Perhaps my biggest news:
The final verses of Revelation. I officially finished reading through the entire Bible in 90 Days! What a wonderful experience.
In other news, I'm still running. I went a bit extra yesterday so that I could meet my goal of 31 miles in March. About halfway through the run, I officially crossed the 100 mile mark for the year! Only 265 more miles to go...
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
TOS Review: Latin for Children

About five or six years ago, I read about homeschooling using a classical approach, and I became convinced that we should study Latin. Addison was thrilled and was perhaps even more excited about learning Latin than I was. All went well for the first few weeks, but then, well, life happened and Latin didn't. Fast forward a few years and Addison was still interested in learning Latin. I chose a different program for her, and well, life happened again. Eventually, we gave up and declared our family Latin dropouts. Our latest review product proves that we can learn Latin and, perhaps more importantly, that we can have fun learning Latin.
Classical Academic Press advertises "Classical Subjects, Creatively Taught." I agree 100%.
Their Latin for Children program is the first Latin program that we've been able to stick with. A big part of it is because it's just so enjoyable. Instead of always just practicing vocabulary by drilling each other on our own, we use the DVD to practice it as chants. These chants are so catchy that I find myself singing, "Amo, amas, amat..." when I'm folding laundry or driving to baseball practice. The DVD lessons give a clear, but not overly boring, explanation of the new grammar concepts to learn. Brennan is a big fan of the video extras on the DVDs. He always hopes that our new lesson will have another episode in the ongoing puppet show, "How the West was Unum." Addison understands the Latin phrases but doesn't necessarily appreciate the dry humor; Brennan and I think they're hysterical.

Our family received the Latin for Children Mastery Bundle which includes the Primer (workbook) and teacher's manual, the Activity Book, the lessons on DVDs, and the History Reader. We spend one day watching the new chants and the lesson on the DVD. For the next three or four days, we repeat the chant portion of the DVD and work on the activities in the main workbook. I usually spend one of those days reviewing the grammar lesson with Brennan to make sure he understands all of the new concepts. He often needs more practice to learn the vocabulary words and grammar concepts than Addison so he gets to do the "fun" practice in the Activity Book -- crossword puzzles, mazes, word searches, fun diagrams, etc. It usually takes us a full week to work through each lesson. Addison (7th grade) could perhaps move a bit more quickly through the materials, but they're not necessarily too easy for her. One lesson per week gives Brennan (4th grade) and me ample time to practice the new vocabulary words.
I know that many people have specific preferences when it comes to choosing a Latin program. I always try to focus my reviews on my family's experience, but I'd be remiss if I didn't share a few more basics about Latin for Children. We did not find a heavy Christian influence in the materials. The first chapter Maxim was a verse taken from the Latin Vulgate; it looks like all the rest in this level are famous Roman sayings. I also know that some people have a strong preference for either Classical or Ecclesiastical pronunciations. The DVDs include identical lessons for each style so that you can learn your preferred pronunciation.
The Latin for Children Mastery Bundle for level A sells for $99.95. All of the items are also available separately. Classical Academic Press also offers Latin instruction for younger children with Song School Latin and for older children with Latin Alive. Other homeschool parents on The Old Schoolhouse Crew have been reviewing the various Latin options, and you can find those additional reviews on the Crew blog.
As for my family, I suspect that our Latin for Children materials will rank as one of our favorite products this year. Latin is now a part of our regular school days, and I look forward to seeing how much we all learn as we work through the three levels that Classical Academic Press offers.
I received a free Latin For Children Mastery Bundle as a member of the 2010 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, and I received no other compensation. In return, I agreed to give an honest review of the book and how it worked for my homeschool family.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Timberdoodle Review: Daily Word Problems

