Well, we are into our 3rd week of taking a break from academics ~ I've really needed it, some down time from the routine of lessons, and we've had a mix of days and activities. The Netherlands is in the middle of summer vacation so all the school kids are on break which has meant playdates and some sleepovers for us.

The first week our three older children were at their various scout camps (not sure if I update you about that yet) ... they had a blast and came back very tired. Jassy has been invited to train as a patrol leader next year so as you can imagine she's nervous but mainly excited about the thought of taking on a patrol leader role. Jackson and one of his little friends had a day together at the Aviodrom (air museum) ... that was a great day.

In the second week we chilled out, going to the park when the weather was good, sleeping in and generally being slobs around the home ~ haha don't ya just love those PJ days!

Week three has been busy! Sunday found us out in row boats in the middle of the most glorious nature with our friends the Middendorfs. I hope to have some piccies up soon. Wednesday we were at the beach ... it had been awhile and we all took in too much of the sun's rays ... poor Marcel was in the worst shape, especially his feet :-( ... dispite the sunburn we had a wonderful day together enjoying the sun, sand and water. Yesterday was a day at Artis, Amsterdam's zoo, which is an older zoo but we has a fascinating time with another family who are visiting Amsterdam for the summer.

Next week is our last week of holidays before getting back into the more formal side of our learning -- it's going to quickly!! ;-)

This was an activity that the kids did with their scout unit some months back. Check out these incredible creatures!

Another smaller variety

Amazing birds!

Look at this beauty

Looking at this guy look at us you it's difficult to believe he is an incredibly efficient hunter

European Owl

This afternoon we popped into the Jewish Historical Museum. Just intending our visit to be a short one to check out what was there for a future visit ... and as we all know, there are times when good intentions can sometimes go astray. Our 'short' visit lasted about 3 hours. As part of the museum there is a childrens museum that has brilliant hands-on experiences for the children, from cooking our own challah (kosher bread), to seeing video-presentations of how a Jewish family in the Netherlands would practise the sabbath, to playing musical instruments. Next time we visit I hope to sign us up for some of the workshops as they sound like a lot of fun too! We also enjoyed some kosher almond buttercake from the cafe YUMMY! Towards the end of our visit we walked around the Great Synagogue checking out and admiring the many beautiful items on display. So this museum will dovetail in nicely with our Old Testement unit study!

Not going to try and catch up with other entries rather jumping in with what I can do at the moment. This was something special for our family! We have some of the most amazing animals in Australia and in our reading we've come across hedgehogs and seen pictures. Well, on this day we got to see one in real life!

Our friends found him in their backyard and brought him along for us to see!!

We all could have a hold!

Couldn't resist throwing this piccie in!

Outside the Museum ~ poor Jassy was trying to smile with a split lip.

Today was an excursion to the van Gogh museum! The children's audio-tour was fascinating and we all got to learn about this incredible artist's life.  The vibrant colours and images where brilliant to see in these paintings!

Michael's favourite painting was the Courting Couple "I think it's amazing how he did that painting using dots" 

Jasmine enjoyed the Japanese influence on Vincent's career and "how he did the palm trees, they were very Japanese"

Samantha wasn't sure what she liked most about Vincent van Gogh's paintings. But she can sure say his name in a very dutch, guttural sounding way!

At home we went into alot more detail about his life reading from the Adventures in Art book about van Gogh.

One of the guys from church (who has just finished his Art History thesis) offered to give anyone who was interested a Rembrandt Tour. Well, of course, WE were INTERESTED!!

We started the tour outside Centraal Station with a quick introduction to Rembrandts childhood in Leiden. Then caught a tram to Muntplein where we walked up a street close by where Rembrandt had one of his houses. It was here that we popped into a Hotel to see where Rembrandt's 'Night Watchmen' had hung at one stage! The original house had been owned by the commander who had commissioned Rembrandt to produce this painting for him.

In this hidden away section of the hotel there is only a photograph on the wall where the painting hung ~ the little bit of brick wall seen is an original part of the wall from Rembrandts time period. That was pretty cool to see!

