1000 Book Challenge and our 3 weekly trip to the library

Hello Readers,

Well the 1000 book challenge is going well, I am right on target to reach the 1000 by the end of the year. We have been reading everything we can get our hands on. I have even started reading to them so old books like Beatrix Potter and Enid Blyton and really enjoying the old style language and re-living a little of my childhood through these books and getting to share something that was special to me with my kids.

What I also love is the language that is used in these books. None of it is 'dumbed down' it was just assumed all those years ago that children would just learn what the words mean. I love that Beatrix Potter used the word 'sporific' or that you see the word 'perculiar' is Enid Blyton, Noddy Books. As I am reading numerous children's books I can tell you I certainly do not come across words like soporific and peculiar at all.

We had a wonderful time on our regular trip to library to get our books. Miss A gets really excited about picking out books. Miss S needs a little more coaxing. She is too busy enjoying the train but here are some photos.  I am really enjoying this challenge it is causing me to stretch myself to find new material for me to read to them but I am also hoping it will stretch my kids repertoire in books to.

Autumn Days at the park

Hello Readers,

March is upon us and its like the trees have gone 'Yay its Autumn' and already starting to drop their leaves. It is days like this where you can head to the park and really enjoy ourselves out in the sun.

The kids and I today had great fun at the local park. It was the right weather not too hot and not too cold. I thought I would share our day with you just for something different. Here are some photos

A little musing

Hello readers,

I was speaking with a friend the other day who was talking to me about the philosophy of raising her children "As long as their happy, they don't have to have to be the top of their class...and I can't remember what she said after that but it got me thinking...

We all want our children to be happy in life, to have a wonderful childhood, full of laughter and love but when does happiness become an excuse for mediocrity?

Does as long as their happy mean not trying? Does as long as their happy mean because 'maths does not make them happy that they don't have to apply themselves ? They don't have to push through the tough times when it is not always easy or it doesn't make you happy. Some of the best moments in my life have been when I pushed through what was deemed to be tough at the time. When I pushed through I came out on the other side a happier stronger person because I learnt not to give up, I learnt to put my head down and my bum up and I built character and strength even though I wanted to give up. I learnt to stick to something and see-it-through and that has made me happy as a person to something to the end.

The question is is when do we teach discipline and to sometimes put our feelings aside and say 'okay its time to suck it up and get this done even though while I'm doing it it doesn't make me happy" I sometimes wonder if we use 'their happiness' as an excuse not to do what is really needed to get done to help them succeed as adults and to function in the real world.

Just thinking....


Kimba

Just Something a little funny

Hello Readers,

Well I was all set up ready to go with a little spelling/writing activity for my eldest. Little bit of flour and a pastry dish for Miss S to practice her writing in. I put it down about to start explaining to her what we are going to do and the phone rings. I say to Miss S "just wait for Mummy to come back and then we can start I just have to get this call" "Okay Mum " she says






 I get off the phone and this is what I find.......











Miss S has covered Miss A in all the flour.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the mess. No lesson happened that day.......:). Just goes to show that Early learning activities do not always go to plan.




Have a nice day

Kimba

A stab at teaching geography update!

Hello readers,

We certainly are having fun doing this little project. I will add some more photos for you to have look at. Thanks for following.

Putting Uruguay on the map

Cutting out the flag and a few flora and fauna

Gluing it on

All put together

Colouring in the legend to match the country.

Next on the list is Paraguay and that will complete the bottom half of South America.

A stab at teaching Geography!

Hello Readers,

I am the first to admit that I am a geographical moron. I can't follow a map if I tried, I get lost without landmarks and I struggle to find any country on a map except for my own country and a few of the other big ones. But put me in a shopping centre in any place and I can find my way around so go figure...

So I decided I would try very hard not to impart this geographical nonsense onto my daughters and take a giant leap at teaching (my eldest) some geography. So I decided I would start with a map of South America and have it blown up to quite a large size (the size A0) this was quite cheap to do. My husband found a black and White picture of a map with all the border outline of all the countries. I kept one in tact and I cut the other one up into its individual countries to colour in and then stick on the map like a giant jigsaw puzzle. By making it one giant jigsaw puzzle it has allowed Miss S to find where each country goes on the map. I hope by doing this it will cement it in her brain

I also allow Miss S to pick the country we work on. I then print off the countries flag and some pictures of  Flora and Fauna which is native to that particular country (with names if I can find it). I then get her to cut the pictures out and glue them on to the country we are working on. Miss S has enjoyed this because she loves animals and plants and it helps teach a little about each country's uniqueness even though it is on the same continent.


This has also been a great exercise not only in in geography but it has also allowed me to teach Miss S what a legend is and how to read a legend. I am slowly getting Miss S to colour each country in a different colour we then colour the box on the legend the same colour. This is a great opportunity to then explain that by colouring the box next to the name of the country we help other people be able to find things on a map to.

Below are some photos of our project. Miss S completing Brazil. We have since then completed Bolivia and Argentina.

The Map

Coloring in the first country Brazil

We took turns colouring in

Gluing the flag

Cutting out the flag

Cutting out native flora and fauna

Sticking the native flora and fauna on

Brazil all done

Sticking Brazil on the map

Colouring in the legend to match the colour of the country