tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11431514005887429892011-10-26T17:02:12.248+13:00Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.comBlogger3411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-22914578065383365372010-11-09T18:48:00.000+13:002010-11-09T18:48:11.237+13:00

After a bit of reading together in the morning the kids got busy... While I was still wandering around in my pjs and eating breakfast, they were outside drawing with the chalks... (these are Danielle's ones, I wasn't able to snap Nathan's) Then onto making paper boats...  I found a little figurine made of plasticine that Danielle had been working on - a chicken riding on a wagon...  Then down

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-48231873156120029302010-11-02T18:46:00.000+13:002010-11-02T18:46:04.624+13:00

Sunday was a fairly busy day! We were out of the house before 11am to drop Nathan and Simon off to a Kea's Birthday celebration - they had 4hrs of activities, games and fun. I dropped Danielle off to a birthday party and had a few hours to myself... Late afternoon we headed to friends for a bonfire for a Beltane celebration and cooked our sausages and baked veges over the small bonfire. And

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-65889315902116644532010-10-30T15:17:00.000+13:002010-10-30T15:17:10.566+13:00

Eeek, it's been about 6-7wks since I last blogged here. Life has just been ticking along for the most part. Nathan was interested in looking at another of the badges he can earn for his Keas. So we looked at the Healthy Kea one and he was required to make a poster with healthy foods. The kids wanted to learn a bit Australia before we headed off for our holiday. So I traced out a map for them 

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-14750887347507700612010-09-09T14:53:00.000+12:002010-09-09T14:53:29.387+12:00

Ugh! We've been homebound for about a week as the kids take turns having a cold. But it's been all ok really. We've had a few lovely warm days and a few horribly wet days. Good to balance the mix of inside/outside stuff. Outside they've been... ~ Pole vaulting (well, Danielle showed me what she'd "discovered" by jumping high using a long stick and I told her about pole vaulting and we looked up

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-19168357852714922792010-09-07T15:34:00.000+12:002010-09-07T15:34:28.453+12:00

So much creative energy going on here today... Danielle put some music on... ...that inspired Nathan to spend a large part of the morning writing a song (a love song at that!), then recording it (I was kicked out of the room while that was done, but then instructed to send it via Facebook to his friend's mum), and then written out all neatly to send to the intended recipient. After lunch we

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-20221384069349284622010-09-07T15:21:00.001+12:002010-09-07T15:21:33.608+12:00

Argh, so many missing things... Nathan's been writing stories on the computer His pin-board full of pictures of all the things he wants to be when he's grown up (oh, and freaky photos of him when he was sick with nephrotic syndrome that he likes to keep on his pinboard). Nathan spotted a TV advert where they were asking for kids to audition as part of competition to appear in a TV ad. So he's

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-7025760773707922010-08-20T19:57:00.000+12:002010-08-20T19:57:21.452+12:00

Well, this morning was International Day. The kids had a great time going around collecting stamps for their passports and tasting lovely treats at the different displays and making neat crafts. Ready to go... Making passports After lunch we headed off to do our groceries. Nathan had collected up various recipes this morning and had his eye on making the Coconut Macaroons (and was the only

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-55981687478105508282010-08-18T19:33:00.000+12:002010-08-18T19:33:39.691+12:00

Nathan's contraption... Danielle's aeroplane ready for passengers... Danielle's restaurant ready for customers... Busy reading their menus...Oops, we forgot about homeschool gym...so we went out for a walk around the big block for 1/2 hr. And then friends popped over for a play after school... Lego, reading, computer games, trampoline, painting...

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-38395250256817283292010-08-17T18:54:00.003+12:002010-08-17T20:22:42.798+12:00

Today was one of those ambling along and meandering kind of days - we decided to have a home day since every other day this week has something on. So, no plans and no outings. The kids just seem to melt into days like this without "waiting" to go out, or "asking" to do anything more than what we are - it's very in the moment kind of stuff. They just seamlessly moved from one thing to the next. I

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-51239370993154077112010-08-16T19:41:00.000+12:002010-08-16T19:41:15.076+12:00

Today we got cracking back into our Italy presentation and headed to the stationery shop to buy the display board and get some photos printed to add to it. The kids then put together a collage of Italian food pictures that we'd cut out that will be the "table cloth" part of the display. We then decided on how to display all the different sheets of information that have been put together. Nathan

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-77538946406393945942010-08-14T19:30:00.001+12:002010-08-14T19:57:24.782+12:00

