Homeschoolers

Tips and Frequently Asked Questions

TOPS is a superb resource for homeschoolers, because, as you have no doubt recognized, we give simple and inexpensive alternatives to standard science labs. You have some great advantages, but also disadvantages, particular to your homeschool situation. Here you'll find answers to the questions we've been asked most often. If you have a question that doesn't appear on this page, please check our regular FAQ's page -- it may be there!

Click on any question in this list to go to the answer, or scroll down the page to read them all.

Questions? Questions? Questions?

1. (a) I have no science background, and I'm very nervous about trying to teach it. Where do I start?
   (b) What should I do if we have problems with your experiments? Or a question comes up that I can't answer?
2. How much time should I schedule for each TOPS lesson?
3. (a) Will TOPS activities work as a whole science curriculum, or are they meant to be used as supplements?
   (b) Can I use TOPS to meet my state / district educational requirements?
   (c) Will TOPS prepare my child for college?
   
4. How do I find which titles will work best for my children?
   
5. Can you help me find textbooks related to your activities?
   
6. How do your Task Cards differ from your Activity Sheets?
   
7. How similar are your Job Box programs? Do they all use the same materials? And how about the lessons: if I purchase more than one of them, will the activities repeat or overlap?
   
8. Where can I find the "simple materials" needed to do TOPS activities?
   
9. (a) Why don't you make support kits for more of your titles?
   (b) Can I buy partial kits - just an item, or a few, that I need?
   
10. I have children ___ years apart, with very different learning styles. Do I need to get a different curriculum for each of them?
    
11. A group of local parents have formed a purchasing club. Do you offer quantity discounts on your books? How about kits?
    
12. Can my homeschool support group buy just one of everything and trade them around?
    
13. (a) We're using one of your Green Thumbs books. But our seeds didn't sprout! What did we do wrong?
    (b) Our plants aren't growing true leaves - what's the problem?
    (c) Our plants are growing too fast/too slow to match your model answers. How do we adapt?
    (d) Our plants are growing lots of mold. Should we start over?
    
14. You sent me a book with a 1991 copyright. Don't you have a more current version?

Answers! Answers! Answers!

1. (a) I have no science background, and I'm very nervous about trying to teach it. Where do I start?

See question 3, below, for high-school students. But for elementary and junior-high level kids, our favorite titles for science-shy parents and students are:

• ELECTRICITY 32 and MAGNETISM 33, (convenient support kits are available),
• ROCKS AND MINERALS 23, (we strongly recommend you get the support kit for this unit),
• ANIMAL SURVIVAL 37, RADISHES 38, and CORN AND BEANS 39, not necessarily in that order.

Parents and kids send us happy comments about all these books. To blend math and science process skills, try our GET A GRIP Workstation 71 (support materials included).

Almost every student will get off on the right foot with ELECTRICITY 32, though. The materials are usually easy to find (even easier if you order our inexpensive kit), the instructions and teaching notes are simple, and kids get the thrill of instant success doing these fun experiments. (Look, Ma, I can turn on the light!) Some concepts will be a stretch for pre-third-graders, but they will be tickled working along with parents or older siblings, and will happily repeat these activities in greater depth a few years later. This will be true of the other titles, as well. GET A GRIP is a wonderfully flexible program that even preschoolers will "grasp" independently, up to their ability level. Another super book for younger kids, if parents help them build the equipment, is BALANCING 31.

Once your kids get the hang of working independently, they'll probably be eager to try some more challenging units. You'll become a resource person and trouble-shooter, but the kids will be their own teachers. Homeschooling is especially well suited to achieve this noble educational goal!

We list all our titles by approximate order of difficulty in our GRADE LEVEL INDEX. Also, don't hesitate to try the free sample lessons we offer throughout this website. You'll get a feel for our approach (we've changed the format on these samples to suit our website -- check out questions 6 and 7 below, or click on LESSON FORMATS for descriptions of our different formats). And ALL of our books come with friendly, thorough, tested teaching notes to make your job easier. Moderate "expertise" is helpful for only a few of our titles. We can almost guarantee you'll enjoy learning right along with your kids.

One recommendation: you may find yourself nervously trying to follow instructions like a cookbook. DON'T! Homeschools are ideal for TOPS, because you've got flexibility and time to explore the "hows and whys" of what you observe happening. If an experiment doesn't go as projected, relax, observe, hypothesize, and experiment further, if you and your kids are so moved. Your children will learn far more about science than if they simply follow a formula to get the "right" answer. TOPS is ideal for homeschoolers, because we provide a well-constructed scaffold from which your kids can get a longer view, do more real science, and have a great deal more fun than with a standard textbook. Once you and your kids are hooked on discovery, you may want to explore various subjects further on line, in the library, on field trips, or in textbooks.

