We were having dinner at a cafe, dining outside at dusk on a truly beautiful evening, and two very worried young women appeared trying to find their car keys. We shook our bean bags but no joy, then one of the women looked in a barrel she’d been sitting at and there they were at…
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.
School as you play it
The kids got Explorer Packs from the Botanical gardens. They contain; a “work book,” pencils, a wooden bingo board of natural items, a laminated treasure hunt with whiteboard markers to tick off particular colours as you see them, duck food, an animal identification book and binoculars. All of which are not as Important as the…
More on water slides..
When adults run a water slide it looks like this: One at a time Evenly allocated water Not much soap Adult does the heavy work Lasts maybe an hour Orderly que down the side Losts of waiting No walking up the slide Waiting until the person who has been gets off the end before the…
Doing something wrong
Yesterday I was annoyed by a child that was exhibiting all the characteristics I think are important; creative, independent of body and thought, acting on their desires, go getting it, trying to make things actually happen, questioning authority, reasoning, and negotiation, but what did I do? I resorted to being ‘the authority.’ I said “no”…….
Mixed age play
When we put children in a classroom full of children the same age what happens is we reduce learning opportunities. Why do we do it? A lot of this is due to institutional structures. In Early Childhood you have to have particular ratios of adults to children which is all decided by the age of…
STEaMs
Is an acronym, in our little jargon world of acronyms, for Science, Technology, Engineering, a very little a for art (just a token), and Maths… Today I heard it called what it really is, “job training”, readying our kids for those jobs of the future. It has become a buzz word, something your kid needs…
“My life has no purpose without books”
Helena had a moment of loud distress as we sat out side the library and I told her we couldn’t get any books out, I was only dropping books off as we are off on holiday. I like that she feels her life isn’t as good without books especially as it’s make your kid read…
It’s all in the timing..
Helena doesn’t like to write… not even ‘Happy Birthday’ and I don’t make her, well except her name in cards so people know who it’s from. Why would I make her?- to guarantee she hated it? Imagining even trying to make her is making me smile. It’s just not possible. There are several issues at…
2019 the report
School is over for the year… Here is Helena 3 months later reading her report… being reflective.
a little reflection..
I think it is important to reflect. It’s an important part of learning, all that metacognition, even perhaps where most of the learning occurs. I am also open with Helena about what the government requires of me/us to let her be homeschooled, ie…as often as and and as good as what she’d get at school….
homeschoolery 