Tag Archives: Self-improvement; education; homeschooling; free K-12 worksheets

When I was in school, nonfiction was textbooks. And the encyclopedia and the dictionary, too. What nobody told me is that there’s another kind of nonfiction out there. There’s the kind that’s actually fun to read.

Modern nonfiction is some of the most entertaining, well-written stuff you can find. (After all, if you want to make money writing about neuroscience, for example, you’d better make it relevant, understandable, and full of fascinating anecdotes, right?) It’s stimulating and informative, but that’s not all it is: it’s a road map for becoming a better person. Nonfiction can widen your perspective, give you wisdom, make you stronger . . . maybe even make you a happier person. Nonfiction helps us come up with new goals and ideas about what our lives can encompass–then takes our hands and helps us draw the circles.

It’s such a great time to be a reader, isn’t it?

Of course, the lists below also feature numerous difficult-to-read works, particularly the advanced compilation. Confession: I haven’t read all of these. Instead, somewhere along the way (mostly in philosophy and history classes) I learned about the significance of the texts–the historical context, the main takeaways and the way the text changed people’s thinking. Feel free to do the same.

ESSENTIAL CLASSIC NONFICTION

Essential Introductory Classic Nonfiction and Mythology

• The story of Paul Bunyan (American myth)
• The story of John Henry (American myth)
• The story of Daniel Boone (American myth)
• The story of George Washington and the apple tree (American myth)
• The story of Helen and Paris (Homer)
• The story of the Trojan horse (Homer)
• The story of the Sirens of Titan (Homer)
• The story of Horatius at the Bridge (Homer)
• The story of Androcles and the Lion (Greek myth)
• The story of Jason and the Golden Fleece (Homer)
• The story of Perseus and Medusa (Homer)
• The story of Medusa and Athena (Greek myth)
• The story of Cupid and Psyche (Greek myth)
• The story of The Sword of Damocles (Greek myth)
• The story of Pandora’s Box (Greek myth)
• The story of Oedipus and the Sphinx (Greek myth)
• The story of Demeter and Persephone (Greek myth)
• The story of Daedalus and Icarus (Greek myth)
• The story of Theseus and the Minotaur (Greek myth)
• The story of Arachne the Weaver (Greek myth)
• The story of Swift-footed Atlanta (Greek myth)
• The story of Atlas (Greek myth)
• The story of Odysseus and the Cyclops (Greek myth)
• The story of Romulus and Remus (Roman myth)
• The story of The Twelve Labors of Hercules (Roman myth)
• The story of creation (The Old Testament)
• The story of Adam and Eve (The Old Testament)
• The story of Noah’s ark (The Old Testament)
• The story of the tower of Babel (The Old Testament)
• The story of Abraham’s call (The Old Testament)
• The story of the test of Abraham’s faith (The Old Testament)
• The story of Isaac and Rebecca (The Old Testament)
• The story of Jacob and Esau (The Old Testament)
• The story of Joseph’s coat of many colors (The Old Testament)
• The story of Moses’ birth (The Old Testament)
• The story of Moses and the burning bush (The Old Testament)
• The story of the Israelites’ flight from Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea (The Old Testament)
• The story of the manna from heaven (The Old Testament)
• The story of the Ten Commandments (The Old Testament)
• The story of the walls of Jericho (The Old Testament)
• The story of Gideon’s fleece (The Old Testament)
• The story of Samson’s downfall (The Old Testament)
• The story of Esther (The Old Testament)
• The story of Ruth and Naomi (The Old Testament)
• The story of David and Goliath (The Old Testament)
• The story of David and Jonathan (The Old Testament)
• The story of King Solomon’s temple (The Old Testament)
• The story of King Solomon’s decision (The Old Testament)
• The story of Elijah and the still, small voice (The Old Testament)
• The story of Elijah and the chariot of fire (The Old Testament)
• The story of Daniel in the fiery furnace and in the lion’s den (The Old Testament)
• The story of Daniel and the handwriting on the wall (The Old Testament)
• The story of Jonah and the whale (The Old Testament)
• The story of Lucifer (The Old Testament)
• The story of Job (The Old Testament)
• The story of the first Christmas (The New Testament)
• The story of the choosing of the twelve disciples (The New Testament)
• The story of the water into wine miracle (The New Testament)
• The story of the walking on water miracle (The New Testament)
• The story of the calming the storm miracle (The New Testament)
• The story of the feeding of the five thousand miracle (The New Testament)
• The story of the raising Lazarus from the dead miracle (The New Testament)
• The story of the Sermon on the Mount (The New Testament)
• The story of the woman at the well (The New Testament)
• The parable of the sower of seeds (The New Testament)
• The parable of the good Samaritan (The New Testament)
• The parable of the prodigal son (The New Testament)
• The parable of the last supper (The New Testament)
• The story of Easter (The New Testament)
• The story of Thomas’ doubt (The New Testament)
• The story of the conversion of Paul (The New Testament)
• The story of Loki and the Gifts for the Gods (Norse myth)
• The story of how Thor won his hammer (Norse myth)
• The story of Odin (Norse myth)

Essential Intermediate Classic Nonfiction

• The Holy Bible
• The writings of Buddha (500s–300s BCE)
• The Analects, Confucius (500s BCE)
• Tao Te Ching, Lao Tze (500s BCE)
• The Art of War, Sun Tzu (500s BCE)
• The Quran (600s)
• The Magna Carta (1200s)
• The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli (1500s)
• The Declaration of Independence (1700s)
• The Constitution of the United States (1700s)
• The Bill of Rights (1700s)
• The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Olaudah Equiano (1700s)
• Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, Thomas de Quincey (1800s)
• The Gettysburg Address (1800s)
• Narrative of Sojourner Truth, Sojourner Truth (1800s)
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1800s)
• Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs (1800s)
• Walden, Henry David Thoreau (1800s)
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Frederick Douglass (1800s)
• The Souls of Black Folks, W. E. B. DuBois (1900s)
• Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon Johnson (1900s)
• I Have a Dream, Martin Luther King, Jr. (1900s)
• The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank (1900s)
• The Story of My Life, Helen Keller (1900s)
• Roots, Alex Haley (1900s)
• Autobiography of Malcom X, Malcom X (1900s)
• The Jungle, Upton Sinclair (1900s)
• Black Boy, Richard Wright (1900s)
• Native Son, Richard Wright (1900s)
• Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin (1900s)
• The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom (1900s)

Essential Advanced Classic Nonfiction

• The Histories, Herodotus (400s BCE)
• The Republic, Plato (400s BCE)
• History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides (400s BCE)
• Rhetoric, Aristotle (300s BCE)
• Apology, Plato (300s BCE)
• Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle (300s BCE)
• On the Nature of Things, Lucretius (60s BCE)
• De Republica, Cicero (50s BCE)
• The Early History of Rome, Livy (20s BCE)
• Wars of the Jews, Josephus (70s CE)
• Annals, Tacitus (100s CE)
• The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius (100s CE)
• Anabasis of Alexander, Arrian (100s CE)
• Meditations, Marcus Aurelius (100s CE)
• Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans, Plutarch (100s CE)
• Enchiridion, Epictetus (100s CE)
• The Confessions, Saint Augustine (300s)
• The City of God, St. Augustine (400s)
• The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius (500s)
• The Ecclesiastical History, Adam Bede (700s)
• The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Peter and Heolise Abelard (1100s)
• Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas (1200s)
• The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis (1400s)
• In Praise of Folly, Erasmus (1500s)
• The Education of a Christian Prince, Erasmus (1500s)
• The Freedom of a Christian, Martin Luther (1500s)
• Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin (1500s)
• History of the Reformation, John Knox (1500s)
• The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila, Teresa of Avila (1500s)
• The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila (1500s)
• Dark Night of the Soul, St. John of the Cross (1500s)
• The Defense of Poesy, Sir Philip Sidney (1500s)
• Novum Organum, Frances Bacon (1600s)
• The Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes (1600s)
• Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes (1600s)
• Discourse on Method, Rene Descartes (1600s)
• Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke (1600s)
• The Second Treatise of Government, John Locke (1600s)
• An Essay on Criticism, Alexander Pope (1700s)
• An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope (1700s)
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin (1700s)
• The Rights of Man, Thomas Paine (1700s)
• Common Sense, Thomas Paine (1700s)
• On Liberty, John Stuart Mill (1800s)
• The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1700s)
• The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith (1700s)
• A Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant (1700s)
• On American Taxation, Edmund Burke (1700s)
• Life of Johnson, James Boswell (1700s)
• The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton (1700s)
• On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin (1800s)
• The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx (1800s)
• The Education of Henry Adams, Henry Adams (1800s)
• Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Frederich Nietzsche (1800s)
• Beyond Good and Evil, Frederich Nietzsche (1800s)
• Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud (1900s)
• The Ego and the Id, Sigmund Freud (1900s)
• The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud (1900s)
• Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler (1900s)

Additional Recommended Nonfiction

• The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Samuel Pepys (1600s)
• Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather (1600s)
• The Journal of John Woolman, John Woolman (1700s)
• Notes on Nursing, Florence Nightingale (1800s)
• Memoir, Correspondence and Misc., Thomas Jefferson (1800s)
• An Autobiography, Annie Besant (1800s)
• The Memoirs of Victor Hugo, Victor Hugo (1800s)
• Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville (1800s)
• A Child’s History of England, Charles Dickens (1800s)
• For Self-Examination, Soren Kierkegaard (1800s)
• The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, parts one through four, Susan Wise Bauer
• The Well-Trained Mind, Susan Wise Bauer
• The Well-Educated Mind, Susan Wise Bauer
• What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know, E.D. Hirsch
• What Your First Grader Needs to Know, E.D. Hirsch
• What Your Second Grader Needs to Know, E.D. HirscWhat Your Kindergartener Needs to Know, E.D. Hirsch
• What Your Third Grader Needs to Know, E.D. Hirsch
• What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know, E.D. Hirsch
• What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know, E.D. Hirsch
• What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know, E.D. Hirsch
• The Elements of Style, William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
• A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
• The Meaning of It All, Richard Feynman
• Alexander of Macedon, Peter Green
• Treblinka, Jean-Francois Steiner
• The War Magician, David Fisher
• Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer
• The Particle at the Edge of the Universe, Sean Carroll
• The Fabric of the Cosmos, Brian Greene
• Endurance, Scott Kelly
• Genome, Matt Ridley
• The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin
• Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, Laurence Gonzales
• The Underachiever’s Manifesto, Ray Bennett
• Being Mortal, Arul Gawande
• Flourish, Martin Seligman
• Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmivaly
• The Inner Game of Work, W. Timothy Gallway
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcom Gladwell
• Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcom Gladwell
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini
• What Would Google Do?, Jeff Jarvis
• The Long Tail, Chris Anderson
• Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
• Discover Your Inner Economist, Tyler Cowen
• Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
• Switch, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath
• The Gift of Fear, Gavin de Becker
• On Writing, Steven King
• Save the Cat!, Blake Snyder
• The War of Art, Steven Pressfield
• Plot and Structure, James Scott Bell
• How Children Fail, John Holt
• The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, John Gottman
• Love Sense, Sue Johnson
• Parenting with Love and Logic, Foster Cline
• If I Have to Tell You One More Time, Amy McCready
• The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle
• A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle
• The Conversations with God series, Neale Donald Walsch
• Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe, Robert Lanza and Bob Berman
• Fringe-ology: How I Tried to Explain Away the Unexplainable–and Couldn’t, Steve Volk
• Dying to Be Me, Anita Moorjani
• A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken
• Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klostermann
• When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi
• Educated, Tara Westover
• Go Ask Alice, Anonymous
• A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard
• A House in the Sky, Amanda Lindhout
• Into the Wild, John Krakauer
• In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

Spirituality feels complicated: cultural, nuanced. And it is. I understand that. But the basic tenets of the major world religions are actually fairly straightforward, and it is these that I seek to present here. Please note that this treatment is highly simplified and does not represent all adherents of the given faith. Other religions with over one million adherents that aren’t discussed here include Falun Gong (a 20th-century Chinese religion similar to Buddhism that incorporates meditation and qigong exercises), Sikhism (a 15th-century Indian religion that follows the teaching of Sikh gurus and rejects religious certainty), Korean shamanism, Caodaism, Bahá’í Faith (a nineteenth-century Middle Eastern religion that seeks to unify all world religions), Tenriism, Jainism, Cheondoism, and Hoahaoism.

BASIC RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

Christianity:

Rank of Christianity in terms of number of followers worldwide: Number one

Holy book of Christianity: The Bible, which includes the New Testament and the Old Testament. The Catholic Christian version of the Bible includes additional sections as well.

Concept of God in Christianity: There is one all-knowing, all-loving, everywhere-present, all-powerful, gender-neutral God, who created the universe.

Notion of life after death in Christianity: Salvation–that is, eternal life in a place of bliss called Heaven–comes to those who profess faith in Jesus Christ and repent of their sins. Others go to Hell after death.

Other basic tenets of Christianity: Humans are sinful and in need of redemption. Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God, came to Earth to preach faith in Him and to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world. In addition to faith, Christians should practice love, charity, self-sacrifice, humility, morality, prayer, Bible reading, sexual abstinence prior to marriage and monogomy thereafter, and other good works.

Origins of Christianity: Christianity began with the life of Jesus Christ, who lived in the first century AD in the Middle East. His followers spread the faith widely over the following several centuries. From these early Christians, Catholicism developed, which appointed a Pope as its leader. Then Orthodoxy and Protestantism split off from Catholicism, in that order. Protestants divided into many different sects, including Methodist, Anglican and Lutheran Christianity. Later, Mormonism split off from Protestant Christianity with even greater changes.

Islam:

Rank of Islam in terms of number of followers worldwide: Number two

Holy book of Islam: The Quran, which is the verbatim word of God revealed to the prophet Muhammad, plus the sunnah, the other teachings of Muhammad, and the hadith, the record of Muhammad’s life.

Concept of God in Islam: There is one God, with Muhammad as the messenger of God. God is merciful and all-powerful.

Notion of life after death in Islam: Muslims go to a blissful Heaven, and non-Muslims go to a place of eternal punishment.

Other basic tenets of Islam: Islam is the final expression of a faith that pre-existed and was partially revealed through Adam, Abraham, and Jesus. Therefore, it is considered an Abrahamic faith like Judaism and Christianity. Muslims must practice the five pillars of the faith, which include (1) recitation of the creed, (2) daily prayers, (3) almsgiving, (4) fasting during Ramadan and (5) making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. They also must follow sharia law, which is more specific and lengthy and includes guidelines on clothing, relationships, finances and more. Most Muslims belong to either the Sunni or the Shia sect, with the major original difference between them being who they considered the proper leader of their faith after the death of Muhammad. Muslims also believe in angels.

Origins of Islam: Islam was started in the early seventh century in Mecca by the Prophet Muhammad. It spread in Europe through war and coercion, and in Africa through trading relationships.

Sufism: A mystical branch of Islam

Hinduism:

Rank of Hiduism in terms of number of followers worldwide: Number three

Holy books of Hinduism: Hindu texts are many and varied. They are not considered absolutely true. They are divided into two categories: the Shruti and the Smriti. The Shruti are the oldest traditions and include the four Vedas. The Upanishads are the parts of the Vedas that discuss meditation and philosophy and are the foundation of Hinduism. Of the Smritis, the Hindu epics, especially the Bhagavad Gita, and the Puranas are most important.

Concept of God in Hinduism: Varies by tradition. Some traditions teach the existence of multiple deities (dualism) while others teach of a single supreme being that is reflected in all other beings (the divine in all/non-dualism). Hindu gods are depicted in art and stories. Various incarnations of the same god are called avatars.

Notion of life after death in Hinduism: Reincarnation, called samsara. Hindus desire liberation from samsara through moksha (enlightenment).

Other basic tenets of Hinduism: Dharma (the path of rightness) is considered the foremost goal of a human being. It includes religious duties and moral virtues, but it is also equated with the eternal, unchanging truth. According to Hinduism, achieving dharma allows people to be in harmony with their true nature and with the world. Other Hindu goals are artha, properly pursued economic prosperity; kama, aesthetic pleasure; and moksha, liberation from suffering (enlightenment). Hindus also believe in karma. Hindu monks are called sanyāsī, sādhu, or swāmi. Religious rituals are observed mostly at home and are not mandatory. They include yoga, chanting, meditation and more. Hindus recognize four social classes: the Brahmins (teachers and priests); the Kshatriyas (warriors and kings); the Vaishyas (farmers and merchants); and the Shudras (servants and laborers). They believe in non-violence, respect for all life and vegetarianism.

Origins of Hinduism: Hinduism is a fusion of various ancient Indian cultural ideas and tradition, with no single founder. It began to take its current form between 500 B.C. and AD 300. It is widely practiced in India and parts of Southeast Asia.

Daoism: (The Tao Te Ching of approximately 600 BCE), Notable quote: “The dao that can be told is not the dao.” – Laozi, who taught about the Tao/Dao, also known as The Way, the indescribable ultimate truth which can partly be discovered by acting in harmony with nature and meditating

Confucianism: (The Analects of Confucius of approximately 500 BCE) – who emphasized virtuous living, loyalty and obedience to one’s leaders, sincerity and self-reflection- and … Notable quote: “Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.” – Confucius, who emphasized virtuous living, loyalty and obedience to one’s leaders, sincerity and self-reflection

Buddhism: (which arose in India around 500 BCE). Notable quote: “Happy is he who has overcome his ego.” – Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha, who prescribed meditation, the middle way (life balance) and letting go of suffering through wanting nothing

Buddhism: “Happy is he who has overcome his ego.” – Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha, who prescribed meditation, the middle way (life balance) and letting go of suffering through wanting nothing

Rank of Buddhism in terms of number of followers worldwide: Number four

Holy books of Buddhism: Numerous and highly varied. Some are based on the words of the Buddha, like the sutras, while others were created by ancient Buddhist schools, like the tantras.

Concept of God in Buddhism: There is no creator God or supreme being in the Universe.

Notion of life after death in Buddhism: Reincarnation. This cycle of death and rebirth, which is affected by one’s karma, can be escaped through nirvana (enlightenment).

Other basic tenets of Buddhism: Meditation, mindfulness, nonattachment, compassion, lovingkindness and virtue; taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma (the way) and the Sangha (teachers and fellow travelers); the Four Noble Truths; and the Noble Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths are: suffering is universal; suffering is caused by desire and attachment; suffering can end; this happens through the Noble Eightfold Path (right understanding, right thinking, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration). There are two main schools of Buddhist thoughts: the Theravada and the Mahayana. They differ in their recommended approach to nirvana and more.

Origins of Buddhism: Buddhism was founded between 500 and 400 B.C. in India by Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha, who as a wealthy but unhappy young man who became enlightened while sitting underneath a Bodhi tree. Buddhism is prominent throughout Asia.

Confucianism

Holy book of Confucianism: The Analects of Confucius

Concept of God in Confucianism: None

Notion of life after death in Confucianism: None

Other basic tenets of Confucianism: Kindness; manners; rituals; morals; respect of elders and family; moderation. Note that Confucianism is sometimes considered a religion and sometimes considered a philosophical system, so its tenets are not as rigorous as those of some other religions.

Origins of Confucianism: Confucianism was founded by Confucius, a government worker-turned-philosopher who lived around the time of Buddha (551-479 B.C.) in China. Confucius taught his philosophy to his subordinates at work before quitting to travel and teach only. His teachings became the state philosophy during the Han Dynasty in China, which liked Confucius’ emphasis on strong central government and respect for authority.

Taoism

Holy book of Taoism: The Tao Te Ching, the I Ching, the Daozang/Treasury of Tao, and the Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu). The Daozang is a collection of over 1500 texts written up to the Ming dynasty, and is considered the Taoist canon. The Zhuangzi is an important, beautiful, lighthearted description of the ideal sage written by Master Zhuang (Zhuangzi) (c. 369-301 B.C.).

Concept of God in Taoism: Various gods exist but none are supreme, and all are subject to the Tao. (Most Taoist gods are borrowed from other cultures.)

Notion of life after death in Taoism: Unclear. The soul is eternal, but there is a regular afterlife and an enhanced one.

Other basic tenets of Taoism: Taoists are naturalists. They believe in the interconnectedness of all things; acceptance of contradiction or paradox, called Yin and Yang (concepts originated in the I Ching); and the pursuit of harmony through virtue. They also believe in fortune telling, honoring deceased spirits, and more.

Origins of Taoism: Taoism (sometimes called Daoism) began with the writing of the Tao Te Ching, likely by the teacher Laozi around 500 B.C. (This is close to the time of Buddha and Confucius.) The Tao Te Ching was influenced by an ancient divination text, the I Ching (Yi Ching), which as the oldest Chinese classic text was compiled around 800 B.C. Like Confucianism, Taoism became prominent during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-AD 220). It might have developed as a reaction to that more authoritarian philosophy.

Shinto

Holy books of Shinto: The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, written in the 8th century.

Concept of God in Shinto: There are many gods, spirits and essences, all with unique roles and purposes.

Notion of life after death in Shinto:

Other basic tenets of Shinto: Shinto emphasizes the importance of performing rituals for the purpose of connecting with the past.

Origins of Shinto: Shinto is the traditional religion of Japan. It is a collection of animistic folk mythologies. Practices were first codified around 700 B.C.

Judaism

Holy book of Judaism: The Torah, which is part of the Hebrew Bible, and additional oral tradition found in later texts like the Midrash and the Talmud. Texts are interpreted by studious rabbis.

Concept of God in Judaism: Orthodox Jews believe in one all-knowing, all-loving, everywhere-present, all-powerful, gender-neutral God, who created the universe. Other Jews believe that belief in God is a matter of personal choice.

Notion of life after death in Judaism: Unclear and controversial

Other basic tenets of Judaism: Jews, particularly Orthodox Jews, practice a complex, laborious array of rituals dating to the time of Abraham. They believe that by doing so, they are keeping the Covenant (the law of God given to the Jews by which they earn God’s favor). Among these practices: not working on Sundays; not eating pork or shellfish (eating kosher foods only); and celebration of Jewish holidays. Conservative and Reform Jews take a more lenient approach to Jewish law.

Origins of Judaism: Abraham, a man who lived in the Middle East, had a son, Isaac, who had a son, Jacob, who was the father of twelve sons, who founded the twelve tribes of Israel. These tribes, who lived around 1200 B.C., later became known as Jews, or the Jewish people. Later, Christianity and Islam developed from Judaism. Jews have been persecuted throughout history and repeatedly forced to leave their nation, Israel, yet they have largely maintained their ethnic and cultural identity. About 43% of Jews reside in Israel and another 43% reside in the United States and Canada.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints/Mormonism

Holy books of Mormonism: The Bible and The Book of Mormon

Concept of God in Christianity: There is one all-knowing, all-loving, everywhere-present, all-powerful, gender-neutral God, who created the universe.

Notion of life after death in Christianity: Salvation–that is, eternal life in a place of bliss called Heaven–comes to those who profess faith in Jesus Christ and repent of their sins. Others go to Hell after death.

Other basic tenets of Christianity: Humans are sinful and in need of redemption. Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God, came to Earth to preach faith in Him and to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world. In addition to faith, Christians should practice love, charity, self-sacrifice, humility, morality, prayer, Bible reading, sexual abstinence prior to marriage and monogomy thereafter, and other good works.

Origins of Mormonism: Mormonism is a branch of Christianity, with the same historical development, until the 1830s, when Joseph Smith was visited by the angel Moroni and given the Book of Mormon to transcribe.

Alternative Spirituality

Holy book(s) of alternative spirituality: None. Modern spiritual thinkers read modern spiritual-but-not-religious authors like Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, and Esther Hicks, plus Buddhist authors like Pema Chodron, Ram Daas and more.

Concept of God of alternative spirituality: God is the one, unified something that makes up everything in the Universe. As such, God is part of everything, including each person. God is sometimes called the creator, the force, the all-that-is or simply the universe. God is good and loving.

Notion of life after death of alternative spirituality: Reincarnation, another afterlife including the experience of oneness with the Divine, or unknown. There is no Hell, and there is no one clear and correct path to a happy afterlife.

Other basic tenets of alternative spirituality: Sin does not exist. Though people often judge poorly or act out of fear, they are naturally and fundamentally good. Onesself is one’s only spiritual authority. Meditation and mindfulness are helpful. So are various healing modalities, such as Reiki. Discovering one’s highest self is a priority, as is practicing love and non-judgment. Truth is often relative and experiential and may be discovered through the law of attraction; divination/clairvoyance/mediums; angels, spirits and ghosts; near-death experiences; deathbed revelations; intuition; and more. Enlightenment or something akin to enlightenment is the goal of many people who practice alternative spirituality.

Origins of alternative spirituality: Alternative spirituality includes Buddhist Modernism, some new religious movements (NRMs), spiritual-but-not-religious ideas, New Thought spirituality and New Age spirituality. It primarily refers to belief systems that originated during the twentieth century. Alternative spirituality evolves rapidly as new spiritual teachers, channels and authors become known. It is largely influenced by Buddhism and Hinduism.

People like to say that memorizing dates isn’t important, but I have to disagree–with a caveat. Learning approximate dates allows you to place events and eras in context without sidetracking your efforts toward rote learning. Approximate dates allow your brain to properly categorize the information and make the many helpful associations we rely on for thorough understanding.

In most of the history sections of this book, I have grouped terms into their major eras and placed them in approximate chronological order, but have avoided sharing exact dates. I’ve also provided a brief timeline below to serve as an overall framework for your history learning.  

In this book historical terms and concepts are chunked into four broad categories: Ancient History, the Middle Ages, Early Modern Times and Modern Times. If you know which of these historical periods an event occurred in, you will often have a “good enough” understanding of its context for casual conversation and application. 

Please note that most names of eras, including Stone Age, Iron Age, Bronze Age, Paleolithic Era, Mesolithic Era and Neolithic Era, are rough divisions. Since they’re defined by their technological developments, they started and ended at different times in different places of the world. 

Many times I’ve tried to recall the approximate date for the beginning of the universe, or the invention of fire, or the first known appearance of Homo sapiens on the spot but could not. Wondering out loud whether the Earth formed 4 or 6 billion years ago isn’t embarrassing, but not even having some near-miss guess to choose from can be. Print this timeline, place it on your wall and leave it there until this date framework is easily recalled.

WORLD HISTORY OVERVIEW AND PREHISTORY

Prehistory: All history that took place prior to the invention of writing around 3000 BCE. The term is also sometimes used for all history that took place before the rise of cities and civilizations around 10,000 BCE.

Recorded history: All history that took place after the invention of writing around 3000 BCE, including the present day. It includes Ancient Times (including the Bronze Age and the Iron Age) (about 3000 BCE to about 500 CE); the Middle Ages (about 500 CE to about 1500 CE); Early Modern Times (including the Colonial Period, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and more) (about 1500 CE to 1900 CE); the Modern Era (the 1900s); and beyond.

The Stone Age: The prehistoric era that began when early humans began using stone tools (over 2.5 million years ago) and before they engaged in metal work in a widespread manner. The Stone Age encompassed the Paleolithic Era, the Mesolithic Era and part of the Neolithic Eras and ended at roughly the start of ancient times (around 3000 BCE), when the Bronze Age began, though the end came to different places at different times.

The Paleolithic Era: The prehistoric era that began with the evolution of the species Homo sapiens until the Mesolithic Era

The Mesolithic Era: The prehistoric era that lasted from about 10,000 BCE to about 8,000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent, and later in other areas, when people began creating more complex social structures, building semi-permanent settlements, developing art, domesticating animals and making other changes that led to the Neolithic Era

The Neolithic Era: The historical era that began when people started farming (around 10,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE, depending on the area) and, with this location-stable food supply, began to settle into towns, cities and civilizations. The end of the Neolithic Era took place at approximately the beginning of ancient times (around 3,000 BCE).

The Bronze Age: The historical era that began when humans learned how to forge metal, particularly bronze, which was particularly useful in weaponry. The Bronze Age usually refers to ancient Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Egyptian history.

The Iron Age: The historical era that began when humans began replacing much of their bronze work with iron work instead. Iron allowed for lighter, cheaper weaponry, which resulted in a more widespread use of it and more battles.

Ancient history: The historical period from the beginning of recorded history (around 3,000 BCE) to the fall of the Roman Empire (around 500 CE)

The Middle Ages: The historical period from the fall of the Roman Empire (around 500 CE) to the discovery of the New World (around 1500 CE)

Early Modern Times: The historical period from the discovery of the new world (around 1500 CE) to 1900 CE

The Modern Era: The historical period of the 1900s, marked by industrialism, globalism, rapid technological advancement and world war

Last universal common ancestor (LUCA): The most recent living organism that survived to evolve into all current life on the planet, which formed around 3.5 bllion BCE

Hominids: The great apes that eventually evolved into humans, the first of whom lived approximately 7 million BCE

Homo habilis: The first human species, which evolved in East Africa from an unknown, extinct great ape around 2.5 million BCE. They were the first great apes to use stone tools and they had larger brains than their ancestors.

Homo erectus: The human species that evolved from Homo habilis around 1.5 million BCE and migrated out of Africa to Asia. These humans walked upright and were the first animal to use fire for cooking (around 1 million BCE). Around 500,000 BCE they started hunting with spears, building shelters and creating more complex tribal communities.

The Neanderthals: One of the most successful groups of the Homo erectus. After evolving in Africa at an unknown date, they migrated across Asia and Europe after the Sahara desert became passable and lived in Europe until around 40,000 BCE. They mated with Homo sapiens.

Homo sapiens: The modern-day human species. They evolved around 200,000 BCE in Africa and were highly successful, migrating across Asia and Europe along with the Neanderthals. They were the first apes to speak in a complex way. They led other related species in the complexity of their societies and technology. Around 25,000 BCE they began performing ritual burials and making clothing, artworks, jewelry, advanced tools, boats, ovens, pottery, harpoons, saws, woven baskets, woven nets and woven baby carriers.

Cro-Magnons: The group of Homo erectus who, around 25,000 BCE, replaced the Neanderthals in Europe. Like the Neanderthals, they mated with Homo sapiens. From them, Homo sapiens inherited larger brains.

Early modern humans: The group of Homo sapiens that evolved around 40,000 BCE and settled that last two habitable continents: Australia (using boats) and North America (using a land bridge connecting modern-day Alaska to Asia)

Last Glacial Age/Last Ice Age: The most recent Ice Age (of many throughout the history of the earth). It lasted from about 2.5 million BCE to about 12,000 BCE. During this time, a land bridge formed between Asia and modern-day Alaska, which humans used to cross into the Americas. The land bridge formed because much of the world’s water was locked up in huge ice sheets and could not flow freely. From the Alaska area, humans settled North, Central and South America.

Cradle of civilization: The various areas of the world in which civilizations arose, largely independently, along important rivers. These include Egypt (along the Nile River); Mesopotamia (along the Tigris River and Euphrates River); the Indus River Valley (along the Indus River); China (along the Yellow River and Yangtze River); the Incan civilization (in modern-day Peru); and, sometimes, the Mayan civilization (in modern-day Mexico–though this civilization arose later than the others, it might have arisen independently, with little or no external influence). The ability to cultivate land and use it as a reliable food source led to a decrease in the nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle and the formation of the first towns. Town-based Mesopotamians built religious sites, smelted copper, developed writing, built irrigation channels, invented the wheel (which was only used for pottery until later) and much more. Just prior to farming, animal husbandry had begun. Some of the most important crops were barley and wheat, but other grains and vegetables were also grown.

The Neolithic Revolution: The move from a nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life to a town-based, agriculture-based way of life. The revolution occurred at different times in different places throughout the world; however, the change was seen on all continents in the span of several thousand years, despite no known contact between some of them. Note that the Neolithic Revolution is also called the Agricultural Revolution, though the Second Agricultural Revolution of the 1800s that helped bring about the Industrial Revolution is sometimes also called the Agricultural Revolution. Around the same time that the agricultural revolution began, Caucasians settled Europe for the first time.

Linear A: The written language of the Minoans, which was the world’s first written language. It has not been deciphered by modern historians.

Linear B: The written language of the Myceneans, which was the world’s second written language and the first to be deciphered by modern historians

Cuneiform: The world’s first complex written language. It was developed and used in Sumer after approximately 3,000 BCE and used pictographs. Its use triggered the beginning of recorded history.

Hieroglyphics: The world’s second complex written language. It was developed and used in Egypt shortly after cuneiform was developed and, like cuneiform, used pictographs.

Overview of the settlement of North and Central America: People came to North America overland from Asia during the Ice Age when the sea level was lower using a land bridge that connected Asia and modern-day Alaska. By 7000 B.C., natives had reached Mesoamerica. Here, they grew corn, beans, pumpkins and more. Mesoamerica was home to the first North and Central American civilizations, including the Mayans and the Aztecs. Meanwhile, smaller tribes across the area formed hunter-gatherer and permanent-village cultures. [By the 1500s there were about six million native Americans grouped into hundreds of unique tribes with different food, art, governmental styles and ways of life (for example, totems, tepees, tribal councils, wigwams, masks, etc.). Some of these tribes formed confederations. Some fought wars.]

Overview of Japanese history: One of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world, Japan was settled by 30,000 BCE. Its classical period lasted from 300 BCE to 800 CE, and its Golden Age took place during the 700s. Following this, the Fujiwara Dynasty took power and held it till about 1150. Then, dynastic Japan ended and was replaced by a feudal system run by military dictators with ceremonial emperors. During this period, colonists attempted to gain control of the area but were mostly unsuccessful until the 1850s, when the U.S. forced Japan to open trade. Rapid modernization followed, as well as some mostly failed attempts at territorial expansion. After its World War II defeat and atomic bombing, Japan rebuilt as a capitalist, democratic nation.

The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers: The two rivers in China along which ancient agriculture-based civilizations arose. Though early Chinese dynasties were centered along the Yellow River, both of these areas are considered cradles of civilization.

WORLD HISTORY TIMELINE

PREHISTORY

The Beginning of Time

14 billion BCE: The Big Bang occurred

4.5 billion BCE: The Earth formed

4 billion BCE: The first living organisms formed

3.5 billion BCE: LUCA, the last universal common ancestor, formed

7 million BCE: Hominids evolved

The Stone Age

300,000 BCE: Homo sapiens began using stone tools and the Paleolithic Era began

12,000 BCE: The Last Ice Age ended

10,000s BCE: Farming began in the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia; the first towns (proto-cities) were built; and the Neolithic Era began

8,000s BCE: Chinese agriculture began

6000s BCE: Indus River Valley agriculture began and metalworking (copper and gold) began

4000s BCE: Mesoamerican and Central American agriculture began

RECORDED HISTORY

Ancient Times (3000 BCE to 500 CE)

3000s BCE: The first civilization (the Sumerian Empire, in Mesopotamia on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers) was founded; the Egyptian Empire (on the Nile River) began; writing was invented (cuneiform in Mesopotamia and hieroglyphics in Egypt) and recorded history began

2000s BCE: The Indus River Valley civilization began; the Chinese civilization began on the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers; the Mayan culture began; the Chavin culture began; bronze metalworking began; the Babylonian Empire and the Akkadian Empire defeated the Smerian Empire in turn [?]

Overview of the settlement of North and Central America: People came to North America overland from Asia during the Ice Age when the sea level was lower using a land bridge that connected Asia and modern-day Alaska. By 7000 B.C., natives had reached Mesoamerica. Here, they grew corn, beans, pumpkins and more. Mesoamerica was home to the first North and Central American civilizations, including the Mayans and the Aztecs. Meanwhile, smaller tribes across the area formed hunter-gatherer and permanent-village cultures. [By the 1500s there were about six million native Americans grouped into hundreds of unique tribes with different food, art, governmental styles and ways of life (for example, totems, tepees, tribal councils, wigwams, masks, etc.). Some of these tribes formed confederations. Some fought wars.]

Overview of Japanese history: One of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world, Japan was settled by 30,000 BCE. Its classical period lasted from 300 BCE to 800 CE, and its Golden Age took place during the 700s. Following this, the Fujiwara Dynasty took power and held it till about 1150. Then, dynastic Japan ended and was replaced by a feudal system run by military dictators with ceremonial emperors. During this period, colonists attempted to gain control of the area but were mostly unsuccessful until the 1850s, when the U.S. forced Japan to open trade. Rapid modernization followed, as well as some mostly failed attempts at territorial expansion. After its World War II defeat and atomic bombing, Japan rebuilt as a capitalist, democratic nation.

The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers: The two rivers in China along which ancient agriculture-based civilizations arose. Though early Chinese dynasties were centered along the Yellow River, both of these areas are considered cradles of civilization.

1600s BCE: The Shang Dynasty founded

1500s BCE: The Phoenician people arose

1200s BCE: The Hebrew people arose

900s BCE: The Assyrian Empire claimed much of Mesopotamia

700s BCE: The first Greek city-states were founded

500s BCE: The Roman Republic was founded; the Persian Empire claimed Mesopotamia and beyond; Buddha lived and taught; Muhammad lived and taught

400s BCE: Athens and Sparta were at their cultural height

300s BCE: Alexander the Great claimed Greece, Mesopotamia and parts of India for Macedon, creating the Macedonian Empire; the Fujiwara Dynasty arose in Japan

200s BCE: The Qin Dynasty took power; the Mayas were at their peak power

100 BCE to 100 CE: Julius Caesar became the first dictator of Rome; Jesus Christ lived and taught; the Roman Empire replaced the Roman Republic under Augustus Caesar (Octavian)

400s CE: The Byzantine Empire formed and the Roman Empire came to an end

The Middle Ages (500 CE to 1500 CE)

600s CE: The Tang Dynasty ushered in China’s Golden Age

800s CE: Vikings began exploring and raiding; the Toltec culture arose; the Maori culture arose; the aborigine culture arose

1000s and 1100s CE: The Crusades took place

1200s and 1300s CE: Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan led the Mongolian Empire; the Aztec Empire began

1300s CE: The Ottoman Empire was founded; the Black Plague occurred

1400s CE: The Gutenberg Press went into use; the Incan Empire began; Constantinople fell, ending the Byzantine Empire; Russia began to unify

Early Modern Times (1500 CE to 1900 CE)

1492 CE: Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas

1500s CE: Amerigo Vespucci landed in South America and created the first map of the New World; the colonization of South America began; the African slave trade greatly increased; the Ottoman Empire was at its peak; the Elizabethan Era began; the Protestant Reformation began; North American exploration began

1600s CE: The Pilgrims settled Plymouth Colony; the colonization of North America began; the Edo Period began in Japan; the steam engine was invented

1700s CE: The Enlightenment began; Peter the Great unified Russia; Australian colonization began; the French Revolution occurred; the Industrial Revolution began

1776 CE: America declared independence from Great Britain by issuing the Declaration of Independence, starting the American Revolution

1800s CE: The South American colonies gained independence from their colonial rulers one by one; the Scramble for Africa (African colonization) occurred; the Victorian Era began; the Opium Wars took place; the first transcontinental railroad opened; Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb; the Wright Brothers invented the airplane

The Modern Era (1900 CE to the Present)

1900s CE: Henry Ford invented the Model T; Einstein discovered the Theory of Relativity; the Australian gold rush began; the dynasties ended in China and were replaced with the Republic of China

1914-1918 CE: World War I occurred

1920s CE: The first modern television was invented

1929 CE: The Wall Street crash set off the Great Depression

1933 CE: The Holocaust began

1930s CE: The Spanish Civil War occurred

1939-1945 CE: World War II occurred

1941 CE: The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, spurring the U.S. to join World War II

1945 CE: The U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Japan; the Holocaust ended; penicillin was made available to the public

1940s CE: The League of Nations was founded; India gained independence from Britain

1950 CE: The Korean War occurred; the USSR developed atomic weapons and the Cold War began; apartheid began in South Africa; the civil rights movement began; the Vietnam War began; space travel began

1969 CE: People landed on the moon for the first time

1970s CE: The Vietnam War ended

1989 CE: Pro-democracy student demonstrations were violently quashed at Tiananmen Square in China; the Berlin Wall fell

1990s CE: The Gulf War occurred

2001 CE: Middle eastern terrorist group Al-Queda attacked New York City on September 11

2008 CE: Barack Obama was elected the first African American president of the United States

Did you ever wonder what the best thing in the world is? Well, pay attention, because I know the answer: it’s reading. Reading is the best thing. Here is my list of the best books in the world that aren’t true, besides the ones in my classic children’s literature list.

ESSENTIAL CLASSIC FICTION: OLDER KIDS AND ADULTS

Essential Classic Poetry

• They Flee from Me, Sir Thomas Wyatt (1500s)
• Astrophil and Stella, Sir Philip Sidney (1500s)
• Idea, Michael Drayton (1600s)
• A Passionate Shepherd to His Love, Christopher Marlowe (1500s)
• Sonnets, William Shakespeare (1500s)
• There Is a Garden in Her Face, Thomas Campion (1600s)
• A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, John Donne (1600s)
• Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward, John Donne (1600s)
• Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God, John Donne (from Holy Sonnets) (1600s)
• Song: To Celia (I), Ben Jonson (1600s)
• Song: To Celia (II), Ben Jonson (1600s)
• Delight in Disorder, Robert Herrick (1600s)
• To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, Robert Herrick (1600s)
• Easter Wings, George Herbert (1600s)
• The Pulley, George Herbert (1600s)
• When I Consider How My Light Is Spent, John Milton (1600s)
• To My Dear and Loving Husband, Anne Bradstreet (1600s)
• To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvell (1600s)
• The Disappointment, Aphra Behn (1600s)
• A Description of a City Shower, Jonathan Swift (1700s)
• The Lady’s Dressing Room, Jonathan Swift (1700s)
• Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Thomas Gray (1700s)
• The Indian Burying Ground, Philip Freneau (1700s)
• The Lamb, William Blake (1700s)
• The Sick Rose, William Blake (1700s)
• The Tyger, William Blake (1700s)
• I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, William Wordsworth (1800s)
• The Nightingale, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1800s) (1700s?)
• Kubla Khan, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1800s)
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1800s)
• She Walks in Beauty, Lord Byron (1800s)
• The poetry of John Hopkins (1600s)
• Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1800s)
• Ode to the West Wind, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1800s)
• Ode on a Grecian Urn, John Keats (1800s)
• On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, John Keats (1800s)
• Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats (1800s)
• Paul Revere’s Ride, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• The Song of Hiawatha, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (from Sonnets from the Portugese) (1800s)
• Aurora Leigh, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1800s)
• Fra Lippo Lippi, Robert Browning (1800s)
• The Owl and the Pussycat, Edward Lear (1800s)
• Battle-Hymn of the Republic, Julia Ward Howe (1800s)
• ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, Clement Clarke Moore (1800s)
• The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe (1800s)
• Annabel Lee, Edgar Allen Poe (1800s)
• Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman (1800s)
• My Last Duchess, Robert Browning (1800s)
• The Lady of Shalott, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1800s)
• The Lotos-Eaters, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1800s)
• Crossing the Bar, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1800s)
• Ulysses, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1800s)
• Song of Myself, Walt Whitman (1800s)
• When Lilacs in the Dooryard Bloom’d, Walt Whitman (1800s)
• Dover Beach, Matthew Arnold (1800s)
• Modern Love, George Meredith (1800s)
• (I never lost as much but twice …), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (Success is counted sweetest …), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (Not one of all the purple Host …), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (“Faith” is a fine invention …), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (“Hope” is a thing with feathers …), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (There’s a certain Slant of light …), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (I felt a Funeral, in my Brain …), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (The Soul selects her own Society …), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (I heard a Fly buzz–when I died–…), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (The Heart asks Pleasure–first–)…), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (I like to see it lap the Miles–…), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (Because I could not stop for Death–…), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (My Life had stood–a Loaded Gun–…), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• (Tell all the Truth but tell it slant–…), Emily Dickenson (1800s)
• Jabberwcky, Lewis Carroll (1800s)
• Drummer Hodge, Thomas Hardy (1900s)
• The Darkling Thrush, Thomas Hardy (1900s)
• God’s Grandeur, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1900s)
• Pied Beauty, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1900s)
• To an Athlete Dying Young, A. E. Housman (1900s)
• Easter 1916, William Butler Yeats (1900s)
• The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats (1900s)
• Sailing to Byzantium, William Butler Yeats (1900s)
• Lapis Lazuli, William Butler Yeats (1900s)
• Mending Wall, Robert Frost (1900s)
• The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost (1900s)
• Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost (1900s)
• Design, Robert Frost (1900s)
• The Emperor of Ice-Cream, Wallace Stevens (1900s)
• Anecdote of the Jar, Wallace Stevens (1900s)
• The Idea of Order at Key West, Wallace Stevens (1900s)
• The Red Wheelbarrow, William Carlos Williams (1900s)
• Poetry, Marianne Moore (1900s)
• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T. S. Eliot (1900s)
• The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot (1900s)
• I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed, Edna St. Vincent Millay (1900s)
• Eight Sonnets, Edna St. Vincent Millay (1900s)
• Anthem for Doomed Youth, Wilfred Owen (1900s)
• in Just-, E. E. Cummings (1900s)
• “next to of course god america i”, E. E. Cummings (1900s)
• “since feeling is first”, E. E. Cummings (1900s)
• Dream Variations, Langston Hughes (1900s)
• Song for a Dark Girl, Langston Hughes (1900s)
• Theme for English B, Langston Hughes (1900s)
• The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower, Dylan Thomas (1900s)
• Do Not Go Gentle into That Green Night, Dylan Thomas (1900s)
• A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas (1900s)
• Howl, Allen Ginsberg (1900s)
• Driving into the Wreck, Adrienne Rich (1900s)
• The Colossus, Sylvia Plath (1900s)
• Lady Lazarus, Sylvia Plath (1900s)
• Coal, Audre Lord (1900s)
• Digging, Seamus Heaney (1900s)
• The Forge, Seamus Heaney (1900s)
• Eggs, Susan Wood (1900s)
• The Heavy Bear, Delmore Schwartz (1900s)
• The poetry of Ezra Pound (1900s)

Essential Intermediate Classic Fiction

• The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan (1600s)
• Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe (1700s)
• The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe (1700s)
• Gulliver’s Travels, Johnathan Swift (1700s)
• The Swiss Family Robinson, Johann David Wyss (1700s)
• Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott (1800s)
• Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen (1800s)
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (1800s)
• Emma, Jane Austen (1800s)
• Mansfield Park, Jane Austen (1800s)
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving (1800s)
• Rip van Winkle, Washington Irving (1800s)
• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1800s)
• The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexander Dumas (1800s)
• The Three Musketeers, Alexander Dumas (1800s)
• The Hound of Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle (1800s)
• Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle (1800s)
• The Last of the Mohicans, James Fennimore Cooper (1800s)
• The House of Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1800s)
• The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1800s)
• The Professor at the Breakfast Table, Oliver Wendell Holmes (1800s)
• Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (1800s)
• Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens (1800s)
• A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (1800s)
• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (1800s)
• Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (1800s)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne (1800s)
• A Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne (1800s)
• From the Earth to the Moon, Jules Verne (1800s)
• Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne (1800s)
• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1800s)
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain (1800s)
• Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (1800s)
• The Time Machine, H.G. Wells (1800s)
• The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells (1800s)
• Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (1800s)
• Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson (1800s)
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson (1800s)
• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Howard Pyle (1800s)
• The Gift of the Magi, O. Henry (1800s)
• Dracula, Bram Stoker (1800s)
• The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James (1800s)
• The Golden Bowl, Henry James (1800s)
• The Way of a Pilgrim, Anonymous (1800s)
• The Pilgrim Continues His Way, Anonymous (1800s)
• Les Miserables, Victor Hugo (1800s)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo (1800s)
• Moby Dick, Herman Melville (1800s)
• The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde (1800s)
• Lady Windermere’s Fan, Oscar Wilde (1800s)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (1800s)
• The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux (1900s)
• The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane (1900s)
• Twelve Men, Theodore Dreiser (1900s)
• The Good Soldier, Ford Maddox Ford (1900s)
• The Call of the Wild, Jack London (1900s)
• To Build a Fire, Jack London (1900s)
• White Fang, Jack London (1900s)
• A Room with a View, E. M. Forster (1900s)
• Howard’s End, E.M. Forster (1900s)
• A Passage to India, E.M. Forster (1900s)
• The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton (1900s)
• The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton (1900s)
• And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie (1900s)
• Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie (1900s)
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie (1900s)
• The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck (1900s)
• The Lord of the Rings series, J. R. R. Tolkien (1900s)
• The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien (1900s)
• Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (1900s)
• Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley (1900s)
• Our Town, Thornton Wilder (1900s)
• All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque (1900s)
• The Once and Future King, T.H. White (1900s)
• Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell (1900s)
• The Lord of the Flies, William Golding (1900s)
• The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger (1900s)
• Dune, Frank Herbert (1900s)
• Twelve Angry Men, Reginald Rose (1900s)
• Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (1900s)
• Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut (1900s)
• Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut (1900s)
• The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut (1900s)
• On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1900s)
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote (1900s)
• Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin (1900s)
• A Separate Peace, John Knowles (1900s)
• To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee (1900s)
• The American Dream, Edward Albee (1900s)
• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee (1900s)
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera (1900s)
• The Princess Bride, William Goldman (1900s)
• Rabbit, Run, John Updike (1900s)
• The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (1900s)
• Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller (1900s)
• All My Sons, Arthur Miller (1900s)
• The Color Purple, Alice Walker (1900s)
• The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton (1900s)
• Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card (1900s)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (1900s)
• Walden Two, B.F. Skinner (1900s)
• The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1900s)
• The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allen Poe (1900s)
• The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allen Poe (1900s)
• Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Eugene O’Neill (1900s)
• The Iceman Cometh, Eugene O’Neill (1900s)
• Desire Under the Elms, Eugene O’Neill (1900s)
• Morning Becomes Electra, Eugene O’Neill (1900s)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway (1900s)
• A Movable Feast, Ernest Hemingway (1900s)
• Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway (1900s)
• The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway (1900s)
• In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway (1900s)
• Men Without Women, Ernest Hemingway (1900s)
• The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway (1900s)
• The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand (1900s)
• Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (1900s)
• Anthem, Ayn Rand (1900s)
• Beloved, Toni Morrison (1900s)
• Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison (1900s)
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou (1900s)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee Williams (1900s)
• A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams (1900s)
• The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams (1900s)
• The Stranger, Albert Camus (1900s)
• Catch-22, Joseph Heller (1900s)

Essential Advanced Classic Fiction

• The Illiad, Homer (700s BCE)
• The Odyssey, Homer (700s BCE)
• The Oedipus Plays, Sophocles (400s BCE)
• The Aeneid, Virgil (20s BCE)
• The Metamorphosis, Ovid (10s CE)
• Beowulf, Anonymous (1000s)
• The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri (1300s)
• The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer (1300s)
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Anonymous (1300s)
• La Morte Darthur, Sir Thomas Malory (1400s)
• Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes (1500s)
• The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser (1500s)
• Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare (1500s)
• Hamlet, William Shakespeare (1500s)
• Macbeth, William Shakespeare (1500s)
• Othello, William Shakespeare (1500s)
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare (1500s)
• Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare (1500s)
• Utopia, Sir Thomas More (1500s)
• Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe (1500s)
• Faust, Christopher Marlowe (1500s)
• Volpone, Ben Jonson (1600s)
• The Alchemist, Ben Johnson (1600s)
• The Bourgeois Gentleman, Moliere (1600s)
• The Misanthrope, Moliere (1600s)
• Paradise Lost, John Milton (1600s)
• Paradise Regained, John Milton (1600s)
• The Beggar’s Opera, John Gay (1700s)
• The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope (1700s)
• The Dunciad, Alexander Pope (1700s)
• Candide, Voltaire (1700s)
• Don Juan, Lord Byron (1800s)
• Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1800s)
• The Brothers Karamozov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1800s)
• Notes from the Underground, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1800s)
• The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1800s)
• War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy (1800s)
• Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy (1800s)
• The Seagull, Anton Chekhov (1800s)
• The Three Sisters, Anton Chekhov (1800s)
• Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov (1800s)
• The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov (1800s)
• Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert (1800s)
• Sentimental Education, Gustave Flaubert (1800s)
• Vanity Fair, William Thackeray (1800s)
• Barchester Towers, Anthony Trollope (1800s)
• Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev (1800s)
• A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf (1900s)
• Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf (1900s)
• To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf (1900s)
• Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence (1900s)
• Women In Love, D. H. Lawrence (1900s)
• Lady Chatterly’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence (1900s)
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce (1900s)
• Ulysses, James Joyce (1900s)
• Finnegans Wake, James Joyce (1900s)
• The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka (1900s)
• The Trial, Franz Kafka (1900s)
• The Bald Soprano, Eugene Ionesco (1900s)
• The Lesson, Eugene Ionesco (1900s)
• Jack, or the Submission, Eugene Ionesco (1900s)
• The Chairs, Eugene Ionesco (1900s)
• No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre (1900s)
• Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre (1900s)
• Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett (1900s)
• Endgame, Samuel Beckett (1900s)
• As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner (1900s)
• The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner (1900s)
• Light in August, William Faulkner (1900s)
• A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen (1900s)
• Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen (1900s)
• The Wild Duck, Henrik Ibsen (1900s)
• Miss Julie, August Strindberg (1800s)
• Androcles and the Lion, George Bernard Shaw (1900s)
• Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw (1900s)
• Swann’s Way, Marcel Proust (1900s)

Additional Recommended Classic Fiction

• The Orestia Trilogy, Aeschylus (400s BCE)
• Prometheus Bound, Aeschylus (400s BCE)
• Medea, Euripedes (400s BCE)
• The Bacchae, Euripedes (400s BCE)
• The Trojan Women, Euripedes (400s BCE)
• Hippolytus, Euripedes (400s BCE)
• Lysistrata, Aristophanes (400s BCE)
• The Frogs, Aristophanes (400s BCE)
• The Clouds, Aristophanes (400s BCE)
• Odes, Horace (20s BCE)
• The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, Epictetus (100s CE)
• Cur Deus Homo, Anselm (1000s)
• The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio (1300s)
• Mabinogion, Anonymous (1300s)
• Orlando Furioso, Ludovico Ariosto (1500s)
• The Schoolmaster, Roger Ascham (1500s)
• Tamburlaine the Great, Christopher Marlowe (1500s)
• The Jew of Malta, Christopher Marlowe (1500s)
• The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster (1600s)
• Life is a Dream, Calderon de la Barca (1600s)
• Pensees, Blaise Pascal (1600s)
• Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem, John Dryden (1600s)
• Oroonoko: The Royal Slave, Aphra Behn (1600s)
• The Bassett Table, Susana Centlivre (1600s)
• The Way of the World, William Congreve (1700s)
• Pamela, Samuel Richardson (1700s)
• Fantomina, Eliza Haywood (1700s)
• A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Wollstonecraft (1700s)
• Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth, Susanna Rowson (1700s)
• The Charterhouse of Parma, Stendhal (1800s)
• The Red and the Black, Stendhal (1800s)
• Mr. Midshipman Easy, Captain Frederick Marryat (1800s)
• The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce (1800s)
• Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy (1800s)
• Nana, Zola (1800s)
• Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana (1800s)
• What Every Woman Knows, J.M. Barrie (1900s)
• The Petty Demon, Fyodor Sologub (1900s)
• The Three-Cornered World, Natsume Soseki (1900s)
• Kokoro, Natsume Soseki (1900s)
• I Am a Cat, Natsume Soseki (1900s)
• The Pastoral Symphony, Andre Gide (1900s)
• The Seven Who Were Hanged, Leonid Andreyev (1900s)
• The Life of Man, Leonid Andreyev (1900s)
• The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein (1900s)
• Tender Buttons, Gertrude Stein (1900s)
• Giants in the Earth, O.E. Rolvaang (1900s)
• The Key, Junichiro Tanizaki (1900s)
• The Horse’s Mouth, Joyce Cary (1900s)
• The Sea of Grass, Conrad Richter (1900s)
• Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak (1900s)
• Snow Country, Yasunari Kawabata (1900s)
• The Sound of the Mountain, Yasunari Kawabata (1900s)
• Too Late the Philanthrope, Alan Paton (1900s)
• God’s Little Acre, Erskine Caldwell (1900s)
• Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank (1900s)
• The Ox-Bow Incident, Walter van Tillburg Clark (1900s)
• The Assistant, Bernard Malamud (1900s)
• The Fixer, Bernard Malamud (1900s)
• The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk (1900s)
• The Heart is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers (1900s)
• A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess (1900s)
• The Ballad of Peckham Rye, Muriel Spark (1900s)
• A Day No Pigs Would Die, Robert Newton Peck (1900s)
• Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya (1900s)
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Tom Stoppard (1900s)
• All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren (1900s)
• Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler (1900s)
• Green Mansions, William Henry Hudson (1900s)
• The Country of the Pointed Firs, Sarah Orne Jewett (1800s)
• Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett (1800s)
• You Know Me Al, Ring Lardner (1900s)
• The Out of the Silent Planet series, C.S. Lewis (1900s)
• You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You, John Ciardi (1900s)
• No Longer At Ease, Chinua Achebe (1900s)
• The Seven Story Mountain, Thomas Merton (1900s)
• The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins (1800s)
• The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins (1800s)
• The Egoist, George Meredith (1800s)
• The Man Without a Country, Edward Everett Hale (1800s)
• Modern Love, George Meredith (1900s)
• The Rise of Silas Lapham, W. D. Howells (1800s)
• The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene (1900s)
• The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene (1900s)
• Pale Horse, Pale Rider, Katherine Anne Porter (1900s)
• The Light in the Forest, Conrad Richter (1900s)
• Black Spring, Henry Miller (1900s)
• Johnny Tremain, Ester Forbes (1900s)
• Nineteen, Nineteen, John Dos Passos (1900s)
• Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther (1900s)
• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Ernest J. Gaines (1900s)
• The Vicar of Wakefield, Oliver Goldsmith (1900s)
• You Can’t Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe (1900s)
• Dangling Man, Saul Bellow (1900s)
• Herzog, Saul Bellow (1900s)
• Everyman, Anonymous (1900s)
• The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler (1900s)
• Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy (1900s)
• The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy (1900s)
• The Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad (1900s)
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder (1900s)
• Giant, Edna Ferber (1900s)
• Books by Isaac Asimov (1900s)
• Lost Horizon, James Hilton (1900s)
• Stranger In A Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein (1900s)
• The Maltese Falcon, Dashiel Hammett (1900s)
• The Citadel, A. J. Cronin (1900s)
• Magic, Inc., Robert Heinlein (1900s)
• Waldo, Robert Heinlein (1900s)
• A Death in the Family, James Agee (1900s)
• Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, James Agee (1900s)
• Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes (1900s)
• The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass (1900s)
• My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potak (1900s)
• The Chosen, Chaim Potak (1900s)
• The Promise, Chaim Potak (1900s)
• I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, Hannah Green (1900s)
• A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines (1900s)
• Summer of My German Soldier, Bette Greene (1900s)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey (1900s)
• At the Bay, Katherine Mansfield (1900s)
• Red Roses for Me, Sean O’Casey (1900s)
• The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster (1900s)
• Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham (1900s)
• Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser (1900s)
• An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser (1900s)
• Main Street, Sinclair Lewis (1900s)
• Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis (1900s)
• Tom Jones, Henry Fielding (1700s)
• Joseph Andrews, Henry Fielding (1700s)
• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Lawrence Stern (1700s)
• Sartor Resarus, Thomas Carlyle (1800s)
• Pere Goriot, Honore de Balzac (1800s)
• Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol (1800s)
• The Ball and the Cross, G. K. Chesterton (1900s)
• The Innocence of Father Brown, G.K. Chesterton (1900s)
• The Wisdom of Father Brown, G.K. Chesterton (1900s)
• The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann (1900s)
• Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann (1900s)
• My Antonia, Willa Cather (1900s)
• O Pioneers!, Willa Cather (1900s)
• The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot (1800s)
• Middlemarch, George Eliot (1800s)
• The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy (1800s)
• Tess of the D’ubervilles, Thomas Hardy (1800s)
• The Awakening, Kate Chopin (1800s)

I have a basic working Mandarin vocabulary–what I call “traveler’s Chinese.” Though it’s one of my life goals to become fluent or close to it (mostly because it would be so much fun), I also feel that this basic level is extremely valuable in its own right. Once you get past the language basics and talk to some natives who–surprise!–actually understand you, the groundwork has been laid; you become confident. After that, you have fun with it: talk to people you meet, ask them to explain things, practice a bit here and a bit there. A decade or so later, you’re ready to visit the land of your chosen second language and make a lot of progress in a relatively short amount of time.

A note on the list: There are four tones in Mandarin Chinese. Fortunately, they’re not hard to master; just do an Internet search to hear them and practice. One more tip: At first, don’t worry about grammar too much. Get the main verbs, the main short words (“because,” “with,” “and,” “very,” and the time- and distance-related vocabulary) and the whole introductory conversation basics, then move on to your nouns–food, body parts, etc. When you practice, make as many mistakes as you can possibly make, grammar-wise; just get yourself understood. That’s the goal.

Conversational Basics and Common Phrases

Hello: Ni3 hao3
How are you: Ni3 hao3 ma
What is your name: Ni3 de ming2 zi jiao4 shen2 me
My name is: Wo3 de ming2 zi jiao4
First name: Ming2 zi
Family name: Gui4 xing4
How old are you: Ni3 ji1 sui4 le
I am __ years old: Wo3 you3 __ nian2
Good morning: Zao3 an1
Good afternoon:
Good evening: Wan3 an1
Yes: Shi4
No: Bu4 shi4
Please: Qing2
May I: Ke3 yi3
Thank you: Xie4 xie4
Excuse me/I’m sorry: Dui4 bu4 qi2
You’re welcome/I don’t mind: Mei2 guan4 xi1
No problem/I don’t care: Bu4 yao4 jin3
Where are you from: Ni3 lai2 zai4 na3 li3
I am from: Wo3 lai2 zi4
I speak __: Wo3 shuo1 __
Do you speak __: Ni3 shuo1 __ ma?
U.S.A.: Mei3 guo2
American: Mei3 guo2 ren2
English: Ying1 wen2
China: Zhong1 guo2
Chinese (person): Zhong1 guo2 ren2
Chinese (Mandarin language): Pu2 tong2 hua4
Chinese (Cantonese language): Guang3 dong1 hua4
How do you say: Wo3 zem2 me shuo1
What does this mean: Shen2 me yi4 ci2
Say it again: Zai4 shuo1 yi1 ci4
May I ask: Qing2 wen3
Can you please: Ni3 ke3 yi3
Nice to meet you: Hen3 gao1 xin1 jian4 dao4 ni3
Be careful: Xiao4 xin1 (yi1 dian3)
Hurry up: Kuai4 yi1 dian3
Wait a moment: Deng3 yi2 xia4
I am ready: Wo3 zhu3 bei4 hao3 le
Both are fine: Shen2 me dou1 ke3 yi3

Verbs

To be: Shi4
To go: Qu4
To want: Yao4
To use: Yong4
To need: Xu3 yao4
To know: Zhi1 dao4
To like: Xi3 huan1
To love: Ai4
To live: Zhu4
To be born: Chu1 sheng1
To die: Si2
To sleep/go to bed: Shui4 jiao4
To wake up: Xing3 lai2
To cook: Zuo2 (fan4)
To read: Kan4 (shu1)
To practice: Lian4 xi3
To make/do: Zuo3
To look at: Kan4
To see: Kan4 dao4
To look for: Zhao3
To walk: Zou3 (lu4)
To run: Pao3 (bu4)
To go to work: Shang4 ban4
To finish work: Xia4 ban4
To rest: Xiu2 xi3
To play: Wan2
To sing: Chang4 ge1
To smile: Wei1 xiao4
To laugh: Da4 xiao1
To hug: Bao4
To cry: Ai1 hao4; ku1; bei4 qi4
To dance: Tiao4 wu3
To swim: You2 yong3
To take pictures: Zhao4 xiang4
To go shopping: (Qu4) guang4 jie1; gou4 wu4; mai3 dong1 xi1
To go to the bathroom: Shang4 ce4 suo3
To take a shower: Xi3 zao3
To wash hands/face: Xi3 lian2/shou3
To ride (a bike, etc.): Qi2
To ride (a car–no movement): Zuo4
To visit (someone): Bai4 fang3
To visit (something): Can1 guan1
To leave: Zou3
To wait: Deng3 (dai4)
To stay (there): Liu2 zai4 (zhe1 li3)
To stay home: Dai4 zia4 jia1 li3
To stand up: Zhan4 qi3 lai2
To sit down: Zuo4 xia4
To find: Zhao3 dao4
To pay: Fu4 qian2
To break: Sui4; lan4
To fix: Xiu1
To take: Na2
To listen: Ting1 (shuo1)
To lay down (something): Fang4
To lay down (body): Tang3 xia4
To meet (regularly): Peng4 dao4; peng4 tou2
To meet (past or future): Kan4 jian4
To show/indicate: Zhan3 shi3
To mistakenly think: Yi3 wei2
To try: Shi4 yi1 shi4
To taste/experience: Chang2 hang2; chang2 yi1 chang2
To guess: Cai1 yi1 cai1
To translate: Fan1 yi4
To hate: Hen4
To put on/wear: Chuan1; dai4
To change clothes: Huan2 yi4 fu2

Time Words

When: Shen2 me shi2 hou4
How long: Duo1 jiu2
Early: Zao4
Late: Wan2
Soon: Hen3 kuai4
Not soon: Hen3 man4
Always: Zong3 shi4
Never: Cong2 lai2 (mei2 you3)
Again: Zai4
Often/usually: Jing1 chang2
Sometimes: You3 shi2 hou4
Still more (time): Hai2 (you3)
Daytime: Wan3 shang4
Nighttime: Wan3 shang4
Day: Tian1
Morning: Zao3 shang4
Afternoon: Xia4 wu3
Time: Shi2 jian1
Hour: Xiao3 shi2; zhong1 tou2
Minute: Fen1 zhong1
Second: Miao3 zhong1
This week: Zhe4 zhou1
Next week: Xia4 zhou1
Last week: Shang4 zhou1
Before/earlier: Yi3 qian2; zai4 shi1 qian2
After/later: Yi3 hou4; hou4 lai2; dai1 hui3
At the same time: Tong2 shi2
First: Di1 yi1
Second: Di1 er4
One time: Yi1 ci4
The first time: Di1 yi1 ci4
Midnight: Ban4 ye4
Long (time): Jiu2; chang2 shi2 jian1
A while: Yi2 xia4
Future: Wei4 lai2
Past:
Ever: Guo1; ceng2 jing2

Size and Amount Words

How much/how many: Duo1 shao1
More: Bi3 (jiao4) duo1 de;
Less: Bi3 (jiao4) shao3 de
A little: Yi1 dian3
A little more: Duo1 yi1 dian3
Most: Zui4
Some: Yi1 xie3 de
Only: Zhi2 you3
Still more (amount): Hai2 you3
Almost: Cha4 bu4 duo1
Not enough: Bu2 gou4
Not quite: Bu2 tai4
Too (much): Tai4
Size: Da4 xiao3
Short (people): Ai3
Short (stuff): Duan3
Tall (people): Gao1
Long (things): chang2
Wide: Kuan1 kuo4 de
Deep: Shen1 de
Empty: Kong1 dong4
Amount: Deng3 yu2
Enough: Gou3 le
None: Mei2 you3 yi1 ge
Both: Liang3
Both/all: Dou1; quan2 bu2 de
Another one: Zai4 yi1 ge
Equal: Deng3 (yu1)
How many?: Ji3 ge
Another: Bie2 de
One or two: Yi1 liang2 ge
Either one: Bu2 lun4 . . . dou1 (hao1)
Only: Jiu4
Pound: Bang4
Kilo: Gong1 jin1
1/2 kilo: Jin1
Still more: Hai2 you3
Others: Qi2 ta1 de
Every: Mei3 yi1; mei3 ge
Each: Mei3 yi1 ge
The whole (one): Zheng3 ge4
The whole (time): Suo3 you3 (shi2 jian1)
Everything: Yi1 qie4 dou1; shen2 me dou1; suo3 you3 shi4 wu4
Something: Xie1 shi4
Nothing: Mei2 you3 dong1 xi1; mei1 you3 shi4
Everybody: Mei2 ge ren2; ren2 ren2
Anything: Wu2 lun2 shen2 me
Somebody: Yi1 ge ren2
Nobody: Mei2 you3 ren2
Anybody: Ren4 he2 ren2; shen2 me ren2
Everywhere: Mei3 ge di4 fang1; dao4 qu4 dou1
Somewhere: Yi1 ge di4 fang1
Nowhere: Mei2 you3 di4 fang1
Anywhere: Ren4 he2 di4 fang1

Direction and Location Words

A direction: Fang1 xiang4
A location: Fang1 wei4
Here: Zher4
There: Nar4
High: Gao1
Low: Di1
Beside: Zai . . . pang2 bian1/lin2 jin4
Between: Zai4 . . . zhi1 jian1/zhong1 jian1
Ahead: Zai . . . qian2 fang1/qian2 mian4
Over/above/on: Zai4 . . . shang4 mian4; gao1 yu2
In: Zai4 . . . li3 bian1
Under: Zai4 . . . xia4 mina4
The top: Zui4 shang4 mian4; zui4 shang4 bian4
The bottom: Di3 bu1; zui4 di3
Side/limit: Bian1
Behind: Zai . . . hou4 mian4
Both sides: Liang3 bian1
This side: Zhe4 bian1
That side: Na4 bian1
Central: Zhong1 yang1 de
Inner: Li3 bian1 de
Outer: Wai4 bian1 de
Right: You3
Left: Zuo3
Center: Zhong1 jian1
Close/near: Jin4
Far away: (Yao2) yuan2
To travel forwards: Ziang4 qian2 zou3
To travel backwards: Ziang4 hou4 zou3
On the corner: Zai4 jiao3 luo4
One block: Yi1 kuai4 zhuan1
To turn right: Xiang4 you4 zhuan3
To turn left: Xiang4 zuo3 zhuan3
To go straight: Zhi2 zou3
North: Bei1
South: Nan2
East: Dong1 fang1
West: Xi1 fang1
Easterner: Dong1 fang1 ren2
Westerner: Xi1 fang1 ren2

Other Small Words

This: Zhe4 ge
That: Na4 ge
But/nevertheless: Ke3 shi4; dan4 shi4
If: Ru2 guo3; yao4 shi4
Which: Na3 yi1 ge
Although/even though: Sui1 ran2
Therefore: Suo3 yi3
Will: Hui4; jiang1 (yao4)
Should: Ying1 gai1
Because: Yin1 wei4
Anyway/regardless: Qi2 shi2; bu4 guan3
Also: Ye3; you4
Probably: Huo4 xu3; ke3 neng2
In addition: Ling4 wai4; hai2 you3; chu1 ci3 gi4 wai4
Instead of: Er4 bu2 shi2
Not so: Bu4 ran2
To: Qu4 (location); gei1; zi1 (time)
From: Cong2; lai2 zi
Of: Shu3 yu2
For: Wei4
(Word at end of a question): Ma
(Word at end of a completed statement): Le

Numbers and Money Words

1-10: Yi1, er4, san1, si4, wu3, liu4, qi1, ba1 jiu3 shi2
11: Shi2yi1
20: Er4 shi4
Hundred: Bai3
Thousand: Qian1
Ten thousand: Wan4
Million: Bai3 wan4
Billion: Yi4
1/10th yuen2: Yi1 jiao3
1/100th yuen: Yi1 fen1
To barter/exchange: Huan4
Passcode: Mi4 ma3
Number one: Yi1 yao4
1.00: Yi1 dian4 ling2 ling2
Money: Qian2
The cost: Jia4 ge2
Debit card: Jie4 ji4 ka1
Credit card: Xin4 yong4 ka3
Receipt: Shou1 ju4

Family Members

Husband: Zhang4 fu1; lao3 gong1
Wife: Qi1 zi; lao3 po2
Mother: Mu3 qian1; Ma1 ma
Father: Fu4 qian1; ba1 ba
Parents: Fu4 mu3 qian1
Son: Er2 zi
Daughter: Nu3 er2
Older brother: Ge4 ge
Younger brother: Di4 di
Older sister: Jie3 jie
Younger sister: Mei4 mei
Grandparents: Ye3 ye3 nai3 nai4
Grandmother (mom’s mom): Wai4 po2
Grandmother (dad’s mom):  Nai3 nai1
Grandfather (mom’s dad): Wai4 gong1
Grandfather (dad’s dad): Ye3 ye

Adjectives

Best: Zui4 hao3 de
Better: Geng4 hao3 de; bi (jian4) hao3 de
Worse/worst: Geng4 huai4 de; bi3 (jiao4) huai4 de; bi3 (jiao4) cha4 de
The same: Yi2 yang4 de
Different: Bu4 tong2 de
Big: Da4
Small: Xiao3
Clamorous: Da4 shan1
Loud: Chao3 nao4
Quiet/peaceful: An1 jing4 de
Old (people): Lao3
Old (things) jiu4
Young: Nian2 qing1 de
Weak: Ruo4 de; shou4 ruo4
Strong: (Qiang2) zhuang4 de
Heavy: Zhong4 de
Light: Qing1 de
Light/bright: Deng1
Soft: Ruan3 de
Hard: Ying4 de
Wet: Chao2 shi2 de; shi2 de
Dry: Gan1 (zao4) de
Clean: Gan1 jing4 de
Dirty: Zang1 de
True: Zhen1 de
False: Bu4 zhen1 de
Cheap: Pian2 yi4 de
Used: Er4 shou3 de; yong4 guo4 de
New: Xin1 de
Stinky: Chou4
Handsome: Ying1 jun4
Pretty: Piao4 liang4
Beautiful: Mei3 liang3
Broken: Sui4 le; lan4 de; huai4 de
Bright: Ming2 liang2 de; xing3 mu4 de
Dim: Bu4 liang2
Well-organized: Zu3 zhi1 de; zheng3 li2 de
Works well: Zuo2 de hen3 hao3
Doesn’t work: Mei2 zuo4
Happy: Gao1 xin1; kai1 xin1
Sad: Bei1 shang1; shang1 xin1 de
Hopeful/to hope: Xi1 wang4 (de)
Surprised: Chi1 jing1 de
Angry: Sheng1 qi4 de
Jealous: Du4 ji4
Afraid: Hai4 pa4
Excited: Xing4 fen4
Nervous: Jin3 zhang1 (DE??)
Worried: Dan1 xin1; zhao1 ji2
Embarrassed: Diu1 ren2; gan1 ga4
Bored: Wu2 liao3
Famous: Zhu4 ming2; you3 ming2
Popular: Liu2 xing2
Unpopular: Bu4 de ren2 xin1; bu4 luo3 xing2
Shy: Hai4 xiu1
Outgoing: Kai1 fang4
Nice: Hao3 de
Mean: Huai4 de
Friendly: You3 hao3 de
Scholarly: Hao4 xue2 de
Smart: Cong2 ming2 de
Stupid: Ben4 de
Rich: You3 qian2 de
Poor: qiong2
Funny: You3 mo2 de; hua1 ji4 de
Interesting: You3 qu4
Unique: Tu4 bie2 de
Ordinary/common: Pu2 tong1 de; ping2 chang2 de
Rare: Xi1 you3 de
Important: Zhong4 yao4
Complicated: Fu4 za2

Food Words

Food: Fan4; shi2 wu4
Fruit: Shui3 guo3
Vegetables: Shu1 cai4
Apple: Ping2 guo3
Banana: Xiang1 jiao1
Orange: Ju2 zi
Grape: Pu2 tao2
Carrot: Hu2 luo2 bo1
Peas: Wan1 dou4
Cucumber: Huang2 gua1
Spinach: Bo1 cai4
Broccoli: Ye1 cai4
Cabbage: Da4 bai2 cai4
Onion: Yang2 cong1
Corn: Bao1 gu3; yu2 mi3
Cauliflower: Hua1 cai4
Tomato: Xi1 hong2 shi4
Celery: Qin2 cai4
Green pepper: Qing1 jiao1
Red pepper: Tian2 jiao1 hong2 jiao1
Rice: Mi3 fan4; fan4
Noodles: Mian4 tiao2
Bread: Mian4 bao1
Chicken: Ji1 rou4; ji1
Fish: Yu2 rou4; yu2
Tofu: Dou4 fu1
Pork: Zhu1 rou4; zhu1
Egg(s): Ji1 dan4
Meat: Rou4
Beef: Niu3 rou4; niu3
Hamburger: Han4 bao3 bao1
Milk: Niu2 nai3
Alcohol: Jiu3
Beer: Pi2 jiu3
Wine: Jiu3
Potato: Tu3 dou4
Soy sauce: Jiang4 you3
Sauce: Jiang4
Oil: You2
Sugar: Tang3
Dessert: Tian2 shi2; tian2 dian3
Wheat: Mai4
Cookie: Bing3 gan1
Seafood: Hai3 xian1
Steak: Niu3 pai2
Beans: Dou4 li3; dou4
Shrimp: Xia1
Berry: Jiang1 guo3
Lettuce: Sheng1 cai4
Green vegetables: Qing1 cai4
Green beans: Ji1 dou4 ji1
Beverage: Yin3 liao4
Water: Shui3
Ice: Bing1
Sweet: Tian2 de
Salt: Yan2
Salty: Xian2 de
Spicy: La4 de
Sour: Suan1 de
Fresh: Xin1 xian4 de
Menu: Cai4 dan1
Fork: Cha1 zi
Knife: Dao1 zi
Spoon: Shao2 zi
Bowl: Wan3
Chopsticks: Kuai4 zi
Cup: Bei1 zi
Plate: Pan2 zi
Wok/pan: Ping2 guo1; guo1
Caffeine: Ka1 fei1 yin1
Coffee: Ka1 fei1
Decaf coffee: Two1 ka1 fei1 yin1 de ka1 fei1
Bottle: Yi4 ping2
Spices: Xiang1 liao4; tiao2 wei4 pin3
Cheese: Nai3 lao4
Pizza: Pi1 sa4
Snack: Dian3 xin1
Salad: Sha1 la1
Fast food: Kuai4 can1
Butter: Huang3 you2
A dish: Cai4
Soup: Tang2

Personal Effects

Pencil: Qian1 bi3
Pen: Bi3
Paper: Zhi3
Scissors: Bi3 ji4 ben3; ben3 zi
Tape: Zhao1 dai4
Computer: Dian4 zi3 (ji1 suan4 ji1)
Glue: jiao1 shui3
Map: Di4 tu3
Cards: Ka1 pian4
Letter: Xing4
Calendar: Ri4 li4
Stamp: You2 pian4
Envelope: Xin4 feng1
Cell phone:
Sign: Biao1
Light/lamp: Deng1
Clothes: Y2 fu2
Shirt: Chen4 shan1
Pants: Ku4 zi
Sweater: Mao3 yi1
Shoes: Xie4 zi
Skirt: Duan3 qun2; qun2 zi
Hat: Mao4 zi
Coat: Wai4 tao4
Socks: Wa4 zi
Underwear: Nei4 yi1; nei4 ku4; duan3 ku4
Bra: Wen2 xiong1; xiong1 zao4
Pajamas: Shui4 yi1
Shorts: Duan3 ku4
Jeans: Niu3 chang2 ku4
Blanket: Bei1 zi
Hairbrush: Shu1 zi
Comb: Shu1 zi
Handbag: Shou3 ti2 bao1
Purse: Qian2 bao1
Towel: Mao2 jin1
Shampoo: Xi3 fa1 shui3
Conditioner: Zhe1 li3 shui3
Soap: Xiang1 zao4; fei2 zao4
Lotion: Ying1 yang3 shuang1
Toothpaste: Ya2 gao1
Toothbrush: Ya2 shua1
Backpack:
Suitcase: Xiang1 zi; lu3 xing2 xiang3
Toilet paper: Ce4 zhi3
Garbage: La1 ji1
Garbage can: La1 ji1 xiang1
Air conditioner: Kong1 tiao2
Heater: Dian4 nuan3 qi4
Keys: Yao4 shi2
Batteries: Dian4 chi2
Clock: Zhong1
Camera: Zhao4 xiang4 ji1
Wallet: Qian2 bao1
Glasses: Yan3

Colors

Color: Yan2 se4
Red: Hong2 se4
Blue: Lan2 se4
Yellow: Huang2 se4
Green: Lu2 se4
Orange: Ju2 se4
Purple: Zi3 se4
Pink: Fen3 hong2 se4
Black: Hei1 se4
White: Bai2 se4
Gray: Hui1 se4
Brown: Zhong se4/ he1 se4
Silver: Yin2 se4
Gold: Jin1 se4

