Monday, July 26, 2010

Ambleside Online's History Rotation

Year 1 -- early history, focusing on people rather than events
Year 2 -- 1000 AD - Middle Ages
Year 3 -- 1400 - 1600 (Renaissance to Reformation)
Year 4 -- 1700's up to the French Revolution and American Revolution
Year 5 -- 1800 to 1920 up to WWI
Year 6 -- end of WWI to present day, then a term in ancient history
Year 7 -- 800-1400's Middle Ages (Alfred, King Arthur, Joan of Arc)
Year 8 -- 1400-1600's (Renaissance to Reformation)
Year 9 -- 1688-1815 including French and American revolutions
Year 10 -- 1815-1901 including the American Civil War
Year 11 -- 20th Century
Year 12 -- ancient history

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Planning 2010-2011

I'm beginning the planning our 2010-2011 school year. I will share the forms that I like to use. Perhaps you will find something that will help you in your planning. Check often as I will be adding links as I use them through my planning process and not all at once.

My Preferred Attendance Chart I love the simplicity of a one-page-for-the-year chart.

Grade Record Sheet for One Child for One Year Love the simplicity of this form. I use it for my Grade 7 and up Lambies only. Younger children get 100% or they correct their work and then get a :) .

My Daily Checklist I type the name of each book and the week number across the top. Then the children check off their work as they complete it. You can read how the creator of the form, LindaFaye, uses the daily checklist here.

Book of Centuries Each child has their own Book of Centuries to personalize as they read and learn. They can add anything they choose, whether it's a school related fact or not.

A Bible Reading Chart I have several printable versions. Click the number for 1, 2, 3, 4 more choices.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Copywork Generator

I came across this link I thought I'd share. It's for a handwriting page/copywork generator. It also has an online test that you can administer to your PK-K children to assess what letters they know. You can print the results, too! I quiz my youngest daughter often to see what she is retaining. This will be easier for me.

Handwriting Worksheets

Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

House of Education Books Year 7, 8 and 9

I am compiling these lists for my own sanity. I need a clear list of books I still need to find for HOE, so I can cross them off one by one as I find them. Anyone who has an extra copy on PaperbackSwap or Ebay is welcome to contact me or leave a comment! ;)

Year 7

Saints and Heroes, Vol 1
History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea by William Tyre
The Life of King Alfred by Asser
Ourselves by Charlotte Mason (and the other volumes, if they are cheap)
The Life of the Spider by Henri Fabre (or any others by him , except Insects, I have that one)
How To Read a Book by Mortimer Adler
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Paul Brand
The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga), With Excerpts from the Poetic Edda, translated by William Morris or Eirikr Magnusson
The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Hereward, the Last of the English by Charles Kingsley
Feats on the Fiord by Harriet Martineau
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
Penrod and Sam by Booth Tarkington
Alhambra by Washington Irving

Year 8

Saints and Heroes Vol. 2 by George Hodges
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers
The Life of Sir Francis Bacon by William Rawley
The Voyage of the Armada The Spanish Story by David Howarth
A History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
Johannes Kepler: Giant of Faith and Science by John Hudson Tiner
The Life of Dr. Donne by Izaak Walton
Whatever Happened to Justice by Richard Maybury
Simonds American Literature
Everyman, a Morality Play
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
Rural Hours by Susan Fenimore Cooper
William Harvey and the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood by Thomas Henry Huxley
Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott
Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The House of Arden by E. Nesbit
Harding's Luck by E. Nesbit
Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore
The Wonderful O and/or The Thurber Carnival by James Thurber
To Have and to Hold by Mary Johnston
All for Love or Discourses on Satire and Epic Poetry by John Dryden
The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton (might be more appreciated for older folks who enjoy short contemplative readings, rather than Year 8 students)
The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln, available through The Common Reader catalog
Pioneers of the Old South: A Chronicle of English Colonial Beginnings by Mary Johnston
The History of King Charles II of England by Jacob Abbott

Year 9

*I haven't even begun to look at Year 9 and above. Many of these are options and you use only one. I don't mind having all of them to choose from, so I will list them all. If you are a HEO'er more familiar with these selections, please let me know of any pros or cons of any particular one!

