Spirit-led Living & Spirit-led Homeschooling

Seeing in the Spirit with Kathie Walters

2011-08-23T20:48:00.000-04:00

Check out this great interview with Kathie Walters on Blog Talk Radio.

Seeing in the Spirit with Kathie Walters

O Love that Will Not Let me Go by George Matheson and Christopher Miner

2011-05-27T23:15:00.004-04:00

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

This is one of my favorite hymns.

The history of this hymn

You can hear David Phelps sing it

I grew up hearing Danny Gaither singing it

What's for Lunch? Homeschoolers' Lunch Ideas

2010-08-24T14:08:00.000-04:00

When you homeschool--or provide sack or boxed lunches for your children in school, you can sort of get into a rut with what you offer. I'm getting tired of being asked daily--"What can we have for lunch, so I'm compiling a list to give my kids, and myself, some ideas. Here's what I have so far:

PB and J
Lunch Meat Sandwich**
Meat Roll-up**
Egg Sandwich
Cold Cheese Sandwich
Grilled Cheese Sandwich (and Tomato Soup)
Grilled meat and cheese sandwich
Quesadilla (in pan or microwave)
Bean Burrito
Quesadilla with beans on it
Tostada with refried beans
Refried Beans and Chips
Grilled Chicken Roll-up or tacos
Leftovers
Homemade Soup if available
Canned Soup
Crackers and Cheese, Fruit
Cottage Cheese and Fruit
Yogurt, Fruit, Piece of Toast
“Finger Food” (Could include: Lunch Meat**, Cheese, Nuts, Seeds,
Dried Fruit, Fruit, Cut-Veggies,Triscuits or Wheat Thins,
Granola Bar, etc.)
Tuna Sandwich (could be on Pita Bread)
Tuna and Crackers
Tuna melt
Macaroni and Cheese (Need to have time to cook)
Pizza Bread
Frozen Pizza
Cheese Toast with or without Tomato
Baked Potato (Plan it in the morning, needs 40-60 minutes to bake)
Salad w/ chicken, lunch meat**, boiled egg, cheese or feta cheese &
sunflower seeds
Scrambled Eggs and Black Beans (Plan ahead: Thaw beans)
Scrambled egg roll-up
Egg Salad Sandwich (Plan ahead: Boil eggs after breakfast)
Chicken Salad Sandwich (Plan ahead: make chicken salad ahead)
Alfredo (Need to have time to cook, make like boxed macaroni and cheese)
Sloppy Joes (Need to make ahead)
Hot Dog (Optional: with sauerkraut or baked beans)**

**Make sure you're buying lunch meat and hot dogs without nitrates in them. Oscar Meyer and Hormel both offer them.

YWAM Publishing Helps Us Learn History through Literature for Our Christian Homeschool

2009-07-10T17:16:00.004-04:00

I’m a firm believer in teaching history through the use of good literature. My oldest is 14, and so far all we’ve used for History and Social Studies are “living” books.

Our family really enjoys the Heroes of History and Christian Heroes: Then and Now biographies published by YWAM Publishing. So far we have every one published. Beginning in 5th or 6th grade, my children start reading these wonderful stories for their history. They’re reading about real people of character who changed the world. Many of the Christian biographies are about people that most textbooks wouldn’t mention, but they are important in contemporary Christian history.

My 14 year old daughter, Emily, likes YWAM biographies “because they don’t just tell about the person’s greatest accomplishments. They actually tell about their lives and that makes you care about the characters more.” They are interesting enough to keep the attention of children young and old alike. They’re easy to read yet are interesting even for teens or adults. Check out the books yourself at YWAM Publishing. BTW, they also have Unit Study guides for many of these biographies. They also have some of them written and illustrated for younger children.

As my children get older, I’m being stretched and my convictions are being tested. It’s very tempting for me to turn to a textbook to teach history. So far, I have resisted. As Emily loves history, I don’t want to do anything to turn her away from it, and I’m sure that a textbook focused on getting in all the facts and dates and major events would do that. While I’m looking for that “perfect” book that is interesting, complete, and Christian in worldview, I will continue to let her get her history in by way of biographies and historical fiction. Since my daughter and son have both read all 46 Heroes biographies that YWAM offers, we will next be purchasing their International Adventures biographies, such as Bruchko and Dayuma and Peace Child which are for teens through adults. Again, you can check these out at YWAM Publishing.

Okay, I know I’m totally on the YWAM bandwagon here. I’ve bought a lot of our best books from them and I just have to give them a plug. I’ll tell you that on the books they carry, they have the best price of anyone. I’m one to shop around to get the best price and I know it’s true. So let me tell about some other books we’ve gotten from them and that they offer, many of which we’ve used for History as well.

