Saturday

This morning while sitting down to drink their hot chocolates Nathan was asking me what certain numbers look like written down. After I'd explained a few it clicked with him how to decode a number (ie 15 can be worked out by the 1 in front belonging to 10 and the 2nd number added makes it a teen number). He knows how to read those numbers but I don't think really realised how to "make" one. He also got over the hump of not knowing which "10" came next (ie 29 becomes 30). He has been able to count the 21-29 or 61-69 and how to count by 10's but not necessarily what the next set will be. But once he realised the pattern he was away and was then telling me all the 100's. We had a giggle over why fifty isn't fivety - yeah, totally understand his confusion lol! He knows fifty, but when working on it logically he would get to 49 and realised that the 4 becomes a five so logic told him the next ten so converted the "five" and got tangled up. We then read some more from Story of the World (it's not something I make time for, but rather when we're all in the mood we'll sit down and read a chapter or two and over hot chocolates is a pretty good time). He expressed interest in wanting to make a pyramid from his Lego.

Danielle set her animals up and put some music on for them to dance to.

Nathan brought me his maths workbook again this afternoon and the next section we looked at was estimations and measurement. I think his estimation was more spot on than mine. In the course of doing this he was introduced to .5


We did a bit of hefting to estimate weights between two objects that we couldn't visibly tell which was heavier. That was a new thing for me to learn today. I heft all the time only never knew it had a name lol.

Danielle called me into the dining room and was looking at a piece of string that was lying on the floor at an odd angle. It must have looked like a letter to her (but wasn't sure what one). Then pointed to a pen lying on the ground and told me it was an I. I recall when Nathan was younger he'd be lying on the floor and point to the ceiling or random items around the house and note what letter they looked like too.

They bounced on the trampoline for a while between rain showers. Watched a DVD and Danielle wanted to have a little play on the computer in a blank Word sheet.

Nathan got out the Kitchen Science library book and came across a taste test experiment using a blindfold. So he squeezed a few fruits in the kitchen and wanted me to try them.

This evening all the video tapes, cases and dvd's were pulled out of the drawer and initially used to make a tunnel and roads and then later on used as dominoes going down tables and stools and across the floor.

A few more days...

Nathan's continued to do random exercises from his maths book, writing us messages on the front porch in chalk, got back into a bit of lego building and returning emails to his Nannie.

Danielle's been setting up a restaurant in her room and serving us food and then wanted my help to follow some Lego instructions to build a Lego house.

The kids had out the cuisenaire rods last night and when Simon arrived home from work they were constructing castles and catapaults to knock the castles over.

Danielle then very determindly sat down and built her own castle and called me over to check it out.

Nathan found an activity in one of our books to grow some wee plants in egg shells. We just happened to have some spare very tiny little parsley seedlings to pop in. He then painted the shell with the face paints.

The kids started off their day by building a hut on Danielle's bed since I'd stripped the sheets off. So all the couch cushions were transferred down there and a hut built. I heard them discussing "collecting food for winter to store".

Then a bit of DVD watching and quite a bit of jigsaw puzzle building (haven't seen the Lego out for a few weeks - funny how that happens).

The sun hit our porch late morning and it was really nice being out there. Nathan started to draw with the chalk and was making up a story while drawing.

After lunch we all just pottered around.

Danielle's really gotten into playing Whosit (like Guess Who).

Nathan got out one of his maths workbooks that hasn't been out for over a month and wanted to work on the next section. It included collecting some data (watching the number of cars driving down our street and noting how many of each colour went by) and tossing a coin and noting the results.

"Mum, we're collecting some nature!".

Cooking some banana pancakes as a snack

Meanwhile, Danielle came out from her room all dressed up for dancing and popped on one of her dancing DVD's

Then a bit of sandpit play and tree climbing (the Magic Faraway Tree still)

The kids helped tidy up the house and unload the dishwasher, then after dinner sat down to watch the start of an old Black Beauty DVD they have (but hadn't watched yet). They were fascinated with the newborn foal scene and watching it try to walk for the first time.

At bedtime Nathan read me one of our Little Critter books. His reading is coming along really well now. No idea "where" he would be if he were in the school system, but he's loving and enjoying it and certainly building on what he knows everytime he does read.

Tuesday

Last night Nathan had asked me to keep my sewing machine out on the table so he could do some sewing today. It's been a while since he had a go at it. We found some scrap fabric and decided on a little bag to store some things in. Danielle also wanted to have a go which she hasn't done before.

Nathan has taken an interest in Star Wars and after we looked at one of his Star Wars reference books I'd picked up at a library sale a few months back he decided this morning to modify a couple of their wooden swords into lightsabers by colouring in a wide strip of paper and taping it onto the sword.

After lunch Nathan got out a few jigsaw puzzles and made his way through doing them. Danielle who'd been down in her room playing with her little dolls and things came and joined him.

A friend came and played this afternoon (our official "last playdate" for winter...) and the kids set up a game outside with various toys and pop up tents. We all then wandered down to the local playground for a while. The kids headed straight for the surrounding bush/hills again before having a short play on the equipment. As the sun went down the air suddenly went icy cold so a quick walk home to the warm house.

I am currently reading Last Child in the Woods and read a piece this evening that research shows that if you give a child a flat, tidy field to play in, they tend to gravitate to the rough outer edges where there are ravines, rocky inclines and natural vegetation - certainly happens here! This is not an anti-TV book, just one that really promotes providing the outdoor time and space. Although it hasn't as yet presented anything new to me (or that I don't already do), it does present some good research into children's behaviour and emotions and the part that nature plays. I have been reflecting on the way that my kids are certainly calmer and move at a pace that is so stress-free and relaxed when outside. I know the feeling myself when I get out of the house and down into the garden or off for a bush walk. It has certainly encouraged me to get us all outside even in the middle of winter. (The key for me being ok about standing or sitting around in the cold is to be comfortable myself. So whether that is taking a blanket to sit on, a cup of tea and a book and call it down-time while the kids play).

This morning I was lying in bed reading and Nathan came and jumped in and we had a chat and looked out the window at the wind blowing in the trees, the birds flitting around and the clouds racing by. We looked at the huge Oak tree in the neighbours front yard and we noted that it was bare and was a deciduous tree as we'd read about yesterday. I recalled to him about painting pictures of deciduous trees when I was younger and he raced off to get out the water colours and set himself up in my room for a spot of painting.


Nathan's rock "tool" that was successful at cutting a piece of string.

Nathan's been right into taking the temperature of all his food lately. His hot chocolate was the latest to get the test.

We then pottered around putting together our winter solstice/Matariki preparations as blogged here.
The afternoon was spent outside bouncing on the tramp, digging in the sandpit and helping dad with stacking the firewood.

After dinner (while all dressed up waiting to go out with Simon and Nathan to get a DVD) Danielle got involved with winching up her animals. She's been right into this lately.

Busy little bees...

What an exhausting few days (for me! lol). We mostly stayed around home, but the kids were so hyped and moving from one thing to another I hardly got a chance to sit down and just relax. Usually I manage to carve out a bit of time to myself mid-afternoon to sit down with a book and a cup of tea to recharge (usually when they watched a DVD). But they have been full on and busy and requiring a little help here and there that just as I'd pick up a book I'd be called away to help out with something (or I'd want to get a photo of something :)). But in saying that, I've loved every (well, almost) moment and it's been neat to see the way they shift and move between activities. Seemingly all unrelated and random, but then I notice links
all over the show that I just couldn't recreate that if I tried.

Went to the library in the morning - oops, the librarian had to override their system which cuts out at 30 books (we'd forgotten to take the kids library cards with us which usually gets us around the problem).

Unpacked our fruit/vege box that was then utilised elsewhere.

A bit of painting. I heard Danielle exclaim "hey, I made orange!". I'm sure she has many times before, but was cool for her to realise that *she* did that.

The box and the toys continued on their adventures from the night before. NO idea what they were doing here, but made me smile.


Tea parties.

Replied to an email to his nannie.

Nathan spotted a news item on my homepage of an Egyptian Mummy. So we spent a while looking at online pictures of mummies and talking about them (the night before we'd been reading about them The Story of the World so it grabbed his interest again).

This morning was super frosty.

As I was buzzing around getting ready for the day and doing some chores Nathan was in his room drawing and calling out asking how to spell certain words. He made a special little picture of a town for Danielle with labels of places to visit.

Nathan then headed outside and was right into digging and smashing up all the ice he could find around the place.

I sat and watched the chickens basking in the sun (as soon as I let them out they raced for their sunny patch).

Magic Faraway Tree meets My Side of the Moutain
As I was hanging up washing Nathan found an old Evening Primrose plant that was sitting alongside the fence and asked if he could do something with it. Just as I was thinking it could make a cool hut he exclaimed it would make a good teepee if flipped upside down. So he set about digging a hole in the ground to pop it into. As he was wrapping the excess branches around the top he decided it made a good Magic Faraway Tree and that this would be Moon-Face's house. He then decided to make a mat from leaves that he recalled from My Side of the Mountain.

Danielle then came outside and joined us and they went off to the many lands on adventures.


After lunch we read some of our library books. One of them was about a Vietnamese family and the treasures held in a special family cabinet. After the story the kids raced off down to Nathan's room to consult the map of the world and find out where Vietnam is. We also started a new chapter book from the Time Spies series.

We then had to go out and get some supplies for looking after the chickens (mites, urgh, poor girls). I also needed to pick up a book from the library I'd ordered in so while there we photocopied some pages from a book with Mandalas in it that I'd picked up the day before. Nathan wanted to colour in some of pages. So they made a start on those as I de-mited the girls.

After dinner was on, Nathan wanted to be rolled up like a mummy. He'd made a mask to go on the outside that I was to place on when done.

It's funny, we've been meaning to make some playdough for 2 days now. But somehow, all the spontaneous stuff just keeps tiding us over. I know that sometime soon there'll be a lull in this "buzziness" and boredome arrives for a few days. But it seems not long after, another busy spurt occurs and they're off again.

We've not played with any kids this week and probably won't for the rest of winter. I know, sounds awful! While Nathan's immune system is still compromised and *really* not in a position to deal with any flu at the moment (with the risk of it turning into pneumonia) and with the swine flu now running rampant around the country, we'll be laying low. We will still be going to the library and popping out to run errands - but unfortunately with kids as they are, they are in each others faces and it would do my head in wondering about the transfer that could be going on. So we can carry on as we are and minimise our exposure for the next few months and then just take our chances like everyone else in a few months time.

Brrrr, cold today!

The kids had a few imaginative games going on this morning which carried on for a few hours.

We then went and weeded a large pot out on the deck and Nathan wanted to plant a bunch of mint seedlings into it so we can make masses of mint pesto at some stage.

Bounced on the trampoline till lunchtime.

Watched a DVD.

Played with lego.

Read some Magic Faraway Tree.

Went over to Grampy's and played with all the toys there.

On arriving home Nathan wanted to play with the baking soda and water and then add colours. Since we only have one colour of food colouring he set himself a challenge to find other available sources from around the house. We talked about how in the old days when they didn't have food colouring in bottles, that people used (and still do) plants, flowers, vegetables to colour fabrics. We will try onion skins next time I save some.

I had peeled a beetroot for dinner, so he popped the ends into the water and got pink.

Then ate a tamarillo and added a few seeds into another glass and got purple.

He chopped up some limp leaves of silverbeet and got a pale green.

Danielle then got in on the action and added flower petals to her glasses.

A friend popped around in the early evening for 15mins, so a quick run around with their friend.

Sent and email reply back to his Nannie.

Danielle was looking at one of our activity books and wanted to make a little bed for her soft toys out of cardboard boxes and shredded paper. This is Nathan's one and it has things on top for "insulation" (Danielle's was down safely in her room with her while she sleeps).


(Nathan objected to the book's suggestion of making a cage - his is a free-range rabbit who lives in a hole under the ground and who can run free and do what he likes). This was actually *my* toy rabbit from when I was his age.

Finished the Magic Faraway Tree.

