Reviews: Michael Vey 2: Rise of the Elgen

Michael Vey 2: Rise of the Elgen by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A decent and clean read for teens. The story line is good and entertaining. I think this is one of the better young adult authors out there. I just wish there was a bit more depth and more superior writing like many of the classics. I do recommend it although it does not go on my classics list.

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Review: The Real Thomas Jefferson

The Real Thomas Jefferson: The True Story of America's Philosopher of Freedom by Andrew M. Allison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I typically do not love biographies, but I truly loved this one. I found it very well written and paced in a way that kept the reader engaged. The first half of the book goes through Thomas Jefferson's life while the second is a reference for topics and what he wrote or thought about them. Both are worth the shelf space to keep handy.

I'm thankful to have read about this great man. I enjoyed learning what he was passionate about and what motivated him. I wish I would have read this sooner. I wish all Americans would read this book and catch a glimpse into the true meaning behind the Constitution of the United States of America, what these brave Founding Fathers sacrificed, and compare with today's political environment. Oh how I wish the citizens of this great nation would see things through more than the colored lens of the moment and think through to the full end as people like Thomas Jefferson teach us.

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Review: The Jackrabbit Factor

The Jackrabbit Factor: Why You Can by Leslie Householder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This books is available as a free eBook on jackrabbitfactor.com. It is listed on the Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens reading list and it has been on my list for a few months now. A friend recommended that I read it after I expressed my frustration with trying to get an online business going.

This book is an allegory about how to change negative thinking to positive thinking in order to attract what you want in life. I have read As a Man Thinketh and so many of the things taught in this little book sounded familiar in many ways, yet I had not mastered changing my thoughts.

I am now moving on to the next book Portal to Genius which actually has The Jackrabbit Factor: Why You Can in it, plus a prequel and sequel to that book.

I feel happier already having read this book. If nothing else comes from it, at least I will have worked on having a happier attitude and having more gratitude in life. My goals are clearer and written with more positive wording. I feel it can't hurt!

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Economics Classics

We decided to have economics as a separate class simply because it is such a misunderstood area of study in our society today. I truly believe that if everyone in our society studied economics, we would not be in the downward spiral we are currently in, and I mean all over the world, not just the United States. There are a few TJED for Teens classics and then some others we have studied.

Economics Classics from TJED for Teens:

• The Science of Getting Rich
• Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not!

Other Classics We Study:

• Uncle Eric Talks About Personal, Career, and Financial Security
• Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? A Fast, Clear, and Fun Explanation of the Economics You Need For Success in Your Career, Business, and Investments
• Whatever Happened to Justice?
• Are You Liberal? Conservative? Or Confused?
• Ancient Rome: How It Affects You Today
• Evaluating Books: What Would Thomas Jefferson Think About This? Guidelines for Selecting Books Consistent With the Principles of America's Founders
• The Money Mystery: The Hidden Force Affecting Your Career, Business, and Investments
• The Clipper Ship Strategy: For Success in Your Career, Business, and Investments
• The Thousand Year War in the Mideast: How It Affects You Today
• World War I: The Rest of the Story and How It Affects You Today, 1870 to 1935
• World War II: The Rest of the Story and How It Affects You Today, 1930 to September 11, 2001

We highly recommend all of the Uncle Eric books. We do not use them, but they also offer study guides. We study a chapter a day as part of our devotional time, and then discuss the topics of the chapter we studied. Sometimes there are topics and questions in the back of the book that we discuss as well. I have learned so much from these books! I can't speak highly enough of them.

Science Classics

The Geometry of Fruits and Vegetables

Ooooo! Science! I've always been fascinated by science. I really enjoyed all of my science classes except Chemistry. I was feeling a bit daunted by the idea of learning science through classics. To me, science seems to NEED hands-on experience...you know...LABS! We tried a couple of Science curriculum packages, but really found them tedious and boring. With a sigh and my hands thrown up in the air I said, "Fine! I'll look for science classics!"

I have read a few now and found they greatly enhance my understanding in ways I was not expecting. First, I didn't understand everything, but I was able to understand MORE than before. Secondly, for me, most of these science classics will need to be studied repeatedly for me to grasp all the concepts in them. But, that's what classics are for! To be read over, and over, and over - finding new knowledge along the way in each re-read.

