HSL Book Deal of the Day 5.11.17: Howl's Moving Castle
Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own—but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
We're highlighting our picks for best book deal of the day on the blog, but you can always find our favorite Kindle book deals here.
How I Use My Bullet Journal for Our Homeschool’s As-We-Go Schedule
My homeschool organization method: A bullet journal and an as-we-go planner than lets me keep up with what we've done instead of trying to anticipate what we're going to do.
My homeschool organization method: A bullet journal and an as-we-go planner that lets me keep up with what we've done instead of trying to anticipate what we're going to do.
I feel like I should apologize up front for my unbeautiful bullet journal pages. I have seen many gorgeous bullet journals, and mine is not one of them. For me, it’s a tool — a tool that works really well as long as I don’t get caught up in obsessing about how it looks more than how it works. But it’s a little embarrassing to put these pages out in a world full of much more beautiful bullet journals, so I feel like I need to make some kind of disclaimer.
Along similar lines, I use these cheap, paper-covered Moleskine notebooks for my bullet journal. I’ve experimented with fancier notebooks, but I keep coming back to these—they’re big enough not to feel cramped but small and flexible enough to toss in my purse or school bag or picnic basket, and because they’re inexpensive, I never feel bad about ripping out pages or going through one more quickly than anticipated. I am the un-fancy bullet journaler, you guys, which is why it’s taken me so long to write this post. Please don’t mock my utilitarian pages, but if you have pretty ones, feel free to post them in the comments.
(If you’re unfamiliar with bullet journals, this post will probably make more sense to you if you watch this video, which outlines the general method quite succinctly.)
The Basics of My Method
I was never able to find a planner that worked for the way I like to plan our homeschool stuff, which I like to call call plan-as-you-go homeschooling. Instead of trying to map out what we’ll be doing each week, I record what we actually do each day . That way, I have a reliable record of our homeschool and I can keep a running to-do list, which is different from a daily schedule, and keep up with appointments and other things that happen at a specific time.
I do the bulk of my “planning” in the summer, when I choose the books we’ll be using for the next academic year. Once I’ve chosen the books and materials we're going to use, we just work through them at our own pace until we finish them—no matter how I try to plan in advance, the days never stack up the way I intend, and I end up moving things around, or forgetting things completely, or getting genuinely stressed out. At the beginning of the year, I write the materials I collected for each kid on a sticky note, which helps me make sure I don’t forget about a cool art book or nature study guide (which has happened), but by the middle of the year, I don’t usually need them anymore.
As you can see from the photo here (I warned you to expect messiness!), I jot down what we do each day, broken up by subject. I used to just jot down notes without the subject tag, but I find it’s much easier if I can always tell what subject I’m looking at. I actually thought about assigning each subject a color and going back and highlighting them for an even more obvious visual indicator, but since I would probably stick with that for about 13 days before giving up, I let that go. I DO use different colored pens for each kid—purple for my 9th grader and green for my 3rd grader—which works really well for me. (And I can just keep the pens clipped to my journal.) The day shown here is a pretty typical one, though some days are shorter and some days require multiple pages. You can see that I include things we did as well as assignments made, and I read through my previous week’s pages on Monday morning so that I can migrate any outstanding stuff to my to-do list.
You can see that I also make a little weekly schedule down the right-hand side with any appointments/deadlines. We don’t have a lot of things like this, so I don’t leave a lot of room—I give each day a couple of lines, and that’s always been plenty of room for our stuff. I carry this schedule from page to page, though I’m thinking of moving it to a sticky note so that I don’t have to copy it over every day or two. (Though I think writing it multiple times helps me remember it, which is a plus for me.)
I also keep a running list of things I need to do, which you can see in all its messy glory here. My list includes things like registering for classes or signing up for tests, lists of supplies we need—things like new pencils or index cards as well as science or art supplies, library books to put on hold, organizational to-dos—scanning, sorting, shelving, etc., and research I need to do, whether it’s reading ahead so that I know what we’re talking about or looking for resources for something that’s piqued our interest. I also make notes of books, curricula or other materials that I want to check out. I color-code these lists, too, and cross tasks off as I complete them. After I fill up a page, I draw arrows to mark any unfinished tasks and move them to the next blank page to continue my to-do list. I like having one master list instead of lots of smaller lists.
The index page is the best part of the bullet journal in my world because it lets me feel like my hodgepodge of lists and notes is actually an organized planner. I just make a note as I add new pages.
I compartmentalize with separate bullet journals for work and homeschool. I tried keeping one “master journal,” but my rhythms for work and homeschool are so different and they both eat up a lot of pages, so I’ve switched to keeping separate ones, which feels much simpler. I clip them together with a big binder clip (or a big rubber band if I can’t find a binder clip, which happens more often than I’d like to admit) so that I don’t always have the one I don’t actually need.
I use washi tape to mark the index pages. You could just turn down the corner, but washi tape makes it easy to see at a glance. I bought a five-pack of washi tape a couple of years ago that I’m still using, so its cost-per-use is pretty cheap. I use a different tape for my homeschool journal and my work journal so that they are easy to tell apart.
I keep the symbols simple. I use a checkbox for things I need to do (so that I can have the satisfaction of checking them off when they are done) and a dash/dot for notes/brain-dumping. If I don’t finish something on my to-do list when I’m done with a page, I mark it with an arrow and move it to the next to-do page. There’s a whole world of bullet journal symbols out there, but I honestly can’t keep up with more than a few.
I use pages in order. At first I tried to figure out how many pages certain categories would take, but I was usually wrong and ended up stressing about empty pages or not-enough pages. So now I just uses pages in order and remind myself that hey, that’s why there’s an index page, right? (One great tip I picked up somewhere: If you’re skipping a bunch of pages, indicate the jump to the next page number at the bottom of the page, as in 25 —> 41. You can easily check the index, of course, but this is like an extra bit of simple.)
I use different colors to keep track of my kids. I use a purple pen for my daughter’s stuff and a green pen for my son’s because I’ve found that having different colors really helps me to quickly find information I’m looking for. I keep the pens clipped to the cover of my journal. For everything else, though, I just use whatever pen or pencil I have handy. Again, I do not let myself get caught up in the aesthetics.
Collections I Use
“Collections” are basically just lists or things you want to keep track of in your bullet journal. These are the ones I use for homeschooling:
Upcoming
I do a seasonal list of upcoming events—birthdays, holidays, Buffy anniversaries, etc. that I can quickly refer to when someone says, “Hey, are you guys free for dinner on the 22nd?” or when I am worried that I might have forgotten Passover. (In all fairness, that was a really tough year.) I tried doing these as monthly lists, but there’s just not enough stuff in a month to fill up a page—and a yearly checklist quickly got overwhelming. Seasonal works well (and it goes with the home/school/life magazine publication schedule, which is a nice plus).
Books We Read
I think this one’s pretty self-explanatory! I keep a running list of what we’re reading together—the kids keep their own reading logs, too, which includes all their reading, not just the homeschool stuff. Green for my son, purple for my daughter, and just any color for the readalouds we do as a family.
Books to Read
Again, this one is kind of obvious: I keep a list of books I want to read or find out more about. I don’t bother color-coding these. If I request a book from the library or check it out, I cross it off the list.
Movies We Watch
Like our reading list, this movie list gives us a record of what media we’ve consumed in our homeschool life. I jot down everything we watch together, including our family movie night picks but especially movies and documentaries we watch as part of our homeschool. (If I have notes I want to make about a particular movie, I make them on my daily notes page—this page is just a list.)
Joy Journal
I write down three good things at the end of every day. I really believe this is one of the little things that keeps me from getting burned out on homeschooling. I have kept a separate journal for these notes in the past, but it’s so much easier just to keep a running list in my bullet journal.
Conference Notes
Every quarter, I sit down with my kids individually for a conference, and I use a page for each of them to keep a running list of things that I want to talk about. I probably add things every week or so, usually on Mondays when I’m reviewing the week, and I include accomplishments I’m especially proud of (which are usually related to persistence and hard work) as well as notes about things I think we could be doing better. If my child expresses an interest in a particular class or subject, I’ll jot that down here, too, so that we can discuss how to pursue it at conference time.
