secular homeschool
Magic School Bus Dinosaurs: The Feather Problem
Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus never met, and nearly every child has them sharing one big swamp. This is the book that takes that apart, because everything in it was worked out back
SCIENCE IN THE WILD
Stealth Science
Science that begins with curiosity. These are articles and teaching ideas; the retail shelves have closed.
experiential learning
Inside Your Own Eye: The Magic School Bus and the Senses
Cover one eye and try to thread a needle. That is the method of this whole book. Every claim Ms. Frizzle's class rides through can be checked the same afternoon, on your child's ow
read-alouds
The Electric Field Trip: The Magic School Bus on Wiring
Your child has seen a lamp come on and felt a toaster get hot, and everything in between is a rumour. This is the one book on the shelf that shows where the power in the wall is ac
homeschool budget
The Great Shark Escape: What It Teaches, and Doesn't
This one is a tour rather than a mechanism, and I would rather say so than sell it as more. What your child comes away with is that a shark is a category, not an animal.
secular homeschool
The Giant Germ: How an Infection Actually Works
Most germ books for this age are hand-washing books with a cartoon on the front. This one is about what a germ is and how one does damage, which is a harder job and a better one.
experiential learning
Amazing Magnetism: Science You Can Check With a Magnet
The bus barely matters in this one. What matters is that every claim in the book can be checked in your kitchen in twenty minutes, with one magnet and the contents of a drawer.
experiential learning
Who Really Killed Cock Robin? A Food Web as a Suspect List
Most nature books for children admire something. This one hands your child a body, four clues that have nothing obvious to do with each other, and a town full of people who each di
experiential learning
Who Gives a Hoot?: Why a Wet Owl Cannot Fly
An owl is not waterproof. The soft fringed feather that lets it fly without a sound is the same feather that will not shed water, and this book is built on that.
experiential learning
Calpurnia Tate: Natural Selection in a Texas Backyard
She asks why the yellow grasshoppers are bigger than the green ones. Her grandfather refuses to answer her. He tells her to go and find out, and that one sentence is the entire edu
read-alouds
Curious World of Calpurnia Tate: Wild Is Not a Pet
You know the child. They come back from outside holding something. A beetle, a frog, a bird that will not fly. This is the book for that child, and it is kinder to the animals than
experiential learning
Skunked!: The Warning a Skunk Gives First
A boy walks into the house holding a baby skunk. That is page one of a very funny book, and it is also the thing you least want your own child to do.
experiential learning
Counting Sheep: A Birth, a Broken Wing, No Vet
This is the one with a birth in it. A child delivers a lamb, on the page, because the vet is off treating a horse and nobody else is coming.
experiential learning
A Squirrelly Situation: When a Wild Baby Comes Home
The villain of this book is a cat, and the cat is not doing a single thing wrong. Understanding why is most of what your child takes away from it.
read-alouds
Roaring Rockets: One Real Idea and One Correction
Most rocket books for five year olds are noise and a moon. This one has an actual idea in it. It also plants one wrong impression that you will need to fix while you are reading, a
read-alouds
Amazing Airplanes: The Right Words, in the Right Order
It will not teach your child how a wing works. It will teach them cockpit, landing gear and runway, used correctly, and the real order of a flight. At four, that is worth more than
read-alouds
Ada Lace, Take Me to Your Leader: the Radio Is Real
A ham radio is one of the last machines a child can open up, repair, and then use to talk to a stranger four hundred miles away. This is the book that puts one in front of them.