I just made a last minute purchase from The Teaching Company (The Great Courses), and I was emailed a link to course starter materials as a follow-up to my order. I was thrilled to see there was a link to the Perseus Digital Library.
I have seen similar sites, but this one is outstanding, and I just had to share.
Feeling oh so grateful for the Internet right about now.
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Shelf Reorganization
I spent most of yesterday sorting through our books, and reorganizing our shelves. That's easier said than done. Our kitchen book shelf has to house the most used stuff. Well, the kids' most used stuff anyway. My books had to be moved elsewhere for now.
Here is what we have on our top shelf. On the left is our new modern language for the year (Korean), followed by several Latin resources. What this shelf wasn't able to accommodate, were my Latin books (Henle, Wheelock's, and Lingua Latina), as well as our Galore Park Latin books.
I would just love to have everything kept together, but shelf space is lacking, instead of crack-a-lackin' at our house. I dream of built-in book cases. In. Every. Room.
Here we have Drew Campbell's Memory Work book. Love this resource! E has expressed interest in learning Spencerian script, so those penmanship manuals are on on this shelf as well.
We tried I.E.W. for the first time this past year, and while I feel just so-so about it, it has been a hit with E, so who am I to complain?
Next we have our Catechism books. I'm so excited about starting the Didache series with E this year! I'm still kicking myself for not having started her on them last year, but better late than never. S & F and still working their way through My Catholic Faith (gorgeous and faithful), and when we can fit it in, we're still s-l-o-w-l-y going through Memoria Press' Christian Studies guide, only we use the Douay-Rheims translation for the memory work and copywork selections.
And here are the rest of our Catholic books (at least the ones we'll be using this year), and some more of our writing resources. I'm excited to start S & F on Killgallon this year. For those of you unfamiliar with the Killgallon books, basically they teach children how to compose interesting sentences using modeling techniques. The goal is to reproduce the grammatical form, not the content, of the sentences being modeled. It's really neat! We'll take a lot of our copywork and dictation selections from it as well.
Lots of cool writing resources this year...including The Grammar of Poetry for my high schooler, and Imitation in Writing - Greek Myths for my younger two.
Next we have Science and Math.
It took forever to settle on Campbell's Exploring Life for biology this year, and while I still haven't received the student text (backordered), from what I can gather from the Teacher's Edition, it was a very good choice. Also on this shelf is Geometry: A Guided Inquiry. We'll be using the Math Without Borders CD along with it. I'm always grateful for the added help. Teacher resources are worth their weight in gold at our house. Oh, and the CD also contains all of the solutions! Score!
Hmmm...Forgot to capture the other side of the shelf. Those were all Singapore Math books, and there were a few Saxon Math books in there as well.
The bottom shelf is home to a few Art and Classical Studies books.
They're hard to see, but we've got Tanglewood Tales and A Wonder Book on here as well. Come to think of it, we've got a lot of Hawthorne on our shelves.
Some more Classical Studies titles and a few history books... E's history books are elsewhere. Again, not enough space to accommodate everything on the one shelf.
I won't even attempt to photograph all of our literature shelves. But here are a few...
And...
A few more eclectic selections...
Here we have Drew Campbell's Memory Work book. Love this resource! E has expressed interest in learning Spencerian script, so those penmanship manuals are on on this shelf as well.
Next we have our Catechism books. I'm so excited about starting the Didache series with E this year! I'm still kicking myself for not having started her on them last year, but better late than never. S & F and still working their way through My Catholic Faith (gorgeous and faithful), and when we can fit it in, we're still s-l-o-w-l-y going through Memoria Press' Christian Studies guide, only we use the Douay-Rheims translation for the memory work and copywork selections.
And here are the rest of our Catholic books (at least the ones we'll be using this year), and some more of our writing resources. I'm excited to start S & F on Killgallon this year. For those of you unfamiliar with the Killgallon books, basically they teach children how to compose interesting sentences using modeling techniques. The goal is to reproduce the grammatical form, not the content, of the sentences being modeled. It's really neat! We'll take a lot of our copywork and dictation selections from it as well.
Next we have Science and Math.
Hmmm...Forgot to capture the other side of the shelf. Those were all Singapore Math books, and there were a few Saxon Math books in there as well.
The bottom shelf is home to a few Art and Classical Studies books.
Some more Classical Studies titles and a few history books... E's history books are elsewhere. Again, not enough space to accommodate everything on the one shelf.
I won't even attempt to photograph all of our literature shelves. But here are a few...
And...
A few more eclectic selections...
Saturday, July 30, 2011
The Books are Here!
Our books have arrived! Well, almost all of them are here. I’m still waiting on one backordered item. But what a relief it is to be done.
I’m usually really excited whenever books arrive, but as the kids get older, I just get more anxious. More books mean more clutter, and very often, more work for me. I think the one item that’s been inducing more than a little of this anxiety is this bad boy right here…
I’m consoling myself with reminders that Korean is said to be one of the easiest Asian languages to learn. I hope that’s true! E’s enthusiasm over all things Korean has kind of spread on to her siblings, so now they’re all clamoring for it. I searched and searched, and this program seemed to have gotten the best reviews. Fingers crossed that it’s a good fit for us! While E is certainly old enough and motivated enough to wade through it on her own, I’m not so sure the younger two are, so it looks like I’m in on this one as well. Yikes!
Here are some other shots of our book booty.
We’ve got Euclid’s Elements. Under that somewhere is the Art of Argument, and some other goodies.
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, a book with tips on how to improve study habits…
Lots and lots of stuff. I could really use a few extra bookshelves!
I’m usually really excited whenever books arrive, but as the kids get older, I just get more anxious. More books mean more clutter, and very often, more work for me. I think the one item that’s been inducing more than a little of this anxiety is this bad boy right here…
I’m consoling myself with reminders that Korean is said to be one of the easiest Asian languages to learn. I hope that’s true! E’s enthusiasm over all things Korean has kind of spread on to her siblings, so now they’re all clamoring for it. I searched and searched, and this program seemed to have gotten the best reviews. Fingers crossed that it’s a good fit for us! While E is certainly old enough and motivated enough to wade through it on her own, I’m not so sure the younger two are, so it looks like I’m in on this one as well. Yikes!
Here are some other shots of our book booty.
Lots and lots of stuff. I could really use a few extra bookshelves!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Really Learning Latin
Just yesterday, as I struggled to translate a Latin sentence through what this site refers to as a "crossword puzzle" reading of it, I realized that I had a problem that needed addressing. Deconstructing sentences this way is wholly inefficient. I tend to follow all of the steps thusly: pick out the verb, determine the conjugation (1st, 2nd, etc.), determine the personal ending, the number (singular or plural), the tense, the voice, the mood, pick out the subject, determine the number, check for an object, again check if it's singular or plural, determine the noun cases, etc. And I didn't even get to adjective declensions, or issues of gender. Not to mention that I'm still learning all of the vocabulary.
The article I've hyperlinked above details the Dowling Method for learning Latin. It speaks of learning Latin grammar via "brute memorization." Well, after yesterday's exercise in frustration, I've come to the conclusion that yes, nothing but brute memorization is required here. Surely, internalizing all of the forms by way of daily recitation and keeping copywork notebooks full of charts would be more than helpful. The article recommends that these charts and tables be copied 200 times each--100 times for the adjectives table. That's a lot of copying. If I'm not able to master the paradigms after that, I'd have to pack it all in. But how could one not get it after all of that? Now, despite my agreement with all of this drilling and copying, I just don't see the point in holding off so long before introducing reading selections. The article explains how the forms must be mastered first, and asserts that this could take about six months' time. That's a big time commitment to nothing but rote memorization. I'm a big believer in the immersion method to language learning, which requires little to no prior familiarity with the target language. And yes, while immersion in Latin is very different than immersion in a modern language (it's not like you will be surrounded by native speakers or anything like that--unless of course there's some society of classicists that do nothing but hang around together and speak Latin all day), I still see value in exposing oneself and one's children to Latin readings early on. In my opinion, it gives children (and adults) something for which to strive. Drilling forms, I've determined, is essential, but why hold off on something as pleasurable as reading? Why can we not have our cakes and eat them too?
As far as Latin reading material is concerned, I do own the first of Hans Orberg's series, also referenced in the above article. I've only read through a dozen or so pages, but I was able to understand everything I've encountered there so far. I understand there is a huge jump in difficulty as you go along, but that's to be expected, and brings us closer to our goal of eventually reading more complex material. It's such a neat idea. In fact, I wish such a series existed for most languages, but especially for ancient Greek. The illustrations basically help you understand the text. Really, i
t's as much of an immersion program as can be found for Latin students.