My daughter has enjoyed The Daughters of Faith series and she and my son both like The Guardian series, The Reel Kids Adventures series, Wally McDoogle series, Jim Elliot DVD, William Tyndale DVD, and others. Other books we’ve gotten for our homeschooling through YWAM are Annals of the World, Exploring the World Around You, It Couldn’t Just Happen, Men of Science-Men of God, and the Wonders of Creation series. The Wonders of Creation series is a good series which I would recommend for 5th through 7th or 8th grades.

I know there are other books we’ve gotten through YWAM. Guess I’ll tell about those another time. I hope this has helped someone. I’ve spent so much time scouring the internet, catalogs and bookstores for good books for my children, that I’m glad when I can let others know of my discoveries.

--Carmen

Teaching Children about Spiritual Hunger

2009-07-07T14:03:00.004-04:00

I shook the milk jug with my fake milk--cornstarch in water--toward the kids at children's church last Sunday. "The Bible is like milk," I declared. "It nourishes you--it feeds you--so you can grow." The children stared at me waiting for more. They're such sweet children and want to know the truth. They were expecting me to explain this mystery of how the Bible feeds us. "It's like food for the spirit," I expounded. I picked up my big Bible and held it up to add clarity to the concept. They continued to stare. Some had heard this concept before and relaxed at the familiarity of it. Others continued to stare blankly. Wonder what they were really thinking. I just can't guess.

Then the idea came to me. "How many have ever been hungry. How many know that feeling in your stomach called hunger pangs." Surprisingly, a few didn't raise their hands. (Ah, America. We're well-fed.) "Well," I continued, "when you were a baby you learned what it feels like to be hungry. You felt that pain in your stomach, you cried, you were fed some milk and felt all full and good inside. You found out that when you had that pain in your stomach that you were hungry and you wanted milk. You don't even remember it, because it was when you were a tiny baby." They like this. Kids like hearing about when they were babies because they can't remember it.

"Well, we don't seem to learn so easily what it feels like when our spirits are hungry and we have to teach ourselves to know. Sometimes you will feel lonely or kind of empty inside. You might feel like something isn't quite right or that something is missing. THAT means your spirit is hungry. You need to spend time reading or hearing the Word of God--the Bible. Or you can remember verses you have learned. You need to spend time with God--praying or worshiping and listening." OH! I could see the look of understanding spreading across many of their tiny faces. Because at five or six or seven or eight years old, most have already felt this spiritual hunger. They didn't know what it was. I hope that they have learned what it is and learn to feed their spirits before they get used to the feeling of being hungry all the time--and think it's normal or inevitable.

Drafting the Holy Spirit

2009-05-11T14:10:00.002-04:00

When I was a girl, I remember a few times when my dad would drive closely behind a semi-truck on the highway. He said that it saved on gas because the truck would break the wind in front of us, thus reducing the resistance on the car. I don't remember being scared about it until I got older. I suppose I should have been scared, but I trusted my dad. He knew pretty much everything back then. I did wonder why more people didn't do this, too.

Anyway, I was talking to a writer the other day--okay, I was exchanging messages with him on Facebook. He was sowing a lot of time into building a website for a ministry. In the message, I began to pray for him--that his time would be multiplied back to him. The prayer turned prophetic and I said something like that his pen would flow swift and smooth, following in the wind of the Holy Spirit. I knew that wind wasn't quite the right word. Then the picture came to me. A picture of the Holy Spirit as if He were an airplane-bird-white wind being soaring through the sky. The writer was behind him writing. He was sitting, writing, soaring so closely behind the Holy Spirit that he encountered no resistance. He just wrote freely--swiftly--smoothly.

I love this picture. I was so excited. I called my Dad to find out what the right word is. It's called Drafting (also called Slipstreaming--as per Wikipedia). Bike racers, race cars and geese all use this technique to save on energy. Drafting the Holy Spirit. Slipstreaming. I quickly decided that I wanted this for myself, too. I want to draft the Holy Spirit. I want to follow Him so closely, that the resistance is lessoned as He leads the way. Imagine writing this way, or painting, or singing, or working--at whatever you do. Imagine ministering this way!

A great homeschool cartoon by Jim Erkstine (double click on picture)

2008-08-16T05:03:00.002-04:00

I've found even more online books and book lists!!

