TeenPact

Russ and I drove up to the Oregon capitol building today to watch the graduation ceremony for TeenPact, which Levi had been attending all week. He stayed at the retreat center each night, so we hadn’t seen him since Monday. I was a little concerned about how he had fared during the week since he was not excited about going (and the stomach flu had been making the rounds at our house the previous five days).

Not to worry. He had a fantastic time and is already planning to return next year. (I’m trying to refrain from the I told you so’s.)

The retreat center was in a nearby town, but the daytime headquarters for their TeenPact group was the Micah building. Students spent time in the capitol as well.

The four-day camp for 13-19 year olds includes:

– Writing and debating bills in our TeenPact mock legislature

– Interviewing lobbyists

– Analyzing legislation

– Viewing the House & Senate chambers

– Exploring the state judicial system

– Learning how to pray for elected officials

– How a Bill Becomes a Law

– Learning how political campaigns work by running a mock election

– Meeting and hearing from people who work at the capitol

– Critical thinking

– Principles of Christian leadership

The graduation ceremony took place in the Senate.

Students took their places as “senators” and debated a mock bill. Their “elected officials” gave speeches.

It was exciting to watch, and I’m glad that these students have a chance to see how our state government works as well as to work on their leadership skills.

Connect with Nature ~ Book Review

:: Connect with Nature by Anna Carlile

[ETA: I shared this post with friends who took advantage of the low price, and it jumped up quickly. I was hoping it would stay low much longer! It’s still a lovely book, but not quite a steal.]

Friends, this book is gorgeous. And at this moment it is only $3.45 on Amazon. Hardback cover, 240 pages, exquisite photography and dreamy nature-inspired ideas.

The book is divided by season, with activities for all four seasons. The two-page photography spreads throughout the book are graced with lovely quotes.

Connect with Nature is full of instructions for nature projects such as creating a terrarium, starting a veggie patch, making a swing, attracting birds, and making dyes from plants.

Recipes include herbal teas, heirloom tomato and peach salad, blueberry galette, buckwheat crepes with pears and figs, and poppyseed campfire bread with rhubarb compote.

Climb a tree, stack rocks, walk barefoot, go on a picnic, smell the rain.

Learn about moon phases and read the clouds (the pages on various cloud formations are fantastic).

Learn how to bloom branches indoors during the winter and tie knots.

Forage for edible weeds. Dig for clay and make pinch pots.

I wanted to purchase a stack of these books to have handy for gifts, but unfortunately the seller has a limit of 1 book per customer. So I am selfishly keeping this one for my own enjoyment.

Levi’s High School Course Descriptions ~ 9th Grade [and a complete high school plan]

I’ve been working on mapping out Levi’s high school courses and schedule. (Though we are not bound by credit requirements for our homeschool transcripts, I’ve used these Oregon requirements as well as the requirements from our local public high school as general guides.) Levi has no specific post high school plans at this time. We will consider a gap year before any college plans.

[You’ll notice that his courses are reading-heavy. Levi is a strong reader and enjoys discussion and content-based learning, but his struggles in other areas balance out his hefty reading list. I promise.]

Levi is participating in the Classical Conversations Challenge program, in addition to a few other courses. I’ve tried to indicate what courses are CC specific, and I’ve put any additions I’ve made to the CC course specifics in parentheses.

Shakespeare/Drama [CC]
1/2 credit (Language Arts - Elective)
Dramatic radio reading and discussion of play; Oral presentation on topic relating to Shakespeare
Shakespeare presentation (memorization of three monologues--comedy, tragedy, history)
(Attend plays [The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet])

• The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare
• (Leon Garfield’s Shakespeare Stories)
  

Music Theory [CC]
1/2 credit (Fine Arts - Elective)
Introduction to music theory, including reading and analyzing a musical score
Math in Motion
Score Analysis Project

Latin [CC]
1 credit (Language – Required)
Includes basic parts of speech, verb tenses, translations, and Roman history
Henle I
National Latin Exam (Intro)

