I suspect you will be able to find Dickens pretty much all over! Have a safe journey.

He is such a handsome little boy!

Congratulations! :)

I used them with a Twentieth Century course we did. Both dc's together grades 8 and 10. They made a great jump off point or an easy project for me to assign when one was needed.

Sorry, I lacked clarity the Harry Potter Studio Tour is near London at the actual studio. http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/the-tour-experience/about-the-studio-tour Still a good birthday adventure since she hadn't been but not a week in sunny Florida. The tour really is great, my favourite room was Dumbledore's. The butterbeer slushy sounds much better, the stuff here was yucky (friend agreed) but I didn't want to say before. Butter flavoured ice cream in cream soda is not very good. As Kathy said quite rich. Jonathan Strange is a book that I don't remember that well detail wise. No need to read the book but it was a good book. ;) So Robin and others chime in if you can remember book content that makes this obviously not family friendly. So far the series is pretty faithful to the book as I remember it, so am thinking that will continue. I am fairly certain (neither of us can remember) that I gave dd permission to read the book when I finished it, she didn't because of time, chunky book. They do bring the dead back to life using magic and there are battle scenes at the end that could be pretty intense. It is airing at roughly 9pm on Sunday here which is not the family Dr. Who slot but the Sherlock slot. My kids watched the first episode with me and loved it. They are huge Once Upon a Time fans, probably same level.

We have used Reading like a Historian from Stanford. It's free..... http://sheg.stanford.edu/medieval

I still can't multiquote. Really miss it! Your dd's picture is fabulous. So very cute! Glad you all had a great time. Frozen butterbeer? I tried it at the studios here and it was sort of a float with cream soda. I thought of you at Universal yesterday. One of the kid's best friends stopped by to fill us in on her trip to the studios in honour of her bday. First time....She is a Bellatrix fan, complete with wand now! Fun! New subject...... We also watched the first episode of Jonathan Strange yesterday. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/02/susanna-clarke-characters-jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell. I loved the book and really enjoyed the first episode, so far pretty accurate to the book. The filming locations are pretty local for us and the dc's had fun identifying them. The York Minster scene where magic comes to life and the figures on the ceiling are animated was really great. ;) Ds was very impressed because they animated some of him favourites.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the Girl on the Train. My hold request recently moved into the 300's so I will be reading it in the next couple of months. Since I started at almost 1000 things are moving really quickly. I am not a Gone Girl fan but normally really enjoy that style of book. Something just didn't click right for me with that book and it really irritated me.

Just moving the update so it will be on the new page. :grouphug: praying

Still praying

The Pereine Bookstore is a Teacherzee find. Thanks to her I now get their newsletter. It sounds lovely. :grouphug: on being sick. The cold/runny nose/ hacking cough is going through our house for the third (yes, 3) time. It feels like the same stuff each time....have caught it on both sides of the Atlantic. No apparent immunity. Looking forward to hearing about Carsick. Not sure that I am up for the hitchhiking parts!

Kareni, I just checked out your Devon Monk recommendation, the first in the series. She is an author who has been on the list! My current read is the second in Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series titled The Masque of the Black Tulip. It's definately good. I have let it be returned a couple of times in favour of other books, big mistake. I am captivated enough 70 pages in that I checked the third in the series out while getting Kareni's recommendation at overdrive. I love E libraries........ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/lauren-willig/masque-of-black-tulip.htm

My dd just took the French SAT subject exam in May, awaiting her results. We decided to do it based on her taking a practice exam which can be found online. She is self taught through a variety of resources including friends/native speakers. Not really sure where she would fall in the standard years of study except she is far more fluent then I was after two years of high school French way back when. She found both the Barron's and Princeton guides helpful for French. One guide would have been fine. I know these can be found at some libraries. Like Laura she thinks the level of grammar and vocabulary was about the same with or without listening. In May it was only offered without listening and fit well with her Maths subject exams so she took it. She considered the practice exams to be great predictors of how she did. She came out of the exam quite positive. She is actually going to take the Latin and German exams next month, once again no listening because not offered until late fall for the German. Again it is a situation where she is already doing two so will add German on. We drive two hours for a test location and in late fall weather could be a problem. Best to be done, hopefully.

They are going in the UK. The Testing has simply been easier to access for my family and perfectly acceptable for admission. The Uni they both want can be applied to using American style testing and that is the path we have chosen. The exams can be turned into the point systen etc without problems if they change their minds and want a Uni that is on points. This is easier from my perspective then portfolios or several months of weekly classes.

Another trick is to put a reserve on the book using your dh's library card. As soon as overdrive takes it back from one account the other account checks the book out again. It seems to work better than the renewal process for me with the kindle.

Thank you.

International isn't as hard as I expected. We have been driving about 2 hours to reach our exam center but thanks to these threads I now know some people in the US are driving several miles also. Here is a link https://sat.collegeboard.org/register/test-center-code-search showing the test center locations for the next SAT exam in England. Mainly being offered at private schools. Fewer locations for the AP exams but doable. Dd sat for AB Calc this year as home ed. They have offered to administer BC for her next year if she wishes.

So what happens if a 10th grader does well enough to receive the commended designation? Do they still receive it or are they skipped because of National Merit? My ds might take it this fall but will be in 10th. Very unlikely that he would follow up with the SAT so this would truly be practice. The October date this year appears to be OK for us so would like to let him have a go at the PSAT. Dd never got to take it due to scheduling. Doubtful that the October date will work two years in a row for us.

I just finished a book that looks very WTMish in terms of the kilt on the cover.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21544875-a-highlander-s-obsession. I thought of Robin's husband when my dh was doing a double take of the cover on my kindle. :lol: Honestly it wasn't too bad. Very quick read. Heroine is an animal communicator and the hero is a bear shapeshifter, so different than my normal paranormal, more of a romance novel actually.

I finished an enjoyable Paranormal book today, Hunter's Trail by Melissa https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18482782-hunter-s-trail. This is the series where the main character is a null, essentially the same thing as Soulless in Gail Carriger's series, but this character functions in our world (or at least our world with a serious paranormal population. ;) :lol: I have really enjoyed this series, read it courtesy of Amazon Prime. Runningmom and Noseinabook :grouphug: I hope both of you are feeling much better soon!

Kareni, Thanks for the review. I remembered that there was some unusual behaviour in the book but couldn't remember what. I probably will go back to it because I keep running into it. Library shelves and online libraries recommend it to me frequently. It was a book I really did like although I think I did quite a bit of googling to solve some language mysteries. Found the characters interesting. Something about the sister I think? Just poor timing on my part. My concentration abilities are not the greatest right now either so it won't be anything I tackle soon. But glad for a positive review.

:grouphug:

Dd did Calculus at home using a combination of materials and a couple of Coursera classes. Used the review class on Coursera before taking the AB this year. Plans to use their review and take BC next year.

:grouphug: praying

Beautiful baby boy!