Best German children's encyclopedia/lexikon

[4KookieKids]

One of the things that I've been thinking about lately is how much easier things would be (when it comes to homeschooling bilingually) if we had a decent selection of German books in our local libraries. Unfortunately, we're limited to a handful of things like "First 1000 words in German", "First 100 words in German", and then four or five actual reading books like "Pu der Bär". Oh, how wonderful it'd be to have access to five or ten new German books each week, I thought! In the midst of my thinking though, my almost 4 year old provided some much needed perspective.

 

Here's what happened: we'd gone to the library and gotten a new (English) book that he was really into about dinosaurs and fossils and we'd been reading it almost daily. And then in the car one day, we were chatting (in German) about business as usual, when he randomly starts talking about his dinosaur book... in German. I realized then that I really don't need a ton of German books (though I really want them, I confess!) Although my German is far from "native" right now, I realized that having just ONE source for each subject is probably good enough, because when I read them, my brain recognizes and remembers the vocabulary from my younger years. And once I "remember" that vocabulary, I can translate a whole slew of English library books into German when reading (even if my impromptu translations aren't always as great as an actual German book would be).

 

But instead of looking for a book in each possible subject, I thought it'd be really useful to have something like was recommended in the WTM, like a basic kid's encyclopedia, as well as basic history and science encyclopedias (maybe even something chronological, like the Usborne encyclopedia of world history, and I could use it as a school supplement through grade school) -- you know, like "everything you need to know about the entire universe in 400 pages of pictures." :D (ok, that was a joke...) I was browsing around Amazon.de and found that a lot of people just recommend getting a whole series (like the Was ist Was), and I have a few of those that I'm slowly adding to my collection, but it'd be really helpful to just have something that's more all-inclusive that I can go to when my kids show an interest in a new subject/field at the library. I can certainly go online to find more "in-depth" information about a topic, but it'd be nice to have a starting point. :)

 

I certainly found a few that I thought look like they could work, but I thought I'd get advice here (since the whole ordering online thing often means you don't actually get to see or browse through the book) first. Thanks for any ideas!

[rieshy]

A friend sent me Der Jugend Brock Haus Geschichte. It's not beautifully written- more like a basic history text with lots of interesting photos and illustrations from Usborne.

I also like books by Manfred Mai. They are akin to A Child's History of the World but recently written.

[Pen]

I am looking for something like this too. And where would one buy such a thing if one is not in a big city? (When I lived in New York and London there were shops that specialized in foreign books and many finds in used bookshops too.)

 

I think Larousse has had illustrated one volume encyclopedias in some languages. I do not know if it does for German. Anyone know? And if so, how to get that and one in Spanish too which I know does exist.

[4KookieKids]

A friend sent me Der Jugend Brock Haus Geschichte. It's not beautifully written- more like a basic history text with lots of interesting photos and illustrations from Usborne.

I also like books by Manfred Mai. They are akin to A Child's History of the World but recently written.

 

 

 

I'm not sure how I missed this post, but thanks for the suggestions! Both of those look a little old for my kids (4, 2, and 0 next month) for right now, but are great resources for ME now. :) I did go ahead and buy the Duden Kindergarten Lexikon, and we're currently just going through it slowly getting any new vocab nice and familiar so that I can supplement with books from the library and then translate them on the fly.

 

On a related note, and maybe I should just start a new thread about this (let me know if so!), I've been starting to research (I know I have plenty of time, but I'm an anal over-planner :D) books to helps us do the classical WTM method of homeschooling but in German. So I've been doing stuff like going through the reading lists they suggest (just for 1st grade for now), and trying to find German books on stuff like Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, etc, (and rather in one volume, rather than a different book for each fable/god/etc.) as well as the "nuts and bolts" books on Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, etc that are more fact/history than fable. A few basic animal/human/plant books (maybe was ist was, or maybe something else, not sure yet) seem like they'd do it for science.

 

Sometimes, it feels like there are a million options on Amazon.de, and other times, it feels like there are none (appropriate for the 6-8 year old, at least, since that's when we'll be starting). Sometimes there's a "look inside" option, which is really great, but never really enough to make me feel confident this is the right choice.

 

I'm certainly going to keep plugging along at it (and I admit, it's actually kinda fun for me...), but I wondered if anyone has done this sort of thing before and can share what you did, what worked, what didn't work, or why you never went this path (since I know that there are quite a number of families that do school -- at least partially -- in German).

 

Note: I know several good Fibels have been recommended, so I'm not focusing on the reading/writing so much right now, and I feel fairly confident that I can handle the bulk of math on my own (being that that's my degree and I've taught a lot of math) and just supplement with some worksheets (maybe from a place like http://www.grundschulmaterial.de/). So I think that really does leave mostly history and science for now (though eventually we'll also need some actual grammar instruction, but maybe not until 2nd or 3rd grade).

[naturalmom]

For individual stories, we've got a couple of books like these (there's a whole series of Sagen fuer Erstleser): http://www.amazon.de/Leserabe-Schulausgabe-Broschur-Irrfahrten-Erstleser/dp/3473380792/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z

 

I've been collecting a list at amazon.de that includes some collections by Dimiter Inkiow. We already have his Aesop's Fables, and I am considering these:

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/377072822X/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF

 

and http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/3770728238/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF

 

and European myths: http://www.amazon.de/Die-sch%C3%B6nsten-europ%C3%A4ische-Sagen-erz%C3%A4hlt/dp/3770728246/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1372641593&sr=8-3&keywords=dimiter+inkiow+sagen

 

All the Dimiter Inkiow books have a look inside feature.

[4KookieKids]

Thanks! I think you or someone else might've recommended those when I was asking for audiobook rec's a few months ago, now that I think about it, but it slipped my mind in the meantime. :)

[Arcadia]

Found this german water cycle poster.  Thought your kids may like it

http://www.utk-ecosens.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/watercycle-kids-german-poster_high.jpg

 

 

[3 ladybugs]

Are you near a college town? I have got a ton of German books from used bookstores in a nearby college town. I have a whole shelf now! It isn't a huge shelf mind you but it is a shelf!