Is it totally weird to have a year that's actually going well?

[PeterPan]

It's downright eerie! As of *right now* our year is actually going well! Dd is plodding along in:

 

WWS1

TT + BJU for math

BJU grammar 9 sans writing

Killgallon green sentence composing

BJU lit 9

BJU physical science + more labs from PH CIA (awesome combo!)

workbook for the 1625 Shakespeare words list (free)

BJU world history expanded with extra reading and videos and whatnot

opera a week using the Fiery book and youtube

lite art history reading

things to work on handwriting

CryptoMindbers (want to do the James Madison logic course when we're done)

 

On the side she's been reading a lot of LotR fan fiction and is going to make a mannequin (duct tape!) and sew an Arwen dress to wear to the Hobbit in December. That's a good project to keep her busy a while!

 

Our other improvement to the year is Thursday Cookie Day. Thursday has always been really hard for her. By that point she's starting to get worn out and things can fall apart. I'm trying to keep the schedule really concrete and do-able, and she gets to make cookies once she's done with her work Thursday. Since I *never* make cookies, this is a huge concession. Of course I never make cookies because I *eat* the cookies. So we eat some that day and freeze the rest, hehe. Happily that means one can reappear on a hard day later. :lol:

 

So anybody else having a good year? :)

[momto2Cs]

Our year is off to a pretty good start. We've changed a few things a few times, but the basics are going really well!

 

What's working very well:

Teaching Textbooks for ds11

Math Mammoth for dd9

Soaring with Spelling and writing across the curriculum for ds11

Reading Pathways and ETC for dd9

Lots of reading aloud (me)

 

We're still working on a solid approach to history and science. Yesterday we visited the CA Academy of Sciences, and dd9 was so happy when she saw and immediately recognized Lucy's skeleton (I'm assuming it's a casting, not the real deal) that she begged me to read Early Human World aloud. I haven't been thrilled with history so far this year, so since both she and her brother are actually interested in this (not to mention that I love this book series!!!), I think we're going to go for it. I'm adding in a pictorial Book of Centuries. It is so easy to tie science in with this that I don't think I'll be stressing about that anymore either, at least for a while!

 

Overall, I am really happy with our start this year. The kids are doing their work willingly, which is huge! And I can see them both making progress!

[Tress]

My dd6 has been amazing thus far, my dd8 not so much :glare:.

But that doesn't really belong on this forum :D, so before I go back to lurking.....OhElizabeth, what is the Fiery book on opera?

[Beth in SW WA]

 

So anybody else having a good year? :)

 

Couldn't be better here. We started up in August so we're on a good clip. Review is done. On to new content by mid-Sept.

 

You asked this question on what I would refer to as a perfect morning. Big kids off and running to classes. Dd8 out the door to our neighborhood ALE (all smiles). Abi's in a 2-hour lesson w/ Rachna on 'graphing systems of linear inequalities' while I'm drinking coffee and watching the lesson from my lappy. I like Wednesdays. :)

 

Landry Academy English 102 is amazingly awesome. We're in love with Mrs. Hathaway and the class. Both dds enjoy Athena's online classes -- as well as enrichment subjects (music, art, tech, sports, chinese, etc).

 

No complaints.

 

:bigear::lurk5:

[Mom-ninja.]

Save your post and print it. Then when you have a bad day/week/month/year you can read it. :001_smile:

[Homemama2]

We dropped co-op this year and it has made a HUGE difference. I don't feel like every week is a race to get all the boxes checked off. We still get together with friends Friday afternoons after school is over, so we don't even miss the co-op atmosphere.

[PeterPan]

Save your post and print it. Then when you have a bad day/week/month/year you can read it. :001_smile:

 

:lol::lol::lol: Too true! We've gone at it a bit differently this year, ramping up very slowly and working out the kinks. And I think Beth hit why it feels so much better. Dd is finally doing things for herself. There are things I still need to do with her, but there's a lot she can sit down and do for herself. It's a nice change of pace. It costs me hours on the weekend prepping things, making outlines for her to take notes in her subjects, making the schedules, etc., but at least it's WORKING. My blood pressure is going down enough that I was thinking I might actually get back to my picture albums or work on some landscaping! :)

[PeterPan]

We dropped co-op this year and it has made a HUGE difference. I don't feel like every week is a race to get all the boxes checked off. We still get together with friends Friday afternoons after school is over, so we don't even miss the co-op atmosphere.

 

Oh yeah, lots of tears shed over co-op here. She adored it, but it was hard on us on a lot of levels. No co-op this year, and like you're saying we're getting together more with friends. She got together with friends twice last week and has more planned for next week. I don't know if it's *quite* to the point where she doesn't miss it, but it's getting there. Dropping co-op was essential for us. They weren't a good fit for any of her core stuff, so it was a whole day lost for just electives. Can't do that.

[PeterPan]

... while I'm drinking coffee and watching the lesson from my lappy. I like Wednesdays. :)

 

:bigear::lurk5:

 

This is my first year where I've had some room to breathe. Guess that's why it's so astonishing! Each day as I see the plan working my blood pressure goes down a little more... (metaphorically, I've never had high blood pressure)

[PeterPan]

My dd6 has been amazing thus far, my dd8 not so much :glare:.

But that doesn't really belong on this forum :D, so before I go back to lurking.....OhElizabeth, what is the Fiery book on opera?

 

http://www.amazon.com/At-Opera-Ann-Fiery/dp/B000C4SNEY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348682836&sr=8-2&keywords=fiery+opera I was wondering when someone would bite! :D It's really a MARVELOUS book of retellings for middle school age. It's a little bit wry, so I wouldn't use it with younger kids. (just me personally) It has this thick, beautiful hardbound cover and the most deliciously stiff pages, so it's a tremendous value at the used prices on amazon. I think it says the retail was $50, wowsers. We're just going through it, one opera a week. She reads the story in the Fiery book and a couple other opera story books (Clyde Bulla's retellings and an adult-level book from the Met), then she watches it on youtube. Takes 3+ hours to watch an opera, but it just gives her that nice, slow start to the morning she craves. It's her new tradition for Monday mornings (her choice).

