Nov election selections

 As part of my regeneration.org punch list, I have a directive to vote in support of initiatives and candidates that promote education and family planning...  This is confusing stuff, but I did the best I could.  Let's check back in November and see what carried the day.  

President/VP- Harris/Walz.  Have the Sierra Club endorsement.  Trump drilling track record and Project 2025 did not look very eco-friendly.  Anyone else would not have a chance of winning the election.  Trump won.  I think not going on Joe Rogan cost it for her.  

Senate- Schiff-  Looked more qualified and has a "protecting our environment" plank in his platform vs. a  MLB retiree. Won!   

46th District- Correa.  Correa has Sierra Club endorsement and is the incumbent.  Of all the Republican ticket, Pan is the most the most compelling in his reminiscence to Andrew Yang and the ideas of UBI, school choice, gut lobby power, and curbing national debt...  That said, Correa is leading by a large margins in the polls and even though he has no express environmental objective, looks like he has a voting record against raising national debt.  Approval vote for both.  Won!  

68th Assembly- Valencia.  Incumbent.  Tardif had some appeal for his pro-school choice position, but then I looked at the one review of his sheet metal small business and figured Valencia was the safer choice.  Won.  

SAUSD Area 3- Suarez. This sucked.  The incumbent looks like he got involved in a drunken hit and run after doing an Elks Lodge pub crawl of some sort.  The other candidate to offer a statement basically said their agenda was to defund the school.  I went with the 3rd option no statement wildcard and while curious about the brief 2 month stint at a private school we considered sending the kid to, thought her current employer (teen mom support org) seemed more sane than my other options.  Incumbent won.    

SA Mayor Amezcua- someone I thought was a polling service called me about my plans and ended up seeding doubt about the qualifications of Vazquez.  At any rate, if she's working on homelessness and affordable housing, I feel like I'm seeing less people on the street and more developments going up, so keep up the work.  Won.  

Proposition 2- yes.  Especially in that includes Charters in scope.  

Proposition 3- yes.  It is hard to find your person these days, let's expand the pool of viable matches.

Proposition 4- yes.  These are 2 apocalyptic scenarios I find most plausible.  Let's avert if we can.  

Proposition 5- no.  If this were geared toward infrastructure, sure, tax us >1% assessed value to keep utilities in good working order.  The affordable housing component they are leading with gave me pause though.  How is this not the equivalent of asking the government to buy mortgage backed securities?  

Proposition 6- yes.  uh, sure, as a Quaker, this looked a bit like slavery, even if I'm not sure how prevalent it is in practice.  This went no.  

Proposition 32- no.  IDK if increasing minimum wages work and couldn't find compelling data to show that they do?  

Prop 33- no.  Lots more googling on efficacy of rent controls.  Having lived through rent hikes when I moved here, I can sympathize with renters.  That said, that hike drove me into long term homeownership which was a win.  Control could keep people in their spots longer which is probably better for the local social fabric of a neighborhood.  But then delving into Brookings stuff (admittedly giving off a conservative think tank vibe), it could also disincentivise landlords from keeping the properties in good working order and create gentrification if they can convert the space to condo designation to avoid the controls and squeeze the housing market even more.  So I basically fell back to my free market roots of thinking property holders will do a better job maintaining the building if they have greater agency over how it is priced.  Plus the discussion of this prop made it look like its initiation might have been an over-reach of an HIV interest group.   

Prop 34- yes.  See above.  Discussions didn't talk much about this, but a statewide negotiation for drug prices seems like something that should have been done already.  

Prop 35- Yes.  This looks like a step in the right direction of making healthcare accessible for more/all.  No one is even formulating an argument against.  

Prop 36- No.  The idea of commuting sentences for possession/substance abuse if people completed therapy was pretty intriguing.  I didn't like that it was bundled with and people focused on this repeat offense harsher penalty.  I couldn't find any evidence that this would do anything to deter the crime and we might just incur more costs keeping people incarcerated... but maybe that is one way to ensure housing for all?  I think this passed, which is fine.  

