End of Term

This term has been a bit unusual with  Arden being at TAFE, and Irving and I doing two days of home based activities without him.  It made the dynamic quite different, given that it’s the first time that I’ve only had one child to work with.  

Overall Irving and I had a very busy term- with our STEAM group, going to see Mary Poppins, music classes and pottery.  He also started doing Nippers on Sunday, and with how active that is, he was prefering to have a quiet Monday.

Our at home learning this past semester has involved Steiner grade 5 work, and we read a picture book version of Gilgamesh by Bernada Bryson and studied some of the early cultures of the world- with a particular focus on the Mesopotamian region.

Picking mulberries

Off to see Mary Poppins

Pottery at home.

Irvings Pumpkin Carving for Halloween.

A model sailing ship bought on a day out in Fremantle.

Nippers and hanging at the beach.  In case you’re not Australian Nippers is swimming/ surf life saving training for kids.  They get to swim, paddle board, run and do relays amongst other things.  We’ve never done it with the kids before, and tbh I think it is one of the best sporting activities that we’ve ever done.  The club is very supportive, and everyone is getting behind every other member of the age group and encouraging them through some rather tiring activities.

Irving working at the sewing machine, making treasure bags to sell at the homeschoolers’ Christmas market.

Market stall on the day!  He only sold a few things at full price, and then he sold a few at a mark down towards the end of the market, and then he got into bartering.  Given his place in the family, he’s become quite good at negotiation and persuasion, and so with bartering he was in his element.  He came home with a nice array of goods from some of the other stall holders.

Irving, Damien and I went out to see the Christmas light up by ourselves this year.  Willow was down south,  Gabriel headed home as he had an early start with work, and Arden was at airforce cadets.  Gabriel joined us for dinner beforehand, and it was a pleasant evening with just the three of us.

Our next book to read, “The Phantom Tollbooth”

Arden had an interesting term at TAFE and completed his cert 3 in aviation (remote pilot) easily.  He enjoyed the course, and after some discussion we reconsidered our plans for his year 11 and instead of being home educated for the first semester we are looking at another TAFE course.  This time he’s looking at engineering.  For now he has put in an application for a couple of courses, and we’re waiting for January to hear back.

Otherwise we decided to read “The Iliad” since Arden is interested in the classics.  We have both just started and will continue to read this over the coming year.  We are up to our last 20 pages of “Tragedy and Hope” by Carroll Quigley and hope to finish tomorrow!  It’s been a bit of a challenge at times reading it together, and it does feel great to be finishing!

Arden also just completed his first year with the airforce cadets, and  has graduated to the next level.  He loved this year and is looking forward to more activities next year.  He also just passed another Japanese jujutsu belt gradings, and is finally into the adult belts!

We had a lovely relaxed end of year movie session with some home ed friends last week, when we went to see “Wonka”!  It was a great way to finish the year and now we are taking it a bit easy.

Break Time

The Summer break always goes quite quickly and with interstate visitors, a rather cool start to Summer and a few events, my planning for this year has not happened yet!  Usually I like to do it, at the end of the previous year, and then take a look the week before we start “planned” work.  Fortunately we won’t be doing any of that for a few weeks…well except a few home ed classes, so I still have a bit of time for my planning.

Gabriel will be starting TAFE tomorrow, which will be interesting, as it is his first experience of systemised education.  He has done plenty of courses, and home ed classes and volunteering over the years, but he is my first home educated child who has not been schooled.  So far I think he’s been learning a lot about how disorganised that these systems and places can be!  😀

We’ve been off to Fringe a little this year, swimming (in our pool and at the beach), relaxing at home, doing jigsaws, playing pool and pokemon, building lego and for me, quite a bit of sewing- the younger two wanted some “Hawaiian style” outfits!

Willow started a new job, as an operations assistant for a small local business.  Turns out all her volunteering to moderate on message boards was very helpful!  She was working in a local cafe last year, but was frustrated by the irregular hours and shifts, and the new work is suiting her interests and experience much more.  She has also started a basic ballet classes for adults with WA ballet which she is loving.  Currently she is also flyering for fringeworld.

So this year I am back to home educating two students.  yr6 and yr1.  At least for the first half of the year.  We will have to see what the second half will hold for Gabriel’s yr 12.

Left over pics from last year…
Silhouette drawings with home made almond charcoal.

And in regular black charcoal.

Reading on Greek Myths.  I love Padraic Colum.  He is one of our favourite children’s mythology authors.

Another favourite author.  Read this to Arden for our botanical studies this year. 

One of Arden’s cactii flowering.

Some of my recent reading. 

I’m also re-reading Harry Potter for some lighter Summer reading.  Gradually getting through it…onto book 5.  I also read “The Trial” by Kafka, after Willow, Gabriel and Damien went to see a performance it by WAAPA students, at Spare Part Puppet Theatre.

Making multi-coloured beet kvass and butter.

Christmas lights and rides around Perth. 

Arden received and built this excellent model of Leonardi’s bridge design, on Christmas.  He also got a model hyrdapault.

I made this snake outfit for Irving!

And Arden has a cat outfit.

Gabriel needed some jean repairs.

Covered one stool, that I found in hard waste last year!  The navy blue corduroy is a huge improvement.

Finally some fun on my birthday.  Rolling and running down a hill!

Break Time

We made it to our Christmas break, through our outings and our annual review.  (This last  one with a new moderator.)  Arden turned 10, and I finally sat down to plan his yr 5. 

Carving pumpkins at Halloween.

Irving discovered that he could lock our cupboards.

Irving and I discovered that Govt house’s gardens are open during the week, and we spent some time enjoying their grounds.

A selection of Arden’s craft from this year.

His cushion.

Embroidered sneakers.

Tongue drum, made at Joy of Wood class.

Weaving on the inklette loom.

Blackforest cake made for Arden’s birthday.

This year we decided to use a seasonal tree for Christmas, and thus we decorated a frangipani tree.

We have some general ideas about what Gabriel will be doing in yr 11, but the aim will be to mostly follow his interests.  Willow has just heard that she has passed all her Diploma in Classical voice subjects, and so is pleased about that.