Lesson Books by Micheal Tommas

[Bearic]

(Copies of lesson books are left at the local Curios store)
 
 

Micheal Tommas' Lesson book for Reading and Writing
 
(The Beginning of this book has an alphabet with crudely drawn pictures representing the letters, like an inn with a crown on it standing for the Kingsman for K, or a piece of yarn by the y; the words by the symbols are also spelled out, so that someone helping with the book could point out the characters in cases where the symbol looks rather like a scribble, like with yarn.)
 
A, Apple (A-pple)| B, Bee (Bee)| C, Cat (Ca-t)| D, Dog (D-og)| E, Evil (E-vil)| F, Food (F-ood)|
G, Good (G-ood)| H, Home (H-ome)| I, I (I)| J, Jack (J-ack)| K, Kingsman (K-ingsman)|
L, Life (L-ife)| M, Mole (M-ole)| N, Night (N-ight)| O, Open (O-pen)| P, Peanut (Pea-nut)|
Q, Quiver (Qu-iver)| R, Rock (R-ock)| S, Spider (S-pider)| T, Tooth (T-ooth)|
U, Usually (U-sually) [There's no great picture for this one, but a sentence "It usually rains in Ymph", follows]
V, Venom (Ve-nom)| W, Wind (Wi-nd)|
X, Xander (Xa-nder) [A note is places here that shows the word Exit as well, to show the X sound is used after E more commonly]|
Y, Yew (Y-ew) [Another note shows the word Why, and how the Y at the end matters more for the sound]| Z, Zoo (Z-oo)
 
(The next part of the book has basic words written in a list, and sounded out with pictures next to them of what they are for the easier ones, and sentences for the others)
 
Examples: Demon, said quickly;(De-Ma-On)
Today, is a good day to say hello, unless there's too many fights around. (To can be as "to go, or to do, to " insert verb", or too, which can replace the word also; it also works on the word day to talk about the present day.)
 
 
(The last part of the book has a passage explaining certain common rules with spelling, and dual uses for words, or words that sound the same. It also tells how reading can often be the best teacher.)
 
Examples: To, Two, and Too all sound the same. For, and Four also share pronunciation. Your and You're are often confused, but the ' denotes a contraction, or two words placed together, in this case, You're stands for "You Are", and Your means something you own.

(This book contains a great deal of basic information that one might wish to teach children, but mostly focused on the alphabet, small mathematics, simple words, and formal greetings. Page Four seems quite dated now)
 
 
 

Micheal Tommas' Lesson Book for Children

 
(Found on page one is an alphabet, and a list of correlating words with letters for sounds, and a picture next to that)
 
A Apple (A crudely draw apple), B Bee (An another rather poor drawing)... (The list continues to Z ending with Zoo, and a picture of animals in neat little cages)
 
 
(Found on page two is a mathematical table)
 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14...
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen...
1+1=2, 1+2=3, 1+3=4...
(And so forth.)
 
 
(Page three holds more commonly used words from day to day, like "drink", or "eat"; and names like 'mom', and 'dad' written out and with pictures or the pictures of the actions next to them to demonstrate what they are.)
 
 
(Page four reads: "The name of the colony on which this island is considered is Ymph; The Duke Trenada heads the Stygian Armada, and the Count runs much of the affairs in Old Port, a neighboring city across the sea. The Stone structure we stand upon in the dominion is the Ziggurat, and much of the lands around it fall into the control of the Duke as part of his Duchy called the Dominion."
 
(It then goes on to list words like "sir" and "ma'am", and when to be sure to use them in conversation, as is most fitting to avoid disrespect)
 
 
(Page five carries a small story of how a grumpy weasel tried to take away books from the happy rabbits of a made up land called Utopia:
"Once upon a time, in a fantasy set of time, a dream world if you will, there was a rather angry weasel who found that the sharks and rabbits shouldn't be happy in their lot because the weasel found his people to be lacking in funds, and land. He roared that the rabbits work with the sharks, and because of this they should suffer for the shark's Antics. The rabbits meant no harm, caring far more to simply read and write, to take hold of history before it vanished before them into the past, but the weasel made excuses to rid them of their books; said the rabbits aided the sharks in stealing the weasel's food.
 
Although the sharks and weasels stole often from one another, and the rabbits enjoyed the shark's protections, they didn't wish harm or ill to either party. Still, the grumpy weasel created a plan to profit from the books at all three group's expenses, and so stole the books from the rabbits by dangling carrots at their mouths, and then hitting them over the head with frying pans. The rabbits became very sad at the loss of their books, and though they wished to get the books back, they knew nothing of fighting weasels. The sharks, angered by this, set out in droves and attacked the weasels with mops; making a wet mess of the burrow the weasels lived in.
 
Meanwhile, the crafty angry weasel stole away into the night, and visited a different burrow, one full of snakes. There, he attempted to pass the books off for exotic cheeses, and would have got away with it if not for a crafty sparrow, a fox, and a shark with a large spatchula. The grumpy weasel and the slipperiest snake fought back with frying pan, and rakes, but a quick move by the fox knocked them both over with a large rock.
 
Then the sparrow and shark carried the books back, and all the rabbits were joyous and ate carrots to celebrate. The slipperiest snake, and grumpy weasel were locked into a tower until they came down from their nasty habits, and peace shortly followed as the groups worked together to feed each other carrot cake. For you see, without the weasel's craftiness, the shark's power, the snake sneakiness, and the rabbit's knowledge, not a one could create the grand prize of dessert alone."