Kez's Blog

We're in the paper - again!

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:40:00 +0000

We were interviewed about homeschooling for our local paper yesterday - article here. The article was nicely done, without the usual "expert" they normally have to give the counter argument of how our children need to be "socialised" by going to school.

Almost 12 months ago, we were interviewed for another paper and they used a very similar set up for the photo. If we keep this up, I'll be able to use it as our annual school photo :)

Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 15

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:11:00 +0000

Weigh in day for me:

Weight loss from last week: lost 0.25kg
Total weight loss overall: 3.25 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 9 cm

I'm approximating my weight loss, I only have old-fashioned scales, but I'm a "smidge" down from where I was. I've tightened up more though - lost another 2 cm from my waist!!

Hunter Auskickers at the SCG

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:44:00 +0000

Yesterday a group of Hunter Auskickers (Junior AFL) went down to Sydney to play on the SCG at half-time in the Sydney vs Essendon game.

Our local Maitland Saints fielded 9 kids - they're in the red uniforms in the photo. They successfully beat the opposition team, kicking 1 goal, 3 behinds to the opposition's 1 behind.

Not that I could see a great deal, since they played a fair way away from where the parents were sitting! They looked like the had a great time though - Billy seemed pretty stoked by it all. He was most impressed that he "almost" got the ball :)

The kids were especially impressed by the fact that they got to meet Barry Hall before they came on the field! Although meeting the mascot Cyggy was just as exciting :)

Our week of Learning - 12th July

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 07:07:00 +0000

English: Lots of reading plus a couple of hours on Spellodrome.

Maths: He finished the Year 1 curriculum on Mathletics - he set himself a goal to finish the rest of the "gold bars" today and did it! He was very excited - especially when he realised his name is on the scoreboard as one of the world's top 100 students for the week (based on the number of points they earn each week).

We created a paper pyramid as part of our history studies - so it was a good opportunity for an introduction to angles, working with solid shapes, and how to measure angles with a protractor.

We also played some maths games to work on his addition skills, and he experimented with comparing the volumes that different shaped drinking glasses would hold.

Science & Technology: As blogged earlier in the week, he made a waterwheel for the Think! challenge.

We created a floating compass using a magnetised needle. You can see a video of the creation below...

If the embedded video doesn't play, try this link - http://www.kidstube.com/play.php?vid=13750

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): We're reading our way through a gorgeous book called "Egyptian diary: The Journal of Nakht" by Richard Platt.

We made a pyramid out of paper, which he decorated with hieroglyphics saying things like "Keep Out" & "mummy" :)

He has also been busy playing the "Become a World Explorer" computer game.

Creative & Practical Arts: Nothing formal - lots of imaginative play.

LOTE (Languages other than English): Nothing this week.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Circus class. Auskick.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): His chore list has been expanded to include unpacking the dishwasher. He can't reach the cupboard where some of the plates go, so he piles them on the bench, but it's a good start.

Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 14

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:18:00 +0000

Weight loss from last week: lost that pesky 0.5 kg again!
Total weight loss overall: 3 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 7 cm

So far I keep going up and down around the same weight - hopefully with some effort next week I can progress past it! Aiming for 3.5kg lost (in total) by next week.

Think! Engineering challenge

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:52:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I found the Think! blog which posts weekly engineering challenges with a list of materials to build from. Today we took up their challenge to create a water wheel from the following:

"a long dowel
a cardboard tube or a two liter bottle or a can
8 index cards
a sharpie
string
tape

You may use scissors in construction but not the solution. "

I'm not an engineering person by any stretch of the imagination, so we googled some images of water wheels, and this is what Billy came up with:

It worked great for a couple of seconds until the cards got too wet. I was just using thick paper rather than cardboard though.

We didn't end up using the string - I guess that was for the 2nd half of the challenge to connect it to the boat. We probably could have also used it to suspend the dowel in the middle of the tube, but we were satisfied with what we did for the first time at the challenge.

We also didn't use the sharpie. Other than for Billy to draw up his blueprint in the first place :)

Exploring our local area: Tocal Homestead

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:14:00 +0000

The Tocal property was one of the first land grants in the Paterson Valley in 1822 and has one of Australia's finest collections of colonial farm buildings dating from the 1820's. Tocal Homestead itself was built in 1841.

On Tuesday, about 50 homeschoolers attended a heritage day at the Homestead - and had a great time!

They split into small groups of about 8 kids each and got to try out lots of different "old-style" activities like:

washing the clothes the old-fashioned way!

playing games like horseshoes, elastics & tug-of-war,

carrying water with yoke & buckets

and dressing up!

(As you can see, Will & Billy were pretty inseparable for the day!)

They also got a tour through the house:

including the separate kitchen area -

Here is the guide showing us how to use the milk separator - notice the ice-box beside her!