DAY 1 - VISIT TO THE SNOWDAY 2 - A LONG DRIVE AHEAD WITH A STOP-OFF AT THE HAMILTON GARDENS (AWESOME) FOR LUNCH BEFORE HEADING ONDAY 3 - A VISIT TO THE WWII TUNNELS AT NORTH HEAD LUNCH AT THE BEACH MAKING SOME VITAMIN DDAY 4 - A MORNING VISIT WITH SOME LONG-TIME INTERNET FRIENDS BEFORE HEADING TO THE ZOO FOR THE AFTERNOON We loved this little fella and his sack. The kids spent ages when we got

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-79647741402267480572010-08-06T19:09:00.000+12:002010-08-06T19:09:22.502+12:00

After the morning grocery shopping followed by lunch, we looked at a few more things to add to our Italian display. We had been trying to think of a "stamp" that we need to offer "visitors to our country" (they will add it to their passports). I also wanted to include some sort of little activity for our visitors. So I suggested to the kids that we provide a plain white mini-label that each

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-47104132624462726222010-08-05T20:32:00.000+12:002010-08-05T20:32:50.259+12:00

Mid-morning we headed out to the Mediterranean shop to buy some ingredients to try out our pasta dish that we'd chosen to take photos of for our Italian display. Had an interesting discussion with the woman at the counter upon her question to Nathan "no school today?". And it was all positive, and genuinely so, to the point I think she either must have homeschooled her own children or knows

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-67636179391346185692010-08-03T18:27:00.000+12:002010-08-03T18:27:07.335+12:00

Last year we went and saw the local homeschool International Day displays. I asked the kids if they'd like to put their own one together this year which they did. Nathan chose to do our one on Italy. So late morning we started to have a think about what we'd like to do and made a start...3hrs later (how time flies when you're having fun)... (measuring out and marking up the lines to make the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-27174369550034296532010-07-30T18:38:00.000+12:002010-07-30T18:38:25.849+12:00

The morning started off with us observing how our house was colder inside than it was outside! It was a gorgeously sunny day outside. So we did comparisons of the rooms - the main living room/kitchen which gets no sun in winter was at 12 degrees, the bedrooms that get almost an entire day of sun right from sun-up during winter was at 19 degrees and then outside on the sunny side of the house was

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-41975484048560456332010-07-29T18:13:00.000+12:002010-07-29T18:13:57.856+12:00

Lately the kids have been thinking about and asking about our trip to Australia which is happening at the end of September. Today we made a couple of calendar pages to help with the count-down as well as showing upcoming birthdays. Danielle made August and Nathan made September. Nathan made a dog that has been played with all day in various games. After lunch there was bouncing on the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-89663389531810659902010-07-25T17:36:00.001+12:002010-07-26T20:24:03.316+12:00

Saturday... Yesterday we set off early and picked up Nannie to make our way to the Zealandia wildlife sanctuary. Was a lovely day out weather-wise and we wandered the many bush tracks checking out the different birds and sights. The exhibition was really neat with plenty for the kids to check out including a mechanical Moa. After having now visited both, I personally prefer our little local bird

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-50276802264485053232010-07-23T19:46:00.001+12:002010-07-23T19:48:34.892+12:00

Hmmm, last few days... Finger painting pictures on hands... Talking about oxymorons... A visit to the library and the supermarket... Nathan wrote a thank you letter to his grandad for his belated birthday present... Danielle was asking Nathan if he could curl his tongue - he couldn't (yet I can) and we discussed how this is an inherited genetic trait. This led on to looking at what other

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-7460444024764210782010-07-20T18:22:00.000+12:002010-07-20T18:22:22.103+12:00

We had morning tea the Mediterranean food warehouse this morning. The kids spent a bit of time watching the screen with photo's of Italy on it. Then ooohed and ahhhhed over the different foods in the shop. After thanking the woman for her fluffy, Danielle wanted to know how to say "thank you" in Maori (Kia ora - hmmm, kinda knew that but also didn't since I associated it mainly with Hello or

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-56487494375421714542010-07-19T20:53:00.000+12:002010-07-19T20:53:48.693+12:00

Well, since I last wrote about Danielle getting to grips with riding the bike over the previous week, she has now started riding! Simon took her down to the park with some tennis courts over the weekend and on her 2nd attempt she zoomed off and was riding on her own. Still needs assistance with starting and stopping but was thrilled with herself to be to do it. Building with dominos with dad...

