Grades 6-8

The First Four Years

Book cover: 'The First Four Years'
Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura and Almanzo's first four years of married life and the difficulties of starting out as farmers. This book seems to have been written quite a bit later than the other books of the series and has quite a different flavor. When I first read the series in grade school I found this difference a little disappointing and confusing. The story is quite a good one, though, but geared more for older children (perhaps 12 and up).

Simply Grammar

Book cover: Simply Grammar
Author(s): 
Karen Andreola

A very simple and lovely grammar book based on the text First Grammar Lessons written by Charlotte Mason in 1928. The text is illustrated with charming 19th century drawings which are used within the text for exercises such as: completing sentences and making sentences of certain types and telling stories using certain parts of speech. The text is intended for fourth grade and up (the Charlotte Mason method recommends waiting until then for formal grammar studies - focusing on reading and narration earlier).

Eyewitness: Astronomy

Book cover: Eyewitness: Astronomy
Author(s): 
Kristen Lippincott

Although most books in the DK Eyewitness series are at least slightly problematic in the text, our family enjoys a number of them entirely for the sake of the pictures. Eyewitness: Astronomy is one of the ones I wouldn't bother with even for the pictures. Although there are many beautiful photos, the book overall is both disappointing and even problematic in places.

Space Encyclopedia

Book cover: Space Encyclopedia
Author(s): 
Heather Couper
Nigel Henbest

We've started working our way through parts of this book as a read-aloud for younger children but have enjoyed it especially for the pictures. It covers everything from the Hubble Space Telescope to the surface and atmosphere of the Sun, Moon and Planets, from Space Pioneers to star maps, from explanations of various types of telescopes to black holes and discussions of the possibility of extraterrestrial life. We've only read a small portion of the text so far, but were pleased to find that the text came out better than expected in several litmus-test areas.

Astronomy for Every Kid

Book cover: Astronomy for Every Kid
Author(s): 
Janice VanCleave

Offering "Exciting ideas, project, and activities for schools, science fairs, and just plain fun," this book is one in a series that is very popular with homeschoolers (and understandably so). The book covers seven major topics - Planets, Space Movement, The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, Space Instruments and Space/Space Travel. Each experiment uses simple experiments and explains (briefly) the purpose, the procedure, the expected result and a brief but very understandable explanation of why it happened. Black and white sketches illustrate each experiment as well.

The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt

Book cover: 'The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt'
Author(s): 
Elizabeth Payne
This is a fascinating and very readable history of Ancient Egypt - suitable for family reading or independent reading from mid-grade school and up. The first chapter describes the rediscovery of Ancient Egypt in the late 18th and early 19th century. This is a particularly fascinating account because it describes the amazement of the first Europeans (at the time of Napoleon) to view the great monoliths. The author briefly relates the history of the deciphering of Egyptian Hieroglyphics which, of course, have provided the text of the history of Egypt which comprises the rest of this book.

A Place to Hide

Book cover: 'A Place to Hide: True Stories of Holocaust Rescues'
Author(s): 
Jayne Pettit
This book contains true stories of remarkable people (mostly Christians, including many Catholics) who saved the lives of Jews from the Nazis in World War II. According to this book, despite six million Jews killed by the Nazis, it is estimated that two million Jewish children were saved by rescuers such as the sampling presented in these stories. It is estimated that the number of rescuers (those who harbored Jews in their homes, transported them to safety, etc.) is anywhere from fifty-thousand to five hundred thousand.

The stories here include:

Twenty and Ten

Book cover: 'Twenty and Ten'
Author(s): 
Claire Huchet Bishop
A very remarkable true story of twenty Catholic children, living in the country (to escape the war) with their teacher (a Catholic nun) who agree to hide ten Jewish children from the Nazis. The children show great heroism in offering to share even their meager food and bedding with these children and bravely face the Nazis alone while their teacher is detained. The story is a bit suspenseful, but ends beautifully (and a bit poetically) and could be read-aloud to fairly young children (Approximately 4th grade reading level). Highly recommended!

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