Ruth

Fun blocks

2011-08-11T13:47:00.016+12:00

French knitting

2011-08-05T20:00:00.005+12:00

Ruth got a lovely book from the correspondence school with loads of sewing and knitting ideas. I hunted out my old French knitting tool and she was so excited to get started.

She got so much done in just one day.

Elephant puppet

2011-07-28T21:00:00.001+12:00

Ruth did such a good job sewing her elephant puppet last week. Today she stuck on all the bits and it looks great.

Water's skin

2011-05-20T13:20:00.005+12:00

The girls got to see the "skin" on top of water today. First we filled the cup ever so slowly so that they could see how the water bulged over the top of the cup - held in place by the skin.

Then we even manged to get a needle to float on top of the skin. A steady hand is needed as the needle naturally wants to sink. Then we took a toothpick and put some dish washing liquid on it. As soon as the toot pick touched the water the skin was made too thin (from the dish washing liquid) and so the needle instantly sank.

Then the girls made their own submarine. When filled up with water this bottle sinks. But when air is put in it comes up to the surface.

Sinking boats

2011-05-19T13:15:00.001+12:00

Today their task was to find different things to act as boats for the cargo of marbles that we had.
They had so much fun counting the marbles and seeing how many we could get in before the boat sank.

We were also able to see how cargo is put in different sections of a boat so that it does not topple over. We used this small Frisbee and put blue tack (prestic) in to make 4 sections. So many more marble are able to fit on this way. Without the blue tack it toppled over so quickly.

Water's force and floating things

2011-05-18T13:08:00.017+12:00

Ruth has had fun doing water experiments this week. Today we saw how water has a force and pushes against the balloon when you push it into the water.

The girls collected a whole lot of things from their art room and Ruth sorted them into what she thought would float or sink.

At first almost everything that they had collected floated.

I showed them how if the lids (or peg) got filled with water they would sink. We also watched over time to see how the different types of paper absorbed water and then sank (to different levels). It did not take long for Ruth to work out what would sink and then she was able to look for a few things that she knew would go down.

My body

2011-05-06T20:00:00.000+12:00

Ruth really enjoyed making an outline of her body and then labeling it. She wanted to write each word herself so I wrote on a scrap paper and she copied each word.
It was lovely to see how many names Ruth knew. We only put on what she could remember. When we spoke about ankles she told me that her ankle is what allows her to move her foot to walk. She then went through all the other joints in her body (including her spine) and told me how they helped her to move.
She always enjoys painting but does not get to do it often. The paints that I mix always end up going mouldy but today I found some old finger paint that was now so runny that it worked really well with a brush.

We also had fun drawing the head outline of everyone else in the family to see how we all compare. Dad only just managed to fit on the paper.

Pregnant lady

2011-04-23T13:04:00.011+12:00

Ruth's correspondence school teacher sent her this puzzle with other things on babies.

Magnet fun

2011-02-26T12:16:00.004+13:00

Next letter

2011-02-07T12:58:00.015+13:00

We moved onto the next letter today.

The envelope in the middle (on the bottom) has different cards in it. These are the cards from last week. Ruth had fun sorting the cards into living things and man made things.

Numbers

2011-02-03T12:02:00.002+13:00

Ruth is doing really well with writing her numbers. She still struggles a bit with 6,7 and 9 so I made her this card that she can use to check. She has started working in more detail with two digit numbers. I think we she has finally found something that is a bit of a challenge and so will slow her down a little. Which is no problem - she has been racing through this book at such a speed.

Raising Rock Stars

2011-02-01T12:07:00.014+13:00

I have had these pages printed out for a while and finally got them up on the wall for Ruth. It's a free on-line preschool programme called "Raising Rock Stars Preschool" and Ruth is very excited about it all.

It's always fun to have cutting practice. Cutting out the pieces for the memory verse.

And to get to use Mum's sellotape.

At the end of the week the wall was lovely and busy and well decorated with all the things she did.

Magic World Builder

2011-01-28T15:00:00.002+13:00

Ruth has been playing computer games for a bit after lunch this week while I have a nap. We have a couple of games that are fully loaded onto the computer (the disk is not needed to play) and so she can get any of those started and change as she likes. Today when I came up she had been playing around on the "101 Kid's Brainy games" and was in the 8-12 year old section. She found this "Magic World Builder" and got to follow the blueprint to complete this playground (as it gets harder you have to add more pieces and start turning the pieces around to fit properly). What makes this extra tricky is the fact that it's 3D and you can move up and down and around to see all the sides of your building. She has quickly learned some of the different things she can do with the mouse (like zooming in and out) and I think she is going to have loads of fun on this.

More Math fun

2011-01-12T11:57:00.003+13:00

Ruth was thrilled to finally be working with ALL the blocks. She is quickly learning which colour represents which number. The most fun is 8 which is brown for chocolate.

Math fun

2011-01-10T17:00:00.024+13:00

December 23 - counting the blocks and circling the number

Ruth has been flying through the Math-U-See work and is having so much fun.

January 3 - counting and writing the number

I was encouraged when on the intro it was said that it's not important for the children to write the numbers if they are young or it's too hard for them. Their writing ability should not get in the way of their enjoyment of the math concepts that this year introduces. It's all about having fun and seeing different things. So I did not expect Ruth would be writing the numbers but she surprised me and with the help of her puzzle got started on writing.

January 6

Then she got introduced to Decimal Street and started reading bigger numbers. Her writing of the numbers in improving all the time. I now have a bookmark for her which has the numbers written clearly as I want her to write them (with a red dot in the spot where she needs to start). This has helped her so much and she continues to have so much fun.

January 10

I could not believe that reading numbers in the hundreds was going to be introduced. Ruth has taken it in her stride and is doing so well.

Christmas presents

2010-12-25T17:00:00.013+13:00

Ruth has really enjoyed making Christmas presents for her sisters this year. First we made the teddy "bean bag" for Hannah. Ruth was given one of these for her birthday and so we used that as the idea for Hannah's. I did not get photo through the process but Ruth really enjoyed sitting on my lap and doing the sewing. We sewed all the pieces on with the machine and she would sit and push the button to make the needle go up and down and also lift the foot when we needed to shift the material. We had so much fun with it.

We decided to go for a cat for Rachel (who loves cats). So I found a pattern on line and Ruth cut that out. I transferred the lines onto the material and then Ruth helped me sew the picture onto the material.

We sewed the two pieces together (the wrong way around) and then Ruth turned it the right way around (hiding all the stitching inside).

Fill with wheat and stitch closed.

Rachel and Hannah were thrilled with their presents.

