Over the last few days routine and planned lessons have gone out the window.  We have maintained our morning routines but the children’s focus has been on other things.

·              A Family Magazine.  The children have produced a 24 page A5 size magazine.  They used Publisher.  Joshua designed the magazine though Jessica watched so she could do it next time.  They each typed their articles and imported them into Publisher.  Daniel narrated his article to Jessica who typed it for him.  Though the magazine doesn’t have many graphics there is a variety and Mum organised the technology for these as we were running short on time..  Daniel drew his and that had to be scanned.  Naomi had a photo taken which had to be imported.  Joshua watched and learned so he could do it next time.

         The magazine covers a wide range of writings.

         Joshua:  A story previously published in a bookmaking competition

                        A movie review piece

                        A column on Historic facts

                        An informative article on ants

                        Cover design

         Jessica: A story written for the Nestles Writing Competition

                        Jokes – reprinted from elsewhere

                        A diary piece from Mrs Noah

                        Family Notice board

         Naomi:  A story

         Daniel:  A story and drawing

                       Photo used for cover

·              Fimo / Polymer Clay

The girls have spent an afternoon or more, making tiny little treasures with Fimo.  They have made animals, and hearts, and jewellery – so many bits and pieces.   They also spent time with their little brothers encouraging them to make something too.

·              Oral Presentation – We had our first Co-op on Friday and one of our sessions was an Oral Presentation.  The children each had to prepare something to say.  Josh and Jess both read their Write Express Manuals on preparing, organising and presenting “talks”.  This helped them write their piece.  Both did book reports; Joshua’s on “The Hobbit” and Jessica’s on “He Chose You” by Max Lucado. 

Naomi showed a dog cage that she has made for her soft toy.  She has made a grid-like door, which has hinges and a lock.  The box has a handle so she can carry it around.  Inside her box she has a toy for her dog, a bowl for water and dog food.  She narrated what she wanted to say while I (Mum) typed it for her.  Though when she spoke she just spoke without reading her notes – in fact she rarely referred to them.

Daniel’s was a “Show and Tell” on a Bow and Arrow that Josh helped him make.  They found a bent stick and tied thick elastic from end to end.  Using sticks (not pointy ones) as the arrows.  He took his group outside to give them a demonstration on how it worked.  Though he was anxious about answering questions when we practiced he wasn’t fazed by the questions the kids had at all.  As a side issue, the mum who was supervising this group is also a Speech Therapist so it was good to get some feed back on Daniel from this perspective.

·              Play / Drama

Jessica and Naomi, along with the Anderson girls wrote and presented a play on “Learning Cautiousness”.  They practiced and refined so they could present this play to the Co-op on Friday.   This activity involved a lot of learning outcomes such as writing for a specific audience, drama, assessing your arts/performance and receiving constructive criticism/ideas from others, acting – this ranged from just going through the motions though for Naomi it was a complete role makeover!  She played the part fully!  The play was set in medieval times with princesses, dragons and knights.  So there was thought that went into making it all fit the time / setting of their play.

·              Homeschool Co-op

As mentioned we had our first Co-op.  From a learning perspective the kids were involved in the following type of activities

·              Character Lesson – Cautiousness.  This included our family being up the front helping the other kids learn the actions.  Other than the girls play, which fitted the topic, a story was read (listening skills)

·              Oral Presentations

·              Sports – Movement and Co-operative Games

·              Water Play – physical activity!

·              In all that the children did they were encouraged to intermingle with the different ages.  Eg – if a game required a partner they were to find someone a different size!  There was a “penalty” for knocking over a little one – they were sent to the cautious corner (which fitted our character theme).   The big kids walked, the middle age skipped and the littlies ran.

In amongst all these lifestyle opportunities for learning Daniel had reading lessons, Josh worked on his Math and Chemistry, Jessica cooked muffins, and Nomi read aloud to me. 

Daniel has shown his visitors his model solar system – earth revolving around the sun and moon doing its thing around the earth. 

Naomi has also made a cage for her fimo mice – this cage includes exercise equipment for a mouse, a water feeder, a cubby to hide in, and a dish of “sawdust” to play in and find their food.

We worked on character issues such as being responsible – rather than just being obedient.  This means they have to not only have a heart to bless others they have to keep their eyes open for opportunities. 

The study of Cautiousness has been great for helping us keep on track – doing the right things at the right time!