Defying Gravity

Can we play a game, please???

2012-03-09T16:56:00.000+11:00

Catching up on Stephanie's post for Unschooling Tools. This post - games!!

Where do I start? We love games around here. Actually, to be more accurate, Wombat Girl LOVES board games and Video Boy...well, have a little guess about what he loves (ahh - but I see that is a post for another day!).

Have a read of some of the Australian Curriculum guff about proficiencies and then have a look at the games we love and see if you can make some connections:

Students make connections between related concepts and progressively apply the familiar to develop new ideas.

Students develop skills in choosing appropriate procedures, carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately, and recalling factual knowledge and concepts readily.

Students develop the ability to make choices, interpret, formulate, model and investigate problem situations, and communicate solutions effectively.

Students formulate and solve problems when they use mathematics to represent unfamiliar or meaningful situations, when they design investigations and plan their approaches, when they apply their existing strategies to seek solutions, and when they verify that their answers are reasonable.

Students develop an increasingly sophisticated capacity for logical thought and actions, such as analysing, proving, evaluating, explaining, inferring, justifying and generalising.

Apart from all that goodliness, given that my kids don't participate in team sports (or really any kinds of sports...apart from family fitness), games give us the chance to practice that all important "socialisation" that everyone keeps asking about. We play games as a family, an extended family, with the kid's friends and with our friends (just ask anyone who has to endure Buzz music trivia after a night at our house!).

Games also teach:

conversational skills
how to take turns
patience
concentration and focus
planning ahead
strategy
listening skills
sometimes adding, multiplying, spelling, vocabulary
how to win nicely
how to lose nicely
persistence
how to pretend you are having fun, when you aren't (oh, wait - that's just me and Monopoly!)

Monopoly Deal

And the real version (I deserve Bonus Homeschool Mum points!)

Card games...

Poker

More poker

Snap!

Chess

Uno

Uno Stacko (and Uno Attack)

Jenga (regular and super-sized!)

Zeuss on the Loose

Pretty Darn Quick

BBC Planet Earth DVD game

Rory's Story Cubes

Banangrams and...

Appletters and...

Electronic (and pen and paper) Sudoku

The Amazing Labrinth

Puzzle books - Big Frame Games

Jigsaws - many and assorted!
If you like hard ones, the Escher Sphere is a doozy...

And sometimes we even create out own!

And there are many, many more on my wish list!!! Yep, we love games around here!

Maths 'round here.

2012-03-08T23:12:00.000+11:00

So, ignoring my greys hairs that I ripped out yesterday for a bit...I'm joining in the ever-inspiring Stephanie's blog-linky thing on Unschooling Tools for her Maths Play post. I missed the Games one...(might get back to that after a bit).

First of all, before we get started, I want to know why Americans call mathematics "math" and Australians call it "maths". Just one of the mire of thoughts swirling through my head....

Anyway. A bit of background - because everyone carries maths baggage with them and whether they know it or not, pass those vibes onto their kids. I was always really good at maths at school. I would actually go so far as to say I liked it. I used to get A's, 90% and above...until 3 Unit Maths in Year 11. In Australia we don't have Arithmetic, and Pre-Algebra, and Trigonometry, and Pre-Calculus like they do in the U.S. We kind of bundle them all up and intertwine them all the way through school. 3 Unit Maths was the next-highest maths course you could not. Not the brainiac one, but not the dumbo one either.

Up to then, I found maths really easy. I would read the chapter intro, look at the demo questions and "get" it before the teacher had finished calling the roll. I never learnt how to "learn" stuff or ask questions when I needed to or "study". I didn't spend the time practising and learning the way I should. And I didn't for first year University math either. I just scraped through with low passes, which thankfully was enough - but I was never going to go onto be a mind-blowing physicist or mathematician. I think I did miss out on some maths "skills" along the way, though.

Now Wombat Girl, she LOVES maths in a way I never really did. She has done since she was little. Puzzles, patterns, problem solving, counting chair legs by 4s, estimates, measures, questions...she naturally has all the maths skills. Video Boy might not claim to love maths as much - in fact, he doesn't think he's very good at it (maybe comparing himself to his sister), but he has a maths instinct too - he definitely can see his way around a problem in a very instinctive way. He really struggles to "show his working" though...

We do maths the "traditional" way - questions from the text book. But we do them quickly because the kids, pick up those concepts quickly - way quicker than what they were offering at school. I loved Stephanie's reference to the article by David Albert (I love his homeschooling books!) who says we can learn K-12 maths in eight intensive weeks! I don't doubt it. Wombat Girl has moved onto Year 10 Algebra quite easily doing only one or two sessions a week.

But we also do "unschooling" maths. Maths that flows because we love it and can't help it. Maths that sneakily invades other parts of living and maths they we just chase because it looked so interesting, much like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.

Number and Algebra:

Harry Potter currency using Prime Numbers!

Magic squares

The Joy of Algebra DVD (Fibonacci magic!)

Working out binary numbers

Measurement and Geometry:

Tesseracts

Describing dimensions

Demonstrating pythagorus

Measuring solids

Measuring liquids

Measuring length

Measuring length (making birthday cards)

Model of Klein bottl

Klein bottle

Measuring temperature

Types of triangles (and counting money)

Isoceles triangle

3 dimensional shapes

Creating "Flatland"

Experimenting with symmetry!

Measuring energy

Estimating water usage rates

Statistics and probability:

Venn diagram - data representation

Card games - probability

Interpreting data from a table

Recording data

Representing linear equations graphically

Problem solving, reasoning and understanding:

Marble run

Number crossing puzzle from CSIRO Maths & Stats

Mastermind

Set

River crossing

Studying chess...

...playing chess

Blokus

Kaleidoscope

Making sundials

Maths books:

Life of Fred

Card games

Maths in movies:

Flatland

Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land

Yep! We love our maths 'round here!!

The one where Mum loses it...

2012-03-07T13:36:00.001+11:00

Ahh, well. It had to happen, didn't it?

The homeschool area is moved. The rumpus is neat and organised within an inch of it's life. I've re-discovered all our resources and have lots of good things to do.

So of course, our homeschooling days have turned into a big pile of poo. As the rain pelts down or drizzles down, so have our tears. See - I told you I wasn't perfect, didn't I? Beth at Shut Up and Run (one of my favourite blogs - you have to read it, even if you don't run) isn't either - it's overrated. Just as well.

My push to get some persuasive writing completed, even if I was ever so supportive, knowing it is not our favourite thing to work on, resulted in tears (first Video Boy, then Wombat Girl because I was helping him too much), anxiety, stress, flinging oneself onto the reading couch in despair, and me running to the loo to have a quiet cry in despair. Maybe the constant rain around here hasn't helped. But I lost it this week. Lost my temper and my mojo.

I know, deep down inside, that despite being gifted, both kids have some level of weakness in their executive functioning - you know, the higher order skills in being able to sort through thoughts, hold them in their heads, organise them and put them on paper. On being organised enough to not run late every week for swimming. To know how to tidy up their room. I know that they struggle with these things. Whether or not they are severe enough to count as the inattentive type of ADHD we are waiting until May (which is how long you have to wait to get to see a specialist).

I thought I had scaffolded well. Broke the task down into bite-sized chunks. Provided kind, supportive words. But DAMN!!! How hard could it be??????? Deep breath. Hard, apparently. And it doesn't help that Video Boy seems to have developed some kind of a cold (he fell asleep during Peter Pan - I swear I read aloud much more interestingly than that statement makes it sound!).

What is a homeschooling mum to do? Dream of sending them back to school again? (well, maybe, just for a millisecond!). But that is not the answer.

I need to take a step back. Find some joy in learning again. At least for a few days, avoid the source of stress. Be available to answer their questions. Say "yes" to art, and cooking, and music, and science experiments. Don't stress that because we didn't do much academic work last week because of the big rearrange/tidy up and know that it will come in good time?

And question what sort of education do we want. Need. Can we incorporate our persuasive writing in a more natural way - when the need for it pops up in real life? As a letter to the editor of our local paper. Am I only pushing this because of a case of the "shoulds" - because they have said they want to do NAPLAN exams, I am stressing because the writing component (their weakest link) is persuasive writing? I mean, really, who cares?

I need to look at the bigger picture. Are they learning (some stuff) - yes. Are they happy - well, most of the time, except when their mum is making them do stuff that is really hard for them. Will they grow up to be well adjusted young adults - one can only hope and I think there is more chance of that if we homeschool, than if I packed them off to high school.

So breath. Cuddle. Say "yes". Keep reading books and inspiring words on other blogs. And keep on going. Because that's what we all do, isn't it??

It's my mess and I love it!

2012-03-04T15:19:00.000+11:00

Nanna's cross-stitch for Wombat Girl...how appropriate!

Most Saturday mornings, the kids are sent to their rooms to tidy up. Wombat Girl in particular has trouble with this. Today I even gave them some help...

The idea is that the task can a bit a overwhelming, so they each follow steps in the card and then when finished, give the card back to me (so I can check their handy work). And after a while (you know, a couple of years), they should be able to tidy their rooms without the prompts.

Despite the assistance, Wombat Girl still had trouble. I wonder why????

She got up to step 5...

So much junk!!! This called for the big guns - Mummy!

I took everything off every surface, dusted (with help):

Sorted, re-arranged, threw out.

And then just a mere 3 hours later...

All the little bits of plastic and knick-knacks back where they belong!

Now, if only she can keep it like this...

Our Learning Space...Take 2!

