Alex has shown some interest in some new things, most notably gemstones and rocks. I think this started when he and some other kids were exploring at the 100 steps homeschool event. Since then he has looked around for rocks and is mostly interested in amethyst as a hs mum showed Alex some amethyst she had and he admired.
Alex also asked to go back to a farm where he can feed the animals. After looking at a book about pet rats, he’s now wanting rats. He also watched a kung-fu movie with Vio and really enjoyed it, so it would be great to show him some others (he really likes kung-fu panda, which he calls panther).
Alex decided to categorise his rather extensive feather collection. We came up with categories such as ‘water birds’, ‘zoo birds’, ‘family birds’, ‘parrot family’, ‘special feathers’, and ‘mystery’. With so many of the feathers he remembered where we’d found it and was able to categorise it that way. Some of the feathers he knew the bird it came from, but mostly he used his knowledge of location to determine the category.
Alex has spent a lot of time on an ipad game called ‘virtual city’ – you build a city, keep it environmentally friendly, complete tasks etc. He’s really enjoyed it and I’ve had to say no to buying gemstones that allow you to expand – he did buy a few with his pocket money, but they seem to be harder and harder to earn! I strewed an open Melways to see if maps would be of interest, and he didn’t seem interested.
Our HS meet this week was in a different park. Alex spent most of his time playing amongst the trees or near the lake. He has little interest in playgrounds and much prefers the natural environment. The kids hunted for sticks and stones, played sword fights, follow the leader, and did circuits. On the way home, TMNT came up and I told Alex who they are named after, which started a conversation about da Vinci as he’s the one I know most about! i showed Alex a picture at home of the Sistine Chapel and the Mona Lisa. We saw a circus near our house and Alex asked to go – I said yes providing there were no animals. Then I remembered we’d be visiting Circus Oz at the end of the month!
Daniel had one of his friends over. He was very excited. The kids painted and played with magnetic tiles. The Kratt brothers dress ups were most popular! She loves to watch Wild Kratts too 🙂
The next day we met up with friends at a playground before heading to gymnastics. Daniel had a hard morning 🙁 Gym was funny though – Daniel watched me do the spiderman move and told me I’d done it wrong as I didn’t touch my penis first! He sees Madison tuck her shirt in before she demonstrates! lol. I realised after gym that I’d forgotten to bring Alex’s gi for karate! I braced myself for him to be mad at me as he’d miss playing at the park with all the gym kids but he was fine and insisted we rush! We did get to the park for a short play with a few kids, Alex didn’t play well though. I think he found a few of those kids hard to relate to.
Saturday was busier than usual – Alex had a gala day. He was happy to come and tell me he’d scored 4 goals altogether! I’d spent a lot of time with Daniel in the club rooms. We played hide and seek – Daniel peeks at where I hide and then pretends to not see where I am! At home Alex showered and changed ready for karate presentation. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend so we sent along Gigi. I was surprised when I turned up just before the grading to Alex receiving his 5th merit! I’d been at the shops with Daniel and he chose some new shoes – I was surprised he chose Thomas Tank over Paw patrol!
I took the kids to Collingwood Children’s farm for the family day (entry fee only, other activities free). They had the Rat Fanciers Association visiting too so I thought it would be a good opportunity for Alex to hold a rat and see how interested he really was. The kids really didn’t want to wear boots, but were very grateful for it and it was a mildly rainy day and it was very muddy. Alex liked the rats, as did I 🙂 The kids also held guinea pigs, Alex rode a horse and pony, we saw piglets suckling, saw the horses in stables (Daniel loved), had 2 tractor rides (at Daniel’s request), saw chickens, peacocks (and got a few small feathers).
We also got our new pet stick insects! 5 altogether – Alex shows a lot of interest in them (so far!)
