Interesting or new approaches to studies this yr?

[8filltheheart]

This yr dd and I are spending a yr working around Anne of Green Gables. We are both enjoying it a lot and a few of things we are incorporating have been really interesting.

 

One is really digging into the history of Canada (so far it has been only the French history).

 

Another is reading letters that LM Montgomery wrote to a pen pal. The letters reveal a lot about how her views on religion and life and now we can see how they are subtlety woven into the book.

 

The third has been reading a book called Anne's Anthology alongside Anne of Green Gables. There are numerous illusions to great lit in AoGG and the anthology includes many of them. Dd has thoroughly enjoyed reading the anthology and has started memorizing some of the poems.

 

Spending this yr reading all of this background material has sort of been like a girlie version of doing LLfLOTR. :001_smile: Of course the quality is far less, b/c nothing touches it, but for 7th grade it has been great.

[Kfamily]

I think my dd would have loved this study. When she was a 7th grader we did something similiar but much smaller. I bought her an annotated Anne of Green Gables. This book had some of her poetry in the back. I collected some of these poems and a few from the movie that had not been included for us to study. She really enjoyed it.

 

This year she has developed an interest in opera and welsh/gaelic/norse mythology. She still loves old English history and is studying Anglo-Saxon on her own. We also just added Irish/Gaelic to our list of languages. She loves Tolkien, so much of this was motivated by him.

[melissel]

:lurk5:

[Mommyfaithe]

Sounds like so much fun. When my girls were younger we used the Prairie Primer by the same author. We loved it.

 

This year we are doing a whirlwind tour through World History...but I get the feeling we will be spending an awful long time in Egypt....lol. My 8 th grade dd is having a ball studying Egyptian mythology. On her own, she has been researching creation stories from many cultures and comparing them, drawing and painting scenes etc. She is taking it upon herself to dig deeply......and she is so excited about her studies it is catching to her little brothers. :D

 

Faithe

[Capt_Uhura]

That sounds wonderful 8FilltheHeart!

[abbeyej]

I would say that One Year Adventure Novel has been (so far) both interesting and novel (ahem). It's really forcing ds to think -- and since it's something he *wants* to do, he's working hard on it. I don't think it's for all kids, of course. But for those that *want* to work on creating their own novel, it's so well laid-out and really brings out aspects of story-telling that I think only very rarely emerge in literary analysis type approaches.

 

Most of the rest of what ds and dd are doing this year is going well (if a lot of school hours, sigh), but I'm not sure any of it counts as interesting or unusual enough for this thread. ;)

[Colleen in NS]

This yr dd and I are spending a yr working around Anne of Green Gables. We are both enjoying it a lot and a few of things we are incorporating have been really interesting.

 

One is really digging into the history of Canada (so far it has been only the French history).

 

Another is reading letters that LM Montgomery wrote to a pen pal. The letters reveal a lot about how her views on religion and life and now we can see how they are subtlety woven into the book.

 

The third has been reading a book called Anne's Anthology alongside Anne of Green Gables. There are numerous illusions to great lit in AoGG and the anthology includes many of them. Dd has thoroughly enjoyed reading the anthology and has started memorizing some of the poems.

 

Spending this yr reading all of this background material has sort of been like a girlie version of doing LLfLOTR. :001_smile: Of course the quality is far less, b/c nothing touches it, but for 7th grade it has been great.

 

I think you also need to incorporate an Anne/Lucy Maud-themed field trip. Oh, say, to Maritime Canada, where you can skip on over to PEI; and oh, you could stop in Nova Scotia! What a coincidence, the biggest airport in our region is right down the road from.....ME!! :D

[Matryoshka]

Eight (or anyone else who's used this), do you think this program could be used by a universalist theist type - meaning I don't mind references to God or some Bible quotes, but it's going to be a problem if it's utterly permeated with these and interpreting them in a narrow way or through a certain lens which I do not share...

