Alicia Van Hecke

The Universe: Think Big!

Book cover: The Universe: Think Big!
Author(s): 
Jeanne Bendick
Illustrator(s): 
Lynne Willey
Michael Roffe

Jeanne Bendick, author of Archimedes and the Door of Science, explains some basic concepts regarding the universe in a surprisingly simple way (approximately 2nd grade reading level - short pages with large type). First she invites children to try to imagine how big the universe is (in terms of it being much, much bigger than other, more familiar things). The bulk of the book focuses on large distances and how they're measured and how people used to believe that the earth was at the center of the universe and remained motionless. The final page explains the big bang theory.

Astronomy for Every Kid

Book cover: Astronomy for Every Kid
Author(s): 
Janice VanCleave

Offering "Exciting ideas, project, and activities for schools, science fairs, and just plain fun," this book is one in a series that is very popular with homeschoolers (and understandably so). The book covers seven major topics - Planets, Space Movement, The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, Space Instruments and Space/Space Travel. Each experiment uses simple experiments and explains (briefly) the purpose, the procedure, the expected result and a brief but very understandable explanation of why it happened. Black and white sketches illustrate each experiment as well.

Space Encyclopedia

Book cover: Space Encyclopedia
Author(s): 
Heather Couper
Nigel Henbest

We've started working our way through parts of this book as a read-aloud for younger children but have enjoyed it especially for the pictures. It covers everything from the Hubble Space Telescope to the surface and atmosphere of the Sun, Moon and Planets, from Space Pioneers to star maps, from explanations of various types of telescopes to black holes and discussions of the possibility of extraterrestrial life. We've only read a small portion of the text so far, but were pleased to find that the text came out better than expected in several litmus-test areas.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church: Second Edition

Book cover: The Catechism of the Catholic Church: Second Edition
Author(s): 
Libreria Editrice Vaticana

This beautiful new Catechism is truly a gift and a treasure in an era when "new" so often means "bad." Although I have not yet read every word of it (it's quite a big book!) I have had the pleasure of leading Catechism study groups for mothers and found much success in using this text to help some who were previously very lukewarm in their faith to better understand not only what the Catholic Church really teaches, but why these teachings make sense - yes, even in our modern world!

The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt

Book cover: 'The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt'
Author(s): 
Elizabeth Payne
This is a fascinating and very readable history of Ancient Egypt - suitable for family reading or independent reading from mid-grade school and up. The first chapter describes the rediscovery of Ancient Egypt in the late 18th and early 19th century. This is a particularly fascinating account because it describes the amazement of the first Europeans (at the time of Napoleon) to view the great monoliths. The author briefly relates the history of the deciphering of Egyptian Hieroglyphics which, of course, have provided the text of the history of Egypt which comprises the rest of this book.

Let the Authors Speak

Book cover: 'Let the Authors Speak: A Guide to Worthy Books Based on Historical Setting'
Author(s): 
Carolyn Hatcher
This book offers approximately 1300 "living books" (books that make history come alive such as biographies, historical accounts, historical fiction and related literature) organized into several lists - chronologically, by author and by title. These books were chosen from a number of guides to worthwhile books, including Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt and the Masterplots series. They include many fine Catholic books and lives of the Saints. I must admit to being a little disappointed that the author hasn't read all the books herself.

The Core Knowledge Series

Book cover: What Your First Grader Needs to Know
Author(s): 
E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

Titles in this series include What Your Kindergartner Should Know, What Your First Grader Should Know, etc. The series is written for parents of children in traditional schools to get an idea of how the schools are doing and to assist the parents in supplementing their child's education at home. The series amounts to an extensive "Scope and Sequence" which outlines the fundamental skills and concepts which should be understood in each grade and includes supplementary exercises, poems, stories and recommended resources to assist in fulfilling the stated goals.

The Educated Child

Book cover: The Educated Child
Author(s): 
William J. Bennett
Chester E. Finn
John T.E. Cribb

This book is designed to assist parents in choosing and judging good schools and how well their children are doing there. Brief "scope and sequence" lists (based on the Core Knowledge Curriculum) and some suggested resources are included. Although it is not specifically aimed at homeschoolers, homeschoolers are favorably addressed in several portions and will find much useful advice and ideas in the book.

The New Catholic Quiz: First Grade

Book cover: 'The New Catholic Quiz: First Grade'

This book provides 200 questions (50 each in four different categories based on the four sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church - Beliefs, Sacraments, Morality and Prayer) to help children reinforce basic points of Catholic doctrine. Each page has a question from each category with answers on the back of the page. The color-coding makes for easy reading and checking of answers. My children really enjoyed the sometimes humorous choices for the multiple-choice questions. I thought these made the Quiz more engaging and helped them be more memorable for children.

Pages