Because Baptists don't believe that baptism has anything to do with the forgiveness of sin. It's a sign or a "symbol" of the sinners prayer or the conversion prayer, when previous sins were forgiven, but the baptism itself does not do anything.

Most Baptists would have a major problem with the line "I believe in one baptism for the remission of sins."

They do it to buy new/expensive books they can then sell on Amazon. It's not the easiest or quickest way to steal money and launder it, but it does work.

When I was in college my friends and I would often snicker at the Education majors, especially the Early Elementary majors. We were philosophy/history/English majors and our profs were good, but very tough, we had to show original, critical, and creative thinking to even have a prayer of getting an A-. Meanwhile, the Ed majors were writing lesson plans about learning colors and shapes, and then bragging about their 4.0. I know a good lesson plan is worthwhile, but when we happened to take a class with them we were far from impressed. Anytime the prof asked them to think "outside the box" they always shut down and then started whining "I'm just going to go teach my kids later today (they love love me!)" Uh, okay, but is it so hard to think for just five minutes beyond the level of 2nd grade? I don't remember exactly, but the Elem Ed majors didn't take much beyond the first year Gen Ed core that wasn't about making lesson plans and using transparencies. I know there's good Elem Ed teachers, but I didn't meet any when I was in college. And this wasn't a public uni, this was a Christian college, and most of the Ed majors were looking for jobs in private Christian schools.

When I was in college I was a part of a group that did a "scribe" project. We made ink from a red wine base and some things from the chemistry professor. I think we also cheated and added some black fabric dye - we didn't have the time to boil down black walnut shells. We found the recipe on the internet. Sorry, I can't remember where exactly.

You should try living here. Front page picture of the local paper once was of a python cut open to show its 85+ eggs inside it. I suppose when there's a good chance a crocodile is living in your backyard, pythons don't look so scary? Ireland is a lovely country.

I've never heard of homeschoolers having bad writing skills. I was homeschooled, and I did fine on my College Comp classes and my graduate profs always complimented me on my prose. [Disclaimer: When I post on internet forums I switch to the genre of half-brained internetese]. There are a ton of homeschool curriculums available to teach writing (far more now than when I was homeschooled). And you can also seek outside writing opportunities for external evaluation (4-H has writing programs and competitions, I believe, and there are other poetry competitions and essay competitions and such around). But most homeschoolers, at least, most of the ones around here, disfavor the current in-vogue methods of writing with creative spelling, sloppy handwriting, and questionable grammar and punctuation. That's why you'll see so many saying that they don't encourage original composition from their kids until much later than their comparable public school peers. The idea is that kids should get the basics down first, and then write. But before the kid writes on their own there is a method where the kid speaks a complete sentence, then the parent writes it down, and then the kid reads it aloud. This lets them "write" without having to deal with trying to apply information they haven't learned yet.

Sometimes I think the Protestant Evangelicals writing SOF's just don't realize how much of their "church-speak" they dump in there that would be problematic for other groups. I saw one recently where the very first line was "The Bible is the Word of God..." It was sort of ironic, since every for every other statement in the SOF they provided numerous Bible references to prove their point, but not this one. Ironic, since Rev. 19:13 clearly states that the Word of God is Jesus Christ. I know for Evangelicals the line "The Bible is the Word of God" has a specific meaning. But for RC's and EO's, it is utterly and totally foreign and questionable, since to them it would suggest that you are denying that Jesus is God incarnate! I decided to give this group a pass for other reasons. But really, I have graduate degrees in theology, and most of the SOF's I've seen just make me giggle.

Yummy upscale processed, sugary junk food :drool5: The coconut cream is awesome. And the bacon ends&pieces are good. All of their dairy is worthwhile. But their almond butter was a miss for me. And I once had a bad experience with their fresh chicken, but that was quite a few years ago, so ymmv.

My suggestion is to start with a very easy DVD. Don't try anything complicated, and do not even attempt inversions, without a qualified instructor. Yoga can be dangerous.

This site http://bringinguplearners.com/mosaic-myths-maps-and-marvels/ has lesson plans for Little History of the World, combining it with Usborne and such. You could probably adapt it to use with CHOW.

There is also librarything.com It's not as user-friendly as GoodReads, but I think it has more flexibility on the technical side of things, if that's what you're looking for.

Nutiva. I usually buy it online for around $23-$27 for 54 oz. Best bang for my buck, imo.

Ok, since you asked. I largely agree with misty.warden. The fact that Meyer is Mormon gives the books a unique flavor when it comes to the importance of family and morals, and the books take for granted that these two things define who you are as a person and your character. But also - I actually liked the Merchant of Venice finale. It's not often you see a female hero use her mind, her logic, and her abilities to save the day. She protects her family, takes down oligarchy, and makes no recourse to violence. I've never seen anything quite like the last 10 chapters of Breaking Dawn anywhere else in YA lit, or in any other lit for that matter (besides Merchant of Venice, of course). That being said, Breaking Dawn is a good case study in how not to write a novel. I think Meyer's editor must have completely checked out or something. First rule of first person point of view: Don't change point of view. But the editor may have tried to rewrite the ending to a normal, dull shoot-em-up finale, so there's your trade-off. IMO, Urban Fantasy is a super tough genre to pull off successfully. That's why the vast majority of Twilight fanfic gives up on the genre, and just makes everyone human in a Rom/chicklit story (like 50 shades). But, I have read some fanfic that manages to use the UF genre well (better even than Twilight itself), so I think underlying "myth" has some merit to it. I've seen some criticisms of Twilight that I think are totally uncalled for and illogical (Pastor you-know-who-you-are, would you please shut up about things you know nothing about!). And then there are other criticisms which fall into the same category as criticisms of the series finale of Battlestar Galatica (the new series) - some people just don't like what it is telling them. Okay, I get it, you have a totally different worldview/opinion, but would it kill you to just realize that and move on? As escapist fantasy, I think Twilight is fine. It's better than other fantasy books out there, especially most of the other YA ones. And I do think the series, its response, and its fanfiction, deserve a serious study by a good sociologist. And I believe the first Twilight movie makes an excellent MST choice. Gotta love it for that. ;) Now back to the regularly scheduled topic... :D

Does the school not have an accelerated classroom? My kid goes to a public charter school, and got into the accelerated kindergarten program. Which is great, he's actually learning stuff during the day (though not everything I would like to see him do, but I'm picky). Though we're homeschooling next year for various reasons (moving to another state, he hates going to school, I want to follow a more thorough curriculum with him for a while). We'd think about pulling him out now, but he won a lottery to get into this school, and they did offer the accelerated class for him, so I kinda feel like we should stick it out. I understand being overwhelmed by a high-maintenance kid, though. Maybe there is a "full" homeschool co-op in the area? One where you go and do "class" 2 or 3 days a week, and then "homework" the other days? That would do the "school" for him, the "off" time for you, and allow him to pick classes that meet his abilities.

That's true. I read it as a fanfiction. I'm mildly involved in the fanfiction world, and this fic was hugely popular and very controversial, and since with two clicks and two hours of your time you could read the fic yourself, I availed myself of the experience of reading it. The nome-de-plume back then was Snowqueen Icedragon, and if anyone's interested I'm sure there are pdf's of the fic around the internet. We all figured she would pull-to-publish, but I was surprised to see it take off like it did. My opinion: more sociologists should study fanfiction, then we won't be blindsided when stuff like this happens. I could deconstruct the story, but that's off-topic. I think Twilight fails as literature, but there is some redeeming qualities in it, though you have to get to the very end of book four to see it. But I approached the books purely as fantasy. I remember reading an interview with Stephanie Meyer where she mentions that mom's come to her book signings and say "I want my daughter to marry a guy just like Edward" and her response is "Please tell me you're joking!" On topic! Um, since I haven't yet homeschooling my own kid, I've got not much to say, except that I agree with all those who said they were too liberal for conservatives, and too conservative for liberals. I go to a very conservative church where many people assume that I will just vote a certain way on candidates or issues. I've learned the art of non-committal non-verbal responses. Though when I was homeschooled my mom was one of those excluders in our homeschool group, even though the leader tried to be more open. She picked our friends based on three criteria: that they were homeschooled, that they were the right sort of Christian, and that the kids were better behaved than we were. If the family suddenly failed to meet one of these criteria, we didn't play at their house anymore. It was, I think, an attitude born mostly out of fear. The more conservative/fundamentalist homeschool associations and their associated mailing lists continually reinforce this fear. It's really tough on the kids, that's all I can say about that....

