Aug. 19, 2009 - Our Wednesday:

Today was such a productive day!  The reason I like to occasionally record all that we do each day for a week, is because it makes me think about the things that we do do instead of focusing on the things that we don’t get to.

After the morning chores were done Jess, Nomi and Daniel came to town with me to do the grocery shop and a few town chores.  These days the shopping is so quick and easy as each one take a portion of the shopping list, being responsible for 2-3 isles.

On our way home we worked on drawing a mud map so we can give clear directions to people to find our place.  We will revisit this math task over the next few weeks, today was about observing what we see on the road. 

As we unpacked the groceries it became obvious we needed to clean out the fridge.  The best of all of this for Jess was she got her labeller out and labelled our fruit and veg boxes.  So now my fridge is all neat, tidy and clean.

Jess, Nomi and Daniel sat down and worked with a few more thoughts on mapping.  The younger two completed a little lapbook mini-book fold for their math scrapbook.

During the morning Josh worked down on the Sandalwood trees and investigated into University options, plus math and Latin.

Lunch and Chores for all.

Our afternoon as spent with an old-time family friend who is visiting town.  Actually we bought her piano when she left town so whenever she comes back for a visit the girls like to play for her and then listen to her play.  Actually this was Nomi’s first time playing for her since she just started lessons this year.  The girls then showed her all the projects they have made in the last year (since her last visit) and then I got my visit.  We sat over a cuppa and chatted away.  We weren’t allowed to talk about anything significant because her dh was concerned that when they come over for a meal on Saturday we’ll have nothing to talk about !  LOL! 

Mid to late afternoon everyone was doing their thing.

• Josh had to work this afternoon mowing lawns,
• Jess worked on some study, blogging and just relaxing
• Daniel spend time working on chores for pay (only certain chores have this opportunity).  He mowed the lawn and for the first time he cleaned windows – and he did a great job.
• Later on Nomi and Daniel had a friend come down to play and they had a ball in the irrigation channel.
• After my friend left I started to work in the kitchen.  I filled my dehydrator with two lots of raw crackers/bread, and some raw cookies.  I also made a chocolate mousse and a chia pudding.  No nibbling on processed food for me tomorrow!

Aug. 19, 2009 - Our Tuesday

Today is an out of the house day.  Though I started fairly sluggishly the day ended quite well.

We left the house at 9.00 for piano lessons.  While we are at our friend’s house (for the piano lessons) we take the opportunity to do some group learning.

·         Character – we talked about excellence vs mediocrity.

·         Math – We completed notebook pages reflecting Direction words including left and right.

·         The girls do a little independent studies as well.

A little bit of social time and then we headed into town.  I catch up with a friend every week to pray together but before I met with her we bumped into some people that were at church on Sunday.  Daniel had enjoyed playing with their son so we invited them home for the late afternoon before they continue with their holiday and leave town tomorrow.

We finished our tasks/chores in town and as soon as we got home I turned around and headed back into town with Josh.  Josh was invited to join a few other boys out on the river for the afternoon.  He had a great time.  After dropping him off, I drove back home to spend the afternoon with our new friends from  South Australia.  The boys had a ball – they spent most of the afternoon in the irrigation channel in waist deep water.  We had to cut our visit short so I could go back into town to pick up Josh.

Meanwhile the girls spent their afternoon on various pursuits.  Nomi continued with her digital scrapbooking and then she cut out a fur teddy bear.  Jess studied for a while and then did some ironing for me.

Though today was busy, here and there, my heart was at peace – it was as if God arranged it all!

Aug. 18, 2009 - Our Monday:

Mondays are our ‘teaching’ day – I focus on the subjects that need my direct input. 

·         Character – we reviewed this for the last time (we will look at it again through family life I am sure, but not as a formal lesson for a while).  We discussed the fact that we need to choose that what our authority wants us to do is important – when we do that, we will put our whole heart into the task.  We discussed excellence and the areas of mediocrity in our life.  We discussed finishing projects.  These three areas would be the heart issues that the study of diligence has stirred in our house.

