FLOWERS ‘N’ PLAID HOMESCHOOL

Mental Health Week

2011-10-11T12:42:00.001+10:00

Mental Health Week is an annual national awareness event held every year to coincide with World Mental Health Day, which is held on 10 October each year.Mental Health Week aims to raise awareness of the importance of mental health and wellbeing in the wider community. Local and regional Mental Health Week events organised by local groups and communities contribute to reducing the stigma associated with mental ill health and offer a platform to engage the community in dialogue regarding help-seeking behaviours and mental health promotion.

Now that is the official take on Mental Health Week and all of it is so vital so that for us or those that we love can live life to the fullest. Check out our story and how mental illness has effected our life.

Missionary Farewell

2011-10-07T11:31:00.005+10:00

Well we are now down to 10 days and counting. I am starting to feel a little teary when I think about Dan boarding the plane Monday week for 2 years. We had his Missionary Farewell on Friday night and we had a blast. Nacho's was on the menu and I have to say that was a perfect choice for 150 people. I cooked 15kg of mince, made 175 cupcakes, made a cake like a missionary badge and wrote it in Albanian. Now that was the hardest thing I have to say. We had 20 bags of marshmallows for the bonfire and 2 jumping castles.

Thats him sitting down around the bonfire,looking at me strangely.

Everyone kept asking what they could bring so we put on the invitation to bring a packet of his favourite chocolate biscuits. he ended up with quite a stash to keep him in chocolate until he leaves and then some to pack in his suitcase and for us to send in those all important care packages. He also received Euro, US dollars and AU dollars from families in the Ward. Dan has bookmarked on my computer all the places that take care packages of donuts etc to the MTC. We watched the best documentary inside the MTC called The Army of Faith. It was filmed this year, so it's all current and now Dan can't get on the plane fast enough. All that American breakfast cereal had his mouth watering. Show this to your kids.

We have almost everything in the handbook and he is off today for his last injections. He gave the most amazing 'last talk' at church and will be set apart next Sunday as a Missionary. No now I'm getting teary again. I really will miss him. Lucy (5) has plans that he has to take her to the movies before he leaves. With only one week not sure about that.

We have always planned and prepared for this day and even when its here I somehow just don't feel ready for it. But look out Albania here he comes!

Science Morning

2011-10-07T10:27:00.007+10:00

Growing crystals never gets old does it. The wonder of their beauty when they form, the rainbows that you can see in a single crystal. The fun of watching them grow over several days has been great. I love it.

Maddie received a Crystal growing Kit for her birthday a few weeks ago and we have been able to spend time on it this week. This kit is well paced. You do one experiment then with the results and left over solution from that one you start another. I love that otherwise I could see us there all day doing one experiment after another.

As we only have 1 kit and more willing hands, so I pulled out an old science book that I use. Bubbles Rainbows & Worms by Sam Ed Brown. Oldie but a goody I would say.

Growing Crystals

WHAT YOU NEED; Charcoal Briskets, salt, ammonia, bluing, food colouring. (bluing is that old fashion cloths whitening product and an essential ingredient)

WHAT TO DO: Use an old pie pan or shallow glass dish. break up charcoal & put in pan. Add to the charcoal two tablespoons each of water, salt,bluing & ammonia. As the liquid evaporates, the chrysalis will begging to grow. You may add colour to this garden of crystals by adding a few drops of food colouring to the dish. you can control the size of the crystals by the amount of liquid solution you add.

Explanation Crystals are formed as the solution of salt, bluing, ammonia, water, and charcoal evaporates (passes from liquid to gas). Different solutions form different shaped crystals. the structures of the crystals are determined by their chemical content. Children may observe the shape of the crystals with a magnifying glass.

School Holiday Fun

2011-09-23T07:44:00.006+10:00

I love the September school holidays. The weather is beautiful so there's always something to do. Yesterday we spent the day at the water park and had a wonderful day, swimming & riding the wild rides. As you can see above, I had a little visitor at my spot who even smiled for me.

The Spring Garden

2011-09-02T18:26:00.009+10:00

I love not having to stress in the morning. With Jess being the only one that has to be out the door by a certain time its nice for Maddie & Lucy & I to just mooch around on these beautiful mornings. We really should be on a farm. Well maybe not me but everyone else in the family. I love being able to start our lessons when we are ready and just being able to make the most of the beautiful weather.

We've all been spending time in the garden lately as the girls love to garden. I wish I didn't have a propensity for killing every seed I seem to plant, however the girls are having much better luck.

I planted a heap of seeds in the vegetable garden but alas we got a tone of tomatoes, amaranth and 3 radishes which Lucy has now 'harvested'. Not the bounty I was hoping for.

I have retired and will now just be on the support team in the garden. I must have dropped a seed on the ground outside the garden bed and you know it has grown into a beautiful bean plant. In desperation I got Mark to but a bit of fencing around it so as not to leave me totally disheartened. Not even Maddie's scarecrow helped my seeds along.

Ever since we visited Poppy in Victoria the girls have had a total love affair with roses and pretty flowers. My dad is an amazing gardener, a skill I didn't inherit unfortunately. I love how they tend to these flowers every morning carefully weeding and watering. I will leave you with a few pictures of the latest blooms from their flower garden.

I Love Queensland In The Spring

2011-09-02T17:31:00.004+10:00

It makes me what to buy school supplies. Well it makes my husband want to buy me a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils. Clearly You've Got Mail is my favorite movie and my husband was so cute and bought us all home these bouquets of sharpened pencils. Well I got a bigger bouquet of supplies which I love. He is sooo cute and everyone was up early this morning drawing with their new pencils. I love spring, oh and my husband!

Family Photo's

2011-08-23T17:03:00.011+10:00

Our family had so much fun with this photo shoot. We decided to take the kids pets with us and now we're sure glad we did because Rosie the Guinea pig passed away on Friday. Maddie just loves the photo with her and Rosie. During the shoot we also had some very friendly chickens join us on the rug. We were at the Fulcher's place for the photo shoot because no one was game enough to be out at the botanical gardens or anything. All the kids seem to think that the Fulcher's is just like being at home. If you went there you would too. Beautiful Queenslander house on rural acreage and friendly chickens as well. Mind you, Kim has a library that anyone would be envious of. Her eye for good children's literature is amazing.

Anyway it was nice to just feel relaxed and have fun with all the family.

We decided to have a family photo shoot before Daniel leaves to serve his Mission in Albania because those boys never come back looking quite the same. Also James (son in-law) is also going to be deployed with the army. In fact tears are flowing already as there has been a change of plans and as of yesterday we are so glad that we didn't leave it any later. We figure in 2 years no one is going to be the same. Jessie will be a teenager, I could be a grandmother!

They sure do grow up all to quickly for my liking but I do love having these beautiful photos.

This is Marks funny old ute that I wouldn't even get in but when the kids where younger we always went on driving holidays around the place jammed into the hilux which was just as rugged as this one, so it was like old times all crowding into dads ute. I honestly don't know how Alana survived us on this shoot.

What We Got Up To Yesterday

2011-08-18T09:25:00.004+10:00

I love cupcakes. Sadly not only visually but to eat. Yesterday the girls and I spent the entire day in the kitchen making these amazing tasting cupcakes from the blog Glorious Treats. That chocolate cupcake recipe is just too good for words.

All the recipes and instructions are on the blog including videos. I will only have one thing on my birthday list this year and that's a professional piping bag. Once I get my new piping bag the first thing on my 'to make list' will be these hydrangea cupcakes.

Who said homeschooling is hard work!!

Under Contract!

2011-07-13T09:05:00.008+10:00

Ashleigh & Matt are finally 'under contract'. This is major exciting! The great Australia dream has been slowly slipping past many of the young ones but much to our joy they are on their way. I might add in fine style as well. This house is awesome! Plenty of room for the snakes, shingle back lizards, rats, dogs and cat.

Lucy is totally sold on her sisters new house because it has a toy room. She doesn't get that the toys will all go before Ash moves in , I think she may be up for a little disappointment. Me on the other hand are totally in love with the kitchen. Matt and Ash always niggle each other over who's turn it is to do the dishes. Problem solved and who wouldn't want to keep this kitchen clean and tidy.

For the boys, the shed out the back has a big work bench and is totally powered. Matt is a very clever boy. He makes fantastic snake enclosures and restores VW cars that he shows, so to have this great shed is perfect for him.

Downstairs is awesome as well. the man that they bought the house from was a builder so he has done a fantastic job on finishing everything off really well. The office and playroom will become a home for Matt's lovely mother. She has been a widow after loosing Matt's dad to cancer when Matt and his brother & sister were babies and she has worked hard to raise them on her own. Dedicated her whole life to her family which is amazing. Not only did we get Matt who we love but his mum is the perfect 'mother in-law'. Ash loves her to bits and is more than happy to have her with them.

Needless to say we are all bursting with excitement at the news of the last week. Ash & Matt's house, Dan's mission call to Albania & Cait & James are off on their first overseas holiday. I love having a big family, it sure is a blessing.

Daniel you have been called to serve in....

2011-07-05T19:58:00.006+10:00

The Albanian Tirana Mission!!!! Now this is followed by screams and where is Albania? Yes we are VERY excited. Poor Dan had to wait for all his sisters to arrive and his Nanna. He held it, put it down, played with the ipad, paced the floor. Finally 3 1/2 hours later, everyone arrived and he could open the letter.

Dan has been planning, praying, preparing for his Mission for many years now, so this is just such a fantastic time to be finally holding this call to serve the Lord as a Missionary in his hand. The stress of waiting was getting to him. Volcanoes holding up the mail didn't help this either.

This would be us all saying Albania. Lucy is holding the fish she caught yesterday just so that she wasn't left out of all the excitement.

Winter Holiday's Australian Style

2011-06-30T16:13:00.005+10:00

Well semester 1 is all done now and its time to kick back for the holidays Australian style. Of course what do you do during winter holidays in Australia you ask, well we go to the beach. I love the weather this time of year. The days are mild and the skies are blue.

We headed off to our local beach because the girls had been itching for a swim. The day was so so lovely. We climbed the rocks, rode scooters around the paths and built sandcastles until sunset. It was such a great day.

I love our Brisbane weather! As usual I had plans of keeping the school work going through the holidays but when we all wake up and see such a beautiful day we just head out and do...

She came Second!!

2011-06-22T19:06:00.003+10:00

We were very happy to learn that Jessica came second in the Photography competition. Needless to say she was over the moon. I now have to stand aside while she takes the photos when we are out.

We head to Lomandra park for FHE on Monday night to toast marshmallows. It's been so cold for us here at the moment. I realise that in Brisbane the word cold doesn't even rate on the 'coldness' meter when we just have to wear a jumper, not even a really warm one to beat the cold. No snowing in for days on end, so I do get it that I have no business complaining about the cold. We did have fun toasting marshmallows though.

ps one or two more sleeps and the mailman will be here with a certain mission call. Now that I will keep you posted on!

Jessica Behind The Lens

2011-06-16T09:17:00.008+10:00

After I arrived home from my weekend away we headed out for a bush walk. We live right near some beautiful spots to walk & this time we took the new camera for a spin. Jessica has entered an art competition in the Photography section. So this is some of the photos she took.

These are the photo's that she submitted to the competition. One colour one black & white with a quote from Confucius

"There is beauty in everything, just not everyone see's it".

I thought not bad for her first time out with the camera. I took a couple as well but I can't wait to start my photography class next term.

I will let you know Monday how she went.

Do You Know What Grown-ups Really Do?

2011-06-15T09:36:00.004+10:00

After a wonderful weekend away with Ashleigh, oldest daughter aged 22, I discovered that there are such things as Restaurants . Not McDonalds, but real ones that cost lots of money for a small, but very delicious meal.

Ash & I went up to stay the week-end once again at Joan & lee's unit (thanks again) which is a hop skip & a jump from Sunshine Beach. After a nice sleep in we headed to Hastings Street Noosa, to find something to eat. Aroma's is apparently the ultimate place to be seen and to check out everyone walking along Hastings street. Aroma's cafe has, as Ashleigh informed me because she has been there, Parisian style seats and round tables with the chairs facing out onto the street.

The food was amazing. Ash had Eggs Benedict & I had Potato Pancake with poached eggs and tomato relish on a bed of fresh basil. It was sooo good. The little fellow in the photo above was our dining neighbor. Noosa is rather a posh sort of place with everything horribly over priced to lure the tourist dollar out of everyone's pocket. We headed straight to the bookstores of course. Ash & Matt are about to buy a house, so we popped into some home wear and decorating stores along the way. I went into all the stores that I wouldn't go in with the little ones.

Dinner was equally as lovely. King Prawns on sourdough bread and some relishy stuff and seafood pasta for Ash. Once again sooo yummy. It rained all the time we were there but it was so lovely to spend quality time with Ash. We could talk in whole sentences without someone jumping in, and just generally hangout together doing nothing really. Need to do it more often! Ash gave us a weekend at a Resort down the Gold Coast for our anniversary so Mark & I are going to take that one very soon. We won't know what to do with all that grownup time together.

It was nice to come home though to all my little people and Ash headed back to her house with Matt sick, 2 dogs that missed their 'mummy' and a mountain of snakes waiting to go into hibernation for the winter. Thanks for a great weekend!

Play Dough Play Day

2011-06-01T09:31:00.003+10:00

This stuff is a always a hit & so easy to make. We needed a change from from the lego overdrive that we've had going on at home lately. So Play Dough it was. Oldy but always a goody!

This is my favorite recipe:

Shortcut Cooked Play Dough

1 cup salt
2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp oil
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 cups of boiling water

Method: Combine ingredients (except water) in a bowl. Pour the boiling water & stir. Knead lightly on table top. This will store in an air-tight container in the fridge for months.

Check out the aprons! These too are tea towel aprons. Cute hey. Now you can see why I'm crazy for them. I never knew there was so many cute aprons out there.

A Gift On A Budget

2011-05-30T07:58:00.005+10:00

Jessica was off to a birthday party on Saturday. Now the child in question is one that has EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. I have never seen so much 'stuff' in all my life! Not even at a Target toy sale. So what do you get a girl like that, plus we had a seriously limited budget this week.

Well my girls believe that presents should be thoughtful and made these days. The made bit is usually by me though. As Hayley likes to cook, tea towel aprons was the winner. I'll do a little more on these tea towel aprons this week. They are cheap, cute & reversible.

I have been a little addicted to these cute little aprons and can't help myself stalking the tea towel section of every store checking out the latest & cutest tea towels. So with a 3 pack of tea towels, basket & a couple of miniature utensils we were set and best of all, we didn't spend over our $15 budget.

Fantastic Fun Fishing

2011-05-27T17:33:00.007+10:00

During the Easter break we had the fantastic opportunity to stay at Joan & Lee's unit at Sunshine Beach. While the sunshine was missing for many days it really didn't matter. We had an absolute ball. The fish were biting, waves were rolling and we just had the best time.

Lucy very 'bestest' friend James came to visit us with his mum & little sister for the afternoon and he caught his very first fish. Now that was exciting! It was freezing cold and a massive storm came rolling in but it didn't dampen anyone spirits or enthusiasm.

The best part for me was I got to curl up on the couch with a great book and read away to my little hearts content. Not good for me to be in the rain now is it. Someone has to be at home keeping the home fires burning don't they.

Ashleigh turned 22 that weekend so every one came up for a roast dinner with us. It was just a perfect week.

The bush walks round Noosa heads are amazing. I only went along because on Hastings Street is the very best ice-creamery in the world. It's sorbets and frozen yogurt and is all made fresh on the premises. AMAZING!

Ashleigh & I are heading back to the unit (thank-you again Joan & Lee) for a mother daughter retreat. When I asked Ash to go away with me she's like "weeelllll yyyeeesss, but what's the catch". It's tough being the oldest of six. You don't live at home and are an easy going kid, you can get kinda over looked. But not that weekend. Ash, me and the ice-creamery! You will forgive me if while I'm away that weekend that I could assume that the eagerly anticipated rapture may have occurred because her and I will be in peaceful heaven.

Missionary Photo Take 2!!

2011-05-25T16:29:00.002+10:00

Poor boy. He is so off his face with the medication he let me take the photo. He has actually never even had a panadol in his ENTIRE life. Not even as a baby. Hates any medicine so has always just sucked it up. But I had to put the mortar & pestle to work and grind it up & mix it with the custard. Must go, he phoned from downstairs to come down & change his ice pack.

EAT THE FROG FIRST!

2011-05-25T08:00:00.003+10:00

A little while ago a women in our ward gave a talk, I guess, was about procrastination. One of the stories she told was about 'Eating the Frog First'. It really resonated with me and I started applying that to my life and to our life as homeschoolers.

