Thursday 29 September 2011

Crystal Growing

Crystal growing is a long process.  We started this project in August and only this past week have we seen our crystals in detail.  So if you want to grow crystals be prepared to grow patience!

Here is our photo journal of growing crystals.

Rain water, and crystal growing kit.

Weighing the crystal formula to be mixed in water.

Adding the powder to the water and then mixing well.

Adding the stones to the base for the crystals to grow on.

Pouring the crystal growing mix into the container over the stones.

Adding some extra crystal growing powder this is the seed the crystals grow from.

From here the crystal bath was put in a warm room on a shelf not to be disturbed.  And the wait began.

After a week - no crystals

After two weeks I was a little upset and about to throw out the mix when .....


After a few more days of patiently waiting I took the lid off the crystal bath.  This turned out to be key as now evaporation of the fluid could take place at a faster rate and we could actually see crystals growing.





Once all the water had evaporated we touched the crystals
and were surprised that they were rock hard.

A few days after all the water had dried
It wasn't as pretty but still interesting.
We took a few crystals and had a look under the microscope.  That was fun :)  More about microscopes in a later post.

Looking at crystals

Crystals through the eye piece of the microscope. 
Have you grown crystals with your children ?

Blessings




Wednesday 28 September 2011

Unique Pets

Being married to a Nature Conservationist / Zoo Keeper has meant that we have had some rather interesting and unique pets in our home.

I would like to introduce you to my unique pet:


This is one of my three Hermit Crabs. We had a rather interesting week this week in that he decided to move homes and occupy a new shell. In the midst of this transition one of his flat mates got into an argument with him and evicted him! So we had the privilege of seeing a naked hermit crab. This is a very rare thing to witness as they are rather attached to their shells.


Pet shops advertise these little critters as easy to care for (and they are after you get their home set up correctly) so in haste I purchased four and brought them home only to discover they have some very unique environmental needs.  So my cheap pets ended up costing a lot more than I had originally budgeted for.

** Lesson learned :  Research BEFORE you purchase and bring home a unique pet!**

For more information on Hermit Crabs:
Although having pets adds dramatically to your work load at home and also means that you are checking on your children making sure that they are keeping up with the care of their individual pets I feel that they are a very valuable addition to any home.  The care of pets adds many wonderful life skills to any child be they home schooled or not. 

Pets provide learning support for your children, comfort and reduce loneliness,  they help add routine and structure to your day as well as reduce stress. There are many physical and emotional benefits to the child and the family in owning a pet.

Do you have any unique pets in your home ?  If so what are they ?
If you decided against having pets what were your reasons ?

Blessings





PS:  At present we have a dog whose favourite toy is a golf ball, a cat who runs the house (or so she thinks), two tropical fish tanks containing: neon tetras, bristle nosed catfish who are so happy they are breeding like rabbits, clown loaches, electric yellows, African mono's, flying foxes, redtailed shark, sword tail, Kribensis, and an aviary in the backyard with breeding pairs of  Gouldian Finches and Orange Breasted Waxbills, a fish pond in the yard with goldfish ,  a Redfin Fish in another container and some fresh water crayfish, and last but not least some Spiny Leaf Insects which are living in a glass enclosure in the dining room. We have had frogs in the past. We had a pet rabbit who sadly died earlier this year but we are looking at getting a new one later next year. My family did want a snake but I gave them the following choice:  Mom or the snake ?  You guessed right I do NOT like snakes. 

I think I will dig out some photo's and show you some of our unique pets from day gone by.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Tuesday's Treasures 1-12

Two weeks ago I did a post on The Little Britches Series by Ralph Moody for boys. Something for girls this week !

Elsie Dinsmore
Format: Paperback
Vendor: Hendrickson Publishers
ISBN: 1598564005
ISBN-13: 9781598564006
Ages: 10-14
Series: Original Elsie Classics

We started this series and couldn't put it down.   Martha Finley wrote a total of 28 books in this series and had a total of 60 books published in her lifetime.  We read the first ten books in the Elsie Dinsmore series. As a family we enjoyed the christian principles and character of each book.  The first few books in the series are real tear jerkers but as Elsie grows up she imparts a lot of wisdom and demonstrates good godly living and wisdom.  She trains her children well and lives a Proverbs 31 woman's life.

