Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Books....
When I get a little money, I buy books, and if any is left, I buy food and clothes." --Erasmus
What a great sentiment, huh? That's about right for me! (not really, c'mon) But I did just spend a small fortune buying most of our books for this next school year. *sighs* Lately I feel as if I've "come home"....what I mean is we've *finally* found a curriculum that's a perfect match for us as far as a history/literature program goes. Carole Joy Seid has written a great article on how to teach history using literature. I'm sure that many other homeschoolers out there can relate to the prior frustrations I've experienced, using a curric., yet still not feeling comfortable w/it, as the "fit" just wasn't right for you, so back to searching and wondering... Isn't that the hardest part- deciding *what* direction to take exactly?!
Well, we've found TruthQuest History, the ultimate in a literature guide for history/literary studies, from a Christian perspective. The TQ guides offer a multitude of the best books from various time periods, listed for the different age ranges, scheduled chronologically...more than enough!
We're starting TQ at the beginning of American history, w/the explorers and the Native Americans, before any Europeans came here. We'll spending at least 3 yrs. going through the 3 different American History For Young Students guides. I had reservations at first, about spending so long on Amer. hist., but after alot of prayer and indecision (ie; ancients vs. am. hist., and then once that was decided; am.hist. w/SonLight -two years?, but after reading on their boards seeing that many stretch that out over 3yrs. too- or MFW-1yr?,or combine w/TQ? vs.TQ alone? etc!....follow all that??;). And the TQ guides just seemed too simplistic to me initially (before I actually read through one). I finally decided to ask Chris's advice (now there's a novel idea!;), of which was then confirmed when I tuned in to the fact that Tabitha has been fascinated w/indians lately and Nathan w/vikings, pirates, cowboys, and the "history of the gun". Everyone herewants Amer. Hist., and since our kids are still so young, we'll have plenty of time to explore it at TQ's leisurely pace...reading all sorts of wonderfully engaging "living books", and will enjoy this adventure tremendously.
Now that this decision has been made, and we're using the TQ guides alone, I have such a peace about the direction we're taking (so relieved to have made a decision-finally!). Upon my reading of our TQ guideI've realized there's ALOT of meaty commentary in there, and all my favs. (like the d'Aulaire, and Geneveive Foster books-and Stories of thePilgrims, etc.) are already incoorperated...YAAY! We could never read all these in one year!;) Chris and I are also pleased w/the fact that our dc will then be older and more mature spiritually, w/a few more years of Bible study under their belts, when we do finally cover the Ancients and all their false religion/mythology in greater detail. We are also so excited to *really* learn Amer. history more thoroughly ourselves! We're already planning on watching Gettysburgh and God & Generals again w/our ds in a couple of years when we get to the Civil War...
Someone recently asked me which is my favorite "history spine" for AHYS I? I had to LOL! and exclaimed at that being a VERY good question! I'll let you in on my dirty little secret....(ok!it's no secret to those who know me!)...I'm a bookaholic...yes, I've a real problem! So, I'm really holding back on this one, and resisting my temptation to go out and buy all the Guerber books right now. *smiling slyly* I'll probably get them when we get into the AHFYS II guide though, b/c I've heard tell from fellow "bookroomies" they're magnificent, and worth collecting. But please understand, it's definitely not necessary to get *any* of the spine books, most of my play money goes to book collecting anyways, it's become a hobby of mine. The Guerber books will definitely be a first choice for us in later guides. But since I already own The Light & the Glory and From Sea to Shining Sea (which I hear are wonderful as well, cheaper, and written from a very providential perspective), and Hillyer's CHOTW, as well as the d'Aulairebooks and some Landmarks, I'll be using these and the library primarily. You can access Marshall's This Country Of Ours online for free, as it's public domain. So, that's tempting to me as well, but I may just read it to myself and let the kids view the gorgeous illustrations, and even print them out for their history notebooks. We'll also read the Viking Tales as well, in the beginning of our study. I did go ahead and order the Story Of The World vol.3 (which I'm not yet familiar with, other than thumbing through it at a bookstore, and not necessarily commitingto reading it *all* though), and the SOTW Activity guide to go along w/it soI'd have all those wonderful maps, color pages, activities etc. Between that guide, and the Amer. hist. kit we got which also has maps by Knowledge Quest, we'll be incoorperating alot of Geography into our history study as well. So, basicly my plan is great *in theory* right now, but should work well I think. So far I've been putting together our own studies. But my scheduling approach has always been along the lines of how the TQ guides are laid out....scheduling what I want to cover , and in what order I want to cover something, but leaving the timing to fall as it may according to how our days/weeks go. It's comfortable for me, and keeps me from stressing out, as opposed to when I've tried to accomodate someone else's scheduling my days out for me (like the Sonlight IG's)- just hasn't worked for me personally- we get too many unforseen ideas/leadings of our own I guess, which turn into all day projects. Being able to follow these inspirations is what I adore most about homeschooling I think (besides sleeping in, reading outside and having *little people* around that like to read *me* bedtime stories, and fix my breakfast for me!:)
Blessings, Beth ....who must get outside into this gorgeous Spring weather w/my little historians!