Some other books I either own, or am contemplating purchasing for the kids are Ecce Romani (similar to Orberg in that you are immediately immersed in Latin, although Orberg's books are far better and infinitely more thorough), and an assortment of children's books/stories translated into Latin (Fairy Tales in Latin: Fabulae Mirabiles, Harrius Potter books which I recently found are also available in ANCIENT GREEK, and various Dr. Seuss titles as well). There are just so many options now, and it would be a pity to hold off on them until all of the Latin grammar is committed to memory.
The article I've hyperlinked above details the Dowling Method for learning Latin. It speaks of learning Latin grammar via "brute memorization." Well, after yesterday's exercise in frustration, I've come to the conclusion that yes, nothing but brute memorization is required here. Surely, internalizing all of the forms by way of daily recitation and keeping copywork notebooks full of charts would be more than helpful. The article recommends that these charts and tables be copied 200 times each--100 times for the adjectives table. That's a lot of copying. If I'm not able to master the paradigms after that, I'd have to pack it all in. But how could one not get it after all of that? Now, despite my agreement with all of this drilling and copying, I just don't see the point in holding off so long before introducing reading selections. The article explains how the forms must be mastered first, and asserts that this could take about six months' time. That's a big time commitment to nothing but rote memorization. I'm a big believer in the immersion method to language learning, which requires little to no prior familiarity with the target language. And yes, while immersion in Latin is very different than immersion in a modern language (it's not like you will be surrounded by native speakers or anything like that--unless of course there's some society of classicists that do nothing but hang around together and speak Latin all day), I still see value in exposing oneself and one's children to Latin readings early on. In my opinion, it gives children (and adults) something for which to strive. Drilling forms, I've determined, is essential, but why hold off on something as pleasurable as reading? Why can we not have our cakes and eat them too?
As far as Latin reading material is concerned, I do own the first of Hans Orberg's series, also referenced in the above article. I've only read through a dozen or so pages, but I was able to understand everything I've encountered there so far. I understand there is a huge jump in difficulty as you go along, but that's to be expected, and brings us closer to our goal of eventually reading more complex material. It's such a neat idea. In fact, I wish such a series existed for most languages, but especially for ancient Greek. The illustrations basically help you understand the text. Really, it's as much of an immersion program as can be found for Latin students.Some other books I either own, or am contemplating purchasing for the kids are Ecce Romani (similar to Orberg in that you are immediately immersed in Latin, although Orberg's books are far better and infinitely more thorough), and an assortment of children's books/stories translated into Latin (Fairy Tales in Latin: Fabulae Mirabiles, Harrius Potter books which I recently found are also available in ANCIENT GREEK, and various Dr. Seuss titles as well). There are just so many options now, and it would be a pity to hold off on them until all of the Latin grammar is committed to memory.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Trilogy Curse Strikes Again
Okay, to be fair, most of the third (bad to awful) installments I was thinking about when I chose the title of this blog post were films. What films you ask? Well, Return of the Jedi is one. Lucas lost me with the Ewoks, and the horrible dialogue, and don't even get me started on the prequels. Then there are Superman III, Spider-man III, The Godfather III, and Shrek the Third (actually, I didn't like any of the Shrek films, except for maybe the fourth installment which redeemed itself a bit for me). I'm sure there are more that I'm missing.
When it comes to books, I've had better experiences with trilogies. The first trilogy I remember having read was John Christopher's dystopian sci-fi Tripod Trilogy. I loved that series, all the way through, and have been meaning to go back and re-read them. I also remember enjoying John Jakes' North and South trilogy, which was a grossly inappropriate read for me at the time. I was only about eleven or twelve, and really shouldn't have been exposed to such adult themes, but my Mom, who didn't speak English, didn't realize she had to censor my reading. I read the first two books in the Bourne Trilogy in high school and loved them, too. The third book was released shortly afterwards, and was just okay, and not nearly as good as the first two. Again, I'm sure there are several others, but now that I think of it, several of the series I've read consist of more than three books.
