Our Worldwide Classroom

A Bribie New Years Eve For The Kids

2012-01-30T17:40:00.004+10:00

I had been told that Bribie Island puts on quite a nice little 'show' for families come New Years Eve. With Market Stalls, a Mini Fair and Fireworks.

We decided to ensure our holiday covered the New Year period so we could enjoy the festivities. I was a little concerned with noise, but thankfully we were far enough away from the centre of the bustle for it to bother us at all.

The market stalls were a mixture of the regular type stalls you generally see at markets, jewellery, thongs, sunglasses and things like that.

There were however a few gems that caught our eye. This gentleman for example, carves out of lumps of wood and a chainsaw. Just check out the Ned Kelly, he's pretty impressive, considering that the chainsaw isn't the finest of implements.

We then stumbled upon a Lucky Dip Stall. Yes the entire stall was full of lucky dips, not just a little box off to the side that someone has added on to lure the kiddies over to their stall. This one was chock full of little wrapped parcels, all highly organised.

Can you imagine the hours this lady must spend wrapping? Considering that the gift Fairy Princess chose was in three layers.....wow!!

We all enjoyed a few rides, which, thankfully were reasonably priced, compared to larger events like the Brisbane EKKA.

I can never remember the name of this ride, but will always remember it as my mum's favourite ride when we were growing up. I enjoy it and now my kids love it also. Little Surfer Dude was a tad disappointed that he wasn't tall enough to ride though.

So he got stuck with the baby rides.

For some reason I simply cannot figure out, he never smiles on merry go rounds.

Does he dislike them that much? Is he scared? Is he thinking, what on earth am I doing on this thing? I'm not sure I will ever know.

He does continue to get on them though when he has the opportunity, so they can't be all that bad.

The big kids enjoyed a good old classic ride, the swings.

This is one ride that I just don't do. All that spinning in the same direction just makes me ill!!

The giant bouncy slide was the most popular kids ride by far. We did wait for nearly 10 minutes for this one, but boy did they have a blast.

Just a shame my battery started to die on me and my iphone just wasn't quick enough to get any decent shots, oh well.

We spent 2 hours at the fair and market stall area. You could spend longer as various artists performed on stage, but for us 2 hours was plenty. At 8:00pm the fireworks kicked off. Perfect, as the mother of a 3 year old even 9:00pm fireworks is just too damn late. 8:00 was great!

The beach was definitely packed full of people, it was well worth it though. The fireworks were pretty spectacular. Considering the relative population of the Bribie area we were all pleasantly impressed at how captivating they were.

Little Surfer Dude has experienced fireworks before, but he couldn't remember them so this was 'another' first time for him. Love sharing those things with my kids.

Other posts in this series:

