The Junior Classics Library (PDF ebooks)
Published in 1907, the multi-volume Junior Classics Library was meant to give young readers a “taste” of just about every classic legend, story and tale that a well-read young person should be familiar with. Today and tomorrow, we’ll have all six of the currently available volumes of this wonderful collection in PDF format for your reading or “read aloud” pleasure. There are over 1200 pages of classic “living stories” in this six ebook library.

Today’s collections are:

“Fairy Tales and Wonder Stories” (Tales of the American Indians, Tales of India, Tales of the Norseland, France, Spain, Poland, Russia, China & Japan, Fairy Tales and Aesop’s Fables)

“Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry” (Tales of King Arthur, Tales of the Mabignonion, Tales of Early English, French, Italian and Spanish Chronicles, excerpts from Robin Hood & Don Quixote)

“Old Fashioned Stories” (Many excerpts from classic “living books” such as Hans Brinker, Little Women, Dickens, Hawthorne, great short stories, and Alice in Wonderland)

Here’s a fun note about the Junior Classics sent to us by Karleen M, when she heard we would be featuring these volumes this week:

“Years ago, when my brother and I were young, and people still bought a set of encyclopedias, my parents also bought us The Junior Classics Library. I still have all the volumes. I never ‘regulated’ when my own children could read those books — they were just there on the bookshelf. And then in our homeschool when I’d searched for some really wonderful translation of The Iliad, or a great biography of Daniel Boone, or the story of El Cid, etc. I would get so frustrated (in a good way!) because my daughter or my son would say, “Yeah, Mom, I already know about all that!” I would reply “What? How could you — I just got the book!” and they would say “It’s in those old books of yours! I’ve read about (fill in the blank) several times!”

I laughed out loud when I read this, but Karleen is right: These volumes are full of great stuff.

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“Five Famous Inventors” (PDF ebook) is a wonderful storybook for primary grades features the stories of inventors Robert Fulton (who invented the steamboat), Eli Whitney (cotton gin & mass production), Samuel Morse (the telegraph), Peter Cooper (the train) & Thomas Edison (electric lights, the phonograph, etc.). Originally published in 1897, this would make a great “read aloud” or would be suitable for younger students to read for themselves. It has a unique format, in that each sentence is a paragraph by itself, making it very easy for young folks to read and discuss. Your young ones will really enjoy the stories of how these men overcame all sorts of odds to bring their creativity to life for the benefit of civilization.

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Great Grandma’s Treasury of Fun & Games (Volume One) - Re-discover some of the fun playtime activities enjoyed by children of previous generations in this volume of vintage family fun games and activities, taken from a variety of turn of the century collections. In volume one, we have a fun collection of: tricks, puzzles, quiet games, singing games and riddles. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

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The Book of Acts Study Guide by Anne Elliott (PDF ebook) – Today’s resource is this excellent study guide to “The Book of Acts,” a 10-week excerpt from Foundations 2: Christ Our Messiah, from year 2 of the HomeschoolingBible.com curriculum.

Here’s an excerpt from Anne’s description of this 10-week curriculum sampler:

Join us as we journey with the apostles verse-by-verse through the book of Acts. You’ll learn how the Gospel was sent by God throughout the world, gaining valuable lessons for your own life along the way.

We believe God’s Word is essential for our children. Real homeschooling families, like yours, want to read, study, memorize, and apply the Scriptures together. They also want a study with some meat to it, that really digs into God’s Word. We’d love to help you lay a firm spiritual foundation for your children!

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LEARNING TO THINK by Jacob Abbott (PDF ebook) – Today’s resource is this very well done question & answer book written by Jacob Abbott way back in 1856. Learning to Think is a classic participatory read-aloud lesson book which asks simple deductive questions based on accompanying illustrations of animals, people and scenes familiar to young children. This helps young students to reflect on what they observe and develop reasoning powers. Check it out and you’ll quickly see how it worked. Many of these lessons would still be quite applicable today, though some deal with items that would not be recognized by modern children. Still, this would be great for cuddling up on the couch and reading / discussing many of these chapters with little ones. Lots of fun stuff here. For approximately grades K-3.

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FINGER PLAYS for Nursery & Kindergarten by Emilie Poulson (PDF ebook) – Today we are featuring this lovely little “early learning” collection of songs and rhymes – all meant to be taught to little ones ages 2 to 5, and acted out with little hands and fingers. Although this was originally published in the 1890s, the subject is timeless and just as engaging for little ones of today. This book is also filled with charming, expressive illustrations (many of which would be great for coloring) and dozens of fun learning games & activities! Check it out!

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Here’s a great collection of entries from ChristianFilmmakers.org’s 36 Hour Competition, which was held April 10th and 11th. Each filmmaker had 36 hours to produce a 3 minute film, which had to include some specific elements (dialogue, settings, props – for example, the $100 bill and/or the phrase “I fogive you” which you’ll find in many of these) to ensure that they actually had been created in that 36 hour period. The results were loads of fun – stories that cover a wide variety genres and subject matter, skillfully told by young filmmakers in neat little bite sized videos.

We’ve put together this page without regard to the actual winners of the competition… it is just a representative sample of videos we enjoyed. If you like these, we suggest that you seek out the other entries from the contest. They are all worth seeing.

You can see the complete collection of all 60+ entries at Christian Filmmakers.org. (A mild parental caution: If you watch the films on that page, be aware that there are a few with some PG style violence. Parents of little ones might want to preview some of the videos there before viewing.)

Finally, just a note to those of you new to online video watching: These are streaming videos, hosted on YouTube… they are not downloadable. If you are not able to play them on your computer, please refer to the FAQ page at YouTube. We aren’t able to offer technical support on these.

Post a comment if you like these or want to see more videos here from time to time. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

The Story of Abraham Lincoln’s Mother (mp3 audio & PDF) – In honor of Mother’s Day, here’s a great dramatic “living history” audio biography of a wonderful pioneer mother, Nancy Hanks, whose second child grew up to become the 16th President of the United States. Hers was a difficult and harsh life, but her gentle spirit and loving heart for her family shine through in this biography. After listening to this great half hour dramatization, use the accompanying “Listening Guide” to spur follow-up discussion and study. Good stuff!

If you enjoy this resource, be sure to check out our weekly “Living Books for the Ears” programs (yes, they’re also free!) at our sister site, HomeschoolRadioShows.com

Click here for today’s resource!