Book Nerd: The Brave New World of Science Fiction

I’ve loved science fiction ever since junior high, when I found my dad’s copies of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot and Robert Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy in our home library. Fantasy, via C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, wasn’t far behind. I read everything I could in the genre, clearing out the sf/fantasy shelf at the library and saving up my allowance for trips to Waldenbooks. In those bad old pre-Internet days I did as much as I could to research the genre classics and Grand Old Masters, keeping a list of books to look for at the local used book store. Soon I discovered fandom, and by high school I was going to every sf/fantasy convention around (or at least the ones I could convince my mom to drive me to). The sf/fantasy genre at that time was exciting, smart, perspective-shifting, often funny, occasionally mind-blowing — but one thing it wasn’t was diverse.

Primarily, sf/fantasy was written by white men, with white male protagonists, for (judging by con attendance) a white male audience. Often, even the aliens or far-flung galactic empires behaved in a suspiciously European manner, retelling stories of the Roman empire (or other major events from the history of Western Civilization). Fantasy epics drew on familiar European myths and legends, giving us dragons, elves, unicorns, and princesses that all behaved in predictable ways. Perhaps that’s why I got out of the habit of reading the genre in my 20s and 30s — whether it was military sf, a fantasy adventure, or yet another vampire story (seriously, what’s with all the vampires?!?), it all started to feel a bit samey-samey.

Things have changed, though, and I’m excited. A lot of people who weren’t necessarily white and/or male grew up, like I did, loving the genre and seeing themselves spell-casting or traveling to the stars. And now they’re writing about it for all of us. There are so many great authors publishing right now — N.K. Jemisin, V.E. Schwab, Yoon Ha Lee, Nisi Shawl — that I can’t even keep up. Even better, those stories — with diverse characters, diverse content, and diverse settings — are being embraced by authors writing for children and young adults. I still think you can’t go wrong with Asimov and Tolkien, but if you want to take advantage of what’s out there now and start your budding sf/fantasy fans off the right way, I’ve got a few suggestions.

In The Jumbies, author Tracey Baptiste draws on Caribbean folktales to tell the story of Corinne, a young girl who must save her island village and her family from the monsters in the woods and an evil witch. This is a fun and just-the-right-amount-of-scary story for middle grade readers, and Corinne is a fierce and resourceful heroine. We meet another heroine in Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata Witch: 12-year-old American-born Nigerian Sunny. Sunny is an albino, and between that and her American accent, she finds it hard to fit in with her classmates — which becomes less of an issue once she discovers that she is heir to magical powers and (like Harry Potter but in an entirely different context) begins to explore the hidden magical world that exists within and beside her own. Like Corinne, Sunny must channel her own strength and bravery to save her world and her friends from a supernatural challenge. Fortunately for readers, we have more adventures to look forward to with Corinne and Sunny: Baptiste’s Rise of the Jumbies and Okorafor’s Akata Warrior both come out in fall 2017.

Daniel Jose Older takes us to a diverse Puerto Rican neighborhood in Brooklyn with his acclaimed YA novel Shadowshaper. Teenage Sierra plans to enjoy her summer hanging out with friends and painting wall murals, but when one of the murals begins to weep real tears, she realizes that there’s something strange going on. She learns that she’s inherited the ability to shadow shape — to do magic by infusing art with ancestral spirits — and she needs to get good at it in a hurry if she’s going to defend herself and her community. (The sequel, Shadowhouse Fall, is also due out in fall 2017 — clearly we need to clear our calendars for all the great reading coming up.) Alaya Dawn Johnson’s The Summer Prince takes us out of the world of magic to the far future, on a high-tech Brazilian island called Palmares Tres. Palmares Tres is ruled by a matriarchy (set up after men almost destroyed the world in a nuclear holocaust) and guerilla artist June finds herself unexpectedly in rebellion against the powers that be when she becomes friends with the teenage Summer King. Immediately after finishing this book, I bought a copy for home and showed up at 16-year-old daughter’s bedroom door insisting, “YOU MUST READ THIS NOW, and please pass it on to your sister when you’re done.”

And I can’t leave without mentioning three of my new favorite sf/fantasy novels, beginning with Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown. I’m a sucker for historical-Britain-plus-magic stories (see Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, also Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer), but Cho’s story of Regency England plus wizards is a version I’ve never read before. As the new Sorcerer Royal (and the first one ever of African descent), Zacharias Wythe has enough problems, but he’s really in for it when he has to deal with a woman who believes that she should also be allowed to practice this male-only profession. (My only problem with Cho is that she’s not writing the sequel fast enough!)

Gender roles are upended in an entirely different way in Ann Leckie’s multiple-award-winning story of galactic empire, Ancillary Justice. The sentient AI protagonist of this novel is from a culture that doesn’t bother to linguistically discriminate between genders, instead using only feminine pronouns and nouns. I’ve never before read a book where the gender isn’t actually identified for most of the characters; it’s an interesting and eye-opening experience. Author Ada Palmer plays with gender in yet another way in her novel of 25th century Earth, Too Like the Lightning. In this far future, affinity-based Hives have replaced geographically based nation-states, public discourse on religion has been outlawed, and gender-neutral terms are the norm in polite society. Our narrator, however, has decided to tell us the story in the style of an 18th century Enlightenment novel, so he apologetically uses gender-specific pronouns (and not always the ones a reader might expect) when describing others.

I couldn’t be more excited about the new voices and new perspectives showing up in my favorite genre. If you’ve never explored science fiction and fantasy novels, now is a great time to take a look and see what’s out there. And if you don’t see yourself reflected, maybe pick up a pen — there’s room for everyone on the bookshelf, and I’m always looking for something new to read. Happy reading!

 (We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)This column was originally published in the summer 2017 issue of HSL.

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Not-So-New Books: The Game of Silence

The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich

The Game of Silence is the second book in the the Birchbark series by Louise Erdrich. It has won numerous awards, including the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and the ALA Notable Children’s Book Award. The story picks up not too long after The Birchbark House ended, and now Omakayas’s family has to deal with a more serious threat: the loss of their home. 

The book opens with Omakayas standing on the shore of her home, an island in Lake Superior. In the far distance, she sees strange people approaching. Once they arrive, her family finds that these people are Anishinabeg people too. (We call them the Ojibwe or Chippewa people now.) They are haggard, hungry, and some of them have lost members of their family. Among them is a baby boy who has lost his parents, and now he becomes Omakayas’s new baby brother.

These people are refugees who have been pushed out of their homes by the chimookomanag, or white people, and as the story unfolds, Omakayas’s family realizes that they, too, must leave their homes. 

However, The Game of Silence is also about a young girl growing up, dealing with a pesky younger brother, and learning what her talents are and how she can use them to help others. She is learning about the importance of her community and her place in it. As always, Louise Erdrich’s great sense of humor comes through, and her prose is magnificent.

I highly recommend this series to readers both young and old. My two boys, ages eight and eleven, told me that they like the story of Omakayas, and they especially love the funny parts. 

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More Book Recommendations

Stuff We Like :: 7.6.18

We spent the Fourth of July at the lake and at the pool, which was pretty much perfect. I found the holiday tough this year, and some quality family time was just what I needed.

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE

Just a friendly reminder that this is the last week you can get my bonus essay grading with our high school curriculum. If you buy our Year One curriculum package through July 15, you can submit one essay of your choice in each subject to me for editing and feedback any time during the next year. Even better, the curriculum is 10 percent off right now, so it’s a doubly good deal.

Suzanne’s Library Chicken is a delightful hodgepodge of cozy mysteries, weird fiction, alternate history that looks insanely good, and more. Go forth and flex your library holds.

I talked a little bit about our homeschool planning method, which involves an extended coffee date and lots of lists.

one year ago: How do you homeschool a subject you don’t know? Plus: Shelli reviews a boatschooling classic.

two years ago: A flashback to the summer 2016 issue. (I still love the summer homeschool boot camp feature!) Also: Our favorite campfire readalouds

three years ago: Suzanne’s tips for keeping up with all the books you want to read. Plus: Is it really hot enough to fry an egg?

four years ago: Our very first summer issue!

THE LINKS I LIKED

I think about this a lot: Why are there so many jobs that seem kind of pointless? And in a world with so many resources, why does anyone have to work a job that doesn’t make her happy? I'm hoping our kids get this sorted better than we have.

As a rule follower myself, I really appreciated this celebration of well-behaved women who make history. 

The difference between being poor and being broke. 

What do you do when immigrants are targeted in your town? I am inspired by the example of this Tennessee town.

What is the most nostalgic song of all time? (I am on board with most of these, but R.E.M.’s “Nightswimming" is the one that hits me hard. Of course, I also get a weird nostalgia burst from “Groove Is in the Heart,” so there’s that.)

https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/07/04/what-is-the-most-nostalgic-song-of-all-time/

WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING

We’ve been having family movie night a few times a week, and it’s really fun introducing the kids to movies like Jurassic Park and Edward Scissorhands while they introduce us to movies like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (which was actually lots of fun) and Pixels. I always feel so satisfied when we have a routine in place for family fun, and I don’t know why it’s always one of the first things I let go of when life gets busy. I’m glad to have an intentional space for it right now.

I am enjoying lots of not-too-intellectually-intense pool reading of late, including Enlightenment Now (which I couldn’t resist since I have been reading everything about the Enlightenment for the past few months), The Death of Mrs. Westaway (very shades of du Maurier), and A Princess in Theory (which is totally a romance novel but kind of a charming one and one that turns the old Nigerian prince email scheme around in such a delightful way).

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Related Posts

Library Chicken Update: 7.5.18

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!

Hello, everyone — I hope you are enjoying your summer reading! Next week I’m off to our annual family vacation in North Carolina, where I plan to sit around and read as many books as possible, so I’m busy sorting my to-read stack into two piles: Reading For Fun, and Reading For My Classes In The Fall Because It’s Almost July And I Should Really Have A Syllabus Put Together By Now But It’s Fine And I’m Totally Not Panicking (Plus I Like Reading History And World Lit So These Are Fun Too). As usual I will pack way too many books — I’ll let you know how many I get through!

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

In a post-war, post breakdown-of-the-climate future, the floating Arctic Circle city of Qaanaaq is home to refugees and the very rich: conflict ensues. Miller’s world-building is original and engaging, as are his characters. This would be a great YA choice for your favorite teen readers (although I don’t believe that it’s marketed as YA) and I loved that one of the main narrators is non-binary. Yay for diversity!

(LC Score: +1)

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Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer

Finch by Jeff VanderMeer

More weirdness from my favorite weird author: Shriek and Finch both take place in the strange city of Ambergris, which we first visited in VanderMeer’s City of Saints and Madmen. I’ve seen some reviews that say these can be read out of publication order, but I’d definitely read City first and Finch last. All three Ambergris books have very different tones, but there are mysteries and plot lines that go on throughout. Lots of creepy and disturbing fun.

(LC Score: +1)

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Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

What’s that you say? Ireland has written an alternate history zombie novel, where the dead rise during the Civil War, after the battle of Gettysburg? Where black people, ostensibly freed from slavery, are sent to zombie-fighting schools to protect the white folks from danger? WHY YES I WOULD LIKE TO READ THAT VERY MUCH PLEASE. And I’m happy to report that it does not disappoint. I found this book simultaneously upsetting and hopeful, both in its content and the way it resonates with the current political climate. Another great YA choice (I think this one is officially YA? I don’t understand how these decisions are made) and I’m very excited that it appears to be the start of a series — I WOULD LIKE THE NEXT ONE NOW PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

(LC Score: +1)

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Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

This is a short spooky read about a hippie folk rock band and what happens when they spend the summer at an old English manor house. SPOILER: nothing good. Hand uses multiple narrators to gradually unfold the story and as usual, the moral is to avoid old English manor houses at all costs.

(LC Score: 0, Kindle)

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Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

Another summer road trip audiobook - no guest stars this time, but Kendrick’s memoir benefits from being read by the author. This is very much a young woman’s memoir, in that Kendrick is a young woman and hasn’t had all that much happen to her yet, but she’s smart and funny and a great road trip companion.

(LC Score: +1, audiobook)

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A Quiet Life in the Country by T.E. Kinsey

Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell

Two first-in-the-series mysteries with two female sleuths. In Quiet Life, ex-spy(?) Lady Hardcastle retires to the British countryside (circa 1908) with her best friend/maid Flo, and the two of them immediately get caught up investigating a local murder. In Speedy Death (published 1929), psychologist Mrs. Bradley is invited to an English house party and the guests start dying. I’m always looking for a new (to me) mystery series to burn through, but unfortunately I won’t be continuing either of these. Lady Hardcastle and pal Flo are fun, but I found them a little cutesy for my taste, while Mrs. Bradley and the rest of the house party guests are at the other end of the spectrum, so thoroughly unlikeable and annoying that I was ready for a bomb to drop on the place and take them all out.

(LC Score: 0, Kindle)

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Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

This was another not-for-me book. Contemporary romance is one of those genres I’ve never been able to fall in love with (no pun intended), but I keep hoping. Temptation has a lot going for it — including a pair of sisters from a con-artist family — but it wasn’t my cup of tea. I’m always up for suggestions, though, if you have a modern romance author that you think I should try!

(LC Score: +1)

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The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp

I’m a long-time fan of Sharp, having read through her Rescuers series several times over as a kid (the Disney adaptations are a lot of fun but be sure to check out the books!), but this is the first time I’ve tried one of her adult novels and it was CHARMING. Julia is broke and not quite sure what to do next when she is contacted by her adult daughter, who she hasn’t seen in years (after giving up custody to her posh in-laws). The daughter needs help with a romance: she’s determined to marry a young man that her grandparents don’t entirely approve of, but slightly disreputable Julia may not be the best person to ask for advice. Did I mention that this novel is CHARMING? Julia is a delightful character and she gets a romance of her own and now I’m off to find the rest of Sharp’s novels.

(LC Score: +1)

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All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, translated by A.W. Wheen

I’m not sure how to transition from Nutmeg Tree to the horrors of World War I, so I won’t even try. I had never read this classic work, but as I’m teaching a World War I history class in the fall, I decided that it was time. I think the novel as a whole would be too grim and upsetting for some of my middle school students, but Remarque brings the world of the trenches to life in incredibly vivid ways so I do plan to read a selected chapter or two with the class. I would definitely include it on any high school level WWI reading list.

(LC Score: +1)

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The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Jacques LeClercq

More reading for the fall — world literature this time. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough time to do the entire novel in class but I plan to do the first few chapters because it’s just so much fun. I haven’t read it in years but I got so caught up in the adventures of d’Artagnan and co. that I zoomed through to the end and will be picking up Twenty Years After next.

(LC Score: +1)

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• Library Chicken Score for 6/27/18: 9

• Running Score: -15 ½

On the to-read/still-reading stack for next week:

• The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (alternate history set in a world where the plague wiped out European civilization)

• Possession by A.S. Byatt (because I haven’t reread this in way too long)

• Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain (more WWI reading)

• Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth (still looking for a new mystery series!)

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How We Plan Our Homeschool Year in One Coffee Date

By the time our official planning starts, we already have a good idea of what we want from our homeschool in the coming year.

My daughter is about to start 11th grade, which means we have been homeschooling for (gulp) nine years. A lot of the credit for navigating that process successfully goes to her—she has been an engaged, interested participant and a totally good sport about pretty much everything. But I also think a planning routine we established early on has helped us achieve our version of homeschooling success.

Not everyone is a planner, and not every homeschool needs a plan — but my inner worrywart could not handle homeschooling without some kind of framework. If you follow the blog, you know that I try to have it both ways: I am an as-we-go homeschooler for the day-to-day (which basically means that instead of trying to predict what we will do each week, I keep track of what we’ve actually done), but I also like to have a big-picture sense of what our year will be like before it starts. (If you’ve used my planner, you know that the beginning is all about setting those bigger goals!) Those bigger goals are the point of our annual coffee/planning meeting.

I’ve talked before about making love-it, hate-it, need-it lists, but they have been such a helpful tool for our homeschool. Every month-ish, we all jot down a list of things that are going great or that we’re really excited about — that’s our love-it list, and it might include anything from a big Minecraft building project (my 10-year-old) to an awesome Japanese tutor to a particular book or subject. I think it’s also important to take stock of the things that just aren’t clicking — a clunky science program, too much writing in history, getting up early for a class at the nature center. The hate-it list is a place to vent, sure, but it’s also a good record of what doesn’t work well for a particular kid or subject, which is useful information for adjusting our schedule now if possible and definitely helpful for future planning. Finally, there’s a need-it list, which for my high schooler includes the classes colleges will be looking for on her transcript. (She isn’t particularly excited about chemistry, for instance, but since her favorite college option right now requires three years of lab science, she’s got Chemistry I on her need-it list.) The need-it list isn’t just about have-tos, though — want-tos go there, too, which makes it a more fun list than it would be without them. More practice writing essays, drama classes, more park days, “messier science experiments,” and Pokemon taxonomy have all featured on need-to lists alongside more prosaic entries like grammar and algebra.

Because we keep monthly records this way, we can chart whether a passion is short-term — geometry featured on my daughter’s hate-it list for a couple of months before she realized that she actually enjoyed it — or persistent. (More outside time shows up on my son’s need-it list every single month — and I swear it’s not because we don’t make his outside time a priority!) It’s also a good reminder of things that we get excited about but then forget — my daughter’s “something with Studio Ghibli” note on her want-to list morphed into one of our all-time favorite high school classes a couple of years later.

I keep my own lists, which are based on my observations and so often look a little different from my kids’ lists. My love-it list emphasizes things that seem to be working well and my kids’ particular strengths; my hate-it list is usually made up of things that cause friction or stress or that just don’t seem to be delivering the way I’d hoped they would. And I keep a kind of master need-it list based around each grade’s major milestones and/or college requirements as well as adding the random interests and ideas that pop up in our learning life. Like the kids’ need-it lists, mine is not a prime directive but a list of suggestions — some things from it will end up in our final plan and some won’t, and that’s fine. It’s just reassuring for me to have that big master list, which I update with specifics every month.

This monthly tracking makes it simple when we sit down over the summer to plan the coming year. We sort through our lists (and sometimes also through previous year’s lists) to see what feels important to consider in figuring out the next year’s plan. It’s usually a mix of some things that are working great that we want to keep going, some things that we cannot wait to see the hind end of, and some things that we’d really like to (or really need to) explore adding to the schedule. We also grab our book lists (which are so long at this point that it’s borderline ridiculous to keep adding books to them because science is really going to have to make some serious breakthroughs if we are going to get through these lists in one lifetime) and go through them together, highlighting titles that connect to things we know we want to study. By the time we get to this point, we’re usually on our second iced coffee drink and a little too excited about everything, but there’s one thing left to do.

The final stage of our planning meeting is taking our plan and figuring out what we need to get from where we are to where we’d like to be over the next 12-ish months. (We are year-round homeschoolers.) Sometimes, we have something that we already love and know we want to continue. (Our awesome Japanese tutor!) Sometimes, we already have an idea in mind of what we want to try for a subject. (Zumdahl chemistry!) Often, we leave with a list of things that need investigating. (How should we organize our feminist literature/history unit? What would make the best spine for AP Language and Composition?) We usually take a few weeks to do a little independent research, then meet back to fill in those last few blanks. From there, it’s easy to strategize our three to five big goals for the year. (That seems to be the sweet spot for us — fewer doesn’t seem like quite enough, and more feels like it stretches the goals too thin.)

