Jocelyn's blog
Nov. 15, 2007
New Parliament House visit
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  Stephen and Zachary went on an excursion to New Parliament House today. It was for ages 8 and up so I stayed back with the younger ones. I didn't have my camera there so I am using photos available on the web. It's called New Parliament House because this building was only opened in 1988. Up until then an older, smaller building was used.  Here's a shot from the top of the front entrance, looking back toward Old Parliament House and in the distance, the War Memorial. I could go a little crazy with pictures as there's so many nice ones out there. I will rein myself in now and get back to the script... Here was the program for the morning: 10am: A role play of a parliamentary sitting. The boys said they had a mock debate on whether the use of rain tanks is beneficial. They had to divide into teams, work out their points and argue their case. Stephen was the Clerk for his side. 11am: A tour of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.  This is a photo of the House of Representatives. Parliaments isn't sitting at the moment as we have a Federal Election in 10 days' time. Apparently, the Senate, which is a red chamber, has the only "EXIT" signs in red in the world. I'm not sure if that referred to a public building or not but it was something they remembered! After a tour of both chambers, they walked down the corridors with paintings of Prime Ministers.  They told me about a PM who only had the job for 8 days, one who died of a heart attack while in office and another who was swept out to sea and never found again. Isn't it interesting which information they choose to retain??? 12 midday: Snacks provided by our local member. It was nice to know that they were shown this mark of hospitality. It was hosted by Gary Nairn, the member for Eden-Monaro, though he couldn't be there in person. It was great that the boys had this opportunity, especially given that our country is in election-mode right now. It was a good follow-up to the Electoral Commission trip too, as lately, we have been talking a lot more about elections and how our processes work. |
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Nov. 6, 2007
Electoral Commission Visit - 31 October
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We have a federal election coming up in a matter of weeks and so, it was great to go along to Old Parliament House with a group of friends and learn about our voting system. There was a short presentation on the history of voting in our country. In the 1890s, women were given the right to vote and not until 1967 was this right extended to the indigenous population. Mind you, when we got home that night and Andrew asked them what they had learned that day, Adam said, "Women can't vote." He obviously wasn't listening to that segment until the end... After this, we went into their activity centre. There, the children went to different work stations and found out more about the voting system. I'll include photos now (so sorry to those on the email feed). At this corner of the room, the "green" section, we learned about the electoral roll. If you knew the name of someone on the roll, you could look them up on the computer. The boys had fun doing this as the next couple of photos will show: The "red" room talked about voting procedures in elections and referendums. They had to listen to some audio on each segment. The "purple" section of the room gave scenarios for different voters and their circumstances and asked you if they could still vote in an election. For instance, Jack working as a jackaroo on a sheep station in the remote outback - can he still vote? Yes, he can send in a postal vote. Theresa working in Paris can go to the Australian Embassy and cast a pre-poll vote. In the "yellow section", they learned about the division of government into House of Representatives and the Senate and how the voting was counted. In the "blue" section, they looked at stages in the elections. After being moved along from this room, we went and staged out own election. We had polling assistants, a ballot paper, used the same screened booths that voters use on election day and put the ballot papers into a box that was heavily guarded. Here's the photos: What were we voting on? Which fruit we liked the best of the four choices given - Apple, Peach, Orange and Banana. Votes were tallied with eager scrutineers watching the counting and then the preferences were worked out on a whiteboard. Banana won the day! We had some of the families back for a quick lunch and then my boys finished off their activity sheets from earlier. Yes, I'm a "mean" mamma! |
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Oct. 22, 2007
Turkey Hill Treasure Hunt ~ 19 October
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This is a strange name for an activity down at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Turkeys are hardly native to Australia and what's this about a treasure hunt? One of the ladies organised a great walk and "explore" time at the reserve. I had to look after the younger two at the playground nearby so I sent Stevie, armed with the camera, to take the photos. Here's a general shot taken of the region. Can you tell they were walking down hill at the time? "Turkey Hill" was thus named as a family "imported" these birds into the region. The turkeys were found roaming on this hill and so the local people called it, "Turkey Hill". The area also had some round rocks of granite. Softer rock had been weathered away, leaving these formations. Here's a photo: Some of the "treasure" they had to find was the evidence that animals lived in the region. Stevie could remember five animals - rabbit, emu, fox, kangaroo and wombat. Both Zac and Steve remembered that the Brush Tail Rock Wallaby is part of a special recovery program in the valley. How did they know these animals had been there? Either by their tracks or their "poo". Being a diligent photographer, Stevie furnished me with several photos of animal poo but I will include only one: Other things were "planted" along the way to test the group's ability to track animals. A fake snake was a good decoy: but the best "plant" was the lollipops that everyone received for taking part. Poor Stevie, he's all "tuckered out"!!! It was a hot day, even if he did stage this next photo! Of course, after a good refuelling at lunch, a few of them had the energy for a soccer game! |
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Oct. 18, 2007
The Mighty Electron
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Today, Stephen & Zachary went to a workshop on "the Mighty Electron". A retired scientist, Peter Schmedding, conducts tutorial/workshops in his home for small groups. Peter had an engaging and interactive style. He posed questions, got the children to perform roles in demonstrations and conducted a few demonstrations himself. Two things stuck with me (being one who does not have a scientific mind). He spoke of the importance of having an idea; a thought about how to do something better. He also mentioned that we learn more from wrong answers than right ones. One of his demonstrations was looking at some of the trials Thomas Edison would have gone through to invent the light bulb. He trialled different thicknesses of wire and different lengths. Always saying, "The shorter the distance, the stronger the current." If you look closely near his hand, you will see the wire glowing. (Low voltage, high current) He also tested this theory with the children. They all held hands in a circle and ran an electrical current through them. He did it at low voltage and then increased it. Zac held on with one other child until the end. By that point, he had increased it to 56 volts and their hands were trembling as they held on...Peter said Zac had earned a "Certificate of Execution". He'll send that one out soon... In one of the other demonstrations, Peter measured the human reaction times of the children against the electronic reactions of a machine. Stephen caught the pole when the electromagnetic hold was released but only after it had dropped about 20cm. Zac tried to catch it but got startled every time the machine disengaged its magnetic hold. They were given an information sheet to take home, encouraged to write in and give feedback and given a web address so they could look at more details at a later time. You might like to look as well: www.apex.net.au/~pet/ |
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Sep. 30, 2007
Caving Day - 28 September
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When the information for this excursion first came out, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I don't see myself going caving somehow. Dark, small spaces and two children who are too young to go - think I'll give this one a miss!" That night, I talked to Andrew about it and he said, "I'll take the older two caving - they'd enjoy it." I think he meant they'd all enjoy it as this sort of thing is right up Andrew's alley... Here's a photo of Andrew, Stevie and Zac - all ready to go: The group heads up the hill to the mouth of the cave: Andrew took a photo from the top. What a great view! Then, the fun began as they started the descent: The boys got a chance to clamber around and go into some unusual spots. If you look at the walls of the cave around them (in the photo below), it looks quite red in patches. Apparently, they were told that deposits of iron form those red streaks in the rock. In some caves, that are rarely accessed by visitors, whole sections can look like a lady's shawl, with folded drapery. Here's the boys in a high spot: Then, they went into some places where they had slither through on their bellies: Go Andrew!! Here comes Stevie: And poor Zac...as one of the smallest, he had to go into the room first and squash right up to the back of the cave, waiting for everyone else to go in after him. It took a while as 16 out of the 20 involved made it in! Some claimed claustrophobia and others obviously claimed photographic duties for not being able to go in... The boys also learned about stalactites and stalagmites. I always get them mixed up.... We had heard about them recently on a Jonathan Park audio CD so it was a good for them to see them in person. Andrew led the quiz time at the dinner table that night and made sure they could tell me which ones were which. They mentioned that stalactites form when water, carrying limestone deposits, build up on the roof. As the water seeps down, the stalactites form. Stalagmites come up from the ground because of the water drops coming from the stalactites. Eventually, they can join up, as is shown in the following photo. They brought home a sheet with examples from all around the world of stalactites and stalagmites forming over short periods of time. It was fascinating reading! They look a little worn out from the morning's fun, don't they? After this, there was a combined lunch as one group went caving in the morning and one group in the afternoon. It was so great that they could have a morning out together, learn so much about caves and how they form and have fun doing it! |
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Sep. 13, 2007
Mapping Morning
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On Monday morning, we had a change of routine. We went to some shops in the area, were given a "blank" map, with the outline of the streets, and had to fill in the street names, come up with symbols for the shops, bus stops, churches, playgrounds, traffic lights, sporting ovals and so on. Here's a couple of photos en route: It was a bit like being on an orienteering field trip as we had to look for clues and fill in the blank sections. Thankfully, we were advised to bring some coloured pencils and a clip board!! The boys enjoyed filling in the "puzzle", getting outdoors, going for a walk and spending time with others. Thanks for a nice morning! Anya, you'll have to get a few more photos next time!!! (I left my camera at home so was relying on one of the other mums....) |
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Sep. 3, 2007
Sports Days - Mondays afternoons
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Every Monday afternoon, from about 3-4pm, we join with other homeschooling families to have a sports time. Last term, it was run on Wednesday afternoons and it was good to get out over the cold winter months! Each week, the boys go into their classes and spend a few weeks learning some skills and then playing a sport before moving on to the next one. I'll show you what I mean: Adam's class (the 5,6 and 7 year olds) was practicing for Netball. They have been doing Netball for a couple of weeks now. They had some catching exercises to do when I took this photo. Later on, after the skills component was done, they broke up into teams and had a game. Stephen and Zac are in the 8, 9 and 10 year old class. They had to practice moving the ball around the edge of the racket for Tennis. Later on, they divided into pairs and played a game. They don't always team up with each other but did on this occasion: You'll also see them in the background on the next photos of Mark's class. Yes, they have a class for the young ones. Mark is with the 3 and 4 year olds! Standing and waiting on a line is a skill to be mastered at this age.... okay...so are we skipping through them or rolling them??? I got back to Adam and he'd just finished his Netball game. Looks like they had a good time! Next week the line up will be Athletics for Adam, Floorball for Steve & Zac and more paying attention skills required for Mark...as well as the ball games... |
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Aug. 29, 2007
Lunar Eclipse
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Last night, there was a Lunar Eclipse and it actually happened to be at a good time of night! Stephen was the most excited as he has always enjoyed astronomy and regularly follows the phases of the moon. He had to remind Zac that the eclipse meant the earth would be in the way of the path between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow onto the surface of the moon. I don't think Adam at 6 was fully aware of the fact that the moon didn't produce its own light! It can really glow with that reflected light from the sun. We certainly had a good chat about it before the eclipse started. Shortly after 7pm, we noticed that the full moon was being eclipsed. The boys kept peering through the windows and finally, just standing outside. I was getting ready to walk out the door too because we were going to watch the rest of it with friends. After all, why not have a party and do it together? ...especially with flashes going off all the time... We did get a great view in the end, though we weren't able to capture it on camera. I have kindly been given permission to use this photo from a homeschool dad:  Photo taken by Paul Perry ( www.aureola.com.au ) There was nothing left to do but cap off the evening with some yummy desserts. It's okay, you can wake up now, Mark. |
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Aug. 20, 2007
Big Things in Store!
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That was the name on the advertisement for the Australian War Memorial's Open Day. The Open Day was not at their site in Campbell but for their huge Annex in Mitchell. Thankfully Kim (who was telling us all about this opportunity) remembered the location at the last minute so we didn't go on a goose chase all over town.... So, what were the big things in store? Boys toys, of course - guns, artillery, tanks, bombs, a V2 rocket, planes, jeeps and even the bridge of a ship! My boys were disappointed that they couldn't go inside or onto any of the things on display as that would have made the day complete. It was still interesting to look at and if you were fortunate enough to be next to My Kirky, you would have learned a lot about the history and uses of some of the weapons/items on display. Some men just have an encyclopedic knowledge about all things to do with warfare - why is that? Here's some photos of the trip: No, they did have a good time and the party of homeschoolers there made it more enjoyable. So, if you are near Canberra when they do one of these Open Days again, bring your boys (young and old) as they will find it interesting. Best of all, we are listening to Jonathan Park audio adventures put out by Vision Forum and we got to listen to one on the way there and one on the way home. Who said you couldn't learn anything on Saturdays?  |
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Aug. 16, 2007
Australian Science Festival
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On Wednesday, we went off to some ASF events with a group of homeschooling friends. This festival is run every year in Science Week. There's usually displays and products for sale and also some interesting workshops. This year, we went to one called "Watch Out: Cotton and Custard Can Go Bang!" When it started, I think all the mothers were thinking, "This is great! They are learning some fun science!" I'm sure the kids were thinking it was pretty good too. As time went on and we were being told how many household chemicals could be used to blow things up, the mums weren't thinking how great it was anymore and the children were probably thinking it was even cooler... After that session, we had a morning tea break before going to "Powerful Plants". This one was "hands on", so I helped Adam with all the activity stations. We were the only ones booked in for the class so it was nice not to have a huge crowd of school children! On this station, we were looking at how electricity pulls molecules from one place to another. We were using colour dyes rather than DNA. At the next activity, we has to work out how quickly chloroplasts stream around in a cell. That one was Adam's favourite. He got to measure something, time something and work it out mathematically. I had to get him to work out how many 12s go into 80. He stopped and thought for a few seconds and said, "7?" Close!! I told him that would be 84 so to try again. He then said "Well, 6 times would be 72." Then we went on with the rest of the problem solving for distance, speed and time. After that, we had a lunch break and looked around in the main hall. There was a display by the Australian Army. They were getting the children to try on all of the Army gear and then go on a treadmill, try and run with all of it on, see how much energy they used and got their heart rate checked. Phew!!! Here's some photos from that: We also went to a talk about Parasites which was gross but done in an entertaining way. At the end of the day, it was too hard to think of doing anything else... The Science Festival runs until August 27. |
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Jul. 20, 2007
The three "S"es - Snow, Soccer and Scrapping
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Well, it has been a big week for us. Andrew took the oldest three to the snow on Tuesday to have a fun day with some friends. He set his alarm clock the night before and muttered, "It's inhumane!" I looked at him and said, "What?" He finished fixing the time and said, " 5 - anything...". Yes , my boys were up at 5.30am and headed out to the snow by 6. Then our friend, who was already up at the snow, phoned at 8am. She said, "Tell Andrew not to come, it's a blizzard up here!" Well, it was a little late as they were almost there. They hired some sleds and still had some fun whoosing down the hills. They just stayed close to the lodge and went inside when they needed to. Well, the parents did. The kids still went outside and played around making snowballs. They did have some sun as the day went on. Travelling past Thredbo Alpine Village, they found a nice sheltered area and got out and had a play in the snow. They came home late, tired but thoroughly enjoying their time away. Two days later, Steve & Zac were booked in for a Paul Wade soccer clinic from 9am - 3pm. It was a long day for them but a great opportunity to practice their soccer skills and have some training tips from a former Socceroos captain and his team. Then on Friday, we had our usual time of scrapping at the Luptons. Though I was the only one this week who was officially "scrappin' ". The others were working on knitting - even Donna as she had become chair bound with a swollen, twisted ankle. Apart from that, it was a great week with plenty to do (and a few birthday parties thrown in that I haven't talked about...) |
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Jul. 6, 2007
Bowling anyone?
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We went bowling with a large group of homeschoolers to have an end of term fun time. Adam gets animated about something... We took over the whole bowling rink and even the little ones had a go. They had a special ramp so they could roll the ball down. Mark really enjoyed this (most of the time). I'll just put a few photos in because after all, bowling is bowling and the fun is in the action.
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Jun. 21, 2007
Oh, Uganda! May God uphold thee....Pearl in Africa's crown.
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That's the first and last line of the national anthem for Uganda. We had a homeschooling Geography Night at the start of June. Several families came, brought lots of lovely food in the tradition of the country of their choice and we had a feast! Then, we had twenty short presentations on these countries. We chose Uganda as Andrew's parents have gone there on mission work 6 times in the last 9 years. They have just gone back there again for 6 months. Anyway, we had books made up from a previous occasion, showing pictures and talking about life in Uganda. We also had bowls, wooden carvings, utensils, children's books and little stool to show:
I was telling a teacher at church about this event and he asked us to come to his class and do the presentation again. They had been studying Africa this term so it would fit in nicely.
His class had been working away on this giant map of Africa!
It was a wonderful opportunity for the boys to stand up in front of another crowd and give a more polished presentation. |
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Jun. 17, 2007
Canberra Youth Music Performance - 16 June
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A few people we know are involved with Canberra Youth Music. Donna told us about some of the performances coming up and the Saturday night one worked the best for us. It was held at the Canberra Girls Grammar School and we had no trouble finding it as we almost seemed to follow another car from our door to the auditorium! The first piece was the 1812 overture, played by the Wind Symphony and was our top pick for the night. This is one of Stephen's favourites - he likes to have it playing at home. Both Stephen and Zachary were amazed at the speed of the performance near the end of the piece! We got good seats, only a few rows from the front. I had Andrew's work camera as it has a better zoom on it. Problem is, I hadn't played with it very much before and wasn't sure what settings to use. While we were waiting for the stage to be set up for various performances, I mucked around a little bit. By the time we got to the Mozart Concertone in C, it was nearing 9pm and Zac was nestling into my shoulder. Poor child was drowsy in his warm coat, sitting still and listening to soft, lilting music. He did not go to sleep but got pretty close! In this movement, there was a cello soloist. He had a cute way of stopping his cello from marking the floor. It was only later at the interval that I realized that the double bass players shared the same technique: At the interval, I got close to the stage and took the above picture as well as this one below: I wish I could have stayed there to get the choir as they assembled but couldn't. All my shots didn't come out right so I asked our homeschooling choralists to pose after the performance. Dylan started "hamming it up" for the camera but alas, my battery had gone flat! I did too many practice shots earlier of vacant seats on the stage! Their piece, "Dona Nobis Pacem" was interesting orchestrally but the choir had too many instruments to compete against. They will be singing this in the Sydney Opera House with other choirs at the end of the month. I'm sure it will sound great. We enjoyed our night out, though Zac was yawning the whole way home... |
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Jun. 14, 2007
A morning surprise - 13 June
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At about 8.30am, we were busily stoking the fire, getting morning jobs finished off and starting to think about our day. All of a sudden, we heard a loud "Tssshhhh!!!!" sound. Then it happened again. We looked out of the window and it looked like a hot air balloon was going to land on our house! In excitement, the kids asked, "Can we go outside and watch?" on the other side of the street before heading back up into the sky. As soon as I agreed, they got ready and were out of the door in a flash. We followed the balloon for a while as it bobbed up and down, looking for a place to land. We weren't the only ones following the balloon: After walking a few blocks, it became clear the balloon was going to keep bobbing around until it could get past the suburbs and closer to Tuggeranong. Once it crossed the road, we waved goodbye and head for home. The sun chose that moment to go behind a cloud. It was 9am, about 3 degrees above zero and all of a sudden, we were feeling C-O-L-D! We had a ten minute walk back to the house and Mark found it tough going. We enjoyed that well-stoked fire when we got back, as well as our morning excursion. |
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Jun. 4, 2007
Visit to the Japanese Embassy ~ 31 May
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We went on a trip to the Embassy with a group of homeschoolers on Thursday. Are we studying Japan? Well, no, not really. It was an opportunity to go to the Embassy as it's not open to visitors very often. Sometimes, just taking advantage of an opportunity can lead to further learning. In everyday life, you can be exposed to new ideas and concepts out of your immediate context. One of the things we didn't realise is that most of Japan's population live on only 30% of their land. It's a little like Australia that way, but the middle of their country is quite different. We plan to look at Japan a bit more this week to build on what we already know. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any photos inside the building for security purposes. They had an interesting display of weapons and the dress of a Samurai. They also had a kimono, part of a traditional housing interior and examples of the food. Outside, we were allowed to take photos in one section of the gardens. I'll put those couple of photos in now. To make up for this, I had a look on the internet and found some really nice photos of Japanese Gardens.  The stone lantern is a key feature in Japanese designs. Water is used to give a relaxing/serene effect.I couldn't get a photo of the Zen garden as it was near the ambassador's residence. For security reasons, we couldn't photograph his house. I found this photo online which resembles what it was like:  The large rocks are meant to stand for continents or land and the smaller pebbles/sand represent the sea. That's why they are raked to look like they are rippling. A Zen garden is meant to be a meditation garden where one empties one's mind to find inner peace and harmony. As Christians, we don't hold to that philosophy but it was interesting to discuss this later on. |
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Apr. 24, 2007
