The Fig Tree

Home and memories of Eden

2011-05-09T13:18:00.006+10:00

IT IS WONDERFUL TO BE HOME!

It is so nice to come home to our lovely house by the mighty mighty Clarence river after nine weeks travelling, and now that we are home we realise how much we missed it here. Sleeping in our own beds and having a bathroom and kitchen right there is pure bliss. Seeing the rampant growth in the lawn and the dust bunnies everywhere not so blissful but all sorted now. Catching up with Emerald, Mr12s rainbow lorikeet has been lovely, she has missed us so much and her life has changed dramatically living with the house sitter, she has had no contact with her wild mate and babies and they are not relating to each other at all at the moment, I have seen improvement over the last couple of days though so watching what happens there will be very interesting..

I have not done another blog post because of all the dramas I had posting them on the road so will share memories and pics as they come up.

Today was our first day back at school and it was a bit of a challenge to start the day and our new term. Lost books, no ink in the printer and a computer that didn't want to play were all overcome and we soon settled into our familiar routine and the boys worked well. I am easing them into it so we only did a couple of subjects today and looked at what we will be doing this term and discussed it. Once we finished today's work we played a lovely maths game we picked up in Eden, it is called "Catch Old Tom" and made by Fran Crispin, she had a whole range of maths games and other games for sale in the tourist information centre in Eden. We enjoyed playing and it was great to reinforce Mr7s place value skills up to 1000. Playing "Catch Old Tom" sparked a lively discussion about Old Tom and the Killers of Eden.
Eden is a beautiful coastal town on the far south coast of NSW, about 1120 km away from our home in northern NSW. We spent a lovely few days there on the full moon in April and we visited the Eden Killer Whale Museum

It is a wonderful museum and the story of Old Tom and the partnership between the whales and the whalers is fascinating.

There were other amazing things to learn as well-like this interesting cure for rheumatismand this amazing storywe also learned about the tragic number of ship wrecks that happened all along our coastline, these ones are just local to Edenand I appreciated this little poster to assist us in our own whale watching today.
On our travels we developed a habit of exploring the warves it was a lovely place for a walk and always lots to see, here Mr7 'assisted' in mooring a boat in the harbour, well that's what he said he was doing.

Photos Replaced

2011-04-06T20:27:00.001+10:00

Sorry-I am unsure what happened to all the photos I posted in my mammoth blog posting session the other day, but I have gone through and tried to fix all the problems and I think you will be able to see them now.

Toora Wind Farm

2011-04-05T17:14:00.004+10:00

As we were traveling along on our way

slowly making our way towards Melbourne

We spotted a wind farm.

We headed up to investigate

and found Toora Wind Farm

They were so big

and eerily beautiful,

Mr7 was reading all the way,(thanks Nan for the new books)

and when we got to the Bass coast

Mr7 had lots of energy to burn.

in such a beautiful spot.

Port Albert

2011-04-05T16:43:00.005+10:00

We camped at Port Albert

It was so very pretty

but the wind was blowing so hard, it almost blew our dinner off the bbq.

It is a lovely little town

and Mr7 found another dead shark, this one was fresh though.

We camped here over night

and spotted a prime real estate opportunity.
;-)

Tarra River and Tarra Bulga National Park

2011-04-05T16:36:00.009+10:00

This area is just too beautiful for words

Golden Beach

2011-04-05T16:15:00.007+10:00

We met a lovely lady at the Tourist Info centre at Sale
(Hello Val)

Who told us about a great free camping site.

Its on 90 mile beach,

and there are 20 separate campgrounds between Golden Beach and Seaspray

Miles and miles of beach to ourselves

although there were plenty of other campers about

the boys played on the beach

we walked for miles,

looking at the shells and the red seaweed

a friendly albatross came to say hello,

and flew down the beach

I finally managed to get some art journalling done.

We found a dessicated old shark in a tree at our campsite.

Sale

2011-04-05T15:48:00.008+10:00

Sale was a lovely surprise

We found the Sale common wildlife reserve

and the extensive wetlands walks,

It was beautiful,

Mr7 said it was like we were explorers,

we noticed the little water plants,

and the river gums, the bird life was amazing and we saw many young waterbirds.

We also enjoyed the Sale Botanic Gardens,

and the boys loved the park,

with cute little mushrooms,

lovely autumn trees,

We found a wild bee hive,

and met a very handsome peacock in the vegetable garden.

The boys found another flying fox,

Mr12 loved the spinning egg, and enjoying all the park toys that I used to do when I was a kid.

The Port of Sale,

and we found an engineering marvel,Mr12 loves bridges and this one was a swinging bridge,
it pivots in the centre and used to let the paddle steamers through.

Bairnsdale

2011-04-05T15:40:00.006+10:00

The boys were delighted

to find a giant flying fox

in a public park

at a roadside rest area

They could have unlimited turns as there were no other kids around, and there was also a giant slide at the same park.

We also found the skate park

and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

The Great Alpine Road

2011-04-05T14:53:00.008+10:00

We have been looking forward to this leg of our trip.

Getting up way up high and seeing the Victorian Alps.

I love the winding mountain roads

although the road signs were a little scary.

We met some majestic giants.

Alpine Ash or Woolybutt
Eucalyptus delegatensis
it grows only between 900 and 1450 metres, where the ground is cold enough from weeks of snow for its seeds to germinate.

Seeing these signs gave us an insight into the driving conditions up here in winter.

I was glad we had a sunny day

Well it was a sunny day down below,

and the boys loved being up in the clouds,

it was really windy and the clouds were blowing over the edge of the road.

The plants were so tiny and hardy up in that harsh environment at the top of the ridge,

and the views spectacular.

Produce around Bright

2011-04-05T14:42:00.006+10:00

We really enjoyed driving around beautiful Bright and seeing all the interesting farming

the apple orchards nestled into the hills were very picturesque

The chestnut trees were ripe and falling to the ground

and very tasty as well.

We also noticed hops and couldn't identify it until we visited the Bright brewery. Other farms grew berries and we noticed lots of unique little sheds on farms that we later found out were tobacco sheds.

Harrietville was a pretty little town

with lots of history from the gold mining days.

More gorgeous trees to admire.

A cosy little cottage nestled into the trees.

Mr7 was certain he would find a 4 leaved clover in such a magical place.

On to Bright

2011-04-05T14:18:00.008+10:00

Ned Kelly country

The site of the Glenrowan Hotel siege

where the police train pulled in

following the train of Ned Kelly

on the way to Bright.

on the Ovens river.

One of the prettiest towns we have visited must be Bright in Victoria. I loved it there, such a beautiful town nestled into the mountains filled with gorgeous trees

and happy bubbling watercourses, sadly we had flat batteries in the cameras here but I will definitely be back, they also have a boutique brewery, some wonderful birds we are unfamilliar with, like gang gang cocatoos and lots of lovely walks we didn't get to yet.

Light Sticks and a super full moon

2011-04-05T14:13:00.003+10:00

Beechworth Vic

2011-04-05T13:57:00.006+10:00

Beechworth

Lovely historic buildings

Mr7 found some quirky new friends

Swinging in Park in the Dark

What a cool stance to take- Go Beechworth

Our favourite residentThe magnificent Butbut tree

Albury

2011-03-21T08:50:00.002+11:00

We arrived in Albury on the eve

of the chrysler and dodge muster

The boys loved all the revving and roaring of engines on the Friday night

as the street was turned into an illegal race track,
until the police arrived and the party broke up.
It was kind of surreal with all the cars and people lining the street and all of these hotted up vehicles roaring and racing with everyday traffic and semi trailers just trying to go about their business.

