babysparkler
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Posts posted by babysparkler
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I am a certified teacher, so yes... but I do also consider all of the rest of homeschooling moms/dad's "educators" as well.
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Jim Greer, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, came out swinging against the planned speech. An excerpt from his statement:
"The address scheduled for September 8, 2009, does not allow for healthy debate on the President's agenda, but rather obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President's initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates."
:iagree:
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Since we are all educators, I am curious your thoughts on the quality of the "lesson plans" sent out to go with the President's speech Tuesday... personally, I found them to be focused only on the three lower-thinking objectives of Knowledge, Comprehension & Application (Bloom's Taxonomy) and severely lacking in the attempt to move deeper into Analysis, Synthesis, & Evaluation. Am I wrong? Coming from the Education Department, I would have expected much better. What are your thoughts?
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Wood laminate (like Pergo) is very kid friendly & looks great. It's also easy to install. That's what I would use.
That is what we did and it is great!
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I have a pair of reading glasses that ended up in my grocery bag that I need to return tomorrow... but at least I need a few things and can make the trip worth it...
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The amount of D in fortified dairy is actually very, very low compared to what most of us really need. Given your (completely understandable!) sun avoidance, you should probably have your levels checked.
I did a while back and it was fine, but you are probably right that I should check more often...
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I'm jealous of all of you who tan. I just had my stitches out this morning for my fourth skin cancer removal. I use so much sunblock SPF 70 and I still keep coming down with skin cancer all because I was sunburned too badly as a kid. :glare: I have to stay pale just to stay healthy. I drink tons of milk and eat tons of cheese, so I get my Vit. D mostly that way.
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I haven't yet decided so I chose "other". I told my kids that Obama was going to speaking to the kids on TV and asked them what they thought he would say. My dd7 commented that "his job is to talk to the adults, not to kids", so she couldn't even imagine what he would say:lol:. Neither of them seemed particularly interested at this point. I may have them watch if they have a desire to, and then talk with them afterwards about their thoughts.
What I do know is that I will not do what the DoE suggests in preparing them in advance to be "inspired" or moved to action by what he says. I teach my kids to always listen to anyone (pastors, teachers, politicians, etc) with a discerning heart and mind, and to form their own impressions and reactions based upon their personal beliefs aligned with their understanding of God's teaching. If they do watch, it won't be to absentmindedly absorb Obama's words as truth, but to listen with both a critical ear and an open mind. They are young and impressionable, but bright and discerning as well.
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That is an awesome book! God used it to transform me many years back, and I am so grateful for it!
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We only have 4 kids, but we have no family around (1200 miles away is our closest relative). We have just learned that help means hiring a babysitter. And help is not cheap, so we have learned to be pretty independent.
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A more balanced question to me would be "What might he say?" After the speech, I think a balanced question would be, "Do you agree or disagree? Why?"
I also wonder about the word choice of some of the questions asking what children can do to help President Obama rather than to help the United States.
:iagree:
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I'm pretty protective, I would say no. Of course I don't even like my kids out front without me.
:iagree:
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Oh yes, cut out the easy stuff for him & fast track through anything he already knows. Something you can do with a natural speller is to show the concept and then see if he can teach it back to you, rather than make him spell words he knows. Here are some ways you can adjust to make it work:
- Review Cards: If your child has mastered the cards, you won’t need to do this section. When the book says to review mastered cards, choose 10 or so of the most difficult patterns for your child to review. You can do more if needed, but if not, move on.
- Review Concepts: If your child didn’t struggle with those concepts and already has them mastered, again, there’s no need to review. If the concept hasn’t come up for awhile, you might want to touch on it quickly to make sure it’s not forgotten, but you get to be the judge of whether your child needs this part.
- New Teaching: If your child is catching on quickly to the new sound presented, there’s no need to do all of the word cards. Pick a few to make sure your child can demonstrate the concept. If there’s a word that has a combination of sounds that’s trickier for your child, choose that as one of the words. A child who catches on quickly might almost be insulted by reviewing easier words, while a child who has to work hard at spelling builds confidence on those easier words. So you can choose what’s helpful to your child. When you are satisfied that your child understands the concept being taught, move on.
- Reinforcement concepts: These provide additional practice with the concept. Unless you think one of the words might be a challenge for your child, feel free to skip this section.
- Dictation: This section incorporates both the new teaching and patterns previously learned. If you don’t think your child needs much review, you might choose just a few phrases and sentences that use patterns you would like to review. Do at least a couple of sentences to make sure that your child isn’t just memorizing a pattern for a word list, but that he can choose the patterns to use for each word when they are in a more natural context.
I've heard of people going through level 1 in a week to a month's time, and level 2 in a month or two--they just fill in any knowledge gaps but don't dwell on what's too easy. The beauty of AAS is that you can customize it to make it fit your child's needs.
HTH some! Merry :-)
Thank you Merry!!!! That is just what I needed to hear! My dd just started and it seems to be going SOOOO slow for her b/c she already knows so much of this. I thought I had to keep going at this pace or I would miss something. I will start accelerating things a bit for her :)
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My ds loved the A-Z mysteries series.