And of course, the bath for the men - 5 men using the same water, every 2 weeks. I'd hate to be the last person :)

Some very exhausted but happy kids at the end of the day..

I'd like to go back when Billy is a bit older and do the house tour again - they have a self-guided audio tour you can do, but I think he'll get more out of it in a few years time.

Please go and hug your kids..

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:10:00 +0000

and tell them how much you love them.

The 17yo son of one of our neighbours died last night. 17 - a lifetime ahead of him. I looked at my to-do list today and decided nothing on there couldn't wait until I'd spent a couple of hours snuggling with Billy and reading some books together.

Life is precious.

Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 13

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Weight loss from last week: stayed the same - 0 kg lost
Total weight loss overall: 2.5 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 7 cm

I managed to exercise at least 20 mins each day but my food choices weren't the best. I need to get my head back in the weight loss groove!

Our week of learning - 28th June

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:48:00 +0000

English: Lots of reading plus a couple of hours on Spellodrome.

Last year sometime I downloaded an awesome study unit on Treasure Island from the Little Blue School blog. As I tend to do, I printed it out but hadn't gotten around to using it yet. Since we've just started reading Treasure Island again together (we started reading it earlier this year and got sidetracked!), I figured it was time to finally put it to use :)

So we looked at some vocabulary meanings from Treasure Island, and then for the fun bits, Billy made a pirate flag, and picked his pirate name - Captain Mad-eye Fish-lip Peg-Leg Swashbuckle :)

Maths: As well as a couple of hours spent on the Mathletics site, we looked for the first time at 2 digit addition - mainly without carrying, but we did touch briefly on carrying.

Science & Technology: We made a Benham's disc using an old CD, a ping-pong ball, softdrink bottle lid and the template from the RAFT worksheet. A Benham's disc is a certain black & white pattern, which when spun tricks the eye into seeing colour. It was very cool :)

Billy's Joey mob also did science stuff this week - looking at other optical illusions, and making a paper helicopter.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): We started reading the "Wonders of Egypt" book, and also watched a series called Pyramid about the building of the pyramids.

Creative & Practical Arts: The last drama class of the term.

LOTE (Languages other than English): Nothing this week.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Circus class.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): He's been making a few salads on his own to go with dinner this week. It helps if you like very large chucks of carrot in your salad :)

Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 12

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:22:00 +0000

Weight loss from last week: gained 0.5kg :(
Total weight loss overall: 2.5 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 7 cm

I put weight on :( It's not hard to see why - I didn't exercise all week (my "excuse" was the wet weather), and I had a few too many desserts and snacks through the week.

So I'm committing to exercising for 10 mins x 3 times per day to see how I go with that. Surely I can do that!

Hmmm, looks like a bit of rain about...

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Our week of learning - 20th June

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:46:00 +0000

English: Lots of reading plus a couple of hours on Spellodrome. We looked at the Greek prefixes "tele" and "photo", what they meant and what words Billy knew that were derived from them.

Maths: A nice mixture of stuff this week - MEP worksheets with mirroring / symmetry exercises, some time spent playing Times Attack and a couple of hours spent on the Mathletics site.

Science & Technology: An experiment with sound from the book "Jazzy Science Projects with Sound and Music". He filled different glasses with differing amounts of water to see if the amount of water made a difference to the sound. Result, the amount of water, size, thickness & shape of the glass all made a difference.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): Ancient Mesopotamia / Sumer - he watched the Brainpop video on Sumer again, and then he made a ziggurat (stepped pyramid) out of boxes, and a cuneiform tablet. We added key events like the invention of the wheel, invention of writing and building ziggurats to our timeline.

Creative & Practical Arts: Drama class - as reported, his play went quite well.

LOTE (Languages other than English): Nothing this week.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Circus class. Lots of running around at a Joey's event - treasure hunt, compass hike and active games.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): The Market Day was a success - he had lots of practice at marketing, handling money and customer relations :)

They made pikelets at Joeys - he was the chief egg-cracker!

Ancient Mesopotamia / Sumer - history unit

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:07:00 +0000

We began our history unit on the Ancient Mesopotamia / Sumerians a week or so ago by watching a Brainpop video on Ancient Sumer, discussing it and completing the quiz.

On Friday Billy watched it again, then set about making a ziggurat (stepped pyramid) out of boxes.

Followed by making a clay tablet and doing some cuneiform writing.

We added important dates to our timeline - Sumerians inventing the wheel, writing and building the ziggurats.

We used the following books as resources:

The Technology of Mesopotamia by Graham Faiella

Picturing the Past - Mesopotamia, Iraq in Ancient Times by Peter Chrisp

All the world's a stage..

