This a resource list of materials that some of our members have found helpful in their daily life and schooling. You are not expected to buy them all 🙂
Parenting
Home Education by Charlotte Mason
Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne
Drawing
Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes
Drawing with Children– Nature Journal Style with Lesson Plans
lesson plans from Paula’s Archives
Six weeks of lesson ideas, plus additional resources
Lesson Plans for the beginning of Drawing with Children
Keeping A Nature Journal by Claire Walker Leslie
The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling by John Muir Laws
Willie’s First Drawing Lesson by Lady (google books)
Miss Mason recommended using a dry-brush watercolor technique. A good article on the subject is at the Charlotte Mason Institute: A Dry Brush Tutorial
Music
Let’s Play Music
Games and Songs of American Children by William W. Newell
Folk Music & Nursery Rhymes
A Folk Song A Day
Mama Lisa’s World
Wee Sing America
Wee Sing Children’s Songs and Fingerplays
Dan Zanes
Joe Scruggs
Elizabeth Mitchell
Burl Ives
Bela Flek
Renee and Jeremy
The Okee Dokee Brothers
Woody Guthrie
Ella Jenkins
The Nields
Tom Chapin
Lucky Diaz
Sonia de los Santos
Lorraine Nelson Wolf – Come Follow Me Vols I & II
Lisa Loeb Nursery Rhyme Parade
Lavender’s Blue Dilly Dilly by Mary Thienes Schunemann (if out of stock, try www.waldorfbooks.com)
Handiwork
Childcraft Make and Do (out of print)
Martha Stewart’s Favorite Crafts for Kids by the editors of Martha Stewart Living
Finger Knitting Fun by Vickie Howell
Kid’s Knitting by Melanie Falick
A First Book of Knitting for Children by Bonnie Gosse (Waldorf resource)
Klutz Knitting Book Kit
Sewing School by Andrea Lisle
good tutorial for buttonholes
6 basic handsewing stitches
hiding the knot
Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy
Gardening Lab for Kids by Renata Brown
Square Foot Gardening with Kids by Mel Bartholomew
The Book of Gardening Projects for Kids by Whitney Cohen (for parents who are experienced gardeners – this is on making gardening fun kids, not gardening basics)
Making Books with Kids by Esther K Smith
Making Books That Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, Twist, And Turn by Gwen Diehn
Making Mini Booksby Kathleen McCafferty
Paper Sloyd
Paper Folding Models at artistshelpingchildren.com
Dover Publications papercraft books
Nature Study/Natural History
If money is very tight and you have to prioritize, our North American users should buy North American Wildlife by Reader’s Digest as their first field guide, available from The Book Depository ($20) and Rainbow Resource ($15). If you really want to rock the nature connection bit, Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature is indispensable. It is also the most expensive resource on our lists at approx $40 with shipping from Wilderness Awareness School. It is not significantly cheaper used. However, these are the two books that I consider essential in my nature-rich homeschool. — Marjorie
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock YC AMZ
(a note on editions: this book was originally published in 1911 and that 1st edition is out of copyright. This is the version that YC and archive.org have.
It was revised in 1939 and that version is currently under copyright by Cornell University Press. It is still in print; it is in paperback with a black cover with orange butterfly. It is available from the publisher and some resellers. If you buy from a reseller like Amazon, check the publisher to be sure it’s Cornell University)
Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature by Jon Young
Field Guide to the Familiar by Gale Lawrence
Talking to Fireflies, Shrinking the Moon by Edward Duensing
*Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Cornell (free 1979 version)
Sharing the Joy of Nature by Joseph Cornell ( free first edition)
The PNEU programmes say to use Countryside Rambles or The Changing Year, and Furneaux’s A Nature Study Guide for reference and special studies. Countryside Rambles and A Nature Study Guide are both available in an ebook package from Yesterday’s Classics: Nature Study through the Seasons
For object lessons, by Joseph Bruchac and Michael Caduto:
Keepers of the Earth
Keepers of Life
Keepers of the Night
Keepers of the Animals
Golden Guides Nature Guides (there are 32 in the series. Excellent, and since they show the most common specimens, you will often find what you’re looking for in here before going to more in depth field guides. We often do our initial ID with these, then go to the bigger field guides for more information. If you want good field guides that your children can use easily, these are what you want)
North American Wildlife by Reader’s Digest
Peterson’s Field Guides (various)
Stokes Field Guides (various)
Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide
The Birder’s Handbook by Paul Ehrlich
Birding in the American West
Natural History of the Sonoran Desert by Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Often the bookstores of History and Science Museums will carry local plant and animal guides that are not widely available elsewhere. Another place to look is nearby state or national parks as sometimes the offices and interpretive centers will carry local guides.
Jim Arnosky books are also a nice introduction to nature for those who have little experience with it; many are unfortunately out of print. Quality also varies among the books. An excellent starting point is Field Trips by Jim Arnosky.
Foreign Languages
Cherrydale Press (Spanish, French, German; pure Gouin series, no games or songs. This requires supplementation to make it fun for the littles)
Elementary Spanish from Northern Arizona University
Salsa from Georgia Public Broadcasting
Poco a Poco by Guillermo Hall
Los Pollitos dicen from spanishmama.com
Babbel.com
7 Spanish Short Stories Positively Brimming with Language Lessons from fluentu.com
bilingual spanish/english books for children
De Colores and Other Latin American Folk Songs by Jose-Luis Orozco (CD and book)
Coloreando: Traditional Songs for Children in Spanish by Marta Gomez (CD)
Yoga
ABCs of Yoga for Kids, a series of cards with illustrations of each pose and a rhyme about how to do it
Yoga Pretzels cards
Yoga for Children by Lisa Flynn
Teaching Yoga to Children through Story by Sydney Solis
Kids Yoga Stories
There are also several yoga for kids videos on youtube. Search for “Yoga for Kids” or “Yoga for Families”
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