·         Bible Study – Nomi and Daniel are beginning a chronological study of the Bible – focusing on major stories.  We are starting with the idea that God reveals himself through His creation and His word and that we need to respond to him. 

·         Writing – Each week the kids need to complete a writing assignment, based on skills taught in IEW.  This month we are working on keyword outlines and summaries.  I have decided Daniel needs more oral work so we are still doing oral narrations instead of the keyword outlines.  He understands keywords but I want him to develop his listening, thinking and memory skills through narrations before we use more formal writing techniques.  I had a quick review session with Josh and Jess, just checking on how they are going with these assignments.

·         Independent work – Nomi and Daniel both have their list of independent studies (we are calling them our daily diligences, which co-incidently coincides with our character study!)

·         Auslan – sign language of the deaf.  We are slowly working our way through the dvd classes.  We need to use it more in the home everyday to build up our vocab and finger spelling familiarity.

Aug. 12, 2009 - Our Today - a day of projects

Today was a project day – my youngest is away on a special two day trip with his dad.  Each of the kids have had this type of experience (the girls went away with me, the boys with Peter) when they turned 10.  Since Daniel wasn’t here we took a break from our study routine and focused on some projects that really needed doing.

I worked on decluttering and organising my office.  Well, really most of my time and effort was on decluttering.  3 ½ bags of paper was thrown out and it wasn’t even hard to make decisions – it was just not needed.  I started off with a bank of boxes that needed to be gone through – paper by paper just incase!  I am now left with a large pile of stuff to go else where (it simply does not belong in the office), 1 small box of filing, 1 action needed pile, 1 reading pile.  It feels fantastic.  My desk is clear and dust is gone.   My goal is to establish a new habit, much like Flylady with her shiny sink – I want my desk to shine too!

Jessica was my helper.  She is so encouraging and keeps me on track whenever I got distracted.  She worked on her dad’s desk – sorting and filing the mail.  She delivered stuff to their right and proper place.  She blitzed (our word for a quick clean up) the house ready for our afternoon visitor.

Naomi worked well all by herself today.  First she made a batch of chocolate slice for morning tea at church on Sunday (it will go in the freezer between now and then).  After cleaning up the kitchen she did a load of laundry and then made a new bag to hold my plastic bags.  My old one had definitely seen better days.  She kept going through lunch with washing the outside of the car – then she took a break.  She spent most of the later part of the afternoon doing digital scrapbooking.

Joshua kept to his study schedule today, except for when I needed him to lift a box for me.  He had to go off to work this afternoon as well for a couple of hours.

We had a visit with friends this afternoon and now that they have gone, I am getting ready for a workshop tonight.  What a busy day!  But it sure does feel good.

Tomorrow I’ll be able to tell you what Daniel got upto on his trip away.  We kept it a secret, unveiled as he went through his day.  Hope he has had fun!  We’ve missed him – though there have been lots of phonecalls (I think he has missed us too!)

Aug. 8, 2009 - A moment in our day

Jul. 25, 2009 - 2009 Kununurra Agricultural Show

July for our family is all about the Ag.show and then camping as a family.  During June/July the children work so hard on many creative projects in order to have a good display at the Show.  This year we topped our grand total of number of items on exhibit for our family with 45 items.

Joshua:

Working with his hands is not Joshua's strong point but this year he determined to enter something into the Show.  He worked on this model for a couple of weeks.   Not only did he create a great looking model he learnt lots of skills along the way which he will be able to use in other modeling projects he has planned.

Jessica:

Jess was very surprised with how some of her pieces went - she did well.  Here are some of her projects.

The girls spent a couple of afternoons with a friends mum who was visiting town and learnt to make these flowers.  They were disappointed to see that the cake decorating section was for the theme Space - flowers didn't match that theme.  Jess entered her flower in the any crafted item and was well rewarded!

