Jill Rubalcaba has done two books for National Geographic Kids that might fit the bill: The World of the Bible Who's Who in the Bible

Thank you! The retyped articles are very much appreciated - but why claim copyright for the work of these 19th century authors? They are in the public domain and anyone can publish them now just as you did. (Your original blog posts are, of course, your copyrighted work.)

Because I've seen this happen before, I'm concerned that you have confused the Catholic practice of abstinence (not eating meat) with sexual abstinence. Can you cite a source on the above?

The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier

This Maryland bill will not be going to hearing this session, according to information posted on MDHSDA website. Thank goodness. ETA - Delegate Ebersole now says his name was erroneously added as a co-sponsor, according to information posted on HSLDA website.

It's the text of a 1999 Boston Globe article on how many science textbooks contain bad information.

The Secrets to Drawing course is available right now at udemy.com for $10 - it is part of their Black Monday sale. https://www.udemy.com/the-secrets-to-drawing/

I see that 7 of the 10 courses are also available at Udemy.com (https://www.udemy.com/user/matthewfussell/) - there's a promotion on (it says one day more) for $10 a course. So I purchased all 7. Unlike the Virtual Instructor site, it appears that you can't download the videos, but you do have lifetime access to the courses you purchase.

I was wondering whether there were any crosswalk procedure that works for this. I tried the above hint (searching for the number) and still got nothing. For example, here's one I was looking for: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29605& It just bounces me back to the forums homepage. I haven't come across any link of the "showthread" variety that I can get to by using the number in a search. However, I did discover that: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=273927& is still available at http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/273927-penny-gardner-or-getty-dubay-for-italics/ (Although searching "273927" gives zero results.) I learned that if you know the exact title of the thread (some wise posters made that the link text), it is possible to do it: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7880& (link text "Best Version of Robin Hood?") is now available at: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/7880-best-version-of-robin-hood/ But what if all you have is a "showthread" link (with link text of something like "earlier thread")? Aha! It seems all you need to know is to put the little dash after the number! So http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/29605 gets you an error, but http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/29605- will magically redirect you to the desired thread at http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/29605-favorite-king-arthur-and-robin-hood-read-aloud-versions/ So the crosswalk I figured out was to rebuild the link starting with the new format: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/ then insert the number and add a single dash. It was getting really frustrating as these missing threads are referred to in later ones, so they must have good stuff in them. Seems like it is all 2008-2012 content. And while Google works for searching for more recent threads, it isn't helpful for this. Neither is the Wayback Machine. Anyway, hope this helps someone. I couldn't find anything about it codified here on the site.

You have no idea why anyone wouldn't like A Swiftly Tilting Planet? Let me offer just one example: It takes literally 150 pages (out of 278) for our heroes to figure out "with a startled flash of comprehension" that there's - gosh! - a connection between various people named Madoc, Madog, Maddok, Maddox, Mad Dog, Branwen, Brandon, Bran, Zyll, Zylle, Zillo, Zillah, Zillie, Beezie (B.Z.), Branzillo. And then it's on p.195 that we get "Certainly the name Zillie must have some connection with Madoc's Zyll, and Ritchie Llawcae's Zylle..." The appeal of L'Engle's books (for me, at least) was that they were about really smart people. I didn't find the above nonsense remotely believable. When I first read this book, the series was just a trilogy, and this was unquestionably the weakest of the three. I'll add my endorsement of A Ring of Endless Light - a really wonderful book, as good as A Wrinkle.

I'm confused by the above - standard ukuleles, even baritone ones, have 4 strings; guitars have 6. (5-string ukuleles do exist, but these uncommon variants seem to be high end - $500 vs. $100 or less for an entry-level concert uke.) If a student can handle the larger size of the baritone, and you don't mind paying perhaps twice the cost of a concert ukulele, then go for it. But for a 7 year old (OP), it might be unnecessarily adding a size obstacle.

