I love, love, love the Kindle. And it is not as $$ as it used to be, if you've looked at amazon.com lately. The new version is $259, I believe. I think I spent close to $400 on mine. Sigh. Anyway, you can download books right from the device itself. That is way cool. There is NO lag time between pages, so when I click "next page" it is right there. You can look up words you don't know without leaving the page you are on, and the screen is just the right amount of white so as not to strain your eyes. Another thing I like is that you can just click on footnotes instead of paging to the back of the book. This isn't the big screen one, this is the second version....I guess it was called the Kindle 2? Not the DX. I did see the Sony reader in airport bookstores, and I didn't like it nearly as well for readability. Have fun choosing! Julie

There is drawing all the way through RS Geometry. 170 worksheets of drawing, no less! I think what Capt. Uhura meant is that perhaps Siloam's daughter can skip some of the early lessons because it just review from RS "E". That last sentence was very bizarre to write and made me feel like I was a minor Star Trek character. Julie

I wanted to share that we have found the most engaging book called "Last Child" by Spooner. http://us.macmillan.com/lastchild If you are incorporating literature into your history studies, it is fiction but extremely informative about the customs of the Mandan peoples, as well the Hidatsa and other tribes. It is set in 1837 at Fort Clark and the surrounding Mandan villages, but the main character (half white and half Mandan, with two mothers as was the Mandan custom) talks about the other tribes as well. The plot is extremely exciting, so I won't ruin it by talking about it. Obviously neither Lewis nor Clark are still there, but other names do pop up, such as Sacajawea (used to explain that if your mom was adopted by a tribe, you are of that tribe as well even though you don't have blood of that tribe) and Charbonneau. It is difficult for my advanced 5th grade reader, so perhaps read it along with your child to answer any questions. It isn't the actual writing style that is difficult, but the structure of the story. For example, she accidentally calls Young Wolf "husband," and then explains why she did that at all -- not because she is attracted to him, but her sister is marrying him and in her culture, all sisters eventually marry the same man. It is primarily so that one woman does not have to do all the women's work, which in Mandan culture is pretty much all the work. But the story does not explicitly explain it like I just did -- the reader gets it in bits and pieces. So that kind of thing. Julie

Siloam, If you skip stuff in Singapore 5, be careful. They introduce new stuff right in the middle of a lesson sometimes. You can tell where, because there will be those "thought bubble" thingies again right in the middle of the child's work. So, for example, what was "newest" to us after Right Start E was adding and subtracting fractions. I went verrrrry slowly through the "least common denominator" stuff, beginning with "why do we need to add fractions with the same denominator? why not just go ahead with adding sixths to fourths? (I used the example -- if we are adding apples to oranges, is our answer in "apples" or "oranges", then -- if we are adding sixths to fifths, is our answer in sixths or fifths?) Then, ONLY AFTER letting him realize for himself that it is necessary, LOL, do I show him the Singapore. Because the Singapore jumps right in with finding the least common denominator, but a RS kid will need to know why. Also, be sure the child knows why it has to be the least common denominator. Perhaps let him do it with just any 'ol common denominator so he sees that it's more work. Otherwise, he'll want to skip multiples. In other words, he'll think 1/6, 2/12/, 4/24 (easier to double than to think of all the multiples, so he's skipping 18ths) -- so he might miss the least common denominator. Carry on with regularly scheduled discussion about Videotext. :tongue_smilie: Julie

:grouphug: Then it really doesn't matter whether she's hungry or not, does it? She's leaving the door open. Whether she comes to your house for the meal or not, invite her over to your house. Simply let her know what time, whether it is turkey time or pumpkin pie time, and don't let this become a polarized thing -- you're both on the same side here, right? Julie P.S. Ooops, just committed a WTM board sin. I'm not the mother of a grown & married child! (never mind...........)

