zaichiki
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Posts posted by zaichiki
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Yes, you're missing a biggie. It's actually much less dangerous to have the neck part fitting improperly than the lap belt part (although a lap belt alone is just deadly).
The whole restraint system has to fit correctly across a bony part of the body. If it is restraining soft tissue, it will cause internal bleeding and lacerate your organs.
The lap part of the belt has to fit across the hip bones rather than the abdomen.
Well, that can't be right. I'm 5'10" and 160 lbs and seatbelts ALWAYS slide up over my tummy. They NEVER stay on the hip bones. Do you have a suggestion for how I can keep the seatbelt in a safe place?
And now I'm pregnant. Ha! I wear the seatbelt, but it's NOT on the hip bones. Are there those out there suggesting I would be safter NOT in a seat belt?
I think all those laws out there listing weight and/or age and/or height must also be missing the point, then, if it's all about where the seatbelt fits on the hip bones.
How do we REALLY know when the seatbelt fits safely? There seem to be all sorts of different ideas out there.
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from everything I've read it's the height, leg length and where the belt falls on their hips and collarbone that's important
If this is true, then why don't the laws only mention height? And what about adjustable seat belts? In my husband's car the seat belts slide up and down where the shoulder strap attaches to the car).
In our car it's all about how the seatbelt fits, not how tall/old/heavy you are. If the seatbelt fits at the right place on the collarbone/shoulder, you're safe. Am I missing something more?
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There are so many "flavors" of gifted. Here's an example. My oldest two have nearly identical full-scale IQ scores, but they have vastly different strengths and personalities.
If you really want to know a number, you can arrange for private testing. I believe at 5 most psychologists would want to do the WPPSI.
Have you been to the hoagiesgifted website? There's a lot of good info over there. You might also take a look here: http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/What_is_Gifted/characgt.htm
and check out the third page here
http://www.pagiftededucation.info/documents/RufEstimatesofLevelsofGiftedness.pdf
Have fun!
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We typically do one lesson in the textbook with the corresponding lesson in the workbook. Sometimes we'll just do an oral review/practice in the textbook. Sometimes the textbook lesson will be followed by three or four workbook exercises for review. On days like these we usually only do one of the workbook exercises each day until they're done (unless they're simple and easy for the kids). Some days we add Intensive Practice or a couple of word problems from the CWP book to the above. On other days we do ONLY a few pages from the IP or CWP.
Hmmm.... I bet that wasn't very helpful.
We're pretty flexible. I have nothing written down as a plan. It depends on how easily the kids pick up the topic and/or how much review they require. Some days we ditch the Singapore and play math games on the computer. :)
We do math on average of 4 days a week year round. In the beginning we seem to go through a year and a half of the curriculum each year. After Primary Math 3B, though, we're averaging a year's worth of the curriculum in a year (textbooks, workbooks, Intensive Practice books, and a little of the CWP).
YMMV (obviously) :)
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Ds is a 14 slim and we've had good luck with Lands End, Old Navy, and Gap. Kohl's carries khakis and dress pants in that size, but it's almost never on the shelf. Bet you could get it on-line. Sometimes Sears has khakis in that size.
I'm finding it harder and harder to get slim sizes as ds needs longer pants. Not sure why that is. I remember getting 7 and 8 slims EVERYWHERE. Seems like there's a size cutoff or something when it comes to slims.
Now that ds will be off at school, I realized we'll have to figure something out for his uniform pants. The store we're supposed to use to order this specific uniform carries a 14 slim, but not a 16 slim... so what do we do when he grows taller???
Good luck!
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My daughter knows about the Titanic, she calls it the Daddy Ship. The topic also fascinates her.
The Daddy Ship?
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You don't want to get to SOTW4 with an eight year old - 20th century history is not for the faint hearted.
I can understand this perspective. Certainly we want to insulate our younger children from the horrors of war. Much of recent history feels too heavy for a young child. But...
This (quote above) is not universally true. I will be doing SOTW 4 with 7 year old dd this year and we covered much of the early 1900's with our oldest when he was 5-7 years old.
My oldest ds was very interested in modern history, but especially WWII and naval warfare at 5 and 6 years old. He devoured books written by Robert Ballard (Titanic and Bismarck), he researched the sinking of many ships, the designs of fighter jets, and JFK and his experiences with the PT-109 during WWII (which led to further reading and discussing WWII). We worked hard, for a few years, to shelter him from some of the most horrible (dropping of the atomic bombs and the Hollocaust), but he would find a way to read about it anyway. Dh's Jewish family lived in Eastern Europe during that time (so WWII and the Hollocaust were discussed at family gatherings). He is 10 now and his interest in modern history has broadened to include other emotionally jarring topics like WWI, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and terrorism.
