The Australian Just So Stories

Mrs Katie Langloh Parker was an amazing woman. Born Catherine Field, she grew up among the Australian Aborigines on her father’s property, Marra Station, in northern New South Wales in the 1850's and 60's.

When she was six years old she fell into a river and would have drowned but for the help of a young Aboriginal girl. Despite the prevailing attitude toward the Aboriginal people at this time, this experience resulted in young Katie developing a great respect and appreciation for the culture of the girl who had saved her life. They became her playmates and her friends. Katie regarded the Aborigines as fellow human beings - she would have been one of the first people to do so.

A neighbour of mine exclaimed, when I mentioned that I proposed making a small collection of the folk-lore legends of the tribe of blacks I knew so well living on this station, "But have the blacks any legends?" - thus showing that people may live in a country and yet know little of the aboriginal inhabitants...

After her marriage at the age of 18 she moved to her husband’s property, Bangate Station, on the Narran River near Angledool in New South Wales. There, she started collecting stories from the local branch of Yularoi people, whom she called the Narran and whom were known amongst themselves as the Noonghaburrahs. These were subsequently published in several collections between 1896 and 1930. Andrew Lang, himself an Australian, and author of AO1's Blue Fairy Book, wrote the introduction to the collection.

Katie wrote her book in an attempt to preserve the legends of a people whose culture, she believed, was rapidly coming to an end.

There are probably many who, knowing these legends, would not think them worth recording; but, on the other hand, I hope there are many who think, as I do, that we should try, while there is yet time, to gather all the information possible of a race fast dying out, and the origin of which is so obscure. I cannot affect to think that these little legends will do much to remove that obscurity, but undoubtedly a scientific and patient study of the folk-lore throughout Australia would greatly assist thereto.

Langloh Parker was not only an anthropologist though, writing to preserve culture and tradition for future generations. She also wrote her stories for children.

Though I have written my little book in the interests of folk-lore, I hope it will gain the attention of, and have some interest for, children - of Australian children, because they will find stories of old friends among the Bush birds; and of English children, because I hope that they will be glad to make new friends, and so establish a free trade between the Australian and English nurseries - wingless, and laughing birds, in exchange for fairy godmothers, and princes in disguise.

Katie Langloh Parker's Australian Legendary Tales are the Just So Stories of Aboriginal boys and girls. As in Kipling's better known stories here we learn about the beginning of things - how the Southern Cross came to be, or why the emu cannot fly, dogs cannot speak and pigeons say "Oom oom oom" when they fly. We hear about Dinewan the emu and Goomble-Gubbon the bustard; Goo-goor-gaga the laughing jackass (kookaburra) and Goonur the kangaroo rat.

The stories are not only fairytales; they also teach of Aboriginal myth and legend and of Aboriginal life. We learn of their creator being, Baiame the Sky King and of their spirit beliefs. We learn about Boorahs, the initiation ceremonies where boys become men. We read of corroborees, bull-roarers and wirinun (the wise men).

This is a very important book; it is also very enjoyable. It certainly deserves its place amongst the Classics of Australian Children's Literature. We read it in AO2. The version we use is pictured above and contains a selection of 50 tales from four of Langloh Parker's books by H. Drake-Brockman. We read one or two of them for Australian literature every week.

The drawings are by Elizabeth Durack. Evocative of Kipling's illustrations in Just So Stories, but drawn with aboriginal styling, the pictures complement the text perfectly and help teach about aboriginal symbolism in art at the same time.

Kind be.
Do not steal,
Do not touch which to another belongs;
Leave all such alone.
Kind be.

Charm sung by Euahlayi Aboriginal women over their babies to help them be good or grow strong and clever.)

Dinewan Boollarhnah Goomblegubbon

The legend of Dinewan the Emu and Gumble-Gubbon the Turkey in the Euahayi Language

Dinewan boorool diggayah gillunnee. Nahmerhneh boorool doorunmai. Goomblegubbon boolwarrunnee. Goomblegubbon numbardee boorool boolwarrunnee Dinewan numbardee. Baiyan noo nurruldundi gunnoonah burraylundi nurreebah burri bunnagullundi. Goomblegubbondoo winnanullunnee dirrah dungah nah gillunnee, Dinewandoo boonoong noo beonemuldundi.

Goomblegubbondoo winnanullunnee gullarh naiyahneh gwallee Dinewan gimbelah:
"Wahl ninderh doorunmai gillaygoo. Baiyan noo winnanunnee boonoong gurrahgoo, wahlneh burraylaygoo. Wahl butndi naiyah boorool gillunnah boomahleegooneh naiyah butthdinen woggee gwallee myrenay boonoong gillundi."

Illah noo nurray Dinewan nahwandi. Goomblegubbon lowannee boonooog noo wunnee wooee baiyan nurrunnee bonyehdool. Baiyan boollarhgneh gwalleelunnee. Goomblegubbondoo gooway:
"Minyah goo ninderh wahl boonoong dulleebah gillunnee? Gunnoono diggayah burraylunneh. Wahl boonoong ninderh doorunmai. Myrenay boonoong gillunneh Gunnoogoo nunnahlah doorunmai gimbehlee." Dinewandoo gooway "Gheerh ninderh boonoong bayyi."

"Wahl."

Nahnee Dinewan noonoo meer gullahgeh. Baiyan boollarhneh budtnah ginnee. Boonoong butndi nullee gurray wahl Goomblegubbon doorunmai giggee.

Dinewandoo gooneejayn gooway cooleer noo noo boonoong gurrahlee goo comeboo goo.

Baiyan noo gaiathah noonoo boonoong gurray. Baiyan, neh bunnerhgahoonee Goomblegubbon. Dinewan gooway Goomblegubbon:
"Boonoong nayr gurray." Goomblegubbon gindabnunnee, barnee, bunna gunnee dirrah gunnee numerhneh. Boonoong beeyonemay, baiyan noo gooway Dinewan.

"Dungneemay ninnerhneh nayr byjundool boonoong. Mayerboo nay, nay boonoong, gurrah wahl dunerh. Wombah ninderh byjundool boonoong." Dinewan bunna gunnee boomahlee-goo Goomblegubbon, baiyan Goomblegubbon burrunnee. Narahgahdool myrenay boonoong. Baiyan Dinewan eelaynerhginnee nahnee illah nayahe ninnernah gullahrah gimbehlee. Illah lah noo noo winnanunnee. Baiyan noo doorimbai birrahleegul boollarhyel nuddahnooway booroolah binnamayahgahway. Baiyan neh moorillah die gahraymo noo-noo, boollarh noo garwannee. Baiyan neh woggee goo nahnee. Goomblegubbondoo birrahleegul oodundi gunoonoo garwil. Baiyan boollarhgneh gwallannee. Dinewan gooway Goomblegubbon."

"Minyah goo ninderh booroolah birrahleegulgah gillunnah. Wahl ninder booroolah goo garwil ooday. Tuggil ninderh boollarhyel gargillay baiyan boollarhgnah, booral giggee, wahl ninderh booroolah goo gooloon marlday." Goomblegubbon buthdi ginnee nalmee.

"Gullarh nayr nay birrahleegul boorool luggeray Dinewan? Boollarhyel nay gillundi yahmerh boollarhgnah boorool giggee luggeray Dinewan."

