Compiling a 2016-2017 List of Books...

Some read-aloud ideas for summer and beyond!

Fiction (Literature)

Our focus for the year is stories referenced in the TV series Once Upon a Time, plus a few other books just because
Journey to the Center of the Earth (currently reading this!)

Around the World in 80 Days

The Twenty-One Balloons 

The Phantom Tollbooth (we quite possibly may listen to this excellent audiobook version in the car again)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Through the Looking Glass
Grimm's Fairy Tales (selected stories)
The Red Fairy Book & The Blue Fairy book (selected stories)

The Odyssey
Pinocchio
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales (selected stories)
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (selected stories)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Peter Pan
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Through the Looking Glass
The Lady of Shallot 
The Story of Mulan 
Beowulf: A New Telling
King Arthur & His Knights of the Round Table  
Rip Van Winkle

And for audiobooks, we're looking at:
 The Hobbit
and The Lord of the Rings books one, two, and three
[I think I would enjoy listening to these as much as the kids would!]

Geographical books
One of the options for high school social studies in California is a year of world geography/cultures. So I'm looking at vintage books (listed first), and the more modern ones... Maybe we'll mix and match!
The Royal Road to Romance
The Glorious Adventure
The Flying Carpet
Seven League Boots

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe 
Notes from a Small Island 
A Walk in the Woods
In A Sunburned Country

I'll post more later, as I still have nature and science to cover!

Monday Musings.. Countdown...

image courtesy of knisha.wordpress.com

We have started the countdown!!!

Seven weeks left as a secretary

Seven weeks left in our "school year"



...Outside My Window...
The mornings have been very cool and overcast, after bouts of rain last week. Sometimes the sky clears off mid to later afternoon, sometimes it doesn't. It should stay cool, in the 70s all week!


...In Our House & Kitchen...
The family room has been seeing double duty the last week, as a bedroom, since The Boy sprained his foot and could not comfortably go up the ladder to his loft bed. The sprain itself is not bad, and should heal quickly. But, the ER xrays showed previous damage, from an ankle sprain years ago, which has left a bruised spot on the bone, also called an "osteochondral lesion of the talus", meaning that without any ankle support, if he keeps jumping about (ahem, parkour), he could have arthritis in that ankle in the next ten years. He's thinking about other sports. Anyhow, so hopefully soon he'll be back in his room at night, and I can remove all bedding, etc., from the family room.

In the kitchen, I've been better overall about prepping meals ahead of time, and planning more carefully. Tonight it's turkey burgers, tomorrow a roasted chicken, and then good use of leftover roast chicken!

And I was given this lovely orchid as a pre-Mother's Day gift! It's on the kitchen windowsill, which actually looks out into the family room (room was added on where there was a patio, sometime in the 70s).


...In Our Garden...

image courtesy of pinterest

The front yard is coming together beautifully. I removed a bunch of grass yesterday, while The Girl planted some more marigolds, and then we placed the slate stepping stones, although we might put gravel underneath them, sort of like this....

We've decided on a Santa Rosa plum to replace the recently deceased maple. I've got yarrow, sunflowers, and something blue I can't remember the name of all sprouting up in reused containers. I'll transplant them in later. The garden is sort of coming together as a flower/herb garden, and I am very happy with it so far! The Girl has been a big help with planting, and keeping things watered.

I also got an outdoor plant for Mother's Day, which I really love....

...In Our Homechooling...
Math this week, with TabletClass and Prodigy. Spelling and writing. More Downton Abbey. More pondering next year. We're keeping it simple right now, so that we actually feel like we're getting things done!

...Reading & Watching...
I just finished A Sudden Light, by Garth Stein, and very much enjoyed it! The Boy finally found The Martian, and only has about 10-15 pages left, so that'll be my next book. The Girl has been thumbing through a half dozen library books on various animals/sea creatures, and such, alongside her continued reading of Harry Potter. We haven't touched A Wind in the Door recently (lack of time), but did read about smallpox in Outbreak! Plagues that Changed History.

On Saturday, we read about Twelfth Night in Stories from Shakespeare (by Marchette Chute), and then we went to see the play as produced by the local junior college. It was very well done, and we were glad we went!

Our movie night featured the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, which was not nearly as good as the first three. Though we're still enjoying season four of Once Upon a Time!

