Which books should I give to my 8 year old? And best Homeschool curriculum?

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C

CDM

Puritan Board Junior
We are a homeschooling family. Part of the reading time we require of our 8 year old is Bible, of course. But we also require him to read other books. I have been letting him go through the Chronicles of Narnia these last 2 months. He is almost through all 7, and enjoys them very much.

I want to supply him with more books that are interesting and good. We aim to give him wholesome books with spiritual undertones too. Adventure, mystery, and the like. He did enjoy the Hardy boys when he read those 3 or 4 months ago. But I want to get him onto other things now.

Any suggestions on what to give him? And why?

On a related note, we plan to get him into "fouth" grade level curriculum this spring/summer. I have been checking out Veritas. I am also aware of Covenant Home Curriculum. Any suggestions on the most bang for your buck reformed homeschool curriculum?

Thanks!
 
Seconding Henty.

Children's Illustrated Classics are good also, but I would avoid The Three Muskateer's one as they still weren't able to clean that one up enough.

On the Covenant Home curriculum, you are paying for them to collect from vaious publishers for you (nothing you couldn't do for less) and for them to make a schedule for you. The price is ridiculous In my humble opinion...not impressed.

Veritas is expensive, but I have heard good things from it. Haven't used it or had a chance to "feel it" (ie look over it in real life)

Tapestry of Grace takes alot of prep time, but is cheaper, classical, and strong on the reading good books aspect.
With TOG you do have to add your own arithmetic and science. You also have to purchase the spine books and haunt libraries for hard to find books. Learn to supplement or replace book options.
I have used this.

My Father's World is also a classical unit study like TOG, but includes the books to read and a schedule. Gets the most for your money.
With MFW you do have to add your own handwriting, grammar, and Arithmetic. But it covers copywork, creative writing, history, geography, culture, science, art, music, and Bible.
I am currently using this.

[Edited on 3-23-2006 by LadyFlynt]
 
Originally posted by LadyFlynt
Seconding Henty.

Children's Illustrated Classics are good also, but I would avoid The Three Muskateer's one as they still weren't able to clean that one up enough.

On the Covenant Home curriculum, you are paying for them to collect from vaious publishers for you (nothing you couldn't do for less) and for them to make a schedule for you. The price is ridiculous In my humble opinion...not impressed.

Veritas is expensive, but I have heard good things from it. Haven't used it or had a chance to "feel it" (ie look over it in real life)

Tapestry of Grace takes alot of prep time, but is cheaper, classical, and strong on the reading good books aspect.
With TOG you do have to add your own arithmetic and science. You also have to purchase the spine books and haunt libraries for hard to find books. Learn to supplement or replace book options.
I have used this.

My Father's World is also a classical unit study like TOG, but includes the books to read and a schedule. Gets the most for your money.
With MFW you do have to add your own handwriting, grammar, and Arithmetic. But it covers copywork, creative writing, history, geography, culture, science, art, music, and Bible.
I am currently using this.

[Edited on 3-23-2006 by LadyFlynt]
Click to expand...

Thanks! this is very helpful. My wife will be very happy to hear of someone that has been through this process already.

I'm going to research MFW and TOG. Maybe I should use MFW mixed with Veritas' grammar and Arithmetic.

Pilgrim's Progress, and the G.A. Henty books are good reading material for young boys.
Click to expand...

Where could one find the Henty books at a poor man's price?

Thank you to all.

[Edited on 3-23-2006 by mangum]
 
Could be...I'm looking into Veritas as a local Academy (the one featured in the video shown on the Veritas site) uses it and some of the books are the same as what is used by MFW, I believe. I considered it briefly for this year, but the cost was over our heads and I thought a year of geography would be a good as I had a couple more children entering into our schooling (MFW's first year is geography...then they go into history). I'll let you know when I'm done comparing.

[Edited on 3-23-2006 by LadyFlynt]

[Edited on 3-23-2006 by LadyFlynt]
 
Originally posted by mangum
We are a homeschooling family. Part of the reading time we require of our 8 year old is Bible, of course. But we also require him to read other books. I have been letting him go through the Chronicles of Narnia these last 2 months. He is almost through all 7, and enjoys them very much.

I want to supply him with more books that are interesting and good. We aim to give him wholesome books with spiritual undertones too. Adventure, mystery, and the like. He did enjoy the Hardy boys when he read those 3 or 4 months ago. But I want to get him onto other things now.

Any suggestions on what to give him? And why?

On a related note, we plan to get him into "fouth" grade level curriculum this spring/summer. I have been checking out Veritas. I am also aware of Covenant Home Curriculum. Any suggestions on the most bang for your buck reformed homeschool curriculum?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I would highly recommend Ninety Story Sermons for Children's Church (Paperback) by Marianne Radius. I believe this dear lady is the grandaughter of Catherine Vos. At any rate, I never used it for children's church, because we don't have children's church. But when my daughter was growing up, I read these stories to her each night before bed. To this day (she's now 26), she remembers these stories. The impressive thing about this book (and the other books by this dear lady) is that she sticks very close to what the Bible says without going off on tangents. The stories take about 3-5 mins each to read, just about the right attention span for one the age of yours.

One thing I would emphasize is that your children appreciate the time you take to read to them. If you begin this, you won't have to remember to read these stories to them, your child(ren) will remind you. It is quality time, and your children will never forget that Daddy took the time to read to them and nurture them.

DTK

[Edited on 3-23-2006 by DTK]
 
Chris, I actually live near the Veritas Academy. I am considering calling the school and asking if I can come and sit in for part of a day. I know their teachers do one hour consultations for homeschoolers in the summer...generally over the phone. However, I might try to see if one of the teachers would be willing to sit with me prior to that. (The tuition is through the roof though!)
 
Scot,

What grades are your children? How do you implement this in your home with multiple grades...schedule?
 
My oldest daughter is 10. The district considers her at grade 5 but we consider her at grade 6. They said we can skip her a grade if she improves on her math (her weak point).

We just started our next two this year (they're four and five). They're not doing any Veritas yet. At the beginning of the year, we started them with some Rod & Staff stuff.

We're pretty relaxed. The little ones will sit down and practice writing their letters and sounds with their mother and the oldest will go off and do what she can on her own. Sometimes the oldest will help out her mother by reading the younger ones their bible stories (while mom tends to the three year old and 7 month old).

Everything goes much easier when the 3 year old and seven month old are napping. :bigsmile:
 
"My Father's World is also a classical unit study like TOG, but includes the books to read and a schedule. Gets the most for your money."

We had the same experience as Colleen. We are currently using MFW and are satisfied. With multiple kids, you don't want to have allot of prep time. Tapestry looks good but takes too much prep time since they do not provide scheules. We tried some of the Veritas products but found they were better suited for the classroom than for homeschooling. An example is the Phonics Museum program. We use Veritas for a good source of books.

[Edited on 3-24-2006 by Scott]
 
Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
Pilgrim's Progress, and the G.A. Henty books are good reading material for young boys.
Click to expand...

My oldest son is 8. Which of Henty's books should I start him reading? Of course, as any healthy 8 year old Christian boy, he enjoys war stories, military, general fighting, guns, cowboys & Indians, etc.

Thanks for the help!
 
"Scott, what year are you doing of MFW...we're wrapping up Geography."

We are on first grade.
 
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