Winnanunnee noo dungeway. Baiyan noo nurray Dinewan, nurray noo boorool.
Baiyan noo gooway:
"Boomahlee doo gunnoono boollarhyel nayr gurrahwulday. Dinewan wahl doorunmai gillay woggee goo. Goomblegubbon weel gillay doorunmai. Goomblegubbon boorool giggee luggeray Dinewun, boonoong gunnoo goo gurrahwulday. Baiyan noo boomay gunnoono birrahlee gul boollarhyel noo gurrahway. Baiyanneh durrahwallunee nummerh nayr Dinewan doo duldundigoo. Dinewandoo guggay."

"Minyah ninnoo birrahleegul?"

"Gunnoono nayr boomay boollarhyel gargillunnah."

"Wullundoo youlloo ninderh boomay! Booroolah nay birrahleegul, gooloonmul dunnerli nayr gunnoonoo. Booroolah gunnoonoo. Nurraleh noill doowar yu booloobunnee. Nurraleh boonboon. Nummerh nayr bayah muldunnerh nay birrahlee gulloo."

"Boollarhyel ninnoo birrahlee garlee."

"Booroolah boollarh nay. Nayr di gargee ninnoonderh nurranmullee goo."

Dinewan bunnagunnee binnamayahgoo nayr noo doorimbundigoo birrableegul. Baiyan naiyah durrabwullunee, dirralabeel ginnee noo boobootella, gwallandy, "Boom, boom." Birrahleegul noo noo bunna gairlehwahndi, beweererh nurrahwahndi, weeleer, weerleeer, Tuwerh munneh doorundi, baiyanneh eelay nurrunnee. Baiyan noo gooway.

"Geeroo nayr ninnunnerh gooway. Gunnoono nayr nay birrahleegul gurrahwuldunnerh. Nurullah Numerh nayr ninnoo nurragah birrahleegul! Boomay ninderh ninnoo birrahleegul, ninderh nunnoo dung eemai! Tuggil nayr lahnylay nayr boonoong ninderh boomah boollarhyel birrahleegarlee gargillay. Gurrahwuldare ninnoo boonong nayr luggeeroo, gurrahwulday nay birrahleegul."

AO2 Schedule

I've been meaning to post our AO2 schedule for a while now.

It seems so simple that I wonder what use it will be to you, and yet, on the other hand, there is a whole Yahoo group devoted to CM schedules, so some of you must be interested!! To me, its simplicity is what makes it work!



I posted our AO1 schedule here, and many of the comments pertaining to that document apply here - after all this year's timetable is simply a rehash of last year's one.

Let me walk you through it...

We have three blocks of school every morning with 'outside time' in between. During one of these I expect some 'exercise' - trampolining; swimming; bike riding; Pilates or totem tennis are the types of activities Jemimah might choose from. I practice masterly inactivity over these times, encouraging with ideas only when absolutely necessary. I use the time to do computer work...and the laundry!!

The first school block takes about 1/2 an hour, most of which is memory work - Scripture verses and poetry in French and English and The Westminster Shorter Catechism in English.

We separate disciplinary subjects like Copywork, Mathematics and Reading instruction with inspirational ones such as Bible, History readings, French stories and Composer or Picture Study.

We have two read-alouds per day determined by our booklist divided into weekely portions from the AO website with our Australian literature selections added in. I'll try to post this soon. Only science is scheduled separately. We're doing Jeannie Fulbright's Exploring Creation with Astronomy and read the chapter the first week and do the notebooking narration activities and the projects the second week. We schedule it separately to ensure we fit it in!!

We read alternate Old and New Testament scripture from the NIV on four days each week and prepare for Sunday's service by prereading the scheduled readings and discussing them in context on Friday.

The second and third school blocks take about an hour each.

Apart from that it is pretty self explanatory, I think!

After lunch we work at a more relaxed pace doing things like taking a nature walk, working in the kitchen garden and cooking the produce or watching some French DVDs. Jemimah really enjoys art, and we sometimes do a lesson from Mona Brookes' Drawing with Children.

We always finish with afternoon tea in the sitting room...maybe the perfect way to finish a Charlotte Mason day!

The second chart shows our poet, artist and composer selections for the year along with our songs - Psalms, Folksongs and French songs. You'll notice I've not yet decided on the final folksongs for the year - any suggestions for good English folksongs would be greatly appreciated, if you get a chance!!

A post to keep you cool

Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.

Charlotte Mason Home Education p42

It's too hot to venture forth Charlotte Mason style on our nature rambles this month. After all even the great lady herself only advocated long hours outside on "every tolerably fine day, from April till October". (Isn't it funny that she missed out the miserable English winter months; I miss out the dreadful summer ones!) Not that the weather keeps us inside; we manage to while away many a long hour in the pool and spend most evenings dining al fresco.

Besides, the gain of an hour or two in the open air, there is this to be considered: meals taken al fresco are usually joyous, and there is nothing like gladness for converting meat and drink into healthy blood and tissue. All the time, too, the children are storing up memories of a happy childhood. Fifty years hence they will see the shadows of the boughs making patterns on the white tablecloth; and sunshine, children's laughter, hum of bees, and scent of flowers are being bottled up for after refreshment.

Charlotte Mason Home Education p42-43

We make every effort to observe nature during these times - it is amazing the variety of insect life that visits the pool in search of a cool haven, and this discriminating observation is exactly what Miss Mason recommends - training our powers of observation and expression. We also watch carefully for signs of dehydration amongst birds and plants.

What we don't do so much of during the long, hot days of summer is take our nature notebooks outside and make sketches of what we're seeing. Instead, we spend time inside drawing things that we've seen in the past.

Yesterday Jemimah decided to draw a Land Yabby observed during a trip to the Otway Fly on a cooler day a month ago.


Here's the original creature (which we failed to find a Latin name for!)


Finally, a couple of photos of the yabby's original home - the beautiful Otway Ranges - guaranteed to keep you cool on the hottest summer day!!

Multiplication mastery

Jemimah has been learning her times tables the past few weeks. We have a wonderful CD to help with the process, but Multiplication is not much fun however you look at it...or is it?

Barb, one of the amazing mums in the MEP Yahoo group, has recently posted a link to this amazing maths game - Timez Attack, it's called.

Timez Attack is a fabulous computer game with lots of multiplication drill at it's core. The basic version is FREE and covers all tables from 2-12.

For US$40 you can purchase the full version which includes 2 new playing environments and fancier graphics in which to play the game and you can switch between environments when completing each level. Jemimah has never seen, much less played, a computer game before, so the basic version is plenty for us, but she quickly got the hang of the game and was particularly displeased when I told her that she had to stop doing maths and do some history!!

We don't watch much television in our home; we don't 'do' computer games either, but I think Timez Attack is wonderful for this stage in mathematics - a time where getting the multiplication facts down is really what its all about.

I recommend it!!

To the fire, firemen!!

Our French Folksong this term is the very cute Au feu les Pompiers.

We're using another of the excellent Angelaying videos on YouTube that I blogged about here.



We sing our French song twice a week, only this tune is so catchy that we actually sing it over and over most of the time until one or the other of us is heartily sick of it (generally Daddy).

We've also been enjoying this short cartoon of the same name:




(Notice the French obsession with le pipi! It's almost impossible to find a French cartoon without at least one reference to this bodily function...)