Naomi:

Between our children, Nomi always completes the most projects and dabbles in a variety of crafts and skills.  She is very creative.

There is a story behind this doll - apparently the judges took this doll out of the 'competition' as they considered it not to be made by a 8-12yo.  Though Nomi was very disappointed in not receiving anything for her two dolls (see the other one below), the steward ended up awarding a highly commended and told Nomi the story - that the judge didn't think it was made by a child.  To Nomi that was an incredible complement!  Since then the co-ordinator has phoned to apologise and to express her hope that it doesn't deter Nomi from exhibiting next year.  Not on your life! was Nomi's reply.

Daniel:

Daniel has had his eye on this doll for over a year.  A week before the Ag Show he finally started on it.  He has great control over a sewing machine and is already working an another pirate doll - this time with a hook for a hand and a beard!

Daniel worked for weeks on this boat - it is held together with hot glue and wood staples.  Each day some alteration or addition would be added.  I was pleased that he received a Highly Commended as it showed that they could see it was original and creative work.

Jun. 17, 2009 - My 5 W and H lesson for today

We are reading Galileo’s Journal – treating it much like a FIAR book, but I’m not putting in a lot of prep – I want to see what rabbit trails we take.  But with thinking along the lines of asking the 5 W and H questions - Who, what, where, when, why and how, I have come up with a bit of a sketch which gives me something to fall back on.

Who – Galileo

What – he improved the telescope and saw amazing things in the sky

Where – Italy, Venice, Padua, Florence

When – 1564-1642

Why – He showed perseverance, curiosity, asked a lot of questions

How – how the telescope works, planets and their moons, rotation of the earth around the sun

Today we pursued the idea that Galileo asked a lot of questions and tested his ideas.  This is, in essence, the scientific method.  We revisited that.  Then we did a few experiments with water to learn about lenses.  This quickly moved on to experimenting with liquids for Nomi and chemical reactions for Daniel.  Daniel dearly wanted to create an explosion but his ideas never quite made it (phew!!)  This kept them occupied, without my supervision for a good hour.

Nomi the Scientist

Daniel the Scientist

We didn’t notebook like I wanted to but the kids each wrote up what they learnt through their experiments.  Tomorrow we will record about lenses.  I have printed off a poster showing the Scientific Method which I found through a google search and they have filed that in their notebooks.  I am going to laminate a copy of this poster and put it up on the wall – to help us work through problems with thinking, testing, and coming to conclusions.

May. 16, 2009 - Another Animal in my House

Apr. 29, 2009 - Today's conversations - 10 Commandments

 The Maker’s Instructions by Sarah Knights Johnson

Rose Publishing – The Ten Commandments  http://www.rose-publishing.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=758

The first principle I want my children to understand is that God made me therefore He can tell me what to do.  So today we focused on the amazing things that God has made.  This led to us looking through a jeweller's loupe at our hand; skin and fingernails and then anything else we saw around us.  We made fingerprints and then read a little about the uniqueness of everyone’s fingerprint, even though there are 7 basic fingerprint patterns.  The kids made a notebook page that included:

1.        Pictures they cut from magazines showing the amazing things God has made

2.       Their own thumbprint, and a graphic (printed from online) showing the different fingerprint patterns

3.       A leaf they found in the garden and their description of this leaf after looking at it through the jewellers loupe.

I was particularly excited about this because I have wanted them to enjoy the loupe for sometime now and it seems as if we have hit the ‘right age’ as they were quite keen.  We will keep the loupes out now for a week or so and use them every couple of days to look closer at the things God has made.

When I step back and look at all that we talked about, and that they represented on their notebook page, I can see that we not only talked about God in and throughout our ‘lesson time’ but we talked about their uniqueness, about the world around them and their need to be observant.  We talked about aging (because my skin looked so different than Nomi’s skin).  We talked about the variety of leaves, seeds and flowers. 

Unfortunately you can't read what she actually wrote, but you can see how simple a notebook page is to put together.  Nomi is 12yo.

