Learning Together

Quote of the Week

2010-01-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."
– William James

Week 2 in Review

2010-01-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

Monkey turned 4!

We are still working on our Peter Rabbit/Beatrix Potter unit study. We are 1/2 way through her journal and the girls are loving it - it is so beautifully done. We have read some more of her books. We are continuing throught the sonlight Cores and Language Arts - I am not going to post about these in any detail as I am posting the details on Learning in the Box - our workbox blog.

We started our "sports" afternoons even though school is not officially started for most. There were 4 other homeschooling families that joined us in the pool this week. LOTS of FUN! We are so blessed to have a pool in this house.

Wombat had his Physio assessment this week. He is on track with most things just a little slow in some fine motor skills whihc is only to be expected with his eyes. That has not stopped him getting into EVERYTHING this week. Now that he is pulling himeself to standing on everything his arms seem to have grown and nothing is out of reach!

Zebra started her history/timeline notebook.

Workbox update - I HATE filling workboxes! But it is so worth it - I am still working on simplifying this process. At the moment I am still not fully organized I was using a weekly planner that had all the girls on it but I really need to have one per child and a week at a glance so working on this. (I could just use the 'curriculum grid' Sue provided but I like making my own and this will match my MOTH planner) I have found that inorder for the day to go smoothly I MUST fill the boxes the night before and I must shine my sink!!!

First Day of School

2010-01-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

First day of school - we always take a "school" photo of our WHOLE school! We also measure each child and add a mark to our chart. We now have 4 years of marks and it is quite fun to compare who is what size at what age, also how much you have grown in a year. This year we will be finishing off Sonlight Core 1 and using B4FIAR, FIAR 1 and FIAR 2. We are also using workboxes so most of my school posts will be posted on my workboxes blog.

I am looking forward to a fun and exciting Learning Journey in 2010.

Planning for the new year

2010-01-14T03:37:00.000-08:00

This year is going to be different :) why? I have a plan (yes I hear you LOL) No seriously it is going to be different. I have found the perfect systems. Yes combine MOTH with Flylady (takes care of the house) combine MOTH with Workboxes and a Charlotte Mason philosophy (takes care of school) what else do I need :)

So here's what I did. First read through MOTH book to refresh my brain. Then laminate the A3 Master Plans. Sit at the computer and make up little squares that fit the Master Plan. (Little squares must be 1/2 the size of a master plan square - because master plan squares are 1/2 hour time blocks and CM recommends 15 min lessons) Write every lesson you can possibly think of on the squares. Print on 5 different colour papers. Using Velcro cut in half stick squares to plan.

We are using Sonlight and FIAR. As I will be using 3 different LA's with3 kids and my own kindy mix with Monkey I wanted 1/2 hour with each child so that was the first to be blocked out on the chart then group time (which is really Read-Aloud time) Then schedule the computer, DVD for Maths and ipod so no one clashed and so I was available to help Bunny with her Maths. Then fit in anything else essential around this. Any spaces left on the chart are for fun boxes.

Here is a picture of our planning wall in the Dining/Kitchen Room where you have to look at it everyday. (underneath are the older girls job charts, younger ones use chore packs and to the side is my flylady jobs)

We have just finished our first week and it worked really well. There were a few small changes that i had to make to the chart but overall it stayed the same. When it came to planning the workboxes I made a smaller chart with all 4 children on one page with the fixed items on and then blank spaces for the fun boxes. Instead of the 12 boxes Sue uses I used 16 boxes (each box represents a 15 minute time slot) You can download a blank chart here.

This takes care of school so what about the home? Well using Flylady's system I spent 2 weeks before school started and put up in each child's room a Morning and a Before Bed Routine. Then I redid the morning chores list both Zebra and Duckie decided they were too big for chore packs so they have a list underneath the MOTH planner, Bunny and Monkey have chore charts. I typed up Flylady's missions from last year edited to fit me (each Zone listed separately) with a detailed room clean on the same sheet then laminated the lot. This hangs next to the MOTH planner and tells me what to do each week (I change it each week). Just think once this is done my whole house cleaning is planned out for the year for good!!!

Starting over

2009-10-07T00:22:00.001-07:00

We have moved house (again) and this house is HUGE so a lot of things have gone on hold while we were moving and settling. This coming term we will only be doing 5 weeks of school before we start holidays so it is going to be a very packed term.

We are going to be studying China (RA will be A grain of rice - sonlightfor Zebra and Duckie and Ping -FIAR for Bunny and Monkey). Plus Duckie is wanting to study Rainbows. Bunny and Monkey are also going to be learning their alphabet and sounds using a variety of resources from all over the place I have compiled a list on my links blog showing all the places I am getting ideas from.

We have been using the workbox system modified to fit our family so will be packing these boxes full for the next 5 weeks and seeing how it really works!! I am really looking forward to it.

Its all too much

2009-07-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

After reading the post here I decided to borrow the book its all to much from my library. They don't have it so my darling hubby ordered the book for me. It arrived yesterday. I have skim read the whole book and now am working my way through it and working out how to survive in this house! Survive - wrong word. LIVE in this house.

So my ideal school room would have

Reading area
Drawing area
Cmputer area
School desks? Jury is still out on this one. I do enjoy us working around the table - at least is all gets cleared up in time for the next meal on a desk the stuff would pile up and get messy.
Work box holders
Train/lego table
white board
timeline
world map and Australia map

This is the broad outline and I will add to it as I work my way through the book and our home.

