The Care and Feeding of Elayna

[shadesong]

A letter to my parents... yendi, I know this isn't everything. Tell me what I'm forgetting!

Food: She has the same basic food obsessions... but now she also likes Quaker Chewy granola bars in oatmeal raisin. And she likes to make brownies from the boxed mixes - they don't require milk. At restaurants, she's interested in vegan desserts.

TV: Half an hour a day on weekdays, an hour a day on weekends. She can earn an additional half hour for every half hour she reads.

Movies: I don't think there's anything coming out that I specifically *don't* want her to see.

Books: She's almost at a high school reading level, but I'd limit her to middle-school-style books. The only barrier is content.

If I can find her Latin book, I'll send it; please remind her that it exists. She loves it when she has it, but it's out of sight, out of mind. If she finishes it, let me know and I'll get her the sequel.

Her current obsession is neurology, due to my seizures. See if you can get her library books about the brain. Dad, if you can tell her anything, that'd be great. She's also just interested in the human body in general. (She hasn't had the birds & bees talk yet.) If she expresses any kind of scientific or research interest, please encourage that!

Music: Try to expose her to new stuff! She loves Harry Belafonte, Dad.

Math: She's way into division. If I can get to the school supply store, I'll get her a book of worksheets.

Comments

[creentmerveille.livejournal.com]

I so wish she lived in Orlando.

Kix and she have so much in common!

Especially the avid reading and love of biology and math.

I think they'd like each other. :)

[beowabbit]

Remind me, what Latin book is she using?

(She hasn't had the birds & bees talk yet.)

I have to say, that strikes me as mildly odd, not from a practical-need standpoint, but just from the standpoint that she's a bright, scientifically-minded child, and I can't imagine her not wanting to know about such a major part of human biology and human society. (Although I suppose you can know an awful lot about pregnancy, gestation, and childbirth without knowing anything about sperm at all. :-)

[heathrow.livejournal.com]

Is she still using a booster seat in the car? You may want to remind them to use it.

[dark-blade.livejournal.com]

Song, you might want to mention that anything rated __ is off limits even if she doesn't seem to be paying attention to it...

[xaeon.livejournal.com]

(She hasn't had the birds & bees talk yet.)
When I was in 5th grade, they started teaching us that stuff in school. Might be starting even earlier these days. Just a heads up.

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

(She hasn't had the birds & bees talk yet.)

You might want to jump on that soon, sweetie. I know a lot of people who started their periods at age 9 and 10...it's early, yes, but it happens.

[yendi]

TV. Remind them that it's half an hour reading something on her level. Comics do not count, ditto magazines or anything she read back in the first grade.

Food -- she can make her own sandwiches, so they should leave the fixings in her reach.

And the brownies we've been making haven't been boxed. They've been the Baker's recipe, just using margarine instead of butter.

[wytchchyld.livejournal.com]

Places online with division stuff you can print out:

http://www.sssoftware.com/freeworksheets/division.html
http://www.edhelper.com/division.htm
http://www.aplusmath.com/Worksheets/Division.html
http://www.onlineworksheets.org/long_div2x6.htm (this and the next two are randomly generated so you can get different versions of a worksheet from these three by reloading the URL - useful if you have a division addict)
http://www.onlineworksheets.org/long_div1x3.htm
http://www.onlineworksheets.org/long_div1x3nr.htm
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/math/div/ (this one has annoying popups attached to it)
http://www.aaamath.com/div.html (not worksheets, but some interactive on-the-web activities to help build automaticity)

[amokk]

So are we taking bets this year on how many days it'll take for all the rules to be totally ignored?

[lightgatherer.livejournal.com]

So is Elayna strictly vegan, or does she just have an interest in vegan foods? If she's a strict vegan, I don't envy you! I haven't gone the vegan route myself in part due to how difficult it is to make sure that all nutritional needs are met. If you've got to balance the critical nutritional needs of a growing child against the demands of a vegan diet, wow....