Easter Gym

The last day of gym.

Its been a very hectic few weeks and we're all very tired and rushed off our feet.

Looking forward to a holiday and a slow down.

Kids have had an amazing time at gym this term.

DD8 has decided that she might want a break next term but DS5 is totally into it and wants more. 

We have handstands all the time. While we are waiting in lines. Waiting for dinner. Doing school work. Waiting for the computer. Waiting for the bathroom.

Run and hide game 

Who can do a cartwheel ?

DD8 working her way up to amazing stuff

DS5 and the boys learning to walk on their hands

DS5 works with his instructor on 'skin the cat'

DS5 not really sure about all this certificate thing

Bird Houses

This project is again a bit of a cross over with both kids.
DS5 was to make a bird house out of a milk carton...I think what we ended up with was better.
The lovely man at the local ITM took the plan from the school book and cut all the wood to size while we were entertained by two older builders who were building a small frame inside the ITM store room.
 

DD8 works out how to put the pieces together

DS5 trying too

Phew this is hard work....6 pieces to fit together and the slope of the roof was not a great angle to really see

I think I've got it...no I don't want help...no I don't want to pre-drill

DS5 was quite happy to pre-drill and bash with Daddy's hammer his nails.

DD8 very proud to of done this whole project on her own.

Minecraft play date

We had a minecraft play date on Friday.

Wow so cool.

4 kids swapping from Xbox to iPad to PC.

We then manage to get in some food and some play time...then off to circus school

Was great fun...lol...all the class was made up of Homeschoolers

Foot prints learning story

We started off DS5 and I grabbing hold of the cat and a cup of water.
We took the cat outside and dunked his foot in the water then stamped it on the concrete...the cat was most patient. We finally got a good print and let him go...he proceeded to drink the rest of the cup of water while DS5 and I carried on.
We traced our own feet. DS5 pointed out how BIG my foot was in such a tone that I sounded like an elephant...lol.
Then we went onto the OM website and clicked through to the links to follow some more tracks. (I do have a tracking book but can't seem to lay my hands on it when I needed it...argh!)

We started off with the cat then the dog...DS5 hates dogs. We looked at pigs, cows and possums.
We drew the chicken foot and laughed about how it looked.
DS5 was starting to look grumpy and not wanting to draw and foot prints....
Then DS5 took over the computer controls and started to fall down the rabbit hole so to speak.

He wanted to see what a Huhu bugs foot prints would be like (we have a dead one on the nature table at the moment)...we spent ages looking at the various photos of the Huhu.
DS5 didn't seem all that fazed with the idea of people eating them as he referred back to the "rot squad" with magic school bus. Had I eaten one - No - but Daddy has...then there were more bug photos with wasps and bees with nests in the ground...which lead him to looking at cicadas which he was most fascinated with.

He spent ages looking at the colours and types.
He clicked on a few with trout eating them and questioned a little about that then went back to looking at more colours.
He clicked away on a drawing and ended up looking at old photos of railways being built..then discovered the back button and went back to cicada.
He looked at the lifecycle but which time DD8 had joined in and they both started talking about how the freshly hatched 'bug' looked like a fish. They talked about the shells they had found (the latest one from h/s camp I had to wear as a brooch)
They spent a few more minutes looking over the cicada and then onto the birds eating them.
Swallows seem to be the main interest.
DD8 from her studies on animals this week wondered how many eggs/babies were in the nest...they pondered over the colour and shape of the nest...laughed about how they looked like some movie they had watched in the past....

Then in was morning tea.

Homeschool camp

What a wonderful event. Each year Whangarei Home Educators Support Group - WHESG hold a camp. Its moved around a little but mostly beside the beach...cause there is just so much to do.

UNO...oh just the best game for little ones and big ones.

 There was hours of running and playing tag or spot light, horse riding and beach going...bridge jumping and laughing. DS5 was a bit blown away by all the kids but he soon found himself running round with the rest of the gang and really looking relaxed about the environment.

This was just a short walk to the shop to get an ice cream. It turned into a long while at the beach 

DD8 takes the plunge

DD8 cheered on

Swing ball was a bit of a favourite of DS5

DD8 and DS5 were so torn between staying at camp or heading back home to circus school.

Camp won out as soon as the circus equipment came out.

All time best activity is bridge jumping

Mental notes for next time...bring Daddy, stay longer and take better food!

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.

Lego WeDo robot

Activities for LEGO WeDo in Scratch 1.4+


Brightsparks

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

Art - printing leaves

Painting leaves then pressing them into paper

Know your place

Part of Oak meadows grade 4 is understanding your environment that you live. History of and the lay of the land it's structure.

So we've been taking walks.

Ds5 was totally floored when we came at our house from a different direction 

He did not feel it was his home.

Science with fruit

Ds5 very happy with his own tomato

Oak meadows grade 4. Description of fruit. Drawing and using written description.

Dd8 working hard to describe a grape

 Ds5 looking at the blueberry super close.

Dd8 having to cut fast as dd5 eats her experiment faster than she can draw