Body Parts

Body: Shen1 ti3
Head: Tou3
Mind: Si1 xiang3
Face: Lian3
Eyes: Yan3 jing1
Ears: Er3 duo1
Mouth: Kou3
Lips: Zui3 ba1
Nose: Bi2 zi
Hands: Shou3
Feet: Jiao3
Fingers: Shou3 zhi3
Toes: Jiao3 zhi3
Legs: Tui3
Arms: Shou3 bi4
Hair: Tou2 fa1
Back: Bei4
Neck: Bo2 zi
Skin: Pi2 fu1
Stomach: Du4 zi
Butt: Pi4 gu3
Poop: Fen4 bian4
Pee: Niao4

Travel Words

Car: Che1
Bus: Gong1 gong4 qi4 che1
Taxi: Chu1 zu1 che1
Motorcycle: Mo2 to2 che1
Plane: Fei1 ji1
Ship: Lun2 chuan2
Airport: Ji1 chang3
Bus station: Gong1 gong4 qui4 che1 zhan4
Train: Huo3 che1
Train station: Huo3 che1 zhan4
Bus stop: Gong1 gong4 qi4 che1 zhan4
Culture: Wen2 hua4
Foreign: Wai4 guo2
Foreigner: Wai4 guo2 ren2
To travel: Lu2 you2
Overseas/abroad: Hai3 wai4
Nation: Guo2 jia1; guo2 min2
Native language: Ben3 zu2 yu3
Trip/journey: Cheng2
Passenger: Cheng2 ke4
Hometown: Jia1 xiang1; ben3 guo2
Fare: Fei4 yong4
Hotel: Fan4 dian4; lu2 guan3

Places

Where: Zai4 na3 li3; nai4 nar3
Place: Di4 fang1
Supermarket: Chao1 shi4
Small market: Cai4 shi4 chang3; shang4 dian4
Park: Gong1 yuan2
Library: Tu2 shu1 guan3
Street: Jie1 dao4
Bank: Yin2 hang2
Hospital: Yi1 yuan4
Building: Jian4 zhu4
Elementary school: Xia3 xue2
Middle school: Zhong1 xue2
High school: Gao1 zhong1
College: Da4 xue
Gym: Jian4 shen1 fang2
City: Cheng2 shi4
Church: Jian4 tang2
Temple: Miao4
Post office: You3 ju2
Bar/nightclub: Jiu3 ba1
Movie theater: Dian4 ying3 yuan4
Theater: Ju4 yuan4
Outdoors: Wai4 mian4
Indoors: Li3 mian4
The zoo: Dong4 wu4 yuan1
Great Wall: Chang2 cheng2
Art museum: Bo4 wu4 guan3
Apartment building: Gong1 yu4

Rooms and Furniture

Room: Fang2 jian1
Bedroom: Fang2 jian1; wo4 shi4
Bathroom/toilet: Ce4 suo3
Kitchen: Chu1 fang2
Living room: Ke4 ting1
Dining room: Fan4 ting1
Bed: Chuang2
Window: Chuang1 (hu4)
Wall: Qiang2 bi4
Chair: Yi3 zi
Desk/table: Zhuo1 zi
Couch: Chang2 sha4 fa1
Pillow: Zhen3 tou2
Closet: Zha3 wu4 fang2
Door: Men2
Home/house: Jia1
Apartment: Fang2 zi

Nature Words

Weather: Tian1 qi4
Hot: Re4
Cold: Leng2
Warm: Nuan3 he de
Cool: Liang2 kuai4
Spring: Chun1 tian1
Summer: Xia4 tian1
Fall: Qiu1 tian1
Winter: Dong1 tian1
Sun: Tai4 yang2
Moon: Yue4 liang4
Stars: Xing1 xing1
Land: Lu4 di4; tu3
Sea/ocean: Hai3 yang2
Wind: Feng1
Rain: Yu3
Snow: Xue3
Clouds: Yun2
Cloudy: Yin1 tian1 de
Storm: Feng1 bao4
Grass: Cao3
Flower: Hua1
Tree: Shu4
Bush: Guan4 mu4 cong2
Nature: Zi4 ran2
River: He2 liu2
Lake: Hu2
Beach: Sha1 tan1
Mountain: Shan1
Fire: Huo3
Sunny: Qing2 lang3
Rainy: Xia4 yu3 de
Temperature: Wen1 du4
Animal: Dong4 wu4

Professions

Doctor: Yi1 sheng1
Nurse: Hu4 shi4
Waitress: Nu3 zhao1 dai4; fu2 wu4 guan2
Waiter: Nan2 zhao1 dai4
Salesperson/shopkeeper: Shou4 huo4 yuan2
Driver: Si1 ji1
Manager: Jin1 li3
Supervisor: Zhu2 guan3
School principal: Xiao4 zhang3
Cook: Chu2 shi1
Janitor: Men2 wei4
Writer: Zuo4 jia1
Secretary: Mi4 shu1
Librarian: Tu2 shu1 guan3 li3 yuan2
Scientist: Ke1 xue2 jia1
Soldier: Shi4 bing1
Journalist: Bao1 jie4
Minister: You2 di4 yuan2; mu4 shi1
Singer: Ge1 shou3
Artist: Yi4 shu4 jia1
Dancer: Wu2 dao3 jia1
President: Zong3 tong3
Government official: Gong1 wu4 yuan2
Tutor: Jiao1 jao4
Boss: Lao3 ban3
Interpreter: Fan1 yi4
Cashier: Shou1 ying2 yuan2
Garbage collector: qin1 jie3 gong1
Fireman:
Police officer:
Housekeeper/housewife: Bao3 mu2; (jia1 ting2) zhu2 fu4
Computer programmer:
Business owner:

Activity, Entertainment and Celebration Words

Game: You3 xi4
Sports/exercise: Yun4 dong4
Ball: Dan4; qui2
Basketball: Lan2 qui2
Football: Gan1 an1 qui2
Baseball: Lei qui2
Soccer: Zu2 qui2
Volleyball: Pai2 qui2
Ping-Pong: Ping1 pong1 qui2
Badminton: Yu3 mao1 qui2
Karate:
Competition: Bi4 sai4
Song: Ge1 qu3
Team: Huan2 dui4
To skate: Bing1 chang3
To see a movie: Kan4 dian4 ying3
Birthday: Sheng1 ri4
Christmas: Sheng4 dan4 jie2
New Year: Xin1 nian2
Spring Festival: Chun1 jie4
Happy birthday: Sheng1 ri4 kuai4 le
Merry Christmas:
Happy New Year: Xin1 nian1 kuai4 le
Congratulations: Zhu4 he4
Celebration: Qing4 zhu4
Holiday: Jia4 qi1
Vacation: Jia4 re4
Present/gift: Li3 wu4
Wedding: Hun1 li3
Funeral: Chu1 bin1

Sickness Words

Death: Si3
Life: Shen1 ming4
Sick: Bing4 le
Sickness: Ji2 bing4
Pills: Yao4 pian4
A cough: Ke2 sou4
A cold: Gan3 mao4
Fever: Fa1 shao1
Flu: Liu2 xing2 gan3 mao4
Stomachache: Du1 zi tong4
Headache: Tou2 tong4
?: Ban2
?: Shen1 bing4
To hurt/ache: Tong4
Allergy:
Tired: Lei4

Miscellaneous Words

Word: Zi4
Character: Xie1 zi4
New word: Sheng1 zi4; dan1 zi4
Sentence: Ju1 zi
Phrase: Ci2 zu3
Pronunciation: Fa1 yin1
Grammar: Yu2 fa3
Language: Yu3 yan2
Story: Gu4 shi4
Number: Hao4 ma3; hao4
Vocabulary:
Phone number: Dian4 hua4 hao4 ma3
Address: Di4 zhi3
Driver’s license: Jia4 shi2 zi2 zao4
Passport: Hu4 zao4
Age: Nian2 ji4
Literature: Wen2 xue2
Math: Shu4 xue2
History: LI4 shi3
Science: Zi4 yan2; ke1 xue2
Art: Yi4 shu4; mei3 shu4
Music: Yin1 yue4
Politics: Zheng4 zhi4
Government: Zheng4 fu3
Physical education: Ti3 yu4
Sign: Biao1 zhi4
Wood: Mu4 tou2
Plastic: Su4 liao4
Electricity: Dian4
Electric: Dian4 de
Machine: Ji1 qi4
Action/movement: Xing2 dong4
Problem: Wen4 ti3
Plan: Ji4 hua4
Idea/concept: Zhu2 yi4
Level: Shui2 ping1
List: Dan4 zi
Stress: Ya1 li4
Feelings/emotion: Gan3 jue2
Attitude: Tai4 du4
Mood: Qing2 xu4
Personality: Ge4 xing4
God: Shang4 di4
Classmate: Ton2 xue2
Relationship: Guan1 xi4
Friendship: You3 qing3

“So that’s what stuff is.” That’s an important realization. It could be a breakthrough moment in one’s education. Don’t underestimate young children’s ability to grasp many basic chemistry concepts, either; the earlier they start thinking about the big questions, the more interested and less intimidated they’ll be by them later on.

Like most other subjects, science is best learned through conversation. Experiments are great, too, but they’re not always necessary. If you have little kids who can’t yet handle close proximity to anything magnetic, explosive or filled with water, choose a few scientific concepts to talk about per day, and send the older kid to a more hands-on science class. (Video demonstrations, like those on YouTube, are great, too.)

That said, if you can manage it, there’s a huge number of great science project ideas out there, and hands-on projects are definitely a great memory aid.

BASIC CHEMISTRY

Chemistry: The science of matter, including what it is and how it’s made

Chemical: Any substance made up of two or more atoms. Note that this word is also used to refer to human-synthesized substances; however, this is a colloquial usage.

Matter: Anything that is made of particles, takes up space (has volume), and has mass. It is one of only two “things” in the universe. The other is energy.

Weight: A measure of the force of gravity on something. It changes relative to where in space an object is located; for example, a book weighs less on the moon than on the earth.

Mass: A measure of something’s absolute heaviness (the amount of matter within it). It doesn’t change when the forces (such as the gravitational force) change because it is measured relative to an absolute standard (one kilogram).

Density: The measure of something’s mass per unit of volume. Objects with more of this are heavier than other objects that take up the same amount of space.

Particle: A very small unit of matter that has properties such as mass, charge, and spin. These include atoms, molecules, ions, protons, neutrons, and electrons. Note that physicists have also discovered other mysterious particles that don’t seem quite physical in nature.

The three states of matter: Solid, liquid and gas

Solid: A substance with a definite shape and definite volume

Liquid: A substance with definite volume but a varying shape

Gas: A substance without a definite shape or definite volume. Note that air is not a gas, but a mixture of gases and other particles. The various gases aren’t chemically bonded to each other, and can be separated without breaking any chemical bonds.

Atoms: The smallest units of matter that retain the chemical properties of an element; the building blocks of molecules. Each is made up of a nucleus containing protons and neutrons and a shell containing electrons that spin around the nucleus. They also contain other subatomic particles and a great deal of empty space. (The space between subatomic particles in an atom is relatively similar to the space between heavenly bodies in the universe.) Molecules are formed when atoms chemically bond together through sharing or transferring electrons. Note that whereas molecules can be easily split through everyday chemical reactions, atoms require extraordinary amounts of energy to split them. This is called atomic fission, and it is the basis of nuclear power. Also note that a sheet of paper is about one million atoms thick.

Subatomic particles: The incredibly tiny pieces of matter that make up atoms. They include protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks, and more. They cannot be separated from each other without using extraordinary amounts of energy. Some subatomic particles, like quarks, are too tiny to be directly observed.

Nucleus: The center part of an atom that holds protons and neutrons

Protons: The positively charged parts of an atom, which are located inside the nucleus. The number of protons in an atom corresponds to its element and its atomic number. For example, the oxygen atom has eight protons and its atomic number is eight.

Neutrons: The parts of an atom that contain no charge, are located inside the nucleus and, along with the protons, determine the atom’s mass number. The number of neutrons in an atom is variable, with each possible variation creating a different isotope of the same atom.

Electrons: The negatively charged parts of an atom, which are located outside the nucleus and spin around it, and that enable chemical bonding between atoms

Atomic shells: The layers within an atom that surround the nucleus and contain electrons. They are organized by energy level, with the electrons in the innermost shell having the lowest energy, and those in the outermost shell having the highest energy.

Quarks: Subatomic particles that make up protons and neutrons

Element: A substance that contains only one kind of atom

Isotope: A particular variation of an atom, which is determined by the number of neutrons in that atom. For example, carbon-12 and carbon-13 both have six protons but carbon-12 has six six neutrons and carbon-13 has seven neutrons. Isotopes of the same atom have different mass numbers from each other and might have some different physical properties but chemically they behave alike.

Molecule: Any chemically bonded group of atoms, whether atoms of the same type (which form an element) or atoms of different types (which form a compound). Molecule bonds can only be broken through chemical change. 

Compound: A combination of two or more substances that are chemically bonded together. The substances can’t be separated by physical means, only chemical reactions. An example is water, whose chemical bonds are broken only through chemical reactions.

Mixture: A combination of two or more substances that are not chemically bonded and can, therefore, be separated through physical means. An example is cake batter, which is a simple combination of ingredients that have not experienced molecular change.  

Periodic Table of the Elements: A chart listing each known element, organized by these elements’ atomic numbers

Atomic number: The number of protons in an atom, which indicates the atom’s chemical properties and, by extension, its substance type (element). The number of protons in an atom is the same as the number of electrons in an atom. 

Mass number: The total number of protons and neutrons in an atom

Chemical bonding: The joining of atoms to create molecules

Chemical reaction: The process that occurs when bonds between atoms in a substance are broken and the atoms rearrange to form new substances with different properties. An example is baking a cake: the cake is formed after heat changes the molecular structure of the batter.

Chemical symbol: The letters that represent the atoms of a particular element; for example, C for carbon

Chemical formula: A notation using chemical symbols and numbers to indicate the types and numbers of atoms present; for example, CO2 and H2O

Ion: A charged particle that is formed when an atom or molecule gains or loses one or more electrons. When an atom gains one or more electrons, it becomes a negatively charged ion, and when it loses one or more electrons, it becomes a positively charged ion.

Covalent bond: A chemical bond formed when atoms share electrons. Each atom still has its proper total number, but some of its electrons are attracted to the other atoms and stick there. Most non-metal elements are formed with covalent bonds.

Double bond: A chemical bond formed when two atoms share two electrons each with each other

Ionic bond: A chemical bond formed when one atom loses one or more electrons to another atom. This creates a positively charged ion in one atom and a negatively charged ion in the other, which are attracted to each other.

Metallic bond: A chemical bond between metal atoms formed when the atoms share a pool of electrons, which allow the metals to easily conduct electricity

Hydrogen (H): The most abundant element in the universe, which forms water when it is burned in oxygen and which can form compounds with most other elements

Helium (He): The second most abundant element in the universe, though is not abundant in the earth’s atmosphere due to its low atomic weight and high velocity

Oxygen (O): The third most abundant element in the universe, which helps plants and animals release energy from food through the process of cellular respiration

Carbon (C): The fourth most abundant element in the universe, which is found in all organic compounds and in more compounds overall than any other element

Water (H2O): The most common liquid on earth, one that is a universal solvent and necessary for life, and that is formed when two H2 molecules and one O2 molecule undergo a chemical reaction called combustion, releasing two H2O molecules and energy

Carbon dioxide (CO2): A greenhouse gas produced through plant respiration, decomposition of organic material, the burning of fossil fuels and more

Sodium chloride (NaCl): Table salt, a combination of a metal (sodium) and a non-metal (chlorine)

Carbon monoxide: A poisonous gas formed when fuels burn in a place with limited oxygen, such as an engine

Soluble: Able to dissolve in a solvent

Insoluble: Unable to dissolve in a solvent

Solution: The combination of a solvent and the substance that is dissolved in it

Corrosion: The damaging chemical reaction that occurs to a substance by its surrounding environment. For example, metal corrosion can occur when oxide forms on the surface of the metal.

Electrolysis: The separating of individual elements in a compound by passing an electric current through it when it is molten or in a solution

Salt: A chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, which usually crystallizes in the form of cubes

Organic compound: Any compound that includes carbon (with a few exceptions)

Fermentation: The process in which yeast and some bacteria break down sugars or other organic compounds into simpler compounds like carbon dioxide to produce energy without the use of oxygen

Metal: An element or an alloy that is shiny in appearance; conducts heat and electricity; and usually remains solid at room temperature (though not always). Some, like iron and nickel, are also magnetic. Note that the definition of the term “metal” is not exact, and changes as its application changes. Some non-metal elements become metals at very high temperatures.

Alloy: A mixture of two or more metals or a metal and a different element to make a substance with enhanced usefulness

Semiconductor: A substance with some conduction, but not as much as a true conductor has

Acid: A chemical substance with a pH less than 7 that donates protons or hydrogen ions when dissolved in water, donates electrons to form chemical bonds and tastes sour when found in liquid solutions

Base/alkaline: A chemical substance with a pH greater than 7 that accepts protons from hydrogen ions in liquid solutions

pH: A measure of how acidic or basic a solution is. A pH of 7 is neutral, while a pH higher than 7 shows alkalinity and a pH of less than 7 shows acidity. Note that adding a base to an acid helps neutralize the acid and produces water and salts.

pH scale: The 14-point scale used to measure whether a liquid solution is basic, acidic or neutral

Endothermic reaction: A chemical process that absorbs heat

Exothermic reaction: A chemical process that emits heat

Oxidation: A chemical reaction in which a substance loses electrons, often by the addition of oxygen, causing it to change in some way. An example is the presence of iron oxide (rust) in metal exposed to water.

Reduction: A chemical reaction in which a substance gains electrons, often by the removal of oxygen, causing it to change in some way. An example is the conversion of iron oxide (rust) to iron in the presence of a reducing agent, such as hydrogen gas.

Oxidation-reduction (redox) reaction: A chemical reaction in which substance undergoes reduction, causing another to undergo oxidation. This happens because the substance undergoing reduction donates electrons to the other substance.

Computer science just isn’t a specialty anymore. Most companies create and/or manage several websites and computer programs, meaning that if you want to be successful in business, it’s helpful to understand these common terms.

BASIC COMPUTER SCIENCE

Computer Hardware

Parts of a computer: A computer is made up of memory, including applications, an operating system (OS) and a kernel stored on microchips and/or the hard drive; a CPU; and an imput/output (I/O) unit connected to a power source.

How a computer works: When the computer is turned on, some of the microchips immediately reads some of their memory, which then attempt to make connections with other chips. Together they run the EFI (extensible firmware interface) which starts the computer, then passes the control over to the boot loader. The boot loader is a program that initializes the hardware, loading the first sector of the hard drive to the memory. After this, it loads the operating system (OS), the kernel, the computer settings and the shell. The shell presents the login screen to the user. After the user logs in, the OS tells the driver to start talking to the hardware. After the user opens a program, the driver detects the clicks and talks to the kernel. The kernel then passes the information to the shell. The shell interprets it, then communicates it to the program. Finally, the program interprets it and the program is launched.

The program loads the needed threads and processes into the RAM. Threads are run and interrupted on a regular basis according to how many time slices they’re allotted. (One time slice = 1/30th of a second.) The system clock tells the OS when to stop each process, which is done after each time slice, no matter what. Each time this happens the OS checks to see if the program’s time is up or if it has more. It adjusts priorities and may switch to a different process. This activity is done in kernel mode, a mode in which the program isn’t allowed to control anything. After this, the OS switches back to user mode and gives control back to the program. Computers running with multiple CPUs must share the kernel between them. Mistakes in this management can lead to crashes.

Software and hardware: Hardware are the physical components of the machine. Software, also called applications or programs, are computer-readable instructions and data that live in the computer’s memory. The core part is the executable file (.exe), which talks to the OS using calls. The program also contains lists of needed DLLs and other code for use by the application.

Hard drive: The physical place in the computer in which memory is located

Central processing unit (CPU): The place in the computer that loads instructions from memory, parses (interprets) them, then executes them. It performs all of the logic of the computer and is compared to the brain of a human.

Operating system (OS): The software that runs all the basic operations of the computer so every program doesn’t have to recreate the wheel. It provides a secure, reliable environment and grants applications access to inputs, outputs, memory, system software like drivers, and networking features. Importantly, it also schedules processes (start, interrupt and stop commands when more than one application competes for time on the CPU). The most common OSs are Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s OSX (and the more popular IOS, which is used for mobile devices), and various OSs by Linux (an open-source software creator group), including Android.

Parts of the OS: System clock; a file system; a user interfaced called the API that includes a set of calls or methods app programmers use to interact with the OS; algorithms, stored process for services.

The shell: The OS’s user interface (the part of the OS that the user sees and interacts with)

Memory: Applications, programs and other data and instructions located on the hard drive disc and/or microchips. There are three types of memory: internal, external and virtual. Internal memory is ROM (long-term stored read-only memory, usually unalterable, containing system-level instructions), RAM (fast copied temporary memory located on the hard drive disc or in microchips which is lost when the computer is shut down), and cached (super-fast copied temporary memory located on the CPU, also lost when the computer is shut down). Virtual memory is also located in the internal memory but is made up of addresses that point elsewhere in the memory for the purposes of convenience and security. External memory is located on external hard drives, USB keys, etc. Memory is stored in strings. It can be written to (changed), or read (retrieved, fetched, loaded).

Pointer: An object that contains the address of each piece of memory

The leap section: The place in memory that stores dynamically allocated variables needed by a program

The stack section: The place in memory that store info in stacks, with the lowest addresses (oldest) on bottom, like cafeteria trays

Buffer: A place in memory that receives and holds data until it can be handled by requested processes. Each process can have its own set of buffers. Each buffer has a predetermined length and data type

The kernel: The part of a Windows computer that loads drivers, handles hardware, enforces security, enables network communication–anything the application needs permission to do, even just opening MS Office. (Accessing memory is not included in this.)

Service: A background process run by the OS. (Example: system clock, firewall, window update checks.)

Kernel mode: The mode an application goes into when it is accessing the computer’s kernel. A program can only go into kernel mode when allowed and only run the kernel code, not its own code at all.

User mode: App mode in which the OS can be accessed through an app can switch back and forth from kernel to user frequently.

Native system services/executive system services: OS services that are callable from user mode.

Kernel support functional routines: Subroutines inside the OS that are callable only from kernel mode.

Four events that transfer control from an application back to the OS: I/O interrupt, system clock interrupt, system call, process page faults, a deadlock

Computer architecture: The way the parts of a computer interact with each other, including which parts of the memory are able to communicate with which other parts and in which order. There are many different working computer architectures.

Virtualization: Hosting one or more remote OSs

Virtual machine: A remotely located package of software that presents itself to the local machine as a complete separate machine. Virtual machines are highly convenient for purposes of testing code, working on a networked machine with network privileges, and on other occasions when a second or different computer/operating system package is needed.

Database: An organized collection of data, usually stored electronically. If available on the Internet, it can be accessed through servers.

Windows API: Application Programming Interface. The set of functions (almost like a language) programmers use to talk to the OS. Thousands of callable functions exist relating to everything the OS is responsible for. (Examples: Create message, get message.)

DLL: Dynamic Link Library. A program’s library of functions that are callable by programs.

Cookie: A small text file with various fields that is stored in the web browser and/or on the client’s computers. Normally, it is used to manage a session (keeping a user logged in across multiple pages, etc.).

Session: All of the applications running on a single user ID between login and logout

Computer Programming

Program/application: A set of instructions to be executed on a computer, usually with a particular use. To program software is to create the program’s source code using a programming language of choice.

Programming language: A set of standardized rules for coding that results in functional source code. There are many programming languages, including C# and C++. A script is a language that is Internet-appropriate, like JavaScript.

Binary code/machine language/machine code: A language made up entirely of 0s and 1s, which are the only units a computer can directly work with (execute on its CPU). These true/false or 1/0 binary choices are also called boolean expressions. All other programming languages are made into source code, then finally parsed (interpreted by the computer) as binary code by a compiler. (A decompiler turns machine readable code/binary back into source code.)

Data: Information, often represented by symbols and measured in bits (binary digits–0s and 1s) and bytes (units of bits–historically eight bits). A kilobyte (KB) is 1,024 bytes. A megabyte (MB) is 1,024 kilobytes. A gigabyte (GB) is 1,024 megabytes. A terabyte (TB) is 1,024 gigabytes. A kilobit (kb) is 1,024 bits. A megabit (Mb) is 1,024 kilobits. A gigabit (Gb) is 1,024 megabits. A terabit (Tb) is 1,024 gigabits.

Command: A computer instruction. Many commands put together make up an algorithm, a complex logic-based instruction set that play a specific role in the application. Commands and data together make up computer code, the set of instructions forming a computer program that is read and carried out by a computer, which is used in turn to make up computer programs.

Procedure/function/subroutine: An independent code module that fulfills some concrete task and can be reused by the program. Procedures perform operations without returning data and functions do return data. A procedure might be part of an object in object-oriented programming.

Process, thread, job and multi-processing/multi-threading: A single iteration of a procedure is a process. It contains everything needed for that instance. In turn, processes are made up of threads. A group of processes that are performed as a unit for a single goal is a job. Multi-processing/multi-threading is running more than one process simultaneously in the same program using a single CPU, which schedules these processes to occur successively but seamlessly.

Objects and object-oriented programming: Object-oriented programming is a popular way of designing software by making them out of objects (files, data units, independent procedures or a procedure/data object that perform a particular function) that interact with one another

Hacking: Sometimes, cleverly solving a programming problem and sometimes, using a computer to gain unauthorized access to data

Bug: Any kind of error in a software program. It may cause a program to unexpectedly quit, to be vulnerable to attack, or to work improperly. The process of removing bugs is called debugging. Reviewing programs to find bugs and other problems is called testing.

Crash dump: A record of a program’s slate system memory at the time of a crash. A crash dump can be analyzed to figure out why it occurred.

Deadlock: A conflict of needs and allocations that stops all computing

Computer Networks

Network: A group of computers that talk to each other and share resources through one or more shared computers called servers. A virtual private network (VPN) is network that allows users to connect to remotely.

Local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN): The two types of computer networks. LANs are smaller than WANs and include WiFi and ethernet. WANs are larger and include the Internet.

Server: A computer that provides information to other computers or allows other computers to connect to each other, usually remotely over the Internet or in a smaller computer network. The main server in a group is called the domain controller. The manager of a domain (or any group of users) is called an administrator. Servers talk to individual computers called clients. Some computers have both a server side and a client side. A network that is managed with administrators, passwords and the like is called a domain. A proxy server is a backup server used on corporate networks to protect against web attacks.

Internet: The global collection of computer networks and their connections, all using shared protocols to communicate

Internet 2: A second, higher-speed Internet that is used to send very large files, such as research data between universities

Protocol: Rules to standardize processes in networks. They are used on both the sending and the receiving ends of the communication.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): The set of rules for transferring files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the Internet. HTTPS is HTTP, but with encryption.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL): An Internet address that is used by the browser to look up the IP address of the server and the server’s name so that it can talk to that server and retrieve the page’s HTML

Packet: Small chunk of information that has been carefully formed from larger chunks of information in order to more efficiently communicate over a network. If not encrypted, packets are vulnerable to capture. Packets might be distributed over multiple routers according to which is currently available.

Router: A machine that captures and sends on data packets. Many routers are involved in most Internet communications.

Switch: A smart hub/router that connects network segments, thereby routing packets more efficiently

Modem: A router used on a small scale, as between private homes or small networks

Bandwidth: The maximum rate of data transfer across a given path

COMPUTER SECURITY

Cyber security: Practices, including web development and application development practices, that mitigate Internet exploits

Computer vulnerability: A mistake or oversight in computer code that exposes the program to attack. A client-side vulnerability exists in the client (end user) computer and a server-side vulnerability exists on the server.

Computer exploit: An attack on a local computer or many local computers that either damages it or allows the attacker to make use of it in any way without permission

Firewall: A network device used to filter traffic. Usually between a private network and a link to the internet. Prevents unauthorized incoming traffic, but ineffective when user initiates communication.

Three most common types of computer exploits: Exploitation of browser vulnerabilities, exploitation of email application vulnerabilities, and social engineering (gaining compromising information by exploiting human vulnerabilities)

Cryptography: The process of encrypting (scrambling) plain text messages, that are then sent and unencrypted/decrypted on the receiving end with the use of a text key.

Piracy: The illegal copying, distribution, or use of software

Direct memory access: Writing directly to RAM without going through the hard drive, as when a network file system is doing a transfer, over the internet.

Active directory: A directory service that contains a database that stores security info about objects in a domain, inc users, computers, security IDs, etc.

You probably already have most of the skills on this list, at least to some degree. Treat this checklist, then, as a gentle reminder not to pass by the couple of things you haven’t quite nailed yet. Note that this list does not include skills mentioned in other sections of this book or those generally possessed by people under the age of six, such as memorizing one’s address and phone number. My attempts at comprehensiveness, though well-meaning, are usually futile.

ESSENTIAL LIFE MANAGEMENT SKILLS

• Managing time and tasks, including: creating short-term and long-term to-do lists; time-on-task estimating; padding time-on-task estimations; and breaking large projects into small steps
• Keeping ongoing to-do lists and short-term goals lists, with steps to achieve those goals
• Listing and working towards long-term life goals, dreams and plans
• Managing money, including: budgeting, calculating interest, avoiding debt, calculating the highest affordable mortgage payment, saving for retirement, investing in the stock market, filing taxes and organizing financial records
• Cleaning the home, including: washing laundry; washing dishes; dusting; cleaning the bathroom and more
• Performing simple household maintenance tasks, including: changing lightbulbs; testing and changing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors; cleaning the roof and gutters; mowing the lawn; maintaining a yard; fixing leaky faucets and unclogging the toilet
• Cooking and baking, including: two soups or stews; two stir-fry sauces; muffins; cakes; roasted chicken; and grilled steak
• Organizing one’s living space
• Learning basic self-defense techniques
• Maintaining a car, including changing the oil, checking tire pressure, checking fluid levels and scheduling regular tire changes and other maintenance
• Applying basic first aid skills, including CPR
• Caring for children
• Using public transportation
• Sewing
• Writing formal letters and emails
• Typing
• Memorizing emergency procedures in various settings, including knowledge of using a fire extinguisher
• Maintaining good hygiene, nutrition and exercise habits
• Preventing disease, including STDs
• Using responsible and healthy sexual practices
• Visiting doctors and dentists regularly
• Purchasing a house
• Holding family meetings
• Maintaining safe and secure Internet practices, including an understanding of online source verification
• Choosing and purchasing insurance for home, health and car
• Gardening
• Recycling, reusing and caring for the environment
• Using the Microsoft Office suite and other important computer programs
• Interviewing for jobs and job shadowing
• Knowing federal and local laws
• Driving a car
• Avoiding addiction and understanding the effects of drugs and alcohol
• Registering to vote and choosing who and what to vote for
• Doing community service work
• Planning and budgeting for trips
• Planning and hosting parties
• Traveling locally and globally, if possible
• Using basic tools, including: hammers, screwdrivers, power drills, hand-held sanders, knives, pliers, wedges and wrenches
• Doing home improvement projects: painting, building simple furniture items, installing hardware and more
• Building a fire
• Using a directional compass
• Making a water filter with sand, rocks, clay and charcoal
• Listening to educational podcasts and audiobooks
• Memorizing important poems and passages
• Writing longhand letters to friends
• Making a family tree
• Starting a small business
• Holding a garage sale

How to register to vote: In the U.S., legal residents over the age of 18 can vote. Register online, at a state or local election office or at the department of motor vehicles. Update your voter registration if you change addresses. Other ways to get involved in politics: Serving as a poll worker, donating to candidates, running for local office, joining a citizen advisory board, creating a petition, writing about and discussing your issue or candidate of choice. Note that it is more effective to send letters to state officials than to DC. Calling is more effective than writing letters, and in-person visits are best of all.

ESSENTIAL INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

• Making friends
• Cultivating healthy relationships
• Communicating effectively, including: listening actively; restating the other person’s message; and calmly resolving conflict
• Avoiding and de-escalating conflict
• Using good eye contact
• Using good manners
• Shaking hands firmly
• Projecting vocally when appropriate
• Saying “no” without further explanation
• Enforcing healthy boundaries and respecting the boundaries of others
• Asking questions
• Talking to strangers
• Making casual conversation/small talk
• Crafting a convincing and logical argument
• Speaking in public
• Telling a joke
• Forgiving and apologizing first
• Accepting and learning from other cultures, family types and gender identities
• Responding to anger or unkindness without defensiveness, but instead with simple statements of fact (such as “I don’t agree” or “That’s interesting,”) questions (such as “Why did you do that?”) or kindnesses (such as, “Are you okay?”)
• Using simple consequences instead of physical force or emotional abuse (for example, “If you do that, I am not going to play with you right now,” or, “If you are rough with my toys, I will take them away”)

ESSENTIAL SELF-CARE SKILLS

• Spending time alone
• Engaging in long-term projects and hobbies
• Labeling emotions
• Separating fact from emotion
• Using self-calming strategies like deep breathing
• Doing self-guided cognitive therapy/reframing (writing down upsetting irrational thoughts and replacing them with rational ones)
• Journaling about difficult memories and moments, then rewriting the story in a way that is healthy, helpful and self-compassionate
• Maintaining healthy exercise and nutrition habits
• Maintaining spiritual/grounding practices such as meditation (observing one’s own mind with nonjudgmental acceptance) and mindfulness (observing the present moment with nonjudgmental acceptance)

ESSENTIAL PERSONAL QUALITIES TO DEVELOP

• Love
• Generosity
• Healthy attachment
• Respect for differences
• Confidence
• Dignity
• Honesty
• Humility
• Morality
• Loyalty/commitment
• Hope, optimism and positivity
• Personal responsibility
• Willingness to work hard
• Acceptance of hardship
• Toughness and survivalism
• Independence
• Creativity/imagination
• A sense of personal identity/uniqueness
• Purpose
• Cultivation of one’s best self

Ideas for enjoyable, educational activities aren’t hard to find. The trick is to remember them when the time comes. Here is a list to draw from on those quiet days when you want to spend time with friends or family while also furthering your knowledge base.

ESSENTIAL EDUCATIONAL GAMES AND OTHER RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Essential Educational Games

• Scrabble
• Chess
• Checkers
• Go
• Mah jong
• Monopoly
• Trivial Pursuit
• Dominos
• Card games
• Charades
• Crossword puzzles
• Sudoku
• Logic grid puzzles
• Mazes
• Map puzzles
• Complex strategy board games like Dungeons and Dragons, Magic or Settlers of Cattan
• Billiards/pool

Other Essential Educational Recreational Activities

• Show and tell
• Talent shows
• Art museums and galleries
• Zoos
• Aquariums
• Science museums
• History museums
• Planetariums
• Concerts
• Theater plays
• Sporting events
• Educational and recreational clubs (scouting clubs, book clubs, science clubs, gaming clubs and more)
• Travel, especially to historical locations

Additional Recommendations: Homemade Educational Games

If you want to make learning the material in this book more enjoyable–and a bit easier–consider trying one or two of the following self-made learning games. Homeschooling families might find them especially useful, as multiple players can reinforce concepts simultaneously.

THE LIST GAME

Number of Players: Any

What You Need: One printed copy of one of the sections of this book per player, paper and writing instruments

How to Play: First, players review their fact lists for several minutes. Then they set the lists aside and start a timer for five to ten minutes. During the timed session, players list as many terms as they can remember, along with their definitions. The winner is the one who writes the most correct terms and accompanying definitions.

BINGO

Number of Players: Three or more

What You Need: One printed copy of one of the sections of this book per player, paper and writing instruments

How to Play: First, players each create a 5×5 grid on their paper. Then, they fill in each box with one of the terms from their chosen fact list. One player volunteers to serve as the first caller and reads the definitions of the terms from the list in random order. The other players must guess the right term, then block it off their BINGO card if they have it. The first person to have five correctly named terms in a row is the winner. Players can take turns serving as the caller.

TWENTY QUESTIONS/WHO AM I?

Number of Players: Two or more

What You Need: One printed copy of one of the sections of this book per player, paper and writing instruments

How to Play: First, one player (or team) chooses five terms from the chosen fact list. Then, they start a timer and the other player (or team) attempts to guess the terms one by one by using yes or no questions only. Only five terms may be named while questioning. For example, a player can ask, “Is it an object?” any number of times, but “Is it [term from the fact list]?” only five times total. After the team uses all five of their guesses, the timer is stopped. That team’s correct number of guesses and the time spent finding them are noted, and the teams switch roles and play again. The winning player or team is the one that identified the most of the five terms, with the time taken to do so as the tie breaker.

DO-IT-YOURSELF CROSSWORD PUZZLES

What You Need: One printed copy of one of the sections of this book, grid paper with large boxes and a pencil

How to Play: First, determine which of the terms on the chosen fact list are hardest for you to remember. Starting with those terms, create a simple crossword puzzle on the grid paper. This can work with just five or six terms, or you can make a more complicated version. Number each term as is standard for crossword puzzles and list the corresponding numbered clues next to the puzzle. The clues, in this case, will be the definition of the term. Create multiple puzzles and print out multiple copies of each and fill out the puzzles later on. (Note that crosswords using foreign-language vocabulary words can be easiest to create, since the native-language word can be used as the clue.)

DO-IT-YOURSELF HISTORICAL TIMELINE

What You Need: Paper, markers and a list of important dates

How to Play: First, determine which key historical dates you most want to remember. The historical timeline provided in this book might be a good place to find these. Draw a straight line down the middle of each piece of paper and divide the line into equal segments. Write the date increments on each segment, then write the corresponding events. Hang it on a wall for easy reference. Later, create a second version that only lists the dates and try to fill in the corresponding events by memory.

DO-IT-YOURSELF MAP PUZZLES

What You Need: A high-quality map of the world, or of a country or continent; scissors; cardboard

How to Play: Cut a map into puzzle-like pieces (for best results, use simple angular shapes). Reinforce the back of each piece with cardboard, then put the puzzle together repeatedly until you are able to do so quickly.

DO-IT-YOURSELF DOT-TO-DOT DRAWINGS

What You Need: A high-quality picture of an important world landmark, body system, or other visual aide to learning; paper; a marker

How to Play: Place a piece of paper over the chosen picture. Outline the picture with dots in the proper places. Number the dots as you go. Then try to redraw the picture by connecting the dots.

EDUCATIONAL COLORING SHEETS

What You Need: Coloring sheets that depict educational visual aides like planets, the parts of a plant, the parts of a cell, human body systems, maps and much more; crayons, markers or colored pencils

How to Play: Color and label the educational coloring sheet, taking time to appreciate its details. Hang them on a wall to jog your memory.

Additional Recommendations: Pretend Play Scenario Ideas

• Camping
• Store (toy store, grocery store, pet store, etc.)
• Restaurant
• Post Office
• Theater/play/music performance
• Art gallery
• Zoo
• Animal hunt
• Fort building
• Pet hotel
• Tea party
• Hospital
• Cops and robbers
• Superheroes
• Pilots
• Vet clinic
• Lions and deer
• Monsters and townspeople
• Alligators and swimmers
• Hot lava
• Obstacle course
• Firefighters
• Race cars
• Submarine
• Astronauts
• Royal family
• Library
• Aliens
• Movie and TV show characters
• Much more

There are many ways to reliably embarrass yourself in life. One of them is to reveal your lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of continents, oceans, nations and cities. Of course, one of the easiest ways to commit locations to memory is to visit them, even briefly, so you can associate unique sights and other sensory experiences (even emotion) to a point on a map.

BASIC GEOGRAPHY

Latitude lines/parallels: Imaginary lines running horizontally around the globe. They are measured in degrees, with the equator at 0° latitude, the north pole at 90° north and the south pole at 90° south.

Longitude lines/meridians: Imaginary lines running vertically around the globe. These meet at both poles. They are measured in degrees, with the prime meridian at 0° longitude (at Earth’s axis), and the farthest extensions at 180° east and 180° west.

Geographic coordinates: The two-number combination that gives a location’s latitude and longitude

Hemisphere: A hemisphere is half the Earth’s surface. The four hemispheres are the Northern and Southern hemispheres, divided by the equator (0° latitude), and the Eastern and Western hemispheres, divided by the prime meridian (0° longitude) and the International Date Line (180°).

Equator: The imaginary line around the center of the earth that we measure as zero degrees latitude. The Sun is directly overhead the equator at noon on the two equinoxes (March and Sept. 20 or 21). The equator divides the globe into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The equator appears halfway between the North and South poles, at the widest circumference of the globe. It is 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 km) long.

Prime Meridian: The imaginary line down the center of the earth that we measure as zero degrees longitude (0°). It runs through the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Greenwich, England and divides the globe into the Western and Eastern hemispheres. The Earth’s time zones are measured from it.

International Date Line: The imaginary line located at approximately 180° longitude that, by convention, marks the end of one calendar day and the beginning of the next. It bends around countries to avoid date- and time-related confusion.

Tropic of Cancer: The imaginary line located at 23°30′ north of the equator. The sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer on the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere around June 21. It marks the northernmost point of the tropics, which falls between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Tropic of Capricorn: The imaginary line located at 23°30′ south. The Sun is directly above the Tropic of Capricorn on the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere around December 21. It marks the southernmost point of the tropics.

Arctic Circle: A line of latitude located at 66°30′ north, delineating the Northern Frigid Zone of the Earth.

Antarctic Circle: A line of latitude located at 66°30′ south, delineating the Southern Frigid Zone of the Earth.

Map projections: Distorted representations of the relative locations on Earth that allow for two-dimensional map making.

Mercator projection: The most famous map projection, which shows the far northern and southern areas of Earth as much larger than they are

Pangea: The most recent single, unified supercontinent to have preceded the current continental forms on the earth

The six main types of landforms: Mountains, hills, valleys, plateaus, plains, deserts. Islands, peninsulas, canyons, and deltas are also sometimes considered separate types of landforms, and there are many variations of these landforms.

The seven continents: In order of size: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australasia/Oceania. Note that some people consider Asia and Europe as one continent that they refer to as Eurasia. Also note that the Middle East is considered part of Asia and is sometimes referred to as Asia Minor.

Oceans: Vast and deep bodies of saltwater that are the largest bodies of water on the planet.

The five oceans: The Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern, and Arctic oceans

Seas: Smaller and shallower bodies of saltwater that are partially enclosed by land. They are usually located where the land and ocean meet, and often have a connection to one of the larger oceans. There are many and they include the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Caribbean Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the South China Sea.

The Mediterranean Sea: The large body of water that lies between Europe, Africa and Asia and is mostly enclosed by land

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers: The river system that borders Mesopotamia and is surrounded by the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East

The Fertile Crescent: The part of the Middle East that surrounds the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and is the birthplace of farming and civilization

The Caspian Sea: The world’s largest inland body of water, located between Europe and Asia, with historical trading and political significance

The Nile River: The deep, gentle river in Africa that connects with the Mediterranean Sea. It is known for its predictable patterns and surrounding deserts. Its independent biosphere causes predictable flood patterns so no irrigation systems were needed. The Nile offered early civilizations transportation and irrigation.

The Yellow River: The river in China on which Chinese civilization first sprang up

The Yangtzse River: The longest river in Asia and the third-longest in the world to flow entirely within one country

The Gulf of Mexico: A basin of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by Mexico and the Gulf Coast of the U.S.

The Missouri River: The longest river in North America and a tributary of the Mississippi River

The Mississippi River: The second-longest river in North America

The Great Lakes: A collection of lakes on the border of the U.S. and Canada that include: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Ontario

Mount Everest: The highest mountain in the world, which is located on the borders of Nepal and Tibet

K2: The second-highest mountain in the world, which is located on the borders of Pakistan and China

Mount Kilamanjaro: The highest mountain in Africa

Mount Denali: The highest mountain in North America and the mountain formerly known as Mount McKinley

The Andes: The longest continental mountain range in the world, located along the western edge of South America

The Alps: The highest mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe

The Ural Mountains: The mountain range that lies along the western border of Russia that is the natural boundary between Europe and Asia

The Rocky Mountains: The largest mountain range in North America, which lies north to south in the western part of the U.S.

The Appalachian Mountains: The second largest mountain range that lies entirely in North America, which lies north to south in the eastern part of the U.S.

The Gobi Desert: A large desert located in Mongolia and China

The Mojave Desert: A large desert located in the southwestern United States

The Antarctic Desert: The snow and ice desert that makes up the continent of Antarctica and that is considered the largest desert in the world

The Arctic: The region located on and around the North Pole, including the Arctic Ocean and several nearby countries

The Arabian Desert: A large desert located in the Middle East

The Sahara Desert: The desert located in northern Africa that expands and contracts regularly. In prehistoric times, the desert shrank enough to allow humans to migrate out of Africa. In ancient times, the desert became increasingly dry, preventing communication between Northern and Southern Africans. Egyptians in the North had much more contact with Middle Easterners and Europeans than they did with Africans south of the Sahara.

Sub-saharan Africa: The area of Africa located south of the Sahara Desert which, during its early history, evolved separately and cut off from northern Africa and Eurasia

The Horn of Africa: The easternmost part of the African mainland

The Gold Coast: The region on the coast of West Africa that includes modern-day Ghana, parts of Togo and parts of the Ivory Coast that got this name during colonial times due to their gold supplies

Oceania: The area of the world that encompasses Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean

Polynesia: The islands of the central and southern Pacific, including Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, the Cook Islands and more

Melanesia: The islands of the western Pacific, including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia

Micronesia: The islands of the western Pacific, including the Marshall Islands, Palau, Guam, and the Federated States of Micronesia

The five climate zones of Earth: Arctic and antarctic (in the far north and south); north temperate and south temperate; and tropical (the middle of Earth on both sides of the equator)

The four U.S. mainland time zones: Pacific Time (PT: UTC-8); Mountain Time (MT: UTC-7); Central Time (CT: UTC-6); and Eastern Time (ET: UTC-5). Other time zones are used in Alaska, Hawaii and elsewhere. During daylight saving time, some of these time zones shift one hour. When daylight savings time is not being observed, “standard” is added, so that PT, MT, CT and ET become PST, MST, CST and EST. When daylight savings time is being observed, the same abbreviations become PDT, MDT, CDT and EDT.

The five regions of the U.S.: The West Coast/West, the Southwest, the Midwest, the Southeast and the East Coast/Northeast

The current number of countries in the world: Almost 200

The current population of the world: Approximately eight billion

The three most populous nations in the world: China, India and the United States

The five most populous cities in the world: Tokyo, Japan; Delhi, India; Shanghai, China; São Paulo, Brazil; and Mumbai, India. New York, U.S.; Seoul, South Korea; and Mexico City, Mexico are close to the top of the list.

The largest country in the world by area: Russian Federation

The smallest country in the world by area and population: Vatican City

The country with the highest life expectancy in the world: Japan

The country with the highest gross national product (GNP) in the world: The United States

Like freedom and fun, creativity is an inborn need. If you haven’t discovered this need in yourself, it’s possible you haven’t yet found your medium. It’s also possible that this checklist of art and craft skills will pique your interest.

ESSENTIAL FINE ART SKILLS

• Drawing: chalk, charcoal, crayon, marker, oil pastels, pen, pencil
• Painting (with acrylic paint, oil paint, watercolor on canvas, glass, fabric, human body, plaster, wood, walls with brushes, sponges, hands, stencils and more; this includes murals)
• Sculpture: wood, wax, stone, metal, clay and mixed media
• Performance art: Dance, theater, music
• Collage, fresco and mosaic
• Conceptual and installation art
• Multimedia art, including recycled material art

ESSENTIAL APPLIED ART SKILLS

• Architecture
• Carpentry/woodworking
• Building (go-karts, playground structures, garden trellises, etc.)
• Ceramics/pottery
• Film making
• Culinary art
• Glass blowing
• Lighting design
• Landscape architecture
• Graphic narratives/Comics/Cartooning
• Photography
• Printmaking
• Fashion design
• Model making
• Collecting
• Scrapbooking
• Textile arts: Crocheting, sewing, knitting, macrame, weaving and more
• Graphic design/electronic art (creating brochures, magazines, etc.)
• Website creation
• Digital printing
• Video game creation

EASY CRAFTS FOR CHILDREN

• Clay/Play-Doh modeling
• Braiding and weaving
• Making wrapping paper
• Beading
• Making bean-filled heat packs to heat in the microwave
• Making greeting cards
• Making bound books
• Making Christmas ornaments
• Weaving paper baskets
• Making masks
• Making paper chains
• Making edible necklaces and Christmas strings with popcorn or apples
• Making mobiles
• Making hand and finger puppets
• Making miniature villages or people from various materials
• Plastic bag painting (putting paint and small objects in a plastic baggie and shaking)
• Coloring
• Stamping
• Making leaf and hand prints and rubbings
• Gluing and taping with recycled materials
• Hole punching and tying string
• Making egg carton treasure boxes
• Making stick and popsicle stick art, such as a flower pots or a birdhouse

You know how out of the blue one day you hear a song you used to love and you think, I can’t forget this again. I have to write it down. You start to wonder how many other great songs you’ve let slip from memory. Then you have kids, and you start actively seeking them out so you can pass them on. This list is a good jumping-off point for that process.

It’s highly unlikely that all your favorite songs are listed here. But there are a lot of great ones, and many that you’ll hear here and there throughout your life. Listen to them at the YouTube links provided, absorbing the style of each artist and thinking critically about what you like, what you don’t like, and why. No need to memorize song titles, but a working recall of most of these artists will help you immensely in your many enjoyable music-related conversations to come.

This list is a work in progress; check back for updates.

ESSENTIAL CLASSIC SONGS AND MUSICAL ARTISTS

Essential Classical Compositions

• Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565, Johann Sebastian Bach (1600s)
• Allegro from Brandenburg Concerto No 3, Johann Sebastian Bach (1600s)
• Air from Orchestral Suite No 3, Johann Sebastian Bach (1600s)
• Vivace from Double Violin Concerto, Johann Sebastian Bach (1600s)
• Ave Maria, Johann Sebastian Bach and Charles Gounod (1600s)
• The Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah, George Frideric Handel (1600s)
• Canon, Johann Pachelbel (1600s)
• Moonlight Sonata, Ludwig van Beethoven (1700s)
• Fur Elise, Ludwig van Beethoven (1700s)
• Adagio Sostenuto from Moonlight Sonata, Ludwig van Beethoven (1700s)
• Ode to Joy from Symphony No 9, Ludwig van Beethoven (1700s)
• Allegro Con Brio from Symphony No 5, Ludwig van Beethoven (1700s)
• Overture from The Magic Flute, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1700s)
• [ ] from Don Giovanni, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1700s)
• Overture from The Marriage of Figaro, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1700s)
• Adante from Piano Concerto No 21, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1700s)
• Rondo Alla Turca from Piano Concerto No 11, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1700s)
• Lacrimosa from Requiem Mass, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1700s)
• Spring: Allegro from The Four Seasons, Vivaldi (1700s)
• Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1800s)
• Marche from The Nutcracker, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1800s)
• Opera 20 Act 2 No 10 Scene (Moderato) from Swan Lake, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1800s)
• Opera 20 Act 1 No 2 Valse (Corps de Ballet) from Swan Lake, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1800s)
• The 1812 Overture, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1800s)
• [ ] from Falstaff, Giuseppe Verdi (1800s)
• Overture from The Barber of Seville, Gioachino Rossini (1800s)
• Hungarian Dance No 5, Johannes Brahms (1800s)
• Spring Waltz, Frederic Chopin (1800s)
• Nocturne No 2, Frederic Chopin (1800s)
• Clair de Lune, Claude Debussy (1800s)
• [ ] from New World Symphony, Antonin Dvorak (1800s)
• In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt Suite, Edvard Grieg (1800s)
• Morning (Hovis Advert) from Peer Gynt Suite, Edvard Grieg (1800s)
• Anitra’s Dance from Peer Gynt Suite, Edvard Grieg (1800s)
• Hebrides Overture, Mendelssohn (1800s)
• Ave Maria, Franz Schubert (1800s)
• The Beautiful Blue Danube, Johann Strauss (1800s)
• Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, Giuseppe Verdi (1800s)
• The Ride of the Valkyries, Richard Wagner (1800s)
• Wedding Chorus from Lohengrin, Richard Wagner (1800s)
• Prelude from Carmen, Georges Bizet (1800s)
• Habanera from Carmen, Georges Bizet (1800s)
• Radetzky March, Johann Strauss (1800s)
• Meditation from Thais, Massanet (1800s)
• Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave), Mendelssohn (1800s)
• Pomp and Circumstance March No 1, Sir Edward Elgar (1800s and 1900s)
• [ ] from La Boeme, Giacomo Puccini (1800s and 1900s)
• Humming Chorus from Madame Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini (1800s and 1900s)
• Dance of the Adolescents from The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky (1900s)
• O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, Carl Orff (1900s)
• Peter and the Wolf, Sergei Prokofiev (1900s)
• Glassworks, Philip Glass (1900s)
• Interstellar, Hans Zimmer (1900s)
• Time, Hans Zimmer (1900s)
• Star Wars Theme, John Williams (1900s)
• The Metamorphosis, Philip Glass (1900s)

Essential Classical Operas

Essential Classical Symphonies

Essential Classical Ballets

Essential Classical Waltzes

Essential Folk Songs and Spirituals

• The Star-Spangled Banner
• America, the Beautiful
• America (My Country Tis Of Thee)
• God Bless America
• You’re a Grand Old Flag
• The U.S. Air Force Song (Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder)
• The Marine’s Hymn
• The Battle Hymn of the Republic (Glory Glory Hallelujah)
• When the Saints Go Marching In
• Amazing Grace
• How Great Thou Art
• I’ll Fly Away
• Kumbaya
• He’s Got the Whole World
• Swing Low Sweet Chariot
• What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• This Little Light of Mine
• I’ve Got Peace Like a River
• Michael, Row the Boat Ashore
• Go Tell It on the Mountain
• Happy Birthday to You
• Oh, Susanna
• Coconut
• Banana Boat Song (Day-O)
• Home on the Range
• You Are My Sunshine
• Ain’t We Got Fun?
• Someone’s In the Kitchen With Dinah
• Take Me Out to the Ballgame
• I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad
• Alouette
• Clementine
• On Top of Old Smokey
• Yankee Doodle
• My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Essential Christmas Carols

