McGuffey’s Eclectic Primer begins with the alphabet and moves quickly into short-vowel words such as cat and rat. By the second lesson, your child will be working with sentences such as The cat has a rat and The rat ran at Ann. These evocative mini-stories build phonics and word-recognition skills, and encourage the child to want to learn. Most pages offer a vintage illustration that charmingly provides a clue as to the content of the lesson, and the original diacritical markings are included throughout.

Cursive is introduced by the fifth lesson, though it’s just eight words and two short sentences. The complete cursive alphabet is included in the back as Slate Exercises, but you will most likely want to supplement this instruction with a complete course in cursive. By the last lesson in the book, students are reading short stories and poems, many containing a lesson in virtue.

64 pages