Current Daily Routine at the Farm

 This is our general Monday through Saturday routine. If anything comes up (like cleaning the water system, installing solar panels, or baby pigs being born) we are flexible.

530-630am: Roosters and sunlight wake us up; Anders and Tom head out to milk the cow; then Anders fetches the eggs; Henrik nurses, then Henrik plays in the courtyard while I get organized for the day.

630-7am: We eat breakfast; Anders and I do our myofunctional therapy exercises.

7-8am: Anders plays outside, often he ends up helping Herman or Erick with their work. Henrik plays outside with his babysitter; his favorite thing is the animals. Just walking on the uneven ground of the country is amazing exercise for him. This is my writing hour. Tom heads to his office (here at the farm).

8-9am: I do an hour of schoolwork with Anders. Henrik helps Emelia in the kitchen. 

9-11am: Anders finishes up his first set of schoolwork, then he usually reads or heads back outside. Henrik and I take a nap (I am pregnant right now, so very tired).

11-1130: Anders continues to read or play outside; he does a second check for eggs. Henrik and I hang out.*

1130-12: We eat lunch; Anders and I do our myofunctional therapy exercises.

12-2: Anders does schoolwork with his dad. Henrik goes on adventure with his babysitter; he loves wearing his rubber boots and tramping through mud and puddles. I exercise for thirty minutes and then have my unstructured time of the day in which I read, write more, make phone calls, or get emails. 

2-3: Anders plays outside or helps someone with work. Henrik and I do a cooking project or go for a walk.* 

3-4: I read to Anders or spend time with Tom. Henrik swims (plays in the fountain -- I specifically designed the fountain in the courtyard to double as a swimming pool for young children) or plays outside with his babysitter.

4-430pm: We eat dinner.

430-530: Anders and I do the forrest trail; Tom and Henrik hang out. Sometimes Tom and Henrik join us on the forest trail. Henrik can do 2/3 of a mile (including a lot of uphill) before asking to be carried.

530-630: I give Henrik and Anders evening snack; then Henrik has a bath, brushes teeth, and goes to bed. Anders cleans up, then takes a bath, and brushes his teeth.

630-730: Anders I do myofunctional therapy, then I read to Anders (and Tom). Sometimes we play a game instead. Sometimes Anders builds a fire and we watch fire t.v..

730pm: Tom, Anders, and I pass out the second the lights go out. 

On Sundays we relax, read, play with the animals (especially the baby pigs,) play board games, and clip finger nails.

We almost never leave the farm. Because ... why?

Currently, Anders spends a considerable amount of time digging up ants in the jungle. He brings them home, keeps them in a box, and feeds them. He keeps a notebook where he makes pictures of all the different types of ants he has found. He records what their different bites/stings are like. He also spends a lot of time with the baby pigs.

*I love farm life for Henrik in the exercise, the animals, and all the different people and activities he gets exposed to every day. I don't love farm life for Henrik because it's too full of leisure since Tom and I are not the farmers. I love doing cooking projects with Henrik, cleaning a room with him, organizing something, doing laundry, or doing errands. But other people do all those things here, so that leaves me to play with Henrik or "hang out" – which is not nearly as enjoyable to me as doing something with him. 

It occurs to me that Amish farm children develop incredible work ethic and life skills because their parents are farmers. Though I encourage our staff to have Henrik and Anders help them in anyway they can, it is not the same as working for survival with your parents. The Amish don't support work that takes them away from their families. Being here, I note that whereas most blue collar work can be done with children, and children can become experts in it at quite a young age if allowed, with office work or intellectual work it is much harder to "bring your children to life with you." 

Henrik's Reading List - Ages 9 to 18 Months

What I look for in books for this age: Reality! I don't read books to young children that teach them inaccurate things about the world--like that dogs talk or wear clothes or that people have magical powers.

Here are the books Henrik currently loves at the age of 18 months:

Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington

Baby Faces by DK

Baby Faces by Margaret Miller

Baby’s First Book of Birds and Colors by Phyllis Tildes

Bathwater’s Hot by Shirley Hughes

Big and Little by Margaret Miller

Brush, Brush, Brush by Rookie Toddler

Colors by Pantone

Dog by Matthew Van Fleet

First 100 Machines by Bright Baby

Freight Train by Donald Crews

Montessori Work 1, 2, 3 by Bobby and June George

Moo Moo What Are You by Begin Smart

My Big Animal Book by Roger Priddy

My Big Train Book by Roger Priddy

My Big Truck Book by Roger Priddy

My Five Senses by Margaret Miller

See, Touch, Feel by Piddy Books

Truck Driver Tom by Monica Wellington

Henrik's favorite book around 9 months was Moo Moo What Are You.

Henrik's favorite book around 12 months was Baby Faces.

His favorite book around 15 months was Freight Train and Big and Little.

His favorite books now, at 18 months, are Truck Driver Tom, Bathwater's Hot, and My Five Senses.

What I Look for in Homeschool Curriculums

1) Reality. If we are going to read historical fiction, it should be as close to reality as possible and ideally written a long time ago. Fiction should be avoided when reality is just as good. If we are going to do math, it should be based on problems that we solve in real life (this is why I love Ray's).

