Harry Potter

You stand in verdant beauty

Last weekend was Christmas tree time!

Aidan and Brendon had bought one on the Saturday. We soaked it overnight.



Then they brought it into the house....



...for decoration while our Christmas cds played.




Ta da!




Christmas books were re-discovered.



And then it was off to Kirks to stand in line for....



Father Christmas! Who as soon as we made it to the front of the line, left to take a short break.



But he returned! Looking, er, slightly different and no longer requiring glasses, but I don't think any of the children noticed.



Requests were made.



Although this isn't a great photo, I love the look on Orla's face!



Then the big kids and I selected some new Christmas decorations while Brendon took the small ones for a romp in the park. We checked out the Christmas windows on the way back.



And we joined the others for a quick play in the sun before heading home.



Last week of school!

Roman Day

Following the children's interest in things Roman, we decided to have a Roman Day. We chose to celebrate the holiday of ludi plebeii, as it was conveniently located on our calendar.

The day began with "Roman baths". Our version was not as complicated an affair as the Romans would have experienced. First, we had the scented hot bath, followed by a cold plunge (quick cold shower), followed again by the scented bath. No photos...

Next, a trip to the massage room.




Then the kitchen slaves got to work preparing the feast. Here is a whole fish waiting to be cooked....



...while the children of the household waited in the shade of tents.




Roman maiden (with tunic and bulla).



Roman boy.




I had nothing like a stolla, so wore my summer dressing gown. Brendon spent part of the day resplendent in a toga made out of our sheets. No photos.....!

The first part of the feast was eaten outside. Pickled fish, mussels, flat bread, greek olives, goats cheese and Italian cheese.



The main course was served indoors - chicken, cold ham, fish, lentil and carrot soup, bread, cucumber with honey.




And cheap Italian red!



The whole fish looked less appealing now....




Reclining after the meal.




A bit of dessert - mint tea with honey, honey and date cake (no sugar), one orange to share between the family.




Then on to the games! We had gladiator contests.



(Including a junior division).



We had chariot races...




...which could be hazardous!



This was followed by some music and dancing.

We weren't 100% authentic, but it didn't really matter. It was fun researching what we would do - and what we might do next time!

Zac

Zac Power is a big hit in our household. Aidan is the main consumer of all things Zac, but Isabelle enjoys the books as well.

Mostly I like the books - they get kids reading which is generally A Good Thing. Then I don't like the books, as I notice typos or repeated words in the obviously hurriedly published paperbacks that are cashing in on the wave of popularity. Then I like them again when Aidan brings them to me saying "Look Mum! A spelling mistake in my Zac Power book!".

And role modeling obviously works:





And once you're in spy mode - you see evidence everywhere.....

Art splash

I recently updated our art walls.

Here's some figures by Orla, showing people and some lovely hand prints.



Another from Orla, with text:"This is a big girl and it's me".



Marine themes from Aidan.



And a shot of one of our walls. You can tell which two are by Ewan - they are the ones painted just in the lower right hand quadrant (by short right-handed person!).

Necessity is the mother....

I confiscated the new game of Connect 4 as it seemed to be causing fights.

So the children did their own Connect 4 outside.

Mathematics in motion

After tea one night, the big kids decided to have a game of bowls down the hallway. Pillars, columns and octagonal prisms from the blocks-set served as pins, while Aidan's new glitter ball served as the ball.



It's hit! (Strangely the ball is almost invisible in these low-light photos!).



While one played, the other kept tally of the score - X means there was a strike. There was an agreed set of rules which seemed more complex than the usual bowling game!




Isabelle's turn.



And of course the big kids were keenly watched by the little kids, who played their own version the next day.





My thoughts on this:

- It's a great example of child-initiated mathematical learning/play. There's the obvious counting, addition and tally marks, but there's also the spatial relationships, learning how different block set-ups look (and whether or not they fit easily together in the classic bowling triangle).
- Children's learning choices are not random and are based on their environment and experiences. Isabelle and Aidan don't have much knowledge about bowling. I think most of my childhood knowledge came from this! However, in place of a canceled rugby game we went for the first time this winter - and Aidan very recently has been invited to a bowling party. So interest in bowling has been piqued.
- Imitation is important. Orla and Ewan would not have understood the game in the same way as the older two, but Orla knew the basics, and chose to use the same ball (in Aidan's absence!). Big kids can inspire - but in this case it was easier for the little kids to find their own way using the same resources at a later time when the big ones were elsewhere. Isabelle and Aidan's play was fully co-operative with complex rules. Orla and Ewan were more in the embryonic co-operative phase, with Ewan mainly looking on (a learning pose not uncommon in toddlers).
- I didn't know that the children knew about tally marks - I hadn't seen them use them before. Isabelle has since told me that you learn them in year 2. So this story also shows peer tutoring. Aidan would have immediately seen the relevance and usefulness of the tally mark as a counting system (which is hard to replicate in the classroom).

Romans

I have been reading the Roman Mysteries series aloud to Isabelle and Aidan. Originally I didn't realise it was a series - I picked up The Secrets of Vesuvius at the library because it fitted well with Aidan's interest in the Vesuvius eruption and some other reading we had been doing. But their interest was swiftly caught, and we have started to move through the novels.

After reading The Assassins of Rome the children constructed themselves "tunics" from some of Brendon's t-shirts.



Here's Aidan's interpretation of a bulla:



Aidan was so taken by his tunic that he wore it to school the next day. (It stayed on all day too - I was half expecting it to be bundled away into his bag by hometime).

Slice of (real) life

I've read in at least two different places recently that reading people's blogs can get quite depressing. Understandably, people tend to blog about things that they are proud of - things that are going great! So blogland is full of immaculate houses and month-long meal plans, happy, creative and peaceful children, vibrant living and amazing crafts.

So for something a little bit different, here's a snippet of a day as seen by Aidan.

I realised that Aidan had taken 59 photos. So I flicked through them and discovered that he had taken some picture of a block construction he had made.



A few close ups of this and that - balances, characters etc.





Sister.



And Ewan. No! Babies are not allowed in the dvds! (What? No, of course that is not a copy of Breaking Dawn. It is a Very Intellectual book about....chess. Yes. Chess).



Time to dismount.



And...ooo! A camera case. (Babies are not allowed to touch the camera case). Orla seems displeased.





Nooooo!








(Edits several photos).

Humph.




Mummmm! (Where is Mum anyway?! Shouldn't some positive guidance be being provided?)



(Will I be in trouble?)



Oh there she is! Scrubbing around on the floor picking up the lunch left overs. And probably the breakfast left overs. And probably the left overs from last night's dinner too.






(No! Don't seem to be in trouble!).





And that's it. Nothing else happened. No crafts, outings, extended conversations, witticisms, baking.

But definitely some cool block work.