On dominoes and blogging

Last night, T found our old dominoes set. A looked up the rules and variations in Hoyle's Book of Games. The T wanted us to play a game.

It was late - ten p.m. I was tired . But I am glad that I got on the rug to play, as we had a fun game, full of conversation and connections. A nice way to spend time together before bed.

We put the dominoes on the breakfast bar in order to play more games today. After folding the newspapers for the boys' newspaper round.

Playing dominoes with some of the kids made me feel less tired.

In a way, I thought that spending time with the dominoes game was a lot like blogging our family's homeschooling - it is in blogging that I sometimes see the learning and family relationships. Playing dominoes gave me joy and energy. Blogging our days allows me to see the big picture.

There is a tendency in blogging to write only about the good times, the not tired or cross times. It is interesting to me that this seems to happens simply because those are the times I remember - the frustrating times pass.

How do we turn around a day of irritation and crossness? For me, it often becomes an act of will. I remember the educator Charlotte Mason and her motto - 'I am, I can, I ought, I will."

I will myself to change the day around, my attitude around. I explain this to my children and encourage them to do the same.

A good way for us to get over the doldrums or crossness or frustration is to do something completely different. Either in the home or out.

Perhaps a picnic on the sitting room floor. Have a light sabre championship or play croquet or other sport.Turn the trampoline upside down and play games on it. Go for a walk. Cook something fun. Go to the shops or to a museum or a park or the library. Grab a snack or meal out. Bring down some old toys or cratfs to play and build. Buy some new toys or games or paints or pencils. Dance to music. Sing and play an instrument. Watch a video. Play Tekken on the Playstation.

Smile.

Later, perhaps, we can work on the source of the problem but the immediate solution, for us, is to break the cross mould!

Weather

Anny and T have become quite interested in weather and weather patterns.

This interest began with discussions about the local drought. A homeschool mother also shared stories of floods in our area, floods that happened over ten years ago. I must admit that the thought of floods had us all pondering escape routes!

Then the news of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita spurred more discussion and interest - and we borrowed a book from the library titled "Howling Hurricanes".

I noticed some unusual cloud formations and A and I talked about clouds - cirro-cumulus, cirrus, cumuls, cumulo-nimbus. We remembered reading about this an old Ladybird book called 'The Story of Weather".

A dug this book out from our "Ladybird bookshelves" ( in Anny's room) and the book is now on display for perusal in the kitchen.

At the shopping centre yesterday G spotted a Smithsonian weather station science kit. It was on special, so we bought it, to further ignite the weather interest. T and Anny set it up today and G printed some weather charts from the internet.

We began our recordings and observations today.

For me, all this has a feeling of deja vu. I remember the older boys - L, G, N - having a weather station and keeping a record chart. Was that when we lived in Wembley?

Lots of helpful charts here, including a weather chart -

http://www.tipztime.com/minicharts/freeminichartsandworksheets.html

The educational exchange between parents and children

From Familiaris Consortio, Pope John Paul II -

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio_en.html

All members of the family, each according to his or her own gift, have the grace and responsibility of building, day by day, the communion of persons, making the family "a school of deeper humanity"(59): this happens where there is care and love for the little ones, the sick, the aged; where there is mutual service every day; when there is a sharing of goods, of joys and of sorrows.

A fundamental opportunity for building such a communion is constituted by the educational exchange between parents and children,(60) in which each gives and receives.

Family communion can only be preserved and perfected through a great spirit of sacrifice. It requires, in fact, a ready and generous openness of each and all to understanding, to forbearance, to pardon, to reconciliation. There is no family that does not know how selfishness, discord, tension and conflict violently attack and at times mortally wound its own communion: hence there arise the many and varied forms of division in family life. But, at the same time, every family is called by the God of peace to have the joyous and renewing experience of "reconciliation," that is, communion reestablished, unity restored.

NOT Three Men in a Boat.

We love the book Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. It is quite humorous.

There is also an old film version available.

Well, last night we did not have three men in a boat. But we did have three priests over for dinner - and it was an enjoyable evening, with much humour. It was the laughter that prompted me to remember Jerome's book.

The three priests were two Franciscans - one from our parish and newly ordained - and a priest friend from interstate.

A friend recently posted a quote from Pope John Paul II on her blog. It was " "Families, be who you are!"

I guess that we are who we are, like it or not - but sometimes I do wonder - who are we as individuals and as a family?

My photographs.....

Hey all, I'm back!

Thought I'd just let you in on what's happening lately.
First of all, you might remember a few posts back when I said I was thinking of setting up
my clothing company? Well, it's slowly taking shape.....I've got a few good designs, including one
with some text saying "FEUD" which I like. My first step at the moment is to put together a
design sheet which will display the shirts. For that, I'm going to need to take some photographs
of myself or someone else, and modify them in photoshop, just to kind of model the clothes.

So today we were all at group learning, the last one of the term! Just finishing off our design projects that we've been working on, like Alexander's logo and my shirt, and Thomas' lunch box. At the end, we had a man whose career has actually been design, mainly in lighting, talk to us about how he's done things and his design process....pretty interesting actually!

And on to the final section of my posts, the "What I'm Into" section.

I've been reading "Because of Winn Dixie", a book about a preacher's daughter named Opal and her foundling pet dog. The book follows the summer of when Opal found the dog and named him Winn Dixie, and all the good things that happen because of him.

The art I like right now is a lot of stuff by the cartoonist John Kovalic, a really funny guy.
His work always makes me laugh, no matter what. I'm also into art by Billy Martin, he draws a lot of stuff reminiscent of the art in Dr. Seuss. Sounds strange, but it's actually really good.
Wish I could post a link, but unfortunately his website isn't finished yet. Maybe next month though.

I'm getting back into the band "Mest" now. I picked up one of their records a while ago, but now it's finally growing on me, especially the tracks "Shell of Myself" and "Lost and Confused".
Their new album "Photographs" comes out next month, so I'm looking forward to that.
I'm also really enjoying a lot of jazz, especially Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck. Brubeck's album "Take 5" is really a masterpiece of 50's "cool jazz", as they call it. Very laid back and relaxed.
Music to go to sleep to. When the slow lilting piano on Take 5 gives way to the soft gentle drum solo in the middle, you really want to just listen to it forever. Very good.

Well, it's getting late where I am right now, time to head off to bed. I love this hour of night, when everything seems so still and silent, and you look out at the night sky....after a good day, the stars shine so bright....it's just totally peaceful......

Well, good night all.

Jonathon

Lollipops!

I was asked to do the "lollipop" learning station at group learning today - the theme was inventions and inventors.

The boys and I had a practice run last night, after teen group and a visit from friends. We found some interesting history about the word lollipop and the first lollipop machines. We also learned about the crystalline structure of lollipops - it is amorphous and thus similar to glass, a non orderly arrangement of atoms. This means that the candy will not shatter into many pieces when one takes a bite.

We also adapted the lollipop recipe and made it simpler. Basically, we eliminated the corn syrup and the cream of tartar - it still worked fine, with and without moulds.

We made red and green lollipops, with lemon essence.

The history of lollipops -
http://www.candyfavorites.com/shop/catalog_lollipop_history.asp

The original lollipop recipe, before our adaptations -
http://exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/recipe-lollipops.html

Mother Teresa

"Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in that action." ~~ Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)

Johm Holt and Raymond Moore

A lovely day yesterday. We caught the train to the city with another homeschool family and then met other homeschoolers at the Botannical Gardens for lunch. T, Anny and I went to the Opera House with the group, to see a play about rice and world hunger - Arborio.

