Pam Ayres - The Works

This is one of my latest acquisitions. I bought it for my OH, he doesn't get much time to read, so I thought this would be just up his street. He will now and again read out snippets to me, which then whets my appetite to read it myself. I've been sneaking a look when he's not glancing through it!

I have fond memories of listening to Pam Ayres when I was a child, and reading through familiar poems for myself, just feels, well, erm... quite comforting actually, it's that feeling of curling up in front of an open fire, hot toddy on the side, with a Thorntons chocolate at the ready. I would add with pipe, slippers, and slobbering dog at my feet, but I think that's pushing it somewhat! I think you will get the feeling I'm conveying.

The Works: The Classic Collection contains poems from her early years to present day. The familiar 'Oh I wish I'd looked after my teeth' is in there. What's nice to, is that she's wrote little notes to some of the poems as to why she wrote them in the first place.

This book suits all ages, and is a great fire side book. USA link

The Story Book of Science

This is a great book to read to your kids, especially if they love nature. When I received my copy and as is my usual habit, sat down to browse through the covers.

I couldn't put it down and ended up taking it to bed with me!

So what's it about - well science obviously for a start, but it's not about facts and figures, it's about how we discover things in real life. I've not really explained that well....but the gist of it is it's a story about six characters, Uncle Paul being the lead one. He has his 2 young nephews and niece staying with him, and it's the story of how he shows or tells them by 'stories' about what's happening all around them. So first off we learn all about ants...how they are marvelous little workers, but how they keep 'cows' and milk them!

The book was written in 1917, by Frenchmen Jean Henri Fabre. Despite being 90 years old much of it is very relevant for our day. ( I will add here, I've not read all of it yet!)

The blurb on the back of the book tells us that, Jean Henri Fabre was a nineteenth century french school-teacher and scientist whose peculiar gift for the observation and description of insect life won for him the title of the "insects' Homer".

I have to say he has a natural ability for story telling, and I have learned much about the ant, although I had some knowledge of how an ant lives, I had some unanswered questions rolling around my head tucked away - well these have basically been answered through Fabre's story.

The book is recommended for the age range of nine and I have to agree, my oldest and I went out looking and observing the ants 'milking their cows' just as Fabre tells us in his story...my eldest was delighted to see it happening 'live'!

This is a great read-a-loud book, my dad read it to T.

This is a book recommended by those that follow Charlotte Mason's method of teaching (see links in side bar) But I feel you don't have to be a observer of her methods nor a Home-Educator to enjoy this book.

Well your local library may stock it, but if you want to look into the pages right this minute then click *here* at main lesson.com. if you scroll down you can click on any of the chapter headings to read them, it is possible to read it all on-line.

Some of the chapter headings picked at random and in no particular order.

* The Old Pear Tree
* The Age of Trees
* Gold and Iron
* Flax and Hemp
* Cotton
* Paper
* Silk
* The Nettle
* Electricity
* The Story of Pliny
* The Earth
* Poisoness Plants
* The Bumble Bee
* The Sea
* Earthquakes
* Wax

Just a few chapters, there are actually 80 in all.

There are numerous 'classic' books that are available this way from mainlesson.com, who are part of Yesterday's Classics who have republished old books such as The Story Book of Science *here*
As mentioned earlier I've not read it all yet, but what I have read I have not been disappointed, neither has my eldest who is waiting in eager anticipation for the next nightly installment.UK...........................USA

The Earth by Barbara Taylor

The Earth by Barbara Taylor USA link You can view inside the book, click on the USA link as the UK one seems to show inside the wrong book!


This is a lovely book split into 4 sections

• Rivers and Oceans
• Mountains and Volcanoes
• Weather and Climate
• Maps and Mapping

I was just going to skim through it to get the feel of it when I first got this, but my eldest wanted to look too, so we then spent ages reading through it together, especially the Mountains and Volcanoes section.

It explains about the earth's different layers really well and the concept was soon grasped by my eldest...it uses the illustration of a peach....to explain, the skin = the earth's crust, the flesh = the mantle and the stone = the earth's core - it may sound very simple and basic, but it did the trick of explaining it well, it does go into much more detail, there are the usual experiments that accompany these things, but also some others I hadn't seen before.

I've found a site that has a Charlotte Mason approach, that uses this book as it's main source for some of it's lesson plans *here* This particular link deals with the section on Rivers and Seas. So useful for those who like lesson plans or like to get the best out of books. I have adapted as I've gon along, which is easy to do. It's a book that can be dipped in and out of, quite easily, if not being a more preferable way. It's a good bookto use for a starting point for Earth Geography

As I said there are 4 sections to the book, it appears that these can be bought individually as separate books, but it seems better to me anyway to have them all in one.

