And, of course, 2011 means that after 2010-2011 is over, there will be 2011-2012. How'd that happen, again?
When it comes to next year and my two students, there's one for whom it's easy to list what we'll be doing. Then there's my darling EG.
Thank goodness for Michael Clay Thompson's language arts. We'll be using the entirety of the level four package - grammar, poetics, vocabulary, and composition. We'll also be continuing to use All About Spelling through the planned seventh level (no, we haven't started the sixth level; that will happen after Christmas, hopefully).
Everything else? Is vague.
Literature… I am taking a serious look at Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings, possibly done through the onlineg3 class. That would cover September, October, November, December, and January, leaving me with a month at the beginning of our school year, as well as the remainder of the school year after January. I need to look at what we're going to do in history through the end of this school year, and restructure that literature accordingly. Then, I'll have a better sense of what other works I want her to read next year.
Mathematics… EG loves Fred, so I won't take her from her beloved Life of Fred for Geometry, even though I think the idea of putting "algebra" in a proof for any algebraic property is bunk. I've looked through the text, though, and anticipate it taking only 108 days, leaving plenty of room in the schedule for her to work through the proofs and end of chapter problems, if not the entire book, from Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Geometry. All of that said, if next year is like every other year with math, she'll accomplish more than I suspect possible at the outset, so I'd better buy up Life of Fred Trigonometry. (I half-think she'll start Geometry before the end of 2010/2011.)
Social Sciences… I have to reconfigure my expectations for this year. Once I make sure she can finish the middle ages and the Renaissance, then I can begin to move forward. Tentatively, though, I'm looking at Ellen McHenry's Excavating English, as well as her Mapping the World with Art. I also have plans to pull together an economics study, and United States government, plus a world history course focused through the lens of food. All of this is for sixth and seventh grade (and possibly part of the remainder of fifth grade, to be honest), so here's another area where things are totally up in the air.
Science… I'm seriously considering having her tackle chemistry next year, as opposed to biology. Why? For starters, this year, we've spent and will spend a lot of time on biological topics. PLATO Life Science, yes, but also a human body study, a prehistoric life study, and a focused study of evolution and genetics. I love biology, but I do not want to burn her out on biology! Chemistry also fits more neatly into my Hogwarts school plans. We'll probably supplement science in other areas, thanks to Hogwarts, but I can find a chemistry program designed for homeschooling so much more easily. I'm actually seriously considering Spectrum Chemistry, even though I've sworn for years that I wouldn't buy any science materials from an obviously sectarian or creationist company. As far as I can tell, though, from all my reading and investigating, there's nothing in it to which I would object. It seems to be a 32 week course, with only three days of work expected in a week. Since we do core subjects four days a week, that gives us the flexibility to add enrichment (Caveman Chemistry, anyone?) as well as the other Hogwarts sciences (astronomy and herbology/botany).
German… I am considering enrolling the kids in a German Saturday school. I'm also making doe eyes at a friend who knows German to teach the kids. We may do both. Who knows? Not me!
Fine Arts, Skills… EG will continue with trumpet instruction and participation in band. She will audition for the "Advanced Band" and may apply to join Beginning Jazz (admission based on qualifying for Advanced). I think she'd like to continue piano lessons, even though my requirement of two years piano instruction will be met at that time. If she doesn't do any formal drawing instruction this year, it will definitely be on the list for next year. I'm going to outsource it, though, either by getting my mother to do it (with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain) or by paying for outside instruction.
Fine Arts, Appreciation… Performances will continue to be important. I'd like her to attend two ballet performances, at least one musical performance in addition to the band concerts, and one to three theatre performances. I really would like to take her to an opera if there's an accessible one being performed nearby. She'll continue working through The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History for, well, music history and world music appreciation, and Art for art history. I hope to renew our membership to the art museum, as well.
Logic… Unless something drastically changes, EG will be using The Snake and The Fox. I anticipate it taking one-half to two-thirds of the year. I also have Nonsense about fallacies, and a list of possibilities saved on amazon, to round out the year. Thanks to onlineg3, she'll have done both Critical Thinking 1 & Critical Thinking 2 this year, which should be a good basis for all of this. I also have some books on mathematical logic by Suppes, though I have no answer key for either. I think that's the point where I outsource, right?
