Learning About Classical Conversations...

Early this spring I had a chance to attend a Classical Conversations (CC) meeting.  Some local homeschooling moms started a CC community in my area last fall with Foundations.  They are looking to expand and plan to begin Essentials and Challenge A this fall.  After attending the initial meeting, I observed classes at all three levels and attended a day of a Parent Practicum to better understand the program.  I aim to explain here what I learned throughout this process.

Classical Conversations was started by Leigh Bortins.  It's a home-centered learning community that assists parents and educators in using the classical model.  Students attend parent/tutor led classes one day a week.  Parents are then given tools, resources, and support material to use in their homeschool for the rest of the week.

There are three levels of CC, Foundations, Essentials, and Challenge.  CC promotes a Christian worldview and believes there are three key components to a great education, classical, Christian, and Community.  Below are my observation notes...

Foundations

- grammar-stage program for children age twelve and under and their parents
- meets from 9:15 a.m. to noon, weekly for two semesters of twelve weeks each
- curriculum based on three year history cycle (Ancient, Medieval, American)
- subjects cover History and Geography, Science, Timeline, Art, Music, English, Latin, Math, Bible Memory
- allows up to eight students per group/class
- lessons based on Foundations Curriculum Guide

The Foundations class I observed was tutored by a local homeschooling mom who'd been trained in the CC method.  The schedule went as follows:

9:15 a.m. Large Group Opening: families take turns opening with prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, and a family presentation.  The director leads recitation of Scripture memory.

9:30 a.m. Fine Arts continued in large group.  The students, led by parent tutors sang "Orchestra Song" as a group.  Then moved into individual classes for continuing study.  This particular week, they were wrapping up Handel and beginning Bach.  The student's listened to "The Well Tempered Clavier" and learned about the harpsichord and fugue.

10:00 a.m. Science studied geology and minerals.  Reviewed the Scientific Method and performed an experiment.

10:30 a.m. New Grammar, which included memory work for seven subjects (History Sentence, Timeline, Geography, Math, English, Latin, Science).  The goal is to repeat each piece of information seven times throughout the class.  The memory work for that particular day went something like this:

History: John Cabot and Samuel de Champlain explored Canada and the St. Lawrence River.  Creation of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670, eventually led to war between Britain and France.  The maple leaf is the symbol of Canada.

Timeline: WWII and President Franklin Roosevelt, Stalin of the USSR and the Katyn Massacre, The United Nations formed, The Cold War, Gandhi and India's independence, Jewish state established, Mao and Communist victory in China

Geography: Canadian Provinces (1867) Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia

Math: The Associative Law for Addition: (a + b) + c = a + (b + c)
          The Associative Law for Multiplication: (a x b) x c = a x (b x c)

English: A linking verb makes an assertion by joining two words

Latin: 4th Declension Noun-endings (recite chart showing these)

Science: What are the five main circles of latitude?  Arctic Circle, Tropic of Cancer, Equator, Tropic of Capricorn, Antarctic Circle

11:00 a.m. Presentation and snack.  Each student gave a 2-3 minute presentation on the topic of their choice.

11:30 a.m. Review that day's lesson and memory work from six weeks prior.  Tutor asks questions and students answer like trivia.        

12:00 p.m. Lunch with family

Essentials

- bridge between grammar and dialectic stage for kids in 4th - 6th grade and their parents
- meets from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., weekly following Foundations class, for two semesters of twelve weeks each
- allows up to sixteen students per group/class
- subjects cover Language Arts, Writing (IEW History Based Writing Lessons), and Math
- lessons based on Essentials of the English Language Curriculum Guide, which is a complete language arts program

I observed an Essentials program about an hour from our home that was again tutored by a homeschool mom.  I think Essentials had a lot of potential, but unfortunately, this tutor clearly struggled not only with teaching the lesson, but also to engage the students.  In all fairness, it was their last day of the school year.   A typical Essentials schedule would go as follows:

1:00 p.m. Grammar parsing and diagramming.  Tutor wrote a sentence on the board.  Students identified parts of speech and diagrammed the sentence.

1:45 p.m. Math games.  Students went into a gymnasium and played a math drill game

2:15 p.m. IEW History-Based Writing Lessons, which again would follow the three year history cycle mentioned above.  Students had an option of sharing/presenting the paper they wrote.