For my dd, it's all in the way the history is presented. (She prefers historical fiction written from the perspective of a young girl.) I won't keep it from her. I'll just present it differently. She also doesn't research modern history, though, so it's easier to portray it in a more sensitive way with her.
Anyway, I KNOW my son's not the only one out there who was interested in these topics at a young age. He had a couple of 7-9 year old friends who got him hooked on the Titanic and the Bismarck. I think the best thing is to know the child and present the studies when they are ready and/or interested in a way that is appropriate for that child.
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If she's interested, why not start the reading? You could add in picture books on the topics along the way... or stretch it out a bit. If you have the activity guide, there are some good suggestions you could use (pic bks and activities plus coloring pages).
Nothing says you can't play it by ear. If it becomes too much, you could slow things down or even stop and sit in a topic for a while.
We started Sonlight Core 1 and Story of the World 1 when ds was 5.5. He was (and still is) a MAJOR history buff. Soooo many people told me it was a mistake... that he was too young... that I was pushing him. It wasn't. I wasn't. He enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. I would do it again.
(I didn't begin "early" with dd, though, as she just wasn't interested in history in general. Animals are her thing. She jumped in at SOTW 3/Core 3 with ds this year because she LOVES the American Girl series and it fits right in with the time period. Dd also found a bunch of early american chapter books featuring young girl characters in the SL Core 3 readers set. So... it's onward and upward with history for her now... and she's 7. Each child has different needs.)
Cheers!
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My neighbor has had 3 deaf dogs over the years. She teaches them a form of "doggy sign language". She's taught them "come", "sit", "down", "good dog!" The only real problem for her is if the dog is running away, she can't yell for it!
Our dog can hear, but doesn't come if it's running away and I yell for it anyway.
You'd probably want to teach your kids not to "sneak up" on it. They should make some kind of floor vibration or be sure to come up within puppy's field of vision. Other than that, I can't think of any problems that could come from having a deaf dog. Most people teach their hearing dogs with signed commands that go along with the voice command already.
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The charters around here that start with alternative models don't last that way long. All of the requirements of the ps system start chipping away at things and within a couple of years they are just a ps with uniforms. The first few years are very difficult and chaotic. I wouldn't want my kids in the middle of it. I watched my friends do it and it was a mess. None of them are there anymore.
Oh, hey, good point. (I missed the charter reference.) I know someone who started a charter middle/high school that offered a rigorous math/science program for kids who were driven in that area. She worked REALLY hard, donated SO much of her own time/money, and finally succeeded in starting the school after a few years. Now, after 5 years, many of the original teachers have been replaced, SHE has been fired, and the school is basically a public school with uniforms. SO sad. Parents I know who tried the school said that it was difficult and very chaotic and most of them pulled their kids after a year or two. I didn't know that was such a common occurence with charter schools. Ugh.
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Mamamoon,
(Haven't read the other posts yet)
I just wanted to assure you that there's nothing wrong with wanting to send your child to school. Everyone homeschools for different reasons, even if we reap many more benefits as the years go by. If you started homeschooling because of a lack of the type of school you wanted, but now see the possibility of the type of school you were looking for, it's only NATURAL to want to try it. The school might work well. You might decide, though, that the benefits of homeschooling would be even BETTER than the school at this point. You might try it, or not. It might work fabulously, or you might choose to homeschool again. Nothing is set in stone. (Of course, if you child goes to school and LOVES it, it might make going back to homeschooling more difficult. I'm considering this possibility for our family's choice this year.)
Our family makes the schooling decisions on a yearly basis and each child's needs are considered separately. Others commit to homeschooling as a lifestyle regardless of individual children or future educational possibilities because they truly know in their hearts that homeschooling is what they want to do. No matter what.
Our family has enjoyed homeschooling our oldest, and we may choose to do so at some point again in the future, but this year he will go to school for the first time. It was a weighing of the pros and cons and his intense interest in trying school that put us there this year. Dd will continue to homeschool because it is really what is best for her educational needs. I really feel she will need AT LEAST 2 more years of homeschooling, but I'm hoping to homeschool her for longer. Of course we will still make the decision each year.
(We also started homeschooling for lack of a certain type of school environment... or perhaps it was more that ds was REALLY a square peg at the time and the schools only had circular holes. I had some really great school experiences and I would love for my kids to be able to have similar experiences at some point. I'm not against schools, though I REALLY see the benefits of homeschooling, too.)