Science Classics from the TJED for Teens list:

• A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science by Michael S. Schnieder (See more below)
• The Illustrated Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Edition by Stephen Hawkins
• Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein
• Elementus - Books I, II, III, and IV by Euclid

Constructing the Universe website

You have got to check out this website - Constructing the Universe. It goes hand-in-hand with the book "A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science". There  are lots of different links and additional activity books available on this website. We have not bought the activity books, but I thought some might like this nugget of information. I do want to go to his Constructing the Universe classroom, it looks like so much fun! If I had the money I would have a science "lab" like his.

When to Study Science Classics

It is interesting to note the interaction of math and science. I've read a few books, and also in the Robinson Curriculum, that suggest that students should not start any formal study of science until they have mastered Algebra II and Geometry. We have followed that path and discovered that this method is a sound one. Nayna is taking a college level science class because she felt the study of Science was one of her weakest points. She has since learned that she can rapidly learn all that she does not know. In fact, she is tutoring an adult in her college class and is the lead in her study group, simply because she waited until she was ready to study science.

Studying Science Through Nature

The Charlotte Mason home education method has some great ideas on studying science through observation and hands-on experience. During Core and Love of Learning Phases, this is how we addressed science. Now that my children are Scholars, we can still learn that way and begin adding in the science classics.

NOTE: Science and Religion. It is important to note that some science classics try to rule out God or any notion of Intelligent Design. Studying these science classics with my children, or often before them, allows me to know ahead of time what areas we may need to stop and discuss our beliefs and the truth and knowledge that we have gained. Those with a shaky foundation or Core could be swayed to believe untruths. We enjoyed a movie called, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed", which touches on the removal of God from science. You can watch this movie on YouTube here if you are interested.

World History Classics

This is a continuation of my posts on Classes by Classics. World History is an all encompassing task to study. One could spend their entire life studying all the cultures and their various histories throughout all time. Think of it...the entire world's history! Most of us are lucky if we study a few stories about a few important periods of time. I would like to emphasize that pretty much all non-fiction is part of world history, so we could really pull any non-fiction book and read it as part of our world history studies.

From the TJED for Teens list:

• Antigone
• The Illiad
• The Odyssey
• The Trial and Death of Socrates by Plato
• Nichomachaen Ethics by Aritstotle

We have added:

• The World Before Christ: An LDS Perspective by Dan Hunter
• The World After Christ: An LDS Perspective by Dan Hunter
• Great Books of the Western World

See my post about our History Notebooks for more about what we are doing for history.

Review: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was very saddened by the events of Frederick Douglass' life. Of course, I've known for some time how slaves were treated, but it was just intensely tough to read it from a first-person point of view. I believe it is important to study people like Frederick Douglass who rose from such a life to become a leader in the movement to emancipate slaves. This is truly a must read for all Americans. We must be careful to never fall back into such a dark and degrading practice.

It is important to note that some countries still practice types of slavery and servitude. We must do what we can to stand up against this type of brutality and inhumane practice.

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This book is on the following classic lists:

• Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens
• American Youth Leadership Institute
• Classics for Youth

American History Classics

'I cannot tell a lie.'

American History is a pretty easy one to find classics on...or so I thought. Once I began studying American History, I realized that so many sources vary in their coverage of events. For example, I was raised on the story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree...remember that one..."I cannot tell a lie." How disappointing to find out the story is a lie!

It then becomes difficult to find true historical writings. I find that older versions seem to be the most correct and that we need to make sure we are reading unabridged versions of stories and histories. It is my belief that each time we read someone's abridged version, we are getting more opinion than fact unless it is well documented where the information comes from.

NOTE: This list overlaps with American Government. We choose to work on 100 hours for each subject and only allow a work to count towards one subject.

From Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens:

• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
• "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death"
• "The Present Crisis"
• Also see the list for American Government

We have also added:

We found a fabulous history series by Dan Hunter at Living History Books. These are LDS based and we love them! There is an American History set that we have not started yet, but it is on the list (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). We have some of the other sets and love the writing style as well as the detailed outlines, time-lines, maps, and references to where he got the information from; making this series of history books one of the few "curriculum" items we feel are classics. It is written from a very TJED point of view (no tests or worksheets) and Oliver DeMille even wrote the forward for them. Dan Hunter suggests that rather than test students, require projects or papers written on people or events (see below for more info).

