"Welcome to fsi-language-courses.com, the home for language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute. These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain.

This site is dedicated to making these language courses freely available in an electronic format. "

Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, German, Spanish, ect.

They have workbooks, student and instructor's texts, and Mp3s available - all free for download. Entire language programs.

Nothing ancient though. No Farsi, just Arabic. Shame.

Modern Foreign Language Instruction - Foreign Language Institute

This is a free site for people interested in Latin and Ancient Greek.

On this site, you can download books in the public domain including texts, primers, plays, and historical documents.

There's email lists that send you words to increase your vocabulary every day, and forums where you can communicate with others, ask questions, and find out about other web resources.

Where else could one find the lyrics to Baby Got Back in Latin and Ancient Greek?

Great site. A new homepage. :)

Like Latin? Ancient Greek?

In my twisted mind, I DO think it is terribly funny that it is the HOMESCHOOLED kid that is the robotics master.

I do homeschool my son, and THERE IS a Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention Kit on my kitchen table right now and targets on my kitchen floor.

Still, I will pass this on because I really DO get tired of these negative stereotypes that are totally unfounded.
-------------------------------------------------------------
ATTENTION HOME SCHOOLERS! ACTION NEEDED!

If you haven't seen any of the one minute WordGirl shorts throughout the PBS
KIDS GO! weekday programming or the two minute WordGirl episodes which air
after the very popular Maya & Miguel show on your local PBS station, please
take a moment to visit the PBS KIDS website to view the negative portrayal
of home schooled students that is being espoused in this programming. The
link to the website is:

Click on the left side "Heroes, Villains & Mere Mortals" then select the
character "Tobey". Here's the character description from the website:

"Tobey is a 10-year-old home schooled genius who causes serious property
damage in order to get WordGirl's attention, not that he'd ever admit it.
He's a master of robotics, building giant robots to do his bidding. He's
constantly trying to prove that he is WordGirl's intellectual superior, and
that he isn't afraid of his mommy."

In one episode, there is a comment about Tobey that "he's so timid that he
has a hard time making friends." In the same episode, Tobey also acts very
rude and destructive. You can see this episode and others (they are all only
a minute or so long) by going to the same website link above and clicking on
"Adventures of WordGirl" on the left side of the webpage, and then when the
"Choose a Character" screen comes up, select "Tobey" and then click on the
first picture under "Choose an Episode" at the bottom of the screen (it's
the one with the robot picture).

Scholastic's choice to portray this intelligent, yet socially inept and
deviant character as a home schooled student is a glaring attack on home
schooling and educational choice. Scholastic would not have dared to portray
this character as a racial minority or as a homosexual, yet they feel at
liberty to attack home schooled students and indirectly their parents who
they imply are making social misfits out of their children by teaching them
at home. This programming is seen by thousands of children every day and is
a means of influencing their attitudes toward home schooled students. As the
saying goes, "If you say it loud enough and long enough, the people will
believe it." There is no evidence to support the socialization concern in
regards to home schooled students, yet the educational establishment
continues with this propaganda.... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

WordGirl - A good way to Piss off Homeschool Parents

"Today's generation faces evil like no other in history, with its bombardment by violent, sexual and occult images through our modern mass media. I think perhaps we are so desensitized, we couldn't recognize evil even if it were on the plate in front of us.

My efforts in this case only address one facet of that evil, which is being spoon-fed to our children, even in the public schools. With the deceptive, exciting, children-friendly packaging of witchcraft in the Harry Potter series, our youth today view witchcraft not only as good and fun, but also as harmless fantasy."

Laura Mallory speaks out on Harry Potter ban

"Court battles over the books have been messy.

In one of the most high-profile legal battles, an Arkansas federal judge ruled in 2003 that a rural school district could not force children to present the librarian with written parental permission to check out the books. The Cedarville School District's board kept the books under lock and key after it decided the series fostered rebellion and encouraged witchcraft.

In the Georgia decision, the state board ruled that Mallory had failed to prove that the books promote the Wicca religion.

Mallory said she wasn't able to bring forward any evidence at the hearing.

"How can you prove a case without being able to call witnesses or give evidence?" she asked Thursday in a telephone interview.

Although she has yet to decide whether to appeal the case, Mallory said she already has contacted an expert witness. If she doesn't decide to pursue her argument, she still hopes her protest will prompt others to take another look at the series."

My personal opinion is that Christians like Laura Mallory indoctrinate people into the pagan religion. Bible Classes - OK Harry Potter - NO.

WTF I hate Georgia sometimes! I am so glad that I homeschool.

GA Board of Education Voted OK Harry Potter - Mother to Appeal

This site has some great surgical simulation games. While they are supposedly for kids, the vocabulary & knowlege of A&P required is quite advanced.

I really enjoyed 'virtual hip surgery.'

Virtual Surgery & More

This is a great companion website to the new PBS Rome in the First Century Series. There is a lot there - video clips, resources, lesson plans, games.

Great New PBS website on Ancient Rome in the 1st Century

Interesting read!

"We certainly left our young ones behind. We did this, because of our passion for homeschooling, and Dr. Phil preyed upon this passion in having us as his audience, so that we could be the flimsy 15% that raised their hands in favor of homeschooling, so that he could have his biased TV show. He preyed upon our cause, our dreams, our passion and our hope. A true predator.

The show is actually only about a half hour long. In between sets, the guests are quickly hurried off stage, and swiftly replaced with new, equally bewildered guests. Between sets, Dr. Phil deliberately goes out of his way to avoid eye contact with the audience, thus avoiding engaging the audience.

Everything is done very fast, and there is so much activity with the cameras that there is no opportunity to ask questions, and no time to verbalize thoughts and ideas. It is most unnerving to witness Dr. Phil's deliberate disengagement and clearly overt avoidance of the audience. For those who love Dr. Phil, this is not the Dr. Phil that they see on TV."

Dr. Phil show totally rigged

Yes, this article comes from Prison Planet - and that's a pretty far out site - but the MEMO on this article IS real, and so is the threat. Similiar threats are popping up all over the place. Tardy kids, absent kids = kids in trouble, parents in jail.

School Says Police and Social Services will Snatch Kids of Late Parents

(Re: Text Books altered on China's history)

Most teachers won't teach it anyway. (I'm just basing that on my own experience. In most of my educational experience, none of the teachers KNEW much about ASIA, so they always told us to skip those chapters. It happened in Highschool, and it happened in not one but 2 colleges that I attended - in multiple classes.) It is sad. Human life is rather cheap in China but we just skip all those chapters, doesn't matter what is in them.

Where’s Mao? Chinese Revise History Books - New York Times