Mary Did You Know?

Merry Christmas

Thankyou for stopping by my blog! I hope you all have a special and blessed time with your family & friends, and that your heart has time to ponder one of the most incredible events in the history of our world - the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

On account of all the socialising and family related events , I don't expect to have a lot of time for computer related things over the next week or so. I had the idea to embed a YouTube video every couple of days - I hope you like them.


Getting the facts correct




Today's lyrics and music are from my favourite Christian band - Third Day - singing, "Jesus Light of the World" and the clip is really nice, too!





Aaah, well it is going to be very hard to choose! So here is one more for today!
O Holy Night by Third Day

Australiana

I've been asked what our Australiana studies are comprised of, so here you go -

We are learning about Australia in a chronological way, and the children are using an A3 sized Visual Arts Diary as a project book to include all their writings, drawings, stories, photos, pictures and facts. So far we have covered:-

* Indigenous Aboriginal People
* Early Explorer's (Torres, Hartog, Tasman, Dampier)
* Captain Cook
* The First Fleet
* Invasion or Colonisation? (Pemulway and Bennelong)
* Early Settlements
* The Rum Rebellion
* Governor Macquarie
* Bass and Flinders
* Across the Blue Mountains (Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth)
* William Cox and the road across the Mountains
* Hume and Hovell
* Burke and Wills
* Gold
* Bushrangers

Over the next 2 years, Sarah will continue these studies and focus on Federation; The White Australia Policy; and World War 1, looking particularly at Gallipoli. Daniel will be consolidating some of what he has already covered by readings of "An Australian Story" by Eve Pownall, and "A Sunburnt Country" by Arthur Baillie.

So whilst our Australiana studies will be ongoing, over the next 2 years I have planned for our Homeschool to have a strong World History based focus. This is mainly in the interests of balance, since the majority of our Unit studies during 2007 & 2008 fell into the Science and Technology KLA. However, I will write about that another day!

End of Term

We have finished with our formal schooling for the year, though naturally, the children haven't finished learning! Really, it's not like there is a switch that says, 'turned off for the holidays' LOL. Sarah and Daniel will continue to work on their own projects, play music, read and play, or do whatever else they choose to do. It's just that the structure of their days will change - nothing is planned, and I wont be keeping any records. Isn't that what a holiday is?

This year has been wonderful. Fun and full. The variety of interesting subjects the children applied themselves to resulted in much knowledge being acquired - by all of us. I often share in the childrens learning as I research, plan and gather resources!

I have previously mentioned that our preferred way of learning is via Unit Studies, which are usually based on Sarah & Daniel's interests. I value the way unit studies can cover almost all the Key Learning Areas, and I think a more cohesive and thorough understanding is built, simply by the sustained immersion in a subject, as deep or as far as we care to go - bunny trails and all, sometimes!

Typically, after breakfast and morning chores, our Mondays to Thursdays begin with Mathematics and English (though I think this subject should really be called 'Language Arts' as it is in some other states of Australia) followed by morning tea and a jump on the trampoline. After this break, a couple of hours is spent on the current unit study, till we stop for lunch. The afternoons are for music, sport, arts & crafts, reading, playing or socialising.

The Units we have covered during our first 2 years of Homeschooling are: China, Dogs, Polar Lands, Rice Growth & Production, Our Solar System, World Geography, Dolphins, Birds, The Human Body, Australiana, Weather, The Plant Kingdom, Famous Artists, and Light.

Sarah only - Environmental Food Issues, Ecosystems
Daniel only - Transportation, Volcanoes

Fridays are usually the day when we schedule excursions - for example, we have been to the PowerHouse Museum, the Currency Museum, the Maritime Museum, Elizabeth Farm, and Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural Centre. I wish I could add in the Art Gallery, because we have been planning to go since October when the Monet exhibition opened, but my leg injury and being incapacitated meant we had to put it off. With the busyness of December we have still not managed to visit, so it looks like we are going to have to brave the crowds of the school holidays and go before the exhibition closes late January.

Every second Friday we meet with a Homeschool group and the children Ice Skate, which has been lots of fun. The rink offers school rates to the Homeschool group, which means the cost is only $6.50 for each child, for the 2 and a half hour session we have. For the first 30 minutes, Sarah & Daniel joined in a learner's class. These classes were fabulous and in a seemingly short time, they both went from being 'holding on to the wall wobblers' , to children who were presented with Level 2certificates to say they are now proficient at forward stroking, forward punting, backward swizzles and forward shalom. YAY! Next year they will work towards learning to achieve T-stops, backward 2 foot glide and 2 foot turn to backwards.

So, that's a little of what Homeschooling in our home is like - loving, living, and learning!

Do You Know My King?

First up, the pictures aren't as appealing to me as the script of this little clip, but the truth swells my heart! It's from an address by the Rev. S. M. Lockeridge recorded on Moody Radio.

You will have to mute my playlist music first (it's on the left hand side) so you can hear some truths about my King - Do You Know Him?

