American History

Each family and each child is different, so there are many different ways to homeschool. Some like to homeschool using traditional textbooks. Some of us like to use a variety of "regular" books. The latter has been my choice for most subjects for my visually impaired son. So, where do we get the books? For literature and history we use the Library of Congress books.
See post about the Library of Congress books at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/2007/03/treasurehouse.html

Once your child is signed up for the Library of Congress tapes, you can go to the kids search page to choose books to request. Here is the link for the Library of Congress:
http://www.loc.gov/nls/

You can put in the search box such terms as: American History, American Explorers, U.S. History, American Revolution, Civil War, and American Inventors. Each book is described, along with the grade levels for which it is recommended.

We don't always get all our requests, so I request more books than I necessarily need. I have my son read a variety of books on various aspects of the history that we are studying that year. I also help him write at least one report per quarter about, or related to, one of the books he has read.

Of course, field trips and videos can also contribute to the history studies.

Free Books Online!

Many people have worked hard to get classical books onto the internet, so that they will be available to as many people as possible. These are books that are in the public domain. "Public domain" means that a book is past its copyright (usually published in the early 1900's and before).

Librivox provides books that are read orally by readers for your - or your child's - listening pleasure. If your computer is equipped to read an MP3 file, you can simply click and read. Alternatively, if you wish, you can download a file onto your hard drive.

If your student can use a computer with the aide of a screenreader, screen magnification, or refreshable Braille, you may also like the more plentiful options available in text at byGosh.com. Or you can copy the stories and Braille them yourself, print them for your child to read with a video magnifier, or use them in any educational way you wish. This site provides: Kid's Classics, Short Stories, Novels, Nonfiction, and Poems. For your older child or yourself, you may be interested particuarly in the Autobiography of Helen Keller. Also available is Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington.

Another resource I would like to share is the Gutenberg Project. These are files that you download onto your computer. I haven't tried them yet, as I had an overloaded computer until very recently; so I got used to using only things that we could just "click and read"; but the advantage here is the scope. The Gutenberg Project has 20,000 free books available. If you like the Gutenberg Project, you may like some of the curriculum suggestions of Miss Maggie at her Old Fashioned Education website.

Another resource where downloading is required is AudioBooksforFree.com. At this site, they will be happy to sell you downloads to your MP3 or other personal player; however, they also offer free downloads to your computer.

I hope something here will be helpful to you!

A Treasurehouse

Is your child a user of the Library of Congress, National Library Service Talking Books*, which are available on specially formatted tapes? And the many Braille books they offer?

Did you know that you can look for specific books -- and you can also look for specific categories of books? The Library of Congress search page for this has a drop-down box where you can choose Audio, Braille, or both.

Once you find out what books are available, you can request them from your local NLS library by phone or by email.

*("for the Blind and Physically Handicapped")