Mar. 27, 2009 - Cake Decorating

Daniel's chocolate snow man

Nomi's Spring Flowers

Jessica's basket weaving

Feb. 25, 2009 - Teaching my Children to Cook

One of our goals this year is to have the children cooking more independently.  They can all scrape by, preparing themselves some sort of food but I’d like them to be able to serve a family meal, and cook a dessert or do some baking. 

Each week we rotate the chores and one of the chores is to be my cook’s helper.  Mostly this is for the evening meals but if I was to do baking (it happens rarely) they would help me out or if possible, bake whatever was needed.

My plan is that each child will have one meal that they will be “in training” for.  This meal will be repeated one night each time they are cooks helper.  With each rotation they will be able to do more of the meal independently, working towards them doing it totally by themselves.  I expect to show them, help them, and then let them go (though it may take a couple of rotations of ‘helping’ before they have the confidence to do it solo.)  So that is my plan.

These are the meals each of the children are working on at the moment:

Daniel: Minestrone Soup, Chocolate slice

Nomi: Spaghetti Bolognaise, Chocolate cake

Jessica: Creamy Chicken with rice and veggies, Lemon Meringue Pie

Joshua: Roast meat and veggies, salad, Muffins

Feb. 13, 2009 - My Children's Blogs

Dec. 10, 2008 - He's getting closer!

Nov. 12, 2008 - Remembrance Day

The 11^th of the 11^th at 11.00am Australian’s stop to remember the soldiers who have fallen during the various wars that we as a country have been involved in.

I would love to do a week study on this aspect of our history and yet before I know it the day is here and gone and I have not got myself organized.  I guess there is no reason why we can’t do the study after the date, and use the memorial activities as a kick start to our studies.  I’ll think of that for next year!!

This year I gave a quick phone call to all the homeschoolers to let them know that there was a memorial service happening in the center of town.  I think we had all missed the advertising and if it wasn’t for my friends many years of encouragement we would have missed it too.  In the end 5 homeschool families turned up to remember and to be honest, we made up quite a crowd.

Earlier in the morning I did get to read a couple of picture books to Nomi and Daniel, we discussed the symbol of the poppy, the purpose of memorials, the enormity of how many men and women died, just in World War I, and we finished our discussion on the freedoms that they fought for.  We read In Flanders Fields which called us not to ever stop fighting for those freedoms.  A good reminder!

Nov. 12, 2008 - An Interruption turned into a Jewel of a learning experience

Having to go to town for various chores and appointments is one of the most disruptive things to our daily routines.  But these things are a part of our life, they have to happen, and I am left to make the most of them.

Monday morning we needed to

• try and see a doctor for a sore toe (not an emergency but it has to happen)
• visit a friend who has just had her baby (and today was the only day I could do it as she was leaving hospital and leaving town the next day)
• meet with my friend for prayer (this happens every Monday)
• buy a birthday present
• buy food for a birthday party!

Having older children means they can stay home and continue in their studies so that is helpful but Nomi and Daniel still need direction.  I took Nomi with me (she had the sore toe) and left Daniel at home with a list of activities for him to do by himself and/or with Jess or Josh helping him.  This worked really well.

Nomi came to town and she learnt:

• how to keep focused, reading her book, even with a tv in the room
• when it is appropriate to join mum’s conversations and when it is best to leave mum with her friends
• how the medical system works, especially triage, and to be compassionate for people who get in before you!
• the benefits of shopping where there is a sale

None of these things would have been written in a lesson plan for her this week but they are valuable lessons.  But, the most exciting lesson for her was at the Jewellers.  While I was praying with my friend (owner of jewelry shop) Nomi was able to watch the jewelers at work through the window.  One of them came out and showed Nomi the project she was working on and discussed all sorts of information about metal and jewels with her.  Then one of the assistances was tidying up some trays of diamonds after showing a customer and gave Nomi a quick overview of all sorts of different diamonds.  It wasn’t long after the diamonds were all packed away that I came out and started some browsing of my own.  Nomi pointed out a bracelet that had a representation of the Bungle Bungles   on it.  A very big dramatic piece of jewelry.  She said she wanted to know how the Bungle Bungles were made but Maria said she had to ask the “bald man” – aka the jeweler!  So I caught his eye and he came over and gave Nomi such a great description of how he made the bracelet, then he took her to see other pieces using the same technicque.  Nomi thanked him and off we went.  As we left the shop Nomi goes – I’d love to work there – I’d be happy to polish glass and sweep floors if I could just watch what was going on. 

