My children love watching MasterChef Australia and I’m enjoying the unexpected side-effects of their MCA obsession. Not only are they fighting for the opportunity to help me cook, they are happily entertaining themselves playing MasterChef. With the help of a plastic picnic set, toy food and a few spare kitchen utensils, they have spent hours these holidays testing each other with mystery box challenges, invention tests and taste tests. The latter in particular can be quite tricky when using fake food, but they seem to manage.

I have been a guest judge on several occasions and I’ve even been tempted to find a scarf/cravat to lend myself the proper air of culinary discernment as I try to choose between the banana bread with ice-cream dipping sauce and the salad with fresh baked bread and tomato salsa.

Today the kids were obviously feeling artistic, as they happily occupied themselves making chalk drawings of the remaining contestants and the judges. My 6 year old son drew the pictures of Jimmy and Jonathan. My 9-year-old daughter drew the rest. What do you think?

(ETA: To avoid confusion, I should point out that Aaron is holding a bowl containing chicken drumsticks.)

Contestants

Judges

Back when I was toying with the idea of homeschooling my children, I read a book about an American family that homeschooled their four sons (2 natural, 2 adopted) up to college age. The priority for this family was to encourage their sons to develop all the necessary academic skills, but they did this by encouraging the boys to follow their own passions and interests. For example, if an essay needed to be written, one with an interest in mechanics might write it on antique cars while another with an interest in astronomy might write it on the planets. It’s probably worth mentioning 3 of the four sons went on to attend Harvard.

While I ended up going down another path education-wise, the teaching philosophy stuck with me – that children learn best when they are learning about things that they love. I’ve tried to work this philosophy into the lives of my children, encouraging them to follow their passions and interests and offering them opportunities to learn that incorporate subjects and activities that naturally interest them. I’m sure that there is a technical term for this approach – child directed learning or some such – but for me it has simply been about offering my inquisitive children the opportunity to learn and have fun at the same time.

My children are extremely intelligent and if I was a little more focused and a little more disciplined in getting them to practice and reinforce the lessons they learn at school, I have no doubt that they would excel beyond their already excellent results. I am currently in the situation of having to decide whether to register my older son to sit the entrance exam for a local selective school for high school and I have spent no small amount of time weighing up the pros and cons of his options.

If it was simply a matter of choosing which school would offer the highest quality education for his high school years and produce the best academic results, the selective school would win out over his current school without a second thought. Is that all there is to it, though? The philosophy behind the My School website would no doubt say that it is. I should simply seek out the school achieving the highest overall results in English and Mathematics and sign him up, but I can’t help thinking that there is more to it than that.

I think that there is more to life than being smart and getting top grades. There. I’ve said it and my still-longing-to-be-teacher’s-pet heart has trembled, but it hasn’t stopped beating. My children’s intelligence is only one part of who they are and to be happy, I think they need to develop all the aspects of themselves – creativity, faith, emotional intelligence, social skills,friendships, a sense of humour, the ability to simply relax and have fun, a sense of purpose and self-worth. These things are all just as important as academic achievement in my mind for their ongoing mental and physical wellbeing.

For my children to be happy, which is what I want for them, I believe that they will need to use their intellect. It is part of who they are and one of the gifts that they have been blessed with. I don’t believe that they would ever be truly happy without being involved in something that kept them mentally stimulated. I want them to work hard and always do their best at their studies so that they can achieve their academic potential and give themselves the widest range of choices for future career possibilities, but I want them to know this is just one part of who they are and what they can achieve.

I watch parents of young children focused on steering their kids along a path that will offer them the greatest potential for academic success or even future career success, but my focus for my children will be to encourage them to follow their passion, to be brave enough to dream big dreams and then know that with hard work, perseverance and passion that they will be able to bring those dreams to life.

Academic achievement is important and we place a high value on education and knowledge in our home, but my highest priority is to see my children grow into well-rounded individuals with a real sense of purpose and joy and enthusiasm for life, not simply a career path and a 10 year plan.

That’s my passion and that’s what drives me as I love and encourage my children and help them to become all that they are capable of being.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Popular Penguin books, Penguin has released another 75 titles to bring the total number of books in this series to 174.

I’m a big fan of the Popular Penguins, particularly because they make classic and quality books available at an affordable price. The books are available at most Australian bookshops for around $9.95 and I have recently spotted titles at Big W for around $7. As far as I’m concerned, the only thing better than buying a good book, is buying a good book at a bargain price.

With the publication of the new titles, I’ve decided to revive my Popular Penguins Reading Challenge. It’s a perpetual challenge, so there is no time pressure. More than anything, I’m using this challenge as a way to motivate myself to pick up a classic occasionally and broaden my reading horizons.

If you would like to join in, you can sign up to the challenge at my Popular Penguins Reading Challenge post, where you can leave a link your sign-up post and come back to include links to any reviews you write of Popular Penguins titles. There is also a link to a spreadsheet that you can copy to keep track of your progress reading through the 174 Popular Penguins titles.

For a fun way to connect with the new titles, check out the competition running via the Australian Popular Penguins website. Match all 75 party guests with the book titles they represent and you’ll be entered into the competition to win 75 Popular Penguins of your choice plus a Mark Tuckey bookshelf to store them on. (Competition closes midnight, Monday 16th August 2010.)

How many of  the 174 Popular Penguins have you already read? What’s your favourite book from the Popular Penguins titles and what authors/titles would you like to see them include in the future?

Summary (Popular Penguins website)

Over the course of his short life, John Keats (1795-1821) honed a raw talent into a brilliant poetic maturity.  This wide-ranging selection of Keats’s poetry contains youthful verse, such as his earliest known poem ‘Imitation of Spenser‘; poems from his celebrated collection of 1820 – including ‘Lamia‘, ‘Isabella‘, ‘The Eve of St Agnes‘, ‘Ode to a Nightingale‘ and ‘Hyperion‘ – and later celebrated works such as ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci‘.

Comments
My preferences for poetry are a little like my preferences for artwork – I know what I like with very little understanding of what makes it enjoyable. With both, it’s all about what appeals to the senses and my own personal tastes.

Along with Wordsworth, Coleridge and Donne, Keats is one of my favourite poets. I studied some of his poems at school, but I don’t remember it ever being mentioned that he was so young when he died – only 25 years old. It is incredible that he wrote odes and sonnets of such beauty at such a young age.

This Popular Penguins collection of Keats poems includes favourites such as Ode to a Grecian Urn, La Belle Dame sans Merci and Ode to a Nightingale. There is a brief, interesting introduction, a selection of Keats’ work including a small collection of light-hearted and nonsense poems and excerpts from letters written by Keats to family and friends.

Reading through this short book has rekindled my love of classic poetry. I might have to track down a copy of the Popular Penguin edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets and lobby to have the works of Coleridge, Donne and Wordsworth included in the next list of titles they release.

Review Copy Details
Title: Poems of John Keats (Popular Penguins)
Author: John Keats
Publisher: Penguin, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-14-119495-0
Genre: Poetry

Summary (from Walker Books Australia website)

‘We Are What We Do’ are a movement whose aim is to inspire people – in this case, children – to use their everyday actions to change the world. Their maxim is: small actions x lots of people = big change. It’s not rocket science but it does work! The actions in the book – including one brand new knitting action – are fun and easy for children to do but add up to making a big difference. It gives children the responsibility for changing the world, one bit at a time.

Comments

This book is a fantastic implementation of a great concept – that big changes are brought about by lots of small actions. I love that the actions suggested in this book are so achievable and cover issues that kids can relate to. There are fun examples like teaching your gran how to text and more practical ones like growing your own vegetables and taking shorter showers.

To me the highlight of this book isn’t the actions, as great as they are, it is the fact that this book encourages kids to connect with other people. It encourages them to make others smile, to give compliments, to talk with others and to be positive about themselves and their potential. In a world where there is so much disconnection within families and communities, I think that this is a fantastic and very timely message.

I think it also has a much more significant impact. It is very hard to get someone to care about what is happening on the other side of the world to people that will never meet if they don’t even know what is happening to their neighbours and friends. Encouraging kids to think and care about their own circle of family and friends prepares them to step out to influence people beyond that circle when the opportunity arises.

