Books to go with Our Island Story...

My kids are enthralled by British history, and Our Island Story, by H. E. Marshall, outdated though it may be, is a lovely story-like approach to said history.

Some books I think would compliment it (from the Roman invasions of Britain to the Victorian age)...

Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff (movie version perhaps?)
The Story of Siegfried, by James Baldwin
King Arthur & His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green
Beowulf the Warrior, by Ian Serrailier
The Story of Roland, by James Baldwin
Black Fox of Lorne, by Marguerite de Angeli
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston, by Eleanore M. Jewett
For Cassia: Eleanore: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine, by Kristina Gergory
Robin Hood, by Roger Lancelyn Green
The Door in the Wall, by Marguerite de Angeli
For The Boy: Castle Diary: The Journey of Tobias Burgess, Page, by Richard Platt
The Canterbury Tales, by Geraldine McCaughrean
Men of Iron, by Howard Pyle
The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain
For Cassia: Elizabeth: Red Rose of Tudor, by Kathryn Lasky
The Questing Knights of the Faerie Queen, by Geraldine McCaughrean
The Shakespeare Stealer, by Gary Blackwood
Master Cornhill, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (movie version perhaps?)
David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, etc., by Charles Dickens
For The Girl: Victoria: May Blossom of Brittania, by Anna Kirwa

There are also World Landmark books, books like A Little Princess, Horrible Histories, etc., that would make good additions!

Down to the Wire...

We're gearing up to start school again, officially, in just two days. Yes, on Sunday, but we don't "do Fridays", so Sunday through Thursday works for us. And yes, we'll be schooling on Monday too, as I have the day off from work, and that will give me the opportunity to work on getting us up and going!

Having said that, we have a couple of decisions left to make...

1. History: I am deciding whether or not to read aloud from a history spine this year. The kids definitely have historical interests of their own, so I am carefully considering whether their interests are "sufficient" (for lack of a better word), or if we should read from The World in Ancient Times. I also have A Little History of the World, and Builders of the Old World, on hand, so plenty to think about here! Maybe I'll bring them all out, and ask the kids to choose, maybe.

2. Math for my boy: I know this is cutting it close, but he'll/we'll be making our decision tomorrow, when we get our (used) copy of Lial's Basic College Math. Yes, I realize it says "College Math", but from careful research, I have found many recommendations for it as a good review/skillbuilder/overview of prealgabraic math. The other option is Saxon 7/6. Either way, we're gearing up for prealgebra next fall - a little scary!

3. Scheduling: I have some rough ideas. I need to fine-tune these ideas over the next couple of days. Here's what I am thinking thus far...

Sundays:
Music appreciation/theory
Cartography (Mapping the World with Art)
Art lessons
Philosophy
IF I add in a history spine, we'll do readings from it on Sundays as well

Mondays-Thursdays:
Math
Language Arts
Literature/Reading
Rotating readings and subjects:
      Monday: Zoology with The Girl, while The Boy watches a documentary. Reading: Halliburton
      Tuesday: no extras as it is our short day! Reading: living math
      Wednesday: project(s) of choice. Reading: poetry (3x/month), Shakespeare stories (1x/month)
      Thursday: Physics with The Boy, while The Girl watches a documentary. Reading: science/nature

So that's what I have planned at the moment. We'll have to see how it works out! I'm not making lesson plans per se, but will be keeping track of what we learn in my spiffy new Home Schooler's Journal! And, naturally, there is every chance that we'll end up going with PLAN B instead, meaning that I don't have to worry about numbers 1 and 3 quite so much!

Now, I just need to get together the supplies for our science studies, make sure we have plenty of good documentaries ready to go, and get our art supplies in order!

Have a good weekend!

Having a "Dickens" of a Time...

Sorry for the horrible pun, but I couldn't resist!

Last Friday, we watched... 

And it was very good - absolutely a well done version of this story!

So then we did some research on what other Dickens work is available on film. I'm loading up our Amazon watchlist now, with films like...

David Copperfield

We're really especially interested in the David Copperfield film, as it has both a young Daniel Radcliffe, and one of our all time favorite actresses, Maggie Smith!

Watching very well made period films is a fun way to learn some history, and it is good exposure to the woks of a man considered to be one of the greatest writers ever.

Besides that, we went to Wunderkammer this week, and had a marvelous time...

