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Elizabeth
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Is Utah the middle of the country? I think I'm going to be there all by myself before too long....
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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MaryM
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Elizabeth wrote:
| Is Utah the middle of the country? I think I'm going to be there all by myself before too long.... |
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Well not really the middle - but we'd come anyway. And you won't be all alone for long, I'm sure. And remember all of us who are "close" in western terms of mileage.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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alicegunther
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MacBeth wrote:
| So, Alice, are you ready for some real camping yet? I'll bring the pemmican and the grog... |
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There is *nothing* I would like better! You'll just need to help me get past my "camping-with-a-baby" phobia. I am convinced that Mother would have loved to go with the Swallows if it hadn't been for the Ship's Baby!
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Love, Alice
mother of seven!
      
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Brew yourself a cup of tea, and come for a visit!
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alicegunther
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MacBeth wrote:
| Oh, and has either of us mentioned the nature connection? The kids are always noting S and A events in our normal lives, including Thursday's incident...Great Northern is about egg collectors |
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This is so true. There are endless rabbit trail possibilities from these books. You could spend years re-visiting them and delving into various aspects of the stories. I am crazy about these maps, for example. (I don't plan to purchase them as prints, but just looking at them online is fascinating.) What a great way to teach map skills and map making. Just off the top of my head, I see the books as a great springboard to a host of other subjects: geography, oceans, sailing, snakes, astronomy, parrots, pirates, farm life, British colonialism, outdoor survival and cookery, orienteering, all types of nature study, communication by code and symbol--the list could go on forever.
And what about character, purpose, and cooperation? There are a million examples of the youthful characters exhibiting responsibility, determination, good decisions, or sometimes bad decisions handled well and admitted straightforwardly. Even if we never discuss these things expressly, my own children are imbibing something wholesome and uplifting, and I cannot help thinking their own characters will be affected positively by it. The children in these books have a great deal of independence, especially by modern standards, yet they trust and respect their parents and go to them for advice and permission. For all their talk about "natives," the Swallows seek help from adults whenever they are in difficulties, and adults are portrayed as wise and helpful. This is a refreshing change from so many books being peddled to children these days.
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Love, Alice
mother of seven!
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alicegunther
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MacBeth wrote:
| I have a bunch of links to more Ransome sites on my Swallows and Amazons web site, |
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MacBeth, your treatment of Swallows and Amazons is probably the most thorough on the web (and I've been doing quite a lot of looking these days). I particularly love the Derham Family Cover Shots. You certainly have the perfect Swallows and Amazons family!
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Love, Alice
mother of seven!
Cottage Blessings
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Elizabeth
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Alice,
Go camping with MacBeth someplace local but that feels like it's away. That way, you can tell yourself that you will bail should you need to. You won't bail, however, because you're a brave mom and you're going to be with the best camper in the universe! Once you do it, you will be hooked. Be sure to plan for at least two nights--it's not worth the effort unless you do. And plan food around a Swallows and Amazons theme--MacBeth is the queen of camp food. Your girls will have so much fun brainstorming menus with her...hmmm...maybe I'll meet you there...We could listen to the book on tape on the way...
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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cathhomeschool
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Ugh! Now I really really want to go!  Can you ladies please not make it sound so appealing!
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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saintanneshs
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alicegunther wrote:
| There is *nothing* I would like better! You'll just need to help me get past my "camping-with-a-baby" phobia. |
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I just got past mine! (You can do it too!) We just returned from our 1st weekend camping with the kids and it was wonderful! Thank you to all you ladies who inspired me to give it a try. I agree with whoever said that camping with a baby is easy-it's the toddler who requires a bit more patience!
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Kristine
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alicegunther
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Well, my dears, we are almost done plowing through Winter Holiday, the fourth book in the Swallows and Amazons series and one of my favorites so far. Gabriel Woolf's tapes continue to delight and enthrall everyone, right down to the three year old. I had to laugh during one scene: Captain Flint arrives unexpectedly, and the children are all so excited and thrilled to see him. No, not the children in the book--they were a bit shocked to see Captain Flint--I'm talking about my own kids! Their collective reaction to his arrival, their absolute glee to have him enter the story unexpectedly, was indeed a joy to behold.
