Getting away.

Well, the house has been on the market for a couple of months now, and it kind of starts getting you down at times, so we decided to get away from the place for a week, and drove up to the Sunshine Coast.

We stayed at Noosaville, awesome being in the RACQ and getting cheap deals, as well as it being mid winter!!

Anyway, exploring Noosa Headland was just divine, such lovely rainforest and rock formations...

Not sure what kind of tree this was, but it was amazing!!

Marley making sure we go the right way (actually a few seconds before he was licking the sign, I think the smile means it tasted good haha)

Marley with his beloved Grandad

The boys loved the rocky beach, they would have stayed there for hours throwing stones...

It was just a really lovely place to spend time...

We eventually found some sand for the kids to muck around on.

Of course we had to pay a visit to Underwater world while we were up there, it was pretty good actually, they had seals, saw-toothed sharks, a crocodile, heaps of stingrays, other assorted sharks, amazing seahorses, huge crabs, frogs, turtles, otters, eels, so much to look at!

Of course my camera ran out of battery at the start, but I did manage to get some awesome pics of these Japanese Giant Spider Crabs, someone in my family is especially fond of crabs...

The best thing about it all is that while we were away, we had a great offer on the house, and after much negotiating on the phone, we came home to sign a contract...

Amazing what some time away can achieve...

Now it's just 3 weeks of nail biting to see if the contract sticks. Hmmmm.... where can we go to 'get away'?

Exploring writing

Louie does not write yet -to my knowledge- ;)  but he has been intrigued by the idea that back in days bygone people wrote with feathers dipped in ink.

So today we went to the local park where there are heaps of Ducks, Ibis, a few Geese and Swans in hope of finding some feathers he can use to try out old style writing.

We found quite a few, this was his favourite, from an Ibis.

I think this may have sparked off a new interest for him, collecting and identifying feathers around the place.

So we had quite a time trying to find ink at any of the shops we visited, eventually managing to find some at a specialist stationers, squeeze bottles for wetting inkpads.

Louie enjoyed his experiment writing with his feather, and I was quite surprised how well it worked, we didn't modify the feather at all, but I think I might try trimming the tip up later on, the shaft gives a very nice fine point, I can understand how such fine calligraphy was possible when feathers were in vogue :)

Science eggsperiment

We recently found this great book at the local op shop, "101 Science Experiments" and decided to find out what the acid in vinegar does to a whole egg.

Into the glass the egg went, and immediately started fizzing. The kitchen smelled pretty pungent too!

A couple of days later, this is what the egg looks like.

We pricked it with a sharp knife, and out came the yolk and white, looking perfect, and the shell reduced to just a thin skin.

"Out of the Box" childrens festival

We decided to check out the annual childrens festival here in Brisbane, it was a really fun day. There were quite a few entertainers wandering around the place, acrobats, performance artists etc.

These were all made from recycled goods, and my favourite was this amazing snail!!

The boys favourite by far was "Amococo" which was a huge tent-like structure, which let in the natural light.

  It was just amazing inside... described as "somewhere between a womb and a cathedral"

Being in there was almost trancelike, there were pods to lie down in and just soak up the ambience.

As the huge "Wheel of Brisbane" was just there, we decided to take a ride.

Great views of brisbane.

A very enjoyable and exhausting day!!

Cabbage Tree Point

The kiddos and I took a trip down to Cabbage Tree Point the other day, I love it cos of the Pelicans, I'm totally in awe of them, definitely my favourite birds!

We were there at low tide, and Louie was excited and frightened to see his first ever crabs scuttling about, there were hundreds of them! His exact words were "This is the first crab I've seen in my entire life!"

It's always an interesting place, boats being launched and loaded all the time, and we watched with interest as a Police inflatable motored past

And being the nosey minx I am, I kept taking pictures...

We wondered what the heck the pink boat following was, and were quite surprised to discover later it was actually Jessica Watson sailing past! Fellow homeschooler.... :)

The boys ended up muddy and wet as usual, then a quick go on the swings, and home to a hot shower!

And I almost missed the moment.

I live for reading, I love it, I read while I do housework, while I cook, I've tried reading while I drive, that doesn't work out so well I've found!!

Anyway, It's probably the one thing I feel pretty strongly about, and really wish for my children, is that they have a great love of books. I was reading to Tyler, Louie & Marley today, and left out a sentence as it was  repeated from the last page, and was promptly pulled up by Tyler "Mum, you left out that line there!!" A feeling of slight irritation came over me, I was being corrected by my 6 year old! When I suddenly realised that a moment I had been waiting for and dreaming about for literally years, had actually arrived, and I almost missed it. Tane is reading! Really and truly reading.

Natural Learning really is very subtle, it slips its way in gently, almost shyly. What a wonderful start to the day!

Like most homeschoolers, we spend a fair bit of time at the library, this was our most recent haul...

I think the love of reading is well on it's way...

And Marley is obsessed with books, he just loves them.

First Day Jitters

How funny it is to be feeling so 'new' at homeschooling, when in actual fact, I've just taken a 'break' from it for about a year and a half.

Up until Tyler was 5, I was naturally homeschooling, but something made me lose my nerve, possibly having a newborn and a 3 year old, and feeling completely overwhelmed by life!!

So, off to school Tyler dutifully went, no problems at all during the prep year, but wowzers, this year... totally different kettle of fish. He was not happy at all.

So long story short, Tyler now no longer partakes in state controlled education, and he's learning naturally, at home with his family.

And we love it.

I cannot believe the feeling of freedom I am feeling as a result of this decision, and how much happier Tyler is to be at home.

So, after 5 years of homeschool, then an 18 month break, I'm back on the horse so to speak, and it feels like the best thing we've ever done.