And I liked it, though I think they'd prefer I kiss dating goodbye. Veritas Press makes me so mad I border on apoplectic, and then they meet my needs so perfectly I can't help but be grateful. It's a complicated relationship and has inspired many posts that were never posted--posts like "A Boy's Best Slave Is His Mother." It started with the beautiful timeline cards they offer with their elementary level history program, but then there was day after day of racist and chauvinist content. I was so glad to find Susan Wise Bauer and I promised myself I'd never look back. Then there was the Omnibus. Mea had finished The Story of the World Series, and I wanted her to take on something stronger but still classical. Veritas had a beautiful book, the Omnibus with great readings and artwork, so I bought it. It was a fine reading list and a beautiful book, but the racism and chauvinism pushed me to bench it on the bookshelf while we turned to The Great Courses for help interpreting the readings in a more balanced way.
I thought I was done with Veritas Press. The very offensive catalogs had quit coming and I thought we were done. Then I tried to teach Jimmy to read. Our tried and true phonics program was a complete non-starter. I had to find something else, and it had to have high interest and short work
times. I looked through many curriculums, and chose Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. I was afraid that might be too gimmicky and short on content, so I went back through everything, and realized I needed to look at Veritas Press again. We spent a week this summer in Washington, DC going through many museums, and we had all enjoyed it. The Phonics Museum recreates and uses the museum-going experience to ramp up the fun factor in learning how to read. Instead of cartoony pictures of apples, master artworks by greats like Van Gogh and Degas are used for the ABC cards. There's a great story about a knight and a little boy (I know) exploring a museum and finding the sounds, and a cardboard museum in which to hang the paintings and paper dolls to wander the museum. It is perfect for Jimmy, and from the moment the box arrived in the mail, he has been excited about playing with it. There are still moments when I step back and say, "Really?" For example, the icon on the worksheets for man is a turn-of-the-last-century boxer--really, this is the sum of a man? There are so many wonderful things about men that that icon leaves out, and there are so few things about boxers worth keeping in.
times. I looked through many curriculums, and chose Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. I was afraid that might be too gimmicky and short on content, so I went back through everything, and realized I needed to look at Veritas Press again. We spent a week this summer in Washington, DC going through many museums, and we had all enjoyed it. The Phonics Museum recreates and uses the museum-going experience to ramp up the fun factor in learning how to read. Instead of cartoony pictures of apples, master artworks by greats like Van Gogh and Degas are used for the ABC cards. There's a great story about a knight and a little boy (I know) exploring a museum and finding the sounds, and a cardboard museum in which to hang the paintings and paper dolls to wander the museum. It is perfect for Jimmy, and from the moment the box arrived in the mail, he has been excited about playing with it. There are still moments when I step back and say, "Really?" For example, the icon on the worksheets for man is a turn-of-the-last-century boxer--really, this is the sum of a man? There are so many wonderful things about men that that icon leaves out, and there are so few things about boxers worth keeping in.
Nevertheless, long and the short of it. I like the Phonics Museum, and more importantly, so does Jimmy.
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