Was Our Week Ahead ~ in November 2016, is now...

This is my last post on Modern Times history and literature covered during 2016.
It's more to archive the books read, and audios listened to during the end of November, into the middle of December.  Academic school has officially finished for 2016.  (Though Jay's new English teacher has gifted him an assignment to complete before the middle of Term 1, 2017.  We've closed the books and just walked away from it - it'll still be there next year.)

We're really happy to close the door on November - finishing assessments for Te Kura added extra excitement to life-happening things;  talk about a horrible, no good, very bad, month (Judith Viorst),   .... but, let's not talk about it   ;-P
I'd rather focus on the grace of God seeing us, along with those we love and care about,  through ♥
And learning to acknowledge, once again, that there are "things" we cannot change.

Our family is quietly enjoying preparing things for the end of year celebrations.  Celebrations that surround the commemoration of Christ's birth.
This is a lovely time of the year for us - I look forward to it very much.

Beneath is the literature, Daisy & Jay, read late November to mid-December:

Daisy

3:  ITTC: 

o   Solzhenitsyn  – One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) p.357

o   Contemporary Writers   p.361

Short Stories:  

Contents of The Dead Man’s Pockets ~ Finney (1956)

Free Reading:

• Alas, Babylon ~ Frank (sensuality edited out)
• The Gammage Cup ~ Kendall (fantasy.  Does have romance element in it.  Recommend parents read it first.) 
• The Boy in Striped Pyjamas ~ John Boyne
• Mama’s Bank Account ~ Forbes

Audio’s in Nov/Dec:  

• Sermons
• The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweil ~ Konisburg
• Tale of Holly How ~ Wittig Albert
• Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood ~ Wittig Albert                                                                                         (both of the above Wittig Albert books focuses on Potter, proportedly, believing in fairies;  and, the Tale of Holly How feels enshrouded in that theme  :-/)

o   4:  Short Stories:  

Contents of The Dead Man’s Pockets ~ Finney (1956)

Jay

3:  ITTC: 

o   Solzhenitsyn  – One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) p.357

o   Contemporary Writers   p.361
      
      Short Stories:  

Contents of The Dead Man’s Pockets ~ Finney (1956)

Free Reading in Nov/Dec: 

• Virtual Billions ~ Eric Geissinger (library bks)
• The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld ~ Jamie Bartlet (library bks

Audio’s in Nov/Dec:  

• Sermons
• Finance Lectures

Our Week Ahead ~ Monday 14 November 2016 (Week 33 of 35. YAY!)

It's very satisfying to look at our proposed schedule for learning and to see just 2 weeks left, after this one, before we start wrapping up our learning year.
Here is where the roles reverse and the children start really 'encouraging' me to get their academic learning work load cleared so they can shift gears and enjoy the freedom of becoming totally delight-led in their activities.  Not sure about other homes, but once our history/literature schedule is wrapped up things seem to go from a semi-structured educating day into ones filled with projects, crafts, hours of online study, and piles of books, and audiobooks, taking over our home.  So good!

November Monday 14 2016

Daisy

 History & Geography  

1:  Bp Early Modern Times:      

o   Ch: 32  Vietnam War  p.508-515 (selections only)

3:  Encyclopedias

o   KFH     p.446-47 Civil Rights  (1950-present)

o   DKH     Vietnam War p.430-31

Mapping:  

o   BP Map 31    wk 2 of 2

History, Literature, & Book Basket:

1: Book Basket:

Animal Farm ~ Orwell  (compare ending with the one in the animated film.  Watch during class time.)
Nothing Else Matters ~ St. John (1976)

Free Reading:

Alas, Babylon ~ Frank (sensuality edited out)

The Gammage Cup ~ Kendall (fantasy)

We've been using Essentials in Writing ~ Matthew Stephens which has assisted Daisy so much with learning to write.  Her writing style has definitely developed this year. (Makes for one very happy mum and student).  She's just handed in her final writing assignment for 2016 and crafted a very interesting, and rather well written, piece.  Her topic was Up Helly Aa ;-)  something I knew nothing about prior to reading her essay.  

