Young Person's Guide to Music History by Carolyn Jones Campbell (ISBN: 073999715576) is very good and cheap. You will need to get some CDs of the music written about in the book (like The Toy Symphony), but you can probably get some of them from your local library. It is published by Willis Music, and if you cannot find it locally or through amazon.com, it is distributed by Hal Leonard.

World-Wide Education Service is based in the UK and is a correspondence program for ages 4-14. Jolly Phonics, which is sold in the USA by Rainbow Resource, is a UK program for the teaching of phonics to young children.

I don't know about a drink mix that you add water to (like you are asking about), but Apple & Eve makes fruit punch (and I believe that you can find it in 50 oz. bottles). It could be that Walmart sells it.

Continental Books has books in German that your daughter may want to use for self-study. Also, the Goethe Institut has correspondence courses in German, but if your daugher has passed the German AP, she may be too advanced for them. The Goethe-Institut in New York (telphone 212 439-8700) may be able to help you find resources for either self-study or a correspondence course. Also, they have a library that if you pay a yearly fee, you could probably have books shipped to you on loan.

I found Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years by Elisabeth Hainstock to be very helpful (but it's old; even my mother used it! :lol:). Another very good Montessori handbook is Montessori Play and Learn. In addition to using sandpaper letters and numbers to introduce the alphabet and numbers, I followed Oak Meadow Kindergarten very loosely (which entailed using a fairy or folk tale to introduce the letter and numbers). In addition, we did circle time every morning with prayers (we're religious, but if you are not, you could skip it), nursery rhymes and finger plays. The books I used for the nursery rhymes and finger plays included Baby Games, Usborne Nursery Rhyme Songbook (which included a cassette tape), and Fingerplays and Songs for the Very Young by Carolyn Croll. I also did a lot of "waldorfy" crafts from Earthways by Carol Petrash. We would do watercolors one day a week, make beeswax candles from sheets of beeswax, sometimes bake.

I just started homeschooling my youngest, and he complained that because he had no school, he had no gym. So I contacted the city-owned recreation centers and asked them when did they have open gym. By buying my two youngest children a city recreation card for a couple of dollars, they can use the gym anytime there is no class or reservation. They can use the basketballs, soccer balls, hockey sticks and pucks, etc. that are there. Being that it's been in the 90s and 100s here, it's nice that we can go to an airconditioned gym for only a couple of dollars a year and shoot some hoops! Maybe your town or county has a recreation center with open gym times?

Well, first of all, if you had an Italian grandparent, you may be able to apply for Italian citizenship. This article from Transitions Abroad describes how one woman did it. Of course, if you do that, you may have to then pay Italian taxes, do national service if you are young enough, etc. The website of Transitions Abroad has other stories about how American bought properties in Italy, which might help you with the logistics. A book for Americans who want to live in Italy, Living, Studying, and Working in Italy: Everything You Need to Know to Live La Dolce Vita, may be helpful. Graeme Chesters also wrote Living and Working in Italy: A Survival Guide and Buying a Home in Italy: A Survival Guide, but I believe that they are meant for the British market, so not all the information is meant for Americans, as we are not E.U. citizens. A general guide for Americans who want to live abroad (and a very entertaining read) is The Grownup's Guide to Running Away from Home: Making a New Life Abroad by Rosanne Knorr.

I just started homeschooling my son, who's 6. He was diagnosed with ADHD before kindergarten for his aggressive behavior. He has been on drugs for ADHD for a year now, and was still not doing well in kindergarten; we did not see it getting better for first grade. Even with medicine, his attention span is minimal. I do not require a lot of writing, we work in 15-20 spans, and there are lots of breaks. In addition, I take him at least once a day to a local recreation center for him to play in the gym and get exercise (it's over 100 degrees now so playing outside is not an option). Right now, we are concentrating very heavily on reading and math, in addition to Hebrew and religion. I am letting a lot of other subjects slide. You, of course, are dealing with an older child, and so would have to adjust accordingly, but I think you would have to break up the day into manageable segments. Also, if writing is an issue, consider having him do a lot of work orally when you check for comprehension.

