SheWhoWaits
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Posts posted by SheWhoWaits
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My 9th grader is currently doing Around the World in 180 Days. (We homeschool year round). I assigned 1 book report for each continent. I gave him a list of approx. 10 books to choose from for each continent. I wish I could have gotten him to read all of them, because most of them were really excellent. I'll email my lists to any who request them.
Here it is almost 3 years later and I continue to get requests for these lists, so I have put them up on a website. Here is the link. https://sites.google.com/site/shewhowaitshomeschoolresources/
Be aware that some of these books contain material that you may consider inappropriate for your child. Please pre-read them. At some point I will add reading levels and comments about material parents should be aware of, so keep checking back if you want that information.
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Mapping out my 4 years of high school literature. I was planning on using a curriculum but I really like the idea of doing our own thing... kind of in a WTM Great Books direction. I'm looking to provide a unifying theme and be somewhat tied to history (ancients, etc.)
I've been gleaning ideas from multiple past threads but I'm a little stuck on a few areas and I was hoping for a little help. This is what I have so far...
9th grade - Ancients:
1. Epic of Gilgamesh (Watson translation) - Mesopotamia 2500 B.C.
2. The Illiad (Fagles translation) - Homer, Greece 850 B.C.
3. The Odyssey (Fagles translation) - Homer, Greece 850 B.C.
4. Antigone (Grene translation) - Sophocles, Greece 440 B.C.
5. The Aeneid (Fitzgerald translation) - Virgil, Rome 30 B.C.
6. Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold - Lewis, Greece
7. The Republic (Sachs translation) - Plato, Greece 380 B.C.
8. Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ - Wallace, Rome 0-30 A.D.
9. The Analects (Slingerland translation) - Confucious, China 475-221 B.C.
You should be aware that Gilgamesh is VERY explicit. My 10th grader read it last year, but I cringed when I read parts of it. The Iliad is just plain boring. We slogged through all of it, but neither of us enjoyed it. The rest of your selections are wonderful. Just so you are aware, there is a Fagles translation of the Aeneid too. But the Fitzgerald is equally good. Just a matter of preference. You really should add Oedipus Rex because the use Freud made of it makes knowing the story line a cultural literacy imperative. I'd suggest adding the Ramayana, too, you're a little light on Asian lit. Maybe find and abridged version since it's very long.
10th grade - Medieval/Renaissance/Early Modern Lit:
1. Beowulf (Heaney transaltion) - Vikings 725 A.D.
2. Canterbury Tales (selections) - Chaucer, England 1300's
3. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Tolkein translation) - England, c. 1400
4. The Once and Future King - White, England
5. The Inferno (Ciardi or Sayers translation) - Dante, Italy 1320
6. Dr. Faustus - Marlowe, England 1588
7. The Faerie Queene - Spenser, England 1590
8. Pilgrim's Progress - Bunyan, England 1678 <-- bump to Brit lit or stay here?
9. Robinson Crusoe - Defoe, England 1719 <-- bump to Brit lit or stay here?
10. Gulliver's Travels - Swift, England 1726 <-- bump to Brit lit or stay here?
11. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Coleridge, sea 1798 <-- bump to Brit lit or stay here?
This is a pretty hefty list. Some of these are looong. I don't know if you can get through all this in a year. I know for sure we couldn't. I'd pick 3 or 4 of them and maybe just read small selections from the rest.
Read Alone:Sword Song - Sutcliff
The Great and Terrible Quest - Lovett
Men of Iron - Pyle
Adventures of Robin Hood - Green
Scottish Chiefs - Wyeth
Black Horses for the King - McCaffrey
Arabian Nights - (undecided on this translation/version still)
These are good. I also highly recommend The Emperor's Winding Sheet by Jill Paton Walsh and The Hawk and the Dove by Penelope Wilcock. Both out of print, but not too hard to find copies of them.
