I've listed all the books and curriculum I have for sale below by subject. Curriculum includes Rod & Staff, Writing Strands, Singapore, Beautiful Feet, ARTistic Pursuits,  and more.

When possible, I've included the ISBN so that you can see exactly which book it is. I've also included the condition of the book and the type of cover (if it's paperback, sometimes I've covered the books with Contact paper to reinforce the cover, and I've noted as such). If I know the book is not the latest edition available, I've noted that as well. However, I'm not always able to determine what the latest edition is, so please use your discretion when purchasing.

Last year I did this book sale with free shipping, but since I have so many smaller books this year, I didn't want to nickel and dime people to death, so I decided I'd price the books as normal and just charge actual media mail shipping (unless, of course, you want to upgrade to Priority Mail). Details on shipping rates can be found at the end of this post.

If you are interested in any of the books below, just fill out the form below and I'll respond ASAP to arrange payment via PayPal and to get your shipping address.

NOTE: If a book is pending sale, it will be crossed out below (in other words, if the sale falls through, it might still be available). If a book is sold and shipped, I'll remove it from the list completely.

Language Arts

(Rod & Staff) Preparing to Build 2 (Student Text), $4 fair condition, hardback, some staining on edges of pages, stray pencil/pen marks
(Rod & Staff) Preparing to Build 2 (Teacher’s Manual), $6, fair condition, hardback, some staining on edges of pages, stray pencil/pen marks

(Rod & Staff) Building With Diligence 4 (Student Text), $6, good condition, hardback, copyright 1992 [PENDING SALE]
(Rod & Staff) Building With Diligence 4 (Teacher’s Manual), $10, good condition, hardback copyright 1992, some clear tape is reinforcing the binding, interior is very clean [PENDING SALE]

(Rod & Staff) Following the Plan 5 (Student Text), $9, very good condition, hardback, copyright 1993 [PENDING SALE]
(Rod & Staff) Following the Plan 5 (Teacher’s Manual), $11, very good condition, hardback, copyright 1993 [PENDING SALE]
(Rod & Staff) Following the Plan 5 (Worksheets), $1.50, very good condition, paperback, copyright 1993  [PENDING SALE]

 

Writing With Ease (workbook, Level 2), by Susan Wise Bauer, $14, good condition, ISBN 978-1-933339-29-0, NOTE: student page 1-26 (out of 178 total student pages) are missing, however, they are not necessary to use the curriculum. You can use regular lined paper and simply put the prompt at the top for the missing pages.

Writing Strands, Level 2, $6, good condition, spiral paperback ISBN 1-888344-12-1

Writing Strands, Level 3, $8, good condition, paperback (covered) ISBN 1-888344-10-5

Writing Strands, Level 4, $8, good condition, paperback (covered) ISBN 1-888344-09-1

Writing Strands, Evaluating Writing, $5, good condition, paperback ISBN 1-888344-05-9, copyright 1997

Write Source 2000 Teacher’s Guide to the Handbook, $3, good condition, paperback (covered) ISBN 0-669-43273-3, copyright 1996

 

Kites Sail High, by Ruth Heller, $5, very good condition, paperback, ISBN 0-448-41267-5

Mathematics

Singapore Primary Mathematics Textbook 5A (U.S. Edition), $6, good condition, paperback (covered), ISBN 978-981-01-8510-7
Singapore Primary Mathematics Teacher's Guide 5A (for U.S. and 3rd Edition), $13, good condition, spiral bound (covered), published 2005.

(Singapore) New Elementary Mathematics Syllabus D (textbook), $5, fair condition, paperback (covered), cover is reinforced with contact paper, a few pencil marks in text, interior is completely useable.
(Singapore) New Elementary Mathematics Syllabus D (Teacher’s Guide), $8, good condition, paperback (covered)

(Singapore) New Elementary Mathematics Syllabus D2 Solutions Manual, $5, very good condition, paperback
(Singapore) New Elementary Mathematics Syllabus D1 Solutions Manual, $5, very good condition, paperback (covered)

Key to Measurement set (Workbooks 1-4 + Answer key), $10 for set, good condition, paperback, workbook 1 has a tear in the cover, but the interiors of all are clean.

Key to Metric Measurement set (Workbooks 2-4 + Answer key 1-4), $8 for set, very good condition, paperback, workbook 3 has my daughter's name written on the cover. Please note workbook 1 is not included in this set.

History

All Through the Ages: History through Literature Guide, by Christine Miller, $12, very good condition, paperback (covered), revised second edition copyright 2004, not the latest edition.  [PENDING SALE]

(Beautiful Feet) Early American History: For Primary Grades, $4, fair condition, paperback, older edition, copyright 1992, cover is separated from comb binding but still completely useable. Minimal markings in study guide itself.  [PENDING SALE]

America’s Providential History, by Mark A. Beliles & Stephen K. Mcowell, $6, fair condition, paperback (covered), cover and interior is somewhat wrinkles, but content is completely intact.

Cathedrals of the World Coloring Book (Dover) by John Green, $2, like new condition, paperback, ISBN 0-486-28339-9

Geography

Trail Guide to U.S. Geography (Geography Matters), $13, very good condition, paperback (covered), ISBN 1-931397-19-8 [PENDING SALE]

Outline Maps of the World (Hayes), $3, very good condition, paperback, ISBN 0-88313-820-4 [PENDING SALE]

Maps: Getting From Here to There, $7, very good condition, hardback, ISBN 0-395-56264-3, minor tear in dust jacket, minor markings on inside cover.

ABEKA Geography Bowl booklet, $2, good condition, paperback, page numbers written in pencil in corners of some of the pages

Science

Audubon’s Birds of America Coloring Book (Dover), $2, very good condition, paperback ISBN 0-486-23049-X, minor staining on cover, interior is pristine. [PENDING SALE]

Pagoo, by Holling Clancy Holling, $6, like new condition, paperback ISBN 0-395-53964-1 [PENDING SALE]

Health

Total Health: Talking About Life’s Changes (a health textbook for middle school) by Susan Boe, $15, good condition, paperback (covered), ISBN 1-58331-230-7, second edition, 2005, not the latest edition.
Total Health: Talking About Life’s Changes (Test & Quiz Master), $10, good condition, comb binding paperback, ISBN 0-9646843-9-X, not the latest edition, but goes with the textbook I also have for sale

(ABEKA) Developing Good Health, 2nd Edition (4th grade), $2, good condition, paperback, catalog #60984008, not the latest edition.

Computers

Beginning Mac Programming: Develop with Objective-C and Cocoa, by Tim Isted, $20, very good condition, paperback (covered), ISBN 978-1-93435-651-7

Art

ARTistic Pursuits (Grades 4-6, Book 1), $15, good condition, comb binding paperback, the reproduction prints are already attached to the pages and ready to go, copyright 1999, not the latest edition

ARTistic Pursuits (Junior High, Book 1), $15, good condition, comb binding paperback the reproduction prints are already attached to the pages and ready to go, copyright 1999, not the latest edition

Latin

Cambridge Latin Course Unit 1 (The North American 4th Edition), $8, very good condition, hardback ISBN 0-521-78228-7

General Homeschooling

The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook: A Creative and Stress-Free Approach to Homeschooling, by Dr. Raymond & Dorothy Moore, $5, good condition, hardback

 

Interested in purchasing any curriculum? Fill out the form below.

Shipping Charges

Once you know what books you want, send me an email through the contact form above and I'll weigh the books and let you know what the shipping cost will be. You can get an idea of what media mail rates are below.

• Less than 1 pound of books: $2.47
• Less than 2 pounds of books: $2.89
• Less than 3 pounds of books: $3.31
• Less than 4 pounds of books: $3.73
• Less than 5 pounds of books: $4.15
• Less than 6 pounds of books: $4.57
• Less than 7 pounds of books: $4.99

Are you studying logical fallacies with your kids? If you're not, you should! And this printable logical fallacy poster from YourLogicalFallacyIs.com can help. It lists and describes 24 different logical fallacies that we frequently encounter.

"A logical fallacy is usually what has happened when someone is wrong about something. It's a flaw in reasoning. They're like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often very sneakily used by politicians and the media to fool people."

