... won't you pleeease, plee-ease help me!

[ciroccoj]

No, it's nothing urgent. Just sending out e-feelers re. home schooling and fic.

• First and most important: my project for the summer is to get the boys started learning Spanish. We've gone to the local Spanish Heritage classes (free, offered by Ottawa-Carleton Public School Board) and Los Amigos Summer Camp (the dismal opposite of free), and it hasn't exactly been a screaming success. So I've been trying to find Spanish curriculum for children online for a while now, and have kind of lost heart. Everything is either for adults or for teenagers, or for babies who need to learn to say Si and No. And all the "curriculum sharing" sites I've gone to consist mostly of exchanges like, "We all really liked X program, and it was only $154!" and "Oh, my kids didn't like X at all; total waste of money."
  
  So. Any ideas out there?
  
  
• Second: where does one post HP fic? Other than on one's livejournal and fanfiction.net? Are there any sites I need to be wary of?
  
  
• Also on the HP vein: Wizengamot. What it be?
  
  When I read the books the first time (a few years ago) I thought it was the equivalent of a court of law. Then I read a lot of fanfic, and there were places that used the word to refer to any kind of ruling body get-together. And that seemed vaguely familiar to me from the books. Then I read a reference site that said the same thing: that it could refer to a court of law or a legislature or bigwig get-together.
  
  When I re-read the books, I wasn't paying attention to the meaning of that particular word. Then I went to use it and tried to pin down the meaning from canon. And hit a brick wall. Not only could I not find any non-court reference in the books; I couldn't find it anywhere on the online resource pages either.
  
  
• And no, this last item is not a plea for help, as it is highly unlikely that I will be needing the services of a midwife anytime soon, but I thought it was interesting anyway: Childbirth at Home as Safe as Hospital Delivery: Study

Comments

[leaper182.livejournal.com]

Concerning Harry Potter, I thought that Harry had been tried by the Wizengamot in Order of the Phoenix.

Then again, I could be wrong.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he was. And it was acting as a court. But I know I read somewhere at least semi-canonical that it also functioned as a law-making or administrative body. And now I can't find it.

Buggre alle this for a larke!

Oops - wrong fandom.

[pakaboori.livejournal.com]

Hi, I found Finding Elvis randomly a few days ago, and adore it (intriguing and well written, what a rare find!). You might want to consider posting it at Fiction Alley (http://www.fictionalley.org/), which is, to my knowledge, the largest all-HP fanfic site out there. Definitely something to be wary of :)

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I'm glad you liked it :) :)

Homeschooling

[(Anonymous)]

The best thing to do is to go here:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/activeboards.php

And go either to the curricula board or the Spanish/Latino board and ask them for advice. Generally, the parents on that board have fabulous instincts, are willing to share what works and why, and research the living daylights out of curricula. Just describe what you want and ask for advice.

That said, check out Rosetta Stone. They have an absolutely amazing computer based language program. Gets rave reviews just about everywhere. Bit pricey, yes, but based on a super-solid methodology *and* they get to do it on the computer. The homeschool version lets you set it up in terms of how they learn and what level they have to achieve on tests before you can move to the next level. We're using it for German and I've got it set to oral - no writing/typing. There's also another Spanish program that gets good reviews, something like La Classa Dividerta (but I know I'm butchering the last word).

Oooh. Look at me and my usefulness. Here's a Homeschool review website with a link to that second program.
http://homeschoolreviews.com/reviews/funclass.html

Email me if you have other questions
Sarah

Re: Homeschooling

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

EEE! Thank you!!