Term Two: Week Seven ~ Outdoor Fun With Friends

This was an exciting week as we got to do the closest thing to "real" homeschool group that we have done in almost a year. That was definitely the highlight of our week. It was only a get together with one family and the eldest child of another family, but it felt extravagant after all the COVID dramas and then the weather issues. I took TONS of photos which you can enjoy a little further in to the blog post. Otherwise, it was business as usual, and although I didn't photograph our structured part of our school week, the boys worked well continuing to work through unit studies and chapters as they see the light at the end of the tunnel of this term.

Monkey has been using the blank side of a "page a day" calendar to draw little pictures. As I find them I photograph them. The pages are small, those these drawings are at a greater risk of getting damaged or lost.

Munchkin spent some time one afternoon working on a new "marble" run with some cardboard boxes he had. Only he is making this one big enough for ping pong sized balls.

More little sketches of Monkey's... I absolutely LOVE the cassowary.

With the sunny weather this week we made an effort to get outside for fresh air and exercise. Munchkin enjoyed riding his bike for long periods of time in the driveway.

The Thursday "Afterschool Activity" was a very simple craft to make a colourful spinner.

Friday morning, Munchkin was so anxious for his friends to arrive that he sat out in the sun reading while he waited for them.

We walked down to the river to have a look at all the water birds...

A great group of boys... there was only one girl in our group today but she managed well. After our look at the water we took a walk along the boardwalk to the oval and back. It is a great "nature" walk and takes about 20 minutes round trip.

After that we walked back to the house and then to the playground that is about 300 metres from our house. We ate food and the kids had a blast playing together even though most of the play equipment is too young for all of them. They had great fun climbing on the spider web and spinning each other on the spinning rides...

Spinning, spinning and more spinning... It was fun to watch the different combinations of children (and varying ages) playing together.

The youngest (4 years old) and the oldest (16 years old) sharing the swing. One of the things I love most about homeschooling is that my boys are NOT segregated in their play with other children. In primary school here the K-2 children are not allowed to play with the 3-6 children during recess or lunch... And I believe that in highschool the 7-10 grades are separated from the 11-12 grades as well. In our homeschool group all the children play in mixed groups. Some of the best friends are children with large age gaps and I love it.

Walking home after a great time spent outside together.

Then it was a good game of Exploding Kittens before everyone headed home for the evening.

Munchkin read a couple of Narnia books (AGAIN) for his independent reading this week...

I borrowed all the Flat Stanley books from the library and Munchkin spent a good deal of time this week reading all of them in order...

Our Zac Power collection is a favourite go to read for Munchkin when he needs books to read.

Minecraft and Beast Quest are both series that I borrow regularly for Munchkin from the library. There are just WAY too many books in both series for me to EVER consider buying them for him. Besides the fact that they are "fun fluffy" reads and supposed to only be read during holidays. I've been quite slack with Munchkin and his reading ever since he got sick with his appendicitis. It is time to start expecting him to read harder level books again...

Left Photo: We finished this read aloud as part of Monkey's Ancient Greece unit study.

Right Photo: Munchkin is reading some of Monkey's Premier's Reading Challenge books as he finishes them...

Two more junior non-fiction books finished for our unit studies...

Very rarely does a week go by when Munchkin does NOT read a Roald Dahl book... or two... or more...

As you can see, Munchkin did LOTS and LOTS of reading this week. He is voracious and hard to keep up with... This is another reason I want to get him reading books that are harder for him as it will slow his reading speed down a bit if he actually has to concentrate on the story and the complexity of the writing.

Another selection of non-fiction books that we finished this week...

An eclectic variety of books we own that Munchkin read this week.

Picture books are always fun... And despite the boys ages we always have at least a few picture books on loan from the library. This is a fun series we discovered when Munchkin was really little and so when he spots some of them on the shelves he likes to bring them home.

The Very ____ Bear books are a favourite series of ours. If the boys were younger I would actually purchase the whole set for our collection, but I'll wait until there are grandchildren to buy for. The right hand photo is a picture book written by the same author that writes a chapter book series that Munchkin enjoys reading and re-reading.

These books were a fun discovery a few years ago and Munchkin spotted them on the picture book shelves and HAD to bring them home.

Geography and science books we finished reading aloud this week...

And the finally few books that Munchkin read for independent reading this week...