Thank you, I will try to find it. :)

I wouldn't suggest it. :) There are a couple of issues with it: 1) There are very, very few works which can be so easily categorized, being consisted in one "writing style" in their entirety. In the vast majority of the high school level works you can't exactly pinpoint a "writing style" the way you present it. 2) The sole concept of "writing styles" is largely reading into a text - and a pretty oversimplifying one as well. 3) In my opinion, literature in high school should be studied for completely different reasons and from a different point of view than to "help with writing" or to learn to group works into invented categories (though some of those should be familiar for the sake of general education). It's an issue hard to explain to some of the more "scientifically-minded" people, but literature doesn't work the way you have a piece of writing and say, aha, this has characteristics X, Y and Z, therefore it can be grouped with "narratives", "realism", "stemming from tradition A" or "thematically dealing with B". And, more important, literature shouldn't be studied that way if it can be avoided. To learn to think through labels and to project labels into a text rather than to work on the text itself can be a huge damage - not only for literary studies, but for studies of humanities in general. A lot of my former colleagues from university spent their first year basically learning how to "shift" the focus when approaching the text, because the positivist and "label" way of thinking was so deep into them that they could barely approach a text as a text. That's why I'm opposed to any kind of "thematic" study of literature, or study through some kind of arbitrary "divisions" (such as this, by "writing styles"). Only my two cents though.

I know; what I was referring to were methodological differences between science and religion as worldviews. Of course, evolution does not necessarily contradict the text of Genesis.

Disregard the rhetoric - which is nothing new and unheard of and relies on the same tricks many other persuaders into other ideas rely on as well - and focus on his arguments. Dissect those to see where does his approach to the problem and methodology differ from yours, and what leads him to his conclusions as opposed to yours. I will say only one word: METHODOLOGY. That's what it all comes down to. And that's what Dawkins as a scientist primarily has a problem with: he's thinking in the pattern of scientific method, which is drastically opposed to a worldview which stems from religion. It can never be the same to have a system which explains itself from the "inside" (if we're going to simplify, "It's true because it's written in a book which claims it's true.") and declares itself immune to any kind of criticism from the "outside"; and to have a system which suggests a model of the world (! notice the BIG difference here!), coming to the a posteriori conclusions and theory after empirical observations, actively OFFERS it to peer review and criticism and declares itself well disputable and disprovable. The two "teapots" are two very, very different stories.

Well, technically speaking, English too is a foreign language to my daughters (though they don't recognize it as such as all, they came here too young ;)), but I have been homeschooling them bilingually from the very beginning, doing schoolwork in English alongside Italian and studying both languages on a native level. My goal was perfect, balanced bilingualism for them, and we seem to have done it right, since both of our daughters are impeccable, native-like in both languages (their English is much better than mine!) and they pass for natives of their age in both cultures. I believe this will be a very valuable experience for them. But, English aside - since we don't really "count" it as a foreign language - the languages we study are Hebrew (modern), Latin and Greek. Hebrew is very important for us due to our heritage and friends/family in Israel (and the fact they go there every year). However, my daughters differ in interest regarding Hebrew. DD12 is practically trilingual - she spends a lot of time on Hebrew, watching Israeli TV, reading books and she has even begun using Hebrew-language materials aimed at native Israeli kids for her schoolwork - and by the time she hits high school age, provided this interest continues, I assume she will have internalized so much Hebrew that it will become her third "native language". ;) So with her, I absolutely aim at near-native fluency in Hebrew and if possible, we will even arrange some extended stay in Israel in order to help her with that. DD11 is not passionate about Hebrew. She's okay with it - but not genuinely interested, she does it because she has to and because she grew up with the exposure to the language. I'm not going to force her to attain the results her sister will attain, unless her interest increases as well - for me it's enough if she's conversant on a plethora of topics, can easily get by in Israel and doesn't feel at unease when dealing with any situation that might arise, has a decent level of literacy (such as needed to fill in various documents, be able to read a book or some materials related to her interests and write a shorter paper on some topic, etc) and has good foundation to build on later if she, hopefully, wishes. I also want her to have basic "religious literacy" regarding Biblical language and texts. So with her, I'm going to work on attaining that level and I will not force the "extra" things her sister is into - basic fluency and cultural literacy is enough, she doesn't have to be able to pass for a native. Regarding Latin and Greek, I want them to have what is referred to as "reading fluency" - the ability to read a Latin/Greek text with the minimal help of a dictionary (i.e. to have a pretty wide vocabulary), as well as the analytical skills needed to analyze the text from grammatical/metrical point of view. I also want them to have an overview of Roman and Greek history/literature in their mind, as well as to actually have read most of the important things in its original language. I don't aim for active knowledge, writing compositions in Latin or alike - but if they'll want to "upgrade" their level, I will provide them with competent instructors. We study Latin and Greek analytically, and Hebrew "immersion style", though I have added elements of analytical study as I want them to "know the rules" in addition to knowing the things by "what sounds good". It's important not to quit studying a modern language at some point and then just allow it to rot. You have to maintain it by using it in some way - books, movies, music, correspondance, travels, etc. - and by doing it frequently. Otherwise, a language once "learned" in middle school will be forgotten till graduation if there's no input and output during high school.

