The morning was spent at a birthday party held at the local gymnastics club

Then off to a housewarming party for friends who have moved to the country - so an afternoon of...

Riding horses

Feeding baby lambs

Riding go-karts

Looking at the calves

Hanging out with new friends

Playing soccer

On the way home we drove past a new (well, new to us) woodfire pizza place, so once we knew they did gluten free, we stopped in there and ordered a few pizzas. Nathan got chatting with the owner and was quizzing him on how the oven worked and got to see it all in action.

(Shame I forgot my camera!)

A full day out!

On a spur of the moment I decided that I wanted to go jeans shopping today and had not had any luck with the local shops. So a phonecall to my mum at and we arranged to go to the next biggest mall with the kids for a few hours later on in the morning.

Then the speech therapist phoned to cancel our morning appointment - the universe must have heard my message that we really wanted to go the local homeschool science and technology fair instead. So we headed there for an hour or so before going to pick up my mum. We saw some neat displays - rubber band powered cars, bridge building, plants soaking up food colouring and some water rockets being launched amongst many other cool things. Nathan got thinking about something he'd like to organise for next year.

Stepdad decided he wanted to come along too and suggested that he take the kids to the pools nearby while we shopped. So the kids had a great time with Grampie swimming and I had a good time with my mum shopping at leisure. We didn't get home till 4.30pm, so stayed at their house for dinner and watched a DVD.

A cold rainy day...

Sitting in front of the fire reading more Little House in the Big Woods (Danielle's definitely into it and we're about 1/3 of the way through the book already).
Playing board games - we built Beetles and then played Snakes and ladders

Reading a few maths story books - set at Danielle's level and she got it

Playing the Let's Shop game

Watching a DVD or two

Nathan read another story to us

A bit of crafting

More playing with ALL the cushions and pillows found around the house where they were lined up all through the lounge and down the hallway...

A few days back Nathan bought out to me a cord that's been in Danielle's bedroom for a few years and said that it was made up of two strings. I pointed out that it actually had 3 and that it was plaited. So I set him up with his own three strings to plait.

The other day we were talking about how liquids expand when frozen. We filled a container to the brim and popped it in the freezer and saw the results.

Yesterday we had a friend with her two wee boys come for most of the day - so there was sandpit play, playground play, inside play...and loads of mess but full of fun!

Today was to be a relaxing home day with no plans (and nice to coincide with it being the Spring equinox).

From our library books Nathan got our a little chapter book to continue reading to me.

Mid morning we headed out for a walk (well, one of us walked)... We found a heap of cleavers that the kids had fun sticking on.

We got home to make buckwheat pancakes for lunch.

Nathan wrote a little story about our walk and Danielle told me a story that she wanted me to write down for her.

I then "suggested" lol that everyone have a wee rest on their own. Danielle went off to play "hide and seek" with her soft toys and hid them all and then found them lol. Nathan jumped up into his bed with some books. I snuck into my sunny bedroom with a cup of tea and some newly arrived herbal books.

Mid afternoon we decided to head to the library and return out mountain of books. Getting onto first name basis with the librarians down there now lol.

We came home with a mixed pile as well as Little House in the Big Woods to re-read to Nathan (and to read to Danielle for the first time). I think I like that book the best out of the 4 that we have read so far. Previous attempts at chapter books have not been of too much interest to Danielle, but this one seems to have captivated her so far for the two chapters we read at bedtime.

I was in serious need of ideas with the kids this morning. They were getting to that stage of getting ratty and annoying each other.

We grabbed out of the library pile the book on Mixtures & Compounds, and found the next home experiment we could do. So after reading up on Water and The Air (and discussed the different gases) we wanted to test how carbon dioxide gas puts out fire.

We lit a small candle. Then put five tablespoons of vinegar into a bottle and added half a tablespoon of baking soda. As the mixture fizzed, Nathan held the mouth of the bottle close to the flame. The candle went out as the carbon dioxide from the reaction prevented oxygen from reaching the flame. Nathan couldn't wait for dad to get home so he could show him this one (he was out for a bike race today).