3:00 Adjourn

Challenge

- designed for students twelve years and older in the dialectic and rhetoric stages and their parents
- meets from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., weekly for two semesters of fifteen weeks each
- subjects cover Gammar (Latin), Exposition and Composition, Debate, Research, Rhetoric, and Logic (Math) in one hour increments
- there are six Challenge levels, Challenge A, B I, II, III, and IV
- each Challenge program has a different focus with the aim being increased responsibility for the student



I observed a Challenge A class about two hours from our home.  This particular teacher was dynamic!  As all tutors, she was a CC trained homeschool mom.  The schedule went as follows:

8:30 a.m. Logic based on Saxon Math 8/7, however, not all students were using this program.  The tutor taught a lesson from Saxon, but students in Challenge are allowed to use an alternative math program.  One particular student with learning disabilities came an hour late so as to skip this portion, but be involved in the rest of the day.

9:30 a.m. Exposition & Composition. The students read a variety of assigned literature for this class.  Then learn to write papers using The Lost Tools of Writing by the CiRCE Institute.  Each piece of literature is read and studied/written about over a three week period.  Students picked a problem from the story to write about.  They read/presented their papers to the class.  This particular day they were finishing up A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos and beginning Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi.  The tutor also drew upon a CC exclusive titled Words Aptly Spoken for discussion questions.

10:30 a.m. Logic. Students discussed 4-5 fallacies from The Fallacy Detectives.  The tutor clarified any questions regarding the fallacies.  She also presented examples of the fallacies being studied in the form of cartoons/comics.  Then she read a bible verse and the group discussed it.

11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Lunch break in which all Challenge students gathered to eat and converse.  They even had time to play a quick board game together.

12:00 p.m. Grammar was studied using Henle First Year Latin.

1:00 p.m. Debate was studied through geography.  The students were finishing the continent of Africa.  They began the class with 20 minutes of silent drawing time, where they were to draw everything they could remember about Africa, including countries, geographic features, and water.  Next, the tutor introduced Australia by discussing random facts and drawing it on a white board for students to copy.   She included territories, capitals, geographic features, Oceania, New Zealand, seas, oceans, and Tasmania

2:00 p.m. Research is what I would call science.  Again the students started the class with a twenty minute silent drawing time.  Only this time, it was everything they could remember about the human skeleton.  After that, the tutor introduced neurons by discussion.  Then she drew and labeled a neuron on the white board for the students to copy.

3:00 p.m. Adjourn.

Based on my observations, I have mixed feelings about Classical Conversations for a variety of reasons.  I love the idea of community, as in like minded individuals studying similarly together. I think CC provides a great community for parents and students alike.  It was clear, the students in the classes I observed had developed friendships.  I also appreciate that CC is Christian based.  I'm happy to see alternative support for those who fear homeschooling through high school.  I like some of the resources used as well as some of the methods at the Challenge level.  Parent support is outstanding in the CC community.  They even offer free annual Parent Practicums to encourage and empower parents in homeschool leadership.  You do not have to join CC to attend.

We will not be joining the CC community.  I'm not particularly fond of the rote memorization method used at the Foundations level.   We choose to provide a broad and liberal education through the use of living books in order for the child to develop the science of relations.  CC is aligned with the neoclassical stages of development based on Dorothy Sayers' essay, which I'm still on the fence over.   I'm a free spirit that loves to plan and pick curricula so I'm not crazy about someone else governing my choices.  In my observations, I also experienced a variety of tutors and as with anything, the leader can make or break it.  I really liked the content and method of the Essentials program, but I saw first hand a tutor that was unable to bring it home.  Lastly, CC is cost prohibitive for our family.

I feel good about the time and energy I put into researching CC.  I learned a great deal and met some fabulous homeschool families.  I actually bought some of the CC Prescripts handwriting books and I do plan to incorporate a few of the methods I saw in the CC classes.  RileyAnn observed Challenge A with me.  She and I both liked the drawing portions as well as the book study and writing.  I bought The Lost Tools of Writing at the Great Homeschool Convention and am trying to decide how to implement it.  I also liked the Essentials of the English Language Curriculum Guide and wonder if it would work for use with Ruben.  The jury is still out on this one.

I think CC would be a great option for families looking for a mentor or guidance in structuring their day.  It may work for a mom who needs help planning her curriculum.  As mentioned, I also think it's a great alternative for those looking for high school homeschooling assistance.

