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Started homeschooling last November. Wish I could have started with this book in my library! If you are seriously thinking of homeschooling and need a place to start in deciding on materials, look no further than this book! To Mrs. Duffy, thank you for taking the time to make homeschooling one step easier!

This resource has been very helpful to our family in attempting to find the right homeschool curriculum fit with our children's learning styles and personalities, along with our own learning styles and personalities as parents. It gives easy to use charts, and has been helpful through the process of choosing the right fit.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the information I have gained from this book. I am somewhat of a "seasoned" homeschooler, yet I found the insight about the learning styles, teaching philosophies, and curriculum choices invaluable. I highly recommend this book!

As a newbie to homeschooling, this was an excellent book that really helped me decide which curriculum to use with my children. It helped me narrow down which curriculum fit us and then I was able to go to the websites to find out more about the ones I had picked out. And it was such a help to have read this before I attended my first homeschooling state convention. That way I wasn't swayed by every vendor's belief that "their curriculum is the best"; I had already decided in my mind what I needed. I would highly recommend it to anyone as a starting point when you are trying to determine the homeschooling curriculum best for you and your family.

I bought this after 19 years of homeschooling just for a little fresh input. I found by doing the exercises in the beginning it helped me to really see why I was conflicted about my expectations and the reality of our homeschool (6 children at home presently)It has helped me to look for a happy medium between my ideals and what can realistically be accomplished with 5 boys and 1 girl at home all under 13 years of age. Very helpful book-plus lots of extra reviews by the author are free online at :http://cathyduffyreviews.com/

Overly verbose and try-too-hard quirky. I didn't like it, although it came highly recommended by a couple of friends. I'll try re-reading it.

From the first page you are effortlessly thrust into Yoshimoto's universe. Mikage, whose parents and grandfather passed on earlier in life, has been living with her grandmother. The start of the book is a bit after her grandmother has died,leaving her alone in her old house and in life. Yuichi, a friend of her grandmother's, appears to invite her to live with him and his mother. Mikage agrees and the three live together for a while in bliss. When tragedy hits this newly-formed 'family,' Mikage and Yuichi learn what it is to be absolutely alone.

Yoshimoto's characters are crisp and unique, each with their own good-humored twists. The situations these unfortunate characters are dragged into are unbelievabally tragic, yet their responses, both emotional and physical, remain believable and poignant. I started reading Kitchen around 1AM, wanting to read a few pages before sleeping. I didn't turn off the light until I'd read all of it, and my pillow was soaked with tears.

It is one of the best books I've ever read.

Kitchen has two stories within the cover. The first is the book's title, called Kitchen, and is a wonderful but sad story. Two people, the surviving members of two family, coming together to make a new family. It is a story of love, memories and, well, kitchens. The second, smaller story called Moonlight Shadow is a simple story about love lost, love remembered and, in the end, about moving on with one's life.

When my friend Mini sent me this gift, I wanted to immediately loose myself in the pages. I kept thinking it was truly a book I would want to read all in one sitting. I wanted to curl up on a couch and have my two cats sleeping at my feet and how right I was!

Once I started reading, (my husband sound asleep, cats sleeping at my feet, and the house deathly quiet except for the quiet humming of the refrigerator), I was immediately drawn into Mikage Sakurai's world.

Banana Yoshimoto uses luscious descriptions of food and kitchens. She describes people and places with such poignancy, you truly feel connected to them. Her thoughts burst onto each page with such honesty, you cannot help but fall in love with her innocent, charming writing style.

There are life and death issues in "Kitchen," we can all relate to. Her evocative writing will fill you with nostalgia for some of the cooking spaces you have perhaps left behind. Mostly I love my grandmother's kitchen best. The familiar creak of the oven door, the scooting sound of the chairs as we sit for a cup of tea, and the racks of cookbooks patiently waiting on the shelves. To imagine this kitchen without my grandmother was to imagine the entire house without a soul, without love, and without peace.

This is the emotion Mikage feels as she sleeps on the floor in her grandmother's kitchen. After loosing her grandmother, Mikage is lost, lonely and depressed. Her soul longs for the comfort of another soul who can understand her torment. She feels as though death surrounds her and she cannot escape.

