Grammar for the Logic Stage
The grammar text we have chosen for the logic stage is
Rod and Staff's Building Christian English Series. It has a very strong academic core and no frills. The lessons are explained well in the reading section and are simple but effective in cementing the ideas. The teacher's manual begins with tips for explaining the lesson and follows with the answers to the problems. I find that the lessons are so well written that it is rare for me to have to use the teacher's manuel, but I am glad I have it. I have looked at several other systems but I haven't found anything that works better for our family.
Rod and Staff is written from a protestant, mennonite, perspective. The illustrations are of mennonite families and many of their lessons have selections from the Bible. This doesn't concern me in the least. I am not a protestant mennonite, but I couldn't care less if the example they use to teach my child about appositive adjectives comes from the gospels or from
Harry Potter. I want well written examples and, yes, the Bible is a fantastic source for that. As many who have read my blog know, I consider myself a secular homeschooler because I place academics at the core of our education. When I look for resources I look first to their accuracy and second to their compatibility with my kids learning methods. That is about it. As long as they are reasonably priced, the viewpoint, be it secular or christian, is not a concern as long as it doesn't attempt to preach. When I teach my children about religion, I'll use my own religious resources.
My daughter, on the other hand, is bothered by this perspective. Every time she gets a lesson that is heavily biblical, I hear the sighs and grumbling start. It is distracting to her. She is very sensitive to having people try to persuade her to think or believe differently than she does. My grandmother would say she has a chip on her shoulder when it comes to religion. My mother would say she takes after me. I'd say they both have a point. So, I made a deal with her: if you can find another program or book that teaches grammar as effectively, I would consider it.
Oh, how she wished for another level from the books we used before, but no such luck. Even if new books from the authors of
First Language Lessons were being written, they would not be ready for her in time. We looked at three different texts and two different co-ops before she agreed that the Rod and Staff books are either better or allow her more independent study, both of which are important to her.
So, there you have it! Even my daughter, who can smell a religious hard sell a mile away, chose these books for their quality. Once the decision was
ours and not just
mine, her grumbling stopped too.
We have a very long bedtime routine. Even now that the kids are big enough to do most of their washing and changing themselves, I still take hours at night getting them to sleep. The reason for this madness? I really enjoy reading to them. Ever since my oldest moved to her big girl bed we have read bedtime stories faithfully. It used to be a short and sweet thing to do each night, but now it can take hours, and even then it doesn't take much to persuade me to keep reading a little bit more than I am supposed to.
First off, all three of my kids enjoy different types of books. My four-year-old goes back and forth between picture books and beginner chapter books. We begin with her book each night because she is youngest and tends to fall asleep quickest. Her favorites include a set of beginning phonics books and Junie B. Jones, but our current book is 101 Dalmatians (Puffin story books)
by Dodie Smith. The older two are happy about this are enjoying the book as much as she is. This is the book the Disney movie was based on. As usual, the book is much, much better. 
by Suzanne Collins about a boy who falls to an underground world inhabited by giant bugs, bats, and a strange race of humans. Apparently we have a subterranean thing going with him. We had just read a very good abridged version of Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne after seeing the movie Journey 2. 
My eleven-year-old still loves a bedtime book too even though she reads for pleasure on her own now. I try to pick books she wouldn't pick on her own or something from the classics . Right now she is listening to the first of John Grisham's new book series for kids Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer. So far we both like it a lot even though she was not certain a murder mystery legal drama would suit her. It is a genre of books that is underrepresented in children's books in my opinion. It walks the reader through the legal system in such a way that is both thorough and interesting. She knows very little about the legal system and will occasionally stop me to ask a question. The murder in the story is a strangulation but it is about as non-violent as a murder can be. Before this selection we had read a lot of fantasy and we were both ready for a change of pace. 
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1. Free: Picnic at a State Park. Find a park, any park and pack a picnic lunch. Don't forget the bug spray.
Yesterday we completed our history book for the year. This is the third year we've used Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. I really enjoy this series and will be using book four next year. The selections read like a bedtime story. I see my children listening to these stories with the same interest I had in my Western Civ class. My children particularly loved history this year because the third book, which ends at 1850, is starting to form the globe into a world they recognize. They saw the United States gain its familiar contiguous shape through the war with Mexico. My son threw up his hands in disgust when the all too familiar story of a power hungry ruler who treated his subjects poorly began to unfold yet again. He wondered aloud why these people didn't see what was coming as clearly as he does. I just smile. My kids have no idea how happy it makes me to see them so interested and passionate about history.
