ANZAC weekend

After 2 1/2 weeks of break from our regular activities I'm feeling energised and ready to get back into things. It helps that Vintage is largely over and Tony is now home (and awake) in the mornings and evenings and on weekends. He had 3 1/2 days off over the Easter weekend and has had all 3 days of this ANZAC Day long weekend off work. He played and coached baseball yesterday but has been here the rest of the weekend and its lovely for us all to reconnect with him and for me to have a bit more conversation with an adult in my day.

On Thursday Caitlin went to her athletics carnival where she competed in the 100m, 400m, relay and triple jump. She was the only Under 10s girl from her school, so she spent the day with the girls from another school, its great that she can fit in easily with a new group of people and make friends so easily.  While she was there LiAM, Millie and I went to L's for the day, the kids played Terraria and watched Terraria videos, played Minecraft Mutants (a game they've all made up) on the trampoline, and played an imaginative role-playing game on and off all day.

Once we picked Caitlin up we took her straight to the Guides Hall where she was having a sleepover before the ANZAC Day March the next day. She and most of the other girls slept outside in tents - it was our first really cold night of the season - down to 1 degree! - but they all managed all right and I think enjoyed the experience.

After dropping her off, we went to the library to return books, borrow some more, and watch some more Terraria videos. Tony met us there and took Millie home while LiAM went to Karate for the first time. He really enjoyed it and fitted in with the 2 kids who were about his age. I was really impressed with the dojo. Its a multi-age class - kids and adults in together. Some of the training they do as a whole group, other times they break into smaller groups with older kids helping the younger ones, or those at the same ability level working together. LiAM was assigned to a 13 year old boy to be shown the basics over the next few weeks - and he learnt heaps. (The next day he showed Caitlin how to do one of the kicks he'd learnt. The next morning Millie (from watching them) showed ME how to do it). Caitlin is considered joining the Karate class as well - and so am I. It might be a good way to get fit again and learn something I've vaguely thought about for a long time... There's a few fears standing in my way as well that may stop me, but hopefully I'll be able to overcome them. The dojo encourages parents and kids to train together, so I would be welcome from their point of view...

On Friday morning, L and M elected to stay home with Tony while I went to Yarra Glen to watch the ANZAC Day parade and ceremony. Arriving there and walking down the street and settling in to the crowd I felt so grateful to live in a small community, where I know so many people and we all come out to join in community events. There were several hundred people watching the parade. The Guides were running a bit late and the parade started as soon as they arrived. The crowd moves along the street with the parade (which set a cracking pace this year, I found it hard to keep up) and we all end up at the Memorial Hall and the War Monument. The Guides stand around the Monument each year, and this year Caitlin was one of the four who stood guard on the four corners of the Monument, she was proud to have such a prominent part in the ceremony.

The ceremony was moving and thought provoking. A lot of focus on being grateful for the country we live in and for the fact that we are not living with war on a daily basis. Recognition too for those Australians who are on active service at the moment in other countries.

After the ceremony I caught up with a few friends I hadn't seen for a while, then went and picked Caitlin up from the Guides Hall. Home again for a quiet afternoon - I installed a new Minecraft mod for  the kids, which they played for a while, Tony had a nap then watched the ANZAC Day Collingwood v Essendon game (which fortunately Collingwood won!) and we pottered around, read books, tidied up a bit, oh, and I made Anzac Cookies. Millie and I popped into Yarra Glen later in the day and did a bit of grocery shopping and we came home and made nachos for tea.

Yesterday was also a quiet day at home. Tony left early for baseball, and we played Township and Candy Mania and Episode on the iPad, watched some DVDs (Season 2 of Full House, and the Ugly Duckling and Me), sorted through all our books to see if there are any we could donate to the stall I'm having for ABA next week (no kid's books were allowed to go, but I did find a handful of my books that I'm unlikely to read again) and then read a pile of the books that we'd pulled out, played the piano, made some rainbow loom bracelets, played Minecraft and Poisson Rouge, and the kids played a game where the girls are sisters called Sally and Rosey, and its their birthday today, so they spent hours getting ready for a party - they've made decorations and invitations and Caitlin is going to make a cake and toffee today and then we'll all go to the birthday party. It will be especially fun for Millie I think as she's really starting to hang out for her birthday which is still about 6 weeks away - this might ease the frustration of waiting a little. We also played a fun game of Chinese Whispers at tea time - most of the sentences made it fairly intact around the 5 of us, although a couple got mixed up in a hilarious way.

