Great Books for grades K-8 (that I bet you've never heard of)

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Saving on Entertainment

I am always listening to music, normally while reading a book, and who doesn't like to end the day with a good movie? Well, books, movies, and music aren't cheap. Although I am a bookworm, I own very few books compared to most. I have only downloaded a few songs from iTunes. And I watch new movies all the time.

BOOKS

As you may have guessed, I am addicted to my local library. My library has a wide selection of books, as well as free Inter Library Loans, which means I can pretty much get access to any book I want. If they don't have it, they can request it from another library. Or if it is new, my library will purchase it. (OK so there is a few books my library can't get (When there is no library in the US that has it) such as some Danish historical fiction and a few Scholastic Canadian historical fictions. Well, in those rare cases, I cry, and then get over it, because normally if there is no library in the US that has it, then you probably can't buy it in the US either.) Anyways, I use World Cat to find the nearest library that has the book I'm looking for.
Some libraries also loan eBooks, although I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet!

Garage sales, Goodwill, and any resale shop are good places if you want to buy cheap books. I have taken pictures of interesting books I see at Goodwill, and then looking them up on my library's website before. On half-off day, you can normally get a book for a little more than a quarter at Goodwill. Amazon is then my next resource...
iBooks (and most other eBook stores) has nearly all classics for free. Hannah recently read Les Misérables on iBooks, and I am currently reading Great Expectations. Not only is this free, but classical literature is often much more challenging and have valuable lessons compared to today's books. Examples of free classics include: Pride and Prejudice, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Misérables, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Phantom of the Opera, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ivanhoe, Romeo and Juliet.

MOVIES

Firstly, we rarely go to the theatre. I mean, we can a wait a little bit if it means saving $60. I can count with my hands the times we've been to a theatre. (Eight Below, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Prince Caspian, and Courageous are the times that stick out. There haven't been much more than that.)

Did you know you can get movies from your local library - free? Most have all the popular ones, but it WILL be hard to get them because the new movies fly off the shelves. However, this is the only way you'll get new movies for free.

Then there is YouTube. You will not find new Oscar-winners on there, but if it's older, rare, a Disney Channel original movie, low-budget, or made-for-TV, you may be in luck. The History Channel and National Geographic often have outstanding documentaries, and for the older ones (before 2010) you can often find on YouTube. The Hallmark biopic The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler is on there, as well as Fiddler on the Roof. For historical dramas (WWII, specifically) that were not SUPER big, you will often find them on YouTube, because, especially for WWII films, remembering what happened is the main purpose of the film. For example, the 2008 Holocaust film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas has been uploaded quite a few times on YouTube. In 15 minute parts, in 10 minute parts, as a whole, in Portuguese, German and Arabic.

Hulu, Netflix, and of course, your TV, are also great resources.

Note: Never download movies from the internet for free. This is illegal.

MUSIC

I love music!! However I'm the type of person who likes a song, and listens to it a thousand times until I get sick of it and want to throw up the next time I hear it. The only time we really buy music is if we have an iTunes gift card, or if we really like the artist we will buy the CD. YouTube, radio, and Pandora are my two main sources for music. Internet radios are another free and legal source. Some good Christian Internet radios are K-Love and Air 1.

ALTERNATIVES

Of course, you don't have to always have to watch TV, listen to music, or even read. Swap some board games with a friend. Have a backyard picnic. Do a Pinterest craft with a friend. Visit a museum. 

100 Things To Do For Free

Homeschooling History, Spelling, & English

NOTICE! I will no longer be posting on this blog. See here. 

In third grade public school, I was still reviewing two and three letter words. For a while, I was actually discouraged (from teachers) from reading chapter books because they were too "hard", yet when tested in third grade I was at a high school reading/comprehension level. The only history, geography, and vocabulary I knew were because I went home, read, and studied all of the US states, capitals and locations.

I loved books, and never did history until my first year of homeschool - and I used textbooks. I wish I would have known it was possible to create a curriculum with books. Because I would have devoured that curriculum.

Here are three free ways to homeschool history AND language arts AND spelling and vocabulary in elementary and middle school...without a ton of printables!!


Use books and the library

You can homeschool through books and know much more than a textbook could ever teach you. (And I'm not talking just dry-biographies.) I believe a well-written historically-accurate fiction novel can teach you more (historically) then a long and boring textbook. I mean, with a textbook, you can study it and if you're like most people, forget everything you learned after the test. But books stay with you long after you've read them.
VISIT YOUR LIBRARY'S WEBSITE. Use Worldcat.org to see the closest library with the book you want. See if your library offers free Inter Library Loan. Search online for age-appropriate historical biographies/memoirs/fiction and check them out at your local library.

"Historical fiction? Why would I waste time on fiction? It probably has a lot of inaccuracies."

Frankly, a history textbook is not error free.
Some of my favorite books are fictional biographies. Fictional biographies are true stories with some fiction drama or dialogue mixed in. In order for the biography to be INTERESTING, it has to have dialogue and little details. Since the author cannot go back in time and hear every word the person says, they use their imagination, while trying to stay as accurate as possible. (i.e. "She gasped, immediately posting the picture of the sinking Titanic on Facebook." would not be found in a historical fiction)
You might see a little-known piece of history in a book, and that might lead to an intense Internet research and boom! That boring biography just got more interesting from that exciting work of fiction.


