Heidi, Come on over and join us! Too bad we don't all live nearer each other---I'd LOVE to see some of the stuff you and others are doing also! I don't know if you've seen or heard of it, but there is a homeschool family who started a little "thing" called "Greek 'n' Stuff". They have series of books and tapes on Latin and Greek and some Bible stuff too. My boys did their Latin through Level 3. I've been thinking recently of checking out their Greek. It's a workbook style but it's done in a way that is so full of drudgery. It can be taught to kids as young as 4 or so. Just in case you DO decide to have your girls do Greek, this may be a place to start. It's worth a look anyway, I think. Here's the website: http://www.greeknstuff.com
Deena...... What you are talking about or at least what i think you mean is what the WTM concept is. All subjects are *wrapped around* or can be adapted to history. WTM does this and so does tapestry of grace. All writing, reading, science and Bible or at least mine is adapted or around history. In WTM the recommendations for living books are books that are for the time period you are studying about in history. So basically you reading programs/narrations/etc. are about persons/events in that time. That is one reason I got Kathryn Stouts comprehensive composition book because I wanted my *interactive writing* to be focused around histor too. But still they write their paragraph or so after we read the books. So we hit writing at least twice. Its just one I work with them on and the other is *free* writing.. All comprehension and narration comes from the books that you are reading. Science can be experiments from that time period or studying the same science that people in that time period did. For example, we are doing a biography on Copernicus. That aligns perfectly with SOTW history in the second year. Is that what you are talking about? Tina
Yes Tina, that's it. I just wondered, cuz I was trying to do Bible, Spelling, Grammar, Language, etc. AND this Ancient History, aside from the math, science, foreign lang. and music. It was just too much! Finally, I realized that the kids ARE doing all those things within the framework of our history, so, not being very brave at testing now water, I asked on here for peoples opinions. It's my first REAL big jump from the "school at home". I've slowly been changing, but it was a "lightbulb" moment for me when I realized the true possibilities of this! I am pretty excited about it! I spent the day today writing down where we're headed. Since I'm piecing together SOTW and Timelines,Etc. stuff, to get the whole Bible and World History picture, I looked through everything and took from this one and that one until it made a cohesive timeline. One section, Abraham and his descendants, is totally from the Bible. So for awhile we'll be just studying the Bible---I like that! But then we'll bring in other stuff after that. I've learned so much already, and we're still just getting past the cuneiform and hieroglyphics! Thanks TIna, and everyone for your comments!
Deena... You may be a true *classical educator* yet :lol: That is the very reason so many of us choose to do the classical approach. It's very logical and tied together. You don't HAVE to do all subjects like that every time, but it is nice to write about something you read about that you find interesting. I know it is that way with my boys. The middle one I have to tell to STOP narrating because he wants to tell me everything, while the oldest is still writing on his paper. History as true classical educators hail is really the most logical and sequential of any events to relate/teach. It is something that the child can relate to and see where he fits into this great big world of ours. In the WTM she lists a reading order under the grammar section to go through and it lines up with the time period you are studying. We read those books, and others I put together with book guides as our interactive reading lessons. Makes perfect sense :wink: I hope you enjoy this method as much as I have come to. Tina
Actually, I wish she had some more listed for the older set. I'm doing this with my 3rd and 6th graders. My 9th I have doing this, but in a 9th grade way. Following SOTW the suggested readings are way too young for my kids, since they're doing the Ancient History in the older grades, as she recommended if just starting. I'm finding my own stuff, but it takes a lot longer, so I'm not getting as much out of the recommended readings as I would've if I would've started a couple of years ago (IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN/REALIZED!!!). I'll look at WTM again and see what I can find, but it seems like if you're not exactly following that schedule you don't get good recommendations for the other grades. It's okay, it just takes me longer.......... Hmmmm, I sound like I'm complaining. I just mean I WISH there were things recommended for other grades, but I absolutely LOVE this whole idea!!! That's one reason I love this, Tina, cuz my non-writing 11-yo writes and writes and writes when we do this! I had to pick my jaw up off the floor the first time he did that. I was planning on encouraging him with little ideas and stuff, but he took off on his own, and it far surpassed what I had thought of him doing! Is that great or what?!!! My 7-y0 is writing all her summaries, and is doing much better at it than when we started. We actually do quite a bit of writing, and we're having fun with it! I'm doing that tomb and stuff from the National Geographic Kids site later, closer to when we're studying about the era around King Tut's time. All I used to know about King Tut was Steve Martin's song. Any of you remember that? Wonder if I could find a copy of that somewhere, just for fun?! :lol:
I'm having computer problems lately :? Deena, go with the art classes. You know they will be fun . My kids do these at our community center and they are awsome. My basement walls are covered in this past years projects. I'm always amazed at what they are able to acomplish. We also link the artist and scientist of the time into our history. I have How Great Thou Art that we use in the winter months. Our local art museum has great stuff and we take lots of field trips. For science, we have a science station that makes it easy. We visit on Fridays and they always have something new to explore. My two also love those science in a box kits. Right now my ds is so into robots. He has three kits and one that is solar powered. DK has some wonderful science books. We use ours all the time. We love archeology. We have participated in lots of college digs from MD to MN. The grad students are awsome teachers and there is nothing like sitting in the dirt and finding something. :wink: My dd notebook is a great reminder of how much she took in. Do you have Nature Centers near? We have a couple and they even have hs classes now :!: We are studing the prarie, local water ways and of course local wild life. Last year we tapped the maple trees and made syrup. Great history lesson. This year spring we will be re-seeding some local prairies. We can't wait. I know plenty of hs planners who just use Son-light, BF, Ambleside on-line or WTM as a library/planning guide. I like trying everything out and then purchasing what works for us. I have all the traditional books, guides and workbooks. The real books are what click for my kids in history, art and science. The journals, notebooks and time-line show how much they are learning and make the best keep sakes. Happy Home Schooling
Tammy, we have the BEST Metro Parks system in the whole country! I mentioned to one of the naturalists at one that they may want to have some programs specifically for HS'ers a few years back, and she jumped on it. Now there are four or five different parks that have a HS program once a month. Next week they are doing one of Nature Journaling!!!
