Smart Family at HOME (wherever that may be)!

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?

I do..

5:02 PM, 11 February 2007 .. Posted by DonnaLupton

love the HS journey and I love reading about your adventures... just one little thing... where are those cute kiddos?
Now, I KNOW all about your camera... you have the kids, the camera & the know how... show me some stuff woman! =0)
Show me that cool place you moved- make me want to come sooner for our visit.
Hugs,
Donna