The Washington State Homeschooling Convention will take place on June 18 and 19, 2010 at the Puyallup Fair and Events Center. This is the biggest homeschooling fair on the west coast.
More information can be found here
The Catholic Homeschooling Convention will be on May 21 and 22, 2010 at the Seattle Police Athletic Pavilion in Tukwila. The registration fees are lower if you register before May 1st.
For more information visit the NCFEC website.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The (Catholic) Story of the World -updated
One of the most common questions Catholic homeschoolers ask is: "What should I use for history?" or "Is there anything out there that presents the history of the world chronologically from a Catholic point of view?". I was one of those people who asked those questions and I've done it long before my homeschooling journey started. In this post I'll try to talk about the resources I found that have been useful for my family.
The first book series that caught my eye when Teddy was younger, was "The Story of the World" by "The Well Trained Mind" author Susan Wise-Bauer. "The Well Trained Mind" was and still is my favorite homeschooling book, the one that I now use as my main guide in designing his curriculum. Anything written by this author had to be good. The only problem was that Susan is Protestant and I worried that there will be anti-Catholic bias in her books. The main thing I liked about "Story of the World", however, was that it was written at an elementary school level with each subsequent volume written at a slightly higher level. When reading the first volume "Ancient Times", I was pleasantly surprised to find not only a presentation of ancient history in a story format, appropriate for kindergartners-2nd graders but to find no inappropriate information. Both my boys had this book read to them at school in 3rd and 1st grade respectively and Cecilia is studying it now in kindergarten and loves it. I highly recommend it for 5-8 year old homeschoolers who are just starting to study history.
Volume 2 of the series (The Middle Ages) is appropriate too, with the following exceptions: pg. 247, last paragraph mentions dead bodies being catapulted over the wall; pg 275 , last paragraph continued with next paragraph on pg. 276 and pg 303 , first paragraph describe Ferdinand and Isabella in a biased way, from a Protestant point of view. Also chapter 38 "England's Greatest Queen" needs to be replaced with a chapter about Queen Elizabeth, from a Catholic book.
As for volume 3 of "Story of the World" (Early Modern Times), I read less than a half and had to stop because it was obvious that the series was not appropriate for us anymore. Chapters 1 and 2, about Charles V, Phillip II, William the Silent, Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth, are better skipped altogether because of the pro-Protestant and anti-Catholic bias. Here is my "favorite" part in chapter 2:
But Elizabeth [...] was afraid that Mary might arrange to have her assassinated and claim the throne of England. [...] Mary remained a prisoner of the Queen of England for the next nineteen years.
Poor Mary! She had very little to do. She kept dozens of little dogs and birds as pets. She did a lot of needlework and even sent some to Elizabeth as presents- along with indignant letter.
As time went on, she began to plot her escape.[...] she spoke of becoming Queen of England [...] This could only mean she was planning Elizabet's death. Mary insisted that she would never harm Elizabeth. But Elizabeth, afraid for her life, signed Mary's death warrant for treason.
On a cold February morning, Mary[...] was beheaded.
In volume 2, at the end of chapter 38, the author concludes:
[...]She was the best ruler England ever had! Her people called her Good Queen Bess.
Returning to volume 3, chapters 3-8 and 10-18 are fine, with the following exceptions: in chapter 10: the part about Japan's isolation; a mention of suicide on page 103, paragraph 3; in chapter 15, page 144 there is a disturbing description of a beheading; and on pages 152-153 there is more anti-Catholic bias. Chapter 9, about the Thirty Years War, should be skipped or replaced with something else.
When Teddy was in 5th grade, his class having finished volumes 1 and 2 of "Story of the World", they had the option of continuing with volume 3 or using another book. They eventually abandoned SoW and started using an old Catholic history textbook: "Our Pioneers and Patriots" about American History. They are now in the second yer of studying that book and everyone seems to be pleased with it.
