12-14 Year Old
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, Book Focus, Life, the Give Way, Teaching, the Give Way, You Not Them
The Give Way Reading Challenge
One of the things I love about the TJEd philosophy, is the aspect of “you, not them.” Essentially it’s about making sure I keep focused on my own education as a way of improving myself and following my passions while also being an example of lifelong learning for my kids. I found a great list of 52 book genres related to a weekly reading challenge. Since, I’m focused on classics and recently found how wonderful audio books are (thank you, Librivox!), I figured I could do it! So, I used their list, but created my own after that first year. This is such a fun challenge! It got me out…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Book Club: A Southern Linner
This was our cookbook month for our adult/teen book club. The plan is to read a cookbook or read about a cook and everyone cooks and brings a recipe from it. This month’s book is: A Love Affair with Southern Cooking I chose this book first because everyone loves to read it and the recipes! I have to admit, it was tons of fun to read. She traveled the South for decades learning all about southern food. The book has great personal anecdotes, a timeline of food in the South, and histories of people and products that are from the South. Many of the recipes I liked, but some were…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, Book Focus, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club
Book Club: Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
Book for this month’s adult/teen book club: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Even though this book club is for older teens and adults, sometimes, when we read kid’s classics, we’ll ask the rest of our families to join us. This was one of those instances. Nursery Alice is a simpler version Lewis Carroll wrote for younger children. And Great Illustrated Classics are always good abridged versions for the lower to mid-elementary range. Here was what my event description said: Everything’s a little topsy turvy on Daylight Savings day — the perfect time to have a Mad Hatter’s tea party! This is a family affair, so read the book with your family…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, Book Focus, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club
Book Club: A Tale of Two Cities – Bangers and Baguettes
Book for this month’s adult/teen book club: A Tale of Two Cities This book is about a 9th or 10th grade reading level and would interest 14/15 year olds and up. If you’d like to include younger kids, I would suggest Great Illustrated Classics: A Tale of Two Cities, which is a 5th or 6th grade reading level. But, again, the story itself is for older readers, with this kind of content, I would say a 12 or 13 year old might enjoy it too, but it’s unlikely that anyone under 11 would enjoy this story. I preferred this free audio version. I found she was easy to listen to…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, Book Focus, Curricula, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club
Teen and Adult Book Club
I took a homeschooling test, which said one of the areas of homeschooling that I leaned toward was Thomas Jefferson Education. I’d never heard of it, but looked into it. I liked a lot of what I read. But, like any of the homeschooling philosophies, I pick and choose what I think will work for us. There were two things that I could start immediately, without knowing much else about the philosophy — read classics to your kids and make sure you are also focusing on your own education, which they term “you, not them.” It was just the push I needed! I’ve been really wanting to start reading classics,…
- 12-14 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Clubs, Book Focus, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Kids' Book Club, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club, Theme
Kids’ Book Club — Destination: Wonderland!
This month’s kids’ book club book: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland This book is about a 7th grade reading level. I’d say it is appropriate for some 4 and 5 year old’s, but generally speaking probably 6 and up. My four year old understood most things, but, of course, the jokes and puns were beyond her. The only questionable part for us, was the “off with their head” aspect. Fortunately, the queen never actually does it, and we were able to talk about how very silly it is that she’d always say that. We did have to show her a deck of cards as we were reading, since we realized…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: The Great Depression
[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Lower Grades (K-3) Angels in the Dust-Raven (4.2/0.5) The Babe and I-Adler (3.2/0.5) Born and Bred in the Great Depression-Winter (no level) Don’t Forget Winona-Peterson (2.8/0.5) The Dust Bowl-Booth (3.8/0.5) Dust for Dinner-Turner (2.4/0.5) Finding Daddy-Harper (no level) The Gardener-Stewart (3.9/0.5) Hannah’s Way-Glaser (2.4/0.5) Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth-Burleigh (2.0/0.5) Lucky Beans-Birtha (4.0/0.5) The Lucky Star-Young (4.6/0.5) The Man Who Walked the Earth-Wallace (3.4/0.5) Mimmy and Sophie All Around Town-Cohen (2.9/0.5) My Heart Will Not Sit Down-Rockliff (4.4/0.5) Nobody Owns the Sky-Lindbergh (3.8/0.5) Potato: A…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: War of 1812
[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Lower Grades (K-2) An American Army of Two-Greeson (2.9/0.5) The Battle for St. Michaels-McCully (3.1/0.5) The Battle of New Orleans: The Drummer’s Story-Evans (3.4/0.5) Chet Chestnut-Sargent (4.2/0.5) Snow (White)-Sargent (4.5/0.5) (Description: A beautiful, proud white horse carries General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.) The Star-Spangled Banner-Winstead (4.1/0.5) The Town that Fooled the British: A War of 1812 Story-Papp (4.2/0.5) Washington Is Burning-Figley (3.5/0.5) Middle Grades (4-8) Abigail’s Drum-Minahan (4.6/1) A Call to Battle: The War of 1812-Chan (6.1/7) Cornstalks…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Creative Commons Photos, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Virtual Field Trip
South African Safari Photos (Pilanesberg National Park)
Here are a photos from the spring in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa. Find a list of historical fiction set in Africa here. These photos are published under a creative commons license (CC BY-SA 4.0). If it seems like the photo isn’t downloading at a res you’d like, please leave a comment with the number of the photo, and I’ll send an original. Thanks! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 6. 7. 8. There’s a lion laying in the grass, dead center…if you look hard enough. 🙂 9. 10. 11. 12. Hippo in water. 13. 14. 15. …
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Creative Commons Photos, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Teaching, the Give Way, Virtual Field Trip
Dachau Concentration Camp Photos
Here are images taken by me at Dachau Concentration Camp in 2008. I put them in order of entering the camp, turning left and going clockwise around the site. Go here for information about each area. Here’s a map of the camp. Find a list of historical fiction related to the Holocaust here. These photos are published under a creative commons license (CC BY-SA 4.0). If it seems like the photo isn’t downloading at a res you’d like, please leave a comment with the number of the photo, and I’ll send an original. Thanks! 1. Main camp gate 2. Roll Call Area and reconstructed bunker 3. 4. Inside bunker …
- 12-14 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Unit Study
California History Field Trip: Native Americans and Exploring
My sister-in-law is homeschooling her 4th and 2nd grader. She is not a fan of California history (crazy!), so I offered to try and put together some field trips for the kids. We live in the general LA/San Gabriel Valley area, so you won’t be finding us taking any Sacramento trips. I love my niece and nephew, but I’m definitely not taking them that far. 🙂 For our first trip, we focused on the Native American group in the area (Tongva) and exploration by the Spanish, by means of the LA River and Arroyo Seco. This lesson plan can also be used for any area, you’d just have to find…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: The Civil War
[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Civil War Causes and Events Lower Grades (K-3) Abraham Lincoln-D’Aulaire (5.2/1) A. Lincoln and Me-Borden (3.5/0.5) Abe Lincoln’s Dream-Smith (3.0/0.5) Alec’s Primer-Walter (3.4/0.5) Billy and the Rebel-Hopkinson (3.2/0.5) The Blue and the Gray-Bunting (3.3/0.5) Cabin in the Snow-Hopkinson (3.5/1) Cassie’s Sweet Berry Pie: A Civil War Story-Winnick (2.9/0.5) The Cemetery Keepers of Gettysburg-High (4.6/0.5) Civil War Artist-Morrison (6.0/0.5) Civil War Days-Weiss (3.7/1) Civil War on Sunday-Osborne (3.4/1) Dadblamed Union Army Cow-Fletcher (4.0/0.5) Drummer Boy: Marching to the Civil War–Turner (3.8/0.5) Freedom Ship-Rappaport (2.8/0.5) From Slave to Soldier:…
