stlily
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Posts posted by stlily
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8 hours ago, royspeed said:
stlily:
You might find the following article helpful -- it's my attempt to give students a perspective on why we annotate, i.e., the role annotation skills play in advanced study, like college courses:
Your student may also benefit from this edited version of a famous chapter from Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book:
Hope this helps.
—Roy Speed
Hi Roy. I read the article you wrote on annotating books and it was EXCELLENT! I also read the other two related articles: Annotations, part 1 and the one on Close Reading. Very helpful. Thank you so much for sharing.
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I'm not familiar with Jensen's grammar but we've been using Rod and Staff English for almost 7 years and, let me tell you, it is rock solid. It does an amazing job of teaching the grammar rules, their application, sentence diagramming, and writing. I love that the books have a hard cover so they hold up very well. It is also very inexpensive. When you purchase a set, you can also order a thin workbook that has extra practice exercises but my kids haven't used them. They learn the material very well by simply completing the lessons. The books offer more practice exercises than you will need. My kids really like it too. It's one of their favorite subjects.
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I found this guide to be very helpful.
https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf
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7 hours ago, Lori D. said:
Annotations (in the margin of the book), are ultimately for the purpose of "thinking while reading", discussion, analysis, or writing about the Literature -- not as an "end unto themselves", so any format (i.e. consistent way of marking, and what to "look for" in the text) is for the reader's convenience, and is not used for "record keeping". In looking at SWB's summary about Book Notes from her handout "The Great Books As Literature", it looks to me as though Book Notes are very similar to annotations -- used for helping you "think while reading", and to discuss or write about the work -- so content and format of Book Notes would be whatever is useful for your student as she reads the Literature.
Below, I quote the pertinent bit about Book Notes from that handout. If needing a template or ideas of what to include in Book Notes, SWB suggests Mortimer Adler's techniques from How to Read a Book -- so, perhaps review those chapters from Adler's book for ideas of what to include in your student's Book Notes?? BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmest regards, Lori D.
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"Keep a three-ringed notebook labelled Great Books:
a) Context
b) Book Notes
c) CompositionsFor each book on the list, the student should follow this pattern:
a) Create a context page. Glance at the appropriate pages in the Timetables of History and the History of the World. Read the corresponding section in the Short History of Western Civilization. Then, write a one-page summary setting the book in historical perspective. Give basic information about the author, his times, his country, and his purposes in writing; summarize great events going on in the rest of the world. File this page under Context.
b) Read through the text, pencil in hand, using the techniques suggested in Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book. File all the notes you take on the book in the Book Notes section of the Great Books notebook.
c) Discuss the text. Talk about its purposes, its strengths and weaknesses. Have a conversation about the ideas.
d) Write about the text: an evaluation, an argumentative essay proving some point about the book, or an analysis of the book’s ideas. Put the finished composition (at least two pages) in the Compositions section of the notebook."Thanks Lori. I have this exact passage highlighted in my copy of TWTM 🙂 And you're absolutely right, if writing book notes was killing the love of reading in my daughter, I totally wouldn't be doing it. I was looking for an example of what others type up and stick in the notebook. I'm a very visual person so templates and examples help. Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
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8 hours ago, Kendall said:
I don't remember what all that entails, and my guess is that it is the process and not the product that is important . I don't know if these would be of interest to you, but if you want other ideas that might be related search google for one pagers and also sketch notes.
Thank you. Yes, I totally agree that's it's the process not the product. I was looking for formatting ideas. I come across an example that I like and I'll look into the ones you mentioned. Thanks for your response.
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Does anyone have their student write/type up Book Notes for their literature study, according to the recommendations in WTM or any other method? If so, would you mind sharing what they look like? Either a template or a detailed description would be very much appreciated. My daughter has been creating Book Note pages all year long but neither one of us is very confident she's doing it correctly. I appreciate the help. Thank you.
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On 6/11/2019 at 6:05 AM, CAJinBE said:
Mine did well with Saxon, but the SAT Math Workbook was super helpful in learning the types of problems for the SAT. Little things like seeing formulas written differently, etc.
Yes, my daughter is taking a PSAT class this summer and I can already see that the practice workbook is going to be very helpful.
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1 hour ago, BusyMom5 said:
We do the ACT test here. At half way thru Advanced Math my DD scored a 29 on the math section. She plans to take it again after she finishes the book. We are doing PSAT in the fall.
That's encouraging! Thanks for sharing.
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I'm interested in hearing about people's experience with their kiddos taking the SAT after using Saxon in their homeschool. Do you feel the program prepared your student well enough? Any tips? I have a 9th grader who will be taking the PSAT in the fall and she starting using Saxon in the 4th grade. We love the program. Just wondering how other Saxon users did on the test. Thanks.