I then disappeared outside to chit my potatoes that have been sprouting. I realised I'd accumulated quite a pile of large chopped pieces that didn't have any sprouts on them. Rather than just composting them I thought we could make some potato stamps (since I'm usually too stingey to use our potatoes for play!).

Nathan meanwhile, went and started carving out from his plasticine (I wasn't too comfortable him cutting the potatoes to make shapes with the way that I needed to hold them and he didn't want to use a butter knife so found a way where he could get a similar experience).

Danielle thought that looked like fun too...

Then on to the stamping...

That then turned into a bit of this...

It was then time for lunch and they sat down to watch Madeline again (I snuck outside to read my book in the sun - bliss!).

Daddy got home a while later and took them out for a play at the park.

This evening Nathan played Bloxorz again.

This morning the kids popped on a video and chose Madeline. At the end when the scenery changed into a painted picture, Nathan raced off and got out the paper and paints and started to draw the same scene (and yes I'm a bit crazy (or irresponsible or lazy...) sometimes - check out the water AND paints right on top of the carpet...).

We went over to nannie and grampies for lunch and when I went and did some work with my mum, the kids watched some of Annie with Grampie (gosh, had a bit of an orphan theme going on today!). They then all went outside and helped grampie dig some ditches down his driveway to lay some drainpipe.

I bought a Mad Libs book that arrived in the post yesterday. This evening Nathan and I got it out for a bit of a play. He loved creating all the silly stories and it quickly got the hang of providng nouns, verbs, adjectives etc as requested.

I've been noticing over the past few months that Nathan likes watching any cooking type shows if he spots one on TV (I've personally never been into them). We don't have the TV just left on and the kids don't often watch programmes outside of the morning kids shows (mostly DVDs other times). However, if the DVD has finished and for some reason flicks onto the TV channels and he's spotted a cooking show I've often found him sitting down intently watching. Not that I'm surprised, since he does enjoy cooking and helping me out in the kitchen.

Then tonight I was watching a herbal medicine programme on TV and he came into the lounge after his bath and sat down and watched all the potions the man on TV was brewing up.

An early start!

Well, for us it was anyway.

I checked my emails this morning at 8.15am and there was one from a friend saying "come over right now! our trees are being chopped down this morning". So 5mins later I'd managed to get the kids dressed (and myself) and we were out the door.

We then checked out a new week old lamb, a bolshy goat called Molly, a noisy but very cool goose, some curious and friendly alpacas from over the neighbours fence who let me pat their noses and a bumblebee nest in a pile of soil.

We then had a little play with their 7wk old kittens. This was Danielle's favourite one.

And that was all by 10am!

After lunch the kids got out the Memory cards again and we had a few games before they moved on to stacking them.

A friend came and played in the afternoon. (I was expecting a surprise visitor for the kids at 1pm, but he didn't turn up, so we'll have to wait for another day).

I read another chapter of the book on the boy growing up in China.

The kids continued adding to their Big Book about Me.

Our organic vege box arrived this morning while Danielle's speech therapist was here, so Nathan started unpacking it and discovered a cool new fruit that we hadn't seen before. Google told me it was a Custard Apple - well, something told me to type in custard apple and there it was...;) And yes, it really was heart shaped.

After lunch they disappeared out to the sandpit for a while.

I then joined them down in the garden and both helped remove large weeds as I dug them up. We talked about how the soil in the garden bed we were digging was particularly good because of the high number of worms in each forkfull. It tied in nicely with a book on Dirt that Nathan and I read about yesterday. As I was digging, Danielle spotted a "new" insect we hadn't seen before. Nathan identified it as looking like a cicada. Upon checking out our Life-Size Guide to Insects it indeed was a cicada, but was a Nymph - and they live underground for at least 3yrs before climbing a tree at dawn and breaking out of their shell.