I'm not from the US. ;) True, currently we reside here, but we actually do plan on going back sometime in the not so far future, perhaps even before they hit high school age (they're 11 and 12 at present). I'm not so concerned about ginnasio (8th & 9th grade), but I'd like them to attend liceo (10th-12th) in school, if not the whole ginnasio+liceo system. The situation in Italy is somewhat better than what I've seen here, and the particular schools I have in mind are pretty good (they officially do attend school anyway, for the sake of handling formal things and doing yearly exams). :) True, that's a very valid concern. Another reason why I didn't give my daughters to "the system" here.

Daily (six days a week): Italian language & literature (native language, using native materials from Italy) Latin language & literature (a daily chunk of translation/analysis; we've covered grammar though we brush up on it from time to time) Mathematics (approx. 9th grade level) Biology/Chemistry (merged together, following an Italian curriculum) - maybe not every single out of six days, but most days she does them because that's where her interests lie 2 or 3 times a week: English (language & literature, but not so focused on literature) Greek (work on the text, mostly) Physics/Geography (merged together because she's studying topics which cover both) History Something in Hebrew related to her studies (simply for the sake of developing higher fluency in Hebrew + working on vocabulary) Once a week: Judaics + parsha (in Hebrew) Music There are other things we do informally - such as Art - but not as a school subject.

From my perspective, people raised within the cultural context of what is usually referred to as "Western culture" should throughout their education be taught both classical languages, in addition to two modern foreign languages - usually the "big" ones from that same cultural context (at least one). Out of the latter two, in at least one of them student should reach the level of proficiency which allows them to read actual literature and converse effortlessly on a plethora of topics, both in informal and academic context - so we're talking of an "advanced" level. In the other foreign language they should at least reach the level of talking on a plethora of topics outside of the formal/academic context, being able to read newspapers and get a gist of literature and academic work if needed and overall being on the level that they can get around in the country in various situations - so we're talking of some "intermediate", maybe even "upper intermediate" level. Classics should be taught at least to the extent of being able to go through a text with the help of dictionary (in other words, all of the morphology and syntax needs to be done and foundations for work on the text laid, though one might not reach the level of actual fluent reading). Only my two cents.

Honestly, I think that the problem lies somewhere else. Though I'm not sure how exactly to word it. Even though I don't think there's an issue with teaching all subjects to younger kids, I do think they need to be exposed to competent professors which are experts in their respective fields - for all subjects, not only those they're interested in (also, keep in mind that their interests change as well - that's another reason why). While I consider myself a fairly educated person and definitely able to teach elementary/middle school material, in all honesty, I can't be as confident that in high school for some fields I can give them as much as a good professor could. Personally for me that's a bigger concern than time saving.

