Apparently, I can't stand to have one school year be exactly like the next.  The only time I have ever done anything even remotely similar from one year to the next was when John was in seminary and I was working at Geneva.  That was the first time I had ever taught any course more than once and William was in the same school two years in a row...although Micah was added in to the school business for the second year.  Anyway, we're changin' it up once again. 

For this coming academic year, I will be team teaching with Mrs. Smith in her combined 4/5 classroom - William's classroom.  I will do two hours in the afternoon, teaching literature, grammar and writing.  It will be new for me to teach 4th and 5th grades, although I have done it in homeschool co-ops before and survived, but I am excited, literature, grammar and writing being right up my alley.  For literature, we're doing good stuff, like Caddie Woodlawn, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Family Under the Bridge, Across Five Aprils, Number the Stars, and one other yet to be determined.  In history, they'll cover 1750 to the present, so the literature books were chosen to roughly coincide with that. 

I'm trying to decide on the that last literature selection, and thought about something having to do with the Revolutionary War.  There's Johnny Tremain, of course, although I'm concerned that it might be a little too much for the fourth graders.  I've heard Carry On, Mr. Bowditch highly recommended and it might do fine, although it's not technically about the war.  I really enjoyed April Morning by Howard Fast when I was in middle school, but it's been so long since I read it, I can't be certain that it was as good as my muddled middle school brain thought it was.  Then there's Little Women, anything by Lloyd Alexander, The Hobbit, on and on I could go.  Help!  Do you have any recommendations?  They can relate to the American Revolution or not.  There is so much good literature to choose from that it's hard to narrow down to THE best one for our purposes.  What do you think?

I will still homeschool Micah and Johanna in the mornings, and then leave John to crack the whip over them until they finish whatever they dawdled over in the morning.  This will be something new for all of us and I have moments of trepidation, wondering how we'll all do with mom working out of the home again, but we've adapted before, and God is always faithful. 

Posted by Christina Hitchcock

Congratulations on the new job! That's great, and very exciting!

I'm sure you can imagine that I think you should do Little Women -- can't really get any better than that! But, all the books sound good. I've read several of the ones you've already chosen, but I should read the others as well.

By the way, was it you that recommended The Heaven Tree trilogy? I think it was. I've read The Heaven Tree and The Green Branch, and am just now starting The Scarlet Seed. They're really good! I especially liked The Heaven Tree, although the ending was so sad. It's kind of interesting to see Llewellyn and Joanna (Joan) portrayed in The Green Branch. I think I like them better in Here Be Dragons, but of course they're more fully developed characters there.

Have you had a chance to pick up Tigana yet?

Christina

Posted by Lauren

Wow ... I read most of those books in seventh and eighth grade. By the way, I love Number the Stars - I read it in third grade and liked it so much that I did my book report on it. I still remember it. That was one of my favorite books as a young kid. I loved The Hobbit also. All the books sound good, and your new job sounds very exciting.

Posted by Christina Hitchcock

Another great book is The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Spear. It's set in Puritan New England, just prior to the Revolutionary War, and has a lot of interesting story lines regarding the Puritans and Quakers, as well as political issues with England. It's always been one of my favorites.

Christina

Posted by opckid

Well... wow. If I wasn't going to college, I think I'd like to come join your class. It sounds wonderful!

*is quite a nerd*
Wait, wait, I'm trying to learn to say "scholar" rather than "nerd"... I guess it sounds more... scholarly? :)

Posted by Anonymous

Wow!! You are going to keep busy! But sounds like something you will enjoy. -- Kara

Posted by hrlabonte

this sounds like a great job! I haven't been here for awhile and need to catch up!

~Heather