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Thanks to Homeschool Math Blog for this great link!

New Year's Celebration

School starts in our area next Monday, which means that our house will have a few less young people hanging around the house, so we will start also.


We're considering taking one week off a month, and then having the whole month of July or August off. That would work well with our usual learning patterns, and would mean less review time in the Fall. Same number of days and hours, though.

We filed our paperwork with the county school board on Monday and got our exemption papers on Wednesday. Guess it would be a bit silly to pester families filing for their 23rd exemption!

Here are our intended curricula. Alanna is 10, Neal is 13.

                                                            INTENDED CURRICULUM FOR ALANNA   2010-2011

Math

Calvert 6

Life of Fred Fractions

Math Doesn't Suck

Key to Geometry 

Challenge Math

Sixth/Seventh Grade math. 

Science

Exploring the Way Life Works: The Science of Biology 

Biology: Concepts and Connections 

Digital Frog and Cell Structures and Functions CD-ROMs

Life BBC DVDs

Biology Coloring Book

Middle school to introductory high school biology, including lab work.

History, American/ World

The Story of US 1776- present 

Yo, Millard Fillmore

The World of Abraham Lincoln

Ohio: Our StateOhio: Our State

Springfield and Clark County

The History of the Kellys

McCafferty History Collection

US history from 1800 to the present.


Government



The Words We Live By

Standard Deviants US Government DVD

Introduction to the Constitution and basic structure of the government, local, state and national.

English/ Literature

Writing

Reading : Adventures in American Literature

Grammar : Writers Inc

Major American Poets

Alanna will continue work on her novels and  read voraciously for a few hours a day.

Philosophy

Sophie's World

Basic introduction to philosophy for young people.

Spanish

BBC  Online Spanish Lessons

PE

Soccer

Bicycling

Walking

Wii Fit

Art

Pottery Class, Springfield Museum of Art

Drawing Class

INTENDED CURRICULUM FOR NEAL , 2010 - 2011  

Math

Real World Algebra

Life of Fred Algebra

Spectrum Math 8

Continue basic Algebra, review arithmetic.

Science

Earth Science - The Teaching Company DVDs

Chemistry - The Teaching Company DVDs

Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments  Thomson

The Extraordinary Chemistry of Ordinary Things Snyder

The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry  Gonick and Criddle

Finish Earth Science, begin basic high school chemistry with lab.

Health

You: The Owner's Manual  Roizen and Oz

Intro to teen health.

History, Geography

World Geography Today  Holt
Economics  Williams

Introduction to college geography and economics.

English


Painless Grammar

Shakespeare for Dummies 

Hamlet - Stewart and Tennant

Romeo + Juliet  - DiCaprio and Danes

Macbeth -  Sexton

Frequent writing and reading, Shakespeare.

Computer

Assorted Linux Distributions: Ubuntu, Fedora, PCOS, Linux Mint, etc.

Building another computer

COMP TIAA A+ Certification studies on ProProf.com

DANTES Introduction to Computing

More exploration of technology.

PE

Soccer

Bicycling

Swimming

Art and Music

Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities  Cunningham and Reich

My Mad, Mad Love for The Teaching Company

When kids make the transition into True Teenhood, it can be hard to satisfy their innate curiosity without boring them to tears : that is, the format in which they learn may bore them excruciatingly.


For instance, while Neal may love to read, he finds that most textbooks are mentally anesthetic. They give stock answers to unenticingly-asked questions, then proceed to make it sound as if all the answers have been found. This make subjects like science, which are intrinsically  fascinating, into Butt-blasting Boredom with a capital 'B' or two.


Happily, Neal has taken quite well to dvds and such from The Teaching Company (no $$ or free products have exchanged hands here, : we have really, honestly used and enjoyed them after paying with our own hard-earned monies.) We've used ones on Algebra, history (we're currently using The Early Middle Ages set), World History (the ones for High school are great fun and very memorable) and science (cosmology and more.) Neal gets college-level teaching that respects his curiosity and caters a bit to his need for a bit of entertainment and variety. It works well all around.