There are certain subjects that Maddie doesn't enjoy, mostly maths and copy work so we sat down together and looked at the schedule, which I might add was set 100% by me as I load the workboxes. More often then not it would be met with certain resistance as she would try to negotiate her way out of doing the work she really didn't want to do.
If she did do the least loved work first she would take FOREVER!

So after watching this clip and explaining the principle behind it , we now swallow the frog first. The kids get it better now as we looked at how they felt during the day when they knew something unpleasant was going to come like it or not. This simple principle has really made a difference to us all. We sat down worked out what OUR frogs were, because each of us was different , then put them on the top of the list. It is amazingly liberating.

Now when I have to do something & I try to fob it off I think."NO SWALLOW THAT FROG".

The Missionary Photo!!

2011-05-24T12:40:00.005+10:00

It is 12 more days until the Mission papers are submitted. I took THE 'missionary' photo that goes along with the mission paper and after having taken it silly me goes "would you like to get your eyebrows tidied up and I can take another one?" What sort of a monster mother I'm I . He's like "do you think I need it?" What was I thinking! Clearly having 5 girls has got to me in ways that I could never have expected. He has been jabbed with vaccinations, going in to hospital tomorrow to have his wisdom teeth out, crowns done, medicals, not to mention that he just a really well behaved 18.7year old that hasn't even lost a point for driving and I'm pointing out scraggy eyebrows!!!

This boy has had this mission planned since FOREVER! He then informed me that there could be a little hick-up and that is the First Presidency may be on vacation when his papers hit Salt Lake. This would mean the eagerly anticipated Mission Call (where in the world you are going to serve your 2 year mission) could be delayed. When he was telling me at first all i could hear was delayed & vacation. I reply "who is going on vacation, they can't go on vacation right now, it will have to wait! OH the First Presidency!! Well OK then.

I am so glad that we only have one son, because this comes with just as much anticipation as having a baby. We are blessed to have a son who didn't just wake one day when he was 20 odd and think not much else is happening so I might as well go on a mission. We have one that at exactly 18 years and 8 months to the day he can submit those Mission Paper. He saw the bar had been raised and aim right over the top for it. He is a blessing to our lives.

YOU CAN NOT SWALLOW YOUR TONGUE!!

2011-05-23T14:46:00.006+10:00

The reason for my extra computer time is that I have had some sick little people at home just now. Lucy's epilepsy has been less than stable shall we say, Jess has a throat virus & today we have Caitlin, the married daughter here sick as well, being ever so careful not to invoke a seizure as that would mean the chance of a drivers license would be set back about another 2 years. The computer is next to the couch so they are there and I am blogging away happily in between calls of "mum can you get me, and feel my head!"

Recently in our local newspaper they ran an article on how a mother had picked her daughter up from daycare & whilst traveling home the 1 year old had a seizure or febrile convulsion.
The article was so poorly written and so full of dangerous miss information I had to do what I have never done before and write a letter to the editor. This is some of what I wrote.

"I just want to say how disappointing it was to read the story “Mum’s skills save baby”. While the essence of the story about the need for first aid training is important and the scare Mrs ............ must have experienced is very frightening, you have allowed her to perpetuate a dangerous myth about seizures. While the child’s tongue would be “stuck in her mouth” because that is in fact where it is meant to be, it is a myth that that has anything to do with a blocked airway which is what the mother implied in the story. People do NOT swallow their tongues! People reading this could assume that you do in fact have to hold the tongue down so as to not swallow it. This is a dangerous myth that parents of, and people with conditions such as Epilepsy have spent a long time dispelling.

You also generally don’t have to administer CPR to someone having a seizure. The blueness in the face is caused by air being dispelled from the lungs during the actual seizure. You place the person in the recovery position and make sure the person is free from harm and time the seizure. Once it has ended the person usually begins breathing on their own and will more often just go to sleep. Don’t give CPR during the seizure. That is very dangerous and actually quite futile.

I have 2 daughters with epilepsy, one 20 & one 5, I have been doing this for a long time (20 years), have had to call 000 more times than I can count and have had to administer CPR as they have failed to begin breathing at the end of a long seizure. Mrs............ "auto-pilot" as she put it, may have been more dangerous than 000. I’m not sure if it was the way the story was written as both the journalist and the parent are only speaking from this one experience, but I can tell you that it was a very misguided, inaccurate article. I hope you will run another story in the near future to dispel the very dangerous myths and inaccuracies that occurred in this story. I am not inferring as a contradiction to Mrs ............. story but just a story on what you should do and highlight the information from the Ambulance Paramedic.

It has taken years for people to learn that when a person is having a seizure you don't stick a spoon in their mouth or anything similar. I was shocked that this story even made it to the paper and obviously they do not have a fact checker.

Some time ago I wrote an article for an American blog site Or So She Says on Epilepsy Awareness with facts and more information on our story & Epilepsy itself. It is handy to have some knowledge and it has links to other info if your interested.

Fulcher Friday

2011-05-20T20:11:00.008+10:00

Well Friday is quite often park afternoon with the Fulcher's. This photograph was taken a little while ago on one of these Friday adventures and I have been dying to use it. Peet Fulcher of Peet Fulcher Photography is like 15 but is developing into an amazing photographer. Spend a few minutes on his blog and just have a look at what this kids can do eg:

He tackles a lot of technical stuff because this is just one of his hobbies at the moment, but boy he is good!! Also now when I pop over to the Fulcher Family blog it makes me want to curl up with Dorothea Mackellar and read Our Country too.
Dorothea Mackellar - is one of Australia's best loved poets and her beautiful lyric poem "Our Country" is just echoed in their way of semi rural Australian life.

I'm so looking forward to getting out on the weekend with my new camera. Don't you just love Australia!

A Family Affair

2011-05-19T09:08:00.012+10:00

Happy 90th birthday Grandma! We absolute have been blessed beyond measure to still have her with us for this day. For the last few months of 2010 we found ourselves caring for her more and more in her home. She would ring and say that her lunch hadn't been delivered, I would hear a ding of the microwave, tell her to check the microwave & that I would be straight over. She was confused, afraid and very unwell. After a terrible fall which left her with head injuries and a broken pelvis (in 3 places) she was admitted to hospital. She was in organ failure & absolutely not expected to live. Hospital was where she stayed until the miracle of getting her into a wonderful nursing home so near to us all. As I said previously the three of us were ruled out by the ACAT team to have her live with us which made me really sad, but it's a reality.

My Aunt was home from having her second round of breast cancer surgery. Now does this look like a women with cancer. AMAZING. She isn't so old that she needs to carry her handbag with her everywhere she goes , the yellow strap is in fact her drainage bag that has a drain attached to her breast. She looked so wonderful & my Grandmother was so relieved to have her with us on Sunday as well.

Lucy was having seizures everyday for the previous 3 days. Poor little one. All she could manage was 1 piece of cake and plenty of attention. She did also get to wear her pajamas to church which she proudly informed her 'other' family the Fulchers.

The newly weds had returned from their trip around Australia honeymoon. Now what are the words I'm supposed to use. Matt is a highly esteemed Corporate Lawyer, who attended Oxford. He is all that and so much more. Kirsten is one of my 3 cousins and I love her to bits. Their wedding was amazing and when the photos are in I will be blogging about that. They had Marcus Bell as their photographer & for those of you who don't know, he is now listed as one of the top 10 photographers in the world. Kirst & Matt are now back 'home' in Abu dhabi and we miss them already but not nearly as much as her mum does. Got to love Skype.

I just love having all my babies, yes I said babies even if you're 22 & married, so close to me. That is a real blessing. I must add that it is 16 more days until those mission papers go in, then 1 baby may not be so close!

My mum made the cakes, prepared the platters and did so much again in the food department and as usual making the setting so special. What makes the cooking so special is that my mum was never a baking mum. She was a single,working,just trying to keep 3 kids feed and clothed & educated kind of mum. She recently married a man that she loves very much and now has found the joy and luxury that I have always taken for granted in the kitchen. So two weeks in a row mum has excelled in providing the environment for a perfect family affair.

I had prayed and pleaded with God to take Grandma home to Him because it seemed so cruel to just linger like she was. I love my Grandmother very dearly. But God had other plans, plans that now I see so much more clearly. If she died months ago she would have left a broken family and a family full of disenfranchised grief. This opportunity of working together has given us the chance to begin to heal as a family. The time we have left with her has been so healing for us all and such a blessing. I'm so grateful to our Heavenly Father and His wisdom. I'm also so grateful for my whole family!

2011-05-12T17:10:00.000+10:00

Today I went for my routine mammogram and as I had my husband with me we sat in the men's area. Next to my husband was a man, perhaps in his early sixty's that was sent in for a what he thought would be a test and the next thing he was waiting to see the surgeon. He had arrived, on his own, as he had traveled for several hours to get to the Breast Clinic never expecting this outcome.
He seemed alone, afraid, and totally out of his depth in what one could only describe from the surroundings as 'secret woman's business'. For women in the clinic it's full of lovely smiling volunteers, guiding you through every step of the way, but this gentle man had arrived on an alien plant, and was left not sure which way to turn wishing that he had has wife with him.

He said "I thought you had to have 'man boobs' to get this sort of thing"? We didn't even know what to say to this man. I piped up and said well Tom Cruise had it. Not sure that was any consolation to him, but what do you say. Breast cancer is pink & ribbons and teddy bears, not 60 year old men. He said that this will be some story to tell at the pub.

My heart sank for him. I wanted to go back and hold his hand and sit with him during his consultation with the surgeon because bet you anything his wife does all that stuff!

It is rare but possible. I came across this article "Bearded lady who slew a cancer dragon"

For more info if your interested Breast Cancer Network Australia This is the link to male breast cancer. I have learn something new today.

I also looked around the room at all the women in their surgical gowns and I was wondering which one of us will be the 1 in 8. Who's life is going to change forever today. I lost my very best friend to breast cancer, my aunt has just return homed an hour ago after more surgery and will start chemo, radiation and will wake up tomorrow to a new normal. That's how I felt when I was diagnosed with with a life changing illness. Still I feel like the lucky one.

He Does Hear Our Prayers

2011-05-10T09:46:00.004+10:00

You know how at different times in your life you have a song that really resonates with you. Well mine is this one at the moment.

It's really the last verse of this song that has touched me the most.

"Oh what peace we often forfeit,
What needless pain we bear
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer"

I'm so full of questions about my health, homeschooling, serving my family & those at Church so as to be serving the Lord.
I've had this on my playlist for ages but the words really just caught me recently and I've felt the difference in the weight of the burden's feel so much lighter. That verse could not have been more true, as I have forfeited a lot of peace unnecessarily.

I love what President Hinckley said while reminding us of D&C 84:88. He said:
Sometimes you pray to the Lord with great earnestness for help, for relief from your struggles. You wonder why your prayers are not answered as you would like them to be. We have all had that experience. But we come to know as the years pass that our Father in Heaven does hear our prayers. His wisdom is greater than ours, and we come to know that He answers our prayers even though the answers at times are difficult to discern.

Mother's day 2011

2011-05-09T10:04:00.006+10:00

We had the most wonderful Mothers day yesterday. My Grandmother, who we really thought we had lost earlier this year is doing wonderfully. We've had to move her to a Nursing Home which caused us so much heartache. She is a very much loved Mother, Grandmother & Great grandmother. However she reached a point that made it impossible for us to manage her in her villa. The ACAT Assessment team ruled out her coming to live with us as I already have MS and wouldn't have the physical strength to manage day to day with her. Both my mother & Aunt still work (both nurses) so she was still in a hospital waiting a placement in a Nursing home. Other family's we spoke to all said they had been waiting 9-12 months plus to get a place, but only through the Lord we waited less then 9 days. We also got her into the Home of our choice. This has been such a blessing to us. Since she has been there her health has improved amazingly well even to the point that she was able to attend my cousins wedding. This was a miracle! We purchased a wheelchair and as you can see on the back it say's LOL on Board. She is very affectionately referred to as Little Old Lady or LOL for short. (no end of uses for my Silhouette machine)
Well my Grandmother turns 90 this week so another party is planned to celebrate this amazing milestone. In our family history no one has lived to this age. Her mother closest at 84 but 90 is amazing.

The other special thing about our mothers day was that my Aunt was diagnosed with Breast cancer a few days before her daughters wedding. She has had 1 round of surgery and due for more tomorrow. Following this she will start Chemo, radiation etc. We decided as a family to forgo any mothers day gifts and pool the money we would have spent to make a donation to the Jane McGrath Foundation on behalf of my Aunt. She's a crier, so needless to say she was overwhelmed as we all were with the 'specialness' of this Mother Day.

My mother, as usual put on an amazing spread. Mum always goes past the extra mile for table decoration. She had all our Great, Great Grandmothers tablecloths, flowers and wonderful food. After it was over we all wanted to head home for a nap but no my mother was off to work doing the afternoon shift. Her energy amazes me.

As for me, I have been, well coveting really, a new Canon Camera. My husband tried really hard to get the one I wanted but it was just a little out of our financial reach. This was not at all a realistic purchase in my mind anyway, so him just trying was worth more than the camera. However my Uncle, affectionately know to us as the dinosaur doctor with him being a Paleontologist, does have a new Canon 5d ii, in my mind the ultimate in camera ownership. Anyway he also had a very beautiful Canon Powershot pro 1 that he wasn't using now. And would you know he said, "look if you would like it you are more than welcome to it"!!!!!!

WOULD I LIKE IT!!!!! I LOVE IT!!! We went out to their place, and he has never been a man that does anything by halves. This thing had the lot and more in as if I just picked it up from the store myself. I know yesterday was the Sabbath, but I went straight to bed with camera manual and bag in hand. Awesome blessing once again!!

So all in all yesterday was a fantastic day. All my children, their husbands, my mother, Aunt & Uncle and my beautiful Grandmother all together for a most wonderful day. Some times you can just feel that cup running over.

Force & Motion Are Around Us

2011-04-05T07:26:00.005+10:00

We've been attending a homeschooling science class at The Patch Place on a Thursday afternoon. This great unit study has been taken from Force and Motion at edhelper.com which has a tone of great things on the site (for a fee though). It has been fantastic for the kids as they explore force and motion in action using lego, marbles and each other in a bid to nut out the principles and examine the theories.
Usually we are not computer people. If its on the web my girls aren't really that interested, however this rollercoaster designing game had us all hooked. This website has some great puzzles & brainteasers. There are loads of different puzzles and games to choose from, all requiring you to put on your thinking cap in order to achieve.

This explains the origins and idea behind the website. We have had a tone of fun on it. I think the 'we' could be me. I regularly have to call in backup in the form of my husband when I just can't get it right.

Welcome to the University of Cambridge's Brainteasers and Puzzles website.

We have created a collection of brainteasers and puzzles that we hope will give you hours of fun, stretching your thinking skills and problem-solving abilities, in the quest to reach the end. There is also one puzzle that originated from a puzzle workshop run with a group of Year 9 girls at Levenshulme High School in Manchester - can you work out which one it is!

The secret to completing these puzzles successfully depends on your ability to apply the appropriate thought processes to the various puzzles. For some puzzles you will rely on intuition - a hunch - to help you, others you will need to draw on your cognitive powers (existing knowledge), some will require logic - principles of reasoning, while others will demand you put your lateral - opposite to logic - thinking hat on, and then there are those that will require you to read and apply information.

Each and every puzzle is different, and there is an explanation for each one that will help you to get the maximum fun and value from them. So, if after two or three attempts you are getting frustrated because you seem to be going nowhere fast, you will find that all-important clue in the instructions!

The puzzles span a wide age range so we have divided them into two groups. Where there is an option for either age group, we have been advised the puzzle is suitable for the complete age range given differing levels of ability, but the text for some of the science-based ones is slightly different and aimed specifically at that age group. A small number of puzzles have one of the age selection buttons shaded out, this means that the puzzle has been developed with only one age range in mind, but that does not preclude the other age group from playing it, of course!

The puzzles also contain additional information that can be used to help extend your knowledge base and, hopefully inspire you to seek even further afield for more information.

So, thinking caps on, good luck and have fun.

Oh, and what is the difference between a brainteaser and a puzzle? That's for you to solve!

This website has been a great compliment to our science and maths studies plus best of all it's free. Have some fun with it!

I'm Missing Something Here?

2011-04-04T14:50:00.007+10:00

Well as you know we recently attended Harley the Dog's 2nd birthday party. Ok, that is a little weird for us non-dog crazy people. Yes we have a dog Wally and he lives outside, eats & sleeps outside and is never allowed in the car, house, beds or on family vacations. He's fit and healthy, eats Aldi dog food and scraps. He has doesn't see a vet as I don't immunize my children, I'm not about to immunize the dog any further then his puppy shots. He gets bathed once a fortnight (thanks honey)and lives a happy life.

