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Homeschoolmom3

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    Old unknown book treasures...favorites...lets create a list :-)

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

     

    All of my ideas are chapter books for elementary to late elementary ages:

     

    I dearly love the Edward Eager magic books: Half Magic, Magic By the Lake, Knight's Castle, The Time Garden, and Seven Day Magic. The writing is so effortless and funny, great vocabulary, references to numerous other classic books and authors, and flat-out clever and enjoyable. I do not care for the 2 books he wrote later (The Well Wishers, and, Magic or Not) that spend the whole time with the characters wondering if there really is magic or not, or if it's just coincidence.

     

    Two are Better Than One (Brink) and Baby Island, both by Carol Ryrie Brink, are such sweet old-fashioned girl books.

     

    The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, and 2 of the 4 sequels, Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet and Mr. Bass's Planetoid, by Eleanor Cameron, are great old-fashioned boy adventures.

     

    The Rescuers series by Margery Sharp -- another series with fabulous vocabulary, so well-written and humorous: The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, The Turret, Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines, and Miss Bianca in the Orient.

     

    The Miss Pickerell series -- the earlier books (1950s-1960s) that were actually written by Ellen MacGregor and the first 2-3 written by Dora Pantell from Ellen MacGregor's notes, are humorous fun for grade 2-3 readers

     

    Alfred Hitchcock Haunted Houseful, and his other collections (Ghostly Gallery, Stories for Late at Night, etc.) -- fun spooky collections -- some short stories from famous authors! -- just right for late elementary ages

     

    Also:

    - The Little White Horse (Goudge)

    - The Shades; and, No Flying in the House (Brock)

    - Twig (Elizabeth Orton Jones)

    - Raggedy Ann and Andy books by Johnny Guelle

     

     

    Agreeing with Diamond in the Window VERY creative and fascinating allusions and references. It is book 1 of the Hall Family Chronicles. Book 3 of the series, The Astonishing Stereoscope is also good. Book 2, The Swing in the Summerhouse, is also creative, just not quite up to book 1 and 3. Just a heads up: after that, the series falls down, and one of the later books takes a dark, ugly turn with one child character thinking she can fly and jumps/falls to her death.

     

     

    Awesome, can't wait to check them out!  We are running out of the normal classics.  My five year old is a little sponge!  We read A LOT!!  There seem to be a bunch of great ones for girls!!  Humph!  :-(  However, he doesn't seem to mind he has enjoyed The Penderwicks and Pippi Longstocking, etc.  :-P

    Old unknown book treasures...favorites...lets create a list :-)

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

     

    All of my ideas are chapter books for elementary to late elementary ages:

     

    I dearly love the Edward Eager magic books: Half Magic, Magic By the Lake, Knight's Castle, The Time Garden, and Seven Day Magic. The writing is so effortless and funny, great vocabulary, references to numerous other classic books and authors, and flat-out clever and enjoyable. I do not care for the 2 books he wrote later (The Well Wishers, and, Magic or Not) that spend the whole time with the characters wondering if there really is magic or not, or if it's just coincidence.

     

    Two are Better Than One (Brink) and Baby Island, both by Carol Ryrie Brink, are such sweet old-fashioned girl books.

     

    The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, and 2 of the 4 sequels, Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet and Mr. Bass's Planetoid, by Eleanor Cameron, are great old-fashioned boy adventures.

     

    The Rescuers series by Margery Sharp -- another series with fabulous vocabulary, so well-written and humorous: The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, The Turret, Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines, and Miss Bianca in the Orient.

     

    The Miss Pickerell series -- the earlier books (1950s-1960s) that were actually written by Ellen MacGregor and the first 2-3 written by Dora Pantell from Ellen MacGregor's notes, are humorous fun for grade 2-3 readers

     

    Also

    - The Little White Horse (Goudge)

    - The Shades; and, No Flying in the House (Brock)

    - Twig (Elizabeth Orton Jones)

    - Raggedy Ann and Andy books by Johnny Guelle

     

     

    Agreeing with Diamond in the Window VERY creative and fascinating allusions and references. It is book 1 of the Hall Family Chronicles. Book 3 of the series, The Astonishing Stereoscope is also good. Book 2, The Swing in the Summerhouse, is also creative, just not quite up to book 1 and 3. Just a heads up: after that, the series falls down, and one of the later books takes a dark, ugly turn with one child character thinking she can fly and jumps/falls to her death.

