Week 3

So long since my last post. I kept forgetting to do it and thinking "I'll do it tomorrow" or even next week. Such is the life of the home-schooling parent.

This month has been dotted with meetings, travel and other miscellanea for Keith and I. It makes it hard to keep a routine for Hannah especially, but we are a moveable feast with home-schooling, so we do work around it.


WEEK 1

The first week of school gave us a mixed bag.

Zach and Issie began the week working on nouns in grammar. I am still surprised by how much they are meant to know but don't. I think we have a good understanding of the concept now. They also worked on getting back into the swing of their maths. Issie is still struggling but is grasping the concepts faster and faster, so I can see that we are making real progress. Zach, as always, steams through his maths.

Hannah did some reading, some Reading Eggs work and her Targeting Math CD-rom, which she loves. As we were waiting for her Targeting Maths book to arrive in the mail, we had to begin another maths activity book, but that was good to have a different approach too. It's all experience for us.

Charlie decided he'd like to do school work too. I had purchased a "Starting School" book from Jenny's Classroom in Orange, so we began that. He doesn't like to do too much at once, just an activity here and there, but he's beginning to show recognition with a few letters so that's nice for him. I would never have started on this path so early if he didn't show interest, and presently we are led by him. Some days building a rocket is far more important than drawing anything or writing in his school books!

The three younger kids had the opportunity to attend the Burren Junction Public School swimming carnival on the Tuesday, so not much work happened that day, but they had a great day, catching up with friends and swimming. I still believe that there is much to be learned outside the "classroom".

Art classes began for all the kids too. They thoroughly enjoyed it, even Zach who made it very clear that it fitted into the "lame" category too well.

Isobel attends quilting with me on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. She's been making a cover for her journal/visual art diary and learning from the other ladies too, which is great! Hannah is desperate to come with us, but the stipulation from me is that she needs to be able to use the sewing machine, or hand sew, so she's desperately sewing by hand to get there. The problem is that she won't let me teach her a stitch that won't fall apart - like backstitch. Oh, well, it must mean she's not ready yet!

We had our first French lesson too. It was from iTunes. I was surprised by how good it was. The kids actually liked it and they got to sing a song or two.


WEEK 2

The second week saw us begin piano lessons with the local Reverend's wife, Virginia Stuart. It was fun to see the kids tinkle at the keys and for Virginia to set them on the path of learning a new instrument. Hannah and Charlie didn't appear to learn much there, but they came home and clunked away on our keyboard. It kind of confirms my theory of children learning by osmosis. The experience of watching and hearing teaches them a lot. Isobel loved it - you could see she was right at home. She practiced every day and also taught herself "Ode to Joy".

Zach missed out on piano as he was rained in at "Pampas", Stephen and Lorna's place. He had visited on the weekend to do shooting, sheep work and other "boy stuff". The predicted half inch of rain turned into three inches and he was stuck there. We faxed school work out to him and we finally got him back on Wednesday.

On the Tuesday we went to Narrabri with Keith as he had meetings and training. Frankly, Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard was bare so we took the opportunity to go to a decent supermarket! We got our jobs done, the kids did a bit of school work and had a swim, and we stayed to see Aunty Helen, Uncle David and the two Grandmas that night at "Kitty Hawk".

Hannah began her new spelling book, which I was surprised she took to so well. She is not the least bit thrilled by English generally, so to find that she was happy enough with this work (not to say she was thrilled - she wasn't - but the whinge factor was down on her normal English work!).

We did "l" words. Her spelling book has three-letter words in a word list, and activities that revolve around those words. We also made a chart of "l" words that we thought of. She seemed quite satisfied with what we'd done at the end of the week. Her handwriting was also "l", and she did that quite well - much neater than last year. Her pencil grip still needs a bit of work - she reverts to two fingers on top.

The big kids continued with their grammar and creative writing work. We moved on to concentrate on adjectives. Their creative writing work is getting better too. More use of rich, descriptive words that build an image for the reader. It seems simple to me, but it's another thing that was missed in mainstream school. They are also doing written expression and comprehension activities, which is helping Zach, in particular, a lot.

Charlie decided that he was tired of his "Starting School" book, so he wanted to do some Targeting Maths work. He did enjoy it. I think this is how this year will be with him - between two stages - wanting to do what the older kids are doing, but drawn to play and other things, as he should be.

Art class was on on Wednesday again - the little kids experimented with watercolour and Issie worked on an embroidery sampler. Zach sketched a car and worked on shading it to give depth to the image. Art was cancelled on Thursday, so we did some beading instead. Hannah was very industrious and turned out many creations. Charlie mainly fashioned what he said were "cowboy swords".

On Saturday, we travelled to Dubbo for Zach and Issie to have their first guitar lesson at the Macquarie Conservatorium of Music, with Greg Gordon. Issie hated every second of it and I was greeted with a pouty, unhappy face when I arrived to pick her up. Zach, however, was right in his element. He loved it - he's practiced every day since!

Zach and Issie went droving on Sunday with Wayne. Again, both loved it and came home filthy but happy. Issie's friend, Anna, came to visit on Sunday afternoon.

WEEK 3

Sunday of last week, and the beginning of this week, saw the Vomit Fairy visit our house. We dropped like flies - Hannah first, then Zach, and then the rest of us. We were truly glad to say goodbye to the Vomit Fairy on Wednesday night.

As the Vomit Fairy was staying with us, school work was very bits and pieces this week.

Hannah, who had recovered suitably by Tuesday, worked on her Targeting Maths book, which arrived in the post last Friday, as well as her CD-rom. She also did her spelling - which was "t" this week, and her handwriting. she also attempted to sound out larger words, like "eleven", which is huge for her! She attended speech therapy again and both Robyn, the speech therapist, and I are really pleased with her progress. She has the sounds that previous evaded her entering her everyday speech now, which is wonderful! Hannah went to piano with Zach, Charlie and Daddy on Wednesday afternoon and came home able to play "Stepping up", which she has practiced religiously since.

Zach was a mess on Monday night and Tuesday, so that was a write-off. He is working hard to catch up on his verbs work and creative writing, which was our focus this week. We are still stuck on finite and non-finite verbs - actually, mainly it is me who is stuck. I can't find a solid rule to make it apply. I'm sure it will become clearer as we go. If not, I might ask Joan to help out, I'm sure she'll know.

All of the kids are trawling through their maths. It is good to see progress being made!

Drama class was cancelled this week. It was a blessing as three of us were out of action anyway.

I found some neat science games online for the bigger kids too. Things like National Geographic Kids and NASA have excellent sites. I have been letting the kids explore and give me feedback. One of my main aims was to ensure that what they accessed on the computer has some sort of education value, not "GirlsGoGames", which is a pet hate of mine.

The kids are interested in photography again, so we'll concentrate on that for a while too within the parameters of Art. The annual Walgett Show is approaching and it'd be nice to let them enter some things.

Art is on again this afternoon at the library, which we will go to. It's nice go there to allow the kids to explore different art forms, as well as have the exposure to others their own age and different ideas. Christine Duigan deserves a medal for the work she does there - I am sure there are days that are very, very challenging.

Zach is off to Werris Creek for tennis this weekend. He, Charlie and Daddy and camping. Hopefully this time Keith will remember to take sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, and the tent ropes and pegs. Other wise it might be a loooooong weekend for them.

Well, that's it! Whew! I'm done! And I'm not leaving it three weeks again!

2010... in the beginning...

I can hardly believe that the summer holidays are over and we are back to school! Time flies when you're having fun!

The holidays were great. We didn't go anywhere really - just hung about at home, swam a lot when it was hot, and enjoyed the rain when it came. And come it did! We had inches and inches of rain on Christmas Day and for a week and a half afterwards. The horses begged for snorkels on day four. By day seven they had given up on me being able to help them and I'm sure that I saw gills appearing on the sides of their necks. Even now, at the beginning of February, the gardens are still green and lush, and the regular follow up rain has been appreciated.