If you use The Fallacy Detective to introduce logical fallacies like we do, this poster (and the whole website even) would be a great supplement to the reading.

And make sure you bookmark YourLogicalFallacyIs.com so that you can refer to it when you encounter fallacies during that day — whether it be in the media or in conversations. It can be a great learning tool as you look up the name and definition of particular fallacies.

Enjoy!

PLEASE NOTE: If you read through the examples on the chart, you'll notice that the authors evidence their bias on various topics such as gay marriage, evolution, creation, and global warming. While this might be offensive to some (and you can obviously use your own discretion about using the chart or not), the examples still illustrate the various logical fallacies — some better than others.

On the other hand, you might find that the biased examples kick off an interesting discussion about these controversial subjects with your children. And you might even have your children come up with more even-handed examples of each fallacy on their own.

Christen Ferster,
Registered Dietician

The last few weeks I've been getting to know Christen Ferster, a registered dietician and soon-to-be-homeschool-mom who would like to write a nutrition curriculum for homeschoolers. I invited her to write a guest post here on Five J's so that she'd be able to get some feedback about the curriculum idea from my wonderful readers.

To that end, I suggested that Christen come up with a short survey to help organize the feedback, and she's also generously offered to giveaway a $25 Amazon.com giveaway to one of the survey respondents.

Click here to take the survey & enter the $25 Amazon.com giveway »

So with no further ado, the following is a guest post by Christen Ferster.

Are you a homeschooling parent who would like to:

• Teach your child trustworthy nutrition information?
• See her grow excited about being healthy?
• Watch him make healthier food choices?
• Ensure that he does not become an obesity statistic?
• Foster self-confidence in your children through health and activity?
• Make learning about nutrition and exercise fun and interactive?
• Learn new ideas for helping your family eat healthier and stay active?

If so, then you are not alone!

As a mother of two, I’ve had to face daily my own challenges in teaching my kids about nutrition and health. Fortunately, I’m a Registered Dietitian and ACE Certified Personal Trainer. Unfortunately, my young sons are not motivated by scientific data on the benefits of calcium or carrots.

When my picky eater refused any food beyond his personal "five food groups"—yogurt, bananas, applesauce, oatmeal and chicken nuggets—it was my mom smarts, not my degree, that found creative ways to expand his palette. Being purposeful about his diet and making new foods fun has brought him a long way.

A Nutrition Curriculum Fit for Families

Although our family is new to homeschooling—we’ve made the decision to begin this fall—I’ve quickly realized that there is a void in the curriculum available on nutrition and health.

I recently contacted Joy here at FiveJ's to ask some general homeschooling questions and also to get her take on the need for a homeschool nutrition curriculum. She’s been kind enough to let me open up the discussion to the community of homeschoolers who follow her blog.

As homeschoolers, we have the advantage of greater flexibility with both when and what we teach our kids. With obesity rates in the U.S. being at an all-time high, and some of the leading causes of death (heart disease, cancer, diabetes) being correlated with lifestyle choices in nutrition and physical activity, it is imperative that we equip our children for a lifetime of healthy living by teaching them about the why’s and how’s of choosing healthy foods and staying active.

The Nutrition Mission

I want to help other homeschooling families have a fun and educational tool to teach their kids of all ages about nutrition and fitness — and one that will benefit the entire family! I’ve got the passion for this project. I’ve got the credentials for it. Now, I’m turning to the homeschoolers who read Joy’s blog for input on how to make an effective nutrition curriculum for homeschoolers.

If you’d be willing to share your thoughts about this curricululm idea, please fill out this short 6-question survey. Survey respondents will also be entered to win a $25 Amazon.com gift card. The survey and giveaway will close May 2, 2012.

Also, please watch FitForFamilies.com (still under development) for updates on the progress of the curriculum in the coming months.

Thank you so much for offering your input on the development of this curriculum!

Click here to take the survey & enter the $25 Amazon.com giveway »

Here is a rundown of our curriculum plan for my daughter Jerah who will be in the 8th grade next year.

