Here we go again...

It has been a busy couple of weeks.

More sick kids, more crazy times with animals and more schoolwork to finish. All in all, busy, but productive.

Issie got sick last week with a vague but powerful virus. Huge headaches and high fever for three days - just like Charlie and Hannah had a few weeks ago. She still managed to get most of her schoolwork done, but it was obvious that she had some issues with her concentration and stamina. This week was a bit better but her understanding of narratives was challenged by the unit of English we did, as was Zach. Next week we will continue studying narratives to really grasp the concept of this text type properly.

Zach has still been ploughing through his school work, especially his maths. I am pretty impressed by his work ethic.

At this time of year, I am sure that teachers from everywhere are trying to figure out how to motivate their students, and it is no different for home-schooling parents! As we are concentrating on our English and Maths until the end of the year for the older kids, it is easy to get bogged down in that and forget to have some fun, so with that in mind, we began our Christmas craft in earnest this week. It is interesting to try and combine the needs and skill levels of teenagers and preschoolers. It is somewhat limiting but does cause me to get creative.

On Sunday, we bought the pre-requisite wrapping paper and other supplies from the newsagency to make our first Christmas tree decorations. Being Walgett, the quality of the wrapping paper, even if it says "deluxe", is pretty poor. It was horribly thin and so I had the brain wave to glue two papers together to make a thicker, more sturdy paper. Of course, I should have just gone back to the newagency and bought some light cardboard. But I didn't want to waste the wrapping paper. Three hours later, we had cut all of the shapes we needed and glued them together. The paper inevitably buckled and warped and the shapes looked terrible.

On Monday morning I went and bought some cardboard and we started again.

Lots of glue and several tons of glitter later, we had four Christmas tree decorations to hang in the window.

This was also the week that I discovered that Keith threw the big, old Christmas tree out last January. AAARRGGHH! The kids are desperate to decorate and I am without a tree!

Keith has had the idea that we should go to Bugilbone to get a pine tree. I am somewhat dubious and my illusions (or delusions) of another perfectly wonderful and enormous Northern hemisphere-looking tree have been shattered, but I think the kids might like the ritual of cutting the tree down and bringing it home. Pray there are no wasps' nests or small snakes in it!




Hannah's cast for her previously broken arm was removed this week. Phil (the physio) was right when he said that removal was more traumatic than the application of the cast. But we had a lovely doctor, Crystal Smit-Kroner, who is most certainly in the right field of work. Every now and then you meet someone who just loves their work - she was one of them - and I am deeply appreciative to her for making a difficult experience for Han into one where Han left with a smile on her face.

This weekend I am continuing on with my patchwork journey. I cut out all the bits of Mardi's quilt yesterday, and thankfully found a correctable mistake when I still had the sense of humour to correct it. I am hoping to start piecing it together today.

The kids are making Fimo beads and bath bombs this weekend. Zach is very afraid of the bath bombs - he said he doesn't want to blow up the bathroom. If you've seen my bathroom, you'll know that blowing it up would only help it. ; )

Our second week of home schooling...

Well, as much as we did really well in our first week, we almost didn't survive the second week!

As well as daytime temperatures into the 40s, both Hannah and Charlie got sick. Poor little things - both were just awful for days. : ( And of course, they gave it to me. Thanks guys!

Issie and Zacho did lots of maths and English work last week. Hannah did some of her maths and handwriting, as well as Reading Eggs and Targeting maths CD-rom work, when she was well enough.

I have made a few adjustments to the kids' work plan for the remainder of the year. I have canned the idea of the "Home" unit for now - we will begin that in the New Year. For now, we will concentrate on getting our maths and English really solid, and filling in with lots of Christmas-based stuff. We are trying to make a lot of our gifts this year, so it is great to have the kids involved.

Issie is surprising me with how much maths she has to learn - she has escaped actually grasping the concepts for so long - how does that happen in a school situation with qualified teachers? And how did she score so well in the NAPLAN test? - but she is also surprising me with how quickly she is learning it all properly. I am very proud of her, because it can't be easy. As always, she is doing really well with her English work.

