2016-2017 Beautiful Feet Ancient History Wrap-Up...

RileyAnn finished the Beautiful Feet Ancient History Intermediate guide for the 2016-2017 school year. It was her assigned Year 7 history and she thoroughly enjoyed the study. Below are some thoughts on the various resources and literature books she used.

Resources

Streams of Civilization by Mary Stanton and Albert Hyma

The Student Bible Atlas by Tim Dowley

Streams of Civilization Test Booklet

Ancient History Timeline by Rea Berg              

I wasn't sure about scheduling Streams of Civilization, but we decided to go with it. Overall, Riley found it dry, but a necessary component as it provided good background information for the general study. She said the Bible Atlas was an extremely helpful resource and that she most likely would have been lost without it. We didn't use the test book or the timeline. Instead, Riley kept a Book of Centuries.

Literature

Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Elizabeth Payne-
Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green
Pyramid by David Macaulay
The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Ancient Greece by Christine Hatt
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire
The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum
Augustus Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster (also used in AO Year 6)
Galen and the Gateway to Medicine by Jeanne Bendick
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth Speare (also used in AO Year 6)
City by David Macaulay
The White Isle by Caroline Dale Snedecker

Riley particularly enjoyed the assigned literature. Some of her favorites were Tales of Ancient Egypt, D'Aulaire's Greek Myths, The Children's Homer, Augustus Caesar's World, and The Bronze Bow, which was her number one not to be missed pick. There weren't any literature books that she didn't like.

Additional Recommended Literature

Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky

Black Ships Before Troy: the Story of the Iliad by Rosemary Sutcliff (also used in AO Year 6)

The Wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff (also used in AO Year 6)

We read Archimedes... last year and The Librarian Who Measured... several years ago so I did not reassign those. However, I did include the two Sutcliff books in Riley's study, which she appreciated. She felt they were meaty enough to hold her interest, yet easy enough to understand the plot. I'm glad we chose a retelling of these famous epics for her first experience with them. I do intend to assign the actual Iliad and Odyssey in high school. 

Books I Added 

In addition, to the Beautiful Feet Ancient History study, I added the following extra books and resources to Riley's history list...

The Boys' and Girls' Herodotus by John S. White

Genesis: Finding Your Roots by Ruth Beechick (also used in AO Year 6)

Adam and His Kin by Ruth Beechick

The Story of the Greeks by H.A. Guerber (Christine Miller) (also used in AO Year 6)

The Story of the Romans by H.A. Guerber (Christine Miller) (also used in AO Year 6)

Unfortunately, she didn't care for Herodotus as she found it dry and confusing due to the different names used by the same people. Also, she didn't like Genesis... because it was dull. She said she would rather read the actual Bible than an interpretation. Riley delighted in the Guerber books and felt they made a great spine, filling in details that Streams of Civilization and the literature didn't cover. She also particularly liked the story form of Adam and His Kin.

I still feel each of the added books was helpful in one way or another. I don't regret having her read Herodotus as I felt it was important exposure that she may find necessary or come to appreciate down the road. I also used the Genesis book with Ruben and was personally disappointed as it is held in high esteem. Although, I admire Ruth Beechick and her work for the homeschool community, I also found this particular work dull and would prefer to read Genesis straight from the Bible.

Regarding the Beautiful Feet Ancient History study, I know the Berg's are working on rewriting the guides, which seems appropriate given many of the books used in the intermediate guide are also used at the current high school level. There are few changes I would make at the Intermediate level, but more at the High school level. I would suggest using the Guerber books as the spine at the intermediate level and sticking with either Streams of Civilization at the high school level or possibly the Dorothy Mills' ancient histories as a spine. I would also definitely recommend reading either the Sutcliff retellings or some other variation at the Intermediate level and then assigning a higher level Iliad and Odyssey in the high school level, something like the Fagles translation. 

Overall, Riley had a great history year and spoke very highly of the books and resources used. She completed a variety of notebooking pages as she went along. If you'd like to track her progress from the beginning, here are some thoughts before Riley began the study. Here is an eight week review.  Here is a mid year review. The second two posts include sample notebooking pages she kept.

