tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12728872495879123612024-03-06T02:02:42.698+00:00delivering graceDeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.comBlogger974125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-40647166244144387272021-12-30T21:22:00.002+00:002021-12-30T21:22:52.535+00:00The Ups and Downs of Home Educating in 2021<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">2021 has been an unusual year for all of us and home educators are no exception. There is a bit of a folk tale going around that home educators have been affected less by lockdown than everyone else; after all, don't their children stay at home anyway? Not completely true!</span></li></ul><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrKK4ZTFvBvZgQojjEIpnI_BVOYrJ1APIP0c4k39Z4KWSd8FHl3aS7GOkD2eN0eTgcVzS427hJKlP_d3vJQD2G06RAdByUEy6m7ClIbGBRBO2Fil6uOp_9LF7WNp3NG8jvGOB-P1LCNWIRJTiGBzmKs8Cm9AzxafmrKNZeWRsFsfWUVoO3jxOGnixA=s4160" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrKK4ZTFvBvZgQojjEIpnI_BVOYrJ1APIP0c4k39Z4KWSd8FHl3aS7GOkD2eN0eTgcVzS427hJKlP_d3vJQD2G06RAdByUEy6m7ClIbGBRBO2Fil6uOp_9LF7WNp3NG8jvGOB-P1LCNWIRJTiGBzmKs8Cm9AzxafmrKNZeWRsFsfWUVoO3jxOGnixA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Anyway, the ups...</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Lockdown was difficult but it has been a time to appreciate real friends. Those people who were willing to meet in parks or gardens on cold, wet days. The people who sent WhatsApps to keep in touch. It turns out that many of these are from the home education community and I am very thankful for them.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Our home education group which has had to meet partly online; partly outside-sometimes in rather interesting weather conditions and more recently, inside but we have met! </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">It also turns out that there are new home educators. This has led to an online meeting about setting up new groups and a new Christian home education group starting. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Free online resources. This year, we have particularly used <a href="https://corbettmaths.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Corbett maths</a>, <a href="https://www.mathsgenie.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Maths Genie</a>, <a href="https://www.freesciencelessons.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">FreeScienceLessons</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/MalmesburyEducation/featured" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Malmesbury education</a>.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">We have continued morning time with some books which worked well<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg46ptAVErMnPlAymLe8jbVRkeF4Lwf89jhH0VVOyTG6ruAVyAxW2lK0SvBbelMNlTXXWwVgTQdLvFJ1h_lotQpMEw1rPrzDAGFYmZuslVpMV3GIt5uOVyhjumLP2YyLCwBv5q4MWK_wdpXisIOUrBrp7n0STFlbKfjVDbEnRBLrgIQgov4G50l_hx0=s4160" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4160" data-original-width="3120" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg46ptAVErMnPlAymLe8jbVRkeF4Lwf89jhH0VVOyTG6ruAVyAxW2lK0SvBbelMNlTXXWwVgTQdLvFJ1h_lotQpMEw1rPrzDAGFYmZuslVpMV3GIt5uOVyhjumLP2YyLCwBv5q4MWK_wdpXisIOUrBrp7n0STFlbKfjVDbEnRBLrgIQgov4G50l_hx0=s320" width="240" /></a></div>and others which weren't so popular but provoked a fair amount of discussion. <i>Oliver Twist </i>definitely fell into this category.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.dreamingspireshomelearning.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dreaming Spires history course</a>, Longbows and Roses for my youngest. I have wondered about using Dreaming Spires before but this summer with a child who wanted to learn more history and wasn't ready for a GCSE course, we registered. I must say that this was with some trepidation. The workload is quite heavy and it was either going to be a bit of a disaster or would feed his history interest. Anyway, he is loving the course and we have worked out a plan for the week so that we can fit in the reading, watching and writing.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivP8j8DmEx08QYvEYnhidyslQcrmTBwB0UpKqZWVqphvPTw_sAbnrr-0Eb5Yo_nczB8ltZkhGsZ4lduz-aec6862C6ed5-YUNM3L9lF7k6fWm-MwO3ipoMYa2fgwdbNMmmkNgE8n4fULa-nwXPxscgh7mqaBqGjib3iP-Ou5XQpbpmxcD8IWKdTKh-=s4160" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivP8j8DmEx08QYvEYnhidyslQcrmTBwB0UpKqZWVqphvPTw_sAbnrr-0Eb5Yo_nczB8ltZkhGsZ4lduz-aec6862C6ed5-YUNM3L9lF7k6fWm-MwO3ipoMYa2fgwdbNMmmkNgE8n4fULa-nwXPxscgh7mqaBqGjib3iP-Ou5XQpbpmxcD8IWKdTKh-=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: arial;">And the downs...</span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">It hasn't been the easiest year. We all missed seeing friends during lockdown. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Catching Covid over the summer meant that we went into the Autumn term tired. </span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">We look to 2022 knowing that hitherto has the Lord helped us. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div></div><p></p><p><br /></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-86786823319116084362021-12-07T21:39:00.000+00:002021-12-07T21:39:16.570+00:00Wulfgar and the Riddle<p> <span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Wulfgar and the Riddle</i> is the last in the trilogy of <i>Wulfgar the Saxon</i> books by Christina Eastwood. These books are historical fiction set in Southern England in the days of Alfred the Great.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9OhdfVdzz7VVkQ1V73XJZYvdjbWAJpOelB55Xrt5EcdArplY7iMRV2NB_Qmplg7aDSNcspTNIhMzCzxxQ4GgwOb1P3vpWhEu_OsooahVzKbnd4zpJiaPcpqzt9GqYa_MmSExRDGN167g/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="555" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9OhdfVdzz7VVkQ1V73XJZYvdjbWAJpOelB55Xrt5EcdArplY7iMRV2NB_Qmplg7aDSNcspTNIhMzCzxxQ4GgwOb1P3vpWhEu_OsooahVzKbnd4zpJiaPcpqzt9GqYa_MmSExRDGN167g/" width="230" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wulfgar is a Saxon wood carver who has spent the last eight years at a monastery in East Francia (part of modern France), learning his trade. He is now returning to his native village of Leofham in Wessex. However, home coming isn't as smooth as he had hoped both physically and in terms of working out whether the old ideas which he had been taught in Leofham were right or the newer ways of interpreting the Scripture which he learned in France. Wulfgar has to work out the puzzle of whether we are meant to look to the plain meaning of Scripture or whether the glosses and works of the Church Fathers bringing out allegorical meanings are more important.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wulfgar doesn't stay in his home village for long before he is sent to work on the new Abbey church in Shaftesbury. He leaves pondering his riddle. The abbess of the convent at Shaftesbury is the daughter of Alfred the Great but really the abbey is controlled by another nun. Will Wulfgar be able to help the oppressed nuns? Will he find his vocation in carving religious images and what about the disturbing thoughts about Scripture against tradition?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a fast paced book for older children, probably 9-12ish. I recommend this book, indeed, the whole series and look forward to further books from Christina Eastwood.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">My reviews of the first two books in the series can be found <a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/2020/10/wulfgar-and-dragon.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/2020/02/wulfgar-and-vikings.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It can be purchased on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wulfgar-Riddle-Saxon-Christina-Eastwood/dp/1914273079/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1638912779&refinements=p_27%3AChristina+Eastwood&s=books&sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon</a> or<a href="https://www.ritchiechristianmedia.co.uk/product/wulfgar-saxon-wulfgar-and-riddle" target="_blank"> here</a>. </span></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail</span></i></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Disclaimer: I was provided with a review copy of Wulfgar and the Riddle. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are my own.</i></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-39705242094803099592021-08-24T15:58:00.002+01:002021-08-24T15:58:54.436+01:00Home Educating Secondary Age Children<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Several times, recently, I've been asked about home educating secondary aged children. I'm no expert. For what it is worth, I am home educating two children who are now secondary age and have another who is a home education graduate and is now at university. I have no experience of home educating sixth form age students nor of home educating children who have left school close to the age when they would sit GCSEs.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">These are just a few thoughts:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Reasons for home educating don't change just because a child is a bit older.</span> </li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Keep a long term view. If you plan for your child to take UK exams and go to a sixth form then the sooner that you work out how many I/GCSEs they need the better. Do you have a local exam centre? What do they charge? The go-to site for information about exams is the <a href="https://he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HE Exams Wiki.</a> </span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">You don't need to, and probably can't, teach everything. There are group lessons, online courses, paper courses with marking provided and tutors. Yes, there is a cost implication for all of this. Group lessons can be particularly good value. If you don't want to pay or can't afford to pay then there are helpful free online videos, particularly for maths and science. These are a couple of examples, <a href="https://corbettmaths.com/contents/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Corbett Maths</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqbOeHaAUXw9Il7sBVG3_bw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Free Science Lessons.</a> There are many more!</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Secondary education at home is costly either in time or money or probably, realistically, in both. That isn't necessarily a reason to avoid this route but do count the cost!</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">It is easy to get over focused on exams. Secondary education is about more than just exams! Don't forget the rest of life. We carry on with morning time. The books we read change and we discuss more complex issues. Pre-pandemic, we went on trips and met in groups. We hope this will all gradually restart over the next few months.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYUpcupiWEVz-aSqHQQHmd9GbY1hxjUYksdukrvVVYu3E4xzR-pFrQIXm4bBCoSypIEded0UN0ASDXwBMNzzWKcYIE6JD_tpDum2fdksp8Ir7pylUI7q7eHPNObAhPTO4SRza6yo-TjAw/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYUpcupiWEVz-aSqHQQHmd9GbY1hxjUYksdukrvVVYu3E4xzR-pFrQIXm4bBCoSypIEded0UN0ASDXwBMNzzWKcYIE6JD_tpDum2fdksp8Ir7pylUI7q7eHPNObAhPTO4SRza6yo-TjAw/" width="320" /></a></div><br />Have you home educated secondary aged pupils? Any advice?</span></li></ul><div><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></div><p></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-62150472326542645862021-05-12T22:20:00.000+01:002021-05-12T22:20:02.332+01:00Questions Women Asked: Historical Issues, Timeless Answers<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> As a woman, it is helpful to read about Christian women of the past who might have had dissimilar lives but often faced challenges not so unlike those which we face today. Simonetta Carr has just produced such a book: <i>Questions Women Asked: Historical Issues, Timeless Answers, </i>published by Reformation Heritage Books.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5SzwQewM7YQw-MT5lp4RKzbl4FIYwFWCvL5LPaw1xYlGmWkl_n85iefAk7R1J3CkD7t-FgU-Ya6RtLzHRzfLQ7kjdED2xB4UIQnS26jf28_SS2emM2eM4qpOZH9q-XHTeOhgosr_pSuQ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="180" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5SzwQewM7YQw-MT5lp4RKzbl4FIYwFWCvL5LPaw1xYlGmWkl_n85iefAk7R1J3CkD7t-FgU-Ya6RtLzHRzfLQ7kjdED2xB4UIQnS26jf28_SS2emM2eM4qpOZH9q-XHTeOhgosr_pSuQ/" width="155" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />This new book has short biographies of thirty one Christian women from Marcella of Rome who lived in the fourth century to Jeanette Li who died in 1968. Some of the women are relatively well known such as Monica, the mother of Augustine and Anne Bradstreet, the American poet; others, particularly Marie Durand, deserve to be better known and several were completely new to me. Each chapter is comprised of a short biography followed by a section called <i>Food for Thought</i> which includes some quite challenging questions which involve thinking through the life of the woman concerned, in the light of Scripture and our response to this. At the end of each chapter is a short list of reading <i>For Further Research</i>.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A particularly interesting chapter is about <span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">Sarah Sergeant Miller. I hadn't heard of Sergeant Miller before but she struggled with depression and doubts, along with a gambling addiction and a flirtation with laudanum. She continued with her despair for the first five years of her marriage and only shared her difficulties with her husband after this, probably, as a result of mistaken teaching from her mother. Thankfully, she was able to emerge into Gospel light and be a great help to others.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Simonetta has written this book around questions that these ladies asked. These questions are varied:</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Will my son be lost?</span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">How can I nuture a son who lives miles away?</span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">How can I be sure I am saved?</span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">What can I do if my husband neglects me?</span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">What should a mother teach her children?</span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Can women write about theology?</span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Must I forever mourn?</span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Can Christians have disturbing thoughts?</span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and more.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I was impressed with how often these women had useful correspondence. Sometimes, they were helping others and other times they were needing encouragement or asking questions. Is correspondence something that we neglect in our day? I'm not arguing that we all have to write and seal letters; email would do as well! </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Anyway, this is well worth reading and then rereading. It would make an excellent choice for a book group as there is so much to discuss.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Highly recommended.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Disclaimer: I was provided with a review copy of Questions Women Asked. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are my own.</span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-58047256032394339732021-03-03T20:58:00.003+00:002021-03-03T20:58:46.138+00:00Using "Out of the Smoke" in a Book Group<p> I recently reviewed <i>Out of the Smoke. </i>Having appreciated the book myself, I made the decision to use it for my year 6 and 7 book group. My post about using <i>Out of the Smoke</i> with the book group is on <a href="https://matthewwainwright.co.uk/2021/03/03/out-smoke-book-group/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Matthew Wainwright's blog</a>. Do pop over there and have a read. </p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fT3ZP86-IUeyo82LPI2x0GBl8Kedm9BCrOj911ULzrYBri0ygJx68-nMLIUggxm5xexCVBAhI45i74ybOWlqFX4pSO58Fg9FE9a9NNcEk1V13XCNEEXyhy-v-t_UaIkDfZzSjC6mkuc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="337" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fT3ZP86-IUeyo82LPI2x0GBl8Kedm9BCrOj911ULzrYBri0ygJx68-nMLIUggxm5xexCVBAhI45i74ybOWlqFX4pSO58Fg9FE9a9NNcEk1V13XCNEEXyhy-v-t_UaIkDfZzSjC6mkuc/" width="158" /></a></div><br /><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</i><p></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-71778572553650278632021-02-19T20:27:00.002+00:002021-02-19T20:29:11.316+00:00Inspiration for Winter Days<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This week, I was looking round the house for a book when I found the autobiography of Patricia St John.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwaJ9V0biiZrXtv2G7wibaot-iI4BMePLxE-rNaYpLx6W5oK7PkFQD8Tyx7dsp5w8jt9eFHTcuGiC67CHXXjGmQDD7xCzLQUd526NyxIHIJRcH9ub4uusEzENvwRLfztNAVUJXuenozHk/s4160/IMG_20210216_133908540.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4160" data-original-width="3120" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwaJ9V0biiZrXtv2G7wibaot-iI4BMePLxE-rNaYpLx6W5oK7PkFQD8Tyx7dsp5w8jt9eFHTcuGiC67CHXXjGmQDD7xCzLQUd526NyxIHIJRcH9ub4uusEzENvwRLfztNAVUJXuenozHk/s320/IMG_20210216_133908540.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Patricia St John wrote Christian fiction for children. Her most famous books are <i>Tanglewood Secrets </i>and <i>Treasures of the Snow.</i> Miss St John was the child of missionaries to South America. After Patricia was born, they decided that Patricia's mother would stay in England with the three young children while her father would return to the mission field. Patricia was mainly raised by her mother and grandmother. She recounts tales of a happy, boisterous childhood which was the inspiration for many of her stories. Her mother courageously took her young family to Switzerland for a year. This was a time which later led to the writing of <i>Treasures of the Snow. </i>Patricia grew up and trained as a nurse, during the Second World War. This was followed by many years of serving the Lord as a nurse in North Africa. There were many trials and many answers to prayer. This book is joyful and points to Patricia's Lord and Saviour. The photo is of my old edition but there is a <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Patricia-St-John-Tells-Story/dp/0971998337" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">newer edition</a> available. The autobiography is written for adults but would also be suitable for teenagers.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My podcast diet recently has been <a href="https://mendedteacups.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mended Teacups</a> and <a href="https://lifemoreextraordinary.com/category/podcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Life more extraordinary.</a> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mended Teacups is the podcast of two UK home educators. It is friendly, helpful and applicable to where I am as a UK home educator. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Life more extraordinary is quite different. It is the podcast of an academic coach with episodes about revision methods, learning differences and how to achieve your academic best. I haven't listened to every episode but have found some helpful ideas and links. While we are on the subject of academics, I recommend <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-How-Learn-Spending-Studying/dp/0143132547" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Learning How to Learn</a> </i>by Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski. This is written for teens and explains how to learn using some neuroscience on the way. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A couple of maths sites which are free and useful. <a href="https://www.topmarks.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Topmarks</a> isn't just a maths site, although that is all that I haven't used anything beyond the maths. It has a teaching clock and number frames as well as games for number bonds, multiplication and division and more. Ideal for primary aged children.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Corbett Maths has a <a href="https://corbettmathsprimary.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">primary</a> and a <a href="https://corbettmaths.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">secondary</a> site. Both sites have five maths questions, at different levels, for every day of the year (plus answers!). There are also videos. I haven't used the videos much, or the primary videos at all, but the questions are helpful for revision. Unless you have a maths whizz kid, I don't think the questions are suitable for KS1!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXziujfpozn9HstZbIc3Cs55dTrxg-RkoprDqxU2uYMyqO0jqyX2TeTkrpzsT8v7QVjWxWyrlOWw4E6WHOIGGID028HgAbCm0Sg8qjoIcjc4xtGDQ3fIn1RioaLXZvO5vTfhOEq9L_18/s4160/IMG_20210129_105926811.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXziujfpozn9HstZbIc3Cs55dTrxg-RkoprDqxU2uYMyqO0jqyX2TeTkrpzsT8v7QVjWxWyrlOWw4E6WHOIGGID028HgAbCm0Sg8qjoIcjc4xtGDQ3fIn1RioaLXZvO5vTfhOEq9L_18/s320/IMG_20210129_105926811.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">More winter activities!</span></i></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-64933235967603854912021-02-16T16:33:00.002+00:002021-02-16T16:33:20.346+00:00Activities which work in an online Home Education Group<p> <span style="font-family: arial;">As promised in my <a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/2021/01/home-education-group-online.html" target="_blank">last post</a>, these are some activities which have worked well in an online group meeting</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Presentations by children. We have a weekly slot for these and strangely, they often work better online than in person. Have you ever sat in a meeting where a young child is trying to talk to a group without a microphone? It is so much easier to hear when a computer microphone is used and additionally, there is no peering round heads to see pictures. The use of quizzes after the talk has also increased.</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Book clubs- are easy to run online. We run four different, fortnightly, book groups for different ages. . The only group that we haven't taken onto the internet is that for the preschoolers. Sadly, loans of books between families which were very frequent and popular don't work. However, we have been able to continue to have book recommendations and plenty of enthusiasm. Not sure that I ought to allow the renaming as the Bookwork, the Bookiest Bookworm etc another time though! For anyone who needs to know, it is possible to disable renaming on Zoom.</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Science for older children. We run a fortnightly chemistry group for children in upper KS2/lower KS3 and also groups for older children with topics from biology and physics IGCSE. Obviously, these aren't good for practical science although the younger group can be asked to do some practical science at home e.g. growing salt crystals or</span> <span style="font-family: arial;">chromatography.. Quizzes are easy to run using either Powerpoint or Google slides. Google documents make it easy to share slide shows and suggested practical activities with parents.</span></li></ul><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy36dNNZtuqHYOr7PkZFgbhIv25756nFHOqHX28JyWVxFhlH6EBJ5o22CocK1vMyiTT-1Uh0mwcPOsQZM6iiga0eYG33vjCaN1G84FEqOoMyor7txqxS0Mgrk_gLM9pHOAiGKv8DVNyKk/s4160/IMG_20210204_145528915.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy36dNNZtuqHYOr7PkZFgbhIv25756nFHOqHX28JyWVxFhlH6EBJ5o22CocK1vMyiTT-1Uh0mwcPOsQZM6iiga0eYG33vjCaN1G84FEqOoMyor7txqxS0Mgrk_gLM9pHOAiGKv8DVNyKk/s320/IMG_20210204_145528915.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Kitchen Chromatography</i></span></div></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Scavenger hunts work are popular with younger children</span></li></ul><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">I do miss meetings for mums, sitting someone's house, drinking tea and eating cake, while handing round curriculum but meeting over the internet is the next best thing. So much of this isn't perfect but is so much better than nothing. It is possible to encourage one another in lockdown!