Brennan and I were given the chance to do a product review for Timberdoodle, and we received Evan Moor's Daily Word Problems workbook.
This affordable workbook is divided into one-hundred eighty short assignments, one for each day of a 36 week school year. The questions for each week all follow a theme, for instance, making sandwiches, science experiments, astronomy, sharks, etc. The assignments for Mondays through Thursdays are typically short and only require a single operation to answer the question.
I really like the way that the workbook is set up to include plenty of room to work out the problem. Brennan's not a big fan of showing his work for his math assignments. If he needed to go get a scrap of paper to work this morning's multiplication question, he would've just tried to do it all in his head and probably would've gotten the wrong answer.
On Fridays, the question involves a longer problem or problems. Often these word problems include a chart or graph with the needed information. For instance, one Friday's assignment give the costs of sandwich ingredients and the menu prices. The student calculates the profits earned when they sell 1, 10, or 50 sandwiches. The final question that day asks what the profit per sandwich would be in the price of turkey slices goes up 3 cents. This is the kind of problem that shows my kids why we're doing math everyday.
Sometimes the Friday assignment is a logic mind-bender -- the type where you are given a series of statements and you have to figure out which of the four people caught which types of fish. Those sorts of problems have always been a favorite of my older daughter's, and she's a bit jealous that Brennan gets to do them as part of his schoolwork.
Knowing how to use math in our everyday world is the most important math skills that I could teach my children. I'm thankful for a product that helps me accomplish that goal.
Timberdoodle offers Evan Moor Daily Word Problems for grades 1-6; each one at a discounted price of $12.25. They also offer a wide variety of other Math options for homeschool students.
As a product reviewer for Timberdoodle, I received a free copy of the Daily Word Problems workbook. I received no other compensation, and I did not promise to write a favorable review. I always aim to show how a product either did or did not work for my children or for my family.
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Sunday, March 27, 2011
Homeschool Mother's Journal - 10

In my life this week...
I had a rough week, emotionally. I've moved umpteen times (yes, that's an exact count), and there's always a few things that I miss when I move somewhere else. This week, I missed Lauren's old doctors. I cannot express how frustrating it is to be in a new location and to have unreasonably long waits to see specialists simply because your child is a new patient. I'm praying that we'll be able to make some progress in terms of her medical issues this week.
In our homeschool this week...
I'm recommitting to our Read-Aloud time. When our days get busy and we spend too much time on-the-go, the time we spend reading together often gets pushed aside. One of my blogging friends has started posting weekly updates about what she's reading to her children. I'll be joining her this Thursday.
Places we're going and people we're seeing...
Brennan's baseball season has started up again, and I know he'll have at least a practice or two this week. Then, we're all going camping with the Cub Scouts this weekend. The last time we went camping as a family, we had severe thunderstorms. The last time Brennan and Tim went camping, they had thunderstorms all night. I'm praying for good weather next weekend.
My favorite thing this week...
This afternoon I went for a long run -- 6 miles. I've figured out that 90% of running is mental. I really wanted to go farther than I have before, and I just did. I even managed to keep a reasonable (for me) pace for the whole time. I need to run 5 more miles by Thursday so that I can keep on track for my March goal. I'm already up-to-date for my yearly goal progress.
What's working/not working for us...
I was once again reminded this week that my job as a teacher includes checking all of the work that my kids do. When I'm not constantly checking their assignments, the quality goes way, way down.
Homeschool thoughts/questions I have...
Earlier this week, I was excited to find out that it was almost time for the much-anticipated catalog from one of my favorite Homeschool companies. I was actually quite disappointed this year. Instead of being encouraged by the photos and testimonials, I was discouraged. I have to keep reminding myself that the families that look so perfect in the catalog don't always have perfect days.
A photo, video or quote to share...
"This is the stuff that drives me crazy. This is the stuff that's getting to me lately. In the middle of my little mess, I forget how big I'm blessed. This is the stuff that gets under my skin, but I've got to trust you know exactly what You're doing. Might not be what I would choose, but this is the stuff You use."
* Francesca Battistelli's song "This Is the Stuff"
Friday, March 25, 2011
TOS Review: BigIQkids

