More from Wolf Hall, for Stacia. Page 340, the French ambassador has written about Thos Cromwell, "He says your antecedents are obscure, your youth reckless and wild, that you are a heretic of long standing, a disgrace to the office of councillor; but personally, he finds you a man of good cheer, liberal, openhanded, gracious ..." More antecedents! I'm starting to think she did it on purpose! The confusions about Cromwell's character help the reader remain confused about him as the other characters are confused about his history. We have more of his history than they do, so Mantel has to throw us off the scent. I'm ready to start Part Five. Two hundred pages to go.

I love my large, second floor loft with a sink and walk-in closet. It's perfect for us.

:(

Lady and the Tramp.

My two oldest used Dance Mat Typing and practice using NitroType.com

I haven't totally decided. ROAR is on my list, our own Tonia from The Sunny Patch is using that and VP's materials. One of our other members (and I can't remember her name here .... sorry!) compiled this amazing list that I plan to refer to. I've been collecting resources here. It's getting to be time to start planning, though!

We're doing our Yuletide Session. In January, we start new. SOTW 3, A study of weather, we're going to do Narnia (if I get it planned) for our literature studies, pick up our Circle Time (here's this past year's plan) We'll do Latin, math, grammar, writing (I just bought CAP's W&R-Fable), piano, typing, penmanship, and our other lessons, picking up where we left off ... here's our 2013 Academic plan, I don't expect 2014 to be appreciably different.

The kids and I listened to The Hobbit again. It is an "out and about" thing, we have about a 30 minute drive almost everywhere we go. Rob Inglis is a fantastic narrator and we all enjoyed it very much. That's #44 for the year. One of my 2013 reading goals was to not re-read much, and I've done pretty well. I did re-read the two Sally S Wright books at the beginning of the year, but didn't remember them at all .. it had been at least 10 years. I also re-read The Devil on Lammas Night by Susan Howatch, which I was unsure if I had read (probably 25 years ago ...) The Hobbit is the first, and only, recent re-read. I feel really good about achieving what I wanted to on my goal -- not counting Eddings or Austen or Heyer books because they're quick and easy for me. Keeping on with Wolf Hall ... Book Reviews 1. The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great by Benjamin Merkle 2. Publish and Perish by Sally S Wright (reread) 3. Pride and Predator by Sally S Wright (reread) 4. Pursuit and Persuasion by Sally S Wright 5. Out of the Ruins by Sally S Wright 6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 7. Watches of the Night by Sally S Wright 8. Code of Silence by Sally S Wright 9. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi 10. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield (excellent) 11. Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers 12. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner 13.The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers 14. The Devil on Lammas Night by Susan Howatch (reread) 15. The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins 16. The Little Way of Ruthie Leming by Rod Dreher (very very good) 17. The Exact Place: a memoir by Margie L Haack 18. Lord Peter Views The Body by Dorothy L Sayers 19. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers 20. Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym 21. Men of Iron by Howard Pyle (audio book) 22. Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary (audio book) 23. No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym 24. How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig 25. Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey 26. Tending the Heart of Virtue by Vigen Guroian 27. Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock 28. Shadow in Serenity by Terri Blackstock 29. The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L Sayers 30. Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days by Judith Viorst 31. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard 32. Have His Carcase by Dorothy L Sayers 33. Leonardo and the Last Supper by Ross King 34. Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L Sayers 35. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann R Wyss (audio book) 36. Holy is the Day by Carolyn Weber (Book of the year. Fantastic) 37. The Tanglewoods' Secret by Patricia St. John (Audio Book) 38. Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L Sayers 39. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 40. Man of the Family by Ralph Moody (Family Read Aloud) 41. Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John 42. The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer 43. False Colours by Georgette Heyer 44. The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien (audio book, reread)

It used to be every day no matter what or where we were. Now, we have it every day we're at home. Two hours, 2-4. The kids go to different rooms - one of the girls goes in our room - and they listen to audio books, read books, work on crafts, or other quiet play. We all need some time apart to think our own thoughts, process our school day, do what we want (within limits) without mommy's instruction/direction. My oldest craves the time as she's pulled between her two siblings, and her introversion is becoming more pronounced.

Eliana's text: Frederica is delightful! imho, yes, stay far away from them. The prose is turgid, leaden, and dull, the characters completely unengaging... they aren't Heyer-like at all. I love history and (well done) historical fiction and I can enjoy some fluffy historical fiction, but these are neither interesting nor fun. The Infamous Army is the only tolerable one of the lot (it slogs rather a bit and suffers by being sort of a sequel to Devil's Cub & These Old Shades, but it is recognizably Heyer, though not at all at her best. The other Heyer I actively dis-recommend is Cousin Kate - pseudo Gothic, but unlike her other attempts at this, it is squicky and unconvincing. ..well, and Penhallow. She thought it would be her serious literary work that would be what she'd be remembered by.... I haven't tried her mysteries, or her contemporary novels (the latter have some less than flattering reviews). ETA: In case this all sounds too discouraging, when Heyer is good, she is a delight Dawn's reply: Frederica is one of those that makes me think I could read more than two at a time, it's very good - in spite of the stock characters. I have to admit that I lose track of which title goes to which story, though sometimes. Lots of people love The Grand Sophy, but it isn't my favorite ... I never liked Sophy all that much. I liked Sylvester, The Masqueraders, and Regency Buck. I inherited all my Heyer books from my mom. She had 28 of them (all paperback, reprints, some falling apart) I've read most of the romances, none of the histories, and the one of the two mysteries (Envious Casca) which I enjoyed well enough ... I do like murder mysteries. My library has none, so I'm restricted to what I own. ETA: When I found the books I asked the Hive about them here.

