My first was born when I was 31, my second when I was 33... and I was one of the youngest moms in our peer group. Many of my friends had thier first child after 40, none were under 30 that I can think of offhand, my sil is pregant with her first and she'll be 36 when the baby is born. I'm 38, my friends range from around 35 to 45, and they all either have small children now or are childless by choice. I'm not sure what the focus of your paper is, but I really think that the answers will vary widely by social group/region/educational level/etc? I would have to say that for me it would have been far more unusual to have a child before, say, 25... now THAT would have been wierd, having the only child in a wider group of childless couples and singles...

Okay Rosie, I have to ask... what is injera? That makes me doubly thick right?

Hmmm.... maybe I can come live in her fantasy world? Our house is a constant work in progress because I have little boys making messes all the time, and no time when they aren't here to pick up!

Go check out ITunes, search "Carmina Burana", and look at what the ratings are. I have found the ratings for Classical music in particular are very helpful. If I hadn't just moved, I'd look up the recommended version in the book NPR Guide to Building a Classical Music Collection, but I don't know where it is! If you can get your hands on a copy, that is also helpful...

Praying for you and yours, Drew. So glad you were all right, and may you find strength to make it through the difficulties this will bring. Blessings.

The National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) website has a Young Writers Program. Here is a link to their workbooks. There are three levels: elementary, middle school, and high school. My dh has started teaching through the Nanowrimo elementary curriculum as a run up to National Novel Writing Month. My ds6 is so excited about his novel, he can hardly wait to do the exercises. He spends hours thinking about characters and plot and what sort of books he's going to write. Even spelling and grammar have become more popular as the connection to actual story telling is made... and ds4 wants to draw a novel himself. I know that WTM doesn't include or encourage creative writing, but this has been a big transition here after a month of school resistence. Of course, my dh is a writer, I like to write--so maybe that increases dss interest? So I'm letting Aesops go for now until we are done with the Nanowrimo process (including rewrites) in December. I love it when they love it! So do you teach creative writing? Why or why not?

I would agree with the 3rd grade analysis... We use EPGY math online from Stanford... now it IS supposed to be rigorous and college prep, but not age inappropriate. These types of problems, and ones more complex, are included in the 3rd grade curriculum (we're just finishing it up now). Although they tend to use variables, so the problem would be shown as: (3+5) x a = 24, then 8 x a = 24, a = 3. It's really just arithmetic using some algebraic methods. I know ds has learned the commutative, associative and distributive properties this year.

I think the teacher's guides are worth it... they have additional historical information, some additional vocabulary, and the activity pages. I haven't noticed a quality issue with the CD... my ds is an auditory learner, and he loves to listen to them. They are basically dramatic readings of the episodes in the books, not vocabulary drill or anything like that. We've really enjoyed doing Minimus (and Secundus) over the past year. I think it is an excellent and light "introduction" to Latin, especially if you are interested in the Classical world at all. The family in the book is based on a historical family who lived at Vindolandae and left a huge set of documents that are still being excavated. Even though it has been fictionalized in the stories (I doubt they had a talking mouse) it seems so cool to me that the stories of parties and funerals and soldiers were all things that happened. BUT FYI I would say that you aren't going to come out of it knowing tons of Latin. It is really more conversational, introductory and fun... my dh has 8 years of Latin and has added in some grammar , but it isn't a "parts to whole" approach. But aren't you SCA, Rosie? There is so much great everyday life vocab, especially about soldiers and weapons!

My Father's Dragon was a fun early read-aloud.

We're about to finish up Minimus Secundus with ds6 and start on Latin Prep. Where is the best (cheapest, easiest, fastest) place to buy, and how long will it take to arrive? Thank you!!

I'm not doing it this year, but my dh is, and we just started using the NaNoWriMo free elementary curriculum. It is great! I just wish I could give it my attention, but I think I'll have to wait until next year. Sigh...

We just started today with the workbook... if your child wants to do NaNoWriMo, then you want to start the curriculum now. There is a lot of great pre-composition work, etc. My dh is a creative writer, and he's loving this!

Just got back from a regional clergy meeting today... no mohawks, but there were two ministers with "unusual" hair--one was green (highlights), one was solid electric blue. It's a funny question, but any kind of hair at all is "acceptable" in my world.

Thanks so much for the reminder! We'll set the Tivo now....

TAKE NOTE: If you already own it, P&P will be out on blu-ray next month! The special edition DVDs are not the greatest quality (especially if you are used to watching things HD)... I can't wait! You can pre-order the new one at Amazon as well: http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Blu-ray-Colin-Firth/dp/B001E2JNA6

:lol::lol::lol: I agree with others... if the "rule" is new and just about one kid, I'd fight it. Otherwise I'd just opt out. Of course, at your ds's age, it probably is up to him in the long run. IMHO, it isn't worth it to be part of a group that is so shallow it sets more store by appearance than by behavior and character.

I've posted a 2 times a week schedule/workbook for SOTW I here... http://www.lulu.com/content/796912 We also do history twice a week, and it works just fine. We don't read that many additional books, and pick and choose the projects.

I don't know if your son is still young enough for action figures... but the Mythology book (in the same series as Pirateology, Wizardology) does have some nice action figures available. Here's one for Theseus: http://www.amazon.com/Greek-Mythology-Inch-Action-Figure/dp/B001C9HBBY they have the minotaur, cyclops, and Odysseus in this larger series. They also make small collectible figures which might be fun--this is Poseidon: http://www.amazon.com/Greek-Mythology-Inch-Tall-Figure/dp/B001BFM4NE but you can also get Zeus, Athena, Apollo. Somehow I am just really pleased by the fact that they make ancient Greek hero action figures...

Thanks! This'll be fun to go over with the kids...

This was our first year actually filing... it didn't take long at all. What do people put for titles, number of teachers, etc? My ds said that I'm the "headmaster", so we went with that.

I think you could easily use them alone... in fact, some the the GWG stuff is straight from there, if I remember. GWG has more listed resources for things like science (animals) and bible... but if you have access to a library, that would be easy to do yourself.

Yes. My name is Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and I soon hope to become Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Sigh....

I got them all... my 6yo only got 3 (would have been 4, but he guessed "Vermont" as one of the original 13). We haven't done US history yet... gotta cover these basics.