</span></li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyMgRE3A8wDtEdk-nCHPK6LnbrErTpNGflnLksNGXOYJJ5TdjIc1b8g3AjBVuV4fXx7z3udcVqkABjgPXMx578X-joe7gngZy3hnFJmxsh6jQbX9Kd2D2y-7WHIQI-9EXxkbNsgvPkM_s/s4160/IMG_20210204_135855518.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyMgRE3A8wDtEdk-nCHPK6LnbrErTpNGflnLksNGXOYJJ5TdjIc1b8g3AjBVuV4fXx7z3udcVqkABjgPXMx578X-joe7gngZy3hnFJmxsh6jQbX9Kd2D2y-7WHIQI-9EXxkbNsgvPkM_s/s320/IMG_20210204_135855518.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></div><p></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-24094219160074866642021-01-22T23:13:00.001+00:002021-01-22T23:15:23.907+00:00Home Education Group Online<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> For the last few years, Lizzy (<a href="http://thepeachesathome.blogspot.com/2020/04/life-under-lockdown-whats-new.html" target="_blank">Peaches at Home</a>) and I have run a fortnightly home education group. Over time, it has grown and by the beginning of 2020,a group of us were running a meeting which included an older session at the same time as the primary aged group for the first part of the afternoon and dividing into four different age book groups towards the end. Then came Covid and we had to stop. Over the Easter break, we realised that it would be better to have something rather than nothing and that something would have to be online so we put the group online from April 2020. Since then, we have always had some of the meetings virtually although we were also able to have outside sessions during the autumn.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This is probably the most important lesson that I have learned from this. <b>Something is better than nothing and it is worth having a go.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">None of the mums in the organising group are particularly techie. We went with Zoom because one was using that in her church and so had a week or so of experience on the platform. Initially, we only had the free version of Zoom. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Our new offering wasn't perfect but for most of us, it was much better than nothing. Our children had something different to do. One of my main problems in lockdown has been answering the question </span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">What are we doing today?</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Saying </span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Work</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">isn't usually a satisfactory answer whereas the promise of a book club or online chemistry or scavenger hunt is.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">To be honest, not every family wants to go online and that is fine but for the majority who do, it is worth a go! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I hope to post later about some of our most successful ideas.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9YqniVeWTpJvAWPCZeVqApX2EpsT0LIzZXthLXGKUwyt9vqEwdlAn_EVH2isyLIlNsqc7zuMtXkjF2vwHg2fhTXbxJ5YRiBSkffzUs3NrzXoO0GbZvCro-xsXF7UWXnKMPrwd-1IPQ3E/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9YqniVeWTpJvAWPCZeVqApX2EpsT0LIzZXthLXGKUwyt9vqEwdlAn_EVH2isyLIlNsqc7zuMtXkjF2vwHg2fhTXbxJ5YRiBSkffzUs3NrzXoO0GbZvCro-xsXF7UWXnKMPrwd-1IPQ3E/" width="180" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One activity which we have run online is being a judging group for the Royal Society Young People's book prize.</span></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Just a few practicalities</span></span></h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">It is worth sending round a weekly email with links to all the meetings for the week. Yes, the links may be recurring but we all need a reminder. This isn't my job but I have often been thankful that Lizzy has done this so I don't have to search too hard for the link.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">It is easier to spread meetings over the week as families may not have sufficient devices or a fast enough broadband connection to have multiple children in different meetings. Younger children will need parental supervision anyway.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">I don't tend to mute the children as they are usually enthusiastic and want to participate, however, it is worth checking how to mute them first just in case someone's little sibling decides to cry!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Similarly, it is worth knowing how to control renaming, chat boxes and how to turn off someone's video if they distract themselves and others with altering background. Why would I need to know this?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Meetings don't need to be long. Something is better than nothing! Free Zoom is limited to 40 minutes if there are more than two devices in the meeting. If you should run out of time, it is possible to log back in on the same link. Having said that, we are very grateful that the group has been gifted Zoom membership which allows us meetings over 40 minutes.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">It is easy to have a Zoom meeting with yourself to practice! I had frequent meetings with myself, initially, to work out how screen sharing worked, how to share videos and slide shows. Zoom isn't difficult!</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Have you put your home education group online? I would love to know how this has worked, and particularly what has gone well, as our group is very much a work in progress.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><p></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-41570819454298608022020-12-30T17:59:00.001+00:002020-12-30T17:59:31.125+00:00Top Books of 2020<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> This year I have read <a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/p/books-2020.html" target="_blank">between fifty and sixty books.</a> They fall into several groups</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">-children's books. Some of these, I have read aloud to my children and others have been prereads before using with a children's book club that I run; using for book recommendations or prior to reading aloud with my children. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">-adult fiction. This has been dominated by Agatha Christie, this year, as my younger daughter has discovered her books and likes to have someone to discuss them with. Reading them isn't a hardship!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">-Christian books which I have read to learn more about the faith or for encouragement.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">- adult non-fiction. This is a bit of a ragbag.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I grade the books that I read from 1 to 5. Looking through, no books have received a one this year. This is probably because there have been books which I haven't bothered to finish. Anyway, onto the best.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Children's Books</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I enjoy reading children's books and this year, some have been particularly worthwhile.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The Wolves of Willoughby Chase</i> is a classic set in a fictional time in history. What or who are the wolves? It has an encouragingly happy ending. Ideal for children aged about 9-11.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Stella by Starlight </i>is a book that deserves to become a classic. This is set in North Carolina in the 1930s in a black family. It details the struggles of the men of the community to register to vote against a background of Klu Klux Klan activity. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Next term's read with the book club is <i><a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/2020/10/out-of-smoke.html" target="_blank">Out of the Smoke</a> </i>which I reviewed earlier.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A friend recommended <i>On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. </i>I'm not usually a big fantasy fan but this is written particularly well and my youngest has been very keen for us to start the next volume. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The faithful spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the plot to kill Hitler</i> was ,again, read at the instigation of a friend. This is a reflective comic book aimed at older children. There is so much to think about in this book: theology, history, pacifism, loyalty to country and when to stand up and be counted. I don't agree with Bonhoeffer in everything, certainly not theologically, but this is a book that I am booking forward to reading and discussing with my children.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Adult Fiction</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Agatha Christie has been fun and the best of the year was <i>And then there were none</i> although it is definitely creepy. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I guess that I need to read some more fiction, next year. Suggestions are gratefully received!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Christian Books</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This year, I have reread some of Ryle's <i>Expository Thoughts on the Gospels</i>. I don't know how many times that I have read these but they are straightforward, helpful commentaries on the text which don't strain the meaning.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>A Passion for the Impossible:the life of Lilias Trotter </i>is the biography of a wealthy Victorian artist and friend of John Ruskin who gave up all her hope of becoming a famous artist to go as a missionary to Algeria. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: a Devout Muslim encounters Christianity </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">This is the raw testimony of a a Muslim lad to starts to work through the truth of the information that he has always believed about Christianity and then the foundation for his Islamic beliefs. A thoughtful book showing the beliefs that many Muslims have about Christianity, Nabeel's love for his family and the cost that he paid to follow the Lord Jesus.</span></span></p><p><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: arial; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Adult Non-Fiction</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Tyneham: a Lost Heritage</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i></i>I picked up this book which had belonged to my Mother in law and wasn't sure whether it would be worth reading. It is Dorset local history and I wasn't sure that it would grip someone not born in the county but it was definitely a keeper. Tyneham is a village which was taken over by the military in the Second World War and never returned. Lilian Bond tells the story of growing up in the manor at the turn of the twentieth century and a world which has gone forever and a place which has changed beyond recognition. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I have written short comments about the books which I have read in </span><a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/p/books-2020.html" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">this year's book list.</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> As always, I have some books on the go</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Wonder </i>by R.J. Palacio</span></li><li><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Prisoner's of Geography: Ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about Global politics</span></i></li><li><i><span style="font-family: arial;">More than Conquerors: an interpretation of the book of Revelation</span></i></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Spurgeon's <i>Devotional Bible- </i>My husband and I have been reading this together for a couple of years and, God willing, will finish this tomorrow. This might be heresy but I prefer this to Spurgeon's <i>Morning and Evening </i>as the comments follow the text more closely.</span></li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsfkn9OvOI68EslI7xmFdPgx_fYjyEZiJXl9gXbXydDYsi6IubISnSLHL2B-hNm3V0c1KkTfVmHeKVygg6GosrooXws7O-t7hTqmG1fuu-T-gI1ciMeKaOuT1iBtnLKUZUuaDYzTRNOaQ/s2048/IMG_1366+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsfkn9OvOI68EslI7xmFdPgx_fYjyEZiJXl9gXbXydDYsi6IubISnSLHL2B-hNm3V0c1KkTfVmHeKVygg6GosrooXws7O-t7hTqmG1fuu-T-gI1ciMeKaOuT1iBtnLKUZUuaDYzTRNOaQ/s320/IMG_1366+%25281%2529.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Please feel free to recommend books for me for next year! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></p><p><br /></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-75132259609881113912020-12-14T19:26:00.001+00:002020-12-14T19:26:29.547+00:00Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> So much of British history is around the characters and actions our monarchs but knowing who was who and the order in which they reigned isn't always straightforward. Personally, I find the order during the Middle Ages particularly confusing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Anne and Paul Fryer have just produced a pocket sized book, <i>Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain </i>which has an evocative, amusing illustration and short summary of each monarch in chronological order, from <span style="background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: 0px; color: #444444; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Æthelstan</span> to Elizabeth II. This is an ideal book to have around to let children read and also as a reference; a quick guide for when no one is quite sure about who King Stephen was or can't remember the details of the Henrys.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-4eqWHwNdwYW3YzUJdwuxFbWcfxJ2sPmM_rztQXkADW2mqQLJqD0xE8Rn6DhJbx1Qlr0U6Ne7aClRLbxR3Ci2mgiqbJJQWr9CjnQxpvLPMNuTR_9MOydXw6CjEPavNzFoIR7WKLy05LU/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="384" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-4eqWHwNdwYW3YzUJdwuxFbWcfxJ2sPmM_rztQXkADW2mqQLJqD0xE8Rn6DhJbx1Qlr0U6Ne7aClRLbxR3Ci2mgiqbJJQWr9CjnQxpvLPMNuTR_9MOydXw6CjEPavNzFoIR7WKLy05LU/" width="148" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />This book would also fit well with the tea towel with the corresponding illustrations of the monarchs which the Fryers have also produced. Having both the book and the tea towel in the kitchen might spark some interesting conversations.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This book would make an ideal stocking filler for an older KS2 or any KS3 child and would be a useful resource for the parents too.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain </i>can be purchased from <a href="https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/anne-fryer-and-paul-fryer/kings-and-queens/paperback/product-ww45p7.html?page=1&pageSize=4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lulu</a> or <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kings-Queens-Anne-Fryer/dp/1716436206/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=anne+fryer&qid=1607945884&sr=8-2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon</a>. The Kings and Queens tea towel is available from the <a href="http://greathistoryofbritain.co.uk/tea-towel/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">History of Great Britain website</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If you are looking for a longer history of Great Britain for children, then look up Anne and Paul's first book, <i><a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-great-history-of-britain.html" target="_blank">The Great History of Britain</a>, </i>which is an ideal introduction to British history for younger children.</span></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Disclaimer: I was provided with a review copy of Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are my own.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-74941328392719949802020-10-30T18:20:00.000+00:002020-10-30T18:20:38.360+00:00Out of the Smoke<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Children's historical fiction about London is always a hit, in this house, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to read <i>Out of the Smoke</i> which is due to be published tomorrow, 31st October.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtmT50xraseP2I-efzUJLBADVruHAtzCZjslTsQd2aJ_GnLrxV-AVyxy4rE_IKZe_oTRW-3MTHHcprJCnyjzdisse05LhJNn5RKXhDuD5sPP5yRyMbyP5F9Wg_5fSNeeaCis1woq2458/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="369" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtmT50xraseP2I-efzUJLBADVruHAtzCZjslTsQd2aJ_GnLrxV-AVyxy4rE_IKZe_oTRW-3MTHHcprJCnyjzdisse05LhJNn5RKXhDuD5sPP5yRyMbyP5F9Wg_5fSNeeaCis1woq2458/" width="158" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Out of the Smoke</i> is aimed at older children and set in the underbelly of Victorian London. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Billy is an eleven year old climbing boy, one of the children used to clean chimneys by pulling himself up the chimney and using a brush from inside the flue. Strange to our thinking but it was thought that this gave better results than using brushes although, this method of chimney cleaning came at a heavy cost to the children involved. Billy had six years of experience as a climbing boy when the story starts and was proving useful as he had stopped growing. doubtless, partly due to chronic malnutrition. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The dangers of climbing weren't the only problem that Billy faced. He lived in South London in a world of gangs, violence, drunkenness and neglect. His problems become worse and he has to flee his own area and face the dangers of gang warfare. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I don't want to put in any plot spoilers except to say that Lord Shaftesbury, his Christian motivation and his work in eradicating child sweeps does come into the book.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Out of the Smoke</i> has a clear Christian message: a message that is as relevant today, and to today's gang members, as it was to Billy's comrades. Billy has to learn that he can't help himself and that his own schemes don't work before he will listen to the simple Gospel message brought by the Earl.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I enjoyed reading <i>Out of the Smoke </i>and hope to use it with a book group for tweens, in the New Year. It would appeal to children from age about 10. It has just the right mix of adventure, action and danger to appeal to tweenagers/early teens. Families with avid readers often look for books to give to younger children. There is a fair amount of violence and injury in the book. I am sure that it downplays the reality of the situation, however, it should be pre-read before giving to younger children, particularly, if they are sensitive. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Highly recommended for readers from about age 10.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Out of the Smoke </i>is published by <a href="http://www.wakemantrust.org/Books-for-Children/Out-of-the-Smoke" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wakeman Trust</a> and is available from the <a href="https://tabernaclebookshop.org/collections/new/products/out-of-the-smoke" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Metropolitan Tabernacle bookshop</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Smoke-Matthew-Wainwright/dp/1913133109/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TXRG35U6PZ4X&dchild=1&keywords=out+of+the+smoke+matthew+wainwright&qid=1604080617&sprefix=Out+of+the+Smoke%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon</a>. There are some accompanying resources on <a href="https://matthewwainwright.co.uk/resources/out-of-the-smoke-resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Matthew Wainwright's website</a> plus the <a href="https://matthewwainwright.co.uk/2020/07/08/out-of-the-smoke-extract/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">first chapter</a> if you would like a taster.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</i><br style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Disclaimer: I was provided with a pdf review copy of Out of the Smoke. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are my own.</i></p><p><br /></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-25858409958373231692020-10-24T18:23:00.000+01:002020-10-24T18:23:08.499+01:00Wulfgar and the Dragon<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wulfgar and the Dragon is the second book in the </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Wulfgar the Saxon</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> trilogy by Christina Eastwood. I reviewed the first book, </span><i style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/2020/02/wulfgar-and-vikings.html" target="_blank">Wulfgar and the Vikings </a></i><span style="font-family: arial;">earlier in the year. Both are children's historical fiction set in southern England in the ninth century. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJrY5Vhfai20E6hdNC205VP7zVm6uQhkQIOmzmAgXxI-94rkNasgN_Br3CtUQgARJVRaIeYOdYwzNX6EnZbDQHMd6giFQ4p-00iH8nIHH9pzyO4mgGyq_mrNBiilUhXTkXOfkvDF2qiwI/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="555" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJrY5Vhfai20E6hdNC205VP7zVm6uQhkQIOmzmAgXxI-94rkNasgN_Br3CtUQgARJVRaIeYOdYwzNX6EnZbDQHMd6giFQ4p-00iH8nIHH9pzyO4mgGyq_mrNBiilUhXTkXOfkvDF2qiwI/" width="230" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">In this new volume, there are rumours of damage to crops and animals by a strange beast. Wulfgar and his mentor, Morcant, set off to investigate. Their findings lead to decisions around loyalty. What is the explanation for the strange beast? Has Wulfgar made the right decision about his findings and what will be the consequence?</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This book would help bring a study of the Saxons alive. It is written from a clear Christian worldview and brings up issues such as honesty, loyalty, older Christians doing wrong, a troubled conscience and a changed life. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The book is said to be for 9-12 year olds and this is fair. Keen readers will finish this book quickly and I think that it would also be suitable for slightly younger readers providing they aren't particularly sensitive. There are some injuries in the book and animals are killed but this isn't over dramatised. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">CS Lewis said </span></p><p><i style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">A </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">children's</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px;"> story that can only be enjoyed by </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">children</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px;"> is not a good </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">children's</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px;"> story in the slightest. </span></i></p><p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">When <i>Wulfgar and the Vikings </i> arrived, my husband immediately asked if he could read it as he had so appreciated the first volume. I certainly found it a splendid book. My eleven year old was also fascinated with the idea of a book including dragons. So, this book is recommended by us.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Wulfgar and the Dragon </i>is available from <a href="https://www.ritchiechristianmedia.co.uk/product/wulfgar-saxon-wulfgar-and-dragon" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ritchie Christian Media</a> and also from <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wulfgar-Saxon-Dragon-Christina-Eastwood/dp/1872734782/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=wulfgar+and+the+dragon&qid=1603558805&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon</a>. This new book is complete in itself but like any trilogy, it makes most sense the read the first book, <i>Wulfgar and the Vikings </i>first. I hope that when all three volumes are available, there will be an option to buy the trilogy as one volume.</span></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect,Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</i><br style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Disclaimer: I was provided with a review copy of Wulfgar and the Vikings. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are my own.