Well, I started Ancillary Justice (thanks to BAW recs), but my dh got hooked before I could get very far and so, I won't see that again until he's mostly done (or at work). How would I find the discussions you already had about that from last year? (Just google?) I also got Between the World and Me from the library this weekend. And, I got far enough into that to see why it started such a powerfully moving dialogue in the last few weeks. I think I'll go back and read what everyone wrote after I finish and formulate my own thoughts. And, because of a conversation a couple of weeks ago at church, I started reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I didn't really read any summaries/synopsis ahead of time, so I didn't know if it was going to be a happy book or not. And, I was so disturbed by how ...ugh...injust the whole thing turned out to be for that child. I feel so outraged. And, there's no castle to storm. It was a different time with different conventions and norms. The characters weren't even real. But, I feel like DOING something. And, there's nothing to do. It's just wrong. And over. And.....disturbing. I think I should read something as a palate cleanser. But, that seems dismissive. And, ick. I've read Howard's End, and I think it left me feeling outraged, too, (if I remember it correctly). So, I might not be up for any Forester right after Tess. But, I'd love to hear what everyone else says about it. I loved the quote about being ready for the books that most move us. And outrage is an emotion that moves, too. So, who knows. But, ugh.

I finished Partners in Crime by A. Christie. I didn't like it as much as the first story featuring Tommy and Tuppence, but it was a fun read. We finished The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander as a family read aloud and started The Castle of Llyr for the next round. I'm trying to do voices to help them keep the characters straight. Not terribly impressive, and my Gurgi sounds like Elmo, buuuuuut...it's a fun revisit for me. I also finished Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, which I enjoyed, but it seemed weirdly deja vu-ish. And that kept getting in the way of my enjoying the story. Mr. Crouch and Mr. Vandermar were reminiscent of two Pratchett characters that I can't quite remember their names. The whole thing was just close enough to a Discworld plot and just far enough removed to be disorienting for me. (And make me want to read some Pratchett soon, too. :) ) It felt like a grownup version of a coming-of-age novel. I liked it overall. Entries by Wendell Berry was an impulse check-out at the library. Some of the poems are really haunting. There's a section toward the end of it that speaks to his care of his father at the end of life. A few of those passages really got me. Some of the earlier poems weren't very memorable. I'm glad I read it, though. The conversation about white privilege is really thought-provoking for me. I have Between the World and Me on hold at the library because of this thread. A bit late to the party, but better late than never.

Stomach viruses. The ones that only get to two people at a time, but who make sure everyone gets at least one turn. The ones who wait for Mom 'til the very last. Also, the energy the four year old has saved up for when it's Mom's turn to be sick. Sinus headaches. And much, much bigger things that happen to friends/family that you can't ever hope to make better. "Blah," said Toad.

I'm thinking of making myself a guinea pig and practicing by creating a course for me (maybe to go along with Book a Week reading?). Did anyone else do that? I read it again last night and thought it sounded so wonderful. I want to hear that someone besides the amazingly talented 8 can pull this off. (Even if you don't want to spill the beans and say what exactly you did.) :) Any takers?

Did anyone create an individual plan for his/her dc after reading this? Does anyone care to share how you tweaked things for your specific needs? I find myself more able to picture how to individualize things for myself after reading a handful of case studies. Especially, if the examples differ greatly. The nuts and bolts make the general more obvious to me for some reason. I'd love to hear what you did!

I lurked through last year's wrap-up threads. The descriptions of Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane caught my eye, so I requested it through the library. I checked it out on Sat. and sat down and read through the whole thing before doing what I actually came to town to do (buy groceries :) ). Thank you to everyone who mentioned it. I enjoyed it on the whole (even though it disturbed me a bit, too). One of my goals for this year is to commonplace more (in an attempt to slow down a bit and not just read to see what happens, but to savor a bit more of the prose...another reason for re-reading as a habit). There were so many beautiful paragraphs, that I think I'm going to read through again to find some of my favorites and write them by hand before I have to take it back. I also requested Neverwhere, so I'm looking forward to that sometime soon. And, a Tommy and Tuppence Agatha Christie (I've only read the first one, the second looks like a collection of short stories with a loose arc). I don't know why New Years always calls to me for a bit of mystery reading, but it does. I finished up the audible version of Laurie R. King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice (reread, I don't know how many times anymore). It's almost like fan-fic in that it adds to the end of the Sherlock timeline and includes a brainy female protagonist side-kick. And, Dorothy Gilman's The Unexpected Mrs. Polifax (another I don't know how many times reread) makes me smile. A widowed lady gets tired of Garden Club and applies at the CIA to become a spy. It's the first in the series. My favorite, too, I think. I hadn't heard the term "cozy" before, but that's definitely the kind of mystery I like. BaW is so fun! :)

We had some of the same things going on with SOTW for the younger crowd. At our house, I switched to Child's History of the World by Hillyer. I think it flows a lot better from story to story. We read a section and narrated 3x a week. (with some coloring/activities from the SOTW AG as they seemed interested; but usually not) Since you already have the AG for ancients, you could maybe look up additional read-alouds on whatever topic sparked interest. Or add just mapping? My kids remembered a lot more from a straight read-through of CHOW than they did from SOTW. We now use SOTW as an audio book and/or optional non-fiction free reading.

