Are YOU self-educating right now?

[Hunter]

Is anyone else seriously self-educating right now?

 

I'm using Saxon Algebra 1, Hake Grammar and Writing 7, and How to Spell Book 4.

 

I've done a little EIL 1, but put it away to do a little LLATL Green and Gold American first. For this week I'm just reading Johnny Tremain, until my LLATL books come in.

 

My library has a free subscription to Hoopla, and I can stream 10 Bill Nye episodes a month, so I'm doing that for now. I want to watch the entire series and then reread Science Matters before I decide if I want to do anything more than that. Maybe AP environmental science. And I've been appreciating spring and all that is sprouting and blooming around me. I'm taking lots of walks and tours through the parks.

 

I'm doing a fast listen through SOTW with the audio books, before I start a more advanced text. HEARING all the names pronounced is helpful.

 

I'm using Mark Kistler's Draw Squad, one lesson a week. If I finish before the end of the week, I'm adding in some other odds and ends–mostly things that will help me draw what Kistler calls "extras".

 

I'm rereading "The Healing Power of Humor" for about the 5th time: One technique a week. And I'm turning my notes into a doodle and zentangle project.

 

I need to settle down with something for music. I don't know what, though.

[73349]

Not seriously--what you're doing sounds pretty intense--but lightly. I'm working through some Spanish, ancient history, leadership, and Buddhist meditation resources.

[Hunter]

Mind, body, soul–they are all equally important. I don't think my walks in the park, humor studies and drawing lessons are any less important than the Saxon lessons.

 

I did get 3 Saxon lessons done today, though! And some math memory work. I'm trying to memorize all the square roots, squares, cubes and pi up to 20 along with addition and multiplication tables up to 20. I have charts for now. Saxon goes SO much faster with charts instead of doing all this arithmetic out. But I don't let myself use the charts unless I earn the right with at least 15 minutes of drill work first.

 

I really don't want to use a calculator, and with Saxon the problems really are designed to be done without one.

 

The Hake essay on Fireworks is BORING and depending on what would have been covered in the earlier books, not really well written. But I'm pushing through and just doing it. It's been a long time since I completed a writing prompt that I didn't want to write about.

 

The Bill Nye part about earth quake waves not passing through the core, and that is why we think we know how big it is was cool. I know I've heard that before, but I TOTALLY forgot.

 

Johnny Tremain must have gone right over my head when I was a kid, because I just do not remember so much of this book. It's really good. The grammar is very...interesting, though. The introduction talks about that, but I stopped reading it, because it had so many spoilers.

[Lucy the Valiant]

I am studying calculus, photography, and karate. :)

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, I'm kinda on a little spring break because my work schedule is really heavy at the moment, and there are the children to teach after all . . .  :laugh:

 

But yes, I'm working through the Algebra level of Alcumus and on the Intro Algebra book, which my kid will be starting in September - desperately trying to stay ahead of her!

 

I'm researching poetry teaching books, I think I figured out where we are going to start, so I'm reading poetry and about teaching it.

 

I'm pre-reading short stories we might use in lit next year.

 

I'm re-reading and first-reading some classic lit we might use soon.

 

I'm reading this totally amazing book about teaching writing:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470532904/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

And I'm watching a few Coursera lectures: Modern History, Emergence of the Modern Middle East, Buddhism & Modern Psychology, and How Things Work.

 

 

[CrunchyGirl]

I'm on a bit of a break right now while we move but when I start back up it will be algebra, Latin, grammar w/diagramming, classic lit, and world history (audio book thankfully).I'm going to see if by some miracle I can cram it into an hour at night and during my daily commute (20-30 min round trip).

[Crimson Wife]

I'm supposed to be working through Lial's Beginning Algebra and Intermediate Algebra to stay ahead of DD in math and to prepare for taking the California Foundational Mathematics teachers' credential exam this summer. But "How to Teach Literature Like a Professor" by Thomas C. Foster just arrived and that looks WAAAAAY more enjoyable than algebra.

[Hunter]

Katie, what are you using for calculus. Crunchygirl for Latin?

 

I have Henle Latin here, but I don't think I can handle it in top of everything else. It's review, but...it's still a LOT of work. I think I want to focus on English grammar for now.

 

I'm scheduling in 4-6 hours a day right now, and that is without the Latin. I'm doing a lot of boundary setting with other people, and taking some "me" time.

[sbbulliv]

I'm just curling up with Usborne Encyclopedia of World History right now.

[Lucy the Valiant]

Great Courses calculus (forget the exact title). I didn't have calculus in my own high school experience, but I somehow gave birth to a mathematician, and I need to learn his Native Language. :)

 

 

Editing: The calculus is the end of the "serious" part of this endeavor (have already gone through algebra & geometry); the "lighter" part has involved a Great Personal Math Renaissance - the amazingly cool things that numbers can do that I was way to stressed to even realize the first time through. Just finished the Penrose cat math, Here's Looking at Euclid, the Sir Cumferences, some of Montessori's works & ideas, Liping Ma's book - wonderful & enjoyable eye-openers, all. I absolutely LOVE the self-education part of home schooling.

[Susie in CA]

Yes!

 

I am taking a Health course and Cultural Anthropology course right now. Next semester I'll be taking Geographic Information Systems and AutoCad. I am hoping to start working as an intern either in the fall or right after Christmas.

 

I am also reading loads of American History and American Literature books. We'll be covering that in the fall for highschool.

 

And I just decided today to start reading biographies. I simply started at the letter A ind the library and ended up with a biography on Hank Aaron (never heard of him).

 

[Nan in Mass]

I am.

At the moment, I am studying water chemistry, not exactly by choice but more by desperation.

And I am studying painting.

And I'm always working on a foreign language or two and natural history.

: )

[G5052]

Lots of work-related study.  This month I'm teaching my first ever online graduate-level seminar, working again for one of my favorite department heads who moved to another college.  I had to do some background reading myself, but I'm learning a lot from them now as we go through the material.  Some of it even applies to homeschooling!

 

Over the summer I plan to get into Latin again.  After four years of self-study, I hate that I had to put it aside because no one was expecting me to teach them this year.  I need to relearn my declensions and conjugations, and then get back into translation.

[CrunchyGirl]

GSWL right now but I'm not very far in and I'm wondering if I should switch to Henle. It's going to be a long haul.

[laughing lioness]

I am on a serious learning curve for a new job- basically a couple of office applications and tons of new technology. 

[Slache]

Ancient history, drawing and reading bunches. I really want to start AOPS and LOE Essentials but no one will buy them for me. I'm *always* working on my spanish, but I haven't met anyone who speaks it since we moved here so it's slipping.  :glare: Yo solia ser fluido.

[Pod's mum]

I was. I was working through the ten year plan for my 54 volume set of Great Books of the Western World.

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/l/literature/gbww/

Then I again picked up some Ancient history subjects in Open Uni Australia.

But I had to keep putting that down with life, death and never ending family law. I don't think I have the energy to pick it up again.

 

However over the past 8 years, 4 with a useless lawyer and the last three again self representing, I guess I learned a massive amount more than I would have liked to have needed about property settlement, divorce and never-ending 'children's matters'.

Paid off, we have just finished again with a good outcome for "the said child", (and her mother).

 

Am currently back to researching fun topics like 'rural properties', chook and bee keeping and hydroponics.

And watching the green across the hills we are allowed to remain near, digging in the garden, catching up with friends and filling the walls with the boxed books.

 

 

[Pod's mum]

Great topic by the way Hunter, it's the sort that gets me inspired again, reading what others are doing.

[Rosie_0801]

Not seriously sit-down-at-the-table study because that is not an option for me, but I'm learning about Islam because the Universe keeps throwing Islam and Muslims in my way. Maybe if I indulge the Universe, it might leave me alone for a while. :p So, I've read a couple of books on food laws, a bunch of online articles on social issues and am watching lectures on constitutional struggles in Muslim countries. It's fun.

[Anacharsis]

I'm finishing up Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery, a great piece of biography with a lot of insight on how the attitudes a person adopts to survive in one environment can hinder them from flourishing in another. Next up will probably be Eric Hoffer's The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. 

 

I'm also working my way through the parts of the National Film Registry that are in the public domain... maybe that doesn't count as serious. :)

 

I think my favorite so far is a movie from 1945 called Detour:

 

I also quite liked A Trip Down Market Street -- who would have guessed at the time that simple scenes from the street in 1906 would be so interesting to watch 108 years later? :) (This was filmed right before the Great San Francisco Earthquake that destroyed most of the city.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz4AmeSApBE

[Pod's mum]

Hey Rosie do these tempt your shelves?

 

http://www.bookdepository.com/16th-Century-Mosque-Fiona-Macdonald/9781905638604

This one is beautiful with tidbits on every page.

And this one in the great tradition of Castle, Cathedral, City

http://www.bookdepository.com/Mosque-David-Macaulay/9780547015477

 

Yes we have both, "Hello, my name is Podsmum and I am a bibliphile."

However it IS several weeks since I've bought a book.

 

You can't do Islam dry, you need to revel in the poetry of its Art and Architecture a bit.

[Rosie_0801]

Oh, the David Macaulay book is on my wish list. The other I haven't seen before. It's a great deal cheaper than a holiday to see the mosaics in Spain, Portugal and Morocco...

