The Wonder of Words -- "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster

 

 Several years ago, The Phantom Toolbooth, by Norton Juster, was a read-aloud in our homeschool.  My son and I found it to be a delightful story.  Much of the book is made up of plays on words . . . and there is an underlying plot, where a boy travels on a quest to bring "rhyme and reason" (two princesses) back to the kingdom.

     It almost seems to be an "Alice in Wonderland" type of story, because the boy travels to some very unusual places, meeting with a whole cast of interesting characters.  He is accompanied, for most of his journey, by a dog named "Tock," who keeps time by carrying a huge clock that is built into his side.

     Although this is a children's book, as an adult I've found it very enjoyable to read-- and have recently been reading it through a second time-- just for myself, and just for fun.

     If you read this story, here are just a few of the characters you will encounter:  The Spelling Bee (a giant bee who is always spelling things), the "Which" (whose job had formerly been to choose words), Chroma the Great, conductor of color (who directs an orchestra which plays music and simultaneously causes the colors to come into the world, at dawn).  There are many more characters, and intriguing events, in this book-- and it is highly recommended as either a read-aloud or a read-to-yourself book, that will enliven the imagination and take its readers on an enchanting adventure.

     And if my opinion could use some bolstering, here is a quote from the New York Times, that says what I've been trying to say so far in this post:
     "Most books advertised for 'readers of all ages' fail to keep their promise.  But Norton Juster's amazing fantasy has something wonderful for anybody old enough to relish the allegorical wisdom of Alice in Wonderland and the pointed whimsey of The Wizard of Oz."

     So there you have it -- and I hope you will consider The Phantom Toolbooth as one of your next novels to read; it is surely a "novel" read . . .

World History Shorts -- a middle school history framework

When studying history, it's really helpful to use a "framework" or backbone type of resource-- some people choose a book series, such as Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World, or Joy Hakim's A History of US, for this.  They read aloud, or assign reading, in these books to provide a continuing, overall story, and supplement with historical fiction and other resources that greatly enhance and enrich the total learning experience.

While reading aloud is wonderful, and both of the series mentioned above are well-written and interesting for either group reading or individual silent reading, there are situations that may come up where a certain child needs to do his own history studies, at his own pace and level, and doing a lot of reading just does not fit into his/her learning style.

This has happened several times in our own family's homeschool journey, and we were thankful to have found a great resource that has world history broken down into short, easy-to-read vignettes, just to cover the main events in chronological order.

It is called, World History Shorts (volume 1 and volume 2), by Kristina M. Swann, and published by Pro-Ed/PCI Publishing.

Volume 1 covers ancient history (Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, Greece, Rome) and progresses on through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, ending with Japan's culture in the 1600's.

Volume 2 begins with the Scientific Revolution and Age of Reason, and covers major wars and politics as well as the Industrial Revolution and other social/cultural changes over the time period of 1600's through the 21st century (ends with the concept of terrorism, with the Twin Towers attack).

What I liked about this resource is that not only does it provide a short reading selection (one page-- about 6 paragraphs) for each topic, but it also has copy masters for reviewing the material; each topic has one page with info to read, one page with multiple choice questions, one page with a crossword puzzle, one page with a map or chart activity, one page with suggestions for extension activities that use writing, and one page with a short quiz.  This turned out to be a "perfect" fit for older kids (middle school) who were wanting or needing to do much of their work independently.  They could get an overview of world history, supplemented by reading some historical fiction (also independently), with very minimal direction/help needed from me as a teacher (just giving the assignments and looking over their written work was all that was required).

I found that the review pages could be assigned in different ways, depending on the situation-- for some kids doing one topic per week was a good pace, others might cover the same material faster-- there are six pages per topic, but we usually did reading on one day, then combined some of the other pages on 2-3 other days.  Because all these pages were about the same topic, the student's attention was brought back to what they had read about on the first day, helping to retain the information.

