(And All My) Work Be Praise

Here it is! So many books this year. I attribute this partially to the fact that I got used to listening to audiobooks at 1.75x speed (or sometimes even double speed). The focus is still primarily on middle grade novels, prereading for my precocious fourth grader, but I'm trying to keep up with my 9th grader's American literature list and continue expanding what I know about the world, too. This year for the first time I have a "middle grade nonfiction" section! Toby blazing through Paradise Lost in an afternoon.  As usual, I gave brief explanations when possible. I  highlighted in green  books that I especially loved,  highlighted in blue  books that my kids especially enjoyed, and  highlighted in red  books I do not recommend. Books we (or I) read as part of our history studies have one asterisk (*); books I listened to as audio are marked with two asterisks (**). Feel free to ask if you want more nuanced opinions on anything! The Bible : the whole t...

I've always bought into the "one-room schoolhouse" ethos, but this year, it feels especially true. I have five school-age children! We are busy busy busy, but settling into our new school year routines in what seems like a manageable way.  Levi: 9th grade Levi was accepted into an amazing scholarship foundation at the end of seventh grade. His schoolwork and even some extracurriculars are now paid for by the foundation, opening up doors not just for him, but for the whole family as that part of our budget is assisted significantly. Math: AoPS  Intermediate Counting & Probability and  Introduction to Number Theory Science: physics 1 and 2 , in preparation for both AP tests History: American history (to 1877), with Land of Hope  as a spine, plus various other online resources Literature: a combination of Excellence in Literature American Lit and Apologia American Lit  (again, just the material up to 1877) Language Arts: IEW's Advanced U.S. History-Based Writi...