You Know You're Hooked on AO When ...

A Fun Look at AO

This is a thread started on one of the AmblesideOnline email lists in May 2008 by Julie. Members had so much fun with it that it needed to be saved on a page of its own. So here it is!


You Know You're Hooked on AO When . . .


. . . your oldest is in year 1, and you happen to see a copy of Churchill's histories for $3 a volume and pick them up because obviously you'll need them.

. . . you read the AO books yourself for fun and start yelling at your husband or anyone who will listen that you can't believe you never read this as a kid.

. . . you need more bookshelves. Lots more bookshelves.

Julie

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. . . you need even more bookshelves because your kids love their schoolbooks so much that they start wanting their own personal copies of them - so you end up having to look for four more copies of Churchill. ; )

Leslie Noelani

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. . . when you hear the words, "Mom, can I read this book (Churchill) again?"

. . . when you are asked "Can we please read more Dickens (or Scott or Austen) novels next year?"

~Carol H. :o)

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. . . your 6yo turns on the classical music station in the car, then loudly protests if anyone tries to change it.

. . . you panic when you don't have your huge AO booklist in your purse as you stop at a yard sale . . . .because you never know when you'll find a great Yr11 book, even if your oldest child is only in Yr2!

Gwen in SC

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. . . you get rid of almost all your clothes, dishes, and pots and pans when the military informs you you're moving in order to stay under the required weight allowance - because those things you can easily replace. The books, on the other hand . . . . ; )

(what we're living right now)

~Kristi

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BTDT, too, Kristi!! And will be living through it at least 2 more times! LOL

. . . when you're reading through The Twelfth Night with your (soon to be) 11 year old daughter and she just busts out laughing as we squawk out the "singing" lines in Act 2 scene iii, because it just wouldn't have sounded right if we just said the lines that were to be sung between the Fool and Sir Toby Belch. Aaaah, for the love of Shakespeare!

. . . when your aforementioned daughter continually requests for "just one more scene" to be read through in the aforementioned Shakespeare play. But Mom refuses in order to "keep her hooked" knowing the read through will be just that more enjoyable tomorrow!

Angi B.

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. . . you are only "looking into" AO and you discover that you already own a majority of the books from the years (acquired primarily from yard sales and charity book sales) that you are considering and which you have sadly walked past on your shelves dozens of times and thought "when will we EVER get to read these? School is just taking so much time. We'll NEVER be able to fit these in." And you thus discover that these books are "school" - for someone else, but not for your dear children, because you have been duped into thinking that "school" means "we have to" instead of "we want to". And then . . . the "Duh . . . Me" sign comes on and you know you are hooked.

Donna Thompson

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. . . your children refuse to watch a movie based on a classic book because they're sure that the story will be "totally ruined!"

. . . after watching a movie based on a classic book your children are irritated by how the movie totally messed up the REAL story . . . .which they know because they've read the unabridged version cover to cover . . . maybe even more than once!

Linda in IL

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. . . This was my daughter on Friday afternoon after seeing "Prince Caspian"! She then proceeded to catalog every mistake they made. lol

Kelly :-)

in Canada, also irritated that the new movie didn't match Lewis' book and praying they don't wreck "Voyage of the Dawn Treader".

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. . . your two year old is requesting the "Carnival Birds" while you drive in the car.

. . . your Year 2 student sighs fondly over the great books your soon to be Year 1 student will get to read next year, even if he never would admit that he liked them when he was in Year 1.

. . . your 7 year old regales all his friends and neighbors with tales from the Wars of the Roses or Ethelred the Unready, leading the parents to look at you with raised eyebrows.

. . . your husband calls you from out of town to inform you that "Brer" must mean "Brother", which just occurred to him after reading Uncle Remus to his daughter 2 days ago. And you find that fascinating because it never occurred to you either!

. . . your 5 and 7 year old are bickering about whether they should learn Spanish or French next year.

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. . . you bypass almost all of the vendor stands at your state's homeschool conference . . . and spend an hour at the one selling old books.

Deanne in Mississippi

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. . . when you walk into the living room and discover that your 4 y/o has created "The Carnival of Animals" procession using Legos and Schleich animals. When you ask him what the rocks and dominoes represent he replies "fossils" and "pianists."

. . . you're lying on your chiropractor's table and you hear your 3 y/o yell from the lobby "Rimsky-Korsakov! That's Rimsky-Korsakov!"

. . . you have two years before you're supposed to start Year 1, but you have collected most of the books through Year 5, which are on shelves, on top of shelves, on the floor, on the dining room table, under beds, etc., requiring a remodel of the downstairs den in order to have a place for your treasures.

Stephanie

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. . . every make believe game your kids play involves British accents

Jessalyn in HI

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. . . your child suddenly points to the scaffolding above the library entrance and exclaims, "Bully Sparrow!"

. . . after many minutes, you have to pull your child away from watching the English (House) Sparrows building their nests.

