The story of Lachlan Macquarie

I wonder what you know about New South Wales' fifth Governor, Lachlan Macquarie.  If you're like most Aussies, you'll recognise his name because of the things named after him - Canberra's suburb of Macquarie and Lachlan Street, Sydney's Macquarie Street and Macquarie Place and Hobart's Macquarie Street, Macquarie Island south of Tasmania, Lake Macquarie on the NSW coast, the Macquarie River in NSW and the Macquarie River in Tasmania, Port Macquarie, and the Lachlan River to name a few.  Maybe you've sat it Mrs Macquarie's Chair, overlooking Bennelong Point and the Sydney Opera House. The inscription on his tomb on Mull in Scotland names him "The Father of Australia" and yet we know longer know who he is. Should we?

Arriving in Australia in 1810, Macquarie took up the position of Governor vacated by William Bligh who had been deposed by the military during the 1808 Rum Rebellion (remember that?). From the beginning Macquarie saw the colony as both a settlement as well as a penal colony.  "This country," he wrote, "should be made the happy home of every emancipated convict who deserves it." He was frustrated by what he referred to as 'the party spirit' - the class divisions and factional fighting that were so rife in the colony. "Free settler in general...are by far the most contented persons in the colony," he wrote to the colonial office in England.

Macquarie believed that the solution to the convict problem was to put them to work. During his 12 years as Governor Macquarie was responsible for over 250 new buildings, including churches, schools and hospitals.  He built roads and tidied up the design of Sydney's streets. He built Sydney into a city as fine as any in the world. But England was not keen that Sydney become too attractive.  New South Wales was meant as a place of punishment and they worried that people might actually commit crimes in order to be transported!

Macquarie produced the first official currency for the new colony. He authorised exploration of the 'west' beyond the Blue Mountain where well watered grassland and forests were discovered.  It was Macquarie who ordered all traffic on New South Wales roads to keep left. He encouraged the creation of the colony's first bank. He drew up plans for Castlereigh, Pitt Town, Richmond, Wilberforce and Windsor.

The Startling Story of Lachlan Macquarie - Founding Father of Failure by Michael Sedunary and illustrated by Bern Emmerichs goes some way towards introducing Australian kids to the unfairly forgotten  Governor Macquarie.  It's an oddly sophisticated book, and I am not quite sure who its written for.  It is aimed at kids of 10-12, but I suspect that without some prior history knowledge the story would go over the heads of most of them.  It's a long book using complex language and discussing deep questions, and  I suspect that most kids would lose interest long before the end. That said, it is wonderful for use as part of a study of Australian History. It is well balanced, discussing Macquarie's considerable accomplishments with his many less than stellar decisions.  It covers Macquarie's treatment of the Aborigines in a way that is sensitive to our native Australians but without falling into the trap of revising history inappropriately with the wisdom of hindsight and putting our modern worldview onto past events.

Sadly the book paints Reverend Samuel Marsden as a villain, referring to his moniker as 'the flogging parson' and telling the story of the public lending library - which is probably true, but without balancing the considerable good also accomplished by this powerful man of God.  I am saddened by this. So it is not perfect, but in general The Startling Story of Lachlan Macquarie is an excellent book for a child keen to learn more about the early history of our great country and willing to put in the work to understand it.  It is also great for use as part of a history study for school.  Those of you using my Australianised AmblesideOnline will want to grab up a copy for use during both cycles through Aussie history - it is well worth using twice, and who knows how long it will be in print?

The Startling Story of Lachlan Macquarie is the third in a series by this author - illustrator trio and published by Berbay Books.  The first two are The Unlikely Story of Bennelong and Phillip and William Bligh - a Stormy Story of Tempestuous Times.  I haven't seen either of these but I am keen to.  I am sure they would be excellent.

So there you are.  Hopefully you now know more about Governor Macquarie.  Perhaps once you read the book you will be able to decide whether he deserves to be remembered as the father of Australia.  Do tell me what you think. Can a country really have a father anyhow?

Homeschooling at Billabong

To put... (Norah into boarding school)... had been a proceeding much like caging a bush bird, for, until she was fourteen, Norah had known only home and its teachings. And home was Billabong Station, where, apart from lessons that had been a little patchy, she had lived her father's life - a life of open-air, of horses and cattle, and all the station interests. Jim had been sent to the Grammar school in Melbourne comparatively early, and Norah's city relatives, particularly a number of assorted aunts, were wont to deplore that the little girl had not had the same opportunities of polish. But the bond between David Linton and his motherless child had been too strong to break, and the silent man had snatched at every pretext for delaying the pang of parting.

After all, as he told himself, half in excuse, Norah was no discredit to home teaching. In books she might be below average; but of the unvoiced learning that lies beyond the world of books she had, perhaps, rather more than falls to the ordinary schoolgirl. A big station is a world in itself, and the Bush teaching makes for self-control and self-reliance, and a simple, straight outlook on the world that is not a bad foundation of character. Lessons in deportment and manners are not part of its curriculum; but there are a good many ideas in thought and practice that it cultivates half unconsciously. Norah had an almost superstitious regard for doing what Jim termed "the decent thing."

I've spoken before about Mary Grant Bruce's opinions on education, but as Jemimah and I read through the third of the series, Norah of Billabong, I am reminded again of how she makes her opinions clearly apparent in each of her books.

At eleven Norah may only read 'fairly well' and write 'laboriously', but what does that matter -Norah has all the skills she will ever need. She can ride, swim, shoot, muster cattle and kill snakes. She is skilled at the gentle arts - baking and housekeeping - and keeps her father in knitted socks. She has a natural gift for music, and in Norah of Billabong we are told that she danced almost before she walked. She is taken by her family to Melbourne where they attend a pantomime, eat out at fine restaurants and stay at a nice hotel. She knows how to behave in "Society" and at a bush dance, in polite city company and amongst the farm hands whom she regards as friends. She may ride astride rather than side-saddle, but she dresses in white muslin for dinner and consistently displays modesty, good morals and virtues.

Norah is, in short, the perfect young lady.

Or is she? Is this an ideal education, or an idealistic one? Would you be happy for your daughter to grow up like Norah, or do you have higher academic aspirations for your girls? Despite being non-academic, Jim manages to walk away from his years at Melbourne Grammar with the French Prize; Norah manages to win the Music one. Would we be happy with that outcome?

I certainly want more than that for my daughter.

Reluctantly, David Linton - and, I'm guessing, even Mary Grant Bruce herself - acknowedges that a little bit of acadaemia is good for everyone, even Norah, and at 14 she eventually heads down to Melbourne to school, where she achieves acceptable, although not impressive results. Certainly Mary Grant Bruce again, in this, the third of the Billabong novels, points out that book-learning is okay for thems that want it, but that excessive school education is unnecessary for thems that don't.

What do you think? Was David Linton right or wrong in keeping his daughter home merely because he couldn't bear to be parted from her? Do you think Norah benefited or lacked from her somewhat unusual home education? What makes the difference between the education of your children and Norah's? Which, in your opinion is better?

A chat about grammar

We find that, while children are tiresome in arguing about trifling things, often for the mere pleasure of employing their reasoning power, a great many of them are averse to those studies which should, we suppose, give free play to a power that is in them, even if they do not strengthen and develop this power. Yet few children take pleasure in Grammar, especially in English Grammar, which depends so little on inflexion...Perhaps we should accept this tacit vote of the majority and cease to put undue pressure upon studies which would be invaluable did the reasoning power of a child wait upon our training, but are on a different footing when we perceive that children come endowed to the full as much with reason as with love; that our business is to provide abundant material upon which this supreme power should work; and that whatever development occurs comes with practice in congenial fields of thought. At the same time we may not let children neglect...(this)...delightful study. The time will come when they will delight in words, the beauty and propriety of words; when they will see that words are consecrated as the vehicle of truth and are not to be carelessly tampered with in statement or mutilated in form; and we must prepare them for these later studies. Perhaps we should postpone parsing, for instance, until a child is accustomed to weigh sentences for their sense, should let them dally with figures of speech before we attempt minute analysis of sentences, and should reduce our grammatical nomenclature to a minimum. The fact is that children do not generalise, they gather particulars with amazing industry, but hold their impressions fluid, as it were; and we may not hurry them to formulate.