Idea Mapping
I also use my bullet journal to make plans for subjects or topics I want to cover. I know I keep apologizing for messy pages, but this one is really messy because (with this one exception!) I am the only person who will ever use it. I really just brain dump on these pages, and eventually some of the info will migrate to its own page (4th grade reading list, 4th grade history, etc.). Aside: You can see that we are planning NOT WHITE MEN HISTORY next year, for which I am writing my own curriculum and about which I am nerdily excited.
Menu Planning
If you are a regular reader or podcast listener, you know that I am constantly baffled by how much feeding people is involved in homeschooling. I keep my menu plan in my bullet journal—I plan for the month, then copy each week onto a weekly schedule to post in the kitchen. You may wonder if this means that people ask me “what’s for breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack?” less often, but no. No, it doesn’t.
So that’s my (messy) bullet journal in a nutshell. It’s the only homeschool planner that’s ever worked for me, probably because it’s not really a planner in the traditional sense at all, and I love that it allows me to feel organized about my homeschool life. So many planners and organizers seemed like a great idea when I bought them but never really worked with my actual life. This one does, and I really like having everything in one place and being able to quickly tell where we are and what I need to do next.
What about you? Do you bullet journal? Or do you have a planner you really love?
HSL Book Deal of the Day 5.10.17: The Trials of Apollo Book One: The Hidden Oracle
Need a new series to sink your teeth into this summer? Here you go: Rick Riordan heads back to Greek mythology with this series, which sets a turned-into-a-human-teen Apollo (he made Zeus mad once too often) in modern-day New York City. To survive—Apollo's made a lot of enemies who are ready to take advantage of his vulnerable human form—he's going to need some help from the Camp Half-Blood gang. This series kickoff is exactly what you'd expect from Riordan: non-stop action, lots of wit and pop culture references, and plenty of mythological mayhem. And who can resist a book for less than a buck?
We're highlighting our picks for best book deal of the day on the blog, but you can always find our favorite Kindle book deals here.
HSL Book Deal of the Day 5.9.17: Code Name Verity
Captured by Germans after her plane crashes in World War II France, a British agent slowly weaves her confession to her captors to put off a grisly execution. This is the best kind of historical fiction—it pulls you right in to the complicated landscape of 1943 politics, and through flashbacks, brings World War II England to life. With its bonus beautiful friendship story and pleasantly feminist voice, this is a great book to have on your World War II reading list. Be warned: It's definitely a tear-jerker. (Shelved as a young adult/high school novel.)
We're highlighting our picks for best book deal of the day on the blog, but you can always find our favorite Kindle book deals here.
Book Nerd: Library Chicken Weekly Scoreboard (5.9.17)
Welcome to the weekly round-up of what the BookNerd is reading and how many points I scored (or lost) in Library Chicken. To recap, you get a point for returning a library book that you’ve read, you lose a point for returning a book unread, and while returning a book past the due date is technically legal, you do lose half a point. If you want to play along, leave your score in the comments!
Have I mentioned that I love epistolary novels? This one, set on the (fictional) island of Nollop, is a particular joy. The islanders revere their native son, Nevin Nollop, creator of the pangram, “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog,” but when letters begin to fall off of Nollop’s monument, the government decides that the fallen letters must be banned. The rest of the book is one big language game, as letter after letter is removed from the alphabet. I’d definitely recommend this book to homeschool teens—read it for language arts and enjoy the wordplay, or read it for history as a satire on the creation of a police state! HOMESCHOOL RECOMMENDED.
(LC Score: 0, got it in a library sale)
I’m trying to do a better job of reading widely so that I can be a better ally in the fight against racism and other forms of oppression. Plus, I don’t want to miss out on great books (like this one) because I wasn’t paying attention. This is Smith’s short but powerful memoir centering on his answer to the question, “How do you learn to be a black man in America?” Along the way he talks about sexism, homophobia, and his own deeply ambivalent (to put it generously) feelings about the Obama presidency. Smith is still a young man (29 when this books was published) and I’m hoping that he’ll write a part two at some point to bring us up to date on his journey. Another great book for teens—and anyone else who is concerned about the world we’re living in. HOMESCHOOL RECOMMENDED.
(LC Score: +1)
When I was a student at Georgia Tech, I often ate spring rolls at a Vietnamese restaurant that was literally a stone’s throw away from The Dump, the (then unrestored) apartment house where Margaret Mitchell wrote her magnum opus. At that point in my life, I had little interest in either Margaret Mitchell or Scarlett O’Hara. As part of my current quest to read all-things-Georgian, though, I recently made my way through Gone With the Wind (my opinion of which is a whole other essay) and then turned to this biography. I was delighted to learn that Margaret Mitchell—debutante, girl reporter, and world-famous author—is at least as fascinating as (and much more funny than) her heroine, Scarlett. I enjoyed getting to know her in this detailed biography, but I can’t ignore its major flaw: Just as Mitchell wrote a 1,037-page Civil War novel set on a Georgia cotton plantation yet somehow managed to almost totally ignore the institution of slavery, Pyron has written a biography that completely side-steps any examination of Mitchell’s racism. Aside from one anecdote about bad behavior as a Smith College freshman (when she pitched a temper tantrum that went all the way to the highest levels of the administration because a young black woman was enrolled in the same lecture class as she was), we learn almost nothing about how Mitchell’s racist beliefs affected her personal or professional life, nor does Pyron look at how her famous novel is irreparably marred by her racism (in my opinion at least, see: a whole other essay). At one point, for example, Pyron says that Mitchell was infuriated when her novel was described as “anti-Negro,” but he never attempts to explain why she disagreed with that assessment. Despite this fairly gaping hole, I did like this biography and learning more about Mitchell (especially that she wholeheartedly concurred with the psychologist who diagnosed Scarlett as a “partial psychopath”), but, even though it would not be a fun read, I’d still like to find a book that grapples with the white supremacist side of Mitchell and the culture she grew up in, and how that is reflected in her work.
(LC Score: +1)
The final Mrs. Pollifax adventures! While I was sad to bid her farewell, I have to admit that I didn’t love the last book, published in 2000, where Mrs. Pollifax goes gallivanting around Syria, which had then just come under the rule of Bashar al-Assad. It was surprisingly uncomfortable to have the fictional CIA agent come so close to today’s tragic headlines. Gilman never published another Pollifax story after 2000; I have to wonder if she felt the same way about her black-belt grandma in a post-9/11 world.
(LC Score: +2)
This YA fantasy novel (which, honestly, I would have picked up just for the cover) is set in Jazz Age 1919 Boston, and tells the story of teenage best friends and nightclub performers, Ada and Corinne. They are hemopaths, meaning that they’re allergic to iron and have special powers: Ada can affect people’s emotions through her music, while Corinne can cast illusions by quoting poetry. Together they have to deal with anti-hemopath sentiment and escape the evil doctor who’s running hemopath experiments in the asylum just outside town.
(LC Score: +1)
In this collection of short essays, Ajayi explains how we’re all Doing It Wrong, laying down the law on topics ranging from personal hygiene to racism to #Hashtag #Misuse. Meanwhile, I’m judging my library system for only having one copy of this popular book in circulation—I was on the hold list for about six months!
(LC Score: +1)
In general, I agree with everyone who says that it’s better to see Shakespeare’s plays performed than to read them, but I’ve also found that the plays are a lot easier to follow if you’ve read a story-adaptation of the plot first. Over the years I’ve looked at several different Shakespeare adaptations, but this collection (and its follow-up, Shakespeare Stories II) is by far the best I’ve found. Beginning with Twelfth Night and including Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth, I’ve used it as a read-aloud introduction to Shakespeare in our homeschool (in conjunction with the BBC series Shakespeare: The Animated Tales, and episodes of Shakespeare Uncovered, available on PBS streaming). I don’t usually include homeschool readalouds in Library Chicken, but we’ve just completed our very last read-through of the book with my 6th grader <sniff>, and I wanted to mark the moment. Now we’ve got a stack of film adaptations to watch and maybe we can catch a show at the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern! HOMESCHOOL RECOMMENDED.