Recently Brennan and I have been exploring a website that could be beneficial to any elementary or middle school student -- homeschooled or not homeschooled. BigIQkids is an online program packed full of activities to help your child with spelling, vocabulary, math, and geography. As the student completes lesson activities, he earns coins that can then be spent on reward games.
My favorite part of the math program is that you can assign problems for more than one operation at a time. Most of the drill programs we've used in the past only allow you to drill one set of facts at a time. I like to challenge Brennan by having the problems change throughout. The program does warn the student that they are switching to a new operation. I also like the way that the problems are not limited to just single digit facts. Lately, may of Brennan's problems have included two or three digit numbers. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Brennan shares my enthusiasm for math practice that's more difficult than what he's used before.
Both the vocabulary and the spelling programs allow a parent to customize the program and use it to reinforce the child's regular schoolwork. I chose to let the program pick grade-appropriate words for Brennan. He enjoyed the various spelling activities to help him learn the new words, especially playing Hangman, but he was a bit annoyed that he had to score a 100% on the spelling test before he was allowed to move on to another set of words. I was pleased to see that he was challenged with words that are significantly longer (but not necessarily more difficult) than the ones he's working on in our regular spelling curriculum.
I was excited to see the geography program offered on BigIQkids. A few months ago, I discovered that Brennan couldn't identify many states on a US map. He's not yet at a point where he can accurately identify all of them, but he's well on his way. Before long, he'll move on to sections of this program that teach the spelling of all the states and then the capitols. As a side note, I found the US map to be quite irritating -- the map is sort of cartoonish, and I was annoyed at the way some of the states were distorted. Brennan, however, seems to do okay switching between the BigIQkids version and the more accurately drawn maps that we also use.
What did Brennan think? I was surprised that Brennan found the reward games to be exciting. He's rather picky when it comes to computer games. When he first started using BigIQkids, he would do extra lessons just so that he'd have more game coins. Over time, though, the promise of game coins wasn't necessarily motivating enough for him to do more work than I required. I suspect that he'd feel the same way about any program.
What did I think? I am impressed with all that BigIQkids offers. I'm particularly pleased to see the programs that will continue to challenge students over time and won't be outgrown as soon as the basic facts are memorized. I appreciate the way that I received update emails when Brennan moved on to a new level in math or geography. I also received the scores and a list of misspelled words every time he took a spelling test.
I think every parent should check out BigIQkids; they have so many free games that would be helpful for elementary and middle school students. They offer premium programs that provide more record keeping, advancement based on performance, email reports to parents, and more. The cost to upgrade to the premium versions varies, and you can find a full list of the prices here. It costs $99 per year to upgrade one student to the premium versions of all four programs.
If you'd like to read what other homeschool families thought about their time spent using BigIQkids, please visit The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew blog here.
I received a one year premium membership to BigIQkids for free as a member of the 2010 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, and I received no other compensation. In return, I agreed to give an honest review of the materials and how they worked for my homeschool family.
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Review
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
TOS Review: ARTistic Pursuits

I often hear parents talk about the idea of homeschooling and wondering how they'll ever be able to teach their children math or science when they get older. I think I've got math down, and I'm not too worried about science. What I never thought I'd be able to teach was art. Crafts, maybe. Art, not so much. Thank goodness that I've found a wonderful art program so that my poor children will not grow up art-deprived.
Recently, Addison was given the opportunity to use part of ARTistic Pursuits Junior High Art Program. Book One of this level covers the elements of art and composition. It is primarily a drawing program. They also offer a second book for Junior High students that covers color theory and composition.

As I read through this book, I was very, very impressed! This isn't just a "how to draw" book. This is real art instruction. The lessons cover such topics as space, line, form, balance, perspective, proportion and more. Furthermore, the student learns art appreciation and art history along with art skills.
I'm particularly pleased to see the wide variety of artwork that is presented as examples. I've never been exposed to much artwork other than the Western classical painters. This curriculum includes artwork from all over the world and from many different time periods. There are several Japanese paintings, Chinese paper cuttings, an Aboriginal tree bark painting, and South African baskets used as examples.
The book also includes lots of examples of student work. As a homeschool student, Addison often compares her art projects to famous masterpieces. It's encouraging to see the Student Galleries containing works done by other students.
Addison is really enjoying getting to use these materials. She's seen significant improvement in her drawing abilities just in the past month or so that she's been working through the book. She credits ARTistic pursuits with teaching her to add details and texture to her drawings. She also learned how to look closely at what she wants to draw instead of just trying to draw something that she imagines in her head. I'm quite impressed with the drawings that she's been doing, and I talked her into letting me show off one of them.
All of the ARTistic Pursuits books are written for the student, not the teacher. Addison appreciates this because she doesn't have to wait until I carve out time in my schedule to help her through the lesson and then get her started on a project.
The Junior High ARTistic Pursuits book includes 16 units with 4 lessons each. If we continue to do art lessons twice a week, then we will have enough art instruction for an entire year. The book itself costs $42.95, and we needed to purchase a sketch pad, some art pencils, and a few other materials in order to do the projects.
ARTistic Pursuits offers curriculum for students of all ages -- preschool through Senior High. Sixty other crew members have also been using various levels of ARTistic Pursuits materials over the past few months. You can find all the reviews on The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog.
I received a copy of Artistic Pursuits' Junior High Book 1 for free as a member of the 2010 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, and I received no other compensation. In return, I agreed to give an honest review of the book and how it worked for my homeschool family.

