As someone with a background in history, I guess I am wary of teaching most historical fiction as history. I'm certainly not anti historical fiction, and read a good deal for fun, and some is certainly well worth presenting as history. But I think you do have to be very choosy, and ready to talk about "this is how one modern author thinks that a single person might have acted if in this situation."

Why the Caddie Woodlawn hate? I loved it when I was a kid! Haven't read it since... maybe it doesn't hold up?

We use History Odyssey. I believe it's on sale until the end of the month, too. It uses the Usborne encyclopedia as a spine, with readings from SOTW almost every week. However, it mostly skips over the religious chapters (pretty much lumps them all together as "optional" under the same 1-2 lessons).

I would call and ask if it's reportable.

We will do MEP Reception in the fall (just a couple days a week) and then move on to 1A in the fall. I'll add in Math Mammoth (and Life of Fred) in 1st Grade.

If it's the one I'm thinking of, it was founded by high school teachers I had. They are totally nuts, and were eventually fired from the school I went to.

The instrument rental place that's recommended has violas down to 1/16th size, so I think the sizing would be fine. But I think that everyone else brings up valid points about the group lessons. So we'll probably do that. She's only 3... it's not like this is set in stone for life! LOL.

Yes, that's exactly our situation! But DS's teacher said it would be fine so long as she was familiar with the music. I should probably ask her more about what she meant... familiar as in she's heard it? Or has tried to play some of the songs? Or can play the whole book with her eyes closed? And I'll take your word about the violin... LOL. I guess we'll probably go for it and see how it goes.

Thank you, Sarah, for your response. That is an interesting point about it being relatively simple to switch over. I should talk to a teacher here more about that. I know that they encourage the violinists to learn the fiddle... there's a fiddle class that you have to be invited to join and older kids get really excited about being allowed to take it. I actually think she'd be fabulous as a fiddler: she's a little spitfire. So it's also a good point about personality... she's the 3rd child so she's used to being in the background, and she doesn't like it one little bit! And I have the piano book on order from Amazon, so I'll start having her listen to the songs daily. It can't hurt.

Unless there is an actual law on the books codifying the school's policy, I can't see how she was arrested for what she did. Which leads me to believe that there's more to the story.

I agree with you. This case is easily sympathetic because it's a mom with a SN kid. But is there anyone you wouldn't feel safe bypassing the normal security and going straight into a classroom? If yes, then the rules about access to classrooms should be applied to everyone.

I was going to post this on the "Violin for Little Ones" thread, but thought I'd start a new thread. I have two questions about Suzuki instruments. Sorry they're so long... I summarized in bold. First: how should my traditionally-taught piano-playing daughter learn some Suzuki piano songs? Long version: My daughter's taken traditional piano for about a year and a half now and is progressing nicely. I don't want to switch her to Suzuki piano. But there is a great deal of stuff in the area for Suzuki students, and my son (and then my other daughter) is going to be able to take advantage of it. I was talking to his teacher, and she said that she can't think of anything that it wouldn't be fine if my daughter tags along for, but that she should at least be familiar with the Suzuki songs. Do you think it would be okay if she self-teaches herself the songs, maybe as her practice during the month this summer that her music school is closed and she won't be taking her lessons? Should I try to find a teacher (maybe a former Suzuki piano student who wouldn't cost as much as a regular teacher?) to teach her a crash course that month? Should I ask her regular teacher if she'd be willing to incorporate a few of the Suzuki songs into their lessons? Is that presumptuous? I think the idea isn't that she'd perform these, but that she'd at least know what people are talking about if she went to a workshop and there was a speaker. Second: what instrument should my 3rd child play? My son has started Suzuki cello, and now my 3 year old is asking to take an instrument, too. I was thinking of signing her up in the fall (she will be a month shy of 4). Violin seems to be SUCH the default, but I gotta be honest... I don't really like the violin. Even when it's played well it's not my favorite instrument, but I'm really not sure I could handle listening to years of it being played not-well, every day. But EVERYONE takes violin... there are literally hundreds of violin students, so there are tons of opportunities for them. My son doesn't currently have a cello group class because the only other cello students are way ahead of him... partly because the year starts in September and he started in February, and partly because he's several years younger than any of the other cello students... but in violin neither of those things would matter and he would totally have a group that he falls into. Maybe it's my homeschooling "be different! buck the system!" streak, but I kind of feel like if everyone does violin, we should go for something different. I think that bass would be kind of funny (she's such a little peanut), but viola would be very cool. And if everyone does violin, wouldn't it be more useful, if she sticks with it and enjoys it, to be proficient in a less-popular instrument? I think bass would be kind of cool (especially to go with my cello player), but am leaning towards viola. I think that she would be the only Suzuki student at our program (again, there are hundreds of violin players) to play either. So, people with experience in Suzuki... should I just go with the flow and do violin, and suffer though all that practicing (seriously, I don't know what it is about the violin... not even the viola bothers me as much as that high-pitched violin squeaking... I hope I'm not insulting any violin players, it's totally a weird sensory thing), so that she can have really active group classes and lots of peers?