(LC Score: 0, off our homeschool shelf)
Maybe one day I’ll learn that it’s a bad idea to check out that big ol’ nonfiction history book at the same time that I’m grabbing a dozen or so *must-read-this-IMMEDIATELY* sf/fantasy novels. RETURNED UNREAD.
(LC Score: -1)
Library Chicken Score for 5/9/17: 5
Running Score: 22
On the to-read/still-reading stack for next week:
The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan (I’m NOT a fan of the trendy term “cli-fi” for climate-change science fiction, but I won’t let that stop me from reading this novel about the world freezing over)
The Nix by Nathan Hill (this novel was all over the best-of-2016 lists)
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (because I’m the last one in the country who hasn’t read it)
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (also catching up on my Feminism 101 reading)
HSL Book Deal of the Day 5.8.17: The Daughter of Time
There are so many reasons to love this book, but let's start with the fact that it turns history into what it really is: a mystery that we're always piecing together as we discover new information. A police detective is stuck in bed recuperating from an injury and, sparked by a sympathetic portrait, decides to examine the case against the notorious Richard III, whose alleged crimes include the murders of his own young nephews. It's fascinating and makes a great companion-piece to your medieval history/Wars of the Roses studies or a jumping-off point for conversations about textbook history is constructed. A great deal on a great read.
We're highlighting our picks for best book deal of the day on the blog, but you can always find our favorite Kindle book deals here.
Readaloud of the Week: The Enormous Egg
A boy's surprising dinosaur egg discovery creates chaos in his small town in this vintage children's story.
THE ENORMOUS EGG by Oliver Butterworth
In brief: A boy discovers a giant egg on his farm, which catches the attention of a vacationing paleontologist—which is less surprising than it might seem, since the egg turns out to be a triceratops egg. When the baby dinosaur hatches, things get really complicated—especially when the federal government gets involved.
What makes it a great readaloud? Fantastically entertaining premise aside—a chicken hatches a baby dinosaur!—this book contains lots of interesting ideas about science, politics, and the idea of being American vs. un-American. (We read it right after studying McCarthyism and were really struck by some of the parallels.)
But be aware: This book was written in the 1950s, and it's not ahead of its time when it comes to portraying women or diversity. (It is a good conversation-starter if you want to talk about diversity in literature, though.)
Quotable: "No, Joe, a scientist doesn't know all the answers. Nobody does, not even teachers. But a scientist keeps on trying to find the answers."
Stuff We Like :: 5.5.17
You know how some weeks, it's like "Wow, is it Friday already?" and other weeks, it's more like, "Holy cow, I cannot believe we actually made it to Friday." Yeah, this is the latter. :)
around the web
Because food doesn't have to look good on Instagram to taste good.
I am now completely obsessed with the Chicago squirrel class divide.
Relevant to our interests: Death Made Material: The Hair Jewelry of The Brontës (If you’re not yet obsessed with the Brontes, Suzanne can help you get started.)
If you have the time and the emotional space to read this essay, it is worth your time. It’s a really lovely, nuanced account by the mom of a child with a rare chromosomal deletion but also about the things society expects of women and mothers, the challenges and rewards of motherhood, ideas about what it means to be healthy and normal—it’s just a good read, and it made me cry a little but the good crying.
Stephen Fry + The Hitchhiker's Guide + free audiobook!
at home/school/life
on the blog: If you’re interested in my own personal homeschool methods, you can read all about how we put together 3rd grade this year
one year ago: This house is a mess!
two years ago: Living and learning on wilderness time
reading list
Suzanne warned me, but how could I not take a chance on the newest Connie Willis? As usual, she was right: There were some great moments in Crosstalk, but it was overall kind of meh (and the plot holes—ugh!) and just not what I want from a Connie Willis novel. So maybe the moral here is that I should listen to Suzanne?
I finished Seveneves, part of my quest to read more genre books that aren’t Katie Fforde romances. (Though I do have Second Thyme Around going in the upstairs bath.) I loved the idea: The moon explodes, effectively ending life on Earth but leaving just enough time for the planet to secure humanity’s future on the International Space Station. Everyone’s scrambling to science and politic their way to a successful survival of the species, and there are lots of technical and personal challenges that threaten the project. I really enjoyed this part, the apocalyptic part. The second part of the book—set roughly 5,000 years later when the Earth becomes habitable again—was less satisfying, a problem that I often run into with sci-fi stories in general and with Stephenson in particular. There’s this great idea, and it gets set up brilliantly, but then it’s like the author’s not totally sure what to do with said great idea. Overall, it was a fun read.
I also finally read Among Others by Jo Watson, who wrote my favorite dragon comedy of manners. It is not so much a story with a plot as it is a love letter to books (especially science-fiction books), and it was weird (there’s magic—well, kind of, probably anyway) and lonely (the heroine ends up separated from her family at an English boarding school where she really doesn’t fit in) and full of references to so many wonderful books. I’m coming down firmly on the side of being a fan, though I can appreciate that it might not be for everyone.
in the kitchen
My favorite weekend dinner is a bunch of different appetizers from our Chinese/Thai delivery joint, but when I want to feel particularly virtuous, I add something homemade to the mix, like these salmon and egg wraps.
These baked sweet potatoes are the perfect easy dinner. (I like them with a big spinach salad.)
Cookie of the week: molasses cookies (better with ice cream)
at home
I think no one will be surprised that I CANNOT WAIT to watch Victorian Slum House.
I’ve been knitting a bunch of these to give as holiday presents this year.
Our outside classes are almost done for summer! I am looking forward to logging some poolside summer reading time in the very near future.
Book Review: The My Side of the Mountain Trilogy
When I was a young girl, I read My Side of the Mountain, and it instantly became one of my favorite books. I wanted to be Sam Gribley, a fifteen-year-old boy who lives alone in a tree in the Catskill Mountains. He learns to live off the land, and he captures and raises a peregrine falcon, named Frightful, to help him hunt. He also becomes friends with The Baron, a weasel, learns the ways of other forest animals, and meets some interesting people, too.
I knew I had to read this book to my eldest son, who is 10 years old, and I hoped he would like it as much as I did. He did. And to my delight, while we were reading it, I discovered that its author, Jean Craighead George, wrote two sequels to My Side of the Mountain. The second book, On the Far Side of the Mountain, is about when Sam’s younger sister, Alice, joins him on the mountain, making a home of her own in a nearby tree. But Sam is devastated when a so-called conservation officer confiscates Frightful, and then to make life more complicated for him, his sister disappears. Most of this book is about Sam’s quest to find Alice and the danger that he and a friend encounter when they finally get close to finding her.
What I love about this second book is that it deals with the issue of capturing wild birds of prey, which is against the law, yet it also tells us that it’s possible to become a legal falconer. This theme of conservation is carried further into the third book, which has become my favorite in this trilogy. Frightful’s Mountain is written entirely from the falcon’s perspective, and she is now a free bird. Since Sam raised her, however, she has a lot of challenges to overcome, if she wants to become an independent falcon that will raise offspring of her own. With Sam’s help, and with the help of other people who love peregrine falcons, she slowly makes her way back into the wild.
I was not surprised to see that My Side of the Mountain was a Newberry Honor Book. It is definitely a classic. This trilogy, also, is a must read for anyone who loves nature, particularly birds. That’s probably why my son and I loved it so much. ;)
At Home with the Editors: Inside Amy's 3rd Grade
Every year, Shelli and Amy open the door and invite you to step inside their homeschool lives. (Please ignore the mess!) We talk about the resources we're using in our own homeschools and how we structure our days. There are lots of ways to homeschool, and we don't think our way is the best—just the one that happens to be working best for our particular families at this particular time. If nothing else, you will get a behind-the-scenes look in the homes of the editors of home / school / life, but if something here helps you, all the better! Today, Amy's talking about how she homeschooled 3rd grade this year.
Because there’s a pretty significant age gap between my kids (six years), I decided to do two separate posts to make things easy for myself. Today, I’m sharing some of the resources I use with my 3rd grader. (You can see what 1st grade and 2nd grade looked like for us in the archives.)
You would think that having homeschooled 3rd grade before (we pulled our daughter out of school in 2nd grade), homeschooling 3rd grade would be a breeze. You would be wrong. The part where you worry that you’re going to ruin your child’s life because you won’t teach him what he needs to know is mitigated a little by the fact that you didn’t actually ruin anyone’s life last go-round, but all the stuff you figured out by the end of 3rd grade with one child may or may not apply at all to your new 3rd grader. In our case, 3rd grade with my son looked completely different from 3rd grade with my daughter, so we were still figuring everything out as we went.
“The part where you worry that you’re going to ruin your child’s life because you won’t teach him what he needs to know is mitigated a little by the fact that you didn’t actually ruin anyone’s life last go-round, but all the stuff you figured out by the end of 3rd grade with one child may or may not apply at all to your new 3rd grader. ”
I’ve read a lot about the “3rd grade transition”—the place where homeschool materials stop being “fun” and start feeling like work. We didn’t really have that problem—maybe because we haven’t really used a lot of traditional materials, so there wasn’t that moment where we opened a book and everything was black-and-white and tons of fine print and we felt like “what happened?” We did shift gears to a little more academic work, though—3rd grade is when I like to start Latin and more thoughtful writing and reading—which had some challenging moments. All in all, though, I’ve enjoyed 3rd grade with my son, and I think he’s enjoyed it, too, which is really one of my big goals for each year.
History
We started Build Your Library’s 5th grade last year, so we just continued with that this year. (I explain my reasoning here, but it’s really just that I wanted to do U.S. History so that I could sync up readalouds with my daughter’s Georgia history last year and U.S. History this year.) The slower pace worked well for us—I like taking my time with a subject—and we added a bunch of nonfiction books to our reading list. (That’s my one complaint about Build Your Library, which I think is a nice program overall—I’d love to see more nonfiction on the reading list, especially because there’s so much great nonfiction out there.) Before this year, we’ve just done the reading for history—my son had a main lesson book, and sometimes he’d draw pictures as we read, but it was just because he felt like doing it and not something I asked him to do. This year, we’ve tried to be a little more deliberate. I’ve mentioned a few times how I rely on Patricia’s dictation method (if you have a reluctant writer, it will change your life), and we’ve been using that pretty heavily. I’ll say “so what do you think is the important thing about what we just read?,” and he’ll answer, and we’ll talk about, and then together we’ll summarize the main idea in a couple of sentences. I might prompt a little—“So what did a state have to do to get readmitted to the United States after the Civil War?”—but mostly I tried to let him focus on what felt important to him. It helps to know that we’re going to be revisiting these parts of history at least twice more in his educational life—so why not let him be interested in the parts that interest him? I do most of the actual physical writing, but he tells me what to write. It’s working well for us.
Math
We’re still doing Beast Academy, and it’s fine. We loved Miquon Math so much that I’m sure any math we did after it would seem less great by comparison, but Beast Academy works reasonably well for us. I like that it focuses on mathematical thinking and understanding bigger concepts and not just on learning how to deal with one particular kind of problem. My son likes that there are usually some genuinely challenging problems in the mix and, of course, that it comes in comic book format. My daughter would have hated this program, but it’s proven to be a good match for my math- and logic-loving son.
Language Arts
We started Latin this year, and I’m using the same method I used with my daughter: We use Ecce Romani and just work as far as get into it each year. In the fall, we’ll start over again at the beginning and do the same thing. My son hates writing, so I have him dictate his translations and I write them down—it’s slow going but not unpleasant. We do the exercises the same way, but he does write his own vocabulary cards. Studying Latin is my favorite way to learn English grammar.
We read all the time—mostly readalouds, since my son still isn’t a huge fan of independent reading. (He does read on his own more every year, and I love catching him reading in his room or in the backyard. I’m not sure that pushing him to read more would kill his potential love of learning, but I know that not pushing it seems to be—slowly—working out.) I don’t want to be the book police, but I will admit it was easier to manage this with my daughter, who always read so widely that I never worried whether she was reading junk or literature. It’s harder to be as relaxed with my son—since he’s such a reluctant reader, it’s tempting to force him toward the good stuff. But I remind myself that my goal isn’t for him to make it through a checklist of books but to develop an appreciation for the power and possibility of reading. Only he can decide what books will do that for him.
He did start his own official book log this year—again, he usually dictates, and I do the actual writing. Some of his favorite books-for-fun this year have included George and Martha, Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute, Frindle, and Peter Pan. And we’ve continued our weekly-ish poetry memorization, which I love and my children tolerate.
Science
We still do our nature journals pretty much every day. This is one subject where I don’t take dictation unless my son specifically asks me to—he’s usually happy drawing what he sees and writing the identifying labels or temperature or whatever. My son has gotten to the point where he likes to feel like there’s some “purpose” to his journaling, so we have projects: Right now, we’re checking the barometer every day and noting different cloud formations. I’m noticing that my son is the first person to pick up on when he’s ready for something more academic or more structured—this fall, he said he wanted his observations to “actually do something,” so we came up with a few projects we could do with our nature journals. (I borrowed some ideas from Handbook of Nature Study, some from Whatever the Weather, and a lot from the Nature Connection workbook.)
We also worked our way through Janice VanCleave's 201 Awesome, Magical, Bizarre, & Incredible Experiments, picking up books to go with experiments as they piqued our interest. Next year, we’ll probably do something a little more organized, but for now, I’m happy to be able to emphasize the scientific method and just follow our interests. I made up a very simple, minimalist lab report form and used my beloved padding compound to make it into a little lab report notepad for him.
Philosophy
Philosophy has been my son’s “favorite class” for a couple of years now. He loved Philosophy for Kids at our homeschool group, and this year we moved on to more structured logic lessons. (Logic is his big philosophical passion right now.) My best friend is a philosopher and one of my son’s favorite people, so we’re kind of spoiled when it comes to philosophy—she does one-on-one lessons with him.
“My son does not always enjoy working on things like reading and handwriting, but this year, he’s started to appreciate the way that being able to do these things gives him more space to learn independently.”
Our schedule has always been a work in progress, but we usually have a pretty consistent rhythm to our days. I don’t plan to start at any particular time—my kids wake up when they wake up (usually around 9 a.m. for my son), have breakfast and what we like to call “morning acclimation.” Then, when he’s ready—which might be at 9:30 or 11:30—he brings me his little stack of things he wants to work on. Usually, it’s history, math, and Latin, and I add whatever readalouds we’re doing together. He tends to be interested in science in bursts and starts: He’ll want to do it every single day for a week or two and then not be interested at all for a couple of weeks. Sometimes he wants to do just math or just philosophy. I try not to dictate what we do and to let him take the lead. (There are definitely days—usually a couple a month—where he just says “Can we do nothing today?” and I say “Sure.” I really don’t worry about that at all—there are definitely times where I want to take a day off, too!) We work together, usually on the couch or on the back porch but sometimes at the table. Some days we’re fast and get a lot done, some days we take a lot of time and end by putting in a bookmark for the next day. Usually two to two and half hours of hands-on, active time like this is a full school day for us.
After lunch, we have our “crafternoon” projects. (I’m usually doing work with his 9th grade sister during this time, too.) My son enjoys soap carving, making art, crochet work, building marble runs, playing chess, and sorting his Pokemon cards, so he might do any of those things. Occasionally he reads, which fills my soul with delight. Often, he plays outside. I’m sure I’m forgetting things, but that makes sense, since this year he’s also been a lot more independent and interested in doing things on his own. My son does not always enjoy working on things like reading and handwriting, but this year, he’s started to appreciate the way that being able to do these things gives him more space to learn independently. There’s nothing dramatic to report with 3rd grade—no huge challenges or confetti-worthy accomplishments—just measured, steady progress. It’s been a good year.
Book Nerd: Library Chicken Weekly Scoreboard (5.2.17)
Welcome to the weekly round-up of what the BookNerd is reading and how many points I scored (or lost) in Library Chicken. To recap, you get a point for returning a library book that you’ve read, you lose a point for returning a book unread, and while returning a book past the due date is technically legal, you do lose half a point. If you want to play along, leave your score in the comments!
