Loving Liberty's Kids

While browsing through the library yesterday I spotted the Liberty's Kids Complete Series on DVD! I can't even express to you how excited I was because I know that this is one of my kids' favorite shows of all time and it's such a treasure trove of knowledge about the American Revolution!

Yesterday we watched disc 1 (there are 6 discs and a total of 40 episodes) and this morning the first words out of W's mouth were, "Can we watch Liberty's Kids now?"

Following his lead I did a bit of research and found a Liberty's Kids website that includes games, e-cards, and a ton of behind the scenes and historical information. I'm sure the boys will be playing on it all day if I let them.

I'm loving immersing ourselves in a little American history...it's a nice change from the ancient history we've been studying for the last 2 years.

Hope you're enjoying your day,

The Story of the World on CD

I love teaching history when I can do it with literature, and in my last post on the subject I described how I choose historical fiction to read aloud to the boys. However, I am always looking for ways to reinforce and explore what we're learning beyond the read aloud I've chosen.
That's why I was so excited to discover that I can check out The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer on CD from my local library! We are always listening to books on CD in the car so this was an obvious choice for us.
The Story of the World is a core history program that is written in story format. It's split up into 4 Volumes and written primarily for grades 1 -4. I've always been interested in these books but didn't want to pay retail for them and now I'm glad I waited.
We've started with Volume 1 (Ancient Times) and the whole family is loving listening to it! Usually Hubby has us turn off our story in the car when he's driving but this one he wants to listen to with us.
So anyway, if you're at all interested in this history program be sure to check your local library and see if you can borrow it!

The Golden Goblet: A Book Review

Yesterday we finished reading aloud the book, The Golden Goblet, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. It is a Newbery Honor book that came highly recommended to us by some homeschooling friends. It's historical fiction written from the perspective of a young ancient Egyptian boy named Ranofer.

Ranofer is without his mother and father and is living with his cruel half brother Gebu in Thebes, Egypt. Gebu is very abusive and among other things denies Ranofer his one dream in life: to be a master goldsmith. Ranofer suspects that Gebu is a thief and spends much of the book trying to find a way to discover and expose Gebu's crimes, leading him into one adventure after another.

We really liked this story because it is well written, holds your attention and is full of information about what life was like in ancient Egypt. The boys say that their favorite part was learning about what the inside of a pyramid was like.

When asked what they learned from this book they both remembered the following:

• if you rob a tomb the punishment is being hung upside down by your ankle from the palace wall


• they worship false gods

W added

• if you owned more than 1 pair of sandals you were rich, and


• they liked gold a lot

All in all I would say this book was well worth the time we put into it and I would recommend it to others. I will say however that much of it was above J's head (first grader). It would probably be better suited to a family whose youngest is in 2nd or 3rd grade.

Teaching History with Literature

Oh, how I hated history and geography when I was in school. I had an idea that it could be interesting but when I pondered the thought I didn't get far. The text books I studied from and expectation that I would memorize names and dates ruined what should of been interesting and exciting. As a homeschooling mother I am able to teach history to my children the way I wish it had been taught to me...through stories.
Teaching history with literature is not a new concept to homeschoolers but I'm posting on it today because a friend of mine, who is new to homeschooling, asked me how I go about finding the historical fiction I read to the boys.
To answer that question I must first admit (as I have before on this blog) that I am one of those annoying homeschooling mothers that loves homeschooling. I love pouring over curriculum catalogs and piecing together a plan. I don't do homeschool in a box because it takes all of the adventure out of it. However, I do count on a few curriculum providers that I trust to point me in the right direction.
Veritas Press and Sonlight are my two favorites, especially for history. I must admit that one time I did buy pre-written history curriculum (from Veritas Press) but it was just too focused on memorization for my taste. So here is my formula for figuring out which historical literature we read:

1. Gather your Veritas Press and Sonlight catalogs, a notepad, a pen and a cup of hot tea and find a comfy spot. (I find it easier to use the catalogs than the internet for this part. Also this works best when your hubby and kids are out or sleeping so that you will have time to ponder your thoughts.)
2. Cross reference the two catalogs for whatever time period you'll be studying. (I try to do this at least one semester in advance.)
3. Write down every book that the three of you agree on, (You, Veritas Press and Sonlight.) and any others that you find interesting as well.
4. Research the books on your list on Amazon.com.
5. Decide if some books need to be crossed off your list based on your research and if so do so.
6. Check to see if you can get any of them at the library and if you can make a note of it. (Don't forget to try inter-library loan.)
7. Check to see if you can get any of the others on paperpackswap.com.
8. Send an email out to all your homeschooling friends to see if they have any of the remaining books and will let you borrow them.
9. Now and only now would I even consider paying retail for a book. And to be honest chances are you have enough books that you can get for free.
10. P.S. I also pretty much memorize the entire Veritas Press catalog so that any time I see a book I need at a garage sale or thrift store I recognize it immediately and can pick it up cheap. I also purchase the history coloring books (like this one) offered by Veritas Press and any other fun stuff I can find cheap to supplement our reading.

So there you have it Candyce. 10 easy steps to "How Penny locates historical fiction to read to her boys". It may seem too involved for some but for me it's worked well.