I did, but certain parts made me VERY uncomfortable (namely, her ambivalence bordering on apathy about her kids). Having said that, I totally "get" that this book can be metaphorical and I very much empathized with and felt sad for the main character and many of her concerns/longings. The end was quite shocking and left me breathless :eek:. It brought up a lot of questions/self-check about my own life, in a good way (although I am in a happy marriage and don't consider my kids an obstacle to my fulfillment!).

We're in the midst of moving and I have really missed this thread! With hope, I'll be back to it in a few weeks. :grouphug: I have done some reading- 'old school' feminist discourse (a favorite topic of mine)- A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (#36) and The Awakening by Kate Chopin (#37), respectively. I'm also slowly reading through Sherlock Holmes- A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-headed League.

Could you please start a blog? I don't know you but I :001_wub: you.

I started- and finished- This Life is in Your Hands on Sunday. Highly, highly recommended. Utterly engrossing; simultaneously inspiring and heart-breaking. I am already in mourning that this season of Masterpiece Mystery 'Sherlock' is over, so I think I'm going to read some Sherlock Holmes (Doyle) this week to help me manage my grief. :lol: I also started Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power and How They Can Be Restored by Marcus Borg.

Last week I finished Great Expectations (#33) and Christianity After Religion (#34). Thoroughly enjoyed GE; my library has a huge Dickens display right now so I feel a Dickens gorge in the making. (As a side note- I picked up Charles Dickens and Friends from the aforementioned display for my DS- HIGHLY recommended, probably best suited for older kids b/c all the death, sadness, gore of Dickens is not sugared over.) Christianity After Religion was very interesting, thought-provoking, and redeeming. 1. Skippy Dies 2. Raising Freethinkers 3. The Collaborative Habit 4. By Heart 5. Lost Memory of Skin 6. Hunger Games #1 7. Ahab’s Wife 8. The Sisters Brothers 9. The Feast Nearby 10. Parenting Beyond Belief 11. Hunger Games #2 12. The Shallows 13. Hunger Games #3 14. Momma Zen 15. Why Read Moby-Dick? 16. The Housekeeper and the Professor 17. The Creative Habit 18. Life of Pi 19. The Happiness Project 20. Wayward Saints 21. Protector of the Small: First Test 22. Girl Reading 23. Protector of the Small: Page 24. Protector of the Small: Squire 25. Protector of the Small: Lady Knight 26. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking 27. A Thousand Acres 28. Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce) 29. Julie & Julia 30. Wherever You Go, There You Are 31. The Night Circus 32. Proust Was a Neuroscientist 33. Great Expectations 34. Christianity After Religion

Did you like this? I really liked City of Ember, but People of Sparks was kind of disappointing so I didn't pursue any of the other books.

I love this approach. :) The line I bolded in your post below is a core philosophy of mine, too. I'm currently in quality not quantity/rigorous 3Rs mode, but I really want to expand into child-directed learning the way you've described it here.

This is a good point. The way many in the homeschooling community define creative, crafty, and fun is most certainly NOT how I define them- but I *do* consider myself to be creative, crafty, and fun.

This is me, to a T. :seeya:

Last week I finished Proust Was a Neuroscientist (#32)and began Great Expectations. I enjoyed Proust, but was left wanting more. I'm really interested in the idea of science and art "co-existing peacefully" rather than as a dichotomy- a couple of heated STEM vs. humanities threads here put me on this rabbit trail. ;-) If anyone has recommendations in this genre, I'd love to hear them! I am thoroughly loving Great Expectations. I have read oodles of Brit lit, including plenty of Dickens... WHY have I never read this before?!?! For this week, I plan to finish Great Expectations (about 75% through it now) and then start Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening by Diana Butler Bass.

I bought a box of books dirt cheap at a homeschool used book fair, and the Glencoe World History: The Human Experience by Farah/Karls (1997) was in there, unbeknownst to me. I'm a history junkie so I'm excited to have it either way :D, but looking ahead to middle/high school for my DS, I'm wondering how it compares to the Spielvogel edition- which I know gets uber kudos here at WTM, and which I was learning towards anyway. Is the Farah/Karls a "good" option? I realize that, with a print date of 1997, my book is missing 15 years of modern history, but if the 5,000 years before that are covered well in the Farah/Karls edition, I'll figure something out for the modern history ;). (And if it means less $$$ I have to spend later, all the better!!!)

