The Jungle Train...

Finally I get a chance to update properly.  Children and husbands have gone to bed and I finally have a few minutes to myself!  Never mind that it is 11pm.  This may be a wake up call to be slightly more organised during normal hours!  Whatever!

We had a very busy week last week.  It was great, but I actually felt like a train had run me over and spit me out by the end of it!
We started out on Monday with a trip on the Water care Rain forest express.  (Aptly named by my children 'the jungle train'.)
It was a fun day for sure - but very long since it is over an hour to drive to the station from our house and then another 3 hours on the actual trip.  I would love to be able to say that my kids loved it, but we all know that is a lie!  Samantha loved it.  Anthony tolerated it...barely!  He hated the tunnels (or should I say, the noise the train made in the tunnels) and there were a lot of them.  Over a third of the 5km trip is made in a tunnel.  The longest being nearly 1 km.
It was definitley worth it.  Once we got to the other end, we dutifully trudged up the hill to the top of the dam.  Amazing views, gorgeous setting.  Then we trudged back down to catch the little train back to the station.  Much to Anthony's relief!  The journey back included lights off in a tunnel full of glow worms.  Both children were amazed at the 'stars' above us.  It was so beautiful - amazing to think that it is a horrible little insect!  Also the tunnel full of cave Weta  *shudder* and the last tunnel (Anthony's favourite) which has been decorated with plastic spiders and frogs just to ensure your heart stops completely after the Weta!

Here are a few pictures of our journey...

At the half way point, with the road to the dam in the background.

Walking on the top of the Upper Nihotupu Dam.

Looking down at the spillway.

Very high up!

Samantha posing..

Anthony p....being Anthony!

Waiting to depart.

Tinkerbell especially enjoyed her day :)

Tuesday, we had another big day.  I had sent an email out on our local group loop to find out if there are any other home schooling families with children of similar age to my big girl.  I had been to our local meet up a few times, but had yet to see children under about 9 there.   To my amazement, I had a fantastic response.  I had the opportunity to meet some of these lovely ladies on Tuesday afternoon at a local park.
No pictures, but my children had the best time!  We had a great turn out, and all the ladies were super lovely!  The children were all well behaved and got along nicely as well.  What a blessing!
I actually met up with some of these lovely ladies at Kids Republic today.  Again it was lovely and the children had a fantastic time!  I am thrilled and hope that over time we could form some real friendships for both the children and the Mums.  I am still in shock about how many of us there are in our little region of the country!

The rest of the week went in a blur of school work and doctors appointments.  Trips to the park (while the weather held) and visits to the library.  I purposely haven't mentioned details of doctors visits.  It is my issue, but not sure whether I am planning on talking about it yet.  Perhaps a little later!

So here is a snap shot of our school week..

Recess with Cowboy Woody - sounds like a kids TV show!

Drawing and punching holes in the our letter K. We than put them up on the window so the light can stream through the holes.

It takes them ages - BONUS!

Sammy adding some words to our Letter K board.

The finished product.  Try explaining silent K's to a 5 year old!

Anthony welcomed the Letter K to our Coconut Tree this week.

So this week we are busy, busy again.  It is the last week of the school term (although we are not taking actual holidays this time around) and everything seems very hectic!
The weather is terrible.  Finally lots of rain and wind after many months of drought here.  Nice to take advantage of one of the best parts of homeschooling.  Sitting at home in the dry and warm in our pj's while the kids walk past on their way to school :)
We are working on a Birthday Unit Study since my little girl only has 11 more sleeps until she is 6!  Part of the unit study is her writing out the menu for her tea party and a list of presents she would like ...this should be interesting!.  Even better are the sections where we find out peoples first perceptions of her  :)  Am looking forward to hearing Hubby's and Nana's especially :)   It will end up in a lap book which we can keep and compare with next year.  Should be fun!

Till next time....
Sterryn

EXEMPTION!!!

We have one!
We actually had it come last week - but the week was so full on I didn't get a chance to post it in here :)
WOO HOO!


SO HAPPY - and very relieved!

That is all!

Tooth Fairy woes and other stories.....

Wow, how did it get to be April already!  Seriously! 
I think having Easter so early this year has thrown me off completely!
Life has been busy as usual this month.    Much of it has been the same, but we have managed to get in some fun and have lots more on the way.  I will start with Easter weekend since it was the most action packed!

So we had a visit from the tooth fairy on the night of Good Friday.  After a lovely day with friends visiting, Sammy's extra ridiculously wiggly tooth finally gave up and fell out while her and her good friend Kayley were bouncing on the trampoline.  Cue funny looking child!   So the tooth fairy dutifully came and left a lovely certificate and a heart shaped charm for Samantha's bracelet (we don't do $$ in our house). 