We saw the Murray river

the boys had some skate boarding in the park

The parks around the river were lovely,
with lots of roads and bike tracks, bbq's and right by the pool.

Traveling South

2011-03-20T21:59:00.004+11:00

We couldn't drive past this Australian Icon

and the boys were not that keen to go and see it
apparently they could see it quite well enough from the van
I dragged them out for a stretch anyway

The boys wanted us to stop here

this is a giant submarine in Holbrook

and they dragged me out for a stretch here,
its all about give and take,
and when you have 3 very different family members traveling and living in a fairly small van for 8 weeks it is all about give and take-
I am grateful that we all get on really well
and grateful that I can take my boys on this trip.

The Australian War Memorial

2011-03-20T19:12:00.001+11:00

A visit to the War Memorial has long been on our list of things to do.

We spotted Simpson and his donkey on the way in,

his is a story we are familiar with and we were all very moved to see this.

The boys were impressed with all of the weoponary

I was impressed with the sculpture and other art works

We were all very impressed with the layout of Canberra

The Menin Gate Lions

The Pool of Rememberance

Remembering those who died
and thinking of our lost relative.

A last photo with one of the honour guards

Green Patch

2011-03-20T16:05:00.002+11:00

I remember coming to Green Patch as a kid
I remember its beauty.
It is in Booderee National Park
on Jervis Bay.
I didn't remember a place called Iluka in this neck of the woods though
We have an Iluka up on the north coast near our home town as well.

I remember the lushness and coolness

the pristine white beaches and clear green watersthe beauty and the wildness.

The boys and I went for a lovely walk

We wandered through the beautiful bush.

through different environments

found a seat in a creek off the side of a bridge,

admired the creek as we listened to the sound of the water and the birds

and enjoyed our unique Australian treasures.

Cygnets at Tuggeranong Park

2011-03-20T15:50:00.000+11:00

We met some new friends.

Who were very beautiful.

Very curious.

Very cute.

Very protective.

Very good swimmers
(thanks Mr7 )

Very magestic,

and very tired after all the excitement.

The Australian Museum- Sydney

2011-03-18T17:22:00.004+11:00

We had a lovely visit to the Australian Museum with our

glowing friend,

here we are looking at a Thylacene.
It was such a treat for my rural remote boys to get to see some of the city's cultural highlights, sadly we were crowded out by school groups, who were noisy and unruly.

Wellington Vintage Fair

2011-03-11T22:43:00.004+11:00

Wellington in NSW is a pretty little town in the central west of NSW, surrounded by mountains at the junction of two rivers, the Macquarie and the Bell. Every year they hold a vintage fair on the first Sunday in March and my boys love to go along and see all the old cars and machines.There is also a swap meet and many interesting stalls,

this year some lovely horse brasses caught my eye.They have beautifully restored and customised cars.The snake man was the favorite from last year

and my 2 boys could not wait to get a python each for a snake cuddle.This year the favourite thing was a ride on the trike.

Animals on Bikes

2011-03-11T22:23:00.004+11:00

On our travels we recently spent a day driving

to look at all of the wonderful paddock
art on the road from Molong to Yeoval in NSWdifferent groups and individuals
have created amazing sculptures all along the road.when you get to Cumnock
be sure to find the police station
and see the piggies
the creativity and diversity is wonderful to see,
as is the use of recycled materialsyou can find out all about it on their web site animalsonbikes.com.au

Art in your homeschool

2011-03-11T21:12:00.008+11:00

Art can be easily overlooked in the homeschool, some parents have shared with me how they find it difficult to fit it in, it is very valuable to your child's education though so I thought I would share some thoughts and resources here. I am passionate about art in our homeschool.

Most of the subjects we focus on have well defined procedures to follow, rules and regulations leaving little room for creativity or mistakes.
Art is wonderful to open a child's mind to freedom and play; to allow them to experiment and to use their own imaginations without any fear of getting it wrong-
ART
is
FUN,
SPONTANEOUS
and
RELAXING.

Why study Art?
Learning art provides a foundation for visual perception, the ability to recognise and understand images, these may be found in many places- art works, plans/ blueprints, symbols, words.......

Art education helps a child to develop abstract thinking skills-
the visual arts combine abstract thinking with real concrete materials
to create the idea in their imagination,
using convergent, divergent, evaluative and visual thinking skills.

Art education provides a window
a connection into people in another place and time.
Art education encourages creativity using art skills and knowledge-
in order to create children utilise other Key Learning Areas
Maths- patterns.
Science- colours- mixing, tones, opposites.
Language Arts- communication- expressing ideas, discussing art works
reading or listening to directions.
HS&IE - history- people have made art in most cultures and most times, studying art from different times is like a window into that time and kids notice details they wouldn't pick up from a book or lesson. Recreating art from times past is also a wonderful way to add depth to a study of that time and place.
Physical ed- motor skills, some art materials are heavy and use a lot of muscle- clay in pottery and sculpting a heavy base.
How to Incorporate art into your homeschool.

Children need to see art to appreciate its beauty and power-
Look at pictures together, and talk about what you see, there are many lovely books with wonderful reproductions of great artworks and libraries have great collections.
Calenders often feature an artists well known works and can be easily collected and stored till you need them.
Visit art galleries and art shows.
Study different artists and different styles of art.Making art is fun.
How often in your school time do you really get to do something spontaneous and hands on?

Art can easily be included in your homeschool days-
it fits really well with unit studies or into set subjects,
especially science- nature journalling
Geography- salt dough maps or mountains or volcanoes, sketched or painted landscapes and History.

My personal goals for my kids are to teach them to be comfortable and familiar with how to use various art materials so they are willing to use them to express themselves freely.

The materials we use, we play with, but they learn as much from the art materials themselves as they do from me.

I am aiming for my boys to find success and pleasure in our art time.

We use a lot of montemarte art materials in our home, I find they have a good range, the are good value and quite good quality for our uses. I tend to pick up things as I plan them and I include art planning in my general homeschool planning.

I also give the more precious art materials to my boys at birthdays and solstices as gifts, they enjoy having their own supplies and use them in their own time.

We also use lots of recycled materials, there are always clean recyclable things around- paper, cardboard, tubes, bottles, lids containers etc, many can be used in assemblages or art works and others can be used to store art materials.

A couple of my favorite books for teaching art
Discovering Great Artists
MaryAnn F Kohl and Kim Solga

and

The Art Teachers Book of Lists
Helen D. Hume

The Internet is a wonderful source of inspiration and ideas
here are some of our favourites.

Coloured Pencil Art

Colored Pencil as Professional Art Medium

While colored pencils were once considered to be primarily for kids, throughout the years they have been steadily gaining respect amongst artists, galleries, and collectors. Artists are exploring the creative potential of this art-making medium, while art collectors and enthusiasts are marveling at their output!

Art Attack a fantastic collection of ideas taken from the popular television show- loads of fun to be had here.

smART kids and interactive site from the smArt museum in Chicago, very educational.

Watercolour secrets a free ebook

A selection of inspirational arty blogs-

Kathy Barbaro's Art Projects for Kids this is a fabulous blog, a real favorite in our homeschool, make sure you search through the older posts.

Jessica Camis' Art Smarts for Kids

Deep Space Sparkle, Patty's art lessons for kids.

Charva LeBarton's Art Teacher

Art with Mrs Smith

Teach Kids Art

Artist of the Week This one has not been updated for a while but still has some great resources.

On the road again

2011-02-27T22:41:00.006+11:00

15 years ago
I was travelling with the boys father
we had a bus and a doberman and a wonderful time
and now-

The boys and I are heading off into the wild blue yonder.

We are following the road
where ever it may lead us
Leaving our beautiful home at Maclean will be hard but we have a wonderful house sitter who will look after our feathered friends and our pets.And we do have a lovely home on the roadThis is Sunny- our 'Stealth Camper"
This is where One of the boys will travel when we are driving and with the seats dropped back Mr12 will sleep here, Mr7 and I will be in the bed in the shot above.This is where I will be driving with one of the boys beside me.

Sunny will be a stealth camper, because at night we will put up screens in the windows that will block all the light and give us 100% privacy on the inside. We should be able to park anywhere and just look like a van parked on the street, but we will be safely, comfortably snuggled up inside for the night.

We are planning on an 8 week journey through NSW and Victoria.
Hoping to catch up with friends and family and to just to spend some time together, the 3 of us, having fun and exploring new place, meeting new people and road schooling.

I am just taking the basics school wise as I think the boys will be learning so much anyway. We are taking MUS for maths and have copied the lessons onto a thumb stick to conserve power on the laptop, and I have photocopied the work sheets. For language arts we will be doing a travel journal- I am thinking the boys will cover L.A., creative arts, geography and some history in their journals, but we will also be doing copy work and narration and poetry Tuesdays- we are taking Henry Lawson, Banjo Patterson and Slim Dusty along for the trip. We are also taking our Australian History books- Our Sunburnt Country and The Wide Brown Land and will be visiting lots of museums and historic sites on our journey as well as the War Memorial in Canberra.

Aboriginal Studies

2011-02-09T15:54:00.005+11:00

The boys and I have been really enjoying our Aboriginal studies and I wanted to share some wonderful resources, I am sure there are many more but these 3 sites were fabulous for us.

DUST ECHOES (taken from the site)
The Dust Echoes series is a collection of twelve aboriginal dreamtime stories collected from the Wugularr (Beswick) Community in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia.

The stories were recorded as audio and then interpreted as short animated movies by some of Australia's most talented emerging animators, and have enjoy screenings at film and animation festivals all over the world, to great critical acclaim.

The Dust Echoes series was produced in two parts. In 2004, working with the Djilpin Arts Aboriginal Corporation in Arnhem Land, the first four animations were produced by the ABC in Association with Deakin University. In 2007, The ABC then went on to produce an additional eight animations, again working with Djilpin Arts. See individual animation credits for more details on each animation.

This website aims to further explore these beautiful stories, to educate and entertain young people in order to instill a respect and thirst for the wealth of indigenous culture and stories on our door step.

The Australian Museum (Taken from the site)

Storytelling is an integral part of life for Indigenous Australians. From an early age, storytelling plays a vital role in educating children. Stories help to explain how the land came to be shaped and inhabited; how to behave and why; where to find certain foods, etc.

Gathered around the camp fire in the evening, on an expedition to a favourite waterhole, or at a landmark of special significance, parents, Elders or Aunts and Uncles use the stories as the first part of a child's education.

Then, as children grow into young adults, more of the history and culture is revealed. Adults then take responsibility for passing on the stories to the following generations. In this way, the Stories of the Dreaming have been handed down over thousands of years.

All the storytellers you will meet on this site are active in keeping the stories alive and passing them on the next generation.

These are stories of the history and culture of the people, handed down in this way since the beginning of time, since the Dreamtime.

Indiginous Australiana (Taken from the site)

Indigenous Australiana is a site about the Australian Aborigines and their links to their past beliefs and culture and present day existance in European society. This site is a new site that has been redeveloped from the Adnyanathanha Aborigines of South Australia site created by these students entered last year. The Adnyanathanha group from the South Australian Flinders Ranges is covered in depth. Through the use of various media, the site aims to develop a wide variety of skills and broader knowledge about the Australian Aboriginal groups for people of all ages. It aims to develop a better understanding of the Australian Aboriginal culture and to counter negative stereotypes. The site focuses on the Dreaming stories of the Adnyamathanha people as well as thier environment, language, lifestyle, technology and visual arts. It also discusses the subject of reconciliation between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians and the eight key issues involved. There is an extensive activities section for teachers and students of primary and secondary schooling. It covers language, art, cultural and extended learning activities such as acrostic, image and word recongnition, crosswords with movable letters, scenes with moveable images, planning camp sites, analysing dreaming stories, critical thinking and source analysis activities. Frequent meetings were held as we found that we were able to work more effectively when working closely with each other. It was difficult to find free time as every one had to balance other commitments.

Dalmorton

2011-02-06T20:53:00.008+11:00

There is an old dirt road,
it was built by convicts between Grafton
and Glen Innes,
many many years ago. These days it is just a very picturesque track
along the Boyd River
and it has lots of magnificent scenery,
some beautiful camping and picnic areas, a ghost town and a really really old tunnel.Daddy and Mr7 found some kiwifruits and did some harvestingOur Ghost town was Dalmorton

a very interesting place that was once a thriving town of 5000 people and 13 pubs!
These days it is abandoned, state forest/ National Park with a rangers residence the only habited building, but back in the days of the gold rush, or when the timber getter's lived there...and our old tunnel is known as being convict built,
Mr12 found a micro batand on closer inspection,
turned out to be a whole family of micro bats
Mr7 and I were quite taken with this strangler fig,
growing on the inside wall of the tunnel,
with visions of a leafy cliff and tunnel in future years.Boys being boys they were starving to death by now
so we found a shady spotby the beautiful lively Boyd River
for our picnic,
complete with weeping bottle brushes and rocky gurgling rapids
followed by a lovely cool off on the riverthe water was so clean and freshand mightily powerfulpummeling uswith a lovely watery massagebliss

Maclean Floods January 2011

2011-02-02T16:02:00.005+11:00

Some images of the flooding here in Jan 2011We were so lucky, we have a river that does flood regularly, but it was a nice slow and gentle flood, living in our house during the peak was like being on a houseboat, the sparkling water reflecting into our safe and cosy house. It was so quiet with all the roads blocked apart from all the helicopters in the day time. The bats were not bothered at all.We were gripped to the media though, watching and listening with shock and horror at what was happening elsewhere in our poor flooded country.

Out and About~the local trawlers were tied up to the bridge over South Arm, out of the main Clarence River flowthe road to Lawrence

The Maclean showground

the levee bank

our engorged river

this house is on the other side of the river normally, not in the middle of it.

Some views of our backyard~

very waterfront for 5 days, this is around the peak and the water just went for miles and miles in every direction.

Some of our special backyard visitors~

Yaegl significant Aboriginal cultural sites

2011-02-01T22:44:00.008+11:00

The boys and I have started our new year of homeschooling.