I’m realizing that what feels like a one coffee date planning session is actually something that we work on all year — those love it-hate it-need it lists have been one of my favorite homeschool innovations because they really help all of us stay tuned into what we’re doing throughout the year, even as our methods and the specifics of our plans may change. We’re able to figure out our plans with so little stress overall because we’re building them all year long, one month at time — by the time we sit down to actually plan, we’re ready to focus on the fun stuff.

How do you get ready for the upcoming academic year?

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Stuff We Like :: 6.29.18

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE

Learn more about our high school curriculum — and feel free to ask your own questions!

Shelli reviews a grammar curriculum that’s working great in her elementary homeschool.

one year ago: Suzanne is still on vacation, but you can read her raves about John Connolly’s Samuel Johnson series, one of her favorite summer binges. Plus: How to put together a DIY homeschool retreat

two years ago: 6 surprising signs you’re actually doing a great job homeschooling. Also: The pleasures of summer homeschooling

THE LINKS I LIKED

It has been a hard week in this department, so I am just going to link you to this library cartoon, which may actually be based on my office.

WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING

I tried to start the Roman Mysteries series with my son, but he was bored after a few chapters of The Thieves of Ostia. I couldn’t stop, though, so I’ve been reading them through anyway — he doesn’t mind as long as it’s a pool readaloud.

I’m also reading Tristram Shandy again. I always forget how wonderfully weird it is!

RANDOM THINGS ON MY MIND

I am feeling so overwhelmed and stressed out by the state of the world right now, and honestly, it is hard not to give into despair. Here are some things I am doing that help, at least a little:

• Calling my representatives EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Even though most of them are pretty terrible and don’t really represent or care about my interests, I am not going to stop speaking up.
• And because my representatives are terrible, I am doing everything I can to help the great candidates running against them, including donating whatever time and money I can.
• I am quietly blocking other people — friends of friends I don’t actually know — who end up in my social media things saying cruel, stupid, or ridiculous things. I am saving my good fight for the people I actually care about and not letting myself get pulled into internet arguments that only leave me drained and frustrated.
• I am taking expensive but soul-soothing baths.
• I am going back and reading the most depressing Supreme Court cases — Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, Korematsu — and reminding myself that these cases have been overturned. History moves toward progress, even if it hits heart-wrenching bumps along the way.
• I am baking bread with my children.
• I am turning off the television and playing The Battle for Hogwarts with my children. (With the Monster Book of Monsters expansion pack!)
• I am believing in good.

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A Little More Information about Our High School Curriculum

Because I’m getting lots of questions about our high school curriculum package, I thought I would address some of the most frequently asked questions here. If you have a question and can’t find the answer, feel free to email me or ask in the comments!

What exactly comes with the curriculum?

This is a complete curriculum, so it’s a little on the gigantic side. The Year One curriculum covers:

• Critical Thinking and Philosophy: The Art of the Argument / full year
• Biology (with Labs) / full year
• History: The Enlightenment / first semester
• History: The Victorians / second semester
• Literature: The Enlightenment / first semester
• Literature: The Victorians / second semester
• Latin 1A / full year
• Composition: The Argumentative Essay / first semester
• Composition: The Research Paper /second semester

In addition to books (containing readings, reading guides, essay assignments, practice exams, projects, etc.—each is between 100 and 300 pages) for each of the above subjects, the full curriculum includes:

• weekly audio lectures for every subject
• a student guide, with weekly schedules, study strategies and self-evaluation guides, contract writing tips, and other curriculum support
• a parent guide, with transcript recommendations for credits and course descriptions, assessment guidelines (including answer keys and suggestions), etc.
• supplemental unit studies on the Ramayana, music appreciation, and introduction to cinema studies (you can use these however/whenever you want)
• a book club guide for outside reading (this one’s focused on modern African literature and includes some awesome books)

How does this translate to credits on our transcript?

I break this down with a lot of specifics in the parent guide, but as a general guide, I recommend:

• 1.0 History
• 1.0 Literature: Main Literature (0.75) + Composition (0.25)
• 1.0 Latin
• 1.0 Critical Thinking
• 1.5 Biology (with Lab)

How much parent support is required?

The curriculum is written for the student, so it’s designed for students to work through on their own. I’ve included step-by-step strategies for close reading, critical thinking, making connections, and analyzing information as well as tools for self-evaluation with the idea that students will get better at these things over the course of the year — there’s a lot of skill-building integrated into the program. You know best what your student needs, but an on-level high school student should be able to use this curriculum largely independently.

How do I grade this?

For each subject, I’ve included a grade matrix, which students can use to plot their own version of academic success. Each grade matrix includes a recommended number of points to indicate a level of academic success: students can opt to pass the class, work to earn an A, or aspire to an honors-level A based on their own goals for that particular subject. The grade matrix includes a broad range of output activities, from taking notes and completing annotated readings to writing papers and projects with lots of different options in each category. Aside from a few required items, students can combine projects and activities to create their own assessment framework. Output options include midterm and final exams for each subject.

How challenging is the curriculum?

It’s tough! But it’s tough in the good way, and it includes tons of support and scaffolding to help students along the way. Because it’s designed to level up with your student — you can choose from a few different paths, including honors-level work — it should continue to be challenging even as your student becomes confident with the material covered. Some students have a hard time with critical thinking-based curricula because they don’t love the idea that there’s no “right answer,” so we’ve tried to include lots of ideas for asking and answering questions that may not fall into neat little boxes.

Isn’t it kind of expensive?

I am probably not the best person to ask, but no, I don’t think it’s expensive for what you actually get. This is a full curriculum (except for math), complete with hundreds of hours of lectures, carefully designed projects, exams, and other output options, and (if I do say so myself) reading notes that are thorough, thoughtful, and engaging. It is written and vetted by people with advanced academic credentials. I think it’s nice to look at. None of those things is cheap. Similar course packages seem to run between $100-300 for a single class, so I think $500 for five classes, three full unit studies, and a book club guide is a great deal. You could definitely put together your own package using strategies like this or this for much cheaper, but I think if you want a ready-to-go curriculum, this a fair price.

What do the rest of the years look like?

We’re building this curriculum as we go, so some of the specifics (especially the supplements) might change as our weekly plans actually start to come together. But the broad outline for the next three years is set as follows and will remain the same, even if specific readings change:

Year Two: U.S. History includes:

• Humanities: History, literature, and philosophy of women, immigrants, Native Americans, and people of color in the United States. (This class assumes students have a basic understanding of U.S. history and want to more closely explore underrepresented voices.)
• Composition: Literary criticism and narrative essays
• Critical Thinking: Fallacies
• Science: Earth Science (with Labs), includes history-related primary source readings and field trip science recommendations
• Latin IB
• Supplements: Constitutional law; Book Club (TBD); TBD

Year Three: Asian History includes:

• Humanities: History, literature, and philosophy of China, Japan, India, and non-Egypt Africa
• Composition: Synthesis essays (explanatory and argumentative); creative writing
• Critical Thinking: Ethics (theoretical and applied)
• Science: Chemistry (with Labs), includes history-related primary source readings
• Latin 2
• Supplements: Book Club (TBD); TBD

Year Four: The Classical World includes:

• Humanities: History, literature, and philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome
• Composition: Scientific writing; persuasive essays
• Critical Thinking: Logic
• Science: Astronomy (with Labs), includes history-related primary source readings
• Latin 3
• Supplements: World Religions; Book Club (TBD); The Epic of Gilgamesh (TBD)

If this sounds like it might be up your student's alley, you will be happy to know that our curriculum is on sale through July 31. Digital and print editions will be sent out on August 5, and everyone who's using the curriculum can join our private Facebook group so you can share ideas and cool projects (and ask me if you run into questions or want my opinion on something).

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Related Posts

Curriculum Review: Fix It! Grammar by IEW

Fix It! Grammar by IEW is a practical, no-frills elementary grammar program that competently covers the essentials.

You may have read my review of the Institute of Excellence in Writing’s (IEW) Student Writing Intensive, which I like, but I love IEW’s Fix It! Grammar series.  It’s been so easy to use, and my son and I have both benefitted from it. Even better, it’s affordable too. 

My son has just finished the first book in the Fix It! series. Titled The Nose Tree, my son had to label the parts of speech and proofread an entire story – one sentence at a time. They have set it up so that my son worked on one sentence per day, four days a week, and he didn’t mind doing that. Though it’s not too time consuming, it’s a robust program that taught him everything he needs to know about grammar and punctuation. The program includes 33 weeks of lessons, and by the time he finished, he had the entire story copied into a notebook, which we read out loud for fun.

Each week begins with a lesson about a different part of speech, and students will cut out grammar cards as reminders of that lesson that they’ll keep with them as they work through the book. By the time my son finished the book, he was labeling almost every word – nouns, pronouns, articles, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, etc. He’s also learning how to a use dictionary because each sentence has a new vocabulary word to learn. (However, I didn’t require him to write down the definition, if he already knew the word.) He also learned about paragraph indents, quotations and strengthening one’s writing with strong words. 

The teacher’s manual includes extra information for grammar lovers, if they want it, or advanced grammar skills, if a student is capable. It instructs the parent on what to ask students as they review their work. I have to admit, it was a great review for me, and I learned more about grammar with this program than I remember learning in my early education.

There are six books in the series, which you can purchase all at once ($89) or separately ($19 each). These come with the downloadable Student Books that you can print yourself, but I think it’s worth it to buy a pre-printed student book (spiral bound) for $15 each. It comes with the cards you can cut out on heavy paper stock. Both the Teacher’s Manual and Student Books include a detailed grammar glossary too.  

I’m looking forward to purchasing and using the next book in this series: Robin Hood.

Please share stories about your favorite grammar program for the benefit of others.

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Stuff We Like :: 6.22.18

See you at the SEA convention? Suzanne and I will be hanging out at the home/school/life table for most of the conference, and I’ll be sitting in on a homeschool 101 panel and leading a literary theory workshop. Please stop by and say hi if you’re going to be there!