English

Jerah took a Writer's Workshop class through The Potter's School this year, and next year she'll move on to an English 1 course. She'll also be doing independent reading in addition to her Potter's School assignments.

Math

Jerah will be finishing Chalk Dust Prealgebra this year, and she's done very well with the curriculum. But since math is not her strongest subject, I don't want her to move directly on to Chalk Dust Algebra 1, which is quite challenging. So instead, she'll spend a good part of next year doing what I call an Intro to Algebra — something substantially beyond prealgebra, but not quite at the level of Chalk Dust Algebra 1.

Here's the specific curriculum plan. She'll be completing Key to Algebra books 3-10 (she did 1 and 2 last year) and A Visual Approach to Functions. I'm also considering having her do The Key To Tracker while she's working on the Key To Algebra series, which is the online companion to the Key To workbooks. She'll be able to take online tests and assessments and I'll be able to track her progress there.

Once she's done with Intro to Algebra, she'll move on to Chalk Dust Algebra 1, and hopefully she'll be very prepared!

History

She'll be taking a U.S. History class through Potter's School using United States History: Survey Edition by Prentice Hall. This is a high school course, so she'll be able to count it as a high school credit.

Science

Jerah took Apologia's Exploring Creation with General Science for 7th grade through The Potter's School and will be taking Apologia's Exploring Creation with Physical Science next year for 8th grade, also through The Potter's School.

Logic

Jerah will be using a unique logic curriculum called Logic I: Tools for Thinking that we used last year with my son. Logic I is apparently not very well-known in the homeschooling community, but it should be! We really enjoyed it.

The author Norman M. Birkett presents the material thoroughly and in a very understandable and humorous way, sometimes using his cats and even Klingons in examples. My son is taking geometry this year and as he's learning proofs, we're realizing how helpful the logic curriculum was in preparing him. I highly recommend Logic I! You can read some in-depth reviews of the Logic I curriculum here and here.

Spanish 1

Jerah will be taking high school Spanish I through The Potter's School along with her brother. They use the BJUP Spanish I curriculum. Since this is a high school class, we'll be able to count it toward her high school credits.

Photography

Jerah is extremely interested in pursuing photography as a career, so she will continue to study Photoshop and photography using a number of online sources such as Lynda.com.

Fine Arts

She will continue to take private bass guitar lessons and voice lesson and study music theory using Practica Musica.

Physical Education

Judo continues to be her sport of choice.

Our first year of homeschooling high school has been a bit of a challenge. We're making it through, but due to some struggles my 9th grader has had with motivation, some of the credits we'd planned on granting for his freshman year just didn't happen.

He'll end up with about 5.5 credits for his freshman year, short of what we'd originally planned for the year. But that's the wonderful thing about homeschooling — we can be flexible.

So here's what's on deck for his 2012-2013 sophomore year. I've also included our updated 4-year plan at the bottom of this post. I also took another look at the graduation requirements for Texas and updated the minimum number of credits Jaden will need to complete before he can graduate.

Homeschool Curriculum for 10th Grade Boy

Language Arts (1 credit): One Year Adventure Novel’s Other Worlds curriculum. I'm also wanting to include grammar review of some kind to keep him up-to-speed in preparation for the ACT/SAT.  I'm still not sure exactly what curriculum to use for this. Do you have any suggestions? I'm wanting something that goes beyond the basics of just drilling parts of speech.

Math (1 credit): He will be finishing Chalk Dust Geometry which we started mid-second semester freshman year and then begin Chalk Dust Algebra 2 sometime in the first semester of his sophomore year.

Science (1 credit): Exploring Creation with Chemistry. He will be taking this through The Potter’s School.

Social Studies (1 credit): He will taking U.S. History through The Potter’s School using United States History by Prentice Hall.

Foreign Language (1 credit): Spanish I, taken through The Potter’s School using BJU's Spanish I curriculum

Fine Arts (.25 credit): Private guitar lessons

Physical Education (.25 credit): He takes judo twice a week for a total of 2-3 hours.

Economics (.5 credit): Exploring Economics by Notgrass

Automobile Maintenance & Repair (.5 credit): Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care Maintenance & Repair

Drivers Education (.5 credit): We're planning to use DriversEd.com.

