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mcconnellboys

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About mcconnellboys

  • Birthday 06/06/1960

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  • Biography
    I have two boys, 5 1/2 years apart in age, and have been homeschooling for nine years now.
  • Location
    Kentucky
  • Interests
    Reading and travel - when I have the time!
  • Occupation
    Homeschooling my own children and helping with homeschool activities in my community.
  1. Hello, I'm teaching several classes this year and doing a little tutoring. I have just begun posting some info on the classes that are ongoing and have included a lot of books and links that some might find useful as reading resources for various subjects. My last post covers ancient history work I'm doing with an elementary age child. The one before it includes some resource info ideas for covering logic with older elementary/middle school ages, and there's also a post on covering world geography with elementary children: http://www.greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/ Perhaps someone else might find something of use here,
  2. :party:Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear Regina, Happy Birthday to you ...and many more!

     

    :cheers2:

     

    Have a wonderful day and know that you are thought of fondly.

  3. These are the things I had picked out to go along with SWB's history of the world and a Spielvogel text. This was with the understanding that every bit of every work might not get covered: Bible: Genesis – Job (weeks 1-2; two hours per day devoted to reading; using an easy to read version of the Bible for this work) Gilgamesh (week 3) Homer: The Iliad, trans. Robert Fitzgerald (week 4-5) Homer: The Odyssey (week 7-10) Greek Lyrical Poetry: Sappho, Pindar (week 11) Sophocles: Oedipus the King Agammemnon - Herodotus: The Histories, Robin Waterfield, Trans. (week 12 - 15) Euripides: Medea (week 16) Aristophanes: The Birds Other Euripides? Thucydides: The Peloponnessian War, Steven Lattimore, Trans. (week 17 - 20) Plato: The Republic, Desmond Lee, Trans. (week 21 - 22) Aristotle: On Poetics, Seth Benardete, Trans. (week 23) Aristotle: Rhetoric – online book: http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/a8rh/ Read the book of Daniel in the Bible Horace, from Lit of West. Civ. - Do both the Odes and his Satire (week 24) Lucretius: On the Nature of Things, A. E. Stallings, Trans. Cicero: The Republic (and the Laws), Niall Rudd, Trans. (week 25) Virgil: Aeneid – online: http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.html (week 26 - 27) Ovid: Metamorphoses, Mary Innes, Trans. (week 28) Bible: Corinthians I and II (week 29) Wars of the Jews, Josephus, Betty Radice, Trans. (selections - week 30 - 31) Plutarch: The Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, Robin Waterfield, Trans. (week 32 - 34) Tacitus: Annals – use online version to cover what we can this week and perhaps next: http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.html (wks. 35 and perhaps continue some during next week, if possible) Saint Athanasius: On the Incarnation available through Amazon - Also online: http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/history/ath-inc.htm (week 36)
  4. Mine is up: http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2012/04/week-30-2012.html ...and here is last week, which I didn't manage to get up until late: http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2012/04/week-29.html
  5. I'm afraid they're jumping the gun on the shelving, LOL!
  6. We make x-box, etc. go away for extended periods of time when attitudes get bad.
  7. As others have said, all Coolidge's books are adapted for children and a joy to read!
  8. I think this topic is too broad and daunting for me! There are just too many choices.... Do you want great classics for all ages, such as Tolkeins works or the Narnia series? Do you want other great children's classics, such as Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, Frog and Toad, The Wind in the Willows, Amelia Bedelia? Or do you want more specific historical fiction for different time periods, such as The Golden Goblet, The Bronze Bow, or Rosemary Sutcliff's many wonderful books? Laura Ingalls Wilders books, or Francis Hodgins Burnetts books? Or do you want non-fiction that is really literary, such as Rachael Carsons works? (The Sea Around Us, et al) Walden? Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek? I like books such as Napoleon's Buttons, too....
  9. I think the newer version is good! My son also loved this book (he read it on his own). He loved Little Lord Fauntleroy, too....
  10. I got Easy Grammar Plus for seventh grade and we would read through the "lesson" pages, then do one workbook exercise page a day. I saved some of the exercises in each area for eighth grade and we're going back over the "lesson" pages this year, then he's completing those other exercises. I also added in the new, EG Ultimate book this year and he does one page of that a day, too....
  11. Of those you mentioned, I like Island of the Blue Dolphins or Heidi best. My son loved Little Lord Fauntleroy. We both like The Borrowers....
  12. My older son began violin at age 6 and the younger one started piano young. I don't know if Kindermusik classes are still around (they used to go up to age 7 or 8), but they also might provide a musical outlet for you, if available in your area....
  13. I have heard that some schools are taking the Forest Kindergarten idea and expanding it for older students. I don't find anything online right now except one program from Spain that is a "forest club" of sorts. They seem to be taking the "man vs. wild" approach by teaching lots of survival skills, but that sort of thing could be expanded to learning about herbs and other wild, edible plants (and by extension, all areas of botany: flowers, tree i.d. work, etc.) Of course, nature study, entomology, pond and stream studies, soil studies, and other such things could be incorporated, too. http://www.forestschoolspain.com/ Here's some more info at another site that identifies a list of concepts covered: http://www.treejumpers.com/forest-schools-in-kent/early-years-primary-schools.aspx Depending on the area where you live, you could come up with potentially lots of patterning and number problem ideas. In my neighborhood, for instance, I'd have my son find out how many streets are in the neighborhood and which is the longest/shortest. I'd have him count a representative sample (say, 10%, including the longest and shortest streets), then find an average number of homes per street and multiply that by the total number of streets to get an estimate of the total houses in the neighborhood. Then we'd compare that to the actual number and talk about finding averages, sample sizes, etc. Are you in a neighborhood where the same xxxx number of types of houses are built? Is there a pattern to those (only one of each type per street, or every so many houses, for instance?) Survey the neighbors on any number of subjects (if they're friendly).... Are there certain types of trees required to line the streets in your neighborhood? Our town has a set number of types that are suggested to line streets. Our neighborhood has all one type, but is looking to change over to allow a variety. If you have a variety, is there a pattern to how they're set out? Can you count the trees on a certain number of streets (as above), then find an average and estimate how many there are lining all the streets of the neighborhood? Do you have water features in your neighborhood? If so, can they walk off the perimeter or length of those? How about finding out the depth and calculating volume of water held in them? You can drop a leaf in a stream and measure how far it travels in 6 seconds, then multiply by 10 to get speed per minute of water movement.... Graph the number of trees in your yard vs. number of shrubs vs. number of perinniels (if you have lots of plantings) - or do it for another yard that does have lots you can see.... Graph the total number of different types of birds, insects, or all wildlife seen in a set period of time - say 10 minutes.... Graph the number of different types of clouds seen in a week or a month.... Write a paragraph (or 3 sentences, for the younger one, perhaps) about something seen outside: plants, wildlife, clouds, water features, etc. Do these writings in a nature journal that goes outside with them - and include drawings or taped in samples (can be put in ziploc bags and then taped in) of things they're seeing.... Talk about the writing and identify the basic parts of speech of each word in several of the sentences (and use this work to correct the writing, if necessary, once it is seen that perhaps a sentence is missing something, or could use more descriptive adjectives, etc.) Take some of the things you're seeing outside and turn those into a spelling list for them (i.e., types of birds seen today: robin, cardinal, mockingbird, etc. or types of trees identified: oak, pine, fir, arbor vitae, etc.) Read some good books about nature while lounging under the trees (perhaps with a picnic).... Prepare some nature poetry, songs, etc. and go over those for memory work while outside.... In spring, compare types of buds and flowers; in early summer, do a leaf collection (before bugs ruin leaves); in late summer, compare warm season grasses (different sizes and types of seed heads; can use different sizes for measuring); in fall, collect seeds, cones and nuts (can compare and graph those); in winter, compare twig sizes (more measuring) and bark types (more graphing).... Measure the length of needles on different types of pine trees. That's all I can think of at the moment....
  14. Yes, especially with younger students (but I really think it makes more sense that way, for anyone)....
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