Minimalist Challenge: Homeschooling from a Carry-on Suitcase

[Jayne J]

I am finding almost impossible to answer this challenge. I keep thinking I have a good list, then realizing that without context, I cannot make good choices about the best things to focus on. I would only have the context I brought with me--meaning the modern test-driven, college expected, preparatory vision of what education is. There would be no other way for me to think about it without more information. Beyond literacy and numeracy (which for me form the lowest bar of what can be called education) what would I need to focus on? Food production and subsistence living? Re-building civilization? Maintaining the test-based expectations? Overcoming or holding up under persecution? I know that the question is supposed to work this way, but without *some* context I don't think there is an answer possible, for me at least. I mean, I am *not* being asked to flee from my home with only a suitcase and still have different visions of what education is/does/means and how it should be done for each of my individual children, even within a clearly defined cultural context.

[Sk8ermaiden]

Some of our specific Time Life books on more technical science topics - maybe 4 of them

All my Usborne Encyclopedias

The story of the world books

2 slates and a bunch of chalk

 

I can easily teach reading, writing and grammar without anything. DH could do the same with math up through Cal 3. Basic science is easy enough. The Story of the World is a good enough jumping off point and my husband is a walking history encyclopedia. 

 

Not having good books to read would be the killer for me. With the rest of the room I'd cram in as many good books as would fit - from toddler up through our college level humanities stuff. Shove the tablet in the front pocket just in case...

 

[Hunter]

I got an e-mail about this little eBook, today, that some of you might like.

 

How to Teach Grammar without a Curriculum.

http://brookdalehouse.com/product/teach-grammar-without-curriculum/

 

I cheated today and bought

 

Merriam-Webster Pocket Dictionary

http://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Websters-Pocket-Dictionary-Merriam-Webster/dp/0877795304

 

National Geographic Compact Atlas

http://www.amazon.com/Compact-Atlas-World-National-Geographic/dp/1426209959/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422570320&sr=1-2&keywords=compact+atlas

[Hunter]

Not knowing what we are preparing for is the tough AND REAL part. We don't know the future. All the people who spent YEARS preparing for the SAT vocabulary test, now have no test to take, and some wish they had spent that time and money on something else. That's why I really wanted to think about what *I* think is important, if there is ANYTHING that is important.

 

It is tough. I think I'm starting to narrow on some things. This has been a very helpful and timely exercise for me.

[mumto2]

I love these threads! My first impulses were Perrine's Literature and my Norton Anthologies for literature. A couple of thick math books that neither child has done. My Apologia cd roms. Spielvogel's Western History and dh's study Bible. Whatever room is left math text books....naturally a lap top and kindles.

 

Gardner's Art History would be great too......

[Hunter]

This has been a great exercise for me. I think I'm done with my list. This list is not all that different from my current plans for 2015.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/540154-minimalist-challenge-homeschooling-from-a-carry-on-suitcase/?do=findComment&comment=6151307

 

I'm planning a lot less higher maths and research, and am dropping cursive-first. I'm not teaching color theory to spend more time on drawing skills. I'm going to do more dictionary respellings than phonograms.

 

I've decided I don't want to be this guy. I'm pulling back, trying to find my roots, even though my life has been nothing but blowing in the wind. I'm stripping things down and sometimes taking the easy and lazy route. I am not going to burn myself out trying to be a wannabe or catering to the whims of wannabe students. I think the biggest change that the exhaustion of the past few weeks is that I'm finding peace in dropping wannabe subjects and topics, at least until a student has demonstrated mastery of the basics. I'm not sticking feathers in top-hats this year. I'm just NOT!

 

[Pod's mum]

 

I'm not sticking feathers in top-hats this year. I'm just NOT!

 

Another way to look at it is that that is exactly what you SHOULD be doing.

Start the the very best unfussed strong model (of a great education/hat) not scrappy good-enoughs and only once you've got that sitting well, add your own carefully picked extras that are important to you and wear it proudly.

(And then make sure you don't smile in the photo you post us.)

 

 

 

[quietchapel]

My phone w/ charger which has oodles of archive books in google play, paper, pencils, sharpeners, dry erase placemats ( math, cursive) dry erase markers, strayer upton book 1, good books.... But not sure what these would be...

