I found this on Amazon. Of course it isn't designed for kids, but with a very interested kid it might work. http://www.amazon.com/Logo-Design-Workbook-Hands--Creating/dp/1592532349/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395530605&sr=1-2&keywords=advertising+logos

Both my parents are in their 70s and are far more computer savvy than I or my husband. They can do everything except program the thing, and if they put their minds to it, they could learn the programming languages too.

Thank you! I am in love with this! We've used two of Maxwell's books with great results. They include excellent explanations and samples.

Crossing my fingers that April (and maybe a big snowmelt--my hometown-to-be just got another foot of snow last night) brings a huge flood of houses onto the market too. My realtor is teasing me with the "perfect" house priced to sell that he's listing that comes on April 1st. Of course, another realtor in the area says he often puts good condition houses on the market underpriced and that always leads to a bidding war--exactly what we want to avoid. Other than that there are two leftover houses (been on the market over a year) in our search area that we could consider. They each meet some of our criteria. They would sort of shuttle us into two different lifestyle choices: one on acreage with a barn (yay!) and some fixing up or one in perfect condition on a tiny wooded lot (not even a garden without cutting trees kind of lot). At this point, I have had to purchase things that I already own but are in my storage unit in another state because I have needed them here! This is going on a little long. Good luck to you! April is only a week and a bit away. Hang in there.

I think putting it on regular network TV was purposeful, that Tyson and his team wanted to reach an audience that never watches PBS. I swear I heard somewhere (but I can't find the article or broadcast for reference) that the sorry state of general scientific knowledge in this country was of such great to concern to him that network TV this was one a promising avenue for reaching more people.

Rex Barks Warriner's Grammar and Composition complete course Drawing Sentences The Complete Book of Diagrams

Classical Academic Press' Writing and Rhetoric is going really well as an independent writing program here. All I have to do other than check the work is read the dictation passage. It is not 100% secular. In some questions the student is asked to choose the quote that best matches the moral of the fable. Some of the quotes are from the Bible. There is no preaching in it, though. http://classicalacademicpress.com/brands/Writing-%26-Rhetoric.html?sort=pricedesc

Last year there were children's activities concurrent with the lectures. You could easily send your two oldest to those while you listened to the speakers. I don't remember any really little ones in the mix at the children's activities. But they are so flexible there you could probably choose to keep the 3 year old with you or send her in her sisters' care to the children's activities. I am sure either would be fine.

Comprehension is improved by life experience and breadth of knowledge. The more content you expose your children to from daily life, field trips, travel, documentaries, and nonfiction books the more situations they can comprehend what they encounter them in fiction. I still remember an elementary school teacher we ran into while taking the kids on a field trip to observe the wood frog mating season. She was blown away by this and all the other experiences we mentioned our children had. When we told her about a 30 foot tall "secret" waterfall nearby that she might enjoy, she exclaimed that a good number of her students wouldn't know what a waterfall was if they encountered it in a book. And how it would help them as readers if all parents made the effort to expose their kids to as much of the world as possible.

Northern Exposure! The Waltons (I think it totally holds up over time.) Hamish MacBeth (quirky 1990s Scottish mystery series like Northern Exposure meets Twin Peaks). These are on YouTube. The accent takes a little getting used to. The Great Lochdubh Salt Robbery is the 1st one. You can look up the order of the episodes on Wikipedia. It is important to watch them in order.

The right private school for high school (one which offers a similar liberal arts/classical education to the private high school I went to and loved) which we have found. Because her older brother is going to school next year, my daughter wants to try the public school (I would be more comfortable if there was a private elementary but alas...). She can come home at any time if it isn't what she imagined. But even though we've been happy homeschooling, our decision to homeschool was based on lack of good schools in our town rather than an independent desire to homeschool.

I love my first name, Laurel. Great choice for a naturalist. Would have liked my parents' second choice too, Paige. I hate my middle name. It is so pedestrian and very much like the wishywashy middle names that were given at the time. For some reason, my parents didn't name my sister the leftover "Paige" which she would have liked, choosing a very weak name for a very strong person. Needless to say, she hates it. For my kids I chose uncommon names that were easy to spell. We have only heard of two others with my daughter's name. She is named after a national park.

Beachcombing: picking up shells, sea glass, and driftwood, watching shorebirds and the occasional seal, beach roses, beach peas, clambering over granite islands, peering into tidepools, watching people fly colorful kites in the blue sky, listening to the methodical crash of the waves, the late afternoon lighting, kids entertained for four full hours in the sand and the waves without bothering me once...

Rex Barks by Phyllis Davenport http://www.amazon.com/Rex-Barks-Diagramming-Sentences-Made/dp/1889439355/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393592079&sr=1-1&keywords=rex+barks Better Sentence Structure through Diagramming (book one seems only to be available used--for over $20!) but book two is at Rainbow for its normal price. http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/029388/210ab4bee62b3063692d2698

