viewfromtheinside

I have our family rock and mineral collection pretty much identified and organized, finally. But I have a few last stragglers that I have had no luck on.

ID helps: Our collection spans from my husband's childhood to now and three states worth of found items (NC, SC, and AR) plus several purchased ones. I am pretty sure that all these left to identify are found ones - mostly from the Apalacian Mountain area near Asheville, NC.

Here are links to photos (you can select the larger size to see them full size if you need it):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/armoorefam/2929627491...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/armoorefam/2930486084...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/armoorefam/2929625525...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/armoorefam/2929624683...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/armoorefam/2929623669...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/armoorefam/2930482310...

Thanks for giving these a try. :)

I thought that it would be fun to brainstorm what the ideal learning environment would be like. Homeschool parents as well as students are encouraged to post.

Feel free to to go outside of the bounds of budget - pretend a willing philanthropist was reading it and was looking for some homeschoolers to give money to. LOL

Make it realistic enough in regards to the nature of learning that it really could work for the brain. In other words, don't say I would invent a brain machine that would just put the knowledge in without effort. Such a device is way beyond any reasonable technology in our lifetimes. But feel free to imagine a technology that could probably be created or be out there already that may make it just the way you wish it would be.

Do any other homeschool veterans see new trends in the homeschool movement? I have been homeschooling for 15 years and the proportion of parents wanting to come into homeschooling without cost and time commitments seems to have been birthed lately and is growing at an alarming rate.

I see it here in the questions posted. I see it in homeschool co-ops too. It used to be understood that if you participated in a co-op you shared in the labor and cost. I am finding a steady stream of new homeschoolers that are surprised when they are asked to help, yet they almost demand a seat in the co-op for their children.

I think some of the posts I have read here by the teens who want to go back to public schools are because parents are buying the curriculum and handing it over to their kids and telling them, "Here, learn it." They don't spend time leading and interacting with their kids in the homeschool endeavor.

What do you think?

I have just reinstalled Yahoo IM. It has been at least 6 months since I last used it. I loved the knocking door and closing door sound to let me know when contacts logged on and off. Now it is a swoosh sound which I keep startling at. It sounds like something slidiong and about ready to fall. LOL.

Where can I download or turn on the ones I want.

My students submit their assignments electronically using Word compatible wordprocessors. Has anyone figured out a good method for being able to give feedback to the students right there on the composition directly where it is needed?

I invision something akin to stick it notes or an overlay for comments. I realize that there is an insert notes function in Open Office and likely in MS Word, but I would like the feedback to not be so invasive to the actual text of the document. The perfect solution would be almost hovering above the text and can be toggled on and off. Comments should be anchored so it moves as the student adjusts the text in revisions.

I am thinking that it should be two significant figures, but the answer key says three. I don't think the first zero shuld be counted because it is a leading zero before the decimal point and therefore is merely a placeholder.

I thought that we would do some tornado safety training in the family considering that the season is right around the corner.

When I was a kid, they always said to open at least one window if you were sure that you would have the time before getting to an interior room. I don't see that anywhere nowadays. Does anyone know if that is sound advise or has it been shown to be a bad idea?

We will be studying botany this summer as a family. I am hoping to really inspire an interest in the kids for both indoor and outdoor enjoyment of plants. The trick is they have terrible pollen allergies. Hard to enjoy something that can make you feel so stuffed up and miserable. LOL. My guess is we will need to skip flowers.

Any suggestions on low-pollen plants that kids would really get a kick out of? Do any of you have low-pollen suggestions for plants we can use in doing a landscaping project together? Grass pollen is a particular problem. Are there good alternatives to grass that we can use to bring down allergen symptoms?

Any of you garden enthusiasts plagued with allergies? How do you cope?

We live in the American Mid-South - mild winters, very wet springs, and long hot summers with little rainfall.

Our year's study of earth science is finishing up and our summer subject of plant biology is getting started. With the crossover between the two, I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for a middle school research/science project that combined the two together.

My grandmother passed away and my parent bought her home. They are putting a lot into the house as far as remodeling goes (real tile instead of simple linoleum, textured walls instead of simple repainting, etc). When they talk of renting the property they seem to expect to check up on the tenents weekly to monthly to make sure tenents are keeping up with care/repairs.

We rented for ten years before our first home purchase. When we moved out we left the home with a nice fresh coat of paint, thoroughly scrubbed, and carpets cleaned - but the landlord never 'checked up on us' throughout our rental time.

Are their expectations unrealistic? What has been your experience as a tenent or landlord in regards to property upkeep and monitoring?

We have bought three digital thermometers in a row now and none of them are reading accurately. All three have been from different companies all bought from a WalMart Supercenter. The last one we splurged and bought a more expensive one. My son is definitely running a fever yet the thermometer is reading below normal body temp. Anyone else having trouble or can suggest a trustworthy brand?

Our son goes to college next fall, so we are going to let him drive our Honda and my husband is going to find a used pick up. Are there makes and models to definitely avoid? Why?

In our family, if someone does not want to eat what is served they have to come into the kitchen during meal prep and make their own alternative of equal nutritional value - no extra work for mom.

I was wondering what everyone else does.

We planted 300 pine tree seedlings 3 years ago and gave left overs to a neighbor who plated them 2 days later. Their trees are taller and greener. Our trees needles look almost anemic or something. They have a noticable yellow cast which they also had last year. I was wondering what could be making the difference.

The trees are planted in the same orientation to the sun, get exactly the same amount of sun, and are spaced about the same. The area where our trees are planted is a little lower and not far from a creek so it has a higher moisture content. There are crayfish towers (winter hibernation of Devil's Crayfish) all around that area. I am not sure how the two areas compare as far as soil content. I do know that the two areas have differing grass types and were put in at different times. Long needle pine, which is what these are, is native to the area.

Anyone have an idea? I would love to find out the cause so I could improve their condition a bit.

If you want to buy a home in a new state which means getting a new job there for much less income, are banks interested in loaning for a first time homeowner mortgage or will they want a high interest rate?

Details - $5000 savings can go toward downpayment. No debt. Great credit rating. The move will mean going from $30K to about $18K per year income due to small job market in rural area. House is $55,000.