Home Education - Organisation
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Binding Work, Preserving Memories
At the conclusion of each year I bind all of our children’s academic work into a keepsake. The reason for this is twofold; firstly we wish to demonstrate to the children that their work is precious and worthwhile keeping, secondly in an effort to tame the paper tiger. Finding a workable system to keep track of loose papers over the years has been a challenge, finally we have hit upon a solution that works for us. Each of the children has a clip board which holds not only has their ‘expectation sheet’ of work needed to be done each week/term, but any loose sheets, handwriting, maps, colouring etc At the end of…
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Awesome! – A Masculine Opinion
The layout of our study has bothered us for some time now. When we recently acquired two new computers and realised we needed to shuffle the room around yet again we decided it was time to invest in a more permanent solution. After discarding a few ideas PC decided to head to town in the search of desk modules. Having no success at any of the retail shops in town, hours later PC and Carpenter arrived home with gleeful looks on their faces. Instantly I was suspicious, what had they bought? Well… they hedged, I might not think it pretty, but it was perfect for the job, it just was…
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Designing Our Learning Room – Help Please
As we slowly start to use all available space in the extensions, I can see the time is nearing to consider the design of our learning room. Up to this point I have resolutely not even thought about it as I haven’t wanted to get too excited. Obviously as we have been homeschooling for over a decade now I have an idea of what would be wonderful additions to have, I am also considering our weaknesses and strengths.(I know doors are probably better for us than shelves) I know I want tables rather than individual desks and a reading lounge is a must. This will be our main learning room,…
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My ‘Truth About Mum’ and Planning
Sarah’s recent post, Truth About Mum really resonated with me. She shares so much wisdom and truth; considering Mum’s teaching style is vital for a “Happy Home Educating Mum.” With our new school term starting back on Monday, I have spent a couple of days this week re-assessing and tweaking our yearly plans. Whilst doing this I have wrestled with myself once again, about planning. Just why do I plan and how much detail do I need? Part of that planning is to take an honest look at my teaching style and be realistic. Sarah’s thoughts have encouraged me to put ‘pen to paper’ and share my Truth About Mum.…
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Arranging Our Study
Tuesday saw many changes. Once the children moved out we turned our energies towards cleaning their abandoned rooms. The boys’ room began its transformation into a study. As the children were eager to see this occur they worked with a will. Very quickly tables and desks were moved in and a whole bank of computers were set up. To be totally honest I didn’t quite realise just how many computers we had. Most had been packed away. Due to the benevolence of uncles there is no shortage. PC and I invested a fair amount of research into decisions regarding the computers. We decided to keep all computers in the one…
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Creating An Art Centre
One of my wishes for my ‘dream learning room’ is an art centre. As that event will be some time away I gave some thought as to how I could set up a temporary centre. My requirements were for a compact centre that contained the majority of supplies. We also needed a way to scoop all supplies off the table and away into the cupboard for meal times. Thinking I needed something like a tray I ventured into the shed to see what I could find. Imagine my delight when I spied this ‘builders box’ I had forgotten all about scooping up at a garage sale last year. Just perfect…
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Our Workbox Adaptions
A few months back there were discussions on 4Real regarding workboxes. I particularly liked the following idea which is more suitable for a large family and limited space. When I discussed the idea with PC we thought it would be too much work setting up and monitoring. Eventually I did set up a system but only for Princess(7) who was rather uninterested in her lessons. She was very excited when we first set up her boxes, she liked the idea of ticking off boxes on each folder, but I’ll be honest and admit they only held her interest for a day. I had shared the concept however with a couple…
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Learning Rooms in Small Houses
One of my favourite posts in blogosphere are pictures and descriptions of learning rooms. I enjoy seeing different families’ environments and can well understand how these beautiful rooms would foster creativity both for the children and for mum. But what happens when your learning area isn’t too thrilling ascetically, when you are very limited for space? Well for one you get very creative in maximizing what available area you do have. We live in a very small house, with ten people. It literally is ten steps by eight steps in this room. This is our learning/computer/dining/lounge room all rolled in one. The dining table you see in the foreground is…
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I Didn’t Even Ask This Time!
A couple of weeks ago I dropped into a friend’s garage sale and saw some beautiful solid timber shelves. I looked at it and pondered, “I really like them, I’m sure I could use them for something very useful but just what.” My friend wandered over and upon being asked what she had used them for, told me that they had held jigsaws. “Done” I quickly said, envisaging my Montessori ‘work’ upon the shelves. So for $10 I had a perfect set of shelves and I hadn’t even asked this time.
