You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Kids' category.
The weather’s changing, summer’s finally over, and there’s a definite chill in the air many days. Now we can look forward to some of those fun activities that only happen in the autumn: Collecting leaves and pine cones for wreaths and other decorations; heading out to the local pumpkin patch; baking fresh apple and pumpkin pies; brewing hot spiced apple cider (hey, I can smell it simmering just thinking about it).
At the end of November, the United States celebrates Thanksgiving Day. One of our family traditions for this particular holiday is making a Thanksgiving Tree. People tell me every year that they like this particular idea so much, I repeat sharing it (sorry if it’s a repeat for you!).
Anyway, we make a tree trunk with bare branches out of black craft paper and tape the “tree” to the dining room wall. Then we cut out individual autumn-colored leaves (red, orange, yellow, brown) from more craft paper.
As someone in the family thinks of something or someone they’re thankful for, they write the item or person’s name onto one of the leaves and then tape the leaf to the tree branches.
We try to put the Thanksgiving Tree in place by mid-November so our family has at least a full week to add more leaves to the tree. By Thanksgiving Day, the tree is FULL with the names of people, events and things we’re thankful for. This is great fun for the kids and a meaningful addition to our family’s holiday traditions.
And what would holidays be like without a few special treats?
My favorite recipe for hot spiced apple cider is one of those throw-it-together-as-you-go recipes, but I’ll try to explain the process as best I can. First, I take a large jug of apple juice (a gallon if we’re entertaining). Then I pour the juice into a large pot on the stove (or into the slow cooker if I don’t want to use a burner). Heat to a simmer.
Then add the following ingredients to the pot:
- about one cup of frozen orange juice concentrate (this ingredient is a MUST)
- approximately two teaspoons (more or less) of EACH of the following: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, Cloves (whole or ground)
- and sometimes I add about one cup (or less) of cranberry juice cocktail
Let it all simmer for awhile (half an hour at least). The smell wafting through the house while the cider is simmering is simply heaven. Mmmmm … Serve the hot spiced cider in mugs. For a nice touch, add a whole cinnamon stick to each mug.
Having a large pot of cider simmering on the stove when company arrives is a sure way to make them very happy that they chose to come over to your house.
And for another treat, make some baked pumpkin seeds (you can also do this with acorn squash seeds). After all the pumpkin carving or pie making, don’t throw out the seeds. Separate the seeds from the stringy pulp (don’t rinse or remove every last bit of the pulp — the pulp adds flavor). Place the seeds on a cookie sheet, stir in about 1/4 cup of melted butter, sprinkle with a small amount of salt and then bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes until lightly browned. Enjoy!
And if you’re wondering what to do with the leftover stringy part of the pumpkin guts, visit my friend Diana’s blog for a tasty recipe: Pumpkin Gut Bread
Happy autumn to you and yours!
Here are a couple of ultra-easy Autumn craft ideas.
Leaf Prints:
Make your own cards or gift wrap by using nature’s bounty of freshly fallen leaves. Use poster paint for printing on paper (for cards, gift wrap, etc.), or use acrylic paint if you decide to decorate an item that needs a waterproof finish (glassware, clay pots, etc.). Brush a small amount of paint onto the underside of the leaf where the veins are more pronounced. Carefully place the leaf where you want the design printed and cover with a layer of paper towel. Gently roll a rolling pin over the top (or you can use the side of an empty bottle). Remove the paper towel and lift the leaf.
Wheat Weaving:
Soak wheat on the stalk (from craft stores or local farmers) in a tub of water for an hour or so. Holding three seed heads together, braid the stems of the wheat stalks. Curve the ends around to make an oval loop, a circle wreath, or even bend it a bit to make a heart shape. Tie with brightly colored ribbon. As the stalks dry, they’ll hold their shape. Add to your autumn decorations.
Nature Study has always been one of my favorite aspects of Charlotte Mason’s educational methods, and I’ve always felt that Autumn is the ideal time to start Nature Study if you haven’t done it in the past. So many easily visible changes happening. Very easy for kids to observe nature “in process.”
A while back, I put together a small online bookstore containing many of my personal choices for nature study books, materials, toys and other resources.