[Hunter]

Quietchapel this is my first favorite list

 

THE KNOWLEDGE MOST WORTH HAVING

pages 7-8 from Book by Book by Michael Dirda

 

“Once in a class of graduate students,†recalled the distinguished Canadian Robertson Davies, “I met a young man who did not know who Noah was.â€

What should a person know of the world’s literature? It has always seemed obvious to me that the great patterning works ought to lie at the heart of any structured reading program. By “patterning works†I mean those that later authors regularly build on, allude to, work against. There aren’t that many of these key books, and they aren’t all obvious classics. Here’s the roughly chronological short list of those that the diligent might read through in a year or two. For such famous works you can hardly go wrong with any good modern editions, though the Bible the Authorized, or King James, Version is the one that has most influenced the  diction and imagery of the English prose.

 

The Bible (Old and New Testament)

Bulfinch’s Mythology (or any other account of the Greek, Roman, and Norse Myths)

Homer, The Iliad and the Odyssey

Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

Dante, Inferno

The Arabian Nights

Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (tales of King Arthur and his knights)

Shakespeare’s major plays, especially Hamlet, Henry IV, Part One, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Tempest

Cervantes, Don Quixote

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson

Any substantial collection of the world’s major folktales

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

 

Know these well, and nearly all of the world’s literature will be an open book to you.

 

[Hunter]

My second favorite list

 

Classics of Children's Literature 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th. John W. Griffith and Charles H. Frey 

 

Charles Perrault (1628-1703)
The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods. Little Red Riding Hood. Blue Beard. The Master Cat, or Puss in the Boots. Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper 

 

Mme le Prince de Beaumont (1711-1780) Beauty and the Beast 

 

John Newbery (1713-1767)
Mother Goose Rhymes
I won’t be my father’s Jack. Three wise men of Gotham. There was an old woman. Ding dong bell. Little Tom Tucker. Se saw, Margery Daw. Great A, little a. High diddle diddle. Ride a cock horse. Cock a doodle doo. Jack and Gill. Hush-a-by baby. Little Jack Horner. Pease-porridge hot. Jack Sprat. Tell tale tit. Patty cake, patty cake. When I was a little boy. This pig went to market. There was a man of Thessaly. Bah, bah, black sheep. There were two blackbirds. Boys and girls come out to play. Dickery, dickery, dock. 

 

The Brothers Grimm
Jacob (1785-1863); Wilhelm (1786-1859)
Snow-white. The Frog Prince. Hansel and Gretel. Rumpelstiltskin. Mother Hulda. The Bremen Town Musicians. Aschenputtel. The Fisherman and His Wife. The Brave Little Tailor. The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids. Rupunzel. The Robber Bridegroom. The Almond Tree. The Sleeping Beauty. 

 

Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875)
The Snow Queen: A Tale in Seven Stories. The Little Mermaid. The Princess and the Pea. The Tinder Box. The Little Match Girl. The 

Swineherd. The Emperor's New Clothes. The Steadfast Tin Soldier. The Ugly Duckling. 

 

Peter Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe (1812-1885); (1813-1882)
East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon The Three Billy-Goat's Gruff 

 

Edward Lear (1812-1888)
A Book of Nonsense
There was an Old Man in a tree. There was an Old Man in a boat. There was an Old Person of Philoe. There was an Old Man of the Dee. There was an Old Man who said, “How.†There was an Old Man who said, “Hush!†There was an Old Person of Bangor. There was an Old Man with a beard. The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. The Dong with a Luminous Nose. 

 

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) A Christmas Carol 

 

John Ruskin (1819-1900) The King of the Golden River 

 

Carlo Collodi (1826-1890) The Adventures of Pinocchio 

 

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)
Little Women 

 

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 

 

Mark Twain (1835-1910)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 

 

Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) The Secret Garden 

 

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Treasure Island
A Child's Garden of Verses 

 

Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916)
Tom Tit Tot. Jack and the Beanstalk. The Story of the Three Little Pigs. The Story of the Three Bears Henny-Penny 

Molly Whuppie
Lazy Jack Johny-Cake
Master of All Masters 

 

L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 

 

Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) The Wind in the Willows 

 

James M. Barrie (1860-1937) Peter Pan 

 

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) The Jungle Book
Just So Stories 

 

Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) Peter Rabbit
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin 

 

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) Little House on the Prairie 

 

L.M. Montgomery (1874-1942). Anne of Green Gables. 

