We most definitely fit the mould of ec-lec-tic [i-klek-tik] –
selecting or choosing from various sources.
made up of what is selected from different sources.
not following any one system, as of philosophy, medicine, etc., but selecting and using what are considered the best elements of all systems.
Today for example I tried something new ... I tried a lesson plan for tama 1's Language Arts would you believe? ... I'll chat about that a little further on...
Earlier in the day I wanted to give tama 1 something "different". I knew that I wanted to give him something challenging - yet fun. The tricky part is to find something at his level. So many things can be far too easy, yet in saying that, I will quite often use easy things because they can encourage the children/motivate them to "want" new challenges and they can also act as a reinforcement to themselves that they have achieved many things already, ie give them a boost. So this morning we tried a little bit of flashcards for his maths which we haven't really used as such ... I will normally quiz him as we go around the track what certain sums equal, so this was 'different' for him.
Following paramanwa (smoko) we did some word unscrambles.
Now, on the one hand I will agree it's a game, but on the other hand, it's still cognitive thought processing. (I'm sure there'll be some labelled terminology I should be using so excuse me as I don't have a teaching degree yet.)
As a side note: there's a marked difference for the children to attempt word unscrambling when they're five and then later at six. Last year tama 1 had to contend with simply trying to learn the "how-to" of reading. This year he can read at a satisfactory-enough level that he can attempt this exercise with a little bit of ease, and yet be faced with a challenge to "think". Unscrambling can also be very effective for spelling. If you can't spell the correct word, you'll either take a lot longer to figure it out, or perhaps, you won't figure it out at all?!
You may recall I mentioned yesterday that we went into the library to collect a book I had on hold? Well, that pukapuka (book) was The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord. Yes, well, armed with the book and following the lesson plan, tama 1 was to say what he thought of the book by looking at the pictures only. Then I read the book to him, after which we created a story pyramid and discussed the results. I asked tama 1 if he enjoyed this kind of exercise and he agreed the story pyramid was quite a nifty idea.
Tamβhine 1 continues to make fantastic progress. I should have mentioned that yesterday she read a Level 2 Ready-to-Read library book called Henry and Mudge and the Wild Goose Chase by Cynthia Rylant. I might hasten to add she read it in ONE sitting. How impressive is that eh!? I indicated one or two chapters would be good going, but to my surprise she said she wanted to continue/finish the book. What a neat kid.
Her maths is coming along beautifully. Grasping the "solving the unknown" concept is still a head-scratching exercise sometimes, but she is no different to her older brother whereby they understand it, but sometimes they can "forget". I taught her (like her brother) to do away with the blocks at an early stage of Alpha and to add by saying the following ditty ... [example 8+5=] ... "eight wants to be a ten so he takes two away from five so five becomes three so that's 13". Once the kids have rattled that off a number of times, they soon pick up the concept and away we go.
And as for her handwriting, well, what can I say?! She's just impressing me with her efforts every day. She tries hard and "the proof is in the pudding" as they say.
Now, before I disappear for the day, I just wanted to show you our Astronomy lapbook ...
This is by NO means the completed product!!!! On the contrary, there is a lot more to do, but I am thrilled to have FINALLY started one. This particular lapbook is directly in-line with Jeannie Fulbright's Exploring Creation with Astronomy. I've chosen to print in black and white simply to save on ink!!! lol.
I can see why many homeschoolers get addicted to this type of schooling. It is creative, educational and a fantastic visual resource!!!
I chose to use a preformatted lapbooking assignment because (1) the perfect match-up to the textbook; (2) it takes the leg-work out of creating one myself; (3) it's an immediate "ooh, ahh, wow" project so the kids are keen to continue having seen the results so far; and (4) why the heck not?! lol
Well, it may have taken me a few hours to make the above calendar, but yay, I did it. Please excuse the unimaginative title; t'was not easy for me to find the time to sit down and nut out how Google Calendar works for starters! It wasn't until I was ready to post it here that I realised I hadn't given it a name. Next time I think I'll leave the title off altogether to save my more brain from trying to be creative. (I actually have difficulty trying to name the blog posts let alone decide on titles for calendars!! lol)
[ ... Interestingly enough, I couldn't use Google Calendar under Firefox ... here's the blurb it said under Firefox:
Your browser does not appear to support JavaScript but this page needs to use JavaScript to display correctly. You can visit the HTML-only version of this page at etc etc
which is completely bizarre because I access lots of things with javascript. I tried under Tools, Options to see if 'enable javascript' was checked, and it was ... so I'm at a bit of a loss as to why it wouldn't work under Firefox.
... And as for Internet Explorer well, yes, it would open BUT it would continuously have a system's breakdown ... aargh!!!! ]
Frustration aside, (typical muggins me!) I decided to persevere and am satisfied with the end result. The reason I mention the above is two-fold. Firstly, for those thinking of using it just beware of possibly tearing your hair out. Secondly, if any clever bunny happens along my blog who would kindly like to share their knowledge, I'd be open to your suggestions.
Now, although today's calender doesn't detail the lessons as I've done in previous schedules, I will attempt to do so tomorrow. The #1 exercise for today was simply to achieve the above. One can always improve from here, nη rβ?
Okay, I've since gone through Control Panel and both IE and Mozilla are checked for default browsers. Am I supposed to only have one checked? I don't think so because I've just asked my brother and he has them working okay. My conclusion: leave it till tomorrow to see if I can figure it out with a clearer mind.
Dear oh dear, my post was meant to be chatting about school and how we're getting into the "end-of-year-wind-down" mode due to the beautiful weather and the talk of Christmas around the corner. I was also going to talk about two projects we've got in the wings. The first project is for Astronomy which I half-pie started last night and had all good intentions of working on this afternoon ... however, I'm sure it won't take you too much to figure out why I didn't "get round to it", lol.
The second project is a lesson plan for Language Arts. I raced out to the whare pukapuka (library, ie whare - house, pukapuka - book/s) around 4 o'clock to collect the book we'll be using so that we can get into it tomorrow without interrupting too much of our school day. That doesn't mean I allowed the calendar to interrupt school work, but it certainly interrupted my after school creativity attempt.
