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Opinions on the new literature guide?

 

First off, I've really enjoyed reading the responses from others who attended the conference. I would like to respond to each one, but time does not permit right now. Nevertheless, yeah. Yup. I know. Absolutely. :D

 

Now, about the new literature guide: I was very intrigued by it, so I bought it. I like the idea of having prompts throughout the book to remind us of poetics and to have succinct definitions of some of the vocabulary words. I'm especially excited about including The Wind in the Willows, because my two younger children attempted to read it this year, and both gave up in despair. I think that this will be a gentler approach, because I really want them to read this book.

 

I have to run out right now, but later I can look at my notes to tell you more.

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MCT's implementation talk - It was the first time he had ever given it and here is what I gleaned.

 

The Grammar book is front loaded meant to be done in the 1st 4-6 weeks.

You then continue with practice island, town, or voyage for the rest of the year. One sentence 3x per week.

Once they know parts of speech you start vocab. Do this 2x per week.

Also start writing after Grammar is done. - 2 days per week

Add in class reading and child chosen reading. I don't have it written down in my notes but I believe the diagram showed one new book every 3-4 weeks.

Poetics - add in wherever there is space 1 x per week.

 

My notes from the implementation talk are below :001_smile:

 

 

 

 

The practice book exercises can be done orally, as written work, as warm-up exercises, as "homework" after classtime----however you wish them to be done.

 

Remember to always discuss the parts of speech while studying vocabulary.

 

Read classic books every month, both in-class assigned books and child-chosen outside-of-class books.

 

 

Thank you both! :)

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I like the idea of having prompts throughout the book to remind us of poetics and to have succinct definitions of some of the vocabulary words. I'm especially excited about including The Wind in the Willows

What level/age is this for? Can you give an example of a prompt or two? I'm hoping they have something on their website soon.

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Justamouse... there's always next year! I hope Melissel does come up for a day trip... Carrie1234 too :D

 

I was so bummed to miss Saturday, but Friday was inspirational and it was so nice meeting you all! Does anyone want to share their notes about the MCT lecture on how to implement the program? :bigear:

 

I'm always game for a NJ visit! There's some land I need to stalk. :D I could even bring my MCT stuff!

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First off, I've really enjoyed reading the responses from others who attended the conference. I would like to respond to each one, but time does not permit right now. Nevertheless, yeah. Yup. I know. Absolutely. :D

 

Now, about the new literature guide: I was very intrigued by it, so I bought it. I like the idea of having prompts throughout the book to remind us of poetics and to have succinct definitions of some of the vocabulary words. I'm especially excited about including The Wind in the Willows, because my two younger children attempted to read it this year, and both gave up in despair. I think that this will be a gentler approach, because I really want them to read this book.

 

I have to run out right now, but later I can look at my notes to tell you more.

 

I bought it, too. I haven't had a chance to dig deeply into it, but his explanation really resonated with me, and I don't think it's too far off from SWB's opinions. He fully intends to keep kids IN the book without distracting worksheets or impossible conjecture.

The intent is to be age/grade flexible, which makes it ideal for my family.

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One quick thing to add - I went up and asked him afterwards whether it would also work to do one whole book at a time - in other words, finish Grammar, then do the whole vocab book, then the whole writing book, then the whole poetics book. He said he "would have to be given a really good reason why not," though he hadn't thought about it. I probably wouldn't do it in that extreme a way, but I was asking because I'm going a little nuts jumping back and forth with different kids doing a few pages of this, a few of that, and I thought it might calm my ADD down a little to be focused on one thing at a time per kid - sort of the way SWB talked about the block scheduling for the distracted child - finish math for the year, then finish history, etc. So I thought I'd jump in and give that idea.

 

Also, the slide show on implementing his program is on the RFWP website.

