Easy sunny trip in and great to meet the kids' other grandparents, Michael's Mum and Dad on their cotton, chick pea and wheat farm. See Nan and Pop below. 
At the Emerald campus of Capricornia School of Distance Education I watched school assembly. Years 5 and 6 are at a camp in Sydney. Kindy kids in for first two days. They have EKindy at home. Love the school song. On roster for canteen. The classrooms and grounds and facilities are new and beautifully maintained. Here is Meg's classroom.
Blake's room
Week spent attending meetings with teachers parents and tutors. Mixing with parents and tutors over Smoko, getting to know various staff. Principal came to us via Skype from Sydney. Takes me back to my School Council and Parent Club days. Some things haven't changed. Have to bite my tongue and sit on my hands. Example of issue - School has a budget for printing set 15 years ago in days of black and white only. Everyone creative and generous in addressing the problem but why QLD Govt not paying for this? The printed learning materials are the bread and butter of distance education. And QLD refused the Gonski money!
Learning tips to address some little areas for improvement back in the home classroom. Loving watching the kids at smoko and in class. Meg and Blake both did excellent presentations to an audience. They start very young to build confidence. Learning about apps I can use to engage and support learning improvement. Lots of time to shop, use WiFi at the local library. Relaxing evenings at Michael's parents farm watching TV and playing. This is Megs classroom decorated Japanese style.
Meg dressed Japanese style and Blake French for multicultural day. 
We all went to the circus on Thursday night after eating at an Italian restaurant. Big treat for Meg and Blake. They loved the food. The circus was fabulous. Cheryl met the eight year old performer who does home schooling as the circus travels and saw the caravan that is her classroom. Was introduced to her mother and her current VISE teacher who comes from Tasmania and is enjoying the experience. Swapped emails with the mother. The family seemed keen for us to apply next year. Too early to plan and much travelling to go with our 2013 adventure but exciting to think every year offers something new to explore.
Back at Skye it's delightful to listen to Blake and Meg talk about the seasons and how busy they are during summer school holidays mustering etc. Blake loves Spring when the new calves arrive.
It's amazingly relaxing sitting on the veranda watching chickens scratch in the dirt - it's been watered here so moist lower down - they are quite systematic and thorough in their work. Very focused - as Blake is practising to be. I can hear Meg riding around on the quad bike. Once school is over for the day, there are many things to do. Often solitary but the kids love this place and are at one with nature.
This week a crop duster is here to kill the brigalow seedlings to maintain pasture in one of the 30 huge paddocks. Colin stood behind the plane to take a video of it taking off. Guess what happened;)
Planning the next stage of the journey to Darwin. As our first stop, we're happy to be catching up with New Zealand friends June and Colin whose van we bought last March on the Gold Coast. They are back in Oz with a new rig. Couldn't keep away. They are at Sapphire on a mine so will stay with them for a couple of days and do a bit of digging. Next stop Longreach, then Winton and on in north west direction. Lots to see and anticipating Northern Territory beauty.
We will miss Skye and all its residents. For all you ex teachers this is something not to be missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment