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AussieHelga

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  1. They're possibly too advanced for him now, but Jennie and Thomasina by Paul Gallio are cat classics.
  2. There are Tolkein books illustrated by Alan Lee. I haven't seen any in person (only online), but I can't imagine them not being good. Although The Hobbit is only 280 odd pages, so the text may be abridged. He worked with Peter Jackson on the movie visuals and I love his illustrations in Rosemary Sutcliffe's versions of Homer. Robert Ingpen is also amazing.
  3. There's a lot of corporate philanthropy in education now, currently being pushed into fringe project as the bread and butter is taken care of by the government. In the event education was totally privatised I could see a rush to fill the void by the corporate sector....Google Schools for all! There is just too much future power in education for it to be left alone. Highly developed countries also have huge knowledge capital (near universal adult literacy). Passing this on would be very different to trying to introduce literacy in developing countries. You'd still have a large minority who'd not touch a google school in a thousand pink fits, and who couldn't afford high end private schools. Schools run by this group would be a mixed bag quality-wise, possibly arranged on highly ideological grounds. In this group you're probably hard left, or religous right, with not much to say to each other, and nothing to say to the Google Schoolers. I doubt it would kill innovation. It might even boost it. It would sure kill any illusion of social cohesion.
  4. This is easy to imagine as it's mostly true of the current system, except number 4 (which is mixed, at best). Although there is currently very little incentive to seek out able students in failing schools, they get left to rot. The position with extra curriculars is interesting. Currently, there is a range of subjects and enrichments offered through schools at no, or very low, cost to families. If you want something else, you pay for it. If families had more direct input into schools this could change. For example, academic/arty/musical kids with no interest in sport would not tolerate funding expensive athletic programs, whilst having to pay for their own enrichment outside of school.
  5. I guess the same regulations that protect the vulnerable from complete nut-baggery and exploitation tend to stitch up innovation and progress at the other end.
  6. Does 'privatization' mean a voucher system, where education funding goes to families, a charter-type system, where funding goes to private contractors to provide education services, or a free-for-all with the government getting out of education altogether? The outcome would vary wildly in each case. My experience with education has led me to believe that the link between educational outcomes, parental income and funding is a case of correlation, rather than causation.
  7. I found my son preferred narrations based on an entire short story, rather than an extract. He just never got into those random paragraphs.
  8. We have a prose version by Michael Morpurgo that my boys love. It's illustrated by Michael Foreman. Even though it's in prose, and written for kids, it retains the richness of language that is sometimes lost in modern kid's retellings.
  9. Has anyone seen her recently published book? I am currently planning my second year of homeschooling (first grade moving to second grade). We are using WWE level 1, but found it busy and DS didn't take to the extracts. I was going to use the teacher's guide next year, but then I saw this. It appears to be aimed at teachers, so I'm not sure if it would work in a homeschool situation. I saw the recent thread about the NYT writing article, which was about her method, but not her book specifically.
  10. Paul Jennings is an Australian author who might fit the bill. He was special ed teacher before he became a writer. His books were written to appeal to boys whose maturity exceeds their reading age, but are now read by all sorts of kids. They are mainly collections of short stories, rather than chapter books, but that is part of the appeal (instant gratification). They are funny, with a gross out factor, although much classier than captain underpants. He does not resort to demeaning adult authority, which I like.
  11. I love rosehip oil. The brand I use, Trilogy, is from NZ, so I'm not sure if it's widely available in the USA. It's especially good for sun damaged skin. Sunscreen is the first line of defence, obviously. I wish I could travel back and tell my 18 yr old self that. Grrr As well as the oil there are different moisturizers to suit your age/skin type.
  12. I have just started homeschooling in QLD and am new to this forum (although I have been lurking for a while) It's definitely too hot to embark on anything too ambitious at the moment.
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