Our classroom this week

our classroom is where the faeries live!

our classroom is where the frogs live

our classroom is cold!

our classroom is reflective

our classroom is in the kitchen

Gladiator fights in Antarctica!

Spikee has always been interested in history, and he recently discovered Gladiators. In keeping with our "channeling revolting habits into good things" modus operandi we thought this was the perfect outlet for his rough play.

We hired a book about gladiators from the library and discovered that people used to hire gladiators in the days before dvd hire shops. We learnt all about diet, life for fighters, training, various types of gladiators and how they fought and defended themselves and a whole heap of other stuff.

Then we found ourselves in possession of some foam swords and in order to "channel revolting habits" we organised a gladiator day!

The kids made shields and practiced sword fighting, and then A and I took denarii (chocolate melts) and chose which gladiator we'd like to hire. We examined their muscles and asked them what type of fight they entertained with. Then we took them to the Colosseum, placed our chocolate denarii bets and they fought while we cheered from the comfortable seating by the arena. A fun time was had by all ... even those involved in the dramatic throes of death.

Examining the Gladiators for hire. I selected a fine, fit gladiator and named her Gladiola.

The fierce and entertaining fighting!

A's gladiator Titus, is victorious whilst I jeer at Gladiola for her poor fighting performance.

At the end of the games I had won 8 denarii and A had won 10. We were kind ... we fed it all to the gladiators.

Adding to the family

Today we got some new furry friends for the kids. They really wanted something small and cuddly so we got them a guinea pig each. Spikee has called his "Atomic Betty Rat" and Stylish has called hers "Guiness" although owing to the beer reference she's thinking of renaming it when she thinks of a name.

Poor Spikee came off his bike at the park yestersay and has a HUGE bruise on his face, grazing and a cut the size of a 20c piece on the inside of his cheek. He's also got a badly grazed knee and a cut on his forehead from where the helmet hit the ground and quite frankly I'm very relieved he had it on. I was reading something not long ago about how helmets are no use. Well maybe they aren't in a collision with a car, but for falling off the bike when the dog wants your pink crocs .... they're ace. He would have cracked his skull without it, no question in my mind.

Stylish is very pleased about the guinea pigs, she's been hassling me to get rats for ages and I kept saying no because she used to let them run around the house, but now we have the pink croc chasing dog that's not really an option. The pet shop said the guinea pigs were skittish, but they look pretty tame to me, one in each lap as the kids watch a movie!

Angus is crawling all over the place, he has two teeth through and it threatening to get a new top one any day now. He is really miserable with the teething. He stands up on furniture now and is close to stepping around holding onto stuff. He is making all sorts of baby babble noises and is starting to wave. He loves it when we sit out in the garden and he can crawl around.

Yesterday we took advantage of a glorious Autumn day and drove down to Southport for a picnic. The kids ran up and down the beach finding shells and feathers. We also found dead squid like things that when you walk on them they ooze purple ink. That's why I assume they were like squid, they looked like seaweed other than that! We saw a starfish, and wallaby, penguin, crab and dog footprints which we're sure was edumacational for them. A has drilled holes through many of the shells and the kids are making necklaces out of them.

Welcome to our classroom!

Our teachers are our family!
Our classroom is in the air (cable cars at Taronga zoo)Our classroom is at the park

Our classroom is in the back yardOur classroom is in the chook shed
Our classroom is in the sun
Our classroom is in the mud

Our classroom is out the front
Our classroom is in the rain forestOur classroom is a boat in the garden

Our classroom is in the bath.
Our classroom is in the creek
Our classroom is in the SPA BATH!
Our classroom is in the frog tank

Frogs, for a change

Here is some art Stylish has done lately. She's doing a very large project at the moment, documenting lots of Australian frogs and drawing pics of them all. Can't wait to see the finished product!

She is so good at drawing frogs she just copies the picture, these are not tracings.

We love natural learning!

Spikee is really loving reading! Tonight we made him a dinosaur book. We printed out lots of pictures of dinosaurs and he coloured them in and cut them out, and I typed and printed "This is a " and then we glued it all onto paper and stuck the pages in a clear sheet folder. Now he reads it and points to all the words. He's very pleased with himself.

We spent the day building our hot house, and I can't wait to get a veggie garden up and running again. There's so many REAL, USEFUL lessons in growing food. We've also added some chooks to our family and there have been many opportunities for learning there! It seems that this is the perfect state for natural learning.

Pics from The Journey South

The Guillotine

The Mechanic

life size full grown salt water crocodile

Corroboree frog breeding program at Taronga

In the cable cars

Pics of The Great Migration in Action

Driving a space shuttle

Learning about dizziness

At the zoo

Geography free styler!

Here is a photo of the newest family member helping pack. He's 6w 5d.

Unschooling In Action!

Today over lunch Stylish started chatting about something I had no idea she knew anything about ... GENETICS! She told me all about the dominant and recessive genes in rats, and what they mean for coat, colouring, and illnesses like tumours and respiratory conditions. I didn't earn anything about genetics until I was in year 10 at school and yet my child already knows more than I learnt. I really enjoyed genetics, I quite liked science in general, and it's so wonderful to see your child enjoying the same things you enjoyed, only VOLUNTARILY!

Spikee is still loving puzzles, and every time he does one I can see how he's getting more confident. Sometimes when he's not listening to me as I give him clues about where a piece goes I find it so frustrating. In those moments I find I have to really take a step back and remember that he is barely four years old, and to my brain it's obvious where the pieces go, but to his it's a minefield of possibilities! Seeing him get better and better at it each time we try makes me glad that I am able to take that step back, not show my frustrations, and just help him to over come his brain fuzz. He's always so pleased with himself when we finish doing a puzzle, and I've had to take quite a few photos of them.

Just pics

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This is the outfit Stylish sewed for her pet rat. And the rat modeling it.

Spikee laying in bed watching The Philosopher's Stone. At long last someone in the house likes Harry Potter, damn shame he's to young for anything past the first one!

the belly at 39w, and the birth pool as a back drop.

Blessingway!

Today I am 38w pregnant and my wonderful friends held a blessingway for me. I had the most beautiful day, and I feel like the way it truly blessed.

Here are a few pics.

Stylish decorating the belly in henna. We chose a design of the Egyptian Goddess Heket. She is the goddess of fertility and midwifery and she is a frog, so it had meaning to us both. She was a bit nervous about drawing the design on the day so she drew it in texta last night and then just went over it in henna today. She did such a beautiful job! The Eye of Horus is also included, this is a symbol of protection.

The finished product! I think it looks amazing. I'm such a lucky mama to have my precious eldest child draw such a fantastic design on my belly.

It didn't take Stylish long to locate the resident pets. It should come as no surprise to our viewers that the snake was her favourite ...

This is all the candles that will be lit by friends when I am in labour. Everyone brought one along as we lit them all together today.

Finally, an update with pics!

Lately Stylish has been feeling very creative, she drew this dragon, I love it!

Spikee has just taught himself to skip with a skipping rope, I must take some video of that with the new camera. But this is a photo of the jigsaw he is in love with - minus two pieces.

On a side note, we have decided to go ahead and take the lunge, the great migration will happen some time after the baby is born, probably in mid october. To celebrate and keep track of the journey I have started a new blog, hope to see you there some time!

Us In Antarctica