It’s a good thing I set aside one month per continent while traveling the world this year. We are in week 2 of our study of Australia/Oceania (with a bit of Antarctica tossed in) and there is no end in sight. Using Expedition Australia as our starting point, we are having a blast learning about everything from koalas to the Sidney Opera House.
One very interesting landmark we have spent a lot of time learning about is Uluru. What is Uluru you ask? It’s a rock. Yep, a rock. Now, Ben has always been interested in rocks and minerals. I remember one year while visiting the Museum of Natural History, Ben didn’t care much for visiting the world of animals, or the dinosaur area….no, not him. He wanted to see the Gem Room! So learning that there is a ginormous rock in the middle of the Outback has piqued his curiosity like crazy. Check it out some time, it’s pretty cool. It has an entire ecosystem around it….and learning about the aboriginal people around it is cool, too.
Another topic that I never realized would be so interesting is the Sidney Opera House. It has a fascinating history as well, though a bit more modern. You might be interested to know that it cost $102 million Austalian and 14 years to build it. They went a tad over their budget of $7 million. I can so relate.
Aussie language has been a highlight as well. We were surprised to discover that some words and phrases we often use are Australian in origin. “Barking up the wrong tree,” “ankle-biter,” “better half,” “beat around the bush,” and “boogie-board” among them. Of course, toss in a few other words like, “billabong,” “lolly,” and “barbie” and you quickly realize you are in a foreign land!
Of course, what’s a study of Australia without a look at the fascinating animals living there. Marsupials are big on the daily schedule. Did you know that the only marsupial that does not live in Australia is the opossum? The other day we were discussing how koalas keep their babies close for 3 years. Since they only live for about 10 years, that’s nearly 1/3 of their lives. We decided that since humans live on average about 75 years, then keeping our kids close for 18 years doesn’t seem so unreasonable. Being a homeschool mom is kind of like being a koala mom.
My little joey needs some help with his math now. So I’ll sign-off by saying, g’day mates. Let’s chin wag again soon!
