Trying to keep the Fun with One

I have found it is really easy to get stale homeschooling just one child and we don't always have the same fun that we used when there were both girls to do things with. So this month I made a concentrated effort to celebrate a couple of events as I do feel a bit guilty at times that Agent Smelly's days are a bit more curriculum filled.

So on Pi Day 3.14 (14th March) we did a few Pi related activities ... including eating PIE!  

Then for St Patrick's day I made up a couple of wee treat packs (I popped one in The Fashionista's school lunch as a surprise much to her delight) and Agent Smelly was able to eat hers throughout her activities. I purchased the green lollies from a shop in the mall that just sells lollies and chocolates -- the Korean lady working there looking perplexed as she watched me sorting through the different containers so I could grab just the green ones. I did explain they were for St Patrick's day and that brought a big grin to her face. 

I found the 'shamrock nails' in a $2 Shop and threw those in for a bit of fun. 

When I do a 'special unit day', I do not include ANY of regular school work; we make it a day of all new and fun stuff. I feel like it actually revives us.

Similarly to the Pi pack, the booklet had word finds, crosswords, sudoku, word scramble, codeword puzzle, maze, etc. which I printed from free sites. Sometimes there will be a recipe in there, for instance in this case it was how to make Shamrock pancakes.

I always use a few different sites for my print outs because sometimes some of the activities may be too young for her or something we've done before. This gorgeous wee front page and some of the pages I used were from Embark on the Journey's blog page. I just use google or pinterest to find things on the subject that I am wanting to put a book together on.

Because Agent Smelly quite likes music we also listened to some Irish music, folk type and also The Pogues (her dad likes them so we have some CD's). 

I really love doing activities like this -- they learn so much whilst having fun and learning things in a completely different way. 

*Please note this post is delayed posting it's from last year. 

First Day back at School 2016

Whilst her big sister is off in her uniform in a classroom setting, leaving at the crack of dawn, Agent Smelly settles down to do history ... laying on the couch eating an apple and reading Story of the World (Book 3).  Homeschooling rocks!

An Adventurous Day Out

Recently I took Agent Smelly and one of her friends, Miss Y, to Sonshine Ranch as part of a homeschool outing.

As part of the day included some horse riding the children needed to wear closed in shoes. When I picked up Miss Y, I asked her if she had togs and sneakers in her bag as she was wearing jandals (thongs for you Aussies and flip flops for you Americans and Brits). She told me that she had, but unfortunately when we arrived at the camp / adventure park and she went to put on her sneakers she found that she had forgotten to pack them. Well her bottom lip actually started to tremble (seriously was the cutest thing I have ever seen) and she was about to burst into tears when I quickly said "here try these on" and kicked off my own sneakers (we were over an hour away so wasn't like I could slip back home). She tried them on and thankfully these sneakers that are loose on me fitted her perfectly. Unfortunately her jandals were slightly a bit big for me (I have tiny feet) but I managed to tramp all over the hills and through the trail in them without breaking my neck ... the things we do!

Agent Smelly on the Flying Fox

It was quite a long ride through the bush ... I wouldn't have done it!

Anyway our first trip was down to the flying fox and the rope swing.

Agent Smelly on the rope swing

Then our group (there were 58 kids, two groups) was moved onto the horse riding. Agent Smelly was a bit disappointed that the trail ride was very short as she was dying to have a proper ride of her horse.

When I finally got up the hill from helping the remainder of the kids on the flying fox (parents lend a hand at each activity) they had already set off. When they returned I saw the kids on their sweet little horsies and then she comes out of the trail on bloody Phar lap. Apparently when they asked if anyone wanted the largest horse they had on the farm, she threw her arm straight up! She so was pleased she got him as she loves big horses. His name was Flash and he was missing one eye.


We then broke for lunch and sat on the grass in the most idyllic little area with all these lovely ferns and bush around us.


After lunch we moved onto their last activity which was a water confidence course. It was pretty gross to be honest ... but the kids had fun trying to get across the water without landing in it. Miss Y was really struggling on that type bit you can see in the bottom photo. You need to swing back and forth to get to the next one. She was taking ages and Agent Smelly was right behind her. AS's hands get really sweaty and whilst she had no trouble swinging and grabbing the next one, holding onto the same rope waiting for Miss Y to move was too much and she slipped into the drink. It was really quite funny, especially as Miss Y was just a tyre or two from the end and actually made it to the end without falling and all the kids behind waiting started dropping like flies ... haha

Agent Smell pink togs right in the centre.

 

Miss Y bottom left sitting on one of the tyres holding on ... haha
That's a water wheel the kids climb onto and try and move by running on it like a giant hamster!

We had really lovely weather and the activities kept moving and the girls really seemed to enjoy their day out together doing some fun and new activities.


Agent Smelly really seems to be gaining confidence at these activities without her big sister around. In the past she hung back, she did them but now she is putting herself out more to the front. It is interesting to see.

Reward Scheme

The Fashionista's new school (how long before I can stop saying 'new' school I wonder) came home from her first day of school and showed me one of the things that they do there, that I think is a pretty cool idea and have been meaning to share.

Her tutor teacher explained to the girls that at their school they prefer to encourage the students for good behaviour rather than punish them for bad. I was very happy to hear that, as that is how I attempt to bring up my children. I say attempt as sometimes I do end up giving them punishments ... I mean how many times can one ask someone to please get off minecraft and set the table! So no tablet or device punishments come into place sometimes.

So essentially what happens is that each student gets a card which they can place in front of themselves on their desk during their class.

The rules are the student needs to display

• a willingness to learn
• interaction with respect
• strive to understand
• engage to achieve

If they are displaying these behaviours whilst in class, then the teacher of that class signs it. Not all teachers remember to walk around the classroom, so if they want to, the students can go up to the teacher to have it signed once class is finished. Once the card has been filled they hand it back to their tutor teacher for a new one and the signed one gets submitted to the office.

Once three are accrued they received a Bronze certificate, 6 for Silver and 10 they earn a gold owl badge to proudly wear on the lapel of their blazers. They also have it presented by the School Principal at a special ceremony.

No guessing who already has her sights set on getting that badge. She has completed three cards already ... that poor school won't know what's hit them.


I have discussed it with Agent Smelly and we are going to make up something similar here for her so she can earn stuff at home. She doesn't want a certificate though she has chosen food rewards ... no surprises there either!


 

How Home Educating has been going ...

Well due to the very busy and new demands put on us by The Fashionista's move to High School, we have slowly eased into home schooling. So we have completed 2 weeks now and here's what we've been up to.

This photo is from last weeks Home School picnic that was held at a city park on a lake. Such a good turn out despite a lot of people not being able to make it. They held an egg n spoon race, three-legged races and sack races. It was a lot of fun and despite it being held from 10-12pm many of us were still there at 2pm!

On our first "official" school day Agent Smelly was a bit of a whiner to be honest. I had only planned a couple of easy lessons to ease her back into things which would have taken about an hour at most so was kind of annoyed at her dragging stuff on and behaving like a brat. She's been on her tablet playing Minecraft much more than is good for her over the school holidays. I know some people suggest letting them self-regulate but she will spend the whole day on it if we let her and then she is a real beast when we ask her to come down for dinner or do anything to tidy her room or help around the house.  We had to have a bit of a chat that evening (I really wanted to know If this was how she was going to be acting all year) and the next day she was much more happy and ready to get on with stuff and get it finished rather than dragging everything out.


She's started working on Math-U-See Epsilon which is mostly on fractions at the beginning. She managed to complete three levels, tests included, in less than two weeks and got every single answer correct. All it appears to take is me sitting beside her, otherwise I hear "it's too hard", "I don't know what to do" and "I can't do it". Once I sit next her, she just cracks on and does it although she will occasionally ask me valid questions or for help to understand the question more and I am fine with that.
 
