We have Red Lace, Yellow Lace: Learn to Tie Your Shoe! by Judith Herbst and Mike Casey (published by Barron's).

My 5 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD this summer (and my husband is an elementary school principal). To be diagnosed with ADHD, we went to a pediatric neuropsychologist. We paid out of pocket about $1800, so I don't know about insurance. My husband had worked with this pediatric neuropsychologist before so that's how we found him. Your pediatrician is a good source for references. He/she may alternatively recommend a developmental pediatrician, who besides a pediatric neuropsychologist, neurologist or psychiatrist, can also diagnose ADHD. However, before you do all of that, you may want to ask yourself what will you do with this information. Will you be willing to medicate your daughter? Will she undergo behavioral therapy? Otherwise it is a very expensive process and can be very damaging to have an official label of ADHD.

Emily Post's The Guide to Good Manners for Kids is helpful. Also, Miss Manners' Guide to Rearing Perfect Children is very good. Not that I am such a stickler for manners, but manner help a child understand the complex dance of what is expected in various social situations that may not be apparent.

You could try the Calvert School Discoveries in Music, (or as it was formerly known as Melody Lane). It's available on DVD and is meant for grades K-3. You could just have your children watch the video, and they will learn a lot about music history and the set up of the orchestra, or you could follow it step by step and do all the suggested activities. Either way, they will learn a lot.

This is probably better for your 7 year old, but you may want to try Mary Geddy's Day: A Colonial Girl in Williamsburg by Kate Waters.

Keyboard Capers, which is sold by Rainbow Resource, is a great music theory course, and is meant for those who have little music background.

I have taught myself recorder using the Oak Meadow program, and it does spell it out for you very clearly. The kids do not start reading notes until the 3rd grade program, though, so you will be teaching them recorder "by rote." It is not too expensive either, and you do not need to buy the whole Oak Meadow curriculum to buy the recorder program. Also, when you buy an actual recorder, Yamaha recorders are pretty good and about $8. There is also the Progressive Young Beginner Recorder Method Book 1 Book/CD Bonus DVD which amazon.com sells for about $10, that may be helpful, especially since there is a DVD involved.

www.asiaforkids.com has lots of resources on many nation in the Far East and some in the Middle East.

I saw a book in the library called Domino Addition by Lynette Long.

You may want to try Play Piano in a Flash for Kids!: A Fun and Easy Way for Kids to Start Playing the Piano by Scott Houston.

I really liked the book Marsalis On Music, which was a companion book to a Public Television series, so you can probably get the videos/DVDs too (maybe even in your public library). There is also a very pricy series called An Illustrated History of Music for Young Musicians which does have a volume for the Twentieth Century.

Even though my introduction to the Acadian Expulsion was Evangeline, I think that Longfellow did not get all his facts correct about the expulsion. So use Evangeline cautiously! The book In Search of Evangeline: Birth and Evolution of the Evangeline Myth by Carl A. Brasseaux discusses the historical inaccuracies of Evangeline.

Have you tried the book Where Poppies Grow: A World War I Companion by Linda Granfield? I really enjoyed it when I got it out of my local library. Shifra

The only way that I can now identify notes is by reading The Book for Young Musicians (published by Shooting Star Press). This book gives the basic of playing piano and reading music!

You may want to check out Just the Facts from www.musicbagpress.com. They have theory books for both cello and viola.

I just read a book Creative Therapy for Children With Autism, ADD, and Asperger by Janet Tubbs was very interesting. I am not sure what to make of it. On the one hand, it seems that she has much success with her complimentary therapies like music, art, massage and color, in addition to standard medical and speech therapies in breaking the shells of children with Autism and Aspergers syndromes. But on the other hand, she is not a licenced therapist, she had no one write a approbation for the book, and she did not use much research to back her techniques. I suppose her techniques were harmless and may be worth a try, though. However, she did write that music lessons for children on the Autism Spectrum can be very beneficial. Shifra