Thursday, October 29, 2009

Homeschool Freebie: Fanciful Tales by Frank Richard Stockton

Fanciful Tales
Authors Frank Richard Stockton, Julia Elizabeth Langworthy
Editor Julia Elizabeth Langworthy
Publisher C. Scribner's Sons, 1904
Length 135 pages

As recommended by Special Method in the Reading of Complete English Classics, 1904. Recommended for fourth grade, but great for read aloud for younger and older elementary aged children.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

William's Wife by Jean Plaidy


William's Wife (The Queens of England Series , Vol 9)

I'm continuing to read through Jean Plaidy's historical fictions. I've been reading Plaidy's books written about the women of the families of  Charles I and Charles II. This particular book is about King James II's(brother to Charles II) Mary who was married to William of Orange(Netherlands). She later went on to rule England as  Mary II and as co-regent with her husband William. The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia was charted in 1693, endowed and named in their honor.

I feel like I know these families so well now. Plaidy has a very sympathetic balanced way of portraying her characters, and many of her books are written in first person.

This book has been recently republished under a new title,  The Queen's Devotion: The Story of Queen Mary II (A Queens of England Novel).

I hope to finish this soon so that I can go on to read about Mary's sister, Queen Anne: The Queen's Favourites (The Stuart Saga #7), the last regent of the House of Stuart. Neither Mary or Anne had any surviving children.

From Wikipedia: "Mary's life from her childhood to her death forms part of the BBC drama series The First Churchills (1969) " I've got this on queue at Netflix.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Polyvore Fashion Helper

Search, select, and drag clothing from across the web with Polyvore to create an outfit or collection. This was my first attempt, and it was fun. You can adjust the pricing, the backgrounds can be customized, and you can browse other people's creations. I enjoyed searching sets by clothing piece and color.


and another: