flynn057

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt is a poignant novel for middle school age readers, although it can also be used for upper elementary and high school.  Set during the Civil War, the title refers to the fact that the war started in April 1861 and ended in April 1865.  This is a deep novel about complex issues and the different perspectives that can be taken about slavery and war. Expect to read carefully along with your student and be prepared to discuss the themes.  There is much to learn about life, courage, and decisions here!  IMPORTANT NOTE: I have referred to three historical poems in this study guide. You can find them in the on-line study guide document which  also contains all of the questions you find below in an easy-to-print Across Five Aprils Study Questions and Poetry PDF . The novel is available from Christian Book Distributors here: Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt .   You can find the publisher's free study guide PDF fi...

Literature Study Questions for   Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink These are very simple study questions designed to get the students to pay attention to what they are reading.  They are also suitable for oral narration if you are reading aloud.  They can be used with upper elementary and middle school students. Author’s Note  According to the Author’s Note, what did the Mrs. Brink use as the basis for her story? Copy the last paragraph. Chapter 1 How would you describe Caddie in this first chapter of the book? How did Caddie meet Indian John? Chapter 2 Why does Mr. Woodlawn let Caddie run around with the boys instead of acting like a young lady? What do Mrs. Woodlawn and Mr. Tanner have in common? Chapter 3 What was Mr. Woodlawn’s policy about hunting pigeons? Why? Describe Uncle Edmond. Chapter 4 Why did Uncle Edmund choose to take Caddie hunting? What did Uncle Edmund do to Caddie, and what was her reaction? Chapter 5 Why did Uncle Edmund want to take Nero wit...

Dear friends, A few years ago, when I taught a middle school English class for a home school co-op, we did a few literature units on the Bible.   We started with the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis for two weeks, and also did a week each on Psalms and Proverbs, and a couple of weeks on the student's choice of either Daniel or Esther.   (See links below.) Art for the Book of Daniel Study Questions for the Book of Daniel Art for the Book of Esther Study Questions for the Book of Esther Psalms Study Guide Here are some of the questions I used for the study of Joseph.  Since this was an English class, I incorporated some facets of language arts skills in with the inherent history and Bible.  I categorized them by Setting, Plot, Bible History, Symbolism, Word Skills, Vocabulary, Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar.  In other words, these are not the most comprehensive Bible study questions.  I also skipped some passa...

Dear friends, Have you ever started out using one curriculum and then realized it wasn't working for you or your child?  What do you do next?  This has happened to me many times in the past two decades of home schooling.   Sometimes, I see what I can do to adjust the curriculum so we can keep using it, picking and choosing from it what is helpful and what is not.  Other times I switch to another resource to use at least for a while.  Much of home schooling is a matter of trial and error since each child can be so different from the others, and some curriculum just doesn't click!  Also, there are times when we buy something that we haven't used before and we don't know yet how it will perform in the daily scheme of things. For about four years, our family was enrolled in a structured home school co-op where each teacher selected the curriculum that would be used by his or her students.  This was, of course, necessary to keep things i...

Dear friends, In my middle school English class at our (former) home school co-op last spring, I gave my students an assignment to read a missionary biography and write a report about it.  In conjunction with this, I taught a series on major religions and world views, explaining the vocabulary and concepts behind Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, atheism/secularism, communism/socialism, tribal religions and Judaism. You can find the Judaism list here: Judaism Vocabulary and Concepts .   This is the vocabulary word list for Islam.  In addition to the following vocabulary words, I printed out current news reports related to Islam, plus an article about Samuel Zwemer, who was a missionary to Muslims.  We discussed all of this in class, as well as comparing Islam with the Christian Bible.  For more information on Islam from a Christian perspective, visit www.answering-islam.org/ . Islam Vocabulary Words Allah: name for God; they ofte...

Great American Communicators Sequoyah: Inventor of the Cherokee Syllabary Sequoyah, born in the 1770’s, was a Cherokee Indian. His mother was full blood Indian, and his father was probably at least half-white. His English name is Geroge Gist or Guess. Sequoyah became an excellent blacksmith and silversmith and operated a trading business. He also had a drinking problem, but he gave up alcohol when he saw how it was ruining his life. Sequoyah wanted the Indian people to have a way to read “talking leaves” like the English speaking people did. He never spoke English, and he never understood how the English alphabet worked, although he had seen some books. Facing much opposition and taking 12 years away from his business, he invented the Cherokee syllabary. This is like an alphabet, but there is a character for each syllable, not for each individual phonetic sound. He had originally tried to do a character for each word, like in Chinese. Sequoyah used 85 characters in his syllabary. In or...

This is another handout from my series on Great American Communicators that I taught to my students in the middle school English class in a large home school co-op. Benjamin Franklin’s C ontributions to Communications Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706, the 15th of the 20 Franklin children! There must have been a whole lot of communicating going on in his house when he was a kid! He stopped going to school when he was 10 (his parents couldn’t afford it) but he LOVED to read! He apprenticed as a printer -- but he hated working for his brother James and so he ran away. His pseudonym (false name) for writing letters to his brother’s paper was “Mrs. Silence Dogood”! At age 24 he started the Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper. He created the Poor Richard’s Almanack from 1732 to 1757. It was a yearly book with a calendar, list of events, advice, witty sayings, weather predictions, etc. He founded the first public library in Philadelphia. He established the postal system. He founded a...