Term 2

I’ve been meaning to post this for a few weeks, but our term was hectic and our holidays have involved doing a bunch of catch up work at home! Normally I like to keep our at home life and our out of home life nicely balanced, and this year there is a lot more out of home activity than usual.

The whole family in various groups made it out to see Agatha Christie’s, Mouse Trap, at His Majesty’s theatre. One of the best performances that we’ve been to in years!

Irving was doing local history this past term, and we did a bunch of local walks and excursions, including heading to the roundhouse in Fremantle. We also did some watercolour painting to create a map of WA.

Watching Bluegrass Parkway perform in the mall.

There’s been a lot of gardening happening here, as Irving has taken an interest in plants, and in particular herbs. He’s even taken up writing about them! Not something I expected, but a pleasant surprise. Arden got a new pot for his lemon tree, and Irving’s herb collection continues to grow.

We spent a lovely day at Penguin Island with some homeschool friends- doing the Penguin tour, and the sealion cruise, and taking a walk around the Island. The rain had really settled in the walk before, and we were *very* lucky and got a perfect day! Everyone was so tired on the way home, that there was dozing on the public transport!

Irving and I also ended up at Araluen helping to plant for their Tulip festival. Arden was busy doing a two day TAFE taster course, learning about tiling and bricklaying.

Irving got one of his t-shirt designs printed off Red Bubble.

Arden did some chemistry and we focused on salts. There was collecting river and ocean water to make sea salt, soap making, and electrolysis. Overall it was a very interesting block. The soap was made using ghee, as Arden was interested to see how that would come out- it very quickly changed from a rich yellowy colour to a creamy colour. We are yet to try this batch, as it finishes maturing- probably we will try it later this week. (For those that don’t know- soap is a salt- the combination of lye and fat). In our first electrolysis experiment we separated hydrogen and oxygen, and in our second we used a copper cathode and anode, and displaced the copper.

We all did our first Joy of Wood class with Greg Miller again, after quite a few years. This time the focus was on whittling birds.

It was our turn to host book club, as Irving’s book- “Nancy Drew” was chosen for the term. Since the focus was mysteries, we found some mazes of varying levels for the kids to try out. We also had a turn hosting a week of our steam group- this time we made nib pens. There was a little bit of chaos, when we couldn’t get the council’s oven to work, but once we got over that hurdle, it was a fun session, with the kids getting to try nib pens and feather pens, and then creating their own pen from a feather. We got a lot of inspiration for how to make the nib pen, from the How to Make Everything Youtube channel, which we love!

To finish the term we moved onto the human body, and we watched quite a few Operation Ouch episodes, but mostly we focused on reading Bill Bryson’s “The Body”. We haven’t yet finished, though as usual he has all sorts of fascinating stories about the development of our understanding of the body.

This week we get back into term time, with classes on again. Other than having to be out and about more, we’re still taking it slowly at home, as I find taking a longer mid-year break helps us to be motivated for the rest of the year.

End of Term 1

Our first term was very full, and filled with lots of interesting outings and activities- this term is looking to be similar so far!

Irving’s pottery class has been going well, and we even started watching “The Great Pottery Throw Down” to compliment all the learning in the class that he’s been attending in Guildford. It’s also become a bit of a thing, to stop and look at interesting pottery shops.

Picking up a cute pot after pottery class.

And cute fish.

We continued on with Norse myths learning to write in Runes, drawing and painting some of the Gods and characters and reading Padraic Colum’s version, and also reciting “The Poetic Edda- Voluspo”, as well as reading some of “The Viking Tales” (we’re big fans of Norse Mythology here!)

Irving’s and my paintings.

Irving’s,my and Arden’s work.

Norse Reading.

Arden has been reading “The Greek Treasure” by Irving Stone, because we really enjoyed his book on Michaelangelo, this one took us awhile to get into, and Arden is still finishing it. It became much more interesting to read when Henry Schliemann discovered Troy. It’s possible to virtually view some of the Schliemann’s discoveries on this Russian Museum’s site.


Arden finished the term looking at the way different aspects of the world are integrated together, doing some reading,writing and watching “Brian Cox’s Forces of Nature” series. We finished off with looking at the Gaia theory, and the idea that the Earth is a living complete organism.

Irving looked at local Aboriginal culture, and we learnt about how the aboriginal people cultivated the land, and how that knowledge had been suppressed in our culture, We listend to Bruce Pascoe’s tedtalk on this topic. We also read February Dragon, by Colin Thiele. A fabulous book the illustrates so well, the ever present danger of bushfires in Australia.

Hard waste collection happened again, and this time we found a vintage coffee table- it appears to be one of a set of nesting coffee tables originally. Irving and I are hoping to spend some time on it, repairing it.

Irving enjoyed our steam group this term and there were lots of interesting lessons on anatomy, and was complimented at home with watching “Operation Ouch” on some of the topics we covered- including the hand and it’s joints, the brain, the heart, the bladder, the kidneys.

One of the completed activities from our Steam group.

Towards the end of term, we attended our first home school sport’s day for the family. Arden was too old to participate, but acted as assitant coach with the Team captain, and joined the parent’s races for some of the activities. Though the kids were keen to have him join in the parents versus kids, tug of war. Irving had a great time doing all the activities- three legged races, egg and spoon, relays. The only down side was it was the last very hot day of Summer and the first very hot day, we’d had for a week or so, so we were all struggling in the heat a little. Much fun was had at the end, with water fights, to cool off!

Damien, Arden and I headed to ECU Joondalup to find out about their aviation course, and to see their open day generally. We had a good chat with a couple of the lecturers there, and saw the flight simulators in action. Arden used one, and very nicely took off, flew and landed. It was interesting for me to see, because I had only ever seen his first home education session on a simulator, some years ago, where he needed a lot of help. After his years in the flying club at Bull Creek, he really knows what he’s doing.

Arden’s lemon tree is doing very well.

Okonomiyaki by Arden.

New shorts for Irving.

Black and white sesame balls.

Term 2….

This year keeps on rushing on, and I keep meaning to post more regularly on here, though we just seem to have a constant flow of activities and interests going on that these days journalling our learning on here is not the priority it once was.  Particularly as I now have a sense of understanding and confidence in where a home education journey leads.

And so here are some highlights from our second term this year.

Making a ladder for a fairy house.

Runes from the Viking exhibition at the Maritime museum.

Working on watercolours, with a particular focus on mixing greens.

WASO concert.

Learning to rollerskate.

A favourite read around here- George MacDonald’s at the back of the North Wind.

 

 More watercolours- this time exploring Arden and I were exploring red, whilst Irving did his own thing.

Working on geometry.

Woodwork.

Pyjamas for Arden.

Amazing autobiography on life in the North Territory.  “We of the Never Never”.

ROKR clock project.

Dying with tumeric and repairing a vintage dress.  Experimenting with mordants and getting various shades of yellow from the tumeric.

The old entrance to the Subiaco oval.

 

Term 1 Highlights

This year so far, has been very full, and thus I have managed to neglect this page rather badly!  We tend to start the year a bit more slowly and relaxedly, spending a lot of time outdoors and doing activities, and whilst we did this, we didn’t spend quite as much time as other years.

Arden flying his balsa wood plane.

Wandering around the Perth Hills.

Foraged some pears!  🙂

We started this year with some colour painting, and focusing on what the colour expressed/felt to us.  Everyone came out with different ideas

Yellow finished.

Blue.

Green.

Orange.

Then we progressed onto modelling and drawing shapes.

Spheres.

We’ve been reading Uncle Tungesten, by Oliver Sacks, as a family this year, and it has led to some interesting spontaneous science.

A well-loved copy of the book!

Experimenting with burning string, to see how the idea of the first filament came about.

There was an attempt to dissolve chalk in vinegar, but during this process (the chalk *didn’t* dissolve) we did more research and discovered modern day chalk, is actually gypsum.  Thus the lack of dissolving was explained!

Building out of blocks is always popular here!