 

 
 
She's also continuing on with a spelling curriculum, Spelling Workout Level E, by Modern Curriculum Press, that she worked on last year. More so because her new English curriculum hasn't arrived yet, than because I particularly think highly of it. In case you can't read the above, she was supposed to write down words that she struggled with in lessons 13-17 ... her response "none, I'm brilliant". Rather her getting told to do things like this properly I simply have a laugh (as does her Papa) and let is slide. I really can't see what it would prove to do otherwise.


So on day 2 we did the same lessons as the day before but, this time I put her onto DIY.org to complete some badge activities from there. She has been signed up for ages when blogger Sue Elvis put us onto it but, we always had trouble getting onto it properly. Turns out we simply have to go through Chrome to have full access to is. I knew she would be enthused when she saw she could earn a minecrafting badge and she was!
 

 

She completed her Stitcher badge ... watch out Aunty Sheryl, there will be a little something on it's way for you.

 

 

 
And of course she completed her Minecraft badge. She had to do a minecraft 'art' challenge and so she designed an owl with a 3d heart on Valentines Day. 
 
I like the fact that by introducing DIY into her curriculum, it has been keeping things interesting and she has more control over what she'd like to.

For her literature study she chose "Sherlock Holmes" for us to work on. It's an abridged version, so I didn't think it was that great and unlike other abridged classics we have read this one didn't have her yearning for more. We have already completed it and begun work on Alice in Wonderland. She chose that one next (I suggested Little Women) and then complained that she had already read it, so why where we bothering ... sigh ...  

We continued with our Story of the World, Volume 3 for history and because the chapters we were working on were on American history I put on Liberty Kids off YouTube which is a cartoon series that was made about the American Revolution, Boston Tea Party, etc. It is really thorough and quite good and from what I can tell she is retaining the knowledge. I pop a show or two (or three if I wander off and forget about her) on each day whilst she is eating her lunch.

We also have started work on an old Introductory course to Physics program that I purchased years ago and forgot on the shelves ... as you do. Am using it as an opportunity for me to start teaching her about Mind Mapping too.

She is also taking a weekly Jazz and Hip Hop class and also a performance class. Mostly because some of her old home school friends attend also and I feel she needs to be out amongst some mates more so than even before.

So we are starting to get in the groove again but, I must admit I am still adjusting to having just one student. It's not quite as much fun for either of doing some of the group activities that the girls both enjoyed doing together and laughing over.

A Classic Term

I have come to realise that there is far too much that I want my children to learn, and that I simply do not have enough time to do it all. The same goes with classic books. I would love to read them all with them but in order to do so we would never have any other time for any of our other subjects.

Also if I am completely honest, I feel that just because a book is termed a classic, it doesn't automatically mean that it is a good, or easy or even an enjoyable read so I made the decision to read some abridged versions. That way we could get through more books in a quicker time and if the girls really enjoyed them then we can read the full version or they can in their own time and if they didn't then well at least they had the general gist of it.  So we have been reading the Classic Starts books. They are a little young for The Fashionista and even Agent Smelly really but we can get by with them.

We read one chapter each day (unless it's huge) and complete a wee lap book with each book; and I couldn't believe my luck when I found on Pinterest that Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler has been using the same book series and produced lap books we could use. Yeah what a time saver. When we finish reading the book we then watch related movies or mini series (OH boy have we found some stinkers doing this, but we enjoy picking it to pieces!) and sometimes we make a craft, an activity or meal to accompany the book. It's been taking us a week or two to complete each book and the work with it.

 

En garde ... All for one and one for all.

They made their swords from scratch!

