Karen's Clan

You know that saying? "It never rains, it pours"? Well folks that's how I feel this weekend! I cannot belive the pace of the last two weeks - a friend referred to life during the term as 'warp speed' once,  and I so feel like I'm living in that!

After our interesting start last week and our shocking first day of school, I had so hoped that this week would begin, and remain, better. And we did start better, and then things got a little complicated when on Tuesday an enormous fire threatened to devour the houses along the perimeter of the Estate we live in.


I was at the beach at the time (with two young Zimbabwean girls thrilled to be at the sea!), really enjoying a wind free beach at St James. I had deliberately left my phone in the car, in a rebellious state of just not wanting to be able to be reached all the time at every moment. So imagine my surprise when upon my return to the car I find 11 missed calls! From people I know well who do not panic!!!

I quickly realized how serious the situation was, and managed to raise my parents-in-law to try and get to the house to help. I am so thankful for my neighbors and friends within the Estate who lent a helping hand, as well as our twice a month gardener -without them, my house would not be standing today! So very thankful...but the ash? Well that's another story...it covered the garden like black snow...


 For those of you interested, here's a video my father in law took to illustrate my point!

Overall, now at the end of week two, I can say it's gone better than than week one, although I have had to realize again just how different my children are. I am so thankful I have the privilege of homeschooling them and tailor making their education, although it is challenging and daunting at the same time. After having a tearful meltdown in Brent's arms the one night, I've had to tweak and adjust things, as Aragorn's learning styles are completely different to King Arthur's: it's the subtle challenge of carrying on stretching King Arthur, while at the same time supporting and encouraging Aragorn at the start of his journey. Bended knees people, and a good dose of tears!


Cape Explorers kicked off again this week, and when the outings are ones that I am personally responsible for it seems to knock me for a 6 (I guess especially after the week!). The outing went swimmingly, and I love those kids to bits...but, imagine my surprise then, thinking I was coming home to put my feet up and relax for a bit when I discovered our landlady had employed some folk to strip and replace a roof that has been leaking for years! In the pulling up of the old roof sheeting, ash had re-covered everything! Sob! And they weren't able to finish yesterday...and left a large hole...and so when it poured with rain today...well, need I say more? Sob sob!

So surely, surely, next week cannot top this?

Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose!!

I recently attended my first Homeschool Educators Expo here in Cape Town, (a convention for those of you from the north!). The Cape Home Educators did themselves proud with a well organised event, and I was really blown away by what I walked away with....no curricula, but a heart full of knowledge and wisdom.

I walked into the building a little after 8, and left again after 5 - for me not to see the sun for a whole day is saying enough don't you think? It made me think, "Gosh, I really must be a 'nerd' to enjoy doing this!" and truly I was invigorated, energized! I realized so clearly, that I love to learn : feed me knowledge, tell me how to do something, teach me - and I am in my element! I soaked it all up - and if any of you reading this are interested in finding out more about homeschooling, attending the lectures at an expo is a good place to start!

I was also so touched to meet other homeschooling moms - some whom I only know from their profile picture on FB (and if you're a HS mom/dad in the Western Cape you really should be a member -  it's a growing community of like minded folk who are passionate about educating our children), and to be met by folk who read this here blog. It's a little nerve wracking that part - meeting people who know me in so much more detail than I know them! To those of you, who shared how much some of my posts have spoken to you, thank you (again!) for having the courage to do that - it inspires me to keep writing my heart.

I wanted to share a few nuggets I walked away with, as they were light bulb moments for me, and perhaps they will be food for thought for you. As I've said, I think I attended all but three of the lectures, so it was pretty intense! (Please note, not much of what follows are my own original ideas - the ideas communicated here belong to the speakers at the Expo)

• Somehow homeschooling parents have a great need of security, and so all too often we can focus on the "how" of homeschooling (how am I going to teach Math, what is the best curriculum for language arts, how am i going to teach three children of different ages etc), and not the "why" (for what purpose am I homeschooling?). 
• Too often we can mistakenly focus on the books and not the child, when it comes to choosing a curriculum - I did have a good laugh at myself during one of Martie Du Plessis' lectures, when she outlined learning styles (I am so 'sequential'!). It makes sense to me now how often we can choose a curriculum for ourselves, to make us feel safe and secure rather than one that would suit our child because its learning style is so unfamiliar to us.
• The current state of education in South Africa sobered me. It is vastly different to the education system I grew up with in Zimbabwe (before our political turmoil) and I was interested to learn this 

