ICC of NI•fropoillan Detroit Family Development Center 4infant/Toddler Program VPlay Group 4Nursery School 4Kindergarten N/Kindergarten Enrichment 4Parent/Toddler Classes 4Enrichment Classes - waiting list 6 spaces* 18 spaces* 3 spaces* filling quickly limited space filling quickly Sign-Up Today Maple/Drake 661-7605 or Jimmy Prentis Morris 967-4040 Creating quality children's programs since 1933 * as of 8/9/94 Buying an Encyclopedia If you feel you need to provide research materials at home for your children, consider these facts about purchasing a set ofreference books. BY ANNE JUSTICE ALLEN F ew purchases are as de- bated as a family's deci- sion whether to invest in a set of encyclopedias, and if so, which set? One pundit declares that a set of encyclope- dias is the ultimate guilt pur- chase: you feel guilty if you don't provide them for your children, and once purchased, guilty if they're not being used! Should parents provide their child "every advantage" includ- Compton's Encyclopedia, this is a purchase well worth some thoughtful deliberation. Many ed- ucators and scores of parents whose offspring have achieved academic success consider such a purchase unnecessary if not un- wise. They point to the availabil- ity in local libraries of not one but multiple research choices when- ever a need arises. The inevitable obsolescence is another pitfall. And, every parent should ask, "Is PHOTO BY ESCHOL HARR FI I seeing spots? THE DE TROI T JEW ISH NEWS A side-by-side comparison of the same topic as handled by different publishers can be an effective way to judge which encyclopedia set might be right for your family. P24 now featuring the disney collection for kids 1E•111 11541111° OPTICAL LEADERS OF OPTICAL INSIGHT 11 Mile at Middlebelt, Farmington Hills • 810-474-5333 A Perfect Family Gift... A Subscription to the Jewish News. 810-354-6620 ing reference books in a home li- brary? Or is such an investment wasted funds, monies better spent on other educational ad- vantages? Is the concept of one prima- ry in-home resource obsolete in a world of constantly changing information that can be corn- municated by high-tech devices at ever-increasing speeds? In short, will a set of encyclopedias become a dust-collector? Or do encyclopedias remain stimu- lating aids to learning, well worth the hard-earned money? If the decision is made to in- vest, how does one make an in- telligent selection betWeen competing publishers and even between printed or computer disk versions? First, before considering which encyclopedia is best, it is proba- bly appropriate to ask whether to "take the plunge" of ownership at all. With prices running the range from a hefty $1600 for a 29 book set of Encyclopaedia Bri- tannica to $395 for 26 volumes of this the best investment of edu- cational funds?" Atlanta educator, Dr. Marcia King, ruled out purchasing en- cyclopedias. Her daughter grad- uated valedictorian of her class and was successful in college, so Dr. King figures "it didn't hurt her too much." Despite the in- convenience King's children ex- perienced on occasion, they learned to be resourceful about their research sources, using ma- terials already at hand, or seek- ing original comments from experts in a given field. As a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (responsible for school ac- creditation), Dr. King finds school libraries throughout the state are adequately equipped with cur- rent encyclopedias. And, person- ally, she recently chose to take her 10-year-old son to Europe, be- lieving that a better way to spend money than purchasing encyclo- pedias. For Some, It's Basic Yet for many, an encyclopedia