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This book is a great supplement to the study of Plymouth with young children. By the time were had completed ours, each child had a delightful “scrapbook/portfolio” of different aspects of Plymouth life.

The book explains how to set up your project “portfolio.” You can do all the projects or choose the ones you prefer (we liked them all). As we completed a project, we displayed it for awhile in our family room and then later it would go into the corresponding pocket. One thing I like about creating memory books or portfolios of subjects studied is that they’re fun to pull out later. This is instant review, hitting the highlights of what we had studied.

I found it key to run off all the copies needed ahead of time and get any unusual supplies ahead, as well (not much in addition to easy supplies such as construction paper, scissors, markers, and glue.) For me, having the whole thing ready to go makes all the difference in our really using it. We also found that there was too much coloring, so we just colored certain aspects of projects and left the rest white. It still all looked fabulous! On the other hand, if your kids love coloring, coloring while listening to a book read aloud can work beautifully.

Check it out at Amazon where you can “look inside.”

We loved this book! We used it to supplement our introductory study of ancient history. What we liked about this History Pockets was that it provided some very easy hands on projects to bring our study to life for my oldest (when she was younger).

The book explains how to set up your project “portfolio.” Each pocket in the portfolio focuses on a different ancient culture. You can do all the projects or choose the ones you prefer (we liked them all). As we completed a project, we displayed it for awhile in our family room and then later it would go into the corresponding pocket. By the end, my daughter had a wonderful book of memories which she would pull out and talk about just for fun. This was instant review, hitting the highlights of what we had studied.

I found it key to run off all the copies needed ahead of time and get any unusual supplies ahead, as well (I think we needed popsicle sticks and large construction paper in addition to “typical supplies” such as scissors, markers, and glue.) For me, having the whole thing ready to go makes all the difference in our really using it. We also found that there was too much coloring, so my daughter just colored certain aspects of projects and left the rest white. It still all looked fabulous! On the other hand, if your kids love coloring, coloring while listening to a book read aloud can work beautifully.

Check it out at Amazon where you can “look inside.”

Nesthaekchen and the World War by Else Ury

-Great WWI novel that is a gentle but honest introduction to war. It is told from the perspective of a young German girl in Germany who starts out rather spoiled. As the story unfolds through her eyes, she experiences home life as a member of a war torn family. The story develops great depth as a situation arises which puts the reader in the position of loving the character but hating something she’s doing. Resolving this in the story is part of what makes this book so worthwhile.

This would be a good introduction to the idea that war is not fun and does involve death without going into the actual horrors of war. I also think the book gives some beginnings of insight into the question of why Germany played the role it did later in WWII. With all this depth, it is still truly a children’s book! I read the book to my two oldest when they were 8 and 10. They both loved it.

By Magellan Geographix

I’m all for kids marking and coloring black line maps to help ground them in geography as they study history and literature. But for quick, convenient maps which focus on specific aspects of American history that you’re studying, you can’t beat this atlas. We just pull this out right in the middle of our reading and flip to a relevant map which gives us a visual of what we’re learning. Might you have thoughts and questions like these while reading living books?

1. Where did the Pawnee Native Americans live?
2. That battle we just read about was interesting, but I’d like to get it straight in my head. Can I see it on a map showing me the highlights of troop movements?
3. What were the slave trade routes?
4. I know the Spanish had a lot of territory out west around 1800, but how much?
5. I think I would understand the Missouri Compromise a lot better if I could see it spelled out on a map.
6. I didn’t realize the extent of wind erosion during the dust bowl until I saw it on the map.

These and so many more thoughts and questions can be addressed by this handy, colorful reference book.

by DK Publishing

I love all the books in this series. Each book  takes a plot of land and shows how it changes from pre-history human occupation through various key times in history (such as Greeks, Romans, Middle Ages, Industrial Rev. through to modern times).

Because of the detail in these books, it would probably take several sittings to go through one together with your kids. Any would also be a great one to leave out on the coffee table. These are the kind of books kids will pick up over and over again.

There’s a small amount of text on each page. Then to help give the pages focus, around the edges there are “characters” which you can then try to find in the picture. –Cool supplement to world history study and just for fun.

Other titles in the series include A Port Through Time and A City Through Time.

by Magellan Geographix

Like the United States History Atlas by the same publishers, this book is an invaluable tool for us while studying history together. Being able to pull this out and flip to a map relevant to our reading can make all the difference in our understanding the events we’re reading about. It’s painless geography, really!

Here are some questions this title will help you answer:

1. If agriculture started in the fertile crescent, where did it go from there?
2. Where were the Minoans in proximity to the Mycenaeans in Ancient Greece?
3. Hearing about the different Germanic tribes who invaded Ancient Rome is interesting, but I can’t keep them straight. Who went where?
4. What part of India did the British control in the early 1800’s?
5. Where were some of the major battles during WWI?
6. How did Europe get divided after WWII?
7. Where was the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War?

These and so many more questions can be answered by this handy, colorful reference book.

Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield

Because a Shakespeare play is so difficult to read with its English from another time and place, a book like this makes the stories accessible to younger readers and listeners. Garfield has taken select Shakespeare plays and retold them.  I’d recommend reading a given story from this book or its second volume before reading or seeing a Shakespeare play in its original. –Kind of like reading the storyline before attending an opera or becoming familiar with certain classical music pieces before hearing them in concert. It ups the enjoyment factor of the real thing immensely, in my opinion.

While these stories are retold beautifully, they are not an easy read. To read them independently, perhaps one would need to be at least 13 years old, or even older. With an adult reading aloud and retelling much along the way, this book is working well for my 10 and 11 year olds. And while we don’t have immediate plans to head out to a Shakespeare play, this is a good read just for the sake of these most interesting stories.