Heron Island, April 1 - 9

R's first time on a plane

arrived in Gladstone

waiting for the launch to Heron Is

a beautiful crossing...until the seasickness hit!

This lovely silver gull and her chick had their nest under our room's back deck . We dubbed them Peggy and Puffy.

The Dining Room, where we ate a buffet breakfast, buffet lunch and three course dinner every day.

entrance to the restaurant

looking at the Bar on the left, the pool and beach straight ahead.

Meet Fluffy - a Wedge-tailed Shearwater chick (aka Mutton Bird) that sat in it's nest all day, everyday just outside our front door. Usually shearwaters dig a burrow for a nest but Fluffy's mum used a large piece of bark on the ground. A resort staff member said she must have been too lazy to dig one of her own but I like to believe she was just thinking outside the box.

The best spot for spotting lemon and black tipped reef sharks, shovel-nosed rays, cow-tailed rays and an amazing number of colourful fish.  Oh, and herons and gulls of course.

Homecoming

Today we released The Doctor back to his original home.  The water level in the creek was lower than when we first found him as a tadpole, but the water quality was so much better today.  We wish The Doctor well on his journey to adulthood.

This was taken a few days ago. Doctor still had quite a long tail.

Sitting on a rock this morning

he liked to sit on his food

Limnodynastes peroni, aka Striped Marsh Frog

This was taken in the car on the way to his creek.

a contemplative pose. Can he hear the calls of his fellow frogs?

home at last at Damper Creek.

Goodbye Doctor! 

Another project that we just finished off yesterday was our batik making.

H's finished batik

R's batik

with the left over dyes I painted my homage to The Doctor

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.