2009-07-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

"I am beginning to suspect all elaborate systems of education. They seem to me to be built upon the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think. Whereas if the child is left to himself, he will think more and better, if less showily. Let him go and come freely, let him touch real things and combine his impressions for himself instead of sitting indoors at a little round table, while a sweet-voiced teacher suggests that he builds a stone wall with his wooden blocks or plant straw trees in bead flower-pots. Such teaching fills the mind with artificial associations that must be got rid of, before the child can develop independent ideas out of actual experiences."

- Anne Sullivan, tutor to Helen Keller

Birthday again!

2009-05-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

Finally the birthday. Duckie requested a roast with potato gems. I had to do roast potatoes too for Peekers. It's just not a roast without the full works! Here is Duckie enjoying the highlight of a roast (according to Dad)- a chew on a bone!

And here is the cake. She picked one out of the cake book but after 2 failures I gave up on using the dolly vardin tin (I think it was a combination of the useless oven and the shape of the tin) and just made 3 round cakes which we glued together with icing and cut to shape and then decorated. It turned out pretty good if I say so myself. I am not a Barbie fan which is the usual doll for this cake. I did have a fairy doll which got lost in the move so a quick trip to $2 store and found this. $2 shops are sadly lacking in Kal. There are 3 but they are not the great source of homeschooling bits that I have come to depend on in Adelaide. But this time they turned up trumps. This doll was perfect especially for the size of the cake. Duckie Loved it!

5 months old

2009-04-27T07:42:00.001-07:00

Birthday

2009-04-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

Ducky is seven today! She is getting her birthday tea (and cake) on Friday as it just wouldn't work today. She did open her present from Grandpa and Grandma P tonight. She got real proper binoculars! What fun!

Super Pit

2009-03-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

I love Slim Dusty and since Peekers took the job at Kalgoorlie we have noticed that many of the songs he sings relate to this town - he sings about the golden mile, the town hall in Kalgoorlie and many others.

Well tonight we got to experience some of the results of the golden mile. KCGM The company that manages the mines (some of them) turned 20 and held a party at the super pit lookout. It was fantastic.

Getting up close to the Super Pit, is a dwarfing experience. At 320 metres deep, about 3km long and 1.4km wide this massive man made hole in the ground makes an awesome sight.
The pit operates 24hours a day. Looking down the trucks are like tiny toy tonka trucks slowly winding their way up from the bottom of the pit. If you look closely at the photo (Click on it to enlarge it )on the left you can just see the tiny toy trucks winding their way up the sides of the pit but up close I have never seen anything so large.

There are 31 of these trucks on the site at $4 million each!

weighs 166tonne and has a fuel tank of 3,790 litres with a max speed of 55Km/ph

Photos below are of our family with the trucks

The best part about the evening (on top of the free sausage sizzle and marshmallow toasting) was the fantastic fireworks. What a way to begin our learning into the history of Kalgoorlie, which looks like being delayed in starting as Duckie now wants to learn how fireworks work!

The lounge

2009-03-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

Peekers sent me some photos of our new house and this was my first view of the lounge. That is the owner of the house in the photo. Please keep in mind that the house has been empty for 5 years plus vandalized during this time.

Before we can lay the new carpet the staples left from the old underlay needed to be removed.

What is the quickest way to do this? Peekers' solution was to pay the kids 10c per staple collected. One child earned herself $20 over 2 days! End result. Peekers only had to pull out 2 staples and Mum had a peaceful day with no arguments and no "I'm bored". Here are Zebra, Monkey and Bunny hard at work filling their bags with pulled up staples (it wasn't easy either to get some of them up)

With the girls getting so good at helping why not paint the undercoat too?

The finished room. We have put the computer desk and printers in the lounge as in this house we don't have room for a school room. Instead there will be work areas. The computer desk and DVD watching area will be in the lounge room. It sticks out a little over the doorway.

What a big difference a little over a month can make. We still have to get curtains or blinds at the window. Get some more bean bags for the kids and find our pictures to hang up they are somewhere in the container still. I feel like I am living in a house now. And with my family all together I know we are going to be able to make a home here.

New house, state, homeschoolers

2009-03-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

I could write pages updating what we have done in 3 months. We have moved house and state to we can be together with Peekers. It has been a big move and involved all the usual stresses and a bit more. The house we are renting has needed extensive renivations, which we are currently doing as time permits. The house has been empty for 5 years and it is still not clean but we are getting there thanks to Flylady.

We have been blessed to have made contact with homeschoolers already. They are a fantastic group with lots of children similar ages to ours so we are going to have a great time for however long we spend here.

Flylady Interview

2009-01-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

Flylady would have to be one of my favourite people. She has helped me make big changes in my life. The following is a link to an interview with her.
http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/26-20questions-MarlaCilley.html

Even my girls know "You can do anything in 15 minutes - except whine!"

Once Upon a Time...

2009-01-10T04:14:00.000-08:00

I found a this beautiful post here from A path made straight. Don't we all wish for some time alone - just a minute of alone and yet how quickly time goes and we don't want to miss a minute.

The clothesline

2009-01-10T03:18:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful sight - a line full of nappies gently drying in the breeze. Everytime I see this sight I feel like I am doing a good work. Just another "chore" in being a homemaker.

When JJ was born I bought one box of disposable nappies to give my self time to adjust to it all before I added to my work with washing nappies (not sure where this misguided thinking came from, as I was already washing a load of nappies a day from Monkey!). I didn't even finish the box. After washing a wet singlet, suit, wrap and sheet's at almost every nappy change, I decided that it would be less to wash one nappy each time and it has been. So far I have never had a nappy leak.

