Week Four - January 22 - 28

Another week gone by! Gee the weeks seem to be flying by already. We had our homeschooling playgroup on this week (it's on fortnightly) and we went to the art gallery. The kids had a ball together and there were quite a few new people there which was great. It's funny now, because I organise the playgroup and also because we are all newish to homeschooling, people think that I am a bit of an expert on it all! Ben and I were laughing about it - because really I'm not that much more knowledgable than they are! Quite a few have been asking me about curriculums and styles lately. I really haven't even thought about it that much - I do know that I don't really want to waste my money on buying a curriculum now that might not even suit when the time comes! Anyway, I did a bit of searching on the net and came across, this page - A to Z Home's Cool - Kindergarteners. There are some great articles and ideas for homeschooling kindergarteners/pre-schoolers.

So on to our week's learning!

This week was the Letter D week.

~* Handwriting practice and the letter D worksheets/colouring in/dot to dot. I think Liam is getting a bit bored of these or maybe I just picked the wrong time?

~* Playgroup at the Art Gallery. There was a special exhibit on with lots of activities for the kids. They always love the events that the Art Gallery puts on - lots of imaginative and creative things to do. There were craft activities where they did rubbings with crayons and then made little people out of foam shapes (Ewan's favourite activity!), there was an interactive music exhibit - the boys loved this, they also got to draw a picture on a postcard and then post it in a special post box that was located on top of a mountain of pillows! This was a big favourite for the boys who love anything where they are active. We got to watch a performance of the Haka, learnt how to do it and then performed it - Liam sat through the whole thing until the end when he got up and started dancing with everyone! I was so proud of him - he has always been an observer especially when it involved things like singing or dancing so that was a big achievement for him - just goes to show that they will do things in their own time.

~* We went to watch a basketball game one night. Liam is really enjoying going along to watch the games now and gets right into all the cheering. He is picking up a lot about the rules and how the game is played. He knows when to chant "Defence" and when things aren't going so well. Ewan is still not that excited about it but I'm sure it won't take long for him to join in!

~* We went on lots of outings this week! We met up with friends on Thursday for playgroup in the park. There is a big spider web there to climb on and also a sandpit. Both boys had a ball playing there and were covered in sand by the end of the day. There weren't any older kids there with us but Liam managed to find other kids to play with and he was mixing with everyone. Definately no socialisation problems there!!

~* Friday was a public holiday so we took a trip to the beach. It was a fantastic day and a great spot - a lake on one side and the sea on the other! We paddled around in the lake for ages and the boys built sandcastles. Ewan loved the lake where it was nice and calm, and Liam was in heaven in the surf with the waves crashing around him. We had to keep calling Liam back because he kept moving further and further out into the waves. He was laughing and smiling the whole time - even when he got dumped by the waves! We got to talk about (and hold!) crabs and saw lots of parachuters and helicopters too. We're already talking about when we can go back. This morning at breakfast we asked the boys what they wanted to do today and Liam said "Well we can go back to the beach!".

~* We made dreamcatchers yesterday. Realised too late though that it really wasn't an activity that they could do so well by themselves - it was difficult for them to thread the beads with the string we used and then it needed lots of knots tied in too that they couldn't manage. They love them though and are quite happy with the idea behind them - that they will catch the bad dreams and only let good dreams through to them. They've moved into their own room together these last few weeks and Liam has talked about having bad dreams. So it might be just what he needs to change his thinking about it. Fingers crossed anyway!

~* Almost forgot the gardening! The boys helped me rake up the grass clippings, bury our food scraps in the garden, water and pick tomotoes. They are really enjoying the garden - despite not having a lot of things in there and very little water!