It’s a good week in reading when your stack of ‘books I enjoyed’ is taller than your ‘meh’ stack. It’s a great week in reading when you find one of those books that you know you’ll be recommending to friends (and friends-of-friends and acquaintances and innocent bystanders and random passers-by) for years to come. It’s an extraordinary week in reading when you can’t decide which of two outstanding books to gush on at length about first. This week, Ada Palmer and Rebecca Solnit were definitely at the top of my list:
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
First Ann Leckie and now this—there are some incredible things happening right now in the science fiction genre, folks. In the high-tech future of 2454 where affinity-based Hives have replaced geographically based nation-states and mini-communes called bash’es have replaced the nuclear family, ex-criminal Mycroft Canner tells a story of high politics and forbidden theology, deliberately choosing to do so (as he tells us repeatedly) in the outdated style of an 18th-century novel, referencing heroes of the Enlightenment along the way. Plus there’s a young boy who can bring inanimate objects to life with a touch, living in secret and protected by a bodyguard of tiny green plastic army men—but that’s only the beginning. This book is hard to for me to talk about (just ask Amy) without a lot of excited hand-waving and “oh, yeah, I forgot about this other thing” and “but wait ‘cause meanwhile” and “AND THEN” sorts of sentences. About three-quarters of the way through, I thought I was starting to get a handle on what was happening, which is when the author lifted up the top of this carefully-crafted society to show the ugliness and corruption underneath, an unexpectedly dark turn that I was completely unprepared for. This is volume one of a series—warning: the action doesn’t so much wrap up at the end as come to a brief pause —and I have no idea what’s going to happen and I WOULD LIKE TO READ THE NEXT BOOK NOW PLEASE.
(LC Score: +1)
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster by Rebecca Solnit
Anyone who has read accounts of real-life disasters knows that, unlike what we’ve been repeatedly told by Hollywood and our political leaders, people in the midst of catastrophe do not inevitably devolve into panicked every-man-for-himself monsters. Instead, the vast majority of people turn to each other to provide help and support, coming up with creative and intelligent solutions for immediate problems. Often, the greatest danger in the aftermath of a natural disaster is actually a phenomenon called “elite panic”, where the Powers That Be, experiencing their own panic at their loss of control and fearing the hordes of humanity that will be unleashed now that the thin veneer of civilization has been ripped off, treat the citizens they’re supposed to be protecting as the enemy, giving orders to shoot looters, withholding information from the general public, and blocking “non-official” relief efforts. In this book, Solnit gathers historical accounts of how people have reacted to disaster, showing that human decency is not the first casualty in times of chaos, and that in fact these disasters often bring out the very best in those people who are most affected. She goes on to meditate on the nature of utopia (with assists from the likes of William James and Peter Kropotkin) and to explore why communities can respond with hope and even find joy in times of fear and enormous loss. What is special about how people react during disaster, and how can we create that sense of purpose and connection when we’re living our everyday non-catastrophic lives? This book made me cry and also made me BURN-IT-ALL-DOWN angry (I recommend frequent breaks while reading the Hurricane Katrina chapter) but mostly it made me feel hopeful about human nature and the choices we can make in our own lives to create meaning and community. Also, while I wouldn’t necessarily compare our current political situation to an earthquake or a hurricane (I’d actually probably go with zombie apocalypse), I found this book (published in 2009) incredibly relevant to what many of us are experiencing right now—both the fear and sorrow, and the hope and joy people are finding in coming together as activists. Sometimes you read the right book at the right time and it just might end up changing your life. (Also, I’m putting together a fund to send a copy to every writer on he Walking Dead because you people need to LIGHTEN UP. Seriously.)
(LC Score: +1⁄2, returned overdue)
After O’Connor: Stories from Contemporary Georgia edited by Hugh Ruppersburg
I was feeling very virtuous and self-sacrificing about picking up this collection (given that I’m not the biggest fan of so-called Southern fiction), but wow, once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. There are 30 stories here—some Southern-y, many not—written in 1990-2005, by authors with a connection (sometimes a bit tenuous) to Georgia. There are the authors you’d expect to see (Alice Walker, Bailey White) and ones you might not expect (Michael Bishop, Ha Jin) and there’s not a bad story in the bunch. If you need a pick-me-up, do yourself a favor and find a copy of “The Widow’s Mite” by Ferrol Sams. You can thank me later.
(LC Score: +1)
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Every once in a while a book comes along that seems tailor-made for me, but somehow we just don’t click. A mysterious Library that sends Librarian agents to alternate worlds to collect one-of-a-kind literary creations? Check! An adventure that involves zeppelins, vampires, remote-controlled alligators, and a Sherlock-alike? Check!! A universe where the Forces of Order, represented by dragons, and the Forces of Chaos, represented by the Fairy Folk, are battling it out?!? CHECK, CHECK, and CHECK! I expected to fall in love with this series, but for whatever reason this novel didn’t quite work for me, which is a bummer. I’m firmly of the “it’s not you, it’s me” camp, so if that sounds interesting for you or for your favorite middle/high schooler, I’d say go ahead and give it a try. (You gotta at least read the remote-controlled alligator scene.)
(LC Score: +1)
Mrs. Pollifax Pursued by Dorothy Gilman
Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer by Dorothy Gilman
Mrs. Pollifax adventures #11 and #12—I’m getting close to the end of the series, which is upsetting. How will I get my black-belt world-trotting grandma fix now?
(LC Score: +2)
Underfoot in Show Business by Helene Hanff
As anyone who’s listened to our podcast on 84 Charing Cross Road knows, I find Helene Hanff delightful. This is her short memoir of not making it on Broadway as a playwright. Unsurprisingly, she continues to be delightful.
(LC Score: +1)
The Wishing-Ring Man by Margaret Widdemer
And, speaking of delightful, this is a follow-up (of sorts) to The Rose-Garden Husband from a couple of weeks ago, where Phyllis and Allan return to help out a young woman who is tired of being a muse to her famous poet grandfather and just wants to be a normal girl. There’s a romance kicked off by a ridiculous coincidence (and very briefly imperiled by a ridiculous misunderstanding) and it’s all very fun. Plus, considerably less racism than in The Rose-Garden Husband!
(LC Score: 0, read on Kindle)
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang
Chinese-American businessman Charles Wang loses his cosmetics empire fortune and goes bankrupt, forcing his family to come together to deal with their new reality. I am a sucker for any kind of “family-comes-together-to-deal-with” plot and I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel and all the Wang children, who include a once-famous-now-disgraced New York artist and as aspiring stand-up comedian.
(LC Score: +1)
The Gay Revolution by Lillian Faderman
I’ve been reading a lot more about activism and the history of civil rights lately, but I just couldn’t get to this book before it was due. RETURNED UNREAD.
(LC Score: -1)
Fanny Burney: A Biography by Claire Harman
I recently read a great biography of King George III—Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III by Janice Hadlow—which reminded me that I need to read more about Fanny Burney, famous author and courtier to George’s wife, Queen Charlotte, but then I got caught up in 18th-century-style science fiction and Hurricane Katrina and everything else. RETURNED UNREAD (which is okay because I need to read Burney’s Evelina anyway).
(LC Score: -1)
Library Chicken Score for 5/2/17: 5 1⁄2 Running Score: 17
On the to-read/still-reading stack for next week:
Southern Daughter: The Life of Margaret Mitchell and the Making of Gone With the Wind by Darden Asbury Pyron (the quest to read all things Georgian continues)
Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith (heard great things about this one)
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn (I LOVE EPISTOLARY NOVELS GIVE THEM ALL TO ME)
Iron Cast by Destiny Soria (because wow, that is a GORGEOUS cover!)
52 Weeks of Happier Homeschooling Week 30: Make a Plan for Minor Frustrations
Here’s something you might not know: When it comes to your homeschool life, dealing with big problems is much easier than dealing with smaller ones.
The truth is that little irritations—a particularly stubborn attitude toward a math lesson or a kid who totally slacks on his history work—can take a bigger toll on our happiness than big crises. That’s because big challenges encourage us to rise to the occasion and often come with built-in social support—your kid gets diagnosed with dyslexia or needs surgery? You’ve got this, and your community rallies around you. Dealing with a kid who refuses to work on his handwriting or who always grumbles his way through math? You’re going in with less patience and likely to garner less sympathy from people when you try to discuss it.