We read more library books...rainforests, a little chapter book that Nathan read half of to me, a Korean folktale and got part-way through an autobiography about a boy growing up in Communist China.

More on time

Nathan's been building and working on understanding how to tell the time for a few years now. Today I felt that he was ready for me to take it further...and that knowing how to count in 5's would probably help in understanding how the minutes work (he's aware of o'clock and half past and when it's a few minutes to the new hour but hadn't made the connection to much else).

He was hanging out watching the dialogue clock on the stove while waiting for it to be time to go and visit some friends who would be finishing school at 3pm.

First up I wrote out a list of numbers counting in 5's and asked him to see if he could find the pattern.

Then showed how those 5 minute chunks related to the clock face.

In the car on the way to visit our friends he wanted to know how much was 100 hours. So I said it was just over 4 days. "Wow, how do you know that?". So I explained how each day is 24hrs, two days is 48 hours and how 4 days is 96 hours and that that is almost 100 hrs. So 100 hrs equals 4 days and 4 hrs.

Knocked down but not out...

Nathan woke during the night complaining of a sore throat that by morning had progressed to fever and muscle achiness...he snoozed on and off till mid afternoon when his fever broke and he perked up again. I can't recall the last time the house was quiet for so long and had both children in it at the time!

Danielle seemed a bit lost without her playmate but found some things to do and came and showed me this picture she'd drawn. "That's you with sandflies biting you, and you're wearing warm clothes".

Then she wanted to create a house under the table and directed me to find things to help her create what she had in mind.

Danielle then went off and created a book called "The Big Book About Us" (I think she got that off Blues Clues that was on this morning). She asked for Nathan to contribute to the book - the poor fella really wasn't in the mood but drew a picture - a tiny little body lying down and he told me that was him sick lol. I did notice later though that he'd added a "Nathan running" picture and dialogue. Danielle's picture has swings, a slide, see-saw, me balancing on a ball (love the detail on the ball), a crocodile and a bumble bee.

A friend dropped a movie in for us that they both watched and enjoyed.

As Nathan started to perk up and I asked him if he wanted to play noughts and crosses. So we had fun playing that for a while. Unfortunately I'd picked up Danielle's notebook to use....oops.

I then showed Nathan a new online maths game I found over at Steph's Ordinary Life Magic (just as well for the inspiration of fellow unschoolers on days like this!). Nathan really got into it and I found when I wasn't quite available to help as he wanted (while I was cooking dinner) he managed to master a few levels he didn't think he could.

(I still get surprised at the end of a day when I've felt very uninvolved in what the kids have been doing, that learning can occur even when I take a day off myself...)

An afternoon with friends...

What started out as meeting a wee friend down at the park after lunch...followed with an ice-block...then followed by coffee back at our house...then moved on to a glass of wine for the mummies (while the kids painted Nathan's aeroplane with dad, got into dressups and rode the scooters)...that lead on to an impromptu bbq dinner (the first of the season!).

Great fun!

(The aeroplane that was built in the morning and later painted green and yellow - he said it was a World War II plane).

Making rocket ships from the weekly vege box.

Assisting with cooking (Danielle loves to peel herself a carrot and slice it up for a snack).

Nathan got out some English workbooks yesterday evening and surprised himself at how "easy" it was for him now to spell the words required.

Playing with friends and went to sea scouts (the Kea's group) on Monday for a looksie.

I took Nathan to visit the local Water Treatment Plant yesterday, so we had a bit of a tour around there for 1.5hrs. The man showing us around thought he might be a little young to get much out of it but I assured him that I would probably get all the questions later. We got back to nannie and grampies afterwards to pick up Danielle and he excitedly relayed to them what he'd seen. Interesting how some kids don't need to be intently looking and watching what is being talked about but still "get" the info (he stood right next to me the whole time, but spent much of it wiggling, moving, spinning and I do wonder how he would get on at school with that need to move while learning). Is distracting for the speaker though so I tried my best to still him at times. Next I'll need to jack up a visit to where the waste water/sludge goes off to which was the next part of the process from what we looked at.

Can't believe it's been 5 days since I last posted!

Last Saturday the kids wanted a picnic out on the front lawn, so they both set out a mat and plates etc.

Sunday and Monday were spent hanging out with dad, visiting friends, dinner at nannie and grampies, bike riding and watching more of Wizard of Oz before it was due back at the shop. Nathan's been continuing to add to his copy-written story from the Thomas book and Danielle's been writing me more love letters. Both of them can play Whosit on their own now and did really well.

Yesterday afternoon Nathan went to play at a friend's house and Danielle and I went down to the mall for a few hours for a coffee (and her a fluffy) and shared a slice of cheesecake.

Been lots of reading of library books...

Today we looked at one of the books on Mixtures and Compounds.

First up we looked at what a mixture is opposed to a solution, so mixed salt with water and it became a solution whereas sand and water are just a mixture as they don't combine.

We then chose an experiment to show how felt pen colours are a mixture of different coloured chemicals that are able to be separated. The red didn't separate (which I'm guessing is because it's a primary colour), whereas the black and green looked great as time went on.



We then attempted separating via evaporation. Apparently lemon juice, which is a solution of citric acid and water should evaporate and leave the crystals behind. We just ended up with a sticky syrup (that the kids enjoyed torturing themselves by licking even though it was about 10 times as sour as usual!).

Watching a spider devour a live fly was of interest this afternoon as well - ewwww....

Mountains have continued to be interesting, and today Nathan took it to the sandpit (again!)...two mountains with a valley between them with a river and trees only growing partway up the mountain that was snow covered.

Danielle building her own mountain.

On the trampoline with additional items "surfing".


More egg hunts to find where the chickens are laying their latest eggs and investigating chicken footprints in the sandpit (Nathan drew a map to help find them) and then Danielle drew herself a map and I could here her navigating herself around the house, front yard and back yard to locate the eggs too lol.

Races around the house using the timer from one of the boardgames.

Reading: A Secret Seven book by Enid Blyton

Nathan's becoming a keen and confident reader and sat and read for 15mins and got halfway through The Cat in the Hat. Danielle proudly told her speech therapist this morning that "Natey's been reading Cat in the Hat to me, it's written by Dr Suess!".

Watching: The Wizard of Oz.

Getting all excited over the vege box that was delivered.

Meeting with friends and forming a tribe, collecting wild weeds for food, making tools and furniture.

New books from the library: Nathan's requests included Mountains, Rain Forests, the Water Cycle, Wahine disaster and Praying mantis' (after our encounters during the week). Danielle just grabs random books of all types - love these, as we end up with books that I might not otherwise I have chosen or thought of. I got a sideways look from the librarian when my card went over its limit - so I instructed Nathan to hand his over to get the rest of the books out lol.

Continuing on with the domino theme using the library's cushions in the kid area.

Waiting for me while I chose some adult books.

Discovering new words from an interesting story with lovely descriptive language: ravine, abyss, gargoyles, meddling, apprentice, cauldron and hue to name a few.

Grocery shopping - seems to always motivate Nathan to write up a list of items to ensure nothing he wants gets forgotten. He then wanted to read out the items for buying from my list - only problem that the way I write a list isn't logical so it frustrated him that he couldn't just run his finger down the list telling me what to buy since we weren't in the right department at the time!

Helping me chop up some plantain and pouring in the apple cider vinegar to make a tincture.


We were checking out an awesome huge full moon tonight, with a beautiful clear sky (there will be a frost overnight) - shame I don't possess the photography skills to take a good shot or one that does it justice though! It was amazing watching it pop up from behind the hill and in a matter of a couple of minutes it had come up completely.