AO4 Literature Highlights...right now

Our Australianised version of Ambleside Online Year 4 is turning out to be an awesome year for my Happy Little Vegemite. Which is good, because AO4 has a reputation for being scary and hard and a big leap up from AO3 and we were feeling a bit nervous about it at the beginning.

It's kinda nice to be pleasantly surprised, isn't it?

It is probably the spectacular literature that has us most excited. Currently we're reading Robinson Crusoe and Bullfinch's Age of Fable for literature. Robinson Crusoe's central theme of reliance and dependence upon God's Providence whilst acknowledging the weakness and imperfection of man makes this book a must read Christian classic. In addition, it's a rollicking good yarn. Who amongst us has never dreamed of what he would take to a dessert island? (My husband and daughter, my kindle, some crates of Champagne and a few boxes of Godiva chocolates to start with...) Bullfinch, too is a classic, this one a compilation of the myths of ancient Rome, written with 'the charm of a storybook' to aid in the understanding of the allusions to the myths in literature and erudite conversation:

Our work is not for the learned, nor for the theologian, nor for the philosopher, but for the reader of English literature, of either sex, who wishes to comprehend the allusions so frequently made by public speakers, lecturers, essayists, and poets, and those which occur in polite conversation.

In Australian Literature we're reading Frank Dalby Davison's Children of the Dark People. Aboriginal experts nowadays deplore this book,written in 1936, but I don't. The story is about two Aboriginal children, Jackadgery and Nimmitybelle, who are separated from their tribe by an evil witchdoctor. The children eventually find their way back home with the aid of the spirits of the bush, in particular, Old Mr Bunyip, the guardian spirit of the land. The story is more a Western fairy story with Aboriginal overtones than a true story of Aboriginal life or religion, but the book has provided us with an excellent launching point for discussions on Aboriginal spirituality and philosophy, and Jemimah's insight into what makes a book really Aboriginal have been outstanding...for a white girl.

Our bedtime read is Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien. Okay, I know that this isn't an AO book, but it should be!! It is an exceptionally good story about a widowed mouse who enlists the aid of a group of rats to save her house - and ultimately the life of her son, Timothy - from the destruction of the farmer's plough. As soon as Mrs Frisby enters the rats' abode, she realises that these are no ordinary rats. They have electric lights to begin with, and radios and lifts and libraries. These rats teach their youth to read! These rats are clearly very special rats. They also seem to know an awful lot about Mrs Frisby's late husband. In fact they appear to know him far better than she does. The secret of the rats of NIMH is a deliciously unexpected one, but I'm not going to tell you what it is. You absolutely have to read this book!!

Our Australian literature family read aloud (well, it was until last night when we finished it) is the second in Mary Grant Bruce's Billabong series, Mates at Billabong. This is my favourite of the entire series, and Jemimah and her Daddy adored every word of this delightful book in turn. It's the story of Norah's last nine weeks of freedom at home at her beloved Billabong before she is to go away to Melbourne to school. Norah is determined to enjoy every last moment, but is somewhat disappointed when she discovers that she is going to have to share her last weeks at home with city cousin, Cecil, who is being sent to the country to recover from his recent illness. Read about Cecil's arrival at Billabong here:

In the garden at Billabong walked a slim youth in most correct attire. His exquisitely tailored suit of palest grey flannel was set off by a lavender-striped shirt, with a tie that matched the stripe. Patent leather shoes with wide ribbon bows shod him; above them, and below the turned-up trousers, lavender silk socks with purple circles made a very glory of his ankles. On his sleek head he balanced a straw hat with an infinitesimal brim, a crown tall enough to resemble a monument, and a very wide hat band. His pale, well-featured face betrayed unuttered depths of boredom.

The click of the gate made him turn. Coming up the path was a figure that might have been plaintive but that Norah was so immensely amused at herself; and the stranger opened his pale eyes widely, for such apparitions had not come his way. She did not see him for a moment. When she did, he was directly in her path, and Norah pulled up short.

"Oh !" she said weakly; and then–"I didn't know anyone was here."