2007-05-31T12:37:00.000-04:00

I’ve been collecting more online books and book lists to share…

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ The Making Of America

http://www.eclectichomeschool.org/resources/booklists/default.asp

a list of recommended books by subject with descriptions of the books

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/schoolroom/onlinebooks.php

a list of sites with various online books for homeschool. This site also has other free homeschool resources.

http://www.fullbooks.com/ Lots of online books

http://www.monergism.com/free_online_books.php Online Christian books. (Luther, Calvin, Matthew Henry’s commentary, Foxes Book of Martyrs, Jonathon Edwards, Pilgrim’s Progress and others.)

http://www.blackmask.com/index.php Many online books in various formats. You don’t have to be a member to download books, though it looks like you do.

http://www.malaspina.org/home.htm Has literature by time period, subject and discipline and includes online “great books”.

http://eserver.org/ Iowa State University online literature program—classics to modern

http://www.truelightacademy.com/truth.html A nice list of recommended books by age level.

http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/ Oxford University online books and texts

http://www.bookpop.com Listen to children’s books online written by the author

http://www.bnl.com/shorts/ Classic short Stories

http://www.sonnets.org/ English Sonnets

http://www.hbook.com/booklists/default.asp Reviews and Recommendations for children’s and young adult literature

http://www.poets.org/ Search for Poetry and poets and also organized by state

More Free Online Books & Book Lists for Homeschooling

2007-05-09T16:13:00.002-04:00

Once again I’m coming to you with lists of lists. I’ll say it again. I love lists! Several sites and books offer book lists which can be helpful in homeschooling. My children have become avid readers and it takes a long time to scour library bookshelves searching for good quality literature for your children and teens (especially teens!). So many books out there I find either offensive or lifeless or sugary-sweet—what I call candy for the brain. I find book lists to be a big help, then, in steering my children toward good books.

Let me say that these lists can be quite daunting. Some lists recommend books much younger than I think is appropriate, so I use the reading or age levels offered only as a guideline. I’ve tried out some books too early and have found my kids resistant, so I generally don’t force it. I’ve stopped reading the book, leaving it for another year—or month in some cases. Often, when they’re ready, they’ll find the book on their own and read it and enjoy it, or I can trust that they will one day if they want to. I’m realizing that there is a lot of quality literature and my children only need a sampling of it in their youth. They have their whole lives to discover and enjoy great literature. My goal is to not cause them to hate it because I force it on them. I want to lead them to the streams of living books to taste and enjoy. I want to foster their God-given thirst to learn, to read, to understand, to enjoy, to experience, and to relate. I have felt in the past that they needed to be knowledgeable in everything in order for me to have done a good job in educating them. I continually remind myself that my job is to lead them to the river and to show them how to get there on their own.

Well, more on all that another day. Here are some book lists I’ve found online. It must be that a lot of folks out there love lists. Some are specifically homeschool book lists, and some are meant to be used by librarians. Enjoy!

http://home.comcast.net/~dwtaylor1/ A list makers dream—A list of book lists!

http://www.allreaders.com/ Book reviews

http://nancykeane.com/rl/#Genres Book lists by genre

http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/default.htm Book reviews

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html 1000 Good Books List for homeschoolers sorted by reading level and by author.

http://www.angelicum.net/html/the_good_books_in_print_list.html Compiled by John Senior (1923-99), late classicist professor at the University of Kansas

http://www.accelerated-achievement.com/800books.htm Another classical list.

http://www.bartleby.com/hc/ The Harvard Classics the Shelf of Fiction--One nice thing is that many of the works are on the website. Bartleby states about the Harvard Classics: “The most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time comprises both the 50-volume ‘5-foot shelf of books’ and the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction. Together they cover every major literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject through the twentieth century.”

http://www.bartleby.com/nonfiction/ This includes many anthologies of literature, historical documents, speeches, historical scientific documents and essays. All of barleby.com is worth checking.

http://classkc.org/goodbooks.php Citizens for Literary Standards in Schools See also: http://classkc.org/best.php This is an interesting site. This site lists great quality books and points out that most are not on the reading lists for students in their school district.

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/history.htm Books to Supplement History—listed by time period.

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/sciencebooks.htm Books to Supplement Science—listed by subject.

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/movies.htm Movies to supplement history—listed by time period.

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/easychapter.htm Easy Chapter Books—listed by title.

http://www.lib.muohio.edu/pictbks/ If you’re putting a unit study together or if your younger child is interested in a certain subject, you can search for picture books by subject here.

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/literaryrelated.htm Here are book lists for books which have received literary awards. In my opinion, a literary award doesn’t necessarily mean that a book is high quality. It means that it met the standards for that award.

John Taylor Gatto--The Truth about Public Schools--or Reasons Why to Homeschool

2007-05-09T11:42:00.000-04:00

"...‘How will they learn to read?’ you ask, and my answer is ‘Remember the lessons of Massachusetts.’ When children are given whole lives instead of age-graded ones in cellblocks, they learn to read, write, and do arithmetic with ease, if those things make sense in the kind of life that unfolds around them."