 

Can I just say AGAIN how much we love this man? My kids are still talking about how amazing he is, and my daughter has decided that she wants to be an English professor or teacher. It was funny, I was in and out of the room because of the baby, so my kids have been filling me in on what I missed. They listened to every word!!

 

I just wanted to mention how impressed I was with your children. They sat in the lectures and listened so intently. They were so polite and well-behaved. Mine would have been complaining from 1/2 way through the 1st talk.

 

Also I'm right there with you on loving MCT. I've been talking about him so much since I got home that DH is beginning to get jealous. :lol:

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I bought it, too. I haven't had a chance to dig deeply into it, but his explanation really resonated with me, and I don't think it's too far off from SWB's opinions. He fully intends to keep kids IN the book without distracting worksheets or impossible conjecture.

The intent is to be age/grade flexible, which makes it ideal for my family.

 

I agree, I don't think he's too far off from SWB. I love that his program is not filled with busy work and allows the kids to stay in the books. The literature guides that I've purchased in the past are always set up so that the child reads xx chapters and then answers the questions. This is okay for DS who only likes to read 1 or 2 chapters at a sitting but for DD who gets lost in books this doesn't translate well. I love that I can send her with this book and it's okay if she reads the whole thing in a day or two.

 

I know I'm getting repetitive but I <3 MCT. :D

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I just wanted to mention how impressed I was with your children. They sat in the lectures and listened so intently. They were so polite and well-behaved. Mine would have been complaining from 1/2 way through the 1st talk.

 

Also I'm right there with you on loving MCT. I've been talking about him so much since I got home that DH is beginning to get jealous. :lol:

 

I was thinking about my ds while her kids were sitting there listening and reading. My little guy would have been running back and forth along the back bouncing off each wall. Literally. When he tired of that he would have stopped everyone at the door, shown them his FBI badge and demanded that they put their hands behind their back and answer some tough questions. When he saw there was another little boy there, ds would have assumed that this meant the other kid was begging to be tackled, handcuffed, arrested, and thrown in jail. :tongue_smilie: The rest of the time he would have loved having all that sidewalk to practice his ollies on. :D I wouldn't trade my delightful, spirited, energizer bunny child for the world but I am also very happy with my decision to leave him at home to skateboard and go to the pool with dh. lol! This: :bigear: is really not his "thing."

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I just got home from the conference last night - we stayed over in Valley Forge Sat. night so we didn't have to drive home in the dark.

 

What fun that was! I'd never heard SWB speak before and was really impressed and inspired. It was also a treat to see MCT in action, even though I already drank the kool-aid and so didn't have any revelatory experiences. :tongue_smilie: And I was thinking I didn't have to worry about spending any money on curriculum because I already had just about everything from MCT I could possibly ever need - and yet somehow I managed to spend another $100. (Though quite a bit of that was on Shelagh Gallagher's Black Death study :D) She was a nice surprise!

 

I also came home with the new literature guide, even though the dd I want to do it with has already read 2 of the 3 books. But it's so cool!

 

It was really great meeting so many hivers., though I still managed to miss a bunch (yeah, melissel, where were you? ;)) - but I did get to meet Luckymama, divya, Colleen in SEVA, Starr, Anj, Rivka, WendyK, AuntPol, Nestof3 and others I'm sure are slipping my mind at the moment, and got to have lunch with Cleo! AutumnOak, I don't think I managed to introduce myself past saying hi on the way to something, but I kept meaning to go over and compliment you on those great funky skirts and find out where you get them. :) Nadia and Enviromommy's kids were so cute. Enviromommy, I was so impressed at how your son sat so intently through all those lectures! I was dying to know what question he kept politely raising his hand for MCT in one of the lectures, but unfortunately he didn't get called on.

 

And of course I finally got to meet the inestimable Capt Uhura without whom this would not have happened. Thank you thank you for putting this all together!! :hurray:

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Enviromommy, I was so impressed at how your son sat so intently through all those lectures! I was dying to know what question he kept politely raising his hand for MCT in one of the lectures, but unfortunately he didn't get called on.