Also, I scrapped Ruben's history plan part way through the year and switched him to Beautiful Feet's Ancient History study of Rome. You can see which books I chose and what I added here. I much preferred Beautiful Feet Ancient History to Heart of Dakota's Creation to Christ for a variety of reasons. You can read about our Greek study changes here and our Rome study changes here. Beautiful Feet was a winner and RileyAnn will continue with their Intermediate Medieval Study in the fall. 

2016-2017 Year in Review - Science and Nature...

Today, I'm going to review Riley and Ruben's 2016-2017 science studies as part of my year end reflection. Looking back helps me in planning how to proceed forward. I'll start with Ruben's study, including a book list and sample notebook pages. Then move to Riley's study, also including her book list and sample notebooking pages. In addition, I'll make note of whether each book was a hit or miss.

For Year 6, Ruben used the following science books as part of Heart of Dakota Creation to Christ:

Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day (HOD) - Ruben did OK with this book as long as I read it aloud. He did not enjoy reading it independently. I did not enjoy the textbook feel of it. HOD suggested a variety of activities while reading, including, weekly copywork, narration, questions, and experiments. Ruben did not like most of these activities. Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 was a miss.

Birds of the Air by Arabella Buckley (HOD, AO) and Plant Life in Field and Garden by Arabella Buckley (HOD, AO) - I read Birds of the Air aloud and Ruben read Plant Life independently. He did well with both of them. He created some fabulous notebook drawings while reading these books. One draw back of the Buckley books for us was that many of the plants and birds were native to Europe and not to our region here in the U.S. Overall, the Buckley books were a hit. 

Exploring the History of Medicine by John Hudson Tiner (HOD, Sonlight) - I started reading this book aloud to Ruben, but eventually he took it over on his own. The readings were short and fairly interesting. We answered the questions orally after each reading so there was no written work with this book. Exploring the History of Medicine was a hit. 

Galen and the Gateway to Medicine by Jeanne Bendick (HOD, Beautiful Feet) - Ruben read Galen on his own and thoroughly enjoyed it. He produced excellent oral narrations after each reading and did a couple of notebooking pages as HOD suggested assignments. Galen and the Gateway to Medicine was a definite hit! 

An Illustrated Adventure in Human Anatomy by Kate Sweeney (HOD) - Neither Ruben, nor I thought much of this book. The short snippets of information and busy pages were not appealing. It was overstimulating and a bit overwhelming, as you didn't know in what order to read since the words were scattered around the page. At my request, Ruben did create a wonderful diagram of the heart. He also drew and labeled the skeletal system. An Illustrated Adventure in Human Anatomy was a miss.

As noted above, some of the books overlapped with other programs, such as Ambleside Online, Sonlight, and Beautiful Feet. Interestingly, the books that were used in various curricular were the books we liked best. Overall, it was a good science year for Ruben. I saw growth. His study mostly entailed biology or topics relating to living things. Below are samples of his notebooking pages...

 

For Year 7, Riley used a variety of books suggested from Ambleside Online, as well as a human anatomy book of her choice and a couple of nature books of my choice. She studied these books independently. Her list with hits and misses is as follows...

Science

Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (Riley's choice) - There are 14 modules/chapters in this Apologia book. Riley used it twice a week, reading for two days one week and then notebooking on that reading for two days the following week. Hence, completing one module/chapter every two weeks. I used the schedule in the Apologia Anatomy Notebooking Journal. However, she did not complete the journal, but rather created her own notebook pages as I assigned, which turned out very well. Riley enjoyed this Apologia text. It was a hit.

Exploring the History of Medicine by John Hudson Tiner - This book was in my original plan, but somehow Riley inadvertently missed it on the schedule and therefore, she did not complete Exploring the History of Medicine. 

Natural Science 

Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie - Riley read a chapter a week from this book over Term 1 (12 weeks). I was hoping she would use it to help develop her nature journal, but I didn't give clear direction, so it didn't go as planned. Riley loved the drawings in Leslie's Journal, but the content didn't carry over as application because I didn't follow through on my expectation. Despite this, it was a hit. 

Secrets of the Woods and School of the Woods by William J. Long (AO 3 & 6) - Again, Riley simply read these books independently. She called them both a hit.

Nature Study 

Journaling a Year in Nature from Simply Charlotte Mason - Riley was supposed to venture out on a weekly nature study, journaling in this book through the process. However, she chose to write weekly entries regarding the weather in an old nature journal while looking out the window. She doesn't like cold weather and I didn't follow up. My resident box checker did not read my mind in order to understand the expectation. ;-p

Overall, Riley enjoyed all the books she read. She did notebook through her anatomy study, of which I will include samples below. In reviewing her books, I see that Riley also focused on biology and living organisms this year. 

In the upcoming school year, I aim to assign a wider variety of books from various branches of science. I also need to be more clear on my expectations and follow up regularly to see that those expectations are being met. 

2016-2017 Year in Review - Geography....

Riley finished her geography a couple of weeks ago so I thought I'd do a review because I did something a little unconventional this year. I purchased an older edition of the Classical Conversations Challenge A Guide online, then I rewrote some of lessons to suit our needs. When Riley and I observed the CC Challenge A last year, one of the things we both really liked was the geography portion. The map work is actually in line with how I understand Charlotte Mason taught map drill, although we did move a bit quicker than Charlotte most likely would have.

At the beginning of the year, I gave Riley a week-by-week overview of my expectations. It included a schedule for drawing each continent with some details, such as rivers, lakes, oceans, countries, capitals, mountain ranges, etc. It also included a list of geographic terms that I wanted her to learn. Riley was free to choose atlases and online maps to guide her study.

From there, each week, she drew or traced and labeled different parts of the world. Here's how I scheduled the drawings:

Weeks 1-3 Canada
Weeks 4-6 North America
Weeks 7-9 Central America
Weeks 10-12 South America
Weeks 13-18 Europe
Week 19 Western Hemisphere (review)
Weeks 20-15 Asia
Weeks 26-31 Africa
Weeks 32-33 Austrailia
Weeks 34-35 Oceania
Week 36 Review

So, each week for three weeks, Riley started with a blank piece of copy paper and drew or traced a map of Canada with provinces, capitals, assigned bodies of water and certain geographic features. She started out the year drawing all the maps, but eventually switched to tracing the map outlines from Uncle Josh's Outline Map Book in order to get the maps proportional without spending hours upon hours on each map. I was more interested in her acquiring geographic placement knowledge, than the art of map design.  Then she repeated this method for North America and so on and so forth throughout the year. She also kept a list of geographic terms. At the end of the year, she bound her maps with vocabulary in the back to create a beautiful Geography notebook, of which, I'm including photos below.

Her maps are lovely and she really has a good grasp on various locations around the world. Our Year 7 Geography was a success!

Updated Rome Study....

I've pretty much scrapped the Heart of Dakota Creation to Christ  history plan for Ruben. I'm switching to some Beautiful Feet Ancient History books.  He's already read D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths and is currently reading Galen and the Gateway to Medicine, which are also BF books, for the study of Greece.

This term, Ruben will read from Augustus Caesar's World, The Bronze Bow, and City as part of his study. In addition, he will continue to notebook and add to his timeline. We were getting too bogged down with the HOD CTC books. There seems to be a lot of extra there that he really wasn't enjoying and neither was I. Instead of learning, we were getting at each other. Since history has always been our kid's favorite subject, it was time to try something else before he lost his love.

Ruben is still reading the DK Illustrated Family Bible and he is listening to What in the World?  We will also continue to use the science portion of HOD CTC and utilize the Robert Frost poetry selections. I've contemplated having him read The Famous Men of Rome on his own, but so far, the BF readings have been a bit long so I'm inclined to leave it as is.

For notebooking, I'm drawing from the BF Ancient History study guide as well as Draw & Write Through History: Greece and Rome. I've included some of his notebooking pages thus far below....

With only twelve weeks left of our 2016-2017 academic year, we're hoping to finish strong. By the way, Riley, Ruben and I are also studying Julius Caesar by Shakespeare with our Middle School Book Club throughout the month of March. We will read one act per week for five weeks. Then most likely watch the movie. I'm looking forward to it! 

Middle School Socratic Book Club....

