Making a book

My daughter and her friend get together once a week to play and have been working on a story together.  I am told they discuss the plot and the various scenes while together and then my daughter's friend has been typing the stories up to make a book.  Just recently my daughter's friend and her mother created a bound book to put all their stories in so we can take them with us back to the states, so sweet.  Of course once I saw that I had to know how to make bound books of my own.  I got a quick tutorial from a dear friend:)  She is so crafty and I am going to miss all her great ideas when we move:'(.

For this book there were 84 total pages so we needed to print out  7 mini books of 12 pages each.  Remember that you need to sequence the pages to fit when the pages are folded in half i.e. page 1 match up with page 12, page 2 matches up with page 11 for the first mini book set, then do the same for each of the other mini books.  I hope that makes sense to you:) 

We used a large cereal box to make the cover

Measure 1/4 inch all around the 1/2 booklet.  

For the center of the two mini booklets add 6/8 inch, this may need to increase depending on the number of mini booklets you have and the overall thickness of your book:)

Fold the cardboard over

Open your mini booklets and measure 7 equal points to make holes starting approx. 1 cm from the edge.

Begin sewing the mini books.

tied off the booklet securely

Close up of the end results

Next take all the booklets and sew them together.  I should have used brighter thread to make it easer to see.  Basically you stitch under the thread in a weave (don't stitch the paper) Once that is done set the paper aside

Now cover the cereal box using card stock.  Glue the card stock on to the cereal box leaving the binding edge free of paper (we will cover it later)

Glue down all the edges

Next add a thin strip (of a different color)  of card stock to cover the binding edge (middle) of the cover

Take a plain piece of paper to cover all the mini booklets only glue the center (where the threads are) and about 1/2 past.

Firmly place the white paper over your min booklets--remember not to glue the  entire area down or you will cover you print pages

now glue down the white paper to the cover of book do not glue the center part as that needs to be free in order  to open the book

The finish project!

What it looks like from the side:)

Now I can turn my daughter's writings into books and they will always have a place of honor on our book shelves:)!  I can tell you the book given to my daughter has been read a thousand times and one one is allowed to touch it.  Such a thoughtful gift!

Orkneys -- Skara Brae Neolithic site

Before we moved to the England my husband and I had read about this amazing discovery and vowed to visit it one day.  It lived up to our expectations and was an amazing place to see.  Here at Skara Brae, a 5000-year old site, there are stone houses with stone furniture.  A few years ago visitor could walk in amongst the ruins but damage was being done to the site so they built a replica of the site to allow visitors to experience life in those times.

Visiting the museum and learning about the people that lived here

the replica of the house

Entrance way-- the house were built with tunnels leading to other homes.

The kids found a nook they could hid in, inside the stone house.  It was probably used as a storage area

stone bed, all the houses found in this area were laid out the same way, stone beds to the side, stone dresser directly across from the doorway, fireplace in the center

Stone hearth and dresser

Next we walked to the real site.

Village map; they believe this site may have been home to at least 10 families or more.

We were able to walk around the top of the site 

Inside of the houses, see the stone shelving

All the homes were arranged in the same way center hearth and dresser with stone beds on either side

The work room

Pretty amazing to know this has been here for 5000 years.  This site was buried under sand for many, many years before a large storm blew away the sand and the owner of the land, while walking his dog, discovered the site.

Orkneys Holiday Part 1

We took a week to tour the Scottish main island of Orkney.  My husband and I had read about it before moving to England and were determine to visit before we return to the states.  It is here that  several neolithic sites have been uncovered.  These sites are over 5,000 years old and date before the building of the great pyramids and stone henge.  In addition to these great sites we found the island full of history and we had a wonderful week of learning and exploring history from the Mesolithic period to modern day island living.

The first thing we discovered while driving around was an amazing WWII church built by Italian POW's.

Italian Chapel completely done by WWII prisoners

Prisoners renovated a Quonset hut

The men who contributed to building the chapel

Inside is completely painted there are no stones, tiles  or brinks on the floors, ceiling or walls

This picture was painted by Domenico Chiocchetti who carried a picture of the Madonna throughout the war.

the details in the paintings are amazing

the door again it is all painted

After the war ended most of the men returned home except for Domenico who remained behind to finish is chapel

All the iron work was done by another prisoner

16 years after the war the BBC track down the original artist, Domenico,  and brought him back to the chapel he painted to touch up the paintings.  The people of Orkney treasure this church and vowed to keep up the church maintenance

His family came back to view the chapel after he died.  Such an amazing story!

On the property is the Italian flag and a statue of St George slaying the dragon which represents 

Such a great story and beautiful church!  The painting inside is unbelievable it looks like real stones, bricks and tile inside but it is all metal and concrete. 

Classical reading

Any one who home schools already knows the importance of books! My husband and I have the stance that as long as our kids are reading we are happy. I don't really interfere with my children's book choices. My daughter loves any and all things regarding mythology and magical creatures or magic. She has read the entire Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson series and many individual books on these topics. Many she has read over and over:). Often she asks me to read the books after her so we can discuss chapter by chapter the story sometimes to ad nauseam, but it makes her happy. Each time she reads a book over she picks up a new word or understands more clearly the plot or the reason why a character does the things they do. By discussing the book helps with this. She often remembers much more than I do:).