Exploring Bribie Island

Bribie Island Beaches

Beachmere Playground

Australia Day - Activities, Baking, Crafts & Fun

2012-01-26T21:00:00.001+10:00

~~~ Happy Australia Day ~~~

This week we've been using our Australia Day Unit, which briefly covers the history of Australia Day.

We had a large party organised for today, with lots of Australian themed activities but the SE area has had massive downpours of rain this week, so we made the decision to cancel our outdoor party.

All of us were very disappointed, considering that we have only had one brief shower here all afternoon :(

Hubby attempted his first ever chocolate creation, that was to be the cake topper for today. Yes the entire flag is chocolate.

We spent a little time every day working through the various aspects of the printable Australia Day unit. I was reading The First Fleet section from The Australian History Collection by Bryce Courtney, whilst the kids coloured our Coat of Arms. They were so particular with the colours chose for this.

This collection of short narratives are easy to read and full of eye catching illustrations. Topics included are Captain Cook, The First Fleet, Bass and Flinders, Buckley's Chance, Crossing The Blue Mountains, Gold, Burke and Wills & Ned Kelly.

Definitely a great overview of Australian History, a good place to start with, the section on the First Fleet really had the kids imagining what it would have been like back then.

Lego Lover sorted all of the 3 part cards (with descriptions) and glued them to place in his notebook.

Little Surfer Dude loved the Do A Dot ABC pages from the Australia Day printable.

Because today was supposed to be all about fun and add in that it was my lovely husbands Birthday, we decided to have our Australia Day celebration, after all.

Just the five of us instead of the forty odd that were originally planned.

We made silly Red, White & Blue headwear. I simply laid out the supplies and gave no real instructions.

Ok, so not a great photo I know, but, what do they say, no shame no game.....they do say that don't they ?!

I asked Lego Lover to prepare a map for me using our Wooden Australian Montessori map. He traced each state carefully.

Then labelled each of the capital cities. Meanwhile I printed out a sheet of labels for all of the captial cities and placed them in our math treasure box.

It was time for Pin The Capital City On The Map!

The kids had so much fun with this. Way more than I ever expected. They were giggling themselves silly and they didn't even realise they were learning. Granted the 'educational component' of this was more for Fairy Princess, it was fun for Lego Lover to brush up a little too.

They thought it was absolutely hilarious when dad got one of his city labels way off in the Pacifc Ocean somewhere. It probably didn't help that he had been spun way more than the average 3 times before he had his turn.

The completed map. Overall, they didn't do too badly.

We made a batch of basic sugar cookie dough.

And pressed out little Aussie cookies.

And set about icing them, Red, White & Blue!

The icing was a little runny so we ended up with some pretty funky designs.

Of course we had the obligatory BBQ and a birthday cake for dad.

My parents called in to wish hubby a Happy Birthday. Little Surfer Dude enjoyed some pool time with Pop.

There is simply no Australia Celebration without a game of cricket. Lego Lover has really gotten into the game this season. Not so much watching it on the telly, but having a hit in the backyard with dad.

So even though I know we would have had a fabulous time celebrating today with all of our friends and family, we didn't do too badly on our own.

What about you? How did you spend this Australia Day?

Linked up at Enchanted Thursday's blog hop.

Top 100 Home Schooling Blogs

2012-01-20T16:17:00.000+10:00

This is a great list of Home Schooling Blogs. Such variety and a wealth of ideas and resources.

I was just a little bit chuffed when I received an email letting me know that my blog is listed amongst those in the Top 100.

Go check them all out :-)

Classic Australian Songs with Printable

2012-01-19T07:20:00.001+10:00

In the lead up to Australia Day we are working through our Printable Australia Day unit and learning the words to some classic Australian songs.

The kids basically know these, just from growing up and hearing them over the years, but we are practicing daily at getting those lyrics down.

Some of these classic songs have recently been published into children's picture books, with CD's on the inside cover. I thought this was a great way to keep these songs alive with the younger generation.

Waltzing Matilda, often regarded as Australia's unofficial National Anthem, tells the story of the struggles endured by shearers in the outback in the 1800's.

Advance Australia Fair, Australia's official National Anthem, was first sung in Sydney in 1878. This picture book version contains paintings from some of Australia's finest artists.

I thought this was a great way to capture the essence of the anthem, through the images of Australian artists.

A Home Among The Gum Trees, is an iconic Australian song. I doubt there would be an Australian adult, that grew up in Australia, that doesn't know this song.

It was remiss of me to not include it in the Australia Day Printable unit, so I have included a download here.

Download the file by clicking here.

Beachmere Park & Playground Area

2012-01-18T06:30:00.001+10:00

On this particular day of our holiday we took a drive, back over the main bridge and headed down to Beachmere, just to check it out a little.

Beachmere is most definitely a 'sleepy, beachside village'. Given that it was a public holiday there was barely a sole to be seen.

We did however stumble onto what appeared to be the main park/playground area of this little town and we were very pleasantly surprised.

Either it is a very new facility or it has been recently refurbished. Whilst the overall area wasn't large, it has been well planned to suit families visiting the park.

The playground itself is completely encased by fencing, a large portion of it is covered with shade sails and the entire base is sand.

Around the perimeter of the playground area are several large shady trees, BBQ facilities, covered picnic tables and a toilet block.

The actual playground itself is fairly standard fair but there were a few gems that were new to us. This small slide, climbing area is perfect for toddlers to have some fun on.

The modern version of the old fashioned whirligig. Fairy Princess was first on board, anything that spins, she loves.

The centre of the park houses a large triangular spider web climbing frame.Both kids made it their mission to reach the top in record time.

Watching the kids grow and remembering when a structure such as this would have frightened both of them. Now they tackle it with relative ease.

The modern see saw, although I highly doubt that this is as much fun. It bounces more than 'see saws' up and down. Little Surfer Dude enjoyed it none the less.

This small, inconspicuous piece of equipment sat untouched for awhile. Balancing and turning at the same time....hold on Lego Lover!!!!

Yet another spinning contraption. I wonder if the adult that designed this playground missed out on fast moving fun as a child!

We called this the egg, however really, it is much more like the egg cup holder. Fairy Princess got this going with relative ease and really never wanted to get off.

I love this photo of her, hair blowing with the spinning, grinning with delight.

She did feel a little ill some time later though.

Of course what's a playground without swings.

The playground itself is only a short stroll to the beach area.

The tide was well and truly out during our visit to Beachmere. We were very glad we made the effort to take that small journey.

Other posts in this series:

Exploring Bribie Island

Bribie Island Beaches

Bribie Island Beaches

2012-01-17T08:00:00.001+10:00

Staying on an island there is definitely no getting around the fact that you are pretty much surrounded by beaches.

Bribie definitely offers plenty of them and right across the road from our apartment was this perfect spot that the kids loved. Most days it provided only knee lapping waves, just right for a three year old!

On Christmas Day the waves were a little bigger, perfect for Little Surfer Dude to try out his new boogie board he got for Christmas.

All he needed was a push off from dad

and he was grinning from ear to ear! Excited or what!!! So was dad for that matter ;-)

It wasn't long before he really was living up to his blog name of "Little Surfer Dude", catching those waves like a pro.

He was pretty chuffed to catch one all the way up onto the sand.

The bigger kids enjoyed the feeling of being 'way out' , but really they are only waist deep. Looks like they are in the middle of the ocean here.

This large wall has been built to protect against erosion. Fairy Princess enjoyed being thrown into the water and all the kids had a great deal of fun jumping from the staired wall.

It provides a great place to crawl up and down.

The sand is really very good, considering how sheltered this part of Bribie is. Little Surfer Dude sat and played for quite some time.

Further inland across the small dunes Fairy Princess went exploring, as she always does, looking for exciting nature finds. This pretty yellow flower caught her eye.

And of course seaweed, you simply cannot play on the beach without some seaweed.

It took the boys awhile to warm up to the seaweed idea, but eventually they did!

The jetty is pretty much the focal point of the beach area and in fact closer to the jetty area you will find wider expanses of beaches. The jetty is very popular spot for fishing at night.

Come late afternoon, as the tide faded, the same beach, right across the way from us became a whole new area of exploration. Piles of seaside treasures were found here, shells, bones, bits of crab, shark teeth you name it they found it.

I think exploring on low tide is often way more fun than swimming at the beach itself.

We were blessed to witness some great sunsets during our stay. The kids are with their cousins here, not that you can tell who is who.

These couple were taken on my iphone whilst waiting for our Gourmet Pizza and Risotto at Brennan Park.

Bribie also has great surf beaches, I'll show you some of them soon :-)

Calling All Aussie Homeschool Bloggers

2012-01-16T07:15:00.000+10:00

Thought I'd post a reminder about the Aussie Homeschool Blogger List.

Are you on it?

The code for the button has been updated so that if someone clicks on the button on your blog it will take them directly to this list. You may want to update yours if you have one on your blog.

Are you living in Australia?

Do you homeschool?

Do you blog about your homeschool journey?

Would you like to share your blog with others?

Then please spread the word!

Grab the button code below and place it on your blog.

How do I that? Simply copy and past the HTML code that you see to the right of the actual button image. (I am assuming you use blogger here). Go to your blogs dashboard, Choose Design, Choose Add Gadget (generally in the right or left column sidebar area), Choose Add HTML/Javascript, Paste the code into the box that opens up, Choose Save and that's it.

Then simply add your blog details to the list below so other bloggers can find you. Feel free to add a word about your style or your location if you wish, you have 70 characters to play with.

Exploring Bribie Island

2012-01-15T09:45:00.002+10:00

We spent our Christmas/New Year break over at the beautiful Bribie Island. A relatively small sand island of only 34 kms long and 8 kms wide. Although it is an island it is actually easily accessible via a bridge that crosses Pumiceston Passage from the Caboolture area.

It's always exciting arriving at a new holiday destination for the first time.

Pelicans love to sit atop the light poles that run all down one side of the bridge. Every time we crossed the bridge we would play a guessing game of 'how many pelicans'.

This was a great destination for a quiet family holiday within an easy drive from Brisbane.

With protected beaches this is a fabulous spot for small children and for those that aren't particularly fond of surf.

The opportunity to four wheel drive through the bush and then out along the kilometres of white sandy beaches was loads of fun.

Being a family holiday destination there are several playgrounds over the island and within short driving distances of the surrounding area.

Walking paths that run all along the foreshore are a great place for a stroll or for some more rigid exercise. That's my mum and great aunt heading to meet us at the beach on Christmas Day.

It's only a short drive to the other side of the island to catch some larger waves.

There is quite a large amount of War Hisotry scattered around the island also, which Lego Lover was very intrigued by.

With museums scattered around the place, I love being able to combine the relaxed nature of a beachside holiday with some fun educational content.

Some of the accomodation on the island have pools, we were lucky enough to have a small swimming pool perfect for late afternoon dips.

It's easy to find a spot for beginning anglers to throw in a line and catch a fish or two.

We were pleasantly surprised at how varied but yet relaxing our holiday was on Bribie. With near perfect weather we really had a great time. I want to record some of our memories so will be posting more indepth about our adventures over the coming week or so.

Free Printable Australia Day Learning Packet

2012-01-09T20:30:00.003+10:00

With Australia Day just around the corner I thought it was about time we did a little learning about places much closer to home.

January 26th commemorates the landing of the First Fleet into Sydney Cove in 1788.

This printable overview packet will be used by all of my children in varying ways, they are aged 10, 7 and 3.

The download includes some research questions which will assist in completing these notebook pages.

Printable songs to learn and have on hand during Australia Day festivities.

Colouring pages of the Australian Flag, Coat of Arms and Golden Wattle.

3 part Montessori style cards. I have also included a snippet of information for each card, so that in effect they are 4 part cards. These can used for vocabulary work and making small booklets with the information.

Copywork in both print and cursive.

Aussie Slang cards, use as a matching activity or for a game of snap.

Clip the beginning sounds, for early phonics practice.

Tracing pages for early handwriting practice.

Do a Dot Marker pages or laminate and use on a cookie tray with magnets, coloured smarties, pom poms or something similar.

The Australian Flag size sequencing activity.

A couple of picture books that your children may enjoy that would work well with an Australia Day Theme are:

Join Grace and her family as they hit the road camping, experiencing, and meeting all the people and places that make up Australia. (from Amazon)

Grandma Poss uses her best bush magic to make Hush invisible. But when Hush longs to be able to see herself again, the two possums must make their way across Australia to find the magic food that will make Hush visible once more. “Another treat from Mem Fox that is sure to be treasured. The whimsical illustrations are a wonderful complement.” (from Amazon)

Download the Australia Day Printables by clicking here.

Christmas - New Year Blogging Break

2011-12-24T06:24:00.000+10:00

I'd like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year.

Thank you all for another wonderful year in the land of blogging. The inspiration I glean from all of you is nothing short of incredible and for that I thank you.

The connections I have made with people far and wide really does make this world seem so small. What a blessing the internet is to us homeschoolers.

Thanks to those of you that took the time to link up all of your Christmas posts. I know they will be a great help to others in the future.

I'm taking some time out from blogging and all things computer related. Hoping for some sunshine, because right now things aren't looking so great in the weather department!