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-87841783745914676642010-07-16T21:30:00.003+12:002010-07-16T22:06:40.184+12:00

Hmmm, where have we been? We had a bit of a sicky day earlier in the week which saw me and Nathan snoozing in front of the fire most of the day and Danielle just pottering around doing her own thing (which is actually a bit strange to see, but it also gives me more of a glimpse of who she is when she's not attached to Nathan). Yesterday we went to our first pantomime to see Aladdin. Both kids

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-18077322527599731922010-07-09T20:16:00.003+12:002010-07-17T21:33:58.680+12:00

Just gotta get it down to keep track of the questions for me to follow up on... ~Submarines and questions around that ~"What are the seven seas?" - well, that one's proven to not be a straightforward question and definitely worth investigating further (and included a discussion from me on the value of researching and critical thinking in regards to the various answers provided and not just "

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-9493895077929193652010-07-08T20:27:00.000+12:002010-07-08T20:27:54.860+12:00

Learning to play the recorder...I found a book at the library yesterday that I thought Nathan might be interested in. So we got out the recorder and I introduced him to musical notes and reading music. Danielle then wanted to have a little play, so Nathan spent a bit of time with her while I was cooking dinner to show her where to put her fingers. Read through more library books...human rights,

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-65052480151439287162010-07-07T22:36:00.001+12:002010-07-07T22:51:47.197+12:00

Danielle's recently had a fascination with drawing posters with directions, or things that our family tends to "do and not do", treasure maps for me to hunt out things she's hidden, creating roads from all our DVDs and videos (drives me nuts, but hey...) to then drive cars around. Last weekend was a bit of a fun-filled one playing with various friends, the kids stayed overnight with their nannie

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-70808745245334503372010-07-07T22:25:00.002+12:002010-07-07T22:32:35.056+12:00

...we have leapt into a whole new topic of learning without me really noticing. It's funny...we just amble along at our regular "just doing" kind of pace and up pop the odd question "what do prison cells look like mum?"..."do prisoners get lots to eat?"..."do the bad ones not get any food?"..."what clothes do they wear?"..."what do they sleep on?"...modern day prisoners vs olden day prisoners

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-5494106086076091962010-07-02T21:00:00.000+12:002010-07-02T21:00:18.575+12:00

Nathan has really discovered a love of words and word play. Over the past few months he'll randomly say things like "there is a deer (as in an animal) and dear (as in something costs a lot)" or "there is too (as in I want to come too) or two (as in counting two) and to (as in I will bring this to you)". He'll spend ages playing this game with us all and I'll add in extra ones that he might not

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-62939188666796739472010-07-02T18:12:00.000+12:002010-07-02T18:12:19.806+12:00

After sitting in the morning sun reading more creation stories and more on evolution we decided to get out and enjoy the gorgeous weather. So off to the park with the scooters for some riding around on the skateboard ramps that we had to ourselves. Then off to the dairy for ice cream. After arriving back home for a recharge and watching Neverending Story we were back outside to continue enjoying

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-83715478860425214922010-06-23T20:53:00.000+12:002010-06-23T20:53:14.257+12:00

The Leaning Tower of Pisa from a few days back. A burst of creativity... And then Nathan discovered that felts and crayons did something interesting when combined together... He then made up several card games for us all to play.

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-25397726846383678172010-06-23T20:23:00.002+12:002010-06-23T20:30:55.393+12:00

Ah, I can feel the winter weather settling in (even though we've had really mild weather the past few days) and with it our interests and activities changing as we become more inside-focused. I got out our Family Math book and found an activity that looked like it could be interesting to both kids. So they helped me make the "fractions kit". First I used some water colours to paint up the strips

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-48655835667876105712010-06-17T18:30:00.000+12:002010-06-17T18:30:53.148+12:00

Today's Lego construction was of Big Ben (the Great Clock of Westminster). Was interesting reading! I didn't know that Big Ben was the nickname for the original bell within the tower, not originally the tower itself, nor did I know that the clock had a name other than Big Ben. So there ya go! Nathan was playing with his calculator again and interested in the division button. We got out the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-79053080326974728142010-06-16T17:57:00.000+12:002010-06-16T17:57:51.367+12:00

Nathan's Statue of Liberty that we built together this morning. Wax eyes/silver eyes visiting our birdfeeder that Nathan made at his Keas on Monday. Off for a walk and play at the park this afternoon. More reading of Maori mythology - the kids are really into these stories, and I've been enjoying hearing them again since I haven't heard them since my own childhood. Nathan discovered his

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-21162985548347047672010-06-15T15:22:00.000+12:002010-06-15T15:22:36.114+12:00

It's been a case of enjoying the outdoors on the non-rainy days while we can, and hunkering down and enjoying the inside together time the rest of the time. We settled down in front of the fire this morning to read up about the coming Winter Solstice and Matariki and to make plans for our feast and what seasonal decorations we'd put up. The kids were then inspired to make some drawings about the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-14087921197639594092010-06-06T14:24:00.000+12:002010-06-06T14:24:45.096+12:00

We've had SO much rain it's really kept us inside a lot. But we've managed to venture out a few times. As soon as I saw a blue sky we were down having a lovely walk by the river with a friend for a few hours. I got to have a natter with my friend and the kids got to burn off all their energy. Drinking morning dew from the nasturtium leaves.Yesterday we went to visit a friend who has recently

