In the previous post, I gave an overview for the homeschool mom of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. As promised, vocab by chapter. In the vocab list for The Call of the Canyon, I expected my son will cover one chapter every three days, but the chapters in this volume are much smaller, so I combine two chapters of vocabulary this way:
Day 1: Look up vocabulary for Chapter One and Two (neatness counts!)
Day 2: Read Chapter One and Two
Day 3: Write 15 sentences with selected vocabulary words from Day One
Day 4: Look up vocabulary for Chapter Three and Four
Day 5: so on and so forth until the book is complete, five weeks later
As in The Call of the Canyon, there is a reference to "making love" which in this era meant not much more than sitting on a park bench cooing like love birds. You might want to go over this with your child before s/he hits that part. Another lovely opportunity to discuss what is acceptable behavior in our teens, and what our culture brainwashes them into believing is normal.
Chapters One and Two
Bulbous Ferrule Piqued Convex Erroneous Fallacies Inference Amiable Astutely Fulsome Dexterity Forgery Monograph Resignation Grievously Carouse Betwixt Wench Anon Bemused Squires Twain Amiability Scion Bewailing Inquest Eccentric Corroborated Cardiac Organic Prosaic Tenant Impassive Indorse Untenanted Sparsely Trivial Chimerical
Chapters Three and Four
Impenetrable Realm Spectral Hitherto Diabolical Vestry Flippantly Obliged Congenial Seclusion Immaterial Acrid Convict Singular Bewildering Inquest Coherent Baronet Pugnacious Expedient Cajoled Tariff Utmost Speculation Trifles Vengeance Languid Loiterers Benevolent Wily Sauntering Reverence
Chapters Five and Six
Articulate Conjunction Ample Insignificant Venerable Entailed Endeavor Besmirched Proposition Wrung Sovereign Rueful Conjectured Audacious Injunctions Bias Imprudent Exalted Comrade Bramble Waning Equestrian Ferocity Wanton Commutation Atrocious Sombre Discern Balustrade Dias Copses Melancholy
Chapters Seven and Eight
Efface Pallid Erroneous Propitious Excursion Credulous Placid Reproved Cordial Grazier Interminable Irretrievably Tinged Irresolution Induce Monoliths Scarred Antiquarian Disapprobation Choleric Furtive Cunning Surmise Conjecture Concealment Belated Unmitigated Conscientious Incriminating Personification
Chapters Nine and Ten
Reproached Gesticulated Haughty Peremptory Displeasure Rueful Brusquely Conjectures Upshot Cultivating Floundering Agitation Warders Unmitigated Crevice Vile Tor Indelibly Abortive Spectral Distrait Abetting Faculties Atone Deluged Sodden Morass Pittance Connoisseur Cavalier
Chapters Eleven and Twelve
Delicacy Retiring Almoner Torrent Rendezvous Inconclusive Incessant Abhor Reticent Magnates Warren Effigy Incredulity Urchin Toiling Furtive Indignation Decanter Dissuading Incisive Contrived Tenacity Vehemence Piteous Precipitous Paroxysm Ruffianly Roisterer (in the book as Roysterer) Afoot Juncture
Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen
Perceptibly Recital Dictated Precipice Sensational Analogous Reverential Loath Fulfillment Void Hampered Halted Admirable Ambush Serrated Inexorably Inert Hackles Delirious Vulnerable Insensible Feeble Endangered Doddering Defiant Baulk Swathed Weal Mottled Hale Peninsula Quagmires Miasmatic Undulations Perilous Morass Fathomed
Chapter Fifteen
Atrocious Barrister Purloined Consumptive Disrepute Infamy Entomology Ingenious Finesse Diabolical Penetrate Coincide Specious Infernal Lair Accomplice Grotesque Expedient Audacity Instructive Elucidate Waning Confidant Lisping Reproach Implicating Fidelity
Showing posts with label vocabulary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vocabulary. Show all posts
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The Hound of the Baskervilles
If you have read some of my other posts you know I have been working hard at compiling my 9th (10th?) grade son's literature curriculum for the year. Most packaged curriculums only offer snippets of books. I'd rather my kids read really great books in their entirety! In my mind, the purpose of good literature is to transport the reader, to give the reader a new perspective to interpret his own life, and to spend time in imagination.
