Combining Living Books Curriculums

This post won’t be complete as it’s just an idea of what’s in my head at the moment. It’s been there for a while now, actually. I reviewed Yesterday’s Classics back in May 2011 and Heritage History twice, once in October 2011 and again November 2012. Both of those are heavy on living books. In our homeschool we use Ambleside Online which is also heavy on living books.

I am very happy with AO’s curriculum –it’s got great variety and is organized wonderfully. But I also love the books included in both YC and HH. So what’s a history book loving homeschooling mom to do? Combine them, of course!

You knew that was coming.

For Lee who is in 10th grade using AO’s Y9, I really can’t see adding much to what she has on her schedule already without frying her brain causing her to burn out. But for Fox, who is in 8th grade using Y7Lite, there’s room. Lots of room.

With AO we are going through these books for history:

• The Birth of Britain by Winston Churchill
• In Freedom's Cause by G.A. Henty
• The Life of King Alfred by Asser
• and (Personal Recollections of) Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

Here’s what I plan on including in addition to the history readings from AO {some of the books are available from both YC and HH}:

From HH-

• Historical Tales- English- by Morris
• Great Englishmen by Synge
• European Hero Stories by Tappan
• and In the Days of William the Conqueror by Tappan (or William the Conqueror by Abbott)

From YC-

• The Little Duke by Yonge
• Men of Iron by Pyle
• Streams of History: The Middle Ages by Kemp
• and The Story of the Middle Ages by Harding

Why do I feel the need to add more to what is already on AO’s schedule? First and foremost I don’t, but because both of my kids like to read and unfortunately, it’s difficult to find good books nowadays that engage and stimulate their minds, I will. It is a lot of twaddle that’s written today. I figure if they can read books that are about real people, events and/or locations that do engage and stimulate their minds, all the better. Both of my kids really liked the inclusion of so many different perspectives and accounts of history that are found in both YC and HH. But I won’t be leaving AO

As the year goes on, I’m sure I’ll add more books from the collections I have from HH and YC to AO.

**And because I am an affiliate with Heritage History I want to let you know that they have a discount going on right now –through January 31, 2013 –when you purchase any of their classical history curriculums {retail $24.99}, you can receive the Early America library for free {retail $19.99}. You have to put both in your cart and enter BLOSSOM3 at checkout.**

And now, I have to get back to getting the schedules finished. School starts back up January 7th!

Day #3 of Exam Week for Term 1

Final day of the exam week for term 1. I think both the kids are glad. They got going at 9 am and finished before noon. I did find that Fox did not answer a few of his questions so after lunch he must do so. Lee still has to play piece on her trumpet.

Some feedback for the exams:

Fox:
Less questions. More non-writing ‘fun’ stuff. Like the map. Consult me before making questions to ensure I can answer them.

My reply:
Thank you. Please recall the instructions do say to use a Word document. (he said verbally that his hand hurt from writing so much) Map work, check! How about at intervals during the term you come up with questions while doing your studies? (we talked about browsing the selected reading, formulating questions that he was interested in answering and then reading the passage)

Lee:
I’d like the math questions to be a little harder perhaps. I think it’d be nice if you referenced the books (if applicable) to which the questions are from: e.g.- “Name four doctrines…” (Christian Life); “What do you know of Love’s Lords in Waiting?” (Ourselves); etc.
For recitation, list verses I’ve done- Ephesians 6:10-18, etc.
There were a few questions on things I don’t think I’ve done/read, but not too many
I think it was pretty good.

My reply:
Agreed with the math. These questions were pre-written by the AO “people”; I just didn’t take time to change them. Definitely will next time. (I will point out that she is ‘in between’ maths right now; no specific program)
As for book titles, I’ll think about it.

Day #2 of Exam Week for Term 1

My dh had to get up an hour earlier for work so I slept in until 7:50 am. Yep, that’s how that works. Wake me at the right time or don’t expect me to be up until…well, when I wake up. Or something like that.

It’s two hours later now –I’ve had a couple cups of coffee and the kids have had their breakfast of honey nut o’s. Fox has done work on a few of his questions. Lee however is stalling this morning for some reason. She woke up before Fox and I thought she would get going sooner. Is it Thursday? Because that is her usual ‘slack’ day. Nope, it’s Tuesday. Although, if today is #2 of a 3-day week, then it would be a ‘Thursday’. Huh, imagine that!

Anyway. That is where we are at the moment. More to come later.

Finally both have worked on their exams. I’m going to be honest here- but I’ll try to keep it nice. I’m extremely frustrated with the lack of independence (?) in both of my kids. When I wrote the questions for the exam- barring the math- I wrote them with the purpose of wanting them to tell me what’s in their head. They both seem to think there is something particular, some exact detail or scene, that I am looking for and if they can’t figure it out, they panic. And based on just the few math problems for at least one kid, we are going to have to go b.a.c.k. in math. None of the processes or formulas could be recalled- I did try to give hints and a little help (is that bad?) but in the end I’m thinking that is just adding to the dependence.

