Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear

This biography of Beatrix Potter by Linda Lear was published in 2007. It is a very comprehensive 584-page account of an extraordinary woman. Although Beatrix Potter is mostly known for her iconic Peter Rabbit and friends children’s books, these books only represent one aspect of her life over a ten-year period. Besides being a gifted … Continue reading Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear

Ambleside Online Year 12 in Australia

Year 12 has looked different every time we've done it. These are my initial, to be updated, plans for this year for my daughter who's just turned 17 using some selections from Ambleside Online (those are marked with an *) and adding other material I'd like her to cover. We're going into Week 3 as … Continue reading Ambleside Online Year 12 in Australia

Under the Sea-Wind by Rachel Carson

Under the Sea-Wind, Rachel Carson’s first book, was published in November of 1941, barely a month before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This wonderfully written book was considered by one critic to be ‘one of the greatest natural histories of the seashore of all time,’ but as the author herself noted, ‘The world received … Continue reading Under the Sea-Wind by Rachel Carson

Ambleside Online Year 11

This is our Year 11 Australian/personalised adaption of Ambleside Online. We've just finished for the year and this is my final update...unless I've forgotten something. Bible/Devotions *  **  * *** In The Steps of the Master by H.V. Morton - Bible History & Geography * Knowing God by J.I. Packer - continued from last year ** The … Continue reading Ambleside Online Year 11

A 16 Year Old’s Written Narration Samples

In a Charlotte Mason education we start off with oral narration, which is basically a child retelling what they've heard or read for themselves in their own words. Oral narration continues all the way through high school but written narration is also added around the age of 10 years, depending on the child. Some of … Continue reading A 16 Year Old’s Written Narration Samples

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

Helen Macdonald is a British writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. Vesper Flights was published in 2020 and is a collection of forty-one of short essays that point the reader to ways of seeing the world from a different perspective to their own.Hard science gives us evidence of the harm that results from our … Continue reading Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

Half Lives by Lucy Jane Santos

Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium by Lucy Jane Santos takes the reader through a cultural history of radium. As she points out, radioactivity is everywhere - in the Earth’s crust, in our homes and even in us. It is ubiquitous and that troubles us; but this was not the case in the late … Continue reading Half Lives by Lucy Jane Santos

The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum

  So many crime novels of the Golden Age dealt with murders that involved poisons such as chloroform, arsenic and cyanide. It was the ‘weapon’ of choice in many cases back then because at that time (during the 1920’s and 1930’s) commercially made poisons were readily available and there were few tools available to detect … Continue reading The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum