comments concerning ordering

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham ISBN:  0618250816 (hardcover) ISBN:  0618250743 (softcover)

We read this book aloud last year.  It's a good book--one that I think many homeschoolers would like.

We meet Nathaniel Bowditch when he's just 6 years old right before his family was moving back to Salem, Massachusetts.  We follow his life through his early years at school, his 9-year indenture to a shipping supplier which started at the age of 12, his trips to the Mediterranean and the Philippines, and his marriage.  So much happened to Nathaniel Bowditch.  Much of the events are true, but this is a "fictionalized" biography.

One thing I like about this book is that it gave us a good excuse to study geography a little.  We followed Nathaniel's trips in our atlas and on our maps.  We do this with many books that we read; it's an easy way to learn geography.  One thing we love is our little laser pointer.  With the laser pointer, we can stay seated on the couch and still point to the locations on the map.  (Yes, we have a map in the living room.  We even have a timeline or two in the dining room.  I really think that having a picture of the world up in view all the time really helps kids to have a good picture of the world in their mind when they're older.)

The reason that I think that this is a great homeschooling readaloud is that Nathaniel Bowditch took responsibility for his own education.  He had to leave school at the age of 12 to fulfill his indenture.  That effectively ended his formal education, though he still dreamed of attending Harvard.  He learned about navigation from a gentleman named Sam.  He then went on to learn surveying and mathematics.  Authoring an almanac followed that!  Around the time he turned 16, he was lent Sir Isaac Newton's Principia to read.  However, he found that it was written in Latin, so he had to learn Latin, too, and translated Principia.  He educated himself.  He didn't let obstacles get in his way; perseverance, resourcefulness, and drive were a way of life for Nathaniel Bowditch.

Once Nathaniel became a seaman, he figured out a new way to navigate.  Then he found errors in Moore's Practical Navigator.  This led Nathaniel Bowditch to write his own navigation books some of which are still in print.  Here's one:    The American Practical Navigator:  An Epitome of Navigation 1995 Edition.  I found Nathaniel Bowditch to be an interesting character in American History, and my kids also enjoyed Carry On, Mr. Bowditch.  They were about 10 and 8 when we read it.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch would be a good addition to a "ships" unit study or a unit on America during the end of the 1700's.  It also makes a good read aloud.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch may be purchased from Powell's (used or new) by clicking here.  Or a new copy (hardcover or softcover) may be found at Amazon.com.  Alternatively, your local library should have one on its shelves since it was the 1956 Newbery Award winning book.