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We love Saxon in our homeschool. We have successfully used books K through Algebra 2. My oldest is finishing Algebra 2 this year and we plan on continuing on with it. My kids do all of the problems in all of the books. Beginning with Algebra 2, I had my daughter complete only 20 of the problems and she is still working on math a minimum of an hour and a half a day. Saxon is no joke. It is a thorough and rigorous program. EVERYTHING my kids get wrong, they go back and redo. From 1st grade on up. We do EVERY component of the each level. At the lower levels they do the Meeting book daily, Meeting Strip, Facts Pages, then the lesson. They don't skip any of it. Beginning with book 5/4, they do all parts of the Warm-Up, the Problem Solving problem, the facts pages, all of the Investigations, and of course the actual lessons. For the higher levels, I purchased the Saxon Teacher CD's and my daughter uses those as needed.
Saxon takes time and we've decided to prioritize math in our homeschool and give it the time it requires. If you decide to have your student do only some of the books, I highly recommend levels 5/4 (although I think your student is past this level) through book 8/7 or Pre-Algebra. These levels will give your student an excellent foundation and then you can choose something else for upper level math if you don't like the idea of them spending an hour and a half on math daily. Hope this helps.
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I'm looking at Jacob's Geometry 3rd edition (Geometry: Seeing, Doing, Understanding) for the upcoming school year. Has anyone used this edition? I would love to hear about experiences with it. How long does an average lesson take? How did your student like it? How did you as the teacher/parent like it? Any other tips/information you think I would need to know before ordering. Thanks.
Lily
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There are several:
Beautiful Feet
BiblioPlan
Tapestry of Grace
Trisms
Wayfarers
My Father's World
If you would rather put the course together yourself and you have a copy of TWTM, there you'll find a recommendation for a history spine as well as a book list that correlates to the period of history your son will be studying. Hope this helps.
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Just to clarify, my daughter writes history essays and learns the proper formatting with footnotes for other types of writing but for us, this falls under her Language Arts block. For setting a historical foundation for her Great Books study, she does the work I described above. She learns and practices writing skills through science and history topics but she does this during a different block of time.
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This is my first go at history at the high school level and so I'm having my daughter do the work recommended in TWTM. This is what SWB says the goal of the history study in high school is:
* "Half of each week's study time will be devoted to laying a foundation of history knowledge; the second half, to the the study of the Great Books.
* At the rhetoric stage, one of the goals of the study of history is to "set the stage for his encounter with the Great Books."
*The goal is NOT to "grasp all of history (an impossible task at any age!); it is to develop a sense of the historical context of great works, events, eras, and historical characters."
Using The History of the Ancient World as her spine, my daughter does the following:
"At the end of each chapter [of the history spine you choose to use], the student should stop and record the following on a sheet of notebook paper:"
1) Makes a list of the most important dates in the chapter, and why they stand out.
2) Lists 2-3 of the most important individuals in the chapter.
3) 3-4 events that stand out in the chapter.
4) Two events, people, or ideas she would like to investigate further.
(TWTM, 4th ed., p. 592)
In addition to the above, since we purchased the Study & Teaching Guide to The History of the Ancient World, I have her do the map work assigned in the guide (with modifications) as well as keep a timeline. The guide tells the student to trace over the map under study, using tracing paper, until the student memorizes the lines and locations and can then re-draw the map from memory. I chose not to have her do that. Instead, I print a copy of the map (you can purchase the digital file of the maps for around $5 from TWTM website), make a list of the places, rivers, etc. they want her to label, I WHITE these out on the original map, re-copy it, have her study the locations, and then write them in from memory and color the map.
Her student planner looks like this:
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
(5000 B.C. to A.D. 400)
r Ch. 43: “The Mandate of Heaven”, pp. 299-305
r History Foundation: Chapter summary (This is the list of important dates, names, events, etc. from above)
r Map Exercise: The Yellow and the Yangtze
r Time Line: Add important dates to the timeline.
I
I'll attach a copy what her final "History Foundation Page" looks like. She chooses to type it out instead of handwriting it. This is just an example of what we do. It certainly isn't the only way or the perfect way. My hope is to help someone because homeschooling high school has been a little scary and stressful for me at times. Hope this helps.
Lily
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When my daughter did Elemental Science Biology for the Logic stage, I looked at the topic that was covered that week, and checked out books from the library for her. I did this weekly but you can certainly check out books for 2 or 3 weeks if that works better for you. I also sometimes referred to this list on "Living Books" found on the Simply Charlotte Mason Website. Hope this helps.
