NPWS volunteers

Spent a nice rainy day at Bent's Basin as NPWS volunteers. We were making flaps which were to be placed at the entrance of wombat burrows to test the effectiveness of this method for delivering medicine to treat mange in the wombats. Unfortunately the rain stopped us from going out to put the traps in place, and soccer has now started so we are unlikely to get the chance to go back and see how they worked unless they do a weekday run - but it was a great homeschooling experience nonetheless and one we enjoyed heaps.

African drumming workshop

Today we joined in with an African drumming workshop with other homeschoolers. We learnt about how the drums were made and the materials they are made from, and the boys learnt to play some increasingly complex rhythms. Boronia and the boys had fun playing with the other kids afterwards - Waratah even learnt how to play handball.

Sprinkles

After a morning of soccer, we stopped off to grab another geocache: Sprinkles in Campbelltown.

The grass in the park was soft and thick and lovely to lie in!

(Boronia is trying to balance a rock on her head so she can have a fancy hat like Waratah :D)

Super smiles

Super Mulga getting some exercise on the trampoline - while trying to fly.

Then a spot of balancing beam for some more gymnastic skills.

While Boronia shows off her beautiful toothy grin :) 

The Camden Line - Currans Hill Platform

Picked up a quick geocache between soccer games :) No pics, unfortunately. Forgot the camera! Here's one someone else took:

Interesting to talk with the boys about the old train line that used to run through here. No sign of it now!

"The branch line from Campbelltown to Camden was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 28 April 1880 an construction commenced in June 1881.

The line following the contour of the land, running beside the road to Narellan, and climbing Kenny's Hill on the steepest grade in New South Wales (1 in 19), This would sometimes have the passengers disembarking from the train and walk alongside it, leaving their bags on board. 

The line, called the Camden Tramway, was opened by the Minister for Works, Hon. John Lackey, on Friday 10 March, 1882.

Currans Hill was opened in 1882 and like other stations consisted of a short wooden platform. An additional platform was added in 1904 and it was closed in 1963 when the Camden Line was decomissioned due to falling passenger numbers."

Mt Annan Sustainability Centre

Mulga making a "cuppa" in the kitchen...

and offering it to Fiona, who graciously accepts.

Waratah interacting with his friends.

Boronia exploring.

Yet another hero!

While Mulga was playing his soccer match, Daddy and Waratah went for a walk and rescued a baby Indian Minor bird. Here are Waratah and some of the other siblings from Mulga's team discussing the bird, and the player of the match award which Waratah had earned during his earlier match.

S1 Science: ESS1.6 Identifies and describes ways in which people and other living things depend upon the earth and its environments.

S1 Science: INVS1.7 Conducts guided investigations by observing, questioning, predicting, collecting and recording data, and suggesting possible explanations.

S1 PDHPE: COS1.1 Communicates appropriately in a variety of ways.

S1 PDHPE: INS1.3 Develops positive relationships with peers and other people.

S1 PDHPE: MOS1.4 Demonstrates maturing performance of basic movement and compositional skills in a variety of predictable situations.

S1 PDHPE: ALS1.6 Participates in physical activity, recognising that it can be both enjoyable and important for health.

S1 PDHPE: GSS1.8 Performs fundamental movement skills with equipment in minor games.

S1 PDHPE: IRS1.11 Identifies the ways in which they communicate, cooperate and care for others.

Gundungurra geocache and a Dino garden

First, some reading in bed.

S1 English: RS1.5 Reads a wider range of texts on less familiar topics with increasing independence and understanding, making connections between own knowledge and experience and information in texts.

S1 English: RS1.6 Draws on an increasing range of skills and strategies when reading and comprehending texts.

S1 English: RS1.5 Reads a wider range of texts on less familiar topics with increasing independence and understanding, making connections between own knowledge and experience and information in texts.

S1 English: RS1.6 Draws on an increasing range of skills and strategies when reading and comprehending texts.

 These are the superhero books that Mulga got for his birthday. Very popular with the boys.

Off for a quick spot of geocaching: this cache was called Gundungurra in honour of the local Aboriginal tribe. "The territory of the Gundungurra tribe includes Burragorang, Katoomba, Picton, Berrima, Taralga and Goulburn, with the intervening country." 

S1 Maths: MS1.1 Estimates, measures, compares and records lengths and distances using informal units, metres and centimetres.

S1 Maths: WMS1.2 Uses objects, diagrams, imagery and technology to explore mathematical problems.

S1 Maths: WMS1.5 Links mathematical ideas and makes connections with, and generalisations about, existing knowledge and understanding in relation to Stage 1 content.

S1 HSIE: CCS1.2 Identifies changes and continuities in their own life and in the local community.

S1 HSIE: ENS1.5 Compares and contrasts natural and built features in their local area and the ways in which people interact with these features.

S1 PDHPE: ALS1.6 Participates in physical activity, recognising that it can be both enjoyable and important for health.

Then off to the Mt Annan Sustainability Centre to plant a dinosaur garden.

Waratah enjoyed learning about the succulent plant varieties and drew diagrams of them on the blackboard. The top one is Mother-in-Law's tongue, and the bottom one is the Jellybean plant.

S1 HSIE: ENS1.6 Demonstrates an understanding of the relationship between environments and people.

S1 Science: ICS1.2 Creates a range of information products and communicates using a variety of media.

S1 Science: LTS1.3 Identifies and describes ways in which living things grow and change.

S1 Science: ESS1.6 Identifies and describes ways in which people and other living things depend upon the earth and its environments.

S1 Science: INVS1.7 Conducts guided investigations by observing, questioning, predicting, collecting and recording data, and suggesting possible explanations.

S1 PDHPE: COS1.1 Communicates appropriately in a variety of ways.

S1 PDHPE: INS1.3 Develops positive relationships with peers and other people.

S1 Creative Arts: VAS1.1 Makes artworks in a particular way about experiences of real and imaginary things.

Boronia enjoys a spot of gardening too.

Mulga engaged in some imaginative play with the little kitchen, and took a turn at the chalkboard - this was a picture of a journey accompanied by a complicated superhero narrative.

Mulga turns 5

Happy fifth birthday to our darling Mulga!  First came the very serious business of present opening!

Lots of reading - he received a big pile of books about superheroes.

Then off to soccer for a match game.

Boronia watching her big brother play (we dropped Yeti and Waratah off for a game at a different field).

Then home for party and cake :)

Birdwood Gully geocache

From our log: Success on our second attempt - the first time we searched every step - up, down and around LOL... not easy when wearing a sleeping 13 month old! Still, it was only our first day of geocaching, and we were tired after a long day... we came home, re-read all the comments, and figured we knew where it was. We had searched the right place but not at the right level! We came back for our second attempt and started by admiring the bower bird nest - we had made a special blue bird to leave in the cache when we found it, and we wanted to photograph it in the bower. Just as we finished, we looked up from the bower to not-ground zero, and there it was, a little corner peeking out at us! Mr Bower Bird came by and watched curiously as we put our blue bird and a blue car in the cache. We took a golden pirate coin and the Pico Compass Rose Geocoin... Waratah was extremely disappointed that he couldn't keep such a beautiful item. He thought he had found "real treasure" and is now saving up to buy one of his own.

Step up... and up and up and up: Waratah and the cache on the steps - where we searched and didn't find it on our first attempt. This cache is for the birds!!! :D

The little crocheted bird we made just to leave in this cache, posing in the bower... we may have to bring another one up to leave for Mr Bowerbird who was watching our proceedings with great interest!

 

Our first geocoin find. Waratah REALLY wanted to keep it!

First time geocaching - Madoline Glen

We have been wanting to try geocaching for a long time now, and we finally got our first opportunity, with a our Blue Mountains Homeschool Bushwalk group. We all met at Springwood to walk through Birdwood Gully, and hopefully pick up a few geocaches on the way. We were all first timers, and it took us a while to get the hang of using the compass apps on our various devices (we were using an iPad in a Griffin Survivor case with Compass Commander. I have since purchased the geocaching.com app which is VERY user friendly).

Waratah climbing the wall of. a cave

Mulga with his "fossilized T-rex tooth".

At first we missed the spot where we were to turn off the track, and walked up the hill, where we stopped to play on some amazing wave-curled rock formations. I didn't get any photos of that because Waratah and I (and Boronia in the carrier) decided to go back down the hill to see if we could find the right spot. A short trek off the trail, and we had it! Back up the hill to get everyone else, and then back down the hill to let everyone share in the excitement of making their first find. It was a lovely big cache with something for everyone.

Hidden treasure!

Mulga was incredibly impressed to find this "Gandalf" statue.

Boronia thought it was all very exciting.

The children then made and hid their own special cache for homeschoolers. Everyone else went home, while we decided to have one last look for the cache we had missed right at the start. We did not find it, but we did find a gorgeous, active Satin Bower-bird nest.

Soccer

Winter is soccer season for us. Here I model perfect soccer mum attire LOL

Boronia is snug and keeping out of the wind on the sidelines.

Mulga with his adored coach.

Waratah, "eagle-screeching" at the opposition as he prepares to attack the ball. 

The boys' enthusiasm for lego has waned somewhat lately, which has allowed Boronia to step in and explore - literally. Her favourite position is inside the lego box.

I made one final effort to interest the boys in the 2D lego challenge - here I have made a picture of Gollum to illustrate The Hobbit, which we are currently reading. He is lying on his rock in the lake, with his precious and a fish to eat.