Happy Chinese New Year!

...and Happy Australia Day as well!



We're off the the big smoke for the weekend to celebrate. See you Tuesday!!

Speaking of Lovely Blogs...

I've been honoured by another One Lovely Blog Award, this time by my friend Laura Lee at Wasted Textbooks!! Wow! Thank you Laura Lee!

The rules of this award are that you link back to the one who gave you the honour and pass it on to seven others. I have already done that here, so I won't do it again, but I did want to say why I enjoy Laura Lee's blog.

She inspires me. That's it. Firstly, she's fit - really fit. I'm not. Secondly she has had a life of adversity and has risen above it all. Thirdly, she's a great mum!!

Well done, Laura Lee, and thank you.

Now I need YOUR help!!

For many of you the Australasian School Year is about to begin. My email 'inbox' is full of lovely emails from appreciative mums organising their schedules. Stationery is being bought; book orders are arriving in the mail; timetables are being finalised.

The beginning of the school year is exciting, isn't it?

I hope that for many of you my little blog has been useful in your planning. That's what I write it to be, an inspiration, a little encourager that you can do this with your family. Homeschooling the Charlotte Mason way works for us...it can work for you too.

In two weeks on February 3rd, A Peaceful Day will be hosting The Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival. That's where you come in, you see!

If you have a blog, I'd really love it if you would submit an article for this edition of the carnival...really love it...

I've met some wonderful cyberfriends in the past 4 1/2 months. I've even met one family in the flesh as it were!! (Hi guys!) We had fish and chips on the beach and just talked and talked and talked. Wow! What an experience - to meet a family with the same values that we have using the same curriculum as we do was just awe inspiring. I'd never met a real AO family before...come to think about it, I'd never met a real CM family before either...

But that's just it you see. I'd never met a CM family in real life before, but I know lots and lots of you in the blogosphere. You inspire me every day. Some of you live in Australia or New Zealand; others of you live in the UK, USA, Canada or South Africa; others in (to me) more exotic locations. I'd love to meet the blogger who has visited my blog from her (?) home in Iran - or the ones in Ghana or Bulgaria. Now that would be something.

You know what? We'd even have plenty to talk about, because we would all be educating our kids using the same CM philosophy. We would all be on the same page about lots of the things that really matter in life.

That's why The Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is so useful to me. Here's how it describes itself:

A carnival of Charlotte Mason homeschooling blogs. Carnival topics center around CM educational philosophy and the practical application of Miss Mason's works. Please limit your submissions to topics that are relevant to a CM homeschooling experience. Topics might include narration, nature study, dictation, living books, CM schedules, poetry, Shakespeare, Mother Culture, CM quotes, reviews of living books, slow reading of books, habit training as outlined in the CM volumes, character training, or other various topics that would help a homeschooling CM method using family.

So anyway, if you have a blog, you've probably also got a relevent article, I reckon!!

Perhaps you might be able to write about what a Charlotte Mason education looks like in your home. I'd like that. I'd also like to know what adaptations you've had to make because you live in Chile or Hong Kong, Turkey or Estonia...or Sydney or Auckland or Lancashire.

If you've still got writers block, here are some ideas to get you started. I'd love to read about:

• How you adapt nature study for where you live


• How you find living books for your country, state or region and what they are


• What worked wonderfully last year in your home and what you're going to try in 2009


• Your secret Living books - those that are not on every list


• Education is an Atmosphere. How do you implement this in your home?

All your submissions need to be submitted by Monday February 2nd - at the latest (preferably much earlier!) You can do that here.

One more thing if it's not s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g the friendship too far: Could you encourage others to submit when you see a good blog post on their sites as well?

Thank you all.

Refreshment of the Soul

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

Au reste, mes frères, que toutes les choses qui sont véritables, toutes les choses qui sont honnêtes, toutes les choses qui sont justes, toutes les choses qui sont pures, toutes les choses qui sont aimables, toutes les choses qui sont de bonne réputation, et où il y a quelque vertu, et qui sont dignes de louange, que toutes ces choses occupent vos pensées.

Philippiens 4:8

Miss Mason talks alot about the aesthetic arts: art, poetry and music, and this is one of the reasons that her philosophy of education appeals to me and my family. We are art lovers. As a family we regularly visit art galleries; we subscribe to the Australian Ballet and the theatre; we attend musical concerts. We listen to a wide variety of music and have our house 'wired for sound' with speakers in every room.

Now that we're using AO, we gear our musical selections more toward achieving one of our educational objectives rather than just selecting a musical piece for mere enjoyment. Mind you, that's important too - if music is going to be played throughout our home, we've gotta like it!! Nowadays you're likely to hear French music - kids and adult selections; A Cappella Psalms and Bach - lots of Bach. (You'll also hear Kitaro and other Japanese artists like Sojiro, the great ceramic ocarina player ...but that's another passion...and another post...)



Bach's our composer for this term. Now if all we did for composer study was listen to Bach's music, then I think we'd be doing pretty well. It would be that easy too - pop a selection in the CD player and press play.

Given that music is one of our passions though, we do a little more than that.

Here's what we do do.

We schedule composer study once a week for a twelve week AO term.

On the first few of these we listen to the Classics for Kids radio programmes via the Internet. At the end of the programme Jemimah answers the three question quiz supplied, in lieu of narration and we discuss what we've learned that week. At the end of the programmes we look at the activity sheet and sometimes do an activity. We do very few worksheets, so an occasional one is a novelty and a bit of a treat. At the end of each session we listen to the featured work. The selection for Bach is his Brandenburg Concerto No. 2.

Once the radio programmes are finished we start reading our children's book. Anna Harwell Celenza's books are excellent and we'll be reading her Bach's Goldberg's Variations soon. As we read we listen to the music. The CD is supplied with the books, so it is easy. When Jemimah is older we'll use Opal Wheeler's bio's. We've picked up a couple of these on our second-hand bookshop forays and they look marvellous. Celenza's books are better for AO2 though, I reckon. We only read a few pages a day. Remember, the music is more important than the story here!!

Right through the term we listen to our Classical Kids CD, Mr Bach Comes to Call. These CD's are invaluable, in my opinion, and they're readily available in Australia too. Often the ABC shops have them in stock. The stories weave a fictional story around the facts of a composer's life. They're fun and instructive at the same time.

So far we have been able to use recordings in our collection for Composer Study. AO recommends the following selections for the Bach term:

Magnificat in D (4 weeks)
Chaconne (2 weeks)
any Church cantata (2 weeks)
Brandenburg Concerto no. 6 (2 weeks)
Art of the Fugue(2 weeks)

We modified this slightly according to what we have on hand. We're doing:

Goldberg Variations (from the book) (4 weeks)
Brandenberg Concerto no. 2 (2 weeks)
Cantata BWV 6 (2 weeks)
Brandenburg Concerto no. 6 (2 weeks)
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring from Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben BWV 147 (We use the Celtic Woman version above).

We also have two "Best of" CDs:

The number one Bach album and Essential Bach. Both of these are two disc albums with some beautiful selections. We don't study exerpts like this; we do listen to them though!!

That's it, I think. Remember what I said earlier - if you just listen to a composer's music and learn to love it then you've done a great job of Composer Study. All the rest is simply the icing on the cake!!

The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.

J. S. Bach

Seasonal Adjustment Disorder

The Courtyard Garden in Spring

The Spring bulb catalogues have started arriving in my letterbox this week.

How can anybody get inspired about tulips and daffodils when it's 44° in the shade?

(Look of confusion)

By the way, the title of this post is a depressive condition known as SAD...

...I don't have it.

P.S. I wonder when the Spring rose catalogues will come?

Swimming and MEP?

For the past few weeks I've been the swimming equivalent of a "soccer mom" - a swimming mum perhaps?

With Jemimah's VicSwim lessons, I've spent a significant part of every morning sitting by the public pool and watching what goes on. Mind you, it's not too shabby a way to spend the summer...

I have been highly impressed with the VicSwim programme...that's why I speak of it so often - and so glowingly - I suppose, but it was only in the last few days that the reason why occurred to me - VicSwim is the same as MEP!

I suppose you'd like me to "Please explain"?

Okay.

Every lesson, Jemimah does a variety of drills. She may use a kick board to practise her freestyle kicking, or lie on her back and use it to learn the kick for backstroke or survival backstroke (a very funny stroke, I must say). Sometimes she practises arm movements alone standing in shallow water; at other times she lies on the pool edge. Recently she has been practicing dolphin kick - a precursor to the notoriously difficult butterfly stroke. Often they practice breathing - blowing bubbles they call it!

Two shots of the funny dolphin kick!

Once the kids have each of the elements down, the kick, the arm movements, the breathing, they put them all together and try the full stroke for a few metres.

The lesson doesn't stop there though. They still practise each element separately, working on each element of a particular swimming stroke. Eventually the distances swum get longer too. Gauging the readiness of each child to swim a particular distance without getting sloppy from tiredness is one of the skills of a good instructor, in my opinion.

One of the other mums is a former children's swimming instructor. Let's call her Kerry. Kerry taught Auswim, a NSW programme that had a different protocol from VicSwim's. All of Kerry's kids can swim...well. Even the four year old.

The problem is, they're sloppy. Why? Because Kerry's teaching method teaches each stroke in isolation; first freestyle, then backstroke. Only once the child can do these does she begin to teach breaststroke, and then survival backstroke and finally after many years - if the child reaches that level - the dreaded butterfly. Breathing and stroke development just don't get a look in, and in my opinion it shows.

As just a young learner, Jemimah is a stylish swimmer. She looks like she has had lessons. She is not necessarily a good swimmer - she is not as good as Kerry's kids, but she soon will be. In fact she will soon be better because she will have learned the stroke perfectly from the start.

MEP's like that. It's a spiral programme, they say. Apparently the opposite of spiral programmes are mastery programmes like Math-U-See. I don't know - I've never seen Math-U-See, you see. (pun intended!) What I see about MEP I like - much in the same way that what I see of VicSwim I like.

At the moment Jemimah is nearing the end of MEP Year 2. According to the Scheme of Work she's working on the multiplication and division table for four and its relationship with 2 and 8. She does this, sure, but that's not all she does. In the past two weeks since our return from hols, she has touched on time, calendars, addition of numbers up to 100, solids, cuboids and factorisation. She's even begun on fractions.

Some of these she does well. Others, particularly fractions, she needs to do more work on. But that's not a problem. She'll cover fractions over and over again in the next few months. Eventually she'll get the hang of them. That's what a spiral programme does. In the mean time she's not held back by her inability to do fractions - she is galloping ahead in multiplication, and her mental maths is better than mine!! She's not doing the same tedious thing over and over, either. There are no pages of busy work - pages and pages of additions up to 10 followed by pages and pages of subtractions up to 10, for example.

I like that because Jemimah likes that. She likes the variety. She likes MEP. Goodness - I can even say that my daughter likes maths!!

Not as much as she likes swimming though!

Blogging issues

I'm only a learner in the blogosphere...

Thanks to those of you who reported the broken links on my organisational posts. I think they're fixed now.

Here are the repaired posts - or you can find them under organisation in the sidebar!

http://ohpeacefulday.blogspot.com/2008/11/buying-books.html

http://ohpeacefulday.blogspot.com/2008/10/our-daily-schedule.html

Please let me know of any other broken links you find!!

Also, I was 'photobucketed' last night. I've repaired that too phew!! What a lot of hard work just keeping this blog under control...it's worse than a recalcitrant child!!

On my bedside table

If you wandered into my bedroom this morning, this is what you'd find on my bedside table:

• My Bose Wave radio playing Mozart's Serenade Number 3;
• A Japanese lacquered tray in black and red holding a carafe of water and a water glass;
• A vase containing a single long stemmed red rose "Mr Lincoln" courtesy of my wonderful husband who presented me with it when we were out at our favourite restaurant for dinner on Saturday night;
• The ubiquitous pile of books.

Now I'll assume that, being CM aficionados, you're more interested in the titles of my books than the provenance of my lacquerware or the proprietary waveguide speaker technology of my stereo, and tell you a little of each one...

Alice by Roberta Kells Dorr

This unputdownable book is a non fiction account of a Palestinian woman Dorrs met in Gaza around the time of the Six Day war in 1967. Subtitled God Still Speaks, the book tells how Alice's faith and prayers impacted the lives of those she touched in almost unbelievable ways.

A Child's Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper

My Bookclub book. A Clever, creepy first novel about a young teacher at a Tasmanian Primary School. A book of adultery and murder, fantasy and reality. I haven't started this one yet but I'd better - bookclub starts again next week.

100 Australian Poems You Need To Know edited by Jamie Grant

This new book of Australian poems was published late last year. It is a great anthology of the best of Australian poetry arranged in order of the author's date of birth. I'm much more fond of the early ballad metres than of the free verse of the post war period, but there are some great examples of recent works as well.

I particularly like this recent poem by Kathleen Stewart (1958-)

The boys get together and do what makes them feel good.
The girls drift along the street writing.
The boys get successful.
The boys leave the girls for other girls.
The girls drift along the street writing.
They have more to write about now.

This is a great bedside table book to dip into most nights!!

The Widow Clicquot by Tilar J Mazzeo

A biography of the woman behind the iconic champagne label, Barbe-Nicole Cliquot Ponsardin.

This is a fascinating book about a fascinating French legend of a woman who entertained Napoléon and Joséphine amongst her other exploits as one of the world's first great businesswomen. She was truly La Grande Dame and I am enjoying reading her story.

The Story of John G Paton told for Young Folks by the Rev. James Paton

Written by Paton's brother in 1892, this is the wonderful story of the Reformed Presbyterian missionary to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). I'm reviewing this for AO3, and am really inspired by this amazing man and his wonderful story. A beautifully written book.

It's fun to read references of men in my home church too!

You'd have to be really cheeky to open the drawers, but inside the top one you'd find my Bible and J. C Ryle's Daily Readings from All Four Gospels. You'd also find hand cream, lip salve, tissues...enough already! I think you get the idea!!

The Heavens Declare...

The spacious heav'ns declare
The glory of our God;
The firmament displays
His handiwork abroad;
Day unto day doth utter speech,
And night to night doth knowledge teach.

Aloud they do not speak;
They utter forth no word,
Nor into language break;
Their voice is never heard;
Yet through the world their line extends,
Their words to earth's remotest ends.

