Day 1. And God turned off the lights!

And all the rest of the power too!

So, I went to bed instead of preparing lessons and setting up school.

It was an interesting first day of school without power. We couldn't use the computers for our maths or art lessons. I couldn't print off worksheets, nor make Latin flashcards, nor laminate the pages I needed for job charts.

Nor could we wash dishes, clothes or the floor.

A massive storm had raged through the night, complete with booming thunder and brilliant flashes of lightening. It was stinking hot inside the house and I had to shut all the windows at 3am due to a large bushfire that sent billowing smoke inside our domain.

 It was stifling.

And I kept waking up to check on the 3 candles I had lit in case of wandering kids in the night.

All in all, the day became very slow and unhurried, and a series of compromises and other options. Despite the difficulties, it went remarkably well and we achieved more than I had hoped for at the start of the day.

By lunch time, I was feeling pretty tired, so I found the CD player and some batteries and popped in a story for the kids to listen to.

And I nodded off on the lounge, with all the kids curled up on a big mattress on the floor.

Until the light came on above us and they all jumped up excitedly, and I woke up.



Here endeth the first day.

And I was pleased..........

.........................to go to bed! :)

T'was The Night Before School.

And the children were far too excited for bed.

The girls were playing a game of Barbies in the pit they called Bedroom,

A more dire place they could not have found.

Mother had planned a complete overhaul

And had actually managed it twice over the holidays.

Time for Plan B.

A Monk's cave will have more clutter than this when I'm done,

she muttered.

The boys were doing their best to remain invisible in front of little coloured screens.

The clutter and rubbish piled up beneath their feet,

Unheeded.

She sighs.

And looks over the rows of files, rank after rank,

With their names and subjects haphazardly marked.

The boxes of materials.

 The craft supplies.

The glue.

And the cutworm who had eaten the new growing capsicums,  now become a science experiment in a creeperkeeper.

Time to prepare the lessons for the morning.

She yawns and reaches for another sip of scalding tea.

And prays.

Adding our last pics from 2014

 This year, we had quite a few little native birds fly into our back window and garage. They all just needed a little rest and water and were soon flying free once more. This is a silvereye (we think).

 Colt finally got excited about maths when he got to shapes! Woohoo!

 Colt's card cube.

 Karys then decided that anything Colt could do, she could do better. So here is her cube made from paper and decorated with shiny stars.

 This is Dart on our breakfast date. I almost made it through all of the kids this year, will have to make a better effort in 2015 because they are so much FUN!

 We went along to the free Bunnings Kids Christmas Party and had a ball! It was so well run and there was plenty for the kids to do and enjoy. Will have to get to more Bunnings functions in 2015!

 These plants are from our lifecycle study and are growing really well.

These are some Christmas activities that were lots of fun. Colt made these playdough ornaments and Dart made the Lego Workshop. Colt also painted the scene below. I will have to make sure we have plenty of glass painting equipment and supplies as this was lots of fun.

  

 Taffy decided to dress up as a Christmas ornament. Love it!

Taffy receiving her graduation gift at Sunday School.

 

Our Christmas Elf left a suggestion for the kids to play a game and they chose Charades. It was a lot of fun too!

 Making clove oranges to make the house smell Christmas-sy. Have to figure out how to stop the oranges from going mouldy after a few days though.

 I made the pieces for the gingerbread houses, had visions of a whole village, including a stable, high on a shelf. Due to illness and unhelpful kids, we are going to just eat the pieces.
Maybe next year, sigh.

 Another outing we had was a trip to the shops to see Santa and have a photo taken. Santa unfortunately, gave them more than the cute gingerbread teddies. Gastro is not much fun in a large family! However, we still had a lovely Christmas Day, it was just a little quieter than normal.
After visiting Santa, I decided to treat the kids to a milkshake and a doughnut. Yum! The lovely girl who served us kindly came  back to our table later with a loyalty card punched out with our drinks and told me I could have a free drink next time we ordered! God bless her!