T didn't appreciate it but Anny enjoyed it and I like to analyze how actors work with few props, a script and only two people. The play was in the Utzon Room, named after the designer of the Opera House and the view over the harbour area made me hold my breath and gaze.

J and A walked over to the Museum of Contemporary Art while we were at the play. They walked with a few other older homeschool guys. We like this place and have already been several times - we are often intrigued by modern art.

Afterwards, a few families and my family caught the train up to Borders - where the kids looked at books and CDs and we all had coffee and drinks and chat.

By the time we caught the train home ( an hour) and then drove home from the station, it was six o'clock. Quick, homemade chicken burgers for dinner!

One of the other mothers and I talked about early homeschooling in Australia. I mentioned that the first books I read about homeschooling were those by Holt and the Moores and how their relaxed philosophy influenced me. Now( present) and then ( past). This seems to be in direct contrast to many homeschoolers now, who are into curriculum from the way go. It is interesting to see how different families approach parenting and education.

I also thought about acceptance. About how much of homeschooling, unschooling and family life is about acceptance of the other person(s) - not as who you wish they were but as who they are.

I tend to want to over intellectualize things when sometimes life should be an act of faith and trust.

Am I really this old???

Went to the HYPE youth day at Baulkham Hills with the boys today. Well, J and A are still there.

I really enjoyed the bands ( screamo, J tells me) and the skateboarding comp.

But, hey, I am not a youth but a mother of youths! Yet I had a cool time.

How did I get to be old - I still feel the same inside!!!

Yesterday.....

I keep a folder of great ideas and activities from the internet. I also throw in any fun worksheets that people pass on or I pick up.

This is kind of an activity folder, for the kids to peruse when they are looking for ideas. I have another folder with all those wondeful posts on life and homeschooling - you know, ideas and inspiration for me.

Both need regular sorting.

So, yesterday, I started sorting. Doing so meant that the children became interested in the folder and activities.

T found a sheet with a problem solving activity - make a cotton ball catapult using only a ruler, tape, plastic spoon, two rubber bands. He had fun! And also a bit of frustration.

A made an icosahedron, with paper and a compass and scissors and tape.

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~plank/plank/pics/origami/penultimate/icosahedron.html

Leonie

T shirts, graphic design, and high fives all 'round....

Hi all, it's Jonathon again!

So what have I been up to?
Well, for one thing, I've finally done what I've been trying to do for around a year now, I've
designed and made my own t-shirt! It's only one shirt, but I feel like a fully fledged designer...
The shirt was made using a plain black t-shirt and an iron on transfer, with the design hand drawn and then finished using Adobe photoshop on a 30x30 cm image.

Basically, it's inspired by the american clothing line "Famous stars and straps", but with a cartoon twist.

At the moment, I'm not making any more, but in the future, one of my goals is to actually set up an independant clothing label, similar to "Made" or "Atticus".

Anyway, we'll see what happens!

What am I into right now.....

I'm reading "The story of the Amulet", by E. Nesbit. Mum read it aloud to us a while ago, but after just watching "The 5 children and It" last night (good movie, highly recommend it) I felt like reading some more Nesbit.

I haven't been watching any other movies of interest, but I have a sudden urge to watch Walt Dysney's "Aladin". Don't laugh, it's a good film!

As far as music goes, I've been listening to The Beatle's "White Album", the MC5's "Back in the USA" and some Jazz music by Dave Brubeck. Someone just recommended Story of the year, so I'll have a look into that on the weekend.

Lastly, I've been skateboarding. I can't seem to get the hang of kick turns, so I guess more practice is in order! I guess there's no hurry though.

PS.

The above image is copyright J Westenberg, september 2005.

Who we are..

Reading aloud from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe the other night caused us to stop, think, talk.

Who are we?

We talked about Edmund and his choices and why he may have made those choices. About the different choices that Edmund could have made. About the relationship between Peter and Edmund and how one could have helped the other.

Finally, we wondered about ourselves as people, as Catholics, and about the choices we make.

Literature can often reveal ideas to us, can't it?

Is it educational?

We have had a busy few days and so I haven't blogged. J has - he wrote his review of the film The Life Aquatic.

Actually, now I come to think of it, we have more busy days than not. Is it because of the numbers and ages of the people in our family? Is it where we live? Is it the kind of people we are - I am?

Yesterday, we another teen group meeting. We played mini golf or putt putt, followed by lunch and play/hang out time at a park. I think the social time is just as important for the mums as it is for the teens. And the younger ones are playing together nicely, too - well, for the most part.

We took some extra boys with us in the car to the park. Then a few extra home. Our arival home was full of hopeful wishes from T - he had ordered some new computer games and has been anxious and cross each day when the post arrives, sans computer games.

Yesterday, however, was his lucky day - the games were in the post. So, the older boys and friend played Halo 2 and the younger ones played the board/strategy/simulation game called Hero Scape.

Oh, and T had a nasty fall at skateboarding on Tuesday - he wasn't wearing his knee pads. He is still limping around on that leg and the burn/graze is still healing.

Last night we watched a film, circa 1993, called APEX. Sci-fi, with some anomalies but interesting questions were posed - how would time travel affect the future? What responsibilites do scientists have for their discoveries and inventions? The film was reminicsient of the earlier Terminator movies - especially Terminator 2.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=132640

Talking of posing questions, a couple of friends posed some discussion provoking questions at skateboarding on Tuesday. One was - "Do you let your dc watch moives during the day" When I replied in the affirmative, the next question was - "Do the movies have to be educational?"

Now, this is a tricky question to answer. If, by educational, one means documentaries, history or science related films, educational TV shows - well, the answer is no. No, the films don't have to fit that definition of "educational" - but they can!

However, if one has a broader definition of education, well, then all the films we watch are educational. Who know what discussion will folloow the film? ( Or, in our family, will happen throughout the film?). Who knows what the viewer thinks about while watching the film? Who knows what the viewer brings to the medium, or what trails will be followed as a result of the film?

After watching The Life Aquatic, I am more interested in Jaques Cousteau. I picked one of his books from our shelves for our coffee table perusal. I told J and A that, after group learning today, I want to do an internet serach on Cousteau. Who knew that this would be where that film would lead?

Is it educational? Yes. Is it life? You bet.

http://lifeaquatic.movies.go.com/main.html

BTW, while the movie was rated R in the U.S., it was only rated M here.....

What are you reading?

A friend recently asked this question of the boys. They looked blankly for a few minutes. Since I , like the boys, always have several books going at once, I can identify with the blank look. Which book do you tell about? Does the listener want to hear about all the books in which you are dabbling? Are some too private to mention?

A reading question seems innocent enough. It can be a dilemma, though, to know exactly what and how much to share with the person posing the question.

So, what are we reading?


The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S Lewis ( a read aloud - have you seen the trailers for the new movie?) http://www.narniaresources.com

Body for Life for Women.

Pride and Prescience ( a Mr and Mrs Darcy mystery - a mystery story as a follow up to Pride and Prejudice).

Murderous Maths - Numbers

Essys by Hillaire Belloc

The Hound of Ulster by Rosemary Sutcliffe

The Hades Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum

1066 And All That

Fall of the Kingdom by Hillary Bell ( a fantasy novel)

Books by P G Wren

The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina by Caroline Lawrence ( and others in these mysteries for kids, set in Roman times)

Snoopy and Charlie Brown comics

Writers Inc

Prose and Poetry

Steady Boy Steady and Horse Sense - by the authors of 1066 And All That and satirically funny.

The newspaper and news on ninemsn - some of us have been almost consumed by a need to know more about both Hurricane Katrina and the NSW Liberals leadership fiasco.

Witness to Hope - the biography of Pope John Paul II.

