I keep typing and retyping this, and I can't even seem to describe what I'm looking for...so I'll just throw it out there and see if some of you can tell me what it is :). I'm doing SOTW1 with 9, 7, and 4 1/2 year olds this year, and I need more reading for my 9 year old to do independently. He wants to stick around and listen to all the read alouds I do with my others, so I want to make sure I don't give him something that's just rehashing what he's already heard. And he's doing some historical fiction tie-ins separately, so I'm looking for non-fiction. He's interested in biographies maybe, but I'm not sure how many good biographies aimed at kids I'll be able to find for the Ancients. but maybe? He's a strong reader, but he's only recently started to be interested in history, so I want to try to nurture that newfound enthusiasm with really exciting stuff. Any ideas or lists of books you've used if you've BTDT? Thanks!

Our week 5 is up...link in sig!

If he doesn't get reading....like if he's having trouble with blending CVC words and you think he's only sight reading at this point...then I think I'd lay off formal phonics for now and try again in a couple of months. If he's making progress reading phonetically, but he just doesn't like it, I'd do a short lesson every day--10 minutes or so--and just keep plugging along. When kids are still working on the basics of phonics, it's too soon to tell whether they enjoy reading or not. My now seven year old HATED reading...until it stopped being a struggle for him; now he adores reading and has been heard murmuring to himself, "reading is awesome." :)

Yes, Freedom Trail, and make sure you make to the USS Constitution (it's on the Freedom Trail, but near the end, IIRC)

My UCC church used the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). ETA: I just checked, and that's what they sell on the UCC bookstore website, too. I'm pretty sure all the lectionary texts are NRSV in the bulletins, although I guess that might vary by congregation.

I'm with Judge Judy :) You're willing to pay for the damages you believe you're responsible for. She has the right to ask for more and try to show why she thinks you should pay it, but you don't have any obligation to help her do this.

Hmm...I think we would have had much better luck back when we rented out an apartment to The Worst Tenant in the World if we'd run this little scam, "Oh, btw, our cat lives in your apartment, so we'll have to come over every day to check on her." I bet she would have kept the place a little cleaner :)

1. Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner 2. Collected Stories of Eudora Welty 3. (this was where I had Pride and Prejudice until I reread the orginal post, so I'll sub:) Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott 4. Life of Pi by Yann Martel 5. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 6. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren 7. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 8. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 9. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison 10. Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats (cheating?) 11. Selected Poems of Robert Penn Warren 12. Sigh. I guess you really should read Moby Dick, too. My list has an Americanist, Southern US bias. But, then, so do I. ETA: hmm....heavy on the modernism, too.

:iagree: I took a year of Russian in college. I remember how to say "apartment" because our Russian textbook was pretty obsessed with people moving into new apartments. And I made up a joke about my cat in Russian. I still remember that. I think a couple of years of Spanish or a couple of years of Latin, on the other hand, can actually be useful long term. I don't know much about Chinese, but I have a friend who was born in Vietnam and lived there until she was 4. She doesn't speak Vietnamese anymore (she moved here with her family and spoke only Vietnamese until starting school). She can understand it, but she says she won't try to speak it because she can't pronounce it properly and the pronunciation is so important to being understood. It's my understanding that Chinese is similar. I don't think it's a political plot, and if I loved a program in other ways, mandating Chinese wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me. But I'd much rather my kids focus on Spanish early and stick with it all through school; there are many more opportunities to practice it, I think it's more useful for kids in the US, and I think it's easier to gain fluency in.

Yeah...that's the thing...my observation based on our other new chicken intros is that there's not a whole lot of social mobility in the chicken world--the ones who started out together still tend to hang out together mostly. Good to hear that it should get somewhat better, though. I'm tempted to go get one more about her age in hopes that they'll bond, but I'm worried it would backfire and I'd just wind up with TWO social outcasts. We sort of did introduce her at night--they saw her during the day, but I had her penned off so they couldn't get to her, then I put her in there with the younger ones that night.

mine's up--link in sig!