I bought a box of books dirt cheap at a homeschool used book fair, and the Glencoe World History: The Human Experience by Farah/Karls (1997) was in there, unbeknownst to me. I'm a history junkie so I'm excited to have it either way :D, but looking ahead to middle/high school for my DS, I'm wondering how it compares to the Spielvogel edition- which I know gets uber kudos here at WTM, and which I was learning towards anyway. Is the Farah/Karls a "good" option? I realize that, with a print date of 1997, my book is missing 15 years of modern history, but if the 5,000 years before that are covered well in the Farah/Karls edition, I'll figure something out for the modern history ;). (And if it means less $$$ I have to spend later, all the better!!!)

This. Also, the post-op pain meds gave me horrible nausea and vertigo. I stopped taking them a day or two after surgery- best decision I ever made. My incisions were a bit tender, but that was miniscule discomfort compared to the nausea.

I read The Night Circus last week. Many people on these threads recommended it, and you can add my wholehearted recommendation to those. Beautifully written. Utterly swept me away into its ethereal, haunting, am-I-awake-or-dreaming? world. Loved, loved, LOVED it. It is books like this that make me thankful for a) being a book lover, and b) subscribing to these 52 Books threads. :D Up for me this week is This Life is in Your Hands. Not sure where I heard about this one, probably a "If you like One Thousand Acres, you'll like..." either on Amazon or Good Reads, but it grabbed my attention. My list for the year: 1. Skippy Dies 2. Raising Freethinkers 3. The Collaborative Habit 4. By Heart 5. Lost Memory of Skin 6. Hunger Games #1 7. Ahab’s Wife 8. The Sisters Brothers 9. The Feast Nearby 10. Parenting Beyond Belief 11. Hunger Games #2 12. The Shallows 13. Hunger Games #3 14. Momma Zen 15. Why Read Moby-Dick? 16. The Housekeeper and the Professor 17. The Creative Habit 18. Life of Pi 19. The Happiness Project 20. Wayward Saints 21. Protector of the Small: First Test 22. Girl Reading 23. Protector of the Small: Page 24. Protector of the Small: Squire 25. Protector of the Small: Lady Knight 26. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking 27. A Thousand Acres 28. Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce) 29. Julie & Julia 30. Wherever You Go, There You Are 31. The Night Circus

I finished A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce), Julie & Julia, and Wherever You Go, There You Are last week. The first two were very enjoyable, quick reads. I'm not really a mystery lover, but Flavia is just such a snarky, smart, spunky girl that I can't help but love her. :) And Alan Bradley is a very gifted writer! I am a not-snobby foodie with a sailor mouth who adores Tony Bourdain, so Julie & Julia was right up my alley. It wasn't particularly revolutionary or enlightening writing, but entertaining nonetheless :tongue_smilie:. Wherever was really good- it's not a big book, but it took me awhile to read it because in addition to having loads of information about practicing mindfulness, it had a lot on the contemplative/philosophical side. Deeply inspirational, and I need to read it again. I have a veritable SLEW of books on my shelf right now and am not sure what I'll end up finishing this week. I've already started The Night Circus, Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child, and Proust Was a Neuroscientist, and I picked up Great Expectations (did anyone see the recent Masterpiece version? STUNNING!), Christianity After Religion, and The Know-It-All today at the library. My list for the year: 1. Skippy Dies 2. Raising Freethinkers 3. The Collaborative Habit 4. By Heart 5. Lost Memory of Skin 6. Hunger Games #1 7. Ahab’s Wife 8. The Sisters Brothers 9. The Feast Nearby 10. Parenting Beyond Belief 11. Hunger Games #2 12. The Shallows 13. Hunger Games #3 14. Momma Zen 15. Why Read Moby-Dick? 16. The Housekeeper and the Professor 17. The Creative Habit 18. Life of Pi 19. The Happiness Project 20. Wayward Saints 21. Protector of the Small: First Test 22. Girl Reading 23. Protector of the Small: Page 24. Protector of the Small: Squire 25. Protector of the Small: Lady Knight 26. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking 27. A Thousand Acres 28. A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce) 29. Julie & Julia 30. Wherever You Go, There You Are

I think it's been a couple of weeks since I posted. In that time, I've finished Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (I'm an introvert, so I was nodding my head through a lot of this book; the brain research was fascinating; highly recommended) and A Thousand Acres (modern retelling of King Lear; writing was lush and dense and engrossing; highly recommended). This week I'm reading the 3rd Flavia de Luce mystery- A Red Herring Without Mustard. A previous thread reminded me that I had read and enjoyed one of these already, so picked up the only one my library had available. I love Flavia. :) My list for the year: 1. Skippy Dies 2. Raising Freethinkers 3. The Collaborative Habit 4. By Heart 5. Lost Memory of Skin 6. Hunger Games #1 7. Ahab’s Wife 8. The Sisters Brothers 9. The Feast Nearby 10. Parenting Beyond Belief 11. Hunger Games #2 12. The Shallows 13. Hunger Games #3 14. Momma Zen 15. Why Read Moby-Dick? 16. The Housekeeper and the Professor 17. The Creative Habit 18. Life of Pi 19. The Happiness Project 20. Wayward Saints 21. Protector of the Small: First Test 22. Girl Reading 23. Protector of the Small: Page 24. Protector of the Small: Squire 25. Protector of the Small: Lady Knight 26. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking 27. A Thousand Acres

