Best and Worst Homeschool News of the Week

Best: The Baldwin Project's Gateway to the Classics. 1) English for the fearless; "A band of strangers could not resist one of them in a brawl, assisted by his strong, blue-eyed wife...brandishing her vast and snowy arms-to deliver her fisticuffs, like bolts from the twisted strings of a catapult."    If you have ever used the free, online website, The Baldwin Project/Main Lesson, you know what a treasure it is of stories, books and histories from long ago. Now, there is more; 2) a catalog organized and searchable by author, title and topic, 2) e-books, with illustrations,  3) some on AUDIO! And...4) a way to group your own content in a bunch of different ways. With a click, I stored and classified a story under "lesson plans for Charles." A year's subscription, right now, is $49.95. The normal price will be $99.95.

Worst: you will have to scroll down to the next post for the photo. In this homeschooling house, we drink crazy, copious amounts of tea. We are always on the search for that perfect tea kettle, the one that will be our forever tea kettle. It has yet to be found. The latest specimen is below, from a mail-order catalog that promises "old-time quality." Hmph. It is exactly 16 months old. You cannot make it clean and shiny for all of the polishing products in the world. Nasty. The knob went missing some 8 months ago; the only way to pry off the lid is with finger nails through a kitchen towel. I had to turn on the kitchen fan this morning to ventilate the smell of burning flesh when I grabbed the handle after hearing a click. The hinges won't hold and it periodically falls over onto the side of the kettle. I thought it had slipped just then. Nope. Judging by the temperature, it had been closer to 10 minutes earlier.

Try the Gateway to the Classics, it is a much better deal for the dollar, and the cup of tea for all.