 We started swimming lessons at Coogee Beach on the 29th Dec. The kids were not impressed at my choice of location, but they are enjoying it now and I love the lack of entry fee. Parking is somewhat of a problem on really hot days though. I just love the little coloured caps they wear, so cute! This is Colt.

 This is poor, cold Taffy. She is doing well in her lesson, but shivers the whole way through!

 This is Dart listening to his teacher.

Dart and Karys enjoying reading at the beach. I think they may take after me! :)

I found this quote on Facebook and thought that it was very apt. I shall have to print it and put it in a prominent place for all of us to be reminded that we can get through anything with this mindset.

End of Term 3.

Well, I am a long way behind and this will be a long post with loads of pics. Or, if I get interrupted, it may be spread over more than one post. :)

Term 3 saw a new plan for our home school and I think it worked much better than anything else we have tried so far. The plan will still need tweaking, but we shall continue in a similar vein over Term 4 ............and into the summer holidays.

Yep, we shall take time off for Christmas and New Years, but we'll be steadily progressing throughout the year to keep the rugrats from getting bored and from forgetting all they've learned this year.

Even today, a public holiday on the first week of school holidays, we did some work, and they probably didn't even notice. Sneaky, huh?

Here's a catch up from where I left off :

Taffy is learning about volume and Gretel is checking it out too.

Colt getting fed up with number lines.

Taffy and Gretel posing on painted pics on a cycle path, such little cuties!

Learning about how pyramids were constructed in ancient times.

The girls are working on puzzles, colouring and reading while the boys do their ice skating lesson.

 
Colt and Dart decided to play a game of Chess using lego men, Nibbles is umpiring.

During National Science Week, we made Hopping Corn, it was fun!

We decided to do painting, chalk drawings on the road and hopscotch while waiting for the boys to do their ice skating lesson. Loads of fun!

A typical day with games and lessons and manipulatives all over the table!

Last year, Karys won an award at school with a prize to spend at a bookstore. We finally went to cash it in on the very last day before the voucher expired and she chose a set that makes a new story every time she plays with it. Then we went for lunch at Macca's and I decided we should make it a fortnightly date with each child. So far, it still hasn't happened, but I am planning on taking Colt very soon.

This is part of our science lab where we are learning about plant growth and feeding the family at the same time. Also, we are learning that we need to cultivate beauty as well as plants that will fill our tummies. Very important lesson! :)

Taffy is learning to match her lower case letters with their uppers, and as usual, getting some help from Gretel.

Day 98.

Thursdays are ice skating lessons for both Dart and Colt now. This is the best photo I could get of the two of them while on a hot chocolate break. Don't know why Dart is hiding his face, he did really well for his first lesson. He passed the first level!!!! Way to go mate!

In the afternoon, we did painting with the girls. It is a great way to get Taffy to do her sight words with letter stamps. Gretel copied her as well.

This week I have seen great progress from Colt. He wrote a made up story from a picture of a demented animal. On another day, he pulled out his math book and began working all by himself! I have moved him up from the yr 3 level book to the yr 4 one, and he is coping well so far. I'm sure we;ll have some gaps to fill on some math skills, and we'll do extra work on those when we come across them, I've also put the boys onto the Khanacadamy website and they are doing some work there.

I have decided to cancel Clever Dragons for Colt and Always Icecream for Taffy as they aren't getting much out of it right now. Taffy was doing well on Reading Eggs, so I might search out a deal for that one.

Day 96.

We did drama games today and played charades. The kids really love this subject! :)

They played an un-prompted game of red light, green light.

Then they built a cubby house and played with the animals.

Day 95.

Today ended up being a very short school day as our eldest daughter and granddaughter received word that they had a new home! So there was much excitement in our home and lots of preparation for the next two days of hard work! We went for a walk around Manning Lake and found a huge hill which the kids spent ages rolling down. They all needed to be washed when we went home as they got all muddy, but, oh, what fun!