Growing Our Own Vegies

Our latest gardening project is one I have been wanting to do for a little while. Over the past couple of weeks we have been working on preparing a garden bed so we can grow various fruits and vegetables. I'm so excited about harvesting produce from our own garden; teaching the children new skills; and knowing exactly what we are eating. Fruits and vegetables are grown with so many different herbicides and pesticides these days - not to mention the increasing use of chemicals that can slow down the ripening process for the big supermarkets; or the fact that often these products have been refrigerated for months and months, or that they are often treated with more chemicals that actually stop certain produce from sprouting naturally. I don't know a lot about these processes, but I am convinced our family is set to enjoy organic fruit and vegies that are going to TASTE mouthwateringly fresh and sensational!
To begin, we removed some rather useless ornamentals, and dug over the soil before adding in some mushroom compost. This year, because of our late start, we bought seedlings to transplant, but we intend to plan ahead of future seasons,and order seeds to sow - which will be much more economical as well.

We are now growing large tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, Lebanese Cucumbers, mini red capsicums, lettuce, snow peas, strawberries, flat-leaf parsley, coriander, oregano, chillis .... and the children's choice - mini watermelons!







So far growth has been fast and healthy. The rain and sun are blessings from God, and we are so thankful.

Could Our Expectations Be a Trap?

This week we have not done any formal schooling because I have had a lot on my "To Do" list, which I gave priority to. Last night when we were all discussing this situation over dinner, Sarah recalled the last month of school being about watching movies, talent quests, emptying desks and scrubbing/cleaning same desks with Gumption, and watching more movies. So whilst from past experience I know that not very much formal learning happens during December at schools, I still felt a little guilty that I was letting the children 'do their own thing' all this week, and not finishing up on a couple of things. However, I was gladdened in heart that far from blobbing around watching TV (which would not have been allowed anyway) both Sarah and Daniel busied themselves with their own projects. As well as the usual Karate, Swimming and Music lessons, Sarah engrossed herself in reading, crafting and making Christmas Cards, with quite a few hours spent practising 'Joy To The World' on the piano while one of her friends sang. Daniel spent a lot of time in the garden catching spiders (he wants to have a spider farm) observing the Venus Fly Trap, drawing, reading and building Lego. So it was more like an 'unschooling' week with a lot of natural learning. Lovely!


Could our expectations be a trap? Yes, according to the article below (click on the image to read) "Escaping the Homeschool Matrix" by Steve Walden. Especially if we expect to be able to accomplish everything as perfectly as possible ... all the time. I was grateful for the reminder that we must keep the bigger picture in mind, and be careful that our expectations do not become a trap that leave us feeling frustrated and a failure when things don't go according to plan.



If you'd like to read more of this homeschooling Dad's thoughts, he has a blog at

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/stevewalden

Venus Fly Trap

After completing a unit of learning about Plants, Daniel has been wanting a Venus Fly Trap. He is finding it a fascinating plant and for the first couple of days especially, I often noticed him sitting and watching as in this photo ... waiting to see the traps close with an insect trapped inside!




The Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula) is a carnivorous plant that lures their prey using a sweet smelling nectar. When an insect lands on the head of the fly trap, it will touch one of the many trigger hairs located within the jaws of the trap. Once triggered, the trap snaps closed, trapping the bug. The plant then secretes an enzyme which essentially 'dissolves' the insect, turning it into a digestible dinner. After a few days, the fly trap will re-open, to await it's next victim.

We agreed that he could drop a fly and a piece of worm onto 2 of the traps to see how it worked, but the advice from the man at the garden shop was that artificially springing the trap, (poking it with your finger), drains the plant's energy. If this is done too often, the trap head will become less sensitive and possibly die.

So far the plant has 'lived' in the cubbyhouse, then on an outdoor table, and now it is on Daniel's bedroom windowsill so he can keep a close eye on it. Interesting plant...and an interested boy!

Dogs Welcome in our Homeschool

We start our school day with morning Devotions, where we read aloud aloud a chapter from the Bible, write out one particular verse, and spend time in prayer. Last week as we were reading through Hebrews, I happened to look up and see these sweet scenes, so I got the children to pause while I ran and grabbed the camera.

How sweet is this?



And this



I'd say our homeschool was inclusive, wouldn't you? Exclusive too. What other school would be so welcoming of puppies on the desk and children on the floor patting dogs while they learn?

OK. Well it could happen in some other parts of the world, but I'm talking about suburban NSW. I'm sure it would happen in other homeschools, of course. A homeschooling friend used to have a parrot sitting on his shoulder while he studied, and I'm sure you've heard of the little boy who hid a mouse in his pocket. Let me assure you however, that rodents are NOT welcome in our homeschool! Dogs, fish, butterflies, spiders and bugs safely esconsed in containers as part of a nature study, yes, but definitely not a scorpion, which Daniel says he would like to own!