I forgot to mention yesterday that tama 2 has started a little ritual of his own as we go for our daily hīkoi (walk). At a specific point around the track, tama 2 will say "mum ... waiporoporo ... purple?" and so begins revision of Māori colours. Okay, so let's just remind ourselves, tama 2 hasn't found perfect speech overnight, but that's not a bother. I understand what he's saying and I can hear his attempts well enough to acknowledge whether he's correct or not. But it's quite gorgeous how he has picked the same place to have our lesson. It starts at the same spot and ends at the same spot. He's dictated to me when he wants to practice. He also uses that same area to pick putiputi (well, dandelions, clover etc) for his mum and we pop them in little vases on our return.
*******************
Points we want to remember for future review:
A consonant blend is also called a cluster.
What is a vowel digraph? Two vowels that, together, make one sound.
R-controlled letter - when you put an "r" behind a vowel it usually changes the way that vowel sounds.
The letter "r" is called a Bossy R when it forces the vowel to change its sound.
When two words are joined together what kind of word is created? A compound word.
In writing, what is a contraction? A single word made by adding two words together with an apostrophe. The word "won't" is an exception to the rule.
When making a contraction with "will" and "not", replace the "ill" in "will" with an "o"
Turn the words "will" and "not" into a contraction.
The weather was absolutely brilliant today and as such we made the most of getting outdoors. It certainly helps revitalise the kids and myself to crack on with work for sure.
Tamāhine 1 is coming along beautifully with her reading. Today for example I was helping tama 1 and in the background I could hear tamāhine 1 reading. I don't think she realised herself how quickly she had read her sentence. I am absolutely delighted with her all-round efforts so today was very pleasing indeed.
We had a few unscheduled interruptions today, but we've managed to make good progress all the same. Tomorrow we will be out to the dentist as tamāhine 1 has an appointment so there may, or may not be a post. For all you regulars hanging out to read this mind-blowing blog, I hope you won't be too disappointed if the latter should be the case, lol.
Rather than pushing too far ahead of ourselves I thought I'd start reviewing Tama 1's progress and pick up on anything that he/we may have forgotten...
The above Q&A's I've recorded because although we can understand the task at hand, sometimes the terminology is not applied (eg "sum", "difference") so we tried to remember/learn them again.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For those with BB (sorry Reporoa!) check out this clip my brother just sent me Monkey with a Death Wish!!!! How he managed to survive I do not know!
I don't really like to talk politics and I hadn't actually intended to post to the school blog about it, however, I've decided to brave it and share my I took a quick squiz at some blogs last night as I couldn't sleep. Would you believe I didn't get to bed till 3 in the jolly morning!?! Possibly due to my over-consumption of coffee during the day me thinks! However, I am sooooooooo glad I have family and friends online at that hour to while away the time, as well as having the internet, lol.
Anyway, mention was made on the majority of blogs about the recent US elections. This had me wondering what will happen in New Zealand's elections today. Will we have a new leader? Or will Helen Clark take out another term in office?
Well, this morning I was chatting with our neighbour's son and asked if his dad had voted yet, "nope, he doesn't vote," was his reply. Hmm, that's his perogative I guess, however, it's the old story, if you don't cast a vote then you can't complain which party will be elected.
Many will consider it's time for a change, and depending which polls you listen to, it would appear Labour is on the way out. However, I watched a current affairs programme last night and their polls had the complete opposite! Might I just say I'm not actually interested in polls, because I believe they are biased to the extreme. Depending which party is casting the poll, the results reflect in their favour. Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's my take on it and I'm allowed to say so in my blog, lol.
I'm on the Māori electoral roll so my choices are different to those of whaiāipo because he is on the general role, however our votes reflect each other very strongly.
Personally, I just want to know what the parties agenda involves, whether they will keep to their promises and how they will improve or what impact they will have on our family's position. However, suffice it to say ...
Will my vote make a difference?
I sure hope so!
He aha te mea nui? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
What is the most important thing? It is people, it is people, it is people
The children diligently worked on their lessons today and I am extremely proud with their efforts:
But wait! There's more ....
Tama 1 has asked on a couple of occasions what homework is. The question has been sparked from hearing me ask our neighbour's son what he had for homework, so today I kind of gave him an idea, by working on the following lessons:
Mathematics
Inverse relationship between addition and subtraction. [Did mum know what this meant? ... nope!]
An equation is balanced, or the same on either side of the equal sign. A number fact is made up of three numbers. The numbers can be used to make up other number facts. Knowing one fact can help with other facts.
Language AStory comprehension, for example:
Q: A question using the word 'What' is asking for?
A: information.
We worked on these areas around 5.30pm-6.30pm to give not only tama 1 but all the children an appreciation of how school children would have to wait till they got home, played for a bit and then sat down to do some homework. It helped also when Joel (our neighbour) popped over around that time to ask if the kids could play and I explained tama 1 had some more mahi to do. You could see they were both itching to just get outside and play, so I believe I defined the meaning rather succinctly, lol.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Because we had friends coming over this afternoon, school was condensed to the morning time only. I haven't actully prepared a schedule because I'm too jolly disorganised, lol. My father rang this morning and asked if I could do something for them, so I obliged of course which meant leaving the children to get on with their mahi at the table without me. Well, I was within earshot and available should they need my help, but they just knuckled down and worked so that they didn't have to be working when their friends arrived.
So yes, friends came over and many cups of coffee later it was time for them to head off again. We had a brilliant time together and as always the children played well with each other. I have to admit, I now question my ability to do nature studies!!!! My friend's 5 year old found a baby bird. He comfortably held the bird in his hands and I was at a complete loss to think how we could get the bird warm, let alone fed to remain alive. Well, a few minutes later, my girlfriend announces the bird is injured and then (thankfully), Joel arrived... let's just say ... Joel took care of things. Oh blimey! How koretake am I?!!! That's where I truly value and envy my girlfriend and her teaching methods with her kids. They really have the concept of nature down-pat. Our kids can't fish, hunt, let alone pick up a baby bird without wincing. But I am sooooooooooo glad they are involved in our lives. It's been years now since my girlfriend and I have been tramping together, but it's beautiful to think our children may have that bond in their lives at some stage.