 

http://www.amazon.com/Metropolitan-Opera-Stories-Great-Operas/dp/0393018881/ref=pd_sim_b_1 Here's that met book, vol. 1. There may be others that are better. It's one of those things I found for a quarter at the library and thought I'd have a use for.

Edited September 26, 2012 by OhElizabeth

[abbeyej]

We're having a really great year! :) There are, of course, tough moments here and there, etc, but overall, I'm thoroughly enjoying this year. Ds is spending a lot of *time* working this year -- especially since he spends his afternoons and evenings at ballet, so he doesn't have much time to spare -- but it's been good. Dd's doing solid work as well, though she finishes in record time.

 

DS- 9th -

Ancient History (SWB's HotAW 1st semester -- we'll do HotMW 2nd semester -- reads about 40-50pp per week and writes a summary or outline of each chapter as he goes)

Literature (Gilgamesh; Iliad; Odyssey; Oedipus the King; Lord of the Flies; Aeneid; Ovid's Metamorphoses; The Confessions; Consolation of Philosophy; Invisible Cities; Uncle Tungsten; Disappearing Spoon; Beowulf; Lord of the Rings) -- read, write a short paper... We're listening to the first 1/3 of Western Literary Canon in Context from Teaching Company, which goes along with many of these titles, and also Elizabeth Vandiver's lectures on the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid... Also Stewart Grammar 3 and MCT's Plato, Truth, Beauty book for poetry...

Rhetoric MP's Classical Rhetoric with Aristotle (Aristotle's Rhetoric; How to Read a Book; Figures of Speech) course

The Bible and Its Influence - loving this course

Chemistry - Thinkwell

Pre-Calculus - Derek Owens (whom I adore)

Art History / Art Gardner's Art Through the Ages v. 1 (corresponds pretty well with our history); Artistic Pursuits, other sketching books

French - online through our state's virtual school -- not impressed, but it's free, and ds has made some really fun Doctor Who-themed French videos to fulfill some of the assignments...

Latin prose - outside class -- they're reading Livy and other authors

 

Dd 5/6th

Math - Horizons 5; Teaching Textbooks 7; Timez Attack

Science - So You Really Want to Learn Science book 1; A Child's Story of the Animal World; Exploring the History of Medicine; Milestones in Science (lab kit)

Latin - So You Really Want to Learn Latin book 1 (and SYRWTLL Translations book 1)

Literature - Lightning Lit 7 and a little more than half of LL8, plus additional reading selected from children's classics and historical fiction -- yes, she's a pretty voracious reader

History K12's Human Odyssey v. 1 (read, discuss, some outlining and summarizing, keeping a timeline); Hakim's Story of Science v. 1

Bible - Christian Studies book 1

Art History / Art - A Child's History of Art: Painting; Artistic Pursuits and other sketching work alongside her brother

Writing - various writing projects with Daddy (an author and professor)

 

... I think that's all. We also have a list of movies to watch one each week, largely drawn from the AFI 100 list. We're watching in chronological order, so we started with some silent Chaplin films and have since seen King Kong and a Marx Brothers film. The kids are actually really enjoying this! I like that we're not scrambling to find a movie to watch together each week *and* that they're being introduced to so much cultural literacy. They love it when they see references to movies they've seen (last year we watched Gone With the Wind, so of course that was a big one! and they saw Jaws this summer, so another "in" with lots of jokes and cultural references) in various places out in the "real world".

 

We're starting out mornings with family read-aloud time, either a simple but beautiful children's book (often at a "lower level" than what they're reading on their own -- that's sort of backwards, but it's nice to slow down and see the beauty in some books for children that they read years ago) or poetry, then they do art together. It's made for such a peaceful year so far.

[Tress]

http://www.amazon.com/At-Opera-Ann-Fiery/dp/B000C4SNEY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348682836&sr=8-2&keywords=fiery+opera I was wondering when someone would bite! :D It's really a MARVELOUS book of retellings for middle school age. It's a little bit wry, so I wouldn't use it with younger kids. (just me personally) It has this thick, beautiful hardbound cover and the most deliciously stiff pages, so it's a tremendous value at the used prices on amazon. I think it says the retail was $50, wowsers. We're just going through it, one opera a week. She reads the story in the Fiery book and a couple other opera story books (Clyde Bulla's retellings and an adult-level book from the Met), then she watches it on youtube. Takes 3+ hours to watch an opera, but it just gives her that nice, slow start to the morning she craves. It's her new tradition for Monday mornings (her choice).

 

http://www.amazon.com/Metropolitan-Opera-Stories-Great-Operas/dp/0393018881/ref=pd_sim_b_1 Here's that met book, vol. 1. There may be others that are better. It's one of those things I found for a quarter at the library and thought I'd have a use for.

 

Thanks for the recommendation! It's on my list. It sounds like your daughter created an absolutely wonderful way to start the week!

[shanvan]

So far, so good. Ds is loving all of his curriculum and doing quite a bit on his own. He loves Lukeion Latin and yesterday he met his father at the door yesterday to tell him all about what he read in his science text. Dh wanted to know if he ever shuts up....Ummm, no. :001_rolleyes: We started out slowly with only TOG (history & Lit), math and LAtin, then added science and some writing. We haven't done a lot of writing at this point b/c I'm still meshing together my plans using several resources. He is outlining for Latin and completing writing assignments related to history, but very little official writing curriculum. We're adding official writing instruction/assignments next week. Also have to add in logic.