I've taught beginners (mostly teens) on guitar as well as ukulele. I also have (not especially fond) memories of studying guitar as a little kid when the instrument was nearly bigger than I was. The exact chord names aren't played the same, but the forms are the same (with the understanding that the standard 4-string ukulele is similar to the higher four strings of the 6-string guitar). So C major on ukulele is analogous to G major on guitar; F major on ukulele is like C major on guitar. And, of course, the I - IV relationship between the two chords remains the same. The fingers shift the same way when changing from chord to chord. If you took off the bottom two strings of a guitar, a ukulele player could almost immediately be right at home (larger size might be an issue). I believe the huge advantage to beginning with ukulele over guitar is the very rapid learning curve. In a week, you can get good enough to be "performing" (which is mostly what music interest is about - kids don't want an instrument so they can "practice;" they want to "play"). You can quickly fit in with other players and do duets or play in a group. Having an honest discussion about goals might be very helpful. Many kids are interested in accompanying their own singing or in playing pop music. Classical guitar lessons with etude books and notation and tablature might not be the best approach. Pop and folk music is simple enough harmonically that with 3 or 4 chords learned, kids are able to play hundreds and hundreds of songs. It may be that's all they want. Or that may just be the start and they will get a desire to learn more and then those etudes will be just the thing. Adding guitar later will be much easier if you already understand what chords are and how they are notated with symbols, how harmony in songs works, meter and basic strumming patterns, song forms, accompaniment, etc. Even things that might be considered "advanced" like transposition can be quickly learned on ukulele because for a number of different keys you are still talking only about one or two fingers. With the guitar, chords very quickly get to full and partial barres and three and four fingers. Little fingers aren't ready for those and frustration ensues. A solid foundation of ukulele gets a lot out of the way and when you switch to the larger instrument with more strings, those basic concepts don't need to be explained all at the same time. And the kid is more developed physically, both in terms of hand/finger size and in terms of fine motor muscle control. As mentioned above, the investment is usually smaller too, so buying two instruments isn't financially crippling. Now, there's lots about the huge field of music that ukulele isn't the best choice to teach - that's why in our family we also do piano and recorder and singing. But for starting out and generating excitement and a motivating kind of success (that isn't empty and unproductive), I'm sold on ukulele.

Many of the points mentioned above are emphasized here: http://www.readathomemom.com/2017/07/why-we-dont-do-summer-reading-at-the-public-library.html

If any school does math (or whatever) better than you do, why couldn't you just outsource that by hiring a top-notch tutor? Then you'd have the added benefit of one-to-one teaching. Yes, it costs, but surely worth it, right? And not nearly as much as is being spent per student by public schools. The flexibility of homeschooling will always beat what is on offer in public school because public schools are large institutions run by the government designed to service thousands and thousands. It's simply a fundamental apples vs. oranges situation.

And isn't it great that those artists were named for the Ninja Turtles? Is there a reason why WTM starts history with ancient and not modern? Maybe, as Billy Connolly said, "My definition of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger."

Of course, great literature rewards repeated readings. But I don't think that's the same as introducing a book to children knowing full well that there is material (that is pretty important to making the book what it is) that you want them to miss because it goes over their heads. An adult can read something and then reread it later, seeing things that were missed (for a number of reasons: for example, perhaps because the re-reader knows the outcome and things like foreshadowing are more obvious). But what I'm referring to is missing the "window" for a particular book by jumping the gun. A six-year-old might be able to read all the words and even understand the basics of the story, but I can't help but think how much *more* meaningful it would be for say, a ten-year-old whose reading and life experiences have been enriched by other things, for example, mythology - is this their first (literary) encounter with a phoenix or a basilisk? What about werewolves (the well-read child recognizes Lupin as a hint - ditto for Sirius) or centaurs or dragons? I don't think Cerberus is named in HP, but any kid who has read his D'Aulaires will know it when Fluffy appears. Off the top of my head: Minerva, Malfoy, Draco, Narcissa, and Nagini (even Dumbledore) - these are names with meaning. And does wizard chess mean anything to someone who hasn't played chess? I absolutely know that younger kids will want to read HP before what I consider the "window." I think mostly that's peer pressure/culture, after all these are the biggest-selling books in the history of everything (apologies to the Bible, which if published now would be a series....). Yeah, there's a basic story that could be had without all those references, but the second half of the series really goes beyond just references, with darker themes being really essential to the books. I mean, if you've never actually seen people murdered by death-eaters, you're just not going to get it.