Charlotte Mason, Towards A Philosophy Of Education pp151-2

A bit of a waffle about grammar for my friend, Silvia, who asked. Not that she asked about all that I'm going to tell you, but she did ask the question that got me started.

Charlotte Mason is under the impression that children are not too fond of grammar. She acknowledges this in her first book, published in 1886, and reiterates the almost identical thoughts in Toward a Philosophy of Education written almost 40 years later in 1923. Despite that, we are not to leave off the study of grammar until our children want to learn, but rather we are to prepare them for the time that they will delight in the beauty of words and will want the information that a knowledge of grammar will provide.

Perhaps because of this natural reluctance of the child to study words in any great detail, Miss mason recommends commencing grammar around the age of 10 years of age. She also recommends that "it is better that the child should begin with the sentence, and not with the parts of speech; that is, that he should learn a little of what is called analysis of sentences before he learns to parse; should learn to divide simple sentences into the thing we speak of, and what we say about it––'The cat-sits on the hearth'––before he is lost in the fog of person, mood, and part of speech." (Home Education p96)

Ambleside Online recommends introducing formal grammar in AO4, and so, being a compliant child, that's what I did. I always do what I am told. Ahem.

When we began grammar, I was keen to follow Miss Mason's recommendations fairly closely, but at the same time, I hoped to prevent grammar becoming a drudgery as much as I could. I love grammar. It is conceivably possible that my daughter might like it too.

It is perhaps because of this aim of making grammar interesting, that we have used a number of different methods already in the short while we've been studying formal grammar and I thought I'd tell you about some of them. And answer Silvia's question at the same time. Alright with you?

Simply Grammar

I introduced grammar using Karen Andreola's Simply Grammar for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the text is a revised and expanded edition of Charlotte Mason's own text for grammar, First Grammar Lessons Parts I and II. I figured that if Miss Mason wrote it, it was likely to stick rather closely to her methods. Logical, huh?

Secondly, it was recommended on the AO Yahoo group within a couple of months of my finding AO back when my daughter was four. I was still in that feverish, "This is what I need to make my whole life complete" stage that we all go through at the start. Okay, that I went through at the start. I placed my very first in my whole life Amazon book order pretty soon after, and along with a whole heap of how-to-implement-the-Charlotte-Mason-technique-in-your-homeschool-and-otherwise-change-your-life-in-ways-you-could-never-expect type titles, was Simply Grammar. And then it sat on the shelf for another five years until it was the obvious book to use when I needed to actually teach grammar.

When I finally came to look at it, I didn't like it much. Simply Grammar is basically a reformatting of Miss Mason's original books with page sized 19th century pictures added into the exercises. Personally, I dislike it when Charlotte Mason's techniques are Victorianised like this, and neither Jemimah and I liked the 'boring old fashioned pictures' (her words not mine).

Still, that's what I had, so that's what we used initially.

First Grammar Lessons I and II

In the middle of AO4 I was lent copies of the recently reprinted First Grammar Lessons written by Miss Mason herself without any alterations. You can order them here for $10.00 the set, but apparently it is hard to have them shipped anywhere outside the US. The text of these two little books is basically the same as Simply Grammar without the Victoriana - much more our style.

We used Part I in term 2 of AO4 and vastly preferred the layout to Simply Grammar. If we had had to purchase them, I liked their price better as well!

I like the fact that these original books - and the revised Simply Grammar - are written using the precepts that Mason elucidates in the quotes above. Each short lesson uses a number of predominantly oral exercises to cover subjects and predicates, verbs, nouns, adjectives, and so on, in a slow and thorough way that sinks in and makes sense. As a new part of speech is introduced, some important facts to be learned are provided. Jemimah wrote these into a grammar notebook for copywork as she came upon them.

Little Grammar People

By the beginning of AO4 Term 3, Jemimah had covered subjects, predicates, nouns, verbs and adjectives. It was time for a break and some consolidation. In this final term of the year we read through the delightful Australian book, Little Grammar People by Nuri Mass. You can read my review and how we used this book here.

The book is basically the parts of speech explained in a fairy story. We used the book very simply, reading a chapter covering one of the parts of speech each week. After Jemimah narrated, she thought of examples of each of the different types she'd been learning about, for example personal, demonstrative, relative and interrogative pronouns or common, proper, collective and abstract nouns. Before each week's lesson we review the one before. I was particularly impressed with what she retained from this book.

Unfortunately, Little Grammar People is almost impossible to obtain at a reasonable price. If you can't find it, use M L Nesbitt's Grammar-Land instead.

Mad Libs

After a successful first year, I was reluctant to return to formal grammar this term. Instead we're playing Mad Libs once a week, covering nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and plurals as we play. It is terrific fun, although we do get rather silly. Currently we're laughing our way through Happily Ever Mad Libs. Very silly grammar fun, this.

Painless Grammar

A while ago I was introduced to Painless Grammar and Painless Junior Grammar. The former is written for kids a bit older than Jemimah, who have already studied some grammar. It reviews those areas most likely to trip up young players (and some older ones as well) using humour in the best possible way. I uploaded the free sample chapters of this book onto my Kindle, and Jemimah and I have been having a bit of a read through the chapter on Nouns this week. We like it.

Painless Junior Grammar is written for kids at about Jemimah's level or slightly lower, perhaps. It uses a journey to Grammar World - a make-believe amusement park to introduce kids to the types of sentences, parts of speech, punctuation, capitalisation and abbreviations. I liked it enough to purchase the e-book. I haven't used it yet, but it looks to be lots of fun. I'll let you know.

The funnest bit of Painless Grammar... (Yes, I know that it is probably inappropriate to use incorrect grammar in a grammar post, but it wouldn't be A Peaceful Day if I didn't use at least one hyperbolic neologism, now would it? I digress.)

Anyhow, the funnest bit of Painless Grammar is that there's an iPad App to go with it. Jemimah today managed to unlock the first Cat Level, and she is pretty pleased with herself.

Take a look.

Latin Grammar

And that, finally, is about me done. Except for one last thing.

Latin grammar. Again, Miss Mason has something to say:

English grammar...depending as it does on the position and logical connection of words, is peculiarly hard for him to grasp. In this respect the Latin grammar is easier; a change in the form, the shape of the word, to denote case, is what a child can see with his bodily eye, and therefore is plainer to him than the abstract ideas of nominative and objective case as we have them in English. Therefore, if he learns no more at this early stage than the declensions and a verb or two, it is well he should learn thus much, if only to help him to see what English grammar would be at when it speaks of a change in case or mood, yet shows no change in the form of a word.

Charlotte Mason, Home Education p295

We are not yet up to the nominative and objective cases in Latin, but we have learned about nouns, adjectives and verbs. It is much easier to recognise a noun and a verb in simple Latin that it is in the types of English that we use at this level.

Yesterday we wrote out all the verbs in the little story we were reading, jumbled them up and put them back into the story. The result was a sort of Latin Mad Libs, and it was terribly funny. Recognising the subjects of the sentence and the accompanying verb was easy, and we practiced out Latin vocab at the same time.

So far, grammar is not a groanworthy subject in our homeschool, but it is still early days. Perhaps the day is coming that Jemimah too may join the tacit vote of the majority and argue about that trifling thing called English Grammar. If and when that day comes, I'll let you know.
Then I'll cry.

