Category Archives: Books and Magazines

Home ed magazines

Books and Magazines, Home education, ,

Here is a list of home education magazines.

EOS – new UK home education magazine.

Home Education Magazine Long running US magazine.

Life Learning Magazine Self-directed, life-based learning.

Back-to-Homeschool Magazine – magazine by girls for girls.

Secular Homeschooling Magazine – another US one, non-religious bimonthly magazine.

Growing Without Schooling – Archives issue (Aug 1977 –  Oct 2001) of the magazine founded by John Holt, one of the founders of the modern unschooling movement.

Also a mention for Green Parent – a mainstream(ish) parenting magazine that often includes alternative education, including home education.

Are their any others that you would recommend?

New books

Children's books

We have just received the last of the books I ordered the other week.

We have started to have £5 pounds a month each for me and the girls to spend on educational things – mostly books. After saving up a bit in the kitty we each chose two books to buy (mostly second-hand) and E got an extra with a birthday Amazon voucher.

Some of these books are from our favourite series – Wonderwise, Nature Storybooks and Read and Wonder. E chose two Wonderwise books, T a Nature Storybook and a Read and Wonder, and I chose two books on the Stone Age. Adventures in the Ice Age is from a series we have just discovered in the library and are enjoying.

After years of trying not to buy too many books I am now relaxing a bit. Children’s books have become the focus of my interests  – home educating, reading for fun, blogging, twitter, Amazon listmania etc. I’ve taken up reading publishers catalogues and making reading lists!

 

History Resources: Books

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, ,

I have always been fascinated by history. My eight year old is following in my footsteps. She is endlessly fascinated by people, their relationships and lives – in other words, their stories. For her history is a treasure box of people all in very different circumstances and the stories of their lives.

We use a lot of books to study history – many borrowed from friends or the library. But even so we have an ever growing collection of children’s history books. As with all educational resources we have found it vital to match the book, or programme or what ever to the child. So whilst another child might enjoy books with pictures of things or facts for my daughter it is all about people’s lives. The best history for her is presented as a form of storytelling. So we are always on the look out for history that is well written, with a good flow to the words and focused on people.

We use a mix of childrens resources and adult books which I use to expand my own knowledge to introduce ideas into conversations.

Books

World history:

Story of the world

A set of four books exploring world history through a narrative. These are part of the highly structured Classical Education system The Well-trained Mind. The system is far too adult-directed, and structured for us, but many home educators use the story books, as just that – story books. It is comprehensive, possibly a little overwhelming so for my daughter, who has never clicked with any but the first chapter. It has good international coverage, though the balance is rather skewed towards Judeo-Christian traditions for my tastes.

A Little History of the World

A beautiful narrative. This book focuses more on history of western world. More concise than Story of the World. If you only read one world history book this should probably be it. Suited to the older child or for adults as a basic history book.

English history:

My daughter is fascinated by Kings and Queens and their lives. So initially we focused on English history and the monarchy. Her absolute favourite book is Tony Robinson’s Kings and Queens. It is funny, and full of personal details that bring historical characters to life for her.

Factual books:

My daughter initially found most of the factual historical books too dry. I think that more will become interesting for her as she gets older. But a couple of series do stand out.

She really enjoys the Horrible Histories books. As an adult they seem a little too focused on the nasty side of life, but they provide a great introduction to everyday life in different historical periods.

One of our favourite publishers Book House produces the Danger Zone series – beautifully illustrated, highly entertaining and with books for many different periods (60 books all together!).

We have searched long and hard for good general

Historical fiction:

My daughter’s favourite genre is historical fiction. There are some great children’s historical fiction books out there ranging from picture books to teen books. (I recently read the stone age series Chronicles of Ancient Darkness for my own entertainment.) Here are a few of our favourites:

There are a number of series we like:

  • Tales of the dead – Whilst predominantly visually stunning factual books these include include a graphic story through the pages
  • Historical Stories – Historical fiction for younger readers
  • Sparks – A large series of historical fiction for younger readers
  • Terry Deary – Author of Horrible Histories has written historical fiction but we find these rather flat. We much prefer the sparks and historical stories.
  • Viking Vik – a series for younger readers about a viking boy

Historical biographies:

Historical biographies aimed at younger children read very much like fiction.

Usbourne readers have some good titles in their Famous Lives series, our favourite being Marie Antoinette.

I also find that I am reading more historical biographies – on the look out for interesting people that my daughter might be interested in.

This is just a quick round-up of some of the books we enjoy. Some we own – others are borrowed from the library – some of them time after time. There are many more to be added to the list. And many more other resources we use for history including TV programmes, music and museums.

Posted as a contribution to Liveotherwise’s HE resources carnival
What history books do you recommend?

Stone age resources

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, Websites, , , , , , ,

Here I’ve gathered a few links to resources on the stone age.

Online Games

  • Show me Prehistory - links to online games and interactive content on prehistory produced by the UK’s museums and galleries, for children aged 4 to 11
  • See You See Me Skara Brae – interactive, animated games and educational videos about the prehistoric site of Skara Brae in the Orkney Isles
  • BBC Hands on History – Ancient Britain - take a journey back to ancient Britain with an animated day in the life of a stone age boy! Plus build your own stone circle and paint a story using cave art

Books

Factual

  • How to Live Like a Stone-Age Hunter by Anita Ganerisecrets of stonehenge
  • The Secrets of Stonehenge, by Mick Manning and Brita Granström
    This is a factual picture book aimed at older children charting the history of Stonehenge. Starting from the Mesolithic nomadic hunter-gatherers, through the first farmers to Stonehenge as a modern tourist destination. It examines how the henge was built, how it changed over time and what it may have been used for. See full review
  • DK Eyewitness Early People
    This is part of series of books characterised by being very comprehensive, with big visual spreads focusing on objects and artefacts, and incorporating manageable chunks of text. The information is fairly detailed and dense so is more suitable for older children (DK recommends age 9-14) or as a great way for an adult to get to grips with a subject. This book covers human evolution, hunter-gatherers, neolithic agriculture, bronze and iron age and has world wide coverage.
    It might suit a visual child with a love of objects at a younger age. Definitely one for use as a references book, because of the sheer level of detail and breadth of information.
  • Stone Age (Sounds of the Past) Clint Twist, Nicki Palin
    This is an unusual book – a novelty book with pop up and sounds. When we first got it I was worried that the sounds would impact on its readability, but actually it works really well! Open a double spread and you hear the sounds of a mammoth hunt, or neolithic farm. The sounds are a little over the top, with lots of things going on at once. (Book requires a 3 volt battery to make sounds.) But once the sound finishes playing it doesn’t repeat so you can explore the page and read the text that accompanies the pop-up pictures. Each double picture spread has lots of details to spot. And the next spread is an information page describing what you see in the pop-up pages. There is actually a surprising amount of information, and at a higher level than might be expected in a book with sounds and pop-up pictures! Covers origins in Africa, cave painters, mammoth hunters, neolithic farming and Stonehenge.

  • Avoid being a mammoth hunter! John Malam and David Antram
    Part of a wonderfully bright, informative, humorous and engaging series of history books. The illustrations in this make it very accessible to younger readers and they flow well being read aloud. The use of illustrations, and captions pack the book with a far higher level of information than the layout and illustrations suggest. We will always checkout this series, as have found it really useful time and time again.

  • Look Inside the Stone Age Board book by Abigail Wheatley and Stefano Tognetti
    A lift-the-flap book from Usborne books, about life from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Bright, engaging illustrations, with the added interactivity of flaps to lift and find out more behind. Aimed at 5+ and a good book for younger children.
  • The Stone Age: Hunters, Gatherers and Woolly Mammoths by Marcia Williams
  • Stone Age (Beginners) by Jerome Martin, Usborne Books
  • Prehistoric Britain (History of Britain) by Alex Frith, Rachel Firth, Ian McNee
  • My Best Book of Early People Margaret Hynes Kingfisher Books
  • Who Were the First People (Usborne Starting Point History)
  • Stone Age, Bone Age (Wonderwise) Mick Manning & Brita Granstrom An entertaining factual story book.
    Although factual rather than fiction, this picture book actually makes a reasonable substitute if you can’t get hold of our recommended book Stone Age Boy. The illustrations are bold, with strong colours and shapes, and the illustrator’s signature feelings of movement and life. It uses our favourite factual book format. A big beautiful picture, with a well written, poetic main text on the page. Plus additional information to read or not. This makes it as readable as any fictional picture book, and a good first introduction to palaeolithic stone age.
  • Hands-on History! Stone Age
    Another book combining information and craft projects.
  • Stone Age Sentinel (Newspaper History) Paul Dowswell and Fergus Fleming.
    Usborne Newspaper style look at the stone age.
  • The Stone Age News Fiona MacDonald
    Alternative newspaper style book on the stone age.
  • The Savage Stone Age (Horrible Histories) Terry Deary
  • The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully
    True story of four boys who discover cave paintings in the Lascaux caves.

