May. 11, 2008 - Be a good listener

May. 11, 2008 - Tweaking Homeschool Methods for Highschool Students

Many of the homeschool methods that we used in primary school to disciple our children are just as relevant in highschool – only they need a tweak.

May. 11, 2008 - Help! My child is smarter than me!

May. 11, 2008 - 8 hours in the Park

I can’t believe we spent 8 hours in the park!  We arrived at 8.00am for our monthly Co-op.  We were planning / hoping to see an Army Band but that didn’t come off so we ended up just gathering at the park for social time though we started with a session on Character and then the kids had an Oral Presentation / Show ‘n Tell session.  Then it was free play.

We had a guest speaker call in –i t was arranged the night before!  He is an expert in the field of learning difficulties, disabilities and especially with the idea of “inclusions” which is including these children in regular classroom activities.  I asked him to come and speak to us mainly because inclusions is based on the idea of multi-level teaching, just as every homeschooling family has to deal with.  Several of the families also have children with learning difficulties and since there is a possibility of him coming to town more often, the homeschoolers are a group of the community who may be interested in his services.  He won our hearts by introducing himself as a person who has an affinity with the idea that parents are the best teachers for their children and then talking about his research and statistics that would say that each child in a classroom situation gets 7.5minutes of individualized teaching a day.  We were left feeling that even on our worst days we could manage that!  So he was off to a good start!!  The ladies were very encouraged and a couple will no doubt take up some of his services to help their kids.

I was very proud of the big kids, they just took the little kids (and there are a lot more little kids than there are big ones!) and took them off to play down wind so the mums could have this meeting.  Their play continued well for another hour and then it was time for the littlies to go home.

The big kids stayed on, had lunch and then we had our next Speak Up lesson.  (Public Speaking).  The kids did another interpretative speech – some getting it and some not quite.  The one thing that is holding most of them back is they are not putting enough time into the memorization.  But the important things with this years study on public speaking is that everyone gives it a go and improves on their own ability and they are all doing so very well.

One of the mums came to pick the kids up just before 2.00 so we sat and chatted till I had to drop the other family off for their gym practice and then I came back to the park, and sat and talked for another 1.5hours!  During this time the kids ran, played cricket, talked, played a board game, climbed trees, and played imagination games.  They had a ball!  At 4.00 o’clock we reluctantly gathered up our children, decided to go to the shop for pizza and chocolate for dinner!!  Came home and crashed.  Though the day was very full-on for me personally (I instructed 2 sessions of character,  supervised Oral presentations, kept the meeting with guest speaker rolling, and taught Speak Up) it was a lovely end to the very full day.  I still can’t believe we spent 8 hours in the park!

May. 11, 2008 - Homeschooling with Friends, a goodbye to FIAR

We started the day with playing a new game called “Zoob”.  Fantastic game.  It covered skills such as spacial/building skills, strategic/planning skills, and then of course, when you play any game there are the skills of following the rules, being gracious to others, and keeping focused!  This is a game I highly recommend for any family.

We then had our table time (when I taught Daniel his phonics lessons) and morning tea – which the kids took outside and played in the cubby while they ate.  I think they played more than they ate because when I called them in to read our FIAR story they brought their morning tea with them.  We read “Andy and the Lion” which I hardly remember from previous FIAR rounds though Jess remembered it clearly.  After we read it we discussed many of the concepts that are written in the FIAR manual, since this was going to be the only time we read the book.  I may actually keep a few of the activities/notebooking opportunities for times when I need Daniel to do an independent activity over the next few weeks.  Though it makes me sad to say goodbye to FIAR we are moving onto KONOS for Nomi and Daniel’s studies.  Actually its not a real and proper good bye to FIAR because I love it too much so we will do different books much like we did today – grab a book, enjoy the story and learn what we can from it in the time we have and we’ll do that every so often.  You can never say goodbye to a true friend!

May. 11, 2008 - Our Josh

Our Josh

Josh turned 15.  Imagine!  We arrived in this town just over 15 years ago – I was pregnant when we arrived.  We soon found friends and settled into our new community.  It is home now – couldn’t imagine living anywhere else….. oops … this is supposed to be about Josh and his 15 years of life!  

One of the things that is really nice about being a parent of a 15year old is that I can look back and connect the things that I saw in my little toddler, in my preschooler etc and see those same traces now at 15.  This gives me confidence that we can see the “who” God has created our children to be and can foster and enjoy their uniqueness.  When I look back and think of the little Joshie I remember a caring boy, with a gentle spirit with a heart for what is right.  He has had a heart to read God’s Word ever since he could read and we have enjoyed his many insights and applications over the years.

What we see now is a young man who still has a heart for God’s Word, who reads and memorises and most importantly wants this knowledge to be applicable in his life and in the life of society.  We see a young man who is responsible and caring for the needs of others.  Though he doesn’t like the limelight he will step up quickly when there is a need.  He is loved by many little people in our family life (friend’s children etc) and often has them clambering all over him, he thinks this is strange but secretly enjoys them I think!  He thinks deeply and on topics that often take me by surprise – topics of politics, ethics and history. He reads continually though history, especially war history, is his favourite along with fantasy novels.  He enjoys writing and is learning to express his opinions in the written form clearly and unemotionally, choosing words carefully for impact.  He also enjoys writing stories, often influenced by his reading.

We are very proud of our 15 year old Josh!  (You can visit Josh’s own blog, Spitfires)

May. 11, 2008 - Training the next generation of Homeschoolers

Since Wednesday was a stay at home day – with no visitors I decided it was a good opportunity to finish the lesson prep that I have been working on for our next study block.  Jess became the homeschool ‘marm so I could focus in the office.  She read a book to Nomi and Daniel and then took them down the farm road a bit to a patch of county that had been burnt out a few weeks ago.  I wanted them to draw a picture, with charcoal, and in a few weeks time I want them to go back and draw the colour as the country comes back to life.  She then supervised as they worked on their discipline studies (3 R’s etc).  Later in the day she read another story and helped them with their notebook pages and narrations.  I achieved a lot in the office and it was great to see the family pulling together this way, not only where they supporting me, Jess was gaining experience of keeping kids motivated and on task, the other kids had practice at taking instructions from another source other than me.  Though I don’t want to expect Jess to do this too often it was very helpful way of our family achieving our family goals for the day.

May. 11, 2008 - Veggie Garden

It’s that time of the year when we need to get our veggie garden into order.  I love the idea of keeping an all-year-round garden but the wet season up here that means a lot of work and a big learning curve.  So for the moment we are happy to plant a veggie garden about this time of the year and enjoy one season of fresh greens, tomatoes, capsicums and hopefully corn.  Peter has doubled the plot for this year, and put automatic reticulation/sprinklers on it so we can go away for the weekends etc and come back to our garden, still alive!!  Having a bigger garden means that I may get two rotations, especially of Chinese greens and maybe tomatoes in the growing period.   Saturday morning my friend picked up $40 worth of seedlings so we should be set.  Now the trick is to keep them alive till I have the beds dug up! 

May. 4, 2008 - Reclaiming the Hobby Room

Jessica’s goal for this week  past was to reclaim the hobby room.  The Hobby Room was intended to be a place where Josh and Jess could have their puzzles, and lego and projects out of harms way when we had two little toddlers.  Those two little toddlers have grown up now (Nomi and Daniel at 11yo and 9yo) and the Hobby Room has had shorts bursts of being used for Hobbies but is really a storeroom, of junk proportions.  At our planning week meetings earlier in the year we discussed ways with the kids of making this room functional for all four of them.  Jess cleaning it out and organizing is the first step.  She has done very well – we have boxes and boxes to give away, we have thrown out even more boxes. She has sorted bookcases, cupboards and boxes.  She loves this type of challenge. 

The next step is to buy some bookcases (can a family ever have too many bookcases?) and to hoist the electric train table up to the ceiling giving functional room underneath.  These are both my tasks!

