Literature and Poetry Sharing Morning - Nov 2009

One of the mums here thought it would be a great idea if the children had the opportunity to share some of their favourite short stories and/or poetry with each other.  It could be original work or already published.

So, quite a few of us gathered, took over her lounge room and the morning began…

A couple of the boys are working on fantasy/allegorical works of fiction and it was exciting to hear their first chapters read out for us.  There were some spirited poetry recitals and some lovely narrations on favourite books.  All of the children were respectful and encouraging of one another, making it a wonderful environment in which to share.

What better way to finish off the morning than with "high tea"?

This has to be done on two tables to fit everyone!

Posted on on November 29th, 2009

and now, some fun…well…for a while. The BMX Park

One of the more "fun" outings scheduled with other homeschoolers was a day riding around the BMX track at Stromlo Forest.  My boys were keen on this idea and looking forward to the day.

The course has some challenges but is a good one.

Zac had some good runs early…

but, as I was taking this photo from the start of the course,

Zac skidded off his bike, with it landing on top of him.  The handle bar went into his leg and I had to take him off the the doctor’s to get stitches!

Boys…boys…boys…

3 stitches later, he was much better.  It was a shame to end the day that way, though.  Thankfully, a few months’ later, friends of his had a BMX birthday party and he got back on his bike and rode around a different track without incident.

Posted on on August 23rd, 2009

Fleet Air Arm and Nowra Fun – May 2009

I know that I have not blogged in a while and have about six month’s worth of entries to put in.  It’s been hard to be motivated, then technology has let me down a few times and the moments I could have used are gone. Anyway, I do want to try and catch up as I can.

Back in May, my mum invited us to join her and Bill in Nowra.  Having never explored this area before, it sounded like a great idea.

One of the first places we went was a small, historical craft village called Jindi Andi.  There were some things left over from convict days and it was a nice afternoon spent in the sun, poking around the old fashioned "lolly shop", craft store and souvenir shop.  Here’s some photos:

This grain mill was built with convict labour in the 1830s.

Interesting tree in the gardens…
and other "interesting amenities…

On the next day, I took the boys to the "Fleet Air Arm" museum.  Though it sounds strange, I think the boys quickly caught on to the idea that the Air Force doesn’t have all the planes – the Navy needs to have its own complementary force.

It did take us a while to get into the building because a helicopter was just getting readying for take-off and we HAD to stop and watch that.

The favourite exhibit was the helicopter simulator – the boys had to try and make it land on a carrier out at sea.  No prizes for guessing what happened if they didn’t quite make their landing 

The museum had a great collection of planes and the boys learned about the sinking of the HMAS Sydney, World War 2 bombing raids launched from the sea, and how a plane can be collapsed to fit in storage on a ship.

We were there for most of the day and had a great time.

On the final day, we had to pack up and leave – but not without seeing the beach!  Those of you who know Nowra, it’s just inland from the coast.  So we, traveled out to Shoalhaven Heads, had a run around on the beach, morning tea and then headed home.

Posted on on May 17th, 2009

The Reading Challenge

Every year, the government holds a reading challenge to encourage children to be reading books in their own time.  The challenge is to read 12 books between February and August.  The Department of Education puts together book lists for various ages and the children must read 8 books from the list and may choose four of their own to make up the 12.

This challenge isn’t difficult for my children and I suspect, most good readers.  Our problem was being limited by their list and finding the levels too easy for the ages of the children.

Nevertheless, it was good to write down some books they’d been reading and get together with some friends to talk about them.

Our group actually took out a prize in the homeschooling category, so that was a bonus!

We gathered around in a circle, and each person talked about one of the books they had read and why they liked it.  We even had some small sections read out to us.

Adam joined in with the group this year.  His reading has really taken off since the last reading challenge!  He spoke about one of the Pathway readers that he likes to read.  No, I don’t mean as a read-aloud to me, he takes these books to bed and reads them in his own time.  He spoke quite confidently and told the group that he liked the stories.  He thought it was good to have stories about children who learned lessons about life.

After a quick group photo, there was time for a quick bite to eat and a play at the park.

Thanks, Cerri and Liz B for organising this.  We’re going to have another challenge next year – and see just how many books they read in TOTAL from Feb – Aug!!!

Posted on on November 20th, 2008 

The Running Track - Sep 2008

I have been meaning to blog about this for a while now…

Most of you know that our Fridays are quite busy.  We host a scrapbooking / craft morning, have lunch at the in-laws and then Mum looks after the children while I go grocery shopping and run errands.  I am blessed by the help I receive.

A couple of months ago, Mum started taking the boys down to a running track while I went out.  They started to get competitive about times (funny that..) so I thought it best to buy a stop watch.

Recently, I was able to go along, see where they run and how they were doing.  Here’s some photos:

Mark points out which route to use on the track.  It’s called "Deek’s Track", after Robert de Castella, Australia’s famous marathon runner.

The boys start warming up…

On your mark…get set…

Oma starts the clock…

Zac smashes his previous record.  He cracked 5 minutes for the first time in the 1000m ( or 1km) distance.  He ran it in 4.49!

Stephen matched Zac’s 4.49 when he ran the second time…could not be outdone by a younger brother!

Adam brings it home…

and then collapses!

What of Mark? 

He just wanted to keep going by himself.  Sometimes off -track and not always in a straight line but he can go the whole way around without stopping now and clocks it in about 8 minutes.

They all enjoy it and look to better their times each week.  It is a beautiful setting and I am so thankful to Mum for taking this on with the boys and being able to share it with them.  She’s a homeschooling Grandma!

Posted on on September 18th, 2008

Gold, Silver and Bronze

It was the Olympics last week but I thought there were three main things that week that I could class in the Bronze, Silver and Gold categories.

I’ll go in reverse order:

BRONZE
Well, Andrew’s soccer team were effectively playing for Bronze.  They came 4th in their soccer league, losing their semi-final.  The soccer dinner was on Saturday night and Andrew & I went to a crowded Italian restaurant to celebrate the season with the team.  Thankfully, it all went well and the guys were great.  Most of the team aren’t Christians, even though they play in the Christian soccer league.

SILVER
I was reminded of a concept in the Bible in the past week – being refined by fire and the dross coming out.  It made me think of silver!  Zac was laid low all week with gastro and it showed all over his face.  We probably watched more of the Olympics because of it as he couldn’t think much nor did he have the energy to do much.  These times of trial can test the character and God can use it to refine us.  Not sure he liked me saying that too much when he was sick so after a couple of times, I left him with that thought…

GOLD
The gold winning performance of the week has to go to my friend, Terry den Dulk.  He and Liz have come out from London with the kids for a holiday.  Being the incredible opera singer that he is, his Canberra counterparts couldn’t let the opportunity pass, so he sang in a concert on Friday night.  Those privileged to be there enjoyed a selection from Mozart, Verdi, Bach, Pirates of Penzance, Phantom of the Opera, Gorky and Bess and more!  He sang some solos but most of the performance was with a soprano singer.  Our dear family friends, the Semples, were in town as well so Brian accompanied me to the opera.

Gold was also the colour of the dress I wore.  My son, Stephen, looked a bit shocked when I first came out all dressed up, saying, "Mummy! I’ve never seen you like this before!"  I did take it as a compliment and added that I probably hadn’t been as dressed up since my wedding day so it was no wonder he hadn’t seen me like this before!

With Liz.

Posted on on August 26th, 2008

Maths Musings

Toward the end of last year, I mentioned to my husband that I was finding it hard to explain some of the Maths to our eldest.  Yes, he was only 10 at the time but was doing Grade 5 Singapore Maths.  Some of the concepts in this course are not taught until Year 7 in Australia.

The biggest issue was that Maths has never been a favourite area of mine and I did not think I was the best teacher of it.  I can explain it "my way" but don’t have the expertise to explain a problem from a different perspective or with any depth of understanding. I was looking into getting a DVD course with a Mathematician explaining all the concepts.  Many have used Math-U-See with success.  In the meantime, a great special came up for an online course in Australia.  We decided to give that a try for a year, research other options and then make a decision this year.

Adam doing Mathletics on the TV computer. It has improved his speed drills.

Of course, we didn’t get far into the year when our trip to the USA came along.  One of the families we visited had children a similar age to some of ours.  Their dad had been teaching the children Maths for several years and had a good routine going.  Yeah sure, this dad is a rocket scientist but it was helpful to see someone else doing this.

When we got back from the US, Andrew said that he would take the oldest two for Maths.  I tried not to apply too much pressure and leave the decision with him. Needless to say, I was so relieved when he offered – it was a load off my mind!  They start at 6.30am in the morning and do three mornings a week with Dad.

Zac presses on one morning and finished his work by 11am

Sometimes, they decide to keep working from that point on and get their work finished by an early time in the day.  Other times, they take a break from 7.15 until 9am.  They still have bible devotions and other things to do in their morning routine but they are at leisure to determine how all of that happens before 9am.

I have enjoyed that development as well.  They are becoming more responsible for how they manage their time and make choices based on day to day happenings.

Posted on on August 13th, 2008

Science in "sick" week - July 2008

As I mentioned a couple of blog entries ago, I was sick with the flu recently.  Well, the boys ended up doing most of their work that week.  I was still suffering from a lack of energy last week and a few of the boys had bad coughs and colds, so I thought I would put that down as a sick week.  We could take our time to recover, I could catch up around the house and we could rug up, stay inside and enjoy the lovely fire.

Of course, with a bit of free time, the boys can be wondering what to do with themselves.  We did play a couple of boardgames, just to help pass the time and to make sure hands didn’t stay too idle.  Zac also found something else that he wanted to do.  He found a box in the bookshelf that said "Science View".

As you can see from the picture below (if you are on the blog site), the boys wanted to create a volcanic eruption.

Needing only dirt, baking soda, white vinegar and food dye, we could manage this easily.

Mark, being an inquisitive 4 year old, was right there to watch the action…the other boys joined in too.

As the vinegar interacted with the baking soda, the eruption happened.

It worked well, the boys enjoyed spending time on it and didn’t even complain about having to clean up the mess after them! They thought it was so good that they wanted to use up all of my kitchen supplies, repeating this experiment over and over.

What I loved about this was that the initiative came from them.  They didn’t see this experiment as "work" but something interesting to try. 

Yes, they still had their squabbles in this "sick week" and we had to deal with those – I am not trying to present a rose-coloured view of life at our house. However, the boys have a desire to discover and to learn new things, regardless of whether it is "school" time or not and that is why I wanted to share this experience.

Posted on on July 28th, 2008 

Flat Out Friday

Our Fridays are always full and fun; and occasionally frantic.  We take a break from our bookwork on Fridays to spend the day in other ways.  Here was our Friday this week:

8.45am go and pick up a friend for Scrapbooking / Craft morning at our house

9 – 12 noon  Open house for homeschoolers to come to Scrapbooking /Craft.  Mums work on projects and the kids play together.  We’ve been doing this for a few weeks now and have had 3-4 families most times.  I’ve managed to get several scrapbooking pages done and the kids have played well together so it’s been good.

12 noon – pack up, drop friend home, go to lunch at Andrew’s parents’ house.

12.30pm Lunch  This time is always great as the kids see their grandparents every week and spend time with them.  I also get to go out shopping by myself in the afternoon so it’s a real blessing to me.

2pm Stephen has an optometrist appointment so he comes along this afternoon

2.30pm  Shopping for fruit and vegetables at the market, going to Fyshwick shops for other birthday presents.

4-4.30pm Get back and have a quick cuppa with Mum before taking the kids home and unpacking the shopping

5.15pm  Start making a Spinach, Leek and Feta fritatta that I have never made before 

6pm  It finally is in the oven!!!

I then sit down and catch up on emails etc for a while

6.45pm Dinner is ready and we sit down together to eat!

7.30pm I head out the door again for a birthday coffee and cake supper. 

Usually, I’m out the door again between 7 and 7.30pm on a Friday night as I take one boy out with me. I have a coffee and they get a baby cino and we just have a short one on one time together.  It’s late night shopping night for us so we browse around a little too.  Each of the top three boys takes turns in coming out each Friday night.

10pm  Got home, collapsed on the lounge and watched some of BBC’s North and South

So, the day was flat out and full but I do like my Fridays and look forward to them.

What are your Fridays like?

Posted on on June 21st, 2008

Partial Solar Eclipse – 7 Feb 2008

We’ve been reading about Galileo lately and using this fantastic book:

When we heard there was going to be a partial Solar Eclipse visible from Australia today, I made sure that we read the chapter on Galileo’s observations of sunspots this week. We made a pin hole viewer in preparation for the eclipse, scheduled for this afternoon.

Problem was, a thunderstorm was also scheduled for this afternoon!  The partial eclipse was to start at 2.47pm, reach mid-eclipse by 3.38pm and finish at 4.27pm.  This is what it looked like at 3.38pm:

Then, at 3.54, there was a patch of blue sky, the sun started to shine brightly and we were out there like a shot!!

Stephen is holding the pin hole viewer. We got instructions on how to make it from this site: www.paulfloyd.id.au  We actually got to see a tiny section of the sun was shaded by the moon. The photo may not be clear but it was clear to us!

Just the very top left hand corner is affected.  Anyway, we thought it was exciting!  Apparently, there won’t be another solar eclipse until 2012, so we were thankful we got to see this.

At  4.05pm, it clouded over again. By 4.15pm, the heavens opened, the sky went dark and I headed in here to the computer!

Paul Floyd’s site is being swamped right now but I’ll try and get back on here and show the fact sheet he put out for the event – I was impressed with it.

Here’s a photo of mine:

Posted on on February 6th, 2008

The polling booth - Nov 2007

Federal Election 2007

My alarm went off at 6.30am yesterday morning. What? You might ask… quite incredulously…  this was a Saturday morning, right?

Well, I was a polling assistant in our Nation’s Federal Election yesterday.  That meant turning up at 7.30am, helping to set up the polling booths and getting ready for the onslaught of voters.  Let me tell you, there was an onslaught!  From the moment we opened at 8am, there was absolutely no let-up for 4 hours! Queues right out the door!  I got my first break at 11.30am but only because we needed a break from concentrating, not because it had quietened down!!

So what did I do? I was one of those cheery assistants behind the desk who asks for your name, address, checks you off the electoral roll, asks whether you have already voted in today’s election, signs the ballot papers before issuing them to you and then gives you a quick run-down on how to fill in your papers. Phew!!  After doing that for most of the day, my eyes felt sore!!

Somewhere between 4.30 and 5pm the voters got down to a trickle and we started to take turns with some admin and clean-up. The polls shut at 6pm so we all had a quick break before six, ate something for dinner and then the "day" starts in earnest!  We had over 3,500 votes to count for each paper (so 7,000 altogether as there was a vote for Senate and House of Reps). BTW, *please* don’t fold your ballot paper and if you feel you have to, don’t fold in more than once – do you know how long it takes just to unfold the darn things?

It was a great experience being behind the scenes and as long as I bring a cushion to sit on, I’ll do it again. It actually gave me a lot more faith in the process and we had very few disillusioned voters. Of 3,500 votes, we only had 69 informal ones and half of those were because people didn’t understand how to fill in the Senate paper! Grr! We only explain it as we hand it out and then there’s instructions to read on the paper itself!!

We had a great group of people on the booth and chatted happily with the scrutineers. They were a nice bunch too.They are not allowed to touch the ballot papers at all so it was interesting if you accidentally put a paper on the wrong pile. They would have to say – can you just go back one or two and check that paper?  Sometimes, yes, you had put it on the wrong pile and sometimes, it was their minds playing tricks!!  Every vote was double checked by another polling official and the scrutineers over your shoulder.  When the vote was in, the scrutineers called their headquarters with numbers and voting trends.  All the ballot papers were then packaged and sealed and they will be re-checked centrally before being declared as the"official" result for that booth.

We finally left to go home at about 10pm!!  It was an exhausting day but one I’d do again. If you have teenage children, check the age requirement for the job – I think it would be good to get them involved in the process!

Regardless of your voting preferences, your disappointment or elation at the change of government in Australia, it’s good to see the system works. There’s an honesty and accountability in the processes that we have.

Posted on on November 24th, 2007

Beautiful flowers - Nov 2007

Andrew came home from work a little bit late on Monday. It was a good thing that I wasn’t in the kitchen, holding dinner off and waiting in frustration. He came through to where I was with this gorgeous bouquet in hand:

Of course, I was thrilled and asked him why he had bought them. He mentioned that he hadn’t given me anything to celebrate being published (in What Really Happened in Colonial Times) so he thought he would now.  I must admit to feeling teary, even if I didn’t cry at the time. It was so lovely of him to do this!

A couple of days later, we remembered we had bought some small canvases to paint on during Floriade. Each year during this tulip festival, we draw a flower in our sketch books. The boys have done some stunning work in the past but it has always been in coloured pencil.  We didn’t get around to making a drawing or a painting this year so guess what became our subject?  It’s a bit sad, I know…

Anyway, here’s the photos of our paintings:

After doing this, I remembered why I don’t like painting. This flower was painted in six separate layers to build up the colour. I could have easily done a few more but we had all had a long enough spell on it by then…

Here’s Stevie’s:

He chose one of the flowers that were smaller. After a couple of days, the flowers had opened right out. They are fuller again today than when we painted them. The photos don’t capture the subtlety of colour in the paintings. Stevie has a lovely dark red edge on his petals.

Zac did the last one I am showing:

I had to help Zac with his as he had lost the outline of the flower through painting with a paint brush that was too big. He would tell you he’s never going to paint a flower again. That might be true but I think he’ll be happier to do one in coloured pencil from now on…

I judged that this task was too difficult for Adam. I was also trying to paint my own, give instruction to Stevie and Zac, help them dry off the layers between coats with a hair dryer and making sure Mark only painted his paper!  Whew!  Adam has painted a nice background sheet and I’ll try and sit down with him and we’ll work in coloured pencil – no, I haven’t been scarred by the painting experience!

Now, I am enjoying beautiful flowers from my husband and lovely paintings as well.

Posted on on November 8th, 2007