A surprising recommendation for a PreK/K/1st history/geography reader (CC)

[LynnG in Arizona]

I know that I want to focus on the "3 Rs" next year as we begin first grade, and am looking for a *very* gentle history book - hopefully something that would be a good snuggle on the couch book with little prep from me. I didn't want to start the 4-year cycle yet, and to further complicate matters, I'll have a busy 4 yo boy tagging along with us. :)

 

I had posted about my search for this elusive book several weeks ago, and have also found similar posts in the archives. So I thought I would share what I found:

 

Abeka's My America and My World

 

This is roughly 100 pages and spends the first 2/3rds of the book on:

 

 

• American symbols (Statue of Liberty, American flag, etc.)
  
• American rights (press, religion, etc.)
  
• American landmarks (Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, etc.)
  
• early American history (mostly a brief biography on Washington, Franklin, Lincoln, and the Pilgrims)
  

The last 1/3rd of the book is an overview of 20 countries from around the world in order to introduce world geography/culture (eg, Kenya, India, Norway, Italy).

 

This book is absolutely loaded with color photographs and maps. In fact, images make up at least 50% of the book. It is a very gentle introduction to its topics . . . obviously, you can't cover all of these things in depth in only 100 pages. ;) But it would also be extremely easy to add in a few easy biographies or living books to round things out.

 

I found this to be a surprising resource because, frankly, I generally don't care for Abeka due to its heavy providential history slant. This book is Christian but not heavy handed, in my opinion. It's always risky to make these recommendations to a huge audience with a variety of opinions and beliefs, but I *think* I can recommend it to those who would not mind a small to moderate amount of Christian content.

 

Oh, and the best thing is that it's $11.75!

 

So if you happened to be looking for a super gentle introduction to the United States and world geography for the Pre K - K -1st grade level, you might want to consider this resource.

 

Hope this helps somebody!

[dsmama]

Thanks! This looks really simple for this age group.

[iona]

thanks for the recommendation! i have never used abeka but am prejudiced against it because of general sentiment...isn't that awful. maybe this will be my chance to try it out for myself.

i think a few companies get black listed in a sense because of being around so long, certain aspects of them being disagreeable or a few people really not liking their experience with the company/materials.

there are probably a number of people who happily use abeka materials, but aren't too vocal about it. i think saxon falls into this category as well.

Edited February 4, 2011 by iona
typo

[Guest momk2000]

This is what I will be using with my 1st grader next year as well. We are now using the A Beka K Social Studies workbook, and dd really likes it. I wish I had used these when my oldest was in K/1st. :001_smile:

[ShutterBug]

That sounds like a perfect fit for you :) .

 

I have to say that I've always been kind of unfairly biased towards Abeka as well.

 

However, this year ds 8 was transitioning from learning the basics of cursive into using cursive in a practical sense. I purchased their 3rd grade Cursive Skillbook and am sooooo happy with it. Each lesson includes not just penmanship practice, but copywork pulled from scripture and history. There is a dictionary in the back of the book and each lesson also includes some sort of nature/animal study where they are required to write an original response. Later in the book there is dictionary work/original responses for learning info. about the 50 states as well.

 

I don't think I'd ever use the program in full, but this book has me leaning towards using it as a needed filler more often!

 

Jenn

[LynnG in Arizona]

I know just what you mean! I tried Abeka once for a junior high history spine and really didn't care for aspects of it.

 

But this little book is so gentle and so basic, and so unlike my preconceived notion of Abeka. ;) Like I said, I think many or most Christians (even those like me who are usually very happy with secular materials because religion and/or doctrine can be treated in a heavy handed manner in religious curricula) would probably be pretty happy with this little text.