Psalm 19A The Book of Psalms for Singing

Those who are using Jeannie Fulbright's book, Exploring Creation with Astronomy with us this year will want to bookmark The Evening Sky Map.

Being an Aussie, I've printed the Southern Hemisphere edition - there's a Northern Hemisphere map as well. The PDF documents show the night sky, and also tell you where to look for the planets that are visible in a given month. They are updated monthly and are free. Wow!! What a resource!!

January's calendar tells us that an Annular Solar Eclipse will be visible in parts of Australia on Australia Day (26th January). We'll have to get our pinhole camera up and running for that one!

Beat the heat!

When I was first trying to understand AO, I read a wonderful article by Donna-Jean Breckenridge, which described a typical day in her family homeschool. It amounts to some 17 pages. I thought today I would try to tell you about our day - not 17 pages worth, but an introduction to AO our way.. Let's see how we go! Hope it's a good day !!

My day started this morning when I got out of bed, let the dog out, took some photos of a lovely green shield bug, Palomena prasina, that had taken refuge from the heat in our kitchen, made a cursory check of the night's email and had a quick dip in the pool. I did some stomach crunches, showered, dressed, made the bed, dried my hair and was out the door to "bucket water" the pot plants and refill the bird baths. The forecast is 45° Celsius - that's 113° Fahrenheit - and the birds are all flying around with their little beaks open, they are so hot and thirsty. We have Stage 4 water restrictions here because of the drought, but a local exemption allows us to water pot plants with a bucket. Lucky - not much survives in this heat otherwise.

Jemimah rose while I was outside and she came and joined me dressed in her bathers. She bucket watered the Children's Garden with water from out tank while I attended to the Kitchen Garden...can't have those tomatoes curling up their toes, can we?

Back inside we ate breakfast of fresh cantaloupe followed by sour dough toast and Vegemite with apple juice and I had my first espresso coffee of the day. A load of white washing went into the washing machine. Jemimah tidied her room and made her bed.

Our first block of school came next - devotions and prayer, memory verses and catechism, our song - today it was our folksong - Scarborough Fair, followed by Advance Australia Fair, our National Anthem. (Jemimah always has trouble with the second verse so we thought we would sing it daily for a while.) Both of these songs are contained in her School Songbook together with French folksongs and French and English Psalms, but she is learning them off by heart. We play the tunes on the computer using iTunes.

Copywork came next. We are working on the poem Walking to School by Ethel Turner from the Victorian Readers Third Book. Last year I would print out each day's copywork selection using the Victorian school font installed on our computer. This year she is writing her selection directly from the printed book and is doing a good job. She has an alphabet chart to refer to if necessary, but doesn't need it often. While she wrote, Bach, our term composer played in the background - the Goldberg Variations today. I had another coffee here somewhere. (Did I tell you I love my coffee machine?) The white washing was transferred to the clothesline. It won't take long to dry in today's heat. A load of dark socks and things go into the machine.

It was off to the local swimming pool for Jemimah's VicSwim lesson next. Generally we walk but not today. Too hot already. She is doing really well with her lessons, and is working on her breaststroke at the moment, along with 'survival backstroke' - a very funny stroke, I must say! This excellent programme runs for three weeks - we are half way through. She loves catching up with her local friends here too. Her public school friends are on summer holidays, so this is a good opportunity to have a chat.

In to work next. I had a meeting with Bob the maintenance man to decide where to mount a plaque at the entrance to the building. Bob also needed to inspect my car - it is due for renewal soon. I also needed to do some finance duties and look at the applications for a new position we are advertising at the moment.

Jemimah was straight into the pool when we arrived back home. She then picked some lovely tomatoes and basil for lunch - bruscetta again - followed by fresh strawberries still warm from the sun. Another coffee - the last of the day. Three only...not bad...must be the heat... Jemimah cleared the table; I tidied the kitchen.

Back into the study for another school block. A chapter of Jemimah's reading book is next, followed by a read aloud, the first chapter of Understood Betsy, a favourite of mine when I was young. We are using my old copy. Printed in Australia in the 70's, my copy is just called Betsy. It is old and fragile (a bit like me). I hope we both last the distance... Jemimah's narration of this book involved a discussion of the characters. The question I asked her was:

Who is in this story? Tell me about him/her.

Jemimah often has difficulty with proper names. This will help her with them right at the beginning of the story.

Next in the timetable was Old Testament. We read Exodus 2:1-10, the birth of Moses. Jemimah retold the story as her narration and then answered the Scripture catechism questions that related to the passage we read. Next in that block I read her a poem - the amusing Jim Jay from Walter de la Mare's Peacock Pie. Afterwards she worked on her Astronomy notebook, colouring the planets and naming them. We made a start on a mnemonic to remember the planets in order:

Many Virtuous Elephants Made Jam Sandwiches Until Nicely Protesting!

Astronomy was hot and thirsty work...it was time for another dip in the pool...for both of us this time! The talk of jam sandwiches had made us hungry too, and we both enjoyed a well earned ice cream for our labour!! French music played on the deck lending quite an exotic ambiance.

After a quick shower, it was on to the final school block. Our second read aloud - The Burgess Animal book for Children this time. Jemimah narrated on this question:

What can you tell me about Peter and Jumper's relations?

This allowed her to recall their names and to tell as much as she could about each. We looked at pictures of each in a book put together by a wonderful AO mum (whose name I have forgotten).

Ten minutes of recorder practice followed and then into the kitchen for maths. We're doing MEP - the four times tables and an introduction to fractions. We did some pages of our Calendar Maths too, in both French and English.

There was only time for a quick French story today - we read a chapter from Je Sais Lire by G. Gladstone Solomon 1932 and Jemimah attempted a narration on French. This is pretty hard, but she did okay. We will do more work on this next time.

Our timetable lists nature study next, but all of our swimming today put paid to that idea. We've had quite a few nature experiences though - the musk lorikeets have taken up residence in the old pear tree where we can watch them from the pool. More formal nature study can wait until next week.

We're off out for dinner tonight - some dear friends are taking us out for a belated birthday celebration. There's only time for a quick tidy of the kitchen and study before Daddy arrives home and it is time to leave.

It has been a good day...no, it has been a great day!!

It is worse to be afraid of the light

Jemimah is afraid of the dark. Lots of kids are. Charlie Cobb is afraid of the dark too.

Charlie is a little boy in R. C. Sproul's allegorical tale for children, The Lightlings. In the book, Charlie asks his grandfather:

"Grandpa, why am I afraid of the dark? And why do so many people I know seem to be afraid of the dark, too?

Grandpa looked at Charlie and said, "That's a very good question. But you know, not only are lots of people afraid of the dark, many people are afraid of the light."

"Afraid of the light?" said Charlie. "Why would that be?"

Grandpa's answer comes in the form of a story - a wonderful story about whimsical fairylike beings called lightlings who shine brightly. With them he tells the true story of the Fall of Man. Let me see how well I can narrate the tale...

The lightlings live in a beautiful garden prepared for them by their creator, the great King of Light. One day something terrible happens - the lightlings decide to do what they want to do instead of what their King commands them to do. At the very moment they sin, their lights start to dim and they are filled with great shame. They leave the garden, and hide themselves in the darkest place they can find, away from the King of Light.

