Discover Downunder {Review}

Today it is with great excitement I share a new geography book with you. As you know I have a passion for the Charlotte Mason method to home education and am trying to incorporate a more hands on delight directed approach in our home school.  Michelle from Homeschooling Downunder has written and compiled an Australian geography book titled Discover Downunder.

We have had the priviledge of traveling up to Queensland by road a few years ago, and I can attest to one thing this land is big!  I really love this quote from the book

“Australia is a land filled with great big things. There is the Great Barrier Reef, Great Artesian Basin, Great Dividing Range, Great Australian Bight, Great Victorian Desert, Great Sandy Desert, and the Great Ocean Road. Our mainland has the big rock—Uluru, the biggest salt lake, the biggest coal port, the biggest fence, and the biggest group of feral camels. We even made our own big tourist attractions like the Big Banana in NSW, Big Pineapple in Queensland, and Big Lobster in South Australia—just to name a few. And one of the very great big things about Australia is how diverse the geography is.”

You can compare our size to the USA and Europe over at Australia's Size Compared.

How we use Discover Downunder
There is no planning or preparation needed when using this book.  We simply sat down together on the couch opened it up and started reading.  This is truly a living book resource whenever we read Iit Sir N asks to read some more.  It is aimed at children but I have enjoyed reading it out loud.  I am learning alongside Sir N.  Each topic is shared with a personal touch so you feel like you are being introduced to it by a friend who is sharing the very best things there are to know about it.  It is living, breathing and interesting. Each chapter is knitted together to form one big picture of Australia.

I will continue with this book this year and will be purchasing the notebook pages (discovery pages) to use along side from Homeschooling Downunder.

Contents

• Introduction to Australian Geography
• Maps
• Climate Zones & Seasons
• Mountains
• 10 Geographic zones of Australia by State, Territory and Sea
• Lakes, Rivers & Wetlands
• Snowy Mountains & Renewable Energy
• Mining, Volcanoes, Earth Quakes
• Wildflowers & Agriculture
• World Heritage areas
• Our Country
• Vocabulary definition list

Discover Downunder

• ISBN: 9780980505734
• Dewey Number: 919.402076
• Publisher: Homeschooling Downunder
• Publication date: 2013
• Pages: 32
• Author: Jo Lloyd, Amanda Bauer, Belinda Letchford, Cliff Lloyd, Anna Marsh, Fiona McDonald and Michelle Morrow
• Illustrator: Tim and Sarah Morrow, Michelle Morrow, Bethany Morrow.

Cost

• Book $20.00
• Postage $6
• eBook Discovery pages $7.95
• Book and Discovery pages Set $34.95
• Available from Homeschooling Downunder

(Prices are in Australian $ and correct at time of publishing.  Please verify prices before purchasing)

Our Thoughts
We are immigrants to Australia so I'm always on the look out for a good reference book.  We love using this book and are slowly working our way through the 26 chapters.  It's so easy to read and understand and is broadening our understanding of Australian geography in easy conversational tones.

Connect with Michelle

• Facebook
• Homeschooling Downunder Blog
• Read Michelle's thoughts on Teaching Geography in the Homeschool

Thank you Michelle for the gift of Discover Downuder to our home we look forward to exploring more of Australian geography in our homeschool this year.

Blessings
Chareen

PS you can download the Australian Book Traveller for FREE