Alicia Van Hecke

This is Our Valley

Book cover: 'This is Our Valley'

This reading text is the second of three used in the third grade at Seton Home Study School. My children have enjoyed many of the stories as a read-aloud. The book provides a wide variety of selections - fairy tales, poems, folk tales, biographies, etc. These new reprints have a glossy soft-cover with a beautiful image and text with black-and-white pictures. Although the original images within the text were color, these reproductions are well-done.

This is Our Parish

Book cover: 'This is Our Parish'

This reading text (used in the second grade at Seton Home Study School) has been a favorite among my children since we picked it up at a garage sale a number of years ago. Although basal readers (such as the Faith and Freedom readers) are designed for classroom use and not an essential part of a homeschool curriculum, I remember clearly how much I enjoyed receiving a new reader each school year and how I devoured all the interesting stories reading in bed on my first night of school.

The Shadow of His Wings

Book cover: 'The Shadow of His Wings'
Author(s): 
Fr. Gereon Goldmann
This is a fascinating tale on many levels - spiritual, historical, adventure, humor. Fr. Goldmann was a young seminarian in Germany when he was drafted into Hitler's dreaded SS. Despite amazing obstacles and in spite of his loud mouth and rather hot temper with regard to his disagreements with the Nazi's, Goldmann works his way through World War II as a medic for the German army and is finally ordained as a chaplain to his comrades in the French prison camps in North Africa.

Art Through Faith

Book cover: 'Art Through Faith'
Author(s): 
Mary Lynch
the Seton Staff

This Catholic Art text, intended for the eighth grade, offers thirty-six weeks of lessons in art appreciation, with an emphasis on religious art. The text presents 152 images (in full-color on glossy paper) which cover many of the basic schools and famous artists (in chronological order).

Little House in the Big Woods

Book cover: 'Little House in the Big Woods'
Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
The first in the famous "Little House" series (circa early 1870s), this book tells of Laura's early childhood in rural Wisconsin. A wonderful story in itself about life in a simpler time, Laura explains in fascinating detail many of the tasks necessary to sustain life, prepare for winter, etc. We are introduced to cheese and butter making, the preparing of meats for winter-storage, and much more. Laura, her two sisters and her Ma and Pa live in the midst of a large forest where the closest neighbors are wolves and deer (and an occasional bear).

Little House on the Prairie

Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
In this story, the Ingalls family ventures out from their cozy log house in Wisconsin to the open prairie of present-day Kansas to make a new start. They spend a very challenging year building a house from scratch and dealing with tensions between other settlers and the local Indians. This is the classic story for which the entire series is named - filled with long journeys over open prairie in a covered wagon, building a log house, and wondering over mysterious Indian trails.

By the Shores of Silver Lake

Book cover: 'By the Shores of Silver Lake'
Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Continue the adventures of the Ingalls family as they make yet another move, working in a railroad camp, and deal with Mary's recent loss of sight. The reader may discern that Laura begins to develop her story-telling abilities by faithfully following her Pa's request to be Mary's "eyes". The railroad workers move along and the Ingalls family stick it out for one very quiet winter before being present for the establishment of a brand new town.

The Long Winter

Book cover: 'The Long Winter'
Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
DeSmet is a well-established town and the Ingalls family owns a homestead outside of town as well as a story on the main street. There are early signs in nature that the winter will be particularly cold and long. The Ingalls decide to move into town for the winter and thus share the fate of their neighbors as one blizzard after another pummels the region from October through May. The trains can't get through with food supplies, school is usually closed and the townspeople run dangerously low on food.

The First Four Years

Book cover: 'The First Four Years'
Author(s): 
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura and Almanzo's first four years of married life and the difficulties of starting out as farmers. This book seems to have been written quite a bit later than the other books of the series and has quite a different flavor. When I first read the series in grade school I found this difference a little disappointing and confusing. The story is quite a good one, though, but geared more for older children (perhaps 12 and up).

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