Happy Australia Day!

January 26th is Austraillia Day - and thanks to my friend Kath, we had a fantastic experience! We started out with free exploration - the Bugs simply dug into the package Kath sent. There were too many squeels of glee to describe.

Mrs. Crabtree Started off the lessons with a map of the world - showing the bugs how far away Australia actually is. We also talked about the international Date line and the fact that it's actually tomorrow in Oz!

Next each bug leafed through the travel brochures and picked a spot they wanted to visit. We circled their destinations on a map... Using each bugs' color for easy identification. They had to cut out the picture and write a story about visiting the location. Douglas is all set to visit and asked quite frankly when we could do what HE picked. Hopefully someday!

Lauren chose a big Water Park in Lightning Ridge, Megan wants to hike a rainforest in New England National Park and Douglas found some rocks to climb in Armidale.

We ended our lessons (for today) with a Thank You note. Each bug had a favorite thing to be thankful for - and they wanted to send Mrs. Kath a picture.

Lauren was s thrilled when the tree frog book had a platypus - because she has this giant platypus she uses as a pillow.

Megan's favorite item was the kangaroo key chain - she appropriaely named her's Joey.

Douglas loved the flag and plans to hang his on his bed.

Another wonderful fun filled day at the Gandara Bug Academy! My heartfelt thanks goes out to Kath - whom I simply asked to send postcards - she donated so many educational things - we are truly blessed!

Kid Inventors Day

January 17th was Kid inventors day... I just mentioned it to the bugs and they had so much fun being creative... they didn't invent anything new - but inventing is inventing in my book!

Douglas made handcuffs for my Groundhog...

Lauren and Megan made crutches - cracked me up!!!

Dress Your Pet Day!

Poor Smokey... but this sure was fun.

Penguin Appreciation Day

Today, January 13th is Penguin appreciation day. Here at the GBA we learned that penguins are birds. They cannot fly. Penguins mate for life and the males actually help with the children. HOW COOL IS THAT!

We also created these cool Penguin sock puppets:

They were easy to do... an idea I got from an old Highlights Magazine. Here are the instructions if you want to make some yourself!


...I wonder what Anthony will say when he discovers we used his socks....

It's National You've Got Potential Month!

Of course it is...everyone knows that right??? Ha ha --- well, here at the GBA we found out today! After a great discussion about using the gifts God has given us, growing up - getting jobs and otherwise becoming productive members of society, the bugs had an assignnment:

Draw yourself, grown up, doing the job you want to do. Tell me what you need to do to accomplish this goal. Here is what they came up with:

Megan wants to be a Rock Star. In order to become a rock star she needs to warm up her voice and learn to play the guitar.

Lauren wants to be an Artist. In order to become an artist Lauren wrote she needs to go to coilgge ( take a stab at that, lol- college). She also needs to practice drawing pictures.

Douglas is going to make animals like him, go to college and study the sea. After that he will be a "Big Baboo" trainer. For those of you who do not know, Big Baboo is Douglas' stuffed buddy - an Orca whale like Shamu.

These drawings are going into our 2010 time capsule - I don't want to rush time, it already goes by so fast, but I cannot wait to open this and see the bugs laugh and laugh at theri drawings. Won't it be neat to see if any of them do walk down these paths???

Throw Your Fruit Cake Day

Yup- it's a real holiday. (I warned you some of the holidays we were going to study are obscure and silly.) I'm not sure who else celebrated... but the Gandara Bug Academy sure did! At Christmas time I picked up a Fruitcake at Walmart, and today we tasted it - none of the bugs liked it, which means the cake had to be tossed!

Even Smokey turned his nose away!

So the tossing began... Mr. Crabtree was home, and his expert photography skills and cool measuring tape came in handy!

Look at that cake fly! (I circled it in the pictures so you can see)

The bugs had too much fun... reviewed the concept of feet and inches - did some 3 column addition and converting feet into inches - wow!

Lauren's cake tosses resulted in the most feet, followed by Douglas and then Megan. Everyone is a winner in my eyes - of course!

Last Day of Fall - First day of Winter

To celebrate the last day of Autumn the bugs and I spent a few minutes raking leaves from our yard, and the adjoining neighbor's yard - we ended up with a HUGE pile.

There is something magical about jumping in leaves...

I even got into the fun... Douglas thinks I'm a cool mom -!!!

So this morning brings us to the first day of winter... we celebrated California Style by making edible snowflakes out of marshmallows and pretzles... Check out Megan's creation:

Thanks for checking in ith the GBA --- look for more posts in 2010 as we learn all about holidays, from the well known to the obscure...

Merry Christmas!

So much for keeping up with this blog... but if you're reading - I hope you enjoy this review of 2009 with our family!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Change of Grade Day 2009

Happy Labor Day everyone! Today is the Change of Grade Day here at the Gandara Bug Academy. Before you go getting all hot and bothered about today being a holiday and all... we decided to celebrate our first day of school on a day Daddy could join us - and Daddy has today off because of the holiday - making it a perfect first day of school!

Breakfast is special on the first day... Alphabits

M for Megan

L for Lauren

And D for Douglas



Even Buloney got into the spelling action this morning:

After Breakfast I sent the bugs to shower and get dressed... While they got ready the "new school supply Fairy" paid them a visit... well apparently there is no room in he world for the school supply fairy - because Lauren informed me she knows I get them all their school supplies lol.

The highlight was new backpacks this year... everyone got their favorite:

Lauren = Hannah Montana




Megan = Camp Rock

Douglas = Ben 10

Here are the bugs discovering what's inside







It is a tradition to walk to school on the first day... so here we go!

Notice Daddy in the background... he has the door to the "bus" open for a surprise trip!


Here are the bugs loaded on the bus... buddies and all!

We drove up to a local apple orchard - Los Rios Rancho for a First Day Field Trip!


Daddy and the bugs along the boardwalk trail.

Douglas Grade 1, Megan Grade 2, Lauren Grade 3

Daddy pointing out the "wild" blackberries.

Mrs. Crabtree and her Students

The bugs took a workshop (that we just happened to luck out and discover!) on Animal adaptations and their senses. After Douglas showed the teachers his super speed (he is a super hero you know) the bugs got to listen, touch, and learn all about local animals and their adaptations. The perfect classroom!

I could not have asked for a better day! I know we will have lots of learning going on this year... our first adventure is the Amazon Rain Forest... stay tuned for more adventures with the GBA - I promise to be a better blogger!

Field Trip!

It wasn't to egypt, or to any egyptian related place... but it was a great educational day none the less! I had the pleasure of helping my niece with her 4th grade mission project. Here in California the standard 4th grade history course of study is California History - and the Callifornia Missions are a huge part of that! So today the GBA visited Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Here are a few highlights:

All the kids in front of a statue of Fr. Serra and an indian child. Douglas thinks he is silly!

Posing in front of one of the many fountains! Again - Douglas thinks he is funny!



Look at these Indians - Now Lauren is funny!

Here is my Niece Gabby making all of us some acorn mash - I'm all about the hand's on learning ya know!

A fun family picture at the end of the day!