See you all soon.

Christmas Books: The Christmas Story and Printable Nativity

2011-12-22T18:45:00.002+10:00

Of course at this time of year one simply must read the Christmas Story together and that is exactly what we did.

I found the cutest nativity printable for the kids to colour and put together.

We grabbed our trusty Golden Book Christmas Story and cuddled up on the couch. The kids coloured in between chatting about the story as I read.

I love this hand drawn nativity, coloured by the kids. We have it sitting right alongside our nativity set.

Grab your own copy over at Catholic Icing, you still have time to complete one before Christmas.

Peg Reindeer, Footprint Reindeer and a Santa Card

2011-12-21T07:00:00.002+10:00

Aside from the adorable calico Angel decorations that the kids made at their extra curricular days, they put together these little cuties.

Yet another simple craft, isn't simple generally best! Yet it looks so effective. Three pegs, painted brown, glued together. Add a couple of pieces of felt, a pom pom nose, googly eyes and some ribbon.

And hang them on the tree!

I love this Handprint/Footprint Reindeer, "Happy Holidays" wall hanging. These would make gorgeous gifts.

Fairy Princess made hubby and I a Christmas Card. Hand coloured, decorated wth glitter and of course Santa's Beard. She was very proud of this one and was excited to give it to us.

Candy Cane Reindeer

2011-12-20T06:30:00.000+10:00

When I saw these over at Sugarplum Creations I knew that the kids would love them. I mean come on, they love candy cane's, so add in a bit of reindeer and crafting fun that is oh so simple and who isn't going to enjoy them!

I set up a mini work station for these so the kids could come and go and create at their leisure.

Now they are hanging on the tree waiting to be given to friends to spread a little Christmas Cheer.

Mini Gingerbread (Biscuit) Houses

2011-12-19T15:30:00.001+10:00

The last couple of years we have made Gingerbread Houses from those cute little kits you buy at the store. One day we will advance to making them from scratch, one day we will.

I'd be lying if I said that the house decorating experience has always been a joyous one. With one house and several hands and lots of ideas, let's just say that things can get a little heated, during the decorating marathon.

I simply wasn't up to dealing with that this year. However the kids have looked at the kits every time we've walked past them in store and the fact that this activity was becoming a bit of a tradition for us was playing on my mind But not once have they asked to buy, I knew they wanted one though.

So I decided we could make these little Mini Gingerbread Houses, out of Arnotts Nice Biscuits. They are a near perfect rectangle and coated with sugar, so great for mini sweet houses at Christmas. Surfer Dude got right into his decorating.

Now we could have spent a great deal more time on these, cutting the biscuits to fill all of the roof space etc, but this was very much a, "here's the materials, let's see what you come up with" project. Lego Lover started his off with having the walls going the long way but found attaching a roof too difficult so he pulled his apart and redid it the same way as the others.

Once again, an activity that is right up Fairy Princess' alley. She took great care in her work and was sitting at the table perfecting her masterpiece long after the boys had left.

So for a couple of bags of lollies, a packet of biscuits and some icing, the kids got to decorate their Christmas Houses after all.

They are sitting on the dining room table waiting for Daddy to arrive home, that's if they last that long!

Christmas Fun 2011 Week 6 - Gifts Gifts Gifts

2011-12-19T06:40:00.000+10:00

This is it, the last week, Christmas is really just around the corner.

All of my gift wrapping is complete YAY! No late Christmas Eve wrapping for me ;-)

This week, we are looking at Gifts, gift ideas, and of course those extra special handmade gift options.

Have you written a post about your gifting? Link it up below.

Don't forget that you can still link up all of your other Christmas posts into the link lists below:

Christmas Crafts
Christmas Lessons
Christmas In The Kitchen
Advent Activities
Traditions

Oh and don't forget to grab a button so you can link back to the Christmas Fun linky on your blog and specific posts. That way everyone can share in the fun and ideas.

A huge thank you to all of you that have linked up. These ideas are inspiring to everyone.

Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas Traditions

Christmas ~ Advent Activities Links

Christmas In The Kitchen Links

Christmas Lesson Plan Links

Christmas Craft Links

Christmas Fun Round Up - So Much Inspiration

2011-12-18T06:45:00.000+10:00

Have you had a chance to look through all of the inspiration over at Christmas Fun? So much cool stuff there. I wanted to take a moment to share some of my favourites.

Loving these giant snowflakes from You're Not Lost You're Here.

Glue snowflakes, so simple, but simply adorable, Rockabye Butterfly.

Making math fun for this time of year, aren't the penguins adorable. Walking By The Way.

More cute Christmas learning from Walking By The Way.

These interactive, wing flapping angels are simply delightful. From We Bloom Here.

Creekside Learning has an awesome list of Advent Activities and a neat Character Trait Advent Calendar.

A book a day is a tradition the kids will surely never forget, by Live, Learn, Love.

A Dance Moment To Remember

2011-12-17T08:45:00.000+10:00

{iphone photo}

Our first ever Dance Concert!

What an amazing Moment To Remember.

Two shy kids,

One year's worth of hard work,

Six Hundred People (twice over),

Two blubbering parents,

Two happy smiling faces,

One awesome moment to never ever forget

A bit of background on this moment. Our kids are what many would classify as shy. Not overly shy, just shy. They are generally quiet, rarely seeking to be centre of attention and often moving away from any position of limelight.

In fact Fairy Princess has only participated in our home school classes for the past two years and only really this year with some level of confidence. You might remember me posting about dance before and the times we have tried to participate in dance lessons. Oh how she wanted to, she wanted it so bad. Finally this year (with the help of having a friend's hand to hold) she went off to dance lessons week in and week out with a smile on her face.

Lego Lover also relished in his weekly Boys Funk Class and over this past year we have witnessed both of their confidence levels flourish. To sit and watch both Lego Lover and Fairy Princess converse with adults (and not just those within the family) with relative ease brings tears to my eyes. This from a little boy and girl that could barely look strangers in the eye.

I was beyond scared for both of them in the lead up to the concert. As I sat in the audience, second row from the front I worked hard to compose myself, even well before either of them appeared on stage my eyes were welling up.

Is there any feeling like that of a mother's heart overflowing with pride. Pride at just seeing my babies up there, up there on that stage in front of six hundred people. Even if they didn't move a muscle I would have been proud.

But boy they moved, they kicked, twirled, jumped and danced their little hearts out and I cried, cried tears of joy for my shy little babies whom really no longer need or deserve that label.

Just before I took the photo above, both of them were eagerly asking for more, more dance classes, more dance concerts, more, more, more. Considering that just a year ago I wondered if they would ever be able to stand up in front of a crowd and here they are begging for more.

A big thanks to the amazing dance teachers that both of the children adore!

Definitely one moment this mummy will remember forever.

Calico Angels

2011-12-16T08:50:00.005+10:00

In addition to crafting at home, we've enjoyed some fabulous crafty activities at the school we are registered with during their extra curricular days.

These cute little Calico Angels look adorable on the tree. I really wanted to share how to put them together, I think you could easily work it out by the finished image though.

I did consider pulling them apart completely to photograph, however I decided to only partially do that.

Materials List:
2.5cm Styrofoam Ball
Calico cut in a circle approx 30cm across
Gold & Silver Paint
Gold & Silver Glitter
Star Stamps
Silver Pipe Cleaners
Silver Curling Ribbon
String
Gold, Scrunchy Paper
Fine Point Marker
Pinking Shears

Cut the circle of calico with pinking shears and use the gold and silver paint to stamp around the edge, sprinkle with glitter. Allow to dry.

Place the styrofoam ball in the centre of the calico and gather at base of ball. Loop a piece of silver curling ribbon, which will be used to hang the angel on the tree. Attach it to the back of the angel with string used to tie off the calico at the base of the styrofoam ball.

Glue silver pipe cleaner around the top of Angel's head and draw on her eye's and mouth (see the first image).

Cut the glittery gold paper into a strip approximately 7cms wide and 30cms long. Twist in the middle to make wings. Wrap silver pipe cleaner around base of ball (head) holding wings in place, wrap and twist the pipe cleaner twice around.

Shape the ends of the pipe cleaner to make little arms for the angel.

Hang her on your tree. These are so simple and sweet.

Linked at
Sugarplum Creations
It's Playtime
TGIF
Sharing Time
For The Kids Friday

Christmas Books: Oliver Moon's Christmas Cracker

2011-12-15T07:30:00.000+10:00

This cute little book is from Usborne, Oliver Moon is a Junior Wizard and Usborne have several other adventures about him.

"Oliver Moon loves Christmas - sledging with his best friend, Jake and eating loads of yummy minced eyes. But this year his family is going to stay with his horrible cousins at Toadstool Towers and Oliver's not looking forward to it at all. Will a magical Christmas cracker save the day?"

And mean his cousins really were! Setting Oliver up to take the blame for things they had done, but Oliver rose above them in the end and had a wonderful Christmas afterall.

This short 92 page, 6 Chapter book would be perfect as a child's early entry into chapter book reading.

Authored by Sue Mongredien, there at least 6 other stories written about Oliver Moon and his wizard family. We read this is in one quick sitting, not that that's how I had it planned, but no one would let me stop reading ;-)

Whilst I read the kids coloured from pages printed at this site.

Don't forget to visit Christmas Fun, for Crafts, Advent Activities, Traditions, Cooking and more.

Popstick Christmas Tree Frames

2011-12-09T06:30:00.002+10:00

We made the cutest little decoration this week. It was kinda tricky deciding what I would call them - Popsicle Stick Christmas Tree Frame Decoration is just way too much of a mouthful lol!!

So let's forget the name and get onto it shall we.

I chose to use the wider craft sticks as I felt they would be sturdier, with a larger area for gluing and decorating.

Glue three together to form a triangle (the tree). I did these ahead of time so that the glue had almost dried by the time we were ready to decorate them.

Paint with gorgeous tree green on both sides and allow to dry. Or if, like us, it is a pouring day and there is no chance they'll dry anytime soon, grab your hairdyrer and blast them dry.

I gathered a few sparkly decorations and some white craft glue and let the kids at it.

They glued, glittered and decorated their triangle trees.

Whilst the glue sat drying we went to find some suitable photographs that would fit into the triangular shape. I needed to print them out wallet size if that is of any help. It still leaves some white in the background but depending on your image you may not have that to worry about.

I used the triangle tree to trace the shape around the photograph and then cut well within that line as I didn't want any overhanging pieces of white card.

Once the glue is all dry and the decorations are staying put, I flipped them over and glued the photograph to the back. I dug around in our card scraps for a piece suitable for the tree trunk and glued that on also.

Found a piece of ribbon and glued it in a loop at the top so we can hang it easily on the tree.

The next step is not necessary but we decorated a second tree and glued it to the back. We needed pegs to hold them altogether and left them overnight to dry.

The next morning we hung them on the tree. We love them!

I did think that we could have added a magnet to the back instead of the ribbon and they would be cute grandparents gifts.

Have you added your Christmas crafts to the Christmas Fun Link Up yet?

Linking this at TGIF and the Holiday Kid Crafts

Pom Pom Christmas Garland

2011-12-07T20:45:00.003+10:00

In continuing with our efforts for a handmade decorated tree,we put together some pom pom garland today to replace tinsel.

I needed something simple, that wasn't messy and quick to put together. This is what I came up with and best of all Fairy Princess did it all :-)

A few bags of sparkly pom poms, needles and some fishing line.

Fairy Princess chose to work with a pattern using all four of the coloured pom poms.

Simply tie off the fishing line at one end, so the pom poms don't slide off and start threading. The one trick we found is to ensure you get the needle right through the center of the pom pom. You can tell the difference in the ones that aren't right in the centre as they move about the garland more easily.

The center of the pom pom is much more dense than the outer edges so after threading a couple it's quite easy to tell if you have it in the centre or not before you continue to push the needle all the way through.

We need to finish off a couple more to fill the tree but here's the first one, it's looks very pretty. Relatively subtle, very unlike the overbearing power of tinsel.

Totally loving our hand decorated tree. We completed a few more crafts today, I'll get those up when I can :-)

Don't forget to check out Christmas Fun, loads of ideas and be sure to add yours over there too.

I have linked this over at Sugarplum Creations and It's Playtime

A Reading Moment To Remember

2011-12-03T19:30:00.002+10:00

A simple moment recorded this week, but still definitely one to treasure.

I found Lego Lover and Little Surfer Dude together on the couch earlier this week, enjoying a couple of picture books.

I tell you, doesn't that just warm a mother's heart. Seeing your eldest read to your youngest for pleasure.

More Moments To Remember

Robelle Domain Springfield Parklands

2011-12-01T08:31:00.024+10:00

~ Exploring Qld Parks & Playgrounds ~

We recently had the opportunity to visit the much talked about Robelle Domain Parklands area over at Springfield. This has been on the list to do since the grand opening earlier this year. It is definitely a must visit park for those living within reasonable driving distance to the area.

A largish water play area was the perfect spot on the day we visited, with temps climbing the children ran to cool off at every opportunity. The water areas' main feature is the dump bucket. The large bucket overhead fills until it can fill no more and consequently all the water that is held within must be released.

Dumping huge splashes of water over unsuspecting, well actually, eagerly awaiting, children below. Around the perimeter of the dump bucket are a handful of water spouts, that randomly spray water from the ground.

Across to one side is a small, ankle deep, wet area, designed for the younger children to play in. Small scramble mounds also spray water, but not quite as ferociously as over near the dump bucket area.

This is a very well planned parklands area. Bordering the edge of the play area is a large oval, that also features an ampitheatre, which will be used for community events. A great spot to kick a ball around or have a hit of cricket.

