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LATEST
NEWS
Let the games begin...
2 February 2010
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By the time you read this newsletter, school would have started
for most families.
If we can venture any wise
words for the new school year, they are: be kind to yourself
and your loved ones and don't sweat the small stuff.
Especially in homeschooling we sometimes have days that simply
do not turn out as anticipated. Often those are the most
wonderfully memorable days. The impromptu visit to the zoo,
the day spent around the dining table with a board game or
showing family
from out of town around, provide special memories we'll treasure for a long time. If we plan every
day rigidly and refuse to budge from those plans, we deprive
ourselves of some lovely surprises. Come on, live a little! |
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Discounted prices on The Well-Trained Mind
books
We have some good news,
just in time for the new school year! John Wiley, the distributors for Peace Hill Press
(The Well-Trained Mind and related books) marked down most
titles, in some cases by as much as $10! For all orders placed
after 15 January we'll be passing the
savings on to you, which means, for example, that
The
Story of the World Activity Books are
now $47.95 each, not $57.95. Even the key work from this
publisher, The Well-Trained Mind itself, has been discounted
considerably. If you have been planning to get some of these
books please have a look at the adjusted prices on our website.
The Well-Trained Mind books also include:
First Language Lessons for the
Well-Trained Mind,
The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease
and others. |
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Unit Study Resources
Last month we said we would discuss some of the excellent unit
study resources available on our website. What has become known
as "unit studies" is simply exploring a topic via various
subject areas. Perhaps that is not how you see it and you would
be able to provide a better description. Feel free to comment!
Unless you
follow a fairly set course of study, unit studies allow families
to cover vast amounts of necessary core learning. Even more
importantly, you'll be amazed at the level of learning taking
place when no limitations are imposed. All of sudden there will
be no reason to stop at, let's say, the eight-year-old level (if
there is such a thing!) just because you're dealing with an
eight year old. If she wants to study university level textbooks
or talk to a local expert in her quest, good for her! |
For
primary age students, you can follow their latest interests or let them pick an area by leaving some
tempting books lying around (Ancient Egypt or Vikings are
sure to be a hit!). To be fair, let there be a real choice...
don't try to push them too hard in a particular direction. Leaving a book
like
DK History of the World*, or another very visually
appealing general reference-style work lying around open, is
sure to get some interest. Once you get a nibble, it is OK
to nudge them a little in a direction. For older students you
might have to narrow down the choices as they might be required
to cover specific time periods, events or subject matter. Even
so, students should always have a say in deciding on projects or
intensive study of specific material. This immediately removes
motivation issues. Choice makes an enormous difference as you
might have noticed from your own life experience.
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History
If you are new to
using unit studies to cover several subject areas at once and
want to see how it works, try starting with history. Activity books,
maps, music and historical
fiction/living books really spice up what could have been pretty
unremarkable if presented in the way history was taught a decade
or so ago. Even if you are using a core text, like the excellent
series,
The Story of the World, extra resources
will jazz things up considerably. Also look at exploring the
geographical area where the events are taking place, study the
old and new countries of that area, the people and their
culture... What starts out as a single question about a picture
in a book can turn into a year of society and environment
studies with art, technology, cooking, music and various other
areas thrown in.
Apart from helping you pick a period to study, reference
works, such as the above-mentioned
DK History of the World* and
The History of the Ancient World, will be
most useful to fill in blanks and to answer tricky questions.
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When your student and you have picked
the period you'll be studying, look at the menu on the
right-hand side of our website. When you click on History,
you'll be shown several different historical periods from which
you can choose. These give you access to our lists of textbook-style books,
audio books, activity books and historical fiction, all relating
to the historical period in question. It should be fairly
straightforward to find what you're after, but if you have any
problems, just send a quick email and one of us will come back
with lots of information (no obligation to buy!). In this
newsletter, we're showing you some of the resources we have
available to help in your studies of
Ancient Greece.
This is just a small sample, so visit the website to see the
rest.
*Always read our reviews of books before purchasing,
as some books might contain views that clash with yours.
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Colouring Books
As you'll see
above, we've started adding colouring books to our catalogue
under Activity Books and also under the particular period or
subject area. Please check back for more titles. Would anyone be
interested in paper dolls? We can get hold of lots of colouring
book titles and paper dolls. The first few orders might take two
to three weeks for delivery. |
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Enjoy your new school year!
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Website
of the Month
If you are stumped to find books for a child
and you've already checked our suggestions, have a look at
Book Adventure. The page we link to
here asks a few questions about grade,
reading level and interests and then creates an appropriate
reading list. Please ask us to find the books for you if they
catch your fancy.
About Us
As promised, we'll tell you a bit about
ourselves. There has been a big debate about who will be first
in line and Peter lost... so here is his (very much abridged)
story:
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I spent my childhood messing about in the South African
countryside, in between long periods of imprisonment at boarding
school. During my internment I spent all available time reading
whatever I could lay my hands on. After getting some kind of an
education I drifted to Cape Town and found a job in Hansard, the
parliamentary reporting service. I stayed on at Parliament for
28 years, doing a variety of different kinds of work. Elsa and I
first met when we worked together in the same reporting team.
During the tumultuous 90s, during which South Africa
negotiated its way into becoming a democracy, I was an “officer
at the Table” and served as secretary to the constitutional
assembly drawing up the new Constitution. After surviving that
rough-and-tumble period, I left Parliament, bought a kayak and
connected with Elsa again (she had emigrated to Australia in
1997).
Eventually I, too, found my way to Australia (not by kayak,
although I was tempted) and for the last four years or so we
have been living happily ever after. Besides running Leatherwood
Books, we both do other things – Elsa designs websites for small
businesses and I do
occasional parliamentary consulting jobs. That, together with
homeschooling, tends to keep us off the streets and out of
trouble – so far at least!
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Contact
Us
Let us know if we can help to find you any
book or audio book.
Remember to stop and smell the roses... and that any time
reading a book is NOT wasted!
Happy reading!
Elsa, Peter, Seb & Lila
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