What a great sentiment, huh? That's about right for me! (not really, c'mon) But I did just spend a small fortune buying most of our books for this next school year. *sighs* Lately I feel as if I've "come home"....what I mean is we've *finally* found a curriculum that's a perfect match for us as far as a history/literature program goes. Carole Joy Seid has written a great article on how to teach history using literature. I'm sure that many other homeschoolers out there can relate to the prior frustrations I've experienced, using a curric., yet still not feeling comfortable w/it, as the "fit" just wasn't right for you, so back to searching and wondering... Isn't that the hardest part- deciding *what* direction to take exactly?!
Well, we've found TruthQuest History, the ultimate in a literature guide for history/literary studies, from a Christian perspective. The TQ guides offer a multitude of the best books from various time periods, listed for the different age ranges, scheduled chronologically...more than enough!
We're starting TQ at the beginning of American history, w/the explorers and the Native Americans, before any Europeans came here. We'll spending at least 3 yrs. going through the 3 different American History For Young Students guides. I had reservations at first, about spending so long on Amer. hist., but after alot of prayer and indecision (ie; ancients vs. am. hist., and then once that was decided; am.hist. w/SonLight -two years?, but after reading on their boards seeing that many stretch that out over 3yrs. too- or MFW-1yr?,or combine w/TQ? vs.TQ alone? etc!....follow all that??;). And the TQ guides just seemed too simplistic to me initially (before I actually read through one). I finally decided to ask Chris's advice (now there's a novel idea!;), of which was then confirmed when I tuned in to the fact that Tabitha has been fascinated w/indians lately and Nathan w/vikings, pirates, cowboys, and the "history of the gun". Everyone herewants Amer. Hist., and since our kids are still so young, we'll have plenty of time to explore it at TQ's leisurely pace...reading all sorts of wonderfully engaging "living books", and will enjoy this adventure tremendously.
Now that this decision has been made, and we're using the TQ guides alone, I have such a peace about the direction we're taking (so relieved to have made a decision-finally!). Upon my reading of our TQ guideI've realized there's ALOT of meaty commentary in there, and all my favs. (like the d'Aulaire, and Geneveive Foster books-and Stories of thePilgrims, etc.) are already incoorperated...YAAY! We could never read all these in one year!;) Chris and I are also pleased w/the fact that our dc will then be older and more mature spiritually, w/a few more years of Bible study under their belts, when we do finally cover the Ancients and all their false religion/mythology in greater detail. We are also so excited to *really* learn Amer. history more thoroughly ourselves! We're already planning on watching Gettysburgh and God & Generals again w/our ds in a couple of years when we get to the Civil War...
Someone recently asked me which is my favorite "history spine" for AHYS I? I had to LOL! and exclaimed at that being a VERY good question! I'll let you in on my dirty little secret....(ok!it's no secret to those who know me!)...I'm a bookaholic...yes, I've a real problem! So, I'm really holding back on this one, and resisting my temptation to go out and buy all the Guerber books right now. *smiling slyly* I'll probably get them when we get into the AHFYS II guide though, b/c I've heard tell from fellow "bookroomies" they're magnificent, and worth collecting. But please understand, it's definitely not necessary to get *any* of the spine books, most of my play money goes to book collecting anyways, it's become a hobby of mine. The Guerber books will definitely be a first choice for us in later guides. But since I already own The Light & the Glory and From Sea to Shining Sea (which I hear are wonderful as well, cheaper, and written from a very providential perspective), and Hillyer's CHOTW, as well as the d'Aulairebooks and some Landmarks, I'll be using these and the library primarily. You can access Marshall's This Country Of Ours online for free, as it's public domain. So, that's tempting to me as well, but I may just read it to myself and let the kids view the gorgeous illustrations, and even print them out for their history notebooks. We'll also read the Viking Tales as well, in the beginning of our study. I did go ahead and order the Story Of The World vol.3 (which I'm not yet familiar with, other than thumbing through it at a bookstore, and not necessarily commitingto reading it *all* though), and the SOTW Activity guide to go along w/it soI'd have all those wonderful maps, color pages, activities etc. Between that guide, and the Amer. hist. kit we got which also has maps by Knowledge Quest, we'll be incoorperating alot of Geography into our history study as well. So, basicly my plan is great *in theory* right now, but should work well I think. So far I've been putting together our own studies. But my scheduling approach has always been along the lines of how the TQ guides are laid out....scheduling what I want to cover , and in what order I want to cover something, but leaving the timing to fall as it may according to how our days/weeks go. It's comfortable for me, and keeps me from stressing out, as opposed to when I've tried to accomodate someone else's scheduling my days out for me (like the Sonlight IG's)- just hasn't worked for me personally- we get too many unforseen ideas/leadings of our own I guess, which turn into all day projects. Being able to follow these inspirations is what I adore most about homeschooling I think (besides sleeping in, reading outside and having *little people* around that like to read *me* bedtime stories, and fix my breakfast for me!:)
Blessings, Beth ....who must get outside into this gorgeous Spring weather w/my little historians!
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