Santa arrived a little late this year.  Tonight he came bearing nearly identical iPhones and a snazzy LG Neon for Teen Daughter, Mother-in-law, and I.  Santa didn’t just bring baubles, he brought a bargain.

My dear husband, a/k/a “Santa”, discovered that he could actually save money on our monthly cellphone family plan by switching from Sprint to AT & T, and taking advantage of a work-related discount plan.  Our new plan will have less monthly minutes than our current plan, but the Nation 700 FamilyTalk Plan is double our current use (my husband is on a separate plan.) And, the new plan will include Messaging Unlimited for Families, and data plans on two iPhones.  Yippee!

In addition to all these goodies, we can now afford to upgrade our current aircard to the new Novatel MiFi personal mobile hotspot that provides wireless service for up to five electronics, and still pay less per month for our family plan.  After a year of debating the best cellphone for my needs and waiting patiently for the expiration date on my Motorola Razr contract, I’m not only free to switch, but I’m getting a much better deal too.

Can you tell I’m excited?  I can’t wait to Twitter on the road, or to check out this newfangled Foursquare thing that all the cool kids are talking about.  Oh, and the apps, I’m salivating over the apps.  What will I add first?  So many choices…

While Teen Daughter introduces her grandmother to texting tomorrow, I’m going to be figuring out how fast and how far I can run with my iPhone.   Right now, the only differences between our iPhones are the memory and color.  I have the black 16GB iPhone 3G, and she has the white 32 GB version to handle her greater music and video needs.  By tomorrow night, I guarantee these iPhones will be completely different species.

Moms with iPhones

• The iPhone Mom – “Because it’s not your husband’s iPhone” features app reviews that appeal to moms (heavy emphasis on shopping and organization.)
• Study Reveals More Detail About the iPhone Mom – We’re a demographic, the new Soccer Moms of the 10’s.
• 10 Reasons Why Moms Need An iPhone – Funny, but true.

Teens with iPhones

• Apple Near Saturation Point for Ipod, Itunes Use By Teens – Only 8% of teens own iPhones, probably due to AT & T’s mandatory $30/month data plans (per phone.)
• Hacking iPhones: N.J. Teen Unlocks Apple’s iPhone, Teen iPhone Hacker Interview
• Teen claims 303,398 iPhone texts in one month – Teen Daughter had better not even think of gunning for this record.

Best and Worst Apps, Getting Started with the iPhone

• Getting Started with iPhone
• The Best iPhone Apps of 2009 (Appvee Edition)
• 10 Must-Have, Free Apps For That iPhone 3G
• 10 Best and Worst iPhones for Teens and Parents – Lists “Annoy a Teen” under “Worst Apps” (I was thinking “Best Ever App” until I discovered that it emits that oh-so-painful mosquito ringtone.)
• Time Magazine’s Best and Worst Apps – For dads, moms, students, cheapskates, and porn?

Come Back, Y’all

Gotta hurry now to catch up with Teen Daughter, who isn’t wasting any time reading manuals or reviews.  Check back later, and we’ll see what’s under the hoods.

Are you an iPhone Mom?  I’d love to hear how you’re customizing your phone!  Any tips on must-have applications or other advice about the iPhone would be highly appreciated!

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I hadn’t had my first sip of coffee when my husband, getting ready to walk out the bedroom door, checked his iPhone and burst out laughing.  His co-worker had texted:

“Wow, 37 posts in one day, a record.”

The Facebook News Feed Problem

Ouch.  Never mind the behind-my-back chatter and lack of spousal support.  I’m going to just let that slide, because, maybe, this friend has a point.

In my defense, and yes, I did go back and count my profile listings, none of those were Facebook postings.  Most were Twitter postings that are automatically reposted on Facebook, but I also found StumbleUpon website reviews and activity listings of all my interactions within Facebook.

Worst of all, every time Friendfeed collects any of my online activity, and that includes any of the social media sites that I frequent, it is automatically regurgitated onto Facebook. 

As a result, my Twitter postings, even my replies and retweets, are getting posted at least twice on Facebook.

Maybe It’s Not a Problem for You

I’m not sure how much of this activity makes its way into my friends’ news feeds.  Some may have clicked the “Hide” button to keep me out of their news feed, just as I’m hiding all those Farmville and Mafia Wars entries.

Other friends may be like my daughter who doesn’t even look at her news feed.  For her, Facebook is a very cool online answering machine providing personal notifications.

Personally, I enjoy skimming through my news feed, but if I’m limited on time, I bypass the aggregate news feed, and head straight to my Friends Lists.  That way, I can prioritize how I go through the postings, dividing time between professional connections or old friends, depending on my availability (or state of mind.)

Fixing The News Feed Problem

That’s how I am able to keep up with my friends’ postings with minimal investment of time, but, how can I make it easier for my friends to keep up with my output?

1.  Now that I’ve finally noticed the lock icon next to the share button on my Facebook Wall Publisher, I can customize my postings so that they only go out to designated lists.  For example, I might send dog photos to my Family List, and keep the Education News Articles for the Homeschoolers.  More likely, I’ll won’t link many articles on Facebook, as it will be an additional step in my daily news sharing.

2. Sadly, I’m editing my privacy settings to prevent any of my Facebook actions from showing up in friends’ news feeds.  I didn’t really want to do this, because I like the idea of cross-pollinating friends and, sometimes, I learn something new or rediscover an old friend this way.  But, there are other venues for mixing up friends.

2. I’m also editing my application settings so that very few of these automatically publish to my news feed stream.  The worst offenders, Friendfeed and StumbleUpon, have been deleted from my authorized applications list.  As for the heavy hitter, I cut off the Twitter stream, and set up the Selective Twitter Status Application instead.

Sorry, But You Can Find Me Here

I’m sorry, Dear Old Facebook Friends, you will no longer receive my daily commentary.  But, if you’re interested, you can find it here:

• Twitter: @sandrafoyt  This is where I  connect with moms, educators, writers, geeks, advocates, and pundits (to name a few of my Twitter Lists) to exchange commentary and feedback on parenting, technology, education, homeschooling, gifted ed, writing, and whatever catches my fancy.  Generally, this is the more rewarding site for getting feedback, even though we are limited to 140 character posts.
• StumbleUpon: LivingByLearning This is where I review websites on all those topics listed above, but especially those that I use for homeschooling and digital learning.
• Friendfeed: SandraFoyt  This is where it gets interesting.  All my activity on social media sites – bookmarking, books, news, videos, music, photos, video, and anything else – gets fed into this one place.  And, friends can subscribe to see and comment on this aggregate feed.

Related Articles:

• Twitter Envy: Facebook Adds Public Content Sharing
• 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
• HOW TO: Retweet on Twitter
• oneforty – Twitter apps ranks and reviews.
• Tutorial: Using StumbleUpon
• HOW TO: Get the most out of FriendFeed

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What is it about Graffiti that gets people all hot and bothered? 

Many of my friends think that Graffiti is a blight on city streets, no better than discarded garbage clogging gutters.  It’s an offensive upstart, not an enduring tradition.

Never mind that Graffiti, a form of art in which drawings or inscriptions are put on walls or other surfaces, has been around longer than most civilizations.  You can find hand prints stenciled 9,000 years ago at Cueva de las Manos in Argentina, names engraved on Egyptian temples, or highly-prized contemporary Brazilian Street Art on tours of Sao Paulo.  It is an ancient and yet vibrant art form.

You’d never know it from the criticism I’ve received for introducing my kids to Graffiti Art.

Our introduction to Graffiti Art started out innocently enough.  On a recent trip to New York City, we visited the Communications Exhibit at the Liberty Science Center where Graffiti is included as one of the many forms of  “self-expression that enables that which makes us human, as it is a form of communication, which lets us share information, wisdom, hopes and even dreams.” 

