Posting again in this thread to see if I can get it to show up in My Content.

Oh yes. You can always tell the out-of-towners by their pronunciation of Burnet, Manchaca, and Manor. When the president was recently in Manor, I laughed to hear him on the radio greeting the crowd with "Hello, Texas! Howdy ... Manor!" - with a pause to make sure, before he gave it the correct /MAY-ner/ pronunciation. Well done Mr. President!

It's the zombies that make grammar all come together.

Your dd should trust her instincts. The central difference between the traditional grammar as taught by MCT (and unfortunately every other program out there) and the approaches to grammar that linguists have been using for the past century is precisely that: as native speakers of the language, we already have well-formed intuitions/instincts about how it works. The goal is not to form rules and categories and shoehorn the language into them, but to examine the rules of language that we actually use to speak and comprehend. So as a native speaker, your dd is in an expert position to notice when the supposed rules don't seem right.

I can't speak for others, and my universal advice is, if you're worried, get an evaluation. My child's anxiety disorder looks like this. She can't speak to people outside the family and a handful of people she knows extremely well: not because she's shy (she isn't), but because her social anxiety actually makes it impossible for her to speak. She doesn't get anxious about things so much as she gets anxious, and the anxiety attaches itself to things - often quite irrational things. The latest thing is carved stone: she was unsettled by our travel, decided that she was worried about skeletons, which became skulls, which became gravestones, which became any carved stone. Right now she has to close her eyes and be carried in order to get inside the parish church. It will be something else another day. A few weeks ago, her anxiety attached itself to the idea of having things on her skin, and she was crying and trembling for fear that something might be getting onto her legs and she was afraid to touch them to find out. Rational discussion is useless: she didn't need to know that there was nothing on her skin; she just needed to be held tightly until she eventually fell asleep. Another time this year, she wouldn't hug her oldest sister for a week. We finally figured out (it took some doing, since too-direct discussion of her anxieties makes her unable to speak) that I had squashed a spider with Great Girl's handy shoe, and now little sister was afraid that Great Girl had cobwebs on her. She has frequent nightmares and anxiety attacks. I spend a great deal of time and effort and energy just preventing her from being overwhelmed by fear. I would give a great deal for her fears to be about rational things, or to have her ask lots of questions relating to her fears. Hope this helps.

Just one further distinction. We see in this discussion three different words had (have). 1. Verb, meaning to possess: You have a city filled with smoke. 2. Auxiliary, forming the perfect aspect: We had seen the city was filling up with zombies. 3. Modal, expressing necessity: They have to be the fastest zombies I've ever seen. All three are getting confused here. The question "We had what?" (mentioned above) invites an object to the verb "had," and wouldn't take an infinitive as its object. Soldier 1: You'll never guess what we had. Soldier 2: Oh? We had what? Soldier 1: We had ... zombies. Soldier 2 doesn't expect a reply "We had ... fired on the undead" or "We had ... to run like heck," because the "had" that takes an object is neither the auxiliary "had" nor the modal "had to." Only the verb showing possession takes an object. Kuovonne is right to distinguish "had to" from the auxiliary "had," as in "We had left the city," because in that sentence "had" is providing the perfect aspect to "left." But we don't then have to conclude that all that's left is the verb "had" and start looking around for its object; instead, we see that "had to" here is the modal showing necessity.

Another reason to toss on the pile of reasons I stopped using MCT. This is nonsense. (ETA: Not your post; their explanation.) "Have to" is a modal. It is not the same verb as the possessive "have." You can hear this difference easily, as the v in "have to" is generally unvoiced ("hafta") whereas the v in the possessive "have" is never unvoiced. That "have to" is a modal becomes clear if you substitute modals "must" or "could": We must leave the city. We could leave the city. We have to leave the city. You can see clearly here that "to leave" isn't an infinitive; the "to" is part of the modal "have to," and "leave" is just your main verb. To get the past tense in English, we use "had to" as the other modal forms are unavailable. We had to leave the city. [interestingly, you can see (or really, hear) the same devoicing pattern in the modals "supposed to" and "used to." Say the following pairs out loud and listen to the final consonant sound: I supposed she was right. They're supposed to listen. /zd/ -> /st/ [edited for clarity] You used the last roll. She used to love me.] As a final bit of evidence that the "to" isn't part of an infinitive "to leave" but is part of "had to," consider: We had to leave the city; but you don't have to. vs. *We had to leave the city; but you don't have. *We had to leave the city; but you don't have that. If "leave" is part of an infinitive construction, then we should be able to say one of the latter sentences. Compare some sentences in which "to leave" really is an infinitive: We tried to leave the city; but you don't try. We tried to leave the city; but you don't try that. We wanted to leave the city; but you don't want that. We started to leave the city; but you don't start. You see how there's an ellipsis or "that" permissible in those sentences, where the infinitive "to leave" would go? But we can't take "to leave" out of "we had to leave" or "you have to leave," because "to" is a necessary part of the modal, not part of an infinitive.

Dh was just showing me that this morning. We both recall in elementary school being explicitly told that BOW-ie was a mispronunciation and that BOO-ie is correct. One of the local high schools is Bowie, and there's a north Texas town called Bowie also, which reinforce the -oo- pronunciation.

One of the students has a theory: http://www.bholworld.com/Article_EN.aspx?id=55315&cat=18 Jonathan Zahavi, one of the students, said: "This was an early morning flight. It was four in the morning. We were all excited about the trip, no one wild and intended to violate instructions. I have flown different airlines many times, and I saw how non-Jewish youngsters act on planes, in contrast we were just fine, steward found hostility has soon as he saw us, with yarmulkes and tzitizis, his hatred was clear, they turned a mouse into an elephant, it always happens that children do not close the cell phone as soon as they are told, and have to tell them again, but in our case it was clear, it was a hatred of Jews. "When they told us to get off the plane, there was no arguing, new didn’t act like the American youth acts, we acted in perfect order and dignity," said Zahavi. ----------- I don't think any insights about behavior were gained there.

Roller derby for PE wins the thread. Hardly seems worth posting my 5th grade plans after that. ENGLISH Galore Park, So You Really Want to Learn English, Book 1 (analysis, composition) Drums, Scribner School Ed. with study guide (close reading) Poetry with Pleasure (poetry) Word Wealth Junior (vocabulary, spelling) 1920 My Book House, 1902 Young Folks' Library, Alfred Church children's classics (literature) FRENCH Weekly lesson BJU French LATIN Artes Latinae Memorization of mass prayers GREEK Athenaze MATH AoPS Intermediate Algebra, Counting and Probability Math team SCIENCE TOPS: Graphing; Analysis; Pressure & Buoyancy; Pi in the Sky; Earth, Moon, and Sun; Cohesion/Adhesion Golden Guides: Botany, Zoology, Ecology, Weather, Geology MUSIC Piano lessons How to Introduce Your Child to Classical Music HISTORY/CIVICS Landmark history series Everyday Law for Young Citizens RELIGION My Catholic Faith (catechism) The Mass Explained to Children (liturgy) PHYSICAL EDUCATION Running, swimming

I am feeling smug: I got nearly all my materials for this semester off of my curriculum shelf, because I pretty much have everything I want for every grade now. One of the advantages of having graduated a child! (I'll try not to think about how much I'll be spending on textbooks for that child this semester, though.) All I ordered new for summer/fall was: 1. Galore Park, So You Really Want To Learn English, Book 1 and answer key 2. TOPS Science: Solutions; Pressure & Buoyancy; Earth, Moon, and Sun 3. And on the spur of the moment, I bought the Ladybird Book of British History, for Wee Girl. Because there it was. I read it and she begs for more. http://books.ladybird.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781409308720,00.html

A few years ago a dear relative died when his plane crashed. Though the FAA later cleared him, in the initial news report there was an incorrect claim by one supposed witness that he had been circling and buzzing recklessly and lost control. The comments on the article were beyond hateful. Homo homini lupus.

Well it was just a question of 'What has the highest ratio of text to heft?' I needn't have brought books for the littles, however; the bookstores and library are awash with Enid Blyton (Wikipedia says she wrote upwards of 600 books, and I think Wee Girl plans to plow through them all), and the library has all of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons books (did you know he was a spy???), which is keeping Middle Girl up late in the evenings. Well, that and it not getting dark until eleven.

Not in my kids' case! Dh is a vegetarian, and so are the girls; but I'm not. All three girls at about the age of three announced that 'chicken' had two meanings: one was an animal, and one was a kind of food (which Mommy sometimes eats). It's uncanny how they each independently came up with the same notion. Wee Girl learned recently that big sister's fish had to be separated from her babies so she wouldn't eat them. There was much quiet pondering of that one.

My Content has reverted to the status quo of May 29 and is frozen there. General glitch, or just me?

I can't resist - crstarlette, in honor of your reading some of my old favorites this week, a poem of combined verse: Sithen the sege and the assaut was sesed at Troye The borgh brittened and brent to brondez and askez, The tulk that the trammes of tresoun there wroght Watz tried for his tricherie, the trewest on erthe. That warrior, with great strides he stepped, Small were his thighs, his ribs of wide extent. I can't go on like this. That's what you think. ETA: I think it works even better thus: Sithen the sege and the assaut was sesed at Troye The borgh brittened and brent to brondez and askez, That warrior, with great strides he stepped, I can't go on like this. The tulk that the trammes of tresoun there wroght Watz tried for his tricherie, the trewest on erthe. Small were his thighs, his ribs of wide extent. That's what you think. ---------------- Please consider reading Paradise Lost next. :D

Sometimes, as in this case with the crayon, the consequence is the consequence. Your consequence was getting to tell your dh and order new checks. You can guess what my consequence was for The Pillbugs Incident. Boy, did that lead to some new rules about acquiring pets. And it sure taught me to check those pockets. Ick.

