History, Geography, Government, and Economics For Sale...

Below you will find our latest list of living history books for sale. The books are arranged chronologically and coded when related to a particular history program that I'm aware of. Some of the books are ex-library and some are from a private collection. Many are duplicate copies from our own personal library. Several are out of print and getting harder to find. Let me know if you need recommendations or have any questions.

We are a smoke and pet free home. The prices do not reflect shipping. I accept PayPal and ship media mail within the U.S. Please use the contact form on the right side bar to send inquires and desired list. There is also a list of misc. history resources toward the bottom as well as books used for geography, government, economics, and social studies.

Thanks so much for your consideration,
Melissa

My Father’s World

Adventures in U.S. History $135 set includes:

-       1^st edition Teacher’s Manual w/clean student sheets and book basket list

-       NIrV Discoverer’s Bible for Young Readers w/dust jacket

-       Exploring American History

-       American Pioneers & Patriots

-       North American Indians

-       Red, White & Blue

-       The Thanksgiving Story

-       The Fourth of July Story

-       First Encyclopedia of Science

-       Birds, Nests, and Eggs

-       Celebrate America CD

-       Map of the U.S.

History – Arranged Chronologically

SL – Sonlight

TQ – TruthQuest

AO – Ambleside Online

SCM – Simply Charlotte Mason

BF – Beautiful Feet

WP – Winter Promise

VP – Veritas Press

MFW – My Father’s World

CoF – Cornerstones of Freedom

VT – A Visual American History Timeline of Books

HOD – Heart of Dakota

Ancient Civilizations/Cultures (blue tote #1)

Streams of Civilization Vol. 1 by Mary Stanton & Albert Hyma (hardcover) BF TQ $5

Adam and His Kin by Ruth Beechick TQ $4

David and Goliath by Leonard Everett Fisher (hardcover w/Mylar jacket, ex-library) TQ $5

Old Testament Days, An Activity Guide by Nancy I. Sanders $3

Ancient Civilizations Unit Study $10 set includes:

-       Discovering Ancient Mysteries by Michael Gibson (hardcover)

-       Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Egypt

-       The Greenleaf Guide to Famous Men of Rome

-       Scholastic 25 Mini-Plays World History by Erin Fry (grades 4-8)

-       Classical Kids, An Activity Guide to Life in Ancient Greece and Rome by Laurie Carlson

-       Selections from National Geographic Death on the Nile

-       National Geographic January 3003 (Inside Egypt’s Secret Vaults)

-       Kids Discover Mummies

-       Kids Discover Ancient Egypt

-       Life in Ancient Egypt Study Prints

-       Life in Ancient Greece Study Prints

-       Life in Ancient Rome Study Prints

-       Other Misc. Articles and Arts Newsletter

The Great Pyramid by Elizabeth Mann TQ $4

The Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Egypt by Cyndy Shearer $5

See Inside An Ancient Egyptian Town by R. J. Unstead (hardcover, ex-library) $5 each (x3)

Mummies A Very Peculiar History by Nathaniel Harris $3

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (hardcover ex-library) $5

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (like new) $4

Make it Work! Ancient Egypt by Haslam & Parsons MFW $4

Landmark The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Elizabeth Payne TQ, BF $5

Look Inside A Greek Theater by Peter Chrisp (hardcover) $4

Usborne Tales of the Trojan War by Kamini Khanduri $3

The Trojan War by Bernard Evslin TQ $3

The Secrets of Vesuvius by Sara C. Bisel TQ $3 each (x2)

Pompeii, Buried Alive! By Edith Kunhardt SL TQ $3

The Master by John Pollock $4

Usborne Internet-Linked Romans by Marks and Tingay $4

Cleopatra by Diane Stanley HOD TQ $4

See Inside An Ancient Chinese Town by R. J. Unstead (hardcover ex-library) $5

The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth SL 5/F $2

The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth (hardcover, ex-library) SL 5/F $3

Work and Play in the Philippines – New World Neighbors Series (1944 hardcover) $3

The Corn Grows Ripe by Dorothy Rhoads SL 3/C $3

Middle Ages/Renaissance/Reformation

How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill $4

Days of Knights and Damsels, An Activity Guide by Laurie Carlson $3

Saint George and the Dragon retold by Margaret Hodges TQ $4

The Vikings by Robert Nicholson & Claire Watts $3

History Explorers Viking Raiders by Fiona Macdonald $3

The Vikings by Hazel Martell (hardcover, ex-library) $5

The Vikings by Robin Place (hardcover, ex-library) $5

Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky by Barbara Schiller SL 1/B TQ $4 each (x2)

See Inside a Castle by R. J. Unstead (hardcover, ex-library) $5

Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman SL Core 6/G $3 each (x3)

Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer SL $3

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman SL 2/C TQ BF $3 each (x5)

Dove and Sword, A Novel of Joan of Arc by Nancy Garden $3

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli TQ SL VP $4 

Milliken History of Civilization The Middle Ages Grades 7-12 $3

Wings of an Eagle, The Story of Michelangelo by Anne Merriman Peck TQ $4

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray BF TQ SL $4 each (x2)

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott (hardcover Bancroft Classics) TQ AO BF $5

Exploration/Native Americans

More Than Moccasins A Kid’s Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life by Laurie Carlson $3

Pathki Nana, Kootenai Girl Solves a Mystery by Kenneth Thomasma $2

Om-kas-toe, Blackfeet Twin Captures an Elkdog by Kenneth Thomasma SL $2

North American Indians by Marie and Douglas Gorsline SL $3 each (x2)

Growing Up Indian by Evelyn Wolfson (hardcover w/Mylar, ex-library) $5

Follow the Dream, The Story of Christopher Columbus by Peter Sis (hardcover ex-library) $4

Christopher Columbus by Ann McGovern $3

Columbus by Ingri & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire (small paperback black & white reprint) TQ BF $2

I Sailed with Columbus by Miriam Schlein $2

Magellan, Voyager with a Dream by William Jay Jacobs (hardcover, ex-library) $3

Ferdinand Magellan by Ruth Harley $3

Cartier Sails the St. Lawrence by Esther Averill (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $10

