Musical rooms

We played a game of Musical rooms two weeks ago. Instead of three bedrooms we now have one playroom, one parent's retreat and one sleeping room.  Bedtime has never been easier and we're finding out interesting things about each other, like the way the Snork Maiden buries herself under the bedclothes whilst sleeping and how Moomintroll grinds her teeth and talks in her sleep. Loudly. Every night. Often about her sister and/or pasta which is strange given that she rarely eats pasta.
We've made other changes over the past weeks too. Firsty, both children have asked, in different ways, for more work to do. Several days ago we arrived home to find two large boxes addressed to the girls, full of work courtesy of Distance Education Victoria.  They were so excited and unpacked everything in the kitchen.  It made me feel a little queasy, looking at all that paperwork so we packed it all up again, just keeping the first unit out. I've read through it and it seems doable. Each unit is ten days worth of work, all nicely set out so I don't have to prepare anything aside from borrowing a few story books from the library for Moomintroll. 

The second change we've made is the decision to become vegetarian. We are into our third week and it's going very well. The Snork Maiden has shown herself to be very open minded about trying new foods. She is now eating tofu and eggplant happily. When P made a mushroom noodle soup she didn't bat an eye, just gulped it down.

Last monday was a beautiful day so we took another trip to the aquarium. This time Moomintroll asked for some work to do there, so thanks to Enchanted Learning we were armed with plenty of activities to keep us busy.  The Snork Maiden has blogged about our day here.

Work

I did a little experiment two weeks ago.  I'd been reading a certain online homeschooling forum quite a bit lately and have been interested to learn about how other families set out their days. Some have rigid timetables that they impose on their kids, others are less strict but nevertheless follow a schedule of some kind.  I've always felt that as a largely unschooling family we wouldn't need a timetable, but last week I thought that I'd give it  a try; just to see if it made any difference to our days. Would it make things easier? Would the girls rebel? Would I stick to it?
I asked the girls their thoughts on the matter and together we came up with a plan. They tend to sleep late in the mornings so we decided that 10am was a good time to begin "work time". Work means anything whatsoever as long as it wasn't playing computer games like Club Penguin or their Nintendos or watching tv. Any activity that would nourish their heart and stimulate their brains. It could be jewellery making, Barbie Space Explorers, maths, reading, drawing, playing with the pets...  "Work time" would go for three hours until lunch at 1pm. After that they would have unrestricted "free time" before and after their afternoon activities (circus, ballet, gym and kids cardio), Wednesday afternoon would included a trip to the library and Friday was to be an entirely free day.

So...how did it go?  It was magic. On the first day and after a couple of gentle reminders that it was 'work time', the girls really got stuck into it. H began to research Sweden, worked on spelling and abacus maths and read a novel in two days.  R did lots of drawing and colouring, typed, sent and read back numerous emails to friends and family, worked on her abacus, used some CD roms from the library for English, problem solving, puzzles, spelling and logic. Together we read through some Eco Neighbour books from the library about how to live greener, and had some read aloud sessions too.
Our unschooling life was really enhanced by having this very loose timetable.  By lunchtime both girls were happy and engaged and their 'work time' didn't really come to an end. It continued on in the afternoons with dog walks, more reading and playing together.  It wasn't until Friday that they remembered Club Penguin, which is pretty impressive given their CP obsession.
R even made up a song one lunchtime. It didn't have a very memorable tune or many lyrics but I loved it all the same.  It went something like this:  "I love my work, I love my work, Oh I love my wooorrrrk..." 

Midwinter warmers

The last few days we've really noticed the cold and haven't ventured very far from our lovely warm lounge room. We have been busy though. We've finished painting R's planets with glow in the dark paint and they are now orbiting the sun in her bedroom. 

On our last trip to Resource Rescue I bought a heap of beautiful shiny white paper and we've been drawing and doodling and colouring the hours away. This is possibly the best paper we've ever drawn on as it's shiny coating makes the texta colours shine so brilliantly.
Today we read most of Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson and it has inspired the girls to draw and create some Moomin inspired acrostic poems:

Marvellous                                               

Odd     

Omnivorous

Magical  

Impressive 

Not normal.

Super special

No way normal

Oh my goodness!

Radical

Kool!

Super small

Naughty

Irresponsible

Frightened

Fearful

..and while we're on the subject of poetry, R wrote this a little while ago:

My name is Mr. 4

And I want to be a 5,

To be a firefly.

My name is Mr. 4

And I swim in the floor,

And I swam to a wild boar,

And I went inside the wild boar's jaw,

And he closed the door.

And the wild boar

Ate me up.

So I was in his tummy. 

It was all squidgy

And he had a ball inside him

So I could play with it.

The End

We've also been cuddling on the couch with the Hemulen, reading inside wardrobes and eating large amounts of chocolate brownies.

The girls have decided that I need to change their names on this blog, so now R will be known as Moomintroll and  H is the Snork Maiden. I guess I'll be Moominmamma and P will be Moominpappa. We already have Sniff and a Hemulen.
So there you have it - the McMoomin family.

Oh yes, one last thing. Whilst I was reading aloud today Moomintroll grabbed the camera and filmed this while she listened:

..a nice insight into the mind of a free spirited 6 yr old child!

Searching for Pooh

A day off school for P meant a family walk at the Hundred Acre Wood.
We searched high and low for Winnie the Pooh and for my favorite Drosera species, but only found fungi, fungi, everywhere and Piglet too.  It was a lovely walk.

At last!

At last I stopped procrastinating and did something with my doodles.  Anyone can now have my designs on fabric.  And the best thing is that someone I don't know tagged one them as one of their favorites!
So, coming soon - a series of bags made with tinybluehouse original fabric....once I clear some space for the sewing machine!