It's been a very long time...
since this board was active. So what have all you self-educators been up to?
I'm prepping to teach more of Lingua Latina in the fall. I also desperately need to refresh my Greek. For Great Books, I decided to spend most of the summer reading American novels. I read Moby-Dick last month and am now part way through The Last of the Mohicans. Huck Finn is next up.
What's on your plate at the moment?
-Drew
Starting at the beginning again.
My daughter will be starting kindergarten this fall. Now, my son went to "real" school for kindergarten and 1st grade, so this is my first time to teach a student from scratch. One of the papers I am reading right now is called "The Born-Yesterday World of the Reading “Experts” A Critique on Recent Research on Reading and the Brain." By Geraldine E. Rodgers, B.S., M.A. It is a very detailed explanation of how the brain works when taught by phonics vs. what I call "whole language," though she hasn't used that term yet in the paper. I believe she terms the latter the "meaning method." http://www.donpotter.net/PDF/BornYesterday%20WP2.pdf
It's been a loooong time since I've read any fiction--unless you count reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with my second grader last year. I did enjoy the chapter on square candies that look round!
Preparing to lead my 9th grader this fall...
I've been trying to cover so much this summer, I feel like my brain is going to explode!
I've been studying Henle, trying to get a few units ahead of where my 9th grader will start this fall.
I've read The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid, worked through study guides for all three and listened to Teaching Company lectures for all three (Elizabeth Vandiver - highly recommend!)
I've been studying Apologia Chemistry in preparation to teach a co-op class this fall (in exchange, my 9th grader gets a different teacher for Biology, which will be good).
I've skimmed Herodotus (get the overall flow), still need to study Agamemnon, Oedipus the King, some Plutarch, and Suetonius, but I can probably work on that this fall while other things are underway.
I don't read Latin well enough yet to read Vergil in the original, but already I'd like to learn Greek! I'm setting a goal to start Greek by age 50 (that gives me 6 years). Hope I have many good years left to enjoy this learning.
Is it any surprise that the fiction I've chosen is Rumer Godden's "In This House of Brede"? That contemplative, simple life sounds appealing.
Cindy
In this House of Brede
is such a beautiful book. I first read it a few years ago, and it's one of those books that has stuck with me. I think of scenes from it often. Enjoy!
-Drew
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"I wonder how far I shall carry any opinion with me when I plead for active effort to revive the general use of Latin?" - Hilaire Belloc
***
busy
Work is keeping me busy learning SQL, but on the homeschool/self-ed/personal development front I'm working on my liturgical Latin and chanting the Office.
I'm also going to be working my way through Fortescue & O'Connell as I learn to function as a Master of Ceremonies.
Looking to start Greek in late summer/early autumn (I'll probably go Attic initially) with the help of my brother, a classicist.
I'll be brushing up my Italian over the next few months in anticipation of a pilgrimage to Rome early next year.
I think we're done with curriculum research for a while, so I can go back to Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin novels and Evelyn Waugh as my leisure reading.
~Chris