Make: Electronics by Charles Platt.

I think you recommended the Minis to me some weeks ago. I've been working through them in preparation for next year, and they are great. Thanks!

I was really begging parents to sign up their kids for my MC team. I had registered 7 kids and one dropped out. Two of them skipped all the practices since the material was just too difficult for them, but they showed up at the chapter competition anyway. I had my hard core team of 4, but it's always nice to have a larger crowd at chapter to support each other. Since I have a hard time recruiting, I'll take anyone who meets the age requirement.

Hooray for your dd! But as a MC coach myself, I have to ask: is your team already preparing for next year? :crying: I'd go to the MC online store and check out the books they have. (Many of these are also available on Amazon.) Also, this year's competitions are now being posted, along with solutions to previous years. Finally there are the MC Minis which are shorter problem sets on one topic with an aligning Rucszyk video. Good luck!

â€Formal symbolic representation of qualitative entities is doomed to its rightful place of minor significance in a world where flowers and beautiful women abound.†– Albert Einstein

Relativity Visualized by Lewis Caroll Epstein.

Do you have a link to the errata page? I'm having trouble finding one.

This is all on page 135 of Magic Lens 1, third edition, 2011. ETA: The solutions are in the Home School Parent Answer Guide, also third ed. 2011, but it looks like it's the printing from July 2013. #6, #11, #13 on p. 135.

Could you link to the AOPS Olympiad Problems or explain how to get to them. I'm curious which ones you are referring to.

Okay, I'm such a grammar dope, I don't even know whether I'm wrong or the book is wrong. So here are some fun grammar exercises for you from your friendly copy of Magic Lens 1 (MCT). The geneticist's hobby was to study pathogenic substances. The book says "pathogenic" is a noun. I think it's an adjective. Cracked lengthwise, the object was discovered near the cascade. The book says "cascade" is an adjective. I think it's a noun. Closing the door helped to reduce the cacophony. The book says cacophony is an adjective. I say it's a noun. And finally this one: Dr. Garcia, the new mortician, was mortified at the wound. The book says "mortified" is an adjective. Dd thinks "was mortified" is a passive verb phrase. Can someone help me to distinguish the two? Is there a good rule of thumb?

LOLOLOL!

Do let us know how it turns out.

Wow, I didn't realize it was simply a matter of deciding my child would attend MIT to make that happen. Can I also decide who she gets to marry? Sometimes I tend to veer into bragging territory, and what really reins me in is when someone sincerely expresses astonishment at my and my children's accomplishments. Something along the lines of, "Wow, you must be so so proud!" "Wow, that is amazing!" but without any hint of sarcasm or snarkiness. Just the tiniest bit over the top. That stops me in my tracks, probably because I'm afraid of jinxing myself, lol.

It's really interesting, isn't it? Some of these owners seem to have real issues with the humans in their lives. Others are clearly after the status of not having a "regular" pet. I was really surprised at that guy who went from pet-owner to pet-rescuer, and how he said he can't get too close to the animals because of his "addiction." That hedgehog on the cover was adorable, wasn't it?

Can you describe your student's involvement in SO? I briefly viewed the website, and it seems there are different ways to participate. Is s/he on a team? Is it a hand-on building competition, or more like a quiz/test of knowledge? Vent: Sometimes I view a cluttered page with lots of links and photos and requests to follow them on facebook and a history and a donation button, when what I really want is a few bullet points that answer the question: what is this? Finished venting. Time for wine.

I'm calling it a technology elective because we already have a science curriculum. Also there is a blog and youtube channel devoted to this book, which can be helpful. We're taking a little detour and soldering some Jameco kits for fun!

Blockheads? Everything is Awesome?

Maybe this isn't similar enough, but still interesting for kids: An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield, first Canadian astronaut, who also happens to be the coolest.

I like having a mechanical stage. It looks like the one you cited has the option to add it on. I would do that. Reposting from my message to the BFSU2 forum: I chose the 3088 model from greatscopes.com. It has a built-in mechanical stage, LED, and is rechargeable so you use it without the cord. We've used it for a couple of weeks and have had no problems. I called customer service with a question, reached a human, and got an answer right away.

There is a recent issue of National Geographic in 2014 with exotic pets as the cover story. The story is mainly negative, but with some sympathy for pet owners, and interviews with current and former pet owners.

I love, love, love the Make: Electronics book recommended here. We're working through chapter 3 and I'm prepping for chapter 4. Warning: there are lots of parts to source, and you need to check multiple multiple sites: Radio Shack, Mouser. Amazon is particularly good for parts which are obsolete or hard to find elsewhere. It isn't cheap, but it's an outstanding education for your students. There is a blog and youtube channel that correlates with this book. If you're interested, post here, and I'll track them down.

I agree with sticking to ICELANDIC! How cool is that? Plus, I bet there is a great story about his interest in Iceland and the language. Just the sort of thing he might want to write about in his essay. ;) Do anything you can to develop this interest. How many other applicants to Cornell are going to have that angle? (Not many.)

To be clear, the time invested in honing extracurricular skills does not stop when the scholarship is awarded. Particularly in sports, you are expected to work your patootie while in college to maintain your scholarship. A discounted education is great, but at what cost, when your college grades and learning suffer? I cheered when I learned that football players at Northwestern may be able to organize and get paid for their work.

I am late to this conversation, as usual. I too was glad to see the light blue t shirts, instead of yellow. I miss the little stuffed kangaroos from a few years back. Unfortunately, the students who registered at my site were way younger than my own daughters, so it wasn't very fun for them. I'm thinking about hosting a closed/private site for older students only, or just stopping altogether if my kids are just outgrowing it.

CAASPP FAIL. No wifi in most classrooms, so only 5th graders were able to log on and take the test. Dd12 used her "no wifi" laptop to go to youtube and watch cat videos. Go figure. Who paid for all those laptops anyway? (me?) And how would you better spend the money? I'm just grateful we don't need to make up our "test" day which did include an actual test. Enough missed instruction time!