...Otherwise...
Next week, my office is being moved, so at work I am packing and sorting. I've just about finished school for the semester myself — just a final paper, and one more biology colloquium to go! Then, I have an all-day workshop in August for my new teaching position. Over the summer, I'll be working with the junior college program, and I hope to spend some time in the classroom observing, in order that I can learn more about teaching before I teach!

The Girl has derby, The Boy is off sports (and between them), and M is working about 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, so you can imagine how exhausted he is at the end of the day!

Have a good week!

Monday Musings...

...Outside My Window...

It's been gorgeous here lately, though quite warm, with the last few days in the 80s! It is supposed to cool back down to the 70s tomorrow, and there might be some rain by the weekend. The dryness, and high pollen counts, have got The Boy in constant allergy agony, so we're going to try switching allergy meds, and taking him in for allergy testing. Poor kid.

With such clear skies though, we have seen plenty of these!

...In My Yard...

I spent the late morning/early afternoon yesterday weeding, and relocating some lamb's ear. I also finally got a gift of daylilies situated too, as well as the tiny euphorbia my mom found next to her big one, and gave to me.. M's been trying to keep up with rapidly growing grass in both the front and backyards, but with the rain, then warmth, then rain, then warmth... the stuff is growing like crazy!

...In the House and Kitchen...

I've been getting bits of the house deeply (spring) cleaned... a little at a time. I'll get it done yet! And the kids are working on choosing paint colors for their rooms for this summer's big project (besides the bathroom plumbing).

I'm getting better at planning ahead food-wise. I cook several breakfast items ahead for the kids to pick and choose from, and then they add fruit, tea, etc., and I pack my own snacks/lunch the night before. On the dinner menu this week are: turkey burgers; roasted chicken; quesadillas made with leftover roasted chicken; and probably this awesome casserole from Kalyn's Kitchen.

...In Our Homeschooling...

The Boy is starting chapter three in algebra this week, after doing very well on his end-of-chapter 2 test last week. The Girl is working on multiplication more in-depth, because fluency with it will only help her as she moves along.

In language arts, I really need to get The Boy working on his expository essay! The Girl did another 3 lessons in Spelling Workout, and will do more this week. I am also hoping to have each of them memorize a poem by the end of April (free choice of poets and pieces), and maybe do a freewrite this week.

...Reading and Watching...

A Wind in the Door is going well, though we're only a couple of chapters in so far. The Afternoon Basket is high up on my to-do list this week! On their own, they are continuing with The Martian and Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. I just finished a very odd and intriguing page-turner.. The Children's Home. The Boy wants to read it when he finishes his current book, so we'll switch at that point.

We watched another few episodes of Downton Abbey, and will watch another couple this week. I'd really like to get in another episode of Human Planet as well. And we've been enjoying the end of Once Upon a Time's season three!

...On the Agenda...

For me, running and weight training, plus introductory karate tomorrow night. I tried, and loved, TRX resistance training over the weekend, so I really want to do more of that!

The kids have parkour/roller derby, afternoon skating tomorrow, and maybe (just maybe) a fencing session this week.

Other than that, my class was cancelled today (phew!). I do have tutoring tomorrow, and office hours at the junior college on Wednesday. So altogether, it is a lighter week than usual!

I'll leave you with The Girl's last puppy petting session for the "R" litter. The "S" litter is due in early May, so we should be playing with puppies by mid-late May!

Have a great week!!!

Bookish Thoughts...

We finally finished A Wrinkle In Time, and of course, the first thought to cross our minds was, what do we read next? The obvious answer for now is A Wind in the Door, since Wrinkle was so thoroughly liked by all.

But then, what about after that?

This morning, on my way to work, I saw a couple of hot air balloons, and immediately decided that after our adventures with the Murry family (I think the 3rd in the series, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, is more enjoyable for older kids even than mine), we should revisit one of my all-time favorite books... The Twenty-One Balloons. My husband then said, "After that, you should read Around the World in 80 Days. They'd love that book!"

So I think we're in for a summer of adventurous travel (yes, we keep up with read-alouds all year)!

Other titles that then came to mind include:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Time Machine
and The Phantom Tollbooth.

I know there are plenty more of this genre out there, but I am only looking at summer!

