latin for 6th grade

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I started Henle with my 6th grader this year. He's doing well! We use the Memoria Press teacher's guide. YMMV. This kid is a natural at grammar (he's working through GWTM for the second time), so Latin is coming pretty easily to him.

    Anxiety about making a decision... (WWYD?)

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Thanks, everyone, for your input.

    I talked briefly with grandparents and, even if I wanted to, I would not be able to have regular/reliable/happy-to-help childcare lined up in order to teach in the fall. So, I emailed and said that I could teach online if they left that option open, but that I couldn't teach on-campus.

    I'm both relieved and disappointed.

    I still feel like I've let them (her) down. And I feel bad that my husband will be the only person bringing in income again.

    I was raised Irish Catholic - I excel at guilt!

    • Like 6

    Latin (Henle) and Anki - how do you tag your words?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    13 hours ago, wendyroo said:

    We use the Fluent Forever approach, so we make most of our own cards with the Spanish word on one side and pictures or Spanish definitions on the other. We also use cloze cards to study conjugations and other grammar.

     

    We really should do it this way; I have their model cards already. I thought I would be lazy and do use a pre-made deck, but this makes more sense!

     

    Do your kids make their own cards, do you make them together, or do you make them for your kids?

    Anxiety about making a decision... (WWYD?)

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    20 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

    If the pay is anything like it is around here for per course teaching I would not do it.  Especially if a commute is involved.  I know someone who was offered $2000 to teach a semester course--and was going to have to pay almost $500 for a parking permit on the campus!

    It is $3k per class. Parking is free, but the cost of gas will be $300 for the semester.

    Anxiety about making a decision... (WWYD?)

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    45 minutes ago, Lecka said:

    To me this means it is not a financial sacrifice to him.

    We aren't desperate for the money. The extra money would be nice, but it's not a deciding factor at the moment.

    31 minutes ago, BusyMom5 said:

    you are just hesitant to let your friend down. 

    I am very. I hate feeling like I let someone down. Even if I haven't really.

    30 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

    I have been in that situation in the past--a commute just about as far.  One of the deciding factors for me was that if you taught at least two classes you qualified for benefits.  Picking up my own health care and retirement contributions substantially increased the total pay I was receiving.   I had DH's support, or it would not have worked.  If he needed help during the evenings that I was working, it was his responsibility to arrange for that.

    I get no extra benefit. The money is per course, no benefits at all.

    If DH needed to arrange his own help for soccer practices, he would just take them out of soccer. 😕

    • Like 1

    chicken pox vax/natural exposure

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    3 hours ago, vonfirmath said:

    But she felt there were definite advantages to having the pox naturally rather than through a vaccine.

     

     

    5 hours ago, sweet2ndchance said:

    But everyone survived and everyone is immune now

     

    2 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

    I had CP as a kid. What do I need to do to avoid getting shingles as an adult? Do I need to ask about the vaccine? I'm in my early 40s.

     

    This is the thing that people forget when they talk about having chicken pox, and then it being over and done and "better" than the vax.

    My brother had shingles two years ago, in his late 30s, and he was MISERABLE. He was in so much pain, and nerve pain is the worst. He was very healthy at the time but he lost TWENTY POUNDS. He missed two full weeks of work (and definitely went back before he was completely recovered). He still has scars from the rash across his torso. It was terrible, and I don't think he has really fully recovered, even now.

    • Sad 4

    Henle Latin First Year

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    3 hours ago, booksandwool said:

    Thank you! What did you think of the Memoria Press support materials? Quizzes, etc.?

    DS11 is at the beginning of Henle, and I realized that I would need to do it alongside/ahead of him, or it was going to be hard to be helpful. I have just started, and need to catch up to him! We have the MP teacher manual and the quizzes. I have also printed out some of the free files linked to above. I really like the pacing and extra commentary in the MP manual. This is the only subject he has ever had quizzes in, and it is working as a good tool to help him evaluate his own learning. 