Feel free to stop by (and tell your homeschooling friends!):
Copyright Catherine Levison. Used with permission. All rights reserved. http://charlottemasoneducation.com
We all want to raise polite and loving children who aren’t causing our lives or home schools to be in a constant state of friction. Both adults and children tend to be creatures of habit and there is no end to the problems (or, better yet, lack of them) that arise from habit.
It’s a good thing that much of our daily activities are habitual, for example, people operate cars through the power of habit. What would it be like to have to think about the turn signal, foot brake, steering wheel and two mirrors every time we made a turn? What does this have to do with raising children and education? Everything. Much of what we do, and how we do it, is controlled by habit.
I observed the power of habit first hand when we moved the dining room clock in our house and replaced it with a picture. Because the clock had hung there for nine years everyone found themselves disoriented by the change. I don t know how many times I stood in front of the picture mystified, trying to figure out the time.
I also came face to face with the power of habit when we moved into a house that had a sink with reversed hot and cold water faucets. I thought I would grow accustomed to the reversal rather quickly — I was wrong. I would have been able to replace one habit with another if there had only been one sink in the house, however, it wasn t the only one and I admit I found myself in constant confusion when I was in front of this particular sink. I had to think instead of relying on habit.
Charlotte Mason was one educator who recognized and wrote about the power of habit and claimed that even virtues such as patience, meekness, courage, generosity and truthfulness are a matter of habit and can be trained as such. I agreed with her to a point but I did not really know this to be a fact until one time when I paid for my groceries with a hundred dollar bill. The clerk made change, then wrapped it up inside the receipt and inadvertently included my hundred dollars. No one saw this, in fact, I almost didn t look at the wad myself. At the last moment I did look in my hand and saw what had happened. My reaction came so fast even I was surprised. One of my habits is honesty and it was out of habit that I returned the money. Later, I thought about habitual morality and realized its significance.
If you find yourself always telling or asking your children the same things over and over again then this teaching on habit will benefit you. If I had the proverbial nickel for every time I told my kids to put the milk away, I’d be rich. Mason noted that when you find yourself always telling children to do the same thing, you have not trained them in the habits you wish they would perform.
The key is to identify one bad habit at a time in your child (or yourself) and then purposefully replace it with a good habit. We often make the mistake of tackling too many bad behaviors at one time. Success comes when we focus on one problem at a time. It s best to approach the child, clearly state what the bad habit is and then explain how it will affect their future.
For example, if your teenage child prefers to sleep in rather than getting up at a decent time explain to him how this can affect his employment, college grades and ability to catch the bus on time. The goal is to get him to see why he would want to make a change. Make that your first and final lecture. With a view that the child has to exert himself toward the new habit, do not interfere when it isn t necessary. Help as inconspicuously as possible.
Habits ordinarily take six to eight weeks to take shape and become permanent. Then they are habitual and will not need additional work. After the bad habit has been replaced by a good habit you can target a new habit.
For Charlotte Mason’s own words on the subject of habit formation, be sure to check out the new book, Habits: The Mother’s Secret to Success, edited by my dear friend, Deborah Taylor-Hough.
About the Author:
Catherine Levison is a long term home schooling parent with over a decade of experience. She is the mother of five children and resides in Seattle. A popular speaker to home schooling audiences throughout the USA and Canada, Levison is the author of the popular book, A Charlotte Mason Education: A How-To Manual, the sequel More Charlotte Mason Education and A Literary Education: An Annotated Book List (SourceBooks). Visit Catherine online at: http://charlottemasoneducation.com
SUCCESSFUL NARRATIONCopyright Sheila Carroll
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com
Narration is a simple but powerful tool of learning. Most children enjoy telling you what they know about a subject. It delights them to tell about an incident, however small it may seem to us. Charlotte Mason, a British educator from the last century, believed that this love of telling could be used as a foundation for self-education.
Narration is a natural way to demonstrate and organize information. Charlotte Mason’s idea of narration as a tool for education and assessment was far broader in intent than mere “parroting back” information. It involves really knowing the thing read.
In order for narration to be an effective form of self-education, the children must be read aloud to from the very first and with the best literature available. Contained within great books is nourishment for the child’s mind in the form of ideas. As Charlotte Mason has said: as the child’s body needs nourishment to grow, so too the child’s mind needs nourishment in the form of ideas in order to grow.