I got 6 newborn covers from Green Peaches but probably wasn't worth it as by 5 weeks he was well and truly out of them. I also had some prefolds that I was going to use but so far they have only been used as burp cloths. It just seemed like too much hard work.

My favourite nappies -

#No1 is Green Peaches made by a WAHM. These are a hemp nappy with 2 snap in boosters. I used these for Monkey when she out grew the Baby Behinds nappies. They dry so fast. I know Monkey is a small 3 year old but they still fit her comfortably. I am using them with the front folder down in the baby position and they have fitted JJ very well from 1 week old. He is a large baby - very solid and was 9 pound when born. I love her covers too.

#No2 are my Baby Behinds nappies I have mainly bamboo with a few hemp. I am using these are night with a BB wool cover and these go all night. I am a little disappointed with lasting of these nappies. I used them for Monkey (not from the beginning) and found that at the end of 12 months they were beginning to wear in some spots - mainly around the snaps and along the seam lines. I had expected that they would do more than one child - they will but will be had it by the end of no2. I was very careful with my nappies - rotated them, washed as per instructions, dried them mainly on the airer rather than in full sun and hardly ever put them in the dryer so disappointed in the way they have worn. Plus they did not fit Monkey until Toilet training time even though she is a small child, at 2 1/2 they were too small.

#3 Pea Pods - these are no 3 only because I have less of them. 3 in fact, 2 medium and 1 large that I am currently using as a night nappy for Monkey as she is dry most night so doesn't need her Sandman nappy anymore. I used these nappies when I was going out with Monkey as they didn't need a cover and were very trim fitting. A friend bought them and didn't use them and that is how I got them. Until I used them I didn't like the idea of only 1 layer of defense and also having to have different sizes. To my way of thinking one nappy that last right through is better value for money. If I can get them cheap I will add more of these in for JJ.

#Also in my stash is a Sandman night nappy large - this was great for Monkey though I did have trouble getting a cover to fit over it so ended up with the odd leak as it really was too big for her.

A mandy mac nappy - used this a couple of times but don't like it possibly because I have to mess around with clips for it - like snaps best on my nappies.

#I do have some Zappy nappies that I used in the first few weeks with JJ when I ran out of the others but there are heaps better nappies out there now. These are the first fitted nappies I came across 4 years ago.

Not a huge collection but I think it gets too confusing to remember what goes where otherwise :)

6 weeks old

JJ in Green Peaches nappy cover & JJ with Monkey in Green Peaches hemp nappy.

Isn't Monkey just cute - she is always happy to pose for a photo! She loves her little brother and I have a feeling that most of his baby shots are going to have her somewhere in the picture!

At 6 weeks he is now 5.5kg and some of my Baby behinds nappies fit in the baby position but most don't. Green Peaches still fit in the baby position.

So cute!

2009-01-10T03:12:00.000-08:00

It's a boy!

2009-01-08T02:17:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that it has been 6 months since I last posted - well I can :) So much has happened. We now have a beautiful baby boy added to our family on 23 November. It was a good labour, although longer than I had anticipated as my waters did not break until he was born and so it took longer. He was 9 pound 2 - my largest ever baby. We (Hubby and I) went into the hospital at 12:00pm. We had put the girls to bed and my Mother-in-law came around and slept here. He was born at 4:45am. I had only my husband for support and the midwife I had seen through the whole pregnancy and a student midwife there. I was able to leave the hospital 3 hours later and we were home by 8:30. Just as I had wanted. The girls were just getting up and beginning breakfast so were able to cuddle their new baby brother before leaving to spent the week with Grandma.

Photo of us leaving the hospital to go home - 3 hours old.

It was a great first day. Instead of being stuck in an uncomfortable hospital bed I was able to curl up in front of the fire and relax. Feed as needed and sleep as needed. This is the first time I have done this. With babies 1-3 I did the normal 3 days in hospital, with baby 4 I had a midwife right through but stayed one night in hospital but this time I was determined to go home straight away. Hubby did not want a home birth so this was the next best option and it was great!

What also made the whole thing so relaxed was Mum-in-law taking the other children for a week and Mike home to do all the cooking for me. I was able to just relax and get to know the new addition to the family :)

He had been a fantastic baby. Yes he has his patches of screaming and we have just gone through the 6 week growth spurt and the 2 hour feeds all day, he has a bit of reflux but he sleeps all night - well somewhere between 5-7 hours most nights, so far! I followed the baby wise principles and he feeds somewhere between 2 1/2 -3 hourly during the day and as long as possible at night. (Yes I do wake him during the day if he looks like sleeping longer).

The uncertainty of what is happening is over. Baby is here and we are moving. Half the house is packed I am decluttering as I go, we are going to join Hubby for 6-9months. We have been lucky enough to be able to rent a house for this time - not as large as we have here. We are going from 5 bedrooms to a 3 bedroom house but we are leaving a lot (most) of our stuff in storage here. I am looking forward to a minimal decorating style! We can't wait to be back together as a family but will miss the week off every 3 as Mike goes to a full time week when we move.

Me and My little Man 2 weeks old.

Life - in the In Between

2008-07-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

Brenda was talking about being in the in between stage of life here I do not cope well with this stage and we are in it right at the moment!

