Is it an In-House test for placement at a university? If so, I'd look at any materials that they have on their website for the French Program to get an idea of what grammar and thematic vocabulary is covered at each level just to be sure that I knew what content I'd be expected to know. The Boys placed out from a Written Test as well as an unscripted Conversation with a department head.

Don't know if you've already made up your mind or not, but you can see inside of the book on this eBay listing.

We are in the home stretch with The Boys. It seems surreal, but we're almost at The End! 🙂 Hoo-ray.

In designing knowledge-based courses, I found myself asking: What do I need my student to know at the end of this? For how long will they need to know that information-- 5years? 10 years? 15 years? 20 years? their entire life? Then it occurred to me that after a while that more than any particular body of knowledge mastered (though I definitely have a desire for a certain body of knowledge to be mastered and internalized) that my true decades-long goal is to develop strong memorization skills in and of itself within the kids. In theory, I'd like my children, when they're 45+ years old, to be able to 1) take in new information (multi-steps or pieces of info in general) with greater accuracy, speed and ease 2) retain and recall that information as needed 3) in a manner that's not just a parlor trick (i.e., memorizing a deck of randomly ordered cards) In the effort of training a strong memory and really trying to develop the brains ability to take in, retain and recall things, I've been rethinking a lot of what I'd assumed/calculated for Round 2s elementary education. This of course doesn't mean that I'm not interested in a Knowledge-Centric education--I absolutely am, but I'm also starting to think about instilling the skill of learning differently.

Thanks for the link! I had gone ahead and wrote a simple Chess Scope and Sequence that I'm going to use. >_< I just don't like leaving things to chance, lol.

Ok, I've decided against No Stress Chess. The reason being it delays having students just learn how the pieces move. The cards, I think, will be a crutch and they don't actually lead to anything. I'm not sold on whether I'll use Story Time Chess--as I don't like the idea of spending a small fortune on Chess.

I'm actually debating what to do about building a Memory Palace with Round 2. Amiga has been volunteered as Guinea Pig for memory training. We've began by developing her attention to detail with casual games of "Did You Notice...?" and "Do You Remember...?" but are open to considering any and every technique as the goal is to really develop the attention and memory-skills of the child. So far, Chants already work on getting her to memorize something in sequence (spellings, information, etc) Rhymes and mnemonics don't particularly work just yet and I'm not sure that she understands rhymes just yet. Visualization skills--how does one develop them in someone else?

I couldn't write a book--maybe a pamphlet. Step 1: Commit to Using Loads of Parental Elbow Grease and Common Sense Step 2: Purchase A Few Quality Materials in the Core Skills Step 3: Do Some Skill Work Every Day Step 4: Squeeze every drop of use from your chosen purchases. Ok, so maybe less of a pamphlet and more of a paragraph.

So...phonics? Boy, one day I oughta write a book on education! It's amazing what these educrats can make a living off of!

What does he say are the most effective things for children to memorize for literacy?

So, I'm interested in research and anecdotes re: introducing and using various memorization techniques to young children (2yo-4yo) Currently, everything that Amiga has memorized or is memorizing, she's internalizing via "brute-force" (aka loads of repetition. Daily, ritualized repetition). We just recite things each day and throughout the day as an attempt to establish the skill of memorizing. It works, Amiga has several things that are important for her to know memorized and thinks that it;s grand to sing/say/recite her information. As she's still young, I'm fine with it for another year or so, but I'm interested in building more durable memorization skills into her education. While, I'm not ready to start introducing mnemonics yet, as I feel that her language and abstract-thinking skills aren't strong enough for her to "get it". I am thinking about starting her with a Memory Palace...

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a person being able to (phonetically/orally) read and pronounce a language that they don't speak conversationally? How often is this done? How do you develop the skill of being able to read a language into a tool for being able to speak that language? I know that this is done in other education systems, and that it can be done successfully. I'm just trying to wrap my head around why this works and in what conditions this is most beneficial.

Does anyone have any experience or opinion on No Stress Chess vs Story Time Chess for the 2-5 year old crowd? I could teach Chess with just my normal chess set, but I'm considering one of these as a jumping off point. I dislike that Story Time Chess is more expensive at each level, but you can buy the expansions and it includes more advanced instruction. If I purchase the full kit, then Story Time Chess is essentially a full Chess curriculum. I like that it's 100% offline and pre-planned for me. I was thinking of No Stress Chess then using Level 2 and Level 3 of Story Time Chess, but I'm not sure that I can use the Story Time Chess expansions without the first level though.

I would do 4-8 points for each section because when groups of facts are related, they are easier to recall/remember.

We continue to study as usual.