Nathan has perfected his own method of making paper darts. It's been cool seeing the progression over the past year as he randomly makes them. For ages he'd ask me to make them, then he'd direct me on what to do and then his own attempts were all about doing it himself but without the skill to get the folds right and then a few weeks back he just "got it" and realised he had the skill and that the folded sides need to be symmetrical.

Nathan's right into helping me prepare dinner these days - maybe motivated by being hungry and wanting food *right now* due to the steroids, but it's also a means of connecting and since he's often busy it's a nice time to have a wee chat.

This evening as we sat down to read some books, Nathan remembered that a week or so back he had wanted to copy one of the books onto his own paper but must have gotten distracted. So off he trotted and wrote out a few pages and drew a picture underneath. His writing is quite fluent now and seems to come much easier for him.

We hired out a new DVD a few days back and Nathan had requested Narnia which we had out last year some time. So he's been reabsorbed in that and taking note of things that he hadn't noticed before.

He's planned out tomorrow already - sewing something, sowing some seeds into his own garden plot and just hanging out at home. He's become a real homebody since being on the medication - seems to have lost the desire to be out and about for long. Makes it tricky for his mama and sister who like to have some outside interaction for longer than 30mins, but makes a change from the boy who used to be obsessed with being out of the home constantly and who I've been working on this with for the past year or so.

Camp-Schooling

Yesterday we returned from our annual summer camping trip. For the past two years we've gone away over anniversary weekend which also ties in with the Organic River Festival just a half hour drive away from home. Kind of perfect when travelling with one child who asks "are we there yet" 5mins from leaving home lol. This year we didn't camp at the festival though and stayed about 10mins north out on the coast. We went away with another family and had a great 3 nights away.

Unfortunately there was rain forecasted (and why did I not pack raincoats?) but was an on and off thing so certainly not enough to put a damper on things.

Danielle was keen to chop up veges for our first night's dinner.

At the festival the next day...







The next day had torrential downpours, so we decided to head north to the next city 1/2 hr away. We'd been meaning to get up there some time over summer and check out the science museum.



By the time we got back to our tent for dinner the day had finally cleared up, but there was apparently more to come that night. So after dinner we pretty much packed up our entire tent into the car and just kept the sleeping gear in the tent just in case we needed to do an evacuation during the night. But fortunately, the wind died off about 4am and we woke to a beautiful sunny day.

On the last day we were sitting around chatting with our friends over breakfast and they asked if we continued to homeschool during the school holidays. So I explained a bit about unschooling and pointed out some examples of "learning" that had gone on during our camping trip that was just as valid as their perception of homeschooling where families sit down to do their learning. I shared with them how his chosen moment of learning was just right for him and me trying to teach those same things would not likely have had the same impact on him or perhaps no relevance to him at that time anyway. I also shared that I treated every question as a means of him seeking information (without knowing or even wondering how it will all slot together in the big scheme of things) and I feel those moments are important to take the time to answer for him no matter their inconvenience to me (no different to parents of schooled children, but I definitely view those questions as being a large part of his education).

These were the following things I mentioned...

- Nathan was sitting down in the tent eating his breakfast and then asked me out of the blue "hey mum, does that number say 44?" while pointing to the chilly bin and the label on it saying that it holds 44 litres. This was quite a new thing for him to decode larger numbers. He's been able to count in higher numbers for a while and we sometimes chant numbers by 10's etc, but seeing it in it's written form isn't something he's really come across aside from road signs saying "50" or "70" or "100". So he really must have been thinking how the two numbers fitted together.

- While walking from our carpark at the festival Nathan was telling me that there were 4 boys and 4 girls in our group. I asked how many that made in which he replied 8 (I wouldn't normally do this, but maybe the newbie in me still likes to know I'm "doing something" *roll eyes at myself*) and I then said "that's right, so 2 times 4 is 8 and 4 plus 4 is 8" and left it at that as just me sharing information.

- Nathan and his friend were in their tent drawing pictures and writing messages. Nathan brought me out a picture with a message on it. His 8yo friend had helped him spell out what he wanted to say and he presented it to me.

