Wind-in-my-hair Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 It seems to be the right time to begin first grade; my son just turned seven. I know that's late by many people's standards, but he has had decent phonics education, his printing is coming along great, and we've kept up with the basics in math. We revived our efforts to use Right Start B and it now feels like just the thing for us. And believe it or not, I really like the Charlotte Mason approach to teaching phonics and spelling, as confusing as it is to read about in Volume 1. I would like to follow an overall CM approach that is literature based and can be completed in under 2 hours. The problem is, finding literature has been tough. I have a very negative visceral reaction to some of the vintage books out there, and I dropped many of the AO Year 1 selections after trying them. I know the books are supposed to be enchanting, but I felt a lot of dissonance with them on my lap. That's the only way I can explain it. I'd like to have at least 10 books on various subjects to rotate through. I want to do a more global approach to cultures, history, and literature rather than a Western Judeo-Christian-oriented approach, which is a significant deviation from the classic CM roundup of literature. But I believe there are probably homeschoolers that have felt the same way. Can you recommend anything to me? Here is what I was looking at: Virginia Hamilton's books Books illustrated by the Dillons Story of Mankind Story of the World Holling C. Holling's books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 What's been on my mind lately is science and math. So, here is a link for living books on math. http://www.livingmath.net/ Here's my thread on living books for science. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/547602-living-science-books/?p=6282938 This may be of some help when you use sotw. http://www.classicalhouseoflearning.com/ I hope this helps. I can't seem to think of anything else right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer132 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 You might enjoy Heritage History. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 A Sonlight catalog gives me ideas for newer books that my library might have as eBook downloads. I really like the Dover Thrift Editions. These are mostly older than 1st grade, so check out the Dover lists below, too. http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-thrift-editions-fiction.html#loctop Dover Evergreen Classics and Children's Thrift Classics. Beware that some of the Children's Thrift Classics are abridged. http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-thrift-editions-fiction.html#loctop There are DK Eyewitness books on almost every topic imaginable and used copies are often cheap. They are also available at even tiny libraries. You might like the Mensa Reading Lists http://www.mensaforkids.org/achieve/excellence-in-reading/ ATA Reading Lists https://www.atachoice.org/ATA_Reading_List.html Ella Frances Lynch's Educating the Child at Home 1914. Chapter 13 Aids for Home Teaching contains a reading list. A Catholic, no-nanny version of CM. For example there are instructions for teaching spelling while ironing. The chapter 13 reading list starts with poetry, chapter 5 explains the author's stong focus on poetry, and chapter 6 explains how poetry is used as the basis for teaching reading. https://archive.org/details/educatingchilda00lyncgoog Catherine Van Alphen has written some Christian African Waldorf pdfs that include instruction for adapting Waldorf to any country. Her instructions for choosing literature and how to create lessons for your individual culture are excellent. http://www.entwicklungshilfe3.de/spenderinnen/download/ THE KNOWLEDGE MOST WORTH HAVING pages 7-8 from Book by Book by Michael Dirda “Once in a class of graduate students,†recalled the distinguished Canadian Robertson Davies, “I met a young man who did not know who Noah was.†What should a person know of the world’s literature? It has always seemed obvious to me that the great patterning works ought to lie at the heart of any structured reading program. By “patterning works†I mean those that later authors regularly build on, allude to, work against. There aren’t that many of these key books, and they aren’t all obvious classics. Here’s the roughly chronological short list of those that the diligent might read through in a year or two. For such famous works you can hardly go wrong with any good modern editions, though the Bible the Authorized, or King James, Version is the one that has most influenced the diction and imagery of the English prose. The Bible (Old and New Testament) Bulfinch’s Mythology (or any other account of the Greek, Roman, and Norse Myths) Homer, The Iliad and the Odyssey Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Dante, Inferno The Arabian Nights Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (tales of King Arthur and his knights) Shakespeare’s major plays, especially Hamlet, Henry IV, Part One, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Tempest Cervantes, Don Quixote Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson Any substantial collection of the world’s major folktales Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Know these well, and nearly all of the world’s literature will be an open book to you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALB Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I love ambleside online's literature choices for each year. Here is a link to our favorite books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I put together, some time back, a link list for some of my favorite living subject sources. I apologize of any of the links are outdated, but I hope it helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 What About A Mighty Girl Book List: http://www.amightygirl.com/books?p=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curlymom Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 For 1st grade, I really like the books used the Memoria Press curriculum. They are beautiful, well-written picture books that my son just loved. We used both StoryTime Treasures and the Enrichment read-aloud program, but you could definitely follow a Charlotte Mason approach with the books (and we lean more toward CM now): http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/first Five in a Row also has wonderful book lists. I didn't use FIAR but I frequently pulled from the lists. Some of the books overlap with the MP book selections. http://fiveinarow.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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