Meri Mania

Chemist

2012-02-13T00:23:00.001+11:00

Biomes

2012-01-29T12:10:00.001+11:00

During our first "Homeschool meeting" a few weeks ago Meri asked to do science three times a week. I have been trying hard to comply. This weeks topics were Major Landforms and Biomes of the Earth and Air is a Mixture of Gases. We found a cute biome song on YouTube (actually there were a few, seems like it may have been a teacher training project to make an educational song about biomes) and followed it up with this fun and super easy activity.
I didn't manage to get any pictures of our explorations of oxygen, carbon dioxide and combustion but since we used baking soda and vinegar to produce carbon dioxide the children both wanted to continue experimenting with those things afterwards.

Beach day

2012-01-18T18:56:00.001+11:00

Museum Jan 3rd

2012-01-04T21:17:00.001+11:00

Sorting stick insect eggs again, are you surprised?
Meri had a charming exchange today with a museum volunteer who decided to teach her the difference between Tawny Frogmouths and Powerful Owls. After a quick & insightful response to each of the volunteer's questions, "Very Clever!" was the diagnosis. While Meri enjoyed the praise and visibly puffed up, it confirmed for me that our decision to avoid that kind of praise as much as possible has been the correct one for her. She is already a perfectionist by nature, she doesn't need her concept of own self-worth to become dependent upon what she knows. That way quitting lies. In case clever is a word that slips off your tongue easily; something along the lines of "Wow, you know a lot about owls. Do you like them?" would suffice.

...

2012-01-03T14:57:00.001+11:00

I hate iTunes

2012-01-03T13:44:00.001+11:00

I need to updated Evernote on my phone. My phone is full of photos. iTunes is annoyingly pernickety about which computer one can sync to. Paul's laptop needs a new power thingy. My phone is usually synced to Paul's laptop. I don't want to lose everything else in my phone. Thus, I can't sync to the music computer. I can't get any kind of bulk uploader app working on my phone. The quick & easy blogger app is the easiest way I have of moving photos somewhere else. Thus, you may expect a whole lot of random photo filled posts.

Caterpillar Sandwhich

2011-12-26T11:32:00.001+11:00

I really need to recycle this old practice chart Meri and I made for the first Twinkle variation but I feel a little sentimental, so a photographic record is in order.

Prehistoric Baking

2011-12-26T11:07:00.001+11:00

Meri has been asking questions about the formation of the earth so we have been watching Earth - the making of a planet by the National Geographic channel. So far trilobites have just appeared so we decided to try our hand at Trilobite Cookies.
Both little people helped make the coconut cookies (hence the variety of sizes). After that though, Meri got distracted by some live entomology. Once she realised there was actual chocolate involved the moth somehow lost it's appeal.

Sickie Science

2011-12-02T17:52:00.001+11:00

Meri has had a ferocious fever and although she is still unwell, nothing says feeling better quite like "I want to do an experiment.".

Concert photos

2011-11-29T21:10:00.000+11:00

Concert

2011-11-26T23:36:00.001+11:00

The obligatory dressing room shots. Especially because I was only using my phone for photos and it doesn't cope well with stage lighting. A concerted effort shall be made to bring a real camera to tomorrow's concert. The last one makes me laugh. The can of drink is not hers (almost certain she has never drunk from a can in fact), but it is such a dressing room scene.

Ballet concert week

2011-11-23T16:02:00.001+11:00

Today is a midweek rest day in what us rather a big week for Meri (and thus for Aleifr). Yesterday she had her beloved drama workshop, followed by lunch out with Daddy, half an hour at home then out again for her dress rehearsal for this weekend's concerts. Tomorrow is another rehearsal then a rest day before performances on Saturday and Sunday. The smaller hall that serves as a dressing room is extremely resonant and while taking photos of Meri in her costume was entertaining for both children, Aleifr in particular was struggling with the noise. He didn't really ever make it out of that overstimulated state for the rest of the day and thus his sleep last night was virtually non-existant. Yawn.

Science lover

2011-11-19T22:09:00.001+11:00

Rhododendron Festival

2011-11-19T12:59:00.001+11:00

For once the sun was actually shining during Blackheath's town festival parade. Last year Meri had fun despite getting soaked, this year she had an absolute blast and is STILL sunburnt weeks later (oops!).
I didn't manage to get a decent photo of her in the actual parade because she was having so much fun she didn't hear me calling to we from the other side of the road. She is in the hat in the first photo.
Aleifr adored all the vintage fire trucks. Meri and I loves the pipe band, she was especially impressed by the long plaits all the girls playing drums had. She and I both want to join a pipe band as drummers. Not sure when we can make time for that!
Finally, what's a festial without fairy floss?

Halloween Fairy Princess

2011-11-19T12:36:00.001+11:00

A friend who us Californian and now that she has six children desperately misses her homestyle Halloween celebrations organised a party in the park followed by trick or treating along a road where residents had hung streamers outside to indicate they were involved. It was an absolute blast! I no longer care that it's six months out. We had so much fun that I can't wait until next year.
Oh and it seems fairies CAN fly afterall. Meri swung her way across the monkey bars with no help whatsoever. I'm quite sure I couldn't do that at 5.5.

School Room?

2011-11-02T17:43:00.000+11:00

OK, so everyone knows we are not the kind of homeschoolers who have a school room. Or are we?
Last week while P was in New Zealand I decided to tackle the playroom in some sort of weird deep cleaning fit. It is now pristine and much more useable (and thus much more used). Pics to follow.
The aftermath is however that I need another fit to come along and give me the energy to attack the school, er uh, dinning room. It already housed the microscope and a lot of other "schooly" stuff but the giant playroom purge meant quite a lot of other things had to find a more appropriate space. Something tells me it will look even less like a dinning room after the cleaning fit arrives...

Elements from a star - and the fallout

2011-09-20T01:24:00.001+10:00

This month at Young Starwatchers the children were playing with the "stardust" when we arrived. Only this time they added little bits of paper with the symbols for carbon, hydrogen and oxygen to the glitter. C explained she had left out helium for the time being as she didn't feel the children would find it relevant.
Jelly snakes were cut up and used to represent these elements. Of course jelly snakes were eaten as well. Then they used toothpicks to combine their lolly elements into molecules.
Later on the older children made models of the earth's crust using the much tamer medium of fimo. Aleifr needed quite some entertaining by this time so he and P made a monster.
Oh the fallout? Well both children fell asleep shortly after getting into the car to drive home and transferred easily to bed once home. All seemed well - until Meri started vomiting between one and two am and didn't stop until nearly dawn. No more jelly snakes for her!

Specimen Display

2011-09-12T23:17:00.001+10:00

All this excavation (both in our backyard and in the little kits we *have* to buy from the museum shop) is creating quite the collection of treasured little bits and pieces. Keeping such treasured items safe becomes somewhat of a problem when you have a little brother to whom "little bits and pieces" are completely irresistible.
Here is DIY shadow box frame no.1.

