nmariec23
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Posts posted by nmariec23
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We use/used a variety of resources. My younger dd will be in 5th next year but works above grade level in literature in particular. My older dd is now in high school.
Literary Terms:
Figuratively Speaking
Prose and Poetry
Literary terms notebook
Literature Guides/Support:
some free online guides (but I generally just pulled ideas from them and did not use them entirely)
TC lectures
documentaries
Book Notes I created to go along with our specific books (Sometimes I pull vocabulary specific to these books and include them in the Book Notes, but otherwise we don't use vocabulary workbooks.)
Literature Output:
narrations and essays
discussions
recitations of poetry
Literature:
5th:
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (Older dd read this and really enjoyed it and younger dd will be reading it soon.)
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Jester (Read-aloud for us and both girls loved it.)
The Good Master by Kate Seredy (Both girls loved it.)
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (Younger dd loved this. Older dd liked it.)
At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald (We will be reading this in a couple of months.)
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (Both girls loved this.)
The Complete Fairy Tales by George MacDonald (Younger dd will be reading this in a couple of months.)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Both girls loved this.)
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Both girls loved this.)
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (Read-aloud for us and both girls loved this.)
The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley (Younger dd half way through this and likes it.)
These are very girl-friendly books! :)
A boy might like Little Lord Fauntleroy Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo
Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry
These two books are on our list to read soon too and these are more boy-friendly.
6th:
The Trojan War by Oliva Coolidge or Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff (We have the first book and older dd loved it.)
Myths of the World by Padraic Colum (Older dd enjoyed this too.)
Tales From Shakespeare by C. & M. Lamb (Older dd enjoyed this and younger dd will be reading it next year.)
Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs (Read-aloud for us and everyone enjoyed this.)
The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Older dd liked this....some....mostly enjoyed some parts but not all.)
Treasure Island by Robert L. Stevenson (Older dd enjoyed this one.)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Both girls really liked this one and younger dd read some sequels.)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Both girls loved this.)
The House of Arden by Edith Nesbit (Younger dd loved this.)
A Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens (We were supposed to read this around the Christmas holidays this year, but sadly did not....hopefully next year.)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Loved this one.)
The Man Who Changed China: The Story of Sun Yat-sen by Pearl S. Buck (Hope to get to this one soon.)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (This is next on our read-aloud list.)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Older dd doesn't care for Twain...she'll be required to read Huck Finn at least next year....lol....and we'll see about younger dd)
Mark Twain and the River by Sterling North (This would be a good biography for this age.)
7th:
Nordic Gods and Heroes by Colum (Older dd liked this one.)
Evangeline and the Acadians by Robert Tallant (Younger dd reading this next week.)
Courtship of Miles Standish by Longfellow
Evangeline by Henry W. Longfellow (Younger dd reading this next week. She'll read this instead of Courtship of Miles Standish)
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (Older dd loved this and younger dd will read it next week.)
Poetry aligned with Anne of Green Gables (Same as above.)
Beowulf by Seamus Heaney (Need to read this.)
Age of Fable from Bulfinch's Mythology (Older dd reading this now.)
The Wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall (Older dd really likes this book.)
The Hobbit by J. R. R . Tolkien (Both loved this!!)
Call of the Wild by Jack London (Older dd hasn't read it yet and younger dd is sensitive about animals, so....)
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger L. Green (Older dd loved this too.)
Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling (Older dd liked this but feels you need a solid background in English history to really enjoy it.)
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (Older dd likes this one a lot and younger dd wants to read it with me.)
Smith of Wootton Major by J. R. R. Tolkien (Older dd liked and younger dd to read soon.)
Farmer Giles of Ham by J. R. R. Tolkien (Same as above.)
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (and the rest of the series) (Older dd really liked this series....as much as Anne of Green Gables.)
The King's Swift Rider: A Novel on Robert the Bruce by Mollie Hunter (Younger dd liked this one.)
8th:
Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves: Book 1 of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene edited by Roy Maynard (Older dd liked this.)
Study the Renaissance poets such as Milton, Donne, Raleigh and Shakespeare.