 

Dd seems to have reached some kind of landmark as she is showing an understanding of concepts and quick thinking I have not seen from her in the past. She was always a good worker, just sometimes took her a while to grasp some things. We are reading Pride and Prejudice aloud and she begs me to let her read it ahead of our read aloud--also makes quite a few insightful comments on the characters. I'm so glad I decided on reading aloud instead of an adaptation. She is also surprising me by making amazing progress through the 500 page book her friend (13yr old) picked for book club, despite the rich vocabulary.

 

I think what is making our schooling easier on me is that I have let go of the idea of box checking and strict schedules. If we school into the evening hours I don't care. I also set aside some of my plans so Dd can participate in her friend's book club. That was a tough decision, but it was a good one. She's learning a lot more than she would have if I had stuck with my plans and we are both enjoying the book club book---even Ds likes it and is reading it in his spare time. He's wishing he could go to the book club, but it's for mothers and daughters (and he doesn't want to dress like a girl :tongue_smilie:)

 

First month was moving along smashingly......and now I have a sinus infection and feel like I can't think straight. I was reading through the geometry lesson with Ds last night, and HE had to explain it to ME. Thats when I knew I had to get to my doctor for meds! She kind of laughed at me this morning when I asked her about my ultra sound and could not come up with the word 'nodule'. I just kept saying, you know the the 'thing' on my thyroid.

[Chrysalis Academy]

We're having an awesome year, too! Last night at bedtime, Miss P said "I am having such a great life!!" which was music to this mama's ears!

 

I'm really loving all the materials that we are using. MM is serviceable; not exciting but a great program, and LOF continues to be a hit. I just ordered Hands On Equations and am looking forward to receiving it. Writing is a combo of WWS and MCT Paragraph Town, broken up by our first forays into literary analysis.

 

We're focusing on history or science in turn, rather than trying to do both each day. It's working out very well: we do 1-3 week blocks focused on one or the other, but we seem to be getting both in almost every day, between composer & artist study, geography, science docos, and interest-led science studies (entomology & equine science). BFSU & SOTW 3 continue to be great spines, upon which we are building a great year of reading and learning.

 

"Language Arts" (everything other than writing) has evolved into an hour each day after lunch where we do a combination of Latin (love Latin Prep!) and the various MCT components, as well as home-grown spelling practice. It evolves pretty organically each day, in that I pull together the things that are connected with one another, or with other things we are working on. Then a second hour of literature - we are *finally* almost finished with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which I confess I will be glad to be finished with!

 

To top it all off, Friday is opening night for Miss P's play, Dear Edwina Jr.! She has been working very hard in rehearsals for the past 5 weeks, and it is always wonderful to see it all come together. I am looking forward to having us all together for family dinners again, the rehearsal schedule is pretty disruptive.

 

So yes, a wonderful year so far!

[PeterPan]

Oh Shannon you HAD to bring up P&P again! :lol: Ok, sigh, maybe our lives are now stable enough that I can add in a read aloud. That can be for next week. But I need to figure out the right way to do it. I fall asleep when I read aloud, like *guaranteed* out like a light. Hmm, maybe audio plus puzzle hour? Maybe hack something else to make a spot? I'll have to figure that out. :)

[Poke Salad Annie]

 

Dd 5/6th

Science - So You Really Want to Learn Science book 1; A Child's Story of the Animal World; Exploring the History of Medicine; Milestones in Science (lab kit)

 

 

... I think that's all. We also have a list of movies to watch one each week, largely drawn from the AFI 100 list. We're watching in chronological order, so we started with some silent Chaplin films and have since seen King Kong and a Marx Brothers film. The kids are actually really enjoying this! I like that we're not scrambling to find a movie to watch together each week *and* that they're being introduced to so much cultural literacy. They love it when they see references to movies they've seen (last year we watched Gone With the Wind, so of course that was a big one! and they saw Jaws this summer, so another "in" with lots of jokes and cultural references) in various places out in the "real world".

 

We're starting out mornings with family read-aloud time, either a simple but beautiful children's book (often at a "lower level" than what they're reading on their own -- that's sort of backwards, but it's nice to slow down and see the beauty in some books for children that they read years ago) or poetry, then they do art together. It's made for such a peaceful year so far.

 

I've not heard of the animal book you have listed. Would you mind sharing the author? It sounds very interesting.

 

Also, the movies are through Netflix, right?

[abbeyej]

I've not heard of the animal book you have listed. Would you mind sharing the author? It sounds very interesting.

 

Also, the movies are through Netflix, right?

 

The book is OLD -- our copy is from the 30s -- but dd had so enjoyed Huey's Elementary Physical Science (formerly a Calvert 5 book -- before Calvert became a slave to standards-based learning, sigh) that I sought this one out for her. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/edward-g-huey/a-childs-story-of-the-animal-world/

 

The movies are all available from Netflix (some instant, some dvd). I make no claim to have a complete or balanced list. I was trying to plan 36 movies (38 if you count the LotR movies separately), and I was considering what *my* kids have seen already, what I think *they* can handle, the other things they're reading this year, etc. If I were making a general list for other people, it might be a little different... But here's our list for the year :) :

 

1. Gold Rush (1925)

2. City Lights (1931)

3. King Kong (1933)

4. Duck Soup (1933)

5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

6. Citizen Kane (1941)

7. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

8. Casablanca (1942)

9. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

10. Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

11. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

12. The African Queen (1951)

13. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

14. The Quiet Man (1952)

15. High Noon (1952)

16. The Little Fugitive (1953)

17. Rear Window (1954)

18. Sabrina (1954)

19. Night of the Hunter (1955)

20. The King and I (1956)

21. Spartacus (1960)

22. West Side Story (1961)

23. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

24. The Great Escape (1963)

25. My Fair Lady (1964)

26. The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)

27. The Russians are Coming (1966)

28. 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968)