– John Taylor Gatto

"It’s absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to sit in confinement with people of exactly the same age and social class. That system effectively cuts you off from the immense diversity of life and the synergy of variety; indeed it cuts you off from your own past and future, sealing you in a continuous present much the same way television does..."
– John Taylor Gatto

Have you read these articles by John Taylor Gatto? They’re worth reading—and printing out to share! They will make you glad you’re homeschooling—or help you to decide to homeschool. I’m going to print some of them out to make them available for people who are thinking of homeschooling or who have relatives with objections to it.

I’ve found quite a few articles, several mp3’s to listen to while you browse the web and if you have lots of time on your hands, John Taylor Gatto’s latest book, The Underground History of American Education is online at his website at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm . You can even take his History of Education Tour at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/historytour/history1.htm .

(For those you don’t know, John Taylor Gatto is a former award-winning school teacher from New York. He’s written some excellent books on education which address the problems of our public education--coming from a secular perspective and first hand experience.

The Six Lesson Teacher
http://www.afhe.org/resources/articles/gatto_the_six_lesson_schoolteacher.pdf

What an Educated Person Must Know
http://www.afhe.org/resources/articles/gatto_what_must_an_educated_person_know.pdf

Teacher of the Year Acceptance Speech, 1990
http://www.afhe.org/resources/articles/gatto_teacher_of_year_speech_1990.pdf

The Nature of Public Education
http://www.homeschooloasis.com/art_john_taylor_gatto.htm

Dumbing Us Down The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
http://www.homeeducator.com/FamilyTimes/articles/10-4article4.htm

What Really Matters, part 1
http://www.life.ca/nl/40/gatto.html

What Really Matters, part2
http://www.life.ca/nl/41/gatto.html

Why Schools Don’t Educate
http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/john_gatto.html

A Short Angry History of American Forced Schooling
http://4brevard.com/choice/Public_Education.htm

The Seven Lesson School Teacher
http://www.worldtrans.org/whole/schoolteacher.txt

The Public School Nightmare: Why fix a system designed to destroy individual thought?
http://www.dvschool.org/psngatto.htm

Personal Solutions, Family Solutions
http://www.life.ca/nl/45/gatto.html

Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids and Why
http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm

Absolute Absolution
http://www.spinninglobe.net/absolution.htm

We Need Less School Not More
http://www.spinninglobe.net/lesschool.htm

Institutional School Must Be Destroyed
http://www.spinninglobe.net/institsch.htm

Nine Assumptions of Schooling--and Twenty-one Facts the Institution Would Rather Not Discuss
http://www.spinninglobe.net/9assumptions.htm

Confederacy of Dunces: The Tyranny of Compulsory Schooling
http://www.spinninglobe.net/condunces.htm

The Underground History of the United States – You can read the whole book online here.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm

Here are a lot of mp3’s of John Taylor Gatto’s lectures or interviews including “Outing School”, “A Schooling is Not an Education”, “The Paradox of Extended Childhood, Real Purposes of Schooling”, “The Guerilla Curriculum”, and more. These are put on by Radio Free School. Be sure and click on the symbol at the left to “download” to play in Quicktime.
http://www.altruists.org/downloads/by_subject/others/education/

70 Minute Interview with John Taylor Gatto
http://www.teachmeteamwork.com/teachmeteamwork/files/john_taylor_gatto_sm.mp3

Videos of John Taylor Gatto
http://www.edflix.org/gatto.htm

The Paradox of Extended Childhood mp3
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/multimedia/jtgsound_paradox.htm

Classics Illustrated Comic Books

2007-05-03T19:51:00.000-04:00

I found something neat to share. My husband found some old comic books from a series called Classics Illustrated. Of course, I had to do a search online to find out more about them. They seem like a fun way to introduce children to the classics--especially reluctant readers. I found this site that has several that you can read online: http://www.tkinter.smig.net/ClassicsIllustrated/index.htm

There they have the following Classics Illustrated online comic books:

9. LES MISERABLES Victor Hugo

3. OLIVER TWIST Charles Dickens

26. FRANKENSTEIN Mary W Shelley

47. TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA Jules Verne

48. DAVID COPPERFIELD Charles Dickens

59. WUTHERING HEIGHTS Emily Bronte

76. THE PRISONER OF ZENDA Anthony Hope

95. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT Erich Maria Remarque

124. THE WAR OF THE WORLD SH G Wells

138. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH Jules Verne

Junior #519 PAUL BUNYAN

Here’s a whole list of the Classics Illustrated from the same site. Some are not politically correct anymore—at least the title isn’t. Anyway, it seems like a good start to a list of books for our homeschooling high schoolers to be aquainted with.

CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED COMIC BOOKS LIST

1. THE THREE MUSKETEERS Alexandre Dumas
2. IVANHOE Walter Scott
3. THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO Alexandre Dumas
4. THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS James Fennimore Cooper
5. MOBY DICK Herman Melville
6. TALE OF TWO CITIES Charles Dickens
7. ROBIN HOOD
9. LES MISERABLES Victor Hugo
10. ROBINSON CRUSOE Daniel Defoe
11. DON QUIXOTE Miguel DeCervantes
12. RIP VAN WINKLE & HEADLESS HORSEMAN Washington Irving
13. DR JEKYLL & MR. HYDE Robert Louis Stevenson
14. WESTWARD HO! Charles Kingsley
15. UNCLE TOM'S CABIN Harriet Beecher Stowe
16. GULLIVER'S TRAVELS Jonathan Swift
17. THE DEERSLAYER James Fennimore Cooper
18. THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME Victor Hugo
19. HUCKLEBERRY FINN Mark Twain
20. THE CORSICAN BROTHERS Alexandre Dumas
21. THREE FAMOUS MYSTERIES Doyle-Poe-Maupassant
22. THE PATHFINDER James Fennimore Cooper
23. OLIVER TWIST Charles Dickens
24. A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT Mark Twain
25. TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST R H Dana Jr.
26. FRANKENSTEIN Mary W Shelley
27. THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO
28. MICHAEL STROGOFF Jules Verne
29. THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER Mark Twain
30. THE MOONSTONE William Wilkie Collins
31. THE BLACK ARROW Robert Louis Stevenson
32. LORNA DOONE R D Blackmore
33. THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES Arthur Conan Doyle
34. MYSTERIOUS ISLAND Jules Verne
35. THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII Bulwer-Lytton-Edward
36. TYPEE Herman Melville
37. THE PIONEERS James Fennimore Cooper
38. THE ADVENTURES OF CELLINI
39. JANE EYRE Charlotte Bronte
40. MYSTERIES Edger Allan Poe
41. TWENTY YEARS AFTER Alexandre Dumas
42. SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON Jonathan Wyss
43. GREAT EXPECTATIONS Charles Dickens
44. MYSTERIES OF PARIS Eugene Sue
45. TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS Thomas Hughes
46. KIDNAPPED Robert Louis Stevenson
47. TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA Jules Verne
48. DAVID COPPERFIELD Charles Dickens
49. ALICE IN WONDERLAND Lewis Carroll
50. TOM SAWYER Mark Twain
51. THE SPY James Fennimore Cooper
52. THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES Nathaniel Hawthorne
53. CHRISTMAS CAROL Charles Dickens
54. THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK Alexandre Dumas
55. SILAS MARNER George Eliot
56. TOILERS OF THE SEA Victor Hugo
57. SONG OF HIAWATHA Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
58. THE PRAIRIE James Fennimore Cooper
59. WUTHERING HEIGHTS Emily Bronte
60. BLACK BEAUTY Anna Sewell
61. THE WOMAN IN WHITE Wilkie Collins
62. WESTERN STORIES Bret Harte
63. THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY Edward Everett Hale
64. TREASURE ISLAND Robert Louis Stevenson
65. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-AUTOBIOGRAPHY
66. CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH Charles Reade
67. THE SCOTTISH CHIEFS Jane Porter
68. JULIUS CAESAR William Shakespeare
69. AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS Jules Verne
70. THE PILOT James Fennimore Cooper
71. THE MAN WHO LAUGHS Victor Hugo
72. THE OREGON TRAIL Francis Parkman
73. THE BLACK TULIP Alexandre Dumas
74. MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY Frederick Marryat
75. THE LADY OF THE LAKE Walter Scott
76. THE PRISONER OF ZENDA Anthony Hope
77. THE ILIAD Homer
78. JOAN OF ARC
79. CYRANO DE BERGERAC Edmond Rostand
80. WHITE FANG Jack London