 

Jack London (John Griffith) (1876-1916) The Call of the Wild 

 

Margery Williams Bianco (1880-1944). The Velveteen Rabbit. 

 

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) Winnie-the-Pooh 

 

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 

 

E.B. White (1899-1985). Charlotte’s Web. 

 

 

[Hunter]

Here are a few more books that show up frequently on the shortest must-read lists, but are not on the above 2 lists.

 

More Short List Favorites

Gilgamesh, Aesop’s Fables, Oedipus the King, Beowulf, Robin Hood, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar & Romeo and Juliet, Pilgrim’s Progress, Swiss Family Robinson, Rip Van Winkle, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Moby Dick, Last of the Mohicans, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Huckleberry Finn, The Red Badge of Courage, Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a womanâ€, Heidi, Pollyanna, The Little Princess, Around the World in 80 Days, Little House in the Big Woods, On the Banks of Plum Creek, The Miracle Worker, The Grapes of Wrath, The Good Earth, The Old Man and the Sea, The Hobbit, The Yearling, Anne Frank, The Hiding Place, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Animal Farm, Watership Down 

 

[Hunter]

And a lot of people like the Mensa Reading list for a short list.

http://www.mensaforkids.org/MFK2/assets/File/Achieve/Excellence_in_Reading_complete.pdf

[Amira]

I already did this so it would be easy (except that no one made me do it and I had more than an hour to prepare).  I'd grab the hard drive, the laptop, the ipad (although I'd wish for a new one since ours is five years old, but it's still going strong), and a kindle.  I'd also want the math books for next year.  We have a few books that aren't available as ebooks so I'd put in what fit.  The rest of the books have already been scanned and are on the hard drive and ipad.  That seems like plenty of stuff to take.

[quietchapel]

Hunter-

Awesome... Need to think more. This thread is incredibly timely as we are preparing to move again ( ninth time in ten years ) and school MUST continue.

[Hunter]

Quite awhile ago, I realized that minimalism in my dress and home meant sometimes not having things that would be convenient to have, and worse yet, disappointing others who want me to have more for THEIR convenience.

 

I'm just getting to the point that I understand and am willing to accept that minimalism in education comes with a cost as well as benefits, and that I need to be willing to accept those costs, or I need to put up with having more stuff. I can't have it both ways.

 

About a year ago, a nice gentleman wanted to take me out for supper. He asked me to go home and get a blouse. I laughed in his face and told him all I owned was yoga pants, t-shirts and hoodies. If he wanted a lady who owned blouses he needed to look elsewhere. He took me out to dinner like I was.

 

I don't own a couch or a kitchen/dining-room table and sometimes serve my guests out of recycled cottage cheese containers for dishes while we sit on the floor.

 

I need to get that way with education. I'm just not going to try and store and teach the the equivalent of blouses, couches, and china plates. I need to just  :001_tt2:  at some stuff that is for others, but not me.

 

I need to do what I do well, and get okay with that. I need to be my  :biggrinjester: self, and help those that benefit most form me being me. Trying to be an educational wannabe is just making a mess of my home and my life.

 

2013 was the first year of trying to minimize educational supplies. 2014 was the year of getting comfortable with more fiction and less non-fiction, and letting students just READ. 2015 is going to be the year of letting go of trying to be an educational wannabe, and maybe that will finally result in less books.

[quietchapel]

Hunter-

I appreciate your transparency and goals. Glad he took you out in yoga pants. : )

I have realized I was looking for a magical home life in curriculum, but actually get magical when I plan from my heart with what I have. We do sooo much more with less. Not lower standards, but simply less. That is just us .

[Hunter]

With eBooks and with having just a bit more than what I'm aiming for as my end goal, people don't need to lower their educational standards. I don't know if I'm lowering my standards, but I am crossing some topics and subjects entirely off my list, at least for this year.

