To summarise the past week's happenings:

Oh dear, it's been so busy here! It's been action stations every day since we got back into our regular routine.

I need to share some news, though. Last week my parents became grandparents again, twice over. My youngest brother and his wife had their firstborn son arrive on Tuesday, then two days later, my sister had her second child which was a girl. This little girl also arrived on Maestro's birthday, so we've had lots of celebrating, and long phonecalls interstate. These are the 15th and 16th grandchildren for my parents.

Let's see now, we've also had the dressmaking starting up again. I have another 5 little ballet dresses to make, just like those I made in July. So, imagine my learning room full of fabric, my sewing machines out, etc. ... yes it's a mess (and no, I'm not going to take a photo of it. I'll leave it to your imagination!)

Last Wednesday was also the first meet-up for our newly formed Homeschoolers Book Club with our library. The librarian was keen for me to faciliate the meeting, so we gathered in a nice big room, were served morning tea and a book each. It was very refreshing to meet other local homeschoolers who have a similar interest, none of whom I'd actually met before. The children were certainly very enthusiastic, so I'll enjoy watching the friendships develop in this little group of 16. We're starting with Matilda by Roald Dahl, and will meet the second Wednesday of each month, hopefully with lunch at the park if it's a nice day.

Maestro has been ploughing through his Core 5, trying to get two days worth of work done in one. He's actually doing really well, working the same routine for his Science.

Mariposa is very happy to keep at the steady pace we've established. Her corn and bean TOPS science project is coming along nicely.

I also set up my own little experiment alongside hers. My onions had begun to sprout, so rather than throw them out, I had read about an idea of putting the onions to sprout in little jars. You can then cut the greens off and use as spring onions.

Finally, I started watching the download from Tam's free online art course. The second week has already started, but I've still to complete the first project. So far all I've managed to do is draw a practice sketch. Today I finally managed to get myself to an art supply store and bought a small pack of watercolour pastels, so I'm hoping to work on the actual project, properly, soon. Mariposa is extra keen on learning too, and she's already having a few practices herself at drawing portrait faces. I'll post the final results when they're finished. I'm really looking forward to learning about watercolour pictures more!