Yet another busy week here whilst we still have friends in Perth on holiday, but we did achieve a lot!

Ethany finished all her +1 math problems in the Kumon Grade 1 Addition book and has made a start on +2.  I provide her with an abacus but most of the time she is completing these mentally.  When I ask her how she says she has apples on her computer in her head and she counts them.  It's working for her for now and she is getting 95 to 100% on every page.

She has this week finished all but the post test in Explode the Code Book 1.  I just need some down time to give her the test.  She REALLY has not enjoyed working through this book.  I have moments where I think it is moving too slow for her and moments when I think maybe too much writing and moments when I think it's the lack of colour for my visual child.  Who knows!!  Towards the end of the book she has finally stopped complaining and has got on with it colouring as she goes.  She has been writing beautifully and only made 1 mistake for the entire book.  It does work so we will be on to Book 2 once it arrived in the mail and hopefully the complaints are behind us.

I have decided to race through the last few lessons in 100 Easy Lessons at 2 per day because she is reading so beautifully already.  I could put it aside and not complete it but as this is the very first thing we started when we began formal homeschooling I really want to complete it.  That's the focus for the next 2 weeks.  Completing it with Ethany because Xavier is busting to get started!

Queens Language Lessons is going fine.  The lessons are quite light so we have been completing 2 lessons most days unless it's copywork.  We are really enjoying the picture study and narration.

We have moved on to the 2 syllable words in Websters and so far so good.  She is doing a wonderful job. 

Ethany's handwriting has all of a sudden improved out of sight.  We don't have a handwriting program so rely on copywork on the main part.  I always sit with her to provide encouragement on correct formation if required.  We also practice 1 letter that doesn't look too flash at the end.  For a 4 1/2 year old, left hander with poor vision she is turning out some really nice work.  Wonders never cease to amaze!

We continued working on The Story of Ping this week.  Ethany provided an excellent narration which I may post separately.  We also made a river and put all our ducks on.  Well, at least I thought it had all the ducks but I did discover 2 under the table when cleaning up at the end of the day.

To finish off our week we attended a picnic at King's Park with a huge bunch of other homeschoolers.  It was wonderful and gave me the opportunity to catch up with a couple of Mum's I don't often get to see.  We were quite early so enjoyed exploring whilst the park was quiet.

Pacific Black Duck and her ducklings

 We did also see some Australian Wood Ducks but the picture I took was very poor.  The Pacific Black Ducks are very common to the lakes and wetland areas in Perth.  I grew up calling these Dilly Ducks.  My Mum actually had one as a pet when she was a child living in the country.  This mother duck was lovely and came close to the kids keeping her ducklings altogether.  She hoped out of the lake at one point which sparked some mass hysteria from the ducklings who all called madly for her.  She did come back and appeared to tell them all off sternly before hopping back in.  They then went hunting and the kids were amazed to see the little ducklings completely submerge themselves and swim under the water looking for food.

Take care

Amber