I know this isn't really relevant at this point because it's not about little bunny foo-foo (which I never heard of until I was an adult, BTW), but here's my two cents: I think that, as humans, all we have to go on is our own experience. As someone who is totally freaked out by sugar, I totally get one side of the (now former) discussion. In my university days, I used to go on tour with the college choir. Sometimes they would feed us doughnuts and orange juice for breakfast. Um..... Now, obviously we didn't have any diabetics in the choir. But it was way worse than not feeding me at all. So when I grew up, I kind of assumed that all children (and adults, for that matter) were affected this way by sugar, at least when unaccompanied by protein. It turns out that humans are variable :001_huh: and while many or most adults and children will not function well at all on a doughnut and juice breakfast, especially hours after such a breakfast, there are others that will do just fine. Otherwise, Winchell's would not have survived as a business on the street of my childhood for 40 years. (I'm not sure it's still there; I'll check when I visit at Thanksgiving.) This is too long-winded. What I mean to say is that folks that are not affected by sugar AT ALL, and were not affected by it as children, really cannot fathom that other people have such difficulties with it. I also think that preservatives and colors are even bigger culprits, so homemade treats are safer all around, even if they contain molasses, honey, or sugar. Julie

I put together our own history curriculum which focuses on American history (mostly Northern, but some South American) from the perspective of native americans and other economically or socially disadvantaged populations. I got great ideas from "Keepers of the Earth" by Caduto and Bruchac and also "Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years." http://www.rethinkingschools.org/publication/columbus/columbus.shtml I don't have time right now, but let me know if you want my reading list. It comprises books by Tlingits, Inuits, Choctaw, Cree, Navajo, and many more native americans. I tried to keep it to books approved by that website that I can't think of the name right now. Okay, here it is: http://www.oyate.org/ "Rethinking Columbus" simply uses portions of Columbus' own diary to show how cruel he was. Can't get much more truthful than that. And remember that he was arrested and imprisoned by the Spanish government because of the tyrannical way that he governed Hispaniola. That is mostly overlooked in U.S. History books. Julie

I have held off posting on this thread because we haven't actually used it. But I do own Volume 1, so if anyone has any questions about it, fire away. We did use it for a week or two about three years ago, but my son didn't like the models. I'm sure he'd leap at the chance to use it now instead of Homer A! Homer A is enfuriating me with its models: "The son is come." My son, understandably, thought "come" was a predicate adjective. Bleah. Why is he even learning "is come" when nobody ever uses this anymore!!! OK, off rant. I feel so much better now. :) Okay, one more Homer rant. Now bear in mind that I like this program, so I am allowed to rant at the models. But you might see why we certainly don't do dictation or copywork from Homer! The following is one sentence from a Homer model. One sentence. One. Uno. "No sooner had the men in front ascended it and caught sight of the sea than a great cry arose, and Xenophon, in the rearguard, catching the sound of it, conjectured that another set of enemies must surely be attacking in front; for they were followed by the inhabitants of the country, which was all aflame; indeed the rearguard had killed some and captured others alive by laying an ambuscade; they had taken also about twenty wicker shields, covered with the raw hides of shaggy oxen." I want a medal for sticking with this program (Homer). Seriously. No alloys, please. Julie

I think you need an expert in etymology rather than Latin. But from what I can gather, the word "feles" for cat is much older than the word "cattus." Cattus replaced the older word (feles) by about 700 C.E. Our English word cat derives from Old English "catt", which belongs to a group of related words in European languages, including Welsh cath, Spanish gato, Basque katu, Byzantine Greek kátia, Old Irish cat, German Katze, and Old Church Slavonic kotka. The ultimate source of all these terms is Late Latin catus, cattus, catta "domestic cat", as opposed to feles "European wildcat". But "feles" does mean "happy" in Latin (and always has), so I think the Romans came to call their pets[/I] "feles cattus" or "happy cat" (either because you can tell when a cat is happy due to its purring, or perhaps because a pet is well-fed). Hence the taxonomic name for domestic cat: felis catus, literally "happy cat." :001_smile:

And even though I've seen just as many Star Wars movies as he has, I really have no idea what a Jawa is. I keep thinking of Sand People, but that's not right. Sigh. Julie