Read Age of Chivalry and Legends of Charlemagne from Bulfinch's Mythology (Older dd loved this.)
Aeneid for Boys and Girls by Alfred Church (We have this one and older dd reading it now.)
or In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid by Penelope Lively
Henry V by Shakespeare (Not one of older dd's favorites.)
Everyman (A Morality Play) (Older dd liked it well enough.)
Utopia by Sir Thomas More (Dd found this interesting but hard to get into at first.)
Essays by Francis Bacon (Just starting these with older dd.)
English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall
Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (LOVED these!)
Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat (One of older dd's favorites and will be starting with younger dd next week.)
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (Older dd loved this one and Bleak House and though sure she would not....ending up loving Tale of Two Cities.)
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (Didn't get to this but saw the movie.)
Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff (Want to read this but have not.)
LOTR Extensions:
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (Older dd loved this but agrees it is a tough read.)
J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter (She's nearly done with this now and really likes it.)
Sorry, I just realized I left out poetry for many years....I'll add those in later.:)
I love book lists:) Thanks for sharing!
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Recommend: The audio versions of Sutcliff's books are so well done, recommending those :)
Recommend: I prefer the Memoria Press book on FMoG - love the pictures!!!
Pass: Bulfinch books don't seem too sit as well as they should/could in our home - your family may really enjoy them.
Suggestion: Perhaps consider the Herodotus book by Jeanne Bendick too (we only allowed 6 weeks for Greece and I just couldn't fit that into our schedule as a prescribed read, so have placed it in the free reading basket).
Suggestion: Do Aesops fables feature,or have you more than covered that in earlier years?
We won't have time for Colum's Golden Fleece book - so selected Jason and the Golden Fleece ~ Riordan
As a fun go along we've added in Tales of the Dead: Ancient Greece (rivalry at the Olympic Games)
ETA: on the off chance others are looking for free ebooks to go with A.Greece, hope you don't mind if I pop some links here:
http://www.bookdepository.com/Aesop-for-Children-Illustrated-Edition-Dodo-Press-Aesop/9781409917861 Aesop
http://www.bookdepository.com/Story-Golden-Age-Illustrated-Edition-Dodo-Press-James-Baldwin/9781409909095 precedes Illiad & Odyssey Ancient Greece
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=baldwin&book=golden&story contents as above
http://www.bookdepository.com/Story-Odyssey-Dodo-Press-Rev-Alfred-Church/9781406513707 a.greece
http://www.bookdepository.com/Aeneid-for-Boys-Girls-Dodo-Press-Rev-Alfred-Church/9781409926986 a. greece
http://www.bookdepository.com/Adventures-Odysseus-Tales-Troy-Padraic-Colum/9781406501254 a.greece
http://www.bookdepository.com/Helmet-Spear-Illustrated-Edition-Dodo-Press-Rev-Alfred-Church/9781409918622 stories from the wars of greeks & romans
Wow! Thanks. This is super helpful:)
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We strive for reading and math everyday. When I sense dd getting tired of "school" I try to incorporate more learning games and hands on activities. We do plenty of read alouds daily. This is where I can throw in science and history as well as lots of good literature. All of my kids like to listen to audio books. Jim Weiss is a favorite, including SOTW. She is also very into painting and drawing, so lots of artsy stuff when she feels like it.
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Thanks for the suggestions. I will look those up. I've got some others on the list-
Black Ships Before Troy and Wanderings of Odysseus- Sutcliff
D'Aulaire's greek myths
Famous Men of Greece
Old Greek Stories- James Baldwin
Tales from the Odyssey- Mary Pope Osborne - I thought my younger children might like to listen to this.
The Golden Fleece- Padraic Colum
Bulfinch Age of Fable
Which of these have been a hit or miss? Any others I'm missing?
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If you had 16 weeks to spend on Ancient Greece, which books would be on your must read list? I feel like we could probably spend an entire year on this, but I'm afraid we don't have that much time:)
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I have a $15 Itunes gift card that is burning a hole in my pocket. I'd like to get a couple Jim Weiss Audios. We love Jim Weiss, which is making it really difficult to narrow it down. We have Shakespeare for Children, Best Loved Stories, Just So Stories, King Arthur and Animal Tales. Help me decide which to add to our collection?
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I agree with the others who have responded. The readers are really wonderful and are a big part of the program. I wouldn't recommend trying to do the program without them if at all possible.
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If you think there's a possibility of an LD or vision issue, that would definitely be something to check into. But if those are not an issue, then wapiti is right: Middle school is a perfect time to catch up. She's still young and has plenty of time to learn. With some of my children, I didn't even start teaching formal arithmetic until about your daughter's age.
I would add one thing: DON'T expect her to work on her own with math. This is something you both need to tackle together, and I strongly recommend taking the "Buddy Math" approach of sharing the work load:
- Take turns doing the problems and turn the math lesson into a discussion time.
- Talk about how you decided what to do first, and what to do next.
- Talk about how you figured out a math fact (like 7x8) that had slipped from your memory.
- Talk about your struggles, what you find easy or hard, and where you tend to get confused.
The main thing I would be concerned about at this point is: Has your daughter picked up a negative attitude? Does she feel like she's "stupid" at math? Most of elementary/middle school math is arithmetic, and most of arithmetic is hard and pretty boring. I recommend splitting your scheduled math time into two chunks and only spending half of it on your math curriculum. Use the rest of the time to explore non-schoolish mathematical things your daughter might enjoy:
This is really excellent advice. I LOVE the idea of Buddy math!
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Also, you may need to spend time monitoring what your student is doing on the computer when you think they are on there working on their lessons. My kids figured out to circumvent whatever I did to prevent them from going on facebook, youtube, hulu, etc... during school time. So even though they could do their work independently of me, they took advantage of that to play games and stuff on the computer when I was preoccupied with their younger sisters. I got to a point where I gave up and put them in school in 8th grade (a lot more to the decision, but that was definitely a factor).
Yes, this is already happening so I'm sure it would be something I'd have to continue to look out for.
You said he isn't capable of you handing over work and leaving him to it, them K12 will not be a good fit for you on both sides. Keep in mind, there is very little teacher involvement but there is quite a bit of Learning Coach, ie YOU, involvement.. The student or parent or both is expected to read the assignments, do the work and take an assessment. You very often have to check his assesment, input his answers. There will be live online claases often, so youd need to make sure he is showing up for those. You either need to be very involved to ensure the student is keeping up, learning and doing the work, or you need a very reliable, trustworthy, and independent student. K12 works best if you have BOTH, but can be done if you have at least one side, sounds like you currently have neither. k12 will be a frustrating struggle for you with the situation you have described.
This is what I am worried about. It seems I am constantly keeping him on task and reminding him to get back to work. Oh so frustrating.
Are you looking at k12 independently or through a virtual charter school? On your own you'd prob be fine. W/ a charter school, while the curric. starts to be written toward the child, is still difficult to keep up w/ for you as the learning coach. And there are hoops to jump through for the charter school.
From-
A k12/ OHVA drop out for #1 child & holding on w/ child #2
It would be through a virtual charter. It is so expensive to purchase the curriculum.
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For those of you with experience with K12, does it require more or less parent involvment than traditional homeschooling? DH and I are considering enrolling DS12 full time in K12 because what we are currently doing is not working.
I have very little time to spend teaching and helping DS with school due to lack of energy (very little sleep w/baby) and time (3 kids ages 4 and under). He just isn't able to be independent enough for me to hand over work and let him go at it.
I really feel guilty about not being able to provide the education he deserves and am at a point where I feel I just have make a drastic change. We've been homeschooling for 4 years, and for at least 2 of those years, we've gotten very little done due to various circumstances.
So, traditional homeschooling is out the window for now. I'm willing to try K12, but if it requires a lot of instruction and involvement from me, I think it would just be more pressure on my shoulders and not less. It's public school at home, so not doing school isn't an option. Ideally, I want to keep him home until high school, but at this rate I am afraid he'll just fall way behind. I'd love to hear from parents who have used K12, specifically for the middle grades.
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This year has been pretty successful. Better than the previous 3 years so we are getting somewhere!!
