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Zen5.me Zen5.meWell-nighZen5.me   RSS   Mathematics- the weightier curricular approach, why was it so nonflexible to think of? 08 Apr This is going to be a multi-part post outlining a very intuitive but worldwide sense tideway to making math work for ALL students in our schools. It requires some flexibility and learning to do things differently but will be the solution to mathematical success for our country. Step 1:  what are your goals?  Before you can meet an expectation, you need touchable measurable goals.  I would suggest that each state set these up in order but not by grade level, just sequentially. ** Example:  Learn to understand the meaning of fractions, when fractions are appropriate, how to do arithmetic with fractions (multiply, divide, add, and subtract).  Along the way learn skills that are needed to teach these skills like LCM and credits navigate cancellation.  Have student solve and write one and two step problems that use fractions.  Do applications with fractions like interchange a recipe.   Students should test at 90% surpassing they leave their his unit. Each unit builds on old skills, can incorporate old skills and includes applications.  Each unit stands on its own and students do not progress until they pass each unit with 90% or better.  They moreover should have regular mixed reviews, they must pass to show hey are retaining old information. Each Math grade is marked by what level you are in: you can move as fast or slow as needed and those who struggle will have a smaller ratio of teachers to students to help them.  Students remoter withal can get uneaten pants by helping those who need it. Sampe School Kindergarten: (form sake of ease, lets have 8 students) Students 1,2 are at well-nigh same level and are working at level 1, they work on counting to 10 and matching quantity to the numbers.  They moreover learn well-nigh symbolic wing and subtraction and subtraction with stories of there were 2 cookie, mom baked 3 increasingly and put them on the plate, now there are 5 cookies on the plate.  The OR Amy had 4 cookies, her friends ate 2, now she has 2 cookies left.  Fnally, the learn well-nigh counting by 2 and exploring what plane means.  They moreover learn and match cadre shapes and discuss how many sides they have.They do many hands on and teacher directed activities related to these concepts.  Some are concept build and some will be tested.  They practice for the tested skills.  Can they match quantity with number?  Can they count to 10? Can they tell which number is plane ? And can they match a number sentence to a story problem read to them?Flipside3 students can once do all that or do it so quickly, they are moved to level K2.  In this group, students have to explore numbers from 11-15.  They have to learn to count by 2’s to 20.  They uncork to do wing and subtraction with the numbers 0-5.   They moreover have to match it to stories.  They study odd numbers.Flipside2 students are in K3, here they count to 100.  They count by 10’s and by 5’s to 100.   They squint at the numbers 1-100 if plane or odd.  They add and subtract with 0-9 digits and with two digit number where you don’t carry.  They introduce the idea of place value. The last student is smart unbearable that she is doing grade 1 math in kindergarten, so she in in Level 1 math.  She learns place value for thousands, hundreds, tens, ands, ones.     She starts writing worthier numbers, she learns how to mart for place value and the difference  between states c and dynamic addition.  She moreover applies this to subtraction.  She starts looking at data and graphing.  She can now count by 2,3,5,and 10 and they investigate the patterns of 9’s.  She leans to wield her knowledge to real world problems and think of problems where she might need her math skills.  All of these skills are tested and she stays at this level until she has 90% mastery. First Graders may find that they did not finish all of the K goals and may not start at level 1 or they may be superiority and may be doing much higher level work.  No levels, except for the K levels are associated with a grade and a K student doesn’t have to finish the K levels without leaving K. Promotions: once all the levels are determined, the goal will be that all students take four full years of math and meet the minimum of finishing the highest level which will equal 90% mastery of Algebra 1,2, and Geometry/Statistics/Finance tousle for graduation, with a prorated number of levels required for grade promotions in between.Higherunseat students are enoured to finish all levels and one spare courses vastitude such as PreCalc, Discrete Math, Or statistics. STEM students are encouraged to finish all levels plus pre Calc, Calc AB, Calc BC, and if possible AP Stat. The difference with this and the current plan is that it breaks Math into small pieces and goals with required mastery of that zone surpassing moving on.  The focus becomes quality, not quantity.  I would rather graduate an A student in Math 1-3 than  D/F student in Math 1-4.           No Comments Posted in Personal  Upperschool choices for gifted students in WakeUpperSchools 27 Feb Your child is academically gifted and you want to maximize their potential. Great, good job stuff proactive in your child’s life, strengths, and sensation of their needs.  I would be remiss to not point out that academics is not everything and a good well-turned person is ideal.  Someone who is smart but do not make  others finger dumb, someone who can connect socially with many variegated types of people,  and someone who appreciates that other people can have fantastic gifts that are not intellectual. So, what hgh schools offer the most for children?  Let’s squint at the pros and cons of a few:    STEM EARLY college…I often like this project gram, it has a very set theme, kids earn higher credits while in upper school, however, all electives are in science, math, computer science,and engineering somthta largest be your passion.  Now a con, it is very difficult to get a spot. 2,  Raleigh CharterUpperSchool, a unconfined school for the basics. There is very little offered in electives and the ones they have are weak.  So, if you segregate this, is you can expect a no bellls,r,whistle learning environment for math, science, English,and social studies.  The kids are very studius and don’t interact the same way you see  a traditinal highschool. They get lots of HW but go to school 1.5 hr less per day.   3.  Southeast Raleigh MagnetLeaseHS…. they have lots of academies like Engineering, Bimedical, and IT.  These are good programs but there has been a lot of turn over in sense in these academies and the school as a whole.  I aslomfind that some teachers are unconfined and some are lazy.  I have not been pleased with the AP classes at the school, I wish I knew the word-for-word number but I would guess only 10% pass the math and science exams.  The teachers are terrible at teaching AP classes.  My child ghastly enjoyed stuff the big fish their but we have had to supplement to alimony him on track academcally for the competitive higher matriculation of engineering  at NCSU that he wants to go to.   4.Cardinal Gibbons HighmSchool….l word-stock say too much considering I have only had a small wits with students from there.  What I found is that they are academically weak. For example, there Math unchangingly a year overdue ours.  When kids taken Algebra 2 there, they learn what we taught in Algebra 1.  There precalc be is like our math 3.  They never win national merit scholarships or get n weightier upper school list so it is academically weak. 5.  Enloe will be the last school I talk about.  