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaardner

The Idiot's Guide to Starting Up A Band

The Rolling Stones Concise

Method Songwriting by Buddy Kaye

The Sunday Missal

Can you guess who is reading which book? You may be surprised!

The Life Aquatic

Well, I ( Jonathon) finally finished off The Life Aquatic........I was actually really impressed by it!
However, I'll start with the film's faults. The most major of these is probably that it is very slow
for the first half of the film, with almost nothing but straight out weirdness to sustain it.
The second fault is that it is probably too weird for most people, deinately an alternative film.

But if you can get past the weirdness and the first half, you'll love this film.
The film begins with Steve Zissou (Bill Murray), oceanographer and documentary filmmaker attending the premier of his newest film, part one of a documentary on the "Jaguar Shark".

At the climax of the (rather fake looking) documentary, Zissou's partner, is killed by the shark.
In the question time after the film, Zissou is asked what part two of the documentary will be about. He tells the audience he is going to kill the jaguar shark, he doesn't know how, maybe dynamite. Someone asks what scientific purpose this will serve.

"Revenge" he replies.

The documentary is a flop, everyone is cutting Zissou's funding, no-one has any real faith in his ability as a filmmaker. As he prepares for the new adventure, he is contacted by a son he didn't know he had.....Ned (Owen Wilson).

Finally, with his life falling apart around him, his wife having left him, Zissou recruits Ned as a sponsor and crew member and sets off.

The adventures that follow include pirates, annoying ex friends, thievery, and ultimately tragedy.

The end of the film is perhaps the best part, sad, meaningful, funny, everything a climax needs.
Including a final understanding of just who Zissou is.

This was a good film.

Solar energy and A day in the Life....

A couple of weeks ago, I ( Leonie) was the leader for group learning. We go every second Friday. This term the theme is Inventions and I had the topic Energy/Electricity.

One of the activities I did with the seniors was for each of us to make our own pizza box solar ovens.

http://www.solarnow.org/pizzabx.htm

And on the weekend we finally got to use it! It was a bright, sunny day ( well, nearly all our days have been bright and sunny this drought-filled winter). We cooked s'mores - it was cool to see how the ovens worked using the energy from the sun and cool to have a snack ready for us after our walk.

We've made solar ovens before and I know the older boys remember baking scones and cookies in the solar oven ( placed high, out of reach of the cat and the toddlers).

I guess we have had a "science" week - we also ended up looking at the internet for the physics of skateboarding. A friend asked about this in an email and that sent us off on a search. So, there we were on Monday, watching Anny balance before doing a roll off, and talking about the moment of inertia and momentum.

http://skateboard.about.com/od/boardscience/

Talking of Monday - someone asked about our days. What do we do?

Maybe I *can talk about Monday.

We had a slow morning - getting up, exercise for me, tidying up, breakfast. Finally, T asked about our day's plans. A phone call from a friend for J and A to come over in the afternoon and practice music helped to get us going.

We decided to go to K-Mart for T and A before our usual Monday visit to a local skateboard park ( while everyone else is in the school opposite). But first, I had some email stuff to do and J wanted to work on his art and t-shirt designs. A did a lesson in a Saxon Maths book, as he likes Maths and is an orderly textbook sort of person.

This made T feel a bit like he should be doing Maths, so he grabbed the Maths In Our World book by Addison Wesley and did a page on problem solving. "I've forgotten how to set this out" he said of one problem. I showed him and he was fine. But we also segued into a discussion on salaries ( the problem was based on salary rates).

Since the topic for group learning is Inventions, I had found, at the start of August, a book of blackline masters on Australian Inventions. These I had photocopied and placed in a file in the computer area. Strewing! Anny found the file and got sidetracked into reading the sheets about Australian inventors and inventions. We did a quick net search on a periscope rifle and an owen gun and he filled out a worksheet on these.

It is amusing and enlightening to see children choose to do a worksheet sometimes - because Anny rarely does these, they are fun and like a puzzle for him.