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE

This week in summer reading: What to read next if you need a little more excitement in your reading life.

Practical ways to grow the homeschool community you really want.

one year ago: Nanette recommends The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel. Plus: 5 ways to kick your U.S. history game up a notch this summer.

two years ago: 31 great books to inspire young writers. Also: What to read next if you loved the Narnia books.

THE LINKS I LIKED

Is it weird that I kind of wish I could buy this ghost town?

A timely reminder: What calling Congress actually achieves. 

This may give away my age, but this Angela Chase (from “My So-Called Life”) Congressional bid speech made me laugh, so, like, really hard.

I love this: Will science ever solve the big mysteries about consciousness, God, and free will? (Spoiler: No, but they’re still questions worth interested in asking.)

So cool! Divers have found the Pulaski, which was kind of the Titanic of 1838.

WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING

I picked up New Favorites for New Cooks: 50 Delicious Recipes for Kids to Make as a summer project for my 10-year-old, and we’ve been having so much fun cooking our way through it. (The Melty Pesto Paninis are now a regular in our dinner rotation — they are really good with this quick cherry tomato salad.)

I’m thoroughly enjoying The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Reveled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime. (Did you know the Lifetime movie had its ancestor on the Victorian stage?)

RANDOM THINGS ON MY MIND

Every summer, Jason takes off for a fishing trip with his friends for a week or two, and my children spend one of those nights at their grandma’s—which means I have the whole, quiet house to myself for 24 hours. I take endless bubble baths, binge-watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 3 this year!), watch a movie that nobody will watch with me, and eat buttery mushroom sandwiches and drink a negroni on the back porch, just because I can. (I really love it when they all come back, though.)

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Related Posts

Summer Reading: Adventure and Suspense

Looking for something action-packed? Dive into these books that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landry

You may like this book if: You liked A Series of Unfortunate Events, Black Butler, the Pals in Peril series

You may not like this book if: The idea of skeletons creeps you out

What happens when you pair a debonair, wise-cracking skeleton-sleuth-wizard and a 12-year-old heiress who has to save the world? A cracking good noir-ish detective story that manages to keep you laughing even when evil threatens to overtake the world.

(Middle grades)

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Jake the Dreaming by Adam Freeman and Marc Bernadin

You may like this book if: You liked Coraline, the Percy Jackson series

You may not like this book if: You don’t like to think about bad dreams

Daydreaming Jake is the outcast of the 4th grade — until he learns that his constant drifting off in class (and at dinner, and at Little League games …) is a side effect of his unexpected super power: Jake can enter dreams to defeat the monsters of nightmares, which are more real than you might think. (This one's hard to get a hold of now, but if it sounds like it's up your reader's alley, it's totally worth the effort of tracking it down.)

(Middle grades)

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The Recruit by Robert Muchamore

You may like this book if: You liked Spy Kids, the Hardy Boys, Alex Rider

You may not like this book if: You try to avoid violence and kids in peril

Kids can go places grown-ups can’t — which is why parentless children like James and his sister end up at CHERUB, a government agency that uses 10- to 17-year-old spies to infiltrate places adults can’t go.

(Middle grades)

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The Boy at the End of the World by Greg Van Eekhout

You may like this book if: You liked Gregor the Overlander, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Hatchet, The Search for Wondla

You may not like this book if: You’re not a fan of futuristic dystopias, or kids in peril stress you out

Fisher may be the last human alive—at least, that’s how it seems when he wakes up in a pod, the only survivor in a strange, robot-run facility called the Ark. But the possibility of another Ark, far from his own, sets him off on an adventure of survival across a very different Earth from the one we know.

(Middle grades)

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Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix

You may like this book if: You liked Caroline B. Cooney, Lois Duncan, Running Out of Time

You may not like this book if: You don’t like suspense

The closer Bethany gets to her thirteenth birthday, the weirder her parents get. Still, she’s not expecting to get hustled out of her familiar life one morning and left with her Aunt Myrlie, whom she’s never even met. Something is going on, and Bethany wants to know what it is — even if finding out puts her in danger.

(Middle grades)

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The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

You may like this book if: You liked the Hero’s Guide series, Magyk, the Dark and Grimm series

You may not like this book if: You don’t like putting together the pieces of a somewhat complicated plot

The king’s son and heir to the kingdom has been missing for years, and a scheming nobleman spies an opportunity: If he can install a pretender on the throne, he can rule the kingdom through the imposter prince. Orphaned Sage will play along to escape his grim reality — but the situation may be more treacherous than anyone could have expected.

(Middle grades)

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The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

You may like this book if: You liked Balloons Over Broadway, Snowflake Bentley, The Boy Who Loved Math

You may not like this book if: You don’t like stories about real people

When Philippe Petit decided to walk across a tightrope connecting the two towers of New York City’s World Trade Center in 1974, he broke at least a dozen laws and captivated millions of people. The Twin Towers may be gone, but the memory of Petit’s madman walk lives on.

(Elementary)

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Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

You may like this book if: You liked McSweeney’s, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones

You may not like this book if: You’re put off by over-the-top adventure stories

If your teen thinks Pulitzer Prize-winning novels are boring, this swashbuckling tale just may make him change his mind. Just a few years before AD 1000, itinerant physician Zelikman and his comrade-in-arms, ex-soldier Amram, travel through the Caucus Mountains, finding adventure, peril, princes-in-disguise, vengeful elephants, and even revolution along their way.

(High school)

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The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

You may like this book if: You liked The Dark Lord of Derkholm, Tamora Pierce, Lloyd Alexander

You may not like this book if: You don’t like having to wait for the story to get started or you’re not a fan of fantasy books

Orphaned girl Harry Crewe is living a perfectly ordinary life — until the day she is kidnapped by the king of the Hillfolk to fulfill a destiny she never imagined. Is Harry really a true warrior who can wield the legendary blue sword? And even if she is, will she believe in herself enough to seize her fate? 

(High school)

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The Farwalker’s Quest by Joni Sensel

You may like this book if: You liked How to Slay a Dragon, The Giver, Sea of Trolls

You may not like this book if: You'd rather avoid any political overtones (however mild) in your adventure stories

After the Blind War ended, leaving everyone on Earth sightless, the war’s survivors had to find new ways know the world — and so the Farwalkers were born. But much time has passed since those days — children are born seeing, and the Farwalkers haven’t been heard from in years. When Ariel and her friend Zeke discover a relic of their world’s almost-forgotten past, it sets them off on a quest that might change the world forever.

(Middle grades)

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Stuff We Like :: 6.15.18

If you have been watching the stories about children separated from their parents and detained in what seem to be pretty terrible conditions and want to do something, here is a list of places that are working to help these children.

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE

Just a friendly reminder that today is the last day to take advantage of our biggest curriculum discount. (You can learn more about the curriculum here and listen to a sample audio lecture here.) I have also set up a Facebook group for folks who are using the curriculum next year so you can trade ideas, ask questions, and connect with each other. (Also so I can talk about books with you! :))

How do you know when it’s time to end your homeschool year? (Deciding that you can’t commit to an official end date and just homeschooling year round is a totally valid life decision — at least, I hope it is!)

I finally put up a spring book review roundup.

one year ago: Suzanne celebrates the perfect-for-summer-reading adventures of the Great Brain. Plus: Historical fiction set in ancient Rome.

two years ago: Flashback to my 8th grade homeschool. Plus: The life-changing magic of embracing your kid’s reading choices.

three years ago: Answering the dreaded summer break question. Plus: Homeschooling through hard patches.

THE LINKS I LIKED

Vanya on 42nd Street is on my list of top 10 movies, so I loved this little essay about its place in the New York cityscape. (If you haven’t seen it, you should!)

So much this: Sometimes, you should just quit.

This is so true right now for me: I don’t know how to waste time on the internet anymore.

Also a little too true for me right now: Facebook is doing our emotional labor, and that’s why we can’t quit it.

WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING

I kept reading about Blood at the Root and how good it is, and oh, it is really good but also heartbreaking and just down the road from me and so, so hard to read. You should probably read it — just maybe not while you’re feeling emotionally fragile because it’s not an easy book.

I’m trying not to count, but I think I have read Zita the Spacegirl with my son something like 6,000,033 times so far this summer. I did want him to fall in love with a book!

I’ve been watching Big Dreams, Small Spaces on Netflix while I’m knitting in the evenings, and it may seriously be the second-most soul-soothing show I know. (The Great British Baking Show, of course, is the first.) The show follows a British celebrity gardener as he goes around and advises people on their backyard gardens and allotments, and while I cannot keep a pot of rosemary alive on my kitchen windowsill, I find the whole thing delightful, especially the garden parties at the end of each episode.

RANDOM THINGS ON MY MIND

I have these sandals for summer, and while they are very much in the spirit of the Golden Girls, they are super comfortable and the Golden Girls are awesome so I’m calling it a win — just maybe not a fashion win. :)

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More Stuff We Like

New Books Roundup: Spring 2018

I am so behind in book reviews this year it’s not even funny, but let’s see if we can make a dent! 

The Rose Legacy by Jessica Day George

I usually love Jessica Day George (case in point), but I didn’t love this one. It started strong: Orphaned Anthea Cross-Thornley is horrified to be shipped off, yet again, to another family member — this time an uncle whose home is even outside the walls of the civilized world she’s always known. But her uncle turns out to have a secret: He raises horses, which have been outlawed inside the kingdom for centuries, and Anthea has the gift of understanding horses, too. It’s a whole new world and a world that calls into question everything Anthea has believed to be true for her entire life — including that both her parents are dead. 

Then … I’m not really sure what happens? Anthea is bonded to a horse named Florian, who narrates part of the book — and while it feels rude to criticize a horse’s writing style, a lot of it was so weird and stilted I found it hard to get through. There’s (obviously) a whole big horse-related conspiracy going on in the main part of the kingdom, which Anthea is the only one who can resolve, and which she decides to tackle in what honestly seems like the most ridiculous and complicated way possible. I don’t know — things keep happening, but the second part of the story feels like it’s missing a plot. And it’s the first in a series, but the end feels tacked-on and unsatisfying in a way that didn’t really make me excited to read the next book.