Our Updated 4-year Homeschool High School Plan

Because of the way Jaden's freshman year has gone, I had to change some things about his 4-year high school plan that I posted last year. But even with those changes, I think he's still on track to graduate on time.

You can click on the image below to view it full size. If there is a specific curriculum we've used, or are planning to use for a course, I've included it in the table. The abbreviation TPS stands for The Potter's School, the online Christian school we use for several of our courses.

Geography is one of my kids' favorite subjects, so I was excited when I was given the opportunity to review a couple of unique geography books: Eat Your Way Around the World and Geography Through Art, both of which are published by Geography Matters, a great homeschool geography curriculum company.

Eat Your Way Around the World and Geography Through Art  coordinate well together and can easily be used at the same time to study world geography, but I'll be reviewing them separately below.

Eat Your Way Around the World

This 100+ page, spiral bound book is a little smaller than your typical curriculum book, measuring only about 9.5"  x 6.5", but it's chock full of recipes from around the world.

It begins with recommendations for how to use the book, either alone or in conjunction with your current geography study. Author Jamie Aramini then moves on to explain how to expand the study of each country beyond just making the recipes, including learning a few words from the language, studying the food-related customs, and playing music from that country.

The heart of the book is obviously the recipe section. This section is divided first by continent, and then by country, and each country has three to four dishes that are historically popular for that country. The recipes for each country are not just main dishes, so all the recipes for that country can be prepared and served at the same meal if so desired.

Jamie Aramini has adapted the recipes to make them as simple as possible using ingredients that can be obtained at just about any regular grocery store. That being said, some of the recipes are more difficult to prepare than others, so each recipe is rated from one to four forks indicating how simple or complicated it is to prepare.

Many of the recipes also include information about food etiquette in that country or extra facts about that country or its food. For example, when my 9-year-old daughter made Dan Hua Tang (egg drop soup), we read about how to serve a Chinese meal and how the eldest person at the table is traditionally served first.

It would be nearly impossible for a single cookbook to include recipes from every country in the world, and this cookbook doesn't either. However, it does provide a fair sampling from each continent (excluding Antarctica of course). Here is a breakdown of the countries that are included:

Africa — Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa
Asia — China, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea
Europe — France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain
North America — Canada, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, United States
South America — Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela
Oceania — Australia, New Zealand

After the recipe section, you'll find a "My Food Journal" page that can be copied and filled in for each country studied. "My Food Journal" includes spaces where the child can record details about the recipe as well as his evaluation of the experience by answering guided questions.

The author also includes a "Food Passport" that can be cut out, folded, and stapled together. Then following the preparation of each country's meal, the child can add passport stamps for the country and rate the meal itself. Passport stamps and rating stamps can be photocopied from the book and printed on self-adhesive paper to make it easy to add them to the passport.

You'll also find an additional list of links to more recipes from each covered country in the appendix.

Pros

Obviously the biggest advantage of using this curriculum is that you don't have to research and find all the recipes from the different countries on your own. The work has already been done for you. Additionally, the recipes have been simplified to make procuring the ingredients and preparing the dishes easier for you and your child.

The curriculum is also quite expandable. If you want a short overview of each country, then just read each chapter, make the recipes, and leave it at that. But the additional resources, such as the links to additional recipes for each country in the appendix as well as the suggested expansion activities, allow you to study each country in much more detail and from different perspectives than a typical geography curriculum.

Any homeschooling family could use this book with children of any age, and the older the children can even prepare the food themselves with a little supervision.

Cons

Really my only disappointment with Eat Your Way Around the World was that it didn't cover more countries from each continent. Understandably, it would have be nigh impossible to include every country in the world, but it still would have been nice to have a few more countries included, especially from Asia.

Geography Through Art

Like Eat Your Way Around the World, Geography Through Art is divided by continent, but it includes more than just art projects by country.

The beginning of the book includes instructions for how to create a geography notebook, and especially how to integrate the study of geography with any other subject. The next section, Art Tips, covers the color wheel and offers suggestions and information about the different media used throughout the curriculum.  After that, the author includes some teaching tips to help the parent utilize the curriculum to its fullest. Then the final section before the individual country projects begin covers the world in general and a short discussion and art project about cartography itself.

