Luanne Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Has anyone on here used the David Macaulay books (ie. castle, cathedral, ship, etc.)? What do you think of them? How did you use them? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 I like them. I read them to the kids (kids were younger then). I think liked them better than the kids did. I need to get them back out for my 8yo. He is more of a detail kind of guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnMama Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 My 6 yo loves them all. He studies them over and over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Love. They are must-reads here. They are good for snuggly read-alouds because of the spectacular illustrations or as independent reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 The old animated PBS versions of the books are awesome too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 My boys said . . . boorring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 My architecture loving boy absolutely adored them, and the rest of the kids found them interesting. Two thumbs up from all of us. I pull them in as they coordinate with our history. Pyramid during our Ancient Egypt studies, and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 All 3 of my kids have had different responses to different ones. I think it's worth getting a few of them if you're homeschooling more than one and you're going to use them for at least 2 stages. Mill was better for my high schooler when she was doing assignments like reading A Tale of Two Cities. Pyramid worked nicely with assignments like mummifying a chicken and reading Temple Cat for young ones. My library carries several of them, so it might be worth it to sample a couple first before spending any money. I do a more unit study+living books+ lapbook approach to SOTW with my 7 year old. If you want to see a detailed example of what exactly a unit done that way looks like you can see my Ancient China Unit Study list of readings, assignments, and activities under the topic Teaching History in early elementary (a discussion). If I had had a Macaulay book on architecture or technology related to Ancient China this fall I might have included it as a read aloud and possibly parts of it for a narration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 My library has some of them (which is a minor miracle). The ones I've checked out for the girls have bombed. They thought they were boring. I'll see if the boys enjoy them more when they are older & schooling. I personally wouldn't buy them since I can see them at the library and they were such bombs at my house (so far). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Alfred Academy Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 My boys, who are avid readers of history, didn't like the books too much, BUT we got the videos from Netflix and they are fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 We read Pyramid during our Ancient Times study. My then 7 year old loved the pencil drawing (he loves art) and my then 5th grader enjoyed the description of how bulding the pyramid was built. I learned a lot from the book myself! Our library doesn't have any of them so we haven't tried any others. I will getting it back out for next year with the 7 yr old who will be 5th and his younger brother who will be 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFM Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 We love them, my son will read and study them. I sometimes read things from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Illustrations are great, and so is the information, but they were too detailed for my kids ages... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Great Girl found them boring. Middle Girl can't stop re-reading them. It seems to be all or nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyrobynne Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 My map-loving, tiny-detail-drawing, 8 and 6 year olds loved "City" when I included it in our ancient Rome study. They saw it when it came in the mail and wouldn't wait for the unit to come up -- they read it over and over. Then when we did hit that point, they made their own versions of a Roman city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reya Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Love! It's like kid crack. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy M Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Illustrations are great, and so is the information, but they were too detailed for my kids ages... I agree. My husband and I thought the architectural info in Pyramid was awesome, but the info was too much and too difficult for my 5 1/2 year old. Maybe when he can read it himself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Love them here. Used Pyramid as a read-aloud last year during SOTW Ancients. Will read Castle and Cathedral this year while studying Middle Ages. I think they work best with a 7 or 8 year old+, but YMMV. I definitely think my students get more out of them when read-aloud and discussed or narrated. They sort of remind me of Paddle to the Sea. We read it this year while studying Michigan history, enjoying just one chapter/2-page spread per day, as a cozy read-aloud. She certainly could have read it independently, but she would have taken away far less from the experience. Even if your child finds all the detail overwhelming or boring, you could simply savor the illustrations and treat is as a lovely picture book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Be aware that there is one page with nudity in Pyramid, but seeing as how the illustrations are all pencil drawings, it was easily fixed with a pencil. This may not bother everyone, but just thought I would mention it. We have Castle, Cathedral, Ship, Pyramid and City. I like Castle the best and the rest are kind of "meh" to me, but my 10yo boy loves them all and asked for some of them as birthday gifts. I agree that they are best for the 7-8+ ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 My ds9 wants to be an architect when he grows up. ;) He loves the David Macaulay books. We just read a chapter in CHOW about Castles, so I pulled out "Castle" and handed it to ds to read in his free time. The one he REALLY loves is The New Way Things Work. He peruses it over and over and then comes to tell me random facts he's learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyrobynne Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Oh yeah, my kids have read every page of The Way Things Work more times than I can count. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pehp Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 I think they are great. My son (5.5) just enjoys the illustrations at this point; I see no reason to read to him from these books though I do often explain things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 My ds9 wants to be an architect when he grows up. ;) He loves the David Macaulay books. We just read a chapter in CHOW about Castles, so I pulled out "Castle" and handed it to ds to read in his free time. The one he REALLY loves is The New Way Things Work. He peruses it over and over and then comes to tell me random facts he's learned. ... And the only things my girls liked about TNWTW were the mammoth illustrations/jokes. They thought it was just as boring as the DM books I brought home. (And we own TNWTW.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 ... And the only things my girls liked about TNWTW were the mammoth illustrations/jokes. They thought it was just as boring as the DM books I brought home. (And we own TNWTW.) :lol: My ds9 hasn't liked any of the curricula that dd11 liked. They're best friends and they play everything together, but their brains are wired totally differently. Sometimes I think boys really do come from another planet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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