Whilst the parklands are an easy walk to the nearby Orion Shopping Centre, they have chosen to include a Cafe on site. If you're a coffee loving mamma, then you'll agree that this is a fabulous addition. If you have kids that nag at you for snacks all day, then you may be at the other end of the spectrum ;-)

Right near the water play area is the play equipment area. The FIRST of its' kind in Australia. The Icon on Galaxy equipment combines play with electronic gaming. Fun fun fun!

This slide was a first for all us, we've never witnessed anything and in the end Fairy Princess chose not to tackle it.

Another piece of the equipment. Whilst perfect for the older childer this portion of the playground can be used by younger children. Some may need adult supervision and assistance on the equipment though.

Signage is dotted through the play area to guide the 'players' in getting the most out of the equipment.

This piece of the equipment spins 360 degrees. Fairy Princess loved it and used it many times. After a few revolutions she realised however that it was far easier to stand on the inside and spin.

The perimeter of the parklands houses walking paths, boardwalks and a lake area. Currently shade is an issue. Whilst there are a large number of trees planted they will obviously take a considerable amount of time to produce the shade required for a picnic under a tree.

I would recommend taking your own shade where possible.

Onsite bathroom facilities, make this an easy place to settle down with the kids for a few hours.

Yet another fabulous community addition to the greater Ipswich area.

For more information on Robelle Domain see the Greater Springfield website.

Foamies Tree Decorations

2011-11-30T07:45:00.002+10:00

We are certainly looking like we are going to achieve our target of a completely handmade tree this year. Especially when the kiddo's get into the craft box, unbeknowns to me and start churning out their own creations to hang on the tree.

These are christmas puffies, I guess you could call them, a bit of glue, pop sticks and some pipe cleaners and these look really cute hanging on the tree.

Simple, cute and made with love by little hands.

Don't forget to visit the Christmas Fun link up for ideas and to add your own posts.

A Baby Chino Moment To Remember

2011-11-26T09:45:00.002+10:00

Did you notice that Jolanthe and Carissa have started a new linky?

Moments To Remember

~ Little Surfer Dude is 3.4 years ~

~Week Ending November 25th ~

From Jolanthe:

Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that encompass the memories we want to remember.
The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end these are the moments that keep us going, the ones we need to remember.

This week, the older two had birthday parties and play dates arranged, so Little Surfer Dude and I got to spend a few rare hours on our own.

We both love and cherish these times. It's so hard to get some special time with each of your kiddo's on their own. You really do need to make the effort with this.

Cultivating those special bonds, that can really only truly grow from, special one on one time, is something that I have been working on with each of the children.

Generally it is because we have something practical to achieve, a haircut, new shoes or clothes. But I choose to use that time to also spend 'alone time' with that particular child. We go out, get done what we need to get done and then generally have some yummy lunch (kids choice) and if time permits do something else together.

These, "Kid Dates" have been invaluable to me and my children.

Little Surfer Dude is in the 'loving baby chino's' stage, so after spending some time at home cuddling, reading and playing, we met my mum for morning tea and a baby chino....a giant one at that, gee they have grown!!

He is so delightfully gorgeous, I just wish I could bundle him up and keep at this stage of his life forever!

Thanks for starting this linky Jolanthe and Carissa. Please visit Moments To Remember, for more special moments.

Free Printable Christmas Carols and Songs

2011-11-25T05:12:00.002+10:00

I've started compiling our Christmas Songs and Carols into booklets. So I figured I might as well share them here also.

Some of the songs will lend themselves well to be used in a similar fashion to Counting Coconuts Poetry Baskets, others may be a little more tricky to find props for. However there's no reason why we can't use these to work on learning the songs and carols anyway.

I hope you enjoy these first six printable Christmas Songs and Carols.

Download this set of printable carols and songs by clicking here.

Don't forget to visit the Christmas Fun Link Up which you can find here.

The Crafting Has Begun!

2011-11-23T06:30:00.000+10:00

If you followed along with my Christmas posts last year, you may remember my post in which I participated in Jolanthe's Ornament Show and Tell. Or maybe you could just go back and read the post to refresh your memory ;-)

This year I decided that our tree would be filled with handmade ornaments. Ornaments made by the kiddo's during the lead up to Christmas! A tree filled with meaning, pleasure and fun as opposed to plastic store bought ornaments that are meaningless. Yikes, huge ask, better get started.

So our tree is up, yes very early this year, but that was deliberate on my part. I needed a bare tree looking at me daily to give me the kick I needed to organise the ornament crafts for the kids.

I've been pinning like crazy and have many ideas over on my Christmas board at Pinterest. Now just to tackle at least a few of them.

We started with something super easy, that all members of the clan could complete in a short period of time. I gathered a few pine cones that I've had here for quite some time. Some ribbon, pom poms, old tinsel, glue and glitter and set the kids to it.

First up the glitter cone, smother said cone in white PVA (craft) glue and sprinkle with glitter colour/s of choice.

This is one project where a heavy hand works wonders and a 3 year old wielding a jar of glitter is deifinitely the best man for the job!

All pretty and sparkly and ready to hang on the tree.

I handed the kids a stash of old tinsel, they wrapped and pushed it into the pine cones for another sparkly variation.

Finally, christmas sparkle pom poms. At first I had thought we'd need glue, but no, simply push them in well and voila, yet another ornament for the tree.

I tied a piece of red ribbon to each pine cone for easy hanging and the tree already has some life to it.

Check out all of the crafts linked at this year's Christmas Fun link up.

Sunday Shout Out: Freely Educate

2011-11-20T08:27:00.000+10:00

If you haven't already stumbled on to this fabulous resource then may I suggest you jump over to Freely Educate now and take a look around.

You will find links to so many free educational resources, careful you might be there awhile.

From Lori, the author of Freely Educate,

At FreelyEducate.com, I focus on high quality, 100% free educational finds. I post for the children: preschool, elementary, middle school, and high school. I also post for homeschoolers, teachers, students, and families who love to learn together.

My goal is to prove a high quality education can be free. I don’t have a problem with paying for education. I’m just trying to remove one obstacle - finances - from those who think they “can’t” give - or get - a good education. Even if you don’t have money, you can still have knowledge. Isn’t that a beautiful truth?

This is definitely one to subscribe to so you don't miss anything.

Free Printable: Christmas Stamp & Colour Pages

2011-11-17T07:37:00.000+10:00

I have a couple of children that are heavily into a colouring in period at present so I decided to whip together a few Christmas related colouring pages and sneek in a little learning at the same time.

All you need for these are colours and alphabet stampers. The children colour the page and stamp the word in the spaces provided below the image.

Download these Christmas Stamp and Colour Pages here.

Also check out my other Christmas Printables, which you can find on my Printables Page.

Have you looked at this years Christmas Fun Link Up? Be sure to add all your Christmas posts over the coming weeks.

Sunday Shout Out: Alphabetimals

2011-11-13T06:43:00.001+10:00

Have you seen the Alphabetimals Website yet? If not jump over there right now. They are just so damn cute.

A different animal is represented for every letter of the alphabet, they are so well done.

Alphabetimals is a grass roots project started by a husband and wife team, a psychologist and an illustrator, in an effort to share literacy around the world.

Once you have played around with the Alphabetimals site you can order your name or creation on a personalised item, bags, shirts, mugs etc.

For every personalised item sold a book will be sent to a child in Africa.

The site also has free printable resources. The super cute alphabetimals in flash cards, a poster, colouring pages and you can even print your name in the super cute Alphabetimals font.

Alphabetimals, jump over there and check it out.

Disclosure: I have not received any form of compensation for this review and was not asked to write it. All opinions expressed are my own.

Bambino Academy: Help With Tricky Puzzles

2011-11-11T06:15:00.003+10:00

::: Simple Ideas For Your Bambino :::

~ Surfer Dude is 39 months ~

I wasn't sure what to title this post. We have a couple of wooden puzzles like this one that are a little fiddly to put together, especially for little fingers.

My plan was to take a photo of it completed that he could use as a guide, then I had a little light bulb moment!

I placed it straight on to my photocopier, colour copied it and ran it through the laminator. This was definitely an easier and better option, than photographing.

Not only does he now have a finished puzzle to look at whilst working on the real life one, and since it is the exact size of the puzzle pieces..

He also has a template he can build the puzzle directly on top of. Very happy with that and such a simple thing that has really helped with 'getting this puzzle'.

Don't forget you can see my other Bambino Academy posts, broken down into ages, under the Home School drop down menu up above.

Check out the Linky Parties that I have shared this with.

Way Back When: The First Writing

2011-11-09T07:30:00.001+10:00

During our study of the First Writing we read Write Around The World by Vivian French. This particular book was a super thrift store find, before I knew that it was included in the suggested book list of History Odyessy from Pandia Press.

This is the story of how and why we learnt to write. Whilst you could categorise it as a picture book, it is quite long and detailed and therefore definitely for the older or very interested child.

Each double page spread covers an era in time, as it relates to writing. Sumeria, Egypt, China, The Alphabet, Languages, Handwriting, all the way through to Machine Writing and Secret Codes.

You could potentially build quite an indepth unit around this book

We played around for awhile with Hieroglyphs. How could we not, such an important part of mankind's history.

I spent some time reading reviews on this book with stamps package as many of them were very mixed.

I really wanted the kids to have the opportunity to use the stamps though so I took the plunge and went ahead and ordered it. Granted the stamps are not of the highest quality but the book itself has some interesting bits and pieces. Lego Lover was particularly intrigued with counting with Hieroglyphs so we spent some time playing around in that section of the book.

We all played with the stamps for a bit, wrote our names in hieroglyphs using this site.

We read Seeker Of Knowledge by James Runford. This is the story of Jean-Francois Champollion, the man who deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs.

Another longer, more involved, older child's, picture book, but definitely worth a read in regards to a unit of work on the history of writing.

Without Jean's sheer love of all things Egyptian, which began when he was a boy, determination and sheer hard work we may still be wondering about the Hieroglyphs.

I can't seem to find a photo but we also used Air Drying Clay to carve some cuneiform into and once allowed to dry the kids painted it.

Check out the linky parties I have shared this with.

Ancient Mesopotamia

Pre-History, The Big Bang and Evolution

Charles Darwin, The Beagle, Galapagos Islands and Evolution

All History Related Posts

3rd Annual Christmas Fun Linky Coming Soon!

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000+10:00

Can you believe it's that time of year already?!

Are you in the midst of organising for all of the Christmas Cooking and Crafting Fun you'll be having with the kiddos?

Need some inspiration? Just click on the Christmas Fun Button and that will take you to all of the past Christmas Fun Link Ups and all of my Christmas Posts too.I have also started to add the links to past Christmas Fun posts in the drop down menu above.

As promised at the end of last years Christmas Fun, this year we are going to organise the links some into Christmas related categories. Each week there'll be a new linky added to the Christmas Fun, and all linkys will remain open for the entire holiday season.

Following is the schedule:

Week 1 - November 14 - Crafts
Week 2 - November 21 - Lesson Ideas
Week 3 - November 28 - In The Kitchen
Week 4 - December 5 - Advent Activities
Week 5 - December 12 - Traditions
Week 6 - December 19 - Gifts

Be sure to grab the button code and start spreading the word on your blogs.

I am so looking forward to another fabulous Christmas :-)

Sunday Shout Out: Little Folk Friendly

2011-11-06T08:54:00.000+10:00

Recently my mum took Surfer Dude to a Playgroup gathering in a park nearby us.

This was a gathering of local playgroups in the area.

Whilst it's been a awhile since I have been involved with a regular playgroup if my memory serves me correctly they are a showcase of sorts. Each individual playgroup puts together some type of activity and the children wander (or possibly run around silly) around participating in the activities that take their fancy.

Mum was given a small goody bag that contained a handful of bits and pieces and one little treasure.

The Little Folk Friendly Book. Whilst the logo states that it is a book of fun for Little Folk, it is really a book for big people to aid them in having fun with their Little Folk and saving money along the way.

This is the frst edition of it's kind and Brisbane was the first city to have the book. Editions are planned for other major cities around Australia.

Little Folk Friendly is an activity book and contains a massive amount of discount vouchers for various outlets, stores and products in and around the Brisbane area. When I say massive, I mean massive. Well over three quarters of the book is discount vouchers.

The first part of the book contains activity ideas for you to do with your Little Folk, things like games to play with a bucket, art and craft recipes, more fun and games and cheap ideas for getting out and about.

I would love to see this section grow to include colour photographs, being the highly visual person that I am.

Section two, the major component of the book holds the vouchers. Vouchers for nearly anything you can think of relating to Little Folk in and around Brisbane. A very handy resource to have for parents with little ones.

This is a great idea and one I hope will grow and flourish with the support of the local community.

Visit Little Folk Friendly for more details.

More Sensory Tub Ideas

2011-11-04T07:36:00.000+10:00

I thought it was about time that I shared the Sensory Tub Ideas List with you all again.

I couldn't believe when I took a closer look at it and found that there are now over 130 sensory tubs in the list.

That's a huge array of ideas, coming from you, fabulous. What a great compilation. Thank you for your creativity and taking the time to add them here to the list.

Don't forget that there is still about 35 ideas listed at the old list... Sensory Tub Ideas List. That one has no pretty pictures though as it was put together before thumbnail linkys.