- He's right into reading signs when out and about now - in particular Fire Exit and Stop and similar common signs wherever we go.

So, it did feel good for me to know that to others I can justify his learning even if I know I don't need to to myself (although I guess this blog is doing just that at times). I even said that I just can see the learning going on and that it gives me a lot of confidence that this style of learning is right for him. Such a tricky conversation to have though without giving the impression that I'm being sanctimonious. I want to just be able to follow the education path of our choice without having others feel that theirs must then be wrong - kind of like all the simple living, non vaccinating, natural healthcare choices we make too...I prefer to just do what we do without drawing attention to ourselves.

The inventor

That's what Nathan wants to be when he grows up. He has an older friend C who is right into inventing and Nathan thinks that's so cool.

We are going away on holiday this weekend, and yesterday he asked me if I had sorted out someone to look after the chickens (awww, when did he start forward planning like that?) and I responded with a yes and that we would also need to make sure we water the garden before we go too.

Well, today he got to work.

A week back we had out a movie called Arthur and the Invisibles. Arthur invents a means of irrigating his grandmother's vegetable garden from straws I think. Yesterday our friend E had given Nathan a few packets of straws since she had heaps. His little brain must have been ticking over on how they could be used and came back to the movie and set to work this morning.

He asked for my help to get them linked together and wondered how he could get the water to go through the straws from the tap - so with a suggestion from me to use the ice cream container, he was on his way and came up with this. He then pierced the tubes to let the water out.


Our vege boxes then arrived on the courier and as soon as they were unpacked, Nathan took off with one and transformed it into a flying car with a little assistance from me as required.

My kids have discovered (or been introduced to by their friend C lol) that age-old annoying game that siblings inverably do to each other. You know the one? That copying-everything-you-say-game-that-is-guaranteed-to-annoy-the-other. LOL. Danielle is way better at it than Nathan. She really has the staying power of a 3yr old. Nathan hasn't quite figured out the way to diffuse it is to not rise to the bait.

After lunch Nathan announced he'd like to set up his stall on the front grass to sell some of the potatoes. So he hastily made a sign, took out his chair and table and set up. I busyed myself up in the herb garden with a book and cup of tea. I did send a text to a friend to let her know that he was setting up, so she saved the day by doing a drive by to buy a couple of bags off him. He didn't seem to think it strange that they turned up and never questioned their appearance. The road wasn't particularly busy today, but he had the patience to sit there for 45mins before saying he was bored. It was interesting to hear him changing his tactics a few times. "Mum, I think I need to wave to people as they drive past". "Mum, I'm going to yell at people as they drive by that I'm selling potatoes".


(Three sets of clothes in one day?!!)

After the usual morning routine of breakfast and kids TV till 9am, Nathan was wondering what to do, so I suggested that we could start to plan his stall for selling the potatoes. He was keen to do that so we wrote up a list of what needs to be done - bag up the potatoes, write a sign with the price and what is for sale, set up table and chair, have some spare change etc. So we first up bagged up the potatoes into 1kg bags. Since was a Tuesday and not a lot of foot-traffic going past our house, I suggested that he might like to wait for a weekend and in the meantime we would need to make a sign anyway. He was making plans for what he would like to buy - at this stage another Tintin book is the top of the list.

Nathan then wanted get out the Magnetic Kit again and work through some more of the projects. We both loved this one where we had several magnets levitating. We found if we bounced the top one they'd spring up and down like a spring. Fun.

After lunch we went down to the library and the supermarket. We spent a bit of time reading together which we haven't done so much of lately now that summer is well and truly here. I started reading the original Pinocchio story to Nathan tonight (my mum bought us a boxed set of unabridged classics) - we haven't read in the evening for weeks since he's so tired by 7pm. He literally has dinner, gets ready for bed and falls asleep. So I was pleased to get about 10mins in at bedtime of the usual 30-40min session.

Well, we're off camping for 3 nights this coming weekend to the local Organic River Festival - I'm not sure how relaxed I'm going to be, but we're planning on having a great time anyway. The kids are really looking forward to it and getting to hang with friends for 4 days!