Gah, what idiocy. ​Compulsory schooling allows the impoverished access to literature? What planet is he living on? Well, no, I normally don't go to the movies. But I happily check out DVD's from my library. Funny, the last time I rented a car I'm pretty sure people drove that car before me, and people drove that car after me. I'm not even sure what he is trying to say here. Books are not literature? Books are not gladiator tournaments? Books are simply entertainment? But I think the real rub is this: See, if I think a book is worthwhile, if I think it is something that will continuously add value to my life, I'll go to the bookstore and buy it. It is worth it to me to spend money on something that bring meaning to my life. But publishing companies have begun to publish every Dick&Jane drivel book by every wannabe author (that's a whole different issue) and I use the library to sort through that. Libraries also show me treasures that I didn't know existed. A few months ago I found at my local library an awesome German movie about Hildergaard von Bingen that I previously didn't know existed. I have since recommended the movie to friends who share the same interest. Some of them may buy it. If we weren't dirt poor and the movie so expensive, we would have bought it. Methinks this guy is just sour that people don't really think his books are worth spending money on.

My kid moved on from Blue's Clues to other "exploratory" shows, like Popular Mechanic for Kids and Bill Nye the Science Guy. There's other series like these in my Public Library, but ds wants to stick to these two. I find PBS these days to be completely underwhelming.

My son's charter just signed up for Moby Math, if you're looking for something online. So far, I like it. It's timed and adaptive. And it's forcing ds to remember his facts.

Have you seen GrammarLand yet? That's cute, and people have made worksheets to go with it.

And there's an asteroid coming by today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/asteroid-to-pass-near-earth-but-you-dont-need-to-duck/2013/02/14/615d5848-73cb-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story_1.html If you have a good telescope you could try to find it. Or just look at this: http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2012-da14-will-pass-very-close-to-earth-in-2013

Yes. I think I always listed the books by the second age range, but now I'm not sure. It's far from an scientific study! But I'm trying to figure out the GLE of 4.6. I think this number is calculated by a computer program, and I think Winnie the Pooh has some "different" syntax and then there's the made-up words, so that would push the number higher.

Okay, my last post was just a general grievance, but to be more specific: My problem with this book specifically is not that it goes against Christian theology, my problem is that it violates ancient Egyptian theology. In Egyptian theology the desert is a place of chaos and evil. That's why Seth lives there. The desert is not good. If a spirit from the desert came up and talked to the real Tutankhamen, he would have yelled the ancient Egyptian equivalent of "Get behind me, Satan!" and ran back to Aten. This is not opinion or interpretation, this is just a basic fact. This is not an obscure point. This is why the Egyptians were always suspicious of outsiders. This is also why St. Athanasius made such a big deal of the irony that St. Anthony the Great went to the desert and became holy (the message, therefore, is that if someone can go the the Evil Place and become holy, then what is your excuse, you who live in the Sacred Land (along the Nile)). History is complicated enough and has enough points to remember without taking the time to teach things that are WRONG and will just have to be unlearned later.

And...this is why I get very nervous when I see "classical education" reading lists relying so heavily on historical fiction. I know little kids can't understand the "originals" but there's nothing wrong with just presenting the originals in small chunks they can understand. We have a boat load of visual and written artifacts from that time period. Just survey the highlights briefly and you're done. Boom. I haven't read the book other than the quotes in your review, but just based on that - I think iconoclasm is always wrong, so I agree with the author on that one. But a spirit telling Tut to "believe in himself"? ugh :001_huh: Sorry, I was a history major, and I have seen way too many anachronisms in historical fiction books to even be surprised.

I think I've figured out what my problem with Judy Blume is. I find her stories too didactic. Character X struggles with problem Y and the correct response is Z. The reader is supposed to apply the lesson by analogy, "He accepted he had freckles, so I should accept my mole." But the response could instead just be "He accepted his freckles, but my mole is worse, and the kids teasing me are nastier." The lesson of accepting yourself is better taught, imo, by reference to- oh, I don't know - a Dragon. The dragon accepts himself in some way, so the reader is able to internalize the principle, and then apply it however it effects them personally without being caught up in unnecessary details. Maybe I've read "On Fairy Stories" too much. :laugh: