A Biography Series for Children: Who Was...?

For the last week and a half, we've been traveling (which explains why you haven't seem many posts on here!) on business and to see family. We arrived in Texas two Sundays ago, praised the beautiful weather, only to be bitterly (and I do mean bitterly!) disappointed when the snow storm of the century hit, closing schools and most businesses for 4 days straight. Add into the mix one husband down with the flu and two kids down with a cold, and you can see that things really put a crick in our plans to museum hop and visit with friends.

But despite the wretched weather (how do people in Canada survive??), we ventured out to make use of our Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo passes that we had purchased before we left home. I was determined to treat the children to some sort of educational experience, and we didn't want to waste the tickets - or the dinero we paid to purchase them. The kids had a blast, and new botas were bought; one pair for each of our little vaqueros.

One of the perks of homeschooling is that I don't have to worry about how much school the kids are missing...I can just take it with me. But I try really hard to keep vacations exactly that: vacations. So I don't go traipsing around the country pulling a wagon full of text books, manipulatives, etc. Instead, I try to think about the main subjects I want to keep the kids up on, and then I pick one or two small workbooks to keep the concepts fresh and strong. Or I might try introducing something fun and new. In this instance, I want my daughter to keep moving forward in math, so I brought along a few worksheets. And I thought that for fun, we would try the new Who Was...? series of biography books for children and published by Grosset & Dunlap.

I am so excited to share this series with you! So far, we have only read the one: Who Was George Washington? Pero, ay, mama! I LOVE this book! Roberta Edwards does a fantastic job describing the history surrounding Washington in terms that children (and probably some parents!) can easily understand. My children really enjoyed learning about him, mostly because Edwards is careful to include personal stories about Washington as a child and young man (i.e., did you know he had a hunting dog named Sweetlips? Mwuah!), which allows my kids to connect to the story. My son loved hearing that he was a great athlete who loved the outdoors, and my daughter was happy to hear that he took music lessons just like she does. Illustrations are also scattered throughout the book.

I cannot wait to read more of the dozens of titles included in this series. My only complaint? You guessed it... only one Latino (Pablo Picasso) is included. Come on, Grosset & Dunlap! If you need a list, I'm happy to oblige...

Con mucho cariño...

UPDATE: This series is now being translated into Spanish!