Friday Findings: Reflection and Prayer Before Planning, Beautiful Feet Giveaway, Raising Globally Minded Kids, Schole Sisters....

Sorry, I don't have a lot of links for you this week.  We've been at the ball park four nights, which makes for very sleepy mornings and early morning is when I'm usually online.  We only have a couple of weeks left and then I'm looking forward to entering into full time planning mode.  I LOVE planning our homeschooling year!  I have most of the resources picked out, but will need some time to organize them into a doable schedule.

Speaking of homeschool planning, The Importance of Reflection, Prayer, and Rest in Homeschool Planning is a timely post to read before diving in.   I also loved Mystie Winckler's post on How this school year will make the next better.   I didn't make it to the audit chat, but do have the replay link and look forward to listening.

Did you see Beautiful Feet's $150 giveaway?!  Just give a product review on one or more of the sites listed and get entered into the drawing.  We think highly of BF and plan to use the Ancient History guide as part of our history study in the fall.  If you haven't checked them out, you should :)

Last weekend, I did get a chance to listen to Jamie Martin speak at Read Aloud Revival about her new book,  Give Your Child the World, Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time.  It sounds a lot like the Galloping the Globe study we did when the kids were younger.

I've also been doing a lot of reading in my free time.  Anna Karenina  by Leo Tolstoy is a fabulous beast.  I say this because it's extremely good, but so fat and lengthy.  It's a force to be reckoned with.  And, I meet with my Schole Sisters on Sunday so I need to get the assigned reading done....especially since I'm the leader, ahem!

I'll leave you with my littlest farmer sitting in his favorite spot picking out a story to read, who is not supposed to be on the furniture with mud boots....

Schole Sisters: How I Started a Group...

Schole, it seems to be the buzz word around certain blogging circles.  According to Dictionary.com, schole is the Greek root of school, meaning leisure employed in learning.  Dr. Christopher Perrin says schole is the ability to rest and contemplate.  He wrote a two part series on Recovering Leisure in Education, which includes a video presentation of a lecture he gave in regard to the book Leisure, The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper.  I have not read the book, but have spent countless hours researching and listening to podcasts on schole around the web, one of my favorite sites being the Schole Sisters website, which began back in 2015.  It was there I first learned about schole.

At that time, I was already leading a Charlotte Mason 20 Principles study in my area, but knew it would eventually come to an end.  I loved our group and the energy I felt after meeting.  Although the 20 Principles study would end, I didn't want to loose the camaraderie and charge of the women in our study.  I printed the How to Start a Schole Sisters Group guide and toward the end of our Principle study, I presented the idea of continuing our group in the form of a Schole Sisters group for summer.  The idea was well received.

A Schole Sisters group doesn't just talk about how homeschooling is going.  These "sisters" do schole.  They give themselves ample time in a beautiful setting (with some good food and drink) to discuss great literature and art, they may play music, sing, recite poetry.  They learn from one another and are restored and enlivened by the engagement of truth, goodness, and beauty. (How to Start a Schole Sisters Group, pg. 6)

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy was on my want to read list for some time.  It's a big book!...and I thought it would be fun to read with friends, not only for accountability, but for leisurely discussion and contemplation.  Again, I presented the idea and it was decided that our new Schole Sisters group would begin by reading and studying Tolstoy's classic.

From there, I posted on a local homeschool forum this idea of schole, reading Anna Karenina together, and then meeting for discussion.  I received an overwhelming response from nearly 20 women showing interest.  I was so excited to see the diversity of interested moms.  These were not women that hung together in any certain circle, but a good scattering of women from a variety of circles.

Next, I looked at logistics including the potential size of the group and proximity of where interested parties resided.  I wanted a relaxing, neutral location for our meetings with easy access for all participants.  We also needed to decide on a date for our first meeting, which was the biggest challenge with a group of busy moms this size.  Once I had our interested persons list, I sent a direct e-mail to each mom with a request to rate a list of possible dates, times, and locations.  In all fairness, because of the potential size of the group, it had to be a majority rules type of situation.

Once settling on a date and location, I not only e-mailed original interested parties, but also posted an update on the local forum opening the invitation to everyone because I knew some moms were unable to commit without an exact date and location.