 

When I realized that just freely reading fiction had given me an adequate education, an education that while different from the "better" ones that some others here received, it did prepare me for what came my way, maybe even better prepared me for some of what came my way. I didn't switch to more fiction as part of my attempt to minimize, but I quickly realized that it had a HUGE impact on my ability to simplify and minimize.

 

And just this past week, realizing that the final push to reduce IS going to cost something, was a major breakthrough. Okay, what am I willing to give up on learning and teaching? What have I seen bring little payback to me and mine? What basics have I seen neglected while I pursued too many things? What have students and I loved and used?

[ocelotmom]

I am finding almost impossible to answer this challenge. I keep thinking I have a good list, then realizing that without context, I cannot make good choices about the best things to focus on. I would only have the context I brought with me--meaning the modern test-driven, college expected, preparatory vision of what education is. There would be no other way for me to think about it without more information. Beyond literacy and numeracy (which for me form the lowest bar of what can be called education) what would I need to focus on? Food production and subsistence living? Re-building civilization? Maintaining the test-based expectations? Overcoming or holding up under persecution? I know that the question is supposed to work this way, but without *some* context I don't think there is an answer possible, for me at least. I mean, I am *not* being asked to flee from my home with only a suitcase and still have different visions of what education is/does/means and how it should be done for each of my individual children, even within a clearly defined cultural context.

This is why I found myself leaning towards applied math and science - things that would be useful if we did have to go back to subsistence farming or civilization building, or would serve as at least a basic college prep education if civilization ended up going that direction (maybe not for elite schools, but I'm not personally concerned about that).

 

(I definitely wouldn't say my curriculum is perfect for that, but "what I already have on hand" is a pretty major limit.)

[Hunter]

This is why I found myself leaning towards applied math and science - things that would be useful if we did have to go back to subsistence farming or civilization building, or would serve as at least a basic college prep education if civilization ended up going that direction (maybe not for elite schools, but I'm not personally concerned about that).

 

(I definitely wouldn't say my curriculum is perfect for that, but "what I already have on hand" is a pretty major limit.)

I went back and looked at your applied math list. Very interesting. I've had Aufmann Basic Math in the past and it really was a very good book.

 

I'm studying my Strayer-Upton books this week, and the math in the original What Your Grader Needs to Know series. Back in the very early 2000's I read Science Matters, and put away higher sciences for more practical sciences. I'm just now getting to that same place with math, maybe. I'm doing a lot of thinking about this.

 

I did cheat a little about the "what you already have". I bought a pocket edition that is almost an identical but much smaller version of my favorite large print concise dictionary; that's only a 1/2 cheat, right?. I totally cheated when I bought a really tiny compact atlas that is was just so cute I couldn't help myself. I've never seen anything like it before. I'm a cheat. Sorry. I cheated on my own challenge.

[ocelotmom]

I went back and looked at your applied math list. Very interesting. I've had Aufmann Basic Math in the past and it really was a very good book.

 

I'd definitely want some different resources if not limited to what we already own. Most specifically, a good geometry/trig resource.

[Hunter]

ltlmrs, I love to hear what people bring when they can bring so little.

 

Thank for the link to those canvas bags. They look better than a typical carry-on suitcase for heavy things, if you were strong enough to carry instead of roll a bag/case.

[Hunter]

I think it's less helpful to plan a list of mostly new items, than to pick from among what we already have and KNOW. But once we have picked from mostly what we have, I think we all have a hole that would be best filled by one or two new little things.

 

The grass is greener syndrome, and picking mostly new things, could land us in some hot water, when we tried to put the things into practice. For the most part, I'll bet we already have what really is best for us.

[vaquitita]

Nm

Edited December 12, 2015 by vaquitita

[LaughingCat]

I'm rethinking my iPad plan. I just remembered that a friend stated that most digital devices have a three year life span these days. Even if power is available what if we are still there when the iPad dies. That would be a sad day.

 

I think this is generally due to battery life span and os upgrades (too big for device capability) not because of the device actually dying - so I think you could still plan the devices long term - just not upgrading the os and maybe having to be plugged in while using the device.

 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Hmmm. 

