This week I intended to get into the swing of consistent Discipline Study time (reading, writing, maths, typing, Latin). I had also planned the beginning of our next character trait Enthusiasm.
Other things happen!
As I type up all the activities that have happened in our house over the last few days I am amazed. I am starting to renew my mind as to what education really is all about. I start to see learning value in our daily life.
Pete has been home and working on things that the boys could join him in. So that has taken priority. They have cut down and treated three different tree/weeds along our driveway. This activity offered training, not only in the practical skills, but also in work ethic to work until the job is done, to persevere etc Josh had his first driving lesson Daniel thinks he is up for driving too at 6 I dont think so!
Meanwhile the girls helped in the house and as we had extra time and the boys were out of the house, they took the opportunity to do some extra tidying in the boys room to bless them. This gave them the opportunity to see housework as a blessing for those living in the house.
Joshua has learnt to solder over the weekend. He has now made 2 wire sculpture dinosaurs. He made the 2nd one totally by himself from design stage to final product. Not only has there been the art aspect of a sculpture but he has also used math skills in measure, balance and shape, Technology skills in design, research and materials. I need to get him to photograph his two sculptures and put them in his notebook. (more art and writing opportunities!)
Joshua continues to write his non-fiction book on dinosaurs this is involving a lot of research both via books and Internet. He has also edited and improved his story for the Nestles Writing Competition.
Jessica has cooked a slice. She is working on organising her workspace and movements around the kitchen. She needs to write this recipe into her own cookbook. Jessica has also edited and improved her story for the Nestles Writing Competition (both their stories need to be posted for Round 2 of this competition). Jess continues to bless me with her organization skills and love of tidiness by hitting my major Hotspots (Flylady term)!
Naomi has been working on a watercolour pencil drawing/painting. This is a new medium for her so she is testing its boundaries and opportunities. Nomi is switching on to geography at the moment and has played a few games of find the country with Josh using the globe. She also asked Pete for a map in following up a discussion with him.
Daniel has been playing outside so much the last few days. He has enjoyed the excursions out with his Dad, loved playing in the shed, climbing over the tractor. I have seen him be more accepting of the word no, he has been able to play indoor imaginative games a little longer, and overall has been a calmer person. His speech has been the only area we have really worked on and he is hearing the syllables of words better now and doing really well at reproducing the whole word. His patience at getting the word right continues to amaze us.
Daniel is picking up his brothers love of dinosaurs. He has taken some a4 size cards and wanted to make them into a book.
In between all these activities we have grabbed a little time for Discipline studies (we have done this as opportunity arose rather than according to our routine). Josh, Jess and Daniel have had a math lesson. Daniel needs to continue in his counting skills. He seems to have regressed a little.
This morning the kids and Pete talked of the work of Compassion and our desire to sponsor a child. Many issues were covered in this discussion including geography, cultures, and poverty to name a few.
Monday afternoon the kids had some unsupervised free time. Nomi and Daniel choose to play some games. They played Connect 4 and Trouble. Great math skills! It was also nice to hear them encourage each other after the other had won a game.
Pete spent some time with the younger two talking about the principle of flight air travelling over a curved wing etc. They did a few experiments together with first, a hair dryer (the air flow) and then, running water (not at the same time LOL). While in town, later in the day, they went out and checked out the shape of the planes wings and saw that for themselves. After they completed all their town jobs they bought some lunch and picnicked up Kellys Knob (the high point in the middle of town) and discussed perspective, birds eye view etc. We will follow that up today with some drawing and looking at aerial maps. These lessons were primarily for Nomi and Daniel in connection with their Five in a Row lessons The Glorious Flight. Flying is one of Petes loves so it is obviously his thing to pass onto the kids.
