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Archive for the ‘Home Ed’ Category

so what have we done today?

Well we started the day with a story in bed, followed by crumpets. We then moved onto filling the boot of the car with all the recycling from the last 3 months, which hadnt been picked up. We then went to the tip, and then to the post office.

We then drove towards Bangor, and called into the farmers shop and bought Bird food, cat food, three 75 kg  sacks of compost and a new set of over alls for Asha.   (Will try and get a photograph of her in them tomorrow, i left the camera at home all day today!) We then went to the cash and carry, but didnt buy any meat, but did get a few other bits and peices for the New freezer. (Ice cream, beefburgers, chips) and a new cereal tub for some cereal, to save it being all over the cupboard.

After that, we headed home, emptied the car, and headed over to llanberis, for a play on the public swings, which Asha truly inspired me with. Her balancing ability and confidence has exploded this week.  We then headed to petes eats for a small tea, and then back down to the laggoons, to climb trees (well asha did) Mummy just tried her hardest not to panic, or offer assistance, when it wasnt needed, and we  fed the ducks and swans, before coming home, and now she is in bed exhausted.. Me.. I am exhausted too, and gratefull that daddy does bed time!

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Asha and I havent been to the Welsh Mountain Zoo for a while, but we went on Friday, with the CLAS group.

The Welsh Mountain Zoo, is based above Conway Bay, and is a beautiful, if not hilly zoo, with fantastic views of the bays.

We were kindly taken by J, so I didnt have to drive, and Asha really enjoyed playing on the “sky line” and has really mastered making it work for her! I also took a second take at the way she swung on the rope ball, and grabbed hold of the string rope ladder, and climbed off without any help! I truly have a little Monkey at times!

As always we went to watch the Californian Sealions sealions rock , The owl getting a good long fly, and the penguins parade, and spent a while looking at the tiny meerkats.. She also enjoyed the pandas, and the snow leopard. But as she has spent most of today pretending to be an ostrich, on a nest, I guess its the Rhea;s who inspired her immediate imagination the most!

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From inside the quarry mens homes, different items from the different years. Can you name them?

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We went on Thursday with some friends, we didnt try and see all the way around, as it is fairly local to us, and Asha (and I ) was very tired by now.

A log saw,

and the saw blades!

The length of these was about 1.5 meters long!

There is a series of terraced houses at the national museum, Asha particully liked the babies crib in this house.. :d

however Asha was busy colouring in a picture of the houses,, much more interesting than her ice cream or orange juice!!!

for more info on the slate museum : http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/slate/

And we went to the cafe, and I just couldnt resist this picture!

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First off we had the education of leaving Devon, and entering into Cornwall, this included a trip over yet another fantastic bridge.

The Tamar Bridge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamar_Bridge

Second breakfast, at the Little Chef.

Whilst walking from the car park to entrance lobby we passed this, beautiful horse.

From chalk quarry, to educational paradise

Asha had a brilliant time, we could have spent all day in just the core. The whole thing was brilliant.

(this post will be extended over coming days)

We did however spend time in both of the other biodomes.

Which did make me wonder if i would go bananas at the heat, and information overload!

But luckily, we found a lovely sheltered house to rest near.

After some time, we decided it was time to eat

so asha planted some seeds, for next years harvest.

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Well we wanted to do a week, but we managed a few hectic days..

Day one, we went for a potter around Torquay. We found the joke shop

We went there a few times, they had a good range of fancy dress accessories, as well as adult masks, outfits etc..

The window was well decorated as well.

Be afraid, very....

In 199* it was year of the pedestrian, during this time a statue was put up in Torquay and the following fountains built. Whilst they are quite beautiful, I cant but think that an orchard, could have been planted instead!

There was a statue, also built to celebrate this!

Statue of Pedestrians in Torquay

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Enjoy!

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O.k. When your 5 and a half year old asks you to do “real science” as the subject for the month.. what do you do?

Well Steve armed with two ballons, one for him and one for Asha.. supervised filling them up with water, measuring around the circumfrances writing the length down and popped them in the freezer.

A few hours later, the little scientist, got frozen items out of freezer, measured them.. and noticed with glee they had grown 2 cm each! WOW..

She then asked for a big jug of warm water, and defrosted the balls of ice, stating that it was interesting how they both ended up with holes in them, and this allowed the warm water to defrost them faster as both sides of the ice had warm water on them!