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-60453640661459937012010-05-26T08:58:00.002+12:002010-05-26T09:01:27.051+12:00

We've had Keas (they had a guide dog and his owner come to visit), been on the big Keas National Trek over the weekend where they all had a games day followed by a trek up a big hill. Later on Simon took Nathan on a big bike ride on his new bike and he got to try out the gears on all the slopes. A real home-bound day yesterday with the torrential downpours, but fortunately no need to be out in

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-73437592797657728612010-05-20T20:44:00.000+12:002010-05-20T20:44:21.840+12:00

Today was a bit of a cruisey one and a lovely late autumn day. Nathan did a catch up on writing a Thank you letter to an old aunt for some birthday money he received. We read some of our library books before heading down after lunch to get some new ones. After the library we headed out to the beach where there are loads of tracks to wander amongst the sand dunes. We had with us a book that

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-90765631804147372522010-05-20T12:45:00.000+12:002010-05-20T12:45:48.997+12:00

Hmmmm.... We've had Nathan's bowling day with a few friends for his birthday. Then back to our place for Ice Cream Cake that Nathan had requested I make, and then he decorated. On Monday we went into the city and went to the Carter Observatory. There was a neat movie that they played in the top of the dome along with pointing out different stars and how to get your bearings using the night sky.

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-66406686800389105512010-05-08T19:48:00.000+12:002010-05-08T19:48:46.298+12:00

We've been catching up with friends again now that Nathan's all back to full health. I started to read to the kids a book that my mum bought Nathan last year...George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt by Lucy and Stephen Hawking. Have only read the first few chapters and so far is a fun read. Already, it's inspired the kids to build space ships with their Lego... Black holes...(crickey, can't even get

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-83539864541240802942010-05-02T20:18:00.000+12:002010-05-02T20:18:45.798+12:00

Our day started off with Nathan riding in a Mountain Bike event called the Kids Bike Jams. He had a blast. Waiting at the start line. And over the end of the line... We then went to the local Marine Centre and rockpools. How cool! They have open tanks set up for people to lift up the sea life (they aren't harmed by being handled as they are conditioned to surviving in the rough seas and against

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-61495632445589656712010-04-29T12:50:00.001+12:002010-04-29T13:27:15.024+12:00

OK...another catch up post of what I can remember... Working in the garden and tidying it up...harvesting pumpkins...shelling beans. Loving Polar Bear Autumn walks... Playing in the rain... Reading library books...cooking through the ages...the digestive system...book on braille...Leonardo da Vinci ~ Out of that has come choosing some pantry items and identifying on the world map where

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-57261064756976957542010-04-13T18:41:00.003+12:002010-04-13T19:52:20.224+12:00

We've been catching up with my niece and nephew over the past week. So great for the kids (and me) to get to re-know their cousins (and meet one for the first time). Nathan and his cousin got to do some more climbing on Grampie's climbing frame - he jumps at any chance to have another go. Danielle chose not to have another go. Danielle's polar bear had a bath out in the morning sun the other

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-1783564304478696002010-04-06T19:59:00.003+12:002010-04-06T20:18:15.557+12:00

Last Friday night we had my cousin and his daughter come to stay for the night. The kids had never met but hit it off right from the minute they arrived. Saturday afternoon Nannie came over with her American friend who comes out to NZ this time every year. Has been so neat for the kids to meet up with Phyllis every year - she's fun, and loves spending the time playing and talking to them. Her and

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-63560039694568876282010-04-01T19:35:00.000+13:002010-04-01T19:35:39.440+13:00

No, not really! It was Danielle's actual birthday today. Her new desk - super stoked with it! Playing with part of the new Lego set we got her. Nathan constructed and she played... Then off to do the groceries - Nathan being a smarty pants doing all sorts of random multiplication as we wandered around. This afternoon I was clearing our my large freezer and it was a long time overdue. We

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-78979956025490692392010-03-31T20:16:00.000+13:002010-03-31T20:16:35.976+13:00

We've been loving the beautiful Autumn weather. Have only felt the need to light one fire so far and the lack of rain has meant that I am continuing to water the garden occasionally. We had Danielle's 5th birthday party over the weekend (birthday not till tomorrow). We've had our final Keas of the term and Nathan was presented with 4 badges that he's earned over the past 6mths. He stood up in

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-15643094513390501042010-03-26T21:36:00.000+13:002010-03-26T21:36:03.556+13:00

A home day today... This morning we spent a bit of time tidying up the front yard in preparation for Danielle's birthday party this weekend. We then played yahtzee. I wrote Danielle a list of words that she'd learnt the sounds of but hadn't looked at for 3-4 weeks and she read them out - some by sight and some by sounding. Sandpit play and keeping up our Vitamin D (Nathan has relapsed with

