1000 Fields of Roses

I have a friend who works at a local school. Every so often she rings me to let me know that they’re chucking out a load of books (as in THROWING THEM IN THE BIN!!!) We’ve already got quite a lot of resources through this.

Yesterday, she rang to let me know that it was happening again. I went up to have a look through, and again today…. these are, as far as I can see, mostly useful resources. Some are outdated, sure, especially the old curriculum stuff… but there were a lot of workbook/photocopiable resources. Apparently they are not allowed to photocopy any more – everything’s online.

I had a lovely time looking through everything 😀 Unfortunately, there were a lot thrown out between yesterday arvo and today…. we’ve got quite a bit, though….

Here’s the hoard….

Another view… there are four boxes behind the bags you can see here…

Yesterday I collected stuff we could use. Today we just grabbed what we could… I will need to sort through it all and separate what we want, then I’ll contact other homeschoolers to offer the remainder… anyone who’s interested, let me know 😀 There’s also the possibility of giving them to a school needing resources… I will have to investigate.

I can’t imagine a world without actual, printed books 😦

Holidays are over….

Started the boys on their new computer maths programmes (sent through from the CAMI Maths tutors) Biggest boy started with basic “area of a rectangle” problems (easy-peasy… he’s done loads of them)… then straight into 3rd level algebra! (nope – hasn’t done algebra before….)

Cue meltdown@ourhouse…..

Yesterday we went to the Railway Museum. It’s a very “boy” sort of place to go – lots of BIG things – trains, machines… you can even “drive” a train or two (simulations). We haven’t been in ages, but I had a voucher that was due to expire at the end of this month, so – off we went!

At the moment, there’s the “Big Build” going on. We were too late to see the special events (The “build a train” thing, and some tours – you have to be there in the morning or just after lunch for those) , but there were lots of other things to do. Outside the main buildings there are a variety of booths, where you can try out some of the skills that were required of railway workers in the past. You can get a “certificate” (self stamped) to say you’ve completed each skill. The only thing we didn’t do was the painting (there wasn’t any paint), but because I mixed up the stamps, that box was filled in as well…

To start with –

Nuts and bolts and bits of wood – they built a wagon, then raced it round an area set aside for testing…

Tying knots – all different types.

Tinsmithing – there were blocks and hammers, to shape a pie plate into a box shape. It was difficult to get the required shape without tearing the metal.

Biggest boy’s offering.

Littlest boy’s……

Welding class – this was another simulation, using LED lights – no heat involved.

Are you my Mummy?

Here’s one of the big trains…..

Cool dude with his plumbing creation.

Hot and cold taps?

There are science stations set up all over the building. This one helped biggest boy understand ratios a bit better..

Wonderland for the boys – big boxes of lego and other building sets – all there to build whatever you fancy.

A replica of a navvy hut, complete with meat safe and carbide lamp. Apparently this was one of the more luxurious accommodations – a really good team could get one of these up in an hour.

Indoor railway (that goes nowhere 😀 )

All in all, a fun afternoon… tiring… but fun 😀

Today was a lovely, sunny winter’s day. Blue skies abounded, and fluffy clouds danced across the sky. The air was crisp and invigorating….
So we decided to go for a walk in the fresh air 😀

I’m a bit lax with the Phys Ed component of homeschooling – we can’t manage organised sports, and often don’t seem to have the time for walking for pleasure. We walk for necessity, but that’s not the same thing….

Not far from our home, there’s a park, with an open air exercise circuit. We went up there, and tried out the various machines. They’re mostly resistance/movement type things, and the boys love to have a go…
To get there, we have to walk up a steep hill… good cardiovascular exercise 😉

Here’s the hill –

It looks better from the other direction.

Here’s the view from where we enter the park. The path goes round in a circle, and has exercise stations at intervals.

Our first stop.