Family

Bible

All:  Luke 23+

History & Geography

Notes:   Post WWII Healing Revival 1947-1958.

Hymns For November:  Review

DvD/Visual:  

o   Animal Farm (animated cartoon)

o   Sir Edmund Hillary 1919-2008    

o   Messenger ~ Becker (Thurs watch with DN & discuss)

o  Billy Graham (documentary)

Economics   Economics for Everyone ~  R.C. Sproul  jnr   (dropped)

1:  Read Alouds: 

 o   Evidence Not Scene ~ Darlene Rose (WWII/ missionary)  start reading to Daisy
o   The Boy on the Wooden Box ~ Leyson  (WWII/ German/Polish Jew) Dn reading this to us 

4:  Short Stories:  

Contents of The Dead Man’s Pockets ~ Finney (1956)

Jay

English

1:  Essentials in Writing Level 12

Use EiW for extra instruction while creating two 500 word essays this week.

Our Week in review ~ Monday 07 to Friday 11 Nov 2016 .. homeschooling high school

ETA:  Thinking of all the students kept awake by the earthquakes in NZ over night - and still required to sit NCEA exams today, tough day ahead for all.

Last week:
2016 has been a very different educating at home year for us, with half of Jay's highschool topics being done via the NZ Correspondence school.
This month is requiring he drop, pretty much, the non-NCEA portion of his schooling courses so he can complete his Te Kura generated work and post it in for assessment.
It's certainly made Jay & me appreciate the curriculum choices we've used in previous years: we'll definitely be taking a different approach with NCEA for Daisy when her turn comes around.
I have no wish to rinse and repeat Te Kura's journey with NCEA English.
Our post for this week is actually our week in review for Daisy, as typing up about Jay's essay topics and the rough drafts being agonised over composed isn't overly interesting to others.   Along with our household taking turns with a common cold (nasty thing), we also got distracted by the election in the U.S.A.  The children have been extremely interested, and more so as the led up to election day loomed nearer.  We've learnt so much about American politics this year, and how the U.S run their government - which has been a interesting delight-led topic for us to rabbit trail on during our Modern Times history studies.

The items crossed out are things we just did not get to; mostly, Daisy just felt like sitting quietly reading and nursing her 'cold' filled head.

November Monday 07 2016

Daisy

History & Geography  

1:  Bp Early Modern Times:      

o   Ch: 30 Africa  p.66,468b-470a, 473b-474a, 475b

o   Ch: 31 Cold War, Nuclear Arms Race, Space Race 477-482a, 484b-487a,489b-492a

2:  ITTC: 

o   Flannery O’Connor  – (1953, 1956, 1964) p.353

3:  Encyclopedias

o   KFH     p.462-63 St Africa  (1990-2000)

o   KFH     p.436-37 Cold War (1045-89), 456-57 Environment 1950-present

4:    Read online about Rwandan Genocide (1994)

An hour watching history videos on Khan Academy (Archdukes, Cynicism, and World War , Imperialism, Visiting Babylon, Archdukes, Cynicism, and World War I, Communists, Nationalists, and China's Revolutions,  USA vs USSR Fight! The Cold War, Sal teaches Grover about the electoral college :D,  World War II)

Mapping:  

o   BP Map 31    wk 1 of 2

History, Literature, & Book Basket:

1: Book Basket:

Animal Farm ~ Orwell  (compare ending with the one in the animated film.  Watch during class time.)  reassigned for next week

Free Reading: 

Boys Without Names ~ Sheth (not for sensitive readers.  The boys in the factory are kidnapped and held for slave labour)

Journey to Jo’burg ~ Naidoo    SL Core F

Hope Was Here ~ Bauer  SL 300  (edited out the portion with sensual contact.  A bit of a bubble gum read, and not the style of writing Daisy usually read. or enjoys.  She said it was okay.) 

The Green Book ~ Walsh   ex.SL 100  (interesting thought in this book.  makes for a good conversation topic afterwards.)

