SA Homeschooler
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Posts posted by SA Homeschooler
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Does anyone use Spritzer for speed reading? It looks amazing but I am just stumbling my way around and trying to figure out how to best use this for homeschool. There is also a companion app called Spritzlet that helps you read pdfs faster.
Anyhow, thoughts? pointers?
Edited to add the link.
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Although it may change, here is what we have so far:
Writing: Possibly BraveWriter online class [currently doing Kids Intermediate and enjoying it]
Literature: Varied to accompany History
Vocabulary: Merriam Webster Word Roots with Vocabulary.com
History: Looking for Spine to support Great Courses [Eastern Civilization and Western Civilization]
Science: Conceptual Physics with Clover Creek Science
Math: Geometry with Jann in TX
Spanish: Conversational with Live Lingua
Possibly -- Coding: Treehouse.com
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We live in South Texas and we are planning on taking a 3 week trip to Canada next August. We will be visiting Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Niagra Falls. We are a tennis playing family so we will be watching the Rogers Cup in Montreal but will be there about 2 weeks so we will have plenty of time to explore.
I would love to hear your travel tips--both educational and not.
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Do these texts truly cover "World" history or are they really more "Western Civilization"? I ask because I am going to be using two Great Courses series, Western Civilization and Eastern Civilization and am looking for a spine to accompany.
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I've been working on my Ancient History and Ancient Literature syllabi and here's what I have:
The Epic of Gilgamesh translated by N.K. Sandars
The Tale of Sinhue and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems translated by R.B. Parkinson
Tanakh- Torah, Nevi’im, Kethuvim (Old Testament w/ GC companion)
The Bhagavad Gita
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
G Homer The Illiad translated by Robert Fagles.
G Homer The Odyssey translated by Robert Fagles.
G Aescylus- Oresteia (GC companion) translated by Robert Fagles
G Sophocles- Three Theban Plays (GC companion)
G Euripides- Medea (GC companion)
G Aristophanes- The Frog and the Clouds (GC companion)
R Virgil Aeneid translated by Robert Fagles
G Plutarch. Lives.
R Ovid. Metamorphoses. Translated by A.D. Melville or Allen Mandelbaum.
G Plato The Republic translated by Robin Waterfield (GC companion)
R Aurelius- Meditations (GC companion)
Those labeled G are for Greek and R for Roman and GC companion have Great Courses for them. I'm also requiring Pandia Press's History Odyssey Ancients, which has a great number of essay and writing requirements and includes literature.
They'll either listen or read the above literature and then listen to the lectures and do activities and writing. It's a big step up, but it's also high school.
Wow!! That is fabulous!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
You goals are much more ambitious than mine; my boy would revolt. I want to give him a well rounded perspective on history with out overwhelming him. I have to bear in mind that he is a STEM child and does not enjoy history as much as he does science.
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The Lombardo translation that I linked above is the opposite of archaic, and the abridgment leaves out the most boring and repetitive bits, like the catalog of ships and who-slew-who. (I swear at least 6 hours of the 14 hour unabridged version consists of nothing but variations on: "... and then hot-headed Thermometer threw his oak-shafted spear at fleet-footed Phrisbee, son of the horse-breaking Cruciferous and white-cheeked Panera, and the bronze tip pierced his gleaming helmet, shattered his teeth and splattered his brains across the blood-soaked plains of Ilion...")
LOL @ Thermometer, Phrisbee, Crucifeous and Panera!! I love what you did there!! Well, again thank you for sparing us the splattered brains!! We will give it a try.
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I stumbled upon this resource that I hope to use with my STEM son on EdX; I thought someone else might be interested as well.
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Not BlessedMama, but the Great Courses lecture on the The Iliad is for literature, but you will get a lot of historical context.
If you are not familiar with the Great Courses, we'd be happy to convert, I mean, enlighten you. :D The Iliad is probably one of the most loved lecture series on the high school board.
Lisa, Thank you so much for the input. The reason I was not interested in covering them is because my high school English class read these aloud and I can remember being completely bored [even though I was an A+ student]. The version we read sounded archaic and very unrelatable; perhaps also, my instructor did not do a good job of helping us grasp the value in these works.
I am not very familiar with the Great Courses; we have not had occasion to use them yet. We have only been homeschooling for a short time. However, I do think they would be great to use for High School courses.
Thank you for enlightening me!! =)
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We also used The Great Courses lectures to accompany Iliad and Odyssey.
Would you consider The Great Course lectures a stand-alone history curriculum? or would we need another spine?
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Thank you so much!! I listened to a sample and it sounds quite do-able. Perhaps we will cover it after all. I guess it never occurred to me to use audiobooks.
Thanks again for your suggestions!!
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What are my options for Literature to accompany our study of World History? We will of course go from Ancient, Middle and Modern.
I really don't like the idea of reading the Odyssey or the Iliad--Homer just doesn't float my boat. Would it be appropriate to have him read some to the works or Aristotle and Plato?? Not exactly literature but still a reflection of writing for that time period. I would also consider the Art of War.
I would love to hear your suggestions.
The Hive ROCKS!!
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I can't remember where I saw that someone had put together a timeline of literature. Does anyone know where I can find that thread?