Bywong Mining Town - 19 April
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When Gold Fever struck, it didn't matter where it was, everyone came to get their share of the wealth. It might have started in 1849 in California and here, it was not long after (1851). The goldfields in Victoria probably had the highest recognition. After all, that's where the Eureka Stockade happened, the Southern Cross flag was born and the seeds of later reform were sown. Well, not far from us, there was a little gold mining community. It sprang up quite late (in the 1890s) and wasn't a rich area for gold. Nevertheless, many stayed and tried to eek out a living. Much of the town has been preserved and we were able to go out and see what it was like.  This is Pop Shepherd's Cottage and is one of the best dwellings. It had been extended from the old mining hut and was lived in until 1942.  Going into this cottage was a step back in time. This chest of drawers was made from old kerosene boxes and tin cans. Yes, it still smelt a little...  Looking in the old meat safe.  One of the items that was well preserved is this one, called a "Whim". I can't remember what it stands for, so I'll have to ask the others! Anyway, a horse would be led into the metal frame there and at the top of the wooden barrel is a pulley. To the other side of this photo is a mine. The rope goes down, into the mine and pulls up a bucket filled with quartz. Using a horse to help pull all of this up would have made the job a little easier but it still looks like it would have been hard work.  Here's the bucket being pulled up to the top of the mine.  and some "horses" on the job... After this, it was time to go and pan for gold. We were all given some quartz that had been crushed into small stones.  We now had to turn it into a fine powder and then pan for the traces of gold and other precious minerals.  After this, we went and looked at the stamping mill. This was used by children to crush up rocks and isolate the gold. All the children had a turn at operating this.  Zac operating the battery stamp We were shown how some of the miners would make their houses, from a mud-like mixture. Once one miner was finished with the formwork, it would be given to another miner to use.  Adam packs down the shovel load. The government decided to put in a well to help out the community as the nearest creek was 3 miles away in one direction. They used Chinese labour for the construction. Chinese diggings were always done in a circular fashion. Being superstitious, they didn't want bad spirits to be left lurking in the corners.  This is only one of two surviving Chinese wells in Australia from the gold mining era. The last activity was going to the blacksmith shop, seeing how the forge operates and having a turn at the bellows.  The metal bent easily. There was so much to take photos of and to observe from life at this time. I'll put in just few of these photos:     |
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Mar. 26, 2007
Botanic Gardens Art Class
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We were the last minute ring-ins for the Art Class at the Botanic Gardens today. Janette had several people cancel and asked if we wanted to come. So, we gathered the art pencils, sketch pads, water bottles, morning tea and lunch things and headed out the door to make the 9.45am start. Feeling tired already? I was... We waited until 10am for everyone to arrive and in that time, Mark managed to get himself wet from the waist down. Yes, I remembered the change of clothes for him and so pulled out a pair of shorts but he had to keep the wet socks and the shoes. When we walked after that it was squelch, squelch, squelch... We found a nice secluded spot in the Gardens and sat down to work on some scenes. Thankfully Nat remembered her camera so I shot a few photos. I also knew I'd have to supervise Mark more closely so I snapped a photo of a tree so I can draw it later. Stephen and Lachlan decide on their subject. We did have a pleasant morning and the children did some nice sketches. I'll have to photograph them and add them in. Thanks, Janette! Here's the sketches: |
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Dec. 13, 2006
The Animal Farm - 12 December
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Our church Playgroup had a Mobile Animal Farm come on Tuesday morning. So, we abandoned normal lessons and went to join in. All the children enjoyed this opportunity to get up close to some smaller animals. Here's some pictures: Stephen, Adam, John, Zac and cousin Abi The two A's with their hens Mark and a chick - he doesn't look sure, does he?I did say that Stephen & Zac had to write about it later and they both did a great job. Funny how writing can flow when it's the only requirement for the day? |
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Nov. 28, 2006
Show and Tell Day - 25 October
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Even though this happened a little while ago, I just haven't gotten around to putting it up on the blog. On the Show and Tell Day, we all brought along examples of the children's work for the year and put on some items. There was a dog act, some plays, musical performances, poetry and songs. Everyone did really well and we had a nice time together. Here's some of the photos:  Watching the dog act.   Zac and Stevie play their piano pieces.  Stevie and I sing "Senex MacDonald Habuit Fundum" (Old MacDonald Had a Farm in Latin) Mark decides to join in.  Watching the performances. Some of the displays are at the back there.  Mark takes it all in.
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