Back to the museum

2011-09-12T22:32:00.000+10:00

While we were at the museum last weekend P saw a flyer for a scientific drawing class he was quite interested in. Since he would be in class from 10 till 4 we would be at the museum with "nothing" to do. Ha! As expected neither child was really ready to go when 4pm came.
Meri spent an entire hour sifting through stick insect poo with tongs and picking out eggs. This was my view of her in between chasing A around the rest of search and discover.

More photos on my blog.

Saturday's museum = Sunday's excavation

2011-09-04T13:06:00.001+10:00

A weekend of Science and Singing

2011-08-28T23:38:00.001+10:00

Meri has become quite adept at making her own microscope slides when something grabs her curiosity but she still likes a little help. So when Paul started making one out of a dead fly on Saturday morning she was over the moon. They ended up spending a good few hours playing microscope and even spied a few Protozoa from out pond water.
The BFSU topic I wanted to cover this week was maps so I was pleased to get a head start this morning when she wanted to read one of the library books on maps. We were both quite impressed with this particular book which has lots of hands on activities so if her enthusiasm continues I may be roped into making an underwater 3D relief and even a trundle wheel. Ah, the trundle wheel. So many school students spending so many hours measuring the same bit of bitumen. How could I possibly think we could homeschool without our own trundle wheel? Not to worry, our trusty library book has instructions for making both full sized and mini versions.
Then for a complete segue in our weekend Meri and I listened to the final concert of the Blackheath Choir Festival.

Telescope

2011-08-24T18:40:00.001+10:00

Oh the excitement! We took her for a trial run last night but we are really, really hoping for clear skies on the weekend when P can join us.

Comets

2011-08-15T00:23:00.001+10:00

I only managed two photos of this months Young Starwatchers as my phone was nearly flat and we needed to be contactable so Paul could pick us up.
As usual it was lots of fun. Here is Meri having a blast with her comet in the "solar wind".

Back to ballet

2011-08-11T00:42:00.001+10:00

A few shots from this week's lesson with the lively Ms Angela.
I've become somewhat disenchanted with Networked Blogs automatically posting Meri's blog to my facebook page. So this post is also a test to see if I've successfully stopped that. Although it's more time consuming, I think I prefer to put up individual posts myself.

Science Club

2011-08-08T17:25:00.001+10:00

Almost a month late with this post, it's been an intense month here. We are off to Macquarie uni again this Friday and everyone is looking forward to it.
Last month they did a lot of activities related to the moon - making craters in cornflour, models of the inside, acting out the orbit and more. Aleifr really enjoyed getting more involved as you can see.
Meri was really impressed with all the NASA printouts they were given and spent the next afternoon carefully glueing them into her book.

Breadmaker

2011-07-13T11:48:00.001+10:00

Paul has been gradually perfecting his sourdough since we moved here. The latest development though, is that we all agree the best bread comes from dough made by Meri.

States of matter vs denatured proteins

2011-07-01T12:13:00.001+10:00

Around here Fridays are "fry-days" and mean pancakes for breakfast. Meri always helps to make them. As we were sitting down to eat our pancakes this morning she asked "Why do they go hard when they get hot?" I tried a lame "Because they get cooked."
"No," she said, rolling her eyes "it's liquid, shouldn't it turn into gas?"
"Oh..."
Hmmm. So I tried my best to blather on about heat denaturing proteins, using examples of lots of things we've cooked lately but I had to admit pretty much failed. She wanted to *really* understand and that's kind of impossible without a whole lot of background information she doesn't have yet. So I suggested watching the Magic Schoolbus episode where the bus gets baked in a cake. It didn't answer her question either, but it did send her happily running to me afterwards asking to do her favorite chemistry experiment. Magic Schoolbus, baking soda, vinegar and balloons to the rescue!

Giant Marimba Tree

2011-06-30T15:14:00.001+10:00

Meri and Aleifr both love to play in the trees outside the hall she has ballet in. Today Meri climbed up to a higher than usual perch, grabbed two sticks and started experimenting with the sounds of the branches. Then she pulled off quite a convincing rendition of both Old Macdonald and Row, row, row. Cool.
Which reminds me, she wasn't particularly impressed with her long awaited lyre. Apparently it "sounds like a banjo" and not at all like the extremely large and expensive concert harp she actually wants. She did however, teach herself to play Old Macdonald on it!

Under the Sea

2011-06-26T23:01:00.001+10:00

Meri has quite an interest in all things marine, which may well be our fault for naming her Queen of the Sea. So she was understandably excited when she found out our local homeschooling co-op was hosting a hands on exploration of marine animals.
Aleifr was mildly interested but he also found far more important things to do.

Magnified Fashion

2011-06-15T23:23:00.001+10:00

Most likely I will forget to link this up to Owletmama's mini-fashionista series. Remind me if you like...

Today's reading "lesson"

2011-06-06T22:06:00.001+10:00

We've done these a handful of times since I posted about it previously. It really is a lot more about "checking in", providing a moment for connection amid the busy day and about bolstering her confidence than about actual instruction. So I admit that I don't make an effort to do it regularly, preferring that she asks. However a chance encounter at the library led me to surmise that these "lessons" are more important to Meri than I thought. We ran into a neighbour with children the same age who started school this year. Neighbour asked if I was "teaching her to read"? I started to explain that I didn't really need to do much teaching and it was happening naturally as is to be expected from a child raised in a literature rich environment...when I was cut short by Meri who exclaimed "She gives me a reading lesson every day!".
Hmm, ok. So we'll try to do the more often from now on.

In any case here is today's. The camellia petals and the fur hat were not staged, or at least not by me. That's just how I found it when I came back in from tidying the kitchen.
Oh, the drawing depicts the wind and a pile of snowballs.

Dangerous Child

2011-06-05T09:51:00.001+10:00

CPR

2011-05-24T18:46:00.001+10:00

Today Meri attended a CPRHelp workshop organised by a local homeschooling group.
She chose to sit out the actual CPR practice on dummies as I think it was all a bit overwhelming by then, but she enjoyed learning all the previous steps.
We have the casualty half-way into the rescue position, trying hard to keep he eyes shut.
The rescuer working on getting the casualty into the position.
And of course the all important certificate. Where she got her newfound love of certificates from I'll never know.

