When Everyone Else is Working....

I'm not entirely sure what most are up to in school these days.  Miss Ant would be in year 2 if she were still in the NSW public school system.  We don't go grade 2 work anymore, we enjoy a wide variety of 'levels' all that match where Antonia and Vincent are up to.....that's when we do school work, that is ;)

This is what we do when we don't do 'school' stuff, and be quite honest, this is when we get most of our 'life learning' done and we all get to experience the WHY in 'why' we learn certain things!  I also can't possibly include everything, as we have lots of 'life skills' days, so I will just share what we did today  :)  I am not going to point out the learnings....I believe the photos speak for themselves!




Today we got our stand all prepared for the next Home School Market Day!  This will be our 1st one but I have heard it's great fun!  The kids all set up a stand with home-made/2nd hand goods to sell and they each get $100 in home school currency. It's a great activity!  Anyway, Miss Ant has been working very hard over the past few weeks, getting her stuff in order. Secretly she can't wait until I get my A into G and get back into doing real markets!

Here, we have a box......the contents of this box are all the marvellous goodies that Miss Ant and I put together today for her stall!
We have:
- Sculpey buttons and beads
- Sculpey pendants/charms
- Hand made greeting cards
- Fans
- Bracelet making kits!  

Here is a closer look at the bracelet kits (as these are my fav!), Miss Ant did this all herself.  The writing, the stamping, the hearts, the bead choosing and most importantly...the idea!  Each kit comes with stretchy rubber thread, beads, momento felt hearts and instructions.

A bracelet for a friend who has just welcomed a little brother :) 
Now, if only I could be that efficient and get the Milo vest finished for the little man!

The vest......this is what I did today .... still not finished!

And to finish the day off, Miss Ant sat down and joined me on the couch and under a rug for a spot of knitting xxx

Love is a better teacher than duty.

- Albert Einstein

Are We Finally Sorted?

It has taken a whole term, but I think we have finally got our curriculum sorted! We don’t follow any set curriculum, I take what I like from all styles and adapt it to what’s best for our family. Here’s a basic run down on what we might cover in an average week (at the moment!) with what ‘style’ you might classify them:


- Chapter or 2 of Ancient History - Classical

- Guided Art Lessons - Monart

- Maths workbooks (we use Singapore Maths)

- Maths worksheets – to reinforce what we just are covering in the workbooks

- Living Science – we are doing the MrQ Science curriculum (it’s free and fabulous!) Mr Q

- French….only idly though! - Classical

- Nature Journaling – Charlotte Mason

- Comprehension/grammer (Singapore System) - Classical

- Story writing

- Independent projects – free choice (At the moment, my crazy Royal-wedding-obsessed child is doing a project on the Royal family!)

- Gymnastics (and Kinder Gym for Vince at the same time as Ant’s lesson)

- Piano (Ant is doing Simply Music Piano lessons with a fellow Home Ed parent)

- Ballet

- Swimming

- Baking


Don’t be alarmed and scared of all that…… it doesn’t really take any great skill, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist or a professor to cover it all! I also run a business from home, have usual home-type duties and have a 4 year old to entertain too! We pretty much get all of the ‘school’ type stuff done and dusted in 2-3 mornings! Somewhere in there we also meet up with friends at least twice a week (and by meet up, I mean play for ½ a day!) and go on a planned excursion approximately once a week.

Let me introduce you to our current favourite, the ‘Story of the World’ History curriculum by Susan Wise Bauer Susan's Books 

We are on Volume One, Ancient History, learning about Nomads, Ancient Egypt, The Fertile Crescent…. Learning about the geography of the 1st civilisations and why the 1st people farmed the way they did, what devices they used, how Historians and Archaeologists discovered these things……in fact, we have learned what the difference is between history and archaeology! All I can do is sit back in wonder, I fathom what amazing topics my home educated kids can explore and learn about while their counterparts are lining up and waiting with their hands up in the classroom (not saying that it’s better as such, just that we have such an amazing choice and can use our time exactly how we want to!) . Ancient history is only one of them! And what a fantastic resource ‘Story of the World’ is. We have the book…the one that has the stories and information and equally as important, we have the activity and lesson plan book. The activity/lesson book comes with all the sheets for photocopying, like maps and colouring pages too. And yes, I know some are shaking their heads at the thought of a 6 yr old learning something like ancient history but I assure you, it is totally within their realm! ‘Story of the World’ was written to be adapted easily for any child from yr 1-4, the activity book includes map work right down to art/craft and science experiments, it’s up to you as to how much detail you want to cover. What’s even better still, is I have found this website that has a quiz for every chapter! Quiz The kids are loving following this history curriculum so much that, at Ant’s request, we are now doing it twice a week!

So,are we finally sorted?  I highly doubt it!  There is  so much to learn, so much to discover that this curriculum will change....and you know what?  We welcome that!

Visuals

Taking the chance to just show some images from our Home School....going to let the pictures tell the story this week :)



Vincent Enjoying our Easter craft!  Dyed egg shells,
crushed to be used to decorate his egg art!



Antonia's Easter Art...with coloured sand and a few other goodies she found in the art cupboard as well.




We witnessed little baby spiders emerging from the sack  today, how fortunate that Spiders were the chosen topic of our nature journaling today!  We use 'The Wonderland of Nature'  as our fieldguide and explore our garden atour own leisure.



Art!  We have discovered the most excellent creative outlet...Polymer Clay!  We use Sculpey, bought from our local Spotlight store.  Every available moment we have during the week is dedicated to sitting at the table and playing/creating keepsakes from Sculpey.  Here are pendants, buttons and beads all made by the kids and I.



Bubbles.....who doesn't love blowing bubbles!



Man, we LOVE doing puzzles in our house!  Everytime we complete one, I take a pic...needless to say, we have tons of photos just like this one!



We sometimes get to eat icecream (tricky with Vincent's gluten intolerance) Yum Yum!  We also go out exploring, here's the kids at a local historical village Richmond, eating icecream and appreciating the classical guitar busker.



Long Time, No See!

It’s been a while! We have really been immersing ourselves in our home education….so much that each waking minute is maximised! I am writing this as the kids do their Yoga DVD…my only spare moment today, so please forgive the disjointedness and length of this edition.


We have started attending the fortnightly Hobart Home Ed group day and have covered forests, had a special art session with Caroline Amos….. learning contour drawing with coal, cooking lessons and general learning through play for the younger kids (ok…for all the kids!) The kids have a total blast!

Another new addition is gym day! We have the Kingborough gymnasium booked for both kinder gym and gymnastics on a Wednesday morning so I do kinder gym with Vince while Miss Ant does gymnastics in the other half of the gym. It works really well and both kids really love it! Miss Ant grows in confidence physically with each lesson and Vincent just runs non-stop for an hour and a half!

Miss Ant has also started piano lessons. Simply Music, taught by a fellow home Ed mother (which is great because Ant really likes, trusts and respects her). With Simply Music, the kids learn to love and play music before getting stuck into the reading. After 3 lessons, Miss Ant is playing 2 songs already, singing along and truly enjoying it. Once a month the girls all get together and have a piano party (usually on a Tuesday morning) and they have such a great time. Whoever thought…..parties on a school day! One of the top 10 things I love about being at home with my kids is the flexibility and freedom, you just can’t beat it.
 If anyone in Hobart is interested in lessons for their children (Home Ed or not), let me know as I am happy to recommend her :)

Building relationships.  One of the many things we have gained so far through home education is good friends, you know the type that you remember and cherish forever. I see that in both my kids when they interact with others in our group. They make each other gifts prior to ‘playdates’ (bracelets, baking, general nick-nacks they find), gifts that thought and care go into. Which I LOVE! I love going to others houses and taking a little something and it’s nice to see it passed on to the next generation, passed on without any intention to….but very welcomed all the same. They sing together…at the top of the lungs with nothing held back and what I truly love is that they teach each other, no power-over situations – they just simply see a space, and want to fill it. They all take an active interest in ensuring each other learn and understand. This is evident with classical, unschooled and Christian schooled home educated kids, it doesn’t seem to matter what way they are home educated. The girls swap books and discuss each book together, excitedly like they have just read the ultimately BEST book ever! Then they go crazy about what book they will share next with their friends (think teenage girls in a clothing shop, but change that to 7 year olds talking about novels!). The older kids playing football will take the time to help my little man out, they will team up with him and include him in the game. Each time I witness this I am humbled and reminded of how Home Educating my kids is by far the best option for us.

One of our favourite group activities has been Game Day. We hosted the 1st one at our house and it was so much fun! The kids have a new game (which I bought for the sole purpose of learning geography in a fun and interesting way) called ‘The Amazing Mammoth Hunt’ which 3 adults and 6 kids played for about 3 hours! We all learnt something but most importantly we did it while having a good time. Yes, we frequently stopped for nibbles and bursts of running around outside, there was even an explore around the garden and a balloon blowing session all thrown in for good measure. In one morning, 6 primary aged kids (and the 3 adults!) learnt more about the world than a lot learn throughout their entire adolescence.
Home Education is pretty awesome. Antonia lee 

Learning Through the Simple Things

One of my key goals this year to teach the family how to explore and enjoy the simple things around them. I want them to learn something from every interaction, encounter and experience. I think that so much beauty in life passes us by because we don’t know how to observe and enjoy the lessons from simple things.



Miss Ant has a habit of just jumping into something without doing the research first, she likes to think she knows it all and can simply, just do anything. I have tried fighting her on this and believe me, I lose every time! So, I practiced what I was preaching and realised that I too do the same thing. Shock horror.


Now, I would like her to keep a fair amount of that attitude (after all, the kid has some definite spunk!), but I also want to teach her how to learn freely and openly. I want learning and observing (and pausing to do so!) to become second nature. I don’t want my kids to simply cruise through life and do only what’s expected of them, I want them to honestly ask the tough questions, I want them to ask why about everything, to feel emotions and I want them to explore! Simple you say? Not so. After 12 months of Miss Ant being in the public school system I saw how a child can lose all of those gifts. She stopped asking why, stopped wondering what was around the corner and she stopped caring. I am not blaming the school system, but it has forced me to take a look at what really is important in life, and that I simply can’t let us all cruise through life blindly – we need to live life consciously and we need to do it with a purpose.


Last week I had a breakthrough, one that might seem small to most but for me it was HUGE! Here's how the story goes:


I often browse through itunes, always on the hunt for music that was created by passionate and talented artists – artists that stand for something bigger than the $$$, across all genres and that are also kid-friendly….. I came across Bob Marley so downloaded ‘Buffalo Soldier’ mostly because I like it and I thought it would appeal to the kids (catchy tune, easy to sing along to etc). Now, what I do is put my music on my phone, so when we are in the car, I connect via blue-tooth and pass the phone to the kids to act as in-car DJs. The 1st time they played it they hummed along, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th times Vince hummed and Ant was quiet. Highly irregular, but yet she kept putting it on, so she obviously liked it.  Then I get,


“Mum, that’s a sad song, it’s beat and tune are happy but the words are sad. Is this song about something true? Who stole them and who made them go to war? Why would anyone do that to another human being? I think the man singing this song is very wise and very intelligent. Mum, how many people hear that song and only hear the happy beat? How many of those people never listen to the words and learn his story? ”


And from there the questions started and my 6.5yr old is on her way to understanding/learning about (albeit on a ground level) Human rights, African/American civil rights, racism, exploitation and history, as well as a whole barrage of other things that come with the territory!  And I think it's a pretty fine example that whatever I am doing, it's working!  She's asking, she's caring, she's observing.......she's Learning.