     

     

    Alright Lori you are going to make me go broke!  I am a sucker on vintage books!  :-P  Do you or anyone know if The Children's Hour is similiar to My Book House series or Collier's Junior Classics.  Hate to duplicate too many of the stories, an older lady gave my son one of her Children's Hour books and I was hooked and ended up buying the whole set.  Also, trying to decide which I should invest in getting if I get another set or if I should just focus on one book in particular etc.  Just want the cream of the crop!  Any suggestions?

    • Like 1

    Old unknown book treasures...favorites...lets create a list :-)

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted · Edited by Homeschoolmom3

    I have stumbled on a few really great books lately.  I know there are probably so many others out there and would love to create a list.  If you know of any good books that are not notable classics that we all know but some "unknown treasure" please list away!  Thanks!

     

     

    Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories (found this at a library sale and LOVE it!) Great morals and teachings!

     

    Another favorite of ours is The Children's Hour Set!  

     

     

     

     

     

    • Like 1

    If You Teach from Rest or Aim for Schole...

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Chelli, can you address Schole for teens, or when there is a very large age range? I feel like in many regards, the local conversation we have is all aimed at homeschooling when it is "just" elementary aged kids.  Teaching from Rest is ***SOOOOOOOOO*** much harder when you have multiple grades going with some of those being in-home high school classes.  I think the current trend seems to be outsourcing many, many things for high schoolers but that's not always a possibility. 

     

    :iagree:  It is harder because having to meet criteria for credits, etc.  For elementary-middle school years are not so hard.  Just as others have already mentioned have a plan (yet don't be enslaved to it) for me I can't have set curricula otherwise I feel that if I don't check each box I have failed!  The type A coming out in me.  Eek!  

     

    Find the right books/curricula that works for you and what you are trying to achieve each year.  I read somewhere and is so true that you need to have a plan what you are trying to accomplish before looking at curricula and books.  This really helped me... you need a philosophy and to see where your kids are and where they are going.  What you want to accomplish this school year not just what you think needs to be covered.  You have so many years!  Simplify!  I have so learned along the way!

     

    In regards to scheduling, my kids are very spaced out.  I have a Kinder, MS, and a HS which makes it tough so we have had to do the best we can and know we might get interrupted occasionally.   :glare:  Since my Kinder is an early riser we do our morning time at breakfast for about 20 minutes.  It includes memory work, Bible, devotional, etc.  Then he goes off and plays for a bit while I have morning time with my older children,which lasts about an hour.  We alternate what we cover but everyday is Bible, memory work, a literature choice that we are trying to read through, and then alternate fine arts, poetry, Shakespeare, etc.  

     

    Then I am back working with my Kinder child for about 30 minutes on Math, Writing, Reading, etc. During this time my two older ones are working on their own work.  My oldest who will be in 11th works on his own for the rest of the day and I don't interfere he is self motivated and I just check with him at the end of the week to check his work and see his progress.  My MS will begin his Math and if he has any questions he will ask after working with my Kinder.  After that he is on his own.  I then practice piano with my kinder we eat lunch and clean up.  After lunch we have about 30-45 min. reading together and then he reads in his room for another 30 minutes if he gets tired he can take a nap or can play quiet puzzles, etc.  During this time I work with my MS with Grammar/Writing etc.  or anything else he needs help on and then he is on his own until he gets his work done.  At about 1:30-2 we are outside and my kinder is playing until I need to come in and make dinner.  My older two come out when they can and they are done with their school work.  While my kinder plays for 2 hours I READ!  I try to keep up with my kids readings during this time so we can discuss in morning time or when we meet up at the end of the week or whenever we schedule to go over work.  Hope this helps.  I got a little carried away.   :laugh:

    Shurley grammar for 3rd grade?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Yes, I agree with tm 919. We did not do the writing portion we ended up doing IEW for elementary.

     

    I was not a fan of Abeka in the early years to light, not sure about R&S in the early years but really like the MS years. Shurley is not too teacher intensive once you get in the groove and understand the layout. 😊 Good luck in your decision!