And one more thing- the lack of details –not from the accounts they are relaying but the details in the sentences themselves –is driving me absolutely batty! I have an 8th and 10th grader but get an answer that someone could guess a 4th grader (or lower) wrote. The sentence(s) are such as: If you looked in it you would die. If you looked in what? Why? What are the surrounding circumstances? Of course I do know that written ‘narrations’ are harder than oral narrations- these exams are primarily written narrations. I need to look at the answers as areas where we need to work on not so much as failings. It’s not as easy to grade as a multiple choice test that’s for sure!

I would love to blame this on the public schools but I don’t think that’d really be accurate. Awhile ago, reading Charlotte Mason’s volume 3, about Masterly Inactivity, she talks about the parent who fairly over-explains things. I have a tendency to do that. A lot actually. I think I’ve gotten better over the last year but the ‘damage’ may well have been done!

Anyway, it is 12:30 pm now and Lee is working on her chores. Fox finished his exam portion for the day, choosing to take turns doing chores and answering questions like yesterday.

I was on the AO forums earlier and the question of grading the exams came up. There is talk of creating a rubric specific to the exams. I’m excited to hear that. I’ve really never been good with rubrics, though.

Day #1 of Exam week for Term 1

Just to share, or chronicle or for whatever reason, here’s how our first day of exam week is going. This is for Term 1 of Y9 and Y7Lite using Ambleside Online’s free curriculum. They’ve recently (within the last day or two!) gotten exams put together for the specific curriculum. Before there were general exam questions and suggestions for us to create our own. I have made a couple of our own and don’t think they were too bad. I’m very grateful for the ones put together by AO.

So I woke up at 6:30 am and fed the cat. Very important. Then I made sure that the exams were together and put on the kids’ desks. I made scones for the kids (and myself of course) with chocolate chunks. And coffee –chocolate raspberry…for whoever wanted some.

I woke the kids about 7:30 am. It took awhile for them to actually get up. Breakfast was consumed by 8:15 am. They then focused on their Pokeman obsession. Bleh. Looking at books and lists they’ve made.

I took a shower about 8:45 am and school started at 9-ish am. The exams cover 3 pages (2 full, 1 is 1/2 or less) with 15 subject areas. Fox, Y7Lite, wanted to do a page a day, since our ‘week’ is only 3 days due to Thanksgiving on Thursday. He chose to start with the last page that has all of 4 things on it. Not going to fly. He was made to choose more to work on. He chose to do his US blank map next, followed by some math. Lee, Y9, has done 5 subjects today and chose to break it up equally for the three day ‘week’.

Both have some things that they have to turn in, and I’ve set aside a two-pocket folder for that.

In between questions, Fox did some chores. Lee chose to complete her work for the day and then do the chores.

I looked over all the questions (and even came up with some of my own) before giving them the exams so I know that they know something about what I’m asking. It’s quite…interesting what those ‘somethings’ are. Neither are doing very well with Latin –both will have to refer to their Latin textbooks. Fox isn’t recalling the process for three of the math questions.

It’s often at times like this that I wonder if we’ve (rather *I*) not done enough during our school day. There are days that we skimp or simply let it all slide but when we do school (you know, the ‘right’ way lol) it goes quite well and I feel much is being learned.

I was quite impressed with both of their US maps –much more complete and accurate than last year (at the end of May of this year). Also, their writing has much improved. It is nice to read their memories of what they’ve learned. And their vocabulary has definitely been expanded –the wording of some of Fox’s answers just, well, I’ll just say they make me smile. I might be sharing their answers next week. I’ll have to get permission first from them.

It’s 12:30 pm and exams are done for the day. I’ve made lunch and chores have been done. Now the kids can have ‘free’ time (aka: screen time) before we head out for Lee’s babysitting job.

Exam Term 1, Y7Lite

You’ll find the AO free curriculum exams at the AO website but here is our Y7Lite, Term 1, exam for Fox. It was different when Lee was in Y7Lite but I still have her exam saved. We did an exam at the end of the year, so Term 3; none before that.

So, ours is different in the following ways: added Bible questions pertinent to our reading and from church sermons, a question about glow-worms for science and one for nutrition, a blank US map for geography, some math problems from his current program (that doesn’t even include any geometry), and from Jensen’s Grammar, changed a logic question, changed the format of the foreign language questions, and added a question about Joan of Arc in the history. I took out dictation and handicrafts since we’ve not done either of those. I added in turning in the notes he’s taken on current events. And I think that is about it. Seems like rather a lot but really it isn’t.

Bible/Devotional
1. Write out three logical reasons showing the validity of Christianity.
2. Tell how “That’s bad. No, that’s good,” applies to your life as a Christian.
3. Tell what you know about the ark of the covenant.
Writing/Penmanship- must be hand written
Write 8-10 lines of poetry.
Composition/Literature
1. Tell the story of Deirdre and the Sons of Usnach, or Fingal.
2. Write eight lines in verse about the tournament in Ivanhoe.
3. Narrate an adventure from In Freedom's Cause.
English Grammar
Lesson #50, sentences 16-20.
World History
1. How did Alfred set about to educate his people, and from where did he get help? Explain how he created English literature.
2. What two principles guided Alfred as Lawgiver? Discuss the way in which he followed both.
3. Write a short account of the Arthurian legend.
4. What do you know about Roman Camps and Roman Roads in Britain?
5. Describe a scene from Joan of Arc.
Geography
1. What made St. Brendan's account doubtful?
2. Show St. Brendan's voyage on a map.
3. Describe Saint MacDara's Island or the Sheep Islands/Faroes.
4. Fill in the blank map of the United States.
Natural History and General Science
1. Write notes, with drawings, on the studies you have made this term. (science)
2. Tell what you know about Glow-Worms or other beetles.
3. What do you know of the brain and its functions?
Citizenship/Government (Plutarch)
1. Explain how Pericles handled criticism and complaints.
2. What is a tu quoque fallacy? Give an example.
3. What is an "ad hominem" attack?
Reading Skill
Read aloud a previously unseen passage. (see mom)
Arithmetic/Geometry
1. -5 - (-7) = __
2. A car lot stocks 6 red cars for every 2 green cars. If there are 8 green cars at the lot, how many red cars are there?
3. Paul made 9 baskets out of 12 attempts in basketball practice. What percentage of the shot attempts did Paul make?
4. Change equations to slope-intercept form and sketch a graph.
    y-x=1
    2+4x=-4
    4x+y=5
Foreign Language
1. Write the Latin prayer you chose.
2. (Latin) Translate:
    Reginam spectavit.
    The son had shouted the words.
    good faith
    Christus fidem dat.
3. (German) Write a conversation between three people.
Picture Study
Describe a picture from this term's picture study.
Recitation
Recite this term’s Bible verses.
Music Appreciation
1. Tell about your favorite piece of music from this term.
2. Talk about a composer from this term.
Turn in all current events pages.

Feedback:
What did you think of this Term 1 exam? What do you think would help you next time?

Exam Term 1, Y9

This exam is almost exactly what can be found at AO’s free curriculum website but I edited it some to better fit our circumstances. I added questions to Bible, about The Roar on the Other Side, English Grammar we are using Traditional English Sentence Style so questions reflect that, a question pertaining to Peter the Great, few different places for Geography and a blank map to fill-in. I omitted writing/penmanship and dictation, a thing or two from Literature, and since we aren’t as far in Ourselves, changed that question. The science questions I just have no idea about so they are general. I also changed the Foreign Language and decided to simply go with work that she’s doing in that particular language. The math I left as is but I will definitely need to change that next time, although I do like that they are more applicable questions than like most math tests.

Bible/Devotional
1. Name four doctrines of the Christian faith, and explain two in detail.
2. Tell what you know about the circumstances of Samson’s birth.
3. Describe the theft of the ark and what resulted.
4. Relate one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians or the beginning of his letter to the Galatians.
Composition/Literature
1. Write a letter home as if you were Gulliver, describing Lilliput.
2. Describe the part you found most humorous in Isaac Bickerstaff, Coverley, or Tale of a Tub.
3. What was your favorite Stepping Stone from The Roar on the Other Side? Describe it and why did you enjoy it?
English Grammar
1. What is a prepositional phrase? Give an example in a sentence; underline the prepositional phrase.
2. Name other ‘phrases’ and give examples. Or, in the sentence below show the clauses by double underlining the conjunction.
•    I proceed to a third rule for the unity of sentences; this is to keep clear of all parentheses in the middle of them.
3. Parse (Question? Haven’t quite figured out the wording to this one…maybe I’ll just leave it) 
•    Among the many people making up the great household there was a little girl of seven named Esther Johnson. She was a delicate little girl with large eyes and black hair. She and Swift soon grew to be friends, and he spent his happiest hours teaching her to read and write. It is pleasant to think of the gloomy, untrained genius throwing off his gloom and bending all his talents to the task of teaching and amusing this little delicate child of seven.
History
1. Give an account of General James Olgethorpe or Cotton Mather.
2. Tell what you know about the leading up to/beginning of the Salem Witch Trials.
3. What do you know about Peter the Great or Catherine the Great?
4. Give a sketch of George Washington.
5. What do you know about The Great Awakening?
6. Name four of Benjamin Franklin's ideas and inventions. Describe two of them.
Geography
1. Describe the Matterhorn. Point out its location on a map.
2. Describe a trip to the pyramids or the Taj Mahal.
3. What do you know about Gibraltar, the "Pillar of Hercules"? Locate it on a map.
4. Fill in the blank map of the United States.
Science and Nutrition
1. Write notes, with drawings, on the studies you have made this term (science).
2. What do you know of the brain and its functions? (nutrition)
Citizenship/Government (Plutarch)
1. Explain how Pericles handled criticism and complaints.
2. "And, spite of pride in erring reason's spite,/One truth is clear, whatever is, is right." Explain Pope's argument in your own words.
3. What do you know of Love’s Lords in Waiting? Choose at least four to talk more about.
4. Define four of the following: liberal, conservative, left, right, democrat, republican, moderate, socialist, libertarian, communist.
Arithmetic/Geometry
1. Demonstrate the distributive property: 9(2a + b + 4) = ____
2. Julie has a jar of beads. She used half of them to make a bracelet. Later she bought more, tripling the number of beads in the jar. Now there are 33 beads in the jar. How many beads did Julie start with?
3. A triangle has three angles labeled x, y, and z. The ratio of x to y is 1:13. The ratio of y to z is 13:1. What is the value of each of the angles, x, y, and z?
4. A store is advertising a 35 percent discount on an item they marked up 5 percent from the factory price of $350. The sales tax is 8.25 percent. What does the item cost?
5. A train leaves the station at 2:00 pm at 40 mph. Another train headed in the opposite direction leaves the same station at 4:00 pm at 60 mph. To the nearest mile, how far are the two trains from each other at 6:00 pm?
6. Solve for x: 68 = 4(2x + 3)
Foreign Language
1. Write the Latin prayer you chose.
2. (Latin) Do Quiz Lesson 30.
3. Sign at least 10 words.
4. (Greek) Complete page 29 & 30 in your workbook.   
Music
Play a short piece on your trumpet.
Picture Study
Describe a picture from this term's picture study.
Art
Turn in some of your best art work.
Recitation
Recite the Bible verses from this term.
Music Appreciation
Tell about your favorite piece of music from this term.
Singing
Sing “Victory in Jesus” or another hymn of your choice.
Turn in your commonplace book and all current events pages

