I saw CLRC (clrconline.com) mentioned above as providing a variety of language options. My son has taken Classical Greek with them for three years (and signed up for a fourth). I have been very happy with the classes. They were always small, allowing for a lot of interaction and feedback The director, Anne Van Fossen, is always responsive and extremely helpful. I would highly recommend CLRC.

The Analytical Learning lecture was mentioned in the Circe thread back in 2012. It appears to be from the 2011 conference of the Society for Classical Learning. On their website, I can only find audio from the 2013 conference. Does anybody know where I can find a link to this lecture? Thanks!

There are a lot of great lent resources and ideas on Catholic Icing (www.catholicicing.com) and Catholic Toolbox (http://catholicblogger1.blogspot.com/). I understand you're no longer Catholic, but some of the ideas are great for anybody who wants to celebrate Lent. My son is 7, and we made a countdown to Easter prayer chain. We made 40 paper links, and he wrote on each the name of somebody he wants to pray for. We will remove one link (and pray, of course) each day of Lent.

We just read this one: http://www.amazon.com/Three-Young-Pilgrims-Cheryl-Harness/dp/0689802080/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385454022&sr=8-1&keywords=three+young+pilgrims It was entertaining & educational.

We have a 2010 Highlander, and I really like it. One feature that wasn't mentioned above is how smooth it rides. We test drove a number of SUV's in the same price range, and it had the best ride. It drives more like a car than an SUV. I was initially considering the Highlander & Pilot. After sitting in both, I personally didn't care for the feel of the Pilot, although I recall it feeling bigger inside. But the Highlander had a much more comfortable, "luxurious" feel. I definitely recommend a test drive.

I just bought my own copy of The Well Educated Mind on Ebay after enjoying the library's copy. This list will come in handy. Thanks so much!

My son is going to be seven. And no theme -- despite my urging, he specifically did not want a theme. So many good ideas. Please keep them coming. I have a lot to do in only a few days, and I'm trying to figure out which idea I can pull together most efficiently. Thanks again!!

I'm in need of ideas for birthday party favors. We'll be having 17 kids, a mix of boys & girls, ranging in age from 5 to 10. I didn't want to do a bag full of trinkets & candy -- in my experience, much of it gets tossed when you get home. I thought I had a great idea - those little flexible photo albums. But everything I've found is too girly -- not really good for the boys. Last year I did little gift bags with back to school stuff - colored pencils, crayons, erasers, pencils sharpeners. The year before I did Slinkies. We'll be having "repeat customers", so I need a new idea. I want to keep the cost low, but I want something that will actually be enjoyed by the kids. Also, it needs to be something I can buy locally. I don't have enough time to have something shipped. I know the Hive always has good ideas, so maybe some of you will be able to help me. Thanks!!

I searched the forums & found a couple of posts in the accelerated forum, but I wanted to hear from more people. I'm interested in any comments from anybody who has tried this program, particularly Level 1. Thanks so much!

Last year we did both WWE 1 & FLL 1 (and part of 2) for first grade. FLL gives a gentle introduction to grammar. (Some would say too gentle, spending about 20 lessons on nouns.) And there is some overlap between the two programs. I found it to be a nice review, but you can always skip or speed through things that are redundant. I skipped some of the poetry memorization, as I preferred to make my own selections. For the most part, FLL never took us more than 10-15 minutes/day. This year we'll do FLL 2 & 3. I'm considering MCT for the following year. Many of the MCT threads on here seems to suggest that third grade is a good starting point, but you know your child's level best. Hope that helps!!

I picked some up at my local Office Depot. They have a variety of different line spacings, so you can find what works for you. http://www.officedepot.com/catalog/search.do?Ntt=zaner

Has anybody used FLL 3 without the workbook? If so, I would love to hear how it worked for you. Thanks!

When you relist, you can also limit who can bid on/purchase your item based on their feedback rating. For example, you can require that buyers have at least a feedback of 20 to bid on your item. Of course, it's still no guarantee you'll get a paying customer, but you can increase your chances.

I take a different approach, and I'm sure some of you will think I'm crazy, but here goes. Let me preface this with the fact that I have only one child, so when he is writing, I'm not busy helping other children. Whenever my 6 yo son is writing anything, I'm available to help him with the spelling so that words are never written down incorrectly. He sounds out every word, and if he can't figure it out, I help him before it gets put on paper so that the word is written properly. (When he's writing history sentences, I let him look at the history text for challenging spellings of names & places.) Some of my reading has suggested that once something is written incorrectly, the incorrect spelling becomes more ingrained in the child, although I'm sure there are different schools of thought on this point. In any event, just a different perspective for you to consider.

