Monday 6 February 2017

Not Back to School 2017 - week 1

When most other kids were getting ready to start the new school year, I was hurrying my kids to get ready for the day so they could go to the movies to see Sing with Nana and Pa. This was the first time both kids were picked up and taken out together by their paternal grandparents, so it felt quite exciting. They had lunch out, and were treated to a few new toys (which, even if appreciated, are not much needed in a house of hoarding children who have hardly parted with any toy/game given to them over the past 7 years...). They had a lovely time out and had a good play with their new toys before having some much needed garden time.

Casi eating a guava icey-pole in a glass he made himself

While they were out, I did lots of tidying up and organising and packing for our mini holiday starting the day after. The NBTSP is held annually at the Geelong Water Park, so we decided to use that as an excuse to stay in the area a couple of days, and booked a cabin in Ocean Grove.

A couple of weeks ago, Sosi thought it would be fun having our own homeschool uniforms, so we bought these pale blue polo shirts, which we will decorate with our own logo as soon as we come up with one that represents us aptly.

ready for our road trip to Ocean Grove

Our road trip was uneventful, kids kept themselves busy reading and playing and making up games with each other, while I tried staying awake ;)
We caught up with two special family members who now live in Ocean Grove, and had a nice dinner at the Ocean Grove Hotel (I had the pork belly, very nice!), though the kids mostly enjoyed the two in-ground trampolines and playing with other kids than their dinner (we did in fact takeaway most of Casi's calamari and chips...), after which we went to the beach to enjoy some ice-cream (just from the super).

That really perked the kids up, particularly Casi blossoms when he's in contact with nature and not constrained by walls.
When we got back to our cabin, they were certainly not ready for bed (which didn't work in my favour because I was already overtired), so after I read a story from this book we'd brought from home, they both went to their bunks and were chatting for a short while before falling asleep.


Unfortunately everyone was overtired and overexcited, so we had a bad night's sleep, which unfortunately meant I had a migraine the whole entire day after, on the very big event that starts our non-school year: the Not Back to School Party, held on the first Friday of the first term of the year at the Geelong Water Park, and organised with HEN (please do join them if you're a Victoria homeschooler or sympathiser, it's a great support organisation).
a bit of morning exercise in the sun...

then a fun day of play with all their best friends!

Not sure how long it's been going on for, but it's our 4th year going. Unfortunately I didn't get to have any fun or do much, except for lying down trying to sleep through the sickness and confusion of my migraine (thankfully, it wasn't one of those light-sensitive ones, just throbbing pain in the head, noise sensitivity and nausea), but I am the told the kids had a marvellous time! All of their best friends (bar one or two) were there, so they had a marvellous time going around with other kids, playing and chatting all day. But, you know, apparently homeschoolers aren't socialised enough ;)

The day after my head was slightly better, but still quite sore, I didn't feel like doing much, so we just enjoyed the facilities at the holiday park. Kids made some friends at the pool (again, you don't need school to interact with other children and humans), then enjoyed time in the games room. We really liked staying at the Ocean Grove Holiday Park, I chose it because it was cheaper than Big4, and we were quite happy with our stay there! I know, if there's a pool my kids will be happy anywhere, but I thought the grounds were nice, cabins are quite close to each other (which some people might not like), but it felt quite cosy and green, we will definitely be going back in the future.





also, not pictured, a few games of ping pong


When we came back on Sunday, a lovely note from Daddy on the fridge (I love how he'll leave little writing inspirations for the kids):



Sunday night, home made pizza (we usually have it on Saturdays), Casi decided he wanted to try out tuna and salmon pizza (both tinned), big winner in his books, as he almost ate it all (has a small stomach).
Casi took the photo
Also, he was very excited to come home to check out the vege patch! Here's the first tomato harvest of the season, thus far neither child has tried any, there's still hope...

coke at the back, faithful companion of migraines since
I need caffeine to clear the head but can't stomach
coffee when I have a migraine...



And these are the main events of the week.

Academically: usual Word documents, usual artwork and craft, Casi has been quite enamoured with this book, which is great in helping with precision as minute stickers need to be placed on their minute numbered spots in the book. This was a great find at Target, but there's a whole series that can be bought online, guess who ordered a couple off Book Depository this morning... not cheap, but they are really neat. As requested by him, I bought Casi the masterpieces one, I'm sure it'll be great inspiration for further learning.


He also started reading this, as well as re-reading his Weirdo books.


Sosi I don't know, I honestly can never keep track of what she's reading, in the evening her bed is a graveyard of half read books she started during the day... I know she's reading some Our Australian Girl books but honestly can't remember which ones (she got a couple for Christmas, and we have loads we picked up for 20c at the local library sale!).

So that's about it for the first week of the term :)