2012-03-03T09:13:00.000+11:00

I blame Tracey Mansted and her Mansted Family Project and Stephanie at Ordinary Life Magic entirely! If they didn't have such a cosy, enticing, beautiful, thoughtful, colour-coordinated, organised homeschool rooms, I would have been quite happy in my messy dining room.

Well, except I wasn't - not totally. It is frustrating not having anywhere to eat your dinner and also having the dining room so cluttered. We do have a "rumpus" room as you enter the house - which was highly under-utilised (not to mention messy)...

The "before" shot

So, theygot me thinking...maybe with a bit of decluttering and moving stuff around and resourcefulness, I too could have my very own enticing homeschool room! So, I ~~left the children to their own devices~~ gave the kids heaps of puzzles, Minecraft and documentaries to watch (with explicit instructions to bring me food and drink on demand - that's home science, isn't it?) and got busy.

As with all good moves, it looks worse (if that's possible) before it looks better...

But we now have a new, improved learning space!!!

The "after" shot!

New (old) workdesk - resurrected from the garage, new legs.

Already moved the printer, added our current workbooks,
put up some visual cues (visual times tables, exposition essay planner)

We have multiple office chairs floating around and at a stretch, three of us should fit in there for "group work". We Hubby is going to put up a shelf (hopefully this weekend??) above the desk so that all the office supplies can get off the desk.

Inspired by Tracey - I sorted out all our coloured pencils, gel pens and textas - pretty!

TV (PS2, Wii etc), Reading bookcase, scrapbook supplies

Our "reading nook" (which doubles as the dog's bed)
complete with comfy cushions from Nanna!

Wombat Girl got out the matching quilt and now Max is the most spoilt dog!

Makes me want to read...or enrol in another degree...

Reference, English and Maths books

Science anyone? (and there are more further down)

Puzzles and logic!

Assorted Geography, History, Art, Dance etc

Non-fiction books (mostly gifted, homeschooling etc) and science equipment
(am going today to the Warehouse to get some more plastic containers)

Wombat Girl's keyboard and art supply cupboard (also where the printer now resides)

...also my Twilight corner :-)

My sister-in-law gave us this for Christmas...
now I have the perfect spot to hang the dog lead
(plus Halti collar) - walkies anyone?

I spent a huge amount of time sorting, throwing, arranging the massive amount of paper/books/crap I've collected over the years. Three degrees (Science, Teaching, Gifted) plus five years teaching earns you a lot of ~~crap~~ paper, but do I really need it in our homeschooling room?

I feel really good about our space. We have room to spread out, cuddle up, read, write, type and play. I'm hopefuly we will actually use a lot more of the resources I've ~~hoarded~~ collected over the years. I'm hopeful we will get a bit more done. I'm hopeful I don't blow our credit card limit the week after next when I visit Sydney and Ikea....

We of course will still use the dining table at times (old habits are hard to break) and all of our other wonderful learning spots around the house and the community, but it's such a good feeling to be decluttered and organised (at least for a while).

So, thank you Tracey, Stephanie and also the Aussie Homeschool Bloghop for inspiring me to sort our mess out. It has some tweaking (you know I'll share!), but I'm pretty happy with it :-) Now if you will excuse me, I just have to go clean up the dining room...

Happy 1st birthday!

2012-03-01T17:54:00.004+11:00

I just realised Defying Gravity is one year old! One year (and three days - don't forget the three days) ago I started off with a Homeschool Mother's Journal post. Just launched straight into it - no background on us or anything! I had only just discovered the wonders of blogging and thought it might be a nice way to record what we do. Fiddled around a bit with the design, came up with the name and voila! Blog created!

Source

I think it has been a fabulous year, full of ups and downs and interesting things and thoughtful moments. I hope I can continue to post well-written, humourous, insightful blogposts. Failing that, I hope the photos are good!

We've been pottering away this last week or so.

We have been watching Federation on ABC iView. And when I went searching for some "meat" to put on the bones of this excellent program, I found wonderful (free!) resources from the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra (which is on the "to do" list now). We have been learning about Australia's population at the time of Federation (1901 for overseas readers who don't get to learn Australian history), interpreting data from tables and creating pie graphs on Excel.

We have been continuing our algebra - a mix of Maths Quest textbook work, Algebra I from Great Courses DVDs and also, just to mix things up Joy of Algebra (also from Great Courses). We love Art Benjamin - he makes maths fun! I have to share his opening joke:

I first discovered the Joy of Algebra when my father asked me to solve the following problem - if 1q + 1q is 2q, and 2q + 3q is 5q, what is 5q + 5q?? I thought about it for a second and responded "10q" to which he said "you're welcome!".

Ahh, gotta love a bit of maths humour!

Using algebra to solve a Fibonacci "magic" trick

In science, Wombat Girl has been working through Science Focus 1 as I helped Video Boy with his physics.

We were looking at particle motion in waves, and I was sure that I had seen a Surfing Scientist video about that, so we Googled. We found a lesson plan with detailed instructions on how to make an animation using Powerpoint. Unfortunately we don't have Powerpoint 2010, so to turn the animation into a video for upload (to say, a blog), you have buy software (which I'm not prepared to do at this point!). So, I did a screen snip (imagination waves moving):

We have also been on a "field trip" to look at the fossils on the local rock platforms. They are sedimentary rocks (mudstones and siltstones for those interested) and were formed in the Permian, about 270 million years ago - before dinosaurs, but after trilobites (so, none of those found). But they are pretty spectacular:

We took plasticine moulds of the fossils and will soon make plaster of Paris casts (soon).

Unfortunately, the much anticipated Drama lessons have been postponed until Term 2, but Wombat Girl has been enjoying her piano lessons very much. I found this book in the library and we have been enjoying learning about the different periods in classical music (supplemented by my extensive iTunes libary!!). The second half of the book goes into detail about the different sections of the orchestra.

Lots of reading...especially by Wombat Girl...

Sometimes one book just isn't enough!

Oops - what is that doing there?! My reading choices are always high-brow...

Are your kids into Minecraft too? For those not in the know, this immensely popular game is deceptively simple - you "mine" stuff (hunt for different resources) and then you use that to "craft" stuff (to mine better stuff). If you play multiplayer (apparently considerably more fun), you also work together. My kids are close to being addicted to this game, having now set up a server, installed and set up Skype so they can chat to their friends (and weirdly, to each other from different computers in different parts of the house) as they mine and craft. Video Boy has also been busy setting up and capturing himself playing PS3 games and uploading them to YouTube. Just as well I'm pretty techo, or these kids would have left me in the dust by now!

I have to say that as far as "video games" go, Minecraft impresses me with its use of imagination, construction, use of technology, science, strategy and social interaction. I'm reasonably happy to let them spend time developing those skills!

They've have lots of time to work on Minecraft and also delve into the world of documentaries...

Barney's Barrier Reef

Museum of Life

...as I've been very, very busy...stay tuned to find out what I've been up to!!!

Pssst...wanna be a fly on the wall?

2012-02-26T12:24:00.000+11:00

My Students + Curriculum + Learning Spaces + Real Life = A Day In the Life

This Day is from last week when I thought it was A Day In The Life but it was Learning Spaces instead...probably just as well, because the last few days have not been worth blogging about (or maybe there's a big blog post in there lurking away, but I just can't deal with it right now)...anyway...

This week is the last of our Aussie NBTS posts and a warning...it's a long post!! So if you stay to the end, you have done well and earn bonus points.

I think a lot of people who don't homeschool are curious as to what our days look like. Those 6 panel Facebook memes have been doing the rounds, and of course there was a Homeschool one:

He he he!

The night before the Day in the Life: I should preface this Day with the fact that we had a late Night watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It was on TV, but we got out the DVD to skip the ads. I feel that some movies are just a compulsory part of any child's education and FB is one of those.

As Ferris says: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." And so:

6:10am: One of the beauties of homeschooling is that we can be flexible with our routine. I know that we are able get up at 6:30am every morning, get dressed, make lunches and go to school (because we've done it), but it is very nice not to have to do it now. And so it was a late start this morning. Well, I wanted it to be late, but Hubby's alarm went off at 6:10am (set from yesterday) and he was not moving an inch, so I had to get up and turn it off. Back to bed.

8:00am: Generally speaking (and this may fall in the TMI category), I leave the bathroom door open. And I have a furry companion who just sooo happy to see me first thing in the morning!

This is how nearly all my days start!
Except when they start like this

Cup of tea time - the first cup of the day really is the best. It's still quiet, with all the rest of the family asleep, so I have a little uninterrupted time checking emails, Facebook, blogs (my guilty pleasures). Other mornings you can find me (and Max) by the beach, doing our run.

Hubby is up next. He's not working in our shop this morning, so we get to share our adventures with him. Wombat Girl is the next to surface and goes straight to her book on wombats (gee, that was a shock) that we got out of the library yesterday afternoon.

I go wake up Video Boy, who is likely to sleep until midday if allowed!

They still look cute when they are asleep!

Bit of Where's My Water on the iPad until we nag them to go eat something and get dressed.

9:00am Wombat Girl eats breakfast while working on her piano composition. She has been busy notating her right hand and now is working on some chords to go with her melody and notating them too.

Meanwhile, Video Boy went outside for a bounce on the trampoline. This is a recurring theme around here and it helps get the blood pumping, some exercise and surprisingly, settle him down. He loves the rhythmic nature of it (he's outgrown our swing set) and he has a lovely time in his imagination.

A load of washing and put the dishwasher on for me and it's time for another cup of tea.

10:00am Hubby goes down to the office to tackle the never-ending "to do" list for our business and we get started on our "formal" part of the day.

Our volcano model is finally painted and vanished and ready to explode! Bicarb - check. Vinegar - check. Red food colouring - check. Detergent - check. Let's ~~play~~ study!

Which spoon should I use?

I would have thought bringing the bicarb
a bit closer to the volcano would have
been a better idea, but what do I know?

Wombat Girl experimenting with colour

Love that they work so well together (most of the time)

Ready....set....

Once the excitement has died down, Video Boy delves into his book on cartooning from the library (whilst snacking) and Wombat Girl ~~plays~~ experiments some more.

After a fair bit of repetitive ~~nagging~~ encouragement from me, we sit down to do a worksheet I made myself, comparing model volcanoes with the real thing. This ends up involving:

estimation
measuring
calculating ratios
multiplying fractions
slope calculations
research on volcano slopes (depends on the type of volcano as it turns out)
research on temperature of volcanoes
research on the underground structure of volcanoes
drawing scientific diagrams
acid/base chemistry
plate tectonics and mountain formation

Hubby came up and wanted to join in the fun!

I did have quite a few things on my "list" of what we could achieve this morning - continuing our persuasive writing, graphing coordinates, completing our work yesterday on Australia's Federation; and we "only" did the volcano. I wonder if I will ever feel as if we do "enough". But yet, when I look back at what we achieve in a week, a term, a year, and I see how happy and engaged the kids are, I know I shouldn't worry.

11:30am: Time to eat. But first, time to clean up the kitchen! I saw a segment on a morning show this morning, which was all about mum's who need to prepare better, healthier school lunches for their kids. They suggested a lamb and vege wrap. Mmm - who could be bothered, even when at home? Sandwiches are the lunch d'jour round here! Bonus - they don't go soggy in your school bag! We occasionally get a monkey platter going if we don't do sandwiches.

What a mess...

That's better!

Honey sandwich and apple for Wombat Girl

Ham, cheese, tomato and avocado sandwich + apple
for Video Boy and Hubby

Leftover chicken curry for me!

Hubby snuck off to the bedroom to get some quiet reading time, but was interrupted by cuddles from two kids and a dog!

We love you Daddy!

Time to round up our swimming stuff (where's my flippers Mum? I think you left them in the pool) and craft stuff and head out for our afternoon.

1:00pm: This term we are meeting another homeschooling family for swimming "lessons". I used to be Austswim qualified (now lapsed), so I run the kids through their paces and then attempt a few laps myself. Well, that's the plan anyway!

Afterwards there is always time for an ice-cream, game and chat!

3:00pm: Then it was off to my Mum's (aka "Nanna") for some craft! Back when I started homeschooling, I thought it might be nice to visit my crafty Mum regularly and let some of her skill rub off on us. It's only taken me a year to get my act together! Wombat Girl did her cross-stitch kit she got for Christmas, with Nanna's expert help and I found an origami animals kit stashed away, so Video Boy and I worked on those (he's really good at them and helped me decipher the instructions!).

Fox

Crabs with peace stork in the background

It was coming over all dark and stormy, with thunder and lightning around, so we headed for home (with a quick stop to buy supplies for dinner tonight!).

But not home in time to rescue the sheets on the line from the rain...

5:00pm: The kids have their chores to do each day (which I usually have to ~~nag~~ remind them about), including feeding the animals and emptying the dishwasher. After chores is some quiet time (more Where's My Water for them and FB/email/blogs for me).

6:30pm: Time to get dinner ready. Tonight - home-made pizza! The kids love helping with these and I love letting them cook dinner (that's what we call a win-win around here!).

7:30pm: Friday night is Scooby Doo night on Go! So we watched that. Wombat Girl was very keen to watch Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (again), but we opted for Better Homes and Gardens (with the home-made pizza section) plus repeats of Sea Change (what a pity there is such a lack of good new Aussie drama on the TV at the present) and the cricket. The lightning, thunder and rain continued.

I really, really hate thunder!

Video Boy took himself off and drew some stick-figure cartoons.

9:00pm: An early night was called for! I had clean sheets on the bed (except for wet dog footprints) and we had lots of good books from the library, so we were happy to be tucked up, with the rain still falling on the roof, reading, reading...

But not before a bedtime snack....

Sandwich time! Video Boy was the filling!

So, that was our day. Some days are more exciting, some are less, but that is a pretty good example of how we roll 'round here! Can't wait to finally read everyone else's Day In The Life post's over at Kylie's Our Worldwide Classroom!

I sent Wombat Girl to her own bed around 10:30pm...
but given how much of her book she'd finished
by the next morning I think she stayed up a bit later, reading...

Our Learning Space!

2012-02-18T16:58:00.000+11:00

Oh. So it turns out (when you actually read the instructions) that this week's Not Back To School BlogHop theme is meant to be Our Learning Space. I just took a billion photos of our day yesterday and drove my family (and a few other people) mad recording a Day in Our Life! Stuff it - you get to see yesterday next week - you just have to wait. And meanwhile have a look at our learning space(s).

We don't do "school at home" and we also don't have a fully-equipped classroom either. Mostly we homeschool at our dining table (which is consequently usually covered in homeschool ~~crap~~ work every evening when we try to have dinner). I clean it up on a Saturday when I (try to) clean up the rest of the house.

Obviously taken on a Saturday afternoon...

It bothers me that the back "corner" is so stuffed full of "stuff". There is a whole bunch of "stuff" that needs to be eBayed...just another job on the never-ending list! I'd rather be blogging (obviously).

There is the bookcase - it gets 'cleaned out' periodically, but basically contains any resources for homeschooling that are relevant this term, my books I use for any tutoring that I do (maths and chemistry mostly) and also "my" novels (Twilight, anyone?) and my scrapbooked photos (I used to do lots of scrapbooking).

Behind the dining table is the sideboard and my homeschooling "cupboard". The cupboard is the repository of all our "work" - maths exercise books, writing exercise books, lapbooks, projects (electronics, clay etc) and other assorted ~~crap~~ resources that have no other home. The top of the cupboard is where I ~~dump~~ file paperwork coming in and store paper for the printer.

The sideboard is a constant battle to keep clear. It is home to my new wireless! printer (no more USB cables to trip over). It is also the home of the ~~junk drawer~~ resources drawer (you know you have one too!).

When we first decided to homeschool, Hubby wanted me to do our "work" downstairs, in the rumpus - which is the room you walk into when you open the front door. I obviously won that battle...(because I didn't want our mess visible as you walk in).

Also taken on a Saturday afternoon (you should have seen it in the morning)

It is home of the 2nd TV (where the kids play computer games), Wombat Girl's keyboard, more bookcases (we are going to put up a whole bunch of shelves which should tidy that left-hand side up a lot), the telescope and my exercise bike (which gets used when it's too wet to run or I've hurt myself and can't run).

There is another computer desk down there, but it's not very stable and is a nightmare at the moment. It is where we will put Video Boy's new computer (if Hubby ever gets around to buying the components to build it).

(See all my degrees on the top???? The trophies are Hubby's - Wombat Girl
went to the shed, fished them out and put them there so Hubby wouldn't feel left out)

Of course we do our learning all over the place:

Playing games, watching videos, reading and
listening to music in the loungeroom (which also has our world map
and periodic table posters on the wall)

Science and cooking and all things messy in the kitchen ...

...which also has the whiteboard, which we use to keep track of
weekly commitments and do the odd bit of science or binary

Beds are for reading!

Backyard for swimming, jumping, swinging, playing, exploring

The local beach is a wonderful place for learning about coastal
environments, making sun dials or just burning off some energy

We love our local council indoor pool - it's warm!

All in all, we don't live in a palace and we don't lock the kids in the cupboard under the stairs (very often)! But our house is full of books, learning opportunities and LOVE (lots of love) and we live in a pretty nice part of the world. And that's what makes homeschooling such a great option :-)

OK, so NEXT week, pop back for the uber-mega-huge post on a Day In Our Life!!

Finding our groove

2012-02-15T16:49:00.000+11:00

Well, it's Week 3, Term 1 in "school-land" and we've been easing our way into something resembling some kind of routine.

Most mornings have included maths. Some mornings a few algebra questions. My "new" method of just writing out a few choice questions in their books, rather than be faced with a whole worksheet of questions with lines crossing out what I don't want them to do, is working much better. So is just working with one child at a time for maths - much like tutoring):

Other mornings watching some Algebra I episodes (which around here become fully interactive!):

Ignore my messy loungeroom - it's the kids!

We enjoy these as we can pause, rewind, fast-forward (yes! we speed through at 1.5x when he gets too boring!).

We are also working (as promised in our "plan of action") on our persuasive writing skills. I was planning on doing this after a year of narrative writing, but it also nicely coincides with the NAPLAN writing component. We've decided to do NAPLAN this year as the kids actually enjoy doing the exams (weirdo nerd homeschoolers!) and especially as we can do them at home, rather than sitting at the back of a hall of some high school they've never been to.

And practising our dictionary and thesaurus skills!

One of the exercises we did was looking at something from someone else's point of view. They each wrote a paragraph from the point of view of a fairy tale "villian". Wombat Girl (who always likes to think outside the square and probably would not have been allowed to do this in school) chose "the wall" from Humpty Dumpty:

Here I was, just a standing wall, when some egg comes and sits on top of me! The impertinence of it! So I did what any self-respecting wall would do and, very gently, tilted him off. Unfortunately I forgot the fact that it was an egg and he broke. Horses and men bearing the royal seal came, but once an egg has broken it's staying that way. Broken. Sorry 'bout that egg.

He he! Nice imagination and pretty well written!

Afternoons have been more free-flowing and have included painting that volcano we made back in September last year...

Get out of the road, Video Boy!

Now I have to go buy some clear lacquer/varnish so the paint doesn't run when we bubble and froth!

Catching up on Minute Physics (we especially enjoyed the VomitPhysics one):

Helping design, measure and build a cubby house (which may morph into a chook shed later on if I get my way!):

I'm not sure how that's helping, but he was having fun!

Making patterns with magnets...

More Peter Pan and Wendy and much novel reading!

A renewed enthusiasm for Little Big Planet 2:

And some board games to round out the video games:

So after all that, stay tuned for next week's NBTS Bloghop "A Day in a Life" - I might pick Friday...Friday looks like it's gonna be a fun day (get my camera at the ready)!

Stuff we might do this year!

2012-02-13T14:42:00.000+11:00

Welcome to Week 2 of the Aussie NOT Back to School Bloghop!

As promised, this week's theme is Our Curriculum - or some stuff that I'd like to see get covered this year and how we are going to try and do that!

If I had to pick a homeschooling "style" (and remember, for every 100 homeschoolers, there are a 100 ways of homeschooling!), it would be relaxed eclectic. We don't follow or purchase a set curriculum or a set of workbooks. We don't subscribe to Montessori or Steiner or Charlotte Mason. We aren't Christian homeschoolers. We pick and choose from the plethora of materials out there (designed for homeschoolers and teachers) to find what works for us. And then I may or may not use it!

As a base, we should be following the "Stage 4" syllabus from the NSW Board of Studies, which lists a bunch of knowledge, skills and values which they believe each student should come out of Year 7 and 8 with. One of (the only?) the advantages of having been a high school teacher is that you rapidly come to realise that a lot of kids won't achieve these (even having sat through all your carefully planned out lessons) and some will be bored senseless by these. And one of the advantages of homeschooling is that you realise that many of these "outcomes" are easily achieved by LIVING LIFE and discussing what we read and watch.

Anyway, I just know you are chomping at the bit to find out what we have planned, and even more so to get to those really helpful links, so without further ado, here are our 2012 curriculum plans:

English:

Literary analysis and interpretation:

Continue with Michael Clay Thompson's Alice, Peter and Mole series (we are currently reading aloud Peter Pan and Wendy - we will attempt some of the analysis questions this term).
Not forgetting our Australian content - possibilities include Storm Boy (Colin Thiele) and Blue Back (Tim Winton).
Linking in some film reviews (Disney's Peter Pan and Hook, Storm Boy etc) and using Brave Writer Goes to the Movies.
Continuing our Poetry Tea Times from Brave Writer.
We might attempt Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream later in the year.

Writing:

Our focus this year is on Persuasive Writing. We are currently working through Persuasive Writing by Tara McCarthy
There are also some great resources from the ReadWriteThink website - Can You Convince Me? and also the Northern Territory DET
Moving on from Persuasive Writing, we will start to tackle Academic Essay writing - mostly through Michael Clay Thompson's Academic Writing 1.
We will continue to work on narrative writing through Brave Writer's Writer's Jungle.

Linguistic competency:

The kids both have pretty good spelling and punctuation, so I just usually correct/discuss as we go.
I am really looking forward to doing some of the work/activities in the units I found at Read Me Resouces. These are especially designed for BOYS aged 11-14 years of age and we are particularly interested in This Is Me (autobiographies and blogging), Graphic 4 Me (graphic novels) and Film & Me (titles and trailers).
The NSW DET Curriculum Support website also has some excellent units of English.

Mathematics:

Patterns and Algebra:

We will continue our Algebra work building on our algebraic techniques (simplifying, expanding and factorising algebraic expressions), solving linear equations (using analytical and graphical methods) and moving onto quadratic equations.
We are enjoying watching Algebra I from the Great Courses.
We will also re-visit Life of Fred Beginning Algebra.
As a teacher I have the Maths Quest NSW textbooks on PDF.

Probability:

We need to do some this year, as it was something we missed out on last year (except for playing Keno at the local golf club...).
We will do some simple and complex events, look at relative frequencies and theoretical probabilities.
The Joy of Maths DVD from Great Courses has some good stuff on probability as well as text book stuff.

Graphing and Coordinate Geometry:

You remember all this stuff from high school, don't you? Midpoint formula, length, gradient, gradient/intercept form of linear equations! Moving onto parabolas and hyperbolas, cubics, exponentials and circles.
Will have to find some good graphing software for this bit....

Data Representation:

I think we might do this as part of science - table, charts, statistical information, frequency etc.
Again lots of graphing opportunities (Microsoft Excel comes into it's own here) and also the statistics functions on the scientific calculator (to find out what all the other buttons do!).

Trigonometry:

Time to start on this too! Will tackle Life of Fred and Maths Quest.

Geometry:

Life of Fred and MathsQuest.

We'll be doing well if we get through all that! Plus there are lots of opportunities for Living Math type activities and just finding our joy (Flatland, tesseracts and the like!).

Science:

For someone who's a science teacher, I have been a bit lax in this department in the last few months. Both kids have a lot of knowledge (Video Boy has crazy amounts of stuff in his head!), but we still need to build on our skills and methods.

Because I can still access the NSW DET website, I have downloaded the OTEN Preliminary (Yr 11) Physics and Chemistry units, so we are working through these. I like these because the content is at Video Boy's level, but the work is meant to be done at home.
We are enjoying watching Great Courses Quantum Mechanics DVD.
We will do some work (practical where possible) on cells, flowering plants, human body, Earth's resources, plate tectonics and genetics/evolution.

Geography/History/Civics:

Mapping skills (Mapping the World By Heart)
World Heritage sites (great resources at the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities website!)
Some more work on Global Environments
Terminology and concepts of historical time
Ancient Egypt (or Greece or Rome)
Medieval (Vikings or Europe)
Keep going with our Discovering Democracy work

Creative Arts:

Drama classes! We are very excited to be starting these!!
Piano lessons for Wombat Girl! She has had one already and I think this will help her progress a lot.
Basics of music (for Video Boy) and exposure to a range of music
Some basic Dance with mummy! I taught Dance at high school (I know, I'm multi-talented) so we will have a couple of sessions where we look at the components of dance, create some movement and maybe even go and see some live dance (Bangarra Dance Theatre comes to our area every year).
Visual art - we will keep going with some watercolours, sculpting and anything else that I get ideas for that appeal and don't create too much mess!!!

Health and Physical Education:

For "Moving with Confidence" we will be working on our gross motor skills with Can't Play Won't Play (activities for kids with motor dyspraxia)
We are going swimming every week with other homeschoolers
Lots of walking and anything else I can find to keep us active
A lot of "Sense of Self" will come from everyday life, but we will also be doing some mind mapping and talking about adolescence
"Promote and restore health" will looking at healthy eating, mental health and drug use.

Technology:

Information and communications - movie making, multi-media, databases, helping with the shop promotions, games programs (I think we have that one covered pretty darn well!)
Products - cubby house/chook shed, cross-stitch, learning to use the sewing machine, planning and preparing menus.

OMG - I feel tired just reading all that! But a lot of it can be done informally through "real-life" activities which I will photograph, video or blog about. There are soooo many resources on the web, many of which are free and we have enough books to fill a library (and there's the library too!). We work well on "book" stuff in the morning and then we can potter about with whatever takes our interest in the afternoon. Hope some of the links are helpful for you and I encourage you do go and check out some of the other people at Our Worldwide Classroom who are also NOT going back to school!

Sooo, did I tell you about my amazing, gifted kids?

2012-02-10T19:18:00.004+11:00

The gifted world went into over-drive last week, when a blogger on BabyCentre wrote a post entitled (rather provocatively) "I hate hearing about your gifted child", accompanied by this hysterical image:

If you read the post and then read roughly the first 30 or so of 380 (at last count) comments, the basic premise is that she doesn't like mum's with gifted kids (she hates the G word) talking about their gifted kids and she especially hates gifted kids because hers isn't. She then spends paragraphs explaining how nice her Violet is (of which I have no doubt and am very glad she is, because I'm not sure her mum is).

Many commenters agreed with her - those bloody parents of gifted kids - geez! Shut the *&^ up about your gifted kid's abilities, will you?

The post got out amongst the gifted community (as things do in this electronic world). Rebuking was swift, direct, and well written (as you would expect). I was already a fan of Jen at Laughing at Chaos, but I am close to adoration after her well-thought-out response. If you search hard, you can find my response in amongst the 223 comments.

But I have been mulling it over. And came up with my own provocative blog-post title. This blog is primarily about our homeschooling adventures, but the reason we homeschool is primarily giftedness. I'm saying it loud and I'm saying it proud. At the top of the blog, I have a static page about giftedness (although it is hidden a bit in my cryptic song title lyrics). My last post could not describe my children without saying "they are exceptionally gifted." It is who they are. It helps define them and certainly explains a heck of a lot of sh*t! And it isn't meant to be "bragging".

Like many of the comment's on the original post, I too have felt that I could not be open about talking about my children's giftedness. If you are reading this blog, then I am assuming you either "get" giftedness or have an open mind. But out in the "real world", not everyone is like this. They assume:

I "push" my children and they are missing out on their childhood by reading large novels and doing higher level maths.
They will become socially inept Sheldon (from Big Bang Theory) clones.
They need "enrichment" not "acceleration".
Their "weaknesses" (and they do have them!) are more important than their gifts.

Generally, with people who aren't familiar with me or my children, I don't offer information about where they are up to academically voluntarily. I don't brag. But time and time again, I find myself telling those same people stuff about my kids. Why? Because they ask. They ask why Wombat Girl is reading the big fat Harry Potter in Yr 1. They ask if I taught Video Boy to read at home. They are astonished when Wombat Girl calculates the change in a shop before the cash register does. They are stunned when Video Boy opens his mouth and stuff about quantum mechanics comes out in everyday conversation. They want to know why we homeschooling. And they won't leave me be with a casual comment. They are like a dog with a bone, they ask and ask, because my children are different.

They talk differently to other kids their age. They are interested in things that kids their age are not. They don't go to school, because school doesn't work for them. And I have to be able to explain all this different to them. Not bragging. Trying to explain the "not the same". And convince them I'm not ruining my children and turning them into some weirdo psychos.

And being gifted, dear Joyce Slayton, especially exceptionally gifted, as lots of the commenter's explained, is not all it's cracked up to be! There are tears, there are worries, there is over-thinking, there is perfectionism (and that's just me!). Damn, there are times I wish they were "just" above-average high-achievers. But then, they wouldn't be the same kids I love. Their exceptional ability and their intense personalities are who they are.

Oh, and BTW, they are kind - so kind (too kind?). As if someone who was gifted couldn't be that too.

And so, in closing (mmm...we have been doing too much "persuasive writing"!), I leave you with a more appropriate illustration:

Now I'm off to have that glass of wine!

Introducing my students!

2012-02-06T19:58:00.001+11:00

Joining in with Kylie and the All Aussie Not Back to School Bloghop!

I have to reiterate how glad we all are to be not going back to school. All the back-to-school ads, uniforms, school shoes, stress, timetables, worksheets, busywork, homework, forms, lunch boxes, running late, tired kids - you can have it! In it's place we have confident learners (well, most of the time), relaxed household, discussions, friends, family, interesting work, challenging work, caring mum (well, most of the time!), cuddles and love. Yes - lot's of love! That's one thing you don't get at school in spades.

Anyway, this week's theme is to introduce my kids to you! As luck would have it, we spent the majority of today writing "profiles" of ourselves and then of each other, as part of our persuasive writing. So, I'm all set for this!

So, if you are new, or just wanted to know more than you thought you wanted to know, read on!

Video Boy - currently aged 12

Has hyper-mobile joints - great party trick!

What can I tell you about my boy?

on the brink of teenage-dom (but truth be told, has been like that for over a decade)
nearly as tall as his mum (but not quite - not yet)
exceptionally gifted, smart as a whip, Mastermind-like general knowledge
science-nut
voracious reader
wicked sense of humour
wonderful actor
brilliant gamer (video games that is, hence the nickname...)
creative imagination and great cartooner
empathetic, kind and a wonderful hugger
stunningly uncoordinated and disorganised (has motor dyspraxia)
struggles to focus on schoolwork (a joy for his mother)
hates putting thoughts on paper (or computer for that matter)
sensitive, anxious and tender
the perfect son for me!

Wombat Girl - currently aged 11

Not her real antlers...

My beautiful girl! How do you solve a problem like Wombat Girl?

entering tween-time, but in essence is still a little girl who is not that keen on growing up (existential woes!)
on the 1st percentile in height for much of her life, but is now catching up to her peers (and growing out of her clothes - oooh, shopping!)
exceptionally gifted, enquiring mind, see-er of patterns, linker of concepts
maths-nerd
voracious reader
beautiful soul, kind, caring, sensitive to the needs of others
brilliant logic and excellent puzzle solver
board-game addict
budding musician
collector of stuffed animals
potential hoarder (struggles to throw out a piece of old paper)
sensitive, anxious and tender
the perfect daughter for me!

Join us next week when we reveal our grand plans for the year! (crap - I'd better make some now!)

Family, friends and fun

2012-02-06T18:47:00.000+11:00

We popped up to Sydney on the weekend for a flying visit to see my Hubby's family. We run late on Christmas every year because that is our busiest time of the year for our business. The relo's get a kick out of seeing the kids (especially when they are growing rather rapidly!).

Video Boy loves his Grandma

Video Boy and Wombat Girl love their Uncle J

We're all in this together...

Wombat Girl plays Articulate with her Grandma
(new cochlear implants made the world of difference!)

Board games! Wombat Girl was very happy!

A few years back, we took a family photograph and we were amazed at how much the kids had grown, so we had to "recreate" it to compare:

January 2006

February 2012

On the way home, popped into long-time friends' house. Video Boy only has three close friends, one of whom lives in Sydney - they are like peas in a pod and get on a like a house on fire:

Then on the way home, we popped into my mum's where my Auntie and Uncle (who have bought a boat and live on it in Queensland) were staying:

Video Boy and Uncle H

It was a busy 24 hours, but it was nice to catch up with everyone! Loving "socialisation"!!!!

Not back to school!

2012-01-30T19:58:00.001+11:00

Today, by rights, I should have woken my cherubs up at 6:30am, got them into their uniforms, madly packed a lunch of some description and put them on the bus for their first day of high school. I also have a funny feeling that Video Boy would have lost his timetable by now and Wombat Girl would have been sadly disappointed to learn place value again in maths.

I Googled "high school classroom" and this is what I found:

Awww... doesn't it look like fun? Smiling, happy kids, with smiling, understanding wonderful teachers and an iPad each! I wish I only had 4-5 kids in my classes when I was teaching, I might have stayed in the profession longer!

And today, quite a few of my friends posted pictures on Facebook of their tweens about to start their first day of high school, all in shiny new uniforms. So I could have a record of this momentous occasion, here are Video Boy and Wombat Girl on their first day of high school:

Therefore today, in celebration of not having to get up at 6:30am and get into uniforms and on the bus and into a crowded (hot) classroom, and not being overwhelmed and having to relearn stuff we learnt years ago, we went around to our homeschooler friends place and did this instead:

Solving puzzles

Cuddling newborns (for the first time ever!)

Rush hour

Healthy lunch

Swimming (it was very hot here today)

Bit of algebra for Wombat Girl because she asked for it
(it's really hard to come up with equations off the top of your head!)

We rushed home just in time for my chemistry tutee (is that a word?) at 3pm. We were reviewing the periodic table. "What is Ne again?" my tutee asks. "Neon" pipes up Wombat Girl. Guess we had that covered!

All in all, a lovely day and brilliant start to our "high school"!!!

Oh and we'll be joining in the "All Aussie Not Back to School Bloghop!

2012 - Homeschool High School!

2012-01-29T11:40:00.000+11:00

We mostly follow the NSW school terms here. Taking it easy during (and immediately before and after) the school holidays - i.e. Mum doesn't ~~force~~ encourage bookwork or formal learning (although of course, it happens all the time!). But I do have my limits on how much Minecraft/YouTube actually constitutes an education!

Last year I spent a lot of time and effort (before my Board of Studies inspection) putting together a very teacher-like plan of what syllabus outcomes we would cover and when!

By Term 4, we were only vaguely following it, as we had morphed into a pseudo-natural learning frame of mind and had changed the way we view learning a lot.

This year, come about October, we have our follow-up visit by the Board of Studies inspector (can't believe it will be two years since we last saw him!). So I guess at the back of my mind, I am conscious of having to "tick some boxes" for planning and record keeping.

Tomorrow, the kids would both be entering Year 7 - the first year of high school in Australia, and "Stage 4" of the Board of Studies curriculum. The ex-teacher in me couldn't help having a browse around the 7-10 syllabi, and listing out the relevant outcomes. The natural learner in me has resisted putting them in a narrow timetable! In addition, the kids are working at Stage 5 and 6 level for lots of maths and science, so I have included them in my "plan" as well.

I guess I just wanted to get my head around what they would be doing at school, but feeling reasonably comfortable that we can stray from the "path" and still be getting a better education than if they were stuck in an age-locked classroom.

I have also (almost) decided to ditch the teacher's diary this year:

and instead go with my self-designed record of what we did and how it relates to each Key Learning Area or subject - that we I can incorporate all the "little things" into my record keeping:

And of course, I have this Blog, which apart from being a space to get to know other inspiring homeschoolers and keep the relatives informed, has been a great space to record and reflect on our learning journey.

And if you happen to be in NSW (or even if you aren't and are looking for handy resources) don't forget to check out the Board of Studies Curriculum Support pages, where there are heaps of links to programs and units for all ages and years, and very often worksheets and Power Points to accompany. My hint to non-teachers is just skip to the "learning activity" section of any unit and pick and choose activities that suit you and your kids, rather than wade through pages of teacher-speak and try to follow a lock-step curriculum.

We are so looking forward to this year! And very happy to be High School Homeschoolers!!!

Pigeon House power!

2012-01-25T13:03:00.000+11:00

You don't mind if I post about something the kids didn't do, do you? Nah, I didn't think so!

Yesterday as part of my new part-time job as a Discovery Ranger, we took a group up Pigeon House Mountain (Didthul - is the correct indigenous name) in Morton National Park. (at this rate, I may as well give you my full name and the kids names so you can figure out my real identity!!)