Friday

2011-05-21T00:39:00.001+10:00

Great title huh? I think time for a catch-up post as I have a lot of photos I need to post and clear off my phone.
Meri's themes lately have been:
* science - "can we do some more science experiments?"
* fairies of course - painting, colouring and tracing them. Very occasionally playing with them
* ballet - as if that's news to anyone
* digging for treasure in the backyard. I'm so pleased the indoors. Hold has an outdoor pastime. She still won't go out there voluntarily of course but once outside will happily excavate for about an hour.
Today's science request was for "messy experiments that needed to be done outdoors". Great from my perspective since it equated to even more outdoor time after she was tired of digging. I gave them an assortment of stuff and set them up on the concrete ledge that has become our outdoor science station. Not surprisingly, out of all the ingredients they experimented with baking soda and vinegar (with yellow food colouring) was by far the favorite. They ended up using an entire box of baking soda and a litre of white vinegar. They advantage of that for me was that the resulting overflow cleaned up last week's stubborn corn flour and water goop mess. You can see the goop evidence on the ground in the outdoor science photo. Thanks to lots of fizzing and some scrubbing by the little people it's all gone now.
Last week when it was *really* cold we bought a bag of kindling which turned out to be full of little triangular wedges. We had to find another way to light the fire as neither child was in the least bit interested in letting their new challenging blocks be burnt. Meri mastered the art of balancing the thin edges of the wedges together to make circular houses. I think we'll keep those kindling blocks for quite some time.

Babywearing

2011-05-15T18:08:00.002+10:00

Who said five is too old?

A thoroughly British Birthday Bash...Bliss (and co)

2011-05-14T23:11:00.012+10:00

Today was part 1 of the birthday ballet adventure (with the next part coming soon). Let's wind back the clock to yesterday shall we?

M woke up in the morning complaining of a headache and asking for a hot waterbottle to put on her head. For most of the day she was totally incapacitated with a fever and whimpering headacheness. It got so bad that we decided that something had to be done and so went to fetch panadol, just to make her pain free enough to manage the trip to the doctor. I'll bet you can't guess what the upshot of that was? "hmmmm, let's just call it tonsilitis" and a prescription for...drum roll please...in fact I won't even bother, you know well enough. So we filled the script, had some dinner and came home.

We discussed antibiotics and natural human immunity with M in order to help her make the choice about what to do. She decided (hurrah hurrah) to forgo the ab's and see how she felt in the morning.

To help her get to sleep we did a little bit of a relaxing, cleaning the illness from the body kind of visualisation and after a bit of Milly, Molly, Mandy she was hot, but sleeping.

We woke up this morning and...mother come quickly, look it's M, she's...she's...cured!

So it was off to ballet for us. Of course we left it just a little bit too late. The last 40 minutes of the drive was typical Sydney Saturday hell. We pulled into the OH car park at 1.23 for a 1.30 start, ran to the box office. "Name, quickly"..."um, Pa...lost tickets" (because they hadn't arrived"..."never mind, what's your name..."..."Smith"...reaches into her little card file and hands me my tickets. Bravo SOH box office, jolly good show....running, running, ushers hurrying us along is a way I haven't seen since the BA ground staff were waiting for me on the other side of customs to dash me to the plane all those years ago..."Hurry up, we've been waiting for you" they all seemed to say. At the bottom of the stairs "quickly now they're about to start, which door?"..."this one"..."oh, ok, you're ok, you've plenty of time".

Sit down
Lights down
Applause
Overture

Let's call it a most efficient use of time.

M loved it despite being a bit mystified by what was going on. There were lots of questions all the way through, mostly wanting to know which pieces were which, and what they were doing. Whether the swords were real. To be reassured that the Black Queen wasn't really going to kill the Red Knight. She seemed reasonably happy with the 84th performance of Checkmate.

Hungry, hungry, hungry...but we love the triple bill. Just enough time for California rolls and Juice.

She didn't really get the greyness of After The Rain, and I think had trouble with Tabula Rasa (Paert). She's always struggles with melancholy sounding music (she once took her tea in the doorway of a restaurant here, because the music was too sad). She tolerated the Pas de Deux, which I must say was one of the highlights of the performance for me. Not only for the dance which was quite beautiful , then for the opportunity to indulge in a bit of audience watching (an old habit of mine in that place).

She really loved Concerto (music Shostakovich 2nd Piano Concerto). "Especially the fast bits" she confided. Once again many questions. My favourite, spoken out loud..."What are they supposed to be?" I shrugged. "I think the Yellow ones are happy, smiling sunflowers...and the red ones are roses". Oh for the mind of a 5 year old.

As I've written elsewhere she was getting a bit wriggly and bored by this stage, understandable really. But by about 2 minutes into the Andante, once again a beautiful Pas de Deux she was sitting silently, watching completely silently and stayed that way until the end of the movement.

So it's done.

"Excuse me, excuse me, the theatre is closed now. No Photography in the theatre please."
(bugger)

I think she liked it

After considering the brief possibility of hanging around for Chunky Moves last performance of Connected we decided that it was probably all a bit too much and decided instead to head home and take mama and A out for dinner instead.

So we stopped off for a quick pre trek treat at our favourite gelateria (our previous favourite has weg gegangen):

In those rare post performance moments, when she isn't paying attention, if you're lucky you can catch a small glimpse of the real Miss M channelling the essence of the very characters with whom she has just held court:

Black Queen takes Red Knight

5th Birthday in Pictures

2011-05-11T20:33:00.000+10:00

Photography

2011-05-10T00:07:00.001+10:00

Yes, the cable has been located. I've mentioned before that I love finding photos Meri has taken on the big camera. Here are some from late Summer.

Five

2011-05-08T22:39:00.001+10:00

No, not a birthday post. Not yet. Those photos are on the real camera - the one that requires the locating of a cable to upload images. In any case we are still recuperating from Aleifr's breif but exhausting bout of gastro on Friday night.
So just a photo. Mostly for Nana.

Marine Life

2011-05-04T23:39:00.001+10:00

Meri has been very interested in marine creatures for a while now. Last week she noticed that a character in a magic Schoolbus book made sea anemones out of toothpicks and playdough. So what did she want to do next morning? Thank goodness for the invention of air drying clay.

Reading and confidence

2011-04-18T14:13:00.001+10:00

After a burst of interest early in the Summer, lately Meri has been much more interested in numbers and science (and Tinkerbell and iview) than reading. Apart from the coming and going concerns about her eyesight (she's been complaining of a foggy eye occasionally and sometimes asks to get her eyes tested - yes, we will), this hasn't been a concern. I see no reason to push it. In fact if she hadn't led us to unschooling I would probably be going the Waldorf route of waiting until seven. But....today I discovered the lack of interest is partly at least a lack of confidence. She told me she wasn't very good at reading. I reassured her that for someone who is not quite five she is in fact rather good at it and asked how she would like to learn more. I started to list some options but I didn't get very far because once I suggested I teach her with formal lessons she was begging me to start straight after lunch.
Here is our first "reading lesson". I chose all words I knew she could already read. Wrote them in her book, she read the first sentence, then copied repeat for the second.
As for where the lack of confidence came from I have a feeling she pushed herself too hard at the start of Summer. She borrowed four or five Fitzroy Phonics readers a week from the library and read through them. No matter how hard I tried though she would only read each one once so as they are cumulative she moved beyond her comfort zone pretty quickly and persevered quite a way past that before getting discouraged.

Science Club

2011-04-16T13:29:00.000+10:00

Last night we tried out a monthly activity at Macquarie University and had an absolute blast. Here is their spiel:

"promotes the scientific education of young children and their
families through hands on experience of scientific concepts and processes.
The programme's objective is to seek relevant and enjoyable ways to teach complex science understandings to
the youngest child and the oldest adult: to make science and astronomy available to young children."

