Agreeing that MM4 Ch 1 was a challenge! I brought my oldest home from ps after the first quarter of 4th grade, and after a lot of research picked MM for her, and then we were both just so gobsmacked by this first chapter, I thought I had made a mistake with homeschooling, with MM, with everything! We just went through it slowly, and the rest of MM4, 5, an d 6 went great, and she's now happily doing Algebra. So I know it works! My 2nd dd is just starting with MM4, and we're taking it slow, although she's finding it less challenging than her sister did, after having doing MM3. But still, there is a ton packed into each page that first chapter! I find that running MM and BA concurrently works well here - my dd tends to do one for awhile, and then need a break, and switches to the other. They are intense in different ways, but a nice complement.

I just finished Memoirs of a Porcupine, another gift from Stacia. That was an odd little book. I'm not sure how to classify it - allegory? fable? it felt like Magical Realism to me although I have to confess I have a hard time actually defining that genre. I haven't read a lot of books by African authors. I really loved Things Fall Apart and Cry the Beloved Country, but expecting any similarity between books based on a particular continent of origin is like expecting Mikhail Bulgakov to read like Salman Rushdie. Hmm, actually those two are a little similar, LOL. Ok, so it's like expecting Flannery O'Connor to read like Margaret Atwood. Or something. Magical realism really isn't my thing, but I love fantasy, epics, and good sci fi. What's that about? Anyone want to help me out with a good definition? All I can seem to come up with are examples - kind of like pornography, I know it when I see it, but I can't say what it is. Shannon was asking me the other day, and I was trying to explain, but my definitions all sounded like regular fantasy, and she hasn't read any of the authors I mentioned so that didn't help.

Right, here I am crossing my wires and assuming you guys all know what we are studying this year! Sorry. We're doing Science Literacy/History of Science for a blended science/history double credit, and for lit we are reading sci fi/fantasy that examines scientific themes. We're using Joy of Science, 12 Essential Scientific Concepts, Redefining Reality TC courses as a spine. And so we're doing a combination of fiction and nonfiction really great readable books - some she is reading independently, some I'm doing as read alouds. I'm looking for really compelling, readable, interesting books about any science, but ideally books that integrate or meld the sciences. That's what I liked so much about Krakatoa. We're planning to read aloud Voyage of the Beagle, Origin of Species, and Beak of the Finch, and she will read Henrietta Lacks, The Double Helix, Remarkable Creatures, and things like that. I don't really need more, our list is pretty extensive, but I was looking for a good book that covered earth sciences, ecology, etc. But any science, really. What I thought she wouldn't like about Krakatoa: the whole end-of-the-world thing - the idea that a natural disaster could destroy local civilization. We live right along the San Andreas fault, and it has been a source of past anxiety. The book wasn't graphic, but it did describe the tidal waves, the loss of life, as well as a kind of gruesome revolt that happened after the eruption. I think she'd find those aspects disturbing, but the good bits almost outweigh that . . . We've done this as a read aloud, and loved it! Such a fun book.

Finished listening to Krakatoa. Loved it! Thanks for the rec, Jenn. I don't think my dd will like it at this point, she doesn't like the death-and-destruction stuff, but it makes me sad, because it's such a brilliant interconnection of geology, evolutionary theory, island biogeography, Dutch colonial/Indonesian history, and more. Exactly what I'm looking for in a living book, something that pulls all these seemingly disparate fields together. Anybody got suggestions of favorite books of this type, minus the tidal waves, drowning, and other mayhem? No infectious diseases either, another topic that I (weirdly) enjoy reading about.

Tweaking Already I recommend laying off the crank. It really isn't good for you.

I just read something else that really resonated with me, you might want to check this out - it's a free download from Kathy Jo Devore, author of Language Lessons through Literature (among other things) and it addresses this philosophical issue head-on. http://barefootmeandering.com/ (the link takes you to her site, and you can download the doc, A Walk in the Park, from there)

Seconding this, although I'm actually finding the workbook (How to Spell Workbook 4) useful, alongside the TM.