The Spanish Conquistadores by Walter Buehr (hardcover, ex-library $6

Life in Tudor England by Penry Williams (hardcover ex-library) $4

Sower Johannes Kepler by John Hudson Tiner TQ $4 (gray tote #2)

Sower Robert Boyle by John Hudson Tiner TQ HOD $4

The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes SL $4

Sword of the Wilderness by Elizabeth Coatsworth (hardcover) TQ $4

Colonization/American Revolution

The Old World and America by Rev. Philip J. Furlong, PhD w/answer key (Catholic) $10 set

Our Country’s Story by Frances Cavanah (1945 hardcover) $6

The Landmark History of the American People from Plymouth to the Moon by Daniel J. Boorstin (boxed set) SL $12

America in the Time of Pocahontas, The Story of Our Nation from Coast to Coast, from 1590 to 1754 by Sally Senzell Isaacs (hardcover) $3

Rewriting of America’s History by Catherine Millard VT $4

Life in America Series – unit study - $10 set

            Life Establishing a Nation 1790-1849

            Life in a New World 1000-1763

Blue Feather’s Vision, The Dawn of Colonial America by James E. Knight TQ $3 each (x2)

The Paradox of Jamestown 1585 – 1700 by Collier & Collier (hardcover, ex-library) VT $4

Blood on the River – James Town 1607 by Elisa Carbone HOD $4

Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla SL TQ VT $4

The Double Life of Pocahontas by Jean Fritz TQ VT $3

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick (hardcover) $5 each (x2)

If you Sailed on the Mayflower by Ann McGovern TQ VT WP $3 each (x2)

The Pilgrims by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover, ex-library) TQ CoF $4

Down Ryton Water by E. R. Gaggin SL 7/H $4

The Pilgrims of Plimoth by Marcia Sewall BF TQ VT $4

N. C. Wyeth’s Pilgrims text by Robert San Souci TQ VT $3

Sarah Morton’s Day by Kate Waters VP TQ VT $4 each (x6)

Samuel Eaton’s Day by Kate Waters VP TQ VT $4 each (x7)

Eating the Plates, A Pilgrim Book of Food and Manners by Lucille Recht Penner VT TQ $5

Pilgrim Voices edited by Connie and Peter Roop (hardcover w/Mylar dust jacket ex-library) TQ VT $5

Thanksgiving Feast and Festival by Mildred Corell Luckhardt (hardcover ex-library) $5

Thanksgiving Unit Study by Amanda Bennett $3

The Story of Thanksgiving by Elaine Raphael and Don Bolognese $3

Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn, The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols by Edna Barth (hardcover, ex-library) $4

Margaret Pumphrey’s Pilgrim Stories by Elvajean Hall TQ VT $3

The Courtship of Miles Standish: Elizabeth by Henry W. Longfellow TQ VT $4

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper TQ $3

A History of the English Speaking Peoples - The Age of Revolution by Winston S. Churchill AO 8 $5

Landmark The Hudson’s Bay Company by Richard Morenus (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $15

Dear America Standing in the Light, The Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan, 1763 (hardcover) $2

The Rhode Island Colony by Dennis B. Fradin (hardcover, ex-library) $3

Colonial Living by Edwin Tunis (hardcover ex-library) TQ $10

Colonial Craftsman, The Hatters by Leonard Everett Fisher (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $6

If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern TQ WP $3 

Boys and Girls of Colonial Days by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey BF $3

Emma’s Journal, The Story of a Colonial Girl by Marissa Moss (hardcover, ex-library) TQ WP $3

American Girl Felicity’s Craft Book $4

African-Americans in the Thirteen Colonies by Deborah Kent (hardcover, ex-library) CoF TQ $4

The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds SL TQ BF $4

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare SL $3 each (x2) (blue tote #3)

Our Great Heritage….from the Beginning – The Revolutionary Years 1763-1783 (hardcover) $4

Stowaway by Karen Hesse SL TQ $3

American Heritage Junior Library The Many Worlds of Benjamin Franklin (hardcover) $5

Benjamin Franklin, A Man with Many Jobs by Carol Greene (hardcover Rookie Biography) TQ $3

Benjamin Franklin, Man of Ideas by Charles Graves (hardcover Discovery Book, ex-library) TQ $5

The Boston Tea Party by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover, ex-library) CoF TQ $4

Boston Tea Party by James E. Knight TQ $3

Midnight Alarm, the Story of Paul Revere’s Ride by Mary Kay Phelan (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $5

And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz (hardcover) TQ SL $3 each (x2)

Where was Patrick Henry on the 29^th of May? by Jean Fritz (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $3 each (x2)

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes SL 3/4/D/E TQ BF VP AO VT $4 (x2)

My Brother Sam is Dead by Collier & Collier TQ $3 each (x2)

The Crossing, How George Washington Saved the American Revolution by Jim Murphy $5

Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit TQ VT $3 each (x3)

A Picture Book of George Washington by David A. Adler TQ $3

Washington at Valley Forge by Russell Freedman TQ $5

The Story of Martha Washington by Jeanette Nolan (hardcover Signature Biography) TQ $5

Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley TQ $3

The Battle of Lexington and Concord by Neil Johnson (hardcover ex-library) TQ VT $4

Phoebe the Spy by Judith Berry Griffin SL 3/4/D/E TQ $3 each (x4)

John Adams by David McCullough AO $5 each (x2)

Childhood of Famous Americans Molly Pitcher by Augusta Stevenson (ex-library) TQ $3

Childhood of Famous Americans Tom Jefferson by Helen Albee Monsell (ex-library) TQ $3

Journey to Monticello, Traveling in Colonial Times by James E. Knight $3 each (x5)

Give me Liberty! – The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Russell Freedman TQ VT $5

If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy SL 3/D TQ VT $3

The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Norman Richards (hardcover, ex-library) CoF TQ $4

Will You Sign Here John Hancock? by Jean Fritz (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $3

1776 by David McCullough TQ $5

Betsy Ross by Alexandra Wallner TQ $3

The Story of the Liberty Bell by Natalie Miller CoF TQ $4

Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill TQ $3 each (x2)

1800’s/Westward Expansion

The Broken Blade by William Durbin SL 7/H $3

A Picture Book of Sacagawea by David A. Adler TQ $3

Sacajawea, Guide to Lewis and Clark by Della Rowland BF $4 each (x2)

