1) Almost anything he posts as far as English and History can be found for free since they're public domain. 2) There are some serious issues with racial bias in many of his book selections. For example, here is a quote from "By Sheer Pluck", by G.A. Henty. "They are just like children," Mr. Goodenough said. "They are always either laughing or quarrelling. They are good-natured and passionate, indolent, but will work hard for a time; clever up to a certain point, densely stupid beyond. The intelligence of an average negro is about equal to that of a European child of ten years old. A few, a very few, go beyond this, but these are exceptions, just as Shakespeare was an exception to the ordinary intellect of an Englishman. They are fluent talkers, but their ideas are borrowed. They are absolutely without originality, absolutely without inventive power. Living among white men, their imitative faculties enable them to acquire a considerable amount of civilization. Left alone to their own devices they retrograde into a state little above their native savagery." I find statements like this extremely problematic, and certainly would not use his books without reading every one of them myself. I would certainly not consider Henty's books as any sort of history. 3) I strongly disagree with his ideas on teaching math. I do not think most children will do well when essentially left alone and told to teach themselves using Saxon's books.

Good point as well, Lucy. In retrospect I think there were some years my parents probably spent close quite a lot on Christmas presents, but there were many things like warm winter clothes and educational books/curriculum that others might not have considered as presents.

Oh man, no kidding. I mean, I would take an armpit sniffing job testing deodorant before I'd apply there.

I enjoyed House Calls and Hitching Posts as well. I also really enjoyed Having Our Say.

Yeah. I definitely knew kids who got a new car as a present when they turned 16. Even ignoring any other kids that's definitely going to put your amount over $4k. Ski trips? Jewelry? A personal ATV? A motorcycle? A snowmobile? A remote-controlled helicopter? Once you leave the realm of stuffed animals and Legos it's pretty easy to hit $4k. I don't think it's really THAT common though -- I think it's outliers pulling the average up.

This is one reason I've seriously considered going for a buzz cut. I could do that myself. I hate paying for haircuts so I tend to end up with a mullet-ish thingie because I let it grow out and just trim the bangs until it's really annoying me.

I love this idea so much.

Depending on the university credit and/or advanced standing for more advanced classes (like the OCW ones) may be available through a portfolio of completed work and/or taking that university's final exam. You should definitely save a portfolio of his work in case it is needed as it is more difficult to assemble later. Advanced standing as opposed to credit would indicate that some schools would not grant credit towards graduation but would count the calc 3 requirement (if required) as satisfied and allow a math elective to be substituted instead.

Well, I actually *don't* see why a shop should be able to refuse to cut women's hair, so yes, that part is consistent. If they say "we don't do perms" that's something completely different and totally permissible.

I wonder how many people here actually spend 4 digits on Christmas gifts in the first place? I know I sure don't. Most people get homemade candy or cookies from me.

But does she weigh the same as a duck?

In addition to this excellent post, I will also add that frequently they (subconsciously) fear that if not spent, the money will go away. This is especially common in those who grew up in situations where you had better spend the grocery money fast because otherwise dad will drink it or mom will smoke it.

Pertussis is especially noted for wearing off. I had it at 24 after my last booster had been at 12. Horrible experience. "One dose of mumps vaccine will ‘take' (be effective) in approximately 80% of people vaccinated, but two doses of mumps vaccine will ‘take' in approximately 90% of people. Therefore, two doses are better at preventing mumps than one dose." -- from http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/mumps/vac-faqs.htm-- and in the article, he says 10% of the team was affected. I doubt it's the vaccine wearing off so much as the immunization never "took" in the first place and they just weren't exposed until now.

Math for Smarty Pants, the I Hate Mathematics book.

I'd say that precalculus would be an appropriate placement after GCSE. If you wanted to continue with MEP, doing the Pure Mathematics section of the A level would cover precalc and calc 1 with the exception of some material on conic sections and matrices. The conic sections are touched on very briefly in Further Pure Mathematics and the matrices are covered there, but I don't consider those to be essential core material, and you could also easily supplement them with a standard precalc text as those chapters are usually pretty discrete. I'd expect someone who went through PM to place into calc 2 and to find a fair amount of the material there review. I'd expect someone who went through FPM to place into calc 3. The statistics modules would only be covered in a statistics class, the mechanics module probably wouldn't be covered except in a physics class, and the discrete mathematics module would be covered in a separate discrete mathematics course. The stats modules require calculus but would be a great post-calculus class for someone who'd taken a standard calculus class. The discrete math modules are pretty independent and doing them would be a great elective.