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-61750394953022982382010-03-25T15:51:00.000+13:002010-03-25T15:51:17.721+13:00

Well, I think our caterpillar watching can go on hold for a few days now since we finally got to see one of the caterpillars turn into a chrysalis. We were really surprised how fast the first half happened, in a matter of minutes it changed before our eyes. I just happened to be walking past the last hanging caterpillar and notice it had straightened out from it's J shape and was wriggling around

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-38997520256283859832010-03-24T22:11:00.000+13:002010-03-24T22:11:43.299+13:00

A proud mummy moment. OK, so I'm awed and love everything (almost) that the kids get up to and are enthused over. However, after I'd had my shower this morning I came out and Nathan called me into his bedroom to look at what he'd been writing (this would be his first solo attempt at writing something unknown without consulting me to help with spelling). "Thes is a book abit Danielles berthday".

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-11727199330851592612010-03-23T21:05:00.001+13:002010-03-23T21:06:17.253+13:00

We spent some of the morning spring cleaning the bedrooms (well, technically autumn clearning I guess) since it's felt that we've gotten by with doing the bare minimum housework over the summer (as it should be!). So the kids got stuck into helping me and were pleased with the result. There was talk and preparation for Danielle's 5th birthday coming up in about a week. Pictures were drawn and

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-73493247656784200392010-03-20T18:42:00.000+13:002010-03-20T18:42:00.833+13:00

We've all been enjoying watching the transformations going on. Is very handy that they are situated right outside our front door, so neat to have a wee peek everytime we venture outside. Yesterday we'd noticed about 5 caterpillars had wandered off from the pumpkin and attached themselves on the underside of various places (one under the solar lamp, one on the handrail and three on nearby plants)

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-55958065506196490742010-03-18T09:48:00.000+13:002010-03-18T09:48:57.236+13:00

Last week we were outside washing the windows and Nathan spotted a large moth in the dog's water bowl. So he rescued it and watched it as it flapped and raced around on the deck like crazy. After a while it settled down (tired probably) and they investigated it, got the insect book out to identify it and just observe. Later on it had obviously dried out enough and flown away. Well, our hungry

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-83106612999935480042010-03-10T21:18:00.000+13:002010-03-10T21:18:41.857+13:00

Nathan and I read a library book a few weeks back on how cotton is turned into jeans and the processes involved. He has been interested in flow charts since then and comes out with wee charts for me to look at. This one is about broccoli in our garden. Hmmm, think I could probably introduce flow charts with decision boxes, he'd be into that. Alien EarsLego people houseNathan wanted to make up the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-42571824517707052712010-03-08T19:56:00.000+13:002010-03-08T19:56:43.897+13:00

Long live summer! We spent the day around at my parents house where my step-dad took some of our homeschool group through learning rope skills required for abseiling/descending down a rock face etc by using his training climbing frame set up in their back yard. After staying for several groups to come through and have their session, we then headed off to Nathan's Keas meet up down at the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-1071377844595125362010-03-05T19:30:00.001+13:002010-03-05T20:10:23.745+13:00

Nathan's really gotten into sticking to task for gaining his Conservation badge for Keas. Yesterday he tended his little garden, filled the pond up again for the birds to have a drink, harvested an armful of veges for dinner and didn't suggest turning the TV on (and thinking about it, Danielle didn't either). He's really taken it on board and went online to check off another day of completing his

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-84602480731938102442010-03-03T19:56:00.000+13:002010-03-03T19:56:57.477+13:00

Tuesday: Nathan started off the day wanting to start to work on his Kea tasks that go towards the badge he'd chosen to undertake. So we looked up whales and why they are endangered. Then read up on Keas. Then he needed to join a conservation type group. So we chose Tree People and he's taken a pledge to help out. He chose from the list and went with not watching TV during the day (they still

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-77802293312259182652010-03-01T22:27:00.001+13:002010-03-01T22:29:36.672+13:00

A friend gave us a whole heap of board games, puzzles and books that her kids had outgrown. We spent most of the weekend enjoying them all. The kids had the Hullabaloo out on the lawn on Saturday. That evening after dinner we went to the local pools for a swim. There were heaps of people there enjoying picnics and bbq's. What a lovely evening to be out and about. Sunday, we spent the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-61720296786924034042010-02-24T21:13:00.000+13:002010-02-24T21:13:22.501+13:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-69175895450197463802010-02-22T22:04:00.000+13:002010-02-22T22:04:10.738+13:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-85715643323534473242010-02-13T14:55:00.001+13:002010-02-13T19:15:21.420+13:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-90998958357182981442010-02-12T19:12:00.001+13:002010-02-12T19:20:32.280+13:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-46232290451491710362010-02-07T22:39:00.000+13:002010-02-07T22:39:29.084+13:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-66394491261433417892010-02-03T23:04:00.000+13:002010-02-03T23:04:03.256+13:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-61881145950474343322010-02-01T21:25:00.000+13:002010-02-01T21:25:48.522+13:00

