I am delighted to review a literature-based science curriculum that introduces elementary school students to life on the planet starting with single-celled organisms and expanding through the animal kingdom.
Earth Party! An Early Introduction to the Linnaean System of Classification of Living Things Unit Study from Carrier Shell Curriculum uses story and visual references to enhance your child’s understanding.
Here is an overview:
- 12-week unit study
- Grades 1-6
- Written with homeschool families in mind but
can be adapted for co-ops and school settings - Teacher’s book and student book
- 3 literature and resource books are utilized
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- Tree of Life by Rochelle Strauss
- Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia
- Karl, Get Out of the Garden by Anita Sanchez
-
- Secular
- Focuses on the “what” and not the “how” things came to be
- Alignment to Common Core standards available on Carrier Shell website
It is multi-sensory:
- Students are invited to observe first-hand life forms obtained from materials around the house
- Video resources are listed for students to better see life move
- Fun, whole-body lab activities are geared for kinesthetic and olfactory learners
- Students that like to write will enjoy the Student Book
It is easy to use:
- Answer keys make grading and discussions easy
- Activities are geared for different learning styles and noted
- Suggestions are made for further study including websites, movies, articles and additional books
I love how this approach teaches advanced content in an age-appropriate way.
If you enjoy literature-based learning, check out Communism Study through Literature and my review of California Out of the Box.
You may also like:
How to Jumpstart Homeschooling Your Child: Curriculum Ideas and Outlines for Each K-8 Grade Level
Top Read-Aloud Picks for Your Family
Communism Study through Literature
Fun Ways to Teach Writing Without Buying a Curriculum
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15-25 minutes each day over 3-6 months, your child will be reading on a 2nd-grade level upon completion. It is 
Grammar—
the students should be able to work fairly independently. This curriculum helps foster a deep understanding of math. 
our family’s favorite read-alouds. Some great ones to start with are 
speech, sentence diagrams, and skills in beginning writing, storytelling and narration. Classical education concepts of memorization, dictation, copywork, and narration are part of this program. Sit down with a cup of hot chocolate or tea together and enjoy these lessons that are entirely scripted for you. The 
Math—
cozy place and enjoy reading 20-30 (or more if she wants) minutes each day. Also, read aloud with your child as much as you can. Here is a 
support her viewpoint.
persuasive writing skills. Two opposing viewpoints are presented in short videos on each topic to encourage open discussion and critical thinking resulting in a balanced lesson. Each video is about 5 minutes. Some examples of topics include What Should we Do About Student Debt, Should We Tax the Rich More, The Climate Debate, and Should We Have Single-Payer Healthcare. You child can watch both videos on a topic and write a persuasive essay about why she supports one of the sides. Further research can be required, if you choose, with 
sources and data to support her viewpoint.
(or more if she wants) minutes each day. I suggest he reads The 
Fleming is an absolutely gripping narrative of Russia’s last royal family. My kids especially enjoyed learning about the Romanov children and Rasputin. This non-fiction work is anything but dull. We started here because we wanted to better understand the events that led to the Communist Revolution.
boy who has always been devoted to Communism, the Communist Party and Comrade Stalin. His world is shaken after his faithful father is arrested. This compact novel also features dramatic black-and-white pictures.
Communist Russia. It shows both sides of the Russian Revolution opening in 1913 when this aristocratic girl goes to live with the Romanov family because her widowed mother is lady-in-waiting to Empress Alexandra. We get to know the Romanovs in a warm and personal way and see what a doting father Nicholas II is to his children. However, she also witnesses the exploitation of workers in the cities and the terrible living conditions of peasants. Meanwhile, war is spreading throughout Europe and Russia is collapsing. We give this fast-paced and absorbing book our highest review possible. This book is a must!
Russia. This book, which opens in 1934 in Leningrad, a generation after the Communist Revolution, is every bit as engaging as the first. The children of the heroine and hero in Angel on the Square are alone and desperate after their father is arrested and mother is exiled to Siberia. They are determined to find their mom and embark on a 1,000-mile journey in hopes of reunification. Filled with adventure and suspense, the children encounter many obstacles and confrontations and even a beautiful experience with the Samoyed tribe in the Siberian wilderness.