Lily
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I don't know of an on-line forum. In my town, there are several homeschool groups. These are different from a co-op in that we don't meet to take classes together. We meet every Friday for Park Day, we have a monthly field trip, one mom hosts a "Game Day" where kids get together to play board games. This year, we have a Teen Event where teens get together at a Starbucks to hang out and chat. Some moms drop off, others stay and chat with the other moms. Moms get together once a month for a meeting where we discuss various homeschool topics and upcoming events. We do a lot together and it's always the same group of kids so our children develop friendships. I like this better than a co-op because there is no class to prepare for and we meet often enough to develop friendships (moms too) but not so often that it takes over our homeschool. I mention our group because one, you may want to do a search for "Homeschoool Groups" in your area or two, you can possibly start your own. All you would need is one other family to start. Your group will grow. Ours has. One last thing, our group is a Christian group and many groups can be found through churches. Hope this helps.
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4 hours ago, Evanthe said:
That's why I switched back to unit studies this past winter. Our high school had been fear-driven for 2 and a half years and I was fed up. I no longer care about creating a transcript that looks like something colleges are looking for/what the public schoolers do. I wanted to do fun stuff with my kids again.
So far, so good. My teens (especially my oldest son) are enjoying what we're doing this spring. One of the things I'm doing with them is Home Economics and even dd17's public schooled friends are saying stuff like "why aren't they teaching us stuff like that in school??"
Ugh! I'm on the verge of doing the same but lack the courage. Fear-driven and shackled is how I would describe our high school experience so far. Would love to hear more about what you're doing instead.
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1 hour ago, Calming Tea said:
My phone is so wonky ! It was supposed to say Big Hit 🙂
Are you talking about PAC Biology? https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/045627
Was going to research it but I wanted to make sure I had the right one. Thanks for the tip.
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3 hours ago, whitehawk said:
We do...
Monday - read the lesson
Tuesday - make a flash card for each root (green for Greek, blue for Latin)
Wednesday through Friday - do an exercise.
Periodically, we review the cards, especially during weeks with a review lesson.
LOVE the idea of coloring coding the roots by language. Totally gonna steal that idea.
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30 minutes ago, Bluegoat said:
I like the Samantha Carr books as well - we've used the ones for Athanasius and Anselm, but if her others are similar they are very well done.
Where could I find the Samantha Carr books? I've searched her name on Amazon and came up with nothing. Thank you.
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1 minute ago, Lori D. said:
That's odd -- I specifically linked her books at Amazon in my thread above... ??? (It is that group of 4 titles from the Christian Biographies for Young Readers series.)No. I think I messaged the wrong person. Thank you for your response. I didn't know about "The Fly On the Ceiling" or "Martin Luther: Man Who Changed the World". The 4 Christian Biographies for young readers are on my list. Thanks again for responding.
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Where could I find the Samantha Carr books? I checked Amazon and nothing popped up. Thank you.
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I would do the same thing as the other parents posted, following the example listed in TWTM (4th ed., p. 433). My daughter would:
Day 1 (or the student can take two days for this if needed)
1) Read the quote for the given lesson, write it on an index card, and memorize both the Latin quote and the English translation.
2) Read through the Roots/Prefixes/Suffixes and write them on index cards: Word part on the front and definition on the back.
3) Read through the Key Words and make flash cards for them. Same thing, key word on the front and definition on the back.
Days 2:
1) Add the new prefixes/suffixes/roots and their meaning to their Word Study list (as recommended in TWTM.)
Day 3-4:
2) Work on memorizing the the roots/prefixes/suffixes and their meaning as well the key words and their meaning.
Day 5:
Complete the lesson exercises.
Every two weeks, she completes the additional Key Word exercise pages and then takes the test. I hope this makes sense. In the TWTM, they give an example of what a Word Study list of roots/prefixes/suffixes can look like. It looks something like this:
Prefixes and Suffixes
Prefix
Suffix
Meaning/Function
Language
contra-
Opposite, against
Latin
-able
Makes an adjective out of a noun
mal-
Bad
Latin
Word Roots
Root
Meaning
Language
functio
To perform
Latin
cedere
To go forward
Latin
I made pages for my daughter that follows this model. I'll attach a picture below. Hope this helps because I had a little trouble figuring out how I wanted my daughter to do this. It was tricky because the program is written to be taught by a teacher and not self-taught. I really needed it to be self-taught. This method is working o.k. but I may tweak it next go around.
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I'm working on a literature list of for my grammar stage kiddos for next year. TWTM doesn't recommend specific titles/bios for the following people. Any recommendations?
Saint Augustine
Erasmus
Martin Luther
John Calvin
Sir Thomas Wyatt
John Knox
Rene Descartes
I'm checking my local library and Rainbow Resource but I'm wondering if there are favorites anyone can recommend. Thanks
What edition of the Odyssey is easier to read?
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
The Robert Fagles translation is the one recommended in TWTM. A homeschool academy in my town uses the Robert Fitzgerald translation. My daughter read the Fagles translations of both The Iliad and the Odyssey. She said the sections that listed names (similar to the geneology sections in the bible) were a little hard (boring) to read but other than that they were fine. She did say she found the Odyssey a little more interesting than the Iliad. Hope this helps.