The lightlings are now afraid of the light because they know that wherever the light is, there the King will be, and they don't want their King to see them in their shame. The lightlings are forced to feel their way through the forest as if they were blind. They trip and fall. They can no longer tell day from light. It is an awful life.

One day the lightlings see a far off light through the trees. They are afraid, fearful that the King of Light is coming to punish them for their sins. But the light isn't the King. It is a tiny baby lightling - a lightling who is shining like the sun. It is the King's special gift.

The baby is the Son of the King of Light.

The lightlings begin to worship the Son in fear and reverence. When they stand up again their faces are shining too, but their light is not coming from within them - it is a reflection of the light coming out of the baby. They rush home to tell their story. Their light lights the forest once more. They can run without falling.

They are no longer afraid of the light. It is much better than the darkness they've been living in for so long.

The grandfather concludes the story and explains its meaning to both Charlie and the children reading the tale. It works really well.

Jemimah didn't love the story the first time we read it - it grows on you! She certainly understood the simple allegory though, and she continues to ask searching questions on each rereading.

Teaching our kids the truth about Jesus is a huge responsibility and one I take very seriously. I have never read a story that explains the need for redemption so clearly to even the youngest of children.

I thoroughly recommend this book. R. C Sproul is a very clever man.

P.S. It's $43.95 from Koorong.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

So...the photos of the happy day!

Birthday lunch of Bruscetta made with home grown tomatoes and basil served on sour dough toast...delicious!

The presents await!


The main dishes


Sparklers instead of candles on the cake...see the excitement in Jemimah's eyes!

Jemimah and the very special man himself.

Secret Women's Business...Shhh

Shhh...Strange happenings are afoot amongst the lady folk here today. The reason? It's His Lordship's birthday and we're planning a suprise!! Don't tell, will you!!

The kitchen is abuzz - here's the menu...

Entree
Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls with Prawns

Main Course
Fragrant Shanghai Soy Duck
Coconut Rice
Steamed Bokchoy in Oyster Sauce

Dessert
Chocolate Birthday Cake
Raspberry Coulis
Fresh Berries
King Island Cream

Afters!
Coffee and Chocolates

Jemimah is cooking this special surprise meal for Daddy as part of her Kitchen Garden subject - one of our favourite homeschool activities. There are a number of links to this wonderful subject in our sidebar if you want to learn more about what we do.

Grown our Kitchen Garden:

Vietnamese Mint
Mint
Basil
Coriander
Tomatoes
Bokchoy
Green and Red Mignonette Lettuce
Strawberries

Jemimah has wrapped the presents and designed the card, and she has set a festive birthday table with all of Daddy's presents set in front of his setting. It looks beautiful! The Colour scheme is gold and green (the Birthday Boy's favourite colour), and we have coordinating serving dishes so the food will look its best.

We're having a wonderful time - we'll be sure to post pictures!!

Bon Anniversaire Papa!!

Beautiful blue eyes

Miss Jemimah accompanied me to the hairdressers yesterday, where she occupied herself by examining her reflection carefully in the mirrors...

Her: Guess what, Mummy?

Me: Yes, darling?

Her: My beautiful blue eyes don't fit in my eyeball!

Hairdresser and me in unison: Pardon?

Her: Well, you can't see the top and bottom of my beautiful blue eyes - they don't fit in!!

She's lucky really - Exophthalmus is a medical condition that she will do better without!!

Ah! As Art Linkletter said all those years ago, Kids really do say the darndest things!!

Happy Birthday Downunder Lit!!

There is an occasional mum who does so much for the Australian homeschool community that you wonder how she has time for her own family...and yet she seems to manage that as well.

Michelle Morrow is one such supermum.

Michelle's amazing company, Downunder Literature is celebrating its anniversary online today! Launched two years ago (where has the time gone?) with a small range of Australian literature copybooks, Michelle now stocks a whole variety of Australian homeschooling products.

All of Downunder Lit's products are fantastic, but of particular interest to Australian AOers and those following Charlotte Mason's methodologies are these in particular:

• All of the wonderful copywork books but particularly the Downunder Copywork books filled with sections of great Australian living books;


• The Wonderland of Nature by Nuri Mass;


• A Bush Calendar by Amy Mack;


• Our Sunburnt Country: An Illustrated History of Australia by Arthur Baillie


• I like the Downunder Dictation and Teacher's Guide - but only for the dictation passages, not the additional work and questions.

Today marks the launch of Downunder Literature's new website - take a look - it's great!!

Happy Birthday, Downunder Literature...and thanks for all you do for us, Michelle!

One Lovely Blog Award

Like most people, I always appreciate having my hard work recognised. A really big thank you, therefore must go to Emma of Fly in Freedom, for presenting A Peaceful Day with the One Lovely Blog Award! I feel honoured and slightly overwhelmed!

After some thought, I'm passing the One Lovely Blog Award on to the following terrific blogs:

Lisa at Hopewell Takes On Life!
Lynne at Raising Little Shoots
Jeanamarie at Unbecominglily
Mama Squirrel at Dewey's Treehouse
Jamie at Rose Cottage
Michelle at Enduring Prize
KAlexaLott at Graceful Girlhood

Now each of these blog owners can feature the One Lovely Blog Award on her site, and pass the award on to seven blogs of her choice.

Thanks, Emma!

Astronomy freebie!

Why did not somebody teach me the constellations, and make me at home in the starry heavens, which are always overhead, and which I don't half know to this day?

Thomas Carlyle 1880

We're using Jeannie Fulbright's book, Exploring Creation with Astronomy this year.

Those of you who are planning to use this book with us may be interested in today's Freebie of the Day - The Stars and Their Stories - A Book for Young People, written in 1918 by Alice Mary Matlock Griffith.

This children's astronomy book introduces the major stars and constellations in the night sky with star charts & illustrations, but the reason the book interests me is that it then goes on to tell the legends of how the heavenly bodies were named. There is great poetry for copywork too.

These classic stories and historical articles will really make astronomy come alive!!

Grab it today only at:

www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com

If you haven't already signed up for the Erskine family's HomeschoolFreebieOfTheDay, you've missed out on some great CM resources - click here if you want to do it now!!

Mastering multiplication musically

Rote learning was big when I was at schoool in the 70's. Every morning we'd chant our times tables out loud. Our eyes would glaze over; the time would drag; the naughty kids down the back would play up - but at least we would learn. I remember that in later years we would have tables competitions. The teacher would write a multiplication fact to start at, and we would see who could write out the most equations from that point on. I often won...I always was a quick writer.

When I was in grade 5 we went on our first overseas trip. I learned far more than I missed during my time away from school, but one thing I never covered was my 8 times tables. I can do all the other tables to this day; I still can't do my 8's!!

Whether you approve of the method or not, most kids my age knew their tables - most kids now don't. I don't know how they survive without even basic mental maths skills.

Now that Jemimah is midway through MEP 2b, multiplication is becoming a daily activity in my life once again. I was keen to make her times tables less painful for her than it was for me, but equally, I was keen that she know them - and know them well.

Rhymes and songs draw on auditory memory. I have found them particularly useful for Jemimah, who seems to learn tunes, songs, and poems easily. All parts of the song - rhythm, repetition, melody and rhyme can all aid memory in their own way. I knew that from learning the Psalms as a child, and it has been reaffirmed by Jemimah's knowledge of Scripture set to Colin Buchanan's catchy tunes. (I even remember learning the Kreb's Cycle in second year biochemistry by singing it to a familiar tune!) I was rather hopeful that a recording of the times tables might do the trick in the same way.