Well, we would have, except no-one turned up! A friend of ours and the boss's kid do not paying customers make. Anyhoo, we did it anyway. It was meant to be a geology field trip, busting the myth that Pigeon House is an extinct volcano.

It is a 5.5km out and back hike, with some very steep sections!

Note the Grade 1 hike! That's steep!!
Put your treadmill on 13% (if it goes that high) and experience my pain!

But it is an amazing walk, with beautiful flora, interesting geology and spectacular views from the top!

Our little group, ready to go!

The rocks at the start of the walk are 500 million year old
folded metamorphic "basement" rocks

Woollsia pungens - snow wreath - beautiful honey scent

Drosera sp. - Sundew - a carnivorous plant that lives in waterlogged soil

Native snail

External mould of a pectin shell - a marine fossil - found at the base of the "house"

Yes - it was a steep climb!

260 million year old Nowra Sandstone!

My house is out there somewhere...

Stunning scenery - rivers have eroded down through the
layers of sandstone and mudstone to form this landscape

Banksia serrata - old man banskia

Nowra sandstone cap forms the "house" on the top.

A sweaty Ranger Ingi at the end of the walk!

We have actually done this walk as a family two and a half years ago - in the winter, when sensible people tackle it!

We are very lucky to live in a beautiful part of the world and I love that I can share it with you!

This and that...

2012-01-23T20:34:00.000+11:00

Been pottering about, these last couple of weeks of the summer school holidays.

Wombat Girl designed her own board game...

And then we had to test it out...

Got a new printer!! Wireless - no more tripping over USB cables! Yeah baby...

Wombat Girl thrashed her mother at Go...

Bit of Blokus...Video Boy played too!

The jigsaw puzzle from hell...still going...

My little, tiny "vege" patch is going great guns and I was able to use fresh chillies and basil in our dinner...

Bit of jumping, bit of talk games...

Creating something in Minecraft out of something in Eragon (or something)...

Yanno - bit o' this, bit o' that!!

It's a dog's life!

2012-01-20T18:11:00.000+11:00

Well. Now you all know the REAL me. And I haven't had a mass exodus of followers....phew.

And you are getting to know Video Boy and Wombat Girl (and Hubby, who makes the odd "guest" appearance now and then). But another member of our family who hasn't properly been introduced is Max, our 3 year old black labradoodle!

We waited a long time as a family before we got a dog. First, we wanted to own our own home (one with a big enough backyard) and second, we needed to be "ready" to undertake the responsibility. And it is a big responsibility looking after a canine that relies on you for their well-being.

We searched the animal shelters, only to find half-breed rottweilers and pit bull/staffies. Whilst those are OK for experienced dog people and for those willing to put in a lot of time, we felt they weren't suitable for our two "dog nervous" kids. There were also lots of little "yap" dogs. No thanks.

I should point out at this point I am a cat person. Never had a dog before, only cats. My Hubby is a dog person. Owned several labradors and german shepherds. Hates cats. Hence why I don't have a cat (waiting for the divorce or passing away before I can go there...LOL). But I was willing to give this dog thing a go. In fact, I was excited!

So we ended up in the pet shop. Max was the last one left of his litter and was 10 weeks old - getting "left on the shelf". I had no real idea about puppy farms at that stage, so it may be that he was from a puppy farm. I think they should be outlawed.

Anyway, we picked him up. Set him down and had a look at him. He would come home with us and he would be called "Max".

He has changed our lives!! My girl has gone from being terrified of dogs to adoring them (perhaps too much). He has helped my boy become much more comfortable with live animals. He has taught them the responsibility of having a pet (feeding, cleaning up after them, exercising them etc).

We nearly lost him when we was about 9 months old. He got a paralysis tick, which are very prevalent around here. I woke up and he couldn't walk. On reflection, he was a bit wobbly on the legs the afternoon before. I found a huge, swollen tick under his collar. We took him to the vet, he had two lots of anti-venom and came as close as you can to death and still be alive. During this I had to go away on a school camp, with limited phone contact - it was a very stressful time. Luckily he pulled through, but it took him a while to get over it.

I have taken to Max like a duck to water...or something like that! He is my boy. I groom him (special brushes to de-mat the fur, wash him, Wahl clippers), run with him, take him to Dog Club, train him.

He was a handful to walk - I hurt my shoulder because he pulled so much. But thanks to Cesar Milan and a halti collar, the "walk" has been transformed and he is now the best behaved boy. So much so, I can take him on my runs (he loves them).

And so he is a part of our lives. He can be a pain. He has a sensitive stomach (with the ensuing mess). He barks at passers by and a knock at the door.

But he completes our family! He is our best friend and we love him to bits. We couldn't imagine life without him!

Not perfect!

2012-01-17T12:34:00.001+11:00

I've been thinking about this post for a while now.

I got the idea from a fitness Facebook page I read - it linked to a blog with a post on the dangers of Perfection. It made me cry. It basically talked about how we are conditioned to see others as "perfect" all the time. And that we present "perfection" to the outside world but the reality is different. And what an impact all this "perfect" can have on a person.

I know some people are dealing with their demons at the moment. Life is tough for them and maybe they are comparing themselves to some ideal of "how life should be".

The post ends with a plea to tell people just how perfect you aren't. So that others know that they are not alone in their imperfection.

Blogs (and Facebook and the like) are funny things - through words and pictures you present a view of yourself to the world. And for the most part it's true. But I wouldn't want you all to think I'm some sunshiny, crunchy, organic wonder-woman, because that's not the truth!

So here, in all it's ingloriousness, is my list of how perfect I'm not:

I'm basically lazy. If I can find a way to put something off or better yet, avoid it, I'll do it.
I can literally spend the whole day on the computer, reading, checking Facebook, playing Cityville and avoiding real stuff.
However, if I get a bee in my bonnet about something, I am like a dog with a bone - I will not let it rest until I finish/get my way/achieve the goal.
I get grumpy with my kids and husband. I nag them, I'm short tempered with them. I occasionally yell.
I have a potty mouth! Not at work, not on here, but helped along by a couple of wines, the f-bomb is very common.
I drink too much wine. I love wine o'clock. Once the dinner is on it's way, the temptation to have a nice, chilled glass of sav blanc is often very tempting.
My marriage has ups and downs - we have times when we don't communicate very well and irritate the shit out of each other.
I hate confrontation. I would willingly bottle up all feelings to avoid upsetting someone.
I'm a crap listener - my brain is always whirring away with a billion thoughts and then planning how I can communicate them.
I am a champion sulker. Don't get my way? I can sulk for weeks, if needs be!
I don't do craft (much). Hate glitter.
Can't throw, can't catch.
My house is frequently messy - I don't have a problem with this (until it gets out of control), but it certainly is no "home beautiful". Don't make the beds, often leave the dishes until the morning.

I have lots of good traits too and you see the wonderful stuff we do through this blog. But I just wanted to let you all know "the other" me. Not perfect. But I reckon I'm OK and doing pretty good and making a positive difference to the world and my family. And that's what's really important!

When she loved me...

2012-01-15T18:18:00.000+11:00

Ahh, have I ever told you how special I think my daughter is? I'm sure I've inferred it, but now I'm saying it! Of course, I am biased - but she is truly a special person, with a great big good heart.

She may have been a bit of an "accident", but she was meant to be!

Lately we have been on a bit of a Puff the Magic Dragon theme. It was the middle of last year when I started singing Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul and Mary and I realised my kids were not familiar with it. What? That needed to be remedied, so I downloaded it (love iTunes!) and we listened. And cried!!! It has to be one of the most heart-breaking songs every recorded. Wombat Girl was in floods of tears and struggled to sleep with all those sad emotions. But she loved it.

For her birthday, she got a lovely "Puff" from her Aunty - she had it on her list and wants to make Honalee and a cave for it!

And for Christmas, I couldn't resist the new edition of the book:

...which also includes a new recording on CD.

And then I discovered the iPad app!! (there is also an Android version!). We enjoyed singing along to the animated version of the book as I combed the head lice out of my girl's hair (again). Made a miserable job bearable.

When my girl loves something, she loves it with her whole heart and unconditionally and probably forever!

Wilbur, Whitey, Oliseer, Furry - all tucked up

She has a rather large collection of stuffed animals - I think 99% are named. And loved. And she refuses to let me "de-clutter" them!

* Update - Wombat Girl informs me that about 66.66% (that's two-thirds) have names, but that 100% are loved and she will be working on naming the rest *

Another of our favourite songs is "When She Loved Me" - written by Randy Newman and sung by Sarah McLachlan in Toy Story 2. It is the story of a doll that is adored in childhood, but abandoned in the teen years. There is also a stunning acapella version by Australian group Idea of North. I have been known to sing it to her when she is having trouble going to sleep.

Cue tears.

Just between you and me, I don't think Wombat Girl will ever have it in her to abandon her toys. They are loved so deeply and profoundly. They'll be around for a long while yet.

Love!

A day (and night) in the bush...

2012-01-13T11:56:00.004+11:00

Hubby and the kids came and joined me in my "office" yesterday!

Murramarang National Park - not too shabby, hey?

We did a new walk called Secret Lives of Trees, which is about learning more about forest ecology and why trees (old and new) are so important.

Although the kids know quite a lot of ecology, it was good to get out there amongst the three hundred year old spotted gums (Eucalyptus maculata - renamed Corymbia maculata).

We learned about tree hollows and why there are important, national park management, biomes, forest types, and the impact of forestry.

