Hello Baby

 Hello Baby

I have had a number of home births but only once has one of the kids see a sibling being born. This book is geared to those who want their children to see a sibling being born. But it is still gently suitable for any child who is about to have a new sibling enter the family. It makes birth a very normal and natural part of everyday life.

This is a stunningly gorgeous book which well portrays the beautiful atmosphere of a home birth. Written from a child's point of view, it is a book full of deep emotions and connectedness. Any sibling rivalry just melts away with tender love and joy at the arrival of a new life. A book that  gives reassurance of the safety and comfort of a home birth on a child's level. Just stunning!

Not for everyone I know, but for anyone who loves this lifestyle - a must buy!

(There is one page with nudity. I use a library copy but if I had my own copy I would put a material towel over Mommy on this page.)

Need Master Chef Lessons?

Here is our favourite chef helper! 
Encyclopedia of Cooking Skills and Techniques is a wonderful instruction book on how to cook just about anything from poultry, pasta, eggs, fruit, nuts, chocolate, cakes and pastry and sauces. Big on technique,but not little on photographs of brilliant presentation.

Joy's Favourite Children's Picture Book:

Miss Jaster's Garden is a book full of nostalgic childhood memories for me, memories as beautiful to me as the beautiful illustrations in this lovely gentle picture book. I remember chuckling away as my mother read it to my sister and me.

It is about a short sighted elderly lady who enjoys the company of a hedgehog and accidentally plants some seeds on his back. The hedgehog then accidentally 'steals' her garden as he runs away in fright. A must read, good for your soul, gentle book for any adult who reads to children who love to listen to good books. It has excellent vocab, lots and lots to talk about.

I have been meaning to write a study guide to go with it - maybe one day. For now I am just enjoying reading it to Emma and Tim.

Write right now the 'rite' way:

Student Excellence in Writing Programs  would be by far my favourite writing program. I have all of their programs mentioned below and have run mini classes for 9 years now. Initially they just had the teacher's program, then the "Intensive" program for students and finally they have the "Continuation" program which I have only taught once. The SAT preparation course/advanced writing courses are excellent, not just for the SAT essay exam but for any child who needs to learn speedy thinking, spontaneous essay writing, exams pressure etc. for a tertiary level of work.  And the note taking element is essential as well for tertiary education, as notes are still not always available for the students - unless they have a disability that requires notes to be given. The program builds grammar skills into writing without the kids even realising. And also provides a fail free method of writing.


This is definitely my very best resource and although it is expensive, it is worth every cent I have spent on it! If I could only buy one thing for educating my children, it would be this as it effects almost every subject (most other subjects have free curriculum's available online these day, if one is desperate enough to not spend any money.)

Here is their home page: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/

(1) This is the teacher's program.
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/twss

(2) This is the basic program kids program:Student Intensive:
 http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/catalog/writing ( I have groups A, B and C)

(3) And this is the second/more advanced program, of which I only have the group C as yet.

http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/sicc

(4) And last but not least the y 11/12 program, an absolute must for university preparation, and for SAT exam, or just for a well rounded finale to a good education.

http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/hse
and http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/ACS-D

  There are also some very good Internet links to help with writing:

This is one that we have used for years, it is super for brainstorming and planning. http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/

And the same company  has bench mark papers for most grades:

(1) Grades 1 - 5 see http://www.eduplace.com/cgi-bin/schtemplate.cgi?template=/rdg/hme/benchmark/index.thtml&grades=k_5&alt=K-5

(2) Grades 6-8: http://www.eduplace.com/cgi-bin/schtemplate.cgi?template=/rdg/hme/benchmark/index.thtml&grades=6_8&alt=6-8

Here is another web site which includes some guidelines for 9-12 age group, but I have not had time to fully explore it yet. http://farroutlinks.net/blog/super-strategies/writing-exemplars-and-scoring-guides/

I have just googled rubrics,  writing  and really  I like this one best  http://www.rubrics4teachers.com/writing.php

Another thing I have taught my older children is different styles of writing (they will need it for SAT prep, uni prep and it is covered by Excellence in Writing advanced courses.) My best resource for this is the Gray LLATL ( Learning Language Arts Through Literature)  lessons 28 - 32 which describe (1) a narrative paper, (2) a persuasive paper, (3) a compare and contrast paper and (4)  a research paper.

Style of Writing are also found in Writers Inc. and Writers 2000, see http://www.thewritesource.com/, scroll down to the ones you are looking for. or find it at Amazon Search Amazon.com for writers 2000, write sourceAs well as in the ABEKA's English Grammar and compositions handbook. https://www.abeka.com/ABekaOnline/BookDescription.aspx?sbn=63355 

Happy writing right now the 'rite' way!