This isn't exactly a book of logical fallacies, but it might be an interesting supplement to the broader topic. The Ten Things All Future Mathematicians and Scientists Must Know (But Are Rarely Taught) by Edward Zaccaro https://www.amazon.com/Things-Future-Mathematicians-Scientists-Rarely/dp/0967991544/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465756486&sr=1-6&keywords=Zaccaro

The Complete Writer leaves it up to you to choose the reading passages that's what makes the workbooks so very much easier for the mom or dad. However, if your child's tastes don't run along the lines of the selections in the workbook then it is a good choice to choose ones suited to him/her. But it sounds like your kids loved it, don't mess with a good thing!

Consumer Reports: Top flusher: American Standard Champion 4 around 300.00. Buy it now. Life is too short to be dealing with medieval sanitary conditions in your home.

It would be less disingenuous if in literary analysis we just respectfully said (except in the cases when the author made it clear elsewhere) that we don't know exactly what the author had in mind here, but when we read her/his book, we are reminded of this or that or the other thing. Keep it clear that literary analysis is more about the reader's thinking process than the author's.

I think Adams was specifying in his "new" introduction, not that he wasn't influenced by anyone, but that Watership Down wasn't a thinly veiled political statement or assessment of religion. Scholars and readers have read in their own interpretations that it is about Nazism, Rome, democracy religion, etc. Adams states: "Watership Down is an adventure story, no more than that: rather a swashbuckling crude one to boot. There are virtuous rabbits and bad rabbits: if that's allegory, Bonanza is an allegory." Quote obviously didn't work right: Here is the quote I am responding to: Regarding Watership Down, hasn't Adams said he was influenced by Campbell? (The Hero with a Thousand Faces) I think Campbell may even be quoted in it. To me it clearly reads like an epic. I think Star Wars also follows Campbell (might be wrong on this one, it could be someone who did something similar analysis of myths...) hence the very, very similar structure with other stories.

Mergath, "Talk back to the 'chunks'" Seriously? The kids aren't rolling in the aisles when they read this? Making smart aleck comments in their margins? I am beginning to believe that only writers should teach literature. I can't help but think that any children's book author worth her or his salt would snatch his book right out of a close reading teacher's hands and smack them on the head with it. Then hand it back to the kids and say, "Please, throw those sticky notes and highlighters in the trash, then open the book and enjoy the story I wrote for you." Oh goodness gracious! It says not to read more than three paragraphs at a time!

I didn't see the point in Deconstructing Penguins either, other than maybe a leg up on some standardized tests (the MAP comes to mind as it is heavy in literary terms). SWB seems to be the leading voice arguing that we should not destroy the (elementary, middle, and high school) child's love of reading to get a jump on college level literary analysis. Public school seems to be going the opposite way with close reading and extensive book packets (my daughter's 5th grade class had thirty page book packets on 150 page books!) analyzing every aspect of the book to death until only the most resilient student could come up for air afterward still loving the book. My son's high school is down to assigning three books per YEAR because they couldn't possibly go "in depth" with any more?!??!?!? I also appreciate MCT's method of encouraging his high school students (at the private school where he taught) to read an additional book every week or two and have a quick three to five minute discussion with him for credit. There really is something to be said for being "well read" and that won't happen if you read twelve books your entire high school career. I thoroughly enjoyed Richard Adams introduction in the 2005 Scribner edition of Watership Down in which the author stated clearly that no matter what the literary critics imagined, Watership Down was a book about bunnies written for his children to entertain them on a long car ride and not an allegory or a parable. I am totally in the camp that reading more books is more illuminating (one can make their own comparisons throughout a broad range of literature) than reading just a few novels for which you have the "time" . Nothing wrong with learning the literary analysis terms and applying them now and again or doing one close reading, but dissecting every book is a recipe to make reading into drudgery, especially at the younger ages.

We live in a "lower" cost of living area in rural Maine. You can get a modest three bedroom house in town on a small lot in the $200,000s. Car insurance is 1/3 of what we were paying in suburban New York. Trash pickup in NY was $36 a month or $1 per bag at the dump. Here a $20/year dump pass is the norm. You can still get a haircut for $20 ($60 last one I got in suburban NY). Gas is lower than NY. Things like drivers ed: $575 here vs. $1000 for my friends in suburban Boston. Our property taxes are a third of what they were in suburban NY. However, we do have excise tax on the car here, which was not a thing in NY. I don't think we have as low cost of living as our relatives in the midwest or south, but we are pretty happy with the savings over suburban NY or suburban Boston.

You can get a dual fuel range. Propane or natural gas top and electric oven. Many people prefer cooking on a flame, but baking in an electric oven. Kenmore has several dual fuel models. My electric induction flat top range never got hot enough to use with our water bath canner, plus it was not as easy to clean as advertised.

Look at MECA (Maine College of Art). They take the students through the process of making their own textiles and then design clothes from the textiles they made. Also FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in NY is supposed to be amazing for fashion design. Rhode Island School of Design has an apparel design major. Each school has its own portfolio requirements which are posted on their website. It appears that most art and design colleges require about 1/3 of the portfolio to be drawings from life (landscape, still life, self portrait, etc.). I think the idea is that they need to see how the student sees and interprets the world. The rest of the portfolio can usually be things that reflect their particular interests. I think many students change their majors after a year or two so they need to see a well rounded portfolio before they begin. No reason one or two of those life drawings can't be of clothing, period costumes, or close ups of textiles.

