Nah, just somewhere on the path that Google suggests between Hanging Rock and me.

I'm a QLDer too (a Gold Coast QLDer). I read the boards a lot, but I don't often pipe up. You guys are far more entertaining. So I chuckle along as I read. Count me out for a trip to Hanging Rock though. Too cold for a QLDer at this time of year. Plus an almost 18 hour drive down the Newell Highway (with tolls apparently!). Do you seriously have to pay to visit Hanging Rock? What a rort! Well, you've all inspired me to pull out the book and dust it off for a reread. :)

I'm in the flood zone. Yesterday, we were sent an emergency message to move to higher ground but the waters haven't reached us or isolated us, thankfully. My boys were annoyed that the premier closed all of the schools but never mentioned homeschools, and I made them continue their schoolwork. There are occasional drawbacks of homeschooling. :laugh:

You could try "The Big Book of Australian History" by Peter Macinnis (all of Macinnis' Aussie books are excellent) or "Our Sunburnt Country" by Arthur Bailie. Both are quality books that give an overview of Australian history.

Well I shouldn't have been so hasty. Within 24 hours I heard from both HSBC and the author of the curriculum, who has gone above and beyond in resolving the issue for me. I'm very pleased at this point, although I will have to do some more waiting....

I've also got a missing item in my Classical Historian order - the "Teaching the Socratic Discussion Book" that goes with the dvds. That's aside from the fact that my order was post marked a month after I ordered it. I only received my partial bundle today and I'm looking at it wondering how it could ever be worth so much money. The content better be good! I've put in an enquiry/complaint with HSBC and am waiting to hear back. I'll give them a week to sort it out and then I'll go straight to the author myself. So far, I don't recommend them, for their service, either. They'll want to fall over themselves getting that missing book to me. Less than impressed. Did you end up getting your package or are you still waiting?

I'm an Aussie blogger - two children (boys - 10 and 12 years); ex-teacher, kind of Classical but somewhat eclectic. My blog is called, "Little Men in My Library". However, my most recent posts have been about our recent holiday in California. But there's plenty of aussie homeschooling prior to that. :)

Well based on the two books I've seen so far they aren't for the same age bracket as the General Science books. I'd say roughly 8-12 in my opinion but depending on the individual child. They'd be very similar to Jeanne Fulbright's age bracket for the Apologia Elementary books. The way I plan to work is Dr Wile's new elementary series followed by his highschool series, starting at General Science. I don't know what ages Middle School ages are. Australia doesn't have middle school. We have primary from aged 6 to 12 and then high school from 13 to 17. I will say that I think the second book in the series is a little more difficult than the first. The first book covers the basics of: Day 1 – Light Day 2 – Water and Air Day 3 – Land, Sea and plants Day 4 – Sky/space Day 5 – Swimming / Flying creatures Day 6 – Land animals and Humans While the second pilot book, titled “Science in the Ancient Worldâ€, follows Science sequentially through the Ancient world, exploring topics as the Great Scientists explored them. I don't know if there'll be other titles in the series but I certainly hope so. There are quite a few Aussies using it and loving it.

By Apologia Elementary I meant Jeannie Fulbright's Exploring Creation series sold and published by Apologia. Dr Wile already has a high school curriculum which is still sold and published by Apologia but until now he hasn't had an elementary series. I believe (but I'm open to correction), once he sold Apologia to the new owners, he had an agreement that didn't allow him to publish anything new in the U.S. for a period, hence the luck of the Aussies to trial his new series. When I saw the initial question I wondered whether the new series had been released in the U.S. as the only link I've been able to find it at so far is Education Reformation which is an Aussie supplier. My guess is that it hasn't as yet. But it's definitely one to keep your eye out for in the future. It's very different to Jeannie Fulbright's books. I found that, being a Science text and unlike Fulbright's books, Dr Wile's doctrinal beliefs were hard to spot. He at times refers to God's creation, HIs ingenious features, and the marvels of it all but nowhere near as much as the Exploring Creation series which seem to fall in with too much gush.

We'll be finishing up the pilot books in the next month or so (Homeschoolers in Australia got to trial the series. I know the published books will be available here soon but have the books been released in the U.S yet???). I've used all sorts of Science curriculums in the past - Apologia's Elementary books, Janice VanCleaves books, Real Science 4 Kids, and tried to make up my own units - but everything lacked something that I thought a good Science curriculum needed. For me, Dr Wile's new elementary Science has everything I wanted in a curriculum. We'll be continuing on with his series and then move onto his highschool series. My boys and I found the Apologia Exploring Creation series way too dry, too wordy and unnecessarily technical for the intended age groups. The hands on activities were also few and far between and never terribly exciting. The notebooking also wasn't a good fit for my boys. We didn't like these books at all, although I persisted through three different volumes - Flying Creatures, Astronomy and Swimming Creatures. They just seemed to focus too much on filling the kids up with facts and not nearly enough on prompting the kids to think and question and wonder. There was just no 'wow' factor for us. Science is supposed to be engaging but my boys and I were just bored and trudging through. I found the Apologia series focused too much on the "what" of Science. We spent lots of time reading 'about' Science but rarely 'did' any Science. We were told how things were but never saw it for ourselves...and so just tended to forget. Dr Wile's books are very different. They focus on the 'why' and 'how' of Science. They have 'wow' factor and have turned our Science experience totally around. Nowadays we 'do' Science every day and sometimes even on the weekend!! In 'Science in the Beginning' every lesson is succint, engaging and easy to understand. Dr Wile uses a kind of narrative dialogue, asking the children questions, prompting them to think and engage with the concept being taught. I've also found Dr Wile's books less 'God-gushy' compared Apologia's books while still from a Creationist point of view. Every single lesson starts with a hands on activity that is vital to the lesson that follows. You can't just skip them and read the lesson. However, all of the activities are easy to do, use common household items and actually work. Many of the activities we've done had an impressive 'wow' factor. We've found ourselves sharing the activities with anyone who'll watch. If you don't like activities this probably isn't the curriculum for you, however if you were willing to give it a go it could be the curriculum that turns around your fear of Science activities. Every lesson ends with a written task to prompt the children to record what they have learned. There are activities for three different skill levels. The youngest level has simple review questions to answer and the older two levels are usually a mixture of diagrams and explanations. I tend to mix and match them and come up with my own combinations. Answers are provided at the back of the book...as well as chapter quizzes. Dr Wile's books don't have all the notebooking and cutting and pasting that the Apologia books encourage. So both series are very different. One seems more for those who like to read about Science and the other for those who like to pull up their sleeves and actively engage with Science. Perhaps it's more about fitting the right book to each child and parent. For my boys (and myself) the right books are Dr Wile's new elementary series.

