99 bottles of *sand* on the wall

Sand Crafts it was today... Here they all with the fruits of their labours. They all had a great time making them, I didn't help the bigger 3, just guided really... Monika and Raven made all the decisions, I just helped them to do it by holding the bag weight basically. Now I want to do one! (Don't mind Monika, she's just woken up, and frumpy cute). Enjoy...

Awww... the extra photo of Monika, so entreating and irrisistable!

A Week Of Art, Reptile Unit finished, YAY

Our Reptile unit is now finished. We watched the last two episodes to the Life in Cold Blood, which were Sophisticated Serpents and Armoured Giants. With worksheets, facts etc that were taken from various internet souces incl. Enchanted Learning site (fantastic but limited as they are based in the States). So I sourced Aussie facts on snakes and crocs from various places incl.
tiger snake facts here and other snakes here and croc'n'snappers here... important to know really depending where we might be living in the bush. Below for the next three are various examples of the worksheets completed, first is Labyrinth's sheet which is descriptive words about various reptiles.
Next is Kai's poem and snake picture:

...and his pictures of various reptiles complete with label.

Here Dante was required to label the various reptiles.

The rest is various artworks the children have done over the course of the last week, no where complete. Dante's Flat Lizard sunning itself on rocks (obviously inspired by the unit).Raven's Sack Boy from LBP.

Still into Scary Stuff, this is one cute monster, by Raven.

Above is Raven's Frog, below Labyrinth has drawn a swan feasting on a fish.

Labyrinth's Girl bouncing on Trampoline followed up by an ABC TV inspired drawing of Fish and Seals under the Ice.

Kai has drawn an eye view of a War Zone. He's decided he doesn't really like real war. It's a bit scary (that's an early jump, and thank goodness for that). But he still likes the fantasy of it at this stage.

And here is Kai's Striped Penguin.

This is also inspired by a drawing show on ABC TV. Dante has drawn a lovely fish/light rain/clouds and rainbow scene.

This next one of Dante's is inspired by Ice Age 3, where the T Rex is about to eat the baby Triceratops.

Next two are Dante's ZOIDS... a Death Stinger and a Command Wolf.

Besides this they've been doing BOOST Math on the computer, still doing writing drills in their books, read aloud, usually to the littlest two (makes it a bit easier on Andrew and I - they aren't asking us 24/7) and to themselves from chapter books. Dante's currently reading Extreme Adventure: Scorpion Sting, Kai is reading The Donkey who carried the Wounded, and Labyrinth is reading the last graphic novel to the anime Fruits Basket.

Today we are, after lunch, going to do glass bottle and sand craft, and cooking cup cakes tomorrow.

I've started doing Uni again, as previously mentioned, which has been taking up far too much time just finding the cheapest books. Also we've brought about $200 on various green building methods and bee keeping which has also taken up lots of time reading those, but loving it. It was actually worth a lot more, but there was a huge 30% discount blanket across the store as they were having a huge birthday sale of 30 years. YAY Book City. Imagine building your main house structure for under $1.000 which is fire proof. Yeah, I'm interested.

Also been sick a bit too... and Raven poor lad, was feverish on Thursday night but now seems perfect. Monika is weaning slowly... and as I didn't manage to put up any of her artwork I owe a photo of her next time. As for now though, I'll endeavour to put up at least two posts a week or more. Q.

The Private Life of Plants, Gardening & Art

We got crafty and made a bouquet of flowers, complete with pollinators - naturally!!! The children drew about 5 flowers each and replicated the one they decided was the best to "create" a flower for our little craft bouquet. It ended up being really lovely. Dante and Labyrinth both decided to do blue/purple bells, Kai did a rainbow and Raven did a pink flower and a sunflower on the same stem. Monika and I took the easy option of grabbing one of my flowers from my scrapping stash for hers, but she did the sticking on and the drawing of the leaves. They did it in great detail the older ones obviously more than the younger (as we learnt in a previous lesson about the male/female parts of a flower, so the anther (which is full of pollen) is on Labyrinth, and Dante has put in his stigma/style parts and Kai has included the ovary.

And here is part of my Mother's Day gift. The gift of seedlings for my new garden (the garden isn't ready yet, but the seedlings are growing madly. I am growing Kale, Cauliflower, and Bok or is it Pak Choy?. I also have a little sweet basil that will be a support plant to my tomatoes. Also - an updated pic of my bananna plant.

Forgive me if there is strange things with formatting - this often happens.

And now for some art. This is Labyrinth's art. Tree with animals and a drawing of the characters (in their respective animal forms in Fruits Basket.) She recently brought a Fruits Basket comic book and has all the episodes. She loves it! She's not as capable of reading as her brothers but she has inside her an incredible imagination. She is struggling though with her issues (behavioural - her window of learning is limited and even our in home child carer agrees she would not cope in a normal school situation because of her highly emotional issues.)

Dante's Snake. Dante resists doing much writing, he takes so long to get into it and actually write anything but ends up doing a great job usually. He is reading easily at grade 5 level and loves animals, particularly reptiles/mammals/fish/amphibians.

Kai's Octoman and House. While Kai is as capable of reading as well as Dante, or is better in some cases) he is no where up there with actual writing. He does surprise me though, sometimes like yesterday when he wrote 5 reasons he should be allowed to play computer games *)

Raven's house and T-Rex.

Raven has been learning colours and numbers, and he does an awful lot of drawing. He likes being read to, playing games on the PlayStation, in particular Dora and Diego. He is so absorbant right now - wanting to learn everything he can!

Monika's drawing and a spray art Butterfly.

Monika is so keen to be a part of everything that goes on, she is just so sweet. Her vocabulary and understanding is profound at times. She can understand subtle hints as well as three step instructions, she is also obsessed by shoes at the moment. She loves putting them on and taking them off! She can also put on some clothes without help. She's also a book nerd. She'll sit there and listen to you read all the way through such books as Dr Suess's Green Eggs and Ham or a Thomas the Tank Engine book - the medium sized ones like Harold's Mail Adventure. She's 20 months old.

Art and Craft Day

Today was all about drawing and sculpting modelling clay - just for fun! Here is the results: Below Dante's working drawing of 3 amphibians, Brinnies T-Rex, Dante's finished amphibian piece.



Labyrinth's squirrel, and pregnant rabbit below, followed by Kai's working drawing elephant and Labyrinth's working drawing.

Below is Kai's final drawing of an elephant, followed by Raven's drawing.

Below is an amphibian that Dante drew and cut out, and below that is Labyrinth's craft doll (she actually made that with a friend of hers on Monday when they came to visit).


The following is a lesson led by Andrew with modelling clay. First up is a mouse he's made

Dante's made a nautilus, and fish
Labyrinth's two birds in a nest sharing a tree
Kai has made an octopus
Random images that Kai's made and cut out:
Raven's Egg
Andrew made these slugs

In progress:




We also played games too today, so it was an emphasis on fun and enjoyment!

It was a fantabulis day *) Q.