So I take it back about Seattle being cooler than Bishkek. Cause it's not this week.

I get so bored when it's this hot and there's no air conditioner. There are ways you can stay cool, but you can't get much done while you're doing them. Being cold invites activity and doing something interesting.

We're not hoping anymore :(

At least it's cooler in Seattle than it is in Bishkek. And warmer in the winter than in Bishkek. Walking on ice isn't all that fun.

Dominus Flevit

Since my parents are going to be in Jerusalem soon and since I don't want them to be afflicted with church disgust while they are there (I'll have to do a post on that sometime) and since I don't ever post much in the summer, I am, at least today and hopefully another day too, going to write about the churches in Jerusalem.

Dominus Flevit is on the Mount of Olives with a lovely view overlooking Jerusalem. If you don't like this small, light, and quiet church, well, you're probably not going to like any of them. Dominus Flevit is a modern church, designed by Barluzzi, but built on an old site. (As a side note, Barluzzi designed a number of churches in the Middle East, including the rather interesting Church of the Beatitudes which was part of the inspiration for the design below the header on this page. His wiki page is only in Italian right now.)

See Luke 19:41

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language

I almost didn't get around to reading this one, but when I was flicking through it to see if there was anything in it I wanted to read before sending it back to the library, I decided to keep it a little longer. Part one of this book is an excellent and clear overview of historical linguistics relating to proto-Indo-European and was well worth my time.

I skipped the horse and wheel parts though because they were pretty dry, at least to me. But if you'd like a good introduction into PIE and how linguistics can figure out major components of a language extinct for thousands of years with no written records, then this is a good choice.

Jerusalem early 1997

Homeschooling Stuff

Geography and Latin during breakfast
Math, grammar, writing, reading, piano, spelling, and logic (cursive and Persian/Tajik for middle son instead of spelling and logic)
Lunch and stuff
Art, world music, ancient history, and science

We'll see if we can truly get all of that done before lunch. At least the boys will be motivated.

Geography of the World
Lively Latin
Singapore math
Writing Strands
Tajik
Growing with Grammar
Spelling Time
The World in Ancient Times Set
How Nature Works
Creepy Crawlies and the Scientific Method
Encyclopedia of World History

The Early Human World

I checked The Early Human Worldout of the library mostly to see if this series (The World in Ancient Times)might be good to use for ancient history this year. Can I say how impressed I am with this book? The series is written by experts on ancient history and children's books authors so you get good information that's interesting for children (10-14ish). What you don't get is anything dry, and you don't get the recycled stuff (both true and false) that you find in so much non-fiction for children. The chapters are short (about 6 pages each with plenty of pictures and information on the sidebars).

The best recommendation I can give is that my son, not the most enthusiastic of readers, likes it and willingly reads it. The only problem is that the series is fairly expensive, but I think this is one we'll figure out a way to get.

Empires of the Word

I checked this one out a year or two ago, but never really got into it. But it sounds so very good that I had to give it another chance, and I enjoyed it much more this time around. It sounds silly, but last time I was annoyed the author doesn't consider Arabic to be one language. Anyway. I didn't get through the entire book, but did read about two-thirds before it needed to go back to the library. It's one I'd like to own, because there's so much in there I'd want to go back to.

Recommended.