Some 1st grade material we love . . .

(Note:  Please excuse the horribly blurry photo.  I was lazy and didn't attach the external flash when I took the picture.)

Now that Zeke is reading, we allow him to stay up and read at bedtime. 
As part of his 1st grade home school curriculum, and at the recommendation of my sister-in-law Becky, I purchased Beautiful Feet's Early American history book set.  

I personally, was never much of a history buff.  I can't remember a date to save my life, and thus, history always bored me.  These books, however, bring history alive by telling each person's story and making them more real.  Zeke and I just finished reading a story about Benjamin West (famous American artist) and his cat Grimalkin.  We befriended a cat today, and the kids decided to name him Grimalkin.  But even beyond reading these books together, Zeke has begun choosing to read them when he goes to bed.  The last several days it has been fun to listen to him excitedly comment about Benjamin Franklin and Buffalo Bill.  Tonight he was reading about Abraham Lincoln.  When he came out to say good night he said, "But the story ended kind of sad, because he went to watch a show and there was a shot that everyone thought was part of the show, but really Abraham was dead."  

When I was trying to figure out what to use for 1st grade, I spent hours POURING over catalogs and blogs.  As I find products we love, I want to post them here for those who might stumble across this blog.  I highly recommend this set, although it is a bit pricy.  If you live in the States you may be able to find them at your local library.  You can purchase a study guide, which I did, but we aren't using it.  We are just reading through the books at this point and laying a foundation with the stories.