A green ipad air

We decided that Declan's combination of typing (50 wpm) coding (he is almost all the way through introduction to coding 2) and a great report, meant that he deserved an ipad air. He was very excited last night, and didn't really want to let go of it to get it set up.

Reports

Callum and Declan both brought home their reports this week, and they were excellent. Callum's highlight:

Callum consistently participates enthusiastically in class discussions with intelligent and insightful contributions. He is an absolute joy to teach.

Declan's highlight:

With his genuine love of learning and preference for unusual, original responses, Declan is a decided asset to any class. He is highly regarded by the other students in 5C, who see him as a great role model, an original thinker and a trustworthy confidant. 

Prize

It turned out that Declan got the prize for science at school this year, which he was rightly chuffed by.

The eleventh teddy bear

Declan, as one of his year end craft projects at school had to create a teddy bear (mostly decoration). He chose a Doctor Who theme, and created the eleventh teddy bear. Note the sonic screwdriver, fez, and bow tie.

VIkings at the Maritime Museum

We've been intending to visit the maritime museum to see the Vikings for a while. Callum has been desperately keen to go so he can sneer at their choice to show horned helmets.

So today we were in the right area, with some time, so we decided to check it out. It was excellent (although probably heavier on the reading than seeing magnificent objects), and held all of our interest for an hour and a half or so (Declan had to be dragged away from listening to one of Snorri Sturlson's sagas).

Just for Callum, there was a special exhibit on vikings and horned helmets, showing the cultural evolution of the whole fake idea.

And because it was the maritime museum, there was a replica viking longship at the dock, which we saw arriving just as we got there.

Some interesting trivia: the word for window, in english, is derived from the Norse vindauga, meaning "wind's eye". And the city of York was originally called Jorvik, which sounds much more like the Viking city it once was.

Christmas party

Yesterday we had our annual Christmas party with our friends. The children are growing up fast; it is lucky we have enough space for all of them in our house!

Cal's further wars

I had to go and rescue Cal from school this afternoon. He fell over scraping his face and knee and re-opening the cut on his hand. Much blood; but he was very calm about it all.

Cal's creations

Callum brought home his creations from pottery at school last night. The bird is a penguin pot.

Callum's stitches just before removal

Prize

Nice note home this afternoon advising that Declan is to receive a prize at next week's award ceremony. 

Wharf revue

Ever since last year, when we took Callum to the Wharf Revue (in lieu of babysitter) Callum has been desperate to go again, and Declan has been infected with his enthusiasm. So this afternoon, all four of us headed on out to the theatre. They both really enjoyed it (again), laughing along at much of the action (with the occasional joke going over their heads).

The finale was a take-off of the Wizard of Oz, which made me glad I had insisted we watched the movie (despite the protests of the musical hating members of the family). I shouldn't have been surprised, but was, that neither Callum or Declan really had any idea who Paul Keating or Bob Hawke were, which meant that they sadly failed to appreciate the superb Paul Keating impression done by Jonathan Biggins as the Tin Man.

Not really a Callum and Declan update

Julia and her spanish cousins

As Evan mentioned in his previous post, I've been in Spain for a week to see the boys' new cousin, Julia. Happily, my visit helped us finally get Callum and Declan to meet Julia by skype - Callum and (especially) Declan seemed more impressed by the experience than Julia did.

Julia doesn't like the Christening robe all that much

Callum and Declan are outnumbered in the cousins stakes by Julia's cousins from her other side - 12 of them came to Julia's special naming party  - where she got to wear the 166 year old family Christening robe (sadly she didn't seem to like the robe all that much, un-characteristically crying for most of the time she was in it).

We gave Julia a copy of one of our favourite Australian picture books - Alexander's outing -  so she could see what Sydney looks like. Ana promptly took the opportunity to read it to Julia in spanish.

Ana reads Alexander's outing to Julia in spanish!

Playing with knives when home alone

Jennifer has been off in Spain for the week and so we three boys have been home alone. To console ourselves because we didn't get to go gallivanting about the World we've been eating a lot of take-away. Turns out that may have been the safer option.

These days Callum and Declan usually help me cook dinner. We decided we needed lots of vegetables last night and so were madly chopping up healthy stuff for a stir-fry when there was a loud clattering sound. Callum had finished working on the snow peas, turned to put the off-cuts in the bin, and the chopping knife had fallen to the floor. As it fell Cal instinctively tried to grab it and ended up slicing the side of his hand open.

We headed on up to the medical centre where they confirmed he needed stitches. He was OK with that until the doctor said he'd have to inject local anesthetic. At the mention of the needle, Callum turned white and vomited.

Anyway, he is now 'proudly' sporting a bandaged hand and three stitches. 

Dungeons and Dragons

After watching the Big Bang theory, Declan decided that we must have a game of Dungeons and dragons in the house. So he bought it from Amazon, with his own money.

And today Callum had two of his friends over (Freddie and Jacob), with Declan as the dungeon master, to play a game. When Freddie's mum came to pick him up, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, as Freddy's character was at serious risk of death without someone to play him.

I'm quite surprised they like it, considering how slow it is compared with your average computer game.

Minecraft cartoon

Pondering evolution

Declan has taken to drawing pictures on our whiteboard. The latest is a Minecraft cartoon.

Maths homework

Declan gets quite difficult maths homework. He gets easy homework too, but he doesn't have to do that, as long as he has proved he is OK with the hard stuff.

So we've been trying to work out how to get him to check his work, rather than just dash the answers down so he can get on with playing computer games. My latest strategy is to make him do two more questions for every one he gets wrong (unless he shows his working, in which case it is one).

It worked really well last week, with his error rate much reduced, and his working much better.