Tama 1 started at 8 o'clock this morning. I kind of interrupted his breakfast asking him to have a look at something on the computer and then we ... well ... we kinda just ... y'know ... kept going, lol.
What was it that I thought we'd have a look at? SuperMathsWorld.
I've indicated the areas tama 1 covered in the table below but I'll expand just a little further what a couple of them involved:
Coins - granted, it was all in English pounds, pennies and pence, however it is all relevant as it still requires him to add and differentiate the values of each. He had to add up to a top amount of £10.
Counting - we skipped most levels and went to level 6 - counting up, eg 10 more than 25 equals. Similarly with level 7 - counting down, eg 9 less than 90 equals. Count below zero was fun, eg 14 less than 10 equals. Tama 1 seemed to grasp the concept easily enough ... considering I wasn't sure if I had explained it very well, lol.
For Language Arts I thought it timely to discuss syllables. We had fun 'connecting the dots' so to speak, eg VCV. Tama 1 was relatively comfortable picking up the idea so at the completion of that part of our work we had a little break after which I thought we'd try something simple. To give him a good feeling of accomplishment we did some abbreviations. As abbreviations aren't new for tama 1, he understood and correctly answered the exercises, therefore we finished that session on a positive as I had hoped.
Because he was happy with having correctly answered the above, I decided to close the day with none other than synonyms and antonyms. Again, relatively straight forward so he did very well. Although the terms themselves were new and tricky to say, he definitely had no problems interpreting the two. It's always nice to find something new to learn that is easy to pick up (especially at the end of the day). It just helps to keep everyone's spirits up.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Today tamāhine 1 did a great deal of reading. She may not have noticed it, but I hardly helped her. Reading from her Math-U-See workbook helps her to understand the terminology --> well, that's from my perspective at least.
Working with the Montessori online reading programme I have definitely noticed her speed of reading has improved. As much as I think she could persevere and attempt a few extra lessons, I think two at a time is plenty because I like to mix things for her rather than get bogged down with the same stuff. Variety always helps, especially when the kids see each other using something different that they haven't tried yet. What one tries, the other one wants to, too.
So, to give her something different today I thought we'd try an exercise in discussing people's jobs, eg What is a chef? A cook in charge of a restaurant kitchen. What is a doctor? A person trained to help sick people or animals.
I've just realised I missed out her handwriting on the table above. Well, she did two pages and made a lovely job of her work. As I mentioned in a previous post I've started tamāhine 1 writing on smaller lines. Today she slipped in a couple of areas, ie dropped her writing to a different line so it's not all on the one line ... if you catch my drift? Other than that, tamāhine 1's writing is looking better each day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Overall, I am extremely pleased with our efforts today. The children worked a lot, but they played a lot too. I'm quite sure I didn't burn them out. (I don't think there's much chance of that when I have littlies interrupting us all the time, but I am always mindful to keep a check on their engagement to tasks.) We talked a lot about the learning process, ie that it's okay to get things wrong. I pointed out I answered a particular question wrong, but accepted the correct answer and moved on, so I hope that encouraged them to enjoy learning.
Summary
The story begins: 'One day, the Earth was feeling very sad. She sent a message to her birds all over the world and said to them: "I need your help. Please will you gather together in one place so that I can speak to you?"' So starts the adventure of the birds who flew beyond time. Birds of all kinds, from every region of the world, respond to the Earth's call. She tells them that she is dying - her land and rivers and oceans are being poisoned and her beautiful planet is ravaged by war. Can the birds help her? If they are to do so, they must set out on a special journey. They must fly through seven terrible valleys, overcoming the monsters that live in each valley, until they find the Great Being who is the life of all life. Then they must bring back to Earth the message they are given. Full of fear but encouraged by their guide, the Hoopoe, the birds set out on a journey that is ours as well as theirs - a journey that transforms the destructive elements of the soul and frees it to act on behalf of life.
- - - 0 - - -
Tamāhine 1 worked diligently on her maths, reading and writing. She powered through Lesson 12A to 12D. She chose to start reading Flip by Wesley Dennis from our own library. She read almost three-quarters of the story in one sitting.
- - - 0 - - -
Thursday
Yes, that's right, we had a school-free day. The majority of our day was spent in the city. Tamāhine 2 had her first dental appointment. Granted, it was just a check-up, but I ended up nattering with Misa. It's a nice feeling having people who know my family. It immediately puts me at ease ... until they ask how so-and-so is related. That's when I feel koretake (incompetent etc). As much as whakapapa is important to me, I can easily be stumped how (for example) my fourth cousin is related to me. Then of course there's that difficulty of when you grew up everybody was referred to as aunty and uncle. When you become an adult you suddendly discover they aren't your aunt or uncle at all. They may be your cousin, or be no relation at all!!!! lol.
We also checked in with the whanau to see if they needed a hand with anything. They convinced me they had everything organised. "Just a little bit of running around" but nothing they couldn't handle .... yeah, right! I should've really pushed the question....
- - - 0 - - -
Friday
Late morning I get the phone call, "have you got any ...?"
No problems. I got myself and the children organised. We finished our maths at least which is important. Tamāhine 1 completed the remaining Systematic Review 12E, 12F and corresponding Test. Tama 1 produced good results with his 3 digit subtraction. So, okay, we didn't complete much more, but helping out for mum and dad's 50th wedding anniversary was far more important.
Let's just say that just after midnight on Friday night whaiāipo and I finally finished wrapping over 100 truffles and taping what wedding photos we could into the album. We actually ran out of sticky tape so come Saturday morning, my dad is driving out to our place grabbing the album, buying more double-sided sticky tape etc and my brothers and niece quickly finished off the album. Our niece ran out of time to coat the remaining truffles, but it didn't matter. As per usual, we over-catered, so no-one missed out.
