The Mini Olympics

Something funky happened to some of my phone photos when transferring them onto my computer, hence the weird lines on a few - sorry!

Last week we packed our bags and headed the three hours to Longreach to attend 'minischool' - where the kids get to stay at the school with their classmates for five days, attend 'real' lessons with their class teachers at school (and do some yucky Naplan), do some fun activities as a group and hopefully have lots of fun. It's sort of like a school camp...but at school.

We stayed in the quarters at school, there in enough space for 50 people with bunk bed style accommodation, a big dining room and industrial kitchen. There were 17 grade five students, plus mums, teachers, governesses and some siblings doing school at the same time.

Here is Maddy in the classroom and getting her hair braided one night before bed by the obliging Miss Kate, a fellow governess...

And the result in the morning...

The theme for minischool was 'the Olympics' - quite fitting for this year and the kids really got into it! I remember at the same age the Atlanta Olympics were happening for me, and I was lucky enough to go to the US for the games, I can remember my Olympics fever as a ten year old! 

Kristy was the head cook for the week, and after planning the menu and racking our brains for 'Olympic' foods we decided that we could go around the world via the menu. We brought our world map from the Malden schoolroom and got the kids to pin where the food was from before every meal. The foods we tasted and countries we visited were...

- American hot dogs

- Japanese sushi

- Italian pizza

- Chinese chicken and corn soup with egg and ginger

- Australian gold and green jelly with a caramello koala

- Dutch (Vikings!) roast pork

- Mexican tacos

- English scones with jam and cream

And after some creative thinking we also came up with the following, bit of a stretch? Perhaps. But the kids loved it!

- Jamaican marshmallow and fruit skewers (featuring coconut covered banana...I thought it was Jamaican?!)

- Antarctic ice-cream bar (get it?!) with an assortment of lollies, chocolate, sprinkles, Cold Rock style

- Greek 'cheesecake', also known as jelly slice. After much googling I discovered that the ancient Olympians were served what was believed to be the first serving of cheesecake...so Greece it was! Obviously.

The kids got to enjoy some fun activities - early morning cricket in the freezing Longreach chill, a session learning all about opera with an Opera Queensland crew who are traveling throughout western Queensland spreading some opera love, practising for the end of year school musical and a great Olympics x-box/wii night where they all had to dress up as an Olympian. Tom was a clay target shooter, with a gun and earmuffs he looked quite the part. After watching some rhythmic gymnastics videos on youtube with me Maddy decided she wanted to be a gymnast, a leotard and a ribbon stick completed the look.

The week was exhausting but fun - a lot of cooking and consoling overtired kids! While I was away in Longreach the poor suffering Matt was back at Malden in the throes of a terrible feverish virus, which he is thankfully over now but seems to have passed a bit of it on to me. 

On the night before we were due to leave I think we all woke up listening to the heavy rain on the roof of the quarters at 4am. We packed up, did the grocery shopping and headed home, some others were not so lucky, either spending more time in the quarters or only getting halfway home before being stopped by the rain, road closures and rising creeks. This was our car leaving Longreach...bit full??

Back into the schoolroom at Malden, the creek has come up since we arrived home and we're once again flooded in - Alex and Matt have been boating out. 

Until next time! 

Back To School and James Bond Jackaroo

We are back in the schoolroom after the kids returned from camp - the 3 hour drive home with four kids in the back had us in hysterics at the going-on of a grade five camp! Term 2 is upon us and we've started learning about the media, what 'bias' and 'assertions' are, evidence, points of view and opinions, as well as some geometry in maths (translations, rotations and reflections anyone?)

Collecting the kids off the bus at LSODE after their camp to Magnetic Island

Before we left to head south over the school holidays I spent a day cleaning and organising the schoolroom from top to toe. Packing up last term's work, sorting through the mountain of textas, pencils, crayons, staplers, sharpeners and going through all the books in the reading corner bookshelf. This is the disaster zone before...

Stuff of nightmares, I know. Please don't judge me! Things got just a tad hectic by the end of term trying to finish work off. I tried to find a home for everything and organised my little heart out until I came up with something more to my liking. Clear desks and clutter free, hopefully means the kids (and I) can concentrate a bit better.