 

 

I just asked him what he was going to ask. He told me that when MCT was talking about Shakespeare's vocabulary, he wanted to tell him that Shakespeare actually made up a lot of his own words... including his personal favorite, "puke". :lol:

 

See, he really is a little boy.

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I just asked him what he was going to ask. He told me that when MCT was talking about Shakespeare's vocabulary, he wanted to tell him that Shakespeare actually made up a lot of his own words... including his personal favorite, "puke". :lol:

 

See, he really is a little boy.

 

:lol:

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How am I just noticing this thread now?

 

I have nothing new - you all said it. Wonderful experience! I learned so much. MCT sold me on his stuff after experiencing his presentations. And SWB gave me lots of perspective.

 

There were so many of you that I never bumped into, or saw the name tag, but you were talking and never had a chance to find you again. But I did have a few really good conversations. And now I have some faces to go with the names.

 

Tiffany - we need to get our boys together. Mine definitely would have been running and tackling instead of listening. And don't worry about feeling like a SWB groupie - I lurked at the table long enough to get myself invited to join her for lunch. ;)

 

Jennifer - your kids were great, really. Sorry you had to be out in the hallway with the noisy little one for some of the talks. :-(

 

I want to reply to so many of you, but I just looked at the clock and we have to go to swim practice...

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I just asked him what he was going to ask. He told me that when MCT was talking about Shakespeare's vocabulary, he wanted to tell him that Shakespeare actually made up a lot of his own words... including his personal favorite, "puke". :lol:

 

See, he really is a little boy.

 

Awww!! So cute. :001_wub:

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Link? I can't find it on rfw site

 

Ah - like the new lit program, it's hot off the presses. I don't think they have it up on the website yet. I think it was $35 for the student resource book, teacher guide, and problem log (student consumable workbook), and $5 for additional problem logs (I'm going to do this with all 3 kids, I think it'll be great in a small group). I don't even have it in hand yet, the only thing that made it to the conference was a couple of problem logs, the rest got left in the van that was totaled.

 

The idea behind her problem-based units is that the kids are put in the roles of decision-makers (in the Black Death one, they are council members in a small town in Northern Italy). Then they are given an "ill-defined problem" - meaning that they have some, but not all, the information they need to solve it (the problem in the Black Death one is that the Plague is moving up the boot of Italy toward their town - what should they do?). They have to define what they know, and what they need to know, and then a plan of action to find that information - then they have to do research to figure out the missing info. There are original source documents in the student resource book which can be used, but the student may also look outside that, but should stick to information that people in that time frame would have had). Then come together and work out a solution.

 

The problem log walks them through various tasks and I think may also give them incremental additional information and develops the problem further, adding nuance.

 

This program was written for the middle grades. She has two other units out on American history (Child Labor and Chinese Immigration). We'll be doing the Middle Ages this year and I think this will be a ton of fun!

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(in the Black Death one, they are council members in a small town in Northern Italy).

 

This program was written for the middle grades. She has two other units out on American history (Child Labor and Chinese Immigration). We'll be doing the Middle Ages this year and I think this will be a ton of fun!

 

Black Death, Child Labor, and Chinese Immigration - "fun" by homeschooling standards. :lol:

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...you should be kicking yourself right now!

 

It was really fabulous. I am so glad that I was able to be there and to glean so much knowledge from two people who have really helped me to shape my vision for homeschooling. SWB was great, it was such a pleasure to hear her speak. She may not feel like talking again for another week, but she shared such a wealth of information with us! MCT was just amazing. Now I completely understand why he can't be videotaped. You have to see him in person to get the full effect of his presentations.

 

And last (but by no means least), it was so great to be able to meet a number of WTMers, especially some like Cleo and OsmosisMom with whom I go waaaaaay back on these boards!