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Review
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Project 365 (Week Eleven -- more or less)
Perhaps not a picture per day, but pictures nonetheless. Enjoy!
Monday, March 14th, Pi day (3.14): We had Shepherd's Pi for dinner, and when we were out later, Lauren, Brennan, and I went through the McDonald's drive-thru for apple and cherry pi. Tim took a dish of Shepherd's Pi to work with him to enjoy at midnight; his coworkers called him a nerd.
Wednesday, March 16th: Lauren playing tee ball in the front yard, and Brennan chatting on the phone with one of his friends from Virginia. I think cordless phones were made for people like him.
Friday, March 18th: Wye Mountain, Arkansas
Saturday, March 19th: Pinewood Derby Race, Brennan's car came in 3rd in his Den. The whole system was computer generated and calculated the speeds down to the hundredth of a second. You can see a picture of his car winning second place in one of the heats.
Monday, March 14th, Pi day (3.14): We had Shepherd's Pi for dinner, and when we were out later, Lauren, Brennan, and I went through the McDonald's drive-thru for apple and cherry pi. Tim took a dish of Shepherd's Pi to work with him to enjoy at midnight; his coworkers called him a nerd.
Wednesday, March 16th: Lauren playing tee ball in the front yard, and Brennan chatting on the phone with one of his friends from Virginia. I think cordless phones were made for people like him.
Friday, March 18th: Wye Mountain, Arkansas
Saturday, March 19th: Pinewood Derby Race, Brennan's car came in 3rd in his Den. The whole system was computer generated and calculated the speeds down to the hundredth of a second. You can see a picture of his car winning second place in one of the heats.
The Homeschool Mother's Journal - 9

In my life this week...
It was a crazy week, with most of it trying to balance our normally chaotic life with my husband's time on night shift. Thankfully their big exercise deployment is over, and he's back working during the daytime.
My ankle is strong enough that I'm back to running my regular distances -- this week I squeezed in 8.25 miles. I'm a smidge behind my March goal, but on track for my mile-a-day goal for this year. I was able to spend Lauren's therapy sessions this week doing my Bible in 90 days reading. I think I'm still caught up and on track to finish by the beginning of April. It's been interesting to read the gospels through one after another and compare each writer's account of Jesus's life, what they chose to include, etc.
In our homeschool this week...
Maybe I'm the one that needs to pay more attention to our schoolwork; I always have trouble thinking of an answer for this question. This week, both of the big kids wrote adapted versions of an Aesop's fable, and I was quite impressed with their work. There's no lack of creativity around here.
Places we're going and people we're seeing...
This week is Spring Break for the schools in our area, and we're planning a couple of get-togethers with some friends. The beauty of homeschooling is that we'll be able to finish most of our regular assignments and still get to goof off in the afternoons. A few of our regular evening activities are also cancelled this week.
My favorite thing this week...
On Friday afternoon, we took a field trip. My kids thought it was another of my crazy ideas -- an hour drive (each way) just to see a tiny church with a lot of daffodils. In the end, I think we all had fun. A stop at Sonic for Happy Hour was well appreciated on the way home, too.
What's working/not working for us...
I think we've settled on some good materials to use this year. Now we just have to keep going, even when the days get sunny enough to make us dream of Summer.
Homeschool thoughts/questions I have...
I'm starting to plan for next year. Right now, I'm spending a lot of time trying to figure out my priorities for next year. As much as I'd like to be able to devote all the time in the world to each and every subject, I know that's unrealistic. Instead, I'm looking for figure out what each child needs most for the next year, and I'll make that our first priority when looking at curriculum options.
A photo to share...
Our crazy field trip
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The Homeschool Mother's Journal - 8

In my life this week...
I'd say it was a busy week, but I fear I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. I did juggle a few extra appointments this week.
I'm thankful that Lauren's healthy enough to be back in her therapy. Not only is she making steady progress, but I enjoy having the break where I can sit and catch up on my Bible reading. I'm now officially caught back up on my Bible in 90 Days reading plan, and we've moved into the New Testament. I can already tell that reading these familiar passages will be significantly easier than the past few weeks of trudging through the prophets.
I'm also getting back on track with my running goals. I twisted my ankle rather badly towards the end of February, and I haven't felt strong enough to be back out running. Earlier this week, I found one of my husbands ankle braces, laced it up, and managed to go three miles. This afternoon, I went four. My ankle feels fine when I'm running, I'm just afraid that I'd twist it again if I accidentally stepped on a rock or a buckeye out of one of the trees or perhaps even an invisible obstacle (how I hurt it most recently).
In our homeschool this week...
I think this is one of the hardest times of the year to be a homeschool parent. In the midst of all the excitement of homeschool catalogs arriving, I have to remember to use the materials that I chose for this year. I guess it's a bit of a "grass is greener" situation -- our current materials are mostly working well, we're doing some really cool elective stuff for reviews, and we have plenty of choices on our bookshelves. I guess it's just not as exciting as seeing the new options.
Places we're going and people we're seeing...
I don't exactly know yet. My husband is working night shifts this week (rare and unexpected for us). Our house isn't very conducive to resting when the kids are around so I have a feeling that we'll be taking a few impromptu field trips this week.
My favorite thing this week...
I love seeing my children worship God. This morning I could watch all three of them singing, "How Great is Our God," and it warmed my heart.
What's working/not working for us...
I'm learning to write specific assignments down for the big kids and to go over them in detail so that neither of them can claim that they "forgot" or didn't know what to do. I'm also learning to check certain computer programs to see if they've actually logged into them recently.
Homeschool thoughts/questions I have...
I'm already starting to put together a plan for next year. Some of the decisions are easy, but I still haven't sorted through all our options for other subjects. A funny moment this week was when I got a package from Christian Book Distributors. Somebody mentioned at dinner that it had come earlier, and I told Addison it was for her. She excitedly ripped open the cardboard, but sadly, she wasn't quite so excited when she realized it was next year's science curriculum CD.
A photo to share...
Addison asked me to French braid part of her hair this morning, and she looked so pretty. I didn't get a picture of her before church, but I took this one when we were outside after lunch.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Project 365 (Week Nine)
Monday, February 28th: What happens when two creative kids stop arguing long enough to actually work together. Good thing that doesn't happen often.
Tuesday, March 1st (am): Scooter riding before physical therapy. She watched Special Agent Oso teach the "Three Healthy Steps" about scooter riding.
Tuesday, March 1st (pm): After I refused to let her dig up the flower gardens, Lauren settled for playing with buckets of water.
Wednesday, March 2nd: Lauren's been trying to jump rope and hula hoop lately. Her physical therapist told her to try jump roping with a hula hoop. Success!
Thursday, March 3rd: Addison's "before" smile. She had braces put on about an hour after this picture.
Friday, March 4th: Brennan packing up for a Boy Scout Camping weekend
Saturday and Sunday, March 5th and 6th: I left the camera with Tim so that he could take pictures at the campout. Guess how many pictures I have to share?
TOS Review: Reading Kingdom

Even though Lauren is not quite ready for formal reading lessons, I have collected quite a few different reading programs. Most of them are based on teaching phonics skills.
Recently I had the opportunity to review a reading program that comes from an entirely different perspective. Reading Kingdom is primarily a whole word approach to reading, but it goes much farther than just teaching a child to recognize sight words.
If you'd like to read more about the basic philosophy behind Reading Kingdom's instruction, they offer a pdf download that explains how they differ from other reading systems. You can find their full explanation here.
There is a full description of Reading Kingdom available on their website here so I'll simply walk you through our experience with Reading Kingdom. I used it with Lauren (just turned 5) and Brennan (age 10, probably an average reader for his age).
Lauren started with Keyboard and Mouse Training. The program recommends that most kids spend a week or two in this area. Lauren is fairly proficient with using the mouse and can locate most letters on a keyboard. I think she only spent a few sessions working in this area.
Her first skills assessment placed her in the pre-reading activities -- Seeing Sequences and Letter Land.


Brennan used the Letter Land section for a while, and he found it a bit frustrating. His problems weren't with typing, but with following the directions and doing it exactly right. Sometimes there was a pause before he was allowed to type, and he wanted to start before the program was ready.
There were several days when we started that this program was a real struggle for Lauren concentration wise. I suspect that she's just a bit too young to focus on doing exactly what the program requires. The lessons are relatively short, but they seem based on getting a certain amount of questions correct. On the days that she bounced around the computer, the session seemed to take forever because it was waiting for her to answer without being prompted multiple times. I found that it worked best when I sat beside her and redirected her attention back to the computer.
Brennan moved through the Letter Land section fairly quickly and took his first skills assessment. It tested both recognition of the words and spelling/typing the words. Again he was somewhat frustrated with the way he had to pay close attention to what was being asked and then type accurately at the correct time. I think he would've done better if he had been allowed to self-correct his typos or spelling mistakes before the answer was checked.
The program is divided into 5 levels with roughly 150 words in each level (Level 1 has less). The program estimates that it will take 10-15 weeks to complete each level.
Once Brennan got the hang of answering the assessment questions, he tested into Level 5. His lessons are working on spelling skills as much as they are reading skills. For instance, in a recent lesson, he needed to type, "As long as the water is not cold, the kids can swim there." The entire sentence is shown first, and then the student types it as it is dictated word-by-word.
I think this program could really help Brennan learn to focus on all the little things in writing -- things like starting a sentence with a capital letter, remembering the punctuation, not skipping over little words, etc. He gets frustrated that the program counts accidental mistakes as wrong answers, but I'm happy every time the computer gives him the uh-oh sound for not starting the sentence with a capital letter.
When Lauren finished Seeing Sequences and Letter Land, she tested into Level 1. At that point, she could read and spell the names of people in our family (Mom, Dad, Addison, Nana, etc). I don't think she knew any other words.
The program starts by teaching easy nouns like kid, pet, girl, and boy. It also teaches verbs and helping words. After a few weeks in Level 1, Lauren can read sentences such as, "Can the kids talk more?" At the same time, she's learning to type those words.
The activities repeat for each new word that is introduces -- first recognition, then filling in the blanks of a partially completed word, and then later typing the whole word from memory.
For Lauren, I like the idea of using the whole word approach to reading in addition to the phonics work that I will be adding in. Right now, she hasn't picked up on any phonics patterns that would help her remember how to spell a word. Even simple words like "can" or "pet" are memorized groups of letters; she doesn't sound them out to figure out how to spell them.
As I watch Lauren work through this program, I wonder if the biggest issue is that she's still a bit young for formal reading instruction. She can work through the Reading Kingdom exercises to learn a new word, but she might not remember it for the next lesson. I noticed this morning that she spends a lot of her lesson waiting for the program to give her typing prompts for the words she learned a week or so ago. I really think that if she were perhaps 3-6 months older, then she's be able to learn and retain the words that are introduced each session.
Reading Kingdom is available as a month-by-month subscription for $19.99 per month or as an annual subscription for $199.99 per year. There is a free 30-day trial available, and I'd highly recommend trying the program for yourself. After our first 30 days, I really understood the program and saw how it could work well for my children.
As always, if you'd like to see what other homeschool families thought about Reading Kingdom, be sure to visit The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew blog.
I received a subscription to Reading Kingdom for free as a member of the 2010 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, and I received no other compensation. In return, I agreed to give an honest review of the materials and how they worked for my homeschool family.
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