Now my girls have these dog's. Caitlin & James have toddler Harley & Ash & Matt have Missy & Vader. Matt works nights or later and comes home to the spare bed because the 2 dogs have his spot. The dogs eat million dollar dog food and are always at the vet. Caitlin was my, how do I put it delicately, my challenging child. Obedience was not her strong point. She is in obedience overdrive. "I just want a dog that is super trained, or really obedient or something like that she says." Heck you should see what Harley has to do! Clearly I missed something and all I really had to do was take my kids to the local puppy preschool and I would have all my parenting dreams fulfilled.

At the local dog park you will find a whole other world. A trip to walk your dog is actually more competitive than attending the same school as the Beckham's. Your 'parenting' skills are laid bare when your dog does not come immediately on command. Your dog must be pampered, preened and if any physiological issues are apparent your dog MUST see a therapist. No animal instincts are to be displayed in the dog park. No growling, barking, rough play with the other 'kids' will be tolerated.

I knew things were changing in the world when all the Baby Barns are now replaced with Pet Barns. We have more mega pet stores in our area than hardware's. All those warehouses have been bought out by pet stores. Is everyone just having 'animals' now. If I had to buy a pram I wouldn't know where to find a baby store. I have to drive miles for an educational store and its' tucked in the back of an industrial area.

Today while looking at some cool cupcake ideas I saw a previous post on "Puppy-cake Suckers" for dogs. I then read a little further and this is what Elisabeth said in the comments

Elizabeth said...

...and since I am perfectly normal too...these would have been great wedding treats for the dog wedding we attended a couple of summers ago for Dufus (the groom: german shepard) and Lilly (the bride: great dane). My dog, Max was the ring bearer (boston terrior)...they all dressed up in costumes. The bride & groom's owners I think just wanted an excuse to have a summer bbq. It was fun though... ;) {p.s. I'm making these for Max!}

Well I just don't know when a dog stopped being A DOG? If you will excuse me I'm going to finish the winter coats for Missy & Vader. Don't want them to catch a cold. I wonder if the snakes need a snuggly too?

Disclaimer~ Girls these opinions are my own & I do love your 'little ones'. No animals were harmed in the making of this post.

Film about Joseph Smith Now Available Online

2011-04-04T08:28:00.002+10:00

A new film is available free online. You can watch it here or go to mormon channel to download a copy.

The film will also help people better understand Latter-day Saint belief in modern prophets, the purpose of temples, and the eternal nature of family relationships. There is also additional context around historical events such as the First Vision — when God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith when he was 14 years old.

“Our hope is that people who aren’t familiar with the story will come away with an increased understanding of the role Joseph Smith played in restoring the Church of Jesus Christ,” John Garbett, who produced the new movie, said.

Harley The Dog's Birthday

2011-03-24T09:47:00.003+10:00

Our newly weds Cait & James have adopted a dog from animal rescue. Harley is 'visually impaired' but very cute. Yesterday he turned 2. Now I'm not a warm and fuzzy animal lover but both my older girls are. They refer to them as the 'kids' and I am grandma. Next week they are having portrait photos taken of these dogs. Ummmm, well each to their own and if that makes you happy girls I'm happy.
Well yesterday I whipped up a coat for Harley's birthday and have to say I'm not sure why they cost so much in the shop. It took less than an hour and i used old fabric. I had bought the woolly stuff during a sale a few weeks ago so this jacket would cost less then $2.

Well Caitlin was happy and James just sat there scratching his head going along with the whole birthday thing. Trying not to show Harley his presents in the bag because even though Harley had seen his new collar, he didn't know mummy had bought it. I would say she needs more medication but the dog park is full of people saying the same sort of thing???

Anyway Happy birthday Harley! We sure enjoyed having dinner at your place last night. Back to the sewing machine for me as I am making a few more for the staffies Missy & Vader.

Attention All Children Book Lovers!

2011-03-24T09:12:00.004+10:00

I was having a look through one of my favorite blogs MADE and they had a link over to this blog No Big Dill who's theme this month is Once Upon A Thread. You will just die when you see what these women do with books. Amazing!! I absolutely don't have the energy for such things, but I sure loved looking at it all.
They make kids clothing all inspired by childrens books. It really is incredible. I'm not sure if its the clothing I love or just looking at the beautiful books. Women are just so amazing aren't they! Take a minute to have a look.

Recreating The 'Up' Movie

2011-03-09T07:46:00.002+10:00

We came across this yesterday on our local newspaper website. The kids loved it and it sure looked like fun. I'm not sure I would have actually hopped in it , but each to their own.

Checkout This Give Away I Found!

2011-03-09T07:29:00.004+10:00

Over a MADE they're having a book giveaway. Have you ever seen felt like this! I think I will just have to get a copy of this book anyway because my kids would love this stuff.

The competition ends on the 10th so get a wriggle on. If you don't win one of the books you might win this seriously gorgeous office set.

I See Sam Review

2011-03-01T07:13:00.015+10:00

When this huge box arrived in the mail the kids and I were very excited. Fast forward a few months and that excitement is still in the air. Maddie (8) has struggled finding her feet with reading, but the I See Sam Reader System has delivered. This program has done what many other approaches I have tried couldn't do. Maddie can read!

When she made it through the first level and received her certificate, I couldn't even tell you how excited she was. We're still on level 3, but Maddie is reading much more fluently and has really had fantastic success.
So what is I See Sam. Their catch phrase is "Academic Success For All", now I thought that was a pretty bold statement but now I can see that it's actually right on the money.

The Reading for All Learners “Little Books” program is a sequence of 141 color coded books. There are 8 sets of books from Kindergarten to 3.6 reading level. Each set contains up to 27 books.

We received the first 4 sets with corresponding coloured flash cards. We followed the program as specified by the instruction manual though I didn't do the placement test as I wanted to start from scratch with it.

Inside the front cover of the each book you find the pronunciation guide, sound practice & new sounds that you will find in the book. The thing that I liked the most was how it maximized the repetition but not at the expense of the story line. When I say story line I mean it in the most simplistic way you can for a beginner reader program. You also find word practice & new words that will b e need to read fluently.

Throughout the book you find comprehension & praise prompts in small print for the parent or teacher to ask questions about the ongoing storyline to ensure the kids are getting the story. The program covers so many critical bases but delivers it in a very user friendly package.

The assessment tools are optional. Because I 'm only working with Lucy & Maddie, I didn't go all out with that side. I had a good idea how they were progressing myself but the tools included are great. You give the students the corresponding "looking back' pages on the bottom of the page it tells you how many mistakes are allowed in order to have passed.

Click here for a close look at the book. It's simplistic and the books are not glossy and elaborate which to me contributed to the value for money product. Maddie was always distracted by busy illustrations or when Jessica was at this stage , she would heavily rely on the picture's for clues which I know has it's place, but this is simplistic fun story about the adventures of Sam, Mit, Ann and the gang. The story teaches new words in each book but brings all the old ones along with it which for Maddie worked magically to absolutely cement them into her word base.

For grammar we use First Language Lesson's of the Well Trained Mind. We were able to use the two programs side by side as we explored why Sam begins with a capital letter. Once Maddie was familiar with the book she could then break down the common nouns, proper nouns. Even the flash cards for a particular book may have see & See. We would talk about why the same word would begin with a capital letter. So the The Reading for All Learners Program could lend itself perfectly to extension activities.

Over all I would have to give this product a huge thumbs up. It's value for money and I found an overall great product. Click here to look at the prices for yourself. Now that I'm at the end of the review period for this product and love it, I'm going to purchase the spelling program. I'm also tempted to add the Math Facts and Applications For All Learners to it as well, just as a companion to the program I'm using now.

Each product has downloadable materials for you to wander through yourself. Well worth the look I think

Before you go, checkout who else loves Read to Success and by purchasing one of the gift sets for yourself you help put educational opportunities into the hands of these little people.

What It Looks Like Inside a Cyclone!

2011-02-02T15:56:00.002+10:00

VIDEO: Inside a cyclone

Really rather incredible really. My mother is a Psychiatric nurse and they have just landed a Hercules plane with mental health patients as well. Busy time at her hospital this week.

Be Brilliant at the Basic's

2011-02-02T14:03:00.004+10:00

I finished my tile with our ward theme on it. Our Ward theme for the next few months is 'Be Brilliant at the Basic's.' The theme is taken from a talk given by Relief Society President Julie B. Beck at an Institutes of Religion Satellite Broadcast, August 4, 2009 titled Teaching the Doctrine of the Family. I have included a snippet for you. Sister Beck always hits the spot I think.

Live the Hope of Eternal Life

Next, I would have you live in your homes, in
your families, in your marriages so your
students have the hope of eternal life from
watching you. Your objective is to live the kind
of a home life that your students want to have
—have that kind of a family. They won’t get
that message from many other places. Live it
and teach it with so much clarity that what you
teach will cut through all the noise they are
hearing and pierce their hearts and touch them.
You don’t need to compete in volume; you
don’t need to compete in the number of words;
you just need to be very clear in your examples.
You are the ideal for them.

Live in your home so that you’re brilliant in the
basics, so that you’re intentional about your
roles and responsibilities in the family. You
think in terms of precision, not perfection.
(Perfection is difficult to obtain in this life, but
live your family life with precision.) If you have
your goals and you’re precise in how you go
about them in your homes, your students will
learn from you. They learn that you pray, you
study the scriptures together, you have family
home evening together, you make a priority of
mealtimes and teach your family during those
times. You are constantly teaching your families
the same things that you’re teaching your
students. You speak respectfully of your
marriage partners. Then from your example the
rising generation will gain great hope and will
understand—not just from the words you teach,
but from the way you feel and emanate the
spirit of family.

Don't Panic if Your Roof Blows OFF!!

2011-02-02T13:06:00.004+10:00

That was some advice from the authorities as North Queensland battens down for a category 5 cyclone. Not sure I would take that one under my belt, but hey, some might.
We are from Cairns and have done more than one cyclone, actually more than 10, but this one is frightening.

We have done a fresh food shop today and are expecting rain but that's about all in Brisbane. I think we're all a little storm weary at the moment.

Our prayers are with all those up there facing this monster. Rain & wind here and snow over in the USA. My kids all have seen the value of homestorage and 72 hour packs. They all ways rolled their eyes before, but now everyone wants to know where theirs is.

Week 1 : Term 1

2011-01-30T18:48:00.018+10:00

Well we are off to a flying start as the new school year begins. This term we've decided to do 4 unit studies in 2 week intervals. The first one is The Body.
We'll be using the lesson plan from Homeschool Share.
Why reinvent the wheel when it's all been done for you. This unit study is fantastic and totally age appropriate for the girl. We started looking at this one during the holidays and are all keen to get into it. By the end of the 2 weeks I figure I 'll have a pretty good DNA profile of the kids if nothing else. By the time we've finger printed them, pulled out a few strands of hair and taken height & weight measurements,looked at blood under the microscope, we'll have a great record.

The theme behind it is from the LDS Children's songbook #153 -The Lord Gave Me a Temple. I will be including stories from the LDS Friend magazine to tie it all together. With a 10 year old that is as girly , girly as they come it's important to tie this unit study together with, virtue, modesty, and what the Lord has to say in regard to our bodies. How it is a temple.

On to the other side of it.The girls love the Blood & Guts book that's the recommend text for this unit study. Linda Allison has done a great job of presenting all the facts in a fun, not so clinical way which appeals to Maddie who has a sensitive tummy for anything along this line. This is the same child who can't stand to see meat or chicken cut up.

We're still using Maths U See but I am adding
a few activities from Mammoth Maths.
Maddie can't understand the man in the Math U See video clips, she doesn't learn that way, so I just show her myself. Using the manipulatives does work well for us over all and the pace of Math U See is perfect for us.

At the moment we are still in the process of reviewing I See Sam readers. Something that we are really enjoying. My girls aren't into the computer, but holding a book in their hand is just their pace. I'm looking forward to writing a review for that one.

My favorite homeschool curriculum has to be anything produced by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. We love The Story of the World as our history curriculum. I supplement it with lapbooks if the subject really catches their imagination.

We also use First Language Lessons book 1 & 2 for our grammar. It has been rewritten into individual levels now with workbooks to go with it. I love the new download method available on Peace Hill Press website. I'm going to download the audio that goes with the level 1 & 2. My girls love audio. They perch themselves on a beanbag and can spend hours listening to stories. Of course a lot of our audio's come from Homeschool freebie of the Day . I love this site and we have accumulated a fantastic little library of audio and classic books that we otherwise would not have been able to access.

So we're excited to be setting off on another year of homeschooling. It is a fantastic journey.

QLD Flood Appeal Auction

2011-01-17T12:09:00.002+10:00

You can see a master list here on make it perfect of all the handmade dolls, toys,quilts and so much more. 100% of the funds raised will be going to the Flood relief Effort.

We had to venture the city yesterday as my 90 year old Grandma was isolated at the hospital on the Brisbane River. We had been unable to see her in a week as that suburb was very hard hit. Apart from the stench, the lost and devastation is really rather terrible. Our Stake President said it was far worse in real life than it is on the TV. After seeing it for myself I would have to agree with that.

So this is a fantastic effort in those who have contributed and those who are bidding on the items. So much on offer I hope to have a look at all that is on offer.

We have decided to take the girls away for a few days. Get away from the constant flow of tragic news. The fear of the floods and panic that followed was bad enough. Now they are putting faces to the tragedy and that is more than our girls can bear. The lost babies on the news and front pages of the newspaper. Everyone is talking about it and understandably so. We are taking them to one of the few places that haven't been affected. When we looked on the map it was hard to find somewhere that wasn't. So Hastings Point in New South Wales is the destination. then back to reality Thursday & Friday when we'll be joining the Church's volunteer group to continue in the clean-up operation of the city.

So have some fun & checkout the list of fantastic items up for auction.

Homemade Chapstick

2011-01-14T08:36:00.006+10:00

This my favorite recipe for chapstick and is so easy to make.

Homemade Chapstick recipe

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
2 Tablespoons Shea Butter
2 Tablespoons Beeswax

Melt the beeswax then add the other ingredients until all melted. Using a large syringe or turkey baster, squirt the melted liquid into each tube. Leave a little at the end for topping up because they tend to settle a little while cooling.

When we made it today we filled 22 tubes with the above recipe. LOVE IT!!

You need a couple of dozen chapstick tubes or containers of some variety. I bought these chapstick tubes from ebay for $15.99 with free postage for 50 tubes in those funky colours.

It feels so nice on your lips!

Reusable Sandwich Wraps

2011-01-14T08:32:00.002+10:00

Well for us here in Australia it's that time of year 'Back to School Shopping'. Yes we are fast approaching the start of a new school year and while we may not all technically be going 'back to school', we are starting a new round of extra curricular activities and excursions.

Now my latest project is making these 'reusable sandwich wraps'. I used this tutorial which also included a template. I didn't use laminated fabric because I'm sure about the plastic and whether it is food grade. I sniped open Glad ziploc bags as the plastic is foodgrade and stronger in quality.

What Do You Need

* fabric of your choice

* ziploc bags

* Velcro

* your preferred method of sewing. I used my overlocker for this project & my machine to attach the velcro.

Once they have been used you just wipe them out & if they get too messy I will just drop them in a bucket of napisan to soak & then drip dry. Easy & our use of plastic bags is now reduced.

Let It Rain, Let It Rain, Let It Rain!!!

2011-01-12T19:36:00.006+10:00

Well after 6 weeks of rain, over 75% of our state of Queensland is under water. We have seen some of the most horrific footage and watched it unfold in towns near us. Our city is going under as we speak and my husband has headed to the city to take a gas bbq & crank radio & tv to a unit full of older single women who have no power and will not be getting any, any time soon. It did just start to rain again which is not good news. It has just been so tragic as we watch wives looking for their husbands (plural) in the mud and debris that was once their homes.
While we are not affect in our suburb it is really difficult so sit at home and wait. Daniel (son) has been helping members of our ward move today and went through the city and took these photos.

These photo's are of our State Library, Museum & Performing Arts theater. As you can see Wicked is on and has been canceled for now. (lead actress is a Latter-day saint as well)

The Brisbane Temple is high on the hill at Kangaroo Point and over looks the Brisbane River but if you drive a 100 meters down this main expressway, you look up and see Angel Moroni on your left.

This is where our oldest daughter Ashleigh works. Aptly named the Riverside Center. They were evacuated from their offices yesterday and won't be heading back for a little while.