I hate the uncertainty of not knowing. We have been renting for the past 6 years and I cannot help worrying each time the contract comes up for renal. We will have been in this house for 4 years by next April and this time we are not renewing the lease. Why? I am feeling the need to be together again as a family. We have coped with hubby being away (I cannot believe that he has been doing this job for 12months now!) but it is time to be together as a family. Because his job is not set in one place we cannot just rent a house and join him so our options are limited to a motel (too expensive plus impossible with 4 children) or a caravan. At this point this is our option depending on a number of things.

As mentioned we have a baby due in 4 months so can't leave before the baby comes plus we feel we need to finish out this lease. So the time line is 4 months till baby comes, then 4 months till we move. We don't know how long this job will last or where the next one will be. This does not worry me as God has always provided a job (one less thing to worry about:). So what it hubby ends up back here for work? Well we are hoping to buy Godwilling a house but... it will be a little one! So I am trying to think about planning a move into a caravan with storing only the absolute essentials we need to keep. We have moved 4 times in the past 6 years and while I have sorted out and cleared out I have never been drastic about it. So now is the time to get drastic! I have been FLYing with FlyLady for the past 2 years and have got rid of lots but never really culled in this way.

I keep thinking about what to do. But yesterday got serious about it. When you walk into our home you are confronted with bookcases (this divides off the school room from the entrance see here). During the day the girls play here and it becomes a cluttered mess! So I am starting here. Zebra is losing her new bedroom (I know this is sad for her as she loves having her own space) but in the caravan all the girls will have to learn to share and work together so I am planning (training) for that now - all the girls will share the same bedroom. No toys in this room only clothes and really special things. The problem with sharing has been that Monkey gets into everything but now there will be nothing for her to get into - problem solved! So Zebra's room will become the store room.

We will be putting everything we really need to keep into storage (if we go into a caravan) and this room is a bit bigger than the storage facility's storage area. Obviously it will need to be assessable as we will still be homeschooling for the next 8 months but it is the beginnings of the cull! So I started this yesterday. I moved what I could and left the heavy stuff until Peekers is home (pregnancy does limit one so!). I also started going through our books. All of the older reference style books are going especially in the animal section unless they are fantastic as we have a lot of newer ones and the photo style illustrations are fantastic and after all just how many animal reference books does one need? Broken games, missing pieces, dirty old toys are all out (these are my things by the way not the kids - I was a child care worker so collected lots plus I have all my toys from growing up, as you can see I don't like to throw anything out!)

End result should be that no matter where we end up caravan or small house we will fit comfortably as we will only have essentials. I know that the clutter and extra stuff is affecting me and also making it harder for the girls to appreciate and look after what they do have so I should really have tackled it long ago but lacked the motivation to get drastic after all at the moment we do have the room to store it all! Unfortunately this thinking I am realising makes it harder on Hubby the pressure is on when we come to buy to find a larger house (which we cannot afford) in order to fit it all in so now I can remove that pressure and we will all be much happier with out it all.

Now that I have started on what I can do I am feeling happier about where we are in life and about leaving what I cannot plan in greater hands.

When bad things happen

2008-07-27T05:30:00.000-07:00

I have been reading the posts here (http://aholyexperience.com/2008/07/when-bad-things-happen.html) and here (http://aholyexperience.com/2008/07/what-is-truth.html) on Holy Experiences Blog and pondering "When bad things happen".

Looking back on my life I can see a gradual development in understanding and learning to take the good and the so called bad of God's blessings. When my 15year old brother-in-law suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack while I was pregnant with our first baby. I learnt the beginnings of trust - that all works together for GOOD for those that love and fear him. ALL, not just what I see as good but also what I could call bad is also working together for Good. I was told by so many people at this time I must to xyz as it was a big shock I needed to be careful of the baby. But the lesson I learnt was that nothing I could do would change the big picture God was in control I could only wait, hope and pray that all would be ok and it was.

James died before he was able to be baptised, yet his death woke many young people to the realise that life is short, we do not know how long we have and they were able to take the opportunity and be baptised and refocus on where their lives were headed. But at the time we did not know this. We had to deal with our own loss. Unless you have been through an experience you cannot know how it feels for another. From this I learnt that sometimes it is better to say nothing rather than to say the first thing that comes into your head as these are the words that often hurt. I learnt sympathy for others who have lost a child, a young family member and that not all of us cope the same. This understanding grew through other experiences that could be called "Bad" - loosing most of our money and ending up in huge debt (developed a trust in God and a put me on the path to beginning to learn to be content here and now with whatever circumstance in life I find myself), a miscarriage, the death of my cousins 7 year old daughter (added to the experiences i had learnt with James). The list grows longer ...

Hubby taking a job that involves him being on the other side of the country for 2 weeks out of 3. I learnt to support my husband, he had made the decision now I had to submit and support him not really easy when not many people in our family or religious community supported our decision. This was made even harder when I was involved in a big car accident coming home one night after a bible study class. I was doing the right thing - taking my children to bible study and we were involved in an accident on the way home. The accident was not my fault and there was nothing i could do to prevent it. ?Did God turn good into bad? How could he let this happen to me? (The other woman was in the same situation as me - also coming home from a bible study class!) Between the 2 cars there were 6 children. Not one child was hurt, the other woman was hurt but not badly, her car was written off, our was off the road being fixed for 6 months! So was this good or bad? Again I learnt that God is always there. I had forgotten my phone. A perfect stranger stopped and because she worked in the police department knew exactly what to do - called ambulance and police, then tracked down my in laws (in the shock I had forgotten all phone numbers) called them until she got hold of them, she had to go but came back later to make sure we were all ok. Another woman stopped and stayed with some of the kids while others were being checked out in the ambulance with me. She had them laughing and so not one bit worried about what had just happened. I will always be thankful for the help provided by these 2 women who went beyond the normal helping and went out of their way to provide extra help. I am also thankful to God who put these 2 women there when I needed them. Both of them would not have normally been there at this time and place. One (who made all the phone calls) was responding to a distress call from a friend who had locked themselves out and she had a spare key. The woman other was driving around with her daughter and grandson. Grandson had some problem and driving around was the only way to settle him some nights. Was it just chance that they were there when I needed them? I don't think so.

