HOMESCHOOLING GRADE 1

Hi Every one,
Yes it is official, we are now homeschooling.

Thomas is 6 and after much consideration I decided to introducing a more structured approach to education. It was a very difficult decision because I do really enjoy an unschooling approach to learning but Thomas had reached a point where he was needing more but had set boundaries. [example- His opinion on numbers - Because he is 6 he only needs to count to six. He can count higher, but if you show him a number over 6 and ask him to name it, he would respond by saying "Oh I know that number, it is more than six." So on the upside he comprehends bigger than/smaller than. But he did this with the number 5 when he was 5yrs old and with 4 and 3 in their respective years.]

Many homeschool parents have similar questions, so here is a brief summary of the approach/decisions we have made. These are relevant for our family now and could change at any point, we are learning and growing and are willing to submit to life's experience as a willow branch does in the wind.

APPROACH

The time frame needed for grade one will depend on Thomas' ability to grasp concepts. He is a young 6 yr old and we feel no need to rush through grade one in a single year. We initially started with 30min and are now up to 60min. I will remain at 60minutes until I start to introduce the recorder and then knitting lessons.

MATHS - Waldorf inspired approach to maths - 3 lesson blocks for grade one.

http://waldorfmaths.blogspot.com/

FORMDRAWING - Yes we will continue doing this while focusing on straight line and curves. Doing these in sand with fingers, air with feet and ribbon sticks, and on paper in the mainlesson block

LANGUAGES
ENGLISH - Waldorf and Charlotte Mason [Footprints]
2ND - AFRIKAANS - Karl will be teaching this cause I speak with a heavy english accent. Janet recommend these books

bought at Bargain Books are called:Superfiks Graad 1 ISBN 978-0-636-04919-2 / 0-636-04919-1 Publisher Maskew Miller Longman

Oxford First Bilingual DictionaryISBN 978 0 19 576802 2

MUSIC - recorder [still need to figure this one out]

KNITTING - Finger knitting, making of knitting needles, knitting in plain

LEGALITIES and ASSOCIATIONS - For now we will not be reistering with the govt [until I have all necessary medical documentation on hand] and will not be joining any trusts. Our family is a member of CHE and will remain so for 2009.

Learning through Imitation

On the right is the leaf pocket gnome that I felted for Thomas and gave to him for advent. Next to it is the companion he made for it.

He is so supple, and uses he feet to hold his needle felting sponge in place.

Needle Felted Houdini Hippo

We are reading Houdini's Adventure. He was the young hippo bull who escaped from Rondevlei Nature reserve and went walkabout in the residential suburb of Zeekoevlei. Written by Nikki Berry who was part of the crew who eventually caught him and relocated him. It is a really great read and though they say "will intrigue all children from ages of 6-12" I find myself really enjoying it.

The animals [especially the birds] are illustrated well and the author has captured their personality well.

We also bought a children's bird of South Africa book, so we are learning all the birds at the same time. [my first book of Southern African Birds - SASOL - ISBN 978 1 77007 2831]




Yes I know, my picture is crappy again...

But this time I think it is my felting, I'm not sure why Houdini is so fluffy?

Our Lipbalm Recipe

We had a great day making lip balm. It was really easy, we melted the following ingredients in a glass bowl floating in a larger bowl of boiling water ~

2 Tablespoon Bees wax
7 Tablespoon Jojoba Oil [or you can use Olive oil - thanks Kristie]
1 teaspoon honey
1 drop essential oil


Oliver points out his favourite ingredient. We bought the jojoba oil from Camphill Village yesterday and the lavender essential oil is from a very small lavender field in the midlands meander that we visited on our 3 week holiday last year.



Thomas pressed the honey out while Oliver did quality control. erm....



Thomas is fascinated with the alphabet at the moment, he is constantly in auto-learning mode.


We used unprocessed bees wax straight from the honey room. It had honey in it so we used a little less honey. The jojoba oil is such a lovely golden colour .


Here is our bottle of yummy lip balm that is a low environmental impact product. The bottle is a recycled pro-biotic jar, so this is a double score.

My discoveries over the last 2 days have highlighted the necessity to make my own skin care range.

The products available commercially have very little regard for the long term health and environmental effects.

The use of these products also feeds the large corporation wheel, which is also bad. So I urge you all to make your own products.

Next I want to make more soap so that I have stock for the year ahead.

Then I want to learn to make
1] A heel balm [I love going barefoot on the farm]
2] Anti wrinkle cream [erm... My age is marking my face]
3] Shampoo
4] sigh... anything else that can help me lower my carbon footprint.

Thomas and Oliver

Olicer helped me with some baking and he washed the bowl - LOL


Some older photos that I adore from March

Thomas decided to make an airoplane, so he set to work with scraps from the workshop.

Easter at the sea side and THE MONSTER!

Today we visited my mom, Alf Jimmy and Nicole at their beach cottage in St Helena Bay. Thomas and Olli enjoyed the seaside and we did drawing of the sea and the day.

