Living
-
I’m Pondering Simple
Over the last several weeks I have spent time during the holidays praying about the academic direction our family is to take for 2009. Our holidays have now concluded and with Term 1 beginning this week I now have to put theory to practice. I have lots of thoughts to share of my own but for now I’ll share some posts which I’m pondering. Ruth’s Homeschooling a Wide Age Range resonated deeply. Unit studies cover many subjects around one topic. This is a great way to learn, if you can do it; in our family we have enjoyed various unit studies over the years. You can buy unit studies ready-made,…
- Blog, Family, Home Education, Home Education - Art & Craft, Home Education - Reggio Emilia, Learning, Living
Learning All The Time
The holidays have given my boys and younger girls time to build some incredible K’nex creations. They have spent hours and hours building, and learning;) The cement mixer is my personal favourite, the mixer on the back spins as the model is pushed! How amazing is that? A car. A motorbike. An aeroplane. And the king of all, the group effort a very large robot!
-
Forming Good Habits
One of my goals for 2009 is re-visiting forming good habits for the whole family. Habits in many different areas, one is to make your bed every morning! Conversation yesterday goes something like this: Me: I want you to make your bed first thing in the morning. Child: Why? Me: Because it is a good habit to get into. Child:Why? Me: Well, it helps to get you in the right mood, once you have made your bed you feel like the day has started and you feel more like working. Child: It doesn’t make me feel like that. Me: Well, just make your bed, its a good habit. Child: Says…
-
Brainstorming with my Readers
Term 4 starts back next week for us here, and I’m batting around different ideas in my head and not making progress. So.. I’ve come here to brainstorm, I’d love some input. For the last week of last term I tried something a little different with my dc. I guess you could call it ‘block days’ for want of a better word. On the Monday we had ‘Math Buster Monday’ where we devoted ALL of Monday to Maths, on the Tuesday we had ‘Traveling Tuesday’ where we ‘flew’ to Japan. I had all these other catchy names thought out too, Wednesday was to be ‘Wordslueth Wednesday’ (but we had a…
- Blog, Home Education, Home Education - Art & Craft, Home Education - History, Home Education - Reggio Emilia, Learning, Living
Roman Projects
Now I have found my camera/computer cord I thought it time to share the hands on projects the boys undertook when we studied Early Church/Roman History Einstein made a centurion’s helmet which was a difficult task for him as making items such as this is not his natural forte. I found that if I worked with him every step of the way he managed and was very proud of his end result. If you visit the above link you shall find detailed instructions on how to make the helmet. Their result was far more elaborate than ours but I was just so pleased that Einstein completed this project. Michelangelo was…
-
A Montessori Moment
Just thought I’d share a ‘Montessori Moment’ with the children. Princess is matching tastes. Using some old homeopathic bottles I filled them with different flavours, peppermint essence, vanilla, vinegar etc, the children really love this activity. On the bottom of the bottles are matching stickers to check for self-correction after they have made their selection. (If you note the tray the bottles are sitting it was a recent op-shop bargain, I found three sturdy timber trays with vinyl covering for $3 each!) A concentrated moment here. I find it most interesting how Michelangelo (9) loves to re-visit the easier activities, as well as enjoying new ones, here he is threading…
-
Jack Jack moves to a ‘Big Bed’
I’ve shared before that we live in a small house, in fact it is 1005 square feet which is a challenge for nine people. A few months back Prince Charming and I decided to settle Jack Jack in his new bed before the baby arrived so he wouldn’t feel dispossessed from his previous place in the Master Bedroom. How to fit four boys in the one room involved some thought and Prince Charming was brilliant to come up with this idea. He designed and made this bed small enough to fit a cot mattress and yet it is long enough for an average five year old. Using bed head and…
-
Jack Jack’s Mass Basket
Attending Mass with a two year old is often a challenge. To this end I cast around for ideas to help my boy be silent and still, after brainstorming ideas with the ladies on 4 Real I came up with Jack Jack’s Mass Basket. I included a Bible board book, a little prayer book with beautiful pictures, a small statue of the Sacred Heart which was a big hit and a little plaster cast of the Infant Jesus, a rosary bracelet, a couple of large holy cards in which I punched holes and added some threading shoelace, a small blank book and added some pencils for him to draw with,…
-
Planning for the Upcoming Term Part 3
As I shared previously I am organising our subjects for the term into blocks. For the five youngest that is. Block A will consist of History, Language Arts and Fine Arts A, Block B will consist of Science,Geography, Typing and Fine Arts B. Maths, Faith and Literature will be included in blocks A and B. Science for our highschoolers will require no planning as they are working their way through Exploring the World of Chemistry when they complete that they are going to start Exploring the World of Physics. Our primary/infants children have expressed a desire to do a unit on animals. To this end I have gathered all of…