To often we forget and become dependent on our own ability - mobile phones, the Internet etc are our first point of call. Sometimes we need to experience the so called bad to realise that God is good that he is there watching out for us and will send us the help we need. Sometime we need to go through bad experiences to learn to help others or develop our character, without this so called "bad" we will be unable to experience the good.

Slowly I am learning to take the good and the bad, learning that the bad is only my interpretation because God is faithful and WILL do as he has promised - Romans 8v28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose"

My life line after James died was Proverbs 3v 5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart' and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path." I may not always understand why the bad happens but I must trust that it is really for a good purpose. In every incident that happens in our life we have a choice. Accept the will of God for Good or bad and trust that he will make it good. Or choose to turn our back on him and become bitter blaming him for the bad and for not preventing it. This choice is OURS to make, so the next time we are faced with "bad"/"good" situation what will we choose to make it?

2008-07-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

FOR TODAY Monday 21st July ...

Outside My Window...

The sun is shining after the rain last night and it is looking like we are in for a beautiful day. Maybe we can walk to the library instead of driving?

I am thinking...

Of all the things that have to be done today. The first Monday after Hubby goes back to work is always a busy one as I have to pull all the routine of school and jobs back into our lives and the weeks holiday is over!

I am thankful for...

The huge pile of wood Peekers cut up before he left - it should last us for the 2 weeks he is gone and keep us all snug and warm.

From the kitchen...
Hopefully I will get a HUGE pot of pumpkin soup on to last us for the next few lunches.

I am wearing...

Black maternity skirt and stripy maternity top. Not for looks but for comfort! I have reached the point where none of my "normal" clothes will fit (even my big 0nes) and it is full time maternity now!

I am creating...

Scrapbooks - I have 8 months to clear out our home and get organized for a move so hope to have all my photos in albums and no longer in lots and lots of boxes! I am starting year by year and also adding to the girls baby albums as I go.

I am going...

To have a fantastic week this week - we are starting Mr Poppers Penguins as our read-aloud and I have planned out what we are going to do each day. We are going to lapbook it using some of the things at Homeschool Share.

I am reading...
I have finished all my books at the moment and hoping for a library visit this afternoon to replenish my reading supply.

I am hoping...
For a smooth week as I really need to start getting our life back on track!

I am hearing...
The quiet noice of the girls working at their school work.

Zebra is making a book based on the Very hungry Caterpillar, Duckie is working on her Math-U-See work, Bunny is stamping having finshed her ss work, and Monkey is in bed after eating some stamps!

Around the house...
The washing has piled up (alwasy does on our week of holidays!). This week (according to flylady) is Zone 4 the master bedroom and boy does it need to be de-cluttered! Baby steps - 15 min a day and by the end of the week a beautiful bedroom!

One of my favorite things...
Being organized and planned out at the start of a week!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Library day today, Highland dancing starts on Tuesday, Mr Poppers penguins read alound and lapbooking as already mentioned. Should be a good week.

Here is picture thought I am sharing... The girls on our holiday in March

Links

2008-07-11T05:18:00.001-07:00

I have pages and pages in my notebook with links I want to remember plus more saved in my computer under favourites. In my current de-cluttering and organizing frenzy I am tackling my computer so all links are now listed on a new blog where hopefully they will be easier to find and others can share my research. Plus I can throw out all that paper clutter with links scrawled everywhere!

Check it out at http://ourhomescoolinglinks.blogspot.com/

If you find any links that are broken please let me know.

free paper doll fun

2008-07-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

Zebra loves making all sorts of things out of paper. So when I found this free download of paperdolls I knew she would enjoy it. In fact all the girls have had fun making their own dolls.

http://www.papergoodies.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=201

Lots of new things at Homeschool Share

2008-07-08T06:21:00.001-07:00

Wow! Wow! Wow! is all I can say.

I am so excited to see all the new unit studies availiable at Homeschool Share and especially all the wonderful lapbook things! Some of the books I had planned to do this year and all planned for me like Mr Popper's Penguins.

You have to check this site out
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/

Look under "what's new" to see all the new units.

A very big thankyou to all who have written these units and shared them with us all.

Scare

2008-07-08T05:58:00.001-07:00

Well as already mentioned I am in Pregnancy no 5 (6 if you count a miscarriage a while ago) and so far all has been well - except prolonged morning sickness but that is just part being pregnant. I am 20 weeks so half way and starting to get excited and pull out clothes to wash and work out what i do and don't need ...

Sunday night I woke up and couldn't breath. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom (not sure why) I ended up on the bathroom floor frantically praying to God to help me and wondering what on earth was going to happen to my 4 sleeping daughters if I was unable to breath again. I felt like I would never be able to get my breath. I don;t think I passed out but I think it came close before I could breath again. I went back to bed shaken and thankful to God and rested until morning. In the morning I rang Hubby who confirmed that I should go to the hospital. I rang the midwife to let her know what had happened and that I was coming in as soon as I had got a babysitter. (My mother and Auntie shared the babysitting).

My aunt arrived first in answer to my phone call and dropped me at the hospital. I was still feeling slightly dizzy and not like I could drive. I ended up spending most of the day at the hospital while they ran blood tests, a heart test and other tests but were unable to find anything wrong.

I have had this happen to me in all of the other pregnancies 2-3 times throughout each. It always happens when I am asleep or very relaxed - dozing on the couch. But each time I have regained my breath quickly and have felt no ill affects afterwards. It has always been later in each pregnancy (8-9months). Each time it has been mentioned to the doctors/midwives at my next appointment but they have had no explanation for it. It feels like something is blocking my throat (like choking). One doctor suggested that the hormones released during pregnancy to soften up the muscles were relaxing the wrong muscles and that was causing it. I have been booked in to see a specialist next week so hopefully he will have some answers.

The baby is fine - does not seem to have affected it at all thankfully. I am counting down the days until Peekers is back (3) I will be so pleased to have him back for a short time.

Both Zebra and Duckie had a lesson in what to do in an emergency and I now want to make up a small book to put near the phone with numbers of family to also call in an emergency. At least they know how to call 000 and what to say. Hopefully it does not come to that but better to be prepared.

I am so thankful that God did answer my prayer and that all is well with the baby. Once again I am reminded that we do not know how long we have and of the need to make our time with our children and family count.

For Today

2008-07-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

Please stop by The Simple Woman (http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/)
for all the links entered in this week's Daybook (http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/2008/07/simple-womans-daybook12.html)

Outside My Window... It is dark and cold. It is bedtime and the house is quiet and still as all the children are asleep

I am thinking... That I had so wanted to do this post yesterday morning and join everyone else but due to a health scare have been unable to do so.

I am thankful for... God's overshadowing care and help this week.

From the kitchen... I have just tacked the piles of dishes from today and yesterday and I can hear the dishwasher doing its job! No fancy things from the kitchen this week we are in survival mode!

I am wearing... A brown maternity skirt with a frill around the bottom and a very baggy to big green jumper

I am creating... Nothing planned this week but would like to get started on finishing the girls photo albums and beginning one for this new coming blessing.

I am reading... Legalism vs. Faith by David Levin

I am hearing... The dishwasher, the quiet of night time, the soft drip of the rain and the call of my nice warm bed!

Around the house... I have a load of washing to hang out and nappies to put on, a quick bit of tidying up and then off to bed.

One of my favorite things... The colour purple.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Big tidy up before Hubby arrives home on Saturday.

Here is picture thought I am sharing... you can tell it is winter time - pumpkin soup in a big batch ready for the freezer to be pulled out during the week and reheated in the crock pot. I love soup in winter!

For Today

2008-06-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

I have been reading these for a while on other's blogs and thought it would be a fun thing to join in with.

Please stop by The Simple Woman (http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/)

for all the links entered in this week's Daybook (http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/2008/06/simple-womans-daybook11.html)

Outside My Window... It is pouring with much needed rain. The wind is blowing the trees and it is a dark cold day.

I am thinking... Of my husband so far away and counting down the days until he returns (12)

I am thankful for... Finding out through my Ultrasound that all is ok with the baby. And that God has really blessed us with a beautiful unexpected suprise.

From the kitchen... I see my beautiful decorative windmill lying on its side due to the heavy wind last night.

I am wearing... a very daggy homemade black skirt that will be worn out by the end of this pregnancy and my favourite maternity top pink with lace around the neck and sleeves. Bare feet and favourite saphire dangle earings.

I am creating... A homeplanner and journal.

I am going... to our homeschooling groups sports outing, organized every second monday during term.

I am reading... The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer and MOTHS (again!)

I am hoping... that I can get this organizing thing all together before the baby comes and it all falls apart!

I am hearing... Quiet (other than the wind and the rain) as all children are peacefully asleep.

Around the house... There are nappies to hang out, a bathroom to swish and swipe, Baby clothes to sort and organize, bananna muffins to make.

One of my favorite things... The bulbs that are just beginning to flower. I know winter is just beginning but the sight of jonquils flowering remind me that spring is coming.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Sunday School projects to finish, my first visit with my midwife and I get to meet the woman who will share and aid in the coming of our baby.

Here is picture thought I am sharing... Bunny with a butterfly she found.

Week together

2008-06-30T05:42:00.000-07:00

What a week! Sometimes it hardly seems like we had a week together and last week was one of those.

Lots of exciting things happened - the first was THE ULTRASOUND. Baby is healthy and all is as it should be. All funny movements were caused by the placenta being at the front. (Bit sad as I was hoping all the extra bumps and funny movements were because it was twins) It is a little low but hopefully all will be well and it will be a normal birth. I have never had a Cesarean and I am not keen to experience one.

Yes we do know what the baby is but ... hubby wants to keep it a surprise. So you will just have to wait and see!

We also had the chance to attend a full day seminar on health. Boy did we learn alot! I have lots to research now on probotics and their effects. I have started on them daily (not seeing huge improvements yet) plus put Duckie and Bunny on 1/2 dose every 2 days. Wish I could do more but because of cost just not possible. I have had it confirmed from 3 different sources now that morning sickness that continues past the first 3 months is generally caused by a mineral/vitamin deficiency. I find this interesting as this is baby 5 and although I have taken supplements during all my pregnancies this time I have had to up my doses as high as poss under natrapath supervision and still seem unable to get what i need. I don't know how those of you out there with 5+ children have managed. We are fairly healthy but I can see room for improvement maybe this would have helped? Not sure.