Prop G- Yes.  Some arguments against along the lines that they hadn't been transparent enough with their spending of the last bond, but in general, it seems like community colleges/trade school are a good investment in the community and an employable workforce.  No, but kind of relieved when MacGyver pointed out how much they were asking/tax payer.  

Prop I- Yes.  For the above reasons, and that they had a lot more detail about what they needed to spend it on.  A little sore that this wouldn't support infrastructure charters could use, but hey.  

Prop CC- No.  See prop 33.  

Prop DD- Yes.  Not sure how this will be verified, but I don't think saying it costs the city too much is a reason to keep slightly under half he population disenfranchised. Didn't pass, so kind of relieved not to have to sort out the implementation.  

Prop EE- Yes.  No arguments against, this is a documentation thing.  

Prop FF- No.  General dislike of something worded to sound like it is a restraint but is actually a huge raise.  I would like to believe that giving council members larger compensation would mean there would be less graft, but I don't actually think that's how that works.  It might make it possible for more working class people to serve, particularly if this is a role that is more than part-time.  But decline this one and see if they revise it to be more explicit next time.  

10/10  and ballot's in the mail, but this was an interesting infographic, I am a libertari-crat, it would seem?  ... https://igs.berkeley.edu/library/california-ballot-proposition-guides/november-5-2024-general-election/november-5-2024

Math momentum and general Q3 2024 routine recap

 I asked the homeschooling forum on Reddit for tips on how to maintain momentum on math curriculum this year.  Here is a snapshot of the tweaks suggested.  

I photocopied the table of contents in the Rightstart math curriculum (not consumable, needs to be returned when finished).  I've been scribbling dates a lesson was completed here to have a quick view of our velocity.  It looks like this fall, we have been averaging 1 lesson/calendar day.  This is full calendar-- we often do 3 in a sitting, skip a day while she is at the learning center.  I am also experimenting with annotating with which kinder learning standard it might cover for uploads to the teacher, but based on the first upload, I may just give my daughter a quick busywork worksheet to fulfill that requirement since she is in a text that is a bit above expected grade level.    

Based on that velocity, I skimmed the next 7-10 lessons ahead to see what worksheets, games, and manipulatives were called for.  I made copies of the worksheets.  If I'm ok with a little visual clutter, I sometimes leave the worksheet book directly in the photocopier since this is the main thing I am photocopying.  I suppose I could use the worksheet book as a consumable and not worry about copies at all, but we went through a perfectionist season where a small mistake would result in tears, torn and crumpled worksheets, etc.  And it was nice to have the "insurance" we could make a copy and return to this in a calmer moment.  Based on other Reddit feedback, I gave myself some grace to not beat myself up if I don't attempt to cover every card game or manipulative activity if my daughter seems to grok it with a quick discussion.    

I crammed the said 7-10 lessons worth of materials in with the table of contents tracker and leave the spiral bind open to whatever the last lesson was.  Redditors suggested doing this prep weekly.  I had a "prep math" weekly action item but it would often fall off my to do list.  I can put it back, but I don't feel like I've done anything that would massively increase compliance...

I have contemplated the productivity approach of block scheduling to dos rather than working off a list, but find that in general in this season of caregiving, my work is too interruptive to plan on a reliable increment of time to sit down and work without being asked  to prep a snack, play a game, etc.  Plus the to do's themselves are usually pretty quick to execute (move the laundry) and wouldn't make sense having a management system that takes longer to keep up to date than it would take just to knock the task out.  

Above is my general tasking approach now.  I have the left 2 pages in a Keep app on my phone, but sometimes find it satisfying to cross off a physical page.  Also Keep cross referencing can send me down a media rabbit hole that analog would not.  Finally, in printing these lists out, I have a better sense for "yeah," I can crank through a column of stuff today versus the more amorphous anxiety induced by a doom scroll through the Keep app.  Page 1 are daily habits copy pasted off a fixed list.  There is 1 for 15 mins ELA, 1 for 15 mins Math.  Page 1 also has appointments occurring that day.  Page 2 is the backlog that I've grouped loosely into cleaning/cooking/yard/errand/desk work contexts.  I chip away at that where I can but have no illusions I'll ever zero that one out.  Page 3 is a weekly quad coloring page with a bunch of fitness activities.  I use this as a general proxy for how much fitness and movement I've incorporated into my life.  There are some gross discrepancies-- like a 2 mile walk or 4 mile bike are a bigger effort than knocking out 5 push ups, but so far, this is better than nothing.  I have an end of day habit to reconcile these lists and print a new 2 pager since I've usually scribbled follow up actions or shopping list items on the hardcopies throughout the day.  