Mr12 is starting high school level work at home and Mr7 is doing year 2-ish work. We are using some wonderful curriculum materials and the boys are very keen to use it.

One of the topics we are doing is Australian History and using 2 different spines-

Our Sunburnt Country from Downunder Literature

and

Australia, the wide brown land for me! from Adnil Press

we are starting out with Aboriginal history and headed off today on a tour of our local Aboriginal Peoples Significant sites. Our local mob are the Yaegl people around the lower Clarence but we might also look at Bundgalung people who traditionally occupied land north of the mighty mighty Clarence Rv and spend some time with some Gumbaynggirr people who have a wonderful cultural centre at Arrawarra and a yummy bush tucker cafe.

Our tour today was a self drive one

and we picked up a little pamphlet from the Maclean tourist info at Ferry Park

We learned so much
this is Ulugundahi Island behind the boys
it was an aboriginal mission in the early 1900s and Ulugundahi means ear in the local Yaegl language because the island is shaped like an ear.

This is Reedy Creek, the first Goorie camping area in Yamba
Mr7 thinks the semi permanent structures on the beach would be much nicer to live in back then than the big brick residences that dominate this lovely area today.

walking through our magnificent coastal bushland

we ended up on some magnificent beaches

and the boys found some sticks!

Mr12 had to test out his strength, picking up huge logs and rocks and pushing and pulling at everything he thought might budge.

So this was our wonderful homeschool classroom this afternoon

2 Healthy Babies

2011-02-01T22:14:00.005+11:00

Our lovelyEmerald hatched out 2 healthy baby chicks and we fed them and raised them and they grew up and left home and joined the wild flock way before we were ready :(We do know they are both well and alive and they come to visit Emerald and live out there with Saphire, and we don't really mind, they are happy , healthy and free and you can't wish much more than that for your children.

Miss Emerald has an Egg!

2010-10-12T12:08:00.005+11:00

Our lovely Emerald and her handsome Sapphire have finally laid an egg. We have been watching all the mating and nesting behaviour and have been eagerly awaiting the first egg, so it was with great joy Mr11 ran down the hallway to share the good news first thing this morning.

Sapphire has been very vocal and active all over the neighborhood this morning , we think he must be telling everyone. Our birds have free access in and out of their cage, so he really can share his good news all over the neighborhood.
Mr7 also observed the kookaburra couple we have been watching in one of our trees and noticed the gentleman kooka feeding his lady this morning, just like Saph has been feeding Em this morning, so he has surmised they might have laid their first egg this morning as well.

This has of course interrupted our day and our chocolate study, we simply had to research every thing about lorikeet breeding and there are endless questions about kookaburra breeding still to be answered, but I have manged to lure the boys back to the table with a bowl of chocolate salad, this is a bit of a Rockpoo l tradition, and is basically a bowl with mixed pieces of block chocolate in it and it did the trick nicely and they are now writing up and drawing food webs.

Chocolate

2010-10-11T09:59:00.006+11:00

It is the first day of term for NSW school students today, and it has been raining heavily for weeks, everything is wet and mushy, so it was a happy homeschool family who could stay at home today and watch the rain falling out our windows, although we did feel sorry for the kids trudging along to school whilst we were in our nice warm house and about to learn all about

C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E

I found a 12 lesson study guide at the Chocolate Exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago complete with history, recipes and quotes.I added a couple of likely lads, and some lovely books from the libray and we are set and as chocolate comes from the rainforest, we have a sweet week of school this week.

We have been getting some lovely visitors from the rainforest as well
This friendly lady King Parrot, or Queen Parrot as the boys call her is almost eating out of my hand and she gets right into Emeralds cage, but only when our rowdy lorikeets are not home. I wonder if she might be an escaped pet she is so quiet and friendly.

I am having a lot of trouble getting to update this blog living here, the only internet connection I have is a very very slow dial up and it doesn't cope very well with pictures. So I am sorry but blogging will be very erratic here at the moment and so will visiting everyone elses blogs.

Rainforest Unit study planning stage

2010-09-11T20:12:00.003+10:00

In this post I am going to store information for an upcoming unit study we will be doing, we are going to learn about rainforests- particularly Australian rainforests and flying foxes.

Rainforest Explorer contains a wealth of activities and resources about the Wet Tropics rainforests and their plants and animals. The library is packed with resources including rainforest videos, wildlife photos and activity sheets.

The many different activities are designed for use by both students and teachers. All activities are tailored to suit the Queensland school curriculum. There are also lots of great activities for after school or if your family plan to visit the rainforest.

You can browse through three different sections:

Preparatory to Year 3
Year 4 to Year 7
Year 8 to Year 9.

A Wonderful Squidoo Lens on Rainforests

Homeschool Share have a lovely unit on The Great Kapok Tree

Drawing lessons rainforest animals

Gondwana Rainforest types of Australia

Enchanted learning
Rainforest
Bats

Bats- creatures of the night

Loads of Bat links

Stellaluna resources
In search of Stellalunas family
Homeschool share unit

Visiting Homeschool Family

2010-09-11T10:48:00.004+10:00

Beaches to explore

Gardens to visit

Paths to follow

Rainforests to discover

Adventures to have

Friendships to build

lots of fun

beautiful weather

time to just be together

We have loved having our homeschool friends come to stay, and are looking forward to the next visit.

Sugar Cane Fire

2010-09-10T11:39:00.001+10:00

We had great timing last night on our way home and passed a sugar cane field as the farmer was burning it.
The power of the fire was awesome
the roar of soundthe heat

Meanderings

2010-08-07T13:36:00.005+10:00

This bridge can be seen from our new house and Mr11 has an ongoing love of bridges so he is thrilled to have this bridge in view when ever he wants to look.

It is called McFarlane Bridge and was opened in 1906 and the curved track for the counterweights was based on the work of 18th century French engineer B F de Belidor, all of this is fascinating stuff for my bridge loving history buff, but Mr7 and I are more interested in the pair of Brahmany Kites who nest up there in that purpose built nest cradle, you can see one perched on top of the big wheel and the other one in the nest, It will soon be spring and we will certainly be keeping an eye on what happens up there.

We are living in a sugar cane farming area here and the cane fields are bright green and vast, it is harvest time and on dusk the farmers burn the fields, creating an amazing orange glow, it is a brief burn though they are really only burning off all the blades of this giant grass to make the harvesting of the cane easier. We also have showers of black ashen grass blades, that are strangely beautiful (as pointed out by my friend Amala.)
The harvest machinery has been really interesting to the boys as well, loads of cane trucks rumble past on their way to and from the nearby sugar mill and the machinery in the fields as we drive by always starts a discussion.

We can see this boat from our home,
we live over there on the other side.

and this is a sunset last week, looking out our dining room window, it is very beautiful here.

Sadly we are unable to have ADSL broadband here and mobile wifi is patchy and slow so we are reduced to dial up and the slow uploading of pics.

A Beautiful Blogger Award

2010-08-06T20:01:00.003+10:00

Thank you my lovely friend Alecat from Serenades and Solace for awarding me as a beautiful blogger- I am honoured.

The regulations state the recipient of the beautiful blogger award must:
*Add a link and a note of thanks to the person giving the award,
*Pass the award onto the most beautiful blogs you love
*Share 7 things about yourself.