Feedback:
What did you think of this Term 1 exam? What do you think would help you next time?

AO Exams! (Y7 Lite Term 1 is Ready)

We are b.e.h.i.n.d. in our school. The calendar and schedule say week 12 but really, it’s more like 10 1/2. Yesterday was the first day in weeks that we’ve finished all that was on the schedule. It’s okay though. It’s alright. That’s what I keep telling myself –and the kids. So this week, being week 12, is exam week. NOT! It was supposed to be but I didn’t make up the exams. They take me about a week to get put together and I’ve just not got it together enough to do that.

Well…AO –how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… At least one right now

Exams are on the AO site –with actual questions that coincide with the actual curriculum. They are more than mere suggestions or blank spaces –they’ve put the exams together (almost completely but still with the flexibility that I love in AO).

We are in Year 7 (Lite) and Year 9. Right now they’ve got the exam for Term 1, Year 7 Lite up at the site and what a great wonderful –I really can’t think of words to adequately express my happiness –find!

Right now there isn’t anything for Year 9 but I did hear through the forum that there will hopefully be something in a few days. Here’s a snippet of what it looks like right now:

I know for a lot of people, this is something small (or doesn’t even pertain to them) but oh, it just makes me so happy! Next week we have at least two days for school –haven’t decided if Wednesday will be a 1/2 day –and I’m thinking that as long as Year 9 Term 1 exams are up, we’ll have exam ‘week’ then.

2012-2013 Back to School Week!

Wow. So just wow. My kids are in 10th and 8th grade. How did that happen!? Here’s a recap of our week (some days are more detailed than others- and this is just a long post in general):

Sunday: We had church (finally! I was able to go…been down with a tooth infection for 2 weeks- and wouldn’t you know, this time dh was down sick almost all day). I was hard pressed to focus during Sunday school and the main service for some reason but I was all ears for the evening service. The evening was about “dispensationalism”- a term that I had never heard of before (dispensation is even in the Bible- Ephesians 1:10 KJV). It made a lot of sense to me and I am going to be researching into it some more. Pastor gave a four page handout (an outline that was printed on one side per sheet) before he began his talk.

After the evening service we met at the Pastor’s house for some ice cream and socializing! I’m afraid the kids and I are a bit socially awkward. You ever think of what you should have said during a conversation hours after it takes place? I do that all the time. Something to work on lol. But the kids (and I) had a great time.

Sunday= success!

Monday: Excellent start! Well, except perhaps that Fox didn’t get out of bed until 9:30 am. On school days, up by 9 is the rule (oh yes, I’m such a slave driver!). I did make some sweet scone biscuits (just scone recipe with a bit extra spice and sugar, cut into biscuit shapes) and gave them iced coffee. I mean, really, that’s enough to make my morning great! *wink*

We started with our ‘together’ subjects: {prayer} Bible discussion, Latin, and for Monday, Ohio Study and Home Ec. We had some really great discussion about, among other things, capital punishment, whether the “Law” still pertains to us today (the Mosaic Law), and whether fish lived during the flood during our Bible discussion. We are using {somewhat} the Judah Bible curriculum for this because I like the principles and ideas put forth. We definitely had been in need of some direction in that area. For Home Ec, we discussed just what it is and the many aspects of the subject. Then we narrowed down our list to include the ones that they want to cover as well as those that I insist we cover. After those subjects, Lee and I ran some errands {post office, orthodontist office, bank} while Fox stayed home and did some independent work.