It has a good reputation.  it offers lots of unconfined electives, a strong cadre and I hear good things well-nigh their AP scores. There is decent level of diversity, but the it does start at 7:25!   *sorry for typos, ipad keypad is vicarial up.   No Comments Posted in Confessions from worldwide cadre math teachers, Education   Nora Snoring Device an self-sustaining review 25 Feb Snoring was really rhadamanthine a problem for my husband and I.  I was not sleeping but we did not want to go to separate beds.  We tried a sleep study and he was unsure for a Cpap and that seemed expensive and like a lot f work.  We tried the nose strips, the xhim straps, and he saw several ENTs.   Some nose sprays helped but would requite him underdone noses without a week. When I would get frustrated while sleeping, I would try moving his s pillow and that would “adjust” him and sometimes stop the snoring for a bit which is why Nora unromantic to me. It was doing what I was intuitively trying too do.  It was expensive though, still it had a mney when guarantee and I had to try.  I looked for reviews but they were all reviews from unjust sources trying to sell the product so I couldn’t trust them. I have no affiliation, just a customer. Ths smday 2, so the jury s still out too.  But, so far, i will report what we have seen.  It took a long time to get here, was when ordered.  It was easy to set up.  The pad under the pillow surprised me with how much it inflates.  As f now, hubby will start to snore and just get into a light snore and then it triggers and he stops.  Before, his light snore would get louder and louder until we were both awake. He says he has been woken up from it but didn’t elaborate but seems to fall right when to sleep and the unconfined news is that I am not waking up all night long. So, on day 2, I am pleased, I will let you know if anything changes.   No Comments Posted in Medical   Personal Finance 101 19 Feb Hello, I wanted to start a new topic on my blog addressing both personal finance and rental investments.  I love personal finance.  I wish I could volunteer  to help people upkeep and organize their finances. Personally We (hbbynand 8) did not come from money and when we graduated college, we both had student loans and hubby got a job that didn’t pay well and I went to graduate school without stuff in flipside low paying job.  Hubby made in the upper $20k and I made in the low $20k and once I was in school, we only had his $20k to live on and had a victual on the way. I learned to live frugally and plane now that we make more, I still live frugally. So how much does one need to live comfortably? What are the essentials you need to live on?  While some people msyndefine the list differently, I will work with the goal of living on $6100 month, this will be our NET pay som we have once had ntaxes taken out, paid for our medical insurance, put money in a flex accoutnro imbricate the rest of medical, and paid for our 401k.  So overall, we are assuming, a total yearly salary of $75,000.  The zone you live in dictates how much things financing as well as the size and needs of your family. Here s a unstipulated dea of my upkeep for $6100 per month: (*This is hypothetical to some extent and moreover uses some,of my own personal expenses either now or in the past). Housing financing $2300. (I chose  a 15 year loan to pay off early but with the forfeit stuff 1/3 my total monthly pay, it makes things tight and a 30 year would have given me increasingly zoetic room).  * Note in CA, this covers a 1 bedroom suite but in NC, you can have a 3000 SF 5 BR house. Utilites will include heat, gas, trash, sewer, recycling, phone, lamina phone for six people, internet, uncontrived tv : $800  *would be less with smaller houses, less people in house… Car costs: includes car payments, insurance, repairs, gasoline for three cars : $500 * For me, this is low, we have three cars but all are paid off, so I pay for gas insurance, repairs, and save some for my next new car as I don’t like having car payments.  Others, however might have all these expenses and two car payments. Life Insurance (outside of work policy), :$ 200 * For two people, important while you have kids Saving for higher :$200 * with 4 kids that is a lot f higher money, some people don’t save and just leave the thing up to the kid but, it is important to us, so we are paying and they are going   credit vellum debt :$61 * This may be a lot higher for others but I don’t alimony balances, interest is too high, this wastefulness is at 0%. eating out: $250  * see notes unelevated Groceries: $1500 * depends on number and of people too Purchases $100 * we all buy stuff, plane if it is just stamps or makeup savings (future problems fund)  : $100  * sh be in every upkeep vacatation savings : $50 * unchangingly save to requite yourself a break, you deserve it. Misc :$64  * what s left?   *Things to notes, many other typical expenses are once stuff taking directly from my trammels surpassing I get my $6100, so I am not paying for medical costs, 401k costs, and plane prescriptions many eye glasses I have prepaid for with a flex spending account. This upkeep overall makes me uncomfortable, I have very little buffer and am living month to month without towers a savings.  I did this for a long time.  So… what would you suggest waffly ?  The money is stereotype and I don’t have to pay uneaten medical and I am saving for my 410k.   I would tell myself to reduce eating out to once per month and only order water for drinks (never got sodas or beers when was low n money mwhen wemwneout to eat), moreover try sharing a plate, they requite big portions, one dish is  often unbearable for two (can help you lose a few pounds too) and never get dessert. i would moreover squint at what grocery store I shop at, some are increasingly pricey, switching mstores ormbrands can save you a ton.  Look at what you buy and the forfeit and see if you can find increasingly affordable dinners for two days a week to cut lanugo the grocery bill.  Buy big tons of things and let kids make there own snack size tons rather than ownership the snack size bags, thing like that can save a lot of money.   Refnance to a 30 year loan if your bills are tight, having uneaten money each month is worth it.  If you get a tumor in salary later, go when to the 15, planning for a debt self-ruling retirement is great.Protractand unchangingly have the emergency savings fund and don’t use it for other stuff, when your AC breaks or you suddenly need a water heater, you will have the money and won’t be in a panic. Plus it feels good seeing that add up, knowing you can save.  Fingerfree to share your upkeep or for increasingly security, email me at Lynne@zen5.me and I can requite you feedback free.  Learning how to get superiority financially is easier than you think.  It takes some desire and willpower but can be done. i have lots of other tips,on how to get uneaten mazuma too… … there is mystery shopping f you have time, pay outs are small but they add up and if you have time, why not? …; unshut finance at banks, they will often requite you self-ruling money …. get a side job…. but be your own boss, do you wipe well?  People unchangingly need people who wipe well with sustentation to detail, it can be really easy to pick up just me or two side,clients for uneaten money.  Have a skill?  People unchangingly need people who are good at skills that work hard…Make a webpage or squatter typesetting page and get second job going, just get some insurance. Once you save enough, getting involved in rental properties can be very lucrative, tune in for increasingly on that later.                 