Way Home

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Design a new playground for Claire to play in. Can you think of different safety features to reduce the chance of children hurting themselves? The author describes his life in a wooden cabin in rural Ireland, with no running water, no electricity, and no modern technology at all. No phone, no internet, not even anything battery-powered. As a result, the book was written using paper and a pencil. He describes the course of his life over a year, starting in winter, and dealing with the seasons as they change. No running water, no car, no electricity or any of the things it powers: the internet, phone, washing machine, radio or light bulb. Just a wooden cabin, on a smallholding, by the edge of a stand of spruce.

The Wild Way Home by Sophie Kirtley | Waterstones The Wild Way Home by Sophie Kirtley | Waterstones

How effective is the cover in making you curious about the picture book and enticing you to read it? This is a book about trying to live, as far as is possible and practicable, without modern technology - including no internet. Yet every time I've tried to write about it, the review is partly about … things people say on the internet. But the internet is the main venue for environmental and political commentary now, so maybe that's not as ridiculous as it seems. There’s a real sense of isolation and frog-in-the-well mentality. I would have gone nuts like Nicholson in ‘Shining’ (and I suspect the author is on his way there too - or he’s extremely brave).Let's get one thing straight: his life is NOT simple. It’s full of hard work, all day long, all seasons, one whole year where he left everything behind (all comforts of modern society so to speak), on which the book is based. He first started living at the property in 2013, after restoring the accessory-filled farmhouse in the three acre small-holding he bought during Recession of 2008. He moved out of that farmhouse, built an accessory-less cabin instead, and lived in it and on the property without ANY amenity, and did all sorts of self-sufficient work, to get by. This is his story, for that one year’s excursions.

The Way Home: Tales from a life without technology

Can you find out about different types of snakes? What type might have wrapped itself around Claire in the story? The writing and illustrations were both top notch. One could feel the time that went into creating both.Students are to complete a venn diagram in which on one side they write the characteristics of Shane’s home (where is it, what is it like, colours, decorations etc.) and on the other side of the circle, students make notes on their own home. For the part of the circles which overlap, students are to write the similarities that exist regarding their home and that of Shane’s. Where is home for you? The theme of poverty is explored through this, so teachers would need to be aware of children's own situations when reading this. This book could provide a good receptive context for PHSE lessons surrounding this theme.