HISTORY NOTEBOOK
We are embarking on a new idea to make our own history notebooks. I am getting mine started in order to "model" this for my teens. When I mentioned it nobody shouted, "Hooray! I always wanted to make a history notebook." Rather, I got one blank stare that said in silent mocking tones, "Seriously?" and another moderate eye roll that sarcastically mimicked, "Another great idea mom has to add to my full study load." I know, it might only seem appealing to the history fanatic, but I hope to get one started myself first and maybe inspire some others in my home later. ;-)

Check out this free download over at Living History Books on making your own history notebook.

Here are also some free notebook pages I made up to use based on the download listed above.  It didn't like his, not clean enough for me I guess. There are three different line height pages, including emergent writer (primary lined) pages, which Dan Hunter's does not include.

American Government Classics

I love learning about the birth of America, the various changes over time, and the current state of our great nation. This is one of the most important subjects to study from the classics. Textbooks have left out so much of what is true and necessary in the study of our government. One must study the original documents and the original words of the founding fathers in order to gain their own understanding of what government is and should be.

There are a lot of books listed here. For high school "credit", we choose from these lists and study for 100 hours to constitute a high school credit per Missouri law. That is pretty easy to do from this list, however, we continue with this list for Depth Phase.

From TJED for Teens:

• The Declaration of Independence
• The Constitution of the United States
• "The Gettysburg Address" speech by Abraham Lincoln
• "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr.
• The Real Thomas Jefferson by Allison, Maxfield, Cook and Skousen
• The Real Benjamin Franklin by Allison
• The Real George Washington by Allison, Parry, and Skousen
• The Making of America by W. Cleon skousen
• Democracy in America Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by Alexis De Tocqueville
• The 5,000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen
• The Law by Bastiat

Others we have added:

• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Again, I would like to add sections of The Great Books of the Western World. 

• Volume 43 - Articles of Confederation, The Federalist, On Liberty by J. S. Mill
• Volume 2 Syntopicon - Chapter 3 -Aristocracy, Chapter12 - Constitution, Chapter 16 - Democracy, Chapter 31 - Government, Chapter 42 - Justice, Chapter 46 - Law, Chapter 47 - Liberty
• Volume 2 Syntopicon - Chapter 59 - Monarchy, Chapter 62 - Oligarchy, Chapter 63 - One and Many, Chapter 64 - Opinion, Chapter 90 - State, Chapter 95 - Tyranny, Chapter 98 - War and Peace, Chapter 99 - Wealth, Chapter 101 - Wisdom

Poetry Classics

Poetry is not a topic that interested me very much. However, I am beginning to find it necessary and even enjoyable. (We can't always love everything, can we?) I know that most songs are poems and so that has intrigued me enough to spark my interest. My oldest child loves poetry and even wrote notebooks of poems herself. My son writes some songs once in awhile and so I can see that my children need these classics even if they are not personal favorites.

Poetry from Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens:

• Best Loved Poems of the American People by Hazel Felleman
• Sonnets by Shakespeare
• Poetry and Mathematics by Scott Buchanan

I had never thought of poetry and mathematics being similar topics, but I can now see that the rhythmic quality of poetry does have ma mathematical applications. A very interesting topic of study.

We also added:

• The Great Ideas Syntopicon, volume 2, Chapter 69: Poetry - from the Great Books of the Western World set.

As in Mathematics where we recommend the Syntopicon for a place of study, we highly recommend the chapter on Poetry for deeper consideration. There are several pages of explanation of what poetry is, how it is an "art" and how it is language, philosophy, and history. Next are oodles of references for further study on the subject of poetry from the great authors and thinkers of the western hemisphere.

Medieval and Ancient History Classics

Aristotle

Medieval and Ancient History is a difficult one I think. First of all, there is not as much original texts from this time period. Secondly, what is available is harder to read and understand. I personally wait a bit on studying some of these original texts until they are firmly into Scholar Phase.

From the Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens list:

• Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 (Saint Joan) by Mark Twain
• Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Vol. 2 (Saint Joan) by Mark Twain
• Antigone by Sophocles
• The Illiad by Homer
• The Odyssey by Homer
• The Trial and Death of Socrates by Plato - Includes Euthyphron, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Plato
• Nichomachaen Ethics by Aristotle

Others we have added:

• Plutarch's Lives - also see Our Young Folks Plutarch, Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls, and the Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Romans.