The Story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover ex-library) CoF TQ $4

Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose AO9 $5 each (x2)

The Incredible Journey of Lewis & Clark by Rhoda Blumberg TQ $4

The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner By the Dawns Early Light by Steven Kroll TQ VT $4

Abigail’s Drum by John A. Minahan TQ VT $3 each (x3)

Sower - Artist with a Message, Samuel F. B. Morse by John Hudson Tiner TQ VT $4

Johnny Appleseed – A Poem by Reeve Lindbergh (1 hardcover, ex-library) TQ $4 each (x3)

Johnny Appleseed by Carol Beach York (hardcover) $2

The Story of Johnny Appleseed by Aliki (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $3

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi SL $3

The Defenders by Ann McGovern $2 each (x2)

The Cherokee by Emilie U. Lepthien – A New True Book TQ $3

If You Lived With the Cherokee by Peter and Connie Roop TQ WP $3

Childhood of Famous Americans Davy Crockett, Young Rifleman by Aileen Wells Parks TQ $3

American Heritage Junior Library The Erie Canal (hardcover) TQ $5

Landmark The Erie Canal by Samuel Hopkins Adams (hardcover) TQ $5

American Heritage Junior Library Texas and the War with Mexico (hardcover) TQ $5 (pink tote #4)

Landmark Sam Houston, The Tallest Texan by William Johnson (hardcover) TQ $5

American Girl Secrets in the Hills – A Josefina Mystery (ex-library) $2

The Little Indian Weaver by Madeline Brandeis (1928 hardcover) $5

The Wild West by Mike Stotter $3

Landmark To California by Covered Wagon by George R. Stewart (1954 hardcover, ex-library) TQ $6

If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon by Ellen Levine TQ $3

The Oregon Trail by R. Conrad Stein CoF TQ VT $4

Wagons West: Off to Oregon by Catherine E. Chambers VT $2 each (x2)

Wagon Train by Sydelle Kramer TQ $2

Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner SL 2/C TQ $3 each (x2)

Trails to the West, Beyond the Mississippi by Kathy Pelta (hardcover ex-library) $3

Meet the Wards on the Oregon Trail by John J. Loeper TQ VT $3 each (x3)

Rachel’s Journal, The Story of a Pioneer Girl by Marissa Moss TQ VT $3

A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos TQ SL $3

Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall TQ VT $4 each (x2)

The Story of the Women Who Shaped the West by Mary Virginia Fox CoF TQ $3

The Josefina Story Quilt by Eleanor Coerr TQ VT $3 each (x3)

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (2 hardcover ex-library) SL 5/F BF TQ $3 each(x6)

Zia by Scott O’Dell BF TQ $3

Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi BF TQ $4

Ludwig Van Beethoven, Young Composer by Louis Sabin $3

Commodore Perry in the Land of Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg (hardcover ex-library) SL Core 5/F TQ $5

Snowshoe Thompson by Nancy Smiler Levinson TQ VT $3 each (x3)

Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (hardcover ex-library) TQ $4 each (x2)

Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field TQ $3

The Great American Gold Rush by Rhoda Blumberg TQ $4

By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman (hardcover) SL TQ BF $6

American Heritage Junior Library The California Gold Rush (hardcover) $5

American Heritage Junior Library Great Days of the Circus (hardcover) $5

The Ringling Brothers by Molly Cone (hardcover, ex-library) $3

American Heritage Junior Library Cowboys and Cattle Country (hardcover) $5

American Heritage Junior Library Steamboats on the Mississippi (hardcover) $5

Pony Express by Steven Kroll (hardcover ex-library) TQ VT $4 each (x3)

Louis Braille, The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind by Margaret Davidson SL 5/F TQ $3

Underground RailRoad/Slavery/Civil War 1865

A Separate Battle: Women and the Civil War by Ina Chang $2 each (x2)

Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates SL BF TQ HOD $4 each (x3)

A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman by David Adler TQ $3 each (x2)

Runaway Slave, The Story of Harriet Tubman by Ann McGovern TQ VT $4 each (x6)

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson (hardcover) TQ VT $7

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe VP BF TQ AO $5

A Picture Book of Sojourner Truth by David Adler TQ $3

Daily Life on a Southern Plantation by Paul Erickson VT TQ $4

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt SL 4/E TQ BF VT $4 each (x5)

True Stories about Abraham Lincoln by Ruth Belov Gross $2

The Death of Lincoln by Leroy Hayman TQ BF $3

Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance by Frances Cavanah TQ $3 each (x2)

Abe Lincoln Remembers by Ann Turner TQ $3

Childhood of Famous Americans Abraham Lincoln by Augusta Stevenson (ex-library) TQ $3 (blue tote #5)

The Story of the Lincoln Memorial by Natalie Miller (hardcover) CoF $4 each (x2)

Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years and The War Years by Carl Sandburg (hardcover) $10

Landmark Abe Lincoln Log Cabin to White House by Sterling North (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $5

The Story of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Maureen Ash CoF $3

Frederick Douglass Fights for Freedom by Margaret Davidson TQ $3

Frederick Douglass: Portrait of a Freedom Fighter by Sheila Keenan $2

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco TQ $5

If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War by Kay Moore TQ $3

American Girl Meet Addy TQ $3

Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty TQ $3

Bull Run by Paul Fleischman TQ $3 each (x3)

Paper Soldiers of the Civil War by Alan Archambault $3

American Heritage Junior Library The Battle of Gettysburg (hardcover) $5

Robert E. Lee, Brave Leader by Rae Bains $3

Childhood of Famous Americans Robert E. Lee, Young Confederate by Helen Albee Monsell (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $3

Landmark Stonewall Jackson by Jonathan Daniels (hardcover, ex-library, loose binding) TQ $4

Landmark Clara Barton, Found of the American Red Cross by Helen Dore Boylston (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $5

The Day Fort Sumter was Fired On by Jim Haskins TQ $4

The Boys’ War by Jim Murphy VT TQ $5

Behind the Blue and Gray by Della Ray TQ $4

Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder SL TQ $3

1865 to 20^th Century

Life in Victorian England by W. J. Reader (hardcover) $4

Plain Girl by Virginia Sorensen SL $3

Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen TQ $3

Turn Homeward Hannalee by Patricia Beatty TQ $3

Be Ever Hopeful Hannalee by Patricia Beatty TQ $3

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder TQ AO VT $3

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder TQ AO VT $3 each (x2)

