Book Recommendations by Readers
Send your recommendations to CatherineLevison@yahoo.com
Early learning is where I side with the teaching
tips from Ruth Beechick. I used her oral workbook, Language and Thinking
for Young Children. It helped me in how to implement read aloud stories,
poems, playing word games, singing, nursery rhymes, and stuff like teaching
phone etiquette. Dr. Beechick also recommends doing math orally for through
1st grade. Allowing the child to discover math through manipulatives, not
bogged down with symbols.
Txbriva
Here is a good book I found at the bookstore today:
A
Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak, edited by Camille
Cosby and Renee Poussaint
The book is a collection of short essays from notable African Americans
(poets, politicians, teachers, mothers, and more), including a brief biography
of the person, then a first-hand account, in first person voice, of that
person's experiences and what he/she learned. Fascinating reading...I almost
read the whole thing in the bookstore.
I plan on reading about one person/week beginning this fall, and can
already foresee so many tangents to which this reading will lead.
Enjoy,
Lori
MIT offers many courses over the Internet, for free. Courses include
videos of lectures, syllabus, and more. Courses are not for credit, just
for the love of learning. My husband is working on a calculus course, which
he says is fantastic, and I am beginning a biology course.
Here is a link to the list of courses:
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html
Enjoy!
Lori
Here's a nifty book we found at the library today -- it is titled Peoples
of the World by Francis Huxley, Blandford Press Ltd., London, 1964.
the first 100 pages are an illustrated guide of cultures, along with a
map of the regions. The last 100 pages defines how the author decided to
group the cultures, their history, and the effect of factors such as climate
and migration. Obviously, some of the science is woefully outdated, but
the text is engaging and concise, and the illustrations are irresistible.
There are some bare bottoms and topless women, though not pervasive, if
you are on the lookout to avoid those types of things.
And here is a link about the author:
http://lainginstitut.ch/cv/fhuxley.htm
Enjoy!
Lori
We got the game Herd Your Horses and it's quite a fun and educational
game. There are 4 different games you play with the game board, one of
them for one player and several card games you can play with the horse
cards.
txbriva
Thought I would share some gems we are enjoying:
Indian
Sign Lanuage by Robert Hofsinde (Gray-Wolf), William Morrow & Co.,
1956 -- illustration and text guide to universal sign language used between
North American tribes
The
Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World; Lonely Planet
Publications
Pty Ltd, 2004 -- an over-sized book offering country a two-page spread,
including gorgeous photos, general stats, list of "essential experiences,"
things to read/eat/drink/listen/watch about each country, a common phrase,
"trademarks" (or what the country is best known for), and "surprises,"
which can be a statistical anomoly or an odd distinction. A beautiful book.
Series
about human anatomy by Seymour Simon, including Muscles, The Heart, The
Brain, Bones, The Digestive System, published by Morrow Junior Books,
in various years around 1998. I like these books because it is a nice blend
of real science and literature -- the books are great to read out loud,
easily lend themselves to drama, but are not farsical or dumbed-down. Every
other page is a photo or drawing.
Inside
the Body by Guiliano Fornari, DK, 1996. A lift-the-flap book that engages
and teaches all my kids, from my 3yo to my 10yo. Not graphic, all drawings,
and lots of information.
Quest of Columbus by Ferdinand Columbus -- the text is
fantasic, filled with wonderful insights into Columbus the man, reflections
that can only be made by someone with intimate knowledge of Columbus, the
person. I have a degree in Latin American Studies, with an emphasis on
early European encounters, and I never knew half of the stuff I am reading
to my kids. Really, a great book.
Hope you all are having a good year, too!
Lori
Just thought I'd share a find. A fellow hser at church set out a give-away
table with books. Found a real gem for my dd. It is a children's cookbook
by Unicef, The Little Cooks: Recipes from around the World for boys
and girls. It shows a map of the world and the country whose recipes
are included is highlighted. The step by step recipes are done in watercolors.
All my kids have been introduced to other cultures through food, not just
books, lol.
txbriva
A Promise to Remember: the Holocast in the words and voices of its
survivors by Michael Berenbaum
and
The D-Day Experience from the Invasion to the Liberation of Paris
by Richard Holmes.
Both books are filled with first-hand accounts, and come with CD's of
the survivors telling their own stories, in their own voices. But, what
is most interesting to me, was that just about every page has a fascimile
of an original letter, diary, flyer, fake ID, etc. that you can take out
and handle. The D-Day book includes quite a few "top secret" documents.
It is very impressive, like visiting a hands-on library in your own home.
I read a few selections from the D-Day book, and am about half-way through
the Holocast book; both seem to be well-written and easily accessible,
without being simplistic or regurgitated.