I have added a link to the Sensory Tub Ideas Lists in the drop down banner up the top there so you can easily find them at any time.

Thanks to those of you that have also grabbed the button and helped spread the word about the Ideas List. I know a few of you contacted me with issues regarding the coding, so I hope it is all fixed now and working fine you. Some of you may need to grab the new code below.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank Mari-Ann from Counting Coconuts for allowing me to use her 4th of July Sensory Tub image, I thought it was perfect!

Let Others Know - Grab A Sensory Tub Ideas List Button

Have fun adding your ideas and trying out everyone else's

Below is the original list of ideas, without pictures. This list is now closed, please add your fabulous ideas to the above list, thanks to everyone for sharing and linking it. The Sensory Ideas List gets lots of visits so I hope I am sending many of those visitors your way.

Bambino Cut and Paste Activity & Printable

2011-11-02T19:30:00.000+10:00

::: Bambino Academy :::

~ Surfer Dude is 39 months ~

Surfer Dude has been completing sticker/cutting activities for awhile now. I am sure you know the ones I mean. Place a row of stickers onto a strip of paper approximately 2cms in width and then the child cuts the strip into pieces, keeping one sticker on each piece. I can't be certain but I think the first place I may have seen this was over at the wonderful Counting Coconuts.

I've been wanting to extend on that activity for awhile now and today the opportunity arose. I simply drew everything freehand for Surfer Dude, but have since put together a simple little printable that has made it easier for me to prepare this activity....which by the way, he adores!

You will need two sheets of grid paper (see printable link below), I print one in colour so it is easy for Surfer Dude to tell them apart, stickers, enough to fill the sheet and small enough to fit within in each grid square, child sized scissors (if they are cutting) and a glue stick.

I prepared the first stage of cutting the coloured sheet into long strips and placed all of the supplies onto his tray. If you are doing this for the first time you might like to start with just the strips and the stickers and slowly move through the steps from there.

Surfer Dude then chooses his stickers and places one within each grid square. With a younger child you might like to remove the backing around the stickers, this makes it much easier for them to remove the sticker itself with greater success.

After one strip is full he then cuts it apart on the lines provided.

Once all stickers are in place and each strip has been cut apart, the next step is to glue each coloured square onto the second piece of grid paper.

This is quite an involved piece of work with many steps. You will need to decide for yourself what level your child is at and work from there. Right now I can give all the materials to Surfer Dude ( I only cut apart the inital long strips) and he does the rest all in one sitting.

The first time he did this it took him at least 30 minutes, his perseverance, concentration and determination was amazing. Such a simple activity covering such a wide variety of skills.

This is the very first one Surfer Dude completed, where I simply drew the grids by hand and did not provide him lines to cut on. You can choose to go either way with this, again depending on the child.

Download the grid pattern printable by clicking here

Check out the Linky Party's this is linked up to

Homeschool Misfit Awards

2011-10-19T05:10:00.000+10:00

LOL I just stumbled on to the Homeschool Misfit Awards. I bet there's a great deal of home school bloggers that could fit into these and I for sure am one of them.

Just reading through the categories I found myself chuckling away remembering that somewhere in my blogging adventures I fit that category and that category, oh, and that category too hehehehe

Anyway, go have a look for yourself. How many categories do you fit?

Homeschool Misfit Awards

Happy 10th Birthday

2011-10-17T17:05:00.000+10:00

It's Lego Lovers 10th Birthday today, so we are off having fun with his awesome new gifts. He had a fabulous party, perfect for a 10 year old boy and was surrounded by his totally amazing friends!

I will blog about his party, but I am terribly behind with my posts and want to try and catch up first so it may be a couple of weeks.

Until then, I'm off to kiss and hug my sweet boy.

The King With Horse's Ears

2011-10-14T06:22:00.001+10:00

The King With Horse's Ears is a folk tale that is believed to have been linked to the Ancient Greek legend of King Midas.

A slightly longer read when it comes to picture books, the story of King Mark is one to be heard by all!

King Mark keeps a secret, a secret about himself that he is utterly ashamed of. He fears the thoughts of others, if his secret is revealed.

Don't we all have a secret about ourselves that we keep hidden, far within, untouchable by no one, simply because of our fear of what others may think of us?

There is one person, however that knows of King Mark's secret and he too is trapped by it. This secret causes him ill health, as I am sure many a secret has done to others over the course of time.

Eventually the secret is revealed and as generally occurs in real life, the beholder of the secret experiences the lifting of a burden. A burden they have often carried with them for years. He realises that he had nothing to be ashamed of after all.

If only we could guide our children to believe in themselves no matter how 'different' they may appear to be. I know this is something that I strive for with my children, especially after realising later in life (ok I'm not that old, but....) how your opinions of yourself really do shape and mould who you become as an adult.

Breaking free of negative thoughts that we have carried with us throughout our lives is truly freeing. But what if we didn't have those negative thoughts to begin with? Do you think that is even possible?

I was pleasantly surprised to see that this book is written and illustrated by Australians, although they are both living overseas. The illustrations are intriguing and the story even more so.

I think this is one that will be kept in the, 'too read regularly pile.'

I am linking this to What My Child Is Reading.

Ipswich Art Gallery - Mirror Exhibition

2011-10-12T06:08:00.000+10:00

After spending a good few hours in the morning sun, getting up close and personal with some of our native wildlife we ventured indoors to the Ipswich Art Gallery.

In the entrance we were all enthralled by this enormous Kaleidoscope. See the little camera on the top left catching all of the images. Every move, wiggle, jump or hop was caught and projected onto the screen.

The main reason we visited the Art Gallery today was to see the Jeannie Baker Mirror Exhibition.

On first entering the area I thought this would end up being one those super quick visits, until we took the time to look more closely.

The exhibition showcases the artwork from Jeannie's book "Mirror". This artwork is paperpiecing at it's finest, truly magnificent. I was first introduced to paper piecing when I began scrapbooking Lego Lover's baby photo's, it was a simple yet effective way to embellish the pages.

Jennie's paper piecings are so inspiring. Lego Lover and myself spent our entire visit wondering just how long each one of the pieces would have taken to create. The photographs really do not do them justice.

It didn't take everyone long to find themselves seated at the creating area. Lego Lover was enthralled with the images in the book. Hence this is on our current wish list of books to buy.

Little Surfer Dude is in an amazing cutting sensory period. I mean he is literally cutting everything. So whilst he did create, his piece didn't last long enough for me to photograph it!

Whilst Lego Lover was extremely impressed with the artwork he chose to wait until he has the book in his hot little hands (at home) so he can study the images more, before tackling any kind of intricate design work.....yes true perfectionist here (anyone else have one of those).

He ended up with a simple but playful one eyed monster. I believe it was the use of sticky tape as the only option that held him back from trying other creations

Little Princess Girl, however was full of concentration whilst working on her piece. Torn waves, teeny, tiny fish and crabs. This really caught her attention and she immersed herself fully in the activity.

I do believe that this particular exhibition has now finished, it is however travelling the country so be on the lookout for it at a gallery near you.

What a day in Ispwich, it was huge but lots of fun.

We visited the Nature Centre
Called into the Enviromental Centre
Played in Queens Park
Finished up here at the Gallery.

We still have a few others thing to see in do in Ipswich, maybe another day.

Queens Garden (Ipswich) Playground

2011-10-10T07:00:00.002+10:00

Once we had some lunch in our hot little hands, we moved on over to the Playground component of Queens Park, gathered ourselves under a shady tree, straight down on the grass. No picnic mat, shoes off, feeling the earth beneath our toes.

After a few bites the children were off. Who could resist a playground that was not only brand new to them, but one that was as well kept and gorgeous as this.

Surfer Dude is in that in between stage in playground land, he's kind outgrown the little kids structures but he finds the larger ones a slightly scary place at times.

Although, he often tries to tackle them.

The playground area is set into the side of the hill, which creates a whole host of smaller play areas for the children to explore.Although not so great if you are the sort of parent that needs to have one eye on all kids at all times.

At the base of the park are twin bright yellow slides, that, to the bigger kids disappointment, were a little slow, but still enjoyed several times, none the less.

Surfer Dude loved hanging upside down within this rope area.

Add water to a play area and you will entertain the children there for hours. Two large water pumps, that really pumped water, into small river like channels, is a great inclusion to this play zone.

Surfer Dude was most disappointed that the train was without a steering wheel, he was planning to head off exploring, but when you are unable to steer your train, well, let's just say he wasn't having a bar of that.

No matter your age or size, the lure of water play eventually grabs your attention.

The playground also boasts a large spider web climbing area, swings and a wheelchair swing. With large amounts of shady trees surrounding the perimeter.

When next visiting Ipswich this playground will be a definite on our must do's, with a picnic lunch in hand.

Want to see what else we got up to whilst visiting Ipswich on this particular day. Have a look here and here.

Ipswich Environmental Education Centre

2011-10-07T06:43:00.001+10:00

After spending a couple of hours at the Ipswich Nature Centre, we headed over to the Environmental Centre, right next door to the Queen's Park Cafe.

The Environmental Centre is a smallish building situated at the top of Queen's Park. There were a few touchy feely tables out with various items from nature. The children loved these.

A nice collection of birds nests, eggs and snake skins are kept behind glass in this cabinet.

However there was at least one birds nest they could pick up and inspect more closely.

The centre offers an array of brochures covering many environmental issues within Ipswich. There were also flyers showing off things to do around Ipswich, including many great looking walking trails.

The back corner was complete with children's tables and chairs and an abundance of nature inspired colouring pages.

We took the opportunity to wander through the Nature Centre whilst waiting for our lunch to be prepared at the next door cafe.

A word of note, take your own lunch with you and have a picnic, unless of course you are happy to pay nearly $50 for a few basic sandwiches and a couple of drinks.Both my mum and my jaws nearly hit the floor when the cashier gave me the total of our bill......definitely the only downside to our day.

We visited the Ipswich Nature Centre earlier in the day, you can read about that here.

Ipswich Nature Centre

2011-10-05T06:02:00.002+10:00

Things to do in and around Ipswich seem to be the talk of the town at the moment. Everywhere I turn someone mentions something great to do in Ipswich. So I figured it was about time we ventured over to that neck of woods, again.

We took my mum with us, its' been a while since we have spent an entire day together, something we must do more often :-)

Our last visit was quite some time ago and we spent our entire time in the Art Gallery. Oh hang on, we have been to the Train Museum a few times also.

The Ipswich Nature Centre far exceeded all of our expectations.

Actually I should probably reword that as I planned this day with no expectations, something I've been working on for awhile now. Removing expectations funnily enough also removes the feeling of disappointment, we often have when our expectations are not met.

If only we could enter a situation with no expectations at all. Reducing expectations gives us the opportunity for our hearts and minds to be truly open and so we often find ourselves pleasantly surprised by the experience at hand.

This particular day is true testament of this.

The Nature Centre is located in central Ipswich, within the Queens Garden precinct. Parking is plentiful, though I would expect it to be an extremely popular destination on weekends and school holidays. Entry to the Nature Centre is free. At the gate they have a donation box, every penny placed in that box is well worth it.

Australian wildlife abounds here, in these gorgeous, well kept gardens.

Extensive board walks elevate the visitor from the ground, giving a superb view of the encompassing wildlife enclosures.

Lego Lover and Princess Girl delighted in pushing little Surfer Dude around in his pram. Surfer Dude of course obliged, why walk when you can be pushed! As you can see, they've gone off ahead to see what surprises were in store for us.

I know most three year old's don't want anything to do with their pram/stroller, however Surfer Dude has never been made to stay in his, riding in it has always been his choice. Up until he began to walk he was always in a sling (or carried) and even after walking took hold he enjoyed being carried. Our stroller was there as an option on outings where we felt that it may be of use. It has never been a place where he was made to stay seated and strapped in.

The freedom of this and utilising the stroller as a true tool and not a neccessity is surely why he loves to 'ride' in his stroller on occassions like today.

The wildlife enclosures themselves were extremely well maintained and built to a very high standard. With every turn we continued to be impressed with the quality of the Nature Centre. This little Quoll caught Surfer Dude's attention.

Oh such is the life of a wombat, sleeping the day away.

The turtles are in the process of shedding, a new experience for us to witness.

An abundance of wildlife also calls the Nature Centre home. A sure sign that even the caged animals here are happy.

Baby water dragons soaked up the warmth of the sun.

Looking back over one portion of the gardens, beautifully maintained. A pleasure to wander through. Ipswicher's should certainly be very proud of this place.

Further towards the back of the centre they have a good sized Ampitheatre where we were all intrigued by the mosaic work that was intwined within this structure.

A terrible photo, but it's not often that I get the opportunity of being in them with the children, the sun was glaring in our eyes.

The centre also houses a small farm area with your regular baby farm animals, pigs, calves, chickens, guinea pigs etc According to a small sign hanging in the area they also have regular feeding sessions where the children can get up close and personal with the animals.

The Nature Centre can be found at Queens Park, Milford Street, Ipswich.

Opening Hours
Tuesday to Sunday: 9.30am to 4.00pm