Like many people, granted, mostly teens, I had been eagerly anticipating the release of Suzanne Collins' third installment in the Hunger Games trilogy (Mockingjay). As can be inferred from what I have written, I greatly enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy. The second book received some negative press as to many, and to be frank, even to me, it seemed that the second book was nothing more than a rehashing of the first. Ultimately, this didn't matter to me, as I had enjoyed the first one so much. And I grew even more excited about the series when I heard that it was being adapted for the screen. I felt that it had everything necessary to translate well into a summer blockbuster--tons of action, an interesting story, a strong heroine, a love triangle, and a battle against good and evil. Well, that's what I used to think anyway.
I received a copy of the book later than I had anticipated, and then didn't find the time to read it until last weekend, and what can I say? I was sorely disappointed. The people you had grown to care about, were all out of character in this book. It felt to me that Collins sought to vilify one particular character for the sole purpose of having things tie up nicely at the end. The dialogue was stilted, and the heroine found herself unconscious a lot of the time. Huge developments in the story were told to you, rather than experienced in the narrative. Major characters' deaths were glossed over. The relationships between characters in this book weren't as developed as they were in the previous books, and at the end, characters were simply dismissed without fanfare.
All in all, it was a dreary read. Sure, the book deals with war, and it's a given that war is not a pleasant thing. But most of the pivotal action, i.e. the actual defeating of the enemy, happens behind-the-scenes. Shouldn't this be the most exciting bit? And to make matters worse, the over-all feeling left behind after reading it, is sheer and utter hopelessness.
I'm not one to demand happy endings. I don't expect there to always be a silver lining, but I do like when stories make sense. Some may think that the ending was realistic, but for pity's sake, the world depicted in the novels is one where unrealistic things are possible, as evidenced by the technology used by the opposing forces. Sigh. It just fell flat for me, and I can't for the life of me understand how it is receiving favorable reviews at all.
When it comes to books, I've had better experiences with trilogies. The first trilogy I remember having read was John Christopher's dystopian sci-fi Tripod Trilogy. I loved that series, all the way through, and have been meaning to go back and re-read them. I also remember enjoying John Jakes' North and South trilogy, which was a grossly inappropriate read for me at the time. I was only about eleven or twelve, and really shouldn't have been exposed to such adult themes, but my Mom, who didn't speak English, didn't realize she had to censor my reading. I read the first two books in the Bourne Trilogy in high school and loved them, too. The third book was released shortly afterwards, and was just okay, and not nearly as good as the first two. Again, I'm sure there are several others, but now that I think of it, several of the series I've read consist of more than three books.
Like many people, granted, mostly teens, I had been eagerly anticipating the release of Suzanne Collins' third installment in the Hunger Games trilogy (Mockingjay). As can be inferred from what I have written, I greatly enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy. The second book received some negative press as to many, and to be frank, even to me, it seemed that the second book was nothing more than a rehashing of the first. Ultimately, this didn't matter to me, as I had enjoyed the first one so much. And I grew even more excited about the series when I heard that it was being adapted for the screen. I felt that it had everything necessary to translate well into a summer blockbuster--tons of action, an interesting story, a strong heroine, a love triangle, and a battle against good and evil. Well, that's what I used to think anyway.
I received a copy of the book later than I had anticipated, and then didn't find the time to read it until last weekend, and what can I say? I was sorely disappointed. The people you had grown to care about, were all out of character in this book. It felt to me that Collins sought to vilify one particular character for the sole purpose of having things tie up nicely at the end. The dialogue was stilted, and the heroine found herself unconscious a lot of the time. Huge developments in the story were told to you, rather than experienced in the narrative. Major characters' deaths were glossed over. The relationships between characters in this book weren't as developed as they were in the previous books, and at the end, characters were simply dismissed without fanfare.
All in all, it was a dreary read. Sure, the book deals with war, and it's a given that war is not a pleasant thing. But most of the pivotal action, i.e. the actual defeating of the enemy, happens behind-the-scenes. Shouldn't this be the most exciting bit? And to make matters worse, the over-all feeling left behind after reading it, is sheer and utter hopelessness.
I'm not one to demand happy endings. I don't expect there to always be a silver lining, but I do like when stories make sense. Some may think that the ending was realistic, but for pity's sake, the world depicted in the novels is one where unrealistic things are possible, as evidenced by the technology used by the opposing forces. Sigh. It just fell flat for me, and I can't for the life of me understand how it is receiving favorable reviews at all.
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