It’s fascinating to see the many ways that people communicate.  Included in this exhibit are displays on: Chinese calligraphy, Incan Knot Numbers, Codes, Rebuses, and many more.  You can discover connections between environment and writing, explore the origins of language, or the biology of communication.  At the exhibit’s end, you’ll find a large display covering digital communication, including a Citizen Media blogging kiosk.

Quickly bypassing all the other educational displays, my daughter headed straight to the Graffiti Wall where she used digital “spray paint” to leave a “tag.”

She learned that there is a wide variety of modern Graffiti Styles:

• Tags – a writer’s coded identity, usually created with one color, these were used to mark territory, and are now often used as signatures.
• Throw-ups – More complex and unique than tags, they may include bubble letters, more colors, or other styles.
• Pieces – Large paintings, often with 3D effects and more than three colors.

Afterwards, she was gung-ho to look for Graffiti in New York City, but it’s not easy finding outstanding pieces.  There aren’t any museums currently featuring Graffiti Art in New York City. 

Mostly, we ended up looking around as we explored the city.  I couldn’t even find any of Keith Haring’s work on display, except for the ‘Crack is Wack’ Mural that we passed driving by on Harlem River Drive.  Not surprisingly, I did notice that as you get away from the center of Manhattan, into the less upscale areas, you do see more Street Art. 

Fortunately, through the magic of digital communications, you can go online to access photo galleries of Graffiti Art from all over the world.  You’ll find that Street Art looks very different from region to region, and even artist to artist.

I think it is that freedom of expression, the fact that Graffiti is not governed by rules and regulations, that draws me.  Anyone can create Graffiti, although not all will produce a “piece.” 

Likewise, anyone can blog, and the product can be whatever you wish it to be.  Of course, not every article will be a masterpiece, and not every blog will be popular. 

But it doesn’t matter if your blog isn’t fabulous, or even if you don’t garner many readers.  When you blog, you make a connection.  You leave a mark.

Comment, please. I’d love to find the equivalent of tags, throw-ups, and pieces for the Blog Glossary.  Any suggestions? What do you think of the following: Blog, BlogUp, BlogPiece, and PopBlog?

Graffiti In New York City:

‘Crack Is Wack’ Mural – Located in the Crack Is Wack Playground on Second Avenue, 127th Street, and Harlem River Drive, within Harlem River Park, this Graffiti Art painted on a handball court has endured over twenty years.

5 Pointz – A warehouse turned artist studios, The Institute of Higher Burnin’, is an outdoor museum featuring the art of famous and novice graffiti artists. See Long Island City Art Tour for directions and dining advice.

Graffiti Online:

Art Crimes – Graffiti images from around the world.

Graffiti Creator – Flash application that allows you to create graffiti-style logos.

Graffiti Playdo – Wield a digital spray can in a game pitting Graffiti artists.

Is This Art? – Video of Muto, a wall painted animation by Blu.

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Although nine-year-old Alex is already cruising the web on his laptop, we’re only just beginning to set it up for home schooling.

So far, we set up safety features and uploaded several browsers, but now we want to customize the Internet browser that he will be using for daily assignments.  My goal is to make it easy for Alex to find the online applications that he will most often use for his daily school work.

Downloading The Flock Browser

Due to the many integrated features that it offers, we’ve decided to use the Flock browser for home school work.  Setting up Flock is easy.  Click here to download Flock and follow the simple instructions on the Getting Started Tab.

Or, you can do what I did on my computer, and follow the links to the video tutorials that are part of Internet Marketing Superstar, Ed Dale’s 30 Day Challenge Preseason Training.

Selecting Flock Options

The first step after downloading Flock is to select preferences.  After clicking “Options” under the Tools drop-down menu (see video tutorial if you can’t find this,) I chose the following:

Main -

• Startup:  Highlight “Show my windows and tabs from last time”
• Downloads: I kept it simple by selecting the default.