- - - 0 - - -
Saturday
Mum and Dad on their wedding day,
1st November 1958
The past week has been great, but Saturday was simply fantastic. It was a mad dash (literally) for us to get to the celebration.
Princes Gate Hotel, Rotorua, New Zealand
We all gathered by 1 o'clock and were seated shortly thereafter. My brothers and I had booked it till 5 o'clock as there was another party booked for 6 o'clock. The afternoon raced by and everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Everyone adjourned to a relation's house and they all partied on till 4 or 5 the next morning.
I could really go on about how special the day was and how wonderful our children were. Everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) commented how well-behaved they were. I was so proud of them. I was also very proud of my brothers and especially proud of my niece. She made a fantastic job filling in for her dad (our eldest brother who couldn't make it home as he's in Kuwait --> but he has a special surprise mum and dad have yet to find out about). Most of all, I was very proud of my parents. Here they are 50 years on in their marriage and still as much in love today as they were when they first met. Surrounded by so many family and friends, it was a true testament to them.
- - - 0 - - -
And there you have it. We are now back down to earth and looking to the beginning of a new week. Would you believe I've even received my next semester's extramural folder? What is it this time? ... Greek Mythology!!!!
We are down one student again today. Tamāhine 1 has been away since Friday afternoon with her Nana Nancy in Tauranga. This is the longest whaiāipo and I have ever been without one of the kids. We both became anxious by Sunday and yesterday, well, I couldn't keep myself occupied enough. I wanted her home. Sure glad to have her back with us now. I really do feel better when I have them all around me. Whaiāipo certainly missed his wee girl. Nothing beats that father and daughter bond does it?
Yesterday was probably twice as hard to get through because it was a public holiday (ie Labour Day) so we were all home, except for our big girl.
FYI ... Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day. New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim this right when, in 1840, the carpenter Samuel Parnell won an eight-hour day in Wellington. Labour Day was first celebrated in New Zealand on 28 October 1890, when several thousand trade union members and supporters attended parades in the main centres. Government employees were given the day off to attend the parades.
That's the last public holiday now until Christmas here in New Zealand, and as much as I'd like to rabbit on about how this is the second Labour Day that whaiāipo has enjoyed since leaving self-employment, I shan't. I simply savoured the moment yesterday. It was glorious to have him home and the weather couldn't have been more perfect either. Just wish our baby girl was here to enjoy it with us. Hei aha, she had her own adventures to enjoy which was great.
So anyway, back to mahi kura:
Tama 1 commenced with his mathematics. We accomplished 36 equations and he only got ONE incorrect. Simple error, so I'm very happy with his work this morning.
As the schedule shows we covered some earth science and social studies. We had fun talking about bartering and how we could relate it to real-life examples of dad bartering with Joe Bloggs for the carpet we will put upstairs (which, um, has yet to make it upstairs!!!! hee hee) and also bartering dad's plumbing services with the neighbours for firewood.
After lunch we read. We went to ICDL and he read Axle the Freeway Cat. Twenty-nine pages with great illustrations. We had an interesting conversation about freeways, motorways, highways etc. "What's an overpass?" and "What's an underpass?"
"That car's going the wrong way. The sign says EXIT the other way." From this we discussed how we drive on the left-hand side of the road with our steering wheels on the right-hand side of the vehicle whilst in the USA they drive on the right-hand side with steering wheels on the left-hand side.
Tama 1 also asked what the radiator was, so of course, we toddled outside and had a look. Had he been at school I'm sure this would have been a missed opportunity, ie to pop out and have a look at the different parts of the engine. I'd imagine that by the time he would arrive home from school there would be a very definite chance he'd have forgotten the word radiator and therefore I wouldn't have been able to point it out. Ah, I'm glad I had this story today. It provided a much-needed reminder why I'm homeschooling.
We again had one of those occasions where I would have been quite happy to have read a couple of books, but because the material in the first book generated such diverse and lengthy conversation, I prefer to let the conversation run so that we cover as many questions and answers as possible.
Right on schedule (3 o'clock), nana was here with tamāhine 1. As planned, we had our main schoolwork completed so we took a well-earned break for an hour to catch up with tamāhine 1, Nana Nancy and Nana's dearest friend, Maureen. They left at 4.00pm as they had a dinner to get to tonight so the kids and I went for our hīkoi. I grabbed the opportunity to review colours and greetings in Māori and anything else I spontaneously threw into the mix.
Then the kids were left to it on their trampoline and bikes. Whaiāipo arrived home around 5.30pm and was immediately bombarded by his girl telling him all about her adventures.
A-a-a-h-h ...
I am so glad to have my whānau together again!
Thanks for dropping by
ka kite ano
PS Apologies if post sounds rushed. The pēpi (baby) is crying upstairs so I shall simply press publish in the hopes that it reads okay. Priority has to be the pēpi nē rā?
I received this link from the Freecycle group. Recycling at its best wouldn't you say?
It's a very satisfying feeling when you manage to recycle things. I wonder how long it took the monk to accomplish? I wonder whose idea it was? Very interesting nonetheless. He must be quite proud.
We got underway really early this morning. By 8 o'clock:
Tama 1 had completed a spelling quiz getting 28 out of 30.
Tamāhine 1 had read Oggy and the Dinosaur by Damian Harvey and Francois Hall (73 words).
Mathematics
Tama 1 Mathematics - 28 out of 30.
Also covered
Whole Numbers to 100 - 28 out of 28
Comparing and Ordering - 19 out of 19
Equivalent Forms - 28 out of 28
Tamāhine 1
Continued with MUS. Without using the blocks (again) she managed Systematic Review 11C and 11D. Tamāhine 1 read the questions beautifully. Solving the unknown is improving. I was very pleased with her understanding today. Tamāhine 1 didn't really require much help so I'm confident she will have it down-pat soon enough.
