After some deliberation and a close look at the schedule, I opted to make our first week of the new term a VERY light week. Monkey and Munchkin were well and able to attend the July Pupil Free Lego Day that is held at an Anglican church in a nearby suburb. We discovered this event back when Munchkin was just a baby and the boys have LOVED it. The church holds it twice a year, for the Pupil Free Day (Australian version of Teacher Inservice Day) in April and July. However, when the event was held in April this year, both Monkey and Munchkin were sick with COVID and unable to attend. This was the absolute last time Monkey could attend so I was eager for them to go. So to start off there was no school on Monday... then Tuesday the whole family had an early morning appointment with our family doctor... and Friday we had EVERY intention of attending homeschool group (though the weather had other ideas) so I made the executive decision not to attempt structured written work with the two younger boys and instead focus on reading aloud only. Monster, however, chose to work independently Tuesday through Friday even though I gave him the option to wait until week two.
Per our usual (pre-COVID) routine, ever since Monster "graduated" from Pupil Free Lego Day, he and I have enjoyed a mother and son shopping trip at the large shopping centre several suburbs away from home. I had to purchase some gifts for a baby shower I was attending on the upcoming Saturday, so we left the house mid morning and headed off. We browsed the shops first to get an idea of what was available (there are still LOTS of issues with stock), ate lunch together, and then went back to the shops and made our purchases. Monster is a lovely lunch date I must say, and I really enjoyed our last mother and son shopping trip. Next year, when Monkey is home as well, and only Munchkin attends the Lego Day, we might have to choose a different activity... time will tell.
In the book, "The Word Spy", at the end of each chapter, there is a small sentence (or portion of a sentence) written in code based on the theme/topic of the chapter. Munchkin is super excited to solve the secret codes, so each day, after I had read the chapter, he would take the book and get to work decoding.
Friday afternoon was spent baking lots and lots of mini muffins - my contribution to the afternoon tea portion of the baby shower. I think I baked 66 muffins in total and the boys are thrilled because I brought all the leftovers home.
Saturday I only had the morning free to do any chores or school planning I needed to do. A friend was picking me up just after 1pm so we could both attend the shower. I made it clear to the boys that I needed to get all my work done before I left and thankfully they concentrated on what they needed to do and therefore I got absolutely everything on my list done with time to spare.
A couple of pictures of 2/3 of the boys doing their Saturday cleaning chores. Somehow I missed out on getting any pictures of Monster working on his assigned chores for the day. The rule is that their assigned chores (and some of them rotate each week) must be completed before they are allowed their computer time on Saturdays. This particular week, on top of their normal chores, the three boys worked very hard doing a big "extra" cleaning job for daddy. They pulled the fridge out from its cavity, gave the floor a good clean, and then put the fridge back. They worked really hard and the area looks great.
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Saturday afternoon was an afternoon out at church with some of my friends. We enjoyed a lovely baby shower for a young girl in our church who is expecting her first child (a girl) the end of August. We all contributed delicious food - not pictured is the out of this world, made completely from scratch lasagna that one of the hostesses made and brought!!
Mum-to-be opening her gifts. This is a beautiful hand knit cardigan with three sets of booties, all lovingly made by her sister-in-law's grandmother.
I really love it when I can introduce a unit study with good quality picture books. These were both excellent and we absolutely LOVE all of Roland Harvey's books. The information is great and the illustrations are amazing.
We finished off two literature books this week and moved on to the next book in each of the series. The two older boys and I have decided that (so far) Goblet of Fire is our favourite Harry Potter book.
Two more books from our river unit study...
Monkey finished this book for Premier's Reading Challenge. He has to read two more books before the 19th of August to complete the challenge for this year.
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Below is the selection of books that Munchkin read independently through the week.
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