A Luau in Africa?!?!

ALOHA! Welcome to our first "co-op" ! Marcia, my best friend, has just started homeschooling this year. She is also using the Sonlight Core 5 Curriculum. It is such a blessing to have a likeminded friend with whom I can join up with for events such as these!Each learner had to "choose an adventure" relating to the South Pacific Islands theme.So we decided to have a Luau. (Well sort of.)


Masks were made ..........

An island was designed ..........................
Traditional music was explained .............
A Local Hawaiian dish was sampled (yugh!!) .............

And a yummy hawaiian pudding was devoured .............
We had a blast and have made a note to do this again soon!!
.Mahalo & aloha !

xx

Week one is done!

We had a wonderful first week back at Gibbons FunSchool! We learnt LOADS, but the best was that we ALL had fun as the learning happened!

In fact, .... WizKid noted in his diary that " TODAY WAS A GREAT DAY! SCHOOL WAS AWESOME. IF I THINK ABOUT IT, I HAVE NEVER USED SCHOOL AND AWESOME IN THE SAME SENTENCE BEFORE!!" ( yebo,yebo.... I love that boy of mine!)

Changing the subject ...... On Friday MrGee had to under go general anesthetic, and have 6 Lipomas cut out of his arms. He is now fine and just experiencing a small amount of pain. Thank the Lord us females were given the task of bearing children!

I thought I would post a pick of the boys attempting a pencil sketch.

They made me PROMISE that I woud not publish their personal art works ....SO unfortunately you do not get to see their masterpieces!!! I told them the objective was not to create an awesome piece of art, but rather to try and capture on paper(to the best of their ability) what they saw infront of them. I was pleasantly surprised.....in a good way!

xx

Our first day!

It felt like we had been waiting for this day forever!!!!
The boys and I have been SO excited to get back to homeschooling.
I kid you not...... In the middle of their Christmas hols the boys sighed and said ,"I wish homeschool was starting now!" ...... " Check at these cool books, this year is gonna be awesome!"

The day went well, except for few hiccups with the computers and mother's lack of sufficient planning! (I think one can never do enough planning!.... or am I crazy.)

Here's a very brief summery of what we are doing this year.....

Devotions .... The Names of Jesus / New Testament Matthew-Acts

Hist/Geog .... The Eastern Hemisphere... China/Japan/Australia/New Zealand/India/Russia/Asia/Africa/Pacific Islands/Middle East/Mongolia/Korea/Antarctica

Maths .... Singapore and Horizons

Language Arts ..... Sonlight Curriculum (Language Arts 4 and Lit 130)

We decided not to do Science this year as my boys are streaks ahead in this subject. I felt it would be beneficial for them to focus on other subjects that could do with a little more attention!

Afrikaans .... our country's second language. I have employed an Afrikaans lady to come and teach the boys.(I can speak and understand the language, but have NO confidence to teach it!!!!)

Electives ... Typing Instructor Deluxe , Professor Teaches Web Pages & Graphics.

So that's us sorted for the year!.... hopefully .... I am quite aware that it will probably change some way or the other!!

xx

SarA's ARt hOUse

I want to introduce you to a VERY talented friend of mine! We have been blogging friends for almost 2 years now. Her blog is full of colour and lots of beautiful pics.I always leave her website feeling uplifted and inspired!..... Go and say hello to Sara at Sara's Art House

Have a browse through her Etsy shop where you can buy these beautiful hand made cards. I ordered some and was pleasantly surprised to see that they actually got to me!!! South Africa's postal system is awful!

They are beautiful ...... THANK YOU SARA!

xx

Counting the sleeps.......

Gibbons FunSchool is getting ready to re-open it's doors! Yippee - doodle!! The boys and I have been excited ever since we made the decision to return to home-ed in August 2008. We have all been counting the sleeps and now there are only SEVEN left until we officially open!

This will be our fourth year of home-ed, and we are still going strong with the Sonlight Curriculum.

WE LOVE SONLIGHT !

xx

My precious daughter.

When Granny Boom was here over Christmas she made up Tanzi's face. Granny used to be a ballet dancer so she did ballet make-up .... but very lightly. It looked fresh and pretty!

Then Miss Tanzi had a go on her own-some!!! We wondered why she was so quiet. When we clapped eyes on her we realised why!! Tanzi had got stuck into Granny's make-up ...... the result ......

She would not let me wipe it off. I eventually had to bribe her with chocolate .......that always does the trick!

Tanzi has brought such joy into my life. She is the daughter I never knew I wanted. Now that might sound odd, but when I got married, I told MrGee that I only wanted boys.... and 4 of them would be great!! We had two sons and were both stoked with our boys. So happy that we stopped thinking about anymore kids. Then surprise, surprise I fell preggie and knew imediately it was a girl! God always knows best. I gave birth to this girl of note. She is sassy, opinionated, creative and intellegent way beyond her four years. She never ceases to amuse and intertain me!

I love you pussy-cat!

xx

Painting in the garden.

Miss Tanzi has been begging to paint for a while now! Because she is such a messy crafter(!!) I have been avoiding this medium with her. I came to my senses, realised I was being ridiculous and bought her this easel .... plonked her on the grass and voila ..... her first two compositions.


The pulling in of her tummy caused her to look slightly deformed in the pic below!

So after all that worrying about whether Tanzi would flick paint everywhere, I can confirm that not one drop landed on her or the kitty!

What a life !

xx

My Boys are gone for a week!

Yesterday WizzKid and CoolDude took a flight out of town. They left for Bloemfontein to stay with Granny and Grandpa Boom on their farm. CoolDude loves flying but Wizzkid is still cautious about the whole flying experience!

Due to a storm, their flight had to be diverted to Johannesburg. They flew unaccompanied, so I had visions of them wandering around the airport not knowing what to do! But they stayed on board and within a couple of hours they were safe in the arms of a *crying granny* and grandpa.

x

I'm gonna miss you boys!!!(mwah.....mwah)xx

New years Eve.

I can remember only one New Year's Eve that we spent away from home. All the rest have been enjoyed at our house and mostly by ourselves ..... can I help it if we enjoy our own company!!!!
We started out 'having a braai'.......

........... but our gas ran out, so we moved our chicken to the oven. Now this was no ordinary chicken. You see, we used South Africa's ORIGINAL beer chicken , THE BEER BIRD, to cook this fowl!

You just perch the chickie on top of a half full beer can (or coke can) and braai/barbeque or roast in the oven for 90 minutes. Honestly, it was the most tender chicken we have ever tasted. After dinner we watched reruns of ................... ...... and we spent a few good hours together!
Then I fell asleep...( there will be no picture of that!!!) But I managed to wake up at 11:30 and saw the New Year in with MrGee. It was a tad misty so the fireworks, from our balcony, didn't look the greatest!After that we watched the Royal Albert New Years Extravaganza on TV and hit the sack at 2:30 am!

Perhaps not the most thrilling way to spend New Years, but just the way we LIKE it!

xx

Bethany and Elijah need your HELP!

This wonderful family needs your help!
They are in the process of adopting two children from China. Recently they found out that the orphanage fee had increased dramatically but they are desperate to get these two kiddeos home as soon as possible. Please go on over to Waala Family Adventures and give what you can. Two and a half years ago they adopted Mia-Faith from China. I have been privelidged to see this little girl blend beautifully into the family she has been so blessed with. I have watched her blossom into a bundle of joy!
Lives are being changed ...... what a blessing to be part of it !

xx