29. Rocky (1976)

30. All the President’s Men (1976)

31. Chariots of Fire (1981)

32. Big (1988)

33. Beetlejuice (1988)

34. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

35. The Matrix (1999)

36. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

37. The Two Towers (2002)

38. The Return of the King (2003)

[shanvan]

Oh Shannon you HAD to bring up P&P again! :lol: Ok, sigh, maybe our lives are now stable enough that I can add in a read aloud. That can be for next week. But I need to figure out the right way to do it. I fall asleep when I read aloud, like *guaranteed* out like a light. Hmm, maybe audio plus puzzle hour? Maybe hack something else to make a spot? I'll have to figure that out. :)

 

Sorry :blushing:.........We are now listening to it on Blackstone Audio. My sore throat could no longer accommodate reading aloud. (Who knew how much pain a sore throat + read alouds can cause?) We tried one other version and it was awful. The Blackstone version is very well done--Dc say it is almost like me reading, but with a British accent. I think the reader is Nadia May and she does all the voices and has great expression. We are trying to finish it sometime tomorrow in order to be ready for a lecture at a museum about an hour away from us. Dc don't know yet that Elizabeth marries Darcy and I'm sure it's going to be mentioned! :lol: Off to listen to more P&P

[PeterPan]

Sorry :blushing:.........We are now listening to it on Blackstone Audio. My sore throat could no longer accommodate reading aloud. (Who knew how much pain a sore throat + read alouds can cause?) We tried one other version and it was awful. The Blackstone version is very well done--Dc say it is almost like me reading, but with a British accent. I think the reader is Nadia May and she does all the voices and has great expression. We are trying to finish it sometime tomorrow in order to be ready for a lecture at a museum about an hour away from us. Dc don't know yet that Elizabeth marries Darcy and I'm sure it's going to be mentioned! :lol: Off to listen to more P&P

 

Hehe, that's perfect! Our library has it! So your kids don't know the ending? No wonder. We've watched the movies quite a bit around here. But that's ok. I think it's useful to hear the whole thing and not just what the movie picks... So thanks for the tip on the version! :)

[momto2Cs]

The book is OLD -- our copy is from the 30s -- but dd had so enjoyed Huey's Elementary Physical Science (formerly a Calvert 5 book -- before Calvert became a slave to standards-based learning, sigh) that I sought this one out for her. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/edward-g-huey/a-childs-story-of-the-animal-world/

 

The movies are all available from Netflix (some instant, some dvd). I make no claim to have a complete or balanced list. I was trying to plan 36 movies (38 if you count the LotR movies separately), and I was considering what *my* kids have seen already, what I think *they* can handle, the other things they're reading this year, etc. If I were making a general list for other people, it might be a little different... But here's our list for the year :) :

 

1. Gold Rush (1925)

2. City Lights (1931)

3. King Kong (1933)

4. Duck Soup (1933)

5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

6. Citizen Kane (1941)

7. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

8. Casablanca (1942)

9. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

10. Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

11. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

12. The African Queen (1951)

13. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

14. The Quiet Man (1952)

15. High Noon (1952)

16. The Little Fugitive (1953)

17. Rear Window (1954)

18. Sabrina (1954)

19. Night of the Hunter (1955)

20. The King and I (1956)

21. Spartacus (1960)

22. West Side Story (1961)

23. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

24. The Great Escape (1963)

25. My Fair Lady (1964)

26. The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)

27. The Russians are Coming (1966)

28. 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968)

29. Rocky (1976)

30. All the President’s Men (1976)

31. Chariots of Fire (1981)

32. Big (1988)

33. Beetlejuice (1988)

34. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

35. The Matrix (1999)

36. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

37. The Two Towers (2002)

38. The Return of the King (2003)

 

 

Thank you, on two counts. I found a used copy of the Animal book for my animal-loving dd, and I love the movie list/idea!

[Poke Salad Annie]

Thank you so much, abbeyej! You gave me a good review of the book, Builders of the Old World in the past, so I trust your good judgement.

[shanvan]

Hehe, that's perfect! Our library has it! So your kids don't know the ending? No wonder. We've watched the movies quite a bit around here. But that's ok. I think it's useful to hear the whole thing and not just what the movie picks... So thanks for the tip on the version! :)

 

I hid the movie from them. One night Dd saw part of the most recent one and wanted to stay up and watch it and I refused. I really wanted her to at least hear the book first. Honestly, I don't know how long I could have prevented her from seeing some movie version at some point. Another good reason for choosing it as a read aloud. Definitely useful to read/hear the whole thing, even if you've already read it. Ds says he's seen some of it, but not all and he doesn't seem to know how it ends. Dd can't stop talking about what how ridiculous Mr. Collins is. I've decided Lady Catherine has NPD, so that thread on the general board was helpful!

 

Back to hearing encouraging stories of this year being off to a good start.

[Merry]

Is your dd doing any grammar this year? I didn't see it on your list. I read all your lists with great interest as I used Calvert with my older kids way back in the mid 80's before Calvert had changed so much. I, too, love the Builders of the Old World and their old physical science book. I'll look for the animal book for my ds who loves animals. The list of movies looks wonderful too.

[Merry]

I'm using for my 6th grader the following...

 

Calvert math

BJU 6th grade science

BJU reading

Holt's Elements of Language - The Introductory Course

Calvert's old spelling book

A Child's Story of America as the history spine and selections from SOTW and activity guides to go along with it

Calvert's Story of Sculpture

Beautiful Feet's History of Music

Various library books pulled from Calvert's old sixth grade course and the reading lists in the WWE books

Geography - haven't decided yet

Matin Latin and an outside French class

The French class is a big part of what is making this year a good one. To my surprise, my ds is loving it! It's a small homeschool class taught by a sixteen year old girl who is taking AP French. She makes it a lot of fun.

