I came across this amazing site yesterday with a huge collection of family letters and photos from 1860s onwards to 1912
It’s absolutely fascinating reading for any one who is a big fan of that era of American history, Laura Ingalls Wilder etc.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/nbhihtml/pshome.html

“This digital collection integrates two collections from the holdings of the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Solomon D. Butcher photographs and the letters of the Uriah W. Oblinger family. Together they illustrate the story of settlement on the Great Plains. Approximately 3,000 glass plate negatives crafted by Butcher record the process of settlement in Nebraska between 1886 and 1912. Butcher photographed actively in central Nebraska including Custer, Buffalo, Dawson and Cherry counties. The approximately 3,000 pages of Oblinger family letters discuss land, work, neighbors, crops, religious meetings, problems with grasshoppers, financial problems, and the Easter Blizzard of 1873. Uriah Oblinger came from Indiana to Fillmore County, Nebraska in 1873 to claim a homestead for his family. In the eloquent letters exchanged between Uriah and his wife Mattie, and in letters to other family members, Oblinger expresses very personal insight into the joy, despair, and determination in their struggle to establish a home on the prairie.”

We picked up some cool new books last week
– from Usborne Publishing the “Great searches” series

The Big Bug Search
The Great Castle Search
The Great History Search

there are several more topics in the series too, dinosaurs, undersea etc.
They are basically picture books with little anecdotes and easy to read captions for Sam, however both my girls spend hours looking at the very detailed pictures and learn heaps in the process. They call them puzzle books, kind of like the “Where’s Wally” series with several things to find on each page.
http://www.usbourne.com/catalogue/browse.asp?css=1&subject=pz&subcat=PZGS

We bought them from the Children’s Bookshop in Victoria street, I didn’t think they were too bad at under $20 each

cheers
Bron

Sandra Dodd has initiated the world’s first Learn Nothing Day
especially for unschoolers. The blurb is as follows…

Unschoolers need a holiday. When people ask if they homeschool in the
summer, they say yes. When people ask when they have a break from
learning, they say never.

This has gone on for a long time now.
July 24, 2008 will be the first (and maybe last) annual Learn Nothing
Day a vacation for unschoolers, though it may be celebrated by anyone
who wishes.

Follow this link to find out more…included is a photo competition!

http://sandradodd.com/learnnothingday/