B was very intrigued by the locust plague in On The Banks of Plum Creek, and has been asking about how often they happen, etc. So when I saw an article in the SMH this evening I read it to her. We went looking for a bit more information, and found that there had been infestations in 2004 and 2000, which shamefully I don’t even remember hearing about at the time (all these things we can afford to be oblivious to when we’re not farming at a subsistence level!). We also pottered about a bit at the Australian Plague Locusts Commission, where we discovered a bit more about some of the beasties. Neither of us were saddened by the tidbit imparted by Wikipedia that some extinct species of locust were apparently up to 15cm long!
Today was a bit of a write-off in terms of Edumacation, although I did get my first apple tree planted (the one sprouting leaves). There’s another one just coming into leaf in the tub as well now! No definitive signs that the plums are budding yet though… K and B spent a lot of time in the garden. B helped me with the laundry, looked after H and K occasionally, as needed, and played a bit of Horse Isle and Dizzywood, as well as continuing with Little Town On The Prairie (because we still can’t find The Long Winter, curses!) and discovering that Mary is now blind. I read Little Town yesterday and am now most of the way through These Happy Golden Years but B is, happily, not getting too discouraged by the difference in our reading speeds! B has mentioned wanting to do a “Laura Day”, although I think if she wants me to make her a costume we ought to make it a “Laura Week” and do it really thoroughly. It might be fun to “do school” for a day or part thereof, given that we have the McGuffey readers which were probably the ones Laura used (and if not, were very similar).
After lunch I was introduced to the House Fairy through JB, and both kids of course gravitated to the computer when I was watching the video. It apparently took strong hold upon K’s mind, because she not only helped her (rather more cynical) sister to tidy up in B’s room, but also watched all the videos on the site, and went off before dinner to tidy her room “because that’s what the House Fairy said I should do”. Oh dear… We went to pick E up at 5:00, since he had vast bags of clean blankets and doonas to carry home, and also because I desperately needed to get out of the house! We sang lullabies to H in the car (without success of course), and then also did some singing later in the evening when making dinner. B and I have resolved to do more singing together, so B can practise her pitch and vocal technique. Maybe even considering voice lessons, who knows? When I was looking for local voice teachers, I found this explanation of why breathy voice is bad, which I was attempting to explain to B the other day (and now I realise that I didn’t know most of it myself!).
B has been planning her weekend. She’s going to ride to Bunnings tomorrow for a kids DIY workshop on making wool baskets (whatever that means), then meet up with Nannie at the cafe there and go out to the farm til Sunday night. They’re planning to go to the Murrumbateman Field Days on Sunday morning. She’s getting so independent…
ETA: Oh yes, and she complained about how it’s impossible to get into the War Memorial’s discovery space during the week because of school bookings, so I suggested we organise a HENCAST booking ourselves and she jumped at the idea.