Name: ICHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-05T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-07T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Bourbonnais, IL

This topic has 6 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 11 months ago by Sara B..

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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June 3, 2011 at 6:54 am
Sue
Participant
I am trying to decide whether to use Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman or Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House by Sterling North for American History next year. My kids are 10yo and 11yo. Has anyone used these books? Which do you think, or would you use both of them? We loved Sterling North’s boyhood memoir, Rascal, but I haven’t read any of his other books.
Another question….I am also considering portions of Genevieve Foster’s Abraham Lincoln’s World. If I’m using This Country of Ours as a spine for Module 6, would the Foster book be unnecessary, or is it not to be missed, in your opinion?
Thanks, Sue
June 3, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Sonya Shafer
Moderator
Oh, that’s a tough choice between Freedman or North. I think I would use both. North’s book seems to focus on Lincoln’s earlier years, and Freedman’s has fascinating photographs of his life all the way through the war. They go well together.
Foster’s book will bring in what was happening around the world during Lincoln’s lifetime; it’s not focused just on US, as TCOO is. Does that help with your decision?
June 15, 2011 at 4:09 am
Sue
Participant
I somehow missed your reply last week! But, yes, I think I will keep both the Freedman and North books. I’ve just borrowed the Foster book from our library, so I can actually read through parts of it this summer. I can take my time reviewing it….my library offers “teacher loan” cards to homeschoolers, so if no one else wants a particular book, I keep it for a month and then renew it 3 times (for a month each!) I always feel like I’m holding their books hostage or like I am hiding a gem that the other patrons haven’t yet discovered. (Shhhh! Don’t tell them! )
June 15, 2011 at 5:08 am
sheraz
Participant
Oh, Sue I just found both books at our Friends of the Library sale for .25 a piece! I wish you could have been there.
I am now “that homeschool lady” to the volunteers. I crawled around on the floor in the “ugly” books and found a matching 20 volume set that had Lambs Shakespeare, Ben Hur, Treasure Island, Plutarchs Lives, Lives and Papers of Ben Franklin, Jefferson’s Papers, Living Biographies of Traveling Explorers (Marco Polo and 7 other biggies), and so many more for only $10. I found a beautiful copy of 1963 Rascal, Pinochio, Heidi, Gullivers Travels, etc. I even found a fabulous copy of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. I got 7 boxes of books, most of them hard back classics for $128.00 total. After I cleaned up the books, I think that I got several hundreds of dollars worth, and I was really pleased that most of them are listed in the SCM suggestions. Sorry I stole the post… I can’t hold it in any longer…and who else will understand the joy of the discovery more then the forum ladies?
June 15, 2011 at 2:15 pm
blue j
Participant
@sheraz – Wow! Great find. The price you paid for 7 boxes of books is outstanding!
June 15, 2011 at 2:45 pm
suzukimom
Participant
Fantastic find! My husband would kill me… lol. No matter where we go, I buy books. So we go to a garage sale, and I buy books. We go to a used store… and I buy books. He shook his head a couple of weeks ago when I went in to the bank…. and bought books. (They were having a book sale to raise money for the children’s hospital!) He is even starting to shake his head when we get a box from Book Samaritan!
(I’m not sure why… the ones from book samaritan are free, He loves to read too, and wants our children to read good books….. guess it is just the storage issues, although we still have some room…. lol)

June 15, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Sara B.
Participant
Haha, sheraz, that’s what my mom and I do! LOL I have found a ton of hard-to-find books that way!
And suzukimom, that is what my dh hates, too. We are trying to minimize, yet I keep buying books. It kills him… But I do it anyway, because it’s for a good cause (OK, 4 good causes)! It’s the storage issues for him, as well. I am not allowed any more bookshelves so I have been trying to figure out other ways of storing the books. I’m going to have to turn to well-documented boxes/bins, I guess, and then find closet space to store them in (though I have very little closet space to spare).