Versatile Blogger Award

I am humbled and honoured to have received The Versatile Blog Award from Erin @ Seven Little Australian's and Counting a little while ago :)  Thankyou Erin!  Sorry it has taken me so long to pass along this award.

Rules for the Versatile Blogger are :

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

Tell your readers 7 things about yourself.

Give this award to 15 recently discovered bloggers.

Contact those bloggers and let them in on the news.

7 things about me are -

1. I was once in a junior Australian Rifle Shooting Team and went to England to compete.

2. I constructed toy solar powered cars and boats when I was 11 from bits and pieces.

3. I wanted/want to be a photographer.

4. I have a background in insurance.

5. All of my babies were born in hospital.

6. I hate spicy food.

7. I was a very sporty kid.

I would like to award The Versatile Blog Award to -

1. Grow, Bake, Run

2. Teaching Stars

3. Trying to Raise Educated Souls for God

4. A Peaceful Day

5. dulcissimae avocationes

6. Learning Alongside

7. Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

8. Wildflowers and Marbles

9. Quarks and Quirks

10. Homeschool Ninjas

11. Counting Coconuts

12. Homeschooling Downunder Blog

13. Weird Unsocialised Homeschoolers

14. Relish

15. A Tree House Education

Launching Project Photog

For regular visitors to my blog you may have noticed a change to the tabs at the top of the page.  Some of you may have already popped over to Project Photog to see what it's about :)

Project Photog is my online journal to become a professional photographer, and if i don't become a pro, that's ok with me, I will always be a passionate photographer and I will have learnt plenty!  This is a LONG term project.  I don't anticipate 'working' at all until Possum is at least 6, and even then maybe only on weekends or when Rusty is around to look after the kiddos.  This is my 'life after kids' goal and in order to get there I need/want to start now.  There is so much to learn!

So if you want to see what i'm up to please head over to Project Photog.

Amber xx

Pop-Up London

Some of you may have read my previous post about the London Olympics which included a book list.  Most of the books on that list are specifically about the Olympics but one that has stood out from the rest is Pop-Up London.  It shows off all of the major London landmarks following the Thames from Kew Gardens to the Olympic Village.

I'm not generally a fan of pop up books, not because they aren't lovely but because they end up trashed and not working properly and that just makes me sad.  Finally the children are old enough to enjoy this format and not attempt to destroy it, well, all bar Possum.

I thought I would share with you some of the beauty of this book so you can see for yourself.

Royal Albert Hall

When you turn the book around you can see inside some of the buildings.  Inside Royal Albert Hall.

Buckingham Palace

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge opens up to let a boat pass under.

Under the flap you will find Olympic Park.

This is a beautiful book!  There is plenty more to see.  It is constructed to a very high standard and all of the pop-ups work smashingly.  All of us have thoroughly enjoyed pawing over the pages and I'm sure it will be treasured for many years.

Amber xx

Checking in

Busy, busy, busy!!  Possum has been sick with an ear infection going on 3 weeks, poor baby.  He's been quite brave and we seem to finally be getting back on top of it, thank goodness because the sleep deprivation from comforting him all night has been taking a huge toll.  I don't know if i make sense half the time LOL.

In spite of all this school continues to cruise along.  I say cruise because we have been taking a bit of a lighter approach.

Bugsy has completed Kumon Word Problems Grade 1 and i will hold off on Grade 2 until he has completed more of Miquon Blue.  Flossy worked on them concurrently however i can see the benefit of waiting just a little before starting this one.

He has also completed the dark green I See Sam Readers and his reading is going swimmingly!  3 more levels of I See Sam to go and he will be done, then will come the challenge to select school related reads for him.

Flossy has worked hard to finish Miquon Yellow.  There are some challenging questions in that book!  Miquon Purple is next and i'm sure she will find it just as challenging.  Then to decide what to do next. I though i had that mapped out but now i'm having second thoughts.  I will just see how she goes with this book and decide closer to the end i think.  Very proud of her and she is proud of herself knowing how close she is to completing the series.

Chicky is motoring along with reading, phonics and handwriting.  For maths we are working on counting to 100, she makes it to 12 no worries but we have a long way to go LOL.  I am hoping by teaching her to write the numbers she will see them easier which might help her to remember their names.

Possum apart from being unwell with his ear infection and trying to cut his molars which are taking forever to come through is good.  He's started using more signs, yay!  So far i have seen sleep, food, baby, teddy bear, bath, cat, dog, bye and i think that's it.  I'm so pleased we are finally getting somewhere on the communication front.  Last night we actually had a little game and conversation and he signed in context.  It was enough to melt your heart!  He is walking everywhere with confidence now too and his understanding seems to have come on in leaps and bounds!

