They are very Mennonite-meaning, they convey their farming life, valuing children and family, very clearly. They are sweet stories about siblings, school, animals. My 6 yo noticed none of the illustrations are of people, only animals or scenes without people.

we met at work, and our first "date" was a group get together on the fourth of July-the group met and went to the fireworks, then out to eat afterward. Truly, the only person of the entire group I had no memory of was him, and ditto for him! We soon noticed each other though. We made ourselves wait a year before talking about marriage (we had both kissed a few toads before LOL!) but when the end of the year arrived, we quickly planned our life together. We both knew a good thing when we found it. 15 years and three kids later, we marvel at finding each other in this world, still.

career plan, but it is wonderful to be able to keep current and still homeschool. Weekends are hectic though!

I work at night-part time, on the weekends. I do 3 12 hour shifts every two weeks. My kids are not babies, youngest is 6, and dh is OK with doing more weekend stuff to allow this to happen. I think doing the work all in one lump of time works much better for me than doing a little every day. Then it's done and I feel like I have my life back for the rest of the week.

retelling of this story too, A Simple Twist of Fate, that I love. It is a wonderful story.

Dh took vacation and they camped and hiked around CA (where my dh lived before we were married). It would cost more than what you planned, unless you stayed pretty local. My son absolutely loved it. He had some input into places they went. They have some treasured memories of this trip and beautiful pictures.

certain subjects. Make it short to start with! He's only seven and he'll learn much more efficiently as a homschooler than in school. Plan to spend 10-15 mins per subject at first. Then, try your very best to make them very productive minutes. With maturity he will pay attention better, and you can gradually work up the time you spend. Or if you absolutely need more time, do more than one short lesson per day. Look for scripted curricula that you don't need a lot of prep for.

books. So I allow some of his choices, and I suggest frequently. I am lucky that he reads well and loves to, so he rarely declines a suggestion. Right now, he is working on The Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton. He likes magazines, have you considered them? He also loves picture books, so I get a large quantity of books from "Z8"-fairy tales and folk tales form the library each week.

I only started it a few months ago for my first grader who is NOT the natural speller his older sibs are. I used SWO for them, with fine results. But, they already know how to spell LOL! So far, it has worked well. When I dictate words to him, he usually knows how to spell them, but when he doesn't, I remind him of the rule, and he knows how to spell it. so, limited smaple thus far here but I am pleased. It is far far better for him than SWO.

I tried The Cat of Bubastes when we were doing ancients, and my 10 yo gave it a fair hearing ofd several chapters, but it just was not for us. Since this is always on lists of best of his, I figure he's not the writer for us. I'm going to try to RA Caesar's Gallic War to this child too, as he couldn't slog through it but to be honest I found it deadly dull too and Caesar's continuous self-praise grated on me to no end...

He was much younger when it first manifested, and I think situational factors played a role, but were not the whole story. When his depression recurred as a teen, it was similar to some of what you describe with your daughter-he withdrew, ate less, was more irritable. I wasn't sure if he truly was depressed the second time, until he had been on the meds for a couple of months, when he seemed just utterly transformed into a different child.

I'm all for reading the great books. I try to do it myself and with my kids. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Acebe, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison are twentieth century books that might qualify as "multicultural" and one of them (Invisible Man) is on TWTM's highschool great books reading list. I'm unsure if I understand everything that has been said thus far which is no doubt a reflection of my own ignorance. Some of you have a quibble with the definitions the writer used, some with the idea that reading "non-Eurocentric" literature could help to combat nationalism and racism. What I *do* believe is that exposure to the great writings of cultures other than the Eurocentric one is positive, for many reasons. Particularly, I think books like Things Fall Apart are useful. It tells a story of African colonization from the point of view of the natives. What I can imagine is great discussions arising after reading it and a book like Heart of Darkness. Reading widely is a good thing, IMO.

acquaintance from Rochester NY in a parking lot!! She was there for a conference and staying with friends.

awkwardly expressed in the statement, but the careless language used to express them?

reading lists, or just to the ideas expressed in the statement. I guess I would agree with the statement, partly because I can't imagine a serious objection to it. Are you arguing that reading widely is NOT beneficial? On what basis? Finding good literature from many sources would be a good thing. If such a policy was used to justify reading "young adult fiction" (much of my high school's reading list-ugh), I'd object mightily. OTOH, books like Things Fall Apart I would consider great literature-would any of you detractors object to this book? What about Love in the Time of Cholera? Invisible Man?

I plan to use AAS 2 for second grader next year.

I stayed for the whole 4 years-class of 86.

and cheap. It could be used for all your kids' ages-faster for the elder, slower for the younger. Maybe not the 6 yo, actually. 8 and up, definitely.

Keep at it. Having a passion is a good thing IMO. I have a bunch o boys and I think growing up has helped them take academics more seriously more than anything else. I think they eventually come to share some of our interest in their future.

did not have nearly the command of English, after 5 years of classes and living here for 7 months, that I would have expected. His oral fluency is OK, but not good enough to follow normal conversation, at normal tone and speed, but his writing, and especially reading fluency, is really lacking. I have read aloud some with him, and he's settled on reading the Harry Potter books from start to finish. The reading level is about right for him-middle schoolish-and the vocabulary, which is one of his challenges, he can look up in his translator. He chose these because he had already read 3 of them in Japanese, so had some familiarity with the stories and characters, and also because they are long-there are just lots of words there-LOL. I read aloud and ask him questions whenever I can. You can probably tell from talking to her and reading her emails where she is language-wise. I also think that oral fluency and listening can be helped by watching TV-our AFS liaison told us that exchange students favor short sitcoms, because they rely relatively heavily on physical humor, so inferring when they cannot understand the words is somewhat possible.

There are only 24 lessons in level one. Each lesson can be done over any amount of time-you just "camp out" on it until mastered, then move on. Review is built into each lesson. Do as much or little as seems appropriate.

how many marbles Bob has by subtracting 47 from 193 and halving it. Bob's, plus Jason's (without the 47) , plus 47, will be 193, right? Once you know tha, you should be able to just plug in the numbers and solve the rest.

Who unlike his brothers is NOT a natural speller. He needed to phonics reinforcement. I am now wishing I had used it for ds #2, who is slogging through SWO but doesn't have quite enogh visual memory to retain every word. When I review old "missed words" he usually gets them wrong :( Thinking I may check into using AAS for him, modified.

my 11 yo is going to finish it this year, and we have both really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I have no latin background, and he is passing me up already. As others have pointed out, it introduces one vocabulary word, part of a declension (don't know what that's called!) or new usage daily, then gives 10 sentences to translate. Each set of sentences contains drill on the new work and review. I haven't used the MP3s. My son looks forward to latin almost more than any other subject! I am amazed. As far as how many lessons, yes they are extremely straightforward at the beginning, but quickly flesh out and begin introducing new material at a good pace. I'd guess 2-3 later lessons a week will be enough.

and will be starting Cambridge next fall. I think it's perfect for bridging the gap between these two programs.