Computers & Technology… I want EG to take some of the free classes and workshops offered at the Apple store. Ideally, I'd like her to take Art of Problem Solving's introduction to Python in seventh grade, so our main goals for sixth grade are to improve typing speed and to get comfortable with basic software usage.
I really want to have everything finalized by March, which means I will have a busy two or three months ahead of me. Why March? We're going to Greenville! (I'm so excited. Susan Wise Bauer, Jessie Wise, Jim Weiss, Michael Clay Thompson, Ed Zaccaro, plus Tim Hawkins. Yay!)
Showing posts with label homeschool: musings: logic stage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool: musings: logic stage. Show all posts
11.11.10
Duh! Not Just History (A Follow-Up of Sorts)
The category says “social sciences,” not just “history.”
In general, colleges want to see a year of American history/government. Yes, that’s how I keep seeing it listed. Government is not, strictly speaking, the province of history, but rather political science.
Social sciences, however, encapsulates a range of disciplines. Wikipedia lists the branches of social science as “anthropology, economics, education, geography, history, law, linguistics, political science, psychology, [and] sociology.”
One of the advantages of homeschooling is customizing education to a student’s strengths. Beyond that, I can see many more opportunities for linking cause and effect explicitly within such fields as economics and geography.
I don’t have an answer for where I want to go with this. The short answer is that at the very least, I want to integrate the social sciences into EG’s other courses of study. It would require ‘dialing back’ a bit with regards to history expectations, and adding material alongside.
What kinds of materials am I looking at?
• creating an economics course using a multitude of resources, including the Life of Fred Pre-Algebra 2: Economics book, and possibly The Literary Book of Economics
• studying United States government and politics, using some of the Complete Idiot’s series: U.S. Government & Politics and The American Presidency
• cultural anthropology, using The Teaching Company’s People and Cultures of the World, or biological anthropology, using Biological Anthropology: An Evolutionary Perspective
• psychology, for which there are numerous resources
• similarly, philosophy
• geography, starting perhaps with Ellen McHenry’s Mapping the World With Art (again, another possibility in Geography)
• linguistics and the history of the English language, using Excavating English
• perhaps an introduction to Constitutional law? There’s a Complete Idiot’s Guide to the US Constitution that might provide a good starting point for a middle school or early high school course, along with The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers.
• Mark Kurlansky’s books could provide a different avenue for studying aspects of history.
• Both history and music, I fully intend to put together a “History of Rock N Roll” course for my kids when they are each in high school. I’ll use something like this, and add reading and further listening for a nice 0.5 credit course. Maybe we’ll culminate it with a vacation that includes a swing by Cleveland, OH for the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame & Museum.
What are some not-quite-as-typical ideas that you have for social sciences (or another area, for that matter)? Resources you’ve spotted that look like a great deal of fun? Bonus points if you can steer me towards some resources for sustainable agriculture, whether from an economic or scientific perspective.
In general, colleges want to see a year of American history/government. Yes, that’s how I keep seeing it listed. Government is not, strictly speaking, the province of history, but rather political science.
Social sciences, however, encapsulates a range of disciplines. Wikipedia lists the branches of social science as “anthropology, economics, education, geography, history, law, linguistics, political science, psychology, [and] sociology.”
One of the advantages of homeschooling is customizing education to a student’s strengths. Beyond that, I can see many more opportunities for linking cause and effect explicitly within such fields as economics and geography.
I don’t have an answer for where I want to go with this. The short answer is that at the very least, I want to integrate the social sciences into EG’s other courses of study. It would require ‘dialing back’ a bit with regards to history expectations, and adding material alongside.
What kinds of materials am I looking at?
• creating an economics course using a multitude of resources, including the Life of Fred Pre-Algebra 2: Economics book, and possibly The Literary Book of Economics
• studying United States government and politics, using some of the Complete Idiot’s series: U.S. Government & Politics and The American Presidency
• cultural anthropology, using The Teaching Company’s People and Cultures of the World, or biological anthropology, using Biological Anthropology: An Evolutionary Perspective
• psychology, for which there are numerous resources
• similarly, philosophy
• geography, starting perhaps with Ellen McHenry’s Mapping the World With Art (again, another possibility in Geography)
• linguistics and the history of the English language, using Excavating English
• perhaps an introduction to Constitutional law? There’s a Complete Idiot’s Guide to the US Constitution that might provide a good starting point for a middle school or early high school course, along with The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers.