It's all coming together

After my last post about loosing my groove i've been trying to find a new one.  I'm pleased to say it's all coming together again, yay!  Hoping for smooth sailing until the end of July now, fingers crossed.

Kids are again trucking through their work.  Today Chicky completed her Get Set for the Code Book B.  I imagine she will work through the next one quite quickly now.  She has really come on with her phonics and handwriting.

Don't you just love the expression!

Possum is coming along beautifully.  After his first sign a few weeks back he's now also signed dog and teddy bear.  I'd really like food, drink and finished but he's got other ideas LOL.  I shared a few weeks back that he had taken his first steps, well i'm proud to say that he is now toddling around the place (i don't think i shared that in our last update?).  So at 21m he is walking independently, very exciting to finally see him toddling around the place!  Just to make my heart melt he has learnt to give kisses and big cuddles too :)

I am REALLY enjoying my new camera!  I've been taking photo's most days, mostly candid ones, here are a couple of my favourites.

I studied photography in highschool and i am finding most of the principles are coming back to me however i had no experience in digital editing so i'm enjoying learning something new there.  A friend suggested that i pick up Understanding Exposure as a refresher and i'm glad i did, lots of nuggets in there :)

Gearing up for the London Olympics

Are you planning anything special for your homeschool over the London Olympic Games?  We are!  I've been scouting around and here are the resources that i have found.  I'm sure we won't use all of this but I thought i'd share :)

Homeschool share printables including suggested book list

RIC Australian Olympic Team in London Teacher resource book

Australia Post Letter Link

Australia Post Primary Curriculum Support relating to the  Olympics

Scholastic 'Go for Gold'

Books i have to use are -

G is for Gold

Hour of the Olympics

Ancient Greece and the Olympics

You Wouldn't Want to be a Greek Athlete

Usborne The Story of the Olympics

The Story of the Olympics

Pop-Up London

The 2012 London Olympics

London 2012 Games Activity Book

I don't have any specific plans yet except watching lots of the games and enjoying the literature to go along with it.  I'm sure we will pick and choose through lots of the other materials.

Lost our groove & an update

We hit the ground running at the start of the year and worked really hard and really solidly. Our days seemed very fluid with only the occasional speed bump. Lately though we have lost our groove. It doesn't take much to throw you completely off track. At the start of the year Possum was napping in the morning. He'd go to bed around 10am and wake around lunchtime or shortly after. This gave me a great solid block of time to really get stuck into the one on one subjects with the kids. Now Possum has moved his nap to the afternoon. He's going to bed around 12.30pm and that means I'm juggling every morning. The big kids are not in the right frame of mind to focus in the afternoon so we really have to focus in the morning. Unfortunately I am finding Possum is a big time sap and I'm struggling to keep everyone on track. Sometimes my day just capitulates into fun and games and no formal school at all. I have to keep reminding myself that homeschooling is a marathon not a sprint and this season of busy toddler, will pass.

In spite of all of that we have been making some forward progress. Bugsy has completed Handwriting Without Tears, My Printing Book and has made the big transition into Writing With Ease 1.

Bugsy has also completed Miquon Red so will be moving into Miquon Blue.

Chicky has been reading more of the I See Sam readers. We've instituted a 'reading time' where everyone except Possum is required to read allowed to everyone else. It's really helping promote the reading culture and Flossy has even declared that she is finally enjoying reading allowed. Bugsy has started putting on voices for different characters now that he isn't struggling with decoding each and every word.

Possum is finally walking, woohoo!  I posted a little while back that he had taken a couple of steps and he kept that up but preferred to crawl until last week when he suddenly took off!  In very exciting news he slept through the night for the first time ever last week, hopefully there are more nights like that to come.

Jasper (our dog) is feeling much better 4 weeks on from his surgery.  We still have to keep him quiet and he is still crated much of the day but the vet has advised that we can begin to give him more yard time over the next 2 weeks so that by the time he is 6 weeks post op he should be back to his normal self.

We rescued a baby rainbow lorikeet last week.  Whilst out for a morning walk we came across a baby with a broken wing.  We threw a jumper over it and took it to our local vet who was going to assess it for suitability for rehabilitation and send it on to a wildlife carer.

I got a new camera a Canon 550D with a lovely 'fast' 50mm prime lens.  Photography was a passion of mine in high school and is something i would love to have devoted more time too.  I've got some photo shoot ideas in mind for my kiddies.  Here are a couple of snaps from day 1.  See the difference between these and those ones of Bugsy above (the one of Possum is with the new camera).  Doesn't it take a much nicer picture than the point & shoot, swoon.  Lucky i know how to use it properly, no auto settings for me :)

Hopefully i will be back to regular blogging shortly.  I've got an award to pass on!