I second the Great Course linked above, How To Be a Superstar Student. Shannon really liked it and it applying what she learned - critically - to the other TC courses we're doing! For more meta-level stuff - how learning works, how to have the right attitude to study and learning and how to be an effective learner, I'd suggest: The Five Elements of Effective Thinking - Burger and Starbird A Mind for Numbers - Oakley (there is also a Coursera class that uses this book, by the author, it's really good. Dd learned a lot of good study techniques from this course) For more nuts-and-bolts stuff - how to study, how to take notes, etc., What Smart Students Know - Adam Robinson is the best book of this type I've seen. And for how to organize your high school years to maximize your appeal to colleges - How to be a High School Superstar - Cal Newport Here are a couple of good threads: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/518479-metacognition-resources/?hl=%2Bmetacognition&do=findComment&comment=5885308 http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/521763-alternatives-to-art-of-argument-talking-about-metacognition/page-2?hl=%2Bmetacognition&do=findComment&comment=5837596

Everything by Rebecca Stead. When You Reach Me, Liar and Spy, First Light and Goodbye Stranger. Perfect for girls this age, coming of age, thinking about your identity and how you are going to be in the world. Shannon and I just finished reading Goodbye Stranger and it was really a wonderful book. I'll ask Shannon for more suggestions when she wakes up.

The HHMI Biointeractive.org site has a lot of great stuff, some of which is very approachable for a 7th grader - films, lectures, activities, interactives, etc.: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/explore-evolution We also really liked the short videos on statedclearly.com: http://statedclearly.com/ ETA: Yeah, Your Inner Fish is great too!

Yes. I feel like the classes try to cover way too much information, at what can only be a superficial level, and that the focus is on having a good looking transcript and high test scores rather than on learning. I just took a look at the AP Biology course description on UC Scout. They have 11 units with 69 lessons, covering all of biology. I have a really hard time believing a high school student can master all of biology in one year. Or even that it's a good idea to try. Add in the fact that UC only counts a class as college prep if it has gone through an extra hoop of getting a-g approval. I just feel like the actual students are getting lost in all this. And I can't help feeling that economics is driving this a lot more than the desire to provide a quality education. Again, not directed at anyone here. I've been feeling increasingly convinced that the whole higher education system is broken, including the on-ramp. Which is depressing when you are preparing children to enter it. Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread or get into a meta-discussion about college prep.

That's the one. Simon Mayo is the author. I read it at the beach the other day - all 400 pages, which gives you an idea of the reading level. It was entertaining, and the hero definitely loves his elements. But it's not great literature or anything! The pros for the book is that it's clean - no sex, a little violence but it all turns out ok. Lots of barfing, characters get radiation sickness and one (not a main character) dies rather gruesomely from it. The characters are likable, smart and strong, girls and boys. The adults are actually not idiots and they try and be helpful, and there are trusted adults the kids can go to for help - it's not your typical YA novel where adults are either nonexistent or all jerks. The main con for me was that the whole resolution stretched my ability to suspend disbelief all the way to the breaking point - the last few chapters I was kind of shaking my head. Not at all believable, but still entertaining. I think it's a good book for a kid who likes adventure stories and science. I wouldn't try to do literary analysis on it, though!

Well, yes, but I can't call a class I do at home AP anyway. But if my goal is to have a student score highly on the AP exam, I might take this path. I suspect she would learn and retain a lot more of the actual content this way, too. Which is actually my primary goal. I feel like that gets lost in all this stress about AP classes, exams, transcripts, and college prep. (This isn't directed at you, Kai, or at any of the posters on this thread - it's just an intense frustration I feel when I wade into this whole mess, especially with respect to UC admissions, a-g courses, etc.) Having an AP course to list on your transcript, and getting a 4 or 5 on the AP exam are two separate, and potentially uncorrelated, things, right? A student could take an AP course but still not pass the AP exam, in which case I can't imagine that having taken the class will do them a lot of good in admissions. Or they can sit for an AP exam, having self-studied, rather than having taken an AP class, Right? This is how I thought it worked, but if I'm wrong please enlighten me.