To the bolded-- I just started C.S. Lewis' Of Other Worlds. Speaking in the context of re-reading and the reader filling in the gaps the writer must necessarily leave, he then says: "It is [re-reading], of course, a good test for every reader of every kind of book. An unliterary man may be defined as one who reads books once only. There is hope for a man who has never read Malory or Boswell or Tristam Shandy or Shakespeare's Sonnets: but what can you do with a man who says he 'has read' them, meaning he has read the once, and thinks that this settles the matter? Yet I think the test has a special application to the matter in hand. For excitement, in the sense defined above, is just what must disappear from a second reading. You cannot, except at the first reading, be really curious about what happened. If you find that the reader of popular romance--however uneducated a reader, however bad the romances--goes back to his old favourites again and again, then you have pretty good evidence that they are to him a sort of poetry." I'm not sure about how well I remember books from the first time around (sometimes the second reading really is a surprise, again! ha :) ), but that's my own personal memory problem. And, I'm pretty sure in the essay his term romance means something like popular fiction, not just love stories. But, the idea resonates. Possibly because I really like to re-read my favorites. And, they're not all classic, but they do start to feel like poetry after a while. Or, at least, the way I wish I could read poetry.

Agatha Christie goes quickly for me, so I almost always start a new year with a few I haven't read (or haven't read for a while). Death on the Nile (new to me; I didn't guess; enjoyably convoluted) and Five Little Pigs (reread that I remembered the setup, but not the resolution; not my favorite; super unsympathetic characters) Both Poirot. Huzzah for a running start! :)

I know this is a wrap-up thread, but I'm so excited that I can't quite wait till next week's reboot gets started to pipe up. I've been haunting the boards for years (mostly the K-8 section), but I never read any of the Book a Week threads until a few days ago. Last week's was linked on either the Gen. or K8 forum for some unremembered reason. And, I got sucked in. :) Our local library has an adult winter reading challenge, and I think (every year) that after such a good start (20 books before the end of March), I should have no problem reading at least a book a week for the rest of the year. But, it almost never happens. This is the year! (I've already got a few books on hold at the library based on your descriptions of enjoying them.) I hope it's all right to crash the party uninvited. It looks like such a fun party! :)

There's also this one called Addition and Subtraction. http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=061843 Any users have reviews?

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/005104 The Idea Book for Cuisenaire Rods in the Primary Years, by Patricia Davidson Background: I've got the first several Miquon books (and the lab sheet annotations, and teacher idea book, first year diary, etc.). And, we have lots of rods. And, the cuisenaire alphabet book. I've used the orange and parts of the later books for kindergarten math with my three older girls (who each began more focused, teacher-intensive math with Singapore at some point as first graders). I'm familiar with education unboxed and really like her videos. We have Nooms (DragonBox Numbers) on our tablet. My fourth (only ds) is chomping at the bit to be BIG enough to be in Kindy next year even though he only makes our local cutoff by two days and is not super-socially mature. But, we're at home, so ....hey, I think I'm going to start phonograms and some simple math with him by next fall. Knowing all that, has anyone had experience with the Cuisenaire Idea Book? I'm wondering if it will lay out pages differently enough from Miquon that it would be worth it for me to add to his options for playing math (while I try to school his older sisters and corral the younger one). Or if it's major overlap? The samples are basically just the TOC. I have a comb-binding machine and a laminator (and currclick's pdf of a couple Miquon books), so I'm looking to get him started on some concepts and let him play for a while with his own little workbook. What I'm trying to say is that this will not be intended as something that we always play together (though there will be times when we do). But, something that feels grown-up-i-er for him to start and mess around with without completely frustrating him. TIA

It's still available today! :)

No regrets if it went to a fellow boardie. :)

Ticket to Ride Europe is already out. I'm sad about it. :(

Aha! It is at the Amazon App store, now, too! Huzzah! :)

Any word about when it will be available in the US at Amazon? We just have a kindle. And, apparently, my google skills are lacking today. :(

Is there a projected release date? Very excited!

How cool is that??!? Thanks, Farrar!

For world history, I read CHOW last year to my 7yo and 6yo. This year (with a 7yo and 8yo), I'm starting a history cycle of some sort and we're using an out of print book (that you can still get on Amazon) called _Builders of the Old World_ by Gertrude Hartman. It seems to group information about civilizations together instead of strict chronological/jumping around from place to place. I'm liking it. I chose OUP Ancient World series for my 10yo for the same reason. (ETA: I feel compelled to say that I am not selling this book on Amazon, and I don't get money for recommending it. Thanks, I feel better now. :) )

I think this is a pretty good deal. I've seen people recommend this printer here before. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PMJ7NUO/ref=br_prlt_slcty_pdt-1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=0XT0AFH5QQE53K01P8GM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=2239679082&pf_rd_i=10558386011 Hope that's more helpful than spam-my. I don't get any money for telling anyone this. :)

Edith Nesbit's _Book of Dragons_.

Neither of these are one for one replacements, but what about Nature Anatomy (for the copywork words and easy to copy illustrations) and California Native Plant Society (for drawing instruction; bonus, it's a free pdf) Also, have you heard of Private Eye? The whole book basically expounds on the idea that you look through loupes, draw what you see, and ask yourself "what else does this remind me of?" Very helpful technique for those who are easily distracted visually because the loupe blocks out everything but the one thing you pick to focus on.

Thanks!

Beanworld by Larry Marder.