Homeschooling Using 19th Century Readers
by Alexandra Ceely

What do we mean by “Readers”?

Readers were books published solely for the purpose of teaching children to read out loud.  In a time when there were no TV1s, no radios, and no phonographs, listening to someone read was a common form of entertainment. Being able to read clearly and pleasantly was important.   The student was taught how to breath, how to stand or sit, and how to enunciate.  Passages in Readers were usually selected with this in mind.

While readers did teach vocabulary more or less, all of them promoted the basic idea of teaching the student to read out loud.  Some were so much more focused on elocution than on comprehension that one wonders if these students ever really understood what they were reading.  The exercises found in various books range from none to a few vocabulary exercises to discussion questions and everything in between. When selecting a reader, it is important to look at the kind of exercises offered. Does it teach vocabulary? Does it teach comprehension? What kind of questions does it ask? Are there exercises for every passage or just a few?  Are the questions ones that can be answered by a 21st century student?

Most of us have heard of the McGuffey Readers, but there were many different Readers published in the 19th century. But does that mean McGuffey is the best choice? Well, some McGuffey1s Readers do have vocabulary and discussion questions, but it may not be enough to challenge the student.  With so many readers still out there, you can shop around. Look for names like Monroe, Wilson, Progressive, and American. But again, it1s important to know what to look for.  The publisher Appleton produced readers in the second half of the 19th century that have exercises with instructions for the student. They touch on vocabulary, spelling, comprehension and history.  Of all the readers I have examined so far, Appleton seems to be the most useful.

What are Graded Readers?

The McGuffey Readers published in 1878 that claims to be a Fourth Reader is NOT for fourth grade. It is merely the fourth book in a series of progressive readers. In the age of the one-room-schoolhouse, books were geared to reading level rather than any attempt at segregation by age.   Instead, these older books correspond more nearly to two grades for every one.  A modern correlation appears below:

• First Reader = first and second grades

• Second Reader = third and fourth grades

• Third reader = fourth and fifth grades

• Fourth reader = fifth through sixth grades

• Fifth Reader = seventh through ninth grades

• Sixth Reader = ninth through twelfth grades

This correspondence is not absolute. Each Reader differs from another in many ways. It seems the third reader was often considered “high enough”  for a student to go, and the Fourth reader became a high school text. Some Fifth Readers were actually being used in colleges. So when looking at graded readers from the 1850’s to the 1880’s, try not to let the number sway you as much as the content.

How do I teach using them?

While there were many readers published as mentioned above, McGuffey is the one most readily available today. But before you rush out and buy all 6 Readers, be aware that there were three very different versions published in the 100 years of its history. Parents today might find the first edition, pubished in1836, morbid with its emphasis on death and the wages of sin.  In 1856, the readers were revised to be less morbid, and more in tune with what a young person might be interested in reading. Then, in 1879, it was revised again, and all of the original selections were tossed out and replaced with a more progressive and positive outlook suited to post-Civil War America. The 1879 version is the one that was published continuously into the 1920’s.

But can you actually teach using McGuffey’s Readers?

Yes, but it would be up to you, the teacher, to see that the student is actually doing what we in the 21st century consider learning exercises.  The Second and Third readers have only word lists for each lesson.  As a teacher, you would need to give the student instructions, such as “look up these words in the dictionary and write definitions,” or “write a paragraph telling me what happened in the story.” Anything to get the student more actively engaged. The upper level readers have more vocabulary content and added questions for discussion. For example, a lesson in McGuffey’s Fourth Reader gives definitions:

   2. Ex-am-ine, to look at carefully.  6. Sig-ni-fies, to be important. 28. Pru-dent-ly, with proper caution.  29. Ceased, stopped.  30. Ev-er-last-ing, lasting always.

The teacher may ask the student to write a sentence using the word, and to study them for a spelling test. Below is what McGuffey’s calls Exercises:

What is the lesson designed to teach?  Which of the boys deserved his whipcord?  What good did it do him?  What did the other boy do with his? What was the consequence?