When I started homeschooling Teddy, this year, I had to decide whether to continue with "Our Pioneers and Patriots or to go with Susan Wise Bauer's recommendation for middle school: "The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia". Since I really wanted Teddy to learn world history as well as American history, I opted for the Kingfisher Encyclopedia and chose the chapters covering the period from 1600-1850, which is what she recommends for students in their 3rd year of studying history chronologically. We've been using this book for the first quarter, with Teddy reading 2-4 pages and outlining the text in his notebook. As a supplement I assigned some reading from "Famous Men of Modern Time" (biographies of people he was learning about), from a Catholic high school text "Christ the King Lord of History" and also from "Story of the World" vol. 3. It soon became clear that this way of learning history was not ideal for Teddy because of the encyclopedia format and secularism of his main book and the lack of review questions and tests. I knew I had to find a new book but there simply is no Catholic history textbook that covers world history after Renaissance. I knew I needed to make a compromise, and after buying a Protestant Abeka textbook, who proved to be terribly biased, I decided to go with a Catholic textbook covering American history. I had a choice from "Our Pioneers and Patriots", "Land of Our Lady" series, both older textbooks or a newer book from the "Catholic Schools Textbook Project", called "From Sea to Shining Sea". I decided to go with "From Sea to Shining Sea" and I am very happy with my decision. The book is very visually appealing, with good quality, glossy paper, detailed maps and color pictures on each page. Each chapter ends with a summary, review questions and discussion questions. The teacher's manual, in addition to the answer key has quizzes and tests, which I just love. It also indicates what the student should be expected to remember and provides a list of supplementary reading for each chapter. The reading level is about 4th-7th grade, in my opinion.
The Catholic Schools Textbook Project is working on a 12 volume history series, three of which are now available. For those homeschoolers who are tired of the anti Catholic bias in Protestant or secular textbooks, who fall asleep while reading the older Catholic texts or don't have the time to check out numerous books from the library, this series is an answer to prayers.
Catholic History Books and Programs:
I. Catholic Textbooks
1.Catholic Schools Textbook Project
2. Land of Our Lady Series
3.Our Pioneers and Patriots
4.The Old World and America
5.Christ the King Lord of History
6.Christ and the Americas
7.Seton's History Textbooks
8.Famous Men Series
II. Other Catholic History Programs
1.RC History
2.The ABC's of Christian Culture
The first book series that caught my eye when Teddy was younger, was "The Story of the World" by "The Well Trained Mind" author Susan Wise-Bauer. "The Well Trained Mind" was and still is my favorite homeschooling book, the one that I now use as my main guide in designing his curriculum. Anything written by this author had to be good. The only problem was that Susan is Protestant and I worried that there will be anti-Catholic bias in her books. The main thing I liked about "Story of the World", however, was that it was written at an elementary school level with each subsequent volume written at a slightly higher level. When reading the first volume "Ancient Times", I was pleasantly surprised to find not only a presentation of ancient history in a story format, appropriate for kindergartners-2nd graders but to find no inappropriate information. Both my boys had this book read to them at school in 3rd and 1st grade respectively and Cecilia is studying it now in kindergarten and loves it. I highly recommend it for 5-8 year old homeschoolers who are just starting to study history.
Volume 2 of the series (The Middle Ages) is appropriate too, with the following exceptions: pg. 247, last paragraph mentions dead bodies being catapulted over the wall; pg 275 , last paragraph continued with next paragraph on pg. 276 and pg 303 , first paragraph describe Ferdinand and Isabella in a biased way, from a Protestant point of view. Also chapter 38 "England's Greatest Queen" needs to be replaced with a chapter about Queen Elizabeth, from a Catholic book.
As for volume 3 of "Story of the World" (Early Modern Times), I read less than a half and had to stop because it was obvious that the series was not appropriate for us anymore. Chapters 1 and 2, about Charles V, Phillip II, William the Silent, Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth, are better skipped altogether because of the pro-Protestant and anti-Catholic bias. Here is my "favorite" part in chapter 2:
But Elizabeth [...] was afraid that Mary might arrange to have her assassinated and claim the throne of England. [...] Mary remained a prisoner of the Queen of England for the next nineteen years.
Poor Mary! She had very little to do. She kept dozens of little dogs and birds as pets. She did a lot of needlework and even sent some to Elizabeth as presents- along with indignant letter.
As time went on, she began to plot her escape.[...] she spoke of becoming Queen of England [...] This could only mean she was planning Elizabet's death. Mary insisted that she would never harm Elizabeth. But Elizabeth, afraid for her life, signed Mary's death warrant for treason.
On a cold February morning, Mary[...] was beheaded.