Narration, then, provides an effective way for those ideas to be made specifically the child’s own. Narration, if done consistently and correctly, gives the child:
- Beauty of expression
- Recall of material
- Increased mental facility
- A means of evaluating what is understood
The Basics of Narration
When you’re ready, sit with the child (this also works with more than one child) and say gently with a smile, “I’m going to read (give the title) one time to you. I want you to listen carefully. Then tell me in your own words all you remember of the story.”
After you have read the story, pause a moment to let it settle in, then say, “Tell me all you remember about the story.” At this point listen without comment until the child is done.
If there is more than one child you can let one start and the other add. Or, alternately, you can have the first child narrate and then ask the second (or third), “Is there anything you would like to add?” Taking turns narrating while others listen builds the habit of attention in children.
Step One: Start Small
Start with a small, interesting paragraph when beginning narration with your child. The best time to begin is when the child is about six years old. If your child is younger than six and is narrating spontaneously, listen intently and with interest. Show your approval with smiles and nods, but don’t require it of the child.
After age six, start with simple stories of a high quality. Aesop’s Fables is the best literature to use. These contain a minimum of characters (usually only two) and a minimum of action (usually only one – two events).
As the child matures, you should be adding increasingly complex material. The progression should be from short paragraph to brief passage, single page to gradually several pages. Most children in the upper elementary grades should be able to narrate several pages if they have been given regular practice in narration.
Step Two: Choose Material That is Appropriate
In the early years, after Aesop’s Fables, I found folk tales the best subject for narration. Children are able to follow the “what happens next” and reconstruct it in their minds. Stories are stories because the images and events are linked together in some logical way. In “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, for example, there are three bowls, three chairs and three beds of graduated size. There are also three distinct parts to the story, like acts in a play. This is a logical progression that the child can understand easily. By allowing children ample opportunity to narrate back these pleasurable stories, their expressive language will grow by leaps and bounds.
Suggested age ranges and appropriate material:
- 6 – 8 years — folk tales (read no more than three to five minutes); experiences (such as a visit to Grandma’s or a field trip); events in nature (such as the flow of the seasons, the cycle of a butterfly from pupa to chrysalis to butterfly)
- 9 – 12 years — more complex folk tales; add biographies; well-written non-fiction; fiction (a rule of thumb is 10 – 15 minutes)
- 12 and up — continue as in nine to eleven years with increasingly complex literature. Begin work writing summaries (outlining first is an option), creating products as a response to the literature (play, mural, puppet, letter recommending the book)
Step Three: Listen Without Comment
This step is by far the most difficult for us as the parent/teacher. But, be silent we must. If the child suspects that you will offer “helpful questions,” then he knows he doesn’t have to do all the work himself. Don’t interrupt! Doing this is critical to your child’s budding skill. It is also part of respecting the child — expecting that he can and will do his own work. This is assuming that you have given the child material that is appropriate to his age and development.
Step Four: Be Consistent
Several years ago my daughter, Bridget, was becoming more and more resistant to narration in our homeschool. So, I did what I shouldn’t have — I made her do it. Finally, one day she wailed, “I hate narration!” I was appalled at the state of affairs. So, I did another thing I shouldn’t have — I quit requiring it of her. A whole school year went by with no narration. Really.
Then, I had the summer to think things over. I realized that too often I had chosen material inappropriate for her, and I didn’t use narration consistently, only as it occurred to me. At the start of the next school year, I sat down with her and explained that we would begin again and we would use narration every
day.
day.
Charlotte Mason has written that when forming a new habit to watch over the formation of it with care and consistency. This I did. Little by little, Bridget began to regain confidence and skill. Today she narrates long passages with ease, and making books of her narrations is a special pleasure.
Step Five: Use Many Forms of Narration
Be creative in your use of different forms of narration. Frequent verbal narration is to be encouraged because it builds expressive language and clear thinking. However, many children enjoy other forms of narration.
Here are a few below:
- Record narration on cassette tape, then replay it so child can hear.
- Transcribe child’s narration word for word. Read it back to the child for any additions (remember, no helping).
- Create a poster with characters and setting, then have child retell.