This could be a Horse Girl thing. I was not a Horse Girl, and that could be the thing that creates my disconnect with this story.

(Middle grades)

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Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All by Candace Fleming et al

I think this collection of stories — each section pairs a first-person story from one of Henry’s wives with a first-person account from Henry himself — would be a lot of fun if it were your introduction to the wild and wacky world of the Tudors, but if you are already a big Tudor nerd, it’s going to feel flat and superficial.

Henry VIII married six fascinating women, and his justifications for loving, leaving, marrying, and occasionally executing them are fascinating. Having a different author tackle each wife’s section was a good approach because it helped make each wife’s voice sound unique (Jennifer Donnelly’s Anne of Cleves story was particularly nice, I thought, though I kind of love Anne of Cleves, so I may be biased. I felt like Lisa Ann Sandell’s section on Jane Seymour was the weakest link.), but I didn’t think the Henry sections had the oomph they needed to transition between the wives’ stories. Henry was a bigger than life character as a husband and a king, and not having him take over the story must have been a challenge, but I think it erred too far in the other direction. It might have made more sense to eliminate Henry’s sections entirely and have no transition between stories or some kind of historical scene as a transition.

(High school)

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The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty 

Oh, I really liked this one!

Lucy was struck by lightning, resulting in superpower-level math skills — and OCD that manifests in rigid routines and patterns. Her grandma, whom she lives with, has homeschooled her ever since, and Lucy’s academically ready to head to college — but her grandma insists she needs to experience middle school for at least one year first. (I don’t love the whole “unsocialized homeschooler finds friends and fulfillment when forced into traditional school” trope and that is definitely A THING in this book.) So Lucy finds herself in a 7th grade classroom, pretending to be “normal.”

The plot of this middle grades book is not going to surprise you (new friends! middle school bullies! becoming comfortable with who you are!), but it’s a charmer nonetheless. I’m especially fond of how well the author wove Lucy’s math-iness throughout the book — so often, being good at math is an entry point to a character that never really gets mentioned again or a substitute for character development. In The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl, math is part of how Lucy experiences the world throughout the story. (I think it also manifested as the author using the number 1 instead of the word “one” at some places in the text, which totally matches up to Lucy’s brain but which threw me off occasionally.)

I also appreciated the treatment of Lucy’s OCD, which is also a part of how she experiences the world and not just a problem that she can magically solve by finding a friend or getting a prom makeover. 

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City of Bastards by Andrew Shvarts 

I started reading this without realizing that it was the second in a series — and while I was able to follow the plot fine, I kept thinking I was going to get a big flashback to explain some of the events and people the main characters kept referring to.

It was fine. I mean, it’s action-packed. Tilla and her friends have returned to the capital Lightspire after some serious action defeating — at least for the moment — her traitor father. (That all happened in the first book.) But they haven’t left trouble behind: More than one plot is afoot in the glittering city of magic, and while Tilla’s life is luxurious and pampered, it’s also under constant observation. When one of her friends is murdered in the room they share, Tilla gets pulled into a mystery that may be even deadlier than the one she’s just managed to escape. There’s romance (pretty standard YA stuff), violence (actually A LOT of violent violence, so be aware), and so many twists and turns that you may need a yoga session when you’re done. The author is definitely not afraid to go dark, and while some things are predictable, there are plenty of surprises. (Sometimes the surprises seem to exist just to surprise the reader with no textual logic behind them, but it certainly did keep me turning pages.) 

(High school)

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A Friendly Town That’s Almost Always by the Ocean by Kir Fox

Nothing but Wayside School will ever be Wayside School, but this collection of interconnected stories has a definite Wayside-adjacent vibe — and I mean that in the best possible way.

Davy’s the new kid in Topsea, where dogs are mythical and mermaids are real, gravity is turned off once a year for routine maintenance, and sometimes you get the locker at the bottom of the swimming pool. Just watch out for the tides and stay clear of the shady PTA, and you should be okay. It’s silly and odd, and it totally works. Alternating stories with newspaper articles, school newsletters, and excerpts from a town guidebook and — like Wayside — telling lots of student stories, this book has a quirky rhythm that makes it feel like a super-speedy read. I found it the perfect mix of whimsy and action — I think if you add one book from this post to your library list, it should be this one.

(Middle grades)

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Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

When I got this book, I was thrilled — “It’s Percy Jackson with Indian mythology!” And while I enjoyed reading it, I was less thrilled when I finished reading because it was almost exactly Percy Jackson with Indian mythology.

Prickly, unlikable hero(ine) who discovers she’s actually a descendant of a god? Check. Unleashed evil ready to take over the world? Check. Plucky sidekicks who assist hero(ine) and also illuminate the value of friendship? Check. Secret mythic world hidden in plain sight? Check? Hero(ine) the only one who can put things right? Check.

I mean, it’s a good story. And there’s a lot of Indian mythology here, which requires the author to both explain the basics and specifics of Indian myth (challenging since a lot of readers might not come to the story with a working knowledge of Indian mythology) and to do it well enough so that people will get all the jokes and real world connections. I think Chokshi does that really well, and I love that the book gives voice to a whole world of literature that kids might be inspired to go and explore. Some of the descriptions are lovely (“There was a Night Bazaar where you could purchase dreams on a string. If you had a good singing voice, you could use it to buy rice pudding dusted with moonlight.”), and the incarnated pigeon is often hilarious. There’s a lot to like — but it really ends up feeling like a badly dubbed movie version of the first Percy Jackson book sometimes. And I couldn’t shake a dislike of Aru’s character, which probably didn’t help.

I’ll definitely read the next book in the series — there’s a lot of set-up in this book for what comes next — but I’m hoping it finds more of its own voice and style. If it does, this could easily become a favorite.

(Middle grades)

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More Reading List Inspiration

Stuff We Like :: 6.8.18

How does it always go from lovely almost-spring temperatures to blazing desert with no balmy transition period?

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE

My homeschool planner is officially on sale!

Also on sale: Our comprehensive high school curriculum.

Are you coming to the SEA conference? (Suzanne and I will be there! And I am sitting in on a homeschool 101 panel and giving a little workshop on using literary theory to teach literature, which is basically my favorite thing in the world, so please come and say hi!)

on the blog: Suzanne always reads the best books, Library Chicken score be darned. Also: A great book list for studying the Oregon Trail.

one year ago: How we homeschooled 9th grade. (I need to do a 10th grade post!) Plus: Shelli’s favorite resource for elementary current events.

two years ago: Our plan to homeschool high school. (Two years in, I feel like we were on the right track!) Also: An eerie middle grades novel about a girl who sees ghosts.

three years ago: I love this post from Idzie on how travel — near or far — helps us grow independence and confidence.

THE LINKS I LIKED

This was my feel-good story of the week: Sephora now offers beauty classes for the trans community.

I wish this collection of doomed Roman emperor cartoons had been available when we were reading SPQR this spring!

Incels may have their roots in the medieval code of courtly love. (Lots of shade-throwing on Capellanus, if you’re into that — which I totally am.)

What does Native American art look like if we move beyond its very real past tragedies? How do you acknowledge, honor, and transcend your cultural history — all at the same time? I think this is one of the big questions of the postcolonial world.

Just for fun: Literary classics retold as two panel comics

I haven’t lived around the corner from Caffe Vivaldi for more than a decade, but the thought of it not being there when I visit NYC has gotten me all choked up.

WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING

I am working on a gigantic book review post of all the books I read and never got around to reviewing this spring, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, I am not letting the fact that I am very behind deter me from reading new books, including The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden, which I am looking forward to gushing over a bit when it comes out in September. (If you haven’t read The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, you are missing out.)

On my night table: How to Be a Victorian: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide; Victorian People and Ideas; After the Funeral (and I can't remember whodunnit, so it's very suspenseful!); and The Invisible Library. I just finished The Invisible Library, and I was so prepared to love it, but it was ultimately just too much — I loved the central idea of a library that exists interdimensionally, and I was willing to buy the whole steampunk alternate world and the dragons and faeries, but when the vampires came in, I just felt like the author had taken all the popular literature from the past three decades, tossed it in a blender, and run with it. Which isn’t to say that it was bad, per se — I quite enjoyed parts of it — but with all the STUFF happening, you really notice that the development of the main and secondary characters is lacking.

RANDOM THINGS ON MY MIND

These strawberry fried pies are addictively good and so easy if you use refrigerated pie crust. (Trader Joe’s is my favorite readymade pie crust, but they don’t always have it at my store.)

I am always getting messages from people about reading levels for book lists, and I’ve been trying to incorporate more guidance in that department — but am I the only one who just honestly thinks reading levels are kind of pointless? I’ve always read what I enjoyed, whether it’s a picture book like Julian Is a Mermaid (which you should all go and get right now because this book is just pure delight) or a big fat tome of existential philosophy (hi, Heidegger), and I really want my kids to do the same. I do understand that it can get frustrating if something is too challenging for a kid to read on her own (though I’ve found readalouds are a great solution for that), and I’m definitely not critical of people who opt to read on grade level — I have just always found that letting my kids read what they are excited to read has been the best way to grow them as readers. What is your experience with reading levels like? Am I missing something important? 

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More stuff we like

Library Chicken Update: 6.6.18

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!

I haven’t posted an update in a while, so this is Catch-Up-Week here at Library Chicken HQ. My summer reading has so far involved a good bit of rereading, since this is about the time of year that I get stubborn about my to-read pile — YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF ME, PILE — and wander off to grab whatever looks good from my poor neglected shelves. I’m also busily reorganizing all the books in the house so I can actually find what I’m looking for come the fall, which means, as I’m sure we all know, (a) frequent shopping runs to Ikea for new bookshelves, and (b) leaving new bookshelves half-assembled all over the floor when I drop everything to read this one book I just rediscovered that I forgot I even had.