• Mark Kurlansky’s books could provide a different avenue for studying aspects of history.
• Both history and music, I fully intend to put together a “History of Rock N Roll” course for my kids when they are each in high school. I’ll use something like this, and add reading and further listening for a nice 0.5 credit course. Maybe we’ll culminate it with a vacation that includes a swing by Cleveland, OH for the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame & Museum.
What are some not-quite-as-typical ideas that you have for social sciences (or another area, for that matter)? Resources you’ve spotted that look like a great deal of fun? Bonus points if you can steer me towards some resources for sustainable agriculture, whether from an economic or scientific perspective.
8.11.10
Historically Speaking
What’s the point?
I know exactly my aims in terms of grammar stage history. I want to introduce my grammar stage child (currently, FB) to famous people and personalities, and to the stories, myths, and legends of various cultures and time periods. Keeping this purpose firmly in mind helps me when choosing our overall curriculum (Story of the World), as well as when choosing supplemental titles, whether fictional or otherwise. The purpose – the point – is clear.
Similarly, I have a purpose in mind when I contemplate rhetoric stage (high school) history. I want to see evaluation and synthesis. More prosaically, there’s preparation for college level history and historical analysis. Here, again, then, the purpose of history study in these years is made somewhat clear. Using college-level texts and complex writing assignments are two ways to meet those goals, and choosing other materials and resources is made somewhat easier when looking through the prism of the goals of evaluation and synthesis.
Honestly, however, I have trouble finding the same clarity with regards to logic stage (or middle school) history. The Well-Trained Mind talks about exploring cause and effect during the logic stage, and on the surface, this does indeed sound like a fine purpose. In practice, however, this gives little direction for choosing methods or materials. In fact, I think that Susan Wise Bauer realizes this, as the chapter of The Well-Trained Mind that tackles logic stage history provides some of the most elaborate description of the book. In the end, however, when I read that chapter, I too often feel like some of the work prescribed falls under the aegis of busy work; work for work’s sake.
Here, for an example, is a week of history for EG, using The Well-Trained Mind as a guide.
01. Read a double-page spread in History: The Definitive Visual Guide.
02. Re-read the same double-page spread, this time listing important facts found.
03. Mark all dates on time line.
04. Find the region under study on the globe, on the wall map, and in the atlas. Read any relevant commentary in the atlas. [Currently, we don’t have an atlas, but as soon as we do, this will be part of her assignment.]
05. Read any assigned reading and/or biographies.
06. Write a summary for the week on one topic from the double-page spread; use assigned reading or any additional resources for further information.
07. Evaluate a primary source from the time period and culture under study.
08. Create a one point outline.
Something I do not require, which is listed in The Well-Trained Mind, is to make a one to two paragraph biographical summary for any important people encountered in the reading.
That is quite a bit of work, especially if any additional reading is required. I can see where reading about geography may assist in terms of cause and effect, as well as perhaps evaluating a primary source. The summary could be a way to expound upon cause and effect. None of the components, however, seems to be an overall guide to how this should work. None of it seems to be the magic pill that helps explicate cause and effect, or teaches about it, or puts things in context. All of content is still jumbled together. I can perhaps see where each of these individually might lead to an understanding of cause and effect if they were done with me by her side, explaining every step. I feel that she needs independent work, however, and I’m not confident that I would always see the connection. And, well – frankly, I don’t really enjoy ancient history.
Where does that leave me? It leaves me pondering the entire scope of what I have planned for logic stage, actually. Further, I’m swinging again on the pendulum between ‘a Great Books-style integrated study of literature and history’ and ‘gearing our social sciences curricula to both play to EG’s strengths and to be imitative of the best prep schools.’ Generally, when I have a “crisis of faith,” I merely re-read The Well-Trained Mind and have my faith restored, but I’m not so confident that that method will work in this case. For starters, I just re-read the portion of WTM concerned with logic-stage history. I remain convinced that history provides excellent content for practicing the skills of writing and outlining; I similarly view the practice evaluating primary sources as valuable. I just can’t seem to muster up enthusiasm for the remainder of it.
On the other hand, all of this could be explained by the fact that we’ll hit the halfway point (in terms of required number of days) for our school year somewhere around Thanksgiving, and will have somewhere between 105 and 110 days logged when we break for Christmas & New Year’s. Maybe it’s the January Itch come early.
I know exactly my aims in terms of grammar stage history. I want to introduce my grammar stage child (currently, FB) to famous people and personalities, and to the stories, myths, and legends of various cultures and time periods. Keeping this purpose firmly in mind helps me when choosing our overall curriculum (Story of the World), as well as when choosing supplemental titles, whether fictional or otherwise. The purpose – the point – is clear.
Similarly, I have a purpose in mind when I contemplate rhetoric stage (high school) history. I want to see evaluation and synthesis. More prosaically, there’s preparation for college level history and historical analysis. Here, again, then, the purpose of history study in these years is made somewhat clear. Using college-level texts and complex writing assignments are two ways to meet those goals, and choosing other materials and resources is made somewhat easier when looking through the prism of the goals of evaluation and synthesis.
Honestly, however, I have trouble finding the same clarity with regards to logic stage (or middle school) history. The Well-Trained Mind talks about exploring cause and effect during the logic stage, and on the surface, this does indeed sound like a fine purpose. In practice, however, this gives little direction for choosing methods or materials. In fact, I think that Susan Wise Bauer realizes this, as the chapter of The Well-Trained Mind that tackles logic stage history provides some of the most elaborate description of the book. In the end, however, when I read that chapter, I too often feel like some of the work prescribed falls under the aegis of busy work; work for work’s sake.
Here, for an example, is a week of history for EG, using The Well-Trained Mind as a guide.
01. Read a double-page spread in History: The Definitive Visual Guide.
02. Re-read the same double-page spread, this time listing important facts found.
03. Mark all dates on time line.
04. Find the region under study on the globe, on the wall map, and in the atlas. Read any relevant commentary in the atlas. [Currently, we don’t have an atlas, but as soon as we do, this will be part of her assignment.]
05. Read any assigned reading and/or biographies.
06. Write a summary for the week on one topic from the double-page spread; use assigned reading or any additional resources for further information.
07. Evaluate a primary source from the time period and culture under study.
08. Create a one point outline.
Something I do not require, which is listed in The Well-Trained Mind, is to make a one to two paragraph biographical summary for any important people encountered in the reading.
That is quite a bit of work, especially if any additional reading is required. I can see where reading about geography may assist in terms of cause and effect, as well as perhaps evaluating a primary source. The summary could be a way to expound upon cause and effect. None of the components, however, seems to be an overall guide to how this should work. None of it seems to be the magic pill that helps explicate cause and effect, or teaches about it, or puts things in context. All of content is still jumbled together. I can perhaps see where each of these individually might lead to an understanding of cause and effect if they were done with me by her side, explaining every step. I feel that she needs independent work, however, and I’m not confident that I would always see the connection. And, well – frankly, I don’t really enjoy ancient history.
Where does that leave me? It leaves me pondering the entire scope of what I have planned for logic stage, actually. Further, I’m swinging again on the pendulum between ‘a Great Books-style integrated study of literature and history’ and ‘gearing our social sciences curricula to both play to EG’s strengths and to be imitative of the best prep schools.’ Generally, when I have a “crisis of faith,” I merely re-read The Well-Trained Mind and have my faith restored, but I’m not so confident that that method will work in this case. For starters, I just re-read the portion of WTM concerned with logic-stage history. I remain convinced that history provides excellent content for practicing the skills of writing and outlining; I similarly view the practice evaluating primary sources as valuable. I just can’t seem to muster up enthusiasm for the remainder of it.
On the other hand, all of this could be explained by the fact that we’ll hit the halfway point (in terms of required number of days) for our school year somewhere around Thanksgiving, and will have somewhere between 105 and 110 days logged when we break for Christmas & New Year’s. Maybe it’s the January Itch come early.