The strange youth looked somewhat disgusted.

"I should think you'd–ah–better go round to the back," he said condescendingly. "You'll find the housekeeper there."

This time it was Norah's turn to be open-eyed.

"Thanks," she said a little shortly. "Were you waiting to see anyone?"

The boy's eyebrows went up. "I am–ah–staying here."

"Oh, are you?" Norah said. "I didn't know. I'm Norah Linton."

"You!" said the stranger. There was such a world of expression in his tone that Norah flushed scarlet, suddenly painfully conscious of her extraordinary appearance. Then–it was unusual for her–she became angry.

"Did you never see anyone wet?" she asked, in trenchant tones. "And didn't you ever learn to take your hat off?"

"By Jove!" said the boy, looking at the truculent and mud-streaked figure. Then he did an unwise thing, for he burst out laughing.

"I don't know who you are," Norah said, looking at him steadily. "But I think you're the rudest, worst-mannered boy that ever came here!"

She flashed past him with her head in the air. Cecil Linton, staring after her with amazement, saw her cross the red-tiled verandah hurriedly and disappear within a side door, a trail of wet marks behind her.

"By Jove!" he said again. "The bush cousin!"

These innocent, clean books with their good morals, positive character traits, and excellent role models, are must reads in our homeschool. We're reading them slowly - one each year - in the same way that children had to read them when they were first published at that rate. Love 'em.

Jemimah's current read-aloud - the one she's reading to me so that I can enjoy it with her - is The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford. We've only just finished reading Lassie Come-Home ( an AO4 free read) as a read aloud, so we've been able to have some excellent discussions on the similarities and differences between these two extraordinary animal journeys. Lassie is our favourite...what's yours?

Of course, these are not the only read-alouds that we have on-the-go at the moment. Also on the list of adored books are Edith Nesbit's The Railway Children; Charlotte Yonge's A Book of Golden Deeds; the humorous stories of Lucretia Peabody Hale, The Peterkin Papers (actually, I don't like this book much, but Jemimah and her Daddy both do) and another of Yonge's books, Unknown to History, a beautifully written historical novel with an incredibly convoluted plot of intrigue and treason based on the life of Mary Queen of Scots. We're currently gripped by the description of the Queen's trial in England. Another unputdownable book.

I could go on and on about the delights of AO4 right now. I've already alluded to the fact that Citizenship using Plutarch is going well, but we're also loving our Apologetics text, It Couldn’t Just Happen: Fascinating Facts About God’s World by Dr. Lawrence O. Richards. Imagine - Christian Apologetics at the age of nine! In Science we're learning how water finds its own level - a concept that Jemimah finds easy to apply to our recent floods, and studying volcanoes and earthquakes using Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley. I was initially a little worried about this book, since some homeschooling mommas whose opinion I respect had written disparagingly of it, but I find its format of a father speaking to his son about natural history lends itself easily to discussions of how the author's beliefs differ from ours, and the timing of the readings, just at the time of the Christchurch Earthquake and the Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami has been nothing short of Providential. I personally have learned so much!!!

Okay, now I'm going to stop. I've still to tell you about the successes we're having with Mimimus for Latin and L'Art de Lire for French, and Grandpa's Box for Devotions, but I suspect that you all lost interest ages ago and that I'm now just typing for myself. Do let me know if you'd like me to talk about something in detail. I'd be delighted to gush a bit more.

By the Way, there's a direct link to Ambleside Online on the tab at the top of my blog if you'd like to learn more about the curriculum I'm so enthusiastically positive about.

Until next time...

On the telly today

I'm watching Raintree County staring Elizabeth Taylor. She was so exquisitely beautiful in this film, wasn't she?

Note to self - must watch National Velvet again soon.

Where's the Popper family?

Don't tell me they've made Mr Popper a bachelor!!

Like many before us, Jemimah and I really loved Mr Popper's Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater. It was one of the first books she read by herself, and were really looking forward to seeing it brought to life in film. Having seen this trailer though, I'm somehow not too sure that we'll like it much at all.