Right, back to math.  So skimming the next lessons revealed that even in a manipulative-heavy curriculum like RS, you aren't using all of them at the same time.  In fact, some, we may never need again (i.e. Yellow is the Sun song book, flashcards holding up hand signifiers for numbers 1-10).  All this other math manipulative stuff I was keeping in a grande Ikea tote close to the kitchen got shunted under the bed.  I will dig out new pieces the next time I'm planning a couple lessons out.  

This left me with a svelt art cart basket of abacus, dry erase board, place value cards, and 100's cards for the upcoming lessons.  

I stuck the teacher text and the handwriting text on the next tier up.  An audited set of most reached for art supplies are at the top.. and dice, we always need dice for something.  We are experimenting with "wampum" currently.  I give a bead for 15 minutes of a task completed.  We have a 15 min sand timer, but I would keep my eyes peeled for 2 more since sometimes we get 5 good minutes in, need to tip it sideways to pause it, and then start working on another subject that would also benefit from being timed.  

Some redditors mention no screens or excursions until their big 3 R's are covered.  I love this in theory.  In practice, we have just clawed back from a summer of "All iPad All the Time."  I started by offering bonus bead/bribes -- 2.5 hours of youtube time budget/school day, but if it wasn't spent, the minutes could be cashed out for shopping at Target.  Yeah, I know, I felt gross about enabling the consumerism too.  We ended up spending a lot of the day negotiating about when school would end and the beads would not need to be turned in because Daddy could unlock the iPad as wind-down to bed for free (yeah, I know blue light before bed, gah!) but what of the days when he works from home?  etc.  So I moved to a new rule of "youtube is open for scrolling between the hours of 7 and 8 (AM and PM)."  That has been a lot more seamless to enforce and I am impressed that even with the ancient iPad doing a system update that completely broke my ability to parental control lock it, my daughter has stuck with this guidance.  Sidenote- she does have free access to Khan Kids all day when she wants to take a more passive learning break.  A Redditor mentioned our car school math experiment (Beast Academy) has an online option as well.  In this season, we don't have any curriculum that *needs* online access, but as she gets older or more fascinated with the Minecraft charter club we might consider exploring that because we've hacked the Khan settings to the highest grade level they will go and she doesn't seem to find much challenge there anymore.  But I digress, so yes, on the less scheduled days (M/W/F) I will follow the Redditing consensus to start with math in the AM and limit fun discretionary activities/screen time until it is done.  When she starts to lose it, I will switch to 15 mins of handwriting.  I'm not worried about reading so much because she did that precociously, and have you seen our backseat?    

We are forever driving somewhere for piano, gymnastics, swim, water polo, girl scouts.  So the arrangement I have for carschool is: A. Let her free range at the library periodically and leave a stack of books in arms reach of her seat to read while we're driving.  I've also seeded it with a couple library holds on topics we are studying like Mesoamerican civilizations and social emotional learning.  She doesn't really spontaneously read while in the house, but she does a lot of spontaneous list making and game constructing.  B.  keep a clipboard with storage compartment loaded with Beast Academy math, doodle paper, pencils, erasers, and a compact crayon.  This is what we reach for in those awkward situations where we've arrived somewhere early (because I'm compulsive like that) and need to wait/cause as little disruption to others while doing so.  

