THE OLD FASHIONED SCHOOL BOOK PROJECT AND CHALLENGE.
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR CHALLENGE
Hello, friends of old fashioned history, and welcome to The Old Fashioned School Book Project. As you may know, I have become somewhat obsessed with old public school readers and have amassed quite a collection from 1814 to 1923. How many? Oh, a stack about 4 to 5 feet high I’d say. The material in these old readers is astounding in the level of reading skill and maturity expected from students of those days, and a tragic reminder of what treasure has been lost in public education. Now, I’m trying to put that collection to good use by extracting the best selections to create a series of new readers, the Advanced Reader (PIOUS TO PROGRESSIVE), then Standard Fifth, down through the First. The First and Second Readers are not yet completed.
I have also compiled a book of devotional material from the old school readers, containing material from the OFSB Readers, plus a lot of material not in the readers. Material not to be easily found elsewhere.
And I have finally gotten around to editing the Devotional, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Readers and am posting them here as free downloads; not because I think they are worthless, but because they are valuable beyond price. Since I edited them myself, some errors may have slipped by, but I think you will find them much better than the drafts I posted before.
If you don’t want to download them, I will be making them available on dvd, flash drive, and eventually, in print. Check back here for details. Of course I will have to charge for those, but, like most of us,i could use a few extra dollars these days,
PIOUS TO PROGRESSIVE: A CENTURY OF AMERICAN READERS is both an advanced reader, and a fairly in-depth study of the origins of American public education, and the deliberate devastation it has undergone, as revealed in a century of public school readers. You are welcome to download it and comment as you see fit — after all, critiques are better than crickets. Also I encourage you to share this pdf, so it doesn’t become extinct!