American Literature and Composition [CC]
1 credit (Honors Language Arts – Required)
Read texts, discuss and analyze literature, writing assignments (persuasive and comparison essays)
The Lost Tools of Writing [persuasive essays]
CC Literature, Poetry, Speeches, Essays, Autobiographies, and Sermons [unabridged texts]:

• The Sign of the Beaver (Elizabeth Speare)
• The Call of the Wild (Jack London)
• Johnny Tremain (Esther Forbes)
• The Red Badge of Courage (Stephen Crane)
• The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
• Gold-Bug and Other Tales (Edgar Allan Poe)
• Billy Budd, Sailor (Herman Melville)
• Through Gates of Splendor (Elisabeth Elliot)
• Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
• Harvey (Mary Chase)
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Barbara Robinson)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
• Born Again (Charles Colson)
• Up From Slavery (Booker T. Washington)
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Douglass)
• The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
• Self-Reliance (Ralph W. Emerson)
• Walden: Or, Life in the Woods (Henry David Thoreau)
• Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)
• An Old-Fashioned Girl (Louisa May Alcott)
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth Speare)
• Short Stories, Poetry, Sermons, Documents, and Speeches

Additional Novels:

• Pudd’nhead Wilson (Mark Twain)
• Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Twain)
• The Prince and the Pauper (Twain)
• The Chosen (Chaim Potok)
• Peace Like a River (Leif Enger)
• The Lonesome Gods (Louis L’Amour)
• Little Britches (series, Ralph Moody)
• Fahrenheit 451
• Ender’s Game
• The Giver Quartet
• The Hunger Games Trilogy
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Cheaper by the Dozen
• Louisa May Alcott
• Moby Dick (retelling or abridged)
• Education of a Wandering Man (Louis L’Amour)
• The Wild Muir
• Various American drama selections

[The above is an abreviated list. See this link for the full list in chronological order with brief descriptions and links.]

Good Books II: Tolkien [Roman Roads]
1/2 credit (Language Arts – Elective)
Weekly online live class discussion
Weekly online written discussion
Memorization
Essays

• The Lord of the Rings trilogy
• (Bilbo’s Journey by Joseph Pierce)
• (Frodo’s Journey by Joseph Pierce)
• (The Philosophy of Tolkien by Peter Kreeft)

Algebra I [CC]
1 credit (Math – Required)
[He participates in math discussions and presentations in his CC class but uses Khan Academy at home rather than the CC recommended Saxon.]
Khan Academy Algebra I
(Life of Fred)

American Government [CC]
1/2 credit (Social Studies – Required)
Read, annotate, and summarize original government documents, essays, and speeches; discuss historical significance; oral presentations
American Documents
Memorization [U.S. Presidents, Preamble to the Constitution, Outline of Bill of Rights]
Speech memorization/recitation [Individual Event] (“Spirit of Liberty” by Judge Learned Hand)
Timeline notebook
(Crash Course U.S. Government and Politics video series)
(U.S. Citizenship Civics Exam)

Economics [CC]
1/2 credit (Social Studies – Required)
Read texts, discuss current economic policy, oral presentations
Cost of Living Project
Stock Market Project

• Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? A Fast, Clear, and Fun Explanation of the Economics You Need For Success in Your Career, Business, and Investments
• A Bluestocking Guide: Economics
• The Money Mystery: The Hidden Force Affecting Your Career, Business, and Investments

(Life of Fred: Financial Choices)
(Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra with Economics)
(Crash Course Economics Videos)

Policy Debate [CC]
1/2 credit (Language Arts – Elective)
Study basic elements of policy debate; Conduct research for resolutions and participate in live debates
An Introduction to Policy Debate by Christy L. Shipe
Two formal debates [Death Penalty—affirmative team, Immigration Policy—negative team]

Physical Science [CC]
1 credit (Lab Science – Required)
Read text, discussion, demonstration/experimentation labs, text assignments, unit tests, lab journal, formal lab reports
Exploring Creation with Physical Science by Apologia
(Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra with Physics)
[research paper for health credit]
Additional reading (not scheduled through CC)

• The Martian: Classroom Edition
• What Einstein Told His Cook

Teen Pact Leadership [TeenPact]
1/2 credit (Leadership - Elective)