Focus and acceptance that I had something to teach her!  Miss Ant practicing her new sketching skills :)



Everyday Learnings from Little Things

'It will seem difficult at first but everything is difficult at first' 
Miyomoto Musashi




Isn’t this so true! This helped me early this morning when I set off on my own with the dog for an hour walk around the local bush track and then again this morning when explaining ‘carrying the 1’ with Miss Ant over our morning Maths moment (I would call it a lesson, but it was hardly what I think qualifies as a lesson!).


One of the things we are working on this term is fine motor skills, and we all find copy work and handwriting practice a true bore-fest so we are incorporating our ‘handy work’ into our craft! We still do handwriting, every morning Miss Ant writes out her 20 spelling words for the week and looks up 3 words in her dictionary and writes them out. She also has ‘free (learning) time’ in the afternoon and often she chooses creative writing. Anyway, this week Miss Ant is making a felt butterfly (we were inspired by seeing other HE kids projects). Different coloured felt, and a few different shapes cut out to decorate the wings, needle and thread and away we go! This is the chosen blog topic this week, so I won’t talk about it too much - I will save that for her!


Vincent is also joining in :) A piece of card with holes punched out and a piece of wool and he’s away lacing up a storm! He has even moved on to weaving, and thoroughly enjoys it!

Anyway, all the materials for our crafty stuff I managed to find at home, isn’t it amazing how easy it can be to get creative and stimulate interest with just household stuff! This is quite a revelation for me, as I often think I lack in creative flow and imagination and feel that I have to rely on store bought packs to find inspiration. This goes back to the ‘too hard’ knee jerk reaction attitude I seem to have developed over time ……. Hence why the new affirmation ‘EVERYTHING is hard at first’….kind of along the lines of Nike’s ‘Just do it’ ;-)

And Yes we still occasionally use ready-to-make craft!  Here's Miss Ant with her Sand Art

Last week we did an experiment that one of my friends posted up on Facebook – boiling water over red cabbage makes a purple dye…then add drops of lemon juice….all found at home (actually the red cabbage had lived a rather long life in the bottom of my fridge…so I was pleased to do something semi practical with it!). It provided about an hour worth of question and answer time. We covered all sorts from nature, science, colours, the water cycle and many more. And this is only 1 moment out of many that we have daily. The 6 yr old asked questions and got answers at her level, and the 3 yr old listened….then asked questions for his level of understanding and interest.




This cheeky little critter on my fruit plate stimulated a big conversation!



So, I suppose the ongoing underlying theme here is that not only are my children learning from every day moments/opportunities – but so am I…….and I am not entirely sure who is learning the most!

 

Daily Grind ..... 1st of Many!

I wasn't going  to add posts like this, but it's unbelievable how much value I get from reading about the daily comings and goings of other Home Educating Families, so I feel compelled to...in the name of paying-it-forward perhaps! 

Today we started out at our own pace, after a relaxed breakfast together and daily chores.  We started with the usual, spelling and dictionary work for Miss Ant and Puzzles for Vincent.  We have discovered that starting with self paced and independent work seems to get us off to a good start for the day.  Yesterday we had a craft morning at another HE family's house so they were both itching to get into 'work' today, yes crazy I know, but kids (all kids, not just mine) surprisingly love to learn! 

It was quite lovely to be able to walk away and potter around while both were happily doing their own  thing.   Something that can be taken for granted, HE isn't about 100% direction and teaching.  Neither of them even noticed me snap this picture....and how could I possibly resist, it was such a great HE example!

OOOH!  And our work books and games arrived yesterday!  Today Miss Ant started on the Enriching Mathematics #2 (her choice!) and got 50/50!!  Super proud mummy and little girl here!  Of  course there were moments where I explained things to her, or reworded the question etc but how cool is it that I can do that for her?  I still marvel at the limitless possibilities for them as they never have to continue puzzled on a topic, that I am always here to explain things to them.  It has a knock-on effect too, I am often eavesdropping on my kids and hearing Ant explain and reword things to Vincent, and not walking away until he understands.
Vincent is already getting into the Addition and Subtraction game...though I know he doesn't understand them, but the temptation to complete the little puzzles was too much for him!  I have a real puzzle crazy boy!