• The First Noel
• Joy to the World
• Silent Night
• The Twelve Days of Christmas
• We Three Kings
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas
• Angels We Have Heard on High
• Away in a Manger
• Auld Lang Syne
• Deck the Halls
• God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
• Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
• O Holy Night
• O Little Town of Bethlehem
• O Christmas Tree
• Oh Come All Ye Faithful
• The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
• What Child Is This?
• White Christmas
• Holly, Jolly Christmas
• I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
• I’ll Be Home for Christmas
• I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas
• It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
• What Child Is This
• Ave Maria
• Winter Wonderland
• The Little Drummer Boy
• Here Comes Santa Claus
• Jingle Bell Rock
• Let It Snow
• Jingle Bells
• Frosty, the Snowman
• Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
• Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Essential Children’s Songs and Rhymes

• The Alphabet Song
• Rock-a-Bye Baby
• Ba Ba Black Sheep
• Mary Had a Little Lamb
• Hush, Little Baby
• Skidamarink
• Skip to My Lou
• Knees Up Mother Brown
• Down by the Bay
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Frere Jacques
• Lollipop, Lollipop
• If You’re Happy and You Know It
• Skip to My Lou
• The More We Get Together
• This Old Man
• The Ants Go Marching One By One
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat
• Five Little Monkeys
• Old McDonald
• Three Blind Mice
• Nick Nack Paddywack
• Pop Goes the Weasel
• Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
• London Bridge Is Falling Down
• She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain
• Little Bo Peep
• Sing a Song of Sixpence
• A Tisket a Tasket
• Little Boy Blue
• Old King Cole
• Little Miss Muffet
• The Muffin Man
• Over the River and Through the Wood
• The Farmer In the Dell
• Baby Bumble Bee
• BINGO
• Do Your Ears Hang Low?
• John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
• Where is Thumbkin?
• Are You Sleeping, Brother John?
• Five Little Ducks
• There’s a Hole in the Bucket
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
• I’m a Little Teapot
• The Wheels on the Bus
• You’ll Sing a Song
• Down By the Riverside
• Lavender’s Blue
• Where, Oh, Where Has My Little Dog Gone?
• How Much Is That Doggy In the Window
• The Green Grass Grew All Around
• It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

Essential Songs from Musicals

• Tomorrow (Annie)
• Maybe (Annie)
• Hard Knock Life (Annie)
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow (The Wizard of Oz)
• When You Wish Upon a Star (Pinocchio)
• Footloose (Footloose)
• You’re the One That I Want (Grease)
• Summer Days (Grease)
• I Could Have Danced All Night (My Fair Lady)
• Sunrise, Sunset (Fiddler on the Roof)
• Tradition (Fiddler on the Roof)
• Oklahoma! (Oklahoma!)
• Oh What a Beautiful Morning (Oklahoma!)
• I Feel Pretty (West Side Story)
• Da-Doo (Little Shop of Horrors)
• Skid Row (Little Shop of Horrors)
• Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast)
• This Provincial Life (Beauty and the Beast)
• Be Our Guest (Beauty and the Beast)
• Kiss the Girl (The Little Mermaid)
• Spoonful of Sugar (The Sound of Music)
• Edelweiss (The Sound of Music)
• Sixteen Going on Seventeen (The Sound of Music)
• My Favorite Things (The Sound of Music)
• Do-Re-Mi (The Sound of Music)
• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (The Sound of Music)
• Moon River (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
• Bali Ha’i (South Pacific)
• I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair (South Pacific)
• Sisters (White Christmas)
• Anything You Can Do (Annie Get Your Gun)
• Sit Down, You’re Rocking’ the Boat (Guys and Dolls)
• Singing in the Rain (Singing in the Rain)

Essential Popular Artists

1920s, 30s and 40s

• Billie Holiday (Blue Moon; God Bless the Child)
• Doris Day (Dream a Little Dream of Me; Que Sera Sera; Perhaps, Perhaps)
• Frank Sinatra (My Way; Fly Me to the Moon; New York, New York; That’s Life; I’ve Got the World on a String)
• Bing Crosby (Swingin’ on a Star; Let Me Call You Sweetheart)
• Sammy Davis Jr. (I’ve Gotta Be Me; Candy Man)

1950s and 60s

• Elvis Presley (Can’t Help Falling in Love; Love Me Tender; Blue Suede Shoes; Hound Dog; Jailhouse Rock; Don’t Be Cruel; All Shook Up)
• Otis Redding (I’ve Been Loving You too Long [to Stop Now]; [Sittin’ on] the Dock of the Bay; Try a Little Tenderness; I’ve Got Dreams to Remember)
• Bill Withers (Just the Two of Us; Lean on Me; Ain’t No Sunshine)
• Ella Fitzgerald (Dream a Little Dream of Me)
• Nina Simone (I Ain’t Got No/I Got Life; Sinnerman; I Put a Spell on You)
• Etta James (At Last; Something’s Got a Hold on Me)
• B.B. King (The Thrill Is Gone; Every Day I Have the Blues)
• Louis Armstrong (What a Wonderful World; Cheek to Cheek; Unforgettable)
• Miles Davis (Blue in Green; So What)
• John Coltrane (A Love Supreme, Parts 1-4; Naima)
• Duke Ellington (It Don’t Mean a Thing [If It Ain’t Got That Swing])
• Muddy Waters (Mannish Boy)
• Sam Cooke (A Change Is Gonna Come; What A Wonderful World/Don’t Know Much About History)
• John Lee Hooker (Boom Boom)
• Chuck Berry (Johnny B. Goode; No Particular Place to Go; Maybelline; Roll Over Beethoven; Sweet Little Sixteen; You Never Can Tell)
• Bobby Darin (Dream Lover)
• Buddy Holly (Everyday; That’ll Be the Day; Peggy Sue)
• Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers (Why Do Fools Fall in Love)
• Frankie Valli (Big Girls Don’t Cry; Walk Like a Man; Can’t Take My Eyes Off You)
• Jackie Wilson (Lonely Teardrops; [Your Love Keeps Lifting Me] Higher and Higher)
• Jerry Lee Lewis (Great Balls of Fire; Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On)
• Patsy Cline (I Fall to Pieces; Walkin’ After Midnight; Crazy)
• The Drifters (Under the Boardwalk; Save the Last Dance for Me)
• The Everly Brothers (All I Have to Do Is Dream; Bye Bye Love; Wake Up Little Susie)
• Four Tops (Reach Out [I’ll Be There]; I Can’t Help Myself [Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch]; Baby I Need Your Loving; Walk Away Renee)
• The Isley Brothers (Shout, Parts 1 and 2; This Old Heart of Mine [Is Weak for You])
• The Righteous Brothers (Unchained Melody; You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’)
• The Ronettes (Be My Baby)
• Fats Domino (Blueberry Hill)
• The Shirelles (Mama Said; Will You Love Me Tomorrow)
• The Spencer Davis Group (Gimme Some Lovin’)
• The Staple Singers (I’ll Take You There; Respect Yourself; Let’s Do It Again)
• The Supremes/Diana Ross (Baby Love; Where Did Our Love Go; Stop! In the Name of Love; You Keep Me Hanging On; You Can’t Hurry Love; I Hear a Symphony)
• The Temptations (My Girl)
• Roy Orbison (Only the Lonely; Oh, Pretty Woman)
• Little Richard (Good Golly, Miss Molly; Tutti Frutti; Long Tall Sally)
• Dion (Teenager in Love, The Wanderer, Runaround Sue, Abraham, Martin and John)
• Paul Anka (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
• Wilson Pickett (In the Midnight Hour; Land of a 1,000 Dances; Mustang Sally)

1970s

• The Beatles (All You Need is Love; Come Together; Hey, Jude; Let It Be; Yesterday; Yellow Submarine; Ticket to Ride; While My Guitar Gently Weeps; With a Little Help From My Friends)
• John Lennon (In My Life; Strawberry Fields Forever; Imagine; Happy Christmas [War Is Over])
• Aretha Franklin (Respect; [You Make Me Feel Like a] Natural Woman; Chain of Fools; I Say a Little Prayer)
• Bob Dylan (Like a Rolling Stone’ Blowing in the Wind; Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door; Mr. Tambourine Man; The Times They Are a-Changin’)
• Cat Stevens (Wild World; Morning Has Broken; Cat’s in the Cradle; Where Do the Children Play; Blowin’ in the Wind)
• John Denver (Take Me Home, Country Roads; Annie’s Song; Rocky Mountain High; Home Grown Tomatoes)
• Willie Nelson (On the Road Again; Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys; Always on My Mind)
• Johnny Cash (Ring of Fire; I Walk the Line; Hurt)
• Simon and Garfunkel (Bridge Over Troubled Water; Scarborough Fair; Mrs. Robinson; The Sound of Silence)
• Peter, Paul and Mary (Puff the Magic Dragon; Blowin’ in the Wind; If I Had a Hammer; Lemon Tree; We Shall Overcome; Leaving on a Jet Plane)
• The Carpenters (We’ve Only Just Begun; Close to You; Yesterday Once More; Rainy Days and Mondays)
• The Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia (Workingman’s Dead; Uncle John’s Band)
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience/Jimi Hendrix (All Along the Watchtower; Purple Haze)
• Janis Joplin (Me and Bobby McGee; Piece of My Heart; Summertime)
• Joni Mitchell (Both Sides Now; Help Me; Big Yellow Taxi)
• The Doors/Jim Morrison (Light My Fire; People Are Strange; Riders on a Storm; Break on Through to the Other Side)
• The Eagles (Hotel California; The Long Run; Take It Easy)
• The Byrds (Mr. Tambourine Man; Turn! Turn! Turn!)
• James Taylor (Five and Rain; Sweet Baby James; You’ve Got a Friend; Carolina in My Mind)
• Neil Young (Cortez the Killer; Rockin’ in the Free World; Sugar Mountain)
• Credence Clearwater Revival (CCR) (Have you Ever Seen the Rain?; Bad Moon Rising; Proud Mary; Who’ll Stop the Rain; Down on the Corner)
• Lou Reed (Walk on the Wild Side; Perfect Day)
• Sonny and Cher (I Got You Babe)
• The Beach Boys (California Girls; Surfin’ USA; I Get Around; Good Vibrations)
• The Jackson 5 (I Want You Back)
• Nancy Sinatra (These Boots are Made for Walkin’; Bang Bang)
• Joe Cocker (With a Little Help From My Friends; You Are So Beautiful)
• Al Green (Let’s Stay Together; Love and Happiness; Take Me to the River)
• Curtis Mayfield (People Get Ready; Superfly)
• James Brown (Get Up [I Feel Like Being a] Sex Machine; I Got You [I Feel Good])
• Elvis Costello ([What’s So Funny About] Peace, Love and Understanding)
• Marvin Gaye (Let’s Get It On; I Heard It Through the Grapevine; Ain’t No Mountain High Enough; Mercy Mercy Me)
• Sam & Dave (Soul Man)
• Sly and the Family Stone (Hot Fun in the Summertime; Family Affair)
• Smokey Robinson and The Miracles (Cruisin’; You Really Got a Hold on Me)
• Kool and the Gang (Jungle Boogie)
• Gloria Gaynor (I Will Survive)
• Bee Gees (Stayin’ Alive)

1980s

• Barbra Streisand (The Way We Were; You Don’t Bring Me Flowers; Don’t Lie to Me)
• Bette Midler (From a Distance; I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today; Wind Beneath My Wings)
• Billy Joel (Piano Man; New York State of Mind; We Didn’t Start the Fire)
• Bob Marley (Don’t Worry Be Happy; Three Little Birds; I Shot the Sheriff; One Love)
• Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.; Dancin’ in the Dark; Streets of Philadelphia)
• Cyndi Lauper (Girls Just Want to Have Fun; True Colors; Time After Time)
• David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust; Let’s Dance)
• Dolly Parton (I Will Always Love You; 9 to 5)
• Gladys Knight (Midnight Train to Georgia; I Heard It Through the Grapevine)
• Guns N’ Roses/Axl Rose (Paradise City; Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door; Welcome to the Jungle; November Rain)
• Kenny Rogers (The Gambler)
• Moody Blues (Nights in White Satin)
• Jimmy Cliff (I Can See Clearly Now)
• Madonna (Vogue; Like a Virgin; Material Girl; Like A Prayer)
• Pink Floyd (Money; Another Brick in the Wall Part 2)
• Prince (Kiss; 1999; Purple Rain)
• Queen/Freddie Mercury (We Will Rock You; We Are the Champions; Bohemian Rhapsody; Another One Bites the Dust)
• The Ramones (Blitzkrieg Bop; Sheena Is a Punk Rocker)
• Luther Vandross (Love the One You’re With)
• Lionel Richie (Easy; Stuck On You)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd (Sweet Home Alabama)
• Led Zeppelin (Stairway to Heaven)
• Michael Jackson (Thriller; Bad; Black and White; We Are the World; Billie Jean)
• The Bangles (Walk Like an Egyptian, Manic Monday; Eternal Flame)
• Steppenwolf (Born to Be Wild; Magic Carpet Ride)
• Stevie Nicks (Talk to Me)
• Stevie Wonder (I Just Called to Say I Love You; Isn’t She Lovely; Signed, Sealed, Delivered)
• The Animals (Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood; The House of the Rising Sun)
• The Clash (Rock the Casbah; London Calling; Should I Stay or Should I Go)
• Neil Diamond (Sweet Caroline)
• Roxette (She’s Got the Look)
• The Rolling Stones ([I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction; Paint It Black; You Can’t Always Get What You Want)
• The Police (Message in a Bottle; Every Breath You Take; Roxanne)
• The Who (Baba O’Riley; I Can See For Miles; Won’t Get Fooled Again)
• Tina Turner (What’s Love Got to Do With It; Proud Mary, Simply the Best)
• Journey (Don’t Stop Believin’)
• Nat King Cole (Unforgettable; When I Fall in Love; Mona Lisa)
• Natalie Cole (Unforgettable; This Will Be [An Everlasting Love])
• Ray Charles (Georgia on My Mind; Night & Day; Hit the Road, Jack; I Got a Woman)
• Tony Bennett (Fly Me to the Moon; I Left My Heart in San Francisco)
• Diana Ross (I’m Coming Out; Endless Love)
• Van Morrison (Brown Eyed Girl; Gloria [Them])

1990s

• Whitney Houston (I Will Always Love You; Greatest Love of All; I Have Nothing)
• Celine Dion (The Power of Love; My Heart Will Go On)
• Eric Clapton (Tears in Heaven; Wonderful Tonight)
• Elton John (Can You Feel the Love Tonight; Rocket Man)
• Eminem (Slim Shady; Without Me; Not Afraid; Godzilla)
• Mariah Carey (I Don’t Wanna Cry; Hero; Vision of Love; Emotions)
• Nirvana/Kurt Cobain (Smells Like Teen Spirit; Come As You Are)
• U2/Bono (Beautiful Day; With or Without You)
• Alanis Morissette (Ironic)
• Phil Collins (Another Day in Paradise; In the Air Tonight)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers (Under the Bridge)
• Snoop Dogg (Gin and Juice; Drop It Like It’s Hot)
• Jay Z (Forever Young)

No one is saying you need to become an all-star. But learning the basics of a wide variety of sports helps you understand your options and, almost certainly, find something you will enjoy long-term.

For each of the activities below, learn the basic rules of the game, experience playing the game multiple times, and learn proper form for as many of the skills involved in the game as possible. (This is particularly important with swimming and running.) YouTube videos are an invaluable resource for this.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION SKILLS

Team Sports

• Volleyball
• Soccer
• Baseball/Softball
• Football
• Basketball
• Hockey
• Badminton
• Tennis
• Pickleball
• Cricket
• Polo
• Lacrosse

Solo and Two-Person Sports

• Swimming
• Running
• Biking
• Roller skating
• Ice skating
• Hiking
• Camping
• Water skiing
• Wake boarding
• Surfing
• Sailing
• Rafting
• Snorkeling
• Pool diving
• SCUBA diving
• Kayaking/canoeing/rowing
• Snow skiing
• Snowboarding
• Sledding
• Dance (including square dancing, line dancing, ballet, jazz, tap, swing, ballroom, rumba, hip hop, salsa, and tango)
• Parkour
• Yoga
• Rock climbing
• Martial arts (Jiu Jitsu, Tae Kwon Do, karate, MMA and more)
• Weight lifting
• Wrestling
• Skateboarding
• Golf
• Frisbee
• Frisbee golf
• Gymnastics
• Trampolining
• Aerobatics
• Table tennis/ping pong
• Foosball
• Wiffleball
• Raquetball
• Squash/hardball
• Handball/wallball
• Canyoneering
• Fishing
• Hunting
• Shooting
• Archery
• Horseback riding
• Rodeo sports
• Hang gliding
• Paragliding
• Kite flying
• Parachuting
• Auto racing
• ATV riding
• Snowmobiling
• Motorcycling
• Dune buggying
• Go-kart racing

Yard Games

• Hide and Seek
• Capture the Flag
• Tag
• Sardines
• Dodgeball
• Kick the Can
• Obstacle Courses
• Keep Away
• Scavenger hunts
• Jump roping

I remember learning basic biology in school. It was a long time ago, and yet, most of this stuff stuck. It’s everywhere, after all–in the news, in other books. And yet, after creating this list, I was struck by the fine delineations, especially regarding the differences between genes, genetic traits, chromosomes, alleles, and DNA.

BASIC BIOLOGY

Seven characteristics of living things: Reproduction; growth; response to stimuli; evolution; metabolism; homeostasis; and cell-based structure

Common name: Name commonly used for a species of animal or plant

Scientific name: Official name of an animal or plant. This is usually in Latin and made up of the genus and species names, but sometimes also contains the name of the sub-species.

Classification/taxonomy: The organizing of things into groups according to their shared features

The eight levels of the taxonomy of living things: Domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. (Many species are also divided into subspecies called races, breeds or varieties.)

Species: The taxonomic level at which all the members can mate and reproduce offspring of their kind

Prokaryote: A living thing whose cells do not have nuclei

Eukaryote: A living thing whose cells have nuclei

The three domains of living things: Bacteria/monera, archaea and eukaryota. (Note that both bacteria and archaea are prokaryota. Also note that scientists disagree about how to divide the domains.)

Bacteria/monera: A single-celled prokaryotic organism that exists everywhere on Earth

Archaea: A single-celled prokaryotic organism that has genes, enzymes and other similarities to eukaryota that bacteria do not have 

The four kingdoms of eukaryota: Fungi, protistas, plantae and animalia

Fungus: A eukaryotic organism that lacks chlorophyll and feeds on living and dead things, including mold, yeast and mushrooms. Many fungi grow in damp, dark places.

Protista: A eukaryotic organism other than animals, plants, or fungi. Protista is a catch-all group that includes mold, protozoas, algae and other eukaryotes, most of which live in moist environments.

Protozoa: A single-celled eukaryotic organism. Most protozoa feed on organic matter.

Amoeba: A type of protozoa that can change shape, usually by extending out pseudopods (fluid-filled sacs in the shape of arms or tentacles)

Plant: A multicellular eukaryotic organism that get its energy from the sun using chlorophyll and does not wholly move. Most reproduce asexually.

Animal: A multicellular eukaryotic organism that usually has a distinct orientation (i.e., a top and a bottom); symmetry; mobility; sexual reproduction; sense perception; and a reliance on living, biological organisms for energy 

Homo sapiens: The scientific name for the human species. Homo sapiens belong to the eukaryota domain; the animal kingdom; the chordata phylum (since they have a stiff rod that supports the body); the mammalia class; the primates order; the Hominidae family; the Homo genus; and the Homo sapiens species.

Habitat: The natural environment in which a species lives and thrives

Life cycle: The stages of growth and development of living things. This is different for different species; for example, frogs have a tadpole stage and caterpillars have a cocoon stage.

Generation: All members of a species bearing offspring around the same time

Male: The sex with the parts needed to fertilize the egg

Female: The sex with the parts needed to produce the egg

Sexual reproduction: Reproduction involving two parents, one male and one female

Asexual reproduction: Reproduction involving only one parent. Algae, mosses and some ferns use asexual reproduction because they don’t have flowers. Other ferns alternate using sexual and asexual reproduction.

Vegetative reproduction: Asexual reproduction that occurs using a fragment or cutting of a plant. Examples include: plants that grow from from runners (like strawberries), from tubers (like potatoes), from cuttings and even from just a few cells (as in a lab). Note that for growing from cuttings, the cutting might need to stand in water and grow roots first before being planted in dirt.

Fertilization: The combining of genetic material from a sperm cell with the genetic material from an egg cell, which results in conception

Mating: The pairing of opposite-sex animals that results in fertilization

Embryo: The newly conceived form of life between the fertilized egg (zygote) stage and the fetus stage

Fetus: An unborn baby who is past the embryonic stage (about nine weeks into the pregnancy)

Ovulation: The release of eggs from the ovaries

Food web: A series of interlinked food chains

Food chain: A series of plants and animals that use each other for food

Excretion: The elimination of metabolic waste

Homeostasis: Biological equilibrium, when a living thing’s internal conditions (such as temperature and mineral levels) remain mostly steady

Decomposition: The breakdown of organic materials (such as dead plants and animals) by bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms so the materials can be recycled in the environment for other uses

Dormant: Still alive but not actively growing; for example, a seed in a package

Germination: The waking up of a dormant seed

Metabolism: The set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms

External respiration: The movement of oxygen from the outside environment to the cells within tissues, and the movement of carbon dioxide in the opposite direction

Internal respiration/cellular respiration: The use of oxygen within the cells to convert nutrients (such as glucose) into energy in the form of ATP, which is then used for various cellular processes

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP): An organic chemical that provides the energy needed for various processes in cells, such as muscle contraction, nerve impulse propagation, and chemical synthesis

Aerobic respiration: Internal respiration that uses oxygen

Anaerobic respiration: Internal respiration that doesn’t use oxygen (and produces less ATP)

Cell: The smallest unit of living matter that can carry out all of the functions of life

The eight parts of a plant cell: Cell wall; cell membrane; cytoplasm usually containing chloroplasts, chromoplasts, other organelles and the nucleus; and a large vacuole containing water, sugar and other dissolved substances

The nine parts of an animal cell: Cell membrane; cytoplasm; nucleus; nuclear membrane; mitochondria; ribosomes; endoplasmic reticulum; Golgi complex; and lysosomes

Nucleus: The control center of the cell

Mitochondria: The part of the cell that converts substances into energy

Golgi complex: The cell warehouse that stores and distributes substances made in the cell

Ribosomes: The part of the cell that builds proteins

Lysosomes: The part of the cell that breaks down and recycles waste

Endoplasmic reticulum: A network of folded membranes that transport materials within the cell

Tissue: Cells of the same type combined together to do a particular job

Organ: Tissues of different types working together to do a particular job

System: Organs of different types working together to do a particular job

Mitosis: The process of cell division that results in two genetically identical cells, each with a set of the same chromosomes. This happens when the nucleus of the cell divides. Most cells reproduce in this way.

Meiosis: The process of cell division that results in four cells, each with half of the original cell’s genetic material. Sex cells (gametes) reproduce in this way.

Cytokinesis: The final stage of cell division in which the cytoplasm and organelles are divided between the two daughter cells

Enzymes: Proteins that act as catalysts, speeding up chemical reactions in living things

Thermogenesis: The process of heat production in organisms

Basal metabolic rate (BMR): The rate of energy expenditure per unit time by an animal at rest

Calorie: A unit of measurement denoting the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius, which shows how much energy food provides to animals

Kilocalorie: A unit of measurement denoting the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius, which shows how much energy food provides to animals

Parasite: A living thing that feeds on other living things and also uses them as their home

Host: A living thing that homes and feeds a parasite

Evolution: The long series of small but significant genetic changes that happen to living things

Extinction: The dying out of a species

Mass extinction: The large-scale dying out of many species on earth. This happens due to human activity, major weather changes brought on by major events, like an asteroid hitting the earth, and other occurrences.

Natural selection: The natural process by which some species adapt and survive and others die out

Artificial selection: The human-controlled process by which plants and animals with desirable traits are selectively bred in order to produce offspring with those same traits

Adaptation: The process by which a species changes over time in order to better adapt and survive

BASIC GENETICS

Genes: The sets of instructions inherited from parents and located in the body’s chromosomes that tell the body how to form particular characteristics. They are in every cell of the body (except red blood cells) and are made up of DNA. Most genes are either dominant or recessive.

Genetic trait: A single characteristic that is expressed in a living thing in the way the related gene determines. Genes provide instructions for multiple traits, and some traits are determined by multiple genes.

Genome: The complete set of physical genetic material of an organism (DNA or RNA)

Gene map: A visual arrangement showing the organization of the genes on a chromosome. It is used to learn about genetic influences in disease development and other genetic patterns.

Chromosome: The bundles that hold all of the individual genes and are stored in the nucleus of most body cells. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, each of which holds many, many genes.

Dioxyribonucleic acid (DNA): The chemical that makes up genes, has a double helix shape, and works with RNA to tell the body how to build the proteins that make up genetic traits

Ribonucleic acid (RNA): A chemical found alongside DNA that is similar to DNA in form but performs different functions (except in some viruses, which have RNA in place of DNA). RNA helps choose which genes are expressed in the organism and carries out the instructions provided by the DNA.

Nature versus nurture debate: The ongoing question as to the relative roles played by heredity and environment in the development of traits

X and Y chromosomes: The chromosomes that determine gender. Everyone has one X chromosome, but males have a Y and females have a second X.

Dominant gene: The gene in the gene pair that is expressed in the organism, whether paired with a recessive gene or another dominant gene

Recessive gene: The gene in the gene pair that is not expressed in the organism except when there are two associated recessives present, one from each parent

Co-dominance: The state that occurs when the contributions of both genes are displayed in a trait

Allele: One of the two associated genes in a gene pair that occupies the same position on a chromosome and determines the same trait as the other allele in the pair

Homozygote: An organism that has identical alleles for a specific gene

Heterozygote: An organism that has two different alleles for a specific gene, which enables their offspring’s corresponding gene to vary. An organism can be a homozygote for one trait and a heterozygote for a different trait.

Carrier: An organism that has a recessive allele for a genetic trait but does not display it. Carriers can pass the allele onto offspring, who will express it if they inherit the same one from both parents.

DNA profiling/genetic fingerprinting: Analyzing sections of an individual’s DNA in order to identify them

Genetic engineering: The direct manipulation of an organism’s genes using biotechnology

Genetically modified organism (GMO): An animal, plant, or microbe whose DNA has been altered using human-created genetic engineering techniques

Gene splicing: The process of cutting and recombining genes from different organisms or different parts of the same organism to produce specific characteristics

Cloning: Producing genetically identical offspring of an organism either naturally or artificially. In nature, many organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction.

Hybrid: A type of offspring produced by the mating of two different species. These are usually unable to reproduce offspring of their own kind due to differences in the chromosomes of the parents.

Ahhhh … smell that fresh air. That’s the smell of you on a walk in a park with your kids, naming the trees and flowers you pass, then explaining sexual versus asexual reproduction.