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1. (b) What should I do if we have problems with your experiments? Or a question comes up that I can't answer?

First, try what we suggest to students when we are testing our materials: Read the instructions again! Be sure you understand what's being asked, and that you haven't skipped over something in the teaching notes. And relax! Good science isn't about getting The Right Answer so much as it's about learning good process.

We also answer some of the most common questions on this page. But if you're really stuck, email our ADMIN/TECH office: tops@canby.com. This is the only part of our operation that can give you answers to this kind of question.

YOU CAN e-mail Ron and Peg with your questions. We will respond to at the earliest opportunity (usually within a day). Please describe your problem as specifically as possible; if we have to ask for clarification, delay happens.

Except in dire emergency, please don't phone us. We want to give the best service possible, but we're a home-based business with a working staff of two. We're not always home, and when we're working, the phone rings at just the wrong time. The other reason: Time Zones! 8:00 a.m. for folks to the east of us is only 5:00, 6:00, or 7:00 a.m. for us.

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2. How much time should I schedule for each TOPS lesson?

Our lessons are designed to fit into a school "class period," so most take approximately an hour, or a bit less. Your children may get so excited about TOPS science that they want to do several activities in a row, perhaps even designing their own experiments and variations along the way. Encourage this if time allows -- it's the essence of great education! A number of folks have reported that they let their kids have a Science Day every week (one mother said her kids enjoy TOPS so much, she uses this as a reward for hard work on other subjects the rest of the week!)

Along with the descriptions of our titles on this website, you'll also find how many lessons are provided in each book.

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3. (a) Will TOPS activities work as a whole science curriculum, or are they meant to be used as supplements?

(b) Can I use TOPS to meet my state / district educational requirements?

(c) Will TOPS prepare my child for college?

This letter from a homeschool mom addresses all three of these questions:

So you've entered the high school years and are looking for guidance on how to integrate TOPS into your daughter's curriculum. I'm glad to share our experience with you. You need to find out what (your state's) requirements are for science. Also be aware that most colleges require a minimum of three science courses, two of which must be lab sciences. (Hello, TOPS!) If you choose to give them more, it will make their application review that much easier!

We were late "discoverers" of TOPS and started using their materials in the 10th grade when we needed to meet the lab requirements for chemistry. We used TOPS again in 11th grade for our physics course. Each of these years, at the beginning of the summer, I reviewed the TOPS offerings using both their grade level and subject (chemistry, biology, physics, etc.) index. I selected enough Task Card Series books in the subject area we planned to cover to provide us a number of lessons close to our 180-day instructional requirement. I must note here that we started with WEIGHING 05 as I knew we would need a scale, and the equal arm balance we made served our needs very well!

In PA the homeschool law requires public schools to loan their textbooks to homeschool families. We always took these texts and used them as a study guideline -- a loose guideline! If we happened to be working with TOPS "Pressure", we might see what the text had to say about the subject. In some cases, the texts were so boring and tedious that we closed the book (I know that you know what I mean!); in other cases the texts offered some enhancement. We also selected portions of the texts, that is to say, the topics that didn't make us cringe, to study in addition to our TOPS task cards. (A unit on mirrors & focal points comes to mind.)

The PA homeschool law also requires that a portfolio of representative work be submitted to the school at the end of every school year, and that requirement has been an asset to us. We took many photographs of experiments in the works; after the photos were processed (weeks or months later!) our daughter organized them in her portfolio with a description of the activities taking place along with the scientific explanation of the activities. An excellent review process!

Our daughter... is not planning a career that requires a strong chemistry or physics background. As a matter of fact, she has no idea what she wants to do, fortunately, this isn't uncommon, and I'm not really worried. She's been accepted to all three of the colleges to which she applied, and I feel that the TOPS materials we used in her high school science studies have given her enough comprehension, with a high measure of enjoyment!, of the subjects to adequately prepare her for any subsequent college requirements.

I hope this information is helpful to you and that you thoroughly enjoy your high school years.
Susan Wagle, Pennsylvania (received via email)

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4. How do I find which titles will work best for my children?

Check out our books Listed by grade level, or by subject area, or by title, or bybook formatto help your investigation. We regret that we don't have the person-power to track state requirements, so contact a local homeschool support group to find that information.