Lovely! And I love the idea. I've been trying to figure out what to put above my bed, especially since there's a really ugly random electrical outlet in the middle of the wall up there. It looks so relaxing to wake up to!

We love StoryNory! My daughter and I listen to the stories all the time. There are even a few full length books.

We took the CATs every year when I was in elementary school, starting in kindergarten. And we did test prep for them in class.

You need a license (or some sort of photo ID) to sign into the elementary school that my youngest had speech therapy in.

I understand why schools have rules like this. Even besides school shootings, I'm sure schools have lists of parents who there are restraining orders against, and they have to make sure that the visitor is who they say they are. There are valid safety concerns about letting people into the school without checking them in at the front office. In this case, the story is very sympathetic because it's a mom with a SN kid and it all turned out okay, but rules like this do exist for a reason.

Ha ha, my friend had to explain to her 10yo daughter that singing "We're totally going to pork" was not appropriate. The friend turned bright red and wailed "But I've been singing it all day!" Oops.

There's a theory out there that the King and Queen were going to Rapunzel's wedding when their boat wrecked, and that that's the shipwreck that Ariel is exploring in the beginning of The Little Mermaid. http://www.eonline.com/news/523425/after-reading-this-you-will-never-watch-frozen-tangled-or-the-little-mermaid-the-same-way-again

I wouldn't say it was the best movie ever, but I really enjoyed it, and my daughter loved it. I think it's just one of those cultural currency things right now... all the parents of young kids are aware of it and have seen it, so if you make a joke about it everyone will get it. People like making in-jokes that their peers will get, and people like getting in-jokes too. Makes everyone feel current and funny :)

Chocolate Cake with Hitler is supposed to be very good, and I believe that it's for about that age, but I don't know how it deals with the awful murder of the protagonist by her own mother at the end (it's about Goebbel's daughter). The Devil in Vienna takes place in Austria, and I remember liking it as a child... the protagonist is Jewish and it's about how her relationship with her best friend (who is not) disintegrates as Austria is invaded. I really can't remember what happens in the book, though. I just remember liking it.

Yes, the music school that we go is a founding partner of the RCM program. Personally, I'm a little dubious about it... honestly, it primarily seems like a way to convince parents to pay even more money on top of the regular lessons. But we are using the books suggested by the program for piano, and they're good.

That was a great blog post, Donna! I enjoyed reading it. My kids are still young, so I have no idea where their talents will take them, but I'm very happy that they all love music and are interested in learning an instrument (even the little one wants to, but I don't have the time, energy, or money for that right now!). I think you make some great points, particularly about praise, and about "whose goals are you working towards anyway?"

I don't like the listing one thing at a time. i had a pile of preschool books to sell, and it seemed like a lot of trouble, and like it would take up the entire listing, to list each book in its own post. I ended up selling them through Amazon.

DS has a 1/10th size cello, and it's the cutest thing ever. It's basically the size of a regular violin, only slightly thicker. It's adorable. I'm just throwing this out there, but we went with cello because another teacher that I know joked that "big, heavy instruments are better for fidgety little boys." Don't know how legitimate a "truth" that is, and I have no idea what your son is like, but that's definitely my son to a T and I think there's some validity to the theory. It kinda literally keeps him grounded.