I would never have thought to direct Nomi’s creative passions towards jewelry making and who is to say that is what she will do but it was another reminder that our lifestyle, the things that happen every day give us not only an opportunity to teach but an opportunity to see into our children’s lives.

Nov. 9, 2008 - Our Saturday

I spend early Saturday morning finishing off (or starting) my newsletter.  This is generally done by 8.00am.

The kids have their regular routines plus an extra hour of chores on Saturday.  Today Josh, Daniel and Nomi went down to pick another wheelbarrow of mangoes.  It is a slow, drawn out season this year.  Jessica stayed inside to cover the homebless chores that needed to be done today.  The idea is on Saturday, we all work until all the jobs are done and then we can rest and play for the rest of the day.

We do our weekly Homebless on Saturday.  This includes cleaning the kitchen bins, treating the leather couch, dusting and vacuuming the living areas, mopping the floors and catching up on any chores that weren’t done through the week.  Every second week we also do bigger jobs like check airconditioners, fans, the veranda and windows.  We didn’t do those extras today.

Peter has been home this weekend so we spent a little time catching up this morning and over lunch but other than that I have spent the day tidying up little bits on my website.   Pete also did some fix-it jobs around the house, which the boys helped with.

Joshua has read, listened to cricket on the radio, spent time on the computer and writing a story.

Jessica has made a cover for a friend’s electric keyboard (they take it to church each week and wanted some extra padding for the music stand.  She has also written a letter, read some blogs and done some beading.

Nomi has worked on a puppet she is making as well as updating her blog.

Daniel has played lego, had computer time, played with a box construction he has made and a few other bits and pieces that only he knows about!!  All I know is that I have a few extra containers, full of water, rocks and leaves, in odd places around the house!

We stop our activities and start with chores a little earlier today as we need to get our clothes ironed and the house that little tidier for tomorrow (Sunday).  We will have a cooked breakfast tomorrow so I am trying to remember to defrost the bacon, and make sure everything is ready for that.  I like the floor swept and bedrooms extra tidy.  It makes for a relaxed Sunday if these things are done.

Saturday night we often have a larger meal (one where I put a little more effort into) than we do through the week.  I try and cook a dessert.  Today I used the crockpot to cook up the meat, we served it with rice and greens.  Cooked dessert didn’t happen; instead we had a big bowl of fruit salad and some chocolate biscuits.  

Actually I forgot to check that the rice cooker was actually switched on so my perfectly timed meal was 20minutes late!  In that time we sat in the lounge and the kids delievered their latest speeches to Peter.  It was good for them to get some feedback, especially on body stance and hand movements.  Daniel gave an impromptu reenactment of a veggie tales story about David.  He was very animated and timed the funny lines very well. (He is not doing the Speak Up course with the other kids)

Peter started our read aloud over dessert; Do hard things by Brett and Alex Harris.  The kids then did the dishes and pretty much went to bed.  I tried to find Barak Obama’s victory speech to download so that we could study it as a part of our Speak Up course, couldn’t find how to download, so we sat there and listened.  The kids all came into the office so we watched and listened.  The words don’t have direct impact on us (being Australian), though they do in the world-wide sense, but we were particularly looking at his delivery style and mannerisms.  Regardless of your politics he is a powerful orator. 