Well, many people have used CDs with the titles like "The Story of [name of composer] in Words and Music". I think that The Well Trained Mind recommmends them, and I first found out about them from Michael Olaf. Some of the titles include: The Story of Mozart in Words and Music The Story of Bach in Words and Music The Story of Beethoven in Words and Music The Story of Haydn in Words and Music The Story of Handel in Words and Music The Story of Chopin in Words and Music The Story of Tchaikovsky in Words and Music The Story of Vivaldi and Corelli in Words and Music The Story of Schubert in Words and Music The Story of Brahms in Words and Music The Story of Mendelssohn in Words and Music There are many others! Maybe these would appeal to your daughter. If your local library has them, you could try them out before buying them. They are cheaper on amazon.com than on other websites.

I am not Christian so I can't help you there, but from the secular textbooks, how about Singapore Math Earlybird Kindergarten books along with the suggested manipulatives and Artisitic Pursuits for art (in fact, I would base a kindergarten year around art if your child is so artistic; Artistic Pursuits blends both art techniques with art history). If you are inclined to teach reading, you could use the Modern Curriculum Press' Plaid Phonics A workbook. For a suggested reading list, www.amblesideonline.org has a great reading list for "Level 0", which is the equivalent of nursery school and kindergarten levels. If you can teach your child about the flora and fauna in your area, that is a great science education right there. Your local bookstores will usually have a local interest section in which you can buy field guides for your area--maybe even some specifically for children.

I would like to respond to Tammy's comment and Paula's response. I took 2 years of high school Spanish (that's all the school offered; when some of us tried to get the school to offer a third year, we were rebuffed), and even though I graduated over 20 years ago, I can still speak some Spanish. In fact, I volunteer in a hospital, and I use the Spanish I know often. I even help some of the hospitalized teens with their Spanish homework! When I have access to Spanish television (we are TV free at home), I can understand most of the news and Plaza Sesamo (Sesame Street in Spanish). Am I fluent or even very good at Spanish? No. But to say that those two years were a waste? Absolutely not!

The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa by Patricia & Frederick McKissack is one book I have read. It is meant for ages 9-12.

Well, I don't think that Babar comes in a bilingual version, but you should check www.continentalbook.com. They have Babar in French; also, they have a few bilingual French/English books. Also, don't underestimate what you can find on amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.

I found How Does the Show Go On? An Introduction to the Theater by Thomas Schumacher very informative about all the work that goes into producing a Broadway show. Be aware, though, that this book is produced by Disney, and as such, overwhelmingly focuses on the Broadway shows that Disney has produced in New York. Also along the same lines is Bravo! Brava! A Night at the Opera: Behind the Scenes with Composers, Cast, and Crew, which shows how much work goes into an opera production. I have also found this website interesting: www.musical-theater-kids.com Stanley Green has a book Broadway Musicals: Show by Show. There is also a book for grades 9-12 called Appreciating Musicals. A local radio station broadcasts a syndicated show from New York called "A Night on the Town" with host George Harter (www.musicaltheaterheritage.com). You may want to check if a station in your area broadcasts it. There are some podcasts of the show on their website. If you child get really ambitious and decides to put on a musical, you can buy scripts for musical theatre classics from Hal Leonard, Musical Theatre International or Penders. From Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatricals, the ones meant for children and teens include Getting to Know...Cinderella, Getting to Know...Oklahoma!, Getting to Know...Once Upon a Mattress (a spin-off of "The Princess and the Pea"), Getting to Know...The King and I. Musical Theatre International has load of "Junior" shows for kids/teens (with adult input) to put on.

Many parents who have a child in an immersion program say that their child feels overwhelmed for quite some time. So you are not alone. On the website of Canadian Parents for French they have this brochure, which talks about how to support your child who is in an immersion program. But I think that your ideas are great! You may want to read some francophone books in both English and French like Babar or Madeline, page by page (first read one page in English, then in French) so that way your son will get the meaning first, then the language.

My 9 year old daughter has taken guitar lessons for the past 2 years. The first thing I learned (the hard way!) was not to buy a no-name guitar! My daughter has a Yamaha JR-1 acoustic guitar (which is a 3/4 size), and it is pretty good. It goes for about $100. I second letting the salespeople in the guitar stores guide you, but again go with well-known brand names!

