Homeschool Review: Circle C Beginnings Series

Nothing like HAVING to read a fun book about an old fashioned girl! I was soo excited when I found out that we would get to review a book from the new Circle C Beginnings series. Kregel Publishing sent us  Andi's Scary School Days to review.
The Circle C Beginnings series is a new series designed for children ages 6-8 and tell the story of six year old Andi (Andrea) and her life on a ranch in 1874. The book we got to review tells the story of Andi's first few days of school and how she adjusts to this new environment.

This is such a cute little book! It's a short chapter book. A couple days after we got it, MiniMe was whining about being bored because she'd just finished the book she was reading. So I handed her this book to read. She disappeared to her room and reappeared a couple hours later & handed me the book. She had read the WHOLE BOOK in one sitting! I was stunned (she tends to be my slower reader and generally not as big a fan of reading as Sassy). So, obviously this is an easy read for young readers. When I asked her what she thought, she said she LOVED it, and yes, of COURSE she wanted the REST of the series (so much for review products being free, not so much when it means we "have" to buy the rest of the series LOL.  We haven't yet, but we'll be adding them to the girls' Christmas list, and I'll keep them in mind as a possible surprise for any long road trips or similar that we have to do between now & then). One thing MiniMe said she liked was that there weren't any "hard words" so she could read the whole thing by herself.

While I prefer to use books like this as a fun "free time" activity, and in think alll children, homeschooled or not, should have good books like this to read for the pure joy of reading, if you wanted to incorporate these books into your history curriculum, the Circle C Beginnings website has some GREAT resources! There are FREE coloring pages and activity packs to go with each book. These could easily be used to turn each book into a unit study or lapbook. OR you may purchase lapbooks for a more complete study.

These books would make a nice read-aloud for preschoolers, and an easy chapter book for early elementary children to read on their own. I think much older than 8 or 9 would find it too simple to read on it's own, but as a "Tween" or early teen, I might have chosen to read the Circle C Beginnings series if I had already read, and enjoyed the Circle C Adventures series that is about the same girl at age 12. I would guess that older children would also be fine with listening to the story as a family read-aloud.

 At this time there are 4 books in the Circle C Beginnings series and they are available for $4.99 each. Or all 4 for $15.96. The website indicates that 2 more books will be available in August 2011. Also, as I mentioned above, there's another series about the same girl at age 12. It is designed for children age 9-14.

I was sent this review as a member of the TOS Crew. You can see what others have to say about this series, including the other books in the "Beginnings" series by going to this post. 

Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for writing an honest review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.