Running on empty

Monday 18th October 2010

An unschooling day is called for today.

Georgia has had an exhausting weekend of activities.  It has been about 6 weeks since we have taken over the care of a standardbred chestnut called Spice.  There is a real little community of horse loving girls at the paddock where spice lives and we have slowly been intergating Georgia into it.  A bbq for the girls and their families was held on Friday night, followed by Georgia's first proper sleep over with all these girls. The weekend was then spent at the paddock, mucking out and riding.  Hence a very tired girl today.  We discussed having too much on at the weekend and being too tired come Monday morning.  Mmmmm, I told her one big activity only, like sleepover/riding or mucking out/taking horses swimming at the Waimakairi River.

So, we listen to an audio book, CHERUB CLASS A, by Robert Muchamore...

When Cherub kids go under cover, they can

 succeed in infiltrating criminal organisations that

have eluded MI5 and the police for years.

James Adams is on his biggest mission yet,

to nail Europe's most powerful cocaine dealer.

He'll need all his specialist training if he's going

to bring down the man at the top.

The reason for CHERUB'S existence is simple: adults

never suspect that children are spying on them.

For official purposes,

these children don't exist.

A story not for the younger set.  Written along the lines of Tomorrow When The War Began, I am pleased I can listen at the same time, just to monitor and discuss the adult themes involved, like drugs particularly.  So Georgia draws as we listen, I potter in the kitchen.

Out to the garden we go to tidy last of leeks.  I have noticed some are starting to go to seed.  Over the winter Georgia has been thinning out the carrots, so time to finally pick some.

We have been doing science in the garden, discussing the planting we did over the weekend, checking over the chickens, sorting out seed raising trays and watering them.

Off to secondhand bookshop to exchange big pile of horse books, come home with smaller pile of Star Trek books to read.  Library day as well.  Off to art class at 5pm.  All very tired by end of day.

These books took my fancy and couldn't resist getting them.  Homeschooling and purchasing books is so expensive, anytime I can get handy secondhand stuff I jump to it.  However I still have to stick to my budget.

Mmmm, these also took my fancy, Georgia is studying reptiles next up in Zoology 1, lovely illustrated herb book (really informative for someone like me just starting out) and another dictionary.  I love nice old dictionaries, especially Collins ones. This dictionary is massive and will be very handy. Trying really hard to get the kids to use a dictionary to look words up in (like we learnt) instead of going online.  I can forward one of my other ones on to my sister now, as she was telling me the other day how she wanted a nice old one like mine.

One day old chicks with very protective mother hen.  They live at the farm where Spice the horse is kept.  This mother hen has been sitting for about 3 weeks on her eggs.  These are the only ones that hatched.