Sabbatical Homeschool Planning: The British Year (with Book Lists)

We’re getting ready to leave tomorrow! We’re zipping up suitcases, cleaning house, and finalizing transportation and accommodations. And to add to the mix, I’m planning how we’ll homeschool in another country.

About a year ago I started asking for advice from other homeschoolers who’d lived abroad short term. There were a surprising number who had, and the overwhelming advice I received was to make experiencing the country, its history and culture, our primary homeschooling. Do some math and Latin in the morning, and then read, sightsee, journal, and live among the people. I took this to heart. Education is, after all, a science of relations. I want us to build relationships with people and places.

To accommodate this plan (and not knowing, at the time, exactly when we’d be leaving), I scheduled 17 weeks of “regular” school centered on the British Isles. (We were able to extend that a little bit to get in more reading, and I’ve loaded up our Kindles with even more book on Britain.) We’ve been reading books on the history of England and Scotland, the folklore and legends of the British Isles, British literature, and biographies of British leaders and British authors. We’ve been listening to a playlist of classical and folk music of the British Isles, drawing maps of various places in Britain, and reading a book of a family’s adventures traveling around Britain. And we’ve been reading about styles of architecture that we will likely encounter in Britain and studying pictures that we’ll encounter in the National Gallery in London and those by famous British artists like John Constable, who painted landscapes of places we’ll visit.

Then, when we get there, I hope everything we see will mean more to us and we’ll better be able to appreciate the history and beauty of the country.

Here’s what we’ve been using as our resources for British studies this year. In each case, I’ve tried to link to my favorite edition of the book (with my favorite illustrations), if possible.

Historical Overview of England and Scotland

• Our Island Story by Henrietta (H.E.) Marshall
• Scotland’s Story by Henrietta (H.E.) Marshall
• Mother Culture or High School picks: Illustrated English Social History by G.M. Trevelyan and The History of the English Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill

Fables and Folklore

• English Fables and Fairy Stories by James Reeves (Oxford Myths and Legends)
• Scottish Folk Tales and Legends by Barbara Ker Wilson (Oxford Myths and Legends)
• Wee Gillis by Munro Leaf
• The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green (one child preferred this one)
• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (the other child preferred this one)
• The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle
• Tales of King Arthur (4 picture book series) by Hudson Talbott
• Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
• The Questing Knights of the Faerie Queen by Geraldine McCaughrean

Chapter Biographies and History

• William the Conqueror by Thomas Costain (Landmark)–1000s
• The Magna Charta by James Daugherty (Landmark)–1200s
• The Story of Good Queen Bess by Alida Sims Malkus (Signature Biography)–1500s
• Longitude by Dava Sobel–1700s
• Presenting Miss Jane Austen by May Lamberton Becker–late 1700s
• Queen Victoria by Noel Streatfeild (Landmark)–1800s
• The Story of Winston Churchill by Alida Sims Malkus (Signature Biography)–WW2
• Never Give In by Stephen Mansfield (Leaders in Action)–WW2, Winston Churchill
• The Battle of Britain by Quentin Reynolds (Landmark)–WW2

Picture Book Biographies and Non-Fiction

• The Norman Conquest by Walter Hodges–1000s
• Magna Carta by Walter Hodges–1200s
• Good Queen Bess by Diane Stanley–1500s
• Bard of Avon by Diane Stanley–1500s, Shakespeare
• William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki–1500s
• Shakespeare’s Theatre by Walter Hodges–1500s
• The Spanish Armada by Walter Hodges–1500s
• The Man Who Made Time Travel by Kathryn Lasky–1700s, Longitude
• Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine by Gloria Whelan–1800s
• The Little Ships by Louise Borden–WW2, Dunkirk

Historical Fiction

• Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff–900 BC, Celtic Britain
• The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff–100s, Roman Britain
• The White Isle by Caroline Dale Snedeker–100s, Roman Britain
• Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard–late 500s
• The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff–600s
• Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland–800s, Vikings, Ireland
• The Namesake by Walter Hodges–800s, Alfred the Great
• The Marsh King by Walter Hodges–800s, Alfred the Great
• The Little Duke by Charlotte Yonge–900s
• If All the Swords in England by Barbara Willard–1100s, Thomas a Becket, Henry II
• The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanore Jewett–1171
• The Lost Baron by Allen French–1200, King John
• The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter–1296-1305, William Wallace
• The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle–1300s-1400s, Hundred Years’ War
• The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson–1400s, Wars of the Roses
• Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey–1400s, Richard III and the Princes in the Tower
• The Bible Smuggler by Louise Vernon–1500s, Reformation, William Tyndale
• Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat–1640s, English Civil War
• The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery–1700s, War for American Independence
• War Horse by Michael Morpurgo–WW1
• Dolphin Crossing by Jill Paton Walsh (We did discover some surprise swearing in this book.)–WW2, Dunkirk
• The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico–WW2, Dunkirk
• Enemy Brothers by Constance Savery–WW2

British Literature

• The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein (somebody is always reading these in our house anyway)
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (same with these)
• The Tales of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter
• The Tales and Poems of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
• Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children by Edith Nesbit
• The Father Brown Reader by G.K. Chesterton, adapted by Nancy Carpentier Brown
• James Herriot’s Treasury for Children by James Herriot
• Beowulf by Michelle Szobody
• Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome
• Dangerous Journey selected by Oliver Hunkin from the work of John Bunyan

Audio Books

• Beric the Briton by G.A. Henty, presented by Heirloom Audio–AD 61, Roman Invasion of Britain
• The Dragon and the Raven by G.A. Henty, presented by Heirloom Audio–800s, Alfred the Great
• In Freedom’s Cause by G.A. Henty, presented by Heirloom Audio–late 1200s, William Wallace
• Under Drake’s Flag by G.A. Henty, presented by Heirloom Audio–1500s, Elizabethan England

Geography Books

• The Young Traveller in England and Wales by Geoffrey Trease
• The Young Traveller in Scotland by Ian Finlay
• This Is Britain by M. Sasek
• This Is London by M. Sasek
• This Is Edinburgh by M. Sasek
• How the Heather Looks by Joan Bodger
• Atlas of British History by Martin Gilbert

Architecture

• The Young People’s Story of Architecture (2 volumes) by Hillyer and Huey
• Castle by David Macaulay
• Cathedral by David Macaulay

You can read more here about how we incorporated these books into our school year, as well as additional resources that we used this year. I’ll also be sharing more books and resources over the next few months as we visit different places in the UK and the Netherlands.