I'm so glad that we are also totally into our homestorage and have more than enough supplies to get us through. We didn't have to go to the store in a panic thankfully. We went to get chips & a few odds and ends yesterday and people were really panicked. The shelves where empty of almost everything in the form of convenience foods. Chicken & Chips!! When we lived in cyclone prone territory in far north Queensland , people always rushed to the shops and bought hot chickens & potato crisps. Always made me laugh. They have no idea how to bake a loaf of bread from scratch. I'm sure glad I do in times like this.

Breaking news for my son. EFY, scheduled for next week has just been canceled. The University was going under today, but he just got word that it has been canceled. He is so disappointed. He did get to attend YSA Conference in Sydney last week. Great to be 18!

Well I am off to bed. We have been told to prepare for the worst when we wake up in the morning as the river will peak at 4am. It's hard to believe that there could be worse than what we have already had this week.

13th Article of Faith Subway Art

2011-01-09T14:50:00.004+10:00

Well this is my first project on my Silhouette Machine. I was one very lucky mum at Christmas time this year and was blessed to have one arrive in the mail! I just did this one a a $2 canvas because I didn't want to, well, wreck anything on my first go at it. I loved all the Subway art that was done for Christmas on all those blogs out there. However I wanted something 'unseasonal' and the 13th Article of Faith came to mind. Now I'm off to make one focusing on our Ward goal for the next four months which is focused on remarks given by Sister Beck at a CES Training Broadcast which is "Live so that you are brilliant at the basics". Family & personal prayer is this months goal followed by scripture study, Sacrament attendance & Temple attendance.

Well I'm sure I can turn that into a tile or something. I will show you when I 'm finished.

Maths Facts Now

2011-01-06T15:17:00.003+10:00

Maths facts Now 2.0 is a fantastic drill program that is used to reinforce those essential maths facts.

We have been trialling this over the Christmas break with a great deal of success. I love the simplicity of the program. Once you (teacher/parent) set the program in motion during the initial process, it regulates the strengths and weakness of the student and sets the program accordingly.

If the student makes a mistake on a problem, Maths facts Now will take them back over that problem several times with a little warning 'be careful' just to remind them not to be tricked again.

I'm not good with things that have timers. My girls are not competitive by nature and find that hard, but the beauty of this program is that you can set the 'times up' timer to your own request. I did want it longer but they do limit you with that.

Price

Math Facts NOW! 2.0 IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD costs $15.95 NO S/H!

Math Facts NOW! 2.0 on CD-ROM costs $15.95 + $3.95 S/H

System Requirements: Runs on Windows 2000, ME, XP, Vista and Windows 7. 4.5 Mb of free hard drive space required.

For a free trial of this program click here

What We Think

While maths isn't one of my girls favorite subjects, this one works really well for drill practice with purpose. I like that there is no blurry lines to distinguish between as far as 'games' are concerned. No animation. No playgrounds to venture into when you have done your facts. Just straight out maths facts in a clear, easy to follow method of delivery. For $15.95 its not a big out of pocket expense for a fantastic program.

Read the Bible In 90 Days

2011-01-03T19:57:00.003+10:00

Today I began my 90 day 'challenge', to read the bible in 90 days. I will call it a challenge because I have to be honest I'm not very disciplined with this aspect of my life. However this morning I was up early and read my first assigned target for the day. 1 down only 89 more days to go!

The part that really grabbed me about this challenge was S.O.A.P. I have been involved with many scripture reading goals over the years and always participated well, and felt the blessing in my life. But this aspect of the challenge, while not necessarily new, has a fresh approached with the simplicity of the idea but the value of the personal lesson's you can learn from them when guided by the spirit certainly add value to the challenge. Click on the S.O.A.P link above to read what Amy from mom's toolbox blog has to say about it. This is also the jump off point for this challenge so if you think you might like to join it pop over to that fabulous blog to check it out.

As for me day 2 is almost here and I'm excited about being a part of this. Hope you can join us as well.

"Dining with Joy " by Rachel Hauck:

2010-12-17T07:08:00.003+10:00

Dining With Joy is a lighthearted look at the world of reality television and how the saying comes true: "oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." Joy has a reality tv show where she is the celebrity cook, with one major hitch: she can't actually cook. She took over the show from her father as a deathbed request from him and a clever producer helped her to do this, however, when the producer sells the show without her consultation, Joy is suddenly thrust into a whole new level of deception to maintain her ruse. Enter Luke, the romantic interest, a talented chef whose own restaurant business failure has led him to the small town where Joy works. Both find themselves at a crossroads, and begin to rely more on each other to grow and learn the meaning of love and loss and how to cook a great fried chicken. I enjoyed the book from the food perspective, being a foodie myself, and the G-rated romantic writing was a refreshing change. It was a quick read and the sort of book to grab when looking for some light relief.

Disclaimer~Review written by guest blogger Lucy R. Lucy R. received a complementary copy of this book through Booksneeze for the purpose of the review and all opinions expressed are her own.

ALEKS review

2010-12-08T07:44:00.004+10:00

Once again the TOS Crew have had the opportunity to review another great web based program. ALEKS is an online mathematics assessment and learning program that tailors itself to the individual needs of your child.

Once you have signed up and logged the necessary individual user names and passwords your child is presented with a series of maths problems to solve. These problems are spread across many facets of mathematics and the student either answers the question or simple clicks 'have not done that'. At the end the student is then given a tailor made program that works on both their strengths and weaknesses. You can click on the previous link to take a tour of the course content available to you.
The results are displayed in a colored-keyed pie chart which is easy to understand and plots out the course that the student will then follow.

They specifically cater for the homeschooler and seem to have a great program tailored to that market. However they don't cater for countries outside the US. For us here in Australia there was no way for us to do the money section as the entire unit is US dollars which we have no concept of nor any interest at this stage of learning. My kids love the money maths so that was a disappointment. We also had to leave the 'measuring' maths. We use metric here in Australia and that was not available to us as a specific unit, so that was another important unit that was void for us. it would be great to see them add that translation to their curriculum at some stage.

The ALEKS team were fantastic. They answered all your questions almost immediately and even questions that you didn't know you had. There customer service was like I have never experienced with this sort of program before. Nothing was to much trouble for them. That point alone was a major selling point for me. A lot of these sort of programs offer customer service but never quite deliver. Aleks on the other hand were fantastic.

They give you the opportunity of a free trial which I would recommenced if you were looking for an online maths course for your family. My children did find it a little 'dry' for them but they aren't really ready for this sort of independent learning. Click here for the videos and 'tour' of the ALEKS program.

Disclaimer~ I received a trial of ALEKS to review and the opinion expressed is my own

KB Teachers Review

2010-11-20T17:29:00.007+10:00

KB Teachers is an online worksheet generating website that is a valuable resource for both teachers (homeschooling or other) and parents wanting to extend what their child is learning.

This is what KB Teachers has to offer:

* One click worksheet generators and alphabet factory
* Create an unlimited number of engaging printable activities - For all ages and grade levels
* No watermarks and unlimited access
* Exclusive graphics and clipart - Decorate your websites, Blogs, activity sheets etc...
* Diverse educational resources - From simple ABC worksheets, to 20 pages exams
* Intuitive activities online or off - At home, at school or in study hall
* Free 24/7 Support - If we don't have it, we'll create it - or help you find it
* Answer Keys - Proofed and checked quality materials you can trust
* Updated regularly - New features and member created content added every week
* Nothing to download, instant access - From any internet connection

KB Teachers changes regularly with emails coming in to tell you about new worksheets and activities available on the website. This is an added benefit to keep your activities fresh and for $29 for 12 months that great value.

Topics Covered:

For This Season
English Language
Maths Activities
Science Workbooks
Biology Worksheets
Social Studies
More Activities

All these topic heading have a variety of subheadings for you to explore. However explore you must. There is no search box for you to quickly explore what they have available, which makes it very time consuming having to click in and out of every heading in a bid to find what you are looking for.

Is It For Me?

Well perhaps not. It is heavily American based which is fantastic if you live there. Money, season's (I know we have the same seasons but opposite) it just means that you can't take advantage of the new things that are added regularly because in the time we have had the subscription not much of it has been relevant to us in Australia. We have used the maths worksheets a lot though and lots of the worksheets for Lucy who is 5.
the other really disappointing part for me was the lack of Language arts worksheets. Things like er, ir, ing, phonics/blends etc worksheets. That is the sort of things I could really use more of. If there was any of that included then this site would be a winner for me.

They have a lot of free worksheets for you to look around and print for yourself so have a look and see what you think.

Disclaimer~ I received a complimentary subscription to KB Teachers in order to provide this review and all opinions expressed are my own.

I Thought of You Tristan

2010-11-18T15:19:00.004+10:00

This was sent to me today by my oldest daughter. As a mother of 6 I so get it!

An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard.

I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head. He then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.

The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?'

This is funny

2010-11-12T18:43:00.002+10:00

A Welcomed Blessing

2010-11-11T18:44:00.006+10:00

Last week parents of our dear friends gave us a dishwasher. We have always had plenty of hands to do the dishes but you know those warm & fuzzy stories of family bonding happening while the children are washing the dishes together. Well that's not us!!! My kids are not big fighters and all have a fantastic relationship, but you add dishes and its like they are taken over by this craziness. Caitlin always took control of the situation and was like a walking chore chart plus whip cracker. No getting out of anything while she was here but having moved into her new marital nest I am the mother again. I know what you are thinking but if you had someone who did a better job at that then you, trust me you would let them go too. She is GOOD!
But enter into our lives a beautiful, hardly even been used, stainless steel and more flash that we could ever afford Blanco dishwasher. What a blessing and I mean a blessing!!

Mind you when we told Caitlin that we were finally getting a dishwasher she said WHAT!! Now that I'm gone!! I told her how wonderful it will be when they come for dinner & lunch & breakfast (she has only been gone less than 2 weeks and we've had them here regularly I love it). That did calm her down and they are all now having lovely visions of Christmas at home using real plates not disposable for once.

Now our kitchen wasn't built for a dishwasher, in fact it wasn't built for much so my husband has had, well, a fun time shall we say. But he is so clever. He has totally done this amazing job putting a dishwasher where one should never go. I have new plumbing, power points (thanks Dan my electrician son)and remodeled this badly built kitchen cupboard system to fit it in. I would take a photo but, oh my goodness, it is a mess with tools and stuff everywhere. I love him. he has literally done the impossible for me. He doesn't like me working harder than I have to and he did this so I would have one less thing to do.

Thank you Lucy's mum & dad. Is there a Patron Saint for this? They're amazing Catholics and we are Mormons but I do love learning about who is the saint for what. Our first experience with Michael and Saint Anthony was a funny story but that is another day. And my wonderful husband for installing the impossible. I'm ready to cook up a storm now!

PS..

2010-11-08T19:25:00.002+10:00

The quote came from this great blog Sprik Space that a series call "just because". The quotes are all downloadable for free and are so gorgeous. Check them out!

I Love Quotes

2010-11-08T19:06:00.002+10:00

Today was a perfect homeschooling day. Maddie got through her workbox's today without one complaint, argument, or self inflicted distraction. She recited a poem that we had been working on for ages without even batting an eyelid and gave me all the definitions of nouns with examples! She then whipped through her reader like she had not a problem in the world. That was a miracle day. I was beginning to loose hope and feeling like I was failing and perhaps we need to look at alternatives for next year. Then today happened. My faith in myself as a homeschooling mum has been restored. I'm not sure tomorrow will be the same but that's perfectly fine. I think even Maddie's faith in herself has been restored as well. It's hard when your baby sister is looking over your shoulder and reads out the words before you have sounded them out. But today she was so proud of herself at the end of the day. I was proud of her.

She is getting Baptised on Sunday and is so excited. It was her birthday back in September but with the wedding, a sister traveling overseas and a brother that just received the Priesthood (so he will not only baptize her but will be able to assist with the confirmation). Her dress is made and the food list is ready and in 6 more sleeps she will finally have her day.

I love my Maddie.

Questions Doctors Ask?

2010-11-06T13:11:00.003+10:00

Wednesday I went to see a new doctor. He is just another one on my long list of expensive specialist that I see. Now this was my first visit with him so I went prepared because at $420 and this is a man with a year waiting list , even as a private patient I wanted to waste no time at all. Well did I get value for money?

After the initial chit chat we got down to business so to speak. He review my file and all associated letters from other specialist. Then he began asking his questions.

1. Have you seen a psychiatrist incase it's in your head. I informed him that it is indeed in my head. My brain in fact. Strokes, limited vision, significant lose of brain function, speech & comprehension. Oh yes he said, it's not psychosomatic then is it?

2. Could someone in your family be poisoning you? How's your marriage? What is your relationship like with your husband? Well I almost fell off my chair but for fearing of doing further brain damage and not sure that this man would be able to render the appropriate first aid I held on tight.

If I didn't need a shrink before this consultation I sure did after it! What sort of questions are those. This man did honors in medical school in Australia as well. We do offer a lot of online courses these days though?

In the end he said he would like to do a $500 blood test so come to the hospital on Friday and I will do it there. Following that I will see you in 2 weeks. My husband was in the waiting room with the girls and asked how it went. i deflected the question some what as i thought it may be better to be out of the hospital before I told him how the consultation went. HE SAID WHAT!!!! My husband is a good man and always see's the good in others but even he struggled with this one.

My mother rang later to see how I got on. Now this women has worked as a mental health nurse for 27 years and knows crazy when she see's it. So I told her and you know what she said. oh yes I have a patient in at the moment that has just been moved from the prison to our ward (criminally insane) and she was doing that. Happens a lot you know! WHAT!!!!

I think I will live in my own little world a little longer.

Collectorz ~ Book Collector

2010-11-06T12:17:00.003+10:00

Catalog your book collection by ISBN.
Automatic book details and cover art.
Just enter ISBNs or scan ISBN barcodes.

This is a really cool way to keep your home book library under control. Book Collectorz is so easy to use. Once you download the software you just start right away cataloging the books that you have on your shelf.

All you have to do is locate the ISBN number which is usually located on the first few pages. Click add to collection and the program does the rest. It gives you a picture of the cover and details of the book. If it's an old book, pre ISBN than there's an option for you there as well.

Check out the website and watch the short video clip on the page to get a better understanding of exactly how Collectorz works.

Now while the software is easy and at $29.95 for the standard edition or $49.95 for the Pro edition it's not overly expensive. The one catch is that a little pixie doesn't pop out of your screen and do the 'cataloging' for you. I gave this a go but am still slowly chipping away at the data entry side of the program so have yet to see exactly how this will benefit me in the long run.

The other bit for me is that I don't really have that much of a care factor about what books I have on my shelf. I know the books in the homeschooling room are for the kids. The books in my room are teacher resources. The books in my room downstairs are church & craft books and the books on the shelf near my husbands workshop are his Teaching, Business, University books & Car Manuals. So I just think I need a book about the human body today. Yes, after using my eyes Ah Ha there it is!!!

So if your that way inclined and just love to keep track of all your possessions, books, movies,games, comics etc than I would say a big yes to this program. You can even sample it for free over on the website

Disclaimer~ I received a copy of Collectorz Books software free to review. This is my honest opinion only.

Skydiving Adventure

2010-10-27T20:07:00.005+10:00

My son turned 18 a few weeks ago but due to excessive rain and wind here in Brisbane we have had to postpone the skydiving adventure. But this Saturday was an absolutely perfect day. The sun was shining and just a gentle breeze for those of us on the ground. But for my husband, son and oldest daughter it was 220km/hr rushing free fall. They jumped at 14000ft (that seems like a lot of 000's) from a tiny plane that only has enough room for you to squeeze into like sardines.

It is so not for me. My husband asked if I wanted to jump??? I'm not sure he meant it. For me it would be a matter of choose your death. Heart rate increases and you have another stroke. Heart rate increases and just goes into arrest. Should I make it through the free fall and land, the impact causes my spine to just give up and I am sitting on the beach like a jelly fish. So no, jumping out of a plane was not on my bucket list. Making my first quilt, now that's a thrill.

The pre-jump training took a whole 5 seconds. 1. hands on the front straps. They make them do that so they don't grab anything in a panic as they exit the plane. That freaked me a little. 2. lean back 3. kick your leg up backwards. Right lets go jump out of a plane. At this point I realized that my husbands insurance policies are now null in-void for the next hour or so. Now that made my heart rate rise right there.

Ashleigh has just returned from a trip around Europe and I will be watching her leap from a plane. I was more nervous for her here then being in Germany for the Oktoberfest. Oh, well maybe not.

Well the person Dan was strapped to was like one of those crazy people. He gave Dan the ride of his life flipping the parachute around and around. It was crazy!!! Husband landed first which I was very pleased about. Dan was next down and totally loved it. Only 7 months until he puts his Mission papers in. No time for a next time I say. Ashleigh was last and said it's freezing up there. Next time she will wear a jumper. NEXT TIME I said!! What next time!!! oh yes for $2500 you to can hurl yourself out of a plane at least 10 times and half of them solo!! today she email through a link to the 'next time'.

