Educating Kiddo

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

You've never called me a "good friend" before. Srsly I can say all the states really fast, and I could care less about understanding Emily Dickinson.

Did you learn them in a song too? That's how "my good friend" does it. She just sings the song at the speed of light. (She didn't care about ED either, but her English prof did.)

No u.

Oh definitely me. But mainly u.

[256 colors]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I do that too! It's how I calculate tips, in fact.

I use the "Ez Tip Calculator" in my cell phone.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Did you learn them in a song too? That's how "my good friend" does it. She just sings the song at the speed of light. (She didn't care about ED either, but her English prof did.)

Yes I did. The Fifty Nifty United States. It was from a musical play that we did. I bet she did the same play. I can still sing the song, but I don't sing it when I say them fast. The shitty part is I have to start at the beginning. So when Alex Trebek is all "This state, beginning with the letter M ..." I'm all "alabamaalaskaarizonaark..." and then the nerd on TV buzzes in before I get it.

show spoiler

YouTube- Fifty Nifty United States

[LadyShea]

Tips? Mostly I just double the first number(s), and round up if necessary.

So an 80-84 bill gets a 16.00 tip, I add 1.00 for 85-89
100-109 gets a 20.00 tip, 110-119 gets 22.00 etc.

I sing the Preamble song from Schoolhouse Rocks in my head if I need to recite the Preamble for some reason.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

Tips? Mostly I just double the first number(s), and round up if necessary.

So an 80-84 bill gets a 16.00 tip, I add 1.00 for 85-89
100-109 gets a 20.00 tip, 110-119 gets 22.00 etc.

[BDS]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I do that too! It's how I calculate tips, in fact.

At restaurants or the Race Track?

By the way, if I were kiddo, I'd say, "Mom, I don't WANT to be educated! I love you, and I know you like the idea, since you're always posting about it, but can I put the whole thing off for a couple of years, and just play? If you try to make me learn Attic Greek, I'm signing up for Public Kindergarten."

I'll admit that I'm projecting, and kiddo might think quite differently.

[LadyShea]

He gets tons of playtime, I am not going to teach him 8 languages and advanced math like they did in the 80's...I am more formerly teaching him just some basics. No more than 30 minutes a day for the time being in the structured stuff.

Everything else, well, he is learning all the time. One can learn through play and life activities. But most normally can't learn to read without some kind of instruction.

ETA: Also, we play hard. This year alone he has been camping, hiking, boating, jet skiing, and visited Disneyworld, an alligator farm, the zoo, a fish hatchery, and three caves. He watched sea turtles hatch. He has a 23 ft long double decker pirate ship in the back yard and a room full of toys and games and costumes. We are going to the Smoky Mtns for his birthday in less than a month. He's getting a Wii for Christmas. Yeah, maybe I post about this a lot, but that's because I want the feedback and because it's something I feel is important, not because it's ALL I do with my kid.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by BDS

By the way, if I were kiddo, I'd say, "Mom, I don't WANT to be educated! I love you, and I know you like the idea, since you're always posting about it, but can I put the whole thing off for a couple of years, and just play? If you try to make me learn Attic Greek, I'm signing up for Public Kindergarten."

What is he going to be, 3 next month? Like you point out in this post he wouldn't be in school yet at this point anyway. A lot of parents choose to teach their kids reading and math before kindergarten starts. He's not even too young for piano at 3.

Srsly, how goes drums?

[LadyShea]

He'll be 4 next month. We have never had him in daycare or preschool, so I am choosing to do that at home. Most kids, I think, attend preschool before going to kindergarten.

Drums: He seems to have good rhythm naturally and plays with his Dad a lot. He likes to dance and sing too...much music love in this one.

[Ensign Steve]

FOUR?! Damn, where does the time go?

Do you notice that the more expensive the pre-school is, the more similar it is to learning at home? The cheaper day cares seem just like glorified babysitters, where the expensive schools boast about their tiny teacher-to-student ratio, and how they start them early on reading, math, languages, music. Wow, it's almost like he gets as good or better at home. And for cheaper.

[Ensign Steve]

I think I'm too gushy and cheerleadery in this thread. I just wish I could do it. It seems so fun. How do I get on board without having my own kid? Maybe I should have been a teacher.

Maybe I should find a homeschool family that needs an algebra tutor.

[LadyShea]

OMG Preschool is like 400/mo...even the shitty ones

[LadyShea]

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

I think I'm too gushy and cheerleadery in this thread. I just wish I could do it. It seems so fun. How do I get on board without having my own kid? Maybe I should have been a teacher.

Maybe I should find a homeschool family that needs an algebra tutor.

You could offer to run a co-op "class" for local homeschool groups. You could write unit studies (and even sell them). You could volunteer at a daycare or group home or as a mentor for foster kids or something.

You could keep cheering me on, as this is scary, and naysayers abound, and you know how I get insecure when it's about my kid. You could help with my research and plans and stuff too. I am just trying shit and he's mastering it too quick.