The reading corner of the schoolroom is generally where Tom does his school work (he refuses to sit at his desk so sits in his red chair, sometimes with an iPod on, mostly playing with stress balls and blu-tack). The big bookshelf holds all the reading books, reference books, craft and drawing books and books from the school library. We sit here on the reading mat after lunch and read a book together, last term it was Enid Blyton's 'The Magical Wishing Chair'. To say the bookshelf was in need of some attention was probably an understatement...

Now it's a more organised place to sit and do our work, read stories together and find exactly what we need...

When we were in Longreach picking the kids up from camp Kristy and I got some beanbag chairs to put in the reading corner also. So far they've been a hit, with Maddy now choosing to do most of her work down there with Tom. A lot of people ask me if this sort of teaching is actually a hindrance to the kids for when they go to a 'real' school and have to sit in a 'real' classroom. Probably, but at the moment it's a means to an end!

We had a bit of medical drama this week as Maddy stepped on a screw and had it stuck in her foot. After much hysteria and crying, a phone call to a neighbour who is a nurse, we pulled it out and she now sports a bit of a limp but I've assured her we won't put her down just yet ;) No netball this Friday though, but it has also started raining today and turned cold - I think the inland Queensland winter is finally here.

The patient recovering on the couch with 'Flopsy' and nurse Tom

Matt had a bit of excitement this week also. Ok, that's the understatement of the year - he came home from work grinning from ear to ear. They have been mustering this week using a contracted helicopter, Matt got a flat tyre on his motorbike, not unusual so he kept riding, then he bent the steering rod (or something??) so had to abandon ship and start walking. Chopper pilot must've taken pity on the poor soul and landed to pick him up and take him back to the yards. The others were having some trouble with some non-compliant cows and weaners though so Matt actually got to 'go to work' in the chopper whilst mustering, jumping in and out to help Alex and Glenn tie some weaners and then jump back in the chopper. So basically he now thinks he is some sort of James Bond jackaroo. Luckily he did have his little camera in his pocket that day though and managed to snap some of these...

He also got these ones once he had his feet back on solid ground. Lots of people have asked us what the country is like around Alpha so hopefully these give you an idea. The last one may or may not have had some help from Matt's lovely photographer wife :)

Back in the schoolroom I have been really surprised and proud at how the kids are tackling their new work. It seems something may have clicked! Yesterday Tom asked me if I had ever been a teacher before, I said no but I had been a nanny, he said well how do you know how to teach us things so well? Maybe I'm not doing such a bad job at 'winging' it!

Yesterday we whizzed through two days worth of maths as well as spelling before smoko (unheard of!)  and then tackled a day of English and I set them a 'special task' of writing a persuasive piece. First, I had to introduce what the heck 'persuasive writing' was before letting them write for a full hour. Kristy and I were really pleased and surprised at the level of their thinking and writing - great stuff!

Maddy learning about 'rotation, reflection and translation' with shapes in maths this week

Tom with his new best friend 'Speckles' in his red chair in the schoolroom

Miss Emma's way of totally bamboozling the kids - well so I thought until they actually understood it and wrote something! 

Matt and I are off to Longreach tomorrow for a little tourist activity at the Stockman's Hall of Fame and Qantas museum. We haven't really done anything like that since being here at Malden so I'm really looking forward to it. The Sparrow's are off to the races in Emerald, unfortunately at the moment it is steadily raining.

Another jam-packed week in the schoolroom for me and branding in the yards for Matt next week before we head to Yeppoon for Beef 2012 next weekend. Another roadtrip!

Boat building, webcams and Tara Dennis...

I thought I would share what our week in the Malden schoolroom was like. Let me start by saying I don't think there is such a thing as an 'average' week, or day, in the schoolroom! This week for example we had to go to Emerald on Monday (about two and half hour drive) for the kids to go to the dentists and parents to go to the accountants. I packed up their schoolwork though and we went to a friends house to attempt to finish our lessons. Then on Friday Little Miss Netball Star had to go to Barcaldine to play so we had a very quick lesson in the morning before waving mum and netball star goodbye walking across the creek. Yep flooded in still. Tom and I held the fort whilst his Dad and Matt worked in the yards Saturday. 

We did, however, learn all about area this week in maths. We learnt that it is measuring the space inside a shape and that you multiply the sides to find out how many metres/centimetres squared take up the space. Ways we learnt this were by measuring the deck, the pool, the backyard...you get the idea. We had some super tricky problems to solve, like working out if we wanted to paint two walls of the schoolroom, how much paint would we need if 1 litre does 15 square metres and we need to do two coats. Poor Miss Emma's limited maths brain was hurting!

Measuring the pool

Measuring how long the backyard is

Whilst we were busy doing maths lessons, the chopper came this week to help Matt and Alex muster. I managed to get this very dodgy photo of the chopper 'parked' at the Malden house for lunch. 

This week in the schoolroom I tried to get the kids (and myself) to keep it tidy - everything in it's place and all that. One idea I brought home from home tutor workshop was to use a daily schoolwork folder. Rather than the kids sifting through their whole unit of work to find what we are doing today and it totally overwhelming them, they can now come into the schoolroom and be handed one folded that has just what we are doing today in it. Little Miss I Love Rules loves it because it brings structure, Little Mr I Hate School loves it because if it's not in the folder Miss Emma can't make him do it!

New daily schoolwork folders

The schoolroom is in the house, just off the kitchen/dining/lounge. It's both an advantage and disadvantage having a schoolroom in the house, the store room and cold room are off the schoolroom which makes it tempting for the kids to get something to eat instead of do their work, or Mum/Dad can be in and out of the schoolroom getting things.

The twins desks are in the centre of the room, divided by a wall so they can't annoy one another...too much. The computers are on one side of the room and my whiteboard and the storage cupboards on the other. A lot of things are now done on computer for distance ed (and I'm sure mainstream schools) so we alternate between the kids desks and the computers, depending if they are typing work, playing a spelling or maths game or listening to an audio piece. 

Maddy's desk

Tom's desk

The kids on air

Where Miss Emma 'teaches' (aka harps on about things the kids generally don't care about...)

Part of the 'structure' I was wanting to bring to the schoolroom was a set routine for the day. I went through The Plan with the kids and they told me what they would like to do first, second, third etc. I printed it out and put it on the wall so they can know what's coming next. This week I introduced reading a book just for fun after lunch to coax them back into the schoolroom - so far so good! We're reading Enid Blyton's The Wishing Chair, reliving my own childhood, I don't know if me or the kids are enjoying it more :)

New school routine and Miss Emma's rules...both are works in progress!

The kids have on air lessons Monday-Thursday at midday for about an hour. It's a blessing and a curse - a blessing because they get to have a 'real' lesson with a real teacher and interact with their classmates, and a curse because it's at the end of the main part of my teaching for the day so they're a bit drained and also Tom hates on air, mainly because he has to sit and listen. Booooooring. He can generally be found slouched in his chair, spinning around on his chair, throwing his headset at the screen, lying under the desk...you know, the usual. This week was particularly tough as their class teacher has been wanting them to turn their webcams on. Great! I thought, they get to interact and be more like a 'real' classroom, but Tom hated the idea. It meant his teacher could see everything he did (or didn't do). Sigh!

The kids class teacher, Mr Grubb

After we finish school for the day (usually at about 2.30pm) we get to do fun activities - painting, drawing, swimming, sports, games. I try to do an activity each day with each child so one doesn't feel left out, I think Tom is wondering why there are no male governesses?! Maddy wanted to make 'something like on Better Homes & Gardens, you knooooow!' Luckily Matt and I watched it last week and I knew what she wanted to do - a painting using masking tape to make lines across it. Move over Tara Dennis.

Next day and it was Tom's turn - this time boat building, inspired by our current work we're doing on the first fleet arriving in Botany Bay. We would set sail in the pool with our trusty vessels! I was super impressed with Tom's ingenuity when building his boat, a true engineer. He used two empty yogurt tubs and a prima box for super buoyancy. I made a viking ship (obviously, can't you tell?!) out of a paper plate, some pencils with paper sails and paddle-pop stick 'oars'. Maddy's was a paddle-pop raft which took on water quickly! Perhaps not a true engineer.

My Viking ship 

Tom's creation

Maddy's creation

Tom's finished boat. Arrrrr!!! Trying out his best pirate impersonation, can't you tell?!

Another great week in the schoolroom as well as in the paddock here at Malden. Matt has been doing lots of mustering this week, then drafting weaners, branding, marking, preg-testing in the yards. Some big days with a very sleepy husband by the end but we all know he wouldn't have it any other way. Hoping for an uninterrupted (and therefore productive!) week in the schoolroom next week...