Oh, don't get me wrong - there is absolutely nothing wrong with studying Koine! :) Other than learning it for the purposes of reading NT and some Byzantine literature, I would not recommend learning that form as you will understand it anyway if you learn the classical "Attic Greek" (which is usually the form studied) - however, the situation is not quite the same if you start with Koine and then move onto the dialects. The dialects are more demanding, Koine actually emerged as a result of "simplifying" (in lack of better expression) Greek, which happens with the territorial spread, so if one starts with Koine and masters Koine, they will still have issues with the dialects (and most of the things you would wish to read - unless, as I said, you study Greek specifically for religious literature - are in the "Attic" dialect and various combinations of dialects which still resemble less to Koine and the latter forms than to the Attic), but if one starts with Attic - that's the way they taught us at school and as I'm doing with my daughters - they can basically read Koine without any further preparation and find Koine texts to be VERY easy (at school we used to read NT without any previous preparation or work on the text, because the language was usually very easy - as opposed to most other things).

What is today referred to as "Modern Greek" became the official language in the 70s. Before that, Greece had a rather strange linguistic situation - the official language was something called "katharevousa" ("purified", archaic language), while the actual spoken language was something else, which only in the 70s became official. Of course, the situation is not always clear and literary language often merges the two, some forms of "katherevousa" exist today as well, but for the sake of this response I'm simplifying things a little. Therefore, when you study "Modern Greek" you study this form, which officially exists less than half century. This also creates some issues with the work on the text, as a lot of Greek texts and books are still in the former language. Basically, all of Greek is one single language in different stages of its development, and somebody who knows Greek can notice that. However, somebody who doesn't really know Greek will not notice it at all, especially with so many loanwords, Turkish words and whatnot, various weird forms that emerged over the time, which make "Modern Greek" different from "Ancient Greek". The parallels exist and are in fact multiple and amazing, but one needs a really solid background in various stages of the development of Greek language to be able to actually see and profit from those parallels. Also, the meanings of some roots changed over the time. Regarding the pronunciation/reading, same letters of the alphabet are not read the same way, if you learned Ancient Greek with a reconstructed pronunciation (in which β is "beta" and η "eta", as opposed to "vita" and "ita" today, and some other things). But reading is the least of your issues, reading is learned in few hours and practiced in a week; it's the language itself that should concern you the most. I don't recommend studying Koine at all for plethora of reasons which I won't go into now, but it is easier than Modern Greek - maybe it helps from that perspective (some words and roots will be known, basic grammar patterns - though those differ in Modern Greek they still somehow follow the same "logic" - etc). Good luck. I also don't recommend RS for any language.

Yes, those kind of things tend to happen when child-parent relationship is based on control rather than on trust. Sorry for putting it so bluntly, but it's most likely the case. I honestly have no idea why would you a priori not trust your child, but it's quite sad that you don't. I have a different attitude: I trust them, until they give me a reason to change my opinion. My initial position is the one of trust, not the one of distrust. We can talk about monitoring the information they get and such stuff only after specific acts which caused distrust in the first place (so far it never happened), not before that. Why don't you just trust your son that, being a good kid, he will know how to handle it? What exactly are you afraid of? Him getting across explicit material, talking to strangers, maybe if you expressed your specific fears it'd be easier to give specific advice to "prepare"?