It really was so much fun to watch them but I really hope that they don't do it again. Happy 18th Dan.

Wishing Star

2010-10-27T19:53:00.003+10:00

Tonight Lucy and I were at the clothsline when she spotted the wishing star. She made her wish of going to the beach and the park tomorrow.Her two most favorite places apart from my bed. She then told me to make my wish.
I said " I wish Lucy would use the toilet and not nappies".
"No she said, that's not a wish, you have to wish for the beach or something. That's not a real wish!"

I am desperate to get her over her toilet phobia. It seems like are real wish to me?

Soli Deo Gloria Resources ~ Map Skills Unity Study

2010-10-16T14:56:00.003+10:00

Soli Deo Gloria Resources has a variety of unit studies available for homeschooling families. We had the opportunity to review Map Skills which is geared for the K-3 grade. It has heaps of hands on activities, games and fun ways to create maps and learn about the basics of geography.

They give you a guide to follow that is set out over 2 weeks. Of course as true homeschooling mums we like to 'tweak' these sort of things to suit ourselves.

The girls have covered this introductory subject before but it was something worth reviewing using this product and for $14.00 you can cover all you need with the little ones.

Click here for a sample.

Soli Deo Gloria Resources have a variety of Christ center learning studies available on their website if you're looking for something in that area go to the site and have skip through for yourself.

Kids Say The Cutess Thing.

2010-10-14T06:48:00.004+10:00

I received a text lastnight from my friend who has two of the most gorgeous boys you could ever imagine. Little angler is 3 and is a real boy. Had to show off his new boy haircut to us yesterday with a look of shear pride.

Well this is how the text went!

We're all sitting around having dinner. Little angler says " a lady danced with me today at a dance-a-long". His dad says "wow that's good. Did you ask her or did she ask you to dance?" Little angler say's "no she asked me". His father says "way to go mate, that's the way!"

Silence for a few seconds.

Then Little Angler says proudly "I was wearing high heals."

Well Mum & Dad if worse comes to worse we can take these with us on the next fishing trip. Might not want to wear them in the inflatable boat perhaps.

Talking Fingers Review

2010-10-12T10:26:00.007+10:00

This is by far the our favorite review of the year. Talking Fingers is a Read, Write & Type online program. This program is phonics based, that encourages the kids to say, read & type the words/sounds as they learn.

It really is a fantastic program. Maddie struggles with all things 'phonic' but this program seem to just break through that barrier she had, and resonated with her in such a way that she actually got the hang of the sounds as well as the typing skills.

The key element for Maddie was that there was no timer. No count down clock that she had to race against. It just waited for her to say the word or wiggle her fingers around without feeling the pressure of a clock ticking in a corner ready to explode if she couldn't do it in their time frame. Maddie is not competitive at all so programs with that element added lose her every time. Having said that, the certificates that you can print out at the end of each level did appeal to her. She has them proudly displayed in our lounge room. A homeschool kid has got to do what she has to because it's hard to get a certificate from mum. Just doesn't have the same appeal? Anyway she was pretty chuffed at getting one when she made it to the end of each level.

Also it's not a 'busy' screen. If your child has trouble concentrating then this is a program for them. While the animation is very inviting it doesn't have things going on all over the place. The 'virus' that is one of the main characters is a pleasant little green blob and the instructions are given by 2 little 'hands'. We are not a gaming family. We don't own a wii or PlayStation or PSP, so as far as animation is concerned it's perfect for us. I look at my fingers when I type (two finger typist) but this has them looking at the screen where they should and not at their fingers.

click here for a a free demo of the first 8 lessons. I know 8 lessons free to try before you buy. Read here if you want to know more about the company and how they began, or watch the video below and see how it not only can benefit those who like us who are trying to master English as our first language, but how this program can help ESL students as well.

How to purchase this for yourself.

This product is affordable. All subscriptions are valid for 5 years which as you can see from the price list below that is amazing value for the home user.

Read, Write & Type Product Price

Read, Write & Type - Online Edition - 1 user $35.00
Read, Write & Type - Online Edition - 2 users $55.00
Read, Write & Type - Online Edition - 3 users $70.00
Read, Write & Type - Online Edition - 4 users $85.00
Read, Write & Type - Online Edition - 5 users $100.00

Home CD Products

Product Price

Read, Write & Type - CD Home Edition $79.00
Read, Write & Type - CD International Edition(2 program CDs only) $39.00

Talking Fingers HOT NEWS FLASH!!
Want to save 20% off your next order?

Join their mailing list and answer a couple of questions to receive a 20% discount on your order. Your information will NOT be sold to outside parties. We will use it only to send you product updates and an occasional newsletter about our work.

Hop on over to the website to order and see the other programs they have available for you. Like us I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the program.

disclaimer~ I received a complimentary subscription to Talking Fingers and this is my honest opinion about this product.

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

2010-10-12T06:25:00.005+10:00

It has been raining non stop here in Brisbane. 201mm fell in just 24 hours in our suburb. We've been on the tight water restrictions for a long while , so strict at one point they had patrols roaming the street to make sure no one was using the water incorrectly. We have an over zealous State Government, but that is a whole other subject?

Needless to say my children see failing rain as an immediate cue to race outside and find the biggest possible mud puddle. Today it was the veggie garden. Fortunate we haven't planted anything in it as yet.

I expected the kids to wake up this morning at least half a metre taller due to the compost rich soil that they 'swam' in. My bathroom was totally trashed by the time they made their way up the stairs , through the back door and made mud prints all the way to the bathroom. Lucy still had it in her ears last night.

This is our favorite park before and after the flooding. Next stop is Wivenhoe Dam as they've opened the flood gates and that is always a fantastic sight.

STOP THE PRESS !!!

2010-10-11T10:11:00.006+10:00

I have a craft room, homeschooling resource room or just what ever I like room. Can you believe it. Grown-up Lucy you must rush down and see under our house. It's so tidy it echo's!! Caitlin , married to soldier and still had to live with us until they got a Defense Force House HAS MOVED OUT!! Oh wait let me shed a tear, ok that's done. We have room down stairs and I have (had) a spare room for me!!! I've moved in already just in case, Dan 18 year old son, saw it empty and attempted to move his massive drum kit out of his room into what may have seemed like a spare room.

Actually Caitlin has only moved all her earthly belongings over to their two storey, three bedroom, three bathroom, brand spanking new townhouse, five minutes from our home, because James is away on Operation Hamil and won't be back for a few more weeks. Romantic I know. I just keep seeing the scene in Shrek where he carries Fiona across the threshold wiping out half the door way leaving her with a sore head. Ah I'm not very romantic. They want to move in together so she is bunking down in the homeschool room for now on a fold out bed (hard going because they spent thousands on a sleeping on clouds mattress) She dare not complain because James is spending 5 weeks on the ground, eating ration packs missing his new wife while running around playing enemy with a bunch of sweaty men. Hence the fact she isn't complaining about the foldout bed.

I love to see that all the work you put into raising them and preparing them for life pay's off as they launch out of the nest and spreed their wings and fly into the next exciting stage of their life.

Zoo Keeper For the Day

2010-10-11T09:00:00.008+10:00

The 3 little girls all have birthday's with in weeks of each, so this year after my mad clean-a-thon that has been going on at our place, we decide to take the girls to the Australia Zoo to be Zoo Keepers fro the Day in place of toys and things.

They had the BEST time!! Maddie and Jessica meet with a group of ten kids and two zoo keepers early Friday morning and received red "official' hats, matching drink bottles and kiss us goodbye for the next five hours. Mark, Lucy & I headed inside for an adventure of our own.

Lucy is an adventurer so we just followed her lead. We feed the elephants, kangaroo's, petted koala's, watched Bindi sing and dance, saw crocodiles leap out of the water and just had an all round great time. Lucy loved the sheep & the ottar's which swim around like crazy things.

Jessica & Maddie went in behind the scenes. They scrubbed the shells of the Galapagos turtles, which was perfect because we had just been learning about Harriet the Galapagos Turtle the week before. They feed crocodiles and elephants, cleaned the pens and just got up close and personal with the animals. They both come back saying it was the best day ever. I'm sure that they just meant 'that day' because we spent 5 weeks traveling 4 states in the last Christmas holidays seeing more then one amazing site after another.

I think the pony rides were a highlight for Maddie & Lucy as well. Jess was too tall, much to her frustration.

To finish off the day we all had horrendously expensive ice-creams. The kids (and me) slept all the way home. Oh, we live less then an hour from the Australia Zoo so it's not a traveling odyssey or anything. But we did have a fantastic day. That zoo is one well oiled commercial machine, that runs perfectly and looks immaculate. Well worth the visit.

It was our son's 18th last week. A trip to the zoo wasn't his speed so we bought him a 14000ft skydive. That's happening this week-end. Will add photo's of that one next week!!!

Today In A Brisbane Newspaper

2010-10-11T07:12:00.002+10:00

Some time ago I wrote a post on Do You Have Your Affairs In Order. Whilst I don't sit around consumed by this subject, last week a dear friend of mine buried a dear friend of her's. This women was a beautiful 39 year old mother of 4 with the youngest just 1 year old. My friend shared a beautiful photo of the husband surround by the Sisters Nuns from the Missionaries of Charity (Saint Mother Teresa) wearing the blue-striped habit of the Order. Her husband was smiling as he and his family were comforted by their faith and assurance brought to us through the Savior.

This article was on the front page of the Courier Mail online website and this morning for our family scripture study we just happen to be reading about the assurances given to us through God's plan of what will happen to us after death.

THE SURGEON'S FULL LETTER TO THE COURIER-MAIL:

Have you ever heard anyone’s last words? Not just their last words to you...but their last words ever, to anyone? I have. More times than I want, but it wasn’t me those people wanted to hear their last words. It just comes with my job. I am one of the people who decide what sort of death other people have.

Death is the one thing you can’t complain about later. A good death, a bad death, you get what you’re given and when it’s done there is no avenue for feedback. I am writing this in the hope that some of you will have better deaths.

Especially, this letter is addressed to those of you who are going to die soon, let’s say in the next year. Some of you don’t know you are in this group, so you will stop reading now. This isn’t written for you. When you die it will be unexpected, and tragic, and my team and I will be trying to prevent it with all the knowledge, skills, drugs and equipment at our disposal. You have more life to live. I’m not writing to you.

There are other people reading this who know their time is near. They have an illness which is incurable, despite taking treatment to control the symptoms. It might be cancer, or lung disease, or heart disease, or a lot of other diseases which mean they can’t do what they used to be able to do, wish they still could do, but will never do again. They can’t leave the house; they’re too weak, too short of breath. Or it hurts too much. Most of their friends have died, or moved away and lost touch, or are themselves too sick to get out of the house, the room, the bed. Their children come over as often as they can but...young people have busy lives. They can’t see well enough to read. They don’t enjoy life anymore. They know they are going to die soon and they’re ready to go. This letter is to them.

I am a doctor, and work in an emergency department. I am one of the few people you still meet, because you don’t get out much these days. In fact it’s been a few months since you left the house. Friends and relatives come from time to time but you aren’t well enough to do anything or go anywhere with them. Sometimes you get sick enough to need admission to hospital, and that’s when we meet. I do my best to assess your condition and treat your disease and we both pretend that this can go on forever; that we will keep patching things up and you will get back home to wait for the next time. One of these times it won’t work. You won’t respond to my treatment, and I’ll hear your last words. I don’t mean to, and I don’t know for certain that they are your last words until later. And they are usually mundane, something about what drug I am about to give you or where I am going to insert a drip. This time you don’t get better as planned. You die.

We are all going to die. Modern medicine can delay death, but cannot prevent it. Sometimes we can delay it for decades, and that’s why I get out of bed in the mornings. Sometimes for months, and that lets people get their affairs in order. Sometimes only for days or weeks, and that’s why I’m writing this.

Medicine is an art which dates back to antiquity. More recently it has become a science. Unfortunately, for most of the time since antiquity, doctors have lacked the ability to do anything about the conditions they diagnosed with increasing accuracy. Modern surgery has only developed since anaesthesia was invented in the late nineteenth century. Antibiotics have only been available since the Second World War. It is only very recently in human history that doctors have had the power to effectively treat many diseases. Now that we have that power, it is tempting to use it wherever possible.

But for some of you who have incurable and life threatening disease, who have no quality in your life, treating your disease is just extending your torture. You develop pneumonia, or a urinary tract infection, or cellulitis. You have another heart attack, another stroke. When I meet you in the emergency department your pain, your shortness of breath, the overwhelming panic of being on death’s door is written on your face. You don’t know what you want, except not to feel like this. I am one of a chain of people you meet who work to treat your disease. Ambulance officers, emergency department doctors and nurses, clinicians working on the wards: all work towards your treatment as if you could be cured. Often that means we can’t give you a treatment which would just make you feel better, because it might make you die sooner.

We struggle through, you and I. You’re pretty scared, but I can’t give you anything for that because it might affect your breathing. It’s the same for pain relief, a balance between treatment and harm. You need to have an oxygen mask strapped to your face, have drips in your arms, plastic tubes in your stomach and bladder. Drugs, fluids, more drips, surgery sometimes. Treatment usually works for at least a while and after a few days or weeks in hospital you go home; it’s over until next time. Over and over during your final 12 months or so we will replay this crisis. One of those admissions to hospital will start out like all the others, but will turn out to be your last. That’s when I’ll hear your last words.

It doesn’t have to be this way for you. You can already choose a different death. No legislation needs to be passed. All patients are required to give informed consent to any treatment offered by a health professional. Patients can choose to decline any treatment too. The first and most common choice is to have full treatment of your disease, with whatever indignities and pain that entails. That’s what we offer as the default now. We assume that when you arrive at our emergency department you want to have your condition diagnosed and treated. The needles, the masks, the tubes, the drugs, the machines, whatever it takes. Because you’re so sick, it’s not the time for me to start a conversation about the relative benefits of treatments, your prognosis, and the likelihood of leaving hospital. That’s Option A: full resuscitation and treatment.

There are other options. You will need to choose them in advance though, before you become acutely sick and need to come to the emergency department. Option B can be whatever you want it to be: all treatments except mechanical life support, or surgery. This will depend on your own wishes as much as advice and recommendations from your treating doctors.

The option I want you to know about is Option C: Comfort measures only. Nothing happens that isn’t done for your comfort. All medications which might make you feel better are able to be given. You are kept clean and warm. You can have the chance for your family to gather round, to be pain-free and calm. You can say your last words to someone other than me.

This option has always been available. It is very infrequently requested. That’s because it must be requested before you come to the emergency department, when you are well enough to discuss it. I can’t offer comfort measures only if you haven’t talked about it with your loved ones: your spouse, your sons and daughters, your friends. They need to hear from you that you have thought about your death, and how you want it to be. No-one likes that conversation. Most never have that conversation, and go on pretending their death will never come.

Apart from it being your wish, I can only offer Option C if you do have an incapacitating and incurable disease. And of course you must be ‘of sound mind’. If all of these apply, then I can offer Option C and hopefully a good death. A death at a time of your choosing, with your loved ones gathered around you, as most of us hope it will be.

What do you need to do to make this happen for you? It’s easy. First, we need evidence of your disease. That isn’t too difficult for most of you because you have been in and out of hospital for months. If you’ve been to my hospital for treatment, it will be there in your file.

Secondly, you need to have discussed with your treating doctors your wish not to go through the whole diagnosis and treatment process again, that next time you want Option C: comfort measures only. Talk to them while you are in hospital. They won’t be shocked. There are forms to fill, they know which ones. But most importantly, tell those closest to you. They are the people who will be with you during that last illness, and need to understand that you have decided not to go through it any more. Talk to them today. Show them this letter if it helps.

They are the people who deserve to hear your last words. Not me.

- an anonymous doctor working in the emergency department of a Queensland Health hospital.
*******************

While we live in a society where end-of-life wishes was often taboo in our ``death-denying society'' so most people ignored the issue. But as homeschooling mothers, what would happen to your family. You have made sacrifices to stay home with you children that go above and beyond what society expects. More often then not we are a 'societal freak show'. We have more then the national quota of children, which I think in Australia might be 1.5 now. We are stay home mums, quite often religious we actually sacrifice the things of the 'world' for the sake of having this glorious privilege of teaching our children.

Last week Jessica, our 10 year old, started at regular school. She loves it which makes me a little sad. I don't have the strength required to homeschool 3 lively children. I am sick, and while I still believe in and have faith for healing it may not come in the time frame I need or want. To be able to homeschool at all is a miracle. After several strokes, lost vision and walking along the corridors of death in the last few years I now except my limitations and will work within them. I don't have a youthful candle that has a wick at both ends. My one sole wick is not that strong anymore either.