Tabs -

• I set all radial buttons to open all options in “a new tab.”  This way there is less chance of losing current work.

Content -

• Choose your preferred reader for displaying feeds: scroll down to “Web Feed” and select “Use Google.”  (I’ll explain how I’m setting up Google Reader for home school research in a future article.)

Searching –

• Default Search Engine: Google.
• Include in Search Elsewhere: Yahoo.

Privacy -

• History: I selected “keep history at least 60 days” so that I can occasionally check the sites my son has visited, just in case.

Security -

• I’ve set this to give all warnings, and to remember passwords.

Add In Your Accounts and Services

After applying preferences, I was ready to add in the features that truly makes Flock shine.  The Getting Started Tab lists many online applications that can be added to any of the available sidebars.  Once they’ve been activated, you can access and use these directly from a sidebar.  These sidebars can be opened by clicking one of the icons found left to right on the Flock Toolbar: My World, People, Media Bar, Feeds, Mailbox, Favorites, and All Accounts and Services.

For my nine-year-old son, we only registered accounts for a limited number of applications that I believe are useful in home school learning:

Email -

• Yahoo! Mail: An Email account is needed to register on other sites, but I’ve also set this up to encourage Alex to communicate with friends and family (more on this in an upcoming article.)

Media Bar -

• Photos: Alex has several applications for working with images – Google Picasa, Flickr, and Photobucket.
• Videos: Alex doesn’t yet have a YouTube account, but we may enable this option at a later date.

Blog -

• Blogger: Alex can post to his blog directly from Flock’s blog editor.

People Sidebar -

• Twitter: I wouldn’t consider allowing a nine-year-old on most of the social media applications, but we’re experimenting with this one.

But Wait, There’s More

Extensions – These add even more usability to the browser.  You can find a few on Flock, but there are many more through Firefox that work well on Flock.  I have several favorites, but it’s going to take trial and error to determine those that are useful for home school purposes.

Toolbars – The only toolbar that I installed on Alex’s laptop was the Yahoo Toolbar, with the following buttons: Reference, Calendar, Weather, Kids, and Games.  After we’ve given this I trial run, I’ll look into creating a custom toolbar (more on this in a future article.)

Finally, I put links to the most visited sites right on the Flock Toolbar (on the long tab next to the sidebar icons.)  You can just click and drag the logo from most sites right onto the toolbar.  This is where we put links to Google Reader and a couple of Alex’s favorite games of the moment.

Your Turn

What did I miss?  Can you think of any other bells & whistles that you’d like to see on a student’s web portal?

Home Schooling The Networked Student Series:

• Home Schooling The Networked Student
• How To Set Up Your Child’s New Computer
• Selecting A Browser For Your Child’s Computer

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In just 8 minutes, using easy-to-understand animated icons, this video describes the origins of the “Inter-net” from its scientific, military, and commercial foundation.

I find the illustration of the transformation of global communication  particularly interesting.

Recently, I’ve been discussing how we can make communication more accessible and transparent within our Girl Scouts community, given that many volunteers are hesitant to absorb more information.

Similarly, there is a ton of information on just about any topic available online that comes from a myriad of sources, but that doesn’t mean that people will access it.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.

Or can you? 

Your Turn – Comments Are Much Appreciated!

How do you promote better communication within your school, business, or other organization?  Do you ever limit communication (ex. Emails or Newsletters) to avoid reader overload?  Any suggestions for ensuring that members of your community are well-informed?

Resources:

PICOL – The source of this video, PICOL “is a project for providing free and open icons for electronic devices. The aim is to find a common pictorial language for electronic communication.”

OpenCulture – “Your Guide To Smart Media” is where I found this, and many other, fascinating videos.

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Once you’ve set up your child’s new computer so that he can go safely online, it’s time to select the best browser for exploring the Internet.

