homemommy83 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 I am interested in putting together a minimalistic required reading list for my children to read through as part of their basic educations. I put up a thread in the general forum about favorite books not to miss, but I also wanted to know which books you may have felt weren't worth their space in the Robinson Booklist. If they were twaddle (everyone's idea of this different, but I am wanting to only require the very best classics or books that are excellent informationally) or for some other reason shouldn't be used could you list what you wouldn't use. Also what do you feel is something that you would want to add to the series and about where would you place it in the sequence. For sake of typing one could just list numbers from the booklist-kwim. I do not plan to use his upper level sciences as I prefer to have my own physical textbooks. Thank you ladies! I hope this helps a lot of families put together personal family based list rather than only leaning on Robinson. With a vast majority of Robinson available free on Kindles, I do find this useful in finding some great books inexpensively. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 Is this the booklist? I'd strike several of them. The animal books in level 2 - I'd replace them with animal books about local animals. We did the Burgess books (similar to the Bailey ones) because we "met" each of the animals outside. Elsie Dinsmore would be forced back down the child abuse filled racist hole she crawled out of. I read as far as I could before there were 3 Elsies and 3 Roses in the same family and everything started getting convoluted.more than they were. I would never hand one to a child because I find the principles pressed within to be revolting. All the Uncle Remus books? Isn't one, with a historical background of the author and dialect study, enough? I'd skip any book that talked about Columbus discovering America, too. We have updated resources that are much better. Most of these books seem to be chosen for the sole reason that they are free. That doesn't make them good. It makes them available. Did you want free? I'd scale back what was there with Henty and Alger and poke around on Gutenburg.org. I have my own booklists I've made for my kid. James Baldwin stories are on them, because we already have copies, but I really think your best bet is to create bookcases full of cherished stories that you love, too. Dh gets me a new classic each Christmas that I immediately sit and read and then is available for everyone else. And some I buy for my own kids so that we can read them the first time through together, and then they can pull it off the shelf and read with all the unfamiliar vocabulary made familiar already. There is something about holding a physical copy of a book that doesn't compare. The booklist I linked missed so many staples of my and my children's childhoods: The Wind In The Willows The Oz books The Secret Garden (I loved A Little Princess and Little Lord Fauntleroy, too) Winnie The Pooh books Anne Of Green Gables The Princess And The Goblin We have loved several on there, notably Treasure Island Alice and Through The Looking Glass Aesop's Fables Heidi The Five Little Peppers Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm The Jungle Books (did I skip over Just So Stories in the list? If that's not there, it should be first) Hans Brinker The one thing I did find interesting was that Swiss Family Robinson was scheduled a level lower than Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and I found Rebecca much easier to get into and connect with the characters immediately, whereas Swiss Family took time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homemommy83 Posted July 16, 2018 Author Share Posted July 16, 2018 Thank you Home Again?. I am not necessarily looking for free, but I do love a lot of books available on Kindle Paperwhites as my kids got them for CMAS from Grandma and love them. I am mainly looking to make a minimalist list of books that I want to require of my children. I want to also leave room for their free reading time, which is why I am wanting to make it contain books that are so great that they shouldn't be missed, but I also don't want to download books not worth their spot on their Kindles-kwim. Thank you for sharing your favorite books. I thought with the McGuffy and Christian Liberty Nature readers that I would cover some of my framework goals in the younger years. I also want to include missionary biographies and Bible- which is pretty limited in their curriculum. I definitely want the best literature listed as I can only read aloud a chapter daily- due to my time/physical restraints. Thank you for the truth about some of those book choices as I don't put up with child abuse in books at all. I will download the ones you loved for sure- they are going to be on my list. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smfmommy Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 You could say we do a Robinson Curriculum style. We haven't owned the CDs in years though. I always found different books that seemed more interesting to our family. I have slowly worked up a quality over quantity personal library and require reading from that library for school (they get books from the library for fun as well). I have tried making a list, but each kid is different so I leave it more interest led until high school when there are more subject requirements. I think as long as you are choosing quality books, it's the discussion/study of the book that is important not the specific title. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 I followed the link posted by HomeAgain. I would personally not choose many of those books, especially the ones in the younger years. If you want free books you can read online, I would look at books available through Gutenberg like Journeys through Bookland volumes. I do have my kids read through those volumes in addition to our other reading. I personally think the selections are better quality literature. For example here are the titles for volumes 3 and 6 (out of 9 volumes, each with progressively more complex lit) Volume 3 JOHN'S PUMPKIN .......... Mrs. Archibald THE MOCK TURTLE'S STORY .......... Lewis Carrol THE SPIDER AND THE FLY .......... Mary Hoiritt A FAREWELL .......... Charles Kingsley QUEEN ALICE .......... Lewis Carroll THE LEPRECHAUN .......... William Allingham THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER .......... Lewis Carroll BETH GELERT .......... William R. Spencer ROBINSON CRUSOE .......... Daniel Defoe FAITHLESS SALLY BROWN .......... Thomas Hood THE MARINER'S DREAM .......... William Dimond THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON .......... Johann Rudolph Wyss ECHO .......... John G. Saxe THE STORY OF ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP ... From the Arabian Nights THE SECOND VOYAGE OF SINBAD THE SAILOR . From the Arabian Nights BARBARA FRIETCHIE .......... John Greenleaf Whittier BEOWULF AND GBENDEL CUPID AND PSYCHE .......... Adapted by Anna McCaleb THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN .......... Robert Browning FRITHIOF THE BOLD .......... Adapted by Grace E. Sellon THE STORY OF SIEGFRIED .......... Adapted by Grace E. Sellon NIGHT .......... Robert Southey LOCHINVAR .......... Sir Walter Scott ROBIN HOOD ROLAND volume 6 CONTENTS PAGE HORATIUS _Lord Macaulay_ 1 LORD ULLIN'S DAUGHTER _Thomas Campbell_ 23 SIR WALTER SCOTT _Grace E. Sellon_ 26 THE TOURNAMENT _Sir Walter Scott_ 38 THE RAINBOW _Thomas Campbell_ 91 THE LION AND THE MISSIONARY _David Livingstone_ 93 THE MOSS ROSE _Translated from Krummacher_ 98 FOUR DUCKS ON A POND _William Allingham_ 98 RAB AND HIS FRIENDS _John Brown, M.D._ 99 ANNIE LAURIE _William Douglas_ 119 THE BLIND LASSIE _T. C. Latto_ 120 BOYHOOD _Washington Allston_ 122 SWEET AND LOW _Alfred Tennyson_ 122 CHILDHOOD _Donald G. Mitchell_ 124 THE BUGLE SONG _Alfred Tennyson_ 133 THE IMITATION OF CHRIST _Thomas à Kempis_ 134 THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB _Lord Byron_ 141 RUTH 143 THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAR _Lord Byron_ 153 SOHRAB AND RUSTEM 157 SOHRAB AND RUSTUM _Matthew Arnold_ 173 THE POET AND THE PEASANT _Emile Souvestre_ 206 JOHN HOWARD PAYNE AND _Home, Sweet Home_ 221 AULD LANG SYNE _Robert Burns_ 228 HOME THEY BROUGHT HER WARRIOR DEAD _Alfred Tennyson_ 231 CHARLES DICKENS 232 A CHRISTMAS CAROL _Charles Dickens_ 244 CHRISTMAS IN OLD TIME _Sir Walter Scott_ 356 ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD _Thomas Gray_ 360 THE SHIPWRECK _Robert Louis Stevenson_ 371 ELEPHANT HUNTING _Roualeyn Gordon Cumming_ 385 SOME CLEVER MONKEYS _Thomas Belt_ 402 POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC _Benjamin Franklin_ 407 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 422 THE CAPTURE OF VINCENNES _George Rogers Clark_ 428 THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK _Edgar Allan Poe_ 453 THE MODERN BELLE _Stark_ 463 WIDOW MACHREE _Samuel Lover_ 464 LIMESTONE BROTH _Gerald Griffin_ 467 THE KNOCK-OUT _Davy Crockett_ 471 THE COUNTRY SQUIRE _Thomas Yriarte_ 474 TO MY INFANT SON _Thomas Hood_ 478 Volume 10 is a parent volume that has good teaching suggestions. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24857/24857-h/24857-h.htm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knitgrl Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Journeys through Bookland looks like a great resource for Morning Time, but Gutenberg doesn't have Vol. 1. Does anyone know where an online version can be found? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 D 11 minutes ago, knitgrl said: Journeys through Bookland looks like a great resource for Morning Time, but Gutenberg doesn't have Vol. 1. Does anyone know where an online version can be found? https://archive.org/details/journeysthroughb01sylv Archive.org is my go-to site for OOP books. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homemommy83 Posted July 20, 2018 Author Share Posted July 20, 2018 Thank you ladies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 If you're looking for booklists, you might also like Hirsch's 'Books to Build On'. If I remember correctly, they're arranged by both grade and topic. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homemommy83 Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 19 hours ago, ClemsonDana said: If you're looking for booklists, you might also like Hirsch's 'Books to Build On'. If I remember correctly, they're arranged by both grade and topic. Yes, that is what I am doing. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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