Recommended Books

E.D. Hirsh's Core Knowledge Series of books:

• "What Your Preschooler Needs to Know: Get Ready for Kindergarten"
• "What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know: Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning"
• “What Your First Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good First-Grade Education”
• "What Your Second Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Second Grade Education”
• “What Your Third Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Third-Grade Education”
• “What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Fourth-Grade Education”
• “What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Fifth-Grade Education”
• “What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Sixth-Grade Education”

Available at Amazon.com and other fine bookstores.

Children who grow up in homes with many books get three years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents' education, occupation and class.  

This is as great an advantage as having university educated rather unschooled parents, and twice the advantage of having a professional rather than an unskilled father.  It holds equally in rich nations and in poor; in the past and in the present; under communism, capitalism and apartheid; and most strongly in China.

The authors reported their findings after studying representative national samples in 27 nations, with over 70,000 cases.

Source: "Family Scholarly Culture and Educational Success: Books and Schooling in 27 Nations," by M.D.R. Evans, Jonathan Kelley, Joanna Sikora, and Donald J. Treiman.  Research in Social Statification and Mobility 28, no. 2 (June 2010): 171-197.