To the extent you are able, let your kids choose what they want to study! Every child, and every family, is different. That's one of the most important reasons you are homeschooling -- you want your children to be taught as the individuals they are. For example, through your own experience and observation, you know which of your children are above or below "average" in reading, math, or science. You know it would be counterproductive to treat every child as "typical." So we congratulate you on your decision to teach them yourself.

We keep hearing that the best homeschool experiences rely on flexibility: giving kids as much choice as possible, and then allowing them to proceed at their own pace. TOPS is a fantastic way for kids to discover how delightful learning can be, and to become excited about their own educations. If you have siblings who play well together, they can frequently work together, saving you time, planning and preparation. The older might help the younger build some of the devices and models that require following written directions and manipulating small parts. Teaching others is an amazingly effective way to learn.

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5. Can you help me find textbooks related to your activities?

We are partial to author/educator Paul G. Hewitt. He has written and charmingly illustrated a clear and highly readable physical science text called CONCEPTUAL PHYSICS, published by Addison-Wesley. We hear that he also has a CD-Rom (and possibly a textbook) called CONCEPTUAL CHEMISTRY. We have enjoyed browsing through his friendly and highly accessible physics book just for entertainment, and occasionally we use it as a reference, too! Sorry, we have no particular recommendations in other areas.

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6. How do your Task Cards differ from your Activity Sheets?

Activity Sheets guide the student through a step-by-step process, with each small step pretty thoroughly explained and illustrated. They provide space for responses, drawings, tables and graphs right on the activity page or on supplemental pages. This approach assists younger kids, low-level readers, and those who have had little experience in creative problem-solving.

Task Cards are also written to the student, but present the problem in a more open-ended manner. Kids are required to think, organize, hypothesize, and record data more independently. These activities are quite accessible to most kids in the recommended grade ranges.

All of our programs give you thoughtful, detailed, and friendly teaching notes. You don't need a science or education background to use most of our books.

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7. How similar are your Job Box programs? Do they all use the same materials? And how about the lessons: if I purchase more than one of them, will the activities repeat or overlap?

MATERIALS: All of these programs use a "sandbox" or "rice table" approach, but in this case we use shallow boxes of lentils -- very pleasant! They don't create clouds of dust like rice does, they are easy to sweep up, and if escapees are encountered by bare feet, they don't hurt. All these programs also use similar sets of labeled containers for pouring and measuring. (Note: GET A GRIP volume containers are specially calibrated for in-depth work with fractions and decimals. They will work for LENTIL SCIENCE, but the uncalibrated LS containers won't work for GG.)

GET A GRIP is a great introduction to LENTIL SCIENCE for both parent and student, because all needed materials are ready to take out of the box and use immediately. But kids enjoy entering these programs in either order.

Some folks are dedicated "scroungers" and want to collect their own materials. If this is you, consider "introducing" lentils with a GG Workstation. You can then purchase the LS book(s) separately, and collect other materials gradually as your kids work through the chapters. You don't have to have all materials ready in order to start using the activities, and can probably think of reasonable substitutes for some items. (We always encourage creative improvisation!)

The "pill" vials and jars of precise volumes are reportedly hard to locate in some areas. Some materials require time, effort, and tools to prepare. So if you order one of our basic support kits, you will probably be grateful. They're nothing fancy, just the most time-consuming or difficult-to-locate materials. If you expect to use both Primary and Intermediate versions of LS, order these together in the LS Combo (which includes a combined kit) and save some serious cash!

The GET A GRIP Workstation (available with or without lentils) gives you one job box, a complete set of properly sized and labeled measuring vials, and a few additional items you can also use with the other Lentil Science programs. (As noted earlier, the LS containers do NOT work for GG, however.)

CONTENT: There is a bit of overlap in quantifying and math functions in these programs -- a good thing, since many homeschool students don't get as much math practice and review as they need. GET A GRIP focuses entirely upon these areas. You will find some duplication in math operations, but little or no repeat of actual problems. We've "designed in" enough difference in activity content that students will have little, if any, awareness of repetition -- even if you use GET A GRIP and both levels of LENTIL SCIENCE. Because these systems are designed to allow every child to work at her own level of ability, all activities can be repeated at a later time, especially by younger kids.