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder TQ AO $3 

On the Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder (hardcover, ex-library) $3

Little House on Rocky Ridge by Roger Lea MacBride VT $3

On the Other Side of the Hill by Roger Lea MacBride $3

Bachelor Girl by Roger Lea MacBride (ex-library) $3

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder TQ AO VT $3 each (x3)

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Growing Up in the Little House by Patricia Reilly Giff (hardcover, ex-library) $2

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink TQ SL AO $4 each (x3)

Sixteen and Away from Home by Arleta Richardson $3

Betsy’s Up-and-Down Year by Anne Pellowski $10

Willow Wind Farm: Betsy’s Story by Anne Pellowski (hardcover ex-library) $10

Prairie Visions by Pam Conrad TQ $3

A Pioneer Farm Girl, The Diary of Sarah Gillespie, 1877-1878 (hardcover ex-library) $3 each (x2)

A One-Room School by Bobbie Kalman (Historic Communities – hardcover ex-library) $2

Writer of the Plains, A Story about Willa Cather by Tom Streissguth (hardcover ex-library) $3

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan TQ SL $3

Daniel’s Duck by John Sandin FIAR TQ $3

If you Lived with the Sioux Indians by Ann McGovern TQ $3 each (x2)

Cowboys by Marie and Douglas Gorsline TQ $3

The Life of Buffalo Bill by William F. Cody (hardcover w/jacket) $4

Buffalo Bill by Ingri & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire (small black & white reprint) TQ BF $2

Custer and Crazy Horse by Jim Razzi $3 each (x2)

Pecos Bill by James Cloyd Bowman (hardcover ex-library) $4 (pink tote #6)

Paul Bunyan by Steven Kellogg $3

American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenburg SL P4/5 AO $3 

My Antonia by Willa Cather SL Core 400 AO 10 $2

Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault TQ $2 each (x2)

Cowboys of the Wild West by Russell Freedman TQ VT $5 each (x2)

Children of the Wild West by Russell Freedman TQ VT $5 each (x4)

Buffalo Hunt by Russell Freedman (hardcover w/jacket) TQ VT $5

An Indian Winter by Russell Freedman TQ $5 each (x3)

The Story of Susan B. Anthony by Susan Clinton CoF $4

Childhood of Famous Americans by Susan B. Anthony by Helen Albee Monsell (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $3

A History of US, An Age of Extremes by Joy Hakim (hardcover ex-library) SL $5

The Path Between the Seas – The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914 by David McCullough $5

The Great Fire by Jim Murphy (hardcover) TQ VT $5

The Chicago Fire, 1871 by Corinne J. Naden (hardcover) $5 each (x3)

The Terrible Wave by Marden Dahlstedt SL $4

Addie’s Dakota Winter by Laurie Lawlor TQ VT $3

Dakota Dugout by Ann Turner VT TQ $3

Blizzard by Jim Murphy (hardcover) TQ VT $5

American Girl Kirsten’s Cook Book $4

Kate Shelley Bound for Legend by Robert D San Souci TQ $2 each (x2)

The First Teddy Bear by Helen Kay (hardcover, ex-library) VT $5

Edith Cavell Nurse, Spy, Heroine by Adele De Leeuw (hardcover w/Mylar, ex-library) VT TQ $6

American Girl Meet Samantha TQ $3

If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake by Ellen Levine SL 4/E TQ $3 each (x6)

The Mayo Brothers by Helen Clapesattle (hardcover) TQ $5

Childhood of Famous Americans Will and Charlie Mayo, Doctor’s Boys by Marie Hammontree (1954 hardocover, ex-library, loose binding) TQ $5

We’ll Race You, Henry, A Story About Henry Ford by Barbara Mitchell TQ VT $3

Sky Pioneer: A Photobiography of Amelia Earhart by Corinne Szabo $4

Amelia and Eleanor go for a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan VT TQ $4

Eleanor by Barbara Cooney $3

The Spirit of the St. Louis by R. Conrad Stein CoF TQ $4 each (x2)

The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk by Donald J. Sobol TQ $3

First Flight, The Story of Tom Tate and the Wright Brothers by George Shea TQ VT $3

Up in the Air: Bessie Coleman by Philip S. Hart TQ $4

Sower Louis Pasteur by John Hudson Tiner TQ $4

Sower Billy Sunday, Home Run to Heaven by Robert Allen $4

The Story of Thomas Alva Edison by Margaret Davidson SL TQ $3

Thomas Alva Edison, Young Inventor by Louis Sabin TQ $3

Profiles in Science for Young People Thomas Edison, The Great American Inventor by Louise Egen TQ $4

Finding the Titanic by Robert D. Ballard $3

The Statue of Liberty by Lucille Recht Penner $2

The Story of the Statue of Liberty by Natalie Miller (hardcover) CoF TQ $4

How They Built the Statue of Liberty by Mary J. Shapiro (hardcover, ex-library) $6

The Long Way to a New Land by Joan Sandin TQ VT $3 each (x6)

The Long Way Westward by Joan Sandin TQ $3

When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest TQ $4

Ellis Island by R. Conrad Stein CoF TQ $4

Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman TQ $5

Jane Addams Pioneer of the Hull House (hardcover, Discovery Book, ex-library) TQ $5

Landmark Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel by Katherine Shippen (hardcover w/Mylar) TQ $8

Milliken History of Civilization The Industrial Revolution Grades 7-12 $3

All-Of-A-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor SL 4/E $3

The Great Depression by R. Conrad Stein CoF TQ $4

Dust for Dinner by Ann Turner TQ VT $3 each (x2)

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse SL Core 100 TQ $3 each (x3)

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor SL 4/E BF TQ VT $3 each (x7)

Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor $3

Blue Willow by Doris Gates SL Core 100 AO BF TQ $4

Orphan Train Rider, One Boy’s True Story by Andrea Warren TQ $4 each (X2) (blue tote #7)

Winston Churchill, Soldier, Statesman, Artist by John B. Severance (hardcover w/jacket) SL $8

