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EmilyK

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Everything posted by EmilyK

  1. My younger son really loved the audio of the Golden Goblet, for whatever that is worth.
  2. My boys really enjoyed the audio series. My younger son would ask to listen to it and didn't view it as a chore at all.
  3. SWB's medieval book is on a two-for-one-credit sale at Audible.
  4. The convenience of Audible would make it so worth it for me. My dream is that SOTW, Jim Weiss audios, and Hakim's Story of Science series show up on Audible for me to purchase someday.
  5. We are on a trip now doing several of these schools. Because in many places it is spring break the groups are huge and no one would know who we are. We are at the stage of early reconnaissance so I think the info session and tour are helpful. The child registers in advance and so is in their system if they track demonstrated interest. Duke does not.
  6. We do the same thing. When we went to Alabama, we loved Watsons Go to Birmingham and To Kill a Mockingbird. Both great audios.
  7. Sorry, no I wasn't clear. Two separate points. If you have a certain number of credits, they offer you that spend 3 or 4, get $10. You don't get that any more or less often if you are on the monthly or annual plan. It is all based on the number of credits in your account at the time. I just happened to miss it this round. I get offered that "buy 3 more credits for $9.50 each" anytime I get down to 1 or zero credits, now that I'm on the annual plan. I always get offered it now that I'm on the annual plan. (it sits up there as an option next to where it lists my credits.) http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3015981 http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2146170-audible-offers-2015---january-to-march These are good threads
  8. I do the year at a time option. I think the situation is that a couple of times a year they offer a "spend 3 or 4 credits, get $10" to any one who has that many (or more) credits in their account. I'm bummed because I didn't know it was coming (when it got offered this last month) and I had too few credits. Anyway, point being, you don't get it any more or less because of being on the annual plan. The best thing about the annual plan is that your average credit price is lower, and when you run out of credits, they offer you to buy 3 at that same price (slightly over $9). As a result, I don't buy anything with a credit unless it is $10 or more. Twice a year, there's usually a sitewide sale and I buy less expensive titles at that time. Goodreads and mobilereads both have forums that discuss a lot of tips and tricks about audible and other free book offers. I can link to the threads I follow if anyone would find that helpful. For example, to my detriment, I just found out last night about a way you can check on all of your kindle books to see if they have a discounted whispersync price available. I ended up buying several audios.
  9. Thanks, Barbara. I am very sad for my friends who teach writing there. My son thinks he wants to attend a rural, probably southern, liberal arts college, so I was hoping they are not all doomed.
  10. It is very sad. I have a friend that teaches there. Did they consider going co-ed? Is this a bad sign for rural liberal arts colleges generally, or were there some factors here that made it especially vulnerable?
  11. I'm still figuring this out, but my now 10th grader took the PSAT both as a 9th grader and a 10th grader. He hasn't been exposed to much standardized testing so it was helpful to take them, and then see afterwards what were the sections he struggled with.
  12. I hope this is okay to post here, but I have been enjoying reading the FAQs about financial aid. Could someone here (or is there a thread?) explain what the factors to look at and why they are important to some/all? Certainly I get financial aid, and cost issues generally. I understand finding schools that have the desired major (what do you do with a kid who doesn't know? or who has career ideas that widely diverge?). I have seen discussion of 4 year graduation rates, but how do you tell if that would be a problem for your particular kid? I'm trying to steer mine away from just going on gut feel or on perceived prestige.
  13. Thanks. This is really helpful. Good reminder to listen to the audio samples. There are a lot of old recordings on audible where I really can't stand the narrator. I like your idea of GC Foundations or SWB. That kind of narrows the field for me. I will have him listen to the samples in case he has a strong preference. A few days ago I was listening to the sample episode GC had on social media from Foundations of Eastern Civilzation. I liked the narrator.
  14. Thanks. Good ideas. I think the internet ate my prior reply, but I'm really looking for something that is a download that can be used when there's no internet, and ideally doesn't take up a lot of space on a phone or ipod. That was leading me more to audiobooks and not to the above choices. But I will go back and look. I know I have liked Coursera in the past.
  15. When you recommend Jamestown, do you mean Historic Jamestowne, or Jamestown Settlement (or both)?
  16. I’m looking for history survey audios that would be good for my 16 year old and me to listen to (not necessarily together) and discuss. He goes to a bricks and mortar high school that does a great job of teaching integrated humanities with original documents and books. We are a history loving family, and he does listen to history podcasts, and watches history documentaries. So he knows a lot about scattered history topics, but is missing the sweep of history. He loved SOTW when we did it when he was little, but since then really hasn’t done a sequential history or read a text book. I also could use this exposure -- I was a history major, but an anti-textbook snob in those days, and so I really haven’t had the comprehensive sweep since my HS days and of course SOTW. I’m doing American History with the Hakim books with my 12 year old, so I’m not particularly hungry myself for American history, though that might appeal to my 16 year old. For myself, I’m looking more for world history or some other longer sweep of history. I can research for myself if it is on Audible, if I have some ideas of titles. My 16 year old has 30 to 60 minutes of public bus commute each day so is thinking he may use some of that time for this, and also over breaks when he has more down time. I’m just reluctant to hand something to him that is really dry. I’m up for either Great Courses where you don’t need the audio, or someone reading a book. He particularly likes military history, but maybe that argues for doing something with another focus for breadth. (He’s also a theater and music kid, FWIW.) Ideas I’m eyeing but would love help narrowing down, or better ideas: GC Decisive Battles of World History or War and World History A History of the World by Marr A Little History of the World (too babyish?) A History of the World in Six Glasses (or is that like his podcasts, and too isolated from other history?); Edible History of Humanity; Salt; Ascent of Money (all same question; are there other similar books?) Boorstin books? (I think at least one is on Audible) GC Big History GC Foundations of Eastern Civilization or Foundations of Western Civ GC Brief History of the World A Short History of Nearly Everything (science focus, right?) SWB’s adult books, but they only go through the renaissance, right? History of the World by Roberts Durant’s Story of Civilization (but huge time commitment) Maybe even a video from Great Courses would be okay if he can download it to his phone to watch on the bus. This list seems overwhelming so prioritizing ideas welcome.
  17. I just posted something similar in the Gen Ed board and then saw this. With my kids, what seems to work best is live plays and, second, a film version. They're much more likely then to be able read or listen to an audio of the play. We recently saw a film version of The Tempest with Helen Mirren that my kids seemed to like better than the live version we saw last summer. Maybe it was the familiarity, but they thought they followed the back story more given the visuals. I read (and only read) a ton of Shakespeare plays when I was in high school and college, but I don't think that would be my first choice for myself now either.
  18. One of my New Year’s resolutions (yes, I know it is February!) is to expose my kids to more Shakespeare and other classic or canonical plays. (I have a broad view of the canon, but am more motivated to spend the money and time on a play that isn’t one I have never heard of, have no idea if it is suitable, etc. -- though again I have a broad view of what would be okay for them to see, and they are 12 and 16.) We are definitely trying to go to live productions, but I'd like to do more. I’m sure this has been asked before, but I would love some recommendations for the most engaging film adaptations. Ones I/we have seen and liked include the Mirren Tempest, the Branagh Henry V and Much Ado about Nothing. I remember loving the Zeffrelli Romeo and Juliet as a kid. Although we have loved the live plays we have seen, my 12 year old mentioned that one reason he liked the film Tempest so much as compared to the play we saw was that the film could show what was happening in the expository dialogue. So I’d prefer films, and not just plays that are filmed. Although the examples I gave above are Shakespeare, I’m not limiting it to that. Thanks for any thoughts.
  19. Small, private Catholic girls’ school, grad in ’81 (it was grades 7 to 12). English for 4 years (9th grade English, etc.) I also did an independent study of Shakespeare my senior year along with another girl who was a Shakespeare nut. Also an elective on creative writing, and another one on journalism. Math -- somewhere along the line I skipped a year by working in the back of the class with a textbook (so unlike me now I can’t believe that was me). The progression was Algebra I, Geometry, Alg II, Trig/preCalc, and then Calculus. I did Calc senior year because of my skipping. French 3 to 6 (French 5 was history in French, French 6 was French literature in French). Science -- Biology, Chemistry, Physics. I can’t imagine turning down science my senior year but have no memory of what it would have been, so maybe it wasn’t offered. Religion -- everything from a terrible Bible study taught by a rare male teacher (focusing on the begats in Kings if I’m thinking of the right book?), to a semester class on death and dying (Kubler-Ross and Mitford), and a year on a world religion and philosophy survey. I think we were required to take something every year, but there was a lot of flexibility in electives. History -- took it every year, plus some electives. Freshman year was world history, junior year American history. Remember taking a political science class that I’m pretty sure was an elective add on. Also an Asian history class (mostly Japan and China). The books I read ended up being ones I often re-read in college; same with English. Arts -- must have been electives. I did some choir, visual art. Really liked my photography class. PE -- pretty forgettable for me. I can’t remember exactly what AP classes I took, but I’m pretty sure American History, French, Calc, maybe some others. Where I went to college it didn’t do much other than get me out of lower level language and math classes, but I didn’t get credits for them. I loved my high school education and was if anything over prepared for college. It has made me have high expectations for what teenagers can do.
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