I've read 6, with another on my to-read stack. And I'm not particularly seeking. Although I suppose I might have been when I read a few of these. I remember being blown away by Alan Watts as a college student.

You might enjoy The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood - the story told from Penelope's point of view.

Yep, those are the three Geraldine Brooks books I've read so far too - March, Year of Wonders, and People of the Book. I've really enjoyed all of them. I'm intrigued by this nonfiction one: Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/337615.Nine_Parts_of_Desire?from_search=true&search_version=service

Here is what I think I see in your schedule: Science - 1 hour German - 1 hour Math - 1 hour Social Studies - 1 hour English - 1 hour That seems totally reasonable. Now, if any one of the subjects is taking way more than an hour, I'd consider rotating through the items rather than trying to do them all every day - for Social Studies, you could do Geography twice a week and OUP twice or 3 times a week, along with the reading. It may be too much to get all of those things done in an hour. For English, similarly, you could do Grammar 2x a week and Vocab 2x a week, or something like that. FWIW, I don't count my dd's assigned lit reading as part of the English hour. That's her "homework" - she does it while she's eating, or before or after school.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Well, I won't intentionally read books where animals die. I'm way more upset by animal suffering than human suffering. :leaving: So no, not that sad. Sad in a beautiful and kind of uplifting way, not sad in a now-I-want-to-kill-myself way.

Has he read the first two books in the series? The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife? I definitely recommend it. The third one doesn't really work without at least reading the 2nd one beforehand.

It's terribly sad. Beautiful, but really really sad.

Morgan and I finished listening to Mr. & Mrs. Bunny, Detectives Extraordinaire by Pollly Horvath. It was funny and entertaining. I like it when kid's books are read by the author. That way you get to hear all the voices the way they were intended. I finished reading Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass last night. I think it is a wonderful story, about courage and love and redemption and fate and free will, about growing up and making choices. I cried pretty solidly through the last 1/4 of the book. I think it's going to really resonate with my 13 year old. I wouldn't have wanted her to read it any earlier, but I think she will really connect with Lyra and Will and the choices they had to make. What I realized more clearly with this reading, though, is that it is not an "atheist" book. Sure, it isn't compatible with a Christian worldview, but it isn't compatible with a scientific materialist world view either. I mean, people have 3-part souls. Ghosts are real. Angels are real. As are many Biblical stories. Consciousness is caused by dark matter. It's actually a very spiritual view of the universe, not a scientific view. I guess that surprised me, because I've read interviews with him where he is very clear about being an atheist and resenting religious readings of his book. But it's not at all incompatible with a kind of new-age view of religion.

Me too - 78%. But I think I cheated - I judged it the way I thought goodreads would, not what I actually thought of the cover. I couldn't help it.

Me too, unfortunately I already returned it, so I can't check. Not near as memorable, I don't think!

I don't know of a science curriculum with all the features you describe built in. Could you have her do 1 or 2 research papers on some aspect of Equine Science? That way she'd be practicing the writing skills on a topic she's interested in. Can you tell me more about the online Equine Science class? That sounds like something my dd would be interested in.

Kareni, speaking of great first lines, I think it was the first paragraph of The Library at Mount Char that convinced me to read through till the end, even if it was iffy at times. It was such a grabber: Carolyn, blood-drenched and barefoot, walked alone down the two-lane stretch of blacktop that the Americans called Highway 78. Most of the librarians, Carolyn included, had come to think of this road as the Path of Tacos, so-called in honor of a Mexican joint they snuck out to sometimes. The guacamole, she remembered, is really good. Her stomach rumbled. Oak leaves, reddish-orange and delightfully crunchy, crackled underfoot as she walked. Her breath puffed white in the predawn air. The obsidian knife she had used to murder Detective Miner lay nestled in the small of her back, sharp and secret.

Agreed. It's nice to have our procrastination rewarded! ;) :D

I like 1togos advice. Shannon did LAoW last year, and learned the essay form, easy peasy. She would not enjoy a repetition of the basic essay form, nor super redundant writing assignments focused on learning a form she has pretty much got down. What she needs is to really work on developing her ideas, having interesting and unique things to say. So I've gone with Bravewriter, since that seems to be a focus, and actually placed her in the Kidswrite Intermediate class this year. It has just started, but I think it will fit the bill, it's letting her exploring words and ideas and I'm confident she'll be able to use that in her own essays. But it doesn't seem like this more open-form, loosey goosey writing is what your ds needs. It definitely wouldn't feel like the next step up in terms of difficulty. For us it's a welcome lateral move, allowing focus on a different aspect of writing. It's definitely not the next linear step int he process. For linear steps, I think of WWS/SWB's writing instructions. Did you look at the WTMA classes? There is one that reviews WWS 1-3 in a consolidated format, maybe something like that would work for him? ETA: Ah, ok, looking back at page 1 of the thread I see he did WWS 1-2. WWS wasn't a great fit here as written, although I learned a lot from it as a writing teacher. Ok, I guess I got nothing, other than the suggestion to have him write across the curriculum, perfecting his essay technique and developing his ideas.