6th grade hits:
MOH vol 2
R&S spelling
Teaching Textbooks
Mark Kistler's Draw Squad
Caesar's English
Mind Benders
6th grade misses:
Elemental Science biology
History Odyssey
R&S English
Jury is still out on WWE
Pre-k hits:
AAR pre-level- DD LOVES this and is flying through it
Singapore Essentials
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DD 2.5 and DD 4.5 have outgrown naptime and I'm not ready to give up the break in my day. I need it for my own sanity! I saw SWB talk about quiet time on youtube and like the idea of having a mandatory quiet time for everyone in the house, even my 12 yo ds. I'm looking for suggestions for quiet time games, toys, books, audio books, etc. for the younger two. Any favorites?
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We don't use the dictations the way that WWE explains to do it. We read the passage together. Then I give DS the passage to read and study for 5 or 10 minutes. He makes notes of the punctuation used and practices spelling words he doesn't know how to spell. When he tells me he's ready, I take the passage away and read it 3 times. After all of that, he writes it down. If he gets stuck and doesn't remember, I simply remind him and he keeps going. Much less painful.
When we tried to follow it by the book, we were miserable too. I posted about the same thing a while back and was pointed to some videos on youtube of SWB doing dictation with her son. Search youtube for "dictation with dan". That was super helpful to me.
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:bigear:
I'm curious to hear how others feel about it as well. I've been considering making the switch with my 6th grader.... mostly for the accountability and so as not to be the bad guy anymore...
I like the looks of it. I like the format for my audio visual learner. I like the accountability. I have talked to a couple of users who are fond of it as well. Just nervous to take the plunge...
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I require that my son periodically demonstrates that he learned something - he can make suggestions as to how he wants to do that. He loves giving oral presentations, so he designed power point presentations with pictures and gives a long talk in front of an audience (family and friends) about his current topic of interest. We started this in 6th grade.
DS loves to talk. LOL He also likes to create videos and edit them. This would be a good way for him to show what he has learned.
Ruth- Thank you for your input! You have offered a wealth of information. So very helpful!!
I do have a question about the science project. Do you have any requirements for the project or guidelines for your kids to follow? At this point, I think if I were to assign a science project for DS without defining the parameters and holding his hand quite a bit, he would quickly become overwhelmed. How does a non sciencey mom help her child through this process? I've seen some science fair project books at the library, and may even have a couple in the house. Perhaps it would be as simple as picking out a project from one of those books and letting him run with it...
I was always intimidated by science as a child. I felt much more comfortable with language classes- English, foreign language, literature, writing, etc. I don't want my children to be weak in science simply because mom is.
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this year for science for my 9 yo, i gathered all the science books we have in the house and bought some more. I put them all together in a bin. every day, he has to pick a book, read it for 20 minutes, and pick one sentence to do as copy work. thats it. I dont care if he learns the same things everyone else is learning - this kid is stubborn and he is totally happy with this arrangement. I am confident that when he's older he will do fine with more rigor, but for now, i believe this is enough.
i consider myself relaxed ecclectic, so maybe i'm the wrong person to be on this forum, but i DID at least read the book :001_smile:
I have A TON of science books around here because I am a book junkie...I would love to have ds actually read them. I'm definitely going to try this for science.
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How old are your kids?
Prior to high school, we use a lot of library books, documentaries, online resources, literature, with lots of freedom for the student to explore his own interests.
To me, the goal of science and history education in the logic stage is to create a broad knowledge base. I try to create an overview over historical periods and important events (and the student may dwell on specific topics of his interest as he chooses) and an overview of scientific facts, theories, concepts, topics - without trying to be comprehensive or strictly systematic.
Based on the foundation of this broad knowledge I can then, in high school, do a systematic, formal study of science and a more analytical treatment of history that goes beyond the persons and events, to the reasons, ideas, big developments.
Kiddos are 11, 4, 2 and 5 mos. I'm not doing anything formal with the 4 yo yet. Lots of read alouds, art and playing. I like the sounds of this for my oldest though. I think he would do well with this sort of approach. We have done unit studies on and off for the past few years. He enjoys being able to explore a topic of interest. I do as well:)
Do you require any written assignments based on the history and science reading, or is the goal just to soak it in and enjoy?