Lovecraft’s Monsters edited by Ellen Datlow

It’s hard for modern readers to celebrate well-known awful-person H.P. Lovecraft, but his influence on contemporary fantasy/horror is undeniable. The good news is that you can bypass the original Lovecraft stories entirely if you so desire and still enjoy a large selection of Lovecraft-inspired works, written by a diverse set of authors. This excellent anthology, which includes stories by Neil Gaiman, Kim Newman, and Caitlin Kiernan, is a great place to begin — there’s one story in here that caused me to gasp out loud when I reached the final sentence, which is not something that often happens.

(LC Score: 0; read on Kindle)

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• Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer

• City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer

Continuing the 2018 Summer of Weird: I’ve been meaning to reread VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy (consisting of Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance) for a while, so I picked up an edition that collects all three short novels in one book, which I think actually improved the experience (surprisingly, given how much I loved them the first time around). I haven’t yet seen the movie adaptation of Annihilation (has anyone seen it? is it good? is it going to give me nightmares?) but I can’t even begin to imagine how you put this bizarre story on screen. I also started working my way through some of the VanderMeer backlist: City of Saints and Madmen is a collection of stories, narratives, journal fragments, etc., all set in the strange and dangerous city of Ambergris. (Remember to STAY INDOORS during the Squid Festival, folks.) VanderMeer writes my favorite kind of weird.

(LC Score: +1)

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HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Wow, what a great premise for a horror novel: a 17th century witch, burned at the stake, continues to haunt the town that burned her into the 21st century. (This book wins the “Best Use of a Fictional SmartPhone App” award hands down.) It grabbed me right away... but as the story went on, I began to have some problems with the execution. Unfortunately, this is one of those premises that you can’t think about for more than five minutes before it starts to fall apart, and it doesn’t help that the author doesn’t seem to have actually figured out the rules of his own fictional supernatural world. My biggest problem was with the misogyny and sexual violence that ran throughout the book. Tied to the original death of the witch, the misogyny might have made sense, but it never really seemed to connect to any larger theme (other than violence against women, unlike men, must always be sexual in nature?) and I found it extremely off-putting. This book also has a strange history, in that it’s translated from Dutch and based on Heuvelt’s original Dutch novel, but when Heuvelt sold the English-language rights, he rewrote the novel to change the setting to America and, in the process, completely rewrote the ending. I’m not sure what to think about all of that, but I don’t think the change in setting necessarily improved matters. I struggled with this one, but in the end it didn’t work for me.

(LC Score: +1) 

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• The Brandons by Angela Thirkell

• Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell

• Cheerfulness Breaks In by Angela Thirkell

• Northbridge Rectory by Angela Thirkell

Time to take a break from the scary and weird and visit Thirkell’s Barsetshire! These books (#7 through #10 in the series) see the arrival of World War II in the little villages of Barsetshire, but mostly life goes on as always. I was going through these like potato chips, but one of the problems with Thirkell’s world is its inherent conservatism. She mostly plays it for laughs in the guise of old-fashioned British country squires and their ridiculous antics, but the books clearly celebrate that old-fashioned world which (in real life, if not in these novels) ultimately leads to racism, sexism, and — especially as the war goes on both in the author’s and the characters’ world — some nasty classism, which is not amusing or adorable in any way. I still love these books, but once I hit a couple of “he’s not really our kind, is he?” comments I needed to take a break.

(LC Score: 0, off my own shelves)

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Bel Lamington by D.E. Stevenson

Stevenson is another writer of WWII-era adorableness (see both the Miss Buncle and Mrs. Tim series). This one is a later novel about a lonely but sweet secretary in 1961 London who ultimately finds friendship and love. A pleasant and quick read.

(LC Score: +1)

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Buried for Pleasure by Edmund Crispin

Gervase Fen, Oxford professor, takes a break from professoring to run for a seat in Parliament and (of course) solves a couple of murders along the way. Not my favorite Fen, but a fun read nonetheless.

(LC Score: 0, Kindle)

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• Yes, Please by Amy Poehler

• Lafayette in The Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell

• As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

One of my adventures so far this summer has been driving the eldest child up to his summer internship in Omaha, Nebraska. (ROAD TRIP!!!) It was a great opportunity to finally check out some audiobooks from my library. Years ago I was an Audible subscriber, but lately I’ve been more of a podcast gal. Once I installed the Libby app, however, borrowing audiobooks on my phone became super easy. I picked these three to listen to in part because the audiobook versions have the “bonus” content of guest readers, including Seth Myers on Amy Poehler’s book, Nick Offerman (as George Washington) on Sarah Vowell’s book, and an assortment of costars on Cary Elwes’s book. All three were great road trip choices and now I’m searching through the catalog for more options when I have to go up again in August to fetch the kid. (NOTE: Since these audiobooks were checked out from the library, Library Chicken HQ has determined that they absolutely count in the Library Chicken score.)

(LC Score: +3)

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Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood

Why yes, I would like to read a book about people faking their own deaths! The topic is fascinating; the narrator less so. Greenwood’s conceit as she explores the hows and whys of death fraud is that after running up six figures in school loan debt she’s tempted to fake her own death to get away from it all. I found that framing device a little annoying, but the actual stories are interesting.

(LC Score: +1)

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Arctic Labyrinth: The Quest for the Northwest Passage by Glyn Williams

Are you watching The Terror yet? Did Ciaran Hinds (aka Sir John Franklin) get eaten by the SNOW MONSTER? Unfortunately, there are no SNOW MONSTERS in Williams’s solid overview of the history of European exploration in search of the Northwest Passage. There is cannibalism and plenty of scurvy, though, so you know I’m a fan. If I could make one request of Mr. Williams it would be to give your poor reader MORE MAPS. Arctic Circle geography is not my strong point. (Nor was it Sir John Franklin’s, apparently. Sorry, Ciaran.)

(LC Score: +1)

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• Returned Unread: LC Score: -10 (YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF ME, TO-READ PILE.)
• Library Chicken Score for 6/5/18: -2
• Running Score: -24 ½ 

On the to-read/still-reading stack for next week:

• Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller (Arctic Circle science fiction set in a floating city full of refugees from the climate wars)
• Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer (more about Ambergris)
• Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand (hippie folk rock band spends a summer in a mysterious England manor house)
• Resolute: The Epic Search for the Northwest Passage and John Franklin, and the Discovery of the Queen’s Ghost Ship by Martin W. Sandler (SPOILER: they all die of scurvy)

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More Library Chicken

Read All About It: Exploring the Oregon Trail Through Literature

In May of 1843, one thousand pioneers set off from Elm Grove, Missouri toward the Willamette Valley, marking the first great migration along the route that would become the Oregon Trail. Mark the 175th anniversary of the wagon train that kicked off two decades of westward expansion by learning more about the wagon trail-turned-westward-highway that made their journeys possible.

The 2,000-mile journey from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon, wound along trails through Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho, though not always the same way every time. We tend to think of the Oregon Trail as a set route, but it was more flexible than that — settlers followed the same rough path, but everyone was always looking for a shortcut or a way around some of the trail’s trickier obstacles. It was no easy journey: Just planning it could take as long as a year, and the Oregon-California Trails Association estimates that one-tenth of the people who set off on the trail died along the way, many from disease, others from accidents. Hasty graves lined the trail. Surviving settlers scrawled and carved their names on rocks and into trees they passed, leaving evidence that they had passed that way — their marks are still visible today. Settlers in prairie schooner wagons — so many that the rutted trails they left in their wake are still visible across the prairie today — waited to write their names on Independence Rock, a huge granite boulder that marked the trail’s middle point. Settlers who reached the rock by July 4 knew that they were on schedule to reach Oregon before the snows started.

PRIMARY SOURCES 

Read the first-person stories of people who actually made the trek.

Seeing the Elephant: The Many Voices of the Oregon Trail by Joyce Badgley Hunsaker

This book collects the journals of settlers who traveled the Oregon Trail over a 40-year period, offering both the stories of what life on the trail was really like and an opportunity to chart how the travel experience changed over the life of the trail.

Buy It: Seeing the Elephant on Amazon

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Overland in 1846, Volume 1: Diaries and Letters of the California-Oregon Trail edited by Dale L. Morgan

The first book in this two-volume series focuses on the experience of being on the trail, collecting diaries and letters from settlers, including some written by members of the infamous Donner Party, whose delayed trip forced them to weather the winter in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The second volume, which focuses on life after the trail, is a compelling glimpse into the challenges of life on the frontier.

Buy It: Overland in 1846 on Amazon

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The Prairie Traveler by Capt. Randolph B. Marcy 

Think of this 1859 guidebook as the ultimate Oregon Trail travel agent: Marcy, a West Point grad and veteran traveler, compiled the information he thought pioneers needed to safely traverse the country, from how to choose between mules and oxen for your team to tips for finding and purifying water to how to treat a rattlesnake bite when you’re miles away from civilization. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the concerns and challenges of trail life.

Buy It: The Prairie Traveler on Amazon

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NONFICTION 

Get the lay of the land from these well-researched and informative resources for studying the history of westward expansion.

Don't Know Much About the Pioneers by Kenneth C. Davis

This handy Q&A guide starts with the Louisiana Purchase and continues through the period of western expansion, acknowledging Native American contributions (including the fact that the trail followed Native paths) and the work of non- white-men in pioneer activities. Though it’s not specific to the Oregon Trail, it’s a practical, fast orientation in frontier history.

Buy It: Don't Know Much About the Pioneers on Amazon

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If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon by Ellen Levine

Levine’s trademark blend of humor and history enlivens this books about life along the Oregon Trail, which may be difficult for modern-day kids accustomed to GPS directions and ready bridges to fully grasp. Lots of details help kids understand the courage and hard work required to set out on the trail — plus there are plenty of opportunities to see the things that hold true for human experience across the centuries.

