Customer Reviews

A Literary Education

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2 star:		(1)
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Believe it or not, I actually carry this book with me whereever I go. It's small enough that I can keep it in my purse and use it as a quick reference to excellent, literary books whenever I'm eyeing the used books at the latest library book sale or browsing the book stacks at the local antique store. I have a good friend who keeps her copy of A Literary Education right next to her television set in the livingroom so she can look for information about the original books (when written, who was the author, why did they write the book, basic story line, etc.) when she sees literature-based movies listed in the tv/cable schedule. I think many home educators will find the suggested outline of study for various grade levels to be quite helpful. It's definitely been a benefit to me as I've planned my educational program for this year with my children. In my home, this is truly a handy and well-used annotated book list.

Upon discovering the Charlotte Mason Method of Homeschooling, and becoming a great admirer of what she stands for, I discovered Catherine Levison.

I bought each of her books and enjoyed them immensely. At the Orlando homeschooling conference I was lucky enough to meet her and purchase her third book, "A Literary Education." At first I read it cover to cover, as I usually do, but what I was so happy to find is that it is a book that keeps giving. It is the Pandoras Box to the Charlotte Mason method of teaching. I refer to it almost daily. It is not just a "booklist". I will read one passage which piques my curiosity and I find myself researching books from the same author or checking to see what other books are closely related to those Catherine mentions. It is a book I can read forever and find something new each time. I highly recommend this book to add to any homeschooling collection, regardless of what method you may be using. The literature it highlights is guaranteed to be useful. It is a not to be read cover to cover and then put on your bookshelf. What an investment!

After gleaning so much from Catherine's first and second books, I was curious about her third book, "A Literary Education." I found myself reading it from cover-to-cover and I truly enjoyed it!

She shares how she came up with the list in the introduction and then she shares her collected resources for Literature, History, Science & Nature, Poetry, etc. For each book, she includes the ISBN#, a summary of the book and the IRL (Independent Reading Level). She also includes a general educational Scope & Sequence of the US in the Appendix.

This is great summary of great books Catherine has used and I found myself highlighting books I plan to get for my personal library. I have many bibliographies, but I find it challenging when visiting a book store to find a book from such resources. This one I can actually use when I visit a book store. Catherine's books are great for implementation of the CM method both for methods and choosing great books!

I have the other three books that Catherine wrote and love this one just as much. It has been a helpful guide to me.

I really don't have any use for this book. There are no suggested ages for the books being a read-aloud. The youngest that these book suggestions can be *read* is third grade.

I'm also unhappy with the exclusion of ghost stories and the like. I know there are people who would love these suggestions *because* of the exclusion. I'm not one of them, and there was no warning about it. I feel that I've wasted $12 that would have been better spent on another book. I highly recommend "Honey for a Child's heart" rather than this book.