bamagirl Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I usually buy most of my Usborne books at the thrift store, so my purchases are quite random. I have a friend that started selling them and wanted to purchase a couple of things from her. What do you consider "must- haves" for the elementary age? They offer so many, I'm overwhelmed! Thanks :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth83 Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 What exactly is Usborne? From what I gather, a book publisher? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Like, none. Sorry. Can't stand them--way too busy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momsuz123 Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Oh gosh, I love them. Their encylcopedias are great - their beginning reader series I love - I could go on and on. They have excellent ones on the human body, animals, and science. Enjoy!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kertie Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 My kids really like their activity books and jigsaw books. My youngest adores the "Poppy and Sam" books--The Complete Book of Farmyard Tales that comes with a CD is awesome--because while the kids like the stories, you will definitely get tired of reading them:). There's also a series of See Inside books that are pretty awesome, and the Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do is very cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timetoteach Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Usborne Science and History Encyclopedias. Usborne First Encyclopedias. Usborne sticker books are well made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I usually buy most of my Usborne books at the thrift store, so my purchases are quite random. I have a friend that started selling them and wanted to purchase a couple of things from her. What do you consider "must- haves" for the elementary age? They offer so many, I'm overwhelmed! Thanks :D I have the "Encyclopedia of Planet Earth" and I LOVE it. I'm using it this year as my Earth Science spine. I just start with the book, check out their links, get a few library books and that's it.:001_huh::D It's been a great year of science for us. My DD has "Illustrated Stories for Girls" she really likes it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sk8ermaiden Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 So far I like everything Usborne I've picked up. We just got the my first Encyclopedia of the Human Body, of Science, and of Animals, and my DD just pores over them. LOVE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welltrainedmami Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 My children LOVE their drawing books. They are very easy to follow and I have been very impressed at how quickly they learn new techniques. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 We love these: http://www.amazon.com/What-Shall-Draw-Usborne-Activities/dp/0794503756/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334733391&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/On-Moon-First-Reading-Level/dp/1409535789/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334733797&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Knights-Armor-Rachel-Firth/dp/0794512798/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334733450&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/1001-Things-Spot-Long-Ago/dp/0794527310/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334733538&sr=1-14 I saw this one at the homeschool conference and thought it looked fabulous. Didn't get it this time, but it's on my wish list. Their Art Treasury looks really good too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I just recently picked up this First MATH Illustrated Dictionary. AWESOME! They have two more in the series so the concepts get more complex. I'd love to get their second and third one too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Easy German. Great supplement for Rosetta Stone when they have Grammar Questions, and it has a cute comic book to read in German. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Oh gosh, I love them. Their encylcopedias are great - their beginning reader series I love - I could go on and on. They have excellent ones on the human body, animals, and science. Enjoy!! :iagree: I like their phonics readers, if you have young ones. We also have their Farmyard tales collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bamagirl Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 Thanks! I knew you would be a wealth of info...now to narrow the list down :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maizeydaizey Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I adore Usborne books as do my children! They are well done and well made physically - they hold up well! We own way to many to list, but a few of my favorites are: Science Encyclopedia Science Experiments Electricity & Magnetism What's Physics All About? What's Chenistry All About? Why Should I Bother To Keep Fit? See Inside My Body Book See Inside The Ocean Book World Religions Art Treasury Complete Book of Art Ideas Stories from Around the World Dinosaurs We own a LOT more... these ones are used all-of-the-time!!! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsbaby Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I want to love them. They are colorful and cheerful. But I can't stand them either for the same reason. I never know what to read first on the page. I don't like the choppy blips of information. Yup, I feel the same way! And my kids show zero interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cagirlintexas Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Farmyard tales is by far our favorite! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I hated reading the world history encyclopedia out loud, but DS1 loved it once he started reading it himself (he didn't love it when I read it to him). He has worn that thing out! I need to replace it with the library hardcover. We had the regular hardcover, and frankly, my paperback SOTW books have held up much better (and he's hard on those too). I'm not at all impressed with the quality of the regular hardback binding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmomjacquie Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 We got the first encyclopedia of science. It looks great! Fun projects and the pictures are amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 The "See Inside" series gets rave reviews here. We have them on the body, architecture, and space, but I am thinking of going to the local homeschooling convention just to order more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekfk Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I'm currently using the First Encyclopedia of Science as a curriculum. I'm also using the Story of Painting for art history. I agree that "choppy blips of information" is a problem for some of their books. But most of them actually aren't like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I just recently picked up this First MATH Illustrated Dictionary. AWESOME! They have two more in the series so the concepts get more complex. I'd love to get their second and third one too. We have the second and third, which we like. We also like the First Encyclopedia of Science, World of Animals, and the See Inside books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momsuz123 Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Great...looks like I better go pick up some more hours this weekend!!:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 (edited) My son adores the Children's Encyclopedia of World History. Our copy is also ripping at the spine. I will tape it soon and that should be fine here. We have a dinosaur book from the library... maybe Children's Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs? It is a reference book type. He is almost 7, and these books are awesome for him. He likes non-fiction a lot better than fiction. He is too young for the DK Eyewitness books and a little too old for the similar DK series for younger kids (and that is more busy imo). I don't read him every page -- he looks at a picture, and might ask me to read him the whole page, or he might ask me to read headings and then pick one. He might pick just captions. The captions are very good I think -- I am happy to read him captions and the occassional heading if that is his mood, or whole pages. I have a book out of the library right now -- about teaching non-fiction reading strategies to kids my son's age. It is all about telling them about reading captions and headings, and just giving them a structure to read this general type of content. My impression is -- it is fine to read captions first, then headings, then read the text. This is apparently a good strategy for reading for information (I am not that far into the book, lol). My son is a struggling reader (and language student) in some ways and this is right up his alley. He does not have awesome listening comprehension of age-appropriate fiction -- so it is frustrating for him sometimes to listen to stories. There are some he likes. But I so love having these books, in general, and especially when he has finished listening to a fiction series, and not liking books I have for him, and getting all "I don't like reading." I am SO happy to have found these books so appropriate for him, and with illustrations he really likes, and good vocabulary without being too hard. He didn't really care for the Children's Atlas from the library (he liked it fine, but nothing special), and I got him the Ancient Civilizations book -- he likes it but not on the same level as the other two. He is not that into the Time Traveller book, either. I mean -- we have read most of the Time Traveller book, and many pages of the Ancient Civilizations book, but he likes the other two books are extreme favorites. My daughter really likes 1001 Fairy Things to Spot. It is a really sweet book and I have hopes that at some point we use it to talk about numbers and counting (it tells the number of each item to found). She really likes the illustrations and making up stories to the pictures. She is 3. Edited April 19, 2012 by Lecka Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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