Commenter SteveG asks:
First, you mention using good Pictorial Encyclopedias for history, and specifically reference Usborne and History Odyssey….but do you have/use a more general Encyclopedia as well (beyond history)?…Both the boys (7 and almost 5) are in the mode of constantly asking ‘how does that work?’ or ‘how do they make that?’ type questions. The response is often…’We’ll have to look into that.’ But more often than we’d probably like to admit, life gets in the way of follow up.
It would be great to have a resource that’s more handy (that doesn’t involve a screen) that we could readily turn to.
I don’t have a general encyclopedia (yet), except for the Dorling Kindersley Children’s Illustrated Encyclopedia, which is okay but not at all comprehensive. I bought it not so much to be an encyclopedia as to be a "browsing" book — something interesting that kids could pick up, leaf through, look at pictures and read as they like.
As for answering kids’ questions without a screen, you could do what my friend Hannah does (she also knows too well how distracting the "screen" can be). When her son (age 8 and reading well) asks her a question, she Googles the answer and finds a good website written at his reading level. Then she prints out the page and gives him the paper. 🙂
Do you have a regular routine of visiting your local branch library? Another idea (also Hannah’s) is to keep a Question Book — write down the questions in it and take it with you to look up the answers when you stop by your library, or wherever the answer can be found. If you’re really together, the Question Book could be a record of the answers too, and serve as a scrapbook or journal of your investigations.
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