We were gifted several sets of Usborne visual encyclopedias and my kids will sit there and just read them for fun 😆. We also have had good luck with the other more specific Usborne books like Medieval World and the Encylopedia of World History.
These are really appropriate for probably middle school and up, but I remember using Joy Hakim’s Story of US series for US History and the visual encyclopedia style was much more engaging than a normal textbook.
(My kids also are obsessed with any animal encyclopedias we find — Dinopedia is a library favorite 😝)
I don't know why we don't think of visual encyclopedias more often as "school" appropriate, for elementary school, at least. They're just wonderful entrees to all sorts of topics and they're so attractive. It was a real epiphany for me when I realized that they could be used as textbooks, as the backbone text of a class.
Our boys (mind you, 4 and almost 3 years old) became obsessed with it when they saw it at my parent's house.... and so they bought us a copy a while back. haha
A dear friend once gave me a copy of the cathedral book with a note about how rearing children is like building a cathedral. It is a beautiful metaphor.
I love this idea and wish it had been a part of my early years education- maybe I would have enjoyed science and history more! You’re so right about context. It’s really hard to do anything but memorise facts for a test without context.
Have you seen the Welcome to the Museum books? They’re gorgeous and I think would fall into this category.
No, I haven't! But I just looked them up and they look so beautiful! I'm sure my children would enjoy these.
Context seems to make facts stick in your mind after the test is over, don't you think? Otherwise the mind thinks the facts have served their purpose when the test is done and can just let them fade away...
We actually haven't used tests yet in our homeschooling (except for spelling). I intend to use them in a systematic way in high school in order to prepare our kids for college and other testing situations, but when dealing with a "class" of only four kids, it's easy to use more personalized types of assessment. Such a gift of homeschooling!
Oh my gosh, yes. I don’t remember anything from all those tests I got 100% on in grade school! (Weirdly the tests did start to help in college as memory aids, but probably because they were comprehensive essays and not fill in the blank facts.)
My husband is a trained historian and it’s been nice to learn context even if for a very specific period in British history :)
YES! Visual encyclopedias are just the best. I'm such a visual learner, and actually SEEING things makes a huge difference for me. The new editions of the DK encyclopedias are absolutely gorgeous - we got "Nature's Treasures" a few months ago, and I love the design.
Love this post! We enjoyed the Eyewitness books down through the years. The one on Ancient Egypt was well worn and had to be taped together it was looked so often! 😂 I truly enjoyed THE American history series: A History of US by Joy Hakim. Her writing style is engaging and enthusiastic and the pages are loaded with real photos maps and drawings. Not exactly in the vein of visual encyclopedias but really engaging are the Holling books like Tree in the Trail and Minn of the Mississippi - they mix geography and natural history together so beautifully. The drawings are fabulous.
My last thought is this: just nonchalantly leave these books laying out. If my kids ever suspected they were “educational” they wouldn’t touch them outside of school time! 😂 but if they saw me looking at them on my own they would come over and pick them up just to see what I was so interested in!
Oh, I'm so glad you brought up this approach! I sometimes hear it called "strewing." I also introduce materials in this way and sometimes it is very effective. I know that attentive unschooling parents are often expert strewers, too!
We read Minn of the Mississippi a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. And you are the second person to recommend Joy Hakim! I'll have to look into her books.
Veritas. Thanks for the Macaulay recommendations! I grew up perusing the DK eyewitness books and they were certainly formative in a helpful way. My kids LOVE the old Golden Book encyclopedia sets (there's one for elementary grades and one for "Highschool & Home") that were published in the 60s and we snagged for free via our local freecycle. Such a blessing. They pore over them so much and, while admittedly some of the information is a little dated (e.g. city populations), they've learnt so many interesting things about the last few millenia. : D The person giving them away had treasured them for decades as he too cherished spending hours just picking them up to enjoy as a child.
Yes, encyclopedias are wonderful for children! Perfect for browsing, and a great introduction to the wide array of topics out there. I have lots of found memories of them, too!
We were gifted several sets of Usborne visual encyclopedias and my kids will sit there and just read them for fun 😆. We also have had good luck with the other more specific Usborne books like Medieval World and the Encylopedia of World History.
These are really appropriate for probably middle school and up, but I remember using Joy Hakim’s Story of US series for US History and the visual encyclopedia style was much more engaging than a normal textbook.
(My kids also are obsessed with any animal encyclopedias we find — Dinopedia is a library favorite 😝)
So many of the Usborne books are wonderful!
I don't know why we don't think of visual encyclopedias more often as "school" appropriate, for elementary school, at least. They're just wonderful entrees to all sorts of topics and they're so attractive. It was a real epiphany for me when I realized that they could be used as textbooks, as the backbone text of a class.
THE WAY THINGS WORK!
