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Linda (Australia)

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Everything posted by Linda (Australia)

  1. ME! He's here! On the East Coast of Australia right now, and heading towards us in South Australia. Now, just to get that LAST child to SLEEP!
  2. Well, it's almost midnight, and the Norad Santa Tracker tells me Santa will be arriving on the east coast of Australia in just under 2 minutes! The children are snug in their bed, and it's time for the elves to go to work. Have a very Merry Christmas, everyone! Linda.
  3. HI - my children want to make gingerbread houses for either Christmas or New Year - we've done them before, I just need to remember 'how'.. Anyone know of a web-site that could refresh my memory? We'd be making it all from scratch, including the gingerbread. I remember last time, we could not get the darn thing to stick together - must be a trick to making the icing - anyone know? Thanks! Linda.
  4. We've done the Hands of a Child chocolate unit study - it was great! Learned a lot, and now have a lovely lap-book to show off, and to read whenever we like for revision. My girls enjoyed that one!
  5. I highly, highly recommend Protein Power. I went on this about 8 years ago, and lost 30kgs in 9 months. I was the healthiest I'd ever been in my life, and had so much energy, it was amazing.
  6. Hi Peela - how are you? Haven't spoken to you in a while! Thanks for that - I've just bought King Solomon's Ring, actually, but I'm yet to even have the chance to look at it! And thankyou, Beth - I have seen the syllabus, and it looks good. I like the way they include Fabre's book along with a project of observing animals, and the development of a 'real-life' project. Anyone have a recommendation in regards to 'Story Book of Science', and what ages this would suit?
  7. (cross-post from HS board) Has anyone used any of Jean Henry Fabre's books for elementary or high school science - The Story of Science, Fabre's Book of Insects, the Life of the Spider, etc.? If so: 1. What grades would you recommend them for, and 2. How did you use them? Read and take notes? Any other suggestions? I've always loved these books, and would love to use them - just need to work out when and how! Thanks,
  8. (cross-post from k-8 board) Has anyone used any of Jean Henry Fabre's books for high school science - The Story of Science, Fabre's Book of Insects, the Life of the Spider, etc.? If so: 1. What grades would you recommend them for, and 2. How did you use them? Read and take notes? Any other suggestions? I've always loved these books, and would love to use them - just need to work out when and how! Thanks,
  9. We have been adapting the Apologia Texts for children with learning challenges. For one, she uses the MP3 audio CD, with great success. Also, instead of taking the tests, we are using the 'Chapter Summaries' which are located at the back of the book - making up more of a science notebook, rather than stressing her with tests. But, my 17 year old loves the Apologia texts as they are - including the tests! She has struggled so much with academics, and it has taken some time - it took 2 years to do General Science, but she now loves the books, and is moving through Biology. The well laid-out format of Apologia has really helped her, and with patience and perseverance, she is now making good progress. I hope that helps,
  10. If you had to list, say, the twelve 'must-reads' for your high schooler what would they be? eg novels, historical fiction, shakespeare, etc. Twelve books that should definitely be read before they finished high school. We've been a bit slack with reading the Great Books - and I'm running out of time! I want to assign a literature list for the older ones, but am having trouble deciding which books to insist on. Suggestions?
  11. Great ideas! Thankyou for all the replies - I was thinking about the Apologia books, and 'duh'! I forgot about Real Science 4 Kids - I'll have a look at that one again, also. They look fun, and easy to use. I do prefer to keep them all together, but, when they have different interests, surely it's best to let them go for it! Thanks!
  12. Hi - My daughter did this book last year, page by page, just working through the book - she loved it! I don't know about mixing things up, etc.; as I say, we just worked through it one page at a time, and it all worked fine.
  13. I tell, ya, it always seems to be science that causes me the most headaches! Here's the latest... We've just completed God's Design, Animal Kingdom - we love the God's Design books - clear, simple to use, straight to the point, and not much 'busy work', and 'doable', in our busy household! We're about to move onto the human body book - haven't done that one before, and it looks good. But... My 12 year old really wants to do the human body book. My 11 year old wants to continue studying animals - she just loves, loves, animals! My 9 year old wants to do chemistry (I suspect she may be a child who just loves to blow thing up - scary). My 7 year old just goes with the flow - pretty much everything goes over her head, anyway - she just loves making up stories, anything else she's just not interested in! So, human body, animals or chemistry - I can't do it all - 8 children is such a juggling act, anyway, I need to combine lessons with as many children as possible, wherever possible. I'm thinking do the human body book with the four of them, occasionally pick an interesting thing to do from books like '101 science experiments' for chemistry - volcanoes, that type of thing, and perhaps have my 11 year old do her own animal notebook... maybe? I don't know - any suggestions?
  14. Anyone else with a large family, but no family support? What I mean is, no family members willing or able to babysit, give you a little 'time out', take the children for cooking or sewing lessons, etc. My family has always taking the attitude towards me as 'you had 'em, you look after 'em'. Even when I was very ill and had small babies to care for, my mother would simply say, 'oh, well, if you get any worse, just let me know' - but never actually offered to help or babysit. My sister, who lives 1/2 and hour away, same thing (she never did have any children of her own). Now that mine are older, it's fine - my older daughters are now quite capable of looking after the younger ones if I need to drive the 15 kilometres to town for mail or shopping - but when they were all little, it was hard! I'm only realising now just how much I needed to take some breaks, have some support, etc. My hubby and I went out for dinner a few weeks ago - the first time in around 7 years! I suffered from severe post-natal depression after two of the babies were born - how on earth did I make it through? God's help, that's it. I do have a very helpful hubby, who was always willing to change a nappy or rock the baby to sleep, but as I say, I'm only just now realising how lonely those years were. Oh, well - we survived! :001_smile: If there is anyone else out there with little or no support - please know, things do get easier as they get older - but even though it is difficult, the time you have with them when they are little is so precious! Don't worry about the messy house - just hug them!
  15. I have had 8. My mother had 4, and my grandmother also had 4, although was my grandfather's 2nd wife, and he already had 4, meaning she actually raised 8. 3-4 seems to be the 'standard' in our family - All my family are either 'liberal' Protestants or non-Christian, but I joined the Catholic Church in adulthood - hence the large family! I'm the black sheep of the family - story of my life, really {sigh}.
  16. Phonics, Spelling and Math are so important, that, if need be, yes, go right ahead on focus on them! You may not need to do so for a full year, and you may well find you're looking for different subjects to add in variety - but the beauty with homeschooling is we can do exactly that - focus in on what each child needs, as they need it. You can always get in science and history by reading aloud good story books on these topics, anyway. Simply reading aloud to your child from good books can really encourage them to read for themselves. You're in charge - do what you need to do!
  17. Hi - does anyone know of a resource whereby, the student listens to an orchestral piece of music, and has to pick out the various instruments? Eg. what instrument is playing the solo - answer: oboe. I know we 'can' do this with any piece, but I'd rather something with a teacher's guide, so we know we have it correct! Anything like this out there? I have a few cds that go through the various sounds of each instrument, but nothing where the student has to pick out what is what. Thanks!
  18. My 1st / 2nd grader simply needs more practice with writing numbers (backwards, always backwards :tongue_smilie: ), simple addition, subtraction, etc. Something simple, but thorough. Hopefully, not just numbers on the page, but something that 'looks' a little interesting - but anything, really. Any free downloadable worksheets that you know of, or any good workbooks? Thanks!
  19. I confess to having had several 'cries' over the past few days. I'm a big fan, and it is a very, very sad thing - it's a close family, and at the end of the day, three young children have lost their Dad, as well as his family losing their brother and son. I do hope the frenzy surrounding Paris will calm down, and she has not now made herself a 'target' for the media, by speaking out at the memorial service. The family were fantastic to allow the casket to go to the memorial - it's really time to leave them alone now.
  20. Well, I watched all of it. I have been a big fan of MJ (and yes, we've called him that for some time) since I was eleven years old. I think it's time to stop all the carry-on in the media about what he did and didn't do in life, time to leave his grieving family alone, and just take one his message: "Heal the World', and "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change". Pretty good advice, really. Like him or not, he did fabulous work with the needy, and gave much more than any of us are ever likely to.
  21. That is the version that we have, and love! Be careful with the 'Man in the Iron Mask', though - has one or two scenes that would be not appropriate for young viewers - the king and his lover, etc.
  22. My hubby absolutely LOVES this series! I haven't sat through them all yet, but they look great. One comment that came from out of this series was when the main character has a little robot, or something, in his head, going through his thoughts, and afterwards, commented that went something like: 'there was a whole section in your brain that I just couldn't make out - it was just a load of mish-mash - what was that'? The main character replies: 'oh, that'd be high school!'. Classic line - that was enough to catch my attention!
  23. I recently purchased one of these: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/RELIGIOUS-St-Raphael-BLUE-Crystal-Chaplet-Catholic_W0QQitemZ140330085573QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_15?hash=item20ac532cc5&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116 It is the chaplet of St Raphael - really lovely beads. Saint Raphael the Archangel is the Patron of Safe Travel, Physicians, Pharmacists, Lovers, and the Sick - so I don't know if any of those apply? It's a small gift, but one that is very special to me. God bless,
  24. We're sort of a mix between Classical and Charlotte Mason - is there a good message board for users of the Charlotte Mason method? I'd like to learn a little more about the approach. Or, even better, is there a Classical Charlotte Mason board? Thanks!
  25. How horribly scary for you. Praise God for His loving care. Take lots of time for cuddles! It just makes you realise how incredibly precious our babies are. God bless,
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