Full Curricula That Use Mostly Public Domain Texts

[Walking-Iris]

AO does use This Country of Ours, one of the most inaccurate, out of date, racist, and bigoted works imaginable, for it's multi-year American history spine for children. They deserve rebuke for that. How they justify that is beyond me.

 

Bill

 

They need you to enlighten them obviously. 

[Crimson Wife]

AO does use This Country of Ours, one of the most inaccurate, out of date, racist, and bigoted works imaginable, for it's multi-year American history spine for children. They deserve rebuke for that. How they justify that is beyond me.

 

Bill

Yes, we get it Bill. You've given your opinion on TCoO a multitude of times on this forum. Your objections have been duly noted. Please stop trying to hijack every thread on the topic of vintage texts.

[Hunter]

AO does use This Country of Ours, one of the most inaccurate, out of date, racist, and bigoted works imaginable, for it's multi-year American history spine for children. They deserve rebuke for that. How they justify that is beyond me.

 

Bill

That is a separate issue from the ONE Henty book issue. AO uses that book because Charlotte Mason used it, and it's by the same author that the preceding British History books is authored by. The British history book has no modern equivalent and is a core of the grade 1 curriculum. The American history text you listed is ONE of the American history ALTERNATIVES, that SOME people choose to use for financial and continuity issues and because CM used it.

[MamaSprout]

Aren't pretty much all of the peace hill press books online? If you did those, Thunderbolt kids then CK12 for Science, MEP or Math Mammoth for math, Lively Latin and the children's lit that has stood the test of time and is available online, you'd have a fully-supported, reasonably priced modern curriculum that you could do mostly with an iPad and a 3 ring binder.

[Mrs Twain]

Besides literature, there are only two free "vintage" authors I am incorporating into my curriculum.

 

First, School Composition for Use in Higher Grammar Classes (Maxwell, 1902).  I started it this year and think it is wonderful for composition.

I also bought a hundred year old copy of the next text in his series entitled Writing in English--A Modern School Composition (Maxwell, 1900).  This one looks useful as well.

 

Second, I have enjoyed reading the revised Edward Eggleston history books with my kids.  My favorite is Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans.  We have also read A First Book in American History.  I believe that he wrote a number of other history books, although I do not know if they have been recently revised.

 

Otherwise, I agree with one of the other posters that the most useful older books are not the free vintage books but the used ones you can buy cheaply on Amazon.  I have a couple of great old Dolciani math books which we are planning to use.

[Hunter]

The Peace Hill Press books are downloads, and the core books are affordable, but the add ons add up VERY quickly, and the books are not copyright free, so people cannot band together and really do anything with the core books. There are 4 grades or less of each subject, for the subjects that are even covered at all. PHP is not a cure all even for just history.

 

SOTW volume 4 is a popular book to finish a history cycle of otherwise vintage texts, though. The $9.99 Kindle book is affordable after EVERYTHING else was already covered. SOTW volume 4 in Kindle is new, and was warmly welcomed by me.

[Mrs Twain]

I don't understand why you people respond to Bill.  If I were you, I would just ignore his contentious comments.

[Spy Car]

I I didn't mean to imply that you did, but I was suggesting that sure there are these books that people read and they may agree with the ideas...but what exactly is to be done about it?

 

And your comment about Ayn Rand---you've sort of proven a good point although I doubt you meant to.

 

Who exactly nominates certain people to pass down all -knowing judgement about the types of books that people choose to read or enjoy? Who cares what you think you about it? Seriously? Who cares?

 

It's absolutely fine that people hold an opinion about a book by the way. It's fine you feel that way. (Although literary analysis of Ayn Rand is not the point of this thread---I'm sure we all appreciate your advanced analysis skills remembered from middle school....albeit a strange middle school....)

 

My point in sharing that example was in hopes to share how extremely annoying it is when people who disagree with some book for whatever reason get a holier than thou trip about it.

 

Definitely banning books is bad----but basically making it seem that those who do read certain books are somehow your intellectual inferiors is good?

Many people (me included) read books whose philosophical positions they disagree with, from Hitler's Mein Kampf to the Communist Manifesto to Altas Shrugged. So what?

 

I don't get your snide tone, but I remember Altas Shrugged quite well. It was quite a trial to get through. And it was not assigned reading. my Jr High may have been "strange" but it wasn't that strange. Rather I read it on the urging of a classmate (whose family I later discovered was mixed up with the John Birch Society). I finished it, but I thought it was bad writing, and that Ayn Rand's philosophy was evil. I read Hitler in the same time period to better understand where he was coming from too.

 

This is far different that using books that are streeped in racism and bigotry as history spines or as examples of a positive "values education." I'm sure you can appreciate that.

 

Bill

[Hunter]

I don't understand why you people respond to Bill. If I were you, I would just ignore his contentious comments.

Because I have a soft spot for Bill. I even like hearing him say the same thing over and over. First because there are people reading this thread that have NOT read the older threads and I don't need to worry about not mentioning the pitfalls of a mostly vintage curriculum if Bill is listing the dangers so well.

 

Secondly, I like to read Bill's comments over and over because it's grounding. It's like doing Christmas and other holidays over and over exactly the same way. There is comfort in repetition and rhythm. Bill is so predictable it calms my anxiety to read him.

[Walking-Iris]

Many people (me included) read books whose philosophical positions they disagree with, from Hitler's Mein Kampf to the Communist Manifesto to Altas Shrugged. So what?

 

I don't get your snide tone, but I remember Altas Shrugged quite well. It was quite a trial to get through. And it was not assigned reading. my Jr High may have been "strange" but it wasn't that strange. Rather I read it on the urging of a classmate (whose family I later discovered was mixed up with the John Birch Society). I finished it, but I thought it was bad writing, and that Ayn Rand's philosophy was evil. I read Hitler in the same time period to better understand where he was coming from too.

 

This is far different that using books that are streeped in racism and bigotry as history spines or as examples of a positive "values education." I'm sure you can appreciate that.

 

Bill

 

I appreciate that books are books and people are allowed to read them, and agree or disagree with them, but it still begs the question---what, if anything, can be done about it?

 

I certainly don't use out -dated books as history or science spines. I don't use ANY book as "values education"---but what is the solution? What can be done about "those people?" "Those books?" 

 

If I sound "snide" in my comments it's because I feel that the merits or problems with a book can be discussed  without conceited tones.

 

I also have a hard time stomaching complaining without any purpose or remedy.

[Spy Car]

Oops

[Spy Car]

I appreciate that books are books and people are allowed to read them, and agree or disagree with them, but it still begs the question---what, if anything, can be done about it?

 

I certainly don't use out -dated books as history or science spines. I don't use ANY book as "values education"---but what is the solution? What can be done about "those people?" "Those books?"

 

If I sound "snide" in my comments it's because I feel that the merits or problems with a book can be discussed without conceited tones.

 

I also have a hard time stomaching complaining without any purpose or remedy.

The great American Supreme Cout Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light you shine on it, the more it will contract.â€

 

You ask what we can do? Shine light on the problem.

 

Ignoring the problem doesn't solve anything.

 

Bill

[Tarreymere]

Herding cats........... :rolleyes:

[Farrar]

I still think that having a core curricula that is all vintage would be problematic.  One could get by for math and language arts with things like Emma Serl and Ray's Arithmetic but there's no vintage history that I know of that could cover enough and be even close to not bigoted and sexist.  And science, even just on the introductory level would also be pretty inadequate.

 

But getting away from the vintage aspect...  There are great free resources like CK-12 and NCERT and MEP and so forth that are new.  But one problem I see with structuring a curriculum around them is that, unlike the old copyright free books, they change.  They get updates.  They get taken down.  With open source texts, they get re-edited in different ways.  So beyond a list of what's out there - even a curated, annotated list like Rainefox suggests (which is a good idea) - I think having a scheduled AO-esque curriculum like what was suggested might be difficult unless the curriculum author was on top of things, updating every year.