In volume 2, at the end of chapter 38, the author concludes:
[...]She was the best ruler England ever had! Her people called her Good Queen Bess.
Returning to volume 3, chapters 3-8 and 10-18 are fine, with the following exceptions: in chapter 10: the part about Japan's isolation; a mention of suicide on page 103, paragraph 3; in chapter 15, page 144 there is a disturbing description of a beheading; and on pages 152-153 there is more anti-Catholic bias. Chapter 9, about the Thirty Years War, should be skipped or replaced with something else.
When Teddy was in 5th grade, his class having finished volumes 1 and 2 of "Story of the World", they had the option of continuing with volume 3 or using another book. They eventually abandoned SoW and started using an old Catholic history textbook: "Our Pioneers and Patriots" about American History. They are now in the second yer of studying that book and everyone seems to be pleased with it.
When I started homeschooling Teddy, this year, I had to decide whether to continue with "Our Pioneers and Patriots or to go with Susan Wise Bauer's recommendation for middle school: "The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia". Since I really wanted Teddy to learn world history as well as American history, I opted for the Kingfisher Encyclopedia and chose the chapters covering the period from 1600-1850, which is what she recommends for students in their 3rd year of studying history chronologically. We've been using this book for the first quarter, with Teddy reading 2-4 pages and outlining the text in his notebook. As a supplement I assigned some reading from "Famous Men of Modern Time" (biographies of people he was learning about), from a Catholic high school text "Christ the King Lord of History" and also from "Story of the World" vol. 3. It soon became clear that this way of learning history was not ideal for Teddy because of the encyclopedia format and secularism of his main book and the lack of review questions and tests. I knew I had to find a new book but there simply is no Catholic history textbook that covers world history after Renaissance. I knew I needed to make a compromise, and after buying a Protestant Abeka textbook, who proved to be terribly biased, I decided to go with a Catholic textbook covering American history. I had a choice from "Our Pioneers and Patriots", "Land of Our Lady" series, both older textbooks or a newer book from the "Catholic Schools Textbook Project", called "From Sea to Shining Sea". I decided to go with "From Sea to Shining Sea" and I am very happy with my decision. The book is very visually appealing, with good quality, glossy paper, detailed maps and color pictures on each page. Each chapter ends with a summary, review questions and discussion questions. The teacher's manual, in addition to the answer key has quizzes and tests, which I just love. It also indicates what the student should be expected to remember and provides a list of supplementary reading for each chapter. The reading level is about 4th-7th grade, in my opinion.
The Catholic Schools Textbook Project is working on a 12 volume history series, three of which are now available. For those homeschoolers who are tired of the anti Catholic bias in Protestant or secular textbooks, who fall asleep while reading the older Catholic texts or don't have the time to check out numerous books from the library, this series is an answer to prayers.
Catholic History Books and Programs:
I. Catholic Textbooks
1.Catholic Schools Textbook Project
2. Land of Our Lady Series
3.Our Pioneers and Patriots
4.The Old World and America
5.Christ the King Lord of History
6.Christ and the Americas
7.Seton's History Textbooks
8.Famous Men Series
II. Other Catholic History Programs
1.RC History
2.The ABC's of Christian Culture
Sunday, September 27, 2009
To Bee or not to Bee (updated)
I don't remember exactly how it all started. It was probably soon after Benedict's obsession with math turned tepid, that his ambitious nature pushed him into discovering some other academic passion. Little by little he started reading atlases, maps, borrowing books about countries from the library and before we knew it he had memorized quite a lot of facts which he was proudly willing to display at the first sign of interest from any of us. Our trips to the library started being more numerous and we made sure that the librarians at the Edmonds branch did not get bored, by placing lots on books on hold.
It's been over a year since this geo-craziness started and Benedict is showing no signs of slowing down. We obviously got to the point where we considered the possibility of him participating in the National Geographic Bee. After a little research, however, we discovered that the geo bee is only open to students in grades 4-8. Our then 2nd grader decided that he will use this opportunity to practice the virtue of patience and to work on increasing his geography knowledge until he is in 4th grade. Whether to Bee or not to Bee, is not really a question for us, we will Bee, of course, and I say "we" because this is a family affair in a way; we all love drilling, questioning, providing Benedict with learning materials and opportunities and just marveling at his ever expanding knowledge of the subject. Yes, even his big brother, Teddy, has been known to get excited about it, except, maybe for the occasional time when a particularly annoying and hard to pronounce word like Oagadougou reaches his ears, then he will very likely roll his eyes in exasperation.
