Beth, you might also enjoy the talks by Grant Colvin from the ACCS conference a couple of years ago. He gave two related to Latin and I enjoyed them both a great deal. :) You can find them on WordMP3 as well.

Have you bought CDs in the past? I'll try and post a list of my favorites later this evening. You can't go wrong with Ken Myers, James Daniels, or Andrew Kern for encouragement and good challenging ideas. And I loved John Hodges talk last summer about a sacramental view of the world. But a more definite list of favorites will take me more time than I have just now. :)

Hmm, not sure that I remember seeing that. There's often a pre-order price after the conference for the CDs, a complete set for 99$ instead of the 150$? or so later on. I *think*. But I don't think I've ever seen the individual CDs less than 6$. I wish, wish, wish they'd go digital and sell MP3s for cheaper (and to take up less space on my iPod).

If you're going down South Grand there are lots of awesome ethnic choices: King and I for Thai, Pho Grand for Vietnamese, Mekong also has good Vietnamese, Mangia Italiano makes awesome homemade pastas...

I'm fine with families setting limits. But I think the implication that families that allow video games aren't raising children with high moral or intellectual standards is broad brushing just a tad. :) We limit video game (and all screen time) pretty strictly here, even though my husband is in the gaming industry and we have a couple of game systems. Maybe my dh is the rare guy who can play once in awhile and walk away or who grew up with very few limits on video games and managed to be a bright, curious, moral adult. I find that 8 year old boys tend toward to be obsessed about most things, at least my son and his friends tend to get really narrowly focused on one thing at a time (Star Wars Lego, secret agents, knights, etc.), but most of ds's friends have Wiis or Nintendo Ds and manage to be pretty balanced kids. My *girls* tend to have more trouble cheerfully stopping screen time when asked. :glare:

It's been awhile since I read the book, but I think cheese is limited on Atkins. Something around 4 oz/day. So still some limits if you're going by the book. I love cheese too. :)

I find this attitude puzzling. Why in the world shouldn't a company make a profit on their material? If it's a useful, well-done product, then they should certainly sell what the market is willing to pay for it. If it's a poor product or has a poor return policy, then buyers should be vocal about that and negative word of mouth will probably require the company to adjust policy or pricing accordingly. But those that publish curriculum should be able to make a profit for their materials. Should they just publish for the rest of us as a ministry? :confused:

Story of the World (we have Vol. 1 and 2 so far) Rabbit Ears Radio Tall Tales Redwall Narnia (Focus on the Family dramatized and the audiobooks read by famous actors/actresses, we love both) Classical Kids CDs

Just thought of a game dh and his coworkers play sometimes: PE plus Spelling! http://www.seeknspell.com/

I don't suppose "Peggle" counts as an exercise in physics. ;)

What character traits were you hoping to focus on? My dd has enjoyed Pollyanna, A Little Princess, and Understood Betsy which all teach valuable character lessons.

Wonderful post, Caitilin.

I apologize for misunderstanding your question, Iwka. Thank you for offering clarification about the type of discussion you were hoping for. :) It can start to feel overwhelming, can't it? I've read quite a few books on classical learning and listened to many lectures and it gets harder and harder to see one straight, clear, how-to path the farther down the rabbit hole I go. But I think that's okay. Classical education is less about what exactly is studied (though I firmly believe in the medeival trivium and quadrivium progression for how to train a mind) and more about the end. It's meant to be more about the process than the ends. Modern education is about ends, about "application", classical education is about cultivation (like slow, timely farming) wisdom and virtue. The methods and tools that have been honed for that purpose over centuries do include the medieval trivium and quadrivium, but those are not the ends in themselves. I really recommend you go and spend time at the Circe Institute website. On the left margin there are links about what a Classical Education is, it's definitions and principles (you often have to scroll down to find the information, there's some formatting issues). Circe is doing the very thing you're trying to do here. Get at the heart of Christian, Classical education...see what is at the base of it and how can it be successfully recovered. http://circeinstitute.com/ Also, I have found David Hicks' book "Norms and Nobility" to be the best to be less about exact content or tools and more about the teacher/student discipleship relationship toward the end of noble thinking and acting. You're just not going to find easy answers, the question is beyond that. You have to go back to things like "what does it mean to be educated?" and start from there. And then paralysis sets in (ask me how I know?!) So there has to be a bit of disconnect I think, where for your own children, at this time, you let go of finding perfect a little bit, of understanding it all, and find a solid, practical method that works. They need to learn to write, so you find a writing program and consistently use it. And don't worry about if it's "classical enough". Same with math. Same with grammar. You children need to meet great minds and think great ideas, so yes, Mr. Michaels, the literature matters. Read Charlotte Mason for her encouraging words about the child as a living mind in need of living ideas. :) But THEN while your children (or mine in this scenario) are using Rod and Staff Grammar and a separate Latin program because of my own deficiencies, continue to read and learn and make adjustments to how you teach. I appreciate how many in the Classical, Christian school movement have emphasized this is not a one-generation deal, recovering these lost tools. It too centuries to do away with the ideals of a classical education (really you'd have to go back to pre-Enlightenment to begin to see the unraveling), none of us had this education that formed the minds of Augustine and Aquinas, Calvin and Lewis...BUT maybe, just maybe, our children will be able to recover a bit more of what has been lost. And that, is much too much thinking on a Friday morning. LOL. I need a muffin.