Here are a couple of references on making a price book. http://organizedhome.com/kitchen-tips/make-price-book-save-money http://lifehacker.com/how-to-save-the-most-money-on-your-grocery-budget-with-1518202640 http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2014/06/grocery-budget-basics-creating-a-price-book/

Amy Dacyzyn's Pantry Principle. Stock up on the items you use regularly at the lowest possible prices by buying in bulk, finding the cheapest supplier, using a price book, or growing and preserving it yourself. It really helps if you are in an area that has enough supermarkets that they compete with excellent sales. We have two supermarkets. Sales are pathetic. When I lived in an area that had five, the sales were amazing. Gardening or making arrangements at the farm market to get fresh food to preserve is also a real help. http://grannysvitalvittles.com/the-pantry-principle-how-to-save-gobs-of-time-cooking-for-your-family-part-1/ http://grannysvitalvittles.com/the-pantry-principle-what-youll-need-to-get-started-part-2/ http://grannysvitalvittles.com/the-pantry-principle-what-youll-need-as-raw-ingredients-for-real-food-recipes-part-3/ http://grannysvitalvittles.com/the-pantry-principle-how-to-get-the-ball-rolling-within-your-budget-part-4/ http://grannysvitalvittles.com/the-pantry-principle-how-to-maintain-your-pantry-part-5/

This just brings up the most lovely image. What a sweet thing for your mom to do.

My husband's Clarks disintegrated while we were walking around the zoo. Very annoying.

Susan Wise Bauer's latest edition of WTM should be coming out in late summer or fall of this year. It is really a very flexible curriculum even though it doesn't look like it at first. You can see what works with your child as she grows and then tweak the rest to fit. What I particularly love about WTM is the 4 year history cycle and The Story of the World. Not WTM, but since you are raring to get started, at your child's age the readâ€aloud should be a high priority. The Read Aloud Revival Podcasts. Scroll down to the bottom and start at #1. http://amongstlovelythings.com/read-aloud-revival-the-podcast/ The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease http://www.amazon.com/Read-Aloud-Handbook-Seventh-Jim-Trelease/dp/014312160X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463758204&sr=8-1&keywords=the+read+aloud+handbook

When I interned at a small museum in Vermont, the grocery store gave us a "donation" of the black widow spider that had come in on some lettuce.

Perhaps a magazine that is very similar to the one she already receives? So if she gets Southern Living, try a year of Southern Cottage.

My daughter had that three weeks ago. Started with the sudden onset of "acne" (rash) that lasted two days, then high fever, sore throat, cough, & stomach pain. It was going around her school, many children were absent. One child was in the hospital overnight with a fever of 106. It went through our family with symptoms lasting up to 10 days. We did not go to the doctor so I am not sure what it was other than a virus of some kind. Other people have speculated it was a flu virus that the vaccine didn't cover. The doctor should have more information.

Not as showy as some of the others, but this anniversary edition was illustrated by Tolkien himself. http://www.amazon.com/Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0618968636/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462884644&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hobbit+anniversary+edition I also have the one illustrated by Alan Lee and now covet the one illustrated by Michael Hague. How many editions of The Hobbit can one own? :)

I wanted to be a paleontologist. Still have a great deal of interest in natural history museum paleontological exhibits, but ended up as a naturalist teaching about currently living plants and animals.

Sebago Lake in Maine which is between Portland (foodie mecca) and the North Conway, NH and the Mt. Washington/White Mountain area. Or the Burlington, VT area.

Vi Hart's YouTube channel? https://www.youtube.com/user/Vihart

1. Southern exposure. The rooms in the front of the house are light and sunny throughout the day. 2. Mudroom. Obviously. 3. Laundry on the second floor. No carrying baskets of laundry up and down the stairs.

An old fashioned percolator or French press? http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/store/search/search_result.jsp?q=coffee+makers http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=stainless+steel+french+press+ Here is one of the reviews on the percolator. "Tired of other coffee makers and the plastic features and features I did not need or want. This coffee pot is all stainless (interior too which holds coffee grounds). Makes a delicious cup of coffee. I do use filters (cut half inch off top to fit but do not think this is a need) no grounds in the coffee either way. Coffee is quickly made and I am very happy. Something about a simple, straight forward machine that works."

We talked to some of the professors at the art school my son is interested in. The one who impressed me most, a children's book author and the designer of the Kwanzaa stamp, said very directly that the most important thing to do to prepare for art school was to draw from life all the time. That if you think there is nothing to draw, pick up a stick and draw that. Your pencil and your sketchbook carried everywhere, used every day. Some art schools look at student sketchbooks in the admissions process to get an idea of how the student approaches subjects and how they think. Sketchbooks can become works of art on their own, don't just center one image on each page. Something like this will probably be inspiration enough. An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators, and Designers. http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Life-Inspiration-Sketchbooks-Illustrators/dp/1600610862/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1461551132&sr=8-8&keywords=artist%27s+sketchbooks