You?

Forgive me for harping on...

The mighty media machine has a short memory, moving from story to story as quickly as a hyperactive infant.

Early this year we watched transfixed as Brisbane flooded. We saw the same piece of horrific footage over and over. We heard the victims' personal stories, and sympathised with them over their inundated homes. We watched with admiration the galvanising of the volunteers and the magnificent clean-up effort. Our television were as saturated by the floods as the houses were.

The magnitude of the flooding of Queensland's Capital City overshadowed other areas that were flooding at the same time - the slow insidious filling of the Fitzroy River that covered Rockhampton with water for weeks, bringing Ruby's daughter and her young family back home to live with Mum and Dad when it flooded her home, and the terribly fast flooding of the Avoca River in Victoria that totally decimated the small peaceful community that we call home.

In those first terrible days just after the flood, my husband dropped into our local hardware store in Melbourne to purchase some occy straps with which to secure a load of bookcases to replace those that had been destroyed. We were still reeling from the incredible magnitude of this disaster on our home, and still a long way away from coming to terms with what it would mean to our family. Anyhow, back to the story. As hubby was making his purchase, the store assistant happened to ask him why he was wanting the straps. "Do you really want to know?" inquired husband? "Yes, I really do," responded the assistant. My husband then went on to briefly explain that our home had been destroyed in the North Victorian Floods, and that we had been buying a few bits of furniture that we needed to safely transport home. "Oh, I've had enough of the floods now. I've heard too much about them. I can't be bothered any more." He then charged my hubby full price for the occy straps.

And hubby wiped tears from his eyes and learned not to talk to strangers about what we were going through.

A couple of short weeks later, at the beginning of February, Australian eyes were once again glued to the telly as Cyclone Yasi made its way closer and closer to the Queensland coast. Yasi was so large it would almost cover the United States, most of Asia and large parts of Europe. Its core was over 500km wide and its associated activity stretched 2000km. The flood victims were forgotten, as relief appeals were launched for towns at Yasi's epicentre.

We were still camping on friends' dining room floor.

Three weeks later the Christchurch earthquake occurred. Again, the television broadcasted the horror 24 hours a day. Yasi's victims were forgotten as we followed the death toll rise scarily higher. We mourned with the lost and celebrated as each survivor was pulled from the rubble.

We'd been home in our building site of a home for one week. Friends started asking us whether we were back to normal again.

Two weeks later the Japanese Northeastern coast was ravaged by the massive 9.0 earthquake leaving thousands of people confirmed dead, injured or missing, and millions more affected by lack of electricity, water and transportation. People are glued to the telly, and we learn with horror about the threatened nuclear crisis. We hear that it could be the world's worst nuclear disaster. The victims of the Christchurch earthquake were forgotten.

We were busy meeting with the site managers who are working to erect a portable building so that my husband can return to work. We have now been without an income for nine weeks. People have stopped asking us about the flood at all. They've moved on. Why haven't we?

And that's why I'm raising my problems again. Because while the media need to report on breaking news, sometimes we all need reminding that the people in Rockhampton are still hurting. So are the people of Grantham and the Lockyer Valley. And the folk in Tully and Cardwell. And those in Christchurch. They're hurting at the same time as the Japanese in Tōhoku hurt. And I guess I'm asking you not to forget us. Because I'm still hurting as well.

All this has put me in a difficult position when it comes to blogging. My life is consumed with what we're going through, and all of you have moved on, and on, and on. I'm afraid you'll think I'm whinging if I keep talking about how I feel and what we're doing to deal with the worst time in our lives. Because we're doing really well, but that's all we've the capacity to handle right now.