No Comments Posted in Financial   AP courses: Has the teacher prepared your student for the exam? A guide for parents and teachers 15 Jan AP, or wide placement classes are a unconfined way to rencontre students academically and for them to earn higher credit while in upper school.  In order to get credit, the higher must winnow AP credit and the student must score upper enough. Question:  Why doesn’t my child’s school winnow AP credit?  There can be many reasons but one reason is that the AP undertow is not rigorous unbearable to equal the higher matriculation at that college.  For example, Calculus BC does not go very deep in its curriculum and an engineering student relying only on what he or she learned in an AP matriculation would be overdue their peers who took the higher matriculation at a competitive engineering school.  Examples include AP Calc BC only has students do a few vital integration techniques and typical Calc 2 classes add increasingly techniques and go deeper into the ones the AP Calculus teach, for instance,  the AP matriculation just introduces like partial fractions while colleges goes into partial fractions in many variegated forms.Planeif the higher a student is peekaboo accepts the credit, a student may find that he or she has gaps that will have to be filled in plane if he or she scored a 5.   However, most students in that situation would be capable of the self learning needed to fill in the gaps. However, I would be hesitant with a 3 or a 4 in such a situation. As for the courses themselves, we want students to be successful.  There are many times where the undertow is not a prerequisite for future courses and getting that credit allows a student to take other classes instead or take a lighter load or plane graduate early.  So, what do we squint for in a teacher who is successfully preparing students to get strong AP scores. First, we want them to be familiar with the curriculum and the test.  They need wangle to both the test questions and sample scoring.  They should have questions (both multiple nomination and self-ruling response) that go with each unit so that as students work through a unit, they get practice with questions from old AP exams.  The teacher should be going over these questions with students and having students practice self-ruling response questions on their own.  The teacher should then have students ribbon points as they pick through the things graders will be looking for to ribbon points.  In English, essays should be graded and students should have matriculation discussions on why unrepealable scores were awarded and what was missing should be used as teaching examples.  In English, there are some unconfined resources that show what essays deserve what level points and why, this should be part of the lesson.  In math and science, making sure the intermediate steps, units, significant digits, etc. are visible are important. Each unit should be divided into time to learn the material and time to review and practice the material with an eye to how the test assesses you.  The exams for the student can then be all AP questions (mix of multiple nomination and self-ruling response) or at least 50% AP questions and 50% teacher made questions that help students remoter retain important material (remember, testing can be a method of learning if washed-up right, not just assessment). I would make the same recommendation for the final to teachers.Segregatea variety of years rather than the most recent test as students might just study that. Parents, if your child is in an AP matriculation and has not been unceasingly doing AP problems, i.e. the teacher is not using an optimal approach, you will need to take matters into your own hands.  Get a couple variegated prep books from the whence of the course, have your child work problems that match what the teacher is covering, if they can’t, get a tutor.  Better to take superintendency of things now then try and cram at the end when there is not unbearable time to transpiration things.  Look online, there are many old tests available.  Three weeks surpassing the AP exam, your child should be practicing full AP tests, correcting them, finding mistakes, and taking another. Stories** Tom took AP chem at a school with a teacher who wasn’t the best.  He did do some practice problems from AP exams so his parents thought it would be ok as he was getting an A.  However, the teacher moved too slowly and only covered 3/5 of the curriculum and by the time his parents realized this and started sending him to a,tutor to learn the material he wasn’t going to get to, there wasn’t unbearable time.  He scored a 2 on the AP exam. Sandy took AP Calc AB with a teacher who never taught it before.  Her teacher never had them do any practice AP problems and moreover got overdue in teaching.  Sandy’s parents got her a tutor right yonder and kept her one step superiority of the matriculation and had her practice AP and CLEP practice problems.  When her teacher ran out of time and skipped over all the importance applications that Sandy knew would be on the AP exam, she and her Mom decided to study for the CLEP test and switch to taking Calculus at the polity higher rather than protract taking AP Calc BC with this teacher.  Sandy feels that the kids who were in her matriculation will not be prepared at all for the material on the AP exam. Jeff took AP Physics 1 at his upper school.  His school did not offer the Calculus based AP Physics C matriculation but he decided to start with AP Physics 1.  Like Sandy’s teacher, Jeff’s teacher never once gave them an AP question.  She rarely gave them tests and instead assign projects, he didn’t plane have labs.  He skipped matriculation a lot since most of the time his teacher did nothing, despite this stuff an AP class.  He never plane had homework.  He scored an A without an effort but saw no point in taking the AP Physics 1 exam, instead, Jeff bought two Physics books, a higher text and an AP Physics C prep book.  He is spending his time learning to link and expand the physics he did learn in Physics 1 and the Calculus he knows and is planning on taking the AP Physics C test instead this spring. Sam took AP computer science online.  His teacher had the write programs every day.  He had quizzes every week and the quizzes were AP computer science questions.  Each test was AP multiple nomination questions and the midterm and final had both AP multiple nomination and AP self-ruling response questions as well.  He moreover had a homework work with AP self-ruling response questions. So, when it came time for Sam to take the AP test, he had once had lots increasingly of practice.  Sam scored a 4 on the AP exam and will get higher credit. Chris took AP environmental science, his teacher had them write answers to self-ruling response questions from old AP tests in matriculation all the time. Her exams were moreover a mix of AP questions.  Before he took the exam, Chrismtoo, had a lot of practice and he scored a 4 on the exam. Cara dexided to self study for AP English Composition.  She bought a prep typesetting and studied all the literature terms and practiced the multiple choice.  She felt well-appointed with her score there and focused increasingly on her essays.  She learned well-nigh each type you have to write and read examples of good ones and why they were good and then looked at bad ones and why they were bad.  She would practice each type a couple of times with her parents offering feedback based on what other had written in her book.  It only too 3 weeks to a good handle on this t and she scored a 4 on the test.   No Comments Posted in Personal   Wake County School choices, Magnet andLease2016 12 Dec It is that time of year when you start looking at school choices for your children.  