 

 

We read in 10 weeks:-

• Dr DOLITTLE - Neither enjoyed it much; I was a bit surprised, I thought they might. Haven't been able to find the movie yet.
• KING ARTHUR - They LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this so much we have read many more versions and watched a couple of different movie and mini series too.
• ROBIN HOOD - Unsurprisingly after King Arthur they LOVED this too. We have since read the full version. I even managed to find a copy of the Errol Flynn version of the movie ... and now they love it as much as I always have.
• THE SECRET GARDEN - They enjoyed this, despite no sword fighting.
• JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH - We all quite enjoyed this book. Sadly the movie versions are often very loosely based on the book so whilst most are enjoyable (btw if you come across a version with Bryan Brown avoid it!) they have left us a bit disappointed.
• THE THREE MUSKETEERS - Again a firm favourite. They love the characters in this book and this is another we are reading the full version of.
• CALL OF THE WILD - We finished this book at the end of term and when I finished reading (I struggled with the last bit with a rather wobbly voice) I looked up to find my two girls with tears streaming down their faces, which then turned into full blown sobs. So guess who joined in. The Papa then walked in from work found us all walking around wiping our tears and passing each other tissues, etc and wondered what had happened.  I had to explain it was all over the book. He just raised his eyebrows, shook his head and went on his way ... hahaha.  We girls now have a good laugh over it but was told not read any sad animal books like that again.

When we finished Robin Hood I surprised the girls with a couple of $2 shop plastic bows and arrows and drew a target on our whiteboard and placed it up the end of the hallway for them to shoot at. They had quite a bit of fun and still pull them out to play with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little horrors turned on me and found it funny. I had to high tail it out of there!

 

Beginning with Buddhism

This term we started looking at and learning about different faiths. We are using QED's World of Faiths series.

The girls chose to start with the book on Buddhism. These books are written by a specialist in the faith and aimed at children. They are simple to read and explain the faith in an easy simplistic manner without coming across at all preachy. We covered The Eightfold Path (or Middle Way), the Five Precepts (a guide for living which I think everyone should have on their wall to remind themselves of how to behave!), discussed the different types of Buddhism, read about some rituals, festivals, important figures, holy places and art and symbolism. It was all very interesting. They even inlcude some activities that you can do if you wish to and of course we wished to!

 

 

Tibetan Prayer Flag

One of the activities in the book was to make a Tibetan Prayer Flag. We had a GirlGuide afternoon tea fundraiser coming up that week where we were raising money towards a new cancer treatment for one of our GirlGuide mums, (whose breast cancer metastasized). We had already made some banners at Guides for the event so my girls made a banner not unlike the prayer flag to hang at the event also.

 
The different colours of the flag represent natural elements: yellow (earth), green (water), red (fire), white (cloud) and blue (sky).

A Meditation Experiment

 

Buddhists believe that unhelpful emotions such as anger, hatred and greed make the mind cloudy. The more cloudy our minds become, the more problems we encounter. We did this experiment to get a better understanding of the "clearing of the mind".

 
1. Put a spoonful of soil into a jar of water and stir. The water becomes cloudy.

 

2. Check your water mixture. Does the water become clear again?



 

 

 

3. Eventually, the soil settles and the water becomes clearer.  In meditation, our emotions settle and our minds become clearer.

Lastly the girls made up a poster to pop on the wall. I didn't want them spending too much time on this so suggested they photocopy some of the info from the books. The Fashionista was aghast as she of course wanted to make it all pretty and use lots of different coloured pens. So I suggested chalking over the white paper which sort of satisfied her.

Next up is the Jewish faith and they are quite keen to learn about this as some of their friends are Jewish and they wish to understand it more.

Hands on Chemistry

During the school holidays I attended one of Nathalie Thomas' (Science for Home Educators) Chemistry courses at Wintec (Waikato Institute of Technology). We did 80% of the experiments that you do in years 9 and 10 if you went to school.

On the first day we learnt about laboratory rules and more specifically how to use a Bunsen burner correctly. We had to wear laboratory coats and goggles at all times and completed some experiments in pairs using the Bunsen burner. We also learnt the correct names for lots of other items you use in a lab.