</i><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-88410688813531531312020-09-05T18:29:00.004+01:002020-09-05T18:29:43.902+01:00Home Educating in September<p><span style="font-family: arial;">The first few days of September can be particularly challenging for home educators. Often, this is a time when we can feel not really ready for the new academic year and social media is full of pictures of children in smart new uniforms with shiny shoes. It is easy to feel inadequate. That applies to me, in my twelfth year of home education, and even more to those just starting out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As home educators, this is a time to remember why we home educate. It probably has very little to do with the presence or absence of shiny new uniforms! Writing down those reasons and revisiting them can help with focus.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In addition, there is no reason why our new terms shouldn't start well. A not back to school breakfast, picnic, poetry tea or even short break makes the new term feel more positive. Don't forget that there are some major advantages, the parks suddenly empty and the cost of a holiday falls. A special breakfast is quite possible as there is no rushing to get to school on time.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><img height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLK-xgBqCKkAa2f6Rh0ICQTauhj-ud3qnRh4JdDTZuUK2AAbxvhkAT3C7plioCSapih6aCoJ-oQ-wfzgQE9PpEM6k88U6oIpjXrM9vJBhMhge2KzyIUEMXvp2SNoWEZp0KWdt_njmFZp8/w500-h375/IMG_20200807_105529891.jpg" width="500" /><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Ultimately, though for those of us who are Christian home educators, we serve the Lord and rely on His strength, not our own puny wisdom. This verse has been very special to me during our years of home education.</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. </span></i></p><p style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">2 Corinthians 12v9 </span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span face="">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest or e-mail.</span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><br />DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-7693944688322130582020-08-01T17:36:00.002+01:002020-08-01T17:36:52.364+01:00A Marathon not a Sprint<font face="arial">In my twelfth year of home education, I am not really an old timer. There are plenty of families around who have been home educating for well over twenty years but still, over my limited experience, I am convinced that home education is a marathon not a sprint.</font><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkGmhHl2rN0EuC-_JZm9fagvQipjCd7Yy7-1m2ubT0d9h-SxQvd0uUE7ctQYHowMUsHynG2Lo3ui8z7drkAVTOyp9qIYC-wJdqhU73IuUy3-TV_APXVlFPXTgK-jmu25ohtCcbS6jnJw/s2048/IMG_1248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="arial"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkGmhHl2rN0EuC-_JZm9fagvQipjCd7Yy7-1m2ubT0d9h-SxQvd0uUE7ctQYHowMUsHynG2Lo3ui8z7drkAVTOyp9qIYC-wJdqhU73IuUy3-TV_APXVlFPXTgK-jmu25ohtCcbS6jnJw/w410-h274/IMG_1248.JPG" width="410" /></font></a></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">It is easy to feel that we need to sprint. When people are asking advice about chapter books for their five year old or how to do GCSEs aged ten, it can sap fragile confidence like the thin ice on a lake, exposing the depths of fear and uncertainty. Then we can feel that a sprint is imperative. Yet, those regular phonics sessions or daily maths do make a difference- just not in the short term. It can be very difficult to see that one day's, or even week's or month's, work has pushed progress forward. Yet slowly, over the years with daily practice, progress is made even in challenging subjects. The child who couldn't remember the months of the year manages to recite them correctly once, then maybe after a gap, again. Yes, they might not be the first child to do this but this is progress for them and it all adds up, slowly. </font></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">At the end of a year, sometimes, it can feel that not much has changed yet all those 11 o'clocks doing maths will have changed something. We learn perseverance and so do our children.</font></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">Other years, more progress is made. Those fractions which have been a minefield for a couple of years suddenly fall into place. The neurons have connected. I sometimes think that this is more to do with maturity than my work and it may be.</font></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">At this season, when everyone has a view on home schooling because they have just over a term's experience with what the school sent home, remember that a term is very little in the grand scheme of things. We have to carry on and be faithful to our calling to educate our children at home to God's glory.</font></div></div><div><br /></div><div><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest or e-mail.</span></i></div>DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-75388814772117599662020-07-10T14:02:00.002+01:002020-07-10T14:02:17.059+01:00Middle Ages History resources<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We have just finished a year studying the Middle Ages. This is our second visit to the Middle Ages as we also spent a year learning about this time period five years ago. (For anyone who wonders we do a four year history cycle but spent an extra year learning about Ancient civilisations).<br />
<br />
My younger two, who are home educated would be in years 6 and 8 if they were in school. These are the resources that we have used this year and below, I will put a list of resources that we used previously.<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="https://www.nothingnewpress.com/books/guerbers-histories/middle-ages/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Story of the Middle Ages</a> by Christine Miller. This is updated from older books by HA Guerber. We used this book as a read aloud in morning time. Reading one chapter per day, it lasted from September to the beginning of June. We liked this book. The chapters are short and it covers French history as well and English. The major downside of this book is that it is American and not small so postage would be an issue. We have a print copy from days when exchange rates were more favourable but Nothing New Press sell an ebook which would probably be my choice if I were buying it again.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-World-History-Classical-Renaissance/dp/1933339098" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Story of the World volume 2: The Middle Ages</a> by Susan Wise Bauer. I used this with my son who is 11. This book is well written and popular with the children. It also gives a balance of World history as opposed to just Western European and American history. It comes from a liberal Christian stable and Reformed Christians might would to add a bit to her explanation of the Reformation. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYSC7uFBcNspg-OUA3BHU-sYr8lnVP_Nz6hciAOf2Rgu-SlGOBfCMqAnIaGBF5nhkhCsb1p1mymxUvLrEtxlIWX98Tb27GC6BbpJSAGbVpDYjll5Y6dDz0w_lvEv-hh_ncA6ur3MvxwcA/s1600/IMG_20200709_165641359.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYSC7uFBcNspg-OUA3BHU-sYr8lnVP_Nz6hciAOf2Rgu-SlGOBfCMqAnIaGBF5nhkhCsb1p1mymxUvLrEtxlIWX98Tb27GC6BbpJSAGbVpDYjll5Y6dDz0w_lvEv-hh_ncA6ur3MvxwcA/s320/IMG_20200709_165641359.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.galorepark.co.uk/subjects/history/product-folder/level/history-for-common-entrance-medieval-realms-britai" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Galore Park History for Common Entrance: Medieval Realms Britain 1066-1485</a>. My 13 year old used this book. This book includes many written exercises including those where sources need to be compared. In fact, we sometimes selected exercises when a chapter seemed to be ending with three essays! The book is well presented although we did add videos to this. I just googled the relevant time/character plus KS3 which generally brought up short videos. I pre-watched these. The other issue with this book is that it doesn't begin particularly early in the Middle Ages so was out of synch with our other reading for a fair while. Sometimes the content was rather thin and more research was really necessary.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</li>
<li><a href="https://veritaspress.com/selfpaced/history" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Veritas Self Paced: Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation</a>. I used this, with my youngest, as they have a special free access for lockdown for a couple of months. We had used this before with his older sister. This is engaging but expensive. As we had almost finished the year, it was fun but not something that we decided to continue. This is definitely worth considering at the start of a year and they often have offers which make the cost a bit less.</li>
<li><a href="https://banneroftruth.org/uk/store/history-biography/sketches-from-church-history/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sketches from Church History</a> by SM Houghton is my go to church history for older children. It works well in morning time.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secrets_of_the_Castle" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Secrets of the Castle</a> is a series of five videos about modern day reconstruction of a castle in France using traditional building techniques. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-III-King-Car-Park/dp/B07JMJ893S" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Richard III: the King in the Car Park</a> is a documentary about the discovery of the body of Richard III. This had us talking for days. There is a Richard III Society which feels strongly about Richard III and his reputation and they spearheaded the dig for his body. This documentary is more suitable for older children who can cope with skeletons and discussion of battle injuries.</li>
<li>|<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sprig-Broom-Mantlemass-Barbara-Willard/dp/1903252350" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Sprig of Broom</a> by Barbara Willard. This is part of the Mantlemas series and is historical fiction about the end to the Middle Ages/beginning of the Tudor period. This ties in well with learning about Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth. Again, this is more suitable for older children. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfL41FqlLxThywWxJVAwRZtlODBVngX_tUlqT2du4Ue9nWmB3_zq_zk5R7_omynAMBZd0DVMX6c3PkrLME485hktU_qqvpGbC_FQnOoqeeZovs5KUGSuAohgEG1zlOfycs-q-apMjigU/s1600/IMG_20200710_134001206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfL41FqlLxThywWxJVAwRZtlODBVngX_tUlqT2du4Ue9nWmB3_zq_zk5R7_omynAMBZd0DVMX6c3PkrLME485hktU_qqvpGbC_FQnOoqeeZovs5KUGSuAohgEG1zlOfycs-q-apMjigU/s320/IMG_20200710_134001206.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div>
Activities and resources which we used to study the Middle Ages when the children were in years 1 and 3.</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Veritas Self Paced. </li>
<li>I wrote about the <a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/search?q=Middle+Ages" target="_blank">books that we used here.</a> In retrospect, I think that the David Macaulay books, Castle and Cathedral, would probably work better at a slightly older age. I pulled them out again recently.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJ7itcH6m-9Pecji6IWKdVidsydGN-ZEM8fTamJ3jhJSslc_LaOYTr_fYsTxyzlFtivo0S9BE6QECH-J0G-Pa5mOYsinsrS9rk-jwwzmSYo6zM-tr5kTCMfP1SnAkjLnibTzvlsufpos/s1600/IMG_20200710_134843317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJ7itcH6m-9Pecji6IWKdVidsydGN-ZEM8fTamJ3jhJSslc_LaOYTr_fYsTxyzlFtivo0S9BE6QECH-J0G-Pa5mOYsinsrS9rk-jwwzmSYo6zM-tr5kTCMfP1SnAkjLnibTzvlsufpos/s320/IMG_20200710_134843317.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
</li>
<li><a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/search?q=medieval+feast" target="_blank">Medieval feast.</a> We took inspiration from the book by Aliki,<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medieval-Feast-Reading-Rainbow-Books/dp/0064460509" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> <i>A Medieval Feast.</i></a> This involved cooking, dressing up, art and music.</li>
