Dollar Homeschool
http://www.dollarhomeschool.com/
The Eclectic Education Series (EES) is a set of e-texts for elementary through high school ages. The whole series is available on 5 CDs for $159 with a limited time offer for free shipping. The CDs are also available for purchase separately. As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, we received the full set as a free download for the purpose of this review.
My husband purchased a set of Mcguffey’s Readers prior to our marriage. He knew that someday he wanted his children to be homeschooled and these readers were a time-tested resource for learning how to read. When I checked out the website for Dollar Homeschool to see just what the Eclectic Education Series was, I was quite excited to see McGuffey’s readers included in their extensive line-up.
The collection of texts, most from the late 1800s-early 1900s, have been scanned and converted to PDFs. This allows the text to be easily searched and bookmarked as your PDF reader (such as Preview or Adobe) allows. You can also print any number of pages you wish in any manner you wish. This gives your family great flexibility in how this program is used. I do want to note that in scanning these original books, a page may have stuck together and been skipped over in the process. This was quickly rectified with an e-mail and then the receipt of the missing pages. I also noticed that at least one text in the grammar file is nearly impossible to read due to the quality of the original. Most of these are available in the public domain and can be viewed online. I have not seen any online that are in the easy to use PDF form–a real plus with this series.
You can see a detailed listing of the contents of each CD component making up the curriculum EES by following this link http://www.dollarhomeschool.com/List-of-Books-in-the-EES.html. The Grammar CD contains 12 different books covering topics for early learners to advance students. The History CD is filled with 22 books including Good Morals and Gentle Manners for schools and families, Manual of the Constitution of the United States, and The Progressive Course in Reading–set of readers. Of course there are history selections as well. There are so many interesting books found throughout this whole series. Another one from the History CD is the Collier’s Cyclopedia of Commercial and Social Information and Treasury of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge. Yes, this title is more than a mouthful, but at 746 pages of information it is worth checking out. Next up is the McGuffey’s CD with 19 books. Most of these books are of the McGuffey series of readers, speakers, a speller and alternate readers. The one exception is Hemans Reader for Female Schools containing Extracts in Prose and Poetry. Quoted from the Preface:
The title given to the work seems appropriate, as a tribute of respect and admiration to one, whose writings, purely and distinctly feminine, present to youthful aspiration a high standard of intellectual and moral excellence, and open a pure fount of religious sentiment and refined feeling.
This text begins with instruction on articulation and inflection. This corresponds to the Fourth Reader in the McGuffey series, also a reader with poetry and prose and meant to be read aloud.
The Fourth Reader is not meaning what we would think of as fourth grade. If you have read any of the Little House on the Prairie series–or other historical fiction from the same time period–you probably remember reading about Laura’s school days. We learn the most information from Laura’s last year or two as a student and her time as a teacher. Pupils often did not begin until 7 years of age. Many were taking their exam indicating their completion by age 16. They could also then become teachers themselves. These are probably the same readers, spellers, etc. that were written of by Mrs. Laura Ingalls Wilder. An "eighth grade" education at that time was much more academically challenging than what many college freshman experience today. Another reason why these old books are such a treasure.
The fourth CD in the Eclectic Education Series is Ray’s Arithmetic. This is packed with books covering all levels of mathematics. In all there are 39 books crammed onto this CD. Some of the books are not pure arithmetic but a related subject such as physics, astronomy, book keeping, logic, and surveying & navigation. These five texts are duplicated on the science CD as well. The final CD in the collection is the science CD which contains 16 books. This number includes the five previously mentioned as well as chemistry, nature study and more. This disc also contains three books that are key to successful implementation of this series. Successful Teaching in Rural Schools, and The Eclectic Manual of Methods are the two to read to fully understand how best to get started and utilize this great resource to the fullest. The Eclectic Question Book is the "final exam" of the series.
Each of these CDs is available for separate purchase. Ray’s Arithmetic is $59. All of the others in the series are $39 each. When you purchase the whole series you save $56. Upon successful completion of the Eclectic Education Series your student will have a much better education than the typical high school graduate. The biggest advantage in using these ‘old-fashioned’ texts is that a child learns how to think. The only subject which would need to be supplemented is science, in my opinion. You can view a video here http://www.dollarhomeschool.com/Video.html that gives some interesting background to Dollar Homeschool and the Eclectic Education Series.
To read more reviews of the Eclectic Education Series and/or Ray’s Arithmetic check the Crew blog here www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/756018