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Poke Salad Annie

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Posts posted by Poke Salad Annie

  1. I have been reading your posts about math, and this one caught my curiosity. I just looked over much of the Grube's Method book, and it seems very similar to MEP. This text appears to be great for extra reinforcement for the MEP lessons. I wonder if some of MEP is drawn from this, as it is a Hungarian program. Anyway, I thought it was very interesting how the two seemed so eerily similar.

  2. I read your post about the 5th grade schedule for your dd. Since you have many times posted about how you handle science and history, I wondered how it would be approached for this year, based upon the booklist you posted for 5th grade.

     

    Is there any special additional study that you have worked up for that schedule? Do you read ahead and make note of anything for which you would like extra research done, or do you jot down discussion questions for chapters, look up books at the library for go-alongs---things of that sort?

     

    I'm asking this because I'm trying to wrap my brain around how this is done, and I wondered how you incorporated something like the Narnia study into your schedule. Is it in addition to your regularly scheduled work? Is history a separate subject if you are using something like the Narnia study? Are you moving away from individualized studies for each child? Am I even making sense? :confused:

  3. Dd read one of them at the end of the yr last yr and absolutely fell in love w/the series.

     

    The books were developed w/the US Dept of Interior. I was originally concerned about the age of the books, but after reading reviews like these http://www.amazon.com/Forest-Living-World-Nature-Series/product-reviews/0070448752/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

    http://www.amazon.com/Life-Cave-Living-World-Nature/product-reviews/0070426511/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

    I realized my concern was misguided. She learned a ton and discussed the topics w/great enthusiasm. She is excited about reading the rest of the series this yr.

     

    Thank you for your recommendation! :) I knew these books looked special, but I couldn't decide how to use them.

  4. We are starting our new yr next week. My 8th grader is actually functioning on a pretty solid 10th grade leve. Guess what? No science textbook in 8th. My 5th grader.....no science textbook.

     

    All they do is read lots of great science topics. A wide variety of topics......whatever interests them. 8th grade dd has chosen to read the books from this series for the yr: Our Living World of Nature http://www.ebay.com/itm/Our-Living-World-Nature-Series-New-/230610511560

     

     

    Aaaaaah! I saw the whole set of those books at the thrift shop a couple of weeks ago, but didn't buy them. Of course, I picked them up, thumbed through several of them, put a few in my buggy, changed my mind and put them back, went back over to look at a couple of them again---well, you know the rest of the story. Why didn't I have good, common sense and put them all in my buggy?

     

    I love all of 8's book suggestions, and try to pick them up when I see them during my thrifting jaunts. I'll keep this set on my radar from now on!

  5. Maybe try unistalling and reinstalling the new Firefox? From a quick search it seems like a fairly common problem, but not many solutions.

     

    I did try that when this first happened, but had no luck with solving the problem. I tried a Firefox reset, but that didn't help either. I also noticed that there were not many solutions when I ran a search on this problem, so I guess I've hit a dead end.

     

    A few years ago I had so many issues with Firefox crashing and hanging while loading pages after one particular update that I decided to try Chrome. I've never gone back to Firefox.

     

    I tried to access Google Chrome, but since I can't get to anything Google, this won't work either.

     

    Should I just try Internet Explorer and then remove Firefox?

  6. Sometimes the way the BTDT advice is put out there (for example, in direct response to a RTWYDTN post) seems to translate as, "Whatever you do, don't listen to that. It's so naive, so not BTDT. If only that poster knew better. I will educate her. She seems too confident about what she's saying." :lol: We are all responding with what we've got, but that is typically evident from the context of our kids' ages, our curriculum choices, our posting history, etc. I think most of us can sort the wheat from the chaff, especially since one woman's wheat is another woman's chaff. ;)

     

    Before anyone points out that discourse is important for learning, I get that. Of course it is. However, it is only fair and appropriate to recognize that even those who have BTDT have only BTDT with their own personal set of circumstances. Just as their experience might not match that of the person they are addressing, the future experiences of the person they are addressing might not ever match that of the BTDT.