I did indeed. Earlier this evening. And I agree with some of Mr. Michaels' criticism of the ages/stages application of the Trivium. But I think that Ms. Sayers did spur the beginnings of an important revival of classical education after her speech was printed in National Review where Doug Wilson, in particular, read it and later referred to it in thinking about how he wanted his own children educated. In the same way education in this country moved in stages away from classical education to its modern form (or formlessness perhaps is more apt), I think it will take stages to move back and that is happening, even in "neoclassical" education. I would tend to place TWTM in a "liberal arts and sciences" education box rather than "classical" for the most part, which I think is closer to what Sayers is calling for than a traditional medieval classical education. I found the tone of the article self-serving, however, with the constant plugs for how CLAA has it right where others have messed up. So it was hard to want to engage in further discussion.

double post :)

I'm not sure why you posted about this article in the particular tone you chose. Rather than offering the link and asking for a discussion, you seem to be making a rather critical judgment from the start. Surely you can see that a less-productive conversation can be had now than might otherwise have been possible. :001_huh: I'll add that I'm personally fine with finding where shared goals and overlap can happen between various classical camps, even where I philosophically disagree. I think we all benefit by offering grace to those working at recovering a quality education for our children, be it classical or more of a traditional liberal arts. I'll link to a lecture given by Doug Wilson last summer which I found helpful for better appreciating what the Sayers model brings to the classical table. http://wordmp3.com/details.aspx?id=8376

I've only been to one so far in 3 years of homeschooling. That was last year's Circe Institute Conference in Houston. If I can manage it, I plan to try and make that my annual "teacher training" expense (and fun weekend away with great friends!), this year I have a 6 month old and am moving the weekend before the conference. But next year, I'm there if at all possible! I would have been interested in going to the Texas State Convention this year in Houston, but again, we're moving right before it and I have a 6 month old who is becoming very verbal and active!

Beth in Central, TX uses Omnibus in this way. Her history period is not necessarily the same as the literature covered in Omnibus, and she pares down the Omnibus reading list as well. I'd search for her posts on this. :)

We've enjoyed them here, in moderation. The audiobooks read by Mary Pope Osborne as well. One thing I don't think has been mentioned that I've really appreciated about this series is the relationship between the brother and sister. I have a son and daughter, close in age, and they often play "Jack and Annie" after reading or listening to a story. And Jack and Annie are kind and helpful to one another, they depend on each other, they ENJOY each others company! Those things make it easier for me to overlook the formulaic, simplistic writing for this season. The fact that my kids will also read Redwall or The Secret Garden for pleasure makes it easy to let them enjoy a snack book on occasion. ;)

This was interesting to me, so I thought I'd pass it along if no one else has linked it yet. :) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/education/05charter.html?em I'm enjoying reading the many comments. Many good reminders that it's the attitude at home toward education that makes the biggest difference in how well children do at school.

Well there are probably pipe smokers out there that like organic, small-farmed tabacco. ;)

I liked the new Persuasion. But it really can't touch the Ciaran Hinds version. :svengo: ;)

Who knew there was an actual recipe! I've been trying to copy this for at home, but I'm excited to see there's something I can copy. :-)

Exactly what I was going to say. Mine is from Pampered Chef and is going on 6 years of slicing apples (and pears) for kids. :)

I would rather keep my 1% and give it directly to those around me where I see need. Dollar for dollar I bet it would go further if dispensed by the deacons at my church or by me directly. And I'm more likely to feel compassion and connection with those whom I'm helping than I do with the welfare system at present. :)