Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 14

Weight loss from last week: lost that pesky 0.5 kg again!
Total weight loss overall: 3 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 7 cm

So far I keep going up and down around the same weight - hopefully with some effort next week I can progress past it! Aiming for 3.5kg lost (in total) by next week.

Think! Engineering challenge

A few weeks ago I found the Think! blog which posts weekly engineering challenges with a list of materials to build from. Today we took up their challenge to create a water wheel from the following:

"a long dowel
a cardboard tube or a two liter bottle or a can
8 index cards
a sharpie
string
tape

You may use scissors in construction but not the solution. "

I'm not an engineering person by any stretch of the imagination, so we googled some images of water wheels, and this is what Billy came up with:



It worked great for a couple of seconds until the cards got too wet. I was just using thick paper rather than cardboard though.

We didn't end up using the string - I guess that was for the 2nd half of the challenge to connect it to the boat. We probably could have also used it to suspend the dowel in the middle of the tube, but we were satisfied with what we did for the first time at the challenge.

We also didn't use the sharpie. Other than for Billy to draw up his blueprint in the first place :)

Exploring our local area: Tocal Homestead

The Tocal property was one of the first land grants in the Paterson Valley in 1822 and has one of Australia's finest collections of colonial farm buildings dating from the 1820's. Tocal Homestead itself was built in 1841.

On Tuesday, about 50 homeschoolers attended a heritage day at the Homestead - and had a great time!

They split into small groups of about 8 kids each and got to try out lots of different "old-style" activities like:

washing the clothes the old-fashioned way!

playing games like horseshoes, elastics & tug-of-war,

carrying water with yoke & buckets

and dressing up!

(As you can see, Will & Billy were pretty inseparable for the day!)

They also got a tour through the house:

including the separate kitchen area -

Here is the guide showing us how to use the milk separator - notice the ice-box beside her!

And of course, the bath for the men - 5 men using the same water, every 2 weeks. I'd hate to be the last person :)

Some very exhausted but happy kids at the end of the day..

I'd like to go back when Billy is a bit older and do the house tour again - they have a self-guided audio tour you can do, but I think he'll get more out of it in a few years time.

Please go and hug your kids..

and tell them how much you love them.

The 17yo son of one of our neighbours died last night. 17 - a lifetime ahead of him. I looked at my to-do list today and decided nothing on there couldn't wait until I'd spent a couple of hours snuggling with Billy and reading some books together.

Life is precious.

Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 13

Weight loss from last week: stayed the same - 0 kg lost
Total weight loss overall: 2.5 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 7 cm

I managed to exercise at least 20 mins each day but my food choices weren't the best. I need to get my head back in the weight loss groove!

Our week of learning - 28th June

English: Lots of reading plus a couple of hours on Spellodrome.

Last year sometime I downloaded an awesome study unit on Treasure Island from the Little Blue School blog. As I tend to do, I printed it out but hadn't gotten around to using it yet. Since we've just started reading Treasure Island again together (we started reading it earlier this year and got sidetracked!), I figured it was time to finally put it to use :)

So we looked at some vocabulary meanings from Treasure Island, and then for the fun bits, Billy made a pirate flag, and picked his pirate name - Captain Mad-eye Fish-lip Peg-Leg Swashbuckle :)




Maths: As well as a couple of hours spent on the Mathletics site, we looked for the first time at 2 digit addition - mainly without carrying, but we did touch briefly on carrying.

Science & Technology: We made a Benham's disc using an old CD, a ping-pong ball, softdrink bottle lid and the template from the RAFT worksheet. A Benham's disc is a certain black & white pattern, which when spun tricks the eye into seeing colour. It was very cool :)



Billy's Joey mob also did science stuff this week - looking at other optical illusions, and making a paper helicopter.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): We started reading the "Wonders of Egypt" book, and also watched a series called Pyramid about the building of the pyramids.

Creative & Practical Arts: The last drama class of the term.

LOTE (Languages other than English): Nothing this week.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Circus class.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): He's been making a few salads on his own to go with dinner this week. It helps if you like very large chucks of carrot in your salad :)

Wednesday Weigh-In - Wk 12

Weight loss from last week: gained 0.5kg :(
Total weight loss overall: 2.5 kg
Total cms lost off waist: 7 cm

I put weight on :( It's not hard to see why - I didn't exercise all week (my "excuse" was the wet weather), and I had a few too many desserts and snacks through the week.

So I'm committing to exercising for 10 mins x 3 times per day to see how I go with that. Surely I can do that!

Hmmm, looks like a bit of rain about...