I listened to one of her Ancient CDs and I couldn't stand it. She was talking about Out of Place Artifacts and that's all fine and good, but many of them aren't proven and there's certainly no Biblical evidence to support the specific things she talks about. Like the spark plug that someone found in a rock close to a Ford factory. She said that it was from ancient times and used the verse from Ecclesiastes 1:9 saying there was "nothing new under the sun" so the spark plug must have come from before the flood and, "Isn't God AMAZING?!!!" I don't like the fact that she was presenting all of this as fact. The sparkplug was discovered decades ago and then conveniently lost. The geologist who "studied" was never named. It really bugs me that she connects God being amazing to all of these things that may or may not be true and are not said to be true in the Bible. What I appreciate in a history book is the author's ability to speculate - as in, "maybe the sparkplug was from before the flood because I believe that when the Bible says that there is nothing new under the sun that it means that every discovery we have now was actually discovered and in use before the flood, but we don't know for sure whether that particular artifact was from that time or not - wouldn't it be amazing if it was?" Not a fan of Diana Waring.

Dd began the High School Henle I course through Memoria Press when she was 11. She's in her second semester now. It's been wonderful - she's learning so much and I can concentrate on Prima with the little guys.

I was mostly considering the fact that if I had thought to make back-up CDs this wouldn't be an issue. We have all of our other CDs on our computer so losing anything else wouldn't have been an issue. Copying a friend's CDs would be like retroactively making back-ups for myself. If purchasing something and making back-up CDs doesn't rob the artist of royalties then how does purchasing something and then making a copy of someone else's identical CD rob the artist of anything?

We have the "Caution: Unsocialized Homeschoolers on Board" magnet and I actually had someone knock on my window when I was in the line up for the drive-thru at Starbucks and ask if they could take a picture of it. Very weird.

I bought the entire Focus on the Family Narnia series and our family (especially one ds) loves them. Now we think that the CD case they were kept in is lost. Ds is very upset and I thought about going out and buying a new set of CDs. But, I already bought the first set - so would it or would it not be ethical to ask a friend to copy her CDs if I had already purchased my own set but lost them?

Oh, that sounds like so much fun! My favourite part about Harrod's was visiting Father Christmas' Grotto. The line up was always about 2 hours long but so worth it. They had children's entertainers to keep the kids in line amused, girls would come around with baskets of lolly pops, bottles of water, and biscuits. Then we'd see Santa, get a free book, have our pictures taken and go home. They were so busy that they had set it up like a reindeer stable with a different door for each reindeer. They told the kids that Santa was in Dasher's stall, but obviously there were Santa's in each and every stall. I love Harrod's.

I posted about ds' humming a while ago. Well, it hasn't gone away and now he's doing this weird shoulder-jerking movement as well. And he is constantly chewing on his fingers. So, I googled (big mistake) tourette's and found that it often co-occurs with ADHD and with sleep walking. Ds sleepwalks, or rather he talks and gets agitated and walks around while sleeping. It's been going on for over a year, usually between 10 and 11 at night. Lately it's been almost nightly. He also has major attention issues, problems with eye contact, etc. He had a significant speech delay and a couple of years of speech therapy. He often seems like he's off in another world... Anyway, one site mentioned tourette's co-occuring with aspergers as well. I'm going to take him to the doctor and see what he says and I hope I'm just scaring myself right now, but this kind of reminds me of the major concerns I had when he was 3 (serious social issues, speech delay, OCD symptoms, etc) that were not taken seriously by our doctor or ped. In fact, after a couple of years with violin and speech therapy I was beginning to think that I was the one making too much out of things. Sure, he's a sensitive kid who has some quirks but he has made so much progress and is a fantastic kid. Now we've got weird humming things and scary shoulder jerking. Not to mention the "witching hour" (what dh and I have named the hour in which he usually sleep walks) and the finger chewing. Does someone want to tell me all of this is perfectly normal and I should cancel our appointment?

I actually don't want to know and keep trying to stick my head back into the sand, but the sad fact is that there are flies in my house and they must be coming from somewhere. The house had been empty for about three months before we bought it. I remember looking around it and wondering about the dead flies...there were probably 10 or 12 dead flies in the house. Well, now we're living here and yesterday there was a fly in ds' bedroom, then I killed one in my bathroom and now there's one in the kitchen. It's below freezing outside and yet, we have flies. Where might they be coming from? We have well water and a septic system - please say they are not related to either. I really don't want to know, but I guess I have to figure it out. Oh, and they're big black flies not little fruit flies. Sarah (ugh)

Reading: K - 100 Easy Lessons, then move into reading real books and talking about them, TOG and TTC help with this Writing: narration and copywork until beginning CW Aesop in grade 3. Continue with CW through high school. Grammar: Ugh. Right now I really like FLL for grades 1 and 2. I'm planning on FLL for grade 3. I've tried a few things (Abeka, R&S, Analytical Grammar) with older dd, but right now she's doing Harvey's with CW and that seems to be working. So the ongoing plan *might* be FLL for 1, 2, 3, then move into CW and do Harvey's along with it. Handwriting: I'm pretty happy with Handwriting for a Reason and then phasing it out when the letter formation is coming naturally. Spelling: I think that will depend on the child. I didn't do any spelling at all with the eldest because she never needed it. I'd love to do SWR with the boys but I never seem to find the time to do it. Instead, I've got ds (2nd grade) doing the Evan-Moore spelling book and I'm pretty happy with that - so is he.

