Our Co-op is using books as part of the Five in a Row Curriculum.

In Five in a Row, the idea is to read the book to the child for five days in a row. Each time the child gets more familiar with the book and illustrations. When done in a co-op setting, the parent reads the book to the child four times, and then we read it for the last time in class and do projects and follow rabbit trails related to the book.

This week we read the Pumpkin Runner.

The book is based on the true-life story of Cliff Young, a 61-year-old potato farmer from Australia who won a mega marathon from Sydney to Melbourne.

In the book, our protagonist is named Joshua Summerhayes, and he runs everywhere with his pet, Yellow Dog. His sweet aunt makes sure that he has all of the pumpkins that he needs for energy and she even serves as his one-woman road crew during the race.

Bible

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Hebrews 12:1

Joshua wins this particular race, despite his age, by running all night while his competition slept. He also kept up with his pumpkin diet and chewed on a pumpkin while he was racing.

This book also gives us the chance to talk about good sportsmanship and winning graciously. Joshua takes his $10,000 of prize money and only takes enough to make repairs on his jeep and get some new overalls. The rest he splits with his fellow competitors. The real Cliff young shared his winnings as well.

English

The book is based on a true story, but it takes creative license with some of the facts. While Joshua does run from Sydney to Melbourne, he also runs with Yellow Dog the entire way. Cliff Young ran solo. There is also a cheating antagonist in this book who tries to beat Cliff to the finish line by hitching a ride in a hot air balloon.

It’s perfectly acceptable to base something on a true story. My favorite genre of literature is historical fiction, which takes historical events and uses them for the backdrop of an entirely new or different story.

My son, a high school varsity and college NCAA runner, came and talked to the kids about what it takes to run a long distance race. This was a chance for my kids to see some public speaking and get a chance to ask some questions.

Math

The distance between Sydney and Melbourne is 543.7 miles, or 875 kilometers. We talked about the unit of measure in the metric system vs. the English system and how much bigger the kilometer is. One kilometer is equal to 0.621371 miles! So a 5K, which is a popular running distance, is only 3.1 miles.

Nutrition

In the Wild Horses of Sweetbriar, we talked about starvation and nutrition. This week we talked about carbohydrates for quick energy. Pumpkins are a good source of beta carotene and vitamins. It is low in calories! Pumpkin is also very versatile and can be used in soup, salads and baked good.

Science

In the book, the bad guy tries to get a head by taking a hot air balloon to get ahead of Joshua 20 km from the finish line. The balloon had been down for some repairs, so maybe he should have rethought that!!

We did this experiment to show how molecules get excited and bounce around in the balloon making it lift.

Geography

My students were able to identify Australia on a world map. I used maps from Productive Homeschooling to print out to give them a better understanding and to color.

Art

I was a little stumped for an art activity until I saw this cute craft about the Sydney Opera House. This iconic building is recognized all over the world and in modern culture – even Disney movies like Finding Nemo!