Craft Table — pic 2
As I said, the table was quite long and we permanentlyhad the dulcimers (there’s a kids dulcimer not picturedthat we used this year), composer pics, etc. So, while it’sprobably not valuable it sure is functional for us!!
Author: Liesl - Homeschool Den
Bike Trail
The kids have been real troopers as we pack up, sort, break down furniture, sell appliances, outdoor play equipment, and everything that moving entails. Not to mention the endless errands around town. We were also stuck at home as ED was sick all night a couple of nights ago. Today, we dedicated the morning to some plain outdoor fun. We packed up the kids’ bikes and had a really fun...
Five Foot Spider’s Web
Golden Orb Spider: When we stopped for a water break, we spotted this huge spider. It’s web was at least five feet across. The main portion of its body was as big as the first joint of my big toe (it was probably 4 inches across if you count the legs)! Glad it was off to the side; it’d be horrible to ride our bikes into that web!!
What We’re Using to Teach DD (age 4 1/2) to Read
Animal Antics: If you’ve read our blog for a while, you know that DD knewall her letter sounds at age 3 and started putting wordstogether just a bit before she was 4. She wasn’t yet readyto read, though, so we did lots of games and she would readone word on a page or one word at at time in games and such. She’s now had the patience and interest to...
Learning to Read: Readers We Use (continued)
This is a continuation of the post: What We’re Using to Teach DD (age 4 1/2) to Read where I explained that DD is using Animal Antics (affiliate link) Starfall Books and other readers to learn to read. Primary Phonics by EPS: This fall, DD will also work on the first two sets (20 books) of Primary Phonics Readers by EPS (affiliate link) . All I have are the storybook...
Jesse Gap
One of the few things we did out-and-about last week was to go to Jesse Gap with friends. The older kids had a lot of fun climbing up the rocks. There was a “cave” up behind the trees and the boys spent a long time exploring while the younger ones hid plastic Easter eggs in the grass. (Yes, we kept a hawk’s-eye out for snakes!) Meanwhile, on the home front...
Todd River Starts to Flow
It has been raining quite a bit the past few days. The other day, a friend of a friend stopped at the Todd River bed, which is normally dry. He happened to catch the river just as it started to flow! The kids and I drove by around 11am (a half hour after this was shot) and the river was full from bank to bank and quite deep! Amazing!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPhK4TO1tto
Stuart Desert Pea
These flowers grow here in Central Australia. My neighbor has some growing on the verge. I’ve always liked them because they’re quite unique, so thought I’d snap a picture or two and share them here.
Free Life Science Curriculum (early elementary)
I just learned about a science website called The Lab of Mr. Q. Wow! What a find! This 8th grade science teacher created a science curriculum for the young elementary ages. He offers the Life Science student and parent texts for FREE! His Life Science curriculum includes these units: 1) Basic Needs 2) Biomes 3) Life Cycles 4) Classification 5) Food Webs 6) Senses 7) Body Organs 8) Cells 9)...
Easter Logic Puzzle and Bunny Hundreds Place Value Grid
It’s probably too late to be of use to anyone else, but I stillthought I’d share these puzzles that I made for my kids(4 and 6). If you look at the left sheet above, you see there are twogrids. After looking at the two puzzles, the kids have toplace all 9 pieces on the blank grid to make ONE puzzle. I also made an answer key (for each of the...
Getting Ready to Say Goodbye: Beautiful Simpson’s Gap Photos
Our time has been taken up more and more by our move away from central Australia. We are both excited to move on and sad to leave this beautiful area. We’ve been here 12+ years and have amazing friends and memories. It has been overwhelming the number of things we need to do to be ready to pack up and leave, so expect fewer and fewer posts. Just another 6...
Huntsman Spiders
The other day as I pulled away from the house, a huntsman spider crawled up over my shoulder… luckily it was on the OTHER side of the glass, but it really startled me. Let me tell you, when you see that 3 1/2 inch (8 cm) spider out of the corner of your eye, you flinch! This huntsman was hanging out on our garbage can today. Perhaps it’s the same...