The day ran a little long but I do think that is because we got a bit of a late start, we took an hour or so for errands and it’s the first day back. Lee honestly did not finish all of her work but boy howdy! I still say it was a great day!!

Subjects covered today (in addition to above mentioned): Bible reading and verse, Grammar, History, Foreign Language (Lee: Greek; Fox: German); Fox also did Math, Current Events, Penmanship and Poetry (Idylls of the King –Literature)

In other parts of our day…
Lee saw a fawn with two deer this morning. She wasn’t able to get a photo but it is something I’m sure we’ll talk about for a long time! It was so cute; spots and all!
I am thinking of holiday crafts for some reason. Possibly because it’s so hot lately and I am thinking of cooler days? Eh, well, whatever reason. I found a site that has free crafty tutorials for lots of different things! The last email I received was about Christmas crafts. Fits my mood perfectly
And we’ve been working away at our art poster. My mother-in-law added her artistic touches while she visited in June as well.

Art Poster progress VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Lee made spaghetti for dinner –yum!

Monday= success!

Tuesday: It’s all hubby’s fault. Yep, all his fault. We got started late today for school and while my dh staying home from work throws me off of my usual schedule, it really isn’t his fault. Neither of the kids got up at the time they were supposed to so…it’s their fault. *Nevermind that I didn’t get up when I was supposed to because I was still ready when I needed to be haha. I did my Bible reading, used the elliptical machine, made coffee and mine and hubby’s breakfast. And showered. All long before the kids woke up lol.

And actually, it’s not like we had a bad day at all! It just started late. Today we sat out in the backyard on a sheet to do our together subjects of {prayer} Bible discussion, Latin, Plutarch’s life (Pericles) and oh, well, I guess that was it. We were supposed to do Science but…I forgot to have them read ahead so we moved that ahead to Thursday (today’s work will be done on Thursday). And school was done by 2pm I believe for both of them.

Fox did really good narrations for The Birth of Britain- surprising me. We listened to Age of Chivalry on Librivox and decided we don’t like how the first chapter is read. We finish the chapter tomorrow. Next chapter might be better- I checked ahead.  Lee did excellent narrations for her Bible reading and Ourselves.

Other subjects covered today: Bible reading and verse, Math, Foreign Language, Current Events, and more Literature. Fox did Penmanship as well. Lee read Matthew Henry’s Bible commentary for Galatians.

Cannot recall what was for dinner… hmmm. I know we ate lol.

Tuesday= success!

Wednesday: {recorded earlier Wednesday} Another late start. I think bed time is going to move back some… But all school did get done and in a timely fashion. Chores were a little bit neglected. Lee has babysitting today (we leave in just a few minutes actually) so some will have to be either done late or missed.

{finished on Thursday} We missed a few subjects and chores were mostly done –so it was alright. I’d have to look it up what was actually done…I don’t feel like it lol.

And dh and I saw two fawns in the back field. The neighbors, however, must be city folk {haha…we live in the city} who don’t know how to act around skittish wildlife. They came out of their houses all loud and scared the deer away.

Dinner was pb & j’s lol. Hubby found leftover spaghetti.

Wednesday= we didn’t die so it’s good

Thursday: Orthodontist appointment. That just threw it all off! All independent subjects {for the most part} were done but none of the together subjects today. Thursdays just are our Mondays.

Poor Lee. Two appointments ago {so roughly 2 months ago} she’d been, ahem, complaining because her teeth were not bothering her at all after her appointments. No discomfort. No pain. Well, today she says she’s going to be more careful what she asks for! They changed the wires {for the last time!} and she is in pain. Not just discomfort but pain. She had to take some aspirin {usually she prefers ibuprofen}.

I was stressed because of money today and so wasn’t with it for much of anything. It got me to thinking though. I haven’t stressed about money in quite awhile. Why would it be different now? We’ve not been spending more than usual, and we still have the same coming in. Here’s my take on it- I was starting to get away from trusting God would give us all that we need. I’ve been trying to do the coupon thing…trying to save money here and there. I’ve not had to do that in the past; why would I think I needed to now? Well, I realized I don’t. God always provided before- He’s always faithful.

Another thing is that I’ve been trying to get something off the ground for awhile now but decided {on my own lol that’s not usually a good sign} that it wasn’t going to fly. Then …we start feeling the pinch financially and if I kept up with what I’d thought of originally, perhaps it would have eased that pinch. Coincidence? I personally don’t believe much in coincidences. And don’t get me wrong- we are so far from actually ‘struggling’ that I don’t even like to mention our ‘troubles’ generally. We are better off than so many other families. I am very grateful.

I’m working on revamping my blog. I cannot change where I blog {yet} because I do reviews but I’ve got an idea a-brewin’ in my head Hopefully I can get it out.

I made ‘creamed’ beef {just means browned ground beef in a thickened sauce made from broth with spices added in- oh and I added in onions, usually I don’t have those} over rice with steamed zucchini {from the garden}.

Thursday= another ‘we didn’t die so it’s good’

Friday: Woke up way late myself. 2 hours late. Did get my Bible reading done, but not much else first thing in the morning. The kids and I were going to go the Cleveland Art Museum but our plans have been waylaid because our garage door broke. The repairmen will be here today…some time. I have to stick around home until they show up. It’s already almost noon and so far nothing.

Tomorrow, Saturday, we are going to a picnic with our church. It’s at one of the Cleveland Metroparks- so beautiful. We are looking forward to it. I’m making potato salad to take along.

Dinner tonight might be homemade mac & cheese. Haven’t decided yet.

Friday= still in progress but…it’s Friday, it has to be good- right??

I will be linking this up at the following places {there may not be links on them yet…I promise there will be }:

Thinking Out Loud… Exams

As I get older it seems that ideas, concepts, are more difficult to grasp and the ones I had before, they are forgotten. Hey, I’m not old…but the phrase “use it or lose it” is definitely ringing true for me.

I almost feel that I need to start at the beginning! Forget that Bachelor of Arts hanging on my wall, start me back at elementary school. Or so I feel some days. Today is one of those days.

I’m looking back at my kids’ school work to get a good idea of where they are and where they need to go from here; trying to recall the beginning of the year is a chore. Also I want to make ‘exams’ for them this term and each term afterwards. In order to make those exams worthwhile I need to know recall what has been covered in the first place.

Here is where I’ve been reading to give an idea of what to have on the exams: http://www.amblesideonline.org/library.shtml#pneuexams 
And here: http://www.amblesideonline.org/ExamPNEUIIIandIV.shtml

Preparing these are giving me the impression that I need to keep somewhat more detailed records of what we cover, rather than just book titles and page numbers. I am looking forward to making these because I will get to review the information myself. It never hurts to go over it again…and again. Does it?

I have a lot of Charlotte Mason reading still to go before I get this all down. Good thing I consider myself a ‘life-long learner’.

Dear Lord and Father of Mankind- Hymn

It has been a full 12 weeks of year 3 of homeschooling for us…and this is the 2nd year using Ambleside Online. Finally, I have integrated Hymns into our schedule. (Now I just need to get busy on Artist Study)

I know this is almost the end of October and if we follow the AO Hymn rotation, we would be moving on to the November selection of “He Hideth My Soul” but we are behind I thought about just waiting until November to start it but when I listened to “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” it just is so beautiful that I didn’t want to wait. I found a youtube version that we have been listening to all morning.

I found the hymnal sheet at hymnwiki.org (using the tune Repton, Eb) and printed it out for each of us to have while we listen. I tried to sing along with it and of course, never having heard it before, didn’t quite have success  

I think that we will start our day with the hymn.

Here is the youtube version- enjoy :

AO/HEO Kindle Ready Books

Ambleside Online and House of Education Online…two of my favorite curriculums.

Kindle- my absolute favorite ereader.

Put them together and you get Extraordinarily Awesome I put together a site that has AO/HEO Kindle ready books. It is called NLHome’s Compiling Spot (simply because at first it was for my own use and I didn’t intend on sharing! haha).

When I started with AO Yrs 5 and 7 (Lite), I went about searching for the books as cheap as I could possibly find them –at used book stores, on Amazon, alibris, paperbackswap, used curriculum groups. I did find a lot of good deals and now I have quite a few bookshelves with a good many of the books (some of which I will not part with ). I read on the computer a lot but don’t particularly care for how it fatigues my eyes. I got to the point of printing out a lot of the books we would be using. That got costly real quick. Our printer is a good one but a little on the older side and the cartridges are some of the most expensive.

But when I got a Kindle for my birthday last year….oh! what a treat!

Talk about savings! I have over 700 books on it right now (uh, no, not all of those are for school!). A good number are for school, however. A good portion of them were free or very inexpensive. I originally went looking on Amazon for the books…but I think that people are catching on that they can make a few pennies by republishing public domain books which caused some free books to be much more than free! I started a website that I originally intended to have for just the free books that are recommended for AO/HEO. You can find a lot of them on Project Gutenberg or Manybooks.net (which is a subsidiary of PG) but there are a few other places as well. Google Books used to be a great resource for PDF files (I am finding it difficult to navigate through the site now).

I’m working on updating it (uh, really I am) but right now it is good up until Yr 9.

Classes for Next Year- Middle School

Since I've figured out next year for my dd, I thought I'd better get on the ball for my ds' school year- middle school. This may be his last 'easier' year...