Math-U-See started

2010-12-23T16:00:00.001+13:00

Ruth was so very excited about the copy of Math-U-See Primer that we picked up yesterday. She wanted to get started straight away. Eventually I had to say "enough for today". It's a introductory level so the children don't need to "master" each lesson as they do in the other years. This year it's just about exposing them to the math concepts. In the introductory lesson he even says that for some children they are not able to write well enough - and that's ok - you as a parent can just have them dictate to you and you write for them.

It's all about allowing children who are interested to have fun with math and start that journey of loving math. So although I would never have thought Ruth would start this before she was 5 (having never seen the Primer level before), I do know that she is ready for it and is going to have such a fun time. Already she wanted to show Dad what she could do and she was very excited about telling him that when it's 1, 2, 3 or 4 she can just know straight away how many - that she does not even need to count - she just sees how many there are.

Fruit Brulee

2010-12-12T17:00:00.002+13:00

200g strawberries and 110g blueberries
We used strawberries and raspberries.
Dust 1 tbsp icing sugar over berries and toss to coat.

Whisk 120ml cream. Add 2 tbsp icing sugar,
200g Greek yoghurt and 1/2 tsp vanilla.
Place on top of the berries and sprinkle with brown sugar.

Place in the freezer for 15 min.

Heat the grill to high. Grill as close as possible
to the heat until the sugar has melted.

Cool slightly before serving so the sugar forms a crisp crust.

Christmas decorations

2010-12-10T20:00:00.008+13:00

Placing the pieces right side together and pinning.

Ruth was really excited about the sewing project we started. Julia had given us this lovely material and the idea of Christmas decorations and Ruth learnt so much through this project.

Working carefully with pins. She did a good job.

Rachel did the sewing on the machine and Ruth helped
me over lock the edges.

Ruth had tacked a few of them together
and so she took that sticking out now.

Then the tricky part - turning them the right way around.

Getting her fingers into the corners.

Then stuffing them.

Some red ribbon to hang them by.

Rachel sewed them closed on the machine.

They look lovely. This is the front.

And pretty bright colours on the back.

Helping Rachel wrap the present. This one is for
their ballet teacher.

Preschool Nativity Pack

2010-12-06T14:00:00.002+13:00

I printed this Preschool nativity Pack off the Internet yesterday and Ruth and Hannah had a lot of fun with these pages this morning.

Ruth said "This is easy" :-)

"Jesus starts with ....."

And then the letters on her own. Good job Ruth.

Differences

2010-12-03T18:00:00.000+13:00

Rachel needed to do a Brownie project where she collected 5 weeds and did something nice with them. The girls collected these weeds a while back and they have been drying in my flower press.

Today was the day for making the cards. This was Ruth's creation. I should have taken a photo before I laminated it. :( Hopefully I will remember in the future.

Ruth was a great help today in sorting out Dad's work socks. For some reason I missed his weekly wash and so ended up with almost two weeks of socks in one load. At least I know he has enough for two weeks. :-) She did a great job in matching them up as some of them are very similar.

Dark and white chocolate puddings

2010-11-28T19:00:00.000+13:00

Ruth was excited when I suggested we make these puddings this afternoon. Mind you - so was the rest of the family. Excited about eating them that is. Especially with all that chocolate. :-)

It was fun watching how the dark yellow duck eggs got lighter and thicker as they were beaten up with the sugar.

After putting a little bit of the mixture into the cupcake the girls then added a white chocolate truffle. We used what we had left from the ones they made on Friday. We should have planned better and made smaller ones without any outside coating. But it was great that we had some.

Successful but not a recipe I will use again. Although we may hide truffles in normal chocolate cupcakes as an experiment one day.

Chocolate Truffles

2010-11-26T16:30:00.002+13:00

The girls made Chocolate Truffles for our afternoon guests today. At first they both wanted to do the white chocolate and then Ruth said "ok - you do the white chocolate because you are white and I will do the brown chocolate because I am brown".
Such a sweet girl. :-)
Melt 100g (4 oz) plain or milk chocolate (or white)
with 3 tbsp double cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
and 15g (1/2 oz) butter

Once it's all melted and mixed together let the mixture cool. Then put it in the freezer. Stir every 5 minutes or so until the mixture is thick and fudgy.

Roll a teaspoon of the fudge mixture into a ball in your hands (quickly so it doesn't melt). Then roll it in cocoa, coconut, 100s & 1000s or choc chips.

The 100s&1000s and choc chips were our favourites.

Banana Butterfly Cakes

2010-11-24T21:00:00.001+13:00

Good job mashing those bananas.
Arms and fingers all getting stronger.

She is really enjoying using the scales.

She even learnt how to crack eggs
today and did such a good job.

Always fun putting the batter in.

Unfortunately it was a bit too hot today and the icing did not
work very well. It was made with Cream cheese, Butter,
Caramel and icing sugar. I think we may just use caramel if
we do them again. They looked really pretty though.

Pear Meringue Tarts

2010-11-22T20:00:00.019+13:00

It was the first time I have bought
pre-made pastry. Ruth did a good
job of cutting out the shapes.

Carefully putting them on
the tray.

We used pear instead of apple as we have
bottled pears that we made. Ruth mashed
them with a fork and then filled the tarts.

Bake at 200 for 15 minutes. Then add meringue made
from egg white and sugar (1 egg to 40g caster sugar).

Cook for a further 3-5 minutes. I would never have
thought to make apple or pear meringue but it
was really lovely and I am sure will be made again.

To do list

2010-11-19T10:00:00.003+13:00

Ruth wanted to have the same type of "to do list" as Rachel had - so I got hers done last week. Rachel's are on the top and Ruth's on the bottom (where she can reach them).

Her "Art" this week. A picture
for Dad. She also ended up with
lots of stickers on herself. :-)

It was lovely to see how this week she took over the job of doing the chooks from Rachel (the red lables). She takes them any scraps, fetches the eggs and checks that they have enough food. She is such a big girl already.

Other items on her list are "Tell" when she tells me about the story that Rachel has read to her, "Music" for violin practice, "Computer" - a friend lent us a couple of new games so she is enjoying those and learning a lot. And then she has some items that are not for everyday. I have made enough for every day but for starters we are going to have it our goal to get to them at least once a week. "Baking", "Art", "Read" - at this stage it's just work on the alphabet, "Math" - at this stage just work on recognising the numbers or doing some counting or adding, "Sew" - she loves sewing and I want to try and get her something to do every week and "Clean" - it's nice for her to have a record of packing up or cleaning that she has done.

Strawberry Cheesecake

2010-11-15T17:00:00.084+13:00

Most of the ingredients in this book are given in weight. I normally use cups a lot more (I even change recipes after seeing how many cups a certain weight of an item is as it's so much quicker). The advantage however of using weight is that Ruth could make a discovery all on her own. She showed me that the scale went down as she put more of the item in. How wonderful to discover "weight" on her own.
170g (6 oz) biscuit crumbs
85g (3 oz) butter
Melt the butter and mix into the biscuit crumbs.
I asked Ruth what happened to the butter if we kept it in the fridge. She said it went hard. She knows that's why we keep it in the cupboard - as it's easier to use when it's softer. So once we had put our mixture into the baking pan I asked Ruth how we can get the butter to go hard again. The fridge. How clever. :-)

Hull and chop 150g (5 1/2 oz) strawberries into small pieces.
Cut some extra ones up for decoration.
Put chopped strawberries into a pot.
Add 30g (1oz) sugar and
2 tbsp water.
Simmer until the strawberries are soft.
It was great to see how more liquid formed as the sugar melted and the strawberries cooked.
Remove from the head.
Add 135g (4 1/2 oz) packet strawberry jelly
Stir until smooth. Leave to cool.

We spoke about what happens to jelly when we add water (it's liquid) and then put it in the fridge (it sets). So instead of using water with the jelly powder we will be using
200g (7oz) cream cheese and
200ml cream.
It's far easier to see the level of normal runny cream compared to the thick cream we used yesterday. Little science lessons all over the place here.

Beat the cream. Making sure it does not turn to butter. We spoke about the times Ruth has seen cream turned into butter. It was good for her to watch it whipping up and see how it changed.
Whip the cream cheese.
Pour the jelly mixture onto the cheese.
Whisk to mix.
Spoon the whipped cream onto the jelly and cream cheese and fold in.
When Rachel tasted the finished product she said "it's so light". I reminded them about how we folded the cream in - trying to keep as much of that air in the mixture.

Place the mixture onto the biscuits. Smooth the tops and refrigerate for 2 hours until set.

It was really good for Ruth to see that with some things she does need help. The bowl was really heavy and so we could do this part together. She so loves to do things on her own - but is learning that at some points it's ok to do things together and accept help.

Remove from tin, serve and enjoy.

Strawberry Layers

2010-11-14T17:00:00.001+13:00

Hull a punnet of strawberries.

Put a few aside for decoration. Slice the rest.
Ruth has learnt really quickly how to use
the knife safely.

Use a potato masher to mash up the
strawberries and 4 tbsp strawberry jam.

Measuring out 200ml double cream. Whisk the cream with
6 tbsp plain yoghurt.

Layer the strawberry and cream mixtures and decorate.

Chocolate covered banana

2010-11-13T17:00:00.002+13:00

Learning about double boiling and using steam to heat.
Our chocolate was also not a good quality and was
very thick so we added some cream and she saw
how it got much softer so that it could pour.

Ruth was so excited when her correspondence school bag arrived today. It did not take her long to ask me if we could make something from the book. Thankfully we had ingredients to get chocolate covered bananas done this afternoon.

She did a good job cutting the banana up.

Time to decorate. The chocolate was not ideal, but we managed.

Very happy with her creation.

Meeting her teacher

2010-11-08T17:00:00.026+13:00

Ruth had a great time at the Correspondence School get-together today. It was lovely to meet her new teacher and to do so many fun things.

Painting is always fun (and messy).

The girls helped make the play dough when we arrived
and had so much fun through the day with it.

Closing the circuit and getting the bulb to light up.

There were so many dress up clothes. Always so much fun.

Ruth used the lovely bells (on the shelf behind
them) to play "Mary had a little lamb" for
her teacher.

Playing a quiet game after all the tiring
games with the parachute.

Lots of fun in the sandpit. They made lovely castles.

1st violin lesson

2010-10-19T17:00:00.002+13:00

I phoned the school music teacher this morning as I had heard that she played violin. I was very pleased to hear that she gives violin lessons. She asked if we could come and see her today so we headed down before Ballet and Ruth got her first lesson. I also learnt a lot about caring for the violin and bow. Ruth was a little shy but will get over that quickly I am sure. She is very keen to practice every day. I am impressed with the sounds that she is already getting after just one lesson. Unless you have tried to play a violin and know the screeching noise that can be produced - you may not appreciate how good this is for the first day.

Psalm 23

2010-10-07T17:00:00.004+13:00

Ruth has been so motivated to do her memory verses for Sunday School. She already knew Genesis 1:1 but doing the whole of Psalm 23 has been a challenge. But she has faithfully worked on it and has done so amazingly well. She is only 4. :-)

Marble chaser

2010-10-04T18:30:00.017+13:00

Ruth has really enjoyed the Marble chaser that her correspondence school teacher sent her.

Fun with her sisters.

It was fun to make different starting places.

Giant Paper Poppy

2010-09-21T07:24:00.002+12:00

Ruth did a really good job of cutting out.

She enjoyed helping me use the glue gun.

We are all very happy with the end result.
For instructions on how to make them go here.

Bubble paper

2010-09-16T22:39:00.002+12:00

One of the activities in the "decorating paper" kit that we received from the Correspondence School was to use bubbles to decorate.

Rachel enjoyed joining in and they had a great time.

The results were really good too. Click here for full instructions on how to do it.

Tissue Paper Flowers

2010-09-15T16:43:00.003+12:00

Ruth really enjoyed making these tissue paper flowers today. She worked very carefully with the folding and then unfolding. I was especially glad she was willing to accept a little bit of direction and help from me without saying "I want to do it on my OWN". At one point she even said "I am not going to get upset when you help me". I am so pleased to hear that. I think she finally realizes that when I want to show her how to do something (if she is not doing it quite right) that I will just demonstrate and then she will be able to continue on her own. I only needed to show her once how to unfold and create the flower and she did the rest "all on her own".

Good job Ruth.

If you want all the directions on how to make these flowers then click here.

Look at me I'm moving Again

2010-09-11T19:42:00.000+12:00

Some more favorites from "Look at me I'm moving" vol 3. This one is with rhythm sticks. Great to get the rhythm as well as solidifying right and left. I love the way Hannah got the rhythm as soon as she got to them too.
And this is a mirror song. They each take turns to be the person or the mirror. Loads of fun with this one.

Returning the school bag

2010-09-09T23:03:00.002+12:00

It's time for us to return Ruth's school bag with the puzzle, game and books that were lent us. So I quickly took a couple of photos of this "puzzle". She has had fun seeing which shapes can be exchanged and enjoys seeing if she can make different patterns. I have loved watching Hannah enjoy this so much - I think she played with it more than Ruth did. It was a challenge for Hannah to get the pieces to fit. She stuck to the same colours and it was lovely to watch her learn how to try turning the piece as well as flipping them over if it did not fit the first time.

Puzzles - new and sisters

2010-09-08T22:58:00.002+12:00

Yesterday Ruth got started on this puzzle. I just loved the way she picked up a piece and then had a look at the picture to find where it went.

