Planning for 2013

WOW!  The past year has zipped by at a VERY rapid rate of knots! It's time to plan and purchase for 2013 already!

Flossy will be year 4, Bugsy year 2, Chicky Pre-Primary (US K equivalent) and Possum will be 2yo.

So here is what we have planned for a super fun year -

Flossy age 8, year 4 -
Galore Park Junior Maths book 2* & 3
Kumon Word Problems Grade 3* & 4
Khan Academy
Logic workbooks & games
IEW SWI-A*
Galore Park Junior English Book 2*
Classical House of Learning History & Literature (SOTW4)

Bugsy age 7, year 2 -
Rightstart C
Kumon Word Problems 2
Khan Academy
Logic workbooks & games
All About Speling 2* & 3
Explode the Code 6, 7 & 8
I See Sam Readers*
Writing With Ease 2

Chicky age 5, Pre-primary -
Rightstart B
Kumon Word Problems 1
Logic games
All About Spelling 1 & 2
Explode the Code 1, 2 & 3
Handwriting Without Tears My Printing Book
I See Sam Readers*

Possum age 2 -
Speech Therapy
Occupational Therapy

Together -
Auslan using various resources from Bilby Publishing

Engineering is Elementary which i will flesh out to include cultural study for Bugsy & Chicky as their 'program' for the year.  We will spend 2 weeks on each book, which will include the engineering project and geography/culture for the country.

Lego Mindstorms, Snap Circuits 750 & other STEM programming activities as listed here.

Come & Look with me (art appreciation)

Various art and crafts as instigated by the children

Nature study

Music appreciation (classical)

Swimming, surf club & Scouts

NOTES -
Bugsy & Chicky will not 'tag along' with Flossy for SOTW4 this year.  I think it is too heavy for them at their ages/maturity and Flossy will follow her own course of study mostly independently for the year.  Bugsy & Chicky will instead have a STEM focus for the year and Flossy will join in as her science.

Yes, we are changing up our maths.  Flossy completed the entire Miquon line up as per our maths scope and sequence posted here.  You learn a lot about a program when you complete it from start to finish that you wouldn't know without using it in it's entirety.  Whilst i love Miquon and what it has to offer i have learned that it isn't going to be the right fit for Chicky and i think Bugsy is far enough into it that it's time for a change for him.  He's set off on the right foot as Miquon is such a solid foundation that it's the right time to change him.

We are also dropping Latin.  This has been a really tough decision for me.  I can see and completely understand the benefits that Latin has however it is taking up a significant portion of my time working with Flossy and understanding it all.  Possum needs to learn more Auslan as he doesn't talk.  So we will be switching Latin for Auslan for the time being.  I already have Latin Prep from Galore Park which is what we were going to do after Getting Started with Latin.  I will now shelve this and hand it on to Flossy to complete independently maybe in year 5 or 6.

Items marked * are programs that we have been working on this year which need completion.  As we school year round we start new books as and when required, not necessarily at the beginning of the year which means that some books hang over to the following year :)

Tentative plan for 2014 is an Australian History year for everyone before beginning the 4 year history cycle again in 2015.

Impromptu Nature Study

We were out for a walk when the kids noticed the flame trees which line our local park were dropping their seed pods. On closer inspection we found some green ones, some opening still with seeds inside and some which had obviously been there quite sometime as they were hard and dry. It prompted a great discussion.

Here are some other goodies the kids picked up.

 

Don't you love it when educational opportunities pop up out of nowhere!  We were only going for a walk .

The following day on another walk around the same local park, but taking a different path, the kids again picked up some seed pods.  These ones are from a native tree.  The seeds were so thick on the ground the kids could scoop handfuls!  More discussion ensued.  When we stood quietly we could hear the seeds fall to the ground.  Here are some pics of our treasures.

There was lots of discussion about these last two pics as the kids realised that there were lots of seed pods clustered together.

Maybe i will remember to take my camera next time we head out for a 'walk'.

Morning Basket

I first read about this here and it took me here and I liked what I saw.  We've never really done 'circle time' or 'mat time'.  Generally I've got the kids ready for the day and started on something, then while they are occupied I've got myself ready and the house in order.  That's not to say that I drag my feet in the mornings, it's just how the day went.  Up until recently everyone has needed help with something and that has left me until last, and not wanting to loose their attention I just started them on a lesson and went about my business.

