The morning started off with the kids rewatching a bit of a Kiwi classic on DVD called Footrot Flats. They then moved on to building with the Lego. Nathan decided his was going to be a watertank and proceeded to fill it up with water....hmmm...wasn't quite as watertight as he expected (but fortunately he attempted this on the wooden floor lol). So after finding teatowel underneath and compressing the bricks down further he tried again. Still leaked ;)

Today was a bit of a scorcher so we got into the garden before it got too hot to water the veges. The kids decided to harvest more beans off their teepee (totally loving the teepee and will do another next year) and realised that a few had grown past how we like to eat them. So they opened them up to investigate the beans inside. Although we have grown scarlett runners before and harvested the fully grown and dried beans, we hadn't opened them up before the drying stage and were surprised at the bright pink colour.

They then decided to "cook" the beans outside in the sun. They filled cups with water and set them in the sun. I asked Nathan if he wanted to have two cups on the go with one inside a black plastic plantpot. He got the thermometer out and proceeded to carry out his experiment. The experiment got forgotten about after a while, but at about 5pm was tested again and was about 5 degrees warmer at that time of day.

Nathan was showing me his "hammer holder" that he constructed a few days back and showed me how it worked.

I was called into Nathan's room to see this wee fella suspended in his web that spanned Nathan's room...

This afternoon some friends arrived after school and they paired off and had a play for a few hours...paper boat construction, rope tying, dress ups...

Nathan called me over today to write out a story for him. He'd drawn a picture of a car and decided to write a series of stories inspired by what he'd drawn. The story was about a character called Ricky Roads. So he dictated me the story while I wrote it out.

Daneille's been asking so many questions about how things work or are made and I found a bunch of books at the library to help explore those things.

Nathan had been asking how exactly glass was made from sand and I managed to find one about that too.

Nathan's been continuing to figure out about minutes/days/weeks/months etc and the multiplication that goes with that to work out larger periods of time.

Danielle's enjoying spotting words that she recognises in books that we're reading.

We went mudsliding on Saturday with Nathan's Keas group. Both had a fantastic time. Nathan was like a little speeding bullet going down the slide and Danielle enjoyed going down with Grampy after she realised she couldn't really get going very fast on her own. Unfortunately my camera battery died after only a few shots...

Getting greased up before sliding...

Saturday

The day started off with Nathan asking me how money was made.

So we jumped on YouTube and checked out a doco on the history of money making in America and modern mints.

We then looked up New Zealand's approach and found a document on how to identify real money opposed to counterfeit. So we got out some of our own notes and went through the guidelines and checked them out and noted all the special security features (our magnifying glass was not strong enough to pick up the micro printing though). Since I read the document out word for word, there were quite a few new words that we had discussions about including forgeries, counterfeit, fake, genuine, vertical, horizontal, transparent and serial numbers).

Last night Nathan was looking through the local newspaper that was sitting on the couch and suggested that we make another newspaper (he was also interested in the real estate section and the large amounts listed next to the houses as well as the symbols used to indicate how many bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms etc and went through all the listings deciphering them). So after lunch we got to work. I asked him if he'd like to make one on the computer with columns and we could insert our photo's from our camping trips to go with the stories. He chose the font he liked for the newspaper name and dictated the stories while I wrote (and discussed over usage of "and then we" lol).

We printed it out, collated it before Nathan set to work stitching the pages together which he has been wanting to do for a while.

The rest of the afternoon was then spent checking out what vegetables were ready for picking and then off to play with a friend.

After dinner Danielle got out the Let's Shop game for us all to play.

Homeschool Camp

We've been away for 3 days camping. We belong to two homechooling groups but as yet hadn't attended any from the other group since they are a bit further to travel to. However, the opportunity came up to go camping with the other group so we jumped at the chance despite not knowing a single person going.

What a blast!

The camp was held at a scout campsite and was set up for heaps of outdoor activities such as kayaking, flying foxes, orienteering, swimming, abseiling and several confidence courses along with games set up. It drizzled with rain on and off the whole time, but that didn't seem to stop most of the action (except for the abseiling).

The first day our group was slotted in for doing the orienteering course and within the first hour Nathan had hooked up with one of the boys in our group. We hardly saw him for the following 2 days - they were stuck together like glue! Danielle also found a wee group of girls she started to play with in the main area outside our tentsite and would come and go with seeing them over the next few days.

And us? We had fun meeting other families - unschoolers and not and just hanging out and getting to know people. Was a lovely way to get to meet these families in a relaxed atmosphere which means if we decide to hook into any of the organised groups from now on we'll know a few faces and the kids will be able just pick up where they left off.

