Benjamin Franklin's Glass Harmonica

A lovely glass harmonica concert illustrated this week's reading in American Literature.

Also supplementing the reading of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography with art of that time period, an outline of El Greco's Burial of Count Orgaz in Start Exploring Masterpieces.

We are greatly enjoying Janice Campbell's Excellence in Literature's American Literature high school curriculum this year.

McGuffey Readers (1836), What We Do...

Mc Guffey's readers are classics and not your typical modern currilum.  They don't come with worksheets, step-by-step teacher directions, lesson plans, or tests.  There is no grade level breakdown offered either.  The most helpful guide would be to read a book about the Charlotte Mason education method.  Some have broken down the books into age groups or grades, but the two determining factors I have used have been reading level and maturity.  This is based on the content of the books.  The fourth book definitely being a high school level book.

William H. McGuffey

Each reader can span two or three years, reading one lesson a week.  I go through the vocabulary list at the end of each reading, asking for spelling and meaning.  From this list, I will pick words to do an etymology on - a study on the meaning of the word, its origin, spelling, and a couple of sentences using it in meaningful context, as you would find in a good dictionary.  Each word is done on a separate index card.  I use a variety of ways to review the words - puzzles, crosswords, hangman, and oral quizzes.

I use the readers to reinforce spelling, vocabulary work, reading ageless stories, biblical moral values, literature, and practicing diction by reading out loud.

It was McGuffey’s view that the proper education of young people required their introduction to a wide variety of topics and practical matters. 

I rarely use a typical spelling curriculum.  Reading is the key to spelling and reading out loud is very important, too.

Links with guidelines:

• How to Teach Spelling with the 1857 McGuffey Readers (with a Few Tips from Charlotte Mason)
• Post about age breakdown
• Encyclopedia Britannica - McGuffey, short biography

Why the 1836 edition is best?

"The 1836 edition was the only one which was actually compiled by McGuffey. His brother Alexander compiled the Fifth and Sixth Readers. Through successive editions, the essentially fundamentalist values that the McGuffeys put in the Readers were diluted by Unitarian influences. Although there were plenty of references to God, there were few to Christ. After the publication of the Readers, McGuffey’s influence as an educator grew, particularly in the West."

Read more in this essay.

Also,

"McGuffey was remembered as a theological and conservative teacher. He understood the goals of public schooling in terms of moral and spiritual education, and attempted to give schools a curriculum that would instill Presbyterian Calvinist beliefs and manners in their students. These goals were suitable for early 19th century America, but not for the nations’ later need for unified pluralism. The content of the readers changed drastically between McGuffey’s 1836- 1837 editions and the 1879 edition. The revised Readers were compiled to meet the needs of national unity and the dream of an American “melting pot” for the worlds’ oppressed masses. The Calvinist values of salvation, righteousness and piety, so prominent in the early Readers, were entirely missing in the later versions."

Read entire article here. 

High School Transcripts

In the past, I have used a program called Homeschool Tracker (HST) to create my high school transcripts.  I never had any problem with colleges accepting the transcripts I generated with this software. Although HST creates nice transcripts, it isn't a transcript-only service, and the software I used years ago is not for sale or supported by the company any more.  They now offer a yearly subscription for a cloud online service which does just about the same exact thing and is much more expensive than the original software.  If you want a place to keep all your records, including lesson plans, attendance, reading lists, etc. and a transcript generator, then HST may be the right thing for you.  I have decided to discontinue the HST online service because I don't use many of its features, so it's not worth the price.

A more affordable online option I found recently is HSLDA's new (to me) transcript service.  It costs $12 for members per year, per student, and $16 for non-members.  

A good resource for making your own transcripts at home is Transcripts Made Easy by Jan Bloom.

Curriculum 2016-2017

Our first week is almost over, and I think the dust has settled - or at least I hope it has.  I had to make a couple of adjustments.  After all these years of homeschooling Emily, we finally decided to hold her back in 6th grade.  She had a late birthday for her grade, and she always was trailing behind on her work.  We are hoping this will give her a chance to catch up and not feel so overwhelmed with school work, which is not the idea when you homeschool.  Both of the girls took a science class with our local coop teacher to supplement the Apologia curriculum.  It meets once a week for experiments, demonstrations, and group projects.  They love their science classes! :)

Emily (6th grade)

Bible - Journey Through the Bible 1  (Pentateuch)            Christian Liberty Press
           Three year reading through the Bible program

English - Fix It! 3  (Grammar)                                           IEW
                Following Narnia 1   (Writing)                           IEW
                Wordly Wise 7   (Vocabulary & Reading Comprehension)  
                McGruffey Reader 3                    

Math 7   BJU

History & Geography
                           New World History & Geography            ABeka      (Spine)
                           Literature, art, etc. added
                            to support this fact filled textbook
                            Geography Study Guide                         Beautiful Feet Books


Science   General Science                                                   Apologia
                Homeschool Co-op class                                     Connie Gerbasi

A nice guide for Exploring Creation With General Science2 

Michelle (9-10th grade)

Last year, we thought we would start 9th grade classes with Michelle, so she took Algebra, Biology, and Art History for high school credit. Some of her classes for this year might be considered 10th grade classes, but this is all in preparation for her to dual enroll at the local community college on her Junior year.