Since I can't conclude a post without a list of some sort, here is a plan I came up with, for preparing my child for the National Geographic Bee (some are things that have naturally happened and some are things that we've planned for the future):
1. Figure out if your child is interested, or rather passionate enough about geography for this road to even be worthwhile following.If the answer is yes then the second step is:
2. Follow your child's lead. Only do the geography related activities the child asks for. This will assure that his excitement will grow. No teaching, no drills, no flashcards yet.
3. If you haven't done this already, make sure there is a world map and a US map available for the child somewhere in the house. Ideally they will be displayed on a wall in the kitchen or dining room or in the child's bedroom. In addition to the maps, you will need a globe (our favorite is the smart globe) and an atlas. Make sure they are all very recent, and be prepared to replace them every couple of years, since almost every year new countries are being created or are becoming independent.
4. Visit your local library and show the child the area where the books about countries are. Let her choose a few books about her favorite countries and remember the ones she particularly liked, then put on hold other books from the same series (I've noticed that many geography children's books are part of a series or another). Chances are if she liked one, she will like the other ones too.
5. Make subscriptions or borrow magazines from the library. Almost any children's magazine will add to the child's knowledge about the world. I've posted our favorites in my previous post, but I would say that the most useful for us have been: National Geographic, Ranger Rick, Kids Discover, Times for Kids and Scholastic. Each issue of National Geographic comes with a list of 5 questions used at the Geo Bee, but you will only get them if you have a subscription.
6. Buy or borrow a book about the geography bee. It will give you, the parent, a lot of useful information about the bee. There are a couple of books about the subject available at bookstores and at most libraries. These books will give you details about age restrictions, dates, preparation, sample questions and advice from former bee champions.
7. Watch documentaries together. Again, the library has a large collection of videos about countries and cultures, but don't omit the ones about nature, animals and history; there's always some geography to be learned from almost any kind of documentary. If you let the child watch by himself, you might want to preview some of these videos, especially the history ones if they are geared towards adults, but I've found even some films about animals to be disturbing for smaller children.
8. Watch the film "Spellbound" with your child. It is about the spelling bee not the geo bee but it will give you and your child a feel for the actual contest. Also look for you tube videos of actual geography bee contests. Your child will get an idea of what kinds of questions are being asked at different levels of the contest and will better know how to prepare.
9. Help the child stay on top of the world news. Many of the questions on the bee will be related to current events.
10. Make flash cards together with your child. The ones I made for Benedict have the country written on one side in a certain marker color and the capital on the other side in a different color. I also added a colored dot (different colors for each continent) in the upper left corner. After he was well on his way to learning his capitals (by the way currently there are about 195 countries in the world, but not everyone agrees on this number since there are some countries that are not universally recognized), I started adding information about the religions of the countries and the next step will be to add languages. There will probably be enough room on each card to add a few important historical data and important natural landmarks. The idea is to add information little by little so as not to overwhelm the child. When Benedict studies his capitals he takes the cards of the countries starting with a certain letter and studies them until he knows them well then I quiz him until he gets 100% and then he gets a little reward. Every couple of letters he does a review.
11. In the higher grades, 7th and 8th, if your child is still interested, encourage her to make an actual study plan, where she will review all her previously acquired geography knowledge and add to it every day. Two hours or more a day of studying geography is not uncommon for middle schoolers who are dreaming of making it to the national level of the bee. The key here, however, is not how much time they spend every day on it, but how efficient their study plan is.
This is a quick summary of what I think would be a good plan for preparing for the National Geography Bee. The botom line, however, is that the child should love the whole process, because if he does, all these steps will happen naturally anyway. This whole process is about learning, widening your horizons and having fun.
Our Favorite Geography Resources
1. Oregon Scientific Smart Globe
We bought ours for about $79 from Costco before Christmas. Benedict spent many happy hours listening to information about countries, capitals, distances between places, languages (it even teaches you how to say "hello" in the language of every country), national anthems, presidents (many of them not in office anymore, since our globe is a few years old) and more. There is an option for playing games and taking quizzes. There is also a pull out map of America.
2. Faces and Places Series
These were the first geography books Benedict read. When he finished the whole series he moved on to the Discover Cultures series. These are appropriate for 2nd-4th grades or even younger as read-alouds.
3. Discovering Cultures Series
These are written at a 4th-6th grade level.
4.Visual Geography
For the advanced reader who is ready for more, this series is very informative and has great pictures. Benedict and I enjoy checking some out once in a while just to look at the pictures and browse through them. Reading level :teen-adult
5. True Books
We love the true books. They are so easy to read yet cover so much information. They are not only about countries, but also about civics and government, science topics and more. Reading level: 3rd-6th.
6. Time for Kids Almanac
7. National Geographic Kids Almanac
8. 1000 Place To See Before You Die Page-A- Day Calendar
I bought this one for Christmas also, almost expecting the boys to leave it on a shelf somewhere and forget about it. Well, I'm happy to report that it has been on the boys window sill since January 1st and a page was removed and read almost every day. Indeed, every time I open the window in the boys' room, the calendar is showing the correct date (except for when the boys were out of town).
9. The Geo Bee Challenge
When he remembers to do it and if I allow him to go on the computer, Benedict likes to take this daily quiz. It has two different levels: apprentice and expert.
10. Sheppard Software Online Geography Games
The most educational online games we found are the ones on this site. They teach countries, capitals and landscapes for each continent and have quizzes at different levels. The games are fun and quite addictive. Recently they started adding games for science, history, math and more.
11. The Geography Bee Complete Preparation Handbook
This is the best Geography Bee preparation guide, in my opinion. It gives a step by step plan on how to prepare, offers lots of practice questions and includes tips from former national winners.
12. World Map Shower Curtain
This shower curtain has allowed us the opportunity to learn a bit of geography every morning for the 10 minutes or so while we're taking our showers. The only problem with these shower curtains is that they break easily when kids pull on them. Ours last less than a year.
Final questions in the 2007 National Geographic Bee : Caitlin Snaring is/was a homeschooler from Redmond, Washington.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Favorite Children's Magazines
Here are the kids' magazines we've had subscriptions to in the past or present or the ones the boys regularly borrow from the library. They are the magazines I approve of.
1. DIG
An archeology magazine for about 9-14 year olds; has a lot of articles about Ancient History and about the work archeologists do, great pictures too. Teddy had a drawing published in one of their issues this summer.
2.STONE SOUP
A magazine with short stories written and illustrated by children about 9-13 years old; this is one of Teddy's favorites, he dreams of one day publishing one of his own stories or pictures there.
3. KIDS DISCOVER
One of my favorites, this magazine has been, I think, discontinued, but older issues are available at thrift stores, library sales, the homeschooling store etc. Geared towards a slightly younger age group (about 7-12+), each of the issues of Kids Discover focuses on one theme and presents a collection of articles, stories, pictures etc about that particular subject. Some examples of the ones that we found are: Cells, Rain Forests, The Industrial Revolution, Glaciers, Languages and many, many more. I was lucky enough to find a bunch of them second hand at prices ranging from 10-75 cents each.
4. RANGER RICK
Benedict's favorite. We've never subscribed to this one because our library has it plus it is very easy to find second hand. Probably one of the most popular kids' magazines in America, this is about animals and is addressed to the 9 and over age group, although, I think, 7 and 8 year old who read well independently, love them too. The other two animal magazines we've read in the past, geared to the younger age groups are: My Big Backyard and Baby Bug. Benedict read all the Ranger Rick's and My Big Back Yard's from the library so now I have to keep my eyes open for older issues.
5. ZOOBOOKS
Another animal magazine, each issue of this one specializes on just one animal.
6. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (the one for adults)
Although the reading level is pretty advanced, I kind of like having a subscription to the NG (thanks to my father in law, Dan). The kids are fascinated with the pictures (Teddy likes those of the wildlife, especially birds, while Benedict is in love with anything about other cultures). That being said, I have to add the warning that there are occasional pictures or articles that are inappropriate for children; I learned this the hard way, when Teddy told me that he was greatly disturbed by a picture he saw in one NG and asked me to review the new issues before handing them to him. I've learned my lesson and when I see something inappropriate I either rip the page out or use my permanent marker to cover anything inappropriate. I've drawn many bathing suits with that marker, especially in encyclopedias or books.