 

I'd go with

McGuffey's Readers

Definitive Visual Guides: History, Animal

The Way Things Work

The Way We Work

Complete Winnie the Pooh

Complete Narnia

Encyclopedia of Country Living

Don't need a math book, but a S and S would probably be a good idea. 

boxes of pencils to fill in any remaining space.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

p.s.  I will be schooling for one month out of a carry-on.  Not quite the same thing, but fun thread.  :laugh:

 

I've got my kindle with all of McGuffey on it, along with lots of read-aloud choices,

My Anki app with our memory work and French spelling on it

My duolingo app

My google drive "in the cloud" with Math Mammoth and my French grammar stuff on it

ipod touch with SOTW audio, ALHOTW audio, and a number of other audio books

:hurray: :hurray: :hurray:   California here we COME!!!!! 

[forty-two]

One thing I noticed is that in these sorts of minimalist scenarios I default to passing on my own education, and for better or worse pull away from all my plans to give my kids something more than I received.

 

I've been evaluating our homeschool lately, and I realize I'm doing well at teaching what I am strong in (math, wide-ranging reading-centered content, a book-rich life and a desire to learn), and everything I struggle with teaching is also a subject I am weak in (or have only intuitive knowledge, nothing formal). And I think that's because it's just plain *hard* to give your kids something you don't have yourself. No matter how bad our day is going, I can always snag a kid for a impromptu math lesson, or grab a stack of books and read to them on the couch - because I *own* that knowledge, because I've internalized it so thoroughly it's a part of me, and so I can focus my energy on how to communicate it to my kids. But for things that I don't know, I have to find the time to learn it ahead of time or use materials that teach me as I teach my kids, and a lot more things have to go right in order for that to work out.

 

So far I have successfully given my kids exactly two things I never got myself: phonics (I was taught with pure whole word) and an appreciation of poetry (I was completely tone-deaf and generally skipped over any poems I came across). I read and studied up on phonics and teaching reading for *years* before I taught dd8, so that I'd pretty well internalized it by the time I started teaching her (and good thing, too, as it wasn't an easy process and two of three so far have issues). And even with all that, LiPS is hard going, because it's new to *me* and I have to figure it out before I teach the kids and that's just a lot of work, and it falls off the table a lot because I just don't have the energy to tackle learning and teaching in close succession. And poetry appreciation we learned together (unintentionally) from me reading nursery rhymes aloud for literally years. And that actually kinda counts as me passing on my own education, because I loved nursery rhymes as a kid and so I had a foundation to work from. It wasn't until way later, after years of nursery rhymes, that I realized I'd developed enough of an ear for language to appreciate some "regular" children's poetry, and then went on to learn about poetry appreciation and discovered that I accidentally stumbled on the traditional path to learning to appreciate poetry.

 

Anyway, so any minimalist, think-through-what-you-actually-do-for-real, pare-down-to-what-you-REALLY-value sort of exercise has me going back to what I *know* - and that mostly means my own education, filled with copious reading on all sorts of things (I read for hours a day) and where I learned to explain my intuitive understanding of math, but where I never learned to explain my intuitive understanding of language (to use it, but judging only by what feels right) and where I learned formal science without any intuitive experience to ground it (meaning I can't apply any of it practically and it's just this side of useless everywhere but a classroom). Because though I have tons of plans to remedy all those lacks (and the shelves of books and curricula to go with ;)), I only have so much energy, and when push comes to shove I retreat back to what I *know* works - which is what I know, period.

[Hunter]

I love all the stories about people doing some deep thinking. That is why I like to do these challenges. I think they produce deeper thinking. Sometimes they lead us to change what we are doing and other times they help us know WHY we have been doing what we have been doing.

 

It is different to be reporting to an authority figure now, and to plan what we would do if things were harder without the authority figure. I had to help a suddenly displaced mom who had a hostile authority figure demanding an instant plan for the rest of the year, and that was challenging. I had to put pleasing the authority figure over the needs of mom and the children.

 

I've been playing around with Strayer-Upton book 3 and self-educating the business math sections, so I will be more comfortable teaching this book in the future. This has been really interesting. I'm learning a lot about banking past and present.

