I keep reading it as Booksnark. Totally different. Booksnark: the sarcastic curriculum, for today's caustic youth.

The Reader Schedules and Notes: http://www.bookshark.com/2nd-grade-readers-schedule-notes (At least for 2nd grade, the only one I looked at). They also have one for the intermediate and the advanced 2nd grade book collections.

I was just looking for this info today! Thank you for asking, and everyone for posting such great ideas!

We have some major expenses coming up, and DH and I are trying to make a realistic budget for the next school year. I'm looking for suggestions for manipulatives, educational games, programs, whatever you recommend. I figure I'd rather add them now and then not buy them/find a deal later, then suddenly decide in September that I just can't live without them. DD will be in 2nd grade, and DS in kindergarten. Here's my list so far: The Reader Guides from Bookshark for 2nd grade Some of the books suggested in the above program (realistically will probably go to the library for some, but others are great classics that I'd like to have in my home library for all 3 kids) Some Froebel gifts, for my Ker Fraction math manipulatives for 2nd grader Counting bears for both KEVA planks Story of the World level II (book, activity guide, audiobook) Song School Latin II First Language Lessons II Writing With Ease Level 1 (do I need both the instructor guide and the workbook?) I already have: Math (for both) History Odyssey level 2 (for 2nd grader) REAL Science Life Science (for both) Handwriting (for both) First Language Lessons I (for kindergartner) Galore Park Junior English 1 and Junior Science 1 (for 2nd grader) Anything else you've enjoyed using with your 2nd grader? Specific books, kits, programs?

Thank you! You're right, it is available there... I hadn't seen that. If anyone else is interested, here's the link: http://www.bookshark.com/all-bookshark-products The parent guides are only $7. I will definitely be buying the one for 2nd grade... maybe for all 3 levels. I do wish there were samples, though.

Oh okay, I totally forgot about that part! That makes sense in the storyline, too... I totally couldn't imagine actual drug use fitting into the plot!

That seems really, really intensive. 5 hours of straight academics before you "let" them have lunch? Why are they doing 2 hour-long math lessons a day? Are they behind, or are you trying to accelerate them? This schedule seems really intense. It looks like they'll only have an hour or two of free time all day? When are they supposed to run around and play outside? It is summer, after all. And if you live in one of those places that it's too hot and humid outside to play much, you'd think you'd want to reserve some time in the early morning to play outside. I dunno, I only have younger kids. I think it's fair to ask 4-5 hours of school from the 12 year old, but you have 8+ hours a day, not including music practice. There's no way my almost-7yo could do that much schoolwork without burning out very quickly.

I think you might be thinking of a different one, and I don't remember any drug use, though it's been a while since I read it (I did read it as an adult, though). About a little girl and her brother who run away from home, and go live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While they're there, they solve an art-related mystery. A great book, and I don't remember any religion at all.

I can't find a list of what's the difference between the regular/intermediate/advanced book lists for 2nd grade. (Nevermind, I found it). I also wish they had samples for each grade. And wow, I wish it weren't so expensive! Isn't there a way to just buy the guide, and then use library books?

This is one of the reasons I never tell my kids about classes until they're ready to start. :lol: I ask if they're interested, and then say "I'll try to sign up, but I'm not sure it will work out." There have just been too many times when a class is too full, or doesn't meet the minimum, and there's no point setting little kids up for disappointment. And, I don't think there's EVER been a time when teachers take a job "just for the joy." :confused1: People gotta earn a living, and they deserve to be fairly compensated for their skills, time, and energy. $35 an hour isn't much, and if it's through a community center (which I assume it is, with the resident/non-resident rate?), she's lucky if she gets half that. Which, as others have pointed out, is only for the hour itself... doesn't include travel costs or the time she spends preparing for the class.

The internet in 50 years: "What do you think of the name Michaela?" "Ugh, what an awful old lady name! Go for something classic, like Barbara or Debora. You can call her Debbie!"

Okay, it looks like DS is staying home next year. I'm kind of sad, because I love his preschool and wish we could afford to do K there, but them's the breaks. So I think we're going to do: - Reading Eggs and BOB books for reading, moving into Easy to Read books - Pictures in Cursive Primer and probably Book A - MEP Reception and level 1A, and Numbers with Spunky - Medieval History with DD1 - Science with DD1, but I'm not sure what type we'll be doing - And lots of outside classes.

My daughters have "old lady" names that I think are very pretty, but I don't find Mabel pretty. It sounds very nasal, and the b in the middle is kind of harsh.

