Homeschool | 1000 Fields of Roses

How D’ya Like Them Apples?

We’re finally able to do some experiments, and have access to a TV as well! Combine the two… we watched Backyard Science on the ABC last week, and wrote down the experiments that appealed to the boys…
We still have to get some bits together for the mini diver/submarine, and possibly the volcano, but we were able to quickly put together the “apple measuring” experiment, to illustrate displacement theory…

The equipment

Guessing at the “biggest-to-smallest” order..

Water displacement..

measuring the wsater

The results (which were soon eaten…)

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on August 28, 2012 at 9:28 am Comments (1)
Tags: displacement theory, experiments

I Felt Like Writing This Post…

Sorry.
Not feeling well today.
A pun seemed the best solution….

Here’s the photos of our felt making workshop a couple of days ago… the process seemed quite simple, but still a lot of work (lots of rolling/agitating). I like the results – there’s a lot of potential there 😀

This was Biggest Boy’s piece –

He mumbled and grumbled before we started, then decided he’d “messed it up”… I thought it turned out well..
..as one of the instructors said, “In felting, there’s no mistakes – just opportunities!”

Littlest Bean had a great time!

He wanted to include Blue Bear on his piece, so it was an experiment for all concerned..
(Blue Bear was very excited to be immortalised in felt..)

I wanted hearts and flowers on mine.. it sort of worked.. lots of lovely colours, though! 😀

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on July 26, 2012 at 1:00 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: felt making, homeschool craft

Talk To The Sock…

We had a ventriloquist called Natalie Miller at church today, which was fun, and very funny. It was a different way to experience Bible stories, and the kids loved it….
Here’s a little promo clip, to give you a taster..

As part of the service, she called up three people to have a go with some sock puppets…. Biggest Boy was called up 😀 I was so pleased that he went up on stage (He’s thirteen… he doesn’t like being looked at..) He behaved very well, and he seems to have a bit of a talent for puppetry 😀 I’m not completely surprised – at our place, the soft toys have distinct personalities and voices… He really enjoyed it, so we got him a puppet and an instructional DVD …. I don’t know anything about ventriloquism, but we’ll see how he goes with it..

Watch this space!

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on July 1, 2012 at 9:48 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: bible stories, kid's church, puppets, ventriloquism

Building A City

Today’s learning was about designing and building a city that included all the essentials, while still keeping environmental impact to a minimum. We talked about the fact that we impact on the environment just by existing… that we can’t make others live more simply or in a less impacting way, but we can design a city in a way that could minimise the ease-of-use or availability of the more destructive practices. We talked about pre-plastic days, and reusing and recycling as a matter of course, about living without supermarkets within easy reach… about seed saving and heirloom varieties, crop rotation and leaving the land fallow… one thing led to another, and each thought brought up a new question. It’s been a (mostly!) fun day.

Along the way, we watched some clips –
This one talks about conflict minerals, leading us to talk about the source of the things we buy and use..

This one was fascinating to the boys – connecting to the internet through lightbulbs!

We looked at some of my previous posts… the woodland house, and changing education paradigms – another go at getting that divergent thinking working! We talked quite a lot today, and will have a lot more to think about…

… and – just because I can (and because it made us laugh!) – here are some cuddly carrots…

Source: 27.media.tumblr.com via Chalice on Pinterest

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on May 21, 2012 at 4:52 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Building a city, Conflict minerals, Connect to internet through light bulbs, divergent thinking, minimise environmental impact, Reuse and recycle

Changing Education Paradigms

This is another TED talk I came across… it’s quite short and easily digestable (although it seems to end quite abruptly… there may be more somewhere.. 😀 )

Very interesting, and I agree with a lot of what he’s saying…
Our homeschooling journey has evolved over the last few years… I went through the school system (and, by and large, enjoyed it..) so my initial focus was on workbooks and standardised testing. I’ve drifted over to the unschooling side of things since then, although I still cling to “the rules” a bit 😀 .
I think, at the moment, that we should go with the best of both worlds… I agree that divergent thinking is an important trait in any educational situation – the ability to learn, to use the information given, is more important than amassing facts with no connection to reality.
Having said that, I still want my boys to learn facts! I still feel the need for some sort of structure… I don’t want them to get to graduation and realise we forgot to cover an essential subject! I can’t help thinking, though, that a lot of that is based in my fear rather than reality…
A friend posted a link to the updated Australian Curriculum… I haven’t checked it out completely, but I will find it helpful as a basic guideline..

I want my boys to –
Stay curious…
Keep an open mind..
Question!
Be able to distinguish between fact and opinion..
Be flexible..
See, experience, and explore the whole, beautiful wide world out there!

I still need to find the balance between structure and… non-structure? 😀 I think they are steadily learning each day… both in their different ways…. and, in the end, we learn/discover/grow for a lot longer than twelve school years…

Published in:

on May 16, 2012 at 10:22 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Curriculum, divergent thinking, education paradigms, TED talks, Unschooling

Talking With God

Today was one of those bleah-what-shall-we-do-for-school type of days… I don’t want the boys to get too much into the workbooks-as-drudgery thinking (although it’s sort of hard not to…)
Thankfully, our combined Bible readings this morning led us into thinking and talking about how God talks to us, and the importance of listening and letting Him guide us….
…. and there was our curriculum for the day!!

I wrote down five aspects of life – Personal, Spiritual, Social, Work, and Giving Out (Mission). I then had the boys take time to pray specifically through each one, and write down anything that came to them…. at this point, there was no “wrong” – it was mostly an exercise in hearing, and I didn’t want them talking themselves out of something that God was saying, but that didn’t seem “normal”, or “comfortable” 😀

After this part, they could then pray through again, and check….

… and then they were to draw it all up into a sort of mind map, with lots of colour and illustration (note to self – little beans’ notion of “lots” vastly differs from mine….) They spent the morning on it, and took it seriously… results were very interesting!
I love it when God steps in to everyday life! 😀

Published in:

on May 9, 2012 at 9:01 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Listening to God, Mind Maps, Unschooling

Curious?

Source: vi.sualize.us via Haylee on Pinterest

……………………..

Today, I came up with an idea for the boys… simple but, hopefully, ultimately useful.. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before 😀
Many years ago, when I first left for England, I had a tiny little diary. I didn’t actually use it as a diary (I had another book for that) so I started to note down all those little things that I found as I read, that I wanted to keep for later. Eighteen years later it’s nearly full, so I’ll be looking for another tiny book soon..
In there, I can find all sorts of recipes, for food as well as herbal remedies. I have various exercise programmes (most of which are still, sadly, unused..) I have information about the best places to visit when I am in London (or Cambridge, or Oxford..) as well as interesting websites and a poem/quote or two…

Today I thought I would get the boys to start their own book -something they can keep for years, and rediscover wonder whenever they want to. I told them to put in anything that makes them go “Wow!” We’re calling them “Curiosity Books”. We will intentionally seek out topics and places that we don’t usually look at…
School will only last for a time. Curiosity will be with them forever.

Source: walkingbytheway.com via Ami on Pinterest

Source: whenigrowupcoach.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

Published in:

on April 19, 2012 at 1:12 pm Comments (2)
Tags: curiosity, homeschool, wonder

Brain Hemisphere Hat

Brain Hemisphere Hat made of paper.

– We have got to do this, when our printer is working again!
Then we shall all go out and wear them in public… 😀

Published in:

on March 21, 2012 at 9:05 pm Leave a Comment

Sun Through The Rain

It’s been raining lately. Not all the time…. but buckets of it when it does…

Yesterday we finally made a craft that I’ve been wanting to try for a while. We collected the sticks last week, and cut up strips from the old clothes we collected from the charity shop from up the road… it’s been a bit more difficult to find the time to actually make the hanging suns/stars (not sure what to call them…) We just tied three sticks together, then weaved the fabric strips round the resulting form… easy and quick, but satisfying 😀 They’re now decorating their individual trees in the backyard, being soaked by the rain and steamed by the sun…

Biggest boy’s, and close up..

Littlest boy’s..

Some days are better than others… some days, I’m pulling my hair out, wondering if they’re learning anything! Some days, everything is wonderful, and the day goes smoothly. The last couple of days have been like that – a few squabbles here and there, but mostly harmony and love 😀 This is the life!

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on March 20, 2012 at 3:03 pm Leave a Comment

One Of Those Days…

Today started out well… we were on track to a varied and interesting learning day.
We’ve been getting a bit bogged down in bookwork, so today I thought we’d do some different things, and go back to the workbooks tomorrow.
That plan soon descended into meltdown, and we spent half the morning in a difficult, but ultimately profitable, discussion on heart attitudes and what is really important.
I think we’ve all got a bit of cabin fever at the moment, which doesn’t help… and it’s still raining…
All in all, my lovely plans took a left turn 😀 We got some of the work done, and did some other work… then decided to just get out of the house for a bit …