This will actually transition very nicely into our fall lit plans—books/stories referenced to in the series Once Upon a Time.

I think we'll start with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, as that also fits with adventure travel, and then (shown here in no particular order), I hope to read:

Grimm's Fairy Tales (selected stories)
The Red Fairy Book, and The Blue Fairy book (selected stories)
Pinocchio
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales (selected stories)
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (selected stories)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Peter Pan
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Through the Looking Glass
The Lady of Shallot 
The Story of Mulan 
Beowulf: A New Telling
King Arthur & His Knights of the Round Table  
Rip Van Winkle

I think that's at least sufficient to start with! 

I love book planning.

And of course, there is our own reading that is always going on...

I am currently reading The Help, on our librarian's recommendation, while waiting for The Boy to finish The Martian. The Girl is three quarters of the way through Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone! She still reads a little slowly, but hey, she reads! We're also reading The Cloud Collector's Handbook (me); Spaceflight: A Smithsonian Guide and Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide (The Boy); and Eyewitness: Mammal and Slither & Crawl (The Girl).

Other books we're thinking about, for the Afternoon Basket, include:
Frost Hollows & Other Microclimates
The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth
DNA
Random titles (and to-be-added titles) from our selection of Intriguing/Unusual History Books, such as one we have on hand right now: Outbreak! Plagues That Changed History
Death by Black Hole & Other Cosmic Quandaries 
Coville's version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which we plan to see on stage in May!

I'm sure I'll come up with more... more is never the problem when it comes to me and books!

Where We Are, and Where We Are Headed Next...

Since we are getting closer and closer to the end of the year, I thought I would share where we are at with homeschooling, and what our next big plans are!

The Boy

He is doing so well with TabletClass Algebra as his math text/program! As he's currently on chapter 2 out of 14, I doubt he will finish by the end of June, but in September, we will just pick up where he leaves off, and move on from there.

In writing, I have sort of dropped the ball... a lot. However, I am taking steps to remedy this. I have accepted that as an English tutor/teacher-to-be, I am not good at following a pre-written curriculum. I am much better at putting together assignments myself. So I am going to just work with him on the steps of writing various types of essays, though we will continue to use books like Writing With A Thesis for examples and refining. His first essay, an expository one, will be at least 5 paragraphs, and we'll be starting that today. I plan to have him read a least one sample essay, brainstorm, work on an outline, then a rough draft, and a final draft. In between all those fun steps, he'll continue with freewriting, etc., a la the Brave Writer Lifestyle. After the expository essay, we'll move on to a persuasive or descriptive essay. 

Next year, we'll continue essay writing, with at least one research paper, and various short essays across the curriculum.

The Girl

Our current approach to math—using Math Essentials and filling in any weak spots with Math Mammoth's Blue Series—is working quite well. She likes both programs, which is a rare find here, and is making nice progress! We'll continue on with this for next year's math (pre-algebra), and then decide where to go from there. I might have her try out the free pre-algebra lessons offered by John Zimmerman, the amazing TabletClass guy. Our primary focus the rest of this year is getting her up to full speed on multiplication, division, and fractions.

She does some writing/freewriting, and I should have her doing more Brave Writer Lifestyle activities, but our main focus is spelling, since that is a major weak spot. She spells very phonetically, which can be interesting, but not necessarily easy to understand. I bought a Spelling Workout workbook at a lower level than her reading comprehension, and she's flying through it, doing an entire lesson in a day. I assume we'll slow down as she moves up through the levels. 

Next year, we'll add in written narratives, and the beginnings of essay work.

Both

Downton history, while we haven't read/watched everything on my list, has been a huge hit! That said, I think next year we'll simply aim for watching series, documentaries, and movies... a visual interest-led approach. That is because we have decided we need a year that focuses more on science, which brings me to my next point.

Science has been largely interest-led this year. The Boy is reading a couple of books on black holes, and other cosmological phenomena; The Girl has practically memorized entire animal encyclopedias. We've watched documentaries, done an occasional small experiment, but we haven't really dug too deeply into science this year. I would like to finish out the year with some anatomy and nutrition, but we'll see. 

