Archive | November 2013

Australia on a Quick Read

We did a mini unit on Australia thanks to the monthly Little Passports mailing. We covered their letter and worksheet and then spent a couple days finding some interesting facts from the books I requested from our local library. The big one for me was that there are CAMELS in Australia. Not something I was aware of! We have not done our usual full out unit as we covered Australia when we did our in depth unit on the VERY interesting Platypus. You can find ALL our resources on that HERE.

Our book list is relatively short but interesting:

  • Welcome to Australia by Mary Berendes HERE
  • Australia by Ann Heinrichs HERE
  • Destination Australia by Jonathon Grupper HERE
  • Australia by Katie Bagley HERE
  • A Year in the Life of Bindi by Bindi Irwin HERE

There was a neat scratch paper craft that instead of making your own pictures you can make the shapes they have printed on the black covering. The boys took turns exposing the colours underneath.101_5118

I found two fun print outs about Australia on the Activity Village site. They actually have a lovely list of activities, print outs and such there but I specifically printed out two for the kids:

  • Australia Fact Page HERE
  • Dictionary of Aussie Slang HERE

We watched a tourist video on youTube thanks to ellacottandewing.

We definitely enjoyed our brief foray back into the Down Under!101_5116

This entry was posted on 13/11/2013, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Welcome to Our Home Again Aunty Karyn!

November 4-6

One day and counting until Aunty Karyn gets here. What to do what to do??? Well not only is Aunty Karyn visiting and fall here to stay BUT it is also the month of American Thanksgiving so it was surely time to be… Thankful!101_5115

It was time to look at our Australia unit thanks to Little Passports. I got some books from the library and hunted down a few printables. I have a blog entry just with our resources from that short mini unit HERE. They even included a fun scratch card craft.101_5120

101_5117We drew up some “what if” stories about what sort of amazing and impossible adventures we could get up to with Aunty Karyn if we could do ANYTHING we could. Of course we photocopied the twins and took pictures of the littles to be able to give the originals to Karyn.101_5122

101_5123With visit imminent it was simply time to  get the house under control, tidy up and do our regular homeschooling bits and go to bed with the knowledge that by the afternoon on the 5th we will be up the EIGHT people in the house!!

Talk about excitement when we got Karyn home! Baba and I went to the airport to collect her. Her flights was delayed (of course) but we managed to meet up quite easily. Thus begins a week of fun with Aunty Karyn and a time of low school work levels but high levels of fun! I love how we all congregate around our electronics… here the girls were watching My Little Pony.101_5138

This quickly morphed into EVERYONE watching Aunty Karyn’s iPad!101_5140

Our first FULL day with Aunty Karyn started with stories and reading in the livingroom.101_5142

Then running out (for the kids) to enjoy the very first and VERY minor snow fall.101_5143

101_5145Trinity had special time with her God Mommy and got her hair braided.101_5144

And in the afternoon there was time for boardgames!101_5146

That evening we had a rather major Echo milestone – her very first big girl bed!!!! Of course she came out MULTIPLE times that night but definitely a success!!!

Trinity's old bed

Trinity’s old bed

A handmedown from cousin Zachary!

A handmedown from cousin Zachary!

Of course the girls had to end their day with some Aunty Karyn time…101_5152

And we still have DAYS to go!!!!101_5137

Red and Gold

November 1-3

Where in the world did October go? We are through with Halloween and onto the next big holiday – THANKSGIVING. Which is a much bigger deal than in Canada… and a different month all together. It is quite the trick to go from an event like Halloween and then back to school on a Friday no less.101_5067

We had a timely mail delivery of two of our magazine subscriptions to read during our reading time.101_5061

And of course we took a moment to enjoy the glory that is fall in our backyard. These trees were chosen (and planted when they first built the house) specifically for the fall season!101_5062

101_5064We had time for painting with watercolours (Thomas the Tank Engine)…101_5065

And a Halloween activity for Trinity.101_5066

We had a new countdown to the 5th and Aunty Karyn’s visit… that had us making Christmas cards on Saturday for all the people who live near her so that we could send off our early Christmas presents and save the shipping costs for mailing later!101_5071

We also had our Home Depot craft session – BOATS! 101_5070

We also finished our lovely ghostly footprints to go into our Halloween book. I love the individuality!101_5072

That evening it was finally time to eat our other mailed gift from Gammie – our cupcakes in a kit – a Hello Kitty Halloween themed. They went over VERY well.101_5073

We rounded off our weekend with first Sunday School (as usual) and THEN a beautiful afternoon out in the sunshine… a good stiff wind earlier in the day brought down a bounty of brightly coloured leaves.101_5091

So what better to do than rake them into a pile and jump and play in them… and THEN clean them up into the bags to be taken out with the trash this week?101_5079

101_5081101_5085101_5100Enjoy the pictures… I did take a few…101_5088

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The inclusion of Echo

The inclusion of Echo

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