 

I'm having no problems at all with LLfLOTR, for example, but the quote at the Brook & River site about using this to raise Godly wives gave me a bit of pause... is it possible to (mostly) secularize this?

 

I'm starting to think about what to use for Lit for my youngest who is not as voracious a reader as the older two... do I reuse what I used with them, or go in a different direction? I'm wondering if she'd prefer a study of Anne to a study of Frodo...

[8filltheheart]

I would say that One Year Adventure Novel has been (so far) both interesting and novel (ahem). It's really forcing ds to think -- and since it's something he *wants* to do, he's working hard on it. I don't think it's for all kids, of course. But for those that *want* to work on creating their own novel, it's so well laid-out and really brings out aspects of story-telling that I think only very rarely emerge in literary analysis type approaches.

 

Most of the rest of what ds and dd are doing this year is going well (if a lot of school hours, sigh), but I'm not sure any of it counts as interesting or unusual enough for this thread. ;)

 

I really wish I had known about the One Yr Adventure Novel when ds was in 8th grade. After completing LLfLOTRs in 6th and 7th, he started writing a novel. It would have been the perfect yr. Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough time in his schedule to complete it in high school.

 

However, my 9 yod is an aspiring writer and I am definitely keeping it in mind for her when she is older.

[8filltheheart]

I think you also need to incorporate an Anne/Lucy Maud-themed field trip. Oh, say, to Maritime Canada, where you can skip on over to PEI; and oh, you could stop in Nova Scotia! What a coincidence, the biggest airport in our region is right down the road from.....ME!! :D

 

We would both love it! I wish we could!:001_smile:

[8filltheheart]

Eight (or anyone else who's used this), do you think this program could be used by a universalist theist type - meaning I don't mind references to God or some Bible quotes, but it's going to be a problem if it's utterly permeated with these and interpreting them in a narrow way or through a certain lens which I do not share...

 

I'm having no problems at all with LLfLOTR, for example, but the quote at the Brook & River site about using this to raise Godly wives gave me a bit of pause... is it possible to (mostly) secularize this?

 

I'm starting to think about what to use for Lit for my youngest who is not as voracious a reader as the older two... do I reuse what I used with them, or go in a different direction? I'm wondering if she'd prefer a study of Anne to a study of Frodo...

 

What we are doing barely resembles WtBaRM. It really depends on just how much you are willing to overlook and how much modifying you are willing to make. The book is very Protestant and we are very Catholic, so we have some interesting discussions about some of Gray's interpretations. ;) We ignore most of the recommendations.

 

I am basically only using a skeleton of the text. I created an entire history program around AoGG which has nothing to do w/WtBaRM. We are doing our own writing which is essay-based vs. her lame writing assignments. We are reading the entire Green Gable Letters which would probably be a good fit for your family b/c Montgomery is definitely NOT a Christian (she does not believe that Christ is the incarnate son of God but just a good man who lead an admirable holy life.) Dd is incorporating far more of Anne's Anthology (which has definitely inspired a love for poetry in dd).

 

But, the text itself is heavy on the bible. However, some of the ideas were easy to run with......a study on child labor laws, orphan trains, (which we expanded both into a study on the industrial revolution and watch Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. She is too sensitive when reading to have actually have read the books at this pt. Watching doesn't disturb her to the same degree as reading.)

 

So.....I'm glad I have the book b/c it does foster my ideas, but as is, you wouldn't be able to use it.

[Beth in SW WA]

That sounds wonderful 8FilltheHeart!

 

:iagree:

Dd8 loves AoGG (the character & the series). I'll keep this study in mind for logic stage work.

 

Thanks for sharing, 8. :)

[abbeyej]

...Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough time in his schedule to complete it in high school.

That's why ds is doing it this year. On the one hand, I thought he might get more out of it in a year or two (though I'm really impressed with how he's working through it so far!), but I was afraid that I would feel like there was so much we "needed" to do in high school that it wouldn't fit in anywhere.

