40. The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma

My friend, Terri, recommended this heartwarming book. I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrators were excellent. Who wouldn't love a book about a father instilling a love for literature in the heart of his daughter by a nightly reading "streak" that lasted 9 years? 

Almost halfway through the book, I realized that the author was also the narrator. She was great! What a talented young woman and also an endearing story about a girl and her single-parent dad. 

My husband and I always joke that the one thing that we did "right" as parents was that we read aloud to them long after the "standard" time. We think that my oldest was about 17 or 18 and youngest 14 or 15 when we quit (mainly because they started going to bed WAY later than us!). 

As a result of reading this book, last night we had a fond time remembering those mornings with me (always looking to see if I could make it through the WHOLE book without crying - never) and evenings with dad (always looking to see if he could make it through the whole reading time without yawning - never). 

I have a list of all the read-alouds from 2002 (other years I just combined them within my own reading list). The numbered ones were my read-alouds, and the symbol ones were George's:

Kid’s Read Alouds

1. 100 Dresses
§ Box Car Children
§ Granny Hans Breakfast
2. Alice in Wonderland
3. Peter Pan
4. Twenty and Ten
5. Jame’s Herriott’s Treasury
§ Surprise Island
§ Yellow House Mystery
6. In Grandma’s Attic
7. Johnny Appleseed
§ The Story of Dr. Doolittle
§ Children’s Book of Virtue
8. Richard Scarry’s Please and Thank You Book
9. Capybobby
§ Mystery Ranch
§ Mike’s Mystery
10. Heidi
§ Prehistoric Pinkerton
§ Be A Wolf!
11. The Hidden Jewel
12. Centerburg Tales (On tape)
13. Kidnapped by River Rats
14. Homer Price
15. Oh, The Place’s He Went
§ Prince and the Pauper
16. The Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times by Susan Wise-Bauer
§ Fables
§ Leif Erikson
§ Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest
§ Minstrel in the Town
§ All the Tin-Tin Books
17. Follow My Leader

(This didn't include all the science books that I read for homeschool.)

And one last thing, a picture of my precious man reading to my precious boys in 2007:

Our Homeschool Year Shaping Up and Changing

We like it, but I gave the kids the option of not watching the Biography of America videos and spending more time in reviewing their US History through this wonderful site:

http://www.historyteacher.net/USQuizMainPage.htm

This is an awesome site for reinforcement and something I failed miserably at last year. I was trying to keep in step with Thelma's pace, and she was so slow through the "Early Settlement" phase of US History that they would not read for quite some time in their text. Then, we had to FLY through the last part because she spent very little time on that. So, we are reviewing everything they learned last year at an even pace. When they finish a period, they are taking the quiz. Biography of America was an excellent "color" commentary on the events, dealing more with principles, but it wasn't hard core fact reinforcement. I think this is what they need at this point in time. So, their time will be allocated more wisely with this.

They just might feel confident enough to take the CLEP exam at the close of the review, but Paul may be too young, and Michael really lacks confidence. I will pray for him in all of that.

BRITISH LITERATURE

I don't think all this American History review will be in conflict with our moving on to British Literature. I spent HOURS this weekend working on the course that starts tomorrow. I am sure that it will get much quicker once I get into the swing of editing Thelma's lectures for our use.

She got the wrong lecture up for the second half of the class. So, I had to wait for her to get it out later last night. So, I am working on editing that last 56 minutes today.

I am thinking I will need to have my Mondays during the day be reserved for class prep since we will have TOAG ministry on Monday nights now (at least that is what we are leaning toward).

Here is our reading list for British Literature:

Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan ISBN: 0486426750

Everyman, Anonymous ISBN: 0486287262

The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis ISBN: 0486431851

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, editor Jessie Weston ISBN: 0486431916

As You Like It, Shakespeare ISBN: 0486404323

Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare ISBN:0486282724

Complete Sonnets, Shakespeare ISBN: 0486266869

Selected Poems, John Donne ISBN: 0486277887

She Stoops to Conquer, Oliver Goldsmith ISBN: 0486268675

English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology, ISBN: 0486292827

The Kreutzer Sonata, Tolstoy- (translation) ISBN: 0486278050

Favorite Father Brown Stories, G.K. Chesterton ISBN: 0486275450

Non-Dover titles:

Beowulf: A Verse Translation, Frederick Rebsamen ISBN: 9780060573782 (old editions okay)

Paradise Lost John Milton –– Norton Critical Edition ISBN: 13: 9780393924282 (old editions okay)

One novel of choice from this selection: Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe (1819); Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813); or Cooper’s The Last Mohican (1826) ; other titles by instructor approval. This novel is not needed until March 2010. Students may delay making their choice or check out a copy from a local library.