Here is a link to the Lively Art of Writing workbooks: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/471529-lively-art-of-writing-formatted-workbook-and-key-x-post/?hl=lively+art+writing&do=findComment&comment=6298465

I finally had a reading day! We spent it at the beach, it was a long drive because the local beaches were all packed, so we had to drive aaaaalllll the way out to Pt. Reyes seashore, but it was lovely. We stayed till the sun went down, waiting for the green flash as it disappeared over the horizon. Morgan and I built Stonehenge and she dug the deepest beach-hole ever. Just what the dr. ordered. And . . . I finished The Castle in Transylvania. I was skeptical at first - a gothic horror ghost story by Jules Verne? But it did not disappoint - it ended just like a gothic horror ghost story written by the father of sci fi should end! Eat your heart out, Edgar Allan Poe! If anybody else is interested in reading this, let me know and I will pass it along. I also read Itch by Simon Mayo - an adventure story about a 14 year old kid who collects the elements - yep, The Elements - and ends up with more than he bargained for. I read all 400 pages sitting on the beach today, so it clearly wasn't a deep or meaningful read, but it was entertaining, although the end did stretch my suspension of disbelief muscles pretty much to the breaking point. But it's a book my dd will enjoy reading when we get to Chemistry later in the year.

Yep, I'm dorkily quoting myself. I'm about to head to the beach with the family - first day dh and I have both been not working for more than two months - so I still haven't had time to really craft the responses that are bubbling up as I read these posts. But I wanted to post a link to this article and share this one quote, because I think it is so relevant to the time - the soup pot bubbling on its own - issue. This is talking about teenagers, but I think it's relevant for any age. And I think it can happen in homeschools, not just b&m school: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/08/qa-the-miseducation-of-our-college-elite/377524/?utm_source=SFFB "Aside from the classes themselves, the fact that we’ve created a system where kids are constantly busy, and have no time for solitude or reflection, is going to take its toll. We need to create a situation where kids feel like they don’t have to be “on†all the time. Given the chance, adolescents tend to engage in very intense conversation, and a lot of life learning happens laterally, happens peer to peer. But if they're constantly busy, there's literally no time. It’s crazy. We’ve taken adolescence away from adolescents. School must not take away your opportunities to self-reflect on your own." School - even homeschool - must not take away a child's opportunities to learn, to self reflect, to develop a sense of self. I always have to watch myself as I want to add just one more book, just one more paper, just one more cool lecture series, just one more thing to our day . . . what I need to preserve, first and foremost, is time for my children to become. More later, and I'll catch up on the last few posts I haven't had time to read yet.

See, it's funny, but I don't see His Dark Materials as an atheist tract by any stretch, although Pullman is a vocal atheist himself. It's a book that accepts the existence of gods, angels, ghosts, etc. Definitely not modern/materialist/atheist. It is very critical of organized religion or Authority in any form, but it doesn't make any kind of argument for the nonexistence of a spiritual dimension. On the contrary, in fact. IMHO, of course. But I totally get that it is a book that won't work for a lot of people for a variety of reasons. I just finished re-reading the trilogy and I thought it fit a lot of the criteria in the OP, which was why I mentioned it. :)

For listening in the car, my first choice would be The Three Musketeers - great adventure story - and my second would be Great Expectations. Those are both accessible stories for multiple ages. You don't say the ages of your other children, but I don't think Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice, or A Tale of Two Cities are as accessible for younger kids, I'd save those for a high schooler. And while not wishing to be sexist, I also think Jane Eyre and P&P are more naturally appealing to girls than to boys. I don't mean men and women, mature readers, but girls vs. boys, who are still developing their tastes and who you are wanting to bring into an enjoyment of the classics. So if dc is a girl I'd pick one of those, and if dc is a boy I'd be more inclined to go with Tale of Two Cities.

