Well, if he wants to be an FBI agent, just about any language could be valuable, from Spanish to Persian to Russian. It can be hard to predict what languages will be hot in 5 or 10 or 20 years. Picking a language where your son can get real-world experience is very important. Does he want to go to Russia or Iran? I've studied several languages, and there's nothing like spending time in country to learn a lot. Farsi might be a little more difficult to get in country experience, since you might not be able to get a visa for Iran and Afghanistan and Tajikistan use different alphabets and somewhat different dialects of Persian. Farsi can also be a difficult choice because there are few colleges and universities that offer Farsi courses. But picking a less commonly studied language and learning it well can be a distinct advantage in getting a job. I have more than one friend who was hired for their ability to speak Arabic or Farsi well. And Farsi is just plain a cool language. What parts of language learning does your son like? Does he hate grammar? If so, I wouldn't recommend Russian. Is he good at practicing speaking? Farsi could be a good choice then- I don't think it's as hard to get a sentence out in Farsi as it is in Russian. Russians are also quite particular about pronunciation (although people who speak Russian as a second language are less so). I've never studied German so I can't give an opinion there. I don't know if any of this helps, but it's just a few other things to think about.

Personally, after having purchased Rosetta Stone, I don't think it's worth the money for most homeschooling families. It's quite limited for the amount of money you have to spend. Even if it were significantly less expensive, I wouldn't recommend it in most cases. I do think it was a good choice in our situation, because 4 members of the family are using it, and there are few resources for the language were are learning, especially that are good for children.

Khachapuri or Thai curry Kichree or sweet and sour chicken

Rosetta Stone can't teach language culture because of the way it's set up. About all it's good for is learning vocabulary. This is one of the many reasons why I am not satisfied with RS. We only use it for languages that have no other resources suitable for children, because it is better than nothing.

This isn't exactly a menu, but here's a list of the stuff we eat for dinner in a 6-week period (the last sections are side dishes and sauces). This usually costs about $50/person, unless we're living in a particularly expensive city, like now, when we're spending closer to $75/person. Lunch is leftovers or peanut butter sandwiches or pasta, and breakfast is muffins or rice cereal or toast and fruit. I make almost everything from scratch and buy in bulk.

You can just serve it with a simple marinara sauce. My husband ate lots of gnocchi in Uruguay (many Uruguayans are of Italian descent) and generally it was served that way. Just a side note- in Uruguay and other South American countries it is traditional to serve gnocchi on the 29th, so today is a great day to eat it.

I am currently reading Salt: A World History I have waiting: Tender at the Bone Foreign Correspondence March Mornings on Horseback Banker to the Poor In Search of Islamic Feminism Serve the People This month I read: Pomegranate Soup- good The Heretic's Daughter- meh Driving Over Lemons -great Persepolis 2- good The Swallows of Kabul- good The Hundred Secret Senses- good Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper- excellent The Spice Merchant's Daughter- good Persepolis- great The Hunger Games- great Near a Thousand Tables- good The Joy Luck Club- great Book of a Thousand Days- good The Goose Girl- good

I enjoy quilting, but since I don't have a very good relationship with any sewing machine, I do it all by hand and am much happier. My husband is an artist at heart, so he's designed several of my quilts (my avatar is his design that I quilted). Hand piecing makes it a lot easier for me to work on a quilt through the day because I'm not tied to the sewing machine and I can work anywhere. I've been quilting off and on since I was a teenager, but I haven't done much quilting recently. I need to get back to it again.

I have a K-Tec that is almost 10 years old. It is loud, and generally you'll have to spend more money for a quieter machine. I live with the loudness. However, the flour thing doesn't make me happy. There are a few things I've learned that help. Always use the F-shaped filter things. Some grains are much messier for me, like barley. Wheat isn't as bad for me, so if you've only done wheat and it's awful, you might not want to try rye and barley. Make sure to use that cup thing that attaches at the bottom of the grinder part. And don't leave the grinder on when there's no grains going through. That's always the messiest time, so I make sure there are always grains in the hopper and that I turn it off immediately when it's done. Sometimes I have ground outside if the grinder is feeling really messy. Other times I stick a box over the whole thing. It's not really convenient, but it's a lot neater. I probably should call them up and ask about the flour mess. I always figured it was just me. Mine was a gift also, and I've been happy enough with it to not replace it.

We make kebabs often and we've never had a grill. Broiling usually works great, although we had one oven that didn't work well, so I'd just bake the meat then. But broiling is usually the way to go without a grill.