Friday, May 27th, we held our first Schole Sisters meeting at a local restaurant and discussed Part I & II of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.  Nine women attended and it was delightful!  In advance, I did a bit of research online and printed study questions to use as the basis for our discussion.  Of course, not all moms were able to attend, but they still wanted to be kept in the loop for future meetings.  Therefore, after our initial meeting, I sent a follow-up e-mail to all original interested parties with links to background information and questions discussed.  I also included our mutually agreed upon assigned reading and future meeting date, time, and location.  Thus our Schole Sisters group was born.

Now, I don't want to give the impression that there is any one right way to begin a Schole Sisters group.  This is simply what worked for me.  Even if you are in a remote area or don't have a large pod of homeschoolers to pull from, I believe you can still create schole.  It could be as simple as finding one other person in the flesh or online, with which you can read and discuss a book.  Some other ideas may be finding a friend to tour a local art exhibit, an orchard, or a winery with.  You might attend a symphony, a play or host a movie night.  Maybe you want to take a drawing or pottery class.  How about a nature study walk?  You see, I believe there are countless ways to go about schole.  The only right way is to just do it!

Updated List of Living History Books for Sale....

Updated 9-24-2016

Below you will find our latest list of living history books.  The books are arranged chronologically and coded when related to a particular history program.  Some of the books are ex-library and some are from a private collection.  Many are duplicate copies from our personal library.  Let me know if you need recommendations or have any questions.

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

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

Ancient Civilizations/Cultures (blue)

The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Van Loon (hardcover) AO $6

Usborne The Time Traveller Book of Pharaohs & Pyramids by Tony Allan (hardcover) SL 1/B VP TQ $4

Egypt (Insiders) by Joyce Tyldesley $4

The Great Pyramid by Elizabeth Mann TQ $4

Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures Ancient Egypt by Joanna Cole $3

The Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Egypt by Cyndy Shearer $5

Teacher Created Materials Thematic Guide Ancient Egypt $10 set

-       Pyramid by David Macaulay

-       The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (hardcover)

An Ancient Egyptian Town by R. J. Unstead (hardcover) $5

Mummies A Very Peculiar History by Nathaniel Harris $3

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

Early Civilizations Ancient Greece by Kim Covert (hardcover) $4

The Iliad retold by Nick McCarty, illustrated by Victor Ambrus $4

Favorite Greek Myths retold by Mary Pope Osborne $4

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

The Master by John Pollock $4

An Ancient Chinese Town by R. J. Unstead (hardcover) $5

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

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

Work and Play in the Philippines – New World Neighbors Series (1944 hardcover) $4

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

Middle Ages/Renaissance/Reformation (blue)

The Vikings by Robert Nicholson & Claire Watts $3

History Explorers Viking Raiders by Fiona Macdonald $4

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

The Story of Roland by James Baldwin (1930 Hardcover) TQ $10

Fact or Fiction Knights by Stewart Ross (hardcover) $4

Saint George and the Dragon retold by Margaret Hodges AO1 TQ VP $3

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle TQ AO5 $4

The Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett SL $4

The Apple and the Arrow: The Legend of William Tell by Mary and Conrad Buff Core K/A TQ $3 each

Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman Core 6/G $2 each

The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O’Dell (1975 hardcover) BF TQ $5

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

The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman (hardcover) $3

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

The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood SL $3

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

Martin Luther, A Man Who Changed the World by Paul L. Maier (hardcover) TQ VP $5

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

Exploration/Native Americans (blue)

The Landmark History of the American People, from Plymouth to the Moon by Daniel J. Boorstin SL $12

North American Indian Sign Language by Karen Liptak $3

Trade, Transportation, and Warfare – American Indian Contributions to the World by Keoke & Porterfield (hardcover) $3

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

Indians by Edwin Tunis (hardcover w/Mylar dust jacket) TQ $15

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

Did Columbus Really Discover America? By Peter and Connie Roop $2

Christopher Columbus by David Goodnough $2

Landmark Meet Christopher Columbus by James T. de Kay (Landmark edition) TQ $3

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) $3

Ferdinand Magellan by Ruth Harley $3

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

Sower Johannes Kepler by John Hudson Tiner TQ $4

Sower Robert Boyle by John Hudson Tiner TQ $4

Colonization/American Revolution (gray/blue/pink)

