Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

LaurieM

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    114

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by LaurieM

    Question for current TRISMS users

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I did fail to mention that my daughter is only 12, so probably what was enough for her, wouldn't be enough for an older high school student. Fortunately, this year, along side of EOC, we are planning to enroll her in a co-op course in Medieval Literature. We will probably change some of the Trisms lit assignments accordingly.

     

    I don't know how much credit is suggested by Trisms for literature. When I was considering having my high school aged son do it for more that just history this year, I felt like the literature and composition through IEW together would be enough for 1 English credit. Do you think 1 credit would be way too much for those components?

     

    I feel that TRISMS has plenty for an English credit. Not only are there more than enough literature excerpts and many varied writing assignments/opportunities, there are also many historical fiction and/or biography assignments throughout the year.

     

    To throw in more literature or literature analysis would be more a family's personal preference, not a necessity. Just my thoughts...

    Question for current TRISMS users

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I've got SL British Lit, as well - and LLLOTR (curriculum junkie, anyone? :blush:). I was thinking either of those might dovetail nicely with EOC, and make me feel better about knowing that literature was well-covered.

     

    A fellow curriculum junkie here! We are just finishing up LLLOTR alongside SL Core 300 this year, and as I stated, will do EOC and SL British Literature next year.

    Question for current TRISMS users

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I'm hoping that someone can chime in here and answer a question for me; I just received the copy of TRISMS Expansion of Civilization that I ordered, and it looks very usable for my rising 9th and 11th graders for the coming year. Lots of research, pretty thorough history, as well as history of science, etc.

     

    But... (there had to be a but!)

     

    While there's a reasonably wide variety of literature selections, there doesn't seem to be a significant level of depth. I just looked at the Beowulf excerpt; in addition to the excerpt itself, there is one short explanatory paragraph (most of which is spent summarizing the story rather than explaining the history and importance of the piece :001_huh: ), no explanation of kennings, alliterative meter, etc., eight somewhat "softball" comprehension questions, and an assignment to design a movie poster based on the story. This just doesn't seem like an appropriate high school level handling of the subject. And this feels typical of the literature selections.

     

    So, is there something significant that I'm missing? Is there something in IEW TWSS (which looks like what TRISMS is using for writing) that teaches literary analysis, that the student/teacher are just supposed to *know* that they do when looking at a piece?

     

    Do you use the literature assignments in TRISMS as written? Beef them up on your own? Scrap the literature component and use something else entirely?

     

     

    TIA...

     

    I totally missed the IEW question, sorry! IEW TWSS focuses on writing structure and style, not literary analysis. I can't speak to what TRISMS is expecting of students, or what the depth is since it's new for my family also. However, if you wanted to add in Literature Analysis, IEW does sell Windows to the World which my family has used and enjoyed. HTH!

    MacBeth on DVD - which one to watch?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Is unfortunately not available in the US. You can get it from Amazon.co.uk, but it's Region 2, so you'd need an adaptable DVD player (or play it on your computer... that sometimes works...) But it's Antony Sher as Macbeth, and Harriet Walter as Lady Macbeth... and it's gorgeous.

     

    This sounds great! We do have an appropriate DVD player that we use for German and Japanese DVDs, so that's not a problem. I'll look into ordering a copy. Thank you for bringing this DVD to my attention.

    Alumni interview

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    My dd brought a copy of her awards & activities resume along to her interview. It wasn't required or even expected, but it gave her a little extra assurance.

     

    Her MIT interviewer was happy she did - he kept it for writing up the report they have to file on their interviewees, and he told her it made his job easier :-) She said it also provided topics for conversation; when he ran out of his usual questions, he looked through her resume. For the University of Chicago, she had a telephone interview with an alumnus, and she also kept it next to her. When he asked questions, she could quickly glance down and answer instead of freezing up (she gets a little nervous).

     

    In both cases, the interviewer knew nothing about her at the start of the interview session. The colleges had not passed a copy of her application along to them in advance.

     

    Besides the typical interview questions, both men asked a lot of questions pertaining to homeschooling: why, how, the positives & negatives, etc. She'd advise others to be prepared for them!

     

    ~Kathy

     

    Thank you, Kathy. Your reply is very helpful! Ds does not have a resume and is comfortable going without the paperwork, as long as that is acceptable. You've helped ward off a last minute panic for this Mom!

    Art/Music History

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Does this syllabus go with this book or is it a separate entity in itself? I just looked up both and like "The Story of Art" much better than what I thought I wanted to use... I'd love a syllabus that matched the book... but it's really hard to tell from Hewitt's description.

     

    The syllabus does go with the book. My copy is packed away, but from memory: it's approximately 25 pages, breaks The Story of Art into four sections - one for each quarter, includes a list of projects/activities, includes 4 quarterly tests (no answers), tips for how to study for the tests, also Hewitt's requirements as to what/how much to complete each quarter for various grades - A, B, or C.

     

    I found it to be a nice guideline to help round out the course.

     

    HTH!

    Art/Music History

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    In my probably not very humble opinion, Gombrich's "The Story of Art" is vastly superior to the "Annotated Mona Lisa" yet does not cost much more. If you want to do more than just read it, get the Oak Meadow syllabus. It has a reading schedule and a few questions on each chapter. some chapters have sketching exercises as well.

     

    I know most colleges use Janson's "History of Art" (which is also recommended by Veritas) but the "Story of Art" is SO READABLE - the art education you wish you always had.

     

    We also enjoyed Gombrich's "The Story of Art". Hewitt Homeschooling sells a syllabus for this also.

    FYI: AP scores by phone are available early

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Laurie, that is an amazing feat! If you don't mind me asking, what other classes did your son take, and how many hours a week did he put into his AP classwork?

     

    Congrats to your son and Danielle's dd and Advelp's dd too!

     

    Michele, My son did not take any specific AP courses. Actually, the course he completed before taking the AP exams was Sonlight's British Literature so he didn't really spend "x" amount of hours per day studying for the exams he took. To be perfectly honest, his decision to take the AP exams was made in March and we scrambled to find a school that would accommodate him.

     

    We've used Sonlight throughout the high school years and ds credits using a literature approach for his retention. Japanese Language started off with Rosetta Stone and advanced to a private tutor using college level texts. He continues his Japanese studies independently using Japanese history texts and novels, plus online news videos and text articles in Japanese. Also note that the subjects of the exams he took were high interest areas for him.

    FYI: AP scores by phone are available early

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Just thought I 'd let everyone know that I called the college board today and just to see if they might have the AP test scores available early and THEY DID! You just need your child's AP number from the AP booklet they were given when they took the tests. Of course, you also need a credit card so you can pay the $8 fee. The $8 covers the results for all the tests your student took--you don't have to pay $8 per test. The phone results are an automated service, so you should be able to call anytime to get your scores. My dd got a 5 on US History and a 4 on English Literature--we're thrilled!:)

     

    Thanks for posting this information. A big congratulations to your daughter!

     

    We also called in, my ds took 4 AP exams and has been anxiously awaiting the scores. He received 4's on the following: U.S. History, U.S. Government, European History, and Japanese Language. A big sigh of relief was heard throughout the house!

    Is this too much for a 15 yo ninth-grader--Be honest!

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Yes! My ds 13 does terrible during transitions. He's done w/ something, then comes upstairs to get a book, check his agenda, get a snack, etc -- yada, yada, yada - Its 10 min later and he's not back to work!

     

    The bane of my existence is keeping him on task during the day when transitioning from one subject to another.

     

    Calgon!

     

    If it's any consolation, my ds (now 18) can finally stay on task throughout his day! I was beginning to wonder if possibly I was raising an absent-minded professor!

×
×
  • Create New...