Monday, January 30, 2012

Our Creative Children - DVD

We've only watched the first Chapter...then had to go away and do the stuff!!!
Yahoo what a great DVD.
NZ

Also here is the link to the website http://www.oursdvd.co.nz/ideas-from-ours.pdf for some more ideas.
Love it

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Update on seeds growing

I asked dd if she wanted to take photos of the seeds we have in jars. So here they are.
We are amazed that we are getting "fruit" off them!!
I've even used some in my cooking...with permission first. Lovely basil.

Quote - Buddha


“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

Camping holiday -day 1

We had a wonderful start to the day. Nana came up to see us off.
We brought a pair of jandles each.
We stopped in Kawakawa and by luck a train went down the middle of the road.
Excitement!!!
Took dd to the 'world famous' loo and she loved all the glass bottles and different tiles.
"can I have a window like that one day?" I promised in our next house she could.
Had a REAL banana smoothy.
Then drove into the bush to an amazing little clearing beside a river.
Two swims. Dd doing well...going back to swimming lessons next week so with hope we'll of had enough water over the holidays to keep the knowledge up there.
We had dinner beside the river in the bush and got totally eaten alive by sand fleas.
Kids had another swim.
Some local children came up on their horses showing off. Dh was so excited but scared too.
Now both are asleep after half our mega book of nursery rhymes and 3 chapters of a magic school bus.
There are a few pigeons and tui around so with hope they will be here in the morning for the kids to see.

Camping -day 2

Great morning. Woke up really early to heaps of birds. Kids thought they made too much noise.
They went for any early morning swim. Too cold for me.
Dd wanted to make omelet for breakfast ...and could not understand why I'm not super mummy and remembered everything like butter or oil.

On the way home we started the track that Dave came out on in one of his expeditions. Really nice walk and i want to go back.

Dave and I stated talking about a tramping trip. We'd bivi so we wouldn't have to carry so much.
I'm so excited the kids are too but they have no idea.
We just have to wait to DS is toilet ready.

On the way home my mum and dad called to offer to take the kids on the train...yahoo.
So we picked up some new library books and then waved goodbye and off they went to the museum. 20 rides later they came home.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Rena ship

Dd looked at the back of a magazine which had a photo of the Rena and all it's containers listing to the side. As we walked back from the letter box we talked
Why did it run aground?
Where was this
What are the containers for?
I talked about the animals and sea affected
I told her that her friends grandparents lived in this area.
"its like the Titanic" she said. A truly lived movie by our little dd.
We then talked about the latest ship accident off of Italy.
She was really confused..."how could the same thing happen again"..."I hope they rescued all the people this time" We talked about the different areas between Italy, new Zealand and the Antarctic.
"well at least they didn't have freezing waters"

Seeds

Dd was complaining we didn't have any plants for her garden.
So we planted up some beans, silver-beet, lettuce, odds and ends and hot rocket lettuce.
It's very hot and dry here at the moment that's why we're inside.

Baby wearing

I've carried both my children and still do in slings or the ergo.

Cookies with friends

We had a joint family home education day...decorating.
I'd bought some letter cutters from Cake Stuff...great web site.
Nicola let me in on the idea of using pre-rolled dough.

These photos are only our ones.


Note to self make more colour as the recipe didn't do enough for all of them

Puzzles

Dd is just loving this puzzle. At first she did not get it but then found the wrapper it came in and saw all the other ideas.
She's made heaps of different types.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Maths and Rote learning

This is from Wiki

Rote learning

Rote learning is a technique which avoids understanding the inner complexities and inferences of the subject that is being learned and instead focuses on memorizing the material so that it can be recalled by the learner exactly the way it was read or heard. The major practice involved in rote learning techniques is learning by repetition, based on the idea that one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material the more it is repeated. Rote learning is used in diverse areas, from mathematics to music to religion. Although it has been criticized by some schools of thought, rote learning is a necessity in many situations.


Do we have to learn our times tables by rote?

What is you're idea of that? Because of my schooling. This means fear, shame, panic...all from my school time. But as David has been saying we do not have to do that...we can have fun with it. I still have to get past my issues to find fun ways.