Up to certain age children are "ungrateful" by definition - especially toddlers, it's a normal stage of their psychological development. Even moreso, all children, regardless of age, are probably "ungrateful" to an extent until they get their own children and realize what bringing up a child actually means. What worked for us and helped us to overcome the most selfish periods as well as to establish some norms in the future: 1) BE an example. Just talking is not enough, and often it's counter-productive. Little children are excellent at seeing all the nuances adults often fail to see - if they see you indulge yourself and have no control over your own wishes, they will most likely copy that behavior. 2) We didn't allow our daughters to watch TV at all until they were about 5-6 years old except for the bi-weekly or, if we were extra lenient, weekly cartoon after the age of 4, and also not on the regular basis until they were 9-10 ("regular basis" meaning more than once a week and for not-educational purposes, and being allowed to have certain things they follow on TV). We didn't want them to copy certain behavior they could be exposed to there, and there was also the issue of commercials. 3) Prevention: we avoided taking them shopping with us, i.e. we did it rarely enough and, if possible, away from the big malls (where they can see negative type of behavior much more), to prevent the influence. 4) Tell them in advance what they can get, or give them small allowances and allow them to choose something. 5) The moment you notice the initial stage of dramatizing over some item, look at the child straight in the eyes and quietly say something relatively gentle, yet cutting enough to make them stop before they even properly started. I said a few times something simple like, "I'm surprised with you" and it worked for both my daughters. I never had to resort to leaving the place, though that would have been my next step. Also, don't rub it in afterwards, especially if they did stop when asked this way. Ignore that anything happened. 6) From time to time, when you see they really want something and don't dramatize, but long for it silently or ask politely, just surprise them and buy it. They're not robots either, and they're your kids after all, sometimes making them happy should be a priority rather than enforcing some rules. But make sure those are exceptions. I realize that some people have different education strategies, but I'm really not into passing onto children the guilt for having things either (by forcing and overemphasizing compassion with those who don't, you do create the guilt). I'm not talking about fulfilling every fit your children have - that's plain stupid - but if you can afford something they wish, which won't harm them, and if they're generally good kids, I find it cruel not to afford things simply to impose some "rules" or "compassion with those who don't have" and such moral lessons. I know people who have nice accounts in a few banks, lots of real estate and live really well and who purposely buy cheaper chocolate to their kids, or, when they grow up, purposely make their life more difficult (by, for example, not helping with providing an apartment or financing stays abroad for studies, or not helping with the initial capital needed to start a business, etc.), all because they want to teach a "moral lesson" - I really find that disgusting. I mean, why force your children to live worse than they objectively can? (By that logic, we shouldn't school them either because there are many children out there who don't have an opportunity to get education.) That's already off-topic, but the language used in this thread - "gratefulness" etc - always makes me remember those particular examples of parents who behave that way.

How about asking her how does she feel about studying another language and which one of those she might be interested in? Whatever she chooses, I suggest you to continue with French as well.

Chanuka, but it's still not a very big deal in our house anyway.

I trust my daughters, until the give me a reason to change my opinion regarding that. Therefore, if I trust them, I can't behave as if I didn't trust them and thus read their emails, post, diaries, cellphone texts, or, to put it bluntly, disrespect their privacy. I know that many of you have good reasons and worries which make you do those things, and as a mother I understand you, however, I really can't swallow such obvious acts of mistrust. We have an "open door" system regarding internet time. That means that in any moment I can stop by and talk to them about the information they're accessing (it's pretty easy to see whether a website they're on is innocent or not), we rarely do it but they know it's a theoretical option - but that doesn't mean I'm going to read their personal content, or behave as if it were normal for me to monitor it. Of course, if I noticed they were hiding things, or any other alarming signs, that would change - I'm their mother after all. However, I'd do it AFTER they proved they can't be trusted, rather than just assume they can't. They're 11 and 12, by the way. And very good kids so far. :)

I will certainly not make a fuss out of an odd breakfast in pajamas, or even out of an odd school morning half-dressed (it happened a few times that one or even both of them started school in pajamas and some random T-shirt), however, as much as I am tolerant of those exceptions and will usually not even comment, I do not allow it to become a habit and they know it. They clearly function better within a school context if properly dressed and if in a neat environment. The question is a little like asking, can you teach a child in a disorganized messy room, or in your basement (with enough light, of course). Theoretically, why not - it's the schoolwork you focus on, not the environment, however... try doing it like that for a week, and you will see the atmosphere is not quite "right". For us, the same thing is with clothes - if they are not dressed, they are not in the "working mode" enough; it can be an exception, but not a rule. That's one reason; the other reason is that we aren't really a "comfy" household. By that, I absolutely do not want to say that we do not make ourselves comfortable, but we have certain unspoken rules about the level up to which the comfort can go. We discourage hanging around (outside of one's own room) in pajamas, clothes which are obviously sports or leisure clothes, barefoot or in flip-flops, half-dressed, etc., especially not for school. Most of the time my daughters do school dressed the way that if we were suddenly to leave they only had to put the shoes on - I find that alright. :)

