Luckily I was already awake, as I was about to start playing a midnight game of 'Guess who's Vomiting'!!! YAY for me!! lol!
Nothing like a mad dash down the hall to catch the kid mid-spew so that I didn't have to turn on the lights of the other sleeping kids and also wake them up!!
As it turned out it was Braith, and at his age spewing is no fun as he ends up crying louder and louder as I undress him and clean up his cot. Then its a mad dash to get Kaydence back into bed as she has woken up to Braith's noise and also has the sooks on!
So after a dose of Panadole and an hours worth of playing, rocking and walking back and forth I've managed to lay him down and pat him back to sleep. I was crossing all fingers and toes that he was actually asleep as he likes to play possum and pretend hes sleeping, until I stop patting and then he pops his little head up to see if I'm still there and howls when I try to sneak away!! But tonight was my lucky night, he fell asleep easily :)
Fingers crossed no one else comes down with the vomits, I've already had Livia and Aliya sick over the weekend.
Great start to our 2nd week of homeschooling, I'm thinking there will be a late start tomorrow for me, but at least the older kids will be able to start on some of their independent work.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Our 1st Week of homeschooling :)
Well this week was our 1st 'official' week of homeschooling , since the kids would have returned to 'real school'.
My mother asked me - 'Are they driving you mental yet??', followed by 'Have you put those kids back into school?' ummmmm nope and nope not yet Mum ;) lol
Overall I think we had a good week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were my most productive days with Maths and English our most notable achievements.
Our 1st day we caught up with other homeschooling families for a park play, which I was glad we went to the effort to do as the rest of the week has been filled with rain!! A whole week of rain!! But the bonus has been no school drop off or pick ups!! No fighting for a park and dragging Kadee and Braith through the rain!
Starting homeschooling after a long 6 week break has been great - the kids are used to being at home and are not missing 'school' ......yet.
My kids definitely are more productive when I have a routine in place. I write up what we will be doing for the day on the whiteboard and they run with it. The teachers have trained them well!! ;) I'm introducing things every few days til we get into the swing of a 'full days work'. Morning and just after lunch are our most productive times, I've even trialled a little bit of evening work (when we had a less productive day) but have found that there is little concentration for group learning at this time. Perhaps some quiet one on one would be better.
I have also set up 'trays' with the kids names on them for storing their current work and this has been great, it also stops the younger children getting into their things and scattering it around or chewing it up :)
One thing I've noticed is that the kids are very much into a 'Me, Mine and Don't Touch MY Things' mentality!! So to foster a group togetherness, I have set up a communal pencil/supplies work station. There is a mix of fun gel pens, pencils, crayons, rubbers, sharpeners, felts and more then enough of each to be used at the same time. Its going to take some time but even just after a week there is an improvement with 'sharing'.
I have noticed that I will have to be organised in all aspects of our lives if I want to be a 'happy, balanced' homeschooling Mumma!! Especially as we are at home 'most' of the time now. So while I'm busy organising our schooling day, I'm also finding ways of making things run smoothly, and ways to save on time when it comes to general household tasks! Especially when there will be a new baby in the house in a few months time!
I've just noticed that this post is a bit loopy and all over the place, I'll put it down to the fact that its nearly midnight and that I've eaten too many fresh made scrolls!
I'm off to bed now, I'm hoping to have a big day of organising and planning so that its a 'successful, stress free' week of homeschooling :)
My mother asked me - 'Are they driving you mental yet??', followed by 'Have you put those kids back into school?' ummmmm nope and nope not yet Mum ;) lol
Overall I think we had a good week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were my most productive days with Maths and English our most notable achievements.
Our 1st day we caught up with other homeschooling families for a park play, which I was glad we went to the effort to do as the rest of the week has been filled with rain!! A whole week of rain!! But the bonus has been no school drop off or pick ups!! No fighting for a park and dragging Kadee and Braith through the rain!
Starting homeschooling after a long 6 week break has been great - the kids are used to being at home and are not missing 'school' ......yet.
My kids definitely are more productive when I have a routine in place. I write up what we will be doing for the day on the whiteboard and they run with it. The teachers have trained them well!! ;) I'm introducing things every few days til we get into the swing of a 'full days work'. Morning and just after lunch are our most productive times, I've even trialled a little bit of evening work (when we had a less productive day) but have found that there is little concentration for group learning at this time. Perhaps some quiet one on one would be better.
I have also set up 'trays' with the kids names on them for storing their current work and this has been great, it also stops the younger children getting into their things and scattering it around or chewing it up :)
One thing I've noticed is that the kids are very much into a 'Me, Mine and Don't Touch MY Things' mentality!! So to foster a group togetherness, I have set up a communal pencil/supplies work station. There is a mix of fun gel pens, pencils, crayons, rubbers, sharpeners, felts and more then enough of each to be used at the same time. Its going to take some time but even just after a week there is an improvement with 'sharing'.
I have noticed that I will have to be organised in all aspects of our lives if I want to be a 'happy, balanced' homeschooling Mumma!! Especially as we are at home 'most' of the time now. So while I'm busy organising our schooling day, I'm also finding ways of making things run smoothly, and ways to save on time when it comes to general household tasks! Especially when there will be a new baby in the house in a few months time!
I've just noticed that this post is a bit loopy and all over the place, I'll put it down to the fact that its nearly midnight and that I've eaten too many fresh made scrolls!
I'm off to bed now, I'm hoping to have a big day of organising and planning so that its a 'successful, stress free' week of homeschooling :)
Friday, January 6, 2012
Getting into the Home School Groove
This is the year that we start homeschooling :) I've been researching for the last 6 mths, checking out all the exciting things we will be able to do/attempt and finally I'm starting to gear up to the start of the 'school year'.