Finally the country projects begin, separated by continent. There is a different selection of countries than was presented in Eat Your Way Around the World, however, there is quite a bit of overlap. Here are the countries Geography Through Art covers:

Africa — Central African Republic, Egypt, Ghana, Tanzania, Morocco, Zimbabwe
Asia — China, India, Japan, Russia
Australia
Europe — England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine
North America — Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, United States
South America — Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru

There are usually several art projects provided for each country, from watercolor to paper mache to sculpting. For each art project, the author includes a materials list and background information about the topic. Many projects also have an "i" symbol next to them which means it is interenet-linked; you can go to the Geography Through Art book website to find links to more information on that topic (the link is listed in the book).

If a country has corresponding recipes in Eat Your Way Around the World, you'll find a fork/knife icon next to it to indicate that there are recipes available for that country. A difficulty rating is also included with each project to help parents know quickly how complicated a project is.

The appendix of Geography Through Art includes recipes for different types of clay, a glossary of geography terms, a "Countries of the World Fact Sheet" to photocopy, and several patterns that are needed for the art projects in the book. Also included in the appendix are outline maps of the world and continents.

Pros

Like Eat Your Way Around the World, Geography Through Art does all the hard work for you in finding art projects related to your country of study. And the art projects aren't boring either, even though none of them are overly complicated or require hard-to-find materials. I especially like that the book includes more than one project for each country (with the exception of 5 countries which have only one project each).

This curriculum is definitely a fun way to study world geography, and a great supplement to any geography curriculum.

Cons

Because this book includes so many projects, some people who prefer step-by-step instructions may find it difficult to know where to begin. Like many of Geography Matters' curriculum, this curriculum is an excellent resource, but not necessarily laid out in a daily lesson plan format which some may prefer. Consequently, it does take some planning to us Geography Through Art to its fullest potential.

Disclosure: Geography Matters provided me with this curriculum for free to review. However, all of my opinions are my own.

How to Enter the Giveaway

***** THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED *****

Geography Matters will be giving one FiveJs.com reader this same set of geography curriculum, which includes Eat Your Way Around the World and Geography Through Art. The giveaway will end at 11:59PM (Central Time), on Wednesday, February 29, 2012. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below. For up to four additional entries, leave additional comments for each of the following that applies to you (please leave a separate comment for each additional entry):

1. Do you already follow FiveJs.com either by email or by RSS? Leave a separate comment telling me so for one additional entry.
2. Do you follow FiveJs.com on Facebook? Leave a separate comment telling me so for one additional entry.
3. Did you share this giveaway on Facebook? Leave a separate comment telling me so for one additional entry.
4. Did you share this giveaway on Twitter? Leave a separate comment telling me so for one additional entry.

 

Do you remember Weekly Readers from elementary school? Those age-appropriate newspapers would give us some basic information about current events…albeit not terribly current.

In the age of the internet, it's much easier to find up-to-the-minute information about events happening in our world. But sometimes there's just so much information, it's hard to sort through it all.

Student News Daily is a non-profit website that does the sorting for you. In addition to several other resources, Student News Daily offers a daily current news item — usually pulled directly from an online newspaper with very little editing — along with background information and discussion questions about the article. There are also weekly World Briefs which highlight news from three different countries around the world, and even a weekly cartoon, complete with questions for discussion.

Here's an example of some of the subjects my 9-year-old and I have read about on Student News Daily in the last few weeks:

• Your Résumé vs. Oblivion
• Grand Canyon to ban bottled water sales
• Congress Welcomes The Drones
• Flood Victims Languish in Oil Boomtown
• FCC Adds Low-income Internet Subsidy Program
• Suicide Bombers

Student News Daily isn't limited to just current events. You can also find information about how to become an educated voter, including explanations of the election process, a chart describing the differences between Conservative and Liberal beliefs, and an explanation of the different types of media bias.