In Grandma’s day by Paul Humphrey VT $2 each (x3)

American Girl Meet Kit TQ $2

Holocaust/ WWII

Truman by David McCullough $5

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn SL VP $3

Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank TQ BF VP $4 each (x2)

Anne Frank Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance by Ruud van der Rol and Rian Verhoeven (hardcover) $4

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom BF VT SL AO TQ $4

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan (ex-library) SL AO TQ $3

American Girl Molly’s Craft Book (hardcover, ex-library) $4

Night by Elie Wiesel BF $3

Modern Times

Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry SL 5/F BF $2

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls TQ VP AO 6 $3

Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Myul Choi SL 5/F BF $3

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck SL 5/F $2

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White SL 1/B VP $3 each (x3)

The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White $3

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson SL Core 300 $2

Swift Rivers by Cornelia Meigs SL 3/D TQ $3

Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson SL Core 400 $2 each (x2)

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord SL 3/4 D/E BF $3

A Pictorial Life Story of Misty by Marguerite Henry (hardcover, ex-library) $20

Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry SL TQ BF $5

White Stallion of Lipizza by Marguerite Henry SL TQ BF $5

Our First Pony by Marguerite Henry $1

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry SL 2/C TQ BF VP $3 each (x5)

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry (hardcover) SL 2/C TQ BF VP $5

Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry (hardcover, ex-library) $3

Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry $5

King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry BF AO 3 TQ SL 5/F $3 (x2)

King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry BF AO 3 TQ SL 5/F $5

Justin Morgan had a Horse by Marguerite Henry BF TQ SL $3

Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry BF TQ SL $3

Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry BF TQ SL $5 each (x2)

Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery AO TQ VP $4 each (x2)

Anne of Windy Poplars by L M Montgomery AO TQ $2

Anne’s House of Dreams by L M Montgomery AO TQ $2

Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery TQ AO $2 each (x3)

Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery (hardcover, ex-library) TQ AO $3

Kilmeny of the Orchard by by L. M. Montgomery $3

Sounder by William H. Armstrong SL Core 100 TQ $3 each (x3)

Rascal by Sterling North TQ SL BF $3 each (x3)

Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Miegs (hardcover ex-library) TQ $3

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott AO VP VT $4 each (x2)

Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott AO $3

An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott AO $3

A Picture Book of Helen Keller by David A. Adler TQ $3

Helen Keller – The Story of My Life by Helen Keller - Illustrated Classics comic format $4

Helen Keller’s Teacher by Mickie Davidson TQ VT $3

The Helen Keller Story by Catherine Owens Peare (hardcover w/Mylar, ex-library, loose binding) VT $4

Stealing Home: The Story of Jackie Robinson by Barry Denenberg BF $3 each (x2)

20^th Century – The Fifties – Teacher Created Materials $2

Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy (hardcover ex-library) $3

Childhood of Famous Americans John F. Kennedy (hardcover, ex-library) TQ $3

The Story of the Vietnam Memorial by David K. Wright (hardcover ex-library) CoF $4 (wooden crate)

If you Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King by Ellen Levine TQ VT $3

Young Rosa Parks, Civil Rights Heroine by Anne Benjamin (Troll First Start Biography) TQ $3

Childhood of Famous Americans Thurgood Marshall by Montrew Dunham (ex-library) $3

The Day We Walked on the Moon, A Photo History of Space Exploration by George Sullivan VT $4 each (x3)

The Story of the White House by Kate Waters $4

The Story of White House by Natalie Miller (hardcover) CoF TQ $4

Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents - Gerald R. Ford by Mike Venezia TQ $3

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis SL $3 each (x3)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini BF $4

Basher Five-Two by Captain Scott O’Grady Notgrass $4

Misc. History Resources

A Child’s Story of America by McHugh and Morris VP $4 (x2)

The Handy History Answer Book by Rebecca Nelson $4

Digging and Discovery – Wisconsin Archaeology – The New Badger History Series $3 each (x3)

The Buck Stops Here, The Presidents of the United States by Alice Provensen $4

Story of the Presidents of the United States of America by Maud & Miska Petersham (hardcover w/Mylar, ex-library) $8

Geography, Government, Economics, & Social Studies  

Homeschool Ponies Volume 1: Patriotic Patches by Brenda Krames new w/iron on patches $10

Anno’s U.S.A. by Mitsumasa Anno (hardcover, ex-library) $5

Anno’s Journey by Mitsumasa Anno (hardcover, ex-library) $5

Maps & Globes by Jack Knowlton MFW $4

Count Your Way Through Africa by Jim Haskins $2

Steck-Vaughn Portraits of America series (new) $10 set of 13 includes:

- Wisconsin

- Pacific Islands

- Alabama

- Delaware

- Idaho

- Indiana

- New York

- North Dakota

- Utah

- Massachusetts

- Virginia

- West Virginia

- California

Basic American Government by Clarence Carson (hardcover) SL Core 300 $15

Kon-tiki by Thor Heyerdahl AO $4

Mitz and Fritz of Germany by Madeline Brandeis (1933 hardcover with jacket) $8

The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide by Maggie Hogan & Cindy Wiggers grades K-12 $8

Chippewa Valley Annual Homeschool Curriculum Fair...

If you're in the area this weekend, please do stop by and check out the Chippewa Valley Annual Homeschool Curriculum Fair. We now have over 35 vendors with 40+ tables of new and used books, curriculum, toys, games, crafts, and misc. educational resources for parents and educators, preschool through high school. It's an awesome event to find tools and resources for upcoming years, as well as a great place to network with other home educators!

Concessions will be provided by the Chippewa Valley Lightning Bolts

Winter 2017-2018 - Term Two Wrap-Up...

As we've finished Term Two of the 2017-2018 academic year, I've been reflecting back and am amazed at the progress the kids have made. You can view our Term One review here.

Year 8

Riley's continued to work diligently on her studies using a mix of Ambleside Online Year 7/8 combined and Beautiful Feet Intermediate Medieval History. Here are some of the books she's finished this term...

The Story of the Middle Ages by H. A. Guerber - although this has been a good fit up to this point, we have opted not to continue with Guerber's Story of Renaissance and Reformation as originally scheduled. Instead, Riley will pick up Term Three with Winston's Churchill's The New World.

