Tuesday, July 24, 2007

An improved grammar of the English language by Noah Webster/19th Century Books

An advanced grammar book, especially the Syntax sections. Click here.

Noah Webster's American Spelling Book/19th Century Books

The American spelling book : containing the rudiments of the English language : for the use of schools in the United States / by Noah Webster.
Very thorough multi-grade spelling book which looks as if it could be used in sections from elementary through early middle school. It would also be useful for review and remediation for older students.

The American drawing-book/19th Century Books

The American drawing-book : a manual for the amateur, and basis of study for the professional artist : especially adapted to the use of public and private schools, as well as home instruction / by J.G. Chapman.

I found this at 19th Century Books, part of University of Pittsburgh Digital Library System. It's quite a thorough and professional drawing course. The first section is just learning lines, and if you skip to the next section on rudimentary drawing, you'll see why you need to master this.

"Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Brontës, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice."

The Cuckoo Clock

Grandmother Dear, A Book for Boys and Girls

The Rectory Children

Rosy

The Tapestry Room A Child's Romance

Us, An Old Fashioned Story

Monday, July 16, 2007

Saving Texts

Project Gutenberg's texts are very easy to save, just download the zip file, or go to the HTML or plain text. Once the text loads, right click, select all and save to your computer. This can take up a lot of space on your computer. As mentioned here, you can save it to a flash drive, or use Google Documents to store it online, and/or convert to another file type.

Google documents allows you to upload the Project Gutenberg text with just the url. Then you can amend it for personal use, like edit out extra print, and save it as a zipped HTML, RTF, pdf, Open Office, Word or plain text. You save the text to these different file type by clicking on "file" in the edit mode of your saved documents at Google Documents.

The only negative aspect of doing this is that the pictures do not load, so you'd have to add them back if you upload non-plain text. In this case, it would be easier to download the zip file text off Project Gutenberg, or just have a large file of the HTML stored.

Another helpful Google Documents function under "file" in edit mode is Word Count. This analyzes the documents word count and readability level. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it will give the grade level. You can analyze children's vintage texts with Word Count if you are curious about the reading level.

Here is another free place to turn documents into pdf files.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Alphabet Copywork for Preschool - Kindergarten



I'm having a bit of fun making copy work pages with vintage illustrations. These are free to share and print for personal use. Please give me a link back if you post these on the net. I'll do the entire alphabet as I find pictures.

Printing tips: I suggest that you click "print preview" on your computer before you print, and change the setting to "portrait" for best results. Also, you may have to change the print settings. Most are fine at 100% - lines at margins will be even upon printing.

Letter A

Letter B

Letter C

Letter D

Letter E

Letter F

Letter G

Letter H

Letter I

Letter J

Letter K

Letter L

Letter M

Letter N

Letter O

Letter P

Letter Q

Letter R

Letter S

Letter T

Letter U

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The Nest in the Honeysuckles, and other Stories/Project Gutenberg


Click here.


Published in 1855 by the American Sunday School Union in Eastern Pennsylvania. Moral tales and character education. "No books are published by the American Sunday-School Union without the sanction of the Committee of Publication, consisting of fourteen members, from the following denominations of Christians, viz. Baptist, Methodist, Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed Dutch. Not more than three of the members can be of the same denomination, and no book can be published to which any member of the Committee shall object."


This book reminds of the Pathway Mennonite readers. Good wholesome teaching stories; however this one also has discussions. There is one story for boys which discusses how to be a gentleman by following the example of George Washington. They just don't make books like this anymore.

The Summer Holidays/Project Gutenberg


Published in 1850, contains moral, science and nature teachings. I guess you could call it didactic children's fiction for early elementary. Click here.

Boys Adventure Series: The Outdoor Chums/Project Gutenberg