Our little group then walked the back-streets to Rembrandthuis where he lived, worked and was a collector of eclectic artifacts. He spent about 20 years of his life in this very extravagant house.

Kiddos on the front steps.

This multi-level house is AMAZING to see! The basement kitchen to the attic gives a wonderful sense of this period of Rembrandts life, especially the wealth and recognition he enjoyed. As the tour when on we learned more about his life and Rembrandt the man. Each room is a feast indeed of art works - by other artists - he enjoyed collecting and his own works of art!

We were given an incredible look into how an etching was produced by Rembrandt and his professional tools of the trade. We were even given the etching from the demostation to take home with us!

After leaving the house we sat out the front and listened to the narration about the end of his life and how he died a poor man.

Right next to Rembrandthuis is Rembrandts Corner so we sat down for a coffee and a relaxing chat.

We were all enriched by these couple of hours!

We've had a busy couple of days! With some new routines to nurture and maintain I've made a move towards an idea explained to me at the last Big Picture conference in Sydney, the idea of Plan A and Plan B of routines and scheduling. Belinda explains this concept on her website

 so much better than I do!

I feel we are at a stage now where some routines can be successfully put into practise. We are in our new home, grocery shopping is becoming more routine, we are making friends and learning about how their week usually pans out, I'm getting more regular sleep, and we really do need to get back into predictable tabletime. Our family is starting to fall into a new natural rhythm. Now it's time to start tweaking those areas that remain a frustration to us. The other thing I have been doing in a relaxed way is observing the children individually and discussing those observations with Marcel and he with me. Marcel has been taking on our family devotional/discussion time after dinner most nights! He will read something from the Bible, we will talk about what we understand the passage to be saying, what relevancy it has to us personally and ways to practise what it is saying. When my brain is especially tired I love to sit back and watch the interaction!

I am not a person that works well with lots of structure but I do need a plan! Especially, a flexible plan. And having our children involved in real life has always been a major motivator for us to homeschool. That's why this Plan A/Plan B framework appealed to me so much and fitted into my world-view like a hand in a glove.

Making a good, fresh start is a great feeling! This week I sat down with the kids to discuss the new plan and my expectations of them. Once the days get a bit more bedded down I hope to post our-ongoing-work-in-progress routine.

I'm also excited about the resources we will be using. Out of necessity we have become more online resource focused (ebooks, computer programs and games, web-based curriculum etc) and I'll continue to assess how that is going with the kiddos learning. I ordered the copywork books from Downunder Literature http://www.downunderlit.com/ this week so I'm looking forward to incorporating that into the other stuff I have planned for the kiddos! I really feel we are now moving in a good direction with the academics and that side of our learning.

Behind the city of Cairns is nestled a mountain range, so the urban sprawl is having to spread north and south of the city area. Just over the mountains  is a World Heritage listed area called the Wet Tropics. The Wet Tropics starts north of Townsville going right up near Cooktown and it is some of the most amazing forest that I've had the privelge to see. And to think that it was there all along as I was growing up.

We ventured up that way today with the local homeschooling group, and for me the drive was hair-raising! The Morris Road hugs the mountain range for about 8 or so kilometres, slowly raising until we go up and over the mountain range to the other side..... so for most of the drive to our main destination, Copperlode Dam, we could look out over the side of the range onto the habour and city of Cairns.

At the start of the drive up

 There are no barriers on this road! so it was 40km all the way, yes indeed! We talked about those earlier people who created the road and the difficulties they faced. Then when we got over the other side we talked about the early explorers and the hardships THEY faced making their way through. Morris Road is named after the man who looked into Cairns' future and saw a need for an alternative water supply to the Freshwater Creek that was being use and one other souce. He was the one who put forward this area for a dam down the track. That was back in the 1930s. Copperlode Dam was finished around the mid-seventies.

A small section of the lake, the dam is to the right off the photo. This is the view that us parents had as we drank our cuppas and enjoyed Devonshire Tea!

The children played and explored nearby. 

I had heard about this program a couple of years ago now but never really persued it as I knew my children were too young at the time. We watch it today for the first time and I gotta say I'm really impressed with the depth of news coverage and the explaination of the issues that this program opens up for children. It's really fantastic!

In just one show here are just some of the issues that were discussed and explaned: raising world water levels and globe warming, the question of should prince Harry go to Iraq or not, making fuel out of coconuts to run cars, the Federal Budget, just to name a few!

The three older children were all able to discuss at least one of these issues with a new found knowledge of the issues and had started to form their own opinions. Now opinions change as we learn more and grow in understanding of current affairs so this is great beginning. BTN is definitely a keeper for us!

The girls spent some time with Oma and learning how to use the sewing machine.

The outcome: some pillows!

Wednesdays I've tried to make our letter writing day. Why Wednesday? For no particular reason except that it's in the middle of the week and I am more likely to get around to it then because it isn't the beginning to the week when I'm getting back into our relaxed routines and it isn't the end of the week where I'm rushing to get things done for the weekend.

Today, we managed to write a letter each and actually get them posted too!

The three older children and I spent the morning at the gardens doing the self-guided walk. We had such an enriching morning. All we did is observe and read little snippets from the guide about each plant. Michael had been recently reading up on Pandas so to see bamboo and a few different varieties was great. We didn't see the bamboo that Pandas eat of course but seeing something in real life, being able to touch and smell made a few more of those connections for him seem real.

Behind the children you can just make out the variety of orchid which is the largest in the world!

Marcel took the kiddos to the ANZAC Dawn Service on the Cairns Esplanade, this year they had the opportunity to experience this tradition outside of Canberra. The ceremony was simple and just as meaningful and each year the children find more to connect themselves to this way of remembering the sacrifice of those who have fought for our country. Then it was back to Grandma's place for a hot breaky.

Later that morning we headed up to Grandma's cousins who live in Mossman. John and Jocelyn have farmed sugar cane in Mossman for decades and their parents before them have done the same. They have been retired now, having sold their farm and live up on the hill overlooking the ocean, Port Douglas and the coastline heading up to the Daintree.

Michael loved the view and in the background you can see the little hill in Port Douglas

After a lovely morning tea we headed up to Mossman Gorge for a swim and lunch.

In the afternoon we joined back up with John and Jocelyn to visit one of their sons (Trevor) who lives with his wife (Carmen) on the old family farm. They have done some great work doing up the old home to make it liveable.

I loved the rustic look of the kitchen - they renovated out the back to have the kitchen here.

 Carmen is from East Germany and she had so many interesting stories to tell about growing up in East Germany and what she remembers when the wall came down and traveling into West Germany for the first time.

Mum and Carmen

This is Carmen's new venture. 500 Cocoa plants put in the weekend before and 500 plants were going in the next weekend. The sugar industry has been hit quite hard over the recent years so the Mossman region have made plans to build a chocolate factory in the next couple of year to help support the industry in the area. Hopefully these plants will produce a good harvest in a couple of years time!

We ended up getting back to my mum's place at about 7pm that night!

Driving up the Kennedy Highway into the mountain ranges behind Cairns you are venturing through some of the most beautiful rainforest around. As a child my recollections of a trip to Karanda was much longer than the short 20 minute drive up to this pretty, mountain village. The area has changed considerably to how I remember it but it's still beautiful and there is so much of interest to see!

The homeschooling group organised an activity to the Karanda Koala Gardens!

The kiddos had the opportunity to .....

 feed some of the animals

pat a koala

cuddle a python

(the mum's stood well back with these piccies!!)

After observing some of the other animals we all headed for a local park where the mum's could talk and the children could run and play.

Some weeks back I picked up Season 1 of Little House on the Prairie on DVD for $15. What a bargain! The kids and I have been enjoying a different episode most afternoons. We are now at a stage where the favourite ones are being revisited!

I just love this picture! We are in the middle of Cairns on the Esplanade up the airport end but you would never guess that we are practically in the middle of suburbia.

The Cairns homeschooling group meet most Mondays so we came along too.

