NW Arkansas area? Anyone?

[KrissSpencer]

Just curious if anyone is from the NW Arkansas area.  I'm sure I know you if you participate in that activities, but I thought I would check :)

 

Trying to figure out this classical education stuff.  Wow..some of the questions asked, I'm asking in my head, but glad I kept them there...yikes.  It seems some are so easily offended, that I hesitate to participate.  I've had excellent responses to my questions I've posted, but I agonized over them before posting.  lol

 

Happy Days when these decisions are all made.  My dh said just go back to Abeka!  It's easier than dealing with all this headache!

 

Would love to sit & talk with someone newer to this, who won't think I am an idiot for asking.

 

Thanks

~k
 

[Critterfixer]

Not in Northwest AR, but in the Arkansas River Valley.

We are all trying to figure out this classical education stuff. I don't know that anyone has a handle on it, at least in the implementation of it! I know I don't so I just keep plugging away, trying to impart truth, discern wisdom and discover beauty, and instill virtue. 

I'd consider myself pretty new to classical philosophy, having only been at it for five years with my boys.

Glad to talk any time, PM if you like.

[anmom]

I'm not in NW AR, but not far from there. What questions do you have?

[KrissSpencer]

Not in Northwest AR, but in the Arkansas River Valley.

We are all trying to figure out this classical education stuff. I don't know that anyone has a handle on it, at least in the implementation of it! I know I don't so I just keep plugging away, trying to impart truth, discern wisdom and discover beauty, and instill virtue. 

I'd consider myself pretty new to classical philosophy, having only been at it for five years with my boys.

Glad to talk any time, PM if you like.

 

Ahh...thank you!! 

[KrissSpencer]

I'm not in NW AR, but not far from there. What questions do you have?

 

Well...where to begin?  I'm listening to CIRCE to trying to understand.  I've read TWTM and it is completely overwhelming.  I don't understand all that there is!  I have ordered Omnibus I, we are not reformed, so I plan on using it for maybe one book a quarter, because they seem to be so challenging.  Being new to real books has been a huge challenge, but we WANT to go there!  My son is so willing, but he's not a big reader.  He wants to read good literature though (peers are all classical, and I'm understanding now that I should have pushed through and done this with my daughter)...however I'm just lost.  I have no idea how to discuss a book with my kiddo. So, i must have a guide.  Sonlight seems like it's all fiction?  How do you know if a book is 'fiction' or great literature or how its classified?  I am very much one of those people that need "How to" for dummies. 

 

This year I envision us reading and discussing and reading and discussing and having field trips.  My dd is leaving to college, so just ds at home.  

I can't pull together all that I should be reading though, because I have no idea what are considered the best books, even with every book list in the world..I can't read them all.  Tapestry of Grace maybe?  I wish there was one curriculum, that MUST include a geography plan, that graduated you through to the best reads after a year or so.

 

Any (and I mean ANY) thoughts would be greatly appreciated :)

 

We are actually not in NW AR :)  just over the line in MO though.  Nobody would know where we are :) unless you live here.  LOL  We are north of Pea Ridge.

[Critterfixer]

I highly, highly recommend listening to Kern's teaching from a state of rest lectures. Take a couple of weeks to do so. I would need a listening period and then about two days to digest and reflect. There is so much in there on learning to take things one day at a time, and to not take on a burden of responsibility that is not possible to shoulder.

 

Of the making of lists, there is no end. Some of my favorite lists include a lot of literature that frankly, is girl lit. My little boys won't care for it, and I won't force them to read it. A LOT of boy literature doesn't make the grade apparently, and some of my favorite posts at Circe deal with teaching boys, literature of honor for boys and I am having to read things I never would have read. Low and behold, I love them. Check out Ordo Amoris, by Cindy Rollins, who has some really great things on relaxing in Classical Education, and how she gets in great books through Morning Time. 

 

I'm not huge on having fully integrated curriculum, like Sonlight and TOG, because that isn't my style and I never could afford it anyway. I'd much prefer to take a few books and chew on them, rather than try to rush through a bunch of things. But I get the need to figure out how to discuss fiction and non-fiction. There are some nice sites online for notes to help you through, but honestly, my best discussions with my boys come from me reading the book, thinking about it on a chapter by chapter basis, and picking out things that strike me as worth talking about. They are probably the wrong ones, and we probably come up with the wrong answers, but it's a start.

 

I have two boys, and they are going to be 11 this year. To that end, they are going to be reading some simplified versions of the same books I will be reading this year. They will be reading Sutcliffe's Black Ships Before Troy, for instance, while I have to go through the Iliad. They are studying ancient history, so am I, with various resources from the library. I hope that by working on the same things (at different levels) we will have a lot more to share with each other.

 

What's kind of funny to me, is that I read The Well Educated Mind, hoping to get ideas for discussing great fiction, and the lists in there are very good, but I found that the books themselves presented me with enough to get my thoughts going all on their own. Reading them slowly, thinking about them, I would find myself reflecting on themes, characters, events, and for now, that seems to be enough. 

[Critterfixer]

I just pulled the list for Omnibus 1. No way on earth would I put a seventh grade boy through that list unless he was a very strong reader. 

And even then, I'd pause and probably not do it. 