Christian Life by Sinclair Ferguson
The God Who is There by Francis Schaeffer
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
The Christian's Secret to a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith
Oxford Book of American History by Samuel Eliot Morison
A History of the American People by Paul Johnson
Letters to His Son by Lord Chesterfield
Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen
The Invasion of Canada by Pierre Berton
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Founding Father -- Rediscovering George Washington by Richard Brookhiser
George Washington: A Biography by Washington Irving
Washington: The Indispensible Man by James Thomas Flexner
The Life of George Washington by David Ramsay
Marie Antoinette and Her Son by Louise Muhlback
Napoleon Bonaparte by John S. C. Abbott
The Story of Napoleon by H.E. Marshall
The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson by Robert Southey
Life of Johnson by James Boswell
London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland by Samuel Johnson
The Royal Road to Romance by Richard Halliburton
Are You Liberal, Conservative, Confused? by Richard Maybury
The English Constitution by Walter Bagehot
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay
A Letter to a Noble Lord by Edmund Burke, 1796
An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope
War of the Worldviews by Gary DeMar
Postmodern Times by Gene Edward Veith
Isaac Bickerstaff and Days with Sir Roger DeCoverly by Richard Steele
Tale of a Tub and Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift
History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia by Samuel Johnson
She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith
The School for Scandal by Richard Sheridan
Faust, Book I by Johann Wolfgang Goethe
The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne by William Makepeace Thackeray
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
Man Alive and/or The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton.
The Little Nugget, Uneasy Money or others by P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Gibbie by George MacDonald
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome
Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini, French Revolution #2 in series
William Carey's "An Inquiry Into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens" by William Carey
Horatio Hornblower books by C. S. Forester
Sir Walter Scott:
The Bride of Lammermoor - East Lothian, 1695
The Pirate - Shetland and Orkney Islands, 1700
The Black Dwarf - The Lowlands of Scotland, 1706 (Jacobites)
Heart of Midlothian - Time of George II. (Porteous Riots)
Waverley - The Jacobites
Redgauntlet - Time of George III.
Guy Mannering - Time of George III
The Surgeon's Daughter - Fifeshire, Isle of Wight, and India (1780)
The Antiquary - Scotch Manners, last decade of the 18th Century
St. Ronan's Well - Near Firth of Forth, 1812


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Habits to Cultivate

I don't recall where I found this list, but it is a helpful one! I choose a few a term, as needed. I have another resource that lays out Scriptures teaching character traits that I review with the children. Then we all make a point to watch for opportunities to practice the habit we are focusing on learning.

Decency and Propriety Habits

Cleanliness
Courtesy
Kindness
Manners
Modesty and Purity
Neatness
Order
Regularity
Candor
Courage
Diligence
Fortitude
Generosity
Gentleness
Meekness
Patience
Respect
Temperance
Thrift
~
Mental Habits

Attention
Imagining
Meditation
Memorizing
Mental Effort
Observation
Perfect Execution
Reading for Instruction
Remembering
Thinking
Accuracy
Concentration
Reflection
Thoroughness
~
Moral Habits

Integrity
Priorities
Finishing
Use of Time
Borrowed Property
Obedience
Personal Initiative
Reverence
Self-Control
Sweet, Even Temper
Truthfulness
Usefulness
~
Physical Habits

Alertness to Seize
Opportunities
Fortitude
Health
Managing One’s Own Body
Music
Outdoor Life
Quick Perception of Senses
Self-Control in Emergencies
Self-Discipline in Habits
Self-Restraint in Indulgences
Training the Ear and Voice
~

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Story Books for July

Here's my list of July books. These are read to my eight and under set. Older than that read independently most of the time.

The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Crockett Johnson (twice)
I Watch Flies by Gladys Conklin (twice)
The Fourth of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh
Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson
The Little Boat That Almost Sank-Arch Book
The Fishermen's Surprise -Arch Book
The Man Who Carried The Cross For Jesus-Arch Book
The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone
Fish Head by Jean Fritz
George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy
The Bear That Heard Crying by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock and Helen Kinsey
George and Martha-Tons of Fun by James Marshall
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Outside Over There by Marice Sendak
The Twelve Labors of Hercules by Marc Cerasini