Sticker books

Workbooks

Fiction

Children’s Historical Fiction – Stone Age – Booklist with recommendations and reviews of some of our favourite stone age historical fiction.

Videos and music

One of our favourite history TV programmes is Horrible Histories. Unfortunately it has tended to fall for the old stone age=stupid comedy line. More recently as the show has matured it has improved and there are a couple of good stone age/prehistory segments.

Board Games

Cookery

  • History Cookbook – A couple of palaeolithic video recipes, plus making fire and neolithic recipes. Plus picture galleries (series of picture plus simple text) on prehistoric life, food and health.
  • Ray Mears Wild Food , TV series on DVD and Wild Food, Ray Mears – looks at Mesolithic British food, through comparisons with surviving hunter gatherer cultures.

Teacher’s Resources

Places to visit

Online Information

World Book Day 2011

Children's books, Featured

Nearly time for World Book Day. Most of the world celebrates this UNESCO desingated day on 23rd April, St George’s Day. But in the UK and Ireland it takes place in March (this year on the 3rd).

A main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.

Children receive a World Book Day £1 Book Token (or equivalent €1.50 Book Token in Ireland), which can be exchanged for one of the six specially published World Book Day books or can be used as a £1 book token. These are obtained through schools, home education charities or direct from World Book Day Helpline on 01634 729810.

World Book Day, unlike BookStart is an independent charity, financed by contributions from publishers, National Book Tokens Ltd and others.

The website also has a nice selection of book character related games which we enjoy throughout the year.

History music videos

Featured, History, Websites, , , , ,

History music videos are very popular in our house.

History Teachers create entertaining, enlightening, well-crafted history music videos.

Full chronological list.

The French Revolution to Lady GaGa! From the History for Music Lovers, historyteachers’s YouTube Channel

 

BAFTA award winning Horrible Histories does them too.

Born to Rule – by the Georgian kings is a particular favourite. (Despite the implied inaccuracy that George III was George II’s son, actually grandson).

 

BookStart – a waste of Government money?

Books and Magazines, Children's books, Featured, Learning

In recent weeks the Government announced that it would cut its grant to BookTrust for England, then did a u-turn under public pressure.

Although loved by parents as the outcry over cuts shows BookStart, surely a much smaller scheme focused on less active reading families would be better value for money, rather than blanketing the country in baby books. Shouldn’t tax payers be paying for targeted services for those that need them, rather than doing things what most parents will do on their own anyway.
BookTrust should go back to being an independent charity – funded by donations and small grants, rather than the Government guango it has become.
I searched out every pack for my girls, usually by going and getting it from the local library as in our area health visitor checks have vanished and the girls don’t do nursery. They are a mostly a nice add on – providing the odd book – most of which are good, although one was truly appalling.
But like most people I don’t need tax payers to be buying the odd book for my children.
The public library service is far more important in my view. At a time when local libraries are determining which hours to close to deal with budget cuts I’d rather money went to the public library service. It provides so much more than a book every year or two, a couple of nice bags, a pretty cardboard box and a few booklets. It provides thousands of fantastic books in the preschool age group, baby rhyme times, and story telling sessions etc.
I do believe there should be a scheme encouraging Parents and Babies into public libraries, and health visitors should be encouraged to promote books but I don’t think Government funded books are the best way to do this.
And there are even more vital services that just don’t exist in my area – like health visitor checks. My youngest has only had one health visitor check – the newborn one. They are so stretched in our area that her one year check was by post, received the week before her second birthday (and this was before Coalition cut backs). When vital frontline services are so stretched, can it really be right to be spending tax payers money on providing a handful of books to every child.

The other side – a Mum supports the BookStart programme.

Okido

Children's magazines, Featured, Headline, Magazines and blogs,

DD2 has just received her first issue of Okido, the arts and science magazine for kids.

She is 3 and has enjoyed reading through it together. Her 7 year old sister is jealous and keeps walking off with it.
The illustrations are beautiful and very varied. The writing has them both engaged. Each themed issue, our first is biodiversity, includes stories, facts, puzzles, comic strips, things to make, games and puzzles. It is quirky and very different to mainstream mags.
Thoroughly recommend it.

Booktrust schemes and websites for children.

Children's books,

The Booktrust is a charity dedicated to encouraging people of all ages and cultures to enjoy books. The website features book reviews, interviews, blogs, competitions as well as details of a wide range of projects and campaigns.

The projects inclde schemes providing free books to children. We have enjoyed the books and packs from Bookstart, and so I’m posting about this and the other schemes and websites run for children.

Bookstart is the name of the programme run by Booktrust for preschoolers, which provides book gift packs. Available from health visitors (Bookstart and Bookstart+), preschool settings (Treasure Chest) or from public libraries. The website includes guidance on reading with your child, games, an events map and downloadable activity sheets.

Bookstart pack for babies – for babies aged 0-12 months
Bookstart+ – for toddlers aged 18-30 months
My Bookstart Treasure Chest – for children aged 36-48 months
There are also two packs in Welsh, one for deaf children and one for blind/partially sighted.

Booktime is the scheme for children starting school. The website includes Booky’s World with booklists, videos and games, aswell as resources for families, teachers and librarians.

Contact to request books for those not accessing mainstream education e.g.: those who are home educated, looked after children, traveller families etc is booktime@booktrust.org.uk  (Please note: reception aged children in England only).

BookedUp is the secondary age/school scheme , which aims to encourage reading for pleasure and independent choice through providing year 7 pupils (children aged 11/first year secondary) with a free book from a list of specially selected titles. The website includes book information, message boards, polls, games and resources.

Home educators can ring customer services on 0845 606 4262 to register as a coordinator for the Booked Up programme and order your child’s free book.

The LetterboxC lub focuses on improving the educational outlook for looked-after children aged 7-13 by providing them with a parcel of books, maths activities and educational materials once every month for six months.  

Other Booktrust websites and projects aimed at children:

Booktrust Children’s Books – Website of information and resources about children’s and teenage books. With book reviews, booklists, author interviews, competitions and illustrator’s galleries. Featuring picture books and teenage books.

Bookmark for information, books or advice relating to disability and children’s books.

Children’s Book Week – Resources for Children’s Book Week; an annual celebration of reading for pleasure for children of primary school age.

Children’s Laureate – Reosurces and information about the Children’s Laureate.

Everybody Writes – Everybody Writes is a resource that offers classroom teachers and education professionals innovative ideas and practical resources to get primary pupils and secondary students excited about writing.

Food chains

Children's books, Learning,

A few resources on food chains.

Websites

Books:

  • The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten: A Book About Food Chains
  • Yum Yum (Wonderwise)
    It reads very well as a story, without any extra information disturbing the flow, making this great as a story book.
    Beautifully illustrated and not too simplistic in its view of food chains. It extends the concept to food circles/cycles and includes what happens when an animal dies, the fact that plants use nutrients from decomposed animals as food, and illustrates that there may be different consumers of that same plant (in this case).
  • Staying Alive: the story of a food chain

Things to think about

Food chains give a simplistic and potentially misleading view, which is more accurately shown in a food web and food cycle/circle. The missing piece of the puzzle with much of the information is that plants require nutrients as do fungi and algae. These come from decomposted plants, animals and their waste materials. The emphasis on linear chains and the misleading idea that plants are the start of a process requiring nothing but water and sunlight, obscure the vital imporatance of recycling nutrients – the very foundation of a healthy ecosystem. Importance of parasites is often overlooked as well.