Buy It: If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon on Amazon

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In Pursuit of a Dream

In this 2010 documentary, 24 students from across the United States journeyed from Wyoming to Oregon, using the same tools and supplies they would have used in pioneer days. (No cell phones! No cars!) It’s fascinating to see how they adjusted to life on the trail — and to see how small decisions could have a big impact in this kind of travel.

Buy It: In Pursuit of a Dream at Oregon-California Trails Association

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Daily Life in a Covered Wagon by Paul Erickson

The Larkin family sold up in 1853 and left their Indiana farm for Oregon. Erickson uses their story, including letters, diaries, records, and recollections, to describe what life was like for families on the trail. Though there’s no glossing over the hard parts, all the Larkins survived the journey west — partly, perhaps, because when they boiled water for coffee (which they all drank regularly), they also killed off cholera germs without realizing it.

Buy It: Daily Life in a Covered Wagon on Amazon

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HISTORICAL FICTION 

Fiction brings this part of history to life with a vividness that you won’t soon forget.

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell-1847 by Kristina Gregory 

This entry in the Dear America series definitely illuminates the dark side of the Oregon Trail experience — including group conflicts, violence, death, and danger — but it also highlights the attitudes and determination of the pioneers.

Buy It: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie on Amazon

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Rachel's Journal by Marissa Moss

This elementary-age book is written like the scrapbook of a virtual pioneer girl, who keeps a diary and pasted-in mementoes of her experiences during her family’s seven-month journey from Illinois to California.

Buy It: Rachel's Journal on Amazon

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Westward to Home: Joshua’s Oregon Trail Diary by Patricia Hermes

There’s nothing particularly surprising about this historical fiction novel, but it’s nice to have a pioneer story told from a boy’s perspective — so many seem to be inspired by the experiences of young women instead. Joshua’s family is headed west from Missouri to Oregon, a journey that will require Joshua to face his fears. 

Buy It: Westward to Home on Amazon

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OTHER OREGON TRAIL RESOURCES

Get hands-on with these activities designed to help you explore the stories of the Oregon Trail.

The Bureau of Land Management has an elementary/early middle grades unit study pack for the Oregon Trail that includes trail math, creative writing, planning, and more. 

Learn the basics of writing historical fiction with the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Go West: Imagining the Oregon Trail curriculum plan. You’ll start with research and big questions before crafting your own story. edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/ go-west-imagining-oregon-trail

Westward Ho!: An Activity Guide to the Wild West by Laurie Carlson includes simple-but-fun activities like cooking flapjacks, sewing sunbonnets, and panning for gold. It’s not all Oregon Trail-specific, but it’s a fun collection of projects.

You’ll find some more complex activities in Pat McCarthy’s Heading West: Life with the Pioneers, 21 Activities, including butter churning, candle dipping, and animal tracking. Again, the activities tend to be more about pioneering in general and less about the Oregon Trail specifically, but most would certainly be relevant for settlers headed west to Oregon.

And, of course, you can’t study the Oregon Trail without playing a few rounds of the classic computer game. 

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Stuff We Like :: 6.1.18

How is it June already?

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE

• Did you win our homeschool planning package?
• You can still get our special preview discount if you order our new high school curriculum by June 15. (After that, preorders get a 10 percent discount, so it’s not like you’re totally out of luck.)
• If you haven’t preordered my homeschool planner and you want to, it looks like it’s on sale right now for $13.59.
• Maggie has a great post up about homeschooling with dyslexia, whether you want to support your own student or someone else’s. (As many as one in five people have some kind of dyslexia.)
• Maybe you’d like to read another magical fantasy like The Wizard of Oz?
• one year ago: Our favorite advice for homeschooling high school and what to read next if you loved Swallows and Amazons
• two years ago: How homeschooling can be a springboard to the education you wish you’d had and a reading list for the awesomeness that is Harriet Tubman
• three years ago: Jackaby is the supernatural Sherlock Holmes, but his would-be paleontologist sidekick Abigail Rook steals the show

THE LINKS I LIKED

• The secret charm of internet ghost towns
• The case for seeing motherhood as a genre instead of as a subject
• Relevant to my reading life: How annotating makes your reading life richer
• Are you participating in the Great American Read?

WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING

• I am basically just working my way down my list of recommendations from Suzanne this summer, so you may not be surprised that I’ve just knitted my way (still working on my Magical) through the entire 1980s series of Mapp and Lucia. On to the 2014 version! (I accidentally signed up for a Britbox subscription, but I am enjoying it so much I don’t want to cancel.) 
• I love big, dense books for pool season, and London: The Novel is hitting the sweet spot for me right now. I suspect it’s no secret to regular readers that I am a little obsessed with British history, so I think it’s kind of impressive that this book manages to be interesting and even suspenseful even though I already know a lot of what’s going to happen.

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RELATED POSTS

5 Dyslexia Truths that Everyone Needs to Know

It’s estimated that as many as one in 10 or even one in five people is dyslexic, but there are still so many untruths about dyslexia floating around. Even if someone in your family isn’t dyslexic, it’s almost certain that someone you care about is. Here are five truths to help you be an ally and advocate for those people in your life.

Myth: Dyslexics see letters backwards.

Truth: Dyslexia is a not a vision problem (though vision problems can be comorbid with dyslexia). This misconception comes from the letter reversals that dyslexic children commonly make. Neurotypical adults easily see the differences between b, d, p, and q. To a dyslexic child, however, those letters can be quite confusing. A chair turned to the left, to the right, or upside down is still a chair. But each turn of what is essentially the same letter shape makes a different letter. That can be really difficult to pin down for someone who struggles with working memory or visual processing issues. It’s also important to note that many dyslexic children don’t reverse letters at all. 

b

A chair...

d

still a chair...

p

still a chair...

q

And Still a chair.

Myth: Kids with dyslexia just need to try harder.

Truth: Children with dyslexia are trying harder than you can imagine. They want to be able to read. They want to be able to keep up with everyone else, but no amount of trying harder will change their physiological differences that make it virtually impossible to learn from routine literacy instruction. Rather than our judgement, dyslexic kids need our compassion, patience, and efforts to specialize instruction to the ways they can learn.  

Myth: If kids are having a hard time learning to read, just relax and wait until they’re older.

Truth: If there’s one widespread myth within the homeschooling community that needs to expire, it’s this one. Children do not outgrow dyslexia. It’s a lifelong condition. Waiting even a year to provide help for a child who may have dyslexia means a vital, precious year of intervention that is lost. It’s another year of letting a child’s self esteem suffer as he or she believes that everyone else must be smarter. It’s losing even more ground that that child will have to make up. 

I love that in homeschooling we have more time to let our children’s gifts and abilities unfold in their own time, but experts agree that suspected dyslexia needs attention, and it needs attention early.   

Myth: Kids have a hard time learning to read because their parents didn’t read to them enough.

Truth: Talk to parents of dyslexic children, and you may be surprised to find out that they’ve read early and often to their children. I started reading to my children on the day they were home from the hospital, and even now, I read aloud to them for at least an hour every day. Their comprehension and vocabulary are extraordinary, but my efforts didn’t change the fact that their brains are wired differently. 

Myth: If we make accommodations (like the use of audiobooks) for a dyslexic child, it will be a crutch, and the child won’t be able to be successful in college. 

Truth: On the contrary, if we want dyslexic children to succeed in college and careers, we need to help them learn about the accommodations that work best for them in adapting to a neurotypical world. Giving kids practice with tools like audiobooks, text-to-speech software, and C-Pen Readers will help them focus on the information that inundates them in this new setting rather than struggling to also find a way to make that learning feasible. 

Accommodations for dyslexic people aren’t unfair, and they don’t encourage laziness. They’re simply a way to level the playing field. We couldn’t deny a wheelchair ramp to a physically disabled person, and we shouldn’t deny accommodations to people with learning disabilities either.

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Related Posts

Stuff We Like :: 5.25.18

The pool is finally open! I like that a lot.

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE

We launched our high school curriculum this week — it’s the liberal arts curriculum I helped create for Jason’s hybrid high school, so it’s all about critical thinking, reading, and writing. You can read all about it here. 

Shelli muses on the difference a few years can make in your homeschool life.

Have you entered to win our homeschool planning package? 

one year ago: The Power of Now: Or Why Maybe This Is the Summer to Start that Homeschool Co-Op

two years ago: At Home with the Editors: Amy’s 2nd Grade

three years ago: Q&A: How can I help my student focus?

THE LINKS I LIKED

Honestly, I’m sharing this just for the headline.

I found this essay subverting the notion of Greek “whiteness” fascinating, and I can’t wait to teach Homer again with this in mind.

This charm bracelet — and what it says about hope and art in dark times — really is remarkable.

The comfortable mythology of imperialism is complicated for the authors embraced by Western culture: “All of us on that world-literature list are basically safe, domesticated, just exotic enough to make our readers feel that they are liberal, not parochial or biased. That is, we are purveyors of comforting myths for a small segment of the dominant culture that would like to see itself as open-minded.”

WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING

I’m knitting Magical for my son’s Hanukkah sweater — I got a lot of flack from the kids about trying to sub hats for the usual holiday sweaters last year, so I am taking advantage of summer knitting time — and I am finally watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine while I work on it. Trust me: Suzanne is always right about television shows, and if she tells you to watch something, you should watch it.

We just started our third official Harry Potter readaloud. It was an accident — we just meant to read the first chapter because we were discussing what makes a great first chapter — but once you start, apparently you can’t stop. Oh well, there are worse ways to spend a summer!

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Now Available to Pre-Order: Our High School Curriculum

I decided to go for it, y’all! Starting right now, you can buy a copy of our Year One high school curriculum, a liberal arts program that incorporates history, science, philosophy, literature, Latin, and composition into a cohesive program that emphasizes critical thinking, reading, and writing.

Originally, I planned to recreate the first year of our curriculum and offer the Classics Year, but now that I am actually in the thick of it, I am finding it much easier to write the curriculum as I work, so we’re making Year One European history instead. That means fourteen glorious weeks of the Enlightenment for the first semester — Newton! Rousseau! Swift! Pope! And even a little Kant! — and fourteen magical weeks of the Victorians in the second semester, including Dickens, Browning, Carlyle, Mill, Darwin, and more. We’ll read some of the classics, but we’ll also explore the woman question, interrogate issues of slavery and racism, and dig into some of the meatier questions these periods of unprecedented social, political, and literary change raise. It’s going to be great.

In science, this is our biology year — how could we not hone in on biology when we can read Darwin with it? We’ll alternate a comprehensive traditional biology program (complete with labs), with primary readings chronicling the history of biology that connect to our history, literature, and philosophy readings. Our emphasis in science is on understanding and applying the scientific method and on ensuring that we establish a solid framework based on the current best scientific understanding of the natural world.

I’m so excited about this program and thrilled to get to share it beyond the ten students who get to use it at my husband’s hybrid high school. I’ve put together some sample pages that you can download right here — I think they give you a good idea of what the curriculum would actually be like to use, though they are not final pages since the curriculum is still a work in progress. I am committed to completing it by August 5, 2018 for those of you who want to start using it in the fall. (And if you want to use it but you need more specifics to start your planning, please email me, and I am happy to help!)

If you are a high school parent who might be interested in this curriculum, I hope you’ll consider supporting it with a pre-order. I’ve taken 30% off the cost of the print edition and 20% off the cost of the digital edition for everyone who pre-orders before June 15 (the price is reflected in the store). And as a special thank-you bonus, if you pre-order the curriculum before July 15, you can choose one student essay from each subject in this program when you use it to send me, and I will give your student individual feedback. (This may not seem like a great bonus, but my essay feedback is legendary at Jason’s school. I consistently see significant writing improvement from students who apply my — admittedly copious — essay feedback.) I definitely want to show my appreciation to the people who offer early support to this project, which is big and challenging and time-consuming.

[Edited: The curriculum is 10% off digital and print editions through August 1.]

On to all the details you could possibly want:

Included in This Curriculum

Full 28-week curriculum, including lectures, assignments, and readings for:

• History: Our first semester focuses on Europe from roughly 1688 (when William and Mary took the throne of England in the Glorious Revolution) to the French Revolution in 1789-1799. In the second semester, we’ll turn to the Victorian era, which begins with Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne in 1837 and continues through her death in 1901. Students will read a variety of primary and secondary sources and write comparative, analytical, and DBQ essays during each semester.
• Literature: During the first semester, we’ll focus on the wide variety of literature made possible by improved printing techniques (and looser printing regulations) during the Enlightenment, including journalism and non-fiction, poetry, drama, so much satire, and the beginning of the novel. In addition to selections of all of the above, we’ll be reading Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and another novel (chosen by the student from a list of options) in their entirety. In the second semester, our focus will be Victorian literature, specifically the fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry that served as a link between the Romantics and the modern writers of the 20th century. In addition to shorter selections, students will read Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and another novel (chosen from a list of options). Students will explore specific works and the broader generic (as in genre-specific, not the more common definition of not specific) connections and implications of each period. Written output includes critical, comparative, and rhetorical essays in addition to frequent timed free response essays.
• Philosophy: With so many impassioned essays and reasoned arguments to explore, philosophy this year will concentrate on evaluating arguments, including recognizing biases, fallacies, rhetorical appeals, and more. In addition to considering history and literature readings through this lens, we’ll also be reading selections from Immanuel Kant (in the fall) and John Stuart Mill (in the spring) as philosophical representatives of their times.
• Composition: Our focus in composition this year will be on writing better essays, so we’ll be working through major essay forms, including comparative, analytical, rhetorical, narrative, and argumentative essays. We’ll also focus on building a toolkit for self-evaluation and revision so that students can develop and improve first-draft essays.
• Latin: We’ll be using the Ecce Romani 1 textbook as a resource for improving English grammar skills while learning the fundamentals of Latin grammar and vocabulary. 
• Biology: Our biology year uses Miller & Levine Biology to explore cells, energy, reproduction, genetics, human systems, and of course evolution—as biologist Ernst Mayr says, “there is not a single Why? question in biology that can be answered adequately without a consideration of evolution.” In addition to labs (designed to be done at home with minimal equipment, with additional options for students who want to use more sophisticated lab tools), students will engage in projects and activities to develop understanding of concepts and ideas. Students will also read primary sources that connect to the history, literature, and philosophy of the Enlightenment and Victorian age.

Supplemental Units

(These are optional units that you may use for summer learning, independent projects, or enrichment. They're included with the curriculum — we treat them as Friday enrichment at Jason's school.)

• Film Studies (A nine-week introduction to film history that focuses on the tools and techniques needed to read movies as a text)
• The Ramayana (A five-week investigation into the history, art, literature, and significance of India’s great epic poem)
• Music Appreciation (A 14-week study of the music of the Enlightenment and Victorian periods)
• Book Club (A six-month guide with discussion topics, mini lectures, and and reading guides, focused on modern African literature)

Included:

• History: Enlightenment
• History: Victorians
• Literature: Enlightenment
• Literature: Victorians
• Philosophy: Building and Evaluating Arguments
• Composition: The Essay
• Latin: Year 1 (Includes English Grammar)
• Biology: Lesson Guide
• Biology: Lab Notebook
• Parent’s Guide to the European History Year
• Audio Lectures for All Subjects

Provided by You:

• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (at the library, free ebook, or—my favorite—the Norton Critical edition)
• Great Expectations (at the library, free ebook, or—my favorite—the Norton Critical Edition)
• Secondary novels (student choice)
• Miller & Levine Biology (available used on Amazon)
• Ecce Romani 1 (available used on Amazon)
• Films for Film Studies, optional (available to rent on Amazon)
• Music for Music Appreciation, optional (available to stream on Amazon)
• The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic by Ramesh Menon, optional (available on Amazon)
• Book Club Books (all available on Amazon)
• Math curriculum

Important Notes

• This curriculum was designed to cover two 14-week semesters, for a total of 28 weeks of structured academic time. Because of the short time span, it’s a very focused, rigorous curriculum—you could definitely slow down and spread it across more time if you wanted to.
• This is a reading- and writing-intensive curriculum. While you could definitely modify it to make it less so, critical reading and writing are such essential parts of it that if you hate those things, this curriculum might not be the best fit for you.
• All of the information in this curriculum was reviewed by and created by or in close collaboration with people with advanced degrees in the subject area.
• This is a secular curriculum, and it’s our biology year. There is a lot of information about evolution in this curriculum.
• This sample does not include complete lessons and is only a sample—the completed curriculum may differ from what you see here. 
• I love the idea of publishing this curriculum if people can use it, but I will be using advance sales as an indication of interest. If there is enough interest, I will ship the completed curriculum by August 5, 2018. If there is not enough interest, I will issue full refunds by July 31, 2018.
• You can order a digital or a print edition of the curriculum. Each subject comes as its own file or book so that you can work through them at the speed you prefer.

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The Benefits of Having Older Kids

My boys are only eleven and eight years old, so when I say “older kids,” I mean they have passed that age when I have to constantly supervise them. I know other parents will tell me that having teenagers is even more beneficial, and I’m sure they are right. I mean, what a great day it’ll be when I can send my kid to the store for something! But right now, I’m basking in this “a little bit” older stage. I’ve noticed a lot of good things about it lately.

Though I haven’t had to do this for a while, it’s worth mentioning that I don’t have to dress them, bathe them, or even brush their teeth. It seemed like that stage of dependence would never end, especially since my boys are three years apart, but then suddenly it did. I still savor the extra time this gives me. A few more minutes of freedom here and there is wonderful!

My boys also play together or by themselves for long stretches of time — time when they leave me alone to do house chores or whatever I need to do. Though they’ve been doing this for a long time, the play time has been stretching out longer and longer. They need me less and less to help them with this or that.

My boys like to play games — board games and digital games — and over the years, I’ve had to read a lot of instruction manuals to these games. In the last year, as the games have become a growing interest, my 11-year-old has taken over the job of reading instructions. This alone, in my opinion, is one of the biggest benefits of having older kids!

Slowly, ever so slowly, I have been able to turn over more daily chores to the boys, though I try not to be a slave driver either. They sweep up their crumbs after dinner, clear the table and wipe it, put the wet clothes into the dryer, and do other, random clean-up jobs. I should probably think about expanding their chore list even more.

By far my favorite benefit of having older kids, however, took place this past week, which was spring break for the local schools. I wasn’t planning to do a spring break in our homeschool, but the weather turned perfect, and my eldest son mentioned a project that we had been talking about doing for about a year. That was to clear the little trail in our woods. 

Before I had kids, I created a trail through a small patch of woods in our backyard. I used that trail a lot when my eldest son was a toddler, but later, as the boys got older and we began the time-consuming journey of homeschooling, our yard, especially the woods, were neglected. Weeds and other natural debris had completely covered the path. 

Since my eldest suggested it, and my younger son was excited about it too, I decided to go “lite” on the lessons so that we could spend a few days on the trail. What fun we had! I was prepared for it to be a lot of work on my part, but the boys worked hard too. Together, we cleared the path in just three days, and now we’re motivated to do some other yard work too.

It’s always been a goal of mine to get the boys out into nature as much as possible. When they were younger, we did a lot of simple gardening and nature walks at local parks, and though we still try to do those things, our homeschooling schedule gives us less time. Now I see that as the boys get older, their experiences in nature may expand to new projects. They will do more because they finally can.

If there’s any mom out there making her way through the path of infanthood, toddlerhood, and still not quite independent enough years, I want to be a beacon of light ahead of you — whether you are looking forward to the future or not, there are a lot of great things up ahead!

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