Education Teaching Books

I borrowed this book from a friend who also homeschools and I'm glad I did before purchasing it. I started skimming through it and saw so many (authors)opinions that I didn't even consider wasting my time reading the book thoroughly. When I read that "Nero was the worst emporer in the history of Rome" and that the "Romans HATED Jesus", I was really put off by the opinionated views, as well as the negativity. I want to teach my children how to form their own opinions about the history of the world and other subjects as well, this is exactly why I took them out of school. If your looking for a book that is a factal account of world history this is not the book for you. She should have titled the book "My Opinion of the Story of the World".

This comprehensive history program helps put today's conflicts in perspective. The chapters are short, and have lots of stories, legends, and myths to keep the child interested along with the more "information" parts. Both my 7-year-old and I learned a lot.

While we are not religious, I like that it includes the biblical information in "context," i.e. what was happening in egypt when Moses was born, etc. It gives a kind of cultural literacy in our predominantly Christian society. The book equally treats the birth of leaders/founders from other religions (Confucious, the Budda, etc.)

I recommend the activity book .The Story of the World: Activity Book 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Third Edition and tests The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Tests for Volume 1: Ancient Times (Story of the World: History for the Classical Child)as well. I let my daughter take "open book" tests when we're done with everything else in the chapter

I bought this book while homeschooling my two girls. The book was such good story that I began using it for evening reading to the girls before bed (that way I got to read it too!)

I found that the narrative format (story telling) was much more engaging than a collection of facts (as textbooks tend to do). The author selects information, individuals and nations and so obviously leaves out a lot of information (as noted in other reviews.) HOWEVER, I personally found this style VERY helpful since the story moves very fast this way and this comprehensive style makes it easier for readers and listeners to see the connections between cultures, nations, individuals etc.

There is an unavoidable tradeoff in writing about history: more detail provides greater sense of context, but makes it difficult to develop a comprehensive overview of the relationship between significant events and places. This book errs on the overview instead of detail and does that perspective VERY well. After reading "Story of the World" you can go and investigate the areas that interest you (or that you need to know) in more detail with books that take the "detail" perspective.

By the way, for home schooling, an old (Victorian) writer who does some great historical fiction on specific periods is G. A. Henty. His books are hard to find, but worth reading. His book on Hannibal (the general) called "The Carthagian," was a wonderful adventure which told me what I wanted to learn about that man and his wars.

Make history come alive-read Story of the World and then focus on the people, events and times that make you particularly interested and find books and movies that give you more details!

This is very well written. A great help to helping children understand History. It makes reading about the past fun and enjoyable.

I homeschooled our older daughter for six years back in the Dark Ages (the mid 90's). We switched over to learning about history chronologically, a relatively "new" idea then,after being convinced at a curriculum fair presentation of its sensibleness. It was the best advice we ever had, and that daughter is graduating college next year as a history major, and as president of her history honorary fraternity. (We used GreenLeaf Press' "Famous Men..." series, BTW.)
Now 10 years later we are taking our younger daughter out and will begin homeschooling her in 2nd grade. Enough of the public school "Twaddle"!!
"Famous Men" is too high a reading comprehension level for her, so I have been researching the plethora of chrono-history books out there to find an alternative. I followed the guidelines by Susan Wise Bauer of "The Well-Trained Mind" to use "The Story of the World" series.
However, after thumbing through it and comparing it with others, I do not feel it will hold the interest of my wiggly 7 year-old. The reading level seems minimally for 4th-grade. I wouldn't want to turn her off right from the start.
For me the benchmark is Hillyers' "A Child's History of the World." The writing style is so personal, clever, and engaging. But if you want a curriculum that has an even stronger Christian bent, and that teaches from a Biblical chronology, look into Linda Hobar's "The Mystery of History". This author comes closest to Hillyer's wit and child-friendliness, and yet does not dumb it down. There are age-appropriate activities built right into the book (no second purchase required), plus instructions on making your own timeline and historical figures to add as you read. (a la a famous Unit Study series). Like "History of the World", it is a several-volume series. You will probably have to go outside Amazon to find it. (http://www.themysteryofhistory.com/)
Another very Christian-based chrono-history curriculum is "Tapestry of Grace." Not as "warm and fuzzy" in my view, but lots of great multi-age teaching and activities that suppport a classical education. Appropriate through high school.

