Christianbook.com Homeschool Blog

Non-fiction kids’ books are great.

One of Charlesbridge Publishing’s newest books, The Great Molasses Flood is on a particularly unique topic [what, you weren’t planning an entire unit study around the Great Molasses Flood of 1919?] but would be great to integrate into broader studies.

The Great Molasses Flood is just interesting, period. On January 15, 1919, a tank of molasses exploded, sending shards of metal flying and releasing a 40-foot wave of dark, flowing molasses that collapsed buildings and coated the North End of Boston. Kops uses a number of personal stories in telling her story; find yourself in the shoes of poor Mrs. O’Brien, who opened a door to find her entire building moved down the street, among those helping with the sticky, long, clean-up, or telling your testimony along with other survivors.

Falling squarely in the intersection between the “weird disasters” category, the “this-is-an-example-of-how-historical-research-is-done” category, and the “early modern period of history” category, Deborah Kops uses primary documents, archival photos, and a narrative re-telling that will put you right in the midst of the action. Set into the broader early-modern context of 1919, students will find it interesting how the effects of broader events they’ve read about elsewhere—World War I, early waves of immigration, women’s suffrage, the struggle over improved regulation, prohibition, and the anarchist movement—played out in the face of one disaster. It’s one thing to read about how and why events happened, and their direct aftermath. It’s quite another to see the unique, localized ways in which they affected ordinary people. With the scent of molasses only fading from Boston in the mid-1990s, Kops’ Great Molasses Flood presents a contextual, localized history that is brought into the present day.

102 indexed pages, library-reinforced hardcover with dust jacket. Sepia-toned pages and archival photographs. Ages 9-12.

You hear of people homeschooling because, in part, their kids fidget.
Their kids like to move while they learn, problems ensue in the classroom, et cetera et cetera et cetera.
It’s a powerful thing.

Like many others, I often feel like I have to move to think. I pace, I walk, I study better on a treadmill than sitting on a couch.

Particularly for kinesthetic learners,  such movement actually can help with thinking. But while large-area activities work, Brain Food can make getting all that fidgetiness out easier. Brain Food is that link between energy and body, channeling movement, promoting the free flow of ideas…all while sitting. It’s amazing. I got it over two weeks ago now, and seriously cannot put this stuff down.

It’s non-sticky and taffy-like; a bit firm until you warm it up, and then it swirls and loops in SUCH a tactilely-pleasing manner. It’s feels 99% oil-free on my hands too…I still wash after I’ve put it away, but it’s not so much that I avoid touching things (all hand-cream moisturizers, I’m looking at you).

It’s moldable for a moment, but won’t stay, since it doesn’t harden—EVEN if you leave it out of its tin-home. So basically, don’t expect to make a dinosaur or a tree. I’ve tried. It just sort of slumps over and resumes its primordial globular state. But, making sculptures isn’t its intention, so when I’m sitting and thinking while smooshing and pulling at my lump of Brain Food…it’s doing exactly what it should. Helping me to think productively.

And having fun charging it up with light and watching it glow in the dark. Which…is just cool.

Brain Food comes in 7 different colors, 1 of which glows in the dark. Each tin is currently $8.99 at Christianbook.com. View “Product Close-Up” for a picture of each color.
Non-toxic. Keep from clothes.

I LOVE this.
LOVE it.

A visual treat that I would have adored as a homeschooling kid (and, as I still remain a rather font-obsessed person, am head over heels for even now), Monica Dengo’s Pick Up Your Pen is an inspiring guide to Italic Handwriting that’s beautiful, whimsical, and about as far from a boring handwriting book as you can possibly get.

Each cream-colored page has color on it—beautiful, rich, paint-and-marker color. The letters loop and flow, stand on top of each other, and are stacked up alongside the guidelines. These are pages that are just begging to be written in, doodled in—a real-life inspiration to tap into way we unconsciously scribble in the margins.

The two-page spreads focus on the same letter in either upper or lower-case. The left-hand page features colorful, whimsically drawn letters on a blank, unlined page that encourages experimentation; the right-hand page features italic instruction with model letters to copy and lines to practice on. Even the numbers at the bottom of the page are put to use, with directional arrows showing how to correctly form them. This isn’t a rigorous curriculum that provides instruction like a multi-volume, standard handwriting series would—there are no full words or sentences—but as a supplement, art book, “finished product,” or a different take on a subject, this is a fabulous workbook.

In a world dominated by keyboards and computers, inspire kids to see the creativity, line, and movement in the art of handwriting once again! 107 cream-colored, book-esque pages, softcover. 11.75” long, 8.25” high.

Currently $11.99 (20% off the retail price) at Christianbook.com.

Discover the story of World War II hero Raoul Wallenberg in Houghton-Mifflin’s “His Name was Raoul Wallenberg.” Risking his life throughout the war, saving thousands of Jews, he would disappear only days after liberation; his ultimate fate is a mystery.

This has to be one of the most unusually structured children’s biographies I’ve come across, but the more I re-read, the more I like it. In a style slightly reminiscent of Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust, author Louise Borden manages to pull out all the dates and places-with-umlauts of a conventional biography, spin it around, and return prose in free verse form. I felt it matched the rhythm of the story she was telling, provided a way to not overwhelm young readers with huge blocks of text, and still left plenty of pages for the many photographs she integrates (view the sample pages to see if it’s a style your child would like, or become distracted by).

Despite movies about him, university awards named after him, and memorials in most major cities, Raoul Wallenberg doesn’t have anywhere near the same name-recognition as other WWII heroes. His story takes place during the latter half of the war in Hungary, originally a German ally and then occupied by Germany—putting its thousands of Jewish residents in danger.

Sent to Hungary specifically to help the Jews, the plan Raoul and others came up with is nothing short of brilliant. They decided to create a unique document, merging an official letter of Swedish protection that had previously worked getting Jews across the border with a passport; they called it a “Schutzpass,” a combination of protection and passport.

He bought and rented our thirty-two apartment buildings, each with a sign reading “This house is protected by the Royal Swedish Government.” When quotas were put in place, he used schutzpass numbers for entire families; when the Nazis took people anyways, he set up his own checkpoints ahead of them, pulling person after person off the trains. He drove alongside death marches with a typewriter to print out new letters of protection on the go. He climbed on top of a train car to hand in schutzpasse through the windows. This is a story of inspiring, over-the-top courage.

And finally, liberation came. Russian soldiers came in as retreating Germans blew up bridges behind them. Raoul Wallenberg went to meet with the top generals in order to ensure that the ghetto would be protected…and was never seen again.

The story of his rescue efforts is thrilling enough, but the mystery of his fate will put this into an entire other class for children. Detailing the stories, evidences, hear-say and scraps of evidence, Louise Borden integrates interviews with family members with the multiple theories of his fate.

With all the “true-story” thrills, His Name was Raoul Wallenberg is a great World War II supplemental reader. It doesn’t dive into the standard details of other middle school books on the holocaust, and really with the repetition of material that those books offer, it shouldn’t have to. What it may need—or inspire—is more research into how neutral countries operated during the War, and perhaps about Hungary’s role in particular, neither of which is front-and-center in youth books. 135 pages, hardcover with dust jacket. Middle School.

History lover that I am, I was thrilled to get a review copy of Susan Wise Bauer’s The History of the Medieval World.

Diving right in, I went out-of-order, not having read The History of the Ancient World; however, they definitely stand alone, and since I was reading about more Medieval-ly topics at the time, this one just neatly slid in next to the others. You never out-grow unit studies!

Like her Story of the World series for elementary grades, history is approached in linear blocks, but with a global scope. I rejoice at this. History didn’t and doesn’t occur in a single-country-vacuum, even before the invention of the internet and pony express, and I like that this interaction is emphasized here. While reading the history of a single country helps you catch a full flavor of the internal developments (vastly important!), it often ignores the larger context, all the ideas that trickle in through war and trade.

I think of this as a sort of “spine,” reading it alongside lots of biographies to deepen the scope. As various figures were mentioned that sparked my interest, I enjoyed picking up a couple books that focused narrowly on those people/eras—this is an overview, and as such, focuses primarily on the political, “big picture” aspects of history–perfect as an interest-sparking jumping off point.

Moving at a fast clip, each sentence is packed full of information you’ll want (and need) to remember. Her tight phrasing doesn’t allow for any superfluous prose; however, her tone is engagingly-casual, with italic-emphasized words and wry humor–you will NOT get bored.

And my favorite part? We all have our pets in history; I’ve read a bajillion books on Persia and England, fewer on France and the Netherlands, fewer still on India and Germany, and China. You aren’t allowed to sneak around important parts of history with this! Finish it, and you’ll actually be able to remember Old World history in order–with names and dates and events –and know why they’re important.

Late High School-Adult.

Getting ready to start the school-year up again, boxes of curriculum had their appeal—but I’m not sure anything could compare to the joy of That Year’s Planner. The scores of blank lines, the cover, any sort of illustration…

I loved that I could change it each year; watch it fill up with rainbow-hued lists only to blacken them out with thick pencil-strokes throughout the day. Even now, I love getting to pick out a new one to keep track of all my tasks here.

And so it was with much envy (and awe) that I looked through the new planners by Home Educating Family Magazine—how I wish I’d had these when I was at home…and I’m planning on using it once I finish up the planner I’m using now!

They’re simply, elegantly, gorgeous. The covers were promising enough, but the contents are even more incredible.

The Well Planned Day Family Planner features:

• Encouraging articles for every month & a weekly bible verse.
• Room to fill in Bible, Math, History, Science, English and two electives for multiple students, plus weekly priorities, dinner menu, catechism, and weekend activities for each week.
• Special pages for the family budget, greeting cards, weekly cleaning routine, special projects, contacts, a class plan, teacher schedule, student schedule, semester goals, progress reports and a monthly grid-calendar with room to write in books, field trips/enrichment, monthly expenses, and memorable moments. They’ve even included perforated shopping lists AND glossy report cards!

Different color combinations for each month provide added visual interest, as well as a way to keep track of what month you’re looking at—such a thoughtful little detail.

There are sample pages up to check out, and if you’ve tried them, come back to review and let other moms know what you think! This guide is the family planner; there’s also a 4-year comprehensive High School Planner/Record-Keeper and a Middle School Planner.

All those “sk” sounding words: sky, skid, skill…who brought those words to English? Why don’t our animal names match up with the names for our cuts of meat? Why do we call it both England and Britain?

Most of us cannot coherently explain either the country or the origin of the language we speak. Instead we often see British history in snapshots, integrated into the larger scale of world history, or perhaps noted as we come across it in books—both fantastic methods of getting a grasp of history in a more ‘alive’ context. However, there’s still something to be said for mastering the WHOLE timeline, stringing together years and kings and words and books in a continuous picture of a location.

Whirling through history, linguistics, English roots, and literature—as well as the story of the English Bible (so add in church history, theology, and translation)— Cyning Ælfred’s Englisc combines these disparate elements in a fantastic work that dodges boredom and packs in the facts within a narrative that (like the history it tells) doesn’t stop.

Structured by the major time periods of English—Pre-English Britain, Old English, Middle English, transition, and Modern English—history and language are presented in equal portions. Author (and homeschool mom) Laurie J. White is not afraid to go into grammar (delving into what happened to thy and thine, for example), inflected language, the Great Vowel Shift, and even changes in modern English—but with perfectly understandable explanations. This book also provides a fantastic introduction to Indo-European; older students will find this helpful should they go on to read more technical linguistic books such as the new Latin Alive or Lost Languages.

Within each era, the influence and actions of Christianity are noted, and there’s an entire chapter on the creation of the English Bible; the influx of Latin words via the church, the monastic manuscripts, Cædmon, Gutenberg, Wycliffe, Luther, the Protestant Reformation, King Henry’s break with Catholic Church, and The Geneva Bible are shown to have changed the political and linguistic landscape.

Tackling the basics of linguistics and history while incorporating all the little interesting details of Romans carting elephants over the English channel, Queen Boudicca, The Brothers Grimm, King Cnut, Shakespeare and the word “ain’t”—King Alfred’s English synthesizes its subject clearly and with catching enthusiasm.

And if you want to make it a semester-long course? The publisher’s website also offers worksheets, tests, and research activities with PLENTY of links to related topics. 145 pages, softcover. Grades 7-12.