Here is the info he found -

http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/862.html

http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/gallipoli/periscope_rifle.htm

I looked at the clock - time to go! We raced out the door, making sure we had skateboard stuff and the amp and guitars.

In the car we listened to Neil Young ( A's choice) and discussed music, music history, Johnny Rotten.

After our shopping ( T and Anny bought a GameCube game of Spiderman, with their money from newspaper delivery), we counted our change and decided how to split the remaining money for lunch each at the food hall. We each had a limit to spend and wandered around, trying to make a tasty but healthy ( well, I wanted healthy) lunch.

A local skate park was our next stop. T overcame his fear and just did a roll off - one of many. I am still working on my fears and I am a terrible skater!

When we dropped J and T and their music at a friend's house, the friend's mum asked us in for a play and a cup of tea. We mums got chatting - I didn't know that this new friend had been a zookeeper. How interesting. T and Anny played with the girls - hand ball.

Back home, I explained to T and Anny that I needed to work on my book project. I am writing a teaching guide called Teaching With Movies for Ready Ed publishers. G and I have written Maths activity books for these publishers before and although you don't make a lot of money, the little bits that roll in as royalties are always helpful.

Knowing I would be busy, we set up some ideas for T and Anny - playing the new game on the GameCube, jumping on the trampoline, drawing with the new cartooning book, baking. They eventually undertook all these activities - T made two cakes. One for dessert and one for skateboarding for the next day.

I set myself a deadline of 5.00 pm - which rolled around all too soon, as I spent some of my working time on email and some on watching T do a great Spiderman leap and on helping with the baking. Five o'clock was my chore time - I mopped, hung out laundry, tidied the kitchen, started dinner. T and Anny read and then got ready to tape Dr Who.

G, J and A eventually arrived home and we prayed and had dinner. The low fat fried rice was not popular with T and Anny so they made themselves sandwiches.

I left the dinner mess to G, T and Anny and went to Tai Class with J and A. J and A are really good at Tai Chi - A is into all martial arts - and I am finally learning to relax and go with the slow pace.

When we arrived home, G was on the computer - G and the boys are having a competition to get the highest score in the game Mafia. I am sure there must be something educational there! I made tea, we said the Rosary and I was going to read the next chapter from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. But - instead we watched the movie Stargate and discussed Ancient Civilizations and the genre of science fiction.

Reading for all of us before eventual bed.

So, there is a day in our life. Lots of learning and living together.

Jonathon...Me!

Hi all, I'm Jonathon Westenberg, 16 years old, this is my first blog entry. That sounds almost like a Fisher Price toy.....

What have I been up to lately? For one thing, I've just finished my second uni course of the year, and I'm waiting for the results. The course was on Creative and Professional Writing. I think I did pretty well on it, but we'll have to see!

Meanwhile, I'm taking a semester off Uni in order to work on doing some art. I'm currently talking to an American company about designing some shirts for them, very much in the style of "Made" and "Level 27"'s shirts. Should be good, I'm very pleased with the designs. If they accept them, I'll post a link here.

I'm also working on a website for my art, a sort of online gallery. Since it's the first web design I've ever attempted, it's not that easy. But it should be finished soon, so you'll all be able to see what I get up to!

Finally, what have I been watching/listening to/reading?

Well, I've been enjoying the StarGate movie, it's very good. Kurt Russell (of Tequila Sunrise) plays one of the main characters. It's a bit predictable, but still....that's Hollywood! (sometimes, anyway)

I'm going to watch "The Life Aquatic" tonight, so I'll post and say how it is.

As far as listening to goes, I've been giving The Transplants another spin, their new album "Haunted Cities"......The sound quality isn't as good as on their debut eponymous album, but it has a good unpolished sound. I've also been playing A7X's new album. It's very unusual, has a really epic sound to it, choirs and so on.