11th grade - American Lit:1. The Scarlet Letter - Hawthorne 1850
2. Moby Dick - Meville 1851
3. Uncle Tom's Cabin - Stowe 1852
4. The Red Badge of Courage - Crane 1863
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Twain 1884
6. Edgar Allen Poe collection - 1800s <-- need to find a nice collection
7. To Kill A Mockingbird - Lee 1930s
8. The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck 1939
9. Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury 1953
10. Call of the Wild - London 1896
11. The Old Man and the Sea - Hemingway mid-1900s
as well as (so far) 23 important documents, speeches, essays
Good list. The Grapes of Wrath is an absolute must IMO. Uncle Tom's Cabin is long, but a quick read. It's a page-turner.
Read Alone:1776 -
** still working on this section **
Suggestions:
Of Mice and Men; Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin; White Fang; Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas; Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; Autobiography of Malcolm X; Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; His Brother's Keeper by Charles M. Sheldon; Ishmael by E.D.E.N. Southworth; James Printer by Paul Samuel Jacobs; John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet; The House of 7 Gables; Evangeline or The Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow; Amos Fortune, Free Man or The Journeyman (also known as Patterns on the Wall) both by Elizabeth Yates; Rip Van Winkle.
12th grade - British Lit: <--- or European Lit or ???1. Pride and Prejudice - Austen 1813
2. Frankenstein - Shelley 1818
3. Jane Eyre - Bronte 1847
4. Great Expectations - Dickens 1861
5. The Screwtape Letters - Lewis 1942
6. Animal Farm - Orwell 1945
7. Lord of the Flies - Golding 1954
8. ?? <-- need ideas for more Brit lit
9. ?? <-- need ideas for more Brit lit
10. ?? <-- need ideas for more Brit lit
** The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (using LLfLOTR) will be read in 7th & 8th grades, hence why Tolkien is not listed here. We love Tolkien and Lewis, though, so maybe a different selection from them? **
I think you're really overestimating the number of books you can get through in a year. Maybe some families could do it. We couldn't. Great Expectations all by itself could easily take 4-6 months to get through. Dickens writes good stories, but they're long and complicated. And I personally dislike Austen very much. IMO if she were writing today she would be published by Harlequin. But some people think she is great. She also isn't a quick read. I think what you have is enough. I wouldn't add any more.
Read Alone:** still working on this section **
Suggestions: The Picture of Dorian Gray. IMO this is absolutely a MUST. Also, The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (out of print, but most libraries have it -- if you like it, read the whole series -- Pilgrim's Inn is my favorite); here's the place you should do 2 or 3 Shakespeare plays. Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet and Macbeth are the traditional high school choices. Othello is also great. We had a lot of fun with The Merry Wives of Windsor. If you're not committed to tradition (think cultural literacy) I'd recommend that one. Alice in Wonderland; A Tale of Two Cities; some of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown Mysteries; anything by Agatha Christie; Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Robin Hood.
Would love to fit these in:Les Miserables - Hugo, France 1815
War and Peace - Tolstoy, Russia 1869
All Quiet on the Western Front - Remarque, German 1928
Cry, the Beloved Country - Paton, South Africa 1948
These are all wonderful books, but they don't fit anywhere in your framework. Maybe you could do a world lit class in 8th grade? We did world history and geography in 9th and Ancients in 10th. I think these would all be appropriate at that level. Les Miz and War and Peace are very long. Maybe find abridged versions of those. Alan Paton is one of my very favorite authors. Read all his books if you can.
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My ds bought himself a moped with his paper route earnings, but it needs a lot of maintenance. Almost every week something goes wrong with it and his dad helps him fix it. So I will be giving him credit for 1 shop class in moped maintenance.
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Anyone know of a good survey of the New Testament appropriate for 11th grade? Also, what do you like for American history and why? Prefer something that comes with a teacher's book as my husband is unemployed and I have to work.
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You're correct... grading him after the 10 attempts is not a true reflection of his ability. Personally, the student should show understanding after 1 (maybe 2) corrections with your guidance. However, if you are making so many attempts in Daily Work -- could the material be too difficult for him? It is okay to change materials midstream as it may be easier for subject matter comprehension. No harm in that.
Well, it isn't really 10 tries (usually) and I don't think the material is too hard, but he's on the lazy side and sometimes just doesn't bother to think it through. I have to keep my teacher's books at my side at all times, too, or he'll cheat.