School Holidays

We are often asked if we stop doing school work during the school holidays, or some version of 'Do you let the kids have a break in the holidays'/'Does Mum give you time off in the holidays?' and the answer is not really a simple one.

We don't do formal or structured lessons that look like what most people imagine when they think of school. We learn (myself, Tony and the kids) all day every day, doing things that interest us or are important at the time. So we don't stop that during the holidays. Every day we learn from what is going on around us and from the activities that we all choose to do.

On the other hand, we do get a bit of a break during the holidays, because most of our regular activities stop for that time. So our week can be a bit more relaxed, a lot less wanting to be somewhere at a particular time. We can spend more time at home, catching up on activities we've wanted to do, or watching movies or playing games - we do all this during the term as well, but I find that being able to do it for a few days in a row without interruptions to go out and do other things, gets us all to a point where the learning becomes deeper and more connections can flow. We can really explore whatever it is we're looking at, rather than doing it for a few hours then being called away and possibly not coming back to it. Or we can spend more time visiting friends - we often use this time to see the kids' schooled friends, who often don't have so much time for visiting during term. Or having longer visits with our homeschooled friends, without either family having other commitments on the day.

One thing we do do less of during school holidays is going to public venues - we'll still go to the park in Yarra Glen or Healesville, although they are usually much busier than during term (except for yesterday when it was raining and we were the only people there) - we do avoid places like the zoo, museum, indoor play centres, shopping centres and so on. We'd much prefer to go during the week once school has gone back, and not be overwhelmed by crowds. Occasionally we are enticed by some of the school holiday activities that are offered by places and we do go along, but it is a much more exhausting and overwhelming day than our usual mid-term outings - so the activity only appeals if it is a particularly special one or something that is highly relevant to our interests.

So yes, we do do things differently during the school holidays, although probably in a different way than most people are thinking when they ask the question.

Out and about

Last week we had lots of impromptu outings, the kind of days that I really like best. It was odd to have a few within the space of a couple of days, and it was lots of fun. This week we've been more back to our usual routine - and I definitely feel much less calm at the end of this week than I did last week...

Monday of last week was a public holiday here in Victoria - Tony was at work because it's Vintage (harvest) time and he's at work all the time basically at the moment - but there was no school, so some of our friends who would normally be at school were available to play with. We took up an invitation to go to the Redwood Forest near East Warburton - a place I didn't even know existed (the Redwood Forest that is, I did know about East Warburton) with a friend and a few of her friends for a picnic and a swim in the creek. We got there later than the others and wandered into the forest by ourselves - it was incredibly peaceful and quiet and amazing - tall redwoods planted in symmetrical rows, with the floor of the forest covered in leaf litter which quietened our footsteps - it was a really magical place. We walked through the forest then followed the path towards the creek and after a while found our friends in a lovely secluded little spot off the main path, just where Cement Creek joins the Yarra River. It was great to see S and her kids, especially since the eldest has started school this year and we haven't seen him since then. We had our picnic and the kids played in the creek and in the river - LiAM and Caitlin and J walked a long way up the creek and explored lots of new areas, I played in the shallow water near the junction with Millie. We all then moved a bit further down the river where it was deeper and a better place for swimming - and with a fallen tree right across the river which was big enough for the kids to run back and forwards across. I'd been a bit dizzy so found the tree bridge quite challenging, but did walk on it a bit with Millie and it was fun. I didn't get to have a swim but did manage to wade in to the water up to my waist which was quite refreshing.

On Tuesday last week we had nothing much planned. A friend called in for a cuppa then took Caitlin with her to music in Yarra Glen, then came back and had lunch. We hung out at home playing games in the afternoon, and I didn't really want to go anywhere, although I knew that I had DVDs due back at the library that day... Late in the afternoon I suggested we run into Healesville to drop the DVDs off, grab some takeaway dinner, and go and eat it by the creek near Donnelly's Weir (the road in to the weir closes at 7pm, however just before the gate, the creek crosses the road and there is room to park there and its a fantastic shallow pool to play in). So we dropped the DVDs in to the library, bought some fish and chips, and went to play in the creek. It had been a hot and humid day so playing near the water was lovely and refreshing. We ate our dinner then I read my book while the kids played an elaborate game in and around the water until it was almost too dark to see anymore. A very lovely end to a relaxing day   - I hope we'll remember to go there more often.

Wednesday we went to Chirnside Park shops to get a skirt for Caitlin to wear to school (she's going to a local school one day a week at the moment) and for LiAM to find out when a game he wants is going to be released on PlayStation 3. We also stocked up on some clothes that were on special, then called in to play with some friends for a couple of hours before Caitlin went to Guides and the rest of us went to the library and the park.

Thursday we went to see my sister and her new baby, T. The kids hadn't met him yet so it was a very exciting day for everyone! We hung out there for a few hours, then I felt we needed to give F and T a break, but I didn't feel ready to head home yet. So we jumped on a tram and went down to the Melbourne Museum - we got there at 3.30 and there were hardly any people there. We explored the First Peoples exhibit and the Melbourne exhibit - not the places we usually go to when we are there - and they were both fascinating and interactive and extremely engaging. Afterwards we went and played in the fig trees near the Exhibition Centre, walked over to Lygon Street to buy some kebabs, then came back to eat them in the fig trees. We caught the tram back to F's, played with the baby a bit more and then headed home.

Friday Caitlin went to school and the rest of us went to a friend's place. After school the girls and I went and played at the water play park in Seville while LiAM stayed at his friend's place. It had been a hot day but the wind was a bit cold so I didn't go in the water much - but it was a very pleasant way to spend an hour or 2.

Superman

Yesterday we watched 5 Superman movies.

That wasn't the original plan - in the morning we put on Superman, The Movie, and everyone enjoyed it so someone suggested watching Superman 2, and then Superman 3, Superman 4 (the Quest for Peace) and Superman Returns followed. (we borrowed a box set from the library recently after watching Man of Steel and wanting to compare the older Superman movies with the newer one). We had gaps in between each movie, and no one sat and watched a whole movie without doing other things as well, we just had them on as we went about our day and stayed for the bits that caught our attention. It was a lot of fun.

While the movies were on we also
- played board games - mainly Rivers, Roads and Rails (although our version (from the toy library) has artwork on it, the pictures in that link just have coloured lines)
- did lots of puzzles
- played games on the iPad and iPod, individually and together
- played with toy animals
- played with figurines
- played with soft toys
- pretended to be fairies and animals
- pretended to be Superman and various bad guys
- talked on the phone
- prepared and ate 2 hot meals and lots of snacks
- played the piano and the drums
- designed and made birthday cards
- played with and took care of the kitten
- took care of the chickens and checked on our baby chicks
- did a little bit of housework
- discussed the differences between these movies, Man of Steel, and the Marvel superhero movies
- asked lots and lots of questions, had discussions and looked things up about the movie plot lines, actors, characters and locations. Like - I know Superman is fast, but he seems to flit back and forth between San Francisco and New York quite a lot and it doesn't take any time at all. Or really, does no one other than Lois notice that Clark Kent goes missing a lot of the time. And Clark Kent is really amazingly controlled - how difficult would it be to pretend to have no strength at all when you are really the strongest person in the world. And before you make major life decisions, like, say, choosing to give up your super powers - its probably a good idea to take a day or 2 to think about it (and check that there's not a world disaster happening at the time....). And the main Superman music was written by the same guy (John Williams) who wrote a lot of the Harry Potter music, and Star Wars - is the music similar, what else did he write for (and we also have a CD of his compositions from the library, so we'll listen to it today). And why do ALL the Superman movies end with exactly the same scene - some of us liked the linkage and closure that provided, others felt it was a bit silly.  And if we were Superheroes - would we save our friends first or the big cities, would we have a boyfriend/girlfriend, would we tell people who we were.... We talked all day about Superman (and other topics) and made so many links to other things we knew or had wondered about, it was a restful day full of so much learning, I'm glad I was able to keep saying 'yes' everytime someone asked if we could watch the next movie.

Tiring day

Yesterday was one of those days where we ended up doing too many different things and we were all exhausted. I was saying to a friend yesterday that I've learned not to do extra things just because we're in the area - and then I did exactly that and wore us all out!

We had a pretty relaxing morning at home. The kids played Minecraft - exploring a couple of adventure maps they have on the computer - and read some books. Caitlin learnt more of 'Harry's Wondrous World' on the piano. Tony and Caitlin and I rearranged our chicken set up which ended up being a bit more complicated than we'd planned. We've had 2 broody chickens, and one of them had 6 chicks hatch over the weekend. On Tuesday we moved both chickens, with their eggs and chicks, into our spare pen - they were in a box with 2 laying areas, one chicken in each side, so that was pretty easy. Then the chicken whose eggs hadn't hatched yet decided that it would be easier to simply look after the chicks that were already born, rather than sit around and wait for her own eggs to hatch - so we kept ending up with 2 cranky mother hens and 6 chicks all in the one box. We tried various combinations with an aim to get her sitting back on her own eggs, but in the end the solution that made every hen and chick happy was to have both mothers and all the chicks in the pen together, with one big box that they could all fit in to. So now we have 2 very happy co-parenting hens and 6 adorable little chicks (5 yellow, 1 black).

Around 11.30 Tony went to work and the kids and I went to Homeschool Gymnastics. Friends of ours were there this week as well so it was a bit more fun for the older kids. Once it was finished I grabbed some of the bread we like from the bakery nearby, and also some spelt chocolate hot cross buns. Next stop was to one of my ABA group's trainee breastfeeding counsellors, to give her the raffle tickets so that she can coordinate this years national raffle for our group. While I talked to her Caitlin read books to her daughter and Millie. She lives right near Chirnside Park shopping centre, so I figured we might as well pop in and get a few things that we needed... I replaced our soda stream canister (finally - its been several weeks without soda water on tap and we've really missed it), we picked up some new Skylanders which were on special, Caitlin found a new dress, I got a new nose ring, we stocked up on cat food and (saved the exciting bit till last) we bought a whole coconut from the fruit and veg shop. We were all pretty knackered after our shopping, there was a lot of walking and browsing and it would have been nice to go home at that point. On the way back to Yarra Glen we stopped at a gluten free bakery I'd been meaning to go to and we all picked something yummy to eat - I was impressed with the quality. (Less impressed with the girl insisting Millie say 'please' before she'd give her the finger bun - Millie had no idea what she was talking about and started to get a bit annoyed - next time I'll try to step in earlier to keep everyone happy) Back to Yarra Glen and dropped Caitlin at Girl Guides, while the rest of us went to the library, read some books, watched minecraft videos, borrowed some new things, then went outside and played on the swings in the smoky air - I was a little worried about LiAM playing outside in the smoke but he coped ok, it mainly seems to affect him at night. Picked Caitlin up and met a new family who has just started Guides in Yarra Glen and then finally back home.

I made a cuppa and disappeared into the bedroom with a book for a while, and the kids played with their new Skylanders. Caitlin cooked frankfurts and cheese for the kids and I made myself something to eat, then we watched Top Cat (the movie) which we enjoyed more than we thought we would. Once I got tired I went to bed and read Anna Karenina, and Millie came in and played the iPad next to me. Eventually the others came in too and played games, chatted, read until we all fell asleep.

Slowing down

Things are quietening down here a little as our activities wind up for the year. We've got a few final sessions this week, and by next Monday everything will be over for the year. I'm looking forward to 6 weeks or so with much less of a schedule. Time to focus on the things we really enjoy doing without having to cut them short to be somewhere else, and time to think about what activities felt worthwhile and that we'd like to continue next year.

I think we'll try to do a lot more swimming over the next few months. We've been 3 times in the last month and everyone's skills have improved greatly. Millie was still clinging on to me a month ago, and last week swam for nearly an hour just using a noodle, I didn't hold her at all. Liam can now swim several metres without any aids and his confidence has sky-rocketed. He did his Level 1 swimming badge at Cubs a couple of weeks ago - if he had tried that even 2 weeks earlier I don't think he would have been willing to get in the pool and try. I'm hoping that if we swim a lot over the summer then I'll keep it up during the colder months next year as well - we all enjoy it so much, and its really only that we have so many other things on that it falls down the priority list, I'd love to continue to make it a priority and possibly work other things around swimming instead.

I'm hoping to get back to Melbourne Zoo soon, we haven't been for well over a year - maybe even 2 (we've been to Werribee Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary several times this year, so our membership has still been worthwhile). I offered a trip to the zoo a couple of weeks ago when we didn't have many other plans. Caitlin was keen but Liam was surprisingly reluctant. In part that was because he was sick - he had a virus for several weeks which sapped his energy, and a trip to the zoo was just too much. He's also not enjoying long car trips at the moment, so wants to save them for something worthwhile. Lemur Island will soon be opening at the zoo and he wanted to wait and go once it was available to see - lemurs are his favourite animal so this should be his ultimate zoo experience. I was quite pleased that he was able to say no and delay his trip to the zoo - it shows that he trusts that we will get to do fun things and he doesn't need to grasp at every excursion opportunity that is offered - and it also alleviated my worry that I hadn't been offering enough trip options lately - if he can say no, then he's not feeling like he wants to be going more places. Lemur Island opens on December 21 - I haven't decided yet whether we will brave the school holiday crowds and go and see it as soon as we can, or wait a bit and take advantage of being able to go on quieter days...

I think we'll also have the chance to spend more time hanging out with friends and/or at the playground.  Those days tend to be the ones we enjoy the most, so it will be nice to have less time constraints on our social activities.

And once activities start up again next year, we'll be relaxed enough to be able to find a non-stressful balance between Caitlin's need for activities and groups, and everyone else's preference for non time specific activities.

Rest day

We've had a lot of time at home lately and it's been lovely. Exactly what we all needed after a very crazy Term 3 and the first half of Term 4.

Yesterday we had nothing planned except resting at home and we had a varied and interesting and overall restful day. Some of the things we did

- Jigsaw puzzles
- dominoes
- lego
- watching and caring for the chickens, collecting eggs, observing the evolving pecking order now that we have so many new chickens
- gardening - watering, weeding, mulching
- planning a cubby house, drawing up plans using a drawing app on the iPad, and starting work on clearing the area
- drawing pictures on the iPad
- playing on the trampoline and swings
- Millie pretending to be a kitten and eating and playing like one
- packing picnic lunches and eating outside
- reading books (the bear books by Nick Bland, and others)
- playing games on ABC3 website - the 5th Boy, and Huebrix (this is a great puzzle game, Liam and Caitlin and I all had a go and between us were able to solve a lot of the puzzles. Liam really grasped the concept and quickly solved some that I struggled with)
- maths games on the computer
- playing Red Fish/Poisson Rouge on the computer - this is the best kids website I've come across and Millie can spend hours exploring it, while the older kids and I still enjoy it as well
- playing with MAB blocks
- Movies - The Incredibles, Cats & Dogs - the Revenge of Kitty Galore, Winx
- lots of discussions about all of the above as they were happening

It was interesting too, when I said on Monday night that we'd be having a rest day on Tuesday, the kids all said 'cool, we can watch movies all day!' I wouldn't have minded if they did, but they were so busy playing games and exploring other things that the movies didn't get put on until 5.30. And while there was a fair bit of computer and iPad use, it was all collaborative and very social