7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great, informational book... but a couple things off about it, March 8, 2011
This review is from: If You Lived In Williamsburg in Colonial Days (Paperback)
I really love this series of books, and this one is no exception. They make it very interesting for the child (and parent!) to read and give lots of good info. Many times I will learn something new myself! For those teaching in a "classical" approach, I highly recommend these books.
But I would suggest reading them first to make sure there are no things contrary to what you want to get across to the student; or discussing the book with your child (even better!). In this book, I came across a few things that may or may not be an issue for you.
First, they made it out as if women had JOBS back then... as if they were the same as the men's jobs. I don't think that is quite an accurate representation of how it was... yes, the women did chores, helped with animals, farming, etc... but essentially they were almost always housewives. I wish they had touched on that a bit better instead of fudging the lines there.
Second, they talked about children not sassing their parents and doing what they were asked as if it was PAST tense. Maybe my kids are odd in that regard (maybe because they are still young! LOL), but mine don't really talk back to me, so I didn't appreciate them making it out as if that was odd or something. And of course children still do what parents ask of them. They may fight it, but a grounded kid is a grounded kid, right? :) The general expectation in even today's society is that kids generally are to do what they parents ask, so it was odd the way they portrayed it.
Third, they very much did the same thing with spanking for misbehaving. Now, I understand that this is a very controversial subject, but the book said that "back then, parents still believed that it was okay to spank or paddle". Okay, fair enough... true. But some parents think the same thing nowadays, and the way they spent a whole paragraph on it, insinuating that parents wouldn't do such a ridiculous thing today is not at all an accurate portrayal... last I heard, some parents STILL do this today, even if it's not as commonplace as it once was.
They did the same with midwives and doctors, and I know some people who have done home births so if you have energy on this...
Obviously these are minor things that you can discuss to give a bit better historical perspective rather than the one that the book portrayed, just wanted to give a heads up of a few areas that in my mind, weren't quite accurately portrayed (which is unusual for this series). I don't really have an issue with the book and am happily passing it on to my children, but I am aware that others may very well have a huge amount of energy on them, so I wanted to give a heads up.
Really great series overall, and highly recommend!
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Women and girls in Colonial America, August 17, 2002
A Kid's Review
This review is from: If You Lived In Williamsburg in Colonial Days (Paperback)
This book tells what it would be like if you lived in Colonial Williamsburg. Some pages even have little rhymes that go with the topics. This poem is about what women and girls wore:
"Little Polly Flinders
Sat among the cinders
Warming her pretty little toes.
Her mother came and caught her
And whipped her little daughter,
For spoiling her nice new clothes."
I recommend that you read it because it's a really interesting book and it tells about really interesting topics. I really enjoyed it.
Sarah in Nebraska
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent introduction to life in colonial times, December 3, 2010
This review is from: If You Lived In Williamsburg in Colonial Days (Paperback)
In preparation for an upcoming trip to Colonial Williamsburg, I read this book with my three oldest children, ages 9, 7, and 5. This book answers a lot of questions about what life was like then, including housing, pets, clothing, daily routines, etc. The text was accompanied by colorful and helpful illustrations. The book ends with a short bit about the upcoming Revolutionary War, as well as a 1-page explanation of the establishment of Colonial Williamsburg.
While some of the text did go slightly over my 5-year-old's head, I felt no need to edit the content on her behalf. The text does mention slaves, and that they could be beaten or separated from their families. But, my daughter is able to understand this happened some time ago, and there were no graphic details that would be inappropriate for those of a younger age.
I would definitely recommend this book to those with children of elementary school age. I have also been impressed with several other books in this series.
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