Enjoying summer..

while it lasts.

A couple of weeks ago we caught up with a bunch of other homeschoolers for a morning at Cornwallis Beach. It's a great place, bordering the Manukau Harbour, but close enough to the harbour entrance to have lovely clear water and not be so tidal that the water just about disappears entirely, like happens at some of the beaches closer to home! 

One fascinating aspect to this beach is the combination of normal, beige coloured sand from the harbour, and the black, iron-rich sands of our west coast beaches -

It was just after low-tide when we went, so not so good for swimming, but fantastic for exploring -

and there is grass and shady trees right next to the sand, so it's perfect for relaxing or playing games

Nothing seems to make this boy quite as happy as a good tree.

then once the kids had got tired of the beach, we went for a geocache hunt, one of which took us up to the memorial at the top of the hill -

which looks back over Cornwallis Beach -

and the entrance to the harbour -

and the bays around Huia - 

On our way down the hill, I spotted some white daisies, which means only one thing to us educatory types - 

the green hardly worked at all, mostly just added a slight tinge to the edge of the centre, I wonder why that was?!

This is the perfect experiment for illustrating the need for a control, especially when one doesn't appear to have changed much!

August 2013

August was a busy month, with me feeling more organised & capable than I have in a long time. (I find newborns much easier than pregnancy!) The kids have really been getting into the rhythm of regular-ish 'school' days, and are finally beginning to grasp the idea that if they concentrate & co-operate we can get more fun stuff done!

Eli has just started on grade 1 of the Light Blue series of Math Mammoth, and Lexi is whizzing through grade 2 - 

Lexi was reading about how the footprints of dinosaurs & other creatures became like solid rocks as muddy areas dried up, so we recreated it first in playdough -

then in salt dough -

(which after 8 hours in a low-heat oven, and over 2 weeks later is STILL not dry! It's only 5mm thick!)

We've started using some of the Brave Writer materials for our literacy work, here they're illustrating their copywork from 'Hop on Pop' -

Lexi made a playdough ring wraith, complete with black horse, from Lord of the Rings -

Leo's been practising his cuteness and neck control -

Eli had fun doing playdough numbers -

Maia is just sweet -

Lexi is learning to play my 1998 vintage copy of Sim Safari -

(it's actually rather good, apart from not being able to rotate buildings or the map. Fantastic for learning about food webs though!)

And she just received her first four badges from the St John Youth Penguin programme!

Once again courtesy of our friend Mr Spangler, this is what is currently sitting on our kitchen bench....

May - June 2013

I don't know where May went, but this is how nearly all of our photos from June look!

The kids learnt all about having a baby in the house, with new brother Leo!