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Susan in KY

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Everything posted by Susan in KY

  1. Hi, Folks, I have been absent from this board so long that I had a notice on a post 3 years old! 😂 Today, however, I decided to pop back in and say thanks to my people who got me through the early years and on the right track. Next week we graduate our youngest. Homeschooling, despite its successes and stomach-pitting vertical drops, has been good to us. I won't go into the full story here, but with the youngest fully dual enrolled and now about to ship off to college, the dc have made the transition well. DS has a 4.0 and loves university, which is an amazing miracle to those who know our story. DD is headed to her dream school, a top ranked, small Christian college in the Midwest, fully funded for the first two years, with a hope to pursue a calling to use data analytics to help rescue victims of human trafficking. She is an overcomer. All those years spent in patient, sometimes frustrated, slogging away—accommodating learning "differences" and whatever else was going on—they all paid off. DD wound up with multiple scholarships and awards, and worked diligently, steadily, and determinedly for each and every one. 🎉🎉 (What happened to the party emoji?) I want to thank you all for my best homeschooling finds. It began by focusing on the true, the beautiful and the good and making liberal use of nature study and narration of all types in the younger years, thanks to Charlotte Mason and Classical Education. After good old Charlotte, you all introduced me to Don and Jenny Killgallon and Michael Clay Thompson (who collectively got my kids 35s or 36s on the English portion of the ACT), as well as Singapore Math, and Singapore Science, which landed me my career after active teaching wrapped up. I never would have been in a position to take the leap if not for you. I just got paid for writing the Math in Focus 2020 Edition teachers manual (grade 4). Rejoice with me! Thanks for being a community I could come to and find answers to questions I didn't even know I had. For those of you exhausted today from working with a seven-year-old you know is incredibly bright, but who has trouble holding a pencil and melts down occasionally from sensory overload, the successful end to all this is a lot closer than it feels. If sometimes a tear slips down your cheek from being overwhelmed, or the resistance you face is fierce and you're not sure you can make it, let me reassure you that you can, and the rewards that follow are that much sweeter. I've been a member here since before the board euphemisms teA and bOOks came into being, way back when Ree wasn't the Pioneer Woman and she would give stuff away from her junk drawer. It's been a long time, but not long at all. Thanks, SWB for making it all possible, and for hosting this community so we can set our kids up for success. I am so grateful for the space, and for all of you who spent the time making research and execution a bit easier for the rest of us. 💜
  2. I second EmergenC/Airborne and elderberry. Take them often and for as long as you are stressed or until you can crash after the wedding. It will help a lot.
  3. DD had many of the same symptoms and it was just a vitamin D deficiency. The underlying reasons for your troubles may not be as scary as they appear. :) Get checked, it could give you peace of mind.
  4. Source of Joy, thanks for sharing that. I hope you find healing for her soon! Long term illnesses are sooooooo difficult!
  5. Hi, ladies, The short version of a very long story is that after a 2.5 year recovery from TBI due to two concussions, my son just got full tuition to the state school by getting accepted to a program called Governor's Scholar's Program (also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Governor%27s_Scholars_Program ) and getting a high enough result on his ACT. I am pinching myself to see that this is really happening! It's been such a difficult road and I am so relieved and happy. :) Thanks for letting me brag a bit. It feels like a miracle. :party: Actually, it *is* a miracle. For a time he couldn't really carry on a full/deep conversation and struggled with reading because his language processing was so adversely affected. Now he's turned up with a 35 in reading on his ACT. It's more than perfect and better than amazing! I am in a place beyond gratitude. :hurray: Susan
  6. The materials you have to do the essay include a piece of paper that is the equivalent of two 8.5X11 sheets folded. DS can't remember how they identified it was his, or if he wrote his name on it. However, whatever happened, we got the score for it. :)
  7. If you park in Riverdale near the Henry Hudson Parkway, you can park in a fairly nice neighborhood and take the subway or the train in to the city. It won't take you long. Just make sure you observe the signs for alternate-side parking rules. I think the closest train stop is Spuyten Duyvil, just above Manhattan. It's worth doing it that way to avoid the traffic. Susan
  8. :lurk5: I was thinking of doing this very thing this summer, and am interested to see your replies! Thanks for posting. Susan
  9. From my experience, both personal and observed, either you get yourself on even ground now or you'll do it later. Either way, you'll still need to do it. If you're not on firm footing yourself, it is a rare person who can be both a great teacher and a great mother while hurting. One or the other inevitably will suffer unless you yourself are rock solid emotionally and mentally. Take the time to care for yourself and then pull them out when you are ready. There's nothing to feel guilty about in taking good care of the mother of your children. :)
  10. One of the employees once let it slip that they were getting some of their their produce from Kroger.... It's less than half the price. :)
  11. Singapore, both Primary Math (with CWP and IP) and Math in Focus (through grade 8). Provided a solid foundation, and I'm immensely grateful I didn't skip around at least for one subject. :) Susan
  12. Cocktail will include everything down to dressy casual without sloppy. Dressy casual will include ppl in their best jeans. I'd go with cocktail.