The problem was finding a recording that was palatable to both her and me...after all to learn it we both have to listen to the thing!!

I'm pleased to announce that I have finally found the perfect CD - perfect for its purpose, anyway!!

Musical Times Tables, by Playschool's Don Spencer and Terry Murray, is a compilation of fun songs for kids sung with an Aussie accent. Each song is merely the maths facts set to music, and each table is repeated three times in a row to aid memory. It has only taken Jemimah two days to get her 2s, 3s, and 4s straight! Pretty impressive I think.

We have been listening to the CD a couple of times a day this week, and I'm still not sick of the thing - high praise indeed from me!! Goodness...I may even learn my 8s...now that would be something to write home about!!

Mima

Jemimah is my name,
But oh, I have another;
My father always calls me Meg,
And so do Bob and mother;
Only my sister, jealous of
The strands of my bright hair,
'Jemimah - Mima - Mima!'
Calls, mocking, up the stair.

Today's offering from Walter de la Mare, this term's poet!

(With a slight change to the spelling for obvious reasons!!)

Our AO1 Booklist

This one's for Louise and Sarah!

I have been encouraged to post the books we actually read in AO1.

Our booklist followed the Ambleside Online list with very few variations in this year - it is merely our Australianised version!

Bible
We read Genesis and the Gospels.

Devotions
We used a number of wonderful books here. I'll post on these separately.

History
Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula
An Island Story by H.E. Marshall
* ** Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin
*** Viking Tales by Jennie Hall

American History Biography
* Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D'Aulaire
** George Washington by Ingri D'Aulaire
*** Buffalo Bill by Ingri D'Aulaire

Geography
Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling

Natural History/Science
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock
James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot
Old Bob's Birds by CK Thompson
*** Maggie the Magnificent by CK Thompson
The Wonderland of Nature by Nuri Mass

Phonics
Home Start in Reading by Ruth Beechick
The I Can Read series of graded readers
The Victorian Readers Book 2

Mathematics
We're using MEP

Foreign Language
We used heaps of resources for French!

Poetry
* A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
** Now We Are Six/When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne
*** The Oxford Book of Children's Verse Iona and Peter Opie
***(If you haven't already done it, I would substitute A Book for Kids by C J Dennis here.)

Literature
The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty

Australian Literature
Dot and the Kangaroo by Ethel Pedley
The Way of the Whirlwind by Mary Durack

Additional Books for Free Reading
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibbs
Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
Peter Pan (or, Peter Pan and Wendy) by James M. Barrie
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire

What's playing on my iPod?

We teach Jemimah French using what is often called the guided total immersion method. Using this method, scheduled French lessons are only a very small part of our foreign language study each week, and are used mainly for learning new vocabulary.

In addition to the scheduled times though, we do heaps. We sing French folksongs and Psalms, learn memory verses in French and read French living books. We learn chants and rhymes, play games and activities, and watch French DVDs. We do maths and nature study in French and often speak in simple French over dinner.

As part of our French studies we have collected a number of children's CDs of songs and stories and we have uploaded these to Jemimah's iPod along with English language folksongs, her times tables, Colin Buchanan, and other great stuff we hope she may learn. The foreign language CDs allow her to hear French spoken by native French speakers. They allow her to hear differences in how the language sounds and to develop her accent. Even before she learns a song she will hum along to it and sing the repetitive parts - often with remarkable accuracy.

We also play French songs during the day. Now I don't mind children's songs during school - some of them are actually quite good fun, but I draw the line at playing them through my house at other times. So do our friends!!

Over the years we've managed to build a fine collection of CDs in French - music that we enjoy listening to. Most of these we have purchased on journeys to France, but there are a few that we are listening to at the moment that are worth looking out for:



The French 'First Lady' is not only a President's wife, world famous model and the former face of Guess? jeans; she's also a pretty good singer as well!! When she released her first single, Quelqu'un m'a dit, the music press in her adopted city of Paris were rather unimpressed. Not so the general public. Despite the reviews, the album sold more than a million copies in France alone. Carla certainly proved that she is much more than just a clothes-horse.

Bruni‘s current album, Comme Si Rien N’Etait (2008) is easily available in Australian record stores now.

Italian born Carla's French is clearly spoken, and is easy to sing along to. Mind you, the subject of her songs are not quite the type of songs I would have Jemimah listening to in English - In the song Ta Tienne she speaks to a man, presumably her husband, as she sings “I, who used to make men dance, I give my whole self to you”. She relates the intimate details of her life with her trademarked openness, telling of former lovers in L’Amoureuse and confessing that her love for her man is akin to a drug addiction in a track titled Tu Es Ma Came which translates as something like "You are my smack.” I don't listen to this type of lyrics in English songs, but my French is not good enough to be offended by this album. If you feel the same, give this a try - I really like it anyway!!



Did you know that own homegrown Aussie chanteuse, Tina Arena, has married herself a French husband and lives in London? Her 2008 French language album, 7 vies is my current favourite CD!!

The French must approve of her - in February 2009 she is to be awarded the Ordre National du Mérite, one of France's highest civil decorations, by President Sarkosy himself! The award recognises Tina's outstanding artistic contributions to France. The Ordre National du Mérite is traditionally only awarded to French nationals however it is sometimes presented to foreigners who make exceptional and outstanding contributions to France. Not bad for a Moonee Ponds girl!!

Tina's French is clear and easy to understand. The translations of the lyrics are included. You can listen to one of the songs from this album on youtube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws67mt0GXnY

I've already done a rave about this one here. There is not a better song to teach the French alphabet...the rest of the album is great too. Kids love it - but they can't sing along to most of it - it's too fast!! This ones a must have - at least the alphabet song!! Download this one from iStore!

And so it's back-to-school...already

We've been on holidays since early November. We've swum, had picnics, been on bush walks, slept late, done lots of gardening, read books - lots of books, and lazed on the back deck by the pool.

We've celebrated Christmas, spent time helping my parents, had a two week holiday away and just generally rested and recuperated from our busy year. We've had a wonderful time.

Tomorrow it's back-to-school.

So what of back-to-school traditions? I remember when I was young the first day of school brought with it much excitement and many self-created traditions. I loved shopping for new school books (nothing' s changed there...) and buying my new school uniform. I remember neatly packing my school bag with all my clearly labelled pens and pencils and covering my books with clear contact paper. On the Sunday night I would lay out my new uniform on my desk, polished shoes neatly placed underneath with fresh white socks inside, and the packed bag to the right. I could hardly sleep for excitement. The next morning I would be up early, and be dressed and breakfasted far earlier than necessary. I loved the first day of school. The funny thing is, I didn't have an easy time of school, and the days themselves don't bring such happy memories to mind, but oh the thrill of the first day remains with me to this day!!

Creating happy memories is important to our family, and family traditions are a great way to enhance that family bond.

So, wadda we do?

First, and most important is the first-day-of-school annual photo.

Have a look at my princess on her first day of AO0 - February 2007:


Here she is a year later on the first day of AO1 - January 2008:

Tomorrow morning we'll add 2009 to the photographic record.

