1Togo Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 I thought I would start a thread for new materials we have enjoyed/discovered this year. If you have come across something new and different that isn't often mentioned on the board, jump in and add on. The following are especially good for students that need something a bit different for literature: Online Shakespeare classes with Roy Speed, HS College Bound - Dd is taking Romeo and Juliet now and having a lot of fun - learning too. The Reader's Odyssey - Dena M. Luchsinger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 My daughter is very much enjoying the Digital Learning class from homespun-school.net. It's a free 6 week intro to the sorts of skills they use in their other, paid courses (literature, Cold War studies, money, etc). We are going to try classes this summer from Harari College Worldwide -- an international school offering free AP, language, and other online courses www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com offers a wide range of free at your own pace and live classes. We've used some of their classes for the last two years. This one has a mix of Christian-specific and secular classses, while the first two are secular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 We are going to try classes this summer from Harari College Worldwide -- an international school offering free AP, language, and other online courses Keep the group posted on this new resource. Especially curious of the pace and how it is taught. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 No experience to report on yet, but we just signed up for Compass Classroom's Filmmaking From the First Directors class. It's so new it isn't even done yet . . . Shannon is super excited about it, though! http://www.compassclassroom.com/filmmaking/overview-3/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 The Reader's Odyssey - Dena M. Luchsinger Wow, this looks really cool - and I like the look of her other books, too, particularly Grading With a Purple Crayon. Can you tell me any more about it and how you are using it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 We love the Creative Live Fundamentals of Digital Photography course by John Greengo. The Creative Live classes are free when they are doing the live streaming (and frequently a free repeat at night on their Facebook site). They record the live streaming class, and then you can purchase the course for download at any time. They offer a lot of courses in photography, video/filmmaking, graphic design, image software, etc. They are always adding new courses, and expanding into new areas -- I just saw that they now have courses in audio recording, sound mixing, and songwriting. While these courses are designed for adults, and many require some prior familiarity with the software or field, many are "intro" or "first exposure" courses and can be used for high school students as part of a Fine Arts credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Any IB Theory of Knowledge text. The more my daughter and I explore this the more I can't believe this isn't something most Classical homeschoolers use. We talk about critical thinking, philosophy, teach logic and rhetoric and yet the big kahuna, the umbrella over those things barely gets a mention here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 No experience to report on yet, but we just signed up for Compass Classroom's Filmmaking From the First Directors class. It's so new it isn't even done yet . . . Shannon is super excited about it, though! http://www.compassclassroom.com/filmmaking/overview-3/ This looks very interesting, my dd would love it. I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on the class part way through the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Any IB Theory of Knowledge text. The more my daughter and I explore this the more I can't believe this isn't something most Classical homeschoolers use. We talk about critical thinking, philosophy, teach logic and rhetoric and yet the big kahuna, the umbrella over those things barely gets a mention here. I've had my eye on that for awhile! It looks good, I'm glad to hear it's such a great resource. This is a wonderful thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Any IB Theory of Knowledge text. These look interesting on the amazon previews. Are all the "Theory of Knowledge" texts listed on amazon just different editions of the same thing? Or is there one particular text to start with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 These look interesting on the amazon previews. Are all the "Theory of Knowledge" texts listed on amazon just different editions of the same thing? Or is there one particular text to start with? We used this Cambridge IB TOK text, it was one of our best subjects for last year. There is also an Oxford version, I found previews of both and liked the Cambridge version better. There is also a skills and practice book, but we didn't use that. The Cambridge text has some teacher support you can access here. These are designed for the IB program, so there is some particulars pertinent only to that test. I liked that they spoke intelligently to the student and things weren't watered down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Thanks, EL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries has started an online academy for apologetics. I'm in the pilot core class. They will be adding classes in the fall. www.rzimacademy.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasRachel Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Digital Theatre Plus. DD really *loved* the performance of Much Ado About Nothing. We're going to add in some more Shakespeare just to see more *plays* versus the films. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Digital Theatre Plus. DD really *loved* the performance of Much Ado About Nothing. We're going to add in some more Shakespeare just to see more *plays* versus the films. this is another one I've been eyeballing. Can you tell us more about how it works? You get the play, and you get a study guide, and you get information on how it is made and stuff? Can you talk about the resources besides the play itself and how you use them? I keep looking at this, but there are other ways to access theatrical versions of productions, so I'm wondering how much value is added by the Making Theater, Study Guides, and Teaching Support portions to make it worth $200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 this is another one I've been eyeballing. Can you tell us more about how it works? You get the play, and you get a study guide, and you get information on how it is made and stuff? Can you talk about the resources besides the play itself and how you use them? I keep looking at this, but there are other ways to access theatrical versions of productions, so I'm wondering how much value is added by the Making Theater, Study Guides, and Teaching Support portions to make it worth $200. First, get it through Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for $75 https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/digital-theatre-plus. I wouldn't have been able to afford $200 for it. I used it as part of an Intro to Theater (focus on backstage) class this year for my daughter who has fallen in love with working backstage at the theater. Here's the basics of what we did: Read "Technical Theater for Non-Technical People" by Drew Campbell Worked backstage on a community theater production (set and props) Attended several live local performances (a reader's theater, community theater play, high school play, community college production, regional opera, local professional theater company)--most of these were primarily because someone we know was in them. Shakespeare focus (we really enjoy Shakespeare here): Read Usborne "Intro to Shakespeare," "Comedy of Errors"---watched the DTP videos (about an hour and 45 min worth--shorts on directing, design, music and two longer documentaries) and read DTP material (intro, characters, context, relationship map, language, keywords, and questions), then watched the performance "Much Ado About Nothing"---compared this version with the Joss Whedon and Kenneth Brannagh filmed versions "King Lear"--DTP videos on design, directing, and fight directing, www.shmoop.com for themes, watched performance "Macbeth"--watched videos on design and directing, read the close text analysis on 4 scenes from study guide, then watched the performance. Compared this with the Patrick Stewart performance set in Stalinist Russia. "As You Like It"----2 videos on acting, read material (intro, characters, context, relationship map, language, keywords, and questions), then watched the performance Other plays: "Into the Woods"---watched performance and compared with the version we already own "Merrily We Roll Along"--watched the performance and looked at the common elements that help identify it as a Sondheim musical Pick a play and write a review of it Write a critique of the tech aspects of a performance ( use Guidelines http://www.angelfire.com/ego/westmontdrama/GreenSheetTECH.pdf or http://grovesite.com/page.asp?o=vchs&s=tt2hmm) These could be done with a DTP production or a live performance Project: Read the following, then Pick a scene from your favorite play, short story, fairy tale, myth, or a story you wrote and do a set design and costume design for it. My daughter chose to do a scene from a short story she had to write for English. Reading the play http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/21m-732-beginning-costume-design-and-construction-fall-2008/study-materials/play_q.pdf Basic functions of costume http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/21m-732-beginning-costume-design-and-construction-fall-2008/study-materials/costumes.pdf Read pdfs on costuming from MIT The psych of costuming 1 and 2 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/21m-732-beginning-costume-design-and-construction-fall-2008/study-materials/psychology.pdf and http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/21m-732-beginning-costume-design-and-construction-fall-2008/study-materials/notes.pdf I had plans to go more in-depth on some of the other plays, but we ran out of time due to some of the other opportunities that became available, so we'll watch some of the other plays just for the experience. For us, the $75 was worth it for the three of us to see a large variety of high quality professional theater, the study guides and other materials were a bonus. There are different amounts of study materials and the support videos may have different topics for the various plays. They do add plays through the year. This year, they've added 3, IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Thanks so much for that detailed description, Karen! And for the tip about HSBC. I definitely see this appearing in our future! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 My daughter is very much enjoying the Digital Learning class from homespun-school.net. It's a free 6 week intro to the sorts of skills they use in their other, paid courses (literature, Cold War studies, money, etc). We are going to try classes this summer from Harari College Worldwide -- an international school offering free AP, language, and other online courses www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com offers a wide range of free at your own pace and live classes. We've used some of their classes for the last two years. This one has a mix of Christian-specific and secular classses, while the first two are secular. I would love to know how the classes at Harari go. It seems to good to be true, hoping it is exactly what it says. Keep us posted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 I would love to know how the classes at Harari go. It seems to good to be true, hoping it is exactly what it says. Keep us posted? It does seem too good to be true, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. :) She should be doing a 2 week study skills class at the end of the month or beginning of June, then starts a twice a week hour and a half Spanish 2 class that will run June 16-Sept 22. The semester schedule is a bit different, running 3 semesters a year, so fall starts in October. I do admit that I've found the process of getting signed up for classes a bit more difficult than I had hoped in terms of finding out the exact schedules so that we could make decisions regarding things like summer activities. Information seems to have come in dribs and drabs, but I'm not sure if that was because I was so anxious to know what the options were. I'm definitely a long range planner. :) I'm hopeful that things will be easier and a bit more regular for the fall, if for no other reason that we'll have been involved in a class and know a bit more about how things go on. I had hoped she could do another class or two with them, because there were some that sounded very interesting, but she has an opportunity to intern with a theater camp for young children that conflicted with the schedule. We're starting slowly, as I think we'll wait until she's at least rising 10th grade before starting AP level classes. They do have some pre-AP classes (language, English, and world history) and other classes that look interesting---concentrations in Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies, Classical, etc. I'm excited that the classes include students from all over the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 New resources in electronics: EEME subscription with monthly electronics projects correlated with his instructional videos Make: Electronics by Charles Platt We're about halfway through now. Make: Arduino Bots and Gadgets Haven't started this one, but am reading through it. I may start it after finishing the Platt book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RanchGirl Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 I thought I would start a thread for new materials we have enjoyed/discovered this year. If you have come across something new and different that isn't often mentioned on the board, jump in and add on. The following are especially good for students that need something a bit different for literature: Online Shakespeare classes with Roy Speed, HS College Bound - Dd is taking Romeo and Juliet now and having a lot of fun - learning too. The Reader's Odyssey - Dena M. Luchsinger 1togo, I was wondering how the Romeo & Juliet class went for your student, is it completed now? I would love to hear any additional feedback you might have as I am considering this for my upcoming 9th grader. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 The class went very well for dd, and it accomplished what I wanted -- annotation/deep reading practice with feedback, literature discussion in a supportive environment, and more enthusiasm for reading in general. There was no writing involved other than annotation, so it was a perfect fit for us, although I wondered how it could qualify for a part of an English credit. The assignments and discussion, however, made it a full class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygrrl Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 No experience to report on yet, but we just signed up for Compass Classroom's Filmmaking From the First Directors class. It's so new it isn't even done yet . . . Shannon is super excited about it, though! http://www.compassclassroom.com/filmmaking/overview-3/ My oldest is begging to do this, keep us updated! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 We really like The Humanistic Tradition books for history. I've never heard them mentioned here. I really like that the books include examples of art work, music (if you buy the CD), and excerpts from important literature. It makes it very easy to pick and choose which sections I want to beef up, and the others are more 'open and go.' Edited to add that they are readily available used at Amazon, Alibris, etc. I prefer the single volumes; the multivolume is heavy and awkward. http://www.amazon.com/The-Humanistic-Tradition-Book-Civilizations/dp/0073523976 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingedradical Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Thank you, WishboneDawn, for reminding me about TOK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 I really like the Biozone topical/modular worktexts. They allow students to go in depth on topics that interest them in Biology. The books are also great for reading comprehension, graphics/diagrams interpretation, and critical thinking for the very difficult questions at the end of each spread. They print the books in black and white to allow for constant updating and cheap costs. They have excellent and I mean excellent model answers. I've used their evolution book to teach my older how to read and interpret questions, and write with crisp, clear, scientific language. Plus, you can preview the *entire* text of every book. Topics include:Anatomy and Physiology Environmental Science Cell Biology and Biochemistry Genes and Inheritance Ecology Evolution Human Evolution Health and Disease Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RanchGirl Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 The class went very well for dd, and it accomplished what I wanted -- annotation/deep reading practice with feedback, literature discussion in a supportive environment, and more enthusiasm for reading in general. There was no writing involved other than annotation, so it was a perfect fit for us, although I wondered how it could qualify for a part of an English credit. The assignments and discussion, however, made it a full class. Thank you, that is really helpful. I am glad to know about the lack of writing now as I am planning how to combine this class with a few other materials for 9th grade English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Philosophy Adventures by Home School Adventure Co: http://www.homeschooladventure.com/products/philosophy-adventure-pre-socratics/ Christian Philosophy course for grades 6-12. I purchased it for next year and can't wait to use it. It's a 16-week course, but I'm planning to spread it out for the whole year so we can do everything in the program. Otherwise, with doing TOG, we'd have to cut some things, and it looks to good to cut anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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