 

Of course, lol, now that he's enjoying OYAN so much, it's possible we may have to figure out how to do the fantasy/sci-fi unit next year. ;) (We'll see how he feels about it later in the year -- come April, he could be frustrated and want nothing to do with it.)

[Poke Salad Annie]

The Anne study sounds very interesting. I'm mulling over doing something for a boy of a similar age. He really wants to study about knights, chivalry, castles, and all the things that go along with that time period.

 

I would be happy to try something along the lines of the study you've described, but I'm not sure how to choose a book for a spine. Any thoughts? This would be for 5th grade.

 

I guess I should add that I don't know of anything available such as the Prairie Primer for boys.

 

One more edit--

 

Would Further Up and Further In be a good choice to get started?

Edited September 22, 2011 by Poke Salad Annie

[Poke Salad Annie]

Well, I think I am answering my own question. Through a search, I found this thread.

[thowell]

I love "8"!! She totally helped me see that ditching the boring textbooks that were killing my kids love of learning and going back to unit studies was just fine for us. The last 2 weeks have been heaven since we switched back. They are learning a ton and think school is great again!

[Aquinas Academy]

I love "8"!! She totally helped me see that ditching the boring textbooks that were killing my kids love of learning and going back to unit studies was just fine for us. The last 2 weeks have been heaven since we switched back. They are learning a ton and think school is great again!

I need to thank 8, too. She was the one who convinced me to do interest led science and I'm so happy I took her advice. Thank you 8! :)

[Poke Salad Annie]

I love "8"!! She totally helped me see that ditching the boring textbooks that were killing my kids love of learning and going back to unit studies was just fine for us. The last 2 weeks have been heaven since we switched back. They are learning a ton and think school is great again!

 

Yes, you're right. I've been reading some of her older posts today to get an idea of how to go about teaching that way. I think I've got a better idea now, and I'll work to gather some things over the weekend.

 

Thank you, *8*! :)

[Matryoshka]

What we are doing barely resembles WtBaRM. It really depends on just how much you are willing to overlook and how much modifying you are willing to make. The book is very Protestant and we are very Catholic, so we have some interesting discussions about some of Gray's interpretations. ;) We ignore most of the recommendations.

 

I am basically only using a skeleton of the text....

So.....I'm glad I have the book b/c it does foster my ideas, but as is, you wouldn't be able to use it.

 

Hmmm....

 

This whole thing is pricey - do you think it would make more sense just to use some of the resources (Annotated Anne, Anne's Anthology, and what else???) to create a unit study? Tell me more about Green Gable Letters - obviously your 7th grader is liking it - what kinds of things does she write about that she is enjoying? You are right that my theology, such as it is, is much closer to Montgomery's than the people who wrote Brook & River...

 

You're also right that I'd probably also be making up my own writing assignments anyway... but are there enough good ideas and perhaps scheduling help? in the $65(!) guide (well, I guess it's only $38 if I bought the bundle) to make it worthwhile? It sounds like you are getting something out of it...

 

Hehe... I was just reading that the author of Brook and River annotated Montgomery's letters to point out the "fallacies" in her worldview - are these annotations overly annoying if I actually agree with Montgomery? :tongue_smilie:

 

And now for the really important question - would the recipe for Rasperry Cordial in the guide have the same deleterious effects as it did on Anne in the book?

[KarenNC]

That's why ds is doing it this year. On the one hand, I thought he might get more out of it in a year or two (though I'm really impressed with how he's working through it so far!), but I was afraid that I would feel like there was so much we "needed" to do in high school that it wouldn't fit in anywhere.

 

Of course, lol, now that he's enjoying OYAN so much, it's possible we may have to figure out how to do the fantasy/sci-fi unit next year. ;) (We'll see how he feels about it later in the year -- come April, he could be frustrated and want nothing to do with it.)

 

I'm very interested in the OYAN curriculum and considering combining it with material I have on movies as literature for 8th grade, but wondered how the "Biblical worldview" plays out in the instruction. Can you give me a feel for that?