The costs depend on a lot of factors. If you don't have a lot of experience with pools, it might be valuable to pay somebody to help with the upkeep, at least initially. It's not just adding chemicals & cleaning out the pool. So frequently things go wrong, and if you don't know what you're doing, they can get costly. I absolutely love having a wonderful pool guy who I can call anytime if I hear a funny noise or something isn't working properly. Often he can walk me through the problem over the phone, but he'll come out if it's something serious. And you get what you pay for. I had a guy who only charged $60/month (including chemicals), but he was a complete flake. Now I pay $100/month, and, although it is a lot, for me it's worth it for the piece of mind. And I strongly suggest getting multiple recommendations & conducting interviews before hiring anybody. Another major cost is running the filter, as a pp mentioned. We have a pretty large pool, and I estimate it costs about $50/month or more in electricity. (That's running the filter about 8 hours/day.) It is my understanding that there are more efficient filters on the market that can reduce the cost quite a bit, but of course those filters are more expensive. Also, consider whether you will be heating the pool. Depending on your preference, you may find yourself heating the pool quite a bit even in a warmer climate. For example, we're in Vegas, and even on hot days, if the temperature drops significantly overnight, so does the pool temperature. Our swim season starts in April or May, and even now in June I find myself occasionally heating the pool. If you purchase a home with a solar heating system, that's great. But using a gas heater will increase your costs. If you're considering a particular house with a pool, maybe the home-owner can give you an idea of the costs for his specific pool. For us, we're looking at around $2000/year for upkeep. Crazy, right? But we love it. We can use it whenever we want. If we only want a quick dip, we just grab a towel & go. And if I want to float quietly for a few hours, I don't have to worry about who else will be bothering me. I especially like being the go-to place for my son & his friends, which I expect will be even more important as he gets older. All that being said, we do sometimes go to our community pool to mix things up. But I find it takes a bit of effort to pack up & get there, as well as find an appropriate place to sit where people aren't on top of me & I can keep my eye on my son, so we just don't do it that frequently. I hope you find an option that works for you. Good luck!

I typically e-mail after 3 or 4 days. If you don't hear back in a day or two, open an unpaid item case. I find that often gets people to pay pretty quickly. Of course, there are always flakes that just never pay.

If your concern is more with the phonetic rules for spelling rather than her reading, you could stick with early readers & pick up a spelling program that emphasizes the rules. We used OPGTR, and now we are using All About Spelling. I like it very much. (I'm learning rules I never learned in school.) The magnetic tiles that go with AAS can be particularly helpful for a younger struggling writer. I'm sure there are other spelling programs that also introduce the rules, and I'm guessing others on here could share that information. That being said, I think there's still value in having her read aloud to you -- it just doesn't have to be OPGTR. And after OPGTR, we switched to a McGuffey's reader for that purpose.

We started AAS 1 about 2/3 of the way through OPGTR. We skipped all the AAS lessons on letter sounds and started with the CVC words. The first lessons went rather quickly, but I liked easing into the spelling program and getting my son used to the tiles, as well as to the dictation.

I've looked at all the suggested links, and while some of them look interesting, none of them link to the book I had seen before. I'm hoping maybe, just maybe, whoever posted the original link will see this. Thanks again for all the help!

I hadn't thought of the word "penmanship". I may find something I like browsing those. Thanks!

In the last month or so, somebody linked to a vintage cursive book available on Google Books. After searching the threads & Google books, I've been unable to find it. If somebody has the link, could they please share it? Thanks so much! Kathleen

To select the appropriate levels for your children, check them out free on google books. (You should be able to find them with a quick google search.) When my son finished OPGTR, we started with the Third Eclectic Reader. I found it had just enough challenge for his particular reading level. If you check out the First Reader, you'll see it's quite basic, and probably not appropriate for your 7 yo, who you mentioned is a good reader.

I have really good PDF lists for 4th through 8th grade. I didn't create them -- somebody posted them here in February (that's my save date), but I don't recall who. If you're interested, PM your e-mail address & I'll e-mail them to you as attachments.

I am interested in opinions on the MP Lit Guides from anybody who has used them. In particular, I'm considering the second grade guide. I was also wondering if there would be any issues with using your own copies of the novels versus purchasing those sold by MP (e.g., references in the lit. guide to particular pages in the novels). Thanks in advance!

My son enjoyed the Dodsworth series (I think 4 books total). They are about the level of Henry & Mudge.