Hello again!
What a busy month or so we have had! It started with our last trip to Cobar. At homeschool group the children acted out the story of Burke and Wills. If your memory of primary school history lessons is good, you'll remember that in 1860 there was a race, with a grand prize for the south to north crossing of Australia. Well, the Burke and Wills Expedition was one of the teams that started (and the only one that actually completed the crossing) but all but 1 member of that Northward Party perished somewhere around present Innaminka on the Cooper Creek. There is a famous tree - The Dig Tree, where the waiting party buried supplies then left on the same morning that the northward party returned. They had carved the tree with instructions to find the supplies, and they did dig them up, but then stumbled around a bit more before dying a few days/weeks later, or in the case of Mr King, being rescued and cared for by local Aboriginal people until the search party located him several months later. Well what a story to act out... lots of stumbling around, and dramatic death.... It was really fun!
Off Broadway production of "The Burke and Wills Expedition" by Cooinda Homeschoolers, 2019.
The book we red and based our drama on.
But when we got home, we decided to read our book on the topic, and we noted some differences. Then we did some research online, then we made a huge posted with all that we had found..... but ultimately the best lesson was the 3 day road trip to go there, to stumble around on the banks of the Cooper Creek (which has water in it at the moment) and battle the thousands of flies to see for ourselves. Not only was it an awesome history lesson, but I really think the kids did see, at least in some small way, how the expedition failed, how quickly the explorers ran out of water, and food, and how isolated they would have been. I don't expect that in 5 years they'll remember the dates, or even the exact details, but I'm pretty sure they will remember the story and the trip we had to The Dig Tree.
Our Burke and Wills Book. We like this version because it has more details and more pictures (which are beautiful water colour paintings which I really love!)
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| Our Burke and Wills poster |
I've also overhauled the term 2 curriculum to get us out of the boring rut we had developed at the end of term 1 - thanks must be to my dear friend Karen who reminds me, whenever I need it, that less is more and that I must not fall into the 'school at home' trap!
So if that wasn't enough we've also had water run in the Paroo. Thank you to Ex-Tropical Cyclone Trevor, there is waster in the Paroo, and it';s deep and will hopefully last all winter. Don't get too excited, it is still a drought and farmers are still struggling, but water in the Paroo makes life just that bit nicer. Dodge has loved the water already and hopefully we can be more committed to getting outside and taking him for a swim. I haven't been to Bourke for a month or so, so I am not sure of there has been any flowing into the Darling, man I hope so, that mighty river is in desperate need of a drink.
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| We found the start of the river. |
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| same location about 10min after the above photo |
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| Simon's work truck, at the back of our place about midday |
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| 5hrs later it might be underwater ;) |
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| River tours now available |
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| Paroo River Bridge number 1, looking upstream about 6:00pm, Good Friday 2019 |
And crochet... oh my word there has been lots happening. I am continuing with my Mayan Blanket, the Harry Potter one for the kids and have also made a few other things that I just couldn't resist. I have completed these 3 Mandalas from the Trinity Mandala CAL by It's all in a Nutshell. Gosh theya are so beautiful and just waiting now for the yarn store to replace my large ring that arrived in a bit of a mangled mess to finish them all off. Not sure where they'll be hung yet, but I am loving them and thinking of my bedroom where I sit and crochet so I can look at them lots.
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| Too cute not to add again |
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| The Harry Potter blankets are ongoing works of art. |
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| A little wreath for ANZAC day. |
I've also been testing patterns and charts for some talented designers which is such a fun thing to do... Once the patterns are released I can post some pictures for everyone to see. And even though it's not paid work, and it's not a lot it feels nice to be doing something that is very valuable to someone else and NOT related to homeschool, the kids or housework!
I have also tried to resume my essential oil habit... I kinda fell off that wagon about 8 months ago when I just didn't have support, or mental capacity to learn what I needed to know. Recently I did some research and have connected with another homeschool mum who has supported me to use what I have even though they are a different "brand" to the ones she is affiliated with. So I am about to make a switch from the previous brand to a doTERRA essential Oils. I am pretty excited for the mail to arrive and the oils to be integrated into our lives again :) Morgan particularly is very excited and learning lots with me about how they work, which ones for what feelings and is benefiting from them in his life.
Oh, and I have started an instragram page too. If you want to follow that just search for jenfrench09 and you should find me.
So, what's planned next.... well we are going to Dubbo next week for a quick shopping trip and to get the car serviced, then we head off on Holidays in early May. Simon has some time off work and so we are escaping to explore some more new spaces.
Until next time,
Jen
The book we red and based our drama on.
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