     

    There is not one path, one universal experience. There are countless valid paths and BTDT experience isn't always going to play out simply given more time and experience. We still read through it all though, because some of it resonates.

     

    Amen!

  7.  

    This cannellini bean dip is good. You can serve with pita chips or baguettes. Can you find cannellini beans? I believe they are basically a white kidney bean. Navy beans would probably even work.

     

    This recipe is the best!!! I just made some yesterday with a can of garbanzo beans I found at the salvage grocery for 40 cents, and it was wonderful. I use either cannellini or garbanzo beans for this recipe, but have not tried navy beans yet. My Walmart frequently has the pita bread on the mark-down rack for 74 cents, and I usually buy several at this price. Oh, and those pita chips that go with the dip are divine just out of the oven!

     

    I cook a platter of oven-roasted vegetables about once a week, and serve with a pot of rice and some kind of fruit salad. If chicken thighs are on sale, I stew these in my slow-cooker and serve with all of this. If I buy a rotisserie chicken from the deli, we use as much as possible. I boil the bits left from the bones and use the stock and meat bits as the base for a bean soup.

     

    Lentil burgers are yummy, and you can throw in most anything to season that you like. I have made mackerel patties in the past when it was cheap, but salmon is almost the same price now. I found salmon for $2 a can on sale and bought six cans. I can usually get about 5 or 6 patties from one can, after adding in all the extras.

     

    We were given a case of tomatoes and two gallons of figs last week, so I canned them and made salsa with half of the tomatoes and yummy fig preserves with the figs. The rest of the tomatoes will be frozen to use this fall and winter. If you have access to any cheap produce, home-canning is a great way to preserve for the fall and winter.

  8. I'll throw one more out there for you.

     

    One of the books in the History on the March series is Makers of the Americas, by Marion Lansing, Linwood Chase and Allan Nevins. It is written in the style of Builders of the Old World, and has discussion questions, extra reading suggestions, project suggestions, index usage and quizzes at the end of the chapters. I like it very much so far, at least from what I've had the chance to read.

  9. Thanks! I got a copy on ILL, and my daughter stole it from me to look at the illustrations. I read a little to her, and she loved it! So we'll either be using The Rainbow Book, or maybe Builders of the Old World depending on whether we go with American or Ancient.

     

    Love vintage books. :001_wub:

     

    I have both of these books, and I think they're very nice. We use them both for history, in a kind of LCC way---American history two days, then world history for two days.

     

    There is another book that I posted about some time ago that is a great go-along for the Rainbow Book. Here is the post in which I described the book, The Heritage of America by Allan Nevins and Henry S. Commanger. The book follows along with the chapters in the Rainbow Book. I once found it available at archive.org. Anyway, the book is a great one, as it is all first-hand accounts of the stories in the Rainbow Book.

     

    Here is another link with more information.

  10. I was given a bunch of science books from my grandmother. She is a science and history buff, so I lucked out when she needed to downsize. :001_smile: The problem is some of them were really old. I picked up the Astronomy Today textbook she had given me and it was the 2nd edition. :ohmy: They are currently on the 7th edition. I was worried it would be super outdated. Then I saw the Chapter Objectives. I've been wanting to make a more research/inquiry-based science curriculum. So I think I might make task cards out of the chapter objectives and let him find the answers himself through the internet and other books. It seems like a good way to reuse those books I got.

     

     

    This is how I will be using an older biology book for this year. At the back of the chapters are wonderful sources for discussion and extra research. My book has these extra activities--

     

    * Questions for Review

    * Biologically Speaking (vocabulary words to look up)

    * Applying Facts and Principles (Good, thought-provoking questions)

    * Research on Your Own (experiments and projects)

    * More About Biology (a list of additional reading--I was surprised at the authors who show up in these book lists--many WTM and CM favorites)

     

    I haven't seen anything comparable to stimulate discussion, interest and research. The newer texts all seem to have the answers already laid out on the pages, and there are too many loud, glaring pictures. I really love the simplicity of an older b/w text. You can actually notice the occasional boxes or diagrams in these older books.