Do you have a plan in place if you should become like my friends, friend. That women did. She was surround by her family & friends and Ministers of her faith until the very last breath. She took comfort in knowing that her affairs both spiritually and temporally where in order.

Don't leave it for tomorrow because your tomorrow might just be today.

The Digital Frog Field trip Series

2010-10-09T06:07:00.009+10:00

Our latest review has been the interactive, educational DVD The Digital Field Trip Series 2.5 from Digital Frog that lets you explore The Wet Lands, The Rainforest & The Desert. The disk also includes an electronic versions of material for both the teacher and the student. The workbook materials are located on the disc in each Field trip folder.

So what is The Digital Field Trip to the Wetlands?

This Digital Field Trip uses virtual reality technology to allow students to visit a bog in Ontario without getting their feet wet! It is a truly interactive CD-ROM incorporating animations, narration, games, text, full color photographs and a comprehensive workbook in one easy-to-use package.

The Digital Field Trip to The Wetlands makes learning biology an enjoyable experience; students have fun and are able to learn independently through exploration and discovery.

The Digital Field Trip to The Wetlands teaches the principles of wetlands ecology and encourages an awareness of the importance of wetlands conservation.

The beauty of this disc is the easy installation instructions that just "run". I love anything that doesn't take an IT degree to install or that comes with an instruction manual so thick it's practically a thesis. No this one you just pop in the disc and follow the prompts.

Once Installed What will I Find?

Once in the main menu you can can go off and 'explore' whatever you like. As we're not doing any unit studies in this area at the moment, I just let the kids loose with it. They had a ball. The favorite was taking a closer look at pond life. Water, mud and fascinating creatures is right up my kids alley.

You will be able to take a journey in any of the three ecosystems for a close up view of life. Using your mouse move over & click on anything that takes your fancy. This is totally interactive. The photography is great, but perhaps not National Geographic style. The myriad of creatures available for you to explore with in the three ecosystems is amazing.

So Now The Big Question ~ Price

Like all homeschooling families value for money is at the end of the day the over riding question. While all the three ecosystems are available individually at a price of US$60, we received the set of three all included on the one disk. This is valued at US$125 and is available online. This is a saving of around 20% when purchased this way. (got to love the Australian dollar at the moment, my palpay account is almost in melt down)

So What Did We Thing?

I would give this an 8/10 for its content. At the end of the day for us here in Australia, I would rather narrow the study down and head out with buckets, magnifying glasses and field study guides. But for a sit at the computer style of educational experience this has all you need and more.

Disclaimer~ I received a complementary copy of
The Digital Field Trip Series to review as part of my association with TOS Homeschool Curriculum Review Crew.

Pyramath Review

2010-09-16T09:55:00.009+10:00

Pyramath is a card based game able to be used for a single, double or small teams of kids. The object of the game is to complete a pyramid using any maths operation ~ addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division in any sequence to build the pyramid. The cards are brightly coloured with English, Spanish, Chinese, Roman, French and Arabic translations and symbols on the front, with 56 cards in the deck. So at a price of US$6.95 it's excellent value and a great way to increase the maths facts.

How To Play
The game starts with you putting a row of between 5-7 cards between the two players, then place remaining cards facedown as the draw pile. One player then starts their turn by taking a card from the draw pile and if possible playing that card on their side of the cards. If unable they place the card in discard pile beside the draw pile. If able to play we had the children say out loud what the play was so as we could all learn as we went along. This continues until one player has been able to build the pyramid.

I See Cards also make available Pyramath Online in either the 5 or 7 cards start. To help you better understand, the instructions are also available for you so pop on over and give it a try. The online version is both free and a great way to teach students the game.

So what did we think~
Jessica was able to use a combination of addition, subtraction and multiplication (not so much division) with more ease. They all enjoyed playing against me (trust me I didn't cut them any slack) and their speed and confidence certainly did pick up as the weeks have gone by.
This game is fantastic value for money and offers a lot of variations to it so as to be able to include all your children regardless of their current level. While at times it was a little limiting given the skill of the child, it was still fun to play.

Hi Mum, I'm on a Boat and I Can See France!!

2010-09-14T09:25:00.010+10:00

That was the call I got last night. Ash & Matt are spending just over a month on a speed tour of Dubai, Scotland, England, France just to list a few. They are having a ball. They're travelling with a group of eight (all friends) then they join the Contiki tour today.

So far Ash's favorite place is Dubai. As you can see shopping Dubai style, not quite the Brisbane Mall. The boys on the group all love the Race Car Simulators. Boys will be boys even on the other side of the world. She loved bargaining with the merchants in Dubai and the worlds tallest building was just amazing. Don't they just look like tourist in the top photo! All those years we encouraged Ash to fast had paid off because they were in Dubai during Ramadan, so food was really hard to find during the day. Mind you the 40 degree heat took the edge off there appetite.

London made Brisbane look really small and you have to pay to pee. Something that we aren't familiar with here in Oz. There was a film museum with a Star Wars theme. Ash is crazy for all things Star Wars, hence the dog named Vader. Though they love Scotland. Visited William Wallace's Memorial & of course Edinburgh Castle Scotland. They hit rain in Scotland.

So now they are in Paris having the greatest time. I can't wait for the next installment.

America's Maths Teacher

2010-09-10T14:02:00.009+10:00

We have been using the American Maths Teacher as part of our families involvement with the TOS Review Crew.

America's Maths Teacher is an online maths program that teacher maths from basic maths through to Algebra. It is an annual subscription program that is currently priced at US$195.

The Homeschool Program program has online video's for the students to watch which is then followed by worksheets. Also available is a great resource centre for those who subscribe.

So what did we think about it ~ Well actual Jessica was not all that taken by it. It was a little hard core for her at this stage. She did have fun on the drills but over all she was just not ready for it. It is a very different approach to maths then we take, so selling her on it was a tough job. Course 1 Basic Math Skills is aimed at 4th and 5th graders with topics included are whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percents, integers, geometry, plus more. Jessica tried something from each of those topics in the basic maths program.

I thought for all the program had to offer the price was well matched, but for us not what we are looking for at this time.

Disclaimer ~ We received a 60 day free subscription of America's Maths Teacher to trial as part of the TOS Crew Review.

Whats On My Wishlist?

2010-09-10T08:03:00.006+10:00

I love The Book Depository and on my wishlist at the moment are a few books. However at the top of my list are these two ~ Wholefood For Children

The underlying philosophy behind "Wholefood for Children" is the importance of feeding young, growing children nutrient-dense, whole and real food, preferably organic. Not only does a child require fuel to live, they also require it to build every part of their body and future pathways, and to learn. Nature has designed an exceptionally nutrient-dense, human-compatible food in breast milk, and it's important to that we continue to feed our young truly good food. "Wholefood for Children" is written and presented in two parts, a very insightful and informative introduction and a recipe section, which will cater for ages 6 months to 7 years, starting with introducing solid foods to babies. The recipes range from breakfasts through to lunch and dinners, as well as ultra-convenient portable snacks for lunch boxes. This title: will appeal to parents of all demographics who are concerned about the growing awareness of childhood obesity and eating disorders; is very timely and will appeal to the budget-conscious as it's based on simple foods that can be purchased in bulk or grown at home; and, is well-written and the wholefood philosophy is explained in a clear and easy-to-read style.

One thing that I didn't take into consideration when I started homeschooling was the amount of food that would be consumed. When at school its a sandwich, snack, piece of fruit in a lunch box and all was good. At home, it's a different story. Even though I don't allow grazing all day they still like variety. They well is running dry of options while still keeping it wholesome and fresh. In Australia we have a fantastic range of fresh foods available to us. As we head into summer all the tropical summer fruits are starting to hit the stores. So this is on the top of my wishlist right now.

Next on my wishlist is this one ~ One Magic Square

We live in the Brisbane suburbs, plus by the time you fit in a cubby house, huge trampoline the back yard is starting to get full. However, we have pumpkins and tomatoes growing all over the place. Apart from that we have several garden plots and have been preparing them ready for the spring planting. Both the girls have entered into the Yates gardening competition. Maddie is growing giant sunflowers and Jessica is growing sweet corn which she has to blog her progress on the Yates website. I do not have a green thumb!!! I try and try and seem to fail in the actual garden. (not in the random growing of the backyard though) So this book my be able to help me in making the most out of our limited space.

So this is just 2 things on the very long list. Whats on yours?

Words Of Our Prophet

2010-09-06T11:00:00.003+10:00

Sometimes I just need to remember...

Time 4 Learning Review

2010-09-03T18:41:00.007+10:00

The Time4Learning curriculum is an online core curriculum program that can be used as a complete curriculum or as a supplement to what you are using now. Available subjects are Language Arts, Maths, Science and Social Studies from Prep to year 8.

The Time 4 Learning website says:

"Homeschooling parents share some common problems, including organizing their children's curriculum and scheduling their family's time. The Time4Learning self-running curriculum can provide the basis of a homeschool program or can supplement other programs with an enriching, easy-to-use program ensuring that the basics are covered, allowing more time to explore student-directed subjects".

Once signed in the child is presented with a choice of subject and each student is able to access to at least 2 grade levels of curriculum for each subject, so they can move ahead or review at their own pace.Always an aspect that I like.This provides a scope and sequence of learning bring order to the delivery of content, supporting the maximising of student learning while offering sustained opportunities for learning. Without a considered scope and sequence there is the risk of ad hoc content delivery and the missing of significant learning. I love the printable lesson plan that they have available as this helps you and your child really use this program as a structure learning tool rather than just a play time.

While the child can work independently if required, it's always over seen by the parents with a report available for ongoing assessment. This also gives you an idea of how they are progressing and what areas of weakness still need further work.

Take a look at the getting started guide as it gives you a comprehensive overview to Time 4 learning.

So what did we think

Well as I have said before I find working with this type of curriculum very difficult. I'm a book person and without the planning schedule, that I spoke about above, would find it difficult to use to it's full potential. This is by no means a reflection on the product, but more on me. The girls loved it, Lucy, at 4 is very computer savvy, whipped around the program like a duck to water. She was quick to work out the longer she spent on the lessons, the longer she seemed to get in the 'playground'. I have to say that was excellently done. The children couldn't just hop straight in to the 'fun' games in the playground with out having done their lessons first. That to me was one of the high points of this program. Sure you get play but first you have to earn that time by working. Not that the working was boring in fact the graphics, and use of different age appropriate 'animated' teachers, was fantastic.

As for the price, I feel it's competitive with similar products on the market. Also available is Time 4 Writing, Spelling City I would jump over to this sight. Plenty to do over there, just find your local Australian school (or US) for lots of spelling practice.

Mummy I have A Nose Headache

2010-09-02T19:11:00.005+10:00

The bugs are flying around our city at the moment as they do this time of year every year. The Ekka, a huge carnival that is held every year always brings the bugs with it. Lucy has finally succumbed to it and now as a stuffy nose that she is calling a nose headache. She is sniffling her way around the house feeling totally miserable.
Lucy's latest thing is to have me spell everything I say to her or her spelling what she says. It's cute but it smells a little of OCD? I'm stilling clinging to the hope that it's just an insatiable desire to learn.
I must go and read to her while she spells out every word on the page. She can read the whole of Green Eggs and Ham and still corrects her sisters when they are reading to her. The nappy situation has hit critical stages for me. I'm sure that pattern I have for a diaper clutch purse may be required as she may still be in nappies when she starts dating!!

Booksneeze Book Review

2010-08-30T18:42:00.004+10:00

Saint Francis by Robert West

Francis was a wild young man, and lived in times of warring city states in Italy. He was very taken with the idea of being a knight and was the ringleader of a group of local playboys nicknamed the "Sons of Babylon". He had a natural charisma and charm which attracted others to join in his lifestyle. He lived for pleasure, partied hard, and used much of his father's ample income on the most luxurious clothes, food and entertainment. After being taken prisoner for a year and treated terribly, he began to question the true meaning of life. During this process he opened the door of his heart to God, began to immerse himself in the reading of the Bible, and to turn aside from all that had kept him distracted from being a truly loving person. The change came slowly, but for Francis he knew this call meant a radical poverty which seems odd today: sleeping on the ground, begging for food, not having warm clothes etc. This, however, was never an end in itself but more an opportunity to make space in his heart for God.

As the book comments: "It is a concept that few people can understand, because living for most of us has always been driven by the desire to acquire whatever might satisfy, not just our needs, but our desires... He saw what most people see only in brief flashes... that such a preoccupation can be a form of slavery... he believed that our headlong pursuit of "things" tragically deprives us of the most precious possession of all- the presence of God! That presence had become the source of the greatest joy Francis had ever known... "Lady Poverty" may have been adorned in rags, but she was the lady of the palace of God." In the materialistic and hedonistic world in which we live today, Francis has a timeless tale to tell of what will truly bring us happiness and peace.

The book provides context for Francis' life and goes into detail about historical events which impacted upon him at the time. It also sketches a picture of the difficulties he faced from his own father in seeking to follow God before everything else. The flourishing of his Christian life and growth of the friars is another remarkable proof of God's power during this historical period. At the time of his death there were over 3,000 friars following the life Francis was living.

Francis died on October 3rd, 1226 and was canonized(declared a saint) only 2 years later. This is also remarkable, as the process usually takes decades and sometimes centuries for a thorough investigation of a persons life to ensure they were consistent in their holiness and a true example to others of a life worthy of imitation.

This book is part of Thomas Nelson Publishers 'Christian Encounters' series, which aims to make it seem that "we are now living in the world that they created and understand both it and ourselves better in the light of their lives." Robert West certainly achieves this purpose, and it would complement some of the other more well-known biographies of St Francis such as "The Little Flowers of St Francis" and those written by Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure.

Saint Francis was born a person. This is a fact sometimes overlooked when reading other biographies as his life is so extraordinary it seems his humanity is unlikely, but it was in the truth of his humanity as brought out in this book that makes his holiness and the miracles associated with his life an even greater testament to the power of God in all of our lives, and the way anyone can have the same power when they love God more than anything else, especially more than themselves.

Disclaimer~ This review was written by Lucy (commonly referred to on my blog as Grown Up Lucy). Homeschooling mum to 2 little people and my homeschooling mentor. Lucy loves Booksneeze so I'm happy to share my blog with her, and this being her first review. You can absolutely tell I didn't write it! Thanks Lucy.
Lucy received a complimentary copy of this book through the Booksneeze program for the purpose of reviewing.

Peterson Directed Handwriting Review

2010-08-30T14:41:00.006+10:00

Over the past month with TOS, we have been reviewing Peterson Directed Handwriting. I choose to only trial this on Lucy as she's not had any formal training in handwriting. The states in Australia have their own style of handwriting that is commonly used in schools. I've used Queensland Cursive in the past, as I was most familiar with it after having taught it to the older 3 children. I used it loosely with Jessica and Maddie I have used another method. So Lucy was still really a blank slate as far as formal handwriting was concerned.

I have to say that I have found the Peterson Directed Handwriting a little difficult to understand at first.Purhaps me more then them. You know I have had wedding brain for a while. However, once I sorted my end out Lucy found it simple and more 'normal' for her to use. We're using the We Write to Read Series in Kindergarten Print. They have products available for both classroom situations or the homeschooling families which you can see here.

The actual Peterson Direct Handwriting website is rather comprehensive. With video's there that help you to not only understand their product but also the rational behind the method. They link a direct correlation between the ability to be fluent with your handwriting and your ability to read and offer many studies to back up their claims. They also offer reasons why a child should not trace over letters as a way of learning to write. Click here. The course is more personalised with your ability to be able to 'speak' with Rand Peterson via a weblink. Something that not many homeschooling curriculum offer.

I loved it in the end and have found Lucy really getting the hang of it quite quickly. She enjoyed writing practice and I wasn't met with the "oh no not handwriting again!" Something that I have heard many a time in the past. You can check out more of the sample Ebooks here. Really worth a look.

I've Got The Hang Of It!!

2010-08-27T20:17:00.004+10:00

It's so easy!! Grown up Lucy (homeschooling mum around the corner who lives with 0 clutter)has been telling me it's that easy but I didn't believe her!! It's really rather athletic.

Step 1:
pick up the rubbish bin.

Step 2:
Stretch out arm straight in front of you.

Step 3: (Now this is the important step)
With one arm you raise the bin to the required level. Following that with one large sweeping action you just sweep across the offending area eg: microwave and just sweep it straight into the bin.

Step 4:
Husband arrives home and say's "my you have been busy!" You bask in the glory and feel rather satisfied because you know the secret and when the family says "mum where is my ..." I will reply with a very sympathetic look "honey, I just don't know?"