  13. You can beef up any problem by asking a few questions (How do you know? Can you prove it? Can you do it another way?), covering up numbers and making your child draw the relationships (bar models), or having her solve it a different way (check our Dr. Yeap Ban Har for info on that; every day we have two ways to solve it, and on clever days we have three. Is today a clever day?) or prove her thinking using manipulatives. When you start to intervene with those types of questions, you will see that the material in IP and CWP is more than enough to satisfy her intellectual/mathematical thirst. You may want to check out the Enrichment books from Math in Focus, as well. They are packed with fantastic problems. :) I know you said the number of books is overwhelming, but if you think about the course concept-by-concept instead of problem-by-problem, you will find you get a lot more mileage out of a few problems rather than piling on the volume. Variation, not repetition, is what forms a great, flexible, mathematical thinker. Once you see she gets the WB, move her over to the IP and CWP and chose problems to support flexible thinking rather than "answer getting." I have two dc who came all the way up through both Singapore math and science (Primary Math at first, then switched to Math in Focus in grade five and rode that through grade 8, and My Pals are Here Science), then used Art of Problem Solving in high school. Even the non "mathy" one is comfortable problem solving and is a logical thinker. You are raising a flexible thinker more than anything else, so don't get too hung up on crossing all Ts and dotting all Is in terms of doing every problem set in the work- and text-books on top of all the IP and CWP. Make her interact with the best problems and learn to persevere. This article helped me a lot: https://repository.nie.edu.sg/handle/10497/15916 I adapted Dr. Hong's STARtUP scheme for my own students. (I currently teach in a private school.) I will attach it here for you to use. We've used it successfully with students as young as grade 2. Susan STARtUP Scheme - Large.pdf
  14. I need a (preferably) free art history course, similar to Great Courses, perhaps on iTunes U or open course ware, for my dc. I will use it in conjunction with other things, so it should amount to a half-credit or less. It doesn't have to be rigorous or too extensive, but I do want it to be interesting, though. How about it? Do you have one you enjoyed and would recommend? TIA Susan
  15. I would do it. :) ETA:...and now that I read page two, I see you did as well! Congrats on your new digs. ;)
  16. I learned to tat and then, one day while idly looking through my mother's sewing kit, discovered *she* had a tatting shuttle but didn't know what it was. It turned out to belong to my great-grandmother! That was quite a lovely discovery. :) It's a fun and beautiful hobby, and simple to learn to make gorgeous things.
  17. What a lovely post! You certainly devour reading materials! :)
  18. We had a border-collie papillion mix who was PHENOMENAL! Miss that dog daily. She rarely barked, was very loyal, super smart, and really loving. She would give hugs on demand by leaning her head against the asker's chest. :) She looked like a miniature border collie. You may be able to get a similarly miniature retriever.....
  19. Where on earth do you live? The ALDI near me charges $1.98/gallon and $.99 to $1.29/dozen for milk and eggs! Susan
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