Most of you will select the wiring school and not squint back.  What are the benefits to that?  For one, convenience.  It is tropical to home.  Two, most of the other kids are doing the same.  If your child has once been a wiring school student, you will hear, “I want to stay with my friends.”  Valid?  Maybe.  It depends on the wiring school.  In Wake county if Green Hope or Panther Creek were my wiring schools, I might be increasingly inclined to go with the base.  Green Hope, especially, has a good reputation.  Other schools have less to offer and if you are really invested in your child’s wonk experience, you may want to consider other alternatives. Overall, any wiring elementary will requite you a good start.  I don’t have a magnet wits from elementary school but the wiring schools were good, although a bit slow for a gifted child.  For a highly motivated gifted child, you might try Sterling Montessori or Poe Montessori.  They can work at their own pace.  Poe is magnet and Sterling is charter. Your next big window for a spot comes in sixth grade but don’t forget to consider stealing a spot in fifth grade.  With many families not willing to move their kid during their final year of elementary school, it may be a time to grab a spot when competition is low. Middle school is a unconfined time to get into magnets.  Your child (in their head, they will be fine in any case) will survive making new friends easier from fifth to sixth than from eighth to ninth.  In wiring middle schools, you typically get to segregate from 4 electives, things like band, PE, the wheel (learn well-nigh career choices), and keyboarding.  It isn’t really a choice, since you have to take keyboarding.  In seventh and eighth grade you can add a language as a nomination but you see how limited your electives are. In magnet schools, you choose,from 60 electives and the choices are wide and interesting, pet vet, math patterns, mythology, sculpture, piano, volleyball, dance, robotics, fantasy football, etc. There are still classes in keyboarding (required), health (required), and the option to take three (instead of 2) years of a foreign language.  Additionally, there may be a theme, like field trips, Academically Gifted, Leadership, Languages, etc. There are moreover many lease schools that go from K to 8 and they usually have a theme, like Sterling Montessori or Exploris Elementary and Middle, etc. ; visit these schools and see if they fit your child.  We have had kids at both.  We were very happy at Sterling and had a good first year at Exploris (6th grade) but it reverted too much with the new director for a good fit for us but could be a good fit for others.  Be sure to fully investigate though do two reasons, one is that Exploris does not use a traditional tideway to teaching, make sure your child learns that way, it is not uncontrived and that was nonflexible for my ADHD son, second, sometimes lease schools are  over run with a special needs population that they are not equipped to handle.  Sterling unquestionably excelled in that zone where Explois failed.  Just things to alimony in mind.Planewhen if your child is only in fourth grade or sixth grade, you need to be thinking well-nigh the path that includes upper school.  High school is the biggest and most important decision.  If your child is considering a traditional path that includes college, where they go to upper school is very important.  Choosing a place that they can be academically successful, meet strong wonk goals and moreover have a unconfined social wits should be the goal.  One is not good without the other. There are a few lease schools that are good, RaleighLeaseHS, Research Triangle HS, Longleaf School of the Arts are some examples.  There is Triangle Math and ScienceSeminar(not to be tumbled with the state funded School of Science and Math in Durham) that is highly focused on academics but from what I know, lacks the social component needed so I don’t recommend it.  RaleighLeaseis known for stuff rigorous and considering of that seems to have a reduced social undercurrent (I had a child go there).  Research Triangle is supposed to be a STEM school but offers scrutinizingly no STEM electives.  This is moreover a problem with most charters, the choices in electives is very small. As for magnet upper schools, you will find many increasingly electives.  Base schools offer some but in many cases they are over crowded and nonflexible to get into the popular ones so kids take your vital ones like foods, teen life, weight training, and other random classes they get put in considering it is all that is available.  In the magnets, you will find a much wider variety, increasingly sections, and increasingly interesting classes.  Enloe is known as the strongest wonk magnet.  They offer scrutinizingly every AP matriculation and from what I hear do a good job with those classes.  They have a four year computer programming sequence and a biomedical program in wing to many classes in the arts. In the past, I had written positive reviews of Southeast Raleigh upper school as a magnet choice.  They have Engineering, Biomedical, Cybersecurity, and a good arts program.  The teachers my son had the first two  years were unconfined but we lost scrutinizingly all his teachers this year (administration issues I hear).  I have not been as happy this year academically.  He s now taking many AP classes with teachers who are not qualified to be teaching AP.  The good news is he gets no homework so I am worldly-wise to use that time and supplement what he should be learning if it is a subject we can teach (Calculus and Physics) but he was on his own in AP Chemistry so although he got a B in the class, he only scored a 2 on the AP exam (which was probably one of the upper grades).  Instead of taking Calculus 2 with his teacher, however, they are letting him take it at Wake Tech next semester.  He enjoys the flexibility, the students are very nice, and he has been very involved in theater and for that aspect, I can still requite it a upper rating but academically right now, it is not something I would recommend to someone unless they want to supplement their child’s education.  To put it in perspective, though, I would still segregate it over my bases school (Apex). There are many benefits to looking outside of your bases school.  The window to squint is now, magnet registration opens in January and most lease school lotteries are in February or March. Good Luck. Lynne Gregorio, Ph.D,   oldest went to: Sterling Montessori (K-6), wiring (just 7th grade), RaleighLease(9-10), homeschool (8th and 11th), wiring (2 classes senior year), Dual enrollment WTCC, graduated UNCC, stratum computer science next went to : Sterling Montessori (pre K -8 th), wiring (9-12) next went to: base, Exploris, homeschool (3rd and 8th), Southeast Raleigh Magnet, Dual Enrolled WTCC youngest: went to: base, Sterling Montessori, base, Moore Square Middle, considering Enloe for high,school   No Comments Posted in Education   Update on Whiskey 05 Nov Whiskey will be 4 in December 2016.  It is nonflexible to believe that we have had him for scrutinizingly 4 years now.  He continues to build trust and make progress.  His response to strangers continues to get better.  It is all in the person’s energy.  People who are dog friendly but respect his boundaries without pushing him, do really well.  Tonight we had a house full of strangers and he was off troika among us.  He moreover went and took treats from my sister in law, jumped up on her and crawled into her lap for treats.  She was worldly-wise to lightly pet him while he was stuff fed treats.  