I think that this fantastic book is a great idea for anyone who wants to encourage their kids to think more about their actions and the impact they can have in their world, whether that means being more positive and involved at school or working to protect the environment.

Check out the We Are What We Do website for more action ideas and information about the UK We Are What We Do organisation.

Review Copy Details
Title: 31 Ways to Change the World
Author: We Are What We Do
Publisher: Walker Books Australia, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-40632-7-809
Genre: Non-Fiction, Social change, Community development

Related Links

• Review of 31 Ways to Change the World at Suite101
  

Summary (from Australian Geographic Education website)

Jump aboard the campervan with Taha, an Australian boy of Greek heritage, and his mum. They’re off on a journey of discovery that’s going to lead them to some of our country’s most fascinating places and interesting locals.

Taha’s adventures make compelling reading for all young explorers, and while their engrossed in tales of Taha and his mischievious ways, they’ll also learn about the geography, local industry, history and culture of each region – a new location in every book – that Taha visits.

Comments

This is a fun new series about Australian geography and culture for primary school kids. Taha is a fun character with a great sense of humour and an eye for interesting people and places as he travels around Australia with his mother in their campervan.

My older kids have read the first four books in this series and enjoyed them. There are some great facts included in the story as well as lots of great illustrations and photos of the places Taha visits. The format of the books is great – lots of variety with presentation of information and very visually appealing.

The first four books in the series are available now, with two additional titles to be published in both September and November. These books would be a great classroom resource and the Australian Geographic Education website has teacher resources for the series available.

I’m looking forward to the next four books, although I’m disappointed that the series is so short with only eight titles. I think it’s great that they avoid focusing on the major capital cities and instead feature some country towns and more remote areas, but there are so many great areas that missed out – including my hometown of Newcastle.

Review copy details
Title: Our Australia series
Author: Phil Kettle
Publisher: Australian Geographic, 2010
ISBN:

• Our Australia #1: Mildura (ISBN: 978-0-980710330-5, 128 pages)
• Our Australia #2: Broken Hill (ISBN: 978-0-98071-331-2, 128 pages)
• Our Australia #3: Longreach (ISBN: 978-0-98071-332-9, 128 pages)
• Our Australia #4: Alice Springs (ISBN: 978-0-98071-333-6, 128 pages)

Genre: Children’s Fiction/Non-Fiction, Australian geography
Age: 8+ years

Related Links

• Review of Our Australia series at Suite101.com

Summary (from Penguin Books website)

Huge floodwaters have engulfed a remote Victorian goldfield, reducing the prospect of digging up a fortune from very slim to impossible, and adding disease to the many possibilities of sudden death in harsh conditions. As sickness starts to take its toll and calls mount for the rescue of diggers stranded by the raging torrent, Sergeant Niall Kennedy must try to keep order in a place where frictions can become murderous. Does a suspiciously abandoned tent suggest there has already been a killing? And why has Mosquito Creek’s erratic Commissioner Stanfield drafted in special troopers behind Kennedy’s back?

In a new country where everyone’s past has a question mark, asking too many questions is dangerous. But how else can you get to the truth?

Comments

I enjoyed this novel, although it didn’t have quite the feeling of suspense that I expected. I found that the ‘current’ crises – the rising floodwaters and the intrigue centred on the Commissioner – didn’t hold my attention as much as the central characters’ back story. For me, the highlight of the novel was the way it showed just how similar the characters on the goldfields were despite their disparate backgrounds and personal circumstances. Everyone had secrets to hide and everyone was haunted by ghosts from their past.

I generally enjoy reading about this period of Australian history and did enjoy the setting and descriptions of the Victorian goldfields in Mosquito Creek. I noticed the absence of significant reference to Indigenous Australians and Chinese settlers on the gold fields, but this didn’t particularly influence the flow of the story or appeal of the novel in general.

Overall, this was an interesting read with its appeal primarily the result of the characters and historical setting.

Review Copy Details
Title: Mosquito Creek
Author: Robert Engwerda
Publisher: Viking, 2010
Genre: Australian historical fiction

Related links

• Review of Mosquito Creek at Suite101