Snuggled down in front of the fire in pj's, listened to a story made up by me and then tried to go to sleep but nope, ended up in my bed! Danielle was already snuggled in her bed - her 5.30am wake ups are taking a toll on her!

Nathan was busy tying knots this morning and then got out our knot book wanting to try out a few different ones at some stage.

The day started off beautifully so we headed down to the local playground and took a couple of pieces of cardboard with us to do some sliding. We'd seen some kids doing it last week so thought we'd have a go as well.

The two of them hung around in the shrubby, bushy area around the outside off on adventures together for a good half hour where I couldn't often hear or see them. Was nice to have a safe area they could explore on their own.

I read a book and sat in the sun on my picnic mat.

They came back for food and I read them some more from The Magic Faraway Tree. We then headed back home for lunch.

The rain then arrived and the kids found a range of things to do.

Nathan played with his parachute he'd made the other day...

Both helped me cook dinner...

They listened to more Fatcat and Fishface.

Read more books.

Nathan replied to an email from his Nannie.

Got out the dress ups and watched a DVD.

Yesterday morning we hung out at home. The kids wanted to "play school" and asked me to be the teacher. How ironic lol. So I took the opportunity to "teach" Danielle some letters of the alphabet and work on her speech therapy hehe.

In the afternoon we caught up with some good friends who were visiting nearby. It was neat to see the kids just pick up where they left off 6mths ago.

An email reply came back to Nathan from his Nannie (he'd sent her a message last week) and surprised himself at being able to read probably 90% of it including words I would never have guessed he knew lol.

We did our grocery shopping this morning and Nathan has taken to wanting to tell me which item is the best value (I let him know which ones are the same size) and he reads the label to figure out which price is cheapest.

After lunch we went down into the garden and popped our first lot of garlic cloves into the ground and I planted some seedlings I'd picked up at the supermarket. The kids spent a bit of time climbing the pear tree, stomping out paths between the vege beds (chickweed is growing abundantly atm), Nathan spotted worms while Danielle swung her baby on the swing.

The rain then came down and we made our way back inside to read a bit more of The Magic Faraway Tree. The kids then wanted to build huts from the couch cushions, and decided that the rooms they made would be in the Faraway Tree. Danielle wanted to be Silky (the pixie) and Nathan tried out various characters (the angry pixie, saucepan man and moon-face). I was designated the role of one of the children from the cottage and we all went on some adventures visiting different lands.

They popped on a CD I'd picked up from the library the other day called Fatcat and Fishface. Such a cool and funky CD. I really enjoy listening to it too. I'd never heard of the band before but they've been around since the late 90's and won children's music awards. I even needed to go and buy us our own copy (the Best Of that was released last year!). The kids just both got crazy and danced like mad to it.

Nathan found a lump of charcoal that fell out of the fire last night and decided to try out some writing using it.

Some of the library books I'd grabbed the other day were a series on the history of Kitches, Bathrooms and Bedrooms. Nathan's been particularly fascinated in the Bathrooms one (along with the mildly gruesome stories that accompany some of them).

This evening Nathan decided to open up a large packet of toilet rolls we'd bought today (yep, we're all class around here with our homeschool supplies!). He spend ages stacking and knocking them over (I'm sure some here are now grossed out that they are now all rolled over the floors?). As he was stacking he was asking me questions about which I thought were higher etc and I took the opportunity to explain odd and even numbers to him. He likes asking me all sorts of maths problems throughout the day (has realised that more than 2 numbers can be added together and likes to give me a random bunch of numbers and ask what it is).

Over the last week we've been making our way through out library books and some new ones that I bought a wee while back.

We decided to try and grow crystals from baking soda. They're getting there, but are *meant* to be stalagtites, but these appear to be growing up!


We decided to do one of the activities out of the Story of the World activity book and here were the kids "cave drawings".

After looking at an Eric Carle artbook today, Nathan wanted to trace the blue horse and then collage it with his own decorations.

And Danielle accessing the newly arrange craft materials...

Danielle brought some more flowers to me to help with pressing.