Since I agree that breadmaking is so individual, I don't really have specific advice, but I do want to encourage you to keep trying. It took me years to really feel like I could cook reliably with whole wheat, but now I don't have anything but whole wheat in the house. It does help to have a patient family. And if you don't have a good bread knife, I recommend getting one. My bread improved immediately after I got a decent knife. Here's the recipe I use for our basic bread, but I do use some gluten. We use it for sandwiches and toast mostly. It makes 3 loaves. I've baked it at a variety of altitudes, from sea level to 5000 feet. I use SAF yeast and grind my own hard red wheat. 3 1/2 cups warm water 1 1/2-2 Tbsp yeast (or two packets) 1/2 cup sugar 1 Tbsp salt 1/4 c oil 1/2 c gluten 3/4 c ground flax seeds About 8-9 cups whole wheat flour Bake at 375 for 35 minutes.

These are our favorites for the family. My own list would look different. Plov or laghman Kichree Khachapuri Potatoes and gravy and stuffing Crockpot lasagne

I cannot stand it. I do like it now with my 8- and 9-year-olds, but please, never leave me in the kitchen with someone younger than 5. Fortunately, my husband likes it and always let them help when they were little. I'm thinking that chickenpatty's digital camera idea is a great idea.

Tilapia and couscous with a garlic sauce. And some sort of vegatable.

We have lots of nativities, either given to us or purchased in other countries. Sometimes they haven't officially been sold as nativities, but we figure out ways to make them. Here are a few of our favorites: Uzbek nativity Kyrgyz felt nativity Kyrgyz wooden nativity We put all ours up (close to 20 now) a day or two after Thanksgiving. There's also an sturdy olivewood nativity under the tree for the soon-to-be-one-year-old. One year my then 6-year-old son put together a rather abstract nativity from various pieces of wood he had. I love that one. Putting up the nativities and seeing them all month is one of the best parts of Christmas for me, like the ornaments on the tree are.

Three of the things that can make it more likely to bunch/felt are: quick temperature changes, stirring it around a lot, and the type of fiber the batt is made of. Give it a try. There are many websites out there about dyeing that could give you more help.

It's useful for other people, particuarly people of European descent, because lots of people are distantly related to Mormons who've done their genealogy. And the LDS Church is very active in archiving and preserving records from all over the world to assist all members in doing their genealogy. Many governments have asked the church to document their records so they are not lost.

It's because we believe that we can be "sealed" (basically an ordinace/ritual that makes parent/children and wife/husband ties effective beyond death) to our families/ancestors, so we need to know who they are. We also perform baptisms for our ancestors who have died, because we believe baptism is a necessary ordinace. These ordinances for the dead are performed in the temple, and that is the primary purpose of temples. This comes from Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. We believe that this turning of the hearts refers to the temple work we need to do for our ancestors because we love our ancestors and family and want them to receive these ordinances too. Does this help?

A backstrap loom

I love all of Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's books, but their Flatbreads and Flavors is still my favorite. This one doesn't just cover flatbreads, but has recipes for lots of other good, ethnic food from around the world. My husband couldn't live without Boarding the Ark Today. Despite its title, it is a good basic cookbook using stuff that is easily stored. And it's simple enough that he can use it, and he's not exactly a cook.

I didn't love it when I read it, but I think the audiobook is amazing- one of my favorites ever.

I skipped lots of well-baby checkups when our insurance didn't cover them, especially since it was a lot cheaper to go to the health dept for the vaccinations.

I just got my week worked out: Kichree Potato-corn soup Chilaquiles Vietnamese noodle combos Fish couscous (recipe below) Crockpot lasagne Laghman And hopefully a new pumpkin plov from western China (yes, that makes 8 meals, but I like to have lots of choices) Cook a pound of fish in whatever manner makes you happy. While it's cooking, boil a small potato and cook a cup or two of couscous. When the fish and the potato and the couscous are done, peel the potato and put it in the blender with some olive oil (2-4 T) and some salt (as needed) and some garlic (at least four cloves) and enough chicken broth to make a nice sauce and blend. Don't put in too much potato. Serve the garlic sauce over the fish and couscous.

I've not seen a book like that, but I do use interfaith calendar. It has lots of holidays and their dates, and a brief description of them. It's especially useful because it's current for each year so you can keep up on holidays without fixed dates. There are a few other links, especially about each religion, and it's a good starting place to learn more about lots of different holidays.

I have a hankering for something very flavorful today, so we're having ta'amiya (they're like falafel, but better), yogurt-tahini sauce, carrot salad, and flatbread. When I need inspiration, I sit down with a couple of my favorite cookbooks.