Bible - The Westminster Shorter Cathechism                        Christian Liberty Press
English - American Literature                                               Excellence in Literature
                The Elegant Essay                                                  IEW
                 Fix it! - Book 3  (Grammar)                                  IEW
                Wordly Wise 10
Math -     Algebra 2                                                               Bob Jones
History   Early American History                                         Beautiful Feet
Art          Early American History                                         Beautiful Feet
                Artists                                                                     Homeschool in the Woods
Science -  Advanced Biology - Anatomy & Physiology        Apologia
                 Anatomy Coloring Book (Kaplan Anatomy Coloring Book)
               
                 Anatomy Homeschool Co-op class                       Connie Gerbasi
                 Body by Design: An Anatomy of the Human Body
                 Anatomy Coloring Workbook, 3rd Edition 

Computer Applications
                Miscellaneous library books about Microsoft Word, Excell, Power Point, and typing                             software.
P.E.  -   Volleyball - YMCA


Check out what I do with Fix it!

Update on Pens & Highlighters!

The old secretary desk

Growing up, I had a grandfather who was a college professor, and in his study, he had an antique Victorian secretary desk, which he kept closed most of the time. One of my favorite things to do at his house was to sit with him, look inside it, and play with his collection of pens and all sorts of fun office supplies - nifty gadgets, pencil sharpers with toys attached to them...  I think this sparked my interest in nice pens.  

I have always owned a couple of fountain pens and love to play with inks of different colors, but for everyday use, I like to have an assortment of affordable pens for school and note taking.  Using different colors while making notes on schoolwork helps me draw attention to different points I'm trying to make, and colors are fun!

A couple of years ago, I tested a bunch of pens and wrote a review, so I thought I should make a quick update since I discovered these pens on Amazon - Pentel Energel Deluxe pens.  I used them all year, and they are fantastic.  I now own every color with boxes of refills, so I never run out.  I really like both the bold and fine tip pens, though I have been favoring the fine tips (0.5mm) more lately.  These pens are smooth and comfortable. They write well without the need to apply much pressure at all.  I love the variety of bright, well saturated colors available.  Pentel liquid gel dries quickly, which is a nice thing, but it does not write well on glossy paper, and it is not waterproof.  There is a good sized window on the pen to see if the ink is running low.

I also switched my highlighters last Fall and now use these Stabilo highlighters.  I love them!  I bought this set last Fall, use them every day, and they are still as good as new.  Since buying these, I have found new uses for my highlighters.  They have been especially helpful with IEW's Fix It!  I use them every day, and the girls love seeing their pages light up with color.  They almost don't mind that they have some things to correct and more work to do because their papers are so colorful when I am done with them. :)

Wrestling with IEW

Based on that title, you might think that I am having a hard time with IEW, and you would be right.  I think I have been going through this for the last fifteen years, or longer.  My struggle these days is different.  I struggle because of the many great choices and wishing I could just do all the different available courses.  This year, I would like to do the Theme based writing courses: Middle Ages, Early U.S. History, Narnia...  I would also like to do The Elegant Essay, Poetry, Fix it!, and American Literature...  If only we didn't have all the other subjects to deal with, especially with Michelle's high school load, which is quite daunting as it is.

So, what to choose?

Since Michelle is doing American History and Literature this year, it would make sense to do the American History writing curriculum with her.  However, because of the distribution of high school credit requirements in Florida, I need to have her take an English class each year.  So, I will just have to stick with doing IEW's American Literature, which has a good bit of writing in it, and save the American History writing courses for next year.

With Emily, on the other hand, I will do Following Narnia 1: The Lion's Song, because I just can't wait.  We will be listening and reading along with Kenneth Branagh's great voice in these Chronicle's of Narnia audiobooks.

I would like to continue with our Middle Ages writing program with Emily because she needs extra work with English.  She is my late bloomer, the baby of the family, who likes to take things slowly and go about life in a relaxed manner. I think that's called being laid back?...  It's a bit of an alien concept for me.

We will also carry on with the Fix It! series, books 3 and 4.  I have developed my own system with Fix It! which has been working well for us. I print out the student e-book on one side of the paper only.  I go through the lesson with each one individually on Monday, then assign the day's part for them to fix.  I then use different colored high lighters - I love these - and mark their lesson, using a different color for each thing they didn't get right.  I then use the opposite blank page to write a note on what they missed and a further assignment will be given on that particular item.  Depending on what it is and whether this is a repeat problem, they will need to explain why they got it wrong, copy the grammar rule missed found in the grammar section of their book, write examples of how that part of speech may be used, do an etymology on a word that is misspelled or used incorrectly, etc.

What do I do with Fix it!?

Apologia Biology

Michelle is finishing up with biology for the year.  She did very well and enjoyed even the disection labs.  It was revealing for me to watch her and see that she's a natural at the anatomy labs.  We may have found her gift!  This is so not my area... I had to steel myself several times when she couldn't find one of the organs, pick up the tool, and start moving parts... to show her the lungs which were buried in the back behind the liver, or some other such thing...  I am glad there are people who have this area of interest!