Then I'll pull out the old Mad libs and see what we can do.

At least at the moment, this very day, grammar is fun.

Do you like grammar? Do your kids? What sooper-dooper wonderful grammar programme have you ferreted out for use? Do let me know!

Pet Shop Maths - the verdict

So the Pet Shop made a profit. $6884.98 profit to be exact. Which isn't too bad over the 'year'.

I last spoke to you about Simply Charlotte Mason's Business Maths Pet Store on Day One of the course - right back at the beginning of term. We were pretty excited. Now that we're at the end I thought you might like to know what we think now.

And we're still happy. For us, this programme was a perfect choice. Let me remind you that I was becoming concerned that Jemimah was moving too far ahead in MEP maths. At the beginning of term three of AO4 she was more than half way through MEP Year 5. I could see her love of maths waning, and I really didn't want that. A term of maths practice seemed a perfect solution.

That's what Pet Shop Maths was for us - maths practice. Now at the end of term Jemimah's adding and subtracting of columns of decimals has improved dramatically. She is able to calculate a percentage by changing it to a decimal and multiplying. She can calculate a percentage increase. She can maintain a ledger and knows what one is for. Most importantly, she has regained a love for maths, and has some idea of how it is used in every day life. The programme was fun and quick. Most days we could get the work done in five minutes, allowing time for some multiplication practice in a quick game of Timez Attack, or to just relax.

In case you're wondering, Pet Shop Maths isn't a full maths curriculum. The skills I mention above are pretty much all it involves. It is best regarded as an adjunct to a regular maths curriculum - or a break from one - rather than as a stand -alone maths programme.

Each 'month' the tasks are the same. By the end of the book Jemimah was bored by them, but by then it didn't matter, she had mastered them and we were done. What she most loved was the random Chance cards that added an element of risk to each month. Would the card be a goodie or a baddie? Would it put us into debt or increase sales? Jemimah loved picking Chance cards.

For me the best bit was removing the angst that seemed to be accompanying maths lessons. I loved the way the books were set out, and I loved how quickly we could get things done.

For us, Pet Shop Maths served its purpose very well indeed.

Minerva and Arachne

By Jemimah

Minerva was the goddess of wisdom and creativity and she was very competitive. Once she was in a competition to win a city, and it was to see who could make something most useful. She made the thing that the gods said was most useful. It was olives. The other god made horses, but they were deemed not as important. So she won the city of Athens because her name in Greek is Athene.

There was another contest too. Minerva was well known for the fact that she was a brilliant weaver. There was also another woman, who was a mortal, named Arachne. She was also a brilliant weaver, and challenged Minerva to have a competition. Minerva changed herself into an old lady and visited Arachne. She gave her some friendly advice and said, “Do not challenge this god. She is powerful and she will beat you. Maybe, if you apologise she will have pity and forgive you." But Arachne got furious and shouted, “Let her come to me. I will have a match against her.” Then Minerva said in her disguise, “She comes,” and dropped her disguise. The girl was shocked but she stood firm. She would not back out.

They started the match and Minerva was sure that she would win. She knew that she was a talented weaver. Arachne, too, knew that she was a good weaver, but was not quite so sure. Minerva wove a tapestry showing how foolish she thought humans were and Arachne made one showing how foolish she though gods were, and she illustrated a few of the faults of the gods. Minerva did likewise, and Minerva was said to be the winner. Arachne was so sad that she died. Minerva took pity on her and said, “Have life.”

Then she turned into a spider. That is why spiders always weave.

Matthew Flinders

A narration by 9 year old Jemimah as part of her Final AO4 examinations. I think she's done really well, despite a few factual errors.

Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders’ father was a doctor, and like most fathers he wanted his son to take on the family job of medical work. But Matthew and his brother had different ideas. They both wanted to be seafarers. But their home was so far away that it would be impossible for them to get a proper seafaring education. But Matthew Flinders and his brother didn’t care. They were going to be sailors no matter what their father wanted.

One day his father took him down to a beach. Matthew was entranced. Now he was sure that he wanted to be a sailor. His Uncle John was a seafarer, but he started late, and certainly didn’t have enough time in his life to become a Captain and make him his Cabin Boy, but he could recommend a man who did have enough power to make him Cabin Boy, and he pointed him in the direction of Captain Pasley.

Captain Pasley invited Flinders to come on a short trip on the Bellerophon. Matthew Flinders had always wanted to sail around the world. He had heard about Captain Bligh and how with incredible fortune he had been able to go right around the world. He had also heard about how he had amazingly managed to survive a mutiny when his sailors wanted to go back to Tahiti because they liked the weather so they captured him and put him in a little boat that was about the size of a row boat, gave him five days worth of bread and water and cast him out. Now you would have though that was the end of Captain Bligh. Not true. Captain Bligh managed to reach Timor safely in 45 days. Captain Bligh was renowned for his crazy personality. He was known for whipping a man for not eating or not eating the lime that stopped him getting scurvy, and yet a couple of minutes later he would be talking to his orange trees. Yes, talking. At one point he put the sailors on rations so that the breadfruit trees got enough water.

Matthew Flinders therefore was fascinated by this man and was amazed when he was offered the chance to sail with him. Of course he said,” Yes,” and he was a brilliant help to Captain Bligh. He sailed for Tahiti and was amused to see that Captain Bligh was delighted with the fact that the orange trees he had planted a small while before on his previous voyage were growing brilliantly. Especially one, which he pronounced delightedly, was thriving! Captain Bligh had been elected to pick up some breadfruit trees and take them to the slaves in the sugarcane plantations because the slaves didn’t have enough food. Matthew Flinders survived the rations in order to keep alive the breadfruit trees and came home to Captain Pasley.

He had not known that while he was away, a war had begun with France. So he and Captain Pasley went out on the dangerous seas to fight. In that journey, Captain Pasley got shot in the leg and was in a serious condition for a while, but he survived. Matthew Flinders went home, amazingly with no injuries, and met a pretty girl called Anne. He fell in love with her, but he was offered the chance to go to Australia with Captain Hunter, and since this was his dream, he could not refuse.

While he was on the ship, he made friends with the ship doctor, George Bass. Mr Bass brought on board with him a tiny boat, only seven feet long called the Tom Thumb. He was planning to use it for exploring, but had been denied the privilege by the Captain, who from kindness more than anything said, “You will surely be dashed to pieces in such a small boat.” But he, with the help of Matthew Flinders convinced him to let them both go in the boat and sail around Tasmania. In doing so they proved that Tasmania was not joined to the mainland. Another thing happened on this voyage – a sad thing. Bass got shot in the arm by a bullet and his arm got infected. It got infected to badly that he was dying. He was on the operating table about to have his arm amputated in a wild effort to save him when he died.

Matthew Flinders was very sad about his friend and he missed him greatly. When he returned home he married Anne, and was dismayed to find out he was leaving again for Australia two days after his marriage. He was very sad, but they comforted themselves by saying that they would meet each other soon – in one year. He wrote many letters to her, and made up a pet name – Beloved Friend.

One of the things that nobody knew at that time was whether Australia were one country or two, and Flinders wanted to prove that it was one. So he went to Joseph Banks and asked him if he would be interested, but he convinced him by using his weakness…more plants. Everyone knew that he loved to discover more plants. Matthew Flinders too advantage of this and explained that if Australia were two continents, there might be different plants on each. He immediately agreed, giving him the permission to have his own ship and he arranged a passe-port to be made so that he might be able to go through the different ports and the war ports without being arrested. Matthew Flinders set off and sailed back to Australia. He proved that it was one country, but he got ship wrecked on his way and with his strong will and some men, in a tiny boat, he managed to sail all the way to Sydney. They gave him a boat and he sailed back to rescue them, but while he was gone they had been making a boat because they said to themselves that if he doesn’t make it we will have wasted all this time. So as a backup they made their own boat. They still used his boat though. Then they went around the other bit of Australia and proved that it was one island.