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,

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-85950171114664745342010-01-28T08:39:00.000+13:002010-01-28T08:39:46.680+13:00

The day started off with a few creations... Then off for a walk down to the park. Danielle wasn't impressed with Nathan driving her doll's stroller through the sand and it sticking to the wheels... Danielle's snack she went off to make...Ants on a Log (carrot with peanut butter and bits of cracker stuck into it). Monopoly with Nathan that seemed to go on for a few hours. He really stuck

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-30281857734410284082010-01-27T08:31:00.001+13:002010-01-27T08:42:33.637+13:00

Yesterday was shaping up to be a bit of a miserable day weather-wise (nothing new for this strange summer we're having) so I suggested that we go to the movies to see Alvin and Chipmunks that they'd been wanting to see but we'd been waiting for the discount day. A friend then texted to see if we wanted to go swimming - with a bit of humming and harring we went off and did that for the morning and

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-77564500748538560912010-01-13T19:06:00.000+13:002010-01-13T19:06:18.176+13:00

Yesterday we gathered up some things from around the house and garden to try a bit of stamping. We found some neat little flower seed pods, oxalis and toilet tubes. In the afternoon we met up with a friend down at the park (brrrr, it turned cold!). I found this arrangement this morning when I got up. The dollshouse pieces were laid out We've been spending a bit of time in the garden.

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-48509913707053370492010-01-11T22:39:00.001+13:002010-01-11T22:42:20.170+13:00

Let's see... A few days back we did a gravity experiment - dropping different sized and different weighted objects showed that they will fall at the same speed and hit the ground at the same time (unless they are something like a feather or paper that have very little mass where there is air resistence to slow it down). Interesting. Today was pretty much an outside day - Nathan got interested

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-74746177157308661882010-01-07T20:37:00.003+13:002010-01-07T20:54:05.759+13:00

We had no outings planned today so just decided to chill around home. We did start off by going for a short walk though and went down to the beach and back (too windy and chilly to stay though). There were a few investigations along the way... A little bag of nature. Danielle has been wanting me to sit with her and go through learning letters and sounds, so I re-found a free phonics

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-89178743070799705192010-01-07T09:29:00.000+13:002010-01-07T09:29:17.637+13:00

I've noticed that Danielle's moved into a new mode of play. Her focus has been designing and building contraptions. A chocolate factory; then a contraption that involved music, buttons and moving parts that made her water bottle give her water (the one pictured below); and a playground with lots of activities for her pony. I'm thinking that her inspiration comes from a visit to the local

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-61767474154253894922010-01-06T20:12:00.002+13:002010-01-06T21:21:52.347+13:00

I ended up with a sick little Danielle late morning (Nathan had been sick over the weekend but I thought the rest of us had escaped it!). So, while she was doing a bit of this... Nathan sat on the floor sorting pins in colours and types lol. He then mentioned wanting to do some hand sewing. Since I'd been recently browing through The Creative Family and spotted a project in there, I

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-39094312409641130482010-01-06T13:04:00.000+13:002010-01-06T13:04:56.087+13:00

Ooooh, forgot to write that the A Day in Pompeii exhibition is in town and I knew that Nathan would be keen as to get along there. He spent a lot of last year learning about and being fascinated in all things Pompeii so it was awesome timing. We went along a few days after Christmas with my parents. He was most looking forward to seeing the body casts and wasn't disappointed.

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-36291214656158729522010-01-05T22:57:00.000+13:002010-01-05T22:57:52.177+13:00

Pre Christmas decorating... Busy with new Christmas gifts... Fun in the sun with friends... Just hangin' at home...

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-18474411617374307772009-12-10T18:38:00.000+13:002009-12-10T18:38:20.851+13:00

Making Christmas crackers I had them draw a picture that I then traced onto tea towels using a laundry pen as gifts. Making and writing Christmas cards for grandparents and their friends. This afternoon I was having a cup of tea and reading a bit of my book while Danielle played Starfall on the computer and Nathan was in his room drawing. Nathan came in to show me his "newspaper" he was

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-64675810474429788332009-12-07T22:50:00.000+13:002009-12-07T22:50:50.012+13:00

Sunday morning had us attending the kids end of year gymnastics performance. Danielle did hers (lying on the floor with her friend as they do "log rolls") but Nathan wasn't so keen when it was his turn. After Saturday's treasure hunt, Danielle disappeared off to do some drawing and came out with these "clues" for nannie where she gave instructions for us to go on our own treasure hunt. Nathan