2) Intelligence. Anders can read children's books. If I am going to read a book to him, it should be at least high school level vocabulary, if not higher. Any program should -- grammar, logic, math, etc -- assume the child is intelligent and interested. This means it is not education disguised as fun. These types of programs are not just an insult to the child, they are a waste of time. Learning should not be "fun." It should be interesting. If you are interested in it, it does not need to be sugar-coated. Sugar coating is distracting and generally just wastes time -- which is what makes subjects boring.

We don't waste time on special projects, gluing things together or coloring pictures of historical eras and what not. We just read history books. Which is AWESOME and fascinating! Anders loves history. If I told him that today, instead of reading The Iliad, we are going to color a picture of people dressed in ancient Greek clothing, he would most likely comply, but deep down he would feel disrespected. What a waste of his time. "Work when you work, play when you play, one thing each time, that is the way," comes to mind. 

Another example: Let's say we need to practice multiplication. We can play a math game or do Mad Minute worksheets. The game is a kind-of fun way to memorize multiplication tables. The Mad Minute work sheet are an extremely effective, dry way to memorize the multiplication tables. So tell the child the choices, "We can spend thirty minutes playing this math game to practice times tables today, or you can spend two minutes doing two Mad Minute worksheets with extreme focus and then go outside to play for 28 minutes, what would you prefer?" Anders always chose the second option, and I bet almost all children would. 

If a child is seeking "fun" in his educational programs, then that needs to be addressed. Does he not understand the usefulness of what he is learning? Given good information, I have never seen children choose to dumb themselves down and waste their time.

3) Proven effectiveness. Books on unschooling sound ideal, but unschooling has not yielded results that would impress an ambitious child. Rote memorization sounds horrible! But ... it has proved to be a highly effective way to learn for over two thousand years. Montessori sounds amazing -- and has an incredible track record of success. "Progressive education" has an incredible track record of total failure. In The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America and Dare the School Build a New Social Order I learned that American education began to dumb people down starting in the 1920's, so I tend to be suspicious of anything pushed on the public after 1920.

The common core history program, which I had an early version of as a child, is horrible. I know because that's how I ended up with zero understanding of history. So I knew that was probably not the best history program to go with. When I read about how history was taught before the 1900's, I realized that is the only way history should be taught -- in order. This is one of the greatest decisions I have ever made.

I also follow the classic reading program. We do not do "language arts" which combines all aspects of reading. We do each thing separately, one at at time. We read words. We study the history and definition of words. We study how the fine motor skills of writing words. We study sentence structure. We study organizing and writing down our thoughts. These are different subjects, not one subject. 

Asians are the best at math in the world. Partly this is because their language makes math easier -- imagine if you said ten-one instead of eleven. Imagine if you said eight tens instead of eighty. Asian preschoolers can do math that English speaking preschoolers can't do just because of their language. But, English speakers can catch up. How? Well, don't do America's ridiculous common core! Do Kumon (a Japanese program) and Primary Math (a program from Singapore) and Ray's (the American program used before 1920, which is excellent).

I do not buy any program that teaches critical theory, that reality is subjective, or that redefines words or rewrites history out of a desire to be nice. I do not "nice-ify" anything about life. I do not believe children should be shielded from reality in any way. *With the exception of sex. I do not agree with modern liberal ideals of returning to hunter-gatherer style sexual freedom due to the proven effectiveness of western sexual values e.g. the monogamous-idealizing West not only obliterated the free-love hunter-gatherers, they crushed all the despotic harem-civilizations as well. So even if there are other ways to do things, monogamous family units have the best track record over time and should not be easily cast aside.

4) Reading reviews and trial and error. I use the booklist on GoodAndBeautiful.com, The Well Trained Mind, CathyDuffyReviews.com, Books Children Love, and reviews on Amazon.com to read about any program before buying it. Then I buy the best two to three programs in a subject and look through it. Sometimes I try a program and hate it. Or sometimes Anders hates it. But most of the time the effort I put in before buying anything yielded fantastic results. Anders has used the same curriculums for years -- and neither he not I have any complaints!

Current Daily Routine

This is our general Monday through Saturday routine. If anything comes up we are flexible, but I can't say much has come up since March. It's been like Groundhog's Day. 

630-7am: Henrik wakes us up; he nurses; then we all cuddle; we talk about our day; Anders gets dressed; I change Henrik's diaper. Tom leaves for work.

7-8am: The boys empty the dishwasher; I make breakfast; we all eat; we all clean up; we brush our teeth (breakfast Monday through Saturday is a glass of milk, eggs, sausage, and toast or oatmeal. On Sundays I make pancakes with whipped cream, berries, bacon and a pot of mint tea) 

8am-8:45am: Anders, Henrik, and I sit at the table. Anders and I do our myofunctional therapy exercises; Henrik joins in to the best of his ability. This takes ten minutes. Then Anders does his schoolwork of the day that requires my help while Henrik does something at the table, usually drawing, play dough, or a Montessori puzzle.

845-9am: We take a break and play with Henrik, usually peek a boo or something that involves chasing and hiding or Nerf guns.

9am-930am: Anders does school work independently at the table while Henrik and I prep lunch a few feet away. Anders asks me questions if he needs to.

930am-945am: I give Henrik a snack while giving Anders his daily spelling test. (snacks: I keep a box of his snacks next to the table, these include bags of dried fruits, freeze dried veggies, seeds, and crackers)

945-10am: Anders does as many pages of Kumon as he can while I put Henrik to sleep.

10am-1130am: I read to Anders while Henrik naps. 

1130-1: We make lunch, we eat lunch, we clean up from lunch, we do myofunctional therapy (lunch is almost always fish: sea bass with rice and a veggie, lox and creme fraiche on toast, caviar and creme fraiche on toast, sardines and chips, smoked oysters and crackers, homemade fish and chips, clam chowder, or we get sushi delivered.)

1-230: Flexible time. After Anders is done picking up anything he has laying around the house, he watches a documentary, reads, plays Legos, or goes outside. Henrik and I do a cleaning project, usually laundry or organizing. If I am all caught up on the cleaning, we do something together, usually swimming. Sometimes we have appointments during this time. *During pick-up time, Anders puts on music and his roller blades and skates around the house putting things away. 

230-245: I give Henrik a snack.

245-4: We do appointments, auditions, errands, or a cooking project. If I am feeling tired, usually once a week or so, Anders babysits while I rest.

4-530pm: Anders sets the table while I make dinner, and Henrik plays in the kitchen,  Tom comes home, and we eat together. We all clean up. We run dishwasher. (Dinner is almost always a red meat or an organ meat. If we have had a very busy day we do pizza or pasta.)

530-630: Sometimes we go for a family walk or swim, but most of the time this is bath time.

630-7: I give Henrik a snack, then we brush teeth, and I read to him and nurse him to sleep. Tom and Anders hang out, wrestle, or read.

7:00-800: Anders I do myofunctional therapy, we brush our teeth, then I read to Anders (and Tom).

800-830: Tom, Anders, and I hang out and talk. Then Anders and Tom go to sleep. (Tom needs ten hours of sleep.)

830-10: I read and then pass out.

On Sundays we do cleaning projects, family games, little trips, holiday things, and social things instead of school work.

Some routines that make my life easier include:

Fridays at 245pm we head to the grocery store. I order sushi to be delivered for dinner.

Saturdays at 1pm we clean the bathroom--Anders can actually do a decent job at this entirely on his own at this point.

Sundays at 7pm we clip finger nails. 

Anders's Homeschool Curriculum - Legal Grade 2 - Actual Grade Levels 3 & 4

Anders's Education August 2019 - July 2020

Legal Grade: Second Grade

Actual Grade: Third & the first half of Fourth

Age: 7.75-8.75

 

Notes

 

Anders continues to be ambitious, hardworking, and intellectually curious about everything. Though he is a total eight-year-old boy in almost every stereotypical way, there is something very future-oriented about him that is rarely seen in children.

Anders’s on-set acting coach (provided by the studio) said it well: She said, "Anders is like a full-grown man, a man in his prime. Sometimes he acts like an eight-year-old, but his energy, or who he really is, is a man.” I could not agree more. 

This year Anders was admitted into the John Hopkins program for gifted and talented youngsters at the high honors level for mathematical reasoning and the regular honors level in verbal reasoning. 

 

Schedule

 

At the farm we work from 10am-11:30, have lunch, read from 1230-130, and then Anders works until he is done. Sometimes he finishes at 2 and sometimes 3.

 

In Los Angeles we work right after breakfast, around 8am. We read from 930-11 while the baby naps. And then he finishes things up, usually by 1. The school day takes much longer in Los Angeles due to frequent Henrik breaks (at the farm Henrik is with a babysitter during school-time).

 

Key

Anything in red I highly recommend.

Anything in blue I recommend.

Anything in gray Anders or/and I do not recommend.

Anything in black I have not yet concluded what I think of it.

 

BUSINESS/LIFE SKILLS

 

Business

Was read The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Calson

Watched BizKids, seasons 1-3

TypeKids.Com, Lessons 1-16/30

Watched: The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson

Went on around 50 auditions

Filmed six episodes of a television show at Sony Studios (Indebted)

(Anders's best Indebted scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NFY4JztNJY&t=122s)

Did private coaching sessions for auditions

Bought and sold investments

Went to Dad's office

 

Life Skills

Helped care for baby and toddler

Cooked, cleaned, did laundry

Was read The Darwin Awards II by Wendy Northcutt

Was read My Friend, Sleep by Teresa Paiva

Watched https://farmersfootprint.us/watch/

Watched YouTube: Standup by Michael McIntyre and Jim Gaffigan

 

Notes

 

Anders can do laundry entirely on his own now.

 

Once Anders got to level 10 in TypeKids, lessons began to take him up to forty minutes to complete. He needed more repetition than the program was offering, so I bought a second account, and he started over from the beginning. The second time through he made it to lesson 16 before it started to take him too long to complete lessons again (about forty minutes again, that seems to be his tolerance level). He went back to the other account where he was still at level 10. Starting from back there, lessons take him five to ten minutes.

 

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT & SELF DEFENSE

 

Myofunctional Therapy with Joy Moeller

KravMaga (Level 1)

Dance Classes at Dance for Kids Brentwood

Fencing at Avant Garde

Hockey at Toyota Center (level III then IV)

Horseback riding at Westside Riding Center

Tennis

 

Watched YouTube: How to Mew (Orthotropics)

Watched YouTube: Mewing for Beginngers

Watched YouTube: Tongue Posture Demystified

Watched YouTube: Tongue Posture Demystified (chewing) part 2

 

Notes

 

The Mewing videos were boring to Anders. Doing Myofuncitonal therapy every day three times a day is equally challenging. But Anders was grinding at night and even starting to mouth breathe at times, so we have prioritized this.

 

Anders has been training himself to sleep on his back. It has taken a few weeks, but he almost never sleeps on his stomach now.