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Singapore 1 would be a solid program, though since it's a workbook, you'd deal with the writing issue.
At that age it's pretty easy to do Singapore mostly orally. When ds started the Earlybird series we used a combo of number stampers (stamps and ink) and number stickers, too.
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I think the halter top is just weird and unnecessary.
I agree. It does seem strange.
My kids did what the OP posted: they lifted their shirts and pretended to nurse their baby dolls (even my son -- hee hee -- he was 3 and I thought it was cute, though I did explain to him that only ladies can make "mama milk").
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We have cars that come with mega bloks. There are also some in the duplo sets. I don't think these come separately, though I'm not sure. The Little People sets have vehicles. My youngest really liked the tractor in the farm set when he was a babe.
An uncle gave the kids a car that is made especially for little ones, with a soft body that squeaks and hard wheels that turn. It can be pushed across the floor. He got it from FAO Schwartz. That's probably not much of a help, but perhaps it'll give you an idea?
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Oh, yes! One year olds like Matchbox cars and so do 2s and 3s and... We still have a huge bin of Matchbox cars that gets daily play. Matchbox cars, maple blocks and Schleich people and animals. Those are my desert island toys. :001_smile:
However, I would only do the Matchbox toys with a 1 year old in my presence (and I did). They like to try to eat them and, although it's rare and the wheels are too tiny to actually choke on, they can come off.
Yeah... unfortunately they can easily choke on those little metal cars. (They fit in toilet paper tubes, which is what I use to measure.)
However, as soon as your ds is able to play with choking hazard-type toys (my sons were 2 and my dd was 3 before stopped putting toys into mouths), Matchbox cars are a GREAT idea. All of my kids still play with those. Oldest especially likes the Matchbox-style planes and helicopters.
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We have the "old fashioned" Little People (not very old) that don't use batteries. Our school bus doesn't use batteries! There's also little people-sized cars, tractor/farm/animal set, a boat, Noah's Ark set, and the airplane that don't use batteries. My younger two (7 and 3) still play with the Noah's Ark.
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How about VideoText? I think module A is pre-algebra.
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the Horrible Histories series by Terry Deary? (Not sure on the spelling of either of those)
We found one used and ds is loving it so much I think I'll buy the series.
Okay. Scratch that. How about some of the read alouds or advanced readers from Sonlight Cores 3 and 4? Great books!
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Current 7 y.o. is a girl. She is reading
The Animal Ark series by Ben Baglio
The American Girl books
of course Cam Jansen too (that's a big hit)
Roald Dahl
lots of picture books -- especially the Magic Schoolbus series
some of the readers from Sonlight Core 3 (Sarah Whitcher's Story which was a recent fave)
Looking for "boy" book recommendations?
When ds was 7 he liked the Beverly Cleary books, too... and Harry Potter... and Star Wars books. That's all I can remember off the top of my head.
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The picture book I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello is similar to I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly ('cept the guy spits back all the instruments in the end). It was one of ds's favorite picture books when he was young and I sometimes wonder if it is one of the reasons he wanted to play the cello.
The Philharmonic Gets Dressed is a hit with everyone in this house. What a great way to get kids into the idea that a musician "puts their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else." Before my oldest two saw their first performance at Symphony Hall we read this book. I think it gave them the courage to approach the musicians and ask questions. Dd is considering a future career in music (it's between that and being a vet, but of course she's only 7 and will likely go through 10 more career goals before college!). This book may have given her the idea that being a professional musician is a possible career choice.
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Costanza,
I got it used, from another homeschooler, for cheaper. It's pretty pricey new, but I *would* buy it new if I couldn't get it used. I have a few coming up in the ranks and I would consider it an investment for all of them.
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It helps me to remember that not everyone on these boards is a classical homeschooler or following WTM, and not everyone is schooling a bright (possibly gifted), highly motivated child who thrives on accomplishing things in her day.
Obviously, there are many people on these boards that have a lot of wisdom to offer (which is the reason I visit) and I am extremely grateful for their advice, but they have never met my dd or me, or sat in my dining room and watched us work. The advice of strangers, even experienced ones, can only take you so far; you know your child best and have to weigh it appropriately.
Wise words. Thank you for writing so clearly. :)
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Wow! I didn't know there were so many hanging options! I just use packing tape or thumbtacks. Ha!
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That's my dh! (and ds)
It makes me crazy!
Is She Gifted?
in Accelerated Learner Board
Posted
Ed Sprunger? :)
What a truth, though, huh? I'm SO glad I stopped saying "practice makes perfect." Talk about pressure for a perfectionist child!