Flame on!
Ducking and covering
Posted on 11/13/2010 1:17:31 PM PST by cradle of freedom
Christmas time is coming soon, all of us who are parents, grandparents or other relatives or friends of children will be looking for fun and appropriate gifts for Christmas. What are some gifts that you will be giving to the kids in your life? What are some good books or toys that you think they will enjoy while giving them something of value.
I am looking for someplace where I can find books that have good values that I can give to my grandkids. Are there any websites that specialize in books that represent our values, not liberal values? I would also like to find some old literature and information books.
If there are any publishers reading this, I hope you will look into bringing back some old books that can be reprinted for today's kids. I don't trust a lot of the stuff that is out there today, there is often a liberal tendency to them.
Bill Bennett’s The Children’s Book of Values
“Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls
www.visionforum.com
Try not to break your budget! I absolutely LOVE everything we have ever gotten from them. They always have a theme. This year’s is “Fight Hard & Hold Fast” — wonderful toys, games, books and more. Conservative, educational, homeschool friendly.
This place has it all...a little higher than some, but worth every penny. I would order everything in the catelog if I could.
Any or all of the Narnia books.
Took the words out of my mouth! Please ping me when you get an answer!
Daughters-in-law have requested books for Christmas rather than toys...too many indulgent relatives!
Great book, I read it when I was in school.
Wooden jigsaw puzzle of the states with capitals on them.
The Cthulhu Mytho
I cannot recommend them strongly enough. If it's in there, it's good.
"Mow the lawn and you will get your Christmas gift ."
The McGuffey Readers (reprints from the 19th cen.) are superb! My sister used them in home schooling. Some are more text-bookish but the stories are full of good values. No wonder children back then were smarter!
“The Dangerous Book for Boys”
The “Little House” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
A friend told me about a book that I plan to buy for my 6 y.o. granddaughter, called “The Princess and the Kiss”. It’s about saving yourself for marriage, basically. There’s one for boys but I can’t remember the name of it - same author, though.
brat dolls?
lol j/k
See #4.
Also: all Nancy Drew books (up to the 1970s), same for Hardy Boys books, the Narnia series, Tolkien for older kiddos...
Great list!
Just adding:
scoutstuff.org
christianbook.com
I would recommend two games: Monopoly and Sorry. Both may help assure they never turn into Barack Obamas.
Flame on!
Ducking and covering
“The Knight and the Quest,” or something like that. Both evangelical and Catholic religious catalogs sell them. We got “The Princess and the Kiss” for our middle daughter when she was 8 or so. She’s 12 now, so it’s about time to go into more detail about what chastity means for a growing girl.
http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html
This is a great site which lists the best books for each particular age group.
My kids have hundreds and hundreds of books. Little kids don’t have the attention span to really focus on a couple good books. I like to have books everywhere for easy access. For this purpose the Arch (sp?) books of Bible stories are great — get the whole set and put a few in each room.
Yes that is a great story.
How old are your grandkids?
Any books about brave kids having adventures in the face of adversity are good: “Treasure Island”, “Heidi”, “The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew”, “Tom Sawyer”,...
Nonfiction: Science books with lots of illustrations and photos. Science project kits. History and biography.
Check your local Barnes&Noble. They always have a great selection of discounted nonfiction books, plus kids’ classic fiction. And hands-on science kits.
I want my children to grow up to be “good” government types!
I don’t have kids, so I have to look at this from personal experience from when I was a kid. IMO the best toys drive creativity - blocks, Legos, etc. Too many toys nowadays are scripted. Dump a big ol’ block set on the playroom floor with a few Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars and watch the boys go.
I discovered this publisher while attending a Christian library conference. They have some good books.
www.lamplighterpublishing.com
Don’t forget Tom Swift.
Depending on the age of the grandchildren and your distance from them, the parents (and children) might appreciate a gift of assistance with summer activities. Two of my boys went to Civil War Bootcamp day camp a few years ago, and I would love to have other children attend the program, but it’s a significant drive and we have a lot of little kids at home. My parents are far away and couldn’t help, but if they could drive Pat to Civil War camp for a week, I would consider that a major gift!
An invitation to visit is good, too. My girls (12 and 10) are visiting my parents in Florida now. They’re going to the Harry Potter exhibit at Universal Studios on Monday.
Have you seen this Lego...about $400 bucks, only reason I know about it is my 3rd grader grandson just requested it. Granny said NO.
http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=10188
I hope this posts a live link:
www.lamplighterpublishing.com
If not, then I guess I don’t know how to do it.
A chessboard! I’ve seen 5-year-olds learn to play.
Now that we’re in higher grade math for homeschool, I find myself saying your tag a lot!
Both my teenagers think they can just write down an answer based on mental “calculations.” Drives me NUTS. “Write down *every step*, exactly the way I’ve demonstrated. That is how you will calculate the correct answer. And if you can’t read your numbers, neither can I!”
Jack London collections Captains Courageous by Kipling
I just went to the vision forum and was very impressed with their quantity and quality of products, especially the books. Wow, over 1,400 books to choose from. I have vision forum in my shopping folder for future reference. Thanks, I will pass this excellent source on to others.
Camping and Fishing essentials
A puppy (teaches children SO many things about being gentle and loving human beings)
The Tolkiens for bigger kids
Thanks for the Nancy Drew suggestion. Could you tell me what would be the age range for the Nancy Drew books?
I’ve been buying from Vision Forum for years. I’ve had to replace some items because the children have used them to death! We’ve watched some DVDs over and over and over ... “Raising the Allosaur” and “League of Grateful Sons,” about Iwo Jima.
Thanks for your suggestions, It is funny that you mentioned the Five Little Peppers because I was thinking about that book myself, as I had that book at home.
The adventure books are great ideas, as well. I am going to look for the old tried and true rather than venture into the world of the new books.
Someone else said Legos: a must. My son was a Lego freak (and Chess.)
Also any books on Astronomy and Avionics, and a telescope and a microscope. Someone else mentioned science kits, and my kids loved building their own rockets and Rocketry. Also ANY kind of model kit from a hobby store--the BEST kind of store to take a child.
If your grandchildren are over 10, look for Louis L’Amour in your library or used book store.
www.executivebooks.com
or
http://www.tremendouslifebooks.com/
Excellent conservative / Christian / business bookstore.
That is a complete antithesis of why I mentioned Legos. That is completely scripted. I believe in Lego blocks that are just that, blocks, that kids can build in whatever manner comes to their imagination.
I loved the old How and Why books as a kid. I have no idea if anything like them is still around.
Latin. Invaluable! Helps with vocabulary, phonics and spelling and, later, with studies in romance languages, law, medicine, ad infinitum.
http://www.gettingstartedwithlatin.com/
Guns and Ammo, Shooting Times and Soldier of Fortune are high on my list.
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