Oliver drew a picture oh his dad on the Kayak...Can you see it?[I will send a prize for the person who can see it]

Thomas drew his sand castle with the pond at the base, sea in the back ground.

Nicole and I did a combo picture showing the bucket that got washed out to sea. Jimmy[AKA the hero] jumped on the paddle ski and braved the kelp and came back with the bucket on his head.

We got home at 9 tonight to discover this spider. WHAT IS WITH THESE SPIDERS??? I have never had so many spiders in the house. I believe the Eucalypts are shedding more bark this year so maybe this is why... any on know the answer?

Any way we caught it [oh.... mmm... WE = "Karl there he is! hurry up! Catch him!"]

It is a baby [like that makes a difference!] so we put it in a fish feed bottle and Thomas got to hold the container.

Karl shook it out onto my table [what was he thinking? LOL] and took these additional photos. ENJOY [yeh right :-)]

Birthing of the cows

The cows were birthing today, Thomas wanted to see the cows lick the afterbirth off the new calves. He had witnessed this with the goats and had learnt that it was a form of encouragement and a moment for bonding. He told me that it was special to witness it.
Here are our drawings
Thomas was really excited to draw the cows, so have a close look. There are 3 cows, the top one has an udder like a camel hump. Ouch... walking must hurt her...
Here is a close up of the bottom two, It is a baby drinking from its mom. Sweet.... did you notice how all of Thomas' cows like to smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oliver drew [in 30 seconds flat] a cow having a wee.... We were with in 4 meters of over 50 cows and their weeing sounded like a waterfall. [which happened every couple of minutes] so it is no wonder that this fact caught Oliver's attention.

My poor calf, it looks like a ghost with that dead eye.:-(
I guess drawing with a 3 and 5 yr old is challenging, I never get the time to finish my work, but it teaches me to stop wanting my doodles or drawings to be perfect.
And this is a great lesson for me. I guess my children are often the teacher. Funny thing though... I really need to slow down to hear the lessons they have to teach.

Nature study walk

Today we decided to do a nature study [Homeschooling does not know when it is Sunday!] We loaded up a blanket, our nature study books, crayons and pencils then went walking in our lane.

Thomas found a spider [yawn], but on Kristies advice I decided to focus on spiders. So we sat down and drew the spider.

Oliver scribbled for a while and then began to pick wheat. I'm not sure if he tried to draw a spider, but this could have been one....

Thomas diligently finished his work then we all picked wheat together. His picture is of a big yellow tree with spiders on the end of the branches, I love the leaves. So Sweet!

Thomas was disgusted with my drawing. According to him, the spider was in a crease in the tree and I drew it as if it was living in our house. So I quickly included a leaf. To which he asked "Mommy, where do you see a leaf like that? I cant." Mmmm I think he believes himself to be the teacher. LOL I did consider asking him where the yellow tree is :-)

Well I definitely am not artist, in fact my pictures are quite silly. But I know my silly work inspires some of you to also draw with your kids. It is a great gift to give your children, the freedom of artistic expressionism.

Interestingly, we found two stick insects on the wheat. They were both brown but looked quite different. I was amazed to see life in the old and dry wheat field. But the stick insect study got really exciting when we came home. While eating a apple and drinking a glass of water on the back steps, Oliver squealed with delight, he found a huge stick insect. This is the most beautiful stick insect I have ever seen. He is also the biggest stick insect I have ever seen. Here he is ....

He was green and white striped with the most amazing tail. Can you see the tail?

I love the next picture ... The shadow is amazing.

Spiderswebs and the darn spiders

Today we moved the studio so Thomas and Oliver got hold of yarn remnants and made our stoep into a very [very] large spiders web with a beach and picnic spot in the middle. The logic was... well that is where the spider sits and eats...


Honestly, I thought this was really cute.... but no.... that is not where the spider fiasco was to end!!!! This evening while answering emails my boarder collie, lady-girl was intrigued with my thigh. I looked down and this is what I saw..


Yuck... I screamed and screamed and screamed. Karl jumped up horrified at my screaming, I don't even scream for snakes! He help me strip my clothes off in an attempt to find the spider. But he was gone! Finally we found him in the folds of the couch. [and a field mouse under the couch] It is a baboon spider and here is a great link http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/arachnids/spiders/theraphosidae/ filled with info and reassurances.

This is what I call an ugly face!

He is huge...In fact he is closer to 6cm....

Karl loves the marking on his back - I think the spider is awful! We will release him later tonight... far far far away from our house. I hope he never comes back.

Bye bye Mr Baboon spider!

Beeswax Crayons

I realy want to make some beeswax crayons. mmm Not sure if Karl will be impressed if I keep using all the wax, but heh, its for the kids!

Have you made your own crayons?
Anyone got any suggestions?