I'm sorry you found it flat. I thought the writing was sparkling and energetic (I couldn't put it down), reminded me of a young L'Engle. I particularly enjoyed how the Christian community surrounded and cared for this new, young believer. I suppose I like the ordinaryness of it too, not grand flashes or wondrous signs but God's Word and God's people loving someone - how most of us enter the Kingdom.

Here are my Advent plans ... http://ladydusk.blogspot.com/2013/11/yuletide-session-2013.html?m=1

My grandma used to make her own mincemeat. That's my favorite.

If you like SET, Swish might be a good choice. It's fun. Animalogic is fun too ... you have to get the animals out in sequence.

My mom and I made the whole meal yesterday. She'll heat or finish everything off today. She prefers a pristine kitchen when having company.

Reported Spam.

I finished False Colors by Heyer last night - two Heyers in a row, now I need to do something else ... go back to Wolf Hall Book Reviews 1. The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great by Benjamin Merkle 2. Publish and Perish by Sally S Wright 3. Pride and Predator by Sally S Wright 4. Pursuit and Persuasion by Sally S Wright 5. Out of the Ruins by Sally S Wright 6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 7. Watches of the Night by Sally S Wright 8. Code of Silence by Sally S Wright 9. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi 10. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield (excellent) 11. Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers 12. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner 13.The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers 14. The Devil on Lammas Night by Susan Howatch 15. The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins 16. The Little Way of Ruthie Leming by Rod Dreher (very very good) 17. The Exact Place: a memoir by Margie L Haack 18. Lord Peter Views The Body by Dorothy L Sayers 19. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers 20. Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym 21. Men of Iron by Howard Pyle (audio book) 22. Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary (audio book) 23. No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym 24. How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig 25. Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey 26. Tending the Heart of Virtue by Vigen Guroian 27. Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock 28. Shadow in Serenity by Terri Blackstock 29. The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L Sayers 30. Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days by Judith Viorst 31. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard 32. Have His Carcase by Dorothy L Sayers 33. Leonardo and the Last Supper by Ross King 34. Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L Sayers 35. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann R Wyss (audio book) 36. Holy is the Day by Carolyn Weber (Book of the year. Fantastic) 37. The Tanglewoods' Secret by Patricia St. John (Audio Book) 38. Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L Sayers 39. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 40. Man of the Family by Ralph Moody (Family Read Aloud) 41. Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John 42. The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer 43. False Colours by Georgette Heyer

Little Britches Bambi The Princess and the Goblin

I agree with Eliana, though I did like The Black Moth, it isnt the place to start ... One of the ones she listed (I esp like Frederica) would be lovely. I didnt know about the historicals though. My mom had a large collection and there are a couple that I havent gotten to yet including The Conqueror and another one . Should I really avoid?

I agree! Also, for the last 9 years, our library has had the early-reader, series books pulled into a separate section. MTH, Capitol Kids, Geronimo Stilton and the rest. The last time we were there, we saw that they mixed them into the regular stacks. Our librarian explained that they were hoping for more circulation from the regular stacks by having kids actually bump into the other books while looking for the early chapter books. Here's hoping! ETA: At the same time, some of our branches have the children's books mixed in with the YA and Adult books in the collection. I hate that.

Soccer ball and goal? Baseball bat, ball, and glove? Tee? Slot cars?

What ages? What kind of study? An individual state? All the states? crafty or no? We're using Memoria Press' States and Capitals and it is what I was looking for. Learn information from a book, write it down. Independently.

QUOTE: How did you decide to go from Jan.-Dec.? Have you ever done a "traditional" school year? Was it easy to transition to a Jan.-Dec. school year? When do you do your planning and purchasing? What months do you take off? Thanks!! We have never done a traditional school year. We knew we wanted to homeschool (before we were engaged, we dreamed about family and our hopes and desires). Our oldest was born in October and was really ready for school at 4 (slowly). She already knew how to read and had begun with math stuff. I knew we wanted to school year round for flexibility, continuity, and because learning never stops. I also knew that I love Christmas-time and wanted a big break around then. It made sense to do things on a regular calendar year. My second child's birthday is early in January (the 5th), so it made sense to wait until after his birthday to start since we take birthdays off. January 6 is Epiphany, so our break becomes Thanksgiving, Advent, and Epiphany. We call it Yuletide Session. Usually we start the Monday after his birthday, this year we're planning to take one more week off because his birthday is on Sunday, it is a crazy time, and that'll give me more time to plan. We take off time when we need it. We also do only about three days per week in July. I'm not a big planner, tend to use "do the next thing" curriculum. I buy at the Homeschool Convention in May or as needed, when we finish something we start the next thing.

Last Christmas, we got our kids their own Sansa Clip Zip mp3 players and a set of portable, rechargeable speakers. We filled them with audio books (mostly free from Librivox) and music. They were a huge hit - the children have used them almost every day during our afternoon Quiet Time. No big screens, just enough to choose what they want to listen to. My youngest was 5 at the time and has taken good care of it. We also purchased these USB chargers, but I didn't pay that much for them. Another idea is a digital camera. There are decent point and shoot cameras available at a smaller price that a child can manage (better than the "children's digi cams") We usually give that for the 7th birthday, but if he likes writing stories it might be a good inspiration maker.

25 in the children's 15 in the English Student's. That's pretty awful, my consolation is that my children have read a number of the books that I haven't. I hope to do something about the other list in the coming school years ;) Ironically, on that note, I've bogged down in Wolf Hall - which I like - but read a Georgette Heyer book just to finish something (mind candy). I read The Black Moth, which I now understand was her first novel. I liked it pretty well and it had the benefit of not being full of stock characters ('cause she didn't have any yet) so I'm reading another - True Colours.