We had a few hours to kill before we went spotlighting, so we wandered around Depot Beach for a bit...

It was after 9pm when it finally got dark enough to go spotlighting. Visitors are discouraged from using flash photography, to protect the animals eyes, so it would be bad form for the ranger to do it! So, sadly, no photos. We didn't see a lot anyway - although it was a beautiful, still, clear night, only a brush tail possum up close and a very distant greater glider (we can spot up to a dozen things on a "good" night). Here is what they would have looked like:

Brush-tailed possum - very common, great urban adapters

Greater glider - large, solitary glider - can glide up to 150m!

Kids were pretty tired as it was a very late night and Video Boy struggled to maintain enthusiasm during the night walk. But all in all, a good day at the office and fun was had (oh yeah, and stuff learned!).

More "lazy" days!

2012-01-10T13:44:00.000+11:00

I am always amazed at what learning occurs when you aren't "schooling".

Lateral thinking with the Big Book of Frame Games:

~~Stuggling~~ Persisting with the jigsaw from hell...

Constructing Meccano (kids were most upset when I told them I was taking their finished products into our shop as demo's to help sell the stack of Meccano boxes)...

Sometimes entire days of reading, not even bothering to get out of our pjs...

With Wilbur...

Reconstructing lyrics from the end-credits of Portal 2 using magnetic poetry...

Learning the rules of cricket.

Starting some computer programming with WiBit

I have been busy working for National Parks! Making and flying kites...

Do you love my new office? I do!!

Identifying snakes...

It's a golden crowned snake!

Discovering rockpools, fossils and dolphin watching...

Watching goannas and roos...

And more swimming!

Sometimes I think we gained an extra daughter - the girl from next door!

Loving summer...

Hey, I was just looking through my "labels" and I realised that I have never used the word "school"! He he.

Summer days...drifting away!

2012-01-04T16:50:00.000+11:00

Even though we are homeschooling, I still love the January "holidays".

Now that the weather has warmed up, it feels like summer...

I don't feel guilty for not "doing schoolwork" (but, of course, we are still learning, talking, reading, playing)...

Quixo

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi

What to play?

Pairs in Pears

Appletters

M.C. Escher "Hand with Sphere" jigsaw (this one is going to take a while...)

And just general lazing around the house...

Love living in Australia - don't panic, he's not poisonous.

Life's not too bad at all.

Reflections and Directions...

2011-12-31T09:33:00.001+11:00

So it's the last day of 2011. December 31. New Years Eve. Traditionally a time of reflection of the past year and pondering the direction of the new year ahead. And for getting one more post in before the archives read "2012" (this is post 96 - if only I'd done a couple more!).

I often feel a bit "bah humbug" about New Years - it's just another day in the life, after all. But I suppose it provides a good point in which to reflect on what has been and ponder where you want your life to be headed. So here we go...plus a couple of photos that didn't make it into the blog (which I find hard to believe, there were soooo many!).

Reflection - the best and the worst of 2011:

Got the best portable pool for a bargain price at Ebay! A refreshing start to the year!

Did not do "back to school" shopping - no school shoes, no new uniforms, no sinking feeling.

Last day of school in 2010 -
never have to wear those uniforms again!
Don't they look excited?

The best "first day of school" ever - visited another local homeschooling family - played board games, swam, ate, chatted - all while all the other kids were dressed in their school uniforms and sweated through a hot day of 35 degrees! Felt very strange, but looking back, was such a good idea and a wonderful way to start off our homeschooling adventure.

Wombat Girl explaining binary to our new
friends on our first day of school in 2011...

A year of learning - wonderful reading, some attempts at writing, fabulously interesting maths and science, a new interest in history, new geographic skills learnt, working on our physical skills and activity levels, some nice art and craft produced. And we radically changed our thinking about what learning was and what it looks like. And every year I say to myself I want to spend more quality time with my kids - this year I think I managed to achieve that!

I quit a job I wasn't enjoying and found some more meaningful, fulfilling work

Learnt to use my DSLR camera better and took some lovely shots!

Great travelling - skiing and did you know that we did a cruise to New Zealand??

Lost some weight, did Dry July, went from the Couch to running 9km in a fun run, got injured, put weight back on.

Had some nice times with family and friends

I discovered the wonderful Blogosphere - lots of people's inspiring blogs and started my own (and kept it up!).

All things considered, we had a pretty good year. There were a few wobbly bits - my friend's daughter dying, some tears through homeschooling, and just general ups and downs of family life. But overall, we can look back at 2011 as a very positive experience!

Directions - things to aim for in 2012:

New Year's Resolutions? Well, it's good to have goals (or at least something to look forward too)!

Lose weight, drink less (I have that up there every year, because I like to be consistent).
Start running again (trying to avoid re-injury) and do some fun runs. I think I might leave the half-marathons for someone else this year though!
Keep homeschooling. Some general goals: start working on academic essay writing skills, keep reading, keep working on maths/science, build a computer, get more active, do some more creative activities, start looking at online/tertiary courses that might be suitable for the kids.
Get out of the house a bit more - make more of an effort to see family and friends, see shows, go to museums - that sort of thing.
Travel - Uluru/central Australia is on the agenda for later in the year; go bushwalking/camping more; and I'm always on the lookout for the next cruise/resort holiday!
Keep trying to say "yes" - it's amazing where "yes" can take you!
Keep on blogging, reading, sharing, learning and reflecting.

So at the end of another year, a pretty good year at that, I wish all my family, old and new friends, real life and online acquaintances the best that 2012 can bring. We know that in reality, it won't be all smooth sailing and that life can throw some funny roadblocks in your path. But here's wishing that you are able to lemons into lemonade, take care of yourself and your loved ones and enjoy the journey that is your life!

Cue cultural exchange

2011-12-29T09:22:00.001+11:00

Thank you to Deb from Not Inadequate and my Ohio-an friend Jane for inspiring me to share a bit of Aussie Christmas culture.

It's a weird kind of situation in here in Australia. We are warming up to summer and singing about White Christmas's and Dashing through the Snow!! It's up to 40 degrees (celcisus! I know - we're weird like that too) outside and we are humming along to Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.

We do actually have a couple of semi-famous Aussie Christmas carols! The most recognisable is the imitable Rolf Harris' Six White Boomers (boomers are big kangaroos!):

And it is quite common in primary (elementary) schools to learn the alternate lyrics to Jingle Bells:

Now, I realise that some of our slang is not familiar....so just in case you aren't up with all the Aussie words, here is a bit of a translation for you:

bush - scrubland or brush
ute - utility or pickup truck
esky - cooler for storing food and drinks (mostly beer)
kelpie - breed of Australian cattle dog
thongs - no, not a g-string! Flip flops or jandles!
swaggie - swagman (probably closest to a hobo)
barbeque - bbq or grill

I heard on the radio that Carols by Candlelight is a uniquely Australian tradition - we light candles and sing all the snowy carols. There are big versions in both Sydney and Melbourne and many around the country. Can anyone confirm or deny this - do you have Carols by Candlelight in the US?

I love Lucy Durack - she was Glinda in Wicked!

And apparently Boxing Day is not a big deal either, but we have a number of huge sporting events - the Boxing Day Test (cricket - 5 days to play and maybe not get result!) and the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race (you can win line honours but not actually win the race). And we have big Boxing Day sales in the stores (which I do tend to avoid).

Increasingly, we see Christmas in July celebrations popping up - particularly in the colder parts of Australia (the Blue Mountains make a big deal of it) so we can enjoy a hot dinner, without the heat and maybe with the chance of snow.

And now to go cook up some leftover ham and eggs for breakfast (brunch?)!

Summer storms

2011-12-28T14:09:00.000+11:00

Here in Australia, after a long hot summer day, we are often cooled down a by a southerly change - where the wind changes from hot, dry northerlies to cool, rain laden southerlies. I love a bit of a southerly storm!

"Hail on Boxing Day - the closest we'll ever get to a White Christmas" - Video Boy

A very Aussie Christmas!

2011-12-26T09:43:00.000+11:00

A very Merry Christmas to you all! It's all over bar the shouting here in Australia, but for those in the US and elsewhere, I hope you are enjoying your day!

It has been a slightly mild start to our summer (it was hotter in September when I was attempting to run 9km without collapsing!). This was doing the Facebook rounds:

INSTALLING SUMMER.....
███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 44% DONE.
Installation failed. 404 error: Season not found. The season you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please try again...

So, it hasn't felt very "Christmassy". We did finally get around to putting up some lights on Christmas Eve...

Santa was left his all-important snacks...

Christmas Day dawned bright and sunny, with the prospect of a typical Australian "hot" Christmas lunch!

The day started early for Hubby, who couldn't sleep (too excited?) and went for a Christmas swim instead...

But during the night, Santa came!! (Wombat Girl: "Mummy, did you get to sleep before Santa arrived?" Me: "I didn't hear him, so I must have!")

Even Winnie the Pooh was excited!

We picked up Nanna, and then it was time for some present opening!

There were books galore...

Board games too...

And then, it was time to eat...

Tiramisu almonds!

Fruit mince pies

Stollen

Beer and spice glazed ham

Prawns and oysters with mango aoili

BBQd chorizo, baby potatoes and haloumi

Cheers!

Afternoon quiet time...

And it just wouldn't truly, ruly be Christmas without Christmas toilet paper...

...and a southerly change to cool off after a hot day!

...and lovely summer fruits for dessert!

So, no matter where or how you celebrated, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, with lots of joy, peace and happiness.

Grrr....technology!

