The Travels of Marco Polo

It's not every day that you find a Folio edition of The Travels of Marco Polo.

Complete with maps and illustrated classical pictures.

And when you can pick up a copy for about $1 you get a very nice feeling of satisfaction.

Wondering what year they do Marco Polo in AO?

Op Shop Book Bargins

It would seem to me that finding true bargains and keepers is getting harder and harder these days.  It could simply be that my book searches are narrowing.  Either that, people are starting to work out that they are worth money and just aren't letting them go like they used to.  Another possibility could be that there is an uptake of people collecting - and knowing what they want.

This week however I was very fortunate to find a grand sum of 2 nice and collectable books that I wanted on my shelves.

The first one I found was a 'How and Why' for Building.

I quite like the short passages and the many illustrations one finds in these editions.

It's just a shame that they are now considered vintage / collectables due to their scarcity.

And if one per-chances to look on ebay, be assured that you will gasp at the prices too.

My 2nd discovery was a little ladybird on Charles II.

Yes, pretty much in the same boat as our previous book, I'm afraid.  People are keeping them and only letting them go for outrageous amounts of money.  ha ha ha.  

Of course, on occasion you will get one at a good and decent price, but be prepared to pay for it.

* * * * * * *

I thought I'd add these little show and tells in since they're connected in some way.

Oh and here's a RARE find; as you know I'm in Australia.  Just finding some of these books out in the wild is often a very rare thing indeed. I just happened to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right books on the shelf available.  It's just a good thing that I get to see a lot of show and tell on Reshelving Alexandria, so when I saw them I knew to pick them up straightaway.

How's your book shopping going these days?

What are you looking for?

What treasures have you found this month? 

Leave me a comment and let me know.  :)

Guy Fawkes Day - The Gunpowder Plot

All teaching British History - put your hands up.

Awesome.

Here's one for the 5th of November:

How this pack gets used is largely depending upon what grade level it is used for. It works a little different from most school material because it can actually work for ALL the primary grades with little to no tweaking.  True story.

For grades 1 - 4 
Use the 4 page reading passage as a read aloud in the classroom. 
Follow through with the vocabulary, letter writing, jigsaw, paragraph writing templates and worksheets as provided.

For grades 5 - 7
Use the passage for outlining and writing their own essay.
It will take about 4 lesson times to complete. 
Activity 1 - Read the passage, do the worksheets.
Activity 2 - Write an outline.
Activity 3 - Write an essay based on the outline.
Activity 4 - Proofread, edit, add illustrations for final presentations.

Contents:
A short program guide.

A lengthy 4 page passage.
Vocabulary scrap page { introductory piece to topic }
A comprehension page { introductory piece to topic }
A letter writing page { introductory piece to topic }
Vocabulary cut and paste.
Vocabulary cut apart cards.

Two writing templates for paragraph writing for the littles.
A jigsaw.
The Gunpowder Plot Rhyme.

So, if you don't already have your barrels in a row for Guy Fawkes Day, I'd love to help you with that.  Just click on the cover up there at the top and head over to the store where I've done all the hard work for you.  All you'll have to do is print and deliver.

Chloe Update

Today I just wanted to share some of Chloe's { 12 } recent work.

We are nearing the end of our Australian Emblem work.

I found some information online by googling, and then she did some copywork for the parts that she wanted to include.

Another essay for History, this time on Mary Queen of Scots.

{ Math }

She continues to work in Saxon 7/6 and toggle with Mathsonline.  Mon, Wed, Fridays are for Saxon and Tues, Thurs are for Mathsonline.

{ English }

This month she is working through CLE LA 409.  I originally pulled them out because I didn't want to waste the workbooks, and I wanted them used up.  As it turns out there were a few benefits to doing this, but the main one was that she was able to go back and learn some stuff that had evaded her English knowledge.

Since we've done a couple of these now I decided that it was a good fit for us and her as a subject, so I got everything organised and set up for a follow on for next year.  At this point I have the LA 500's all good to go, but I also have the LA 600's too - but I will make my final selection just before school resumes in January. 

{ Science } 

Chloe continues with her reading, summary copywork, and questions.  She enjoys doing her science this way, so for now we'll keep along the same path.

{ Bible }

Chloe is currently working on Rod and Staff Grade 7.  So that is nice.  She likes it, and that makes it awesome!

And now I leave you with a video of Chloe: A Day in the Life of a 7th Grade.

Thanks for visiting.

Writing Elizabeth I Essays

First we start with a book.  It's an old time 1923 text from way back when.  I  LOVE  it because it lends itself so easily to outlining and writing.  It is out of print, but if you can get it, I highly recommend it and the remaining books in the series.

This essay became a 4 lesson project.  Three of those were for the reading, outlining, and writing drafts.  The last one was for proof reading and typing it up into a final.

With each sitting they would read a short chapter from the book.  Then they'd do the written work for it.

Outlines on the left, essay on the right, followed by a drawing.