Oh this is a great book!! My children have attended a performance of this book twice at the orchestra as well and would happily go to see it again. So would I! Yes it is a picture book with only a moderate amount of text but I would say that Amazon's K/5 and up age group is way off. 9 to 13 is a more suitable age group, although others can still gain something from it. The story surrounds a 'murder' investigation and introduces you to each family of the orchestra, their character and peculiarities, as they are interrogated. It's quite funny but younger children would miss a lot of highlights and humour that makes the story wonderful so 11 and 13 year olds would love it. The ending particularly would go right over the heads of the younger children. (Oh and there's nothing too objectionable in the story although the trombones do enjoy a little too much to drink apparently.) The cd reads the story and includes the music so it's very much like being at the orchestra listening to the performance. My boys have just about worn the tracks off the cd!! If you are looking for a lot of information about the instrument families and the orchestra this probably isn't your book though. It does cleverly weave interesting tid bits throughout the story but it's not a non-fiction title by any means. It's more of a delightful and fun introduction to the orchestra. You definitely wouldn't be wasting your money by buying it.

Homemade lamingtons are nicer than store bought and the kids enjoy making them. :)

The most common food to eat on Australia Day is BBQ lamb. But you could just make something traditionally Australian like lamingtons. That's what we made and enjoyed today. I put the recipe and instructions on my blog today if you were interested: http://homeschoolblogger.com/littlemen/2012/01/how-to-make-lamingtons/ You could also have a thong (flip flops) throwing contest. And for the brave - cockroach races...yes really. Very traditional. You wouldn't catch me doing it though! Generally people just find something fun to do with the family outdoors - a bbq at the park, cricket on the beach, a party in the backyard or join in with a community event. Enjoy your day.

You're welcome to have a look at my homeschool planner and see if it might be of use to you. I've got a blank copy of it here . I also have two blog posts (one and two) explaining the planner if that helps.

LindainOz, I had the same problem with ordering from PHP. I kept getting an error saying my address didn't match my billing address or some such thing. After getting a few friends to try ordering we discovered that none of us could order and it has nothing to do with our credit cards. We suspected that Australians could not order and PHP confirmed this and told me that it properly won't change in the near future either. They did however tell me that we could try faxing, phoning (although we'd have to do it after midnight...seems an odd hour to be on the phone) or mailing our details but they didn't guarantee that their banking system would accept our foreign addressed cards anyway. Disappointing really. I can understand not selling books and such to us due to the high shipping prices but it would be nice to be able to download products. Like you I haven't had a problem with this with any other provider that I've bought from. Hopefully their policy will change with demand. I was so eager to hear these new audios too. :crying:

I created my own planner diary that I fill in prior to the start of the week. I tick things off as we complete them and scribble in any incidental stuff that happens along the way. I find it easier to work with pen and paper for my diary as it allows me more freedom in where I can work. Plus jotting down incidental stuff that happens throughout the day is quicker for me than having to open up a file on the computer. Friends have used my template and filled their weeks in after they were completed. So the diary can work both ways. I've also added "note/ideas" pages for jotting down things I want to make, do, remember etc. You can check out my blog post that shows my planner and how I use it. And you are most welcome to download and use my template if you'd find it helpful. (Be aware that the blank pages in the template are page holders so that if you printed it out back to back it keeps everything in order.) At present I'm working on an updated diary to include new subjects for my ever-growing boys. Plus a few tweakings here and there of things I didn't use and things I needed to add. That should be on my blog by the end of the month...we start the school year at the very end of January. Only a few weeks left of holidays for us. :scared:

Here's a few more links to lists of great Australian books (some of which will be about Aborigines). Australian History in Chronological Order Australian Books We Have Enjoyed Australian Picture Books Online Australian Children's Books As for purchasing Australian titles, if you were really keen, you could order it from an Aussie supplier. Just be prepared for a hefty postage bill. It's a fact of life for us here downunder. Postage is part of my homeschool budget...yes seriously. I ordered "All about Spelling" the other day and the postage cost me $45US. Ouch. But expected. If you're crazy keen, here's a reputable link (which you could also use as a good Aussie book list - there's a couple of good Aboriginal stories in this list): Home School Favourites - Australia Titles Hope this helps. Tracey

I'm in South East Queensland, Australia, homeschooling my two boys (7 years and 5 years)

I'm a brand new blogger. You'll find me here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/LittleMen/ I wish you a quick recovery. :)