Spotify book club discussion
Books and other stuff we're using this year that we're happy with
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Hi Janice, thanks for sharing! We are new to homeschooling and are loving it so far. I will look into the Latin book you've recommended. We're using English From the Roots Up.My daughter also loves Rick Riordan, so will look into the other series you mentioned. She is rereading the Harry Potter series, biding her time until new books come out... like the next book for the Fablehaven series, the Eragon series, and the Leven Thumps series. Catching Fire just came out, so we've got to get that, it's the sequel to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
I've got some Writing Strands books for my kids, but haven't introduced them yet, so have no opinion based on experience yet. They focus a lot on the kids doing the assignments themselves, however, so we'll see how it goes.
I'm new to the group, too, so see you around!
Have you thought about having your children write reviews of the books they are reading? They could publish them right here on GoodReads. My children love seeing their online and they enjoy connecting with others who have read the books that they enjoy.
Janice - thanks for great book recommendations!
Hi, Trish—I have another fantasy series (of seven titles) to recommend. It's called the "King of the Trees" series, named after the first title, The King of the Trees. I am the author.Because I studied Latin in high school, many of the fantasy words are based upon Latin as well as Welsh (my ancestral language). The books feature both mythological creatures and animals I created especially for the series. Both girls and boys have been enjoying the books. Each title comes equipped with a glossary/pronunciation guide at the back for easier reading and/or reading aloud. I also offer a series-based Activity Book for homeschoolers on my website, http://www.greencloaks.com. (All my titles are available in softcover and eBook formats on my site.)
I hope this information helps!
Happy Reading!
Janice,I was so happy to read your review - I also have an 11 year old daughter I'm homeschooling who is an avid reader. My daughter's favorite books are Harry Potter, The Percy Jackson series, anything else by Rick Riordan, and anything Star Wars - but she also loved the Ember series, so I will have to look into The Mysterious Benedict Society. She and I both tried 39 clues, but didn't enjoy the first book enough to go on.
My daughter is now completely immersed in the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flangan http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60...
I can also recommend the PBS Liberty's Kids series (DVDs) for American History - I learned as much as she did watching these and she really enjoyed them (a good break from reading so much of her curriculum).
I also have her reading Newbury winners - like Johnny Tremain, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond - using study guides by Progeny Press. These guides have a christian base, and we're not religious, but their approach is very low key so it has been an excellent way to incorporate religious studies as well. I'm hoping to do comparative religion next year, so we've been easing into the subject here and there.
For science we've been using various books from the library as the base (human anatomy, plants and cells this year) with Kid's Discover magazines (they have vocabulary and lesson plans online for free to go with the magazines), and Bill Nye the Science Guy videos (which also have extra experiments, and lesson ideas on the videos).
My daughter has the same issues in math - when it's going well it's wonderful, when she finds it difficult, she finds it frustrating. I'm using the Houghton Mifflin school text books and I think they're well done - we just use 4th, 5th and 6th and run through the areas all at once, rather than dabbling in geometry and fractions, back and forth, we're going through fractions (decimals, ratios, statistics, percents) with algebra and graphing built in. Then we'll go back and do the same for geometry - which I think will be rather easy since she'll have the fractions mastered and she enjoys working with shapes (she is a lego master).
Please keep posting!
Roberta
Evelyn wrote: "Have you thought about having your children write reviews of the books they are reading? They could publish them right here on GoodReads. My children love seeing their online and they enjoy connect..."I love this idea! Thank you!
Roberta wrote: "Evelyn wrote: "Have you thought about having your children write reviews of the books they are reading? They could publish them right here on GoodReads. My children love seeing their online and the..."Me too! Thank you, Evelyn!
That's an excellent idea! My readers have done that before.
Just wanted to share what's working well for us right now.
History - A History of US by Joy Hakim. It's an 11 book series that's a very enjoyable read. My daughter (11) is reading about one book a month and we try to find some fun / cool activity that goes along with the time frame to do as she finishes each one.
Science - We're focuing on geology right now. My daughter is using a fun hands-on kit called Rock Origins by Science in a Nutshell. Then we'll tackle some of the projects and experiments in Plate Tectonics : The Way the Earth Works and Stories in Stone, both by Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. And then I once read about someone making a volcano cake - I'll probably google it and see if it's something we could recreate.
Latin - Minimus: Starting Out in Latin by Barbara Bell. A very cute introduction to Latin.
Math - Singapore Math. My daughter has a love / hate relationship with Singapore Math. Somedays all goes smoothly and she feels challenged, but doesn't struggle and loves what she's doing. And on other days ..... it doesn't go well and she hates it. We're also using The Hands-On Equations Learning System by Dr. Henry Borenson for pre-algebra and it's been great! She is learning that algebra can be fun and she feels very successful in what she's teaching herself to do. I bought our first computer game - Descartes Cove. My daughter is working her way through the adventures and learning math at the same time.
Art - We're using lots of books, but our favorite is How to Make a Zero Backwards: An Activity Book for the Imagination by Richard Kehl.
Vocabulary - Vocabulary Cartoons II: SAT Word Power by Sam Burchers. There's a new word on each page with a definition and a cartoon demonstrating the definition using a pneumonic that makes it easy to remember (i.e. for the word "offal", the comic shows "The offal smells awful.").
American Sign Language (ASL) - We're taking this class together at our local community college and it's been great. I have to attribute our enjoyment to the wonderful teacher we have - she makes each class fun and lively.
Reading for fun - My daughter is an avid reader, although has slowed down some lately because of headaches (the eye doctor said she doesn't need glasses, just some exercises to strengthen her eye muscles and to learn to give her eyes a break on a regular basis). Her latest favorite books have been the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, The Mysterious Benedict Society and it's sequel by Trenton Lee Stewart, The City of Ember and it's sequel (can't remember the author) and she's just started The 39 Clues series (each book in the series is by a different author).
Writing - Nothing we're happy with right now, but open to suggestions.
I hope your homeschooling is going well. Janice