7. TIME FOR KIDS
This is the only current events newspaper/magazine I know of, for kids. Yes, it is liberal and very public schoolish but sooner or later my kids will have to know what's going on in the real world and I love discussing the news with them. After reading their Time for Kids cover to cover they always come to Dominic or me and tell us about it and then we discuss it.
8. SCHOLASTIC NEWS
Similar to Time for Kids, this one is less about current events and more about academics, school life and other subjects of interest to children. They have different issues for each grade level and we subscribe to the 3rd grade one for Benedict and the 5/6th grade on for Teddy.
9. SUPER SCIENCE
Published by Scholastic, this magazine has articles about a variety of science topics, mostly fun stuff. It also includes experiment ideas (that the kids can conduct by themselves) and quizzes, games etc. All the Scholastic magazines come with a teacher's edition with ideas for activities, tests etc. relating to that particular issue.
10. DYNA MATH
Another Scholastic magazine, this one is about math. Trying to make math more fun and meaningful, it includes all kinds of articles, records, games all relating in one way or another to math. We've had a subscription to this last year, but due to the lack of enthusiasm my kids had when receiving it, we didn't renew it.
11. COBBLESTONE
A magazine about everything American (history, government, social issues, symbols), this is the one I want my kids to like but they don't. I occasionally borrow one or two from the library and leave them on the coffee table or dining room table (one of my tactics to make the boys read what I want them to), but with not much success.
As for the magazines I don't like my kids to read and I do not recommend, the list is much shorter:
1. NICKELODEON
2. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS
3. JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC
The reason I don't approve of the first two magazines, which by the way seem to be the most popular at our library, is because they have a very large amount of advertisements to things like junk food, video games, objectionable movies, and cover too much of the popular culture or the "culture of cool" (Hannah Montana, American Idol, High School Musical, Jonas Brothers etc.) which my kids have absolutely no need to be exposed to. Junior Scholastic, which used to be on my recommended list, really disappointed me in the last issues. It is clearly geared towards public school children (maybe some private school kids too) who are dealing with issues like: bullying (including cyber bullying), drugs etc.
I'm sure I missed a few magazines, but this is a good list of what the boys and I have found were educational and entertaining.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The First Two Weeks (Aug. 31-Sept. 11 2009)
This is what Teddy learned/completed during his first two weeks of 6th grade.
1. READING: from the reader This is Our Heritage: Psalm 22, poems: Damascus Road and The Right Must Win; stories: Miracle at Black Mountain, Prisoner on Patmos; exercises: arranging events in order and recalling details.Reading Comprehension book: lessons 1-4; read The Adventures of Don Quixote (abridged) and first 3 chapters of St. Isaac and the Indians.
2. GRAMMAR: from Voyages in English: Nouns (proper/common, collective, person, number, gender), Exercises in English:ex. 1-10
3. VOCABULARY:Wordly Wise: half of lesson 1
4. SPELLING: Spelling Workout: lesson 1 and part of lesson 2
5. WRITING:Writing Strands: assignment 1(Following Directions) and part of assignment 2 (Sentence and Paragraph Control)
6. PENMANSHIP: six lines written in Spencerian cursive in workbook, dictation (Nicene Creed)
7. MATH: Saxon 76: lessons 1-9
8. LOGIC: Mind Benders: problems 1-4
9. SCIENCE: Cells Genetics and Heredity, exercises in Science Essentials
10. HISTORY: Japan in Isolation (1603-1716), The Stuarts (1603-1649), Early American Settlers (1607-1650); outlines for each lesson; added important dates on time-line, read library book about Samurai, read chapter about Japan from Story of the World 3,listened to about 30 min of The Story of US on tape
11. RELIGION: read, discussed, worked on memorization on ch. 7 in Baltimore Catechism; read and discussed first 2 chapters in Byzantine textbook (learned about Ss. Constantine and Helen and Ss. Vladimir and Olga; the Holy Mysteries, in particular Baptism and Chrismation)
12. GEOGRAPHY: did a few pages in The Complete Book of Maps and Geography, but decided to work on Civics/Government the first quarter and to do Geography the rest of the year.