  11. Finished my Narnia-supplemental-literature plans up. You can see them here.

     

    How timely! I received my copies of ROAR and The Keys to the Chronicles this week. I've skimmed through the ROAR book, and I like what I see so far. I haven't had a chance to do anything else with the other book, but I hope to look over it this weekend.

     

    I decided not to buy the FUFI study for now, but will use the two books I ordered and see what I have on hand to expand upon our study. This looks to be a very interesting and exciting year.

     

    I will say though, that I had almost changed my mind about doing the Narnia study, and had edged toward following Year 4 of Ambleside. There's so much good literature in your post that I don't really see a need to go with Ambleside this year. I think we will probably continue our reading of Our Island Story for now.

     

    Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. I plan on sorting through what I have on hand to see what I have that is comparable.

  12. This may not be what you have in mind, so it might not be very helpful.

     

    We are using, and loving, an old 1961 text titled, General Business for Economic Understanding, by Crabbe, Enterline and DeBrum. I found it on sale at the thrift shop for 25 cents, and thought it might be a neat addition to our schedule. As it turned out, it is the most requested subject of the week!

     

    This book covers all sorts of topics such as--

     

    *Using banking services

    *Planning your spending

    *Using credit wisely

    *Sharing economic risks

    *Making useful savings

    *Keeping personal records and information

    *Transportation and shipping services

     

    These are a few of the unit headings, so you can get an idea of what is covered. At the end of the chapters are vocabulary exercises, questions for discussion (these are great!), application lessons, and business math problems. You can do as much as you like with the book, or any other type of general business book such as this. It begs for field trips, research and presentations, and challenges with play money. It's just the right amount of work for us. One of the most interesting lessons we've learned so far is how prices have changed over time. ;)

     

    One more thought....

     

    An old Home Economics textbook would probably have some of the same type of lessons as this book contains. The game of "Life" is a good one to add in if you have it. I'm sure there must be other newer games, but I try to use what is at hand and go from there.

     

    One more thought I have is something we are going to use this year which I started in the past. I used ads from the local stores and gave play money, then a list of needed items for the household. The object of the lesson is to come in under budget and not go over the amount of money given. You could also have charts for "wages earned" for various kinds of work, and let the kids figure out how much money it would take to run the household based upon each type of job. I hope I'm explaining this well, and that some of it is helpful.

  13. Is this the Lohengrin book? http://www.tias.com/10782/PictPage/1923011887.html

    If so, I have the Aida book to that set! I seriously love that book.

     

    I could swear I've seen The Wonderful World of Music at the library book store... I'm going to find it!

     

    The lapbooks are amazing. I'm still in the book collecting phase. I'm kind of playing around with all my other ideas, like activities, dvds, cds, outings... they really are neat though. We'll see. Let me know if you end up doing it.

     

    Yes, that's the Lohengrin book. I know I only paid a quarter for my copy, but it's pretty tattered. I think my local thrift shop has another copy of the music book, so I can look for it when I go today if you'd like.

     

    I'm not sure about this, but I seem to remember seeing a Deluxe Golden Book or something similar that was all about ballet stories. I could be wrong, but I'll try to remember what it could be.

     

    Ah yes, I found it! It is The Royal Book of Ballet (1962) by Shirley Goulden. I don't have that one, but there are many cheap copies at some of the used booksellers.

  14. I'm working, working, to find only the yummiest books for the orchestra, ballet, and opera study.

    I'm trying to keep it simple. Last years fairytale study really taught me to make my best plans, stay consistent, to relax, and accept that I can only do a fraction of my "good" ideas. :001_smile:

     

    I have a picture book of South Pacific, retold by James A. Michener, with illustrations by Michael Hague. I know that's not an opera, but I thought you might be covering musicals too.

     

    I also have a very beautiful picture book of Lohengrin, but I can't seem to locate it this afternoon. It's probably from the 50's or 60's or even earlier. It has a light blue cover, and I cannot for the life of me remember much more than that.

     

    One more book you might be interested in is The Wonderful World of Music, by Benjamin Britten, copyright 1958. It's a lovely book that describes the history of many musical instruments.

     

    Are you going to make the poetry lapbook this year? I'm very interested in it, as it looks like a great idea to me.

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