Healsville Sanctuary

This past year has been an amazing experience for us as a family.  We have been blessed with tickets to return home to South Africa for a 50th wedding anniversary family reunion, a trip to Queensland and family from South Africa visiting.

With all these wonderful adventures I've got a little behind in recording my memories and so have decided to set aside Saturday mornings to share some of the beautiful places we have had the privilege of experiencing.
 
We had the most delightful week last week.  Aunt T and Uncle G came for a flying visit from South Africa.  Their daughter plays water polo and was chosen to represent South Africa in the first World Youth Water Polo Championships and since they were in Australia they decided to come and see where we live!  It was an amazing time of catching up and showing them our beautiful city and the unique diverse wild life that Australia has. We spent a day looking around Healesville Sanctuary and here are some of our moments.

One of my favourite aspects of this zoo are all the sculptures and braille notices of the animals on display.

Top: Healesville Sanctuary Entrance

Bottom: Aunty T with Koala sculpture, Sir N with an Emu sculpture

 Top: Koala, Wedge-Tailed Eagle Sculpture

Bottom: Tasmanian Devil, Echidna

We took a walk up to the Australian Wildlife Center where we met a baby Tasmanian Devil up close and personal, later in the day we hoped to see Spirits of the Sky but due to renovations (enclosure upgrades) the show had been changed.  It was still great to see Wedge Tailed eagles, baby Kangaroo's and wombats.

 Top: Baby Tasmanian Devil (male)

Bottom: Baby Wombat, Kangaroo, Wedgetailed Eagle

Directly across from the arena is the new Land of parrots display where you have the opportunity to hold and feed a number of Australian parrots.

 Clockwise from top left: Sir N with a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Sunbird, Cockatiel, Cockatoo,

After lunch we explored the Animals of the Night display and Woodlands track.

Top: Echidna, Bilby

Middle:

Bottom: Tasmanian Devil, Flying Foxes

Gouldian Finch, Female Gangang Cockatoo, Wonga Pigeon, White eared Honeyeater

Having grown up in Africa (South Africa and Namibia) and lived in New Zealand I am amazed at the diversity of wildlife here in Australia. The colours, sounds and variety are astounding.  Australia may not have 'The Big Five' but they certainly make up for it with the colour and variety of fauna and flora.

What is your favourite part of where you live ?

Blessings


This post is linking with: Look What We Did

HSMJ - Of Pirates and Christmas Treasure

In my life this week…

 Wow it's been a whirl wind two weeks in my world.  We had the most wonderful week with Paul's sister and her husband visiting us for five days.  On one of the days we took the day off and went to Heallesville Sanctuary.  It was neat enjoying the great outdoors.
I also fell off the radar as as I have been familiarizing myself with TOS crew protocol and getting to know my crew mates for this year.

Sunset at Werribee Open Range Zoo last night

In our home school this week…

• Our tickets arrived for the stage production Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  So looking forward to this in the new year.
• We attended a few cultural things this week.
• We did a Pinterest inspired craft - Printable Nativity for kids DIY  (our take to be posted on Sunday)
• Continued reading Jotham's Journey
• Made a Christmas tree for Miss J who is flatting and doesn't have one.
• We went to Melbourne city and explored the Christmas decorations.
• Spent a delightful afternoon exploring the Melbourne Museum.
• Went to Werribee Open Range Zoo for a special presentation.  More on this in January ...

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

• Five in a Row just launched their new website.
  If you subscribe to their blog feeds thru email, they are giving away ALL of their Fold N Learn lapbooks.
  There are 46 total Fold N Learns for holidays, volumes 1-4, and Before.
• I discovered A Thomas Jefferson Education this week and have had a delightful time poking around their website and blog.  A couple of wonderful posts to keep you encouraged and well resourced are
  What's Math Got to do with it ?
  Living Math - By Jimmie Excellent resources and encouragement from a Charlotte Mason perspective.
  
  
  Math Classics for Kids
  Classics for Young Readers
  Classics for Young Children and Family Reading
• The Schoolhouse Review crew is hosting a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway!

I am inspired by…

• I feel so blessed and encouraged after reading Renata's post on Why ? in the wake of the Sandy Hook Tragedy last week.
• The gift of artistic creativity that the Lord has placed in so many people.