I think, besides travel (which is the absolute best), the second best way to introduce children to the world is to find ways to introduce new cultures through an anthropological perspective. Anthropology, as a social science, is the study of culture done in a factual way, with as little sensationalism, sentimentality, or negative comparisons, or bias as possible. They also don't depict cultures based solely on their festivals (which seems like all that is available for kids). Unfortunately, I know of no ethnographies (the participant-observation books written by anthropologists who live in a culture for long periods of time) that have been written for children. This Goodreads list is a great place for you to start to find books that you can preview for high school or take appropriate excerpts out of now for your oldest. Be aware that ethnographies often explore the sexual traditions in each culture (thus the need to preview and perhaps use only excerpts depending on the age of the student). The Forest People by Colin Turnbull and The Yanamamo by Napoleon Changnon are classic ethnographies and are on this list. Some on the list are not by anthropologists though: Don't Sleep there are Snakes by Daniel Everett is an interesting book but written by a missionary. Not all ethnographies study small scale cultures. There are anthropologists who have done participant observation on Wall Street, for example, and have lived (lol) to write about it. http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/ethnography There is a series of short classic ethnographies by Waveland Press that we used in anthopology class in college. Some of these would be appropriate for when your oldest reaches junior or senior year of high school. Here are a few I particularly enjoyed, but they have them for hundreds of cultures. You might enjoy picking them up to read yourself in anticipation of high school. Papago Woman http://www.amazon.com/Papago-Woman-Intimate-Portrait-American/dp/0881330426/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393571648&sr=1-1&keywords=papago+woman The Gypsies http://www.amazon.com/Gypsies-Jan-Yoors-ebook/dp/B00HFZXHI0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393572112&sr=1-1&keywords=waveland+press+gypsy Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali (this one might wait until the kids are much older!) http://www.amazon.com/Monique-Mango-Rains-Consulting-published/dp/B00E32EICC/ref=sr_1_34?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393572188&sr=1-34&keywords=waveland+press In terms of hands-on and great for younger kids, I would suggest you visit as many museums with international art and cultural artifact collections as possible. The Smithsonian, some natural history museums, and The MET. Taking advantage of classes or workshops in international arts or cooking might be another excellent avenue.

One of my friends had her kids dig a huge hole in the backyard. It took years and ended up being about 8 feet long, 5 feet wide and 4 feet deep. They made a teepee type roof from tied together saplings over top of it. They left some dirt intact for stools. She supervised from the kitchen window to be sure they did not dig in such a way that it would collapse upon them. He could build you a stone wall or stone ringed garden plot from all the rocks in your lot.

I laughed out loud at that line. My very PC aunt became apoplectic and huffed out of the room mumbling something about a "s@xist pig." I laughed out loud at that too. In real life, I think he moved to Alaska after his wife died. My son adored that movie when he was 7/8 years old. I found it very soothing to watch over and over (which is not true of most of the documentaries my son watched again and again). I didn't know there were sequels... off to investigate and probably spend more money.

Maize! Now Miss Ellie is going to come to your house and use Spalding on you!

Lobster Rolls at Red's Eats in Wiscasset, Maine. Sometimes there is a line of 70 people waiting!

As the books age the paper oxidizes, it is like a kind of slow burn. I imagine everyone's sense of smell processes it differently. It must be popular as one perfume company makes a scent called "paperback." http://www.demeterfragrance.com/704154/products/paperback.html Look, some folks have studied the old book smell. I didn't look up the chemicals (they are VOCs), but they don't sound all that healthy for us book sniffers! http://mentalfloss.com/article/31235/what-causes-old-book-smell

I received a free Kindle with the purchase of my son's computer so even though I refuse to buy one until the point that they stop publishing paper books I decided to try it out. Filled it up with books I don't care to own physically, and took it to India. Didn't realize you needed not only an Indian adapter but also a step-down-converter to charge it. Fried. My daughter's Nook was also fried, but B&N kindly replaced it. So it is not exactly a foolproof lightweight travel device. For the few weeks I had it, I hated reading from the screen. It hurt my eyes no matter what setting it was on, and always felt like it was going to trigger a migraine. I hated the imprecision of the page turning, sometimes it took three taps to turn the darn page. Hated not being able to hold, smell, feel the real book. It was a small kindle and there were too few words per page. Also being so small, I found it very hard to hold. I usually lay my books across my lap with my knees up, didn't really work with the kindle, so my hands tired quickly. PLUS and this is a big problem. You don't really own any books you buy on an eReader. They are technically rented and Amazon or whatever store you got them from can remove them at any time or block your account. You cannot transfer them to others as a gift or through sale. I fear this trend is going to negatively affect my library used book sale haul in the long run. :-( I have no desire to replace the fried Kindle. None.

A fourth option is CampfireUSA. And a fifth is 4-H (which definitely is inclusive of all ages and very family oriented). I believe both are non-denominational and open to all people regardless of religious belief. http://www.campfireusa.org/difference.aspx# http://www.4-h.org

I would have been shaking like a leaf too! You poor dear. Living life as a hermit seems like a valid option, considering the vortex of strange circumstances that is your town.

I think real preppers buy specialty canned and freeze dried foods that last much longer than conventionally canned food (like 25 years) and things like wheat berries, which if stored correctly, can last 30 years. I believe there are LDS canneries that sell such foods. Here is a non-LDS website I just googled. http://wisefoodstorage.com/long-term-food-supply.html I don't like paranoid preppers, but I do like being prepared since I have mostly lived in wintery areas where ice storms knock out the power for weeks. This is a good (non-crazy) prep book that is really useful in the case of a natural disaster or long term power outage: The Survival Mom http://www.amazon.com/Survival-Mom-Disasters-Worst-Case-Scenarios/dp/0062089463/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393051869&sr=1-1&keywords=Survival+Mom She also has a website. The most useful part is the "List of Lists" at the top. http://thesurvivalmom.com

Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm The Tawny Scrawny Lion Search for a Living Fossil: The Story of the Coelacanth Reader's Digest: Animals You Will Never Forget And a scratch-n-sniff book with the most wonderful scent imaginable. Even if I could remember the name and find a copy I am sure the scent would be long faded. :-(