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:18:00 +0000

I don't normally show photos of other people's kids on here - but I had to with this photo to get the full effect. Billy had his drama company's production last night - his class (5-8 yos) did the "Trials & Tribulations of the Terrible Trio".. The "true" stories of the 3 little pigs, the 3 billy goats gruff and the 3 bears. It was all very cute :)

Billy played a pig (he's the one on all fours at the front on the photo). It all went very well, and he accepted the praise as his due :)

Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 11

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:21:00 +0000

Weight loss from last week: 0kg
Total weight loss overall: 3 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 8.0 cm

I was expecting no weight loss this week - I seem to follow a pattern of losing for a couple of weeks, and then "consolidate" for a week :) I have lost another cm off my waist though. I'm still pleased.

Our week of learning - 14th June

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:38:00 +0000

English: Lots of reading. I bought a subscription to Spellodrome on Saturday night and he's spent about 1hr doing spelling races on that today. It's so refreshing to hear an Australian accent on educational games!

Maths: A nice mixture of stuff this week - MEP worksheets (156 & 157) with measuring activities, maths puzzles like Tangrams from this site, lots of time spent playing Times Attack (he absolutely loves this game!) and some time spent on the Mathletics site on Sunday (I only bought the subscription on Saturday night!).

Science & Technology: He did some experimenting with bicarb & vinegar "potions" - testing things like whether white vinegar or malt would work better, did it matter whether you put the bicarb or the vinegar in first etc.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): Nothing formal this week.

Creative & Practical Arts: Drama class. He's also been in a creative mood - making a mixed media collage of the combined Joeys, Cubs & Scouts campfire a couple of weeks ago. He also decorated his "pig's ears & nose" ready for his drama play next week.

LOTE (Languages other than English): Nothing this week.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Circus class. Auskick training. Time spent playing in the playground with a friend.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): He made "power bars" and decorated biscuits ready to sell at the Market Day next week.

So proud!

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:44:00 +0000

I was so proud of Billy last night - he made his promise / was invested at Joeys (the youngest level of Boy Scouts). Since his first night at the beginning of this term, he has loved it. I'm not exactly sure what the attraction was - but he was absolutely buzzing after his first night and has kept the same level of enthusiasm since! He begged me to buy his uniform, and couldn't wait until he was official!

Last night was *finally* the night lol. He and another boy L, recited their promise and officially joined the group (doubling the numbers of the group - it's a small one lol). L's mum & I got to present them with their scarf & woggle.

I went through the Guide movement from Brownies through to Ranger Guides - so from about 8 to 18 years old. Mum was the Guide leader for (far too many) years, so it was a major part of our life. Camping, preparing activities for the meetings, participating in events. It gave me so many experiences and memories, and even though Guides and Scouts have changed a lot in the time since, I still think it's a worthwhile organisation to belong to.

Now I just have to stop myself getting sucked into becoming a leader :) (I've already gone to a committee meeting - but I didn't volunteer for anything!)

Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 10

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:42:00 +0000

Weight loss from last week: 0.5kg
Total weight loss overall: 3 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 7.0 cm

I went for a walk yesterday for the first time in weeks - boy was I huffing and puffing! Hopefully the wet weather will hold off for a while while I get back into the routine..

Our week of learning - 7th June

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:40:00 +0000

Last week was a really odd one. Due to my work commitments, Billy had to skip his drama class, Auskick was cancelled due to wet weather and Joeys was a special night at a local sports ground. Our formal school was all over the place, but we did get a bit achieved regardless!

English: Lots of reading.

Maths: Only one MEP (worksheet) lesson, but he spent a fair bit of time on this awesome free game for learning Times Tables.

Science & Technology: We didn't do any hands-on science, but he watched several programs on Discovery Science and several science animations on BrainPop.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): To celebrate the National Day of Italy, we held an Italian Day at our homeschooling meeting. Activities included soccer, bocce, Italian scientist activities and pasta making. Prior to that, Billy spent some time learning a bit about Italy and making a poster.

We attended a local historic homestead to watch the local team compete in the "International Back to Back Wool Challenge" - the participating team have to shear a sheep, spin the wool and knit an entire jumper in the shortest possible time. Last year our local team came 2nd in the world with a time of 6 hr and 8 mins!

Apologies for the shocking photo!

Creative & Practical Arts: The Back to Back challenge also had workshops available for people to try - Billy tried his hand at wet felting and Japanese weaving.

LOTE (Languages other than English): He learnt a couple of words in Italian for our Italian Day.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Circus class. Time spent playing in the playground.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): Pasta making at the homeschool meeting. He made "power bars" (basically a cross between LCMs and muesli bars) - did all of the measuring, stirring etc - the only thing I did was melt the butter and golden syrup for him.

Menu Plan Monday - 8th June

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:42:00 +0000

Notes on last week's menu:
It's been about a month since I've done Menu Plan Monday - I have been menu planning, just haven't blogged it. I'm not sure why, guess I got out of the habit!