81. THE ODYSSEY Homer
82. THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE Robert Louis Stevenson
83. THE JUNGLE BOOK Rudyard Kipling
84. THE GOLD BUG ETC Edgar Allan Poe
85. THE SEA WOLF Jack London
86. UNDER TWO FLAGS Ouida
87. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM William Shakespeare
88. MEN OF IRON Howard Pyle
89. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Dostoyevsky
90. GREEN MANSIONS W H Hudson
91. THE CALL OF THE WILD Jack London
92. MILES STANDISH Longfellow
93. PUDD'NHEAD WILSON Samuel L Clemens
94. DAVID BALFOUR Robert Louis Stevenson
95. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT Erich Maria Remarque
96. DANIEL BOONE John Bakeless
97. KING SOLOMON'S MINES H Rider Haggard
98. THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE Stephen Crane
99. HAMLET William Shakespeare
100. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY Nordhoff & Hall
101. WILLIAM TELL Frederick Schiller
102. THE WHITE COMPANY Arthur Conan Doyle
103. MEN AGAINST THE SEA Nordhoff & Hall
104. BRING 'EM BACK ALIVE Frank Buck
105. FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON Jules Verne
106. BUFFALO BILL
107. KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES Talbot Mundy
108. KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE
109. PITCAIRN'S ISLAND Nordhoff & Hall
110. A STUDY IN SCARLET Arthur Conan Doyle
111. THE TALISMAN Walter Scott
112. THE ADVENTURES OF KIT CARSON
113. THE FORTY FIVE GUARDSMEN Alexandre Dumas
114. THE RED ROVER James Fennimore Cooper
115. HOW I FOUND LIVINGSTONE Henry M Stanley
116. THE BOTTLE IMP Robert Louis Stevenson
117. CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS Rudyard Kipling
118. ROB ROY Walter Scott
119. SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE Richard Harding Davis
120. HURRICANE Nordhoff & Hall
121. WILD BILL HICKOK
122. THE MUTINEERS Charles Boardman Hawes
123. FANG AND CLAW Frank Buck
124. THE WAR OF THE WORLD SH G Wells
125. THE OX-BOW INCIDENT Walter Van Tilburg Clark
126. THE DOWNFALL Emile Zola
127. THE KING OF THE MOUNTAINS Edmond About
128. MACBETH William Shakespeare
129. DAVY CROCKETT
130. CAESAR'S CONQUESTS Julius Caesar
131. THE COVERED WAGON Emerson Hough
132. THE DARK FRIGATE Charles Boardman Hawes
133. THE TIME MACHINE H G Wells
134. ROMEO AND JULIET William Shakespeare
135. WATERLOO Chatrian Erckmann
136. LORD JIM Joseph Conrad
137. THE LITTLE SAVAGE Frederick Marryat
138. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH Jules Verne
139. REIGN OF TERROR G A Henty
140. ON JUNGLE TRAILS Frank Buck
141. CASTLE DANGEROUS Walter Scott
142. ABRAHAM LINCOLN
143. KIM Rudyard Kipling
144. FIRST MEN IN THE MOON H G Wells
145. THE CRISIS Winston Churchill
146. WITH FIRE AND SWORD Henry K Sienkiewicz
147. BEN HUR Lew Wallace
148. BUCCANEER
149. OFF ON A COMET Jules Verne
150. THE VIRGINIAN Owen Wister
151. WON BY THE SWORD G A Henty
152. WILD ANIMALS I HAVE KNOWN Ernest Thompson Seton
153. THE INVISIBLE MAN H G Wells
154. THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC Francis Parkman
155. THE LION OF THE NORTH G A Henty
156. THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO Bernal Diaz Del Castillo
157. THE LIVES OF THE HUNTED Ernest Thompson Seton
158. THE CONSPIRATORS Alexandre Dumas
159. THE OCTOPUS Frank Norris
160. THE FOOD OF THE GODS H G Wells
161. CLEOPATRA H Rider Haggard
162. ROBUR THE CONQUEROR Jules Verne
163. THE MASTER OF THE WORLD Jules Verne
164. THE COSSACK CHIEF Nikolai Gogol
165. THE QUEEN'S NECKLACE Alexandre Dumas
166. TIGERS AND TRAITORS Jules Verne
167. FAUST Goethe
168. IN FREEDOM'S CAUSE G.A. Henty
169. NEGRO AMERICANS

