304 + 200 Weeks

This week chugged along, not much different.  Arley was both cute and bad-tempered, and Carmie was sassy but an angel.  The kids' swimming lessons started up again, which they are really happy about, and Arley FINALLY floated for the first time by himself.  It's been two years in the making, so it is a huge achievement!  We couldn't even get him to lie back in the pool not too long ago.  The kids had their usual big swim in the pool after their lesson - this takes up most of Friday afternoon, but not most of Arley's energy.  Over the weekend, we took the kids on a picnic, with our new wagon, that they insist is for them, not for all of our picnic stuff.  We spent half of the picnic dragging them around in it, and it is also where Arley decided to eat his lunch.  Carmie has extraordinary fashion sense, and wore a pink ballet outfit with her sparkly purple hightop sneakers.  She then removed the skirt for our beach trek, so she was wearing only a pink leotard and her purple sneakers for our visit to the rock pools  Who am I to stop her, I got married in track pants!

Carmie's Montessori day is back in session.  I have no idea what they do there all day, but she does enjoy it.  Arley spent the day at the farm so I could get some work done.  We have also organised a Spanish experience class for the local homeschool kids.  There is a lovely couple here from Spain until the end of May, and they are teaching the kids Spanish through theatre, song and dance, and we are hosting it from our house, so there were nine homeschool kids running around here today.  It was so lovely to see the kids having so much fun and learning about another culture.  And after that we took Carmie off to her Aikido class, so I'm pretty exhausted!

And that's really all the news from this week.  

I promise. this is the last video of the kids slo-mo jumping, but it is a cute one :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaz-hExXwUI

The kids in 'their' wagon.

 Carmie the fashionista.

 Lunch time.

 My little protege.

 They have been living in their tents these days, Oma and Opa!

 Princess Arley

 Their Spanish experience class.

303 + 199 Weeks

I'm trying to think what happened this week, but it seems that very little did!  School holidays were still going on, so we didn't get out much, because we much prefer it when the crowds are gone!  The kids did have a playdate at their friends Delphi and Jasper's house, which they loved.  There is lots of mischief to get up to there - they have a big property with goats and veggie beds and bushland and a scary rock wall that the kids terrify me by climbing.  We also did lots of bike riding, playing in the backyard, tons of reading, a trip to the library, crafts, baking...you get the picture.

There's not too much more to report.  Arley is still yelling a lot, but he had his first assessment today, so hopefully we will be getting some help for his behaviour soon.  Carmie has piles of books all over the house.  At some point I'm going to start a book list of all the books she has read.  I'm really happy that school is back in session - we plan on taking the kids to the zoo, and hiking and they are begging to go to Funland again.  Carmie's Montessori day starts up again next week, as well as her Aikido classes and their swimming lessons, so we will be pretty busy again soon.

Three quick videos of the kids slow-mo jumping into leaves.  :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfv3YbZaiJQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnrSjsrP_FQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JZouSKVLXM

302 + 198 Weeks

We have had the most incredible weather this week - I just wish it was like this year round.  We had a family picnic on the grass area at Collers Beach on Friday, and while it was a little crowded due to Easter holidays, it was absolutely gorgeous.  We spent so long picnicking, and then exploring the rock pools, walking the beach, reading books.  When I was on the beach with the kids, Carmie asked to build sandcastles with a woman who had all these beach toys there.  She had been playing with her granddaughter, whose place Carmie happily took.  After a while, the woman turned to me and asked me about Carmie's school.  I explained how we home educate, and she quietly asked me why we made that decision.  I told her our reasons (standardised curriculum vs organic learning, all of the testing, loss of freedom etc).  She paused for a beat and then said, "You are absolutely spot on.  And I've been a primary school teacher for 26 years!".  We had a long talk about education, and she mentioned how happy Carmie is and how independent Arley is, and told me how she thought what we were doing was really great.  It was so nice to get validation from someone within the system!  It made the whole picnic day even better.

This weekend was Easter, and yes, the Easter bunny came on Saturday night.  The kids had a hunt when they woke up, but it was made up of more than half plastic eggs with stickers inside.  They did get a bit of chocolate, and that is almost all Arley ate for most of Sunday morning.  Funnily enough, they haven't asked for chocolate eggs since, and have completely forgotten about them!  I guess that speaks well of the kids' diets :)  On Sunday morning we had a family morning tea at the farm, with the kids' cousins Zach and Baz, Georgia and Mark, Uncle Sting, Lolo and Dida.  Zach and Baz gave Carmie and Arley their yearly treasure hunt, which the kids loved.  Afterwards we came home and relaxed for the rest of the day, despite the fact that Arley was all hyped up on chocolate and was rather moody.  That evening, we fed the kids an early dinner and then went down to the harbour in Ulladulla to see the activities going on, and then we stayed for the fireworks.  It was Arley's first time seeing fireworks, and he went through every emotion, from, "I love them!  I love the noise!" to "Scared, scared, scary!!!", to whimpering to cheering and clapping at the end.  The fireworks were really great, it was fun to have the kids down there.  We met up with friends down there too, so the kids would have others to play with.  It was a good night.

I also took the kids and the dog back to Collers Beach for a second picnic, as it is the perfect spot for us.  Bella gets so much exercise from the other dogs that she can hardly walk when she gets home.  The kids also had a day at their grandparents', and we did lots of bike riding.  Arley hasn't been too bad this week.  I am taking a new tactic (again!) and he seems to be a little happier, which definitely makes us all happier!

Here are some videos from this week:

Bike riding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDm-5IfGl3s

Easter hunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syjeW4JyeQw

Slow motion jumping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXrIqsujnB8

More jumping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z65JM7MKx3w

Photography lesson from Dad

 Easter morning tea

 Mr Manners himself starting early!

 Lolo teaching Carmie how to use her Knitting Nancy

 Buggabears in bed watching shows after Easter morning tea.

 On the way to the harbour for the fireworks

 After the fireworks, 'performing' with their glow sticks :)

 The best picnic spot ever!

Using their new pen grips, and Arley drawing his very first picture.  It was a picture of a man eating lots of human bodies.  That's my boy.

 Icing a cake with their Lolo

 My little bike rider