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If you take the classical and learn it well, reading koine will be a snap. You'll think you're reading English.
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I'm talking more about daily work here, not tests. I think by the time the test comes around, he should know the stuff and the first grade counts. He still has to correct any wrong answers, though. This is supposed to be a learning experience, after all. But I'm not so sure about the daily work. I make hime redo it until it's right even if it takes 10 tries. So what grade should he get? My concern is that if I grade on first attempts his grades will be lower than I'd like, but if I grade on final results, he'll have straight As, which I don't think is an accurate reflection of his abilities.
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This is a question for those of you who always make your dc correct their work until it it right. What do you base your grades on? Their first attempt, the final results, an average of the two, something else?
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Public schools would depend on your school system. Research it very well, because what they tell you may not be the whole picture. I allowed my gifted ds to go to public school starting in 7th grade. Before I did, I made sure advanced classes would be available for him. But even though the classes were available, the teachers teaching them were inferior and not really interested in their jobs. By 9th grade, ds completely stopped doing his schoolwork because he had discovered that he could get away with it. I pulled him out and went to a mix of community college and homeschooling, with a little more college and a little less homeschooling each year. It has worked out well for us. We had some money put aside for college, which we have now used up, but we believe he will be able to finance much of the rest of his college education with scholarships. He's now a high school senior/college sophomore, depending on how you look at it. He will very likely end up in an Ivy League school next year.
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I don't have any friends that I can call with this, and after I called dh I still feel like I want to brag some more. My 17 year old, who is taking some classes at a local university, got a call from his Russian professor this morning. She couldn't make it to class and she wanted him to teach it for her. (This is his 3rd semester of Russian).
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My ds is studying Russian. I'll ask him when he gets back from class.
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I will ask one question ;)
The Robert's book seems to be 900 pages long. How can you manage that in one page a day? I think I'm missing something.
I need to correct myself. It was 5 pages per day, not 1. But that doesn't really sound to onerous.
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Keep in mind, though, that many other works are read and/or discussed, within the context of LOTR. The LOTR books are but one aspect of the program. You may want to look more closely at the website and/or review some of the other threads to get an idea.
Just glancing at my TOC, I can tell you that we will be reading/discussing (at least portions of):
Canterbury Tales
The Iliad
The Odyssey
Virgil's Aeneid
MacBeth
Beowulf (special unit study included)
The Once and Future King
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
He has already read some of those and some are on the agenda for this year. In fact there are only 3 on that list that aren't already read or planned for. I think I'll just stick with my current plans.
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My ds is a senior/college sophomore. He started taking CC classes as a hs sophomore and now takes the majority of his classes there. So long as you identify her as a high student and call the CC classes dual enrollment, she will qualify for scholarships that are only offered to freshmen. My ds has been talking to several colleges about this. He thinks he will probably go to Cornell.Just a thought - if she takes CC courses first she may no longer count as a freshman to the four-year places that offer the big bucks - most merit scholarships are for in-coming FRESHMAN!!! I's contact Wake Forest and talk to them - they may recommend NOT taking more than one or two cc course so she can still qualify for the merit scholarships.The things that occur to me in the middle of the night!
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I'd definitely pull him. But there was a reason you signed him up for the class. It must have sounded like something you wanted him to learn. So I'd teach the same material to him at home that he was going to get in that class. Obviously you will be more fair than that teacher at the co-op.
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I think you are misinformed! World History: The Human Odyssey by Jackson Spielvogel is actually a high school textbook and I picked up from Alibris for under $5. His Western Civilization is a college level textbook.
You misunderstood. Why would I be worried about A Human Odyssey? We used it. I was worried about Ancient Civilizations, which is a 6th grade textbook.
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It goes all the way to the renaissance. We are only doing the ancient part.
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some of the books I would NOT include in a high school course description list
That's true. I don't get why they include easy reader books that are aimed at early to middle elementary kids in their high school curricula. That said, I have used modified Sonlight in high school and loved it. I just left out the books I didn't like. Their notes are terrific. The Holzmanns think like I do and teach like I like to teach. I have done SL 200 with my kids when they were in 8th and 10th. I will definitely use SL 300 with my younger son and possibly 100 (not sure about that one.)
