Funk Family Staying Over

These past days had been long anticipated and were true to our expectations. Barb did a Stirling effort at food preparation and much of the details. The kids were fantastic at keeping themselves amused with what was available to do or play with. Stories were shared. A trip to Savers and Latitude were added to the mix, making for a super-fun time. Bec and Gord also did some really amazing things in the meantime.

Chocolate croissants for breakfast!

Savers purchase

Sewing craft

Ready to watch a movie

Getting ready for soccer

Minecraft at Tallarook

This last week of term Peter tried out the kids with wooden cubes and model Mindcraft person kits. Peter actually needed much more than 700 cubes! Within half an hour most of the supplies were done. It went well enough and the kids caught on what to do very smoothly.

Steve

Zombie

Tallarook Sailing Ships

At Tallarook the kids used a variety of pieces to assemble sailing ships. Each one was a little different because they chose different lengths of skewer and paper to attach to the main form. This worked very smoothly and good conversations were had in the process of cutting and gluing.

Whittlesea Submarines

A new idea came into the Woodcraft Club this last week of term. Peter can't take the credit as it is similar to a commercially produced wooden kit. Ten kits were made that the kids loved them. The pictures show just one of them assembled by a grade three girl who went further and made a "sea" with waves over rocks at one end. Then she coloured it in later on. Peter was very impressed.

Market Juggling

We went to a weekend market recently and saw a young friend practice his juggling and gain a little bit of pocket money into the bargain. This is much harder than ordinary juggling balls given that he has to flip the "skittles" so that they land in the hand again on the way down. Well done, and those of us who know the boy we are greatly impressed by his skill and his amazing new image haircut.
The video cut of him juggling can be viewed HERE.

Willy Wonka gate

Peter had great fun helping to make a Willy Wonka gate backdrop for the midyear Tallarook school concert due in the last week of term. Instead of having the kids paint the lines of the gate, he thought black tape would work better. Miraculously some black tape was found. The kids got better at applying the tape the further into the job they went and were very pleased with their effort after 40 minutes of their lunch break. The large white paper was fairly thin so the tape serves to stop it from tearing when moved on and off the stage.

How it looked at the school concert, held up by trusty helpers

Tallarook Woodcraft Update

At the other school, Peter provided slightly different vehicle forms by way of trying something different. He had to rely on the children working out how all the pieces worked together. There were no assembly drawings. Most of the kids had not trouble at all. This turned out to be a great project idea to be repeated many times.

Whittlesea Woodcraft

For Peter this week at Woodcraft Club it was vehicles and T-Rex's. Those children who missed out on a T-Rex kit or a chassis and wheels were encouraged to make anything from the offcuts tray. Peter can't make enough kits for each occasion and relies on their creativity to make something according to their fertile imagination.

Coffee and Book

These days we have been sharing a book together and are being thoroughly illuminated by our latest one: William Dalrymple, "From The Holy Mountain: A Journey Among The Christians of the Middle East". Published 1997 (between the first Gulf War and all those following it), this book has filled in the gaps for us and explains the tragic situation so many Middle East Christians have found themselves in.

Tallarook Afternoon

Tallarook is attractively situated at the top of Victoria's Great Divide. The late afternoon sun helped to light up the nearby slopes for a few good snaps. Another place of note in the above picture is the little Anglican Church diagonally across the road past the school. The school was founded in 1875 and one could assume that the church was built around that time.

Gembrook Afternoon

We joined with the Funks this day. We went to Kallister Market where the young Funks (and four others their age) held a stall selling face painting and craft items. The six of them each want away with $22.50 each after the site was paid for. They were very pleased with their effort. Our movements after the market packed up was to carry on to Gembrook to relax there for the afternoon. Sorry no pictures of the market.

New Woodcraft Action

Peter was very encouraged and impressed with the way the Tallarook students took to their next woodcraft project. This time the theme was wooden houses. Peter calls them mouse houses because of the round windows. Some students created different creations with what was left in the trays as the photos show.