End of Term 1 Swimming at Springwood

We have seen great progress at swimming this term. Waratah has realised that he really enjoys floating, while Mulga has discovered the joys of going underwater. Conversely, Mulga is still working on developing stability while afloat, and Waratah has yet to conquer his dislike of putting his face in the water, although he has worked hard at it and made a significant effort to do so.

Boronia has also enjoyed swimming, particularly the socialisation aspect of having a friend only slightly older than herself. She is quite a water baby, and has gone from being with me in the sling, to paddling and kicking along, with a bubble on her back, supported by a pool noodle or kickboard (and me of course).

Mulga has done well with a consistent teacher.

Waratah has experienced some stress from a succession of teachers while his regular teacher was recovering from an injury. However, I am very proud of him for persisting despite his dislike of the change in the expected routine.

As usual, to celebrate the end of term, the water slide was opened up. All the kids loved this, and their way of enjoying it demonstrated their personality in interesting ways. 

Mulga was a daredevil, going as fast as he could, face first.

Waratah was more cautious, but also enjoyed making the ride last as long as he could, slowing himself and even stopping along the way. He prefers to remain in control of the situation, where Mulga is prepared to let go and enjoy the rush. Both were equally happy afterwards, and part of my preference for this swimming pool - which involves quite extensive travel to get to - is the willingness of the teachers to adapt to the needs of the boys as individuals.

We always stay for a swim after our lessons, and for both boys (and Boronia) this is the highlight of their day. Both boys have greatly increased their confidence and ability to play in the water. Their increasing familiarity with the other homeschooled children we swim with has also increased their confidence in playing with others. Although we will not be swimming during the winter months (Term 2 and 3) we plan to continue expanding on this socialisation aspect by meeting some of these same families for regular bushwalks.

Ideas for Week 8

- Tonight we watched the Space Station fly over our house, so this week we will do some follow up investigation and exploration.

- Waratah has asked that we learn about the desert.

- A visit to the library (and perhaps the local museum) on Monday.

- We will be attending a circus skills workshop on Wednesday.

- Swimming lessons on Thursday.

- Sunday will be the first Sunday of Advent, so we will be dusting off and renovating the Advent candle and calendar, and discussing their significance. We may also consider making a Jesse tree.

I have decided to use this blog now as a showcase for photos / portfolio of our work and for special learning stories, and swap to a less time-intensive method of record keeping, rather than listing everything we do each week.

Weekend Activities

☑ Quiet weekend recovering from the flu.

Planning Update

As my work is picking up after maternity leave and I consequently have less free time, I am going to change to recording our activities on a weekly basis. I am also finding that both boys participate in each other's work, so it does not make sense to divide activities into Kindergarten and Pre-K. I am therefore going to record our activities during the week under the NSW Kindergarten Foundation areas, and also record any extra Play-Based Learning observed, from both boys. For Boronia, I will continue to add a photo record and observations on her development, but without attempting to categorise her activities.

Adventures Downunder series

Robert Elmer, Escape to Murray River (Adventures Downunder #1)
(kindle / iPad)

Entertaining well-written story, good for introducing a pre-teen boy to themes in Australian history, such as transportation, aboriginals, early settlement (later books in the series may cover the gold rush?)

Starts out in Ireland, tells the story of a 13 year old Catholic boy whose father is set up and transported to WA for a crime he did not commit. The boy, his mother and his siblings follow, hoping to find the father and paternal grandfather (who had been transported when the father was little).

I particularly like the attitude of the main character, Patrick, who is brave in spite of his fears, has a strong faith, is not afraid to pray in the face of ridicule, and who is determined to stand up for what is right. A good role model.

Many concepts are a bit too advanced for the present - but definitely bookmarking the series for when the boys are older.

Week 9 planning

Phonics / Grammar Apps I would like to get for Waratah

1. Rainbow sentences [Link]
2. Story Builder [Link]
3. Montessori Crosswords [Link]

Virtual Book Club for Kids [Link]

- joined with the intention of participating.

• September 17th - Lois Ehlert
• October 15th - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• November 19th - Tomie de Paola
• December 17th - Jan Brett
• January 21st - David McPhail
• February 18th - Dr. Seuss
• March 18th - Julia Donaldson
• April 15th - David Shannon
• May 20th - Leo Lionni
• June 17th - Gail Gibbons
• July 15th - Jez Alborough
• August 19th - Donald Crews

How to participate:

1. Pick your favorite book by that month's author (or a new one you want to check out) and read it with your child or class.
2. Create an activity, project, craft, cooking project, etc. related to the book and do it.
3. Come back and share it with us as part of a big blog hop on the third Monday of the month.

The first author is Lois Ehlert. We do not have any of her books and the local libraries collections are very limited, so I have purchased:

• Leaf Man [Link]
• Cuckoo/cucu: A Mexican Folktale [Link]
• Eating the Alphabet [Link]

Science & Technology Topic: Looking around you - country and town

HS&E Topic: Families Past & Present - What is an artifact?

Ideas for Week 8

As the daily choice cards have been so successful, I have modified them once more, adding extra activities (to make 6 choices for each subject area) and added choice cards for Preschool and Baby Play.

A PDF of our cards is available: [Link]

Summary of last week's activities

Religion
*Chosen every day - broad mix of activities enjoyed

English
*Note: Reading Eggs = most chosen activity last week

Mathematics
*Note: Maths Games = most chosen activity last week

Science & Technology
*Note: Craft = most chosen activity last week

Human Society and Environment
*Note: Mystery Activity = most chosen activity last week - Waratah wants more opportunities for Show and Tell

Health & Development
*Note: Video & Worksheet = most chosen activity last week

Creative Arts
*Note: Art Surprise = most chosen activity last week - Waratah wants to continue making Father's Day gifts but needs inspiration

To do
- Prepare a chart for recording which options are chosen each day, so I can see at a glance what options are most popular and which are not being chosen.