There are many browsers to choose from, but I believe these are the best of the best:

• Internet Explorer – Since it’s usually installed with Microsoft Windows computers, many are familiar with this browser.  See Full Review.
• Chrome – Google’s blazingly fast browser has a clean, uncluttered interface with unique tab and analytic features.  GeekMaster claims it’s the “best in performance.”  See Full Review.
• Opera – Fast and fully-customizable, this can be an excellent backup to have on hand. See Full Review.
• Firefox – Favorite of geeks everywhere, this browser combines speed, ease of use, and lots of bells & whistles.  See Full Review.
• Flock – This browser is basically Firefox, but with integrated social media features.  See Full Review.

Find more browsers, with side-by-side comparisons, on Top Ten Reviews.

You really can’t go wrong with any of these browsers, and, in fact, I’ve installed all of these on our computers.  There are times when a program just doesn’t seem to work as well in one browser as in another.  For example, Ning sites such as Twitter Moms seem to run faster and smoother on Firefox.

Although we like all of these browsers, the default on our computers is Flock.  I love the ease with which I can customize my kid’s computers so that they can check their Email, upload pictures and videos, and even keep up with their social media sites.

Best of all, I find the Flock tabs to be the easiest to use, allowing me to have multiple windows open with various applications running.  These tabs are saved every time I close the browser, so that they launch again easily.

With Flock, it’s easy to set up your child to have all of the most useful digital tools accessible for independent success.

Your Turn:

What’s your favorite browser?  Would you recommend it for a child?  Why?

Next in this series, I’ll describe how I customized the Flock browser for the kids.  In the meantime, click on Fly With The Flock Browser to discover the video tutorials that I used to learn how to download and set up my own web portal.

Home Schooling The Networked Student Series:

• Home Schooling The Networked Student
• How To Set Up Your Child’s New Computer
• Next: Customizing The Flock Browser For Your Child

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On Christmas morning, our children found a very special gift from Santa – they each received an HP laptop, pre-loaded with the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. 

They were thrilled to have their own shiny new computer, identical except for the Skinit laptop skin.  Kayla, the impetuous near-teen, fired up her laptop immediately without a glance at the manual.  Alex, the more cautious younger brother, turned to me for help setting up the computer.

This was fortunate for Kayla as otherwise she would have missed important steps in setting up the new computer that I pointed out as I set up her brother’s laptop.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting a series on how we set up the computers to maximize fun and digital learning for our Networked Students.

Before Setting Up The New Computer

Long before they received these laptops, I insisted on having them sign Kim Komando’s 10 Commandments For Kids Online.  This presents a  good opportunity to discuss cybersafety, but nothing beats first-hand experience. 

Generally, I believe it’s essential to surf the web together, gradually giving children more independence online as they demonstrate that they understand the benefits and the pitfalls.

Step One – Make Recovery Discs

The Quick Start guide, with its easy-to-follow illustrations, makes it easy to get your laptop running, but you can’t do much until you can get online.  Not bothering with the manual, the first thing my daughter asked for was help getting online. 

Of course, since she was asking for my help, I made sure that before we set up the network connection, we first created the recovery discs.  Over the years, I’ve found them to be priceless when my computer crashes.  A local computer repair company can get the computer running, but without the operating system saved on a recovery disc, that’s all you’ll do.

To create a Vista recovery disc (from the HP Notebook Essentials Manual):

• Number new discs (preferably DVD-R, as you’ll use much less than CD-R.)
• Ensure that computer is connect to AC power.
• Click Start, click All Programs, click Recovery Manager, and then click Recovery Manager.
• Click Advanced Options.
• Click Recovery disc creation, and then click Next.
• Follow the on-screen instructions.

Step Two – Get Connected Online

We have a Netgear Broadband Router set up in the house that provides a wireless connection for all the family computers and printer.  Connecting the new laptops is as easy as:

• Clicking the double monitor icon on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, and then clicking on Connect or Disconnect.
• Click on Set Up a Connection or Network.
• Click on the option that fits your home’s wireless plan, in our case it’s “Connect To The Internet – Set up a wireless, broadband, or dial-up connection to the Internet.”
• Follow the on-screen instructions.