 

I've been looking through my bookshelves and gaining a new appreciation for what I have. I've also been doing a lot of looking at things online and a bit of window shopping at Barnes and Noble, but not buying much at all–just that smaller replica of the dictionary I have been using for years and that cute little compact atlas. This challenge had been a great distraction for me, and I think I have also grown both as a student and teacher.

[MomOfABunch]

I just did this irl. Sort of- minus the kidnapper and I bought these things. We had a house fire last year and lost pretty much everything. So her are the things I re-bought very soon after the fire:

 

DS1 -

 

AoPS algebra

History of the World - Ancient

Literature to go with Ancient History

WWS1

Vocab - classical Roots

 

Littles and DD -

 

SOTW without activity guides

FIAR and Before FIAR

Words Their Way

Teach your child in 100 EZ Lessons

I printed a bunch of easy readers from Readinga-z.com and got lots from the library

Lots of math manipulatives

Lots of Puzzles

Miquon Orqnge

Singapore 1st grade

 

I had a lot of Mr. Q Science on a thumb drive that was not in the fire so we've been using that. Arabic is web based so that didn't get destroyed. We replaced 2 iPads and a Laptop; I'd definitely bring those.

 

Not sure that would fit in a carry on Suitcase. Maybe a carry on suitcase and a backpack if we didn't pack the puzzles?

[Hunter]

Tearing apart books, keeping the pages you want, and discarding the rest of the book, is what people do IRL when things really do get hard. It not only reduces weight, but it helps you focus.

 

I do hate the IDEA of ripping up books, but I have often learned more from ripped up books than I did from whole ones. It was so much easier to focus.

[Hunter]

If you have a car, milk crates are definitely better than suitcases! Are milk crates actually used for milk anymore, or are they just sold for home storage?

[Hunter]

Sometimes what I first rebuy after losing everything doesn't make any sense to me when I reflect on it later. :lol:

 

The last time, I rebought a lot of ancient Greek, advanced maths, and novel writing books. :confused: The cookbooks would seem to make sense, but I didn't use them much as I didn't rebuy much kitchen stuff.

[Hunter]

I bought this book yesterday. Essentials in English.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0764143166/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2FOW0X5094SXZ&coliid=I2UV9JJHDQPRRR

 

It is small and of thin paper. It's a 6th edition, reprinted from 1961. I'm still reading it, so can't really give a decent review, but it reminds me of the OOP handbooks that are popular here, that I can't remember the name of. It's similar language and instruction, but without the exercises.

[Pod's mum]

For slate pencils, try asking for "welding chalk" at a hardware store. Same thing.

[Hunter]

I bought this book yesterday. Essentials in English.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0764143166/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2FOW0X5094SXZ&coliid=I2UV9JJHDQPRRR

 

It is small and of thin paper. It's a 6th edition, reprinted from 1961. I'm still reading it, so can't really give a decent review, but it reminds me of the OOP handbooks that are popular here, that I can't remember the name of. It's similar language and instruction, but without the exercises.

I'm really liking this book. I wish I had books like this for phonics/spelling and arithmetic.

 

Ltlmrs, I know someone else besides you that has written their own phonics and printed it. She wrote math, too. I think her stuff might have been handwritten, though, now that I think about it.

[Hunter]

Don Potter has a 1 page ayres list. This text is teeny tiny.

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/ayres_chart.pdf

[Stellalarella]

Any home educating parent (and others), who haven't yet, must read Chaim Potok's The Chosen.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Chosen-Chaim-Potok/dp/0449213447

Actually I have enjoyed, reread and enjoyed all that I have of his.

This one shows the education of two Brooklyn Boys. The education is deep.

While doing a couple of ancients subjects I found Jewish scholarship, particularly their biblical scholarship to be consistantly phenominal going back, back through the centuries.

It comes from very, very deep reading. From questioning every item that 'clangs' and relating that back to the main and borrowing from previous scholarship.

Anyway, I'm stating this badly, Chaim paints a fantastic picture in The Chosen.

I don't seek such  a selected education, but this is in the line of Latin heavy education; that if you learn limited topics very deeply, then you are able to learn whatever you choose with the same skills.