 

Anders was not able to go very most of his extracurriculars this year as in the fall he was busy filming Indebted and, in the spring, everything was canceled because of this year’s flu / Democrat strategy for presidential election 2020 / big pharma mandatory vaccination scheme / deep state move for more totalitarian control aka Covid.

 

 

MATH

 

Kumon program, third grade level C, pages 150-200/200 (completed)

Kumon program, fourth grade level D, pages 1-200/200 (completed)

Kumon program, fifth grade level E, pages 1-20/200

 

Ray’s New Intellectual Arithmetic, Lesson 1-30/80

 

Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition, Levels 3A and 3B (completed)

Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition, Level 4A (completed)

 

Life of Fred: Farming by Stanley F. Schmidt

Life of Fred: Goldfish by Stanley F. Schmidt

Life of Fred: Honey by Stanley F. Schmidt

 

Mad Minute workbook, Levels B 1-6

Mad Minute workbook, Level C-4 and C-5

 

Was read Fractions in Disguise by Edwin Einhorn

Was read A Place for Zero by Angeline LoPresti

Was read Measuring Penny by Lauren Leedy

Was read Less Than Zero by Stuart J Murphy

Was read More of Less by Stuart J Murphy

Was read Cut Down to Size at High Noon by Scott Sundby

Was read Room for Ripley by Stuart J Murphy

Was read Multiplying Menance: The Revenge of Rumpelstiltskin by Pam Calvert

Was read Zero is Not Nothing by Mindel and Harry Sitomer

Read What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras by Julie Ellis

 

Watched YouTube: The Story of One BBC Documentary

 

Notes

 

I love our math program. It is the perfect mixture of things to create a really thorough math education.

 

That being said, geometry is one of those useless subjects that I cringe at Anders learning. I worry that Anders’s education is too intellectual and not practical enough.

 

 

LOGIC

 

Mind Benders, Level 4, grades 3-6 (completed)

Mind Benders, Level 3, grades 3-6 (completed)

Mind Benders, Level 2 (completed)

 

Brain Quest, Grade 2 (completed)

 

Mr. Rhee's Brilliant Math Series: Cogat, grade 2

Gifted and Talented Cogat Text Prep, grade 2

SCAT Elementary Workbook by Aristotle Circle

Elementary SCAT Workbook 2019-2020 edition by Gate Teacher Resources

SCAT Full Length Practice Test Grades 2-3 Elementary – Test 1

2 Practice Tests for the OLSAT Grade 3 (4th Grade Entry) Level D

 

Was read Don't Get Fooled: How to Analyze Claims…

 

Notes

 

Anders did the Mind Benders Level 2 workbook two years ago as well. Back then he was not a good reader yet, so I read him the problems. This time he did the book entirely on his own. Level 3 he also did on his own. He did the first third of level 4 on his own, and then I helped him with the rest. He will repeat this workbook when he is in fifth grade (on his own, I assume).

 

Logic continues to be his favorite subject (most of the time) because it is war and battle. The weapons are words and ideas instead of swords and guns.

 

 

GRAMMAR

 

Well Trained Mind, Level 3 (completed)

Well Trained Mind, Core Instructor Text (grades 5-8), lessons 1-25/131

Red Workbook: A Complete Course for Young Writers, Aspiring Rhetoricians, and Anyone Else Who Needs to Understand How English Works (grades 5-8), lessons 1-25/131

 

Editor in Chief, Beginning 1 Grades 2-3 (completed)

Editor in Chief, Beginning 2 Grades 3-4 (half way)

 

Sentence Diagramming, Beginning, Grades 3-12 (completed)

 

Notes:

 

Anders continued to work on the poems he memorized last year: “I Love You Well,” "Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face," "I Walked a Mile with Pleasure," "Don't You Quit," and "Invictus.”

 

Because he has to do so much memorization work for acting, he only memorized two additional things this year: “Vitai Lampada” and Puck’s monologue from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “If We Shadows Have Offended.”

 

We skipped Well Trained Mind Level 4 as it looked like just a repeat of level 3, and we went straight to Well Trained Mind for grades 5-8, which I hate, but is still the best I have found.

 

 

SPELLING & VOCABULARY

 

Sequential Spelling, level 1/Grade 3 (completed)

Sequential Spelling, level 2/Grade 4 (lesson 90/180)

 

Word Roots Beginning from The Critical Thinking Company (completed)

3rd Grade Vocabulary Flash Cards by Sylvan (completed)

Vocabulary from Classical Roots, Grade 4 by Lee Mountain (completed)

Read The King who Rained by Fred Gwynne

 

Notes

 

The first year of Sequential Spelling was very hard for Anders. He got many words wrong. We did extra repetition, sometimes doing the same test or word ten times.

 

The second year has been easy – like reading, something “clicked.”

 

Anders does much better on spelling tests if I go over the list of words with him and point out the patterns that I notice. This directs his studying.

 

As a program, I LOVE Sequential Spelling.

 

I looked into quite a few vocabulary programs and am really not sure they are necessary if a child is reading old books. Anders may be better off studying Latin. Not sure yet. I do like the program we are using, but Anders has not learned any new words from it.

