Victory Beach this week!

Remember - Wednesday's meet-up is a trip to Victory Beach on the Peninsula

Pyramids and Victory Beach, Okia Reserve - 12pm, Wed 3 August - can we find the wreck of the Victory steamship?
Before you think you can't be bothered, look at this great pamphlet:
http://www.takeahike.net.nz/Leaflets/Pyramids%20and%20Victory%20Beach.pdf

Directions:

(Allow about 30 mins to get there). Go to Portobello and turn right at the sign “Hoopers Inlet/Cape Saunders”, onto Allans Beach Rd. When you get to the inlet, turn left to stay on the unsealed part of Allans Beach Road. Take the first left into Sheppard Road which becomes Papanui Inlet Rd. Turn right into Dick Road and continue to the end where there is a small parking area.

Map here

Low tide is around 1pm, so this gives us an hour to get to the beach from the car park (it's a fairly easy walk, mostly flat), so that hopefully we can see some of the shipwrecked Victory. No dogs allowed, as there are penguins and sealions in the area, and it's probably not suitable for pushers as can be a bit squelchy. Bring warm clothes, drinks, lunch and cameras. Closest toilets and shops are in Portobello. (Raindate will be 11:30am, Wed 17 August, to suit the tides).

Educational stuff here

Weekend Reading - beating the homeschooling blues

Beating the Homeschooling Blues (Instead of Singing Them)

"You’ve met her. It’s week eleven of the school year and she’s on week three. She can’t bear to let her kids skip a single Saxon problem. She is swimming in writing manuals from last year’s convention…and she hasn’t found time to start reading them yet.

"Art supplies cost too much. Soccer practice conflicts with dinner. Her toddler wrecks the read-aloud time. And the field trip notice on the refrigerator is past the sign up date. Worst of all, she has unsorted laundry on the bed. Woe is she!

"And boy is she tired. Exhausted. Hasn’t slept in six years. Hasn’t eaten a full meal in four. Hasn’t had a hair cut in ten. And what’s a manicure, she asks?

"Wait, is this you? I know it’s been me at various times along the way...

http://blog.bravewriter.com/2011/07/22/beating-the-homeschooling-blues-instead-of-singing-them/

I know I needed to read this, today :)

Fishy Superstars at the Aquarium at Portobello

Saturday 16th - Sunday 31st July 2011

Open from 10am - 4.30pm daily

Will you be anywhere near Portobello this holiday? If so, pop in to meet our team of marine superstars - Ritchie McClaw, Brad Thornfish and Daniel Cod, to name but a few of the the Aquarium's first fifteen! There's a Cadbury chocolate fish if you can find them all! Design your own super fish, and hear about the super powers of some very special marine creatures. Fun for all ages.

Find the Fishy Superstars - Spy out the marine athletes in the Aquarium and find out who is most powerful.

Sustainable Fishing - Catch the right fish and land yourself a chocolate one (courtesy of Cadbury!) ... yum!

Count the Chocolate Fish Competition - One fish, two fish, three fish, four fish, five fish, six fish, more! .... if you can guess the number of chocolate fish in the jar, you could win the lot!

Design a Superfish - What makes a fish a Superstar? Size? Speed? Strength? Super powers? Draw and describe your own Superfish.

All Blacks of the Sea - Never mind the All Blacks of the rugby field - what about the Blackfoot Paua, and the Black Cod? Animal encounters every hour with the "All Blacks of the Sea" .

Fish Feeding - Help to build up the strength of our sporting sea creatures! Fish feeding every Wednesday and Saturday from 2-3pm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aquarium entry fees:

Self-Guided Visit: Child $6, Adult $12.50, Family $25

Guided Tour at 10.30am: Child $11, Adult $21.50, Family $49

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NZ Marine Studies Centre and Westpac Aquarium, University of Otago

Hatchery Road, Portobello, Dunedin, New Zealand

Email marine-studies@otago.ac.nz

Phone 03 479 5826

See our website: www.marine.ac.nz

Cheese Rolls, anyone?

And from Donna

Dear All

Would you like to buy some cheese rolls?

We are fundraising for Alix's Hockey team yet again!!

$18 for 3 dozen or $6.50 for one dozen

If you are keen... please email me back and we'll arrange payment and delivery.

We are making them on 14th July.

Thanks for your help!

Donna and Alix : )

Home Education Awareness Week 31 October – 5 November 2011

Home Education Awareness Week (HEAW) is later this year because the fourth term begins later – October 25. We have traditionally held HEAW in the first or second week of the fourth term, trying to miss Labour weekend. So this year the Home Education Awareness Week is 31 October through to 5 November 2011

Home Educators all over the country use this as an opportunity to do something special to raise their profile locally and develop a bit of positive public relations. This helps in gaining the movement a bit more credibility, especially when applying for grants or discounts with resource suppliers, or for admission to tertiary institutions or gaining help and advice from schools and perhaps even the use of some of their resources. And of course the benefits would be examined by more people, thereby bringing more people into the home schooling movement and your local support group.

For more information on HEAW go to: http://hef.org.nz/2007/home-education-awareness-week/

Craig and Barbara Smith are available to speak at any activities/meetings/conferences/workshops you may be organising for this.

For more information Free Call 0800 100 692

Dog day

Emily has suggested a puppy/dog afternoon for our final get-together for the term - we will meet at Caversham Dog Park on Wednesday 13 July. from 12.30 until 3.00. There is a playground nearby for the children, so please do come along even if you don't have a puppy or dog - it would be a nice opportunity for the children to see all different breeds and ages of dogs. Bring your lunch to eat at the park, and be a ware the park can be quite muddy, so dress accordingly.

Spend the day at the Ecosanctuary

From Stacey:

Hi everyone,

Our family is planning on spending the day at the Orokonui Ecosanctuary on Tuesday the 26th July (2nd week of school holidays).

We've booked into their Pondlife Perusal session at 2pm of that day but if you don't manage to nab a space in that class they have art and craft activities, and a forest treasure trail set up for anytime throughout the week. They have a cafe, too, for lunch and warmth.

The activites are part ofthe Cadbury Carnival, so we anticipate copious quantities of Freddos :)

Come join us for the day!

If anyone would like to carpool, let me know and I can match up bottoms with car-seats, and if I hear back that the Pondlife Perusal session isn't suitable for under-4s then maybe we can do some child-swopping for an hour and a half - I'll look after yours if you'll look after mine, sort of thing :)

More info about their holiday program here
http://www.orokonui.org.nz/content/cadbury%20chocolate%20carnival%20.php

contact Stacey for more information