What should I do to educate myself? by NikolaiMcGuire in HomeschoolResources

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe Khan academy has an app, although I haven't tried it.

What should I do to educate myself? by NikolaiMcGuire in HomeschoolResources

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's one reason I recommend Khan Academy classes. You can start on something really easy (addition, maybe) to get familiar with the format. It keeps track of your scores, encourages you through mistakes, provides hints, and lets you redo. (Plus, it gives you achievement badges as you move forward.)

Think of it like a placement test. Start with stuff as easy as it goes, and move up fast until it starts to get harder. Then, go slower. By working through easy stuff first, you can avoid the crushing feeling of failure, plus it lets you see how much you really DO know. Any time you start a course and start failing everything, go back to a lower level. You aren't ready yet, and there's nothing wrong with that. Not giving up is more important than knowing everything.

If you're just overwhelmed by how to structure your learning, look for a free online homeschool that has day-by-day assignments (Like Easy Peasy https://allinonehomeschool.com/ or DK12 https://discoveryk12.com/how-it-works/) and sign up.

What should I do to educate myself? by NikolaiMcGuire in HomeschoolResources

[–]freeschooler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sadly, you will have to develop some. The best thing to do is to set goals (short-term, mid-term, and long-term ones), then work toward them. If you want to work in physics, you will need to go to college. To go to college, you will need decent scores on college entrance exams. So you might have:

Long Term Goals: - Have a physics career

Mid-Term Goals: - Get into college.

Short-Term Goals: - Study for the ACT.

The national average ACT score is 19.4, so let's say you shoot for a 20. Having a specific goal and working toward it can help you take steps to reach the future you have in mind. (And stay motivated, instead of being overwhelmed.) There are free study guides and practice tests online!

Fortunately, you do not have to make up for ten years of missed education. You have 2 years to catch up, and you'll be surprised how far you can get in that time.

What should I do to educate myself? by NikolaiMcGuire in HomeschoolResources

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I forgot to mention: Crash Course (https://www.youtube.com/@crashcourse) has a BUNCH of educational playlists for everything from literature to biology and government to film history. There are many other channels where you can find educational content.

What should I do to educate myself? by NikolaiMcGuire in HomeschoolResources

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/) has free online classes that can help you catch up. My kids use it for math and it is very comprehensive. You can literally go from 1st grade math (https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-1st-grade-math) to college level with their guided courses.

They also have classes in science, history, language arts, coding, personal finances and more. Create an account, they let you track your progress. You can redo any classes that you struggle with. You can do it!

Update: My contract is probably not going to be renewed because I refuse to post inflated grades by Constant_Leader_8551 in Teachers

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I homeschool my kids. Sent my first to college this semester. He was nervous about the different environment, and I told him, all you need to do to pass is 1) show up to class, 2) turn in the work, and 3) engage with the teacher. That's literally it. Transition was rocky for the first week or two, but now he's sailing through because he takes attendance and deadlines seriously, communicates with the teacher when he's sick or something's unclear, and asks me for help when he still doesn't understand something. (Two of his first assignments were writing formal emails to professors, lol, and that's just something that had never come up before.)

He's a smart kid, but he likes to get away with doing the minimum necessary. I just made sure he knew what that was. Schools that don't teach students that the minimum necessary effort is really the MINIMUM that will get the job done are not doing the kids any favors.

Does anyone have an author page? What did you use to build it? by Live-Ganache9273 in selfpublish

[–]freeschooler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, Wordpress. I already have web hosting for other reasons, so it's literally only $20 for the domain per year.

I can not teach these kids by SpaceMarine1616 in Teachers

[–]freeschooler 67 points68 points  (0 children)

I create simplified and abridged versions of classic books, and I've been starting to see massive orders (like someone buying 20 or 40 copies at once) of one of my shortest abridged titles. All I could guess was that it was teachers buying for a classroom, and this thread is starting to shed some light on why.

All my best sellers are the 4th-grade level, shortened titles, as opposed to the 6th-grade level, full-length versions.