Praying for Virginia Tech

2007-04-20T20:20:00.000-04:00

It's been hard to post this week with all that's gone on so close to home here at Virginia Tech. I've been praying for the families and the students and staff of Virginia Tech so often this week. I pray for comfort and peace that people will turn to God in this difficult time.

If you haven't heard the song, "Forever Changed VT" that came out today by the group The Season about the Virginia Tech killings, you really should go listen to it. Here's a link where you can listen and download the song. http://www.myspace.com/theseasononline

Homeschool High School for Free--or Almost Free!

2007-04-16T14:05:00.000-04:00

(Reading Young Man by Ignat Bednarik)

Here’s my first installment of sites you could use if you want or need to homeschool your child your child through high school for free. At the very least, these sites are great resources and supplements to living books or regular curriculum.

http://www.freeuniv.com/ This site is awesome. Pick a subject that you want to study or prepare for college entrance exams and they have lists of sites and online textbooks for it including History, Government, English, Composition, Math, Spanish, Science and more. The site was actually designed to help students learn what is needed to take the CLEP (College-Level Examination Program).

For more information about the CLEP, go to http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/about.html . CLEP is a subject by itself. It’s a great way for your student to earn college credit—even in high school—by taking tests. Just use these study guides and learning the information there, then taking a CLEP test. Not all universities use CLEP tests for credit, but many do. I believe there’s a list at the collegboard site, but if not, go to your desired university website and do a search for CLEP. They will tell you what percentage of classes or which classes you can get credit for with CLEP.

Another site that is great is http://www.pinkmonkey.com/ . They have study guides, book notes and online books. Their study notes are on Algebra, American Government, American History, Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Economics, European History, Geometry, GRE Exam, Physics, SAT Exam, Statistics, Trigonometry, and World History. (You’ll want to use an adblocker on this site, especially if you’re having your students use it.)

Need practice tests? Try http://www.testprepreview.com/ or
http://www.studyguidezone.com/ Study for ACT, SAT and many more exams.

I have more online study guides for various subjects, but the above sites could keep a person busy for hours—or for four years of high school!

--Carmen

Charles Carleton Coffin Books—Excellent for American History Study

2007-04-14T10:51:00.000-04:00

My son has discovered a “new” book. Well, new to us. It was printed in 1896—the first printing in 1866. The book? The Boys of 61’ by Charles Carleton Coffin, a book about the Civil War.

My 12 year old son, Timothy, has finished nearly all of our biographies at home (We have quite a collection.). Yesterday I offered for him to continue reading in another popular historical fiction series that we have or to read The Boys of ’61 By Charles Coffin. Of course, I did a sales pitch for Coffin’s book telling him how he had been a reporter imbedded with the troops during the Civil War—just like the reporters for the war in Iraq. I really thought there was no way he’d go for this book that is over a hundred years old, but he did. I sent him off to read and then go to sleep that evening, wondering if he would find a new friend in Charles Carleton Coffin. Today I got his report. He said that it was a little challenging to read at first and at the same time he was surprised how much the same the language was then as now. He liked the way Coffin described the battles of the Civil War and was amazed that he’d actually met Abraham Lincoln a few times. He liked that fact that it was a first hand account, too.

If you want to check out Charles Carleton Coffin’s books online, check out www.archive.org. At this site they have many of Coffin’s books and one biography about him in various formats. The one I like is the “flip book”. Someone out there has actually scanned in the books and you can flip the pages and read the actual old book. It’s almost as good as holding it in your hand.

Here’s a brief biography of Charles Carleton Coffin: http://www.bohemianbrigade.com/alfred16.html

They do sell this book and others books of Charles Carleton Coffin used at Alibris. Check out the link in the left column.

Let me know how you like these books and links.
--Carmen

Joseph Altsheler Books are Great for Teaching American History!

2007-04-12T22:39:00.000-04:00

Want some great historical fiction to read to your kids? You've just got to try Joseph Altsheler Books . They're wonderful. I was first told about this author by Uncle Ancil (above), now in his 80's. He said that they were his favorite books when he was a boy because they're full of adventure. My son has tried them and says the same thing.

Okay. I just had to give you a taste of the historical fiction of Joseph A. Altsheler. This is the first page from The Guns of Bull Run.

It would soon be Christmas and Harry Kenton, at his desk in the

Pendleton Academy, saw the snow falling heavily outside. The school

stood on the skirt of the town, and the forest came down to the edge of

the playing field. The great trees, oak and ash and elm, were clothed

in white, and they stood out a vast and glittering tracery against the

somber sky.

The desk was of the old kind, intended for two, and Harry's comrade in

it was his cousin, Dick Mason, of his own years and size. They would

graduate in June, and both were large and powerful for their age.

There was a strong family resemblance and yet a difference. Harry's

face was the more sensitive and at times the blood leaped like

quicksilver in his veins. Dick's features indicated a quieter and more

stubborn temper. They were equal favorites with teachers and pupils.

Dick's eyes followed Harry's, and he, too, looked at the falling snow

and the white forest. Both were thinking of Christmas and the holiday

season so near at hand. It was a rich section of Kentucky, and they

were the sons of prosperous parents. The snow was fitting at such a

time, and many joyous hours would be passed before they returned to

school.