For a time she finds happiness with Yuichi, who knew her grandmother well. He is living with his mother Eriko. Mikage goes to live with them until she can learn to handle her emotions.

Yuichi's girlfriend is not impressed, even though the relationship is purely platonic on the surface. Deep within their souls they are soon to become twins, bearing the scars of a common life experience.

Banana Yoshimoto's writing is fresh, real and casts a spell on the reader. I would have preferred the book to end on page 105. She does truly seize hold of your heart and I wanted the book to either end or I wanted one more chapter in place of Moonlight Shadow.

I found the second book did not belong with the beautiful yet somewhat unfinished story of Yuichi and Mikage. I think you will agree. In fact, I suggest that when you get to page 105, you close the book and come back later to read the second story.

I find her writing to be most inspirational when she has fully developed her characters. To truly appreciate this book, you must love food and kitchens, that is the magic.

~The Rebecca Review

I ordered this book after reading great reviews since I was in the middle of trying to work out the purchase of a turn of the century home where space was the size of just that, turn of the century. The Amazon review picked all the best photo's in the book and the only pages worth reading in it, so I bought it. I was extremely disappointed to receive a book that had too many 1980 - 1990's dated, uninspiring interiors and not so much in the way of smart architectural choices to think about, as was advertised.

First of all, I bought this book used and it was not in very good condition. A page that I really wanted to read was missing, for one thing. Unfortunately, I can't recall the seller's name now but I left a bad review when I received no response to my concern.

But anyway, the book itself was very good. My husband and I are remodeling a house built in 1949 which used every nook and cranny for some function. It doesn't fit the modern concept of lots of empty space, so we are working on creating a little more empty space while using some of Susanka's ideas for making certain areas more compact. We are expanding our kitchen into a porch, but the ceiling in the porch is lower and this book gave us the idea to just keep it as it is because lowered ceilings add character and are something Frank Lloyd Wright used. I also like her recommendations for wood trim and moulding to warm up rooms and use many windows to bring the outside in. As my title implies, some of the details are pretty outdated such as any picture involving a computer and the kitchen chairs, but that can be overlooked since the overall ideas are still very usable.

This book was absolutely awesome. Beautifully illustrated, excellent content, and I totally agree with the idea that McMansions are not the way to go. I'd much rather have a smaller home that has been personalized to me and made beautiful than some big, cold half-empty McMansion.

The Not So Big House was given me by a craftsman friend who had used it building his new, wonderful home.
I kept this book through my new addition / remodel project of 7 months, using it as the reference for my decisions.
The ideas are sound; easy to understand and implement. I recommend The Not So Big House to anyone embarking on a home building project who loves good design and is on a budget.

I was expecting her projects to downsize to ~1000 square feet. It felt like she was reducing large McMansions to smaller McMansions. Good photographs though!

Had some ok spatterings of information , but overall I found it a bit dissapointing. Its a fairly big book but doesnt seem to really show anthing ground breaking. If I had seen it before hand I wouldn't buy it again. Thats not to say in the right hands this book wouldn't be handy .Has some interesting info on how to make your own hinges, apart from that the rest is pretty standard stuff.

Got this for my husband for his birthday and he loves it. Hasn't had a chance to build anything since, but it will definately come in handy. The quality of the book itself is very good especially for how low the price was. There are good pictures to follow and very thorough information and directions.

Given the scope of this work, I'm not sure what I expected, but I feel like, after reading a book on furniture and cabinet making, I ought to have some idea of how to construct a basic cabinet. While this book covers a wide variety of general techniques and types of joints commonly used, at no point does it tie them together; it discusses possibilities, but never synthesizes them into anything tangible, leaving me, at least, wondering which of the book's assorted grab bag of clever tricks might be combined to actually produce a cabinet. I already knew what a sliding dovetail was before I bought this book; what I sought to learn was the architecture and structural elements needed to design a cabinet. Strangely, I feel like I'm no closer to that knowledge than I was before I read the book.

I found this book very disappointing. The pictures were very pretty but that is pretty much it. The illustrations were confusing and of little use. It gives too much of an overview and no real specifics. I found woodworking for dummies to be a much better book for the beginning woodworker.

