Agreed. Thanks for the chuckle, Chucki. I have a lifelong bad habit of finding humor in things I probably shouldn't, so it's appreciated!

Yeah, my guess is that reading level was compiled from words used and sentence structure. I think themes were probably what loosely constituted the lower, middle, and upper grades abbreviations that followed.

I apologize if this has already been posted. I read some and skimmed some, but found it kind of interesting. It's not very hard to pick out the assigned reading! I read somewhere else recently that High-Schoolers read largely on about a 5th grade level. A lot of what appears to have been assigned reading is around that level, with a few exceptions of course. Here it is.

This thread will keep me busy for quite a long while, but am popping in to say that I just finished listening to one of the talks linked to by one*mom below. It's about 2/3 of the way down, by Linda Dey, titled, Reading the Right Books. I enjoyed it. I've snipped the following a bit... Here are a couple of C.S. Lewis quotes from Linda Dey's talk. The first, I think, has to do with the bolded above... how the wrong intent can get in the way. "Those who do things to become cultured are the least likely to do so." "The true aim of literary studies is to lift the student out of his provincialism by making him 'the spectator', if not of all, yet of much, 'time and existence'." ...and goes on to say... "'History' alone will not do, for it studies the past mainly in secondary authorities. It is possible to 'do History' for years without knowing at the end what it felt like to be an Anglo-Saxon eorl, a cavalier, and eighteenth-century country gentleman. The gold behind the paper currency is to be found, almost exclusively in literature. In it lies deliverance from the tyranny of generalizations and catchwords. Its students know (for example) what diverse realities-Launcelot, Baron Bradwardine, Mulvaney-hide behind the word militarism." I want to give a big blanket THANK YOU to all for this thread! It has been a timely March rejuvenation to help get over the February slump.

Yay! Glad to see someone saving a few $!

Thank you for posting a link:) I was lazily posting from my phone:blush: It was Angela's pictures (Satori Smiles) of their fun blood experiment that helped us to decide that we wanted to add RSO into the mix. She has an additional resources list she put together for Life, as well.

I was making the final rounds, going through my links for stuff I want for next year and see they're running this sale through March. We are still waiting on our tax return, but I might have to squeeze a couple of these into our paycheck/budget next week. I hope this helps someone save a few bucks!

I was told to take extra B6, but I couldn't keep the vitamins down. I ended up buying Odwalla Blueberry B Monster in the largest containers I could find. A glass of that, first thing in the morning (followed by gum for the aftertaste), would make it possible for me to keep my vitamins down (about a half hour later). This really did help somewhat. :grouphug: I wish I had a fool-proof tip to offer you. I hope it passes for you soon.

:iagree: Though I guess it shouldn't surprise me at all that it's so involved, since the broth is what makes it so amazing. It's just that I would cry if I put all that time and effort into something only to end up with a mediocre (or worse) broth. I guess if I completely botch it, we'll just have to go out for Vietnamese!

I should just do this, too. Pho is one of my absolute favorite foods. I've looked online for recipes, but I guess I've been putting it off, waiting for an actual person to confirm a good recipe. Silly, right?

Well?..:toetap05:...recipe please?:D We love the red lentil soup recipe from Dove's Eye View. I try not to eat much meat, but it is so good made with chicken stock. We add 1/8-1/4 tsp. cayenne, as well (and I usually add another good pinch to my bowl, but I like it spicy). The fresh lemon makes it a nice refreshing summer soup and it's hearty enough for a good winter soup, too. Yummy!

Oh my goodness, thank you for your time and effort! A spelling program just hasn't made it into the budget yet and I must have been doing Webster's Speller at too slow a pace because my daughter would just roll her eyes and sigh at me all the time. I was having a hard time placing her. The cheapo store workbooks were all fluffy color pictures and sight word memorization. But this looks like a great fit for her and me (never taught spelling rules). Thanks again!

I appreciate both these statements. "Outing" myself as a drop-out (especially here) was slightly unnerving. It was hard not to follow that up with a long-winded explanation of the various circumstances that ultimately led to that decision. :tongue_smilie:

There, there, I'll make you feel better. I voted other. High school drop-out here!

I think this is it, yes? Or search for Wheeler's Elementary Speller.

:lol: Yes.

I haven't purchased the book yet and these aren't blogs, but here are a few links I got from googling drawing art with children lesson plans... From harmonyartmom From DonnaYoung From Paula's Archives Another squidoo

Adding this to my list, too! I very recently had to sell mine, sniff, sniff. A 1968 fastback. I sold it to my brother, because otherwise I couldn't bear to part with it, but couldn't afford to fix it up either.

The usual: no debt, paid off house (small), travel, and husband no workies. Beyond that, the weirdo thing I daydream (ahem, obsess) about is opening a really nice laundromat in a really bad part of town. I hate when I have to go wash my comforter. Yucky laundromat just seems to add insult to injury. I can't imagine having to spend hours of my time weekly in a dirty building, with Jerry Springer blaring on the TV, barely any seating, maybe a few ripped up newspapers, vending machines full of soda/candy, etc. I daydream about a kids play area, changing stations and *gasp* soap/tp/pt in the restrooms, phonics on the kiddo TV, documentaries playing on another, books or at least informative magazines, healthy vending food like Odwalla etc. sold at cost, seating by washers and dryers, a security guard, I could go on and on about my Disneyland laundromat...:rant:

I voted 3 R's with some gravy. In actuality, we just mostly did reading, though. In hindsight, I do wish I had paid attention to her pencil grip, because now she is struggling with changing a bad habit. I guess you could call our fourth R Rabbit trails. She learned so much by us fostering her interest (Not plural yet!). She was compelled to read...about bugs. She kept a ruler by her fave bug book so she could see how big all the different bugs were and compare their length to other objects in the house. She wants to learn latin...so that when she discovers a new bug, she names it properly. It's just so easy in Kindy to teach through whatever they are showing an interest in at the moment. I love pre-school & Kindy!:001_wub:

So glad you started this thread. Thank you Veritaserum for all your work, time, and attention that you put into it. Can't complain about the price, either! I was very excited to use it this year for grammar/Ancients! I printed off the WHOLE thing, scheduled it, stuck it in my binder, and was just so impressed with its organization and easy crafts. THEN I started looking up the books at my library... They have the Riordan books, but even with inter-library loan I could only get a couple others. Can you tell I'm new at this? Note to self: Check library first, then print. My budget is beyond stretched, so I had to let it (largely) go for this year, but I will try again the next! :thumbup:So yes, shameless plug for CHOLL! :toetap05:Boo, hiss, to my public library (which doesn't even have D'Aulaires Greek Myths)!

TMBG! Music helps everything sink in at our house. It's catchy, too; I don't mind when I hum these tunes. HTH

Good things come to those who wait! Thank you. I do not know what my problem was, but I could not find it!

My son colored many pretty orange pictures on my WALLS!:glare: It's been a couple of weeks and I haven't cleaned them yet. I can't come up with a good excuse for my wall-cleaning procrastination and laziness. Reading about the red now has me a little worried. I know one of the things I'm no longer procrastinating tomorrow!

We just started not too long ago. My daughter is a perfectionist and gets frustrated that she can't make her letters exactly like a computer, but she would do that no matter whether we doing cursive/manuscript because that's just part of her personality. She is really proud of herself when she gets past the frustration and it makes her feel big. So far, so good! We are using Zaner Bloser, but I still toy with using Memoria Press. I love that meerkat!