Over the summer however we have worked on independence and morning chores.  Whilst we still all eat breakfast together the kids are now able to dress, tidy their rooms, brush hair, empty the dishwasher, start the washing, feed the cat and get the table ready for the mornings lessons.  It keeps them busy whilst I am getting Possum and myself ready for the day.

Next we grab a cushion and make ourselves comfy on the floor in the learning area.  I choose 3-4 things from the basket and we enjoy them before moving on to anything else.  We've got some lovely things in our Morning Basket :)

Here is what is in the basket -

All About Spelling phonics cards & rules
IEW Poetry
Parables from Nature
Picture books from our Playschool shelf
Guide to the Wildlife of the Perth Region
Birds of the Greater South West (Western Australia)
Nature notebooks
Banjo Patterson A Children's Treasury
James Herriot's Treasury for Children
Can You Find It, Too?
The Children's Book of Virtues

Here is what is on the iPad but for the Morning Basket -
(these are all available free online)

The Fairy-Land of Science
The Insect Folk
Seed-Babies
Wasps and their Ways
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
Among the Farmyard People
Among the Forest People
Among the Meadow People
Among the Pond People
A Collection of Beatrix Potter Stories
The Story Hour

Occasionally i will throw in something extra like -

Sing and sign a nursery rhyme
Skip counting
Sing Advance Australia Fair
Count to 100
Sing and sign the alphabet
Australian Money
Menu planning
Clock reading
Singing from the Sing books
Map work - states of Australia, continents etc
Stretching, dancing, yoga, running, bouncing, something physical

The children have responded well to the Morning Basket.  In particular they LOVE drawing after reading from Birds of the Greater South West.  Here are some of their drawings.

Chicky's Brown Quail

Flossy's Stubble Quail

Bugsy's Emu

If you need a new way to start your day i'd encourage you to try the Morning Basket.

Warm wishes

Amber

Cactus Flower

Yesterday afternoon the children announced that a small cactus in our garden was about to flower.  On closer inspection it sure was!  I hadn't even notice that it had a bud on it before they mentioned it, oops!

9.30pm

7am

Flossy stayed up as late as she could manage to try to see the bud open but it wasn't quite open at her bedtime.  She was afraid it was a one night only flower as Nana & Poppy have a cactus that flowers for one night only and you wouldn't want to miss it, stunning!  She was up early and headed straight outside to see if the flower was still alive.  To her delight it was still alive and looking even better than it did last night!

Dolphin Discovery Centre

Today we visited the local Dolphin Discovery Centre. The session was conducted by a marine biologist who has been working with the bottlenose dolphins in our area for the past 10 years. He was very knowledgable and quite a funny guy. The kids really warmed to him and got heaps out of the session. They are keen to head back soon so that we can see some dolphins. Unfortunately we visited at the wrong time of the day. Here they are with their certificates. once again thanks go out to one of the local Mum's for organising this wonderful event! Thanks also to the sponsors who enabled our visit to be FREE.

Nature Walk

Nature Walks

We are loving being so close to a diverse range of nature opportunities. Or to put it another way we like being close to the beach, river, estuary and bush!

We have been trying to make the most of the wonderful weather before it gets too cold or too wet which it will soon. Here are some pictures from our latest walk along the river.

Kangaroo's

On Thursday we went for a picnic lunch to a local National Park to celebrate Flossy's friends 6th Birthday. We were the first to arrive and as we drove into the carpark I noticed two kangaroo's by the side of the road. We pulled into the carpark hoped out and were almost immediately confronted by the two kangaroo's.

Mother and joey by the side of the road.

They hoped from their position on the other side of the road right over to us and the mother stood up challenging me immediately!

Just before she stood up to challenge me waiving her sharp claws.

I put the kids back in the car and we watched from their until some other people arrived (kangaroo's can be quite dangerous). Whilst sitting in the car I was pondering why she would have had a problem with us. Then it occurred to me. These kangaroo's are not truly wild. They were wanting food and when I didn't immediately have something for them she stood up challenging me to find out why. Tourists to the park are not supposed to feed the wildlife, there are signs up, but it doesn't matter they still do. As a direct result these kangaroo's now come to expect it!

Whilst we were having our wonderful lunch we had to continually keep guard on the food. At one point a brazen roo approached the table and tried to pinch an entire bag of breadrolls. I managed to grab the other side of the bag just in time although he did tear the plastic.

The kids had a wonderful time playing in the park and getting wet at the waterfall. It was a fantastic birthday party!

Waiting for everyone to arrive.