[Lolly]

Currently, just reading brain candy. I am on dc#4 finishing up high school. I've learned a lot with the first 3. Just cruising on that knowledge right now. I'm in maintain mode with ds. It's kinda like being on a vacation. I'm liking it!

[Lizzie in Ma]

Yup, brushing up on modern history.  Currently reading Paul Johnson's Modern Times.

[madteaparty]

I am reading a travel memoir preparing for a trip to France, but I do not consider that self-education.

I am however self-teaching the Arabic alphabet and I do consider that education. It is slow going but I take my time with languages.

[Luckymama]

I am refreshing precalculus to stay ahead of dd and increasing my practical horticulture knowledge (it's spring) :D

[Hunter]

Wow! What interesting topics some of you are studying!

[dsmith]

I've been going through GSWL and Henle at a very slow pace, reading Science Matters and watching a lot of science-related documentaries. I'm reading through the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, also at a very slow pace. I've been very interested in US and ancient history, and have been using my Audible credits for various Teaching Company lectures. I have an interest in reading about natural and man-made disasters and what effect, if any, they have had on laws. I just finished The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin, about the blizzard of 1888. I enjoyed reading about the army's weather service and what methods they used to try to predict the weather. Next I'm reading Fire in the Grove: The Cocoanut Grove Tragedy and Its Aftermath. My father was supposed to be there that night, but missed his train. After that I'm planning to read about the Johnstown flood, the Hartford circus fire and the avalanche in Wellington, WA that buried 2 trains in 1910, etc. I have a pretty long list. I guess it is my somewhat gruesome hobby. :-) I'm also working my way through a list of classics. I'm currently re-reading Moby Dick while listening at The Big Read.

[LatteMama]

I'm studying/reading The Well-Educated Mind, The Living Page and my personal Bible study.  I don't think I have ever stopped learning! This fall I plan on learning right along with my 1st grade DD.  :001_tt2:

[1Togo]

Chrysalis Academy,

 

That book is now on my wish list for summer reading along with...and I actually have some book moneyl

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Chrysalis Academy,

 

That book is now on my wish list for summer reading along with...and I actually have some book moneyl

:hurray: I like it more and more the further I read. It's totally changing the my dd's upcoming assignments, too, for which she will no doubt be grateful! 

[Rosie_0801]

I am however self-teaching the Arabic alphabet and I do consider that education. It is slow going but I take my time with languages.

 

We're stuck with the difference between saad and seen. Wah!

[DarlaS]

I take karate with my kids, am working my way through Lial's Introductory Algebra, and indulging my interest in neuroscience a bit. I also dabble in photography and am learning more of the technical stuff using Bryan Peterson's books. 

This summer I plan on learning how to do ceramic tile and a little cabinetry. 

 

There's more , but that's all I can think of on the little sleep I had last night.  :closedeyes:

[Soror]

I'm reading up on Narnia preparing for our study this upcoming year. I'm also trying to increase my pathetic knowledge of grammar and have done some work on Alcumus, admittedly not enough of either.

[MtnTeaching]

I have a junior in high school.  I am self-educating myself all about the college admission process.  It seems to be pretty much all I am capable of right now.

 

Other than that, I am a part of a book club and will also be starting a year-long course on homesteading in May.  

[forty-two]

My focus at the moment is studying the manual for LiPS - I'm finding the info fascinating, but though it's straightforward, it requires more study effort than I've put in since college.

 

After LiPS I'm going to focus on math - the Liping Ma book, and working through the Elementary Math/Geometry for Teachers books. I also have my on-going, extremely slow efforts to learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

 

Actually, I think the LiPS material is helping to fill in *my* phonemic awareness gaps, and I have hopes my progress will pick up a bit. I've been stuck on the Greek and Hebrew alphabet for faaaaaaaaaaaaar too long - I know what sound each letter makes and have for years, but sounding out the words is way harder than it has any right to be. It's rather comparable to "regular" reading difficulties, interestingly enough. (I painfully learned to blend in Greek as I taught my dd to blend in English - with about the same level of success, too, given that I'm about to do LiPS with her and that I never managed to get beyond reading individual Greek words - a sentence exhausts me.) Anyway, I've got this grand plan to take myself through LiPS in Greek and Hebrew (probably dragging dh into it to read out sounds and syllables and words and such), once I have it sorted enough to do with the girls in English. (I also have ambitions to incorporate stuff from Seeing Stars, which I impulse bought because I had LiPS and Visualizing & Verbalizing and wanted SS for completeness, as well as take myself through V/V with Latin, because I have lack of visualization skills that are holding me back there. I'm just full of language-related program-combo craziness :lol:.)

[rmtzc2009]

Someone I was never taught to diagram a sentence, yikes!  This week I've been focusing on that as well as refreshing grammar skills.  I plan to work on Spanish with Mango Language Lessons online offered through our library.