How We Use Student News Daily

We don't use Student News Daily to its fullest potential, but my 9-year-old and I at least read the daily news items together. I read it aloud to her, we watch any related videos included with the article, and then go through the background information and discussion questions. At times the news article leads to further internet investigations about the topic.

One of the things my daughter loves the most about Student News Daily is that the topics she reads about are often discussed in the news that evening. She feels all grown up when she realizes she understands what's going on better than ever before. Current events has become one of her favorite school subjects, and she makes sure we don't miss it!

Through February 16, 2012, you can download the Funnix Beginning Reading Program for free. The reading program is 220 complete lessons taking children from beginning non-readers to reading at a beginning third grade level.

To get the free download, you'll just need to fill out the form here. After filling out the form, you will receive an email with instructions on how to download the entire 220 lessons onto your computer. You will receive everything you need to teach the program, including daily workbook activities and guides to help utilize the program effectively.

English is a very complicated language. Many English words, due to their roots in a variety of languages such as French, Greek, German, and Latin, are known to be exceptionally hard to spell and pronounce correctly.

Sure, as homeschoolers we like to entertain the idea that there are actually English spelling and pronunciation "rules" that we can teach our children to follow all the time. But in actual practice, there are so many exceptions to most of those "rules" that they end up being something closer to a suggestion.

Early in the twentieth century a Dutchman named Dr. Gerard Nolst Trenité, who recognized that the English language was somewhat of an anomaly when it comes to pronunciation, wrote a poem called "The Chaos." The 300-line poem highlighted the complexity of English pronunciation — in an almost Dr. Seuss style.

Here are the opening lines of "The Chaos":

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.

And the closing lines:

Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, bough, cough, hough, sough, tough??

Hiccough has the sound of cup…
My advice is: GIVE IT UP!

You can read the full text of The Chaos here, or listen to it being read aloud on Librivox here. Your children might enjoy the challenge of reading through the entire poem (if they can make it all the way through — it's tough!)

By the way, if you're wondering how to pronounce ghoti from the graphic at the top of this post, it's actually pronounced the same as fish. How? The gh is pronounced like the gh in tough, the o is pronounced like the o in women, and the ti is pronounced like ti in the word nation. Yet another example of the absurdity of English pronunciation.

I just swapped out the book selection at the Five J's MightyBookJr.com Reading Station. Your kids can choose from 12 new books to read for free online, many of which this time are songs.

And don't forget, if you want access to MightyBookJr.com's full library of over 900 animated story books, FiveJ's.com readers get 80% off a subscription to MightyBookJr.com.

New Book Selections

• Modern Day Fairy Tales — an updated version of nine classic fairy tales, written by kids from 6 to 12. Modern Day Fairy Tales includes "Tommy Snooks and Bessy Brooks", "Humpty Dumpty", "Bye Baby Bunting", "Little Miss Muffet", "Kary be Nimble", "The Gingerbread Man", "Sleeping Ugly", "Jack and Jill", and "What Did She Do?"
  
• Aesop Fables (Vol 2) — includes "Belling the Cat", "The Wolf and the Kid", "The Fox and the Leopard", "The Eagle and the Beetle", "The Donkey and the Wolf", and "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse".
  
• The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter — Benjamin Bunny helps Peter Rabbit reclaim his coat and shoes from Mr. McGregor's garden.
  
• Fabulous Frogs — an information-packed non-fiction book about the frogs of the world.
  
• Balancing Elephants — a classic song about counting elephants that are standing around on a spider web.
  
• Dinner with Gopher —a little song and dance about that gopher and a snake, with a catchy tune filled with bounce and bubble.
  
• Days of the Week — a catchy little song that helps children remember the sequence of the days and their relationship to a week.
  
• The Lion & the Mouse — a condensed version of a classic Aesop fable with the moral: Even the smallest of goods deeds is rewarded.
  
• Pexi Has a Question: What are cloud? — Pexi is disappointed to learn that clouds have no taste.
  
• Rub a Dub Dub — a twist on the classic nursery rhyme, "Rub a Dub Dub".
  
• Where Would You Fly? — a whimsical song about wishing you could fly anywhere you wanted to.
  
• A Home for Every Creature — a fun song about different kinds of animals and their habitats.

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