Reading
Tamāhine 1
Shoo! by Michael Rosen & Jonathan Langley (336 words approximately)
Honey Bees by Colleen Sexton - read to Nana. I forgot to count how many words !!! Possibly because I knew we had to get the books back to the library, lol.
Handwriting
Tamāhine 1
I couldn't get the scanner to darken tamāhine 1's pencil writing so I've tried photographing it instead. We have no more LWB (Learn to Write) Exercise Books so I'm using some Year 1 Exercise Books a friend kindly gave us. Thanks guys!!
I have also decided to have tamāhine 1 print smaller because I think she's getting so much better and her efforts here confirm that she's capable of printing in this size with ease.
Today we enjoyed a lot of outdoor activity, as well as socialising with whānau, harvesting rīwai (potatoes) with Uncle Warrick and being excited riding our bikes over the newly dumped dirt the Fulton Hogan contractors brought round while we were out. Well, it's meant to be for filling in around the swimming pool, but it's all fun to use in the interim, lol.
So that was Wednesday ...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Thursday
Mathematics
Tamāhine 1
Systematic Review 11E & 11F
Tamāhine 1 was on a roll so I asked her if she'd like to do Unit Test 1: Lessons 1-10 pages 1 & 2. She was happy to do so. Superb results. Tau kē kōtiro.
Tama 1
Interesting today - I thought perhaps tama 1 might like to attempt three digit subtraction. Tama 1 obliged but immediately it became apparent this wasn't going to be as easy a transition as I thought!
We worked on 20 equations. Granted, I did help him with at least half of them but that's where I love being at home. I'm here to give him one-on-one, as much as he needs or wants. He's not having to raise his hand to ask for help and then only receive help on one equation. Also, Tama 1 is such a sensitive kid, he doesn't like to get things wrong (oops I obviously passed that on! Sorry, e tama). I didn't want to push him to do 30 as I could see he was putting every effort in to do his best. So we set the goal for 20 - if he was up to it. Time went very slowly yet he kept trying. He would no sooner get it when he would suddenly un-get it. A lot of thought-processing involved when you add that extra digit. He met the challenge of reaching 20 without complaint (well, within reason). Tomorrow I think we will attempt ten double digit and ten three digit. Oh look, what I am saying? I'll be playing it by ear!!!! If he's struggling we may only try five for goodness sakes!
This is where I would probably make a plug about MUS and how I can't wait to get him back with Steve Demme's fabulous math programme. Well, it's true. I really enjoy MUS and if I had the $$$$'s I would have purchased Beta by now.
DARN !!!!!!! If only we'd won the thirty million on Lotto last week!!! hee hee. I tell you what, the second half of this year's homeschooling money can't come soon enough for us, that's for sure. It's a pee in the bucket, but I am grateful for any extra money that comes our way.
Social Studies
Tama 1 loves reading maps so we covered a few basics to quiz his knowledge. We discussed:
a compass rose
cardinal directions
map symbols
three dimensional models. Examples? Well, an aerial photo is taken overhead. And another, we can't see how steep a mountain is from an aerial photo.
Reading
Tamāhine 1 carried on with Montessori. Completing 1.19 and 1.20. Her practice is really proving itself as she's definitely reading more quickly as well as recognising a lot of sight words. Reading her math sentences is part of that good practice.
Now I don't mean to compare, and I hope it doesn't come across as if I am because that's not what I want to do, but it was easily taken for granted that tama 1 managed Alpha so well because he could be sent off to do his work without requiring me to help 'read' the question. Thanks to his reading ability, I was able to devote plenty of attention to tamāhine 1 in Primer because tama 1 was confident in his reading and was therefore able to simply get on with it.
Handwriting
Again, tamāhine 1 produced lovely work. Very happy with her efforts.
Language Arts
Tamāhine 1 - We had a little quiz on sound order, eg what letter is the first in a word and what letter is the last in a word.
Something fun and satisfying to complete her day on, and it only took five minutes.
Tama 1 attempted 85 words in a spelling quiz. He correctly answerd 80 out of 85. Phew eh?! Tumeke.
History & Handwriting
Tama 1 is progressing with Egyptian Pyramids. We are taking this steadily as we tend to break into conversation about many things. For example, I have seen Cheops Street here in Rotorua for YEARS. It's a street not far from my parents. In my ignorance, I had no idea (1) how to pronounce it and (2) who Cheops was!! We even have Thebes Street. Again, my ignorance ... Examples like this, you can see how conversations can be generated from every day observations.
And this ends the formal stuff
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
You may have gathered I'm not one for spending 15 minutes on lessons, let alone follow a strict timetable. Well, there's a couple of reasons for that:
I take into account that we can be interrupted anything up to a dozen times for whatever reason, therefore if you worked by a timer, there's very little chance a full 15 minutes could pass without an interruption of one form or another, lol.
I gauge how the children are coping with the work. If it seems they are 'in the zone' but need a break, then that's what we'll do. But we return to the same lesson as we were working on prior to the break.* The opposite applies if they show signs that they have tried their darndest but it just seems overwhelming on the day. Kei te pai, we can revisit it another day, nē?
In saying that, of course we can spend 15 minutes on handwriting and we're done - so although I'm saying I gauge their progress, I guess I should point out that some lessons don't require that gauging?
And therein lies the answer I have been seeking to my own question: why can't I set a timetable? I have always been spontaneous and never one to follow much of a timetable. I go with the flow, let things decide for themselves which is the best tactic to try. Less stress that way. If I look at a timetable I'll be panicking 'oh no, we haven't completed this lesson yet'.
Okay, okay, I realise many will be saying "wait till the children are in higher grades and you've got all five in school time" and yes you're right, I will need to revisit this train of thought most likely. However, I can now feel comfortable knowing that this works for us. I can let a timetable evolve - which it is doing of its own accord.
* It would be fair to say we spend an hour maximum on a lesson. That's not to say ngā tamariki are head down bum up for 60 minutes. Kāo, it's exactly like I've mentioned, they will be interrupted like anyone can be interrupted a hundred times in a working day. Real life learning nē?
Goodness me, the days are just barreling on by! I can hardly believe it's Tuesday already. I had every intention of writing daily this week with something thought-provoking to share, but my brain is just mush. However, I'll get this post recorded and maybe Wednesday will be the day?
Monday
Tama 1
1) Mathematics - mathebook.net - subtraction double digits. Fantastic effort today. He got 28 out of 30 correct. It was unfortunate with one of his answers -> he added rather than subtracted. Had it been addition, by all means he had it correct. Ah well, it's an easy enough mistake, lol.
Later on in the day we went for our walk around the track and I quizzed him on 10 equations. He did amazingly. I'm the first to the admit I can't retain numbers in my head so if somebody asked me (for example), "What's 88 minus 39" I'd be struggling to remember the equation whilst working out the answer!
2) Reading - International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). This is the first time I've had tama 1 read from this website. Although it's probably too early for me to rave about it, I have to say I was suitably impressed with the website. We chose The Blue Sky written by Andrea Petrlik Huseinović.
The story generated conversation about the little girl being lonely and sad because her mother had died. We talked about her mother living in the 'clouds' now. The girl couldn't remember her mother very well, but then she started to remember things about her mother with each passing animal/cloud.
3) History & Handwriting - Tama 1 re-read the section on Egyptian Pyramids before we continued writing in our exercise book.
Tamāhine 1
1) Mathematics - Test 10. We also practiced a few off the cuff "solve the unknown" equations. She's starting to understand the concept, and I'm sure with a little more practice she'll have it.
I had tamāhine 1 read the questions again like I had her do throughout lesson 10. Although it meant we were slower to get through the work, I'm more than happy to have combined the reading with maths. It made all the difference to her I'm sure that she was reading it for herself too.
2) Reading - Tamāhine 1 read one and a half library books today. Knock! Knock! retold by Pam Holden (388 words) and near enough half of What Are Purple Elephants Good For? from an idea by Tammy Cameron (she read 52 words of 135 approximately).
3) Art
The task was to rub the bark on the tree and choose leaves to rub as well. As for the flowers, well, we wanted to pep up the scene a little.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday
Tama 1
1) Mathematics - mathebook.net - subtraction double digits - 33 out of 42 correct. He was somewhat distracted this morning which is reflected in his score, but that's all good. To have normal sounds and activity happening inside and outside the home provide a real-life environment.
2) Reading - International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). Today he read - The White Cat - ca.1877. I had absolutely no idea what cambric was/is, so of course I had to look it up!!! Click on the link if you need to find out too, lol.
Tamāhine 1
1) Mathematics - Lesson Practice 11A and 11B. Superb work.
Yes, I had tamāhine 1 read the questions again. We probably could have covered more but we spent the bulk of her day reading and reading, so I think two pages were amply suffice for maths.
2) Reading - Tamāhine 1 read the remainder of What Are Purple Elephants Good For? from an idea by Tammy Cameron (the remaining 83 out of 135 approximately). She then read One Sock, Two Socks by Judy Owens 286 words. To finish her reading for today she read Families by Avelyn Davidson 195 words.
Montesorri - Lesson 1.18. Fantastic efforts today. Again, we could have kept going while on a roll, but the outdoors were beckoning.
Just before I go, may I please say to anyone embarking on homeschooling, it is without doubt a H-U-G-E help having broadband. When you want to download stuff or access particular websites, broadband is just indespensible once you have it. Budgeting its use however, well, that's pretty hard ... but one which I for one will make sure I calculate each month.
How often do you look at your kids and think, "gosh, it was only yesterday you were a baby!!!" Then you have that vision where you fast-forward to them having their own children. Yes, exactly!
That day will be upon us before whaiāipo and I know it.
My point? None in particular. More a reflection. A reflection of being grateful for sharing this time with our children. I am SOOOOOO fortunate that I am here with them, watching them get bigger, helping them learn to read and write, guide them to be decent and honest citizens and to grow as a loving family. I could probably justify reasons for why I should be out there working to help bring home some money especially to clear the remainder of our (old) business debt sooner rather than later, but in all honesty, I have no regrets for chosing to be home. I missed out on enough events when the three oldest were babies. I am happier now than I have ever been.
We are 100 times better off than we were this time last year and without meaning to wish the next two years to pass by too quickly ... I'm DEFINITELY looking forward to celebrating the end of clearing the old business debt. That will be one of the greatest, most-satisfying, momentous occasions indeed. Rock on 2010.
Right-oh, that's enough of that ... let's report in with the children's learning for the remainder of last week.
Wednesday
Tama 1
1) Reading
How the Camel Got His Hump retold from a story by Rudyard Kipling
Why Elephants have Long Noses retold from a story by Rudyard Kipling; and
Why the Bear Has a Short Tail retold from an old Norwegian tale
2) Mathematics
30 exercises on mathebook - double digit additions
3) Language Arts
FreeUWorld - Title and Author quiz 20/20 (Grade 1)
Identify Vocabulary Components 21/21 (Grade 1)
Social Studies : People Who Make a Difference > Map Skills > Parts of a Map 26/26 (Grade 2)
Tamāhine 1
1) Mathematics - Systematic Review 9F, Test Booklet - test 9
2) Reading - Continued with Reading Eggs. We also started Montessori Online again. Lesson 1.15.
3) Handwriting - used excerpts from reading material.
2) Astronomy - used "Don't Stare" as our handwriting exercise as well as discussion as to the reasons why not to look at the sun. Did you know, that if you were on Pluto you STILL wouldn't want to look directly at the sun?!
3) Mathematics
30 exercises on mathebook - double digit additions
Tamāhine 1
1) Mathematics - Lesson Practice 10A, Lesson Practice 10B, Lesson Practice 10C.
2) Reading - Continued with Reading Eggs. We also started Montessori Online again. Lesson 1.16.
3) Handwriting - used excerpts from reading material.
Friday
Major interruptions today, but one in which we celebrated the long-awaited removal of the neighbour's building which has encroached our front property for just under one year. The crane arrived around 9.30am. The kids were oblivious to its arrival as they had their heads down working on their morning mathematics lesson. I decided it was okay to interrupt their lesson to watch the crane in operation, so that's what we did. We watched from the downstairs front room then we all raced upstairs to watch from the children's bedroom.
I know I was more excited than the children. You betcha! So excited I had to text whaiāipo of course. Needless to say whaiāipo completely finished the fence over the weekend!!!!!
The bulk of the day was spent outdoors, exploring the back towards the reserve looking at snails, cobwebs and looking at the tops of trees blowing in the breeze. The weather's been so dodgy the past few days that to get outside has been rather rushed so it was nice to get a decent spell of fine weather.
Tama 1 made his own spelling quiz this afternoon ...
Sorry, you'll need to double-click for a better image. I'm particularly happy he has worked out the syllables in Māori. Considering the phrase "Kei te pēhea koe?" has only been written on the whiteboard once like many of the words and phrases we are learning, I'm really pleased with his effort.
Tama 1 has finished reading his library books so I have been on the lookout for things online. The past few days he's been reading from his Big Book of Knowledge or anything from our own library.
2) Reading - Continued with Reading Eggs. We also started Montessori Online again. Lesson 1.17.
3) Handwriting - used excerpts from reading material.
Please forgive me as I have probably missed a few things out. I'm finding it hard to get the time to sit at the computer these days ... ie kids and whaiāipo are using it also so it's a strange feeling to be taking a number to get on here, lol.
Tamāhine 1 carried on with MUS Systematic Review 9D and 9E this morning. As I helped her with the exercises, tama 1 tried his hand using an online programme called mathebook.
I'm fairly certain double additions is coming up in Beta so I wanted to see how tama 1 coped with the concept as a wee test-run. Although we introduced adding double digits in the past to tama 1, we took a sideways step to commence Math-U-See and follow the lessons as outlined per the curriculum. As y'all have read, we can't buy Beta yet so I tried finding something for him to use to keep the momentum going, and I'd like to think mathebook will be at least one resource we can utilise while we save for Beta.
Regardless of the fact that he'd forgotten how to do this concept, he soon understood it after a few examples and was away (laughing). By taking that step away from his earlier learning, I know that he understands place value more strongly. How do they refer to it in the math groups? Mastering the concept. Yes, he has mastered the concepts required to date and is therefore able to return and grasp the double digit addition easily today. I had him write the equation from the screen onto a pad of paper so that he could calculate it more easily. Trying to retain the units total while adding up the tens column is requiring a little more mastery than needed immediately, therefore writing on a pad of paper alleviated that bit of 'stress' for tama 1. With a very quick count it appears he did 30 double digit equations. He aslo practiced telling the time getting all 20 read the clock questions correct so that's very pleasing.
Reading
Tamāhine 1 continues to make great progress with Reading Eggs. Today she worked on lesson five.
Tama 1 chose from his library books Simply Delicious by Margaret Mahy.
Handwriting
Tamāhine 1 completed her handwriting with phrases from today's Reading Eggs lesson again. She seemed to motor through I thought, yet still produced tidy presentation, so ka pai e hine.
Koro popped out around 11.30ish, so tama 1 read a section from the Great Big Book of Knowledge about earth to koro. That was great to have tama 1 discuss with him the meaning of diameter, oblate spheroid (flattened ball) and geoid (Earth-shaped) while I prepared lunch. Nothing like a little light conversation over a cuppa eh?!
Tama 1 and I continued with the Astronomy theme after lunch combining reading, writing and discussion of Lesson 2 The Sun from our Exploring Creation with Astronomy text.
Later in the evening tamāhine 1 read half a dozen online books and tama 1 read some more from the Big Book of Knowledge.
Overall we had a productive day. I'm still aiming to create a proper timetable, but with the baby and toddler I find I still need to be flexible, spontaneous and relaxed about each day, otherwise I'd be one very stressed mother, indeedy.
One thing I'm trying to do is to create a list of the websites I like to use. So many homeschoolers share what works for them, yet I hadn't really found I use anything specific - until recently. There are loads and loads of helpful resources and although I've gleaned from what others share, I think it's time I popped my little list down as well. It's very much a tiny list at the minute, but I shall certainly try to revisit and update the list as often as possible.
Well, this week's school kicked off to a good start. Having completed Alpha, tama 1 used the MUS online drill for his lessons today. We're not in a position to buy Beta for a few more weeks so we will make the most of the online drills in the interim. He thought that because he'd finished Alpha, he wouldn't be doing maths today!!!! Ha ha ha ... Good one, e tama!!!
As for Tamāhine 1, she may have only completed one page - Systematic Review 9C - but we made good use of the blocks which meant the lesson took quite a long time. The blocks can be time-consuming (but please, I'm not saying that I find them a pain! Quite the contrary) the blocks are a great tool when trying to explain a new concept. They are also a fun toy for tama 2 even if they do create a little tension as he 'builds' something while tamāhine 1 is trying to use them, lol.
A pattern is emerging that straight after maths we go outside for fresh air and rejuvanation. So from 10 o'clock through to 10.15-10.30ish we fill our lungs before returning to our next lesson which is reading. Today tama 1 read at the kitchen bench as I prepared lunch. He chose Minnie and Moo - Will You Be My Valentine? by Denys Cazet. He laughed many times throughout the story which gave me great joy to see him enjoying his reading. Tamāhine 1 carried on with Reading Eggs, Level 1, Lesson 4. I used some of the story books for her handwriting practice again which not only makes it easy for me to choose what to give her, but acts as a little revision from her reading lessons. Her handwriting is improving by the day and I like the fact she will concentrate her efforts to produce the best she can each time.
I gave Tama 1 a spelling drill. (Does that sound nicer than 'test'?) I threw in two of the words from last week's words; satellite and atmosphere. He got everything correct today. Tau kē (awesome).
Te Reo Māori was held outside. (As an aside; when I take the babies for a walk I usually get the children to take it in turns to walk a few laps each with me and then ride their bikes so we can revise any work we may have covered.) Today I wanted to kōrero māori. We covered colours, formal and informal greetings, numbers, commands (eg, e tū - stand up, e noho - sit down, e oma - run, whakarongo mai - listen, titiro mai - look). Half an hour to an hour later we not only learned vocab, but we also got plenty of exercise in at the same time. Sticking with vocab is where I'm comfortable at the moment. I don't actually want to introduce sentence structure or the like yet. Ngā Pūrākau me Ngā Pakiwaitara - Myths and legends have yet to be introduced. I want more vocab under their belt yet before stepping into that field.
Tikanga (protocol) not only covers tangihanga, greetings, pōwhiri etc but also the customs which are part and parcel of daily activity which can be easily forgotten. Things which are tapu and noa - like not placing body parts on tables where food is placed for example, or washing your kākahu (clothes) with towels, yet are necessary reminders that you are in fact teaching them something cultural. They have become so well ingrained in daily life that you simply don't think to 'teach' them as a form of cultural custom sometimes. As a parallel, religion has traditions which if you were brought up in it since day dot, you simply take them for granted also. They can bring challenges too, ie when your child asks "why?" you can't exactly reply 'that's just the way it is' just because you're tired or struggle to have a definitive explanation now can you? You have to be prepared and yowza! I have to dig deep sometimes to find good definitions.... do you follow what I'm saying at all? Well, I mean, you can't really say 'that's just the way it is,' goodness me no, you have to be able to back up your belief system with facts that they can understand. Hmm, maybe I should've paid better attention at Sunday School? I'm not even explaining myself very well here ... must be too late at night. I shall leave this in however as it's my ramblings which generates good conversation with friends and family upon reading my posts, lol.
Now, before I completely forget, I must mention that tamāhine 1 read a few pages from a library book called "The Best Way to Play" by Bill Cosby. I can remember tama 1 read this book ... but much later on in his reading abilities. I grabbed the book thinking he could read it again, but funnily enough tamāhine 1 decided to have a go at reading it. Some very big words for her to tackle so I suggested she stop after only a couple of pages and revisit the book later on. She enjoys reading and I although I think the book is a toughy, I will encourage her to read it in its entirity, but in chunks so as to keep her enthusiasm for reading alive.
Again, I've probably rambled there. I can't blame it on listening to Vivaldi as I typed this post. Nope, I'm definitely convinced it's because I'm tired now, lol. DEFINITELY a sign to say good night then!!!
Congratultions to Tama 1 who completed his Alpha MUS workbook today. Until we're in a position to purchase Beta, we will generate worksheets from the Math-U-See website.
Tamāhine 1 worked on solving the unknown. We started by using the blocks for Lesson 9A. By Lesson 9B she was comfortable with the concept. We enjoy using the blocks and shall certainly continue learning with them.
Reading
Lots of reading today. Tamāhine 1 continued with Reading Eggs and Montessori. She also grabbed a couple of library books keen to read. I just rummaged through her library book bag and decided to pop the rest of the books I haven't recorded to date:
Mary had a Dinosaur by Eileen Browne and Ruth Rivers (approximately 50 words).
The Monkey Frogs by Jill Mitchell (approximately 200 words).
New Shoes by Jill Mitchell (approximately 50 words).
Food from Another Country by Will Spencer - National Geographic (91 words).*
Sun Power by Louis Capra - National Geographic (79 words).
Rainbow Balloons by Pam Holden - (99 words).*
Animal Babies in Polar Lands by Jennifer Schofield - (approximately 318 words)
*Books she read today.
The only books I've missed off from the list for tama 1 are:
Ngātai Remembers by Noel Epapara.
The Bravest Cat! The True Story of Scarlett by Laura Driscoll
How Animals Use Their Senses by Pamela Hickman.
Whatnot Takes Charge by Linda Newbery.
History & Handwriting
We finally caught up with our written work on SOTW 1, Chapter Four - The Old Kingdom of Egypt. We started writing about Making Mummies last week but with the semi-holiday we only returned to it today. Tama 1 and I are looking forward to the activity work next week.
Although it was a lot more relaxed this week, I'm still very pleased with the children's efforts. Tino pai e tama, tino pai tamāhine. Tino pai tamariki mā.
Okay, so today we only covered a few things. But considering one of my niece's was in town for the day, it was important to spend time with whānau (family). Here's what ngā tamariki (the children) covered [academically]:
9.30am-10.00am
Mathematics (MUS)
Tama 1
Test 30, Unit Test IV: Lessons 25-30
Tamāhine 1
Test 7, Test 8
10.30am-11.00am
Reading
Tama 1
Library Book – Knock Knock retold by Pam Holden
The Little Kowhai Tree by Witi Ihimaera
Tamāhine 1
Blind Man’s Buff by Pam Holden (331 words)
This afternoon, Tama 1 benefitted from koro talking to him about rākau (trees). After drawing some rākau Tama 1 had a kōrero iti (little chat) with his koro.
We are hoping to learn about our native rākau shortly so it was handy to have his elder to discuss the topic with him albeit briefly. He definitely enjoyed listening to his koro speaking in Māori about not only rākau but also manu (birds).
So there we have it, a very short post today.
Thanks for dropping by
ka kite ano
PS As soon as I know how to insert a table properly I'll be very pleased. It's not the least bit easy for me to do it on Blogger. I have spent far too much time over the past couple of evenings trying to use different methods but they're either no longer available, not free, or too much like hard work to figure out how to use, lol. I just want something to go bang, bang, poof there it is ...
This is by NO means the completed product!!!! On the contrary, there is a lot more to do, but I am thrilled to have FINALLY started one. This particular lapbook is directly in-line with Jeannie Fulbright's Exploring Creation with Astronomy. I've chosen to print in black and white simply to save on ink!!! lol. 