I didn't learn a lot in my AP Biology class; we rarely took our lessons seriously and our teacher gave us very few assignments. We learned material slowly--by the time May came around, we still had nine chapters left (out of 56) to read in the textbook!

Everyone in our class was pretty much flipping out over the AP test and how soon we had to take it. Nobody felt prepared. My friend actually reread the entire textbook in the week we had to review before the test. I procrastinated, and didn't want to go through that (our textbook was MASSIVE) so I read this cover-to-cover twice the weekend before the exam. Didn't need to take notes, just highlighted bits of information in spots where there were some excessively detailed descriptions.

This book has excellent diagrams, and except for occasional typos here and there, it wasn't at all difficult to read. I'd suggest it for anyone with a mediocre teacher, or people who know they're going to slack off until a week before the exam :) Reading the book once, slowly and thoroughly, and then rereading it again quickly (skimming through areas that I already knew pretty well) was the strategy that earned me a five on the exam this year! I love this book.

Several students in my class used the Princeton review book, which does spend more time explaining how the AP test works than this does, but in every other respect CliffsAP is far better than the other review book options.

It helped on class tests as well, because it explored concepts in a much clearer, easily understood way than the textbook did.

Absolutely would recommend anyone to buy it.

Yes I mean it, it really is as great as people are saying. I have always been weak at biology, and I was very nervous about taking it at the AP level especially since its so difficult, but I endured it. I got mostly Bs in that class, I got very lazy with senioritis even to the point that I skipped some chapters in the text and didnt even bother to pay attention in class or read summaries.

So although I was getting into lousy habits typical of high school seniors, I was still determined to get a good AP score. So, this book came in handy. I read the book starting in the beginning of May, and read through it by the eve of the exam. I was stressfully cramming the weekend before the test, reading through the densely packed information (very concise too), and I even skipped some parts (esp. animal phyla and plants). Its a great review, and I even learned some stuff that I was too lazy to read earlier that year. On Sunday night before the test, I still didnt know enough, and I felt screwed. But I knew I had to let go. As they say, if you've spent your time studying, you will be prepared.

I notice many people saying "this isnt a substitute for a textbook!" etc, and they are right. This alone will not get you an A in the class. It will not effectively teach you everything about bio. But it will definitely prepare you for a 5 on the AP exam, and its all I used to study for the exam. Most of my classmates used Barron's (good, but way too much info), but I knew this was better. So I called for my scores, and you guessed, I got a 5!!

If you're gonna use this, I highly recommend you start studying during spring break, or in mid April at the latest. That way, you can work your way through the book without stressing and cramming like I did, and maybe do better on any practice tests that count as grades. If this is all you're using for AP studying, make sure you READ (not skim) and understand everything (or almost everything) that this book tells you (look in your textbook if something isnt clear).

Peace out, and I hope this helps

This book is only only a great resource for the AP Biology exam, but it is also awesome to keep around especially for those who are going to take Biology courses in college. I had AP Biology two years ago when I was still in high school. I am currently taking a Biology course in college and I STILL go to this book to get clarification on things that I might have forgotten or want to update myself on, or even to help me prepare for an exam which I actually am doing now with this book! This is a great book to have especially when all you want is a simple map of what is going on instead of a wordy overdone paragraph!

I used this book and Dr. Sanghera's AP Biology Flashcard Quicklet to prepare for the AP Biology exam. I love both of these books and here are my reviews:
This book is cool. It's to the point and covers all the topics very concisely. So, that saves you lot of time that you can use elsewhere. However, it gives you all the info that you need to pass the AP Biology exam. It's short and sweet: material is covered in a reader-friendly way; easy to follow, understand, and retain. I used this book in combination with the following book: the Flashcard Quicklet.

AP Biology Flashcard Quicklet: Flashcards in a Book for Biology StudentsFlash cards are cool tools to review your preparation for the exam. I like this style of flash cards though: flash cards in a book. Loose flash cards could be annoying; they are hard to keep together...flash cards in a book are cool..no lost cards...easy to keep them together..Besides, in this book, the flash cards are very much self contained; good and easy to follow answers and explanations....You can use this flash card book with any AP Biology book or without any book...it's not tied to a specific book...The coverage of topics is quite comprehensive and there is lots of space to make your own notes...I love it...
I would say these are the only two books you need to pass the exam.