If you want to offer a general sense of stuctured play, with many kinds of activities available for young children, LENTIL SCIENCE offers that. If you want to focus on number sense, math comprehension and science process skills, then GET A GRIP is the place to start. Though younger children will be capable of absorbing only so much, we find that if you keep it relaxed, they'll have plenty of fun, and may not even realize they're learning math.

LENTIL SCIENCE expands into a much broader program, incorporating a greater range of manipulatives, exploring sorting, comparing, counting, predicting, calibrating, mapping and landforms, with much emphasis on observation, imagination, invention, art and language skills. It's a wonderful way for kids to play and learn. Which is what they do anyway. So why not run with it?

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8. Where can I find the "simple materials" needed to do TOPS activities?

Here are reliable sources for some common chemicals and equipment:

COPPER SULFATE: Find this at pet supply stores, where it is sold to clear ponds of algae. Some garden centers carry this, too.

TUBING: You'll find various sizes of rubber and plastic tubing in the aquarium section of the pet store.

ALUM: This is readily available in the baking / spice section at the grocery store! McCormick's is one common brand.

HYDROCHLORIC ACID: Our Rocks and Minerals starter kit includes 5% HCl, plus other basics for up to 4 kids. Or check local building supply outlets for MURIATIC ACID (a common name for HCl), used for etching concrete. Get the smallest quantity available, and use an eyedropper to place a little on some concrete. It will bubble. Put a few droppersful in a small glass bottle, and add water to dilute it as much as you can while still getting some bubbling. This will be close enough to do the experiments with minimal hazard to kids.

Check Simple Stuff for HAND LENSES, MAGNETS, BEAKERS and SUGAR CUBES. We may expand these offerings as we are able, so check back!

Because TOPS' aim is to give students a sense of participation and ownership in their learning, we strongly recommend that kids make their own instruments (and help to collect, recycle and modify simple stuff) whenever possible. They can make a miniature, cheap, and highly portable hand "microscope" with our Triple Magnifier Kit. Or a simple balance, accurate to a tenth of a gram, using Balancing 04. Or a build-it-yourself scale in Weighing 05that they can use in other TOPS units that require mass measurement.Many of our lessons show kids how to make instruments and models for themselves; they won't have to rely on expensive, mass-produced items with which they form no relationship. What a great way to learn can-do creativity!

Electronics stores or medical suppliers offer some items. If you just need a small amount of something that comes in a big package, team up with other homeschoolers, or find out if neighbors or local businesses will give or sell you some. When testing our materials, we've asked the local high school for a few chemicals. Folks are often happy to help out when they know it's for science education!

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9. (a) Why don't you make support kits for more of your titles?

TOPS is a small company on a tight budget, and the initial cost of purchasing materials in large enough quantities to be economical is formidable. If it turns out there's not much of a market for a kit, we're stuck with a large outlay and little return. So we stick with what folks have asked for with some frequency. If you'd like to see other items offered, please let us know!

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9. (b) Can I buy partial kits -- just an item, or a few, that I need?

Generally, no; customizing bits and pieces demands too much assembly and invoicing time for our small staff to track. But our support kits are pretty cheap for the amount of labor and shopping around they save you, so why not just buy the whole kit? We do, rarely, jump through extra hoops in unusual circumstances. But watch our SIMPLE STUFF page. We hope to add a few more individual items if this proves feasible.

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10. I have children ___ years apart, with very different learning styles. Do I need to get a different curriculum for each of them?

Because your kids aren't separated into herds of students all the same grade, and don't have to shuffle from one classroom to another every 55 minutes, make the most of this enviable advantage! We hear from homeschoolers regularly (and even a teacher in a "one-room schoolhouse") who have combined age and ability levels with great success using TOPS activities. It would certainly be a worthy experiment.

Older students can often help read and interpret instructions, as well as assist with the small manipulatives that younger children might find difficult. Many of our titles, especially the Activity Sheet lessons, adapt beautifully to a wide range of ages and abilities. They frequently work superbly for ALL the kids in cooperative mixed-age groups, as long as you don't expect the youngest to understand the concepts at the same level as the older kids.

We can almost guarantee that all of your children will have fun and make great, age-appropriate discoveries. The younger ones might eagerly repeat a unit in a couple of years, comprehending at a deeper level. And, kids learn a great deal by just messing around with the equipment. While big sister is working on concepts, using school textbooks or related reading, little brother might be playing his way into original experiments of his own. Memorable education happens like this.

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11. A group of local parents have formed a purchasing club. Do you offer quantity discounts on your books? How about kits?