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When ds9 was in ps a couple years ago, his one-hour-per-week gifted pullout program was the ONLY hour of the week that he looked forward to. He could be stricken with the flu, and would still beg to go to school on Wednesday from 1-2pm. He felt free to be himself there, knowing that he wouldn't be criticized. He had hoped that it would be a place that he didn't stick out like a sore thumb. It turned out that since he was much younger than the other kids, he still had the "class mascot" thing happen there (but he was used to it and accepted it with grace). He loved that program because it was interesting and new to him and being there gave him the opportunity to stretch his thinking. The rest of his time at the school was the most dreadful experience for him. He cried to me every day after school and asked me "PLEASE TEACH ME SOMETHING NEW". He felt like he was trapped in a place where there was no room to be himself or grow. He was constantly waiting for the other kids to catch up so that he could continue running, but that day would never come. He would cry to me that he just wanted the kids to stop holding him back, and that it looked so hopeless to him. He felt like his abilities were being used against him when he had to teach the other kids despite the fact that he really didn't want to. My little boy who once couldn't wait to get to school turned around and began hating every minute of it (minus that precious hour of GT). He spiraled into depression by the end of first grade when I finally pulled him out to homeschool.
Here is the difference:
PS (it breaks my heart just remembering it):
1) No academic challenge in course materials
2) No academic challenge in teaching methods/higher-thinking questioning
3) Other children were just SOOO DIFFERENT from him, and no one could understand his little genius mind. He was very much an "outcast" and treated that way because he was different by the other kids.
4) He was responsible for teaching the other children in the class (not by his desire at all) and had to sit waiting for everyone else to "catch up" before he could do any type of learning.
Gifted Pull-out:
1) Like-minded children so he wasn't so much the outcast (if you don't consider that he was the only gifted child from K-2nd grade and he was a kindergartener/first grader in with all 3-4th grade kids, which he LOVED)
2) Higher thinking/questioning that he just YEARNED for... they gave him the chance to actually think/construct/form opinions/make connections/be creative/think outside-the-box/etc...
3) Special field trips (to the courthouse to interview with a judge and do a mock trial, to the mint when studying economics, etc.)
Now that I have pulled him out of ps, our homeschool is like that gifted program in many ways, only with fewer kids and more than just an hour a week :) He loves school again!
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http://www.magatsu.net/maritaltest/
Oooh, how would YOU rate as a 1930s wife/husband?
I'm not sure if this is the actual test, but apparently there WAS one and this is either a rip-off or an online version of the real thing (they claim it's the same test, but there's ones for husbands and from what I read they never mentioned a test for dhs).
ETA 86 "very superior" well la-tee-da!
How fun! I somehow scored 101 "Very Superior" :lol:
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We are considering it too... I'd love to hear lots of specific likes and dislikes :)
I have a question for any parents that have chosen to use the EPGY program for their children (either as a supplement or core curriculum). I was just wondering what your opinion was. I am considering enrolling my 2 children and would love as much feedback as possible.Thanks so much,
Nicole
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See, you aren't lazy. You're a perfectionist, and if you can't do it perfectly, you don't want to do it at all, so you put it off until you have to do *something.*
Dr. Lehman refers to this in his Birth Order book. It's very common among first-borns (you have to understand his definition of "first born," just in case you think you're not, lol). I have that tendancy myself, but I deal with it better since I read the book and know what the problem is. :-)
That is SOOOO ME! But I'm a second-born (by only 10 mos.) with an immature older sister, so I think in many ways we swaped :)
I dream of having a house with an "entertaining room" that is separate from the "living room" so that I can at least have one place nice to have people (or Dh & I) sit and relax.
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What? Math class? I thought we were going to have a fund-raising assembly instead today. :lol:
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We no longer get Discovery Ed. Streaming so I'm using Bill Nye on YouTube for many of our video lessons (along with others). Discovery Ed. was easy to use but there were SO many to chose from that I often couldn't deal with wading through which to watch.
We start school this Thursday (my 7th grader).
Thanks so much for the tip! The Bill Nye Simple Machines will be great for my science unit right now :)
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We have just begun homeschooling and have looked into a couple of homeschool co-ops. The "problem" is when either my public school friends or my homeschool friends ask Why are you homeschooling, I get eyerolling and a you think your kids are so special sigh.... Thing is I just tell them the truth. I have cut down my response to: My daughter is 6 years old but is working at least 3 grade levels ahead in all subjects. I don't feel the public school system can meet her needs. I don't go into great detail, I am just trying to answer their question. Have you guys found the same level of misunderstanding?
I get the same reaction. I have started saying something like "PS just didn't work for him because he is working on a different level and with the number of students in each class they just couldn't work with him at HIS ability level." People who know him understand what I mean without any further explanation, and those who don't usually assume that he is working at a lower/remedial level and change the topic so that I won't feel so bad :laugh:. I don't mind if they think that way... and sometimes it even makes others feel better about their own childrens' progress and opens more doors for communication :)
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I made dh a 10-yr Anniversary video using animoto.com. It was so easy... just upload your pics & music and it does the work for you. We watch it all the time! I used the music "Through the years" and had our dating years, wedding, births of our 4 kids, and many other fun memories.
Here is my referral coupon code for $5 off if you want to use it: czxlrpju (may be all caps, I am not sure)
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I have this one from Christian Book: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=8505&event=
It's fairly small, about as big as a big picture book I think. I have it hanging up on the wall.
That's cute! How well do the magnets hold?
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Not what you're looking for, but check out http://jmeacham.com/calendar/calendar.htm for lots of calendar ideas. I LOVE this site and used quite a bit from it with my twins. They still sing the songs and we still incorporate some of the ideas from her site.
Thanks! I will check it out!
Who here will be watching Obama's speech with your homeschooler(s) next week?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
My dd7 was harrassed constantly during the election b/c she was the only white child in her class of 22 kids. They made fun of her and told her that she couldn't vote for Obama in the class election because she was white and rubbed it into her face when he won. Needless to say, I am happy to have her homeschooling this year!