Newsweek‘s (16 August 2010) list of the world’s best countries put South Africa at 82nd overall, and ranks our education system 97th out of 100, which is 4th from the bottom. South Africa’s education performance is even ranked below countries like Mozambique, Bangladesh and Iran, states less wealthy or less free. (source)

          Fourth from the bottom in 2010? Seriously? And this is where it ranked last year:

 According to the 2011 annual national assessment figures, the World Economic Forum ranked South Africa 140th out of 144 which is lower than Lesotho and Swaziland. (source) 

• I'm growing increasingly fascinated by the nature of the Information/Digital Age we are presently in. Let me add here some statistics Inesa Van Rooyen of Neruolink gave in her presentation, (another worthwhile lecture): 
• information is doubling every 2 years at present, and by 2017 it's estimated it will double every two weeks; 
• our children have to learn 5 times more the volume of information we did 20 years ago when we were in school; 
• and finally, one edition of the NY times contains more information than people in the C17 were exposed to in a lifetime.

As a result, we have to help our children to work faster and smarter - working harder (which most schools seem to push) is not going to equip them to cope with this. We have to teach them to out-think, out-learn, out create. I loved the idea that we can work with our brains to increase their fitness - something I'd like to spend more time looking into.

 A few books on this topic were recommended by various speakers: Teaching a Digital Generation - please o please download this PDF and spend some time reading it. It is such weighty food for thought about the reality our children are facing. This book 21st Century Skills also has an excerpt you can download.

• I loved being reminded by Martie to focus on enjoying learning in these young grades (1-7), and to be more focused from Gr 8 onwards (remember that Karen!). 
• I was intrigued by Martie's mention of this quote:

We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet 

exist . . . using technologies that haven’t yet been invented . . . 

in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.

 —Richard Riley, Secretary of Education under Clinton

•  To educate for the C21st and beyond, she recommends we take our traditional  3 R's and times them by the 7 C's : critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, cross cultural, communication, computing, and careers (learning self-reliance and self direction).

 Elizabeth Ann fell back on the bench with her mouth open. What crazy things the teacher said! She felt as though she was being pulled limb from limb.
 "What's the matter?"asked the teacher, seeing her bewildered face.
"Why - why, " said Elizabeth Ann, "I don't know what I am at all. If I'm second-grade arithmetic and seventh-grade reading and third-grade spelling, what grade am I?"
The teacher laughed. "You aren't any grade at all, no matter where you are in school. You're just yourself, aren't you? What difference does it make what grade you're in? And what's the use of your reading little baby things too easy for you just because you don't know your multiplication table?"
"Well for goodness' sakes!" ejaculated Elizabeth Ann, feeling very much as though somebody had stood her suddenly on her head.
"What's the matter?" asked the teacher again.
This time Elizabeth Ann didn't answer because she herself didn't know what the matter was. But I do, and I'll  tell you. The matter was that never before had she known what she was doing in school. She had always thought she was there to pass from one grade to another, and she was ever so startled  to get a glimpse of the fact that she was there to learn how to read and write and cipher and generally use her mind, so she could take care of herself when she came to be grown up. Of course, she didn't know that 'til she did come to be grown up, but in that moment, she had her first dim notion of it, and it made her feel the way you do when you're learning to skate and somebody pulls away the chair you've been leaning on and says, "Now, go it alone!

This wonderful excerpt is taken from Understood Betsy, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, and is part of Core B of the Sonlight Curriculum we follow. We've really been enjoying this read-aloud: it's about the gradual blossoming of a very sheltered nine year old girl in the 1900's, as she is exposed to learning in every day life once away from her over-protective and very traditional aunt. This excerpt actually made me go cold, as it just spoke so deeply to me about the way that we label our children, whether or not they are in mainstream schools or schooled at home. 

Our children are so much more than the grade they are in. Their learning should be about so much more than just getting from one year to the next. And on that note, it's been such a beautiful golden week here, beginning to see the fruit of out homeschooling coming out in our eldest child.

King Arthur regaled his siblings with tales about surface tension this week; went willingly on a nature ride all around our estate to find pond skaters; told me that when he grows up he want to be a conservationist. I'm sure Charlotte Mason is the one who mentioned that children should be allowed to make relations with the things they learn, and I can so see this happening in King Arthur. His passion for the world, and looking after it blows me away (yep, he often challenges me on what's to go in the recycling!), and I love watching him unfurl. It's almost too beautiful for words...

this is why I love homeschooling....

I get to be a part of it all.

 

 

 

Yes, it's time for another something that involves the whole world! I'm prepping early this year, because events like this always catch me by surprise and leave me frustrated that I didn't make the most of a natural teaching opportunity! (Ahem, this post has been sitting around for over a month now!). As of today, it's officially 78 days to go till they start!

