Our Favorite HOMESCHOOL Ideas for the HOLIDAYS (PDF ebook) – We surveyed over 800 homeschool families and asked them to share their favorite holiday activities and ideas – what worked for them, and what did not. This is a compilation of the very best responses and ideas we received. In this little collection you’ll find dozens of great holiday learning activities plus tips and suggestions for balancing homeschool & family during the upcoming holiday season. This is some of the very best “real life” advice on the subject you’ll find ANYWHERE at any price.

Think ahead now and avoid stressing out the next couple of months. Don’t miss it!

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THE YOUNG CRAFTSMAN (PDF ebook) – Today’s resource is this wonderful collection of classic woodworking, leather, sewing and general craft projects from the pages of Popular Mechanics, especially for young (tween & teen aged) crafters. Most of these could be easily tweaked and “modernized” to your taste.

Think “homemade gifts” this holiday season!

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TRAVEL! (PDF ebook) – Learn how grandma & grandpa traveled when they were kids in this excellent photo picture book on travel by plane, train and ship both in the city and in the country in the mid 20th century. The train chapter is particularly fun and enlightening. This would be a great discussion starter on how traveling has changed over the past several decades. There’s also a simple lesson outline provided. Excellent vintage children’s book originally published by Weekly Reader. Check it out!

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The Mary Frances Story Book by Jane Eayre Fryer (PDF ebook) – Mary Frances fans rejoice — she’s back!

This time our heroine appears in a very different type of book, as we follow her “Adventures with the Story People”. Mary Frances sets sail to an island where the storytellers live, and dozens of delightful fairy tales and wonder stories follow. These are great read aloud stories for young listeners!

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A Day With Charles Dickens (PDF ebook) -Want a unique way to learn about the life and work of one of the greatest authors in English literature? Let’s follow him around through a typical day’s work! In this short, easily read book, we spend a typical day with Dickens as he went about his home life, writing and workday. A fascinating vintage book that provides many intriguing insights into the life and work of Mr. Dickens!

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Strange Stories from History for Young People (PDF ebook) – Today we have, in e-booklet form, two little known and unusual stories from American history, as told by George Cary Eggleston.

“The Jamestown Wife Market”

In our first ebook, learn the little-known story of the Virginia “wife market”, when two shiploads of sweethearts who journeyed to the colony to become wives to the men colonists, and discover the odd prices that were paid for them.

“Young Washington’s Perilous Journey”

Follow young George Washington on a perilous journey through the wilderness as he is faced with bitter cold, an ice-choked river, and betrayal by his native guides.

Let us know in the comments if you’d like to see more in this series!

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Mann’s New Primer (PDF ebook) – Here’s a great early reading primer from the 1920s, filled with delightful color
illustrations and all sorts of animal stories, fairy tales, poems, rhymes and songs for beginning readers. VERY well done!

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A Visual History of the United States (PDF ebook) – Excellent history of the United States beginning with the discovery of the new world and going right on through WW2 into the early 1950s. There are tons of well done, easily understood graphics in this great find, presented mainly in pictographs, maps, diagrams and cartoons, with accompanying text.

The final chapter is a bit dated with the post WW2 coverage of the UN, communism & the American Way (which somehow seems a bit disconnected to who we are today), but the majority of this book is first rate stuff, and is a unique and novel way to study many diverse aspects of American history. Highly recommended!

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The Book of Hallowe’en by Ruth Edna Kelley (PDF ebook) – Today’s resource is this well done history of Halloween, compiled by librarian Ruth Kelley back in 1919. Whatever your opinion of Halloween is, good or bad, it is still quite fascinating to trace the history of where it came from and what the origins of all the symbols, stories, beliefs and customs associated with Halloween are (or at least were up to the early 1900s). Lots of interesting stories, poems and world history in this.

from the preface:

This book is intended to give the reader an account of the origin and history of Hallowe’en, how it absorbed some customs belonging to other days in the year, — such as May Day, Midsummer, and Christmas. The context is illustrated by selections from ancient and modern poetry and prose, related to Hallowe’en ideas.

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Note: We know some of our readers love Halloween and some hate it… so if this resource is objectionable to you, please do not download it. For what it’s worth, our offering this resource does not imply our endorsement of any current Halloween customs or celebrations. Halloween simply is what it is — and whatever you think of it, knowing something about its history is not such a bad idea.