 

The hard part is the planning...I'm terrible at it.

Edited September 27, 2012 by Merry
Added to it

[Hedgehogs4]

Our year is going GREAT. I have let go of some significant outside commitments that had a tendency to be energy-suckers, and so I find that I have a lot more to give the kids on a daily basis. We love the curricula that we are using and the pace that we have set. It's a great year, so far.

[JadeOrchidSong]

The book is OLD -- our copy is from the 30s -- but dd had so enjoyed Huey's Elementary Physical Science (formerly a Calvert 5 book -- before Calvert became a slave to standards-based learning, sigh) that I sought this one out for her. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/edward-g-huey/a-childs-story-of-the-animal-world/

 

The movies are all available from Netflix (some instant, some dvd). I make no claim to have a complete or balanced list. I was trying to plan 36 movies (38 if you count the LotR movies separately), and I was considering what *my* kids have seen already, what I think *they* can handle, the other things they're reading this year, etc. If I were making a general list for other people, it might be a little different... But here's our list for the year :) :

 

1. Gold Rush (1925)

2. City Lights (1931)

3. King Kong (1933)

4. Duck Soup (1933)

5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

6. Citizen Kane (1941)

7. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

8. Casablanca (1942)

9. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

10. Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

11. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

12. The African Queen (1951)

13. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

14. The Quiet Man (1952)

15. High Noon (1952)

16. The Little Fugitive (1953)

17. Rear Window (1954)

18. Sabrina (1954)

19. Night of the Hunter (1955)

20. The King and I (1956)

21. Spartacus (1960)

22. West Side Story (1961)

23. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

24. The Great Escape (1963)

25. My Fair Lady (1964)

26. The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)

27. The Russians are Coming (1966)

28. 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968)

29. Rocky (1976)

30. All the President’s Men (1976)

31. Chariots of Fire (1981)

32. Big (1988)

33. Beetlejuice (1988)

34. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

35. The Matrix (1999)

36. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

37. The Two Towers (2002)

38. The Return of the King (2003)

 

Thanks for the movie list!

[abbeyej]

Is your dd doing any grammar this year? I didn't see it on your list. I read all your lists with great interest as I used Calvert with my older kids way back in the mid 80's before Calvert had changed so much. I, too, love the Builders of the Old World and their old physical science book. I'll look for the animal book for my ds who loves animals. The list of movies looks wonderful too.

 

She's not doing a separate grammar this year. She's done quite a bit in the past and her understanding of words is excellent. Her use of punctuation and capitalization is Terrible, but that's not because she doesn't know how to use them, but because it just isn't a priority. Sigh. We're continuing to work on it in the context of her daily writing and she's doing the grammar exercises in Lightning Lit (we've condensed 7 and most of 8 together) and she does Latin daily.

 

Next year, she'll begin the Stewart English sequence, and we'll probably alternate that with Killgallon and MCT over the next few years. She has done FLL1&2, Calvert 5, MCT Town level, Killgallon elementary, and R&S 3 and 5 in the past... I just didn't think she needed more at this level, you know? Stewart kicks things up a notch, so we'll use it when she's ready.

 

It makes me so sad that Calvert has changed so much in recent years. I loved many of their old books! They're less and less interesting and unique now. Humbug!

[Poke Salad Annie]

It makes me so sad that Calvert has changed so much in recent years. I loved many of their old books! They're less and less interesting and unique now. Humbug!

 

Is there a list online somewhere of the old books from the Calvert program? I would be very interested to see it.

[prairiegirl]

We are having a good year as well and I, too, thought that it felt weird. I have been doing this for 9 years and every year has been so stressful with big changes to figure out. This year, though, has been relatively easy with a few minor changes.

 

We switched things around right at the beginning with having Morning Time and History in the mornings and then doing the basics after lunch. This has worked out so well for us. All of us are enjoying our new routine.

 

The only changes to our year is that after trying to do latin for 3 years, I have finally come to the realization that it does not work well for my oldest so she will be doing French instead. Also, Traditional Logic is not working out well so I think we will be ditching it for Art of Argument.

[PeterPan]

Not yet :glare:

But I'm interested what PH CIA stands for, as BJU Physical is long term planning here.

And I would love to know a link to that shakespeare workbook...

 

We have Friday Baking day, and it is DH's favorite ;)

Thursday we do Hands-On-Science according to a subject called 'Technological Education' . Sun-cel projects, gears, that kind of stuff...

It is a required subject for jr.High here, but luckily dd thinks it is fun :)

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/archive/index.php/t-381811.html This is the thread where I found it. Go to the one that says LTFTraining. They took the 1625 Shakespeare list and turned it into a free workbook you can download. It's so huge, you really need 2 years to cover it.

 

PH CIA is Prentice Hall Concepts in Action. I didn't get the text, but the samples online looked very engagingly written. The BJU text is thorough if a bit dry. What I like about it is how careful it is in building concepts. What I have of PH CIA is the lab book. It's interesting to see how two different curricula create labs for the same concepts. The BJU labs tend to involve more math, a LOT more math. The BJU labs are also more carefully structured. I got both lab books, because I wanted to make sure I had enough lab activities. Between them I have 3 lab activities a week for 36 weeks. Seems like enough. :lol: I'd suggest you just get one or the other and be done with it.

[PeterPan]

We are having a good year as well and I, too, thought that it felt weird. I have been doing this for 9 years and every year has been so stressful with big changes to figure out. This year, though, has been relatively easy with a few minor changes.

 

We switched things around right at the beginning with having Morning Time and History in the mornings and then doing the basics after lunch. This has worked out so well for us. All of us are enjoying our new routine.

 

The only changes to our year is that after trying to do latin for 3 years, I have finally come to the realization that it does not work well for my oldest so she will be doing French instead. Also, Traditional Logic is not working out well so I think we will be ditching it for Art of Argument.

 

Hmm, maybe you're right! Maybe we just needed to get enough years under our belts that we could earn some peace. :D Or maybe we're waiting for lightning to strike. :lol:

 

Yeah, we tossed latin a couple years ago too. Just decided she didn't have a future in it. I've thought about TL. SWB was so emphatic (in her middle school workshop) about hitting logic before high school, but I just don't know if we'll get it done. And I sort of dread the thought of getting something and having it totally flop. I have no clue if it would or not. I haven't really had a strong "yes that's the right fit" sense of any of the logic curricula I've looked at." Guess that means I could have 13 flops in a row trying them all, right? So I've tried none. Well that's not true. We got AoA, and it's just a mess. We tried it a year ago I think. I just wasn't happy with it. The only way it made any sense was to use it superficially, just analyzing the ads. I just wasn't pleased. I looked at DoD (the sequel) and decided that sequence just isn't going to be a good fit.

 

So I have this nagging guilt from SWB's dictum that we should hit logic before high school and no GOOD sense that anything more I buy would actually fit. Fallacy Detective was just a bunch of words too. She's not a vocabulary person. Actually what would work better for her would be something like living math books only living logic. Hmm, maybe there is such a thing? If I found that, I wouldn't even have to teach it, hehe...

[DB in NJ]

I am insanely jealous. Our year isn't going well. In fact, it feels like it isn't going at all! We always go on vacation the day after Labor Day. This year, our goal was to start school the following Monday (9/10). On September 8th, our last day of vacation, 1 of the kids got sick. By the 12th, it had spread to almost everybody. Between that illness, dh being off of work for a week (always a distraction when he's home), and 3 college boys (1 my own, 1 who lives here with us, 1 who went on vacation with us and never left) who haven't started school yet so they still think they're on vacation, and now my youngest having chickenpox.....gah!! I think we've gotten 5 days of school done this month! My dd is doing better than my ds since she only missed a few days when she was sick, but her friend now lives with us (she's the sister to the other boy who lives here. They moved back here after living in Kentucky for a few years with their parents. He came to go to school; she came because.....I'm not sure why....). Anyway, having her friend here was going to be a huge distraction, I thought, but dd has managed to set some boundaries and get her work done. She's also volunteering once a week at a wildlife refuge from 9-1 and then she cleans the church that afternoon, so that's 1 full day she misses every week. And she's still managing to keep up and get a full week's worth of work done.

 

Sorry so choppy. I've hardly slept, and I'm thinking I should've gone with a boxed curriculum this year instead of a unit study with ds....just to have more structure. I had no idea this year was going to start off so chaotic!

 

I did start a read-aloud yesterday with ds while he was soaking in his oatmeal bath....does that count??

[shanvan]

I am insanely jealous. Our year isn't going well. In fact, it feels like it isn't going at all! We always go on vacation the day after Labor Day. This year, our goal was to start school the following Monday (9/10). On September 8th, our last day of vacation, 1 of the kids got sick. By the 12th, it had spread to almost everybody. Between that illness, dh being off of work for a week (always a distraction when he's home), and 3 college boys (1 my own, 1 who lives here with us, 1 who went on vacation with us and never left) who haven't started school yet so they still think they're on vacation, and now my youngest having chickenpox.....gah!! I think we've gotten 5 days of school done this month! My dd is doing better than my ds since she only missed a few days when she was sick, but her friend now lives with us (she's the sister to the other boy who lives here. They moved back here after living in Kentucky for a few years with their parents. He came to go to school; she came because.....I'm not sure why....). Anyway, having her friend here was going to be a huge distraction, I thought, but dd has managed to set some boundaries and get her work done. She's also volunteering once a week at a wildlife refuge from 9-1 and then she cleans the church that afternoon, so that's 1 full day she misses every week. And she's still managing to keep up and get a full week's worth of work done.

 

Sorry so choppy. I've hardly slept, and I'm thinking I should've gone with a boxed curriculum this year instead of a unit study with ds....just to have more structure. I had no idea this year was going to start off so chaotic!

 

I did start a read-aloud yesterday with ds while he was soaking in his oatmeal bath....does that count??

 

Of course, it counts! You've had a lot thrown at you this month. It's frustrating when things don't go as planned. For what it's worth, we've had a slow start to our year too, and I have a sinus infection which is slowing me down, plus we have had some good opportunities I did not foresee. So, we've had to set aside some of our school work to take advantage of them. I'm doing my best not to see them as 'interruptions'.

 

Ds just started science and still has some subjects he hasn't started yet. Dd has plenty we haven't started. I've just decided I am not going to fret about it. As long as we meet most of the goals I set for the year, that's all I care about. We are having a good start b/c I let go (mostly) of trying to match my perfect plan. I still have days where I panic about what I haven't started or gotten done, but I'm learning to deal with what is and not the fantasy I have in my head.

[Heathermomster]

 

She's not a vocabulary person. Actually what would work better for her would be something like living math books only living logic. Hmm, maybe there is such a thing? If I found that, I wouldn't even have to teach it, hehe...

 

Develop the program and sell it because there is certainly a market for it. You'd be rich!!!:D

 

Does your DD like to sew? You mentioned her making an Arwen costume. Do you think she'd like to make a regency gown?

 

Our year is going well. The only program that we have kept is LA, writing, and history. Everything else has been severely modified or tossed.

[PeterPan]

Develop the program and sell it because there is certainly a market for it. You'd be rich!!!:D

 

Does your DD like to sew? You mentioned her making an Arwen costume. Do you think she'd like to make a regency gown?

 

Our year is going well. The only program that we have kept is LA, writing, and history. Everything else has been severely modified or tossed.