I liked that this history study resource included all parts of the world -- not just Europe and the United States, but also topics on some Asian countries, Latin America, and Africa.  It truly gave an overview of world history, and also the information was presented in a fairly "neutral" manner regarding politics and religion; the readings didn't appear to be slanted strongly in favor of certain ideas.

When I purchased this 2-volume set many years ago, it was only available in printed form, which meant I had copy masters and needed to make lots of copies . . . but now this resource is available in ebook format, as well, so you can have computer files that are printed out (and this takes no space on a shelf!) which is very convenient, as everything in these sets is presented in work page format (there is no actual book to read).

With our younger kids, we did lots of history related read-alouds, and there are many great series and individual books for this.  But when some of our older kids desired or needed independent world history materials, we were really happy to discover World History Shorts !

Note-- for some more curriculum recommendations, please see the "links" page at Gentle Shepherd: LINKS

A New Literary Device Every Week? The Writer's Toolbox

Have you ever heard of "synecdoche"?  How about "chiasmus," "epistrophe," and "metonymy"?  I had no idea there are so many different types of literary devices -- tools that can be used in writing, to give clarity and embellishmentsa to communication.

Most people are familiar with a few of the well-known literary devices -- like simile, metaphor, irony, and alliteration.  But if you'd like to be introduced to more, just take a look at The Writer's Toolbox, by Patricia and Megan Samuelsen.  This mother-daughter team has written a book that can be used in introducing students to thirty-- yes, THIRTY-- different literary devices.

The format is to give examples, using short excerpts, from various literary texts, and with additional explanations, for one literary device at a time.  After demonstrating how it is used, there are exercises to help the student gain greater familiarity-- he/she is shown more short excerpts and asked to comment on how these are using the literary device.  Then, in a further exercise, the student writes sentences using the literary device.

This book is to be used with high school students, but I couldn't resist using a few of the lessons with James, starting in sixth grade.  We went through some of the more commonly known literary devices, and after doing the book exercises, he made a sentence and picture to demonstrate each writing tool, on a small wall poster.  Here is his first poster; we added to the poster with each new lesson.

And here is his second poster.

We revisited these lessons this year (eighth grade), just briefly, introducing one more of the literary devices.  The book is interesting, and the lessons have helped James learn quite a few tools for writing.

I can see that if used at the high school level, learning these literary devices would be helpful both for writing and for analysis of literary works.  They also present some very unusual vocabulary-- words like "liotes" and "polysyndeton."

The devices are arranged in four groups, and there is a written review quiz at the end of each group.  An appendix gives definitions and examples for all the literary devices, in alphabetical order.  And in another appendix there are instructions for two games (for a group of students) that can be played to practice the names and definitions.

The Writer's Toolbox is available online, at www.writerstoolbox.net.

How about it-- would you like some "synecdoche" with your "personification" and "alliteration"?

Leonardo (da Vinci) : To Mantua and Beyond . . .

     We have been reading aloud Catherine Jaime's series of novels about Leonardo da Vinci's life; the first was Leonardo the Florentine (about his years as an apprentice and early on as an independent artist), and the second, Leonardo: Masterpieces in Milan (he was hired by a duke, doing commissioned paintings, sculpture, and other works; this is where "The Last Supper" was painted).

     
     We recently finished the third book in the series. This isn't the last one; Catherine has already written one more novel that continues with Leonardo's further travels, inventions, and artwork. And she may be writing a fifth book in the future (and a sixth . . . ?)

We found this third book, Leonardo: To Mantua and Beyond, to be-- like the rest of the series--an interesting historical fiction account that gives us a picture of what life was like in Italy, and for an artist and inventor, during the late 1400's and early 1500's.

     In the Mantua book, the artist journeys with his friend Luca, a Franciscan monk, to the city of Mantua, Italy-- where he does some work for the Duchess Isabella-- because the French were invading Milan and it was not safe for him to stay. They spend a short while there, experiencing various entertainments with the Duke and Duchess while Leonardo also does artistic projects.

