Polio story in pictures....

A downloadable pdf of a graphic novel about polio in 14 pages
the rest of the site is worth a look for older students and adults.

I have a 21st Century son

On the weekend S (7.75yrs) and his Dad were playing an outside version of Runescape (http://www.runscape.com/) whilst hanging out the washing when S declared that his character was wielding "a crystal crossbow with wireless internet access point that enables the user to download magic.... "
That's my 21stC son:-)

New Australian Dinosaur Site

Australian Dinosaur Story

Looks useful for a variety of ages.
Requires Flash for best results.

Love K

Strange Blue Flower

051011blueflower05
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

I found this flower growing by the path around the corner from our house. I've never seen anything like it before.

It was found growing in sand opposite a wetland in Perth, WA, Australia. The flower is about 1.5cm across and grows on a single long (~20cm) stem with hairy serated lancet leaves which are about 2.5cm long.

Thanks Michael's workmates and Urtica, I now know what this flower's latin name is.
Wahlenbergia capensis or Cape Bluebell
Which means this is an African invader and I can pick them with impunity;-)

051011blueflower04
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

a collage machine

collage machine
try the auto function - it comes up with some cool images

I've got into collage recently as a result of a flickr group called Collage Kids.

As a result the boys are asking to do crafty things, yay! I need to tidy the big table off so that it can be used just for this sort of thing instead of a dumping zone for all and sundry. It's great when living life and following your own interests leads to natural learning in the kids too.

Once I get to take pics of these things I'll post them here via flickr.

050816 terrarium

050816terrarium
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

capsicum is big leaves and parsley is startinf to have second leaves

I think there is a lack of either water or appropriate balance of gases, or even light, as these are growing much more slowly and weedy than seedings of same plants in our garden.

050806 terrarium

050806terrarium
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

We had a little accident yesterday afternoon, the bottle was knocked off its windowsill when I closed the curtains. Apart from a couple of seedlings getting uprooted all seems fine today.

050803-terrarium

050803terrarium
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Parsley & capsicum seedlings - looks like all the albizia has died:-(

The worms have been busy as the rubble rocks in the base are now covered in dirt and no longer visible. There was even a worm cast, but no.2 son thumped the bottle down on the floor and it collapsed so it is no longer obvious in this image.

Photo of the Day

050801natbrown
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

This year there are some really weird coloured Nasturtiums in our garden - this one looked almost brown - not orange but definitely gingerish!

The blue of the bucket I used as a backdrop has made it more orange than it appeared.

Deep Sea Arctic Life

Some cool pictures of recently discovered sealife from the Canada Basin
under the north pole.

This is part of the Census of Marinelife project.

What does this have to do with home ed? Well, what doesn't when home ed is about learning from life!

toy phone - feeding photo

redglow
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

It's amazing what one can achieve whilst breastfeeding an infant. I took advantage of a patch of morning sun and a nearby box of toys to continue my 'toyportraits' project.

For more images taken today goto toyportraits set and jewel & pebble photos (you will have to scroll down to the photo of the apple logo to see this mornings efforts)

Terrarium- day 14

terrariumday14
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

The parsley and capsicum have started to sprout. Unfortunately the albizia doesn't seem to have survived - some we planted in the garden at the same time are doing fine. I think the albizia in this terrarium have succumbed to the mould.

Green is Beautiful - with some of my photos

Some of my photos originally posted on a flickr group have been chosen to be shown in this group blog Green is Beautiful!

Including this one:

Terrarium Update - root

Terrarium - root
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Day 10 and the capsicum seeds are sprouting, one of the roots is visable. The mould is growing on a blood and bone pellet not the seed.

What kind of Homeschooler?

Salvador Dali Melting clocks are not a problem in
your reality. You are an unschooler. You will
tolerate a textbook, but only as a last resort.
Mud is your friend. You prefer hands-on
everything. If your school had an anthem, it
would be Dont Worry, Be Happy. Visit my blog:
http://www.GuiltFreeHomeschooling.blogspot.com


What Type of Homeschooler Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks to archaeomom8 for this bit of silliness.

terrarium photo

terrarium
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

We have green leaves!

The blood'n'bone pellets are growing mould and I have sighted a root and a red mite.

Home Ed on a Budget: How to make a terrarium

bottles02
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

A wanted to have his own terrarium after seeing one on "Backyard Science" on ABCTV this week. So I had to come up with suitable containers.

You can use all sorts of things you find around the house to learn about the world around us. Here I'm using left over juice containers abd tape to make a sealed system terrarium.

This exercise covers the CO2/O2 cycles, respiration of plants and animals, water cycles. If you have crafty kids you can decorate the bottles, but do not cover the area above the soil as this is needed for the plants to get enough light.

Step one:
cut the top of a juice bottle so that you can hinge it back and easily fill with soil, invertibrates and plants/seeds.

bottles03
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Step Two:
put rocks/gravel in the bottom to provide a liquid reservoir

bottles04
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Step Three:
place some soil on the rocks

bottle05
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Step Four:
add a worm or two and some compost or mulch for the worms to eat

bottles06
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Step Five:
plant some fast growing seeds/seedlings - tomatoes/capsicum from the veggie crisper in your fridge, try some of the spice cupboard seeds - cumin, celery, mustard etc

bottle07
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Step Six:
cover the seeds, spray in some water and tape the bottle up.

bottles08
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Step Seven:
after a quick spray of water, tape the bottles shut, cap them and leave the bottles in a sunlit, but not too hot, position. then sit back & watch your garden grow.

I'll be taking photos periodically to record our experiment.

bubblevision

bubble02
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Photo for the week, well, last week anyway. This is a Touchabubble - our back porch was covered in them and C was very out of breath!

More touchabubble photos on the quadrapop fickr site.

secret foto blogging business

Here is a fun thing that some photo bloggers on flickr have come up with newcastlesecret.

Virual chat room via chalk tags in the real world:-)

New technologies bring new ways of doing things, including playing...
now all these guys have to do is meet face to face:-)

My favourite shot of the week

babychair
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Actually I took this a few weeks ago, but I was immediately pleased with this image when I took it and have't taken one as good since.