2011-12-20T12:03:00.000+11:00

I love my technology. Usually. I love it when it working well - it helps me, it connects me, it informs me, it helps me share.

I don't like it when it doesn't work the way it is supposed to...

Is is just me, or is anyone else having issues commenting on other peoples blogs? I had this issue for a few weeks - especially on posts where the comments were embedded below. I couldn't even comment on my own posts without completely shutting down my laptop and restarting. Pain. Yesterday I found that Internet Explorer (yuck) worked OK whereas my beloved Google Chrome did not. Also discovered Chrome updates that I didn't have. Seems to have improved the problem. I can comment again! Yay!
My DVD drive is not recognising discs. Call to support seemed to indicate that iTunes may be a culprit, but the "fix" didn't fix it. Neither did uninstalling or re-installing. Back to the drawing board (and probably hours of my time trying to sort it out).
My 18-55mm Canon lens is not working properly. It won't auto-focus. The macro lens works fine. But I loved my everyday lens. Mmm - eBay here I come!
My printer is jammed. And keeps jamming. I have black ink all over my fingers. Maybe now is the big chance to get a wireless printer??

Little things in the big scheme of things, but annoying. I like things to work like they should! But there is also something incredibly satisfying in locating the source of the problem and being able to fix it! So persist I will. Or go play some board games with Wombat Girl....

What is your techno-whinge of the day?

Romeo and Juliet

2011-12-17T10:20:00.000+11:00

One of the things you may not know about me is that for at least 10 years of my life, I danced! Classical ballet (my favourite), tap (hated it, then loved it) and jazz ballet (I'm not funky and loose enough to be good at it).

I was skinny (and blurry) back in the day!

And I love going to see live dance. My first experience of live ballet was the Australian Ballet Christmas Fair in the gardens of Government House in 1986!

The now-Artistic Director of the Aust. Ballet David McAllister
with Elizabeth Toohey in the Tarantella

My first full-length ballet was (quite fittingly) Swan Lake with the Australian Ballet at the Opera House in March 1987, where I was lucky enough to see the beautiful Christine Walsh dance!

The next March (1988) was my first viewing of Romeo and Juliet (the John Cranko version). How I loved it! The music is simply some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard and the choreography beautiful. There is much argument in the ballet world about the relative merits of Cranko's R&J vs. Kenneth MacMillan's. I think both have their merits and they could dance a jig to that music and it would still be stunning!

Over the years, I have seen quite a few more ballets - the Australian Ballet has a Youth Package for those under 26 years old at a fraction of the adult ticket prices - it certainly worth checking out if you live in/near Sydney or Melbourne!

A huge highlight was to have had the extreme pleasure of watching Baryshnikov dance (before he got too old!) and I swear I have never (and will probably never) seen someone execute the art form of dance more sublimly.

And now I have also had the pleasure of sharing my love of dance, and in particular ballet, with Wombat Girl (who took lessons for a couple of years, but didn't love it, so I let that dream go...sniff...). She has seen Swan Lake and Graham Murphy's version of the Nutcracker.

Graham Murphy is an Australian choreographer, who amongst other things, has re-worked the classics for the Australian Ballet. His latest effort is none other than Romeo and Juliet:

As he says in the program, William Shakespeare's prose is legendary and his words immortal. How then to present them as dance? The words need to be conveyed by the dancer's bodies - they are emphemeral (unless someone captures them on film).

So I was very excited this week to head up to Sydney, to visit my brother and enjoy his company, great food and a gorgeous take on one of the world's great love stories...

Yum Yum - Christmas baking!

2011-12-11T14:24:00.001+11:00

Kids have been busy this week baking Christmas cookies!

Mixing...(with the pink hat of cooking power, of course)

Kneading...

Shaping...

Rolling...

Wombat Girl got tired of waiting for the rolling pin, so she made her own...

Cutting shapes

Baking...

Mmm - they smell good, don't they?

Whisking...

Meet "Fred" - he's a bit special.

Decorating...

Mmm...icing and sprinkles!

Mmm...chocolate!

Yum.

Yum!

Geez - baking and craft in the space of a week! They'll be giving me my "Mother of the Year Award soon! I think I've mentioned before I sometimes feel like a bit of a homeschool mother fraud - because I don't really do lots of crafty, cooky, vegetable garden, chooky things (just as well I have other redeeming features!). I aspire to - you all inspire me to, but I haven't really got around to it yet. But I'm working on it :-)

I've also been inspired to improve my (and therefore my family's) eating habits. Helena going vegan. Tracey going gluten free. Even though I'm highly unlikely to follow in your footsteps, it does give one pause for thought. What are we putting in our bodies and how much of an impact does it have?

So as the kilos pile on ever so much easier these days (sigh), I don't plan on going on a diet any time soon, but I do want to eat more mindfully. I stumbled across Clean Eating magazine and it has inspired quite a few delicious dinners. This afternoon, as I sit tiredly after being up all night looking at the moon last night, the storm clouds gathering, it was nice to do some baking of my own. So I share with you Clean Eating's recipe for Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread - the healthy way! Please do take heed of the comments - I used the flaxseed oil as in the magazine and 25 minutes is waaayyy too short (I cooked mine for about 50 minutes - but my oven leaks heat like a sieve). I also added walnuts, because I'm creative in the kitchen like that.

Their attempt...

And mine! I obviously need a food stylist! But it tasted delicious!

Yum yum!

Lunar eclipse magic!

2011-12-11T10:06:00.001+11:00

We love our science here. We are proud science nerds! So it was very exciting to hear that there would be a lunar eclipse (albeit a late one - starting at 11:45pm, with the greatest eclipse occurring at 1:58am!).

It was going to be a total lunar eclipse, with the moon completely shaded by the Earth's shadow or umbra:

Source

If only the weather would cooperate! It was a very cloudy day and I didn't hold out much hope and was looking forward to an early night after my busy day of shifting two cubic metres of sand (doesn't sound like a lot until you have to move wheelbarrow-full loads of the stuff) and rescuing hubby who had run out of fuel on the busiest street in our town (and who was lucky his wife knew that you have to pump the fuel line to remove the air in diesel engines). Miraculously, as the day progressed, the clouds cleared to a beautiful evening.

The last big lunar eclipse, we had a terrestrial telescope (which means the image is the right way around)

Source

and my trusty Olympus point and press camera shoved up against the eyepiece to take some photos (I wonder where they are? I can't find them).

This year, despite my previous rant about acquiring new stuff, I did indeed have lovely new stuff with which to enjoy the lunar eclipse!!! We own a retail electronics shop, and occasionally if things don't sell, we write them off and bring them home. Both of my new toys were acquired in this manner!

Having spent over a year collecting dust in our shed (can you believe it), I unpacked our brand new Bushnell reflection telescope!

It is a classic Newtonian reflector telescope, with a lovely big field of view and an electronic thingy that tells you where everything is.

Source

You can change the magnification by changing the eyepiece lens and (apparently) you can attach an SLR camera to it to take photos. The image is upside down and back to front.

Video Boy (being a lover of all things science) was very interested in helping me set it up (which is unusual for him - you usually have to drop several obvious hints or put a bomb under him to help out with anything).

We were able to get it set up (and read the instructions!) before it got too dark. It was a lovely still night, not too cold and a beautiful night for stargazing!

Christmas lights were an added light source...

It was good when the moon cleared the power lines!

View with the naked eye (or point and press)

The other new piece of stuff was my Canon EOS 500D with twin lens kit. This was another shop present that sat, virtually unused, until I started playing with it earlier in the year. Takes beautiful photos! I was getting a bit cross with it though, as the 18-55mm lens was not auto-focussing. I googled the problem (as you do) and after a bit of testing, I think it is the lens that is the issue, not the camera. Grrr. But I still had the macro lens and after googling tips on shooting lunar eclipses with a DSLR (as you do), I was all set up.

So I used the 55-250mm macro lens on 250mm. Set it up on a tripod. Set the metering to "spot metering". Changed the image quality to the largest size. Used the 2-sec self-timer (so I didn't touch the camera when taking the shot) and yelled at anyone who stomped on the deck and wobbled it!

The view of the moon through the telescope was stunning and learning how to attach the camera is on my list of things to do. I wasn't sure how the pics from the camera were going to turn out. It looked disappointingly small in the viewfinder and on the LCD screen.

Video Boy had no staying power and was sound asleep. I attempted to wake him but was greeted with that confusion you experience when someone disturbs your deepest sleep. I hope the photos would be enough for my young astronomer. Wombat Girl was a dirty stop-out who kept me company. We sat, rugged up in our jackets and chatted quietly while the wonders of the universe unfolded before us. Hubby popped up out of bed a couple of times.

My words aren't as eloquent as the beautiful Helena's (you really have to go read her words if you haven't), but we know what she is on about.

Original shot

Cropped - just as the eclipse started

As the light-levels got less and less (and the deck, previously light up as if there were a spotlight, got darker and darker), the exposure times on the camera got longer and longer. Even with the tripod and self-timer there was just too much movement to capture a perfect red moon. But I'm really happy with how the shots turned out!

I thought I would be tired, but I went inside, downloaded the shots to the computer and cropped. Wow. This is after playing a bit with Photoshop (I don't really know what I'm doing - some more learning required).

For me (and to a certain extent, the kids), last night was partially about leaning about lunar eclipses, telescopes and cameras. But it was ultimately about feeling small, having a sense of wonder at this amazing universe of ours - even just our tiny bit of it.