    • Like 1

    Shurley grammar for 3rd grade?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    For my two older boys we used Shurley all the way through elementary.  What I like most about it was:   the jingles (that really stuck with my kids they can still quote them in HS :-)  and how it was nicely laid out and explained well for us who's grammar was lacking when starting to homeschool are kids.  :-)  I would compare it to Saxon Math.  It is not too loved, but WORKS!!  We left Shurley and did a variety of grammar programs for Middle School but my favorite older one is Rod and Staff and Abeka in the HS years.  I liked Shurley because it laid a great foundation the only thing that it does not teach is diagramming which Abeka does and Rod and Staff which I think should be done before ending formal grammar.  Hope this helps.  :-)

    • Like 2

    Routines that work

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    I have tried to keep a schedule but lately it has gone out the window and we are on survival mode.  This year has been so stressful being out of the house three days this year has been way too much!  I need to be at home where I can have order.  I can't handle my house a mess because I am OCD.  :-P  I have had to learn to let some things go while homeschooling but have learned this year that too much running around makes home not a restful place to be.  So I am listening into all the suggestions.  Thanks for everyone taking time to post!  :D

    Routines that work

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted · Edited by Homeschoolmom3

    Thank you all, the other thing I forgot to mention was Im really desperately needing to fit some exercise in somewhere. That is part of the tweaking. Walking each day is the best type though I sometimes to yoga first thing but I really need consistency to stop the weight gain which seems to be going crazy. I'm not fussed about intense stuff and I don't necessarily care about losing but as long as I don't exercise I'm getting progressively heavier.

     

    I am listening in to this thread can always improve!  :-) 

     

    In regards to exercising I try to walk/jog 3x week on the treadmill and then I do a toning video 3x week.  I try to get up before my 5 yr. old because if I don't do it in the morning it won't happen.  However it only lasts 20 -25 minutes but it has kept my weight off.  I don't have a ton of time but just a little bit makes a big difference!  I am kinda embarrassed to tell you the video I use but hey it works!  It is the Biggest Looser workout, after my youngest was born it took me a little longer to bounce back and needed to loose 30 lbs.  It really worked well and I loved that it was only about 20 minutes (because shame I know I don't always follow their warm up/cool down stretching I just do a quick one.  :-)  Also for me as long as I don't eat past dinner I will not gain weight.  Maybe you can try that tip too!  ;) It can be hard though and I cheat about once a week!  :sleep:

    Reading Eggs/Math Seeds opinions?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Well for what is worth my son started using it when he was 3 1/2 yrs. old my sister is teacher and let him play with it when he wanted.  He probably played it 3x week for about 30 min. at a time.  I wouldn't let him play longer than that.  He loved getting his eggs to play his games!  He finished Reading Eggs right before his 5th birthday.  Just me reading to him a lot and him using Reading Eggs he is now reading at a 2nd grade level easy and I didn't teach him any phonics!  It was amazing!  I don't know if it was Reading Eggs or him just figuring it out on his own but he loved it!  Right before his 5th birthday I took the plunge and purchased a year worth hoping to get him into Math Seeds and work some more on his math skills since he loved it so much.  He has done great.  Yes, some of the things might be too easy but you can have your child take a test in the beginning and have them start where they need to be.  I found Reading Eggs express very difficult for a 5 yr. old but he has been plowing through it and amazing me!  I highly recommend it especially if she seems to like it!  HTH  :-)

    • Like 1

    Anyone use Basics of Biblical Greek?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Are you referring to the books by Mounce? I know there is a thread out there from a couple of years ago discussing the best Greek curriculum. I bought a copy of some of the Mounce at that time, sadly we never had time to use it. I think Mounce could be more than a year. I gave credit for all three Elementary Greek books in one year.

     

    I just did a forum search using Mounce as the key word. There are several threads starting in 2012.

     

    Yes, that is the one!  Thinks I'll try that!

    If you do online classes and then experience technical problems, what do you do? Go to library?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Our library isn't a great choice because they have a limited number of study rooms, which are available on a first-come first-served basis.

     

    You should check to see if you can arrange a scheduled room.  Our library does, I was able to call in the summer and arrange a room for one day a week scheduled out for the whole school year.  They only allowed it once a week and since his class is in the morning we have lucked out getting a room as a walk in on the second day.  It really helps.  :-)

    If you do online classes and then experience technical problems, what do you do? Go to library?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Who is your provider?  We use a hotspot and the TPS system test didn't work for us yet.  We are changing carriers and getting a booster.  Hoping that will help.  Only satellite and hotspot are our options.  No dsl either.  :-/

     

    DirectTV  Oh well, we have just did what we needed to make do but I am excited because next year we are only using providers that we do not have to worry about our connection.  I don't have to take them to the library 2 days a week.  Yeah!   :hurray:

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