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My son is also in the Kids Write Intermediate that started thus week. We are both excited about it. I enjoy teaching writing, so I would hesitate to outsource for the whole year. But I love the idea of six week bursts.
We also use Cindy Marsch's Writing Assessment Services. I can't afford to have her assess everything, but I appreciate her evaluations. She is thorough and kind.
Penguin, so far my son and I are enjoying the class; I hope your son is too!!
Thank you so much for mentioning Cindy Marsch!! I was hoping to find someone to teach him the progymnasta skills without spending a whole year on it. We will definitely be trying her services next year. Since she also offers 6 week tutorials, perhaps we will do some sort of blend of Brave Writer class and Marsch Tutorials!
I absolutely love the wisdom of the Hive!!
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This may be a silly question but does Dr. Wiley actually teach an online class or does he just write the text books?
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I will have two 9th graders next year, and they will be doing:
-Geometry online with Jann in Texas for one, AoPS Geometry at home for the other
- Apologia Biology at co op
- History of the Ancient World with Study Guide (SWB)
-Trail Guide to World Geography
-Windows to the World/Teaching the Classics combo using Jill Pike syllabus taught be me at co op
(-Daily Grams for grammar review) - not a credit, just rolled in with English
-Landry Academy online Spanish 1 (if my internet connection is capable)
-P.E. - competitive homeschool basketball league
ETA: I will add in TC courses for ancient literature.
ETA2: Yikes! That's a lot...I will be scheduling the geography course starting this summer and breaking during basketball season, then resuming after the season ends and continuing through the following summer.
My ds will be taking the Geometry class with Jann too!! He is currently taking Alg I; She is fabulous!!
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I will have two 9th graders next year, and they will be doing:
-Geometry online with Jann in Texas for one, AoPS Geometry at home for the other
- Apologia Biology at co op
- History of the Ancient World with Study Guide (SWB)
-Trail Guide to World Geography
-Windows to the World/Teaching the Classics combo using Jill Pike syllabus taught be me at co op
(-Daily Grams for grammar review) - not a credit, just rolled in with English
-Landry Academy online Spanish 1 (if my internet connection is capable)
-P.E. - competitive homeschool basketball league
ETA: I will add in TC courses for ancient literature.
ETA2: Yikes! That's a lot...I will be scheduling the geography course starting this summer and breaking during basketball season, then resuming after the season ends and continuing through the following summer.
My ds will be taking the Geometry class with Jann too!! He is currently taking Alg I; She is fabulous!!
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Everyone is different in what they like. My STEM student has tried several things including IEW and likes Bravewriter classes. He says he still doesn't like writing, but he likes the Bravewriter way better than anything else. I like what he's actually written in Bravewriter classes which has been better writing than anything else.
Julie, I looked at the Bravewriter website and actually called and spoke with the founder; we signed up for Kids Intermediate. The class starts today!! Crossing my fingers!!
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I've sent two emails to Rebekah at Laurel Tree Tutorials and have not received a reply. I'm thinking she isn't doing any classes at this point. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Michelle,
I am going to make the same assumption as you since my email got no response either.
Oh well, maybe in a year or two she'll be ready again. I remember being very busy when I had a small baby as well.
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Also provides free AP prep. I have not used them yet but they are on my list.
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https://www.livelingua.com/japanese-lessons.php
I know nothing about the Japanese lessons but we use this company for Spanish and absolutely love it!!
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Is there any info on when the live class will be held each week?
Maybe Jetta can tell us what she is thinking: MorningGlory?
Hmm...I'm not sure how to tag her so that she will see this post. Does anyone know how to do that?
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My 9th grader is using it too, but in an unconventional way. I chose BJU because I liked the cultural aspects it includes, as you mentioned. I want him to be exposed to and familiar with the geography and cultures of the world, but for me it's not so important that he spends a whole year mastering world geography. Your goals may be different, but for us a whole year of just geography would be very boring and dry.
Instead, I've spread out the readings over 2 years as a supplement to our ancient & medieval world history and he reads about 10-15 pages a week. He started with the sections on The Middle East and Asia and Africa (since those are the continents we first learn about in history) then next year when we do medieval he'll move on to Europe and the Americas and Antarctica.
He doesn't take the quizzes or do any activities, so we don't use the TM. He just reads it and mentally answers the review questions at the end of each section to check comprehension. I know he's retaining it because every once in a while in conversation or in our history lessons he'll slip something in about what he's read. At this slow pace it doesn't become tedious for him, so he's enjoying it. And it's easy peasy for me.
Probably not the review you were looking for ... but I hope it helps! :)
ETA: He also uses http://www.seterra.net/ every once in a while to cement it all in.
Thanks so much!! This is a great way to use it.
I have to agree that I don't feel the need to make him memorize all the world capitals or draw the maps from memory but I would like him to have the exposure to world cultures.
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Ancient History - Literature
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
After all the discussion of the Great Courses, I went on their site and bought two History courses-- Foundations of Eastern Civilization and Foundations of Western Civilization....so now I will need a spine to support these. Additionally, I'll be trying to figure out the literature piece!! I'm excited about using the GC's!! I think they will be a great tool!