[ElizaG]

I'm all about vintage and OOP gems. However most of what I have found useful is from the late '50s-'70s. So these are out of print and often cheaply available but not free out of copyright resources.

 

With textbooks of that vintage, though, there are typically only a small number of copies in decent shape still in existence.   Individuals can often find bargains, but if someone includes a title on a book list for a homeschooling curriculum, it won't be "cheaply available" for long.  (I figured this out when I tried to get multiple sets of a series we liked, so that the children and I could each have a copy.  The price per book jumped very quickly from $5 to $50 or more. :huh: ) 

 

On the up side, it turns out that most books that were published in the USA before 1964, and didn't have their copyright renewed, are also in the public domain.   The vast majority of them aren't freely available online, because it's a fair bit of trouble to check the renewal status.  

 

FAQ:  How Can I Tell Whether a Copyright Was Renewed? (The Online Books Page, UPenn)

 

People who have access to these books, and are able to verify that they're out of copyright, can share digital copies as part of a free curriculum.  With that range of dates to work with, it should be possible to find good options for math, language arts, literature, foreign languages, pre-1960s history (including the history of art, music, and technology), elementary school science, and some areas of higher-level science.  

 

Cultural geography would be a non-starter, of course, as would modern technology.   I think the best solution for those would be to provide links to recommended web pages -- with a caveat for the parent to check them out ahead of time -- just as they do in those secular unit studies whose name escapes me.  

[Hunter]

I am a bit of an unschooler at heart. As much as I obsess over checklists and schedules, I don't believe that they provide a better education. I just LIKE following a plan for PART of the day, and then trusting the unschooling process for the rest. I need the rhythm of a plan, if that makes sense. It's not THE plan, but having A plan.

 

And then once A plan is in place, I can evaluate it, and see where it needs to be shored up. When I have NO plan, I feel like I have nothing to shore up. No place to focus the unschooling. No limited place to obsess. With a mostly vintage plan, obviously the unschooling needs to provide some modern and politically correct supplements. That's easy--almost ANYTHING will provide some balance. :lol: But seriously, there is so MUCH that can be covered with an all vintage curriculum, especially if people were working together to add a bit here and there.

 

I was looking at the full 1921 curriculum that I posted links too. The science covers a lot of topics that are not on the modern lists. Wool and corn for example. But for junior college bound students intending to pursue a 2 year business degree, with environmental science and nutrition as their science courses and geography and sociology as their social science, the vintage scope and sequence might even be a superior preparation, and isn't missing much that I can see. Throw in some random DVDS and library books, and I don't really see the crisis. I also think "Science Matters" is an important book for mom to read, if she is teaching vintage science, and it's cheap and available as a Kindle book.

 

As for math, we all know I'm not an advocate of modern math instruction anyway, and don't believe the current trends will last more than another 5 years before starting to take a swing to "back to basics". I don't think the expense and stress is helping families produce children with better skills at all.

 

My initial impression of the 1921 curriculum is that I think it is better than the original CM curriculum. I think it might be a place to start developing a vintage based curriculum. Not all curriculums are for all families. But there are families, right or wrong, that ARE going to continue to use vintage resources, and I think THOSE families can do a better job with less stress by following a plan, instead of endlessly combing the free sites and hopping and skipping from one thing to another.

 

AO is not primarily a vintage curriculum, but does use a lot of vintage resources. There are people who are attracted to AO, that would be best served by a different curriculum that CENTERS on DIFFERENT goals.

 

I'm not trying to recruit people to use vintage texts that are not already using them. I'm just trying to help those of us already using them, use them better. It's called "harm reduction", and I believe in harm reduction as general practice in so many areas.