Step 5:
Go to bed feeling very happy. Oh wait that LAUNDRY IS STILL IN MY ROOM!!!!!

It's All Too Much!!!

2010-08-27T08:22:00.008+10:00

I feel totally overwhelmed since the wedding. The girls are absolutely feeling it too. I feel overwhelmed by STUFF! Boxed in by things everywhere! I finally got all the wedding 'stuff' out of my room. Oh, don't look under my bed as you will find a wedding dress, breadmaker, hamper of groceries... the wedding presents. My husband in his wonderful helpful way decided after I finally reclaimed our bedroom to move his desk out and make room for the LAUNDRY!!! THE LAUNDRY!!! He decided that the laundry can no longer be taken off the line and dumped just inside the back door,but instead my/our room!!! Now, whoever is on laundry will say "laundry, what laundry? I didn't see any laundry!" I will be awakened in a cold sweat by the laundry monster. I know it. I can feel the anxiety building already. One basket will become two, then three. Next my son will up load the lot onto my bed because he needs his work uniform. Oh, and forget he might be on laundry that week. He pays one of his sisters to do it. I love my husband but what was he thinking!!!

I went to the library and stumbled across that book by Peter Walsh It's All Too Much, started reading the first chapter and through it down. No I'm pushing the trailer over to the garage tomorrow and loading all the .... stuff up and driving it to the dump myself. I have no emotional attachment to it. Any I did have was gone long ago. It's just going.

In order to fit her husband in to her room downstairs Cait had to move her 'stuff' into the main area which was already over loaded with .... there's that word again. He came with one suitcase, a few pairs of Army Fatigues and a "I won't get in your way, and as soon as we get a house I'm out of here smile." Bless his little green Australian Government issued socks.

I was diagnosed with MS a couple of weeks ago and have been on so many mind altering drugs, that if they haven't pacified the 'overloaded' demon in me nothing but a mini skip will!!! Now I'm not going to pass the blame on to other family members, as I have my fair share of 'stuff' downstairs as well. But I'm done. I have a date with the dump and it's NOW!!! So good bye, farewell you know the rest of the song, I have a clutter dragon to slay. Oh wait, I had best just take a few more of those little blue tablets and maybe one or two of the yellow ones that making walking possible. Good Bye dear friends I am off to slay the dragon!

Booksneeze Book Review.

2010-08-25T12:12:00.003+10:00

As part of the Christian Encounters book series Anne Bradstreet written by D.B. Kellogg was an interesting read. While I expected it to be a little more focused on her actual poetry I did enjoy the the fascinating walk through the life of the early pioneers of what was once known as New England.

Anne Bradstreet was a young Puritan women who traveled to New England in 1630 with her beloved husband and family. Her father had fostered a strong love of education and God in all his children from an early age. This love of learning and love of God was what sustained her during those difficult years as a pioneer of not one township but several. On the opening page Kellogg stated Bradstreets feeling of "in Truth, it is the absence or presence of God that makes Heaven or Hell." There seemed to be times when she most certainly would have found it difficult to distinguish between the two. Kellogg made note several times of the relationship Bradstreet had with God and her faith was firmly affixed to belief's as a Puritan women, mother, wife and poet.

While I found the history enjoyable it was the personal glimpse into the life of Anne Bradstreet that I most enjoyed. In the final chapter it refers to how, while on her deathbed, she addressed her "Dear Children" who had all grown and scattered in the world. She wanted to transcribe "the truth and set forth Gods glory, not hers." Bradstreet kept close to God and whenever a trial or affliction beset her she would look at her life and evaluated what was a miss in her fellowship with God and would recognise "Gods hand in all things" within her life.

The examples of poetry included in this book, while limited, were beautiful. As a women of her time it was highly improper for her to be anything other than a wife and mother. It was remarkable that her brother-in-law with or without Anne Bradstreet's knowledge, saw to it that these works were published. He did go to great pains while getting them published to preserve her Godly honor and pointed out that she wrote this poetry while never neglecting her God given duties as wife and mother. Today Anne Bradstreet is recognized as being the first American poet.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have to a agree with the purpose of the Christian Encounters Collection in that "We learn through the lives of others. Their experiences, their trials, their adventures become our schools, our chapels, our playgrounds."

Disclaimer~ I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers through the Booksneeze Program

Our Story Has Been Featured On...

2010-08-23T14:19:00.006+10:00

Or So She Says... They featured our story of living with a Bipolar Child.

My Favorite Multi Purpose Cleaning Recipe

2010-08-23T10:55:00.004+10:00

I discovered this book a while back "How to Clean Practically Anything" By Sydney Pemberton on the Choice Magazines website. I was so sick of spending tons of money on cleaning products that we literally "flush away". This is my favorite household spray & wipe cleaner - you can halve the recipe if needed because these quantities are a little excessive.

4L hot water
2 tbsp cloudy ammonia
125ml white vinegar
2 tbsp bicarbonate soda
2-3 drops lavendar or lemon (optional)
2 tbsp basic household soap cleaner (I use dishwashing liquid)

Method- Pour 4 litres of hot water into a bucket & mix in all the ingredients. Let cool and pour into spray bottles. Use as an all-purpose cleaner for kitchens & bathrooms surfaces.

This book is available at the library but I bought my own copy cheap from ebay.

Also when we moved house a while back I used this on our walls and the results were amazing.
4 tablespoons of baking soda , 1 tablespoon bleach to 1 litre of water. This is a great general cleaner and saves money and fuss.

If you do venture over to the Choice website this is the best recipe for muesli. It is a must try.

Thank-you Ladies

2010-08-20T14:17:00.003+10:00

This week I received 2 blog awards which was a nice surprised after having a quick break with all the wedding happenings.

The first one was from my favorite and most life saving blog Our Busy Homeschool. Tristan runs the most amazingly normal and real life homeschooling blog. I don't know how she does so much with a large family while pregnant. She keeps it real and isn't all razzle dazzle like a find at times, because if some mums are doing all that they blog about then not much homeschooling is getting done. So Thanks Tristan.

The second was from Dana over at Noggins and Nonsense. Dana's blog is always jammed packed with amazing insight and fantastic posts on life and homeschooling. I love it!

So thank-you both, that was really great. So here is the 7 random things about myself.

1: I hate shopping, not for grocery's but everything else. Like clothes, shoes and 'stuff'.
2: I keep a box of National Geographics under my bed which I love to read at night when I hop into bed.
3: I'm still in love with my 2 Pressure Cooker's.
4: I can't dance, won't dance, and have no rhythm. When my husband and I got married that was one of the things that we had to have a solid understanding on. It was not, will not change over time. You know that phrase "Dance like no one is looking" that was written specifically for me. More as a pledge really "Do not dance regardless of whether anyone is looking or not!"
5: I love the sound of rain and I always let my children play in it no matter what the time of day.
6: I love to draw and paint. I'm not so good these days.
7: Apart from wearing ugg boots everywhere I like my flannelet pajamas. I mean I really like them!

So that's it! So thank-you again for thinking of me. So it's mid afternoon on a rainy day and the girls won't be home for another 45 minutes. Time enough for me to get into my flannelet pj's and ugg boots on and read my book!

Now to pass it on? I would give the Sunshine Award to ~

1: All Saddled Up This sweet girl has only just started blogging and she has just become a teenager last week. She just looks like sunshine.

The Journey at Our House Award has to go to:

1: My friend Melodious Sonnet. We actual have meet at the park after have meet blogging. We have ton's of girls each and both now have exactly the same calling church. I love her blog and she has been homeschooling her girls since birth (10years)so she can teach me a lot.

2: Light, Liberty, and Learning This is always a great read.

And then I would give At Home both awards because any women who is single, homeschool's four children, and is a relatively new convert to the church and is happy to share her life with us and is inspirational gets both awards.

TOS Expo is Here Again

2010-08-20T06:07:00.002+10:00

Registration is open for the online Schoolhouse Expo, October 4-8. It's five days of top homeschool speakers, sharing with one another, and fun door prizes.

Save $5 per ticket! Register between August 16 and midnight August 22, and you'll pay only $19.99. Plus you'll receive over $200 in free E-Books.

The line up of speakers includes: Zan Tyler, Dr. Jay Wile, Jeannie Fulbright,Carol Barnier, Diana Waring, Todd Wilson, Davis Carman, Kim Kautzer, Lee Binz, and many more!

A special teen track is planned--the entire family will definitely want to listen to these special sessions. Also planned is a special focus on a topic that touches every homeschool--writing. Plus, an array of other topics that will inform and inspire you throughout your homeschooling years.

Don't forget, MP3 copies of each session comes with your LIVE event ticket.

Two special preconference shows on August 24 and September 21 with Dr.
Jay Wile, Jeannie Fulbright, and Kim Kautzer!

Register started 12:01 a.m. on Monday, August 16.

The theme for this conference is "Celebrate Homeschooling!" They are going to celebrate the unique blessings of homeschooling, our families, and the freedom to tailor our children's education to best meet their needs.

If you can't make the Live event,and that is difficult for us Aussies. I tried last conference to stay up until 11pm, get up at 11pm or sleep through and get up early by day 3,(Australia is in a totally different time zone, by 1am it felt like a different planet. Clearly I'm not as young as I used to be) then the October Expo To Go is just your ticket! You'll reserve MP3s from all of the workshops. This week only, pay just $14.95!

Having attended the last conference I can can tell you that it is amazing value. I learnt so much from all of the speakers and many of them had a great special offer for those who attend that really was the icing on the cake.

One of the things I loved about actually getting up to participate in the Expo live was you had the opportunity to interact with women (and a small amount of men) all over the world. It was incredible. And for some of the women participating it was illegal to homeschool in their country but they were still there learning how best to teach their children along with the rest of us. To me that was one of the highlights.

You can visit either of these links to get more information.
http://www.SchoolhouseExpo.com

Disclaimer~ I am receiving a free Expo-To-Go ticket in exchange for this post

The 2010 School house Planner

2010-08-20T03:45:00.007+10:00

I just received a free copy of the 2010 Schoolhouse Planner to check out and I have to say right off the bat this looks fantastic! I currently use an exercise book as my learning journal for the girls but find this extremely limiting. This planner on the other hand has everything you need. Not only does the Planner help organise your homeschooling life but it helps you organise that other life. You know the one we have when we are not homeschooling. I can still hear you asking which life is that and where can I get one.

I have to say I love the "Car Maintenance Schedule" & the "Car Information to Remember". HAH, all I want to remember is where I left the keys. My husband was a mechanic in a former life so maybe I should stick this up on his cupboard as he has gone a little deaf and can't hear the slight rattle in the front bush's. This is an Australian kind of deafness from driving around in his ute with the window down all the time which actually does damage your ear. I think its a conspiracy between the male ear specialist and any husband that comes through his door?

But wait there's more!!Weight-Loss Journal & TV Show Reminders. I love it!!
Now on to other important points. It includes so many hyperlinks that will help you with planning, organising and curriculum. The 2010 Schoolhouse Planner can be used as an online planner. The included forms are editable. You just fill it out on the computer and hit save, and or, you can printout the required pages which are in pdf format. With over 600 pages you certainly get a lot for your US$39.00.

I will put this together over the weekend and post the end result next week (you know when I get organised)In the mean time have a look at the sample pages.

Click here to preview 59 pages for yourself

(disclaimer: I received this product free. This post is my entry into an ad contest with The Old Schoolhouse as part of TOS Crew. The opinion I expressed is my own)

Just a Few More Happy Snaps

2010-08-19T15:20:00.005+10:00

Just a few more of the wedding photos. I know you would think it was my only daughter, but instead I have another 4! I am glad that they are spread out in age because 10 minutes after I payed for the reception, the fraud department from our bank was on the phone to my husband to say that there had been some large and unusual activity from our bank account. "Yes he said, just my wife paying for our daughters wedding". I'm surprised they haven't sprung me for using The Book Depository!!!

Their Bridal Waltz was to Mindy Gledhills All About Your Heart which was a perfect choice for them.

Science Fun

2010-08-19T07:49:00.005+10:00

This week Jessica has been working on a science project. What else would a child rather do than a science experiment with chocolate as the main ingredient.
She is making...

Magic Chocolate

You will need

• Cooking chocolate
• Coconut butter (available from health food shops)
• Large saucepan
• Small metal mixing bowl
• Plastic container
• Kitchen scales
• Water
• Wooden spoon
• Tea towel
• Ice cream
• Spoons
• Bowls
• Stove

What to do

1. Weigh 100 grams of cooking chocolate using a set of kitchen scales.
2. Weigh 100 grams of coconut butter using a set of kitchen scales.
3. Half fill the saucepan with water and set it to boil on the stove.
4. Sit the metal mixing bowl on top of the saucepan of boiling water and add the chocolate,allowing it to melt.
5. Add the coconut butter.
6. As the ingredients melt, stir them together using the wooden spoon. Use the tea towel or an oven mitt to hold the bowl, as it will be hot.
7. Optional: Add other ingredients such as mint flavouring, cinnamon or nutmeg to flavour your chocolate topping.
8. Once it has all melted, pour the mixture into a small plastic container.
9. Scoop some ice cream into a bowl.
10. Pour the chocolate over the ice cream and watch it harden.

What's happening?

Coconut butter is essentially little more than the oil from the coconut seed. It is extracted either by washing the kernel's white meat in a pool of water and then skimming the oil from the surface; or by directly squeezing the oil from the dried coconut.
The oil is a specific mix of different types of molecules called 'fatty acids', which are long chains of hydrocarbon (carbon with hydrogen atoms attached) ending in a 'carboxylic acid' group.
Depending on how the carbons are linked to each other, some of them can be linked to two, one or no hydrogen atoms. If there are any carbons holding less than two hydrogen atoms, the fatty acid is said to be 'unsaturated'. These chains can also be short (caproic acid has only 8 carbon atoms) or long (arachidic acid has 20 carbon atoms). The lengths of the chains and their saturation will affect the temperature at which the mixture will turn to a liquid.
At colder temperatures, the mix of fatty acid chains in coconut butter clumps together as a solid, which is why it hardens on your ice cream. Once the temperature reaches about 24oC, the solid butter melts into liquid oil, which allows it to flow freely.

Applications

Fatty acids play an important part in your health. For the most part, your body can produce them from other nutrients. However two types of fatty acid (called 'essential' fatty acids) need to be taken in through the food we eat, especially plants like linseeds and soybeans. One is a type of omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid. The other is a type of omega-6 fatty acid called linoleic acid.
They are both unsaturated and are important in allowing our body's cells to communicate with one another.
Too much fat in your diet – especially saturated fats – can lead to health problems. For example, some fatty acids can easily stick to damaged blood vessels to create rough plaques, slowing the blood flow or creating a blockage. However, removing all of the fat from your diet can make it difficult for your body to perform all of its important functions.
So enjoying a bowl of ice cream with some coconut-oil chocolate topping every now and then is fine. Eating it every night, however, might be creating some problems for your body. A healthy, balanced diet full of fresh fruit and vegetables with frequent light exercise is the best way to ensure your body has all of the important nutrients it needs to keep you fighting fit well into the future.

Electioneering We Shall Go

2010-08-18T07:29:00.003+10:00

This Saturday in Australia we are about to have one the most critical elections so we thought we should get a little more involved. So tonight we pickup our sandwich board and how to vote cards and will be camped outside the Newmarket State School on Saturday. I just mentioned to another friend on her blog if I start to wear the candidates shirt over mine and start waving from the side walk at passing cars you know I have gone to far.

Really, this is such an important time and as I have been doing my research on each of the candidates it has made me so sad to see how many of our female politicians are funded by EMILY'S List. Babette Francis wrote a great article detailing the insidious power of this group and is well worth the read.
The women in our current election who are funded by Emily's List can be found on this page. Take a look if you are an Australian so you can see where the funding is coming from for your local candidate and also for Julia Gillard, Penny Wong and many more candidates. Also and more importantly what they have to do in return for this money. It is not a no-strings-attached funding. They have to fully support activities that are nothing short of criminal.

Another great site is Australia Votes. This site asks the questions that many of us would ask and gives the answers from each party. (Thanks grown -up Lucy for a heads up on the sites)

Apart from that, I sure do fear for the future of Homeschooling if Julia Gillard is elected Prime Minister. I'm not sure she will see a future for it in her Education Revolution!

All we can is vote and pray and then do all we can raise our children up the Lords way. Elder L. Tom Perry said in "Mothers Teaching Children in the Home" Ensign, May 2010,

"Teaching in the home is becoming increasingly important in today's world, where the influence of the adversary is so widespread and he is attacking, attempting to erode and destroy the very foundation of our society, even the family. Parents must resolve that teaching in the home is a most sacred and important responsibility."

