Once again the girls didn't plan anything, but unlike yesterday, i didn't stress about it and we had a nice, quiet day. Elizabeth babysat for a couple of hours this evening so some friends from church could have a nice evening out and I had a bit of work to do, but other than that it was a leisurely do-nothing kind of day!
Of course, I don't actaully know how to do nothing, so I planned for next school year. I've decided to go ahead and start thinking of Rebecca as a high schooler even though technically she is in the eighth grade. However, when a child is doing Algebra II and chemistry using a college text, and reading the Iliad and the Odyssey, I think one can safely assume she is doing high school level work!
For some reason I'm having trouble making decisions this year. I can't decide whether to use Chemistry: the Central Science by Brown, Lemay, and Buston or Chemistry by Zumdahl. I went ahead and ordered copies of both so I can examine them closely. So far I have received the Brown version and I like what I see. I was leaning toward this volume initially because you can get a virtual lab that goes along with it. I will probably go ahead and use that (for the labs it wouldn't be safe enough to do at home) with whatever curriculum I choose, but I figure it will probably match up best with the book it was designed to correlate with. There is a ton of stuff on the web that refers to the Zumdahl text, however and so my decision is not yet clear!
My biggest angst, however, is what to do with literature/history. I really want to do a four year cycle with Rebecca (my literature/English fiend) a la The Well Trained Mind. However, my attempt at this with Josh was, well, less than I wanted it to be. I know it will be different with Rebecca--I don't have to sit that child down and say, READ RIGHT NOW! like I do with my eldest, but I'm still a bit worried. I have looked at programs like Tapestry of Grace and Omnibus and some others, but I'm not sure if they will be exactly what I want. Or even close. I need to see them and touch them. Unfortunately both programs are too expensive to buy without full intention of using. I guess I'm holding off on a decison until the curriculum fair at the end of July. I'm just not happy about it! |
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Jun. 21, 2008 - Curriculum and Games
I am currently really thinking & praying abt whether I will send my #3 to high-school as I did my older two, or homeschool him for high-school. We may send him in 2009-10 for 8th grd to "test it out"-- he has severe ADHD so there is no guarantee he would transition easil to a classrm setting as the older 2 did. So it is possible this will be my last yr HSing him- and then again, maybe not. Anyway, I am putting more thought into curriculum b/c either way, it is time to stop trying to be Charlotte Mason-y & get more serious w/him.
What I really came here for is to respond to your comment abt card/board games. First off, "tired of Apples to Apples"? Is that possible? :-) Ever played Imaginiff?-- that is a fun one. The card game we always play is called "Popeye" by us (b/c that's how we were taught), though it is more commonly called Pounce, Peanut, or Nerts. Rather than try to explain it to you, I googled it for you. You can find the rules at http://www.pagat.com/patience/nerts.html. It's not as complicated as it sounds. Basically it is a fast-paced "solitaire" game in which everyone plays their own "work piles" but play on common "foundation piles" (the ones built by suit from ace on up). The goal is to get as many cards as possible out in the middle on the foundation piles, while also depleting one's "popeye pile" (or pounce pile or nerts pile or whatever...). It is a lot of fun and gets very competitive & noisy if you have a loud family.
We used to play "Golf" as well (you can find those rules on the web, too, probably at the same site as the Popeye/Peanut rules) and I really liked that. But since I learned & taught my family Popeye 5 yrs ago, they won't play anything else.
Let me know if you guys start playing one of these, and how you like it!
Edited by 40winkzzz on Jun. 21, 2008 at 9:20 AM