We had a subscription to Calliope for three years. We really miss it. I need to remember to renew. Dd got it from age 8 to 11 and she enjoyed the magazine. I would take it once she had read it and file it away with the history books for that rotation. They've been a great supplement and enrichment to our history studies and it's always fun to unpack the next year's history books and revisit our old magazines.

Well, last night was fun. My dog woke me up with loud and continual barking at 4am. I listened for a couple of minutes (with my finger on the 9 button of the phone) and then heard coyotes howling. I resisted the urge to call my husband at that hour and ended up finally going back to sleep. Yikes. The creaks are something I'm going to have to get used to. We had a TV in our bedroom in our old house and we don't in this house so I hear everything now. And with it being a new house all of the noises are new. And they always seem to stop when I go over to where I think they're coming from... Dh gets home today. And it's funny that some of you have mentioned feeling safer with the dog than with dh. I can imagine countless situations where having dh home would not make a difference, and yet, no fear or unease enters my mind when he is home - as irrational as that may be. Sarah

We use one of their spelling books. It's fantastic and definitely a stand alone spelling program. I struggled with finding a spelling program that would be straightforward and yet still offered enough for retention. I like it better than Spelling Workout.

I'll go against conventional board wisdom to say that we've really enjoyed learning Latin at a young age. I teach Prima Latina in a co-op class for younger kids (ages K to grade 4) and we're really enjoying ourselves. Last year I had an even younger group - preschool to grade 1 and we spent most of the year going over the grammar and vocab in lessons 1 to 5 in Prima. We played a lot of games and everyone had fun. My own kids are kindergarten and grade 2 and Latin does not detract from learning the basics at this age. We're very low-key about it - they attend my co-op class for 45 minutes per week, spend a couple of minutes daily reviewing their vocab and then my grade 2 student spends a little more time (maybe 20 minutes tops?) completing his workbook assignments for the week. Right now it's just about having fun with Latin and learning a little along the way. We will be completing Prima this year with our class and then I'll probably start LCI with them next year but maybe take two years to complete it. After that we may do Lively Latin before launching into LCII. I really don't see any downsides to starting early with an emphasis on enjoyment of the language. In addition to my younger boys I also have a grade 6 dd who has just started her second semester of High School Latin in an online course using Henle. Sarah

Classical Writing

My kids don't get anything either. We give an allowance ($5/week for dd 12 and $2/week for ds 7) but it's not tied to chores. Each person contributes to the running of this household as he or she is able. Even the two year old is expected to pitch in.

I know prayer will help and I thank you for the reminder. It's funny how I tend to try to rely on myself in times of stress instead of turning immediately to God. One day I'll learn... I feel better already just by being reminded that I'm not really alone and that He is with me. The whole point of entry issue and it being different is probably what freaks me out the most. We have 6 points of entry here - it seems like a lot. The house has a security system but we haven't activated it yet. I hadn't even considered that it could be on while I was inside; I was thinking of it as something that we'd arm before we left the house. I think I'll call the security firm tomorrow and see about activating it. And we do have a very large dog with a very deep bark. I wonder about him sometimes as he's really just a big baby. He could be one of those dogs who makes friends with the burgler. Thanks for all of your replies : ) Sarah

I'm laughing now - I can't believe you mentioned The Panic Room. This new house of ours actually has the equivalent of a concrete bunker. There's a room in the basement that is completely enclosed in concrete and has a steel door. It was a shooting range - apparently you can fire anything in that room and not hear it in the house. Anyhow, we haven't figured out what to do with it yet, but it reminds me of The Panic Room. Aaaah! Sarah

I never worried much at all before, but we've just moved to a new house and now I feel like a Nervous Nellie. Last time dh was out of town I slept with the cordless phone and my cell phone. If you get scared, what do you do to distract or reassure yourself? Sarah

Our goal is to become fluent readers and writers of Latin. I'd like all of the kids to write their Latin AP exams as well. I love what Latin has done for their understanding of the English language but also for their understanding of French and Italian. Dd's Italian teacher has commented that she'll sometimes use French and Latin to figure out new Italian vocabulary. Dd (grade 6) has just started her second semester of High School Latin 1 through Memoria Press. I'm teaching Prima Latina in our co-op and my two younger boys (ages 5 and 7) attend. Sarah

My daughter just started her second semester of high school Latin. Yes, they do use Henle. The classes have been fantastic. I am really impressed by the teachers and their level of communication. I was looking over her shoulder while she did her midterms and I was so grateful that this class had been available. I just wasn't able to keep up... So, to see her completing her first semester of high school Latin (after finishing LC I and II) was wonderful. Sarah

We use: TOG Year 2 Singapore NEM Henle Latin (online with Memoria Press) CW Homer Harvey's grammar The Easy French 1B Science at co-op (using Rainbow and assorted other resources) Sarah

I just realized this morning that I have a wisdom tooth coming through. What on earth does it think it's doing? I thought that if it hadn't come by now (I'm 30) that it wouldn't come at all and now here it is. And why do they suddenly decide to come through? Sarah

We started with LC1 and the DVDs. Dd did LC2 mostly on her own and moved on to the Memoria Press online course using Henle. It's been fantastic! Now I'm teaching Prima Latina to my 5 and 7 year olds and also at co-op.