13. CIVICS/GOVERNMENT: The Thirteen Colonies (workbook pages and read part of a library book on the subject)
14. ART: Lessons 1-2 of first unit (space), did 2 drawings; read ch.1 of Art 5 for Young Catholics (descriptions of symbolism in several paintings depicting the Annunciation by Fra Angelico, Carlo Crivelli, Rubens and more)
15. MUSIC: read 2 Bach biographies while listening to his music, listened to an online program Classics for Kids on Bach (biography stories and music),1 piano lesson with Miss Brown.
16. LATIN: Latina Christiana II Lesson 1 (Verbs, 1st and 2nd conjugations, present, future, imperfect tenses, irregular verbs)
17.GERMAN: Rosetta Stone: Unit 1, lesson1 and part of lesson 2
18. ROMANIAN: read and translated four short texts, made flash cards and learned 23 words
19. MEMORY: 1/3 of Nicene Creed
20. P.E. : bike riding (3 times), hiking (once)
Books read:
1. The Icebound Land (Ranger's Apprentice, book 3) by John Flanagan
2. J.S. Bach by Mike Venezia
3. J.S. Bach by E. M. Summerer
4. Sword of the Samurai by Eric Kimmel
5. Adventures of Don Quixote by Argentina Palacios
6. The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, book 1) by Rick Riordan
1. READING: from the reader This is Our Heritage: Psalm 22, poems: Damascus Road and The Right Must Win; stories: Miracle at Black Mountain, Prisoner on Patmos; exercises: arranging events in order and recalling details.Reading Comprehension book: lessons 1-4; read The Adventures of Don Quixote (abridged) and first 3 chapters of St. Isaac and the Indians.
2. GRAMMAR: from Voyages in English: Nouns (proper/common, collective, person, number, gender), Exercises in English:ex. 1-10
3. VOCABULARY:Wordly Wise: half of lesson 1
4. SPELLING: Spelling Workout: lesson 1 and part of lesson 2
5. WRITING:Writing Strands: assignment 1(Following Directions) and part of assignment 2 (Sentence and Paragraph Control)
6. PENMANSHIP: six lines written in Spencerian cursive in workbook, dictation (Nicene Creed)
7. MATH: Saxon 76: lessons 1-9
8. LOGIC: Mind Benders: problems 1-4
9. SCIENCE: Cells Genetics and Heredity, exercises in Science Essentials
10. HISTORY: Japan in Isolation (1603-1716), The Stuarts (1603-1649), Early American Settlers (1607-1650); outlines for each lesson; added important dates on time-line, read library book about Samurai, read chapter about Japan from Story of the World 3,listened to about 30 min of The Story of US on tape
11. RELIGION: read, discussed, worked on memorization on ch. 7 in Baltimore Catechism; read and discussed first 2 chapters in Byzantine textbook (learned about Ss. Constantine and Helen and Ss. Vladimir and Olga; the Holy Mysteries, in particular Baptism and Chrismation)
12. GEOGRAPHY: did a few pages in The Complete Book of Maps and Geography, but decided to work on Civics/Government the first quarter and to do Geography the rest of the year.
13. CIVICS/GOVERNMENT: The Thirteen Colonies (workbook pages and read part of a library book on the subject)
14. ART: Lessons 1-2 of first unit (space), did 2 drawings; read ch.1 of Art 5 for Young Catholics (descriptions of symbolism in several paintings depicting the Annunciation by Fra Angelico, Carlo Crivelli, Rubens and more)
15. MUSIC: read 2 Bach biographies while listening to his music, listened to an online program Classics for Kids on Bach (biography stories and music),1 piano lesson with Miss Brown.