- Make a story streamer (cut a sheet of paper 5 by 25 inches, then fold in equal sections according to number of parts of the story. Have child draw pictures from the story in sequence — older ones can add text — then retell the story from the pictures).
- Act out part or the entire story with your child.
- Make a timeline, then retell.
- Research geography of story and have child tell about it.
- Make a diorama.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
–Sheila Carroll is founder of Living Books Curriculum, a literature rich, complete curriculum growing from the work of Charlotte Mason. This article previously appeared in Parent’s Journal, the e-newsletter of Living Books Curriculum. Visit Sheila online at: http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com
Whenever someone online links to a page on one of my blogs, I receive a notification about it in the administrative area of my blog. The other day I found that someone named “Grandmother Wren” had linked to two of my nature study articles, so I figured I’d go see what sort of blog entry prompted a nature study recommendation. Turns out, it was a posting about children spending time outdoors everyday to connect with nature.Here’s a quote:
“The National Wildlife Federation recommends that parents give their kids a ‘Green Hour’ every day, a time for interaction with the natural world. This can take place in a garden, a backyard, the park down the street, or any place that provides safe and accessible green spaces where children can learn and play.”
You can visit Grandmother Wren and see her list of thirteen great ideas/resources for spending time with kids outdoors at: http://grandmotherwren.com/?p=109
~Debi
A long-time online aquaintance of mine recently posted a series of posts on her blog about how she was able to put together an entire year’s worth of curriculum from just a couple of trips to the thrift store.
If you think homeschooling’s just too expensive to consider pursuing seriously, take a look at Mama Squirrel’s ideas. 
Here’s a link to her series of posts:
”What I came up with isn’t necessarily a Charlotte Mason curriculum; that needs to be clear … I think it’s more like an amalgam of Sonlight Curriculum and Ruth Beechick; it’s supposed to be something that could keep you going, even if you were homeschooling for the first time.” –Mama Squirrel
Later today I’m going to be adding a small pile of used books to my eBay store. I’m in the midst of trying to do some serious decluttering around my house. Wish me luck! 
A number of the books will be about financial and simple living topics that might be of interest to readers of this blog. Plus, there should be some children’s books, educational materials, and classic literature, as well.
So far, I’ve listed several books in the Core Knowledge Series (What Your Kindergartner [1st, 2nd, 3rd grader] Needs to Know). I also have an unused (and unopened) copy of Quicken Personal Finance 2007 Home & Business software. And due to popular demand from several friends, I’m going to list a couple of photographs that I’ve taken and had made into 8″x10″ prints and matted in 11″x14″ mattes.
Feel free to stop by later and see if there’s anything that interests you or your family.
http://stores.ebay.com/Simple-Pleasures-Books-and-Gifts
~Debi
Even in the city, children should get their knowledge of nature first hand and get into the habit of being in touch with nature. Here are some simple nature/science ideas for city (and rural) families to share together:
1) Press and mount flowers on cardboard. Write the names of the flowers, and where and when you found them. I recently saw a photo-album used to store pressed flowers. Having a field guide to identify flowers and flowering trees is very helpful.
2) Keep a nature calendar. A calendar devoted to nature observation could be kept with simple entries on when the leaves first fell or the fruit tree in your yard first ripened for the year.
3) Leaf identification. Children should know the leaves of their neighborhood. For example they can begin to notice that some leaves are heart shaped, some are divided, and some fall off in the winter.
4) Give children a pocket compass, a magnifying glass and possibly a microscope. We like using the magnifying glass better. Buy the best magnifying glass or microscope you can afford and check it at the store — they seem to vary in how they focus.
5) Learn about the wind. A weather vane mounted on the housetop or porch railing is not only a decorative object but also a learning tool. Charlotte Mason said to teach children to notice winds. Tell the children that the wind is named by what direction it comes from; for example, if someone is a Mexican because they were born in Mexico, they don’t become a Canadian when they visit Canada.
6) Even children in the city can observe natural animal life. City dwellers can try to feed and observe city birds such as sparrows. Children can place a caterpillar in a box with a netting over it and watch it spin. Keeping an ant farm is fun and educational.