Another interesting reaction came with the introduction of two new characters, Dick and Dorothea Callum, children who come to know the Swallows and Amazons and share in their polar adventures. At first, my girls seemed almost resentful of these characters. I think they felt as if the D's were intruding upon the imaginary world in which the Swallows and Amazons reign supreme. Why was Arthur Ransome wasting a perfectly good opening chapter by introducing us to the D's?! It was the same type of disappointment one might expect in a child who had just raced over to the home of a best friend hoping to continue a delightful game only to find he'd brought his school chum home to dampen the fun. Fortunately, although the D's were met with some trepidation, like many new childhood friends, they managed to endear themselves before long. The girls seem to regard them almost on an equal footing with the other characters and not a moment too soon--we will soon begin Coot Club, and the D's are the central characters!
Now, what do I do with a family who wants to go sleigh riding in July? Hopefully, Coot Club will get us back in the proper season!
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Love, Alice
mother of seven!
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theNetSmith
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We (I) had the same reaction when the D's arrived on the scene. The general expectation after reading the first three books is that the entire series revolves around the Swallows and Amazons -- and, after three books' worth of adventures, the reader has come to know and love those central characters and to be chomping at the bit for more.
However, as you discovered, the D's really do fit in with the rest of the gang in a short amount of time (I thoroughly enjoyed the chapter where they "meet" -- "Signalling to Mars")...
Wonderful coincidence that I should read your post tonight, Alice. We are in the middle of The Picts & the Martyrs -- the 11th in the series -- and it was finally made clear to me in the chapter we read tonight that "Dorothea" is not just another way of spelling "Dorothy"...it has a different pronunciation (I'm assuming something like DoroTHEE-uh). As I continued reading, tho, I couldn't bring myself to pronounce it correctly after using "Dorothy" all this time.
MacBeth, we are getting so near the end of it all that I thought I'd go ahead and ask you something that I've been holding back on for a long time...
You've read Coots in the North, right? How did you get ahold of it? If you own a copy, may we please PLEASE PLEASE borrow it?
I feel better now.
-T
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alicegunther
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Interesting that you and yours had the same reaction to the D's, Tim!
I keep sending everyone to other countries, but please check Random House Canada for Coots in the North and Other Stories by Arthur Ransome. It is also available through Amazon Canada and Amazon UK.
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Love, Alice
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theNetSmith
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ooh! thanks, Alice!
-T
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cathhomeschool
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Actually, Nicholas (our oldest) pre-read most of the S&A series. He was so against the addition of the Ds, that he refused to read Coot Club! I finally had to tell him that he could go no further in the series without reading it, as he might be missing a big part in the overall picture. Well, he relented, but really only skimmed it without truly enjoying it. We finally "converted" him when Tim read Coot Club aloud. Nicholas enjoyed it so much more the second time, and realized how much of the detail he had missed from skimming.
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theNetSmith
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I think The Big Six has been my favorite book in the series, and the Swallows and Amazons aren't in it at all (just the D's and the Coots)!
-T
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alicegunther
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A couple of my daughters looked close to tears when I told them the Swallows and Amazons do not appear in the next two books. It's a good thing they've made their peace with the D's in time!
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Love, Alice
mother of seven!
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MacBeth
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No such problem here, as we began with Pigeon Post after seeing the Coot Club video. In fact, when we read Winter Holiday, we all felt for the D's, trying to make contact, hoping to fit in. They were our first friends!
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God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
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Tina P.
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So. I just recieved my S&A CD set. I thought that there was more than one book per tape and ... well ... what I'm getting 'round to is this: did you all plunge in and buy the whole set of S&A books that Gabriel Woolf narrates? Did you stick with just the books on the list (and isn't We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea somewhere on the list?)? Or are there some CDs that are better narrations than others? Are any of you collecting them bit by bit?
I'm falling asleep as I read ~ we have a new puppy that I'm having to care for in the middle of the night ~ and I just think that a more coherent rendering of these stories would be valuable to us.
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Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
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Tina P.
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Elizabeth wrote:
| Is Utah the middle of the country? I think I'm going to be there all by myself before too long.... |
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You're not alone! I'm here in Utah now (we were in England 3 months ago)! And oh boy, could we use a Catholic contingent.
God bless,
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Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
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Tina P.
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Oh gosh! Forgot to mention a book we picked up in England called: Nancy Blackett Under Sail with Arthur Ransome by Roger Wardale. Has anyone read it? It's nonfiction about sailing vessels (the Nancy Blackett was one of Arthur Ransomes sailboats) and there's even a picture of Titty and Roger.
God bless,
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Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
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Alison
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We are going to start reading these books this summer. We are thinking of notebooking them but very gently. I am looking for ideas of nature study topics for each book. could someone who has read them please help..MacBeth, Alice...
many thanks
Alison
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: Swallows and Amazons Forever!