But this week, he cleverly introduced a first line of defense - Callum. He got Callum to check the answers first, and fixed all his mistakes before I could find them.

Although I suspect Declan didn't check his work quite as well as the previous week, it was lovely to  listening to them both workshopping the maths homework (with the occasional pause for a sword fight).

Mountain Visit

Callum, Tom and Aidan cramming in some computer time

Today we went up to the mountains for a visit to the new Langdon Linigen house, and some tech support. Evan and I also got to see the remains of the old house. The boys had a wonderful time with the extended proxy cousins; visiting the pool (which is across the road from the new house) and then settling down for some extended gaming.

Some books and the ironing board

The bread experiment

The bread before the action of time

Callum has got into the habit of buying bread from the new french patisserie in Crows Nest for his lunch every morning. Which led to a discussion of preservatives in bread, and what they actually did. So he created the bread experiment.

First, he bought bread from Baker's Delight (advertising: no preservatives) and Woolworths, and did a blind taste test. Everyone except me thought that the Baker's Delight was nicer, and that it was Baker's Delight.

The mouldy bread after three or so weeks

Then he put four slices of each in bell jars to watch their progression through staleness into mould.

Riding in the smoke

As has become our habit on a Sunday morning, we went for a bike ride this morning. But one of our number found the smoke in the air a bit hard to cope with. Declan had to stop every now and again to have a drink to calm his lungs down, and we could all taste the smoke in the back of our throats.  While it wasn't as hazy as yesterday, the Air Quality was still pretty bad.

The epic wiki

Declan and his friends have made up a wiki about their fictional world. They play sagas from their world in the playground at school.

Declan's favourite character is Kalenz, and you can see the extensive character notes on the wiki. Another cool character, with character notes in progress from Declan, is Pulse.

Now if only there was this much energy available for homework.

Scenic riding

Declan riding towards Mrs Macquarie's Point

In more scenic riding this weekend we had an early morning ride this morning around to Mrs Macquarie's Point. The boys are getting better at riding on the road, so we tried braving Macquarie St (still surprisingly busy even at 8 am on a Sunday) and it wasn't too scary for the parents.

A scenic drink stop at Mrs Macquarie's Point

Happy Birthday Granny

We went to Martin and Kevin's today for Granny's birthday. Callum took the opportunity for some tech support on Granny's ipad mini.

Tech support for Granny

Mountain visitors

Aidan and Tom were right at home

This week on the worst bushfire day we had some mountain visitors - Angela, Tom, Jodie, Aidan and Emma.

Rob and Chris stayed back at the Lees' place to watch for embers (which fortunately didn't eventuate), while we plied Tom with electronic equipment so he could keep up with everyone else after losing his own when the Langdon Linigen house was lost in the fires the previous week.

Riding Cycle Sydney

Waiting at the Station for the train home

Last Sunday we did Cycle Sydney, a 56km ride from North Sydney (800m from our house) to Sydney Olympic Park. In a combination of better fitness and better preparation (provisions from the new patisserie in Crows Nest) we found it much easier than last year.

Declan and Callum even had a bit of a race to the finish line.

Callum had his gopro camera attached to the bike, and had some nice pictures of the Harbour Bridge, until the 3d printed attachment broke, and it spent the rest of the ride in my saddlebag.

The magnificent seven

I was chatting to Declan as he went to bed last night, and he mentioned that his group of friends were the seven musketeers. I forgot the name this morning, and called them the magnificent seven - he was very taken with the name, which I suspect he will call them from now on. For the record, it is Nic P, Lachlan, Angus, Philip, Nikita, Declan and Gabriel.

Various results

Declan has had two sets of results in as many days. He got his ICAS results for maths, which were sadly the worst of his set of three. Science - almost a high distinction - english - solid distinction - maths  - solid credit. But he redeemed himself with his naplan results where the dots were at the top possible spot in all categories.

Meanwhile, Callum came home with the news that he had won an award (he couldn't remember what) in the Australian Maths competition. He will come home with the certificate in due course.

Pranking

I posted previously about planking. Now we have pranking. Callum got very upset yesterday because (as he thought) Declan had pranked him by putting a sword (of Domocles?) above his door ready to fall on his head when he went into the room.

He got his own revenge by putting pillows above the door to Declan's room and escaping out the window (having had the forethought of taking a key to the front door with him).

He was very nonplussed to discover that Evan had been responsible for the sword, so took revenge by attacking him with pillows this morning. This could last a while...

Statistics

As is traditional on a birthday, we measured both boys. Callum has shot up 5cm since Declan's birthday, and is now 150cm, and 46kg. Declan hasn't grown quite as much (although his feet are nearly as big as mine now) and is 142cm, and 37kg. Interestingly, Callum is now just over the 50th percentile (54th) for height, which must be about the first time in his life.

Happy birthday to Callum

It was Callum's 12th birthday on Friday. Doesn't time fly! He had a lovely Friday evening pizza with grandparents and available uncles, in which he got all manner of geeky presents (telescope, leap motion sensor and Spheros were highlights).

And on Saturday he had a laser tag party with his Mosman high friends. There were two groups - his bus group (ex Cammeray kids Jacob and Luis) and 7 Yellow group (Sam, Ben and another Jacob, with Freddy unavailable) - both very happy to shoot each other repeatedly.

At 12, Callum is very much enjoying being at high school, and having a bunch of friends who are enjoying it with him. While they do like to whinge about the teachers and the amount of homework, they are having a great time soaking up everything they can learn.

His favourite subject is science, with maths close behind.

Callum is still reading obsessively - both fiction and non fiction - with popular economics book his current favourite non fiction, and various fantasy/SF authors on the fiction side (Brendan Sanderson at the moment). He has been programming python, and will still play minecraft whenever it is available (with more creation and less shooting than a year ago).