[erimir]

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

show spoiler

YouTube- Fifty Nifty United States

I like the way Yakko sings the nations of the world better than the way they sing the 50 states in that song.

There's no rhyme or anything, it's just saying them alphabetically to a song.

Yakko does it with style. Although a couple of his facts are now outdated... He also includes a few non-nations to make the rhyme scheme work. And some alternate names (he uses Kampuchea for Cambodia, for example).

YouTube- Animaniacs - Nations Of The World

[Ensign Steve]

Wakko's state capitals song is how I know the capital of Connecticut, but that's the only one, because I only remember the one line.

[lisarea]

The Little Muffin used to tutor kids in math, and one day, on the way home from school, he told me he'd figured out that, instead of trying to explain something to someone the same way over and over, you should stop and go back to the beginning and think about the problems in different ways until you found a way that made sense to them. Which is apparently something they weren't doing in his school.

Anyway, he was right. All too often, schools focus on one linear learning pattern, and just go through it step by step, which can lead not only to failure, but to seriously rigid thinking patterns even in the kids who do well. You get kids who have memorized different math formulas, but don't really understand how they work; or kids who can figure out the problems, but haven't been taught any shortcuts or formulas that could make them more efficient at solving problems. Similarly, I would think it might help with understanding to mix up different learning styles, too, even with kids who are strongly inclined to one style.

And just generally, I like the idea of being able to think about things in a lot of different ways. I know whenever I've had some really sticky problem at work or something, I get the best results when I stop and slap some whole new ontology around it, and just keep doing that and refining it until I figure out something that works.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by lisarea

And just generally, I like the idea of being able to think about things in a lot of different ways. I know whenever I've had some really sticky problem at work or something, I get the best results when I stop and slap some whole new ontology around it, and just keep doing that and refining it until I figure out something that works.

I had a friend at my old job who I would turn to whenever I was stuck on a programming issue. I'd explain it to her and then tell her what I'd tried, and then babble for a little bit, and then come up with a solution. She goes, "I don't know why you need me here for this." Seriously, I tried to do it with a blank wall and it just doesn't work the same way.

[Qingdai]

"Europe and a People without History" is a good history book.

Pre-school here is anywhere from $2,000 a month to $275 a month. We're taking out kid out of private preschool because we can't afford it anymore after this round of house repairs.

[Shake]

Originally Posted by EverLastingGodStopper

I use the "Ez Tip Calculator" in my cell phone.

I can figure out the tip quicker than I can even get to that function on my phone. 'Round these parts (yours too, I'd suppose), you could just double the sales tax to get a good, quick estimate.

Anyway, getting to 15% is pretty easy. You find 10% just by moving the decimal one place, then just add half that again. Bingo, 15%. Though, Mrs Shake typically leaves more like 20% for even decent service. It's rare that we'd leave a mere 15%.

For most practical matters, I've found that being able to get a decent estimate quickly, serves you very well. You can then work out the exact figures if necessary. I can't stand people who stop to figure out to the penny what their tip/share of the bill they should contribute.

[LadyShea]

Originally Posted by Qingdai

Pre-school here is anywhere from $2,000 a month to $275 a month. We're taking out kid out of private preschool because we can't afford it anymore after this round of house repairs.

What are you going to do instead?

[256 colors]

I don't want to detract from LadyShea's homeschool thread, but I gotta reply top Shake's comment. I usually tip in increments of $5 after checking to see what the "regular" 20% tip would be. I round my bill up before calculating the 20%, then round the result up to the next closest $5. We've had breakfast at a local diner that came out to $12 for the two of us and we've left a $5 tip minimum. I can't stand people who count it out to the penny, or leave change.

[LadyShea]

$5.00 is over 40%! On $12.00 I would leave $2.00 for adequate service and $3.00 for very good service.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

$5.00 is over 40%!

What's wrong with that? On a tiny bill you can leave a 50% or more tip and it only makes a few bucks difference. bey tips 100% on his $10 haircut, because he feels like it's worth $20.

I read in US Weekly how much celebrities tip. Drew Barrymore always tips 100% on her bar bill. (I bet that bill's not tiny, though. )

[256 colors]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

$5.00 is over 40%! On $12.00 I would leave $2.00 for adequate service and $3.00 for very good service.

Yeah, but I feel that the waitress worked just as hard to bring me my inexpensive breakfast as she would have to bring me my more costly lunch or dinner, and deserves at least $5 tip for serving me. Also, I have to go back to those diners and eat there again! I want to be remembered as "that lady who always leaves $5 for the breakfast bill" and not "that cheapskate who only left me $2 even though I refilled her coffee 3 times."

I don't tip that much in bars; only $1 per drink until I start running out of money.

[Qingdai]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

What are you going to do instead?

Public preschool, it's only two hours a day. I figure it's a good way to check out the local public school before it's an all day event.
If we don't like it there are several choices of charter schools that we can apply to, a creative science school, Waldorf, Montessori and Reggio Emilia types schools available in our district.