Now That Takes Me Back

It came just once a year.


As children we would wait for it....



plan for it.....



dream about it.


It was just one weekend in June.


The Queens birthday long weekend.


Apart from Christmas it was the most anticipated weekend in the entire year.
It was the ONLY weekend that we were legally allowed to buy and use fireworks.



I have so many wonderful memories from these weekends. It was such a social event...friends, neighbors, communities coming together around a bonfire to "oooohhh" and "aaahhhh" as we worked our way through fireworks gathered and gazed upon...( and in the case of my brothers and most boys their age "re-engineered") ..for weeks on end.
There were plenty of singed eyebrows and burnt fingers but there was also a lot of just plain, simple fun .




At some point, the powers that be deemed fireworks to be too dangerous for the public to have access to. Forget about personal responsibility ..(don't get me started!)...and so this wonderous and exciting institution came to an abrupt and sad end. No more fireworks...except if you want to go down to Sydney Harbour on New Years Eve with 4 million others to enjoy the choreographed display. Not that the Harbour fireworks aren't spectacular...they are. But they lack that personal touch



So you can imagine my excitement when I found out that the county where we own our cabin still allows, even encourages, the purchase and use of fireworks over the July 4th weekend. My husband was positively giddy.
We took the kids to buy some fireworks today in preparation for next weekend

Homeschool planning

As our remodelling project progresses the kids are getting excited to see their new homeschool materialize. And I have had to start figuring out exactly what they will be studying next year. It sounds like a simple process...math, english, science...but I have discovered..(as most teachers will tell you I'm sure)...that its a little more complicated than that. Who knew that what we used to call "English" is now termed "Language arts" and comprises reading, comprehension, grammar, composition, spelling, vocabulary and penmanship. Sheesh..I felt like I could be in trouble already :(
Science has also been a tough one for me to figure out. But that will be fodder for another blog post. Suffice it to say that there are a LOT of different programs out their with a huge range of different world views.
We are still deciding on whether or not we will go with a government sponsored program like SVLA or CVA or go it alone. There are benefits to both of course. The government sponsored programs will reimburse you for any non-religious curriculum but there are reporting requirements that go along with them. Part of the attraction of homeschooling was that we can really do whatever we want with minimal oversight, so that freedom is a lot to give up.
We will be attending a local homeschool co-op. I think that will be healthy for all of us to spend some time with a group of like minded people. They have asked me to think about what skills I could contribute to the co-op. Hmmm...let me think. What am I good at? Oh...I know...what about a coffee appreciation course...no. Blog surfing skills....no. Housekeeping 101 ! ( I can just visualize my husband choking on his cornflakes as he reads this)....no that is definitely out. Ye gads...don't tell me I'll have to dust off the business degree and put it to work.

It's All About Consolidation

It seems by now that blogger has ironed out all the problems that I was experiencing moving my blog to my own website. It was not redirecting readers from my blogger address to my website as it should. Apparently that has all been fixed and so if you enter the old blog address (http://lemondingo.blogspot.com) you should be redirected here. {fingers crossed}.
Initially I thought it was a good idea to move my blog. When I first started blogging it was really just to share all the photos I had been taking and as a way of staying in touch with family and friends around the world. But after nearly a year it seems that my blogging has become a little more complicated. I had my original photoblog, a personal family blog plus a business one and homeschool one. It was getting a little confusing...keeping tabs on what I had posted to which blog was dizzying.
All this has coincided with a major life shift for us. Pulling our kids out of traditional school and homeschooling is a big change in all our lives. It is going to require a lot of adjustment in what we do and how we do it and in the spirit of change I decided that my blog life needed to be simplified too. I understand that consolidating my blogs may lead to some readers losing interest and no longer coming here for a visit...I know someone who is interested in photography might have zero interest in homeschooling...but in a way these blogs all represent different parts of who I am. A homeschooling, small business owning Mom who loves photography, her family and going just about anywhere on vacation! So just like me...its all just going to be packaged up in the one blog. I hope you can all still find something in here worth reading :-)

Under Construction!!!

My blog has now moved to a new and improved location...my website. Hooray for progress. But no move is complete without some hiccups...so my blog is currently having a remodel...much like my house. Hopefully it will all be back up and running soon.