Today's harvest

I was supposed to have the egg plant in there but forgot and chopped it up for dinner all ready.

Some art and some work

The idea for the art project was to blend to make a circle....DD8 gets a bit frustrated with art some times but she couldn't let DS5 show her up.

Both of them did really well.

Both kids now have display boards of their own and some weeks we seem to fill them up on the first day and others we are spending so much time outside and doing stuff that they stay empty. We each have a shelf top to display crafts or other 3d objects as well.

My bounce

A great home ed gathering heaps of kids all jumping in a really hot room.

I think this will be a great winter time activity

A great birthday

DS5's best mate is turning 5...woop woop.

We're very lucky that my girlfriend has two kids the same as mine and we have sooo much in common.

Passing of animals

Poor DD8 is having a bit of a hard time with her animals.

First she's lost her chicken Coconut. Coconut is the first chicken she ever brought with her own money many years ago. She was pretty old but its always sad when you loose an animal. DD8 spent many hours before Coconuts death giving her hugs and talking to her.

Then we had little Rabbi to stay for a few days. Yes its a pest but its a baby and children need to learn about life and love.

We tried very hard with Rabbi but in the end it just gave up. Sadly we've been given Rabbi's brother or sister now too which I don't think anyone is very pleased about.

Poor little thing.

DD8 is very angry with the vet for not taking the rabbit and she just does not understand. She's informed me when she is a vet she will take any animal that needs her help.

Steve the crocodile hunter

Oh wow...how did we get onto this?

Late one night we started watching Steve with Komodo dragons. Kids are totally hooked.

We the got countdown cards from granddad...Ds5 found the Komodo dragon in the pile...very excited!

So now they are watching again about African crocodile.

The talk about the Komodo dragon has gone of for a while...really made an impact 

Rabbit

So we were trying out the minecraft homeschool when I popped out to put on the washing and found this!

Eek!

Dd8 is straight into looking after it. She told me the other day she wants to be a vet...which is continuing on from our last visit to the bird recovery unit.

Ds5 not so sure ... Is it a rabbit or a rat?

Vet says it's a pest...sigh

Argh do I really want to have peter rabbit in my house?If it's a rabbit and not a rat!

My girl friend managed to get some milk into him so it's still alive.

The endless field trip day

We were heading to Auckland to the dentist. When doing something like that I like to make a fun stop too.

My mum was also coming into Auckland from Thailand....and her plan was late and late and really late...so we had to keep extending the day.

Fish market was great.

DS5 got to see a flounder which the cat sole from the fishmonger in his latest book.

We got to see eels...just like they caught with grandpa.

They were totally amazed by crayfish and spent 10mins watching the live swim around...this followed on into the wearable arts show we saw later at the museum...they were very excited to see the outfit. 

The water front gave us hours of fun.

The container with books and piano were interesting to...Dd8 wants to bring down some old books next dentist visit.

Water play...oh every child's dream

DD8 was so excited to see this 'sky bridge'...it's just like I made in minecraft...let's go and see!

Totally loved it!

This matches our social studies know your place and 'our tree'

Lots in the news at the moment so not their greatest love...

So we were stuck in Auckland late with two tired kids playing games on their iPads...had to laugh as they started playing 'scratch' computer club...and maths fish.

Preserving grapes

DD8 has been hiding out with DS5 in the grape vine for the past week...so I felt I best get in before they are all gone.

5 grapes with light sugar and tomatoe in baby jars...not sure how they are going to do as I've never used these jars before.

February 19 2015

Nice day...bit hot but we made it.

Computer club ended up with a lot of soggy looking kids struggling to use their brains but they still loved it.

Minecraft has been having a bit of a hammering as the heat keeps them inside and away from the windows with as little movement as possible...but I'm starting to see they pinning look for outside.

The kids were fascinated with the cat this morning as he attempted to catch a black bird...everyone ended up laughing...bird and children but not the cat as the bird just kept on hopping.

Lego WeDo robot

Activities for LEGO WeDo in Scratch 1.4+


Brightsparks

Tomatoes

I never know how much I need and the tomatoe sauce goes so fast...so photos

Not sure if all the jars have sealed but we'll know soon.

Gym

Both children have loved gym off and on for a few years now.
Last year both of them got very board with the large amounts of waiting and big classes. So this year I've tried to get smaller less waiting for a tern and both classes running at the same time to cut back the waiting in that part.

DS5 is the smallest of the group but is not put off

DD8 has moved into a floor routine group which is really working well for her

DS5 first time in a bridge...makes my stomach curl just watching

Plant identification

Every so often OM ask that DD head out and learn the names of different plants. She's pretty good at this.

Some one once said to me that most children of today can name something like 100 brands while on TV but not 5 plants.

While I can't say that my kids know 100 plants they really have no idea on brands as we don't have TV...lol

We are very lucky here to have access to lots of plants. We often walk to our local waterfall which is through native bush...beautiful! 

We may take a step further with plants as DS is very concerned about how toxic plants are...I think its something he picked up while at Playcentre and the whole Deadly Nightshade thing with the teacher there. He will often run to tell me that there is a plant somewhere and that a child has touched it.

Leaf work

Part of OM today DS5 is working on classifying objects. The suggestion was to use leaves.

I'm not sure that DS5 had that spark moment so we might try again with some other objects.
Maybe lego ;-)

DS5 has really enjoyed using a magnifying glass and is very interested in the different types of leaves. Flax and Ringaringa have been placed in the same pile. But Gorse and Tea Tree are similar because they are spiky but not the same in DS5 view...he recalled that Tea Tree and Totra are the same.

We did get a few things into separate piles