So how do you deal? Acknowledge that little frustrations take a big toll and figure out coping mechanisms to help you deal with them as they pop up. Think about the things that tend to irritate you in your homeschool life—and don’t be embarrassed if they’re small things that you know you shouldn’t really let yourself be annoyed by. Part of the reason small things can grate so sharply is that we try to convince ourselves we shouldn’t be affected by them. Make a short list of small gripes—when your kid interrupts your readaloud so many times that you read the same sentence over and over or your child’s dramatic sighs that accompany every writing assignment, for instance—and come up with a mantra or action to combat them. Maybe you tell yourself: “I’m lucky to have a curious kid, so I’m going to close this book right now and let him follow some rabbit trails” or you’ll head to the kitchen to start lunch prep when you give your writing-averse student a writing assignment. You know better than anyone what is likely to defuse your frustration, so take the time to think it through. And when you’ve got your plan, write it down—research suggests that writing things down is one of the most effective ways to make a change in your habits.
Your mission this week: Think of the little thing that gets on your nerves, and write down a plan to combat it. You can opt for an action—leaving the room, taking a walk, changing subjects—a mantra (“I’m thankful that we have plenty of time to practice handwriting, and I’m not going to get caught up in feeling like a failure because we’re not doing it today”), or a combination. Next time your irritation strikes—and we know it will!—use your combat method to cope.
Stuff We Like :: 4.27.17
It’s always a good week when I get to catch up with Suzanne over lunch AND march for science.
around the web
Do you know Eliza Fenwick? She was a friend of all the cool people in late 18th/early 19th century England—Coleridge, Mary Wollstonecraft (she actually attended the birth of Wollstonecraft’s daughter, the future Mary Shelley.), Charles Lamb… Basically, she’s a perfect fit for my cool women writers I’ve never heard of project, but most of her work is lost—which is something the researchers behind Finding Mrs. Fenwick hope to change. This kind of work warms my heart.
You know what would make your week a little better? Benedict Cumberbatch reading Keats, that’s what.
Are you descended from witches? Now that Manuscript 3658 is digitized online, you can find out—assuming you’re descended from someone who was accused of witchcraft in Scotland between 1658 and 1662.
at home/school/life
on the blog: I love this post from Carrie so much.
one year ago: It’s the perfect time to revisit one of Shelli’s Year of Citizen Science projects
two years ago: Do unschoolers have gaps in their educations?
three years ago: A free forensic science curriculum for high school
reading list
I started reading Far, Far Away because a reviewer commented that it reminded her of A.S. Byatt. I am not sure said reviewer has ever actually read A.S. Byatt because this book is like the Heart of Gold’s tea equivalent of Byatt—almost but not entirely unlike. It’s fine, but I get so annoyed reading it and finding it not-remotely-Byatt-like that I’m totally not giving it a fair shake.
I need another book on my night table like I need—well, something that I really don’t need—but I couldn’t resist snagging a copy of The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. How could I? It looks at one of Shakespeare’s most productive years in quality terms (in addition to Lear, he produced Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra) through the lens of the political and social happening of that year (which, you may know, included the infamous Gunpowder Plot.)
Also on night tables this week: Seveneves, Under the Lilacs, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, The Sound and the Fury
in the kitchen
I love jammy yolks, so this eggs-and-grits recipe is right up my alley. It’s on the schedule for weekend dinner unless I get lazy and decide to just go get my jammy yolks at a ramen joint instead.
‘Tis the season for spring onion and garlic jam.
Cookie of the week: Welsh cookies
at home
Jas and I are watching The Durrells in Corfu, which is pure, wonderful eye candy about a family who leaves 1940s England to live on a Greek island. We’re also on season two of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which I love because I am *thisclose* to being Rebecca Bunch, but which Jas loves less, possibly for the same reason.
Did you march for science last weekend? We did, and I’m glad we did, but I’m a little overwhelmed by all the marches I would like to participate in. Suzanne and I were talking about this the other day—we can’t do everything, so how do we choose what to do, and how can we give support to causes we care about when we can’t participate fully? I don’t have the answers, but at least I feel like I’m asking questions that matter. (If you have the answers, please share!)
I am realizing that my schedule for fall is going to be crazy. In addition to homeschooling my (gulp) 10th grader and 4th grader and, you know, putting the magazine together, I’m going to be teaching AP English, the Story of Science, Latin I, and part of an awesome but intensive high school humanities block focused on the classics, which will include Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, history, astronomy, art, and music. I suspect my summer is going to be full of class prep.
9 Fun Extras (Under $25) That Will Give Your Spring Homeschool a Boost
Add a little oomph to your sunny days homeschool with these spring extras, designed to make learning (almost!) as much fun as the prospect of playing outside.
If you’re like me, this time of year is a weird combination of slow, dragging days and too much to do. (I’m not sure how that’s possible, but that’s definitely how it feels!) I keep a Terrible Day box for moments like this—when we all need a little injection of homeschool fun to keep things going. I thought it would be fun to highlight a few of our favorite extras in case your homeschool has a case of the springtime doldrums, too.
(FYI: These were all in the right price range when I put this story together in April 2017, but prices change, so double-check before you click to buy. I rounded all the prices up to the nearest dollar.)
The Story of the Orchestra ($17)
Spring is the perfect time for a quick course in music appreciation. Though this book-CD combo is more of an introduction than a comprehensive guide, it is a great way to start to understand the basics of classical music and how an orchestra works. Half focused on big-name composers and half on the structure of an orchestra, it’s a useful and fun guide to music appreciation. If your community orchestra has a free or cheap spring concert series—be sure to check local colleges’ spring concerts—it makes a great add-on.
Choosing Your Way History Books ($16-20)
Think of this series as a historically accurate version of the Choose Your Own Adventure books we all loved as kids. Each book has five stories to work through: In the first volume of Choosing Your Way Through America’s Past, you have to decide, among other things, whether to stick it out with Washington’s army at Valley Forge or give up on military life and whether life as an indentured servant in the new world would be better in the north or in the south. These books are a nice supplement for middle or even early high school history studies.
Everything's Coming Up Fractions ($20)
It may seem weird to think of math as a fun break, but this guide to fractions is surprisingly enjoyable—and somehow, focusing on one particular piece of math seems more pleasant than plodding through your usual program. You will need your Cuisenaire rods to work through the book. You can whip this out any time you think a little fractions intensive might benefit your student.
Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100 Electronics Discovery Kit ($21)
Build a musical doorbell, a voice-controlled lamp, a two-speed fan, and more as you work your way through the hands-on projects in this kit. It’s designed for kids age 7 and older, but even high school physics students might enjoy the chance to do some hands-on electronics work, and younger kids can work on projects with your help.
The Allowance Game ($17)
Shift your focus to financial responsibility with the Allowance Game, which teaches kids how to save and spend money, make change, and think about balancing their budget. If your kids get into it, consider setting up a homeschool economics system like the one Rafe Esquith describes in
Philosophy for Kids: 40 Fun Questions That Help You Wonder About Everything! ($21)
Rebecca reviewed this program in the magazine a year ago, and I think it’s a perfect let’s-put-our-critical-thinking-skills-to-work addition to your spring homeschool. It’s designed for elementary school students, but I think it could easily stretch to accommodate any new-to-philosophy student. Dig into fascinating questions like “Can computers think?” and “Can something be logical and not make sense?”
The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms ($11)
If you’re like us, you’re ready to seize any excuse to play outside once spring weather comes rolling in. I love this workbook because it offers lots of open-ended, easy-to-do nature activities that work for pretty much every age from elementary through adult. (If nature is already a big part of your curriculum and you don’t have trouble thinking of nature activities, you probably don’t need this book—but if, like me, you want your kids to have more nature know-how than you did growing up but you sometimes wonder “but what do we actually do out here?,” this book is for you.) It’s divided into monthly sections, but it’s easy to pick and choose activities based on the weather or what you want to do on a particular day, too.
Darwin and Evolution Unit Study ($10)
A unit study is always a good way to give your homeschool a little lift, and this one is good for a wide range of ages. Evolution is fascinating, and this unit covers the history of Earth from the Big Bang to the present day, with a nice little rabbit trail focused on the life and work of Charles Darwin. It’s designed to cover eight weeks, but like any unit study, it can stretch or compress to suit your needs.
