Alicia Van Hecke

This reading text (used in the second grade at Seton Home Study School) has been a favorite among my children since we picked it up at a garage sale a number of years ago. Although basal readers (such as the Faith and Freedom readers) are designed for classroom use and not an essential part of a homeschool curriculum, I remember clearly how much I enjoyed receiving a new reader each school year and how I devoured all the interesting stories reading in bed on my first night of school.

I found this volume very useful for early reading practice with my first-grade daughter. We were able to move into this after she finished the Bob Books. The advantage I saw to this particular primer in contrast with the later series (Cardinal or Faith and Freedom) was that it was much harder for her to guess the words because of either the pictures or the heavy repetition so common in other early readers. The passages are very short, although not particularly story like. Some of the phraseology was rather archaic, such as "Has a boy the jug? A boy has not the jug." (p.

The Third Grade reader includes a total of fifty-two selections which are somewhat coordinated with the seasons of the year. The selections include poetry (about God, country, nature, etc.) and a variety of stories that are both appealing and inspiring - saint stories, fairy tales (with very obvious morals), biographies, stories that teach something about the world around us and others relating examples of devotion and heroism, such as the well-known tale of the little Dutch boy ("The Hero of Haarlem").

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.

This book contains four in-depth saint stories (approximately 25 pages each): St. Edith Stein, Blessed Gianna Molla, Blessed Father Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R and Blessed Junipero Serra. The stories are very nicely told, with all the interesting tidbits that people love to read about. Mrs. Woodfield likes to catch the reader's attention by starting out at a particularly interesting part of the story and "leave you hanging" while she goes back to the childhood and upbringing of the saint (or blessed) in question.

This series of six books introduces young children to concepts of grammar through very entertaining and sometimes humorous poetry and extremely colorful pictures. The titles are: Kites Sail High: A Book About Verbs, Behind the Mask: A Book About Prepositions,A Cache of Jewels and Other Collective Nouns, Merry-Go-Round: A Book About Nouns, Many Luscious Lollipops: A Book About Adjectives and Up, Up, and Away: A Book About Adverbs.

Level C, intended for use with fourth graders, incorporates a variety of fun and creative techniques to learn spelling words in 34 weeks of lessons. New list words are presented in both cursive and print. Crossword puzzles, fill-in-the blanks, dictionary work and word searches complement the recommended oral study, mid-week quiz and final test. Catholic content is elegantly woven into the text, helping children make connections between their faith and other subjects.

This third grade spelling workbook incorporates fun word searches, crossword puzzles and other puzzles into gentle spelling lessons while elegantly tying in Catholic content. Dictionary work, fill-in-the blanks and some traditional spelling practice are also included.

I've always loved the simplicity and elegance with which Nancy Nicholson combines simple spelling lessons with lovely Catholic content. This content helps children make real connections between their faith and everyday life. My young children, especially, love the beautiful, colorful new covers and are even more receptive to the gentle style of these lessons.

This charming work text is designed to precede the My Catholic Speller series and would be appropriate for most First Graders. The book provides 27 two page lessons with six spelling words each. Spelling words include some Catholic words as well as the basics. Lessons provide opportunities for simple writing exercises (on appropriate sized writing lines with dotted center-lines as well as simple exercises in matching words and pictures, finding rhyming words, making up sentences, finding hidden words, simple alphabetization, etc.