 

 

[roanna]

 

 

I don't even know what to say.  I guess I'll just watch to see if anything useful gets posted in the future to this thread.  Sharing my opinion and/or appreciation for what some else has posted doesn't seem to be ok.  

[momma2three]

I don't really see how outdated textbooks equates to kids paper crafts?  I think most kids enjoy making things out of paper and making paper dolls or animals.  There are certainly enough books and kits and websites with directions out there.

[Hunter]

I don't even know what to say. I guess I'll just watch to see if anything useful gets posted in the future to this thread. Sharing my opinion and/or appreciation for what some else has posted doesn't seem to be ok.

I'm not sure what you are referring to. If I offended you somehow, I am deeply sorry. Group discussion is not one of my strengths. I'm better at talking AT people than TO them, being just a bit of an aspie. And at times when there is a lot of interplay, I start winging it, knowing I am failing at being "normal" or nice, or any of the things that typical people are expecting of each other.

 

And there are others that are a bit aspie who tend to post in my threads. And their aspie stuff gets added to my aspie stuff. And then the typical and "normal" people are reacting to multiple aspies, and reacting to aspies reacting to aspies.

 

I'm sorry if you are hurting. But I'm just not qualified to run a group discussion that keeps everyone feeling happy. That is SO not one of my strengths.

 

My greatest strength is to be able to problem solve and to see connections that others often miss. I am more of a computer than a person, because of my genetics and also because of my severely isolated and surreal life.

 

Roanna, I don't think we have shared much online time? I'm not able to recall much about you. Maybe that is just my memory loss, which is more extensive than most people realize, because I've gotten pretty good at faking I know more than I do.

 

Roanna, I'm so sorry you are hurting. I can be like a bull in a china shop, but I don't have a bad heart, and meant no harm whatsoever, whatever it is that I did or didn't do.

 

I've been kinda clicking "like" to thank people for contributing, and worrying how people might interpret my likes, and then decided to just click away, and just hope for the best. Maybe that is what I did wrong? Anyone that puts too much thought into my "likes" is only watching something similar to a child play with a telephone punching buttons indiscriminately. :lol:

 

Roanna and anyone else I might have offended. :grouphug:

[Hunter]

I don't really see how outdated textbooks equates to kids paper crafts? I think most kids enjoy making things out of paper and making paper dolls or animals. There are certainly enough books and kits and websites with directions out there.

I'm so confused. My fault, not yours. I have NO idea what you are talking about. :lol:

 

I woke up and read the last few posts, and decided I'm in way over my damaged head. :lol: As long as no one is hurting, I'm content to be confused. I'm worried about others, though. I'm assuming from your post you are fine, but I have NO idea what you are talking about.

[momma2three]

I'm so confused. My fault, not yours. I have NO idea what you are talking about. :lol:

 

I woke up and read the last few posts, and decided I'm in way over my damaged head. :lol: As long as no one is hurting, I'm content to be confused. I'm worried about others, though. I'm assuming from your post you are fine, but I have NO idea what you are talking about.

 

I think maybe Roanna was replying to me, and I offended her?  I didn't mean to.  She had originally posted that she liked what you posted, and sometimes kids like things that people think are too old-fashioned to bother with, like paper dolls.  But that she taught her kids to make paper dolls the other day, and they loved it, and it was nice to expose kids to things other than video games.  And I think that's a false equivalency, and I also thought it was kind of an odd comparison... I don't think that paper crafts have ever gone the way of the dinosaur for kids.  I lead a Girl Scout troop where my DD is the only non-public school kid, and she goes to Sunday School where she's the only homeschooled kid, and she has friends who are not nearly as sheltered as she is... and at all these places, cutting up paper and gluing it around is kind of a standard kid activity that they all enjoy.

 

So I don't think the fault is with you Hunter, I think it was my post that she took offense to.  I'm sorry Roanna for causing offense, I was just offering my perspective on your observation, and I didn't mean it rudely.  I just thought I was participating in a conversation, where not everyone needs to agree.  I, too, can be a bull in a china shop sometimes... it's hard for tone to come across on message boards.

