Comments for Rutabaga Dreams

Comment on Math by amber

amber — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:19:37 +0000

I was using that last winter for about a month or so and didn’t really see any improvement. Emma was as likely to sit there and wiggle the mouse as she was to do the math problems. Sitting in front of the computer seems to cause her to just glaze over - it was taking her 10-15 minutes to do a super simple math drill and it didn’t seem to get any better over time. I gave up because it seemed to be reinforcing her tendency to space out rather than do anything positive.

I’ve considered trying it again to see if it the six months or so have changed anything, but I haven’t done so yet. Having her drill with the cards and doing other activities a couple days a week seems to be working quite well though.

Comment on Math by KathyJo

KathyJo — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:39:17 +0000

I meant to respond to this when you wrote it, but I forgot.

Have you tried the online math drill at the MUS site? http://www.mathusee.com/drill.html This has proven to be the fastest, easiest, and most fun for the boys way to do drills. They each do a daily typing lesson, and while they’re on the computer, they do a math drill too. When we started doing this months ago, Nikki was very slow and had to sit and figure out the answer quite frequently. Just a week or so ago, he finished a math drill in just barely over a minute for the first time.

Hope everyone gets to feeling better!

Comment on Sick (again) by amber

amber — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:05:20 +0000

We’ve never done one of those, but I would imagine they would be a huge germ playground (err… no pun intended). And they would be completely impossible to clean well too!

Comment on Sick (again) by mrsdarwin

mrsdarwin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:11:54 +0000

We just went through a bout of fever and coughing here which we finally traced back to my mom taking the ladies to the McDonald’s playscape several days in a row right after the baby was born. Fortunately, baby didn’t catch it! This only cements my distaste for MickeyD’s, and my resolve never to take the kids there if I can help it.

Hope you all feel better soon!

Comment on Siblings by Alice Gunther

Alice Gunther — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:38:19 +0000

You made the right call. What darlings!

Comment on Germ-mobiles by Ranee @ Arabian Knits

Ranee @ Arabian Knits — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:43:18 +0000

I never let the children ride in those. Rich is the nice daddy who does. They fight for position in them, and there’s the germ factor, and the baskets are smaller, so you can’t fit all your groceries inside, yet they maneuver like a tank. I say dump the car cart. But then, I’m a mean mother like that.

Comment on First week of school by Sarah Marie

Sarah Marie — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:24:25 +0000

I can’t believe what a little boy Gregory is! It’s been too long since I’ve seen him, I guess. He sure looks like a Vanderpol. Those are three cute kids you’ve got.

Comment on We’re here! by mrsdarwin

mrsdarwin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:29:30 +0000

Look how he’s grown! They’re telling me that my boy is likely to be a small fellow (5 lbs 12 oz at 37 1/2 weeks) but we all know that birth weight doesn’t have much to do with how the baby grows afterwards. Though I am relieved that unlike his father, he won’t be ten pounds.

You need to post a picture of all three — it’s been a while!

Comment on Charter Decision by Amber

Amber — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:59:54 +0000

I haven’t seen her blog, thanks for the link. She links to an article I read earlier today when I was starting to think about the issue. I’m glad that we don’t have to make it a permanent choice - we can change each year if we want to. That takes some of the pressure off!

Comment on Charter Decision by Emily

Emily — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:24:20 +0000

Amber, do you ever read Angie’s new blog, the Homeschool Classroom? She just recently wrote on the topic of choosing a name for your school.

http://thehomeschoolclassroom.blogspot.com/2008/08/follow-up-to-naming-your-homeschool.html