This was a huge accomplishment. He still doesn’t like dogs but is getting increasingly relaxed well-nigh them too, he will come to me when he sees them rather than stay barking at them.  I finger that we could possibly introduce him to a puppy or really relaxed dog.  Each day that goes by and he learns that nothing bad happens to him, is flipside day for improvement.   No Comments Posted in Border Collies   Moving to North Carolina, want to know well-nigh the schools in the Triangle area? Reviews here, Magnet, Charter, Public 11 Aug Wake County Schools, Research Triangle Schools, North Carolina School System, Magnet Schools,LeaseSchools, Public Schools – how good are they, what you need to know. As a blogger, educator, and owner of a tutoring center, I will from time to time get emails or phone calls from parents who are moving to the zone or have just moved into the zone who want to know increasingly well-nigh schools in North Carolina.  You will find some individual reviews of schools on my blog but I wanted to write a increasingly unstipulated review to help guide new families.  Many families do not know the difference between public, charter, magnet, and private schools, so I will start with that and get increasingly specific. Public Schools:  North Carolina Public School system is not ranked in the top 10 nor is it ranked in the marrow 10 of schools in the United States.  However, so much depends on WHAT schools you are talking about, specifically in what county and at what level.  Also variegated individual schools have largest reputations than other individual schools.  If you want to consider a public school and have not bought a house yet, then looking at what schools are prescribed for that zone would be important, although, these lines can change.  Since North Carolina is growing rapidly, expressly in the urban areas, new schools are constantly stuff built and hence students are stuff shifted, so you cannot seem you will be at the school you planned on unless you are in the magnet or lease system. The public schools, however, are funded by the State of North Carolina.  Teachers in our state are no paid very well, however, and we have upper teacher turnover.  We have some GREAT teachers but we moreover have some teachers who are just collecting a paycheck (small as it is) and many who leave for other states or other jobs in unstipulated considering they cannot live off the salary.  As a unstipulated rule, however, most elementary teachers are all very good and I have never seen an elementary school in Wake County (my county) do a bad job.  Once you get to middle and upper school, however, you really need to be increasingly selective.  The content and expectations of learning have increased and with poor teachers, students get lost and it has a negative impact on their future.  This is not to say we don’t have good middle and upper school teachers, but you need to be enlightened of the schools that are largest and those that are not and if needed, get a tutor when you get bad luck and get a bad teacher in a subject like math that builds on itself. A few schools, although you cannot segregate to shepherd these, you have to have this as your wiring school AND you have to wield and get selected by a lottery drawing will have an seminar within the school.  One school has an AOIT academy,Seminarof Information Technology, flipside has AOE,Seminarof Engineering.  These are kind of like a minor at the school where you take 1-2 required classes in theSeminarrelated to that field and do an internship surpassing you graduate.  Examples for the AOIT might be taking classes in Microsoft Office Suite and Programming.  In AOE, you would take classes tabbed Project Lead the Way and take Introduction to Engineering and Principals of Engineering, etc.  Each seminar has 4-6 matriculation undertow requirements plus the internship. As far as wonk knowledge, North Carolina sets the bar very high.  Many students coming from other states end up BEHIND considering our expectations and standards are high.  This is both good and bad.  The good is that smart kids get the endangerment to live up to those expectations and be well prepared academically for college.  The bad is that students who struggle academically, get pushed through the system and everything falls untied for those kids. We moreover have woodcut scheduling in most upper schools which may not be worldwide in other states.  Block scheduling is where upper school students take classes similar to the way a higher student would take classes on a semester schedule.  The year is divided into two 18 week semesters.  Each semester, upper school students take 4 classes that meet for 90 minutes, so four classes in the Fall and flipside 4 in the Spring.  People not used to this think it is terrible but personally, I like it a lot.  For one, it gives increasingly time in matriculation to focus on content, second students are only dealing with and studying for 4 classes at a time so they have increasingly time to devote to those studies, and third it allows students to take 8 classes a year which gives them wondrous elective choices in wing to the cadre courses which are not possible with a traditional schedule. Magnet Schools:  Magnet schools are part of the public school system except that they tend to be in poorer socioeconomic zone (but we are not talking upper treason or bad neighborhoods).  Part of the school is made up of a regular wiring population, just like your normal wiring school but a unrepealable percentage of the school is saved for “magnet” students.  The word magnet is used considering the school has special themes and resources used to vamp students from greater distances to this school (in this lower socioeconomic area) to attend.  There are magnet schools at the elementary, middle, and upper school levels.  Examples of elementary school magnets might include:  Montessori, Leadership, Academically Gifted (AG), Gifted and Talented (GT), IB, Language Immersion, or a combination of these.  Examples of middle schools are some of the same although there is not a Montessori or Language Immersion at the middle level (in Wake County) but they have schools that are located in downtown Raleigh that are AG/GT/Museums , this ways it is a combination of all three and the museum speciality is that students often get walking field trips to all the museums in downtown Raleigh due to its proximity.  There is moreover an all girls and all boys seminar that flows into the EarlyHighermodel for upper school that starts with 6th grade.  (North Carolina middle school are grades 6,7, and8).  High school examples include:  EarlyHigheroptions such as a Health Science Early College, the Girls and Boys EarlyHigherAcademies, and a STEM Early College; all of these have students shepherd upper school for 5 years instead of 4.  They partner with a higher and during grades 11, 12, and 13, the students shepherd higher classes and graduate upper school with both a upper school diploma and an Associates Degree.  Other upper school options include a 4 year TechHigherpartnership for those interested in Cosmotology, Airconditioning Repair, Computer Game Design and Development, and more.  These students take higher courses in grades 11 and 12 and graduate with at least a years worth of higher credit in wing to their upper school diploma.  All the EarlyHighercosts are covered completely, so if your child attends, there is no forfeit to you.  More traditional magnet schools will be Leadership and Technology or Academically Gifted / Gifted and Talented, IB Schools, and more.  These schools will have programs such as specific academies within school like a Biotech Academy, Engineering Academy, or Cyber Security seminar that your child can take part in where it is like a school within a school.  These are similar to the ones mentioned in the wiring public schools but are much easier to get into if you are a magnet student.  They moreover have a significant number of elective choices that you won’t find at the wiring schools.  The AG/GT/IB school will have multiple languages, every AP and IB matriculation possible, as well as piano classes, guitar, dance, many increasingly art classes than one would normally have, and things like an unshortened department of classes in computer programming. Can anyone wilt a Magnet Student?  First, not all counties have magnet programs.  I can only speak well-nigh Wake county (those mentioned here are from Wake County).  I doubt there are much in the way of Magnet schools in any rural counties.  Second, you must wield to get into the magnet program and you may or may not be selected.  It depends on what school you want to go into, there is VERY upper demand for some schools and less demand for others.  Once you ARE a magnet student, however, it is easier then to transfer to a variegated magnet school, you will have priority over new students applying to get in.  The process is to usually go to the Magnet pearly that is held the first weekend in November every year and then go take tours of the magnet schools.  You then make sure you are signed up to shepherd the wiring school and put in an using with a list of choices for magnets.  You get to list your top 3, increasingly if you list an early higher as they select those surpassing the rest.  Early Colleges are the hardest to get a place in although I believe the Health Science EarlyHigheris the easiest of all the early colleges to get a spot at.  We did wield to two early colleges and did not get a spot but got a spot in a regular magnet for 2 of my children.  If you have twins and wield with both, you have a much largest chance!  Applications have to be sometime in January or early February, I believe (don’t hold me to that!) and results come out in early Spring.  If you get a spot, you have to take it (at least as of now, it didn’t used to be that way, although I believe you can just not show up!) What are your chances of getting selected?  I will wordplay in a little increasingly detail.  It is NOT just a straight lottery.  They have a system and requite priority to many variegated things.  Siblings, of course, get first priority, then other magnet students, then students who are coming from schools that are upper performing (they want your upper performing kid!), and then overcrowded schools, and then anyone else not in those categories (or something withal those lines…).  Of course, if select a school where they have plenty of unshut spots, there won’t be a problem at all, if you select a school with only 3 unshut spots and you fall into the “someone not in one of the upper priority categories,” your chances are slim to none. So what school have unshut spots if you just want to get INTO a magent (and then maybe move to a largest magnet in a year)?  I would undeniability and ask, they will usually tell you, they want to fill those spots.  I remember once getting a letter saying that CONN elementary had spots and if we wanted one, we could have it but we were once settled at that time so we didn’t move into magnets until middle and upper school.  As I said, at the elementary level, the wiring schools do a decent job! What well-nigh SAFETY at these Magnet Schools?  I have washed-up unshut houses for my son’s magnet.  The racial makeup of the schools can vary depending on the school, the number of magnet spots, and the location of the wiring population.  Some will be well-turned racially (50% white, 50% non-white) and others will be less well-turned (20% white, 80% non-white).  My son is at a school that is less racially balanced, we heard all sorts of rumors, etc.  So, we took it upon ourselves to go there during a school day and be in the hallways.  We plane got some teachers to let us go in their classrooms, we talked to other parents of magnet students, and we talked to kids (magnet and nonmagnet) that went to the school.  Nothing felt unsafe or negative.  In fact, plane the superintendent said, this school has less fights and issues than other schools with increasingly well-turned or a more-white student makeup.  I haven’t met one kid at that school that wasn’t super friendly and nice!  My son feels unscratched and has a ton of friends of all colors and I am very glad to have chosen the school.  So, don’t let race be an issue and as for safety, trammels out the individual school yourself and make your own judgment, don’t listen to rumors!!  All the negative ones we hear are from people who “would never send their kid there,” who are they to judge vs. those of use with kids at the school who all say it is a safe, friendly place. My wits has moreover been that teachers at magnet schools as a whole are largest than teachers at wiring schools.  Now there are good teacher and bad teachers at ALL schools, however.  After running a tutoring part-way and seeing kids with teachers from all zone schools, I am much increasingly impressed with the teachers from magnet schools.  The only negative and this is all of NC, is the teacher turn over rate and that we lose teachers!LeaseSchools:  So what is aLeaseschool and how is it variegated from a Magnet school?  Both school types are under the rules of North Carolina and must meet North Carolina standards and use NC curriculum and testing requirements.  However, Magnet schools (and wiring public schools) are moreover governed by the county they are in.  As I mentioned, most of my wits is in Wake County Public Schools.  So, all the schools in Wake County (ApexUpperSchool, Holly SpringsUpperSchool, Green Hope High, Cary High, Wake Forest High, etc. AND the magnets, Southeast Raleigh MagnetUpperSchool, Enloe, Stem Early College, etc.) all follow both the rules of NC and the rules of Wake County.  Charter Schools only follow the rules of North Carolina, they are their own LEA (forgot what that stands for.. Local Education Area, I think…).  Charter schools get funding per student from the state put the state does not pay for their towers expenses, etc.  So they have to come up with a lot increasingly resources than a public school.   They still have to follow the state guidelines but if you live in Wake County you can ONLY go to Wake County schools.  You cannot decide you want to go to Chapel HillUpperSchool.  However, since lease schools are not county specific, you can live in a variegated county and go to a lease school.  I can live in Wake County and go to a lease school in Durham County or I can live just over the line in Chatham County but not want to put my kids in Chatham County schools, so I send them to a lease school in Wake County or plane in Durham County. What doLeaseSchools offer?  Well, besides the location flexibility, they are similar in many ways to magnet schools.  They are theme based and you usually pick a lease school that has a theme that matches your educational philosophy.  For example, one of my kids went to Sterling MontessoriLeaseSchool from Preschool through 8th grade (that is where it stops).  Many families with special needs kids find lease schools to be unconfined as they tend to be largest at providing increasingly reliable services to special needs students, although this is not true for ALL charters.  In our case, Sterling offered wondrous 1:1 resource help for our son with an IEP!  He would have sank in a traditional setting!  However, on the other hand when my other son went to ExplorisLeasemiddle school, there were so many kids with “issues,” he had a nonflexible time really finding his groove and making good friends.  