 

 

PENMANSHIP

 

Zaner Bloser Handwriting: 2ed Grade Manuscript (completed)

Zaner Bloser Handwriting: 2ed Grade Cursive (completed)

Zaner Bloser Handwriting: 3^rd Grade Cursive (completed)

 

 

READING

 

Read McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader 1920 edition

Read McGuffy’s Fourth Eclectic Reader 1920 edition (lesson 60/90)

 

Read The Enourmous Crocodile by Roald Dahl (atos 4.0)

Read The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl (atos 4.1)

Read The Twits by Roald Dahl (atos 4.4)

Read Fantastic Breasts and Where to Find Them

Read The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Read: Woody, Hazel and Little Pip by Elsa Beskow

Read: Children of the Forest by Elsa Beskow

Read: The Flowers Festival by Elsa Beskow

Read The Phantom Toolbooth by Norton Juster

Read The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellog

Read The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar by Ivan Krylov

Read Dragonslayers from Beowulf to St. George by Joseph McCullough – he loved this

Read Various Hardy Boy mysteries (1927 editions)

 

Was read The Problem with Pulcifer by Florence Parry Heide

Was read Sleeping Beauty by KY Craft

Was read Usborn Illustrated Grimm's Fairy Tales

Was read Usborn Illustrated Andersen's Fairy Tales

Was read Swedish Folk Tales by John Bauer

Was read The Darwin Awards II by Wendy Northcutt

Was read Quips & Quirks by Clyde Watson

Was read Snipp, Snapp, Snutt and The Reindeer by Maj Lindman

Was read The Littlest Viking by Alexandra Penfold

Was read Little Tomte's Christmas Wish by Inkeri Karvonen & Hannu Taina

Was read The Little Winter Book of Gnomes by Kirsten Sevig (fine)

Was read Per and the Dala Horse

Was read The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Was read The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter

Was read Castle by David Macaulay

Was read Cathedral by David Macaulay

Read and was read Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray

 

Notes

 

I absolutely love the McGuffy readers for teaching values.

 

Though I have Anders read to me things at the fourth grade level, he tested at grade level 7.4 on his Star 360 standardized test in May.

 

I stopped keeping track of Anders’s free reading books as he reads too much for me to continue to do so. The books he reads are books that have been noted already. We have not been to the library or the bookstore -- he goes shopping on our bookshelves, pulls out a dozen books, and lays around reading for hours.

 

Because he has not been introduced to all the high-fructose-corn-syrup books out there for boys his age, Anders is very happy rereading books I have read to him before, like Beowulf, A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream, and The Swiss Family Robinson, his current favorite. This keeps him historically in line with where we are and introduces him to great literature.

 

 

WRITING

 

Writing with Ease Workbook, Level 3, a selection (completed)

Writing and Rhetoric, Book 1, Third Grade: Fable (completed)

 

Notes:

 

I love the Writing and Rhetoric program, as does Anders, but I don’t think the program provides enough emphasis on the basics, hence my use of selections from Writing with Ease as well. With Henrik I will start the Writing with Ease program in first grade.

 

I follow the classical writing curriculum, which has been used for over two thousand years, and does not emphasize creative writing the way modern education does, which tends to work okay for girls but tends to make boys miserable. I don’t like progressive curriculums for either boys or girls. Much better for children to read good writing first, to imitate good writing first.

 

Education does not have to be exciting every minute for children to understand and appreciate what they are leaning. Children become bored in school when they don’t see the point of what they are doing, not when they are asked to do work that is repetitive, but of which they see the point.

 

 

HISTORY (1066-1492)

 

Was read Story of the World, Volume 2 (page 129-403/403)

Was read selections from Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson

Was read Stories from English History, vol 1 by Alfred J Church (completed)

Was read Stories from English History, vol II by Alfred J Church (completed)

Was read The Usborne History Britain (pages 135-201)

Was read Britannia: 100 Great Stories From British History (pages 71-135)

Was read The History of Scotland for Children by Fiona Macdonald (pages 43-87)

Was read selections from Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation by Birgit and Peter Sawyer

Was read selections from The History of the Renaissance World by Susan Wise Bower

Was read selections from Scandinavia: A History by Ewan Butler

Was read selections from A Concise History of the Netherlands by James Kennedy

Was read selections from A History of Germany in the Middle Ages by Ernest Henderson

Was read selections from Food in History  by Reay Tannahill (the chapters on food in ancient and medieval times)

 

Was read The Saga of Eric Brighteyes by H. Rider Haggard

Was read Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges

Was read A Farm Through Time by Angela Wilkes

Was read The Medieval Feast by Aliki

Was read The Stories of Hans Anderssen by Robert Mathias

Was read Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales by Usborne

Was read Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Usborne

Was read An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales by Theresa Breslin

Was read Sleeping Beauty by KY Craft

Was read Cinderella by Olga Zakharova – not the original story, great pictures

 

Watched Making History - Medieval Mining

Watched Medieval Iron Production in Holland - smelting ore

Watched: Nova: Secrets of the Shining Knight

Watched YouTube: Life in The Middle Ages The Monk

Watched History Channel: Going Medieval

Watched YouTube: St.George and the dragon

 

973: Watched YouTube: "The Germans - Otto and the empire DW Documentary"

842-1242: Watched YouTube "The Byzantine Varangian Guard (Documentary)"

842-1242: Watched YouTube "1000 - Vikings of the East Igor & The Kievan Rus"

1022: Watched YouTube "Varangian Guards during the reign of Basil II (999-1022 AD)"

1000: Watched YouTube "From Pagan Nomads to Christian Knights   King Stephen & The Birth of Hungary"