I've been reading "Beu Sabreur" by PC Wren. He also wrote "Beu Geste" and "Beu Ideal"......all connected in small sneaky ways, with good plot twists. It's very dramatic reading, but lots of fun if you like swordfights, toureg bandits and the foreign legion!

Anyway, bye for now, see you all another time.
I'll put in another update soon!

Jonathon

St Anthony

We live in a parish that has a special devotion Mass to St Anthony of Padua, every Tuesday night.

We don't often make this Mass, as Tuesdays are our busy days. Sometimes, however, we turn up, late for the Mass after drama, but in time for the devotional prayers. This is then, more often than not, a "dinner out" night!

Our parish is a Franciscan parish and St Anthony of Padua was a Franciscan. St Anthony was a good speaker and we have many of his sermons available today. Here is a little gem -

"Attribute to God every good that you have received. If you take credit for something that does not belong to you, you will be guilty of theft."

And a website on St Anthony -

http://www.americancatholic.org/e-News/FriarJack/fj060702.asp

Refugees,Chinatown and more

Yesterday , being Saturday, we decided to go out all together. The top choice for the majority was the city - two sons were not keen on going out, however. I was not keen on staying home and I knew we'd be gone most of the day, so was uncertain about leaving the youngest two alone at home.

We compromised, we would go where they wanted if they gave us a chance to go where we wanted. And lunch out sweetened the pot!

Along the way to the city, we walked to Chinatown. I was able to recall my childhood memories of visiting the then obscure Chinatown area, and having how pastries from the Chinese bakery on a Sunday morning.

Chinatown has two lions and gables at the entrance now. Every second store is a restaurant or some form of eatery. We all tried some Emporer's puffs - small batter pastries, with a sweet custard filling. And we discussed the history of Chinatown, the history of Chinese peoples in Australia, the communist government and the Chinese Revolution. I have recently read Mao's Last Dancer and I think the "abridged edition" might make a good read aloud. Hopefully, all will be interested. Perhaps when we finish The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe?

Anny was distressed by the homeless people asking for money, and kept digging into my purse to find coins to give. He also noticed another child wearing a t-shirt with the slogan "Children don't belong in detention centres." He asked me about this slogan.

It is a topical issue here, since we have "detention cntres" where illegal refugees are kept, until their papers are checked out.

Anthony agreed with the t-shirt - he felt it would be terrible to be "locked up" as a child. We had a long discussion about the laws and refugees.

It is such a hard issue and I fear that Australia may be creating a generation who will hate the government ,who will have resentment....

J, who doesn't like detention centres, still felt outrage at a child wearing a t-shirt with a political slogan. As the child was about four, J felt that the parent was using the child to make a political statement and thought this was wrong.

Our political discussions ended, we split up - G to the Maritime Museum for research; J and A to CD stores and bookshops; Anny,T and I to bookstores and toy stores. We met at a department store to find a work shirt for J and than caught up with G at the Chinese Gardens.

But our discusssions were not yet finished.

I decided to cook curry, rice, dahl, poppadums for a late dinner. T helped with cooking the poppadums. He wondered aloud what would happen if we tried to cook them in hot water instead of in hot oil. Our discussion centred on the properties of oil and water.

The number of topics we discuss in any one day is amazing. I am always surprised at the depth and breadth of our discussions. What Alan Thomas, a researcher into home education, calls "the informal, conversational style of learning."

Hercule Poirot and Agatha Christie

I need to finish my computer time! But I wanted to share our Saturday night viewings on television.

We have become drawn to the Hercule Poirot mysteries on Foxtel.

There is something about the tangles and relationships that encourage us to think. Before long, we are making assumptions and deductions about possible suspects and motives.

"What was the significance of the sprained wrist?" J asked last night, after the opening scenes of this week's show.

"All these Poirot mysteries revolve around romance - typical Agatha Christie" said A.

Can I put these thinking skills down for Maths in our log?