Book two begins to offer stories and poems that are enjoyable and worthwhile reading in their own right such as The Christ Child by G.K. Chesterton, The Honest Woodman, several Saint stories (Blessed Imelda, St. Teresa the Little Flower, St. Francis and the Wolf) and other short stories, folk tales and fairy stories.
Continuation of family stories from Primer. Twenty-three chapters like "What Father Kelly Told", "The Snowman", and "A Prayer". Also has black and white pictures.
This book is a chapter story about a family that goes to visit the grandparents on the farm. The parents tell stories of Jesus and Mary. Some of the chapters are "Baby's Angel", "The First Christmas", "A Ride to the Farm". There are twenty chapters total. So each chapter is about 5-10 pages. There are black and white pictures with the stories that are lovely. The type is easy to read.
The American Cardinal Readers are Catholic Readers originally published around 1930. They were reprinted in 1996 by Neumann Press in very nice hardcover editions. This series is quite popular among Catholic homeschoolers. They are a little more enjoyable and more engaging than the Catholic National Readers, and perhaps more beautifully written (in the way that older books tend to be) than the Faith and Freedom Readers.
This is simple, clearly presented, and in a pleasing font; examples are profuse, and exercises numerous. It includes a complete answer key, on different colored paper, in the back of the book. Ours was just a shrink-wrapped set of 3-hole-punched pages which we put into a simple binder. No fancy bindings, but an excellent presentation. The eight chapters include The Sentence: Subject and Verb, Three Articles, Adjectives, Direct Objects, Linking Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, and A Peek Ahead.
I must admit a bias. Because I have used the method suggested in Stories with a View for years with my own children, I highly recommend this resource. Why? It works! By observing and interacting with pictures and poetry, young writers are inspired to write interesting fiction.
In fact, Mrs. Davidson makes this method even easier to implement by offering discussion questions and suggested "story starters" to prompt the young writer. For example, with A Restful Tune (a painting about a shepherd boy playing a reed pipe) the questions include:
"This book is actually a description of how and why I taught my three children to write. I read a few 'teaching chldren how to write' books and had no desire to use the suggested exercises. They seemed meaningless and out of touch with our daily lives. I wanted my children to use writing, drawing, and speaking to handle specific situations successfully. I wanted them to be able to write conversational letters, to take phone messages, and to learn to ask thoughtful questions.
If you are attracted to the classical method of teaching composition, by analyzing and imitating excellent literature, but have struggled with implementing your own program, then this is the writing series for you. Meticulously thought through and well organized, Classical Writing: Aesop combines structure with flexibility. It can be used with multiple ages in the homeschool and, though designed for beginning writers in grades 1-5, can be adapted for older ages.
System Requirements: 16 MB Ram, 20 MB Hard Disk
This is an elegantly simple computer program that resides on your hard drive just like an ordinary word processor. It allows parents and teachers to print out handwriting pages in a variety of handwriting styles, sizes and fonts. Some of your options include:
This booklet provides thirty-three pages of lined paper with beautiful Catholic pen and ink illustrations. The pages are intended for handwriting practice and may be photocopied for use within your own family. Following the lined pages are approximately forty pages of beautiful religious quotes - printed in both script and cursive - for practicing handwriting. Quotes are organized according to themes such as Adoration, Conscience, Eucharist and Obedience.