I found some posters that my mother brought way back when and Helena is colouring them in. I kinda thought of this as a filler activity, a little mindless fun. H thought differently… so far we have used many reference books (contents, index, scientific names vs common names), she has used the internet to look…
Tag: Self-directed learning
an unintentional unit…
Healthy eating!! The idea of being a teacher in a classroom teaching a unit on healthy eating fills me with dread. However Helena has chosen to do things related to healthy eating for nearly a whole term now. She initiated it.. so weird. All I did was talk about when we cook dinner we need…
extending learning
It’s a thing extending the children… that idea that they need to be moved forward never staying where they are, and the horror of them slipping back!! I am not totally adverse to this idea as I like getting better at stuff, but I also like being OK at lots of stuff, like cleaning! I…
things we can’t get from homeschooling
Group projects- kids working together to achieve something better together than they can alone Culture, in particular developing a culture that actually promotes the making of mistakes and emphasises collaboration Learning from other children, especially those at a similar zone of proximal development. I do not think we can necessarily get these from most schools…
Little bits of work
This project has been going on for months and months.. ever since the Dr told H to stop using soap and washing her wrists due to eczema. Of course H sees all the instructions to wash so she was given a special cream to use and has been so very good about it (probably because…
our timetable
Monday: we have a meeting to talk about last week- I record what we did, Helena writes down what she wants to do in the week. This often ends with us being sidetracked to some random project. We pick up other kids from care and school and the big kids go to circus class and…
homework
I don’t like homework as I have seen how it is detrimental to parent child relationships, all that nagging, all that implying that whatever project the kid had in their head is less important than what someone external to the family believes is important… I did get kids to take home stuff they didn’t finish…
so proud..
Helena came to me yesterday as I was painting the house and said she would like to cook dinner “all by” herself, choose the recipe EVERYTHING. It was so easy for me to butt out as I was focused on my painting. She chose the recipe, worked out if we had the ingredients, found them,…
another random day..
I have once again recorded what Helena and her friend got up to during the school day and thought about my role.. I do this time sample to see what the kids are up to as sometimes they seem like moths drawn to new lights or bees flitting around here and there never landing on…
leaving her to it
Recently I have been leaving Helena to her own devices, more than usual, as I am painting the house (she has been offered $ to help) and working on the sleep out (I thought she would be interested but no..). I am modeling er something I hope. Helena has found her own project and it…
homeschoolery 