When I was a young student, I loved being in the middle of a book, and going to bed at night and dreaming about what those characters would do. It sparks creativity. If you only read a portion of a book, how can you develop a sense of the characters enough to imagine their responses, or to recreate their world in your head?
Also, it seems that most homeschool recommendations by grade level far exceed the grade level a corresponding public school student. My son has only been out of public school three years, he's not reading at a college level yet. I had to select books for him that he could understand and enjoy, not that he would struggle to get through and glare at me between chapters, which brings me to my next selection for this year.
I started The Scarlet Letter and Wuthering Heights earlier this summer, but they proved to be a little too Victorian and wordy. You know how those first few chapters are spent trying to just get used to the rhythm of the language? Well, not so with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles (found on gutenberg.org). In fact, I think that having completed that book, it might be a good stepping off point into other more challenging Victorian works. We'll see how it goes.
The language and style in this novel was about on par with Burnett's The Secret Garden, but the material was more mature, and there were more words that may not be known. I'll provide a vocab list separately. It was a fun run through the moor with enough twists and turns to keep the reader occupied without getting too confused.
I will say, for you Christian Homeschooling moms (of which I am, too) there may be some concern about the "man of science" position of Sherlock Holmes. This is the first Holmes book I have read, and I didn't find it to discount faith at all. The premise is that Holmes is presented with what sounds like a legend, an evil hound patrolling the moor at night to bring down the Baskerville empire. Holmes discounts anything he can't quantify, thereby drawing conclusions from evidence not rumor. Not a bad object lesson for teens in my opinion.
In fact, I found a few quotes I thought opened some doors for conversation in morality and faith, like:
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes", which to my mind brings up the obviousness of creation and nature itself and the denial by so many of a singular creator.
and
"The work to a man of my temperament was mechanical and uninteresting, but the privilege of living with youth, of helping to mold those young minds, and of impressing them with one's own character and ideals was very dear to me", spoken by a former teacher. Really? Is that the job of an educator? To impress them with the teacher's character and ideals? Or to impress them with the textbook writer's ideals? Or shall we be impressing Christ's own ideals on our children?
and the very thought provoking:
"A lucky long shot of my revolver might have crippled him, but I had brought it only to defend myself if attacked and not to shoot an unarmed man who was running away." This statement about pursing a known murderer, an escaped convict, yet Holmes would only shoot him in self defense, not to take him down like an animal on the hunt. Interesting perspective. You can go so many different ways on this to share your family's perspective on protection of the family versus protection of the whole. The rights of man, the guilt of us all. So much you can do with that little thought.
My daughter is asking for some computer time, so I will update with vocabulary later. It wasn't as thick in challenging words as The Call of the Canyon, so I may do this book before that one this year.
Who am I? Find out on my bio page.
When I was a young student, I loved being in the middle of a book, and going to bed at night and dreaming about what those characters would do. It sparks creativity. If you only read a portion of a book, how can you develop a sense of the characters enough to imagine their responses, or to recreate their world in your head?
Also, it seems that most homeschool recommendations by grade level far exceed the grade level a corresponding public school student. My son has only been out of public school three years, he's not reading at a college level yet. I had to select books for him that he could understand and enjoy, not that he would struggle to get through and glare at me between chapters, which brings me to my next selection for this year.
I started The Scarlet Letter and Wuthering Heights earlier this summer, but they proved to be a little too Victorian and wordy. You know how those first few chapters are spent trying to just get used to the rhythm of the language? Well, not so with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles (found on gutenberg.org). In fact, I think that having completed that book, it might be a good stepping off point into other more challenging Victorian works. We'll see how it goes.
