Monday Today started off with another session under the mango trees trying to decide what was ready to be picked and what wasnt, all the while trying to avoid green ants! Pete was actually available to help us on our learning curve of what to pick so we were all down there as a family.
I think we would have picked over 300 mangoes most of which have been given to a family who is packing mangoes and selling them to raise money for Open Doors. It was very hot work as we didnt get started till 7.30am so I let the kids go for dips in the irrigation channel.
The kids thought that this was such a treat that they made it sound like fun so I decided to join them yuk! Inches deep of black soil mud . I got myself out of there quick and came home to enjoy the house by myself. They stayed down there for at least another hour or so supposedly picking more mangoes but I believe they had a lot of water play. The girls even did a beauty treatment on themselves mud; they have heard is good for the complexion!
Once they came home and had a bit of a break we started our Character study for the day. We discussed I will find ways to help, and not to hide with the catch phrase Just do it! (Our trait for this month is Availability) We read the story of the little boy who saved Holland by putting his finger in the dike. He was available to his country, he saw the task that needed doing and he did it! This lead to a quick lesson on the country of Holland.
Each of the children completed a notebook page reflecting their knowledge (and interest) in Holland. Josh focused on the buildings/structures to be found in Holland as well as the history. Jess did a great notebook page (truly a Scrapbook page in style.) She used clip art and some clever paper craft to reflect different aspects of Holland. Nomi also went the Scrapbook page style notebook using fancy templates, lots of colour and hand cut lettering for her title. I typed her narration of the story (about the little boy etc) and she included that on her page. Daniel was very insistent on me filling out the names of the seas/oceans around Europe on the map I had copied for their notebook page. He found which sea was the angry waters from our story. He labelled the map correctly. He coloured in a flag and cut a clip art photo of a tulip. Daniel also gave me a narration, which I typed to fit onto his notebook page.
In their free time this afternoon Nomi and Daniel created a cardboard house from the Boxes of Boxes (aka junk box). It includes a veranda with outdoor living set up – pot plants included!
After dinner we noticed that the moon was this incredible full red circle. Unfortunately by the time we got out there it had lost its blood red-ness though was still a pretty incredible sight. We all had a look through the binoculars at the moon. I think though that the kids had more fun with the dog she barks at shadows and moving light so when she saw our shadows on the lawn she fairly went ballistic!