Some exploring of the nearby Mangroves before directing the children back onto the beach.

the kiddos found a crab case. This got the children all excited and keen to find more crabs!

(Bit of an update: I'd mentioned about the kids finding this crab case. Crabs apparently 'molt' when their bodies get too big for their shell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_shell_crab and another good site http://www.dnr.state.md.us/baygame/bbc_molting.asp

Not sure if what we found was a crab molting or not. It was interesting to read about the life cycle of a crab so even though I'd grown up here in the tropics this was something new to me!)

Crab tracking and hunting is messy work!

There are many road signs that I take for granted in Australia like the 'beware of kangaroo' signs but this one was one that I hadn't seen for a while. In northern Australia (and in PNG) we have another big bird, different for the Emu, called the Cassowary. They have a helmet-shaped bone sticking out of the top of their heads so that running through the densely forested areas up here is relatively safe for them.

So for those of you who find these Aussie animal signs amusing here's one more to add to the list! 

So much has happened in the month of March that some overviews seem the best option.

We have been told that Marcel's dad is quite sick and that the best place for us is back in Oz so on the 4th March we flew from Amsterdam to London.

At the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Marcel's brother Paul and Paul's girlfriend Jiker helped us to the airport and saw us off. We were to fly to London spending an overnighter in there before flying out the next day.

 That afternoon saw us in flying into Heathrow, catching a train into Paddington Station on our way to the hotel we ran into a familiar bear

........ hopping on a bus we headed to the British Museum! We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering enthralled around this place of wonders.

The Great Hall ...... looking up through the ceiling we were able to see planes flying over.

A definite highlight seeing the Rosetta Stone!! Seeing this stone caused me to get all choked up, a lovely moment.

Some other highlights ....

The library!!!! A round room in the middle of the Great Hall. All books in this collection relate to the items held in the museum!

By the end of the day we were exhausted but happy with deeper connections with HIStory.

hi all!

How are you all going? We miss our family and friends back in Australia. I really want to take this time to say thanks to you all for skype calls, emails, comments on the blog, messages on egroups and boards etc. You have no idea how much this has encouraged us, made us laugh, and at times .... cry, strengthening our resolve in the things that we are doing. You guys have all been great THANKS SO MUCH!!

Today was a few first for us. The kids and I signed up for a craft activity. Doing craft is not new for us (though the kids would always love to be doing more than what we do ). In this case we traveled down to a town called Baarn. Lovely place. This meant leaving the apartment at 8.45am catching a bus, two trains and then a bus ...... two hours later we arrived at this place that does workshops for children. There are all sorts of machinery and craft materials that the children are able to go wild with making, building and decorating. So that was our first craft activity in a new country.

We also got to meet face to face for the first time other home educators. That was really fun and encouraging for me. I've been told that Amsterdam has a good sized home educating community in it, so I am looking forward to meeting up with more over Summer.

So check out the photos from todays venture into the Dutch countryside

Michael's brick house creation with foam roof and car (in the backyard)

Michael made some little wooden swords which you see here been painted

A Jas and Sam creation!

I was so pleased to see the two girls working on a project together ...... knowing just of different my girls are this was truly lovely to see.

The finished product!

Samantha loved using this machine that cut through foam

Building time ....... another fun activity that all the children enjoyed!

So home we go ....... it was raining on this leg of the journey but we were happy and content with what we had achieved that day! So it was one bus, two trains, one bus and we were home again!

Learning Nederlands (Dutch) is happening all around us, everyday. On the trams, in the shops, with new friends, on the phone, on egroups, everywhere! We have also been going through the Rosetta Stone program (CD) to help us along this path into a new language. Marcel has been in the thick of it at work and reaping the benefits of learning from native speakers. I have finally ventured onto some dutch egroups but figure I need to start somewhere and that this is a great place to start learning from native writers too. Knowing a few words is good and I look forward to the time where I can understand the sentence structures and some of the rest. Marcel is right when he says we just need to stop thinking in english and think the Dutch way. What's that old saying "Patience is a virtue"