     If you've ever wondered what the city of Venice is like, the descriptions in this novel will give you an idea; later in the story, Leonardo and his friend travel there, on a project they've been called to-- to assist the Venetians in planning a defense strategy against a threat of invasion by the Turkish Sultan Bayaid.

     While in Venice they investigate the city and visit a print shop and glassblower, besides working on their military planning proposal.  Then they are about to head to Florence-- when the story ends (and we are ready now, to hear the next book in the series . . . !)

     I recently loaned two of these books to a friend who has also very much enjoyed reading them; what I like about these short novels is that they give so much description of the setting -- the Italian cities and time period of the late 1400's and early 1500's-- so that it is easy to imagine what it could have been like to be there during Da Vinci's time.  It is also a way to learn more about this famous artist and inventor and some of the things he did during his lifetime.

     Be sure to see Catherine Jaime's other books, too-- she is a prolific author with a wide variety of books-- both fiction and non-fiction.  Many of her books are about people or events in history, plus there are a variety of other topics.  She has books available through Curr Click and Amazon.

Illustrated by Me! Story by McCollonough Ceili

Do you have kids who like to draw?  Here's a set of unique books where something is missing-- it is the illustrations!  These books are called "Illustrated by Me."  They have words to stories typed along at the tops of the pages, and large blank areas where children can draw in their own illustrations.

I think this would be a great way to investigate illustrating, drawing, and artwork while not requiring the child to compose a story him or herself.

The author of these stories is a homeschool graduate-- she was home educated from kindergarten through college!  She has Irish ancestry, and grew up on an island off the coast of Ireland, though now she lives in America; her name is McCollonough Ceili (pronounced Ma Call In Ah KayLee).  She has written various other books -- an autobiography, some poetry and literary fiction works, and some other children's books.

There are two books in this series.  Book One has three stories; Book Two has two.  Book One's stories are:

1- A Friend for Dinner (about a fire-breathing dragon who helps some hunters solve their problem of needing fire to cook with, and they help him, too)

2- Mama Has the Sleepies (about what happens when "the sleepies"-- with accompanying yawns-- spread through a busy family's day)

3- A Kitten for O'Malley (about a dog taken regularly to visit patients at a veteran's hospital who becomes friends with a new kitten his owner brings home)

Book Two's stories are:

1- The Remote is Missing (about a girl who understands that there is more to life than TV)

2 - Mama went to War (about a military family in which the mom is called to active duty, and she and her young daughter agree to both keep a LED candle nearby at night, as a remembrance)

My very favorite story is in Book One-- it's the one about "the sleepies"-- I think we can all relate to having sleepies sometimes, and this is one of those stories where the wording and actions just keep passing from one character to the next.  There would be lots of different drawings of people (family members, one at a time) in this book, as well as some of animals (family pets).

The concept of these "Illustrated by Me" books is similar to the writing and art work pages in Gentle Shepherd's printable ebooks -- My Alphabet and Number Pictures, Copy and Draw, and Picture and Writing.  I love to see activities that encourage creativity and making original artwork, and I think this storybook format is a great idea!

The drawings could be done gradually, as school assignments, and would eventually make a fun-to-read completed book.

Here is a link to McCollonough's Amazon writer page (all her books are listed there):

http://www.amazon.com/McCollonough-Ceili/e/B004V4RN0Q/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1/190-8856589-9860528

Bruchko

     "Read this book," my adult daughter told me.  She said, "it's about a 19-year-old who does what God says, and goes to a South American jungle by himself."

     I was curious; this sounded like an unusual thing for a 19-year-old to do; not sure if I'd be happy about my own kids going on such an adventure . . .  but I read the book as a read-aloud with my 13-yr-old son, and it is an amazing story.

     Bruchko, by Bruce Olson, tells about a man (Bruce himself-- it is an autobiography) who lives nearly all of his adult life with a certain Indian tribe in South America-- the Motilones.  There is danger and hardship-- but Bruce learns to know the Motilones, helps them with medical needs, and enters into their society.  This was a tribe no westerner had ever been able to visit without losing his life, and Bruce had come close to being another statistic . . . but God had other plans.