<li>Trips out. A castle and abbey are the obvious field trips for the Middle Ages and if you live within reach of Battle, visiting the site of the 1066 Battle between Harrod and William, is definitely worth doing. </li>
</ul>
Anyway, we have enjoyed our investigation of the Middle Ages. There is so much more that we could have done but hope that these ideas may be useful for others.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest or e-mail.</span></i><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-23001023682217282022020-07-02T22:07:00.001+01:002020-07-02T22:07:09.266+01:00Home Educating in Unusual Tiimes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have been home educating for over eleven years now. Like everyone else, our lives have changed over the last few months. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Early on, our home education group made the decision to plan for a <b>term of online activities</b>. I must say, that this has been a real blessing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the days when we met in person, we had a meeting once a fortnight with groups for different ages running concurrently. This doesn't work for online meetings. In addition, the free version of Zoom, which we use only allows meetings of 40 minutes. We have gone for four meetings a week of up to 40 minutes. Three of those meetings are for age specific groups and one is for children to give presentations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been amazed at what has been possible due to the ingenuity of parents and children. Please don't think that all these ideas are mine-they aren't! These are just some of the activities that have taken place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">scavenger hunts</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">book clubs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">science lessons</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">poetry teas</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cooking sessions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-0YKmOye_MG1QzkMfRstjS5eh7B6zOE1eHIoa4hW9X2gRouygTlcHVeEC50EXEF_QVBLDTE6JEm0cvdpO7ga6jJa1epqzQvCafxKLIc2U3yMxTgadzqAPZFjJcFmZZ59jSnwIaN56tAI/s1600/IMG_20200604_144833947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-0YKmOye_MG1QzkMfRstjS5eh7B6zOE1eHIoa4hW9X2gRouygTlcHVeEC50EXEF_QVBLDTE6JEm0cvdpO7ga6jJa1epqzQvCafxKLIc2U3yMxTgadzqAPZFjJcFmZZ59jSnwIaN56tAI/s320/IMG_20200604_144833947.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
</span></li>
<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>brownies from the cooking session</i></div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">quizzes</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">watching and comparing film clips</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">games such as the Bible character 20 question game </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a concert</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and far more.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the beginning of lockdown, there was a plethora of free online activities. We tried a couple but found that we really needed to continue with the work which I had already planned. Lockdown has had a strange effect, in that we are at least a couple of weeks ahead of where we would usually be at this point in the year. We plan to do some slightly different activities for the last fortnight of term. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One activity which we have added recently and plan to keep as part of our day is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmJKjaom_2jNLy-GEmDe3_g" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">BSL Club.</a> This is run by a friend from church. One of the children has already learned some BSL so this is more revision for her but new learning for my youngest and me. The videos are short so we practice what we have learned before and play a video in morning time.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has been, and continues to be, a strange time but not without encouragements. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest or e-mail.</span></i></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br /></div>
</div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-87544404373939563882020-05-30T17:07:00.000+01:002020-05-30T17:07:05.123+01:00Geography for older children<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Summer, I made the decision to put together our geography resources for this year. We have been using these items over the last year and this plan has worked well. My home educated children would be in years 6 and 8 if they were in school. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope that these will be useful for others too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.galorepark.co.uk/subjects/geography/products-folder/level/geography-for-common-entrance-human-geography" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Galore Park Geography books</a>. My year 8 child uses these books. There are both human and physical geography books. To be honest, the human geography book has raised much more enthusiasm. We have added videos and reports, for example, on the ethical status of clothing manufacturers. Videos are easy to find using KS3 and the relevant topic in the search bar. I tend to use videos which are under 10 minutes long and pre-watch them first. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh46STsPvwRN5qKEFeFR24eTx3ZnODWiW3l2nyXoS2lOjmUYd2YUbmkujnhK_U7ELTNyQvbwVr99SEOuSeJB5G6Qpnt6LZA-QQe2oiXZckH726JwZg6SP8vLzo9-rpDxpLPxGyNaqedzNI/s1600/IMG_20200530_165914672.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh46STsPvwRN5qKEFeFR24eTx3ZnODWiW3l2nyXoS2lOjmUYd2YUbmkujnhK_U7ELTNyQvbwVr99SEOuSeJB5G6Qpnt6LZA-QQe2oiXZckH726JwZg6SP8vLzo9-rpDxpLPxGyNaqedzNI/s320/IMG_20200530_165914672.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Living books. These have included <i>Seabird</i> (avoid if you are squeamish about whaling!), <i>A London Sparrow </i>(biography of Gladys Aylward) and <i>Shackleton's Journey.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB3MWRGHMaQFSS6RJQyidoaZqTfpZjXMchc17gFz4_9qdixlPU0orSofB5foN6lTPBp4DOhw3pK0QPd3nunZyTKbWnSVLj9wjLHpZEnIYMzRGFm_NMKSvX3G1avEjcXwXqLOHjrnSa5nc/s1600/IMG_20200530_170021184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB3MWRGHMaQFSS6RJQyidoaZqTfpZjXMchc17gFz4_9qdixlPU0orSofB5foN6lTPBp4DOhw3pK0QPd3nunZyTKbWnSVLj9wjLHpZEnIYMzRGFm_NMKSvX3G1avEjcXwXqLOHjrnSa5nc/s640/IMG_20200530_170021184.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog posts from <a href="https://blogaboutbritain.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Blog about Britain</a>. This is updated several times most weeks and is ideal for reading in Morning Time.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A board game: <a href="https://www.oakabooks.co.uk/products/geography-ks3-c-e-on-the-map-the-global-locations-game" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">On the Map</a> from Oaka Resources. Not cheap but highly recommended and at one point, was used daily.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Online quizzes from <a href="https://online.seterra.com/en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Seterra</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We always have a world map on display and atlases readily available.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7i6xGN_HvNaqptfji9GdEZLInOgof-K5_-9GWtbzNSAJbhbnBfhQDqmFWQjae2NNWVm7A-9UmWgd7361a4p-IAdZaD8GT_umWHucnYkCTjCuLuLLdx1L9Fv8jSOCxIuUX1MX69i9jPBc/s1600/IMG_20200530_170052090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7i6xGN_HvNaqptfji9GdEZLInOgof-K5_-9GWtbzNSAJbhbnBfhQDqmFWQjae2NNWVm7A-9UmWgd7361a4p-IAdZaD8GT_umWHucnYkCTjCuLuLLdx1L9Fv8jSOCxIuUX1MX69i9jPBc/s320/IMG_20200530_170052090.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest or e-mail.</span></i></div>
</div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-49744278191706099052020-04-29T17:22:00.003+01:002020-04-29T17:22:58.241+01:00Christian Emergency Home Schooling UK<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two Christian home educators, Christina and Joanne, who have about fifty years of home education experience between them, have put together a blog , <a href="https://covidemergencyhomeschoolinguk.weebly.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Covid Emergency Home Schooling UK,</a> aimed at parents who have been thrown into teaching their children at home. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They make suggestions for a plan for each day which includes a Bible time, maths and English followed by a lesson plan for each day.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lesson plans have a clear Christian worldview.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="https://covidemergencyhomeschoolinguk.weebly.com/day-to-day.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Topics </a>have included The First Round World Bicycle trip, the Trojan Horse, World Health Day, Samuel Morse and much more. The lesson plans include activities, extension work and things to think about. Christina and Joanne have tended to take something that happened on that day in history as the basis for that day's work. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The work is geared for primary aged children. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQXzet8ofSLVtO8USr8nZ25mszYala5ayRvNzvNXqGRmm9We7JQsBsupCl2qdZD8r7M0LD4y0VDENQ7YkqvDQtlHgwDN1vEPI5OcLhSL2_LJD1ARox07P-WuYF3CTnPKOCbFaFfUJXd4/s1600/IMG_20200417_085432331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQXzet8ofSLVtO8USr8nZ25mszYala5ayRvNzvNXqGRmm9We7JQsBsupCl2qdZD8r7M0LD4y0VDENQ7YkqvDQtlHgwDN1vEPI5OcLhSL2_LJD1ARox07P-WuYF3CTnPKOCbFaFfUJXd4/s320/IMG_20200417_085432331.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems that work provided by schools varies from a whole day online to very little. These lesson plans provide an ideal opportunity to have something ready prepared to teach children either when there is little provided by school or to profitably use extra time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest or e-mail.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-26176263090448765082020-04-11T21:48:00.000+01:002020-04-11T21:48:23.394+01:00Home Educating during Lockdown<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At first sight, it might seem that home educating during lockdown is the same as home educating at any other time, except for the knowledge that we are now in the majority. But, this isn't what home educating is usually like. Usually, we have either classes, a group or meetings with friends every day. My children are used to doing their work at home but not exclusively staying at home. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwXpuCS06zgWzES-dNTaWcmrd1UpLG6DFEfBGs2ORFqitjvEhnlkPM9FMaCKAmdgM3AH4zxeQnGNUJda-jzApq1vyos9T7giMLw3FOSN4cwvSpwn5A0-jqudMw61vSU_b-b0VUw87qdc4/s1600/IMG_20200410_122859916.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwXpuCS06zgWzES-dNTaWcmrd1UpLG6DFEfBGs2ORFqitjvEhnlkPM9FMaCKAmdgM3AH4zxeQnGNUJda-jzApq1vyos9T7giMLw3FOSN4cwvSpwn5A0-jqudMw61vSU_b-b0VUw87qdc4/s320/IMG_20200410_122859916.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hearing people whose children usually go to school talk about the transition to school at home has made me reflect about the changes for us and think that these might impact even more on previously schooled children. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is an overwhelming mass of free material. At first, I thought that we would take advantage of this but actually, we all felt that it was better to continue with what we were used to doing. We have only really taken advantage of one offer and that was for a programme which we had used before, <a href="https://veritaspress.com/selfpaced/history" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Veritas self paced history.</a></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We have continued with the basics through the holiday. We don't usually work in school holidays as there are friends to see and groups stop but at present, we want to keep a bit of structure-something remotely resembling normal.