The series was first published in 1868. A few of the books are available for free online at Project Gutenberg. I highly recommend reading the original versions as I found that the updated versions watered down the richness of the story.  If you start with one company's printing you also need to purchase the sequels from the same company



 I hope these books bless your family as much as they did ours.

Blessings

Saturday 24 September 2011

Treasured Moments 4

Do you find yourself falling into a pattern of daily grind, skipping the 'fun' activities because you don't have time or lack energy?

Do creative arts, nature walks, drama, read aloud or spontaneous acts seem only a distant dream in your life?

Yet these Treasured Moments shared with loved ones uplift us, nurture our soul, remind us of the beauty and joy in our lives.

We want Treasured Moments for ourselves, for our children, for our families but how can we make it happen?

... Commitment ... Encouragement ... Support ... Ideas ... Plans.

I invite you to join us every Saturday and share your plans and ideas, your targets and goals and your stories ... your 'Treasured Moments'. In this way we may inspire one another, encourage ourselves and start achieving our dreams. Hosted by Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting

My Treasured Moments this week are:
1. Having my special friend Mrs L come over with her six beautiful children and just spend some time in encouraging fellowship.

2. Watching Sir N enjoy playing with cousins and friends during the week. I also enjoyed watching him help with the big move on Tuesday.  He loved being in charge of the lift on the removal truck. I also enjoyed seeing him enjoy a lesson at a different swim school.

3. Being there when my parents received the keys for their new home.  What a special time it was walking through their new home.

4. Being encouraged as I read posts at Creating with Wisdom I especially enjoyed Vicky's post A Book Meme and look forward to making mine, discovering Susan's blog Home Grown Kids at Kerugma and being encouraged with her post Watch my heart .... not be idle .... my weakness and Belinda at Live Life with Your Kids and one of my favourite blog posts that really encouraged me was written by Jennifer Fulwiler over at Conversion Diary titled The Goal Oriented Life. In fact I am looking forward to sharing this post with my husband and going on a date and making a goal list with him.

5. Receiving my new point and shoot camera in the mail.  I am so excited. I wanted a small camera that could fit in my hand bag and could function as a capturing special moments camera for my blog.  Paul bought me a FUJIFILM Finepix AX350 from Digital Camera Warehouse.

6. Seeing the crystals finally form in the crystal growing bath which Sir N put together a few weeks ago. I will be doing a photo story on the crystal growing later this week.

7.  I have been reading and encouraged by Michelle over at Homeschooling Downunder.  She has been doing the 31 Days to Clean Challenge Having a Martha House the Mary Way by Sarah Mae.  One of my goals is to get my home in order and I have been sort of floating around aimlessly.  So I have taken the plunge and purchased the E-Book (US $4-99) and will be starting this challenge on the 1 October 2011.  I am looking forward to doing this challenge.  Do any of you want to join me ??

8. Last but not least I took the plunge and made a second blog.  This blog came about because I am feeling really run down, burnt out and in need of Godly encouragement.  I have called it : GEMS 2 TOTS. (Godly Encouragement for MotherS 2 Train Our Treasures) I will be getting it up and running some time over the next month.  So please pop on over and have a look and let me know of great resources I can share.


To join in you are welcome to add your post on Seven Little Australians and Counting using the Mr. Linky form (please link to the individual post) and include a link back to Erins post. If you haven't a blog we would still love to hear your voice, just leave your stories in the comments.

Blessings

Sunday 18 September 2011

A day time trip to the zoo.

Today was the last day of our week of rest and the weather was so beautiful we decided to go and visit Paul at the zoo along with Pop Pops and Granny. 

We were blessed with three wonderful encounters: The Serval Presentation, Behind the Scenes Serval Encounter,  and seeing The Cheetah Lure.