We'll be back again next year!

Over the last few days...

We've been swimming at the pools.

Played with friends and swam in the river - I popped a lifejacket on Nathan and he would enter upstream where it was deep and float his way down with the current and swim to the edge and repeat. Danielle spent her time building an island from the surrounding pebbly sand and observed the "erosion" going on as the water lapped away at it.

Read a little more of The Wizard of Oz

Danielle wanted me to read one of the Beatrix Potter stories about the Fierce Bad Rabbit and then reinacted the story using her soft toys and various props.

Nathan's been sitting down reading library books to himself.

Friday was a day of runnings errands - to the bank, grocery shopping and Danielle had her "B4 school visit" as her final wellchild checkup.

There has been a lot of train track and block construction going on.

The kids have been watching a DVD I found at the library featuring Bindi and Australia Zoo. We will be visiting there later in the year when we travel to Aussie for my sister's wedding, so thought it would be a good introduction to it for them both. Nathan was inspired to build his own animal habitats from available materials around the house and called me in to check it out.

Had passport photos taken today which of course lead onto conversations about what they are and why we have them.

One of those seemingly "nothing" days

Yesterday, while I was busy with a sewing project I have been waiting to get into, the kids were hanging around the house trying to refind their balance after having been away camping (which kept them busy and entertained for about 17hrs a day) and ended up kinda fending for themselves. 

Through their boredom they seemed to find some fresh things to get into...

Last week we read a library book of a story about John Harrison who invented the sea clock. John Harrison was apparently a patient man (it took him about 60yrs to perfect his clock to win a large prize for solving a big problem of that day and age). While away camping, Nathan randomly told me he was patient like John Harrison when it came to waiting.

Nathan lay outside on the picnic table copying out a page from a book. Danielle joined him and did some too.

Drawing and glueing etc

Hammering and constructing with lumps of wood.

Dangerous Book for Boys came out and paper boats and water balloons were made.
Gymnastics and Keas have started back this week. Danielle's moved up to the bigger kids class (with Nathan) and is now on the floor without me and had a ball.

After dinner, we investigated the vegetables in the garden and harvested a couple of handfuls of strawberries and beans that ripened while we were away.

This morning I noticed a leap in questions and interests...

Nathan found his World map floor puzzle tucked away in his room so brought it out to construct. He then took his map off his wall and compared where the countries were (our wall map is laid out with NZ and Australia in the centre of the map).

He also found a wall chart of the times tables tucked under his drawers and brought them out and spent a bit of time reading them out and noting patterns.

We've just started to give the kids a little pocket money. They spent a while counting then suggesting we go down to the shops and see what they could buy. They weighed up what they could purchase with the small amount they had...one chose to spend and the other chose to save for something bigger.

A batch of muffins were made and clock watched till ready.

I had a game of Mancala with Nathan.

The two of them put together a mime show for me.
Nathan found a seagull feather from a previous beach excursion and told me how feathers and ink were used in the old days to write with. He wanted to know how to make ink. So we had a bit of a read up on it and then decided our Plantain tincture that we'd made a few months back for Nathan to use on his mosquito bites might work since the plaintain soaked in the vinegar goes black. Mental note to myself that he has also been interested in making paper and how to bind a book by stitching the pages together so will find the time to look at those at a later stage.

Danielle then wanted a turn of the feather, so Nathan improvised and used a nearby bean that had been freshly picked that morning lol.

 
Why are stick insects attracted to our trampoline? The kids are always finding them climbing up the netting. Strange. This time it was a bright green one opposed to the usual brown they find. So I rescued that one and placed her (apparently the majority are female and they repoduce by parthenogenesis) on a nearby shrub.

There was some water and sandpit play later on when the day had cooled down a bit which ended in both kids needing a shower!

Summer camping

We had a lovely 3 nights away camping at a local festival. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful and really did help this feel like our summer holiday, albeit short. We've camped there two years now and two years we've only done a day-visit. Staying on-site certainly gives a different vibe and experience than just wandering around for half a day.

Plenty of music, plenty of swimming, walking, bumping into friends, relaxing, making new friends and generally having fun.

We took the kids on a moonlit bushwalk the first night (a blue moon as well).

A bit tuckered out after a day of fun...

Getting more energy for a night of dancing and playing...

Nathan just chillin' with some fabric scraps he found lying around (that he rediscovered in his pockets) that were discarded from the decorations scattered around the festival.

There was a Kidzone tent set up with activities including a puppet show, impromptu story telling and making musical instruments etc. Danielle loved the story telling.

The last night we went and watched some drumming down at the river with a bonfire going before heading back up to one of the stages where a couple of bands were playing late.