We all really enjoyed it even though Meri didn't get to watch the black hole video that the teacher/facilitator/leader promised her in answer to her question about how strongly black holes pull. I guess they'll get to that next month (in any case I think Meri was testing her since I'm pretty sure she's told a friend of Paul's all about it in the past).

Talking about the recent events in Japan. Meri got splashed by a tsunami (accidentally) and had to take of her tights for the remainder of the session.

The T/F/L talking about galaxies. I feel fine about posting these photos since a) I don't think any other children are recognisable and b) note the other parent on the right of the photo...

Mr. Blue Wig in the lab coat is a (maybe 15/16 year old?) graduate of the programme who comes back to present. He was lots of fun.

Aleifr didn't like the lights being turned off. Meri was wrapt though.

Catch Up Post

2011-04-16T13:16:00.000+10:00

Much to my chagrin Meri has discovered ABC iview (darn you ABC!) and whilst I console myself that her literacy and computer skills have improved to a point where she can open a laptop, find google and search for it completely unaided...I still am not happy that we now have a "television" available whenever we are home. No matter how hard I try I simply cannot "deschool" completely about television. So today when I decided to upload some photos from my phone and discovered photographic evidence that she has in fact done a few things other than watch iview in the last couple of weeks, it seemed a good idea to post some of the evidence on the blog. Mainly to remind myself next time I throw a tantrum about how much iview is happening...

The magnets below were my project and are now on our freezer. Surprisingly she does actually refer to them quite often and has even been known to put them back in order when Aleifr gets to them.

Some of the positions for the new level of ballet syllabus she started a few weeks ago.

And her favourite position at ballet - right in front of the heater.

Hanging with the bro.

The latest op-shop find. She loves it!

Hmmm, not up to their usual standards...

Colouring Lesson

2011-04-13T12:55:00.002+10:00

She who really wasn't particularly interested in either drawing or colouring until at least 3.5 gets quite frustrated with her little brother's slapdash (and much enjoyed approach). So today she decided he needed a colouring lesson.

Mushrooming Day

2011-04-03T21:55:00.000+10:00

Meri was so excited to head out for the first mushroom picking day of the season. She's been waiting all year for Autumn to come back so we can hunt mushroms.

A gorgeous "ramble in the woods" and a small but satisfying haul of about 16 saffron milkcaps

Comprehension at 21 months

2011-03-29T01:23:00.000+11:00

I saved this as a draft last week and have no explanation other than life for why it hasn't been posted yet...

While admittedly not so verbal as his sister was as a young un', Aleifr has always amazed us with his receptive language. There doesn't seem to be anything at all he doesn't understand. In one of those moments of amazement tonight Paul asked him;
"Is there anything you don't comprehend?"
Aleifr (with an an exasperated "oh Daddy, really!" kind of face)
"No!"

Song School Latin chapter 2

2011-03-27T12:44:00.001+11:00

This took two sessions almost a month apart since she only does it when she feels like it (of course). I must say, I was impressed by how much she remembers.

Sunshine

2011-03-23T12:13:00.001+11:00

I think we'd almost forgotten what it looks like. Even the indoors loving child is enjoying some time in the sun today.

Blue Mountains Food Co-op Party

2011-03-23T00:16:00.001+11:00

Kindlehill school had such beautiful face painting.

Manly

2011-03-22T01:47:00.004+11:00

On the weekend gd had a pressing engagement so M and A got to spend the day with...me. We were a bit worried about attached lillies missing mama, but the expected storm passed us by with little more than a nod in that direction. Of course it's no substitute, and I would never suggest so, but "cow milk" was a funny game when "mama milk" came to mind.

Saturday was swimming at Ian Thorpe in Ultimo, so sorry no photos possible with 1 parent and 2 overly confident yet somewhat under capable children. M was the social butterfly as usual, giving out our address and collecting others. We haven't quite progressed to writing them down yet, but eventually I'm quite sure most children from the mountains to the sea will know how to get in touch with M, and will of course me most welcome for a play date any time.

On Sunday we had many, many things planned but managed nought but a ferry ride to Manly, an impromptu play date with a long lost, 9yo friend and apparently fellow budding scientist and musician, and dinner before heading back. Apparently the feature of the day for M was on the way back at night seeing the green light from a lighthouse she had spied earlier on the way over. Apparently collecting jellyfish, being mesmerised by a funk band in a bar and going off on a solo shopping adventure to the newsagent with Mr 9 had faded into the day.

We had a great weekend. It was a bit sad to climb back on t'mill today.

Mini Haha

2011-03-16T22:32:00.000+11:00

Microscope

2011-03-16T22:22:00.000+11:00

During our time away from Paul (he went to QLD while we were in Tas and Vic) Meri was of course looking forward to being reunited with him. Sometimes it seemed however, that she was looking forward even more to what she knew he was bringing back from Brisbane. When we met up with him at Sydney airport her first words were something along the lines of "Hello Daddy, where's my microscope?". Of course he'd hidden it behind the bin he was standing next to. Meanie.

Our first morning back in Sydney was spent exploring as many things as we could manage to get in focus and from then until Monday was spent in eager anticipation of her slides. A prepreared kit of which so far we've only examined the insects and the human stuff (blood cells, brain, liver etc).
The honey bee mouth was quite striking and I'm rather proud of myself for managing to take a photo through the microscope.

Melbourne Zoo

2011-03-13T22:24:00.001+11:00

Yes, the blog still hasn't made it home yet and we've been here for a week. Takes time to catch up and in any case one must save the best till last.

So, the zoo was magnificent fun. Both littles adored it and the smallest one happily toddled from animal to animal thoroughly enjoying himself until

this

Then he made it perfectly clear that we were not going ANY further. In fact he WAS NOT taking one step away from the "little one car". So after reading and rereading the sign that said photo ID was required to hire the prams/strollers (and I could only assume the cars that were parked with them) I trudged into the shop prepared for an argument. Anyone who knows me well in real life will know a) I don't carry photo ID and b) I'd rather walk away than waste time arguing with a service worker. However the lovely young man smiled and said "a medicare card will do". Thus, Aleifr viewed the rest of the zoo from his triumphant perch.

Meri tried out a few positions since she couldn't be left out (she really would have prefered we hired a double stroller). Eventually she found one that provided optimum animal viewing and ease of (sort of!) pushing for Mama.

Random Melbourne Pictures

2011-03-11T22:46:00.000+11:00

Lunch at a funny little cafe we found on Johnston St which reminded me a lot of a certain warehouse in Hobart.

Destroying the garden of an expensive restaurant in Geelong (it was closed). Also in Geelong, the BEST playground ever made.

There were so many nooks and crannies to explore and towers to climb, not to mention three different kind of suspension bridge, many slides and multiple heights of flying foxes. It was awesome!

