It was the school holidays, which means a break from some of our activities, though not all. On the first day, we looked after the kids’ cousins. They painted, played outside, played hide and seek, did some colouring, played with duplo and watched some TV. We survived! 4 kids all day long is hard work!
Our last homeschool co-op day – I have decided that co-op does not suit our needs. We had a breakdancing incursion from Melbourne Breakdance Company. At first I though it would be a disaster – the host was strict with lots of warnings and behaviourist strategies that i was uncomfortable with. But after the little kids dropped away and he had a core group, he seemed to loosen up with them. From what i could see, the kids really enjoyed it, and Alex has showed off his moves a few times since. They were shown some moves and then given some time at the end to freestyle. Afterwards we headed for a hot chocolate and play with friends, and then to a lego library session. The kids were given challenge cards as a warm-up. I really liked this idea – things like ‘build a bridge’, ‘build a tall tower’. Thereafter they could build anything. Alex seemed to enjoy it, he likes lego play in public rather than at home interestingly enough. At the library, Alex was balancing on 2 legs of a chair with a bean bag cushion attached to it acting as a counterweight. He told me about how the cushion was stopping him from falling.
A day of errands – the kids took their collected coins to the bank to change to get some spending money for Canberra – they got $60 all up! At home, besides cleaning and packing, we set up a crystal garden kit. After about an hour, we saw the first crystals, Alex was so excited!
We received a parcel with some bits that I’d ordered for kids – included were magnetic tiles carriages, which the kids then went on to play with. Alex hogged them to make a long train, Daniel was amiable but I said I’d bought them 2 each. Alex said I should’ve bought more, I explained they were $15 each and he worked out very quickly that 4 had cost $60! We later went for a walk to the park along with bikes. We slid down the ramps at the skate park, kids rode down ramps – I had to discourage Daniel from attempting the big ones like his brother! We followed a willy wagtail, Alex saw some kids playing basketball and watched, they then invited him to play too. Afterwards we played at the playground and some kids from Alex’s childcare and the school I work at said hi and Alex played tiggy with them. The boys, started collecting rocks as that is what Daniel had started to do. After the other family left Alex found an iPod, we walked across to the police station and reported it. Alex gave all of the details, the police officer was very good with him – she let him sign his report and thanked him for his honesty. We cycled home and checked the crystal garden, looking at some of it under the magnifying glass and microscope.
We went to a native animal show, Alex held a rainbow lorikeet and an olive python, we learned a few new things and played at the park after but it was very windy and cold! I stopped at the op shop on the way home to get a few warm clothes for Canberra – what a nightmare! I really can’t take the kids there without expecting them to want everything. As it was we bought a keyboard. At home the kids played on their iPads, Alex asked for a new Blaze game and spent a bit of time on it. I realised that I don’t know what he’s watching much anymore.
We attended an open gym session with friends and lunch afterwards at home, kids weren’t great with sharing for some reason. The play was short and we spent the evening preparing for our trip to Canberra the next day – it would be an early start! The kids did some drawings with the new chalks I bought.