 

If they ever do a conference like this again, do not hesitate to register. In fact, make your cousin reschedule her wedding or let your family eat beans for a month or skip your local convention...whatever it takes!

 

And a special thanks to our own Capt_Uhura, for all of your hard work. We are all so grateful for your efforts! :grouphug:

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

I can't believe I am just seeing this thread for the first time!...I LOVED the conference and will definitely go again...I had such a great time with you guys...I was getting ready to name a few of you, then I realized I met and liked too many of you to name here :D...Nadia, you are definitely my skirt twin though :tongue_smilie:

 

The talks were fabulous...Laurel, SWB, and MCT did a great job...I am now going to be a MCT user (I mean groupie ;))

 

Jersey people (and Karen and Uhura) we have to get together!

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Does anyone use the mct materials with a younger than 3rd grader?

 

They are generally recommended beginning at age 8, but I know our Angela (Satori) has used them at a younger age.

 

Dr K of RFWP says that if you are learning to read it's too early, but if you are reading to learn, then you should be ready.

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Does anyone use the mct materials with a younger than 3rd grader?

 

I haven't yet, but I'm planning to. MY 6 year old DS technically just finished kindergarten, but was doing more first grade work. I'm going to do one more year of all-SWB stuff with him, and then I think in 2nd grade I will do MCT Island with him.

 

I'm pretty sure at the conference the Island materials were labelled "Ages 6 to 10." Tom said, and MCT repeated in his talks, that a child is ready for island when he is "reading to learn rather than learning to read." To give you an idea, my 6 year old is on Lesson 190 of OPGTR, and I don't feel he is ready for Island.

 

Also, I don't want to rush it, because there's a big jump between Town and Voyage, and I don't want to have to wait a year in between if I can avoid it.

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Does anyone use the mct materials with a younger than 3rd grader?

 

There are a few. I know, as mentioned in PP, that Angela (Satori) started them quite early. We will be starting with my son very soon (the series will be part of his 7th birthday gifts). I'm hopeful it is a good time to start.

 

Bill

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The next Northeast Convention is in Hartford, CT on June 14 - 16 (unless they change it before then :tongue_smilie:)

 

Woohoo! That's much closer to me and it's not my girls' birthday weekend (it was this year but as they're in Germany I could get away with going to PA. :tongue_smilie:) I was a bit worried this would be the only year I could go if they kept having it the same weekend...

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Ah - like the new lit program, it's hot off the presses. I don't think they have it up on the website yet. I think it was $35 for the student resource book, teacher guide, and problem log (student consumable workbook), and $5 for additional problem logs (I'm going to do this with all 3 kids, I think it'll be great in a small group). I don't even have it in hand yet, the only thing that made it to the conference was a couple of problem logs, the rest got left in the van that was totaled.

 

The idea behind her problem-based units is that the kids are put in the roles of decision-makers (in the Black Death one, they are council members in a small town in Northern Italy). Then they are given an "ill-defined problem" - meaning that they have some, but not all, the information they need to solve it (the problem in the Black Death one is that the Plague is moving up the boot of Italy toward their town - what should they do?). They have to define what they know, and what they need to know, and then a plan of action to find that information - then they have to do research to figure out the missing info. There are original source documents in the student resource book which can be used, but the student may also look outside that, but should stick to information that people in that time frame would have had). Then come together and work out a solution.

 

The problem log walks them through various tasks and I think may also give them incremental additional information and develops the problem further, adding nuance.

 

This program was written for the middle grades. She has two other units out on American history (Child Labor and Chinese Immigration). We'll be doing the Middle Ages this year and I think this will be a ton of fun!

 

I totally missed this stuff somehow. I really want to see the American History ones now!

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Happy Birthday Luckymama!!! While reading your post, I can see your lovely face. I am so teary eyed right now. I have no sense of HS community where I live. But I definitely felt like part of a community at the conference. I felt like I have known many of you for ages. I wish there had been more time!