The Ancient One

2011-03-07T20:42:00.000+11:00

That's what he calls himself anyway. He seemed in high spirits for our visit despite it coming in the midst of a mini health crisis for him. He insisted on shouting us lunch at a place that specialises in pancakes. Needles to say both little people were more than happy to oblige.

Melbourne Museum

2011-03-06T23:21:00.000+11:00

Ah Melbourne. Apparently I really really love my hometown. I had no idea, until we got there the Friday before last. Wow. It really is a brilliant place. Decent public transport, decent coffee (VERY important), plenty of green space in the city. I could go on and on of course. One thing I discovered that really made me smile even though I couldn't take advantage of it is that the huge new museum is free, yes FREE to children under 16 (not just under 5 like here) and any adult with a concession card. Even without one it only cost me $8 to get in. Unfortunately the only day we had time to go was a Sunday so it was incredibly crowded and somewhat ovewhelming noise wise for both littles but they loved it never the less. Meri was quite upset we only managed to look through less than half of it before closing time.
Here she is expressing her joy at nearly getting there.

Finally inside. I was pleased that they put more effort into making the dinosaurs look amazing than making them seem scary. The museum in Sydney has really low lighting and stupidly unnecessary thunder sound effects that make the room too terrifying for Meri to enter even though she's always desperate to see the dinosaurs.

Aleifr found lots to love too.

They both enjoyed building this stalagmite over and over again.

The forest ecosystem exhibit was a huge hit. Meri was utterly entranced to find actual trees growing inside a buiding, that it had a waterfall and lake blew her away. Then we saw the tortoise, and the fish. Oh my.
Unfortunately the closing time announcement came far too early for any of us and we had to trundle back through my teenage/early twenties territory of Nicholson and Smith Sts towards grandad's house. In search or rocky road this time rather than, well perhaps I'd better not say. In any case Aleifr fell asleep in the ergo as we walked past countless cafes and bars and Meri decided that perhaps it might be fun to make rather than buy rocky road so we stopped in at Smith St Woolworths for chocolate and marshmallows. If you click on the link it takes you to Streets Online where you can stroll along a photo of Smith St. It's cute.

Collingwood Children's Farm

2011-03-04T14:57:00.002+11:00

This is where we spent most of our time in Melbourne so here are a few highlights. By the way, I'm finding blogging from the iPad to be a real pain so I appologise for the slideshows and other lazy posts.

CCF

Launceston in pictures

2011-03-01T21:03:00.000+11:00

Lazy recordkeeping

2011-02-16T14:24:00.000+11:00

When it got to that point in the day (you know, the one where it all goes pear shaped without some kind of intervention) I asked Meri if she wanted to do numbers or reading or latin.
"Latin!" she said with great enthusiasm.
"Colouring or Latin book?"
"Book."
So there you have it, she has completed the first lesson.

A little latin splurge

2011-02-13T00:05:00.000+11:00

More and more

2011-02-10T00:38:00.000+11:00

This morning after breakfast Meri asked for the watercolour supplies she got at art class yesterday

After one painting she was finished but she seemed to be at a loose end so I asked if she wanted to do some colouring. Colouring has been quite a feature of our days recently, as you might have noticed from earlier posts. She chose the "magistra" page from Song School Latin. We've been listening to the first few songs of SSL for a month or so now, whenever the urge strikes. Aleifr really likes it and will often request "shong". I can't say Meri loves it but she doesn't complain (and she'd certainly let us know if she objected), she asks what the words mean and seems to remember a couple. We haven't done anything from the accompanying workbook, though so I suppose colouring this page constitutes Meri's first official latin lesson lol.

Paul was really impressed that she seems to have picked up a few things from the thangka painting classes she has sat in on

As if a maiden voyage into the world of long dead imperialists and (very much alive) academic wankers wasn't enough, she then asked to do some of her electronics. So we made the ferry-boat sound project from the little kit she got fro Christmas (thanks Auntie S!) and used Wikipedia to answer her questions about capacitors (because Mama couldn't answer them, shame shame). No photos of that, my phone was busy with Wikipedia.

At some point early in the day she also requested a Magic School Bus video about dinosaurs and practiced violin (but not piano). Yes, it was an indoorsy kind of day. Maybe I'd prefer she use some of her ample physical energy outside but ultimately it's her choice and I guess it's to be expected after two big days out. I did manage to get her into the sunshine for some vitamin D twice. Once by requesting help finding where the chickens were hiding their eggs and once by letting her know that Aleifr was playing with the hose in their mud patch. The latter lasted a little longer than the former but still not much more than ten minutes. Another reminder to let go of the guilt for not "unschooling properly". Sure, she's four she should play. She does - her way.

As the post title implies; there's more. Later in the day I found her doing a phonics app on the iPad. Late afternoon while Paul was out and I was practicing flute she pulled out "Let's Learn Science, Year 2" and sat on the couch reading it to herself. When I came in she asked me to read a few pages to her which led to throwing a ball up as high as she could and exclaiming wildly about how she was pushing the ball up and gravity was pulling it down again. She was especially excited when she managed to throw it high enough that the loungeroom ceiling pushed it down again.

Around lunchtime I developed a killer headache and the day is a bit of a blur after that. I know she did two pages of her phonics workbook and a page of a maths book before dinner. She surprised me by choosing one of the writing heavy pages in the phonics book. Last time we did some I suggested skipping those pages since she requested the book for reading, not writing practice and writing often seems like it's pretty hard work for her. She has her own agenda though and obviously the freedom to change it as she sees fit.

Art Class

2011-02-09T22:47:00.000+11:00

On Sunday Meri made the last minute decision to join the art workshop running at the local homeschool co-op class for the next few weeks. Thankfully everybody was really helpful and not only did they squeeze her in but they had her supply kit organised too. I'm really grateful to them for sorting it all so quickly.

Class was followed by plenty of opportunity for free play for both children

(photos carefully selected so as to avoid showing the faces of other people's children)

Well I Never!

2011-02-07T17:13:00.000+11:00

Last night Meri wanted to go camping. Since she announced at 9pm it wasn't really possible. Instead I suggested we hang up blankets in the bedroom to pretend it was a tent. Going to sleep she told me she wanted to get up at dawn as one does when camping. To my utter surprise she did, without even setting an alarm. This is the child who never naturally wakes before 9am!
Even more surprising is where I found her just before 5pm. She had been colouring which isn't a particularly noisy activity so I didn't notice the lack of noise...

Nature study and a brainwave (and fairies of course)

2011-02-06T01:00:00.000+11:00

We found this little guy outside our back door.

So of course Meri wanted to make a record in her field journal before we sent him on his way with a blessing.

Later that day when it was far too hot to actually go outside I wrote down the list of outside jobs we needed to do on our new whiteboard which was still sitting near the back door. As I looked around for a place the whiteboard could live my eye fell upon the freezer and a whole new world opened up!

Of course the first thing Meri wanted to draw was our little friend.

