Maritime Museum

We ventured into Sydney to the National Maritime Museum, to see the Viking Exhibition in particular.  We looked around the Navy destroyer...

Tried to get a decent photo of the kids and I, but Nathan did not help...

 Went in the Submarine, but I only got as far as the first section where the torpedoes were...

 Then I got completely claustrophobic and had to rush out. I was shaky and panicky and felt like I was going to cry! I don't know how the crew members live on a submarine.  The others went through the whole sub while I waited.

 The girls had their faces painted beautifully...

  Then on to see The Endeavor, a replica of Captain Cook's boat.  This was my favourite. Such a beautifully crafted timber vessel.

 

Onto the Viking ship next...

 

 

 Finally, the James Craig...

Not to mention all the indoor exhibits, including the Vikings exhibit. A great day out.

Waterhole

 

Homeschool Term 4 2013

Here's the run down on what we've been up to during Term 4...

English

Amy (Early Stage 1/Stage 1)
Reading Eggs
Learning Language Arts Through Literature- Blue level
Targeting Handwriting -1
RIC Publications Spelling - Book A
Downunder Literature Copywork

Lili (Stage 1)

Reading Eggs
Learning Language Arts Through Literature- Red level
Targeting Handwriting -2
RIC Publications Spelling - Book B
Downunder Literature Copywork

Nathan (Stage 3)
Basic Skills Creative Writing Years 3-8 workbook
Time for Better English 6
Nathan has read the entire series of The Rangers Apprentice, among many other books.


Plus loads of reading- the librarian told me that between us we had borrowed over 1000 books so far this year!

Maths

Amy- Math-U-See Alpha
Lili- Math-U-See Beta
Nathan- Math-U-See Zeta

Both the girls will be finishing their books very soon, while Nathan may have a few pages left until next year. Because we went back to cover some gaps in his learning when he first came home from school, he has been doing a double workload of Maths to catch up.


HSIE

Aboriginal Studies using:

Australians All by Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle.  Australians All is Australian History told through stories about children and adolescents.  We found it's format very accessible.

We read about Aboriginal life around Lake Mungo in Australians All, which formed a springboard for learning more about Mungo Man and Mungo Woman, as well as a re-cap on what we have learned previously about Australian Mega Fauna.  

The children did a visual response to the story in Australians All...

and watched these videos:
Archival footage from 1968 following the discovery of Mungo Man
ABC Catalyst report on Mega Fauna archaeological dig

and explored this website
http://www.visitmungo.com.au/mungo-different
 
Watching parts of the SBS Series First Australians

Plus the Medieval Re-enactment day in October, where we got to see armour, swords and knights....

 

 

  Clothing, utensils and customs of the time....

 Lili was chosen to pick an item that was from medieval times.

My favourite part was the mounted archery, jousting etc.

Science and Technology

Watching episodes of The Surfing Scientist and Scope
Nathan has been learning about the Scientific Method, and all the children have been doing experiements with the Thames and Kronos Physics Kit.

Nathan- CSIRO Helix club 2 day workshop
Nathan- Minecraft challenges at DIY.org

Sport & Health

Amy & Lili- Horseriding, including a day at Pony Club to try it out.  We have a new pony, Mini. She is a gorgeous Welsh Mountain Pony.

We have been enjoying Indoor Rock Climbing...

Nathan- Archery

We watched pro-BMX riders, as well as scooter riders and skateboarders at Newton's Nation- an extreme sports event at Newcastle Harbour.

 Creative Arts

Amy & Lili- Art lessons at local gallery
Nathan- Urban Art 

Nathan was inspired by the work of Marco Luccio, after seeing his exhibition Cities, Stories and Landscapes at the local Art Gallery.

We saw and enjoyed Roald Dahls The BFG  performance by Hunter Region Drama School.

Other

Various websites on the girl's weebly site 
and Nathan's weebly site

Making a scarecrow (Mr Hayman) to keep the crows from stealing our eggs.