I don't buy many woodworking books because most, especially the ones sold by home centers, aren't very good. They lack detail, they're incomplete, and I often get the feeling that they're just cranked out without much thought. But this one caught my eye in a local bookstore and I'm glad I bought it.

First of all, the book can be used either as a reference or as a complete primer on woodworking. There's lots of information there, but not so much that you get bogged down. At first I just used it to brush up on specific topics, and then I went back to the first page and started reading it straight through. It's well-written; words are used well and not wasted. Photography is superb. Despite the reference to generic "Furniture" in the title, the book is heavily oriented toward cabinets, which it covers in great detail, even to the point of describing how to construct multi-light glass doors.

The first few pages are a little off-putting as the author describes what he considers an appropriate collection of tools and a space to put them in; unfortunately, many woodworking books assume that the reader has acres of space in which to set up a shop. As you read on, though, the text is more friendly toward the hobbyist.

In short, this is a great woodworking reference or tutorial. Don't be put off by the beginning of the book; it gets better. And the Amazon price for this book is much lower than the $40 I paid in the bookstore.

THIS IS A LITTLE TECHNICAL TO UNDERSTAND, AND SOME OF THE GRAPHS AND CHARTS DONT HAVE ENOUGH EXPLANATION TO THE AVERAGE PERSON . I EXPECTED A EASY TO FOLLOW BASIC BOOK ON HOW TO , POSSIBLY MAKE YOUR OWN, IN A PICTURE OR ILLUSTRATIVE WAY . THE BOOK TOUCHED ON IT, BUT WAS TOO COMPLEX FOR A BASIC BOOK .. I SAW NO IDEA OF HOW BIG THE ELECTRICAL USE OF THE AVERAGE HOUSE WAS, SO I DONT KNOW HOW LARGE A WINDMILL MUST BE MADE OR PURCHASED.. PROBABLY A GREAT BOOK FOR ELECTRICIANS ,BUT NOT BASIC ENOUGH FOR ME .I WAS WANTING TO MAKE MY OWN ( FROM SCRATCH )AND HAVE THE BOOK TELL ME WHAT I NEEDED ..

Very good starter book for any interested in getting up to speed on Wind power solutions.

I found this to be a good starting point to learn about wind energy. It starts out with basics and goes into a little theory, but if you're looking for a book that goes into a lot of depth, you may find this book a little disappointing. Just remember, it's Wind Energy Basics, and no more.

Additionally, it provides a background in the development of windmills and lists quite a few brands and their specs. You'll discover quickly that small or micro windmills won't make you energy independent and regulations make it almost impossible to errect one unless you have lots of land and understanding neighbors.

It's a good primer that I would recommend to people who are looking for a starting point on the subject.

Wind Energy Basics: A Guide to Small and Micro Wind Systems by Paul Gipe is an excellent overview of wind power turbines both past and present. It also does an excellent job of acquainting readers with the major components of a Wind Renewable Energy (RE) system and the functions thereof. In the opinion of this reviewer, the book does what it is intended to do: provide an overview a wind-based RE system and give the reader a basic understanding of same.

However, as other reviewers have noted that Wind Energy Basics is not for the technical mind. The title does lack the step by step, do it yourself instructions that one would need to put his own wind-based RE into operation.

Those who are already familiar with wind-based RE systems and are in search of a complete nuts and volts guide will probably take little away from this title. A better choice would probably be the more complete, much larger "Wind Power: Renewable Energy for Home, Farm and Business", also by Paul Gipe. ISBN 1-931498-14-8. At nearly 500 pages, I have yet to come across a more complete reference on the subject of Wind Power.

All in all, Gipe's Wind Energy Basics: A Guide to Small and Micro Wind Systems is a good starting point for the homeowner who is considering the possibility of buying or installing an RE system for the first time. If you are not extremely knowledgeable about RE systems and are in search of a book that will introduce you to the components and technologies, Wind Energy Basics will serve you well.

As the title of Paul Gipe's text suggests, this book addresses the concerns of people who are interested in smaller wind turbines. Gipe fleshes out in careful detail the process of setting up a small wind turbine in many setttings (agricultural, residential, and even small wind farms), battery and conversion effeciency, how one can sell back excess electricity, what states offer tax incentives, etc. The writing style is generally pleasant, since Gipe avoids jargon and organizes his subjects well. Readers who want a scientific-based text on wind-power engineering should seek a different book.