Nov. 7, 2008 - Our Friday

As I said yesterday, after a later night than usual Friday morning starts sluggish but we had to get going this morning as we needed to be out of the house at 8.30am.  We all had our regular morning routines, with the kids being able to spend a little bit of time reviewing their apologetics speeches before we left.

We met at another homeschool family’s home for todays Speak Up.  This was the last speech for the year.  They have learnt so much, and have improved their skills so much.  It has been a very worthwhile activity.  We reviewed some of the key elements of good speaking and then listened to each speech giving encouraging feedback as we went.  It was fantastic to hear the kids talk of their belief, and how they have researched and expressed thoughts that back up their beliefs.  It was like sitting through 7 short sermons!

While we were doing Speak Up with the big kids the little boys had computer time.  Daniel was rapt!  The whole morning spent on the computer!!

Though one family had to leave quickly we stayed on and visited with the host family.  It is always nice to catch up with friends. 

On our way home we did a few chores around town, mainly voted for the Shire elections (local government).  Josh came in with me as we asked questions about the counting system.

Once we got home we set aside 1 hour to get the house in order – just to go a bit deeper than the quick morning chores allows us to do.  We blitzed (put things all in their right places), we wiped tables and swept the floors, started some laundry and put the groceries away – whatever needed to be done.

We then sat down to watch The Apprentice which I had taped earlier in the week.  We have been watching most of this series, I pre-watch each one, as we have had to not watch a few because of bad language.  The kids have learnt a lot about business and in particular how character affects your career. 

Friday afternoons are generally down time for our family; each person has some quiet time and just does their thing.  So after the Apprentice, I intended to do some writing but I started to nod off over my keyboard, so I took myself off to the couch for a nap!  I napped all afternoon!!!  Meanwhile the kids cleaned up the kitchen from lunch and did various projects with their hands while they listened to an audio story.  Joshua actually worked outside as he is painting some soldier models with oil based paint and I can’t stand the smell in the house!

5.00 came around really quickly and we suddenly realized we only had one hour to get dinner cooked and ourselves ready to go out.  Tonight was movie night for the girls!  One of the local churches has a family type movie night once a month on a big screen in their church.  They have been watching the Love Comes Softly series over the last few months and tonight they were showing #6. 

We came home from the movie discussing if girls should go to College/University or not, and what type of careers should they pursue.  I firmly believe the debate is a bit off track – we should be encouraging our girls to pursue the things God has planned for them and to prepare them so they can take on any challenge that they will face following God’s call.

Nov. 7, 2008 - Our Thursday

Thursday is usually a mixed-up day as I try and do the grocery shop and Jessica goes into town to be involved with an outreach ministry, Mainly Music.  Everyone is still getting over being sick, and not really very energetic so plans changed.  I’m not sure we’ve had a “planned” day once this week!

Morning routines all as usual except I didn’t go for my exercise walk.  At 8.00am we decided that Nomi and I would go into town to help the Mainly Music ladies set up and Jess would stay at home to rest today.  We didn’t stay the whole morning, just helped with set up.  Then we did a few town chores and a small grocery shop to get us through till Saturday morning when we’ll go in again.

While we were in town Daniel had computer time, plus some time on Paint, then he played with his lego.  Josh and Jess have kept their studies going.  We have our final speech lesson tomorrow so they have been practicing their apologetics speech.

Came home and decided to watch a movie with the kids.  Since we’ve been studying Madeline with FIAR they have wanted to watch it all week – so that is what we watched. As with most movies, it has its pluses and minuses!

Lunch, chores and it is lesson time for Nomi and Daniel.  Nomi worked on writing and Daniel phonics, math and typing.  I ran out of puff for FIAR. My energy levels are still struggling and I find myself still needing a nap in the afternoon.

Daniel is my “Cooks Helper” this week so he helped me cook dinner and then went off to play with his lego while listening to an audio story with Nomi.  Nomi and Jessica worked on creative projects during the afternoon.  Josh went to work.

We had a quick dinner, Pete was home in time to join us.  We discussed the defeat and acceptance speeches from the US elections and the importance of being able to speak in public.

