This series of readers is excellent for beginning readers to advanced. It is useful in a variety of ways - copywork, dictation, elocution and oration, reading development and comprehension, etc... I homeschool and find these books refreshing: I do not have to worry about the content of what they read. They encounter a wide range of authors, prose style, and, best of all, solid principles for living. My children enjoy taking the time for these classics.

I ordered this series in May of last year and have yet to receive it. Please tell me what your intentions are. Thank you, Arlyn Boone

i purchased my first mcguffey reader at knotts berry farm in so. cal. After reading several of the stories i was very pleased with the characters who often show valuable lessons to young readers {good character building lessons}. The vocabulary with definitions at the end of each story are essential and a plus. There are also lots of wonderful poems...these readers are well worth the investment. barbara vassar.

The McGuffey's Revised Second and Third Eclectic Readers combine a number of lessons into one. They can be used for reading comprehension or as copybooks for improving handwriting skills. The numerous poems can be used to improve memory skills. Furthermore, many of the lessons are focused on nature subjects such as birds, insects, farm animals, etc., and will supplement a natural history text for teaching early scientific observation. Most importantly, all the lessons are moral and help to preserve childhood innocence, something that is sorely needed in today's world. Filled with beautiful illustrations, these hardcover textbooks are an outstanding value.

The McGuffey Readers are from a time when parents and teachers had high expectations for children. Children were expected to become proficient in spelling, reading and speach, and morality wasn't subjective. Perhaps a return to the old style wouldn't be so bad... If my wife and I are fortunate enough to have children, these books will definitely be in our repertoire.

These readers contain excellent content, a phonics approach, and a wide vocabulary. Your child will not only learn to read in an easy step by step phonics approach, they will be taught wholesome moral lessons that help in cultivating the pricipals that produce good charector. Sure, you could read the yellow pages, as one 'specialist' suggested, but why? Early education should center around teaching a child good charector.

This not-a-specialist recommends these books for anyone looking for a classic reading program.

I love this collecton of books!Children that went to school then life was so simple so was there education.I would have to say it was reading at it's purest form.Something is lost in our society and that is simplicity.I enjoy reading books from the past and it is nice to tell children how simple life was as a child back then.Iam glad we have books to remind us,and to teach us of good reading.The black and white pictures also add the beauty to these wonderful books.

I have been using this series as I teach my six chidren at home. The authors have done an excellent job of bringing us the best of the original McGuffy Readers, returning to the contents of the first series, not those later published under his name. My children are discovering a nobler time and way of life as they learn the basics with these fine readers. The study guide is simple to use with many practical exercises and examples. The only reason for less than five stars seems to be the quality of the paper and binding. In the noble effort to keep costs down, the durability of the product suffers. I am hoping for a hard bound edition. Should one appear, the publishers should be prepared for greater sales than the previous edition. Such excellent content deserves an equally excellent binding with the ability withstand being read again and again.

These are the original 1837 McGuffey Readers before the secular revisions, with slight revisions of archaic grammar. Four Readers and a Study Guide show you how to teach your children to reason cogently, speak persuasively, write clearly--all in a Christian framework. Each lesson has moral and intellectual content, and offers an impressive vocabulary. Words progress from 'learn,' 'keep,' in the early grades to 'assiduity, profligate, efficacious, calcaneous, penury, communition, execrated' in high school. Lessons are followed by spell/define exercises, and thoughtful questions. Ex.: "Is it not better to be industrious and possess a good name than to possess many riches?" "What is the effect of making public opinion the rule of life?" "Have we not reason to rejoice that we live where we may hear the glad tidings of salvation?" Each lesson begins with a basic rule of reading and elocution. Study Guide ties each original lesson to a biblica! l theme. There are 10 years of 36 weekly lessons (grades 1-10). Instructions on teaching reading aloud, public speaking, good writing habits, memorization, logic, love for language as one of God's gifts. Many famous authors like Blackthorn, Shakespeare, Bacon, Irving figure prominently. By the time a child begins the third reader he will have surpassed most of today's high schoolers. Mastery of the fourth reader puts him beyond most college students. Any adult can read the selections with profit. You'll be awed at what was once accomplished in American schools, and resolved that your children grow up with the same advantages. The lessons cover a broad range of worthy topics including history, geography, poetry, and virtue. These are just reading selections,however, and do not as such offer instruction in phonics or grammar. Some of the 19th-century perspecitves are quaint, even funny. These lessons are intended for Christian parents who homeschool their children. ! I'm happy to learn from them myself. I see the sublime ed! ucational value of these lessons, and see the great need for moral and spiritual training for young people. These lessons will provide those in spades.

This boxed set has two primers, a spelling book, and levels one through four. It does NOT contain levels five and above.

Great way to teach your children proper english, and the moral codes of yester years. I use for homeschooling my 4 children(4-10) in addition to there regular text books, and all are above average in reading and writing.

Last year we used the Spalding method of spelling, and I think it is a geat way to learn spelling. The biggest hurdle to implementing that program for my son was the randomness of the words with no connection to what he is reading or learning in his daily life. This was a difficult hurdle for an intuitive learner like him to overcome. The McGuffy Speller lists words with common sounds. Thus you will have words like fair, and fare together on one list, teaching the child the different ways one sound can be spelled. I think this is easier for a child to deal with than having to decide as in Spalding which spelling goes with the same sound. In McGuffy the sounds are introduced with the words and this is less frustrating than a child having to feel he should somehow know which spelling to use: are, or air. If you tried Spalding, and liked the phonetic approach, but don't think you will continue in it, and are looking for a similar but more conventional approach, this may be a good choice for you. I think it takes the best of phonics, memorization, and word patterns, and combines them into a great word list that can be used for weekly spelling tests. Personally, I am not using even this method this year as I believe the memorization and detachment from hands on learning just won't stick with my son. If your child doesn't balk at weekly spelling tests, learning the words in this book will prepare him for college level reading and writing.