Term Four: Week One ~ Frustrated Beginnings

 Here we are at the beginning of term four and thus the final term of the 2026 school year. Time has flown. Though nothing dramatic happened this week, it was a frustrating start. I had several books planned for reading aloud that for various reasons didn't happen. One book we started, only to have to pause because someone reserved it and we couldn't finish it in time. Another book is on reserve for us but is a month overdue so I'm not holding my breath that it will actually be returned. Finally, another book that we are buddy reading with my mom is slow in arriving for her. As I said, frustrating, but at least we know we'll be able to start that one eventually. Additionally, there was a second copy of the book that is overdue, but the person who had it on loan damaged it with water so severely it had to be destroyed. One of the librarians has put in a purchase order for a second copy but we don't know IF it will actually be ordered, nor when. People frustrated me in general this week. 

With all of that said, we still managed a lot of reading this week and started several other read alouds that we are already really enjoying. You can look forward to hearing more about those as we finish them towards the end of the month. In the meantime, we also read several of the picture books I picked up at the special 55th anniversary event during the holidays. The stand out books in this selection would have to be "Gruffalo Granny" and "The Book of Turtles" but they all had redeeming qualities.

Monday was a pupil free day for public school children and I gave the boys the day off as well. I took a trip to the shopping centre in the morning for our groceries, and the boys spent the late afternoon/early evening washing two of our neighbours three cars for them. The left photo shows the brand new footpath/sidewalk that was laid over the holidays. This photo shows that the new portion is significantly wider than the old part and it is really nice having that extra space now. I walk this stretch of footpath every time I go to the shopping centre.

"Love is in the Air"

I spotted some sky writing fun Saturday morning while busy with my weekend chores.

Saturday evening Monkey headed off to our friends house to attend a homeschool formal dinner and dance. These were the approved photos that were sent to me before they left for the event.

Photo Credit: Mrs K

I had a week full of achievements in Duolingo.

I started two new colouring projects this week. One in my geometric book and a third page in my Querkles book.

Two shopping trips - Monday and Friday

A good Wordle week!

October School Holidays: Week Two ~ Adjustments

 

Our second week of school holidays started with the adjustment to the time change, and a public holiday. With no one NEEDING to get up Monday morning I made that my second "read and rest" day for the holiday period.

Spring is well established and there are beautiful flowers everywhere. This of course means pollen, and all three boys and I are having seasonal "adjustments" with our allergies.

There was much excitement Sunday morning when we arrived home from church to find another large branch of the bottle brush tree had come crashing down. No damage to the house thankfully, and more importantly no one was walking down the footpath at the time. Someone was sent later that afternoon to finish removing the branch. They cut it up and left it for collection later in the week. The council arrived Wednesday morning with a cherry picker truck and the chipping machine. The entire trunk of the tree was rotten and therefore needed to come down. In time the stumper machine will come to remove the stump, and finally, the council will plant a new tree - either Cape Myrtle or Lilly Pilly to match the rest of the street.

In the meantime, the street is bare and it is so very bright outside on a sunny day. It will take some getting used to.

Munchkin and I took a trip to the libraries on Friday morning. This was the book haul. In this stack are a few books for school, the return of some books for Monkey that he was still enjoying but had reached three renewals, and some independent reading for me.

My bedroom library bookshelf after removal of school books and independent reading for the boys.

I finished my second Querkles colouring page this week. My plan is to try to complete one page per week, but that could be too ambitious once school starts up again.

My very early morning of Saturday was spent reading these three books. Over this weekend I am taking part in an "8 in 48" reading event with one of my Facebook book clubs/groups. The idea is that you read a total of eight hours over the 48 hours of the weekend. This is the first one I'm taking part in (they hold them regularly) and I'm looking forward to seeing if I can hit the eight hours.

I also took a "bonus" trip back to the libraries Saturday morning. My brain seems to have been on vacation when I went Friday. First of all, I forgot to pick up the six books that were on reserve on my mum's card. I guess I got tricked because, though I was picking up a large number of books, they didn't need to go in the overflow stack, and therefore I was meant to remember to check TWO separate spots in the alphabetical shelves. Then, when I was at my "back up" library, I either didn't use the correct library card, or didn't complete my borrowing properly on the computer, and my books didn't actually check out. Instead they were showing that they were still sitting on the reserve shelf. So mid morning Saturday, I packed up the UN-borrowed back up library books, and trekked out again. So the picture above is the additional book haul photo of the six books I left behind AND the books I already picked up Friday.

Two of the books I left at our main library were needed for the start of the new term next week, so it was worth the extra trip out. Now my library shelf in my bedroom is happy and I have lots of fabulous reading to look forward to in the days and weeks to come.

Finally, hubby and I ended the week with an impromptu date night out and Guzman Y Gomez for a late dinner. We really do love that the boys are capable and responsible enough to spend a Saturday night home alone while we go out.

Two bombs this week and a fluke! It was a weird Wordle week.