• Real Citizenship by Tim Echols

4-day leadership camp at state capitol
Homework: send letters to state senator and representative, memorize bible verses, vocabulary, write a one-page bill, state political fact sheet, read or listen to governor’s most recent State of the State Address and take notes, complete a bill analysis worksheet, constitutional analysis
(Leadership TED Talks)

Swim Team [High School Team/YMCA]
1 credit (Physical Education – Required)
(+hiking)

Health [Various]
1/2 credit (Health – Required)
Lifeguarding Certification Class (CPR, First Aid)
Khan Academy videos: Drugs, Infectious Diseases 
Crash Course Anatomy and Physiology videos
Research Paper (Exercise and the Brain):

• Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain;
• The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer;
• The Teenage Brain;
• Brain Training (DK);
• Brain Agility; 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain;
• The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, MD;
• Various scholarly articles

Food and Nutrition:

• Omnivore’s Dilemma
• It Starts With Food
• Grain Brain by David Perlmutter, MD
• Various documentaries, articles, and videos
• Gary Taubes, ‘The Case Against Sugar’, (rebuttal and response to rebuttals)
  

Total: 9 Credits

Extras:

Formal Protocol Event (with the local Classical Conversations Challenge students)

Driver’s Education

Additional Reading List:

• In Defense of Sanity: Essays by G.K. Chesterton
• The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis Collins
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
• What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey
• Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder

Lifeguarding (summer job)

Volunteering at student camp(s) during CC Parent Practicum(s) and vacation bible school

 

Tentative Plan for the Remainder of High School:

10th Grade [CC Challenge II]

Henle Latin 2 [CC]
1 credit (Language – Required)

British Literature and Composition [CC]
1 credit (Honors Language Arts – Required)
Socratic dialogue, persuasive essay writing
CC Novels:

• Beowulf
• Selected Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Retold by J.L. Weston)
• Paradise Lost (Milton)
• The Pilgrim’s Progress (Bunyan)
• Gulliver’s Travels (Swift)
• Pride and Prejudice (Austen)
• A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
• Jane Eyre (Bronte)
• Animal Farm (Orwell)
• A Passage to India (Forster)
• Something Beautiful for God (Muggeridge)
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)
• Robinson Crusoe (DeFoe)
• Favorite Father Brown Stories (Chesterton)
• Out of the Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis)
• The Hobbit (Tolkien)
• The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
• Short Stories

Additional British Literature:

• Far From the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy)
• Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
• Lorna Doone (Blackmore)
• Ivanhoe (Sir Walter Scott)
• North and South (Elizabeth Gaskell)
• The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)
• Lord of the Flies (Golding)
• Three Men in a Boat (Jerome)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Lewis Stevenson)
• And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie)
• The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan, An Ideal Husband (Oscar Wilde)
• As You Like It, Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear (Shakespeare)
• All Creatures Great and Small (James Herriot)
• The Time Machine (H.G. Wells)
• The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Adams)
• Watership Down (Richard Adams)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (Arthur Clarke)
• Kim and others (Rudyard Kipling)
• The Once and Future King (T.H. White)
• Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw)
• Jeeves (Wodehouse)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (Arthur Conan Doyle)
• Short Stories and Poetry

European Literature:

• Don Quixote (abridged) (Cervantes)
• The Count of Monte Cristo (Hugo)
• Les Miserables (Dumas)
• The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)
• Pinoccio (Collodi)
• Swiss Family Robinson (Johann Wyss)
• Russian novel selection

[I will be posting a final master list in chronological order with links at the beginning of the school year.]

Western Cultural History [CC]
1 credit (Social Studies - Required)
Artists and Composers
Philosophy
Historical Timeline
Debate
Research, exposition, and logic
Books:

• The Annotated Mona Lisa
• The Gift of Music
• Classical Music for Dummies
• How Should We Then Live (Francis Schaeffer)
• Saving Leonardo (Nancy Pearcey)
• State of the Arts (Gene Edward Veith, Jr.)

