13 Dec 2011

Book deliveries!

Did you know that it's now over a year since all of our camera equipment was stolen from the back of our car?

Yup.

I knew at the time that I was going to find it difficult to blog without it, but I didn't realise that we would be without it so long. One day we'll be in a position to replace it again, but in the meantime I'm using a point and shoot that fits on to a clever piece of equipment hubby uses at work. It works quite well, but our computer is on the way out and the camera photos won't upload anymore (among many other problems) which means I have to wait for my clever husband to do it for me when he gets time. Often the inspiration that I have to write a post relating to an immediate event evaporates and I find myself lost for words. So there you are.

I couldn't let the Annual Delivery Of The Book Orders pass without so much as a Hurrah, despite all the problems, so I snapped a piccy of yesterday's stash lying on the floor and posted it to Facebook using Instagram so that I could cut and paste it here. And here they are. Don't they look delicious? Oh, this time of year is just so scrummy.

Some of these are from Amazon; others came via Abe, but they all arrived yesterday. Oh the pleasure those little red and white Australia Post cards can bring to a girl - it's criminal, really.

It is always a bit of a lucky dip purchasing books online. I so much prefer leafing through my books in a real life bricks and mortar bookstore. Jemimah is disappointed by the lack of pictures. Thems the breaks, kiddo, when you grow up. There are a few disappointments for me too. The hardback edition of The Family Under the Bridge that I ordered to replace my flood loss is a poor quality letdown, and a couple of the others are amateurly printed, but these are strongly outweighed by all the beauties. I am particularly inspired by Hillyer's A Child's Geography of the World, which you can see in the foreground. I'll definitely be using that in AO5.

Despite my concern about using Jeannie Fulbright's Apologia books as part of Ambleside Online because of the sheer bulk of work contained therein, as well as the chatty veneer on what is effectively a series of textbooks, I went ahead and ordered the Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology text, believing it would be a great fit for Jemimah's interests right now. I am delighted with it. It is, if anything, even more work than her other books, but I think that by being very selective in the parts of it we use, in will be marvellous. Jemimah has a very well developed 'Busywork' meter, and so I will allow her to chose which, if any, of the myriad activities she will do. I will not expect written narrations from this book, and nor will we plough through it at the incredible pace that Fullbright recommends. I've yet to decide where we will do the Christian Liberty Nature Reader that is part of AO5, or whether that will be overkill. I'm inclined to think that it may be, but I haven't looked closely at the reader yet.

I've been working hard on my plans for AO5. Despite appearances, it is now only a few short weeks before we begin the new year on January 9th, and I'm not ready. I'll post the schedule when it's done. I'm finding the Australianising of this year difficult to be honest. I've finally decided on Term 1: Expansion and Exploration, Term 2: Gold, Bushrangers and Federation, Term 3: WWI, but I haven't get managed to fit it all together. I haven't decided on the history bios to include either - nor which books in the AO line-up to replace.

Having the books here to look at will help in that I feel, although it is frustrating to purchase books and not use them. Many of these I will add to the Free Reads pile though, so we will get some use from most of them.

I am reluctant to talk to you about Christmas since it appears to distress many of you so. We have been reading some lovely books together each day - some new to us, others much beloved old friends. We have particularly enjoyed Madeleine L'Engle's The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas as new-to-us this year. Today we are decorating gingerbread Christmas tree ornaments. So much fun! We're baking flapjack as well. We are listening to Paul McMahon singing Gaudete! with Aussie chamber choir, Cantillation. So beautiful. It is on this CD.

This isn't them singing, but this version is similar. Lovely.



Enough about Christmas before I get hate mail.

I am expecting some further book deliveries in the next few days, along with the arrival of our Mission Monde curriculum and the Minimus readers. I shall post on both of those separately when I've had a chance to have a look through them.

Until then the kitchen and the gingerbread call. Enjoy the music, my book-loving friends.

Love to you all from me.

19 comments:

  1. New here and enjoying your posts. Love that choir and the way the acoustics.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love receiving parcels in the post, DVDs and books are my favourites. As I do most of my shopping online these days I keep Aust Post quite busy! Enjoy your wonderful pile :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. L'Engle's The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas is my favorite. I absolutely love that book :) I'm glad you're enjoying it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. How thrilling!!! Nothing more exciting than books arriving. although my friend's boys startled their mailman with getting excited when the stationary box arrived, they mobbed him shouting, "sticky tape!" we hsers are a weird mob.

    We really must talk Aust hist more, I have some ideas brewing.
    I for one love Christmas chat:)
    Pray one day you can restore your camera equip.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am always happy to talk Australian history with you, girl!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jeanne, if you are planning to use Fulbright's physiology book, you may find that adding in the Christian Liberty reader IS overkill. A quick look at the AO5 weekly schedule (which lists the names of the CL reader chapters) may help in a comparison with Fulbright. Since we studied the human body last year, we're leaving it out -- the study, that is -- this year.

    Hate mail regarding Christmas? Why, whatever for? (she exclaimed, aghast.)

    Enjoy your wonderful books!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yay for parcels of books!! Some of those look delicious. :) We have just returned home laden with some delightful old hardback classics from a second hand bookstore, almost as fun as them arriving at your door. As for Christmas, keep posting Jeanne! We may choose to keep things simple here, but never fear - the bunting is up, the gingerbread is made, Advent is being celebrated, and Bing Crosby is crooning out White Christmas throughout the house! Love this time of year! Mel x

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so excited for you. I love reading these posts, they're my favourite! Can't WAIT to see how you put AO5 together, you are clever! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. We are enjoying lots of the AO5 books this year too! A surprise favourite so far (we're only a couple of chapters into it) is A Passion for the Impossible, the Lilias Trotter biography. I can't say exactly why my daughter enjoys it, but she seems to identify at least with "Lily" as a little girl. The funny thing is that if you dressed her in 1860's clothes, she'd look an awful lot like the photograph of Lily at that age that's included in the book.

    And as far as getting ready for the holidays...the older girls' school schedules and "examinating" (as Anne Shirley says) has been keeping us from making as free with the preparations as we'd like...this happened last year too, that we had to do quite a bit in a rush at the last minute. But we have had a few nice times already, with free concerts and other times when we all managed to be together.

    ReplyDelete
  10. A moment of humour: the verification word on that last post was "resess." If you spell it properly, it's what North Americans call the playtime break during school. (Is it the same word in Australia?) Anyway--yes, that's what we need right now--a bit of "resess!"

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oops--I just remembered that it isn't Anne that says "examinating"; it's her friend Phil. But anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Why would you get hate mail about Christmas?!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Jeanne I have pondered about blogging about christmas because some home schoolers seem to get so uptight about it,and I find it particulaurly hard that one of my friends who has been a very close friend in real life now has anti-christmas ideas too and I always worry she will see my things that disagree with what she believes as aimed at her. But in the end I have decided that my blog is supposed to be about my life, and my life involves the celebration of Christ's birth at christmas, whther he was really born then or not, whther the traditions are man made or not, the heart of our celebrations is Jesus and so I will share what's on my heart otherwise I am not being honest.

    If others are offended by it they are free not to read my blog, simple! Don't hold back from who you are to try and keep others happy, because I have found that we can never please everyone anyway so we should just be ourselves :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Christmas hatemail? Who would be so rude??

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh DoE,
    You'd be surprised. Even though Jeanne and I are quite different when it comes to celebrating Christmas (she does- I don't) we both aren't willing to be divisive over it. But to some people, IT IS an issue - a divisive issue. Which is sad. I don't believe it is a salvation issue whereas others do - which is why they feel the need to be so pointed and so adamant and so... well, you fill in the blanks ;)

    I'm deeply saddened at the thought of our dear Jeanne receiving any negative mail about such things. But I've been blogging long enough to know that some bloggers (myself included) receive lots of emails. I wish more people would email less and comment more- gives more room for discussion and learning then.

    ReplyDelete
  16. No hate mail here! Sincere thanks for being a peaceful oasis in blogland, and hopes for a wonderful year ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  17. IMHO the Nature Reader is not of the same quality as the older nature books. We read it and at the time they didn't mind it, but nothing seems to have "stuck" from it. The Nature Handbook is my pick for what that's worth!! Fulbright paces her books to match a 36 week school schedule for nervous parents who think they have to do that!! They're fine though, but the "I'm so cool you can't call me a TEXT book" prose gets old. Still, when I searched for secular science it was Singapore or the local public school books so I'd take Apologia...

    ReplyDelete
  18. caz 1975: It's distressing that now some homeschoolers here are saying Christmas lights are demonic. Oh come on! First they stole the fun right out of Halloween, now no Christmas lights? Can't you ever just enjoy the fun as...well.. FUN? I never met an adult who wore a Halloween witch costume who became a witch because of it! A Little lightening up would give all Christians a better world profile.

    ReplyDelete

I'd love you to leave me a message. Tell me what you like - and what you don't. Just remember that this is what we do in our family - it doesn't have to be what you do in yours...