Thursday, September 16, 2010

Homeschooling Myself

Inspired by A Thomas Jefferson Education, I'm going to further my own education. I'm following the steps at the back of the book and here's my rough schedule:

Upon the arrival of my Amazon order, I will first read Little Britches, by Ralph Moody. I already finished The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. I give myself seven days max to finish Little Britches.

Then Laddie, by Jeanne Stratton-Porter within one week.

Finally The Lonesome Gods, by Louis L'Amour. Who knew that would make a list of recommended reading? My grandpa used to devour Louis L'Amour books. It will be a tribute to him to read it. I'm kind of excited about it.

After those three weeks at most, I'll be reading and studying the Declaration of Independence. Following my study, I'll rope some lucky neighbor into listening to my discoveries.

I'll then have two weeks to read The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare) and do some writing in response.

Two weeks after that to finish Walden (Thoreau - probably was supposed to have read this in high school) and do more writing.

Following this two-month program, I'll regroup and plan out the next two months. I plan to use A Thomas Jefferson Education's list combined with information gleaned from this program to develop a personalized reading list. I'm really looking forward to all this, and I like having a little bit of structure but not too much (too much, right now, would look like tests, grades, and institutional deadlines) - I can handle my self-imposed deadlines because I am very nice to myself and I understand that I have a husband and four kids and homeschooling and Cub Scouts and church ministry and soccer practices and meal planning and exercise and Bible study and friends to hang out with and a house to clean and choir and some painting projects and a couple TV shows to keep up on for crying out loud!

3 comments:

Rachel said...

ooh, I want to do it too. I'll follow your schedule, only give myself twice as much time to finish each book. It sounds fun!

littlecbsmom said...

Those are all the books on my list too! I even downloaded the Declaration of Independence to get a head start! You can call me anytime with your discoveries, maybe I can catch up and read it with you!

I was trying to get to the local bookstore, but really should utilize Amazon more often. I thought about the library, but realized these should be in MY library!

I can't wait to hear how it goes! I am real excited to possibly implement some of this in my school too, so I would love to glean from your experience....or in other words...

YOU FIRST:)

janelle said...

LADDIE!!! Yeah! I love Jean Stratton-Porter! I have a lot of her books. That one is my absolute favorite. if you want to chat about it after, let me know.