How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum ($12)
Our awesome Art Start columnist Amy Hood turned me on to this book, which is pure creative inspiration (even for people who swear up and down that they are not creative). This is an open-ended book with so many fun ideas for looking at and making art with the world around you—I bet no one in your house will use it the same way. Don’t be surprised if it inspires lots of creative projects at your house.
What about you? What's your favorite almost-the-end-of-the-school-year pick-me-up?
Book Nerd: Library Chicken Weekly Scoreboard (4.25.17)
Welcome to the weekly round-up of what the BookNerd is reading and how many points I scored (or lost) in Library Chicken. To recap, you get a point for returning a library book that you’ve read, you lose a point for returning a book unread, and while returning a book past the due date is technically legal, you do lose half a point. If you want to play along, leave your score in the comments!
In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that due to our Tuesday publication date, this “week” was actually closer to 10 days—because we pride ourselves on ACCURACY here at Library Chicken HQ.
Fanny Kemble’s Civil Wars by Catherine Clinton
Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839 by Fanny Kemble
Fanny Kemble was a celebrated British actress—part of the famed Kemble/Siddons theater family—who came to America on tour and fell in love with a wealthy American, Pierce Butler. What she didn’t know when she married Butler was that his family’s wealth came from large plantation holdings on and around St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. (For my Hamilton fans out there: the Butlers were friends of Aaron Burr and it was to their plantation that he fled to hide out after The Duel, when New York charged him with murder.) As Fanny was an ardent abolitionist, this caused a problem or two. Her husband, an absentee landlord most of the time, really didn’t want her anywhere near his plantation or his slaves, but he did allow her to spend one year down there, during which she wrote her Journal. The marriage eventually fell apart in dramatic fashion (detailed in Clinton’s biography) and Fanny, who had become known as a memoirist, eventually published the Journal. It’s a fascinating if grim read about life on an isolated plantation in the Deep South, where the authority usually rests in the hands of a hired overseer, often the only white man present, whose only concern is to provide a good-looking balance sheet for the absentee owner. Fanny was especially interested in the lives of enslaved women, recording details of their lives that other (male) witnesses may never have seen or heard about. I read these as part of ongoing prep for the Georgia history class (and let me tell you, Fanny was not a fan of the Peach State).
(LC Score: +2)
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
SPACE OPERA. Leckie, as you may have heard me say, is my new hero. A stay-at-home-mom, she was in her mid-40s when she published her first novel, Ancillary Justice, which then went on to win just about every award in the science fiction genre. I made Amy read it with me for the podcast and we’re due to talk about it next time around (as soon as the stars and our schedules align). SPOILER: I thought it was pretty darn good. Leckie explores gender and personhood in wonderful and original ways, plus people get to shoot at each other with ray guns! So of course I had to pick up books two and three in the trilogy and finish them off. If you’re already a SF fan: c’mon, read Ancillary Justice already. I know you’ve heard of it. What are you waiting for? If you’re most emphatically NOT a SF fan: well, this is definitely very science-fiction-y science fiction, so maybe give it a miss as it’s probably chock-full of all the things that annoy you about the genre. If you don’t know if you’re a SF fan or not: this series is a great example of some of the exciting things that are happening in modern SF right now—pick up the first book and give it a try!
(LC Score: +2)
Quite a Year for Plums by Bailey White
Nothing With Strings by Bailey White
I am on record as not loving the sort of Southern fiction where everyone is always hot, sweaty, and barefoot, and every attic room houses an insane cousin/brother/uncle (looking at you, Faulkner), but I do love Bailey White and her stories of Southern small towns (primarily in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida), where eccentric elders spend their time fussing over the younger generation and vice versa. As part of my quest to immerse myself in everything Georgian, I’ve been treating myself to a reread of her work.
(LC Score: +2)
The Shadow Guests by Joan Aiken
Joan Aiken’s YA/children’s novels are a bit hit or miss for me. I find them to be an unpredictable mixture of entertainingly gothic and unpleasantly grim. I’ve had this one on my shelves forever (for Atlantans: it had an Oxford Too stamp inside, so you know I bought it a while ago) but I was excited to pick it up and find a promising beginning, with a young boy sent to Oxford, England to live with his aunt in a house not entirely ghost-free (reminiscent of the Green Knowe series). Ultimately, however, it came down on the grim side for me.
(LC Score: 0, off my own shelves)
Mr. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat
My dad insisted that I stop everything and read this book, a mostly forgotten classic set during the Napoleonic Wars and written by a friend of Charles Dickens. The title character is raised by an philosopher father, whose eccentric beliefs include the idea that everyone is equal. Friends of the family conspire to get the son into the navy, in the hopes that he will rid himself of these patently ridiculous ideas passed down from his father, but it takes a while, as young Easy has been trained to argue every point and will happily do so all day. My dad <ahem> may have said that the character reminded him just a teensy bit of my younger son.
(LC Score: +1)
Observatory Mansion by Edward Carey
GUYS, I LOVE Edward Carey. Have I told you how much I love Edward Carey? Have I told y’all to run, not walk, to your nearest bookstore and buy his Iremonger trilogy (beginning with Heap House) for your favorite middle/high schooler, though of course you should really read it first before passing it along? The trilogy that Carey wrote after moving to Austin, Texas from England because, as he says, he missed feeling cold and gloomy? Have I told you how delightfully bizarre and weirdly Dickensian his books are? My only complaint about Carey is that he doesn’t write fast enough. Aside from the Iremonger trilogy, he’s written two books for adults: Alva & Irva: The Twins Who Saved a City (very very strange—read it immediately) and this one, his first novel, with a narrator who works as a living statue, collects (i.e., steals) important objects from the people around him for his private collection, and never ever takes off his white gloves. Carey is interested in what happens when you objectify people and personify objects and really I have no idea what’s happening, but I LOVE him SO MUCH, GUYS.
(LC Score: 0, because my library didn’t have it and I had to buy my own copy, darn)
Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled An Empire by Julia Baird
After catching a few episodes of Victoria on Masterpiece Theater I thought this would be a fun read—but apparently so did everyone else. RETURNED UNREAD (because it was due and had holds and I’m in the middle of this whole Georgia thing right now anyway).
(LC Score: -1)
Library Chicken Score for 4/24/17: 6
Running Score: 11 1⁄2
On the to-read/still-reading stack for next week:
Georgia: A Brief History by Christopher Meyers and David Williams (like I said...)
After O’Connor: Stories from Contemporary Georgia edited by Hugh Ruppersburg (hopefully not too many sweaty barefoot insane cousins)
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster by Rebecca Solnit (because Solnit is wonderful and I’m obsessed with disasters)
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman (because I will read anything with “Library” in the title!)
52 Weeks of Happier Homeschooling Week 29: Make Your Beds in the Morning
OK, bear with me here. I promise I am not trying to sell you on the idea that your life will magically be a happier place if you get on top of the housework. I mean quite simply that making your bed in the morning—and asking your kids to make their beds—will make you a little happier every single day, even if it is the only housecleaning that gets done that day.
Making your bed is just one little thing—it only takes a few minutes to do, but it makes a big difference in the way your bedroom looks, not to mention the way it feels at the end of the day when you retreat back into your bedroom to relax. When your kids make the bed, their rooms look less messy, and they’re less likely to lose their shoes and whatever books or electronics they took to bed with them the night before. Because it’s so easy and you do it before your day kicks into high gear, it also feels totally doable—making your bed doesn't require a lot of extra energy or brain power.
Even more than the easy neatness factor, though, is the way that making your bed gives you a feeling of accomplishment—hey, look, I did this!—every morning that you do it. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, says that morning bed-making is consistently one of the biggest happiness boosters for people who do it for this very reason: It lets you start every day feeling like you’re an organized, productive, efficient person.
Your mission this week: Give morning bed-making a try. Ideally, start with fresh clean sheets and blankets, but it’s also fine to just start where you are. How does making the bed change your morning routine? How does it change your bedtime routine? Do you feel any different about your homeschool life after a week of everyday bed making?