 We saw people in fabulous Steampunk costumes, watched a Handcar Regatta and a magic show, along with gymnastics and hula hooping, and of course the kids couldn't resist either of the bicycle-powered rides!

And yesterday, we found one of our mantises that had grown just a wee bit...

Next week we'll be back to hitting the books. I think we're ready!

Weekly Report with Pictures...

It was a busy week, and we're still trying to find our footing, so to speak, what with work, and college, and all that!

We visited the feed store for chicken and guinea pig supplies, which meant, of course, that we had to check out the rabbits, chickens, ducks, etc.

And there was blackberry picking, which resulted in blackberry cobbler, blackberry-apple crisp, and blackberry-strawberry compote. Now that I finally have a working oven again (it's been about 6 months), we'll be making some Blackberry Cornmeal muffins as soon as we get back out to pick more berries!

And the kids have been busy with crafts during their mornings at my mom's house. First up are The Girl's crafts - lots of glue and old Altoids tins involved... she also made me a bracelet and necklace (bead work), which I'll get pictures of later.

And then there is The Boy's work, definitely Steampunk-inspired!

And a close-up...

With the crafts, and errands, and lots of Story Cube play, and fencing, and derby practice (at which The Girl took her first major fall, but got right back up and started skating again), and reading, and watching some favorite TV shows, it has been a jam-packed week!

Hope you all had a good week, and that you'll have a good weekend!

Monday Musings....

Outside My Window...
Right now it is lovely and cool, just a little overcast. By midday though, we're looking at mid nineties, and possible thunderstorms. I hate humid weather like we had the past couple of days, so I love the idea that a thunderstorm might just break that!

In the Garden...
We're getting tomatoes in waves, mostly the cherry tomatoes. The corn has made ears, and we're eagerly awaiting harvest time. I'm sketching out some fresh plans for the front year, something simpler than what is there now - my BIL, when he lived with us, loved to buy random plants at the nursery and just stick them anywhere. I'm thinking on the larger side of the yard (it's divided in two by a concrete path), a lawn area with a border on two sides... native/decorative grasses, some lavender, rosemary, maybe some butterfly bush, and bulbs for seasonal color. The other side has an olive tree, and I want to plant a Meyer lemon. I'm thinking mostly ground-cover on that side, specifically creeping thyme and chamomile.

In the Kitchen...
Still lots of grilling going on,and thanks to blackberry picking on Friday, a lot of blackberry dishes - cobbler, crisp (with apples), Dutch baby topping (with strawberries).... yum! Hopefully by the end of this week, I will have a new (used) oven, so I can get back to baking muffins and casseroles. I'm trying to cook ahead when possible, so that we are prepared for days that have work, college, homeschooling, sports, whatever. I have assigned the kids two nights a week each that they are to help with dinner. Cooking is a practical skill both should know, and both are interested in. Yes, The Boy can make a Sloppy Joe dinner himself, both kids can scramble some great eggs, and The Girl can make a good basic chicken curry, but it is time to expand their repertoires! And, for what it is worth, we don't do "kids" cookbooks. Too many of them are simply ways to decorate food rather than actual cooking!

Around the House...
Most of our rooms have been deep-cleaned now... with the exception of the bedrooms. We'll be targeting those this week and next. We did fix the bathtub plumbing over the weekend! The faucet was constantly leaking hot water, a steady stream. Our water bill keeps creeping up, and I'm sure it affected our gas bill too. We installed new rubber washers, used plumber's tape on all the threads, and voila! No leak! Eventually, we'll want to replace the current system since it is very outdated and hard to find parts for, but that can happen later. Now I can't wait to see the next water bill!

On the Agenda...
In homeschooling, we're adding in history and geography this week. The Boy will be reading The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, while The Girl and I will finish up Elizabeth: Red Rose of Tudor, and then launch into Queen Elizabeth & the Spanish Armada. We're looking forward to getting back to Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels, and I should have Mapping the World with Art today or tomorrow! I haven't decided for certain if we're going to be doing a history "spine" once a week or not, and whether we would use A Little History of the World, or Builders of the Old World, or even OUP's World in Ancient Times if we do! There is a downside to owning so many good books! We're going to start reading The Princess Bride today too, though looking through it, I am not reading aloud all the author's annotations as I think they'll get in the way of the story. Thankfully, being all italicized, they are easy to spot.

M is back to school today - I dropped him off about an hour ago. I start back up myself tomorrow evening.