My daughter is far too scientific for me!

She then got her doll and some kitchen roll, and proceded to wash her doll with the water from the jug.. saying she was being a mummy like in india…:D

We also did a fair amount of sums today. We did a good review of the 2x table, and i was pleased to see she can still do it. We discussed adding and subtraction again, and hopefully tomorrow morning when i get up, she will have done some of that too.

We also had another look at the difference between, Whooper swans, mute swans and bewick swans, as its been a few months since we have seen any around. So wanted to get these clues back into the brain, before the weekend.

Had a lovely day at home with Steve and Asha, and we even managed a good go on the violins today… It was brilliant.

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On Monday we went to portmerion, with one of Asha’s little friends, X and her Mum.
It was LOVELY as the sun was out, for most of the day and the two girls played well all afternoon, though by the end the tiredness did start to show!

I remembered to take bird food with us this time, so the girls both dropped loads in the play area, and we all enjoyed sitting outside in the sunlight to eat our lunch.. Yes in JANUARY! Must be a first!

We dropped into the shops on the way home and I bought some of that jussroll pastry. So we could bung a top on some vegetables and have veggie pie for dinner.. Yummy!

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that there are powers and energies out there which we have no control over.. Have you ever tried to catch a wave??

So for me, instead of using the word Lord i use energy…

I give this to all my friends who are finding life tough right now.

Footprints

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed He was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from His life. For each scene He noticed two sets of footprints in the sand. One belonging to Him and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of His life flashed before Him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of His life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of His life.

This really bothered Him and He questioned the LORD about it. LORD you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.

The LORD replied, my precious, precious child, I Love you and I would never leave you! During your times of trial and suffering when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

Carolyn Carty, 1963

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Since Christmas we have not really been doing much on the formal side of education.

We have done very little sit down and read or write.. and maths has been largely neglected. Probably not too worrying, as Asha can count well enough and understands all the concepts i feel she needs to right now.

Anyway, its the RSPB bird watch this weekend, and last week we bought a new bird book, so tonight we sat and wrote a list of the birds we know are found in the garden, and had a look at them in the book. We then had a look at the gulls and wrote a list of the ones we often see.

The garden list went like this:

Blue tit
Great tit
Coal tit
Robin
Tree pipit.
Song Thrush
Starling
Nuthatch.
Blackbird, Male and Female
Magpie.

The seagull one went like this:

Yellow Legged Gull… has yellow legs.. there is a surprise!
Herring Gull – pink legs
Common Gull – no red on bill and greenish legs
Kittiwake – black shortish legs.

Right so next time we are in town, and are watching the gulls, we might know which is which.. Yes??

I have also sat and gone over the parts of a plant, and hopefully tomorrow morning Asha will have cut out her plant puzzle, coloured it in and glued it onto a peice of paper…

I also hope to find the play room tomorrow and thus the education on the PC can start again, as i shall be able to reach it to help her with it!!

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So what is a “normal” day in our home?

I guess today could be counted as such.

Steve wakes up, and Asha comes to join us in bed, with her teddybear, blanket and half her bookcase. After some time Steve gets up, and Asha and steve head downstairs.

Asha will either go straight into play mode, or will demand breakfast and will sit, eat breakfast and do what ever “task” i have left for her at the table. This morning it was decorate a robin, using peices of paper and materials I had cut up for her last night. This is related to the RSPB bird watch in a couple of weeks.

Asha will either listen to an audio book whilst playing, do some reading or if tired ask for some TV. (videos) and if its video day, she will get something like Muzzy , Ray mears, or a wildlife programme. Morning TV is definatly not Daffy Duck time!

If I am very bad, she will come and join me in bed around 11, and we will sit and listen to an audio tape in bed together, or she will read to me.. Or will talk about what ever she wants to talk about. Sometimes its the imaginative world of Asha, other times its questions about absolutly anything!!

Once we have all got up and dressed, we then will either do some jobs, be it shopping, tidy play room or make clothes. We will also ensure Violin Practice, and some maths / english have been done. On arrival back home, we will sort the table out, eat dinner then its pj’s story and bed…

Inbetween this, steve and i find time to do facebook, write music, sew, read books and wash dishes… How long is our day exactly someone????

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For some time, I have been looking for something which would help me to understand the moons cycles.