We do offer discounts on books, but since we're selling our workstations and kits at close to our production cost, we regret that we can't reduce those. For the books, you can either PURCHASE multiple copies, or buy one of each with LICENSE to reproduce all teaching materials for everyone in your club. You'll need to order by fax or postal mail, since our shopping cart service won't handle these irregularities.

PURCHASE OPTION: Order a book in quantities equal to the number of target homes. If you order 5 copies of any title, for example, then you have unrestricted use of this book in any 5 homes. You may order at these quantity discounts:
2-9 copies: 90% of current retail price + shipping.
10+ copies: 80% of current retail price + shipping.

ROYALTY OPTION: Purchase 1 copy of any book plus photocopy or printing rights in quantities equal to the number of designated homes. If you pay for 5 Licenses, for example, you have purchased reproduction rights for 5 homeschools. These photocopies are NOT to be loaned, traded or sold to other (non-puchasing) homeschoolers -- this violates the spirit of our copyright.
1 book: purchase at its regular price.
2-9 Licenses: 70% of current book price.
10+ Licenses: 60% of current book price.

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12. Can my homeschool support group buy just one of everything and trade them around?

This is a really tough question for us. Let us present our dilemma. We must sell our lovingly crafted books to pay our overhead expenses and continue our work. We hope you agree that TOPS is an outstanding resource that offers genuine value, not only to you and your children, but to homeschoolers, educators, and children everywhere. For your benefit, we really work to keep expenses down. We're a very small publisher, a home-based nonprofit business. We live simply and economically. We love our work, and hope TOPS will survive to serve future generations.

Our basic copyright requirement is that each educator purchase his or her own copy of any book, and photocopy it for as long as he or she teaches. This is a great economy for the teacher (and for us taxpayers). And yet we recognize that homeschoolers are a unique group; you generally use a book for only one or a few children. Even though TOPS is one of the most economical programs you'll find anywhere, we want to balance our needs and yours.

So, we extend special options just for homeschoolers. Please consider the Quantity Discount or License options we've outlined in question 11, above. Or ask your group to acknowledge the value of our continued work by sending TOPS an Honor System ROYALTY: we suggest 25 cents per lesson per recipient.
If you later recover some of your cost by reselling our books to other homeschoolers, be aware that this represents a lost sale for us. We hope you'll remember that we gratefully accept contributions from grateful users. Let your conscience be your guide.

Please do follow through on your good intentions promptly. We know life is busy, and small tasks are easily put off until they are forgotten.

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13. (a) We're using one of your Green Thumbs books. But our seeds didn't sprout! What did we do wrong?

You may have done nothing wrong. If you received your seeds in a kit, please be aware that the homeschool supplier you purchased it from "built" that kit and supplied seeds from their own source. You will need to contact them directly if you'd like your seeds replaced. Grocery-store popcorn is sometimes the culprit here, because apparently some packagers irradiate the seeds to extend the shelf life. This also kills the germ (the part that germinates into a plant). Or possibly your seeds are too old, or have been stored in a warm and/or moist environment, and could have used up their energy reserves before you planted them. In any batch, there will be some seeds that simply don't sprout -- packages generally tell you the germination rate (the percentage that are likely to succeed). But if you plant a half-dozen or more fresh seeds, at least half of them should have sprouted. It's mathematically pretty unlikely that you'd have planted only the six duds from a larger batch. It is frustrating, but seeds are tiny, and often fragile, packets of life. And they are variable. Unlike a nuts and bolts, they are subject to changing conditions around them. Please try purchasing fresh seeds if available, or try other brands of popcorn. Experiment! That's science!

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13. (b) Our plants aren't growing true leaves - what's the problem?

Without seeing your arrangements, we can only guess. The sprouts probably aren't getting enough light to develop properly. If this is the case, plants will also become very "leggy" (on long, weak, thin stems) and will lean precariously toward the strongest light source. The sprouts may also be quite pale.

Classrooms have large windows and bright fluorescent bulbs that usually provide adequate light, but homes are often darker. A south-facing window may help (check sprouts carefully for wilting or sunburn if in direct sunlight). Positioning a desk lamp, either incandescent or fluorescent, as near as possible to the sprouts for several hours a day can also be helpful. Turn the planters around occasionally to correct leaning. If your climate is mild, placing the plants on a porch or patio in dappled shade might help, too, and the fresh air and bright light help discourage mold and mildew. Be sure to monitor plants carefully for drying or overheating.

One other possibility is that the sprouts have become too dry between waterings. Keep them consistently moist, but not soggy.