To London. On British Air I just plugged in a trip from Boston to London on May 5th, and back on May 15th (chosen semi-randomly as the cheapest flights on offer). Fare is $171 and "taxes, fees, and carrier charges per person" are $698.72. (You have to click through to the "Price' page get that breakdown) Absurd. What really sucks is that lap babies are "free" but still have to pay all the taxes. So big deal on the "free" flight... you're still paying $700 for the lap infant!

The tickets haven't changed much in 20 years, IME. The taxes, on the other hand, are RIDICULOUS. When my parents first moved abroad, in 1998, the tickets were about $150 (if you caught a sale) and the taxes $75. Now the tickets are $150 (if you catch a sale) and the taxes are $600. I don't understand how anyone can afford this, or what those taxes are going towards.

Well, there's such a thing as "lying by omission," but if you're not involved in the conversation, then I don't think it really counts. How I felt (on a moral basis) really depends on what the lie is, who is talking, and what your reasons are for staying silent. There's an awful lot of room for gray area.

A little more digging... I assume whatever scholarship your roommate was on is long defunct. It looks like in 1999 they resurrected something called "The President's Scholar," which was a $3000 research grant for top performing students. That was done away with in 2004. It definitely isn't a full ride (or anything close) merit scholarship.

So far as I know, almost all of the top schools have done away with merit aid over the past decade, because it was mostly going to the kids who least needed it. That page looks really old... the graphics and colors and overall poor quality screams 1999. It doesn't match their current main webpage, either. I would bet that's an old webpage that they never got around to taking down. Did you get to it from a link on the Stanford website?

Whoever mentioned ordinances has a good point... has anyone run this sign by the local ordinances? Lots of communities have very strict rules about "signs with lights" that are meant to prevent stores from setting up shop in residential neighborhoods, to keep neon lights to a minimum, and to keep certain types of commercial buildings out of the community altogether. I know that my town does, and when a developer built a mall here they had a lot of trouble getting their big sign past the Town Meeting. I know that everyplace is different, but lots of communities don't let you just put up a big ole' sign with spotlights or flashing twinkle lights or whatever this scheme has.

I would not spend money on a sign. Why on earth do you need a sign? Who will pay to light and maintain this sign? Replace the light bulbs when they go out? When you're faced with work that seems to be nobody's responsibility, the solution is not to create more work that's nobody's responsibility. Our town is responsible for the trees in the strips between the sidewalk and the road. They go through every fall and every spring doing maintenance, and then every 4 years bring in extra teams to do substantial trimming and maintenance. They're doing it this year, right now, and it's some pretty major effort. We have a town-owned electric company, so the town has a vested interest in making sure that the trees are all healthy and strong, and the branches aren't near the wires. Keeping trees maintained and trimmed is really important basic maintenance, and I would not put that off for a totally pointless sign.

I looked through as many homeschool planners as I could online (using "See Inside!" options on various websites), and finally just made my own. I printed it out double-sided, so there's a week on 2 pages, and had it bound at Staples. Along the top (when the book is turned sideways, with one page on top of another) I have the days of the week, and down the side the various different subjects. I write my plans in pencil, and then at the end of the day (or every few days) I write in pen what we did. Then I can erase and change future plans as needed. I started doing this a couple months ago, and so far it's working REALLY well. I'm a planner, but tend to freeze up in the moment... it's so worth it to me to plan way ahead, because I never know when I'll get the chance to do it again. I definitely plan on doing it again next year. It took a couple evenings or so to make the template (on Excel) and put it all together using Preview (I have a Mac) but now that it's done I can just print it out again for future years. I also added pages to keep track of piano practice, poems memorized, and some other random little things.

Again, I think that you're misreading and overanalyzing what people are actually talking about.

I feel like this post is so confusing, and totally missing the point... or maybe I'm missing the point? Nobody on planet earth, least of all on this thread, has ever said "don't read old books." And not a single book you listed except "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" is considered "historical fiction," which is fiction set in history... not books written a long time ago and set contemporaneously. I think the original issue, discussed in the Circe thread (which I didn't read all of) and here is that people were only having their children read books that "matched' the period of history they were studying, because they were doing literature and history together. Which is what the WTM suggests, and people were bringing it to extremes. Which means they were skipping over good books that their kids were the right age for because it was "the wrong time period," and reading crummy books of dubious literary (and historical) value that did match. I'm finding this whole conversation really confusing because I think that people are talking about totally different things. This post TOTALLY convinced me. What an odd thing to claim that people are saying. :confused1:

This is what we use. It orders SOTW in the order that the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History goes in. However, OP might not like it because it also secularizes SOTW a bit, and makes optional the chapters with the Bible stories presented as fact.

Yes, I think quite a few people, actually.