     This story describes the customs and beliefs of this native tribe in the Columbian jungle, and tells how "Bruchko" (their name for Bruce) learns to communicate.  It tells the incredible story of how the Motilones also come to meet Christ himself-- not because Bruce has made them western, taking away their native culture and forcing his beliefs on them; he did none of those things.  This is a story that instead demonstrates that the message of Christ is not a "western religion"-- it can be received and embraced by diverse people groups, even a remote and primitive tribe-- and expressed in unique cultural ways-- because it is for all people.

Da Vinci, in Words . . .

What would it be like to be a 15-year-old apprentice, living in Florence, Italy in the 1400's?  What kinds of art and learning would you encounter?  What would you hear about the Medici family, and the other families who were contesting for power in Italy?

Catherine Jaime's book, Leonardo the Florentine, paints a picture of all of this, with details that portray what this time period (Renaissance) was like.  This book is about Leonardo da Vinci, who spent much of his life as an artist and inventor in Florence.  Towards the end of his time there he began work on "Adoration of the Magi," his first large painting (about 8 feet square).

If you'd like to read about Renaissance times, or about Da Vinci in a historical fiction format, this book is a perfect fit.

There is also a sequel to this book, that tells about Da Vinci's further work in a different Italian city-- called Masterpieces in Milan (see earlier blog post about it here).

We used both books as read-alouds.  We read them out of order-- the Milan one first-- but it didn't seem to matter; both were books that held our interest, and we enjoyed learning more about Leonardo da Vinci and the culture of his time.

There is a third book available in the series-- we'll have to start on that one next . . . it is called To Mantua and Beyond, and picks up where the Milan book left off, through several more years of Da Vinci's life.

Catherine's books are available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions.

Dr. Barnardo and the Homeless Children of London

Have you met Doctor Barnardo?  You know-- the young man with the lantern?  Or maybe you don't know who he is?

He used to go out in the night carrying a lantern and look for street children in London who slept on back alley rooftops, under tarps at shipping docks, and other hideaways.  He would bring them to his own homes for orphaned boys and girls.

During about 30 years, he and his co-workers provided a home and education for about 60,000 homeless children.  About 17,000 were relocated to Canada for new opportunities not available in the UK.  The motto for his orphanages was, "No destitute child ever refused admission."

You can read the fascinating story of Thomas Barnardo's life and work among children in the last 3 decades of the 19th century, in the book, Father to Nobody's Children, by David E. Fessenden.

His name is not often mentioned among other well-known Christian workers, such as David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, Amy Carmichael, and Dwight Moody, though his lifespan overlapped all of theirs.  I'm not sure why, because his story is amazing-- it is one that displays God's providence and leading, and his ministry to children-- and later to adults, too-- certainly had a large impact on the London streets where he worked.

This book was a read-aloud for us.  It was excellent!  Well written, and very interesting, as well as being an example of what kinds of good things can happen when a person lives his life dedicated to God and according to His leading.

At the time Dr. Barnardo began his ministry, there was much poverty in London and he was a teacher to poor children in what was known as a "ragged school."  But he himself (and most of the rest of the city dwellers) had no idea there were children who had no one looking after them, and who slept outdoors on the streets year round.  How God used this one man to begin to care for these needy children is an incredible narrative.

So if you haven't heart of "the young man with the lantern" be sure to look for this book!

Make Your Own Cleansers and More!

Do you know how vinegar got its name?  How to make your own homemade vapor rub, face scrub, antiseptic ointment, sink and shower cleanser, wood paneling cleaner, silver polish, and stain remover?

Did you know making all these things is a lot easier than you might have expected? That is, if you have some tried and true recipes, like those in this book, to tell you how to do it . . .

Lisa Barthuly has used natural cleaning products and health care/beauty aids with her own family for many years, and has written this very conversational and friendly book, to share her findings with others.

She says, "No need to keep cupboards stocked with a different commercial cleaner for every room, every appliance, every gadget, every surface, every THING at my homestead."