They will have 8 quizzes, 4 papers (3 for Paul), 2 exams, 4 study guides, 2 vocabulary sheets, and 1 explication worksheet. It seems more straightforward than the American Literature class with less that last year's 17 writing assignments, 20 quizzes, and 4 exams (no study guides last year). The exams are both open book and take homes whereas last year's were all closed book exams. So that is very nice. :)

I am so into this. It is a TON of work, but I really like it! Maybe someday, I will develop my own literature courses for homeschoolers. I think I would do well at the lecture part of it. I am still learning, but I have learned much over the last two years through The Well-Educated Mind reading and Thelma's classes.

Musings

It is hard to believe it has been eight days since I posted, but I am going from summer to school mode. So, it means less time for TWEM books but still time to educate my mind. After all, this whole blog started as a way to express what we were learning in our schooling!

So, what are we learning?

HISTORY

Review of last year's US History because I did a horrible job of quizzing them as they went along. The American Literature and American Government classes at Co-op took so much of our time that we just read without proper review. They remember everything from Thelma's American Literature, and I realized that it is because they had their reading reinforced by lecture, discussion, quizzes, writing, and exams.

We are daily doing history in an interactive way for at least one hour, four days a week. Since they did all the reading up through reconstruction, we are simply reviewing the AP US History Flash Cards. We are reading twenty a day. Then, they split the cards up and quiz each other on the contents. Every two days, I am having them take quizzzes here:

http://www.historyteacher.net/USQuizMainPage.htm

Fabulous website with interactive quizzes! Love it.

Doing 20 cards a week, we can finish our review by next month and continue with our regular history that involves listening to this:

Joy Hakim's History of US on cassette

In addition, we will continue with Biography of America

SCIENCE

I bit the bullet and switched to Apologia Biology for Paul

I still think the BJU Biology is much more rigorous, but it was too dry and tedious for Paul last year (Michael dutifully did every single study guide question and excelled on the test, but I don't think he particularly enjoyed it). I have heard that BJU is the best, and I got it for $5! Yet, I also had to buy the tests and answer keys and lab notebook for probably more than the $35 I spent on all of those things for the used Apologia plus I got a multimedia CD with it. In addition, I found a website with much of the book vocabulary lists on flash cards! So cool:

http://quizlet.com/1018306/apologia-biology-module-1-edition-2-flash-cards/

I just wished I had switched him last year when the co-op class was doing Apologia Biology Lab! I was just so overwhelmed with starting a new co-op with all these people I didn't know and had been together for a long time. It was a pretty miserable start for me all around. People didn't really reach out to me or my kids except the Biology lab teacher, Sheri! So, it was a relief to drop that and just do government even though I clicked the most with the Biology lab teacher. But I digress (which I can do on this blog!)

So, I really love it, and I think that Paul loves it too! I love the CD. I love the emphasis on the Lord, and who gives a rip if it isn't as rigorous?

Michael is going to finish out this:

The Cornell Bird Biology Home Study Course.

He read the whole book last year, but to get the certificate, you must pay $200 and complete ten open book exams, but we were so uncertain about our finances with George having just lost his job (another reasons why the Co-op was just too much for me). In retrospect, we probably could have afforded it! So, I wished I had done it then. He is going back through the chapters he already read and completing the exams. I bet he retained a ton though. So, it shouldn't be too much for him.

When he completes this, I will have him do Human Anatomy and Physiology. Possibly through the community college.

Speaking of Science, I have to go on to that for the kids! To be continued tomorrow.

Recap of the 2008-2009 School Year

I am going to be better about blogging here. Here is the run down of the school year that just ended:

HISTORY - Big score with a combination of Biography of America from Annenburg Media, the CLEP US History I book, The History of US by Joy Hakim, and the history component of the American Literature class. My kids are studying for the CLEP now. We only got through Reconstruction, but we are good with that. We tried to follow along with the American Literature timeline, and she really spent a very short amount of time after Reconstruction.

AMERICAN LITERATURE - Big score here too. Thelma English is the bomb. I was able to edit out her tangents on the lectures, have the kids take the quizzes in the quiet of their own homes, and leave enough time for a little more freedom for the two hour class time as a result. We all learned so much about the different eras of literature. My kids really loved it. They especially liked reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and Huckleberry Finn. Two thumbs up.

