Initial Plan for 10th Grade

Current plan (and this could definitely change!  I'm at the "extremely optimistic" phase!):

Literature/English/History/American Civics (2 credits):
English (Literature/Composition) and History will focus on American History and Civics.  The following sources will be used in combination to cover the topics.
The Great American Bestsellers:  Books that Shaped America
Institute for Excellence in Writing:  US History-Based Writing Lessons Civil War to Present
Connect the Thoughts:  History VII - American Civics—An Owner's Manual
Thinkwell's American Government

Geometry (1 credit):
Math-U-See Geometry

Biology (1 credit):
Pre-College Course in Hands-On Biology by the Contemporary Science Center
Supplemented with the following texts/study guides
Thinkwell's Biology
Campbell's Biology:Concepts and Connections

Spanish II (1 credit)
TBD

Electives

• Game Design (1/2 credit)
• 2D and 3D game design
  
• Personal Finance (1/2 credit)
• Physical Education (1/2 credit)
• Basic Engineering (CAD, Programming, ME, Robotics)
  
• Basic Business (marketing, graphic design, public speaking, presentations, meetings)

Social Studies Curriculum Meeting

Dayspring Home Educators had a Humanities Curriculum "show and tell" parent meeting this week.  Here's all the great curriculum examples of their social studies curriculum/resources -- including a great list of series for elementary students:

Social Studies

History Curriculum

Trisms: 

·         Reading Through the Ages book list by the era (any age)
http://stores.shoptrisms.com/-strse-22/Reading-Through-the-Ages/Detail.bok (available in ebook)

·         Also have history programs for Middle-High school
http://trisms.com/  

Classical Conversations (in-person local coops)  (K-12)
http://www.classicalconversations.com/

Tapestry of Grace – full curriculum for multiple ages (K-12)
http://www.tapestryofgrace.com

Connect the Thoughts (Current Wars; Free weekly journal) (K-12)
http://www.connectthethoughts.net/

Winter Promise (literature based curriculum:  PreK-12)
http://www.winterpromise.com/

Sonlight (literature based curriculum:  PreK-12)
http://www.sonlight.com/

 

Resources on CD (timeline, maps) (PreK-12)

·         Hold That Thought (CD’s – maps, timeline)
http://www.holdthatthought.com/

·         Uncle Josh’s Outline Maps from Geography Matters
http://www.geomatters.com/products/details.asp?ID=27

·         Historical Timeline Figures by Liberty Wiggers
http://www.geomatters.com/faq/details.asp?PID=172

History spines:

o   The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

o   The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History

o   DK (Dorling Kindersley) – History of the World

Resources for finding books:

o   World History Reading List:  http://www.abookintime.com/worldhistoryreadinglist.html

o   American History Reading List:  http://www.abookintime.com/americanhistoryreadinglist.html

o   Reading Through the Ages book list by the era (any age)
http://stores.shoptrisms.com/-strse-22/Reading-Through-the-Ages/Detail.bok (available in ebook or paper copy)

Preschool-elementary level book examples

o   The Usborne Book of Living Long Ago by Felicity Brooks, Helen Edom

o   Story of the World (Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer)

o   NC Freaks of History (NC curriculum, workshops, field trips)

§  http://www.ncfreaksofhistory.com/

o   Rats and Bulls and Flying Machines (Core Knowledge)
http://books.coreknowledge.org/home.php?cat=300

o   Around the World in 100 Years by Jean Fritz
(Jean Fritz wrote some great history books:  http://www.biblio.com/jean-fritz~105730~author )

o   Explorers Who Got Lost by Diane Sansevere-Dreher

o   Take it to Your Seat Centers (Geography, etc.) by Evan-Moor
http://www.evan-moor.com/centers

Series of great history books

o   Series:  Chester Comix  (graphic novels)
http://www.chestercomix.com/

o   Series: American Kids in …. Colonial Days, etc.  (list: http://www.homeschoolfcgs.com/product_info.php/cPath/21/products_id/929335)

o   Series: Rookie Biography (many available – Amazon/library)

o   Series: Ingri D’Aulaire (list:  http://www.squidoo.com/ingridaulaire)

