My mum is in town! She lives in Perth, Australia so it is not often that I see her. We are all very excited and all of my extra minutes are spent catching up with her. (That is…not blogging!)
When you haven’t blogged for a day it is very easy to not write the next day and days slip by like money through your fingers.
My children are beside themselves having their Aussie grandma about and have been doing everything from giving her tours of the library to teaching her how to trampoline. I have to say also that it is nice to have my mum around to bounce ideas off and to attract my children’s attention, so I can get on with organizing their afterschool classes.
Today in our library, we noticed a copy of a homeschooling magazine the library subscribes to. It was called the Homeschool Newslink. I know of no other family homeschooling in my town, as our town has great public schools. I sat down and had a browse through it and although it is based in California, I felt like I was part of a much larger community. I thought I might even subscribe to the online version.
…or better still I will read the library’s copy!
August 19th, 2009 | Category: Family | Leave a comment
So…I’m stting at breakfast at our miniscule local diner where the pancakes are outrageously yummy and casually gazed out the window. In the paddock across the street an enormous rocked moved. I blinked and looked again and believe it or not…it was an elephant. I wasn’t close enough to tell whether it was an African or Asian one. So we all had a look out the window and oohed and ahhed and went about our breakfast. Then another elephant came out and then another.
I have been coming to this area for about 15 years on weekends and have never seen elephants; llamas, ponies, camels, goats and sheep, but never elephants. I was impressed.
August 16th, 2009 | Category: Family | Comments (1)
Chuckles, animal lover that she is, loves visiting the Humane Society. I don’t like going as I can’t stand seeing those poor animals confined in those tiny cubicles and how deafening it is when they all bark. Chuckles has to beg me to take her. Today was one of the days she talked me into it.
You see, she has come up with a research project where she will have to go there every two weeks to collect data…for the whole year. She wants to persuade everyone to stop buying puppies from pet shops and adopt them instead from a shelter and wants to know everything about how shelters work and the plight of unwanted dogs.
Everything. Every detail.
Today she went in to get an appointment with the manager of the shelter to find out if she could come in for 20 minutes every two weeks to collect information. This afternoon she is writing a letter stating all the reasons she needs to find out this information and a list of the data she would like to collect an what she intends to do with it.
I am hoping that this turns into an indepth, long term project for her as it is coming purely out of her deeply held compassion for animals.
August 13th, 2009 | Category: Family | Leave a comment
I suddenly realized that I am starting homeschooling in two weeks. I can’t believe it. I was lost in this summer fog and now suddenly I am juggling activities and tweaking curriculum, ordering last minute materials and rearranging my classroom. I’m nesting!
It’s nice to start a new year. I remember starting school. I remember coming home from school on the first day with pads of writing paper that were stapled at the top. We had to cover everything in brown paper. I remember the smell of the paper and the fresh, white appearance of a new pad, full of promise. I remember the rolls of brown paper and the Clag glue! I used to be excited about starting school.
I decided to start school August 31st. We will establish a routine during that first week and then join 400 other homeschooling families in Disneyworld for the week following. Disneyworld is hosting a homeschoolers program, complete with classes at all of the parks. This will be Speed’s first time in Disneyworld and he doesn’t know about it yet! Last year I would have been worried about missing a week of “school”. This year I know better.
I am excited. I am far less concerned about the outcomes as I was last year. They will do just fine. Bring it on, world!
August 12th, 2009 | Category: Family | Comments (2)
Finally we had a ninety degree day and humidity. Just like a regular summer. It’s particularly hot for me because I’m not into shorts…or actually any summer attire, especially not bathers. That’s right, I’m in jeans and I’m staying that way.
Of course I chose today to build the Lego League table.
We got the Lego League mat, a 4 x 8 field mat where our team is going to display and run their robot. It is very cool. This year the team will be designing a smart car/vehicle. The theme is Smart Moves and we don’t have the actual challenge yet so we are in getting ready mode. The team will have to do a research project and build a robot…but first things first, the lego table.
For me this meant 2 trips to Home Depot. I was a 2 x 4 short and needed an extra can of spray paint when I got home from the first trip. The Lego table is designed to hold the Lego field mat at waist level whilst the children demonstrate their creations in competitions. It is basically a 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood, bordered by 2×4’s painted black. Underneath are stiffeners that can be attached to a pair of saw horses so the table is secure at the correct height. Then you build a structure to install 2, 4 foot florescent lights that light up the table. I will take a photo when I am done.
I didn’t get too much help doing this from Chuckles. She wilted after about 3 minutes in the hot garage. I forgot how toxic spray paint is in this no wind, tropical situation. She spent time making Lego accessories for the Lego challenge instead. They are very cool. There is the crash test car, ramps, sensors…. very easy for the parent to take over here….but I resisted. I really wanted to make the crash test figure.
It’s all good and I am happy for us to get started on our little Lego adventure.
August 10th, 2009 | Category: Family | Comments (2)