So far DD has been working out her 2x tables looking at trucks and stepping stones. She has the concept the rest is in progress.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The water cycle

I found the amazing science songs!!! Ages a go the link is here somewhere.

We have them on the car.

We watched "wet all over" magic school bus. 321 contact. Cut sponges into clouds...the kids had water fights with them...buying the sponges was a trip down the road telling the shop keeper what they were up too.
Dd wanted the pink sponge because she wanted "pink sky in the morning shepards warning"...then got worried that pink clouds might not give rain.

We painted the jolly phonics sounds on the concrete with water....had to do it quickly as it evaporated.

We talked about water flowing down hill. Dd was sure rivers were level...self correcting with bear grylls reference again...haha...he always follows creaks down to the sea.

I'd like to watch the Home doc and a world after people which talks about water and soil build up...and time

How is dirt made?

This question popped up one night just before bed.
We talked about plants dying and composting. Bugs. Mold. Chickens and their poo. Scraps. Old trees. Huhu bugs...Bear Grylls. Rocks. Sea - waves. Shells.erosion. 321 contact. Magic school bus.

Skin cancer

As we live is a wonderful mostly sunny out doors country...our children spend a LOT of time outside. As I did as a kid.
It's been driving up the wall trying to get hats, cream and cloths on the kids to protect them.

I think now my dd might understand as I've just got a second skin cancer cut out. She was too little with the first one but now with age she can see and question a bit more.

We talked about the layers of skin and moles.
We talked about cancer cells
We didn't talk about cancer in depth but I will have to answer that question I'm sure when it comes up.

Riding a bike

Both our children got bikes for Christmas. Both bikes are a little too big for them...oh well
As we live out in the middle of steep farm land there is no where for them to ride.
Nana's retirement village is perfect!!

On Christmas day dd got the hang of it with Dave running along beside her. We had a large break where the bike had to stay at home and the weather has been terrible.

But into it again.
Today I showed how a short stuff can push off while hop and standing...I'm into Mt biking. She got it straight away..then got shirty with me for standing to close.

We talked about getting angry and that making things harder to do.
We managed to get a deep breath calm enough to start off.

Little DS was a bit scared if his bike. Wouldn't really touch it for a long time. Then with a pair of shoes (my kids don't often wear shoes) making him a little taller...he is off and running.

Very happy kids

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Tki website - found what I was looking for...I think

I find the website TKI very hard to work through as there is so much to look at and I'm never sure which link I've clicked on and where I've ended up.
This link I've found intresting

Monday, January 9, 2012

Our children's faithful companion

Our cat Griffin is the most wonderful cat we could ask for. So very calm, gentile and patient. (spelling all wrong? It's just me ;-)
Our son can lay on top of the cat and will not get scratched.
Our daughter can pick the cat up in the middle and he will not complain.

He's even been watered if you look in the picture.

He does take them on walks how ever. I have found them a paddock away following the cat. The children are not aware they have walked so far and the cat just walks a little ahead. The children are looking and exploring throwing sticks to the cat. This does scare me as we have neighboring dogs and ponds very close to the house.

Keeping and eye. Just like the cat

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Summer cold and cough and the sun

Both children have been sick for a few days. Good thing is last night they slept all night. Dave is back to work today.
Dd asked just before sleep last night "how is the sun made?"... We talked about gas..."but where did the gas come from?"
Oh goodness. I started looking on YouTube for something child friendly considering Dave and I have been looking at this subject off and on in the recent past.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me06I9GDM_k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S98L93J8AGQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thought we could also do a bit of art a sun made of hand prints?? We'll see

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Unschooling retreat in nz

http://nzunschoolingretreat.blogspot.com/

I think it might be a little too far to drive with two little ones on my own.

But I like the idea and might think of it in the future.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

History and the affects

I love reading about history and why we humans do what we do. I hope that our children are interested too.
I know that our children are why too young to watch this documentary but seeing this for me has really helped me understand a lot about our culture...even our culture of schools.

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/hitlers-children/