School Update
by adustyframe ~ April 7th, 2010
James and I are on a 1/2 Spring Break. We’re finishing up some things that didn’t get done last week, but mostly we’re taking the days off.
On Monday, we finally made paper. That’s a project from our Marco Polo book that’s been on my list for weeks.
We just made mash with papers from the recycling bin and poured it on a screen. It’s almost dry. I looked at it this morning and thought it would look nice on handmade cards, but James informed me that he’s using it!
I’ve started planning next year already. We’re going to do Ambleside’s year 3.5. It’s a little sideline year to allow him enough time to be ready for the more advanced work in Years 4 and up.
I think he’s more than intelligent enough to do the work, but I’m not into pushing him just to push. He will be 9 turning 10 and I think an extra year before he picks up the “big stuff” won’t hurt him at all.
Here’s what we’re doing next year:
Math U See Delta
Prima Latina
Apologia Anatomy & Physiology–this just arrived in the mail today! It looks wonderful.
English for the Thoughtful Child
Scheduled reading from Year 3.5 on Ambleside
Literature left over from previous years
Civil War–Year 3.5 isn’t a required year in Ambleside so they don’t schedule history. We’re going to skip up to the Civil War time period because James is interested it and just do our own thing.
I chatted with my sister the other day and she confirmed to me that none of our relatives fought on the side of the North. Even though we live on that side of the Mason Dixon line, our relatives were Southern. One of our great-great Grandfathers owned a plantation in Alabama. He invested all his gold in Confederate war bonds (oops!).
James and I went to a Civil War presentation last fall with the homeschool group. The presentation was wonderful, but it was definitely Northern. I want to look at both sides as well as the viewpoint of slaves.
I’ve also chosen to look at a little bit of what was occurring with the Indians at that time. We are also descended from the Creek Indians so I want to include all of our heritage.
Think I can do it? Slaves, Southerners, Northerners, & the Indians!? Phew…. thankfully, this will be 4th grade. We don’t have to go in depth. I mostly want to learn about their lives during this time period.
We will read the pertinent chapters from This Country of Ours (our current US history book). I also found several books at Simply Charlotte Mason using her book finder.
As a side note, this is a super tool for anyone looking for a book list on any topic. You just put in the topic, subject, and age level and a list of wonderful books is generated.
I can list some of the books I’ve chosen if you really want to see them. I don’t want to post a long list if you’re not interested! (Or maybe I’ll subject you to it at another point when I get really excited about what we’re doing.)
We found a re-enactment near us that we will go to in September. I’m already excited about that. I’ve never gone to one.
If you have any great Civil War books or ideas please let me know.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Sounds great! The Foster Abe Lincoln’s World book is good. “Across Five Aprils” comes to mind, but haven’t read it in so long not sure if it would be good for his age. Hopefully you can find a re-enactment to go to! That would be a blast for a little boy! The “We the People” series has some civil war titles. If I think of others I’ll email you. Remember there are great songs you could learn too!
That book is on my list! It looks good. I did buy a CD with Southern Civil war songs on it. I haven’t listened to it yet–I kind of wanted to keep it fresh for the school year;). I’ll look up Across Five Aprils too. Thanks!
April 7th, 2010 at 10:22 am
This is a little bit pricey, but well worth the money. http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TTS/CivilWar.html
April 7th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Sorry! That link isn’t working. I added an l at the end. http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TTS/CivilWar.htm
April 8th, 2010 at 1:01 am
My children have at least two ancestors that fought in the Civil War. When my son was young and interested in the Civil War, we found out what infantry my ancestor was in and researched where they went, what battles they were in and read and researched the battles. We visited his grave. His brother was killed in the battle of Corinth so we studied that. It made the Civil War and family history more alive having a personal interest in it. This was in the early 90′s when we did not have an internet connection. We went to the library, which had a lot of Civil War resources. It should be easier with the internet.
April 8th, 2010 at 5:17 am
Sounds like a great year to me. He will love the Civil War stuff!
April 9th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Wow, Becky! That is so neat!
I also love Across 5 Aprils, but don’t remember the grade level.
We are having a Civil War reenactment up here in Alaska!!! I can’t wait to take the kids.
April 10th, 2010 at 7:07 am
I look forward to teaching my kids about the Civil War when I homeschool!
Being from Georgia, I have always been curious about the Southern point of view of the Civil War. The mainstream teaching is usually the northern view. Last year, my husband and I camped at a lot of Civil War historical sites throughout Georgia. I learned a lot, and it made me sad. If you want to email me, I can tell you about some of the things we saw personally and what I learned.
My mom homeschooled my sister for 8th grade, and they covered the Civil War during that time. She used the Sonlight curriculum and thought it gave a really balanced view. The textbook was called “A History of US – Vol 6: War, Terrible War” by Joy Hakim and there were also some accompanying books that gave different perspectives. They’re probably all too old for James, but here is the booklist if you’re interested: http://www.sonlight.com/history-geography-120.html (click on “individual items”).