I really don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. Oh well, drawing on the freezer is great fun and I realised I could also write shopping lists on the top teehee.

In other news we finally got around to putting Meri's "Fairies Welcome Here, Home" sign next to the little hollow log both children are sure must have fairies living in it. The log (if it can be called that - it's really quite small) is actually on the footpath about halfway along our block. I wonder if the occupants of that house (the human one, not the fairy one) have noticed yet and what they'll think when they do.

NOT Back to School Picnic

2011-02-01T23:31:00.000+11:00

This year's turn out was really BIG. These photos don't do it justice.

These two really enjoyed themselves. Both of them were really looking forward to playing with he delightful Miss R. They weren't disappointed, she was her finest most charming self. I'm sure they could happily have wiled away many more hours with her.

Why wait for a turn when you can share (with the much adored R no less)?

Relaxed parents chat in the shade.

A homeschool dad shares a peaceful moment with his son.

and a little boy (20 months already!!!!!!!!!) chases ducks long into the afternoon.

Dressed for dinner

2011-01-31T23:17:00.000+11:00

Isn't she adorable.

Recuperation

2011-01-28T01:15:00.000+11:00

It's been a busy week, what with family lunch and the museum on Sunday, lunch with old Sydney friends on Monday and all afternoon and evening Wednesday helping our lovely friends over at The Journeyers of Shalom build their bus. When I asked Meri on Wednesday night if she wanted to go to story time at the library in the morning she said she'd rather have a recovery day at home.
So what does an overstimulated four year old do to re-centre herself? Science of course.

OK, yes. The ruler scale thingy we made is not quite balanced in the first photo. That's entirely my fault. We still managed to get the desired result in the end. What I love love love about this is the way she runs of with the idea afterwards. Straight after the second photo was taken she was in the kitchen digging out the kitchen scales and pulling out every possible thing she could think of to weigh. We wrote it all down in her field journal (thanks to Disney's latest Tinkerbell movie for her inspiration for the field journal) so we now have a few pages worth of recorded weights of random items in our kitchen. Very important information.
Such a hot day today here. I admit to sin of all sins - turning on the hose for the children to play with. Firstly it was the only thing that managed to lure Meri outside into the heat and secondly, how could you not justify all that learning? Not only did she learn how to produce "the most perfect rainbows in the world" with the spray but she proudly told me that the water she had sprayed on the swing seat had evaporated. "Guess what Mama? That water has turned into gas!"
On other "schooly" notes she also did a page each of a phonics workbook and a maths one, watched a Magic School Bus video (did I mention we pretty much live & breathe MSB at the moment) and watched a Waldorf doll-making DVD with Paul. I was amazed at how interested she was in the last one. Brought on a little shower of mother-guilt for having such a lack of sewing skill to share with her.

Museum Day

2011-01-24T00:23:00.002+11:00

Today we headed into the dreaded Sydney heat for lunch with young Mr A and not quite so young Mr B. We ate vegetarian yumcha at Bodhi, yum! From there it's just a hop, skip and jump to the museum which is of course where Meri wanted to go.

Curriculum - cross-posted

2011-01-21T00:44:00.000+11:00

Yes, really. Reading around here and there always searching for something that fits M's latest interest I came across Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. Looked good, so I ordered it. Luckily it didn't take anywhere near as long as Amazon thought it would and I didn't have to wait until the 9th of February. It arrived a few days ago and yes, it actually is good. He quotes Alfie Kohn in the introduction so it has to be good right?
Anyway today we tried out the first activity. We found three big plastic containers and a bunch of stuff from the kitchen as well as a bounce-on ball (in lieu of a balloon). She enjoyed sorting them into "solids", "liquids", "gasses" so much that she then decided to sort all her animal toys into "insects", "mammals", "others" and then asked me to find her something else to sort. I found some puzzle and tangram pieces and she sorted them into "one sided", "three sided" and "four sided".
Much, much, much fun was had.

Oh look, 200 posts in this blog!

Face Painting

2011-01-21T00:08:00.000+11:00

Above was at Ramblesmith's first face painting gig which is a tale in itself. M wasn't particularly happy about having to wait in line for her turn with all the other children. Luckily there were pony rides and jumping castles to distract her.

I think this is my favourite.

The smaller subject is not so co-operative...

Meri's turn.

That magical reset button...

2011-01-20T16:36:00.005+11:00

Meri has increasingly been into movies of late. Well it started with DVD's then youTube, then downloaded videos etc, etc, etc...This was somewhat challenging for us as we have eschewed TV for quite some time. I for one think that the Arts should be engaged with, rather than simply consumed (but that's another matter), and they certainly shouldn't become, on balance, a gross consumer.

The point is that we were constantly challenged by M's behaviour after any period of movie watching. So eventually we decided to reduce the amount of time spent to 1 movie per day at the most. This challenges us to provide stimulation and generally keeps things on more of an even keel. It still however didn't overcome the psychological instability directly after watching. We would have let it go but it's normally little brother who bears the brunt, which is just unfair.

A friend of ours returned from travels lately and in our conversation asked how we all were, and this very issue came up. She, a well known psychologist, suggested that it wasn't the content, or even the activity that was the problem, rather the speed of delivery that causes problems. A movie is, after all, a pastiche of individual scenes and shots edited together by someone called a continuity editor. Having toyed with composing for film for a while I know that it is very rare for a single shot to last more than 5 seconds, 2 seconds in children's content being quite regular. Regular and relentless.

I read recently in a magazine that "visual media" was the problem and the best approach was to remove it from a child's life. While part of me did a little joyful jig upon reading this, there was another part that was very uncomfortable. It is every child's right (I might even suggest reponsibility) to engage with the world and it's various manifestations and representations. While I'm comfortable with liberal content moderation, and arguably draconian time limitation, it's unfair to impose my chosen abstinence, this being my choice primarily because I've too little time. So the experiment is...

To relax our grip on content but after every engagement with movies and cartoons etc take a little time to develop a resetting excercise.

Yoga gives is some tools to assist with this. In our case it has a Buddhist slant but I'm being very careful that it shouldn't be called "meditation" or "practice", the point being that I don't want to leave a negative imprint through the imposition of routine.

So it goes like this...

movie movie movie....fin...

:shake out arms
:shake out legs
:stretch up high and inhale
:wriggle down and exhale
:repeat...
:sit on the floor
:block right nostril, inhale and exhale 3 time slowly through other nostril
:switch nostrils and repeat
:unblock both and repeat
:21 x mantra (in our case we use om mani padme hum because M's already familiar with it) - me counting each one, 1 manu padme hum, 2 mani padme hum etc
:Visualisation: light coming out of her heart, going to all animals, insects and people and making them happy, and giving them whatever they need to make them happy. Then the light absorbs back into her heart.

That's it. During the process I'm v...e...r....r.....y careful to observe M's reaction to make sure it isn't boring, or tiring, or stupid, or just routine.

Initial results are VERY promising. It takes about 5 minutes and then she's straight back to normal again. Calm, centred and very busy absorbing the world.