Simon was home all day today (yay says the exhausted mama!).

Nathan was browsing through one of the new books I'd ordered called Earthwise which has some lovely ideas for environmental based activities and crafts broken down into seasons.

He came across an idea for making a stick house and was keen to get out there and make it "ummm, buddy, it's only 8.15am". It is very similar to what we've attempted before but this time we decided to try and make it a little more permanent. He had to wait a few hours before the rest of the family were ready to get into it too...

Simon made and framework from heavy bamboo and then we all wove the more flexible leafy bits of the branches amongst them.


Danielle investigating a dandelion seed head.

Our chickens having a dust bath lol. Cheeky chickens.

Danielle feeding her bubba the other day from her little bowl of crystals.

Nathan decided this morning that he wanted to build a train track and wanted me to do it with him, so he started by drawing up a plan.

He then set to work. I found it fascinating (and guess it's the whole men are from mars and women from venus when it comes to map reading) that he had his map sitting at a 90 degree angle to where he was building the track. For me, I tried to set the map the same direction as the track was but he kept resetting it back to the other angle so I left him to it. LOL

We were out the other day choosing a present for a friend's birthday party yesterday and the kids chose this little set of scales for themselves and have had fun with it.

Danielle had a little plaster of paris kit. We poured it into the mould yesterday and she was ready to start painting today. It started off as bright pink. Then later on she was repainting it and announced that it was now green - and that she'd used blue to make it (there was no green in the paint pots). I asked if she'd also used yellow to get that colour. It was fun to hear the amazement in her voice at what had happened. I still recall Nathan annoncing a similar discovery a few years back - so despite having been painting for years and seeing it happen over and over, it must just click one day at *how* that happens and so neat to see the realisation for themselves rather than me showing them (probably more due to a lazy-mama rather than by plan).

Reinventing...

OK, so maybe not reinventing myself, but changing the name of the blog certainly reflects how I feel about our life.

Today I received some new books that I had ordered. One that I've really been looking forward to getting for a year now called The Lilypad List: 7 steps to the Simple Life was the first I poked my nose into. I love Marian's style of writing - like I'm sitting there in her living room with a cuppa having a chat. It's such a heart-warming read and I hope that she doesn't mind me borrowing a line that really jumped out at me and inspired the new title of the blog.

I think too that it's a positive affirmation to myself when times seem a little frazzled around here, or I'm being a bit impatient with the kids, or not living in the moment that I can reconnect with myself, the kids and all my hopes and dreams.

And to once again feel grounded.

It's funny, when your life and what you have gets taken for granted and becomes "ordinary" and then a shake up like one's health happens - it really makes you reflect and realise how important and appreciated those "ordinary" choices really are.

I certainly love our simple life.

A few days back Simon took the kids down to one of the local pine forests for a picnic and a ride around and collected a container of pine cones.

While they were gone I spent some time in the garden. Danielle eating her "snack" - who nees a lunchbox when you can transport your snack around like this?

Yesterday got out a Magnetic Science kit that Nathan had been given for Christmas and had a go at some of the experiments.

Here they are with their metal detectors...

Nathan then started playing with his rigged up pulley/winch system again and showed Danielle what to do.


They then moved on to the sandpit while I wandered around the garden. Danielle made "ice cream" and Nathan made a magic potion.

Nathan showed me his canon that he and Simon made the other day. Nathan had gotten out his Dangerous Book for Boys and taken it down to Simon who was in the garage and wondered how they could make one. Great for shooting a tennis ball through.

Egg maths

LOL, this seems to be the way that both my kids have grasped the concept of addition and subtraction in a way that speaks to them.

When Nathan was four he accidentally broke an egg and announced that he had 3 eggs, but broke 1 and now has 2.

Just yesterday Danielle collected the eggs with me. We had 3 and I asked her what would happen if I broke 1, how many would be left to which she replied 2. Then a few seconds later she said and if I broke 1 more there would only be 1 left.

Taking it easy

Well, yesterday was fairly low key and Nathan was a bit restless and ho hum. But by late afternoon he wanted to go for a walk down to the beach.