So here are some of my favorites that I've rounded up so far:

It's always good to set the scene and lay a foundation, not only about the history of the Olympic Games, but also about their location this year: London. (Oh I love that we're studying Ancient civilizations this year! Our studies on Greece just happen to fall right around this time!).

• This little Brain Pop movie gives some history and background - my kids love Tim and and Moby! They've got quite a few on Ancient Greece, Greek Gods, Nutrition etc. You do have to register to watch them - it's free for the first 5 days, so watch them all quick!
• I love the BBC's kids history pages, and this is a lovely intro for the Olympics.
• The symbols of the Olympic Games including the rings, the flag, the torch/flame and motto.
• Project Britain also lists the venues and their corresponding sports - older children might like to place these on a map of the Greater London area.
• This link to Geography.org's Planet Sport page has some lovely geography resources - photos of each of the venues; photos of venues before and after building; great studies for KS3 of East London and whether or not Project Britain will regenerate this area with the Olympic games. Love it - the geography teacher in me loves this site!
• Ever wondered what the difference is between Great Britain, the British Isles, and the United Kingdom? Me too. Well, Teacher Vision has made many helpful pdfs for this season, but this one tries to explain it all.
• I loved this Olympic Power timeline too - you can see who the superpowers are in terms of medals won throughout the history of the Olympics.
• I loved all the info here on the Olympic Torch - the relay and the history.
• And no link here, but it would be great to find iconic London monuments - I'm thinking Big Ben, the Tower Bridge etc etc.

• if you're only going to click on one of these links, then do o do click on this one from the Guardian Teacher Network - it's just a treasure trove of all things - great stuff for junior primary, senior primary and even high school (the link between sport and peace, the health risks of mass sporting events, the Olympics and Fair trade - o the debates one could have :)). I think this is my favorite link so far! It's very teacher orientated, but just take away the ideas!
• This is a great collection of FREE printables for the Olympics - there are some one can buy on this site, but the free ones seemed great too.
• There's an official London 2012 Olympic Education program called Get Set, and for us folk living outside of the UK, one needs to enter the international part of the site - Get Set International part of the site. Once you've registered which is pretty simple, there  is a wealth of information (mostly PDF's) under some very broad categories. I learnt today that the two mascots for these Olympic Games grew from two lumps of steel left over from building the large stadium, and are called Wenlock and Mandeville, named after two British towns! Well I never! (I've seen many lessons comparing how the Olympic mascots have changed over the years - would be interesting for high school students to look at the mascots over the years and try and put them in chronological order without knowing their dates - what can the mascots tell us about society?)

• Nice Olympic torch craft for preschoolers and these lovely songs you might want to belt out?
• Love the idea of this living math graph - get your kids to plot some/all of the countries participating, and then daily add how many gold, silver and bronze medals have been won.
• Liked this fun activity of matching the correct sport jargon to the right sport - a worksheet from Teacher Vision.
• Activity Village Summer Olympic page - puzzles, worksheets, printable coloring in pages - galore! Be sure to check out "All About the Games" and the Olympic Crafts.
• Teacher Planet also has a long list of links  - something for everyone!Teacher Vision - oh, what a  delight! So much to feast upon! Some of the links are free, and some you can only use if you're a subscriber. Although I'm not subscribed, I still liked looking at the previews of the things they've made. Their categories include England: Culture and Geography, Lesson Plans, Olympic Politics and scandal and Olympic History and References.
• If you're wondering how to go about planning this into the next few weeks, I noticed the Australians have created this Olympic Education Resource (pdf, give it time to load) to help teachers to plan their units of work - might be worth just browsing through it. There's a lot of very teacher orientated jargon, like learning objectives and specific outcomes, but hopefully it will help your planning!

So...this is it...the end....

Sonlight's Core A - done and dusted!

 ... of our first official year of homeschooling, King Arthur's Grade 1 year!  And the last few weeks have been busy!

King Arthur competed in a gymnastics competition in which he came third, which was just so lovely for him, as he had tried really hard to earn a trophy this season.

a little nervous being up there on his own...

proud!

King Arthur and I did our own evaluation of the year, looking through his file of work and talking through all the things we've covered. Then I scribed his own evaluation of the year, which was so insightful. We identified problem areas, and talked through possible solutions. Try this with your kids - just keep asking them leading questions. I was thrilled with the insight Elijah had as to how to make next year work better for him, and we talked through some of the ideas I have already had. (It might help also to show them photos of the things you've done together during the year, or perhaps to even make a collage?)



