Monday, September 13, 2004
Time-Life Series Books...
Some of you may remember these...a glossy volume would appear in the mail every few months in some sort of series. In our house, my parents ordered one on Leaders of the World and one on Science. And so I learned about Albert Schweitzer (sp), Dag Hammerskold (sp), but from the Science series I am drawing a blank...Maybe that's why I never passed Inorganic Chemistry...
CCA library has part of one of these series now. It is on the Civil War which is covered by our 4th and 8th grades. The reading level is high school but it is still useful to us because of the many diverse illustrations. It is chock full of old photographs, historical paintings, maps and diagrams. Because of the reading level, it is best suited for a teacher to refer to and then incorporate into a lesson- rather than expecting a 4th grader to read it and absorb it. It would be possible, though, for an advanced 8th grader to learn from it, especially if they were very interested in the subject.
A unique thing about this series is that it takes about 24 volumes to go through the War - allowing one volume to focus on one battle. This provides much more detail, bringing the Civil War to life in a real way. It also makes it easier to compare this War and its battles with other Wars. Teaching using comparisons can help make the knowledge stick longer than just memorizing names and dates.
Besides the advanced reading level, the fact that it was published in the 1980's is a bit of a negative. A more current work written by experts would automatically include the latest in archeology, map interpretation, and military analysis. Scholars are forever adding to our knowledge of history, so it is usually best to have the latest for the most complete and accurate view of history. But for now, we are happy to have what we do. (And if anyone has more in this series, we'd love to have the other 14 volumes...)
permanent link
CCA library has part of one of these series now. It is on the Civil War which is covered by our 4th and 8th grades. The reading level is high school but it is still useful to us because of the many diverse illustrations. It is chock full of old photographs, historical paintings, maps and diagrams. Because of the reading level, it is best suited for a teacher to refer to and then incorporate into a lesson- rather than expecting a 4th grader to read it and absorb it. It would be possible, though, for an advanced 8th grader to learn from it, especially if they were very interested in the subject.
A unique thing about this series is that it takes about 24 volumes to go through the War - allowing one volume to focus on one battle. This provides much more detail, bringing the Civil War to life in a real way. It also makes it easier to compare this War and its battles with other Wars. Teaching using comparisons can help make the knowledge stick longer than just memorizing names and dates.
Besides the advanced reading level, the fact that it was published in the 1980's is a bit of a negative. A more current work written by experts would automatically include the latest in archeology, map interpretation, and military analysis. Scholars are forever adding to our knowledge of history, so it is usually best to have the latest for the most complete and accurate view of history. But for now, we are happy to have what we do. (And if anyone has more in this series, we'd love to have the other 14 volumes...)
permanent link