I don't think she's vain. Well, maybe I don't know what vain means, but she's not self-centered. She's interesting, and she has a healthy self image. After all, she's not perfect, she's PRACTICALLY perfect. Bert thinks she is pretty terrific, so maybe she is? I mean, isn't the Dalai Lama allowed to think that he's kind? :001_smile: Julie

Thank you Laura, I purchased it. Quite helpful! Julie

Is there perhaps a CD that I am missing? I wouldn't feel confident about the pronunciation if I hadn't used LFC. If there is a CD, do they chant the declensions on it? I'm not Greta, LOL, and perhaps she can answer this too! Julie

I hope Laura Corin will pipe in to answer this one. We are "starting over" with Book One, so except for a few things (like using the ablative and knowing what it means), it is all review. But it is already more meaty than LFC Primer C in terms of the translation practice. We do the workbook as well, because we're in no hurry. I suspect that Latin Primer teaches the declensions not as a whole ("mensa, mensae, mensae, mensam, mensa......") but rather has you practice each one so much, translating from Latin to English and English to Latin, that you just remember them. I would slow way down, though, and really make sure you know each case (or conjugation) you are learning and you aren't referring to the chart in the book. You know what I mean? So you and your child would talk about how to make the singular dative and the plural dative before doing the exercises. And don't go on to the next case until/unless that one is solid. You're only going to be working in the first declension for a while. But maybe you are farther along in the book than we are. I also wanted to say that knowing Latin really helps with Greek. All of the grammar has been the same thus far, so for example the genitive is used for possession, the nominative is used for subjects and predicate nominatives, etc. We are only learning four cases in Greek so far; I don't even know how many there are. We are in Week 8 of EG Year Two. Have fun! Julie

This one doesn't off-gas at all (my son is chemically sensitive), and is a nice combination of memory foam (actually Latex) and a more traditional mattress: http://www.naturaworld.com/catalog/mattresses/organic/eco-haven We love it. Julie

Oh, one more thing. Make sure you STOP FEEDING your tadpole until it's tail is completely gone. It "feeds" on the tail, and if you feed it during this time it won't turn into a frog. Well, it will die actually, because one can't be a tadpole forever, can one? Good luck, Julie

I hate to break it to you, but my Grow-A-Frogs are six years old. I guess the ones that can survive the trip to Alaska are pretty tough. Don't bother with the tube thingy. The frogs get too big for it very soon, and ours almost got stuck in it. You need a big aquarium, I guess ours is 10 gallons? Five gallons? Anyway, a good-sized aquarium, with filter and the whole ball of wax. We feed them bloodworms now because the Grow-A-Frog food was so expensive, especially the shipping. Our local pet store sells dried bloodworms (for tropical fish, I think), and they seem to survive quite nicely on it. Unfortunately..... I say "unfortunately" because nobody likes to clean the aquarium. Except for the special algae-eating fish that we got to help keep the tank clean -- now five inches long! Good luck with your frogs, Julie

Hi Greta, I just want to encourage you. I did not study Latin or Greek before my son, and we are both doing well with it. I did buy Henle for myself, but have never gotten around to doing it because other things in my life have priority (meditation and yoga). My son began Minimus and LFC in second grade. We alternated one week Minimus and one week LFC. That worked out well because LFC gets more difficult FAST, and if he had still been a young second grader, I don't think he could have kept up. You don't say which Latin program you are using, but I really like the LFC chants. Even though we are using Latin Prep now (after LFC A, B, and C, one year for each), we still use the LFC chants to remember our conjugations and declensions. Even the vocabulary: "neco, necare, necawi, necatum, I kill, to kill, I killed, KILLLED!!!" The newer revisions of the books and DVD's are better, if you can afford to buy new. Elementary Greek is really non-threatening. Extremely easy to implement, and very easy to complete each year. There are only 30 chapters, and especially in "Year One" it is very easy to keep up with Greek. The first several weeks are spent learning the alphabet: how to recite the alphabet, how to read the letters, how to write them. There is a CD that helps with pronunciation. The program divides the work into "days," that we are usually able to complete in 20 minutes, or 30 minutes at the absolute most. We are now doing Year Two and it is a little meatier, but we still have no problem completing Greek in about 25 or 30 minutes, depending on how long we spend with the CD. If you have a lot of time in the car, you could do the CD work in the car and that would make your Greek lesson even shorter. We are semi-LCC, so our mornings usually have math, Homer A (with GWG 5 until we finish it, then Analytical Grammar -- Homer requires a separate grammar text), Latin, and Greek. Then in the afternoon is violin practice (or violin lesson), either history or Chemistry, and some reading time. Extracurriculars are karate, chamber ensemble, student symphony and First Lego League. We didn't intend to do this much, but some friends asked him to be on the FLL team and it meets at (egads) 7:00 in the morning!! Only two times per week, but still....... I mention all this because you ask how do we fit it all in. If we get started at 8:30 or 9:00 a.m., it is really easy to finish it all before 3:00, including violin practice, two breaks, and an hour-long lunch break. I'm tired, so I'm probably messing this up, but ask questions if you have any. ETA: Oh my, are you using Latin Prep? I wonder how do you memorize the declensions? We still use LFC chants, though we have to add in the vocative separately because LFC didn't teach the vocative. Also, I remembered what else I was going to say. The memory verses for Elementary Greek are all from the Bible, but my son didn't mind that. A lot of the vocabulary revolves around New Testament stuff like "sinner," "apostle," "baptize," but since the New Testament is the text we will someday be able to read in the original, we are okay with learning the vocabulary of it. There are not a lot of other books written in Koine, you know? Julie

Actually, judging by the number of people on this board who say they tried to use CW (Aesop) but gave up, I think you would be able to find it on the For Sale board. But I haven't looked. Julie

PariSarah. Not sure if I spelled that right.

My book is loaned out right now, so I couldn't look it up. I just assumed that "we are supposed to translate with the correct endingsmeant that they were supposed to conjugate the verb. Not sure what "with the correct endings" means if they are translating it into English. But I'll be quiet now, since I don't have my book here.

I question the value of this exercise if your children haven't learned how to conjugate this kind of verb. But here is a translation for your (I suspect) your activity: http://www.minimus-etc.co.uk/bingopage.htm We've done Latin for Children A, B, C and the first few Chapters of Latin Prep, and we haven't come across this verb. It definitely means "I paint," it's a third conjugation verb, so it is conjugated like this: pingo - I paint pingis - you paint pingit -he/she/it paints pingimus - we paint pingitis - you (plural) paint pingunt - they paint (As opposed to second conjugation verbs like "video," which look like this: video, vides, videt, videmus, videtis, vident." HTH, Julie

Just to add to your decision, there is a new edition of LCC. I appreciate the new edition. Sorry! (I'm sorry because the old edition will be the one you find at used bookstores.) I cannot compare the two editions for you, because I gave away my first edition to someone on this board. Julie

Maybe she thinks that if you get too "cool," you'll go off and look for some cool, rich kids to parent. I had a thin, fashionable mom growing up and I did crave a frumpy one with more bumps and lumps to hug. My mom usually couldn't be hugged because she was all ready to go out, or I might muss her hair. All of this to say......it is a complement to your parenting. Really. :) Julie

Dancer67, if your washer has a sanitary cycle, you really have to use it once a month or so to keep mold and mildew from growing. Is it a used washer or can you peek at the instructions? My instructions have a lot of info about how to keep it clean-smelling. I also dry the rubber seal around the front each time, and leave the detergent compartment open to dry. As far as your clothes smelling like laundry detergent, though, that will never happen because the front loaders rinse so well. The clothes will just smell like....nothing. If your clothes DO smell like laundry detergent, you are probably using too much detergent (I only use 1 tablespoon) and then the washer would get all gunked up with detergent. Not pretty. Can you tell I've spent way too much time on laundry forums? :tongue_smilie: Julie