I wont say too much but let the pictures tell you of our adventure. 

Serval presentation. Paul showing the markings on the back of the ears.


Paul with serval in the serval encounter enclosure

A serval dew claw

Demonstrating just how high a serval can jump to catch a bird in the air.  Amazing.

Demonstating the agility of these beautiful african cats.

Cheetah waiting behind the scenes.

Watching Paul put out the cheetah lure.
 Zoo keeper explaining to us what is happening behind the scenes.

Successfully caught.  Now enjoying his meal.
The word cheetah means spotted one.

It was a wonderful afternoon of time together.  Over the years I have found that making outings like this an all day event would really exhaust the little people so these days we tend to go for two to three hours at a time.  I find that this shorter time span better suits us and tends to be more productive.

Blessings

Homeschool Rhythms

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens,
Ecclesiastes 3:1



We have been on school holidays this past week and this got me thinking about how we came to our home school rhythm.

When we first started on our home education journey I started out by following school term dates and was really fearful every step of the way.

As we marched along the weeks doing school, home school outings, extra mural activities I found we were becoming more and more tired and the more tired we became the shorter my fuse grew and the more cranky we all became.  There had to be a better way. 

I started asking the moms around me what they all did.  A few of the mom's did a 5 week school cycle and I decided to give it a go.

Sonlight works on a 36 week school year. I took my IG (Instructors Guide) and divided it by 4 and came up with 9 four week cycles.  Added a week in between each four week cycle means that school will take us 45 weeks a year and that in turn leaves us with 7 weeks to have a long summer break over December and January.  

I put this into practice and I must confess it's the best thing we have ever done. I find that four weeks of continuous school means no one gets too tired.  One week of holidays is short enough to not get out of practice and not long enough for boredom to set in with the added bonus that it's not hard to get back into the rhythm of regular school after one week of holiday.
 
We have not quite settled into a daily rhythm yet and as soon as we do I will be writing a post on what our daily / weekly rhythm looks like and how we have organised our school.

So tomorrow we start back for our second round of school.  Week 5 -8 with Sonlight Core A and we will be adding in Expedition Earth from week 6.

What rhythm works for you and why do you use it ? IF you have done a blog post about your home school rhythm please add the address I would love a read.

Blessings

Saturday 17 September 2011

Fishing Adventures

Yesterday Daddy was home and Sir N asked if they could go fishing. 

First of all they went to the local wet lands to see if they could find some nymphs for bait.


Next off to the fishing spot and all the adventures to be had were as wide and varied as Sir N's imagination could take him

Exploring
Fishing
Got one !
Practicing my hunting skills.

All in all it was a fabulous day of exploring the wonderful world around us.

What have you been up to ? Do you have any local nature walks you can go on ? Do you have any suggestions for spring  outdoor activities?

Blessings

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Homeschooling Pre-Schoolers

I have a few friends that are starting homeschooling and some of them have children 5 years old and younger who would like to start and others have pre-schoolers who want to do school. I have been thinking about them all for a while and have been surfing the web and found some really great blogs offering wonderful free things for them to use at home.

Some of my friends ask what do you do with preschoolers when homeschooling older ones ?  To be honest I am not really qualified to answer this as I only had one preschooler when homeschooling older children and so I simply did school when he was sleeping.  I would be very keen to hear what you do with your preschoolers / tiny tots while you school your older children.

 Here is a list of what I have found so far 
(Click on the graphic or any blue links to have a look).





Tot School



Raising Rock Stars

Progressing to Pre- School





Kindy Level






Fun things to do together that cost next to nothing or with what you have at home:


What did I use ?

I didn't do any formal work with Sir N I simply enjoyed good books.  We have not read all the books in each of these packages and in fact I have them on the shelf and we are reading them this year as extra's for fun.  There are a few we have read over and over again.

Sonlight Core P 3/4
Sonlight Core P 4/5

What do you use with your preschoolers / Kindy age children ?  More importantly what do you do with the youngest children when homeschooling the older ones ?

Blessings