I then had to help Rachel with something upstairs and she called and said "Mum - come and look at the pieces I have put in". She was so pleased to show me that all 200 and something were done.

Today she pulled out Rachel's Fairytale book which as 7 48 piece puzzles in it. The have quite subtle colour changes and areas of similar colour (like the sky on the cover) but she found them much easier to do today then the last time she did them and she flew through all 7 in one day - almost 350 pieces. When will she stop? :-)

Look at me I'm moving

2010-09-08T16:18:00.002+12:00

Ruth got this DVD in her last Correspondence School posting and has so enjoyed it. "Look at me I'm moving - volume 3."

This is quite a tricky one but focus on crossing the mid-line.

Wiggle and a waggle your body. :-)

A real needle

2010-09-06T22:50:00.002+12:00

Last week Ruth started on another felt puppet. The first one was a set that I had with the puppet already cut out and the wholes made for them to stitch with a plastic "needle". I don't have a punch that can make holes in felt though - so I decided to just let her learn to use a real needle. She was thrilled to be sewing properly and did a really good job. I just drew some dots for her to follow.

Today she finished up the decoration on her fish. She is getting much better at using glue on her own and just loves her "creative art". I had copied the idea of the shape of the fish from the other puppet's instructions and Ruth wanted to just copy the design they had done (thinking that was the right way to do it). It was good to get her to do her own thing and not feel it had to be a certain way.

It looks great Ruth.

Pretty box

2010-09-01T22:48:00.002+12:00

This is the pretty box Ruth made today in her "Collage" time. She struggled with using the stamps so she asked me to make a few yellow and purple flowers and teddies which she then stuck on. I also helped her punch the holes as the single punch we have is really hard to use. I then left her though and she put the ribbon on all by herself. I was really impressed with the knot she made.
Well done Ruth.

2 days and 3 new puzzles

2010-08-31T22:38:00.003+12:00

On Sunday we picked up some new puzzles and Ruth was so excited to see this one. She immediately said it was like the "I spy" book her correspondence teacher had sent her. 100 piece done.

Another 100 pieces. I was not sure if she would recognise the characters (I don't remember her watching Shrek at all) but she immediately told Rachel about the Alice band that someone had that had Shrek ears. I must have a look if the movie is in the toy library.

200 piece finished up today. She enjoyed looking for the different things in each room and talking about the birthday party that they were having.
So 400 pieces done in just 2 days. At least you know I was not forcing her to build that dog puzzle every day. She really is a little puzzle monster. :-)

Spring before September

2010-08-26T22:35:00.001+12:00

Ruth is so excited about spring. She was pleased to show me these blossoms that have started budding already.

Writing practice

2010-08-25T22:22:00.000+12:00

Rachel has started learning to write in cursive and so I found a website where you can create your own writing practice pages. I decided this would be nice for Ruth to do. She often wants to write her name on her own - so this is good practice (without me having to do dots for her the whole time). And she works so nicely too. Good job Ruth.
Ruth really enjoys Rachel's 96 pieces Egyptian puzzle book. She had no problem building this one even with all that shiny gold.

And she does not get tired of her old puzzles either. I love how she just decides which one (or two or three) she wants to build in the day. I also love how Hannah wanted to copy her big sister. :-)

1,500 done and other stuff

2010-08-24T21:08:00.002+12:00

Ruth completed her 1,500 piece puzzle today.
This is a video of the progress over the last 25 days. I took a photo almost every day. She did about 60 pieces a day. She only had about 30 to do today - so it did not take her long to get some more puzzles out.
A picture of the finished puzzle. I look forward to getting it framed for her room.

And just so you know she does not just build puzzles - here she is with Rachel "blowing dye".
She struggled to blow on her own so I ended up holding the end of the straw and moving it around for her. You can see the effort it took. I thought afterwards that I should have cut a shorter piece of straw for her to use. We will have to try it again another day.
She really enjoyed seeing how the colours mixed.
Here she is on a 100 pieces. 30 pieces obviously is just not enough for one day.

And before Ballet she quickly got started on the round 100 piece. So much for thinking we would have a break from puzzles with the dog one finished. She ended up building at least 230 pieces today.

Mixing dye

2010-08-20T19:47:00.002+12:00

Ruth enjoyed her first art project with the dye that she got in the last correspondence school posting. The instruction sheet had not been included, so once the teacher had sent that to us she was so excited about getting started. She had to exercise a lot of patience as I had no idea of what to do with it until the info sheet arrived.

Down to just one tray of pieces left on her puzzle. She gets so excited when she gets to finish a dog. But she can't just sit and finish them one at a time because as she looks through the tray for a specific piece she says "oh - I know where this one goes" and then goes back to looking for the other (which she normally manages to find).

Ballet Book and cd

2010-08-17T11:00:00.000+12:00

Ruth's correspondence teacher sent her a Ballet book and cd with her last posting as I had told her about Ruth starting Ballet lessons. Ruth loves showing Hannah the book as the cd plays - telling Hannah when it is time to turn the page and pointing at the different pictures. At the end of the cd there is some music for them to dance to. One of the pieces is one that Rachel danced to at her first concert. They girls all love being ballerinas and dancing around.

Posting arrived

2010-08-14T16:43:00.004+12:00

Ruth was very excited about her next Correspondence School posting that arrived today.

With Ruth's attention to detail in her puzzle building the teacher thought to send this "I spy" book with each page just full of objects. There is also a riddle on each page with different things for you to find. Ruth enjoys the book a lot but I loved how she first used it. This page looked like a lovely place for her cars to drive. So she fetched the box of cars and had such a fun time.

Puzzles still going

2010-08-12T16:00:00.003+12:00

Tuesday, 10th. I just love how she sits with the tray that is so full of pieces and finds one that she wants to put in.

She enjoyed building this 200 piece from the library today. Rachel had built it as soon as it arrived (no surprise with it having a horse).
In two days she has added so much. Down to just the three trays already. Although the brown and black tray is at least two layers of pieces.

Mosaic

2010-08-11T16:38:00.002+12:00

Ruth enjoyed cutting up different colours of card in preparation for making a mosaic.

Hannah woke up before Ruth and Rachel got finished so she got to do a flower too.

The finished product. Well done Ruth. It looks lovely.

Another week of puzzles

2010-08-07T11:47:00.005+12:00

Ruth was thrilled with the box of puzzles I brought home on Tuesday night.
The first one she tackled was this round 100 piece. Her first round puzzle.

She loved the special shaped pieces (at the bottom of the tray).

60 piece Winnie the Pooh.

100 piece Barbie.

100 piece fairy.
And even though she has gotten those all done she is still working on her dog puzzle. This is an update on what she has gotten done over the last week.

I love how sometimes she will just look through the tray with all the "middle" pieces on (they don't have any white line that separates the dogs - and there are loads of them) and will pick one up and say "I know where this one goes" and puts it right in it's spot.

Not just puzzles

2010-08-06T13:07:00.000+12:00

Ruth has been wanting new and more challenging computer games so I got her started on Rachel's Jumpstart Grade 1. She did a couple of the things in the main game but then I remembered the Music cd. I registered her as a pre-schooler when I set it up. She sat and played and played until she had finished the entire game. I will have to set her up as a kindergarten student next time.
It's a great game that teaches rhythm, memory of notes, knowing what sounds different instruments make as well as the basics of music reading (where one note is wrong and you have to work out quick one).
And she continues to enjoy her collage work. She knows that when she sticks heavy things on she has to let it dry before she can do the other side.

This was the other side done a couple of days later.

She had been talking about making one for each of us and so we asked her what we should use them for. Eventually we came up with the idea of Rachel keeping bottle tops in it. Rachel needs to collect bottle tops for Brownies and has found a few sources over the last week. So they are no longer just being kept in a packet but have a special bottle - lovingly made by Ruth.

A week of puzzles

2010-07-31T22:00:00.007+12:00

Ruth amazed me on Sunday when she started on the 221 piece I found in our library. Eventually she had to move to the glass door so that she could actually see the slight differences in the colours.

But up till then she just flew through it. She would spot a piece that had the tiniest bit of an animal on it and say "oh - this goes here".

It's just incredible to watch her.

Well done Ruth. Your biggest puzzle yet.

Then through the week she got started on Rachel's Egyptian 96 piece puzzle book. She had built this one before but struggled a little with building the puzzle in the book - over the smaller picture. So she enjoyed building it again on a board next to the picture.

This Saturday - in a desire to give her something challenging to do (and something that lasts a little longer) I pulled out the 1,500 piece dog puzzle that Nana had given us years ago. We have never built it and I asked Ruth if she wanted to build it with me. She is very keen to get it done. We have said we will frame it when it is finished. Rachel and I help sort through the pieces and within no time she had the border coming together nicely. I am not sure if she will stick it out. It's huge. But it will be amazing if she can perhaps get it build within the next few months.

3 in one day

2010-07-24T12:55:00.002+12:00

Ruth headed to our library again today in search of more puzzles and I showed her this 150 piece one of dinosaurs. She was keen to give it a try. I sat amazed as I watched her work her way through it. By 11:30 she was finished and wanted another one.

So she did a 100 piece of foxes which I thought was quite tricky with the subtle colours - but she got through that by 2pm and asked for Mickey mouse (another 100 piece one but easier with the detailed picture). She had built this one with me quite a while ago but this time around could do it completely on her own.

Well done Ruth. You really are a puzzle whizz.

Hard 100 piece

2010-07-23T12:48:00.002+12:00

Ruth headed back to the library the other day in search of another puzzle. I showed her this one that we have but thought it might be a bit tricky with all those flowers. She managed wonderfully though. She did the frame on Wednesday, did a little more yesterday and then flew through the rest today.
And she is getting better at taking photos of her finished puzzles too. :-)

100 piece again

2010-07-15T15:51:00.001+12:00

Yesterday I had helped Ruth by separating the side pieces from the middle ones. Something she can do on her own but gets board of. Today while I was busy with something she decided to build it again. With NO help from Mum. She decided that the sides did not need to be built first and got it built again really quickly.

Creations and another 100 piece

2010-07-14T15:45:00.003+12:00

Ruth has been busy making these baskets for Mum and Dad. You are such a kind girl Ruth - always wanting to do things for other people.

She went hunting for a bigger puzzle today and decided to give this one a try. A 100 piece puzzle of Rachel's.

And she now asks to take a photo herself every time she gets finished. A little skew - but she got it all in first time. :-)

The creating continues

2010-07-08T12:41:00.001+12:00

Rachel was thrilled to join Ruth in her creative endeavours.

Rachel's two creations on the top and Ruth's on the bottom.

Collage started

2010-07-07T10:45:00.004+12:00

Yesterday we watched the DVD the Correspondence school had sent on "Collage". Ruth was very excited to go around the house collecting "treasures".

Then she chose an egg carton to paint.

Today I made up some of the "paste" they had sent with and Ruth had a wonderful time sticking all different things onto her creation.

They also sent a pair of scissors and Ruth has learnt really quickly how to use them. They are nice and sharp (although rounded on the end) as apparently children cut themselves more on blunt scissors because they have to put so much more effort into the cutting.

And once the box was done Ruth was not. So she continued to do some cutting and pasting.
She has had so much fun and I can see that making Collages is going to be a very regular event now.

Dress up girl

2010-07-02T10:07:00.002+12:00

Ruth really loves the dress up girl she got with her school work yesterday. I loved how she sat and showed Hannah how to use it this evening.

First 100 piece done

2010-07-02T09:32:00.004+12:00

Yesterday Ruth got Rachel's fairy puzzle book out and got a 48 piece done really quickly. It's probably a bit more difficult than her 60 piece Winnie puzzles as the colours are more subtle.

So when we visited the toy library today I hunted out any bigger puzzles and found this 100 piece one. She diligently sat and worked on it until it was done.

And then wanted to take a photo of it - herself.

Good job Ruth.

60 in one sitting

2010-06-30T07:12:00.000+12:00

Yesterday I asked Ruth what she would like for her birthday and she said "maybe a puzzle". I was surprised as she has not been building puzzles much lately. I asked her about it and later when Hannah had room time Ruth got out one of her Winnie the Pooh 60 piece puzzles. The last time she built them she would work on them a little at a time with breaks. Yesterday she just sat and got the whole thing done rather quickly. So perhaps she does need a new puzzle. Unfortunately the Toy Library does not have ones like this (they have mainly board ones for younger children). So perhaps we need to see what we can get for her.
She has two of these Winnie puzzles and got the second one done really quickly today.

Senses part 3

2010-06-16T16:52:00.003+12:00

The girls enjoyed the painting they did yesterday and today. The focus again was on different animals and their senses as compared to ours.

They had painted the shapes for the faces yesterday and today they attached the ears, nose and eyes (and I drew on the mouths). We stuck the ears and noses onto Styrofoam pieces so they are at least 1cm higher than the faces - so the effect is lovely (a bit lost on a photo).

Senses part 2

2010-06-15T08:54:00.001+12:00

We made ginger bread men (and faces) today and the girls enjoyed adding the senses.

We even made some animals with their appropriate eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Ruth did the bottom left man all by herself as well as the top face and the elephant (bottom left - I just did the dots for the eyes) and one of the pigs.

Senses part 1

2010-06-10T18:30:00.002+12:00

Today Ruth and Rachel enjoyed making some new play dough. It was a great time to do this as Ruth has started a study on our senses so she got to use some of her senses as we made it and she could feel how very different it was from the old batch.
I showed her how to make a face with the play dough and this was her creation. As we are focusing on senses we made a tongue instead of just a mouth (in case you were wondering).
Great job Ruth.

Autumn painting

2010-05-20T08:49:00.002+12:00

I know I need to give the girls more opportunities to paint so I got some paints out today and tried (yes they are not that great) to draw some leaves and things for Ruth to paint. I got the ideas from her one Autumn game.

So although my drawing is not wonderful I was so impressed with Ruth's painting. I really must give her regular painting time.

Well done Ruth.

Pattern fun

2010-05-08T15:35:00.003+12:00

Ruth has so enjoyed this simple puzzle. Here she is putting the pieces into the original pattern.

Here are some of the many designs we all came up with. Often just trying to get all the pieces back in - in a different way than before. Or just for a pretty pattern. It's funny that I don't have a photo of the way the puzzle came - with big blue around the outside of the square and then working in to the yellow middle (similar to the middle left picture - bottom half).

Autumn school work arrived

2010-04-29T16:04:00.000+12:00

Ruth was so excited about her new lot of school work arriving in the post today. The theme is autumn to go along with the crafts we have been doing. By the end of the day she was already singing along with the new cd of songs she received.

She also did not want to waste any time in getting her poster made. So we got out the rest of the leaves we had pressed and then went walking around the garden looking for seed pods. The only ones we could find were Acorn. It amazed me to see how many Oak trees are around our home (and all different sizes). No wonder the place is called "The Oaks".

Finished product. It's lovely Ruth. Well done.

Another fairy done

2010-04-26T21:42:00.002+12:00

Ruth did this 48 piece today and did so well. The colours make it a tricky puzzle to do (especially for a 3 1/2 year old). It's amazing to just look again and she has it all finished.

Autumn crafts

2010-04-26T15:19:00.003+12:00

Last week we started collecting items from the garden for our Autumn crafts. The girls were so excited to start with something, so we got busy on the acorn cups. The coloured them in and I put clear drying glue in each one.

The next day we made pretty bangles out of them and the girls were so impressed with their creations.

That kept them busy while our leaves dried in the flower press. A couple of days later we got the leaves out and the girls made place mats.

Ruth's first design of just filling the page with different colours was by far the most popular and so Rachel, Ruth and I made another one each with in that style so we could have a set of 6. The girls were so excited about using them that night at dinner.

This week we got busy on our joint project. First we drew white wispy clouds with white crayon and then we painted over that with blue.

Using the girls fingers (biggest to smallest) to create our branches.

And then sticking on the leaves. First the green one, then the yellow one with leaves starting to fall.

And then the red one with most of the leaves on the ground. We are all thrilled with the results.

48 piece in one go

2010-04-20T22:43:00.003+12:00

Ruth seems to be in a puzzle building mode again and chose to tackle one of Rachel's 48 piece fairy puzzles this morning.

She did such a great job and she did it in one sitting too. It's a lot harder than her 60 piece Winnie the Pooh puzzle because of the type of picture. Well done Ruth!

What animals Eat - Poster

2010-04-13T14:12:00.003+12:00

Ruth really enjoyed getting pictures of food out of the newspaper advertising yesterday. So today we started sticking them on.

She has not used glue before - so with this one she just put the glue on and I placed them. It's amazing that I can ask her "So what are you?" and she immediately says "omnivore". She has learnt so much.

We had so many pictures that we separated the meat and veg / fruit from the others and then she stuck all the extra pictures onto the back of the poster. She did this all on her own.

And she did such a good job. Well done Ruth.

I laminated the poster for her once she was done so that we don't have to worry about any of the pictures falling off. So even if they only got a little bit of glue in the middle it was enough.

What animals eat - Part 2

2010-04-12T13:34:00.005+12:00

What do dogs eat? Do puppies eat the same as grown dogs?

Ruth has seen lambs drinking off their mother and remembers Rachel giving milk to the lamb she looked after. So once she thought about that she could guess that puppies would drink milk too. She enjoyed colouring the puppies in different colours.
Lovely pictures of the mice and birds that our cats catch and eat.

I was going to find clip art to print and let Ruth colour in but was having endless trouble with Word and so decided to rather look for photos. I am glad I did as we had lovely ones and it helped Ruth remember.
I was surprised to see how many photos we actually had from our holiday. Ruth had fun sorting them into groups. I had to look up the Takahe on-line to see what it ate but Ruth and I also had fun looking at all the other photos on the on-line encyclopedia. We also read about mussels and I guessed they were omnivores as plankton is made from microscopic plants and animals - but was not sure if they were classified in these groups. But it was great to see such a big mussel - just slightly open for us to see the creature inside.

The extra two pages we filled with family photos. Ruth did a great job of sorting them into their groups.

What animals Eat - Part 1

2010-04-01T07:20:00.004+13:00

Today Ruth started on her Correspondence School work about What Animals Eat. This is the book that she is going to make.

She has really enjoyed talking about it all and drawing and writing in her book.

The first page about what animals we have at home. I drew the shape of the cow's head to help her and I also did some tiny dots as a guide for the side of the chook's body (after she had done the head on her own). She did the cat completely on her own. I was really impressed with what she did. She also enjoys writing over the dots that I do for the numbers and words.

Then we looked at what these animals eat. Her cat food packet ended up turning into a cat I think - so that one was not too successful. She is having so much fun having her own "school work" and it's surprising to realize how much she already knows.

Egg colouring

2010-03-31T19:05:00.001+13:00

Ruth did a great job of blowing the egg out.

Carefully adding colour.

Very pretty.

JumpStart Preschool

2010-03-30T15:45:00.007+13:00

Ruth is really enjoying this computer programme.

I can already see how these simple counting games have helped her counting. She is getting really good.
She is even starting to recognize the numbers with this game. They do say the number but she is able to at least recognize some of them before the number is even said.

Extra practice in recognizing the numbers in order and the letters too.

The memory game is also more advanced than on the Barnie DVD - so that's nice to get her mind that extra stimulation.

She quickly jumped to level 3 with letter recognition.

Colour by shape or number or letter is always fun.

Songs with the words highlighted as they sing.

Hide and seek where clues are given and you have to work out where the fish is hiding. This clue was "I rhyme with sock".

Odd one out. Great for showing the difference between letters.

And Ruth will always enjoys some puzzles.

I like how in this one she gets to see how two smaller different shapes together make the big one.

Humpty Dumpty

2010-03-29T17:06:00.000+13:00

Ruth had requested a Humpty Dumpty puzzle from the Correspondence school but they did not have one. So I was very pleased when I saw this game at the toy library.