I think that it was someone on this board who recommended looking at www.oyate.org for lists of unbiased books about Native Americans.

I have a book I Can Do It! Piano Book by Christine Bemko Kril, which may be what you are looking for. If you later decide that you want to start being able to read some sheet music, there's Play Piano in a Flash for Kids! by Scott Houston.

My 6 year old son takes Metadate (related to Ritalin), and he has these extreme emotional reactions too. You should probably tell the person who prescribed the medicine about this reaction--it could be that he/she can readjust the dose. Dosing of these medicines is not an exact science; it's trial and error. As your daughter grows, the medicine may need to be adjusted (and sometimes with puberty, my son's physician tells us, the dose needs to be adjusted down!).

A very old Disney movie, but a favorite in our house is The Last Flight of Noah's Ark. It is G-rated, and there is some romance but no more than kissing or hugging.

I have a daughter who's musical, so music gets a lot of shift during the summer in my house. She fiddles around on the piano (her main instrument is guitar) making up songs. Does your daughter know how to play an instrument? Does she want to learn? Easy and cheap options are recorder or Irish tin/penny whistle (if you don't have a piano). You can get easy teach yourself books. There's also cooking/baking. Have her make dinner one night a week. Or you could teach her to make bread (very time consuming and waiting for the bread to rise could be done during swimming :lol:). Have her make cookies or brownies once a week. Jobs for teenagers this summer are very hard to find. I volunteer at a hospital and lots of teenagers are volunteering this summer! My oldest daughter is volunteering in a nursing home (she's thinking of going into geriatrics). So volunteering is a good option too.

I don't know about the audiomagazine, but I once took out of the library the book Read and Think Spanish produced by the same company that develops the Think Spanish magazine. Let me tell you, Read and Think Spanish is not beginners Spanish! I have taken 2 years of high school Spanish and tutor it in the hospital that I volunteer in (so it's not like I have forgotten all that Spanish). In addition, when I have access to a television (we don't have a TV at home), I watch the news on Univision in Spanish. Even though I can understand about 25% of Spanish television, I found Read and Think Spanish extremely difficult. You will need a dictionary close at hand and maybe also 501 Spanish Verbs. Read and Think Spanish has a lot of footnotes which help, but it is still very difficult. So while this sounds really negative (and I hope that I am not being too discouraging), I would suggest being patient with yourself and your sons if Think Spanish is difficult. Start with whether you can understand just the headlines of the articles. Do a sentance or a paragraph at a time. Also, I see that you are from Texas. If you have a television, don't underestimate the power of Spanish TV. Most Spanish programs are from Latin America; if they are adult soap operas, there will be a lot of sex (especially extramatrial affairs). While the children's programs will not have graphic sex, there is no bars held with life's drama. Poverty, children only discovering that their maid is their mother, heart attacks, etc. are openly displayed (and that was in one show!). Plaza Sesamo, which is the Mexican Sesame Street is more innocent, but even there, there is great emphasis on hygeine and other topics specific to Mexico. In Plaza Sesamo the segments with people may be too difficult to understand, but the cartoons are easily understood. You may want to check if your local library has videos or DVDs of Plaza Sesamo. And as I said, I find the news pretty easy to understand (because there are graphics that put the words into context). If you have already heard the news in English, it should be pretty easy to understand what's going on in the Spanish version (although that may report on news from Latin America that may not have made the English version).

There are pronunciation differences as well. In Spain, for example, lapiz (Spanish for pencil) is pronounced "lapith". I'm not sure of other differences, but when I first heard someone from Spain speaking Spanish, I thought he had a speech defect. Wrong! That's the way they ponounce things there.

I have very high cholesterol, and while I am taking prescribed medicine for it, before I started taking the prescription, I took Michael's Cholesterol Metabolism Factors, and it did lower my cholesterol. However, you have to be consistant for it to work, and you need to take something like 6-9 pills a day to use it properly.

OK, I graduated in 1994, but I graduated from Empire State College. In those pre-world wide web days, I finished via correspondence. No employer has ever questioned my degree, although I will confess that most of my jobs since then have not required a degree. I did teach one year religious studies, and then the degree was a requirement.