By Helena (so nearly 7) A pig lay under some plants on some dry dirt. All of it’s life it had longed to have a friend, it was very lonely. When one day two more pigs came. At first they were shy then they started to play together. They enjoyed playing on trampolines, they played…
Category: literacy
the “holiday reading slump”
I was reading in the paper about how over the holidays children slip back a reading level and what we (parents I guess or do they mean teachers) could do about it. I guess this implies that kids don’t read in the holidays. Just so we have this totally clear these are the summer holidays,…
measurement
Why do studies on measurement? Just give them the Guinness Book of Records, which really is no more than a teaching tool … We harvested a cauliflower, that actually looked like a shop one, from the garden. Child rushes off to find the picture that she knew was there of the biggest one 27.48kgs.. weighs…
learning from one’s peers
Helena had to, and wanted to, write a birthday card for her cousin. She had plans about the layout and getting to draw hearts but her friend was here…. fortunately for everybody her enthusiasm and joy about the task was enough to entice her friend (who is not a big drawer or writer) to the…
Long term projects…
I hate them… Well not all of them, and it’s more the deciding which are the ones to follow through with. We are doing the KCC 30 challenges. KCC is the Kids Conservation Club and the challenges are due to it being the 30th anniversary of Forest and Bird. The challenge in question is the…
Noticing stuff…
Helena had an asthma episode (she has been hospitalised several times) last weekend and had to have redipred but no hospital. A few days later this…. This is written on a clipboard from her medical kit which has also been dragged out from the depths of the dress up box.. it has the patient’s name,…
School on sunday..
Today is the 100th anniversary of the end of world war 1. I had no intention of commemorating it. I spend a lot of my time helping children work out ways of solving problems without violence, and they can and they don’t have fully developed brains. But there was a lot of conversation about it…
secret learning to read (30.10.18)
I have done no ‘active teaching’ in Helena’s learning to read. I was trying the theory that you can learn to read yourself as I was never convinced that the rituals at school teaching kids to read were what was doing it. It’s all the child. The ingredients for reading are: a child who wants…
the card industry… (26.10.18)
Someone else’s ideas We got some paint colour samples on those little cards and I made the comment that Helena “better DO something with them”… a friend of mine said she used them to make cards. Helena leapt on this idea. These are all for sale… I can get them for a special discount (the…
Thanks Mr Pound (21.10.18)
We visited the Wellington City Art Gallery and saw Patrick Pound’s On Reflection. Helena’s first response was “this is boring” I think brought on by thinking about the cafe later on and knowing about the drawing station that she has always liked visiting…. after a few drawings approach number two, this time maybe she was…
homeschoolery 