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for science and history... what do you do? We've NEVER had luck with history or science curriculums around here and I'm looking for some inspiration. We love to read living books, biographies, and watch documentaries. Unfortunately, with the assignment heavy schedule, there isn't much time left over. I'm daydreaming about ditching the curricula in favor of reading, discussing and watching good films...That thread about a more relaxed homeschool has only encouraged the daydreaming.
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We started our new year almost 6 weeks ago and we have changed the schedule a couple of times. We're still working out the bugs. It's tricky to find a schedule that fits because we have a large age difference between the oldest (11 yo) and the youngers (4 yo, 2 yo and 5 mo). We ditched History Odyssey after the first 2 weeks and switched to MOH Vol. 2. I am considering dropping the formal history curriculum completely and doing something more interest led. We'll see...
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Yes! Relaxed would be great...
This is an interesting thread and is challenging me to think about what we are doing. We are 6 weeks into the school year and the days seem to be getting longer and longer. DS is complaining that he doesn't have any free time... and he's mostly right. He dawdles quite a bit so transitioning from subject to subject takes longer than it needs to.
There are certain things that I feel strongly about keeping the same- grammar, math, spelling(for now) and writing. We find vocab enjoyable, so I am not inclined to change anything there. However, Science and History are a different story. He finds these to be torturous and I think these should be the most fun! I would love to go to a more relaxed approach for these subjects, but I'm not visualizing how this would work in a practical way.
We have tried the unschooling/relaxed method of schooling and I feel like it just led to the development of bad habits. :001_unsure: That makes me scared to go back... even if in just a couple of areas. After 4 years of homeschooling, you'd think I'd have a better grasp on things.
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I watched the youtube videos. That was extremely helpful! That actually is similar to what goes on during our own dictation exercises. I guess we're not far off then.:)
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We started the year using WWS1 for 11 DS. He is beginning his 6th grade year. After struggling through the first 2 weeks, I decided to start WWE4 instead. He is doing fine with the summaries in WWE4, but the dictations are a pain. How did/do you all handle dictation? I find that reading the passage 3 times and then asking him to repeat and write is nowhere sufficient for him to memorize it enough to get it onto paper. If I were to follow the directions in WWE4 for the dictation exercises, we would never complete one. Am I missing something or doing this incorrectly?
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Wow! Some great responses. Thanks a ton to everyone who replied. I didn't disappear and meant to respond earlier, but I have 3 younger kids (4, 2 and 4 mos) who seem to need something at exactly the time I sit down at the computer. I'm sure you all know how that is.
You have all given me a lot of things to consider. In reading your input, I gather that this can be a pretty normal occurrence for kids at this age group. Also, I have realized I need to take responsibility for the ways in which I contributed to the problem... being inconsistent, giving in frequently because of whining and changing things at his request. As a previous poster said, taking the emotion out of it is key.
Baby is crying for mom. Gotta run, but I'll be back to check on these posts again soon.
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How do you deal with a complaining and grumbling attitude? DS 12 complains about most of the schoolwork he has to do. This is our 4th year homeschooling and over the course of the past 3 years, I've tried teaching differently, different curriculums, etc., in an effort to cater to his specific learning style. I've found that regardless of what curriculum or method we use, he still complains about the work. This year I've determined to choose our curriculum based on what I think is best and just let him know that this is what we're going to use no matter how he feels about it. As I said, changing curriculums or styles hasn't made a difference in the attitude. In fact, I think it's only encouraged him to complain more in the hopes that I'll abandon the work and try something new. What are some ways you deal with complaining? Also, he lacks motivation to give his best effort. Not all of the time... but most of the time. He is always looking for direction from me and I feel like he's just trying to get me to give him answers. He's a very bright kid and is perfectly capable. I feel like I'm being manipulated a bit:sad:
What is the worst educational/HS item you've ever bought?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
The worst for us so far - 100 EZ lessons, Writing Strands, ILL, BSGFAA, Latina Christiana, and Life of Fred. I've purchased and sold LOF 3 times now....