Smart Family at HOME (wherever that may be)!

Hello all,

Pregnant in Tassie!!!!

Hi all,

well, it has been a while since I've done anything on here.  For the last 5 weeks I've been too tired and sick to do anything, and for the time before that??No excuse, just slack.

Why am I tired and sick? Well of course I'm pregnant!! Yep,. a VERY big shock to us both, but not of course to God. I thank Him that someone knows what's happening around here.   I'm 10 weeks along, and this last week, am feeling a little bit better. So perhaps the sickness won't last as long this time ( hey, a girl can live in hope can't she?).

Enough of me.

We are all still really enjoying Tassie, although we've seen very little of it as yet. The Tamar River is just beautiful to live along, and every day we watch the goings on of the river life. Thank you God! With me being sick,  the children are not 'doing' much, so watching the tides come and go - according to the moon, watching the boats as they moor and leave, and watching the animal life- according to the tides, etc, along with our discussions of these things, have helped the children have a little interest/learning in their lives atm.  Mind you, there are times when I almost wish we were a school at home family. Atleast this way I could say, go and do...Math, or Science, or.... while Mummy has a rest.  

I am hoping to get lots of read alouds done during this time. We are up to 'The long Winter' in The Little House on the Prarie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It would be great to get this series finished.

Even when I thnk the children aren't learning anything at all, they always suprise me.

I was sitting at the table the other day and noticed that on the dishwasher was most of Zac's magnetic words, (100 basic word list) placed in alphabetical order, eg: a, all, away... be, before, belong....  All that were there were in correct order, down to the last letter. Bre had done it.  Then there's Mab, while I've not been up to reading to Zac as often, she has been doing it for me. Her reading has soared ahead, and her confidence saw her reading 3 chapter books (Aussie nibbles) in a weekend! Never before had she read a whole book in one day. NOw she's trying to tackle her 'real' chapter books. hooray!! Zac is also learning. He reads stuff most days, often to the girls, and he has learnt to play Chess very well. He plays every day, at least once, often more. When Stu and he play, there is no giving in. Stu plays to his best ability, and only just wins. Zac hasn't beaten Stu yet, but I'm sure the day will come in the not too distant future.

So all in all, I am glad we do this "natural learning" thing most of the time. Even if my doubts get the better of me at times. Then the children shine through, and remind me why we do it. To teach them to be independant learners, regardless of thier circumstances, and that they don't only learn when they are being 'taught'. I think this is such an important life skill, that many children miss out on these days.

When I sought out how to do it, I'll download some photo's of us all. OK Donna!!

I'm happy to accept any prayers coming my way for the end of this 'morning' sickness.

NOTE: Do you know why I reckon it's called 'morning' sickness?  Because the men go to work in the morning, and by the time they get home at night we are in bed, so they think it only lasts for the morning.

Well that's me over for a while. I'll get back as soon as I have more to say.

Blessings to you all.

The closing of the furniture saga...and seahorse world.

As you know we left our furniture in Wagga to be picked up by a removalist on a backload. Well it only sort of happened.  He did get it, but not all of it. So Stu has gone back to the mainland to pick up our trailer, which is still in Melbourne, then onto Wagga to pick up the rest of our furniture. He left on Friday night's boat, and will return on tonight's boat arriving in Devonport tomorrow morning at 7am. All is going well so far, I just spoke to him and he is in Melbourne, with a car and trailer full of stuff.  

Last Sunday we went for a drive up to Green's Beach which is on the mid-north coast of Tassie, about 40mins from here, and went into all the towns and villages along the way. We stopped off at Beauty Point, about 30 mins north of here,  home of  "Seahorse World" and "Platypus World".  We only had time to do one, so the children chose Seahorse World. It was fabulous!! We got to see quite a few varieties of seahorses, and also in many stages of the life cycle. They breed the pot-bellied variety there, and so we also got to see babies only a few hours old, and then 1day old, 2 days old, etc right up to about 10days (I think). It was amazing, they are so very tiny. The children learnt all about them, where each variety  are found, how big they grow, and how long it takes for them to change colour. Zac couldn't hold his curiosity in, he bombarded the poor tour guide with so many questions, she did very well answering his every question. It was very cute, we had a few people commenting on how we have a future marine biologist on our hands. We just smiled, we didn't say that  he has that much interest in most things, because we have allowed his curiosity in the world around him to feed his learning, at his own rate, not at my rate, or the curriculum rate. We just smiled and said "possibly".  There is also a touch tank there, the kids loved it, although Bre tended not to touch too many things, they were of course all wet and slimy or had claws. There were starfish, hermit crabs and fish in the tank. Zac and Mab played, touched, and the three of them talked about them for ages. Bre did what she does best, and read all the fact sheets they had about the different animals there.  Don't you just love the way they all learn so differently. At the end of the day, they had been given the same information as each other, but came away with slightly different understandings from each other, according to their age, sex, and learning style. But the most important thing that happened, they all came away with a new experience, and a renewed love of learning, another hook to hang more information on when the need arises.   We haven't 'done' anythng about the visit this week, except talk about it lots, and of course a narration over the phone to Nanny and Poppy. However, next time the subject of seahorses comes up, I'll bet our kids are right in their with a whole heap of knowledge that has stuck, because it is real to them, not just pictures in a textbook. They also didn't have the fun of the visit stripped with the expectation of a report to be written, or further research required of them. That comes, for the girls at times, but not with everything we do.