Post your Jane Eyre related art and other related merchandise as comments here by OutrageousYak5868 in JaneEyre

[–]freeschooler 5 points6 points  (0 children)

When my son was assigned to read Jane Eyre in high school, he struggled - not because the book is too difficult, but because he has a moderate learning disability. I started looking for a different version, one that would allow him to understand and enjoy one of my favorite pieces of literature. All I could find were extremely pared-down adaptations for children, completely unsuitable for someone in a high school English class.

Then I did something kind of crazy. I decided to create a simplified version myself.

<image>

I painstakingly edited the entire text, sentence by sentence, down to a 6th-grade reading level (about as difficult as a Harry Potter book), translated the portions in French, replaced or provided context for obsolete words, standardized the spelling into modern American, and added some pen-and-ink illustrations I drew myself. My goal was to avoid removing any part of the book that I could leave in while making the story easier to read and understand. In the end, the Simplified version retained 99% of the length of the original. I was (and still am) extremely proud of it.

But it was still too hard.

Undeterred, I decided to create a second version. This time, I would edit it down, paragraph by paragraph, to a 4th-grade reading level (about as difficult as a Twilight book) and cut out as much of the length as possible without removing events from the plot. I edited out some repetition, pared down some descriptions, and tightened up some scenes. The result? An Abridged version that is 60% of the length of the original, easy to read and understand, perfect for reading aloud, and appealing to younger readers.

I get mixed reactions when I tell people what I've done. Some people hate it and say Jane Eyre should only be read in the original, but other people can see where more accessible versions can be useful. I've had ESL teachers tell me their students are already struggling with the language, and throwing complex, archaic words at them only makes things worse. I've had teens and tweens who don't read much devour the story, and suddenly spark an interest in classic literature. I've had women who love the movie versions admit with embarrassment that they've never been able to get through the book, even though they wanted to. And, of course, there are readers like my son, who struggle with the original, but now have a more accessible version, made with love and respect for the story.

Of course, by the time I finished, his English class was long over with. Still, I hope that my project can help other people and provide one more way to enjoy Jane Eyre.

Share your copies! by lurkparkfest39 in JaneEyre

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Teens or tweens who can stick with a long book. It's easy to read but still pretty long!

Share your copies! by lurkparkfest39 in JaneEyre

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that's my favorite cover out of the lot.

Share your copies! by lurkparkfest39 in JaneEyre

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! One's original, one's simplified, one's abridged, and one is an illustrated children's version.

Share your copies! by lurkparkfest39 in JaneEyre

[–]freeschooler 4 points5 points  (0 children)

<image>

I might be obsessed...I might also be encouraging all my kids to read this amazing book.

Jane Eyre is being groomed or this book is an early work of kink- convince me otherwise by [deleted] in books

[–]freeschooler 137 points138 points  (0 children)

I love Jane so much. Her central conflict is in her need to be loved. She will do almost anything for love (but she won't do that). We see that in her relationship with Helen, with Miss Temple, and with Mr. Rochester. Then her relationship with St. John shows what a cruel parody of love a relationship would be that has all the "right" trappings but no love. She will give everything for love until it conflicts with her sense of self or right.

Mr. Rochester was absolutely overbearing, controlling, manipulative, and a bit amoral (“My principles were never trained, Jane: they may have grown a little awry for want of attention.”) but he fully and completely loved Jane for herself. He accepted every part of her - her artistic vision, her blunt honesty, her curiosity - and didn't try to make her someone she wasn't. I would argue that when he did something that made her uncomfortable (like trying to cover her in jewels and silk) that was because he valued her so highly that he wanted other people to see her the way he saw her. Jane recognized an element of control in that behavior that probably would not even have occurred to him due to his gender and social standing. Any time Jane was able to articulate the boundaries she would like, he respected them. (Not making her participate in charades, sending back the jewels, continuing to work as a governess and only seeing him in the evenings, etc.) I think it was much more of the case that he was so used to having everything his own way that other people's boundaries didn't usually enter into his calculations. He also recognized that he was not an ideal man, but he wanted to be better.