I bought the books for myself; my kids are too young for most of it,
but I will use the books when they are teen-agers.
Lori
At our house we recently read, "Along Came Galileo" by Jeanne
Bendick, published by Beautiful Feet Books.
At any given time we have a book we are going through daily that becomes
our favorite. I usually keep the favored book aside and read from it last,
a little bit like a cookie after lunch.
I would estimate the best reader for this book is about 10 to 12 years
old. I am far older than that and I learned a lot about the inventions
and many changes in Galileo's life. Of course you can read it aloud to
younger children.
I am recomending Bendick's book because it is very good, easy to read
and because you are focusing on one man's life there is a lot of retention.
It's simply a very lively book. Highly recommended.
Catherine
I was at the book store, in the history section, and spotted this: "1215
The Year of Magna Carta" I already knew I was going to buy it when
I saw that it was written by: Danny Danziger & John Gillingham one
of which wrote "The Year 1000" which was (and is) a really good
book.
Catherine
Ecce Romani
This remains my favorite Latin Reading program, the only newsworthy
thing is that the internet has made it much more accessible than it was
in the early to mid 90's when I first used it. In those pre-Google years
one had to contact the company by phone. Things have changed.
Below are 2 links to Ecce Romani as mentioned yesterday on a CM loop.
The books are now available on Amazon as well.
http://www.tabney.com/ecce1.html
http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/vocab/ecce_games/
Catherine
I didnt use graded readers with my oldest dd, I just had her read easy
readers from the library. I put her back in public school for 2-3rd grade
where her reading suffered. It wasnt until I found the Rod & Staff
readers that she was challenged and her reading and comprehension improved.
With my youngest I used an online version of McGuffey's
Primer after she got through phonics
I would just copy off a new lesson when she was ready and had learned
all the words. She has continued with the McGuffey's but I have the paperback
set now.
[and for French]
French resources: www.orgsites.com/md/wispta/_pgg6.php3
and a pdf file reading list (there is one for Spanish, too): www.susangrosstprs.com/FRENCHREADINGLIST.pdf
and here is pdf file that has language resources for teachers: www.state.nj.us/njded/frameworks/worldlanguages/res.pdf
txbriva
Complete with illustrations. There is a way to print out without the
"moral" at the end of each if you use the customize button and delete them
so you can let your child figure it out.
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=winter&book=aesop&story=_contents
txbriva
Found a book through http://www.linnean.org/
but it isnt published yet.
We read about Karl Von Linne (Carolus Linnaeus) and his system in an
old Grolier's Popular Science encyclopedia, "The Roll Call of Living
Things: How the World's Animals and Plants are Classified". The article
also included a general breakdown of the animal and vegetable kingdoms
(fauna and flora), the main phylums and some classes, subclasses, orders,
etc. I dont think we pursued it any further.
txbriva
I was going through my old college books, and found these gems from
art history, titles Artists
on Art. There are two volumes, divided by centuries. Here
is the second.
It is interesting to read quotes from the artist, or letters/commentaries
on the artists, in their own era.
Lori
I just bought a library discard, that is a gem. It is titled Children
are Children are Children: an activity approach to exploring Brazil, France,
Iran, Japan, Nigeria and the USSR, by Ann Cole, Carolyn Hass, Elizabeth
Heller and Betty Weinberger, illustrated by Lois Axeman; Little, Brown
and Company, Boston-Toronto, 1978.
I can't find it used on the Internet, though I did find it used as resource
in this book on Amazon.com.
The statisitcs are outdated, but each country has very accessible activities,
from presentations to games to cooking to sports and more. Every project
that I have looked at uses very simple materials, things that I already
have around my house, which makes it an easy pick-up-and-use book (always
the best in my house). It includes geography, topography, climate, history,
culture, etc.
Sure, it has activities and all, like about a hundred other social studies
books. But, what I like about this one is the language. It is conversational
without being preachy or dumbed down. Frequently, the authors say, for
example, "pretend you are an explorer in the Amazon...," or "can you imagine
what it would be like to be a pioneiro...," or "next, try a trip up to
Brasilia..." The writing really engages your imagination and and peaks
curiosity. It reminds me of Mr. Rogers on a more sophisticated level.
The illustrations are quaint, too. No photographs, all hand-drawn in
hues of black and rust.
A really nice book, if you can find it.
Lori
The title is "A Biblical Home Education." Dr. Beechick just posted
on the Basically Beechick yahoogroup. The book helps you match the content
subjects with the Bible and then on to skills that help in learning the
content subjects. She says, "We have too many subjects today because we
teach so many skills separately, in isolation, when they really belong
with various contents."
txbriva
Send your recommendations to CatherineLevison@yahoo.com