This was a favorite when I was a child and now my child can enjoy it.

If your child loves the first four, the fun continues in the rest of the series.

I purchased this for my granddaughter for Christmas so I can't really comment yet on the books except to say that it arrived in perfect condition and in a timely manner. I'm sure she will enjoy them very much.

Here I am again looking for the list like Box 1-4 They don't say what books are in them. Could somebody plus let me know what books these are? Thanks for your time.

Do you want to read an amazing book? Well you should read the Box Car Children. There are four young children and they are really poor. They do not have food. Then they do not know what to do. Well, they run away from their house because they thought their dad did not like them. They found a boxcar. So they thought that the boxcar might take them somewhere, but it didn't pull them. The father was trying to find them but they did not want to be found.

What I like is that when they try to find food and on their way they found a hound. I like that part because I like dogs and I think they're cute.

I recommend this book to other readers who are in 2nd grade or 3rd grade because it is just right.

Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook The book itself was obviously in excellent condition hence the five stars, when it left the seller but sadly, due to inadequate packaging two of the corners had been exposed and badly damaged in the post. The book was also received quicker than I anticipated.

Hi, I purchased this book since it was selling as new, but when I received it, it was a damaged product. Even though I didn't get what I expected, I send the book back and I got my money back. He was very responsive and very communicative and quickly in returning my money. My only disappointment was that I ended up with no book.

I love this book. As someone who hasn't been baking too long, this has helped me a lot. I normally don't get too hung up on pictures in cookbooks. Yes, they're nice if they're there, but I can live without them. In this case, they are extremely helpful because there are so many different desserts in this book that I had never even heard of before! Luckily every single recipe in this book has a beautiful photo. I also like the sections about baking equiptment. Those sections helped me tremendously when I registered for my wedding. I knew all the pans and gadgets I was missing and was able to ask for them all. Some of the chapters are a little more intimidating (at least to me who doesn't have a lot of baking experience) like the breads and pastries, but I can see that the recipes are written so clearly that with some patience and re-reading, anyone can master this stuff!

So far I've tried several of the cookie recipes. My personal favorites were the gingerbread cookies (they come out PERFECT), and the oatmeal raisin, which are without a doubt the most delicious oatmeal raisin cookies I have ever eaten in my entire life. I also made the ricotta cheesecake last year at Thanksgiving as an alternative dessert and it was moist, fluffy, and divine with a very subtle lemon flavor. The only recipe I had some trouble with was the brownies. Mine came out rather dry, but it may have been the oven I was using because I made them at someone else's house. Perhaps their oven was hotter than mine, or maybe the chocolate I used had too high a cocoa content. But I'm looking forward to trying them again.

I initially picked up this book because I wanted to learn to bake. Had I known better I probably would have started a little more slowly with something more demonstrative. I don't think this is necessarily the ultimate handbook on baking since the instructions are pretty brief, but I admit they are helpful, and I think I'm a much better baker now because of this book. All over it's just a beautiful book and the recipes inside are sure to impress.

Every recipe I have made has been great. And so much cheaper than the cover price. Love this book.

Martha has got it goin' on. this book is beautiful, great pictures and recipes. i am pretty sure i put on a couple of pounds just by looking at the pictures :)

i have tried a couple of recipes and loved them. prep your ingrediants beforehand, so you don't have to worry about having enough vanilla or eggs (i speak from experience :\ )

this book is worth purchasing just to add to your collection of timeless cookbooks. it has techniques and advice that will help anyone reach a better understanding of baking.

This book explains everything you need to know about fold forming for metal used in art and jewelry.
Wonderful pictures and great explanations of how to do form folding...

The word was on the street with jewelry designers about this book. When I ordered it, it was already backordered. Great pictures and written instructions. Can't wait to get my hammers humming.

This book gives every possible way to fold form. There are many techniques and lots of pictures. I would have given it 5 stars if there had been more pictures of finished products with fold forms.