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13. (c) Our plants are growing too fast/too slow to match your model answers. How do we adapt?

Here's where "cookbook" science becomes real science. Especially where growing things are concerned, the results of your experiments will never be precisely average. That can be disconcerting, but it is the nature of, well, nature! Our model answers are the best average we could observe from growing plants in typical classroom conditions in a temperate climate (lots of steady light, temperatures moderately warm during the day and cool at night). If your corn and beans or radish plants are way ahead of schedule, they're growing in "better-than-average" conditions. If they're too slow, they may be getting less light or warmth than our test sprouts.

You can try to manipulate your results by changing the conditions in your home. But if this isn't practical, consider other options. As homeschoolers, you have far more freedom to flex than a classroom teacher herding two or three dozen students through a predetermined syllabus in one class period a day. Can you alter your schedule to keep pace with your particular radish sprouts? Or how about starting additional seeds if your sprouts have grown too fast to suit certain experiments (radishes are, after all, speedy little guys).

If changing the activity schedule doesn't seem practical, get your kids involved in finding other solutions. For instance, if plants are too tall to draw on a single journal page, how about taping two or three pages together, perhaps hanging them on a wall near the plants where you can draw them easily? If plants are top-heavy, can you transplant them into a yogurt tub with more potting soil? Maybe a wire coat hanger redesigned into a support structure would be a satisfactory fix, or a thumb tack in the window frame anchoring a string support.

Probably the most important thing to remember is this: science is the process of observing what actually happens, not forcing hoped-for results to match an ideal schedule. Scientists develop hypotheses (tentative assumptions) based on what they observe, and then experiment (design ways to interact with their subjects) to check the accuracy of a hypothesis. If it was wrong, they develop and test a new hypothesis. You're doing good science if you're doing these things, whether or not your results match the answer key.

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13. (d) Our plants are growing lots of mold. Should we start over?

Working with these units in a very humid climate in West Africa, Ron found you can keep the mold (somewhat) at bay doing three basic things:

• BLEACH! Pre-sterilize containers by dipping in a solution of 10% chlorine bleach and 90% water. If dipping isn't workable, apply generously with a spray bottle or clean sponge. You can also add a couple of drops of bleach to the water in your growing systems. Too much will be toxic to the plants. You can also rinse the seeds for 15 seconds in a 10% bleach solution before you sprout them. Many kinds of seeds are "infected" with mold spores before you plant them.
• AND/OR: Gently lift the seedlings and replace the paper towels as needed. A fuss, but better than the alternative. You might be able to lift out fuzzy clumps of mildew with a toothpick or a small paint brush moistened with slightly chlorinated water.
• AND/OR: Open containers to fresh air and dappled sunshine at times you can keep an eye on them. Monitor the plants for wilting, yellow patches, curled or darkened edges - sunshine can be quite a shock to previously sheltered seedlings. Be sure they don't dry out.

NOTE: Because molds can cause allergic reactions, avoid inhaling them when handling your plants. You could wear a dust mask or scarf over your nose and mouth to minimize your exposure. Finally, if your plants are growing well, they should survive having some mold growing on or around them.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY: Do real science on your own! Study mold and mildew! We've read (haven't tried) that spraying seedlings with CHAMOMILE tea discourages mildew on new seedlings. Other kitchen SPICES, such as thyme and oregano, may help, since they are a traditional means of keeping food from spoiling. A weak solution of the widely popular TEA TREE OIL, dispersed in water with a few drops of liquid hand soap, might be very effective. A solution of BAKING SODA (sodium bicarbonate), about one teaspoon per pint of water, has recently been found to fend off certain mildews in the garden. Spray lightly and monitor closely, though, since too much sodium can be deadly. And the latest scoop from the horticultural world is that MILK misted on plants inhibits some garden pathogens. (It could foster others, though, so stay observant.)

If you come up with any great results, we'd love to pass them on to others, so be sure to let us know!

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14. You sent me a book with a 1991 copyright. Don't you have a more current version?

Some of our copyright dates are a decade or more old. This is not because our books are out of date; they're still the friendliest, most creative and do-able hands-on activities you'll find anywhere. The Peoplets who help illustrate activities are timeless; they don't even have clothing that becomes unfashionable.

We do revise and update to some degree with every reprint, but don't apply for new copyrights unless the revisions are substantial. (Many publishers update even if they change only the cover or a few words in their text, but this violates copyright law, and we don't do it.) Our books are classics, and we guarantee your satisfaction.

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