Here I posted the list of this year's English readings for my 7th grader so you can take a look at that. :)

For Italian, we go through what they would have gone through if they attended their Italian school full time - that means we have the textbooks they use (I like them, they have excerpts from many works and good activities related to those) and go through their reading list; however, I add a lot of things I deem important as well, especially for my older daughter who is quite a literature person. For English, we don't use any textbooks or curriculum. I compile a list of full works for them to read, taking into account their interests a bit, but not compromising the things I find important. They read those works on their own and we discuss them - sometimes even during their reading we discuss specific points. Some I give them excerpts from some works to read, if I find the whole works to be too hard yet, but wish to get them acquainted with at least some of it (when they were younger I did this with Shakespeare, then with Milton). Most of the time I don't overwhelm them with literary theory (they're only 11 and 12 at present point). What we discuss are usually specific ideas presented in the work (sometimes they choose to research them more), but I do try to gradually shift them into paying more attention to the way those ideas are presented. I did introduce them to some basic arguments, informally, when we discussed the aspects such as the time in a work, the types of narrators, the relationship between the narrator, author of the text and the implicit author of the text, etc. :)

Why would you love to celebrate Chanuka? Actually from a religious point of view it's not that significant anyway, it's just that it's the most "famous" Jewish holiday outside of the Jewish community. We light candles in Chanukia and say brachot, that's about it. We do give our kids small gifts for every night, but I'm not sure it's a "proper" custom actually. :)

Some of the tips that worked for us are listen below. It may seem as if some of them are totally unrelated to education, but for us, all of that - and much more - proved to be VERY relevant. 1. Do not patronize your children. Avoid treating them "as children" - since early age get them used to be taken seriously, to be held accountable, to be talked to al pari as much as possible. 2. Avoid, at all costs, treating them and talking to them the way they can see that you're "adjusting" yourself to their level (even though you WILL be doing that, of course). Be sensitive about the fact you know more than them and that you guide them through the process of learning, and through life in general, and NEVER rub it in directly or indirectly. 3. Do not "teach" values - TRANSFER them. Avoid long pathetic talks with your children about how you have to love other people, be thankful, be good, etc... Show them what you wish to teach them and do not talk about it. Just BE the "x" you want them to be, it is unnecessary (and often counter-productive) to TALK about being "x" so much. 4. Give your children the time needed to grow in silence. They cannot grow in silence if they are bombarded by incessant radio streaming, TV, internet, technology in general, if they are constantly interrupted during their free time, if they have such a schedule which allows them only small portions of free time in-between other duties... Give them a fully free day a week, random free afternoons, proper holidays, get technology out of their rooms, limit the use of technology for everyone in the house (you and your spouse included!), have at least one TV-free day a week, and give them their alone time in silence. 5. Build a family library, a collection everyone can access and enjoy. Keep books in other places in your house as well. Give books on the topics your children are interested in as presents for various occasions. Let them grow up with and around books. Take them to libraries frequently. Take them to bookshops. Take them to book promotions which are suitable for their age and interests. It is also very important they regularly see YOU and your spouse reading, borrowing and lending books. They must see it is important for you. 6. Have ORIGINAL artwork in your house that you like. Avoid kitsch and reproductions of any kind, ready-made products and copies, etc. It does not matter how expensive or cheap the art you have is, there are affordable things for every budget - what matters is that you have original works that you like, that are in visible places in your home, and that your children grow up around those. It has been proven that children who grew up in home with books and original works of art perform better academically. You might also consider giving works of art to your children as a present for various occasions. Which leads to the next point: 7. Give MEANINGFUL presents to your children. Those can include books, original works of art, travels, courses of something they are interested in... Reward their academic achievement at the end of your school year, just as you give them presents for birthdays or religious holidays. 8. Travel as much as time, finance and other duties allow. Travel abroad and overseas. If possible, stay by friends and relatives and get immersed in the culture you are staying in rather than in a hotel. Good travels matter just as much as formal education does. If possible, travel multiple times to the same places, let your children form some kind of connection with those places. If possible, travel for extend stays in one place or send your children to relatives abroad. Experiencing a different culture will do wonders for them. 9. From time to time visit museums, exhibitions in art galleries, philharmonic and classical music concerts, shows in theatres and operas. Little by little, expose your children to the world of culture, related or not to your schoolwork. It does not have to be very frequently, but make it a habit - a habit you would like to pass onto your children. 10. Encourage your children's interests by providing them with the materials needed to learn more about it, connecting them with people who might help them, allowing them as much as you can to combine their interests with schoolwork. I personally never allow them to substitute the things they need to learn with what they want to learn - but I give them choice as to HOW they want to learn it, what they want to do with it, and I always allow all of the extra interests. So they can do what they wish - in addition to what they have to. 11. If they complain that something they have to learn is completely useless, be genuinely interested in their arguments - not in mere complaints, but serious, backed up arguments. Talk to them from that point of view and show them your logic. In our house, anyone can say whatever they think, as long as they can back it up and defend when we attack their arguments. And everyone is taken seriously. It not only teaches the rhetoric skills, but also greatly minimizes the amount of whining in the air, to everyone's pleasure. 12. Study, read, learn, discuss things. They will notice it is important for you. Include them whenever they show interest in what you do.