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-13912058212497402102009-12-05T22:14:00.001+13:002009-12-05T22:26:37.210+13:00

Yesterday as I was hanging out the washing, Nathan asked if he could make his own little herb garden. So he set to work filling an annoying hole in the front garden. He lugged up a bag of compost from the lower garden, found some soil to mix into it, planted out some tiny herb seedlings I had on the go along with a few vegetable seedlings and a sunflower seed in the centre. Meanwhile, Danielle

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-65180199420335964642009-12-03T19:45:00.001+13:002009-12-03T19:47:31.216+13:00

Nathan finally got his windy but no-rain day, so we headed down to the local park this morning. Brrrrr, it was freezing (so much for summer!) - back to wooly hats and padded jackets (well, for me anyway lol). We then decided on the spur of the moment to join up with the homeschooling group for a tour of the local chocolate factory (lol, for all the years I've lived here I've never even been in

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-67404635759553280602009-12-02T22:10:00.000+13:002009-12-02T22:10:59.361+13:00

The randomness of the past 3 days... Reading on with Heidi. There's still been a big Party theme going on lately. Nathan designed a game "pin the beak on the duck" for them to play. Sandpit play - pouring water through a buried hose to see if it would fill up the other side and sweep around underneath to a pool on the other side (and yes that is an empty beer bottle Nathna is using that 

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-68288992583973676302009-11-29T20:22:00.000+13:002009-11-29T20:22:33.423+13:00

We were out of the house early today to meet up with friends about an hour away. Played in the park and ate ice creams at the beach. On the way home driving past the estuary I noticed the tide was out. So as we got further towards home, we pulled in and checked out the rockpools for a while. Got home mid afternoon for a late lunch. I had a rest with a book while the kids went crazy for a

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-89087392932770395392009-11-28T21:39:00.001+13:002009-11-29T08:11:52.350+13:00

They were into board games early today. Junior Scrabble and Whoosit (Guess Who). Grampy turned up for a visit so they showed him their milk/food colouring experiment and that moved on to discussions about light and colour. Nathan asked Grampie how many times he'd been around the sun and he answered correctly but loved the question. Out came some letter bingo cards I'd made up a while ago to

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-53132536828903931112009-11-26T17:39:00.003+13:002009-11-29T14:41:40.613+13:00

Gymnastics. Playing at the park and chatting to newly made friends Reading Heidi There was a party going on here today (Danielle's sign saying Party here today) Pass the parcel for all their friends Animals had a bit of a game going on This was a cool experiment! It used a plate of milk and we dropped in a little food colouring. This experiment shows about surface tension - the milk

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-49405746650181814722009-11-24T20:03:00.001+13:002009-11-24T20:05:56.459+13:00

There's been painting of hands More being quizzed on math problems (there seems to be a big focus on "how many weeks/days/months till....Christmas/camping/my birthday/till we stay at nannie and grampies". It's doing my head in a bit lol, but all in the name of learning I guess! Riding at the BMX park with dad, going to Kea's and making kites to fly next week. Danielle wanted to play with the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-54576710603078324452009-11-20T18:41:00.001+13:002009-11-20T18:43:07.612+13:00

The kids set up a store each again today. We decided to put price tags on things and Nathan was at the cash register taking the money and giving out change. At the end of the "day" we tallied up our day's takings. The tape measures then came out and both were running around measuring things. (Danielle measuring her new chair that came from Freecycle) Cracking open a dried acorn from off

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-81518326941684352132009-11-18T18:31:00.000+13:002009-11-18T18:31:07.170+13:00

Playing shops with dad (he particularly enjoyed shopping with his little bag lol). Nathan's painting of his dragon from last week. Nathan wanted to do his chromatography experiment again. Sandpit play - discovers with baking soda and water Danielle collecting lavender with me to make a lavender oil. Making a lean-to after reading more about early man. Watering the garden and observing

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-47140330270852183552009-11-12T23:21:00.000+13:002009-11-12T23:21:20.413+13:00

We made a start on reading Heidi today. Danielle got out the Let's Shop game so we did a bit of buying and selling (she was bothered that she had to hand over her money to buy items and would have preferred to keep her money and not buy - I like! lol). Nathan then got out Mancala again and whipped my butt. Danielle painted some pictures inspired by Heidi. Nathan quizzed me on new words he

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-23797661500307895672009-11-10T22:25:00.001+13:002009-11-10T22:26:46.090+13:00