The book club is back!  Last year, I facilitated a Socratic Book Club for homeschooled 5th and 6th graders.  We studied seven great works of literature based on the method presented in Teaching the Classics by Adam and Missy Andrews.  This year, because my kids are older, we'll be continuing the club with 6th through 8th graders.  I learned a great deal last year and have made a few changes.

This year, our group will study only five books total, rather than seven, four novels and a Shakespeare play.  Given the breadth and depth of the works studied, seven was just a few too many.  Also, I've condensed the study into a shorter time period, beginning in October, a month later, and ending in March, a month earlier.  These are not only less busy times for my family, but six of the most unfavorable months to be out of doors in WI.  There is nothing like snuggling in with a cup of hot chocolate and a great classic novel during those pesky winter months.

Another change this year is the addition of a Shakespeare play.  I've never studied Shakespeare with a group before, but thought it was a fabulous idea.  I've read several posts written by Nancy Kelly and Mystie Winckler regarding their Shakespeare teaching experience and this year decided to take the plunge.  My current plan is to meet five consecutive weeks in March, studying one Act of Julius Caesar per week.   I'm looking forward to group discussion and possibly acting out the scenes each week within the group.

Lastly, I'm adding a writing component to the group.  I'm requiring each student to write a narration either of the entire story or of a particular chapter/scene of interest.  We currently have seven participants and if time permits, I will ask each student to share their narration with the group.  The students will also be required to keep a Commonplace Book. I'm asking them to choose at least two passages from each book to commonplace. Again, they will be asked to share their passage choices with the group.  I will not be critiquing any of the writing or assigning grades, but rather encouraging the students to deeper engage with the story.

The books we will study are scheduled as follows...

October 2016 – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

November 2016 – Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

January 2017 – Oliver Twist by CharlesDickens

February 2017 – The Call of the Wild by Jack London

March 2017 – Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

In addition to narration and commonplacing, throughout the club study, we will discuss the five elements of fiction including, conflict, plot, setting, character, and theme using the Socratic method of discussion, again based on Teaching the Classics as mentioned above.  Overall, I think it's going to be a great year. Ruben is already blowing through Huck Finn.  I'm pleased with the number of participants and look forward to each of the prospective books being studied.  I intend to write a follow-up post after each meeting with a book review.

The Habit of Orderliness, Helping Students Stay Organized....

In an effort to help my kiddos stay organized, for the past few years, I've created student planners.  You may remember from Planning Your Homeschool Year that I am primarily a paper/pencil planner. I've tried digital planning unsuccessfully...mostly because our computer crashed that year.  I've since created my master plans in Word, but print hard copies to work off of throughout the year.  

RileyAnn has always been fascinated by my lesson plans. Back in 4th grade, she wanted a system to keep track of her own assignments.  She's very motivated and has been striving for independence in her academics for some time.  You may also remember the paper/pencil Term Checklists I posted back then.  Riley is my lover of box checking so she loves the checklist system.  

The habit of regularity is as attractive to older children as to the infant.  The days when the usual programme falls through are, we know, the days when the children are apt to be naughty.  Charlotte Mason, Vol. 1 p. 132

This year, I thought about doing away with the checklists because I wanted to try a new system as I felt Riley was ready for the entire lesson plan.  However, Riley begged for them and we compromised.  I gave her the desired check boxes as well as the lesson plans.  It was a win, win all the way around.  

Below you will see Riley's Term 1 Daily Checklists.  This year, I've scheduled all subjects in a four day week, leaving the fifth day open.  In the past, I've scheduled a lighter fifth day, but never left it completely open.  I wasn't sure it would work and was open to the idea of carry over if four days got to be too much.  However so far, it's been wonderful!  

This week we do start choir, which requires travel time and usually errands when we head to the city.  It's also typically a day to have lunch, shop, or play at the park with friends.  The kids now have the option to complete their school work on that day after arriving home or saving it for the fifth open day.  My goal was to create more time for leisure and contemplation.  Over the past couple of weeks on their fifth free day, the kids have done such things as helping me work our thrift sale, an art tour, baking, building, free reading, spending time out of doors, etc.  So far, it certainly hasn't been a wasted day.  Each of them now has built in time to cultivate other interests and hobbies.  