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Morning time has carried on. We have added a daily reading of Psalm 46, <i>God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble</i>, which seems appropriate, to our learning of Isaiah 53 verses 1-6. Our current read aloud is something completely different, <i>King of the Cannibals: The Story of John G Paton</i> by Jim Cromarty. This is an engaging read. We read it years ago when our older children were little and it lead to some games of cannibals! Having older children now has meant that it hasn't elicited this response. As usual, we sing a hymn, pray and also have a history read aloud. This has been <i>Story of the Middle Ages </i>by Christine Miller since September. We are currently on chapter 120 out of 148 so the end is in sight. Apart from its length, it has been a successful addition to our study of the Middle Ages covering events in mainland Europe better than any other book, I know, for this age group. </span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">We have carried on with the Veritas self paced for our youngest. Our other home educated child has managed to finish a long running programme, as well as make head way with several subjects.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Online meet ups have taken the place of actual meet ups in my diary. Our established home education group has just gone online along with some classes. Running a book club or biology class online has become the new normal. </span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course, cooking has continued along with some letter writing, knitting and loads of swingball.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reminding the children that the Lord still reigns and trying to provide a stable structure to life is more important than doing every exciting new programme at this point in time.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> How have you found having children learning at home over the last few weeks?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest or e-mail.</span></i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-19615715290809004342020-03-16T18:03:00.000+00:002020-03-16T18:03:00.114+00:00When you unexpectedly have children learning at home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this pandemic, some countries have already closed schools and others are likely to close very soon. These are just a few ideas which may make learning at home easier.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, though, please don't think that this is like usual home education. Usually, home educators go out, see friends and go to groups and classes. This is something that we will miss too. In many ways this situation is a caricature of usual home schooling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite this, we are at an advantage in that we have a pattern to our day and resources at home. I know that most schools will be sending work home and teaching remotely so it won't be necessary to set up a curriculum, however, there will be much, much more time to fill with no journeys to school, no after school clubs and no playdates.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are some ideas which help shape our days plus some extra resources.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Morning Time. We always start with Morning Time. We include prayer, read alouds, Bible memory work and sing a hymn, Our read alouds include a missionary biography and a chapter from a history book. This is an ideal time to read those books aloud that you have always intended to read. We have just finished making a homophone sheet where we added a homophone and illustration each day.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ6khGAOaRgspm713a70J3jXfj8Tyb9_03tMIRlyN1pKLLlCUMT1NauCbvcYrrXXbTdiVEelDOJBEX_TZD8z11TgCvh4d4ZYtFDGclldYYochRCC22c99X41c-XgrWCUAQ9x2jHJPP_3s/s1600/IMG_20200302_093412381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ6khGAOaRgspm713a70J3jXfj8Tyb9_03tMIRlyN1pKLLlCUMT1NauCbvcYrrXXbTdiVEelDOJBEX_TZD8z11TgCvh4d4ZYtFDGclldYYochRCC22c99X41c-XgrWCUAQ9x2jHJPP_3s/s320/IMG_20200302_093412381.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></li>
<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A set order. We always have English time then a break, followed by maths. The afternoon is a bit more varied. There isn't anything special about our order except that it means that we all know what is happening next and there is less argument about unpopular subjects. </span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading time. 30 minutes after lunch for everyone's sanity!</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Usually, we always go outside.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuGba87S6ZHblIaMVzGWEkDvu2FBvIkmUtqcpDddertqnmjnrQLboDZT53c63bNLhtMqaRh_BXrGtNp4vOaF8cKRPzKjtHgtNyx261rblP38HyCgimPxR47Tihc2TPeZLWhe8sxQgWRE8/s1600/IMG_20200316_155830793.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuGba87S6ZHblIaMVzGWEkDvu2FBvIkmUtqcpDddertqnmjnrQLboDZT53c63bNLhtMqaRh_BXrGtNp4vOaF8cKRPzKjtHgtNyx261rblP38HyCgimPxR47Tihc2TPeZLWhe8sxQgWRE8/s320/IMG_20200316_155830793.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I don't know how much this will have to alter but even a few minutes in a small garden will help. Swingball or a chalked hopscotch can be done in a small area.</span><br />
</li>
<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something fun. This depends on the age of children. Ideas are a board game, poetry tea,</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyGjZrC4RrD6eOPejBJSCIxBeu0ufWGqn9u4figr2J2E9HfXRTffLj-LMKQC-qFwalfJIk1A70c7-lD0QhKaFiA2KW_NmZmbb1OTUB4h_IeYCK8MbEMVXebHGJKeCUBIidFU2W_QkAyQ4/s1600/IMG_20200110_152034845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyGjZrC4RrD6eOPejBJSCIxBeu0ufWGqn9u4figr2J2E9HfXRTffLj-LMKQC-qFwalfJIk1A70c7-lD0QhKaFiA2KW_NmZmbb1OTUB4h_IeYCK8MbEMVXebHGJKeCUBIidFU2W_QkAyQ4/s320/IMG_20200110_152034845.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a film and educational treasure hunt. The prize for the treasure hunt only needs to be small. The clues don't have to be complicated. We have used treasure hunts for learning tables with choices for answers. The right answer goes to the next clue!</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just a few ideas for resources. These are all free</span></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="https://www.typingclub.com/sportal/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Typing Club</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.typingclub.com/sportal/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Seterra</a>-geography and science quizzes</span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.typingclub.com/sportal/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Free Science Lessons</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007g5y4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">BBC Schools radio</a> (this includes some audiobooks under English)</span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BBC bitesize</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://blogaboutbritain.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog about Britain</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://nrich.maths.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nrich</a> (I love the hot air balloon game for negative numbers)</span></li>
<li><a href="https://clpe.org.uk/poetryline" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poetryline</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.twinkl.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twinkl</a> is currently free (I haven't used this site myself so can't personally recommend it)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.classicsforkids.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Classics for Kids</a> (seven minute podcasts about classical music)</span></li>
<li><a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tutorial=all" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MIT Scratch course</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://code.org/learn" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hour of code</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shows.acast.com/the-daily-poem" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Poem</a>-more for older children</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/category/22/most-popular" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mathsframe</a>-online games around maths</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Free <a href="https://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/Sunday-School-Metropolitan-Tabernacle-London" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sunday School lessons</a> online coming very soon.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please do add other ideas. We all need to encourage each other in these challenging times.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest or e-mail</span></i></div>
</div>
</div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-58113289055819529522020-03-12T23:45:00.003+00:002020-03-12T23:45:53.659+00:00Living in a Pandemic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is no secret that we are in a pandemic. None of us know whether we will be unwell/have to self isolate and whether, soon, we will be able to leave our homes. Obviously, in our family, this has been a matter of a fair amount of discussion as well as making sure that the children know the <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">official guidance</a> and that practically, hand washing takes place often, carefully and for at least the time that it takes to sing <i>Happy birthday</i> twice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the most important things that we want to remember is that God knows and cares about us, even at this time. We have been singing <i>Sovereign Ruler of the Skies </i>in our Morning Time. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sovereign Ruler of the skies,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ever gracious, ever wise!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All my times are in Thy hand, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All events at Thy command.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He that formed me in the womb,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He shall guide me to the tomb;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All my times shall ever be</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ordered by His wise decree.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Times of sickness, times of health;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Times of poverty and wealth;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Times of trial and of grief;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Times of triumph and relief:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Times the Tempter's power to prove;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Times to taste a Saviour's love:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All must come, and last, and end</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As shall please my heavenly Friend.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Plagues and deaths around me fly,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Till He bids I cannot die:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not a single shaft can hit</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Till the God of love thinks fit.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">O Thou gracious, wise and just,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In Thy hands my life I trust:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thee, at all times, will I bless:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Having Thee, I all possess.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">John Ryland</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Pinterest or e-mail.</i></span></div>
</div>
<br /></div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-91524108181739119182020-02-22T21:47:00.001+00:002020-02-22T21:47:46.947+00:00Wulfgar and the Vikings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This year, we have been learning about the Middle Ages in History so I was delighted to be asked to review Christina Eastwood's new book <i><a href="https://ritchiechristianmedia.co.uk/product/wulfgar-saxon-wulfgar-and-vikings" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wulfgar and the Vikings.</a></i></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8NFsTWMChQ5z5UDpE3xUyFFOvax9XqMMBXCCg46YkLYEWQvZOA8R4Q4_TfqllTTj-D4zG2sv3wnm1apyAlxKWuIq6Q28JFSPdR_0GUx_7Vkr9I0AYn0zKJPESXiijsJFDfgvEZA7Ric/s1600/IMG_1170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8NFsTWMChQ5z5UDpE3xUyFFOvax9XqMMBXCCg46YkLYEWQvZOA8R4Q4_TfqllTTj-D4zG2sv3wnm1apyAlxKWuIq6Q28JFSPdR_0GUx_7Vkr9I0AYn0zKJPESXiijsJFDfgvEZA7Ric/s320/IMG_1170.JPG" width="213" /></span></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Christina is a Christian author who home educated her children. I have reviewed her book, <i><a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/2018/05/not-without-tears-life-of-favell-lee.html" target="_blank">Not without Tears</a></i> previously and enjoyed her novel set in Italy, Switzerland and Ireland, <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><i>Trasna na Dtonnta<span style="color: #5e5e5e;">.</span></i></span> When my children were younger, we used some of the home education resources which Christina collected together as a <i><a href="https://motherscompanion.weebly.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mother's Companion.</a></i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Wulfgar and the Vikings </i>is the first in a children's trilogy called <i>Wulfgar the Saxon. </i>Wulfgar is a fictional boy living in the village of Leofham, in the Kingdom of Wessex during the days of King Alfred the Great. The story is around the dangers from the Vikings and the arrival of a stranger, Morcant from Wales. Morcant is a skilled medicine man who also teaches the villagers to read and has a teaching which is different from that of the monks who came round to collect rents and the church dues. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The theme of wanting a written copy of the Bible in English is throughout much of the book and of course, the threat of the Viking raiders. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This living book is ideal for reading whilst learning about King Alfred. There has been much care around historical details such as the illness of the King, the relevant battles and the Celtic church. It did send me to do some research to find out more about this period in history.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Wulfgar the Viking </i>is a short read and would be ideal for children aged 8 plus. The book is complete in itself despite being the first of a trilogy. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. Recommended!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, G+,Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</i><br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></i>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Disclaimer: I was provided with a review copy of Wulfgar and the Vikings. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are my own.</i></div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-4878315969933580252020-02-10T18:00:00.000+00:002020-02-10T18:00:07.982+00:00Catch up!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been AWOL for about a year!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The beginning of 2019 was dominated by my husband's Mum's declining health. She died, very peacefully, in April. Soon after her funeral, my husband had major surgery. Happily, the summer was busy with meeting our first grandchild. None of this was conducive to writing and, to be honest, I was really quite tired and felt rather directionless which again, doesn't lead to blogging.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, this is a new year and decade so time for a post!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9dR5GH3ly9EzZwgm4nCcElPMyRrqQRkQ5quklmFMH19LqNBHRbrXXwawWl1YjxTiza3j-mGh4CbIY5Eb1yNZhXpoEuRGS6O4yEd2cF4nV9CZhJZicsRtDcRYepss7BMuD9B5VkyMFt_k/s1600/IMG_20191123_145612108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9dR5GH3ly9EzZwgm4nCcElPMyRrqQRkQ5quklmFMH19LqNBHRbrXXwawWl1YjxTiza3j-mGh4CbIY5Eb1yNZhXpoEuRGS6O4yEd2cF4nV9CZhJZicsRtDcRYepss7BMuD9B5VkyMFt_k/s320/IMG_20191123_145612108.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are some useful resources, with a rather chemistry and geography theme, which we have been enjoying recently.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://online.seterra.com/en-an/vgp/3814" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seterra periodic table</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://ellenjmchenry.com/homeschool-freedownloads/chemistry-games/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ellen McHenry Periodic Table games</a> Thank you to @Spreadingthefeast for telling me about this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogaboutbritain.co.uk/blog/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog about Britain</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oaka books <a href="https://www.oakabooks.co.uk/collections/geography/products/geography-ks3-c-e-on-the-map-the-global-locations-game" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">On the map</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope to be back again soon with a book review.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, ,Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i><br />
<br /></div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-9322516375351778572020-01-28T22:15:00.002+00:002020-01-28T22:15:55.201+00:00Primary Maths Resources<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Apologies for the lack of posts over the last year. I have a draft post waiting with a bit of explanation!<br />
<br />
Anyway, my friend Emma has started a new website, <i><a href="http://finishingthecourse.simplesite.com/444603047" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Home Educating the Early Days.</a> </i>Emma's site designed is to give reviews on all things related to home education and is particularly designed to <i>help families with young children who are either starting out on home education or have an interest and aren't sure where to start. </i>Do pop over and have a browse round Emma's site.<br />
<br />
Today, I have a guest post on <i>Home Educating the Early Days</i> about <a href="http://finishingthecourse.simplesite.com/444618733" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Primary Maths Resources.</a><br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, ,Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1272887249587912361.post-64449677006166649982019-01-11T20:50:00.000+00:002019-01-11T20:50:54.555+00:00Reading Challenge and Advice Please!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year, I decided not to take part in a Reading Challenge. Life was busy and whilst I had read plenty of books during the previous year and enjoyed the chance to read more widely, I didn't manage all the categories in the <a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/p/books-read-2017.html" target="_blank">2017 Christian Reading Challenge.</a> </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://weshallobtaindeliveringgrace.blogspot.com/p/books-2018.html" target="_blank">2018 </a>wasn't a bad reading year but many of the books were either read alouds to my children or books that I preread to check whether they would be suitable for the home education book club. It was a busy year, after all my eldest daughter was married and strangely enough, this was rather more important than reading! So, 2019 seems a year for a reading challenge but people, I need advice. My reading is in the doldrums and I don't feel best inspired. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-2mYA5q_smXdRhFfhZH5wbK7Cs38cUhtpK3L1JcnRzYHJqs5qYHsF_RRfJ5gVZJVIVxJ9QOEz2CwHt3ishqhh8qT2xTyFAtbI4uXYf7a_OcBOl0d8a9v4nSnfT7ElgALhF6KCEpiAW0/s1600/IMG_20181227_112217572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-2mYA5q_smXdRhFfhZH5wbK7Cs38cUhtpK3L1JcnRzYHJqs5qYHsF_RRfJ5gVZJVIVxJ9QOEz2CwHt3ishqhh8qT2xTyFAtbI4uXYf7a_OcBOl0d8a9v4nSnfT7ElgALhF6KCEpiAW0/s400/IMG_20181227_112217572.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plan is to do the avid reader level of the <a href="https://www.challies.com/resources/the-2019-christian-reading-challenge/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">2019 Christian Reading Challenge</a> so 26 books not 104. I would like to succeed! Please would you send me ideas. I don't want to buy many books so ideally books from the library/free on line would be great.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The categories follow with my comments. A blank means that I don't know. </span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A BIOGRAPHY-<i>ideas?</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A NOVEL-<i>possibly Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK ABOUT HISTORY<i>-SPQR by Mary Beard. I have started this but haven't been gripped so far...</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK TARGETED AT THE OPPOSITE GENDER-<i>haven't a clue!</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK ABOUT CHRISTIAN LIVING<i>-possibly a reread of the Loveliness of Christ by Samuel Rutherford</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK WITH AT LEAST 400 PAGES-<i>I have downloaded Dicken's Our Mutual Friend which seems to have over 800 pages according to Amazon.</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK A FRIEND RECOMMENDS-<i>ideas welcome</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK ABOUT CHRISTIAN LIVING-<i>a couple of friends have recommended titles by Jen Wilkin</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK MORE THAN 100 YEARS OLD-<i>Should be easy but I don't know yet.</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A BOOK BY OR ABOUT A MISSIONARY-<i>Reading</i> Letters from the South Seas<i> by Margaret Patton</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A BOOK FOR CHILDREN OR TEENS-<i>thinking about Beverley Naidoo's </i>Journey to Jo'burg<i> which is conveniently in the local library.</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A BOOK OF YOUR CHOICE</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK ABOUT FROM A “BEST OF 2018” LIST-<i>not sure. I need to read some lists!</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A COMMENTARY ON A BOOK OF THE BIBLE</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK WRITTEN BY A PURITAN: <i>John Owen's</i> Glory of Christ.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK BY OR ABOUT A MISSIONARY</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A BOOK ABOUT THEOLOGY: reading Stuart Olyott's Son of Mary: Son of God</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK YOU THINK YOU CAN FINISH IN A WEEKEND-<i>Doug Bond's new book</i> The Resistance</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK RECOMMENDED BY A FAMILY MEMBER </li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A BOOK ABOUT AGING-Jennifer Bute and Louise Morse's book <i>Dementia from the Inside.</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK PUBLISHED IN 2019 -<i>Hopefully, </i>Beyond the Thirty Nine Steps: a biography of John Buchan<i> by Ursula Buchan</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A BOOK ON THE CURRENT NY TIMES LIST OF BESTSELLERS- <i>possibly</i> the Tattooist of Auschwitz<i> but it seems a bit grim.</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK ABOUT CHURCH HISTORY-<i>hope this isn't a cheat but I am reading SM Houghton's</i> Sketches in Church History <i>with my children. I love this book and it has lead to some interesting discussions and rabbit trails. Who would have known that Patmos is 15 days walk from London plus a few ferries-thank you Google maps!</i></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK OF 100 PAGES OR LESS </li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A BOOK OF YOUR CHOICE</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"> A BOOK ABOUT MUSIC OR A MUSICIAN-<i>not a clue.</i></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.85px;">Thank you everyone, in advance for your suggestions!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post you may like to follow Delivering Grace by Google Friend Connect, G+,Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or e-mail.</span></i></div>
</div>
</div>
DeliveringGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08320150355352857841noreply@blogger.com4