The Great Brain

DS just finished reading The Great Brain, and according to him - "It was awesome!"

From Wikipedia: The Great Brain is a series of children's books by American author John Dennis Fitzgerald (1907-1988). Set in the fictitious small town of Adenville, Utah, at the turn of the last century, between 1896 and 1898, the stories are loosely based on Fitzgerald's childhood experiences. From Fitzgerald's description of the town of Adenville as the hub of a cattle and sheep ranching region in Utah, it may be reasonable to infer that it was based on Price, Utah.
Chronicled by the first-person voice of John Dennis Fitzgerald, the stories mainly center around the escapades of John's mischievous older brother, Tom Dennis Fitzgerald, whose nickname is "The Great Brain".

Guess I need to get him the next in the series now - I just love books that introduce them to the way things used to be in a nice readable format. This one and the Little House books are two of his favorites so far.

Yet another Audio Book Classic Finished

Today we finished "Little House in the Big Woods," and ds especially enjoyed it very much. I had read it out load to dd a few years ago, so he was really the target audience. We also finished "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" before we did "Little House." Not exactly a classic, but still a nice listen.

Today we started back on our quest to destroy the ring at Mordor. I'm sure that we will be listening to "The Two Towers" for a while, but that's ok. The kids and I are really enjoying it. On a side note, I let them watch the first movie on their little DVD players, and they really enjoyed it. They agree with me that it's really hard to be afraid of orks on a 7" screen. :)

Wow, how many times can I use variations of the word "enjoy". I think I may need a thesaurus - or maybe I just need to rest my tired brain....

Long time coming....

We finished "Fellowship of the Ring." It took a long time, but the kids understood it, and they enjoyed it - which is the most important thing. If you've ever hesitated at reading these books, I highly recommend the Recorded Books version. I consider myself a good reader, but for some reason, this series stalled me out, but I loved listening to the first two books.....now we take a small break. I think we will do the Two Towers and Return of the King as part of next school year.

Kids Individual Literature

DD

Armitage Family
Dragon Slippers

DS

My Father's Dragon

Literature books that we have read this year (so far)

A Cricket in Times Square
The Hobbit
Fellowship of the Ring (currently)
All of a Kind Family
The Moffats

Review of "The Treasure of Amelia Island"

We recently finished "The Treasure of Amelia Island." This book does a great job of telling a historical fiction story through the eyes of a child, but yet in a way that brings the history to life. Ana Jai Kingsley was a very strong opinionated woman, and I think the kids learned from her life.

History Grand Master Plan

I have been working on my goals for the kids in their history and humanities eductation. DD is going into 5th grade next year, so it seems that it is time to bring in a more "tied together" curriculum. Up until now, we have been reading stories and just filling them up with names, places, and events. Plus, it's time to start over at Genesis again, so what better place to start with a new curriculum. I have no doubt that I could come up with a curriculum if I put my mind to it, but it seems like if there is something out there that is a good fit for us, why not use it....

For the next three years, we have decided to use Diana Waring's History Revealed. I have listened to her audio "What in the World's Going on Here?" and her love for history is truly infectious. Just listen to her introduction, and you'll see what I mean. I think this is a good next step, because she really tells the story of history in a nice interlinking way with it all coming down to that it is really God's story about his pursuit for our hearts. This curriculum is really geared for 5th grade and up, but she has a lower elementary activity book that is also available which I will use with DS.

After that, DD will be going into 8th grade, and we will switch to Tapestry of Grace. While you're there, be sure to check out their Map of the Humanities. I find that I can just sit and look at this amazing map that they have created marveling at how everything intertwines. I feel that this curriculum's real strength is in the logic and rhetoric stages which is why I have decided to wait to use them. The product looks amazing, but I want to instill a little more love of the subject before we really dig in so deep.

This plan will get us to DD's Senior year, and at that point she may be ready for some college classes. DS will be going into 10th, and I will probably try to combine the two programs somewhat for his benefit. That way he can be exposed to the Story at an older age, but we'll also pull some of the Rhetoric assignments from the Tapestry. I am so excited to have an overall game plan so that I am not constantly looking for the next step. I'm coming up with similiar plans for the other subjects as well, and I will post as I get them completed.