She tells us about some very simple natural ingredients that can be used to work wonders as cleansers and disinfectants.  She also has some great recipes for things like bug repellant and skin lotion.  Lisa offered me a review copy of her e-book, and I was impressed with how much practical info is included; I'm ready to start trying out some of these cleansers and recipes-- we have some sinks with stains, and I want to try that homemade paste that cleans scuff marks and crayons off walls . . .

This book is available in both e-book and printed versions, at www.HomesteadOriginals.com.

A Handy Handbook . . . for Using Ebooks!

   
     Are you thinking about getting an ebook reader?  Or just wanting more info about ebooks in general-- how to use them and organize them?  Did you know there is a free software that will help you convert files to different formats (that may be needed for different e-reader devices) as well as easily catalog the ebooks (even if you don't use a device).

     What are the advantages of ebooks for home education?  Lisa Hodgen, of Me and My House Ministries, says, "Ebooks can save you space and money, two things home educators tend to be short on."

     I learned some interesting things from her short ebook, Putting the 'E' in Home Education, and now I can clearly see the pros and cons of e-readers vs reading on computer or tablet.

     We haven't used ebooks for reading long chapter books, but Lisa's handbook explains how this can have advantages.  How would you like to carry a library of a thousand or so books in your purse?  As a book-lover, this sounds great to me.

     Of course, e-readers aren't needed for ebooks that are meant to have pages printed out (worksheets, materials to self-construct)-- as all of our Gentle Shepherd ebooks are at this point.

     But I found Lisa's book very interesting and just maybe we'll be entering the rest of the 21st century and doing some of our reading on an ebook device sometime soon!

     You can find Lisa's ebook handbook (only $3 as a special introductory sale), Putting the "E" in Home Education, Freedom and & Simplicity Guide, at http://frommeandmyhouse.com/led-fsebooks.htm

Da Vinci Novel

We recently finished reading a book about Leonardo Da Vinci for a read-aloud.  It is called, Leonardo: Masterpieces in Milan, by Catherine Jaime.  This is the type of book that gets you right into the historic setting, so you can feel like you are experiencing what things were like at that time.  We learned some things about Leonardo's life story-- but mostly this book was focused on the time he spent in Milan working on assignments for Duke Lodovico-- which included various paintings, a huge horse sculpture, being a wedding planner/coordinator for three weddings of nobility, and painting the wall mural, "The Last Supper" in a large room of a local monastery.  The author has woven an interesting story-- including some hints of intrigue and suspense about the political events occurring at the time of Leonardo's work in Milan.

We took a look at pictures of  "The Last Supper" right after finishing the book-- we just had to see it, after hearing its story.  We also learned some interesting things about this painting on the internet, like how the door-- that is currently intruding the bottom center part of the painting-- was not there at the time the mural was painted.  Also, this work of art was nearly destroyed in WWII-- if it hadn't been especially protected with sandbags, it might have been lost when allied planes bombed this monastery in Italy in an air raid.

This is only one book in a series of three about Da Vinci by this author. She has written a historic novel about Leonardo's earlier years in Florence, Italy, and also a book that describes his entire life.  After reading this one, I'd like to read some of her other books-- she has MANY books about various people and places in history.  Her website is www.catherinejaime.com/home.html

Out-of-Print Music Stories Book -- A Rare Gem

We've been reading this rare old book-- Stories of Great Musicians, by Kathrine Lois Scobey and Olive Brown Horne. The high school library in my hometown was purging all their old books when I attended there many years ago, and I am so happy to have been the recipient of this-- a collection of stories of classic musicians, in the "living book" Charlotte Mason style.

James and I have enjoyed this book a lot.  We learned about many composers-- Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, and Wagner; the stories are short biographies that span the entire life of the musician.

These are written in a way that is fascinating and has evident respect and affection for the musicians themselves. There are stories here that might not be found in a music history textbook-- such as how Beethoven wrote his "Moonlight Sonata" as a result of a surprise visit to a blind music lover who was a complete stranger.