My son on the other hand is still reading the level 2 or 3 readers. He is well past this level but it is his comfort zone. His favorites at the moment are anything Hot wheels or superheros like batman, superman etc. He has been know to pick up an occasional chapter book like Junie B Jones or Horrid Henry and read sections of it on his own. He also loves joke books. We hear every new joke he has discovered and bathroom humor is really big here at the moment. We hope it passes soon:)

So during the day, when not in school my children read what they choose with no input from me. It always pleases me to find they have got up to their separate rooms to read completely on their own. However, I also understand the importance of reading the classics. I want my children to enrich their reading experience and know and come to love the classics or at least appreciate good writing. So my husband and I read to our children most night before bed. With my daughter we are reading a lot of classics. I have no trouble reading the original book but will sometimes chose to read a retold version of the classics. I know some home schoolers frown on this but my husband and I are fine with it. Some would say we aren't really reading classics if we chose to read the revised book. But my belief is I want my children to fall in love with the story and when they are older and I introduce the original version they will be more eager to read it as they are familiar with the story already. This is my plan:) As to how we chose which version we will read is not at all scientific. It depends what we have in the house!

After we complete the book I will try to find a movie about the book. I am not always successful for this but I do my best. Again as to whether we watch the older movie version or the newer version (if there is one) is very dependent on what we can find at the library or the video store.
So in the last 2 year since beginning we read the following classics to my daughter

Little house in the woods and the movie
Alice in wonderland (original version) and the cartoon movie
Black Beauty (original version) and the cartoon movie
Narnia (retold version) we will be reading the original this year and the new movie
Journey to the Center of the earth (retold version) no movie yet
Huckleberry Fin (retold version) no movie
Moby Dick (retold version) and a movie
My Secret Garden (original version) and a movie older version
Gulliver's Travels (retold version) and the cartoon movie

So far the only original classic we have had to give up reading was Robinson Cursoe, I will be looking for a retold version for that one. It was just too much for my daughter to comprehend.

As for my son we are not doing classical reading yet. I am still working on him being more comfortable with reading a chapter book so to that end we are choosing books that interest him such as Magic school bus chapter books, Magic tree house books, Dinosaur Cove and the Wright on time series. My husband and I are not happy with the Horrid Henry books or the Junie B. Jones books but we allow him to read those on his own:) We don't like the way the children behave in those books. We first were introduced to these book by a public school teacher, believe it or not. She recommended them. Now that we have them I have not been able to get rid of them. But I look forward to the day I can!!!

Reorganizing books

My husband has been gently (and not so gently) telling me I need to clear away some of my children's book for nearly a year now. The children and I have been resisting but this week we finally did it! It was time to finally get rid of some of the more childish books that my youngest has outgrown. It was a hard process as the kids resisted, they love all their books and they a hard time admitting that certain books were just too young for them now. Princess wanted to keep them because she said she reads them to her dolls. That made my heart melt and I almost gave in. But really I couldn't we are over flowing with children's books and out of book shelf room, they had to be thinned!

The before pictures -- I forgot to take a picture of their end tables next the their beds, they were overflowing with books my children insisted they were reading. I counted 13 on Princess's end table and 7 on Little Man's:)

The Hall way book case










Little Man's book case in his room













Princess's book case in her room -- this is not a fair representation as we had already started sorting by the time I thought to take a picture:) trust me it was in the same condition as her brother!








By the time we were done we had three boxes of books that are ready to donate!
I have invited a few people I know with small children to stop by the house this week and take what books they want for themselves the rest will go to the charity shop other wise known as the thrift store!



It took us two full morning to get these three bookshelves in order. The finish result.....

The top shelf is still full of books that the children have outgrown but said they could not live without. I admit there are a few of my favorites in there as well.
The second shelf is all my holiday books. I found so many missing Christmas stories that I usually read to the children every year but couldn't locate. I really need to label my clean shelves
The third shelf is full of classic novels I have found that I want to read to my daughter and eventually to my son. I have several revised versions as well as original versions. My husband and I really like Usbourne revised books for the classics. We have read Huckleberry Fin and Moby Dick and my daughter really enjoyed them and we as parents felt they were not dumb down to much and the themes of the story were still present. We have had some great discussions with her as we read. I highly recommend them:)


Little Man's bookcase. I have moved all of my daughter's starter chapter books into my son's room. I am really trying to get him out of the mind set that he can't read a chapter book without me. His reading skills are excellent and he is more than ready, just needs a nudge, I think. We have Magic tree house, Magic school bus, Dinosaur Cove, A to Z mysteries and a few others. He also has a shelf just for his super hero books:) and we still have all of Dr Seuss books.





Princess's book shelf. We have Boxcar children, Nancy Drew, Harry Potter, Ink heart series, Secret of Droons, and her mystical creatures books and mythology books. We found several books that her father has bought her that haven't been read because she forgot they are there:)







I wonder how long they will stay like this....