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We are using Robert's ancient history. I found it in the library and really liked it, so I am buying 2 copies (I always try to have my own copy of all the textbooks, it just makes the logistics of scheduling and correcting easier.) It doesn't have questions, but I figured we could finish the book in 1 school year if we did a page a day, and I didn't think making up questions for 1 page per day would be too hard for me. I will use parts of SWBs book, but I just didn't feel comfortable with it as a spine. Since this is SWBs forum, I don't feel comfortable discussing why here, so please don't ask.
My second choice would have been Spielvogels Ancient Civilizations. We used his Human Odyssey last year and really liked it. But it worried me that it is a 6th grade textbook. I didn't know if it would be meaty enough for high school. And it cost more than the Roberts. So Roberts it is.
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SheWhoWaits,
May I ask you to share the list of those stories that you and your son compiled? (Just call me a listaholic!)
Regards,
Kareni
Since it's short, I'll just post it here with a copy in a pm to you.
Twain: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Maupassant: The Necklace
O Henry: The Gift of the Magi
Borges: The Circular Ruins
Saki: The Open Window
Chopin: The Story of an Hour
Faulkner: A Rose for Emily
Bierce: An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge
Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart
Haruki: Superfrog Saves Tokyo
Wongar: Dingo's Picnic
I just came across one by Dickens I wish I had added. It's called The Child's Story. It's really well written (who knew Dickens could write anything short?) but the schedule is made and I don't want to mess with it. If you want to know more about any of those stories or why we chose them, just ask.
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Thank. The program sounds great, but I am aiming for more breadth in our literature program. I just can't see focusing one one series for a whole year, or even a whole semester. I'd give it 6 weeks, but no more. There are so many great books I want to cover.
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Could I add a question here? How long does the study take? Is it a full-year program?
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Hi Jennifer,
I live in Michigan too. I think the state leaves a lot of the decisions up to the local school district. They have to let you do things like band, art, PE. They may allow more if they choose. They are not allowed to let you do sports (unless they are intramural) because MHSAA won't allow it. They don't want schools to shop for the best athletes, so they only allow athletes to play at the school they attend.
I live in Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo schools stick to strictly what they have to allow homeschoolers to enroll in. But I have friends in Mattawan and Schoolcraft whose kids are allowed to take anything they want at the local high school. It seems if you live in a small town, you have a better chance of getting what you want. Also, I don't know exactly what is on the state list of what they have to let you take, but if I were you, I'd find out, and if your school district is denying you something on that list, put up a stink until you get what you're entitled to.
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Do you read what they're reading and discuss it with them? I think they miss a lot if they just read for pleasure. I remember reading books in high school that I really enjoyed, but when it came time to discuss them in class, I couldn't remember what had happened in them.
My younger ds and I still do read alouds. We're doing David Copperfield right now. When I come to something I think he might not get, I stop and ask. Usually I'm right and then I have a chance to explain it to him. Example: Mr. Micawber was talking about using a razor, and the next day David expressed worry about his well being. My ds didn't get that the mention of a razor was a threat of suicide. There have been many little things like that that I could explain to him. Also, he will make comments that give me an opportunity to discuss the reading with him. I don't solicit these comments, but I do welcome them.
In addition to the read aloud, we do a regular literature program. Right now we're doing short stories. We're using Teaching Literary Elements with Short Stories, The Art of the Short Story, and various famous stories found on the internet (my older son and I put together a list that we thought everyone should read). I make a worksheet for each story he reads and he also has to write some stories. After we finish short stories, we're going to do poetry. I'm planning to use A Child's Introduction to Poetry and a list of famous poems that I will put together. Then we will probably do a Shakespeare play. Then we will do Greenleaf Press's Guide to Ancient Literature since this year is ancients in history. We probably won't finish the Greenleaf, but I really wanted to do the short stories and poetry because I feel he's a little lacking in familiarity with those genres.
Recommendations for Bible, American history, 11th grade
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
Still looking for these things. Anyone?