§  Benjamin Franklin by D’Aulaire

o   Series: Famous Men… Renaissance and Reformation, Medieval (great short biographies of people with study materials if you want them)
http://www.greenleafpress.com/

o   Series:  Timeline Graphic Novels (eg.Queen NZinga) (several reading levels and many topics)
http://steckvaughn.hmhco.com/en/timeline_home.htm

o   Series:  If You…  Sailed on the Mayflower…  (Scholastic) (many topics)
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/search?N=0&isBrowse=Y&Nr=AND%28Collection_ID:WK%29&Ntk=Series_Name&Ntt=If%20You...

o   Series:  Graphic Library from Capstone Press (www.capstonepress.com)

§  American Graphic:  http://www.capstonepub.com/product/9781429654777

§  Graphic Histories: http://www.capstonepub.com/product/9780736865531

§  And several other series

o   Series:  Horrible Histories (from the UK but available in the US)

§  Original website:  http://horrible-histories.co.uk/

§  US order site:  http://www.horriblebooks.com/

§  Some available at Amazon

o   Series:  You wouldn’t want to be…  an American Colonist
Series titles at:  http://www.mymcpl.org/cfapps/juvser/title.cfm?id=1844

History Lesson Plans

http://www.besthistorysites.net/LessonPlans.shtml

Best of History Web Sites is an award-winning portal that contains annotated links to over 1000 history web sites as well as links to hundreds of quality K-12 history lesson plans, history teacher guides, history activities, history games, history quizzes, and more.

BOHWS has been recommended by The Chronicle of Higher Education, The National Council for the Social Studies, The British Library Net, The New York Public Library, the BBC, Princeton University, -- and many others.

Research Paper Timeline

The following was an email on TRISMS where she explained what the research paper timeline was for her 8th grade son in a public school class for history. It's a good guideline to think about for maybe one paper each year.

***************

We had to place my son in private school last year because we
could not find an outpatient placement for his LD treatment program.
Overall, it has been an horrid experience, I've had to fight his
teachers to follow his treatment plan but some good has come out of
it.

He had to do a research paper for history class and she gave them
a packet with a timeline to turn in each component:

Topic and sources (min 3 books, 1 encyclopedia entry (max), 3
periodicals/websites)

4 days later-Bibliography cards, working works cited page

1 week later-Sources should be read.Title page, working outline

4 days later-1st 20 notecards due

1 week later-2nd 20 notecards due

4 days later-last 20 notecards due

10 days later-First rough draft due

2 weeks later-Final Outline, draft, polished paper, final works
cited page

She gave them samples of the outline, bibiography cards, works
cited page and how to do the different types of citations, a format
for the notecards, a definition of plagarism, a word requirement (900-
1,100 words for 8th grade)and required a map, chart, and a graph.

It was a tremendous help for my son to keep on track and meet
her standards. In the end her only quibble was with his paper's
length- 9 1/2 pages. She wanted it pared down to 6 pages which I
thought was ridiculous given the number of notecards required along
with the map, chart and graph.

Because it's there...

Why would I try to start a blog at this time? It's there... that's all I can say. It's certainly not because I've got lots of time on my hands. I also don't know if I'm doing it for me as a form of diary and making sense of the world or for someone else.

I think I'll start with regular lists of books being read and websites open -- just to see where it goes...

Labels

A	General
B	Blog
C
D
E	Inspiration -- inspirational to gain a better appreciation of life
F	Organization -- organizing life, record keeping, etc.
G	Books -- books being read, book recommendations
H	Resources
I	Travel
J
K
L	Highschool
M	Middle School
N	Elementary School
O	Preschool
P
Q	Development
R	Math
S	Language Arts
T	Science
U	Social Studies
V	Robotics
W	Electives
X
Y
Z