Elementary

By the Shores of Silver Lake

Book cover: By the Shores of Silver Lake
Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrator(s): 
Garth Williams

Continue the adventures of the Ingalls family as they make yet another move, working in a railroad camp, and deal with Mary's recent loss of sight. The reader may discern that Laura begins to develop her story-telling abilities by faithfully following her Pa's request to be Mary's "eyes". The railroad workers move along and the Ingalls family stick it out for one very quiet winter before being present for the establishment of a brand new town.

Little House on the Prairie

Book cover: Little House on the Prairie
Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrator(s): 
Garth Williams

In this story, the Ingalls family ventures out from their cozy log house in Wisconsin to the open prairie of present-day Kansas to make a new start. They spend a very challenging year building a house from scratch and dealing with tensions between other settlers and the local Indians. This is the classic story for which the entire series is named – filled with long journeys over open prairie in a covered wagon, building a log house, and wondering over mysterious Indian trails.

The Long Winter

Book cover: The Long Winter
Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrator(s): 
Garth Williams

DeSmet is a well-established town and the Ingalls family owns a homestead outside of town as well as a story on the main street. There are early signs in nature that the winter will be particularly cold and long. The Ingalls decide to move into town for the winter and thus share the fate of their neighbors as one blizzard after another pummels the region from October through May. The trains can't get through with food supplies, school is usually closed and the townspeople run dangerously low on food.

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).

Stories in Stone

Book cover: Stories in Stone
Author(s): 
Jo Kittinger

Although this is a meaty book for its age level and rather lengthy, my children were completely absorbed when I read this aloud to them.

Stories in Stone presents the "World of Animal Fossils" and the story of the dinosaurs from the point of view of generally accepted scientific theories of today. Chapter 1 (A Rock Sandwich) covers introduces the idea of fossils, how they were formed, types of fossils, the scientific classification of animal species ("Why Dinosaur Names are Hard to Spell") and how scientists determine the age of fossils.

Holy Papers

Book cover: 'Holy Papers'

This booklet provides thirty-three pages of lined paper with beautiful Catholic pen and ink illustrations. The pages are intended for handwriting practice and may be photocopied for use within your own family. Following the lined pages are approximately forty pages of beautiful religious quotes - printed in both script and cursive - for practicing handwriting. Quotes are organized according to themes such as Adoration, Conscience, Eucharist and Obedience.

The Universe: Think Big!

Book cover: The Universe: Think Big!
Author(s): 
Jeanne Bendick
Illustrator(s): 
Lynne Willey
Michael Roffe

Jeanne Bendick, author of Archimedes and the Door of Science, explains some basic concepts regarding the universe in a surprisingly simple way (approximately 2nd grade reading level - short pages with large type). First she invites children to try to imagine how big the universe is (in terms of it being much, much bigger than other, more familiar things). The bulk of the book focuses on large distances and how they're measured and how people used to believe that the earth was at the center of the universe and remained motionless. The final page explains the big bang theory.

The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt

Book cover: The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt
Author(s): 
Elizabeth Ann 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.

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