Highlights From The Week

~ B is 8 years ~

~ K is 5 years ~

~ Cbub is 15 months ~

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Cbub has had a full on practical life week. He's been a cleaning freak! Every single time I had something out, whether it was the vacuum, mop, duster, broom he wanted to use it. He actually did a pretty good job with a few things. He's been fairly proficient with a cloth and wiping up spills for a while now.

He loved mummy's new Enjo cloth. He thought his blocks needed a bit of sprucing up.



B went over the Blue Series beginning blends from Montessori For Everyone.




He whipped up this dinosaur whilst we were waiting at Daddy's office the other day. He's kinda funky don't you think? I could see him in a children's picture book story.



Cbub with the broom this time. He knew exactly what to do and wasn't fussed at all that it was far too big for him. He actually preferred using it on the carpet where it was so much harder to push...go figure!


Cbub finished off this little under water sticker collage, with blue chalk for the water, whilst B and K completed their Ocean Lapbooks we started whilst on holidays. (post to come on that)



He also had his first water colour painting experience this week. The first couple of minutes all he wanted to do was lick the brush and paint his hand but he eventually got the hang of it and completed 2 masterpieces. He knew when he needed more paint on his brush and kept asking for more.


We had our monthly Art Gallery workshop with our Homeschool Network. The exhibition this time around was inspired by all things Tartan. B created the tartan look collage, the photo really doesn't do it justice, all of that shiny card is quite impressive looking.

This workshop didn't really interest K so she chose just to complete a colouring page. They always have simple activities out that are related in some way to the exhibition, for any of the children that choose not to do the workshop brief.


It was a very creative, hands on week as we also had our monthly Bunnings Workshop. This was, however a bit of a let down. It sounded exciting, making treasure boxes. So lots of hammering with nails. However the timner used was very very hard and well let's just say that they didn't go together quite so well. Chalk it up to experience!


At kindy K has been reading Big Rain Coming by Katrina Germein. The teacher left the book out for inspiration and the kids were given these cool sparkly Aboriginal Dot Painting Stickers to create their own pictures.




There's always lots of box construction brought home from kindy, this time it was a rabbit, complete with fluff!



CBub helped B (well tried to knock it down anyway) build this tower out of his large kindy blocks.


He is still completely enthralled by Lego and especially all of the little men. He really feels he's won a prize when he stumbles across some lying around. Can't you tell, just have a look at his face.


We are also completing an ongoing group project with our Homeschool Network. Paper Mache Bucket Heads. This is where they currently are at. I need to try and find some time for us to complete at least another layer this weekend as on Monday we are painting them.

Everyone is eager to see the finished pieces.



Oh look here's my little house maid just finishing off a spot of dusting. Isn't he the sweetest!


And of course B had his weekly Tennis Lesson, he is improving week after week with his skills.

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To see more weekly updates from others visit the following blogs:

Homeschool Highlight Reel: Work and Play Day By Day

Learning Through Love: My Family My Forever

Preschool Corner: Homeschool Creations

Tot School: 1+1+1=1

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Mosaic Garden Plaques

The kids had their regular monthly Bunnings Hardware Workshop during the week. This time it was Garden Plaque's and it fitted perfectly into our current Mosaic's Theme.

A pretty straight forward, although messy activity, but if you would like to try it out at home I've included quite a few snapshots below.

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Materials Needed

Mould
Plaster of Paris
Water
Mosaics (stones, rocks, shells, tiles)
Cloth (for spills)
Glove for mixing plaster

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Grab whatever you have chosen to use as a mould. In this case it was a drip tray for a pot plant (or at least I think that's what it was). If I redid this at home I would line the mould first with cling wrap, like I did with our Clay Star Mosaics.

Read the directions on your plaster pack and start adding the plaster and water to your mould.

Mix, mix, mix. Keep on mixing and adding plaster powder until you have the right consistency.

This is where you need to start working quickly. Remember to remind the kids about that part or they will be disappointed towards the end when they can no longer add bits and pieces to their plaque due to the plaster drying out.

You need to have it thick enough so that the mosaic pieces you have chosen will sit on top and not sink to the bottom (as would happen if there was stil too much liquid) but not too thick that the plaster is already starting to dry.

Smooth off the top of the plaster and start adding your mosaic pieces. If you want a design you really need to think about that first. It's a bit late to start planning some kind of design after you have mixed the plaster as you just won't have the time to do it.




Remember this is where you need to work quickly. Get those mosaic pieces in and pressed down so that they will well and truly stick as the plaster drys.

Then all you need to do is sit back and enjoy your masterpiece. Let it dry, at least overnight. We left ours for a couple of days.

You might like to use a damp cloth to clean up any excess plaster from around the edges of the mould.

Remove from the mould and place somewhere in your garden.

Let me know if you try this at home, I'd love to see some other variations.

Quick Update

Ok I know I haven't been here much of late, no real excuses, just busy with life. So anyway here are a few pics with just a bit of what we've been up to this past week or so.

We had an absolutley fabulous up close and personal experience with some reptiles. Brian from Crocodiles and Dragons brought his little brood along for us to enjoy.

With only 20 children there everyone got up very close and in most cases they all got to hold the reptiles as well. This was fantastic! One of the best wildlife experiences we've had yet.

This has to be one of the best upsides to homeschooling - small groups mean more hands on and way more fun! No looking from the back over the heads of 40 or so other children here, my kids were right in the middle of it.

With Bearded Dragons

And Shingle Back Lizards

To Blue Tongues (B7 looks really into it here)


But when he actually touches the lizard, he's not so sure.

And a lively Turtle,

To a huge Crocodile. We all knew he had a crocodile in that box but no one ever expected it to be so big. He wasn't overly happy that day so was only out for a short play....I'd say that was probably a good thing hehehe

And then there was this experience. I am still totally blown away that both B7 and K4 were up for this, they did great and both seemed to really enjoy the experience.

Mum on the other hand,

Well, let's just say that isn't quite a smile of joy. CBub, however was really quite intrigued, especially when the snake decided to slither and move right around the back of his neck.

Definitely a fantastic opportunity and one I am sure the kids will remember for a log time to come.

I hadn't planned on doing any extension activities after the presentation, but the kids were eager. So we have been putting together a simple lapbook (since mum had nothing organised) I grabbed everything I needed from Home School Share - thanks guys.


We also had our second Art Gallery Workshop and were lucky enough to have the artist with us again. This time we tried our hand at Paper Cutting Techniques, some of which were quite tricky. Everyone added a piece or two to the huge wall mural the Art Gallery was creating.

The kids also made these nifty little notepad holders at bunnings, they enjoyed that. Sanding, gluing, painting, hammering and this is what we ended up with.