The school was moreover very “granola” for lack of a largest word, which fits many families and kids but not mine, we ended up leaving part way through 8th grade as doing daily Yoga, instead of traditional PE, just didn’t fit him.  So, it is important to really squint for a good fit with the lease schools.  My oldest attended Raleigh CharterUpperSchool, it has been ranked as one of the top ten wonk upper schools in the country year without year.  He was very typesetting smart and he did well there.  However, we knew that it would have been the wrong fit for flipside one of my kids, plane though it is a highly regarded school and instead he is excelling in the magnet school in the EngineeringSeminarand having options like Theater and Robotics. That is flipside drawback toLeaseschools, they are a lot smaller.  This can be good and bad, your child will be in a smaller matriculation and get to know teachers well but there will a lot less electives to segregate from.  One of the really good charters in Durham County is undeniability Research TriangleUpperSchool.  My son, the one in the Magnet school, was wonted there and we had to make a choice.  RTHS is known as a STEM lease but has no electives in any STEM areas and only 1 STEM club, it is not the school’s fault, it is just that the school is so small.  If he went there, he would have gotten some really good solid academics (I really liked the teachers) but he wouldn’t have had any electives he would have enjoyed, he wouldn’t have been in any plays, he wouldn’t have had as many people to meet to find the “right” ones to click with.  So, although the teachers seemed amazing, the unshortened environment was too limiting so we chose the magnet and it was unmistakably the right choice.  Making wonk choices requires one consider lots of things and is a personal decision, my own thoughts on the matter is that school is not only well-nigh academics but well-nigh learning, growing, and experiencing new things – so I try to alimony this in mind as I consider what option will weightier fit my kids. Private Schools:  In many areas of the country, parents immediately plan on sending their kids to private schools considering there are no other good options.  I don’t finger this is true in the Triangle zone of North Carolina, expressly Wake County.  I often tell people that Wake County is the weightier county to segregate for schools considering we have the most options – all the lease schools are options, we have magnets, wiring schools, and there are unchangingly private schools.  I will talk increasingly well-nigh areas in a moment but when to private schools. Many families that are well off, segregate Cary Academy.  I hear it is very good, it moreover financing as much as or increasingly than it financing to send your kid with room and workbench and a meal plan to a public four year NC college. Since personally, I only have funds to get my kids through higher once, it isn’t on my radar – but if it is for you, the campus is trappy and I believe it is a decent school but I can’t say too much. Other private schools people segregate are often religious based, if you have a desire to go that route for religious reasons, you don’t really need to be reading any of this since that is probably your number one driving factor.  *Stop reading now as I am well-nigh to requite an honest review based on wits and I don’t want to be negative well-nigh something you are moving towards doing*  If you are just considering it as an option for wonk reasons, I will tell you that you will get a largest ACADEMIC education by choosing a magnet or lease school or one of the stronger wiring schools.  I have tutored children from some of the religious based schools and they are not rigorous.  The kids, when compared to public school kids, are academically behind, so if you want a increasingly rigorous nomination that will largest prepare your child, I would not select one of the religious based institutions.  Now, if a religious based institution is important to you, your kid can still do fine but I don’t see any National Merit Scholarships coming from our CatholicUpperSchool, etc.  He or she will still go on to higher and if studious, make it in the world and as I said surpassing academics are not the only reason to select a school. Areas to live in  So, do you segregate Wake County, Durham County, Chapel Hill, Chatham County or somewhere else? As I mentioned, I don’t know much outside the triangle, so I can not speak too much on that.  However, most of what I have heard says Durham County schools are not good, everyone I know who lives in Durham seems to have kids that are past elementary school age in a lease school or private school.  Everyone I know who lives in Chatham County, puts their kids in lease schools.  I have heard good things in unstipulated well-nigh Chapel Hill schools but the taxes in Chapel Hill are very expensive, they have less choices and if you have a child gifted in math, they will be forced to stay on the slow track until they are a junior in upper school (unless they make changes in the future). Currently in Wake county, a student can be single subject velocious and work one grade level superiority in math or Language Arts OR by the time they get to 6th grade they can take 6th grade Compacted math which is 6th/7th and half of 8th all in one year, then in 7th grade they takeUpperSchool Math 1 – moreover finishes math 8 (Alg. 1) and in 8th grade they takeUpperSchool Math 2, so by the time they start upper school they have two upper school math credits and start in Honors Math 3 as a freshman. In Chapel Hill, they will not let students fast forward through middle school math until 8th grade, wide 6th grades take 6 PLUS math, 7th grades take 7 PLUS math (which I believe is 7 and half of 8), and they can’t take the first level upper school math until 8th grade where they take Math 1 (and finish math 8).  In 9th grade they enter with only 1 upper school credit and take Honors Math 2.  They can speed up in their junior year by taking Honors Math 3/Pre Calc philharmonic class. My kids would have been BORED in the Chapel Hill tideway but that is what they finger is important.  As a Ph.D. in Math Education, I think some kids are just ready older and we shouldn’t make them bored, it just makes them dislike the subject. So, my vote for areas to live in is Wake County considering it gives the most options.  You should moreover consider looking at which upper schools are weightier rated if you are not going to do a magnet or charter.  Green Hope and Panther Creek have really good scores and I would personally squint to live near the weightier upper school rather than worry well-nigh an elementary school. I hope this information is helpful and Welcome to all of you who move to North Carolina!  It is a unconfined place to live! Lynne Gregorio, Ph.D. Mathematics Education   No Comments Posted in Education   What to know surpassing you consider a tummy tuck / Adominoplasty 22 Feb  This is a very difficult surgery. Don’t compare it and how well you did in other surgeries. Don’t listen to your friend , Sally, who was at work in one week and running in 5 weeks. Everyone is different. Know the variegated ways the surgery can be done, drainless, drains, or quilted with small drains. Know the doctor really well, make sure you are well-appointed with his practices if the worst happens. Ask him, if I have complications, how often will you see during those times.  