Great Resource. All you need is this book with Paul Sanghera's AP Biology Flashcard Quicklet, and you will be in very good shape to pass the AP Biology exam. This book is a no-nonsense, to-the-point guide to prepare for the exam, and Paul Sanghera's Biology Flashcard Quicklet is a great tool to quickly review your preparation. I have found that these two books together is a blast. Although the AP Biology Flashcard Quicklet is very self-contained and can be used with any Guide or without any Guide, but I will recommend, first read this book then use Sanghera's book.
Great book....highly recommended.

This is an excellent book. I listened to most of it during a long drive. It kept my attention without overwheleming me so I could drive safely. The information presented is informative and will change your perspective on a number of issuse in American history.

I was extremely disappointed in this book. I don't argue with the majority of what the author has to say, or most of his information, but it seems as if every other paragraph he's telling you why misinformation is a bad thing, how you've been duped, his opinion on why you've been duped, and what you should be doing about it. Not a bad idea in small doses, however, the non-stop rhetoric distracts from the information he's providing. I found the book tiring after a mere 50 pages.

If you've read nothing but history textbooks from high school, a lot of the information contained within these pages might surprise you, as well as keep you interested. If you're a history buff there's not a lot new here.

I don't dispute the author's basic message, only his seeming determination to repeat it ad nauseam. Do yourself a favor and read the intro, absorb the premise, look for your own primary sources (Compare, compare, compare!) and easier-to-digest secondary sources, then as the author seems to recommend--think it through for yourself.

I must begin by saying that the author has some very valid points to make...actually, about 4 or 5. The points are then belaboured and repeated to the point where you think: "Didn't he already say this three times already?". This book came out during the very popular, "everything is so dammed Eurocentric" sentiment bandwagon of the 90s. The question is whether you wish to teach kids to be so incredibly cynical as a learning foundation. It's a bit like reading a book on the world by Abbie Hoffman. There's truth in there somewhere but you have to filter out the ranting--and there's a lot of that! To be honest, the truth is probably somewhere in between.

My U.S. History teacher taught on this form of work... but to have it all down in writting to review and show to other people, or on hand for quotes... I love the quotations Loewen uses at the beginning of each chapter, and the reference given to each textbook he reviewed... and if you thought U.S. History was boring, it was because you were not told the truth. So get this book and learn the reality you were lied to about.

I want to focus on one particular aspect of this wonderful book; the description of the typical high school history textbooks. Looking back at the texts I realize that for an adult to even want to continue reading non-fiction after having to go through the bland, washed out, noncommital non narrative that is American high school history is a wonder in itself. He did a pretty good job of describing just how high school text books portray events and it's no wonder I never connected with the text; there was nothing to connect with.

This book was a quick and easy read that easliy lent itself to great lesson plans for the whole school year. I highly recommend this book if you are a first time writing teacher, or a novice writing teacher.

Oh man! This book is wonderful and is an execellent tool for getting at-risk students into writing. I love that this book has many examples to explain the written text so that one can understand what she is actually talking about. Lucy Calkins, watch out!

This is not one of those books that will collect dust on a shelf. It will be read and reread many times! It is a great resource for any teacher of writing! Thank you Aimee Buckler! This book contains a wealth of organized and practical strategies that will add to any writing program. Buckler gives teachers easy to model tools to pass on to their students. She gives many examples from literature that can be used as springboards for specific areas. I will never look at notebooks the same! What an inspirational addition to my teaching library!

I am torn by this book- the first half was full of ideas and lessons that I felt would help me improve writing instruction. The second half was not, at least for me. The writing is brillant and down-to-earth. Buckner has good ideas and great real world lessons.

The downside for me was the amount of time it would take for me to do everything- the ideas work best for self-contained teachers.

Do I recommend this book? Absolutely.

I heard about this book in a workshop, and decided to check it out for myself. Basically, I did find some good ideas on how to shake up my student's writing folder experience. However, most of the book was something I already knew and did.

I'd suggest this book for new ELA teachers, or ones who are rusty. However, it is always a good idea to keep looking for new ideas no matter how "old and dusty" a teacher you are.

I've used this book for three years in my graduate Curriculum Design courses for teachers. My students are practicing teachers who have seen dozens of lesson planning approaches and don't need some new theory just for the fun of it. But Wiggins and McTighe present a fresh perspective that doesn't so much replace as reposition traditional approaches. It boils down to what they call backward design--or identifying learning outcomes and assessments before addressing fun activities or how to meet state standards. This means the fun activities, state standards, and building or district level lesson plan formats all work with their system--they just remind us all to figure out the purpose of a lesson before committing the "twin sins" of merely entertaining the students or covering the material.