Matthew Flinders was eager to get home to Anne, so he started the long voyage back home. He knew fine well that the bottom of the boat was rotting and the steel cap on the bottom would not help the leaks, so he stopped off in Mauritius, which belonged to France. Despite his passe-port, the Frenchmen put him in gaol because they thought he was a spy coming to steal their plans for war. He was left in gaol for many years. Finally Joseph Banks convinced them to let him go, although for a long time they had been ignoring him. While he was in prison Matthew Flinders got sick. He was an extremely unhealthy man waiting for someone to care. He had gall stones and sometimes it was so bad he sweated with pain.

He finally arrived home and was glad to be home. His wife was sent a letter saying he was home and she came immediately. While she was travelling, she met a man that had worked with her husband. He warned her that he was not the same as he used to be, and it was a good thing that he did. He was frail and sickly. He was only 36, but he looked 50 and he felt 70!

He started to have his life story written since he knew he was dying. The doctors could do nothing to help him but give him medicine to ease his pain. His wife had a baby. She too was called Anne after her mother. But Matthew was so sick he could not enjoy her much.

Anne did not cry when she heard he was going to die – she had cried enough earlier when he had left her many years in ships and fought battles. He was unconscious and dying when the finished book was placed underneath his hand. He would never know that his book had been finished. He died aged only 40.

Matthew Flinders is also well known for discovering a problem with the compass. He discovered that when metal things were close to a compass they made it change directions. He therefore invented a sort of box with a bar across the back and a round lid on the side. It would block off the magnet and in a way become a magnet itself, therefore stopping the compass giving the wrong directions, therefore making it possible to adjust the compass to correctly point north.

AO4 Booklist

Well Sarah and Louise and Rosemary, here it is. Better late than never, eh? I'll get onto AO3 next. Sorry.

Do tell me what else you need. Don't forget to check the Our curriculum tab above as well. I update that one relatively often.

Does anybody else use my Australianised curriculum? If so, I'd love to know who you are. Please talk to me!

Bible
Grandpa's Box: Retelling the Biblical Story of Redemption by Starr Meade
Big Book Of Questions & Answers About Jesus by Sinclair Ferguson (This book would be better in AO2, but I was a bit slow. It is still good though.)

Jemimah is reading through the Gospel of Mark and keeping a Bible Notebook.

History: 1700's up to the French and American Revolutions
** ***George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster (purchase) 349 pages

Term 1 Aborigines and Discovery
Our Sunburnt Country Ch 1 The Land of the Dreamtime
The Story of Australia Ch 1 A Hidden Country and its People
CHOW Ch 71 Charles I 1600
The Story of Australia Ch 2 The Hidden Land is Found Portugal/Dutch 1605
CHOW Ch 72 Louis XIII 1601-43
The Story of Australia Ch 3 A Dutch Sailor Tasman 1642
The Story of Australia Ch 4 The British come Dampier 1699

Term 2 Captain Cook
Our Sunburnt Country Ch2 New Visitors to an Old Land Cook 1660-1761
The Story of Australia Ch 5 Captain James Cook Cook 1770
CHOW Ch 74 Prussia Frederick 1740-86
Our Island Story Ch 45 Loss of America George III 1776
CHOW Ch 75 American Revolution George III 1776

Term 3 The First Fleet, Matthew Flinders
The Story of Australia Ch 6 British Settlement 1st Fleet 1788
Our Sunburnt Country Ch 3 The Came and Stayed Ist Fleet 1788
The Story of Australia Ch 7 Trouble and Wool Bligh
Our Sunburnt Country Ch 4 Rum and Rebellion Bligh
The Story of Australia Ch8 Bass and Flinders Flinders 1795
Our Sunburnt Country Ch 5 Bass and Flinders Flinders 1795

History Tales and/or Biography
Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula (purchase/purchase for Kindle) [note]
* Children of the Dark People by Frank Dalby Davison
**James Cook : Royal Navy by George Finkel
**Bennelong by Joan Phipson
*** The Little Wooden Horse by Mark Wilson
*** John of the Sirius by Doris Chadwick (Don't pay overinflated prices for this book.)
***Matthew Flinders by George Finkel

Geography
* **They Live in Australia by Eve Pownall
*** The Old Man River of Australia Leila Pirani
***River Murray Mary by Colin Thiele

Natural History/Science

Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley first half
* The Glen, Earthquakes;
** Volcanos, Transformations of a Grain of Soil
*** The Ice-Plough, The True Fairy-Tale, The Chalk Carts
The Storybook of Science by Jean-Henri Fabre (purchase/purchase for Kindle)
Physics Lab in the Home by Robert Friedhoffer (purchase) [note]

Penmanship/Copywork

Selections from our books, Scripture and poetry.
Cursive speed loops and print script for labelling using New Wave Handwriting Book D

Grammar

* ** First Grammar Lessons by Charlotte Mason
*** Little Grammar People by Nuri Mass (Grammarland would be a good substitute for this difficult to find book. Free online.)

Mathematics

* **Select a program that meets your family's needs. We used MEP Years 4 and 5a.
Pet Shop Maths Simply Charlotte Mason

Studied Dictation

Spelling Wisdom British Version Simply Charlotte Mason

Foreign Language

L'Art de Lire
French folksongs 3 per term
French memory verses

Latin
Minimus Primary Latin

Poetry
* Ted Hughes Collected Poems for Children
** Emily Dickinson
*** William Wordsworth

Literature
The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch preface to 14 (Minerva-Niobe)
* ** The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

** *** Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
short works:
** The Drover's Wife by Henry Lawson
*** The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
*** Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
*** Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
***Kookanoo and Kangaroo by Mary Durack

Additional Books for Free Reading
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
Family at Misrule Ethel Turner
Mates at Billabong by Mary Grant Bruce
The Rescuers by Margery Sharp
Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
***Meet Poppy by Gabrielle Wang
Children of Green Knowe by Lucy Boston
Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
Mrs Frisby and the rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien
A Book of Golden Deeds by Charlotte Yonge
Bambi by Felix Salten
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Little Britches by Ralph Moody (Read aloud to edit the language)
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
The Borrowers Afield by Mary Norton
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight
Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
Return To Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Complete Peterkin Papers by Lucretia Hale
** Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare
*** Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
*** The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery (British view of revolution)
Justin Morgan had a Horse by Marguerite Henry

In search of James Cook

Don't you just love it when things work just as you'd planned and dreamed they would?

Jemimah's first year of Australian History has worked like that so far. Which is good, because I can tell you, in a year such as 2011 has been, if it hadn'ta worked we wouldn't still be doin' it. Fact. Which is why we're no longer doing art this year. Well, nothing scheduled, anyhow. We still do handwork, and Jemimah's been doing a bit of pottery work, but that's all. No nature notebooking either. (Shhhhhhh - the CM police will be onto me there - I'll be no longer able to claim that I homeschool using Ambleside Online. They'll expose me as a fraud.) Hey, remember - I'm just holding things together by the skin of my teeth. Being a flood victim is no laughing matter let me tell you.

But back to the subject.

Australian History is good. And I need to tell you about it because my friend Sarah says I haven't written enough about AO4 and that I need to get my act together. Honestly, I've tried! This post has been in draft mode since July. I think part of the problem is that I try to fit everything into one post, and then I get overwhelmed with how long it's taking me and I stop. Without hitting publish. Today I'm going to finish.

Our AO4 Australian History topic in Term 2 was Captain Cook. Here's our booklist for the term:

Term 2 Captain Cook

Our Sunburnt Country Ch2 New Visitors to an Old Land Cook 1660-1761
The Story of Australia Ch 5 Captain James Cook Cook 1770
CHOW Ch 74 Prussia Frederick 1740-86
Our Island Story Ch 45 Loss of America George III 1776
CHOW Ch 75 American Revolution George III 1776

History Tales

James Cook Royal Navy by George Finkel 19 Chapters 1770
Bennelong by Joan Phipson 9 Chapters 1770-1813

You can see how I fitted these into AO's schedule here if you want. Basically, we read Finkel's brilliant book like a spine, one chapter a week throughout most of the term. The first few chapters of Bennelong fitted well into the time period, although his life leads on into the time of Governor Phillip and the First Fleet as well. We read it also at the rate of a chapter a week.

Each week we plotted Captain Cook's journey on our map. This was really quite easy, because earlier this year Jemimah and I made a visit to Captain Cook's Cottage in Melbourne. Truly, there is one. Actually, it is the home of his parents. James had already left home. Anyhow, it's there, and we went. While there we picked up two must-have resources. The first of these was the map that you see pictured on this page. It is a map of Cook's journeys by Lieut Henry Roberts in 1784 produced by Cartographics International for Cooks' Cottage. It shows so much - Cook's three journeys; the coastlines as they were thought to be at that time; the old names for the countries and islands; and even the incorrect longitudes that we read so much of in Finkel's book. This map was a simply marvellous tool for our studies. I heartily endorse it!

The other thing we purchased at Cook's Cottage was a copy of the ABC production Captain Cook: Obsession and Discovery. The DVD contains all four episodes of this miniseries:

Episode 1: A Likely Lad
Episode 2: Taking Command
Episode 3: Beyond Speculation
Episode 4: North West Passage

The first three of these were an excellent adjunct to out studies, and we watched each after we had read about the time period in our books. The fourth, however, the story of Cook's third journey to find the mythical northwest passage thought to exist above Canada, shows a darker side of Cook's character as well as his death. I so wish I had not shown this episode to Jemimah. In fact, I wish I hadn't seen it myself. It is not that I wish to whitewash history here, I hasten to add. I just thunk that the information contained in this episode would be best left for study in secondary school, not now. The first three episodes are great though. Teachers Notes for the series are here.

So that's basically our second term. Read the book selections, narrate, map the journey, watch the video, discuss some more, add to our timeline. History CM style in a nutshell.

Perfect. Well it was for us.

So that's our AO4 Term Two History post done. Hurrah. It didn't get finished last night because Blogger ate half my post again. Grrrrrrr -that's the third time that's happened.

I think I will look at Wordpress.

Here's a bit of the film:

Liberty's Kids

We are loving, loving, loving, the Liberty's Kids series as an adjunct to our AO4 World History (with an American bias) book, George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster.

Today's story, The Not-Yet-United States, covered Shays' Rebellion. Here's the Liberty's Kids version.



We just watch them on YouTube. I'd buy them if I could though...

Thanks, Mama Squirrel, for the heads up.

Musical mutiny

There has been a mutiny in our Peaceful Home.

True.

We are now offically not going to see Opera Australia performing La Traviata in mid November. I am wounded that my husband and daughter should gang up on my in this way. Don't they know that they are ruining my grand finale, my perfect ending to the end of the academic year? Don't they understand that now the whole year is rooned and that I am clearly a teaching failure?

Don't they know that it is totally against the rules for them to 'dislike intensely' (we don't 'hate' in this formerly Peaceful Home) this opera? It is, after all, the second most commonly performed opera in. the. world. After Magic Flute. Which they both loved. Huh!

Actually, I really did feel I had failed Jemimah in teaching her opera appreciation for a moment there. Until I realised that it is okay not to like something. The fact that my 9 year old knows the music and the story of La Traviata well enough to know that she doesn't like it actually means that I've done my job rather well. I personally don't like Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, finding myself in agreement with the Boston Herald, which wrote at the time:

Who wrote this fiendish Rite of Spring?
What right had he to write this thing?
Against our hapless ears to fling
Its crash, clash, cling, clang, bing, bang, bing!

My dislike of this discordant piece though, does not make me an uncultured animal. I find nothing beautiful; nothing inspiring in its dissonance. After all, sounds are known as dissonant if they sound harsh or unpleasant to most people. And I am afraid that in this I am one of most people. This, I think, makes me discerning, not uneducated. It means that I know what I like and why.

This I realise is what my role is with my daughter. In the subject of Composer Study I am introducing my daughter to the best of the best. At the end of 13 years, Jemimah will not know all there is to know about music. She will not know all the great composers. It is unlikely, for example, that she will have studied Stravinsky. Already, though, she is demonstrating that she knows what she likes and what she doesn't and why. The fact that Jemimah doesn't like La Traviata does not mean necessarily she doesn't like Verdi (although that may, in fact prove true). Nor does it mean she doesn't like opera. In fact she clearly does. The fact that Jemimah doesn't like La Traviata means that she doesn't like La Traviata. Full stop.

Well actually, it also means that we won't be spending good money paying to see it performed by Opera Australia at the end of the year.

Which kinda mucks up my plans.

I suppose I'll recover eventually. Maybe.

The good news is that in 2012 Opera Australia are performing not one, but two of the operas we are covering this year as part of Ira Ross's Opera for Everyone series: Rossini's The Barber of Seville in April, and Madama Butterfly by Puccini in November. We're already studying Butterfly, and so far there have been no complaints from the floor. In fact, the mutineers are being incredibly well behaved so far. Both of them. I think that provided they never have to listen to the whole of La Traviata again they'll both be blissfully happy. To be honest, so will I. I've had enough of the whinging accompaniment to last me a lifetime.

Besides, I like Madama Butterfly better that La Traviata too. Don't let them hear me say so, though, will you? They may think I'm ignorant, uncultured and uneducated, and we can't have that now, can we? We'll just keep that between ourselves.

Kookanoo and Kangaroo

I wish I had been clever enough to post about this book last week, because the last week of September is Banned Books Week, and Kookanoo managed to get itself banned by Howard County back in 1979 for 'demeaning the self-image of black children'. Which is frankly ludicrous, but happened anyhow. So if I had blogged about it last week I would have been timely and topical and you would have all been impressed by my cleverness. Alas, I was neither timely nor clever, so there you go.

Kookanoo is a delightful picture book written by Mary Durack and illustrated by her sister, Elizabeth. It's about Kookanoo - a little Aboriginal boy living in 'The Red Heart' of Australia.

He had a mum and dad and just about dozens
Of uncles, aunts, and cousins,
And like other boys
He also had toys.
These were boomerangs and spears
(Smaller of course than the grown-ups use)
Which he threw around,
Pretending - with loud whoops and cheers -
To kill kangaroos
And bring birds down flop! to the ground.

Kookanoo is a bit too big for his boots. Fetching water and wood for the family wasn't any fun, and taking his mum's coolamon to collect nardoo in was women's work. Nothing that the grown-ups suggested interested Kookanoo until his dad had a really bright idea...

"I'll tell you what, m'lad,"
Said his dad.
(That fine, big fellow in the picture, see!
"How'd it be for something to do
If you came with me
After kangaroo?"

Now, that was more like it! Kookanoo had always wanted to go hunting with his dad.

Until his dad said,

"You are very clever, my fine young Kookanoo,
Stepping like an emu,
Running like a dingo,
And much too important to pick up nardoo,
Let us see now - just let us see,
If you are as smart as you seem to be.
You think you can do it;
Well, I'll take it easy here
And

Leave you to it!"

Suddenly Kookanoo felt very small.