One-to-one: A Practical Guide to Learning at Home

One-to-one: A Practical Guide to Learning at Home Age 0-11 by Gareth Lewis


This is a book I keep coming back to, it's a book that can be dipped in and out of because it is packed full of very useful information.

I first got the book out of my local library, they ordered it in for me. I was so impressed I bought my own copy. It was back in the days when I was first starting out in HEing. It provided reassurance at a time when it was much needed, it helped through the colly wobbles of questioning myself am I doing the right thing, when deep down I knew I was.

So what's the book about...well it incorporates the age range 0-11, although I'd say it applied more to age 5 up, it does give good advice for pre-schoolers, such as type of play, and what toys are good, for instance not nasty cheap plastic toys which seem to be in abundance these days, but rather good solid traditional types like wooden toys which are not only aesthetically more pleasing to the eye but more tactile too.

The title of the book after the One-to-One says A practical guide to Learning at Home, and it does what it says.

In the early part of the book it talk about schools and why they are so bad...I remember thinking at the time it was very anti-school, and it did put me off some what, until I got to the practical pointers, which do come very quickly. Now after a few years HEing, I'm not so put off by those early comments.

Now on to the practical,
here are some of the chapter headings

* Art
* Writing
* Reading
* Mathematics
* Parental Role in Education
* Gardening
* Cooking
* Crafts
* Working with your Child

The first practical chapter is as you can see about Art, this is a crucial chapter to read and must not be skipped as so much hinges on allowing a child to express themselves through Art...how it helps with writing later on. I really felt I'd learned something from this chapter.

The other chapters are good too, but one that stood out to me, was that on the chapter of Mathematics - it too is a must read, it just made so much sense, and it triggered memories of my abysmal Maths lessons, and questions why so many school leavers fail in Maths and why so many of us shudder at the word MATHS. This is one chapter that I keep re-reading because it is pertinent to me, other chapters may stand out to someone else.

I don't agree with everything the author says, but it is a book I like a lot, it is an extremely helpful book for someone on the beginning journey of HEing and even beyond the early days.

As always I say Try before you Buy, so go down to your local library to see if they have a copy or if they can order one in for you.

If you would like to buy,then try Amazon UK One-to-one: A Practical Guide to Learning at Home Age 0-11
USA link

The Fire Thief - Terry Deary

This book was being read to T's class while they were doing the Ancient Greeks.

T always impatient to read for himself, asked me to get the book for him.
I was going to wait a little while before I did, because I reasoned he was having the book read to him anyway.

Then I happened to be in class one day while it was being read, I was riveted, it's a great read aloud book for kids. So I ordered the book along with the other two, it's part of a triology and it's the first in the series.

You can order
The Fire Thief from Amazon , this link takes you straight there, where you will see good reviews, but also you will be able to see inside the first few pages, which will give you a taste of what the books like.USA link


The story start with Prometheus cousin to Zeus, the story interlinks greek myths and gods, with a fitional story. It's very clever the way Terry Deary has done this. I knew very little about the greek gods and their myths, but after reading all 3 books in the triology, I can now understand much more, I was taught without even knowing I was being taught.

The book should be a big hit for boys, but I think girls will like this too, I know I did. I enjoyed all 3 books, but I think the Fire Thief is my favourite.

A recommended reading age would be 9 up, it's a lovely book to read on it's own, but I like it as a read aloud too, it's very funny in parts.
The other 2 books are Flight of the Fire Thief(USA link)
andThe Fire Thief Fights Back (USA link)


The last one is in hardcover, but you can get it in paperback.
Although a trilogy, The Fire Thief can just be read on it's own.

This was one of the first books I bought before starting HE, it contains other Home Educators life experiences of how they Home Educated their children. Not one was the same, there are over 20 stories contained in the book.
I found it very encouraging, as it was very helpful to get an inside look at how others managed HE, it showed me there was no one right way, just the right way for your own family.

UK........................USA

Geography Colouring Book

This book is by Wynn Kapit called The Geography Coloring Book, now don't be mistaken here that it's a young childs ordinary colouring book, it's NOT, the maps are very detailed and quite intricate in some areas, it also gives information about the countries and has quite small writing.

Having said that it will be useful for a number of years. It is American but deals with the whole world, and not just present day either there are short sections on the Persion Empire, Alexander the great,Roman Empire, and Byzantine Empire and some others too, they are just brief but give a good overview.

UK...........................USA