Last week I finished Protector of the Small: Squire and Protector of the Small: Lady Knight (#s 24 and 25, respectively, for the year) by Tamora Pierce. These are YA fiction, brilliantly done. Fantastic heroine- smart, determined, kick-a$$ strong. For those of you who (like me) enjoyed the Hunger Games series but didn't think it was feminist enough ;), please read the Protector of the Small series. This week I'm reading the introverts book :tongue_smilie:-aka Quiet- and I also plan on finishing Wherever You Go, There You Are (I'm about 3/4 done). ETA my whole list, b/c I agree with aggieamy that I like to see others' lists: 1. Skippy Dies 2. Raising Freethinkers 3. The Collaborative Habit 4. By Heart 5. Lost Memory of Skin 6. Hunger Games #1 7. Ahab’s Wife 8. The Sisters Brothers 9. The Feast Nearby 10. Parenting Beyond Belief 11. Hunger Games #2 12. The Shallows 13. Hunger Games #3 14. Momma Zen 15. Why Read Moby-Dick? 16. The Housekeeper and the Professor 17. The Creative Habit 18. Life of Pi 19. The Happiness Project 20. Wayward Saints 21. Protector of the Small: First Test 22. Girl Reading 23. Protector of the Small: Page 24. Protector of the Small: Squire 25. Protector of the Small: Lady Knight

I'm not Halcyon :), but I am taking at least one of my kids to the women's rights rally in my city- and I have been taking them to other, smaller WR-related rallies/protests this spring. The effect they have had on my son (who is old enough to have an intelligent, thoughtful conversation ;)) confirmed that involving them was a good idea.

Six in the current rotation: Treasure Island and Myths Every Child Should Know (tea time), Mrs. Pepperpot's Year, The Saturdays, Paddington, and Mary Poppins.

Wow, you're right at the epicenter. :001_huh: I'm sure it was a really powerful experience, wish I could have been there.

I am not anti-gun; we own and use guns regularly. I AM anti-concealed carry for anyone other than law enforcement. I don't believe in or desire an ordinary (i.e. barely trained) citizen army/militia.

Huh. So if one of these "interesting visitors" whom you treat like "Jesus himself" went bat**** and flipped up all the tables in your parish hall, would one of your carrying members have shot him/her/Jesus?

This makes me sad, too. I'm no Luddite, but digital/Internet is NOT the freakin' holy grail and I wish this false dichotomy didn't exist. There is value in print AND digital. I own several sets of encyclopedias and they get used darn near every day. And not for nothing, but following a print rabbit trail is generally MUCH more enlightening than the rabbit trails that are followed when we do online research. :tongue_smilie:

Let me be clear: I am talking about the curricula that *schools* use! I haven't seen a lot of it, but the homeschooling curricula that I've seen for middle school is quite good. School curricula/textbooks/enslavement to standardized testing is what I (and my fellow middle school teachers) thought was abysmal- much like you describe: worksheets, no depth, very little new material, very little in the way of dynamic/engaging material or material that we could even MAKE engaging, LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of material that had to be covered in order for teachers to keep licensure /not get reprimanded and for kids to pass the standardized test (in other words, seriously overdone breadth vs. depth). It's very telling that in every middle school I taught in or worked with, the good/meaty stuff was happening ONLY in pull-out gifted programs, and many schools had 30% (or more) of kids ID'd as gifted. :lol: Yeah, I wonder why?!?! LOL.

:bigear: What a great question. No answers, just more questions: I'm curious, do other countries do a dedicated 'middle school' the way we (mostly) do it in the U.S., i.e. 6th-8th grade in its own campus/building? I ask because- as a former middle school teacher- I was always astounded by the stupidity of segregating this age group. Why anyone thinks it's advantageous to lump all these kids together is beyond me, frankly. :confused: It seems as though we just (wrongly) assume that this age is an academic wasteland and therefore we aren't even going to TRY to do anything of value. Middle school curricula is, in general, ABYSMAL. It's a running joke among middle school teachers that the ONLY reason we teach/taught this age is because we love the kids- NOT because there's anything remotely interesting about the curricula.