 I took your advice and read The Chosen.

 

Thank you so much for the recommendation.  

 

Just reading the story was a pleasure, but I also found inspiration for self education.

 

The sharing of books--it's why I love this forum.  I appreciate you.

[Hunter]

Some of you might want to take a look at this book.

 

Arithmetic Refresher by A.A. Klaf

https://books.google.com/books?id=lkfCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PP5&dq=arithmetic+refresher&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SY_eVOXlGZLOgwTEjYTACg&ved=0CCUQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=arithmetic%20refresher&f=false

 

http://www.amazon.com/Arithmetic-Refresher-Improve-knowledge-arithmetic/dp/0486212416/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423872287&sr=1-1&keywords=9780486212418

 

Only half the answers are in the back.

[Hunter]

Hymnal booklet
http://www.thousandtongues.org/attachments/blog/general/hymns-for-private-and-family-worship/hymns_for_private_and_family_worship.pdf

I was able to remove a few pages and print this in booklet form on 16 sheets of paper. It makes a cute little hymnal. I use hymns for poetry study and phonics.

 

The "Occasional Readings" could be used as a scripture memory list.

[julikins]

I think this is a very worthy exercise.  We live overseas and I've often wondered what I'd do if we were forced to leave overnight.  So here goes:

 

NIV Study Bible

Victor Journey Through the Bible

Big Truths for Young People

ABC's and All Their Tricks or Painless Spelling

Little Brown Handbook

Nat Geo Atlas

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

SOTW1-4

Key to...Math series

Art of Problem Solving

Usborne Science Encyclopedia

Basics of Chemistry and Physics

Medical Book

Gardening Book

Basics of Cooking book

Pioneer Survival Book

Basic Music Theory book

Harmonica and Recorder

Hymnbook

Monalisa art book (can't remember the name)

Poetry Anthology

American History Book

Children's Literature Anthology

500 most important people in history

 

[Mrs. B]

If only going by what is in my house right now for K-8th:

 

Bible, hymnal, CHOW, McGuffey readers, Rod and Staff's LA handbook, dictionary, Fun with Nature books, a comprehensive elementary science hardback-can't think of the name, Favorite Poems Old and New, lots of spiral notebooks, pencils/sharpener, crayons, ink pens, English from the Roots up flash cards, see it and Say it in Spanish, a solar caculator, a compass, protractor, a ruler, MEP scope and sequence overview year by year in hopes to ad lib teaching the basics atleast through pre algebra, Misty of Chincoteauge stories, Little Women and related stories, Chronicles of Narnia stories, and whatever other classic paperback books would fit. Edit add ins: a folded world map, a recorder, and a recorder lesson book.

 

I would throw in my ipad and charger loaded with a Soanish program, MEP K-6 lessons and worksheets, yesterday classics books, and hundreds of other books and guides in case there is electricity.

 

I would like to include the Handbook of Nature Study, a more complete science guide, and Ray's Arithematic. I don't have those now. I would get them if I had a heads up.

[Hunter]

I'm in such a funk this week. I'm not sure what I would take if I had to pack right NOW. I read my list on page one, and wouldn't pack that in the mood I'm in TONIGHT.

 

I guess:

 

How to Tutor

http://www.amazon.com/How-Tutor-Samuel-L-Blumenfeld/dp/0941995011/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429884780&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+tutor

The Three R's

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Rs-Ruth-Beechick/dp/0880620749/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429747165&sr=1-1&keywords=the+three+r%27s

Harvey's Elementary Grammar

http://www.amazon.com/Harveys-Elementary-Grammar-Composition-Language/dp/0880622911/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Ray's Arithmetic

http://www.amazon.com/Rays-Arithmetic-Series-Volume-Set/dp/0880620501/ref=pd_sim_b_19?ie=UTF8&refRID=0P10Y6TCV053KKTV4CH1

Merriam-Webster's Pocket Dictionary

http://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Websters-Pocket-Dictionary-Merriam-Webster/dp/0877795304/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429747071&sr=1-1&keywords=Merriam-Webster%27s+Pocket+Dictionary

