The gifts were quickly devoured.
Mix it
Squish it
Cut it
Bake it
Sunday, May 31, 2009
furry friends
Part of Kangaroo's curriculum was a week recently featuring 'Caring for our Pets' and we made pet biscuits for Merlin the Cat and Thor the Dog.
The gifts were quickly devoured.
The gifts were quickly devoured.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
eight is enough, I can't do another year
Sixteen. Or is it Sixteen and half? Kookaburra has just turned eight and I think its sixteen and half they are allowed to get their learners. The community may be safe until then.... maybe....
It's become a tradition, in our home, to rev it up at the GoCart tracks for our birthdays. This year, I was the unfortunate copilot on Kookaburras recent turn to celebrate and I had bruises and pounded kidneys to prove it. Our boy was on a mission. He had moved himself up on the steering wheel and was hugging the thing tightly in order to out steer me! Have you ever seen a kid steer? There is no gentle in the equation. The gocart was being torn from either side of the track as Kookaburra put his full weight behind each rip.
Kangaroo looks hilarious here, he he! The helmet barely fitted him and he was a cruisy passenger for Mr E compared to mine. For the whole twenty minutes, TWENTY MINUTES!! I alternated between screaming and laughing while beside me the most serious pint size driver was urging us to go faster, except, there was NO faster!!! And, (this is really cool :) as our tyres slid out around a hairpin and smoked up with the brakes we performed a very cool 180 with smooth recovery.
Do I look scared? Hell yeah!
It's become a tradition, in our home, to rev it up at the GoCart tracks for our birthdays. This year, I was the unfortunate copilot on Kookaburras recent turn to celebrate and I had bruises and pounded kidneys to prove it. Our boy was on a mission. He had moved himself up on the steering wheel and was hugging the thing tightly in order to out steer me! Have you ever seen a kid steer? There is no gentle in the equation. The gocart was being torn from either side of the track as Kookaburra put his full weight behind each rip.
Kangaroo looks hilarious here, he he! The helmet barely fitted him and he was a cruisy passenger for Mr E compared to mine. For the whole twenty minutes, TWENTY MINUTES!! I alternated between screaming and laughing while beside me the most serious pint size driver was urging us to go faster, except, there was NO faster!!! And, (this is really cool :) as our tyres slid out around a hairpin and smoked up with the brakes we performed a very cool 180 with smooth recovery.
Do I look scared? Hell yeah!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
"Creation Station"
Recently we had the luck and pleasure of visiting a very creative lady's home. She had on offer for the children collage, clay work and painting, but what was really special about our visit were the amazing sculptures that resided in her yard. Below is a dragonfly that Kangaroo thought was fantastic.
How clever is this lady!!!
I'm saving my pocket money to do a two weekend course in sculpture with paper mache and wire. Life size paper macheing (I think that's the wrong spelling, oops, never mind) and I'm definitely thinking a giraffe would be great fun to create.
Fingers crossed I count my pennies carefully between now and then, I don't want to miss out :)
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
book magic
If your a 'Charlotte Mason' mum, turn away now, because I guarantee you, that the following recommendation is definitely 'twaddle'. No excuses, it just is.
Occasionally I want to share whats working for us, curriculum wise in our little homeschool. Whilst the following isn't a curriculum, for us it has acted as a spark for further interests.
Months ago I bought a series of books second hand (thanks Aussie Homeschool Classifieds ;) called 'The Magic Treehouse' in the hopes to get Kookaburra reading happily independent. Well that didn't work, but the old Frog and Toad series by Lobel has done the trick. But what I wanted to share was this great series by Mary Pope Osborne, which wonderfully introduces history in a fun manner.
The gist is that two kids, Jack and Annie, 8 and 7, discover a magical treehouse in the woods behind their house filled to the brim with books and the mysterious owner is nowhere to be found. Jack and Annie discover that through these books, a wish and the Treehouse, that they are magically transported to places throughout history and then go off and have adventures.
As far, we have read the first two books in the series, 'Dinosaurs before Dark' and 'The Knights at Dawn' and have dived into 'Mummies in the Morning' today and my boys can't get enough!!! They are rapped by these books and beg to be read them :)
There are companion guides that you can buy but we do so much already on the schooling front, that these books will currently be pure fun. I am eyeing off those companions for the future though.
