• Blog,  Book Reviews,  Books - Australia,  Books - History,  Books - Picture

    58 Picture Books for ANZAC Day

    April 23, 2019 /

    ANZAC Day is this week, a day in which we commemorate our fallen, returned and current Service men and women, we remember their sacrifices past and present. I have been gathering picture books to assist and answer questions that are sure to arise as books are always a great gateway to discussions. Imagine my shock when I easily discovered 58 picture books for ANZAC Day!! Truth is I had to call a halt and stop looking for anymore! In this collection I have included both Australian and New Zealand authors – ANZACs; Australian New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC Day is this week, a day in which we commemorate our fallen, returned and…

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  • Blog,  Book Reviews,  Books - Australia,  Books - History,  Books - Picture

    9 Children’s Books About Bass & Flinders

    April 22, 2019 /

    Most Australian children know the names of George Bass and Matthew Flinders, great explorers and navigators of the coastline of early Australia. Searching for children’s historical fiction books about Bass and Flinders’ explorations my interest in them has been renewed. What courage and tenacity they had! This book search has been part of my ongoing project of organising Australian history fiction for children into chronological order, a collation of both in print and out of print living books. I have been working my booklist within the framework of the time periods organised in Our Sunburnt Country, a favourite core Australian history books.  I have gathered both picture and chapter books, mainly sharing in print or…

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  • Blog,  Blogging - Daybook

    My Daybook: 14th April, 2019

    April 14, 2019 /

    Outside my window… it’s early morning, the paddocks are brown as the drought continues. There are no kangaroos this morning, they must be searching for shoots further afield, nor are there chooks scratching, I lost my patience with the chook poo around the yard, they are free range no longer I am thankful… for an Awesome Saviour who died on the Cross for me! As we head into the final days of Lent, with Holy Week beginning today on Palm Sunday, I’m reflecting how incredible it is that Jesus died an agonising death for me! how great His love is!!…. “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,…

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  • Blog,  Book Reviews,  Books - Lent/Easter,  Books - Picture

    35 Amazing Easter Books for Children & Teens

    April 9, 2019 /

    Sharing 35 Amazing Easter Books for Children & Teens that we have collected for over the past decade and a half. Our emphasis has been on finding Christ Centered Easter books. We have slowly gathered together an amazing collection of picture, chapter and anthology books.  With Holy Week beginning in less than a week away our books are out and we’re diving in reading. May you enjoy browsing our Mega pile of Easter books, do feel free to ask any questions, and I’d love more suggestions, particularly chapter books. Palm Sunday Little Colt’s Sunday – Michelle Medlock Adams I was very excited to find a picture book for Palm Sunday.…

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  • Blog,  Book Reviews,  Books - Australia,  Books - History,  Books - Picture

    7 Children’s Books About Australia’s Rum Rebellion

    April 4, 2019 /

    I’m excited to share some children’s history fiction books about the Rum Rebellion with you. My passion for Australian history began in my childhood and continues today. I’ve long been collecting books in the Australian history genre and constantly seeking new titles, and let me tell you there are some fantastic new authors on the Australian history fiction scene for children. Three years ago I began organising many of these titles into chronological order, both in print and out of print living books. I have organised my booklist around a framework using the time periods covered in Our Sunburnt Country, a favourite core Australian history books.  I am seeking to share both picture and chapter books…

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  • Blog,  Home Education,  Home Education - Language Arts,  Home Education - Our Journey,  Living

    How To Raise a Family of Readers

    February 25, 2019 /

    How to raise a family of readers? Reading in our household is an integral part of our family culture: our children are read to from birth through to their teenage years, reading independently is nurtured, and reading as a pastime is highly valued. Our children are surrounded by books as our home literally contains thousands of books: books purchased, gifted and found at book sales. Both my husband and I are readers as are our children; conversations, activities and movie watching are entwined around our love of reading.  Simply, reading is something we do as a family. Reflecting upon how we have grown a reading culture, I decided to ask…

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  • Blog,  Blogging - Daybook

    My Daybook: 17th February, 2019

    February 17, 2019 /

    Outside my window… it’s late at night, out in the bush it’s totally dark and quiet, blessed to live in the bush I am thankful… for my husband, madly in love with this man, every day I wonder ‘how did I get so lucky?’ really I am so blessed. We celebrated our birthdays last week, two days apart, and spent the night away in our nearest Beach City. Two days to enjoy eating out, wandering the shops and just time together, uninterrupted.  Though sometimes you have to laugh, there we were thinking no children, no teenagers only to discover our resort was booked out for the AFL matches, we were surrounded…

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  • Blog,  Blogging - Daybook

    My Daybook: 15th January, 2019

    January 15, 2019 /

    Outside my window… the children are playing in the pool. We put up a small, only 84cm/33in tall, above ground pool for Christmas and it has been immensely popular, hours and hours of waterplay I am thankful… that we had all our children home for Christmas, it’s always a blessing when we have a full house. It was Carpenter and Rose’s first, and last Christmas as an engaged couple, next Christmas they’ll be married! I am thinking… it’s not long until we ‘launch’ Princess (17) into the world. It’s her last academic year at home and part of her transition will include Tafe, contemplating my tick boxes, all the skills…

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  • Blog,  Celebration,  Celebration - New Year,  Musings

    2019: Happy New Year!

    January 9, 2019 /

    Happy New Year 🙂 May 2019 bring you many blessings. Well we’ve had the laziest start to the New Year; late nights, late mornings, loads of reading, jigsaw ‘battles’, board games, floating away hours in our new little pool, days by the River, essentially the perfect recipe for Summer days, recharging from an epic year and gearing up for no doubt another epic year. At some stage during our children’s teen years our lives became, full to the brim and overflowing and they have flowed continuously since. This year our eldest Son Carpenter will marry his darling fiancee Rose, so I imagine that will guarantee to top our charts of…

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