Blogging is such a peculiar pastime, I often feel like I am sitting here in my pj's and jotting down my thoughts or our days homeschool adventures and it is quite a solo experience, but when I read all of your lovely comments or am given an award or as has occasionally happened I meet a reader in real life I realise how nice that feedback is, how lovely to have others interested in what the boys and I are doing and even inspired by our activities. So thank you Alecat for your award and for sharing all you do on your lovely blog, I am often inspired by what you and Maestro and Mariposa are doing and it has been a lovely journey we have travelled together as we have developed our friendship online.

There are many beautiful Blogs that I love.
Here are 7.
Joannes beautiful photographs at Framed are a rare but special treat.

Moonbindery is a very talented and inspiring maker of hand made books.

Monika and her Bohemian Shadows is a delight, I enjoy her art, her thoughts and the inspirations she shares.

India Flint is an incredibly talented artist who does magic with natural dyes, her beautiful blog is not all those who wander are lost

I love to read what Ariad and her gorgeous kids are up to at Rainbow Love Farm

Kez's blog is another great blog I enjoy as a peek into anothers homeschool.

And the last but certainly not least beautiful blog I will share today is Barnacle Goose Paperwork's another fabulously talented artist writer and bookmaker.

And 7 things about me.

~I have just moved into a beautiful warm house with stunning river views and I am so happy about that. I have a drafting table and some shelf space permanently devoted to my art space- yay!

~After years and years without a bath tub I am having 4 or 5 long soaks in the tub each week. I take something to read and a cuppa and lie back in the warm and fragrant bubbles and R E L A X ahhh

~Some of my best friends live in my computer, I am a member of The Rockpool Homeschool forum and Milliandes art community for women and both of these online communities are wonderful safe supportive places than nourish me and many many other women. I feel blessed to have these communities in my life.

~I love to cook and to experiment with new recipes, we have been eating lots of fish from the local co op and I want to make a nice fish curry in the next few days.

~ I have a huge colony of red headed flying foxes living in some remnant rain forest near my home and I love them. I love the musky animal smell and the noises and the thousands of bats that flow through the sky just after sunset, and I love the ones that get in my garden and wake me at night, their cheerful chatter delights me, just don't tell the locals ; )

~I have pulled a muscle in my b.. last night at scouts, my gluteus maximus I think it is called and am hobbling around, but it was a great reason for a soak in the bath today. I hope it does not take too long to heal.

~I adore my kids and love our homeschooling lifestyle. I love seeing them learn, develop and grow.

~I am preparing a body of work and a portfolio to apply to a local art gallery to be an exhibiting artist in their gallery.

Long Absence

2010-07-29T11:27:00.003+10:00

We have moved to a new home and a have a new fig tree that I will need to post pictures of here, but I have been unable to get the internet connected at our new house yet and so have not been able to do much blogging!

Our new home is further down on the Mighty Clarence river and we have wonderful river views, we have a beautiful house with a lovely warm fire and a bath tub that Mr7 is enjoying most evenings and Mr11 and I are using often as well. A lovely big veranda where Emerald now reigns and all the opportunities that living in town offers.

Mr11 has started rowing with the rowing club and had a great time, he is also enjoying his increased independence and often walks, skateboards or rides his bike into town, both boys are starting at scouts tonight and we are already on friendly terms with the staff at the local library- they have the internet so we are dropping in fairly often.

Hopefully we will be back online soon.

Farewell our lovely Reiley Dog

2010-06-30T21:02:00.003+10:00

Our lovely Reiley dog

We fare welled another courageous canine friend today companion of many an adventure

supreme athlete

friend and guardian to two beautiful little boys

active homeschool membertireless, loyal and lovingwatcher of rising flood waters in pouring raincompanion and confidant.

We will all miss you lovely fellow,
Your barks will no longer guard our flocks at night,
Your tail will no longer greet us after we have been apart,
and your steady presence will no longer guide and protect us.

Farewell Reiley dog.

2010 Clarence Valley Home Educators Sports Carnival

2010-06-14T20:40:00.013+10:00

A good crowd attended our annual sports day and despite the rain we had families from Ballina, Lennox Heads, and Coffs Harbour as well as our local families.The intermediate long distance runners seconds after the start,and coming in for the finish after 2 laps.The littlies long distance, just after the start.Mr7 came in 2ndoff to the recording tentMr 11 doing discusMr7 showing his style in the littlies javelin Mr 11s winning long jumpMr7s discuss throwLong JumpThe Red Rangers lining up for the team relayMr 7 with the batonGreat leadership by our team captainMr 11 enjoying the relay

the competition was tough in the tug of war

The house cup
what a lovely trophy

The victorious Green Team after the presentation and victory lap.

lots of fun was had by all, new friends made and another successful day thank you to the wonderful people who organise this each year.

Lunartics

2010-06-08T20:57:00.003+10:00

Today we have been learning about the moon and all things lunar, so we became the lunartics :-)

It was Mr7s birthday on Saturday and we celebrated at a local pizza parlor with some friends. One of his presents was this wonderful book
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
It is such a wonderful book all about that amazing first flight into space, it is so well written and full of information. WE have read it and reread it, it is Mr7s new favourite book.

I also came across this great free offer from NASA
DVD Journey to the Stars
it comes with lesson plans and activity sheets.

We have our annual Clarence Valley Home Educators sports carnival coming up next Monday and I have been working on a paper mache surprise for the day.

Galaxies

2010-06-01T17:38:00.006+10:00

Today we learned how galaxies are continuosly expandingThey are getting bigger and bigger

and eventually they explode.
Mr11 has a smart new haircut.

Mr almost 7 made a rocket

and tried to power it with a balloon

and he made some beautiful galaxies with glitter.

Stars

2010-05-25T21:09:00.010+10:00

Oh My Stars! what did we get up to?We were thrilled to get a break in the cloud cover last night to get out and have a look at the sky with our binoculars, we went out before dinner and identified the Southern Cross and gazed at the moon. After dinner we went out again and everything had moved much to the delight of my boys.

We have been learning that stars have a life cycle-
(I love homeschooling I get to learn so much right along with my boys).
I had no idea stars were born, grew through various life stages and then declined to death.
Mr11 did his first ever web quest, and Mr6 and I made word stars to hang everywhere to play word games.

Of course stars have long been a topic or beauty, mystery and inspiration with many poets, songwriters and artists paying homage to them and a lesson on stars was just too tempting not to break out the pastels and have a little bit of Van Gogh Starry Starry Night play, accompanied by Don Maclean.

Mr6's pastel

Mr11's pastel

Squidoo Lens
Starry Starry Night
The Wonder of Stars and galaxies (including an astrophysics lecture)

Origami Stars
3 stars
mini star

Some more Space Links thanks Nicole.
NASAs Landsat
Canadian Space Agency - great teachers section here with lesson plans and image library

Sea and Sky lots of good school links

space.com great star info

Psst Karisma, I hope we didn't get you with that falling / disappearing star :-)

Launch Successful

2010-05-25T14:30:00.004+10:00

We have had a successful launch of our new term topic.

It started out a bit rocky with Mr6 not feeling 100%, so Mr11 read him a Magic School Bus book on space to set the mood.
Then we talked about ancient people and what they may have thought of the night sky, we looked at myths and legends and wondered what prompted people to start trying to understand the heavens and what they did with the knowledge they gained- a way to record the passing of time, a way to plan farming activities and navigation.