1030: Watched YouTube "The Battle of Stiklestad 1030 AD"

 

1035: Watched YouTube "Ten Minute English and British History #07 - The Late Anglo-Saxons and King Cnut"

1066: Watched YouTube "How the Normans changed the history of Europe - Mark Robinson"

1066: Watched YouTube "Norman History and Knights"

1066: Watched YouTube "Viking Harald Hardrada (Byzantine Varangian Guard)"

1066: Watched YouTube "Road to 1066 The Rise and Fall of the North Sea Empire"

1066: Was read William the Conqueror by Thomas Costain

1066: Perused Hastings 1066: The Fall of Saxon England by Osprey

1066: Perused Viking Warrior versus Anglo-Saxon Warrior by Gareth Williams

1066: Watched 1066 A Year to Conquer England 1/3 (Non Politically Correct version)

1066: Watched 1066 A Year to Conquer England 2/3 (Non Politically Correct version)

1066: Watched 1066 A Year to Conquer England 3/3 (Non Politically Correct version)

1099: Was read The Crusaders: A Story of the War for the Holy Sepulchre by Alfred J Church - fine but a little confusing and not all that well written

1099: Watched YouTube "Episode 1 Holy Land Crusades BBC Documentary"

 

1100: Was read The Crusaders: A Story of the War for the Holy Sepulchre by Alfred J. Church

1107: The Norwegian Crusade: Explained

1119: Watched YouTube: "The Knights Templar! The most comprehensive documentary of the Knights Templar!"

1119: Watched YouTube: "History Documentary 2016 Legendary Mysteries Of The Knight Templar New Documentaries 2016"

1150: Watched YouTube: "Episode 2 Clash of Titans Crusades  BBC Documentary"

1170: Was read Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese

1190: Watched YouTube "Teutonic Knights - Origins and Founding"

1195: Watched YouTube: "The Battle of Alarcos 1195 - The Fight Between Christianity and Islam Intensifies WOTW EP 8P2"

 

1200: Islam: The Untold Story (Tom Holland)

1200: YouTube: Weapons without metal: Far from Primitive!

1200: YouTube: History of Norway #2 – The Christian Kingdom of the Danes

1200: Watched YouTube: "Episode 3 Victory and Defeat  Crusades  BBC Documen.."

1200: Watched Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail

1200: Watched YouTube: "Medieval Art History Overview from Phil Hansen"

1205: Was read The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

1205: Watched YouTube: "History's Mysteries - The True Story of Robin Hood (History Channel Documentary)"

1215: Was read The Magna Charta by James Daugherty

1215: Watched YouTube: "The Magna Carta (1215)"

1215: Watched YouTube: "The Story of Magna Carta"

1215: Watched YouTube: "Magna Carta What Happened Next   6 Minute History"

1220: Watched YouTube: "Genghis Khan - Rise of Mongol Empire - BBC Documentary - by roothmens"

1227: Watched YouTube: The Rise and Fall of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire

1230: Watched YouTube: "The Mongol Empire Kublai Khan History Channel"

1230: Watched YouTube: "Mongols Season 1 Full - from Genghis to Kublai"

1230: Watched YouTube: "Secret History of Genghis Khan - Documentary 2019"

1250: Watched YouTube: "Why were the Mongols so successful"

1250:  Read and was read Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray

1252: Was read Cathedral by David Macaulay

1263: Watched YouTube: "The Battle of Largs 1263 AD"

1264: Watched YouTube: "2nd Baron Wars.The Battle of Lewes 1264 AD. Part 1"

1264: Watched YouTube: "1264-2nd Baron Wars.The Battle of Lewes 1264 AD - Part 2"

1265: Watched YouTube: "The battle of Evesham, metal detecting uk"

1265: Watched YouTube: "Battle of Evesham - August 4, 1265 (Second Barons' War)"

1265: Watched YouTube: “The Barttle of Evesham 1265 AD”

1266: Was read A Boy Named Giotto by Paolo Guarnieri

1270: Watched YouTube: "Episode 3 Victory and Defeat   Crusades   BBC Documentary"

1270: Watched YouTube: Holy Fury – Haakon Magnusson #31

1273: Was read Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle - meh

1278: Watched YouTube: "Battle on the Marchfeld (1278AD) - Medieval Kingdoms Total War 1212AD Mod Gameplay"

1284: Was read The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning

1290: Was read selections from Expulsion: England’s Jewish Solution

1298: Was read The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter

 

1300: Was read The Faraway North: Scandinavian Folk Ballads by Ian Cumpstey

1300: Was read Castle by David Macaulay

1307: Was read The Legend of William Tell by Terry Small

1300: Watched Medieval Lives Series: The Damsel, The Knight, The King, The Minstrel, The Monk, The Outlaw, The Philosopher

1300: Watched YouTube: What Life Was Like in Medieval Castles – Important to point out that the beer medieval people drank was usually just fermented, like kombucha, not very alcoholic at all. False to claim that they were drunk all the time. Also important to point out that the royals or rich people were often working when they were socializing. Feasts weren’t just for fun. They weren’t then and they aren’t now.

1300: YouTube: Early 1300’s music. King Edward II era music.