The clouds darkened and the snow fell faster. A wind rose and drove it

against the panes. The boys heard the blast roaring outside and the

comfort of the warm room was heightened by the contrast. Harry's eyes

turned reluctantly back to his Tacitus and the customs and manners of

the ancient Germans. The curriculum of the Pendleton Academy was simple,

like most others at that time. After the primary grades it consisted

chiefly of the classics and mathematics. Harry led in the classics and

Dick in the mathematics.

Isn’t that beautifully written? Now this is the kind of literature that I want my children to enjoy and learn history from. You can read them for yourself at several sites with free online books including www.gutenberg.org. Then, if you want to have your own copy, you can get them at Joseph Altsheler Books for the best prices I’ve found.

Even More Free Online books -- Great for Homeschool

2007-04-11T20:37:00.001-04:00

Can you believe there are more sites with free online books? Happy reading!!

http://www.ipl.org/kidspace/browse/rzn0000

http://www.karr.net/Arts/Literature/Children%27s/Online_Books/directory.htm

http://www.answersingenesis.org/cec/online_resources.asp Creation Books

http://legends.duelingmodems.com/index.html Legends and Fairy Tales

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/ssb/index.cfm Sunday School Books from the 19^th Century.

http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/

http://www.classicauthors.net/

http://ccel.us/ Evangelical Christian Library

http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/18th/etext.html 18^th Century e-Texts

http://www.ccel.org/ Christian Classics Ethereal Library

http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/display/index.cfm Representative Poetry Online

http://www.emule.com/poetry/ Poetry Online

http://www.luminarium.org/lumina.htm Anthology of English Literature

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html Children’s Literary Web Guide

http://www.literaturepage.com/ Classics

http://classics.mit.edu/index.html Classics

http://www.loc.gov/index.html Library of Congress

http://www.classicbookshelf.com/library/ Classics

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/hypertex.html

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/works.html Complete Works of Shakespeare

http://www.short-stories.co.uk/ Online Short Stories

http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/ Victorian Women Writer’s Project

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/collections/languages/english/

More Free Online Books for Homeschool!

2007-04-10T15:27:00.000-04:00

Well, I’m realizing that some of the best historical fiction, literature and historical writings are ones published before 1960. Many are not published any more. Fortunately, more and more are being put online and we can access them for free. There are even free audiobooks online—a few of which are read by actual human beings! Here are more websites with free online books that I’ve found.

http://www.infomotions.com/

http://www.e-book.com.au/freebooks.htm

http://www.saadhu.com/links/

http://www.onlinebooks4free.com/

http://freeonlinebooks.net/ (Mostly technical books.)

http://www.fliplibrary.com/

http://www.franklin.com/freelibrary/

http://www.wordiq.com/

http://www.readprint.com/

http://www.talewins.com/

http://www.web-books.com/Default.htm

http://www.qvadis.com/exlibris/ebooks.html#library

http://www.planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp?CurrentPage=1

http://www.abacci.com/books/default.asp

http://user.pa.net/~thompson/

http://www.mslit.com/default.asp?mjr=FRE

http://www.dogpatch.org/etext.html

http://www.memoware.com/

http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/Literature/

http://books.infact.com/booksearch/jsp/index.jsf

http://www.indefinet.com/Litonlineebooks.htm

http://esspc-ebooks.com/default.htm

http://www.bookrags.com/browse/ebooks/

http://www.asksam.com/ebooks/

http://www.abacci.com/books/default.asp

Specifically Children’s Books

http://www.icdlbooks.org/ Children’s Books

http://www.magickeys.com/books/ Children’s Books

http://wiredforbooks.org/kids.htm Children’s Books

http://wiredforbooks.org/ Has some literature read aloud, including Shakespeare

http://wiredforbooks.org/swaim/ Interviews with modern authors audio

http://wiredforbooks.org/shakespeare/index.html Shakespeare in audio!

http://dmoz.org/Arts/Literature/Children's/Online_Books/ Children’s Books

http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library.htm Children’s Books

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/childlit.htm Children’s Books

Free Online Books

2007-04-10T06:11:00.000-04:00

When it comes to being frugal--I'm not saying cheap--I'm saying getting the most for our money, we stay-at-home and homeschooling moms reign. But that's not the only reason I've been on a search for online books. Well, I love books--even digital ones--it's true. What I've come to find is that some of the best books somehow have been lost to most of us but are being rediscovered and put online by folks who love them and want them to be enjoyed by new generations. So, for you I have compiled my findings thus far and will gladly save you some time searching the net for them. Here is your first installment and some of the best:

http://books.google.com/

http://www.classicreader.com/

http://www.mainlesson.com/

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.online-literature.com/

http://buriedtreasurebooks.com/catalog/freebooks.php

http://www.bibliomania.com/

http://www.bartleby.com/

http://manybooks.net/

http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/

http://www.literature.org/