Living Books vs Twaddles

I'm not a Charlotte Masoner Homeschooler, but I agree with her for some of her ways, especially about Good Books for children (Living Books, for CMer) instead of twaddle ones. Although, honestly I can't make my home library sterile from those twaddles and try my best to provide as many living books as possible. But, at least Donna used to read living books that shapes her taste in choosing books to read.
What is twaddle books? They are dumbed down and watered down literature.
Here is a good article about it written by Ellen Kristin, a CMer from Indonesia:
"Sastra Disney vs Versi Aslinya"

"Persembahan dan Doa untuk Indonesia" Concert

Last Saturday, Donna had an annual concert provided by her music school for the best three students in each level and department. This concert was a bit different than the preceding years and contributed for the unity of Indonesia. The concert itself was divided into two sessions, Piano department and Vocal, Instrument Strings, Woodwind & Brasswind departments.

What she gets from her piano

"Padamu Negeri" played by the teachers and students of Gloriamus Music School

What she gets from Piano & Flute departments, 1st rank for piano and 2nd rank for flute.

Donna's Fourteenth Statement of Accomplishment from Online Course

This time she finished the course so fast, two weeks before the deadline (Dec 11, 2016) for the subject was her favourite : Ancient Egypt.

Donna's Thirteenth Statement of Accomplishment from Online Course

Donna's thirteenth statement of accomplishment from Coursera: Arch of Titus: Rome and the Menorah from Yeshiva University

Books for My 8th Grader

Here are the books we will use in grade 8:

They are Math 2 (New Syllabus Mathematics 7th edition) from Shinglee, Cambridge Global English 8 and Geog.2 from Oxford.
Oh... and Science Check Point 8. I forgot to photo it. In the last academic year she used Science Check Point 9, and she said that the chemistry part was too hard for her, but the biology part was too easy and she had no problem with the physics part. So we decided to go back to her level, book 8.
For other activities, she has Flute class and Piano class (with 2 different teachers), German language class and Gymnastics.
I think those books are enough for her basic,  so that she has more time to do other things and deepen her interests.

And in this semester, Donna joins a homeschooler community's scout, Pramuka Oase. They are planning to have a big trip called Eksplorasi (Exploration) on this November or December, to make a research about a local food. They are divided into two groups, Kunyit/Turmeric for a longer and farther trip, and Jahe/Ginger for a shorter and closer area trip. No parents are allowed to company their kids in both trips. They meet every two weeks on Wednesday. It is a very good activity for her, though the meeting location is far enough from our house.
Here are some members of Eksplorasi:

Every week they have a different challenge to solve and some task for it. Some must be done individually and some are in group task. Here's Donna's report about them under the "Eksplorasi" tag.

Education Should Be a Journey, Not a Race

This is what my friend Aar Sumardiono wrote about Donna and her online course learning:

http://rumahinspirasi.com/dona-usia-12-tahun-lulus-12-mata-kuliah-online/

Hopefully this article will inspire more parents, especially Homeschoolers, about how internet change the way our kids learn and the unlimited possibilities we have for learning process. I love homeschooling because  it is customised to every single child.