 

But anyway, the reason I don't think they're comparable is because I don't think anyone's ever come up with a replacement for the fun of cutting things up and rearranging them, but I think that much knowledge has been replaced over the past 100+ years.

[roanna]

It was not what you said Hunter.  I was thanking you for posting your volumes, which I was able to look at and I thought they were cute.  Am I going to print off thousands of pages to all those volumes and use it as the sole curriculum for my children? No.  I thought there were some cute ideas in it.  It would just be nice to compliment someone and not have someone analyze it, especially something as simple and mundane as talking about paper dolls.  

 

I have not agreed with every single post Hunter writes, and when I don't, I still enjoy reading a different view.  But when she writes something I want to thank her for I wish it could just be that.  

 

I have learned a lot from reading posts on here for the last two years, but I much prefer IRL interactions and am therefore not a huge poster.  

 

Edit: 

The thing I most appreciate about Hunter is that the common thread to her posts is to keep things simple and that it's possible to school on a very tight budget as she has mentioned she has had to do in previous threads.  She obviously has BTDT and I always seek to gleam from those who are more wise than me.  I use my discernment to see what I can use for my family.  

[Spy Car]

To return to the substantive, the delightful 1878 book "Grammar-land" by M. L. Nesbitt has not been mentioned in this thread. For me, this is one of the rare "gems" from the past that introduces the parts-of-speech to children through a funny story (one that pokes fun at the old-fashioned idea that "grammar" has to be dreary and dull).

 

It is free to download. And there are worksheets someone made up to go along with the book that are available online too (I have not used these).

 

Bill

[Hunter]

Oh goodness, I'd never print those 7 volumes! I might print out the table of contents and some of the daily lesson plans though. I'm having a blast reading this curriculum! There is so much wisdom in those volumes. And the different subjects are so ingeniously integrated. When ever I am thinking "Huh?" about an individual lesson, I later see that it is integrated with another subject, and then I understand.

 

This curriculum reminds me a lot of the original NtK curriculum, but it's fuller and more OCD friendly. Obsessive people obsessed through multiple editions. First there was a one volume edition in the 1800s. Then a 2 volume edition in 1905. Followed by the first 7 volume edition in the 1912. Then the 1916 and 1921 editions. And they kept refining the original vision, rather than coming up with a new one. It's tight. It's organized. It's field tested. I really do like this better than CM and Waldorf. It's as outdated as CM and Waldorf, but I feel it has as much potential to be updated as those other 2 curriculums have been updated.

 

I'm glad everyone is okay! Homeschooling can be a lonely career, and I think being accepted at a forum is so important for many homeschool moms. To have an unpleasant forum interaction, can be very upsetting. I know I sometimes AM the source of unpleasantness, but I try hard to be more help than hurt.

 

Educational theory fascinates me. I really do love this forum, and the unique individuals who post here.

 

I'm planning a lazy day, reading through these volumes and taking notes, as I had an upsetting day yesterday, and have another very full day tomorrow. Reading through these integrated lessons all based on the changing of the seasons is grounding and soothing. Things moved a little slower back then. I'm not so sure--in fact I AM sure--that things don't need to move along so quickly as most people think they need to, here in 2013.

 

There is nothing wrong with corn and wool being science lessons. People pay a lot of money to have corn and wool be Waldorf science lessons. I can do it for free with these books, and don't even have to buy finger staining crayons and unlined main lesson books from some expensive mail order company.

 

I sure do wish I could find a 1921 volume 3 instead of just the 1916/1918 edition. So far it looks the same, but...it would just be nice to have a complete set of all 1921, to be sure.

[boscopup]

There is nothing wrong with corn and wool being science lessons.

