Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Must Have Resource March 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a must have resource to help you guide the education of your child, whether your child is educated at home or in a brick and mortar setting. A valuable aid in helping you get to the core of what your child should read in order to have a well-rounded education. It provides a generous list of books by grade level and subject, along with a summary of the books recommended. Simple and straight forward, it is an excellent place to start either building a homeschool curriculum, or supplementing a public/private school education for your child.
Books to Build On March 5, 2008
This is an excellent book for those wishing to ensure that their child's school or home school curriculum is meeting a proper criteria for each grade level. The curricula is very specific and broken down by subject matter and grade level. It is an excellent companion book to The Educated Child by William J. Bennett. I plan to order one each for each of my children to ensure my grandchildren's schooling is up to par.
Brilliant! September 14, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I've been on a children's book and/or education kick, which has meant discovering for the first time the world of book guides for children. My intention is to only *buy* books of lasting home-library value; everything else, and there must be so much, can come from the public library. This book has exceeded all others in advising on what references, storybooks and educational resources belong in the home of a child who loves learning.
I recommend the NYTimes Books for Children and the The Read-Aloud Handbook book as well, but it's the Hirsch book, specifically the "Core Collection" recommendations, that has led me to the most interesting learning materials!
I also love that he's not afraid to refer to or at least mention quality out-of-print materials. What good is the Internet's vast book culture if not to find out-of-print materials that are wasting away on a back shelf in some store across the country? For example, he mentions a history series by Olive Beaupre Miller. I found a woman in Texas who was selling her set, they came yesterday, and man am I ever jealous! How come I didn't get to read those when *I* was younger? Another example of why I think OOP book should not be ignored in these kind of guides is a treasure I stumbled upon in a used bookstore the other day. "A Classical Storybook" by Morris Bishop is a treasure trove of Greek and Roman stories from the histories and poetry of the era. Enchanting! I went online, and as it turns out Morris Bishop was BFF with Vladmir Nabokov, was a hugely important Romantic literature scholar and apparently an altogether lovely man. Suffice it to say, I have ordered the medieval, Renaissance and Romantic storybooks for my children as well. If more reader guides mentioned these treasures of the past, I believe the spike in demand by interested parents would lead many of them to be reprinted. God love the profit motive!
Anyway, back to Hirsch: I'm relatively comfortable when it comes to identifying quality resources in the humanities, social sciences and liberal arts, but I'm a little foggier when it comes to most kinds of science and mathematics. I was thrilled to see that Hirsch gives those subjects their due as well, and I've already been thrilled to discover through him H.A. "Curious George" Rey's amazing books about constellations, astronomy and the night sky (The Stars: A New Way to See Them, Find the Constellations). What a treat!
I've been scribbling all over this book, taking notes, starring items and dog-earring pages. I can't say that's the case for most of the booklist books I've read, although expositionalish :) introduction to the Read-Aloud* guide will definitely been getting multiple reads from me.
Anyway, this book is highly admirable, and I hope it, itself, has many printings, revisions, expansions and future editions to come. Invaluable.
help the kids July 26, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Millionaire in 365 Days: The Daily Plan to Get There
You have to help the kids, since the schols will not...here the the guide to all the sources.
Worth every penny March 6, 2006
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is a must-have for teachers, librarians, and parents who want a culturally literate child. As a teacher, I like the Core Knowledge Series by the same author. This book is a comprehensive listing of resources for every age and every subject. As parents, we can't rely on any school to teach our child all they need to know and we are ultimately responsible for their education. Schools are sometimes overly focused on politically correct topics at the expense of the many great lessons in history. This could be used to find appropriate books for home schooling or to help parents supplement their child's education. You may want to get the "What your K/1st/2nd...6th grader Needs to Know" books, too. You will be amazed at how much these books enrich your child's education, and ultimately their life.
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