how will I know what complications to squint for? How often can I undeniability or text or see you if I am having problems? Ask well-nigh scar revisions and how those work. Read all paperwork and make sure you know the risks, what they mean, what to squint for, what will happen, how they fix them, etc.Withoutyour surgery, your surgeon can have very variegated ideas of superintendency than other doctors.  It is wise to trust your gut and get second options if needed.  RealSelf is a unconfined resource. Understand what is stuff done.  How long is the surgery.  What other procedures will be done, for example, lipo and where? Know what to expect without surgery.  Will the lipo areas hurt and be bruised.nnhow how long does that last?  Should it swell?  How long?  What happens if I fell a lumpy zone or squishy zone or a really nonflexible area?  What if I have unrepealable types of pain that are variegated from the regular pains. If I need wound care, how often are you going to see me?  Can I text whenever something worries me?Surpassingre getting a TT know that this is a BIG surgery.  Expect 2-4 weeks lanugo and then slowly towers recovery from there.  Everyone is different, some heal faster, some plane slower.  You moreover don’t know who will have wound issues.  You need good home superintendency and support. Things to buy are:  A walker, it will save your when lip unruffle books or music or movies but stuff to do while hanging out bored eventaully need scar cream, I like Mederma wide scar gel. you moreover should have a shower chair you moreover might like coconut oil to massage stomach with and can use on the scar. throat lozenges (you don’t want to cough) protein for healing zinc, vit c, and bromelein for supplements   Know now things like that you are most likely getting a vag lift … This means, your pubic hair line goes up to your scar now and you have a lot increasingly hair than before.  It moreover repositions the vaginal opening so sex feels different.  The angles are off, it takes some getting used to. Know that your mons pubis zone can get quite swollen and squint distirbing. Know that many people have vitals sawed-off problems.  Swelling can last for a long time.  It gets the worst between weeks 3 and 8 and then starts to get largest but you still get swelling at the end of the day or without exercise, Read my post on wound care, squint at the photos, this happens to people, could you deal with it if it was you?  I liked drainless but drains may have saved me from all my wound problems, so I don’t know. Ideally, I would want a quilted tideway with 1 small drains at the flap. There is tightness, numbness, healing, etc issues to think about.  It really take at least one year to recover, that is a long time.  At 2 months now, I still have some swelling, lots of swelling at my unshut wound, I have one wound still unshut and flipside closed, I have a vitals sawed-off trying to heal, and I have a ton of tightness in my lower stomach.  I moreover have nonflexible scar tissue forming in large areas near the scars that are painful.  It is less flexible and will throbb. It it is a big surgery.Increasinglythan just, yeah, let’s go get my stomach unappetizing today.  Good luck with your choice.  Most women don’t regret it but do wish they were largest informed well-nigh what to expect.         No Comments Posted in Medical, Personal   Caring for and packing an unshut wound 22 Feb Wound Healing Tips:  Photos / Images of wound healing over time   You can get an unshut wound from many variegated reasons, in the end however, we are all dealing with the issue of how to get it to heal quickly.  Many wounds come from surgery when an incision does not stay tropical or there is tissue death, necrosis, that must be managed. It can moreover come from an infection.  My wound came from a seroma of fluid putting pressure on my incision and therefore, causing it to open. I will requite translating in unstipulated and in story mode based on what happened to me.  Your wound could be any size.  It will have a length, width, and depth.   It moreover might tunnel through sealed layers of the skin and have a width with in the tunnel.  What matters most is knowing the dimensions so you can measure progress.  My wound was well-nigh 2 inches long, 1 inch wide, and 6 inches deep in a tunnel that had a diameter of well-nigh an inch.  It was pretty big.   Suggestion: Measure and record your wound size. Initially, my wound looked terrible, it had woebegone stuff in it (pic 1) and it was unhealthy looking.  It unquestionably needed something tabbed debridement.  This gets rid of unhealthy tissue so new tissue can grow.  The doctor felt virtually with a long Qtip and packed with wet gauze and saline.  Later, I had to replace the gauze and do this twice per day.  This whoopee does help slowly debride the wound but largest and faster methods can be used such as lightly scraping with a scalpel or using Medihoney, which I sooner used and this helped debride the wound very well. Wound needs debridement – pic 1 Wet to dry dressings pic 2   I have a video link on YouTube that shows me doing the wet to dry packing of the wound.  Remember that this is a deep hole, so it is like a magic trick of disappearing scarves. The link is at http://youtu.be/Q354L0Vvd5c When doing these wet to dry dressings, I would have to imbricate the wound up with something (the dry part of wet to dry dressings) to reservation all the fluid.  It was a mix of exudate and serous fluid.  In the beginning, there was a lot of it.  I would imbricate it with a maxi pad or plane two at night and stick them to the side of my underwear to hold them in place. First two weeks not doing much, pic 3 For the first two weeks, the wound only got bigger.  It was looking healthier but it did not get smaller at all.  You see in pic 3 that it didn’t do much but by pic 4, the skin is pinker and healthier but the size looks a little bigger. Once we saw the healthy smooth, red granulation tissue, we knew that healing could start taking place.  I would intermittently use regular saline gauze and the gauze with the Medihoney on it as you saw me do in the video.  I moreover purchased Medihoney  rope so I could completely pack it with Medhoney.  It was well-nigh $60 for the rope,and well-nigh $16 for each tube of the paste.  I bought on Amazon.  They sell all kinds of Medihoney products.  The gel and paste are similar but the gel is thicker, I found the paste worked weightier for putting on a gauze surpassing packing.  The rope is long sheets of honey on a gauze-like alginate that you pack directly with and the honey melts into the wound and then you pull out the gel piece without a day or two.  Read all the benefits of Medihoney and you will be impressed.  It speeds healing, decreases pains, gets rid of infection, and helps alimony you from getting an infection.  After 2 weeks of wet dry packing and Medihoney, I started feeling the wound tighten on the inside. Read the rest of this entry »   No Comments Posted in Medical, Personal   « Older Entries Newer Entries » Categories Border Collies Confessions from worldwide cadre math teachers Education Financial Medical Parenting Personal Uncategorized Recent Posts How to get wonted to NCSUHigherEngineering What if… we did math right? Oral Conscious sedation dentistry … what is it really like? Quality over Quantity: A New idea for Math Education Freshman year for free… pay for only 3 years of higher PagesWell-nighZen5.me Blogroll AllWell-nighSpelling Curriculum http://solidk9training.com/about/ Mathematics Curriculum solid k9 training solid k9 training Solid k9 training Twitter YouTube Meta Log in Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.org   ChocoTheme by .css{mayo} | powered by WordPress Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS) Press f for fullscreen.