The book is excellent in its comprehensive scope of unit design. The size of the book is awkward but easy for making copies. The writing of the book is at times hard to read. Perhaps it's a bit too comprehensive in its scope and evaluation of unit design.

I bought this book because I needed to learn about UbD's for my new district this year. I thought that the book was well laid out and gave you a great framework for the UbD's but there was so much flab in between. There were a lot of pages that I felt like I could skip through. I do not know if that is because I graduated with an Education degree and therefore I knew most of the things they said in this book or if it because it repeats itself a lot. Overall I think this book is great for college students just starting in the profession.

We used this book in a condensed class and it was very useful although i would prefer to have had more of a variety of examples of the actual application of the theories.

I used this book as part of a graduate level class. The book is quite informative and gives great ideas on how to teach for results instead of just covering necessary material. Basically, it tells teachers to start with goals, then work backward to the introduction and teaching of the material. There are other similar strategies out there, but this is very specific as to curriculum design. It gets repetitive, but it is useful overall.

Book was received promptly and in excellent condition. Very pleased in this service. Will use again.

This item was ordered as a new product and received in excellent condition. Unfortunately it took weeks to receive it. This is not the first time I have had this problem with Amazon.

This is a very interesting Bible study by Beth Moore. The homework is different from any of her other studies. You will learn to personalize the psalms of ascent. The lectures are outstanding on the Jewish feasts and their application to our lives.

Another great study by Beth Moore. the shorter 7 week legnth was perfect for us to do over the summer and many in our group are new to Beth Moore so 7 weeks was a great intro.

Beth Moore Studies are absolutely wonderful. Our all-women Bible Study Group are almost Beth Moore junkies. We have done several of her studies and have never been disappointed. Amazon.com was really quick to send it to me as well. I received mine before others that ordered else where but on the same day. Thank you Amazon.com for the great transaction. I will only order from Amazon from now on and Thank you Beth Moore....keep them coming. The Daniel Study was fabulous too!

Another great Beth Moore study. Not as long as the rest of her studies.

I got so much from this study of the feasts of the Lord as told in the Psalms of Assent. I also loved writing the Psalms in my own words. As always Beth was so on fire in the videos. You cannot help but grow in your love of God thru this study.

The book I ordered was exactly what I needed for my course and was in great condition as the seller said it would be. It was at a great price too. Shipping was quick too! I would buy from them again if they have a book I need. ^_^

This book was in excellent condition and I received it in a good time frame.

This book came new,however, I guess it is my fault not knowing what my lab series is. I saw that the book is paperback, but i assumed it would at least be bound.For those who are just returning back to college after 7 years for grad school, just know this book will have to be put in a binder.On the flip side it is whole punched already for you. Other than this, very smooth transaction and fast shipping. Great seller-Thanks!

the book is what I need for class, cheeper than the book store and showed up at my door! What more could you ask for? I guess there is good information, or that is what my teacher said!

Although I did not use the 10th edition due that it was delivered to a neighbor, I borrowed a 9th edition that is similar. It was an excellent resource for teaching. It has practical guidelines for class prep, updated guidelines for students with disabilities and much much more. I highly recommend this book for teachers of all levels. You may not be taking this class; Educational Psychology, the book is practical to use throughout a school year.

I am not a big fan of math but I thought I give it a try. Since I have the book, I am practicing on frequent bases and the tricks really work. Beside many hours of calculation practice the book also provides some nice stories about different lightning calculators.

It's fascinating to learn ways to easily and quickly get answers to spur-of-the-moment mathematical calculations without the need for pencil and paper. Besides a I-wonder-why-this-wasn't-taught-in-school reverse technique for mentally, quickly and easily adding, subtracting and multiplying, it's especially neat to be able to determine the day of the week for any calendar date in any century! The author shows how and makes it simple. The techniques work better for those who know well their multiplication tables and their sums. If one doesn't, getting answers is doable but takes longer.

This book is great! This book teaches you tricks that really work and really makes you wonder how people came up with them.

One thing I wanted to reccommend - Although this book is for mental math, going through it, I always kept a pencil and paper by my side - some of the concepts/tricks were a little abstract to simply read and absorb the first time around, so they needed a couple of examples (on paper) to solidify the 'trick' for me. After I worked out a couple of problems on pen and paper, I was able to grasp the ability to do them mentally.

One of the best things this book teaches is guesstimation and more importantly, how to forumulate your 'guesses' so you are not so far off from target. I had been doing guesstimation for ages but the methods mentioned in the book were pretty good guidelines for my future guesses.

This book is a must have for anyone that is afraid of numbers because these simple tricks will make difficult math problems a little easier to deal with. The time saving techniques this book is filled with can shave seconds off of your problem solving skills which, come test time (math test, SAT, any test which involves math), you'll be thinking about this book and thanking the author.

This book is very well written. I have always done well in math classes. I never really enjoyed mathematics though. This book makes what seems impossible possible. If you ever wanted to be able to square a number like 72 in your head in seconds this is the book for you.

I recently purchased this book after a stranger in a bookstore suggested it. I'm already impressed. There are quite a few 'speed math' books out there, but this one is easily accessible to everyone and is intended to help with everyday life. I'm fairly advanced in college-level math and I intuitively knew some of the suggestions in the book, but it has helped me brush up, learn new things, and most of all learn how to do it BETTER.

I highly recommend this book to students because it is a tremendous help to know how to perform quick math in your head. Even if you have a calculator, just knowing what to expect for the outcome helps you perform faster and serves as a double-check when you need it. And knowing how to do math quickly is essential on a standardized test like the SAT. Even if you know how to do all the problems correctly, the time limit can cripple you--so do yourself a favor and get this book.

Some of the topics covered in this book include 'basic' to 'advanced' multiplication, mental division, guesstimation, calculating the day of the week, and memorizing numbers through mnemonics.

This book is appropriate for every caring parent. I am a homeschooling mother of three and I can't recommend it highly enough. After reading the library's copy I had to buy my own copy, plus several for friends and family members who have kids. It is full of high-quality info and ideas about reading to children, and about them ultimately reading to themselves. There is also an organized and valuable "recommended books" list in the back. Wonderful!

I am a big advocate of teaching children reading early on by reading great stories and discussing them- this is the beginning of developing comprehension skillls and love for reading. Two pieces of children's literature with fabulous teaching guides for parents and or teachers written by two teachers are a must-have : Life's Little Lessons: An Inch-By-Inch Tale of Successand The Big Squeal: A Wild, True, and Twisted Tail.The stories and messages are wonderful and the bonus reading guide is invaluable. Read all three aloud and teach your children early these important skills.

I think that the current title is not general enough for this book. Perhaps it should be called "Parent: Take education into your own hands" or "Don't depend on school to make up for 5 years (0-5) of sitting in front of the TV" or "How to spend quality time with your kids," or just plainly "Turn of the TV and Read Aloud to your Kids."

The main premise of the book is that reading aloud to young children is the single most important thing you can do to help your child have a brighter [academic] future. These days parents put so much money into trivial things like TV, Baby Einstein DVDs, a million kid activities (like soccer) flash cards, and trying to force really young children to sit in day long in preschool programs (with the hopes future academic advantages).

Trelease tells us what every parent should know: the most important thing is to spend quality time with kids. Read to them and tell them stories. He spends much time explaining the perils of early age TV viewing (especially when TV is over-prescribed, 2 hours + per day).

He also warns against trying to create an early reader. Children are better off (according to the book) spending the early years (0-5) listening to books, rather than trying to read boring "See Spot Run. See Jane Run" type books (I was appalled to see that these books are still sold: they turn people away from reading).

Finally, Trelease gives a really nice, quality reading list (with reviews) of great read aloud books. I particularly found his lists on chapter books, for 4 year olds and pre-kindergartners, to be a helpful beginning to read aloud chapter books.

He indirectly points to a another problem: forcing preschoolers to adhere to structured learning routines at the expense of building creativity. In other words, it is better to let a child play, listen to stories, and explore; rather than sit in a classroom setting designed for children much older. For more on these ideas, see another good book that has a similar philosophy: "Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn-- And Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less" by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Diane Eyer, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff.

It is worthwhile to read "The Read Aloud Handbook" if you are a parent, grandparent, or teacher.

My daughters teacher referred me to this book. It let's you know which books are good to read to your kids at the different age levels. Some books I never read when I was a child. I look forward to reading to my children.

This book should be purchased by all parents if for no other reason than the ability to reference a large database of great books at one time. Well worth the money!