Plutarch's Lives alone (the Dryden translation which I picked up last week for 6$ at my used bookstore--score!) is almost 1300 pages long, small text, and very, VERY densely written.

Histories around 500.

Odyssey around 500.

Iliad (not listed) around 500.

Aenid about 500.

 

My dear Lord. No wonder you are overwhelmed! Tell me they are using something other than the translations of the originals for this.

[KrissSpencer]

I highly, highly recommend listening to Kern's teaching from a state of rest lectures. Take a couple of weeks to do so. I would need a listening period and then about two days to digest and reflect. There is so much in there on learning to take things one day at a time, and to not take on a burden of responsibility that is not possible to shoulder.

 

Of the making of lists, there is no end. Some of my favorite lists include a lot of literature that frankly, is girl lit. My little boys won't care for it, and I won't force them to read it. A LOT of boy literature doesn't make the grade apparently, and some of my favorite posts at Circe deal with teaching boys, literature of honor for boys and I am having to read things I never would have read. Low and behold, I love them. Check out Ordo Amoris, by Cindy Rollins, who has some really great things on relaxing in Classical Education, and how she gets in great books through Morning Time. 

 

I'm not huge on having fully integrated curriculum, like Sonlight and TOG, because that isn't my style and I never could afford it anyway. I'd much prefer to take a few books and chew on them, rather than try to rush through a bunch of things. But I get the need to figure out how to discuss fiction and non-fiction. There are some nice sites online for notes to help you through, but honestly, my best discussions with my boys come from me reading the book, thinking about it on a chapter by chapter basis, and picking out things that strike me as worth talking about. They are probably the wrong ones, and we probably come up with the wrong answers, but it's a start.

 

I have two boys, and they are going to be 11 this year. To that end, they are going to be reading some simplified versions of the same books I will be reading this year. They will be reading Sutcliffe's Black Ships Before Troy, for instance, while I have to go through the Iliad. They are studying ancient history, so am I, with various resources from the library. I hope that by working on the same things (at different levels) we will have a lot more to share with each other.

 

What's kind of funny to me, is that I read The Well Educated Mind, hoping to get ideas for discussing great fiction, and the lists in there are very good, but I found that the books themselves presented me with enough to get my thoughts going all on their own. Reading them slowly, thinking about them, I would find myself reflecting on themes, characters, events, and for now, that seems to be enough. 

 

thank you! So....how do you even know what to read?  You don't have a list?  I say my dh is a reluctant reader...but when he does, he always picks monster books.  Currently, he is reading Great Expectations and Odyssey (unabridged).  These are book he just grabs off the bookshelf.  I offered for him to be able to watch some netflix yesterday...I was working on computer stuff, he said, no thanks, I'm reading. (Wow?) With that said, other than Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, he has never read anything without me forcing him.  I think his desire to read is because we have been discussing how much I wished I had instilled a love for good books in my dd.  I'm sure he's heard that :) probably trying to please, although he's not normally that pleasing kid.  He does what he wants, because he wants too.  Say maybe he's just desiring to improve himself... (happy day)  Anyway, how did you find out about the books you are reading...did you read them in school?  I didn't.  Circe?  TWTM?  I'm currently listening to ALOT of CIRCE.  Every chance I have! 

Thank you!!!

 

 

[KrissSpencer]

I just pulled the list for Omnibus 1. No way on earth would I put a seventh grade boy through that list unless he was a very strong reader. 

And even then, I'd pause and probably not do it. 

Plutarch's Lives alone (the Dryden translation which I picked up last week for 6$ at my used bookstore--score!) is almost 1300 pages long, small text, and very, VERY densely written.

Histories around 500.

Odyssey around 500.

Iliad (not listed) around 500.

Aenid about 500.

 

My dear Lord. No wonder you are overwhelmed! Tell me they are using something other than the translations of the originals for this.

 

I haven't gotten it in yet, but my thought was to maybe try one of these books every quarter, reading aloud together and/or listening to the audio version together, and discussing.  Tip toe in :) 

[Critterfixer]

In the back of TWTM for ninth grade and up there is a chapter called Great Books: History and Reading. I'm picking and choosing from that.

Most of them I've never read.

 

For my boys, I typically pull from the 1000 Good Books list at www.classical-homeschooling.org. I'll pick what looks interesting, usually check it out on Amazon and then see if I can find it. This is where I fell down as a child. I loved to read, read all the time, and read every book in our school library, and later at home. Some of the ones I had at home were very good. The ones at the library were to get kids to read. So not good fiction. I read very little to no non-fiction that wasn't related to science.  I hope that by increasing the amount of good quality fiction and non-fiction for the boys in the early years that I can help them when it comes to reading the heavier stuff. I'd like for them not to have to sit with a dictionary at hand when they read, like I must.

 

If you look around the site, see if you can hunt for the threads by Ruth in NZ. She just had a few excellent threads on teaching her kids to read non-fiction and fiction that were very inspiring. I'm no good at linking, but those threads were so good I took notes. Let me see--I believe both of those posts were in the General Education Forum, let me see....

 

Ah, yes. The thread was s/o How to work through progressively more challenging works. Ruth in NZ's user name is lewelma. I do believe she has lists in that thread of books her children have worked through to prepare them for the task of tackling the Great Books.