Thursday, January 24, 2013

How to research Australia

My 3rd grade twins are doing a unit on Australia. Naturally this means that we need to discuss and combine our knowledge of Australia on a daily basis. Turns out our knowledge is a bit limited. I have explained to my sons that my best friend visited Australia and has a friend there and encouraged them to make a list of questions to ask her.

They have turned my offer down.

I have bragged about the fact that I read not 1, but 4, blogs written by people that live in Australia which should pretty much make me an expert. I added that they have kids and we could probably contact them and get in touch with real live Australians.

They were not impressed.

Turns out 3rd grade boys only really want to know about the animals and the aborigines of Australia. My knowledge of fibros, brumbees, weather patterns and the Sidney opera house are of no interest to them. My possible to access to real live Australians has been shunned.

Well, have no fear, super mom is here! We will hit up the library, scour the internet and become kangaroo and koala experts. Let the researching begin. Ready, set, go!

Oh wait... turns out my particular 3rd grade boys are not real keen on "researching." this time around. They are up for watching a few youtube videos and some picture books might do quite nicely but....

"Maaaaaaawwwwwwmmmmmm. We don't HAVE to research at home. The teacher didn't assign it."

"Why are we doing extra work? The other kids aren't doing extra work."

"I already know everything about Australia. Oh that? Yeah, I knew that."

It's funny. They usually like to dig in and learn the nitty gritty details of things. But this time, when the subject is actually interesting they have become downright lazy. Not sure what happened there. I'm hoping it's just the weird sicknesses/exhaustion that has been plaguing our family the past month. So now I am a super mom on a mission and knowledge will be attained whether they like it or not. I'm sure this will go well AKA wish us luck.

p.s. I'm doing my own special kind of research on the side. I found a show on Hulu/Netflix called "Mcleods Daughters." Its from Australian television and is providing me with 8 seasons of Australian Outback farming soap opera drama. I find myself getting very wrapped up in who falls in love with who and what's going to happen when someone dies suddenly. I keep taking baths and doing laundry so I have an excuse to spend 40 minutes by myself to watch the next episode. Of course it hasn't provided useful information for my children yet but I am ready to discuss mustering, brumbees and drenching with anyone who is interested. I reckon that's pretty much everyone righto?

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