Books I Read in July

Once again we find ourselves at the end of another month and it is time for me to do my “Books I Read” post. This month I start with the books I read aloud to the boys. I’m pleased with the number of books we finished as we had our winter two weeks holiday break which generally means much less reading aloud. Starting at the top are two literature selections for the month. I read “Great Expectations” to Monkey and “Holes” to Munchkin. We were late to the party with “Holes” and we were pleasantly surprised as we both LOVED the book. It highly exceeded both our expectations. This was the second reading of “Great Expectations” for me as I read it aloud to Monster a few years ago. I’m a big believe in re-reading books and this one proved the point once again. I understood the book much better the second time around AND picked up on a bunch of stuff I missed the first time through. It will be interesting to see what more I glean from it when I read it aloud to Munchkin in another couple years.

The middle row of books – “Henry Lawson Short Stories” I read aloud to both boys as part of our mini Australian poet unit study. As Henry Lawson also wrote short stories along with his poetry, I felt it important to read a selection of them. This book was wonderful and while some of the stories were a bit hard for us to grasp so many decades later, he was a truly gifted writer. “Scarecrow Army” was a “new” (in that I didn’t read it to Monster) World War I selection for Monkey. I always try to find new-to-us titles when I’m repeating a content area with a different boy. This book was eye-opening as it had first hand accounts from many of the men and boys who were there. A striking point for both Monkey and I was how young (Monkey’s age) some of the boys were who fought the war. “Myths in 30 Seconds” was a quick read for Munchkin to enrich his Ancient Civilizations history unit study. There were many other cultures included in this book besides just Egypt, Greece, and Rome, but that made it all the more fun.

Finally, on the bottom row are two long read alouds – the left book was for Monkey and the right book for Munchkin. The study of genes is part of Monkey’s science curriculum and this book was excellent. Well written, interesting, and extremely thorough. If you can find this book (and there are others in the series) I highly recommend it. “A Journey Through Greek Myths” was for Munchkin. I love reading books with collection of myths when we study the ancient civilizations.

This next collage are all the books I read independently during the month of July. I read a LOT of books and again this highlights the two week school holidays break. I try to spend much more time reading for pleasure during our holiday periods as it gives my brain the break it generally needs after a ten week term of working hard teaching the boys. The books are roughly organised in order from most favourite to least favourite.

Top Row: “The M Word” was an excellent and comprehensive book about menopause written by a well respected doctor here in Australia. I particularly liked that she highlighted the problem of lack of research in this area withOUT name calling and ranting. It was refreshing. “Little Girl Blue” was a heartbreaking read but one I’ve had on my TBR list for years and finally made the time for. I grew up listening to the Carpenter’s music and vaguely knew about her struggles with anorexia but never knew the WHOLE story. “Mine is the Kingdom” was an eye-opening read about the downfall of a prominent pastor in a large church here in Australia. Again, a story I knew bits and pieces about, but it was shocking to get the full story. This book will stay with me for a LONG time. I thought that “Mrs Kelly” would be the last book I read about the Kelly Gang, but since finishing it, I’ve found new books at the library that spark my interest. I guess my fascination with Ned and the gang will never be quenched (not that I mind). I read this book together with my mom and we discussed via text message. It was fun.

Second Row: “Just One Thing” and “Eat Move Sleep” were both quick “health” related books I chose to read this month. I enjoyed both of them, thought I didn’t particularly learn anything new or earth shattering in either of them. The author of “Just One Thing” died suddenly and tragically which was what sparked me to pluck that book off my TBR list. “Henry & Banjo” and “A Wife’s Heart” were both personal choices that correlated with the Australian poets unit study I did with the boys. I often try to match some of my reading with what I’m teaching them. I want them to see that I find interest in their studies and that I don’t just pick content arbitrarily. Both books were good, though I found “A Wife’s Heart” a bit difficult to read because the author kept interjecting her own relationship struggles into the book which I found rather weird.

Last Row: “The Sleep Book” gave me a few new tips to try in my ongoing quest to battle my frequent insomnia issues, but it wasn’t earth shattering and it was an older book as well. The two Kaz Cooke books were funny reads but she can get a bit ranty (not in a good way in my humble opinion) about men and I didn’t find that useful or helpful in these two books. Finally the Father Brown book was a recommendation from a friend and unfortunately it was my least favourite book for the month. I just don’t think his writing style is my cup of tea.

This final collage for this month was a fun little experiment I tried. As it was school holidays I decided to read as many junior fiction novels as I could during the holidays. I have many recommendations from two dear high school friends, as well as a friend here in Australia, and I decided to give a few of them a try. I really enjoyed this “experiment” and will definitely read more junior novels sometime during a future school holidays break.

The two books on the right hand side were by FAR my favourites of them all. I read “Restart” in one day it was so good. “The Untouchables” is the type of book I love. A teacher who takes a class of students that no one else can reach, and does miraculous things. I highly recommend both of these books.

I also really enjoyed both Kate DiCamillo books – I’ve read other titles of hers aloud to the boys. My favourite of these two would have to be “The Beatrice Prophecy”. I can’t adequately explain what was so lovely about it, but if you read it, you will know. Finally “Blended” was a really well written book about a girl who struggles to know her place in her world. I speak of it last but it was in no way my least favourite book. I would definitely read other books by this author in the future.