The next day we observed a chemical reaction by burning Mercury metal which made a really bright flash which stayed for about a minute and then turned to ash.  That was fun! Another few experiments was making and testing for Hydrogen, Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide.

We also had the challenge to separate sawdust, sand and salt from each other. We had five different processes we could choose to complete this and it was left to us to decide how to do it. My partner and I decanted to get the sawdust, then we filtered the salt from the sand and finally evaporated the saltwater.  

 

Another test we did was where you blew through a straw into lime water and the oxygen turns it cloudy. Nathalie joked that this test proved you weren't an alien if it went cloudy. My water went cloudy so this proved I am not an alien, although my parents are still not entirely convinced. I even had my mum take a picture to prove to my dad who likes to joke I am an alien ... Dads!

Our final tasks covered the pH table and we did some Acid-Based tests. We used a lot of chemicals we wouldn't have at home.  

I really enjoyed the course. Nathalie is a really good teacher and so friendly and cheerful. She makes science so easy to understand and you can tell she likes science which makes you like it too. I learnt a lot and the fact that we could do all the experiments ourselves instead of just watching was pretty awesome.
 

I just love getting a certificate at the end too!

Hana

Auckland's Mind Lab

 
This week the children had the opportunity to attend some courses at The Mind Lab in Newmarket, Auckland. These were organised by Homeschool Outings and so rather than pay the full price for the course which is well over $100 per child they obtained a school rate which made it more affordable.
 
I am a fantastic mum as I had to drag my sorry but out of bed at some ungodly hour (it was still dark people ... dark!) to make sure we arrived in Auckland by 9am and despite getting into the car at 7.30am we were still 5-10mins late ... Auckland motorway traffic is not for the faint hearted!!! By the way, same trip took us just 50 mins to get home not during peak hour... grrrr!
 
 

 
 
The courses ran from 9am to 1pm and unless your child was 7 (the minimum) you were not required to stay. So first stop for myself and another one of the mums that I know, was the café that is also situated in the front of the building for that richly deserved hot chocolate. Knowing that I had a big drive ahead of me meant that I made sure not to have a drink before I drove into town ... as I didn't know if my bladder could survive the long journey. Such is the life of an over 40's Mama. After our drinks,  Mrs S and I took a walk down through the very trendy shopping streets of Newmarket and did a power shop in one store then headed back to sit on one of the many sofas around The Mind Lab. It was hard peeps ... being able to chat with a fellow adult and wander into a store without kids for a change. I took it all on the chin though.
 
 

 
Now back at The Mind Lab Agent Smelly was doing a science course. She started in one room (walls were glass ... tre trendy) and spent approx. 2 hours making a calculator work using a lemon, potato, wires and nails. Then they made a "wobble bot" with a little battery and some Styrofoam, and toothpicks. Apparently there was a small break for morning tea and then they headed into another area for a couple of hours to do some physics. They built some things (I am sooo technical ey?) which had cogs and then they connected them to some robotics gear to see how their parts worked. (That's AS in the apricot pants getting down to business; she's teamed up with Miss H, in the hat, who is a friend of ours).
 

  
The Fashionista at 12 had the opportunity to attend the science course or join the older group of 12-15 years olds who were doing the film making course, which she chose of course. Their 4 hour course included storyboarding, camera work, lighting techniques and green screen effects. They made a wee movie taking it in turns to take certain filming roles and also act out their story of course. The movie is going to be put together by the "teacher" and some music added, etc and then a link will be emailed to the group so they can watch it. TF could NOT stop talking about her course on the way home. She was on a natural high and apparently if real schools could learn and teach like that she would be there in a minute. (TF is in the cowboy hat filming her part, and caught me with the camera taking her picture, hence "the look" ... haha)

If you are in the Auckland area I strongly recommend you check out some of the STEM courses on offer by The Mind Lab. They have weekend and school holidays courses also. The girls are looking to go back and do a few more, the next ones will be more computer related though. They can't wait and I will get four hours to myself again ... yeah!
 