Wedding Photo Sneak Peak

2010-08-17T12:48:00.004+10:00

The Weddings All Over

2010-08-16T11:37:00.004+10:00

Well it's all over and I can finally catch my breath. The day was absolutely perfect with not even one hiccup. The little ones & Bridesmaids walked down the aisle to the String Quartet playing Your Guardian Angel and the Bride walked down the aisle with her Dad to Dare to Move by Switchfoot. Shall we say I shed more than a few tears at that moment. It was absolutely perfect. After the weather cleared up with one of the heaviest rainfalls in one August day in Brisbane's history, we were left with clear blue skies and little wind. I was a little worried about the wind as Caitlin had a rose petal aisle, but I am please to report that all petals stayed where they should have. Topiaries at Beaumont was the perfect venue for the day, not to mention 10 minutes from home.
Bishop quoted from the Proclamation of the Family and a scripture in Paul which was just perfect.
Well, the last of the extended family has flown out and I'm just looking forward to life getting back to normal. We sure have a lot of house work & school work to catch up on but it was worth every minute!!
I can't wait for the professional photos to arrive. This is a photo of us on the day. Thanks Karen for the photo.
ps it's still winter over here. I know we have absolutely nothing to complain about here in Australia do we.

Roy, Tale of a Singing Zebra

2010-08-16T09:52:00.002+10:00

I was looking for some new worksheets to put in the girls workbox's and came across this fun site. Roy, Tale of the Singing Zebra. It's a free site and looks like a bit of fun. Not difficult to navigate although not all that comprehensive either. Really just a bit of computer fun for the kids. I think I like it because the zebra is just so cute.

Is it Wrong Take Summer Vaction Time For Both Hemisphere's

2010-08-10T16:13:00.006+10:00

Well I could really get the hang of this!! If I do it right I could get the Summer break in America and the Summer break in Australia (December-January). In fact that is how I have been running it lately. I just wander around a few US blogs and see all the summer fun they are having on their break and make myself feel better about the fact that very little schooling is getting done at our place.

Well, our daughters wedding is 3 more sleeps away then life can get back to normal. I have had to make a deal with both girls if they keep their wiggly teeth in the mouths until after the wedding I will match whatever the Tooth Fairy brings. I know the whole lost tooth thing is cute but...

Anyway for today I will continue looking at a couple of blogs to remind myself that we are just getting into the 'back to school mode, not halfway through Term 3 mode like we actually are. This is the longest I have had on the computer lately because everyone has time off work for the wedding so it's always occupied. Well I checked out this blog hop peeking in on everyone's home school rooms. I love it. I'm 159 on the list so there are a few there to look at. I will have to get back to that later because I have a teenage son breathing down my neck to get off the computer.

Check out some of these set ups!!

This Is Not My Mind ~ Living With a Bipolar Child.

2010-08-04T08:22:00.002+10:00

As many of you know we have two daughters that suffer with Epilepsy. It’s our journey together as a family with a bipolar child that I'm going to share with you today.

To understand what Bipolar looks like for us watch an episode of Winnie the Pooh. Firstly you have Eeyore the donkey always on a chronic downer, feels worthless and dejected, that there is nothing in this world for him. Unable to cope even with the goings on in the 100 acre woods. Then you have Tigger who is always bouncing off the walls. Talking very fast all the time. He is initially when you meet him charismatic, charming and funny. Willing to do all and everything for everyone and is the ONLY one who can do it. He demonstrates an inflated self-esteem or grandiosity as we call it in bipolar land and that he's so wonderful that he is 'the king of the world'. Tigger is reckless, intrusive and without regard for consequence or other's personal space or needs. He also shows agitation and is hyper 'wired' and constantly bouncing. Because of this he always has racing thoughts and is distracted, moving from one thing to the next, never actually finishing anything. Now mesh this into one body and you have Caitlin's world.

Welcome to our 100 Acre Woods

When Ashleigh the oldest was born she made mothering look easy. She read the front of the baby books. Then came Caitlin, she clearly only read the back of the book where all the thing that could go wrong with your child did.
She started, amongst a long list of other things, having seizures at 3 months. By 5 she was formally diagnosed with Epilepsy. That's when things really started to go south with her ( not that they weren't already). She developed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Caitlin would scrub herself red raw in the shower then get out and need to wash her hands again. The house had to be kept perfect and should she chance upon an ad for a new cleaning product we'd need to purchase it immediately so she could scrub the walls. Still keep in mind that she is only 5.

While the Epilepsy was consistent throughout the years her moods where as clear cut as the seasons. Summer & Autumn she was manic and winter & spring she was depressed. Not the curl up in a ball with a blanket over her head it was different, more dangerous. Deadly in fact. We would get about 2 weeks a year in June when she was Caitlin. When she was little, she would pack her bicycle and runaway. Then as she got older she would just walkout the door. We had friends and family that she could runaway too but sometimes she was just wandering the streets. Keeping her safe has always been the main objective of living with a Bipolar child. You learn very early to throw away the parenting books because they don't help, but you still needed to have clear cut boundaries. I never did anything spontaneously or change plans or routine as this would cause a rage you could not control or contain. And for those on lookers who think time out or a naughty chair would do the trick "if that was MY child", you're wrong!

During High school it worsened. Suicide attempts were frequent and we lived with the constant fear of coming home to find her hanging or overdosed. You would see an emptiness in her eyes. It was like the lights were off and nobody was home. With a lot of work we managed to get her to graduate year 12. She was easily overwhelmed with day to day expectations that most school kids would just take in their stride. I had to dance this constant fine, stressful dance of protecting her and managing her life so that when she was 'normal' the consequences of her actions where as minimal as possible. It's at this time when they are between the 2 'polars' that they are at greatest risk of suicide because they can run their lives off the road so badly making the end result too much for them to cope with . Everyone has to deal with the consequences of their actions even the mentally ill. My main job was running around behind her quietly cleaning up the mess in her wake.

June was fast approaching and I was ready for that 'well' moment to appear. For that beautiful butterfly that she really is, to appear out of her hellish cocoon once again. However, like a butterfly she was fragile and time was short. I had a Psychiatrist and GP lined up ready for that moment. Always praying that this would be the year that she would 'see' and get help. That time finally came. As the real Caitlin was emerging she was looking back at her facebook and said "Is that really me?". She wanted help and together as a family we got it. She has been well for some time now but always acutely aware that a relapse is possible so she takes her medication and good care of her mental & physical health. She's learnt that This Is Not My Mind. While she has had to face the reality that Bipolar is not cured just managed, she's doing all she can to take control of 'it' not it of her. She now has the opportunity to live her mind and life. She is to marry a wonderful man who loves her as we do and is willing to learn the dance that we as parents have danced with her over her life and create their little house within our 100 acre wood.

WANT TO KNOW MORE
Black Dog Institute
Bipolar Disorder in Children and Teens
Epilepsy Action Australia

Mars Bar Slice Recipe

2010-08-02T22:38:00.009+10:00

Ok, the wedding is just 1 week away now. Groom is still away on Army exercise up along the Queensland coast and will return any day now. The bride is starting to crack a little under the strain but I have the perfect medicine for her. It's ok,she works out at the gym and is still able to fit her wedding dress. But this recipe is heavenly.

This recipe uses 270g of Mars Bars.

Makes 18 pieces (each about 4.5cm by 6cm).

Use a 20ml tablespoon and 250ml measuring cup

120g butter
270g Mars Bars
1 1/2 tablespoons (30ml) golden syrup
3 3/4 cups (120g) rice bubbles

Line an 18cm by 28cm baking tray/dish.

Place butter, Mars Bars and golden syrup in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir constantly, using the spoon to break up the Mars Bars and squash any bits of nougat that are slow to melt.

When the butter has melted and only small unmelted bits of nougat remain, increase the heat to medium, stirring constantly. The mixture may appear separated at first. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens slightly, and is fairly smooth and amalgamated. Remove from heat.

Place rice bubbles in a large bowl. Add Mars Bar mixture and stir to combine, trying not to crush the rice bubbles. Press mixture into prepared pan and refrigerate while preparing the chocolate icing.

Spread slice with icing and refrigerate until set. Cut into pieces to serve. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Rich Chocolate Icing

225g milk chocolate

45g butter

Melt the chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring frequently. Alternatively, melt in a double boiler or in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave.

(we use Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate but I realize that they are not totally Fair Trade Chocolate as yet so use the chocolate of your choice. We used their 350g block which had the fair trade logo on it.)

Foot Note: Cadbury® 'Spread the Joy'.

Cadbury® has introduced its first Fairtrade Certified products into Australia and New Zealand. This means that Fairtrade Cocoa Farmers and communities can look forward to a better and brighter future as Fairtrade cocoa sales increase in Ghana. This move will increase sales of Fairtrade certified chocolate sold in Australia and New Zealand and is part of Cadbury's® ongoing global commitment to Fairtrade. You can help us 'Spread the Joy' by joining in with us to promote community awareness of Fairtrade.

This clip was put together by Cadbury's so I has it a guess it is tilted their way, but I thought I would just mention it just to raise some more awareness of the plight of the farmers and their villages and the price been paid by them each time we snack on a chocolate bar.

For the Love of Books

2010-08-02T21:15:00.008+10:00

This year our Church Ward has focus has been on something different every month. For example 100% Family Prayer or 100% Family Scripture Study. For the month of July it was 100% Temple attendance or to prepare a name to submit. Well of course Saturday the 31st July I managed to make it in. Better late then never and it was so what I needed.

Well on the way home I stopped at a yard sale. I haven't been to one in a very long time because I have more than enough to deal with here. But the big signs and balloons got the better of me. I had no children on board who would always want toys which is out of the question. So I stop, I knew i wouldn't be long as i only had $6 in coins. Well, sitting in a lovely cane basket over in the corner was a box of old books. So while everyone else was looking at the dvd's and computer games I dived into this little basket. The woman must have been mad. She had 5 books from the little house in the prairie series from 1970's. Heidi from 1950. 5 books from the Anna of Green Gables series from the 70's and a Anne's House of Dreams from 1938. Seven Little Australian's and the Diary of Anne Frank, Black Beauty, and several other classic books. I took them all to the lady and asked how much for the lot. She said $1, not each for the lot and $1 for the basket!. I nearly passed out. When I got home my girls were just crazy with excitement. Even though the have read or are reading them at the moment, to hold these old beautiful books in their hands was just amazing to them. Like me they couldn't understand how anyone could part with them.

While my find was such a blessing, the best part was to see my girls reactions. Not of 'yuck' those books are old and worn but the opposite. They saw the beauty and value (not monetary) but the literary value and appreciation of the books for what they were.

They have all their special books on a shelf, and they treasure them and each girl has a box set of books like Little House on the Prairie because they want to read them again and read them to their children. To treasure them. I love that. My girls aren't natural learners and reading has been a great challenge to them but I have never pushed only lead them into loving books. That is a great gift and I'm so glad to watch them curled up in the beanbags reading and reading. They are also blessed to have a Dad who every single night spends over an hour each night reading aloud three separate stories (chapter books) to the girls. This time for them is incredibly special. Night after night he reads, but you always hear "oh dad you can't stop now, what happens in the next chapter". he then sings them to sleep night after night. Sometimes the stories get the better of him and I will find the children long asleep but him still reading away to himself because the story has got the better of him.

"What a splendid day... I pity people who aren't born yet for missing it. They may have good days, of course, but they can never have this one". Anne of Green Gables

You just can't beat reasoning like her's can you!

Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

2010-08-01T06:47:00.002+10:00

As I have written before about the value of using Mormon Messages in your home to build not only our faith but that of our children and this inspirational story will do just that. I have never been in such a situation but I would pray that my heart could be made whole like this families was. That forgiveness could transcend the pain and loss. Regardless of your faith or belief this clip is sure worth watching.

The Secret Life of a Hoarder

2010-07-30T15:29:00.011+10:00

Many moons ago I was a craft-a-holic. I mean serious craft-a-holic. One day I thought "What would I do if I wasn't doing craft". Oh that was apart from raising 6 children (none homeschooled at that time) active church member, aging Great Grandmother, friends,life and husband & kids that I'm totally crazy about. Anyway, not long after that I got very sick, had several strokes and lost a majority of my vision. The stroke effected my fine motor skills, not to mention other things like speech & comprehensive. Anyway I got to learn 'what I would do without craft'. Actually life goes on quite nicely. The sun still rises and the sun still sets.

Well this week I have been trolling through my 'craft' boxes that have been packed away for 4 years while I recovered, looking for... well we all remember the useful box in Playschool don't we!! My friend grownup Lucy was here. Now this woman is identical to my other friend Kim, in that they have zero clutter at their houses. I mean ZERO!!! Every time I emerged from downstairs with more 'useful' items to use to make the wedding place cards, grown up Lucy would just frown and say "and wait there's more". All the while eagerly anticipating the free knife set to pop out of the box.

I preceded to tell her with the eager excitement of a child that all this sudden burst of wedding craft has made me feel all crafty again. That the world of craft has changed in the last 4 years. Did you know that you can get your printer to printout edible stickers for your cookies and cupcakes and things. Oh my gosh edible ink!!! Check out these cookies. I love appliances. Who wouldn't love this. I had no idea!!

Now that was my first discovery of particular changes in the craft world. Now just as earth shaking is a thing called a Silhouette Machine. Now a quick visit to The House of Smith blog and you will see what I mean. Checkout the million uses for the vinyl lettering.

I'm sure my children's schooling experience could be enhanced by the purchase of one or both of these machines. I'm still working on the precise application of this to the furtherance of their education but give me a few more days and I'm sure I could come up with something. But the opportunities for it's use in the wedding are endless. Everyone here is just frowning at me saying paint or chalk will do the job. But don't you agree that the possibilities for owning this vinyl lettering machine is endless. Lucy just kept shaking her head and didn't get it.

Well with the wedding only two weeks away and my friend Kim still has not provided me with a pair of pants that are worn by her son Peet called 'magic money pants'(you know teenager with no cash on hand) I guess I will quietly pack my craft things back up and put it all away UNTIL.... My daughter and her new husband get a Defence Force house and I get her room downstairs as my new CRAFT ROOM!!!!! Mind you I still have very limited vision & dexterity but I can string a sentence together most days now. Luckily I had 5 girls who all enjoy crafty stuff as well. My biggest hiccup is last time I checked the bank account it was all heading to pay for a wedding. You can't blame a girl for dreaming though and I'm only writing this now because my husband has gone to the Temple and can't see what crazy thing has caught my eye now.

Needless to say I will check back into the craft world in another 4 years after the oldest daughter Ashleigh is married and Dan has gone & returned from his mission. Imagine what things they will have come up with by then. Oh but just look at those cookies...

How Long before You Move Into The Classification of Unschooling!!

2010-07-27T09:03:00.005+10:00

The last week we have sidelined a bit of the schedule for play. Monday I call them in for the day to begin. No answer? I go looking for them and find Maddie & Lucy engaged in the most wonderful imaginary play in the cubbyhouse. So good that it would be a crime to stop them.

Tuesday, after watching Man v's Wild on video, they had gathered some branch's and palm leaves together to make a ladder. My girls will turn anything like that into action. I'm just so grateful that we don't live in Cairns (far north Queensland) now, or they would be down the river jumping croc's!

The rest of week seem to just follow along like that. By Thursday they were forbidden to reach into their imagination before lunch!! Nor were they allowed to leave the house in fear of their imaginations once again seizing hold of them and my offer of maths and literacy would definitely pale in comparison. It still did, so I had to start with history and science in order to harness their mental faculties for my use.Today they are making movies. Have I ever mentioned that my girls aren't shy and walk to the beat of their own drums.

So how many of these days can we have before we slip into the unschooled category?

We have had to cut the TV again after Lucy watch Joesph King of Dreams one too many times. She was ordering her sister around who wouldn't do what she wanted, so she blew a raspberry and yelled "half brother!" (in an American Accent) If she remembered a little better she would have realised that that landed Joseph down a pit and sold into slavery! Any camel trains going my way?

Peasant Skirts

2010-07-26T14:03:00.006+10:00

I'm not sure what teachers get paid in your neck of the woods, but here in Australia the pays not great. As we are, shall we say 'frugal' at our house, the girls needed some new skirts a little while back so I did what all people do that hate patterns. I googled it. I mean how hard can a Peasant Skirt be?
This what I found. PERFECT!!

Peasant Skirt Pattern

I made two and three layered skirts for the girls all made out of bits of fabric I had laying about. They were perfect for Church and play and so easy to make. This site has a built in calculator. You just add the measurements for either yourself or the girls and in no time at all you have a pretty skirt. I love this site. Check it out!