Someone, somewhere sent me this recipe.
hope its fine to publish on my blog. :-)

Homemade Beeswax Crayons Recipe
Parts by weight:
1 part grated soap (use a glycerin soap for harder crayons--otherwise plain Ivory works well)
1 part beeswax
paste food coloring

Melt the beeswax in a small clean soup can placed in boiling water. Add the grated soap and stir until the soap melts and the mixture is smooth. Color the mixture with concentrated paste food colors (available in the cake decorating aisle). Create personalized molds with aluminum foil. Coat your mold with Crisco. Pour wax mixture
into lubricated aluminum foil molds. After testing the crayon, it can be melted again and more pigment added. Use separate cans for making individual colors.
Notes:
*** Approximately 2 Tablespoons of grated soap and wax and a pea sized dab of coloring is sufficient for 1-2 small block crayons.
*** For older children or adults, you may use artist's fresco pigments instead of food coloring for richer results. Use with caution as some pigments are not safe for consumption.
*** if the melted mixture seems very lumpy (rather than smooth and clear) add some more beeswax.
*** try pouring one color, let cool and add another to create a rainbow crayon
*** if removed gently from mold while still warm, you can finish shaping them with your hands easy enough.

“To educate the whole child, his heart and will must be reached, as well as his mind.”

The Farm Fire

Here is a good reason to stop smoking!


Karl trying to help the wetlands and stop it burning further. the wetlands is the last of the local natural green belt and is filled with small animals and wild plants and bulbs.
Farmers trying to protect their lands - riding in the smoke!
My boys love the tractor photos :-) [weak smile]
The sunset in the aftermath - Its good to know that tomorrow life will being all fresh and new.

I used this opportunity to explain what the wild animal do when faced with fire. I will read a book tonight on the animals of farthingwood [sp?]

Our hearts garden

Thomas - His interpretation of the poem








The Heart
The heart is a garden where thought flowers grow
The thoughts that we think are seeds that we sow.
Each kind, loving thought bears a kind, loving deed
While the thought that is selfish is just like a weed.
We must watch what we think each moment, all day
And pull out the weed thoughts and throw them away.
And plant-loving seed thoughts so thick in a row
There will not be room for weed thoughts to grow.
- unknown

This poem is great, and have been so eager to read it with Thomas. He usually responds badly to poetry and song, but he really liked this one. [Hooray - this feels like a milestone]
After the reading my boys chatted with each other about the seeds they would sow. Thomas said he would plant yellow sunflowers [amazing], while Oliver was focused on Purple. [so cute!]
I then read the poem several more times while we quietly sat and drew our gardens. Thomas is really into brown at the moment. I find it quite dull but he says it is beautiful and is the colour of wood! I guess he is right, I just really wanted to see colourful flowers.



My doodle is just a doodle. Please - no art critics allowed LOL

Spiral and Hearts

I love to doodle, Simple doodles that celebrate movement and colour. As a child I loved doodling with colour shading and I still aspire to do this.


The great thing about doodling now is that Thomas [5] loves to join in. He gets his own doodle box out and draws whatever he wants. Today he focused on hearts, something that he has not drawn before. We were both very pleased with our creations so decided to share.




We hope you like our drawings

Valentineday Felt hearts

Today Thomas asked if we could make pillows.
This was a great idea, we made felt hearts and filled them with fresh lavender to hang on our head boards.



In this climate that fresh lavender will dry quickly and until then we will have the fresh scent in our rooms.

I chose to use Dutch Lavender as it has a high camphor. This will help clear congestion and the lanvender will help every one sleep well.

BEAUTIFUL YELLOW JAM

The last of our candlemas celebrations was a harvest.



We collected all of the fallen granadillas in the garden while Oliver harvested the green ones... I asked him to leave them till purple but he felt the green ones were special. I let him continue while considering that the green ones will be higher in pectin and could help the jam set.



Look at the beautiful boiling jam making a C for Candlemas - LOL



Oh the colour of glorious sun!




Bottles ready for gifts [and for eating!]

We painted a wet on wet painting of the yellow sun shining down and drying the wheat into a golden yellow. Tomorrow we cut up the paintings and make jam jar labels.

Sand Candles

Thanks Kristie for this great idea... Here is how Olli and I made a sand candle.

Wet some sand or soil [sand creates a smoother look while soil looks more organic]
Then gently push your shape [I used a Pesto Princess bottle]into the soil to the desired depth.


Lift out the shape
Tie your wick around a stick and then cut it to the depth of you mould.
Pour your melted beeswax into the sand mould [try not to mess like I did -LOL]
Reposition the stick with the wick into position.


Lastly...Leave over night to set.
NB...If you disturb it to soon it will ruin the project.

WELL...
I'm not blessed with patience so Oliver and I checked it was cool and dug it out. Oliver had helped me through out the process so he was delighted to hold the lit candle. Oh what an angelic photo, I love my baby boy...


Here is what it looks like after one supper.




2nd Feb, we had friends arround for a candle lit garden supper and ate lots of round foods. The best was the roasted camerbert topped with a homemade Honey and raspberry sauce. Yum