These questions are a mixture of detail questions and comprehension. Detail questions ask only what happened in the selection, with no need to infer an outcome,  make a judgment, or understand a meaning.  Comprehension questions do. Here, questions 2, 3 and 4 are detail questions, while question 1, 5 and 6 are comprehension.  Your child may have difficulty answering the comprehension questions fully, as they are more for discussion than for writing down. You have to decide how you want your student to answer, whether in one sentence or in a short paragraph. Or, you can always discuss the questions orally, but do not neglect to have them write something: you don’t want to neglect their writing skills.

Any of the 9th century readers can be used for dictation, memorization and recitation.  They have a healthy selection of both prose and poetry.  They are ideal for reading aloud, since that was their purpose all along. Enunciation and pronunciation  are still important things to learn today, especially if a child will be expected to speak in front of an audience at any time.  Readers can also be used as copybooks to practice penmanship, and you will sometimes find examples of cursive writing printed in the books themselves.  But perhaps the most important thing children can learn from these books is the English language.

Almost all textbooks published today have been considerably dumbed down.

Even modern authors have had their works mangled to fit into some preconceived notion of what a child should be learning in school.  What happens, then, is that when the student reaches the upper levels of high school and then enters college, he is not prepared to deal with great authors like Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Jane Austin.  The students do not have the skill sets necessary to read and enjoy works by these and other 19th century authors.  They were never taught the richness of the English language, and their vocabulary is deplorable.  However, if they have been reading selections from 19th century readers from the time they were in 2nd or 3rd grade, they will have no problem at all, and will be able to enjoy the classics without the sense of frustration many students feel today.   

These readers are also little pieces of American history. Almost all of the upper-level readers have anecdotes about George Washington, who was almost a cult figure in 19th century America.  There are also stories that will be familiar in some way, because these are the stories that have been handed down through generations of Americans, stories that have become so ingrained in the American consciousness that we think of them as true.  Ultimately, 19th century Readers are little pieces of history because we are learning the same things our great-great-grandparents learned in school.

Who might want to use them?

 The Christian homeschooler will appreciate the emphasis on God found in many of the readers.  Some of these readers, such as Monroe and McGuffey, tended to be very moralistic in tone, and God is prominently figured in many of the selections. The most common readers were geared toward white Protestant

America, and their reading selections bear witness to this fact.  In fact, some were so very Protestant that Roman Catholics sometimes found them offensive in their treatment and descriptions of the Pope and the faith. Catholic Parochial schools were founded for this very reason, and Catholic readers have a different focus. However, Catholic readers are harder to find nowadays because there were not as many of them published.

 Secular homeschoolers need not despair, though.  Some readers are less religious than others. If you want to teach the same love of language, the same moral values and ethics, the same pieces of history, don’t be afraid to pick and choose. Appleton’s Readers have a slightly less religious tone.  Or you can look around.  You can choose a reader, and you can choose which readings to assign.  You can teach it as history, because readers actually give a fairly accurate idea of how  our 19th century ancestors thought and felt.

Surprisingly, 19th century Readers are not as bigoted or as politically incorrect as we might think. Certainly, the ideas and attitudes belong to a bygone era, but publishers of schoolbooks even then avoided negative portrayals of different ethnic races for the most part.  There is one aspect that some sensitive children might have trouble with: I would caution parents that these Readers all deal with death in a way we avoid in the 21st century.  Death was a part of life, and children often did not live to adulthood.  The death of friends, loved ones and animals is often candidly portrayed in these books.

Where can I get them?

 As with many unique items nowadays, your best bet will be eBay.com.  On eBay you will find every reader published, but you have to be patient and be careful.  Books come up for sale every day, but you may have to wait for that one special book.  Or you can try yard sales and flea markets. But beware: many books this old are in very poor condition, and even those that are still readable will often be moldy or mildewed.  The good news is that you will also find some of these books on CD, so you can forego the pleasure of that musty smell and crumbling pages.  McGuffey1s Readers have been reprinted in two editions. Mott Media published the 1836 editions, and John Wiley & Sons publishes the 1879-1920 edition.  The later edition is available on Amazon and elsewhere.

As with all homeschool curriculum, the parent is the ultimate decision-maker, and will not wish to start on a book or subject without extensive review  first.  Take a look at 19th century readers in any of their current forms.  You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find in them.

About the author:

            Alexandra Ceely has two masters degrees and is a collector and scholar of 19the century textbooks. She is also the owner of Lady’s Maid Books, Her store can be found at http://stores.ebay.com/Ladys-Maid-Books.