The sit up bench. Also known as “Instrument of Torture”.
I generally do a sort of half reverse curl on it, but as I came down here two days ago, after a lengthy period away from it, my stomach muscles were still protesting, and I decided to give it a miss. I don’t like the boys going on it at all… too easy to strain something.

The boys, however, love this one…

There are a couple of stations for the elderly or frail, who need gentler exercise.

…. mostly for upper body strength and balance..

We all enjoy these ones – one swivels, the other swings from side to side. It has the added bonus of making you feel as though you’re on the deck of a ship in the high seas for a little bit after you step off it…

My little monkeys couldn’t resist the monkey bars…

… or some extra climbing.

We made our way round the circuit, then off home for lunch, down the steep hill, in the crisp fresh air…

Brothers + Friends 😀

I have a confession to make…

Today, I was totally fed up with homeschooling. I’m behind in marking…. I didn’t want to face the workbooks at all….

So… today we scrapped all that. The boys did their computer work, and then we spent the rest of the morning listening to music. Different songs, different types… I want the boys to know there’s more to the world of music than the most popular songs, or the soundtrack to their latest computer game….

I had them lie down on the floor with their eyes closed, to help them really hear the songs. I discovered that littlest wiggle bean can dance, even while flat on his back with eyes closed…. 😀

….and so… we lifted our spirits with good songs… then had lunch, and went off to town to see what Daddy was doing…

Then we finished up in the library.

‘Cause we’re just cool that way….

I’ve finally got around to looking up (free) online Latin lessons for my biggest boy… here at learnlatinonlinefree.com

I haven’t used them before, so we’ll see how we go… biggest boy just did the introductory lesson today. They’re only about 10(ish) minutes long (at least the first one is), but they all come with notes that can be printed out.

Not quite enthralled…..

As littlest bean is getting better every day with his reading, I find it easier to have them both doing bookwork, with not much input from me…. I still need to check, as my reading today of littlest’s previous work revealed some… interesting… ideas 😀

Littlest bean writing.

I’m glad to finally be starting biggest boy on Latin… I remember learning Latin and Greek roots (with a smidgeon of French) in grade 7 – it helped me to understand English better, and is helpful for a lot of the European languages.

We have also been reading some of the classics – biggest boy is reading me The Jungle Book (lots of difficult words and concepts there..) and I’ve just finished Alice in Wonderland… today I start reading Through The Looking Glass to them. I’m hoping that hearing some classic, well written books will help them with their grammar… it will certainly broaden their perspective 😀

as in – we walked around and through a couple of churches today… 😀

Started this morning at the cathedral… it wasn’t open, so we looked at the outside, discussed the crosses, and the windows…

Here’s the outside….

Well…. THAT”S a big door!

Each of the (two) spires has a celtic cross – brass (I think..) and 3 metres high. The boys were surprised that they were so big – I explained that they had to be, for us to see them, and for them to be in proportion to the rest of the building…

Front window, with cross over the door (littlest boy excited over that….)

Littlest boy thought these windows looked like garages….

…. I thought these looked like louvres..

We walked further into town. It’s festival time here, and each year, different schools are given giant masks to decorate according to a theme – this year was “The Future of Education”. They are displayed on the wall outside St Paul’s church in the centre of town, which was our next stop.

Pretty masks all in a row….

The boys’ favourite.

Littlest bean quite liked this one as well..

From there we went into the church. We talked about the baptismal (christening?) font, the altars and chapels along the sides and corners, the stained glass windows, and whatever else caught their eye. We don’t have a lot of these things in our church building, so it was interesting to talk about what things were, and what they were used for. There is an altar to the front of the church, and to the left… it’s large, dark and box-like. The boys thought there must be someone buried there…
They were very quiet the whole time we were there (very impressive 😀 ) We finished by using the kneelers and praying together.

The altar to the right as you first come in the door.

Looking towards the front of the church.

I did take more pictures, but they were too dark to use. The boys particularly like the eagle lectern with the wires and microphones sticking out of its head….

Off to the library after that, then on home, for some well-earned lunch 😀