Elementary

Catholic National Readers: New Primer and Book One

I found this volume very useful for early reading practice with my first-grade daughter. We were able to move into this after she finished the Bob Books. The advantage I saw to this particular primer in contrast with the later series (Cardinal or Faith and Freedom) was that it was much harder for her to guess the words because of either the pictures or the heavy repetition so common in other early readers. The passages are very short, although not particularly story like. Some of the phraseology was rather archaic, such as "Has a boy the jug? A boy has not the jug." (p.

This is Our Valley

Book cover: 'This is Our Valley'

This reading text is the second of three used in the third grade at Seton Home Study School. My children have enjoyed many of the stories as a read-aloud. The book provides a wide variety of selections - fairy tales, poems, folk tales, biographies, etc. These new reprints have a glossy soft-cover with a beautiful image and text with black-and-white pictures. Although the original images within the text were color, these reproductions are well-done.

This is Our Land

Book cover: 'This is Our Land'

This reading text is used in the fourth grade at Seton Home Study School. It provides a wide variety of stories and poems of a rather engaging nature for young readers. Some examples include selected chapters from popular books by authors such as Beverly Cleary and Carolyn Haywood, several well-known Fables and Fairy Tales, Greek Myths, Bible Stories, stories about Saints, and stories and poems from nature. The comprehension/study questions which follow each story are excellent. They are designed to help the reader identify subtleties in the story and consider the deeds of the characters.

This is Our Parish

Book cover: 'This is Our Parish'

This reading text (used in the second grade at Seton Home Study School) has been a favorite among my children since we picked it up at a garage sale a number of years ago. Although basal readers (such as the Faith and Freedom readers) are designed for classroom use and not an essential part of a homeschool curriculum, I remember clearly how much I enjoyed receiving a new reader each school year and how I devoured all the interesting stories reading in bed on my first night of school.

Little House in the Big Woods

Book cover: Little House in the Big Woods
Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrator(s): 
Garth Williams

The first in the famous "Little House" series (circa early 1870s), this book tells of Laura's early childhood in rural Wisconsin. A wonderful story in itself about life in a simpler time, Laura explains in fascinating detail many of the tasks necessary to sustain life, prepare for winter, etc. We are introduced to cheese and butter making, the preparing of meats for winter-storage, and much more. Laura, her two sisters and her Ma and Pa live in the midst of a large forest where the closest neighbors are wolves and deer (and an occasional bear).

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