Maths is his biggest challenge, and not because he finds it difficult, but because, in his own words, it's just so boring". When asked what he thought a solution could be he replied, "Not do any?". It's got to make you smile hey?! Needless to say after a little more brainstorming we decided that we'd do less of it every day, and I'd try to create some appropriate games for him. And it leaves me the same question that has haunted me all year. There's a fine line between frustration with a subject that actually has a character issue at the heart of it (does the child need to learn perseverance?), and whether the chosen method unnecessarily frustrates the child (should I be using a more visual/kinasethic program?). I'm glad I've got the holidays to think this through a little more.

Interestingly enough his highlights of each day were the Read Alouds (his favorite was Dolphin Treasure, and least liked was Mary on Horseback - when asked why he commented that everyone seemed to be sick/die in it!) and Art.

To celebrate the end of his year, we decided to join the CHE prize giving which was held at the Giraffe House this year.... I didn't realize I would be awarding my own certificate, and my emotions got the better of me and I was unable to say anything coherent at all!!!

Having grown up with real wildlife practically on my doorstep I was a little sad their first exposure to 'wild' animals was through fences....

me blubbering away :) King Arthur just grinned at me, bemused!

 And now...onto holiday fun!

Happy Holidays!

• God, I have decided, is not on call...He is all powerful so I suppose He could be on call if He wanted to be, and maybe, on rare occasion, He is. But in general, God doesn't turn up when you page him. He is right where he always is, and what regular, daily maybe twice prayer gives us is some more hint of  of just where that is, and how to get there, and one of the things liturgy gives us is a way to get there when all our ways have given out. When I am unable to pray, the prayer book gives me the words. Liturgical prayers, Edith Stein wrote, "support the spirit and prescribe to it a fixed path." And all this time I have been so scathing of liturgy...O God. Now I get it, I see it, and I am bowled over by the beauty of liturgy.
• She quotes from Diana Eck's Encountering God: The Latin credo literally means "I give my heart". The word believe is a problematic one today, in part because it has gradually changed its meaning from being the language of certainty so deep that I could give my heart to it, to the language of uncertainty so shallow that only the "credulous"would rely on it. Faith... is not about propositions, but about commitment. It does not mean that I intellectually subscribe to the following list of statements, but that I give my heart to this reality. Believe, indeed, some to us from the Old English belove, making clear that this too is meant to be heart language. To say, "I believe in Jesus Christ is not to subscribe to an uncertain proposition. It is a confession of commitment , of love."

Saved the best for last. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for married women or brides-to-be. It is a frank, honest, lovingly written book that answers 21 questions Christian women most want answered. Pintus and Dillow are mature married women who write this book in very down to earth fashion. Their book is divided into three sections: Simmering Questions (really laying a true Biblical foundation for sex eg How can I be Godly and Sensuous, Where Can I go to Buy a New Body, How do I make Love with Children Wrapped Around my Knees); Smoldering Questions (How Can I get over the Guilt of past sexual sin, What do I do when He has a headache, Is it Possible to get Beyond the Pain of Sexual Abuse?); and Sizzling Hot Questions (How can sex go from Boring to Sizzling?, What's the Big Deal about Orgasm?). You can read some of my reflections here and here.

Aragorn, precious 5 year old today!

It's funny how hindsight can allow you to see things clearly. And as I think back over what initially propelled me to homeschool, I smile. It started with a very simple thing really – attending a Moms and Babes workshop in Plumstead (when we first moved to Cape Town), I remember hearing moms talk week in and week out about where they were going to send their kids to school – and the ensuing stress if they weren't in the right zone, or if it was too late already to put their kids names down. All this and our babies were only 6 months old! I think that was the very first time I thought clearly, “God I want something other. I don't want to buy into this rat race for my children from such a young age. Surely Lord, there is another way to live?”

nothing quite like doing school on the trampoline!

Belle pretending to do Math

This post features on the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers where South African home schoolers share experiences, ideas, philosophies and much more.  You can join the carnival too by heading to the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers sign up page.   In the meantime, head to SACH Carnival #2 - Outings for this week's carnival.  We hope you enjoy the carnival as much as we have!

Unless you manage to stick your head in the sand for the next few weeks, you're going to be hard pressed not to notice the rugby fervor around as the World Cup kicks off this weekend! I am not really a rugby fan, but Braveheart is, so I figured I needed to find some things to keep myself and the kids amused! We had a blast with making games and coloring in things around the Soccer World Cup, so I thought I'd pull together some links for you to use over the next few weeks. If you're a little clueless about the RWC I suggest heading over here first and reading these fact sheets!

