Sorry! I got used to hearing the word “spine book”, but didn’t know what it meant at first either. I should have thought to explain that.
The spine books are basically the one book (or 2 in my case) that is your “go to” book. It isn’t required at all – it is basically extra reading, however, we (my family) make those books the priority for reading. Usually one chapter covers whatever subject you are covering.
We usually read the commentary in TQ one day, the spine book the next day and then start reading a few topic specific books that are suggested that peak our interest. I don’t even bother trying to cover a topic in a certain period of time. We just go until we’re done, and then start the next topic.
The Light and The Glory for Children is VERY good at helping your child (and you) see God moving throughout history. They start each chapter off with a scripture that pertains to the topic. We were able to get a copy at our library, however, we loved it so much that we bought a copy for our home.
We choose to use a second spine book because I felt that the Light and the Glory was skipping too many parts of history that I wanted to cover, so I started using “This country of Ours” alongside The Light and the Glory.
And don’t worry about asking too many questions! I have gleaned so much information from other people asking questions!