One tooth gone....

 
Saturday was lovely.  We had a wonderful family day and both children were in bed early waiting anxiously for the Easter bunny to deliver chocolate - and boy did he ever!
Nana and Poppa came over Sunday morning to deliver more chocolate (both children were able to hang from the ceiling by this point!) which was lovely.  You know we love you both Nana and Poppa :)
During the visit there were sounds of silliness from the living room - which was hardly surprising due to it being straight after lunch and both of them being full to the brim with chocolate!
Anyway... you know that moment when you hear fun becoming something else....!   One minute there was giggling, then there was a shriek from Samantha that most Horror movie actresses would have envied!  I rush in and Samantha is cupping a handful of blood and a tooth in her hand!  She is screaming that her darling little brother knocked her tooth out, and he is crying because she hurt his head..?    Once we got them calmed down enough to get words out, it seems it goes a little like this....or thereabouts!  So big child shoves small but surprising stubborn child because she doesn't like how the game is going.  Small but surprisingly stubborn and strong child doesn't like being shoved so gives big sis a great big (loving) Liverpool kiss (for those of you that don't know what this is *hint* its a headbutt!) in the face - contacting his over sized forehead with her mouth.  End result - slight wiggly other top tooth is now in her hand!    So while in some ways Anthony saved us a few weeks or months of complaints about a wiggly tooth as well as the visuals - it did also mean the tooth fairy had to come again Sunday night!  Thankfully being the busy little bee I am, I had managed to stockpile a few charms away.  So she is now the proud owner of a little silver rose charm - for Samantha Rosalie of course :)

Two top teeth gone - Mwahahahaha :) 

SCHOOL UPDATE:

Samantha is doing really well with her school work.  She is amazing!  Her reading is really coming along thanks to the work she is putting in combined with a great system!   Add to this being rewarded with time on the Reading Eggs website, she is really coming along well.  Her letter and number writing is excellent.  It turns out practise really does make perfect and she is doing so well.  I am very proud.  Maths is amazing as usual - she excels in this anyway.  I guess some people just get numbers - she so gets this from me! :)
We spent the last week coming up to Easter doing some lovely crafts as well as learning about the true meaning of Easter.  Next year we are going to make our own resurrection eggs for sure!
This week we have had break from Unit Studies so we can start fresh next week with a Unit Study about Samantha's upcoming birthday :)  I will post details about this in a post next week - but trust me, she can't wait!

Easter egg stained glass pictures.

Colouring in her Easter egg Kite.

Reading Eggs - Anthony is supervising!

Play dough Pet Shops...

Pet shop mouse out of play dough!

Mouse family!

Our rain experiment - talking about how rain is dropped into the atmosphere.

Just water, shaving cream cloud and dye - simple but effective :)

PRESCHOOL - Anthony is loving his 'school' time as well.  As well as learning about Easter with his big sister, he has learnt about the letter J this past week.  He was absent when we took the photo of it on the Coconut tree (obviously off doing much more important 3 year old boy things!), but he did put it up there before running away :)

Anthony doing Reading eggs.

Welcoming the letter J to our Coconut tree.  Its surprisingly hard to come up with J words on the spot by the way....

The wiggle activity book Nana bought last Xmas.  Still the favourite back up :)

Hubby took the day off work last week and we managed with my bung foot between us to get the kids around Motat (The Museum of Transport and Technology).  It was a great day and the kids got so much out of their first visit there.   Definitely on our list of places to visit again the near future :)

On the Tram with Daddy.

Tinkerbell and Sammy loving the tram ride.

Watching the model railway - it was hard to decide which of the three were more thrilled!

Checking out the Train Engine.

Samantha and her new friend Samuel in the Earthquake Shack.    Notice the good grip on the table leg :)

Anthony checking out how a Diff works.

Sam trying to pull up her own body weight - better her than me!

And speaking of school stuff - we have loads of lovely things coming in the next week so watch for new posts.  We have a trip on the Water care Rain forest Express on Monday thanks to the Home school Outings Auckland group as well as a trip to the Zoo with the Trade Me home school Mums on Friday.
Oh, and I finally got the courage up to send out a message in our local group of Rodney home schoolers about arranging a meet up for the younger children of the area.  We are meeting up next Tuesday afternoon at a local playground.  Really hoping to meet a couple of other Mums that would be interested in setting up some kind of Co-op for activities like Art etc :)  The response has been amazing.  16 responses so far in less than 24 hours!  I think there must be a whole pile of home schoolers in my local area that hide away with their young children!  Looking forward to making some new friends for sure :)

Oh, and I promised photos of our Shell Mosaics.  So here they are.  Samantha's is actually set out like little people :)

Both Art Works.  Anthony's is the blue and yes he had help.

Samantha's shell people :)