Biology [CC]
1 credit (Lab Science – Required)
Exploring Creation with Biology by Apologia
[I’ll be adding to his reading list and possibly adjusting his work load with the text book.]
[Additional reading:

• The Story of Western Science: From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory by Susan Wise Bauer

Geometry
1 credit (Math – Required)
Khan Academy Geometry

• Euclid’s Elements
• The Works of Archimedes
• Life of Fred: Geometry

Logic I [CC]
1/2 credit (Elective)
Traditional Logic I by Memoria Press

Socratic Dialogue [CC]
1/2 credit (Elective)

• Gorgias by Plato

Health
1/2 credit (Required)
(Social and mental Health)

• Please Understand Me;
• How to Win Friends and Influence People;
• Peacemaker;
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

Swim Team/YMCA
1 credit (Physical Education – Required)

Total: 7 1/2 Credits

 

11th Grade [CC Challenge III – tentatively]

Latin 3 (Caesar and Cicero) [CC] and/or Spanish
1 credit (Language)

• Henle 3

Poetry and Shakespeare and Composition [CC]
1 credit (Language Arts – Required)

• Much Ado About Nothing
• Julius Caesar
• Macbeth
• Henry V
• Hamlet
• Brightest Heaven of Invention by Peter Leithart
• The Roar on the Other Side by Suzanne Rhodes

American History [CC]
1 credit (Social Studies – Required)

Chemistry [CC]
1 credit (Lab Science – Required)
Exploring Creation with Chemistry by Apologia
[We may cut way back on what is required with Apologia Chemistry through CC and supplement with the following living books and additional documentaries.]
[Additional Reading List:

• Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History
• The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
• Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World
• The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday (with supplemental lectures and teaching guide)
• Michael Faraday: Father of Electronics
• Exploring the World of Chemistry: From Ancient Metals to High-Speed Computers by John Hudson Tiner
• The Mystery of the Periodic Table (Living History Library)
• Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe [spectacularly gorgeous book!]
• Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything
• The Joy of Chemistry
• That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles: 62 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life
• Life of Fred: Chemistry

Algebra II
1 credit (Math – Required)
Khan Academy Algebra II

Advanced Philosophy [CC]
1/2 credit (Elective)

• The Consequences of Ideas by R.C. Sproul
• Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson

Traditional Logic II and Socratic Dialogue [CC]
1/2 credit (Elective)

• Plato’s Meno
• Traditional Logic II by Memoria Press

Swim Team/YMCA
1 credit (Physical Education/Elective)

Total: 7 Credits

 

12th Grade [CC Challenge IV – doubtfully]

He will have all his required credits so this will be a flexible year depending on his needs and desires. I’d love to have him go through Challenge 4, but he will likely choose something else. He may need to complete or retake a math or science class scheduled in previous years.

Latin Literature [CC] and/or Spanish
1 credit (Language)

• The Aeneid by Virgil
• Henle 4

Ancient Literature and Composition) [CC]
1 credit (Language Arts)

• The Iliad by Homer
• The Odyssey by Homer
• (The Aeneid by Virgil)
• Oedipus Rex
• Heroes of the City of Man by Peter Leithart
• Theogony by Hesiod

World History [CC]
1 credit (Social Studies)

• The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin

Theology [CC]
1 credit (Elective)

• What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About by Jason S. DeRouchie
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias

Swim Team

[Physics and Pre-Calculus are on the CC schedule, but he would likely opt out or complete/re-take a math or science course schedule in previous years.]

Additional Reading List:

• For the Love of Physics: From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time - A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics
• How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog
• The Forces of Matter by Michael Faraday
• Exploring the World of Physics: From Simple Machines to Nuclear Energy by John Hudson Tiner

American History and Literature Selections [Levi ~ 9th Grade]

Levi is reading American literature for his 9th grade year through Classical Conversations. The CC Challenge 1 Am. Lit. book list is hefty (full texts, not excerpts), but Levi is a strong and willing reader. Because his CC year ends in April, I decided to round out his book list with additional American literature selections to read May through July before he begins British literature in August for Challenge 2. It is my desire to present him with a robust variety of genres, complexity, and topics, even though I can’t fit everything on the list (obviously I tried, but so many books didn’t make the cut!). When compiling the master list, I chose to include a few relevant books he has read in the past couple years (particularly including CC Challenge A and B literature selections).

