HERE’S MY NEWEST CONCOCTION…

I made it for my ds4. It’s only 60 pages long, and he’s soooo happy that I did this for him. This will make up a large amount of his schoolwork, for now. It’s a Reading and Writing Copybook Covering the McGuffey Eclectic Primer. You can see it here or rather there.

CHANGING HORIZON A LITTLE, BUT STILL LOVE IT

I thought that H4 would go well with SM 4, because there is so much new stuff in Horizons that isn’t covered in Singapore–at least as far as I know. But everything else is review for my dd. So I’m hitting the new stuff in Horizons 4 and then going to buy 5 tomorrow.

Horizons has prime numbers and solving for “n”.  I don’t recall seeing this until about 7th grade.  I am really liking Horizons a lot.  I wish I had paid attention to those that recommended much earlier.  But I’m glad I added to our work.

Still not giving up Singapore though.  It is a really good program.

I’m setting this up for a couple of hours tonight, and for a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon. I don’t want to leave free downloads up all night.

I love to give things away; it makes me feel good.

I hope someone can use the file. DOWNLOAD HERE.

Kimberly

YEAR 4 COPYBOOKS ARE READY–AT LEAST SOME OF THEM!

The copybooks for Year 4, modern history are here. The ones available are Zaner Bloser style cursive and manuscript for grade 1-3. (It can be used for grade 4 also, but if so, you probably want to do two selections per week rather than one. The other available is the Zaner Bloser style cursive for grades 4-8. To see them go to Classical Reading and Writing

I know that I mentioned this before, but the other fonts will be coming out as I can get to them.

Kimberly

I FAILED TO MENTION

That I do now have the yr 3 Early Modern Books up on LULU now in HWT, GDI, and D’Nealian. These are for the time period 1600-1850 and for grades 4-8. You can see them here at Classical Reading and Writing. The links are at the top of the page under historical copybooks.

Also, LULU seems to be backed up after their computer crash over the weekend. I guess that everyone had to reorder two or three days worth of material and now those print runs are being squeezed into current runs. So I just have to wait and wait for the preview copy of the modern books before I can release them.

Good Luck with all homeschooling plans. Starting a new year is exciting!

The NEW COPYBOOKS (answer to Lee’s question below)

They will first be available in the traditional ZB font–print and cursive for the beginning grammar stage and cursive only for the upper grammar. These should be available, hopefully, next Monday. LULU had some computer problems and everything I uploaded was deleted. I had to re-upload all three books and repurchase.

I am currently putting the upper grammar books in HWT and Italic. D’Nealian will follow.

Lastly, I will put the beginning grammar stage books in D’Nealian, Italic, and HWT.

I’ll post here on the blog as soon as they are ready for previewing and/or purchasing on LULU. Here are two stories from the upper grammar stage book–

Conquering the Yellow Fever
by Lawton B. Evans

There was an enemy that for hundreds of years no one learned to conquer. Its presence spread terror wherever it appeared. It lurked in Southern cities, but, often, it stalked broadcast over the whole country, scattering death wherever it came. That enemy was the yellow fever.

Its ravages had been endured with hopeless despair, with no chance to escape but in flight; and, often, flight was denied to those who lived in the stricken districts. Quarantine was rigidly enforced. So terrified were those who lived in the uninfected regions that refugees from yellow fever cities were turned back by loaded shotguns.

Household goods were destroyed, bedding and clothing and even houses were burned, to prevent the spread of the disease. Yet it was only held in check, and the people continued to live in terror of it. Just the announcement that yellow fever had appeared in a town was enough to make the bravest heart turn sick with the awful consequence of the horror it might mean.

Yellow fever had always been present in Cuba. Ships from that island brought it into Southern cities, and the contagion, once started, went on its ravages for months at a time. When Cuba was occupied by the United States, the problem of the yellow fever was in the hands of our Government.

Our soldiers were going into Cuba, and it was said that those who went would sooner or later have the fever. Many lives were thus imperiled. It was for our Government to find out what measures could be taken to save the men.

A Board of Medical Commissioners was appointed to go to Cuba and investigate the yellow fever. Of this Board, Major Walter Reed, an army surgeon, was appointed chairman. Major Reed had never had the fever, but he was too brave an officer and too devoted a surgeon to do otherwise than welcome this opportunity for service.

He had to deal with a treacherous enemy, that stalked up and down in the dark, attacking its un-suspecting victims. No one knew how it came or by what means it spread. It was found wherever filth and darkness prevailed and was supposed to be a filth disease.

“The first thing we will do will be to clean up Havana and not leave any place for fever germs to lurk,” said Major Reed.

For a year and a half the most rigid sanitary measures were enforced. Deaths from other causes were reduced, but yellow fever went on its way unchecked. Plainly it was not a filth disease. Dr. Carlos Finlay, a physician in Cuba, offered the suggestion that the fever might be carried by the bite of a mosquito. The other members of the Commission scoffed at the idea.

“Everything else has failed in explaining why the disease spreads. I see no reason why we should scoff at this idea,” remarked Dr. Reed. “It is certainly worth investigating.”

There was but one way to find out, and that was for those who had not had the fever to be bitten by a mosquito that had come from the body of a yellow fever patient. The members of the Commission tried the experiment on themselves. Dr. Carroll was bitten by an infected mosquito, took the fever, and came near dying. Dr. Lazear allowed himself to be bitten by a mosquito, took the disease in its worst form, and died a martyr to the cause of science.

“It seems that we must try this experiment on a large scale and build special houses for the purpose,” said Dr. Reed to the Commission. “I am beginning to think the mosquito has much to do with it.”

An experiment camp was therefore built, named “Camp Lazear” in honor of the dead doctor who had sacrificed his life in the cause of investigation. Two houses were erected. One was filled with infected clothing, soiled articles, bedding, and everything that could possibly spread the disease from one person to another. All mosquitoes were carefully excluded from this building. Nothing was left to carry the disease, but the clothing and bedding.

The other building was clean, airy, and free from infected articles of any kind. But inside the screens were placed a number of mosquitoes that were known to be infected. Then came the call for volunteers. Dr. Reed addressed the soldiers:

“Men, I shall not detail anyone to enter these wards. I am asking for volunteers. Dr. Lazear has just died from the results of an experiment. It may mean death to some of you, but it may mean the saving of hundreds of thousands of others.”

One by one the soldier boys volunteered, until Dr. Reed had enough for his purpose. He ex-plained to them their danger and their duties. He then offered to each one a sum of money. “We take no money for this,” they replied. “It is a condition of our going that we receive no pay.”

“Gentlemen, I salute you in the name of humanity and your own great Government,” said Dr. Reed.

For twenty days and nights, the men lived in their different quarters. In the clothes-infected house the men slept in the yellow fever beds, handled the clothing of patients, and breathed the air that had passed over infected articles. Not one of them took the fever.

In the other house, clean, sweet, airy, but full of mosquitoes, ten out of thirteen came down with the fever, but the cases were light and not one of them died.

The experiment proved conclusively that yellow fever was carried by the bite of a female mosquito which had previously bitten a yellow fever patient. It was not carried by the clothing, and it did not infect the house. Its spread could be controlled by killing the mosquito or by screening the sick-room.

Dr. Reed died shortly after he had announced the results of his investigations. In a letter to his wife, he wrote,
“The prayer that has been mine for twenty years, that I might be permitted in some way and at some time to do something to alleviate human suffering, has been granted.”
(Once again, the formatting did not transfer on either above or below.)

The Watergate Scandal
by R. J. M. Marks

When Benjamin Franklin was a young boy, he and his friends built a fishing wharf with stolen stones. His excuse was that the wharf could be used by everyone, therefore he was justified in taking the stones. When his actions were discovered and relayed to his father, his father was very disappointed and said, “…evil can produce only evil, that good ends must be wrought by good means.” This lesson is one for all great men and women of power and influence to live by. But there is a time in history upon which we can look back and see the effects of not living up to this ideal. It happened in 1972 when Richard M. Nixon was President.

During this time, the Vietnam War was raging, and many peopleold and youngwanted it over. President Nixon felt threatened because of the opposition to the war. He believed that those who did not support him were against him. To monitor and control the actions of these people, President Nixon created a list, his Enemies List.

On this list were reporters, members of his White House staff, actors, activists, Presidents of Universities, Supreme Court Justices, and regular American citizens. Nixon believed that everyone on this list was his enemy and posed a threat to the welfare of the United States.

Nixon and his closest men formed an organization known as CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect the President.) They schemed and plotted to protect the country and to keep Nixon in office.

They concocted legal problems for those on the Enemies List, hoping to keep them too busy to cause trouble for Nixon. The Internal Revenue Service illegally audited them, and the FBI investigated them. To monitor these enemies, Nixon and CREEP called the Plumbers. The Plumbers were a secret group that “leaked” stories about people on the Enemies List. These stories were meant to discredit Nixon’s enemies in the eyes of the American people. In the dark of night, the Plumbers broke into buildings and spied on Nixon’s enemies.

For one of their most well known assignments, the Plumbers were ordered to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which was located at the Watergate Hotel. President Nixon, a Republican, wanted documentation on any illegal activity committed by the Democratic Party to use against them.

The Plumbers disguised themselves in business suits, carried briefcases, and held a fake banquet in a small room near the elevator leading to the DNC office. There they ate dinner, watched films, and waited for the DNC office to empty.

The DNC office stayed open very late that night, and the on-duty guard said they had to leave. Two of the men, the leader and the lock-picker, decided to hide in a nearby closet and sneak out after the guard left and let everyone else back into the hotel. The two men entered the closet and closed the door behind them. They got stuck. The closet door had locked, and they had to spend the entire night in the hotel closet, standing up. The plan had failed, so they decided to try again the next night.

This time, they waited for the lights to go out in the DNC office, and then they entered the hotel front door. They publicly took the elevator to the 8th floor. From there, they secretly took the stairs down to the 6th floor where the DNC office was located. They tried to enter the hallway leading to the DNC office, but the door was locked. They had failed again. They decided to try again the next night.

This time everything seemed to work as planned. They entered the Watergate Hotel from the garage. They broke into the DNC office, planted wiretaps, and took photographs of any documents that might be helpful in tarnishing the reputation of the DNC. Later the group left, and each of the men went to their separate homes. However, it was not over yet; one of the wiretaps did not work properly. About three weeks later, they tried again.

To fix the wiretap, the Plumbers entered the Watergate Hotel again. They put tape across the locks of the doors leading to the office of the DNC. After waiting for the office to empty, they noticed that someone had removed the tape. This should have alerted them that someone, possibly a guard, was aware that intruders were in the building. But rather than postponing the mission, they replaced the tape and continued their activities. Minutes later the police arrived; the Plumbers were arrested; and the Watergate scandal began.

Two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodard and Carl Bernstein, learned of the break-in. They interviewed people who worked closely with Nixon. Eventually, they also learned of the illegal money that was given to President Nixon as campaign contributions, the illegal wiretapping, and the illegal arrests of political activists and every day citizens. And they learned that all of these actions were connected to President Richard Nixon.

Eventually all of the Plumbers, many of the members of CREEP, and many other participants in the scandal went to prison. Ultimately, Richard Nixon became the only president to resign. And although he received a full pardon, his reputation and legacy as President were forever tarnished.

Richard Nixon repeated over and over that he had not done anything wrong. He believed that he and CREEP had acted in the best interest of the country and for the benefit of national security. Nixon believed the end justified the means.

He justified lying, stealing, and harassing Americans by saying it was for the good of the country. If Richard Nixon had lived by the lesson that Benjamin Franklin’s father had taught young Benjamin–that evil means can only produce evil deeds–the Watergate scandal would have been prevented. In addition, he, Richard Nixon, would not have had to resign as President as of the United States of America.

I’M STILL WORKING ON THEM

The modern copybooks. They’re going well. I’m almost done–only the formatting and proofing to finish. I’m really glad to be finishing up.

Here’s a sample of story for the grammar stage books–

Crazy Bet and the Funny Looking Pot
by R. J. M. Marks

Elizabeth Van Lew was a little lady with a big secret. The soldiers thought she was crazy, so they called her “Crazy Bet.” Everywhere Elizabeth went, she wore a big smile and a glazed look in her eyes. And she always whistled. Today she did the same as she passed the prison guards, carrying a large pot.

“That pot looks funny,” said one of the prison guards. “Do you think we need to look in it?” he asked another guard.

“No, that is just Crazy Bet. She is only bringing food to the soldiers. She does not like slavery and thinks that she can help to end it by nursing the Union boys. Look at her. Can’t you tell she’s crazy? She is too crazy to be a threat.”

Elizabeth heard every word these Confederate soldiers said. Next time, she would be more careful.

She hurried to the back of the prison. When she reached the Union soldiers, she took apart her funny-looking double pot. The bottom was made to hold hot water. This kept the food on top warm. But Beth had not put water in the bottom today. Instead, it held a secret note from Union General Ulysses S. Grant. The prisoners smiled at Crazy Bet. They were happy to have the cold food and the secret message.

A couple of days later, Elizabeth went to the prison again. She carried the same funny-looking pot.

“Excuse me, Ma’am,” called the guard. He stepped toward Elizabeth and held out his hand. “I need to see that package.”

Elizabeth had wrapped her shawl around the pot. Now she slowly unwrapped it. Holding on to the handle, she placed the pot in the guard’s open hand.

“Here you go, Sir,” she said with a great big smile and those same glazed eyes.

“Ouch!” he yelled, dropping the pot and spilling the food. The guard left Crazy Bet alone to care for his burned hand.

This time, Elizabeth had filled the bottom with steaming hot water. She picked up her pot, leaving the spilled food on the floor, and headed for home. The soldiers would not get food or secret notes from her today. But her role as Crazy Bet the Union spy was safe.

And here’s another–

Olympic Enemies

Not long ago there was a leader of the German people whose name was Adolf Hitler. He was very cruel to many people simply because they looked different or came from different cultures or religions than his own. He believed that the German people were members of the Aryan race. He thought they were stronger, faster, and better than all other races of people. And in 1936 he had his chance to prove that to the world.

That year Germany hosted the Olympic games in Berlin, the capital. Hitler believed that his “super men” would easily win many Olympic events. He would show the world their great strength and power. But a young African-American man named Jesse Owens proved Hitler wrong.

Jesse Owens was an amazing athlete. He was a runner, a long jumper, and a hurdler. While in college, Jesse set three world records and tied another, all in less than one hour. He was one of the best athletes in the world. His hard work, talent, and natural athletic skill had led him to the Berlin Olympic Games. At the games, Jesse Owens won four gold medals. The most unforgettable event of the four was the long jump.

Jesse Owens and Lutz Long, one of Hitler’s “super men,” were both favored to win the long jump. All eyes were on these two.

First Long stepped up for the qualifying rounds. He sprinted to the edge of the board, leaped into the air, and soared to a new world record. He had secured a spot in the finals.

Jesse Owens stepped up for a practice run before his real jump. He ran down the track and did not jump. “Foul,” called the official. Owens lifted his head in disbelief. He was stunned. It was only a practice run.

He made his way to the starting line again. This time, he was determined to do his best. He ran hard. He made sure that he jumped as close as he could to the edge of the board, without fouling. He soared through the air.
“Foul,” called the official.

Again Owens was shocked. He walked off the track and sat down with his head in his hands. It seemed that they were going to stop him from making the finals.

To everyone’s surprise, Lutz Long walked up to Jesse Owens. It was a striking sight to see the two men talking. Jesse Owens was tall and dark. Lutz Long was tall and blonde. They were supposed to be enemies; instead, they shook hands. Long quietly talked to him on the field. No one could hear their conversation.

When they finished talking, Jesse made his way back to the starting line again. He took his position and waited for the starting shot. When he heard it, he sprinted down the track. This time he ran a little slower than before. When he reached the board, he made an awful jump. He had not jumped from the end; instead he had jumped early, several inches from the end of the board. He made what looked to be the worst jump of his career. But there was no question as to whether or not he fouled. It was obvious to everyone present that he did not foul. He made it to the finals.

Later, Jesse Owens told reporters about his talk with Lutz Long during the long jump. Long had given him advice on jumping. He suggested that Owens take his jump far from the end of the board. He knew that Owens was such a good long jumper that he would easily be able to jump far enough to make the finals. In doing so, he would make sure the officials could not call foul on him. His advice worked. That jump may have been one of his worst, but it was certainly one of his smartest. Jesse Owens went on to win the long jump gold medal with a jump of 26 feet and 5 ½ inches.

After Jesse Owens won the long jump gold medal, Lutz Long was the first to applaud him. Then the two “enemies” left the field, arm-in-arm.

(By the way, the formating didn’t transfer to the blog. In the books, the grammar stage stories are double spaced and indented.)

SWITCHING GEARS

Have you ever noticed your natural level of mental output? I’ve noticed that I have a natural level of mental output that is comfortable, it’s my lazy mode. It’s where I kind of park my brain and stay. It’s the mode in which I do laundry, unload the dishwasher, clean the tubs and toilets, vacuum, and pick-up. It’s one notch below my level of output when I’m with my family and friends.

That is one notch below reading an easy mystery novel and a couple of notches above reading picture books to my kids. I thought I’d add that reading the picture books is lower because so many of those books put me to sleep. I’m reading the same books over and over and over and over and over and ….

I’ve learned that in staying in that normal gear (btw I hate mechanical examples, but they seem to work best), I am barely above a state of depression.

Homeschooling the kids, kicks my level of mental output up several notches. I love it. I think this is why so many of us research curriculum over and over and over. It gives us a reason to use our brains.

Now the funny thing about the “brain gears” is that when I started creating my Classical Reading and Writing Copybooks, my brain went into overdrive. I started working until 1 and 2 in the morning. Then I’d wake up at 4 and 5 am to continue working while everyone else was asleep. And what is really strange, is that I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t stop it. For the first time in my life (not surprising it was after I prayed that God’s plan for me would not pass me by), I had mental clarity on how to become involved in the world. I could envision my books, I knew how to create them, and I knew where to find the resources. Better yet, I knew what to do with them when they were finished.

I worked like a dog to get them finished. And when I did finish, I kept working at nothing, because I couldn’t turn off my brain. Well, finally it slowed down after a couple of months.

Now, I am trying to gear back up again. I’ve been trying and trying for months. Well, praise God, it happened last night. I couldn’t sleep at 4 am because I kept having ideas about the Navajo Code Talkers for the modern books. Well, after an hour of insomnia, I just got up and went for the computer. I am so excited because my brain is gearing back up. It’s strange because it’s like I don’t have complete control over my mental effort, obviously I do, but I’m not quite sure how to control it.

And since I’ve been in overdrive for once, I don’t like the lazy gear. I don’t like it at all. It’s depressing. I wonder if that’s not what’s wrong with so many Americans. I remember listening to Beth Moore in a Bible Study mention that many Christians are just plain bored. I’m sure that she said a whole lot of things more profound and Biblical than that, but the boredom thing is what stuck with me.

One of my goals is to train my children to have a naturally high level of mental output. This is why I believe Charlotte Mason stresses no twaddle. It reinforces the lazy mode, as does TV.

Harder still is changing that mental output in myself.

COPYBOOKS

I have just finished my first set of copybooks, 10-6-06. I am so excited and thrilled to have completed what was such a huge undertaking for me. I am in fact so excited that I am already working on year 4, 1850 to the present. I will soon begin advertising them via word of mouth.

I am jumping up and down inside and doing an emotional happy dance.

I hope that you, the public, find these to be extremely helpful and timesaving.

God Bless and happy copybooking,