It could be the intervention itself, it could be concerted parental engagement. Whatever the reason as greendraggon just said...

"It's pretty magical".

Heartmind

2011-01-09T00:58:00.006+11:00

M has been playing with dreams lately. Experimenting with programming her mind before she sleeps. This has seen various episodes of us all dancing around singing "giving birth to things and laying things", as well as instruction in methods of flight taken from parental direct experience as well as other sources such as William.S.Burroughs.

Tonight was a little different, after the flight discussion Meri was lying in bed drifting off repeating "Be strong. Never give up."

Thinking it likely Peter Pan I asked her where she had heard that. She said "That's a secret. I'm keeping it in the mind secret place." She then pointed to the top of her head and said "I keep them all in here".

I asked whether she thought it was in her head or in her heart.

"I tell them in my head, and I hear them in my heart."

...
(in)direct transmission?

Is it Sunday already?

2010-12-26T09:30:00.000+11:00

Well there you are then. This week, being the week of distraction that it is Meri has only practiced violin a couple of times. She has been working on anticipating the next note and being ready for all the physical changes involved in getting there. So much technique to learn in the first year of violin. She has learnt an amazing amount already. She was able to correct P's left hand position when he picked up my violin last week. Also on music she asked last week for a "piano book with notes I can read" so we picked up the first of the John Thompson easiest books on Wednesday and on Thursday we ploughed through the first six pages together. I had grand plans of doing piano with her everyday after that bu as I
said -week of distractions.
Some of those distractions came in the form of her Magic School Bus chapter books which arrived on Summer Solstice. Also on the list for Solstice presents but arriving a day late were a couple of Australian textbooks called "Lets's Learn Science" I found year one and year two secone hand. I'm quite disappinted although I should have had lower expectations given what tiny glimpses I've had into the NSW science curriculum for primary school. 6 and 7 year old children need to be taught what things in their house might be hot enough to burn them? Really? How did they survive those 5 - 6 previous walking years without that knowledge?
Anyway Meri likes them and the year 2 book at least is a hit. We opened them yesterday and have read and talked though all the discussion points about half of year 2 so far.
Not a lot of reading happening this week, I'd like to get her eyes tested as it seems to be quite hard physical work for her. She has however been practicing writing. She found lightly used handwriting workbook at the op-shop which provides welcome all fund entertainment while waiting for meals at restaurants. Last night I noticed she wrote a capital y at the end the word she was working on which I actually quite liked because it showed that she wasn't simply copying the image like one might copy a drawing but actually reading and then re-spelling the words herself.
I'm sure there's lots more but I'm off to enjoy the last few seconds of quiet time before everyone is up.

Big Bang? Evolution?

2010-12-22T23:39:00.000+11:00

Meri has been having quite few "chicken or the egg?" Type conversations with Paul lately. I remember having these with my father at the same age. Paul related this to me this morning...
M: What was the first house born from?
P: Bricks
M: Where did the first brick come from?
P: Clay
Where did the first clay come from?
The earth.
Where did the earth come from?
The sun.
Where did the sun come from?
A ball of gas.
Where did the ball of gas come from?
(at which point I'm a little stumped but recall something from Paul Davies)
A ripple in time.
M (with no pause at all): Well, and you still don't think mermaids are real!
Can't argue with that really can you?

Electricity kit

2010-12-21T00:21:00.000+11:00

With Grandad. What fun - someone just as interested as her AND who isn't constantly interrupted by a small boy.

Homeschool Reptile Show 20 July 10

2010-12-20T17:14:00.000+11:00

Old but I hadn't posted it yet.

Snow Friends

2010-11-27T23:08:00.000+11:00

I adore her expression in the last photo.

Old Snow Pictures

2010-11-26T22:56:00.000+11:00

Writing - the story

2010-11-24T10:00:00.000+11:00

So here goes. We were outside after having put the chickens to bed and I was trying to find something to keep them outside as being outside at dusk rather than inside with artificial light really does seem to help Meri get to sleep. Seeing a piece of chalk I picked it up and announced I would write "stairs" on the stairs. For some reason blogger doesn't like that picture. Anyway...Meri then asked me to write "moon" as you can see above. Then she took the chalk.

First came this. Ok, cool. Pretty much what I would expect. But...

Then came this.

And this.

And this. "spidr" her first misspelling. So cute!

"Mat" again.

"Web".

Fuzzy Princess

2010-11-24T01:23:00.000+11:00

More QLD photos. Here is Cinderella in all her glory.

Car Camping and Flat Tyres

2010-11-24T01:11:00.000+11:00

Old pictures from our Queensland trip. Every year we end up stopping at the tyre shop on the Gold Coast. Bad Gold Coast tyre karma!

Home Day

2010-11-08T18:53:00.000+11:00

I love home days. Outside time. Hot, phew! Checking the mud pies from yesterday, climbing the chicken house, sweeping with a brush and shovel, eating toast on the chicken house roof. Inside for violin practice. I want to be a tree (solid trunk, only leaves and branches move in the wind to make the music) which brings her to four plus solid hours of that "under seven dreamworld" the Waldorf/Steinerites talk about. Flapping the toy bird which talks and brings me blueberry cleaning fairies, gnome kings and sparkling stars from the night sky above the blue ocean. Six or seven pictures drawn. Toy animals pulled out of the playroom and drawn, this brings her out of the dreamworld. Reading eggs is requested. Ulba Bulba is read first then reading eggs is done. More outside time; hammock flying, some chasing of rabbit and catching/cuddling of chickens. Inside again with clean laundry. Spontaneous decision to switch wardrobes with her brother, hers done the bird reappears and a quick trip back to dreamland. Brother sleeps, storm threatens. Frightened child abandons floor puzzle for Winnie the Pooh videos in the hopes of drowning out any thunder (poor thing). Mama blogs, baby wakes, dinner due to be started

Electricity

2010-11-03T23:50:00.000+11:00

Way back in time now, back to the first road trip. On the way from the Murray to the snow fields we stopped to look at one of the hydro-electric plants. I'm not sure if it sparked something (terrible pun) or if it just happened but it turns out electricity is currently one of Meri's main interests.

The yes day

2010-10-28T23:41:00.000+11:00

Last night as Meri drifted off to sleep snuggled into my back waiting for me to finish feeding Aleifr to sleep so I could read the Milly Molly Mandy stories she had asked for an hour earlier I resolved that tomorrow (today) I would say to hell with the house that I'm constantly trying to get just a teeny bit less like cess-pit of utter filth, take advantage of the fact that I'd made a huge batch of baked beans so dinner was taken care of and just try to say yes to Meri as much as physically possible.

Of course I do try to do that already. In theory. But my "yes"s usually come in the form of "after I've...", "ok but I'll just...", "I'd love to but first...". You get the idea. That she fell asleep before I even started to read one of the many books I'd told her would have to wait until bedtime really pushed the mummy-guilt buttons.

