The Hidden Entrance (Under the Staircase Series)

More Economics Adventure for Kids in Book 2

Just as with the first book in this series, I wish I had been able to use it when I was teaching. I’m really glad a homeschooling friend clued me in. These books are fun, but they are also important.

In this second “economics for kids” adventure story, The Hidden Entrance, heroic duo Maya and Nate are now members of the secret Under the Staircase Society. read more…

The Secret Under the Staircase (Under the Staircase Series)

Can you really teach “Econ 101” to young kids?

Is that possible? By way of a friend’s introduction, I’ve bought and read both Under the Staircase books and wish I’d found them much earlier, when I was teaching homeschoolers. I’ve not seen anything like these books anywhere else. I hope to see more of them in the future. I passed mine on to a homeschooler with young kids. I’ll probably buy more.

What if you have a genuine passion for foundational principles that actually work read more…

Shakespeare in America: An Anthology from the Revolution to Now

Shakespeare Crosses the Pond

By the mid-1800s, writes Professor James Shapiro in his insightful and informative Introduction to Shakespeare in America: An Anthology from the Revolution to Now, Will Shakespeare’s works had become widely known, “a cultural touchstone that transcended region and class.” He adds that “the history of Shakespeare in America is also a history of America itself,” a sharper narrative than that of the textbooks,… read more…

William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation 1620~1647

Samuel Eliot Morison’s 1952 Edition Is a Great American Treasure

Be grateful for good, knowledgeable, and insightful editors who turn old, difficult-to-decipher, but invaluable manuscripts into versions we 21st-Century moderns can read and enjoy. I have the 1993 hardback copy of the esteemed professor’s edition, with dust jacket, heavily marked up in many places. In his preface, Admiral Morison tells us that: read more…

A Man Most Driven ~ Captain John Smith

BBC Documentary Producer Travels with Captain Smith

Did you know that Captain John Smith was not romantically involved with Pocahontas (she was a mere child), that he was not the liar and boaster some call him, that he named New England, that he fought the Turks, saved Jamestown, escaped from pirates, survived an almost deadly gunpowder explosion, and was an amazingly resourceful, clever, and entertaining hero who deserves his own television action series? The last is my own suggestion, but you can find the rest and a lot more in this innovatively researched account by Peter Firstbrook who traveled far and wide to test the writings of John Smith. read more…