Echoing Lori D and Tara to say that I wouldn't push WWS if your dd really dislikes it. Especially at this age, where there are plenty of other areas where conflict can arise, I think writing really shouldn't be one of them. WWS is a strong program of a specific type/style - like Lori said, very parts-to-whole. If your dd doesn't think like that it will just be an unpleasant chore to go through. It's fantastic for some kids, but if it's not a fit, I wouldn't be attached to it just because it is good and you like it. Writing is so personal, and you can ruin it by making it an uncomfortable chore. So yeah, more unsolicited advice, sorry about that, but I went through this soul-searching about using WWS with my dd awhile back, so I really can relate to the feeling of wanting to just make it work! Some alternative that have worked much, much better for us are Lively Art of Writing, mentioned by Tara, which is a really nice introduction to essay writing. It is super inexpensive and the workbook (definitely use the workbook!) is free. We also really like the book Writing With a Thesis: A Rhetoric and Reader, which you can also get cheap on Amazon. It is a very whole-to-parts approach to writing, which begins with looking at the purpose of the piece, and then goes through all the different essay styles/types/topoi you can use to achieve your rhetorical purpose. It has nice sample essays that help the student see what can be done with the essay form. It is a nice followup to the basic essay you learn in LAoW. This year Shannon is doing some BW classes. She is really enjoying it so far. The classes are pricey, so that may not be an option. But I share the idea because it really reinforced for me the idea of fitting the instruction to the student. My dd has a lovely voice in her writing, and BW really supports that and helps her channel it into producing the kind of writing I'm asking for without losing her own, unique, creative voice. It also really helps with the techniques for thinking more deeply before you sit down to write - this helps with the blank brain that happens when they are facing a blank sheet. They are doing all kinds of exercises that I'd never take the time to do with her, but I'm seeing their value. Lori mentioned the Faltering Ownership and Transition to Ownership products. There is also Help for High School, which is written to the student. The first half of Help for High School is covered in the Kidswrite Intermediate class, and the second half is covered in the Expository Essay class. Again, I apologize if none of this helps you with your immediate decision! But I thought I'd share just because we had a similar struggle in trying to find a good fit for writing.

We use it orally as a supplement to the grammar-based work she is doing with a text, and the vocabulary she is learning using Easy Peasy Spanish online. Since she does that stuff independently, this gives me a chance to check in, help with pronunciation, etc. If it's a verb I'll ask her for the complete conjugation, and then we'll go through the exercises, alternating Spanish-English and English-Spanish translating. I think the on-the-fly translation exercises are really useful. You have to practice coming up with the right verb conjugation for the sentence you want to say a lot before it becomes automatic, and memorizing conjugations doesn't automatically give you that ability.

Yeah, outlining nonfiction passages, which are typically written to convey information, is a great skill. Practice it at will! But outlining stories is totally different - stories are constructed differently from nf passages, for a different purpose. I think CAP had you outline the story of the Three Little Pigs, which got really unwieldy really quickly.

I've got lots of thoughts simmering on the back of my mental stove - I will come back and post when I have some time to articulate them. Enjoying this discussion, though.

Very little time to read here, too, between a grueling work schedule and school. But I did finish Andrew's Brain by E. L. Doctorow. His last book, I think? It was weird but enjoyable, but with a very, very odd twist ending. I'm still not sure what I think about it. It was definitely a very different book from The March which is the only other Doctorow I've read. I'm currently enjoying Castle in Transylvania by Jules Verne (courtesy of Stacia - thank you!) and listening to Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester, which I am really enjoying - I think that was a suggestion from Jenn? So that's it for the moment - trying to keep it simple and focused.

That actually seems quite fitting. I think a lot of people are thinking of the Disney version when they think Peter Pan. It is actually a really dark book. Again, one you could get much more out of when you are older.

This is a lovely post. It really resonated with me. Are you sure you haven't been reading my mind??? :)