Books also have two advantages to textbooks:

• In a textbook, you are limited to the views of the author and what the author thinks a student should know about history. You cannot go through every time period thoroughly with a textbook. For example, a textbook may dedicate a page, maybe less, to World War II. You go through a bunch of boring dates about Pearl Harbor, D-Day, and the Atomic Bomb. But what about the courageous men and women who risked their lives resisting the Nazis, smuggling secret information, helping Jews? With a textbook, WWII just becomes another boring time in history.
• Books make you THINK. Textbooks are just fact-fact-fact. Books have plots, characters, and what-if's.
• Books bring history to LIFE. Therefore, are easier to remember because facts are interwoven with the story.

You can combine spelling/vocabulary, language arts, and history into one subject. Look into what your child should be learning in a particular grade. Diagram simple sentences in the book you are reading. Point out verbs, adjectives, nouns, and prepositions. If a word you are unfamiliar with pops up in a book, there is your spelling and vocabulary words for the week! For older students, book reports, character analysis', and other essay reports are appropriate.

Use historical movies, docudramas, and documentaries

This section is more for upper middle school, junior high, and high school, rather than elementary school.

The 2012 Oscar Best Picture winner Argo (an amazing movie!) is getting bashed for a few Hollywood drama fictional elements, and Spielberg's Lincoln is getting bashed for a few historical inaccuracies. Some are not saying history should not be taught with Hollywood movies. I disagree. Take the movie Pearl Harbor, for example. On IMDb, there are 47 historical goofs listed. However, through the flawed Pearl Harbor, we learned about the very-real Doolittle Raid and that led to an intense Internet search on James Doolittle. Again, you cannot go that in-depth with every subject in a textbook. It simply isn't possible.

Docudramas are probably my favorite type of movie/documentary. Normally, a docudrama includes a narrator(s) and/or facts that pop up during the film. They combine historical footage/pictures with a dramatization. They are definitely more accurate than movies.

Documentaries are probably the most accurate. The History Channel and National Geographic has some really interesting ones, and a lot of them are available free YouTube, Hulu, or their respective websites.

Most historically-accurate movies, docudramas, and documentaries would not be appropriate for young children for obvious reasons.

Act it out

If your child would rather move around than sit and read a book, that's fine too. Live like kids during the 1900s for a day. Visit a historical museum. Bake a dish that was popular in the 1860s. Turn the living room into Ancient Egypt and act out the biblical story of Moses. Listen to 1940s jazz for a day or draw your own 1950s dresses after finding inspiration in Pinterest. Watch classic movies such as Sergeant York (1941, for older students) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney, made in 1937) or a Charlie Chaplin film.

Examples/Ideas

*Younger elementary means grades 1-3

*Older elementary means grades 3-6

Being said, you can easily homeschool multiple grades with this technique.

MAGIC TREE HOUSE SERIES - YOUNG ELEMENTARY

For readers a little too young to read the American Girl series on their own, the Magic Tree House series is geared toward children in grades 1-3. The stories are filled with the adventures of two siblings, Jack and Annie and their travels back in time and around the world. This series is immensely popular, and libraries will often have the entire series. Some of the books even have non-fiction supplements that go with the book. I would recommend the 29 first books, because the rest of the series (The "Merlin Missions") are more fiction/adventure than historical fiction.

AMERICAN GIRL SERIES - ELEMENTARY

If you have elementary-aged girls who love reading, the American Girl series would definitely be a great choice. Each American Girl has six books, featuring stories of girls ages 9-11 in important times in American history. The books are clean, yet historically accurate. Since the series is fairly popular, most libraries will have all of the books. There are eleven historical characters so far, so you would be reading two books per week to stay on schedule. Each American Girl has 6 books as well as cookbooks and other activity books. Your local library may have some.

The American Girl website has free lesson plans for all of their historical dolls on their website.

Learning guides: http://www.americangirl.com/corp/corporate.php?section=new&id=3

Scholastic Lesson Plans for Kit: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=258

DEAR AMERICA - OLDER ELEMENTARY + MIDDLE SCHOOL

The Dear America series is a set of fictional historical diaries written by various authors. The books are set in both major and minor events in US history. Subjects include everything from the Lattimer Massacre in 1896 to the sinking of the Titanic, to the Mayflower in 1620. I don't really think boys would be interested in this series. A spin-off of this series is called The Royal Diaries - featuring fictional diaries of teenage royals. Here is a complete list of all of the books in this series.

Note: I have only read one book in this series (A Coal Miner's Bride) and I enjoyed it.

MY NAME IS AMERICA - OLDER ELEMENTARY + MIDDLE SCHOOL

The spin off of Dear America, the My Name is America series is journals by boys in iconic time periods in history. Subjects include Pilgrims, immigrants, soldiers, and Newsies (during the Newsie Strike in 1899). These books are more for boys. Although the series discontinued in 2004, the series relaunched back in 2012. Here is a complete list of all of the books in this series.

Note: I have only read one book in this series (The Journal of Finn Reardon) and I enjoyed it.

Follow Passions

Finally, follow passions. If one child has a passion for music, listen to music that was not available in the last 40 years. If another child is obsessed with clothes, look up historical clothing or WWII clothing rationing in the US (a very interesting subject). If you have a baseball lover, study the history of baseball, how it became popular, and certain people who made baseball into what it is today. A major advantage in homeschooling is the ability to follow your passions.

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