I just love this homeschooling journey, don't you?

Our trip to Qld and Canberra

So as I said, we were in our house for 7 days when the children and I flew out to Brisbane, for my sister's 50th Birthday, for a week. Then  onto Canberra for 4 days, while the Curriculum Expo was on.

Saturday morning, the morning we were meant to leave Mab wakes up with a sore ear, she is VERY inclined to middle ear infections, so we took off to the Dr's to be told, as expected, she has 2 middle ear infections, one very bad, the other not so bad. Our flight leaves at 5.15pm that afternoon. What to do? We pray, think, hope, and buy lots of 'stuff' at the chemist. Usually the antibiotic starts working after her 2nd dose. So we need to get 2 doses in before our flight. We do it. We also stuff her with panadol, sinus spray, and auralgan (ear drops).  The Dr said if she can pop her ears before the flight, there's a good chance she'll be able to fly, if not, then no way. We mastermind a plan: well sort of. We are all going to the airport, with our luggage, if by the time we get there Mab can pop her ears, and she seams well enough, she'll come with us. If not, then me, Bre and Zac will go and Mab will have to follow us tomorrow. Now niether of the girls have ever flown before, this is their very first time. I really didn't want Mab's first one to be without a parent (or atleast an adult she's met before)  with her.  She said she could do it on her own, but I'm thinking about the little girl who wont even go up to the counter at the shop and buy something, not without atleast her little brother to help her. :-)  I'm not so sure she can do it on her own, but if her ears don't go well, we have no option.  We arrive at the airport 2 hours early, yes you read it right, 2 hours early.  So we had long enough to decide what to do. Anyway, by the time we got there Mab had popped her ears 3 times. So all the medicines seamed to do the job. We all board the airplane, and get off in Brisbane, where Andrew is waiting to pick us up.

Zac is very glad to see him, after all he is his godfather. We have 3 nights at Andrew's and Glenda's, together, then I'm supposed to be off to the beach with my sisters and mum. But the next morning Bre wakes up vomiting. Would you believe it? and she's throwing a temp, but that seams to be it. We have planned to visit with my brother and his family for the day, a 2 hour drive away. His girls, and ours haven't seen each other for almost 6 years, I d'on't want to miss out on this opportunity. Bre looks a little better.  I ask her and she said she wants to go and see her cousins, so we go. We have a great visit and spend almost all day ther. It's refreshing to the soul to see family, and catch up with each other, especially for the children. I decide I will not let it get so long before the children see each other again.

The next morning Bre wakes up vomiting again! I take her off to the Dr, and it seams she has toncilitus, and mild ear infection. So now she too is on antibiotics. At least by the end of the day she is feeling much better. I'm due to leave the next day sometime, so I'm glad. I wouldn't/couldn't have left her if she wasn't well.

Tue morning and all the little smarts are feeling well, and I get picked up at lunch time for my 3 days on the beach with my Mummy, and 3 sisters, and friends. I reckon I deserve this break, after all we've been through this last 3 months.  We have a lovely time catching up with each other. Never before have all of us girls been together, just us, without our husbands and children etc.

If you have sisters, I totally recommend for you to get away with them, just you, without all the other family, just once every couple of years, if at all possible. It is important that we stay intouch  and connected with our sisters.

We found a house to rent!

After the new year we started looking for a house, somewhere along the Tamar River, or in the Tamar Valley.

Our needs were as follows: atleast 3 bedrooms, lock up garage (for the Harley), enclosed yard (for Taz the dog), somewhere for the caravan to park (preferably able to have someone stay in it there aswell), and as cheap as possible, hopefully around $250/week.

Preferences were; built in wardrobes (so we don't have to buy any/many), lots of land for the kids to run around, some view of the Tamar River, another bedroom for my craft and another living area for the kids to spread out in (where we can leave homeshooling stuff out while we are working on it, without having to put it away for lunch/dinner/breaky every day).

Well the house we got has all this and more! It has 3 beds all with built ins, plus 2 studies, (one for my craft, one for the office)both with built in bookshelves :D, 2 big play rooms down stairs, a back room for kids craft and art, Lock up Garage downstairs, plus a single metal garage for a workshop for Stu, plus a 4 car carport, with one specially built for a caravan, plus a pet enclosure for the dog (there are fences all around, but no front gate), all this on 1 acre, with about 4 or so acres out the back for us to play on. This extra land isn't part of the lease, but it belongs to the owner of the house, and he is happy for us to play out there etc. We also have 180 deg views of the Tamar with nothing but mountains on the other side, and we are in a little village called Gravelly Beach. How much has God blessed this family I ask you? And all this at just a smidge over our budget, but it includes upkeep of the gardens (mowing, edges, light pruning). So we figure by the time we took into account buying a mower, edger, wardrobes, lots of bookshelves etc, we are well and truly better off.

And Stu got a job a couple of days before we moved in. He doesn't like it, the company or the work, but it pays the rent and he's doing a part of electrical he's not had much to do with in the past, light industrial. So he's learning new stuff, always a positive. Meanwhile he's meeting contacts, and finding his way around the Launceston area, all good prospects for another job soon, we pray. So we moved into the house on 6th Jan, Stu started work on the 8th, and the kids and I flew out on the 13th back to the mainland. But that's another story (or post) ;).

In Tassie...finally!

Getting the Truck fixed

Happy Late New Year,

Where do I start? Sorry it's been soo long since I last posted,(Donna ;). We finally did make it onto the Spirit of Tasmania. But not until  Wednesday 13th December at 7am. It took that long for the wheel nut saga to sort itself out. We picked up the truck from Yass on the 6th Dec. When we got back to Wagga we rented a Self-Storage unit to put all our belongings in, and unloaded the truck into it, then put the truck at the Wagga Consignment Centre to sell. We also booked a removalist to do a backload to Tassie for us. We left on Monday 11th Dec. Bec and Al (friends) drove up from Melbourne on Sunday to visit Bec's Grandmother, and to pick up our trailer for us. Now, we didn't have a truck so Stu had to ride the Harley (poor man, once again) to Tassie, but then there was no way of getting the trailer down, I had the caravan on the back of the car. So Bec and Al came to our rescue and took it down for us. We stayed at their house on Monday night, bless 'em. They were in the middle of packing their house, because they were moving from Melbourne on 16th Dec. So our trailer ended up at our other friends Chris and Jo, until we are able to pick it up/get it picked up from Melbourne. And we got on the Spirit of Tasmania at 7pm on Tuesday 12th Dec, to 'float' carelessly through Bass Straight over night and land on the shores of Devenport, Tasmania on Wed morning.

Still in Wagga...

Well, here we are finally back online. After leaving Canberra on 1st November, we have had quite an interesting few weeks. Lets start with the day we moved out of our house, the truck we bought to transfer our furniture and bits and pieces to Tassie, had a little hick-up with the suspension. It didn't work...We had to get it to the suspension specialists in Queanbeyan and let them replace and upgrade all the suspension. That was supposed to take a week...which was good, because Stu was off to National Run in Brisbane with God's Squad, on his Harley, and wouldn't need it for that amount of time anyway, and the kids and I were off to Wagga to spend time with the families before we headed south. But, when Stu got back to Canberra on the 6th November, the parts still weren't in yet. So he rode (poor guy ;) ) to Wagga on his Harley with his good mate Glenn (and his Harley), who was over for National run, from the UK. that was on the Wednesday 7th. On Friday 9th, we (Stu, Shell and kids) drove the 4WD back to Canberra to pick up the Truck. Stu wasn't happy with how the load was sitting so we (he) re-packed it. Then we headed off back to Wagga. But as you will soon work out, if not already, nothing is simple with the Smart family. Stu got a blowout just at the exit onto the Hume Highway, We stopped, changed the wheel for the spare and Stu noticed that there was one stud previously sheared off, and we had just done another, what more can you do at 9pm other than head off again, so we did, we still had 4 out of the 6. A few km's down the road I noticed the wheel we had just changed was wobbling a little. I should mention here, that I was following the truck in the 4WD and we both have 2-ways. so I said to Stu to pull over, by the time he got off the road the wheel was badly wobbling and I said stop NOW! When we checked we had sheared off 2 more studs, now 2 out of 6 isn't so good, so we could do nothing but leave it for the night, and deal with it in the morning. So we drove into Yass and caught a motel and slept. In the morning Stu repaired the blown tyre, and sourced a tow truck driver/mechanic to tow and repair the truck's wheel studs. We met him there, and he loaded the truck onto his tip tray and headed back to Yass (see photo's) and we headed back to Wagga. So at the moment we are still here. We had trouble sourcing the studs, got them now, but can't find the nuts, we're having them manufactured. So we are hoping to leave Wagga this Saturday. We will know more later in the week...of course.

We are leaving Canberra

Well hello,

Here is my first official blog, and guess what, it's not about homeschooling, as such. I just want to share what has been happening in the Smart family household these past few months.

We started with selling our house back in December, so we could afford to buy a coach, decked out as a motorhome, and travel our lovely country of Australia for a few years. Fast forward 8 months. We have been looking hard and consistantly all this time, and have only now found one which is just right for the smart family 5 to live in. However, it is much more money than we have, and we don't want to borrow any money from a bank, so we have decided to try and save as much money in the next year as we can, and then purchase a motorhome in that same price range.

To do this, we have decided to move to Tasmania for the year, where Stu can work, and we can save money, and also see the island as much as possible (It is only about 3hours from one end to the other). So we have bought a caravan to live in. After we get settled in Tassie with a job for Stu, and a house to live in, then we will use the caravan to travel on weekends etc. It is an 18feet Jayco Expanda, and it is only 1 year old. It has a full annexe too, which will be great when we are staying put for more than a weekend.

There will be some photo's on this website, in the Album page, for you to look at of our lovely caravan.

Hope you enjoy them.

Shell