Sheesh!! I don't know what I am missing. I got the love winning over hate message, but the fact that it comes on the very last page to me felt so lame. All of the tensions in the book never seemed to really amount to anything... Rosh never leads the rebellion, Daniel tries and realizes he's not powerful enough, the Romans are still there, and it's never even certain whether he goes to follow Jesus or not. I just felt ripped off. Although I liked the characters of Thacia and especially Samson, I just found Daniels smoldering anger for the entire length of the story too much. I kept waiting for something to give you know?

LOL Thank you kindly for your advice. I will look for the older version. I thought for sure I still had it, it must have gotten lost in a move or something as I never would have gotten rid of that book. :(

Latinos do this too. Just about everybody has a nickname that they go by and some people may have several. My kids and husband have several that I call them. Whereas your proper name is given to you by your parents and you have no say in the matter, a nickname is usually given to you by friends or family and is chosen for you based on something that has to do with you.... looks, personality or a funny incident and therefore as Peela says, it's often endearing. I don't mind nicknames at all or informalities. I think it's all cool. I have been called Jessica, Samantha, Melissa (my name is actually Jennifer) and it doesn't bother me. I'll just tell them what my name is really and then forget about it. I don't get miffed if people call me honey or sweetheart, it's their way of trying to be nice. I personally think that it is better to be gracious and allow connections to people rather than to take it personally or as an insult and put up walls. Just my humble 2 cents for the half cent that their worth. ;) :D

LOF is a story book with some math problems thrown in. Usually about 8 problems but sometimes as many as 10. Granted I'm only on the first book and that is what we've encountered. I don't know if that changes in the other books. You read a chapter and then the kids get to practice what they've learned. They can only find out the next part of the story after they've done the math and move on. It's a highly engaging story so there is a big encouragement to move on. :) My daughter never wants to stop reading the story once we start it. She did 10 lessons yesterday because she simply had to know what happened next!! :eek: You can see sample pages from the books here. :) http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/31samplepages.html I hope this is helpful to you. :)

Hmm. The code didn't work for me unfortunately. :( I placed an order before the deadline time but I got a message that the code was expired. :( I found another one online though that did work. "289107tr" I don't know what the expiration date is on this one, but it wound up equalling the amount of my shipping so it worked out well. It is for 10% off of orders over $35.00. I hope this helps someone. :)

LOL Why do I feel like you're using a Jedi mind trick on me?? hehe ;) Bill: "you must do this" Me repeating: "I must do this" ;) :D hehehe Okay, I will check out the Biltmore pool some night and feel this soft water! hehehe

I want to get this book to read with my daughter this year. I read it when I was about her age and was greatly impacted by it, but now I am searching the various outlets online and I see that there is a new version that is available that is different than the one I read in school. Apparently the new version has 30% more material from her diary that her father edited out of the original book. That normally would be a good thing in my mind, but the synopsis says that it shows her rebelling against her parents and writing about her own sexuality. That may be a little too much for my daughter at this point. And she doesn't need any more encouragement to be rebellious so I have two questions for the brilliant hive mind.... 1) Has anyone read the new version and the old version that can do a comparison for me?? Is the new material very graphic?? 2)Does anyone know the ISBN number for the original book?? I guess this is kind of a strange request, but I know I'm not going to have time to check the new version out of the library and read it on my own during summer and this is a book I would like to have for our own home library and plan to read it next year. Thank you all who reply for your kind advice. :) Blessings, Jennifer

I LOVE Coral Gables!! It's such a pretty city. The Biltmore is a beautiful hotel! I've never swum in it though. I'm an ocean girl more than a pool girl I guess. :)

That is so funny! There is a Cuban restaurant called Versailles down here in Miami also. It is a Cuban/French fusion though. I wonder if it is owned by the same people as the one where you live?? :confused: I can never eat in Cuban restaurants. The food is never as good as the homecooked version and I always leave disappointed. :( Cuban sandwiches and cafe con leche are the only things I can order from a restaurant and actually enjoy. :)

LOL I'm a native Floridian, but my family is Spanish/Cuban. I remember growing up in Ft. Lauderdale, I went to school with some other kids who were natives who ate frogs, snakes, alligators and such. Even though I've lived here my whole life, I've never once eaten any of those things. I don't know, I guess Cuban food tastes so good that I've never had the desire to try the more "native" fare. ;) :D

LOL I absolutely LOVED this!! Who is the quote from?

OOOH you mentioned some math curricula that I've never even heard of before! Why did you do that to me?? ;) :D hehe I love singapore too. We are going into the Secondary studies now this next year and I hope it is as good as the primary ones. I went with NEM. I heard AFTER I bought it that it is the most advanced one! YIKES. I hope I didn't make a mistake. I guess I'll find out soon enough once we start 7th grade. Thank God I'll have Fred too help us! :)

Things that I've eaten that might seem strange to some, but are normal to me are oxtail stew, goat meat, and paella which has all kinds of meats including baby octopus tentacles. Chewy! :D ;) To me "strange" foods would be like bugs or grubs or worms or something like that. That would be pretty far outside of my comfort zone and I don't know how my gag reflex would deal with it. hehe ;)

I recently bought the first Life of Fred book to use as a supplement with my daughter's Singapore for that very same reason. I wanted to make sure that she really understands the concepts and thought that an entirely different presentation would make it apparent if she has mastered the material or not. I'm happy to say that she really does understand. I cannot speak highly enough of the Life of Fred book. My daughter absolutely loves it. I think it would be a good supplement for any math curriculum and they have beginning and advanced algebra books as well. It might work for you?? Just a suggestion that worked for me. :)

Or did anyone else really dislike this book? This was one of the required readings for our LA curriculum this year and we just recently finished it (Thank God!) I really wanted to like it since it was set during the time when Jesus was ministering here on Earth, but I just could not get into this thing at all. The pace of this book was so boring to me. I kept wating for Daniel to change as a person, but he stays angry the entire time and then at the end he doesn't even go to follow Jesus. I know that this book gets very high marks and that the author is an award winning writer, but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just too thick and I'm missing some really great message of the book, I don't know. If someone read it and loved it please chime in and help me see because I'm just not getting it. Please tell me I'm not the only one. :)

:) The drawings she did of the Roman soldiers were really really cute. I wish you could see them. hehe I couldn't surpress a smile when she showed me her work, but I felt uneasy about accepting it that way also since it wasn't what I asked her to do. I thank you for your comments Jean. They put my mind more at ease. I was thinking along similar lines. Just let this one go, and allow her to have freedom on some assignments but also requiring her to produce some proper papers as well. Sigh, I'll be glad when we wrap this year up. I think part of her digging her heels in also is that she is just so ready for summer vacation. I am too! hehe :) ;)

Ay, I'm glad it's not just me!! hehehe hehe no. I just put that as a joke mostly for other spanish speakers to get a chuckle. Cubans speak NOTORIOUSLY bad Spanish. They chop the words all up, invent a few of their own that nobody else uses and refuse to pronounce the "ado" at the end of a word. ;) :D hehehehe

Fainie! :) I love the sound of Polish. I just think it sounds so cool and I'm fascinated by it, but the grammar is BRUTAL!! hehe That is actually a joke about being superior in Cuban. hehe Of course Cubans speak Spanish also, but with so much slang and pronunciation variations it is easy joke and say it is a different language. ;) :D My family is Spanish and Cuban and I grew up with it. I have some members of my family that don't speak any English at all so we all have to speak Spanish although to be honest we speak more Spanglish than anything. I did get a Spanish grammar book a few years back to improve my formal knowledge of the language, but for the most part I learned it from my family. :)

I am a novice in German. I studied it for 2 years in University. I am not quite at a novice level in Polish. I love this language, but it is very difficult to learn and I am teaching myself so it is going painfully slow. I am an advanced speaker in Spanish and a superior speaker of Cuban. ;) :D hehe

What do ya'll think?? My daughter's LA curriculum had an assignment where she had to write two short story/essay type papers on two different topics. One was on what it would be like to be a Roman soldier and the other was fleshing out one of the characters in one of the books we read together and telling a story about him. She was really digging in her heels on this assignment and kept repeatedly telling me that she couldn't think of anything to write. I put up some questions on the dry erase board to get her thoughts going. Like, what did he look like? Was he tall or short? etc etc. I wanted to let her develop a picture in her mind of what that person would look like to (hopefully) help her develop a story about him. She continued to sigh and have a generally negative attitude towards the assignment so I added that she could draw some pictures also to help tell her story if she wanted to, BUT that she had to still write a story. Well, with that she was more eager to start. She picked up her pen and paper and after a few giggles and about a half an hour, she handed her work to me. Both writing assignments were written like a comic book/graphic novel type of style. She did tell a story and answered the question, but she added alot of humor and things that were not a part of the original book at all. My impression was that the work was very creative, although not exactly what I asked her to do. I wasn't sure then of how I felt about it and still am not exactly sure. On the one hand, she was enjoying the assignment and threw herself into it and she produced something entirely new. That I see as a plus. She also did some really good drawings and was very artistic about the entire thing which I also thing is very good. I know as homeschoolers we have the freedom to not do what everyone else is doing in PS and so she can be unorthadox and still be learning, but at what point does it go "too far"?? I mean at some point this kid is going to go off to college and I highly doubt that her professor would think so highly of a paper turned in that was full of comic strips. hehe To be fair, she is only 11 years old and still a ways off from college, but still, at some point she needs to produce some serious papers. So what do you all think? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Should I accept her work as creative writing or even art and still require her to do a proper essay or just let it go altogether? I like that she is so creative and I want to encourage her in that, but I also think that I would be doing her a disservice if I didn't require her to turn in proper essays and stories. Should I let her just have fun with is while she is young? At what age/point should I be adamantly requiring her to turn in serious papers? What do you ladies/gents think?? Thank you to all who reply. :)

It is wonderful indeed. This book was just a perfect fit for her. She LOVES to read stories and especially quirky ones so this one was just right up her alley. I was reading the book aloud to her and had her read the parts where Fred is either thinking or speaking or making a list of things and she would get so excited when her part was coming up and she would just jump right into it with so much gusto. It was great! I hope your son enjoys it as much when you get there. Thank you again. :) Blessings, Jennifer

I started the first book of LOF today with my daughter and she LOVED IT!! We did the first two chapters and she wanted to keep on going, but I had to start cooking dinner! hehehe She wants to hurry up and eat dinner now so we can do chapter 3 afterwards. Thanks again so much for the recommendation Spy Car. :)

LOL I guess I just posted it too quickly without really thinking about how to title it. hehehehe As soon as I heard it I came here to post it first since there is a time deadline to download the coupon. I wanted to get it up here as quick as possible so that more people have the opportunity to take advantage of the offer before it expires. :) hehe

Actually it's KFC's new grilled chicken! hehehe I just downloaded the 4 coupons. Looks like I don't have to cook tonight. :) :hurray:

My son's bus driver just told me about this. If you go to Oprah.com/kfc, you can download a coupon (limit of 4) for 2 free pieces of grilled KFC and 2 free sides. The deal expires tonight at midnight, but the coupon is still good for like 2 weeks after tonight. I don't watch Oprah, but I'll take some free KFC anyday. Offer is valid only to US residents though. oprah.com/kfc