Christmas Day was spent at Keith's sister, Helen's, place and we had a lovely day together.

The kids took about two weeks to actually stop thinking they had to do school work. They relaxed into the holidays as time went on and started to get a bit creative and excited about their days.

Zach and Issie both had the chance to do more droving work with Wayne. All of the rain caused chaos for those out on the stock route, and the mosquitoes have spread three-day sickness through his cattle. Add to that the pink eye that is rife out here and he's a busy man! The kids were a great help to Wayne, and Zach has gained a huge amount of confidence and inner peace from his two weeks out on horseback. I am so glad he did it. I can see a change in him.

Issie made some new/old friends during the holidays too. Bronte, Elizabeth, Anna and the two Lydias have all become a part of Issie's life and it is wonderful to see her developing some solid and happy friendships after so long of not having anyone her own age around her. She has also remained in contact with her dear friend Lilly and I hope we will be able to get them together soon.

Isobel also discovered the art classes that are held at the local library. She now attends twice a week and loves it. That is something that Zach and Hannah will also do at least once a week and which will continue throughout the term.

Issie read voraciously during the holidays. She almost emptied the local library, reading the remaining 14 Phantom Stallion books and a raft of others. Last Wednesday evening she borrowed, from Lorna, "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer. She finished it Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning started the next book in the series, "New Moon". I don't know if there are enough books in the wold to keep up with her thirst for written works - she finished the second book, over 550 pages, on Sunday afternoon. give her a book and a horse and she's happy.

Ukulele classes resume this afternoon, and drama begins for the term on Wednesday.

As for schoolwork, we are still trying to catch up with what the kids ought to know, but don't yet, and to make the skills and knowledge that they have really solid. I'm not sure how two reasonably intelligent kids can miss so much in mainstream school. Or maybe that is par for the course in institutionalised education?

Zach is still finishing his Yr7 maths and Issie is working on her Yr5 maths. Before we move on to higher levels I need to be sure they both understand the concepts of what we are studying now. I anticipate that they will both be ready to move on to the subsequent years' work in Term 2.

Issie and Zach are continuing with their Yr7 English work. This term we are concentrating on grammar, which seems to have been ignored somewhere along the way in their previous mainstream schools, with some creative writing, comprehension and written expression work. The second half of the year will look more at taking these skills and using them in different text types.

Hannah is doing well moving into her Year 1 work. The maths concepts seem to flow easily for her. The English skills still seem a bit challenging, but I am putting that down to her just liking maths more at this stage.

Han is also still doing her speech therapy with Robyn Parker and we are seeing self-correction taking place as she becomes more aware of her speech patterns. She is very proud of herself.

Charlie has begun a book called "Starting School". He loves it, and is also learning to write his name. I found a website that lets you make your own handwriting and alphabet sheets, so I printed one off for him. I had no intention of starting him this year, but he is interested in letters, sounds and numbers, so I figure I will let him lead.

We are revisiting our "Home" topic for HSIE, art, TAS and science this term. We will be looking at "Home" around the world, our own home, how homes/houses are made, the science within a house, how houses and how we live affect our environment, and we'll be designing and making a model of a house. We will be using different art processes, including photography and painting to show houses and how they make us feel.

We are planning a trip to the tip to find some junk to use for our entries for the "Waste to Art" competition. I have no idea what we'll find!

We begin guitar lessons on the 20th of February for Zach and Issie. We will be attending the Macquarie Conservatorium of Music once a month and doing lots of practice at home in between! The kids are excited!

In all of the kids' work, I hope to use the Six Thinking Hats. I believe it helps them to see things from a number of perspectives and to have, perhaps, a more rounded view of the world.

And on that note, I must away to organise lunch for the hungry hordes.