Term Two: Week One ~ Natural Learning, ANZAC Day, and Outdoor Fun

The first week of the term was a short week with a pupil free day on Monday (the older boys attended an all day Lego event while Munchkin and I enjoyed a day at home together) and then ANZAC day on Tuesday so we focused on natural learning.

What better way to start off the new term then with new Legos to build. Munchkin enjoyed building new Lego sets that he received from his friends for his birthday. 

 Friday we were able to join our homeschool group at a lovely park that has a new and improved playground, and water to play in.  The boys were in HEAVEN.

As we left in the afternoon, Munchkin and Monkey both took one last turn on the Flying Fox!  

Our book selection for the week...

The book on the left was a GREAT read aloud I did with Monster.

The book on the right was read to all three boys and we enjoyed learning more about coasts. 

 All three boys enjoy ANY books about lizards and reptiles so the Creatures Close Up was a fantastic book.  Also the book on the right is the new Jackie French picture book and the boys LOVED this cute little book.

 More reading aloud about extreme and dangerous animals... and Monkey's read aloud chapter book.  I have really enjoyed reading the Henry Huggins series aloud to him as I never finished the whole series when I was a child.

 Two adorable picture books I read aloud to Munchkin... OH NO Little Dragon is a favourite that we borrow ANY time he finds it at the library, and I suspect Piranhas Don't Eat Bananas will become a new favourite.

 The older boys have found this Minecraft Zombie series (which they are loving) and the following books are the ANZAC books we read.  Midnight was a wonderful book about a horse that had a primary role in the war.  Mark Greenwood is a wonderful author and we devour any books we find written by him...

Top Left: Another wonderful Mark Greenwood book about Simpson and His Donkey, Top Right: An amazing book about how people in Australia helped to rebuild a city in France that was devastated by the war.  And finally, a wonderful Jackie French book about how Australia has celebrated ANZAC Day throughout history. 

 Finally a history read aloud Monster and I finished (LEFT) and a book that Monkey read on his own.  The drawing part was too difficult for him, but he enjoyed the information in the book about the various different ocean animals.

April School Holidays

A photo gallery of our school holidays.

What better way to start off the holidays than with a pajama day and a mammoth Pokemon battle. 

The boys had extra time to catch up on their Aboriginal colouring pages. 

We enjoyed playing Bingo at our local library... Munchkin is getting very good at finding his numbers all by himself. 

Monster spent an evening working on his puzzle... he is determined to finish it ASAP. 

A whole day was spent with our best homeschool friends... it is a tradition to do a play date together EVERY school holidays. 

After lots of outdoor play, there was some afternoon quiet time.  Munchkin and his best friend enjoyed Lego building and a Magic School Bus episode, while Monster, Monkey and their best friends played a Lego board game together!! 

The trampoline is fun... but Light Saber battles on the trampoline are MORE fun!! 

 We often catch up on arts and crafts activities during the holidays.  We spent a whole afternoon working on craft activities associated with Munchkin's Letter of the Week program.  This particular day we enjoyed marble painting for the letter M!!

After church on Good Friday we enjoyed some time playing at a new playground we found recently with friends.  It was great to be able to show daddy the playground and Munchkin continued to work on his skills on the monkey bars. 

Any chance we can we observe our resident spider as we know that winter will bring an end to her. 

Munchkin's birthday fell on Easter Saturday again (2nd time in his short life so far) this year so we planned a special family outing to the Australian Museum to see their special Spider Exhibit.  As it was Easter Weekend Featherdale Wildlife Centre was also there so the boys got to see a real live bilby.  They all enjoyed patting it and chatting with the keeper about him. 

The happy birthday boy getting ready to blow out his candles. 

We spent another afternoon conducting a science experiment to see if different ingredients would help ice melt faster. 

My middle man (Monkey) who turns 8yrs old the end of July, has discovered he has a talent (and a passion) for drawing.  Specifically animals, but he is a skilled artist regardless of what he is drawing.  These are just a few of the native Australian animals he drew one afternoon. 

We spent another afternoon doing some more Letter of the Week catch-up work.  Here are the letters Munchkin has completed so far!  I found a great "program" online somewhere that gave craft ideas for each letter of the alphabet.  Munchkin is having fun creating them. 

We went on an excursion into the city with some friends of ours for the Spirit of ANZAC exhibition at Darling Harbour.  It was AMAZING!  Really Munchkin was too young, but the older boys were impressed with the display and learned quite a bit through the experience. 

We ended the holidays with a crafting afternoon at our local library which these two boys enjoyed the most. 

Our glimpses of the spider are getting fewer and farther between... 

 I end this mammoth blog post with our HUGE list of books!  We LOVE to read!!