BASIC BOTANY

Photosynthesis: The process green plants use to make food from sunlight, water and air. This happens when chloroplasts in chlorophyll absorb sun energy, which the plant uses to combine water and carbon dioxide to make glucose and oxygen. The glucose is stored as energy for growth, while the oxygen is released into the environment.

Plant respiration: The process green plants use to break down stored energy for growth, in which they take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide and water vapor. Though plants release carbon dioxide, they store more than they use and therefore serve as a CO2 sink, which reduces greenhouse gases in the air.

Root: The part of a plant that absorb water and nutrients from the ground and anchor the plant

The four parts of a root: The primary root, the secondary roots, root hairs, and the root cap

The five types of roots: Taproots (one main root with small offshoots, like a carrot has); fibrous roots (many equal-sized primary roots, like grasses have); advetitious roots (roots that grow from an unusual part of a plant, like the hairs on an onion bulb); and aerial roots (roots that grow aboveground, like ivy has); prop roots (roots that grow aboveground to provide additional support, like mangroves have)

Stem: The part of a plant that supports it and move nutrients between the roots and leaves

Leaf: The part of a plant that makes food, which usually have veins and holes on their undersides to let in water and air

Bark: The dead protective tissue on the outside of a tree, which is formed in a living layer underneath the current layer after that layer gets pushed out by the new rings that are forming. It has tiny raised openings that provide oxygen and CO2 exchange, and it protects the tree from disease, insulates the tree and helps hold in moisture. It peels off as new bark forms underneath it.

Heartwood: The older, central rings of the tree which can no longer transport water and nutrients

Sapwood: The newer, outer rings of the tree which can still transport water

Annual ring: A single layer of thickening of a tree trunk, which takes one year to form

Seed: The part of a plant that holds the embryo, a food supply (to help the seed grow before photosynthesis is possible) and a protective coat. Seeds are dispersed through animal excrement, wind, water and catching on animal fur.

Seedling: A small, newly-grown plant

Flower: The part of the plant that contains the reproductive structures and that produces male and female sex cells to enable reproduction. Some plants contain both types of flowers and do not need to cross-pollinate with others. Others have only the male or female flowers, and need to be cross-pollinated with another plant of their genus or species.

Petal: The part of the plant protects the reproductive parts of the flower and attracts insects needed for pollination

Stamen: The male part of the flower, which contains pollen

Anthers: The top part of the stamen

Pistil/carpel: The female part of the flower, which contains ovules and can trap pollen

Ovaries: The female part of flower, which contains ovules that get pollinated, then grow into seeds, which grown into fruit, which in turn produce more seeds

Fruit: The part of the flowering plant that holds the seeds. Fruits include nuts, succulent fruits, berries, pods (like pea pods), kernels (like wheat kernels) and more.

Cone: The part of a conifer tree that hold the seeds. Cones start out open, then after pollination, close up. When the seeds are ripe and the weather is warm and dry, the scales open and drop the fertilized seeds so they can find dirt to grow in.

Pollination: The transfer of pollen from the male part of a plant to the female part of the plant

Growth season: The period of time during which a plant is actively growing and developing, which varies by plant

The five types of plants, in terms of their lifecycles: Annuals (die out except the seed each year); biennials (die in two years); herbaceous perennials (roots live many years but above ground parts die each year); woody perennials (most of parts above and below ground live on); ephemerals (very short lifecycles)

Autotrophy: The ability of a plant to make one’s own food

Tropism: The ability of a plant to respond to external stimuli

Geotropism: The ability of a plant to sense gravity and grow away from it in order to seek light

Phototropism: The ability of a plant to sense light and grow toward it

Thigmotropism: The ability of a plant to sense touch

Deciduous plant: A plant that loses its leaves each year

Evergreen plant: A plant that does not shed its leaves all at once, including conifers and some broadleaf trees and shrubs

Conifer: An evergreen with cone-shaped reproductive structures and tough, waxy needles that don’t lose as much water as regular leaves do

Angiosperm: A plant that produce flowers

Gymnosperm: A plant that does not produce flowers, whose seeds are located on its leaves instead

Hydrophyte: A plant that grows in water or waterlogged soil, such as algae, seaweed and lily pads

BASIC ZOOLOGY

The main body structures of most animals: A fluid-filled cavity and a skeleton to hold the cavity in place and allow for movement; an outer layer to enclose the body, which can be skin, an exoskeleton, a cuticle, scales, shells, prickles, fur and more; and a part or parts of the body to provide for locomotion, such as fins, flippers, wings, legs, etc.

Biped: An animal with two legs

Quadraped: An animal with four legs

Vertebrate: An animal with a backbone

Invertebrate: An animal with no backbone (as a snail)

Arthropod: An animal with an external skeleton/ exoskeleton (as a grasshopper)

Warm-blooded: Having the ability to regulate one’s body temperature

Cold-blooded: Having a body whose temperature changes with the environment

Herbivore: An animal that eats primarily or only plants

Carnivore: An animal that eats primarily or only meat

Omnivore: An animal that eats both plants and meat

Types of animal communication: Body language, such as preening or dancing; making noises, such as using vocal cords or rubbing body parts together; sending out chemical messages through pheromones or by spraying; and changing color

Animal senses: Sight; smell; taste; balance; touch (including through whiskers and tentacles); a sense of gravity; a sense of water pressure and currents (as some fish have); a sense of electric pulses (as sharks have); and possibly, a sense of Earth’s magnetic fields (as birds may have)

Two types of animal reproduction: Animals either lay eggs (before or after fertilization) or give birth to live young

Larva: The form some animals take before beginning metamorphosis

Pupa: The form some animals take during metamophosis

Metamorphosis: The total restructuring of an animal’s body, which sometimes happens inside a cocoon or chrysalis

Hibernation: A period of inactivity in some animals that includes the slowing of the metabolism

Migration: The large-scale movement of a species from one place to another

Echolocation: The ability of some animals, such as bats, to locate solid objects by emitting sound and hearing the echo come back to them

Lots of people will tell you that learning a new language is easy. And it can be . . . but it usually isn’t. The problem isn’t with the actual difficulty of the language, though. The problem is that we don’t practice.

Unless you live among native speakers, it’s a problem that’s not easily remedied. My suggestion: every few months (more if you’re in a hurry), play some audio recordings of words with translations or children’s music in the car on repeat. Language learning is not an all-at-once thing; you’ll need lots of time and repetition to let it sink in. If possible, be casual about it, but be consistent.

If you’re a person who enjoys reading and writing, copy your word lists onto flash cards or foldable lists. Personally, I spend countless hours writing and rewriting my lists when in full-on language learning mode.

You can also make games out of your vocabulary words–all kinds of fun games. At the end of this post I provide a story you can tell your kids that incorporates practice and repetition (theirs or yours).

Greetings

Hello: Hola
Good morning: Buenas dias
Good afternoonL Buenas tardes
Good evening: Buenas noches
Goodbye: Adios; chau
What is your name?: Como se llama?
My name is …: Me llamo; mi nombre es …
Pleasure to meet you. Mucho gusto.
How are you: Como esta (for a less familiar person); Como estas (for a more familiar person); Como esta usted (for a formal situation or older person)
Where are you from: De donde viene
I’m from …: Soy de …
See you later: Hasta luego.
See you tomorrow: Hasta ma­nana

Almost-Free Words

Important: Importante
Interesting: Interesante
Perfect: Perfecto
Excellent: Excellente

Exclamations

Thank you very much: Muchas gracias
You’re welcome: De nada
Execuse Me: Disculpe; perdoname; con permiso
Goodness: Caramba
Please: Por favor
I’m sorry: Lo siento
Forgive me: Disculpe
Help me: Ayudame
Danger: Peligro
Forbidden: Prohibito
No smoking: No se fuma
Fire: Fuego; incendio
Emergency: Emergencia
Hurry up: Appurase; rapido
For sale: Se vende
For rent: Se alguila
Look: Mira
Stop: Pare
Watch out: Cuidado
That’s fine: Esta bien
Go away: Dejeme
Bienvenido: Welcome
Oops: Opa (an expression from Greek)
True: Verdad
Of course: Por supresto
It’s okay/don’t worry about it: Tranquila; no se preculpe
Are you sure: Seguro
What do you mean: Como
How do you say: Como se dice
At what time: A que hora
Qual es: Which is it

Small Words

Me, I—mi, yo
You—tu (familiar) usted
They, them; ellos o ellas
This—-esta
That—este
Now—ahora
Because—por que
But—pero
For—para
To—a
Actually—-En verdad
The—la, e, los, las (depending on gender)
In—por, en
We/us—nosotrous
a—un, una
never—nunca
only—solo
alone—solamente
maybe—quisas o tal vez
Equal—iqual
Without—sin
She-he—-ella, el
Their—su
Her’s/his.—la , le
Your—tu (familiar form)
Other—otra
Also—tambien
Yes/no —si y no (shaking one finger is the most common form of no in South America—the index finger)
Therefore—por lo tanto
Then—entonces
Of the —del
Per—por
Like/similar to—paracido
Here—(different words used depending on distance aqui, aji, alla)
Together —-conmigo, contigo (familiar)
Quite—bastante

Verbs

To be—Ser (permanent): soy, son, es; estar (less permanent): estoy, esta
To do—hacer…hago, hace
To feel—Sentir sineto , sienta
To be there—hay
To want—querer, quiero, quiere, quieres
To like—Gusta, me gusto, se gusta
To go (irregular verb) voy, vas, viene,
To live—vivir—vivo, vives, viva
To eat—comer como, comes, come
To drink—For non-alcoholic beverages: Tomar: tomo, tomes, tome; For alcohol: Beber …bebo, bebes, bebe
To cost—cuesta
To carry/transport—Llevar
To Exit—salida( noun)
To Arrive:—Llegar, llego, llegas, llega
To park: Estacionar
To Wait: Esperar, espero, espero, esperamos
To speak: Hablar, hablo, hables, habla
To say—digo, dices, dice
To stay put—quedar, quedense (command form)
To Help—ayudar, ayudo, ayudas, ayuda
To be able/capable—Puedar, puedo, puedes, puede
To understand—entender entiendo, entiendes, entiende
To comprehend—Comprender, comprendo, comprendes, comprende
To Hope—Esperar, espero, esperes, espere
To know/be acquainted with (person) Conocer, conozco, conoces, conoce
To know (facts) Saber, se, sabes, sabe
To charge/exchange—Cambiar, cambio,
To travel—viajer, viajo, viege
To close—Cierrar
to find—encountrar
to wash—lavar, lavo (clothes)
to clean—limpiar, limpio,
to buy—comprar, compro, ustead compra
to sit—sentar
to smoke—fumar
to take—tomer
to walk—cambiar-=–cambio, cambias, cambia
to search for—buscar, busco, buscas, busca
to see—ver veo, ve
To give—dar, doy, da
To pay—pagar, pago, paga
To sign—firmar, firmo, firme
To need—necesitar, necesito, necesita
To cook—cocinar cocino, cocina
To reserve—reservar,
To confirm—confirmar
Include—incluye
To take a photo—sacrar una foto
To Call—llamar, llamo
Prohibitied—prohibito
To accept—acceptar, acepto
To sleep—dormir,duermo,duerma
To work—trabajar, trabajo, trabaja
To think—pensar, penso
To believer—creer, creo, cree
To stop—parar
To return—volver
To sell—vender,vendo, vende
To exit—salir, salgo
To come—venior, vegno, viene
To lose—perder, pierdo, pierde
To win—ganar, gano, unstead gana
To study—estudiar, studio
To dance—baillar, bailo, bailas
To sing—cantar, canto, canta
To play—jugar..juego, juega
To hate—odiar
To love—-amar, encantar, encanto, encanta

Descriptions

Large—grande,
Small—pequeno
Afraid—austado
Fast—rapido
Slow—despacio o despacito
Good—bueno, bien
Bad—mal, malo
Pretty—bonita
Handsome—guapo (word also means hard working in some contexts)
Fat—gordo
Thin—flaco
Tall—alto
Short—corto
Open—abierto
Closed—cerrado
Personal—personal
Better—mejor
Best—primer
Hot—caliente (refers to heat, piquante refers to spicy)
Cold—frio
Exact—exacto
Special—especial
The same—mismo
Different—differente
Cheap—burato
Expensive—carro
Necessary—necesito (this is a verb, not an adjective) Necesito eso, or necesita eso (you need this)
Not necessary—no necesito
Joven—young
Difficult—dificil
Easy—facil
Modern—moderna
Old—viejo
Classic—classico
Weak—debil
Strong—fuerte
Oldest—mejor
Youngest—menor
Ready—listo
Light—ligero
Heavy—pesada
Perfect—perfecto
Excellent—excelente
Private—privado
Stupid—estupido
Smart—intelligente
Late—tarde
New—nuevo
Logical—logico
Strange/weird—extrano
Interesting—interesante
Wet—mojado
Dry—seca
Second hand—segundo
Busy—ocupado
Quiet—tranquilo
Dangerous—peligro
Safe—seguro
Available—disparsible
Tired—cansado
Broken—roto
Important—importante
Sure—seguro
Worried—preoccupado
Fun—divertito
Happy—felix
Sad—triste
Shy—-timido
Often—frequentamente

People and Animals

Grandfather—abuelo
Gandmogther—abuela
Father—padre
Mother—madre
Secretary—secretaria
Waiter—amarero
Miss—senorita
Mister—senior
Mrs—senora
Family—familia
Relative—familiares
Police—policia
Military—gendarmo
Everyone—todos las personas
No on—nadia
Person—persona
Boy—nino
Girl—nina
Children—ninas, ninos
Baby—bebe
Husband—espouso
Wife—espousa
Girlfriend—novia
Boyfriend—novio
Dog—perro
Cat—gato
Cousins—primos
Nieces/nephews—sobrainas,sobrinos
Uncle/aunt—tio, tia
Men/man– hombres, hombre
Women/woman—mujeres
Daughters—hijas

Things

TV—television
Photo—foto
Photographer—fotographia
Photocopy—fotocopia
Clothes—-ropa
Something—algo
Thing—cosa
Book—libro
Pair of glasses—lentes
Possession—posesion
Watch—reloj
Parts—partalores, partes
Computer—computadora
Shirts—camisas
Makeup—machichoa
Jeans—jeans
Purse—carteras
Key—llave
Toilets—servicios
Garbage cans—basero
Bag—bolsa
Light—luz
Powder—polvo
Gift—regalo
Repellant—repellente
Everything—qualquier cosa

Numbers

One—uno
Two—dos
Three—tres
Four—quatro
Five—cinco
Six—seis
Seven—siete
Eight—ocho
Nine—nueve
10—diaz
11—once
12—doce
13—trese
14—catorce
15—quince
16—dieceseis
17—diecesiete
18—dieceocho
19 —diecenueve
20 —viente
21…vienteuno
30—triente
31—trienteuno
40—quarenta
41—quarentauno
50—cincuenta
51—cicuentauno
60—sesenta
70—setebta
80 —ochenta
90—noventa
100—cien
1000—mil
1 million—un million
101—cineto uno
900—noveciento
1100—mil cien
1300 mil trecientos
200—doscientos
300—trescientos
400—cuatrocientos
500—quiencientos
600—seiscientos
700—setecientos
800—ochocientos

Days and Months

Sunday—domingo
Monday—lunes
Tuesday—martes
Wednesday—miercoles
Thursday—jueves
Friday—viernes
Saturday—sabad
January—Enero
February—Febuero
March—Marzo
April—Abril
May—Mayo
June—unio
July—Julio
August—Agosto
September—Septiembre
October—Octubre
November—Noviembre
December—Deciembre

Question Words

What—que
What is it—que es esto
Where —donde esta
How much—cuanto?
Who—quien
Who is it?—quien es
Which—cual
How—como
Why—por que
Why not—por que no
What time is it? Que hora es?

Colors

Black—negro
White—blanco
Blue—azul
Red—rojo
Yellow—amarillo
Green—verde (careful in using this description, though: some things that are green are considered dirty, i.e. pornography or a “green” magazine)
Pink—rosado
Purple—purpuereo
Orange—naranja

Places

Museum—museo
Bookstore—libroria
Bakery—panaderia
Department store—almacia
Country—campo (refers to terrain/geography)
City—ciudad
Home—casa
Exchange store—casa de cambio
Address—direction
Movies—cine
Restaurant—ristorante
Parking lot—estacionamonte
Café—cafeteria
Bar—taberna
Bank—banko
Hotel—hotel
Hostess—hostel
Room—cuarto
Bathroom—bano
Bus stop—parade de autobus
Entrance—entrada
Exit—salida
Supermarket—supermercados
Mall—cinto commercial
Shoe store—zapateria
Hospital—hospital
Police station—comisaria
Post office—el correo
Pharmacy—farmacia
Embassy—embajada
Place—lugar, parte, locale
School—escuela secendaria (secondary school); escuela escuela primaria (grade school)
Building—edificio

Body Parts

Body—cuerpo
Face—cara
Eyes—ojos
Nose—nariz
Mouth—boca
Hands—manos
Arms—armas
Legs—piernas
Feet—pies
Stomach—estomago
Hair—cabello
Skin—piel
Head—cabeza

Foods and Drinks

Hungry—hambre
Thirsty—sed
Food—comida
To eat—comer
Drink –beber o tomar
Coffee—café
Milk—leche
Cream—crema
Water—aqua
Ice—hielo
Miner water—aqua mineral
Sugar—azucar
Tea—te
Soft drink—gaseosa
Bottle of wine—una botella de vino
Red/white wine—tino /blanco vino
Salt—sal
Pepper—pimiento
Mustard—mostaza
Oil—accete
Vinegar—vinagre
Garlic—ajo
Soup—sopa
Noodles—fideos
Chicken—pollo
Meat—carne
Vegetables—verduras
Fruit—fruitas
Seaford—mariscos
Fish—pescado
Cold veggie soup—gazpacho
Banana—banana
Orange—naranja
Apple—manzana
Tangerine—mandarina
Pineapple—pina o anana
Mango—mango
Avocado—aquacate
Onion—cebolla
Turkey—pabo
Tomato—tomato
Sausages—chorizo
Ham—jamon
Rice—arroz
Corn—maiz
Beans—frijoles
Juice—jugo
Lemonade—limonada
Cider—cidra
Flour—harina
Bread—-pan
Ice cream—helado
Chocolate—chocolate
Vanilla—vanilla
Strawberry—fresa
Pastry—pastel
Cookies—galletas
Custard—flan
Milk shake—batido de leche
Espresso—un expreso
Cheese—queso
Eggs—huevos
Butter—mantequilla o Manteca
Margarine—margarina
Whisky—whiskey
Beer—cerveza
Alcohol—alcohol
Tuna—atun
Lobster—langusta
Sardines—sardines
Salmon—salmon
Bacon–tocino
Broth—caldo
Stew—guiso
Steak—chursasco, carne
BBQ—churrasco , churro
Tenderloin—tourneados
Roast beef—rosbef
Pork—cerdo
Toast—tostada
Grilled—parrilla
Baker—Horneado,
Mashed potatoes—pueredo papas
Potatoes—papas (careful to use las papas because the word is feminine. El Papa refers to the pope)
French Fries—papas fritas
Chicken breast—suprema de pollo
Salami—salarme
Breakfast—desayuno
Lunch—almuerzo
Soysauce—salsa d soya
Liquids—liquidos
Fry—frita
Grill—parilla
Salad—ensalada

Restaurant Words

Plate—un plato
Cup—una taza/copa
Glass—vaso
Teaspoon—una cuchariva
Spoon—cuchara
Fork—tenedor
Knkife—cuchillo
A can —una lata
Box—una lajo
A jar—un pomo
Menu—la carta
What is today’s special?—Cual es el plato del dia
Reservation—reservacion
Table—mesa
I’dlike to order—quisiera pedar
Bill—-la cuenta
Fast to go—comida para llevar
Fast food—comida rapida

Directions

Where/there—aqui, aji
Here is—aqui tiene
Right—derecha
Left—izquierda
Straight—derecho
One block—una cuadrenta
Turn—gire
Corner—ciquina
Opposite from—frenta a
Next to—junto a
In Front—frente
In back—al antes
Everywhere—en todas partes
No where—ninguna parte
Far—lejos
Close—cerca
North—norte
South—sur
East—este
West—oeste
Highway—carretera
Lost—perdido
Upstairs—arriba
Downstairs—abajo
Separate—aparte
Together—contigo,conmigo

Times

Time—tiempo
Hour—hora
Day—dia
Week—semana
Month—la mesa
Year—ano
Today—hoy
Evening/night—noche
First—primero
Second—segundo
Third—tercero
Last—ultimo
Morning—la manana
Yesterday—ayer
Tomorrow—manana
Before—antes
After—despues
Later—despues, lluego
Earlier—antes
Every day—todos las dias
Always—siempre
Never—nunca
1:00—una hora
1;15—la una y quince/cuarta
1:30—uno y media
1:45—cuarto al dos
1:01—la una y una
Date—fecha
The end—el final
Finished—finis

Amounts

More—mas
Less—menos
All—todo
Some—unos
None—nada
That’s all—eso es todo
Kilogram—kilo
Half kilo—medio kelo
Dozen—docena
Approximately—approximente
A bit of—un poco de
Number—numero
Single—individual
Double—doble
Too much/too many—demasiado
Not enough—no bastante
Enough—bastante
Many/much—mucho
Very—muy
A little—poco, poquito

Money Words

Money—dinero
Dollars—dolares
Travelers checks—chequs de viajero
Exchange rate—cambio
Commission—interes
Fee—tarrif
Bills—billetas
Small change—suelto
Signature—la firma
The payment—le debo
Credit card—tarjeta de credito
Cheap—barrata
Price—precio
Discount—discuento
ATM—el cajero

Nature Words

Sun—soil
Trees—arbol
Sky—cielo
Sea—mar
Mountains—montanas
River—rio
Lake—lago
Beach—playa
View—vista
Rain—lluevia
Tortoise—tortuga
Animals—animales
Cockroach—cucaracha
Mosquito—los mosquitos

Medical Words

Medicine—medicina
Doctor—-El Doctor
Ambulance—ambulancia
Nurse—enferma
What’s wrong>–Que le pasa
I’m sick—Me siento enfermo
Headache—dolor de la cabeza
Flu—la gripe
It hurts here—me dula aqui
I feel dizzy—tengo mareos nauseas
Pregnant—embarazada
Pain—dolor
Stomach ache—dolor to estomacho
Backache—dolor de espalda
I feel—siento
Diarrhea—diarrhea
Antibiotics—antibioticsos
Allergic—alergico
Vaccinated—vacundo (a)

Travel Words

Passport—passaporte
Documents—documentes
Bag—bolsa
Vacation—vacaciones
Suitcases—maletas
Business trip—viaje de negocios
Baggage cart—carnto para maletas
Room—cuarto, habitacion
Single bed—habatacion con una sola cama
Reservation—reserve
Shower—ducha
Private bath—bano privado
Oceanview—vista del mar
Motocycle—moto
Taxi—taxi
Bus—autobus
Car—auto, coche
Truck—camion
Station—estacion
Ticket—boleta, pasaje
Roadmap—mapa de carreteras, plano de ciudad
Boat—boats,
Port—puerto
Cabin—camarote
Subway—metro
One-way ticket—billete de ida
Round-trip ticket—billete de y vuelta
Departure—partida
Arrival—llegada
Tourism/tourist—turismo, turista

Miscellaneous Words

American—nortemaricano(a)
Englis—ingles
Spanish0—espanol
Grammatical—gramatica
Meaning—signfico
Questions—preguntas
One more time—ulta vez
Femine—feminia
Information—informacion
Life—vida
County –pais (refers to actual country, not a general description)
Age—edad
Word—palabra
World—mundo
Death—muerte
Race—carrera
Competition—competencia
Party—fiesta
Free-libre
Game—juego
Holiday—fiesta
Vacation—vacaciones
Power—poder
Religion—religion
Catholic—catholico
Protestant—protestante
Drama—drama
Information—informacion
Friendship—amistad

“The Spanish Backyard” Story and Game

Harriet and Toby were just regular kids, living in just a regular house. Still, they had what many people don’t: they had a wonderful backyard.

Sometimes their yard was a wide, deep ocean. Other times it was a space station. But Harriet and Toby’s favorite times of all were when the yard became a magical kingdom far away, where anything they spoke in Spanish appeared.

The catch: they had to speak the sentence properly three times in a row.

One day, Harriet and Toby were hungry. They were waiting for their parents to finish cooking a large meal. So, they decided to make food appear in their yard–every kind of food they could imagine.

What do you think Harriet and Toby asked for? What would you want to make appear?

Note to teachers: Here, have your students make sentences with the word list you’re working on currently. Change the scenario to fit the types of words you want to practice. Each time the student gets the sentence right, draw what they said or say, “Look! It’s a …”

Harriet and Toby continued playing The Spanish Backyard until the sun was all the way down.

You’ve heard the term “music appreciation.” While appreciation classes vary widely, they usually cover a historical overview of the subject, a sampling of the subject in question, plus a smattering of basic terms and technical knowledge–exactly the sort of overview this book seeks to offer. (Samplings can be found in the Resources section of this book.)

BASIC MUSIC

Orchestra: A large group of musicians playing together on a variety of instruments, usually representing all four instrument families

The four families of instruments in an orchestra: Woodwind, strings, brass and percussion

Woodwind instruments: Instruments made of wood whose sounds come from the player’s vibrating breath as it moves through it. Woodwind vibrations are caused by a reed in the instrument.

Stringed instruments: Instruments whose sounds come from the movement of strings

Brass instruments: Instrument made of brass whose sounds come from the player’s vibrating breath as it moves through it. Brass instrument vibrations are caused by the player’s lips.

Percussion instruments: Instruments whose sounds come from a player hitting, scraping or shaking it Note that a piano is both a wind and a percussion instrument.

The four main vocal ranges, highest to lowest: Soprano, alto, tenor and bass

Octave: The collection of notes between two successive notes of a kind (e.g. the notes between middle C and the C following it). Each octave is double the frequency of the one below it in the scale.

Scale: The collection of notes that make up one or more octaves in the same key

Key: The use of scale in actual music, named for its first note. Most musical pieces are produced in a single key, with all of their notes coming from that key’s notes.

Tone: A sound produced due to a single frequency

Pitch: A note’s perceived sound frequency, which might be slightly higher or lower than its tone

Note: A notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound

The four main types of music notes: Whole, half, quarter, eighth

Flat: A lowering of a note’s pitch by a semitone

Sharp: A raising of a note’s pitch by a semitone

Rhythm: Music’s pattern in time

Beat: A individual unit of time that, with others, forms a rhythm; the basic unit of measurement of a rhythm

Tempo: The overall speed of a piece of music

Harmony: The sound of two or more notes heard simultaneously

Resonance: The amplification or expansion of a sound

Timbre: A subjective description of a sound’s quality or uniqueness; the various qualities of a sound that make it recognizable. For example, Whitney Houston’s voice is different from Bette Midler’s voice due to many variations in smoothness, roughness, lightness, intensity and more.

Accent: A momentary emphasis or stress on a particular note or rhythmic detail

Crescendo: A growing sound

Forte: A louder, stronger sound

Encore: The return to the stage of a performer for an additional, unlisted piece

Mezzo: Halfway, as in mezzo forte (half loud) and mezzo soprano

Staccato: A briefer, more detached sound

Legato: A drawn out sound

Reprise: A repeated section

Movement: A segment of a piece of music that is set apart in some way from the rest of the piece. A movement is often performed separately, and named separately, from the larger work.

Aria: A segment of a piece of music that is written for one voice, usually with orchestral accompaniment and set apart in some way from the rest of the piece

Overture: The orchestral introduction to a musical composition. An overture also serves as a piece in its own right.

Coda: A piece’s tail or closing section

Acoustic music: Music that is produced by instruments rather than by electronics

Virtuoso: A performer of exceptional ability or artistry

Music synthesizer: A computer-run machine that generates electronic sounds and modifies sound input in a variety of ways

Amplifier/amp: An electronic device that works with a mechanical loudspeaker, turning low voltage signals into higher ones that can be heard over the speakers

Bass speaker/woofer: A loudspeaker designed to produce high voltage low frequency sounds

Prehistoric music: The music of early hominids, who sang, hummed and whistled; made flutes and pipes out of bone; and made percussion instruments out of wood and rocks

Music of ancient times: The music of ancient peoples, who used it for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons.The oldest known song, as well as the first known musical notation, was written in cuneiform, indicating the importance of music to early civilizations. Greek music included double pipes, the double-reed aulos, a plucked string instrument, the lyre, mixed-gender choruses and more. Roman music included harps, lyres and trumpets and featured simple melodies without harmony.

Monastery music: The music created by Roman Catholics in monasteries and abbeys during the Middle Ages, which thought of as an exclusive art form and was usually performed for religious purposes. Though the human voice was still central to most works, a wider range of wind, brass and percussion instruments came into use during this time.

Plainchant: A type of religious music in which sacred texts are sung in a monophonic manner with minimal instrumental accompaniment

Gregorian Chant: A more elaborate type of medieval religious chant, possibly developed by Pope Gregory, which is known for the haunting sound of the open, perfect fifth and its move toward polyphony

Polyphony: The use of complex vocal melodies and harmonies

Monophony: The use of simple, single-line melodies without harmony

Renaissance music: A musical style that dominated from approximately 1400 to 1600 and was characterized by polyphony rather than monophony and the use of more instruments than ever before. During this time, opera was created, the four families of instruments were established, and music moved from its place as an exclusive, religion-centered art to its new place as an art of the people, appreciated and created everywhere.

Opera: A form of theatrical art in which singers and orchestras perform a dramatic work. It originated in Italy around 1600 and was at its peak in the mid-1800s.

Baroque music: An ornate musical style that featured multiple simultaneous melodies that came about around 1600 and was at its peak around the mid-1700s. Important Baroque composers include Bach, Handel and Vivaldi.

Classical period music: A sleeker, less ornate, less contrasting musical style characterized by balanced and symmetrical phrases, clear melodies and emotional restraint that began in the mid-1700s until being surpassed by the romantic style in the mid-1800s. Many Classical pieces feature the early piano instead of the harpsichord, which significantly altered their effect. Important Classical composers were Mozart and Beethoven. Mozart was extremely versatile, creating masterful music in every popular genre of his time. Beethoven redefined and refined classical music and bridged the gap between the Classical period and the Romantic period.

Music of the Romantic period: The emotional, dramatic music that arose in the mid-1800s and that was characterized by increased experimentation; contrasting elements; and the use of a larger orchestra. Notable Romantic composers were Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Verdi and Wagner.

Modern and contemporary music: The music from the year 1900 and beyond, which evolved from two disparate forms, folk and classical, and which often includes choruses and verses, easily singable melodies and a single vocalist. However, it also often incorporates a variety of instruments, complex harmonies and other creative elements, such as electronic sound. Important modern and contemporary musical genres include: country, folk, electronic music, funk, hip hop, jazz, Latin, pop, punk, reggae, rock, metal, soul, R&B, polka, modern classical/instrumental, world, big band and religious music.

The School in a Book curriculum isn’t just for adults. As soon as children can follow a simple plot, they can begin booking it down this list. They can also enjoy adapted versions of many of the books for adults–even the Iliad and the Odyssey. (I also discuss with them many of the simpler concepts in the science lists.)

A few notes on reading to your kids: If you like, just read. Good syntax and rhythm is an education in itself. However, you might want to incorporate reading comprehension into your experience. You can do this by asking your child to summarize the story or to tell you what they think it means. Both of these tasks prepare them for competence in writing, an activity that depends on clear thinking and good organization. Some education professionals say that most college students can’t correctly identify the main points of a given text; don’t let this be your kid. (Older kids need to start outlining texts in writing as soon as they’re ready.)

By the way, shortcut-takers like me can scout out fun video versions of these stories on YouTube and elsewhere on the internet. Sometimes, I cue up five or six and pat myself on the back for providing my young children with such a great educational head start.

ESSENTIAL CLASSIC CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Essential Classic Children’s Stories

• Jack and the Beanstalk
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• Thumbelina
• Puss in Boots
• The Three Little Pigs
• The Ugly Duckling
• The Little Red Hen
• The Tortoise and the Hare
• The Pied Piper
• Chicken Little
• The Gingerbread Man
• The Owl and the Pussy Cat
• The Happy Prince
• The Blind Man and the Elephant
• Little Boy Blue
• The Snow Queen
• Father Frost
• The Gift of the Magi
• St. George and the Dragon
• King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
• Anansi the Spider
• Beauty and the Beast
• Sleeping Beauty
• The Little Mermaid
• Briar Rose/Cinderella, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (from Grimm’s Fairy Tales)
• The Frog Prince, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Rapunzel, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Hansel and Gretel, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Little Red Riding Hood, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Tom Thumb, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• The Wolf and Seven Little Goats, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Rumpelstiltskin, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• The Fox and the Grapes, Aesop (from Aesop’s Fables)
• The Ant and the Grasshopper, Aesop (from Aesop’s Fables)
• The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, Aesop (from Aesop’s Fables)
• The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, Aesop (from Aesop’s Fables)
• The Lion and the Mouse, Aesop (from Aesop’s Fables)
• The City Mouse and the Country Mouse, Aesop (from Aesop’s Fables)
• The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Aesop (from Aesop’s Fables)
• The Emperor’s New Clothes, Hans Christian Andersen (from Anderson’s Fairy Tales)
• The Princess and the Pea, Hans Christian Andersen (from Anderson’s Fairy Tales)
• The Little Match Girl, Hans Christian Andersen (from Anderson’s Fairy Tales)
• How the Leopard Got His Spots, Rudyard Kipling (from Just So Stories)
• How the Camel Got His Hump, Rudyard Kipling (from Just So Stories)
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Richard Alan Burton (from The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night)
• Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, Richard Alan Burton (from The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night)
• Little Bo-Peep, Ba Ba Black Sheep, Hickory Dickory Dock, Hey Diddle Diddle, Jack and Jill and Humpty Dumpty, from Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes
• Other nursery rhymes, including: Ring Around the Rosey; Pat-a-Cake; Star Light, Star Bright; This Little Piggy Went to Market; and Peter Piper

Essential Classic Children’s Books

• The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
• The Little Engine that Could, Watty Piper
• The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Willems
• Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
• Goodnight, Moon, Margaret Wise Brown
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
• Winnie-the-Pooh, A. A. Milne
• Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson
• A House is a House for Me, Mary Ann Hoberman
• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
• Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans
• Are You My Mother?, P.D. Eastman
• The Red Balloon, Albert Lamorisse
• Tikki Tikki Tembo, Arlene Mosel
• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst
• Amelia Bedelia, Peggy Parish
• Corduroy, Don Freeman
• Curious George, H.A. Rey
• Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo Willems
• Frog and Toad Together, Arnold Lobel
• Frog and Toad Are Friends, Arnold Lobel
• Miss Nelson Is Back, Harry Allard
• Miss Nelson Is Missing, Harry Allard
• Everybody Needs a Rock, Byrd Baylor
• Once There Were Giants, Martin Waddell and Penny Dale
• The Monster at the End of This Book, Jon Stone and Michael Smollin
• The Marshmallow Incident, Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett
• Georgie and the Robbers, Robert Bright
• Each Peach Pear Plum, Janet and Allan Ahlberg
• This Moose Belongs to Me, Oliver Jeffers
• Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, Judith Viorst and Ray Cruz
• Guess How Much I Love You, Sam McBratney
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle
• Love You Forever, Robert Munsch and Sheila McGraw
• The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling
• The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss
• The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
• Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss
• Oh, The Places You’ll Go, Dr. Seuss
• Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein
• The Magic School Bus series, Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen

Essential Classic Middle Grade Books

• The Wrinkle In Time series, Madeleine L’Engle
• The Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling
• The Encyclopedia Brown series, Donald J. Sobol
• The Ramona series, Beverly Cleary
• The Nancy Drew series
• The Anne of Green Gables series, Lucy Maud Montgomery
• The Chronicles of Avonlea series, Lucy Maud Montgomery
• The Chronicles of Narnia series, C.S. Lewis
• A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
• A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
• Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll
• Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
• Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White
• Heidi, Johanna Spyri
• Peter Pan, James Barrie
• Peter and Wendy, James Barrie
• Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi
• Pipi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren
• The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• The Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
• Stuart Little, E.B. White
• The Trumpet of the Swans, E.B. White
• The Boys’ Book of Survival, Guy Campbell
• The Dangerous Book for Boys, Conn and Hal Iggulden
• The Daring Book for Girls, Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz
• Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Patterson
• Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Patterson
• Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
• Summer of the Monkeys, Wilson Rawls
• Then Again, Maybe I Won’t, Judy Blume
• Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, Judy Blume
• Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
• James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
• Matilda, Roald Dahl
• The Bears’ House, Marilyn Sachs
• The Yearling, Marjorie Rawlings

I am not a movie buff. Still, I don’t want to miss out on the shows and films that even today, inform our shared cultural conversation. There’s a lot to learn here about love, hope and coming of age–and about writing an awesome screenplay, too.

ESSENTIAL CLASSIC FILMS

Essential Classic Children’s Films, Shows and Musicals

• The Wizard of Oz (1930s)
• Snow White (1930s)
• Bambi (1940s)
• Pinocchio (1940s)
• Dumbo (1940s)
• Old Yeller (1950s)
• Sleeping Beauty (1950s)
• Cinderella (1950s)
• Alice in Wonderland (1950s)
• Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1960s)
• The Jungle Book (1960s)
• Charlotte’s Web (1970s)
• The Muppet Movie (1970s)
• Benji (1970s)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1970s)
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1970s)
• Star Wars: A New Hope (George Lucas, 1970s)
• Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (George Lucas, 1980s)
• Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (George Lucas, 1980s)
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielburg, 1980s)
• Labyrinth (Jim Henson, 1980s)
• The Neverending Story (1980s)
• Goonies (1980s)
• The Karate Kid (1980s)
• Ghostbusters (1980s)
• Anne of Green Gables (series) (1980s)
• Anne of Avonlea (series) (1980s)
• Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielburg, 1980s)
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Steven Spielburg, 1980s)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Steven Spielburg, 1980s)
• My Neighbor Totoro (1980s)
• Return to Oz (1980s)
• Beauty and the Beast (1990s)
• The Little Mermaid (1990s)
• The Lion King (1990s)
• Aladdin (1990s)
• Home Alone (1990s)
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1990s)
• The Sandlot (1990s)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2000s)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2000s)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2000s)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2000s)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2000s)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000s)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2000s)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2000s)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010s)
• Frozen (2010s)
• Tangled (2010s)

Essential Classic Musicals

• An American in Paris (1920s)
• Singin’ in the Rain (1950s)
• Oklahoma! (1950s)
• White Christmas (1950s)
• Annie Get Your Gun (1950s)
• Guys and Dolls (1950s)
• South Pacific (1950s)
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1950s)
• The King and I (1950s)
• Calamity Jane (1950s)
• West Side Story (1960s)
• Pollyanna (1960s)
• Oliver! (1960s)
• Cabaret (1960s)
• Dr. Dolittle (1960s)
• The Sound of Music (1960s)
• Babes in Toyland (1960s)
• The Music Man (1960s)
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1960s)
• My Fair Lady (1960s)
• Fiddler on the Roof (1970s)
• Grease (1970s)
• Godspell (1970s)
• Jesus Christ, Superstar (1970s)
• Hair (1970s)
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1970s)
• Annie (1980s)
• Footloose (1980s)
• Little Shop of Horrors (1980s)
• Cats (1990s)
• Mary Poppins

Essential Classic Christmas Films

• It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1940s)
• Miracle on 34th Street (1940s)
• A Christmas Carol (1950s)
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1960s)
• Frosty the Snowman (1960s)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1960s)
• A Charlie Brown Christmas (1960s)
• A Christmas Story (1980s)
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1980s)
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1990s)

Essential Classic Films for Older Kids and Adults

• The Arrival of a Train (1890s)
• Nanook of the North (1920s)
• Man with a Movie Camera (1920s)
• Night Mail (1930s)
• Frankenstein (1930s)
• M (Fritz Lang, 1930s)
• Triumph of the Will (1930s)
• You Can’t Take It With You (Frank Capra, 1930s)
• It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1930s)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (Frank Lloyd, 1930s)
• The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1930s)
• The Thirty-Nine Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, 1930s)
• The Bells of St. Mary’s (1940s)
• How Green is My Valley (1940s)
• Casablanca (1940s)
• National Velvet (1940s)
• From Here to Eternity (1950s)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1950s)
• Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1950s)
• Rebel Without a Cause (1950s)
• Roman Holiday (1950s)
• The African Queen (1950s)
• The Silent World (1950s)
• The Three Faces of Eve (1950s)
• Ben-Hur (1950s)
• Night and Fog (1950s)
• The Train (1960s)
• Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1940s)
• A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1950s)
• East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1950s)
• On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1950s)
• Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1950s)
• North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950s)
• Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950s)
• Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950s)
• Suspicion! (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940s)
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950s)
• To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950s)
• Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950s)
• The Lord of the Flies (1960s)
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1960s)
• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1960s)
• The Sorrow and the Pity (1960s)
• Titicut Follies (1960s)
• Salesman (1960s)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance (1960s)
• 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1960s)
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1960s)
• How the West Was Won (1960s)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1960s)
• Doctor Zhivago (1960s)
• Night of the Living Dead (1960s)
• Planet of the Apes (1960s)
• The Graduate (1960s)
• Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 1960s)
• The Absent-Minded Professor (1960s)
• Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allan, 1960s)
• Il Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960s)
• Lolita (Stanley Kubrick, 1960s)
• The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960s)
• Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
• Roots (series) (1970s)
• Saturday Night Fever (1970s)
• The Exorcist (1970s)
• Summer of My German Soldier (1970s)
• Saturday Night Fever (1970s)
• Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1970s)
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1970s)
• Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1970s)
• Orchestra Rehearsal (Federico Fellini, 1970s)
• Freaky Friday (1970s)
• Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1970s)
• A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1970s)
• Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, 1970s)
• Big (1980s)
• Airplane! (1980s)
• The Princess Bride (1980s)
• Babette’s Feast (1980s)
• Sophie’s Choice (1980s)
• Das Boot/The Boat (1980s)
• Zelig (Woody Allen, 1980s)
• The Atomic Cafe (1980s)
• The Times of Harvey Milk (1980s)
• Clue (1980s)
• Parenthood (1980s)
• Field of Dreams (1980s)
• Moonstruck (1980s)
• Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1980s)
• Radio Days (Woody Allen, 1980s)
• Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1980s)
• Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (1990s)
• Fight Club (1990s)
• Life Is Beautiful (1990s)
• What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1990s)
• Edward Scissorhands (1990s)
• American Beauty (1990s)
• Raise the Red Lantern (1990s)
• Following (1990s)
• To Live (1990s)
• True Romance (1990s)
• The Last Days of Disco (1990s)
• Pleasantville (1990s)
• The Truman Show (1990s)
• Naked Lunch (1990s)
• Gummo (1990s)
• High Art (1990s)
• Run Lola Run (1990s)
• Man on the Moon (1990s)
• Pi (1990s)
• Hoop Dreams (1990s)
• Being John Malcovich (Spike Jonze, 1990s)
• Barton Fink (Joes and Ethan Coen, 1990s)
• Wild at Heart (David Lynch, 1990s)
• Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1990s)
• Four Rooms (Quentin Terantino, 1990s)
• Jackie Brown (Quentin Terantino, 1990s)
• Pulp Fiction (Quentin Terantino, 1990s)
• Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Terantino, 1990s)
• Primer (2000s)
• Memento (2000s)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000s)
• A Scanner Darkly (2000s)
• American Psycho (2000s)
• American Splendour (2000s)
• Secretary (2000s)
• Swimming Pool (2000s)
• The Princess and the Warrior (2000s)
• Igby Goes Down (2000s)
• The Lives of Others (2000s)
• Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2000s)
• Kill Bill Volume I & II (Quentin Terantino, 2000s)
• Don’t Look Up (2020s)

Additional Recommended Films: Documentaries

While the main criteria for the films on these lists is cultural and artistic significance, I also wanted to include movies that aren’t important as such, but that contain interesting, relevant information; little-understood niches; and unique perspectives–which is where the following documentaries come in. Some are socially relevant; most are disturbing; and all are in some way educational.

• 13th
• A Lego Brickumentary
• Amanda Knox
• Being Elmo
• Bowling for Columbine
• Chernobyl (series)
• Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey
• Exit Through the Gift Shop
• Food Matters
• Food, Inc.
• King Corn
• Sicko
• Free Solo
• Going Clear
• Herb and Dorothy
• How to Survive a Plague
• Icarus
• Jesus Camp
• Jiro Dreams of Sushi
• March of the Penguins
• The Planet Earth series
• Shirkers
• Sour Grapes
• Spellbound
• The Barkley Marathons
• The Rachel Divide
• Three Identical Strangers
• Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
• Trekkies
• Waiting for Superman
• Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?
• Our Father (series)
• The Real Bling Ring
• Trainwreck
• Bad Vegan (series)
• The Puppetmaster
• The Tinder Swindler
• Seaspiracy
• What the Health
• Athlete A
• Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (series)
• The Game Changers
• Cowspiracy
• Hope Frozen
• Capturing the Friedmans
• Keep This Between Us (series)
• My Scientology Movie
• The Deep End (series)
• Drunk History (series)
• Intervention (series)
• Catfish
• I Shouldn’t Be Alive (series)
• I Survived (series)

Twelve years of elementary and high school plus extracurricular studies leaves us with a lot of information. Too much information, sometimes. Since we can’t retain everything, our brains have to pick and choose. And sometimes they make pretty bad decisions. We might live with our in-depth understanding of the oboe forever, say, but can’t recall whether Alexander the Great lived before or after the Roman Empire. If we don’t want our most important knowledge areas to fade out, then, we do well to periodically review the basics.

That’s where School in a Book comes in.

For each subject listed below, I’ve written a knowledge checklist of sorts: a collection of essential terms and other information. It’s not a textbook; instead, it’s an overview, a handy guide to help you strengthen your weak points and gain a wider perspective of the topic.

To learn when this complete work becomes available for purchase, subscribe to my blog to the right.

School in a Book Sections

Essential Knowledge: Chemistry

Essential Knowledge: Physics

Essential Knowledge: Astronomy

Essential Knowledge: Biology and Genetics

Essential Knowledge: Botany and Zoology

Essential Knowledge: Anatomy and Medical Science

Essential Knowledge: Geology, Ecology and Meteorology

Essential Knowledge: World History Overview, Prehistory and World History Timeline

Essential Knowledge: History of North and Central America

Essential Knowledge: History of South America

Essential Knowledge: History of Europe

Essential Knowledge: History of Africa

Essential Knowledge: History of the Middle East

Essential Knowledge: History of Russia

Essential Knowledge: History of India

Essential Knowledge: History of China

Essential Knowledge: History of Japan

Essential Knowledge: History of Australia

Essential Knowledge: Punctuation and Grammar

Essential Knowledge: Literary Analysis

Essential Knowledge: Arithmetic and Measurement

Essential Knowledge: Algebra and Geometry

Essential Knowledge: Geography

Essential Knowledge: American Government

Essential Knowledge: Political Science

Essential Knowledge: Philosophy

Essential Knowledge: Logic and Rhetoric

Essential Knowledge: Psychology

Essential Knowledge: Sociology

Essential Knowledge: Religion and Spirituality

Essential Knowledge: Music

Essential Knowledge: Art and Architecture

Essential Skills: Writing and Literary Analysis

Essential Skills: Science and History

Essential Skills: Mathematics

Essential Skills: Arts and Crafts

Essential Skills: Physical Education

Essential Skills: Social, Emotional and Life Management

Essential Resources: Classic Literature: Children’s

Essential Resources: Classic Fiction: Older Kids and Adults

Essential Resources: Classic Nonfiction

Essential Resources: Classic Films

Essential Resources: Classic Songs and Musical Artists

Essential Resources: Educational Games

Bonus Section: Personal Records

Supplemental Sections

I just couldn’t help myself: Here, additional advanced sections to be compiled for a supplemental edition of this book.

Essential Knowledge: Statistics and Research

Essential Knowledge: Computer Science

Essential Knowledge: Technology (this section to come)

Essential Knowledge: Mandarin Chinese Vocabulary (this section to come)

Essential Knowledge: Spanish Vocabulary (this section to come)

How to Use This Book

Subject-specific suggestions for memorizing and applying the lessons in this book can be found in the brief overviews provided. Here are a few other general tips:

TIP #1: TREAT IT LIKE A CHECKLIST

As you peruse the lists in this book, you will find many facts you already know. This is a good thing. If you have the book in print form, you might want to mark your retained facts as you go. There’s a saying in psychology: “Shrink the change.” The more facts and lists you master, the more encouraged you’ll be to move on to more challenging areas. (Check marking also prevents you from wasting time re-reading old-to-you material.)

TIP #2: YOUTUBE. LOTS OF YOUTUBE.

Almost all of the material in this book is available in multiple forms somewhere on the Internet. Because websites change constantly, linking to recommended Internet resources isn’t necessary or even very helpful. Most terms you search for will yield a wide variety of accurate, well-stated, brief and even entertaining articles, videos and tutorials. No longer under copyright, classic books and stories are freely available as well. When working with my children on these lists, I often find relevant videos on YouTube–one under-ten-minute video per term or story. I queue up five or six in separate tabs, and my kids are fully engaged with free, educational material for an hour.

TIP #3: CREATE YOUR OWN FLASH CARDS.

The most difficult part of this book to write was the history section. Timelines feel natural, yet I avoided this presentation as much as possible since they don’t facilitate memorization. (Question: The year 1789. Answer: ???) Instead, I arranged the information in the same way the other lists are arranged, with recognizable names and other terms followed by their “definitions.” If you can buzz down a list, identifying each of these with your hand covering the explanations, you’ve mastered that section. Better yet, create your own flash cards. The act of writing the information will help you retain a surprising amount of it.

TIP #4: DON’T JUST LEARN IT. MASTER IT.

Unlike many other textbooks, this book has very little filler. Everything here is meant to be both understood and retained. Don’t just read over the definitions to determine whether or not you “get it”; quiz yourself on them. It’s always interesting to notice how much harder it is to bring something back to mind than to simply understand it.

School in a Book Advantages

Finally, since I love lists so much, here’s another one for you: the eight main advantages of this book.

But first, two disadvantages: While much of the information presented here is straightforward and ready to memorize, the Essential Skills and Essential Resources lists require further research, reading and practice. In addition, School in a Book is, unapologetically, a generalist, liberal arts curriculum. It is a straightforward, basic overview of each topic–nothing more. It goes without saying that there is more to life than fractions and the Mayflower, so take these basic concepts and use them to build yourself into a great generalist … then branch off from there in the directions of your choice.

ADVANTAGE #1: IT HELPS YOU BECOME A GENERALIST

Educators love to debate the relative merits of a generalist versus specialist education. My feeling is that life is long and learning is an innate human need; however, humans don’t innately know what they should specialize in. By establishing a wide knowledge base as early as possible, areas of interest present themselves more readily.

ADVANTAGE #2: IT GIVES YOU A FAST OVERVIEW OF A SUBJECT

The book’s biggest advantage, I think, is a hidden one: By reading the entire outline of a topic in one sitting, you’re able to feel, maybe for the first time, that you truly understand it. Here’s a metaphor I like: If a physics textbook is a detailed travel guide to the world of that subject, the School in a Book physics checklist is a physics map. By reading the checklist all at once, you’re able to see the bigger picture: physics has to do with energy, motion, gravity, electricity, magnetism, light, sound and nuclear forces. Understanding this builds confidence as well as competence.

ADVANTAGE #3: IT LISTS ONLY THE ESSENTIALS

School in a Book won’t waste your time. Enough said.

ADVANTAGE #4: IT AIDS MEMORIZATION

I know, I know: memorization is out of fashion these days. But let’s not take our emphasis on critical thinking and creativity too far. If thinking skills are the toolkit, facts are the raw building materials. It’s impossible to arrange an interesting proposal, plan, article or analysis–or even have a fluent conversation on a topic–without the facts–the building blocks–in hand. (Okay, it’s possible, but we all know what that looks like and it isn’t pretty.)

The very best way to use School in a Book is as a tool for memorization. This is the stuff you’ll want to know–to retain–for the many efforts, decisions and conversations to come in your life.

ADVANTAGE #5: IT HELPS YOU FILL IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE GAPS

You might be surprised at how much you don’t know about the world, even if you’ve completed twelve or more years of school. I was. (Okay, that’s not quite true. I knew how badly I needed help.) Our minds don’t always pick and choose well. They might record every word our favorite teachers say, but almost nothing from certain entire textbooks. Here, discover what you missed on the days you slept in, as well as what you forgot.

ADVANTAGE #6: IT ASSISTS WITH COLLEGE PREPARATION

Though this resource purports to be an elementary through high school educational reference text, the checklists were designed to cover 101-level college material (and, in a few cases, levels higher than this). This is because I believe that college 101 classes are generally meant to catch up incoming college students on the subjects they should have learned in high school, but didn’t.

ADVANTAGE #7: IT ORGANIZES ALL YOUR CHECKLISTS IN ONE PLACE

I love organizing. I love brevity, too. Almost in a romantic sort of way. Other books spread out the essential knowledge between pages of description, introduction, images, callouts and the like. School in a Book eschews such inefficient use of space in order to provide extremely easy access to a broad range of information. The book can be used as one large checklist that you work through at your own pace. In addition, lists are organized by type of learning required: Essential Learning, Essential Skills and Essential Resources. When facts, books and skills are all mixed together, the checklists become much harder to work with. Studying facts requires different mental and environmental preparation than does practicing a skill or reading a book.

A LAST WORD

I hope that you find these terms and lists as useful as I have, but if you don’t, wait a few years. By mastering the School in a Book material, you’ve paved the way for an easier high school and college experience. You’ve also obtained a good knowledge foundation that will serve you well your entire adult life.

Don’t believe the rumors: you can be a generalist and a specialist both. Why not? Life is long, and learning is life. Be curious. Be unafraid. Read nonfiction every day. Watch documentaries. Find a passion (or six). Be great.

Oh, and have lots of fun while you’re doing it.