Drawn From New England : Tasha Tudor ~ Tudor      illustrator study

Dn is reading a title from Daisy's book basket  The Boy on the Wooden Box ~ Leyson  to all of us.  It's easy reading for him, and makes for enjoyable listening.  Well written.  We all figured we didn't want to be reading through a really heavy, involved, or deeply meaningful literary work, just now, as there is so much heavy brain work going on in other subject areas.

Our Week Ahead.... feels like a sprint :-)

Due to our Labour weekend holiday starting on Friday, and trying to organise the children to go away to camp (Christian Youth) academic learning feels like it is being tacked on to real life lessons, with 'schooling' finishing rather late each day.  And it's to be noted, Jay and Daisy have no trouble in getting literature read or their delight-led studies done ☺it's just the Te Kura booklets for Jay, and Algebra for Daisy, that gift us with heel dragging moments.  Jay has definite opinions (snort and grin) over things he does NOT want to have in his academic learning basket next year; and NCEA English is one of them.

Here is our proposed week ahead - some of which will carry over into other weeks:

Family

Bible

All:  Luke 23+
We're just taking our time reading slowly through the book of Luke, pausing to discuss and reflect and - when Dn is here for our morning book basket time - enjoying some wonderful theological studies.

History & Geography

Notes:   Israel becomes a Nation 1948

Post WWII Healing Revival 1947-1958.   (A controversial topic for many, and not one that I've seen any homeschool history curriculum provider cover.)

This portion of history is of great interest to me: it was at one of the A. Allen's (sp?) 1950’s healing Campaigns  that my dad became a Christian… which was nearly a ‘miraculous’ happening in and of itself.  

We're going to try and make a push to complete A Man Sent from God ~ G Lindsey this week (a very interesting book, which is generating a lot of discussion in our home... especially from Dn  :-D)

Christian of Note:   Bonhoeffer (1906-45)

Hymn:  It Took a Miracle  ~ John. W. Peterson (1948)

We tried to find a recording that was truer to the era this song was written in:
 
(Read: Then Sings My Soul Bk 2 ~ Morgan p.293)  

Audio:   Bonhoeffer ~ Eric Metaxas  (we're listening to this during our drive time excursions, and are all enjoying it.  Recommending this one!)

Economics  Economics for Everyone ~  R.C. Sproul  jnr   (hmm.  the vote is still out on this course... we get so distracted by the Charlie Chaplin excerpts :-D  that we aren't really focusing on the 'lesson' being presented.)

Jay

History & Geography  

1:  Bp Early Modern Times:      

o   Ch: 28 Israel etc.  p.425-433

3:  ITTC: 

o   Simone Weil  – Waiting for God (1950) p.345

o   Bonhoeffer – Letters and Papers from Prison (1951) p.349

Free Reading in Oct: 

Book relating to business Studies

Mapping:  

o   BP Map 28

History, Literature, & Book Basket:

1: Book Basket:  
1: To Kill a Mocking Bird ~ Lee
2: The Birth Order ~ Leman (selections) wk 2 of 4  (Leman can be rather loquacious so we're trimming the fill.)

2:  Audio’s in Oct: 

1:  Surfeit of Lampreys ~ Ngaio Marsh (1941)  NZ/Britain (content issues, with the way the murder happened.  See last weeks comments about this book)

Daisy

History & Geography  

1:  Bp Early Modern Times:      

o   Ch: 28 Israel etc.  p.425-433

2:  ITTC: 

o   Simone Weil  – Waiting for God (1950) p.345

o   Bonhoeffer – Letters and Papers from Prison (1951) p.349

3:  Encyclopedias

o   KFH     p.434-35,   424-423,    452-53   (1948-1956+)

o   DKH    Promised Land p.414-15

o   KFH     p.403, 425, 444-45   (1945-88)

o   DKH    Tiger Economics 456-57   (1915- present)

Mapping:   

o   BP Map 28 

History, Literature, & Book Basket:

1: Book Basket:

1:  After the War ~ Mastas (1948) SL.    Content issues needed editing out for us and others may like to know they are not noted in the IG.  Sensual attraction , and,  a passionate kissing scene between teens. 

Free Reading: 

From Billabong to London ~ Mary Bruce   Bk4
(Daisy is really enjoying these books, more so than the Anne of Green Gables series.... her family heritage and locality may be at work here, though Bruce's Billabong series is very good.)

Our Week Ahead ~ Monday 26th Sept 2016 (Diverse Selection of Books)

It's always interesting for me to see which books the children will choose from the book basket to read: now that Jay has finished reading, and writing, about a select group of books we had scheduled up for him to use with his NZ English course - he can read any title he would like to out of his book basket.  
(This is for English or history related reading... not for pleasure time reading.   His pleasure/free time reading options are all business and finance related tomes.)
After looking through the selection he chose to go with To Kill a Mockingbird ~ Lee.   

This is a book, in our home, that definitely needs discussion - and is not a story that we'd want Daisy reading any time soon - as it contains very mature, violent, and racist themes. One of the books I was hoping Jay might select to read and study, he's elected to go through in audio format during term break - which is next week for us.

Our Week ahead

September Monday 26  2016

Family

Bible

All:  Luke 21+

History & Geography

Hymn:  Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go  ~ B.B. McKinney (1936)  wk 2 of 4

(Then Sings My Soul Bk 2 ~ Morgan p.293)    

Economics 

Economics for Everyone ~  R.C. Sproul  jnr     (Mostly for Daisy.  Mr. Sproul is definitely of Reformed theology - which is very apparent in the first lesson -  we aren't Reformed so adjusted the lesson content accordingly.) 

Jay

History & Geography  

1:  Bp Early Modern Times:      

o   Ch: 27 Dividing Germany, Dividing India p.409-414a, 415-421

3:  ITTC:  William Faulkner  – Go Down, Moses (1942) p.339

Free Reading in Sept: 

Business related titles

Mapping:  

o   BP Map 27 

History, Literature, & Book Basket:

1: Book Basket:  

o   1:  To Kill a Mockingbird ~ Harper Lee (set in early 1930’s)

o   2: The Birth Order ~ Leman   (selections)

2:  Audio’s in Sept: 

1:  Surfeit of Lampreys ~ Ngaio Marsh (1941)  NZ/Britain  

(content issues - the way the victim was murdered - may need editing out for others!  Recommend you listen through this before handing to your teen.

 Many of Marshs stories are set in and around theatrical localities and often as not a few of the characters are "physically" free spirited    :-/  

This story doesn't have that.

Added to that: this is one of the few audios, that I've encountered of hers, that doesn't have the narrator fleshing out select male characters with a very effeminate affectation.)

Daisy

History & Geography  

1:  Bp Early Modern Times:      

o   Ch: 27 Dividing Germany, Dividing India p.409-414a, 415-421

2:  ITTC:  William Faulkner  – Go Down, Moses (1942) p.339

3:  Kingfisher Encyclopedia

o   p.419 (The United Nations 1945-48)

o   p.421 (Indian Indep 1945-47)

o   p.424 (British Commonwealth 1914-49

Mapping:   

o   BP Map 27 

History, Literature, & Book Basket:

1: Book Basket:

o   1:  Parallel Journeys ~ Eleanor Ayer (1938+)  SL 300 Lit

Free Reading: 

A Little Bush Maid ~ Mary Grant Bruce  (1902) Aust (BCW)

synopsis: Norah's home was on a big station in the north of Victoria-so large that you could almost, in her own phrase, "ride all day and never see any one you didn't want to see"; which was a great advantage in Norah's eyes. Not that Billabong Station ever seemed to the little girl a place that you needed to praise in any way. It occupied so very modest a position as the loveliest part of the world! The homestead was built on a gentle rise that sloped gradually away on every side; in front to the wide plain, dotted with huge gum trees and great grey box groves, and at the back, after you had passed through the well-kept vegetable garden and orchard, to a long lagoon, bordered with trees and fringed with tall bulrushes and waving reeds.

Boys Without Names  ~ Kashmira Sheth (India)    (emotive, gritty read!)