GREAT FIRST TWO DAYS OF THE WEEK

We have had a great Monday and Tuesday of this week.  The kids are now totally on task and are enjoying the topics we have for this term, especially Statistics.  The last two days we had been using hot dog toppings as a way of providing data for some statistical investigations.  The kids have really explored and understood how statistics provides us with a way of understanding peoples choices, which is cool.  They have done so well with their math this week I made them hot dogs as a treat for lunch so they could add their own favourite topping combination!

We have some really exciting trips coming up in the next couple of weeks - Te Papa in Wellington (thanks to some $1 flights), a trip with other home schoolers to Howick Historic Village (yikes need to make some period costumes!), an overnight tramp in the Waitakere ranges, and in a months time a trip to New Plymouth to see Carolyn and Joe and Mt Taranaki (again thanks to some $1 flights).  Two of these trips would not have been economically possible without the $1 grab-a-seat deals I got and I am so thankful for picking them up and being able to broaden our school trip portfolio!

Can finally add photos, us at the Summit of Sunrise Hut Trail

GOOD INTENTIONS: MUST START DOING THIS FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!

I have really good intentions of doing my blogging first thing in the morning or last thing at night but after our holiday I am just a bit tired this week! We have had a great couple of days, the kids are starting to focus on their work again, I am sure the pride in their work will start next week as they are also a bit tired and some of their work looks a little forced!  Never mind, at least they are interested.  Today they had great fun this afternoon making henna hand prints (an activity off this awesome website!) for social studies.  It was our last time focusing on India today and also the last day of the Commonwealth Games.  We watched the start of the marathon race and the kids were really inspired by how fit these athletes were.  I am hoping this wears off on them as they undertake cross country this term.

I have taken photos of the henna hand prints they made but am still having trouble loading the photos, so will get Steve to have a look at the weekend and see if he can help me :0

It is my daughters last day as a five year old today and it makes me sad to see her growing so FAST, happy for her to continue with her healthy, happy little life but boy I can't believe it is going so quickly.

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY FOR TOMORROW MY LITTLE BABY GIRL ..... LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK

TERM FOUR STARTS WITH EXCITEMENT

We had a great first day of school, the morning started with a few bumps (it was writing time and the kids just didn't want a bar of it this morning, something to work on this term, find something that will make writing fun for them!) but as the day progressed so did the responsiveness of my class!  They are really excited by statistics our new strand of maths for this term.  In the afternoon they did some Commonwealth Games activities and then for crafts made Diwali cards which were very impressive!  All in all a great day for a first day. 

Below are some of the things we did during the holidays and also a photo of the Bad Jelly the Witch cast that Ben took after the show on the last day of term three.  The kids loved the performance and the work we did before going to the show really paid off as they were able to interpret the performance against their knowledge of the storyline.  For the holidays we went first thing Saturday morning to Steve's parents place in Waipuk and spent 10 days with them, also making time for an overnight tramp in the Ruahine Ranges (our first overnight) ... it was more like an alpine trek than a family tramp but we survived!  The last few days were spent at home but with a trip to Hamilton to see my sister play hockey for the NZ Under 19 team (they won 4-1, yeah)

For some reason I can't upload the photos so I will try again tomorrow!

NEW MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

6.00am this morning

This morning we were greeted to a new member of the family, proud mum Lisa gave birth to a little lamb overnight in the torrential rain and wind ... as Steve says perfect lambing weather!  We had thought Mable would deliver first as she has looked very pregnant with a large udder and I couldn't even tell if Lisa was pregnant although Granny and Steve were sure she was. 

We moved them up the hill and Steve put in a shelter to protect them from the wind

Mum and Baby ... ohhhh

Given that Mable and Lisa are both orphans and hand-reared and going to be first time Mum's I was very worried about their quality of mothering ... lets just say they are very needy sheep.  However, it our delight Lisa has been very protective of her little offspring and shows all the signs of being a great parent!  Thank god!  We do have milk on standby for the lambs just in case we have issues!  It was so lovely to see the little lamb bleat and Lisa respond back and make sure it was OK.

Now if only we could get rid of this weather so the little thing can have a good start to its life!

BAD JELLY THE WITCH

I am a firm believer in knowing the story before you take children to an artistic performance of something, whether it is the ballet, opera, a play, or any other art strand.  So today the children watched Bad Jelly the Witch, which I had ordered from the Library.  Unfortunately all the Bad Jelly books were issued so we had to settle for the DVD.  No matter, a lesson in better planning for me :) Anyway, this morning the kids watched the movie of the story and then set to writing about what they had just viewed.  It turned out well, I decided I wanted them to write about the story straight after they had finished watching it so the story would be reinforced into their memory banks!  Here's hoping anyway!  All this preparation is of course for a reason ... on the last day of term (next Friday) we are going to The Pumphouse in Takapuna to see the play Bad Jelly the Witch and so they can get as much out of it as possible I thought some prep work was in order!

A CLOSER LOOK AT ELECTRICITY

If you don't have a brain box, go find one and buy it.  We have had a brain box and they are the best thing whether for fun, learning, real FUN, or just entertainment they are brilliant, so GOOD we purchased another one!  We had our first box given to Ben about 3 years ago and it has had a lot of use, and now I find I can use it for physics too ... it truly is the gift that keeps on giving (which reminds me I must blog about our playhouse that IS the gift that continues to keep on giving in so many ways).

Today we conquered electricity and the elements you need to make some thing go ... very cool and it was fantastic to use the brain boxes to illustrate each point.  The kids were then given free range to create a circuit that would make something go and the circuit would require a breaker (switch).  I didn't let them have the batteries because I wanted them to make sure they thought about all the elements they required to power something and then when they thought they had it sussed they could come to me and we would test it by putting the batteries in.  Ben overloaded his circuit and had to go and modify the specification down to something less OTT (typical boy!), Polly had to change hers too has her elements didn't add up, but on the second go they both got it done, Polly a red light and Ben the fan and a lamp going.  

Well Done you Guys!

ITS BEEN A LITTLE WHILE

Yip, its been a while, since I blogged! One week and no updates on the kids education, what has happened I hear you ask .... well we took a mid semester break for a couple of days (Tuesday and Wednesday) then on Thursday we had loads of school work I wanted to get done before the kids did the grocery shopping on Friday!  Love that my children are great shoppers at such a tender age, puts me to shame but if they are better with money than I am who will complain!  We are now putting all of their budget savings into a christmas club card so just before christmas the kids can go a bit mad and have a spend up at the grocery store buying their favourites with all the money they have saved over the next few months ... they thoroughly love this idea, I can only imagine what we will be living off during that week before Christmas!