Next year though, both kids will be doing biology, The Boy because it's a science he has not focused on previously, and The Girl in order to broaden her horizons past animals. I'm looking at either Life on Earth (which looks fascinating, but is an iBook and therefore more difficult for me to access), or something along the lines of Exploring the Way Life Works, or maybe even a (gulp) textbook (this one, or perhaps this one).

OR, we'll be doing the Big History Project with extra science, primarily biology. [Personally, this would be my number one pick]

Literature has not been great this year either, mostly because I did not put enough emphasis on it, and I failed to make it a cornerstone of our education. The kids do read a lot on their own—right now I've got one enmeshed in the world of Harry Potter, and the other one millions of miles from here with The Martian—but at read-alouds... well, I'll just say it: I've sucked this year. I am working to remedy that a bit though. We're finally wrapping up A Wrinkle in Time, and then will either read A Wind in the Door, or something entirely different.

For next year, we are toying with the idea of a lit study based off of another favorite series of ours, Once Upon a Time. We would bring in everything from Alice in Wonderland and Pinocchio, to the Grimm fairy tales, Peter Pan, the legend of Blackbeard, and so forth. 

So,  biology/Big History  interest-led science and literature would be the main focal points for family studies, bolstered with math and writing as individual activities. Plus, The Boy may well take another junior college class.

So yes, we're still aiming high, and falling a bit short. 

Monday Musings...

...Over the Weekend...

We headed to the coast for a sunset. One of my favorite things about living where we do is that the beach is only about 40 minutes away.

...Outside My Window...

It is really fall! We have bouts of rain, followed by days of clear, cold (for us) beauty. Sweaters, scarves, the occasional knit hat... all are coming out of storage at last. There is green poking up through the ground everywhere.

...In Our House & Kitchen...

I am really trying to be more on the ball with menu planning. And making good use of leftovers. For example, after our hike last week, we roasted up some turkey legs. The leftover meat went for turkey nachos after the beach visit, and then the bones will make a great stock for Friday's slow cooker soup, exact recipe to be determined.

And I'm having the kids do cleaning bursts every day. Even if they only spend 10-15 minutes at a time cleaning, it makes a huge difference. And while they're cleaning one area, I tackle another one. That reminds me, we need to clean out the rain gutters again while the sun is shining!

...In Our Homeschooling...

Yesterday we got off to a great start for the week. We read in our history book; read about the sun and seasons; and did math (The Boy got 96% on his first Teaching Textbooks test!). The Girl is making fantastic progress with Mastering Math Essentials (thank you Erin!)

The rest of this week, we plan to read another few chapters of history; start The Glorious Adventure; read some more of The Hobbit; do at least 3 more math lessons; and do some Brave Writer work. The Boy will be working on brainstorming for an essay/writing project, and he'll be crafting his thesis (I'll have him use Thinking In Threes for assistance with this); The Girl will do some copywork (probably poetry); and we'll do some freewriting. I also came across an old book in my bookshelves, called Practical Exercises in Basic English, that has some good exercises for The Girl.

...Art and Such...

Our artist this month is Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and here is what we have been looking at and/or will be looking at (as always, I just print these and hang them up on the fridge):

As far as art projects, I need to pull out a few of our instructional books, and choose something to do! I think we might make these Star Wars snowflakes to decorate the front windows for the Christmas season!

...Reading and Watching...
The Girl and I are just about finished with this lovely version of Cinderella. She's still reading The Marvelous Land of Oz, between nonfiction titles on various animals, and books of poetry. The Boy, in addition to reading his textbook for machine shop/tech, is still reading Dracula. As a family, we are reading The Hobbit, which I hope to finish in time to read Kringle before Christmas, then we'll tackle the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the new year.

We watched Dodgeball not long ago, when we all just needed something ridiculously funny. This week though, The Girl asked for the first installment of The Hobbit, "to compare and contrast it, Mom." And the kids discovered a new show on Amazon called The Olympians. Meanwhile, M and I are watching old reruns of The Practice... we do enjoy a good courtroom drama! And I am partway through season 4 of Parenthood. I only watch an episode or two a week, so it will take me a while to finish.

