Garden chamo

Eli spotted a chameleon in our garden today. Hardly ever see those around, and this is the first time we’ve seen one in our garden

The tiny claws on the ends of its feet feel really weird on your skin at first, but then you get used to them.

Woodwork

Eli has always enjoyed working with his hands, whether it is knitting or woodwork. Donné found a woodworking class for him and he has been absolutely loving it

Happy (and hot!) after the first class

His first project was to make a hanging plant holder which has turned out brilliantly and is a great place to keep our basil safe from the bunnies.

The finished planter
The placing of the basil ceremony
Ready to grow

Game ride

Eli has been wanting to do some more riding so we went for a ride through a farm which has zebras, springbok and bontebok. Eli loved being able to be so close to the animals, see the baby springboks and watch the springbok bounce around

Bokkie in the background

Park upgrade

Our little park down the road got an upgrade so we went down after supper and had some fun on the new slide, seesaw and merry-go-round.

Swan Lake

At supper tonight we were having a discussion about travelling and Duncan said he wanted to go to Peru. He mentioned he would like to go to Lake Titicaca, to which Eli responded and Lake Michigan. So we had a discussion about why he wanted to go to Lake Michigan, apparently it features in a number of audiobooks….who knew.

Since we were discussing lakes I thought I would add in my random fact and told the kids Duncan and I had been to The Lake of the Ozarks in Missori. Adam feeling the need to contribute to the conversation said “you have also been to Swan Lake”.

Needless to say that had us all giggling, with Adam not sure what he had said, that was so funny.

Looks like we might need to take Adam to see Swan Lake sometime, although he may be very disappointed when he discovers it’s not actually a lake.

A bit of our day

We ended last year off learning about Antarctica. For our daily reading time I found this amazing book about 8 women’s expedition to the south pole. We are still enjoying the icy adventure this year.
While I read I encourage the kids to do something with their hands. Grace always knits. The boys choose various activities.
Testing out our 3 paper jets to see which one flies the furthest and for the longest duration
Fun had by all
Hypothesis, Experiment, Conclusion

First Week of School

With a year and a half of homeschooling under our belt, the start of this year definitely had a familiar rhythm which was good for all of us.

First day of school photo ( technically it was day 2 after day 1 did not meet the standard 😊)
Last year’s photo…a year really makes a big difference
The first year we took our now “traditional school photo”

Homeschooling definitely has its challenges and by Friday I feel rather done, and introvert me is looking for a place to hide and be on my own, but it has so many positives.

I love that we can start the hot days off in the pool. With the heat we have been having its never too early to be in the pool

7.30 swim

I love that we can play instruments and have lessons early in the morning when we are fresh. Grace has decided to take a break from violin and has started teaching herself guitar. Eli is still enjoying cello and Adam has decided he will try playing piano.

Deep in concentration
Eli enjoys his cello lessons, now if only he would practice more regularly 🙃

I love that we get to learn as a family and share in our discoveries together. I realised this week that I really am addicted to finding nice materials and resources to work with. When I mentioned this at dinner, Grace and Duncan, at the same time, said “I know”….

We are currently working through the Harbor and Sprout Aviation unit. The materials are amazing and as we started the science module on the various forces a airplane experiences, Grace commented “I love school” which made my heart very happy.

Aviation
Experimenting with the 4 forces, lift, gravity, thrust and drag. Kids enjoyed me dragging then around

Eli has taken on a project to propagate various succulents and is enjoying recording the process

Hopefully soon we will have lots of little succulents growing in our garden

Overall it was a good first week, with everyone dusting off the cogs and getting to work on various projects, maths and language.

Everyone enjoying their new maths books

Getting that first day photo

It’s just not always that easy

The walk of the cats and irises

This morning we went on a walk around the block. It was a beautiful morning and very peaceful. We saw cats and irises!

Wow that cat is big! It started following us down the road that we were walking on.
They are just so many irises!
Cat #2!

It was a very peaceful walk and we all enjoyed it 🙂

Science lesson with Dad

Every Tuesday we have a science lesson. Today’s lesson was about Pulleys. It was a fun lesson and we all enjoyed it!

We made a brick pulley ( at one point the brick fell!)
And then did the writing and the drawing with the poll-ice

It was fun. Other than that it was a pretty chill day. Eli and Dad went on a ride and I did ballet.