Life has been busy. Isn't it always? Well, if you are doing it right it is. We started activities back up this week. Violet and Butterfly met to discuss upcoming Cadette projects, they have some fun things in mind including lots of cooking. Today Violet met with her other Cadette group (their first offsite meeting), they also spent time discussing upcoming plans. I didn't go, so this is just what she mentioned. More about my day later.
First though, algebra. Does anyone have an algebra program that they and their kids loved? Ok, it is algebra, maybe not loved, but a program they liked? Violet has been doing Key to Algebra and she doesn't find that it explains things very well. She says I explain things better, but that I tend to over-explain. And I think we both would prefer a program that would let her be more independent than me playing math teacher. There are so many programs available, I'd love some suggestions of what to look at first.
We are getting our first snow storm of the year. It started this morning and by late afternoon the roads were getting bad. It is cold and windy and still coming down. No snow all season until a day I'm supposed to be at the office, 30 miles away. Last night I talked to my boss twice (she also lives way out by me), comparing weather forecasts and figuring out if we were going in. I was supposed to do 2 training sessions for members of our department. This morning at 6:30 we talked and since it was still clear but the snow was supposed to start in the morning we decided to cancel the afternoon session but go ahead with the morning.
The drive in was clear. I did the training session. No one complained about cancelling the afternoon. Several members of our department were out at a client in the morning and they didn't have to try to rush back for the training. And most importantly, I picked up Violet's GS cookie form. Her grand total...121 boxes. A very good showing.
So anyway, I left the office at noon and got home about 1:30, about the time Mr. I and Violet were leaving for the Cadette group. I could have taken her, but we needed to leave right then, I hadn't had lunch, and was still dressed for the office. I begged off. I would have had to stay for the meeting since I am now assisting with the group. When they got home about 4:00 Mr. I said he was really glad I left the office when I did and that I hadn't taken Violet. He said the roads had gotten really bad.
If you happen to be watching the Miss America pageant on Saturday (I'm afraid we're going to miss it), check out Miss Illinois, she's from the town we live in. It would be awesome if she won, it would be the second time in my life that a Miss America was from a town I was living in (Judy Ford, Miss America 1969 was from my hometown). And neither town is very big. A quick funny story. The government teacher in my high school (everyone took his government class before graduating) used to tell us how his daughter was best friends with Judy Ford. When Judy won the Miss Boone County pageant and headed off to Miss Illinois, he told Judy and his daughter that if Judy won Miss Illinois, he'd pay for both of them to go to the Miss American pageant. Judy won and he paid for both girls to go.
Yes, I drone on and on about Judy Ford, I really admire her. The seamstress who made my bridesmaid's dresses is recreating Judy's Miss America gown to be put in the local historical society. I can't wait to go see it. I've been there gazing at her crown and other gowns. A lot of us who were little girls when Judy won are still smitten with her. Her talent was trampoline. I mean, how cool is that?
Time to go practice my wave and my walk. Just in case they decide to call me for the Mrs. Perimenopausal Homeschool Mom Pageant. I want to be ready. My talent is snark.
7 comments:
The algebra vote from older dd is for Jacob's. I'd think Lial's, but she thinks it might move too quickly for Algebra 1 (but there's a Lial's that's pre-algebra and another that's algebra 1 that we've never used -- Lial's is written to the student since they're college texts).
Both kids give a HUGE thumbs-down to Life of Fred. They say the explanations sometimes aren't very clear, and sometimes the story gets distracting ("I think sometimes it [the story] got distracting for the author, too"). Maybe as a review course, but not as a main text.
Well, snark is a pretty awesome talent, if I do say so myself. Be sure your evening gown has one of those little built-in personal air conditioners for the peri-menopausal hot flashes.
I forget how old/grade level Violet is. Have you looked into Teaching Textbooks for math? Baby used it from pre-algebra all the way through pre-calculus. It's computer based, so if you don't approve of that, it wont do. It's self teaching, all contained, and when it got over my head I was able to call one of the available math tutors to get assistance. Oh, the best part of all, every single problem is worked out for you on cd-rom if you need to see it in detail, not just the answer. As you can see, I like it, but I'm not a paid representative or anything. :-)
Please send the snow storm here. We've barely seen a flake (there was a flurry one day; that's it).
121 boxes is excellent. Great job, Violet!
I wrote an entire novel in nothing but snark. Seriously. It was fun.
Love snark.
We have gone from the Key To books to Teaching Textbooks. They allow the kids to be independent and they are thorough. The kids liked Life of Fred very much but my husband didn't think it was thorough enough. It might be good now for Violet before she gets to high school.
Teaching Textbooks is what we have ended up with. The kids loved Life of Fred but my husband didn't think it was thorough enough for high school.
Oh my gosh! I almost spit out my coffee on that last line! :))
Check out Kahn Academy online for explainations of algebra concepts. It's not a system or anything, but it's free and the explainations make it clear to me (can't even add very well).
We've been using Time4Learning math for 3 years but it stops at 8th grade. My plan is to switch to Teaching Textbooks. She needs something visual and her math is already over my head so I definitely need something with videos for her to explain things.
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