...Also on the Agenda...
Work, and work. No derby practice right now, so we're getting exercise other ways! The Boy is working on finishing an art project on his own for class, as well as a group project done on campus. The Girl is watching BBC videos (dinosaurs, I think) she found on YouTube (she was very proud and pleased that she found those!). I'm working on my seminar paper for the end of the semester. This week is we reach our twentieth wedding anniversary, so M and I will be heading to a dinner out!

Have a great week! And here's one last picture for you, from our hike last week...

Linked up over at the Coombe Mill blog

Block One of the Fairy Tale Project...

The Girl and I vastly enjoyed watching Cinderella over the weekend, so we are starting our fairy tale studies with Cinderella.

The plan at this point is pretty simple... she'll read selections from the following list, at the rate of 2-3 books a week, and I will be reading to her from a longer version.

Cinderella Stories for The Girl to read:
Domitila (Mexican)
Adelaida (Cuban)
Smoky Mountain Rose (American, Appalachian)
Little Gold Star (Spanish American)
Perrault's Cinderella (French)
The Orphan (Greek)
Egyptian Cinderella (Egyptian)
The Turkey Girl (Zuni)
Persian Cinderella (Persian)
Yeh-Shen (Chinese)
Korean Cinderella (Korean)
Angkat (Cambodian)
Anklet for a Princess (Indian)
The Golden Sandal (Middle Eastern)
The Way Meat Loves Salt (Jewish)
Abadeha (Philippine)
Tam and Cam (Vietnamese)
Cendrillon (Caribbean)
The Salmon Princess (Alaskan)

And the longer version I am reading aloud, with amazing illustrations (I love Arthur Rackham):

Besides that, we'll watch a few movies, such as Ella Enchanted, Ever After, and likely the original Disney version. We'll be discussing the differences in the various versions, book and film, and I may use a guide to discussion (or I may not!).

Happy Autumn!

My favorite season of the year! Now if only the weather would reflect the season, instead of tricking me by being cool for a day or two, and then jumping right back up into the 90s....

What We've Been Up To...

The Boy has decided he wants to go ahead and try the Big History Project with some added science, so for the time being, his homeschooling consists of math, writing, reading, and Big History/Science. Nice and simple.

So The Girl says if he gets The Big History Project, it's high time we get going with the Big Fairy Tale Project. Math, writing/spelling, reading, and fairy tales. Check. By the way, we are really enjoying The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making! It is a little bizarre, but in an appealing way.

She also really wants to stick with reading through a bunch of the Scientists in the Field series, which are excellent books. For both kids, we're actually going to have a science day once a week for hands-on explorations, using BFSU 2 and 3 as general guidelines.

The Afternoon Basket is therefore being set aside for the time being, which is okay.

The Boy loves his classes at the junior college. He was very proud this week when, after trying for the last two weeks and not quite getting it, he finally got all the measurements correct on a worksheet for Machine Tools Technology. His teacher says they need 100% on everything before they can move on to the next step. He says both his teachers are great—enthusiastic, helpful... just what one wants in a teacher! Here's a link to his art teacher's work, currently on display at the on-campus art gallery.

The Girl is getting quite proficient with dictionary use, which is nice to see. She told me yesterday though, after all the great work she's been doing with time telling worksheets, that she still doesn't really get it. Grrrr. Somewhere I have a practice clock we can try working with, or I'll just pull the clock off the family room wall, as it is one of the few I have seen that marks the minutes in 5 minute increments around the edge of the clock.

We've watched an odd assortment of movies lately, among them Dirty Dancing (enjoyed by all), and Carrie (the remake, which is pretty accurate to the original). M and The Boy watched The Ring—The Boy has definitely inherited his dad's love of horror films—and The Girl and I watched The Craft. She and I plan to watch the new Cinderella movie on the weekend, while is at the local airshow with his best buddy. I'm thinking ahead now to October/Halloween movies!

The Girl built a fairy house out of an abalone shell, shoebox, and various odds and ends. She hand-sewed the mattress and pillow herself!

So all in all, a little beginning of the year tweaking still to be done, but I am sure it will all come together!

How is your year going so far?

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo...

Wow, choosing a focal point for The Girl's history and lit studies next year is HARD! She doesn't really have any historical interests that have come to light, so I'm just throwing some options together.