So that's where we're at at this point in our homeschooling-math journey.  Hopefully I'll look back on this in a couple years and laugh at how earnest and intense I was about the whole thing.  Bonus photo-- the math balance doesn't really fit that great in under bed storage, but is quite a hit for working on math facts in the backyard pool.  If she's having a really off day, I'll chuck the hanging tabs in the deep end and have her dive to retrieve them and make an equation that balances.  This might be a segue into what some Redditors said about they do math subject home school year round.  I found with morning camps and with telling her she was on summer break, it was hard to keep hitting the textbooks last summer.  But I did find myself annoyed that there were so many lessons of review in the beginning of the Level B text, almost like they expected the student to have forgotten everything.  Maybe going year round and giving ourselves permissions to very lightly skim/skip the first 15-20 lessons of Level C is the way to go.   

Artist Date: Simmer Pot

Working through Julia Cameron's Artist's Way (again).  The artist dates have always been a challenge.  Feeling *shouldy* and that there is always something a bit more practical I should be doing with the time.  When I do one, I often find myself welling up in gratitude and joy tears....  

Today's simmer pot date is the culmination of nudges.  1.  Fallon has been making "potions" nonstop-- food coloring on the counter, mud/sawdust/leaves potion in the yard, "frog potion" at preschool thankfully hot glued closed.  She's started taking cooking classes.  2.  We are between "home" candles since I ran out of the library scent and have concluded at least on Jens in cologne samplers, the heavy tobacco scent I substituted may not be the most charming.  This as he soaks his chain smoking dive buddy's gifted dive gear to try to lift the ciggy odor.  3.  I've wanted some sort of "kitchen sink" recipe for the citrus I buy as edible decor but never get around to eating.  4.  The pitcher plants I got "for Fallon's birthday" all blackened their pitchers from transplant shock and I'm trying to recover them with added humidity and less brutal sun exposure.  

So this concoction is lemon, lime, pumpkin spice, cloves and vanilla extract.  It gives me permission- Nay, Mandates I chill in the house for an indeterminate amount of time...  Even if that takes the form of some practical cabinet organization, cleaning, snacking, etc.  Right now, the clove-forward nose is reminding me of my Grandma Ivy's potpourri back in Jacksonville.   

August Goals Homeschool

 Dear FutureMe,

Are you excited for the first day of school?  How was Punta Pescadero?  

Last month I'd give myself a C for goals.  I am aggregating reverse planning notes about weekly, rather than daily.  I'm not pushing myself to capture dares or 1% improvements, although I did both of the examples primed (ride bus to The Lot and watch Springs homeschooling youtubes).  

This month, my goal is just to get the materials lined up for the first 20 day bout of teaching.  I am also going to go through my homeschool keep note and take the homeschool 101 course.  I want to always keep in my peripheral vision the idea of creating school habits that translate into adulthood and to find ways Fallon's school work can educate me as an adult.  

July Goals Homeschool

Learned in June that I can track daily projects pretty easily in phone notes.  Getting them into a journal weekly was something I procrastinated on.  Didn't have nearly as much "chill and learn" time as I anticipated with camp and Jiu Jitsu 3x/week and a pressure to keep her out on the town, playing with friends or otherwise not slowing down her grand's progress on the Steam room.  

So this month, my goal is to do smaller, more frequent goals.  As part of an evening routine, I'll transpose what we did that day and either: 1.  pick an educational dare for the next day or 2.  list a "1% better" adjustment I implemented that day.  

Some ideas to prime the pump:

1.  Dare: to ride the bus and watch a movie at The Lot-- possibly 7/2-7/3 when no activities going on?

2.  1%: watch one of the Springs Charter youtubes

June Goals Homeschool

We got into a charter.  They don't have a TK teacher available for part-time enrichment at the learning center.  We have ordered curriculum for August (FIAR teacher guide, Explode the Code, HWT KN, and Mystery Science sub).  

My biggest concern is around tracking what we've done consistently.  Feeling like I want us to keep on track (or let's be real, ahead of schedule) and have a sense for the velocity we are moving through content.  I got a 52 week homeschool planner and have watched some videos on reverse planning.  My goal for this month is keeping a Note open on my phone and tracking in broad strokes the activities and play we got into  that day.  Then going through in a weekly review and adding that to the planner.  At month end, I will try to get in front of tracking down materials and sketching out larger project areas to try for in July (i.e. Jot it Down has month-long project/portfolio outputs).  