I then came across a link on a friends web site, for a diary, which claimed to do such a thing.

Inspired, last week, I asked Steve to get me one. £10 felt an awful lot for a diary, so i was naturally rather worried about it. This morning my diary arrived. Its wonderful. I cannot explain to you the satisfaction of having the different calendars at ones fingertips. Knowing what celebrations are coming up for all my friends, and myself.. and the lunar cycle explained so well.

http://www.moonwise.co.uk/diary.php

Its a limited edition, but well worth still trying to get as well, i only bought mine last week!

I wish we had enough for the calendar as well, but we dont need it this year, but for any of my OU friends who are studing astronomy I can only recommend you take a look at it.

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One of the things that Asha got involved in was an animated video, with some of her friends.

We recently were informed of the result..

Wonderful stuff!

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Since December I have been really very sloppy in keeping note of what “education” we have done.

This is partly because of the christmas spirit, and partly because Asha has had a snuffly cold for a while, so were still not onto “written work”

However she now has full command of the following three works of literature :

Little Women – Louise Alcott.. to the extent that yesterday, when I asked her which was her favourite book, she informed me that ” little women is, because Joe is like you and me mummy” Slightly abashed I asked her what she meant by this” she has a tempor which rises up and we both try and control it.. but fail misserably” Well there you go…

She also asked why daddies cant always be around, and what the war was in the story. She seems to empathise a lot with the girls when they are sad..

The secret Garden – Frances Hodges Burnett. She has loved this title for some time now, and I am seriously starting to tire of it. But her games have gone from Colin;s nautyness to being an Animal Charmer.. She is no longer wanting to be like Mary Lennox, recognising that Mary has a terrible temper, which Asha says isnt like a princess… It has also encouraged a great amount of interest in india, and if anyone has any recommendations for indian literature suitable for a 5 year old i would like to hear them!!

The Little Princess, also Frances Hodges Burnett.
This is interesting as it is encouraging her good behaviour and her love of literature and her sympathetic nature. Its also bought up questions about mineing, death, quarrying.. and slavery / maids… Wonderful stuff!

She also has some command of the following works.

The Hobbit. – daddy is currently re-reading it to her.
Winnie the poo.
Hiawatha.. All these have developed a lot since November and I am pleased with these outcomes.

In December we went to a violin concert in liverpool held by the Liverpool Suzuki group, it was wonderful. Asha had a lovely evening, though she was fidgetty, after a long day in birkenhead and liverpool, visiting such wonderful places as Woodside, Birkehead, etc..

Her violin practice has been slow this month, but hopefully we will get back on track once her snuffle has gone.

Currently Asha is not interested in reading or writing. Were encouraging these skills by ensuring she always has access to pens, paper and reading fodder… I am not worried about these skills, as last time I worked on them with her, she was well within her age group needs… and well.. there is more to education!

Her fascination with local birds is continuing.. we feed them every day, and she watches them every day.. often for hours at a time.. I plan on doing more work with bird life, once I have found some more resources on it.. We certainly seem to enjoy talking about there shapes, feet, wings etc….

Crafts, before Christmas we made loads of decorations.. snowmen, candles for on the wall, birds to hang up.. all sorts, since christmas we have done some painting, some drawing and talked about the chemical reaction needed to make a crystal snow tree.

Asha has contined to spend much time doing skateboarding, walking and enjoying time outside. We have also enjoyed a trip to portmerion…

I am generally more than happy with Asha’s level of education. She is a sociable, happy child.. what else can I want?

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Up on their brooms the Witches stream,
Crooked and black in the crescent’s gleam;
One foot high, and one foot low,
Bearded, cloaked, and cowled, they go,
‘Neath Charlie’s Wain they twitter and tweet,
And away they swarm ‘neath the Dragon’s feet,
With a whoop and a flutter they swing and sway,
And surge pell-mell down the Milky Way.
Betwixt the legs of the glittering Chair
They hover and squeak in the empty air.
Then round they swoop past the glimmering Lion
To where Sirius barks behind huge Orion;
Up, then, and over to wheel amain,
Under the silver, and home again.

Walter de la mer.

Asha now also knows witch witchWitch, Witch

Witch witch, where do you fly?
Under the clouds and over the sky.

Witch, witch, what do you eat?
Little black apples from Hurricane Street.

Witch, witch, what do you drink?
Vinegar and good red ink.

Witch, witch, where do you sleep?
Up in the clouds where the pillows are cheap.

And the french one… C’est une sorciere

which i will type the words in sometime to…

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Bats are nice
Bats are fat

I like Bats, I like Bats.

I dont know why nobody seems to like bats.
I think bats are nice.

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“Schools are an utter waste of young life.

By the way, if either Simon Schama or David Starkey are reading this, they should cover their eyes now. “I am not a historian. I am a children’s author,” Deary says. “I’ve got no qualifications in history. And that’s a massive advantage in reaching my audience. Because historians like Simon Schama and David Starkey just stand on television and lecture you. And when they write books, they’ve got the same lecturing voice. But mine is more: ‘You’ll never guess what I’ve found out! It’s shocking!’”

More than this, though, Deary is profoundly opposed to schools. That is, to the institution of school itself – to the extent that he will never accept an invitation to give a talk in one.

“I get 200 requests a year and the answer is no,” he says. “I detest schools with a passion. I’d rather cut off my left arm and eat it with Marmite than go into a school. And I don’t even like Marmite.

“Schools are an utter waste of young life. Learning things that will never be any use to you. The only reason they are there is to keep kids off the street. They were a Victorian invention. The Industrial Revolution took kids from their families and made the parents work in factories long hours. Then they said, ‘we can’t have these little kids working here.’ So what do we do? Lock them all up in the same room all day and we’ll call it school. I spent hours learning trigonometry, physics, none of which prepared me for life. Relationships, talking to people, managing money, planning your career, how to help someone who has cut their leg open. I have had to learn these things by default.

Terry Deary, the creator of the Horrible Histories

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6120942/Horrible-Histories.html

Oh soooo true!

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The BFI did a top 50 films all kids must see….and it went like this…

1. The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz/William Keighley, 1938, USA)
2.Au revoir les enfants (Louis Malle, 1987, France/W.Germany)
3.Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985, USA)
4.Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale/Kirk Wise, 1991, USA)
5.Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948, Italy)
6.Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry, 2000, UK/France)
7.A Day at the Races (Sam Wood, 1937, USA)
8. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982, USA)
9.Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990, USA)
10.Etre et Avoir (Nicolas Philibert, 2002, France)
11.Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton/Lee Unkrich, 2003, USA)
12. It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946, USA)
13.Jason and the Argonauts (Don Chaffey, 1963, UK/USA)
14.Kes (Ken Loach, 1969, UK)
15.The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921, USA)
16. King Kong (Merian C.Cooper/Ernest B.Schoedsack, 1933, USA)
17.Kirikou et la sorcière (Michel Ocelot, 1998, France/Belgium/Luxembourg)
18.La Belle et la bête (Jean Cocteau, 1946, France / Luxembourg)
19.Le Voyage dans la lune (Georges Melies, 1902, France)

20.Les Quatre cents coups (Francois Truffaut, 1959, France)
21.Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953, France)
22.My Life as a Dog (Lasse Halstrom, 1985, Sweden)
23.My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988, Japan/USA)
24. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955, USA)
25.Oliver Twist (David Lean, 1948, UK)
26.The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983, USA)
27.Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955, India)
28.Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967, France/Italy)
29.The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987, USA)
30.Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002, Australia)
31.Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981, USA)
32.The Railway Children (Lionel Jeffries, 1970, UK)
33.The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse, 1956, France)
34.Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrman, 1996, USA)
35.The Secret Garden (Agnieszka Holland, 1993, UK/USA)
36.Show Me Love (Lukas Moodysson, 1998, Sweden/Denmark)
37. Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly, 1952, USA)
38. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney, 1937, USA)
39. Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959, USA)
40.The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973, Spain)
41.Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001, Japan)
42. Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977, USA)
43. To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962, USA)
44.Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995, USA)
45.Walkabout (Nicholas Roeg, 1971, UK)
46.Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 2002, New Zealand)
47.Where is the Friend’s House? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987, Iran)
48.Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961, UK)
49.The White Balloon (Jafar Panahi, 1995, Iran)
50. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939, USA)

What are your top 10 films for children (under 14)

1. Watership down.
2. Kes
3. The Secret Garden
4. Never Ending Story
5. The Railway Children
6. Narnia
7. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
8. The Hobbit
9. Midsummer Nights Dream
10. Raiders of the lost Ark.

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