Hope you all have a good week!

Back to the Grind...

image courtesy of Small Business Branding

This was my first week back to work, and I'm glad it's almost over! Not that anything went wrong, mind you. I'm just not used to having to get up early, be gone from home all morning, etc. And I had a fair amount to catch up on... all the invoices, equipment requests, and so forth that came in while I was gone. I did finally meet my new boss yesterday, and she seems really nice. She says she doesn't want to change the way things are working here, as we seem to have our little office under control, which is a relief.

Next week I start back to school as well, as does M. He'll have two very full days of classes, and I'll have just one evening class. I did think about taking a second evening class, but honestly, I've got enough on my plate at the moment, and I need to have time for actual homeschooling!

What We Did This Week...

We went bowling, thanks to the free bowling for kids summer program. I actually beat M, for maybe the second time ever!

We finally started watching season two of Once Upon a Time. Love that show! We're still enjoying Eureka and Merlin as well.

We finished Cheaper By the Dozen. Next up is The Princess Bride! The Boy is nearly done with Behemouth, which he highly recommends, and The Girl and I are making good progress with Elizabeth I: Red Rose of Tudor. I think the World Landmark book -- Queen Elizabeth & the Spanish Armada -- will make a very good follow-up.

The Boy got some one-on-one coaching again this week at fencing. He was told that his footwork is excellent, and he controls his foil very well. The Girl is gearing up for a roller derby bout (she'll be doing the halftime show demo), so she has practice twice next week. Both kids are possibly nearing a step up in the level of their sports... meaning that The Boy may move soon to the teen/adult fencing class, and The Girl might move up to a real team (full contact) soon!

And today is blackberry picking day at the park. I'm thinking blackberry cobbler tonight!


Coming Up...

We'll be, more or less, officially starting up our 2013-2014 school year in another two weeks. We're adding in over those next two weeks: history reading (I'll be reading to The Girl, The Boy will be reading his history book of choice on his own); science reading (different books for each kids, but I'll be reading them both aloud); art; and The Complete Book of Marvels. That way, when we get to our official starting week, we'll only have to add in math, hands-on science, cartography, and language arts, so hopefully it won't be too much of a jolt! Speaking of language arts, I received Write With the Best, volume 1, in the mail yesterday, and I love it! We'll be using it at "half pace" so it will last The Boy the whole year, and he will still have time for free writing, poetry, language arts games, and more.

Hope you all had a good week!

Bookish Thoughts...

I'm listening closely these days to my kids, to see what they are thinking about, what intrigues them, and how I can help them build on those interests. With that in mind, besides all the fun reading I have here, I'm creating possible book title lists to help them explore those interests at a deeper level...

For The Girl, the world currently revolves around princesses/queens (real ones, not fantasy), and animals. She's really enjoying the Royal Diary: Elizabeth I, Red Rose of Tudor, for example. So with all that in mind, here are some titles I am considering:

Royalty:
Various selections from the Royal Diaries series
And from the Landmark/World Landmark series:
Queen Elizabeth & the Spanish Armada, by Frances Winwar
Marie Antoinette, by Bernardine Kielty
Cleopatra of Egypt, by Leonora Hornblow
Queen Victoria, by Noel Streatfeild
Catherine the Great, by Katherine Sherman
and so forth!

Animal Related:
Girl of the Limberlost, by Gene Stratton-Porter
All Creatures Great and Small, by James Herriot (maybe the others in the series as well)
The Scientist in the Field series, by various authors
The Story of Dr. Doolittle, by Hugh Lofting


And for The Boy, the world is about science, inventions, Victorian times, and Steampunk. Titles under consideration include:

Fiction:
The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells
The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne
Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne
The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne

Victorianism:
Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Dodger, by Terry Pratchett (also falls under Steampunk)

Science:
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson
The Magic of Reality, by Richard Dawkins
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Childhood, by Oliver Sacks

I'm sure there are other titles that will come to mind as we go, and other interests that will spring up!

Going, Going, Gone

I've reached the end. Next week I'm back to work. And right now I am so glad I work only half-time! I couldn't imagine the shock it would be to go back to a full-time job!

So we celebrated the end of my vacation with a trip to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (thank you, Read to Succeed program for the free tickets!)! I didn't take very many pictures - we were far too busy having fun! But here are a few...

When we got there, it was overcast and cool, but the sun soon came out!

