Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Ordered my Curriculum

I decided to go ahead and order the Robinson Curriculum CD's. I've printed three of the books off Book Depository. The books I've printed are The Tale of Solomon Owl, The Tale of Chirpy Cricket, and the Tale of Jolly Robin. These books are written by Arthur Scott Baily of whom I had never heard of until I saw the Robinson Booklist which you can find here. www.robinsoncurriculum.com/view/rc/booklevel.htm

Tuck-me-in Tales: The Tale of Solomon Owl (Illustrated Edition)Tuck-Me-In Tales: The Tale of Jolly Robin (Dodo Press)

A little write-up on Arthur Scott Bailey on Book Depository:
Arthur Scott Bailey (1877-1949) was the author of more than forty children's books. Bailey's writing has been thus described by the Newark Evening News: "Mr. Bailey centered all his plots in the animal, bird and insect worlds, weaving natural history into the stories in a way that won educator's approval without arousing the suspicions of his young readers. He made it a habit to never 'write down' to children and frequently used words beyond the average juvenile vocabulary, believing that youngsters respond to the stimulus of the unfamiliar."

My printer has a booklet option, but only prints on one side which makes the books bigger since I need to use more paper. I used a laminated cardstock cover, staples, and some duct tape and bound my "book" together. I'm stalking Rose Gate Harbor because she gives very useful tips  http://users.gobigwest.com/rosegate/index.html and why re-invent the wheel?

We priced laser dual side printers last week and decided we were going to check prices at some other stores. Well wouldn't you know that they went on sale this week at Office Depot? We scored! It was $80 the regular price making it $199 and if you bought toner at the same time they took $20 off the toner and they included a free label maker as part of the deal. After it's set-up I can print to my heart's delight! We decided on the color one because it has wireless ability and even though I wouldn't know how to use it now, it's nice to have the option. I will still use my ink jet printer for general use, but use my laser printer for printing the books. The laser printer also prints dual sides automatically so that will be a big timesaver and paper saver.



The first level readers are the McGuffey Series so I found a set on Ebay and ordered those which came to about $39 and they are in pristine condition. I've never used McGuffey's or even been exposed to them. I've homeschooled for twenty-four years and I don't know why I've never come across them, but I haven't. This set didn't come with the Parent-Teacher guide so I ordered that off Amazon. The set I bought are the reprints from Mott Media.
http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publications.asp?Pub=McGuffey
   


On the Blessed Heritage side of the curriculum I have been browsing and buying some of the readers recommended. I found that I have a few of them, but need more. I went to the library bookstore and found a younger children's version of a book about Duke Ellington. I bought two books on ebay, one on Phillis Wheatly and one on Benjamin Banneker. I found a nice thicker book on famous African-Americans.

I have been busy and we are excited for our next year. We're trying to finish out the school year at the little charter school they go to. For our two oldest girls the social drama makes it tough, but we know we only have another month to go. If they said the word they would be out of there in a heartbeat, but for now I'm letting them work it out as long as they're comfortable with doing that. I've had enough kids to know I can't fight their battles for them, I can be their advocate, and I can stop them from being exposed to others, but they're learning to speak up for themselves and at this point, that is a good thing for them to learn.

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