• Blog,  Book Chat

    Covering Books With Plastic: Dust Jackets

    Covering Books With Plastic: Dust Jackets. Amongst my friends I have a reputation for being rather passionate about covering books, all books, with quality book plastic. I’m ahem, known for borrowing a book off a friend and returning it covered, some friends visit with their books wanting me to cover, and I have been known to lend books only on the condition my friend covers the book whilst in her keeping, handing her a slip of plastic as she leaves. Paperback, hardcover, dust jackets I cover them all, covering protects books, keeps them attractive and more durable. I remember my mother covering books when I was a child, wrestling with…

  • Blog,  Home Education,  Home Education - Curriculum Reviews,  Home Education - Highschool,  Home Education - Language Arts,  Learning

    All About Spelling: Level 7

    Upon * I received a copy of All About Spelling Level 7 in exchange for a review of this product. The following is an honest review of our family’s experience using it. This post contains affiliate links, we gratefully appreciate your support.    To any who have been reading my blog for a time it will comes as no surprise to hear me say once again that I love the All About Learning products, both the Reading and Spelling. You have likely heard me pepper comments here and there about these programs, or you may have read my reviews regards All About Reading Pre-Reading and All About Reading Level 1, chances are though…

  • Blog,  Blogging - Daybook

    My Daybook: 14th June, 2017

    Can hardly believe two months have gone by since my last post! In over eleven years of blogging this is the longest I’ve gone without writing, I thought a Daybook would be a good way to break the ‘blogging drought’ 🙂 Outside my window… the rain is still pouring down, it has been torrential for days and is forecasted to continue raining for the rest of the week. Towns only a couple of hours away are on standby for floods yet once again, whilst they are still recovering from recent devastating floods I am thankful… for a huge house, when children are kept inside by rain for days on end, a huge…

  • Blogging - Guest Appearances,  Home Education,  Home Education - Australia

    Announcing… The First Ever….. Australian Homeschooling Summit

    I’m so excited, I’ve such exciting news to share with you, I’m jumping out of my skin with anticipation!!! Australia is to hold it’s first ever Australian Homeschooling Summit!   Jumping out of skin news… I’m going to be one of the workshop presenters 🙂 🙂 Talking about…. ‘Nurturing a Love of Literature’ within your family. I’ll be sharing why reading together as a family is so important. And how our family has read together for decades. I’ll be giving you tips on how and where to find quality books and loads of practical assistance on just how you can incorporate read alouds into your family life.   Between the 15th and…

  • Blog,  Book Reviews,  Books - History

    12 Books To Experience Roman Britain

    This year Jelly Bean (12) is using Our Island Story – HE Marshall as her history text, she loves the way history is bought to life by this author. A large component of our history studies always includes a selection of living books and thus I set out to gather what books I could source for Roman Britain. I focused my energies towards finding chapter books suitable for a twelve, soon to be thirteen year old girl. As Our Island Story is an extremely comprehensive study of Britain my first collection of living books correlates with the first five chapters from the coming of the Romans through to the rise and fall of Queen Boudica…

  • Blog,  Home Education,  Home Education - Language Arts,  Home Education - Learning Notes,  Home Education - Maths,  Learning

    Maths & Spelling Only For Seven Days: Our Pick-A-Box Challenge

    A few weeks ago we Read Only for a Week using a system of a Pick-a-Read Challenge in which the children chose various reading activities from a variety of suggestions and by the week’s end all were reading far more confidently and frequently, our week was declared a success! Inspired I decided to target another couple of areas for a week and a half, namely maths and spelling, I brainstormed ways in which the children could have fun but still engage with the subject matter. With maths I wanted to children to see outside their maths program and apply maths to the world around them, spelling, I simply wanted them to devote more time…

  • Blog,  Blogging - Daybook

    My Daybook: 13th March, 2017

    Outside my window… it’s dark even though it’s after 6am. Autumn has begun strongly and the days are already much shorter I am thankful… for our two new Parish priests, they arrived in late last year full of ideas and enthusiasm which are now being enacted upon. Lots of energy is being focused on our Parish’s Youth Group which is now meeting weekly with a much bigger component on spiritual and knowledge and less on just fun. Construction on re-constructing our Church Sanctuary is to begin at the end of the month, essentially the altar will go back up to the central position of the church and the tabernacle will…

  • Blog,  Books - A Book and Activity

    Don’t Say Boo To A Goose

    I’ve been keen for several months to get back into the flow of a Book and Activity.  So when I read Don’t Say Boo to A Goose by Mem Fox this week it was time. The collage illustration of the goose was perfect for a creation and we dived in to enjoy a new activity. I’m embarrassed to admit how long it’s been since we’ve enjoyed doing A Book and Activity. Apparently it’s been nearly two years, although there’s a possibility we have  but not recorded it. Although nearly two years is likely accurate. A quick google search and we gathered the materials needed; paper plates and feathers. This is what…

  • Blog,  Home Education,  Home Education - Language Arts,  Home Education - Learning Notes,  Learning

    Read Only For A Week: Our Pick-A-Read Challenge

    The Need Recently we suspended our regular learning routine for a week to try something a little different. We have a few children whose reading skills are in want of attention. One who needs encouragement to blossom, another who can functionally read, though not at age level and never for pleasure. Another teetering on the edge of being a reader and another as ‘keen as mustard’ without all the skills needed. Reflecting I realised that the majority of these situations could be addressed by time. Time to focus simply on reading with no other distractions. Which is exactly what we did, we put aside a week to focus on only…