Today the boys have been learning about the first astronomers and we have been thinking about how mysterious the world really was back then.We read about Ptolemy and his belief that the world stood still and everything circled around it, then how Aristotle came up with the amazing concept that the Earth was not flat! So Mr6 did a little experiment with his ship the Purple Lady and he saw how the ship just disappeared at the edge-
but managed to slowly and evenly navigate around a globe, we marveled at the hundreds of years it took for Aristotle's radical theory to prove true.
We also looked at Copernicus and Galileo, Mr11 did a report on Galileo and learned a lot about this fascinating man and the consequences of being true to your science in that time we also covered Kepler's laws of planetary motion and Newtons discoveries.
After some lunch we looked at constellations and Mr11 did a pinprick southern cross.
The weather is cloudy and showery here at the moment which is a shame for our planned night time astronomical activities but the ducks are happy and so is the garden and the lorikeets.

History of Astronomy and Art Lessons

2010-05-20T21:34:00.003+10:00

From Creation Myths to the Big Bang

Astronomy Timeline

A History of Astronomy
this one has lots of links

A Brief History of Astronomy
University of California

Art

Space art lessons

Spheres in space

Space Activities

2010-05-20T13:24:00.004+10:00

Fun things to make and do

Work in a Space Journal
include L.A., handwriting,
art, experiments, research.

Design a Satellite

Build your own Satellite

Canon Creative Park

The Space Place - Nasa activities
inclubing building a solar sail, strong objects from flimsy materials.

Explore a satellites centrifugal force

Space alphabet with Mr6
A is for Astronaught, etc

Recycled art
space suit
space craft
diorama

Make a sundial

Design a little green man or woman

Online Live Telescopes free to play with

Bradford Robotic Telescope

NASAs MicroObservatory Robotic Telescope Network

New Unit Study SPACE

2010-05-19T14:52:00.009+10:00

Next week we are starting a new term, it will be our third term so far this year and we are donning our astro suits and heading out into space.

I am collecting resources at the moment and am going to share them here.
Web Sites-

David Reneke is one of Australia’s most well known and respected astronomers and lecturers, with over 40 years experience in astronomy.
This site was passed on to me from my Mum- thanks Mum, and has lots of great resources, links and a news letter.

Astronomy for kids
this one looks good for Mr6

Sydney Observatory
link for monthly skymap for the southern hemishpere

Southern Sky Watch
providing a monthly and yearly overview of what is happening out there.

Sky and Telescope Magazinewebsite for the magazine of the same name, loads of info here on all sorts of topics, tune up your telescope , news, astrophotography, etc, lots of great stuff including Stargazing with Galileo that is one I know my 2 will enjoy.

Nasa Kids Club has games and activities online

Star Child a learning centre for young astronomers, lots of resources here for teaching.

Amazing Space this one is built around the Hubble Space Telescope and has lots of info and teaching resources as well, including some pretty impressive graphic organisers for all of those lap book fans out there.

Kids Astronomy
a fun site from the kidsknowit network
Places to Go

Australian Telescope Array at Narrabri Observatory

Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium
In the Brisbane botanic gardens, Mt Coot-tha

Mt Kent Observatory near Toowoomba in Queensland

Mt Stromlo Observatory Canberra

Siding Springs Observatory near Coonabarabran, and the wonderful Warrumbungles

More links

The Science Spot lots of space links

Squidoo Amateur Astronomy lens

and some for my history fan

Astronomy History

History of Astronomy - loads of interesting links here

Ancient astronomical tools- ask an astrophysicist

Books

DK Astronomy

Astronomy by Dan Green

Of Numbers and Stars the story of Hypatia

Astronomy for Begginers

A childs intro to the night sky

We have taken the telescope to be fixed, printed out the sky maps and now I need to gather all the space books onto the homeschool bookshelf and hang up new posters.

International Museums Day

2010-05-17T18:28:00.006+10:00

Mr11 and his lovely friend and I had a wonderful day on Sunday-
"Discover Adventure in Grafton International Museums Day 10 set to be better than last year From 1pm on Sunday 16 May the Friends of the Grafton Regional Gallery will host the International Museum Day Discovery Trail, amassive CBD wide event!! Enjoy a family friendly free discovery trail around the Grafton CBD starting at the Gallery, with stops atGrafton Branch Library, Clarence Valley Conservatorium and the Prince Street Recycling Station. The day will finish with activities and afternoon tea at the gallery. It’s an afternoon to enjoy our beautiful town and join the family for some fun and adventure.In conjunction with Clarence Valley Council as part of the Healthy Active Scheme the Friends of Grafton Gallery have joined forces with other collecting institutions to host a discovery trail stopping at four different locations around the CBD. Adults and children alike will delight at the wide range of fun activities on offer; there really is something to please just about everyone.A discovery map pointing the way around the day will be available at the first stop at Grafton Regional Gallery from 1pm. Using your map you will be able to follow the trail around the CBD and participate in the art activities, games, tours and more at each stop. There will be opportunities to win prizes and be creative.At Grafton Branch Library, who are hosting a special Sunday opening for the event you can learn all about the new library for Grafton and design you own fantasy library with everything you can imagine included. This is a chance to think about how important our Library collections are to the community. Selected drawings created on the day will form a Library display after the event. The Library will also be open for loans and returns.The Clarence Valley Conservatorium on Villiers Street will open its doors for an interactive music making opportunity where the extensive collection of musical instruments will be on display, many of them available to try out. The talented musicians on staff at theConservatorium will offer impromptu performances and information about the wide range of services on offer.The day includes a strong environmental theme with a stop at the Prince Street Recycling Collection Station.Where Suzanne Lynch the Clarence Valley Council Environmental Education Officer can help you create recycled art work while providing information about the importance of recycling and how to use the recycling stations located all over the valley.Stroll back to the gallery for art activities based around the fabulous exhibitions on display, prizes for completed Discovery Trail quizzesand an opportunity to be one of the few people in the world to see inside the hollowed Collection Room, full of art treasures. The collection room tour will focus on work acquired through the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award (JADA), the Grafton Regional Gallery’s flagship biennial exhibition of contemporary drawings. At the gallery you can also try your hand at macramé and marbling techniques in the Hippy Craft section inspired by Chester Harris:Posters from the Aquarius exhibition and listen to local aboriginal artist Alison Williams tell stories inspired by her work in the A focuson the Aboriginal Collection exhibition.
The Friends of Grafton Gallery will also be offering a selection of delicious treats for afternoon tea in the beautiful courtyard.All activities, games and tours are free making the event a great option for the whole family. If you would like more information about how to come on the Discovery Trail on the 16th call the gallery on 6642 3177 or visit the gallery website at www.graftongallery.com.au . Bookings for the gallery collection room JADA tours are essential if you would like to participant in that component of the day.The day is a JADA fundraiser funded through the Healthy Active Scheme."

The Grafton Bridge-

2010-05-14T21:17:00.000+10:00

Graduation

2010-05-13T11:16:00.002+10:00

Congratulations Daddy
We are very proud of you and the four years of hard work you put in.

Adventure Park Coffs Harbour

2010-05-07T08:36:00.005+10:00

my beautiful boys

2010-05-06T19:47:00.001+10:00

we had a photo shoot

Weathering the Years

2010-03-23T10:28:00.005+11:00

It was Daddy's birthday yesterday,and to mark the passage of time,we headed to the beachto see some weathering and erosion.We went to Blue Pool at Angorie,on the NSW North Coast.It was a beautiful sunny afternoonwe even had a play in the parkand we had so much fun.Happy Birthday Daddy
We love you.

Pangaea

2010-03-18T13:05:00.003+11:00

We have been learning about continental plates and plate tectonics today.
The boys have been fascinated with the theory's of plate tectonics.
Pangaea to Gondwanaland and Laurasia.
We have cut out the continents and made our own little puzzles to piece the continents together and move them around.

There are some great clips showing plate tectonics on you tube
and an interactive animation at Origins: Antarctica:
One other resource we are finding really help full is a free text book online Earth Science
and another lovely book arrived in the post today-
DK Smithsonian Institute Earth- by James F. Luhr

We are slowly getting back into the rhythm of our homeschooling days, it is amazing how disruptive 2 weeks holidays can be. When Mr11 was younger and we followed the 'school' year timetable and had a long 6 week break in summer he would have forgotten so much and we had to do a lot of catching up, it must be so much harder with a whole class full of kids.

Earth Science

2010-03-16T15:46:00.006+11:00

Our unit study this term is Earth Science

We started today and made some new workbooks,
that is Mr6's title page,
Some of the books we are using are
Children's Encyclopedia of Earth- Michael Allaby
The Magic Schoolbus- Inside the Earth
My 2 love the Magic Schoolbus and tell me
if they could go to Miss Frizz's school they would.
Rocks and Fossils
Dinah Zikes Great Science Adventures-
Discovering Earths Landforms and Surface Features
Planet Earth Inside Out -Gail Gibbons
Australian rocks and minerals - John Child
Geology Rocks
DK Eyewitness Books Earth

and while we have been away so much has happened-

Mr 6s garden has grown so much,

he is eating a cucumber he just picked

Emerald has found a very special friend.

Meet "Saphire", he is Em's mate and they are doing lots of spring things here,
they both freely come and go from her cage
and we have put in a nest box for them in an old water box.
There is a lot of rustling going on in there,
we can hand feed Saphire now.

look what has happened to Mr6's little Nutmeg-
they grow so fast, she lives out in the chook dome now,
and perches up the top with the big chooks,
she is still very friendly and rides on Mr6's shoulder.

Holiday March 2010

2010-03-16T15:01:00.006+11:00

The boys and I have just had 2 weeks off
and we went on a holiday.
We went down to visit Nanny and Poppy. Stopping at the spectacular Ebor Falls on the wayand visited the Old Dubbo GaolThey loved the stocks-Gelato's at the Molong Gelato Factory were deliciousas we headed down to Canberra to see the
Masterpieces From Paris Exhibition
and were amazed,
it is a big collection and there were lots of people,
If you can get to see it, it is wonderful.The boys were excited to see Parliament Houseand I loved all the public art everywhere.
Here are the boys and Nanny
looking at a giant Bower birds Bower.
Holidays are so much fun.

snakes

2010-03-14T22:01:00.001+11:00

My boys love snakes, and all animals really- we went to the Wellington Vintage Fair and it was rained out, luckily the snake man was there and the boys found him.

Felting Frenzy

2010-03-03T15:41:00.005+11:00

I have been interested in felting for ages
and have done a little bit with the boys in the past.

Last weekend I went and did a feltmaking workshop

and I have well and truly caught the bug.

It is such a magical transformation
to take some wool and turn it into a piece of felt.Here are some pretty pieces I made
being modeled by the beautiful little unicorn
my lovely friend from Lillipilli Dreaming recently sent me.
These are felted river stones, so soft and yet so hard.
felt is so versatile-
these bright magenta sushi beads were fun,
they might be nice buttons as well.
I love the sculptural ability of the wool
and I love the texturesand the colours.This is a cover for a journal and it is made
with untreated merino and decorated with roving.
I think I am hooked.

Term 1 round up.

2010-02-24T14:56:00.001+11:00

We are winding up first term here. We are trying a five term year and doing eight week terms as I find I am usually a bit burnt out by eight weeks and we are all ready for a break. Even though I have not been getting online to blog about our art activities this term we have still been doing them, we have been covering the impressionists and I have been using a mixture of resources to teach the boys. We have been continuing on with Discovering Gre at Ar tists and we have also been using Monet and the Impressionists

MonetWe did some fun activities for Monetone of them was a reflectionand the other a cloudscape
Renoirtime for some drawing
faces

Degas
oil pastel resists to show motion

Mary CassatIt was nice to finally do a woman so we did a mini unit on her and Mr11 did some lapbooking into his art journal.Mr6 needed to do some lapbooking as well so he did some art words.

When we did Gaugin the boys loved the fact he sailed around to different countries and we talked about how that must have made such huge impressions on himas he did a lot of his images outlined in black,
we 'drew' our pictures with pva on black paperand when they were dry we coloured them in with oil pastels.I love oil pastels on black.
Mr11 being 'assisted' by Miss Emerald

Cezanne

This was our still life a la Cezanne
Mr6 carefully selecting his water colours
Mr11 loving his own new water colour set.

SeuratIt was fun and fascinating learning about Pointillismwe tried various different dot applications

Calliabette
simply because Mr11 loves this pictureParis Street, Rainy Day

Van Gough

One on my favourites
Mr11 did Sunflowers
and Mr6
and I did Starry starry night.

We have all really enjoyed our journey through art history.

On our 2 week break we are going to Canberra to the National Gallery to see the French Masterpieces - Yippee.

Next term although the boys have begged to do art again, I think 2 terms in a row are enough for a while and we will be doing a study on earth sciences.

In the Garden

2010-02-24T08:58:00.005+11:00

Mr6 found a little friend last night

Just after a downpour,
we could hear all his friends calling
from the garden so we went for a wander

whilst the pasta bake cooked in the bbqOne of Miss Ems friends was in the bird feeder,
the birds were all over the garden
enjoying the cool refreshing change after all the heat.The sweet potato patch was looking very happy
just don't look at that pesky onion grass
some herbs in the herb spiralthese beautiful fragrant blossoms
are on Mr11s lemonade treeThis is the garden the boys and I made for Daddy
to welcome him home from Uni after 2nd year.
some new babies coming on.
Baby pumpkins, baby corn and
a lovely little baby gardener
Mr6 helped plant the seeds.some chooks in the chook dome
working hard in the garden Mr6 being followed by his little shadow
on some of our garden paths.
These paths have worked really well
they are just newspaper laid on top
of the grass covered generously with sawdust
and have lasted about a year
- its time to re do them now.
and as we wander back
up to check on dinner,
one last look back over the garden

Clarence Valley Wanderings

2010-02-19T21:31:00.006+11:00

Life has been so busy here this year.

We had no Internet for a month
and it is proving very difficult
to get back into a routine online.
So my blog and my much loved forums
The Rockpool Homeschool
and Liberated Learning
are sadly taking a back seat at the moment.
Now that we have broadband,
the boys are spending hours online!
Mr11 is doing year 7 on Skwirk
just to fill in any gaps I might have left out.
Mr6 is still doing Reading Eggs
and also has a Skwirk subscription
so the computer is working hard.