[Hunter]

I have a credit at audible.com. You all are making me think about using it for Pimsleur Spanish.

 

I know I don't want to do Latin/Greek/Hebrew right now, and certainly not Arabic, but maybe a little Pimsleur and a cheap kid's workbook with lots of pictures.

[Slache]

I have a credit at audible.com. You all are making me think about using it for Pimsleur Spanish.

 

I know I don't want to do Latin/Greek/Hebrew right now, and certainly not Arabic, but maybe a little Pimsleur and a cheap kid's workbook with lots of pictures.

 

I just downloaded Getting Started With Spanish the other day. I have no idea if it's good or not but the introduction looks promising. :)

I think it's all grammar, which is what I wanted, but it was only $10 to download.

[lewelma]

I'm currently studying AP Physics and second-year Mandarin.  I am also studying the great books with my older. I just finished reading and analysing The Great Gatsby and The Luminaries (Man Booker winner this year), and have started The Grapes of Wrath.  I am also starting the Introduction to Linux soon. 

 

I finally gave up on keeping up with my older in math and outsourced to the AoPS classes, which is a huge relief.

 

Ruth in NZ

 

[SilverMoon]

Duolingo Spanish - hoping to get a head start on my DS starting this fall

 

Tolkien's The Monsters and The Critics, leading into researching Norse, Beowulf, Arthur, and such for fall, also rereading the trilogy which will roll into the histories set

 

After I finish How the Irish Saved Civilization I'll work on some American history spine options. Also for a kid for fall.

 

For myself I've been really enjoying some C.S. Lewis lately, dabbling in some Sean Kean science topics, and I'm between classics.

[Hunter]

I just downloaded Getting Started With Spanish the other day. I have no idea if it's good or not but the introduction looks promising. :)

I think it's all grammar, which is what I wanted, but it was only $10 to download.

 

I forgot about that book! I'll look at it again. I have the Latin version.

[Hunter]

Always Spanish, always Arabic (long slogs) always religion. Plus now Strayer upton math :)

 

Upton wrote "Practical Algebra" and it comes in versions with and without answers in the back. You can find nasty old copies for affordable prices.

[Hunter]

Ladies, you all are studying some interesting things!

 

Anacharsis, you are inspiring me to repurchase "Movies as Literature".

[kroe1]

I cannot imagine how any homeschool mom could NOT be self educating in some way. Even those moms choosing hands off DVD programs, must engage in daily "research" to help with kiddos' questions.

 

But, specifically to answer your question, I am a voracious reader of all things medical, especially journals and studies. I can never get enough.

[daijobu]

Object oriented programming.  I took the Udacity course last weekend, but it wasn't meaty enough.  So I signed up for the AoPS advanced python class that starts in June.  (Anyone want to join me?)

 

Electronics.  Reading ahead of my dd's in Make: Electronics by Charles Platt.  I just wired up a 555 timer last night.  

 

Piano.  Mired in mediocrity and loving it.  Trying to master Let It Go, LOL!  

[amyco]

I am learning Latin!  I just finished Latin 2 with Lukeion and am struggling to decide whether or not I should continue with Latin 3.  With dd coming home next year I am not sure I will have the time or energy for it.

 

ETA:  But as my son likes to remind me, my mom used to say, "If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right."

 

[Reefgazer]

Oh, Lord, I'm buried in homework, LOL!  I just bought the DVD course from the Center for Literary Education that was recommended in one of the CiRCE-related threads (that's a summer assignment), I will also be reading through the Bible with my kids this year because I don't feel we have an adequate knowledge base from which to read the classics otherwise, I have to re-learn all my Middle Ages history along with my DD in order to be able to discuss history with her, I am learning Latin right along with my DD, and I am reading up on teaching children poetry this summer.  Full credit load of self-teaching courses here!  As you might guess, my husband is neglected, my house is a mess, and I don't cook from scratch as nearly as often as I once did, but by golly, we are an educated bunch!

 

ETA:  Wonderful.  I just read through the entire thread after I answered and I see Rose has given me another idea for a self-class on writing!  I can't keep up, AAAAAACCK! 

[Grover]

Trying to keep up with DD in piano.  Not really managing it.

Loving Coursera and MOOCs in general - currently doing cryptography.

Racng DS to complete the 8th grade challenge patch on Khan - then we'll move onto the next one. 

 

[SailorMom]

Other than just keeping up with my son's math and chemistry,  I am learning Spanish with him and I'm teaching myself navigation (i.e. sailing) not using electronic instruments - so, the old fashioned way.  I plan on taking a class in diesel engine maintenance, a wilderness first aid course, learning some conversational French.  We'll be retiring on a sailboat in about 4 years and traveling the globe :)