Merriam-Webster Pocket Thesaurus

http://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Websters-Pocket-Thesaurus-Reference-Library/dp/087779524X/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CAT6E2H0HJHGE2MAXX8

Merriam-Webster Pocket Rhyming Dictionary

http://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Websters-Rhyming-Dictionary-Reference/dp/0877795169/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DHSS3707EM7E7HJ06VQ

National Geographic Compact Atlas of the World

http://www.amazon.com/Compact-Atlas-World-National-Geographic/dp/1426209959/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429746983&sr=1-1&keywords=National+Geographic+Compact+Atlas+of+the+World

No-Nonsense Guide to World History

http://www.amazon.com/No-Nonsense-Guide-World-History-Guides-ebook/dp/B00A823QGU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429877969&sr=1-1&keywords=no+nonsense+guide+to+history

Science Matters

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Matters-Achieving-Scientific-Literacy/dp/0307454584/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429881836&sr=1-1&keywords=science+matters

A Field Guide to the Familiar

http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Familiar-Learning-Observe/dp/0874518652/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429885130&sr=1-1&keywords=a+field+guide+to+the+familiar

Drawing Textbook

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/002584/

KJV Bible hand size giant print

http://www.amazon.com/Large-Personal-Reference-Mantova-LeatherTouch/dp/143360342X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429754528&sr=1-1&keywords=9781433603426

 

 

 

 

[Hunter]

nt

[AMJ]

I personally want to focus on 2 things for this challenge. Everyone gets to choose their own focus, though. I'm just saying what I want to accomplish personally as I play this game.

 

First, I want to use things I already have. To go through what I have and pick the best of the best.

 

Second, to not assume that in 5 years everything that I think will happen will happen. There is only one thing that is certain about the future, and that is that it will be unexpected and we will NOT have properly prepared for it. We will have wasted time and energy and money preparing for things that turn out not to be relevent. Sometimes we spend MOST of our resources on ONE very NARROW scenario, and it doesn't happen. That has happened to me several times.

 

So, right now, for this make believe scenario, you are being given permission to not assume the future is going to be expected. You do not HAVE to pack SAT prep, if you don't want to. If there will be SATs you won't be blamed for not bringing prep for them. You could be sorry that you didn't prepare for a wider scenario, though.

 

In real life and in this scenario we truly don't know what we are preparing for. I thought it would be fun to use a make-believe prompt to open up our thinking a bit and provide a safe place to create a make believe curriculum that you might not dare to use. Your cousin isn't telling you ANYTHING. Just pack one carry-on and hurry up.

 

Resurrecting, because I just heard about this thread and it sounds like fun!

 

Assume:  future unknown, packing in a hurry from what we have

 

Pack: comfy clothes, good jackets, spare shoes, cat and fish with life support for both, grab hurricane prep kit, meds, and first aid kits.

 

Convince:  both DDs to choose one bag of cuddlies.  DD10 might actually consider taking the stuffing out of hers so she could fit more in the bag.  I get my pillows, darn it.

 

Grab camping gear and floatation devices if there is room.  You never know what you might need.

 

Grab crucial personal documents, one or more laptops, the tablets, phones, spare batteries, chargers, cords, binoculars. 

 

School:  If there's time and space grab Mom's and my old Girl Scout manuals, small games, and precious old books (they are small and irreplaceable, and great literature).  Grab Mom's BHG cookbook and recipe file, and my favorite Japanese cookbook.  Tell DH to grab no more than one book each for Physics, Calculus, and computer coding.  He and I can wing it on teaching most any subject if need be, but books on these might come in handy.  Grab a dictionary and a road atlas, and one small inflatable globe (deflate).  Grab George Winston's music CDs and the kids' bedtime music.  Grab one ukulele and one flute.

 

If we have access to the internet and various accounts of ours we wouldn't be crippled much, even if we couldn't pack any of the stuff listed for school.  If denied these (witness protection scenario) we could make do quite nicely with public libraries.  You don't have to have a library card to go in and use the books in the stacks.  If we can't have libraries, either, then the whole world is likely falling apart, in which case the street smarts and practical know-how we can teach the kids will be of primary importance.

 

I would not agonize over ANY curricula.  Those are replaceable.