Varsha wants to make their own sketchbooks. We have gathered everything together to make the paper and looked at different kinds of paper I had made. I gave Varsha a book I made to draw in. The paper is very absorbent so we are experimenting with sizing the paper with rice flour and gelatin. The gelatin is working better than the rice. We are putting another coat on to see what happens.
Varsha has been making toasted wraps and we have been thinking about why toasting makes the wrap so much more delicious. We looked up the Maillard reaction which explains the many chemical changes that happen when you toast your wrap!
We got back into the swing of our regular activities this week.
Varsha has been doing some fabulous drawings. This one is inspired by a scene in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader where the knights have been enchanted and fallen into a deep sleep and their hair and their fingernails have grown very long.
Laxmi has been reading and writing Harry Potter fan fiction: stories inspired by the original book but often going in quite different directions. Laxmi has also been using Instagram to get other people’s ideas about what should happen.
We have played the monster game and watched a few episodes of a fabulous documentary called Australia in Colour where Australian history is told through old film that has been coloured.
We went to music at the music house in Mareeba. The same teachers that came to our hall teach there with a couple of others. Varsha and Laxmi are both playing piano and Laxmi is singing.
We went to Atherton and met up with Tekira. Laxmi and I went shopping with her birthday money while the others went op shopping. Laxmi said it was the best day ever. She bought Super Mario Maker and a Pokémon case for her 3DS and a rolling suitcase with the Hogwarts crest on it. We had a picnic on the picnic table in the middle of the main street.
Dakoda came over to play with Laxmi and they painted and cooked and played outside. Laxmi has 11 pages left of the 766 pages in the 5th Harry Potter book.
Varsha went out walking with Luca and Jazz and met up with Thiango and had them all back at our house one evening. Varsha is making an animation using Flipaclips and working on her ideas for a product for Young Creatives. She went swing dancing this week too.
She’s also been embroidering on T-shirts for Luca to give to Finn.
We made a video for Grandma Lois and Grandpa George’s 60th wedding anniversary. Varsha got all the gear set up and did the sound check before we recorded it. It was a pretty crazy video!
Laxmi and I have been doing yoga together in the mornings.
There are lots of dragonfruit ripening in the garden.
Varsha was taken by the name of these Philippino snacks we found in the Asian grocery.
We went down to Cairns to see Linda Jackson’s show and hear her artist’s talk and do the workshop designing ponchos.
A tree snake came into the house. We heard it because it had a rhinoceros beetle screeching in its mouth. We helped it find its way out of the house.
We went to Cairns for swing dancing. Laxmi came for the first time. She loved it. We did some errands and stopped at a coffee shop beforehand. Laxmi did a drawing on a serviette. We talked to John in Brisbane on the phone.
It was really hot and we decided to spend some time in the air conditioned library after the appointment at the bank. Laxmi really liked her tiger friend. We borrowed some good books.
Laxmi has decided she’s going to have a magical creatures birthday party.
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After the storms the ground was covered in Poincianas.
We have been picking asparagus spears from our garden. John made a delightful breakfast with them.
Varsha and Thiango went to the swing dancing Christmas party.
We went to the last Tablelands Homeschoolers gathering for the year at Malanda falls.
John started making a summer house for some shade by the dam on the hot days. Varsha helped him concrete the posts in. It started raining and he had to take a break for a while.
Varsha started making dolls and earrings for Christmas presents and cards too.
Varsha has been watching Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries with Thiango. It is set In Melbourne in the 1920’s. She has done some drawings of her from reference pictures she found on line.
It has been hot and raining in the afternoons which is lovely.
Laxmi has been having Margit’s mulberry jam with fresh mulberries from the garden. She thinks it’s great.
