French ruled paper

Go here for French-ruled paper.

I printed it at 75%, which seems to suit the size I tend to write. I think I'd like to try 80% also.

Homeschool Literature Discussion Group

Curriculum: Windows to the World by Institute for Excellence in Writing with Teaching the Classics by Adam & Missy Andrews (see links below)

Focus: Introduction to Literary Analysis

Meeting Format: One hour weekly discussion group facilitated (NOT TAUGHT) by a parent. 

Age: High school (or an advanced younger student capable of participating in and contributing to discussion of literature)

Student participation: Each student should complete the reading at home and prepare adequately to contribute to weekly discussions. Additional assignments and quizzes will be completed at home. Some discussion will also take place by posting written assignments to a blog. 

Parent participation: Parents will be expected to take turns facilitating discussion. This will require reading the material and preparing to ask good questions (which the curriculum will teach us to do) to stimulate discussion. Part of the idea is that we don’t all have to read ALL of the material. I also expect that we will help each other out as necessary with evaluating written work.

Note: Familiarity with the Institute for Excellence in Writing approach is NOT required for participation.

Cost: cost of the curriculum ($49 new @ IEW.com)

Time: During school hours. I prefer Monday or Tuesday morning, but I’m flexible.

Location: I’ve located a couple of local libraries that have nice spaces for a small group discussion. (My favorites so far are Washington Twp. and Wyckoff). We could potentially move around occasionally. If someone wants to offer their home or suggest other libraries, I’m open to that!

What about younger children? Younger children can come, but may not be unattended! If we’re meeting in public libraries, they will have to conform to the expectations of the staff. Depending on the children involved and the energy of the parents, it would be nice to add a young children’s read-aloud group and a tween literature discussion group.

Link for Windows to the World: 

http://iew.com/shop/products/windows-world-introduction-literary-analysis-teacherstudent-combo

Link for Teaching the Classics (I don’t believe it will be necessary for anyone else to buy this as I already have it.) The first 5 weeks of lessons consist of watching these DVDs, so we’ll have to figure out a suitable location for this...

http://www.centerforlit.com/teaching-the-classics

The sample pages here describe the course requirements well: http://iew.com/sites/default/files/paperbasedcourse/fileattachment/SLA-E_Teacher_Sample.pdf

Intro to Biomes

Watch this video. (Pretty, nice music)

https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=hIy0ZlyPPDg

then watch this video: (Explains the main factors that affect climate: Precipitation, Temperature, Oceans, Humans)
http://youtu.be/ZouWWVyz9v8?t=2s

Here is a good set of online lessons about biomes:
here find definitions of ecosystem, biome, habitat, etc.
http://eschooltoday.com/ecosystems/what-is-an-ecosystem.html

Consider this one: (vocabulary of biomes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7cZ3b6PH2s

Check out the videos in this play list:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL172EA6B203DDDAA2

And look at videos here:
http://www.untamedscience.com/science-videos-list/

TONS of good resources here:
http://www.montessorimom.com/biomes/

1912 - Bread & Roses Strike, Lawrence, MA

Bread and Roses, Too - by Katherine Paterson

Mill manager Billy Wood

About the strike

About "the labor problem" in 1912, including pictures, cartoons, etc. Includes info on the Lawrence Strike of 1912.

More info on the strike

The poem

The song with images (YouTube)

Hunger Games - the books, not the movies!

Oliver DeMille has some interesting comments about the Hunger Games trilogy. Read them Here.

Movies to consider for older teens

A Walk to Remember (and book by Nicholas Sparks).

There's some (Christian) concern regarding some worldly/immoral behavior portrayed at the beginning of the movie and instances of profanity throughout. However, this movie overwhelmingly gets positive reviews from Christians for its positive portrayal of a teen-age Christian and her coming-to-faith boyfriend.

Websites for Movie Reviews

http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/home.html

http://www.pluggedin.com

http://www.movieguide.org