While we're discussing religious freedom, here's a specific one I saw recently: http://www.katu.com/news/investigators/Fallen-followers-Investigation-finds-10-more-dead-children-of-faith-healers-231050911.html I think an adult ought to be able to refuse treatment for whatever they damned well please based on faith, but I hold that denying necessary treatment for medical conditions for someone else (i.e. your minor children) should not be a legitimate religious expression. Letting your kid die of appendicitis because you believe that only prayer should heal that should be prosecuted as a homicide.

You know, I get what they're trying to do, but the yellow just looks like she's using iodine for deodorant.

Oh forget that, I'm getting this one: http://www.amazon.com/Introductory-Calculus-For-Infants-Inouye/dp/0987823914/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=01F4G1D16N99JA0D1F70

Reminds me of the Terry Pratchett book where he mentioned that Ankh-Morpork, realizing that all anyone knew of the second verse of their national anthem was "ner ner ner", had made the words of the second verse mostly "ner ner ner"

That's not a legitimate religious belief, isn't it obvious? It's nowhere in the Bible! :)

Seems reasonable, but I would establish a rule (given what you said about "racing") that if she misses a problem, she clearly doesn't know that topic well enough, and thus must work a couple more like it. I think that would slow down the racing.

I took the SAT in 4th grade (to get into a specific class) and then again in 6th, 7th, and 8th for talent search. Of course when I took it the first time my score was quite mediocre, and I was disappointed. That is when I got a crash course in statistics to explain what percentiles were. There were a fair number of kids taking it -- honestly I think if the kid and the parent can handle it and say "well yes I didn't do very well when compared to much older students, but I think I'm doing awesome for my age" it's a good idea. It sort of demystifies and de-stresses the test taking process.

As far as the differences between this and the baker or photographer -- I think there is a big difference between "Oh, I do this -- but I won't do it for YOU" and "I don't do this at all." I just can't come up with an analogy involving abortion because I can't think of a case where someone would be like "Oh abortions are just fine if they're for Martians but abortions for Venusians are against my religion". I can't think of a case where abortion would be denied based on someone being a member of a protected class.

Yes, I was thinking more of employee health care providers who refuse to provide services their employer wishes to offer. As far as individual ones, I think there's a difference between not providing a service and only providing a service to specific people. It's like the baker is totally free to say "I don't do wedding cakes" but not "I don't do wedding cakes for you." However, I'll bring up a specific case. One of my mother's friends had a very bad pregnancy that resulted in a very bad uterine rupture and an emergency C-section. I don't remember how much blood they had to give her, but it was a lot. They saved the baby, but her regular OB-GYN was not attending. The doctor who was attending specifically told her that if she ever got pregnant again, she would have a high chance of dying and the baby too ... but because of his religious beliefs, he refused to perform the hysterectomy that was indicated while she was already open, or to call in a doctor who would (because that would be facilitating it). Her regular doctor was furious that he hadn't been called in for this, and so he had to perform another surgery later. I find that really-really problematic. I would actually understand it if someone came in for an elective hysterectomy ... when it can wait ... but I really find this problematic. I don't think that someone who feels this way about *emergencies* should be working in this specialty.

Hmm, yes and no. I think that, for example, a nurse who won't do circumcisions should avoid working in a place where they will regularly be asked to assist with them. For example, a nurse who specializes in cardiac care should never be asked to do them. Similarly, a nurse who doesn't do abortions under any circumstances should not work for a gynecologist who wants to perform them. If they're of the subgroup of people who believe that (for example) a tubal pregnancy should not be terminated because it's part of God's plan, or that drugs shouldn't be used to terminate a tubal pregnancy instead of surgery, they should not work in OB-GYN or the ER. The question will then not arise.