I have read this a couple times through, with two different groups of my children, and each time I read it I feel so privileged to have a copy of this old book that is long out of print. The copyright in my copy is 1905.

Although this is out of print, there are some other old, used copies available on Amazon.com very inexpensively-- WELL WORTH the price to the fortunate people who purchase these remaining copies.  It is also available for Kindle readers.

A Trip to the Turn of the Century

If you'd like an interesting way to take a look at turn of the century American history, find out if your library has a copy of a reproduction of an antique Sears, Roebuck and Co catalogue. We checked out a copy of the 1902 catalog that was published by Bounty Books in 1969.

James and I flipped through the pages from cover to cover, and commented on some of the amazing prices and interesting objects. We saw an early record player, in the "Talking Machine Department," and a piano could be purchased for $59.45, a guitar for $2.45, and a little wind instrument called the zobo was only 8 cents.

There were bicycles, guns, farm equipment, books, a basketball and basketball goal (an iron frame with cotton netting basket which appeared to be closed at the bottom).
There were buggies and wagons and sleighs to be drawn by horses, and an amazing "electric belt" which was battery-operated and worn around the waist as a health treatment.

This device was said to enable its wearer to "face the world anew," for $18.00. And what's more, the catalog said, "$18 will bring to you health and strength, vigor, manliness and happiness . . ." all with a money-back guaranteed 10-day trial.

There was a vapor bath cabinet, too-- this looked like a cube with a person's head sticking up out of the top-- and must have been a type of sauna, for $5.25.

We didn't look at every single page (there were 1161 pages), but enjoyed browsing through, and seeing china and clothing and cast iron cookstoves. Among the ladies' clothes was a long dress called a "wrapper--" that sounded like a curious name, to me. For some clothing, instead of using standard sizes, the buyer was requested to give certain body measurements.

Sears Roebuck had their name on the label of the "Arsenic Complexion Wafers," sold to preserve and enhance beauty. It was also on "Electric Liniment," a liniment that was electrically charged, enabling it to relieve rhuematism as well as sprains, bruises and sores.

After hearing our comments, Molly took a look at the catalog, too. She made some interesting discoveries, like a ring with two real diamonds that cost $2.75, and cameras that looked more like small suitcases.

I took a look at the shipping prices, too. To ship 100 pounds first class to Washington state was $3. But if you lived closer to Sears' Chicago warehouses, shipping was much less-- in Illinois it cost around 40 cents to ship 100 pounds.

This catalog was so interesting! It was a great way to investigate how things were in America at the beginning of the 1900's. So, for a trip to the wondrous year of 1902, look for this book!

The Old Schoolhouse Store: new WeE-book

The Old Schoolhouse Store has published a WeE-book about homeschooling young children. I wrote the two articles in it; the first tells about an easy way to teach using "notebooks." These are not large 3-ring binders, but smaller-- report folder-sized collections of pages that can be read through daily. They can also have pages removed or added whenever needed. This is something I did with my kids... and still do! James, who is 10, is going through a notebook this summer to practice some math things like square numbers, place value to the billionth place, and some Spanish vocabulary. We're also doing a fun song about sandwiches (I Love Sandwiches, an adaptation of Bob King's song).

But this thin notebook method is especially great for young children; I thought it should be called "the rocking chair method" because I remember having my young preschoolers on my lap on the rocking chair while we went through their pages.

The TOS WeE-book gives more details and examples about this method, and there are even five ready-to-print preschool notebook pages included at the end of the WeE-book. In the second half of the book, there are lots of other ideas of things to do with young children-- many of these use materials that can be hand-made-- along with color photographs of some of the activities.

To find this WeE-book, go to www.theoldschoolhousestore.com and look in the WeE-books section. It is called Homeschooling with Young Children, and costs $1.95. (In case you're not familiar with WeE-books, what they are is short e-books; you will not receive a printed book, but a download for an e-book. You can then either read the book on your computer, or print it out on a printer. )