St. Francis Academy

Planning time begins!

This time of year is invigorating, if only because I look forward to planning for the next school year.  Much of my time and energy has been spent on considering a plan for next year's history.  We're still following a 4-year chronological rotation--Ancients, Medieval, Early Modern, Modern--and will be entering into and exciting time period which includes the founding of our nation.  Fortunately, there are lots of great resources on the internet, from free curricula to shared lesson plans.  These things have been most helpful to me in beginning my plans for several different levels of learning.

For grades K-8:

• The Artner’s Reader’s Guide to American History ($)
  
• Beyond the Pilgrims: A Catholic Supplement to American History Studies ($)
• Along the American History Trail (free literature-based, multi-level approach)
• American History Schedule (free schedule using Our Pioneers and Patriots as a spine)
• Literature-based American History plans (free)
• American History Curriculum (free, daily plans, excellent resource)

For high school:

• Ambleside Online Year 8 (terms 2-3)-free OR
• Ambleside Online Year 8 Lite (free)
• Ambleside Online Year 9 (free) OR
• Ambleside Online Year 9 Lite  (free)
• The Great Books (Reformation/Enlightenment, starting around week 14, free)
• The Great Books (Modern, weeks 3-12, free)
• The Great Books Program (starting at Year 3, week 14 through Year 4, week 15, free)

So, these websites provide lots of great booklists and plans to help you chart your course.  I've been wrestling between doing a complete course in American history or following a dual-track of world and American history.  Right now I'm thinking that for our high school student, I will have her follow that dual-track, with a heavy emphasis on American history.  However, I think the younger kids will benefit from doing just American history, perhaps having me read aloud from a "living" book to fill in the world history tidbits (Genevieve Foster books come to mind here).  This is what I'll be working on the next few months, plus developing a course in earth science for our rising high schooler.  Fun, fun, fun! :-)

Medieval Architecture Field Trips

 This post is about two weeks in the making, since we went to two separate field trips to enhance our study of medieval architecture.  Our first stop was Chateau LeRoche in Loveland, OH.  The castle is usually closed to the public during the month of October, but they opened up just for our local homeschool group.  Sadly, I forgot to bring the digital camera with me, so I had to resort to snapping pics on my cell phone.  That explains the poor quality of this photo that I took into the sun.

Anyway, our tour guide was dressed in a pirate costume since it was Halloween day and did a good job of informing us about the castle.  We had been to tour the castle once before, during the early years of our homeschooling journey, so we knew that it had been built by one man, Harry Andrews.  What we didn't know was that this castle is a fairly authentic model of a Norman castle that a baron would've lived in.

We also learned that many features of the castle which seemed odd to us were constructed for the purpose of protection.  For instance, the heavy front door was built in pieces, in a sort of patchwork design, and had hundreds of nails driven into it.  This was apparently to keep the door from being split down the middle by a battle axe when the castle was under attack (this is in theory, of couse).  It also opened in several different ways, as it was constructed as a dutch door, and had a smaller door through which one could enter and exit once the larger door had been bolted shut.

 The narrow spiral staircases built out of stone had steps of varying heights to make it more difficult for an attacker to quickly access the higher floors (should said attacker use a battering ram to knock down the front door).  Our pirate guide made it all very exciting and interesting.  We skipped out about ten minutes into the "ghost" stories as the little kids were getting fussy and we were all kind of hungry.

 

Our second stop was today, when we went to visit  St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, KY.  The exterior facade in the front of the cathedral is based on Notre Dame de Paris.  I wasn't able to get my own photo, as I would've had to cross the street, something I didn't think was worth doing with seven kids in tow.  If you check out both websites, you will see the similarities.  Features of the exterior that I pointed out to the kids that they learned about were flying buttresses and gargoyles. 

Julia was responsible for taking photos, since I'm not able to be very still while holding the baby.  She also tends to have a better eye for interesting photos, so below is some of her work.

    

Flying buttresses as seen from the north parking lot. 

 

Gargoyles flank the two towers to the west, which are at the front of the cathedral.

The interior of the cathedral was modeled after the Abbey Church of St. Denis.  Both St. Denis and Notre Dame were constructed during the time period of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine (who later married Henry II of England and was the mother of Richard the Lionheart).  It all fit in nicely with the unit we're studying in history right now: Henry II, Eleanor and sons.  Here are some more photos from the interior:

 

The Rose Window

 

One of the largest stained glass windows in the world.

Multi-Level Learning, part 2

In which we sail through history, from the Barbarian Invasions to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England...

After flip-flopping back and forth over deciding about using Tapestry of Grace for Medieval/Renaissance History this year, I finally went back to the plan I began working on last year.  To refresh your memory, we are studying History chronologically as a family.  Last year we studied Ancient History using Connecting With History, Volume 1 and Units 1-5 of Volume 2, ending around the Fall of the Western Roman Empire.  Although Unit 6 (500-800 AD) is now available and Unit 7 (800-1054 AD) is likely in the works, that is currently where this great Catholic multi-level curriculum ends.  Fortunately, though, Sonya has provided an excellent framework from which to work in her Middle Ages Literature-Based Unit.  With some extra help from the History Odyssey eBooks and some other curricula I already owned, I finally developed a course of study:

• Unit One: "Light In the Darkness" (500-800 AD)--this is CWH 2's Unit 6, studies the Fall of Rome, the Byzantine Empire and the rise of Monasticism
• Unit Two: " Great Kings" (500-1066 AD)--studies Charlemagne, the Vikings, and the Norman Invasion of England
• Unit Three: "Feudalism"--studies feudalism, knights, and castles
• Unit Four: "High Middle Ages"--studies Henry II of England and his sons, rise of towns/guilds, Robin Hood
• Unit Five: "Islam and the Crusades" (1071-1291 AD)--studies the rise of Islam, the Turks, and the Crusades
• Unit Six: "Missionaries and Travelers: Trade in the Middle Ages"--studies Marco Polo, medieval explorers, China and the Mongols
• Unit Seven: "The Hundred Years’ War" (1337-1453 AD)--studies the Black Death, Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc, Henry V
• Unit Eight: "New Interest in Old Ideas: The Renaissance"--studies Gutenberg, Italian Renaissance, Wars of the Roses, the Hapsburgs
• Unit Nine: "Spain, Portugal, and the New World"--studies the Incas/Aztecs, conquistadors, Isabella and Ferdinand, Columbus
• Unit Ten: Reformation and Counter-Reformation--studies Luther, Henry VIII of England, Ignatius of Loyola, Thomas More
• Unit 11: Elizabethan England (1558-1603 AD)--studies Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Sir Francis Drake, the Spanish Armada
• Unit 12: Age of Exploration--studies Diaz, da Gama, Vespucci, Magellan, Cartier, Drake

If you're interested in how I aligned the lessons for levels 1 and 2 of History Odyssey, the document below will help.  It's not the sequence I eventually settled on for the above units, but it's pretty close.  Also, I'm really only using HO for lesson ideas, so I don't feel tied to the curriculum very much at all.

Download revised_lesson_sequence.doc

For background information, I went to this great free resource:

Student's Friend: Unit 5 Early Middle Ages

Student's Friend: Unit 6 Late Middle Ages

Student's Friend: Unit 7 Early Modern World

I need to get going on our day, so I will try to post more on this later, especially in regards to how to go about doing a multi-level study.  I will also have a post that details art and music study as it relates to the time periods in the above units.  Stay tuned!

Multi-Level Learning, part 1

In which we embark on a study of grammar and writing...

Oh. my. goodness.

Thanks to the ladies at Serendipity, I have come across the most fantastic resources for the study of grammar, or, as they call it, "Lively Language Lessons."   

The lessons are based on a series of books by Ruth Heller which cover the various parts of speech in an entertaining way.  The Introduction to the lessons sums it up nicely: "In designing a language main lesson for our children, we wanted to preserve the beauty of the whole as we processed through the parts."  

Ruth Heller's books are colorful with fascinating artwork, accompanied by witty and memorable verses to help explain the various parts of speech.  These books keep the attention of the various levels of children in our family, making them ideal for family-centered, multi-level learning.

The oldest children surprised me this morning by being excited about the read-aloud, Merry-Go-Round, as I explained we would be taking a new approach to learning English grammar.  They oohed and aaahed over the incredible artwork as I read to them.

We will spend the next eight weeks studying grammar with the books that are in the series.  We won't be following the Serendipity lessons to the letter, though.  I will occasionally supplement with free worksheets found online, as well as with exercises from Simply Grammar, CHC's Language of God E, and the Handbook For Writers (so my oldest can be awarded credit for high school).  We'll also reinforce concepts by playing Mad Libs and watching Grammar Rock on You Tube (just be sure you don't display the comments below the video; they can sometimes be foul):

• Nouns
• Pronouns (Rufus Xavier Sasparilla)
• Adjectives (Unpack Your Adjectives)
• Verb
• Adverbs (Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here)
• Interjections
• Conjunction (...Junction, What's Your Function?)
• Preposition
• Sentences: Subjects and Predicates (Mr. Morton)

The unit following parts of speech will be learning about sentences.  We will again spend eight weeks on this unit, learning how to write from the ground up.  I remember learning in this fashion as a sophomore in high school, so I figure I'll be able to instruct the kids on the fly.  Here's the list of sentence topics we'll cover:

• Complete/Fragment
• Declarative/Interrogative
• Exclamatory/Imperative
• Subjects
• Predicates
• Run-ons
• Descriptive
• Revising

We will then spend four weeks discussing the steps in the writing process.  Along the way, we will learn to use different graphic organizers (scroll down to "Steps..." and see the list in the far right column) as well as how to outline.  Each child will do work that is appropriate for his or her learning level.  Thus, the younger kids (grades 2-4) would probably only use simple graphic organizers, while the older kids (grade 6-9) would learn to outline in greater detail.

The following sixteen weeks will be spent working on writing different types of paragraphs, ultimately working into the five-paragraph essay for the older kids.  The subject matter for these writing exercises will be related to science, history, art, or music.  Kathryn Stout's Comprehensive Composition will be my guide for these units of study.

Note to Self

Reading this post by Elizabeth, I was reminded about several upcoming feasts that I'd like us to celebrate as a family.  So, I'm adding this "note to self" so I hopefully won't forget the feasts and the wonderful ideas many people have come up with.

I consider myself to be ahead of the game...well, more ahead than I usually am.  While at the library last week, I picked up the book, Mother Teresa by Demi.  It is beautifully illustrated, though I haven't read through it yet.  Blessed Teresa's feast day is on Sept. 5, which is also my neice's birthday and the date for my ultrasound.  A good day all around.

Other feasts and special days we'll hopefully have time to celebrate in some way or another:

• Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Saturday, 9/8
• The Exaltation of the Holy Cross: Friday, 9/14
• Oldest daughter Julia's 13th birthday: Wednesday, 9/18
• St. Matthew (also my brother's birthday): Friday, 9/21
• St. Michael and the Archangels: Saturday, 9/29

It's hard to believe that September is already here and that, soon, the cooler, crisp days of autumn will be upon us.  It has been nice the past few mornings to have very cool air, cool enough to open the house and air it out.  I can hardly wait for it to be whole days of open windows and fresh, cool air again.

Have a great Labor Day.  We'll be visiting a local county fair where our neice and nephew will be showing their rabbits for 4-H.  Then, perhaps, it will be one more dip in the grandparents' pool before it becomes too cool for comfort.

Cleaning Off the Bookshelves

There comes a time in every homeschool mom's life when she needs to step back, reassess, and be honest with herself that some materials just aren't what is needed to educate her brood.  She must come to terms with the fact that the book she thought would be so perfect for child n but wasn't, is just as likely not to be perfect for child q.  She must set aside the nagging feeling that money was wasted on brand new materials, swallow her pride, take photos, and list them just about everywhere she can think of for sale. 

This group of books here is up for sale at eBay.  The prices there are slightly higher because of the listing fees.  I also have them listed at Cathswap (subscription required) and the 4Real Trading Post.  So far I haven't had any nibbles on Cathswap (which I listed on Thursday) or 4Real (listed on Friday).  And, it's probably too soon to get any interested parties at eBay, but you never know.  So, I'm publicizing the items here.  I have listed:

• Geography Through Literature
• The Writing Road to Reading
• Starting a Spelling Notebook
• Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
• Classical Writing--Aesop
• Introduction to Classical Studies Guide
• We Sing and Harmonize (Seton)
• We Sing of Our Land (Seton)

And while having a little extra money to shell out on new purchases that will hopefully fit the bill is a nice side-effect, the real benefit from this shelf clearing is this:

The Montessori Shelf

You can click on the photo to get a better look.  The shelf has actually been set up sort of like this for a while, but silly me decided to push the chair into that corner (between this shelf and another loaded bookshelf), trying to make a cozy nook.  Instead, I made the shelves more or less inaccessible.  DOH!  So, I moved the chair and cleaned the shelves a bit.