Hugs and warm thoughts. Wish I could shoulder some of it for you.

I'm currently out of the country and needed to travel light, so I abandoned my to-read pile and brought a nicely compact Penguin edition of The Brothers Karamazov, conveniently in two volumes, and (also compact) Five Hundred Years of Printing. I've just read the story of the old woman and the onion, which I like much more than the more famous Grand Inquisitor passage. ------------------- “You see, Alyosha,†Grushenka turned to him with a nervous laugh. “I was boasting when I told Rakitin I had given away an onion, but it’s not to boast I tell you about it. It’s only a story, but it’s a nice story. I used to hear it when I was a child from Matryona, my cook, who is still with me. It’s like this. Once upon a time there was a peasant woman and a very wicked woman she was. And she died and did not leave a single good deed behind. The devils caught her and plunged her into the lake of fire. So her guardian angel stood and wondered what good deed of hers he could remember to tell to God; ‘She once pulled up an onion in her garden,’ said he, ‘and gave it to a beggar woman.’ And God answered: ‘You take that onion then, hold it out to her in the lake, and let her take hold and be pulled out. And if you can pull her out of the lake, let her come to Paradise, but if the onion breaks, then the woman must stay where she is.’ The angel ran to the woman and held out the onion to her. ‘Come,’ said he, ‘catch hold and I’ll pull you out.’ he began cautiously pulling her out. He had just pulled her right out, when the other sinners in the lake, seeing how she was being drawn out, began catching hold of her so as to be pulled out with her. But she was a very wicked woman and she began kicking them. ‘I’m to be pulled out, not you. It’s my onion, not yours.’ As soon as she said that, the onion broke. And the woman fell into the lake and she is burning there to this day. So the angel wept and went away. So that’s the story, Alyosha; I know it by heart, for I am that wicked woman myself. I boasted to Rakitin that I had given away an onion, but to you I’ll say: ‘I’ve done nothing but give away one onion all my life, that’s the only good deed I’ve done.’ ------------- I wasn't going to buy books that I'd have to haul back from abroad, but I found in a secondhand bookstore two volumes of short pieces by A. A. Milne, which I bought. Who even knew Milne wrote for grownups? So amidst the Dostoevsky, Milne. And printing. These: http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/If_I_May.html?id=IAAQYJMgO9EC&redir_esc=y http://thecaptivereader.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/the-days-play-a-a-milne/

Okay, thanks. So if the Powers That Be found, for instance, that all or nearly all subjects were taught in Mandarin (say), that wouldn't be a problem?

Is this the same Alfie Kohn who thinks any parents who want gifted education available in schools are racists? I've never read anything by him that hasn't made me think he's an idiot. Reward systems are fantastic for getting a child over a hump, or introducing a new habit. One of the best bribery methods I've found - and I think I got this from Dr. Sears - is the guaranteed bribe, where you tell the child that the nice thing is waiting just on the other side of the unpleasantness, but make it plain that it's not conditional. We have to do this thing, but then we'll have this lovely thing after. My children also responded well to advance bribery: here's the nice thing now, and you can enjoy it while we're doing the not so nice thing. But yes, many reward systems don't work well longterm, when the novelty wears off. And intrinsic value is important to convey. But some things don't have intrinsic value, or they have value that's impossible for a small child to understand or appreciate.

Not meaning to derail the thread, but what's up with that "in English" requirement? I have two good friends who homeschool in part so that their children's instruction can be mostly in their native language (the children are quite fluent in English just being raised in the U.S.). What right does the state have to deprive children of a second native language?

Great Girl did Miquon without the rods or the guide - just the six books. Manipulatives just annoyed and confused her. There's nothing magical about the rods. If your child doesn't need them, he doesn't need them. Past the first book and a bit, they hardly come into it anyway.

Is this the official First Grade thread now? Or do you want to launch one for us? I would be happy. :) In re: your question - Whether it's too much or not depends on how much of each you're doing each week. I'm planning to use far more subjects and materials/curriculum than that, but most will be small parts of the larger mosaic.

1. Kitchen Table Math Part 1 has lots of useful games for cementing facts. We've used them liberally, with great success. 2. Our flash cards are triangular, with the factors/product or addends/sum at each corner, and the signs along the sides. The child makes flash cards herself for any troublesome facts. Works nicely. 3. Dice games with various sizes of dice. 4. For the most obstinate problems, flash cards with mini-M'n'Ms for each one right per minute (or for every three right, or etc.). Mine like these: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/math-war-staff-of-school-zone-publishing-company/1114082900?ean=9780887432873