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!