The Old World and America by Rev. Philip J. Furlong, Ph.D w/answer key $10 set

America in the Time of Pocahontas, The Story of Our Nation from Coast to Coast, from 1590 to 1754 by Sally Senzell Isaacs (hardcover) $4

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

And Long Remember by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1959 hardocover) $4

Life in America Series

            Life Establishing a Nation 1790-1849 $5

            Life in a New World 1000-1763 $5

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

The Story of Jamestown by Marilyn Prolman (hardcover) TQ CoF $4

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

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

Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla SL 3/D TQ VT $4 each

Landmark Pocahontas and Captain John Smith by Marie Lawson (hardcover) TQ $5

If you Sailed on the Mayflower by Ann McGovern TQ VT $3 each

The Shipbuilders by Leonard Everett Fisher (1971 hardcover) TQ $5

The Pilgrims by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover) 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 each

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

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

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George TQ VT $2

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

The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgeliesh TQ VT SL $4

Thanksgiving Feast and Festival by Mildren Corell Luckhardt (hardcover) $10

Thanksgiving Unit Study by Amanda Bennett $3

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

Historic Communities – Tools and Gadgets by Bobbie Kalman $3

Eastern Trails, From Footprints to Turnpikes by Kathy Pelta (hardcover) $2

Dear America Standing in the Light, The Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan, 1763 (hardcover) $3

The Unredeemed Captive by John Demos VT $4 each

American Heritage Junior Library The French and Indian Wars (hardcover) TQ $5

Calico Bush by Rachel Field SL TQ $4 each

Colonial Living by Edwin Tunis TQ $10

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

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

The Farm, Life in Colonial Pennsylvania by James E. Knight TQ $3

The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper TQ $4

Landmark The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson (hardcover) TQ $5 each

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

Stowaway by Karen Hesse SL TQ $3 each

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

The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770 by Alice Dickinson (hardcover) $5

Paul Revere & the World He Lived In by Esther Forbes (hardcover) TQ $5

Where was Patrick Henry on the 29^th of May? by Jean Fritz TQ $3 each

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (hardcover w/dust jacket) SL 3/4/D/E TQ BF VP AO VT $5

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

My Brother Sam is Dead by Collier & Collier TQ $3

Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit TQ VT $3

General Washington’s Christmas Farewell by Stanley Weintraub $2

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

The Adventures of George Washington by Margaret Davidson TQ $3

Buttons for General Washington by Peter & Connie Roop (hardcover) TQ VT $3

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

Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley (hardcover) TQ $3

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

1776 by David McCullough (hardcover w/jacket) TQ $5

John Adams by David McCullough TQ $5

Meet Thomas Jefferson by Marvin Barrett (Step Up Books edition – hardcover) TQ $4

Journey to Monticello, Traveling in Colonial Times by James E. Knight $3

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

The Story of the Declaration of Independence by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover) TQ CoF $4

Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz TQ $4 each

The First Book of the Constitution by Richard B. Morris (hardcover w/Mylar) TQ VT $4

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

Betsy Ross by Alexandra Wallner TQ $3

The Story of Bonhomme Richard by Norman Richards (hardcover) CoF TQ $4

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson WP $2 each

An American Plague by Jim Murphy (hardcover) $5

America’s First Elephant by Robert M. McClung (hardcover) VT $3

1800’s/Westward Expansion (blue)

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

The Prairie by James Fenimore Cooper TQ $4

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

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

The Incredible Journey of Lewis & Clark by Rhoda Blumberg (hardcover) VT $5

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

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

The First Book of the War of 1812 by Richard B. Morris (hardcover) TQ $4

The Star-Spangled by Peter Spier (hardcover) TQ $10

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

Johnny Appleseed – A Tall Tale Retold and Illustrated by Steven Kellogg TQ $3

Johnny Appleseed – A Poem by Reeve Lindbergh TQ $4 each

Johnny Appleseed by Carol Beach York (hardcover) $2

John Chapman, The Man Who Was Johnny Appleseed by Carol Greene (hardcover Rookie Biography) $3

Sequoyah, Cherokee Hero by Joanne Oppenheim TQ $4

The Defenders by Ann McGovern $2 each

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

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

When Mountain Men Trapped Beaver by Richard Glendinning (hardcover) TQ $6

Quit Pulling my Leg!, A Story of Davy Crockett by Robert Quackenbush (hardcover) TQ $3

Signature Book The Story of Davy Crockett by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft (hardcover) TQ $4

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

American Heritage Junior Library Andrew Jackson, Soldier and Statesman (hardcover) TQ $5

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

Susanna of the Alamo, A True Story by John Jakes (hardcover) $4 each

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

American Girl Secrets in the Hills – A Josefina Mystery $3

The Wild West by Mike Stotter $3

The Oregon Trail by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover) CoF TQ VT $4 each

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

The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman (hardcover) TQ $3

Wagons West: Off to Oregon by Catherine E. Chambers VT $2

Wagon Train by Sydelle Kramer TQ $2

Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner SL 2/C TQ $3

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

Meet the Wards on the Oregon Trail by John J. Loeper TQ VT $3

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

Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson & Nancy Carpenter TQ $3

Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall TQ VT $4

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

A Pioneer Sampler by Barbara Greenwood TQ VP VT $5

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

Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi BF TQ $4 each

Ludwig Van Beethoven, Young Composer by Louis Sabin $3 each

The Young Brahms by Sybil Deucher (1949 hardcover) $10

Commodore Perry in the Land of Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg (hardcover) Core 5/F $6

American Heritage Junior Library Commodore Perry in Japan (hardcover) $5

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr SL 5/F $3 each

Revenge of the Whale by Nathaniel Philbrick $3

Snowshoe Thompson by Nancy Smiler Levinson TQ VT $2 each

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

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

All Sail Set by Armstrong Sperry SL 4/E TQ $4

Pony Express by Steven Kroll (hardcover) TQ VT $4 each

Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express by Eleanor Coerr TQ $3

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

YWAM George Muller by Janet and Geoff Benge MFW SL TQ $4

Underground RailRoad/Slavery/Civil War 1865

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

The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad by Barbara Greenwood TQ $4

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

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

Freedom Train, The Story of Harriet Tubman by Dorothy Sterling SL TQ $3

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

True Stories about Abraham Lincoln by Ruth Belov Gross $2

The Death of Lincoln by Leroy Hayman TQ BF $3

Abraham’s Battle – A Novel of Gettysburg by Sara Harrell Banks TQ $2

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

Lincoln’s Birthday by Clyde Robert Bulla (hardcover) TQ $3

Abe Lincoln Remembers by Ann Turner TQ $3

Meet Abraham Lincoln by Barbara Cary (Step-Up Books – hardcover) TQ $4

The Story of the Battle of Shiloh by Zachary Kent (hardcover) CoF TQ VT $4

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

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

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

Frederick Douglass Fights for Freedom by Margaret Davidson TQ $2

Carver, A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson (hardcover) BF $4

Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty TQ $3

Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith (hardcover) SL TQ BF $4

The Civil War by Fletcher Pratt (hardcover) TQ $4

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane SL Core 100 BF VP TQ $4

Bull Run by Paul Fleischman TQ $3 each

The How & Why Wonder Book of Civil War by Earl Schenck Miers $2

Paper Soldiers of the Civil War by Alan Archambault $3

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

Unconditional Surrender, US Grand and the Civil War by Albert Marrin (hardcover) TQ BF VT $5

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

Old Abe: The Eagle Hero by Patrick Young (hardcover) VT $5

Cry of Courage by Lee Roddy (large print) $3

1865 to 20^th Century (pink)

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

Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman Core 7/H $3

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

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

Pioneer Sisters $2

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (hardcover) TQ AO $3

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (hardcover) TQ AO $3

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder TQ AO $3 each

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

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder TQ AO $3

On the Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder TQ $3

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

Bachelor Girl by Roger Lea MacBride $3

Little Town at the Crossroads by Maria D. Wilkes $3

Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley $3

Still More Stories from Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson VT $3

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) $10

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink SL 4/E TQ BF VT $3 each

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

A One-Room School by Bobbie Kalman (Historic Communities – hardcover) $3

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

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

The Sioux Indians by Sonia Bleeker (hardcover) TQ $5

The Chippewa Indians by Sonia Bleeker (hardcover) TQ $5

Cowboys by Marie and Douglas Gorsline TQ $3

The Conquest of the West – A Sourcebook of the American West edited by Carter Smith $3

The Story of Wounded Knee by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover) TQ CoF $4

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

Signature Books The Story of Geronimo by Jim Kjelgaard (hardcover) TQ $5

Landmark Custer’s Last Stand by Quentin Reynolds (hardcover – loose spine) TQ VT $4

Custer and Crazy Horse by Jim Razzi $3 each

John Henry: An American Legend by Ezra Jack Keats TQ $2

Pecos Bill by James Cloyd Bowman (hardcover) $4

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

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

Squirrel and John Muir by Emily Arnold McCully (hardcover) $3

Cowboys of the Wild West by Russell Freedman TQ $5 each

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

An Indian Winter by Russell Freedman TQ $5 each

Indian Chiefs by Russell Freedman TQ $5

Presidential Elections by Miles Harvey CoF TQ $3

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

The Great Fire by Jim Murphy TQ VT $5

The Story of the Chicago Fire by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover) CoF TQ $4

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

Early Loggers and the Sawmill by Peter Adams (The Early Settler Life Series) $4

The Story of the Sinking of the Battleship Maine by Zachary Kent (hardcover) CoF TQ $4

The Terrible Wave by Marden Dahlstedt SL $4

Blizzard! by Jim Murphy (hardcover) TQ $5

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

Dakota Dugout by Ann Turner VT TQ $3

Landmark Disaster at Johnstown The Great Flood by Hildegarde Dolson (hardcover) TQ $5

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

Theodore Roosevelt, The Great Adventure and the Rise of Modern America by Albert Marrin (hardcover w/dust jacket) $5

Childhood of Famous Americans Teddy Roosevelt, Young Rough Rider by Edd Winfield Parks (hardcover) TQ $3

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

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque SL VP TQ $4

The Titanic Lost…and Found by Judy Donnelly (hardcover) SL 2/C TQ $3    

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

The Wizard of Sound, A Story about Thomas Edison by Barbara Mitchell (hardcover) $3

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

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

The Spirit of St. Louis by Charles A. Lindbergh BF $4

The Wright Brothers by Charles Graves (hardcover) TQ VT $3

Landmark The Wright Brothers by Quentin Reynolds SL 3/4/D/E VP TQ VT $4

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

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

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

Homesick by Jean Fritz SL 5/F $2

Profiles in Science for Young People Marie Curie and the Discovery of Radium by Ann E. Steinke TQ $3

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

The Statue of Liberty by Lucille Recht Penner $2

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

Ellis Island by R. Conrad Stein CoF TQ $4

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 $3 each

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

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

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

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

A Family Apart by Joan Lowery Nixon TQ VT $3

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

American Girl Meet Kit TQ $2 each

The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter $2

The Hindenburg Disaster by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover) CoF TQ $4

Young-Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis (hardcover) TQ SL 5/F $4

Kids at Work, Lewis Hine and the Crusade against Child Labor by Russell Freedman $5

Robert Louis Stevenson, Young Storyteller by Francene Sabin $3 each

Holocaust/ WWII

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

Dear America The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins, A World War II Soldier 1944 (hardcover) $3

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

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

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr (hardcover) SL TQ $4

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom SL TQ BF $4

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry TQ SL BF $4

So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins (hardcover) BF $4

Schindlers’ List by Thomas Keneally $4

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan SL AO TQ $3

Hiroshima by John Hersey BF TQ $4

Landmark Air Raid-Pearl Harbor by Theodore Taylor BF TQ $5

Modern Times

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

Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry (hardcover) SL 5/F BF $4

The Call of the Wild by Jack London Core 100 VP AO $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 each

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

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

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

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen SL 3/4 D/E AO $3

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

Swift Rivers by Cornelia Meigs SL 3/D $3

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

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

Babe Ruth, Home Run Hero by Keith Brandt (hardcover) TQ $3

Our First Pony by Marguerite Henry $1

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

Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry $3

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

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

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

Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery TQ $2 each

Sounder by William H. Armstrong SL Core 100 $3 each

Rascal by Sterling North TQ SL $3

Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Miegs TQ $3 each

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott AO VP VT $4

Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott AO $3

An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott AO $3

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott (hardcover) $4

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 – The Story of My Life by Helen Keller VT TQ $4

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

Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska SL 6/G $3 each

Childhood of Famous Americans Knute Rockne, Young Athlete by Guernsey Van Riper, Jr. $3