Here is what I've got so far (of course always changeable!):

Bible reading/verse/study:

KJV (continuing reading through alternating Old Testament and New Testament); a memory verse each week; Saints and Heroes (should be finished, or almost, with Vol 1 and moving to Vol 2)

 

 

 

Math:

Life of Fred: PreAlgebra with Economics and Beginning Algebra, Khan Academy

 

Writing/Literature/Poetry:

Will begin in earnest with written narrations; The Hobbit; Animal Farm; possibly followed by Tales of Troy; Robert Frost; Carl Sandberg

History/Geography:

The Story of the World Vol 4 (second half); Story of the Greeks; Story of the Romans; Following the Equator by Mark Twain

Science:

THIS IS VERY TENTATIVE

Secrets of the Universe (because I found them at a local library!!) OR Murches' Science Reader Book VI along with other 'readers' such as The Storybook of Science by Jean-Henri Fabre, The Fairy-Land of Science and Nature Study by Grades Vol 3

Foreign Language:  
First Form and Second Form Latin

For PE/Band/Choir/Music/Art I'm not decided yet. I will need to find a better quality guitar for him because his is falling apart. PE is an every day occurrence but never really scheduled. For Art I am not sure what we will do but something will most likely present itself. Choir we have at Co-Op. As for 'music', we'll see how it goes...

 

I'm not sure I'm happy with it but for now that is what I have. It feels that there are still some things missing. Although I am trying to trim as I did with dd high school plan. It's about quality, not quantity.

Classes for Next Year- High School

If you read my post from yesterday, you'll know that although we still have a while to go until this school year is complete, I'm thinking about next year.

I'm going to put down the books/resources I am considering using for Lee's freshman year of high school. *I think I fainted a moment there... lol*

Our spine (or base) is Ambleside Online Yr 8 and going into 9 towards the end of the year. There are books that will not be used, and some books added in that are not included in AO's recommendations. In every homeschool it's necessary to find what works.

Here goes:

Bible/Verses/Devotion/Study: 

KJV (continuing reading through alternating Old Testament and New Testament), Romans 6, Colossians 3, 1 Corinthians 13, The Mind of the Maker, Commentary by Jamieson-Faussett-Brown and/or Matthew Henry (haven't decided on which books to study at this point), Saints and Heroes (should be finished, or almost, with Vol 1 and moving to Vol 2)

Math:
Life of Fred Beginning Algebra, Advanced Algebra, Khan Academy

Writing/Literature/Grammar/Composition: 

Written narrations, History of English Literature for Boys and Girls, Everyman: A morality play, Westward Ho!, The Holy War, The Roar on the Other Side, others?, Jensen's Grammar if haven't finished

History/Geography:  

Western Civilization chapters 11-13 and 15-16, How the Heather Looks, towards the end of the year possibly Introduction to Geography OR The World Today

Science:  

Biology 9th Ed. chapters 1-16, BodyQuest (maybe not? because the amount of material covered in the biology text)

Government/Economics/Civics:

Whatever Happened to Justice? (followed by Are You Liberal, Conservative, Confused?), Utopia, Francis Bacon Essays (will see how many we get to), followed by The English Constitution, Common Sense and Essays (by Jane Haldimand Marcet), Ourselves Book 1 and 2, Plutarch's Lives

Foreign Language:  
First Form and Second Form Latin and Spanish (1010) possibly at the local community college.

For PE/Band/Choir/Music/Art I'm not decided yet. I am still looking for another trumpet program for Lee because the one she has is very beginner (she isn't done with it but will need something else soon). PE is an every day occurrence but never really scheduled. For Art, she may take a class through the community college (community education department- not for credit). Choir we have at Co-Op. As for 'music', we'll see how it goes...


So there it is. I think it is quite trimmed from my planning last year due to the fact that I'm trying to be more realistic this time. We didn't get to a lot of subjects/books that I would like for us to have this year. Hopefully this coming year will be successful in doing what's planned :)


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AO and My Favorite Books (so far)

From April 2009 until now we've been using Ambleside Online in our school. I stumbled upon AO in January 2008 when I started thinking about taking our kids out of public school and I was looking for a curriculum for possibly homeschooling.

Admittedly the first thing that caught my eye with AO was that it is free. That's right- free. When I say 'free' though I don't mean that it costs nothing. Really, how many things in life are truly free? You will have to purchase some materials for schooling with AO. But they offer the entire curriculum- book list and schedule- online for no cost. A lot of the books that are suggested are in the public domain, making them 'free' to read either online or as is the case nowadays, on an ereader or such device. (I've made a website with as many books as I could find that are Kindle ready for AO/HEO)

Another reason I love AO is that it is based around Charlotte Mason's philosophy (which I've yet to understand fully but I love what I do get). It is also based on the understanding that God should be in every facet of our lives. That includes learning. All things are because of God, how could we cut Him out? The books and materials suggested by AO reflect this. 