7) Swamps and ponds are an excellent resource for science learning. Have children go to the pond, gather some frogs’ eggs, and place them in a large glass jar. After the tadpoles begin to form legs, take them back and release them at the pond.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: –Catherine Levison is a popular speaker to parenting and educational audiences throughout the U.S.A. and
Canada. She’s also the mother of five children, a grandmother, and the author of the book, A Charlotte Mason Education: A How-To Manual, the sequel, More Charlotte Mason Education, and A Literary Education. She resides with her family in the Seattle/Tacoma area. Visit Catherine online at: CharlotteMasonEducation.comCatherine Levison’s books can be browsed at. A Charlotte Mason EducationMore Charlotte Mason Education
I stumbled upon the following article online just now. Thought some of you might find it a good idea, as well: Have Fun With Your Children – Take Them To The Art Gallery!
Excerpt:
“Talk about the art you’re looking at. You don’t have to be an expert. Tell your child what you like or don’t like about a couple of pieces. Perhaps mention the subject, colours, how the artist has created the work, even the framing is fair game. Show your children that sometimes you have to stand right back to see the pictures properly.
“At the end, comment on which you liked best and ask them for their favourites as well. Don’t forget to ask why they like what they do and always remember that their opinions are just as valid as yours.”
Because Charlotte Mason strongly recommended the avoidance of twaddle, parents are often concerned about what it is and how they can successfully avoid it in the context of education.
First, let’s look at the synonyms of twaddle which include, babble, drivel and silly. Ordinarily twaddle refers to literature written down to children. Books written to children are not avoided. A good example would be any of Beatrix Potter’s works — she writes to children but not down to them. If we were to review what Charlotte would recommend in children’s literature we’d look for interesting content and well constructed sentences clothed in literary language. She wanted the imagination to be warmed and the book to hold the interest of the child. In Charlotte Mason’s opinion, life’s too short to spend time with books that bore us.
If our children have only been exposed to junk food, they may resist trying nutritious food. If they’ve been raised on twaddle, they may need to be weaned slowly off of this mental junk food. Ideally, if they were not exposed to twaddly books in the first place, all involved would be way ahead of the game.
It is my opinion that dumbed-down literature is easy to spot. When you’re standing in the library and pick up modern-day, elementary-level books, you’re apt to see short sentences with very little effort applied to artistically constructing them to please the mind. Almost anyone can write — but not everyone is gifted in this field. Gifted authors bring images alive with their choice of words (I do not claim to be gifted in this area, by the way. Writing is just an efficient mode of communication to me — I much prefer talking). Gifted authors often write classic literature, and classics are an excellent way to spend one’s reading time.
Twaddle is easy to come by; the planet is filled with it. People coped with it in Charlotte Mason’s day, and we must cope with it in ours’. If anything, literature has deteriorated even further. The best way to cope with this excessive quantity of bad books is to stand firm and only spend our money on the best.
But what about friends and relatives who unknowingly supply our children with twaddle at gift-giving times? Try talking to those who are apt to buy gifts for your children and tell them about the direction you’re heading with reading material. Some people pick up on things easier than others, therefore, for some folks a simple explanation of the type of literature you want purchased as gifts is all they’ll need. If you’ve started to collect any particular set of children’s classics currently in bookstores or catalogs, you could provide Grandma with a list of titles you’d like. Be specific, and offer to help her with the ordering, or perhaps even drive her to your favorite bookstore, or give out a copy of the following list: Twaddle-Free Books by Grade Level.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Catherine Levison (Washington resident, mother of five, and home schooling parent for over ten years) is a frequent speaker to parenting and home schooling audiences throughout the USA and Canada. She is the author of A Charlotte Mason Education: A How to Manual and the sequel, More Charlotte Mason Education. Visit Catherine online at: http://charlottemasoneducation.com/
(This reading list is my personal idea of twaddle-free reading–it does not necessarily represent the views of C. Levison, K. Andreola, P. Gardner or any other Charlotte Mason-related authors.)
Twaddle = dumbed down literature; absence of meaning
Living Books = books that are well-written and engaging–they absorb the reader–the narrative and characters “come alive”; living books are the opposite of cold, dry textbooks.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The age designations for this list are only approximate. A child’s listening level will often be several grades higher than their personal reading level–feel free to choose books from an older list if you’re planning on reading aloud to your children. My husband and I began reading aloud to our children from chapter books (such as Charlotte’s Web) before their third birthdays. Don’t under-estimate your child’s ability to comprehend or listen to fairly advanced material.