May. 4, 2008 - Cricket and Netball

May. 4, 2008 - Joshua has a paid job

Joshua started a new paid job this week with a local farm machinery shop.  The initial idea was that he would be able to unpack and record new stock arriving but his duties are going to be far wider than this.  This week he learnt to drive a forklift and the next day he swept the shed - quite an expanse!  He will be mowing lawns, moving equipment and basically anything that needs doing that he can do.  We are very excited about this opportunity for Josh.  The man he is working for is very thorough and will train Josh rather than just expect the job to be done - and yet he will expect the job to be done.  Josh is riding his bike to and from which is giving him some extra exercise.  We haven't reduced Joshua's study load even though the job does cut into some of his regular study time.  We felt it was a good opportunity to teach Josh that when you take something on, something has to give and you have to prioiritise what goes - study is of top priority in his life at the moment so that can't go!  We have worked out, together, that since he is riding his bike, he doesn't need to exercise in the morning, there is 20-30 minutes saved already where he can do his studies.    This opportunity will bring lots of learning into Joshua's life!

May. 4, 2008 - Egyptian Dress Up party

May. 4, 2008 - Family Devotions

1. To read scripture together, without the aids of someone else’s writings (such as a devotional, catcheism, or bible curriculum)
2. It will support the level my youngest two are at with their own personal devotions of reading the word, hearing God, and praying
3. It requires little preparation from me!

We are going to read 1 Tim. Together. 

As the older children went off to write in their journals, which I will discuss with them throughout the week, I spent some one on one time with Daniel discussing what he gleaned from our reading, clarifying some of his concepts and applications.  We then read his devotional book, discussed that and wrote in his Bible Journal and then prayed together.  this is a developing practice.

May. 4, 2008 - Reading Journals

We continue our Reading Journal Workshop.  Tuesday I talked about the difference between notetaking and journal entry.  The journal entry is to be more like a summary of thoughts or things learnt where notetaking is often incomplete sentences, or copywork, or just one sentence on a topic.  We discussed the difference between reading a book ourselves and having a book read aloud to us.  When we are listening to a read aloud we are more inclined to take notes and talk about things.  What we need to learn though is to take notice of what we are reading and to ask questions even if we are reading a book ourselves.  After every reading session we need to write a journal entry – 3-5 sentences on what we have read, thought, questioned or learnt.  There is no formula for a Reading Journal so our lessons seem a little disjointed but my hope is that the children are starting to see that they are able to learn as they read, not just enjoy the story.

We didn’t get to the Reading Journals on Wednesday due to the Egyptian  Birthday Party but on Thursday we discussed why do we use Reading Journals.  The ideas were so that they could learn by themselves.  We discussed that they need to be responsible for their own learning and as they learn to slow down, take notice of what they read, ask questions they will be learning themselves.  To be able to teach yourself is a skill that they will use for the rest of their life.

By Friday between the two families we had a couple of not so well kids so we decided to call the workshop to an end.  We had achieved our objective – to introduce the children to reading journals, to show them that learning can happen from a book that you enjoy if you stop and think about the things you are reading.  The goal is for everyone to complete a notebook page on something that they have learnt over the last few weeks and then to use these skills with another book in our own families – either a family read aloud or individual reading.  We will get together again in a few weeks as a final wrap up so everyone can show their notebook pages, and discuss what they have all learnt while practicing reading journals.

May. 4, 2008 - Off for a bushwalk

We then headed off on a 3.2km round trip bush walk.  The purpose of the walk was to reach the end of a gorge with 65m waterfall.  It was incredible country. 

The waterfall was amazing and yet the pool was sooooo cold it took all our self will to actually get wet – even though we were plenty hot from our walking.  We were glad all the tourists were gone as they would have laughed at us locals finding it so cold. 

We did all eventually get wet - Here is Daniel recovering in the sun!

We arrived home for a late lunch as Pete had irrigation waters to deal with.  It was a lovely family morning – always relaxing to be outdoors.