The Magna Charta by James Daugherty

Cathedral by David Macaulay

Castle by David Macaulay

The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray

Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thompson

Crispin and the Cross of Lead by AVI

In Freedom's Cause by G. A. Henty

In the Days of Alfred the King by Eva March Tappan

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

The Lay of the Land by Dallas Lore Sharp

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Riley also studied assigned poetry excerpts from Alfred Lord Tennyson, as suggested by Ambleside Online Year 7.

Year 7

Ruben has also been working hard in his studies. He's making great progress with IEW's Medieval History-Based Themed Lessons. We've finished reading the following books this term...

Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle

Cathedral by David Macaulay

Robin Hood by J. Walker McSpadden

Magna Carta by C. W. Hodges

Adam of the Road by Janet Elizabeth Gray

Castle by David Macaulay

The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean

Marco Polo by Demi

The Apple and the Arrow by Conrad Buff

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Ruben's been working through RightStart math. The hands on approach with games has been a good fit for him.

Morning Time

I've narrowed our morning time reads down to two per day. This term we finished...

The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer - Ambleside Online Year 7 Devotional

Grammar-Land by M. L. Nesbitt- we finished reading the book, but now we are working through the worksheets as review. If I do this study again with Levi, I will schedule a week of reading followed by a week of review for a full 36-week grammar study.

Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin - Ambleside Online Year 7 Literature

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler - This is also an AO read that will be stretched over the course of the next couple of years. We finished our reading for this year in Term Two, but will pick up again next year.

Kindergarten

Levi has been tagging along in much of what we do, particularly Morning Time. I also started reading to him the Egermeier's Bible Story Book, which I read to Riley in kindergarten. It's kind of been in fits and starts, but either way, he likes it. I pulled Bible Pictures to Color by Martha Rohrer off the shelf and Levi loves coloring the images as I read. He knows many of this letters by sight and sound, but this has simply occurred by osmosis. Levi is also very interested in math. He loves to count and calculate with fingers and objects. Again, this is primarily on his own accord based on what he hears and sees around him. He has had much play time, spends hours in the out of doors daily, and enjoys being read to.

Overall, Term Two has gone very well. It's been a cold, hard winter, but spring is just around the corner. This week we started Term Three and I am committed to finishing strong!

The Kite Rider by McCaughrean...

We recently finished reading The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean. This was our second McCaughrean read this year, as we read One Thousand and One Arabian Nights in Term One. Both of these books are Beautiful Feet Intermediate Medieval History recommendations, as well as IEW Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons recommendations.

The Kite Rider is set in 13th Century China. It's the coming of age story of Haoyou, a young Chinese boy who needs to earn a living to provide for his widowed mother and baby sister. Haoyou begins making fanciful kites in the hope of selling them. However, an evil sailor burns him out in an effort to marry his mother. Together with his cousin, Haoyou sends the drunken sailor out to sea and joins the circus as a kite rider. Unfortunately, the money he earns and sends home doesn't make it to his mother because his greedy Great-Uncle Bo intercepts and gambles it away. There is much more to this adventure story, but I don't want to give away the ending.

As a family, we have come to love McCaughrean's writing. Her characters develop and show much growth as the story progresses, making them seem real and very interesting. Also, McCaughrean's language is beautiful and not dumbed down. We all found ourselves rooting for the protagonist, hoping for a happy ending to their plight.

Another McCaughrean title the kids have enjoyed in the past is Stop the Train, which is set in the American west. We would frequently get the audio from the library when they were younger, as they wanted to listen over and over again. If you haven't tried a Geraldine McCaughrean book, we highly recommend you do so!

Beautiful Feet Medieval History - 2017-2018 Second Term Review...

RileyAnn just finished her second 12-week term with Beautiful Feet's Intermediate Medieval History guide. You can take a peek back at her first term here. Today, I'll showcase the books and notebooking pages she worked on in the second term.

In week's thirteen through twenty-four, Riley covered a variety of topics, including the Magna Charta, medieval castles and cathedrals, 13th Century China, John Wycliffe, and 13th and 14th Century England by reading the following living books...

The Magna Charta by James Daugherty
Cathedral by David Macaulay
Castle by David Macaulay
The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thompson
Crispin and the Cross of Lead by AVI

Riley has written many essays and research papers throughout this study, drawing from a variety of  websites and The European World 400-1450 by Barbara A. Hanawalt. She did have some trouble accessing the BF guide's suggested websites, but has been able to find subject material at other websites. Riley also watched the David Macaulay Cathedral documentary online. I had Ruben watch it with her after he read the Macaulay book as well.

Overall, Riley is loving the BF Intermediate Medieval History literature! The photo below shows a sampling of her notebooking pages for this term.

How I Avoid the Road to Homeschool Burnout....

I took this photo a month or so back after an eight inch snowfall. At first glance, it's beautiful with the fresh blanket of white and blue sky overhead. However, as you drive along, you start to notice the icy roadway with fifteen foot embankments. It quickly becomes very apparent that you must slow down or possibly lose control. This is also how I view creating my home education schedule.

You see, I'm a planner by nature. I love taking the big picture and breaking it into small parts. I actually prefer planning to teaching. For the first several years of home educating, I would spend my entire summer, and then some, planning each and every day right down to the "T". Then somewhere around year five, when I had three children working at three levels, including one with learning differences, I started to feel fried. My plan became my master. The beautiful scene I envisioned became an icy roadway and I found myself careening over the embankment.

After a couple of years of crash landings, I decided to slow down and take in the sights. I still plan, but at a much slower pace. I have reduced our schedule to only four days a week. What a difference this leisurely pace has made. This doesn't mean we are slacking in our academics. Quite the contrary. My children are finding time to pursue their interests. I have made time to enjoy the beautiful view, to pad the unexpected, to see my children as born persons.

Scheduling four day weeks allows us to live life. Because after all, as Andrew Kern says, education is about nurturing souls, not dumping facts. It's about fostering a love of learning.  In the past, I was more worried about my boxes than my people. I have come to see that was a detriment. There is no prize for checking the most boxes. Only love lost and hearts turned away.