In his book, This Beautiful Mess, Pastor Rick McKinley shares his thought about what it might be like to live a faith that acknowledges that the "Kingdom of God" that Jesus proclaimed is not just something for the future but is here, in this messy and broken world, right now. In boiling down a good deal of complex theological thought into prose that is accessible to the average reader, McKinley shows how it is possible to live a life of faith in a way that moves beyond a "Jesus is coming back someday to take me home" sort of mentality to see God's saving work in our lives and our world right now.

There are two places where I felt the book spoke most clearly and movingly. The first was in the chapter ending "Voices" sections where the poetry and writings of individuals associated with McKinley's Imago Dei community are shared with the reader to look into the messy but profound lives of people trying to live kingdom lives. The other portion of the book that seemed to most clearly speak of this were the four or so chapters that form the third section of the book. In this section, McKinley discusses several specific applications of kingdom living by sharing the work of those who see the reality of God's inbreaking grace in this present world. These stories are powerfully encouraging.

In closing, I would recommend This Beautiful Mess to any person of faith who wants to see what Jesus might have meant when He said that "the Kingdom of God IS like.." McKinley's writing bridges between the academic discussions of an "Already, Not Yet" Kingdom and what it looks like to live in a way that knows the reality of God and His love in today's messy creation.

No wonder Donald Miller is such a great writer! He gets to listen to Rick Mckinley EVERY WEEK!
This book was an awesome read. The first two sections were really good, but they were just the appetizers for the real meat of the book, the third section. I had to readjust my whole Christian way of thinking! Well, not really, but I did learn some great stuff.
This book is well worth the small price! But it! Read it! Pass it on!

This book struck me as profound and unsettling at the same time. McKinley challenges the reader to transcend traditional Christianity and live out the gospel the way it was meant to be lived. I resonated with his "beautiful mess" motif in that the Christian life is messy--filled with mistakes and regrets.

Yet, the answer is not in abandoning historic Christianity. Rather, embracing the traditions of Christianity that God is working through, and developing a kaleidoscopic Christianity that appreciates every limb beneath the head of Christ.

Shameless plug--check out my new book Sex, Sushi, and Salvation: Thoughts on Intimacy, Community, and Eternity

This is so brilliant yet easy to understand. This world is simultaneously beautiful, because God created it, but a mess, because sin entered in and oh yes, because we live here and make mistakes.

I learned so much about the kingdom of God and the fact that we're living IN it, not waiting FOR it.

A really, really, really great read...see for yourself!

This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley is a book about living in the present world's mess in the way Jesus described the Kingdom of God. Rick is the pastor of Imago Dei Community in Portland , Oregon and he challenges the reader to go beyond the traditional religiousity of churches and get down and dirty among all the people at hand and practice faith and gratitude every day and experience the Kingdom of God at hand in doing so, even in the worst circumstances and among undesirable people.

This was given as a gift and the mother-to-be was very excited to receive it and has looked at it almost daily.

I recommend this book for anyone searching for a name for a new baby, or even for a story they are writing. The lists (of popular names, according to categories) are especially helpful in narrowing down to the right name.

I draw, write and play plenty of games with character creation, so I've been looking for a name book.

I'm quite happy with it. The lists at the front are quite handy and while I'm not having a baby, I think they gave some good advice at the start of the book.

After that, the names are kind of jumbled. Besides the lists (each with ten names for each gender), the names are either under boy or girl. I wish they had been organized by country.

We picked the book up as an impulse item while starting our baby registry at one of the big box stores.

The up front information on things to think about is valuable. But the bulk of the book seems to be a data dump of any possible word that could be used as a name. As another person observed - too much filler. Some of the top ten lists were pretty weak - top gangster names, top zodiac names etc.... There are little side notes (symbols) next to many names, but we couldn't find the key to let us know what the symbols meant.

Kind of a fun book for conversations, but far too many nonsensical offerings to sift through. And somehow in the 100,001 names such as Hemp or Turbo she missed Lars? Odd.

This is an amazing resource book with lots of lists, the meanings of all the names and really good introductory materials (that were very helpful). 100,001 names is a lot of names, so having some ways to think about them is very helpful. So were the lists of most popular names in categories such as country, ethnicity and religion. And I really liked the attributes of a perfect name (considerations such as sound, family names, nicknames, meaning, stereotypes, putting together first and last names, etc.). A tremendously useful book for naming babies (and even pets or characters in novels.) And fantastic shower gift.