20^th Century – The Fifties – Teacher Created Materials $3

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

The Story of the Vietnam Memorial by David K. Wright (hardcover) CoF $4

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

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

The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by R. Conrad Stein (hardcover) CoF TQ VT $4

Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges $3

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

The White House by Deborah Kent (hardcover) CoF TQ $4

The Story of the White House by Kate Waters $4 each

First Ladies by Susan Maloney Clinton (hardcover) CoF TQ $4

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

Anno’s U.S.A. by Mitsumasa Anno (hardcover) $3

Misc. History Resources

The Colony Series by Dennis Brindell Fradin – set of 12 hardcover books TQ $35

-       The Connecticut Colony

-       The Delaware Colony

-       The Georgia Colony

-       The Maryland Colony

-       The New Hampshire Colony

-       The New Jersey Colony

-       The New York Colony

-       The North Carolina Colony

-       The Pennsylvania Colony

-       The Rhode Island Colony

-       The South Carolina Colony

-       The Virginia Colony

The American Patriot’s Almanac by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb (hardcover) $5

TruthQuest History, American History for Young Students I by Michelle Miller $15

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

The Handy History Answer Book by Rebecca Nelson $4

A Patriot’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen VP $5

Don’t Know Much About American History by Kenneth C. Davis $2

DEAR AMERICA  (16 books for $25)

A Journey to the New World, Mayflower 1620

Standing in the Light, Pennsylvania, 1763

Love Thy Neighbor, Massachusetts, 1774

A Picture of Freedom, Virginia, 1859

A Light in the Storm, Delaware, 1861

The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow, New Mexico, 1864

When will this Cruel War be Over?, Virginia, 1864

I Thought My Soul Would Rise & Fly, South Carolina, 1865

The Great Railroad Race, Utah Territory, 1868

Land of the Buffalo Bones, Minnesota, 1874

Dreams in the Golden Country, New York City, 1903

Hear My Sorrow, New York City, 1909

A Time for Courage, Washington, D.C., 1917

Color Me Dark, Chicago, 1919

My Secret War, Long Island, NY, 1942

Early Sunday Morning, Hawaii, 1941

MY NAME IS AMERICA (14 books for $20)

The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce, Plymouth, 1620

The Journal of William Thomas Emerson, Massachusetts, 1774

The Journal of Jedidiah Barstow, Oregon Trail, 1845

The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds, Donner Party, 1846

The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung, California, 1852

The Journal of Sean Sullivan, Transcontinental Railroad, 1867

The Journal of Joshua Loper, Chisholm Trail, 1871

The Journal of Brian Doyle, Whaling Ship, 1874

The Journal of James Edmond Pease, Virginia, 1863

The Journal of Finn Reardon, New York City, 1899

The Journal of Otto Peltonen, Minnesota, 1905

The Journal of Ben Uchida, California, 1942

The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins, Normandy, France, 1944

The Journal of Biddy Owens, Birmingham, Alabama, 1958

Geography, Government, Economics, & Social Studies  

Hammond New Headline World Atlas $2

The Complete Children’s Atlas by Malcom Porter $2

Geography from A to Z, A Picture Glossary by Jack Knowlton (hardcover) MFW $4

Maps & Globes by Jack Knowlton MFW $4

Steck-Vaughn Portraits of America series - $10 set includes:

- Wisconsin
- Pacific Islands
- Alabama
- Deleware
- Idaho
- Indiana
- New York
- North Dakota
- Utah
- Massachusetts
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- California

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

Government by the People by Burns, Peltason, Cronin, and Magleby – student book w/CD Rom $2

Project Citizen Level 1 by Center for Civic Education new teacher guide & 2 student books $10 set

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

DK Children Just Like Me (hardcover) $5

The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller $4

Everything You Need to Know About Geography Homework by Zeman and Kelly $2

The Kingfisher Young People’s Pocket Atlas $2

American Girl Portraits of American Girlhood by Cindy Sotelo for Grades 2-5 $30

American Girl Girls of Many Lands (hardcover with dust jackets) $25 set

-       Leyla The Black Tulip

-       Kathleen The Celtic Knot

-       Minuk Ashes in the Pathway

-       Cecile Gates of Gold

-       Saba Under the Hyena’s Foot

-       Neela Victory Song

-       Spring Pearl The Last Flower

-    Isabel Taking Wing