It was just such a phenomenal 2 days. I feel like SWB's son when she asked him about The Once and Future King. It was just....WOW...amazing....

 

when can we do it again? :001_smile:

 

Capt Uhura

:iagree:Exactly what I wanted to say.

 

I think we can all agree that if you think Autumn Oak is beautiful in her Avatar, you should see her in person. She lights up a room!

:iagree:

 

 

I loved this conference. Initially, I was very disappointed that the North East convention was canceled. But this conference was exactly what I needed. I loved the academic focus and I walked away encouraged and feeling renewed...not how I normally feel about homeschooling at the end of June. :tongue_smilie:

It would be great to attend another conference like this one. It was truly a community of like-minded people. It felt purposeful.

 

 

:iagree:

 

It was just what I needed. Usually this time of year I'm ready to run away to a deserted island with nothing but "brain candy" books for a month! This year I feel really ready to begin planning for next year.

 

I enjoyed MCT's talks, and loved the look of the vocab program.

 

SWB was inspirational, just as I expected. I came away from her "Hsing the Real Child" lecture with 3 specific things I'm going to do in my homeschool to make it better, a desire to find more, and a renewed sense of purpose. I didn't come up and talk to you, SWB, because I couldn't figure out how to do it without seeming like a 13 year old "groupie." But, I'm truly grateful for your work, it makes mine seem possible, even on my bad days!

 

The best part: putting names to faces!! I was shocked to realize on the plane on the way home that, regardless of all my stressing about being shy, I was not uncomfortable even once during the conference. I didn't know everyone and I missed a few I had hoped to meet, but I felt accepted by everyone and comfortable. It was a great feeling!

 

I can't name everyone so I won't try, but thanks to all of you! A special thanks to Capt_Uhura for making it happen and to Luckymama, Osmosis Mom, Yellowperch, and Renthead Mommy for making it happen for ME.:D

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SO JEALOUS! I SO WISHED I could have been there. I had a commitment to my mom, and it couldn't be changed.

 

I sure hope they do it again next year!

 

I've never been to a hs conference, and never been tempted. . . but this was one I would have been thrilled to attend.

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Yeah, happy about the dates for the Hartford Conference. They actually don't interfere with neither soccer nor anything else life-changing! We should definitely plan a few things to do together as a WTM-group. It'll be fun.

 

Hopefully then we can do something intense like this retreat as well, but at a different time. March perhaps, the time of year when you just want to crawl back into bed...

 

I agree with posters that the weekend was uplifting. I finally was encouraged to start planning, not an easy thing since I had been on school-overload and teen-overload:lol:

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Does anyone use the mct materials with a younger than 3rd grader?

 

I did Island level w/ my 1st grader DS who was reading about 4th grade level at the time. He was fine with it. His strength is LA and grammar is candy to him. :D He then did Town level as a 2nd grader BUT he did not do the writing in Town level. He did PWME instead along with some Pattern Based Writing. Next year he'll do WWE4 and writing in history and science and literature. THen for his 4th grade year, he'll down Paragraph Town.

 

For grammar during this "MCT gap" year, he'll do either FLL4 or Advanced Language Lessons.....not sure which. I think after two years of grammar w/ MCT, he's ready for ALL.

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I just asked him what he was going to ask. He told me that when MCT was talking about Shakespeare's vocabulary, he wanted to tell him that Shakespeare actually made up a lot of his own words... including his personal favorite, "puke". :lol:

 

See, he really is a little boy.

 

More impressive than his actually being brave enough to raise his hand - what a great comment!

 

Her kids were truly delightful!!!! I wish my boys could have seen MCT in action. They would have loved, loved, loved his Poetry seminar.

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Yes, I will definitely bug Dr. K. to do this again. I also envision something a little different. Perhaps more workshops? Something along the lines of what I think SWB is thinking. More give and take. Most of us will have heard her lectures at conferences or on MP3s. What about putting up text on the screen for all of us to outline and then rewrite from the outline and then have a discussion of what we came up with? THen we can ask those questions we've been asking here, "What do you do when DC simply puts the outline into paragraph form?" "Should we or how to get DC to expand their text from the outline?"

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I just saw this thread -- I'm so random when it comes to checking this site, mainly because my oldest just turned 6. When I first started coming to the WTM boards I was *so* overwhelmed with everything (which I don't think is uncommon) and remember wondering what all those abbreviations were, getting freaked out by the signatures with all the curricula members were using with their children, and agh! Everything that overwhelms a newbie.

 

But now as my boys get older it's all making so much more sense, is not as overwhelming, and I have my own list of abbreviations for curricula we're using with ds6. And I am so thankful for all that was done to make this conference happen!!

 

Frankly I had never heard of MCT other than seeing the abbreviation on the boards. I am *totally* sold on his method! Definitely on our list for when ds6 is ready.

 

I *loved* Laurel's presentation and am currently reading her book and learning to not be afraid to touch bugs. haha :) Also, Shelagh's presentation on how a child can take the facts he's learned and turn them into a "big idea" - just wonderful. And of course SWB -- I loved hearing the practical side of things -- esp. when the neighbor kids come home with 7-page papers in 3rd grade and my kid is still doing dictation/narration and not really writing on his own yet.

 

It was such a blessing that the NE Convention was canceled. This conference was what I needed and more.

 

THANK YOU!!

Edited by ErinMarie123
Because my big, bold red sentence was obnoxious. :-)
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Does anyone use the mct materials with a younger than 3rd grader?

 

I asked MCT when it was right to start the 'Island' books -- knowing it comes first, but *when* is a child ready for that (not meaning what age) - and he said that Dr. K's answer was best:

 

When a child is reading to learn rather than learning to read, he is ready.

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Yes, I will definitely bug Dr. K. to do this again. I also envision something a little different. Perhaps more workshops? Something along the lines of what I think SWB is thinking. More give and take. Most of us will have heard her lectures at conferences or on MP3s. What about putting up text on the screen for all of us to outline and then rewrite from the outline and then have a discussion of what we came up with? THen we can ask those questions we've been asking here, "What do you do when DC simply puts the outline into paragraph form?" "Should we or how to get DC to expand their text from the outline?"

 

I asked her that exact question in the last session. :lol: The answer is yes you tell them that each point needs X amount of sentences. WWS covers this in depth too. It was one of the last questions asked on the last day so the answer was pretty brief. lol!

 

I LOVE the idea of doing a give and take type thing. I think the best way to learn how to teach our kids is to practice it ourselves so that would be helpful. The literary analysis session where we offered answers was a great little appetizer for something like that.

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!

 

The best part: putting names to faces!! I was shocked to realize on the plane on the way home that, regardless of all my stressing about being shy, I was not uncomfortable even once during the conference. I didn't know everyone and I missed a few I had hoped to meet, but I felt accepted by everyone and comfortable. It was a great feeling!

 

I can't name everyone so I won't try, but thanks to all of you! A special thanks to Capt_Uhura for making it happen and to Luckymama, Osmosis Mom, Yellowperch, and Renthead Mommy for making it happen for ME.:D

 

See now I never would have thought in a million years that you were the shy type! So maybe you aren't as shy as you think?

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See now I never would have thought in a million years that you were the shy type! So maybe you aren't as shy as you think?

 

Yes, I was actually chuckling secretly because there was nothing shy about my friend Jen. She is extremely confident and one of the most polite people I have met and it was great chatting with her and learning a few new things along the way.

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Wanted to add...

 

What I loved most was that for pretty much the first time in my homeschooling "career" I felt I was being taken seriously for what I'm doing.

 

Wendy, Didn't get to chat with you, but how old are your kids? It was so sweet to see you and your dh together. There is no way my dh would have lasted even one lecture!!

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