Our favourite movie version of King Lear is Peter Brook's version from the early 1970s. Paul Scofield plays Lear. It's a highly atmospheric version, not the typical Hollywood costume drama. We absolutely love it, but I hesitated to recommend it because I'm not sure how easy it is to obtain nowadays.

My dd's currently in SO Latin II with Ms. Decker. Last year she completed Latin I with the same instructor. According to dd, the main value of the chats lies in the homework review-- the students are divided into small groups and every translated homework sentence due that week is examined and common errors pointed out. There's no chance of hiding in Ms. Decker's class! :) Dd highly recommends Ms. D. I must agree, though, that pacing can sometimes be slow and that it's hard for dd to focus on the screen for one and a half hours twice a week. Dd often uses MS Paint, GIMP, and solitaire during class. :D

Thanks, Kimberleigh! The Swedish village is in Bemidji (sp?). I don't know if that's the same location as the Spanish camps. If you like, you can pm me later in the month and I'll give you a quick review. :)

Wow! Yes, I, too, would be worried about sending my dc off to camp so far away. Not so much the camp itself, but the traveling/switching flights, etc. Sounds as though she handled it beautifully. On 18 Aug. my 14yo dd and I will be participating in the Concordia Langauge Villages family week of Swedish immersion. We've been told that the only other family to sign up for Swedish has a 4yo child, so we're expecting lots of personal attention from the teachers! ;) Hard to believe that they'll hold the camp with so few students, but I was told that it would, indeed, happen. We're new to Swedish (dd and I have completed the first unit of Rosetta Stone Swedish. Dd's main foreign langs are Latin and Spanish) and have never been to Concordia, but the many reviews I've read lead us to believe that it's a top-notch place.

:grouphug: Sending warm wishes and prayers your way.

My dh is an English prof at a Virginia U. He also runs a literary publishing company from home.

My dh, a publisher and book collector, recommends that for a single volume the following procedure will get rid of a moldy odor, or mold itself, in a book: wrap the book tightly in a plastic bag and place it in the freezer for two to three months. The extreme cold will kill the spores that cause both the moldy smell and the mold itself. It will not, of course, remove any stains or discoloration caused by mold. Very valuable books should be professionally treated.

Hmm. Not in our case. Our older dd is still on our health insurance. She's now 21yo and full-time in college.

Here's some good info and a good place to start your research: http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/hslda/200112120.asp Good luck to you and to your young athlete!

My older dd (not homeschooled) took a gap year. She worked in a couple of local stores for several months and used the money earned to travel through Italy, Greece and Turkey. She viewed the travel as a culmination of her classical high school education. Her universtiy (UVa) gave her permission to take the gap year. Their only request was that she not take any coursework at another school during that year prior to coming to UVa.

The "8th Grade Jacob's Algebra Syllabus & Course Plans" from http://www.kolbe.org were also useful-- not so much for the syllabus, which my dd did follow throughout the year, but for the quarter exams. HTH.

My dd supplemented with the Algebra I CD from http://www.KingdomTutors.com . She learns best with a combination of visual and auditory materials and the 113 lessons on the CD, which closely followed the Jacobs text, were crucial to her success in Algebra I. HTH.

Rebecca-- glad to hear that you enjoyed the Lukeion trip! In one of those weird episodes that happens from time to time in life, we bumped into the Barrs in Heathrow airport while they were on their way to Italy. Perhaps you were there, too! We were on our way to Spain for a little immersion Spanish. We also saw the Barrs this month at the NoVA conference (we were there on Friday afternoon). I think they also had a booth at the HEAV conference in Richmond this year and last. Small world, huh?

My dd, now 14yo, has taken several classes with Regan and Amy Barr over the past two years. She completed a one semester Mythology course with Amy, a Word Roots course with Regan, an Ovid workshop, and a two semester in-depth Mythology sequence with Amy. Dd wanted to try the Lukeion Latin sequence, but by the time she had decided on Latin, Amy's class was full. If you're interested in the language courses, my advice is to sign up early!

They are one hour sessions. Occasionally they run over by a few minutes, depending on the instructor's schedule. In addition, the students can text chat after the class. Dd really enjoys chatting with other students about music, video games, current events, etc. It's not directed chat, but sometimes the instructor does pipe in. Good fun, if you find the right mix of kids.