Bonus points:  

• finding away to "pool school" Rightstart Math.  I've given myself permission to skip the review sections but this may take a bit more daily prep and waterproof-ish manipulatives.  F.
• putting this blog post into a FutureMe email to arrive at the end of the month and remind me to get back at it. A, helpful reminder
• scav hunt FIAR and FIAR mini unit titles, Poodle, and Grammar Island A- in progress-have GI, skipped Poodle, and a collection of X FIAR but a few more to track down
• sign up for 4 or less subscription services Done, Think Outside + 2 Kiwicrates for father's day + Chop Chop espanol.  Have been stealing Radish and LilChefs recipes to try but realistically easier to riff on things we already eat.  
• get a good rotation going on packable lunches and fast nutritious breakfasts and dinners B+ got a lunch box that doesn't spill, have found some favorites, moving into July with an experiment on slow carb + higher protein meal prep for me.  Still feels like a hassle to have to pack a lunch every night.  
• try some Brave Writer lifestyle elements: movie night, tea time, C it is in the weekly toast to do but don't actually sit down and schedule it.  

Kudos: aka you aren't sucking as hard as you think... 

• We pool schooled the Teach Your Child to Read index and very few words tripped her up.  With a couple Khan assignments on silent e's at the end of words (come, home, etc.), she will be more than solid.  
• Got a more than halfway through Jot it Down "Numbers" project and are spitballing a "Day in the Life" on the topic of a water slide park for next month.  
• Started Day you Begin FIAR mini unit, have looked at eggs with different shell colors and skin color crayons

6/26 review-- doing a great job with keeping a phone note.  Not loving the hassle of a weekly transfer into the lesson planner, but getting more comfortable with subject categories.  

#39 Do a sunscreen bake off

 2/3/2023 Prompted by a big acne break out and thinking this is not what I expected at 38.  First I hunted for local dermatologists.  Then I hunted Reddit for suggestions on what dermatologists would typically recommend for me.  I don't use a ton of makeup, but I am looking for a solid sunscreen-- possibly tinted to be foundationy, possibly water resistant given the pool situation-- that doesn't cause break outs.  Maybe eventually I'll figure out other cosmetics to add occasional "oomph" without break out consequences, but for now it seems that mascara is enough of a kick.  Reddit also suggested that perhaps my experiment making InstantPot yogurt to compete with our Brown Cow habit might have been to blame.  The first batch wasn't so obviously superior that I felt I could pawn it off on DH in good conscience, so I was eating it in quantity, mixing it into frozen yogurt and I've strayed more toward plant-based oatmilks and maybe the occasional cheese.  Evidently milk can throw your hormones out of whack even if you spring for the organic grass fed options?  

So any rate, if I'm going to be working with a derm, why not at least trial the super expensive sunscreens Redditors suggest for mature acne prone skin?  They don't make samples easy to come by and I felt a bit conflicted about buying them on eBay with their "not labeled for resale" packaging and who knows how much original product in there, but cheaper than dropping $150 on full bottles of stuff I might not even go through.  

Cerave Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen-- this was my default because the Cerave cleansers and to some extent lotions seemed to be the least irritating and also budget friendly.  I've since moved to just using vaseline as a lotion.  But when I put in the sunscreen, I notice some volcanoes starting to errupt on my nose and jaw line before end of day.  Hold over from the dairy project or something else?  EWG 2 (if same formulation as baby)  $7.81/oz.  Titanium dioxide 5.5% Zinc oxide 10%

Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Lotion-- I liked that this had waterproof properties and Redditors suggested "Japanese" product lines are less irritating, I was more interested in the wet force, but this was the most common listing on eBay.  This is the first thing I trialed (2/3/2023).  EWG 8.  $8.38/oz .  avobenzone 2.3%, homosalate 10%, octisalate 5%, octocrylene 5%

Shiseido Wetforce Cream --  I wonder why it is so much more expensive/oz... $19.83/oz...I thought I was getting both from eBay samples, but they both came back as SPLotions.  