Public Holidays: 9.30am to 4.00pm
School Holidays: 9.30am to 4.00pm, 7 days a week.

Homeschooling Meme

2011-10-03T07:03:00.001+10:00

Two weeks break, not quite what I had planned, but well worth it none the less. Prior to my break April tagged me in a homeschooling meme that has been doing the rounds.

1) One homeschooling book you have enjoyed.

Gee it's been so long since I've read a homeschooling book I'm not even sure I can answer that........ok I just checked my shelves. I know in my early days Beverley Paine's Getting Started with Home Schooling and Learning Without School really helped me settle into things.oops that was two books ;-)

2) One resource you wouldn't be without.

Do I even need to answer that? The computer of course!

3) One resource you wish you had never bought.

In all honesty I have utilised something from most things I have purchased. If I had to list something I would say Peak with Books, simply because FIAR is far better for our needs.

4) One resource you enjoyed last year.

Math U See is definitely a staple in our home. Great program!

5) One resource you will be using next year.

No idea lol! Next year is still a long way off for me. We are also very much teetering on a more child led approach (have been all year) with a montessori influence so I can't really answer that one at the moment. We are open to all possibilities :-)

6) One resource you wish existed.

I am going to steal April's thoughts on this. A regular home schoolers Conference, with Curriculum displays and second hand stalls right here in Brisbane, thank you very much.

7) One resource you would like to buy.

To be honest I have stopped looking at resources, we have a.l.o.t however a full cd rom from either Montessori Print Shop or Montessori For Everyone would be a fabulous addition to our homeschool!!

8) One homeschooling website you visit regularly.

Well of course I would have to say Connecting Queensland Home Schoolers.

9) One homeschool catalogue you enjoy reading.

lol I wouldn't call it reading perse, but the Rainbow Resource catalogue is one huge compilation and a great place to start if you are looking for something in particular.

10) Tag other homeschoolers

ok I could really get carried away here, however I'll try to be good ;-)

Sound Schooling
Life's Little Distractions
Mumma of 4 Boys
My Cup Is Full & Overflowing
Towards The Sun
Tired Need Sleep
The Homeschool Den
Adventures In Mommydom

Ok that was kinda fun! Thanks April. :-) Looking forward to seeing your responses to this.

Blogcation Time

2011-09-17T09:00:00.003+10:00

So much happening, so little time to do it in.

Visits from those that are very dear to my heart. This time will be full of surprises. There will also be cuddles, giggles, tears and lots and lots of yakking!

Time spent with loved ones, wriggling our toes in the sand. dipping our feet into the ocean and spending precious time together.

This is just some of what I'll be getting up to whilst this blog is on blogcation.

See you all soon!

Toes In The Sand

2011-09-16T09:00:00.002+10:00

You definitely know it's spring time when the water is calling your name.

Although still a little fresh to immerse in completely, it is certainly gorgeous to sit and admire.

A brief 3 minute stroll through a very bushy, but clearly pathed, nature reserve.

We were met with a spectacular view.

A glorious spring day.

Perfect for the first beach visit of the season

Waves crashing, sand crunching, wind blowing.

Is there any better way to while away the time.

Beach as far as the eye can see.

No matter which direction you look.

I think we will definitely be spending many summer days right here.

Fruits of our labour

2011-09-14T18:30:00.000+10:00

And an easy labour it was too!

We took a very brief weekend away and headed up to the sunshine coast.

No better way to break up the drive then to stop and pick

ourselves a few kilo's of strawberries.

It's been a few years since we've experienced strawberry picking

(this was one of the first things we did with other homeschoolers)

and this was C's first time, he was very excited.

Off they sped, baskets in hand, running like the wind.

Little C was quite surprised how tricky they were to pull from the plant,

let's just say a few didn't survive his efforts,

but he worked out the technique required in no time at all.

All of us had never seen strawberries so large.

Very surprising, we could easily cut them into quarters and

till have a nice piece to enjoy.

And there's nothing like a bit of frolicking fun after a spot of strawberry picking.

If you are passing through the sunny coast then I definitely

recommend a stop off to stretch the legs, tantalise the tastebuds and fill the tummy.

Jump Start - Math Blaster Winner

2011-09-12T07:13:00.000+10:00

And the winner is (via Random.org):

Sound Schooling said... 10: My boys would love this and we would love to win!; September 6, 2011 1:11 PM

Thanks for entering everyone and thanks Knowledge Adventure for the opporutnity.

Jump Start Giveaway closes tonight!!

2011-09-10T07:21:00.000+10:00

A quick reminder that the Jump Start/Math Blaster Giveaway closes tonight.

Are you in it to win it?

Click here for details

Horse Riding Experience

2011-09-08T09:20:00.000+10:00

We, well I watched at least, enjoyed our first horse riding experience yesterday. Actually first for B, second for K. The kids have all had their fair share of 'party ponies' but real fair dinkum horse riding has eluded us until now.

A couple of months ago one of our very dear homeschooling friends stumbled across Janelle and her horse riding school. We were lucky enough to spend an afternoon with Janelle and her horses to celebrate R's 7th Birthday.

Since that experience the girls haven't stopped talking about and asking when they could go horse riding again. Yesterday was that day! This time Sig organised it for any and all homeschoolers that wanted to join us. Breaking everyone into smaller manageable groups. Although after yesterday we realised that the groups probably need to be slightly smaller again.

Janelle, is amazing with the children. I guess someone that loves horses as much as she does would find it relatively easy to tranfer her skills used with the horses across to the children.

On arrival they spent a quite a bit of time getting to know their horses, grooming, what's involved in actually taking care of a horse. How to saddle and get their horse all prepared to ride. K mounted hers like a pro. B was excited, but with some trepidation, after all they are full size horses and neither of the children have really been up that close and personal with horses before. They were both all full of smiles though!

They moved onto the arena area where they practised their horse handling skills. Control, stopping, starting, steering and communicating with their horse.

The trot always evoked giggles from all children, their little heads bobbing up and down, thankfully all of the horses knew exactly what was expected of them.

The first words out of B's mouth when we he returned me, "When can we do that again?" I guess that answers any questions I had!

Jump Start Review and Giveaway!!

2011-09-03T07:47:00.000+10:00

When Knowledge Adventure emailed me to ask if we would be interested in having a look around the Jump Start Virtual World program I knew that B would be into it.

We own and have used a variety of Knowledge Central Software items in our home over the years. The lower levels of Math Blaster and the Jump Start Kindergarten and Preschool software titles are often pulled down from our shelves.

However Jump Start, in this browser based format, is a gigantic virtual world and I mean gigantic. This really took some time for us to get our heads around too be honest.

The first time we logged on was spent the entire time just pimping and preening our Jumpeez (the avatar which travels within the virtual world).

I reminded B that this was definitely a game to enjoy but it did also have educational components in fact, along with the help of their Jumpeez the kids explore magical worlds, discovering and unlocking games, videos and storybooks that teach everything from math to reading.

The next time he jumped on I left him to explore for a while, on my return he had spent the entire time just cruising around all of the virtual worlds, finding the odd fun thing to do here and there. Seeking out the educational content wasn't as easy as I had first thought it would be though.

Alot of time could be wasted simply larking around, however, this is a game, a virtual world, that also offers an educational component. It is a supplemental program and it certainly contains an enormous amount of things to do within it.

In JumpStart, there are many places to explore once you launch the game. The first is an area called StoryLand, aimed at 3-5 year olds. Children can also explore AdventureLand and MarineLand, designed for kids in kindergarten to second grade. Children in 3^rd to 5^th grade will love FutureLand, and the Enchanted Sanctuary is loads of fun, where kids can hatch and raise their own dragons!

If you like the idea of a virtual world hangout for your kids but are unsure then Jump Start definitely would be a good option to consider. It is fun, which the kids really do enjoy, but you also have the satisfaction of knowing that they will be completing educational games at the same time and often without them even knowing it. You gotta love that!

Visit Jump Start to fnd out more.

To keep parents updated Jump Start also maintain a Blog, it features tips for using the program, new releases into the virtual world and a whole lot more.

Now for the Giveaway!

Knowledge Adventure have offered one of my readers the opportunity to win 3 Months access to the Jump Start Virtual World. (this is a browser based subscription, no physical product will be sent)

To enter simply leave me a comment explaining why you would like your child/ren to enjoy learning through a virtual world program like Jump Start.

For one optional extra entry facebook or tweet about this giveaway, you must leave a seperate comment letting me know you have done that.

Giveaway Information

This giveaway will close Saturday 10th September Midnight Australian EST . The winner will be announced within 48 hours.

Only comments left on this post are eligible and be sure to include a way for me to contact you in your comments otherwise another winner will be drawn.

Be sure to leave a seperate comment for each entry option.

Winner will be chosen at random. All international entries accepted.

Winner will be given 49 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn.

Disclosure: I was provided with a membership good for Math Blaster and Knowledge Adventure at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.

Spring Has Sprung Challenge Day 2

2011-09-02T16:03:00.000+10:00

What a fabulous way to spend loads of time in the sunshine and with my kiddo's all having fun! Well kind of, C was scared a great deal of the time if truth be told, but all in all everyone had a superb day. (all photo's taken on my phone so not the greatest)

Bet you can't guess where we went ;-)

The (new since our last visit) penguin encounter is fantastic. I knew those guys were big, but not that big!!

This is definitely K's kinda theme park, all animals and some amount of touching involved.

She was so happy to get a quick touch of this ray.

C actually did enjoy this part, ok I know it doesn't look like it, but he did!

Castaway Bay, or is it Island, I can't remember. Is the newest addition here. OMG it is the biggest, coolest looking adventure playground I have ever seen. Too bad C wouldn't go on, which meant I missed out. I think I could have left the other two there all day. This part (can you see K?) is a large structure where all the fun happens internally. I am guessing more like an indoor play centre type structure.

Via that, they make their way over to this enormous structure. Yep that's B up that, very cool. Very cool indeed.

Of course there were a few kiddy rides to be had.

And what's a visit to, you guessed it, Seaworld, without a dolphin or two.

Spring Has Sprung Challenge

2011-09-01T07:03:00.000+10:00

Happy first day of spring to all those down under! Oh how I have been longing for the sunshine. Give me hot, sunny summers any day over a cold winter. The only part of summer I dislike is storms, scare the heck out of me. But please don't tell my kids, I try to act like I'm brave and all that ;-)

We've lived here for just over 5 years now but I still can't believe how lucky we are to have so many nature study opportunities right here in our very own back yard, love it!

This guy was soaking up some of that gorgeous early morning sun, until Charley disturbed him.

Thank goodness he was out of reach though.

So we will be spending a great deal more time outside, especially before the sun gets too hot for us to be in. My kids always get more than enough time outside, I am not concerned about them in any way, it is actually me that I am referring to here.

I do get outside but on alot of occasions when the kids are out playing I use that for a bit of me time. Have a cuppa, do some quiet reading, catch up on blogs, prepare activities for the following day or if I'm feeling really energetic I might even do some chores ;-) Might, I did say might ;-)

So my challenge to myself, get outside with them. Enjoy the sunshine, breath in the fresh air and just be. Every day for the next 30 days I am challenging myself to this.

I will do my best to keep you updated on this one.

Happy Spring, Friends

World Wide Wanderings: Continents & Oceans Printable

2011-08-27T17:14:00.000+10:00

We've been covering the Earth's Continents & Oceans, talking about what a continent is (haven't they changed the definition somewhat since I was at school) working hard on comitting the names of the continents and oceans to memory and being able to find them on the map.

To make the practice of this a little more interactive I put together these printable labelling sheets. The full colour sheets I have laminated and are perfect to use as part of the Morning Routine/Calendar Time/Morning Circle.

The children can work through the various stages of these printable continent maps until they have everything well memorised. This download includes:

Full colour map with continents & oceans labelled
Full colour map with continents labelled
Full colour map with oceans labelled
Full colour map with space to add continents label
Full colour map with space to add oceans label
Sheet of labels to use with full colour maps
Watermark maps to label with pen and ink, once the child is ready

>>> Download the Continent & Ocean Label Maps here <<<

Not only have we been using these printable activities but I also have a couple of other continent resources that the we have enjoyed :-)

I purchased this awesome felt map a while back in those fundraising catalogues that come out in time for christmas. It has loads of various bits and pieces you can add to the map.

To introduce the continents to K I showed her this video from You Tube.

Then for ongoing practice (as the above one is a little long) we refer to this one.

We love our gorgeous wooden Montessori Continent map. The kids use this to trace around and pin punch out the various continents.

Have you posted about your learning adventures of Earth's Oceans and Continents? Please add your post to the link up below.

What's In A Name Part 2

2011-08-25T12:16:00.000+10:00

: : : Simple Ideas For Your Bambino : : :

This was a hit and oh so simple.

Write the child's name on a chalkboard and have
them paint over it with water!

How easy is that.

Why not take it outside on the driveway and write huge names to paint over.

Also check out:

Sand Art Names

Blast Off: Space Vocabulary Word Printable Activities

2011-08-19T07:53:00.003+10:00

I decided to capitalise somewhat on the huge amount of interest our space unit is generating to work on some spelling and vocbulary items. If you are using the Lab of Mr Q's Earth Science Curriculum then these printables will fit right in.

The vocabulary words covered in these printable activities are:

Astronomy
Telescope
Universe
Galaxy
Milky Way
Stars
Comet
Sun

Spelling Mats

All About Spelling Tiles fit onto these mats with ease. Since we use AAS and have the tiles out all of the time it just made sense for me to make these spelling mats suitable to use with the AAS Letter Tiles.

My plan for these is to laminate them and use a baking tray. That way I am not wasting too much printer ink and I can file them away for future use. My guess is that they will be used at least 3 - 6 more times over the years to come.

>>> Download the Spelling Mats here <<<

Vocabulary Match Up Cards

These will printed and laminated and used for matching the definition to the vocab words. My aim is for the children to know all of these definitions, but to be able to retell them in their own words, not necessarily to parrot these back verbatim.

>>> Download Vocabulary Match Up Cards here <<<

Copywork Pages

There are two sets of copywork pages in this file. Since I have two children at quite different levels this will meet both of their needs.

The first set is simply the vocabulary word and the beginning sound, with a place to draw a picture.

The second set also includes the definitions from the vocabulary match up cards above. The line spacing on the second set is slightly smaller, to cater for the older child.

>>> Download Copywork Pages here <<<

I hope you can put these printables to good use.

Blast Off - Paper Plate Alien Spaceships

2011-08-18T08:37:00.003+10:00

I wanted to start off our Space Unit with something fun and simple, but would grab everyone's attention and this definitely did the trick.

Such an easy craft to put together. I simply picked up a couple of different sized packs of paper plates and bowls from the supermarket. Layed out paints and an array of collage items and let the kids go at it.

Whilst they created we listened to a couple of audio stories and I read some of our introductory space themed picture books (I'll try to review those down the track).

After the paint and glue dried, we pushed a hole through what would become the top of the spaceship and threaded in a long piece of fishing line.

We decided the easiest and quickest way to attach the bottom was to staple the pieces together on the smaller ships and to sticky tape the odd shaped ones, like this one above here.

They look super groovy flying through our little universe in the corner of our room. Plus it has certainly sparked the kids curiosity, they've done nothing but talk space since we began!!

Blast Off - We're Heading Into Space

2011-08-17T16:35:00.002+10:00

We thought it was about time we got in our rockets and blasted our

way into outer space. We've got lots to read, things to watch and activities to do we

may never want to return back home.

Mr Q is helping us along our journey.

He's providing the guidebook, reminding us of things we need to

be on the lookout for on our travels.

This is what the kids awoke to the other morning. A myriad of books, space related items

and things to do. I hung a blank canvas for them to fill with all things 'spacey' as we travel

to various destinations throughout the universe.

A Week In Pictures

2011-08-15T21:17:00.000+10:00

Bedtime Stories, lots of them!

Grandma's Garage Kindy = Cousin Fun

Spanish Lesson

Martial Arts Class

For everyone

Finishing off Triorama's

Working on perspective sketches

Drama fun

Games with friends - Shopping List

Life Be In Fun Works, as always a huge variety of group based, co operative, sporty, fun activities.

Stilt walking

Tricky but fun

Off to Jazz class

And passing on some new moves

A spot of word work

Lots of time in the sunshine

Tending to the garden and admiring the recent blooms.

Feeling very proud because she grew these herself.

Early morning bike rides, to warm us on the inside as
well as the outside.

Loving learning to ride

Spelling games, Mathletics & Reading Eggs

Race car tracks in the mud

Spending time with friends before they ventured off on their road trip exploring inland Australia.

Giving the voices a workout.

Shape Puzzles and a spot of fishing

Training to be a bank teller ;-)

Beginning our adventure into Outer Space

I must admit my interest waned towards the of the week so the last couple of days didn't get a great deal of photo's.

I also just realised that I did not take one photo of any of our big kid reading this week, this is always a daily occurrence and more than once a day. During the week we experienced Audio stories such as Corduroy, The Enchanted Wood, Graphic Novels from Star Wars, books on Egypt, both fiction and non, fairy tales, random picture books from the shelf and books to help us venture into space.

There is also not really any photo's of seated school work. Rest assured, we did do some, I was just too busy during those times to worry about the camera.

I trust your week was as blessed as ours.

It really is wonderful to be a homeschooler.

Australian Themed Skip Counting In Two's Printables

2011-08-12T13:56:00.000+10:00

We are working on Skip Counting again in our house. 2's, 5's and 10's for now. This time around I decided to put together a few printable activities that I can laminate and use again and again.

This is one download which includes:

All Australian Themed-

Skip Counting in Two's to Twenty Chart
Four x Fill in the missing number charts
One sheet of number cards to twenty
Handwriting Practice for the skip counting numbers

Download this file from my folders on Box.net by clicking here.

Art Class - Triorama's, A Tutorial

2011-08-10T16:47:00.002+10:00

Our home school art group have a current focus on landscapes. This particular week they have worked on Triorama's. A trinagular diorama, aren't they just super cute.

B seems to have a thing for Sydney and in particular the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, he has used these icons in the past for art inspiration.

K, of course created the cutest the little fairy habitat, that I am sure any fairy would be willing to move into.

The kids have been working on various versions of Triorama's since they took this class. It is such a simple concept that they can complete independently from beginning to end. I guess that's why love it and the fact that it is such a flexible activity that will fit into any theme you choose.

I thought I'd show you how to make one. I bet your kids love them too. :-)

To begin you need a sheet of A3 Sketch Pad Paper, the heavier the better,

You need a square, so fold one corner over to the opposite edge, so you have a triangle on the top folded piece, as pictured above.

Cut off the excess rectangular piece that sits along the edge of the triangle.

Open it out and you have a square piece of paper, folded so it is showing two triangles.

You need to see four triangles so fold the large square corner to corner the other way,

So that when it opens you now can clearly see four triangles.

(please read right to the end before going any further with this)

Choose one of those folds (doesn't matter which one) and cut along it, stopping when you get to the centre.

When you have finished cutting, slide those triangles over each other, this will become the

base of the Triorama.

Those two triangles need to be glued together, to form the base. Use enough glue to hold them but not too much or the bottom will buckle. As you can see has happened in the Fairy Triorama above.

And that's it. Simple.

However be sure to stop prior to cutting and plan your Triorama's layout. You will need draw/colour/paint your background first. Once the background is complete you can then move ahead with the assembly of the triorama.

When creating the little 3D pieces, such as the Sydney Opera House or the Toadstool, leave a flap across the bottom of the piece when cutting it out. Fold that flap backwards and glue it to the triorama so that it 'pops' out.

Idea's for these are endless. Glue four back to back together to create a scence or a mobile. B thought he could continue with his Australiana theme. It could work well with seasons, one triorama for each, or anything you can come up with really.

Have fun!

Real Life Practical Life

2011-08-06T16:53:00.000+10:00

Blocked Drains = A Real Life Practical Life Lesson

Our very primitive set up - 1. Dirty Dishes 2. Wash Dishes 3. Holding Tray for clean dishes - Four hands hard at work!

Thankfully the plumber is here now so hopefully we can return to some level of normalcy soon.

Discussions Between Previously Home Schooled Young Adults

2011-08-04T08:09:00.000+10:00

Do you often wonder how previously home schooled teens/young adults feel about their experience?

Do you wish you could you be privvy to a candid conversation between a group of them?

I know I do!

The thoughts and opinions of those that have recently finished their schooling at home and are now out in the big wide world are important for me to hear. In fact I think they are important for all homeschooling parents to hear.

The majority of home schooling parents spend hours deliberating over their decisions to home school, even if they have been home schooling for some time.

Are we genuinely doing the right thing by our children? This one question, but one very important question, is one I feel we need to continually be asking ourselves.

Clearly for some children the answer is definitely no, even if the parents believe that they are doing the right thing.

So when a link to a conversation between a small group of homeschooled teens/young adults was shared at one my favourite places on the net to visit, I read with eagerness.

This post by a previously home schooled young adult tells her brief story of how she was home schooled until Year 11, even after years of begging her parents to let her go to school.

However you simply cannnot read the short introductory post alone, it is in the conversation in the comments that follow, where you really get some insight into how some of these people feel.

There are positive and negative comments from various posters, many of which were homeschooled, some of which weren't but seemed to have an interest. I must warn you there are a few crass remarks and some of the information might cut a little deeply, however I still feel quite strongly that this is the type of info we NEED to be reading.

Click here to read the discussion.

Printable Russian Nesting Dolls

2011-07-29T12:14:00.000+10:00

For a print, cut and colour activity these are really quite cool. K put them together (with Grandma's help) during a recent sleepover the kids had.

An easy way to get some math into an activity and the kids won't even realise. Just have them measure the strips needed for each little doll (a printable template is available also)

They nest in together quite nicely.

Printable Russian Nesting Dolls can be printed from Activity Village.

Saving Our Wildlife

2011-07-16T08:05:00.000+10:00

I had the opportunity to help save an Echnida a few days ago.

As I headed home from a spot of grocery shopping I noticed a lady on the side of the road with two quite large dogs.

Instantly I could see that she was distressed, she was waving her arms around madly, whilst still trying to hold onto both of her dogs.

For a moment I thought something was wrong with her until I realised she was strying to get the traffic to stop on her side of the road.

I glanced down and saw a small waddling ball of ultra dark brown spines moving across the road.

An Echidna!

How could I not stop and help.

He obviously came from the bush that you can see on the far side of the road. There's quite a large area of busland there, which is just a km or two from our home.

Thankfully I had on my ultra thick soled shoes, I certainly wasn't touching the little guy and managed to prod him along and get him off the road.

For a moment the woman that had stopped before me and I looked at each other, with that, "Now What?" look in our eyes.

He was burrowing his little might out to try and get into the ground and boy do they have a grip when they want to.

I was kinda on my own here, if the lady with the dogs let them go even for one second they were having that little echidna for lunch. Although I seriously think it would have been the dogs that would of came off second best.

The only thing I had in my car was a picnic mat, it's not a rug, it is a large woven piece of recycled plastic, a great picnic mat, but not trusted to pick up a very spiny echidna that's for sure.

I tried to prod him and move him onto the mat but he wasn't budging.

In the end we chose to phone the vet, that was about 2 km away and they came to the rescue. He didn't go with out a fight though and it took them a good while to pry him away from his little spot on the ground.

One quick smile for the camera (not a great photo I only had my phone). The vet assured us that they would call a local wildlife carer to have him checked out and looked after ready for release.

I thought I'd include a nicer image just to show what the little guy did look like, except he was considerably darker.

My last encounter with an echidna was on our honeymoon, in Maleny. My husband and I watched mesmerised as one waddled across the road in front of us. Thankfully Maleny is all bush so that one found his own way to safety quite quickly.

The only disappointment, the one day I didn't have the kids with me. They were very upset about it.

Workshops Rail Museum - Build It

2011-07-14T11:50:00.003+10:00

Yesterday we took a trip to the Ipswich Rail Museum, it's roughly 45 minutes from home, but is a great place to visit, especially if you have train loving kids in your house.

The children participated in a Crane Construction Workshop for a part of the visit.

They learnt about cranes, their function and the various types of cranes, via a series of slides and a presentation.

Then they proceeded to construct their own crane and work/play with its' various functions. Discussing what they were taught during the presentation.

Whilst the Bulid It Exhibition is on there are several activity stations placed around the museum all revolving around construction of some kind or another.

I don't think we got the opportunity to see even half of the hands on activities they had available.

Never the less, everyone had a fabulous time. During the week you are virturally the only ones there so definitely a great place to go for a day out.

Over the back of the museum they have a children's play area, with roads, a train track, bikes and trikes, large builidng blocks and trucks and trains to play in.

However, I warn you, it may be bery difficult to get your children to leave, I'm just sayin!

This post is linked to the Field Trip Blog Hop

Sunday Shout Out - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

2011-07-10T16:50:00.000+10:00

I recently stumbled on to Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's Blog. I'm not sure how I found it, I think maybe from Educating April.

She shares lots of fun things on her blog, ideas, reviews and plenty of printables too.

Just today she shared this really neat way to help kids with their spacing when learning to write.

Are your kids into the Berenstain Bears? Then make sure you have a look at her Year of Learning Lessons with the Berenstain Bears.

See I told you there was plenty to check out! Jump or should I say click on over there and have a look around. Don't forget to say hello :o)

Way Back When: Ancient Mesopotamia - The Sumerians

2011-07-08T18:50:00.003+10:00

During our study of Ancient Mesopotamia we built Lego Ziggurats.

We are using Pandia Press History Odyssey Ancients to guide us along on our journey. At this stage we are still with the free preview before we jump in and make a purchase. It certainly does make putting together a history unit easy, with lists of activities, supplemental books and mapping.

History Odyssey utilises The Story of the World as its' spine.

We also browse through the Kingfisher History Encylopedia for some facts and great pictorials.

We've mapped The Fertile Crescent, Sumer, The Mediterrean Sea. The Tigris, Euphrates and the Nile Rivers and spent time looking at modern maps of this area as it is today.

