More on British Literature...

What's Schoolin'?

British Literature by James Stobaugh I found this book as a set of Teacher and Student books for British Literature for $10.00 (for the set!) at a homeschool bookfair.  I had just seen a set at the Sonlight booth for close to $100.00.  I went back and forth a few times and was really excited by the time I bought it :).  Yes, it really was a great resource and yes, it really was only $10.00!

This link is just the student book:



I handle literature and reading in our homeschool a little differently than most.  For high school we're reading where life and other studies (mainly History) take us.  They write down every title in a notebook (separate from their Reading Response Logs) and I will divide them out by:  American Lit, British Lit, and World Lit.  Some works we study in great detail (like Animal Farm that we are currently finishing - I wrote a post about it but I haven't put it up yet) and others we just read, like the diary of Anne Frank (Diary of a Young Girl).  They will have more than enough works and lit analysis to qualify for each credit but it'll be done in a less stressful way.

The above book will be my "spine" for the works we read that are included in this curriculum.  I love finding lessons and such online but this will save me a ton of time that I can use for kitchen   fiascos  experiments, um... wholesome meal preparation :) and the many other things competing for my time and energy (4-H, anyone??).

Reading is actually where I am very comfortable and it's one of my professional backgrounds.  I guess that gave me the sense of freedom to really follow my children in that area and not worry so much about it.  When people would ask me what Reading program we used, or what we did for Reading I would simply answer that... we read!  Okay, so it's not THAT simplistic but that's basically what we did and still do.

Today youngest dd finished a Wanted Poster for Hank the Cowdog as a literature extension for a book she just finished and the olders were writing about Orwell's analogy of WWII in Animal Farm's Battle of the Windmill.  While showing me her Wanted poster youngest dd gave me the plot (in great detail!) and described how the author had creatively handled telling both the dog and cat perspectives.  Meanwhile, middle dd and I had a great discussion on how the Battle of the Windmill in Animal Farm paralleled Russia's experience in WWII and how it was different.

I actually don't let on that I have a masters in Reading nor 1/2 a PhD in Reading because then people might actually expect me to converse intelligently about it, lol!  So, shhhhh....

[By the way, I have an opportunity to teach adjunct classes in either Reading or ESL but my health is not up to any additional stressors since backsliding this year (plus my energies go toward our dc and homeschooling and I don't want to compromise that) - if you think of it during prayer time any prayers thrown my way for discernment (is this the financial help we're needing?) and health improvement would be appreciated.]

What's Cookin'?

My mom gave me a set of these Measuring Ladles/Spoons for my birthday and I have to say that I really really like them and use them a lot!  There are 3 spoons to the set:  1 C; 1/2 C; and 1/4 C.  They are nice and heavy.

They are great for scooping out pre-measured amounts of deboned/shredded chicken into containers for the freezer in just one movement instead of spooning it into a measuring cup, spooning it back out of the measuring cup into the container (or spilling some as I try to pour it straight from the cup into the baggie).

I've used them for all sorts of things in the kitchen from working with hot foods to measuring for baking.  They are especially handy for scooping out drippy sourdough starter for recipes.



Okay, end of commercial! :)


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