winsome :001_smile:

Is this the Lingua Latina, per se Illustrata, pars I and pars II, by Hans Orberg? I would say that pars I and II together are way more than Latin I, proably more like Latin 1,2 and 3. By the end of pars II, it is pretty unabridged original authors, which is usually well beyond Latin 2.

A bit off topic, I know, but I really don't like breaking up literature into just "American" and "World Literature", with all the Brit Lit (or Commonwealth, if you prefer) in the latter. There's such a difference between literature in translation and reading it in the original language, that it isn't fair to lump English language works in with the great Russian novels and the like. JAWM.

Never mind all the usual problems with standardized testing, this blew my mind: So, assume you were a Florida public school teacher, and an immense amount of pressure was on you to have your students do well on this test. If you knew that the questions mostly didn't change from year to year, isn't the obvious thing to try to get the questions from your students after they take it each year, and put special attention on those questions in subsequent years? How much of the much vaunted "year over year" improvement can be attributed to this?

If you run out of horse books, the Kate O'hearn series about Pegasus is the next best thing.

Only on this board would nine be consider "old" to start Latin...

Much of it isn't relevant to homeschooling, but I like the book "Teach like a Champion", because it gets me thinking about the craft of teaching. Not curriculum, but the nitty-gritty of actual teaching. BTW, this is a really great question, and much more difficult and interesting than chasing after the latest curricular materials.

I'm curious if replying "reported" to a zombie thread which was reanimated by a spammer is the right thing to do. If we report the spammer, and management deletes the spam post, won't the old thread go back to being old, as long as there aren't subsequent posts to that thread? If the "reported" post is still there, the thread will still be new for a while.

I like the Dickens novels for long audio books, as they were intended to be read out loud.

Thanks for the link! To summarize: 1) Pandora is still losing money. 2) Their ad revenues are $100M per quarter, and they have 200 M users, and a catalog of 1 million songs. So, that's 50 cents per 3 months per user. Clearly, they don't have a ton of money they are hoarding from the musicians.

But the question is, "what is the absolute number"? I can't believe that the four companies who keep sending me advertisements for things I never buy are paying more than pennies a month for the privilege.

I wonder how much money Pandora has to give to the artists. I like the Pandora, but I just see the same four ads over and over again for services I will never purchase. (Dating site? No thank you.) I wonder if they even make money on their advertisements, or if they are just a way to annoy you into paying for the version without advertisements?

Freeze tag in the pool. Sharks and minnows Big splash / little splash contest Develop water ballet routine

What an adventure! I think there are expat forums, and I'd hit them up for advice. That's where I'd ask for advice about the car. I'm not sure I would pay to ship a 12 year old minivan across the Atlantic, or if it can be sold there, but I don't know if you'll easily find a replacement. And while driving might be a chore, parking might be even worse. I was constantly amazed at the ability Europeans have to park their cars into the tightest of spaces.

Wuthering Heights. 'Nuff said.

Make

I haven't used it, but it is beautiful. In addition to all the above, I like the fact that it does present some medieval Latin, and doesn't pretend that Latin "died" about 100 A.D.

I noticed it, too. It just reeks of bad journalism. What does it mean that the student who graduated from high school in 2010, and has been at Dartmouth for three years got credit for "at least 5" classes? Don't they know exactly how many classes at this stage? And the article says he took 11 AP classes but doesn't mention whether he took the AP tests and, if so, what grades were awarded.

And, this an interesting quote:

I must confess, I'm just as skeptical of standardized testing and measurement of teacher education programs as I am of standardized tests themselves. What, exactly, are they measuring? Who gets to decide how many points a four-star school is? Just because these measurements are precise doesn't necessarily mean they are worthwhile. And the whole darn thing is just couched in education-ese. What would SWB say about the following sentence?

While most of the specific methods in Teach Like a Champion seemed more relevant to large classroom management, the meta-message resonated deeply with me, and I think is something that many homeschoolers could take to heart. That is, teaching isn't as much a science as it is a craft. And, the craft and techniques of the day-to-day minutiae of teaching are often more important than the grand theories of education. Too often, we seek the curricular silver bullet, thinking, if only I had the right textbook, I could teach any subject. However, we don't as often focus on the basic craft of teaching. According to Teach Like a Champion, education majors suffer the same mistakes, and are taught endlessly how to make a lesson plan, develop and use curriculum, but not the fundamentals of interaction with students. Things like: How do we phrase questions of our students? How do we correct their mistakes? How do we know when to move on to the next level? etc. etc. etc. Just like public school teachers, HS'ing is a solitary craft, and we don't get much opportunity to watch and learn from our peers. Even cashiers at McDonalds work next to other cashiers every day, and indirectly learn by watching and listening. Teachers, however, mainly toil alone, and don't have the opportunity to watch and learn how others teach, and it is difficult to learn new and better ways to perform our craft. I would gladly buy a book like this, if it were to focus on the craft and techniques of one-on-one teaching. I'm sure there's a lot of specific things I could do better than I don't even realize.

The Orberg Lingua Latina is a remarkable book. However, it requires a good teacher to use it well, it is very hard for the self-taught to really get the most out of it. The second book, LL pars 2, Roma Aeterna, is perhaps an even better book -- it presents many different Roman authors, starting in an adapted way, including a fantastic prose adaptation of parts of the Aeneid, and by the end there is very little adaptation going on. It is a great way for intermediate students to move beyond introductory grammar and get to authentic Latin. Even for students who haven't used LL pars1, (perhaps who prefer a more grammar-centric instruction), Roma Aeterna is an amazing reader. I strongly recommend LL pars 2. But! there is a bit of a jump in difficulty from pars 1 to pars 2, and it helps to have some time between the two to review and rev up. Between the two, I might try one of the Legamus readers from Bolchazy. The NLE contains both language and culture. The LL books are all about language, so to get one of those coveted NLE medals, you'll need to take a week or so off, and cover Roman culture and geography, if you haven't gotten that in some other class. Otherwise, I would think that, with proper instruction, (and I'd ask the teacher about this), you should be able to take the NLE level 1 about half way through Familia Romana, and level 2 at the end. The NLE folks have a bunch of sample exams for each level on their website, so you should get a good feel for how ready he is. If he does well four years in a row on the NLE, he is eligible for certain scholarships, so the NLE is not something to ignore.

Can't help you here, this is cultural. We only do gift exchanges ("Secret Swimmer") the week before the last meet.

Food is always good for swimmers. I'd check with their mom to make sure they don't have food allergies, but small things of Gatorade or other sports drinks, trail mix, homemade cookies, etc. are usually a big hit. 10 year old boys aren't too old to play with pool toys, so things like splash bombs and the cloth pool frisbees would be good little gifts. If you are going to give pictures, it might be fun to print on them their best times for the season, or maybe how much time they've dropped in their best events.

Does he have one advisor assigned to him, or is it just whoever is available when he shows up? If the latter, encouraging a "second opinion" might help.