Hero force Shield Super Light-- Redditors suggested blueish tint might actually help with correcting break out redness... EWG 2.  $11.83/oz.  zinc oxide 17.53%

Elta MD UV Clear/Tinted-- Reddit's most-replied and upvoted option for my situation, but very expensive.  I also sprung for the tinted version.  EWG 4.  $22.91-$25.29/oz.  zinc oxide 9%.  octinoxate 7.5%

La Roche-Posay Anthelios Melt-In Milk-- this has very favorable Amazon reviews and my Polish penpal was excited to try it.  My trial version was refunded by seller, so this might be a late entry if I don't find something I love in the first wave.  Water resistant.  EWG 6.  $8.33/oz avobenzone 3%, homosalate 10%, octisalate 5%, octicrylene 7%.    Also a tinted water resistant 11% titanium dioxide version at $18.35/fluid oz EWG 4.  

Also Paula's choice resist is tinted, $18.50/oz.  13% zinc oxide (similar to hero force shield but with tint vs blueish).  

Shiseido ultimate sun protection lotion-- first day: has fragrance, goes on very sheer.  Had some dry flaky skin in normal places.  day 2: tried to add my contour coverage sticks and mascara-- angry skin in a couple hours on nose where contoured.  washed it off, covered in vaseline, seemed to calm down, contour sticks are on notice.  Don't hate the fragrance, but would prefer unscented.  Ended up buying 2 of the same thing with slightly different bottle branding from eBay...   (2/20) finished 1 bottle and onto the next, but this one is in delayed luggage.  Verdict so far-- don't love.  The fragrance is too strong to combine with planned fragrances.  It dries down really sheer and I like that it is water proof, but finding that the break out I started with persisted in more microbreak outs while wearing.  I tried to attribute it to travel and changed skin routine/wearing mask for a day/eating more sugar and dairy indiscriminately, but even then, when I took 2 days off from wearing and kept all else pretty equal, my skin improved.  

Hero (2/20) first application-- I think the blue tint redness reduction is a gimmick that means I definitely couldn't slather this on in the dark and assume it was blended without a mirror check.  I like that this sample had a seal I had to remove.  Also like that it has no fragrance.   2/28-- still pretty happy with this, a bit chalky and drying (or was that the time in the new pool?) and I'm not sure the blue does much good, but prefer to Shiseido.  

Elta MD (3/2, 3/3)-- ok, these are in little packets that are generous pours.  Tried tinted first, thinking the color is a bit dark for my skin tone, but workable and end result looked "better" than the hero tint reduction, more even coverage (though blowing my nose, a lot of "brown" came off with the kleenex).  Smell is of sunscreen and with the heavy application, felt it migrate and sting my eyes a little bit during swim school monitoring.  I sat in the sun quite a bit this first day (after a retinol treatment the night before) and had a little bit of red leathery neck the next day, but mostly in the places I hadn't spread sunscreen as heavily, so I don't think this was an lotion-specific irritation.  I used clear the next day-- slightly higher SPF.  Otherwise, seems to be a similar thing.  All else equal, I would take the tinted which allows me to feel more "put together" in one step.  I probably wouldn't apply quite as heavily as the single serve packets.  If price were no option, I might get both and mix them to lighten the tint a little bit.  To be continued.  (3/4-3/5) noticed a few comedones on nose-- could it be a zinc oxide sensitivity?  that would mean I was sensitive to heroforce too, right?  going to try a 1/2 application of tinted and see. 

3/12-- LRP (tinted water resistant w/ titanium dioxide) arrived yesterday.  Loving how thin it goes on and its tint and dry down a bit more than the EltaMD...  so if this doesn't aggravate, I suppose it is a slight cost-savings and likely slightly more water resistant?  Penpal turned me onto Sheerene Idriss who had an SPF lineup (none of the ones I trialed, but a more repair-focused LRP made the cut).  This got me interested in checking out supergoop glowscreen for its shimmer effect ($18.40-36/fl oz), PA++++ EWG 2.