We have a new "rescue chicken" thanks to an ill-conceived adorable chick from feed store acquisition on the part of my aunt's neighbor a few months back. She's an Easter Egger, maybe 5 months old, and the kids have named her Cupcake. Our pre-existing flock consists of five 2 year old hens and then 4 more that were hatched in March (and are therefore just about the same size as the new one). We've added new chickens in to the flock twice now, but never just one at a time. We picked Cupcake up on Thursday, and no one's being very nice to her. She spends a lot of time huddled in a corner by herself. I kept them separated the first day, but they've been loose together since then. No one's really hurting her, I don't think; they peck her and then leave her alone when she runs away. But I feel so bad for her. Is there anything I can do? Will she make friends eventually, or are we destined to have this tragic reenactment of middle school play out in my yard every day for the rest of her life? Anyone have experience with this?

Our bill just shows to the nearest thousand gallons. These days we usually pay for either 3 or 4,000 gallons for 5 people. During the drought a couple of years ago we were very careful and could often keep it to 2000 gallons. We have septic, so no sewer bill--our bill is usually between $15-20

I already have 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 10 chickens. I think I'm going to have to either have another baby or maybe get a turtle. I'm running out of baby substitutes!

Right now I'm going through 20 coupons (bought on ebay) for local, humanely raised chicken that my local stores carry. I've gotten bags of free Kraft cheese with coupons and sales before. I see coupons for organic milk regularly. I also buy a lot of snack stuff for the kids (string cheese, crackers, pretzels, tortilla chips etc) for trips to the park and stuff, because I'm just not on the ball enough to always pack wholesome homemade muffins, no matter how often I tell myself I will. I stock up on whole wheat pasta and sauce when I can combine a sale and coupon on it.

thanks! I kept having to go back and try a different style, because I'd get some in my cart and then they'd say it was out of stock when I tried to check out...so order soon if you want these, everyone! $7/pair is only a couple of dollars more than my Goodwill, so I loaded up.

We use Trader Joe's...they're chewable and peppermint flavored. Did you try a smaller dose to see if that would help with the bad dreams? We split the TJs ones in half.

Jupiter

I have one that sleeps either at the foot of our bed or under our bed (usually depending on the weather; when she's cold she sleeps in bed with us). The other two sleep in their crates downstairs. One sleeps downstairs because he's too old to want to climb the stairs anymore and now he's in the crate because he's also, apparently, too old to make it through the night without peeing anymore. When he's in the crate, he'll bark to wake us up at 5 in the morning; if he's not he will thoughtfully pee on the floor rather than disturb us :) (he's lucky he happens to also be the greatest dog in the whole world, so we don't mind putting up with his old dog quirks). The other one can't sleep in our room because we keep him and Lucy the bed sleeper separated (Lucy does not play well with others). He was a puppy and chewed a lot when we first got him, so we put him in the crate. Now he'd probably be fine out of the crate, but he goes in there by himself every night as soon as he sees us getting ready to go up for bed. So I guess we figure if it ain't broke don't fix it. We have complicated sleeping arrangements around here.

I'd probably start with book 1. It may be fairly easy for her, but book 2 starts right in with consonant blends; I think it's better to have some practice with CVC words and build confidence than risk overwhelming her with longer words before she's ready. ETA: and if it IS easy for her, she can go through it very quickly and be ready to start book 2 within a couple of months.

I live less than 10 minutes from my mom. I talk to her on the phone maybe 3 times a week, usually just for a few minutes. How much we see her varies...she has a pool, so we try to get over there once or twice a week to swim in summer. Otherwise, we might see her twice a month, sometimes less. It kind of bums me out that she's not interested in seeing the kids more than that, but what can you do? She never offers to take them, but will babysit occasionally if asked.

This is one of those questions where it's difficult to have a debate until you define some terms. If you poll people (you as in professional pollster, not you as in you), they will regularly say that the US spends too much on foreign aid. And then if you ask them what percentage of the budget the US should spend on foreign aid, the same people will give you a figure much higher than what the US actually does spend.

My oldest wasn't at all interested in SOTW at that age. We're starting the second go round now, and he's finally getting into it (at 9). Listening on CD was a little better than hearing me read it. What I finally did was just spend a couple of years picking really appealing picture books for history and keeping it very low pressure. He's pretty into history now, but it took quite awhile.

Ours is up! Link in sig!

There are a few Anne Tyler books that I love and can read over and over...The Accidental Tourist and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant most particularly. And I think Absalom, Absalom and Delta Wedding are pretty much the best things ever, but I can't read them over and over. Especially Absalom...it wears me out.