We'll start the morning with a review of our new book list and schedule, and a prayer for the new year, and then over a pot of tea and some cakes we're going to open the stationery package!

Each year I make a trip to the shops alone during the post-Christmas sales to purchase some exciting stationery. No plain covered exercise books for us - ours are pink and purple. I buy new textas, fun pencil cases and cute rulers. Jemimah's nature notebook for 2009 is pink, and her presentation folders are pink, purple and green. They're great and she loves them!!...well she will love them...tomorrow...when she unwraps them.

I'm really excited about our new year of school. I look forward to sharing with you as our year progresses. I'll blog about what's going well, and let you know what we're changing if something doesn't work out the way we've planned. Stay tuned - AO2's going to be great!!

Garden Diary

** 06/05/09 Placed here for storage until I get inspired to write once more!**

06/05/09

The spring bulbs are in. Daffs, muscari, white tulips and hyacinths for the children's garden. Need to order roses before we leave on hols though.

03/04/09

The lack of posting here shows my level of apathy, I'm afraid. Still, that's about to change - the rose catalogues have started to arrive. I am passionate about my roses. I'll let you know what I order.

In the kitchen garden, the coriander is looking fantastic. We've been making bucket loads of basil pesto, and enjoying the thai basil in my favourite thai chicken with basil dish, amongst others.

The autumnal flush of roses is magnificent. Ballerina and Pierre de Ronsard put on a beautiful display together around Easter. I'm so glad I planted them together.

11/03/09
40 points of rain last night (9mls) has made everything look fresh and clean outside. I am feeling inspired about the garden for the first time in weeks (as evidenced by the paucity of Garden Diary entries recently. I haven't even ordered my spring bulbs...today, I promise!

I picked a couple of perfect red roses - one for my best beloved and one for Jemimah to tell them in the language of flowers that I love them both. I've placed the one for daddy in a red bud vase on his bedside table as a surprise when he gets home tonight.

Took advanatage of my renewed interest to cut the finished blooms from the lavender. They've been magnificant all through the hot dry summer but it's time they were gone now. Gave the topiaried lilly pillies a haircut as well.

26/02/09
We've had a few casualties with the hot summer. Surprisingly, most have been in the native garden. We'll need to replace a couple of grevillias from the hedge - always a pain because the sizes are wrong. The star performers here are the new wattles and the boobialla. The latter has grown exponentially over the last few weeks.

In the kitchen garden, the thai basil is now ready to eat. We'll be having it with chicken some time very soon!

19/02/09
The second crop of figs is starting to ripen. They're quite small and a bit dry because of the extraordinarily high temperatures over the last few weeks, but are delicious grilled with butter, brown sugar with a piece of Cadbury's Dairy Milk melted on top of each. We be having some with vanilla ice cream for dessert tonight. Yummy - my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

18/02/09
We cut off the dried out agapanthus heads today - quite a job. They'd been finished for quite a while, but we left them to protect the strappy leaves from the wrost of the scorching sun. It seems to have worked okay.

06/02/09
The New Holland Honeyeaters have discovered the tomatoes! It is so tempting to leave them there - they are such such amusing little things - but Jemimah the Tomato Queen has been diligently chasing them away.

02/02/09
After a week of temperatures in the 40's and up to 49°C on Friday, we've had a number of casualties. Even the agapanthus struggles in that heat.

Amazingly, the gardenias have started flowering again! I've picked a small bunch for my bedside table. I just love the fragrance of this beautiful plant.

The silver-eyes have been visiting the birdbaths en mass. They are such sweet little things - so funny!

28/01/09
Nothing much to report on the garden front. When it's 46°C (115°F), nothing looks very good.

We're just keeping up with the bucket watering and refilling the birdbaths several times a day. I'll let you know what survives!

Still harvesting and eating tomatoes, coriander and basil though!!

18/01/08
The nectarines are ripe!! To me there is nothing more evocative of the long hot days of summer than eating nectarines warm from the tree, juice dripping down your arms!! Think of us now!!! Yum!

We'll be poaching fruit tomorrow!!

12/01/09
With temperatures of over 43° forcast for the rest of this week (that's 110°F!), the garden is looking a little parched...okay then, quite a lot.

Still, the tomatoes and basil are looking and tasting absolutely wonderful at the moment. We had delicious Tomato and basil bruscetta for the birthday lunch today...my favourite summer meal!

The roses are well into their glorious summer flush, and the nepeta still looks fantastic.

I am please that so much looks so good after three weeks away on holidays!!

22/12/08
With the temperature soaring well into the 30's today and 40° predicted for later this week, we took a few minutes to clean out the bird baths as a Christmas present for our feathered friends.

We replace the water on a daily basis right through the year, but this morning we gave them a thorough scrubbing before their top-up. We also popped some small stones in the bottom to ensure that small birds don't lose their footing and drown while we're away.

I don't think the Christmas lilies will last much longer in this heat, but the lavender and aggies revel in the warmth!!

16/12/08
27mm of rain over the weekend - more than an inch! There are still puddles on the ground!

The agapanthus are absolutely perfect!

We have a froth of blue agapanthus down the side garden; lavender in the front and nepeta in the English garden! The cooler spring-like weather of the past few weeks has been wonderful for our garden!

10/12/08
The dainty swallowtails, Papilio anactus, are having a lovely time in the Valerian in the English Garden. The three baby buddlea are just about to burst into bloom; I wonder what butterflies will be attracted to this so-called Butterfly Bush?

Wes has come to give the privet hedges their early summer prune. They always look wonderful with a short back and sides!!

08/12/08
A large limb has come down on the 70 year old pear tree in the courtyard. I wonder whether it was the weight of the abundant fruit or stress from the ongoing drought?

Bit sad.

07/12/08
I am so loving the hundreds of Christmas lilies flowering in the White Garden!

Take a look here!

We picked basil for a tomato, chèvre and basil salad with our BBQ lunch - is there anything more evocative of long summer days than the taste of this beautiful combination?

02/12/08
Gathered a big basket of delicious looking mushrooms from under the Cootamundra wattle.

Pasta with a creamy wild mushroom sauce is on the lunch menu. Yummy!

01/12/08
I wish you could smell the fragrance of the English lavender hedge along the path leading to our front door. It is in full bloom and looks - and smells superb!

In the Kitchen Garden the bok choy is ready to harvest. We'll have Thai style chicken with ginger, bok choy and cashews for dinner tonight...yum!

29/11/08
The first of the Christmas lilies, lilium longifolium 'Snow Queen' have opened their waxy white trumpets releasing their lovely fragrance into the air of the White Garden.

The native boobialla Myoporum parvifolium is covered with white snow.

Christmas is coming in the garden as well!

28/11/08
In the week we've been away the hippeastrums have burst into their glory. The first gardenia opened today - a harbinger of Christmas.

The agapanthus and lavender are only days away.

5.5 mm of rain!!

21/11/08
The musk lorikeets and the wattlebirds continue to torment each other. We will submit the Birds in Backyards "Backyard Biffo" survey about their behaviour later today.

20/11/08
Started dead-heading the roses - one of my least favourite summer jobs.

The delphiniums are flowering beautifully.

19/11/08
Rain - 8.5 mm! Praise God!!

We planted Thai basil and put straw under the ripening strawberries to keep them up off the ground.

A hawk hovered overhead watching us.