Step Three – Keep Your Windows Current

To make sure that your computer stays up to date, enable automatic updates:

• Click Start, and then click on Control Panel on the right-hand sidebar.
• Click on Check For Updates, under Security.
• Click on Change Settings on the right-hand sidebar.
• Select Install Updates Automatically.

Step Four – Protect Your Computer

Our laptop came with a couple of protections: Windows Defender (anti-spyware) and Norton AntiVirus. 

The version of Norton AntiVirus that is included with HP computers is great, but the subscription is only good for two months.  Instead, I picked up a copy of Norton 360 v. 2, with its one year subscription, at Sam’s Club, and installed it on our three laptops (the maximum allowed with this license.)

This version of Norton provides AntiVirus protection, but it also provides diagnostic tools and PC Tuneup features that I use at least weekly to:

• Clean up temporary files.
• Optimize the Disc.
• Registry Cleanup

I find that running these frequently eliminates most of the computer slow-down problems that I see otherwise, especially when I use Internet Explorer.

Norton 360 v. 2 offers lots of other features, but the only other one that I find invaluable is the ability to easily automate backups.

Step Five – Back Up Often

I have yet to find the optimal back up system; however, my current system is working well enough.

Hooking up the Maxtor Central Axis to our wireless network, we’re now able to back up all of our laptops to this 1 TB hard drive.  Supposedly, you can also organize your files using its “drag and drop” features.  I haven’t done so yet, and probably won’t bother with this. 

I just use the networked drive to store the back ups that are automatically generated by Norton 360 v. 2 from all the family computers.

It’s easy (well, it’s easy after a few hair-pulling days figuring out just how “easy” it is!)

Need more help setting up, or fine-tuning, a computer?

Getting Tech Help – Tech support sites online.

Norton PC Tune Up Service – Get online help diagnosing and fixing your computer.

The Homeschooling The Networked Student Series:

• Home Schooling The Networked Student
• Next: Selecting The Best Browser For Your Child’s Computer.

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Sitting on my duff for days on end, you’d think I’d be super-productive with my blogging, and laptop projects. 

But, no, keeping my feet up, ignoring a painful infection, somehow necessitates lots of mindless TV – Fa La La Lifetime Christmas specials, and all those House and NCIS reruns that are new to me.  That’s about as productive as my other activity – looking out the window like the photographer in Hitchcock’s Rear Window.

My foot is healing, but I’m losing brain cells fast, and faster (or was it dumb, and dumber?)

What I need is a project!  Yeah, I know.  Friends have heard me say more than once that I need a new project like I need a hole in the head, even as I take on a new one. 

But, what I have in mind is more like a continuation of an ongoing hobby – digital photography.

Last year, I picked up a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Edition which includes the professional version of Adobe Photoshop, the premiere graphics editing software.  It’s fabulous, but I don’t have a clue how to use it.

Mostly, I use the consumer version Adobe Photoshop Elements which is super easy to use to improve your photos.  Even with this digital-photography-for-dummies version, the only photo editing I do is cropping and auto fix.

Fortunately, there are lots of options for learning how to use these programs online, although just one seems plenty for now:

How To Master Photoshop In One Week – I really like this.  It’s short and free, and promises to make me a pro in just three, easy lessons.  Too good to be true?  I’ll let you know after I try it.

Lynda.com – When I’m ready to really learn all the ins and out of Photoshop, for a low monthly fee, I can watch video tutorials on pretty much any, and all, software.

Or, I can just go back to watching the whiny and irascible Dr. House.  There’s a certain perverse pleasure, if you can call it that, in speculating about the most obscure diagnosis when you have your own weirdly grotesque bacterial infection.  I’m weird that way.

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My daughter, and her Tween friends, had no interest in reading Louisa May Alcott’s  Little Women, the treasured novel of my youth.

I thought, mistakenly, that the Book Babes, our Mother Daughter Book Club, would be eager to read Little Women, as it was at the center of a book that we all adored, Heather Vogel Frederick’s  The Mother Daughter Book Club.  Anticipating a pleasant road trip to the Louisa May Alcott home, the real setting for this fictional account, I expected that the girls would delight in reading the book first.

“Too long” and “Too boring” whined the same girls who soon after devoured all four mammoth Twilight books, and whose squeals at the movie premiere recalled the Beatle’s glory days.

I wheedled and cajoled to at least get my daughter to read the book.  I even tried to read it aloud, but at 650 dense pages, with little time for read aloud, we didn’t get too far.

Nearly a year passed, before the perfect opportunity to cram this book, no, sorry, to lovingly share this literary gem as an audiobook presented itself in the form of a twenty hour road trip to Florida.

It took nearly the entire trip to hear this very long book.  At one point, several hours into the book, my son asked, “Aren’t they women, yet?”

Little by little, I noticed that both kids, despite claiming to ignore the book, were clearly following the story.  Barbara Caruso does a beautiful job of breathing life into the characters, and the kids were not immune to this engaging account.  By the end of the book, they were fully involved in questioning Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March’s choices.

Discussing Little Women

Since our road trip took place the day after watching the Twilight movie, which was after reading the entire book series, Bella Swan, Twilight’s heroine, kept popping into our discussion.

• Little Women begins with the sisters celebrating a very simple Christmas, as their father is serving in the Civil War, and the family has fallen on hard times.  Even so, the March family gives up everything they have to a family that has less than they do.  Do you admire this altruism?  Would you give up all your holiday gifts to help someone in need?  Does Bella do anything that is as noble?
• How are the sisters in Little Women, living in the 19th century, the same or different to the girls you know, or to Bella?
• Each of the sisters had a different “Castle in the Air,” or daydream.  Describe their ambitions, and discuss whether they achieved their dreams.    How are the Little Women’s dreams similar or different to Bella’s?  Would you want the same things?
• Each of the sisters had a “major character flaw: Meg, vanity; Jo, a hot temper; Beth, shyness; and Amy, selfishness.”  How did they overcome these flaws as girls, and again as women?  Does Bella have a character flaw, and does she try to overcome it?  Do you think you have a flaw, and how are you working to overcome it?
• Why do you think the book was titled “little women?” How would you like to be labeled a “little woman?”  How do you think Bella would respond to being a called a “little woman?”
• Should Jo have married Laurie, or should Laurie have done something different to win Jo’s love?  Do you think all the sisters and Bella chose the right husbands for themselves? Why or why not?

Mixing History and Service

Next on our itinerary, a road trip to visit Orchard House, home of Louisa May Alcott, in nearby Concord, MA!  The holidays are a perfect time to visit as the home displays the “festive simplicity” of the Alcott family, and this year we can look forward to a Holiday Program that:

…honors the service and sacrifice of our nation’s military personnel and their families, drawing upon not only the beloved classic, Little Women (the first half of which is set during the Civil War), but also Hospital Sketches, Louisa May Alcott’s highly acclaimed work detailing her real-life Civil War nursing experiences.

This year, December through February, we can even bring donations for US troops as Orchard House takes up a special collection.

Tween Take On Little Women

While my children initially weren’t thrilled to listen to the Little Women audiobook, they found it very entertaining.  It definitely made our road trip fly by!

Audiobook To Avoid:

At the same time that I downloaded Little Women from itunes, I also purchased the A Little Princess as narrated by Rebecca Burns.  This was the worst reading of a story that I have ever heard.  Ms. Burns’ monotone rendition nearly put me to sleep, not a good thing while driving.  A Little Princess is one of my all-time favorite children’s books, so I’ll have to find another version to share in the car.

Related Articles:

Reading On The Road – Ideas for selecting and discussing an audiobook; book discussion questions for Animal Farm.

Confessions of a Twilight Mom – My, admittedly biased, review of the Twilight series.

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