Following the Term Checklist is Riley's At-A-Glance Term Lesson Plan Chart.  I've modeled this after the Ambleside Online Printable Charts.  When it says Jungle Pilot on Day 1 of her Checklist, Riley can go to the Term Lesson Plan and see that she's supposed to read Ch 1-2 that day.  When it says Natural History on Day 4, she can cross reference to see that she is to read Ch 1 of Keeping a Nature Journal.  These two types of charts have not changed over the past couple of years.  Riley liked this system so we will continue.  I've decided if it's not broke, don't fix it!

The change I did make to Riley's student planner this year was due to her request for more independence.  I actually handed over the entire lesson plan to her.  For example, I made a copy of the AO Year 6 Old Testament Bible reading plan, the Beautiful Feet Ancient History pages with the lessons on them, a plan for mapping her geography, science lesson plan, and a sample of what her rhetoric assignment should look like in her notebook.  I then used my ProClick Binder to bind it all in one as you can see below.  You may want to check out Riley's 2016-2017, Homeschool Plan for 7th Grade for a better understanding of her schedule and assignments.  

Next there's Ruben, who hated the checklist system and was confused by all the boxes.  As an alternative, last year I created a table with a list of daily expectations.  I then printed it and placed it in a sheet protector which he added to his 3-ring binder.  Rather than ask me what he needed to do each day, he simply took out his list and was able to see for himself.  It looked like this....

Ruben Daily Schedule Year 5 2015-2016

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Bible	Bible	Bible	Bible	Nature Study
Math	Math	Math	Math	Logic/Games
Church History	Geography	Church History	Daniel Boone	Free Reading
BF History	BF Science	BF History	BF Science	BF History
Poetry	Oliver Twist	Poetry	Poetry	Scrub Floor
STOW 4	ULW	Incredible Journey	ULW
			Art
Cursive	Cursive	Cursive	Cursive
Read to Levi	Read to Levi	Read to Levi	Read to Levi

Ruben liked this daily expectation chart, but because it was simply a printed table, it wasn't fluid to changing assignments.  It didn't allow me a written way to assign page numbers or chapters to be read.  This year I really wanted something with more detail to promote independence for him. Yet, it needed to be simple, straight forward, one page, with little on the page.  Last year, I also tried giving Ruben a Term Lesson Plan like Riley's shown above, but it was confusing for him.  I knew the checklists didn't work and I knew he would be overwhelmed by the entire lesson plan.  

Then I remembered reading How I'm Using Spiral Notebooks to Simplify Homeschooling by Sarah Mackenzie and wondered if a spiral notebook system would work for Ruben.  About the second day of school, I decided to try it.  I picked a plain old 19-cent spiral bound notebook...in his favorite color, of course. 

Because we chose Heart of Dakota Creation to Christ this year for Ruben, there was not a lot of lesson planning involved on my part.  Each day has a two-page spread in the teacher's manual showing that day's lessons. 

However, because I subbed out some books and chose our own language arts and math, the plan doesn't list those items.  This is where Ruben's student notebook comes in.  Every evening, I look over the next day's HOD plan.  From there, I make a total list of assignments in Ruben's spiral notebook.  Again, looking at Ruben's 2016-2017 Homeschool Plan for 6th Grade will give you a better understanding of his assignment schedule. 

In the morning, Ruben can work through the list and know what's expected of him. As Charlotte Mason said, children desire regularity. They thrive when adhering to a schedule or routine.  Ruben loves knowing what he has to do before starting his day and now that we're in our third week of school, I like that he can check his list each morning, pick out some independent assignments and begin working.  

There are a few books that he still prefers me to read aloud to him, but I do see him slowly gaining confidence, which is creating more independence in his studies.  For example, this morning I left the "school room" to put a beef roast in the crock pot for supper.  Upon my return, Ruben was lying on the couch reading his science text.  It was a beautiful sight! 

Overall, our new student planners are working great!  Riley and Ruben are both happy, as am I.  The new system is helping each of them to stay organized. We have found a routine and are building the habit of orderliness. 

Let all things be done decently and in order. - 1 Corinthians 14:40

Do you use student planners?  I'd love to hear about what works for your family.  Feel free to leave a comment below.