Our boys (mind you, 4 and almost 3 years old) became obsessed with it when they saw it at my parent's house.... and so they bought us a copy a while back. haha
I love the Mammoth Science book, too! The demonstrations with the mammoth are so whimsical but also helpful.
Have you seen his books on cathedrals and castles??
I have not. Clearly I haven't been in the market, and just riding out gifts at this point. haha
A dear friend once gave me a copy of the cathedral book with a note about how rearing children is like building a cathedral. It is a beautiful metaphor.
I had not looked into the related ones, so thank you for bringing those to my attention!
I mean, your boys are still a bit young for all this stuff!
oooooh we have birthdays coming up so this is great! Also, I'm
Have you ever seen Theodore Gray's elements book (and associated content)?
https://home.theodoregray.com/printed-products
A friend gave the Elements magnets to my seven year old son, and he loves them (and I have never been so interested in Chemistry as I am right now!)
If we ever homeschool, I'm going to be relying hard on my Substack community 😂
WOW! Those books look incredible. The Mammoth helped us do elements last year but we will certainly have to do them again...
I love this idea and wish it had been a part of my early years education- maybe I would have enjoyed science and history more! You’re so right about context. It’s really hard to do anything but memorise facts for a test without context.
Have you seen the Welcome to the Museum books? They’re gorgeous and I think would fall into this category.
No, I haven't! But I just looked them up and they look so beautiful! I'm sure my children would enjoy these.
Context seems to make facts stick in your mind after the test is over, don't you think? Otherwise the mind thinks the facts have served their purpose when the test is done and can just let them fade away...
We actually haven't used tests yet in our homeschooling (except for spelling). I intend to use them in a systematic way in high school in order to prepare our kids for college and other testing situations, but when dealing with a "class" of only four kids, it's easy to use more personalized types of assessment. Such a gift of homeschooling!
Oh my gosh, yes. I don’t remember anything from all those tests I got 100% on in grade school! (Weirdly the tests did start to help in college as memory aids, but probably because they were comprehensive essays and not fill in the blank facts.)
My husband is a trained historian and it’s been nice to learn context even if for a very specific period in British history :)
Memorization is definitely a great tool and can lead to longterm retention. But it helps to ground it in something outside of the words alone!
I feel like I should know this already, but what is your husband's field?
Yes! A more holistic approach is much better.
Reformation/ Elizabethan history. It’s been fun to get some context in real life, visiting historical sites etc.!
Boy, I really dearly hope that some day we can get him and Chris together! (While you and I go have coffee!)
Yes!!
YES! Visual encyclopedias are just the best. I'm such a visual learner, and actually SEEING things makes a huge difference for me. The new editions of the DK encyclopedias are absolutely gorgeous - we got "Nature's Treasures" a few months ago, and I love the design.
They are so beautiful and engaging. And informative!
The DK/Eyewitness Cat and Ancient Egypt ones were St. Nick's gifts to two of my kids this year!
Well done, St. Nick!
Have you seen "The Symbols of the Church" by Maurice Dilasser?
Oh, my. That looks very cool!!
Love this post! We enjoyed the Eyewitness books down through the years. The one on Ancient Egypt was well worn and had to be taped together it was looked so often! 😂 I truly enjoyed THE American history series: A History of US by Joy Hakim. Her writing style is engaging and enthusiastic and the pages are loaded with real photos maps and drawings. Not exactly in the vein of visual encyclopedias but really engaging are the Holling books like Tree in the Trail and Minn of the Mississippi - they mix geography and natural history together so beautifully. The drawings are fabulous.
My last thought is this: just nonchalantly leave these books laying out. If my kids ever suspected they were “educational” they wouldn’t touch them outside of school time! 😂 but if they saw me looking at them on my own they would come over and pick them up just to see what I was so interested in!
Oh, I'm so glad you brought up this approach! I sometimes hear it called "strewing." I also introduce materials in this way and sometimes it is very effective. I know that attentive unschooling parents are often expert strewers, too!
We read Minn of the Mississippi a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. And you are the second person to recommend Joy Hakim! I'll have to look into her books.
I love this idea so much! Thank you for sharing, Dixie!
Glad you enjoyed it, Mary-Rita!
Wow - these are great recommendations (as always!) Thanks Dixie!!!
Thank you, Marie!
Veritas. Thanks for the Macaulay recommendations! I grew up perusing the DK eyewitness books and they were certainly formative in a helpful way. My kids LOVE the old Golden Book encyclopedia sets (there's one for elementary grades and one for "Highschool & Home") that were published in the 60s and we snagged for free via our local freecycle. Such a blessing. They pore over them so much and, while admittedly some of the information is a little dated (e.g. city populations), they've learnt so many interesting things about the last few millenia. : D The person giving them away had treasured them for decades as he too cherished spending hours just picking them up to enjoy as a child.
Yes, encyclopedias are wonderful for children! Perfect for browsing, and a great introduction to the wide array of topics out there. I have lots of found memories of them, too!