It depends on the subject and the skills goals we are working on in that subject. This year, 8th grade, we are explicitly working on the skills of taking notes from lectures, and note-taking from nonfiction texts. To that end, I have written fairly detailed lesson plans for the first two nonfiction books my dd is reading independently, to help guide her in the note-taking/writing to learn process. I am also sitting with her and modelling note-taking on lectures, though she's getting it quick, I don't think I'll need to model more than a couple of times. I do this to help teach her the process of studying and learning, and tools an independent learner needs so that she can apply them to other subjects. ETA: We took notes together on the first Joy of Science lecture, then without prompting, she took notes on her How to Become a Superstar Student lecture! She saw the value of note-taking as an attention focusing technique, which is how I've always used it. I was super happy with this evidence of internalizing the skill, and more importantly, the reason for using the tool of note-taking in the first place. But like another poster mentioned, that is separate from me learning the material so that I can know the answers to all possible questions. I do pre-read most if not all of the books I assign her for school, and I make an effort to brush up on subjects I'll be teaching via online courses or reading. But I never imagine that I'll have answers to all her questions! I use questions as an opportunity to teach her to find out how to answer her questions (whether I know the answers or not. ;) )

In 4th grade, no. She'd probably have fun with the discussion, but it's not a writing assignment I'd ask her to do. Like 8, my goals for a 4th grader are very different. Persuasive writing and position papers are assignments for older students here.

When you say "Wayfarers suggests" what do you mean? What is Wayfarers? Thanks. The program you linked has always appealed to me too. I really do like the self-teaching, independent research aspect.

Don't be quoting my post back at me, damn spammer. Reported.

While I didn't like the Gaston Leroux novel, I did really enjoy this book!

I finished listening to People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. I thought it was really wonderful, though hard to listen to at times - torture by inquisitors and such. I thought it was the best kind of historical fiction - a book that makes the past come alive, that connects different times, places, cultures, religions, and makes them seem vivid and immediate. She's a great writer and a does a remarkable amount of research on her books. I think I'll be putting her on my read-everything author list.

Well, good luck with that. I thought the book was absolutely horrible.

I did enjoy it. I got it to have Shannon read The Veldt, which she enjoyed so much that she read the whole book. So then she wanted me to read it, so we could talk about the stories. I liked it better than The Martian Chronicles, except for There Will Come Soft Rains, which is my favorite story of his, I think.

Happy Anniversary, Robin! I finished The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension, reading and making a study guide. Finally, whew! I also finished The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. Books Read in August: 118. People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks 117. The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury 116. The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension - Joy Hakim 115. The LIbrary at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins 114. The Iron King - Maurice Druon 113. The Magus - John Fowles 112. A History of God - Karen Armstrong 111. War of the Worlds: Fresh Persepctives on the HG Wells Masterpiece 110. March - Geraldine Brooks

Jenn, you were asking what my girls thought of the Disney movie version of Into the Woods vs. the theatrical version. We watched the Disney version last night. Their take was, it wasn't as good. They thought the 2nd half was super chaotic, and they didn't think the character development worked as well. They said in the movie you didn't really see any change in the Baker character, despite the song, but that in the theatrical version you really did. As far as my take - I hated it! I'm right there with your young audience member, I sobbed too - but during the witches song to Rapunzel. She was a nasty piece of work, not funny like in the theatrical version, but her misguided desire to protect her "daughter" was certainly relateable and heartwrenching. But I was also so pissed off about how the Baker's wife's death was handled! So she and the prince have their encounter in the woods, and what does he get? He gets to tell his wife "I'll always love the girl who ran." Schmucky cad, totally unpunished. While the Baker's wife? Married to a pretty ineffectual guy? She has a moment of weakness, kisses a prince, and promptly gets killed for it. Lots of mother hostility in that movie. I really and thoroughly disliked it, I thought it was super sexist, misogynistic, and anti-mother. I liked the play much better. No books to review at this point, but I should finish a couple today! So I'll post about that later. I was just all boiling over with my thoughts about Into the Woods!