July-September Homeschool Miscellany

15yo apparently only got beaten once or twice in all the rounds he played in his Warhammer tournament and placed (the winner was someone who had been playing a lot longer). We all agreed it was a pretty good outcome for a first tournament.

17yo was able to pass her level 6 badge in the first competition and 19yo got his level 7 badge in the second one (he had missed the first one due to illness and he and his coach decided to risk the do or die in the second competition as if he didn’t get it then, he was out of states). I think most of 17yo’s kids did alright.

January Homeschool Miscellany

The Christmas Island trip continued with all its fun and educational opportunies. 15yo found a new “pet” at Lily Beach when we trooped over for our annual campfire.

It was put back down somewhere safe after the photo.

Sprat and 17yo mudskippered around the very shallow water looking for fish.

September - December Homeschool Miscellany

I had bought The Art of War in very recent history (can’t remember precisely when but I feel like it’s been at least a year by now) as 14yo had expressed a desire to read it. He didn’t get around to actually reading it until recently, when he suddenly went on a health kick (both physical and mental) and on advice of J and 18yo, started trying to get in at least a little bit of exercise, eat a healthy breakfast (the kids and I don’t really eat breakfast as we never feel particualrly hungry for a while after waking up) and read a book every day.

May June July August Homeschool Miscellany

May

14yo and one of his friends developed an interest in the series Breaking Bad and marathoned it, and then made some “crystal meth” (coloured toffee).

This batch was apparently a test run for Halloween when he has plans to go out in the streets dressed as shadily as possible and hand some out to kids. He and the friend did have some vague plans to dress up as the main characters from the show but distance (the friend lives about 40min away) and other plans (no idea what’s happening around that time) may be challenging.

March Homeschool Miscellany

We accidentally had two excursions this month. I’m not sure whether that makes us “caught up” due to not having one last month or able to chill next month given that the first and second months tend to be organisational and transitional.

The last time we went to the Gravity Discovery Centre was in 2010. Unfortunately stuff just didn’t occur to J and I, for whatever reason I thought that we were only going for the night thing even though their night things always include entry into the rest of it, so I didn’t cancel roleplaying, and J assumed we’d be roleplaying and didn’t mention it. And it was unfortunate as the kids would have made the entire solar system walk now, before we only managed to get up to Uranus before we had to turn back.

September Homeschool Miscellany

This month was just as action packed as the previous one. There was one more excursion with the parents, extended family and Up Close and Local Tours but minus 17yo (who was feeling a bit run down and decided to play it paranoid) to Bunbury, where we stopped by a little cafe with its own little adorably put together food garden.

After that it was off to the Dolphin Discovery Centre.

August Homeschool Miscellany

August started off really slow and cruisy and them ramped right up into September.

It started with the death of one of 13yo’s fish. He was devastated as it had gotten sick but had looked like it was starting to recover before succumbing. We had a little funeral in the side yard, burying it under the rosemary bush.

17yo had another quarter life crisis (he has had at least one in the last two years) where he decided he needed to “get his life together” and once again asked for organisational tips (he has asked me previously for things that I have already told him about in trying to get them to learn my organisational hacks and how to research and experiment with their own). He asked me for a corkboard (full corkboard as I’d bought them corkboard/whiteboard combos previously, apparently it wasn’t big enough for what he wanted to do) so he could pin things he wanted to organise on it. 15yo overheard and said the same.

January Homeschool Miscellany

The month opened with 13yo being inspired by Genshin Impact (a game that 15yo and I have been playing together that 13yo occasionally joins us in) and making a chicken and mushroom kebab, which is one of the food items that can be crafted or purchased in game.

There isn’t an actual recipe to follow so he just skewered and lightly seasoned and pan fried them. Was very delicious.

November Homeschool Miscellany

I don’t know what happened to October either, aside from the roleplaying games continued (I have this vague idea that I will write about how roleplaying games are good for maths, drama and general language development one day). I think we may have also started more hardcore development of my dice system. 12yo has been making suggestions and helping test mechanics. October may have also been the month where I found out that 16yo was doing more algebra, because apparently he thinks he needs algebra for the TAFE course he’s thinking of enrolling in. Not sure how much he’s done as I think he’s gotten himself a new Khan Academy account instead of resetting the password for his existing one so I’ll have to try to remember to check that up when I’m compiling the report for the moderator meeting.

August Homeschool Miscellany

I did not forget July, apparently we didn’t do anything at all.

Or at least we didn’t do anything that I took photos of. The boys had random conversations with me and 16yo with his friends at gym about astrophysics, philosophy, life, the universe and everything and I really wish they would write this stuff down so I had proof. 14yo has been out and about with her boyfriend including going to AQWA. I’m trying really hard to pressure them harder into writing down stuff and basically doing their own reports especially as they’re doing so much stuff on their own now but still having zero luck with that.