I guess I need to move in with you guys! We have lots of homeschoolers, and a few good things, but nothing like those things! I found a couple of new books today with info. on Ancient Egypt. My friend and I are going to get our kids together and make Egyptian clothes and food and have them wear the clothes and sit on the floor to eat the food. Plus we're doing cuneiform tablets and hieroglyphic scrolls. I think they'll have fun! This friend of mine told me I was so organized to have all this info, and websites, and stuff. I told her I learned it on-line. So thanks you guys, for helping me look decent, and allowing me to learn and share with others!!!
Ladies I have been reading the notes and it sound like it could be alot of fun. I have a 4th grader and 6th grader I was wondering do you all have a book you follow or do you ladies just put it together as a unit. Just wondering would love to think about doing it with my children this semster. But, don't know where to begin and if theres a book to follow I would love to follow it. :lol:
Kris, I hope you can work it out and that your girls like it! If you look back a few messages, I put a few sites to go look at the different things available for this. Plus there is the SOTW (Story of the World) and the Activity books. I got mine at Barnes and Noble I believe, since you can get a 20% Educator's discount there. Go check out the sites listed. There are ladies on here that are using the other things from those sites, so when you have more questions, somebody should be able to answer them!
I'm following "The Mystery of History". You can take it as fast/slow as you want, adding as much additional materials as your kids are interested in and skipping over the stuff they're not quickly.
Tammy, Are you still around? I hope so! Thankyou for the comments on the Monart! Somehow this message thread got lost on me! I am really leaning that direction! We went to the library yesterday and found about a million interesting looking books on Ancient Egypt! The kids kept grabbing them and we were all laughing at how many we found! Now, instead of following the SOTW strictly, I think we'll just run through all of Egypt, and put it in the correct place on the timeline, then go back to Sargon, etc. later. We're just so on a roll that I don't want to stop it! Is anyone else still doing Egypt stuff? I found some websites also that may interest some of you, so I'll post them just in case: http://www.daniellesplace.com/index.html Go to this site, click on Craft Index, then there will a bunch of great ideas! THere is one section called Egyptian Crafts for Kids---Try it, fun ideas! http://www.dltk-kids.com/ At this site, click on Countries and Cultures, then scroll down and click on Egypt. There are great coloring pages and many crafts. http://www.upennmuseum.com/hieroglyphsreal.cgi At this site you can get your name written in hieroglyphics I have some books that are really good too, but I have to go now. I'll write more later.
Deena, Funny question... :shock: Sometimes I can acces the site and sometimes I can't. Other times my post just get lost once I hit the button. :cry: My dh is working on the problem. I seem to have less trouble posting as a guest. I hope everything is fixed soon as I miss my daily dose here. Tammy
Okay Tammy. It sounded like you were leaving for good, and I appreciate your thoughts/messages too much for you to leave! I hope that gets fixed soon, that is sooo frustrating!
Deena, I thought I might have to give up on the site for good. :cry: My husband is running some program and tossing our cookies. I think I have a computer glitch, bug, virus.....ick. I would miss this site so much. My ds is missing his art class. We moved here two years ago and are quickly running out of classes. :wink: I'm going to call and make a few suggestions. I also think re-taking the classes a year or two later would be fine. I'm not sure what he would think about that. I'd love to find a young artist and set up some classes. We did that back east and it was too much fun. Let us know if yours take to Monart classes. ANYONE KNOW HOW LONG IT SHOULD TAKE A PIANO TO BE TUNED :?: Happy Homeschooling Tammy :wink:
I haven't been able to get on for the last three days. I finally sent a message to Amanda through the ABCTeach site. I was still getting e-mail notifications about posts, so I knew SOMEONE was getting on! anyone else with these problems?
That sounds like me Jackie, although yahoo was super screening my junk mail. I'm glad you made it back. I'm still chicken to post anything other than guest post. Tammy
I had minor trouble getting on. I would try to go to a message, and it wouldn't work, so I'd wait and try later, and it would work. It seemed inconsistent on when, and I couldn't figure out why. But I did usually manage to get on after a couple o f tries.
I've had some problems, just the today and yesterday. I'll try to get into the site and I'll get an error screen. Not sure what is up, because later I try and it works. Oh well, hope it's nothing too serious. Heidi
I've had trouble but clicking "refresh" usually does the trick. It took the last guy about 20 minutes to tune our piano.