    FWIW, I took the Henle books to the local Kinkos (FedExpress Office?) and had them spiral bound. Best decision ever! was $6.50/book. 

    Student passes 3 classes in 4 years...

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Noreen Claire

    I have nothing to add except that the "Project Baltimore" that reported on the original story is an arm of Sinclaire Broadcasting, which has a very specific ideological viewpoint. The story, on its face, sounds terrible, but there is likely lots of information that we do not know. Take it with a grain of salt.

    • Like 7

    please help me provide feedback for essay, grade 6.

    in K-8 Writing Workshop

    Posted

    19 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

    Purely as a composition, though, I would expect better transitions and a bigger variety of sentence structure. I'd also expect a few more sentences per paragraph, given how short the sentences are. 

    I might like a less abrupt introduction as well. 

    Yes! I agree with this, but I don't know how to guide him in making the changes. I haven't had to write anything more complex than a grocery list since I left my doctoral program ABD 12 years ago, and I'm out of practice. 😞

    15 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:

    Wow, I just looked at the instructor guide and this was fairly complex!  Do you have that book?  I find it helpful to have sample answers to compare and rubrics to gauge level.

    As I understand it, the assignment has a few moving parts.  The first day, the student read some information about octopi, generated a list of 14-23 facts, and separated them into major life stages: embryo/egg, hatchling/young, mature, reproducing, old age.  Then they were to write six paragraphs about these stages (I only see 5 stages, so I presume the 6th paragraph is about the fact that the eggs which were laid will hatch and the cycle will continue in the next generation).

    She notes that one stage is the male's death and the other stage is the female's death. DS originally had them together, but we read the instructor notes that they should be separate and he added the 6th section.

     

    15 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:

    I think I would start by acknowledging that your student has successfully navigated some fairly complicated instructions.  He has understood the topic, closely followed the directions given, and met all the requirements of the assignment as I understand it.  

     This is something I would have skipped right over! Thanks for pointing it out.

     

    15 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:

    I appreciate the effort your student has put into trying to vary his sentence structure. I see that he remembers the earlier instruction about using time and sequence words to connect ideas - you might draw his attention to the number of times he says "after" and direct him back to the list to help him generate some alternatives.  If this was a hard assignment and represents his best effort, I would say he has completed the assignment as directed and no more needs to be done. 

    He is actually pretty good at the assignments that require him to rewrite sentences, he just doesn't incorporate that into his writing automatically.

     

    15 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:

    If you think he has the emotional capacity to make more improvements, he could think about his opening paragraph.  It does *say* that octopi are intelligent, but there was some great evidence in the reading that he could have included and didn't: I loved the parts about an octopus that escaped from its aquarium and was found in the library, turning book pages (I'm picturing Professor Inkling from the children's cartoon The Octonauts right now!) and the Jacques Cousteau anecdote about an octopus planning and executing its escape.  I think a worthwhile discussion could be had about the way those stories draw the reader in and generate curiosity about the topic - one of my boys would also be inclined to summarize this similarly to your son's "they can squeeze through small openings" and not think about the fact that the vivid telling of the story is what makes it impactful.

    Thanks - this is exactly the wording I am looking for, the 'how' to explain how to improve it. He acknowledged that the opening section could use work, but wasn't sure how to go about it.

     

    15 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:

    How are you finding WWS?  I'm working through it myself at the moment ahead of assigning it to my son, and each time the book ramps up in difficulty I mentally push back the time in my mind when he might start or the speed at which we would try to progress 🙂  How much time does it take you as the instructor to discuss and provide guidance?  

    DS has made ENOURMOUS progress in writing with WWS. It really is scaffolded well, both so that he can learn from the exercises and so that I can help him. The time it takes him per lesson varies from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the assignment. We schedule it Monday through Friday so that he can break up a long assignment (say, rewriting or copying a longer essay) into two days. He brings me his work whenever the directions tell him to, and we chat about the answers using the instructor's guide and then he goes back to the next part.