The language and style in this novel was about on par with Burnett's The Secret Garden, but the material was more mature, and there were more words that may not be known. I'll provide a vocab list separately. It was a fun run through the moor with enough twists and turns to keep the reader occupied without getting too confused.
I will say, for you Christian Homeschooling moms (of which I am, too) there may be some concern about the "man of science" position of Sherlock Holmes. This is the first Holmes book I have read, and I didn't find it to discount faith at all. The premise is that Holmes is presented with what sounds like a legend, an evil hound patrolling the moor at night to bring down the Baskerville empire. Holmes discounts anything he can't quantify, thereby drawing conclusions from evidence not rumor. Not a bad object lesson for teens in my opinion.
In fact, I found a few quotes I thought opened some doors for conversation in morality and faith, like:
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes", which to my mind brings up the obviousness of creation and nature itself and the denial by so many of a singular creator.
and
"The work to a man of my temperament was mechanical and uninteresting, but the privilege of living with youth, of helping to mold those young minds, and of impressing them with one's own character and ideals was very dear to me", spoken by a former teacher. Really? Is that the job of an educator? To impress them with the teacher's character and ideals? Or to impress them with the textbook writer's ideals? Or shall we be impressing Christ's own ideals on our children?
and the very thought provoking:
"A lucky long shot of my revolver might have crippled him, but I had brought it only to defend myself if attacked and not to shoot an unarmed man who was running away." This statement about pursing a known murderer, an escaped convict, yet Holmes would only shoot him in self defense, not to take him down like an animal on the hunt. Interesting perspective. You can go so many different ways on this to share your family's perspective on protection of the family versus protection of the whole. The rights of man, the guilt of us all. So much you can do with that little thought.
My daughter is asking for some computer time, so I will update with vocabulary later. It wasn't as thick in challenging words as The Call of the Canyon, so I may do this book before that one this year.
Who am I? Find out on my bio page.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Vocab of The Call of the Canyon
I'm sure this is fascinating reading for the random visitor. But for you homeschool moms out there like me compiling your own work, a la Charlotte Mason here is my selection of vocabulary for The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey (available for free on Gutenberg.org). Here is how this will play out in my lessons:
Day 1: Look up vocabulary for Chapter One (neatness counts!)
Day 2: Read Chapter One
Day 3: Write 15 sentences with selected vocabulary words from Day One
Day 4: Look up vocabulary for Chapter Two
Day 5: so on and so forth until the book is complete, six weeks later.
I don't usually do questions, we have conversations about the book. I occasionally use questions as a jumping off point to write some argumentative narrative. I may add those questions in a later post. I'm thinking of using this as a place to start conversations about marriage and cover biblical responsibilities.
For now, vocabulary:
Chapter One
Aloofness Myriad Blanched Strife Pealing Enveloped Perplexed Wretch Induce Degradation Looming Squalid Uncouth Perusal Blight Blunting Ponder Adjoining Transatlantic Enterprise Abeyance Vigilant Crass Quaint Consumptive Vista Crude Espied Incredulously Dispelled Languid Affronted Soliciting Patronage Discordant Phonograph Laconic Spigot Torrent Intermittent Partake Squalid Sordid Dilapidated Apathetic Incalculably
Chapter Two
Abated Gorge Intimation Glades Bisected Eddying Unscalable Singular Disengage Fagged Lithe Drawling Antagonistically Divest Solicitous Wan Tenderfeet Cardinally Squalor Affronting Juncture Emanate Twinge Conducted Assailed Queried Billets Suffice Permeated Fissure Strained Dispelled Manifestly Pallid Inarticulate Disheveled Requisite Audacious Pirouetting Coquette Prevailing Affronted Proffered Reticent Confide Chiseled Unplumbed Betrothal Verge Opaque Tumult Intangible
Chapter Three
Primitive Waxing Intimation Susceptibility Privation Assuredly Donned Loquacious Gnarled Rampart Desecrating Potent Taunted Daunt Precluded Scrupulously Boughs Inscrutable Verdure Constricted Scudding Averse Usurping Instructive Imperiously Arraigned Ravenous
Chapter Four
Propitious Deviation Feigned Mollycoddle Bestrode Alacrity Manifested Acute Aspect Sparsely Somber Mirth Resentment Hobbling Disclosing Aghast Assimilation Endeavored Ludicrous Enamored Eloquently Petrifaction Derived Genially Privation Adjured Mitigating Eminence Effulgence Ethereal Coalescing Cavalcade Plight Pommel Thwarted Abject
Chapter Five
Acrid Insatiable Hombre Laconically Inimical Listless Divine Expulsion Furtive Scant Verdure Entail Antipathy Barren Confounded Illimitable Annihilating Infinitude Succumbing Denuded Lenient Baser Motliest Stolid
Chapter Six
Sloughing Ignoble Tumultuous Impassive Pathos Epithet Cynosure Inscrutable Repose Elude Soliloquized Repudiation Laconically Enigmatically Antitheses Barren Verily Contrarily Rift Oblivion Inarticulate Deceit
Chapter Seven
Discontent Germinate Intimations Conscientiously Query Surety Inhibited Sylvan Virility Dissociate Blighting Unalterable Inscrutable Presaged Boggy Mien Fastidious Ignominy Miasmas Shirked Desultory Callous Fidelity Transfigured Actuated Impondering Articulation Abased Strife
Chapter Eight
Poignant Firmament Lambent Transient Recurrent Tedious Palatial Prodigal Throng Devitalized Labyrinthine Harmonize Diverting Inaugurated Fastidious Gyrated Disparagingly Valiant Indolent Effete Imbibed Thronging Congenial
Chapter Nine
Sentimentalist Melancholic Inexorable Arraignment Erroneous Begetting Knave Reciprocated Aghast Farcical Frivolous Guise Sentiment Engendered Perusal Pathos Oblations Discordantly Poignant Subterfuge Laboriously Rancorous
Chapter Ten
Edifice Dissimulation Contempt Abasement Commensurate Dalliance Portent Inimical Vaunted Discordant Dubiously Dawdle Aloof Morbid Insidiously Havoc Ostracized Trenchant Prattled Incalculable Derided
Chapter Eleven
Innumerable Pinyons Escarpments Precipitous Abeyance Mesas Rending Shackles Gesticulation Staccato Loath Denizens Abnegation Infinitesimal Guileless
Chapter Twelve
Augmented Coalesced Maelstrom Aberration Irreparable Insidious Cataclysm Sublimity Inured Maladies Strenuous Garments Pondering Motley Fortitude
Day 1: Look up vocabulary for Chapter One (neatness counts!)
Day 2: Read Chapter One
Day 3: Write 15 sentences with selected vocabulary words from Day One
Day 4: Look up vocabulary for Chapter Two
Day 5: so on and so forth until the book is complete, six weeks later.
I don't usually do questions, we have conversations about the book. I occasionally use questions as a jumping off point to write some argumentative narrative. I may add those questions in a later post. I'm thinking of using this as a place to start conversations about marriage and cover biblical responsibilities.
For now, vocabulary:
Chapter One
Aloofness Myriad Blanched Strife Pealing Enveloped Perplexed Wretch Induce Degradation Looming Squalid Uncouth Perusal Blight Blunting Ponder Adjoining Transatlantic Enterprise Abeyance Vigilant Crass Quaint Consumptive Vista Crude Espied Incredulously Dispelled Languid Affronted Soliciting Patronage Discordant Phonograph Laconic Spigot Torrent Intermittent Partake Squalid Sordid Dilapidated Apathetic Incalculably
Chapter Two
Abated Gorge Intimation Glades Bisected Eddying Unscalable Singular Disengage Fagged Lithe Drawling Antagonistically Divest Solicitous Wan Tenderfeet Cardinally Squalor Affronting Juncture Emanate Twinge Conducted Assailed Queried Billets Suffice Permeated Fissure Strained Dispelled Manifestly Pallid Inarticulate Disheveled Requisite Audacious Pirouetting Coquette Prevailing Affronted Proffered Reticent Confide Chiseled Unplumbed Betrothal Verge Opaque Tumult Intangible
Chapter Three
Primitive Waxing Intimation Susceptibility Privation Assuredly Donned Loquacious Gnarled Rampart Desecrating Potent Taunted Daunt Precluded Scrupulously Boughs Inscrutable Verdure Constricted Scudding Averse Usurping Instructive Imperiously Arraigned Ravenous
Chapter Four
Propitious Deviation Feigned Mollycoddle Bestrode Alacrity Manifested Acute Aspect Sparsely Somber Mirth Resentment Hobbling Disclosing Aghast Assimilation Endeavored Ludicrous Enamored Eloquently Petrifaction Derived Genially Privation Adjured Mitigating Eminence Effulgence Ethereal Coalescing Cavalcade Plight Pommel Thwarted Abject
Chapter Five
Acrid Insatiable Hombre Laconically Inimical Listless Divine Expulsion Furtive Scant Verdure Entail Antipathy Barren Confounded Illimitable Annihilating Infinitude Succumbing Denuded Lenient Baser Motliest Stolid
Chapter Six
Sloughing Ignoble Tumultuous Impassive Pathos Epithet Cynosure Inscrutable Repose Elude Soliloquized Repudiation Laconically Enigmatically Antitheses Barren Verily Contrarily Rift Oblivion Inarticulate Deceit
Chapter Seven
Discontent Germinate Intimations Conscientiously Query Surety Inhibited Sylvan Virility Dissociate Blighting Unalterable Inscrutable Presaged Boggy Mien Fastidious Ignominy Miasmas Shirked Desultory Callous Fidelity Transfigured Actuated Impondering Articulation Abased Strife
Chapter Eight
Poignant Firmament Lambent Transient Recurrent Tedious Palatial Prodigal Throng Devitalized Labyrinthine Harmonize Diverting Inaugurated Fastidious Gyrated Disparagingly Valiant Indolent Effete Imbibed Thronging Congenial
Chapter Nine
Sentimentalist Melancholic Inexorable Arraignment Erroneous Begetting Knave Reciprocated Aghast Farcical Frivolous Guise Sentiment Engendered Perusal Pathos Oblations Discordantly Poignant Subterfuge Laboriously Rancorous
Chapter Ten
Edifice Dissimulation Contempt Abasement Commensurate Dalliance Portent Inimical Vaunted Discordant Dubiously Dawdle Aloof Morbid Insidiously Havoc Ostracized Trenchant Prattled Incalculable Derided
Chapter Eleven
Innumerable Pinyons Escarpments Precipitous Abeyance Mesas Rending Shackles Gesticulation Staccato Loath Denizens Abnegation Infinitesimal Guileless
Chapter Twelve
Augmented Coalesced Maelstrom Aberration Irreparable Insidious Cataclysm Sublimity Inured Maladies Strenuous Garments Pondering Motley Fortitude
Sunday, July 1, 2012
The Call of the Canyon
I don't use a boxed curriculum for literature. See this post about that. There is just so much good literature out there. And I feel taking items out of context in a work really does that work a disservice. I understand public schools have to do what they can to expose children to as much good literature as they can (within approved limits), but isn't that part of the luxury of homeschool? Reading whole books? Not just snippets here and there?
Add to that, I know my son's reading level, and although he's a solid reader, I don't think he's ready for Chaucer yet. I have looked at a few books and said a definite "No" for now. Like Aldus Huxley's A Brave New World. Great read, just not at our speed right now. Plus, ex-utero reproduction. Ick. Let's finish biology first!
So I just finished Zane Grey's The Call of the Canyon. I tell my husband that Zane Grey is what Louis L'Amour wanted to be when he grew up. I like Louis L'Amour, don't get me wrong, Zane is less cowboy, more wild west in my opinion.
I wasn't sure I wanted to share this book with my 14 year old son at first. I liked it ok, I suppose in the beginning. But it was told from a woman's perspective. I didn't think he'd understand that. Carly is a Manhattan socialite after World War I. Her fiancee, Glenn came back a changed man after his service in France. The story revolves around his change, his recovery in the wilds of Arizona, how she changed as a person after her visit to see him, and ultimately her evaluation of the worth of her life outside of work.
Once Carly was in Arizona, I really fell into the book and started strongly considering it for my son. It could have gotten very trite, very fast as an idle love story. But Carly is challenged to meet the tasks before her in Arizona, something she wasn't used to in her life back home of constant entertainment and materialism. "She could hate an obstacle, yet feel something of pride in holding her own against it." Oh, what this book says about us right now!!! So many teens are exactly where Carly was, lounging, pondering, entertaining, chatting. Carly didn't realize what a pointless existence she was living until she was faced with battling for survival. Until she saw that her greatest contribution as a woman might just be being a support and help-meet to a husband who risked all for her in battle.
Add to that, I know my son's reading level, and although he's a solid reader, I don't think he's ready for Chaucer yet. I have looked at a few books and said a definite "No" for now. Like Aldus Huxley's A Brave New World. Great read, just not at our speed right now. Plus, ex-utero reproduction. Ick. Let's finish biology first!
So I just finished Zane Grey's The Call of the Canyon. I tell my husband that Zane Grey is what Louis L'Amour wanted to be when he grew up. I like Louis L'Amour, don't get me wrong, Zane is less cowboy, more wild west in my opinion.
I wasn't sure I wanted to share this book with my 14 year old son at first. I liked it ok, I suppose in the beginning. But it was told from a woman's perspective. I didn't think he'd understand that. Carly is a Manhattan socialite after World War I. Her fiancee, Glenn came back a changed man after his service in France. The story revolves around his change, his recovery in the wilds of Arizona, how she changed as a person after her visit to see him, and ultimately her evaluation of the worth of her life outside of work.
Once Carly was in Arizona, I really fell into the book and started strongly considering it for my son. It could have gotten very trite, very fast as an idle love story. But Carly is challenged to meet the tasks before her in Arizona, something she wasn't used to in her life back home of constant entertainment and materialism. "She could hate an obstacle, yet feel something of pride in holding her own against it." Oh, what this book says about us right now!!! So many teens are exactly where Carly was, lounging, pondering, entertaining, chatting. Carly didn't realize what a pointless existence she was living until she was faced with battling for survival. Until she saw that her greatest contribution as a woman might just be being a support and help-meet to a husband who risked all for her in battle.
"She understood then why she would have wanted to surrender herself to a man made manly by toil; she understood how a woman instinctively leaned toward the protection of a man who had used his hands- who had strength and red blood and virility who could fight like the progenitors of the race. Any toil was splendid that served this end for any man."
Ok, yeah, that sounds very anti-feminist, more so than the rest of the book, but it does show how veterans who did fight for our country must feel when they come home to those who didn't or won't make the same sacrifices. Carly comes to see herself as someone for whom motherhood and marriage can be a powerful, meaningful tool for advancing the human race, specifically in America.
"On the one side greed, selfishness, materialism: on the other generosity, sacrifice, and idealism. Which of them builded for the future? She saw men as wolves, sharks, snakes, vermin and opposed to them men as lions and eagles. She saw women who did not inspire men to fare forth to seek, to imagine, to dream, to hope, to work, to fight. She began to have a glimmering of what a woman might be."
The vocabulary was spot-on. Perfect for his level. I'll add a vocab list by chapter next week. Email me if you need it sooner. I will give the caveat that Grey uses the phrase "make love" a few times, and it means flirt, not what the phrasing means now. Point that out to a young reader that may not get that in the reading.
Happy reading!
To learn more about us, visit my bio page.
Happy reading!
To learn more about us, visit my bio page.
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