The kids are involved in a small choir that is going to lead the singing at the local Christmas Carols event.  Thursday night is practice night.   Josh goes in to help with the sound equipment.  I go just as chauffer (I sit up the back and catch up on some writing).  Though we are home by 9.00 it is a late night for the kids, by the time they wind down, so Friday mornings are a bit sluggish!

Nov. 6, 2008 - Our Wednesday

Well, today hasn’t gone as I had hoped! 

It started off fine – the boys went and picked some more mangoes, the girls started in on the daily chores. 

Joshua started his day with asking me to help him edit/improve an article.  We had quite a discussion on that.  He made a comment yesterday that this particular piece made him realize that he should have written an outline to help him structure his writing better.(Yay!!  This is something I’ve been “hinting” at for ages.)  So we came to the conclusion today in order to streamline what he has written we need to write the outline of his article and see where the disorganization was – kind of do the process backwards.  We saw how to edit it straight away so he was able to go and make the improvements necessary.

I then spent time with Josh and Jess and their finances.  We want them to have an understanding of accounting/budgeting using pen and paper before we move them into a computerized system.  Both of them have paid jobs (Josh outside of the house as well as working for us, whereas Jess just does extra chores for us and gets paid for it).  So they have money they need to keep account of.  We finally got it up and running – a Bank Journal and a Cash Journal.  During our discussions we also printed off a Statement from online bank, and I paid Jessica via a direct deposit so we discussed those things as well.

Daniel has been a little at a loose end since I haven’t been focused on him.  I didn’t think the finances would take so long so I wasn’t prepared with activities for him to do.  He did a drawing on “Paint” on the computer, cut out some pictures for his notebooking for FIAR and played a game of Memory by himself. 

Nomi worked fairly well independently.  We are working on her understanding that she has independent work that she can go on with if I get tied up (such as today).  This is a jump for her and is taking a few days to get it.  She has completed her math level so moves onto a new book tomorrow, and she continued with her French history work.

Josh and Jess watched a TV show we video taped from last night on a new fossil human which severely disrupts the evolutionary chain for human development.  So in the day Jess has looked at math, science and her history while Josh worked on writing, science and math.  (though not all this was done in the regular way).

Josh and Jess also watched some of the telecast from the USA elections, which made Josh run a bit tight for time in getting to work, so I drove him to work and then went on into town.  Yesterday I left my mobile phone at my friends so I dropped in there to pick that up.  I also left some chocolate pie there so instead of taking it into town with me, and it defrosting (it was a frozen chocolate pie) we sat down and ate the left overs and had a quick visit.  I picked up some books that teach financial principles to see if I can add them to the books I’ve already bought for studying that subject next year.  I love it when the homeschool families in town can share resources and finds.

Did my town chores, came home, had a rest, and then in an effort to redeem Daniel’s day we did some reading together (phonics lesson).  He is slowly understanding if he slows down and sounds out he reads much more fluently.  

5.00 came around all too quickly – daylight savings has really thrown us off track in the afternoons.  We had a quick meal of soup and noodles while we watched the news and current affairs programmes.  Joshua actually did some ironing during this time as well.

After dinner I worked in the office trying to work out how to let people subscribe to my blog (look at my right hand sidebar for the link).

Nov. 5, 2008 - Our Tuesday

Every day has different opportunities, every week looks slightly different.  Today is Melbourne Cup day and though we don’t follow the horse races normally we do fall in step with the rest of the nation and watch the Melbourne Cup race.  There is no sense to us doing this – it is just an Aussie thing to do.  I contemplated doing a one day unit study on topics that the Melbourne Cup raises but decided, in light of us having the last two weeks pretty light on, we would stick to our original lesson plans.  We will stop short though and watch the build up over an extended lunch time.

We gathered together for a short time of prayer for our family devotions – we were particularly concerned about our dog, Domino, who was not her normal self this morning.  The kids thought it odd that we would pray about our dog, so it was a good time to assure them that God cares for all our concerns – even when we are concerned about our pet. 