16. LATIN: Latina Christiana II Lesson 1 (Verbs, 1st and 2nd conjugations, present, future, imperfect tenses, irregular verbs)
17.GERMAN: Rosetta Stone: Unit 1, lesson1 and part of lesson 2
18. ROMANIAN: read and translated four short texts, made flash cards and learned 23 words
19. MEMORY: 1/3 of Nicene Creed
20. P.E. : bike riding (3 times), hiking (once)
Books read:
1. The Icebound Land (Ranger's Apprentice, book 3) by John Flanagan
2. J.S. Bach by Mike Venezia
3. J.S. Bach by E. M. Summerer
4. Sword of the Samurai by Eric Kimmel
5. Adventures of Don Quixote by Argentina Palacios
6. The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, book 1) by Rick Riordan
Teddy's Curriculum for 6th Grade
I. LANGUAGE
1. Grammar: Voyages in English 6
2. Spelling: Spelling Workout Level G
3. Vocabulary: Wordly Wise 6
4. Penmanship: Spencerian Penmanship and Dictations
5. Reading: Seton's 6th grade reading program (Faith and Freedom Reader, Book of Valor, Reading Comprehension, Thinking Skills), 4 literature books, 4 saints biographies, 2 historical novels
6. Writing: Writing Strands 3, four book reports
II. FOREIGN LANGUAGES
1. Latin: Latina Christiana II
2. German: Rosetta Stone Homeschool
3. Romanian: Romanian Primers (for reading, translating, pronunciation and vocabulary)
III. SOCIAL STUDIES
1.History: Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (world and American history during 1600-1850); Book of time (time-line notebook by Sonlight)
2. Geography: Complete Book of Maps and Geography
3. Civics and Government: Complete Book of Presidents and States and library books
IV. MATH
Saxon 76 and Kumon
V. SCIENCE
Harcourt textbook (6th grade) and test book
Big Book of Science (for extra reading and worksheets)
Spectrum Science Test Preparation (6th grade)
also
Bill Nye the Science Guy DVD's
Internet Science games, tutorials, quizzes
Science experiments with dad
VI. RELIGION
1. Roman Catholic: Baltimore Catechism 2
2. Byzantine: We Respond to God (6th grade textbook from God With Us series)
VII. ART
1. Artistic Pursuits, gr 4-6 (drawing program)
2. Seton's Art 5 for Young Catholics (art appreciation of religious art, both western and byzantine).
VIII. MUSIC
1. Music Appreciation: Two classical composers each quarter (CD's from our collection and from the library, composer biographies from the library)
2. Piano: weekly lessons with Miss Brown, daily practice
IX. LOGIC
Mind Benders level A
X. P.E.
bike riding, swimming, team sports starting soon
Other:
1. Memory: memorizing The Nicene Creed, other prayers and poems (10 minutes a day)
2. Virtue of the month
1. Grammar: Voyages in English 6
2. Spelling: Spelling Workout Level G
3. Vocabulary: Wordly Wise 6
4. Penmanship: Spencerian Penmanship and Dictations
5. Reading: Seton's 6th grade reading program (Faith and Freedom Reader, Book of Valor, Reading Comprehension, Thinking Skills), 4 literature books, 4 saints biographies, 2 historical novels
6. Writing: Writing Strands 3, four book reports
II. FOREIGN LANGUAGES
1. Latin: Latina Christiana II
2. German: Rosetta Stone Homeschool
3. Romanian: Romanian Primers (for reading, translating, pronunciation and vocabulary)
III. SOCIAL STUDIES
1.History: Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (world and American history during 1600-1850); Book of time (time-line notebook by Sonlight)
2. Geography: Complete Book of Maps and Geography
3. Civics and Government: Complete Book of Presidents and States and library books
IV. MATH
Saxon 76 and Kumon
V. SCIENCE
Harcourt textbook (6th grade) and test book
Big Book of Science (for extra reading and worksheets)
Spectrum Science Test Preparation (6th grade)
also
Bill Nye the Science Guy DVD's
Internet Science games, tutorials, quizzes
Science experiments with dad
VI. RELIGION
1. Roman Catholic: Baltimore Catechism 2
2. Byzantine: We Respond to God (6th grade textbook from God With Us series)
VII. ART
1. Artistic Pursuits, gr 4-6 (drawing program)
2. Seton's Art 5 for Young Catholics (art appreciation of religious art, both western and byzantine).
VIII. MUSIC
1. Music Appreciation: Two classical composers each quarter (CD's from our collection and from the library, composer biographies from the library)
2. Piano: weekly lessons with Miss Brown, daily practice
IX. LOGIC
Mind Benders level A
X. P.E.
bike riding, swimming, team sports starting soon
Other:
1. Memory: memorizing The Nicene Creed, other prayers and poems (10 minutes a day)
2. Virtue of the month
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