 

When she was younger she would sew (first by hand, then by machine) clothes for her dolls, the dog, etc. She's very intuitive and can look at something and just cut it out and have it work. Don't ask me how! :lol: She has drawn what she wanted for a long time, but I was always the one sewing it as far as things for herself. This is her first venture in that arena. We did a quilt and things a couple years ago, so she's proficient enough now to sit down and just do it.

 

So, yes, I'm absolutely trying to convince her that she wants us to sew regency dresses and sit around watching Jane Austen movies! :D

[PeterPan]

Sorry so choppy. I've hardly slept, and I'm thinking I should've gone with a boxed curriculum this year instead of a unit study with ds....just to have more structure. I had no idea this year was going to start off so chaotic!

 

I did start a read-aloud yesterday with ds while he was soaking in his oatmeal bath....does that count??

 

Well you've had a messy month! That's why I like to start early. When you start after labor day, it's just too rushed. Anyways, since you've barely started, it wouldn't be the end of the world to toss and get something more structured. There's nothing like a reality check to make you realize you chose the wrong thing. :D We've all done it, mercy. But don't chose something that has 160 lessons and has you guilt-tripped into going all the way to July or something. With diligence you can get your work done. It's 8th grade. It's fine! :)

[DB in NJ]

Well you've had a messy month! That's why I like to start early. When you start after labor day, it's just too rushed. Anyways, since you've barely started, it wouldn't be the end of the world to toss and get something more structured. There's nothing like a reality check to make you realize you chose the wrong thing. :D We've all done it, mercy. But don't chose something that has 160 lessons and has you guilt-tripped into going all the way to July or something. With diligence you can get your work done. It's 8th grade. It's fine! :)

 

OK, so this brings me back to the More Relaxed thread. I'm thinking that at this point, I want to just focus on skills. History & Science are just fine, but they're gravy. We've had not just a rough month, but a rough 2 years. In October 2010, Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. A 3 week stay for emergency heart surgery that December was followed by chemo in the spring of 2011, followed by lung surgery in May, followed by another 3 week stay, followed by her death on May 22, 2011. By the end of that summer, I was still barely able to think straight. School was hit and miss for those 2 years. So here we are, ready to get going again and BAM.

 

OK, back to the point. I want to focus on finishing his math book from last year and moving on to the next one (he uses MUS). I just bought WWS after trying the first week, so now that's on the schedule. Also, we'll be working on finishing Fallacy Detective, and Hake Grammar 7. I just can't seem to bring myself to worry about history and science. I may do a history lapbook and some projects with read alouds for history. I may have him just read science books and talk about them or take field trips or write reports. His spelling and vocabulary are fantastic.

 

After the rocky 2 years we've had, my goal this year is to make sure his skills are sufficient for high school next year. Everything else is gravy. Right? You'd think after 15 years I'd be better at this :001_huh:

[Colleen]

If it's totally weird to have a year that's going well, than I'm totally weird every year.:tongue_smilie: I've really never had a year that's gone poorly, and can only recall a few curricula choices that were disappointing. I've been using many of the same resources for years, so for the most part, it's just a matter of doing the next thing. No real surprises. I did return to/add WTM resources for grammar & writing and am loving it!

 

The actual start of this school year was somewhat haphazard, thanks to the curve ball that is my husband's melanoma diagnosis. We were in Seattle for his lymph node dissection surgery just as my second son began his freshman year at the high school. And then the following week, I started homeschooling the younger three while Hans was recuperating and we were hurriedly prepping for two big farm tours.

 

But despite those bumps in the road, school itself has been pretty smooth sailing. It feels so easy for me, having only three students! Then, too, I'm keeping things pretty simple and just plain enjoying the ride more than I have these past few years. Here's what my guys are using:

 

Luke (7th)

Spelling Workout H

Analytical Grammar

Writing With Style 1

Lial's Introductory Algebra

OSU German

Sonlight Core H (World History 2)

Rainbow Science

Art of Argument

 

Rafe (5th)

Italic F

Spelling Workout F

Advanced Language Lessons

Writing With Ease 4

Singapore Math 6 & Keys to...workbooks

Sonlight Core D (American History 1)

Sonlight Science E

Rosetta Stone German

Getting Started With Latin (a fun review before...?....)

Mindbenders B3 & B4

Typing Instructor

 

Kai (2nd)

Italic C

Spelling Workout B & C

First Language Lessons 2

Writing With Ease 2

Singapore Math 2B & beyond

Sonlight Core D

Sonlight Science B

Mindbenders A1 & A2

[Colleen]

I am insanely jealous. Our year isn't going well. In fact, it feels like it isn't going at all! We always go on vacation the day after Labor Day. This year, our goal was to start school the following Monday (9/10). On September 8th, our last day of vacation, 1 of the kids got sick. By the 12th, it had spread to almost everybody. Between that illness, dh being off of work for a week (always a distraction when he's home), and 3 college boys (1 my own, 1 who lives here with us, 1 who went on vacation with us and never left) who haven't started school yet so they still think they're on vacation, and now my youngest having chickenpox.....gah!! I think we've gotten 5 days of school done this month! My dd is doing better than my ds since she only missed a few days when she was sick, but her friend now lives with us (she's the sister to the other boy who lives here. They moved back here after living in Kentucky for a few years with their parents. He came to go to school; she came because.....I'm not sure why....). Anyway, having her friend here was going to be a huge distraction, I thought, but dd has managed to set some boundaries and get her work done. She's also volunteering once a week at a wildlife refuge from 9-1 and then she cleans the church that afternoon, so that's 1 full day she misses every week. And she's still managing to keep up and get a full week's worth of work done.

 

Donna, my dear, your problem (such as it is) is that you're entirely too nice. The very thought of having anyone else live here ~ beyond those to whom I have a parental obligation ~ does not register with me. Why, really, are these extra people living with you?

 

After the rocky 2 years we've had, my goal this year is to make sure his skills are sufficient for high school next year.

 

Now that I actually have one in high school (Per, my freshman), let's just say I have no concerns about my children's ability to meet those academic standards. Ahem. I suppose history is "gravy", but along with lit, it's what I most enjoy sharing with my children. So, knowing that Luke, my 7th grader, will likely go to high school in a couple of years, I want to savor good books together, kwim?

 

Good to cross paths with you here, friend!

[*~Tina~*]

We are having a great year too! Couldn't be happier with our routine and curriculum choices.

 

:cheers2::cheers2:

[ChiMomNP]

We are having a great year so far! The aliens that took my son between the ages of 10 and 13 have returned my sweet compliant boy back to me :). They took back their mouthy, rebellious, non-engaged child, I'm so happy about that!

 

I'm grateful for every day right now!

[DB in NJ]

Donna, my dear, your problem (such as it is) is that you're entirely too nice. The very thought of having anyone else live here ~ beyond those to whom I have a parental obligation ~ does not register with me. Why, really, are these extra people living with you?

 

Well, see...it's like this. Sam was Andrew's best friend since 1998 (Andrew being my oldest. My first homeschool graduate, now in college but still living at home). Sam's sister, Tressie, was my Emily's best friend since the same time. Their parents moved to Kentucky for work reasons, but the kids all wanted to move back. Their older sister moved back about 2 minutes after she graduated high school. She came back and went to a local college with her friends. Sam thought it was a great idea and asked if he could do the same. So he did. He and his older sister shared an apartment....until said sister got married last year. That's when we gained our first boarder (and he does pay to live here).

 

Fast forward to this year. Tressie graduated, and her parents couldn't say no to her when they had said yes to the other two, so here she is. And yes, I'm too nice. I couldn't say no to her. At least Sam is going to school (Drexel University for Internet Security). She's applying for jobs at the mall :glare: Her parents are paying her rent here, for now.

 

Now that I actually have one in high school (Per, my freshman), let's just say I have no concerns about my children's ability to meet those academic standards. Ahem. I suppose history is "gravy", but along with lit, it's what I most enjoy sharing with my children. So, knowing that Luke, my 7th grader, will likely go to high school in a couple of years, I want to savor good books together, kwim?

 

Oh trust me, I love history and literature and would do those 2 subjects exclusively if I could. Actually, being the grammar nerd I am, I'd have to diagram sentences out of the history, but hey....At this point, though, Matthew isn't where he needs to be, so my goal has to be those basics. We're doing some read-alouds (historical fiction) and possibly a lapbook or something. A hands-on project maybe? Heck, I may just have him read through SOTW books (I never got to those with him when he was younger, and I am a firm believer that if you've never covered that material, you will learn from those books no matter HOW old you are!).

 

Good to cross paths with you here, friend!

 

Same to you! Always :)

[DB in NJ]

I love this thread. Please tell me I didn't kill it... :(

[birchbark]

Well, we're having a great year too! We haven't really had a bad one yet, but I feel so much more relaxed now and understanding where I want to go with things. Reading Ruth Beechick this past year as well as the big Circe thread (and have I mentioned 8Fill's posts?) really helped distill my desires and goals for our school. Then I discovered some wonderful programs for the three R's and added Waldorfy touches which I love and I'm so happy with the results so far. I feel like school is now a catalyst for tying strings of fellowship with my children rather than a rat-race or a checklist. Yet DS is still being stretched where he needs to be. Adding a K-er has been fun rather than overwhelming. And all this during one of my busiest years of mothering yet, and preggo to boot!

 

:cheers2:

[Colleen]

I love this thread. Please tell me I didn't kill it... :(

 

No worries, Donna; I take full credit for sealing the fate of this thread. So it goes when one is an infrequent visitor here, posting after the fact ~ and on West Coast time ~ and dragging in details of her spouse's cancer dx to boot.;)

[Chrysalis Academy]

Is it totally weird that when your year is going well, you worry that you aren't doing enough?? Thank goodness for 8FilltheHeart's posts lately that have helped me stay focused on my goals for my student, instead of feeling pressure from the outside, or creating pressure for myself . . .

 

Like, why can't it just be an unmitigated good thing that it's going well? What is it that makes me start to worry and look for things to change, because if it's going well something must be wrong??? :glare:

[PeterPan]

Like, why can't it just be an unmitigated good thing that it's going well? What is it that makes me start to worry and look for things to change, because if it's going well something must be wrong??? :glare:

 

That's when it's time to start planning NEXT year. :001_smile: Seriously, I think when things are going well we get some time to ourselves and go hmm, I could add this or this... My mantra this year is make the plan, work the plan. I'm trying to find peace through working the plan, knowing my plan WILL get us to where we need to be. And my extra mental energy I have thanks to the peaceful year? Well that I'm beginning to put into planning NEXT year. I started looking at previews last night. :D

[Chrysalis Academy]

That's when it's time to start planning NEXT year. :001_smile: Seriously, I think when things are going well we get some time to ourselves and go hmm, I could add this or this... My mantra this year is make the plan, work the plan. I'm trying to find peace through working the plan, knowing my plan WILL get us to where we need to be. And my extra mental energy I have thanks to the peaceful year? Well that I'm beginning to put into planning NEXT year. I started looking at previews last night. :D

 

 

:lol: Oh man, don't even turn me loose on planning! I spent all summer planning everything from now till high school graduation! I promised myself that this year I *won't* get so wrapped up in planning for the future, but would be more present in the here-and-now. ;)

[DB in NJ]

No worries, Donna; I take full credit for sealing the fate of this thread. So it goes when one is an infrequent visitor here, posting after the fact ~ and on West Coast time ~ and dragging in details of her spouse's cancer dx to boot.;)

 

Wait...what?? He hss cancer??? Inbox me, please!