Berlin Wall from the perspective of twelve-year-old, Gerta. When the Wall was erected, her father and brother were on the other side looking for work in West Berlin. This left the family divided. We encounter Gerta’s struggles along with her other brother, mother and others surviving in East Berlin as well as their persecution in this Communist city controlled by the Soviets. One day she spots her father on a viewing platform giving her clues to tunnel beneath the wall. This is risky because, if they are caught, the consequences are death. We loved this book. If you only are able to read one book on entire this list, I suggest you choose this one.
led by Chairman Mao in Communist China. Twelve-year-old Ji Li is an accomplished student and athlete and joins her classmates in frenetically denouncing The Four Olds: Old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits. She witnesses relatives, teachers, neighbors and friends publicly humiliated and tortured but still remains fervent in her Communist ideology. Her family eventually becomes reviled due to their wealthy family background including her grandfather being a landlord. Friends and neighbors turn on them, and they are constantly afraid of being arrested. After her father’s imprisonment, Ji Li is forced with a big decision. This autobiography received multiple awards including Publishers Weekly Best Book. ALA Best Book for Young Adults and ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice.
autobiography of a peasant boy born into extreme poverty in 1961 just before the Cultural Revolution. Despite his poverty and witnessing the brutality of the Mao regime, he revered Chairman Mao and Communism. He details life in school that is focused more on Communist indoctrination and Mao worship than the basic educational tenets of reading, writing and arithmetic. At the age of 11, Li was selected from his village by delegates of Madame Mao’s art program to study ballet at the Beijing Dance Academy. The opportunity opens many unimaginable doors including a cultural exchange in Houston with the Houston Ballet in 1979. While in Texas, he begins to realize much of what he was told about the USA was a lie. He loves his taste of freedom in America and is in awe of such abundance and modernity. The story is of his defection, the climax of the book, is nail-biting!
Communist Khmer Rouge in the early 1980s, tells the story of twelve-year-old Dara. When the story opens, Dara along with her mother and brother are making their way to a refugee camp along the Thai border. As with most Cambodians at the time, 
North Korean prison camp and escape. He was born in Camp 14 in 1982, escaped to China in 2005 and made his way to South Korea in 2006. The account will inform the reader of the barbarian cruelty towards the slaves in the work camps that is still happening today and the obstacles encountered as they flee and eventually try to adapt into the a new world. While this is the only book in this post from the adult section, I do find it appropriate for mature children. Additionally, in much of the book, he is a youth to help the student relate.
Joseph Stalin and completely annhilates the viability of communism through scathingly exposing its flaws. The book concerns a group of barnyard animals who overthrow and chase off their exploitative human masters and set up an egalitarian society of their own. Eventually the animals’ intelligent and power-loving leaders, the pigs, subvert the revolution. Concluding that “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”, the pigs form a dictatorship even more oppressive and heartless than that of their former human masters. All three of my kids very much enjoyed this book and followed the allegory due to the previous books we had read about communism.
children’s author, Avi, is a fast-paced, suspenseful novel that you don’t want to put down. This exciting seafaring adventure takes place in the summer of 1832 when thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle is excited to return home from her school in England to her family in Rhode Island. “Not every thirteen-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial and found guilty.”
translated into more than 70 languages, has also been turned into several movies and TV series. The tales of Pippi, the girl with upside-down braids and no parents to tell her what to do, and her friends, Annika and Tommy, will bring a smile to your family’s faces. If you are new to reading aloud, this is a great book to get started. Even your youngest children should delight in Pippi’s adventures.
those fascinated with the Amazon rainforest. Did you know that in 1913 former president Teddy Roosevelt led a perilous expedition deep into the Amazon rainforest to chart an unmapped river? This book, which is an account of their adventure, was thrilling and exhilarating for our family to read together. Furthermore, I have learned more about the character and leadership of Roosevelt and have even greater admiration for him now. The wilderness doesn’t care if you are a former president or king. All are at risk of injury and death on such a harrowing journey with danger lurking almost everywhere.
my kids love so much that they chant for me to read it to them. It is fast-paced and hilarious. Many days I intend to read only one chapter but end up reading 3 or 4 because we all want to find out what happens next. While it is not as sophisticated as some other books we read, it is extremely entertaining and enjoyable. This is also a good series to hook your reluctant readers. I read the first 3 in the series aloud, and the kids polished off the remainder of the series reading alone.
Denmark as the German soldiers began their campaign to “relocate” Jews. The story centers around Anne Marie and her family as they hide her best friend, Ellen, and work to save others Jews. The story is an excellent tribute to the the brave people of Denmark who smuggled out most of the Jewish people to Sweden during this terrorizing time.
lives in a dystopian world of no crime, hunger, sickness, unemployment or choice. He is chosen to be the community’s Receiver of Memories. This exciting and fast-paced novel gives you much to ponder about free will, freedom and society. All my kids loved this book–even my 7-year-old.
by Candace Fleming is an absolutely gripping narrative of Russia’s last royal family. My kids especially enjoyed learning about the Romanov children and Rasputin. Insightfully, my son pondered if Nicholas had selected another wife than Alexandra if the 20th-century Russian history and, ultimately, world history would have been altered due to her bad judgment and influence on her inept husband. This non-fiction work is anything but dull. We plan to dive into the study of Communism and wanted to better understand the events that led to the Communist Revolution.
his death.
England, 
unexpectedly captured by the governor’s wardens and forced to submit to a test for the deadly Scourge. She is even more surprised when the test results come back positive and she is sent to Attic Island–a quarantine colony for ill. I give 
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