Evan Moors History Pockets are suggested as a go along for History Odyssey. These do offer hands on activities but are a lot of colouring, cutting and pasting. We are leaning towards labelling these as busy work here in our homeschool, but will give them a go for at least the next couple of units before making our final judgement on them.

The children quite enjoyed this activity, which showed that the Mesopotamians were the first people to use sailboats. Here they have cut a slot in the Tigris River and attached a popsicle stick on the back of their sail boat, so they can 'sail' it down the river.

We notebooked the definition for Cuneiform.

And read this Tale from Ancient Sumer - The City of Rainbows. This is a lengthy picture book, filled with names of times past and often the story was lost just trying to keep up with the names.

Another hands on activity, creating replica mosaics as used in story, The City of Rainbows. These Sumerians were supposed to be puppets but we chose to include them in the mosiacs. Both children really enjoyed this and spent a great deal of time getting their pices 'just so'.

If you are studying Ancient Egypt and the surrounding areas this is a great book with lots of ideas for various hands on crafty activities.

For Ancient Sumer, we chose the activity to build a model Ziggurat. In this picture the layer of paper mache is drying in the fresh air.

Pre-History, The Big Bang and Evolution

Charles Darwin, The Beagle, Galapagos Islands and Evolution

All History Related Posts

Please link up below your Secular Mesopotamia themed posts.

Do you teach Secular History in your Homeschool?

Please link up your Secular History Blog Posts here.We can begin to collectively share resources, activities and all of the fun we have studying history, with other secular homeschool bloggers.

This is a blog hop, so whilst it isn't compulsory feel free to grab the hop code (just below all of the links that have been added above) and place it into your Secular History Blog Post. By doing this all links added (including future links) will show in your post as well as here.

You just need to be sure you are linking up to the appropriately themed link list:

For Ancient Mesopotamia themed posts click here.
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Bambino Academy: Using The Telephone

2011-07-05T12:40:00.000+10:00

~ C is 35 months ~

It wasn't that long ago that we needed to pretend role play in order for young children to learn how to use the telephone.

Playing with phones and talking on phones is something that C has loved doing since he was able to hold a phone. Now I highly doubt that the fact that he sees his dad on the phone alot would of had anything to do with, but I'm just saying you know!

In recent months he has been picking up the receiver and talking to it and wanting me to pretend with his old (broken) mobile phone that he loves dearly. Being the obliging mamma that I am, I decided to take this play up a notch, grabbed my mobile and called him.

C Upon answering the phone: "Yes mum, watch doin?"
Mum:"What do we say again when we answer the phone, remember it won't always be mummy here talking to you"
C: " Hello, C speaking"
And we proceeded to have a running commentary about the bird outside our window, amongst other discussions.

Well consequently we have done nothing all morning except chat on the phone to each other. He's rung dad, dad's rung him...wanted more. He rang Nan, no one home...wanted more, he rang his Aunty had a little chat.

Finally I was able to coax him outside to play some.

I can see us doing lots of more this over the coming weeks, mmmmmm best not teach him anyone's phone numbers just yet, oh to think of the phone bill!

Part 3 - Reflections As We Enter Our Fifth Year

2011-06-29T21:02:00.001+10:00

Just recently I had a bit of a light bulb moment, some might see it as daft of me to not have thought about this before and others might think it really daft that I’ve actually implemented it!!

You know what if it works for us, then it’s ok and there are times in ones’ life when it’s ok to be ok with ok!

I guess I need to back up a little. Having a toddler in the house is demanding, but in a please read to me, play cars with me, pick me up and kiss and cuddle me, demanding sort of way. It is definitely a juggling act when you have spelling lessons, time to read one on one, phonics instruction and a whole list of other stuff to get to with two school aged children, without leaving the toddler to simply run wild.

I’d be telling false truths though, if I said that we have never had those days, because we have certainly had our fair share of them.

We tried for quite some time with Montessori inspired activities but these either ended up all over the floor everywhere or unless I sat with him for every second of his activity he was simply not happy. So in essence I was spending a good portion of my time preparing, so called, independent activities for the toddler, when they were actually making more work for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Montessori philosophy and I do intend on trying again, now that we are very close to having a 3 year old in the house. I’ll keep you updated on how that goes.

That left us being back to, ‘what to do with the toddler’ so I could at least spend some time with the other children.

For awhile they all lined up on the kitchen bench. I’d go from child to child to child, with each spare moment I would be cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry or baking something...what a circus that was.

We’ve also had the tag team schooling, one kid plays with said toddler, whilst I spend time with the other and then they switch. Which often worked out pretty well, until said toddler became upset for whatever reason and wants no one but mummy!!

A couple of months ago, it dawned on me....why, why, why where we not taking advantage of the times when daddy was home.

That was when we threw Monday – Friday schooling out the door.

We overcame the need to stick to school terms about a year or so ago. Not having set ‘school holidays’ is very freeing and opens up a whole new dimension to our year. We don’t attend a school, have no intention on attending a school, why on earth do we see the need to schedule our lives around school terms and school holidays?

Now if we have a busy social week it doesn’t matter, we are always learning, never needing to worry about having to ‘catch up’ before school holidays are upon us. We simply continue where we left off. We don’t have the worry of whether we need revision because we have taken too long a break either.

I guess it was only a matter of time before I came to the realisation that we could also ‘do school’ on the weekends. So now that is what we do. Not every weekend though, we’re pretty relaxed with it and if we have family things going on then that’s fine we let it go. However if we are home we take the opportunity.

It works out fabulously for the toddler, he gets loads of totally fun one on one daddy time!

For us this is a season and I know it will be only a short time before we have no need to do this. However the happiness of the kids and my sanity is way more important than trying to get our school work done if the toddler simply doesn’t want us too.

Part 1 of this Reflections Series
Part 2 of this Reflections Series

Part 2 - Reflections As We Enter Our Fifth Year

2011-06-23T16:15:00.000+10:00

As we enter our fifth year of home schooling I am beginning to see clearly just how ingrained the ‘school mode’ is in all of us, well especially me. I thought I was doing a pretty good job with leaving school notions behind, why we’ve become so much more relaxed over the years. Often at times verging on the, oh my gosh, dare I say it, ‘unschooling’ mode of home education.

That’s not to say that I have felt my share of angst during those periods because my golly I have. It is though, always my children that show me time and time again that they are learning, regardless of whether we sit at a desk with an open book or we simply live life to the fullest. Living and learning and growing as it should be, not confined to a square room, sitting at desk for the best part of the day, being told what to do by a teacher who is told what to do by someone else, whether that be the right thing for the children or not.

However I have come to realise that complete letting go, total immersion in an unschooling life is not for us, any of us really. The kids do so much better when we have some kind of routine and structure to our day/week in place. So do I if truth be told, without some structure there are days that I simply forget I have children that I am supposed to be educating and just go about doing the things that I need or want to do.

Plus, low and behold I have found out that I am book/curriculum junkie, love searching for stuff and love finding things that work, really work for the kids.

So whilst we are very relaxed with how we ‘should’ be learning these days we do still use a good deal of structured curriculum. I do not allow us to become tied to it though. I always disregard the number of lessons and simply work at our own pace. I am not bothered by having to work out how many lessons of Math we will need to complete each week to ensure we finish by the end of the year.

My children move on to in their programs, when they are ready, if that is well before the year ends then so be it, if it is well after the year is over then that’s totally fine too. This also allows us to follow rabbit trails or even still, if we are ever a little bored with one of our programs we can simply do something else for a while. Because you know I will definitely have something here on my shelves to cover what is needed to be covered ;-)

Part 1 of the this can be found here.

Reflections As We Enter Our Fifth Year.

2011-06-21T20:07:00.000+10:00

This time five years ago I pulled DS from school (mid way through his prep year). A school that boasted about having enrolled children living up to 30 minutes driving distance away. We ourselves drove over 15 minutes one way just to be there every day.

A small school, just 130 students, where the principal knew everyone’s name and if he didn’t he made it his business to learn. A well established school and one I grew up hearing about regularly. A good school, but really what does constitute a good school?

I think the answers here will be different for most everybody. All parents want their best for their children, regardless of where they receive their education. So I don’t think I’ll even begin on that topic. I’m not about to be harsh on the schooling system, it serves a need that is for certain.

All I will say is that the system didn’t really deliver for us. Granted we only gave it a short 6 months and many would say that probably wasn’t long enough. For me it was too long! I also think that the reasons I decided to pull DS from school probably seem very petty and insignificant to others.

Once again, for me though, I could quickly see things spiralling out of control. What begins with a few simple issues can quickly snowball as the years move on. This is a story I have heard again and again from families that have pulled children from the middle to upper grades of school.

There was the odd small issue in the early years, but nothing too challenging. However year in and year out the small issues were somehow no longer that small.

We too had the odd few small issues in that six months of school that we experienced. Two bumps on the head, with large lumps that no one either knew about or chose not to tell me about. Unruly children, where I was completely and utterly amazed at their behaviour and this was rubbing off on our quiet placid little boy. A school principal that thought he was shepherding sheep, not children. The final straw, being told that parent classroom helpers were not wanted that year!

So call it mother’s intuition if you will but that was exactly it for me. I knew that things would only go downhill at school, not up.

And so our journey began.

I had originally planned just one post on reflections, but now that I have filled a couple of pages on Word writing it all out I thought it best to cover my reflections in a few posts, so part two will follow soon.

Life Be In It Funworks

2011-06-18T18:00:00.003+10:00

Over the past six weeks the kids have been participating in weekly Funworks activities wth the Logan Home Schoolers group.

Initially I was somewhat dubious about this program, we've done our fair share of "kids fun sports" and none of them have been overly brilliant.

This time however, things were different, I guess the fact that both B and K are considerably older now, probably had a part to play. But this experience has been fabulous for them.

So much so in fact that we begged to organise another block in Term 3.

The coach is amazing with the children, firm, but fun. Just what a group of rambunctious children need!

The fun was so varied, with each week being different to the one prior.

They experienced many traditional games, like Tug o War, Tunnel Ball and Sack Races.

This gigantic ball had everyone giggling with delight.

How on earth are we going to hold that up, is what's surely going through their heads.

Oh well, let's just roll it all over our bodies then, for full sensory experience.

These four person walking planks were definitely an experience, to say the least. Most of the children need lots more practice at this one, walking together, working as a team and taking directions. But still they enjoyed it and always had smiles on their faces. A great way to really get to know your peers.

What about a spot of Egg Throwing and Catching. After they were shown the correct technique for
safely catching a raw egg, they were set to it. Starting fairly close to each other at first,

With each correctly caught egg, in otherwords, an egg still intact,

the opponents took a few steps apart and tried again.

Oh well I guess you couldn't keep throwing it forever!

They really are laughing here, don't be too concerned.

Balancing batons or twirling sticks took a great deal more

concentration than one would think.

There was so much going on each week, I certainly didn't cover everything with my snapshots. We are all excited to be returning to Funworks fun in a few weeks time.

I Do Love You

2011-06-17T14:40:00.000+10:00

My dear dear blog

I hope you know that

I do love you so

Often when life gets a littled harried

There are certain things that need to go

But just like an old friend

That you may rarely ever see

I do love you my dear blog

I sure hope you know

Art Class: Still Life Flowers and Fruit

2011-05-25T09:34:00.000+10:00

Art Class has had a bit of a still life theme happening over the past couple of weeks.

K's Vase of Flowers

B's Vase of Flowers

K's Fruit Bowl

Yay, I'm Here!!

2011-05-23T16:13:00.000+10:00

Ok thank goodness, I was getting worrids. Blogger went down a week or so ago and I haven't been able to access my blog since then. But here I am and all seems to be fine. Yay!

Now time to get back to some regular updates around here :-)

Bambino Academy - Flower Window Clings

2011-05-11T07:27:00.000+10:00

: : : Simple Ideas For Your Bambino : : :

~ C is 33 Months ~

We actually made these for Mother's Day, but got to enjoy them hanging in our window for a day. They looked so pretty, we all had to think twice about giving them away.

The kids are now eagerly anticipating a fresh batch of flowers in the garden so they can do this again. Although the pickings will be slim, since we are coming into winter here.

This is really just another take on the simple clear contact window sun catcher.

I drew a flower shape free hand and cut out the centre, using a bowl for a guide.

I then cut 2 pieces of clear sticky back contact slightly larger than the inside circle.

We spent 30 or so minutes out in the garden (which really is half the fun) gathering the supplies.

C and K worked independently on this one and I simply applied the top layer of clear contact once they had finished. Oh and I also attached the ribbon so they could easily be hung.

In all honesty the photo doesn't do them justice, they really looked great on the window and will be a fabulous spring time craft to do when the garden is flourishing.

This post is linked at ABC and 123 Show and Tell