But is having book content (HP or anything) go "over their heads" really what we are looking for? My own preference would be simply to wait to read it until that content doesn't go over their heads and instead can be handled appropriately because they've read other books, experienced other things, and had the relevant discussions. Then that first experience can be more meaningful.

A great deal of a music teacher's time will be spent correcting problems that were developed by the student on his own. I have seen this even after just one week. Instrument assembly, embouchure, fingering, position, posture, all kinds of things. If you get it right the first time, it's much easier. You might investigate if there are older students in the area who would be willing to instruct for less than a professional teacher.

I'd say ten is a good point to start the first book, maybe even nine. I think kids like looking forward to an age that they are about to reach, so no need to wait until eleven. I completely agree that there are so many other more appropriate books for younger readers. With HP, there is likely to be the desire to devour the entire series, so if you think the later books are too dark, you have to ration them out, which runs the risk of letting the flame of excitement die out. One a year was nice, but I do think there is an appeal to bingeing. Those very long books have a lot of things to keep straight that can get forgotten. My own solution was to reread everything each time a new book was published, which by the time of the last took quite a bit of doing. I was hopeful for the large-format illustrated version of the first book, because I think it (not really all the others) is a great read-aloud. However, I was disappointed because the illustrations seem too influenced by the movies. I won't be purchasing it, and we will just have to stick with our set of the English hardcover editions.

I look forward to the revised, edited versions of these children's literature favorites: The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle The Busy Spider also by Eric Carle When We Were Young by A. A. Milne When Sophie Gets Angry -- Angry by Molly Bang The Last of the Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Bad Day by Judith Viorst So Stories by Rudyard Kipling also those popular hits: The Way You Are by Billy Joel The Thought of You by Ray Noble and the poetry classic by e. e. cummings [in -]

The Wonderful Tale of Henry Sugar and Six More is a book of short stories. The title story is my favorite of the bunch (and only this one is done on the audiobook). I can't think of anything quite like it. It's fiction presented as fact. The audiobook narrator is David Suchet (PBS Hercule Poirot). My recollection is that he does a great job with the Indian and English dialects. If you aren't looking for an audiobook, I'd certainly recommend the other stories in that collection. Like a lot of Dahl, there are some disturbing bits - The Swan, for example. But there's also The Hitchhiker, which is just a great short story, kind of in the O. Henry vein. Some of the other stories are autobiographical. This book is often considered separately from Dahl's children's books like Charlie, Matilda, Danny, James. etc. It's a bit more mature.

The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia P. Hale. The Land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley. Fables for Our Time by James Thurber.

Do ukulele instead. Soprano size. Anything else for their age/size would just be a toy and wouldn't really teach anything about music. Ukulele gives a nice return on a little practice, and after a while if you choose to move to guitar they will have great transferable skills. With ukulele you can do an F chord with 2 fingers and C or C7 with one finger - which gets you lots of simple songs right there. There are many websites with instruction and chords for favorite children's songs.

Could the reading list also be designed to familiarize the reader with older writing styles, so that when students get to the challenging things from the 18th and 19th centuries it won't seem so foreign? There are lots of wonderful books out there that are more recent, but they would never achieve that goal.

It's not like careers and majors where things change and new careers appear that weren't dreamed of fifteen years ago. I can assure you that every orchestra, concert band, and wind ensemble will want bassoons. If you are a good (not necessarily amazing) player, you will be in demand. I'm not promising a scholarship, of course. The investment, however, is considerable (top of the line runs like $30,000, even plastic ones cost a couple of thousand). This is not an instrument that you can go out and rent. It's not one that most elementary (or even middle) schools will be able to supply. High schools might have instruments, but likely not high quality or good condition. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/01/save-the-bassoon-campaign-endangered-instrument?CMP=fb_gu Other than that, I'd say oboe then French horn. Those three ensembles will always need those. Maybe harp, but generally only for orchestra. Other instruments might fluctuate in demand, like tuba, euphonium, trombone. If you don't want a scholarship, be a mediocre (or even good) clarinetist or violinist.