If I *had* to pick one TV show, it might well be Firefly. But I also love LOST, House M.D., Babylon 5, Galactica, Buffy, Northern Exposure, WKRP (remember that?), the Dick Van Dyke Show, the Bob Newhart show. Oh, and then there's Coupling, and various British comedy. We love British comedy. Movies: Apollo 13, The Princess Bride, Shakespeare in Love, That Thing You Do, LOTR trilogy, Much Ado About Nothing, Being John Malkovitch, Help!, Monty Python's Holy Grail, 2001: a Space Odyssey.

LOL You should try season 3 of Black Adder. It will not only break your illusion, it will make it turn back flips. I've loved him since then, but I had no idea he was sexy until House. He does look scrungy in the video, but I can forgive anyone who makes me laugh like that.

Hugh Laurie, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Alan Rickman, Sean Bean, Colin Firth, Patrick Stewart, Nathan Fillion, Harrison Ford, John Malkovitch, Geoffrey Rush, Kenneth Branagh. As for actresses, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham-Carter, Nicole Kidman, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Kate Winslett.

Not really. The book generally recommends the Memoria Press materials. It does not review other programs. (I know I'm not Plaid Dad, lol, but I'm pretty sure he's not around this week.)

This morning I was up to 99 posts. I came on the boards just now expecting to make my 100th post. Except that I was down to 97. Maybe they deleted some threads? Some posts? Moved to a different base-system of counting? Changed time and space?

My son has a late September birthday. In Texas, where we used to live, the cutoff was September 1. Since he is also a child who needed a little more time before beginning academics, that worked well for us. I did not start considering him to be "1st grade" until he turned 7.

Don't be embarrassed. I use it once a week to check upcoming listings for the actor I'm currently addicted to. :)

Why is it a bust? I'd write the whole thing up, show your tests, etc., and then your conclusions. So you ended up with a different conclusion than you thought - your hypothesis didn't pan out. This happens in science all the time. Does a project have to successfully confirm your hypothesis to be a good science fair project? We've never participated in one, so I honestly don't know. But this seems to me to be a fine opportunity to show people how, well, sometimes it just doesn't go like you expect it to. And that's science, too.

That's what my iPhone is for ;-)

I use the site frequently. Usually it's to look up "Hey, wasn't he in ...?" questions. It's great!

This is where we are, too.

ROTFLMAO! Oh, dear.

Honestly, we have had some of our best discussions with the kids after Star Trek episodes, classic or Next Gen. I can argue for some educational value, here.

No, we're not saying it was ok, we're merely offering an excuse for them. That's not the same thing. Obviously, it was a petty and rude conversation they chose to have.

We vaccinate our cats because they go outdoors, and rabies is in the area. Also, once they're outside I cannot control what they're eating, who they're associating with, and how their immune system is functioning ;-) With the kids, there's more I can do to keep us healthy. We vaccinate the kids selectively. Some yes, some no.

You beat me to asking about it, here :) Sounds like I might do better just to pick the books I like and have us read them.

hiding in a closet, somewhere. You want I should play with them for you? ;-) Seriously, I've had nearly the same thing happen to me. Except I was at a dear friend's house, who knew well that I homeschooled, and her other guest started bashing homeschoolers outright. My dear friend did not defend me, did not point out to her friend (who had no idea) that I homeschooled, but instead joined in. I was flabbergasted. After a few minutes of goggling, I did jump in and defend myself. Nicely. Just enough that other guest realized that she either had to shut up and be polite, or risk a huge social faux pas. I'm sure they had *no* idea what they were saying, and they obviously don't think of you in the same class as the women they were raving about. When they figure it out later, they are going to be seriously embarrassed.

{{{{{{hugs}}}}}} to you, Crissy.

In all honesty, what I do now is *not* that much different from what I did then. The methods are very compatible, and share many similarities. When I "do LCC" I give Latin and classical studies more emphasis; I wrap grammar into my Latin and writing (Classical Writing makes this easy); I keep my book list short. I approach my homeschool with the attitude that Latin, math/logic, classical studies, writing, and reading excellent literature are the important subjects. We don't ignore the rest, but they are not as important and do not take as much of our time. Many, or most, LCC-ers break out of the four-year history cycle, either to do multiple simultaneous strands, or to do a single continuous study of history in the elementary years. On the other hand, some LCC-ers stick with the WTM four-year cycle. Of course, you can do all that by tweaking the material in TWTM. The real difference is a matter of emphasis and focus. In TWTM, for instance, Latin is beneficial, but it is not essential. In LCC it is essential (or if not Latin, then Greek), because we see it as the foundation of everything else. So we simplify in other areas, in order to be able focus on that foundation. I still use WTWM as a guide in many areas, but I use it through the lens of LCC. I still use the four-year history cycle, with SOTW. I still use FLL for my young ones who are too young for Latin yet. If you take a look at Highlands Latin School (http://www.thelatinschool.org), their curriculum is very much like that outlined in LCC with its emphasis on Latin and classical studies.

I agree. It very much matters which Latin program you use. I do not think the grammar in Latina Christiana or Latin for Children would be enough; in my experience, Henle, Latin Book One and Galore Park *do* have enough grammar instruction to be useful. We are currently using Galore Park in conjunction with Classical Writing, and the combination of the two provides us with not only a good amount of grammar study, but with constant reinforcement.

That's the rule here, too. If you're too sick to do your schoolwork, you should be in bed. You're too sick to play; you're too sick for computer games.

What he said. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I follow LCC, and I still do the four-year history cycle. I like the ease of keeping my kids together, but on different levels. I love the projects, the maps, etc. etc. But I do try to put less emphasis on it than I used to. History used to be the center and focus of our curriculum. Now, we still have fun with it, but if it doesn't get done according to my grand plans, that's okay. At any rate, we still use SOTW and the AG. We still do the projects. We only do narration occasionally. It can work quite well.

We're using a big beach ball, and covering it with newspaper/flour paste. We do it in halves, then later we'll paste the halves together and paint it. We're still pasting, and the party is Saturday. Wish us luck. (Alderaan is the piñata, and the cake is the Death Star)

Catching up on missed episodes of House.

Playing Devil's advocate, here ... Perhaps, if you use the money to pay your back bills, that will free you up to *spend* money in the near future? Money you'd not be able to spend if you hadn't paid those bills? I betcha it almost always works out to spending, in one way or another. And now, I know NOTHING about this rebate, so I'm off to check the news ...