Reading good, living books has always been a part of our history studies and really, just part of what we do.
At the moment, we have been reading through some fantastic books for history. Our core book has been "The Puritan Revolution" by C Walter Hodges. Hodges is known for his great illustrations but this series on the "Story of Britain" combines his skill as an illustrator with his abilities as a writer. He has great passages of writing, explaining some of the complexity of the tensions between Parliament, the King and religious factions with relative ease. He highlights the problems of too much power being concentrated in the one place or person, and in the space of 64 pages, is able to build a good picture of the struggles involved.
Added to this we’ve looked at some books on John Bunyan. Zac has enjoyed the level at which "Traitor in the Tower" is set and has been keen to read more of this Trailblazer series in his own time. We have a few of the books in this series already but I am now tracking down more…
I recently bought a book on Robert Boyle just out of interest as I have enjoyed all of John Hudson Tiner’s books. Little did I realise, not being a sciency type, that he was a contemporary of John Bunyan and much of the history in England at this time is reflected in the biography! The timing could not have been better and I am going to pass that book on to the boys to read next week.
Then, Zac decided to take a break from Pathway readers for his read aloud to me and asked if he could use "Ten Boys Who Made History". Of course, that was fine with me and the first story this week was of Samuel Rutherford. a Scot who also lived during this time period and was part of the assembly in Westminster that put together those great confessions of faith. It is truly amazing how God causes these events to conspire! We are certainly gaining a rounded view as we linger a little longer in the mid 1600s in England.
So, go and check out my bookshelf – left hand margin to see all the main books we are reading at the moment. Adam is getting into Encyclopedia Brown after some gentle encouragement from Miss Libby but maybe that is an entry for another time.
What books are you reading right now?
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