• The hearts of those who are making an effort to help the Sandy Hook Students when they return to school in January.  The PTSA have decided they would like to give the new building a make over and create a Winter Wonderland with Snowflakes. Head on over to Angels of Heart to read more about it and how you can make and send snowflakes to help with this project.
•  All Things Beautiful is hosting a Snowflakes for Newton Link up for the next month.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

• We went to an end of year ballet production with the T Family
• On Sunday evening Paul joined us and we went to watch Pirates: The Search for Christmas Treasure.
  .

• On Tuesday we went to Melbourne city to look at the Myer Christmas windows and explore the wonders of the Melbourne Museum.
• Wednesday we had three families come over to watch the DVD of Pirates: The Search for Christmas Treasure followed by a trip to find some Christmas lights.
• Thursday we spent an evening at Werribee Open Range Zoo
• Friday we had some friends over for a play date while their Mom went to the Dr

My favorite thing this week was…

• I had a few but my all time favourite thing was watching Pirates: The search for Christmas Treasure stage production with Sir N and Paul over at Southwest Christian Church.

What’s working/not working for us…

• Losing my photo's from the last six months due to not backing up my hard drive since before we went to South Africa.  Sigh     tears......

Questions/thoughts I have…

• What software do you use to back up your PC ?

Things I’m working on…

• Learning about my new position on the Schoolhouse Review crew and getting to know my crew mates
• Organizing Christmas lunch which I am hosting this year.
• Searching eBay for a new lens for my D-SLR camera. I read about a lens that is 18-135mm. My current everyday lens is 18-55mm and could really use the extra 80 mm....
• Catching up on my blog. 

On My Bedside Table ...

•  Still plugging my way through Teaching the Trivium (although I have not read any of it this week due to too many interesting things on the Internet!

In Bloggy world I’m reading…

•  I'm listening to some excellent videos over at A Thomas Jefferson Education.
• Back to School Shopping over at TJE.  Interesting insights.
• RSA Animate: The Truth About Dishonesty.
• A Dickens of a Christmas over at Moments with Mother Culture
• Lieterary Archaeology over at Under the Sky

I’m cooking…

•  Nothing new..

On Pinterest I found...

• Homeschool - A Thomas Jefferson Education.

I’m grateful for…

•  My children who are safely with me. 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

This is an edited version of a 55 min lecture.  The full YouTube clip is available at RSA Sir Ken Robinson. There is also a PDF version of this graphic available over at Cognitive Media.
Blessings

This post is linking to:
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers - Weekly Wrap Up
iHomeschool - Homeschool Mothers Journal
Hammock Tracks - It's a Wrap
Homegrown Learners - Collage Friday

Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor

Christmas in Melbourne {2/2}

After a delightful morning of exploring inner city Melbourne we decided to take a walk up to Melbourne Museum for a picnic lunch and explore.

The gardens and beautiful Royal Exhibition Building

 After a peaceful picnic lunch in the gardens we decided to explore two of the newest displays in Melbourne Museum

Even the Dinosaurs had joined in Christmas this year!

Dinosaur Walk

The children enjoyed seeing the huge dinosaur skeletons and touching all the hands on displays and always a winner with the children are the computer animations explaining different aspects of dinosaur life. The museum has Educational resources available, a Virtual Exhibition as well as Prehistoric fun activities for children.

600 Million Years Victoria Evolves **

Next we explored a new division recently opened in the science and life gallery.  The amount of things to see in this gallery is a little overwhelming and you could take a full morning here to read and explore.  I was not prepared for what we saw and had not prepared Sir N who encountered the 100's of millions of years put forth as fact!  Needless to say we are having a few discussions about time and evolution.
You can take a virtual tour, enjoy some Fossil Fun activities, access educational resources or watch some video's.
** As a family we believe in Creation and young earth.
 
Dynamic Earth

Our next point of call and revisit was to Dynamic earth.  We briefly explored this exhibit in October and it made such an impact on the children they begged to see it again.

I stand in awe of our creator God who made all these beautiful things.  The images here do not do justice to the things we saw and experienced.

The website has a comprehensive overview of what you can see here as well as a library of video's,  Earth fun for children and Educational resources.

Christmas Blessings

It was a wonderful experience enjoying the outdoors, Christmas delights and earth science explorations for us.  It's days such as these that make homeschooling a delightful past time.

Which museums do you enjoy visiting with your children ?

Blessings




This post is linking with: Look What We Did
Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor