A long day on a HSIE excursion

Yesterday I decided it would be great fun for the kids if we went on an excursion using public transport.  I thought we could get from our home in a smallish town directly to the bay area east of us.  Oh boy, was I wrong!

We had to take a train first down to the nearest city, 3/4 hour trip,  then wait 3/4 hour for a connecting bus out to the bay which wriggled around so much on its route that we took 2 hours to get to the bay.  Overall we left our town at 2.45pm and got to the bay about 6.15pm.  Believe me this whole experience would have been a whole lot easier in my old home town of Brisbane.

To drive directly from my home to the bay would have only taken 3/4 hour to 1 hour.   I think next time our excursions will be car-based.

Well, I guess we know what public transport is about.  And about reading time tables and paying fares.

HSIE - tick!  And never again.

Best wishes
Jen

Menu Plan Monday

A friend of a friend started a linky for this and Mondays are a good day for me to post my menu plan.  In fact posting my menu plan on a Monday is a good plan.  I consistently lose my handwritten menu plans amongst the many other pieces of paper in a homeschooling mother's life.  And by Monday I have usually made a plan out of what I bought on special at the supermarket over the weekend.

This week's menu plan (which by the way is not usually this detailed, but I am trying to get my whole family eating healthier so we are planning all meals and snacks):

Monday:
B - Apple muffins, yoghurt or cereal
MT - Carrot and chickpea dip, Beetroot dip, Crackers
L - Pumpkin, Chicken, Cous cous salad
AT - Choc chip biscuits and milk
D - Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

Tuesday:
B - Date muffins, yoghurt or cereal
MT - Apple/Pineapple
L - big one due to busy night, Mince and Pumpkin Risotto
AT - Crackers, dips and cheese
D -  Chicken wraps, premade to eat in car while toing and froing

Wednesday:
B - Banana muffins, yoghurt or cereal
MT - Fruit salad, banana, grapes, orange
L - Mini quiches pg 146 CSIRO kids
AT - Cheesy Vegie Muffin pg 149 CSIRO kids
D - Butter Chicken Crockpot, Jasmine rice

Thursday:
B - Leftover muffins, tinned fruit, yoghurt or cereal
MT - Grapes
L - Wraps - salad and salmon or cold meat
AT - Banana cake and milk
D - Devilled Sausages, Potato Mash and steamed vegies

Friday:
B - Porridge with berries or leftover muffins
MT - Tinned fruit
L - Leftovers in Jaffles
AT - dried fruit and mixed nuts (almonds, pistachios and peanuts)
D - Sweet and Sour Chicken with jasmine rice

Kroiter's Who's When

Some time ago I bought a poster called Kroiter's Who's When that covers from 1200 AD to 2000 AD with all sorts of historical figures laid out according to area.

For instance by just glancing up and down the time line I can see that Leonardo Da Vinci, Copernicus, Machiavelli, Isaac (composer), Columbus and Ivan the Great lived around the same time. It covers philosophy, science, inventors, artists, musicians, authors, explorers... even the English Monarchs and the Popes.

If you are at all interested in this poster I have contact details for the author in Sydney, Australia.

Best wishes
Jen

Making my school room more "schooly"

I have been making our school room more "schooly".  I have one kid with Aspergers and I have read that using visual reminders can really help them.

Considering that it can't be a bad idea for other kids either I have decided to hang up 3 posters related to our hand writing program.  In one corner I have also added a history timeline poster (which as I understand it is no longer in print... more info to come hopefully).

Today I put the final polishes on a calendar page that will be attached to a white board that will be hung down low on a school room wall.

On this white board I will also be putting an envelope for each child with a morning letter in it.  I hope to give them some little assignments that can be a fun way to use up spare time while waiting for school to get started.

Best wishes
Jen

How much snack for your dollar? - Grapes vs Chocolate

Menindee Grapes
$3.98/kg
Serving size:  100g or 1/2 cup

Energy:  100g of grapes has 250-350 kJ (http://www.freshforkids.com.au/fruit_pages/grape/grape.html)

Chocolate


In this case Cadbury Bar of Plenty Roast Hazelnut and Honey Roast Cashews
$2.97 for 190g or $15.63/kg

Serving size:  25g

Energy: 25g (or approx 2 large squares) has 573 kJ

Grapes $0.40 per 100g serve, 250-350 kJ per serve
Chocolate with nuts $0.39 per 25g serve, 573 kJ per serve

Hmm, cost per serve looks good but man, oh man, look at that serving size vs kJ.  Hmm, I wonder which one I am more likely to stop at that one serve mark.  I mean, who stops at just 2 squares of chocolate?

Best wishes
Jen

Out of the Mouth of Son 2

I was talking to ds2 this evening after picking him from gymnastics and I commented that he may need new shoes as his toes are creeping towards the edge.  He said that there was still lots of room under the velcro straps.  I told him that I used to have long and thin feet like his before I got old and fat.  He said "You're not old Mum."

Geez, thanks son.  I think!

Best wishes
Jen

Where's the Reset button?

• Ironically this was first published almost exactly a year ago on Monday 8 February.  And I am feeling the same today.  This week though instead of a dentist appointment we have an appointment for my eldest with his doctor in Newcastle.  Freeeeee keeee!! 

I wish life had a reset button. It seems that everything just piles up like crazy when I have Mama MIA days.

Today I would love to just get on with a "normal" Monday but the dishes piled up over the weekend and while I did manage to get last week's washing folded and put away, there is still a good basketful of dirty washing needing to be done. I also had a 2 hour "cat nap" on Sunday afternoon due to too many late nights. Argh! This whole idea of doing what I want without thought to the "need to's" of life bites me where it hurts later.

It looks like it will be a day of just getting everything back to rights. I have a big list of things to do. I know each doesn't take much time, but just doing it will make things flow much easier for the rest of the week. The "troops" can help.

I am a little annoyed though because I knew this week was going to be a 4 day week as it was because I have a dental appointment on Wednesday afternoon and that morning was already going to be busy. Now I will just have to adjust to the idea of it being a 3 1/2 day week.

Oh well, life rolls on.

Best wishes
Jen