Loving Logic Books

Because I am so super organised (NOT!) I ran out of printer ink this week and therefore The Fashionista could not photocopy her maths pages. She just photocopies the ones she needs as she's ready for them, as there's 6 pages in each section and we often find she only needs to do one before she's saying just give me the test to do. I threw out over half a book once after I'd ripped out the unused pages so have learnt better now. 

So as I was racking my brain for what to do instead, I remembered that a few years back I purchased some logic type books from Blackboard Jungle, in NZ, so I went and pulled those out.

 

The first books I gave the girls to work on were Logic Links made by Mindware (educational games and toys in the US). There are different levels (age groups) for this book and we have a couple of them so they had different books/levels to work on.

 

"Logic Links helps kids build thinking skills as they reason and work out sequencing puzzles, using 48 coloured chips (included) to help them visually organise their thinking. This book includes 100 puzzles."

 

For instance how this book works is like this

1. take a green, orange and yellow chip.

2. the orange and yellow chip don't touch.

3. the green chip is to the left of the orange chip.

The child lines the chips up how they think is correct. They of course get longer with more chips as they progress.

 

Agent Smelly just LOVED these and did these for a lot longer than her sister. In fact she has finished a third of the puzzles in her book already - I should point out that she is actually doing a book that is deemed for younger children than her age.  The harder puzzles that The Fashionista worked on had two lines with up to 8 discs. I had to help on occasion and between us I had to refer to the answers in the back a couple of times ... and I am a lot older than the proposed age guide!

 

 

 

 

Once they had enough of the Logic Links I gave them some Noodlers books (I also have a green one) which were also produced by Mindware. I see on their website that they now have them as a game with cards to work on. This would be far better than the books as the crease in the middle means the sticks sometimes roll off the page which is a little frustrating. The books can still be ordered from Blackboard Jungle who are run by just the most lovely and helpful people. They stock a lot of other schooling supplies also.

"Each puzzle contains a field of shapes; your job is to separate each icon into its own area using the wooden sticks. The catch? The instructions tell you how many - or how few sticks you get to use. These books each includes 44 spatial-reasoning puzzles and 8 sticks."

They are for 8 - adult. TF really loved these books but AS found them a little hard until she got the hang of them with some help from big sister.

Even though I thought they'd do a few in each book and that would be that, they spent over two hours on these books, and they didn't even stop to eat lunch just kept working and eating at the same time. It was ever so peaceful and what went from a "oh no what will they do now" became a magical learning afternoon.

So if you have children like mine who love puzzles, then these books are a great addition to the home library or games cupboard. These would even be great at the bach (holiday home).

Drawing Success

Agent Smelly eats, breathes and lives mermaids. So today for art I pulled up this You Tube tutorial How to Draw a Mermaid and set the girls to work. They absolutely LOVED doing this.
 
  

 

First they were taken through the step by step drawing in pencil.

 

 

 

Then they used markers to outline the final picture

 

 

 

Then they got to colour them in.

 

 
They enjoyed this so much so that they ended up doing another one on drawing a cartoon whale.

 
The Fashionista was happy with her pictures but it was pretty amazing to hear Agent Smelly so excited over hers. She usually complains that she can't draw. She told me when showing me her pictures, "Mama I am so proud of myself". Obviously a pretty awesome homeschooling moment.
 
 

Writing in 2014

We haven't done a lot of writing as a class subject over the years and last year, both of my girls I noticed, really started to enjoy writing their own stories. Every now and then after we had done our regular schoolwork the pair of them would take off and start writing their own stories.  As they seemed to enjoy it so much, I thought I'd foster that interest and incorporate it into our schedule.

I had planned to write out some writing prompts (otherwise they can complain they don't know what to write about) but came across 100 Writing Prompts from Curric Click. It's a cheap download; I think it was US 99 cents but really, really well worth it.

