New History Book

My favorite book publisher at the moment is Dorling Kindersley (aka DK). They have a whole series of visual encyclopedias that are great for kids of all ages. The pictures are all real photographs or realistic looking illustrations with little snippets of information here and there. A few months ago I bought our own First Science Encyclopedia after we checked it out at the library and had to renew it twice because the boys didn't want to take it back. It has a basic overview of all areas of science covered in schools, at least through middle school. This book is going to be the basis for our science curriculum. It may not have all of the in depth information to fill our "lesson plans" but it is a great way to get the boys (and myself) interested in a specific topic so we can go research it further. I will just check things off as we cover them. It will take us several years to fully grasp every concept presented in that book. There are several other books in the "First" series I have added to the boys' Amazon wish lists (hint, hint) that I know we would get a lot of use out of.

Last week I bought History of the World from a seller on Amazon, like new condition for only $6 including shipping! This is a 386 page hard cover with a list price of $39.95. I plan on using it for our history and culture curriculum. It's a bit thicker and the information presented is still above the boys' comprehension level but it is filled with pictures to help hold their interest.

My favorite part is that the whole book is laid out in a timeline format. Each period of time has a world map at the beginning and a timeline of important events that happened on each continent presented side-by-side.

We will still continue to focus on American history for the time being (more about that later) but this will most likely become our go-to history book for the long term.