Health is such a fascinating topic. With my auntie having diabetes and my nephew now with autism I am always on the alert for natural aids to helping these things in particular. It always amazes me just what God has put out there for healing all of the diseases around if we just search for them.

My Brother and Sister in law visited. It was so nice to catch up with them and see their little one (D) is so cute and has a real personality. She is pregnant too - having a girl this time so passed on to her some of the girls clothing we won't be needing. It is amazing how with 4 girls I have managed to collect so much stuff. Monkey has so much clothing in some sizes that I can go weeks without washing! Crazy really :)

I also managed to get some sewing finished finally for Zebra she has been desperate for clothes so I am dedicating one day while Peekers is home to my sewing day. I forgot to take photos of her on sunday so will try to remember next week and then I can post them.

Zebra is also doing cooking with Daddy one day when he is home. She is learning one recipe at a time and when has perfected it will move on to something else. She is loving learning cooking with Daddy. He has much more patience for this activity than me. Plus the one on one time with Daddy is great for her.

I can't believe how quickly our week together went and now I am counting down the 2 weeks until Peekers is home again. 1 day down.

Household Planner

2008-06-19T04:12:00.000-07:00

I have been working through planning. Because we were away for the first part of the year I didn't get a diary or anything organized. I have been working for bits of paper on a clipboard, but I keep loosing them and with them my notes on phonecalls ect. So I spent the last few weeks when ever I have time working on my planner. Imagine how upset I was to find that the freebie of the day at http://homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/ for yesterday was a planner from this site http://www.school4jesus.com/ (It was called the Intentional Planner) When I downloaded the planner and looked at it, it was very similar to what I had spent weeks working on! Because it came in a PDF and also in a word doc I was able to alter the pages in teh word doc to reflect our family routine. Now I just have to print it all up and I am going to bind it together rather than use a folder as I find a folder is too big to store when it is bound I can fold the planner over and only have the page I need showing. So finishing this is my project for next week when Peekers is back.

While looking at planning options I came across the following site. I have looked at this blog before and I love the ideas espceially her planning by seasons ideas http://dawnathome.typepad.com/by_sun_and_candlelight/themes_plans/index.html.

I always used to keep a daily diary but the last 2 years it has got harder and harder. I try to note down what we did for school but I do miss the daily records so need to find some way of going back to a daily diary. Maybe just a note book would work?

Re-arranging time - The School Room

2008-06-08T02:07:00.000-07:00

I am fighting a never ending battle with the school room. It never seems to have enough room and never seem to stay tidy! Especially now that we have no playroom the school room floor and our entrance way floor are the 2 main play spots.

So this time while Peekers was home I spent a whole day and re-arranged the room and the contents. I did have to keep shooing kids out and in the end banned the lot of them from the room until next week when we start school again. All these "new" things they just had to explore them.

The school room is the "formal lounge" It is an open space straight off the entrance way to the house but we have closed it off with a number of bookcases to give us more of a separate room plus we had to put the bookcases somewhere! The 1st photo shows looking in through the "door" into the school room. On the left is our couch - this is an old bed with a back built on it by Peekers - a bed was a cheap solution to finding a couch that would fit everyone on it for story time! We put foam along the back with cushions in front of this. (Foam and cushions were a hand on from someone. One day I plan to make new covers for the cushions but until then they do the job).

close up of our "couch".

Next to the couch is a huge set of drawers. 2 drawers are

full of DVD's another of paper and books for cutting and another full of Mum's bits. On the floor in front of the drawers is a pile of Mum's stuff still to sort! On top of the cupboard is 2 printers and a box for bits and pieces - pencil sharpeners, erasers ect... All the things that need to be out of Monkey's reach!

In front of the cupboard is Monkey's desk. She loves having her own special desk just like everyone else!

Along the back wall is the computer desk, then Zebra's desk and around the corner is Duckie's desk and then Bunny's desk. Above Duckie's and Bunny's desks is a big white board that was being thrown out at one of the places Peekers worked at. I love it.

Above: 1) Zebra's Desk 2) Duckie's Desk with Bunny's at the end 3)Bunny's desk & more bookcases

Below are close up photos of book case corner. The bookcase containing the DVD player is opposite our couch. We don't have access to TV network so the girls can only watch DVD's and Videos of my choosing. No time wasting TV, not that we have time for it anyway. On the shelves around the DVD player are our continent books. Each shelf is divided into a continent and on the shelf are all the books we have for that continent. I hope to add boxes with games and picture cards and other things relating to the countries as we study them. (More on this later). I still need to go higher on top of this bookcase and sort the stuff out on top so please excuse the mess!

The other bookcase contains games and other things for Monkey and Bunny to do during school time. These are special games - only for school time. I am trying to set them out Montessori style. I would love to have more space to use more Montessori ideas but you can't have everything.

So this is our new arranged school room hopefully it works and stays tidy for longer!

Re-arranging time - New room for Zebra

2008-06-08T01:06:00.000-07:00

In planning for the coming baby, I have started re-arranging the house.