1300: Perused Forces of the Hanseatic League: 13^th to 15^th Century

1350: Was read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo translated by Tolkein

1386: Watched YouTube "Everything you need to know to read “The Canterbury Tales” - Iseult Gillespie"

1386: Was read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales retold by Marcia Williams

1386: Watched YouTube: “Henry V Documentary - Biography of the life of King Henry V of England”

1390: Watched YouTube: “Jan van Eyck, the Story of His Most Stunning Painting”

1398-1485: Watched Amazon: The Hallow Crown, seasons 1 and 2 – These Shakespeare plays were unfortunately abridged but otherwise they were awesome

 

1400: YouTube: Homemade Gunpowder, For Science! How to Make Gunpowder – DIY Gunpowder Experiment!

1400: Was read Men of Iron by Howard Pyle

1400: YouTube: Sarah Brightman - - Scarborough Fair

1400: YouTube: English Renaissance Music – Shakespeare’s Time

1400: YouTube: Tudor and Renaissance Music

1400: Perused Faces on Places: About Gargoyles and Other Stone Creatures – Like most kids, Anders did not really like Gothic architecture

1400: Britain’s Bloody Crown: The Mad King Ep 1 of 4 (War of the Roses)

1400: The Great Age of Exploration 1400 – 1550 Documentary

1403: Read Shrewsbury 1403: Struggle for a Fragile Crown by Dickon Whitewood – another of those battle books that Anders really loves

1415: Watched YouTube: “Agincourt: The Bloodiest Battle (Famous Medieval Battle Documentary) | Timeline”

1440: Watched YouTube: “The Machine That Made Us (Gutenberg Printing Press Documentary) | Timeline”

1450: Was read The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson

1450: Watched YouTube: The Spice of Life – Pepper: The Master Spice – BBC production narrated by Edward Woodward

1452: Watched YouTube: “History Documentary BBC ❖ Leonardo DaVinci, behind a Genius”

1455: Watched YouTube: “Britain’s Bloody Crown: The Kingmaker Must Die Ep 2 of 4 (War of the Roses Documentary)”

1455: Watched YouTube: “Britain’s Bloody Crown: Ep 2 of 4 (War of the Roses Documentary)

1455: Watched YouTube: “Britain’s Bloody Crown: The Princes Must Die Ep 3 of 4 (War of the Roses Documentary)

1455: Watched YouTube: “Britain’s Bloody Crown: A Mother’s Love Ep 4 of 4 (War of the Roses Documentary)

1450’s: Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty: Betrayal – Part 1 of 4 (The Real Game of Thrones)

1460: Was read Fine Print: A Story about Johann Gutenberg

1485: Was read selections from Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

1485: Watched YouTube: Battle of Bosworth 1485 – War of the Roses Documentary

1485: Watched YouTube: Battle Stack: The Battle of Bosworth (York vs Lancaster – War of the Roses)

1492: Was read The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Forester

 

Notes

 

I had a stack of thirteen or so history books in our homeschool pile and read them to Anders in chronological order. I kept a post-it note on top of each book saying what year we were in, and I kept the books stacked accordingly. For example, if in three books we had made it to the years 1215, 1190, 1175, we would read the book in which we were in 1175 until we were passed 1215, and then it would move to the bottom of the pile, and I would read the next book on the top of the pile --  the book with a post-it saying “1190.” In this way Anders heard many famous stories from history several times and in different ways and from different perspectives. It was daunting though, as we were in the middle of thirteen books at a time, and I wondered if we would ever make it through them.

 

I read many books on the side to provide more detail. Any book that is listed as “selections from” means that I read the full book and then read any parts to Anders that I thought he would find interesting.

 

We are just hitting the conquistadores now, and I find it interesting that the popular history narrative (Native Europeans are bad, the conquering of America was the Greatest Tragedy Ever, slavery was this random evil inflicted on innocent Africans by evil Native Europeans) doesn’t work at all if history is taught in order. For someone learning classical history: all peoples all over the world have been conquering other peoples since the beginning of recorded history and slavery has been around in every civilization known to man. Neither of these things is shocking or even that sad after thousands of years of it.

 

What is shocking is that a specific people decided to stop doing those things. Those people – Native Europeans -- also forced the rest of the world to stop doing those things as well (to the best of their ability). This should be celebrated and the people who did this should be celebrated. If history is taught in order, this realization is unavoidable.

 

I imagine that learning classical history would also help African Americans and Native Americans to feel less like victims since the Native Europeans themselves were similarly conquered and enslaved all throughout history. The story of Cortez and the Native Americans is almost identical to the Story of Charlemagne and the Saxons – the Christian playbook did not change much in a thousand years -- except that Cortez was far nicer and less murderous to the Native Americans than Charlemagne was to the Saxons.

 

If Anders were a schooled kid, in third grade he would have learned about American Indian tribes of his local region, about the explorers and settlers of America (from a “Europeans are bad” perspective) and about how the US government is structured. He would also have done map work. In fourth grade he would have learned more general geography and would have studied the history of California, from the Native Americans to the Spanish missions to the Gold Rush and World War II.

 

I am SO GLAD he is learning classical history! And me too! I had no idea how much history I didn’t know.