February is a great time for scheduling, particularly here in WI where we've been shut in for several months with very little sun. This is where the rubber meets the road. Now is the time to see truth. If your schedule feels like a noose, loosen it up. Plan lighter for the next term or year. Make time to enjoy the view. You and your children will be much happier because when you slacken the pace, you create an environment more conducive to learning. Just ask me how I know....

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray...

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray is a book I've waited years to read. It's on many favorite lists suggested for study of the Middle Ages. Over the last couple of weeks, I finally got my chance.

Adam of the Road tells the story of Adam, an 11-year old son of a traveling minstrel in 13th Century England. Throughout their travels, Adam and his father acquire a horse, named Bayard, and a dog, named Nick. However, after a short time, Adam's father loses Bayard gambling and eventually Nick is stolen. Then while searching for Nick, Adam is separated from his father. The second half of the story becomes Adam's quest to find Nick and his father. Throughout which, he learns a few life lessons. I won't give away the ending, but will suffice to say, Adam of the Road is a worthy read.

Gray's tale gives a wonderful overview of minstrel life during the 1200's. It also gives a glimpse of time after the signing of the Magna Charta as England was beginning to establish and build the foundation for their modern day government. The portrayal of medieval culture and society is in line historically. Gray was awarded the 1943 Newbery Medal for writing Adam of the Road.

As mentioned, Adam of the Road is a suggested read on several lists, including Beautiful Feet, Memoria Press, Sonlight, and TruthQuest History. Our entire family enjoyed it as an evening read aloud.

Reflections on Home Education - Part V, Post 4 - Natural Philosophy, Geography, and History....

Carrying on with the fourth installment of Part V in Vol. 1 of Home Education by Charlotte Mason, you can find the previous posts here, Post 1, Post 2, and Post 3.

Natural Philosophy

In Charlotte's day, Natural Philosophy was the study of nature and the universe. It began in the ancient world with Aristotle and continued throughout the 19th Century. It is considered the precursor to natural science, which can be divided into life science and physical science.  According to Oxford Dictionaries, Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. And, natural is defined as existing in or caused by nature, not made or caused by humankind. So, in my mind, Natural Philosophy is the basic knowledge of all things created by God.

Charlotte wrote extensively earlier in Vol. 1, about the importance of children being out of doors in the younger years so that they can encounter and gain knowledge of Natural Philosophy by their own observations. At the beginning of this section, she reiterates and summarizes her position...

Of the teaching of Natural Philosophy, I will only remind the reader of what was said in an earlier chapter - that there is no part of the child's education more important than that he should lay, by his own observation, a wide basis of facts towards scientific knowledge in the future. He must live hours daily in the open air, and, as far as possible, in the country; must look and touch and listen; must be quick to note, consciously, every peculiarity of habit or structure, in beast, bird, or insect; the manner of growth and fructification of every plant. He must be accustomed to ask why - Why does the wind blow? Why does the river flow? Why is a leaf-bud sticky? And do not hurry to answer his questions for him; let him think his difficulties out so far as his small experience will carry him. Above all, when you come to the rescue, let it not be in the 'cut and dried' formula of some miserable little text-book; let him have all the insight available, and you will find that on many scientific questions the child may be brought at once to the level of modern thought. Do not embarrass him with too much scientific nomenclature. If he discover for himself (helped, perhaps, by a leading question or two), by comparing an oyster and his cat, that some animals have backbones and some have not, it is less important that he should learn the terms vertebrate and invertebrate than that he should class the animals he meets with according to this difference. (p. 264-265)

Charlotte goes on to recommend a couple of books for reinforcing her method of teaching Natural Philosophy. These being the Eyes and No-eyes series in Evenings at Home by John Aikin and his sister Anna Laetitia Barbauld and The Sciences by Holden. Regarding the use of books in education, Charlotte says,

The general plan of the book is to awaken the imagination; to convey useful knowledge; to open the doors towards wisdom. Its special aim is to stimulate observation and to excite a living and lasting interest in the world that lies about us. (p. 267)

Therein, lies an excellent definition of a 'living book'!

Geography

Geography is, to my mind, a subject of high educational value; though not because it affords the means of scientific training....But the peculiar value of geography lies in its fitness to nourish the mind with ideas, and to furnish the imagination with pictures. (p. 271-272)

Again, Charlotte recommends beginning geography through natural science and long hours in the out of doors. Keep in mind, Vol. 1 was recommended for the teaching of children under age nine. At this point, she does not recommend students learn the geography of any one particular country of continent, but rather places in their natural surroundings and ones they read about in their histories and well-written books on travel. She suggests children in Form I, between the ages of six and nine, have half a dozen well-chosen standard books of travel read to them.

In regard to maps, Charlotte states,

Maps must be carefully used in this kind of work, - a sketch-map following the traveller's progress, to be compared finally with a complete map of the region;.. (p. 275)

Once people and places have been introduced through a reading, Charlotte does recommend showing the child a big picture map and pointing out the location so they get a general idea of geography. However, this is only after the child learns the meaning of a map by drawing a floor plan of his bedroom or the school room or the neighborhood. This introduction of maps and their purpose serves as a base for later geographic knowledge.

History

I've written a great deal about the teaching of history in the past. Therefore, I will limit this section to a brief review and highlight any new quotes I've obtained here.

Much that has been said about the teaching of geography applies equally to that of history. Here, too, is a subject which should be to the child an inexhaustible storehouse of ideas, should enrich the chambers of his House Beautiful with a thousand tableaux, pathetic and heroic, and should form in him, insensibly, principles whereby he will hereafter judge of the behaviour of nations, and will rule his own conduct as one of a nation. (p. 279)

The study of history was used in moral teaching and to develop self-governance in children. The main method of teaching history was through the use of  living books. Charlotte used biographies, about noble characters in history, such as Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionhearted, and Henry V to name a few. She despised what she called, "outlines or a baby edition of the whole history." Charlotte also opposed history books written specifically for children as she felt they were watered down and without literary power. Charlotte further recommended early histories of a nation or older books written closer to the time period vs. modern books that didn't recognize the 'dignity of history'. She suggested chronicles, at the rate of one per year. Many of which are used in Ambleside Online today, like Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England, Chronicles of the Kings of England, and Asser's Alfred. Charlotte also purported teaching myths and legends, such as Tennyson's Idylls of the King. She called for original sources....