Our morning routine happened as it should – a little more time conscious than we were yesterday – everyone having breakfast, quiet time, and exercise.  This morning I took my walk with Daniel since my mp3 was flat.  I usually use this time as my listening/thinking time so I discourage the kids from coming with me (they talk, talk, talk!!)  But it was nice going with Daniel today.  He held my hand and we walked along talking about all sorts of things as well as times of silence together. 

We started lessons today with Daniel’s phonics.  This was a priority since we didn’t get to formal lessons yesterday.  We are working with Reading Made Easy.  Though he is blending well (in his head) he often says the wrong word (dyspraxia).  So today I got him to sound out each word rather than just reading it in his head.  He was much more successful.  I think I need to just slow him down a little to help break some of the tendencies that happen with dyspraxia.  It was an encouraging lesson today.

We then had his math lesson. 

Meanwhile Nomi was working on her Math and Notebooking (France/French Revolution).  For her independent work Nomi is reading/writing from Learning Through History.

Josh and Jess have their regular lessons to do today though they will stop early.  Joshua kept reading for 2.5 hours as he got caught up in his book, Rob Roy, he also worked on his math and Latin.  I had a good talk to Jess about her notebooking her learning in a significant way – recording her thinking and making connections, not just summarizing a lesson.    She is going to start a history notebook as she has started a chronological history study.  This had slipped by me, as she should have started that in the middle of the year!!

12.00 – Horse racing!  There is not much to say – horses run around the track, a caller gets excited, people get excited, one horse wins!!  Jessica in particular likes to watch the hour or so before the race (I couldn’t bear to have the TV on all morning with race track news, fanfare and gossip!  Well a horse we didn’t even hear considered won, and it was a photo finish which is always exciting.

While the kids watched the build up, I did some reading online, and some research for a parenting meeting I have here tonight.

After the race it was a mad rush to get ready for a lapbooking workshop I had with three other homeschool mums.  I use Dinah Zikes books in all my lapbooking and folding paper is so much quicker than cutting out templates.  Two of the mums have never done lapbooking so it was an opportunity to show them how easy a fold is and for them to build a sample lapbook, full of all the blank minbooks.

The older two opted to stay home.  Jess was feeling overwhelmed with things that she had set for herself to accomplish so she stayed home in order to catch up, reprioritize and de-stress!  Josh stayed home simply for some time to himself.  He also intended to mow the lawn.

I arrived at my friends place early.  Her little 5yo showed Daniel how to draw on Paint.  So there is another computer activity that Daniel will be able to do.  Once the other families arrived the kids had a ball with water, sand, lollipops, waterballoons and a jumping castle.  At one stage we offered afternoon tea to them and they were just not interested! 

It rained during the afternoon- the kids get so excited at first rains.  Rain at this time of the year really changes the atmosphere – it was lovely.  Though when I got home it had been quite windy so we have a little maintenance to do in our yard.

Meanwhile, inside, us mums were busy folding and being inspired with the many options for lapbooking.  We actually stayed for an extra hour as we got talking about other important things (as mums do!!)

I rushed home – feeling very tired – to find that my older two had got the house in order, they hadn’t started dinner, not knowing what was for dinner (that will teach me to have my menu easily accessible for all!).  The laundry was in and folded (before the storm happened) so we had 1.5 hours before ladies would be arriving for the Mums Support Meeting I call Connect.   We had a quick dinner of Ravioli (bought stuff) and salad, with fruit for dessert.  The kids ate down in the family room so I could keep working on my thoughts.

7.30 arrived, I was still sweeping and damp mopping the floor when my friends arrived.  (I like to slide over my floor with two damp rags under my feet – this keeps my floor clean inbetween times when I get to mop).  We sat down with our cuppa and talked about big picture stuff – Starting as we wish to Continue – which will be the topic of my Live Life with your Kids Newsletter this week.