 

 

SCIENCE/ENGINEERING/TECHNOLOGY

 

Daily Science Workbook, Grade 3 (completed)

Daily Science Workbook, Grade 4 (completed)

 

Human Biology / Health and Medicine / Genetics

Was read The Omnivore's Dilemma Young Readers Edition by Michael Pollan

Was read selections from Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser

Was read selections from Why Raise Ugly Kids

Watched YouTube: BBC The Human Body Secrets Of Your Life Revealed Series 1 2of3

Watched YouTube: Vaxxed - From Cover Up to Catastrophie

Watched YouTube: Life in the womb (9 months in 4 minutes)

Watched YouTube: Science for Kids - The Acid Inside My Stomach Learn About Digestion

Watched YouTube: The Truth About Sugar - New Documentary 2015

Watched YouTube: What Sugar Does to Your Brain & Body

Watched YouTube TedEd: At what moment are you dead? – Randall Hayes

YouTube: MindField: Seasons 1, 2 and 3

 

Technology / Engineering / Space

Was read Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction is Hijacking Out Kids--And How to Break the Trance

Watched YouTube: Norway’s $47BN Coastal Highway

Crazy Contraptions: 16 Lego Projects – this was a big hit. Anders did all of them in two days.

Watched YouTube The geometric dance of Earth & Venus over an 8-year period 

 

Physics

Watched TedEd: Turbulence: one of the great unsolved mysteries of physics - Tomás Chor

Watched TedEd: What is entropy? - Jeff Phillips

Watched TedEd: Newton's 3 Laws, with a bicycle - Joshua Manley

Watched TedEd: The physics of surfing - Nick Pizzo

Watched TedEd: What is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle? - Chad Orzel

Watched TedEd: What’s the smallest thing in the universe? - Jonathan Butterworth

Watched TedEd: Questions No One Knows the Answers to (Full Version)

Watched TedEd: What's invisible? More than you think - John Lloyd

Watched TedEd: Light waves, visible and invisible - Lucianne Walkowicz

Watched YouTube: Nuclear Energy Explained by Kurzgesagt

Watched YouTube: Uranium and the origins of Nuclear Power by Kathy Reed

Watched YouTube: History Documentary BBC – How it Works Nuclear Reactor from Jelke Kint

Watched YouTube: How to build a nuclear power plant from ScienceDuude

Watched YouTube: Fusion Power Explained from Kurzgesagt

Watched YouTube: The Economics of Nuclear Energy from Real Engineering

 

Geology

Was read Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Watched YouTube: Gemstone Geology Documentary

Watched YouTube: BBC Earth Power of the Planet 1of5 Volcano

Watched YouTube: BBC Earth Power of the Planet 2of5 Atmosphere

Watched YouTube: BBC Earth Power of the Planet 3of5 Ice

Watched YouTube: BBC Earth Power of the Planet 4of5 Oceans

Watched YouTube: How to Grade and Value Pearls The 5 Ss

Watched YouTube: 5 Strange Phenomena Science Can’t Explain

Watched YouTube: Endless videos on mining, gold, gems, and diamonds

Watched YouTube: Top 10 Archaeological Mysteries Science STILL Can't Explain!

Watched Yukon Gold, various episodes

Watched TedEd: Where Does Gold Come From?

Watched YouTube: Making History - Medieval Mining

Watched YouTube: Medieval Iron Production in Holland - smelting ore

Watched YouTube: How I Became a Goldsmith (and how you can too!)

Watched YouTube: Goldsmithing and diamond setting with Kevork Gurunian

Watched YouTube: Ancient Jewelry Techniques by Azza Fahmy

Watched YouTube: Goldsmith vs Silversmith: What’s the Difference by Lorna Romanenghi

Watched YouTube: Georg Jensen silversmith Jesper Nordo reveals his secrets

Watched YouTube: Learn Silversmithing: Basic Tools. Supplies to get started. Silversmithing for beginngers by Stardust Mine Jewelry

Watched YouTube: Watched Ruby and Revolver by Goal Zero

Watched YouTube: How to make a ring from start to finish by Stardust Mine Jewelry

Watched YouTube: Making your own silver jewelry by Andrew Berry

 

Biology

Watched YouTube: BBC Planet Earth 2 Documentary HD 1080p Wild Russia Siberia

Watched YouTube: National Geographic Super Spider Documentary

Watched YouTube: National Geographic Wild Birds of Prey (Raptors, Hawks, Falcons)

Watched YouTube: Eagle Documentary National Geographic Full Queen of the Skies

Watched YouTube: National Geographic Documentary-Amazing Animal Homes, how animals live, Nature Documentary 2016

Watched YouTube: Nature of the cuckoo duck - David Attenborough - BBC wildlife

Watched YouTube: Sky Hunters, The World of the Dragonfly - The Secrets of Nature

Watched YouTube: How Dogs (Eventually) Became Our Best Friends

Watched YouTube: Documentary BBC Dolphins, The Ultimate Guide

 

Notes

 

Fast Food Nation ended up repeating too much information that Anders already learned in Omnivore’s Dilemma. With Henrik I will read Omnivore’s and skip Fast Food.

 

 

FINE ART

Drawing with Pastels Level at Renaissance Fine Art

Piano & Voice at Cornerstone Music Academy

 

 

SPANISH

Due to the birth of his brother, Anders spent only one month in Nicaragua practicing Spanish all day every day

Private tutoring / conversation practice

Coquito Clasico, Lectura Inicial

Coquito de Oro, Integrado

Nacho Avansado

Coquito Fabulas de Esopo

 

 

Favorite Music

Amish Paradise by Weird Al

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python

Everything by Sarah Brightman

Everything by Antti Martikainen

Everything by Tartalo

 

 

Most Used Aps

Drops (he is teaching himself Norwegian)

Chess Tiger Pro

Stop Motion