Election news

This was our first election since our trip away, and the boys were MUCH more interested in it. Partly because they are older, but also because we saw a few elections while we were away so talked a lot about how things work.

They watched several debates, paid close attention to the policies on refugees and schools, and really quite enjoyed the drama of it all.

Declan and Callum took one of us each to assist us with the ballot paper (helping us count in the below the line senate vote). And then they insisted we pick up a Liberal how to vote card as we went out, to check it against the Labor and Green ones we already had to understand how the preference deals in the lower house might have worked.

At our election party last night, Callum did the survey of all guests as they arrived, asking them to pick the margin, and also helped me put up the traditional pre party pendulum, and move all the seats around to their new position at the end of the night.

New Bikes

Last weekend we went and got new bikes for Callum and Declan. They are both just big enough now for the smallest adult bike. Callum already was, but we upgraded him, and Declan could make it once the seatpost was cut off a bit.

We rode home from the Chatswood bike shop, and on Sunday rode into town. It was quite noticeable how well Declan was now keeping up with us; he really has been working harder with his smaller wheels. Of course that could have been because we got him a bike computer at the same time, and he was quite focused on breaking speed records whenever possible.

Assignments

Callum has been feeling sorry for himself as he has five different school assignments due between now and the end of term. I'm struggling to feel for him too much, as two of them are done in school time, and one of them involves creating and cooking a menu for a new cafe (a far more exciting assignment than I ever had at my school).

To that end, he made us all banana and pear muffins at school for dessert on Friday night.

Father's Day Walk

We walked about 14km from here to Chowder Bay this morning, by doing the Harbour Hike, which raises money for the Sydney Institute of Marine Science.

We all realised we were a bit out of practice. While we were all fine, we found it harder than we had two years ago when we were walking constantly.

Brian Cox

Last night we went to see Brian Cox's show - An evening of Scientific Phenomena. Callum and Declan were hugely excited to see him in person, which was lovely to see. The show itself involved a fair bit of real science (an explanation of the elementary particles, including the Higgs boson, for example) leavened with just enough humour and personal stuff that we all had a wonderful time.

In a highlight for all of us, Declan got to ask a question - using the microphone in front of 2,000 people to tell Brian Cox that he really liked the Infinite Monkey Cage, and asking him when strawberries die. Declan was walking on air for the rest of the night.

Home alone

We went out on Tuesday night and left the boys home alone. They handled their first baby-sitter-free evening beautifully. 

Typing discount

A few weeks ago, Evan offered Callum and Declan a discount on their typing requirements if they learned Python. Callum has enthusiastically taken up the challenge. Declan tried a bit and gave up. It emerged this evening that he gave up because he didn't believe the discount would be enough to earn him a new iPad - now we'll have to work out the tricky balance between not promising too much, and promising enough so that Declan is motivated to learn Python!

As an aside, they have both enthusiastically taken up the NCSS challenge, where high school students participate in a programming challenge that teaches them how to code along the way.

Maths result

Callum came home last week very pleased with himself. Unbeknownst to us, he had had an important maths test on Monday. Not only did he do very well (31/34), he came second in the class! We think this means he will be in the top maths class next year. We'll need to talk to the school to find out what that means for Cal's future maths career.

Plank - off

At Tae Kwon Do, one of the regular exercises they do is a plank - balancing on your elbows and toes with a completely straight body. Callum came home the other night very proud of himself for lasting two and a half minutes. So Declan, not to be outdone, challenged Evan to a plank-off after dinner tonight.

Evan won, but partly because Declan was so focused on sledging Evan that he forgot to focus on the plank itself. History does not record the time.

Saturday night cooking

One of Declan's homework tasks this week (he gets to choose from several) was to make cupcakes that looked like they had just been dug up from the garden. He was keen, so found the recipe himself, and managed to convince Callum to help him, so that together they made the cupcakes with no help from me at all.

Seven Samurai

If we aren't doing anything else, Saturday night in this house is movie night. We've been trying to improve the boys' cultural education by watching movie classics - particularly those that have made it into the general cultural vocabulary.

Last night it was the Seven Samurai, after watching the Magnificent Seven a few weeks ago. The fascinating thing for me was how much the boys already knew about it. One of the books in the series Young Samurai was based on the story, and the plot device of building a team of heroes to go on adventure (first used in this movie, apparently) is so common as to almost be a cliché.

Chocolate Cake

Declan had a day of horrible fever and vomiting on Friday, so on Saturday, despite being largely better, instead of going to tae kwon do with Evan and Callum, he stayed home with me to make chocolate cake. It was very tasty, and very easy. Here it is, complete with decorative flowers that Declan chose when we went shopping for ingredients.

Programming

After Callum and Declan have slowed in their typing learning (they have been promised a new iPad if they get to 80 words per minute), Evan offered them both a typing speed discount if they learned how to code. Callum is now getting very enthusiastic about learning Python, using www.codeacademy.com. Declan is not so sure, and has taken to learning German, using www.duolingo.com, hoping that that will also count.

Typing

For the record both boys can now reliably type at about 43 words-per-minute. Callum is properly touch typing without looking at his fingers, Declan mostly. They seem to be stalled in the low 40s though and I'm beginning to wonder if there is a limitation set by the hand-size or something. 

Economics

Callum has recently become interested in economics. He's read several books on the subject and is busy applying the information to the real world - most recently in quite a sophisticated analysis of whether we should get a new food processor or increase the marginal utility of the one we have by getting it out of a cupboard. 

As we also listened to economics podcasts as we drove around New Zealand, Declan is also picking up a lot of ideas. 

It has made me realize how useful an understanding of basic economics is and that it's a shame they don't get taught more of it at school.

LAN party

Callum hosted a LAN party on the weekend. It came complete with pizza, games being played into the wee hours of the morning and sleeping bags in the living room. I have the feeling that this may be the first of many...

Anti-gravity discussions

You have to feel you're doing something right, or perhaps wrong, when your 11 and 10-year old children's dinner conversation with each other is about how to use black holes to power anti-gravity. 

Just recording this in case there's any argument about when they first came up with the idea when they file that patent...

First Dan grading - boards get broken

Yesterday Callum, Declan and I did our First Dan grading. We combined that with trying for our Patterns Badge which made for a gruelling afternoon.

We did every pattern multiple times at the start of the grading - which is a bit like doing an hour of very active dance routine combined with a memory exercise. All three of us achieved our Pattern Badges.

Then it was on to sparring. Given I broke my toe on an opponent's elbow when I did my Black Belt grading I had been looking forward to this bit with great trepidation - for myself and for the boys. I let out a sigh of relief when we all came away with some bruises and strains but nothing broken.

Then there was knife-defense work and one-step-sparring which demonstrates self-defense techniques. We'd all done a lot of work on this bit and were feeling pretty good about it.

Finally, three hours in, was the section that really marks out the First Dan. Up until then most of what you do is similar to the Black Belt grading - it just needs to be done better and with more passion. With the First Dan you have to break things. First came breaking boards with side kicks. We'd practised breaking for the last month but the boys had never managed to break a board as thick as the one used in the grading. Callum aced this bit which was a huge relief. I stuffed up my first kick but then was fine. Declan broke with his left foot without trouble but had problems with his right - he broke the board on his third try.

Axe-kicks came next, sweeping your leg up and then hammering it down. Again it took Declan a couple of goes but he got there.

Finally we had to break a pile of ceramic roof tiles with our hands. I had a stack of five to break, the boys each had a stack of two. I managed to get through on first go. Both boys took a couple of tries, Callum three in fact, but did it in the end.

I was so proud of them. Getting through the thing is an achievement. Getting to First Dan at their age is a real achievement - and from a different direction getting it at my age isn't to be sniffed at either.

But the real achievement, in my view, was dealing with being unable to break things on first go. To put this in perspective there is an audience of 50 people watching you do this, if you fail you don't pass the grading, and when you do fail it hurts and you lose focus. It's a strange thing but failing to break hurts while succeeding doesn't - an equal and opposite reaction thing which means when your hand bounces back, rather than crashing through, it really hurts. So when you're having to summon your focus to hit those tiles for the third time when your hand is throbbing and you're feeling like everyone is watching you and judging you - that takes a degree of resilience which I was thrilled to see the boys display.

And now we're through that we're not allowed to grade again for two years. Which may be enough time for my body to recover...

Declan's Report

Declan had an excellent report for his first half year in OC. Almost everything was "Outstanding" and "Always". Some of the comments:

Declan is a highly articulate and inquisitive student who works with creative energy to explore abstract ideas. He loves facts and gistory and is highly motivated in academics. His ability to relate his varied knowledge base with topical issues and eloquently convey information with clarity and conviction is a special strength. Declan is a loyal and supportive friend and is conscious of, and sensitive to, the feelings of others. He will often include students who appear isolated or lonely in whatever he might be doing. His friendly nature and highly developed sense of fair play have made him a well-liked class member.

Callum's Maths report

Callum got his Maths report during the week and he did exceedingly well. Sadly his first test is going to haunt him for the remainder of the year. He did the test without the required calculator and, while his result impressed the teacher hugely, it didn't score as highly as it otherwise would have. The teacher emphasized in the Report that, because of this, his position (16/56) in no way reflects his abilities.

Breaking Boards

Evan, Callum and Declan have all decided to go for the next black belt stage of Tae Kwon Do at the end of this term. It's the level at which you are permanently a black belt, and you get your name sewn into the belt (in Korean).

It means they have to break boards with their hands and feet, so they have been practising hard with special boards that can be put back together. Declan, in particular, likes to show off to any visitor, which is probably good practice.

They have been going twice a week, which is really good for their fitness. It's quite interesting to watch the boys having stiff muscles for the first time - shows they are working quite hard.

Festival of Jennifer

My birthday, being on a Friday this year, didn't lend itself to an enormous festival, but the boys (after careful IM conversation with Evan - "is she awake??" - made me coffee and brought it up to me in bed, with a side serving of presents.

Callum had the evening with a friend, so didn't get to share the delicious roast lamb we had that night, and they both were out the next day (Callum at his friend's party, and Declan at the zoo with his uncle) so that Evan and I could take a seaplane trip to Cottage Point for lunch.

Declan, as well as the necklace from them both, decided to give me my own choice of game (up to $5) from the App store for my ipad. I disappointed him by still not choosing minecraft.

Special award

Declan's class is doing Richard III, as part of a general study of mediaeval history. Our family has always been quite into Richard III, so we've been having long conversations about whether he really did kill the Princes in the Tower. Declan decided to do his own essay about it, in which he concluded that Richard didn't kill them, as it would have been a pretty silly thing to do, and Henry VII was much more likely to have done it, as he was clearly nastier. His essay was illustrated with historical pictures of them both, and quotes from key historians of the period.

His teacher was so impressed, she gave him a special award.

Independence

Since the burglar alarm incident, Declan has been quite happy to come home after school by himself on Thursdays. He even gets on with his maths homework, while he is waiting for Evan and Callum to come home from programming after school.

