And a few more.
Thank you so much. My book lists are a mess and all over the place. 
I love looking at what others have. I can print them al out and take them to the library with us.
As a word of warning, some of the books are christian based. Sonlight is christian and ambleside is catholic, RC also has some Christian books. Most of the books are non-religious but some are, so if you are concerned about them not aligning with your faith or if you are non-religious it is something to keep in mind, and certainly we haven’t reviewed them all. But it is a compilation of all of the books recommended from those sources for each grade.
Oh wow! Thank you !
So I am watching through the video slowly ( when do we find time for a nearly 2 hour lecture? :wacko: ) aim at50 minutes so far and have noticed a few interesting ideas but must say mostly this is exactly how I would teach if I home schooled. It is actually exactly how I home school but I have yet to manage to add writing into our schedule :biggrin:
I do think his overall schedule according to age is a little bit warped. I mean he expects kids to do 5/4 Saxon at age 7 but only expects copy work or half a page of writing at the most at the same age. In fact his writing doesnt start until age 8 before that is all handwriting. That seems a little scewed to me. Handwriting shouldn’t take that long!
Anyway I thought I should mention that we do Saxon at the recommended 1 lesson a day ( as after schoolers) some days it takes my daughter 2 hours, somedays she takes ALL DAY! She is such a daydreamer! I have tried to figure out how long a lesson really takes when she is focused so I can determine if I am expecting too much from her but have yet to figure out just how much time she wastes. I refuse to drop the workload just because she is distracted constantly. No rewards for daydreaming and distractions :nowink: we can fit in at most 1 hour of reading a day ( again as after schoolers) possibly more as they get older and need less sleep. :yes: I have all the classics on their iPads and they are starting on the ones that interest them. :yes: I am wondering if I should put them in some sort of order or just accept the read what you want to for now. What do you think?
Also worth noting, I doubt either of my girls would be happy to read ANY/MANY of those books at all in real print. On the iPad they have the option to choose a font they like and enlarge the print of super easy reading. Also if the print is large ( and she isn’t off with the fairies! >:( ) my daughter can speed read some of the books. Yes I know that wont teach her as much in terms of grammar and sentence structure but she does seem to pick up the spelling and storyline ( good for history books she other wise doesn’t enjoy) Also she can’t sustain her speed reading for an entire reading session of 1 hour. It takes her conscious thought to do it still.
We have the everyday classics list of books ( which I love!) and another 50 or more I self selected, I will add some of these to our collection but not all of them, there is a VERY heavy American history slant to his list.
I will watch the rest of the video as soon as I can, I find it fascinating. Thanks for posting it.
Mandaplus3- where did you find these books on the ipad?
I know what you mean about daydreaming. After school we do 4 pages of Touchmath 30 mins of Dreambox and 4 pages of Explode the Code. If he is focused he can do it in less thwn and hour. But other times it can take him almost 2 only because he’s gone to lalaland. I also refuse to lower the load because he chooses not to focus himself. He is 7 years old and gets no homework from school.
Dr. Robinson talks about how when he started with one of his kids he would sit there all day staring at a math lesson. But eventually they learned that if they just buckled down and got it done they would have the rest of the day to do what they want. It is a learning process definitely. Sometimes it takes my son only an hour and sometimes more than two. If it is truly an ability issue I would consider only doing half a lesson well, rather than 1 whole lesson with maybe a lower quality where they are going to end up needing to do many corrections.
For some people also they adjust the time and try to work up to his recommendations. For us that is silly, my son would be in first grade and is certainly capable of doing 4-5 hours of work.
For, the books online go to: http://users.gobigwest.com/rosegate/RCbooks.html it lists where they are available for free online.
Also of course: http://www.gutenberg.org/ (Project gutenberg)
I used to have my son read the really long books on my nook (like 200-300 pages) when he was 3-early 4’s, for just the reason you mentioned. He was intimidated by seeing the huge book and the small font, but as he’s gotten older he likes the actual book as it gives him a sense of accomplishment. Also when the actual book is lying around the house the chances are hisgh that when is is bored perusing books he will just pick it up and read it, or see an old favorite and choose it for bedtime reading.
We do often divide reading into an hour for school and an hour before bed, also if the school day is getting long.
Gush I am really behind on forum posts . I do have RC and used it with my special need daughter . I love dr Robinson approach , my dream is to get my two little ones to be independent learners so I can spend my time focusing on their hurt sister who needs one on one and it is a full time work .
I have the CDs , there are 20 include all the books on their list . But like linzy I add from other lists and although my daughter is excellent reader at 6 she insists reading together with mum is more fun . She will be looking at books all day long , reading short stories but long chapter books are saved for joined reading with mum . I choose history of the world for our history study , wwe and fll , alas for language art , and we love right start starting level c , and they have the rest of the day for free play and exploration .xxx viv
Mandab,
From what I’ve gleaned so far on the web, in Robinson Curriculum (RC), you start the kid on the first book on the RC list, and the kid works down that list gradually. Here is a link to the RC list (http://users.gobigwest.com/rosegate/RCbooks.html), and the first book is McGuffey Eclectic Primer. The kid starts with that, reads it for himself, and works down the whole list. I’ve also found another list here- http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/view/rc/booklevel.htm, which groups the RC books into ``grade’’ levels, so you can use that in place of making the kid work down the original list. And the second list I posted lists the genre of the book, letting me know if the book is a reader, a science text, a history text, a nature appreciation book, etc.
He answers the question of kids reading what interests them during non-school hours here: http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/view/rc/s31p60.htm. See point number 11.
I’m guessing that for very young children (under 4 year olds, maybe), the parents can simply read-aloud based on the RC list, covering one book after the other. For older children, the RC method requires the child reads the books for himself.
From what I’ve also learnt, there are about 6,000 vocabulary words listed on the RC disc, and these vocabulary words are drawn from the books, and tests are given on the RC discs to ensure the child masters the vocabulary. He also said in the video that he’s included words from SAT as well, and since SAT is mostly a vocabulary test, a child that masters the 6,000 words in the disc will have high chances at scoring highly at verbal SAT. This is a list of all the items contained in the RC disc http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/view/rc/s31p45.htm.
And I found this post http://www.home-school-curriculum-advisor.com/Robinson-Curriculum-FAQ.html. This reviewer explains the writing bit under the question ``Is writing an hour a day sufficient to learn the writing skills and grammar they will need?‘’
Okay, I love this, and I’ve already started. I did a read-aloud of the first book today - McGuffey Primer, and I completed it. Tomorrow, I’ll move on to the second book on the original list (http://users.gobigwest.com/rosegate/RCbooks.html), and so on. Most of the books are in the public domain, and are free. For example, I found all 6 McGuffey readers free on www.archive.org. Gutenberg.org and google books should also have free copies of most of the RC books.
Linzy, more questions please. How did you adapt the RC method to very young children? Did you read the books aloud to them as I have done? I’m doing the read aloud from the booklist because the vocabulary in the books are quite rich, and I want the child exposed to that until he can read the books for himself. Second question. He says no computer for children- http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/view/rc/s31p60.htm. Where does that leave EL products that are computer-based? How do you implement this strategy of ``no computer for young kids’’ in your home? Which of the RC strategies have you adapted, what did you ignore, and what were the results? Looking forward to learning from your experiences. Thank you.
For very young children, really starting at age 2. We just still focused on those three areas, so each day we make sure we do something from
writing (usually kumon books),
reading (ordinary parents guide to teaching reading, reading eggs, reading bear, ladybird books) Once they can sound out short words they can start with the ecclectic reader. The way we did it is I helped to teach the words at the top of the lesson and then had his read the lesson. We keep doing that lesson until he can read it easily and with inflection. We have a checklist and check off the books as my son reads them. He started with the eclectic reader and then beatrix potter books, some are very easy reading. Of course I had expanded the list so her had lost of other books for practice to get him up to that reading level. I did make my elder son read most of them himself, some aloud to me. If you want to do them as read alouds for the younger children I would look at some like The Bobbsey Twins, Brier Rabbit, you also might consider some of the historical books as they are great for family discussion etc… For young children I would just recommend fleshing out the early part of the list more to get them reading fluently.
And then for math, we also do kumon (starting with the writing numbers books) right start and starting to memorize math facts with the Sterling math program. It’s more the Robinson’s format (reading, writing and math) and not so much his materials.
The vocabulary in the books is great and at a much high reading level than most books published today, but as I said I also supplement with modern books that I feel are appropriate for cultural literacy.
We do not follow the no computer/TV rules. We use tv programs like preschool prep, peter weatherall and netflix movies/documentaries/science shows. We use the computer for math facts, Scratch computer programing, you tube videos, readingeggs, readingbear and soft mozart. My kids don’t however, watch a lot of other tv or play a lot of video games.
We also don’t follow the no sugar guidelines, we do of course try to eat healthy we don’t have “snack foods” around the house, but that doesn’t stop me from occasionally making a pie, cakes or cookies for my family. We are pretty vigilant about starting each day with milk, multi-vitamins, omega 3/fish oil liquid and vitamin C before breakfast.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004UJVZNI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004UJVZNI&linkCode=as2&tag=mommocto-20
free for kindle
xxx
Thanks Bella saved me finding it for water dreamer that li k is the Mcguffrey eclectic readers. All of them are free and very good for ALL parents here on the forum not just those interested in this curriculum.
Waterdreamer I got almost all the yesterday’s classics books free off Project Gutenberg and then ended up buying it when it was on special anyway 
so now I have loads of books!
I have a great collection of IPAD friendly ( ePub) children’s classics already downloaded if you would like them I can Skype or Dropbox them to you ( probably too big to email…) PM, me if anyone wants them. It will save you about 3-6 hours of time :yes: I selected with pictures wherever there was an option. These are public domain so sharing is aloud :yes:
If you don’t have an iPad you will need a different version to read them HOWEVER you could get them from and use the list to search Gutenberg for the PDF or kindle versions. I haven’t typed out a list…I could probably figure it out if anyone really wants it.
I have the kindle app on my iPads to cover all the kindle books available.
We do have a number of classics in hard format also. These we use to spark reading when iPads are flat or banned :biggrin: also I do believe they need to eventually get to the point of being able to read a standard size print in a complicated book.
Gotta go be an assistant mechanic…be back
Bella or anyone else who may know, I checked out the following link
http://users.gobigwest.com/rosegate/lists.html
Could someone explain what all the different lists are? What is the Henty list? From my hazy memory he rewrote adult books into child friendly versions but surely he didn’t write ALL those? Does anyone know anymore about this list?
Also the other list…is it a list of books that best show life in those times?
I would love to understand the focus of the lists so I can add a few more to my collection. lol
I have been going through the lists and really appreciate the fact that they are put into a sensible reading order. Up until now ours have been very hit and miss and because of this I was hesitant to begin my younger kids on the books. Now I have a progressive order for a good chunk of my books I am printing it off for reference. I suppose in the perfect world I would rate all the rest of my books and add them to the list in order…any volunteers
Bella if you have all those discs, plus yesterday’s classics and my collection, you have all the books you could ever need! lol ( but I know you will find another collection you want just like me! 
)
Oh Bella we all love you :yes:
Please do all be sure to check out the links, especially he second one! lol
So he really did write that many books hey? Wow I guess he wrote at least a page a day for his entire life! 
hey go to sleep girl
I have been sorting through And cross referencing lists. I like how this one is laid out.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8IrlQA9QixnMTUxOWMyYTEtYjhlZC00M2UwLWIxMzUtNzRlZjAxM2FjYjI2/preview
This list is also pretty inclusive.
http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000-primary.html
The Henty books are historical fiction. He actually was quite historically accurate, it is only the main characters that are fictional and the places and events are all real. My boys quite enjoy having them read to them.
The more I study Arthur Robinson, his curriculum, and his kids, the more impressed I get. As of 2008, all his 6 kids either had PhD’s (in the sciences and engineering) or were working towards one. I found this article about the children - http://www.home-school.com/Articles/dr-arthur-robinson-kids-in-2008.html. Here is a quote about the children’s achievements:
``- Zachary, age 31, holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Oregon State University and a M.S. in Chemistry and D.V.M. (doctorate in veterinary medicine) from Iowa State University (ISU). He currently works part-time on OISM research as well as in veterinarian practice.
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Noah, age 29, holds a BS in Chemistry from Southern Oregon University (SOU) and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Caltech. He is employed full-time by OISM.
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Arynne, age 28, has a BS in Chemistry from Bethel College and is now in her third year of work towards a DVM at ISU.
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Joshua, age 26, and the only married Robinson so far, has a BS in Mathematics from SOU and is now in his second year of study toward a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering at OSU. His wife, Fama, is a homeschool graduate.
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Bethany, age 26, holds a BS in Chemistry from SOU and is now in her second year of study toward a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering at OSU.
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Matthew, age 20, is now completing his second (and last) year of study at SOU toward a BS in Chemistry. He is currently considering his graduate school options.
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Zachary, Noah, and Matthew all skipped two years of college, entering as juniors and requiring only two years to complete their Bachelors degrees. Noah completed his PhD at Caltech in three years (it normally takes five years or more).’’ QUOTE ENDS.
The best bit is that the kids were mostly self-taught. I think that’s why they’ve been able to advance as much as they have. After those years of self-teaching at home, it would be quite easy for them to continue their self-education at undergraduate and graduate levels, and excel in outstanding ways. Very impressive to me.
Further, most proponents of homeschooling methods tend to excel and focus on the arts and humanities (e.g., Well Trained Mind’s Susan Bauer) so it’s refreshing and encouraging to see homeschooling methods like Robinson Curriculum that enable high levels of excellence in the STEM subjects, while not neglecting the arts. (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
,
And I’ve been reading his entire website (www.robinsoncurriculum.com). You do that by downloading the entire site in pdf. The link to download the entire site in pdf or html is at the bottom right corner of the home page www.robinsoncurriculum.com.
Jenene, you first mentioned Authur Robinson on this thread. Are you using this curriculum too? Can you share details? I’m finding this very, very interesting.
Thoughts, anyone? Thank you all.
You know I am really enjoying this thread too! :yes:
I have been reading through his site the long way, post by post it’s an interesting blog roll. I hadn’t come across the what the kids are up to now. Well not one as recent as that one anyway. Good find. They are obviously still a very close family. 2 work with dad in the family business and the twins go to school together studying the same thing. Pretty impressive degrees I must say!
The only real question I have with the entire curriculum idea is the lack of writing skills taught. Yes writing every day is a great way to practice and learn to write but it isn’t going to teach good letter writing techniques, layout, how to write a pursuasive essay or layout an assignment uni style. All important skills that his kids obviously learnt somewhere? I would love to ask them directly! Have you found any links to contact? Oh we could have a chat with them on here!
Ok I invited them, fingers crossed