I was going to purchase the Little House on the Prairie complete dvd set from amazon, but I noticed in the reviews that people were saying the the episodes were heavily edited and had lots of scenes cut out. So my question is, where in the US can you buy the original show on DVD, the way it aired first on tv, with no scenes/episodes missing?

Very interesting thread. Thank you for all the info. Btw, how old was Laura when she wrote the books? And also, were all of them edited by Rose (except for the "First 4 years")?

Thank you for all this information guys. FaithManor, my kids would like to know where did you get all that information about the discrepancies and what happend between the books. They would like to read that too. Is there a biography of her life written by someone else, that has all the facts straight?

So we finished reading "On the banks of Plum Creek" and just started "On the shores of Silver Lake". Is that the correct sequence? In the first chapter Mary is blind and apparently Caroline has had another baby girl - Grace. Where we left off in the previous book she wasn't even pregnant and no one was sick. I feel like there is a book (or at least few chapters) missing. All the other books so far seemed to continue right where the previous book ended. Are we missing something?

Thank you so much! Knowing that the final book is a half circle, helps a lot. I think I know what to do now:). Would you mind sending me the pdfs for SOTW 2? We are not there yet, but if her blog is gone for good, I don't know where else to find them. I'm going to pm you. Thanks again!

Does anyone know how I can get to it? It used to be at that awesome SOTW focused blog http://runofthemillfamily.blogspot.com/ But the blog is gone. I have the pdfs saved, but I am not clear about the instructions on the minibook for ch. 19, and there was a wonderful video on that blog where she explains the lapbook in detail including the components that are difficult to make. I found Susan's video on youtube, but that one doesn't go over any minibook making instructions. Does anyone know how I can find this video, and if not, can someone explain to me how to glue the circles together for ch.19, because the directions are super confusing.

Angela, thank you so much for the link. Putting that together must have been a lot of work. Thank you! It's exactly what I needed.

I have the list, but it's something like 140 pages long. I was hoping people will just chime in with their favorites:) Thanks for the Elementary Spanish tip. We'll take a look.

So far I know about Bill Nye and Horrible Histories. Please post your family's favorites.

anyone?

I have all 3 of these: http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Technic-Idea-Book-Machines/dp/1593272774/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382583701&sr=1-2&keywords=Isogawa However, I don't know where the mechanisms that he presents can be used. Is there perhaps a blog or website, book etc of someone who tried to build everything from those books and use it to build something useful? I mean, the kids and I can sit down and build together one of his gear contraptions, but then we don't know what to do with it. It is not anything in and of itself, it is meant to be used as a part of some kind of a machine. I would like something that can tell me, "well now that you've built this particular simple machine, here are some real world examples where it could be used". Does such a book/website exist? Also, it would be nice to be able to use it as a reference in the following manner. Say, I want to build something motorized that can make things rock back and forth. I want to be able to go to said book/website and find which mechanism from Isogawa's books can be used for that purpose. Anyone with a suggestion?

I like my winter Athleta tights and muzino head band. They keep me cozy when the temps drop way down.

The kids started building their model on the base plate. They meet at our co-op and then the teacher (that's me) has to take all the legos and everything home and then bring them back next class. Today while trying to bring their model home, it broke it into pieces. There has to be a better way to transport that base plate (once there is stuff built on top of it) than just carrying it like that in my hands. Help! Is there some kind of "dome case" that's just the right size? How do you guys do this?

Old thread, but I just wanted to chime in and say that these books have an amazing amount of cleverly placed geography info in them. The kids retain it very easily because it is weaved into the plot of the story. I think they make an excellent elementary self-teaching geography curriculum. They would work really well in a home where geography might not get covered at all otherwise, or as a fun supplement to a serious study of elementary geography. I can't believe that people compare the writing to Magic Tree House books though. First of all, Geronimo Stilton books are definitely harder to read, and secondly the writing is of much higher quality imo. I consider this series a step or two up from Magic Tree house reading-level-wise and certainly quality-wise. It is a completely different genre/style so it might not appeal to all Magic Tree House fans, but don't confuse genre with quality.

That is very helpful quark. Thank you!

Thank you for your post. I'm thinking of taking the plunge and getting this: http://www.amazon.com/Martin-Gardners-Mathematical-Games-Gardner/dp/0883855453/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1375359522&sr=8-3&keywords=Martin+Gardner+games The only thing holding me back is that some of the reviewers say that the quality of the scans in several of the books are awful.

We don't own any Martin Gardner books. I would like to purchase a few, but the selection on amazon is just overwhelming. If you could pick only 5, which 5 would you pick and in which order? We will be solving them together with my mathy numbers/puzzles/tricks/cipher loving 3rd grader.

Our son who was 7 last year did FLL2 for grammar, WWE2 for writing and spelling workout C for spelling. I think that writing is one of Bauer's biggest strengths. I have no idea why Cathy Duffy didn't write a favourable review. Basically the FLL 2 workbook is full of excerpts from excellent books that your children need to narrate orally to you, then you write it down for them and they copy what you wrote (or you dictate it to them). My son narrated directly on paper (skipping the oral part). He also only read the dictation copy/sentences for days 1 and 3 without actually writing them down. It is a no stress, pick up and do it kind of program, very straightforward and doable, short and sweet. In fact, I just handed him the workbook and he was reading the stories on his own, and then doing the narrations, so it was completely independent work for him (which I like in any curriculum)! I think AAS is a very complete spelling program. I don't think you need a phonics curriculum if your children don't struggle with reading.

Wow, phenomenal! Thank you so much Denise. It is exactly what I was looking for. Perfect!

You don't need algebra for AMC 8 from what I understand. You need just good logic and problem solving skills. There might be some probability, things like divisibility tricks, Pythagoras's theorem etc. I think if you go to their website, you'll find it lists all the possible topics.

I'm a bit disappointed on her choice of a book from my home country. There are so many better choices. She was definitely a bit too gracious in her review of the book too. I would not have given it the high praise that she did. Also, for any of you that plan on borrowing from this list for your children, make sure you pre-read. The book I mentioned has some very explicitly mature content. It was not meant for children by any stretch of the imagination.

Also, links to any good threads from these parts (WTM forums) on the subject of children and blogging and getting started and such would be much appreciated.

Has anyone who is not a blogger themselves done this? How? I would really like a book targeting middle-schoolers/jr.high students on this topic that will get them started and show them all the cool tips and tricks too, so that they can really customize and personalize the design of the thing (without any significant HTML/CSS knowledge) and not just have to use a template. Are there any really good books that fit these criteria out there? I don't want to teach this in a way that would seem like schoolwork. I really just want to hand him a book and send him off to wordpress or someplace and let him enjoy the process of learning how to do this on his own. The fact that I don't blog and know very little about it, would help in this regard too I would think.

The James Floyd Kelly books look very intriguing. Thank you for pointing those out!

I've tried reading this book twice now and I just can't get myself to finish it. It is really poorly written. This kind of book requires some talent in the area of careful explanation of of the processes of technical building, technical thinking etc, and the author does it so poorly that I really have no idea what he is talking about most of the time when I read his descriptive paragraphs. He seems to lack the skill for doing this kind of writing. Anyone else have similar problems with this book?