To use up this week:

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - beef stir fry
Tuesday - spag bol
Wednesday - burritos
Thursday - chicken schnitzel & veges
Friday - quiche & veges
Saturday - leftovers
Sunday - roast pork & baked veges

For more exciting menu plan ideas, see Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Anyone want to start a daycare for homeschoolers??

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:09:00 +0000

I get so exhausted from Billy. From the moment he wakes up until the moment he finally falls asleep (something he puts off as long as possible), he wants to do things. This morning he's planning what to sell at a market day at our homeschool meeting in a couple of weeks - he's making lists and a sign. That would be all well and good if he could / would do it by himself, but he is constantly asking me for help, advice, or just bouncing ideas off me. "Can you ..", "Look at this...", "How do I ..." ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! I'm barely awake (it's not even 8am), and trying to read some blogs and getting really on edge by the constant interruptions.

I really wish there was some sort of daycare for homeschool kids, where you can drop them off for a few hours and you can go away and recharge. I really find that the hardest thing - the lack of peace & quiet, and time to myself. I had a wonderful morning earlier in the week - due to a scheduling conflict, Mum looked after Billy while I worked on Tuesday night and he stayed over at their place. By the time they dropped him back the next morning, I'd had a great time. I'd had a bit of a sleep in (well til 8am, but you take what you can get!), I got a couple of hours paid work done, I pottered around the house, I ate breakfast when I wanted and only had to think about making something for me, I didn't have any background noise like the TV, I didn't have anyone talking to me - I could actually complete a thought or a task without getting interrupted. Bliss!!!

Now back to my reality...

(I wish I'd counted the number of interruptions I had while writing this!!)

Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 9

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:39:00 +0000

Weight loss from last week: 0.5kg
Total weight loss overall: 2.5 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 6.0 cm

I'm actually quite surprised at the result - I pretty much gave myself this week off - I've done no exercise, we ate out one night and had takeaway another night, so I wasn't expecting a loss!

I'm also stoked because I've now reached my first "mini goal"! According to the BMI calculator I was using when I started the journey, that puts me back into the healthy range (just lol).

Now 2.5kg to go until my next mini goal. I want to have lost 5kg all together for Billy's b'day in August.

Our week of learning - 31st May

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:00:00 +0000

English: Lots of reading. We read a great book on adverbs, and Billy did a computer exercise on capitalisation and punctuation.

Maths: MEP lessons (91, 113, 114, 133). Practice on the computer (Learning Ladder CDs) on place value & addition drills.

Science & Technology: After watching a show on building bridges, he made a bridge out of paper plates, toilet rolls and cardboard that would withstand the weight of his video camera. It took 3 or 4 modifications, but at last it worked!

We visited the travelling Questacon Science Show where he spent several hours with the hands-on experiments and watched a show on the "Science of Magic".

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): As part of our study on Australian Aboriginals, he watched a video showing traditional dance & music. He also made a bark painting and painted a cardboard tube as a mini didgeridoo.

Creative & Practical Arts: Drama class. A visit to the art gallery. He made a mixed media drawing using pencils & pictures cut from a magazine, and made a plate & cup out of modelling clay. He also modelled a few things using salt dough.

LOTE (Languages other than English): No spanish this week.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Circus class.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): He cleaned his toilet & mopped the bathroom - I won't say it's perfect, but he enjoyed it!

So where have I been??!

keztol@hotmail.com (Kez) — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:39:00 +0000

The last few weeks have been so busy that I either haven't had the time or the energy to post much. (Not that anyone probably noticed lol!)

Most of the problem has been my external work. I teach several weeks each term at an adult education college, and the timing of the course on Tuesday nights is that I have to bring Billy home from his drama lesson, meet Pete at the school where I teach, Billy goes home with him while I continue on to teach. The last 2 weeks have been further complicated by Pete having squash on the same nights - so he's been taking Billy to squash with him and then I've been picking Billy up at 9pm when I finish work. By the time we get home and I get him to bed, it's a late night. Last week was supposed to be the end of it, but we have since found out that squash has been moved from Wednesday this week back to the Tuesday due to the &^@# Rugby League State of Origin.. Not happy Jan!

Add to that the work I've been doing helping a client out with a Powerpoint presentation that he had to present this week. It has been an ongoing drama and has meant a few more late nights over the last weeks helping him finish it.

We also took my MIL out for dinner for her birthday last night, and we went to a Science show on Wednesday night - both of which meant more late nights out.

And of course the usual craziness of our current life - circus, drama, Joeys, Auskick. Today is the first day I have not had to leave the house for a couple of weeks - and I have done absolutely nothing!!! I'll leave the state of the house to your imagination :)

Anyway, hopefully blogging will resume at a more normal pace soon!