First place to start was a new room for Zebra. Zebra loves her room to be tidy and unfortunately Duckie who she was sharing a room with, loves to live in a mess. I am working on changing this but it is a slow process. So the playroom got packed up, all the toys sorted, lots tossed and then what was left boxed up to be stored on the book cases above the books in the school room. The idea being that one box at a time was to come down and so hopefully eliminate a room with a floor covered in toys.

The play room - now Zebra's room.

1st picture - Looking from the door to the window. The curtains are not my pick, they were given to me and because we are not sure what we are doing house wise I am focusing on saving money so new curtains will have to wait.

2nd picture looking towards the door end of the room. Zebra dosen't have a wardrobe at this stage - this is the only bedroom without built in wardrobes but it dosen't seem to worry her.

3rd picture close up of Zebra on her bed with Tickles. The hanger on the wall used to hang near my change table but that too has been rearranged (more on that later). Now it decorates Zebra's room and is FULL of beanie bears and Teddie.

Zebra is very pleased to have her own room and loves it. I love the fact that at the end of the day there is always one room I can walk into that is clean and tidy!

"First" week of school

2008-05-23T04:56:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that we are up to May already this year and I feel like I am still just beginning school for the year. Because we were away until the end of March. The last month and a bit have been all about settling back in and getting organized.

This week was the first week we have achieved a full week of school - for us a full week of school is 4 days in the week with one day off.

It has been an interesting week. Lots of tears as it seems that some of the kids are not sleeping all night (too cold?) and so very tired in the day. Plus I have cut out afternoon sleeps and instead chosen to put everyone down an hour earlier.

Zebra's reading as taken off this week - she is picking up readers out of the box and just reading. Books I thought would take years before she was at that stage of reading. I typed out a list of work for her to do for each day of the week and then put it in a folder and put the work sheets behind them. This means she can do the work in any order and at her own pace and also leaves me a bit more freer. Her work is showing imagination again and she is enthusiastic about it. Thank you Thrass. I am so pleased we discovered this program and I was able to do some training in learning how to use it.

Duckie has started learning to read. I am having trouble planning how we are going to edit FIAR plus sonlight plus Thrass to come out with one program to aid in this process! She is also flying through the Maths-U-See work.

Bunny is a challenge. She wants to do school all day! We started an all about me lapbook from Live and Learn and hopefully this will keep her occupied for a week or so!

I am having trouble keeping up with all the reading from sonlight. We are basically doing 3 cores (or bits of) with the 3 girls! I really need to get a routine planned out a bit more structured and this should help. Time to read Managers of their homes again!

I spent 2 days cooking while Peekers was home last week and this has been a reason why this week has gone so smoothly. I have been able to pull a meal or part of a meal out of the freezer every day which has cut down on so much time and kitchen clean up. I am going to plan this into every time he is back as it is so helpful. Plus helps out my pregnant brain with decision making. I no longer have to worry about what is for dinner just pull something out! It is such a lovely feeling to know the freezer is well stocked with meals.

We have only had 2 days this week where the weather was nice enough to play outside in the afternoon. I am hoping we get a fine day next Friday as I really want to go to the zoo with the girls.

Lets hope next week continues to be as organized!

Wizard of Oz Lapbook

2008-04-30T04:21:00.000-07:00

We did this lapbook 2 years ago when Zebra (1G7) was 5. We read the book as part of the sonlight K program and were lucky enough to have the opportunity to see the film on a large screen with a full Orcastra playing the music. Because of this we rushed through the book in order to have it all read before we saw the film. Only Zebra made a lapbook at the time.

The photo shows Zebra and Duckie waiting outside for the film to start. They are dressed in blue and white check of course to match Dorothy!

Front cover of the lapbook. Yellow brick road (of course) with the title done in stickers.

Who we are

2008-04-04T02:04:00.000-07:00

We are a homeschooling family in beautiful Down Under Australia. We follow a bit of everything with Charlotte Mason's ideas being the ideal behind what we are hoping to achieve.

Peekers was and still is a qualified electrician but has moved mostly out of this field and now works as a SAP specialist. We run our own business and he is currently contracted to BHP. These contracts involve a lot of time away from home. Generally 2 weeks away and 1 week home. We have been doing this for 9 months now with the first contract just finished and a new one just starting (more about this later). This has meant some changes to how we do everything in our house. We "school" (that is formal bookwork) during the time Daddy is away and just have fun together as a family during the week he is home.

Me (Shaz) I am a SAHM who enjoys scrapbooking, sewing and lots of other hobbies as time permits. I am very interested in all things natural and we try to be a healthy as possible. We also have another side to our business that involves helping people find better health and a better quality of life, plus make some income (for more details visit www.myneways.com.au/got-a-way ). This means I am always on the look out to learn more about health.
I also homeschool our 4 beautiful girls.

Zebra (1G7) loves reading and is always keen to learn. We go through remes of paper with her constant art creations. (Sonlight 1, MUS)

Duckie (2G5) is very outgoing and a real people person. She is also the cuddly one of the family. She loves learning too and is very quick to learn new skills. (Sonlight K, MUS)

Bunny (3G4) We have not begun formal learning with Bunny yet but she joins in all the others are doing. We will possibly start B4 FIAR with her later this year.

Monkey (4G2) What else can I say? The name says it all! The baby of the family who is very cute (and knows it). Into everything - She's 2 ! Loves to be the centre of attention and has numerous ways of making sure she is. A very bright little girl who keeps Mummy on her toes!

This is our family! I am sure this year will be an interesting year from a few hints already given I know that God has a lot of new adventures and learning planned for us this year and it should be a fun and exciting journey.