Author: annebieleski

I am an ex primary teacher... ex because of regulations saying that you have be fully registered within 5 years of graduating and I only ever worked part-time due to art school, a science job... life. (Now temporarily not an ex teacher as I have re-done my qualifications but still haven't gone back to a classroom). I was never going to be a conventional teacher, I wanted to be like my Mum who was a most awesome teacher and had the freedom to teach how she wanted. I am intellectually interested in education. I have spent 20 something years working in early childhood... part time of course! I had nearly 6 years learning alongside Helena at Playcentre. My daughter has refused to go to school so I am fortunate enough to spend time watching her do her stuff and trying some experiments on her. I think learning is easy and happens all the time for every one which is what I want to show on this blog. And it turns out Homeschooling is just fun.

Putting together

After all the pulling apart the 40 year old plastic meccano came out.. Here is everyone queuing (an ongoing theme of Helena’s) for a turn to have something made for them.. There was a little bit of following the instructions but lots had to be adapted to the individual needs of each client. She liked…

Pulling apart

Helena has decided pulling things apart is fun. We had a free view box that no longer works. It’s hard to teach kids about Electronics when this is what they look like. I remember making a radio that I had to solder but there weren’t that many pieces and it wasn’t a difficult map but…

Lockdown biking

Like lots of other people we did some biking during Lockdown. I was astounded by all the people, especially families, out biking. We usually bike but this was biking on the road with NO cars just other cyclists. It was wonderful. We did lots of road code stuff about indicating, so far she’s only confident…

Synchronicity

Helena brought this with some of her birthday money. It was something that she’d wanted for ages… A lockable journal… the lockable part was the important part it’s glitteryness just a bonus. I actually remember really wanting and having something like this. It was like reliving a part of myself, though I had no secrets….

a little responsibility

There is some sort of quiet revolution happening… a revolution of responsibility, or perhaps it is initiative. That toothbrush made it’s way to the recharger with absolutely no input from me. Helena identified the problem, worked out the solution and took the initiative in solving it. That has been happening a bit recently. She makes…

When I grow up…

When I was a kid I wanted to make dioramas as my job. I was inspired by all those museums that have now gone all glam and interactivey and thrown out their dioramas. Of course I could have followed some path that made me make movie sets or some such but the idea of going…

the backward slide rant..

Lockdown is mostly done, the kids are going back to school. Now there are the inevitable conversations about the backward slide, all those gains that school makes in your kids have gone… This is wrong on so many levels: The assumption is that what they learn at school is the stuff that counts. That life…

This game again

Helena got up before me this morning and as I heard not a peep from her I lazed about for ages. When I eventually got up she was drawing a grid thing on a piece of paper and she was classifying her soft toys. Classification happens in her play all the time, rocks, buttons, toys……

Non democratic meetings

Helena and I have a weekly meeting, mostly on Monday mornings. They are not much fun. They are mostly for me. I am honest with her that as a homeschooling family we have to document her learning, the government requires us to teach “as well as and as often” as a regular school. We can…