Great Books To Study Canadian History

Great Books To Study Canadian History – a guide to studying Canadian History Through Historical Fiction
Written by Bonnie Landry
Published at Excellent Resources

About the book

A perfect compliment to the Canada Series for more practice.

​Great Books to Study Canadian History is a guide to studying Canadian History through historical fiction. The purpose of this book is to fill the gap that exists in not only cataloging the sources for studying Canadian history, but to also whet the appetite for studying history as a springboard to other family studies. The book includes general Canadian History books, chronology of historical literature, timelines, poetry and links to other resources

My Thoughts

I discovered this book before our homeschool conference back in April.   I was curious about it and made a mental note to check it out while at the conference.   I liked what I saw but our budget was already allocated this year for other resources that were needed including some that I purchased at the Excellent Resources table.   A few weeks after the conference, I was given a beautiful book on Canadian history from a friend and I got reminded of the Great Books To Study Canadian History which would nicely complement the reading of the book I had received.   

Well, today I am presenting the new book Great Books to Study Canadian History which has just been released at Excellent Resources this year.   In this book, you will find literature suggested to complement your study of Canada and how to use them in your Canadian history studies.   It didn’t take me long to start reading and discovering this little gem.   Now, before I review this book, let me specify that it doesn’t contain books on Canadian history curriculum.   Instead, it is packed with titles of literature based on the historical eras of Canada.  Before I share my thoughts on the book, let’s check out the table of contents together:

• Chapter One: Studying Canadian History Through Literature
• Chapter Two: How to Read a Book so It Becomes the Curriculum
• Chapter Three: General Books About Canadian History
• Chapter Four: A Chronological List of Historical Literature
• Chapter Five:  Timelines
• Chapter Six:  Poetry and Artists
• Chapter Seven: General Suggestions for Canadian Content in Other Areas
• Chapter Eight: Resources – This chapter gives a list of suppliers and websites where you can find the suggested books included in this book.

I find the book very informative as the author will guide you on how to study Canadian history using literature and guide you in creating a timeline for your studies.   The list of books suggested to read are extensive to say the least.  Every titles mentioned in this product is listed by chronological events through Canadian history.   I quickly saw titles I was familiar with but also realized that other titles could be added to it.   For example,  I couldn’t find the books from Eric Walters that are linked to the history in Canada or the two Canadian based series published from Scholastic.  

The author also mentions the importance of complementing the reading of an historical novel with some research on the subject in an encyclopedia if the child wants to learn more about it.   I totally support this as I do believe on the importance of learning more on a specific subject.  However, she strongly encourage the use of World Book and after checking out the website, I was surprised to discover the price tag attached to it.   As homeschooler, I know the importance of budgeting and being wise with the money we have.  Having an husband who is a contractor makes this an higher importance for us.   Spending that much when you can access Wikipedia for free on the internet doesn’t make sense for me.   She did mentioned the use of online encyclopedia but quickly highlighted the fact that snuggling together around a computer is not an easy thing to do.  However, with the tablets being more and more popular in homeschool families I think it is feasible.   Another option would be to hook-up a computer to your television set and surf the internet on the big screen television.  That’s how we are set up in our living room and the kids can easily do research on the big screen where I can supervise rapidly what they are doing.    Knowing that Wikipedia is recognized as one of the best online encyclopedia on the internet, I choose to use this free resources instead of spending so much on a paper copy of an encyclopedia.

One other thing that the author has done in this product is to highlight the books that were specifically for grade 7 and up.   If you see a * next to a title of the book, it indicates that it is a suggestion for a core study for upper levels of middle and high school.  She also specify the kind of book listed by indicating if it is a fiction (F) or non fiction (NF).  Book keys will also help you to determine is the book is suitable for your kids – Level (1) for early readers, Level (2) for fluent readers, and Level (3) for advanced readers or adults.  This resource is well documented and will guide you in selecting the books that would be perfect for your family.   Finally, if you desire to have a look at the content of this book before deciding to purchase it, a preview is available on the Excellent Resources website.  

Do I think this book is a great tool to own?   Absolutely.   It will guide you in incorporating fabulous books to read while studying Canada.  I would also use a curriculum about Canada alongside with these historical fictions.  This resource is definitively a great reference to have and use in your homeschool.    It will help you identify the historical novels you could read with your kids – no matter the ages they are.  In order to complete it, I would also research other suggestions offered by Canadian homeschoolers on various blogs and Pinterest boards as well.  