But now comes the interesting part of the story, for somebody, or rather, something, was listening to Kookanoo and his dad, and this something was wise old, cunning old, old man Kangaroo.

And old man Kangaroo had a plan to bring young Kookanoo down a few pegs...

Oh dear. Poor little Kookanoo.

Mary and Elizabeth Durack's works are a little bit out of fashion nowadays with their somewhat stereotypical view of indigenous Australians, but the sisters were always sensitive to the feelings of their Aboriginal friends, and I think their books are delightful. Jemimah agrees.

We read Kookanoo is AO4, but mainly because I am trying to space out these delightful books through the Primary School years. It would be enjoyed by far younger children as well. You can read my review of The Way of the Whirlwind here. The Magic Trumpet is coming soon.

A Panoramic Method of Geography

The panoramic method...(of geography)... unrolls the landscape of the world, region by region, before the eyes of the scholar with in every region its own conditions of climate, its productions, its people, their industries and their history. This way of teaching the most delightful of all subjects has the effect of giving to a map of a country or region the brilliancy of colour and the wealth of detail which a panorama might afford, together with a sense of proportion and a knowledge of general principles.

Charlotte Mason Towards A Philosophy Of Education p228

You all know, I guess, that geography is one of our very favouritest subjects.

Our Australianised geography study this final term of AO4 is the Mighty Murray River. We're reading a couple of wonderful living books: Colin Thiele's River Murray Mary and Leila Pirani's Old Man River, both of which I have plans to tell you about in detail shortly; and mapping things on our river map as we go. We've already made a visit to Swan Hill, and Echuca is on the agenda.

We've also been doing a bit of work on the first Murray River residents - the Aboriginal People. Poppy's mother in the marvellous Our Australian Girl series is from the Bangerang People near Echuca, and we've been reading our way through her story as each book appears. (Not to self: must post on these as well.)

Today we watched this lovely Aboriginal Dreamtime story, Thukeri, from the Ngarrindjeri people who live in the lower River Murray area of South Australia.



It's starting to sound a little bit like a unit study, right? The kind of study that Miss Mason denigrates so strongly in Volume One, right?

Or are we?

Right, I mean?

Does Miss Mason really disapprove of integratory methods like this, or is this exactly what she's talking about as the Panoramic Method of Geography above?

Miss Mason talks a lot about her geography methods in Volume Six. She describes how her students learn first about their own region and country before moving onto next to their continent of Europe and later on to the rest of the world.

She writes that the youngest children..."are engaged with the counties of England, county by county, for so diverse are the counties in aspect, history and occupations, that only so can children acquire such a knowledge of England as will prove a key to the geography of every part of the world, whether in the way of comparison or contrast."

This is what we're trying to do with our River study. The Murray River is the biggest river in Australia. It is also one of the longest in the world. It forms the natural boundary between our State of Victoria and New South Wales. It has been the home of the Aborigines since before history was recorded, and was explored by many of our first explorers. Paddle steamers carried wool, wheat, and other goods up and down its length. It's a dream region for a geography study. It also happens to be local.

Jemimah dips a toe in 'New South Wales'

I love it when geography comes together like this. The book spines we're reading all term are the glue. They bring it all together. The other stuff though - the visits to the region; the free read novels and the videos are what makes The Mighty Murray more than a name. They're the things that make this study of local geography "a key to the geography of every part of the world, whether in the way of comparison or contrast."

If we could visit very geographical region we wanted to study, then we probably wouldn't need books at all. If not, then this panoramic method does a pretty fantastic job of unfolding a 'panorama' of the region in our mind's eye.

Once again, Miss Mason hits the nail right on the head. She always does, doesn't she?

If we read her right.

The Little Grammar People

I am aware that this is the post where I sort of thumb my nose at you. It's sort of a na-na-na-na-na I'm better than you-ou taunt. It's not meant to be though.

I want to tell you about Nuri Mass's The Little Grammar People, and yet when there is only one copy available on Abebooks, and it is priced at $375.00, I am equally aware that most of you are not going to be able to use my recommendation even if you wanted to.

I tell you though, because in my humble opinion this is absolutely totally the best book for introducing grammar to children and if you spend enough time haunting second-hand book stores then you just might get lucky as I did. My copy, shown below, is not in the best of conditions, and it cost $30.00, so it wasn't cheap, but a new grammar text book can cost this much, and won't be nearly as good. Keep an eye out.

In a very similar vein to M L Nesbitt's Grammar-Land, The Little Grammar People is the parts of speech explained in a story. The Foreword says it better than I can:

Here is something entirely new in juvenile literature, a strikingly original play book that, while telling a charming fairy story, gives small children a grasp of English grammar that would take years of dull lessons to teach.

The story tells of the adventures of Linda and Barry among the quaint little people who lie at the roots of our language. Among the fairy folk there are Sir Pronoun, obliging stand-in for busy little Miss Noun; critical Madam Adjective of infinitely changing moods; Master Verb, for ever being hauled over the coals in the Grammar court on the charge of irregularity; small boy Preposition, enlisting Miss Noun's help in the forming of adverbial and adjectival phrases when Lady Adverb and Madam Adjective are too busy or too lazy to appear in person; Wee Baby Conjunction, King Speech's favourite little handmaiden, who holds his hand and guides him smoothly over all the rocky places. The climax comes when Linda and Barry find themselves in the palace of King Speech and his exquisite Queen Poetry and are told by the gracious king of the life of "lifeless" things.

THe delicacy and imagination that distinguished Nuri Mass's Australian Wild Flower Fairies makes The Little Grammar People a book for all children who have fairies in their hearts; and teachers will find it invaluable in helping young pupils to understand and respect their own language. Celeste Mass's illustrations, individual and finely drawn, are the book's perfect accompaniment.

The Little Grammar People is intended for a younger audience than is Grammar-Land, and it is proving perfect for Jemimah with two terms of Simply Grammar under her belt.

We use the book very simply, reading a chapter covering one of the parts of speech each week. After Jemimah narrates she tries to think of examples of each of the different types she's been learning about, for example personal, demonstrative, relative and interrogative pronouns or common, proper, collective and abstract nouns. Before each week's lesson we review the one before. So far I have been delighted with what we've covered, and what has been retained. I think we have learned more in the first four weeks of this term than in the previous two terms added together.

We will finish this book by the end of the year. Next year we will continue on working at a sedate pace through our Simply Grammar text and possibly zip through Grammar-Land in third term for a bit of a refreshing break.

If you are able to find a copy of this book, I really do think you will love it. If you can't though, Grammar-Land is pretty good as well. And at less than $10.00 a copy it is way more affordable.

Personally, I think the bookseller selling The Little Grammar People on Abe is off on his own journey to Fairy Land if he thinks anyone is going to pay $375.00 for a book. Maybe he might meet up with Miss Noun while he's there? One of the visitors to the Grammar Kingdom is a school friend of Barry's named Phil. His desire is 'a silly goose'. Don't say I said so, but I think maybe the bookseller's might be as well!!

Kensuke's Kingdom

A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.

C.S. Lewis

I don't know about you, but I get really jump-up-and-down-excited when I discover a modern book that fits the criteria of 'living' - a book with excellent imaginative writing, original ideas, inspiring thoughts and an exciting plot.

I love it when I find a book that is loved by both Jemimah and her parents in equal measure. To find a book that is appropriate for her reading level is a bonus; as is a book with wonderful illustration and good sized print. If the book is somewhat related to Japan, it just gives it so many brownie points that we would seriously consider jumping out of our socks. Seriously.

Jemimah and I have been feeling bored. Probably me more than her, I'll admit, but when I get bored then it is super easy to pass that ennui onto her. Our problem is that we've ended up with a whole heap of historical fiction free-reads all together at the end of the year. All of them are really good books, but I'm afraid we've had enough of the American War of Independence to last us...well until the end of term, I'd say.

