Update on our Literature Selections From Angelicum.

As you all know, we are using The Angelicum Academy for our curriculum and lesson plan provider. It is a challenging program with LOTS of choices that could easily overwhelm anyone. Heavily based on the Good Books program, part of our school days consist of reading from their literature selections.

I must admit that we are a bit slow at getting through the books. Many are long (Alice in Wonderland), while others can be nicely accomplished in a week or so (Just So Stories). I have come to the realization that we will probably not get through all the books that are suggested and that's OK. They even suggest picking a few and going from there. No pressure!

The best and easiest to start off with are Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. This book is great because it's just a bunch of short stories that you can easily spread out into a 2 week (or more!) period. There are some language issues with some, but I like to keep everything uncensored for Marco in the fine literature department.

Aesop's Fables is another good book to begin with due to the short stories. The moral is many times beyond the understanding of the kids, but they get the gist of it. They'll remember something about it later on and say something like, "It's not good to be greedy, right?" I also bought an Aesop's Fables coloring book by Dover to accompany the reading and the kids like to color while I read and explain.

The Fairy Tale books by Andrew Lang are also a favorite around here. These are sometimes good as bedtime stories, although some may be a little scary. A very doable book!

As for Alice in Wonderland, Water Babies, and Jungle Book...we haven't exactly started on those yet. I'm planning on beginning the Jungle Book first within the week. We'll see how it goes!

The links to the left of the page provide a direct link to the books on Amazon.