Busy, Busy Bees

Baking day.

Kookaburra made a new homemade ice-cream recipe courtesy of my gourmet homeschooling neighbouress, Saminda, from Ferns by the Fireside Blog (sorry, I'm not a techno wiz, so I'm clueless on how to do the linky thing :). A lot lighter on taste, so much creamier and way easier to make then my old recipe. Kangaroo then used the leftover yolks from the icecream to make these super little mandarin muffins above, also a Fern recipe. (Thanks Min!) My faithful, turned faithless companions deserted me at this stage to play in the sandpit, leaving me to make a double chocolate cake, an absolute favourite here and a double batch of chewy anzac cookies, also much requested by all my boys. Whew! Now I can feel prepared for guests in our home. I always like to have something to offer and I know Mr E loves to have a regular supply of treats (in moderation please Mr E!!!).

Printmaking.

Looking at patterns on the soles of our shoes and why are they there? Ridges and ripples for gripping or to look nice?

Working Away.

Literacy/ Language Arts and Mathematics are an everyday occurrence in Kookaburras' homeschool. This week has seen Kangaroo start a little language arts as well, which pleases Kookaburra no end. We've begun Language Lessons for Little Ones by Sandi Queen. Printed on the front of his book is the following;

An informal course in the language arts with a Charlotte Mason flavour for beginning students.

A beautiful book with poetry, art work and as it says a beginning literacy/ language arts course. We're taking this very gently, less than a minute whenever we remember to pull it out.

Because Kangaroo has brought it to me, we've been identifying and sounding out letters from Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code Wall Chart by Explode the Code. No other formal learning is happening here but we do play games at identifying letters in books or out and about. To make it easy for him to understand all these letters with capitals and lowercase, I explained to him that for example 'm and M' are a baby and mummy 'm' and they both say 'mmmm ' like in mountain. Then we look at the 'm M' and talk about the mountain in the letter 'm'. We also say that 'm' is the name of the letter, just like 'tiger' is a name of a big cat and the 'm' makes its own sound, 'mmmmm', just like a 'tiger' makes a sound, 'grooowwll'. Kangaroo gets this and its been so much easier to teach Kangaroo than it was Kookaburra and I firmly believe it's because we're not trying to teach him. We're leaving him alone mostly and giving him time to make sense of the world in his own way and we are right there to guide him as he needs it.

Hope that makes sense?!

Questions.

During Kookaburras' bookwork time, Kangaroo got out our Usborne Encyclopedia of World History to look through. Why...? Why...? Why...? he asks. Seriously, he is so lucky to be second born. What Kangaroo doesn't learn from myself, Dada or Kookaburra, he will find out from our library. So much learning goes on through our discussions. I often find I can take a back seat as Kookaburra teaches Kangaroo through his answers to the questions, I also find that through this process Kookaburra is a reaffirming and owning his knowledge of a subject.

Sillies.

Kangaroo's had enough and wants Kookaburra to come play aliens. This has been inspired by a book we finished tonight, 'The Magic Treehouse #8 Midnight on the Moon'.

Patience is rewarded.

A long overdue package, a few months since I ordered, has arrived. I considered ringing and chasing the item up but instead I chose to trust the supplier who is another homeschooling family. Very glad that I did :)

Giving.

While Kookaburra is at tap dancing lessons, one of Kangaroos' favourite ladies in the world, who also works for the fire brigade, patiently listens to his every gabble. Smiling and obliging, this lovely lady makes the wait for his big brother so much easier. I wanted Kangaroo to thank her for her loveliness with a gift of cookies. Such a busy, busy lady would appreciate it. And she did. Her praise for my small boy is a little step towards teaching my children how to be selfless and love others.

Stewardship.

I hope that's the right word. Daddy spending time with Kookaburra after a long day at the office, showing him how to care for his bike.

Little eyes are always watching, small hands are quick to copy. This makes me very aware of how important it is for me to set a good example.

Late baths and late dinner means extra playtime. Waahoo! says Kangaroo.