Enough, already!!!!!!!!!

Of course, this type of boredom is easy to cure - just add in a few modern books into the mix. Instant cure-all, we've found. But what to read?

In a case like ours, the book had to be modern. And it needed to be living. It needed to be a gripping story about something - anything - except history. Or war. Or log huts. Or Boston.

Ah, isn't it great that living books are still being written?

Enter Michael Morpungo's Kensuke's Kingdom. How can you fail to get excited by a book as good looking as this one? Especially when this how it starts:

I disappeared on the night before my twelfth birthday. July 28 1988. Only now can I at last tell the whole extraordinary story, the true story. Kensuke made me promise that I would say nothing, nothing at all, until at least ten years had passed. It was almost the last thing he said to me. I promised, and because of that I have had to live out a lie. I could let sleeping lies sleep on, but more than ten years have passed now. I have done school, done college, and had time to think. I owe it to my family and to my friends, all of whom I have deceived for so long, to tell the truth about my long disappearance, about how I lived to come back from the dead.

But there is another reason for speaking out now, a far, far better reason. Kensuke was a great man, a good man, and he was my friend. I want the world to know him as I knew him.

Michael's mum and dad work at the local brickworks. Until the letter, that is. The letter that tells them that they both used to work at the local brickworks. That kind of letter.

Anyhow, so what do you do when you both discover that you both used to work and now you don't? You buy a boat, don't you? Of course you do. A Peggy Sue. And then you learn to sail her, and then you sail off around the world. That's what I'd do if I received a letter like that. Truly. It's what Michael's parents do too.

And then one night, the night before Michael's 12th birthday, he falls overboard.

Along with his dog.

Stella Artois.

And his soccer ball.

As you do.

The terrors came fast, one upon another. The lights of the Peggy Sue went away into the dark of the night, leaving me alone in the ocean, alone with the certainty that they were already too far away, that my cries for help could not possibly be heard. I thought then of the sharks cruising the black water beneath me - scenting me, already searching me out, homing in on me - and I knew there could be no hope. I would be eaten alive. Either that or I would drown slowly. Nothing could save me.

Only something does save Michael, because when he awakens, he's all alone on a tropical island. Or is he? Because somebody's bringing him breakfast every morning. And fresh water for Stella Artois too.

Kensuke's Kingdom is a magical novel. It is exciting and enthralling and peaceful and polite and adventurous. It it teaches you about friendship, and trust, and loyalty. I absolutely recommend it to you and your kids.

Best of all, there is not even a whiff of Benjamin Franklin.

Hokusai 葛飾 北斎 gets a mention though.

The Little Wooden Horse

Jemimah and I read Mark Wilson's The Little Wooden Horse today as a gentle introduction to our Australianised AO4 Term 3 history period, 'The Arrival of the First Fleet and the British Settlement of Australia'. It was a terrific story.

I think we were all taught that there were convicts on the First Fleet who were sent to Australia for stealing a single loaf of bread to feed their starving families. What is less well known is that some of these unfortunate people were children. Most of them died during the months long sea crossing, or of consumption upon their arrival, but even for those who survived, life in the new colony was pretty grim.

This book tells the story of two orphan children, Elizabeth and Tom who survive only because of their courage and strength and the friendship they have for each other. It is a fascinating story, and was an accurate introduction to the historical period we were aiming to cover.

I am becoming increasingly impressed with Mark Wilson's recent books for children. I have blogged already here about two of these - the first two books of his Children in War Trilogy, My Mother's Eyes, and Angel of Kokoda. Both are excellent additions to an ANZAC library. His collaboration with Gary Crew on the I Saw Nothing series about extinct Australian animals also produced three terrific books. I blogged on I Saw Nothing - The Extinction of the Thylacine here.

His most recent series is titled Ben and Gracie's Art Adventure. The first of these, about the artwork of Frederick McCubbin, was published in April of this year. Tom Roberts is coming soon! You can read more about this series here. I'll definitely be on the lookout for these. They look great.

If they're anywhere near as good as The Little Wooden Horse, I'll be well pleased.

Slow down, you move too fast

I guess you all know by now that I'm not a curriculum switcher. I make my decisions based on thorough research, and that's pretty much that. I then I spend my valuable time thinking about other things. Like where to go on holidays, or what books I absolutely need this week. Important stuff.

The other thing I do rarely is change my mind mid term. Actually, I don't think I've ever done that.

Until now. Let me elucidate.

I've been becoming increasingly concerned about Jemimah's maths. Now before you leap to your feet in alarm - or worse, in glee - let me reassure you that I still love MEP maths. I think it is a great fit for our daughter, and I have been incredibly impressed by her progress in this subject.

And that is precisely the issue I've been grappling with: My nine-year-old Grade 3 daughter is halfway through MEP Year 5 maths.

She is going too fast.

I am beginning to see her enthusiasm wane as she gets into more and more complicated concepts, and I really, really don't want her to start disliking a subject that she is so very good at.

Which led me to Simple Charlotte Mason's Business Maths Series - something that I've been looking at for a while. In this programme, kids use their maths knowledge to run a virtual sports store, pet shop or book store. Of course in Jemimah's case it just had to be a pet store!! They practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They learn about budgeting, making sound financial decisions, paying accounts, balancing a ledger, and about managing a profitable business. And hopefully at the very same time, they have fun!

And so yesterday, I bought a virtual pet store. It's called 'Jemimah's pet paradise', and it is owned by...well...Jemimah. Obviously.

Today, she developed a logo, printed promotional stickers and posters and decided on her inventory. Keeping within budget, of course. Tomorrow she'll decide on a mark-up and make price stickers. Pretty soon she'll be open for business.

Today she spend her whole afternoon doing maths. I wonder how long that amazing state of affairs will last! So far, so good. Actually, I don't think she really believes that it is real, that this is what she's doing for mathematics.

I'm really excited. Having looked through the teacher's book I can see practice in a significant number of the maths skills she's mastered in MEP up to now. I can see application. I can see that Jemimah will begin to see the relevance of maths to every day life.

I haven't decided yet how we'll incorporate the programme into our term. You've heard of the term de-schooling, I guess? Where you do no school to sort of recover from being at school? Well, for a short time we're demathsing. During this period our Pet Store is all we'll be doing. Later, MEP will return. Maybe once we've finished the whole kit and caboodle; maybe before. I don't know yet.

I like this programme because it's giving maths practice in a relaxed but realistic way. It's rigourous but in a very different way from MEP. It's exciting and challenging.

I think it will slow my girl down in just the right way.

AO4 Term 3 subject by subject

Year 4 Schedule



I don't know about you, but when I put together my plans for a new term I present them with my fingers crossed behind my back. If things go exactly as I expect, then this is what I'll be doing this term. If nobody dies, if our house isn't washed away in floods, if I don't have to work full time, then this is what I'll be doing. That sort of stuff.

This year, of course, I've entered into school planning with all of these things as a given. My dear Dad had died; our house has been decimated; I am working full time. If this year is going to work then it has to work with the minimum of stress. Because, really, I. just. can. not. take. any. more. If it is too hard, it is out. Just like that.

So this then is what's been good, bad or indifferent in the first two terms of AO4 and what we're doing differently in term 3. If you're interested, of course.

Copywork/Dictation

We do two days of Studied Dictation per week, with Copywork on the other three. We've been using Spelling Wisdom from Simply Charlotte Mason for dictation for a year now. Jemimah's spelling is still 'atroshus', but we persevere. As I look back over the months I do notice an improvement, and that's all I'm asking for really. I just wish it were faster, that's all! I will stop beating my head on the table now. We chose copywork sentences from our books. Sometimes they're grammar rules; at other times they're sentences from literature or history. Occasionally we use pages from New Wave Handwriting Book D to correct any errors in style that crop up occasionally. We use the Victorian font.