Working on prisms.

Trying out a flight simulator.

Irving spotted this mysterious door way at the Perth mint- hard to see in this pic, but there are stairs and no door.  So we wandered in, and had an impromptu history lesson.  Apparently the door used to be the way they brought gold into the building, but eventually they stopped delivering it that way, and they bricked in the door.  Best bit, is that there is still a padlock on the gate!

Moving onto some Chinese calligraphy painting.

A beautiful sunset on a train ride home from the beach.

And some craft- Arden and I have been doing a little crocheting again this term, working on dishcloths.

Plus I finished a quilted skirt for the winter.  I’m looking forward to being toasty warm.

Otherwise Arden and  I have continued to work through our JUMP maths program.  He has taken up journalling in the mornings. Plus our final new section of work for the term was starting on Gilgamesh and learning about Mesopotamia.  We still have a little more to do on that theme.

Gabriel has been doing latin this term, WWI and WWII history studies, English-so far with a focus on grammar, Maths, and Art- currently he is working on 3D modelling using blendr.

Cheers!

On a recent homeschool morning, Arden and I had a pleasant time doing some school work in the park, playing games in the playground and watching some ducks.  On our journey home, we stopped for a drink, at a local cafe, and found they had this very cute Easter window display.  We both liked the way the reflection came up in the picture.

Arden has been experimenting with milkshakes recently (Gabriel started the unusual flavoured milk shake thing a few years ago).  Arden’s shot of his drink.

This one shows up the point of interest.  Sweet paprika sprinkled on top!  The rest of it was vanilla (from a vanilla pod, cinammon and honeycomb)

And the following day, a chocolate version (you can see the honeycomb sinking!)

I’m currently working on knitting Damien a tie, in a biege sock wool, with purple spots.  I found a pattern online, and have made some adjustments to it.
http://www.purlbee.com/the-purl-bee/2012/1/19/lauras-loop-father-and-son-knit-ties.html
Arden is still working away at his knitting, and is doing really well.  He’s picked up the knack of it very quickly.  Presently he knits 2rows a day, and it shouldn’t be long til we can turn his knitting into a bag for his doll, Honey.
Gabriel is just in the process of turning the heel in his sock, so the end is getting nearer, which will be very satisfying.

Willow went to a history workshop at the Perth history centre recently and found it useful.  I was under the impression that it would be more of a look at an individual historical person/ incident, but it was more of a discussion about the centre and how they collect and store historical information, according to Willow.  Anyway, she really enjoyed it, so that was the main thing.

As part of history month, there was a display of old cars, bikes, buses and prams in Fremantle, so we went down to take a look.  Gabriel and Arden were both lucky enough to be invited to try out an old Harley.  It was very much like this.

Dancing, Numbers, Astronomy.

Our dancing class recommenced this week, so we had our first lesson in timing and harmony for Rockabilly.  I’m not expecting to get to most of them, since baby no 4 is due so soon, but hopefully I’ll be able to watch some and get some direction from Willow, on anything that I miss.  It’s been great getting into going to these lessons and seeing how everyone is learning something from them.  Even Arden who sits and draws, whilst the lesson is on, has picked up a few of the basic foot steps.

This week Arden and I have been working on numbers- using the JUMP curriculum and also modelling them in modelling wax.

Gabriel has been working on the second half of his astronomy block. He’s been looking at moon phases, and constellations this week as well as doing some reading and writing about Venus.  Our form drawing took the form of an old style compass to compliment this week’s work.

This is mine.

 

Willow has been busy working on her last segment of history for this block- reading Dr Zhivago, and looking at the Industrial Revolution, WW1, WW2 and the period of peace in between. I decided that Dr Zhivago would make a good book for this period, as it covers the Russian class system, the Revolution and  changes occurring due to war- so a fairly broad scope of some of the issues of the time. She’s decided to make the focus of her written piece, this time, about Cadbury, and how ethically minded he was regarding his workers.

Meanwhile she’s getting very adept with her circus skills. Here’s a one handed handstand!