The DVDs are pricey, but watch the site for sales. All of the sets go on sale quite regularly at amazing discounts. Occasionally, used ones are available on Amazon or Ebay. They have a great resale value also!

Homeschooling Language Arts on the Web

Homeschool Reading and Book Sites

Starfall
A very well-designed, colorful interactive children's reading course online...all free! Great for 4- to 7- year olds!

Scholastic Kids
Games, downloads, and activities for children's literature.

All Info About Reading Education
Lesson plans, activities, worksheets, and other helps for teaching young and beginning adult readers.

Book Adventure
A free site that gives children points and prizes for answering questions about the books they've read! They can earn enough points to get a subscription to Highlights for Children magazine, books, candy, temporary tattoos...Parental permission required, but the site is quite legitimate!

Book Hive
A searchable list of kid's books, with games, coloring pages, quizzes, You can search by subject, genre, reading level, etc. Each book is reviewed , and you may add your own review, Some have advisory notes for parents. A really fine resource!!

All Info About Teen Reading
Features reviews of good books, parent helps, worksheets, and much more!

Homeschool Writing Sites

Free Worksheets
Printable story starters.

Alphadictionary
A site for kids ages 7 to 13. If your child signs up (with parental permission, they will  e-mail her a vocabulary-building kids word-of-the day, called the Goodword Junior, five days a week along with tips and tricks to help her remember correct spelling and pronunciation. There are also games, puzzles, and other fun things to do here. A really great site!!

Family Education Printables
A wide assortment of pages with topics ranging from puzzles about classic kids' books to parts of speech to paragraph writing. This can be very valuable for that end-of-the-year portfolio, and the kids may really like some of the puzzles!

MLA Style Guide
Practice writing college-level reports.

Homeschool Grammar, Spelling and Other Sites

Learning Page
Free membership, and many free printables, including alphabet and handwriting pages in several styles, story ideas, etc.

Kids Page Archive
Many worksheets for kids ages 5 to 12. Vocabulary, rhyming, spelling, grammar, stories, etc.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves
The punctuation game...

Proofread!!!
An article about editing...with a great photo!

Mad Libs on the Web
By far the easiest and most fun way to learn the parts of speech!! Add words to stories...and read the silly results!!

Fun Brain
Online games to improve vocabulary, spelling, plurals, and other writing skills.

I Know That!
More online games, like Punctuation Paintball and Scrambled Stories.

Anagram Server
Play with your words!!

Don't Buy It!
A site about media propaganda and wise consumerism for teens. Eye-catching and fun!

First Day, First Week

Monday was our first day of "official" school. So far it's all gone quite smoothly and happily, so here's a few things I've learned about my Students:

1) Allie tends to go to bed right after her story time (which is Book 3 of the Belgariad right now), so she has  no formal bedtime, but she gets in at about the same time each night. Neal, on the other hand, has no bedtime but he does have an arising time. As long as he can get up when he's supposed to and be relatively cheerful about it, I won't impose bedtime.


2) It's very nice to have Allie up for an hour or so before Neal gets up. That allows us to get through most of her academics without competition or interruption.


3) Neal believes that he is unschooling. While I'm sure that his definition wouldn't gel with some purists, he did pick out his subjects and books, and he studies mostly on his own, with a bit of encouragement. Sounds pretty close to unschooling to me.


4) I send emails to the kids most mornings with computer-based activities listed for the day. It may be a website to check out, or a workpage for their writing club, the The LOLcats and Phun Gnomes Society  (Club Oath: We will not kick gnomes, and we will respect LOLcats. Excellent free lesson plans for a  writing club)


5) Writing is much more fun on a laptop, even if it's Dad's. Having fun writing is more important than perfecting handwriting.
6)  Subjects that have Girl Scout badges to go along with them are great!

1700s Unit Study Books Used - order

This is a guide to our upcoming 1700s unit for Neal and Allie this fall...and no, I don't feel obligated to do everything! Most of it was made from books that we already have or that are available from the library. Wish us luck!

1700s Unit Study

Intro- review
Ohio 12-30 Geology 48-65 Indians
The Witch of Blackbird Pond , From Colonies to Const. Lesson 10
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
The CARTOON HISTORY OF THE MODERN WORLD
to page 241
Native American Tragedy worksheets
Review Timeline
Africa http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h28af3.html
History Quiz
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Events_prior_to_1800
http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/eras/era6.htm OVERALL
http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/eras/era6.htm units (downloaded)
http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/Equiano.html slavery

General Worksheets
History Report doc

Literature
Robinson Crusoe
Wordsworth
Coleridge "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Rip Van Winkle
Ben Franklin
Christina Rosetti
Alice in Wonderland
Pride and Prejudice
Tennyson
Dickens
Caddie Woodlawn
The Sign of the Beaver
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Wm Blake
Thomas Gray
Robert Burns
Phillis Wheatley
http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotional_poets/india/ramprasad India
http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotional_poets/buddhist/ryokan Japan
http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotional_poets/india/kamalakanta India


Art
Great American Artists John Singleton Copley p 14
Discovering Great Artists Linnaeus, Gainsborough, Blake, Constable, Hokusia, Audobon,
Story of Painting
A Story of Music Bach to Schubert
Story of Music
http://www.classicsforkids.com/composers/composers_timeline.asp
Philosophy for Kids 27, 48, 51, 53, 89,
Home Crafts
inventions



Frame
George Washington's World
Making Thirteen Colonies
From Colonies to Country
Places in Time
The Cartoon History of the United States to 116
Timeline

http://www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html

Great Awakening

Research
Speeches p 237
Write a stirring sermon about an idea
http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/timeline/1700.htm

World
Can't You make the Behave, King George
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/monarchy/hanovarians.html
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/526565/Crime-and-Punishment-of-1700-1800
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107521.html (France)
Flame colored taffeta Sutcliffe Scotland Bonnie Prince Charlie
http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/upsidedown/timeline/html-frameset.html Australia
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/09/sfc/ht09sfc.htm
http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/lostworlds/timeline/lwstory6.htm
http://www.bized.co.uk/dataserv/chron/events.htm
http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?startyear=1700&endyear=1799
http://www.diversiton.com/religion/main/islam/timeline.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Chinese_history
http://www.askasia.org/teachers/essays/essay.php?no=131/ Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_America
Anson's Way Ireland
Quest for a Kelpie Scotland
Twilight Child Finland
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/18century/welcome.htm England
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/89662.html Cricket literature
Robert Burns Scotland
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/robroy/ Scotland
http://web.archive.org/web/20020214030439/http://www.tartans.com/articles/famscots/robroy.html
http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/index.html


American Revolution

Story of Mankind 51
From Colonies to Const. Unit 3 Causes, Stamp Act, Who fired first,Effects
Speeches 229-235
Book of Games and Puzzles
Watchwords of Liberty
A Book about Ben Franklin A
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington A
Shh! We're writing the Con. 

Will you sign here 

Where was Pat

Decl of Ind.
Eyewitness America N
The Way of Democracy A
THE PRINTER'S APPRENTICE
CHARLOTTE
FINISHING BECCA
Patrick Henry
Thomas Jefferson

Government
From Colonies to Const. Unit 4 evaluate, shays, arguments,foreign views
Speeches 236 245
The Words We Live By
We The Kids
Govt worksheet folder
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/toc.html Constitution

US after Revolution
Ohio 68-86 land ownership
History of Clark County doc
Geography early states
Presidents (incl articles of fed)
Courage of Sarah Noble http://www.homeschoolshare.com/courage_of_sarah_noble.php
DANGER ALONG THE OHIO
The Second Bend in the River
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/icuhtml/fawhome.html Ohio
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/PENN/pnhome.html Wm Penn

French Revolution

A Little History 34, 35
Story of Mankind 52, 53
Les Miserables
A Tale of Two Cities
Voltaire