And there was mad and wild spinning

A dolphin AND Cirque show that was amazing!

And of course, there were some of our favorite cartoon characters!

It was the best day out we've had in a long time! We were at the park from opening to closing, so about 10 hours. Not too many crowds, which is why we chose a weekday. We skipped most of the shows after learning last year that overall they are just painful to watch.. constant baiting of tigers with hunks of bloody meat just to get them to jump, and so forth. We did watch a combo dolphin-Cirque act that was fantastic, with jumping dolphins, a hula-hoop dancer that dazzled the eyes, a trapezist that took our breath away, and male acrobats that were so strong and graceful we could hardly believe our eyes! Much of our time though was spent on rides... water rides, spinning rides, a [mild] roller coaster, and so forth.

It was a great ending to vacation. Today we're just hanging out around the house, as we are all worn out. I think tonight we'll watch The Avengers and share a big bowl of popcorn, and that'll be plenty of fun too!

Hope you all had a good week too!

Another Week Floating By...

Where is time going? I'm staring down my last week of vacation... then, back to work, and the week after that, back to school as well.

It was a good week though!

Activities This Week...

We went to a newer Farmer's Market on Sunday, still a very small one, with maybe twelve or so vendors. We came home with a jar of delicious, and local, blackberry honey, and the kids enjoyed some fresh lemonade. We're going to go again this weekend to check out the veggie offerings.

On Monday, the kids acted as dogsitters for my mom, and then again on Wednesday. It is a nice, and generally easy, way for them to earn a little money! The Girl especially is very good with the dog - she makes sure he gets outside when he needs too, and they can happily play together for hours. I've heard that there is a training center for guide dogs near us, and that they're always looking for kids to volunteer time to help the dogs acclimate to children, and I am thinking that might be a very good opportunity for her, so I need to look into that.

Yesterday, we headed out for some time at the river. We swam, drifted down river in the current, baked in the sun.... it was good!

I am curious as to what flower this is....

Then, we headed to a food-and-movie night at M's culinary school. Delicious empanadas, an intriguing film, and a couple of great speakers. Our kids were the only children there, and they behaved very well!

Learning This Week...

The film last night was Genetic Roulette, all about the GMO "movement", something we feel very strongly about. It was an interesting, and fairly horrifying, film about Monsanto, and what they're doing to our food sources. It definitely renewed our interest in eating locally and organically! I personally was dismayed to find out that zucchini, one of my favorite foods, is a fairly common GM food. Anyhow, the kids learned a lot about biochemistry, industrial farming and feeding practices, and so forth. Then the speakers came up, one being the manager of The Seed Bank (incidentally, he homeschooled his kids too!), and the other a farmer who used to grow wine grapes, but is now re-diversifying his farm. He talked a bit about biodynamic practices,and invited us to come visit his new farm stand and tiny bakery.

We started reading Robin Hood, the Roger Lancelyn Green version, this week, which has ignited an interest in both kids regarding British history. I think we might read through Our Island Story, which has very short chapters and a great flow to it. We read a little more in Cheaper by the Dozen as well. The Boy finished Leviathin and has returned to The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for the moment.

We've been watching birds a lot week, with geese flying over morning and evening, and then a couple of new residents in the neighborhood... here's one that The Boy photographed...

We think they are a mated pair, and they appear to be taking up residence in one of the cypress trees across the street. I love hearing them calling to each other!

Other pursuits this week included painting, lots of homemade playdough modeling, some Merlin and Eureka, and so on. Our garden is doing pretty well - the corn is taller than me now, and is starting to form ears. I'm going to be reading, on recommendation from the farmer last night, Lasagna Gardening, for soil improvement purposes, because I would really like to expand our home gardening efforts.

Coming Up...

We're prepping for some remodeling in the kids' bathroom. The old "tile" is coming away from the wall in a few spots, so we need to pull it all off, put in some new sheetrock, a new moisture barrier (of which there was none), and then? I don't know that we can afford new tile, and what' coming down is nasty, thin, old stuff that I'm not sure really is tile. Maybe laminate? Anyhow, it will be a good project for the kids to help with.

And, with the end of summer rapidly approaching, I need to decide for once and all on Option A or Option B. Grrrr. I'd say at this point, because learning is seeming to naturally unfold these days, Option A is winning, though I still love the depth of Option B!

Hope you all had a good week!