Term Three: Week One ~ Books, Birthdays, the Park

 Our first week of Term Three began with some gorgeous sunny weather on Sunday. I took the opportunity to take my DSLR camera to church with me and after the service and morning tea I wandered around the garden photographing all the beautiful flowers.

I was very pleased with this selection of photographs that I took. I haven’t had a lot of time to photograph anything with my DSLR camera with all the changes this year has brought our family, and it shows in the quality of my photographs. However, this particular photography session went well. If I had to chose some favourites it would have to be the red kangaroo paw in the top row, the middle photo of the bee on the rosemary in the second row of photos, and the two right hand photos just above this text.

We spent a LOT of this first week of the term reading. I have found over the years, that the BEST way to get the boys back into the routine of structured learning, is to read high quality books to them. This series of books about rocks and fossils was a new find in our library and I was pleased with them. The quality and the content were excellent and the photographs were fantastic as well.

We did a quick unit study on the theory of evolution. These four books were all excellent and we enjoyed all of them. As always, the DK book was of exceptional quality, and I quite liked the “children’s” version of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” as well.

Both boys are studying the human body and the systems within. These two series of books are excellent – though sadly our library no longer carries ALL the books in each series. However, by reading both of these series, along with some other books and series throughout the year, they are getting an excellent overview of the human body. This is actually a topic we have studied and reviewed over and over again since they were very young, so I know they have learnt it well. My main reason for the “review” is due to having a new Department of Education AP coming the end of 2025 to do our next registration and I want to make sure there are as few “gaps” as possible in our education program.

Both boys are also studying cells this year (though obviously at different levels) so we read these two books to kick start the unit study. These are older books, so as I continue this unit study throughout the remainder of the year, I will be looking for newer books as well.

To wrap up our reading on the human body this week, we read these two books, which don’t really fit in with the others, but rather, enhance them. I often lump health related topics in with human body study and of course the senses are another “system” within the human body. These were excellent books and we enjoyed them from both the written and visual content.

Munchkin is working on his Ancient Greece unit study so we read these three books this week. The ancient civilizations is where I do things vastly differently than the schools. If my children attended public school, they would only get to study ONE ancient civilization (Egypt, Greece or Rome). However, I feel that all three civilizations are important so the boys have studied all three. They have all LOVED this part of their schooling and I haven’t minded it either as I have learned a lot more in teaching the content to them than I ever learned when I was in school.

The first big exciting event of the first week of Term Three is that we helped feed some possums in our local park. They had recently been released into the wild after being cared for following injury and/or abandonment, so we agreed to help out. When they are initially released back out into the wild, volunteers fill feed boxes with a selection of fruit and vegetables while they learn to forage for their own food again. Over time the feed boxes are filled less and less often. A dear friend of mine took Munchkin and I on a walk through the park, showing us where the three boxes were and how much food to put in each box.

I have always loved this park and so while feeding the possums, I also took the opportunity to photograph other wildlife and plants within the park. Pelicans are probably one of my absolute favourite birds, but I also had fun with the ducks and geese. Having said that, the geese are nesting, so we had to be very careful not to encroach on their territory too much or they got a wee bit cranky. Please enjoy the gallery of selected photos from our visits to the park through the week.

I never tire of photographing the paper bark trees. Because they line the walking paths, they lend themselves to all sorts of creative photography options and I’m sure I’ll have more fun in the new future finding new and beautiful ways to showcase them. Finally, the yellow flower in the far right photo is yellow wattle, or an acacia tree, and although they are beautiful and I LOVE them, I am highly allergic to them. Thankfully their flowering season is quite short.

Despite being taken on my phone, rather than my DSLR camera, I’m very pleased with these two sky photos that I took this week. Both were evening shots. Clouds and sunsets are another of my favourite things to photograph.

This giant crane appeared in the outside parking area of our local shopping centre and caused all sorts of drama. It was positioned in the area where Munchkin and I normally enter and since that entrance was closed we had to walk way up to the other end of the shopping centre to enter the building, which then meant changing our route within the centre whilst shopping at the various stores. For the time they were doing this work, it added hundreds of steps to our total when doing our shopping. Having said all that, it is always fun to look at HUGE cranes.

The other exciting thing about the first week of Term Three (and the reason why we focus only on reading) is that Monkey celebrated his birthday – turning 15 years old this year. The following photo gallery highlights the work that Munchkin and I did together baking his cake, cooking LARGE quantities of food for his special dinner, and making bacon and pancakes on the Saturday after his birthday so that his older brother could enjoy them as well. Previously, the bacon and pancakes breakfast would have occurred on the ACTUAL birthday, but with one boy working full time during the week now, birthday breakfasts have moved to the Saturday AFTER the birthday. So enjoy the celebration of Monkey…

Before and after shots of what the “school table” looked like. I got it all organised and ready for the beginning of week two – which will be our first week of structured written work for the term.

Finally, the screenshots of my walking this week. The two smaller walks are our two days feeding the possums, whilst the two longer walks are trips to the shopping centre for groceries. This was a great first week and we are looking forward to a wonderful term three.