Unschooling With The Duck

Halloween Adventures with Oliver Moon

2010-10-03T15:32:00.013-04:00

Oliver Moon and the Potion Commotion: Oliver Moon works hard at Magic School, practicing his spellcraft, toad training, and broomstick flying. But when he's entered for the Young Wizard of the Year Award he finds out he must compete with the top boy in the school, Merlin Spoonbender. Can Oliver cook up a prize-winning potion?

Ages 7 and up
$4.99

Visit the Oliver Moon website at www.olivermoon.co.uk for magical fun!

Children's Ghost Stories: a selection of spooky Usborne books

2010-09-29T21:41:00.021-04:00

One of my favorite children's ghost stories from Usborne Books is Spooks' Surprise, an Usborne Young Puzzle Adventure. Grandpa Spook is feeling sad and old. He just isn't spooky any more. Sam and Sorrel decide to cheer him up by inviting all his friends to the best ever Spooks' party...with scary results.
Ages 4-7
$4.95

This family-friendly ghost story will charm children and adults alike. Children will be tempted to join in the adventure, but somehow our hero can't see what we do. Is he ever going to catch a ghost?

Ages 4-6
$13.95

Magoria was a powerful wizard intent on using his magic to harness time itself. But his experiments went disastrously wrong, and he unlocked a dangerous curse that could strike the mountain village of Oberdorf at any time. When Ryan arrives there on vacation he has no idea that his visit might have deadly consequences ... that he might unleash the Curse of Magoria.
Ages 10 and up
$4.99

For more spooky stories about haunted houses, ghosts, wizards, and Halloween activities, visit Usborne Children's Books.

Spin & Match for Beginning Readers

2007-11-08T15:34:00.007-05:00

These interactive books are a fun way for the beginning reader to develop comprehension skills. The self-correcting feature makes them ideal for the unschooling method of learning.

Click here for a flash demonstration.

Books available from Usborne Children's Books are Tell Me a Story, Kings, Cookies, & Quackers, and Fun on the Farm. Click on a title to learn more or to purchase.

My nephew .....

2007-10-22T11:05:00.001-04:00

spent 5 months fighting for his life in the hospital. He was born with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis. Sick as he was, he needed stimulation --- visual, tactile, auditory. This book of bedtime stories was one of his favorite Usborne books during that time. He's an active five-year old now, already an unschooler, and he still loves his "Duck" books.

Check out the selection of bedtime stories at my website: Little Book of Bedtime Stories, Stories for Bedtime, Bedtime Stories Set, Usborne Story Box, Bedtime Rhymes, and many more.

What Duck?

2007-10-22T07:52:00.006-04:00

The little yellow duck is the mascot of Usborne Books & More, (the American division of Usborne Publishing). Duck was the creation and signature of illustrator extraordinaire Stephen Cartright. His illustrations have delighted children all over the world for 27 years. Sadly, Stephen died in 2004, the victim of a series of strokes.

The purpose of this blog is to share with unschoolers (and homeschoolers) a resource that fits our lifestyle and our chosen method of educating our kids. That resource is Usborne Children's Books. Usborne Children's Books was part of our home libary long before I decided to become a consultant. Years before. In fact, my youngest was 14 when I started my Usborne business. I had thought about it several times through the years, but when the grandkids started coming along I figured it was high time. So, here I am.

I hope not to bore you with dry descriptions or advertising hype. I just want to share these wonderful books with fellow unschoolers (and homeschoolers) and show you how they can enrich and educate without stress, without force. The children in my family hang on to these books like old friends.

To illustrate their benefits, I'll use the word D-U-C-K:

D = double-page spread. The books contain complete scenes or thoughts on the pages opened in front of the child. They don't have to turn the page to finish a thought or see what happens next. All the present action is contained on that double-page spread.

U = unlimited activity. There are things to do, make, think about, find, and discover.

C = colorful illustrations. The illustrations are intriguing, often humorous. They draw the child in and hold their interest.

K = knowledge in bitesized chunks. Children don't have to read pages of dense text to get to the point. Each chunk is a stand-alone piece of information that the child can digest at his own pace. If he's called away, he can easily pick up where he left off....not in the middle of an idea or explanation.

There is much more that I can say about these books, but that's all for now. My following posts will concern descriptions of series and individual books, fun stuff to make and do, creative ways to use the books, and introductions to resources in which we hold distributor rights like Learning Palette, and Learning Wrap-ups.

Genny

P.S. I invite comments, questions, and discussion.