I’ve included direct links to the books on Amazon.com so you can browse the reviews of other readers to get a better idea of which books would be appropriate for your home and/or classroom. Just click on the book’s title for further information. Amazon.com also offers free shipping on orders above a particular amount (usually $25), so if you have several books you’d like to order, it can be just as inexpensive to buy from Amazon as to order through your local bookstore. Plus you get the fun of having books delivered to your door — that’s always big excitement at my house! :-)
Preschool
Aesop’s Fables, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
The Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter
The Original Mother Goose, illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright
Good Night Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown
The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, by Jean de Brunhoff
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
Kindergarten / Grade 1
Amelia Bedelia, by Peggy Parish
Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey
Bread and Jam for Frances, by Russell Hoban
Billy and Blaze, by C.W. Anderson
A Chair for My Mother, by Vera B. Williams
Corduroy, by Don Freeman
The Courage of Sarah Noble, by Alice Dalgliesh
Curious George, by H.A. Rey
Frog and Toad All Year, by Arnold Lobel
Frog and Toad are Friends, by Arnold Lobel
Harry the Dirty Dog, by Gene Zion
Little Bear, by Else Homelund Minarik
The Little Engine that Could, by Watty Piper
The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton
Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans
Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton
The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats
Stone Soup, by Marcia Brown
Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf
Story About Ping, by Marjorie Flack
Grade 2
The Boxcar Children, by Gertrude Chandler Warner
A Child’s Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson (illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith)
Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Railway Children, by E. Nesbit
The Random House Book of Fairy Tales, by Amy Ehrlich
Tikki Tikki Tembo, by Arlene Mosel
The Velveteen Rabbit, by Marjery Williams
Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne
Grade 3
Baby Island, by Carol Ryrie Brink
Caddie Woodlawn, by Carol Ryrie Brink
Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry
(Assateague: Island of the Wild Ponies, by Andrea Jauck and Larry Points)
Owls in the Family, by Farley Mowat
Paul Bunyan, by Steven Kellogg
Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter
Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims, by Clyde Robert Bulla
Story of Dr. Doolittle, by Hugh Lofting
Stuart Little, by E.B. White
Trumpet of the Swan, by E.B. White
Grade 4
Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
King Arthur, by Roger Lancelyn Green
A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Little Lord Fauntleroy, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, by Howard Pyle
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow, by Allen French
The Sword in the Stone, by T.H. White
Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois
Redwall, by Brian Jacques
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
Grade 5
Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr.
Gentle Ben, by Walt Morey
Heidi, by Johanna Spyri
Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
Lad: A Dog, by Albert Payson Terhune
Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson
Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann Wyss
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
Grade 6
Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne
The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling
Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling
Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy), by J.R.R. Tolkien
White Fang, by Jack London
The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Grade 7
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
The Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan
The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain
Sounder, by William H. Armstrong
Tanglewood Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Grade 8
Christy, by Catherine Marshall
David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
The Divine Comedy, by Dante
Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes
Emma, by Jane Austen
The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis
Paradise Lost, by John Milton
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Grade 9
1984, by George Orwell
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
The Chosen, by Chaim Potok
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemmingway
The Pilgrim’s Regress, by C.S. Lewis
The Pit and the Pendulum, by Edgar Allen Poe
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Grade 10 – 12
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer
The City of God, by Augustine
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ, by Lew Wallace
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
Guilliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hinds’ Feet on High Places, by Hannah Hurnard
The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper
The Odyssey, by Homer
The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis
Silas Marner, by George Eliot
The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
HOW TO ORDER BOOKS
Click on the book titles to order directly from Amazon.com–the world’s largest on-line bookstore. Many titles are offered at significantly reduced prices from the recommended list price (often at 10 – 30% off).
Many of the listed books also qualify for free shipping (providing that you meet minimum order requirements). With free shipping, the prices can be even less expensive than buying from a local bookstore … but you also have the added convenience of never even leaving the house! I personally get a thrill seeing the U.P.S driver walking up to my front door with a box full of brand new books.
Amazon.com also has a variety of payment options. You can even order using a personal check if you’re uncomfortable using credit cards or check cards online.
Recent Comments