land of green trees

land of green trees
the desert no more...

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Home Schooling

Yesterday Asha and Clay made a 1m patch outside where she could guage change in the patch over time. It was marked out with string and ice-cream sticks, and Asha spent some time choosing where she should put it, depending on which flowers were in it, where ant trails were, or amongst some quartz rocks. she eventually decided on a sandy patch with white glittery pebbles, because then she could check out the tracks in the sand the next day. She carefully swept it smooth, then Clay had a go, then she did it all over again and stood up the sticks again. Next morning she raced out as soon as she was up to check on it. Very excited, she ran in to tell us that were kangaroo tracks and a track that she thought was a wild pig! It was in the house yard, so we would have been surprised, but Al went outside and told her it was a baby camel track, which wasn't very helpful but did keep her enthusiasm going. Luckily we did see some camel tracks later that morning so could show her what they really looked like. They have seen them in the flesh also, Al took them out  from Ethabuka a week or two ago and they came across a small herd. The kids came back to the house and told me all about how Dada had shot the camels and cut them up. They decided not to eat them that night though.  We bought them both bikes in Mt Isa, and they are so proud of them. Their parents were very stingy and bought them a bit too big, but they've figured them out and perch up on them very proudly, shooting off on our morning walk towards the dunes, Clay with his head bent right down low, going as fast as his legs can possibly go. Zave with his head craned around the backpack, trying desperately to keep his eyes on his big brother and sister who have disapeared into the red horizon.

1 comment:

  1. What a beautiful image of the kids riding their bikes and Zavier watching them intently. Was Asha excited about the baby camel prints? That sounds pretty special to me. Wow, the outdoor classroom, so much to learn with what is just around us.

    ReplyDelete