Games

Other

Books and magazines

English for the Thoughtful Child by Mary F. Hyde.
Originally published in 1903. Program contains lessons in composition, gammar, memorization, picture lessons followed by point of rule which student can copy in own notebook. (Kate)

McGuffey's Eclectic Readers, Pre-readers through Grade Six.
Reading system in use for many years, phonics based but also provides for whole language approach. In addition to stories, provides for articulation, grammar, sounds, table of substitutes in graded books (although may be above current grade level criteria). Religious and values references. Writing practice (slate work) included. Teacher edition available. Mott Media publishes supplementary word study workbooks. (Deborah)

My Book House, series by Olive Beaupre Miller.
Book series graded from 'nursery' to upper elem/middle school. Adaptations, abridgments and excerpts from classic stories produced by writers such as Shakespeare, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Louis Stevenson, Hans Christian Anderson, etc. (Janet)

Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne.
Contemporary story books based on historical figures and eras. (Janet)

How to Read a Book, by Mortimer Adler, philosopher. (Janet)

Literature Series published by Houghton/Mifflin.
Contemporary, traditional program spanning kindergarten through high school. With exception of kindergarten, one anthology book per year per grade. Includes contemporary and classical writings. Supplemented by two workbooks: 1) to question overall/specific comprehension and 2) to provide additional practice in various English studies. (Diane)

Grammar series by Ruth Heller. Each inexpensive, beautifully illustrated book covers a different part of speech:
Many Luscious Lollipops (Adjectives)
Kites Sail High (Verbs)
Merry-Go-Round (Nouns)
Mine, All Mine (Pronouns)
Up, Up, and Away (Adverbs)
A Cache of Jewels (Collective Nouns)
Fantastic! Wow! and Unreal! (Interjections and Conjunctions)
These books are fun to read aloud, and introduce younger students to parts of speech. But they're great for older kids, too, since they thoroughly explore all aspects of each part of speech (irregular verbs, subjunctive mood, etc.) Published by Scholastic, \\$10.95 for entire set. (Julie)

Let the Author Speak: A Guide to Worthy Books Based on Historical Setting by Carolyn Hatcher, Rainbow Resources.
Resource book for finding literature that ties in to particular historical and/or geographical units. (Julie, via Tamah)

Editor in Chief from Critical Thinking Press.
Workbook style, providing students with critical distance from their own work while learning how to edit written works. The series gets progressively more difficult. Includes a concise Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation. (Julie)

Writing Strands: Challenging Writing Projects for Homeschoolers from National Writing Institute.
Progressive series of workbooks that teach writing step by step. Early grades focus on creative writing, but last book teaches expository writing. There's also a parent's manual for all levels that teaches you how to evaluate your child's writing. (Janet)

Raggedy Ann books by Grunelle. Beautifully written. (Christine)

Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
Interesting, well written stories. Julie recommended only using books actually written by Warner (1 through about 12). Those written 'based on the style of' are trite.


Games and CD ROMs

Schoolhouse Rock. Both music tapes and CD ROMS advocated as good resources for teaching a wide array of subjects set to music. CD ROMS not currently being printed but may be available through Amazon.com. (Kate and Christine)

Taboo, Boggle, Pictionary, Scrabble. These types of games may serve a particular student more efficiently than workbooks/books. (Ofra)

Grammar Rummy. Timed sentence building card game. (Deborah)

Other topics
(these other resources and topics came up in general discussion)

Discussion regarding benefits of memorization: a) provides self-encouragement, b) aids public speaking, c) oral reports, d) exercises brain, e) ownership of inspirational material.

There may be an overemphasis on penmanship in this computer-age. Content is more the issue. (Janet).

There are three elements of a successful reading program: 1) 'go fetch,' pulling words/phrases out to confirm accurateness of understanding text; 2) individual grammatical/word use understanding; and 3) overall comprehension of meaning based on a higher thinking skills (comparison, evaluation, analysis, etc). (Julie)

General encouragement of providing students with classic literature. Providing environment as suggested in The Well Trained Mind. (Janet, others)

General emphasis on not buying into one literature 'program' and routinely asking yes/no type questions. Allow children to choose varied quality materials based on their preferences. Even if child is unable to decode every word, they will inevitably understand meaning based on context clues, repetition or direct research. (Christine)

Use appropriate resource tools including college level dictionaries that provide notes on usage changes over time. (Julie)

Tie in literary choices with other disciplines (unit study/theme approach). Choose fiction/non-fiction biographies and historial stories, activity books, religious/spiritual material, etc., based on themes such as historical periods and explorations. (Julie)


Amazon.com

For those of you who order through Amazon.com, we have a couple of links on our web page directly to Amazon. If you go to the Amazon web page from one of these links when you place your order, they will credit our web site with a percentage of your purchase. If we accumulate enough money, they'll send us a check to use for whatever purpose we like. You will find links on the main web site at http://home.earthlink.net/~mav1/ on our Books/Mags page (Loren)