Kelly :-)

in Canada, where the English (House) Sparrow like nesting in the scaffolding above the doorways to the local malls and businesses.

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. . . your husband says he'd get more attention if he was "out of print" and had a leather covering.

. . . instead of flowers, your husband brings home books from the 'special collections' area in hopes of a romantic evening.

Michelle in OK

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. . . you've given the grandmothers AO booklists to keep in their purses.

. . . you beg your entire extended family to send you all their unwanted books so you can trade them for AmblesideOnline books at Paperbackswap!

. . . your sons are debating over who gets to "be" the Black Douglas (or William Tell, or Puck, or Buffalo Bill, or St. George).

Kristin

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. . . .. when you take your list with you on vacation just incase you find a bookstore or Half Price Books

. . . you actually set aside 10 minutes in your excel spreadsheet schedule to read posts like these

. . . you are a Year 1 AO-er but see a Year 3 AO book for sale in your library and having run out of cash make the 2-mile dash to an ATM (because the library only accepts cash). Then grin from ear to ear as the librarian says "All yours now!"

. . . someone tells you they've just read an Aesop's Fable and you respond instantly with "was it by Milo Winter?"

. . . you hang out quite a bit at the previously ignored field guide section of your local bookstore.

. . . when you've compiled a list of AO books as birthday, Mother's Day, wedding anniversary wish lists for your hubby or friends and family to get you (and ummm . . . to get your child too of course).

. . . when you begin scheduling your life around mail delivery times (because you've been shopping for AO books online! Yikes!).

:)
Thanks for starting this . . . I had a hoot!
Suji

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. . . your dh and child ask why you're laughing (as you read the replies to this thread).

. . . and then proceed to give their own reasons for "You know you're hooked on AO when . . . "!

From my husband:
. . . home renovations involve adding more bookcases!

From my daughter:
. . . when playing make-believe involves time travel! (pretending to be historical figures & Shakespeare's characters).

Kelly :-)

in Canada

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. . . your oldest, in college now, corrects the professor and proves it from your bookshelf.

Mary

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I can relate to all of them, and esp. this one!! Next week we'll be doing our final Air Force move(my dh is retiring after 21 years). We had over 40 book boxes with our last move, and I'm sure we'll have more this time . . . all those HEO books.

. . . you choose your next house because it has built in bookcases!

. . . Your daughter keeps after you to read all of Churchill's Birth of Britain, and the others, of course.

. . . the same daughter puts The Count of Monte Cristo on her ipod and listens to it 3 times.

. . . your y4 son wants to do years 1-3 all over again.

. . . you have no younger children so you think seriously about starting Year 1 with the dogs . . . just kidding. But who knows what they've absorbed!!!

Susan

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. . . when nature study arrives in your kitchen in the form of an entire sheeps skull (very well sun bleached and soaked/scrubbed in bleach) and you are not allowed to remove it until it has been thoroughly studied, sketched, labelled etc etc (and yes, it was as bad as it sounds ;-) )

Jane in rural Victoria, Australia - surrounded by sheep farmers . . . .

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. . . your 10yo . . . who claims not to like reading much and generally finds schoolwork a hassle . . . brings home two magazines and a Trixie Belden book from the public library, and then complains because Trixie is "poorly written."

Anne White

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. . . your kids are down with a stomach bug and low-grade fever, but you do not skip 'school' because they do not want to miss their readings!

. . . when you go "check out" other curricula mentioned on this group, and you always conclude "not even CLOSE" and become more resolved to tweak schedule, outside activities, etc. rather than switching to something else.

. . . when your ds in Yr1 asks if he spelled a word right in labeling his drawing, and you say he did, he responds "YES! Thank you copywork!"

I'm loving these!
Sharon D.

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. . . your 7yo daughter refers casually to "Alfred" in conversation-and you realize she's talking about Alfred the Great! (My daughter did this the other day, saying that something or other was "like Alfred did". At first I had no idea what she was talking about. She talked about him like he was someone she knew from Sunday School or a TV show or something. At first I thought she meant Alfred from Veggie Tales. Ethelred the Unready has also come up in casual conversation lately.

My teens have begun comparing current events to what Jefferson, Madison, and John Adams did/talked about. When they brought this up in the car with my mother the other day, I was convinced that my decision to "stick with AO for all of them no matter what" was the right thing. (I have had a habit of curriculum hopping in the past-trying many of the new curriculum programs I read about because the sound good, and always dropping them in the end and going back to AO.)

Kathleen

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When our oldest was almost two and still learning to talk, we went to the Homer Watson house and gallery (http://tinyurl.com/6dqegd ). Homer Watson was a Victorian painter with roots in southwestern Ontario (where we live), and his house is set up as a combination museum and gallery. One of the rooms is set up like a studio and there's a mannequin there dressed up in painters' work clothes.