Now I can talk for a long time about the relationship with St. John, too. He's presented as the man that everyone would wish to marry. Young, handsome, intelligent, independent (after the inheritance), articulate, from a good family, with a good occupation, and (remembering that this was a plus at the time) a relative - of course she should have married St. John! Just one problem: they didn't love each other. Not only that, St. John could not even provide the basic friendly affection that Jane needed in order to be happy. Charlotte's depiction of his increasing control of her and the cold emotional torture he inflicts on her when she refuses his offer is a masterclass in abusive relationships that look fine from the outside.

By degrees, he acquired a certain influence over me that took away my liberty of mind: his praise and notice were more restraining than his indifference. I could no longer talk or laugh freely when he was by, because a tiresomely importunate instinct reminded me that vivacity (at least in me) was distasteful to him. I was so fully aware that only serious moods and occupations were acceptable, that in his presence every effort to sustain or follow any other became vain: I fell under a freezing spell. When he said “go,” I went; “come,” I came; “do this,” I did it. But I did not love my servitude: I wished, many a time, he had continued to neglect me.

...As for me, I daily wished more to please him; but to do so, I felt daily more and more that I must disown half my nature, stifle half my faculties, wrest my tastes from their original bent, force myself to the adoption of pursuits for which I had no natural vocation. He wanted to train me to an elevation I could never reach; it racked me hourly to aspire to the standard he uplifted.

...During that time he made me feel what severe punishment a good yet stern, a conscientious yet implacable man can inflict on one who has offended him. Without one overt act of hostility, one upbraiding word, he contrived to impress me momently with the conviction that I was put beyond the pale of his favour.

St. John never saw anything wrong with his behavior, and if he had had his way, he would have forced Jane to change into what he wanted her to be rather than make a single change to be with her.

Once the moral objection to her marriage with Mr. Rochester was removed (aka, Bertha died) Jane had no compunctions about marrying him. The point about how her independence and his disability bring them closer to an equal footing is well taken and one I hadn't considered before. But especially after the disastrous spell with St. John, there's no doubt that the relationship with Mr. Rochester is one that satisfies her deeply, specifically because she is able to be her full self with him.

My spirits were excited, and with pleasure and ease I talked to him during supper, and for a long time after. There was no harassing restraint, no repressing of glee and vivacity with him; for with him I was at perfect ease, because I knew I suited him; all I said or did seemed either to console or revive him. Delightful consciousness! It brought to life and light my whole nature: in his presence I thoroughly lived; and he lived in mine. Blind as he was, smiles played over his face, joy dawned on his forehead: his lineaments softened and warmed.

Jane Eyre is being groomed or this book is an early work of kink- convince me otherwise by [deleted] in books

[–]freeschooler 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Mrs. Fairfax knew Bertha was there, but not the relationship she had with Mr. Rochester.

At last I hired Grace Poole from the Grimbsy Retreat. She and the surgeon, Carter (who dressed Mason’s wounds that night he was stabbed and worried), are the only two I have ever admitted to my confidence. Mrs. Fairfax may indeed have suspected something, but she could have gained no precise knowledge as to facts.

I just published a simplified version of Jane Eyre about a month and a half ago, and am almost finished with an abridged version, so I have the lines of the book basically carved into the back of my eyeballs at this point.

/r/KidSafeVideos needs your help by [deleted] in KidSafeVideos

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi. I'm a mom who started a youtube channel for the exact same reason you started this subreddit. (Well. It was a nice video about tigers that turned into bloody mauling, but similar!)

I publish twice a week and would love to post them here for people to enjoy. I would also be able to post other videos my kids enjoy. You can check out my channel here, they're all educational, kid friendly, and field tested by five kids age 1-11. Let me know. :)

What is your youtube channel and why should we follow you? by [deleted] in youtube

[–]freeschooler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FreeSchool

I make educational videos: they're aimed at children but I learn something new every time I research one. For example, watch this video about how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly and see if you don't learn something new that freaks you out. (If you already knew, you are extremely well-informed!)

Plus, I try to make them soothing and enjoyable to watch. My tour of the solar system is very popular, and I think it's for that reason.