Shakespeare Classics

 

Shakespeare...need I say more? An entire year can be spent on Shakespeare alone. My children have grown to love Shakespeare so much that they have requested their own copies. We have a copy from The Great Books of the Western World and one from the National Classics Series, both are accurate editions.

In addition to reading the classics, Shakespeare needs to be seen and experienced in play form to be complete. We try to attend as many Shakespeare plays as we can. They can be disappointing, however, in how they are interpreted. We've seen some modernized versions that are so cheap and misrepresented that it gives a poor shadow of the original. There are some good ones too, even some movies are perfectly depicted and are preferred over poorly constructed plays.

In my humble opinion, no education is complete without Shakespeare. I once read an article about all the every-day sayings that come from Shakespeare, and is second only to the Bible in the number of sayings derived from it's works.

Here are our recommendations. The links provided have several versions for eReaders like Nook and Kindle as well as audio downloads.

Shakespeare Dramas/Tragedies:

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - Movie: Great Performances versions (free online streaming), Mel Gibson version
• Romeo and Juliet
• Julius Caesar 
• Antony and Cleopatra
• Coriolanus
• King Lear - Movie: Great Performances
• Macbeth - Movie: Great Performances
• Othello
• Timon of Athens
• Titus Andronicus
• Troilus and Cressida

Shakespeare Comedies:

• All's Well That Ends Well
• As You Like It
• Comedy of Errors
• Love's Labour's Lost
• Measure for Measure
• Merchant of Venice
• Merry Wives of Windsor
• Midsummer Night's Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Taming of the Shrew
• Tempest
• Twelfth Night
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
• Winter's Tale

Shakespeare Histories:

• Cymbeline
• Henry IV, Part I
• Henry IV, Part II
• Henry V
• Henry VI, Part I
• Henry VI, Part II
• Henry VI, Part III
• Henry VIII
• King John
• Pericles
• Richard II
• Richard III

Mathematics Classics

When I first considered learning math simply through reading classics, my mind immediately was full of "cricket sounds at midnight". Completely empty of thought basically. I couldn't wrap my mind around it at all! Nor could I think of ONE math classics. I had no idea where to start or what to do.

Thankfully, Dr. DeMille gives us some idea of where to start. I have read many of these, some were easier than others, but all were insightful after carefully making my way through them.

Math Classics from TJED for Teens

• Flatland by Edmund Abbot
• On Numbers by Isaac Asimov
• Introduction to Mathematics by Whitehead
• Arithmetic by Nichomachus
• Poetry and Mathematics by Buchanan
• Elementus by Euclid

Additional Math Classics

We own "The Great Books of the Western World" set. The Syntopicon in volumes 1 and 2 contain subjects covered in these books. Within volume 3 under "Mathematics" there is a fantastic explanation about the differences between truths proved or discovered about mathematics and quantity; or the study of arithmetic, geometry and other branches of mathematics.  After the explanation of what mathematics IS, there is an outline of topics and pages of references based on the outline. One could get a complete education about mathematics, both from the standpoint of the science of mathematics as well as quantity (how much), from studying the references listed in this book.

I am just beginning this study myself, but for someone who wants to truly understand everything about mathematics, this is the way to go!

Math Curriculum
We have used purchased math curriculum. I had purchased Math-U-See through Geometry before knowing about Math classics and how we could utilize them. My children do use Math-U-See and sometimes Khan Academy for math help. Another curriculum that I have heard good things about is Aleks, but we have not used it because I already have Math-U-See.

Science and Fantasy Fiction Classics

One of my favorite literature genres is Science Fiction and Fantasy fiction. Many may not agree, but there are MANY classics in this genre that are worth reading. Like traditional high schools, a "class" in these genres may not be required, but some may find it a fun elective "class" or find it part of their passion in reading. We used this as a semester class rather than a full year of study, giving it half a credit.

As a side note on teaching composition, we use the Excellence in Writing program called "Teaching Writing: Structure and Style". I did not purchase anything other than that, the rest of their curriculum is too "textbooky" for me. We use the classics they are reading to practice the subjects of note taking, outlining, summarizing from notes, etc.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Fiction

• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (NOTE: This one has some adult language.)
• Elantris by Sanderson
• The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R Tolkien
• The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne