Making Crystals

We are back into the swing of things concerning homeschool - 2010! May this be a good, fruitful year! For Geography, we are studing minerals and how different crystals are formed. To make our own, we mixed a salt solution with red food coloring (rubies), epsom salt solution with green colouring (emeralds) and sugar solution with blue coloring (saphires). Then you hang a paper clip at the end of string in the middle of the solution for the crystals to start growing on, then the waiting game starts - at least 2 weeks. Who said school is boring?? We Love to learn!!

Where do I start?

Hello all! We are now going into our third week of homeschool! I can't believe how time has just flown by. This last week we studied the history of writing and wrote our names in clay using Cuneiform. This is what Caitlyn's name looks like:

I have not been able to post for some time as my hubby had to "redo" my computer as I could not upload any pics or post comments etc. Then we have also had 2 tragedies that we were going through. The first tragedy was the cat next door somehow got one of our baby guinea pigs (Vanilla). My neighbor was so distraught, she bought us a huge bouquet of flowers to tell us how sorry she is.

The second tragedy is that the 2 boy guinea pigs had not been getting on very well since Sasha has come out of the "maternity ward". We started seeing tufts of hair lying around the garden and then three nights ago I was woken by terrible squealing. The next morning Toffee was lying whimpering. I took him inside and after inspection saw he had wounds on his neck. I doctored his wounds but the rest of the day he was having fits and whimpering. It was emotionally destroying to see him like that (I am still trying to recover). Well, that night he took a turn for the worse and did not make it to the morning. So now we just have 3 guinea pigs.

Goodbye, Vanilla, goodbye Toffee, we know your lives were good in the time you were with us. You sure did enrich our lives.

One of THOSE days!

Jaina has not been feeling too well, so this morning she just did her maths (her favorite subject) before going downstairs.

Caitlyn was not in the mood for maths (her worst subject), just the mention of it sends her into a bad mood. Well, thankfully she finished her maths but the mood and attitude stayed. You see she is 10 years old and the MOODS are starting to set in. I have not slept for 2 nights, being up with Jaina, so I am tired.

Then came the big blow up over Caitlyn's english lesson, simple past and future tenses. After calmly explaining it 3 times, I still got a blank look with "I don't understand". What she was really saying was "I don't feel like doing it, I want to go downstairs and play with my sister".

It ended with me shouting "Well if you want to be lazy and waste your brain away by not using it, GET DOWNSTAIRS!" and Caitlyn did not waste anytime. She is now downstairs happily playing with her sister.

Aaaaargh! What was my previous post about?

I am too tired to remember!!!

It's Today, It's Today!!

For our family, home school started today!

Fun and great learning was in store for us. The girls were beside themselves with excitement. I must say that I too couldn't wait.

We started off with a quick walk for some fresh air and our water bottles. When we got back we did our prayer with daily scripture and devotional.

The girls then did a puzzle while I got a few things done in the house. We moved on to English (penmanship and reading) and then had a tea break. After tea it was Maths, History (San and Khoi people of the Kalahari Desert) and Geography (mountain ranges of South Africa). Lunch Break with Daddy (came home from work for the occasion) and then finished off with Literature.

What started off as a "High Five Sisty, we are homeschoolers now!" turned into a .... WRESTLING MATCH!!

They were left begging for more but you know, tommorow is another day!

Aaaah, Back to School!

Well, it is the end of another holiday break and it is back to school tommorow. Shoes are polished and bags are packed, ready to start the last term of the year.

We have started the countdown and there are now 8 weeks / 57 days to the end of school and I just know they are going to go in a flash. With exam prep, school concerts and all the buzz that goes with preparing for the Christmas holidays, we will look again and it is over.

We are all looking forward to starting home school next year. It is a new adventure and an exciting one too.

Well, my girls are fed and bathed and in bed, on time! Wow, we didn't manage that once during the holidays.

Let's have a breather and a cup of tea and plan for what lies ahead.