- Prepare a Day Sheet which will allow me to record the options as they are chosen, map out specific activities to match the options, and assign a number order to them to plan out our day.

A Happy Medium

Waratah was not happy with an overly structured curriculum approach. After four weeks he felt stifled, controlled and rebellious.

However, I am not happy with the opposite. I believe an unschooling approach would suit Waratah's learning style, but it is very unsatisfying for me. I also think Waratah prefers more routine, so long as he gets more say in what we do.

Waratah has always liked making lists of what we will do in a day, and so I am going to try this approach:
[Daily Calendar Cards]

I have created my own Daily Choice cards based on our subject areas and the activities / resources I want us to use.

Waratah chooses 5-6 cards each morning, we order them in a way which works for that day and the activities I have in mind, and take it from there! So far, so good.

Ideas for Week 6

Kindergarten

Calendar
- Attempt to reintroduce calendar time / investigate Waratah's preferences for calendar time

Religion
- Samson's riddles

Maths
- Chocolate halves and fourths (Teacher's Bag - pdf in math's resources)
- Fair or not fair? - learn to count money [Link]
- Dino footprint estimation [Link]

English
- Mum Bug's Bag
- word match - pink word cards
- Dinosaur printable book [Link]

Science & Technology: Looking around you - Why are some things in some places?
- Make a fossil from glue [Link]
- Dino trackers experiment (Baking soda and vinegar) [Link]
- Discuss fossils and vandalism [Link]
- Dinosaur pasta skeleton [Link]

Human Society & Environment: Families Past and Present - A trip to the beach.
- Show and tell
- Beach safety (discussion)
- Fun things to do
- Read a story about going to the beach
- What is your favourite thing to do at the beach?
- Write a story about going to the beach
- What other things would be fun to write a story about?
- Beach and dinosaur playscapes:
• Little beach [Link]
• Dinosaur cave [Link]
• Ocean Sensory Play [Link]

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education
- Sprint Run
• Students use a hoop or skipping rope to create a personal space. They run on the spot in this space. They practise swinging bent arms, lifting legs up high and pretending to run up a hill.
• Play “Simon says.” Ask students to run while focusing on specific body parts or movements. For example, ask students to run: taking small steps (a low knee lift); taking normal steps (a high knee lift), with and without an arm swing; with head moving from side to side; and with head held still and eyes focused ahead.
• increase the length of their stride when running by placing markers or lines on the ground to mark each time the foot touches the ground
• visualise hammering nails into the wall with their elbows to visualise arm action
• explore different hand positions to find which hand position is most comfortable, for example, pretending to carry a rolled-up newspaper or relay baton, fingers together and straight, fingers curled gently as if the thumbs are hooked into the pockets of their jeans or fingers stretched out wide.
• Let students explore running at different speeds. Discuss with students how you land on different parts of the foot when running at different speeds. Students should land on the ball of the foot when sprinting, and when running slowly or jogging, land on the heel and then roll onto the ball of the foot for take-off.

Creative Arts
- Origami dinosaurs [Link]
- Fossil rubbing

Language
- Latin names for dinosaurs

Other Activities
- Playgroup at Silverdale
- Playgroup at Penrith
- Picnic with Grandma

Preschool

- Pretend shop [Link]
- Dino Bingo (shared activity) [Link]
- Name soup [Link]
- Pre-printing practice (white board sheets)
- Animal hunt [Link]

Infant Activities

Term Planning for S&T and HS&E

Science & Technology: Looking around you
Covered so far -
Week 1: Our kitchen
Week 2: Our bedroom
Week 3: Four seasons
Week 4: Four seasons
Week 5: Why are some things in some places?

Coming up -
Week 6: At the beach
Week 7: The library
Week 8: The park
Week 9: The country
Week 10: The city


Human Society & Environment: Families Past and Present
Covered so far -
Week 1: How can we learn about our past?
Week 2: Today is the present (Past, present and future)
Week 3: Oral history
Week 4: Written history
Week 5: We order time by date

Coming up -
Week 6: A trip to the beach
Week 7: Photos as a way to share stories
Week 8: Then and now
Week 9: What is an artifact?
Week 10: At the museum

Time for a new plan

The structured work box method is not working out. Waratah does not feel he has enough control and as a result is very resistant to school time. This is translating into undesirable behaviour in other areas, as he feels a lack of connection. He is keen on learning and has many ideas. He needs a more flexible, free form plan that can follow his interests, rather than repetitive tasks. I am keeping the underlying structure based on the curriculum, but allowing more freedom for its implementation, planning subject areas over a week, rather than a list of specific activities to get through each day. I will use this journal to record our progress.

I also need start preparing Mulga for preschool work and plan development-appropriate baby activities for Boronia... One step at a time!

☺ This week, Waratah has asked for work on fossils. This should tie in well with the S&T and HS&E topics for this week.

☑ map plan & print - plan to be loose, flexible outline for the week, not a set "to do" list
☑ investigate Evernote & memclip as ways to prepare rabbit trails - decided Pinterest more useful; start specific boards for each child that they can choose activities from.
☑ implement new way to record daily learning activities. I tried a number of journalling apps, but decided Blogger was most useful due to cross-platform functionality, ability to format text, easily add website links and pictures, etc.