We started gradually in Year 5 and Year 7Lite. My kids were in grades 5 and 7 when we started homeschooling. They had already used another boxed curriculum for the first 6 months of school. We started using AO material in February, more than half way through the first year.  I'll admit it was a bit challenging at first to understand the concept or philosophy behind AO (Charlotte Mason method) because it was extremely different than I had been taught and how I was going about teaching my kids.

Here we are in our second year of homeschooling (finish it May 20th) and we still are using Year 5 and Year 7 (added in a few books that are in the Yr7 full booklist). We have added in one or two books from Year 6 and Year 8 also. As much as I want to 'complete' the years it is more about understanding and learning than just getting it done.

I've been thinking a lot about AO lately since I pulled my ds out of it and placed him into an online public school. My dd is still using AO and I can see such a difference in the quality. At the bottom of my blog you can see a list of books we have used/are using in our school with AO. Unfortunately my lists are not up to date but you will get an idea of what we are doing. 

There are definitely some books that I have set as my 'favorites' since starting with AO. I've always been a book reader. I read at least 5 books a week when I was in middle school and high school. But not good quality books, I'm afraid. I read a few things that were 'good' when I had to but otherwise I chose what I would call twaddle or simply inappropriate books for my age. Oh how my mind would have been so different if I had focused my appetite on books that were more filling. I was always hungry for reading (and I suppose learning) that wasn't satisfied with my book choices. I am getting that chance now :)

Here is a short list of some of my favorite AO books as of now, and a brief reason of why:

Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton

(links to table of contents as the book is not available online)

This book, although very old and may be seen as outdated in terms of geography (only really in the sense that if you look at the maps presented in the book, they may not show what you will see on a current map), is full of information about the locations that Halliburton traveled. He writes in a way that is interesting. I think at the start of the book he says that he will make you feel like you are there with him when you read the chapters. My ds tells me after almost every chapter how awesome it is to go to these places. Halliburton really takes the reader along. My son really gains a better understanding of geography this way. Our book was purchased through a used homeschool curriculum group and was printed in 1941 (?); my son says he will keep this book forever.

This Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall

Honestly, at first we weren't thrilled with this book. There is a lot of strange wordings and language that we didn't quite understand but I do think that the style of writing and descriptions of the situations/circumstances pertaining to US History are very engaging. My son does grumble when we have this scheduled sometimes but before we get far into it, he is on the edge of his seat. It gives more of a sense of realism to when these things were taking place, I think. The chapters are not impersonal with only facts and numbers to be remembered. No, Marshall gives insight into feelings of the people of the time; it helps the students take an interest.

The History of English Literature for Girls and Boys by H.E. Marshall

(links to Gutenberg, choose how to view under Format)

This has taken a bit to get into. Because we started AO later in the year I didn't have all the books/subjects scheduled. However this book is also written by Marshall and the style is engaging. We are only on chapter 10 now and a lot of the time we stop to figure out what a word or passage means, yet we want to continue on with our reading- even when we don't quite understand. This one I read with my dd but even my ds likes to listen in (and attentively, I might add). It helps give a background into the literature from the past and how it has influenced our literature. The book was published in the 1900s so you can expect to find a few unfamiliar words.

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey

There is a page set aside at AO's site pertaining to the content of this book but honestly, if your student is mature then this book will be no problem. Of course, if this is done together (as my dd and I do) then it is easy to skip/skim over the questionable parts. I really enjoy the comparison of living to the Body of Christ (the Church) in this book. There are so many references that I had never thought of before and it's been a real eye opener to me. It also has taught us about leprosy -something that I don't think is talked much about anymore. There are not many illustrations in the book that we have and I think that is good. Pictures are often unnecessary if the writing is well done. It is in this book.

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

Being a fan of the Chronicles of Narnia I was totally unprepared for this book. With narration my daughter finds this book challenging but this is an excellent book. I think that if one is unsure of Christianity or if they are needing a nudge in their own Christianity this book will help with that. I like Lewis' candidness at points and also his omission at other points. Some things are not appropriate for the scope of this book and he realized that when he wrote it, I think. There were sections that we did not cover because they dealt with things that my dd didn't need to be discussing at this point in her life. But I can see this being a book that can be reread at almost any age (not younger than perhaps 14 ish, in my opinion).

Saints and Heroes Volume 1 by George Hodges

Not being very inclined to learn about 'saints and heroes' when I was younger other than what little I learned in school, this book has been quite interesting to me. I have personally been familiar with a lot of the names of individuals that are covered in this book but not the circumstances surrounding them. It helps us to realize what early Christians went through for their faith. It also helps to paint a picture of the early Catholic church as well. There is of course some bias but that is to be expected in any book. These are short bits about each person/situation and really do not include as much information as one would need to call their knowledge complete. But it does give a basic foundation or a jumping off point for more investigation if one should choose.

Well, those are some of my favorite books suggested by AO -so far. There are others that I've just now thought of but I will leave those for another time.