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Dominique McCombe

Auckland, New Zealand

Interests: Interior Design, Scrapbooking, Autism, Crafts, Arts, DIY, Recipes, Social Commentary, Books, Movies, Architecture, Party Planning, Event Organising, Organisation, Cooking

Recent Activity

Joshua's Country and Western themed Birthday Celebration

Who'd have thought a Country and Western themed celebration pulled together at the last minute could be so fun and easy to organise? And now I know that it's about more than just baked beans (ugh). The food was delicious! I found so much inspiration online that I could probably... Continue reading

Posted Jun 25, 2019 at Glorious Mess

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Joshua's 11th Birthday: Rock Climbing!

Mid-week birthdays pose a bit of a dilemma, especially in Winter. Joshua's birthday fell on a Tuesday, so we decided to have his birthday celebration on the following Sunday. But of course, there had to be cupcakes and presents on the day! So on the Tuesday of his birthday we... Continue reading

Posted Jun 15, 2019 at Glorious Mess

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Joshua's Birthday Cake

Well, I'm back on here. I will no longer be using the separate unschooling blog, since Joshua now has a dedicated "school-related" space for that, and the learning we do at home outside of that is just everyday stuff, which is a better fit here. So about The Cake ...... Continue reading

Posted Jun 9, 2019 at Glorious Mess

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It's always great to stumble upon a site by accident and find it to be really, really awesome and useful on our education journey. I love it when I too get carried away by the options and opportunities to learn new stuff. Wonderopolis provides a new "Wonders of the Day"... Continue reading

Posted May 19, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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At last I'm getting to the fun things we did these past months! And for that reason I'll explain the title of this post. Not really - well, kindasorta - but the real reason is that when I thought of a good title, it struck me that this is such... Continue reading

Posted May 18, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Joshua's more structured and formal school projects have found a new home on a page dedicated to the work he does with Katie and for Te Kura. This means that this page will revert to the kind of education which is really my passion: Directed by Joshua and his interests,... Continue reading

Posted May 12, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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We have had the opportunity during the past several weeks to encounter learning opportunities about bears in many different ways. It's amazing how, once you make up your mind to learn about a subject, the topic just pops up everywhere! So it started with Tricia, Joshua's Te Kura learning adviser,... Continue reading

Posted Mar 24, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Joshua saw some really old Bart Simpson ads for Butter Fingers recently, and asked me to get him some. Well, perhaps they're still available in the United States, but not here. So we did the next best thing and scoured the internet to find a recipe to make our own!... Continue reading

Posted Mar 16, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Joshua did a great job finishing his worksheet about Alaska. We found learning about this state in the United States of America very interesting, because it relates to many of our current interests. I am so pleased and impressed with how well you remembered all these cool facts we have... Continue reading

Posted Mar 2, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Heroes of Olympus: An Epic Journey: West Coast of North America

I'm going to start off this lesson with a clip from the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It's as funny as it is cruel, and has nothing and everything to do with learning. Because, you know, I never want to be Joshua's Dell Griffith. No matter how much planning you... Continue reading

Posted Feb 25, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Peppermint Creams

Peter bought me this lovely children's recipe book, inspired by the stories of Enid Blyton. I love pottering in the kitchen with Joshua. It is such a wonderful opportunity to be creative and have fun while learning, and ticking so many boxes of essential learning. Enid Blyton (1897 - 1968)... Continue reading

Posted Feb 21, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Hideous blighters, aren't they? Some weeks ago, we rescued a cicada out of the little pool in the back yard. It took great courage on my part to lift it out of the water with a chopstick and deposit it onto the lawn. We observed it from a brave distance... Continue reading

Posted Feb 19, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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It's Nuts! (Pistachio, that is)

As a rule, Joshua doesn't eat meat or dairy products, so we have always encouraged him to eat a wide range of nuts for their nutritional value. Fortunately, he also happens to love nuts, and we have learned about many different kinds over the years. Joshua enjoys browsing the grocery... Continue reading

Posted Feb 17, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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2019: And so it begins!

Welcome to our journey for this new year! I am excited about the plans I have, and things already put into place to make this year totally awesome and productive. Joshua of course always has his own firm ideas of how our days should progress as well, so this year... Continue reading

Posted Feb 14, 2019 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Dominique McCombe is now following cathy

Jan 12, 2019

Another busy week! And we are fast heading towards the end of term - and year - and Christmas - and 2019. I usually finish documenting our activities round about this time of year. We really need and deserve the break to make time to just chill and do our... Continue reading

Posted Nov 28, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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From our NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day, we choose one image from time to time to learn more about. This week we are learning some cool facts about nebulae. But first, the scrapbook page we made! Joshua matched the definitions to the words, and words to the pictures and... Continue reading

Posted Nov 26, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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A short lesson about the Rhino, which we picked from our weekly Wildlife Photo of the Week: The name Rhinoceros means "nose horn", which it gets from the large horn(s) that grows from its nose. Usually we shorten the name to just read "Rhino". These magnificent beasts are enormous and... Continue reading

Posted Nov 25, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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I decided late last week to start a more structured list of our daily activities. I don't know how well it will publish on here, and I am only winging it. The idea is to save time, and to give me some idea of what we are working on and... Continue reading

Posted Nov 20, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Nature Study: Celebrating Spring

Due to the way we learn and the fact that all our lessons are ongoing, I sometimes struggle to know when I've reached that point where I should document our progress on a particular subject, because we already have 3 or 4 other things going that connects to the subject.... Continue reading

Posted Nov 18, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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9 Levels of Awesomeness! New Zealand lesson

Joshua had another great lesson with Katie at the Mt Richmond School playground last week. When Katie prepared him for his lesson with a Plotagon message he watched in the car, and I heard that he had to complete 9 levels of lessons and activities, I worried that it might... Continue reading

Posted Nov 15, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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The NZ Moa: Playground, Plotagon and fun learning about Prepositions with Katie!

Well, that title was a mouthful! I have been holding back on this lesson, because Joshua hasn't done his challenge from Katie and - Plotaboy! of completing a Plotagon video about his Moa lesson. But to keep in the time frame - and really, this lesson as it is was... Continue reading

Posted Nov 9, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Caterpillars - Silkworms and moths

Lyndsey sent us a work project about tent caterpillars last week. I sort of got side-tracked because I wanted to include silkworms specifically, so I shall torture Joshua in small increments by breaking up this lesson into 3 separate (but small) parts. There's a little story behind the silkworm interest.... Continue reading

Posted Nov 6, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Fantastic Bat Facts

As we were preparing for Halloween, and talked about the interesting little critters we associate with Halloween, I decided to do a little lesson about bats, because Joshua seemed really interested. Nothing like striking the iron while it's hot! Just the basic facts. But first, a confession: As I started... Continue reading

Posted Nov 4, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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Halloween Celebration and crafts

This was only the second year we celebrated Halloween. This year we have a paucity of photographs of the actual celebration, which I hope means everyone was having too good a time to think about taking pictures. I did, however, take several photos of our preparation work and the awesome... Continue reading

Posted Nov 2, 2018 at Upskilling with Unschooling

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