First Half report

At Mosman High, they get a report every half year. But to spread it out, Year 7 gets theirs first, so it is really a first term report. He got a wonderful report, and a Principal's award to go with it to recognise how good it was. The Principal's comment said:

Congratulations Callum; what a fabulous report and thoroughly deserved! Callum has made a wonderful start to his high school years and he is highly valued by his teachers for his diligence, talent, conscientious approach and engagement with the learning process.

His best subject was History, followed by English and Science. There was no report from Maths (since that is year 9) so we'll have to wait to see how that goes.

Grandparents Day

At Mosman High, they have Grandparents' Day, where the grandparents are invited to have a look at the school and see performances. Callum was chosen to make one of the welcoming speeches, which (by all reports) he did with great flair and panache. He said that he was mobbed by people congratulating him on how well he had done.

His speech was contrasting his school life with his grandparents, and he also managed to talk about all the cool places he had been to school around the world, which made him quite famous amongst his classmates.

Weights and measures

Callum is 145cm, and Declan is 140.5cm, meaning that the gap between them has reduced substantially this measurement period. They both seem to have grown a lot lately, (and they've both needed new shoes!)

Callum is 42 kg, and Declan is 37.1 kg

Declan's mammoth birthday party

Declan is ready for nerf warfare

Declan had a birthday party at home this year, inviting 13 friends over to enjoy it with him. Five of them stayed the night for a sleepover.

Nerf warfare in St Leonards Park

Calliope unlocking padlocks in the amazing race

First they had a nerf war in St Leonard's Park, then an Amazing race around the house, then balloon tennis, pizza and a movie, and further nerf warfare until bedtime.

Ready for bed

Budding Pool sharks

Declan has been planning for weeks, and I think he had a great time. He invited several of his friends who are still at Cammeray, and it was great to see them all playing together again, picking up where they left off.

They're a great bunch of kids, and had a wonderful time together.  So we've recovered reasonably quickly from the noise, and the sleepover guests were very good this morning, finishing off a pool game, and having a little nerf war, just to keep their hands in.

Festival of Declan

Declan's birthday was on Thursday, so we've been having a festival of Declan this week. On Wednesday night, the boys and I made Darth Vader cookies, for Declan to take into school on Thursday.

On Thursday morning, he got to open his presents from us (small, since he already had his main present, a sword), and he chose dinner with no vegetables for Thursday night. And on Friday night, the grandparents came over for more festival with lots more presents (including yet another sword, and a personalised parody of the Charge of the Light Brigade).

And on Saturday, a mammoth sleepover party with lots of friends.

Burglar Alarm

Evan is teaching robotics at Mosman High on Thursday afternoon, so Declan has the choice of going home (with no-one home for an hour or so) or catching the bus to Mosman and joining them. Unfortunately last week, Declan forgot, and went home, promptly setting off the burglar alarm.

After his first attempt to turn it off failed, he rang Evan in hysterics, leading to much panic at both ends of the call, as Evan tried and failed to figure out why Declan was yelling, "help, help! with sirens in the background". Fortunately they eventually figured it out together, but not before Evan acquired several new grey hairs.

The positive to come out of the experience is that Declan has realised he's actually fine at home on his own, and will do that on Thursdays from now on.

Callum's Parent teacher session

At the beginning of second term, Year 7 at Mosman high had a parent teacher evening. We got 5 minutes with each teacher (if available and we wanted them). We were highly impressed that all the teachers knew who Callum was (even his Chinese teacher, who thought Callum didn't like Chinese because he missed so many classes!).

His Year 9 maths teacher definitely thought he was in the right place, his science teacher told us tales of experiments, and his sewing teacher told us how much Callum had improved over the term.

The main thing we noticed is that Callum has no idea that when you are told you have a test, you should study for it! A great start to high school, by all accounts.

School Holiday update

School holidays are nearly over, so what have the boys been doing?

First we went to Melbourne, for a long weekend, which Evan summarised on the travel blog. We had most fun at the science museum, and kayaking down the Yarra, but we also cycled 10- 15K or so along the Yarra and back, which made me realise that the boys have got MUCH better at cycling in the last year.

In the first full week, Declan had Nic over for a day, and then went to Finn's for a day and much computer gaming was had.

Then for the middle weekend we went up to the Blue Mountains (with the everyone but me stopping off at Warragamba Dam on the way), and went horseriding, and to Ironfest (with the Lees and Angela and Tom).

We bought Declan a proper sword (blunted) for his early birthday present at Ironfest, which he has named Estela (which is elvish for hope).

Callum went off to Mosman to do his group school holiday project (Callum caught the bus by himself to Mosman oval), and we all had a lovely Anzac Day lunch at the Gaynor Vincents (with copious Anzac biscuit eating, as well as hide and seek).

And then Aidan and Chris came down on Friday to play with the 3d printer, and video cameras, (and much copious gaming was also had).

Trendy Melbourne

Declan tries out the punching bag in our excessively hip Melbourne hotel.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

War horse

We went to see War Horse this afternoon. I booked it after we had a long conversation with the boys about theatre compared with movies, and I realised they hadn't seen all that much live on stage.

They both loved it. Declan commented approvingly that it had made him cry. Callum (of course) loved the puppetry, but also really got into the story.

We thought it was great. And it was great for the boys to watch it after having been to see the World War I battlefields, and especially the cemeteries.

Pyramid Homework

In Callum's assignment for history this term, he had to make a model of something from Egyptian history. Well, the boy whose 5th birthday party was a paean to all things Egyptian was in heaven. Especially as he was allowed to make a virtual model in minecraft.

Here is his youtube video showing off his model.

Zombie biscuits

In our regular saturday night dessert making, Declan and I decided to make Zombie biscuits. Declan and Evan printed out a zombie cookie cutter using the 3d printer, and Declan and I made them. Here are some pictures.

Wallace and Gromit visit

Declan's fish and my snail, ready for claymation

Today we decided we should really get out of the house, and visited Wallace and Gromit at the Powerhouse. We had seen the same exhibition nearly four years ago in London, so were really looking forward to it.

Sadly, it didn't live up to expectations. Hard to tell how much was our much greater experience with science museums and exhibitions of all types, how much was that the boys were much older, and less impressed with stuff aimed at (according to Callum) four year olds, and how much was that the exhibition just didn't have all the good stuff from London.

We ended up deciding it was a mixture, but that the fact that the Powerhouse (as normal) had no explainers to be seen anywhere probably didn't help it in the contrast with pretty much any other exhibit of its type we had ever been to.

Parkour practice

As a bonus, we paid a quick visit to the Ian Thorpe pool (where the boys beat me in a race where they did 25 metres, and I did 50, despite swimming breaststroke) and saw some locals practicing Parkour nearby.

Medicine Ball

Declan and I went shopping for new shoes and socks for him today (his feet are growing like topsy at the moment). We were at Rebel Sport, and he insisted that we check out the medicine ball section, as his teacher, Ms Carnegie has been telling them how wonderful they are.

He decided to buy one with his own money, and spent an extra $10 so that he could have the one that came with a page of exercises, and in the colour he liked.

Lazy at home

We're having a very lazy Easter this year, hanging around at home and not doing very much. So today we had a round of Zombicide, followed by a bike ride across the bridge, some experimentation with the exercise equipment, topped off by introducing the boys to Big Bang Theory, with some apple crumble.

Callum and Declan have a balancing competition at Observatory Hill

Meditation update

I don't want to jinx this post but calling it sleeping update... as a long time parental blogger I know that blogging about your child sleeping better is a recipe for disaster. BUT

After Callum and I tried meditation the other evening, Evan also closed the big doors to the front of the house as we went to bed. The combination, plus possibly some psychological effects, has improved Callum's sleeping a lot (the other morning he slept to 6.45!!)

It's getting worse again, so we've had a top up meditation tonight, and we'll see if that works.

Bus adventures

Callum and Declan are both totally comfortable with catching the bus to school and home. They both have a variety of leaving times, so they both need to be flexible with which bus it is they catch.

So this Monday, after homework club (and hour after school on Mondays), Callum decided to catch a bus he hadn't caught before - the 247, reasoning that if it went to the city, it probably went down Miller St on the way, and he could get off at the corner with Falcon St.

So when, after the main Neutral Bay stop, the bus turned onto the freeway and went straight to the city, he was a bit perturbed. He kept his head, though, and checked the 131500 app on his phone, and was able to ask someone to direct him to Stand G at Wynyard once he got to the city (which he knew was the right stand for his bus home).

At which point he texted Evan to let him know he might be late (he hadn't wanted to worry him before).

And today's update: on the way home from sport Callum and his friends used four buses - they are really getting quite into their bus routes! A 247, another 247 when the first one stopped, a 230 to the corner of Miller and Falcon and (very lazily) a 144 up the hill past our house.

Meditation

Callum hasn't been sleeping as well as he would like. We have no real explanation (except that his lack of sleep started close to the beginning of term, so his new school could be a reason).

So this evening, before bed, Callum and I tried a meditation podcast, to see if it would help. Callum was sceptical, but I was very relaxed afterwards. 

A letter from camp

One of the things that Declan had to pack for camp was a stamped, self addressed envelope. So today we got a letter from him (despite him having been home from camp for five days - the traditional postcard form holidays).

I am having a great time! I hit a bullsey in archery! Went to the top of the giant swing. See you tommorow!

It's the first letter that Declan has ever written to us.

 

Handball

Callum came home talking about how he had been playing handball at lunchtime with some of his classmates (Sam, Ben and Freddie). It emerged that he was playing in exactly the same spot as Evan used to play when he was at Mosman High. So far that seems to be one of the few similarities in school experiences; high schools are much cooler places than they used to be.

Callum also discovered a few more people who are catching the same bus home as him; Ben and Sam live in Lane Cove, so stay on the bus after Callum has left.

School camp redux

Declan went to School Camp this week, on Milson Island (same place as Callum's) but for three days rather than two. He seems to have got the more spartan sleeping option, but even more cool activities (giant swing, kayaking, archery, fencing....)

Declan had been quite worried that he would embarrass himself by being homesick (he was more worried about the embarrassment than the homesickness) but he seems to have been fine, helped by being in the same cabin as his good friend Nic.

Of course he did come home exhausted (and denying it) and has yet to unpack his bags.

Finally finished Lord of the Rings

For what has felt like a few years (but is probably only three or four months) Declan has been reading the Lord of the Rings. He has been loving it, which is why he is savouring every bit, but everyone else in the family has been getting quite frustrated at all the books we keep recommending that he can't read until he finishes it.

He finally finished it a couple of weeks ago, finished The Hobbit in about three days, and now he is gulping down other books at a great rate. His teacher has given him a book list of things she thinks the class might like, and he's having a great time working his way through it. He read Storm Boy in about an hour, but decided that the Three Musketeers was a bit too tough. He's currently working his way through Eragon.

Mosman update

Callum, by going up to Year 9 for maths, has stuffed up his timetable a bit. The worst part is that he is missing the majority of his english classes (and catching up on the homework in his spare time).

Once again, the school is on to it, and has arranged for Callum to spend some of his spare time with one of the other Year 7 English classes (the drama stream, as it happens) so he is now attending two english classes in any given week (three periods in one and two in the other).

He says it is a bit confusing, but not unmanageable.

Getting ready for camp

Declan is off to school camp for three days on Monday morning. He has been starting to pack this afternoon, and after carefully reading the packing list, put aside some toilet paper. I asked him why, and he told me he needed to take "toiletries". After Callum assured him that toilet paper would be provided, he has got his toothbrush ready and packed.