We finished our chapter book and tossing up whether to re-read Heidi or Farmer Boy (for Danielle's benefit). Last week a friend handed down to us a marble run set. The kids played with it almost non-stop for 3 days (aside from leaving the house for outings or me kicking them outside when the sun was shining). A few days back the weather was gorgeous so we set out for a morning walk and to do a

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-86450354556527532532009-11-03T22:03:00.000+13:002009-11-03T22:03:36.898+13:00

Have played some games from our Family Math book - odd numbers/even numbers (both), counting out groups of beans (Danielle) Danielle wrote a little story (with my help on dictating out the letters and her referring to a crib sheet on the letters she doesn't know) and Nathan wanted to copy out the story from one of our books. Playing in the garden and sandpit. Hanging out in the hammock together

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-89075028096342662752009-10-29T15:31:00.000+13:002009-10-29T15:31:46.878+13:00

Nathan found his mancala set that I had bought him for his last birthday. Hadn't been played with till now. After about a dozen games he's figured out the strategies required to beat me lol. Reading library books. Whittling bark off sticks. Playing with the clock and cards. Perfecting yoyo skills. Making water bombs. Reading more of our chapter book. Donning himself with useful tools.

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-49455782477510748672009-10-27T20:41:00.000+13:002009-10-27T20:41:04.384+13:00

So, the kids had colds last week so not a lot of action really. Not that they were too sick, but I just like us to lay low and since it was a bit chilly from all the wind we stayed in and kept warm. So we just pottered around doing the usual sort of stuff. Nathan had remembered seeing a couple of kids perform to Michael Jackson songs at the talent quest a few weeks back - so I pulled up a few

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-24508946627995210312009-10-20T21:54:00.003+13:002009-10-20T22:29:50.529+13:00

No photos, and much of the same really over the past week! Nathan reading to me and Danielle, and me reading to the two of them. Painting and craft making using cardboard boxes and cutting out pictures from magazines. Riding bikes, walking, scooters, playgrounds... Sandpit and garden play Playing with friends Went on a medicinal herb and weed walk on Saturday that Nathan in particular

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-75151430636151498352009-10-13T20:55:00.001+13:002009-10-13T21:00:13.628+13:00

A week of busyness - in no particular order... I thought I'd lost a bunch of pictures due to leaving my camera setting on video, but I seem to have them all anyway. The kids had fun making movies too! Last week we went and saw our friend James play at the local talest quest (unfortunately his guitar was playing up a bit - Nathan still thought he was the best though). They kids got to see kids

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-32645128832004563512009-10-06T20:01:00.000+13:002009-10-06T20:01:32.328+13:00

Brrr, the polar blast going through has us huddled in front of the fire again. One of my friends came to visit with her two girls today. We then spent the afternoon... Some more Little House in the Big Woods Got into our games and cards stash - Harvest Time, Set, the letter and word cards, jigsaw puzzles Nathan drew a picture and then took it outside to conduct a car survey again counting

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-54224008489620134182009-10-04T21:47:00.002+13:002009-10-04T21:49:08.968+13:00

And because I forgot to add it the other day about the farm walk, and because I'm just soooo funny. When we were leaving the farm walk Nathan said... "Hey! Why is that peacock crossing the road!?" (there was one returning to the farm) Me: "To see what was on the other side" (and so true!!!!) Yeah, I crack myself up. I'm sure Nathan rolled his eyes at me. A bit of supermarket maths on Friday -

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-5879526035575610262009-10-01T20:59:00.000+13:002009-10-01T20:59:24.131+13:00

It's school holidays here at the moment, so while nothing changes for us on a day to day, it does mean that we get to catch up with friends who go to school. Tuesday we had a wee friend over for most of the day that included a play at the park, chatter over lunch, tearing around the house in craziness. Nathan then decided to show his friend his Fire Extinguisher experiment with the candle,

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-85052637243635956072009-09-27T18:38:00.000+13:002009-09-27T18:38:44.564+13:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-2508224226685126692009-09-25T21:21:00.000+12:002009-09-25T21:21:09.124+12:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-29903005777158206992009-09-24T22:04:00.000+12:002009-09-24T22:04:24.683+12:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-81805771729088469592009-09-23T20:03:00.000+12:002009-09-23T20:03:25.663+12:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-8074087237748411222009-09-20T19:43:00.001+12:002009-09-20T19:45:44.645+12:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-4356760587394186502009-09-19T20:07:00.000+12:002009-09-19T20:07:52.777+12:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-47581955328536834352009-09-18T19:12:00.000+12:002009-09-18T19:12:20.909+12:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-90658991524123543172009-09-17T19:23:00.001+12:002009-09-17T19:34:28.911+12:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1143151400588742989.post-65958529010125288612009-09-16T20:28:00.001+12:002009-09-16T21:08:52.246+12:00

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

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15723737293799500326noreply@blogger.com1