...wherever practicable, the child should get his first notions of a given period, not from the modern historian, the commentator and reviewer, but from the original sources of history, the writings of contemporaries. (p. 286)

She used books like Plutarch's Lives in preparation for the study of Grecian or of Roman history. In addition, she taught classic myths. Charlotte devoted several pages in this section writing about her ideal of history books and the importance of having the right books.

In addition, Charlotte mentioned the century chart that young children kept. It was a timeline of sorts, divided into twenty columns, each representing a century, where the child wrote names of people he encountered in history.  Charlotte also talked about the importance of children narrating each of their history readings, whether orally or by illustration. She closed this section mentioning the importance of playing at history when the child has been fed a healthy diet of living ideas.

The mistake we make is to suppose that imagination is fed by nature, or that it works on the insipid diet of children's story-books. Let the child have the meat he requires in his history readings, an in the literature which naturally gathers round this history, and imagination will bestir itself without any help of ours the child will live out in detail a thousand scenes of which he only gets the merest hint. (p. 295)

Here are a few more quotes on History and Geography taken from Charlotte's writings. Also, last January, I wrote a response to a blog post titled, "The Perils of Teaching History Through Literature" by John De Gree, of the Classical Historian, which you can find here.  I found Mr. De Gree's claims inaccurate in comparison to Charlotte Mason's teachings on the study of history. He used an exaggerated example to decry a method that works. I have been using living books for history teaching in our homeschool since day one, back in 2007. My kids are all very passionate about history and will tell you it's their favorite subject. Here is one area, I know Mason's methods work!

Book Bites - Marguerite de Angeli...

I am a self proclaimed bibliophile who’s built a home library containing a few thousand books. Anyone who enters our home can see we love books! However, I don’t love just any book as I admit to being a little bit of a book snob. To me, a book must be of high quality. I look for a story with excellent moral value. I want the characters to have character and depth. I tend to be partial to books written in the Golden Age of Children's Literature, which began in Europe in the mid 1800’s and continued into America until around the 1960’s. There was about 100 years, where children’s literature was at its peak. We have read widely in our home, but find the books written within that 100 year time period to be far superior.

Last Sept 2017, I gave a talk at the Journey: An Education for Life retreat in which I talked about Teaching Through Literature and Living Books. I received great feedback from families who wanted more information about the books I mentioned and their authors. This got me thinking about how best to present that information. As a result, I’ve decided to write blog posts that accompany Instagram Live discussions. The IG Live only remains for 24 hours, so the blog posts will serve as a more permanent record.

In these posts, I’ll be writing to showcase a variety of authors and their books. I will write about individual books, topical study books, series books, and authors. Today, I’m going to start with Marguerite de Angeli, who lived and wrote during that Golden Age of Children's Literature that I mentioned...

Marguerite was born in 1889 in Lapeer, MI, one of six children. Her father was an illustrator and photographer. In spite of living near poverty, Marguerite reported a happy childhood. She loved to draw and paint from a very early age. However, rather than drawing, she started her career as a professional singer after dropping out of high school to pursue voice lessons.

In 1910, Marguerite married a violinist, John Daily de Angeli. Together they had six children. Marguerite began drawing in earnest while her children were very small. Eventually, she showed some of her drawings to their neighbor, M.L. Brower, who was a well-known illustrator at that time. Brower encouraged Marguerite to continue drawing and within a year’s time, he sent some of her illustrations to his editor, of which, she received her first illustrating commission.

Marguerite continued to work diligently over the next few years illustrating stories, magazine articles and books for others. It wasn’t until 14 years later that she wrote her own first book, Henner’s Lydia, which is the story of a young Amish girl living near Lancaster, PA. Lydia is working on a hooking a small mat to take to the market. However, she is sidetracked daily by everything, but her work. Does Lydia finish her mat in time? I will let you read and find out.

Marguerite went on to write many more wonderful children’s books. She was one of the first authors to write about children of racial, regional, and religious minorities. Marguerite traveled and did on the spot research for her stories. Her book settings are very accurate. In addition, Marguerite's pencil illustrations are remarkable, just as good as the words she penned. I read that she used her own children as models for her illustrations, making them seem life like. Marguerite's books are wholesome as she believed children benefit from reading about happy homes. Her books are truly treasures and I would really encourage you to check them out from the library or to consider purchasing copies for your own home library.

I have collected a few of Marguerite de Angeli's books, but certainly don’t own them all. Many of Marguerite's titles were originally published in hardcover, but unfortunately, they are getting harder to find as they have become collectible and some of the prices are astronomical. Thankfully, many of the titles are being reprinted in softcover by publishers like Sonlight Curriculum, Herald Press, and Laudamus Press. The titles we've collected so far are as follows...

The Old Testament illustrated by de Angeli - This lovely rendition of the Old Testament is a delight for all ages to page through! 

Marguerite de Angeli's Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes - Again the wonderful illustrations, which alternate between black/white pencil drawings and color, make these nursery rhymes come to life and are extra sweet.

Copper-Toed Boots - an adventure story of a boy through a Michigan summer - I'll include some sample illustrations below. 

Henner's Lydia - story of a young Amish girl hooking a mat to sell at market

Yonie Wondernose - about a 7-year old boy who can't keep his nose out of trouble

Thee, Hannah! - 9-year old Quaker, living in Philadelphia just before the Civil War

Bright April - young black child growing up in Germantown, PA

The Skippack School - Eli immigrates to America and must attend the new school

The Door in the Wall - crippled boy who proves his courage, set in 13th Century England

Black Fox of Lorne - 10th Century Viking twin brothers, who vow to avenge their fathers death

The Lion in the Box - a beautiful Christmas tale, set around the turn of the century in New York City

The Door in the Wall and Black Fox of Lorne, both make an excellent addition to your Medieval History study. The first of which, is more common and readily available. However, the second is a do not miss in our opinion! The Amish and Quaker stories are great reads while studying Colonial History. And, of course, The Lion in the Box is a must read Christmas treasure. Below are some sample illustrations....

Copper-Toed Boots...

Little Bo Peep... 

Wee Willie Winkie.... 

Mary had a Little Lamb...