History: early history, focusing on people rather than events
Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula (purchase; purchase for Kindle) [note]
An Island Story by H.E. Marshall (purchase/purchase for Kindle) [note] 1 2 x
* ** Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin, selected chapters (purchase papeback/purchase special AO edition for Kindle) [note]
American History Biography
Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D'Aulaire (purchase)
George Washington by Ingri D'Aulaire (purchase)
Buffalo Bill by Ingri D'Aulaire (purchase)
Geography
Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling (purchase) [note] (1 2 3)
Natural History/Science
The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock (purchase), as scheduled in Nature Study; online. You may find it helpful and fun to participate in the Outdoor Hour Challenge blog.
Supplies for Nature Study:
Nature notebook and pencils or paint for each student
Begin to build a library of regional field guides
Plenty of time to allow Nature Study to be a fun learning experience for both parent and child
James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot (purchase) [note]
The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess (purchase/search for Kindle) [note] See resources below.
Penmanship/Copywork
A curriculum or program for handwriting is not necessary (especially for this age), but if you want to use one, these are some we've used and can suggest:
A Reason for Writing (Level A: purchase) (Level B: purchase)
Getty Dubay Italic Handwriting Series (purchase)
Phonics/Reading Instruction
These are programs the advisory has used and can recommend (not an exhaustive list):
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Engelmann, Haddox and Bruner (purchase)
Alpha-Phonics: A Primer for Beginning Readers by Samuel L. Blumenfeld (purchase spiral-bound or Kindle)
Home Start in Reading by Ruth Beechick (purchase)
SCM's Delightful Reading This looks lovely, and is based on CM's ideas, but none of the Advisory have used it. If you'd like to try something similar, but without purchasing a program, listmember Amy blogged about how she taught her child to read using CM's instructions here.
Beginning readers might gain confidence from classics retold in A Primary Reader by E. Louise Smythe (purchase)
Mathematics
Select a program that meets your family's needs from our page of Math Options.
Foreign Language
Lyric Language, Phrase-A-Day, Triple Play, Triple Play Plus, Springboard to French/Spanish are some programs we can recommend (Purchase Lyric Language Spanish Dvd; Purchase Phrase-a-day Spanish for Young Children CD & Color Book (Spanish Edition); Purchase Triple Play Plus Spanish; Purchase Springboard to Spanish)
Read a Parents' Review article on teaching foreign languages
Poetry
A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson; (purchase/search for Kindle) online [note]
Now We Are Six/When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne (Purchase 4-Volume Pooh Library or Now We Are Six/purchase for Kindle or When We Were Very Young/purchase for Kindle)
A Child's Book of Poems by Gyo Fujikawa (purchase),
OR The Oxford Book of Children's Verse Iona and Peter Opie (purchase),
Literature
The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter (purchase book with CD/search Kindle) (also online here )
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit (purchase/search Kindle) OR Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb (purchase/purchase for Kindle)
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (purchase/purchase for Kindle), selected chapters. [note]
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (purchase/purchase for Kindle)
Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty, selections. (purchase/purchase for Kindle)
Additional Books for Free Reading [note]
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (purchase)
King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
Peter Pan (or, Peter Pan and Wendy) by James M. Barrie (purchase/purchase for Kindle) [note]
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (purchase/purchase for Kindle)
The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (purchase/search Kindle)
St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges (purchase)
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (purchase/purchase for Kindle)
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (purchase)
Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire (purchase)(Purchase a Kindle)
