The Little Match Girl

I remember seeing this Hans Christian Andersen story as a child and have always kept an eye out for a version of the book that I really liked. Well I have found one. Actually my dear friend and homeschooling mentor Lucy found it. As we're studying Compassion for Character Studies this month The Little Match Girl was one of the stories we read.
You can purchase this book from my favorite book store ever!! The Book Depository This book cost $7.46aud and The Book depository has FREE worldwide delivery and I have never waited more then a week to ten days for my books to arrive. This may be the worst thing that I ever tell you, because more then one friend has fallen prey to the lure of this website. Enter with caution because once you are in you may be like the rest of us and never be able to get out. Of course, unless your husband becomes the Minotaur who you must defeat so as to roam The Book Depository city with freedom. Good Luck my fellow book hoarders!!

ANZAC DAY LAPBOOK

Well I did it! My very first truly homemade lapbook. No download and go on this one, I had to put something together all by myself. I used a a few things from a website ANZAC Day for Early Childhood . This had some great activities for the kids, both interactive online and printable. well worth the visit if you are looking for something for ANZAC day.

The first section dealt with World War 1 & Gallipoli. The second part of the Lapbook looks at now and how we also think of those who are fighting & or serving in the military now.
We will also be reading Photographs In The Mud. The book is set on the Kokado Track in 1942, Jack & Hoshi are on opposing sides in the war who meet in battle & find they have a lot in common. It is a touching book about the reality & human tragedy of war, for both the soldiers & their loved ones at home. This is a beautiful book!
The second book is What Was The War Like,Grandma by Rachael Tonkin. This is a fantastic book that goes through the day in the life of a girl in Australia during the war. It explores the hardships experienced by those at 'home'. I believe it is out of print but may be available at the library.
We will be working through the lapbook on Saturday,then off to our local Dawn Service on Sunday. Lets hope the rain holds off for the morning.

What Language DO We Speak?

This week we've been reviewing Download N Go - Expedition Australia as part of our 'try out' for The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) Homeschool Crew. It has been so much fun for us here at home, and very timely! We spent our summer vacation traveling 4 states in 5 weeks (husband is a teacher so we get great vacation time). We saw some of the most fantastic sights from inland to ocean. We camped in National Parks which meant that it was just you and the best Australia has to offer. So Download N Go Expedition Australian has been a fantastic unit study to apply fact and knowledge to our experience.

However, this unit study doesn't require such an experience as ours to be a fantastic learning tool. It examines Aussie geography, culture, language, traditions and our Indigenous people. It's user friendly and as the series suggest you just download and go. All the research has been done for you including lists of relevant fiction and non fiction books coupled with video clips for the kids to 'see' for themselves, which are available at the click of a button. As the recommended book list is not exclusive or exhaustive, you're not left feeling like you need to purchase or track down all the books they suggest. You are able to mix and match with what you have available to you.

This unit study has been designed to be completed over a 5 day week, but we've spread it over 2 weeks because I'm working with a 7 and 4 year old. It's a combination of workbook style and lapbook. Maddie has enjoyed both aspects and at no time felt bogged down with a lot of writing or over whelmed with facts. Lucy worked on her own lapbook which included many of the same activities that where age appropriate eg. colouring, map work, animal facts. The joy of working with this style of curriculum is the 'tweekability' of it. You just pick and choose according to your 'students' needs. Its all there whether you have big or little people or a combination of both.

The first day I found I was jumping between the computer, books and activities a little more than I would have liked. With young ones the slightest break in 'transmission' and it can be all over, they're off doing their own thing. However I managed to find my flow and was much better prepared with links, books and info on the subsequent days and found the girls fully engaged on their 'journey' around Australia.

My favorite question in the Expedition Australia was "What is the national language of Australia"

I asked Maddie "what language do we speak?" She looked puzzled and said "...clearly" All those speech pathology lessons have paid off because we'd always say " Maddie you must speak clearly". In her mind 'clearly' must have been our National Language!!

Amanda Bennett has done a great job at putting together a variety of subjects for the Download n Go packages. As the E-Book series name suggests "Go for Learning, Go for Fun, Go for Adventure" and they are great value at $7.95 US each. Bundles are also available as are Sample pages for you to try before you buy.

So whether or not you are an Aussie looking for a unit study on Australia or just looking at exploring where we are & our way of life I would give this one a definite thumbs up!

Character Studies Lapbooks

I Love Lapbooks! They are just such a wonderful learning tool, particularly for those who are tactile & visual learners. My girls are all 'hands on'. They love expressing their creativity through this medium and I love facilitating it. I have put together lapbooks to compliment most of their subjects.

One of my favorites at the moment is Character Studies. On a Tuesday's we get together with 2 other homeschooling families to do our Artistic Pursuit. Following this we then continue on with Character Studies. We came across this on a blog Shiver Academy . (When on this blog,scroll down and on the left hand side of the blog is a link to their Book of Virtues Project.) It has been amazingly well put together and it's free. As always with lapbooks you can mix n match with what ever suits you and your needs. We're actually spreading this out over the year, starting with Self Discipline.

It's based on The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett. This is the most amazing book for all ages. These are my 2 favorite online book stores where it is available The Book Depository and Amazon, but I'm sure your local library would have a copy. I have included a few photos of Maddies work so far.

Also an added bonus at the moment is you can watch the Adventures From the Book of Virtues cartoon series on byutv.org Each weekend they screen a virtue based on the book. My kids just love watching it, as it explores one of the virtues each week, faith, honesty, compassion and so on.

This is worth checking out as we're totally enjoying it. This is not based on any faith in particular and as our homeschooling friends are not of the same faith, virtues are something that transcends a particular belief and are something each of us needs to learn and understand. Bishop H. David Burton said "Virtuous traits form the foundation of a Christian life and are the outward manifestation of the inner man". Ensign Nov 09.

The way we actually do it is: we read aloud the stories for the day as recommended in the outline provided on the Shiver Academy, then the kids each recount to us what the story was about (ours are not great writers yet and we didn't want them getting bogged down with too much writing.) They then do the lapbook activity & drawing on the day. During the week we get them to do the copy work that is related to the lesson. there are also little goals to work on so as to put that 'virtue' into practice.

This has been such a blessing in our life. I have seen so many changes already with Maddie already trying to keep her room tidier, working hard at being obedient and well.... more self disciplined.

We are all looking forward to the next virtue!!!