They'd at least be useful for the zombie apocalypse when everyone has to farm by hand themselves! :lol:

[Hunter]

I love apocalypse novels and TV shows! And I love Waldorf science. I never saw the connection before. :lol:

 

I just am not sold on modern science curricula that stress the abstract and invisible over the every day and immediately useful. And I believe that the spiritual and physical needs are as important, or more important, than the mental needs.

 

Vintage style geography and nature study are grounding and soothing. I love them. They make me feel connected to the earth and other people.

 

Why is atomic theory a superior topic to ducks? And even if it is in general, do ALL students need or benefit by making a styrofoam model of an atom instead of going to the park and observing the ducks? It's more "rigorous" and "advanced" I'm told. Yeah, so? And that makes it better how?

 

And what if we DO have an apocalypse? :lol:

[Korrale]

I read the first book of those 1921 books Hunter posted.

There is some amazing stuff in there! I love the simplicity of Kindergarten. There was a lot of play, but there was a lot of focus. Having a degree in ECE and working as a nanny for 12 years I still gleaned a lot from it.

I actually sat down and wrote a list of simple things to do with my son. I am not a fan of busy work. I feel that preschools are inundated with a mandatory craft activity that serves no purpose other than to clutter a parents fridge. I love that the crafts were purposeful. The children were making their own toys. Dresses for their dolls, furniture for doll houses, clay fruit and vegetables for their grocery store. Jute Placemats for thanksgiving dinner, is something I think we will me making in the upcoming weeks. The grocery store concept introduced so much for the children and learning about the world around them.

How they taught reading in K just made so much sense. It was all exposure at that age. Phonics came later.

 

Other things that I though were interesting that was taught to an entire class was speech. Basically the teacher was incorporating group speech therapy. Usually things like that are outsourced to a SLP. breathing lessons were also included. There was a lot of simple executive function tasks that were lightly guided. I loved it.

 

I can't wait to read the next volumes! I would really like to get a copy of them in print to keep in my home library for reference.

[Lori D.]

I read the first book of those 1921 boobs Hunter posted.

 

 

LOL! The revenge of that booK error from the ORIGINAL WTM board returns!!  :smilielol5:

[Hunter]

There are print on demand publishers, that you just send the link from the public domain book, and they print it and ship it to you. I'm thinking of having these books printed.

 

I've skimmed bits of all 7 volumes. Honestly, this curriculum compares with Montessori, Waldorf, CM, and other curricula that have survived the times. It's just too normal to have the a special flavor for people to latch onto though as something "special". What I like best is that it's NOT trendy, but just so SOLID.

 

It won't work so well for a mom juggling lots of ages, and because it's so seasonal, it can be stressful not to get behind. And the lessons are integrated, so a student far ahead in one subject, can't accelerate as easily. It's school friendly more than homeschool friendly. But it's just so SOLID and organized and efficient, and and and.

 

PSM (Public School Methods) definitely can be used as a resource for people who hate "school at home", even if they don't want graded daily lesson plans.

 

The art in volume 6, starting on page 367, is weekly, but not graded. It's for any grade 4-8.

 

The domestic science is not graded either.

[Korrale]

LOL! The revenge of that booK error from the ORIGINAL WTM board returns!! :smilielol5:

Grr. It is fixed.

[Hunter]

If you like PSM, you might like "Special Method in the Reading of Complete English Classics in the Grades of the Common School" by the same author. There are booklists for grades 4-8 that should all be available at Google.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=OVCa9AOtFa4C

[redsquirrel]

Are you looking for things that are specifically vintage or is just available online desirable? I am always amazed at just how many schools put up their textbooks for free download. I like to look at textbooks of the approximate grade level of my kids so I can have a vague idea of what the general expectations are for their age. I don't do it excessively, mostly when I am making plans for the year.

 

However, it is difficult at the elementary level. I think kids at that age just don't use their text all that much, I know I didn't at that age. And most of their work is done in class,with the homework mostly being handouts. The good news is that a lot of elementary education can be done well if you have a good library and a laptop. Once the kids hit middle school age, there is usually something online to look at. It may not be exactly what you want, but it is often close enough to work with.

 

Now, stuff like current textbooks do tend to be taken down.  If I see a text etc that is in PDF form I will download it to scan through at my leisure. And that leaves the issue of answer keys and solutions. Having worked without a few times I have found it to be a big pain in the patootie and will now go out of my way for an answer key.

 

 

I don't want to change the topic, but my current interest that is tangential to this discussion is the whole 'flipped classroom' phenomenon. Not because I think it is super cool or anything, but because apparently there are hundreds of teachers putting their lectures online on youtube for anyone to watch. I haven't had the time to really sit down and investigate the resources, but I bet there are some good classes out there. Now, if I could only make some sort of database denoting topic and text references etc etc....

 

[MamaSprout]

Not on the kindle, but I have a set of these: http://www.amazon.com/Houghton-Mifflin-Reading-Literature-Experience/dp/0395610834

 

The series is 1st- 8th. They are pre NCLB, and are basically decent anthologies of children's lit. I would consider them a modern add-on if you were using out-of-copyright texts. I buy them for between .25-$4. I'm using the 8th Grade book "World's Apart" with a tutoring student along with WTM-style writing currently, and am satisfied with it.

 

I also put this together:

http://beansblues.wordpress.com/tag/homeschool/

 

http://beansblues.wordpress.com/

 

It does not use all public domain books, but does use some, with many others commonly available at most libraries. The "codes" are explained at the bottom of the .pdf. For us, most of the books on the list were less expensive at book sales/ library than on kindle, but likely could be digitally "checked out" of a library or gotten with Amazon Prime. Otherwise, any of the Yesterday's Classics could be subbed for history or lit titles. I choose STOW b/c it is available as an ebook, and I've seen paperback copies for around $1-5 at book sales.

 

We use Singapore, but MEP could be used. We did end up using Galore Park for science, but the student books run less than $20/ year and can be used stand-alone. We dropped French and added Latin. ETA: Also, Sunshine Math would be a good option if combined with living math/ older math books:

http://www.sabalpalm.leon.k12.fl.us/baumgartenn/Sunshine%20Math/Forms/AllItems.aspx

 

ETA: Thunderbolt Kids 4-6 free science: http://www.thunderboltkids.co.za/

 

I probably ought to update my schedule if I'm going to list it here. I'll do that and put another link in below the first one sometime soon. We've switched out more of the AO stuff after standardized tests last spring highlighted some weaknesses, and I also picked up a family for cottage classes.

 

Updated beansblues Library Learning:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zCkx-10e7sVMcoR2O_6NyeHA-cjYRy6jHgb0ZNalw-E/edit?usp=sharing

 

With the NY Engage site, there are modern usable options for LA, Math and Science. I don't know of an easy to use, free Latin. If someone else does, I'll update to include it. Khan Academy has a some art history now.

 

ETA, it looks like some of the modules in the Engage NY site use textbook-y books that might be hard to find.

 

[KathyJo]

A comment re: old scientific books, pointed out by my 17yos, who read lots of Jean Henri Fabre books when he was younger. He pointed out that while yes, many theories have changed since then, many of these books record the OBSERVATIONS of scientists of the time. However much the theories have changed, the observations still have value.

 

I also believe that there's an additional value to adding some old books. They remind us not to get too caught up in the true and complete knowledge contained in any modern books. They'll be the crap no one wants to touch because of their antiquated ideas in a hundred years.

 

ETA: I hate when I don't realize that a thread is old before I comment. :-)

[stripe]

"Public domain" does not equal vintage.

 

There are modern textbooks that have been written recently that are published with a creative commons copyright, such as Street Fighting Mathematics, which was written by MIT professors and published in 2010 by MIT Press and is a text that I sincerely hope Hunter knows about as it seems right up her alley. Some texts were financed through online crowd-sourcing. MEP (k-12 math from the UK), NCERT's books (multi-subject, k-12, from India), and Thunderbolt Kids (elementary science program from S. Africa) are programs that were specifically developed to be available and free, and there are others besides.

