Jane, I'm very tempted to join you for Tom Jones (movie, too?). Let me know when you're about to start? Eliot and I, however, have nothing to say to each other. We didn't get along in college.

I was told by a PCUSA deacon that many of the mainline Protestant churches use the same Sunday lectionary as the post-1962 Catholics, with a few small differences.

crstarlette, I read the first half of Catch-22 in high school - glad to hear I'm not the only one who didn't finish. Still reading Dead Souls. It's really good.

:D But you know, ElizaGrace is exactly right. We're one Church. My girls' godmother is an intensely charismatic Catholic, and the masses I favor make her want to run screaming for the hills just as much as those she favors make me. But she's the holiest person I have ever been blessed to know, and any amount of liturgical propriety dissolves into meaninglessness in the face of that holiness.

I'll be good and not post links to Rorate Caeli. ;)

Good article on the Advent wreath here: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2009/11/customs-of-advent-advent-wreath.html

Yep, it's as if some desperate classics major finally figured out a way to get his screenplay sold: "Okay, cross out 'Greek mercenaries' and replace with 'New York street gang.' Then...."

This sort of thing - matching the priest's vestments, etc. - lies near the core of my traddish leanings. Only in the last fifty years has there been any notion that the laity at Mass ought to be doing anything in particular, much less in coordination with the other congregants, much much less in coordination with the priest. I like having Father come in from the sacristy, turn toward the apse, and start praying the mass, with no interest in whether everyone has the same prayer posture, or is singing the hymn, or is praying the server/congregation responses or praying something else. He does his job, I do mine. Yep, middle age sure has made me grouchy. :D

The Advent wreath tradition is recent, and borrowed from the Lutherans, so there's no really "right" way for Catholics to do it. Using violet and pink candles is an even more recent development. American Catholics usually use violet/pink candles; European Catholics and Protestants use red. We use deep red candles in our home's wreath, because 1. Laity using liturgical colors in private devotions has no precedent in Catholic tradition (likewise laity wearing red at Pentecost, etc.); 2. It's more universally Catholic rather than just American (also more ecumenical); and 3. Red candles are much prettier. Naturally, YMMV; there are no rules for the laity.

Holy Cow - somehow I forgot our primary and fantastically successful tool for teaching reading: Reader Rabbit! Learn to Read with Phonics http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/reader-rabbits-reading-1/screenshots Reading Journey http://archive.org/details/012178

For younger, we like the Provensen-illustrated Golden Press books: Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends The Iliad and the Odyssey For older, we like the Padraic Colum and Alfred Church books, all availabe free on Google Books or The Baldwin Project. (Sorry for the no links - iPad user.)

The Rhyme and Read series http://www.patandpals.com/store.asp Lauri crepe rubber letter sets http://www.amazon.com/Lauri-Toys-Alphabet-Avalanche-500-Letters/dp/B000F8R6JK http://www.amazon.com/Lauri-Toys-Lace-Letters-lowercase/dp/B0007LQGTQ/ref=pd_bxgy_t_text_y And lots of home-made phonics materials with index cards and a sharpie.

No worries - it's impossible to be condescending to me where science is involved; I find Ask to be about my challenge level. :D. Dh has a Ph.D. in a mathy field, and has a much better sense than I do about what's what in math and science.

Right, I dare someone to read Xenophon's Anabasis and then watch the 1970's cult movie The Warriors. Just for the cultural whiplash experience. BTW, did Robertson Davies make the Canadian list, or did I just miss him?

That was an interesting discussion, and with comments generally at a higher level than the usual internet free-for-all on home education. This comment stood out for me: <<Bonus: I was light years ahead academically because the public school system, for all its mythical ability to teach social skills, is far and away the worst way to teach everything else.>> As a teacher, I can easily say that if you reduced class sizes in a public school to THREE students per teacher, and if each of those students had parents who cared so much about their child's education that they'd give up their careers, those students would receive an amazing education. ------------------------ I've heard this frequently from defenders of school education, and it always puzzles me. It seems to be saying that if public schools were constitutionally different than they are, their results would match that of home education. And for those of us who never saw matters as "school at home vs. public school" but rather "tutoring vs. classroom education," it seems to cede the whole game.

Sorry, all dh told me is that he was looking at American Scientist and Nature for her, and decided on the former.

Great Girl switched from Scientific American to American Scientist at high school age when she got tired of SA being wrong about things she knew something about. Dh also looked at a subscription to Nature.

Just as long as you don't change your kitten-death sig.

Sorry to add to the confusion. While our good moderaters were preparing the new boards, I was preparing to take a stalker with an interest in underage girls to court. It all turned out well, but since he dug up everything he could about our family off the internet, I thought it prudent to switch to a less searchable name. I didn't expect the change to coincide with lots of other name changes. But my new name is much more awesome and literarily referential. :D

We have several Aesops, but this is the one that gets requested the most: Anno's Aesop http://www.amazon.com/Annos-Aesop-Book-Fables-Mr/dp/0531057747

Bad (non-talking, afraid of everyone, let's-invent-a-new-phobia) days for us are usually lack of sleep, change in routine, or Mommy Is Stressed. I spent November at maximum stress (see new username? thank Mr. Creepy Stalker!) - and even though it's all dealt with now, Wee Girl has lost so much of the progress she'd gained. My goal now is to spend Advent as if nothing exciting or different is happening in December, and get her back to where she was two months ago. :(

You see now why polygamy is a bad idea.

My kids' favorite story from that collection is Ernst the Swiss Mountain Climber, who keeps getting taxed with the job of bringing Heidi's slope-challenged cow back down the mountain. When small people around here ask for help with the same thing they've needed help with a dozen times, they're often answered with, "This is the last time I will bring your cow down from that mountain!" (Which of course means, I'll help you as long as you need.) They also appreciate Hans the Dutch Plumber, who stuffs a fat Texan tourist into the hole in the dike.

All of my girls learned to read with Richard Scarry's help. A few years ago I found cheap a trilingual Best Word Book Ever ( aka Mein allerschönstes Wörterbuch (with a little German intro by Scarry himself, who spoke German)), and it's been a popular supplement to language studies. Even Wee Girl can say "Il ne mange pas le grille-pain!"

You might check out Maurice Sendak's The Juniper Tree. I like the vigorous translation better than the archaized translations you so often see.