I feel silly asking but

[hsingscrapper]

What books would you all recommend for adult self-education?

I feel kinda lacking in most areas when I compare it to the high school offerings of today.

I figure if I start now, I'll at least feel semi-competent when ds9 reaches that point. I struggled hard through algebra in high school and bombed horribly in theoretical geometry. Accounting and recordkeeping were a joy for me, though. I don't want to lead him the wrong way by not knowing what I'm talking about.

[outtamyshell]

I have found the curriculum at amblesideonline.org to be very helpful. They use a lot of living books and books in the public domain, so they have a lot of recommendations that are available at the library, through inter-library loan, etc.

[jenadina]

I'm doing the same thing!

Right now, I'm using the Life of Fred series for math (from fractions on up...I went to 3 different schools the year they taught fractions, and I have major holes), Classical Writing for composition (starting with Homer, as recommended by the authors), and Wheelock's for Latin. When I finish with Wheelock's, I'll be moving on to Lingua Latina and adding in Greek. I am planning on going through Traditional Logic I & II and Material Logic at some point. I'm teaching myself piano to stay at least a step ahead of my son's playing. I'm also reading The Story of Science series and The History of the Ancient World.

I work on math when ds is doing his worksheet from RS; grammar/composition when he is doing GWG and copybook (both independent for him); and Wheelock's while we eat lunch.

I practice the piano right after he does.

I also work part time from home (I make yarn); I do this while ds does his content subject (except Tues. and Fri., which require my direct involvement) and during tv time at night.

As a bonus, *almost* everything I am using is what I am planning to use with my ds later. I can get away with this because we have the same learning style.

Does this help any?

[Veronica in VA]

For literature I would recommend The Well Educated Mind. It takes you right through the process of how to study lit, what questions to ask, etc. For history I would recommend Spielvogel's Western Civilization. There are a lot of different editions available, but I found our copies from the used book store for $2 or $3 dollars.

I liked Lial's Basic College Math and Introductory Algebra. Again both are often available used through Amazon or other booksellers.

Veronica

[hsingscrapper]

What about math?

[elegantlion]

What about math?

Have you looked at Life of Fred (http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html)? We are using the fractions book with my ds, moving soon into decimals and percents. I find myself re-learning lots of things about fractions, I'm sure the same will be true with decimals.

According to the author, those two books would be considered a pre-algebra course.

[outtamyshell]

Maybe it's my ADD tendencies, but I have a habit of picking up a project and not seeing it through. I can follow through on DD's education, but for my own... I tend to set things aside as life gets busy. That's why I like the options the library provides.

For math I like the 'Easy Way' books. Geometry the easy way. Precalculus the Easy Way, etc. I also like the Dummies books. Calculus for Dummies, etc. But I really just needed a review. If you've made a curriculum choice for your kiddos you can just buy it early and do it yourself now. But if you just want some refreshers and solidify some info, you might be surprised at what you find at the library.