With a current 43 books in the series I think they will be a long time staple in our home.
Just a side note, if you are uncomfortable with magic obviously this may be a series to stay away from but, IMHO, the magic is extremely light and is merely a tool to get the characters to the point of their adventure.
Happy reading
Occasionally I want to share whats working for us, curriculum wise in our little homeschool. Whilst the following isn't a curriculum, for us it has acted as a spark for further interests.
Months ago I bought a series of books second hand (thanks Aussie Homeschool Classifieds ;) called 'The Magic Treehouse' in the hopes to get Kookaburra reading happily independent. Well that didn't work, but the old Frog and Toad series by Lobel has done the trick. But what I wanted to share was this great series by Mary Pope Osborne, which wonderfully introduces history in a fun manner.
The gist is that two kids, Jack and Annie, 8 and 7, discover a magical treehouse in the woods behind their house filled to the brim with books and the mysterious owner is nowhere to be found. Jack and Annie discover that through these books, a wish and the Treehouse, that they are magically transported to places throughout history and then go off and have adventures.
As far, we have read the first two books in the series, 'Dinosaurs before Dark' and 'The Knights at Dawn' and have dived into 'Mummies in the Morning' today and my boys can't get enough!!! They are rapped by these books and beg to be read them :)
There are companion guides that you can buy but we do so much already on the schooling front, that these books will currently be pure fun. I am eyeing off those companions for the future though.
With a current 43 books in the series I think they will be a long time staple in our home.
Just a side note, if you are uncomfortable with magic obviously this may be a series to stay away from but, IMHO, the magic is extremely light and is merely a tool to get the characters to the point of their adventure.
Happy reading
Monday, May 25, 2009
more scribbles
Do you remember Enid Blyton? I honestly hope so, she should be staple for all childhood :)
I've been feeling uninspired so being the little counterfeiter I am I had a go of copying a lovely picture from an EB book. Not bad if I say so myself ;)
Sunday, May 24, 2009
catch up
This is how I feel sometimes......
Only a little bit of solid ground whilst everything else around me is a just a bit too much hit and miss.
I really am not happy with this blog!! I don't know how to make it beautiful and it's frustrating....
Kangaroo, Kookaburra and I, well we've done some fun things over the past few months (have even included Mr E on a number of occasions) and I'll throw some pics up to share a little. It's always a world of ongoing self-discovery here and I hope I can share a little of us more often :)
What do we do when we're out for a family day and our four wheel drive fails on us... again! With no phone reception and an impossible walk (with kids along) back to civilisation we recup our spirits and set up camp in the middle of the road and have a hot lunch - guaranteed to lift those spirits and get positivity about the task at hand.
All went well eventually - after driving the thing precariously down a slope backwards without gears (I think that's what it was this time) and a sprint with kids through bee hives set up on both sides of the road (what imbecile thought that was a good idea!!!! and Mr E was stung a few times... ouch) we eventually made it home. Mr E was mad as hell and within a fortnight that 'Disco' was history. The boys were sad but for us a huge relief.
Only a little bit of solid ground whilst everything else around me is a just a bit too much hit and miss.
I really am not happy with this blog!! I don't know how to make it beautiful and it's frustrating....
Kangaroo, Kookaburra and I, well we've done some fun things over the past few months (have even included Mr E on a number of occasions) and I'll throw some pics up to share a little. It's always a world of ongoing self-discovery here and I hope I can share a little of us more often :)
What do we do when we're out for a family day and our four wheel drive fails on us... again! With no phone reception and an impossible walk (with kids along) back to civilisation we recup our spirits and set up camp in the middle of the road and have a hot lunch - guaranteed to lift those spirits and get positivity about the task at hand.
All went well eventually - after driving the thing precariously down a slope backwards without gears (I think that's what it was this time) and a sprint with kids through bee hives set up on both sides of the road (what imbecile thought that was a good idea!!!! and Mr E was stung a few times... ouch) we eventually made it home. Mr E was mad as hell and within a fortnight that 'Disco' was history. The boys were sad but for us a huge relief.
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