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JennGM
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| Posted: June 11 2010 at 9:24am | IP Logged
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I know these are recommended in MODG for the younger years. I remember enjoying these.
I've been spending some time at Valerie's Living Books which has a wonderful collection of lists (I love lists) of good books.
I noticed she's not too fond of COFA:
Valerie wrote:
| I do not collect Childhood of Famous Americans for my children, but have a list available for you as a courtesy. Many homeschoolers enjoy this old series. (They are mostly fictionalized and provide very little information regarding the known achievements of the characters that they cover, but they are clean, fun reading for kids.) |
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Her list is helpful.
What do you think of this series? What are your favorite? Do you like to have the older versions? Are the newer reprints edited?
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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ALmom
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| Posted: June 11 2010 at 10:30am | IP Logged
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Jennifer:
I felt a lot like Valerie did and was disappointed at first. The books are fine, and have some tidbits about these famous people in their childhood, but they really don't touch on the major accomplishments and such. Most of it is imagining how they felt or extrapolating from some of the legends. Also, I found the male Childhood of... much better than the female ones. It may be the female ones we read - but they always had the female characters being unhappy about femininity - and going off to do what the guys did. It felt a little woman lib agenda to me - but then again it may have been a hypersensity on my part. They are usually pretty easy to get a hold of. Maybe look at them before you buy. If you are with MODG, ask them how they use them. They may have a particular plan - ie use it as a jumping off point to research what is fact and what is fiction.
As a great book to read, literature wise for the elementary ages, these are just fine. As core history, they would be inadequate. MODG tends to combine history and literature so they have literature books and history books all woven together. You should know that while I am very fond of historical fiction, I don't like it mixed in with my history - though we often read these at the same time to have a mood or feel. I like my history to be distinctly history. So some of my distaste may be my preference in history.
I'm not super familiar with MODG elementary, but we tried their high school level at one point. Honestly, I have seen it work very well for some people, for us, we just couldn't unsort the fact from the fiction very well. I wasn't terribly fond of that. But I did this a long, long time ago. I just saw a written paper from someone doing this program now - and I was impressed. Obviously something works and they may have instructions on how to use this more effectively in their advising which we never used.
You should be aware that the Childhood books are not full of very much history. They are great stories.
Janet
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 11 2010 at 10:35am | IP Logged
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Thank you, Janet. I should elaborate that this is for 2nd grade in her Designing. There is no formal history, but just reading some of this literature to be aware of some important figures of history. She points out George Washington, Lincoln, Betsy Ross, etc.
It's been a long time since I read these for myself, but I tended toward the female biographies and had the same impression. They were bucking the culture and a bit feminist in nature.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 11 2010 at 10:36am | IP Logged
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Oops, hit return too soon. What books at this reading level would be good for an overall enjoyment reading of American figures?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: June 11 2010 at 12:11pm | IP Logged
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I read most of these biographies in 3rd and 4th grade. Janet is quite right that they don't tell much about the adult accomplishments of the people, but they did spur me to read more about that in an encyclopedia. I always found it encouraging to learn that fairly ordinary people, who had once been children like me, went on to pull together their experiences and personality traits and do something of lasting value. So, I think their benefit depends on how you use them, what connections you make. I found them thoroughly enjoyable.
Peace,
Nancy
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: June 11 2010 at 12:28pm | IP Logged
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I read a few and I think my oldest has read some as well.. and what I liked is that it does give you a bit of a glimpse of childhood during those historical times.. that's pretty rare in standard history books.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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AmandaV
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Bumping this up.. I've been wondering about the fact/fiction aspects of this series and knew there would be something on 4real. Jennifer, I think you ask all my questions a year earlier.  My son is a very good reader, and is able to focus on a book for a long period of time. For his free reading, we let him go. For our formal studies, I'm going to work more on "slow reading". Jennifer, did you end up using these? I had seen them recommended in DYOCC and MODG, which I had been using one guide (among many), so I bought a few for my son about a month ago. Reading about Neil Armstrong spurred an interest in balsa wood gliders, which resulted in gliders for the family and a lot of family fun. He also thought it was neat that Armstrong would have read about the Wright brothers, whom he had been reading about in library books. So that was really neat. Then a while later he picked up the one about Edison, just last week, and read that in a day or so. So I ordered 6 COFA along with 2 Landmark biographies used on cathswap. He really enjoys the COFA, but doesn't really like when I mention that they are fictionalized, or partially untrue, about the childhoods. So I'm torn whether it is good to have him read them when he is sensitive to the truth aspect at this age. Of course, if he reads further about the figures and then ends up reading more fact, that is a good thing, but is the confusion about their childhood okay? Will he have fact and fiction mixed up in his head? Of course, even with autobiographies it is hard to know when your history is completely accurate... and these seem to be great narratives.
Sorry for the long post. Any more thoughts from those whose children read them? I briefly previewed, but I don't think I read them as a child.
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Amanda
wife since 6/03, Mom to son 7/04, daughter 2/06, twin sons 6/08 and son 7/11, son 1/2014
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JennGM
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Amanda,
My son seemed to skip the COFA and is now into Landmark and Vision books and Jean Fritz. So while I have a few of the titles on my shelf, I didn't plan them, nor did he gravitate to them. That doesn't mean he won't -- he's a voracious reader, and if it's on the shelf or library bin, he usually tries to read it.
I know he likes to know if it's based on fact or fiction, or a fictionalized story, so I always tell up front. I remember being devastated when I found out the Little House books were complete biographies. I argued with the librarian over that (at 3rd or 4th grade, I think).
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Jennifer G. Miller
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imcatholic
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| Posted: July 30 2011 at 11:47am | IP Logged
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I actually sold all of mine. I just wasn't that impressed. If I was "forcing" my sons to read I might as well use something a little more accurate.
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Beth
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Childhood of Famous Americans