So I've been pottering around doing a little this and that - excited much? lol!
I've also been doing up the space I'll be using to home school (not a necessity I know but I'm able to so why not?) and will share that soon :) Its been a huge work in progress as the space used to be a 'nothing/junk' space! Next week will be about curriculum and the purchase of workbooks that I will be using. YAY :)
So I've been pottering around doing a little this and that - excited much? lol!
I've also been doing up the space I'll be using to home school (not a necessity I know but I'm able to so why not?) and will share that soon :) Its been a huge work in progress as the space used to be a 'nothing/junk' space! Next week will be about curriculum and the purchase of workbooks that I will be using. YAY :)
Small Success Thursday
Its been a long time since I've participated in Small Success Thursday, but I did find that it was nice to actually list some achievements for the week.
The run down on SST is as copied from Chocolate for your Brain "This is the day we take stock of those little things that we've done in the past week that either advanced us towards a goal, advanced us towards preserving our family or showed that we did the little things this week that matter, that add up to a lot of little things done with great love. To participate, just list three or more if you were feeling ambitious things that were small successes in your week on your blog and link up."
SO here are my SST's......
1. I online shopped for the 1st time in ages. I did toy with the idea of taking 7 kids out to the shops, you know, something to do, but decided that the potential of the babies playing up and or the kids nagging me for this and that, was wayyyyyy too much for this Mumma to enjoy lol!!
2. I've got my organising mojo back and I've been pottering around the place hitting the hotspots and putting things back in their places, culling anything 'broken/wornout/not used this century'. Its amazing how much 'stuff' is collected over 10 yrs! Even with semi-regular culling!
3. I've managed to keep up with the everyday chores for the last few weeks :) Its so nice to wake up to a clean house and not worry about doing a mad clean if someone decides to visit :) Even the washing and folding is completely up to date!! Fingers crossed we stay in this groove :)
So that's it for me - short and sweet :)
The run down on SST is as copied from Chocolate for your Brain "This is the day we take stock of those little things that we've done in the past week that either advanced us towards a goal, advanced us towards preserving our family or showed that we did the little things this week that matter, that add up to a lot of little things done with great love. To participate, just list three or more if you were feeling ambitious things that were small successes in your week on your blog and link up."
SO here are my SST's......
1. I online shopped for the 1st time in ages. I did toy with the idea of taking 7 kids out to the shops, you know, something to do, but decided that the potential of the babies playing up and or the kids nagging me for this and that, was wayyyyyy too much for this Mumma to enjoy lol!!
2. I've got my organising mojo back and I've been pottering around the place hitting the hotspots and putting things back in their places, culling anything 'broken/wornout/not used this century'. Its amazing how much 'stuff' is collected over 10 yrs! Even with semi-regular culling!
3. I've managed to keep up with the everyday chores for the last few weeks :) Its so nice to wake up to a clean house and not worry about doing a mad clean if someone decides to visit :) Even the washing and folding is completely up to date!! Fingers crossed we stay in this groove :)
So that's it for me - short and sweet :)
Thursday, January 5, 2012
WW - Wordless Wednesday
We have babies! Baby Kookaburra's that is :) There is a nest in the tree just by our back fence and we've been spending lots of time outside watching the Mumma/Dadda come and feed the babies :) About every 15-30mins they fly in with a new treat :) There must be a few in the nest cause they are noisy!!
Totally at my witts end!!
Nope its not the kids driving me nuts, its not the chores making me loose my mind, its the socks! YES! SOCKS! lol!!
I have a over abundance of socks that seem to end up loose and lost around the place, in various baskets and draws.
I have a over abundance of socks that seem to end up loose and lost around the place, in various baskets and draws.
Sock cake anyone? lol! This is a 3l milk next to the pile, big hey?
And since I seem to have early nesting going on I thought that I would tackle the situation head on! lol! With Livia's help, who is the puzzle master, we managed to cull the socks once again to a (hopefully) manageable amount.
And since I seem to have early nesting going on I thought that I would tackle the situation head on! lol! With Livia's help, who is the puzzle master, we managed to cull the socks once again to a (hopefully) manageable amount.
We chucked out nearly half the bucket, due to socks being holey or stretched. Surely I'm not only large family out there with a sock situation?? ;)
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Family Fun :)
One thing we like to do together as a family is have Marshmellows by the fire :) There is something so earthly and grounding about making a fire and sitting around it enjoying the warmth. Time seems to slow down for a little.....
Sometimes we make a damper on sticks and fill them with honey, or toast bread on sticks over the fire and spear with butter.......yummo......
The kids then enjoy a night play, running around with balls and hula hoops or jumping on the trampoline. I love that we have a 'old fashioned' backyard where we can make fires and have the kids play outside late without the neighbours cracking it lol!
Oh and we take fire safety seriously, as you can see the baby is strapped into his pram, Aliya has her long hair tied back and once we are finished enjoying the fire it is put out with the hose. The children are not allowed to pick up leaves or put in paper to 'make the fire bigger' and they are not allowed to be constantly getting up out of their seats in case they bump into each other or the fire. One can never say never when it comes to children having accidents, (without wrapping them up in bubble wrap) but I try to let them have some 'old fashioned fun', supervised of course.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
2009, 2010 and 2011 Christmas Santa Photos
I came across some old Christmas Photos and couldn't resist sharing how much our family has changed over the last few years :) As you will notice Jaidon is not in every photo, that is because we have him alternating weeks ie before/after Christmas Day on the Christmas holidays over the years....
I can't wait for 2012 Christmas Photo because Jaidon and the newest baby will be in the photo :) All of our 8 children together :)
I can't wait for 2012 Christmas Photo because Jaidon and the newest baby will be in the photo :) All of our 8 children together :)
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