Dr Rob Gordon is a clinical psychologist with more than 20 years experience with people affected by emergencies and disasters. In this time, he has advised Red Cross and governments on how to help people and communities as they rebuild and recover from tragedies like Ash Wednesday, Black Saturday and the Bali Bombings. A week or so ago, Dr Gordon came to speak to our peaceful town about the Community and Psychological Responses to Disaster. Dr Gordon had many important things for me to hear. Amongst them were the need for people affected by disaster to talk about what they had been through before they can begin to heal. His research finds that the majority of people who have experienced a natural disaster will need psychological counselling, but that many people will need only one session. He reminded us not to work so hard at rebuilding what we have lost that we lose what we still have. Finally he told us something that brought gasps from his audience. He estimated that recovery from natural disaster takes not seven weeks, or even seven months, but actually between five and seven years!! Recovery from natural disaster is not a sprint but a marathon.

When it comes to recovering from the floods that decimated our peaceful community, we're barely off the starting blocks.

I don't know what the future holds for us. Getting my husband back to work is the next step. That'll at least get our days sort of onto an even keel again, as well as generating an income. After that we'll look at filling some of the holes in our walls in an attempt to reduce the number of mice and locusts sharing our home. Twice Jemimah has been woken with locusts landing on her face. Not nice. In common with most of the other kids in our peaceful town, Jemimah is displaying definite signs of stress since the floods. She is having trouble sleeping and becomes more easily frustrated. As her parents we see a need for constant reassurance and attention. The kids, along with their parents need time to process what has happened in their own lives, and to come to terms with the losses that affect us all.

Last week a local volunteer delivered to our front door the lovely patchwork quilt shown in the above photo. It was for Jemimah, and was part of a large shipment of similar quilts that had been delivered to our community by a group of unknown women just because they wanted us to know that they remember and that they care. They couldn't have thought of a better gift. Jemimah takes her quilt everywhere. Occasionally it lies on her bed, but mostly you'll find her wrapped in it in the kitchen as she does school or generally just snuggles. A home is where you feel safe and secure, and this quilt goes some way to help her feel at home again. It is a lovely gift.

Sarah London remembers us too. She recognises the need to inject some sunshine and colour into the lives of those affected by the floods as they begin to re-build and start over, and is asking for donations of granny squares which she will make up into blankets to be distributed to those affected throughout Queensland and Victoria, providing comfort and colour and a reminder that there is always a rainbow after a storm. If you would like to help, you can read more about Crochet a Rainbow on Sarah's blog.



I'm going to try and write some posts on things other than the floods in coming weeks. I want to bring you up do date with the wonderful things that we've been doing in homeschool, and to let you know how we're going with Australianising AO now that we've reached the discovery of Australia. It's going really well, and I would like to tell you more about it. I also want to show you Jemimah's and my current knitting project, and introduce you to Ripple. I want to review Ann Voskamp's new book (am I the only person who does not like it...at all?), and Sophie's Misfortunes (don't like it either), and the new Our Australian Girl series(which I do). I want to tell you what else we're reading, and how St Pat's day went, and what I got up to with Joyfulmum this afternoon. I want to talk to you about witches too. Truly. So I'm going to try and do that.

Don't think that things are back to normal. They're not, but if it is going to take me seven years to recover, then I'll not have many readers left if I don't focus on something other than my own problems sooner or later, and so this seems like a good time to talk about something else. I'll see how I go.

Thanks for caring.

St Pat's Day

Today we'll be:

• Listening to Mary Black ;
• Baking and eating Irish Soda Bread with lashings of butter and Lyle's Golden Syrup;
• Reading about St Patrick in Trial and Triumph whilst munching on Allen's Lolly Snakes Alive;
• Wearing green and shamrocks and pinching those who don't;
• Drinking green champagne (big people) or green lemonade (small one);
• Feasting on Beef and Guinness Stew with Irish Champ followed by Apple Duff smothered with whipped cream;
• Reading Valley of the Wolves and How Cú Chulainn got his Name;
• Planting sweet peas. (Where did this tradition come from, do you think? Do the flowers suffer if you plant them a day earlier or later?);
• Drinking a toast to all of you, my friends:
  
  Saint Patrick was a gentleman,
  Who through strategy and stealth,
  Drove all the snakes from Ireland,
  Here’s a toasting to his health.
  But not too many toastings
  Lest you lose yourself and then
  Forget the good Saint Patrick
  And see all those snakes again.
  
  'Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!'
  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Are any of you up to anything Irish today?

Praying for Sue in Japan

I'm praying for my real life friend, Sue in Japan after the massive earthquake that hit Japan earlier today. Won't you pray for her too?

Thanks.

We're organising

Our Peaceful Home looks a little like this at the moment:



I'll be back when we've finished.

PS we are now the proud owners of not one, not two, not three, not four but five Expedit Bookcases. Does that make me the Expedit Queen or what?

There's a whole Flickr group of pretty Expedit bookcases. Ours aren't pretty, but they sure are practical.

I couldn't live without my books around me. Could you?

Totally excited

Hello Girlies! (and Nathan...do any other boys read my blog?)

Here is a post of totally happy randomness to match in with the totally perfect autumn day that I view outside my window. This is what is making me excited right now. Totally excited...

...Why is it, do you think, that I start talking like a sixteen year old girl whenever I open blogger? I don't think I ever say 'totally' anything in real life. Like, go figure. (Is that how you correctly grammatise an incorrect sentence like that?)

Anyhow, this beautiful morning I am totally excited...

...about this new book

I am definitely placing an order for this new journal by Jill Bliss. One for Jemimah to study some new art techniques, and probably one for me as well. Jemimah is not happy with her drawings currently - this should help!



...about seeing this tonight



We subscribed, as a family, to the 2011 season of the Australian Ballet before the floods hit, and their beautiful productions should go along way towards making an otherwise frugal year pretty special. We're seeing Madame Butterfly tonight, and I feel pretty sure that it will be difficult to dwell on our present difficulties when immersed in such loveliness as this. Totally excited about this.

...about eating lunch at this restaurant

Actually, it is not the place per se, although Tho Tho is rather good, but we're catching up with good friends whom we've not seen for far too long, and I'm totally excited about that. I'll be eating the Thịt bò nhúng dấm (Beef in Vinegar), as well as some of their legendary Spring Rolls, of course. That's getting me quite excited as well, just typing that.

...about finishing Ripple

Yep, Ripple is totally finished. On Tuesday night I sewed in the last pesky end and she's done. And she's big and beautiful, and I'm totally excited. Stay tuned for the big Reveal shortly. I'm totally excited about my new project as well, a knitted blanket that I'm making with Jemimah. I'm loving that.

...about the way Plutarch is going in our homeschool

Whodathunkit? Citizenship is Jemimah's favourite subject. She's researching things like Roman Triumphs on Google, narrating to Daddy at dinner, and just loving the whole book. I'm loving the way Anne White's Study Guides are working, and I'm also delighted with the Plutarch Study Books I put together for us both, but mostly I'm totally excited that Jemimah is totally excited. That's a pretty good feeling.

...about talking to you

I'm still hanging in here. Some days only just, but we're coping okay. Thanks for your ongoing messages of support - they're so appreciated. Our road to recovery is going to be long and tediously slow, but we're already on our way. We're currently working on getting hubby back to work. They're erecting portable buildings for him to work from on the school oval just across the road from our once-peaceful home, and we're anticipating his first day of work being the 28th March. Pray with us that that might come to fruition, will you? We joke that his work-place will be so close that he'll be able to roll out of bed at five-to-nine and still be on time. It will be good when he's back working again. Good for the budget, but also good for his self esteem. Ten weeks is a long time to be home with the girls.

Until he's back at work it will be difficult for me to post regularly. Hang in with me, will you? I will be back soon. I don't know how those of you with husbands at home manage to blog at all. For me it is almost impossible. (He's outside pruning the hedge right now.) I'm also not keeping up with your blogs. Sorry. I will be back there soon as well. Please let me know if anything exciting happens! I'd hate to miss out!

Anyhow, until then I'll close. So this what I'm totally excited about right now. It's a pretty good list, don't you think? My life might be radically different from what I've been accustomed to, but it is still pretty good.

What's going on with you, my friends? What has you totally excited right now? Do share.