Social Studies 101

Or, 'Why on earth would you skip history to fit in 'The Fireman is Your Friend' lessons,

when your kids will spend hours pouring over these books anyway.'

Or, 'Why I love Sonlight.'

Or, 'Kindergarten = Reading, Writing, Counting, (a library card) and These Books'

People by Peter Spier

What can I say about this book that will tell you how much I love it? The illustrations are worth pouring over for hours and hours. People in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Clothing, hobbies, homes, sports, feasts and holidays, pets, foods, religions, languages... from all over the world. Scotland, West Africa, Indonesia, Pakistan, Arabia, Caribbean, South America, Holland, and more.

What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry

My youngest two boys have logged more hours on this book than I can count. The building of a home fascinates Luke. Beginning with an empty lot, and moving on through various stages, the book shows the bare bones of a house, with hot water pipes, cold water pipes, dirty water pipes, furnace and air ducts, electrical wires, and more. The firemen pages are his other favorites.

Learn how the mail system works, visit a hospital, travel by train, follow a seed from farm to grocery store to a home to a home garden, find out the many ways we use wood, build a new road, go on a ship voyage, and watch wheat turn into bread. These pages are packed with simple step by step stories, detailed (and labeled) illustrations, and entertaining characters.

This book is invaluable for keeping young children quiet.

Want to add in science (including the calendar, holidays, weather, and seasons)?

The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature

All three boys are mesmerized by this book, as well. I am astounded by how much information is packed in these pages. After the almanac, we learn about animals (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects), plants (trees, cactus, algae, ferns, moss, mold, fungus, and carnivorous plants), and the earth (topography: plains, deserts, caves, hills, valleys, dune, marsh, inlet, bay...). Then we move on to machines and how they work, the science of matter, energy, projects and experiments, and things to make and do.... Highly entertaining with fully illustrated pages.