We have been out and about
We took a trip to Angourie for World Wetlands DayVisiting both Blue Pool and Green Pool.The boys were thrilled to spot some Brolga's
in a harvested cane field just south of LawrenceThey flew right over usWe have been having so much rainsince we watched Mary Poppins
walks under umbrellas,
have been very popular,
often accompanied by a tune.

chim chiminey ....
and the sky has been magical.

Mr6's new pet

2010-02-11T18:31:00.003+11:00

Mr6 has been wanting a new pet since his darling Miss Meggy passed.

We have discussed to possibility of adopting a pony, a giraffe, an elephant!

Luckily for us he has decided a baby chicken would be perfect.Her ( we are hoping it's a her) name is Nutmeg!

and our little one is in love with his new little pet.

Gainsborough

2010-02-10T14:43:00.003+11:00

We learned about Thomas Gainsborough last year but I have been unable to get online for ages and so I am finally blogging again.Here is Mr11 focusing on his picture

This is our dining/ school table covered with an old shower curtain
a cosy little spot for watercolouring.

Mr11s finished piece

Mr6's watercolour landscape.

It is lovely to be back online,
we are in week 6 of our first term of the year.
I have planned on 5 eight week term for the year.

Vermeer

2009-12-10T14:15:00.004+11:00

We have been looking at some beautiful works by Vermeer today.
I found a wonderful lens on Squidoo
and these are our efforts

Heat Wave

2009-12-09T22:01:00.003+11:00

It was an absolute scorcher in Grafton yesterday.

Luckily we had the opportunity to spend the day at the pool

and the boys took advantage of the water slide with hardly any other kids around.

Carl Linnaeus

2009-12-09T11:04:00.005+11:00

Another fascinating man today.
Carl Linnaeus.
"The Father of Taxonomy"

His fascination for and love of nature was evident.
He made an in depth study of plants and animals
and devised the system of naming, ranking and classification we still use today.-Genus species.

Linnaeus gave names to and concise descriptions of 7,700 plant species and 4,400 animals,
he designated humans as Homo sapiens.

Linnaeus was an inspirational and influential man and has a society in London
named after him who have been cultivating the Science of Natural History in all its branches for 200 years.

We are looking at his botanical drawings and the high level of observation and accuracy used for scientific records.
We are also enjoying learning about so many amazing people, the boys convesations are peppered with new phrases and thoughts, yesterday at the pool they were wondering haw Leonardo or Michelangelo might have designed the water slide.

The boys both started with some sunflowers
Mr10 moved on to a weed
and Mr6 chose a fishbone fernIn our web wanderings today we came across a lovely site about tree farming- REAL TREES 4 kids and it has some great information and activities, divided into years and a section for teachers as well. It is also relevant for christmas trees.

Rembrandt Portraits

2009-12-07T21:47:00.003+11:00

We really concentated on looking at the shadows-looking at the light and painting it brighterand looking at the dark and painting it.We used acrylics today
and we didn't worry about getting it right,
we just worked on the light and dark

Rembrandt

2009-12-06T10:00:00.004+11:00

When we looked at Rembrandt we most enjoyed his delicate sketches

in sepia, sanguine, charcoal and white.

We loved his lions and elephants and his childrenMr6 loved his philistines in shiny helmets.
My darling Mr6 is very much enjoying his collection of dress ups at the moment and I never know quite who will greet me when he comes out of his bedroom.

El Greco

2009-12-06T09:25:00.003+11:00

This Greek born painter was most famous in Spain.

We loved his atmospheric landscapes like View of Toledo
but we were most inspired by his long tall figures
and thought it might be time for some collage.(sorry about the sideways view of Mr10)

Michelangelo

2009-12-06T08:47:00.002+11:00

Wow,
we are learning about some truly amazing and inspiring men at the moment
- perfect role models for my boys.

The wonderful Michelangelo has amazed us with his stunning sculptures and paintings. Mr10 is most impressed by the diversity of talents and skills mastered.

My boys are used to their mad mother and her 'weird' requests ;-)
so I asked them to climb under the table and paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

They could feel some of the challenges faced by Michelangelo in the four years plus that he took to paint the chapel. Paint dripping onto them, the difficulty of holding up your arm and looking after palettes and water jars. I use old shower curtains as messy mats for all the messy activities we do inside, we have 3 of them and they are so handy, I can just peg them onto the clothes line and hose them off when they get dirty. It was also a lot of fun as they lay there painting listening to me read them a book about Michelangelo's life.Mr10 chose to do a mother and child,
oh and can you tell he is rather fond of castles?

Albrecht Durer

2009-12-05T22:23:00.005+11:00

When we started looking at this great German artists works we were really amazed at his prints.

His Rhinoceros is marvelous.
His wood block print were so delicate and the shading so beautiful.
We thought we would like to try making some prints of our own.
Unfortunately I didn't have any suitable pieces of wood we could carve into so we used some of the stack of foam trays we get from the supermarket when we buy packaged meat. They worked wonderfully well. We could 'carve' into them using a pen or pencil, and a few more of the larger ones were perfect for printing trays, one to hold the ink and one to apply the in to our printing plate (carved meat tray) and a final one to use to hold our paper in to print onto.

Leonardo da Vinci

2009-12-05T20:41:00.004+11:00

Continuing on our journey through the Renaissance years
we have been busy doing lots of art and lots of swimming in the hot weather we have been experiencing.

I gave the boys a free choice when it came to Leonardo,
Mr10 built some of Leonardo's amazing machines.

They both chose to do a copy of the Mona Lisa

Mr6 wanted to use his watercolours and I think he did a fabulous job all on his own.

Mr10 is much more a traditionalist so chose to use his oils.He looks rather comfortable here mixing up his colours.

We loved learning about Leonardo and spent a full week,
he was such an amazing man.

The New Pool

2009-11-26T09:32:00.004+11:00

It has been so hot here and that has inspired up to put up our new little pool.The groung looks pretty level but actually had quide a drop
so we needed to even it up

It is a set and fill one- relatively quick and easy and bargain priced.
Dad is a bargain hunter and got it last year on special at the end of summer
we saw it recently for $300 more than what DH paid.

We have had smaller set and fill pools before and wanted to set this one up in a more managle way. It needed a solid base that was level and we made ours with sand. We used weedmat on the bottom a flexible solid plastic garden edge and topped our pad with the groundsheet that came with the pool and folded the weedmat over the top.
In theory this will minimise the sand getting into the pool, allow the water to freely drain away and allow the lawn mower and whipper snipper to be used right beside the pool. We are considering pavers or maybe some type of pebbles over the weedmat in the future.The whole family worked together to get it done.
Our dog Reiley was supervisorMiss Em found a nice high spot to keep an eye on things
Once the pad was all finished the rest was relatively quick and easy.
Laying out the pool on the pad
Inserting the poles that make up the frame
sitting nicely on our new pad
ready to fill
filling it up

Mr10 is pretty keen to test the waters.

We have some shade sails that we will put up over the pool and will need to tidy up the ground surface as well but we were all in it yesterday afternoon and it is going to be hot again today.
I can see a long hot summer with lots of cooling off in the pool in our future.