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.

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!

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!

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.

We 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.

With 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.

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

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

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

Trinity had special time with her God Mommy and got her hair braided.

And in the afternoon there was time for boardgames!

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

A handmedown from cousin Zachary!

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

And we still have DAYS to go!!!!

October 19-21

What to do on a Saturday morning in fall with your cousins??? Play video games of course! We had a half a day with cousins and then a quiet ending to a quiet day.

On Sunday we of course had Sunday School but AFTER that Daddy and Baba built the boys a different bed to replace the bottom single bed. Now there are TWO uppers together and then the bottom bunk way underneath. Emanuel, how gets the bottom is in heaven. He says it is like having his own room!!!

Miss Echo had to make her fashion statement as well!

Monday meant back to schooling. The pattern of our weeks in this new year of school has become VERY comfortable. Lots of together opportunities.

Trinity and Emanuel worked on their own versions of healthy meals to start off their slow unit on the grocery store. Since we have not taken a true summer vacation we are slowing it down a bit right now. With a grocery unit to learn about, the twins and their Minnesota unit and our Little Passports Australia waiting in the wings there is no lacking of things to do, BUT it is fun to take some time to see things… do things… experience  things together that are not exactly ON the school plan… sometimes a step off the beaten path is how we find our gems. So I am pledging flexibility this year. More so than previous!

We also had a trip to check out… Andy and Darcy did a route in a semi that they clocked back to us state by state (and sent some postcards) via Facebook. So we not only tracked it, read about the states from our book Friends and Mates in 50 States but the twins wrote their own imaginary and wonderful stories about what COULD have happened on their trip.

I found a fun activity that uses a piece of orange paper, scissors and a story! You can do this fun and quick Halloween activity by clicking HERE.

Really it has been AMAZING. Ken has found a new interest in including himself in our routine. There is no better gift that he could give us than a willingness to be a part of our learning. It is moments like these that help me deal with the difficulties and embrace the future! Thank you so much Ken for coming back to our schooling and our routine!