Firstly, Happy World Ocean’s Day, and boy did our ocean let its voice be heard bringing us a crazy storm… after months with no rain we were treated to a deluge. When an entire city shuts down for the day: schools closed, business closed, even the gym closed early… hectic. We stayed warm and safe, though by the end of the day I was ready to toss everyone outdoors for some fresh air… no matter what the weather. We seriously need to look into getting a water tank to catch our rain… but right now my kids have all their pots and pans out collecting every drop.
Se7en Builds a Library Book by Book
Our garage is starting to explode with books and we are going to be delivering our library short. Just can’t wait to report back to you all…
Lovely Links from This Week
- An Excellent Post: World Oceans Day: Everything you need to know plastic in the Ocean from the Two Oceans Aquarium.
- Firstly, this is the month to sign up and follow along with 30 Days Wild, never mind that we live on the far side of the world. We commit to heading into the great outdoors everyday and posting a pic on instagram, with the hashtag #30dayswild
- Secondly, since we are signing up for things… It is the season for Read the World Summer Book Club. Well it is Winter over here, but a couple of weeks of fun reading is always totally welcome in our house!!!
- The Planetarium in Cape Town has re-opened and for some reason I have never taken my kids there… but this post packed with all sorts of Star Gazing and Astronomy on Walking in High Cotton, has me a little inspired.
- If you like hiking and green hills then look no further: In King Arthur’s Footsteps: Discover 9 Legendary Places in Wales…
- How to Personalise Your Blog Like These 10 Top Bloggers.
- It’s been so good to have Chris Riddell as the Children’s Laureate… and I have to say I am excited to see the tenth Laureate!!!
- 40+ Drawing Ideas and Activities… from Picklebums… perfect for our wintry weather.
A Blast From the Past:
- 2009: Underwater Ocean Scenes with Se7en Crafty Ideas…
- 2010: Bullies in Training…
- 2011: Just Loving Lasagne in Se7en Steps…
- 2012: Se7en Discover the Great Artists: Marc Chagall…
- 2013: Homeschooling at the Waterhole…
- 2014: When You Lose a Love it’s a Family Affair…
- 2015: So Where Exactly Does Our Garbage Go?
- 2016: Se7en Explore Two Family Friendly Hikes in Cape Point…
This Week’s Highlights
Listening: My Audio skills are on the up and up and I have been listening away… I try to make use of my driving time by listening to audible books and not just listen to fiction but listen to all those books that I mean to read but never get around to. First stop and a great over view of the history of science was the Story of Western Science by Susan Wise Bauer… this I had to read a chapter at a time and then give myself a break. It is fairly dry and includes, as one would expect, and then… and then… and then. It isn’t long, it is an overview and at the end of it you will have a good idea about how all the pieces of science fit together: the how and the why and the when. It is great for sparking ideas of conversation topics with your kids about science and if you are looking for an overview… then grab this one. It includes lists of books with what to read further and it will inspire the curious scientist to dig deeper.
I am winding my way through quite a few Sonlight high school books this year… because at this stage nearly half of our kids are in high school and soon they will all be better read than I am. Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy is one of those books, that I have been meaning to read for ages, but kept putting off because this is definitely not easy reading. The trick I have discovered is to put the book on in the car and drive… I am a hostage and I have to listen. I found this book surprising in many ways… firstly it was not nearly as dry as I had at first perceived and secondly there is a lot of food for thought between the covers. This book is about different World Views and how they affect our Christian thinking, fascinating. As the author marches through time and all the -isms, and how ideas have crossed over into our thinking, not because they are the right ideas but for cultural reasons and because they seem like good ideas. Because our culture so carefully splits our lives into compartments of our public and private lives, our cultural and spiritual lives… we find ourselves dividing the truth depending on which lens we are looking through. Honestly I thought this book would just be pure dry exposition, of different philosophies of life… but actually she winds her own journey of growing up in a Christian home and her doubts of faith and turning away, throughout the book. She demonstrates how she found the truth and how she sought answers and didn’t give up until she had found them. This is a great book for folk, including your teens, who don’t want to believe something “just because someone told them to.” This book is really worth persisting through… it is a valuable resource for tackling big questions.
Reading with the Kids: We are in the heart of our school year, which means reading our way through our Sonlight school shelves and remembering just how stunning these book are to read. The cricket in Times square has to be one of our all time favourites… a boy, a cat, a mouse and a cricket… an unlikely collection of friends. They turn out to be quite a winning team!!!
Watching with the Kids: My kids are watching Red Ted Art’s Wreck this Journal Videos on youtube right now… she is fab, perfect inspiration for all the busy little people that live over here!!!
And news just come in… as we were snug and safe during the storm, friends of ours were braving the fires in Knysna. Please pray for these sweet friends of ours that have lost their home in the terrible fires that are sweeping through the Knysna region.