The bird feeder we made last winter (can you see it disguised in that picture lol). I was sorting through the pantry this morning and discovered the bird seed in there, so we went and filled the tray up. It was gone a few hours later so got another top-up. We spotted a large Tui up in the tree making some loud calling noises while we were at it.

Both kids have been listening to a lot of audio stories lately. We have several CD's with fairy tales on them, and Danielle must have been taken with the one of Snow White as she was playing with her doll later on and then decided she was going to be Snow White and came and told me a lovely story about her and then made up a really different ending (where Snow White and her step mother ended up loving each other and went off and had a happy life).

I thought it would be quite nice to see if Danielle was ready to listen to longer chapter books now. So we popped down to the library this afternoon and got out The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. I read this to Nathan when he was 4.5 and he loved it. He's been asking for me to read it again, so we thought we'd give it a go. She'd rather play quietly while I read or look at photo's, but still seems to be interested anyway. Nathan's loving it again and is beside himself with excitement and wishes he had a tree just like it in our backyard.

Into Winter...

Still much of the same stuff happening around here really.

Going for walks on nice days (collecting and smashing ice slabs taken from the chicken's water bowl, the dog's water bowl and the bathtub in the garden for water collection due to a particuarly heavy frost yesterday).

Plenty of writing, drawing, figuring out numbers, making books, playing with lego, board games, puzzles, watching DVDs etc.

We went to the library yesterday and that always seems to liven up their curiosity and inspiration.

Nathan's been really into Pompeii and volcanoes and all the questions that could possibly be asked around this. I felt that I must have been missing explaining things to him because he would ask the same question over and over and over many weeks (but really I just think it was something that needed the time to process). He was struggling to process why the people died in their city and didn't leave. We have a documentary video that he'd been watching, we'd looked up the Net and then at the library I found a book that looked promising. We've read it over the past two days (I wasn't impressed having it thrust in my face at 6.30am this morning to launch right into it, so managed to set that aside till I was at least functioning lol). It seems to have explained things for him and was written by an archeologist who helped uncover a neighbouring city called Herculaneum. The book was written with a non-fiction story about her life as an archeologist and her findings as well as a fiction story slotted in amongst the chapters on how life might have been.

Yesterday on the way home from the library we went to a playground and Nathan wanted me to reread him one of the Magic Tree House books on Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius - so we did that while Danielle swung for half and hour (and apparently was dreaming of animals and butterflies!). He was interested to note some similarities in that story to that of the book written by the archeologist.

Then they got out one of the books we found at the library with some kitchen science experiments. First up we made the classic gloop one using cornflour and water. That was fun for about an hour!

This afternoon Danielle wanted to get out the face paints and have her fingers painted. Nathan soon wanted some of that fun too.

Meanwhile, Nathan got to put into action a plan that he's been talking of since the weekend. He'd found a length of spare hose and some old ice cream containers and wanted to make a water contraption. Since I wanted to be sure that his plan was the same as what I was imagining it to be I asked him to draw it so we could plan best how to use our resources (once they were cut up there wouldn't have been anymore to get it right) - so once I had confirmed this we figured out together how he wanted it and he set to work.


And it worked!

A few nights ago I had the urge to rearrange my lounge (I do that a lot - and Simon has just learnt to roll his eyes at me and get down to work lol).

I moved all of the kids visible toys from our main sitting area in the lounge and popped them in the far end of the lounge that used to have their activity/craft table (just left some things in two drawers like jigsaw puzzles, cuisenaire rods, geoshapes etc). Since Nathan has outgrown the table height and Danielle is quite happy to sit whereever, we moved the table out and I set the area up with their things including all the board games that used to be in the lounge as well. Nathan got a new bed/desk for his birthday from his grandparents and so most of their drawing materials are now in his room and any crafts/experiments can be done at the dining table (which was getting used for that anyway since their other table was really just a surface to collect junk! All their craft materials are now in some big drawers in a scotchchest that sits in the dining room next to the dining table.



And a length of cord strung up down the hallway for their artwork.

This evening Nathan wanted to write a list of things he wanted to do tomorrow, so set about writing a To-Do list with my help.