Anyway, right now the top shelf houses the bulk of our nature study books, as well as a box of continent cards, the model earth (which splits in half to show the earth's layers) and an as-yet-unpainted earth and moon model.  The shelf below houses most of the math items we have: textured (felt) number cards, pattern blocks, the bead box, an incomplete set of fraction circles, my new handmade Seguin board, a stacking shapes peg puzzle, and peg puzzles for the 3yo.  Missing is the mini number rods set...we can't find the "1" rod.

Below that we have some of our language items, including the textured (felt) alphabet, a basket that has bags of pink cards and objects, a basket with chalk and chalkboards (for Handwriting Without Tears), pink fishbowl words, alphabet puzzle cards, and the bead box that organizes the "moveable alphabet" of plastic letter tiles.  The bottom shelf still houses my rarely used binders (need to find them a home in the basement), as well as the Music Maestro game and our musical instruments 3-part cards.

I'm very proud of my homemade Seguin board.  It was made very inexpensively with printed numbers and balsa wood from the craft store.  The hardest part was measuring to ensure enough room was left between the dividers to place the cards.  I glued down the dividers and let that set for a while.  Then I glued down the 10 cards (9 spaces) and "decoupaged" over them to make it durable.  I cut out the 1-9 cards and will laminate them once I get a new roll of laminate.  For now they sit in a dainty little box.  I'm still trying to decide if I will make another board for numbers 20-90, or if I will multi-purpose this one and just slip the 20-90 numbers in when I present that portion of the work to the kids.  (It probably would be best to make another board.)

Random Musing

I hate resorting to blogging about once a week.  I know, as a blog reader myself, that the less frequently you post, the more likely you are to have your readers lose interest.  I read on a daily basis, and I think about posting just about as frequently, but life gets in the way, or I forget, or, or, or...you know how it is.

Anyway, my mom is in the hospital today to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA).  Fortunately, she was a candidate for repairing the aneurysm with a stent, meaning that she will avoid open surgery and intensive care.  Still, any surgery has its risks, and she will need to remain in the hospital for three days.  My worry over her is compacted by the fact that my husband is away on business for the rest of the week and I can't be in NY to be with her.  Not that I'd be able to do much anyway.  ::sigh::

With hubby away and the weather being humid and overcast, it seems the perfect time to immerse myself in some enjoyable reading, departing for the time being from The Aeneid.  I have chosen to plunge into Little Women.  It has been a thoroughly enjoyable read thus far.

Of course, there are a ton of other things I could or should be doing beside sitting with my feet up,a book in my hand.  First, there are the daily household chores, which I usually force myself to complete before the reward of reading.  Decluttering, though, is a completely other matter.  Next, there is the making of homeschool plans for the upcoming year.  I think about them a lot, though I've not gotten around to jotting down much of anything, let alone make any sort of purchases.  Then, there is the making of certain items for the younger set.  I have been intrigued by the idea of creating geography boxes for each continent, which are along the lines of the Montessori geography folders.  Boxes just seem much more practical than folders.  Teresa at Lapaz Farm Home Learning introduces the idea in this post.  The Wildflowers and Marbles blog has done something similar.  I have a good start with the books and little puzzles from the Top Secret Adventures Club and should be able to round it out with my stack of National Geographic mags.  Lastly, I need to consider our calendar for the next month or so.  Baseball is nearly over (five games left), but football and soccer are just around the corner.  The schedule for football (with conditioning five days a week) is leaving me feeling a bit overwhelmed, so I try not to think about it...much.  If I don't think about it, it will go away, right?  RIGHT???

I'm officially out of the first trimester and seem to have more energy to show for it.  I'm at 13 weeks and have an OB visit at 14 weeks.  I think I have felt the baby move, about 95% sure it wasn't gas, at least, but suppose it could've been some odd muscle twinges.  DH started a new job, which means new insurance down the road, but for the time being we are covered by COBRA.  I'm trying not to think about the cost of that in the coming month, either, and try to shove the thoughts of miscarriage to the very, very back of my mind.  I feel very Scarlett O'Hara-ish about it all.  ::sigh::

So, I distract myself a little with a good book, doing some chores here or there (I can do anything for 15 minutes), and working a bit on organizing the homeschool things (like sorting my Catholic Mosaic books and noting which ones are available through our local library).  It's a start...

Changing Gears

Well, spring is upon us, and that means we are going full-force into baseball, t-ball, and spring soccer schedules.  Our weekday evenings are busy with practices and our weekdays are filled with games.  Fortunately for me, on those evenings when there are practices, it is usually pretty quiet in the house because my husband gladly takes the kids to practice.  OK, so half of those practices he has to be there because he is coaching our two younger sons' t-ball team; but the other two nights he is more than happy to cart our middle daughter to soccer.  I am definitely not complaining.  I like the peace and quiet!

Our studies, too, are changing.  No longer are we snuggled together in the living room watching science and history movies.  Now we're itching to be outdoors, exploring our still new surroundings.  This is actually our first early spring living here (we moved here last May), so there are lots of new and interesting things to discover. 

The other day we took to the woods to look at some little wildflowers the children had discovered.  On our way, we crossed the "bridge" a fallen tree had made across a small gulley.  The tree, we think, had been struck by lightning during a storm earlier this month, and then was blown down on a particularly blustery day.  It makes an OK bridge, but it's difficult to cross when carrying the 2 year old.

We found some nice little flowers growing on the hills..."early spring ephemerals" is a term I think I saw in a copy of Martha Stewart magazine while I was in the dentist office the other day.  We picked some and identified them as white trout lilies and spring beauties with the help of our field guide.

• Photo 1: the spotted leaves of the trout lily
• Photo 2: Flower of the trout lily
• Photo 3: Spring Beauties

I have made some changes to the left sidebar under the Science and History headings.  You'll notice there are now listings for books to help with our nature studies as well as items that we have received as gifts to help spur interests.  We'll also be wrapping up our survey of American History from early exploration through the War of 1812.  After that, I hope to be moving on to a state history unit with mostly field trips to make the learning more meaningful.  I will likely blog more on that in the near future.

I've also added my own reading list to the right sidebar.  As I mentioned in this post, I have re-awakened my interest in studying the great books/classics.  I have spent the last several quiet evenings devouring the books I had left to read in both the Iliad and the Odyssey.  I will say it once again...if you want to read these books, be sure to read the Iliad first, as it will help the stories Odysseus tells in the Odyssey be more meaningful and make that much more sense.  I've also been reading chapters in Susan Wise Bauer's newest book, The History of the Ancient World (this link will take you to several chapter samples) to give me better historical background on the Ancient Greeks.  I think I will also check out these Sparknotes study guides so I can think a little more deeply about these two epic poems: The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Lifelong Learning

Yesterday afternoon I got the hair-brained idea to embark yet again on my self-education.  I go through these periods where I throw myself into reading and thinking about the classics, the "Great Books" as those in the know (Mortimer Adler fans) call them.  This started about four years ago, when I came across Susan Wise Bauer's book The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had.  I had read her book, The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education At Home when I first started thinking about home educating our children, so the title for adults sounded interesting to me.  But it was more than that.  There was this desire in me to know things for the sake of knowing them. 

It all started in college.  I had started out majoring in music education, but after a semester of pedagogy classes I was disillusioned and lost.  There had to be more to college education than earning a piece of paper to get a job.  So, once I had changed my undergraduate major to philosophy and started taking classes that were of interest to me (instead of only what was required to graduate), I was introduced to some of the Great Books.  Still, I had no idea what a classical education was, though the learning I was craving came close to what I have read about since starting to home educate our children six years ago. 

So, four year ago, after finished Bauer's book, I embarked on reading The Odyssey by Homer, then I gave birth to our sixth child, and everything was placed on the back burner.  Then last summer I read Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book, and went back to reading Homer.  This time it was The Iliad, even though I hadn't finished The Odyssey.  I realized later that I should've started with The Iliad all along, as it helps The Odyssey make more sense.  And then yesterday, I got the hair-brained idea to consider an abbreviated form of study that is outlined for high school students in The Well-Trained Mind.

First, what I did was make a copy of the 4-year list of chronological readings in history and literature so I wouldn't mark up the book.  Then, I went through the list and checked off the books I had read either in high school or college.  Next, I underlined books that I owned, starred books I wanted to purchase, and circled those on the list that I would most likely read.  Wow!  I was pleasantly surprised to see I had read about half of the list for the Ancients, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised since my focus in college was on the Ancient Greek philosophers (Plato and Aristotle).

In looking through the suggested readings to see which ones I owned, I came across something written on a slip of paper by my father in a volume of the Harvard Classics my mother gave to me after my father passed away:

The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong doer.

He who acts unjustly acts impiously.

He who does wrong does wrong against himself.  He who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself, because he makes himself bad.

Ah, dad...how I miss him!  I remember my father reading through these very volumes of Harvard Classics, intrigued by the ideas of great men such as Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Ben Franklin, and Homer.

My father was a high school dropout who eventually earned a GED and worked on jet engines before he enlisted in the Army during the Korean War.  After the war he continued to work on jet engines, then held a series of other jobs before he married my mom and started a family.  In the mid-60s, he wound up working for IBM, and held this job until his retirement in the early 90s.

My father was a simple man, in that he wasn't out to impress anyone or gain a social foothold by amassing wealth and material goods.  The simple things--his life, his family, his faith--made him happy.  But he was also a very profound man.  He had the heart of a philosopher, a lover of wisdom.  He would spend hours sitting out at night during the summer and fall, looking at the stars and contemplating the universe.  He read the Bible and Plato, looking for answers to the questions we all have: "Who am I?  Why am I here?  Where am I going?"  Too bad I didn't appreciate this when he was alive...we would've had such great conversations!

My point is, I learned something about lifelong learning from my father.  Here he was, a dropout without a college education, reading and learning about new things for the pleasure it gave him, not because he was required to do it.  So, in my self-education journey, I hope I can be the example to my own children that my father was to me.

Books, books, books

I found this over at Crazy Acres and thought I'd play along.

1. Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? In an ideal world, a world where I had limitless money to spend on books, it would be hardback.  However, since this is the real world, more often than not it is some sort of paperback.

2. Amazon or brick and mortar? Amazon is how I usually purchase, because, well, you can get really good prices on used books.  There's no greater treat, though, than having the time alone to meander through a brick and mortar store to look at all the books.  It is a guilty pleasure of mine that fortunately (for our budget) indulged in only a couple of times a year. ;-)

3. Barnes & Noble or Borders? Barnes and Noble, although Borders is a bit closer drive.

4. Bookmark or dogear? Dog-ear.  Tsk, tsk, tsk.  It's a matter of practicality for me.  I tend to leave my book wherever I was last reading it.  More often than not, said book gets knocked about by a child, dislodging the bookmark.  Thus, I've begun dogearing my pages.

5. Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? Random right now, though it's more in line w/the Dewey decimal system organized randomly by subject matter.

6. Keep, throw away, or sell? I tend to keep.  If I need money, I will sell on Amazon or eBay.  If I just want to be rid of some books, then I donate to Goodwill.

7. Keep dustjacket or toss it? Toss it.  Books look so much nicer without them!  Of course, if it's a library discard I bought used, it stays because it doesn't slip around.

8. Read with dustjacket or remove it? Remove and toss, unless it's taped on (see 7)

9. Short story or novel? Novel, though I also read a lot of non-fiction too.

10. Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? Anthology, but I don't read short stories as a rule.

11. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Neither.

12. Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I try to push myself to get to the chapter break when tired, which sometimes means the last page finished is a blur. :-)

13. “It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Once upon a time.

14. Buy or Borrow? Buy, buy, buy. Sometimes I borrow from the library, usually when I have money to pay my last overdue fee!

15. New or used? Used, 95% of the time.

16. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? Hmm...if I'm buying, it's because I have read good recommendations or because it's a classic.

17. Tidy ending or cliffhanger? tidy ending where the main character has learned something

18. Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? afternoon ot night

19. Stand-alone or series? Stand-alone

20. Favorite series? The only series I have read as an adult is Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series; though I guess Randy Wayne White's books where Doc Ford is the character is kind of a series, though the books can be read and appreciated independently or out of sequence.

21. Favorite children’s book? The Secret Garden

22. Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Captiva by Randy Wayne White

23. Favorite books read last year? The Iliad and Wuthering Heights

24. Favorite books of all time? The Bible. Oh, so cliche, right?  Still, it is the one book I can go to again and again and never really get tired of it.

25. Least favorite book you finished last year? I can’t think of one

26. What are you reading right now?  A biography of Caryll Houselander (Maisie Ward), Jane Eyre, and The Scarlet Pimpernel (a surprisingly enjoyable read)

27. What are you reading next? If I ever finish Jane Eyre (this is re-reading as an adult, first time was as a teen), I might move on to Little Women or something by Jane Austen.  Or perhaps I will take a couple of days to finished up The Odyssey now that I have finished reading The Iliad.