McGuffey Series

McGuffey's Primer #7

by William Holmes McGuffey

Mott Media has Republished the 1830's Version of the McGuffey Readers with the Original Christian Content! How would McGuffey teach reading if he were here today? His first concern would be that the content should promote moral growth and excellence of mind in habits, attitudes, and literary tastes. And Bible selections would be at the top of his reading list. McGuffey also believed in phonics for beginning reading. Methods and timing should be adapted to the individuality of each child. Parents should not send their dearest treasure off to school too early in life, but should proceed at the child's own pace. This preserves the vigor of his mental action. McGuffey believed in memorizing as a way to develop habits of attention that promote understanding and mastery of ALL learning, even those studies which are not memorized. McGuffey believed that an obvious result of a cultivated mind is a wide vocabulary. And the best way to cultivate a wide vocabulary is to learn words in their context, as in studying the important ideas and noble thoughts presented in the Readers. These principles produce the education that shaped American character, particularly in the West, for over one hundred years. It's the kind of education the majority of Americans want and need today.

Genres: Education, Classics, Childrens, Parenting, School, Reference, Nonfiction

1531 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1836

About the author

William Holmes McGuffey (September 23, 1800 – May 4, 1873) was an American professor and college president who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers, one of the nation's first and most widely used series of textbooks. It is estimated that at least 122 million copies of McGuffey Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary.

Reviews

[Laurie Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these books from a historical viewpoint. While I was an education major in college, I was taught that the students of the one room school house received a poor education as compared to the modern day.
That never made sense to me. In the Laura Ingalls Wilder storybooks, she shares about her school lessons with these books. When she writes of her teenage years in Little Town on the Prairie. it is astounding what she and her classmates achieved, in part from these books.
My own grandparents attended a one room school house in the early 20th century Pennsylvania, but no one ever found their education lacking, despite not going past the 8th grade.
My parents even had a better education than me, even though I was on a college track, but they weren't.
From that perspective, reading these books proved that they had more depth and morals than typically given credit.
These books were written for students who were not able to receive a private (classical studies) education, which is even deeper than what these books provide.

[Adam Bloch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently learned that these readers used to be the American education standard, so I found the ones I could for free. I didn’t actually read this collection, but it’s close: I read the primer, the first, the third, and the fifth readers. For the most part, they are excellent and teach good values. A couple of the stories, however, could not survive in today’s culture because they are a product of their time, but aside from just a few sentences, these volumes would be beneficial to young readers.
I took so long reading (listening to the ones on Audible Plus, at least) because I would listen to a few stories here and there in between other books I read this year.

[Grant]

Good God, these were the bane of my existence

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I literally taught my kids to read with this book during pandemic lockdown.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you only have enough money for one source of teaching your child how to read this was good enough for everyone from the 1800s and it's still valuable today.

[Samantha Ellsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

My great-grandmother bought these for me when I was really young. She sat with me, and I learned to read with these books (and many, many others). I still like remembering how it was increasingly difficult within each book as well as moving on to the next book. My children now are still interested in the books, they are fascinated by the fact mom learned to read from them.

[Kymberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is such a good set. The kids even like them. They think the old english is so funny. They quit guessing and started reading.

[Jorgina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read numerous times through the different ages of my last three children. 1997-2010. Wonderful stories, long forgotten poetry, both of which have beautiful prose and reaffirming life lessons.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun for nostalgia's sake and I like the moral lessons in them. But not the easiest format or font to use.