    Up to this point, it's never taken more than five days per "week" of assignments. However, we've had some stuff going on this week and have already pushed a couple of other things to Saturday (we never work on weekends!) and I told him we would go over this essay tomorrow, after his other work, and I would help him think about ways to improve it.

    • Like 1

    please help me provide feedback for essay, grade 6.

    in K-8 Writing Workshop

    Posted

    This essay assignment was from WWS1, week 22: Sequence of a natural process.

    This is his first draft; I haven't read through it yet, but he has been reading sections to me out loud while he was composing it this week. He hasn't yet proofed it for spelling, etc yet, either. Any help you can give me to help him would be great. Thanks!

     

    Octopi are intelligent and curious creatures. They can also squeeze through very small openings. These traits mean that it is very hard to catch and hold octopi.

    People have known about the octopus for a long time. For example, more than two thousand two hundred years ago, Aristotle studied them. But unfortunately, octopus research has lagged behind other sea animal research. Most things we know about them are from only two species.

    Adult octopi have eight arms connected by a thin sheen of skin. The legs connect directly under the eyes and over the beak. Connected to the back of the octopus’ head is a sack of skin holding all its internal organs.

    Octopus eggs have shells for protection, cushioning materials, and yolks for nutrition. After the eggs are laid it takes seven weeks for them to hatch. When they look like smaller versions of their parents. After they hatch they float around in the sea. During this stage in their life many octopi are eaten. After floating for a while, they settle to the sea floor.

    After settling to the floor, an octopus lives in creavases and caves. While living in caves,it leaves only to hunt. The only other reason it leaves its cave is to find a mate.

    After mating a male octopus starts to die. While a male dies it sometimes grows white sores on its bodies. They also sometimes go crazy. 

    After mating a female octopus finds a den, blocks the entrance, and lays her eggs. After laying her eggs the octopus guards her eggs, washes them with water and does not eat. After seven weeks the eggs hatch.

    After the eggs hatch the mother dies. Octopi do not look after their young. Octopi live short lives.

    When the baby octopi hatch, the cycle of life starts again. The babies float around and then settle to the sea floor. They mate then reproduce and start the cycle over again.

    Fourth grade planning 2021-2022

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    handwriting: Zaner-Bloser 4

    grammar: First Language Lessons 4

    writing: Writing With Ease 4 - I know this level is 'optional/remedial', but he fought me over doing any writing at all up until this year. Now, he will do it gladly, so we will keep on with what he's willing to do. 

    spelling: Spelling Workout D

    math & logic: He'll be starting Beast Academy 4 soon, so we will keep on wherever we are, adding in books from LivingMath U3, and MindBenders/BalanceBenders/Math Analogies/etc.

    history: SOTW3 and library books (not using the workbook) / read alouds from LivingMath U3

    literature: reading list from the WTM recommendations (to go along with SOTW3), plenty of read alouds, audiobooks. He reads nonfiction constantly.

    science: chemistry (WTM recommendations) - we mostly unschool science, and will add in lots of Nova videos and such.

    foreign language: Greek with the Memoria Press Greek Alphabet and then Elementary Greek.

    misc: He unschools himself in anything that tickles his fancy. He needs a physical activity, but I don't know what yet.

    • Like 1

    Anyone want to talk about Wandavision?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Terabith said:

    Was Wanda blipped out by Thanos?  So did she just immediately rematerialize like Monica Rambeau and go steal Vision's body and create an alternate reality in New Jersey?

    She came back via Dr Strange's portals for the big fight scene in Endgame, and was there for the funeral for Tony Stark. IIRC, in episode 4(?), someone commented that Monica Rambeau reported for duty to SWORD a few weeks after she came back, so it has been maybe a month since the Thanos fight?

     

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...