Saturday, February 02, 2008
Book Review: "The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child"
Volume 1: Ancient Times (From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor) by Susan Wise Bauer
At first glance, Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World seems like every homeschooling parent's dream — a well-written, engaging version of thousands of years of history condensed into one easily-read volume. And, in fact, that is what it is. As with all books, though, there are just as many cons as there are pros.
Susan Wise Bauer is a well-known name in homeschooling circles. A graduate of homeschooling, she is now a college professor and home educator to her own children. She is the author or co-author of several well-regarded books including The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. A study of world in history, done in order, is a very important part of that classical education, and she found existing curricula to be lacking because so often children are taught history all out of order, and many times in a "me-centric" method, with the social sciences first (neighborhoods, city, state, country) and world civilizations and history last. To combat this, Ms. Bauer has compiled her volumes of The Story of the World.
Read more...
Labels: books, reviews
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Book Review: "Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself" by Maxine Anderson
The Civil War is still alive and well here in the Deep South, however you may feel about that. No matter how you feel about keeping alive the memories of that awful, bloody war between American brethren, there is no doubt that it is a huge benchmark in American History, and a study of the time and places of the Civil War is a fascinating study. Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself is a great hands-on resource for those who want to not only read their history, but recreate and live it as well.
The book begins with a fairly short introduction that explains the basis of the war and a brief overview of the years and how everything finally ended. This really is nothing more than the smallest of introductions to the topic, and is written on a level for about 4th to 5th grade. After the introduction you are taken to the meat of the book, a series of 18 chapters with good information about specific parts of the war and how people lived during that time.
Read more...Labels: books, reviews
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Book Review: "Christian Unschooling" by Teri Brown and Elissa Wahl
Christian Unschooling
by Teri Brown, with Elissa Wahl
Christian Unschooling is just exactly what I needed to read when I first received a copy of it. As a Christian who is committed to homeschooling, (although not totally for religious reasons) yet struggling with the idea of allowing unschooling to become our method of learning, this book was, well.... a Godsend.
The book is divided into two main sections, with an excellent resource guide at the end included. Part One covers the whys and hows of unschooling, while Part Two is a collection of essays from unschooling families around the country.
Brown and Wahl begin with a loose collection of "definitions" of unschooling, especially in a Christian home, and also what unschooling is not. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of unschooling, I'll give you my own brief definition here: Unschooling is allowing your child's interests and particular methods of learning to determine what and how they will learn. It is often called "child-led learning". The methods and types of unschooling are probably as varied as the methods of traditional homeschoolers, and I won't try to list them all here. It is not allowing your child to play dictator with his schooling, or allowing them to do nothing but play and watch TV all day, but rather it is the parents taking the cues of the child and letting them set the tone for what should be learned and in what way.
Read more...Labels: books, reviews, unschooling
Monday, January 14, 2008
Resource of the Day: "A Wrinkle In Time" Unit Study Guide
This is one of our more popular pages. I hope I included lots of thought-provoking questions that will give you and your students lots to think about and do as you read through this wonderful book!
A Wrinkle In Time Unit Study GuideThere are also two different vocabulary word search-a-word puzzles on the "Subjects" page of the site, as well.
As always, I welcome your feedback!
Labels: books, Language Arts, Resource of the Day, Unit Studies
Friday, November 16, 2007
Resource of the Day: Free Book About Germs
Get a free book titled "Germs! Germs! Germs!" from Dixie Cups and Scholastic:
Free BookYou need a valid UPC code, here's one: 042000439008
Labels: books, Resource of the Day, science
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Works For Me Wednesday: Free books from Barnes and Noble
I've posted about this before, but I thought a timely reminder was in order. Barnes and Noble sponsors their own summer reading program each year. Your child can earn up to 2 FREE books from their store, from a set list of books. All they have to do is fill out the form with books that they have read from anywhere (library, home, borrowed, etc.) and then turn them in at the store. You can even go here:B&N Summer Reading Programand print out the forms instead of having to pick them up at the store. I like their reading program because the books can be from anywhere, not just from the library. And FREE books definitely "Work For Me"!Be sure to check out Works For Me Wednesday for more great tips. Labels: books, Works For Me Wednesday
Thursday, May 03, 2007
What's up with "A Wrinkle In Time"?
I've been looking at my Google stats lately, and boy there sure are a lot of people looking for information about the book "A Wrinkle In Time" over at the main site! I wonder what's up - is this a common book for the end of the school year, or is it just happenstance?At any rate, if you are looking for a unit study, or complementary activities, check the main site. I have a unit study as well as an easy word search and a hard word search. Labels: books
Friday, February 16, 2007
If you're in or around Montgomery, Alabama in April....
...you may want to check out the Alabama Book Festival on April 21st, held at Old Alabama Town:http://www.alabamabookcenter.org/There will be lots of Alabama authors there, including Doug Phillips from APTV, and children's favorite Kathryn Tucker Windham. Volunteers are needed, some of you might enjoy that, too!Labels: books
Friday, February 02, 2007
Frugal Friday, and another unit study freebie
Today it's Friday, so that means it's time for frugality posts!
One thing homeschoolers do is buy a LOT of books, so
here is an article about saving money on those books. I hope you enjoy it, and please feel free to give any feedback.
Also, Tapestry of Grace is giving away a free three week unit study on Egypt. You can find that
here. More frugal goodness!
Be sure to check
Crystal's blog for the rest of Frugal Friday!
Labels: books, free, freebie, frugal friday
