Cat of Bubastes read by Jim Weiss is great!

There's an audio learner in our house, and I've been looking for a list of books or other material available for ancients. Since I couldn't find a list on these boards, I've pulled together the things I know about and thought I'd ask for other ideas. Cat of Bubastes, Jim Weiss, reader History of Ancient Egypt, Teaching Company Great Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, Teaching Company Children's Homer, Padriac Colum Tales of the Greek Heroes, Roger Lancelyn Green The Wanderings of Odysseus, Rosemary Sutcliff Wonder Book by Nathaniel Hawthorne, http://www.alcazaraudioworks.com sells audio version (audio is not at many libraries) Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age, Teaching Company Age of Pericles, Teaching Company Ancient Greek Civilization, Teaching Company Classical Archaeology of Ancient Greece and Rome, Teaching Company Famous Greeks, Teaching Company Greek Tragedy, Elizabeth Vandiver, Teaching Company Herodotus: The Father of History, Elizabeth Vandiver, Teaching Company Aeneid of Virgil, Elizabeth Vandiver, Teaching Company Odyssey of Homer, Elizabeth Vandiver, Teaching Company Iliad of Homer, Elizabeth Vandiver, Teaching Company Masterpieces of Ancient Greek Literature, Teaching Company Greece and Rome: An Integrated History of the Ancient Mediterranean, Teaching Company Peloponnesian War, Teaching Company Beric the Briton: Roman Invasion by GA Henty The Bronze Bow, Elizabeth Speare The Day Christ Died, Jim Bishop Famous Romans, Teaching Company Lantern Bearers, Rosemary Sutcliffe Miranda the Great, Eleanor Estes Outcast, Rosemary Sutcliff The Silver Branch, Rosemary Sutcliff The Thieves of Ostia, Roman Mystery series, Caroline Lawrence The Time Traveling Cat and the Roman Eagle, Julia Jarman Young Carthaginian: A Story of the Times of Hannibal (Punic Wars) by Henty Emperors of Rome, Teaching Company Famous Romans, Teaching Company Rome and the Barbarians, Teaching Company History of Ancient Rome, Teaching Company Between the Rivers: The History of Ancient Mesopotamia, Teaching Company From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History, Teaching Company Great Battles of the Ancient World, Teaching Company Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor, Teaching Company Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations, Teaching Company Pat

Before we visited Gettysburg this year, I heard that it was best to try to make a reservation AHEAD OF TIME for a tour guide to ride in your car. After finally locating the correct number (and I'm sorry but I don't have it anymore), I called about three days before our trip. The person who answered the phone said that they were not busy in the middle of the week in March, and that we could just come in an arrange a tour. When we arrived at 3pm in the afternoon, we were told that they didn't have any tour guides available. (They didn't close until 5pm, so I thought we would be fine for time.) We did our own self-guided tour, and it was lovely! Civil War Bullets One of my children purchased some Civil War replica bullets in the gift shop (for $1.50 each.) That evening when we went into town, we found a store that had all kinds of Civil War memorabilia. At that store, there were REAL Civil War bullets for $1.25.

Try pacing your day by major "subject" category and work for a half-hour or hour for that subject. For example, group all "English" workbooks and activities, and plan on spending an hour on all those things together. Rather than try to schedule 10 minutes for each, just work on those things for the appointed hour. As the school year shakes together, you'll decide how much needs to be done each day on each item. I like to group math, math games and logic items together for younger kids, for example. Pat

Try purchasing Prima Latina and do about half the book yourself. If you like it, then start the kids. We have used the series from Memoria Press (currently in Henle) for over 4 years, and really like the way it is laid out. Plus, Henle is a good self-teaching text if the kids become inspired beyond your ability to stay ahead of them! Pat

The week after Labor Day is the BEST for museums. All the families have gone home (to start school) and the school trips haven't started yet (too early in the year.) It is perfect for taking littles who might wander away. Don't worry about starting everything that week, but at least take the morning to luxuriate in a nearly-empty museum. Or if you must, start school in mid-August and take that week off. It is a great secret!!! Pat

Can he earn the money for violin lessons by working for a violin teacher? For example, is he old enough now to be a "mother's helper" during lessons? Or could he trim grass around the edges in the yard, rake leaves or do other yard chores? The right violin teacher may be really moved by his pleas. I would recommend a hand-written letter (by the student) to a teacher that you may know. I know that worked for one student who really wanted to study with our teacher, but she just wasn't taking any more students. Really motivated students are a great joy to work with! Also, perhaps he can spend time going to a community orchestra and watching. There may be a young college student there who wants experience teaching, and might be inexpensive. . . Just a few thoughts. Pat

First, I decided that I preferred to keep track of my historical-related materials. I started with a list of Literature to Supplement History which is on the Paula's Archives website: http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/history.htm I put it in a word processing file--I use Word, but you could use any one for this system. If the file gets too big, I will split it by years (such as Year 1 of the WTM system). I didn't want the expense of learning other software, and I didn't want to learn how to use it. Also, I LOVE being able to just search for a book title in my document, and have it show up! Then, as I found books in my house, or purchased books, I added them to my list. When I read sources of book recommendations, even things I didn't purchase, I add them to my book list in case I want ideas in the future on a particular topic. When I check the library for whether I will be able to borrow a book in the future, I will often add a note to my list about how available the book seems, and perhaps the name of a local library which has the book. I type "own it" after a book listing. I also sometimes insert book descriptions that show up when I do library searches or bookseller searches so that I have a few more details about the book. The other thing I add to it, sometimes, is WHERE a book is recommended, as I often find that I agree with certain people or book lists more than others, and the grade recommendations can help. Pat

This is what we've done this year. I've been calling them 4 classes: Math: Chalkdust Pre-Algebra, skipping logic this year Latin: Continue in Henle I English: Lightning Literature 7, Abeka Grammar 7, Vocab. Classical Roots A and part of B, Outlining book, Capitalization review book, memorize some poetry, Gettysburg Address, etc., read 1 book/week for book group and write about it, various other writing assignments, outline history chapter (SOTW 4) daily. Science: online class through ScholarsOnline.org, Natural Science I I started an assignment notebook, and give points for each item in "English" this year, and a grade as a way to ease into giving him more responsibility for his work. Hope this helps! Pat

I also really LOVE the way HWT teaches writing so much more than Zaner-Bloser. One of the things I have done it just purchased a package of the HWT paper to use for writing projects. Pretty soon it won't matter to the kids, once they are more solid with how to form the letters. You can purchase 100 sheets of the wide line paper for $3.50 at Rainbow Resource, for example, and I'm sure it is available other places. (Item #: 010602) Pat

I have a 13yo, and purchased and looked at the DVDs in thinking about doing Traditional Logic this year. However, they seem awfully dry. Obviously, it depends on the teacher that will be doing this class, but I think it would be hard slogging based on the kids I see at that age, those in our co-op. Pat

I really liked using Thinking Toolbox and Fallacy Detective in 6th grade. Though they had a few illustrations which may offend people who don't agree with their political/morals stances, and there were a few questions which were just hard to figure out, on the whole it was a very enjoyable experience. This was a curriculum we read together and answered the questions together. I think doing it with the student or having the student participate in a group setting with this would be much more educational than trying to teach yourself. We started the "Art of Argument" this year. It seems quite duplicative of the other two books mentioned, and after a few chapters, we just didn't become engaged with the book the way we did with the Bluedorn's books described above. The advertisements of the fallacies are entertaining, but the lengthy descriptions using Latin derivatives just didn't get us started on this book. I also purchased the Introductory Logic (Wilson) and Traditional Logic choices. I will try to use Wilson material next as I think it seems easier to teach (and understand for me--someone who didn't study logic before.) I think the Traditional Logic has enough difficult vocabulary to make it challenging for me to teach without studying it a while first, which I may get to in a year or two. Hope this helps. Pat

Since we are also in a book discussion group, I wondered whether I was overdoing it to use the LL7 materials this year, but found that it was a great deal of fun and "easy." Yet, it challenges the students to think and analyze in ways beyond their initial impressions. I read about this curriculum on this board, and I've already purchased LL8 for next year, as I think it was worth the time and money for it. Pat

My son is taking a middle school science class with ScholarsOnline (not the Veritas one) and is having a great experience. It is quite challenging for him. I love the incorporation of website reading, and the necessity of deciding how much and what to read and study, as paring down the vast body of information available to us is such an essential skill. It includes a chat session, tests, homework questions to submit. It has been taught by a good teacher, too. Hope this helps! Pat http://www.scholarsonline.org/