So, the yes day. Did it involve hours of M rated Wonder Woman on youtube? No (much to my relief). It did however involve youtube. Firstly an entire Kirov production of Sleeping Beauty. "I want you to watch it with me Mama.". This was the hardest part of the yes day. By the time Paul leaves for work we are starting to feel the first twinges of hunger for lunch. We don't generally keep anything even resembling "instant" food in the house so an entire ballet performance without me setting foot in the kitchen was asking for huge blood sugar crashing meltdowns from all of us by the time it was over. I did my best though & only snuck out to cook in a couple of five minute snatches.

Violin practice came hot on the heels of lunch then after some hiding in boxes and filling up a box with some of her favourite stuff and "pretending it's rubbish" she wanted to do some maths workbooks. Yes really, on yes day. First a page from Miquon Orange then she wanted to start Singapore 1A part 2 then another page & a half from Miquon (which is really cool by the way, I hope she keeps choosing it). Then she wanted me to hold up words for her to read, flashcard style. Again, yes really - it only lasted a few minutes, maybe six words but this is the strange magic of yes day.

After that came the serious business of the day. She wanted to copy in paint one of the phoenixes from the magnificent library book we stumbled upon on Tuesday The Girl Who Drew a Phoenix . Wow. It's a magnificent book but
1) I am not the painter of the family and thus of no use for "help" and
2) Mr. 17 months on Friday would not be deterred from "helping" and eating her acrylic paints.
Still determined to do the yes day thing though I ended up having to lock her in the dining room on her own while he and I had some more food and did some dishes. She emerged again when having completed the Phoenix's head and crown feathers when she heard me mention checking the mail. Wow. And I say again, wow! This isn't the phoenix she copied but it gives some idea of how blown away at what a four year old had painted without so much as even another person in the room with her. I'm currently stuck under a sleeping toddler and I can't get the camera to talk to P's computer or there would most definitely be a picture.

Off to check the mail and catch the darn rabbit (long story!) on the way back inside. Followed by an hour or so of rabbit cuddling which came to an abrupt end when a very tired toddler slipped and smashed his head on the floor. Tired toddler thankfully fell asleep very shortly afterwards. Whereupon Meri demanded the real money of yes day - an uninterrupted reading of her new book Starting Point Science We didn't make it through the whole book or even a whole chapter. We got distracted by the mention of a plant that lives for a thousand years. Welwitschia Mirabilis have only two leaves and absorb water from the air through their leaves. Cool! That led to more youtube on dolphins, sharks and eagle rays during which time A woke up and once he was settled it was dinner, a bath, cleaning the kitchen and a (trashed) loungeroom and bed. Phew. Yes day was exhausting. Fun though!

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2010-10-27T22:38:00.000+11:00

The Fairy and the Feral

2010-10-24T23:42:00.000+11:00

Resident at the house we stayed at in Brisbane was the lovely Nel whom Meri had been looking forward to seeing for the past year. In the 12ish months since we had seen her last Nel had changed (as one does in first year Uni) from a conservatively dressed school girl doing deportment classes in her spare time to an avowed feral. Since this change involved gaining a fairy wing collection larger than Meri's own and skills worthy of Meridmiration such as hula-hooping, Meri was even more entranced. Especially when Nel was kind enough to lend her any pair of fairy wings she wanted.

Writing!

2010-10-21T11:05:00.000+11:00

Meri is writing. Not just her name and not coached as in "now write 'a'" but actually putting down the words she wants to with just the occasional "Mama, what letter comes next?". I have photos but I'm so proud I wanted to post before I got a chance to upload them.

Questacon

2010-10-17T22:34:00.000+11:00

Between the snowfields and home we stopped in Canberra for a day at Questacon. Aleifr spent a full hour at this vintage toy petrol station before he was ready to move on and explore all the other cool stuff.

Such as the awesome child-sized construction site that both children loved.

Snow-xausted

2010-10-17T15:13:00.000+11:00

Here is Meri after a hard day on the slopes.

She had fun.

Home Again

2010-10-16T13:00:00.002+11:00

So we are home again after our second big road trip. Much to report! Hopefully I'll get to it soon. Life just does not stop of course and I feel as though we hit the ground running, more like sprinting upon our return and haven't stopped yet.

Singapore Maths

2010-09-05T23:50:00.000+10:00

This morning Meri announced "I want to do some activity book". As you do when you are enjoying a lazy Sunday breakfast. Well you do when no-one ever pushes you to do anything (whether academic or not) or quizzes you on what you do and don't know. I skipped forward to some pages on time because I know she loves clocks and finds reading the hour at least easy. Later she asked for more so we went back to where she was the last time she requested this book (about a month ago) and she did eight pages! Actually she started out adamantly wanting to finish the whole book today and I admit to suggesting more than once that we could leave the rest for tomorrow once she started to get tired.

Shadow and Mountain Car Camping

2010-09-05T22:18:00.000+10:00

Water = Grass

2010-09-03T00:24:00.000+10:00

Water!

2010-09-02T00:28:00.000+10:00

Wow, look at that river! I haven't seen it that high for a very long time. Meri has certainly never ever seen it so close to the top of the bank. Last time we took her to that spot there was a sheer drop of about 2 metres to the water.
By the way blogger, I hate your new "design" thingy. I just want my photos to load the way they did before. Grr.

For Nana

2010-09-02T00:12:00.000+10:00

Who doesn't get many photos these days. Our little Farmer Boy.

Holiday in dribs and drabs

2010-09-01T23:42:00.000+10:00

Starting with a cold girl waiting for her camping breakfast after sleeping in the swag (green canvas behind her) with Daddy like real bushies.

When I grow up

2010-08-18T15:53:00.002+10:00

As far as I know Meri has never been asked this question so when she told me today it was completely spontaneous. She tells me she will be a hula-hooper in a circus and a singer. It's very important that I go to her performances apparently. I was able to reassure her that I would most definitely go to everyone that I could. Of course I would!

Darug Bushwalk

2010-08-17T23:39:00.000+10:00

Just simple record keeping really. Meri's day today:
Aboriginal Cultural Bushwalk with Bundeluk
Join local home educating families on a guided bushwalk with Bundeluk - a local Darug tour guide, artist and educator. Bundeluk holds a wealth of knowledge around Darug History, bush tucker and medicinal plants, and traditional weapons and tools.

The smaller one and I stayed home. He missed her, which was cute.

Tomorrow we try a local craft & playgroup. Soon we head off to visit Grandmama & co. Via the snow. Yay!

More Beading

2010-07-21T00:34:00.000+10:00

Thanks Auntie S for the extremely thoughtful and most appreciated gift!

Snakes and Reptiles

2010-07-20T23:26:00.000+10:00

Today was "Crocodile Encounter" at one of the local home ed groups. We learnt that most snake bites happen when people try to catch or kill snakes (so don't!) and that turtles breathe through their bottoms when underwater (wow!). Meri tells me that crocodile skin feels silky and that her favourite was the turtle.