Grammar

We've been using Karen Andreola's Simply Grammar this year. So far we've covered Subjects, Predicates, Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs and Adjectives. We do the work mostly orally, but Jemimah writes the grammar rules to be memorised into a book as copywork. Then she learns them! The book is pretty good, but I think if I were looking at grammar books again, I'd just purchase Charlotte Mason's original books, First Grammar Lessons Parts 1 and 2 and be done with it.

This term we're going to do something different and read either Edith Nesbit's Grammar-Land or Nuri Mass' Australian equivalent, The Little Grammar People. I'll need to wait until I get home to compare the two books - I'll decide which I prefer and let you know if you like. (Do not be silly enough to pay $375.00 +postage for a copy of The Little Grammar People, will you? Oh my goodness gracious me.)

Latin

We also get to practice some grammar using our Latin programme, Minimus. We're delighted with how well this Latin course is working for us so far, and I think we'll just about finish Book 1 by the end of term. Next year we might read through the Mini Books to get a bit more vocabulary down before we move onto Minimus Secundus.

French

We're not so happy with the fit of our French course, Nallenart's L'Art de Lire. Nothing you can put your finger on, just lots of non-specific groans when the book comes out of the cupboard. Mama Squirrel is using Mission Monde with Crayons. This is a new programme to me, but I love that it's mission based, and I'm going to look into it a bit for next year. It's not cheap though...

Fortunately our oral French is going better. We still read classic French books at bedtime, and Jemimah's Francophone Daddy is relieved that her accent is much better than mine! Le Ballon rouge by Albert Lamorisse is our current book. (We have it in English as well.)

Maths

We're still coasting our way through MEP Year 5. This level is a bit of a stretch so far with lots of new stuff to learn, but Jemimah is doing incredibly well with this UK based maths course. We still need to do some more work on times tables sometime.

Typing

I really want to use a course (that I can't remember the name of) that is recommended by my brother and highly endorsed by my two nephews, but I keep putting it off until I can install the programme on our home computer. Apparently you can install it on more than one computer, so Jemimah could type both at home and at work, but it doesn't synchronise your progress over both computers, which would be really frustrating I suspect. Anyhow, since the year is rapidly disappearing, I'm going to use the online BBC course, Dance Mat Typing as an interim introductory measure. It least it will prevent bad habits developing, and encourage correct finger placement. Maybe next year we can use the proper course.

Folksongs

Our English folksongs for term 3 are here. It's a term of songs that are really special to me, and I hope that they will become special to Jemimah too, as she learns the 'themesongs' of her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

French folksongs are here. I can't wait to learn Ah ! Mon beau château as a round. It is a really good term, even if I must say to myself!!

Psalms

We continue to learn Psalms in both French and English, but since the Psalters are at home I can't tell you which ones we'll be learning. Sorry.

Composer study

In a break from our one composer per term study, we're going to use the Opera for Everyone lessons that I first discovered at Linda Faye's Charlotte Mason Help. They look really good. Plus they are free, and you know how I love free!

Opera Australia is performing Verdi's La Traviata in November, so we'll study this one first and then go and hear it in real life. Yes, I know that it is about a courtesan, but Jemimah is still at an age where she will be satisfied with the idea that Violetta just has lots of boyfriends, so I think we should manage without embarrassment. Our only other visit to the opera was a triumph, so let's see if we can make this one just as successful!!

Shakespeare

I was ecstatic about the way our the whole family enjoyed our first Shakespeare production, Much Ado about Nothing last term, and I really want to follow it up with another comedy. Until then, I think we will practice some Shakespeare readings aloud using puppets, and maybe watch some classic telly productions. If we can see some Shakespeare Under the Stars in the summer we will.

Music

I wish it were possible for Jemimah to learn an instrument from a proper music teacher, but she can't, and so we persevere with me teaching her the recorder. We manage to make a joyful noise, but not much more, using Penny Gardiner's Nine Note Recorder Method.

I'm hoping Santa might buy us new recorders for Christmas.

Memorisation

Jemimah is currently learning Romans 8: 28-38 from last term. It is a long passage, and is causing her some grief, for some reason, but we shall persevere. She learns a shorter verse in French as well. I haven't chosen this yet.

She is up to Q85 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. 21 more to learn. What a hero!! I wish I remembered them as well as she does!

We also learn a poem of her choice for her to recite 'with feeling' to Daddy come exam time. Wonder what she'll select?!

Poetry

We're following the AO poetry rotation. Wordsworth this term. I just love the AO compilations of appropriate poems to print out. We simply read one or two a day. That's all!

Picture Study

A brief deviation from the AO rotation this term to study Eugene von Guérard's work. You'll remember we attended the exhibition of his works, Nature Revealed, at the National Gallery of Victoria earlier this year.

Bible

I would like introduce Jemimah to private devotions shortly, but until we have more time at home and a more regular timetable, that will need to wait. Until then we are going through Sinclair Ferguson's Big Book of Questions and Answers about Jesus together. It is a little young for Jemimah, but is still worth doing. Sermon prep on Fridays, Family Devotions at dinner, Sunday school on Sunday.

Citizenship

I love, love, love Anne White's Study Guides for Plutarch. They take a potentially difficult book and make it a delight!

We've already studied Poplicola, the 'life' on this term's AO Plutarch rotation, so we've settled for Titus Flamininus, another life that has a complete Anne Study Guide. I don't think I could yet tackle this subject without this help.

History

I'm going to post about this separately because it'll take too long to go into here. You can read a bit about AO4 History in this post too.

This term we'll be doing The First Fleet and Matthew Flinders - 1888-1800ish. You can see the books we're using in the document above if you want to see what we're doing before I post on it again.

So far this subject is going sublimely. I am so relieved, I feel like doing a happy dance right here and now.

Geography

We're studying The Mighty Murray River this term, mapping as we go. Which reminds me - I need to buy a good river map. Two books - Colin Thiele's River Murray Mary and Old Man River of Australia by Leila Pirani.

We're only an hour or so from The Murray, so we'll make a visit or two if we can. Jemimah loves Echuca for its Lolly Shop. I love Read Heeler secondhand bookshop. An excursion for a ride on a paddle steamer and a bit of retail therapy sounds good to me!

Science

You can read about science here.

In line with the AO changes to science back in July we have stopped our reading of Madam How and Lady Why at The Chalk Carts and we're reading our way through Fabre's The Story Book of Science at an accelerated pace to finish it in a little more that a term. It is a delightful book and we're having no problems reading four or five chapters a week so far. We'll finish Madam How on schedule next year.

Nature study...what's that? We've done none all term. Until I stop work I don't see how I can possibly fit this in. We are doing some bird and butterfly identification and we're still working in the garden and particularly our Kitchen Garden, but this lovely subject will just need to wait until we have more time. No nature journalling this term either. Maybe next year. I hope. I'd like to tackle more dry brush painting sometime soon.

Living Books

I think that's it, isn't it? Have I forgotten a subject?

Our free reads are going to plan - we should finish by the end of the year. We're also reading lots and lots of other books, so I'm not too concerned if we miss one or two.

Our Australianised AO schedule for books is shown above. Jemimah is currently reading By The Shores of Silver Lake and the third in the Fleurville Trilogy, The Holidays by the Comtesse de Ségur.

I thought I'd uploaded our timetable as well, but it's not there. Anyone interested in seeing that?

Phew. Finished. Any questions? Comments? Are these posts useful because they take hours and hours to link. What have I forgotten? What else do you want to know?

Right now, I'm starving. I'm off for some lunch. Bye.