May. 4, 2008 - No posting for a week

I have had an out of whack body clock for the week – I have been waking at 3.00am and falling asleep at 7.30pm.  My normal time for blogging is just after dinner but I’ve been so tired it has been the last thing on my mind.  So here is a selection of thoughts, highlights of our week.

Apr. 26, 2008 - Leading up to Daniel's party

Daniel and his "sun" and "moon" cakes

Apr. 26, 2008 - watching the sunset

Apr. 24, 2008 - Reading Journals, Play dates, Sunset dinners

Once again our friends arrived at 8.30am for the Reading Journal Workshop.  It has worked really well, with us both being disciplined not to stay too long.  We have taken 15 minutes for a quick catch up and then 30-45minutes with the read aloud and discussions afterwards.  I have found it great to have this daily focus knowing that this routine is only going to happen for a short while.

We started our session discussing some questions one of the girls had.  And then, during the reading we discussed workplace protection, development and security of communications, the Ghan (train from Adelaide to Alice Springs – now to Darwin).  We had a brief discussion on RM Williams, a famous bush character / business man who has left a legacy behind him.  I introduced the idea that when we read a book we can ask questions of ourselves –

• what does that mean
• what did I notice or observe
• why did that happen
• what surprised me

The kids will be expected to write in their journals the answers for at least one of these questions.  The idea is that as we (the mum and reader of a read aloud) ask questions the children get used to this level of thinking and eventually will begin to ask questions of themselves and record their answers (which are verbal at the moment) straight into their reading journal.

We concluded our time with Peter showing us the various places on the map – next time I hope to get a map that shows the outback in more detail but for today we just looked at the Australian map and saw the vast distances they traveled and marveled considering the era in which they lived.

Later in the morning other friends visited for a long day play date.  The boys have played cricket in the cricket nets, sword fights in the cubby and who knows what other adventures they have lived.  The girls though they started off with gentle pursuits ended up running around with spears and swords as well.  Jessica has decided to keep today as a study day so she has been very diligent.  Next week is our wrap up week (at the end of an assignment block) but she wants to declutter the so-called hobby room and make that functional.  So she is working extra hard this week, in her free time, so she can dedicate next week to that.

We headed into town late afternoon to catch the sunset from the local lookout.  We wanted pizza but couldn’t get it early enough (sun sets at 5.15) so we settled for fish ‘n chips.  Always delicious going down but we always regret the greasiness moments later!! The sunset was intense for a moment and then slipped away into peacefulness.  It was a nice evening – on our way home we grabbed some icypoles and visited some friends to share dessert with.

Apr. 23, 2008 - Our today Tuesday 22nd April 2008

I am using the discipline of having a house guest and Reading Journal Workshops to help me change my morning routine (read previous post here).  So far we are going well, even the kids have been finished their morning chores before 8.00am.  The affects of me not being in the office are felt by all!  The other thing I have tried to do is put my sneakers on when I first get up – this encourages me to get going on my housework and go for a walk. 

Our Reading Journal Workshop went really well today though we only read about ¼ of the next chapter.  We had so much to discuss – initially because the younger kids were struggling to understand but as we started to discuss things it benefited all.  The dads from both our families work in the cattle industry, and many of the things written in this book, set after WWII, still exist or happen like that out on the local cattle stations so it held an extra dimension of interest.

At the end of our reading the other mother and me just said “WOW”  The content, the education that we had covered while just reading a book and discussing it was fantastic.  We covered the feudal system and how the cattle stations worked this way, we discussed wages being kept on a tab, spending on the account and how this involved trust especially since the station hands would have been illiterate in a lot of the cases.  This last issue in particular covered a lot of character issues. 

Daniel had a playdate later in the morning, the other kids spent the morning at the library and I had a couple of hours to myself in town before we all joined Daniel and visited with my friend over lunch.

Our afternoon was spent in quiet pursuits – Josh and Jess working on some lessons, Nomi creating an Egyptian Slave costume and Daniel listening to Narnia audio.  I love those types of afternoons.