I printed the pages onto A4 card stock, cut them into small cards and placed them in a wee container and the girls simply take one card out and write on whatever it reads on the card. They are allowed to choose up to three cards, if they find the first or second hard to do but, no more than that.

There is no amount they have to write but they have a small exercise book to write in and usually keep them to about a page long. I do realise they need to know some grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc (we have studied that formally before) but I am being very careful in those areas so as not to kill their creativity ... I don't want to stifle their writing at this stage. They can always tighten up on some of the other side of things later on. For instance if there is a word misspelled that I know they should know I will point it out to them to see if they realise.

The stories coming from them have been awesome, even the Papa has been reading them and having a laugh and been astonished at some of their ideas and creativity. We have been using them for a couple of months now and not once have I heard "do we have to" in fact although I only ask them to do it once a week they will ask some mornings if they can do one of the cards. Who am I to say no!

Mr Bluenose - Book Review

Mr Bluenose by Kiwi Author Jack Lasenby

This is a very funny book about a young boy (you never find out his name) living in a small NZ town, with just his dad who is really nice, back in the olden days. He gets up to all kinds of  mischief and funny stuff.

Mr Bluenose is a local farmer from overseas, who helps doing odd jobs for. Mr Bluenose tells some awesome stories to the kid, the kid tells them to Mr Bryce, the shopkeeper, and if the story is good enough the shop keeper might give him some boiled lollies. He LOVES boiled lollies as does Mr Bluenose, his dad and Horse, who is really a horse.

A couple of local boys were always trying to steal apples from Mr Bluenose's orchard, so Mr Bluenose with the boys help sets out some boy traps which included a funny ghost. It was so funny. 

The boy also told some whopper stories to some of his mates which scared them. They were really naught but funny too. His poor dad was always getting visits from their parents asking for him not to tell them scary stories anymore as their kids were having bad dreams.

I thought this was such a good story, I almost wanted to read it again.

By Sammi (Age 9)


A delightful, whimsical story of a young rapscallion set during the days when a fresh banana was a great treat, people waited for the train to deliver the daily newspaper to town, and kids played marbles on the corner roads. Some new words, or rather an introduction to some old words, along with some very kiwi words. Did you know "chutty" (or chuddy) is an old slang word for chewing gum ... my hubby did! This book was an unexpected find (in one of those cheap book bins) and it has made us eager to try some more Jack Lasenby books.

The Mama (over age 9)

Magyk - Book Review

 

MAGYK, Septimus Heap Book One by Angie Sage
 
This is the first book in a series of seven. It is a ginormous book with just over 555 pages in it. We have the hard back book and I absolutely adore the pages as they have made them with different edges, kind of rough, so it looks like an old magic book. It is very well written and I highly recommend reading it, as it is good for a laugh and even better for a mystery. There are lots of twists and turns. If you are a fan of Harry Potter you'll most likely enjoy reading this enchanting book.

It is about saving a princess from the evil wizard, DomDaniel, who wants to get rid of her in order for him to take over the kingdom. Jenna, the princess was rescued as a baby by Septimus Heap, unknowingly after her mother the Queen was assassinated and brought up by a wizarding family, The Heaps, as their youngest child and only daughter, without them or her initially realising that she was the princess. The Heaps and Marcia the ExtraOrdinary wizard (who was involved in saving Jenna in the first place when she was a baby) are now on the run with Jenna in order to save her from DomDaniel's many disguised assassin's.

Along the journey you meet lots of unusual characters. Besides the Heap family and their 6 wizard sons, you will meet boy 412 of the young army, a white witch, Aunt Zelda, whom they stay with, a cat that was turned into a duck, a few forest witches, a most grumpy boggart, a fat message rat, some shield bugs, a dragon, and several, helpful, ghosts.

Will they succeed ...You'll just have to read it and find out.

Reviewed by Hana