 

There are colleges establishing online courses that only want to use online, free texts. As I have been paid to locate them for such institutions, I am certain they are out there. ;)

[Susie in MS]

 

 

I also believe that there's an additional value to adding some old books. They remind us not to get too caught up in the true and complete knowledge contained in any modern books. They'll be the crap no one wants to touch because of their antiquated ideas in a hundred years.

 

 

 

I wanted to like this more than once, but since I couldn't I thought I would just LIKE it here again. :D

[Hunter]

I also believe that there's an additional value to adding some old books. They remind us not to get too caught up in the true and complete knowledge contained in any modern books. They'll be the crap no one wants to touch because of their antiquated ideas in a hundred years.

 

 

I think about this all the time. I want to spend the least time on what will be quickly thought to be "wrong"

 

The 10 Books in a Bunker thread had a powerful effect on me. So much of what we teach has little lasting value.

 

I often think about the conversations I used to hear my children and other children have in the sandbox as preschoolers. They had their own little culture with all sorts of rules and things important to them. They had all sorts of errors in their grammar and understanding of how the world worked, but that didn't stop them from being so adamant about things.

 

Sometimes I feel like a child in a sandbox, and wonder what of this time will not be laughable when I "grow up".

 

As I have gotten older, I know I teach from much more of a place of humbleness. But maybe apathy too, because...well...

[Kontribuanto]

Since the late 1970's, I have been creating short, self-contained expository articles on mathematics, placing them all immediately in the public domain, and sending a copy of everything to the National Science Foundation. In 2001, they sent me a kudos letter for this initiative of mine.

 

Not long ago I opened an account on Scribd and began uploading these articles there. I am also uploading longer articles on mathematics, and articles on other topics. I have placed everything that I have uploaded to Scribd into the public domain. Attribution is not required.

 

The latest thing that I have uploaded is 'topaz booklet of mathematics'. It is a scaffolded treatment of mathematical sequences. It is a pdf file, 25 pages in length.

 

Previously, you had to be a member of Scribd to download a document of someone else's. However, recently, Scribd, acknowledging the need for a repository of materials that teachers can freely draw from, has given each member the option of allowing unfettered downloading. I have accepted that option, so you are at liberty to download whatever you wish to of my documents at no cost.

 

In order to make it easy to find me on Scribd, I created a document with a code. If you google for that code, you will get that document, which contains my identification information. The code is 13076743680001024 (which is 15 factorial, concatenated with the 10th power of 2).

 

[Malam]

On 10/9/2023 at 5:35 AM, Kontribuanto said:

Since the late 1970's, I have been creating short, self-contained expository articles on mathematics, placing them all immediately in the public domain, and sending a copy of everything to the National Science Foundation. In 2001, they sent me a kudos letter for this initiative of mine.

 

Not long ago I opened an account on Scribd and began uploading these articles there. I am also uploading longer articles on mathematics, and articles on other topics. I have placed everything that I have uploaded to Scribd into the public domain. Attribution is not required.

 

The latest thing that I have uploaded is 'topaz booklet of mathematics'. It is a scaffolded treatment of mathematical sequences. It is a pdf file, 25 pages in length.

 

Previously, you had to be a member of Scribd to download a document of someone else's. However, recently, Scribd, acknowledging the need for a repository of materials that teachers can freely draw from, has given each member the option of allowing unfettered downloading. I have accepted that option, so you are at liberty to download whatever you wish to of my documents at no cost.

 

In order to make it easy to find me on Scribd, I created a document with a code. If you google for that code, you will get that document, which contains my identification information. The code is 13076743680001024 (which is 15 factorial, concatenated with the 10th power of 2).

 

I found your scribd account but not your topaz booklet - it doesn't appear to be there