Weeks 7 & 8

The past two weeks have been all about sleeping and resting with the two girls both sick and feeling miserable.  The Snork Maiden stayed home from school for two days with a bad cold and fever, and once she was well enough to go back to school Moomintroll's cold took off and has ended up having a mild case of tonsilitis.  Happily now she's on antibiotics and is improving daily which is wonderful seeing as we leave for overseas tomorrow!  We're finally off on our long awaited Indonesian Adventure. Sniff and Hazel have gone off to their holiday homes and we're ready to go. One more sleep!

Despite all the sickness in the house we did manage to do some work. Moomintroll still has a thing for poems and is loving part of The Wind in the Willows which we call Toad's Song. It's the bit where Toad has just escaped from jail, stolen and sold a horse and is feeling very full of himself. Moomintroll can recite it by heart and now is carefully writing it out in her english book.
Our science theme for the week was deserts so we watched TMS All Dried Up and Eyewitness Desert which led to watching 'the making of' and then Eyewitness Arctic/Antarctic because, you know, the Antarctic is the world's largest desert as Moomintroll reminded me. Other desert related work included word searches, research on 3 desert animals, a desert poster, making a cacti garden and a trip to the zoo to see the gila monster and other beautiful desert dwelling reptiles.

cactus garden

a happy little desert dweller

science and maths work for the week

To finish off our term of maths Moomintroll did some word problems about the exploits of some fierce ninjas and a librarian with a pile of books, and did a little times table test which she handled very well.  She then went on to demonstrate her understanding of arrays by building an amazing underground house with interconnecting rooms in Minecraft.

By the end of the week both girls were feeling fit enough for their Just Brass end of term concert where they performed a duet together of Bengawan Solo (the same piece we played at Opa's 80th party). At the concert Dr Jim accompanied them on the piano.

Loss

This year we have experienced much loss. The deaths of Laura and Mary were quickly followed by the sudden decline of our beautiful Harris and then the very unexpected death of lovely bunny Nutmeg a week later.  We now have just three pets remaining - Sniff, Hazel and Cuddlepie.  Although they all showed signs of distress and loneliness at first they are now all quite content with being the only one of their kind. Sniff in particular is like a different dog; she is quiet, calm and more affectionate now that she's the top and only dog in the house.
Harris was our first dog child. She was smoochy, loving, daring, inquisitive, loyal, energetic, exhausting and patient. The support she offered me while I was in early labour with the Snork Maiden is something I will never forget and the way she gracefully accepted each new baby into the family was amazing.
Dr. P wrote a poem for Harris and I have compiled some photos of her from years past. There aren't nearly enough to show how beautiful she was, but as always, our best memories are in our hearts.

Harris and Sniff with their cousins Rodney and Reg

Harris

Our tweedy, wriggly Harris pup,
Tearing round with that crazy bum-scooting run,
Would be worn out yapping from the car window,
Or between swallow sprints lie panting, done.

At storms to bark, the horn to howl, the mower to yip.
To stalk dogs and possums, pigs and bunnies.
To bound recklessly into creeks,
Sport a torn ear, a swollen lip.

But she was a gentle soul, 
A purring dog with an ear-flapping head shake,
Who insistently nosed your elbow for a pat,
And lay dreaming with legs twitching and muffled yelps.

Dreaming of swallows.

Goodbye Mary

RIP Mary McClive
Our dear little Mary, sister to Laura and niece to Cuddlepie left us suddenly last Wednesday 17 April due to kidney failure.
She is now reunited with her mother Snugglepot and sister Laura. We'll miss you Mary. The garden is now so quiet without your beautiful voice that used to greet us everytime we stepped out the back door.

Mary (one week old) and the Snork Maiden 2009

family portrait: Protective mother Snugglepot and her two babies Laura (r) and Mary (l).

Vale Laura the Explorer

Rest in Peace, our dear little Laura

25/2/2009 - 10/3/2013

Always learning

Despite the girls spending alot of time doing this ...

... their brains have been in overdrive since we got back from our holiday.
R is suddenly checkmating me at chess, spontaneously spelling words off the top of her head and contantly sharing insights that are beyond her years. 
H is immersing herself in all things bookish, learning about grammar and her spelling is taking off too.
At a recent trip to the aquarium they shared all their knowledge about marine animals with our friends.  I am amazed at their ability to retain and explain all the facts and figures they soaked up at Heron Is.  What really impresses me is that they don't need to write things down to remember them. They hear it, find it interesting, file it away in their brain somewhere and that's it. Done. Remembered. For ages!  Unschooling does indeed rock!

Botswana was the next destination on our Around the World trip.  After the decidedly "meh" attitude whilst in Mexico it was a welcome change to go to Africa.  We watched our Wild Africa DVD a few times, read a book by Alexander McCall Smith about Akimbo and the Lion, and listened to great music via the AccuRadio app.  H enjoyed spending our virtual money on airplane tickets and a two night stay at the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana. She also did some extensive research on the country, typed it up using her emerging typing skills learnt here and printed out copies to paste in their scrapbooks.
R was keen to do some writing and made some puppets of an African man, meerkat and a crocodile.

Here are some snippets of life around here.

Clockwise from top right:  Happy Birthday P!; chess anyone?; currently reading about Marco Polo's adventures; chilling out with good friend W; Nutmeg the bunny; beautiful colours from our prism on a sunny morning; spot the real animal; what's going on behind those beautiful big blue eyes?;  another doodle.

Dinner with friends C and W turned into a henna tattoo night:

Term 1 wrap up

The end of first term is nigh, so before we leave on our very well deserved holiday to Heron Island, here's a record of what the girls have been up to.


Sport - Ballet, Gymnastics, Kids Cardio, Circus classes.

Music - Choir, Piano lessons, attending concert band rehearsals, concerts and citizenship ceremonies.

Personal Development - Girl Guides.

LOTE - Latin, learning phrases and words relating to the countries studied in our Around the World unit.

Art - Artist Trading Card swap with fellow homeschoolers, batik making.

History - Brief histories of the countries studied in our Around the World unit; Indigenous study (tool making, edible plants, culture and music); Horrible Histories books/DVD; French Revolution video from Khan Academy.

Geography - Around the World unit; preparation for our trip to Heron Island, Qld.

Science - Crystal growing; Tadpole watch; Saturday Science sessions; Rockpool study; marine life study; growing pumpkins; dog, rabbit and guinea pig care; "Hands in the Dirt" excursion involving planting seeds, grasses, analysing compost, identifying animals under a microscope.

English - Shakespeare (H); Headsprout (R); library days; H is writing her own Mr. Men story; writing and performing original plays; atttending a performance of Hamlet; research skills for Around the World project.

Maths - Smartkiddies website; Cool maths games; math workbooks; Pi Day; selling raffle tickets at band concert.

*Around the World countries studied were South Korea, Mexico, Canada and Mauritius.

...and all done in our pajamas! (well, most of it anyway).

a bucketful of egg cases(?) need help identifying these!

investigating at Rickett's Point

snail trail

common sea star

crab shell lineup

Stage 1 of batik making using flour paste instead of wax. Instructions here.

 

Crystal making using Borax, food colouring and boiling water:

 

Torn paper craft:

Hands in the Dirt excursion:

planting Lomandra

Circus time.  R is working towards her Level 1 certificate:

The Doctor is changing daily now.  One day he sprouted a front leg.  The next day the second one popped out:

We will most likely release him back to the creek where we found him at the end of this week.