World Cups are wonderful tools for teaching kids about other countries and cultures, time zones, customs, map work, music (national anthems), national dress, other languages. I could go on, the list really is endless!  But to whet your appetite, let me get you started:

• Explore lovely New Zealand to get the lay of the land...

• Listen to Hayley Westenra sing the official RWC anthem over here (scroll down to where it says "listen to the World In Union")...
• Download this KidZone Fun Pack from the official world cup site (a PDF) packed with countries, flags, emblems, secret messages, designing your own mascot, bingo, word searches - fun galore! TIP - print 4 of each flag and make "go fish" cards, or 2 of each and play memory games (each player picks up two cards at a time whilst they are face down to find a matching pair). 

• I liked the look of these Student Activity Sheets too - 

• These Ruggerbee Colouring In Sheets (also a PDF) look like they can entertain for hours whilst kids find out the colors needed for the flags the cartoon characters are holding AND the colors of the team kit!

• I also downloaded the activity book for years 1-3, but I can't say I was as impressed as I was with the other resources available. Still, go on over here  if you wish to download one for other age groups.
• For those of you with computer savvy kids you might like to set them this challenge from Interface Magazine (methinks senior primary children or older).
• I loved these links to RWC activities over at Primary Resources: flag symmetry, scoring (wonderful maths ideas springing to mind!), stadium capacity for comparing and contrasting, oral presentations...
• The Wicked site has a showcase for the 'Hot Topic' of the RWC - lovely rabbit trails to follow, especially the one about the haka!

King Arthur did school today with a friend, and I want to share what we did and also some of my reflections on it... read on!

I had a blast preparing for it. It was so much fun preparing a unit of work for two children the same age - something I haven't done since teaching days, and because I have Sonlight, not something I necessarily need to do. So not only were there now TWO kids, but also of the same age and capabilities, a rare occurrence in the homeschooling field. I chose a day of introduction into our next Science Core A topic - the body.

It was a LOVELY day. The little girl in question didn't want to go home, and I loved watching them learn together...and play. Now lest you think that my life is perpetually golden, I shall paint a realistic picture for you of the days events!

So, the morning started, somewhat later than anticipated as my maid wasn't well and so I took her home. I had also forgotten to buy two important sheets of paper, so had to pop into our local Write shop! Ahem! So much for planning and being prepared!

K was dropped off by her dad, as if she really was going to 'school' and came with a packed lunch box, and then the morning began with some stretches. (A side note, in hindsight, I should have let them just get used to one another for a bit with some free play, but I was so excited to get started!).


They started off tracing a cut out of a body onto their own A4 flesh colored paper and coloring it in according to what they were wearing....





then some bouncing on the trampoline....

Then we looked at this awesome book The Human Body, (Classic Edition, 1906!)



and this one



and brainstormed what was in our skin - we did a lot of poking and prodding each other at this point! Then we focused on the skeleton for the rest of the morning.

I had remembered the song 'Dem bones' vaguely, but I was thrilled to find this video clip on You tube. It's brilliant!



We watched it...



and then attempted to make our own (meringue) bones. This is what they are supposed to look like:



AHEM. This ended in an absolute disaster! When reading this Martha Stewart recipe, I consciously remember reading 200 degrees and thinking, gosh that's really hot for meringues. But didn't think more of it. Dolt! it's 200 degrees FAHRENHEIT, Martha Stewart is American!!!!! NOT celsius. Needless to say I burnt them to a crisp. Burnt meringue is not a pleasant aroma!




Then we made our own skeletons inspired by this site. I had cut out all the bones ahead of time and made safety pin sized holes in the skeleton attachment points to make it easier. I only used 160gsm paper, and it really would have worked better if the paper was 240gsm - although I suspect this would require a trip to the printer, or tracing it onto card, and I wasn't that prepared!  It was interesting for me to watch my boy and a girl doing the same task, food for thought!



Then they bounced and played some more. We picked up Belle from school, (whilst belting out 'dem bones'), they bounced some more (can you tell I have a son?) with their skeletons!

Then just before lunch time, we googled x-rays of bones and broken ones, and then added our x ray dimension to our bodies:





Voila!

This day was lovely. I've come away with much food for thought and I leave you with this morsel:

 Homeschooling need not be a lonely journey - for you or your children. I hope you can find other moms you can start to build a community with to 'swap school' every once in a while (every month? every fortnight?). The friend King Arthur invited today doesn't follow the same curriculum as us, and that need not be a problem. In fact it's a wonderful opportunity! It gives the kids a fresh appreciation of home and your way of doing it, as well as exposing them to a different setting and routine. Co-ops are great, and another way to beat the possible loneliness, but swapping school is somewhat more intimate... for me.

I love the idea of sharing school!