A couple of days later, looking for ways to amuse this busy toddler, I got out a paintbrush and a jar of tempera paint--our baby-art activities up to this point had been strictly crayon and pencil. I told her we were going to paint. She got all excited and said, "Paint! Homer paint!"

No difference at all in her mind.

Anne White

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. . . your oldest, again still in college, says, "Do I get to help with the younger kids I loved Madame How and Lady Why and The OOOOOOooooo Fairyland of Science and The Fairy books and and . . . "

Mary

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You ladies have floored me!

I have just recently discovered AO and have been pretty interested by the concept of it all.

Having these little comments, though some are very funny, have really made me see the true value of this program and the books it recommends.

I have recently asked for suggestions/advice/information for different curricula. I have almost narrowed it all down to AO. This thread of e- mails has just gotten more more excited about the possibilities of AO.

I think the one thing I have been worried about with AO was that my child would not retain his learning or that his test scores would not be as high (state and anti-homeschooling ex-husband require it and ex- husband expects very high scores). Now reading all these comments, I am not so sure I need to worry about that.

So, thank you so much for all of these comments. You have encouraged me and made me feel like this would be a wonderful choice for our family!

God Bless you!
Kari

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. . . you hear the PBS commercial that suggests reading only 15 minutes a day and you feel so sad for those poor deprived little kids!

Natalie

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I was talking with a friend recently who has done AO with her daughter, almost 10, the whole time. She says she is okay with her child being average. It's funny, we think that since we homeschool, and since we use AO, and since we read great books with them, they will naturally do better in everything and be shining examples to hold up to skeptical relatives. But, honestly, some kids, even homeschoolers, are going to be average. But, it's more than test scores, it's quality of life that matters.
That being said, my daughters just took a standardized test and both scored above their age level. They are 6 and 8. Doing AO will give them such a rich life that compared to the normal public school, they will get a much better education. There are children who excel at public school, and some that don't do well. There are some kids that excel at homeschooling, and some that don't do as well.
Each child is unique. I am amazed that I can do everything the same with both my girls and they end up being so totally different.
Diana

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. . . your 4yo DD, not even in Yr0 yet, comes running in the room and says "Hey mommy, I have a Nursery Rhyme for you!" and repeats one of the rhymes from the World Treasury of Children's Literature. Then leaps into your arms and yells "I am so proud of myself!" LOL

Tanica

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From my girls . . .

. . . your children go out to wave at the poor bus driver and poor children on the bus to cheer them up because they all look so sad.

. . . your daughter tells the guy at the fish store the fish's correct names . . . in Latin.

. . . daughter reads her history to the pet raccoon and narrates it to the cat.

. . . your daughters 9 & 11 fight over whose turn it is to be "Christian" in Pilgrim's Progress.

. . . your dd9 begs you to buy her a whole book of Walter de la Mare.

. . . your dd feels sorry for her ps friends who have to use "textbooks" instead of real books.

Cara

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I love this thread!

. . . your children don't know what a "textbook" is because they have never seen one.

. . . your children think that everyone narrates because what else would you do at school?

Laura

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One time my husband laughed at me because I bought War and Peace on the library sale shelf for .25. I have never even read it, but someday my kids might want to. And if you figure out the cost per word, it's very cheap.

Diana

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. . . your children decide that the wicked uncle who killed Prince Arthur had to have been a Henry, a Richard or an Edward (it was John who did it, if he did it, but that is beside the point).

. . . everyone in the van gets excited when driving past a field of "thistles for Eeyore!"

. . . you mention that the littlest sister is coming up on the year with Pilgrim's Progress, Wind in the Willows and Understood Betsy, and her two older sisters immediately swoon with delight.

. . . the kids beg to stop at the park to check on "their" trees.

(I loved all these posts! What a great idea for a thread!)

Katie Barr

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. . . when your daughters age 11 & 10 steal the "Carnival of Animals" CD to take to their room and make up dances to go with each movement.

Melissa

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. . . when your kids name their rabbits Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon! Ha Ha!

Blessings,
Erin

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. . . when your eight year old dd names her bunny, "Peter Rabbit"!

. . . then a few years later, she names her new bunny, "Cottontail" . . .

. . . and says if she ever buys two bunnies at once she will name them "Flopsy" and "Mopsy"!

Kelly :-)

in Canada, where - even though dd is getting older - we still enjoy reading Beatrix Potter's stories!

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. . . when your children name their new rabbits Hyzenthlay, Fiver and Pipkin.

Janel

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. . . your 3yo sees her older sister and friend running around playing Amazonian indian with spears, and says. "They have shakespeares."

. . . your 2yo responds to your suggestion to put on her tights with, "Like Romeo . . . like Romeo . . . like Romeo have tights!"

~Kari in Central WA

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. . . our rabbits are Boudacia and Portia, and our birds (chukars) are Othello and Romeo. I just love all the classic names given!

Cara

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. . . your 9 year old names her chicken Narcissus.

Michelle in OK

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Our rabbits are Galadriel and Gandalf :)

Susan

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