Today was spent focussing on the kids' education. The children began with a ranger led session about identifying minerals and rocks, then some panning for gold! Benedict was convinced that every rock he picked up was gold. As luck would have it, Ken found several garnets in his dirt. Apparently in 90 per cent of the pans have garnets in them (very tiny) - you just need to be persistent in finding them. Oliver fell in the creek. Victoria smothered her forearms in mud. Benedict found some Spiderman glasses floating in the creek! Surprisingly Sophia remained the cleanest of the four. It was a beautiful morning in the cool and shade of the creek and its trees.
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| Before Oliver fell into the creek... |
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| hematite |
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| Rose quartz |
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| Sophia found mica - a flaky gold looking mineral - she was very proud! |
The next hour was spent in another ranger led session about insects - catching them in the creek, and identifying them using cheat sheets and a colourfully illustrated manual owned by the ranger. It seems most rangers we meet are elementary or middle school teachers working as park rangers in the educational program on the summer vacation.
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| identifying insects |
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| discussing the insect life-cycle, what they eat, differences between the insects |
Lunch followed - a buffet at the State Game Lodge, a beautiful timber building set next to Grace Coolidge creek. More school Julie and Ken style afterwards - maths and English. Benedict has discovered the Kindle and his reading has taken off - we have downloaded several sight word books/early readers which he is really persisting with as he likes to touch the screen to turn the pages. Oliver's reading is fabulous too, and we cannot download enough books fast enough for him. The kids and Ken are down at the creek now enjoying a swim - whilst I enjoy the silence.