New Books: The Star Thief
Honorine can’t remember anything from the time before Lord Vidalia brought her home with him to his country estate, but she knows that she’s fortunate to have found a home. Not all orphans are so lucky. Sure, the starching, dusting, and cleaning duties that fill her days as a maid aren’t intellectually stimulating, but she has Lord Vidalia’s library of curious books, and she has her mechanical inventions, and—until he left for boarding school after his father disappeared—she had her best friend Francis, heir to the Vidalia estate. It’s a perfectly fine life—that comes crashing to a halt one night when the mansion is invaded, and Honorine flees into the grounds to escape and plunges into an adventure she could never have imagined.
The constellations we know—Orion, Andromeda, Canis Major—are alive, and they’re being hunted by a mysterious Mapmaker in a fantastic, steampunk flying ship. The constellations have their own fantastic, steampunk flying ship, and Honorine’s torn between the constellations—with whom she seems to have a real connection—and their hunters, who include her old friend Francis. As she’s pulled into the adventure, she realizes that the constellations may also be able to help her solve the mystery of her parents.
The Star Thief is a middle grades fantasy novel with a premise that any star-gazer would love, and it’s full of complicated alliances and even more complicated machinery. It’s a totally fun, action-packed adventure story—it’s so fun that it may not even bother you that the characters get short shrift in this story. (Even Honorine feels one-dimensional most of the time.) The constellations’ living ship sometimes feels like it has more personality than any of the creatures inhabiting it. (The ship is pretty amazing and imaginative, so that’s maybe less of an insult than it sounds like.) If you can coast along on the plot and fantastic descriptions, you’ll definitely enjoy the ride, but if you’re looking for something deeper from a book, this one is likely to disappoint. I like a fun read now and then and I enjoyed The Star Thief, but I couldn’t help wishing for the book it might have been. I think it would be fun to do as a readaloud when you’re studying constellations or as a pool or park readaloud on a lazy summer day when you just want something with lots of action to entertain everyone.
Stuff We Like :: 4.21.17
Hello, weekend!
around the web
People used to call me a grammar vigilante because I’d pull over while driving to complain to someone about a pluralizing apostrophe (what is up with that, though?), but this guy totally puts me to shame.
Who’s up for an HSL field trip?
Why do women’s dystopias seem so prescient right now?
I love this: What famous authors’ most used words say about them
at home/school/life
on the blog: Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday with some of our favorite film adaptations
one year ago: 4 ways to get your homeschool mornings off to a great start
two years ago: Inside Shelli’s project-based homeschool
reading list
I loved The Lost City of Z (which is the kind of twisty, nerdy historical mystery I can’t resist, and which you should definitely read if you’re also into that), so I was excited to pick up David Grann’s new book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.
Continuing my “women writers I’d never heard of” run, I read Rumer Godden’s In This House of Brede, about a successful career woman who retires from the world to join a community of Benedictine nuns just in time to help solve the financial crisis caused by the death of the order’s charismatic Abbess. It's one of those books that you want to go back and read again right away just so that you don’t have to leave the world and people it’s created.
It’s funny to be reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with my son so soon after rereading Huckleberry Finn because I am still full of post-Huck Tom hatred. (Seriously, let’s go drink too much wine and complain about how terrible Tom Sawyer is, can we?) I’m trying to embrace the lighthearted spirit especially because my son is kind of digging it, but I AM NOT A FAN.
in the kitchen
I am in the restocking the freezer phase of cooking right now, and I was happy to discover this recipe that uses leftover brisket because I may have gone a little overboard with the brisket this year.
Nobody else in my family will eat this, but that’s okay because I want it all for myself anyway.
Cookie of the week: glazed lemon cookies
at home
I am a sucker for time travel and Victoriana, so obviously it was only a matter of time before I watched Time After Time. (If it sounds familiar, it’s because the television series is based on the 1979 movie and has the same premise: Jack the Ripper steals H.G. Wells’ time machine and travels to the present day; Wells follows him to bring him back to face justice for his crimes.) It’s just OK, but it’s fun enough for those collapsed-on-the-couch evenings.
Am I being totally superficial if I say that I have finally found my perfect everyday lipstick?
I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but everything always feels so hectic! I’m looking forward to the winding-down phase of all our school-year activities and the slower-paced summer school days. Though I am not looking forward to the crowds at the library!
Some of Our Favorite Shakespeare Movies
Celebrate Shakespeare's birthday this weekend by screening a great cinematic adaptation or two.
Prospero becomes Prospera, brilliantly acted by Helen Mirren, in this otherwise classical and faithful adaptation.
Also worth seeing: Derek Jarman’s punk rock (and definitely preview-screening-required) 1979 retelling
Christopher Eccleston is the frustrated and scheming Iago to the city’s first black police force commissioner in this version of the play transposed to modern London.
Also worth watching: 2001’s set-in-high-school O
Marlon Brando’s polished diction as Mark Anthony in this nicely executed history will make you wonder how he ever earned his nickname “the mumbler.” He took Shakespearean acting tips from costar John Gielgud, who plays lean and hungry Cassius.
Technically not a proper adaptation, Orson Welles’ anthology of Falstaff scenes from four different plays (Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Henry V) is the kind of brilliant, thoughtful mash-up that surprises and delights.
Joss Whedon’s inspired adaptation uses Shakespeare’s original language and themes of romantic love versus real commitment but moves the action to modern-day California.
Michael Fassbender’s balance of mad ambition and human fallibility makes this classical adaptation (complete with action-packed battle sequences).
Also worth seeing: Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood
What it lacks in iambic pentameter, this adaptation—set in a U.S. high school and starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles—more than makes up for in spirit and charm.
Merging Lear with legends of an historic Japanese warlord, Akira Kurosawa slowly strips away his characters’ humanity, until only honor and brutality remain.
Also worth seeing: Peter Brook’s RSC adaptation starring Orson Welles
Kenneth Branagh directed and starred in this faithful, haunted adaptation of the troubled prince of Denmark.
Also worth seeing: 2000’s Hamlet set in present-day New York City
Baz Luhrmann’s non-stop adaptation brings this tragic love story to gritty, adrenaline-fueled, dazzlingly visual life without sacrificing Shakespeare’s original language.
This list is adapted from the spring 2016 issue of HSL.
Best of HSL: Our Favorite Advice for Homeschooling the Middle Grades
Between 5th grade and high school, your child will discover her passions and her own voice.
Provide plenty of physical outlets for your child’s energy. Organized teams, private lessons, or even a new bike can help set tweens on a healthy route toward adulthood.
Give your child plenty of freedom now so that he can learn to use it responsibly. Now is a good time to make mistakes.
Give your child lots of opportunities to express himself. Write papers, make movies, create petitions.
Set deadlines and goal without serious consequences. These are the years to teach your child how to follow through on a project or assignment, but you don’t want to create homeschool stress by setting the stakes too high.
Some days, your child will act like a toddler. Some days, he will act like he’s in college. This is normal.
Your child is navigating big emotional changes. Try not to take it personally.
Schedule plenty of time for hanging out with friends. Kids this age care about social relationships more than almost anything else.
Let your child set up and decorate her learning space however she wants.
Plan lots of hands-on projects and activities.
Take dance breaks.
Travel whenever you can, wherever you can.
Make rules together. Talk about them. Enforce them.
Try lots of different activities. See which ones stick.
Keep reading together.
Make time for volunteer work.
Be as patient with yourself as you are with your child — and vice versa.
Explore other options, like charter schools or private school, to see what they offer. You can borrow some of their good ideas.
Take more field trips. By high school, scheduling will be a challenge.
Focus on teaching your child how to learn, not on teaching her a set of facts to memorize.
You will have bad days. Move past them.
Take some personality tests — such as the Myers-Briggs test or an emotional intelligence test — together, and compare your results. Use the opportunity to get to know each other and the best ways to work together.
Keep a reading log. Looking back at it will remind you that you really are doing a good job.
Resist the urge to compare your kid’s progress to anyone else’s.
Listen to your child’s favorite music in the car.
Take the day off sometimes, just because you can.
Hug your child every chance you get. These years will fly by.
This list is adapted from a feature in the summer 2015 issue of HSL.
SUZANNE REZELMAN is home | school | life magazine’s Book Nerd. Subscribe to home/school/life to read her brilliant book recommendations and literary musings every issue. Your library list will thank you.