Agent Smelly officially joins Girls Rally

Tonight was Agent Smelly's turn to make her promise, etc. for Girl's rally and I was so pleased that I was able to pop into watch her do it.

That's her standing ramrod straight in the light grey top. They are called to attention before they recite it.

This is what they have to memorise and recite:

RALLY MOTTO
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth." Ecclesiastes 12 vs. 1

RALLY PROMISE
With God's help I will do my best To honour God, His Name, His day and His Holy Word;
To honour and obey my parents, and respect other people and their property.

John 3 vs. 16
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."


She did a great job, although had a wee mind blank there for a moment (her sister tells me she did the same thing the week before!) but she soldiered on and got through it. I am so glad as she has been reciting it to me all week without any problems at all so it would have been a shame had she missed out tonight.

She is absolutely over the moon at earning her sash and handbook. Well done baby girl!

Friday Funny

The Fashionista asked if we would be eating dinner at 5pm from now on.

This is because her dad and I just turned 45 this week!

Apparently "old people like to eat their dinner early" ... then she giggled and ran off.

Lucky for her; she's faster than me!

The Fashionista finally finishes Handwriting Level 4

Today The Fashionista completed her Targeting Handwriting Level 4 handwriting student book.

 

All done!

This is a recent page from her book.

I will be giving her a wee break from these books in order for her to put what she has learnt into practice. Then start her on level 5 next year in Term 1. The writing simply gets a bit smaller and she'll learn some fluency and speed joins at that level.

She only does a page a week (she does handwriting in other subjects too) as I don't like to rush them to complete the book. This book has taken her about 18months.

I would prefer their writing to be legible and easy for them to do.  Do you remember rushing as a kid and getting writers cramp? I used to write so quickly (and pretty messily!) and be constantly shaking my hand to relax it. The Pig on the other hand, presses really, really hard when he writes and so when I tear a page off the shopping list I can see what he wrote for about another 5 pages!

Dueling Guitars

Last year for terms 2, 3 and 4 the girls learnt the recorder with another homeschooled girl that lives nearby to us. I have to say that despite being 12 and a great little flutist (or flautist) she was a super little teacher and that both girls not only loved attending her classes but made sure they practiced and practiced. She even gave them homework sheets to go home and fill in and they would drop their regular schoolwork just to ensure Miss Music's work was completed. It used to make me laugh as they had never showed half as much enthusiasm when learning from a professional music teacher during term 1!

I had thought that Miss Music was going to be going off to High school this year so had the girls both chose a different instrument to learn to play. Sorry people but, I am not a fan of the recorder and really couldn't have handled another year of it! The Fashionista chose the guitar and Agent Smelly chose percussion. Thankfully they both had instruments that they could use.

Rather than pay for more music lessons only to find that they didn't want to keep up, I picked up some books from The Book Depository (my most favourite online shop in the world!) and off they went.

I highly recommend Alfred's Kid's Guitar Course. It comes with a CD and the kids practice right long with it. Even I have had a go and have been able to pick up a few chords again quite easily.

After a couple of weeks, they decided they preferred each others instrument (or course ... sigh) and so they swapped over. Then they both decided the guitar was the favoured instrument but because they were sharing one it all got a bit too hard and they lost some motivation. 

Well recently we were in Kmart and Agent Smelly saw a child's guitar for $25 so used her own pocket money to purchase one.

Both girls have since set up a little music corner in the lounge and here they are at practice. They seem to be more keen (there's less whining for a start) and not rushing through their practice as quickly when they play together. I try and have them practice the guitar three or four days a week for around 10 - 20 minutes but I still have them practice the recorder at least once a week. Long may it last!

There is a second book in the series and if they finish that and prove to me that they are still interested in learning the guitar then I will send them off for some "proper" lessons with a music teacher but until then Alfred's books will serve us well.

Spring is Sprung

Today I attended a Pippinic. A pippinic for those not in the know (how could one possibly not know though) is a picnic event held every two for Pippins and Pippins are GirlGuides aged between 5 and 6 and the cutest wee little girls ever. Their motto is Pippins care, Pippins share with other children everywhere and I am a Pippin Leader.


I started in GirlGuides over 5 years ago as a Pippin leader then somehow managed to get roped into taking Brownies (the 7-9 1/2 year olds) and then the next level up, the Guides. Thankfully we now have other leaders who have taken over those two section, so I am back to taking the sweet little Pippins, despite my own girls being in the older sections.


Anyway we set out for Paeroa today and my own girls had to come along because their dad was working. It worked out quite well as the three wee Pippins who went for the day were initially too scared to let go of their parents hands. My three pippins were split up into different groups (the sapphire, ruby and gold fairies,). Throughout the morning the girls in their respective groups move from activity to activity. I handed one pippin over to each of my daughters and I stayed with the third little poppet til she was settled and it worked out perfectly. They had a great day; it was a fairy theme and they got to make necklaces, wands, fairy skirts and so on. They sat at toadstool tables (I so want one!) with stools that had simply been cut from a log. After they ate the lunch that was provided, they were entertained by a magician. Then a couple of big group games before we finished for the day around 2.00pm.

After that  my girls and I popped into the Paeroa township. We did some shopping at their quaint supermarket (it's a big chain supermarket but they have gutted 3 shops and made one big supermarket so it's a bit of a laugh, as you feel like you keep entering different areas.


We then had a quick look along the main street of Paeroa. Paeroa is where the "World famous in New Zealand" drink L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) comes from. L&P was traditionally made by combining lemon juice with carbonated mineral water that was sourced from the local spring water.This soda drink is uniquely Kiwi but sadly these days is manufactured by Coca-cola on the same lines as the other beverages that they make. There is still a L&P cafe there as well as the giant L&P bottle.

The best thing about Paeroa is that it is the mecca of antique shops in New Zealand. Oh how I wish had been able to spend the day there. It's only 45 minutes away so I think I will venture out there again one day, and maybe just take The Fashionista (Agent Smelly would get a little bored after a while). The girls and I wandered through a few shops. I was shocked to see the prices on some of the items. I had just sold some educational games this past week for $10-$15 a box that they had retailing in the shop for $45. I was so horrified.


The Fashionista tried to talk me into getting her an old clerks desk, dream on princess, that's $300 I don't have!  It was a quick trip but I did manage to grab a couple of Enid Blyton books that had been missing from a series I had been collecting as a child. They were $6 each which I thought a little steep but, in the next shop I went into, the same books were $25 each ... so then I was a little happier. The girls really enjoyed pointing out some things that they recognised and we discussed how things worked in the "olden days". At nearly 45 I recognised far too many things from my own childhood. Agent Smelly was absolutely taken with those phone's that you had to dial by putting your finger in a hole and spinning the dial around to the number. She had to give it a go ringing our number and thought it hysterical ... I really did feel a bit antique then! Don't you think it's funny their reaction to things we grew up with as the norm?


I could have gone through more shops but Agent Smelly convinced me to leave. Yup she whined and whined and I finally admitted defeat. I must admit that in her defence it had been a really long and busy day and she was dead tired. She reclined her seat back in the car and had a wee cat nap on the way home. Even The Fashionista was quiet on the road home.


So a lovely Saturday spent with my beautiful girls and some of my sweet Pippins at the Pippinic.