She is getting to build quite a few Humpty Dumpties. :-)

Willowbank

2010-02-24T19:08:00.011+13:00

Today we had a Correspondence School outing to Willowbank. The teachers are based in Wellington so they try to come down once a year to meet up with everyone.
Kerry and her youngest three traveled through to town with us. It was Kerry who first told me about Correspondence School.

Can you spot the eel?
Touching the eel. Rachel and Layla both touched it with their fingers too.

The only picture I got of Kayla and one of the twins. They stay quite close to Willowbank and as they have just started home schooling this year I thought it would be nice for them to join us. Layla also wanted to get to see Rachel again - so it was a good opportunity for the two of them.

And those feathers are supposed to look like that.

The highlight for me were these tame wallabies.

What an amazing experience. Ingrid (our friend who stays close by) knew the little bags of food that you buy when you come in are very handy at this point. So thankfully the boys were very willing to share the treats and our girls got to feed them too.

As we walked past the lemur's cage they were given their food. Great for Ruth to see them picking through their fruit for their favourite pieces.
Hannah loved the old tractor (of course) and so the two of them had a nice "ride" together.

Tiny little chicks under lights to keep them warm.

I have never seen such small horses. A perfect size for little ones to pat.

These Kea were so friendly and loved the bread that Ingrid had brought to give them. We could tell she had been here before because she had her food ready and she knew were we should stand and wait. We waited for a few minutes wondering if there were in fact any birds in the walk through enclosure. And then sure enough they started to come towards us. We counted 5 that came for a snack.

Such lovely birds and they had such different characters too. A few of them screeched so loudly and then the one just sat quietly and did the following little "meow" (almost).

Ruth was very brave in giving this big pig some treats. Just look at that mouth!

The piglets were very friendly. And very cute.

We had a lovely day and only when I loaded the photos onto the computer did I realize that I had not taken a photo with Ruth and the Correspondence School teacher. What a pity. It was great for Ruth to meet her in person though.

Lets Play School

2010-02-17T22:00:00.007+13:00

Ruth wanted a break from Letterland and with her asking for a different computer game I remembered that our Barnie dvds have computer games on them. So she was excited to play "Let's Play School" today.

This first game is the hardest one - it's connect the dots (by number). I made her the card with numbers 1 - 10 so that she could see which one comes next. They also say the number as she clicks on it - so perhaps this will eventually help her to recognize numbers too. Once the picture has been completed it gets automatically coloured in and moves. So it's great fun for her.

She had been playing this memory game with us but I think playing it on the computer will help her get the idea of it better. And they start really simply too which is nice.

Making patterns. She has made coloured patterns with toys with me before but it was harder only having the pattern shown once. She quickly got the hang of it though.

And children always enjoy colouring in. Even if it's on a computer. :-)

Practice counting. As she picks the crayons up Baby Bop counts and the number appears on the box. So reinforcing the written number and counting.

Book fun

2010-02-11T06:43:00.000+13:00

Ruth helping Mum with "My cat likes to hide in boxes."

Build and boogie

2010-02-09T13:22:00.002+13:00

It did not take Ruth long this morning to get back to her new games. I got some nice zip lock bags for all the different things (in front of the bag next to her) which helps keep all the pieces together of each game (and helps to show Hannah to play with one thing at a time and then pack up). Ruth asked me to time her this morning with building the parrot and I was amazed that she did it in just over 1 min (75seconds). It's fun to watch her working out different ways of building it - not sticking to the same order for the pieces.

One of the things I did not mention yesterday was the music cd we got too. Ruth has now learnt how to get the cd playing again as she listens to it over and over. She is already singing along to all the songs and dancing and doing actions where she can.
So creative with these shapes. Well done Ruth. This is her worm or snake.

Correspondence School Started

2010-02-08T13:04:00.006+13:00

Ruth was so excited when she saw that a bag had arrived in the post today from the Correspondence School. I was so pleased to see we don't even have to pay for the return postage when we are done with the bag.
Within in no time she was busy with the puzzle. She has not had much experience with ones like these - so it took her a little while to work it out the first time. We had to direct her a little on the first one by saying things like "try put the beak in, now put the eye" ect.

As soon as I got all the little dots cut out she was placing them on the butterfly. She got a bit frustrated with the ball puzzle as the frame kept moving. I held that still for her and she quickly worked out how to get all the others in. With the colours all together too - you can see how on the left she has split the reds. We told her that was fine (her big sister had pointed it out and said it was wrong). But we explained that there was not right and wrong with this puzzle. It was for experimenting and trying different things. It's great that these games are now ours and she can often come back to them and try different things.
Hannah and Ruth checking out the books that came with the pack too.

Then the family had a game with the butterfly. Throwing the dice and then putting that coloured spot onto the butterfly. Hannah does not know the names for black or white but was also able to match them up nicely. It's not a struggle for Ruth at all, but she is more likely to make a mistake with the colour name. I think often it's because she does not look properly. Once she looks and things about it she always gets it right. :-)

It was great to see her understand the idea of just doing different things with these shapes.

While playing around she put them together like this and I told her they looked like cat's eyes.

And hour later she was playing with them again and this time decided to match up the colours.

She has already had so much fun with all the new games (and she only started at 4pm).

A day from long ago

2010-02-05T22:48:00.004+13:00

Playing on the dinosaur slide before everyone arrived. I was getting my camera on and so asked her to wait - you can see she was already on her way down and had to use her legs to keep her up. When Rachel told Nana about today Ruth made sure to mention the dinosaur. :-)
So our morning was spent at a History Museum. They have a little town done up and the girls had a great time.
Trust Ruth to find the musical instrument in the shop.

Ruth had a turn the butter churn.

After the shop and bakery they got to see what housework was like in the old days. She enjoyed scrubbing this desk. She has a look on her face as it to say "what's the problem - you just scrub".

She also wanted to do some washing.

A lovely old water pump in the street. Ruth had a go too (I just did not get a photo).

Every evening Ruth wants to do some "Maths" before bed. When she worked on these before she got stuck on this one. So we played a game (below) where I hid some of the animal shape. She could still easily guess what it was and so when she came back to the shapes she could do it really quickly.

She brought her chair over and felt like she was having "school".

The next one she did. I love the way she uses the same colour if she can.

Letterland

2010-02-04T22:18:00.004+13:00

Ruth has really been enjoying her Letterland Computer game. First she has to find the letter (there are 5 different scenes that they take her to). They are given a clue with the same starting sound (like Golden Girl is by the goat). Then when they find the letterlander they get to play a game with them. One game is a maze where she has to collect all the letters that are the same. Only once she has collected them all will the gate open on the other side.

Another game is where she has to catch only the one letter in the basic. I was interested to note that the letters that have this game are b,d,p and q and those are the only letters that fall. So they are really focusing on these "problem" ones and making sure the children can see the difference. It's been amazing to see how quickly Ruth has learnt this and she can very quickly see if it is the correct letter or not.
Then there are rhymes. The last word of the rhyme is missing and she has to select the correct picture to finish the sentence.

One of her favorites is the puzzle. And the one she enjoys the least is the "spot the difference". There are 7 things different and she has to click on the right picture only (to either take something away or to add something). The game is really clever because it gets the children to look at detail - something they need when learning to differentiate between the letters. And it's a great game for children to play. Ruth had never done one before so she is learning really quickly.

Once she has found them all they need to be put in alphabetical order. So this is the one time she calls me to help. I then tell her what letter to put next by making the sound. So I will say "a" (not the name A like in the song but the sound) and then "b" "c" and she selects the card and puts it in order. Each time she plays the cards are put in different position at the top. So she is learning to recognize them and not just remember an order. It amazes me that within a couple of week she has learnt them all.
I had the letterland book and cd with Rachel but have really enjoyed having this game as well for Ruth. It has gotten her to learn the computer (which she is doing really well with) and it has helped her to learn the letters really quickly.

Ruth got these puzzles out today. She got the 24 piece done in less than 6 minutes again and I was so surprised to see her get the 12 piece done in less than 2 minutes. She thinks it's quite fun to get timed and keeps asking me to time her. :-)

Pudding and Puzzles

2010-02-03T13:24:00.003+13:00

Ruth enjoyed helping make a yummy pudding today. I made a separate one for her with a gluten free biscuit base.
She did really well with putting the sprinkles on.

She has not built puzzles in ages but today she decided to get a couple done. She asked me to time her because sometimes Rachel and I see how long it takes us to build a puzzle. I was amazed at how quickly she got it done. She had this 24 piece done in under 7 min.

Then she did another 24 piece and got it done in less than 6 min.

So even though she has not done them for months she still remembers them well and gets them done really quickly.

Geostacks

2010-02-02T12:54:00.000+13:00

Ruth was excited when I got this game out this evening. Sorting colours was no problem.
Then sorting by shape.

Then finding a shape in a specific colour.

Then putting two bits of information together.

Then to put two shapes on top of each other. She decided to use just one colour for each set but I had to show her that there was only 1 of each, so the squares on the left had to be different colours.

Evaporation

2010-02-01T21:27:00.004+13:00

The girls enjoyed painting with water today. Anything and everything they could find. They ended up enjoying the patio most though. I think because the evaporation happens so quickly.
Then we put an equal amount of water in a cup and on a plate out in the sun, on a plate inside and the same amount poured out on the patio. Ruth was very excited when she saw that the water on the ground had all gone.

After her nap she went outside to see if there was any water left on the plate. There was only a small amount left (left glass) where the amount in the cup (middle) and the indoor plate (right) were almost unchanged.

Shapes, colours and counting

2010-01-31T13:44:00.005+13:00

These shapes have been out for a while now so I decided it was time for them to be packed away. But I always like to make sure we have all of the pieces. So I asked Ruth if she could sort all the pieces into the different shapes and colours and make sure there are 4 of each. She then decided to even pack the colours on top of each other in the container. Her counting is really good although she sometimes says the colour wrong. If she gets the colour wrong I will just have to ask "what colour is it" and then she will think a bit and get it right. It was also nice to spend time talking about the different shapes.

First extensions

2010-01-30T07:37:00.003+13:00

All the twists are out and it was so nice to see the hair (especially on the back) had no knots. I would normally start with the front and realized that it's a much better idea to start at the back as it does seem to be a more sensitive area for her. So while she is fresh and it's early we get the worst done.
She was a star and sat so well. Natu was very impressed.
Once the braid was started Rachel or I held the braid so that it would not pull on her head.

Almost done.

Natu was born in Australia, lived in Ghana for the last 7 years of schooling and then came to New Zealand for university. So she has citizenship in all three countries. Her husband is in Germany for the next 6 months.

Natu put the braids into pony tails so that it was out of her way for lunch. Ruth really loves her long hair. Often extensions are just slightly longer than your own hair, but we let them have a bit extra length so that we can tie them up nicely.

It's fun for her to be able to do different things with it. We were glad we could still get it all into her swimming cap this afternoon (just to keep the chlorine off it).

I have a few gold and silver beads that I will add to some of the braids too.

Our little African Princess.

Showing Dad

2010-01-29T22:03:00.001+13:00

Ruth getting her head under to show Dad in the afternoon. Well done Ruth!

Swim Week day 5

2010-01-29T13:00:00.000+13:00

Ruth looked so cute in her new costume. Thanks Phillips's for all those clothes.

One of the items that gets marked on their certificate is that they can safely get into the pool on their own.
Ring-a-ring-a-roses today and Ruth got her eyes under. Well done Ruth.
She got her eyes under to for the hoop. Good job.

Look at that. What a clever girl.

Not quite swimming on her own with the board yet. Some of the others have managed today. But she is quite a bit smaller than them and has done really well.

Floating so nicely.

Ruth has benefited so much from this week. I can't wait to see how much she will learn next year.

Swim Week day 4

2010-01-29T07:44:00.001+13:00

Today the hoop came into the pool to try and encourage them to go under the water. She actually lifts it over their heads - but at least most of them did blow their bubbles.
Practicing to put those eyes in the water. Well done Ruth.

Blowing bubbles so well. She even got her eyes down a bit later too.

Floating on her back all by herself. She is doing so very well.

Swim Week day 3

2010-01-28T07:01:00.000+13:00

Ruth is getting her shoulders in now with Ring-a-ring-a-roses.
Learning to kick holding onto the side but more importantly blowing bubbles.
Learning to float on her back with a board.

Swim Week day 2

2010-01-27T06:46:00.000+13:00

They did a lot of the same things as yesterday but today they started using the boards.
And Ruth did a great job of blowing her bubbles.

Swim Week day 1

2010-01-26T18:40:00.000+13:00

Swim week started this week and thankfully I had a cap to keep Ruth's hair dry. It's not the water as much as the chlorine that we want to keep off it. But she looked so very cute with the cap on.
Walking across the pool getting used to the water flowing past their legs.

Ring-a-ring-a-roses. "All fall down" today was just to get them to bend their legs and get their shoulders into the water.

Pretending to be an elephant and throwing water over their shoulders. Just getting them a little wet and used to the water.

Blowing balls across the pool. Helping the children to get lower. You can see that it is often more difficult for the older children as they are taller and have to bend their legs more to get down.

Now let's see who can blow bubbles. Well done Ruth.