Chloe { 12 }

Drafts:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Final:

Phebe { 10 }

Draft Work:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Final

Hannah { 8 }

Draft Work:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

And just like that - she was ready for a Final Draft.

We just googled 'Elizabeth I coloring pages' and copy and pasted them into her file.

Thanks for visiting.

Week 35

Another week down my friends.  I've also made the decision to finish the school year at the end of the month.  The girls have worked hard this year, and made some awesome gains academically, so I'd like to give them a full month off { 4 weeks } before we begin Dec 31st for the new year.

A recent sample of Chloe's History.  From The Mystery of History.

One of the books that Hannah is currently reading; reading very well I might add too.

A sample Maths lesson from Hannah.

Phebe and Hannah are now up to lesson 143 for their grade 2 book.  Chloe is up to 151 for her grade 3 book.  Their books have 170 lessons each.  We won't get to EVERY lesson, but they'll have had a pretty good go at most of them by the end of the month.

Phebe has started a new reading book.

Chloe started reading this:

Let's talk Science.  We are now finished in the Science department. No more bookwork required.  No more supplemental reading either.

This was an EXCELLENT book to read this year.  I am really looking forward to the next one in the series when school resumes.

Chloe also worked on another essay this week.  Then we had a go at making a craft to go with it.  I thought I'd keep all that separate for show and tell on a different post though.  Keep an eye out for our Pig Essay and Craft.  :o)

In the mean time here's a piece of clipart:

George Washington's World

Well, time never stands still.  Here we are in September already and there are less than 4 months left to look at Renaissance History before we make the jump to Australian Studies next year.  Unlike the usual 4 year cycle, where they do Modern History - which is usually very American, we'll be mostly focusing on Australian History.

To date this year we've done SOTW III, started MOH III, and read The World of Captain John Smith.  We've also had a couple of other stories that fit the timeline nicely like Sacagawea, and the wonderful odd sets of book and movie like A Tale of Two Cities and Pride and Prejudice.

Today I'm going to start reading George Washington's World to the girls.

I really love Geneviere Forster's style of horizontal history.  In this particular book she picks up from 1732 and finishes with 1799.

In each section we are introduced to key players within the book.

Beautiful black line illustrations glitter the text throughout.

What is your family currently doing in the History department?

Finished SOTW III

Yay~!!  We finally finished SOTW III tonight - it only took us 7 months.  Phew~!!  We got a little tardy with the worksheets near the end of the book though.  Once you see the end approaching, you just want to get it done.  I have kept a few of the coloring pages, just in case, for review and fun to put in the girls folders.

So, now that we've finished, what will we do for History for the remainder of the year?  

Oh, you are too clever~!!  How did you know?

Yep, we are now going to start MOH III. 

I can't wait for school to resume next week.  I have a number of small changes to our school routine and curriculum.  

Thanks for visiting.

Week 13

This week we returned to our normal school schedule after having 2 weeks off.  Chloe started 305 for English.  We are almost half way through the course already, the year is going so quickly.

Hannah started Rod and Staff Unit 2 { for reading but not the workbook }.  I've been really swamped out with the other children and life in general, so I'm currently going to be minimizing Hannah's workload.

She also had a little fun with making words on our magnetic trays. I've since bought a nice big pink one for her to try out and use.

Phebe also started a new reader and workbook.

Science went well this week.  We've only done 2 lessons but the girls have already learnt some cool things.

I'm wondering if we should make a vocabulary book or not - since I know that there is a HEAP of vocabulary to come, or should we just ENJOY the book for what it is?

I managed to get some nice photos of the baby - one while she was reading, and one while she was playing "librarian" and pushing a trolley of books around until she was ready to put them back on the shelf.  Notice her handful of Pony Pal books. 

Phebe continued to work on through her CLE maths module.  As it turns out it has been a very good fit for her.

Phebe also worked on this throughout the week.  Today she got to color in the whale.  

I've been trying to encourage the girls to start giving me their oral narrations for me to write down for them to copy, but today they struggled, so I just gave them copywork out of the Activity book.  I love that I can fall back to that when we are tired and can't think for ourselves.

{ The girls finished up Chapter 17 in SOTW III. }  

Todays SOTW copy work plus map:

We have now done the first 5 lessons from Life of Fred - Butterflies.  The girls have been doing great with learning to skip count by 5's and as a result are reading clock times much easier.  We've also started skip counting by 2's.  { We've obviously looked at these before, but are doing the rounds with them again because that's what are in the books. }  

Overall, this week has been a bit of hard work.  I am really feeling the weight of the 6 children - with 4 of them being full time homeschooling.  { The additional two little boys have gone home to mum permanently - so that is a good thing and has made the load a little lighter. }  I'm also struggling with a little resentment over the fact that hubby WANTS me to homeschool but has totally abdicated and left me to the job by myself.  I don't feel overly confident, or feel that I have enough mental stamina for the highschoolers.  Sure, I can provide work.  Yep, I can read and follow teachers manuals, but it's the overall process.  The time involved.  There is a LOT to run around in circles with.  I'm tired.

Thanks for visiting.