Levi has discussed the CC Challenge literature in class and has written essays on many of the novels.

[I have a post coming up with Levi’s full course descriptions for 9th grade and the upcoming high school plan.]

I’ve noted Challenge literature selections with asterisks.

*Challenge A (roughly 7th grade)
**Challenge B (roughly 8th grade)
***Challenge 1 (roughly 9th grade)

Children’s Historical Fiction

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Set in Colonial Connecticut in 1687) ***

Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (Biographical story; c. 1710-1801) *

Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski (Biographical story set in 1755)

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Set in Boston before and during the American Revolution, 1776)  ***

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Biographical story of Nat Bowditch; 1773-1838) *

A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32 by Joan W. Blos (not a favorite of mine, but I’m including it here because it is a CC Challenge A novel) *

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (Set in the Maine wilderness) ***

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (Set in the hills of the Ozarks) **

Little Britches (and series) by Ralph Moody (also listed under memoirs, but a must read for every human—perfect for a family read-aloud) **

[I’ll list many more children’s American historical fiction selections this coming year as Leif studies American history in 6th grade.]

Literature

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales by Washington Irving (published in 1820)

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper (published in 1826; set in 1757 during the French and Indian War)

Gold-Bug and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe (published in 1843) ***

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn (1850) ***

Moby Dick by Herman Melville [*graphic novel* not unabridged novel] (1851)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville (published posthumously in 1924, but he began writing it in 1888; Levi did not care for this one, but I’m including it here since it is a CC Challenge 2 literature selection) ***

Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, The Prince and the Pauper, and Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain (published in the late 1800s; Pudd’nhead Wilson is my personal favorite, especially for late middle school or high school students; only Tom Sawyer on CC Ch 1 list) ***

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (published in 1895; a war novel taking place during the American Civil War) ***

The Call of the Wild by Jack London (published in 1903; set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush) ***

Freckles (and others) by Gene Stratton-Porter (published in 1904)

The Short Novels of John Steinbeck (1902-1968) (The Pearl, for sure; not certain about the others)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943; set in early 1900s in Brooklyn, NY; coming of age story of a young Irish-American girl)

The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway (published 1952) ***

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (published in 1960; a masterful novel and absolutely essential for cultural literacy) ***

The Chosen by Chaim Potok (published in1967; set in 1940s Brooklyn, NY; a coming of age story about a Jewish boy—excellent)

The Lonesome Gods (and others) by Louis L’Amour (published in 1983; set on the California frontier (Mojave and Colorado Deserts) 1800s?)

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (published in 2001; set in small-town Minnesota in the early 1960s with an endearing child narrator with a precocious sister and wise father reminiscent of Scout and Atticus Finch—one of my favorite novels of all time)

Short Stories

“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry ***

[Many other classic short stories were read last year in Challenge B] **

That Distant Land: The Collected Stories (Port William) by Wendell Berry

Poetry

“The Song of Hiawatha” by H.W. Longfellow (1807-1882) ***
“Paul Revere’s Ride” by H.W. Longfellow ***
“The Courtship of Miles Standish” (one of my favorites from high school) by H.W. Longfellow

Selections from American Poets:

• Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
• Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
• Robert Frost (1874-1963)
• Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)
• Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
• E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)
• Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
• Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
• Wendell Berry (1934- )
• Mary Oliver (1935– )

Drama

[We’ll also be watching film versions where available.]

Harvey by Mary Chase ***

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

The Glass Menagerie by Tennesse Williams

Autobiographies/Memoirs/Essays

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771-1790)

Self-Reliance and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1840s) ***

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) ***

Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (1854) ***

The Wild Muir (John Muir 1838 – 1914; Scottish-American naturalist)

Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington (1901) ***

Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Gilbreth (1948)

Little Britches by Ralph Moody (series published in 1950-1968; the first book begins when his family moves to Colorado in 1906—excellent) **

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson (Des Moines, Iowa; 1950s. I am NOT recommending this book to other students without serious parental guidance, but it is the funniest book I have ever read in my life and it contains so much fascinating information about life in mid-century America.)

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot (1957; Elisabeth’s husband was killed in 1956 while attempting to make missionary contact with the Auca of eastern Ecuador. She later returned as a missionary to the tribe members who killed her husband.) ***

Born Again by Charles Colson (1976) (Chuck Colson served as Special Counsel to Richard Nixon in 1969-1973; he became a Christian in 1973, just before his prison sentence, and later founded Prison Fellowship.) ***

Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour (1990)

Biography/Non-Fiction

April 1865 (Civil War) by Jay Winik

Mornings on Horseback (Teddy Roosevelt; 1858-1919) by McCullough

The Man Who Talks with the Flowers-The Intimate Life Story of Dr. George Washington Carver (1864-1943) by Glenn Clark

The Orphan: A Story of the Life of Austin Monroe Shaffer (1884-1961) by Helen Shaffer Dunbar (A biography of Levi’s great-great-grandfather (whose father was named Levi), written by Levi’s great-grandmother)

The Boys in the Boat (1936 Olympics) by Daniel James Brown

I'm Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers (1928-2003) by Tim Madigan

Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Young Readers' Edition (1971- ) by Ashlee Vance

Speeches

“The Spirit of Liberty” by Judge Learned Hand (1944) [Levi memorized and presented this speech in his Challenge class.]

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963) ***

[Many More American Documents, Essays, and Speeches for American Government] ***

Sermons

“A Model of Christian Charity” by Winthrop (1630) ***

“Essays to Do Good” by Mather (1710) ***

“The Method of Grace” by Whitefield (1700s) ***

Sci-Fi/Futuristic/Fantasy/Dystopian

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (published in 1953; a relevant dystopian novel that everyone should read for cultural literacy)

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov (published in 1953; a futuristic science-fiction detective novel, recommended by a friend)

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (published in 1959; a military science fiction novel exploring military and societal ethics) ***

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (another novel published in 1959; a realistic apocalyptic novel from the nuclear age, set in the U.S.)

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (published in 1985; another futuristic military science fiction novel—one of my favorite explorations of the nature of leadership)

The Giver by Lois Lowry (published in 1993; a YA utopian/dystopian novel followed by 3 more books in the series)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (the trilogy published 2008-10; YA futuristic dystopian/apocalyptic novels set in the U.S.—excellent for discussing government and qualities of leadership)

 

[I’m choosing to wait on The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, The Jungle by Sinclair, and The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger.]

 

Did I miss any of your favorite selections for American literature (appropriate for a 9th grade student)?

Let me know in the comments!

Sole Hope

I recently joined a large group of women who met to fellowship and cut shoe patterns from discarded pairs of jeans.

Sole Hope offers us a wonderful opportunity to help improve the health and lives of impoverished children in Uganda as well as provide women in Uganda with meaningful work for a decent wage. Learn more at the link or watch the (difficult and somewhat graphic) video below.

The End of Winter

Is it summer yet?

Please?

I’d love a perpetual July. [Clearly I’m an Oregonian.]

Maybe you’ve noticed that the blog has been silent for the longest break ever, almost two months. I completely skipped over my ten-year blogiversary.

TEN YEARS.

That’s something to celebrate, but I’ve been bogged down by the decade-ness of this season. I feel like I’ve said everything that can be said, twice or thrice or ten times too many. My boys aren’t as adorable as they used to be in the early years. My house is showing serious wear and tear and the accumulation of junk. My body is showing the accumulation of years and pounds. Homeschooling is hard. Parenting is hard. Parenting teens is really hard. Instead of getting wiser, I am simply more aware of what I don’t know (which is pretty much everything).

I thought I’d have everything under control by now. I thought I would have accomplished all the things.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Nope.

So here we are, imperfect and very human.

Are you still there?

I’ll be back tomorrow, in a more cheerful mood, to talk about boys and books.