They read author biographies and syllabus (300+ pages), and books. Here is a list of the "works" they read:

"Mayflower Compact"

"Arabella Covenant"

"How to Spend a Day with God"

"Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson"

"Narrative of Jonathan Edwards"

Declaration of Independence

Constitution of the United States

Anna Bradstreet - To My Husband and Other Poems
Thomas Paine- Common Sense
Benjamin Franklin – Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Ralph Waldo Emerson- "Self Reliance" and "Nature
Henry David Thoreau – "Civil Disobedience"
Henry David Thoreau – Walden; or, Life in the Woods (Just 25-35 pages)
Frederick Douglas – Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
Louisa May Alcot- "My Contraband" and "A Night" (they thought they were boring)
Mark Twain- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (loved)

Mark Twain- Humorous Stories and Sketches (loved)
Great American Short Stories (including Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart, Melville's "Bartleby", Harte's "Luck of Roaring", London's "To Build a Fire", Hemingway's "The Killers", Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair", Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown", Crane's "Open Boat" and "Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", Steinbeck's "The Red Pony".)
101 Great American Poems (Just Poe's "The Raven", Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!", Crane's "War is Kind", Dickinson's "Stop for Death".)
O’Henry- (W.S.Porter) The Gift of the Magi
Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin (their favorite)

ENGLISH/WRITING - The kids had fifteen writing assignments for the American Literature class (I skipped one and adapted another though). Paul did Daily Grams and Michael did Nitty-Gritty Grammar review.


MATH - Bob Jones Geometry and Pre-Algebra. It wasn't broke. So, we didn't fix it. Michael will switch to Teaching Textbooks Algebra II since I got it for only $30 used! It is also beyond my schooling. So, he will need the tutoring. Paul will do Algebra I.

SCIENCE - Michael completed the entire Cornell Handbook of Bird Biology (Michael says it is "No handbook. It is so huge!). I am going to order the tests now and have him do the course of certification because some colleges accept it as credit. Paul started the BJU Biology, but it is a high school text, and he just wasn't ready for it. I am going to switch him to Apologia Biology next year because that is a little bit more user-friendly for him. He isn't as much of a science guy as Michael. We started the Biology lab in co-op, but they used a different text, and it was too much work to have to match the two courses. Consequently, Biology lab will be a part of summer school, and I am going to get GEORGE to handle it by doing "Biology Blitz" Saturdays where we do a bunch of labs in one day. It should be fun for them to do together. :) Sherri is selling me Adam's book and lending us his cool microscope. :)

BIBLE - Michael just informed me that he finished the Pentateuch! My goal is to have them read through the entire Bible by the time they are done with high school. They both read through the New Testament last year. So, they are on their way. Paul is in Exodus. They are also journaling daily. :)

READING - My kids still do a "DEAR" time, and I think this gets lost in schools and even homeschool with the onslaught of more rigorous subjects.

Michael's Pleasure Reading:

The Tin Woodman of Oz
Rink-i-Tink in Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz
The Case of the Blazing Sky
The Quest for the Great White Quail

Paul's Pleasure Reading List:
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
Tripod Trilogy
Hank the Cowdog (about 5 of them)

CO-OP - They did American Government in the fall with many presentations. That was really healthy for my kids to get in front of people. Paul did great for his first time. Michael was very well prepared for both and had fun doing video with Adam and Joe for his Bill of Rights talk. They switched to Critical Thinking with Nikki and learned quite a bit (she is a very good teacher). They had a debate unit too and debated some aspect of renewable energy production. Then, we finished up the year with studying the history of the abolition of the slave trade using the movie Amazing Grace as a springboard. It worked out nicely, but it was too much for me to do that AND the American Literature class on the same day.

MOVIE MAKING - Another aspect of the co-op was the movie Road to Freedom written and directed by Bethany. Michael had a minor part, and Paul helped hold the boom microphone during those scenes. It was quite a bit of time and driving around, but it was really fun for the kids. Two thumbs up (even though is was sometimes a royal pain to have so many last minute schedule changes). Thinking about signing them up for the Corvallis High School film making camp so they can use their equipment. The boys also did movies with their friends every other Friday and one Saturday a month

PLAYS and FIELD TRIPS - We didn't do that many field trips this year. Trying to think of any? We did go to about four plays. This is much less than we used to do, but the kids are getting too old for some of the ones that are offered. So, we are good with phasing that out since we had their "fine arts" in the movie making.

DRAWING - Shannon P. led a drawing class that was really good. I didn't particularly care for the hassles associated with the Tuesday School, but the kids learned some wonderful things, and I am still looking for a teacher for Michael and Paul to improve their drawing/art talent.

PIANO - Paul did great at the slower pace of every other week. We liked this much better and combined it with our Dial-a-Book days to combine the driving time (so green!).

TYPING - Mavis Beacon

COMMUNITY SERVICE - In addition to our regular Dial-a-Book twice a month, we served at the Southside Youth Outreach dinner twice and Benton Food Share twice (labels for their mailing and postal workers can drive). We also raised money and walked in the Alzheimer's Walk in Eugene. It was a good year.

WHEW! This post has taken me entirely TOO long, but it was fun to review the year.