Jackie French has an excellent series of books about Australian History. They are about year 7 reading level, but are small, light and easy to post, and fairly balanced. Look for the Fair Dinkum History series. Peter McInnes is another to look out for. But his stuff isn't high school level either. You could try Manning Clarke. Outdated, but very solid. Written in the 60's Robert Hughes was a brilliant man, but a highly disaffected ex-pat. Beautiful, disillusioned writing. The Fatal Shore is a mammoth read. If you can get hold of a copy of the TV series, "The First Australians" do it. It was ground-breaking when SBS released it in 2008

I think you lot eat hotdogs because you don't eat proper snags. Hotdogs (known here as frankfurts) are awful. Snags are beaut! Specially with deadhorse, which is much nicer than your too-sweet version, ketchup. Snag and deadhorse, with onions in a bit of bread. Perfect. Wash down with beer or wine. Now sit down because I'm going to let you in on the reason why an Aussie BBQ is the best ever....... Wait for it......... The MEN do all the cooking! Yes really. And clean the BBQ after. Its a national ritual. No women allowed. We aren't stupid enough to fight for equality on this issue.

I'm a Shakespeare buff. If we are going to analyse a play for school work, we read it first, out loud taking different parts. This works really well with our little homeschool bookclub. We discuss it as we go. No modern language versions aloud. Then we watch the play. If we are just watching the play without heaps of study, Garfield, Lamb or similar version before the play, watch the play, some reading of key scenes or monologues if I think its helpful, bit of discussion, otherwise we just treat it as another form of (fabulous) entertainment. Afterall, I don't dissect movies, so why kill a play with analysis. One heavy analysis is enough each year for DS14 ATM

I'm not trying to put the kibosh on any of your efforts, but please be aware that the published research shows no significant increase in protective behaviours in lower primary school-aged children following "stranger danger" or similar education programs. There may be a decrease in parental supervision because parents think their kids are equipped and will be OK, but the kids are just as clueless as before, only more anxious. The take-home message is that education is fine, but not a substitute for parental vigilance.

Debating made me a faster, more organised and more concise writer. Do you have a local debatng group he could join?

Yep, its just like that! $2 for a second hand book, another $30 for postage. Takes a month to arrive. Prime? What's that? Thank god for Kindle! D

We're doing really well. Mostly its down to tracking everything with YNAB - that "confessional" element where I have to be honest about where the money went (must be my Catholic unbringing). That and the weather here - its really hot and humid and I hate to think of DH working really hard while I fritter away his earnings. For those of you who can't resist buying books on Amazon, why not try the Australian experience: multiply the value of the book by 10 and then add another $20 to get an idea of postage, devalue your dollar by 20% before paying, and when the book arrives, fold it in half a couple of times, drop the package on three of the four corners, then hide it in the cupboard for another three weeks before you can use it. Trust me - you'll be frugal before you know it!

Yes, we loved The Fall. I cannot watch that movie! Jamie Dornan is too creepy by half.

Ok, I'll cave - tell me about the organising books Lucy recommended...... D

As one of the few Aussies here, can I just say that this comment: "Cillian Murphy might be worth rooting for" has a whole other meaning in a thread about TeA! D

Yes, Jackie French is fabulous. She has a great history (non-fiction) series as well. My Place by Nadia Wheatley is wonderful, although a very easy read. I'd use it anyway, just for the discussion potential. There is also a series made by the ABC based on it. try Youtube. Just as an aside, we don't use the term "discovered" here. Australia is the home of the oldest living culture on the planet. It wasn't lost, so it was in no need of finding or discovery. The Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese bumped into it several times, Cook mapped it and claimed it for Britain, and the French were sniffing around at the same time. Colonised is OK. "Invaded" is the term preferred by Indigenous Australians.

Whoohoo! Finally something we Aussies can access, even if we have to stay up all night! D

YNAB is shining a very harsh light on my grocery spending (is it unreasonable that I am miffed that one skinny man and one skinny man-child can eat so much?). Beans on toast and rationed toilet paper until Sunday (although that may not be a good combo). And I'm staying well away from that minimalist thread of Hunter's! Seriously, though, apart from groceries, we are on budget. I have half of next month already covered. I'm enjoying it. Its quite empowering.

Its a terrible document. I actually don't mind the other subjects' syllabus statements, but English is a shocker. Its full of education speak and obscure instructions. In fact, I said as much in a statement that was read out at the recent homeschool enquiry. Apparently the board of enquiry laughed and agreed.

I love the WTM and these forums BECAUSE they are academic and just a little intense! When I stubbled across them I really needed some resources that supported pushing my bright but unethusiatic child. I am surrounded by unschoolers and parents who are keen but not always well informed. I needed the rigour too. The WTM and these forums have filled a void for me and I very grateful for all of you who contribute.

Looks like we can only watch it in Australia. Consider this just the tiniest bit of payback for all those US and UK things we Skips miss out on/ get months later/ have ruined by spoilers. If it makes you feel better, there wasn't much of Johnny and I still can't work out if he was off his face or just taking the p***. D

I was cruising this month (even with new tyres and car rego) then a bit fell off my tooth this afternoon. My wallet is aching already.....

We had two different in-law visits on the weekend (we live 4 hours away fron DH's family). Fortunately the budget survived better than the washing pile has! We are blowing out on groceries this month, which is YNAB's way of telling me that I have been lying to myself about our grocery budget for quite some time. Time to get creative with the things at the back of the pantry Quill I think that is a transfer problem in YNAB. It mucked me around for a while, too. Have you looked or asked on their forums? They seem to be almost as helpful as we are here! D

DH went to the shops by himself (insert warning smilie). He needs some new reading glasses. He is too tight to go to the optometrist, so he went to the chemist and spent $20 on pair of +1 because they had the sturdiest, most manly frames. He needs +1.5, which was obviously a minor consideration. He already has a headache. I will put the manly +1s aside until I age into them (eyesight wise - I don't want any manly hair growth or anything else!) and we will go and find some +1.5s today. Bah!

I had to buy two new tyres for the car today to get it through rego. I had budgeted for it in YNAB and it came in under budget, so that felt pretty good. I popped into the local op shop to find that all clothing was half price and books were $5 a bag. So, for 10 bucks I got three pieces of clothing, including a linen shirt and rather funky jacket, and 6 books, including two for geography which was a black hole until today. I am car-free now until friday, so apart from DH buying petrol, it should be a cheap few days!

Its not the end of the world if he can't wear deodorant - I can't and I live in a hot, humid country. He'll just have to wash more. I know that this is hard cos also have a teenage boy. On the plus side, he'll have to wash more (my house is frequently filled with the pungent aroma of teenagers: sweat and deodorant mixed, then warmed for a while and allow to ferment. Some of them really need to wash more!) Treat the rash with both hydrocortisone and an antifungal, as suggested previously, introduce him to the soap, ride him till washing becomes a habit (may take some time.....), and leave it at that. D

I'm continuing with YNAB. I like it a lot! D

David Tennant and Catherine Tate did a fabulous scene for one of the Comic Relief using one of Shakespeare's sonnets (the fabulously insulting one I can't remember the first line of....). The banter is brilliant! Its on YouTube

Ash Wednesday is a Holy Day of Obligation here D

I grew up in an Australian Catholic family, from Irish stock. I went to Catholic schools run by Irish nuns from primary to high school. I have never seen a parent bless a child. Irish Catholics do not wear Rosary beads : they carry them. Each bead represents a prayer, and the beads function as counters. Getting around the whole Rosary takes a while, especially if you are concentrating. Many people stop at a decat. The Rosary is a prayer to Our Lady, not because Catholics worship her, but because, as the mother of Christ, she has the ability to intercede on the pray-ers behalf. It has particular resonnance with women. Children make three sacraments (there are 7 in all). In the 70's we made our first confession at age 7. It was a big deal. I spent weeks cataloguing sins! A few months later we made our First Holy Communion (Catholics will string that together so it sounds like one word). The girls all wore white dresses, white shoes and veils (I still have my dress - its has outlasted my faith. Its beautiful). It was a pretty big day. We were photographed with a statue of Our Lady and had a party in the Church Hall. Our Confirmation happened in 4thGrade. I was 9. It now happens much later. Its the adult acknowledgement of faith, a receiving of the Holy Spirit. We wore our school uniforms and, because we were between Bishops, had the beloved Cardinal Bede do the honours. We were threatened with death if there was any funny business in front of him. Weeks of school time was spent preparing. We had to choose a saint to add to our name. Another celebration in the Church Hall. Communion is given at every Mass, and is the culminating point. Mass generally takes an hour. The Easter Vigil is a night service on Easter Saturday and always seemed to take the better part of a week (sorry- I was always starving during the Vigil). If you go to the Vigil, you can miss the Easter Sunday Mass, which is helpful if you have two sets of relatives in visit. We don't fast before communion in Australia. We still use the term "Last Rites". My grandfather received the Last Rites 7 times. Irish Catholics can be quite superstitious and it would be worth talking to an Irish family to get some info. Its hard to seperate the religion from the culture. I'm no help there: my mothers family were devout rather than superstitious, and my father superstitions all came from his Scottish mother. Good on you for trying to get accurate info. Just please don't make her a eldest of 9! Its a terrible stereotype. Most of my friends only had one or two siblings, and I'm an only child!