Great Books to Study Canadian History is available for purchase directly from Excellent Resources in a Coil-Bound Book for the price of 15$ (Cdn).  Click on the Add to Cart in order to purchase it.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Excellent Resources for sending me the above mentioned title for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

All About Canada

All About Canada
From Excellent Resources – the Canadian distributor of IEW

About the product

Suitable for Grades 2-4, All Things Canada will teach progressively through all nine units of the Blended Structure and Style (Excellence in Writing) program using fun facts and quirks about Canada.    The lessons are done via online videos which guide your child for each lessons.   This product will begin with the key-word outlining and writing from notes and slowly incorporate other notions from the program as the child progress with the lessons. The product contains 21 lessons with video chapter teaching done online. 

Our Thoughts

My second son, Dominic, was seeing his oldest brother using the Excellence in Writing product in his homeschool and asked me if he could do it as well.   Knowing that he was working on his spelling and not wanting to overwhelm it with the IEW curriculum, I decided to approach Excellent Resources to see if we could review a product more at his level.  They graciously offered the product All About Canada for us to use and review as part of our homeschool.

Keep in mind that I was already familiar with the IEW writing curriculum when Dominic started using the All Things Canada.   So far, he has worked on six of the lessons and he perseveres in writing.    As we advanced in the lessons, I had taken notes on the pros and cons I could see;

PROS:

• This Vid-E product allows the younger kids to be expose to the IEW structure and way of doing things which will give them advantages when they arrive at the time to use the main product of IEW.
• The kids will learn interesting facts about our country, Canada, while using this product.
• Each video lessons have a fun video to watch before hand on the subject covered in the lesson.
• The lessons are shorts and flexible.   For example: we usually split the lesson and the writing portion on two separate days.
• The program is easy to use and depending of the age of your child, he/she could easily watch the lesson without your help and follow the guidelines of the online teacher.
• The end of the book is introducing the research reports and creative writing which will come in handy in upper levels.

CONS:

• Contrary to what the title is assuming, not all the texts on which the kids will work on are about Canada.   One text guide the child through the Golden Goose story and a few are based on Winnie the Pooh stories.   However, though the story of Winnie the Pooh has Canadian origins, none of the exercises included in this book mention it.
• Sometimes during the video portion of the lesson, the teacher is hiding part of the presentation behind. 
• All the lessons are made on PowerPoint with the teacher speaking.
• The videos are a bit pixelated when we watch them on our big screen television (which is hooked on a computer and has internet access).
• One specific extra video from Heritage Canada was having issues.  More specifically the video and the speech were out of sync.
• One specific lesson had echo in it and the video skipped at the 2nd point in the Key-Word Outline.   As well, elsewhere in the video, the teacher missing covering an aspect of the fifth KWO.

This curriculum is a good introduction to the IEW program if you want to see what it will teach as a general idea without spending a fortune right away.   I am very pleased with the efforts of my son while working on his assignments with All Things Canada and I know that he will only continue to ameliorate his writing techniques as we complete the lessons.  I particularly love the flexibility in taking the lessons.  I usually do at least one lesson per week and some weeks I was able to put it aside because of our busy schedule.    When at first, the thought of writing would discourage my son, he is not complaining anymore and even asks me if he could do an extra lesson during a specific week sometimes.   The video quality could be better but in the end, I realize that my son is also learning through it. 

We also have a white board in our dining room and when comes the time to write his sentences, I offered him to write them on the board so he can have the proper spelling for his words.   Knowing that he is advancing in his spelling curriculum but he is not quite ready to be independent, he agreed and I dutifully write his own sentences while he recompose the writing assignment.   We also have tools to help him embellish the text by using –ly adverbs and strong verbs.   He is slowly learning to use the tools we have while doing his writing assignment.   Seeing that he is only at the 6th lesson and that I see how well he is improving in his writing skills, I know that this product would help many homeschoolers in incorporating more writing in their lessons.    I have realized through the years that my 2nd born is not learning the same way as his older brother.  As a matter of fact, each of my kids are learning differently.  My learning to read was a struggle for him and I realized that he had issues with his spelling – which is why we are working diligently on it.   Consequently, writing was not a subject that he liked very much when we started grade 4 back in the Fall.   But since we got the All Things Canada (which I received in the late Fall 2013), he is more interested and even used what he learned during his writing lessons when he converse with people.    Finally, I appreciate that this product is using the same Blended Structure and Style program from IEW as it give a springboard for my kids when they will be in age of using the IEW products.

The price of this product is much more reasonable than the IEW’s one and will give you a better idea of what you can expect in the IEW program.   The coil-bound book is priced at 69.95$ while the downloadable version is available for 49.95$.  Both versions are available directly from the Excellent Resources website.  

Excellent Resources also have two other products with online lessons.   History of Canada is suitable for grades 4-6 and the student will write based on texts with Canadian Historical content.  Canada; Neighbours with a Difference is geared for students in grades 5-8 (and higher) and will provide writing lessons more Canadian content exercises.  I have not used these two products yet but would love to explore History of Canada in the future.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Excellent Resources for sending me the above mentioned title for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.