Movie Night

We've been having movies on a Saturday night for a while, as we try and educate the boys in the classics (once Evan and I can agree on what they are!).

Tonight we went back to something modern, and watched the Hunger Games, which Declan had read (and could practically recite) and Evan and Callum had not. It was funny to watch Declan, as he was desperate to comment on every directorial choice from the book, as well as give away the plot, but mostly managed to restrain himself.

I suspect Callum may even read the book now he has realised it's not that much more violent than many other things he has read.

Festival of Donald

In a departure from usual practice for this blog, we are celebrating the festival of Donald. Grandpa turned 80 last weekend (3/3/33) and we hosted a birthday party for him.

Callum and Declan had a joint task of welcoming the guests (especially the ones who were looking uncertain when they saw that the address appeared to be a church), which they did charmingly. Declan, in particular, loved giving tours of the house, and made some of our guests very jealous showing them the 3d printer.

They both retreated to their room for a while to read, when the conversation got a bit boring, but emerged for speeches and cake.

The festival continued last night as, with Uncle Bob and Granny Marta in the country, we all went out for Chinese to continue the festival and give Uncle Bob conflicting advice on his upcoming parenthood.

Helm's Deep

One of Declan's recent pieces of loot was the lego set The Battle of Helm's Deep. It's a big one, and Callum and Declan are having a great time putting it together (except for the occasional times when Declan gets mad at Callum for some reason and bans him).

It is enormous, and I think they will be very pleased with themselves when it is done.

Swimming carnivals

Callum and Declan have both had their swimming carnivals at their new schools. Declan decided to skip the 50m freestyle race, but was very proud of himself for coming 4th in his 50m breaststroke heat. Apparently he would have come 3rd, except he spent too much time checking his positioning against his competitors.

Callum was intending to enter two races, but forgot his towel. So he spent the whole day watching and reading, reading the book he brought with him three times! (I was pleased, as it was a book I'd been trying to get him to read for a while, and he needed to get beyond the first five pages to enjoy it).

Declan's Ray Gun

When we were in New Zealand, we found a great stall at the Queenstown markets, from Sean Boyd, junk artist. Declan was inspired, and after a trip to reverse garbage a few weeks ago, he's been working hard on creating a ray gun. He's decided it is finished now, and is very pleased with it.

Bus to school

We are just on the edge of the bus pass area for Neutral Bay (the rules are you have to be at least 1.6km  away or 1.9km walking distance). So we had assumed that Declan wouldn't get a bus pass, and we started off with him walking to school.

Unfortunately, while very direct, the route involves crossing an enormous number of traffic lights, the timing of which is set up for cars, so that it doesn't matter much how fast you walk, it will take you around 25 minutes (10 minutes in waiting time plus 15 minutes walking time).

So when Declan came home with a bus pass, he and Evan tried out the bus together, and it takes him as little as 12 minutes door to door. Declan has now proudly caught the bus to and from school by himself for a week, and is quietly pleased with his independence.

Callum is also catching the bus to school, often with his Cammeray friends, which is nice.

School Camp

This week Callum spent two days at School Camp. All of the Year 7s went off to Milson Island (in the Hawkesbury) for various outdoor activities and general bonding. Callum was very proud of himself for both going three quarters of the way up the big swing, and (more importantly) enjoying it (both of which are major improvements compared with school camp last year).

Declan missed Callum's company, but once he got back, they reverted to normal niggling within an hour or two.

In other school news, Callum's newest friend is religious, and they have been discussing evolution and its consistency with the bible. Possibly Callum gets more than his curly hair from his grandpa...

Neutral Bay Gang

Declan is loving Neutral Bay. When we ask his friends how their day was, they seem enthusiastic, but Declan always says Great! with the biggest smile on his face. On Friday afternoon they were given lollies (would never happen at Cammeray) if they could name at least 25 people in their class, and Declan was pleased he made it.

His Cammeray gang (there are seven of them) seem to have let a few other people into their lunchtime playgroup, which is nice, although I can see it is going to be very tricky for both them and the others in the class, given how close they all were before they got to Neutral Bay.

This term they are going to learn about Galleons and other 16th and 17th century ships, which is right up Declan's alley, as you can see if you check out his long running saga here (like his friend Alice, one of his ambitions is to be an author).

Settling in to Mosman

Callum still seems to be really enjoying Mosman High. I think he's enjoying all the new things he needs to learn about how to go to school. In some ways it reminds me of his first few weeks of Kindergarten when he loved telling me the school rules.

He's got to use a sewing machine (they get one per student!) spend time in a science lab, and learn to surf (so far lying down only) for school sport, as well as a day long excursion to the Zoo (which is walking distance, so may well be a common excursion for them).

Only thing that hasn't been sorted out yet is his English - so far the combination of various things means he has only been to one English class, and his english teacher isn't that happy about it.

Lord of the Rings

We first watched Lord of the Rings with the boys more than two years ago (despite it being M 15+). They loved it, especially the battle scenes. Since then, Callum has read all the books, and Declan has read two and is the middle of book 3 (and had his friend Alice telling him her favourite parts as she read them last year on the bus to school). They've also been playing the Lego lord of the Rings game lately.

So after we'd been to Queenstown, and seen lots of Lord of the Rings locations, we decided we should see them again. Evan wasn't so keen (he's not that into rewatching movies) so when he went off to poker tonight it was just the three of us.

Declan spent the whole time reciting dialogue 30 seconds ahead of each bit. Callum spent the whole time telling me how they did each scene in Lego Lord of the Rings (which seemed to involve quite a lot more slapstick than JRR Tolkein would have thought was seemly).

They both really loved it (despite being not that into the locations that we've been to), but Declan said as he went to bed tonight that he could see why it was M 15+. I think now that he is older, nightmares are more, not less likely.

Callum's maths

When Callum started going to Mosman, we all knew that we would have to find out what was happening with his maths (see here for details). But now that he is in high school, it's not a "parents just ask at the office" thing.

So we've been pleased in two directions. First, on his own, Callum figured out that he needed to ask someone, and that someone was probably his year coordinator. And he made it a priority to do so as soon as he could on his second day.

And when he did, Ms Davey immediately said, "oh, I know all about you", and told him what the plans were so far, which included him doing his very first year 9 maths class on his second day, when the rest of his class were still doing O week activities and hadn't actually started classes yet.

He came home with the news that he got 61/70 for last year's end of year 8 maths test, and that he already had homework! I was very pleased to see that in several places he got lots of marks for showing his working despite getting the final answer wrong, which was great, both to point out to Callum (see, it worked!) and that he had listened to us telling him to do it.

So far, so good.

The gardener

Grandma gave Callum a ready made fruit and vegetable garden for Christmas - strawberries, beans and tomatoes, to go with his carrots.  He also got with instructions, plant food and a watering can. He has been very thrilled with the idea, but we're not quite sure how well he will follow through on actually gardening.

Tonight for dinner, we were able to eat his first results - some tasty beans and strawberries, pictured here.

Declan starts a new school

Declan started his new school on Thursday, at Neutral Bay Public school. He was very very excited (at least partly to see his friends again), but also very nervous about the whole thing.

They started a day later than everyone else, with a special process just for the OCs. I walked up with him, and we had a special welcome just for his OC class from the Principal and his new teacher, Ms Carnegie.

When Evan and I picked him up in the afternoon, he seemed to have had a wonderful day, telling us it was Great! and showing off the smarties he had earned for learning the names of five new people.

He'd also managed to find Jane (who teaches Year 5 at Neutral Bay) in the playground, and our friend Jack, who is in Year 6. Which is miraculous in some ways, as the playground is very small. They have recess and lunch in shifts.

Callum starts high school

Callum started high school on Wednesday, at Mosman High. He went off with Evan and an enormous backpack full of all the stationery he was provided with. They don't wear a uniform, so apart from the backpack, he looked pretty much as he looks on every other day.

He came home with his head clearly buzzing from all the instructions he got about high school, but he also seemed pretty happy with how it had all gone. He knows one person in his class (Juliette, who was at Cammeray with him) and a few more in his year and in the school, who he managed to find.

He also managed to get home on the bus all by himself, which was a relief to everyone, to find three people peppering him with questions about the day.

Creme Brulee

As we were moving into here, we remembered that Evan had, long ago, bought a cooking blowtorch and ramekins for making creme brulee. Declan was very keen to try it out with me, so this afternoon we made creme brulee together. He wasn't entirely impressed that I insisted on making the custard from scratch - with an actual vanilla pod! (instead of buying it ready made), but loved the chance to torch the brulee, and the delicious result.

I suspect in future, though, Callum will revert to being our usual Saturday afternoon pastry chef.

Gerric

For the first time in a while, the boys did Gerric courses at the UNSW this week. They were three full days, so a bit of a commitment. Declan did a course called Budding Chemists. Highlights for him were getting to use a bunsen burner, and managing to get sulfuric acid spilt on his shorts. I don't think it was quite as good as he was hoping (so not quite good enough to make up for having to get up early three days in a row).

Callum did a course in web animation, which he absolutely loved. He has made an animation of the Titanic, which I will put up here once it is emailed to him (sadly the files he brought home with him didn't quite work). He was particularly excited as one of his classmates loves both Minecraft AND Team Fortress 2 (Callum's two favourite games) so they did a bit of minecraft together when they got home in the evenings.

A fish called Nessy

Declan has been agitating for a pet for quite a while. After considerable back and forth discussion, we agreed on a fish, as long as he looked after it by himself.

He did a lot of research as to which fish was the easiest to look after (or perhaps the hardest to kill), and settled on a Siamese Fighting Fish, which in the wild lives in the rice paddies of Thailand, so will hopefully cope with water that isn't enormously clean.

Declan has named his fish Nessy, and we are having to restrain him from feeding it too often.

Maths in the holidays

During our holidays, we've had a surprising amount of maths. First, Callum was a bit bored during our first night at a pizza restaurant, and decided to work out the relative areas of the different pizza size options - his workings are shown below.

Callum's pizza workings

It was a good lesson in the practicalities of differences between the diameter and the area of a circle, as Callum realised that some of the numbers he had come up with were pretty difficult to square, and even harder to take the square root of.

Next, on the Milford Track, as we were coming down the McKinnon Pass, Callum decided we needed a topic of conversation to take our minds off how tired our legs were feeling. So I explained Bayesian probability to him. He was sufficiently interested in its counterintuitiveness (and hence the opportunity for tricking people with problems) that he decided to read the book I got one of the problems from: Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman.

He's now becoming quite dangerous as he tries to use the behavioural economics insights to persuade us into things we don't really want to do.

Declan learns algebra

And finally, not to be left out, Declan decided to learn algebra using DragonBox. He demanded algebra problems from all of us, as we went back to the same pizza restaurant for our last night in Queenstown.

In a real breakthrough for him, we gave him word problems (which he hates) and he suddenly realised that he could convert them into algebra, before solving them, and his hated problem of "if you are travelling at x km an hour, how long will it take you to go y km" became ridiculously easy using his new tools.

But really, I had to write this post as I found it so amusing that they used exactly the same page in their restaurant colouring book to work out the answers!