One of the ways to distinguish non-native speakers - of ANY language - is to watch out who "overdoes" things. Of course that not in every context a sound will sound the same or be equally clear. CH, as well as all other sounds, sometimes gets "swallowed" a little by the context or speed, it's not equally strong every time you pronounce it. It's dictated by the natural flow of the sentence and it doesn't have to be equally strong every time. So yes, there ARE phonetic contexts in which CH might sound more like H with some speakers because of speed or too much CHs/Rs around or whatever, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Same with Hebrew H (hey) sound - more often than not, it's simply "swallowed" in modern Hebrew. When you hear a person who says H every time there theoretically should be one, you know they're most likely not Israeli. Israeli natives, especially the younger generation, tend to swallow H, or half-swallow it, in most contexts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH0agewEmBw&feature=related 08:00 it says "chet", that's the way CH should be pronounced. Also, Chaim should be pronounced as if it was a monosyllabic word. The stress falls on a, it's Chaim, but more like Chaym, as a single unit.

Just curious - do any of you practice oral exams with your kids? By oral exam, I don't mean an occasional few minutes talk about a project, making them summarize something, or simply talking to them about what you study - but proper "exam-like" situation, in which you ask the questions, they respond, you ask all the why's and how's and don't help them with the answers (or even purposely try to confuse them to see how well they got things and how sure they are in what they know), make them draw connections with things studied previously by asking questions on those too, and then grading it (or not grading it, if grading is against your educational philosophy)? If so, how often do you do it, for what subjects, do you mix subjects (i.e. when asking questions on one field, do you tend to require immediate knowledge of other things too related to it that you studied, or you stick to one field?), and do you announce when you will examine your kids this way or you keep the right to do it any time? I do it, but I've never seen a thread about that before on here, so I was just curious if somebody else does something similar and what are your experiences with it?

We're secular Jews. We "keep" shabat out of tradition, but not to a very high extent, compared to the Orthodox Jews. We finish cooking and cleaning Friday BEFORE shabat, and don't do it during shabat. Friday evening we also have a family meal - not at a fixed hour, but we do. Sometimes - but not often - we have a "proper" family shabat, with candles and all, but that's rare. However, we don't eat blatantly unkosher things on shabat. We might even say blessings/prayer on shabat, even though we normally don't. From Friday evening to Saturday evening, we don't go shopping (not only that, we don't do money transactions and don't even talk about money), don't watch TV, if we listen to music, it's only light classical music, we spend some time together, and try to be quiet. Generally, we don't impose any "shabat rules" in our home, but everybody observes it to an extent they're comfortable with. My husband doesn't use any technology, I do (internet), he also does some minor Torah study, I usually dress according to the rules and sometimes my daughters too. I guess it's pretty weird that as secular people we try to keep shabat, but we like the tradition, as well as having a nice, family-oriented day.