Current thoughts... I have two three four main ideas at the moment as to what she could do. Maybe some reader feedback could help a bit?

image courtesy of deviantart.com

Option A... The Fairytale Project:
A comparative study of major fairy tale forms (Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella,etc.), using the The Classic Fairy Tales: A Norton Critical Edition, along with various versions of each fairy tale, including movies. Poetry, and even some Shakespeare (Midsummer Night's Dream) would be easy to work into this. I can see working in some world cultures too, as there are variations on the fairy tales throughout the world. This would also allow for bringing in more modern novels/fairy tales, such as The Sisters Grimm series, and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

I know this isn't "history", but rather more strictly a literature study, but then she is only going into the seventh grade, has studied a fair amount of history already, and will be tackling it again in high school.

The Pioneer, by Robert T. Barrett

Option B... Pioneer Times:
I'd use books like the Little House books, Abraham Lincoln's World, Pioneer Girl: A True Story of Growing Up on the Prairie, Caddie Woodlawn, and some Native American resources as well (Birchbark House?). She could do hands-on projects -- making butter, quilting, and so forth. And there are plenty of movies and documentaries that could flesh this out. I'm kind of taking notes from The Prairie Primer, but that resource on the whole is too religious for me, thus the piecing it together myself.

I could see her going one of two ways with this... either really enjoying it, or really being bored by it by the end. And I don't know which is more likely, though if she enjoyed it, something fun to follow it up might be a homemade study based on Where the Brook and the River Meet (which features the Anne of Green Gables series, but again is too religious).

From Matilda, by Roald Dahl

Option C... Picture Perfect:
We would use selections from A Picture Perfect Childhood, which contains fantastic monthly lists of [picture] books related to famous people, historical events, the arts, Shakespeare, and more. Before you say "picture books are too young", consider this passage from the book:

There were times when I was dealing with my own teenagers that I found a picture book could better simplify things that were mournfully drawn-out and completely over a child's head in a dry text book. Sometimes a picture book made them care about a subject or a historical person whom they had not cared about before. Many times, a picture book condensed into a nutshell what I had spent the last hour trying to tell them. In history, a world and time zones that reach far and wide, I have found that a picture book can prove to be a capsule-size time machine which can be swallowed more easily than trying to climb and ride the whole elephant. 

And, Jim Trealease writes, in The Read Aloud Handbook: "A good story is a good story. Beautiful and stirring pictures can move fifteen-year-olds as well as five-year-olds. A picture(s) book should be someplace on the reading list of every class at every level."

image courtesy of kidlitfrenzy.com

And Option 4... Science with More:
My other thought was to pair up the Scientists in the Field series with either biographies or works of literature, depending on the exact book. For example, perhaps Digging for Bird Dinosaurs with The Dragon in the Cliff; Wild Horse Scientists with Misty of Chincoteague; Gorilla Doctors with either something on Diane Fosse, or My Life with the Chimpanzees; and perhaps The Frog Scientist with The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. 

I'm sure I will figure this out, or The Girl will help me figure it out, before September... I hope.

Big Fairy Tales...

The Girl does not want to do the Big History Project with her brother this upcoming year (see this post for more details on that course of study). She wants a study of her own, so based on her interests, I am creating a "Big Fairy Tale Project".

I was originally inspired by this gorgeous chart, which links YA versions of books together...

Everything from fairy tales, to classics, to Shakespeare and mythology, but we've decided on a primary focus on the fairy tales this year. I then researched and found this book, which will help expand on several key themes/story styles...

The Classic Fairy Tales: Norton Critical Edition

The book above explores six "tale types": "Little Red Riding Hood," "Beauty and the Beast," "Snow White," "Cinderella," "Bluebeard," and "Hansel and Gretel". We've decided to skip the "Bluebeard" section, and substitute in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream", or doing a focus on The Little Mermaid/Hans Christian Andersen. What I've come up with so far is to read a beautifully illustrated classic version, then explore other versions (ethnic, cultural, twisted), and then either longer YA versions of each, OR, we'll simply read through The Sisters Grimm series in 2015-2016, as I am not sure I like some of the YA versions of stories for The Girl... at least not yet.

As far as history, I am not worrying about it with her for the upcoming year, though we may or may not read something like Our Island Story. And for science, maybe TOPS Science, or GEMS Guides or continuing with the Prentice Hall Science Explorers or ??? I'll get it figured out soon enough!