Zacho is doing really well with his maths. He is very motivated to do it well and is completing one chapter per week in his Excel Step-by-Step maths book. He is still doing well in his English too - and is not seeming to be horribly allergic to dictionaries anymore!

As well as maths and English, we also managed to get to swimming, Latin dancing and the first day of drama class. Charlie contributed to the drama of drama class by vomiting all over the floor.

On Sunday, Issie and I decided to sew a miniature bear each. We found the pattern in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. If only the pattern actually matched the head sections to the body sections. Then the bear would actually be done by now!

To top off our week, Keith has been saving some of his home-brewed beer to give to his male relatives at Christmas, since it received rave reviews when he gave some to friends and family previously.

I got concerned by the heat and how it might affect it, since he was keeping it on the front verandah. He said he thought it would be fine, but brought some inside anyway, just to be safe.

About an hour later, just as we left the kitchen after clearing up the dinner plates, there was an explosion and a hail of glass. Bottle after bottle exploded. Beer sprayed ten metres across the kitchen and dining room. We found glass in the front hall.

Keith cleared up the glass and beer, all the while laughing at how he was going to give it to his relatives... "Here, lovely to see you! Merry Christmas! Have a bottle of Killer Beer!"

It's only early, but this week is proving to be better already! Will post again later, hopefully with all of this week's successes!

I survived the first week of home schooling

Well, our first week of home schooling is almost over and we are all still standing!

Last week, the authorised person from the NSW Board of Studies, Anne, came to our home for our registration visit. We had a cuppa and I showed her what I had planned for the kids. She seemed really happy with what I presented to her and we were approved.

So on Monday morning, after timetabling and programming and planning until my eyes crossed, we began.

Zach and Issie are doing the same English program - Year 7 - which makes life a bit easier. Issie was not challenged by her previous English work, and since she did so well in her NAPLAN tests, I thought we might see how she goes doing something more advanced. Both of them are coping really well with it. I have been impressed by Zach's willingness to learn in English, which has not always been his strong point, and by Issie's comprehension skills and willingness to knuckle down and just get the work done.

Hannah is still following her ABC Reading Eggs program on the computer, with home readers and activity books. As a whole it is a great program and she is really enjoying it. She is also doing handwriting in the Targeting Handwriting K book, which seems to be a bit of overkill at this stage but I am happy for her to do more literacy stuff now.

Maths for both girls is with the Targeting Maths books and CD-rom programs. I am loving it - easy to understand and to teach. It is set out really well, and, for Year 5, there are Maths Mentals and assessment books to go with it.

We have also started a unit that covers the KLAs of English, Maths, HSIE, Science and Art - HOME. This week we have looked at what home means to us, what home means to other people (each child has done an interview), how we feel about our homes, and what homes around the world are like and how they compare to our home.

PDHPE this week has involved lots of swimming, since summer has hit us with a vengeance! Issie, Zach and Charlie have been doing a lot of horse work, and work around the stables. Zach has begun digging the horse rolling pond for me. The horses have already started playing in it, which is hugely entertaining to watch.

Poor Hannah has been somewhat restricted with her physical activity since she broke her arm two weeks ago - no climbing trees, no trampolining, no bike riding, no horse riding... the list goes on. She has been driving us nuts with too much energy and not enough outlets for it! So this week we have taken advantage of the new waterproof cast and let her loose in the pool. Happy days!

Hannah, Charlie and I also made tissue paper collages this week. Hannah was most proud of her effort - gluing tissue paper is tricky!

Music lessons start on November 20th. Piano to get us going and see how we like it. Guitar has also been hinted at, but as there are no teachers in our town and, as I am somewhat challenged when it comes to musical instruments, it may be a while before guitar happens!

I have been concentrating on just getting the basics running smoothly but I hope that as we get into a routine, the opportunity to explore more interesting aspects of the work we are doing, and their applications to real life, will arise more often.

Tomorrow I will not be opening a single textbook!